Made it a triple feature today!
01×06 -
mmmm…evil Dean, yum yum yum!
It’s funny, you’d think Skin would be one of those episodes at the top of my rewatch list. But it isn’t, mainly because when I start thinking about them, the list keeps growing and growing, unti I realise I love an episode solely for one small exchange or look or action, and actually hate the whole episode surrounding it (see below) So while this one is a favourite, I simply never got around to rewatching it, maybe because it featured too early in the season? I always tended to rewatch a couple of episodes surrounding my favourite one (all shall be revealed in a few day’s time)
SO! Skin. I always liked the idea of the shapeshifters, and they added the little detail in of them actually coming up against one or two earlier, or at least knowing about them, which I always like. I mean, you’d expect them to have come up against several things before if they’ve really been hunting for so long, so it gets kind of weird if every episode they’re sitting there going, wha? how do we kill it? I may be confusing myself though. It’s a bit difficult trying to remember what you know, what you don’t know, but most importantly, how well you know it, when you’re dealing with 60 episodes!
The scenes where Shapeshifter Dean changes bodies is absolutely gross, and yet you can’t tear your eyes away from that gorgeous torso. mmm, yum.
There are a lot of continuity errors in this one, markedly when both guys are tied up, Sam’s ropes keep moving around, so you can see they were filmed at different times. Other bits randomly appear and disappear, but it is done fairly well and it must be difficult when you’re attempting to have 2 of the same people, which they deal with really well, and just about make it believable! There is some concern about a certain scene, where they go intot he sewers in the daytime and come out at night…which, I have always found strange, but I guess it can work. Ok, they started at 5:30 in the morning, they checked out one murder scene, check out the next scene and decide to ehad into the sewers. Let’s say at this point it’s 8. they head down, maybe spend an hour or 2 looking around, pop back up, decide to get some supplies, maybe do some research, have some lunch, ehad back down around 3 or 4 and wander around attempting to find the lair which they find shortly after sunset. It could work!
I like the throwback to Sam’s college life, his friends who are obviously curious about him and checking up on him following Jess’ death. Also the small glimpse into Dean’s psyche, via the shapeshifter, where you can actually see that he’s rather screwed up a little by Daddy Dearest, and I think they are slowly hinting away at his inner core, and will keep chipping away at it gradually throughout the season. You can also see here how Sam has been selfish in his quest for normality, he didn’t think about how it would affect his brother, and that’s another subtle aspect which they’ve been playing with throughout the season. They also set up the “Wanted for murder Dean” segment, which obviously did come to play down the track, and was actually revisited ocne or twice each season, which is an amazing amount of continuity for which I am grateful, because if they’d abandoned that aspect, I may have lost all faith with the show. And I really like this aspect of the show, except they played it out slightly different, albeit with the same end result. I mean, it was the shapeshifter who commited those crimes, but they called it in while in Dean’s form…and then of course someone slowly starts digging, and starts finding other murders where he’s at, and may have been (accidentally) the cause of….maybe this could be Dean’s secret? Someone died on his count? See, I’d love to see that backstory! But i’m getting way too far ahead of us, as at the moment the case seems to be closed with the dead body of Dean being buried, and the boys getting away scot-free.
01×07 – I never was very fond of Hookman. It has way too many moral implications throughout it, and I’m still not exactly certain where the writers stand. Are they saying you shouldn’t be so mroalistic and punish yourself? Are they saying you should stick within certain limits? I don’t know, i think they’re trying to push the moral envelope, and suggest you shouldn’t punish yourself or place yourself within such strong guidelines of how you should live your life…but then again….i don’t know, am i merely reading too much into this? I mean, a guy who wants to hit second base, a girl who sleeps around and a preacher who has having an affair with a married woman….who are we to judge? Or is that the basis, exactly that diea, who are we to judge? Why should we judge people, what right does society have on placing certain expectations on people, sugh high moral expectations? But then again, I guess we need moral expectations, without it, society would disintegrate.
I’ve confuzzled myself again.
Anyway! I like how subtle they can be. Here, Sam finds himself attracted to someone, and he struggles with it. But they don’t throw it in your face, it’s really, really subtle, and I enjoy that immensely, it’s one thing I’ve always loved about this show. Yes, occasionally they practically throw the anvils at you, but quite often they can be very subtle in drawing out emotions, and they really do allow the actors to express their characters through their actions. Jensen is a master at this, he’s really allowed Dean to shine through his eyes, his facial expressions rather than the words he uses. No matter what Dean says, you get to his inner depth through watching him. Jared is not as good, I think, he’s a lot more obvious. His facial movements aren’t as subtle, but maybe that works well as well, because it shows Sam isn’t as subtle or withdrawn as Dean, he keeps a lot of himself on the surface, he’s never really hidden what he feels. In a way, it just shows another level of variation between the brothers, and how they’ve developed over their years and how their childhoods have moulded them into the people they are now.
01×08 -
ugh. i hate this episode. I made myself sit through it, but I just wanted to fast forward through the whole thing. The only thing I like about is the further look at Sam’s relationship with Daddy Dearest, the revelation Daddy Dearest would check up on him at Stanford but I really love Sam’s reaction when Dean reminds him he never contacted them either. It’s a terrific look at the relationship there, obviously very different to the one Dean had with Daddy Dearest, because they perceive their fatehr so differently. Sam sees him as a tyrant who he fought tooth and nail with all of his lfie and was never proud of him or any of his “normal” achievements. I think you can safely assume from this episode Dean hero-worships Daddy Dearest and has somehow reated a lifestyle for himself as a hunter. He’s brought up a couple of tiems so far he’s a freak, and Sam’s a freak, and he seems proud of it. Or is it a facade he puts forward, does he secretly resent his brother for having a normal life and him being the one who had to stay behind and hold his family together, just like he has his entire life? I think it’s another look into the twisted soul of Dean, there’s something dark behind his eyes as he says it, you can see the self-doubt already. They managed to keep that self-doubt really subtle throughout the beginning of the show, I think they were focussing more on Sam and his reactions to everything, but it is there. It’s really subtle in first season and sadly, they couldn’t carry through with it in the next season, choosing to throw the anvils instead.
Beyond that? There are loads of insects in this one, an attempt at looking at Native American curses, and the worst climax ever…since when does sunrise follow midnight by about 20 minutes? Really badly done, people!
