My Thoughts on "Abandon All Hope"
Nov. 20th, 2009 12:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
borgmama1of5I think I must have been watching a slightly different episode than the rest of the fandom--"Abandon all Hope" is getting 'best episode so far' raves from just about everyone and it didn't go that far for me.
The beginning felt rushed, like there wasn't enough time in one episode to do a complete set up...okay, time constraints I understand.
But where did Jo come from all of a sudden to help them get into Crowley's lair?
How could the boys have messed up the devil's trap on the back of the rug? They're better than that...I thought it was a set-up on their part, but instead Crowley had them completely at his mercy. Sam and Dean don't make stupid mistakes like that. I thought maybe Jo would come in the back and take out the demons holding the boys. Okay, it makes Crowley a very intriguing demon, that he let the boys go but still, the 'capture' just wasn't up to Winchester standards.
The joke Dean made while he and Sam were getting ready to go after Lucifer (I wish I had the exact quote) about Sam being so good at trusting demons--to me that was an telling line about where the brothers' relationship is now. That Dean could JOKE about last season and that Sam took it as a snark without getting upset says volumes to me. I wish we would have seen more of the 'getting good with each other again' process, but we'll just have to take the tidbits Kripke gave us. (And read the fanfic for the rest of the details.)
Moments that show Dean has matured--when Sam want to go after Lucifer with Dean, Dean acquiesces. And likewise, later, when Jo is going to sacrifice herself, Dean doesn't try to talk her out of it. He saw the reality that she was right--and Jensen Ackles (OMG he kills me) showed how much he hated knowing that--and added Jo to the list he carries of people he couldn't save.
Jo and Ellen's ending was heartbreakingly magnificent, made perfect by the fact that Sam and Dean accepted their choice without trying to talk them out of it. They acknowledged the Harvelles' right to be heroes, and that was the high point of the show for me.
Castiel was awesome, and clearly hanging around Dean Winchester has been a bad (good?) influence on him.
Dean/Sam/Lucifer smackdown--When Dean shoots, Lucifer falls, and neither brother knows what to do next--it was actually funny, their disorientation at having succeeded--at least until Lucifer got back up...
Jared Padalecki's tortured grimaces during Lucifer's pitch to Sam unfortunately pulled me out of the moment. I wish that hadn't been the case, but it did ruin my connection with the scene. Ackles can do so much with the tiniest facial movements. Padalecki's not quite there yet.
And I missed Sam being concerned about Dean after Lucifer threw Dean into a tree. Not even a "Dean!"?
Sam will say yes in 6 months in Detroit? And how many months till the season finale? Oh, Kripke is evil...
It's kind of a good thing that there won't be a new episode till January, at least from my family's perspective...
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Date: 2009-11-20 06:31 pm (UTC)I feel horrible for this, but I laughed out loud at your remarks on Jared's facial expressions near the end of the epi. They were a bit OTT I must agree.
While not blown away by this particular episode, I must say that the one in January looks VERY promising. :)
It was a pleasure reading your thoughts.
A Fellow SN Fan. :)