Made of awesome.

spn review 4x13: After School Special

This turned out to be somewhat more, uh, detailed than I'd originally anticipated. But oh well. Here goes.

The ep opens promising enough with the well-known epic quote:
Sam: "When I told Dad I was scared of the thing in my closet, he gave me a .45."
Dean: "Well, what was he supposed to do?'
Sam: "I was nine years old."
 

So, I said before this episode would totally rock because of three things:

• Dean in tights (my knees go weak at the sight of him in gym attire)
• Psychic!Sam (never gets old)
• Flashbacks ('cause I'm a sucker for wee!Dean and wee!Sam)

Let's see how well it met my (soaring high) expectations.

 

On the case: I'm not convinced this is how things usually go down on US high schools, but if it is, I'm somewhat glad I went over here. Things seem kinda harsh. But hey, that's teenage life, I guess.

Pretty creepy though, with the 'fat girl' freakin' out and all. She totally had me convinced it was really her… until some weird goo started drippin' out of her eye, of course. (EEP: GROSS.) I think it would have been cooler if it they hadn't made it that 'obvious' something supernatural was going on here. I mean, just the explanation with orderly!Sam after the credits would have been fine, too.

Oh! And please note that this is, like, the third time we've seen someone drown in this fashion on the show. Okay, so not necessarily in a toilet, but from this point of view. I'm thinking: Lust from The Magnificent Seven and the tacky girl dressed up as a nurse on the Halloween party in It's The Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester. I mean, hello? Ran out of ways to kill someone, much?

Oh. Please, someone, slap me now. Reason #1 why I'm already liking this episode.

On the case: it sounds like a possession, alright. But somehow, the way the girl's confession is set up, I think it's anything but. And since when did demons start messin' around with goo, anyway?  

God. I'm such a total slut. It's not even seven minutes into the episode and I'm a goner. When the hell did it turn this bad?

Back on the case: "Truman High… Home of the Bombers." I can't tell you how much I've been looking forward to a case like this. Seriously. Just one thing, and yeah, nitpicking again--but what's with the swedish exchange students? (Thinkin' back to my ramblings about 4x12) Come on, Dean, please!

 

On a sidenote: I love it, by the way, that's Sam's all hands-on on this one, especially already knowing how it turns out.

"Don't worry. I got an idea."

Dean's looking afraid. He should be.

Upon seeing this, I was immediately half-screaming: "Ooooh! Flashback! Flashback! Gimme some flashback!" This scene is TOTALLY perfect. Right the way I had imagined it in my mind. (Now I'm watching it again, by the way, I'm wanting that music real bad. I think it's Foreigner, but I can't be too sure. It's Foreigner, alright.) Music? Check. Impala? Check.
 

Dean? Ch… Oooooh my. Check.

Sammy? Check. My first thought, though, was: 'This isn't right.' He's way too small. But then, I got thinking, and he must have been about 14. That would have made Dean 18. And much taller. Yeah. Okay. I can deal with that. Let's get a move on.

Oh! On a sidenote again:

Dean: "You got your lunch? Books? Butterfly knife?"
Sam: "Yeah, Dean."
Dean: "You okay?"
Sam: "Sure."
Dean: "Sammy..."

This same scene, at about 07:13, is totally ripped off from minkmix</lj>'s comic about wee!Dean and wee!Sam. Go check it out here if you haven't already--it's made of awesome. Yeah, too.

"You'll be fine. If anyone gives you any trouble you let me know."

And oh! again. (I got a feeling there's gonna be too much oh!s this ep.) Dean is totally the most awesome big brother EVER.

Again, it's spot on with how I had always pictured this: Sam, thoroughly unhappy and Dean, (seemingly) as if he couldn't care less. Thinking ahead, to how this ep's gonna end, it's a beautifully made contradiction: both boys end up with a completely opposite attitude to how they started at this school.

Random: This is just SO funny. I knew a girl who used to look exactly like Barry. Minus the glasses, I'll admit, but the face and the hair and, of course, the EARS. It's uncanny. Maybe the writers knew Madelief, too? (She's not dead, though, at least I don't think so. Just haven't seen her in almost ten years.)

Sidenoting again: I've read so much fic that even this scene isn't unfamiliar. Reading The Outsiders? Having to write an essay? On 'your most memorable family experience?' I'm sure you were all thinkin' what I was thinkin'. (Can't for the life of me remember what fic(s) this was in, though.)

Oooh. Mean!Sammy. Reason #44 why I'm already totally diggin' this ep. Bullies, ye be afraid.

Concierge!Sam could come and sweep the floor of my school, any day.

Total, uh, knee!porn.

And to the rest of his body, too. I'm hopeless. And totally thinking now: Sam should be in charge more. Definitely.

"The wistle makes me their God." Well, your outfit makes you mine, Dean.

Okaaaaay, and back to the case. 'Cause the way I'm going at it now, it'll take me forever to finish this review, and I'd rather not be sitting at my computer at 2AM when I could be sleeping and dreaming, uh, nice things.

"No sulfur, no demon. No demon, no case." So that wraps up things pretty neatly, I'd say. But I'm sensing there's still more to it than we think, with Supernatural it's never this easy. And quite right it shouldn't, 'cause where'd the fun be in that?

So, the Home Economics class. Pretty gross, I'd say. But there's definitely some weird mojo going on in that school, and it ain't demons. Nice timing, by the way, Sam. Oh! And this is such a nice close-up. Screenwise, it's sure got some fine moments, too, this ep.

Hell yeah, you're the man, Dean. Red's much prettier than forest green, anyway.

Ooooh! And flashback, again. I think this is such a sad, yet telling scene.

Sam: "You like animals?"
Barry: "They're a lot nicer than people."

The way Sam responds to that is, to me, not quite devastating, but close enough. I think it pretty much shows how fed up Sam is with, well, not life in general but the way he is living it, at that time. He's seen too much and done too much to really enjoy it anymore. (We see later of this coming back in the ep when he is confronted with his horror-esque essay.) I think it's a great way for the writers to show the non-fanfic reading audience how the Winchester's lifestyle gradually led up to Sam's decision to eventually quit hunting and go to Stanford.

Ooooh. Dean, you can take me to the midnight screening of I Spit on your Grave at the Cinedome ANY time.

Back to the case: somehow, seeing as it's only 17:12, I don't think it's quite finished yet. And I'm usually right in these kind of things. Let's see how it goes…




 

The music under this scene says it all. I just realised, for all its awesomeness, in reality this is, like, a super sad episode.

Again with the Sam close-up. The light! So bright! And pretty!

Ooooh. Flashbacks! Protective!Dean is the coolest. I'm feeling really sorry for Sam. And for Dean, too. In the beginning, I was all excited about finally getting too see some real-life wee!chesters, but God, their story is so immensely sad it nearly makes me cry instead.

Fanfic!moment much?

Mr. Wyatt: "You know this assignment was non-fiction, right?"

And, a moment later:

"I'm not flunkin' you, Sam. I'm giving you an A."

This is EPIC. All hail to wee!Sam, who's as convincing as anyone could've ever hoped for. But, seriously, this is such a telling moment.

Mr. Wyatt: "Do you wanna go into the family business?"
Sam:"No one's asked me that before."
Mr. Wyatt:"Well?"
Sam:"More than anything, no."

For me, it's the strongest of the entire ep, and somehow I guess that that's how the writers had meant for it to be. Because, really, this episode is only about the boys (Then again, you could argue, aren't they all?) and in particular what shaped them to be the men they are today. In Sam's case, that's this very moment.

The geek in me recognizes the great camera POV. Storywise, this shot is to be neglected.

Okaaaay, so, back to the case:

Oh NOES! SAMMY!

I'm like: "WTF is he doing?" Moment later: "Wait, it's salt."

Another moment later: "Damn. I was rooting for some psychic!Sam. Man, this is one MAJOR disappointment. Sammy manhandling some teenage chick is just not the same as that evil exorcism (Shit, I had to look up how to write that word correctly yet again) thing he does.

I SO envy that girl.

"That ghost is dead. I'm gonna rip its lungs out."

Ooooh. There's not quite anything like adult!protective!Dean, though.

"Here, ghosty ghosty ghosty. Come out, come out, wherever you are."

Back on the case (for real, this time). Ghost on the bus. Hmm. Not sure what to think of that. It's like taking the easy way out, you know, for the writers. 'Okay. So it's not a ghost at the school. Let's make it a ghost at the… gym? Nah. Cafeteria? Nah. Oh, what about the bus?' And figures, of course, that it's the bully's dad driving it.

Nitpicking again: this is NOT a new driving permit, issued 'two weeks ago'. Unless I'm going blind, it seems to me the slip clearly says 'Valid from January 1 2005'. Which is, of course, four years ago.

Aaaaand flashback again. My, we're getting an awful lot of them today, aren't we? Not that I'm complaining, nuh-uh. Here, I was rooting for a fight to start, and at the same time for it not to. I hesitate like that a lot, I know. But I so needed to see Dirk's ass kicked, that in the end, I really didn't mind Dirk getting knocked senseless by none other than Sammy.

Present day: now that we've established its ghostly Dirk jerkin' around, let's get on with the case. And, please, don't waste too much time finding that hair.

Sidenoting again:

Coach: "Aren't you the PE teacher?"
Dean (looking bewildered for a moment): "Not really. I'm like 21 Jump Street. Bus driver sells pot. Yeah."

This is how I love Jensen best. Scenes like these are somehow just made for him.

I've totally forgotten about the case. Praise the camera folks here: man, these are some awesome shots.

Teehee. (Insert girly scream here)

Yes, Dean, find the damn lock of freakin' hair, alright! That's the sound of your bro being beat to pulp, there.
 

BURN, baby, BURN.

Remember when I was talking about 'defining moments'. Well, this is Dean's. Pretty much.

Thinking back to the start of this episode, both boys' roles are completely reversed: Sam's future is looking bright (both in short and long term perspective), while Dean's is totally messed up. You can just SEE him think: 'Phonecall. FINALLY.'

And, of course, the inevitable confrontation between Sam and Mr. Wyatt. With the inevitable question.

"Are you happy, Sam?"

No answer. But you know what they say about silence.