Fantastical Musings

Okay, I cannot tell a lie, I was not the biggest fan of this episode. Like, don't get me wrong, it's still Peaky Blinders , so it's automatically better than like 90% of shows out there, but this was not its best moment. In my opinion, anyway. First of all, I am supremely annoyed by the time jump. Like, I don't mind when shows do time jumps when nothing much happens, but it seemed like a LOT happened here. First of all, Freddie died offscreen?????????? I cannot express to you how much I am NOT okay with that. I'm guessing there was some issue with the actor's contract because I can't imagine that the writers would choose to kill a major character offscreen. Like, that was so un-cool. At the very least, we earned a dramatic death scene and a wake in the Garrison! Also, it appears that Ada and Freddie were living in London. So, if they were okay with that, why did Freddie refuse to leave Birmingham in season one??? I am retroactively frustrated wit

Wow! That ending though! Talk about a cliffhanger. I just about jumped out of my skin when that truck plowed into them ! imagine all the people in 2006 having to wait a year to find out how that ending resolved itself; I mean, I suppose it could have been potentially longer than a year because no one knew if the show would be renewed at this point. As you can probably guess, I have THOUGHTS about this episode. I mean, there was so much here to unpack, I don’t know where to start. But, before we dive in, I do think we should have a moment of silence for Bobby’s dog, which appears to have been killed by demon-Meg. Like, seriously? This was the first time there was a pet in the show, and it DIES. Not cool. I can countenance a lot of disturbing and messed up things in this show, but killing a dog is one thing I can not deal with! Anyway, let me get off my soapbox and back to the main plot. In case you need a recap, this episode starts out with the boys learning that their father has been c

Well guys, this is it. Sam and Dean and John finally have an opportunity to kill the thing that killed Mary and Jessica. Prett-y big deal. But, of course, it wasn’t that simple. The whole time they were winding up to go into the house and get the demon, I kept thinking, “it can’t be this easy, right?” I mean, I kind of expected the finding and killing of the demon to go on for two or three seasons at least, which is why it was good(?) they didn’t end up destroying the demon. I feel like that storyline deserves a more satisfying conclusion. This was an interesting episode because we touched on a lot of plots and a lot of stuff happened, but I don’t really feel like the story arc as a whole moved a lot. This episode kind of felt like it was just setting the stage for the finale; it’s obviously important, but on its own it’s not very memorable. Basically what happens is the Winchesters get wind that the demon is going to attack another family. They’re able to figure out who it will be, an

That episode though! Now THAT was a season finale. Wow! Just wow! If that's not a cliffhanger, I don't know what is. All I can say is Grace better not be dead. I get that maybe she and Thomas can't be together (and I don't think anyone wants to see them run off to New York together), but her death would just destroy him, and that would be painful to watch. If she is dead, I don't think they would introduce another love interest for Tommy. I think she'll be like the only woman he ever loved, like Jax and Tara in Sons of Anarchy (which apparently is my favorite show to compare this show to). Alternatively, I suppose it could be Campbell who is dead, which would be extremely satisfying. I think I've said it before, but I HATE that character, even more so now that we've seen him abuse a prostitute. I mean, we already had to lose Danny in this episode, the least the writers could do is kill Campbell. Speaking of Danny, I am HEARTBROKEN that he died

I guess this episode aired before the Twilight craze hit America because otherwise the vampires in this episode would be sparkling. Seriously though, I found the vamps in this episode to be a little underwhelming. After watching shows like True Blood and even The Vampire Diaries (which I used to watch religiously on the CW when I was in high school; yes, I was that girl), these vampires seem a bit lame. I mean, even the Twilight vampires might have been scarier, and they were disastrously unscary. However, I get that vamps were not the important part of the episode. The important part of the episode was that 1) our boys got a magic gun and 2) we finally get to see John, Sam, and Dean hunt together, which was prettyyyyy impressive if you ask me. If they were together all the time, you can imagine that they would just be ripping through ghosts every day! We also got to see Dean stand up to their dad, which was so satisfying, especially after he criticized the way Dean was taking care

Oh my goodness, this episode KILLED me! My heart MELTED while I was watching this. It is now a puddle of goo on the floor. There were just too many emotions! My cardiovascular system couldn't handle it all. When Tommy and Grace are in bed together, and he asks her if she'll help him, I died. Like, give that man an Emmy right now. That was such a good acting moment, I can't even describe it. When he's asking her to be part of his life, you really feel his relief at finding someone he can open up to and his anguish about all of the burdens he's carrying. It's a really powerful moment. I mean, if Grace wasn't in love with him then (although I think she was), she would have been after that! In fact, I don't know how any human being with emotions could have said no to him in that moment. Plus, that scene was just designed to make your heart flutter with the dancing and the violin music. And who didn't enjoy seeing Cillian Murphy shirtless? He's drea

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: little girl ghosts creep me out. Like, there is nothing more frightening to me in this show than the evil little girls. Which is why I found this episode to be absolutely, positively TERRIFYING. I mean, the creepy moving painting by itself would have put me over the edge. When you throw in the murderous little girl with the razor blade and the doll with human hair, I’m down for the count. Seriously, I think I covered my eyes for at least 50% of this episode. On the plus side, Sam had a love connection in this episode (cue the heart emojis). I ship him with Sarah. They are a really cute couple. I like that Sarah wants to help to track down evil spirits. If that’s not a great idea for a date night, I don’t know what is. I hope that we see Sarah in future episodes, but, somehow, I don’t think we will. All the same, I think it was important for Sam to form some sort of romantic relationship after losing Jessica. Obviously, what happened to Jessi

Okay, what is Sam wearing in this episode? Is that a greyhound on his shirt? I don’t get it. I swear, this 2005 fashion will be the death of me. Seriously though, this episode hit me right in the feels. First of all, Dean with kids is EVERYTHING. Every time he interacts with a child, adorableness ensues. When he was talking to that little boy about being a big brother, it was all I could do to hold back the tears. Plus, those flashbacks were painfully cute. Dean was such a good big brother, *snift* *snift.* Like, I’m an only child, but I can tell you with 100% certainty that there’s no way I would be giving away bowls of Lucky Charms to anybody. And, of course, his flashback father had to be super mean to him. Like, Dean was about eight years old in this episode. How was it his responsibility to take care of Sam? I have news for you, John Winchester, it was your job to take care of Sam. Like, what type of crappy parenting is that? Blame your eight-year-old child and give him a psycho

So, this episode was interesting because we finally got to learn more about John. Out of the brothers, I feel like he's the most neglected in terms of screen time and exposition (except for Finn, and it took me a while to realize that he was actually their brother, so that's saying something). Anyway. In this episode, John decides he wants to marry a prostitute named Lizzie Stark (who also happens to be the prostitute Tommy has been seeing since he got back from the war. Awkward, huh?). They really seem to have genuine feelings for each other (or, at least, John has feelings for Lizzie; it's a bit harder to tell how she really feels), so it kind of sucks that Tommy decided to bust up that relationship. Basically, Tommy reveals to John that Lizzie has continued to work after becoming engaged to him. I feel like it's a bit harsh for John to dump her over that. Like, let's keep it real, she needs to support herself. How is she supposed to earn money if she can

I want it to be noted for the record that I called right away that the symbol on the wall of the house was the Blue Oyster Cult logo. When I saw it, I was like “wait a minute...BOC? What’s going on here?” What can I say, I’m a walking, talking classic rock encyclopedia. Seriously though, this was a great episode. I mean, this one was fun . I love the wannabe ghost hunters who think they’re like big, tough professionals. Those two guys we hi-larious. I love that they’re all “please, step aside, we are professional paranormal investigators” and then the next minute they’re like, “but what would Buffy do?” It was comedy GOLD. Can you imagine how they would react if they knew what Sam and Dean actually do everyday? It would be too funny. Anyway, I love all the pranks that Sam and Dean pulled on each other, and I love that they shoot the ghost with guns. Like, we’ve seen them do this before, but it’s never not great. It’s just so satisfying to watch them blow those ghosts away. It is so coo

I love that Thomas' expression of affection for Grace is telling Kimber that she has the clap. It was so over the top it was almost funny; although, in a good way. In all seriousness though, I enjoyed this episode to PIECES. It was great. (Except for the part when Arthur cut off that guy's ear; that was a bit much for me). I feel like we're really getting into the meat of the plot in this episode. There are a lot of machinations going on between the PBs, the IRA, the police, etc, etc. We get to see Tommy execute his plot to get in Billy Kimber's good graces by protecting his bookies from the Lee family, which seems like a pretty smart strategy to me. I'm not super interested in the plots, alliances, and betrayals aspect of the show. To me, the interesting part of the show is the interpersonal relationships and the way the characters are developed. Speaking of character development, we learn a lot about Tommy's experiences in the war in this episode (and,

If one thing’s for sure, it’s that it’s not safe to be in the opening scene of an episode of Supernatural . Like, when that girl was being chased by the shadow in the alley, I was like “oh, goodbye, you’re dead; that’s it!” But, I think the real, big news in this episode is that Meg is back, and so is their father. Yay/not yay? I don’t know how to feel. To be honest, I did not love this episode. There was nothing really wrong with it, but I just felt that it lacked a certain PIZAZZ. Ya know what I mean? Like sometimes Supernatural episodes stick with you, but this one I forgot about almost right after watching it. Like, I guess I’m glad we have a recurring villain. I love to hate Meg’s freaky, black-altar, demon magic stuff (and I just hate hate her stupid hair cut). However, I feel like the plot of this episode was kind of weak. I just couldn’t dig the shadow demons. They were kind of lame. Scary, sure, but kind of lame. Sorry. If you need a recap, in this episode, Sam and Dean travel

AHHHHHHH! THIS EPISODE WAS SO DISTURBING! AHHHHHHHH! I can NOT deal with this episode right now. I CAN NOT! It was just so gross and disturbing and upsetting and just *chilling*. And the worst/best part of this episode was the “monsters” were people! I mean, they were actual humans. How horrifying is that? But seriously, my favorite part of the episode was when Dean comes in to save Sam and the cop, and Sam is like “dude, they’re just people?” and Dean is like “they’re just people???? Must be gettin’ a little rusty there, kiddo.” That was totally hilarious! I also liked the moment at the end of the episode when Dean was like “you’d better not do that to me again. If you get captured, I’m not looking for you.” I was like, “aw, Dean, we all know that you’ll always look for Sam.” I mean, he basically said in this episode that he feels responsible for Sam. Speaking of Sam, he did have a pretty funny one-liner in this episode (I know, it shocked me too), “It’s a bracket.” I don’t know if it

Well, I guess we know why they call them Peaky Blinders now. I can't lie, when I first saw the hats with razor blades in episode one, I didn't think it was particularly menacing, maybe because it looks a bit funny. However, after watching them cut up the Lee family at the beginning of this episode, I am appropriately menaced by the Peaky Blinders. Seriously though, this was such 👏 a 👏good 👏episode! I LOVED it. If you need a recap, we basically just learned more about the Shelby family in this episode and continued some of the plot lines we started in episode one. The PBs get into a fight with the Lee family after Tommy stops by the fair to get a horse. When they return, they find that the police have raided the communists and smashed up the bars they protect, all in search of the guns that the PBs stole. Thomas retaliates by burning photos of the king, telling a reporter that the residents of Small Heath didn't want the king to see the things the police are doing t

Wow, I felt bad for Max in this episode. I mean, I think we were supposed to feel bad for him, but my goodness his life seemed MISERABLE! It’s tough to blame him for killing his father and his uncle, although I’m glad he didn’t kill Aunt Zelda (in case you didn’t notice, the actress who played the stepmother also played Aunt Zelda on the original Sabrina the Teenage Witch ). Overall, this episode was just sad . On the whole, I didn’t love it because it was just so emotionally stressful to watch, but we did get a lot of important information here. Like, who knew that Sam wasn’t the only one with psychic powers? We also learned that there are other children whose mothers died in a fire in their nursery, creepy, right? Obviously, that was a HUGE reveal. I don’t have to guess very much to know that that is going to be a BIG plot point going forward. In case you need a recap, in this episode Sam has a vision of a man being murdered in a way that makes it look like suicide. Sam and Dean arri

So, I have to admit that people have been telling me to watch Peaky Blinders for years, but, somehow, I never got around to it, which is strange because, on the surface,  Peaky Blinders  is everything I like in television. It's a period drama, set in England, with a dark, brooding, leading man; I should love it, right? Well, I'm not sure why I resisted watching it for so long because this show is FAN-TASTIC. I mean, I've only seen the first episode at this point, but I can already tell that it is really and truly wonderful. First of all, where has Cillian Murphy been all my life? How is he like the best actor ever, and I've never heard of him? Maybe he's big in the UK and not so much in the US? Or maybe I've been living under a rock? I don't know. (After I saw him in this show, I did look up his filmography, and I realized that I must have seen him in Girl with a Pearl Earring, In the Heart of the Sea,  and Cold Mountain , but I haven't seen any of

Okay, so, I’m glad that Dean had a love connection in this episode (although that sex scene was one of the most awkward things I’ve ever seen on TV. Who picked that music???), but, let’s keep it real, this episode was pretty weak. In this episode, we’re introduced to Dean’s first love, Cassie. They reunite because Cassie believes that something supernatural has killed her father (so romantic, right?). Sam and Dean investigate and discover that her father and his friends are being picked off by a vengeful spirit, Cyrus Dorian. While he was alive, Dorian generally tormented the African American people in the community and specifically tried to prevent Cassie’s parents from getting married because they were an interracial couple. Cassie’s father and his friends were eventually forced to kill Dorian in self defense. His ghost manifests as a large truck, which is bent on running his enemies off the road and killing them. Fortunately, Sam and Dean are able to destroy the ghost by luring the

Okay, I am EXTREMELY angry that I didn’t get to watch this episode with “Don’t Fear the Reaper.” I just recently learned that Netflix decided to change the music in some of the episodes of Supernatural . For some incomprehensible reason, they’re swapping out classic rock GOLD for like generic electric guitar sounds. Like what? Anyway, the whole time I was watching this episode, I was thinking to myself “this would be so much better if they played “Don’t Fear the Reaper.”” And, then, later I learned that the song was in the original version of the episode, and Netflix took it out. In case you don’t know, “Don’t Fear the Reaper” is great song by Blue Oyster Cult, and it would have been absolutely perfect in this episode. And Netflix took it out!!!! I cannot express how much rage I’m feeling against Netflix at the moment. GAH! Okay, let me calm down and get to talking about the actual episode. So, at the beginning of this episode, we see Dean get electrocuted and almost die. The doctors s

Scarecrow = creepy. Haunted monster scarecrow = RUN FOR YOUR LIFE! I really liked this episode, but MAN was it ever scary. Like, I can tolerate a lot of gore, but a murderous, demi-god scarecrow that wears the skins of its victims is next level. Like, how does that not give you nightmares? The whole vibe of this episode actually reminded me of American Gods (possible spoilers ahead!) . In the book, there’s this god-creature that sacrifices children to ensure that everything will continue to go right in the town. As long as a child dies every year, the community will thrive and everyone will be prosperous. Obviously, it’s seriously creepy. Anyway, back to focusing on Supernatural . In case you need a recap, there’s this creepy little town in the middle of nowhere where everything is perfect (it’s creepy because it’s perfect). The townspeople maintain this prosperity by sacrificing one man and one woman to their scarecrow god, who lives in the apple orchard, every year. Sam and

Have you ever looked at a trailer for a movie or a synopsis of a TV show and just thought, “can’t do it. That’s too scary for me.” Well, that was me with this episode. I wanted to skip this episode so badly. I read the little Netflix summary of it, and I was like “oh, I can’t watch that. That might actually scare me to death.” ...And of course, I watched it anyway. I think I might have white hairs now; that’s how scary this episode was. I mean, it was truly HORRIFYING. It is literally all the ingredients of horror movies wrapped up into one, 45-minute package. Psychotic doctor? Check. Crazed patients? Check. Haunted asylum? Check. Possession? Check. Doors that open and close by themselves? Check. Kids that wander into haunted buildings inexplicably? Double check. Seriously, why do the people in horror movies and TV shows insist on going back to the haunted buildings? Haven’t they seen any horror movies? Especially teenagers. Can someone please explain to me why teenagers go

Okay, maybe it was the clapping monkey toy, but this episode was absolutely TERRIFYING! Scratch that, it was DEFINITELY the clapping monkey toy. Why are those things in every horror movie/show ever? I mean, I guess they’re effective because those things are incredibly creepy, especially with some scary music in the background. Like, I sincerely hope no one is actually buying those things for their kids these days. I feel like you’re just asking to give your kid nightmares for the rest of their life if you give them one of those toys. But seriously, this was a very scary episode. I feel like I spent half the episode covering my eyes. They didn’t even show anything particularly scary; it was just the TENSION that made it unbearable. Man, do the writers of this show ever know how to build suspense! In this episode, Sam has a vision of a woman trapped and calling for help in the home where he and Dean lived before the death of their mother. They return to Lawrence, Kansas where they

Oh, this episode. I cannot deal with this episode. I don’t even know what to say about it. It was just LAME. I mean, honestly, it was. I know a lot of people who watch Supernatural , and they all say that this is one of the worst episodes of the series. I get that bugs are part of the natural world and they’re important to the ecosystem and all that jazz, but bugs are ICKY, and I don’t want to see them on my TV, and I certainly don’t an entire episode of Supernatural centered around them. Also, like, bugs are gross, but they kind of suck as a curse. Like, what happened to rains of blood or a plague on both your houses? Spiders in your shower are HORRIFYING, but that’s not a real curse. It’s also lucky that they aired this episode in 2005 because I can guarantee you the cursed Native American burial ground storyline would not fly in 2019. That would be way too controversial. In case you need a recap, this episode focuses on a housing development that is cursed. Every year, for

This episode was billed to me as really terrifying. When I would tell friends that I was watching Supernatural and found it scary, they would be like “oh, wait until you get to the Hook Man, it’ll knock your socks off.” So, of course, I psyched myself up for it, and then...it wasn’t that scary. I mean, it was dark and gory, sure. But scary? Not really. Basically, Sam and Dean hear that a spirit with a hook hand has been terrorizing a community. They learn that he is the spirit of moralistic pastor, but the Hook Man manages to kill several people before Sam and Dean realize that the current pastor’s daughter is inadvertently controlling the spirit. The daughter has a necklace made out of the silver of the Hook Man’s hook, forcing the spirit to take revenge on the people who have made her angry. Sam and Dean destroy the necklace, and everything is right with the world. Overall, I didn’t have strong feelings about this episode. It was well written, and it had a good plot with a goo

So, apparently Dean is now legally dead. I’m curious to see what sort of implications THAT is going to have down the line. I, for one, was disappointed that Dean didn’t get to attend his own funeral in this episode. Although, that would have been trippy. Other than that, I think this was my favorite Supernatural episode thus far. It was a lot of fun to see the boys crawling through the sewers tracking down shapeshifters. Incredibly gross, but fun! In this episode, one of Sam’s friends (Rebecca) calls him to say that their other friend was arrested for assaulting his girlfriend. Sam and Dean discover that it actually wasn’t actually the friend at all, but a shapeshifter (spooky, huh?). Of course, one thing leads to another, and the shape shifter ends up impersonating Dean and beating up Rebecca. Of course, the real Sam and Dean catch onto him and end up killing the shapeshifter while he looks like Dean (which is why everyone believes Dean is dead). It’s all such wonderful drama! Se

*Excuse me for a moment while I cover all the mirrors around me.* Okay, I’m back. Let’s talk about this episode of Supernatural . I’m just going to come right out and say it. This episode was SCARY . I mean, it was a straight up horror movie in miniature. The moment I saw the title, I knew it was going to be a rough 45 minutes for me, and oh boy was I ever right. I think this was particularly scary because Bloody Mary is a horror story that you inevitably encounter during your childhood. When this episode aired, I’m sure thousands of people immediately had flashbacks to sleepovers where they got dared to go into the bathroom and say you-know-who’s name. I don’t think I ever did that, but I certainly know people who did. It’s one of those things that terrifies you as a kid, hence it creeps you out as an adult too. But, I think it was the bleeding eyes that really got to me. I just can’t with bleeding eyes. I CAN’T. That was really dark. The last scene was especially tough to wa

If I were to take a guess, I would say that this is probably the scariest episode of Supernatural for a lot of people. If you’re already predisposed to be afraid of flying (like our gallant hero Dean Winchester), I imagine this storyline is terrifying. I mostly hate flying, but that’s more because airports are the most stressful places on the planet than because I’m afraid of being in an airplane. So, I had no problem watching this episode. I did, however, think it was slightly lame. I say slightly because I enjoyed watching it, but I felt like it was just kind of uninspired compared to the other episodes we’ve seen so far in this season. It was, however, pretty funny. I love that Dean hums Metallica to calm himself down, and the two of them pretending to be Homeland Security agents was fantastic. Plus, the walkman EMF meter was just hilarious. Side note, did people actually still have walkmans in 2005? I’d be low-key shocked if they did. I seem to remember all the cool kids havin

Before we get started, I just need one moment to freak out: THAT LITTLE BOY IN THE LAKE WAS SO CREEPY. AHHHHHHH! When the little grey hand reached out of the water and grabbed this little boy, I’m pretty sure I shrieked. However, seriously, out of all the Supernatural episodes I’ve seen so far, this one was probably the least scary. It was definitely disturbing and sad, but not really scary. There were just enough creepy elements to keep the tension high, but not enough to actually frighten anyone. This episode seemed to be more about figuring out the mystery of the lake than freaking everyone out with jump scares, which I certainly enjoyed. In case you need a refresher, the vengeful spirit of a little boy is trying to punish the two people who killed him by drowning their family members in the lake where they dumped his body. It’s a very sad episode because the two murderers were also children at the time and killed him accidentally. At the end of the episode, one of the men who

The whole time I was watching this episode, I kept thinking to myself “see, this is why I don’t go outside. Why go walk around in nature, which is dirty and wet, when you have a perfectly nice climate controlled house?” Basically, in this episode, Sam and Dean follow coordinates written in their dad’s journal to a stretch of forest where a wendigo (a kind of immortal, super strong cannibal monster) is snatching people up and torturing/eating them. The sister of one of the missing people (a guy with a DISASTROUSLY 2005 puka shell necklace) decides to go out into the woods to find him, so Sam and Dean are basically forced to come along. Sounds like a fun weekend camping trip, right? Overall, I was not a huge fan of this episode. It wasn’t as scary as the first one, but it was pretty dark and disturbing (although that’s kind of the point). Some of it was really over the top too. Like, when Sam and Dean go to talk to the person who survived the last wendigo attack, they find him sittin

So. I know I’m really behind on the times, but I just started watching the show Supernatural. Now. In 2019. Just in time for the last season to air. So, I guess I timed that well. But, in all seriousness, I’ve been hearing about Supernatural for years, and a bunch of people recommended it to me, but I could never watch it because a) I thought it would be too scary and b) I didn’t have a good way to stream it at the time. I did try to watch the first episode a few years back, and it freaked me out way too much, and I had to stop. (As you can probably surmise, I have a very low tolerance for being scared, especially if it involves ghosts). However, I’ve been hearing recently about how excited people are for the last season of Supernatural, so I suggested to my roommate that we try to watch it together (she was also apprehensive about watching it alone). Long story short, we’re now on the second season, and I’m totally hooked. In fact, I’ve been enjoying the show so much that I’ve decided

I don't think it's controversial to say that season 8 of Game of Thrones has been divisive.  There are a lot of scenes and episodes that many people take issue with, often for legitimate reasons. In fact, this is so much the case that there is currently a petition on Change.org with a million signers asking HBO to re-do season 8 . I myself am deeply disappointed in the direction season 8 has taken, especially episode 5 ("The Bells"). I'm not going to re-hash why I feel this way because I think a lot of people have had their say about this, and I'm probably not going to add much. If you want to know why I feel this way, you can read my review of season 8 episode 5. The fact is that the writers have ruined the ending of the Game of Thrones TV show. Okay. So, what now? Although the final episode redeemed some of the missteps made earlier in season 8, in many ways the show came to a deeply unsatisfying conclusion that left a lot of people feeling that the

I have never been truly disappointed by an episode of Game of Thrones before, but boy am I disappointed now. Actually, frustrated is a better word. It's as if the showrunners have been watching a completely different show all this time; what's been happening in season 8 has convinced me that they don't understand their own show at all, or--even worse--they don't care about it anymore. A quick disclaimer before we start: I know some people like this season. I know some people are happy with how this is working out. This is no shade to you. Your opinions are valid, and I respect them. Frankly, I wish I could enjoy this season too. I've defended this show for YEARS, even when they made big plot bumbles (in my opinion). I've defended other episodes in this season because I thought we were building to something that would be satisfying. Now, I'm beginning to regret that. I never thought I'd say this, but I'm glad the show will be over next week. I'