#also side note: until now I'm just pretending the last 5 episodes of this DOESN'T EXIST :)))))

[yao-yaos]

Ma Ke as Ya Long | The Journey (寻找前世之旅) 2017

[sign-seeker]

So I've been absolutely ridden with pain induced insomnia for the last week, so instead of sleeping I've been watching Stranger Things, which I've been putting off watching for a good long while now. So far I am up to the first few episodes of season 3. Some observations:

1) The science teacher just told Joyce that her seeing magnets becoming demagnetised all over town is her seeing patterns on coincidences and NO! This man does not understand that he lives in the Joyce Byers show: She is the fucking Cassandra of this small Indiana town. The whole point of this show seems to be "what if the schizophrenic lady that all the townsfolk make fun of was totally right about everything" and people need to start respecting that. Next person to suggest she's imagining things needs to get eaten by a monster.

2) I'm kind of sad that Will doesn't have a lot of character. His role in season 1 is defined by his absence, his role in season 2 is defined by his possession and acting "off", and so far in season 3 all he's done is say "I want to play D&D" a whole lot. After 2 seasons of Will-as-McGuffin, I want some Will-as-person time. Also his hair seems to be getting uglier every season.

3) Lucas didn't have a great role in Season 1, so it was nice from him to have more to do in Season 2. He was sort of relegated to the role of "the negative friend" who complained a lot, so having him be more front and centre in driving events and relationships in Season 2 was fun.

4) I think the Duffer Brothers must sit down at the start of each season's production meeting and say "so what's El's cool outfit for this season?" Season 1 had the denim jacket over pink dress outfit, which just radiated Weird Little Girl In A Stephen King Novel vibes, Season 2 had her punk outfit with the leather jacket and the slicked back hair... I can't wait to see what her iconic outfit for Season 3 will be.

5) Monster in the Woods: Exists.

Nancy & Johnathan: Instantly upgrade from scared teenagers to killing machines.

I adore them.

6) Dustin's so fucking funny. No notes, perfect job.

7) Mrs Wheeler needs either a marriage counselor or a divorce lawyer.

8) I like that in Season 1, there was a head on collision between 2 different Stephen King obsessions: the "Psychopathic school bullies who will literally attempt flat out murder" and "the psychic little girl" came face to face and the bullies did not enjoy the experience.

9) Hopper's genuinely been amazing for 2 seasons, but suddenly he's a fuck in season 3, but it makes perfect sense: he suddenly has an actual daughter, having spent his life recently pretending that his late daughter is still alive because he can't deal with having lost her. This is the flip side of his overly domineering parental nature: when El was in constant danger, his need to keep her close and control her "for her own protection" was useful, but now that she wants to live a more normal life, that once-admirable quality has become stifling. GOOD STUFF.

10) Max & El are friends. :) I was afraid that she'd continue to be jealous of her, as she was when she first found her hanging out with Mike, but nope, they have fun girl times at the mall complete with AMAZING OUTFITS.

11) Speaking of Max, is a plot thread dangling from Season 2? When she says "we're stuck here" her step brother angrily responds "well whose fault is that?" and she looks chargrined, which implies that it's her fault they're in Hawkins, and had to leave California. But this is never brought up again, and the story she tells Lucas later when they're bonding has nothing to do with her, but makes it clear it her mother and stepfather decision that they be in Hawkins. That's going to buck me until it's addressed.

12) LOVE the anti-authoritarian vibes. "This is our government honey, they have our best interests at heart" as the government agents who've faked a child's drowning, a man's suicide, and a young woman's running away in order to cover up their own incompetence and violence are heading out to murder their son and his friends.

[the-trashy-phoenix]

Supernatural season 5 review (part 2)

Link to part 1:

Irene and I had finished season 5 and, as I already imagined, I loved it. I'm not quite sure if I like it more than the previous one, I think they're kind of in the same level of greatness.

It starts with Lucifer rising again and Sam and Dean being miraculously saved. They immediately meet Chuck to know what happened with the angels and the prophet tells them Castiel has been killed by them. With Lucifer out of the cage Zacharia (who fortunately gets killed at the end by the older Winchester) wants Dean to be Michael's vessel, since he's the only one who can beat the devil: the only problem is that Dean has to say "yes" to Michael. He obviously doesn't want to, so the angels trying to convince him will be a recurrent thing throughout the season. Dean tries to not change his opinion, because becoming Micheal's vessel would mean the two archangels would fight and with their power they would destroy half the planet, but the more time passes the more Dean's hopes vanish, and towards the end he decides to accept Zacharia's proposal. At the last moment, however, to Sam, Castiel and Bobby's relief and delight, he opposes it and Adam, brought back to life only to replace his brother, accepts to be Michael's vessel. This whole mess will eventually end with Lucifer (in Sam's vessel) back in the cage, along with Michael (in Adam's), Castiel miraculously brought back (again, after returning at the beginning of the season) and a desperate Dean trying to keep living a life with Lisa and Ben after losing his brother and promising him to try a new life without hunts.

The main focus of the season is obviously trying to defeat Lucifer, who we meet in the first episode. It is already an interesting character, because he feels misunderstood by God and believes he didn't deserve what he got from his father. It is almost impossible not to empathise at least a little bit with him. He also hides his evil side pretty well at first, making him seem almost like the actual good guy of the situation and the victim of a cruel God. I like the fact that he shows up to the people he wants to convince as their loved one (like he did with Nick when he showed as his wife). He tries to convince Sam to be his vessel (because he's actually the only one who would truly contain him) showing up as Jessica. Sam obviously doesn't want to help Lucifer with the Apocalypse, although both Sam and us don't even really know what his true intentions are. We quickly learn that he obviously, as he hated humanity before, still does it now, so his plan is actually mostly a revenge. He really seems like the final big bad guy, probably because he was supposed to be, and because every other villain ultimately leads to him. I believe he is my favourite one: he is a way more rounded character than the others, having his own motivations (that go beyond wanting to do bad and win over the others). As much as he's wrong for doing what he's doing, at least he got his reasons. He is the first angel who has rebelled against God and he was punished for it, but he's not the only one who did it. At the end of the last season we saw Castiel, persuaded by Dean, rebelling against the angels and their plan to bring Lucifer back. So what makes the difference between them? I think it is the reasons and the intentions behind their actions: Lucifer rebelled because he hated humans and now wants to end them, Castiel rebelled because he loves humanity and wants to defend it. So there's no surprise when Castiel refuses to join Lucifer when he tries to get his brother to come to the dark side in episode 05x10.

Lucifer is not the only new villain, we also meet two demons with opposite purposes: Meg and Crowley. Meg isn't actually new, as we know her since season one, but she has a new body. Her character doesn't change much in season five, she's still a loyal servant, in this case to Lucifer, but we'll see what I will think about her in the next seasons, as I know, as much as I can remember, she will improve. Crowley on the other hand is a lone wolf and wants Lucifer dead as much as the two protagonists want him. I have loved Crowley since the first episode I saw him (05x10) for several reasons. I adore his personality: he's funny and sassy and the perfect villain who's not really a villain (because at the end of the day neither Dean or Sam want him dead, and neither he wants them to be dead as well). I like the fact that he just minds his own business: he doesn't want to start apocalypses or whatsoever, he just wants to keep living, and he knows being against Lucifer is an immediate suicide for a demon, so he helps the Winchesters to kill him. He gives them the Colt at first, believing they could kill him with that, and so they attempt to, ending up with Jo and Ellen dead and the certainty that the Colt couldn't kill the devil. On a side note, I liked seeing Jo and Ellen back, but I hated watching them dying, as much as I loved the episode thanks to its intensity and melancholy (especially in the scenes between Jo and Ellen and between Jo and Dean, although I'm not totally convinced that he should have kissed her, even if I think he did it mainly to make her understand how much he cared about her, rather than for romantic love). I don't appreciate Supernatural not having a female main character who stays alongside the boys for more than a few seasons. I don't expect a woman to become a main character like Castiel but it would have been nice to see a woman appear at least as much as Bobby. This side of Supernatural shows how far behind it is in some ways and that it needed to improve on many aspects (such as veiled, but not too much, misogyny). Returning to Crowley, the demon proves to be essential as thanks to him Sam and Dean understand how to stop Lucifer: not killing him but sending him back where he came from. To do this they need to open a portal that leads Lucifer into his cage, and the portal can only be opened by the rings of the four knights of the apocalypse. They are characters brought to earth, thanks to Lucifer, that Sam and Dean have the pleasure of meeting (and defeating most of the time). The most interesting character is certainly Death, with whom Dean talks (episode 05x21) and who has no intention of fighting the brothers, indeed he voluntarily gives them his ring. The only problem left is to find Lucifer and to push him into the cage. Sam, who has been thinking for days that he has to accept Lucifer's request in order to try to jump into the portal, manages to convince Dean, who obviously would never want Sam to be locked in Lucifer's cage with the devil himself inside him.

Sam and Dean, mainly because of everything that happened last season, have to try to rebuild their now inevitably changed relationship (whose antagonism is exasperated in the parallelism of the two protagonists with the archangels Lucifer, the rebellious son, and Michael, the devoted son). Dean, as much as he doesn't want to, can't keep pretending everything's okay between them and thinks it's best to take different paths. The two brothers remain divided until Dean realizes they can win against the angels and Lucifer only if they are together. From then on their relationship strengthens more and more, until Dean, I think for the first time, decides to completely trust Sam, reject Zacharia's proposal and find another way to defeat Lucifer (05x18). The final step forward is surely Dean accepting Sam's idea of becoming Lucifer's vessel, while knowing what it entails. The difference in their relationship between the end of this season and last season lies in several factors: Sam opens up to Dean and tries to be as honest as possible, while Dean accepts that his brother is now grown up and must make his choices, even if these involve his sacrifice to save humanity. Their relationship ends with one last touching scene in which Dean manages to reach Sam, despite being controlled by Lucifer, and give him enough strength to jump into the portal that will lead him to the cage. I think this season potrais their relationship in a way never seen before, with a rollercoaster of emotions that shows how much they care about each other and how much they have grown in the recent years.

There's another relationship that I'd like to talk about and that I think has evolved over the course of the season, Dean and Castiel's. The two certainly make giant strides towards the end of season four, when Castiel decides to rebel and side with Dean, but they are not yet in the best of relationships. Dean finally seems to trust Castiel, but is still not entirely comfortable with him and his personality ("Cas, we've talked about the personal space", 05x03), while Castiel, after being brought back to life, is convinced, in the early episodes of the season, that he can find God, which Dean is very skeptical of. The thing that may come as a surprise, however, is that Dean supports Castiel and comforts him when the angel seems to have lost hope. I don't think it's really shocking, considering Dean sees himself in Castiel, who seems to be just a confused son looking for an absent father, which Dean is by now an expert of (and the funny thing is that in the emotional episode 05x13, where Sam and Dean go back in time and meet their parents, John, once he knows the lives of the two brothers, he wonders how a father can behave that way with their children, obviously not being aware of the hard truth). When, in episode 05x16, in which Dean and Sam die and go to heaven (which I think is quite original, divided into personal heavens formed by memories of each of the dead people), they discover that God is somewhere, but that he has no intention of intervening in any way, giving relatively little importance to humanity and angels, Castiel is completely destroyed by the news and copes getting drunk (another parallelism with Dean I would say) and in this episode (05x17), confident they can't get help from God, Dean calls the formed trio "team free will" (emphasizing the fact that they are now free to make their own choices). I feel like Dean and Cas start to bond especially when Dean is alone (so in episode 05x03) and he understands Castiel's value in episode 05x04, when Zacharia sends him to a future where he has not accepted to be Michael's vessel, Sam is Lucifer vessel and the world is infected by the Croatoan virus. Dean meets his future self (a way worse and more desperate version of him) who trusts past Dean after he tells his future self an anecdote (that he never revealed to anyone) about wearing pink panties and liking it. I'll admit I completely forgot about that particular (probably because I was 15 when I first watched it and this information seemed extremely irrelevant to me) and I'm still amazed that such a scene really exists. Anyway Dean realizes that, despite everything that has been going on and the way he's become, Castiel has never abandoned him. He also understands, noticing how much the future Castiel has changed and how hopeless he gets, he should appreciate his Castiel more (and that is something Castiel will eventually tell him directly too in episode 05x18, in which after Dean decides to agree to Michael Castiel beats him up telling him he rebelled for him and so he shouldn't repay him like that).

Chuck compares in episode too, showing he's still on Dean's side as well. I honestly quite like him in this season: he's awkward, confused and out of place most of the time, but I think that's what makes it likeable, at least for me. We see more of him in episode 05x09, where there's a Supernatural convention and Sam and Dean have to deal with both their fans (without them knowing who they really are) and a case, and are forced to work with a couple of fans who fortunately save everyone. At the end of the episode Dean discovers that the two fans, both male, are a real couple (making it the first homosexual couple in the series). I don't quite know how to interpret this moment (which writers probably didn't even give too much thought to), but the fact that in the next scene we see Dean thinking next to the car with a little smile makes me believe that that the step forward to acceptance was not only made by the series.

There's another character who's not totally new but seems to be at the same time: Gabriel. We have known him since season two by the name of "Trickster", but thanks to Castiel we find out, along with the brothers, that he was an archangel all along (who gave us some of the funniest episodes, and especially Dean thirsting over Dr. Sexy in episode 05x08). They ask him to join their side, but quickly understand he doesn't want to be on anyone's side. He fortunately changes his mind on episode 05x19 and sides with Sam and Dean, only to be killed by Lucifer at the end of the episode. Gabriel is my favourite angel besides Castiel, for obvious reasons, so I was very happy he decided to risk it all and go against his brother to be on the Winchesters' squad.

To conclude, as much as I think there are some parts of the season they could have done better (for example the scene with Lucifer and Michael in the last episode), I believe this is one of the best seasons of the show, so we'll see if after rewatching the other ten seasons I will have the same opinion.

- Carly 💚