Baby’s Rear View Recap: 11.16 “Safe House”

This post is about Supernatural season 11 episode 16, “Safe House,” written by Robbie Thompson and directed by Stefan Pleszczynski.

Spoilers below.

“This place is way more of a fixer-upper than we thought.”

In Grand Rapids, Michigan, a mother is stripping wall-paper in her new old house when she hears her daughter scream. She runs to check on her, and finds that she is fine but scared, saying she hears noises and complaining that her room is cold. Mom reassures her it’s fine, but as soon as she leaves, the lights flicker and the door shuts of its own accord. The little girl is hiding under her bed when a mottled grey hand reaches out and grabs her foot.

“This case seems like a lay-up.”

Cut to Dean and Sam, for once not in the bunker but eating breakfast in a diner instead. Still no word on Amara or Cas, Sam informs us. Apparently it’s been weeks since last time they saw Cas, and though Dean wants to keep his eye on the prize, Sam thinks they should take the case of a little girl in a supernatural coma. Dean reluctantly agrees and the hunt begins.

“Even the Internet thinks I’m crazy.”

Momma Naoki explains about daughter Kat screaming and tells them about the cold spots and flickering lights. They head to the house, thinking it’s probably a ghost.

“They were two of the rudest people I'd ever met.”

When they arrive at the house, a neighbor lady questions them. She’s the head of the neighborhood watch, so it’s her business too. She mentions that two older FBI agents came to investigate the house a handful of years ago.

“Were you ever nice?”

“1985 -- Worst year of my life.”

Flashback to a handful of years ago, Bobby asleep in a beat-up car parked outside the house. Rufus drives up and knocks on the car, rousing Bobby. The two head to work, with Rufus explaining that he needs Bobby to do the heavy lifting because it’s Shabbat. The neighbor lady stops them and when she asks what their official business is, Rufus replies “It's officially none of your damn business, ma'am.”

“You think Bobby and Rufus wasted any time arguing about this kind of crap?”

Dean and Sam investigate, finding lots of EMF. In the past, B and R question a mother whose son went into a coma under similar circumstances. Both couples head to the same hotel room years apart to discuss possible ghosts. Both couples argue over whether it may be more than ghosts. Sam thinks ghosts just seem too easy. Rufus bets a bottle of Johnnie that it's a Baku.

“Oldest rule of hunting, Bobby -- You can't save everyone.”

B and R dig up the graves in the past and have a manly heart-to-heart about the impending apocalypse and Bobby’s concern over D and S. D and S dig up the graves to find ashes. They finally conclude that it’s not a ghost, but too little too late. Momma Naoki has already been put into a coma.

“If they don't show some signs of rallying soon, I'm worried we may lose them.”

A doctor who treated the patients in the earlier case explains that the patients’ vitals are dropping; something must be done, and fast. She says she doesn’t know what happened in the first case, just that the patients woke up on their own and couldn’t remember anything.

“Next thing you know, I woke up in the hospital, and one of the FBI agents told me to never touch the wallpaper in the sitting room.”

D and S visit the victims from the case in the past. Mary Henderson explains that while in the coma, she dreamed about spirits in the house and had visions of dead loved ones. D and S check the wallpaper in the house and find some sort of seal.

“A Soul Eater? The hell is that?”

“Undead creature that feeds on souls, hence the name.”

Both pairs come to the conclusion that it’s a soul eater, a creature that settles down in a house and builds a nest that is between worlds and exists outside of time and space. They can pull victims’ souls from the house into the nest, but leave their bodies behind. So Mary wasn’t dreaming, her soul was in the nest. The nest can also show victims “parts of their souls in distress,” (AKA the people they love, dead) thereby keeping them vulnerable. The souls slowly decay in the nest while the bodies quickly decay outside it. Both pairs figure out they can trap it with a Celtic sigil. Apparently Bobby originally tried the sigil in a last-ditch effort to save himself, and it worked. S and D find that the monster can be killed if it’s painted in blood both in the nest and outside it.

“If memory serves, things are about to get hairy.”

Dean prepares to enter the nest, as he’s lost rock paper scissors. Sam and Rufus both begin to paint. They can hear ominous footsteps. Soon Dean and Bobby are both pulled into the nest. They both awake alone and start to look around. Bobby finds Will Henderson, but not before he has a vision of S and D dead. Dean immediately begins to paint. Kat finds him and asks what he’s doing. He explains he’s going to get her out. In the past, the Soul Eater possesses Bobby’s body. In the present, the Soul Eater possesses Dean. Two fist fights ensue, but both end when the sigil is completed. Dean and Bobby catch a glimpse of each other before fading from the nest.

“Yeah, well forget the oldest rule, Bobby.”

Past Dean calls Bobby for help with a possible lead on Lilith in Maine while they’re on a case in Reno.

“How messed up are our lives that you seeing a vision of dead me is actually kind of comforting?”

The boys drive off to take care of Bobby’s old Soul Eater case in Tennessee while The Allman Brothers Band’s Midnight Rider play on Dean’s radio in the present and Bobby’s radio in the past.

Questions:

What is with the title? How is it a safe house? Isn’t it more accurately a dangerous house? Like the opposite of a safe house?

When does this take place? Lilith is still alive so definitely after 3.9 but before season five. It’s probably after Rufus’s first episode because he and Bobby had to reconcile, which would put it after 3.15. I can’t think of any episodes in that time frame that name Reno or Nevada specifically, so that hunt was probably between episodes but I can’t pinpoint when.

Time travel? So I get that the nest is outside of time and that’s why it was Dean and Sam that were able to save Bobby and the Hendersons. But why didn’t all the souls get out then? It’s not that the bodies had decomposed because they would have gone back to their correct times, like Bobby did. Is it because the other souls were too old and dead? And how can they even have different relative ages? Like why did Dean and Bobby seem to get there at the same time, but both kids had been there longer? Shouldn’t all souls arrive at the same time and die slowly together at the same rate? Maybe they all did get out and it just didn’t show the others—because they did all fade away the same. But if that’s true then Dean and Sam probably never kill the one in Tennessee. Because the guy in that nest (Harvey) never woke up, and if all the souls return to their bodies when the monster is killed, and his soul never returned then the monster was never and will never be killed. Because Bobby returned to his body in the past immediately even though the monster was killed in the future. So Harvey should have already returned to his body in the past because the Winchesters would have killed the monster already in the future. But he didn’t… unless he did… My head hurts. Let’s get drunk and not think about this ever again.

Conclusions:

A WOC who is a lesbian! The show is doing a pretty good job of organically including minorities as minor characters, but they’re only the one-offs who are on the periphery and never come back. That’s sort of its own form of marginalization . . . I doubt we will ever see this family again.

I just loved so much of this episode. You guys, BOBBY and RUFUS! Every time Rufus said something I was just bursting with love for him. Bobby too. I miss Rufus and Bobby SO MUCH. Also, the episode was just plain genius. It’s a unique episode with beautiful, in-character writing; I was still invested in Bobby’s fears even though I’ve already seen them resolved, and the relationship between Bobby and Rufus was just so perfect. And the transitions between times in this were just beautiful. It worked really well. There are so many quotes that I can’t get over. I love that Bobby uses a machine to dig. He’s just the best.

And it’s not just B and R who were well done in this. S and D were great too, and I felt like I got so much development through B and R as well. And then that hug when Dean wakes up after getting out of the nest. So. Beautiful.

I think this is my favorite episode so far this season, at least in the last half. It was really well done all around, with lots of added bonus points for working in Bobby and Rufus AND doing it seamlessly. This is what I want from my show.

Baby’s Rear View Recap: 11.15 “Beyond the Mat”

This post is about Supernatural episode 11.15 “Beyond the Mat,” written by John Bring and Andrew Dabb and directed by Jerry Wanek.

Spoilers to follow.           

“This is a barn burner, folks.”

This episode opens on a cheap-looking wrestling setup, The Hangman v. Shawn Harley. It’s clear they don’t get along, on or off the mat. After the match there’s a light altercation, but as-yet-unnamed Good Guy Wrestler steps in on the side of the Hangman. Harley threatens the Hangman and then walks away. We later come upon the now-empty locker room and see the hangman is choking.

“That was one of the few times I ever saw him happy”

The real start of the episode once again features Dean and Sam in the bunker. Sam shuffles in looking for some painkillers and Dean sits at the table looking like he’s been up all night studying Mainline Lore trying to find a way to save Cas. Dean breaks the news to Sam that the Hangman is dead. As it happens, they used to see the shows with their dad as kids and the Hangman was John’s favorite. The two decide to stretch their legs and go to the funeral.

“Search every warehouse, every farmhouse, every henhouse, outhouse, and doghouse.”

Meanwhile, Casifer is in hell taking reports from his demon-minions. While party music plays in the background, Casifer gives a peptalk in hopes it will help his demons find a Hand of God. “Remember ABC: Always Be Closing,” he says.

Over in the corner, Crowley’s in chains and a Hawaiian shirt, cleaning the floor. Casifer drives home the point of punishment by calling him puppy and directing him to use his tongue to clean instead of his toothbrush.

As Crowley licks the nasty nasty floor, the camera rests on a group of demons with a special foreshadowing close-up on the disgusted Doll-face. (Doll-face is the name I gave to the demon Casifer calls doll-face at the start of this scene; I later realized that her name is Simmons, but doll-face stuck).

“You weren't one of those guys that had my poster above his bed, were you?”

The boys show up at the funeral and are astounded by all the familiar famous faces. Good Guy Wrestler turns out to be the very attractive Gunner Lawless, and Dean fangirls his way over to meet him. I just want to point out that when Dean shakes Gunners hand he doesn’t let go for an embarrassing amount of time. While Dean is drooling over Gunner, Sam is meeting his first crush, the also very attractive Rio, the woman who was calling the match in the title sequence. Apparently Sam had a poster of her above his bed, though he doesn’t tell that to her. Does anyone else feel like their respective fan crushes are very telling. . . ?

“Town after town, putting your ass on the line for next to nothing? No money. No glory.”

“Wow. You realize you just literally described our jobs.”

The boys sit down to watch a memorial match. A dad with a beer in each hand sits down with his son in the row behind, and Sam remarks that it brings him back. Dean doesn’t appreciate the comment.

Cut to backstage where Gunner is receiving something that looks suspiciously like drugs. I don’t think they ever explained what this is?

“It’s alright I’m not a child. It’s fine.”

The match is on. Dean is disappointed when Gunner gives his glove to someone else. But when Gunner gets thrown out of the ring, the boys cheer him on. He winks at Dean and even touches his leg. (Dean must be in heaven). When Gunner climbs back into the ring, he turns the tides and the boys are delighted. Meanwhile the dad behind them gets up to pee. Seeing that the line is long, he heads outside. But before he has a chance to do his business, he’s been murdered.

“What, he get in a tickle fight with Edward Scissorhands?”

The boys confer after the murder; Sam thinks it may be a case for them and goes to the hotel to look up the lore on the symbol on the body. Dean says he’ll question the wrestlers but is playing Wrestler in the ring when Rio comes in. He asks her some questions and she tells him that this isn’t the first murder, and that the wrestler’s think they’re cursed. He asks where the wrestlers are and she suggests he check the nearest bar.

“You’re Crowley, and the Devil should be afraid of YOU.”

Doll-face Simmons breaks Crowley out. It takes some convincing, but finally Crowley is back to his old self. When they meet two demons at the door, Crowley kills them easily.

“One thing I learned you got to keep on grinding no matter what's thrown your way.”

Dean goes to the bar and meets up with Gunner. The two chat about always getting back up when you get hit. As they drink, Harley picks a fight with Gunner. Dean is impressed that he doesn’t fight back. Gunner says he has nothing to prove.

“They're thinking, and I quote, ‘It's some kind of weird satanic crap.’”

Sam calls with information on the symbol, which as it turns out is ancient Sumerian and has the power to “pluck the spark of life.” The two conclude that it must be a demon, and the hunt begins.

“I bought drinks for all the wrestlers, and then, you know, they're like, well, you got to drink, too. Oh, man, they can drink, especially Rio. Ugh. I think I heard my liver screaming at me.”

Dean has confirmed through sneaky holy water that none of the wrestlers are demons. However, he reveals that he didn’t get a chance to check Harley because Harley left right after the fight. But when the boys track him down in his hotel room, they find an empty, ransacked room. A look at the security footage tells them Harley was kidnapped, and by none other than Good Guy Gunner.

“What kind of favor?”  

“The kill-somebody kind.”

Gunner took Harley to an abandoned warehouse. It turns out Gunner has been doing favors for a demon named Duke. The demon offers Harley a deal, but Harley refuses to give up his soul for something he can achieve without help. Duke severs Harley’s Achilles tendon just for funsies and then orders Gunner to kill him so that he can steal his soul.

“With all due respect, Simmons, I don't think you can handle my rod.”

Crowley takes doll-face Simmons to his personal lock-up, which houses keepsakes (like what he implies is a painting of him as a child). He has a Hand of God in there, the rod of Aaron. But as soon as he reveals it, Casifer reveals that he’s been following him all along, hoping to be led to just such a weapon.

“You want an L.A. 10, but you settle for a Kansas 5. Life, right?”

The boys bust in on Gunner but are ambushed by the demon, Duke. After some small talk, Duke orders Gunner to kill them.

“I mean, maybe once you were the evilest evil that ever Eviled—present company excluded. But now you're nothing but Dean Winchester's number-one fan.”

Casifer berates Crowley and goes to take the rod. But Crowley double-crossed him back, and ends up with the weapon anyway. He takes the power and uses it on Casifer, but doll-face Simmons jumps in front of him just in time. As this weapon is another one-hit-wonder, Casifer survives and wants to give Crowley hell (but not in a good way). Crowley teleports basically immediately.

“It’s never too late to do the right thing.”

Dean, tied up and beat, tries to reason with Gunner. Dean guesses that Gunner sold his soul ten years ago for another shot at the belt and is now trying to avoid the consequences by working for Duke.

“With the Darkness out and the Devil running hell, well, it's kind of every demon for him/her/shimself.”*

Duke explains the deal to Sam as he holds him against the wall. Dean shows up with his usual heroics (“Hey!”), and Duke pushes him aside easily. But it turns out that Dean was actually a distraction, giving Gunner time to stab Duke in the back. Once he kills Duke, the hellhounds start howling. Gunner refuses Dean’s gun and elects to face the punishment that’s waiting head-on.

“We're gonna save Cass, we're gonna ice the Devil, and we're gonna shank the Darkness. And anyone that gets in our way, well, God help them.”

The boys debrief back at the bunker, and Dean admits that he’s not okay, not even a little bit. But they’ve got to keep grinding, no matter how much it hurts, no matter how bad it gets.

Questions:

Why is there a picture of Crowley as a child? I mean, Rowena was poor, and also she hated Kid-Crowley; she doesn’t seem likely to have commissioned a portrait. Was he just lying about who the portrait is of? Maybe it’s his son, and he just doesn’t want doll-face Simmons to know.

Keep grinding? Really? I kind of hate that line. Like, is that a thing? Are they trying to make it a thing? Could they not? I’m going to ignore it.

*What was up with the transgender slur. Seriously. In case you didn’t know, which I didn’t before I read about fan backlash on the internet, the use of the word “shim” mentioned in the quote above is not appropriate. It’s a slur. So I’m not sure why they included it. At first I thought it might be an attempt at gender-inclusivity, but when you use a word that’s known to be a slur, you have to seriously prove that you’re reclaiming it; otherwise it’s just a slur. This is not the first time this season that there has been a line in a Supernatural episode that just poorly used and really hurt fans. I’m thinking of the use of the word “feminist” in the Valentine’s Day episode “Love Hurts,” which is another case of a word that, as I said in that review, “just packs too big a punch not to be certain what you’re aiming at.” But in this case it’s an actual slur used against a particularly unprotected, endangered, and misunderstood minority. So there’s no excuse.

Conclusions:

I thought this episode was okay, but it was probably one of my least favorite this season so far. I’m not a wrestling fan; I mean, some of those guys were like, real wrestlers—and they seemed awesome—but it wasn’t enough to make up for the stuff I was missing in this episode.

Some of the foreshadowing seemed pretty obvious and even heavy-handed. They wanted us to think Harley was the killer, so obviously he wasn’t. They wanted us to think that Gunner was the Good Guy, so obviously he wasn’t. They wanted us to think doll-face Simmons was genuinely concerned for Crowley, so obviously she wasn’t. I just saw all of those twist coming and wasn’t impressed.

But there were some good things too. I liked seeing Dean having fun, living in his past, making friends, and fangirling. I LOVED that line where Sam sort of passively insults John by comparing him to that other dad, and then Dean gets mad at him. It was relationship drama, which we haven’t seen for a while, but it felt organic and true to the past. I also liked the ending, and I liked Gunner’s parallels with and effect on Dean.

I really liked Sam in this episode. The characterization and acting were both solid. He was a good support for all of Dean’s emotions and it was sweet. I wish Sam had more to do though. I found it really interesting that he didn’t get to hook up with Rio. It seemed like they were setting something up, but then she just disappeared from the episode half-way through.

Overall the episode was just okay for me. I loved it because it’s about the Winchesters, but when I add it all up, this one falls a bit short.

Also, just pointing out something I’m noticing: they really like their bads to be sexy (or rather sexually predatory). Casifer is touchy touchy, calling demons doll-face (blech) and making innuendos left and right. Crowley does this too; in general he creates an atmosphere of sexual harassment as a power play, and specifically in this episode he uses a sexual innuendo to reassert his power near the end. I kind of think it’s gross.

White Watchers GoT recap: 6.1 “The Red Woman”

This is a recap of Game of Thrones season 6 episode 1, “The Red Woman.”

********Show and Book SPOILERS below**********

The Game of Thrones season opener answered few questions and left many. The big question of the night was of course, all about Jon Snow.

With a title like “The Red Woman,” I half expected Melisandre to resurrect Jon Snow as soon as she saw his body. Instead we just got the reveal that she is really really old, which is cool and all but Jon Snow! That age reveal does stand as proof that her brand of magic is legit, which could be leading up to something really big…

So there are three prevailing fan theories concerning Jon Snow, none of which were confirmed or denied during the course of this episode:

1) The Red Woman will resurrect Jon Snow a la Beric Dondarrion, Red God style  
2) Jon Snow warged into his wolf Ghost at the last minute like a true Stark and is already living through him
3) Due to his Targaryen blood, Jon Snow will be reborn in fire as Azor Ahai, the Prince that Was Promised by the Red God

I figure we will find out about the third one fairly soon because they’ll be burning his body any minute now. Either they will burn his body in the traditional Night’s Watch send-off, or they will just burn it anyway so it doesn’t turn into a wight and kill them all.

We did, however, get final confirmation that Jon Snow IS in fact dead. So are Myranda, Stannis, and Myrcella—thanks to Ellaria and the Sand Snakes, boo. I can’t say I really like this development—Dorne (and the Sand Snakes) are so much better in the books, IMO. Although, Myrcella had to die somehow I suppose. Cercei seems pretty numb at this point, which is kind of weird to me. Suddenly she is accepting the prophecy, the vehement refutation of which has consumed her entire adult life and driven all of her actions since she was a tiny child, according to the books. Glad they gave it a mention though. (We haven’t had a mention of this since season 5 episode one, which kind of left it hanging.) I did like Cercei’s monologue about Myrcella’s goodness. And props to Jaime for his comforting words, which I won’t repeat here. I’m really starting to feel bad for the Lannisters these days.

Well, I kind of feel bad for (almost) everyone.

Prince Doran had the honor of being the featured in-episode death, which kind of sucks for book fans but is probably alright for show fans, since he was doing absolutely nothing forever. The Sand Snakes seem to be happy, but what, they’re just going to rule Dorne now? Good luck.

Daenerys had to walk for hours while listening to Dothraki horsemen sexually threaten her before finally finding out that she will be taken to Vaes Dothrak to become one of the Dosh Khaleen, which is, looking at her reaction, basically her worst fear. (Although, can I say, thank The Gods they didn’t rape her again). Meanwhile in Mereen, her ships have been burned. That will make it tough when it’s time for her to set sail for Westeros.

Ser Jorah and Daario Naharis are in the middle of nowhere but manage to find the ring Daenerys left behind. I actually think it reasonable that they found the ring in the middle of that horse-hooved circle; what I find odd is that they made it to that place at all. What the heck is that place and how far away from Mereen is it? It looks a far cry from the desert-type land we’re used to. Oh yeah and Jorah is still dying from grayscale. Woops.

Ser Davos and Jon Snow’s friends are making hurried plans to try to save their lives, huddled in a cold room with a body that could potentially wight-out and kill them. Jon Snow’s murderers aren’t faring much better as they try to get all of Castle Black on their side.

The Red Woman goes to bed looking defeated, and also super old. Hope she can bounce back by next episode, because the Jon Snow gang needs her. Plus, she had a dream where she saw Jon Snow in Winterfell. Coincidence, or foreshadow?

Margaery is still in prison (she held out longer than Cercei?) Loras and the rest of the Tyrells are nowhere to be found.

Arya is getting beat every day, plus she’s blind now and begging in the streets; her beating was hard to watch but necessary for the book plot. (And ***SPOILER*** when is she going to start using her Wolf Sight?! It better be soon, because I’ve been waiting far too long to see a Stark warging.)

Ramsay lost his girlfriend and his wife, although I can’t say I feel sorry for him. He sent out a hunting party but considering what happened, he should have gone himself. Good riddance to Ramsay’s dogs; oh and his bloodhounds too. Good job Brienne!

Speaking of Brienne, what a hero! And Pod, too, is coming into his own. I kind of hated though that Brienne was sidelined at the end there so that Theon could have his grand moment of redemptive murder… again… GIVE ME MORE BRIENNE.

And that gang—Brienne, Podric, Sansa, and Theon—are about the only group for whom things seem to be going right. It’s about time they got a reprieve.

What we didn’t see in this episode:

Sam. He should be at Oldtown, which we have yet to lay eyes on. I would be surprised if the show cuts this out entirely because the book made it seem like Sam learns a lot of stuff there that could be big later on. But who knows anymore.

Bran. I know we’re all really excited to see with Bran’s omnipotent Green Sight, particularly the Tower of Joy flashback which some have speculated will be via Bran.  Going off the episode two trailer, we may be seeing Bran as soon as next week!

The Greyjoys. So much stuff has happened down in the Iron Islands and beyond so far in the books that is completely missing from the show. I wouldn’t be surprised if they just cut that out, except for the fact that some of these elusive Greyjoys have apparently been cast.

And other book storylines (Young Griff, Quentin, Lady Stoneheart) are similarly absent. I don’t think that we will be seeing Lady Stoneheart in the show; now that Brienne of Tarth has pledged herself to Sansa, there may be no need. Sansa can subsume her role and set Brienne on Lady Stoneheart’s vengeance warpath just as well. This development just generally seems to be in the way of that particular book thread. And since we haven’t seen any of the Riverlands in ages, even if we will get that storyline eventually, it seems to be pretty far off at this point.

On that note, I feel like they have set up so much stuff that it looks like they may have decided not to follow through on: warging, Red God resurrections, etc. Then there’s Baelish’s plans for Sansa, which seemed pretty elaborate in the book but which are in the wind now. Then there’s Prince Doran’s plans for Quentin and world domination, which were lightly hinted at early on after his introduction in the show but which now may never get off the ground. Will Quentin ever exist in the show? My guess is no, because it seems like the time for his arc has come and gone. Although… we saw Tyrion with the dragons in the trailer… What if… go with me here book readers… they gave Quentin’s arc to Tyrion?!?!?

Conclusion:

It’s Game of Thrones, so I liked it. There were some beautifully framed scenes and one big reveal to keep us captivated. It was essentially half conclusion and half set-up without much room for anything else, but that was probably necessary due to all the things that have changed and are changing. We saw a little bit of (almost) everybody, which means that the episode was spread thinner than I like it, although it managed to keep it together and finish strong. I think it was a solid season opener, but certainly not one of the best; I have a feeling it will end up being forgettable once we get to the good stuff this season hopefully has in store. I’m generally really interested in what’s going on up north and hardly excited at all for the stuff going down in the south. Highlight was Brienne and Pod coming out of nowhere to save Sansa. Lowlight was everything involving Ellaria and the Sand Snakes. I hate them.

I give this episode 2.5 out of 5 kings.

In conclusion, Jon Snow is still dead.

Can’t wait until next week when Tormund Giantsbane shows Alliser Thorne-in-our-sides just how big of a mistake he made.