Supernatural Rewatch Part 3

Don't forget to check the "supernatural rewatch" tag to see all the posts in this series! It's hard to keep going through these early episodes, especially knowing how the season ends up. From now on I should probably do these write ups right after watching, because it would be more interesting for all of us. Bloody Mary: This is actually the last episode I watched back when they were first airing. Although I don't remember the way that the story ended up so it may be that I saw the previews but didn't watch the episode. None of which is actually important. Anyway.

The show seems to be happy making it's way through well known and well worn legends, but at least it's putting it's own twists and mythology to them. The thing that interests me about Bloody Mary is that it's always a different system for calling her forward, and a different tale about what she'll do to you. I'm sure research papers have been written about the ways the myth evolves in different areas and throughout it's history.

The episode itself hits a couple of my own personal fears, like the idea of looking in a mirror and seeing your reflection do something else. It's like I've been saying for years, if you're faced with most popular fears you know what to do. Zombies? Head shot. Vampires? Stake to the heart. Werewolves? Silver bullets. If all else fails, cut off it's head. But when your mirror goes evil? You're just screwed. You can never tell if breaking it will fix things or set the evil free.

The revelations in this episode weren't bad, and Sam's secret did add a nice layer to his character and start to build up an interesting piece of the show's mythos. I'm just looking forward to a time where both brothers are interesting in a single episode, rather than having each one take a turn while the other takes a back seat and goes back to their stereotypical role.

Oh, and let's not forget that this episode featured another pretty girl who needed their help, will be eternally grateful, and never shows up again.

Skin: This episode actually does what I was complaining about for Bloody Mary, it manages to give both brothers plenty of character development and issues and doesn't send one or the other to the background. It also is the single grossest thing I think the show has put onto camera yet, so I guess kudos for that?

One thing this episode flirts with but doesn't finish is how these brothers manage to lie and get themselves on some law enforcement radar nearly every week. I find it hard to believe they're not climbing America's Most Wanted. I can suspend that most days, but it's going to be hard to explain later how Dean Winchester isn't dead. Not to mention how weird the investigation would get if they were really looking into his past and trying to make sense of any of it. I suppose since the suspect is dead they just closed the investigation.

Using a telepathic shape shifter to get into the brother's heads was a neat way to go about it, so that you don't have to manufacture a "chick flick moment" for them to bare their souls. But it does seem like a cop out, I'd like them to have these kind of moments themselves out of something genuine.

Lookit that, this episode has another attractive young lady who needs their help, almost dies, and will never be seen again. We're now 5 for 6! The only reason we aren't at a perfect record is that Jess doesn't count on this particular trope, she's her own kind of special.

I did appreciate that Skin was about a more vague villain, just a shapeshifter, not some specific piece of folklore. It's good to mix it up.

I'm happy I wasn't at Comic Con

Over the last weekend, tumblr and every other piece of social media was full of people talking about how much they wished they were at San Diego Comic Con.

Meanwhile, I was so glad that I wasn't.

I love conventions, I actually wish I could go to more of them. But I love them for completely different reasons than most of the people who were talking about SDCC. I love seeing cosplayers, I love seeing friends I don't hang out with too often. I like to be in an area full of people with similar interests just to talk to random strangers. And I enjoy the occasional odd encounter with a star of a favorite show in an elevator.

What I hate is lines and waiting. My sister dubbed it "wait rage" a few weeks ago. I hate waiting, I can't stand it unless I have something specific to do while I'm waiting. But in general, the thing I'm waiting for better be worth wasting this precious amount of my minutes on Earth. And while I love a lot of the things that were happening at SDCC, I could read about it all from home without having to camp out in a line for three days for a chance to MAYBE make it in the door.

Plus I heard that they weren't even clearing the rooms in between panels, so half the time you would be waiting in line and not get in because somebody had camped a chair in the room the entire day and they might not have even been there for what you were trying to see.

I don't know the solution to this problem in general (besides clearing the room, which I know takes precious time but come on, it's a necessity). Dragon*Con has a pretty big problem with it as well. The last few times I've been to bigger conventions it's been with a press badge, so I've thankfully been able to enjoy the event without too much waiting. But one year at Otakon I waited in a twelve block long line, outside, in the August heat of Baltimore, for a concert that turned out not to be any good. They hadn't set up the sound system properly so the music sounded terrible, and the seats we got after waiting so many hours were so far back that we were getting assaulted with echoes as well. The whole thing was a complete and utter waste, we left after maybe twenty minutes.

And that's the thing about these events. Sometimes there's a brilliant and amazing thing that you wish you'd been there for, but it's not like you'll miss out on the big announcements or not know what's going on. Waiting in a line for a signing is one thing, getting that brief moment of one on one with your favorite star is pretty awesome and so I don't begrudge anybody that. But camping out for two days for a Q&A panel, where you probably won't get to ask your question and 90% of the questions will be either something easily found elsewhere or the person asking spending five minutes talking about how much they love the people on the panel...in my world that equation isn't worth it.

Maybe I've gotten jaded from attending too many conventions and seeing too many panels. Some people will probably say I'm just not a big enough fan, and that might be true. I can't think of anybody that I am just so enamored with that I would wait five hours for a chance to stand in the back of a room and listen to them talk. I would pay for a ticket to a limited seating event that guaranteed I got in the room without having to wait, sure. But my time is worth more than money, and I only get so much of it. I'd rather spend it reading about SDCC from home and then going out and doing anything I wanted that weekend than waiting in line.

I know there's no easy solution, and like I said, I don't know what it would be. But the big conventions really need to address this problem. Because I for one am not counting the days until I might be able to go to SDCC unless it's with a press badge and a particular project in mind. Going as a fan just seems like an experience in camping, and I'd rather do that outside.