Episode Review – Changing Channels

Once upon a time I would have described joy as a Booster Gold movie with Nathan Fillon as Booster and Bruce Campbell as Rip Hunter with Billy West returning to voice Skeets.

Now, I will describe it as this episode.

In every way I called the antichrist episode a failure, this one succeeds.  It’s funny on so many levels, shifts tone exactly right does the impossible with a beautiful marriage of MotW and Mythology… glorious, it’s just glorious.

(note: since 5 & 1 are both the highest and lowest possible scores, there is no modifier for them)

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The revelation of the Trickster as Gabriel really tightens up the mythology of the show.  Now we know why he’s been so much harder to kill than the other demigods whose power appeared to rely upon worshipers.  Some of his tricks make more sense now too.  As I pointed out to a friend, in the Trickster’s first appearance, you’ll notice that every “fatal” prank was optional.  If the target had done the right thing (not cheat on his wife, not been so greedy, etc), they would have been spared.  The only person who had no choice (the Frat boy) wasn’t killed, just humiliated.  A reasonable sense of justice (even if a little twisted) and not too unworkable with some biblical interpretations (though that is a deeper discussion for another time).

It does raise more questions about the antichrist though.  Is this kid more powerful?  Or is he more powerful than angels but not archangels.  Apparently he and Gabriel can both shape reality so who could win in a fight?  I’m jettisoning that episode as discontinuity unless we get a 2nd episode reinforcing it.

I especially like that now Sam & Dean are discussing options (and we’re seeing it) for this war.  I’m hoping we get one scene where they at least talk about that Dean could give in and go kill Satan now, in his current vessel, to save Sam.  That’s the only way Dean would give in IMHO.

Slashers got a bit more fuel with Sam becoming Dean’s car (and considering how Dean feels about the car…).  Anna/Dean fans (like me) can think too much about those parallels Gabby mentioned and wonder if Anna was using Dean to fulfill some longing she had for Micheal she never got to act on.

And of course, the Trickster pointing out that the brothers almost perfectly mirror Michael/Lucifer not only matches what I’ve said before, but encourages my theory (and hope) that John Winchester will appear as God. (the best solution to the show)

Then there’s all the meta jokes, Jensen & Jared acting like other actors… I could go on about this episode all night…

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The sound you’ll hear next week will be the geeks’ heads exploding as SPN goes so meta, none of them can bear it.

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Episode Review – The Curious Case of Dean Winchester

On the one hand… this episode was better than the last one (antichrist and all) in keeping a consistent tone and hitting all the marks correctly.

On the other… it’s just so – blah. This one definitely is the worst mismatch for the season. I kept hoping Kripke & Co would pull out their traditional “weaving”, like in Yellow Fever which was largely a MotW episode, yet had nuggets of the major mythos scattered. I kept hoping that at any moment we’d get some hint about the larger story (like… Satan intervening to keep Sam from trading his years away). True, watching Sam get the upper hand was awesome but only Bobby’s wheelchair really makes this a season 5 episode. Take it out, transplant it into another season and you can’t tell any difference.

It also seemed like the show was trying for a “pro-age” message but it got horribly muddled. Which makes two episodes know about “growing old” that definitely show as being written by young people. As studies have pointed out, even though (on paper) the elderly might not have as much to be happy about, as a group they are generally happier than the young.

That’s what bugged me most about tonight. It’s almost an exact repeat of Criss Angel is a Douchebag. (trading life for life, near eternal spell caster betrayed by a close acquaintance, theme of age, no Castiel…)  True the warlock in question was fairly interesting and he didn’t have to be killed but… there just wasn’t enough of him for us to care.  Ok episode over all but I just can’t give it that high of a score.

 

Nowhere to go from here but up, right?

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Next week is the trickster?  Heck yeah!!!

Episode Review – I Believe the Children are our Future

(episodes will be graded as a part of season 5 itself, not the show as a whole. to get the comparative score to the whole show, add a +2 shell modifier)

I’m going to review this episode on several measures.
First, how did this show work as a whole? I down ranked on this because more than almost any other episode, this one struck me as schizophrenic. The first half was fairly fun and enjoyable, almost making you think we might have the trickster show up one more time, then the show takes a hard left turn and becomes serious.  Too serious.  Yellow Fever was somewhat similar with the first part being very humorous with a dramatic turn at the end, but that turn wasn’t as… much as this time (plus the ending resumed humorous so it balanced out all around).  This time we have to go over the possibility of killing a kid?  What the hell?

Second, how did this episode feature in the mythology as a whole?  On the one hand, it does fit better with The End and explains a lot of what we see.  Instead of just having the angels “leave” and Castiel getting depowered (which makes no sense – how come Lucifer isn’t?), we can see that sometime after Sam says ‘yes’ he got the antichrist which banished and/or weakened all other angels (leaving Lucifer empowered).  However, as the brothers pointed out, this kid had demi-god, reality-warping powers.  How?  Demons are the corrupted spirits of humans.  Combine one of them with another human and… ok maybe you’d get a human^2 but… demi-god?  More powerful than angels?  Why not just have the kid with the powers of demons (telekinesis, etc) without the weaknesses?  Not only that, but now we have even more questions…

1. Why did Azazel just bleed into the kids?  Why not make deals with the girls (or just 1 of them) to make an antichrist?  The kid would have no problems breaking seals, freeing Lucifer, and probably being a vessel.
2. As a follow up, the whole idea of parthenogenesis just bugs me.  If a demon-possessed man has altered blood, wouldn’t he have altered semen as well?  What?  Azazel couldn’t run around leaving his demonic seed in a bunch of gals?
3. Why just 1 antichrist?  Why aren’t the demons running around making more than one?

Personally I preferred it when Sam was the presumed antichrist.  Yes, there are some parallels with Jesse being virgin born like Jesus, but there is also parallel in Sam being the vessel of Lucifer as Jesus might be seen as the vessel of God.  Plus, he would destroy the world as Jesus saved it.  Sam is much more ‘anti’ than Jesse.

Finally, I want to look at the episode on a personal level.  Yes, this is about the line from Castiel, “Your Bible gets more wrong than it does right.”  Ignoring whatever insult this line possesses, I’m mostly upset because it was so damn unnecessary.  There’s only 4 verses in the Bible which use the word “antichrist”.  They are:

• Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. -1 John 2:18
• Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist—he denies the Father and the Son. -1 John 2:22
• but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. -1 John 4:3
• Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist. -2 John 1:7

What do you notice about those?  Right!  None give any details on parentage.  The idea of antichrist == Lucifer’s spawn is a theologically debated topic and not concrete biblically.  Castiel could have just as easily said, “You should read what the Bible actually says and not what pop culture says it says.” (or something to that effect) and had a hand-wave of the kid, been more accurate to the Bible and much less insulting to less people.  The show usually does such good homework; I’m more offended that Kripke & Co were lazy!

So for all of these reasons, I’m giving this episode a measly 2 (and only +1 because of the humor).

Episode Review – Fallen Idols

(note: this week starts the season 5 grading curve. every episode will be graded as a part of season 5 itself, not the show as a whole. to get the comparative score to the whole show, add a +2 shell modifier)

“Dude, you just got wailed on by Paris Hilton.” -Sam

I know I said before that I thought a MotW episode would break the tension of season 5 but they actually have waved this after the opener. Then made it more “myth based” by interweaving the repair of the brothers’ relationship.

Plus, there was an evil Abe Lincoln and a beheaded Paris Hilton. How can you not love this show?

Winchesters – 3
gods – 0

Rock on Kripke & Co. Also, seeing the upcoming season – I’m giddy with anticipation.

Episode Review – The End

Well it’s official. I have to start grading season 4 on a curve.

Supernatural is genius.

There I said it and I’ll say it again. If I had to teach a class on fiction, I think I’d use the show as an example of doing a lot of things “right”. Take for instance the bit of political humor in this episode. It works for Democrats in the implication that president Palin would be the end of the world. It works for Republicans in the implication that when zombies arise, people are still going to turn to R’s to keep them safe. It’s subtly done and can appeal to both sides of the political spectrum without insulting either. It’s great.

Continuity
If the show has to end, at least they are making it go out on top. The call back to the croatoan virus and revealing that it is the “end game” (wiping out all humans) is great. The biggest question raised in this episode is if Castiel becomes mortal when the angels “cut off” earth, why doesn’t Lucifer? At the rate this season is going, I have high hopes that everything will be revealed.

Theology
It is a rather sad state in our culture nowadays that Satan is frequently depicted as a protagonist or sympathetic figure, if not more often than God Himself. I can’t praise Kripke & Co enough that, while making Satan NOT evil for evil’s sake, still made him a right ‘ole bastard. Like Dean said, Lucifer’s every evil thing with a much larger ego – I doubt many Christians will disagree with that. Kudos to Jared’s portrayal and making us almost want to see him get shot with the colt.

The crew was also brilliant in their depiction of Lucifer’s reasoning. On the most basic level, if you want to pitch too much of a theological fit over it, the explanation can be hand-waved with the observation that Lucifer is the father of lies. But even if you want to believe what he says, it can still work with most judeo-christian views. The bible says that angels are “ministering spirits” after all. “But that doesn’t say they are commanded to worship humans!” you might say. “Ah ha!” I counter. “But to a prideful being like Satan, serving such a lowly creature like us would come across as worship and insult.”

God
I know I said before that I really hope the show doesn’t show us God but I thought of one possible exception: John Winchester. Think about it: the father of Sam & Dean representing THE Father of Micheal (dean) and Lucifer (sam).

Well that and they keep His lines to a minimum. Something like… “Well done boys.”

Episode Review – Free To Be You And Me

Poor Sam.  Without Dean he’s now been fast tracked into the drama lane, meanwhile Dean gets the best lines.  Like…

“When we [humans] really really want something, we lie.”
“Why?” -Castiel
“Because.  That’s how you become president.”

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It is looking like I was right in the end.  Sam is supposed to become Satan and with Dean as the Micheal Sword, the show is on course to becoming the brothers’ war I feared.  Still, the show has never really disappointed me (like some – Voyager – have) so here’s hoping Kripke & Co keep the surprises coming.

The parallelism in the show continues as Castiel’s search for his father gives us the closing mirror to the boys’ search for their father from season 1.  I wonder what Cas will find – or won’t.  I admit, this part concerns me most of all.  I don’t expect every show on television to be 700 club, but is it too much to ask that my favorites don’t outright insult my beliefs?  Supernatural was almost too much to ask for as here was a show that not only didn’t insult me, but even showed a modicum of respect for my faith.  Yet here, at the end run of a great, great show are they going to pull out a punchline for the worst betrayal of all?

Still, for the episode as a whole, pretty cool, the revelation of Sam as the “proper” vessel, etc this was an awesome episode.  But it again doesn’t have the punch needed to push it to 5 shells.  I may need to start grading this season on a curve.  I’m going to mark tonight at a 4 and if next week is another stellar presentation, we’ll adjust all scores for the season.

Monsterpocalypse 4 thoughts

So Privateer Press has released the rules documents for set 4, Monsterpocalypse Now.  Thus, I am in a gaming mood tonight.  Random thoughts:

• They don’t list the old abilities on there, so no correction for Satellite Support yet. =(
• You can tell this rulebook is a 2nd edition with things more neatly laid out and a better flow over all.  The grouping of power attacks (by what they target) is very nice and should help clear up a lot of rules questions before they start.
• Much more graphics and pictures in this.  So they don’t just talk about what a monster starting zone is, they show you a dotted box outline.
• Some building only abilities (like discount and spire) are listed with specific factions.  So while we won’t get any morphers, looks like there will be installations in this new block.
• On page 5 of the rulebook there is a picture of the Newspaper Office building.  It’s the media hub model painted green with a giant globe on top labeled “the End Times”.  Yes, the Daily Planet of Superman fame has now come to monsterpocalypse.  Is it any wonder I love this game?
• The Ubercorp monsters (one of the factions I was thinking about picking up) have a solid orange color for their ultra form.  So I guess I won’t.  (I hate the color orange.  I guess that makes me racist against Oompa-Loompas.)
• The ability Fortify was one of the worst abilities released in the game.  Only 1 figure of the previous 3 sets had it.  Now 2 factions are getting it as well as a building (apparently).  Why?  Why are they keeping this ability around?
• There are 2 new “hazards” out: Hellfont and Chemical.  Chemical is like radiation for mechanical monsters, but only if they are at full health.  Hellfont acts like an additional spawn point for fiend monsters.  Man I wish those Towers of Corruption had it.
• There are now 7 energy types listed, one of them “elemental”.  So looks like we mostly have a repeat of previous energy types except for 1 and a gain of 1.  So now we’re down to what are the energy types for Tritons and Subterran Uprising.

Quickly scanning the rule book I see no major updates (mostly just a codification of existing rules like the one that no stat can drop below ‘1′).  So let’s move on to new abilities. (note, this isn’t comprehensive on ALL the new abilities, just the ones that jump out at me)

• Command – The unit equivalent of Beacon, I’ve long said there needed to be an action like this with so many units out there granting great monster abilities.  Big boost for brawlers.
• Ignite – The reverse of extinguish, this ability flips rubble onto its hazard side.
  Which is really cool and all but man this could lead to rule nightmares.  If a building is destroyed (say, apartment building) with no preset rubble, can you replace it with any tile?  Giving you a potential extra chemical or radiation spot if you can flip it?
• Restoration – Gain a health if you’re on a power zone.
• – No new advantages this set.  That kind of surprised me.
• Demolish – Brawl/Blast trigger that mimics a ram power attack.  I gotta admit, I enjoy these “power attack simulators” we’ve been getting lately.
• Grind – Lightning Attack except you have to drop some dice first (2 of each A, P, B dice).
• Power Strike – Yay!  Another ability running on superstrikes.  And it drains P-dice.  Man that would have been great for Martians.
• Riot – If you roll a p-dice, you get to make a rampage, stomp or ram power attack.  So it’s a more limited Chain Attack really.
• Live Wire – When a building’s destroyed, monsters on or adjacent to it take 1 damage.  So it’s a Spire with a potential explosion built in.  I just love the potential suicidal chaos you could cause with this.
• Roller – A reaction that turns a building into a smash power attack.  Which is just awesome for the visual.
• Amphibious – Ok, now even I will agree that the movement abilities are getting out of hand.  We need a freakin’ chart for them!
• Champion – The reverse “leadership”.  The fig gets +1 b-dice for each matching grunt next to it.  Freakin’ awesome!
• Coordinate – Basically free movement for nearby units (up to 2 spaces) with the same name as this one.  Another boost for brawl but one of the worst worded abilities I’ve seen. (not counting satellite support which was screwed up)
• Countermeasures – A hoser for actions.  Nice, that helps bring some balance to the game.
• Drain Life – Keeps monsters from healing.  I wonder how this will affect morphers.
• Fireproof – Now everyone can stop complaining about radiation figures as other figs can ignore hazards.
• Hasten – Literally reads “This unit gains +1 speed”.  This has to be a monster ability that’s “shared out” (red or blue) like Sky Sentinal’s “Wing Leader”.  You know, this ability on Rakadon as a “blue” would have helped improve him a lot.
• Holy Ground – Building ability that prevents healing.  Why?  I mean, why would holy ground prevent healing?  I thought that’s where you went to heal.
• Lift – Temporary flight to adjacent allied units.  Again, neat idea but seems like rule headaches a’ coming.
• Power Tap – The reverse of amplify, you drain +1 p-dice if you’re sitting on a negative zone.  The only catch is that your opponent needs to have 5 or more p-dice.  How does the timing work?  If I control a building with media hub and several units with power tap, do you subtract all at once?  Or 1 at a time until the PT abilities no longer trigger?
• Quick – Free movement if this fig matches your monster’s faction.  The fact that they said fig makes me wonder if a monster might have it (does that mean they always move free?).  Poor Carnidons.  This ability would have made them almost playable.  I hope we never see this ability on a blast unit as brawling armies desperately need it just to catch up.
• Smoke Screen – +1 def for units against blast attacks.  Very much needed for brawlers, especially since it will stack with cover and fore field (giving you +3 against blast).
• Super Swat – I mostly just want to point out that this ability affects swat power attacks and the fling ability.  Which kind of makes you sad that Super Strength doesn’t benefit toss or beat back.
• Tenacious – Immune to hazards.  Wow.  It joins resilience and armored on the defense side of things and as abilities we probably won’t see combined with super damage often.

I did notice a few more typos in these listed but here’s hoping it all gets straightened out before sent to print.  Still, I love the fact that apparently PP will expand on their existing pool of features without introducing too many new mechanics.  This is a great time to get into the game.  If you’re not playing, what are you waiting for??? Let’s go smash downtown!

Asking Rowling

If I could ask Rowling only one question, I think I’d ask how her hometown is now that she’s rich & famous.

I grew up in a smallish town and when you’re walking around, seeing people you’ve grown up with, friends, family, etc one of the first questions asked (of both sides) is “What are you doing now?”

I wonder how it’d be to become a rich and famous author, then have all these people you’ve known so long already know the answer to what you are doing.  What does your old piano teacher say to you when she’s just read about how your latest release had lines around the bookstores?  Maybe that’s why celebrities are so often depressed: there’s nothing left to talk about.

Like everyone I daydream about what it’d be like to be rich and famous but part of me wonders what that would do to my hometown and the relationships I have with everyone there.  Maybe Tolkien had the right idea: die then become famous.

Episode Review – Good God, Ya’ll

I can’t believe we’ve gone this long through the show without ever hearing Spirit in the Sky playing.

Man this is a hard episode to grade.  There wasn’t anything majorly earth-shattering (pun intended this season?) but it was filled with great, little touches.  I almost couldn’t believe they made Dean’s amulet a plot point!  The fact that they’re giving weight to something as trivial as that gives me greater hope that we’ll get more details on Ruby’s knife, the Colt, and so many other wonderful toys.

Looks like they are not going to follow my advice and shy away from God (well so far)… on the other hand, Castiel is going to look for God.  And it seems they are going to follow through on a season long war fight, but on the other hand, season 4 had its first 3 episodes be seal related with the 4th being a MotW reflection episode.  I’m torn again on this issue.  SPN’s MotW episodes aren’t bad and part of me loves seeing their different takes on legendary creatures.  On the other, taking an episode or two away from Lucifer undercuts the drama and tension of this season.  This is a time I wish we had gotten a full season 3, that way we could have gotten our fill of MotW.

Lots of subtle touches throughout, a devastating ending (Sam walking off)… I want to give it a 5 but it just doesn’t strike me as nearly powerful enough to do so.

This is fast shaping up to be a great season.

All about me!

I meant to post this earlier and totally forgot. So for those curious (or really really bored), here is my character sheet for the SPN RPG game.  Of course, all of this is 100% true*.

Nate Winchester
AGI d4
STR d4
VIT d6
ALE d10
INT d10
WIL d8

Life points: 14
Initiative d10+d4
Endurance d6+d8
Resistance d6+d6

Skills
Covert d4
Discipline d6 / Concentration d12
Drive d6
Knowledge d6
Lore d6
Medicine d6 / First Aid d12
Science d6
Survival d4
Tech d6

Assets
Born Behind the Wheel (ambulance) d4
Cool Under Fire d6
In Plain Sight d6
Signature Possession (re-purposed ambulance) d10
Complications
Allergy (dust) d2
Lightweight d8
Smartass d4
Duty (injured) d12

Description
A southern boy, Nate went into medicine when he grew up.  Although every one thought he would be a doctor, he enjoyed the field too much and trained to be a paramedic.  One night his ambulance picked up a man sporting injuries Nate had never seen before.  He eventually learned that the man was a hunter and helped him put an end to a terrorizing ghost.  Inspired by these events, Nate abandoned his life, selling most of his possessions and trading his car for a used ambulance.  His medical training is both a blessing – as it takes a lot to rattle him – and a curse – as his instinct to aid the sick/injured force him to let a target go.  Just starting out on the hunting life, Nate prefers to help other hunters, even though his smart mouth makes working with him a challenge.

Gear
Nate drives a modified ambulance.  In the back is an old gurney held together with duct tape.  On one side in the back are the best medical supplies Nate can get his hands on.  On the other is a collection of books, weapons and other hunter tools that he has brought along from his old life (a hobbyist of myths and urban legends, Nate had a decent collection of books to begin with) though still not enough for an ideally prepared hunter.  He might be willing to patch some people up in exchange for a few goods…

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*No it’s not.