Fantastical Musings

Well, this episode was creepy. Call me crazy, but I’m not a fan of axe murder episodes. It’s just not my forte. However, I did enjoy that this episode had more of a “monster of the week” feel. I miss those episodes. Times were simpler when the Winchesters only had to worry about nests of vampires and rogue werewolves. Anyway, I thought this episode had a good premise. I mean, the ghost infested home of a notorious murderer is right up Supernatural’s alley. Although, like I said, it was a little too gory for me. The actual story of Lizzie Borden is creepy enough to me. I didn’t have to see the murders reenacted in her actual house with weird photographs on the walls and doilies everywhere. I was actually pretty relieved that the babysitter was the murderer, and that the boys didn’t have to deal with Lizzie’s ghost. Nope. Instead it was only Amara. Woo-hoo. Amara grows more and more mysterious (and more and more scary) with each passing episode. There’s nothing freakier than watching he...

I have to hand it to Supernatural , this was a creative episode. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a story told from the perspective of a car. And, I’ve certainly never seen a story told from the perspective of a car that got smashed to pieces! Poor Baby! Dean’s going to have his work cut out for him to repair all that damage. It’s almost as bad as when Baby got totaled at the end of season one! However, on the whole, this was a fun episode. After all the DRAMA this show has inflicted upon its viewers, it’s nice to see the boys just hunting and saving people. It’s been a WHILE since we had a good, old-fashioned monster of the week episode. And, what a monster it was! The Nachzehrers were so gruesome and horrifying, they were almost ridiculous. The idea of a ghoul-vampire cross is just so icky and over the top. I can’t get the image of the severed head on the windshield out of my mind. It made me want to laugh and scream at the same time (although, mostly I wanted to laugh). The head in the ...

We’ve seen Lilith, Lucifer, and archangels on this show, but I think Amara puts them all to shame. She is more frightening than any of them. I can’t figure out what to make of her, and that’s probably the scariest thing of all. I mean, Amara wants to eat souls. I get that. (Bone-chilling as it is). But what is her ultimate goal? What plan does the Darkness have for Earth? Does it even have a goal? I still struggle to understand the Darkness as a sentient being. My impression is that the Darkness existed before sentience. Yet, she is a person. A human. Or, at least, she is humanoid. None of it makes much sense. But it is all fascinating . I really want the show to explain and explore Amara’s character in more detail. Right now, all I really know is that she disdains Crowley’s gifts (I mean, that dress did have blood on it), she grows fast, she doesn’t like having a nanny, she’s afraid of God, and she’s always hungry. The last part is the most important. I want more knowledge about Amara...

Here I was thinking that Amara was going to be a nice, sweet little girl. Turns out, she’s a soul eating monster! Who would have thunk it? Needless to say, I’m a bit concerned that she’s wandering free in the world, and I’m going to be even more concerned if she takes up with Crowley. The last thing we need is an army of demons serving the Darkness. However, I do have a feeling that little Amara is going to be much tougher to deal with than Crowley realizes. Speaking of Amara, I am intrigued by the idea that she might be the woman in the Darkness that Dean saw in episode one. I suppose if you’re a primordial force of nature, you don’t have to abide by the normal rules that govern time and space. I suppose it would be a little crazy if the darkness took the form of two people. It doesn’t seem like the sort of force or power that you can share. The way she relates to Dean is also fascinating (and pretty terrifying)! Speaking of pretty terrifying, what happened to Jenna and her grandmothe...

Oh my goodness, THIS SHOW! The drama is almost too much for me. We’ve only had Dean free from the mark for five minutes, and now Sam is infected with some sort of dark, contagious zombie disease. Can they never keep out of trouble???? (That is, if fighting the primordial Darkness that has swamped the world counts as keeping out of trouble.) All I can say is that Sam and Dean better find a cure pretty quick. I don’t think I can handle another whole season of one Winchester trying to save the life of the other one; it’s too dramatic! Now that Sam has the Darkness disease, I’m convinced that there must be some sort of cure out there. I doubt the show is going to let Sam die just a couple of hours into season eleven. If it wasn’t for that, I would have been pretty well convinced that this zombie-ish disease was completely fatal. When Sam started talking about saving the people who were attacking the hospital, I thought he was absolutely crazy! At the risk of undervaluing Sam’s gallantry, I...

Well, that was DUMB. And, I don’t mean that from a storytelling perspective. I mean that the choices the characters made in this episode were dumb . Everyone behaved stupidly . Maybe I have an unpopular opinion on this episode (it’s happened many times before), but I think there were so many different ways to avoid getting into this situation. None of this was a foregone conclusion. The whole time I was watching, I was yelling “what are you doing!” at the screen. First of all, Sam’s decision to continue working on removing the mark against Dean’s wishes was very high-handed (as I mentioned in my last review). I don’t even think he told Dean that he was working with Rowena, which Dean really should have known. However, Sam’s decision to pursue removing the mark regardless of the consequences was positively idiotic. As much as I love Dean Winchester, freeing him from the mark isn’t worth destroying the world. Sam’s refusal to imagine that removing the mark might actually be worse than t...

I don't know about you, but I'm a big fan of everything Jane Austen. I love the novels, and I enjoy the movie and television adaptations of her stories almost as much. So, when I realized that there was a new adaptation of Austen's 1815 novel Emma , I knew I had to watch it right away.  First of all, I have to say that this is a beautiful movie. You can tell there was a huge budget for costumes and sets. The whole movie was a visual feast for the eyes. I was particularly in love with Emma's clothes and all her beautiful hats.  Hartfield was also particularly beautiful. For some reason, I really noticed the carpets in the house. They were gorgeous. I was also in love with Emma's little greenhouse. Hartfield in general really gave the sense of a grand and comfortable house. Plus, I have to note that Donwell Abbey was equally grand and impressive. In a weird way, I was also particularly impressed by Highbury's little haberdashery shop, Ford's. That set was jus...

Okay. The show has now convinced me that Dean is going off the rails. However, I’m not saying that for the reasons that Sam and Cas have been putting forward. I’m only saying it because he 1) beat up Cas and 2) killed the youngest Styne kid. Up until this point, I think Dean’s actions have been pretty logical. True, he’s been a bit more aggressive and amped up then he would be normally. However, he wasn’t really out of control; he seemed to be keeping the mark more or less in check. For instance, in this episode, Sam and Cas freak out because Dean brutally murdered the Stynes. Okay...so, if he hadn’t murdered the Stynes, what were the Winchesters going to do with them? They are a powerful magical family who carve people up for spare parts and were planning to torch the bunker and use Dean as a medical lab rat. Plus, let’s not forget that they murdered Charlie! Those people needed killing. I do think that Dean should have left the kid alive. However, I also think there’s a plausible ra...

Okay, I’m just going to say it: EVERYTHING 👏 THAT 👏 HAPPENED 👏 IN 👏 THIS 👏 EPISODE 👏 WAS 👏 SAM’S 👏 FAULT. Seriously, I am ENRAGED with him. Charlie is DEAD because of him! The whole situation just made me so angry! I mean, Sam has thrown caution to the winds and deceived Dean in some very drought and dangerous situations, all in the service of removing the Mark of Cain, which Dean is managing very well at the moment! That’s not to say that Dean should have the mark long term, but it’s not a hair on fire emergency right now. Besides which, Dean has resigned himself to it, and that should mean something to Sam. Sam has berated Dean for not letting him make his own decisions so many times. So, why isn’t he allowing Dean to make his own decision here? The hypocrisy is ASTOUNDING. The inconsistency in Sam’s character is the thing I like least about this show. To me, it makes it really tough to like Sam. He is very fickle. Anyway, I digress. I will stop my Sam rant. As I’ve already i...

I’m pleased to say that I actually really enjoyed this episode! In my opinion, there have been a lot of underwhelming or otherwise unpleasant episodes this season, so this one was a pleasant surprise. First of all, seeing Claire safe takes a huge weight off my mind. Cas and the Winchesters left her in a pretty precarious state (both physically and emotionally) the last time she was on the show, so it’s a relief to see that she’s managing to take care of herself. I’m also happy to know that she’s on much better terms with the Winchesters and with Castiel after this episode. I feel confident that she will reach out to them if she’s in trouble, and that’s as much as anyone can ask for. I’m also relieved to hear that she’s going to be staying with Jody Mills. (I actually think I suggested that the last time I reviewed an episode involving Claire.) I think that being with Jody would be the perfect, grounding experience that Claire needs; plus, I have a feeling that they’ll really get along....