SPN 4x06 "Yellow Fever"

[druffine]

My opinion of the lates Supernatural episode:



At the beginning of the episode I was pretty deflated because, damn, just another funny episode again. I want plot! I want angst!

I got to say I don't like the “Monster Movie” that much. For one, it was black & white and the music was ugly and now everybody again thinks all Germans are Bavarians - which they are not. Actually we consider the Bavarian as “weird” while Bavarian speak of their own state as not belonging to Germany. They are weird and right-conservative and traditionalists and look ridiculous with their leather pants and dirndls! I'm German – I'm allowed to say that. And their whole homeland attitude and dialect sucks, too, because you can't even understand them on the phone! I know what I'm talking about. And I gotta pull back a little and say that this all goes for most of the people over 45 years who live there. Younger people are more open to be European.)

Anyway, this episode totally drew me in. To see Dean going through various fears and getting more scared with every second wasn't what kept my eyes glued to the screen. I was surprised, to say the least, by how Sam reacted to Dean's upcoming death – or rather how he did not react at all.

There was no scene, no hint of Sam pulling himself together to solve the case. He wasn't taking Dean's fears serious. Yeah, his behavior was ridiculous but the clock was tick-tick-ticking away and Sam did not look like he was afraid of losing his brother again. This worries me – but I posted about the boys being disconnected before.

Like other people I've seen that weird smirk Sam gives Luthor, too, when he's pushed down onto the floor during that fight. I thought it was some scrambled up acting – maybe a pain grimace gone the wrong way – but now I'm not so sure anymore.

When Dean hallucinated, he conjured up his own worst fears. At first it was Sam who turned YED without being possessed, who was cold and over mighty with those demon powers and who'd put him back into hell.

I'm not sure if that flash of YED at the end of the episode was real. It could be they just wanted us viewers to realize how close to the truth Dean's fears are, like a metaphor.

Or were Sam's eyes flashing for real – on a sunny afternoon after a successful hunt and a beer with his brother to party about it? Sam didn't seem to feel it – is that the demon blood coming to the surface even if Sam doesn't use his powers actively?

Erm... did anyone else notice that all the conversations about Sam's demon nature are held outside of the Impala with a pretty landscape around?

Anyway, if we're gonna get more YE!Sam and he acts him like this – arrogant, confident and pure(evil) – wow, we're in over our heads. It'll be awesome to see that.

When Dean grabbed the bible and closed his eyes, I don't think he prayed. Dean believes in what he has seen with his own eyes and God is not on that list. I interpret it as a shout-out for Castiel to save him (again).

The episode itself was full of pretty, pretty shots of both the boys and the added “Eye of the Tiger” scene just made my panties explode. I just wish there were pictures from farther away, showing Dean sitting on the car door or on the car with the whole Impala on it. Are there any?

Comments

[tabaqui]

Oooh, i loved 'Monster Movie'! Such a shout-out to old movies of the past, with the overblown acting and the Drama! And trust me, Americans with half a brain know that 'Oktoberfest' is just a code word for 'lots and lots of beer'. Nobody really connects it to Germans or Germany except in teeny little towns that were founded by German immigrants and even *those* people have forgotten most of what it means to be German.

*pet pet pet pet pet pet pet*

I think they gave us two rather light-hearted episodes because they're gonna whammy us hard-core for the next several weeks until we have that miserable over-xmas hiatus. *clutches heart*

And yes! Evil!Sammy is freaky and horrible and he *would* be like that, so arrogant and cold - Pride called it. Oh, man, that would suck so hard....

I couldn't see the yellow in the last scene - my tv is going dead, i think - but i saw it on my dl and oooh, man. Yeah. Creepy and horrible and *what was it*!!!!!
*flails a little*

JA dancing around to 'Eye of the Tiger' is just too awesome for words.
:)
*waves*
Hi!

[druffine.livejournal.com]

Well, I try to believe you on the "Oktoberfest" thing. LOL.

I totally hope for the hard-core whammy! I'm ready for it - why isn't it Thursday next week already?

Evil!Sammy is totally sexy, too! Pride fits him well indeed. Have you read rei_c latest fic?

*waves back* Hi to you too! Nice to see you!

[tabaqui]

Heeeeee. Trust me! Most American Germans who've been her for a couple-three generations don't have a clue anymore.

I'm....not totally ready for the whammy, but i know it's coming. Ooh, it's gonna hurt. Evil Sammy *rocks*, omg.

And no, i cannot read her fic anymore, and particularly not something with long, drawn-out descriptions of torture. No, thank you.

[druffine.livejournal.com]

Erm, okay. The torture is an argument but it wasn't that specific or well, maybe it was, the more I think about it, well, yes, not for the light-hearted.

BUT the ideas behind it... it was a great read.

[tabaqui]

I skimmed it. Read the last bit. I *have* enjoyed her fic in the past. This...i loathed. Nothing about it spoke to me, and i have less and less enjoyed her 'take' on Sam and Dean until now, i simply cannot read her at all.

I'm not sqweemish, but i don't need a fic that's 3/4ths descriptions of torture and then a heap of more torture and then a bit more. Just...no.

[druffine.livejournal.com]

Well, I was more focussed on the way Sam got attached to Lilith and Sycorax and how he dealt with that in the real world, how Dean reacted to it.

For me it was a believable journey, just the last 10 pages were a bit weak, she could have gotten her point across a bit clearer. Which reminds me that I wanted to write her about that.

[tabaqui]

Heee.
I'm not trying to harsh your bliss or anything, really.

I just....eh. And yuck. So Sam's tortured for three days and suddenly demons are his friends, he dies without painful sex, wtfever?

I just.....no. All the way 'round. And all 'in love' or wtf ever with Lilith? Please. I've disliked how she writes Sam for a while. She gives him powers - makes him other - makes him 'removed' from Dean and then writes him in such a way that, to me, the uppermost emotion i get from Sam regarding Dean is a kind of amused contempt and affection like 'oh, little puppy thinks he's tough!' kind of dismissiveness and that just does *not* work for me. That and Dean being constantly relegated to second place, baffled and lied to and not 'getting' it but also not really being given the information he needs, being used....

Just my opinion/interpretation, mind you. I read 'five districts/five drugs' and by the end i was worn out from what she did to them and how she wrote then and had really had enough.

[druffine.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm just discussing - not angry or something. Actually I enjoy finally talking with *someone* about it.

3 days in hell - every second an eternity. I think she got the concept down pretty good and I felt how that changed Sam in a fundamental way. And I could understand his need for pain after that. I also understood that when everything is brutal around you for eternities you look forward to the thing that hurts you less which in this case was Lilith.

Demons were not his friends. Hell unlocked his powers and he, as their boy king, connected to all demons. This connection was like a lifeline and hurt to not have. He tried shielding himself and it just made his need grow.

I hated that Dean was a second. I hated that Sam kept information from him and all. But Dean could never be a part of the connection, he'd never share that with Sam. Still, in the end Sam decides Dean is the one he needs the most and stays with him even if it rips him apart to not follow his connection. Unfortunately, this decision and the consequences is what comes over a bit abrupt and weak in her writing.

I think she kept Dean pretty real though. He's still doing everything for his little brother, doesn't do anything to hurt him even if Sam begs him to and is not judging. Anyway, in that kind of relationship I'd withdrawn long time ago because I'd never be enough for the other. But... Dean's used to that, isn't he? *fg*

5D5D I have a different opinion on. I read that first when it only had the first 5 fics and the "epilogue". I read all 5 fics and for me they were beginnings to a whole lot of more fics. I guess you can imagine my disappointment when I got to the 1,000 words epilogue that left pretty much everything unanswered. I spent a lot of time ranting that she took 5 absolutely interesting beginnings of a fic and left them there. Like 5 WiPs. I'm still grumpy even if there are more fics now in some verses. It just felt like she started and reserved them so the idea was "used" but the fic never complete. Unsatisfying.

[tabaqui]

Like i said, i skimmed a lot of it - het-torture-sex? Uh, no. And only really read the last bit so i'd know wtf. And it was simply....unsatisfying. Unrealistic, to me, and again - Dean is used and pushed aside, Sam has these powers and knowledge and is the 'boy king', which allows the demons to be snarky and sarcastic and annoying to Dean and possessive of Sam which - hey, fine, but she never, to me, shows Sam stopping them from doing that or gives Dean any sort of edge and hey, maybe wishful thinking but it's the *Sam'n'Dean* show, in my mind, and other things are not only not fun but OOC, to me.

Eh.

I just....i got grumpier and grumpier as the 5d5d stories played out and i'm just....done.

I'm enjoying, very much, candle_beck and fresne and buffyaddict13 with her awesome SPN/Criminal Minds xover.

I like to discuss, too, i just didn't want to let my disappointments or whatever harsh your bliss on a story you obviously liked.

[druffine.livejournal.com]

Nah, I'm adult enough to get that there are different tastes. LOL. You're probably looking for something completely different in a fic than I do. So I don't have a problem if you don't like the fics I like or the other way around.

I don't read anything with less than 10,000 words - you seem to like a short piece more.

I'll check out those authors you mentioned, though.

I'm not into Criminal Minds. It's just too hard yet in English. There are so many technical terms and trade marks (for medical stuff) I don't know and it's hard to keep up the interest if you don't understand half of what is talked about.

I'm not so much of a crime/thriller fan anyway, not in German nor in English. I'm all for the angst and emotional disaster. I don't care why or how someone was killed - I want to know what the murder is going through emotionally.

I don't read Gen or case fics - but I need some plot. I don't get anything out of PWP either.

[tabaqui]

I'll read either/or - i like long pieces, too, but i tend to lose track if they're not completed or well posted, heh. If you post a part one week and then don't post again for a month, i've forgotten already! So i need either really good links or something.

I think a lot of people find longer pieces to be difficult to write, and so don't attempt them, which is understandable.

Yes, please, check them out! If you like longer things, check out eighth_horizon, as well, and dodger_winslow and big_pink.

Criminal Minds is good. It's a bit technical, yes - i guarantee that not all the english-speaking audience can understand it all, either! I've seen a few episodes, but not a ton - you don't really have to know the show inside-and-out to enjoy that crossover, in my mind....

I love a good case fic, especially when there's another, underlying story going on. Gen works sometimes, it depends. PWP is......well....every now and again, it's okay. We all need a little indulgent triple-fudge every once in a while! But a steady diet, yeah...no thanks.

[druffine.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I keep away from WiPs mostly. I don't have the time to keep track of them. There is enough fic to read in the meanwhile and come back when they're finished.

So far I've read a few fics of candle_beck. I like them, they are very well written. So thanks for that rec. I'll go check the others, too.

I think it's great that there are people who are imaginative enough to write a good and detailed case-fic - it's just not my thing. I'm getting bored by all the history and explaining. As I said, I'm not such a crime thriller fan.

In the end it's the writing that counts. I've been dragged into all kinds of fic by good authors.

[tabaqui]

Yes exactly! I've read some strange stuff because the author was good.... :)