Fantastical Musings

YAAAS! Uhtred of Bebbanburg is back! Words cannot express how excited I am that The Last Kingdom is back for another season.  Season three ended on such an emotional note, and I really missed the show. Plus, the current lockdown is the perfect time to binge it. Anyway, it looks like season four is off to a strong start. In this episode, Uhtred kidnapped someone, seduced a princess (to be fair, he had done that before), and started a new quest to reclaim his homeland...so, it was a pretty uneventful episode, right? I have to say that, as always, I'm a sucker for romance, so my favorite scenes of the episode were the moments between Uhtred and Aethelflaed. They have this whole doomed love thing going on that I both love and hate. Like, I just want them to be together, okay? Is that too much to ask, Netflix? Speaking of women I love on this show, my girl Brida is looking real good in this premiere. I think she got a new look or a haircut or something becau...

The TWISTS! The TURNS! I seriously thought that everyone was the siren at some point during this episode. But I thought it was a good surprise that it was actually Munroe. (Although, TBH, I did suspect him a bit after he knew all the years that all the Led Zeppelin songs were released. There is such a thing as too perfect.) I do think it’s interesting that Dean’s ideal person is not a romantic partner but a friend who shares his interests and is sympathetic to what he’s going through. It says a lot about his emotional needs. I mean, clearly he doesn’t feel he can talk to Sam, which is sad. Their brother relationship has really taken a hit in the past season. In case you don’t remember, in this episode, a siren appears in a town and starts to convince men to murder their wives. Sam and Dean arrive to investigate, but the siren manages to seduce both of them, and they almost end up killing each other. The episode concludes with Bobby killing the sirens. The only thing I don’t get is why...

WELL. This episode hit me right in the feels. As much as Dean in those tight shorts was hilarious, this was actually a really emotional episode. Little Sam trying to deal with bullying and making friends almost made me cry! It was so cute and so sad all at the same time. Plus, it was impossible not to tear up when Sam was talking to his teacher about how he didn’t want to go into the family business. It’s impossible to over emphasis how terrible Sam and Dean’s childhood was. I mean, the fact that Sam felt as a child that he had no choices in life is horrible, and Dean wasn’t even better! The fact that he had to take care of Sam and be the adult in their relationship when he himself was a child is just so sad! I mean, I know that Dean behaved like he didn’t care that he and Sam were on their own, but it was clear that it got to him. In case you need a reminder, in this episode, Sam and Dean go to one of their old high schools to investigate a ghost who has been possessing kids and forc...

On title alone, I think this episode gets an A+ from me. You gotta hand it to the writers; they’re very creative in naming each episode. Plus, I think the idea of Sam and Dean (who obviously encounter real magic all the time) dealing with fake magic is really funny. I loved it when they were watching the guy pretend to be possessed like “come on, really?” In case you need a reminder, this episode deals with a festival/convention for stage magicians. There’s a group of older magicians in attendance who are made to feel inadequate and useless by the younger magicians, so much sp that one of them decides to kill himself by performing a dangerous trick. This episode was entertaining, but it wasn’t really a favorite for me. It did, however, bring up some interesting points. First of all, I’m dying to know what Ruby wants Sam to do that he doesn’t want to do. I’m 100% sure that whatever it is, Dean will NOT approve. Seriously though, obviously it’s something dark and morally objectionable...

Well THAT was fuel for nightmares. Like, jeez! They put every horrifying thing that they possibly could in one episode. That was probably the most disturbing thing I’ve seen since that family of cannibals back in season one! *Shudder.* Seriously though, the episodes with human monsters are the worst because we all know that stuff like that actually happens in the world. (Although, I like to think that in reality a house could not be sold to a new family with people living in the walls . (!!!!!) Surely someone would have noticed that before all the papers were signed!) It’s genuinely really frightening to think that things like this happen to people, but they do! Which is what makes the episode so scary. Anyway, if you need a recap, this episode is about a family that buys a new house after the previous owner was brutally murdered in a locked room. Sam and Dean suspect ghosts, but when they arrive to investigate, they realize that there are actually two children living in the wa...

Dean and Anna sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G! Okay, so I LOVE their relationship. Love it! Of course, I get that she had to go back to Heaven and be an angel again, but I hope she comes back and they can continue to have a connection. It’s not fair that every time either Sam or Dean have some romance, they have to leave the girl (or vice versa in this situation). So *hopefully* Dean’s relationship with Anna doesn’t end with this episode. (By the way, Anna can’t be her angel name. Apparently she has to have something that ends in the letters iel) On another note, I find it funny that Dean is with an angel and Sam is with a demon. If you’d asked me in season one or two, I would have said that it would be the other way around. In case you need a recap, in this episode we learn that Anna is an angel who decided she didn’t want to be an angel anymore. She explains that she wanted to be human because angels can’t experience the full range of emotions and experiences (Anna has one very huma...

The angels better not kill that girl Anna. That’s all I’m saying. I mean, come on. I know that angels don’t have to be nice, but what has she really done that’s bad? She’s just an innocent girl! Surely, there’s no way Dean is going to allow Cas (yup, that’s what I’m calling him now) to kill her? My goodness! Whoever thought that angels could be so bloodthirsty? Anyway. If you need a reminder, this episode is about a girl named Anna who can hear the voices of angels (and you thought Supernatural couldn’t get any weirder, right?). Obviously, this makes everyone interested in her, and Ruby discovers that gangs of both angels and demons are out to get her. Sam, Dean, and Ruby team up to save her from demons; however, at the end of the episode, the angels turn up at their hiding place to kill her. (Again,!!!!!!!????) Seriously, why are the angels so mean? Besides that, I really did enjoy this episode. I like Anna a lot as a character, and I hope she sticks around for a while. (To be honest...

THAT TEDDY BEAR. Oh my gosh, I can’t. I just can’t. I’m dying laughing. “Tea parties? Is that all there is?” has got to be the quote of the episode. I do feel bad for that little girl though, I mean her toy has lollipop disease for crying out loud! I do have to criticize her parents though. Audrey let Sam and Dean into her house way too easily. Didn’t anyone bother to teach her about stranger danger? I mean, we’ve seen before that Dean is really good with kids, and they all seem to like him. Plus, I guess they did show her badges, but I have to say that I was way more skeptical when I was a six year old. Anyway. This episode is about a wishing well that actually grants people’s wishes. The problem is that after a while, the wishes turn bad (which is how the teddy bear became a suicidal alcoholic (although, it turns out you can’t actually kill yourself if your insides are made of cotton stuffing. Who would have thunk it?)). Sam and Dean trace the wishes back to one man who threw a magi...

Gah, I HATE witches! Like, who wants to bring demons into the world? I get that they’re obsessed with getting that power or whatever, but empirically it just seems stupid. I can’t believe that the witches actually except the demons to be on their side. They obviously have their own agenda. I mean, they’re DEMONS , they’re underhanded by definition. Plus, the witches themselves are nasty too. Like, if I were a witch, I would be using my power to win the lottery or to make ice cream calorie free. Why are they boiling people alive and putting razors in candy (*shudder*, by the way; that was so gross)? Plus, I’m starting to hate the angels too. I get that being an angel doesn’t make you nice, but Uriel is unnecessarily unpleasant (although Castiel—or Cas as Dean is calling him now—is starting to grow on me). If they have enough power to destroy a town, surely they have enough power to find the witch or evacuate the innocent people? Ay yai yai! Anyway. So, in this episode, tw...

Oh my goodness, I love Jensen Ackles! Like, give that man all the awards. He’s a great actor, and he’s just so charming. That rendition of “Eye of the Tiger” at the end was GOLD. I’ve already watched it like three times! I mean, that set just looks so fun! But, like, we should probably talk about the actual episode. So, in this episode, Dean is infected with ghost sickness, which basically makes you so afraid that your heart eventually stops. Fun, huh? They discover that the ghost that is generating the sickness is the spirit of a man who was murdered because the murderer thought he had killed his wife. The murderer killed him by dragging him behind his car with a chain around his neck up and down the road until he was dead. The cherry on top was that the murderer was never brought to justice because he knew the sheriff. The only way to stop the ghost sickness is to burn the ghost’s remains, but the boys can’t do that because bits of his body were scattered all over the road (ick!). So...

Well, I didn’t think it was possible, but Dean is even hotter in black and white. Who would have thunk it? Seriously though, I LOVED this episode. I mean, I just died laughing the whole time, especially when the vampire got on the motor scooter. But the ordering of the pizza was really the kicker for me. That was comedy GOLD. And Dean talking about how he was a virgin again? (By the way, I’m pre-tty sure it doesn’t work like that). But, oh my goodness, it was just all so hilarious. Like, they really committed to this episode with the old time-y title cards and intermission and everything. I also loved the flimsy monster movie props and the whole Frankenstein lab setup. Plus, Dean in lederhosen was priceless. What was up with that outfit? I thought he didn’t do shorts. I really like when Supernatural does these sort of “out of the box” episodes, like “Ghostfacers” or the one on the movie set. It’s all very meta. I was a little surprised that they used a shapeshifter as the monster agai...

I DID NOT like this episode. I’m going to say that again because I want to be emphatic. I DID NOT like this episode. It was so, so profoundly icky . No, icky is the wrong word. It was GROSS. It was DISGUSTING. And, more than that, it was DISTURBING . I mean, I’ve seen episodes of Supernatural that were repulsive and horrifying before, but this one really took the cake. I don’t know about you, but I draw the line at cannibalism. *SHUDDER* Man, was this episode ever hard to watch. I had to look away more than half the time because I was so revolted. And it wasn’t just the cannibalism. It was all the other eating too! When he was shoveling down the raw hamburger I was ready to gag. In fact, I’m not even going to summarize the plot for you because it was so icky! If you want to know what happened, watch it. Or don’t. My roommate, who watches all the episodes with me, got up and started playing with the cats halfway through this episode because she couldn’t bear to watch anymore! I mean, I...

So, I don’t want to imply that I haven’t been enjoying Supernatural up to this point, but this episode made me think, “Wow, this show is getting good!” Seriously, I LOVED this episode. Which is really saying something because I’m normally not into the whole time travel thing. You have to be a really skilled storyteller to tackle it in a way that isn’t hacky. But, I have to give it to the writers of Supernatural ; they KILLED this episode. In case you need a recap, in this episode Castiel sends Dean back in time to stop something. Dean ends up meeting younger versions of his parents and learning a lot of stuff about his mother and her history with the yellow-eyed demon, realizing that she unknowingly made a deal to allow him to give his blood to Sam in exchange for bringing John back to life. It was all very enlightening. The whole time I was watching it, I just kept thinking “oh, now I understand.” Like, so many things just clicked into place when I saw this episode. It’s kin...

So, I guess we have our answer now. The angels brought Dean out of hell so that he could help stop the apocalypse. I guess that’s a pretty good reason. I assume we’re going to get to see Sam and Dean save the world some time in the next two seasons, so that will be fun. This episode, however, was not so fun. In case you need a recap, in this episode, Sam, Dean, and Bobby discover that hunters are being killed by the ghosts of people that they couldn’t save. As they investigate, they find themselves being hunted by their own ghosts: two extremely creepy twins that Bobby couldn’t save, Agent Henriksen, Meg from season 1, and Ron from “Nightshifter.” They have to lock themselves in Bobby’s ghost bunker (of course Bobby would have a ghost bunker; he's like prepared for anything) to protect themselves. However, they eventually find a spell to dispel the ghosts. At the end, Castiel shows up to explain that the ghosts (or “witnesses”) were resurrected by Lilith when she broke one of the s...