8.15 "Man's Best Friend With Benefits" SPN DISCUSS

[AntiArbitrator]

After turning to witchcraft, a police officer named Kevin starts having nightmares in which he murders innocent people; when the murders start happening in real life, Sam and Dean investigate.

[ezpzy]

I love this episode. It had the hunters doing what they do best – go after supernatural beings that are killing people. It also had the Winchester humor, Winchester awkward moments, and the Winchester drama.

Even though I watched the scene about the dog and belly scratch several times, I still laughed when I saw it in the episode. That was clever and Dean’s expression was funny. I still get happy when I see the Impala and I enjoy the jazzy music in spite of there being no rock in the episode. New word for my vocabulary - “lame-assiest”. I like Sam agreeing that being fussed out was “incredibly hot”. Dean and his awkward questions – he wanted to know if the familiar is really a dog or a girl. I don’t blame him for being curious.

I don’t remember that cop but maybe someone else does. Those chains they used to bind the witch looked strong enough to hold The Incredible Hulk.

I thought it was profound when Sam told Dean “It’s not that you don’t trust me. It’s that you can only trust you.” Then right after Dean said “I trust you Sammy”, Sam said he was all right – and coughed blood. I think the first trial is affecting Sam's body and I wonder how long it will take Sam to tell Dean that he coughed blood.

[lemongrover]

It was alright. Sam and Dean are back to secrets and trust issues, very refreshing for an angle. And the guest stars took over the episode, but this time I didn't mind. I thought they worked well. There were a few cute moments and I liked Sam, Dean, and Portia. And the light-hearted moments between Sam and Dean. But the brothers were too quick with the whole "let's help James and Portia. While we're waiting for answers, let's plot to kill him. Okay, we've done ten minutes of research, time to kill him!" Huh? You don't say that you are going to help him and then gather the stuff to kill him. I mean, what are they channeling Uther? (Not that I wouldn't mind Antony Head guesting staring. He could replace Garth as the Bobby replacement. Or be a Man of Letter? Yay!!)

I wasn't sure about the whole trust issue talk between Sam and Dean. It was like they were taking steps back, which is a common for the brothers. "The End" brothers together, next episode "Fallen Idols" brothers have problems with being together. (That one was understandable, but poorly done and didn't work with the previous episode.) "Hello Cruel World" Dean's going to be Sam's stone one, "The Girl Next Door" Sam and Dean go behind each other's backs to deal with Amy? The only episodes that have kept the brothers' development from one episode to the next are "Point of No Return" to "Hammer of the Gods" and "Unforgiven" to "Mannequin 3." I do not understand. Now, it's concern and wanting safe to trust issues and you can't do it. Huh? I thought there was a huge difference! Why couldn't it stay there? Because the Winchesters both have major reasons as to why they should have trust issues (especially, towards the writers ).

But the major issue for me tonight was the flashbacks. They have all the footage for every season, so why no use footage from Sam and Dean's point of view. How did the witch pull John's memory of Mary on the ceiling to Dean's memory? How did Sam suddenly have an out of body experience of watching him and Adam fall into the cage? (Did the show just acknowledge that Adam existed? Moment of silence for the brother left behind in Hell.) Wouldn't it have made more sense for the brothers to be tortured with their own memories? They were tortured with their own Hells? (I'm allowing for the Hell ones, since we don't have many scenes for Hell.) Why not memories they have and not some other characters? And furthermore, wouldn't it have flowed better if Dean remember Sam jumping into the cage and then realizing he trusted Sam? Maybe? It's a pet-peeve of mine, but I HATE it when shows give characters memories they don't have when using the flashback montage feature. Why can't they use flashbacks that are in the character context?

(Maybe I'm the only person who feels this way. The only comments I have seen about the flashbacks are Sam's were self-centered and lacking in sympathy, naturally from our lovely Sam-haters or Carver's rewriting the show's history, which I'm wondering about. I think it's probably more of the ladder than the former, because at least the fans who shout retcon every five minutes don't call Sam an jackass for saying "hello." Either way, being lazy and using other characters views or trying to change show history, it really bugs me when you have so many seasons and scenes to chose from. This is why if you are going to do a montage or flashbacks, you need to watch One Tree Hill. Say what you want about One Tree Hill, they did incredible with the montages and flashbacks. They showed what you needed to know and off the top of my head, they never used flashbacks that were from someone else's point of view entirely. And let's face it, the Supernatural writers are horrible with montages (see "Mannequin 3," "Defending Your Life," and "The Born-Again Identity," the exception being "Swan Song," that one worked, because it was all Sam and Dean) and do we need to go over the Amelia flashback flop.)

[SoCal]

Once again I'm disappointed.

One week after Sam tells Dean that he's "a genius, in lore, a better hunter than dad, than anyone," we find that Dean, evidently, has no idea that witches have "familiars." Huh?? So he's gone from genius....a "lore master" to grunt in just one week?

And his constant sexualization of Portia was just silly. We all know Dean has a healthy sexual appitite, but do we have to see him being portrayed as a sex starved teenager week after week?

And once he knew that Portia was a dog, why didn't he suspect, after he broadly tells us he only sneezes around cats, that the guy they're talking to in the witches bar just MAY be a familiar who becomes a cat? Why would he look so astonished to see him become a cat? Again, it makes him look stupid.

Still not quite getting why the cop decides to become a witch. And how is he going to manage to hide from his former cop partners when they have so much evidence against him in the several murders that were committed? So many loose ends.

And what's the first thing Sam does after Dean tells him he does trust him and that when Sam tells him he's okay, he's behind him 100%? Sam LIES. Geez. Maybe it's Sam who has the trust issues.

We only have 8 more episodes until the end of the season. I sure hope the rest of the episodes are better than this one.

[Aeryn]

Didn't watch it yet, but I voted "utter crap" anyway.

[AntiArbitrator]

Feb 21, 2013 11:40:04 GMT -5 Aeryn said:

Didn't watch it yet, but I voted "utter crap" anyway.

Maybe you can pass some of your honesty onto the Winchesters.

[AntiArbitrator]

Feb 21, 2013 9:42:07 GMT -5 SoCal said:

Once again I'm disappointed.

One week after Sam tells Dean that he's "a genius, in lore, a better hunter than dad, than anyone," we find that Dean, evidently, has no idea that witches have "familiars." Huh?? So he's gone from genius....a "lore master" to grunt in just one week?

And his constant sexualization of Portia was just silly. We all know Dean has a healthy sexual appetite, but do we have to see him being portrayed as a sex starved teenager week after week?

And once he knew that Portia was a dog, why didn't he suspect, after he broadly tells us he only sneezes around cats, that the guy they're talking to in the witches bar just MAY be a familiar who becomes a cat? Why would he look so astonished to see him become a cat? Again, it makes him look stupid.

Still not quite getting why the cop decides to become a witch. And how is he going to manage to hide from his former cop partners when they have so much evidence against him in the several murders that were committed? So many loose ends.

And what's the first thing Sam does after Dean tells him he does trust him and that when Sam tells him he's okay, he's behind him 100%? Sam LIES. Geez. Maybe it's Sam who has the trust issues.

We only have 8 more episodes until the end of the season. I sure hope the rest of the episodes are better than this one.

Although I enjoyed watching the episode, SoCal, you make some very good observations. I knew the dude was a cat when Dean was sneezing, but maybe being surrounded by so many witches gave Dean a brain freeze. No excuses for not knowing about witches' familiars and they have seen many creatures change form so the look of surprise was baffling.

Dean's saving grace is that he did not make any bestiality jokes.

The cop must have made a deal with a demon to have the powers he demonstrated. He went way beyond chanting spells. That was a weird scenario. (His features reminded me of the magician in the Cris Angel episode, but I have not investigated that yet.)

Only 8 more episodes? They need to read all the books in the MOL library, finish the trials, gank Naomi, save Castiel, find the Angel tablet, send Crowley to Hell before they close the gates, and then succeed in closing the gates forever. I bet they accomplish all of that in the season finale - except for sending Crowley to Hell. He will be the cliff hanger.

[SoCal]

Feb 21, 2013 14:13:34 GMT -5 AntiArbitrator said:

Feb 21, 2013 9:42:07 GMT -5 SoCal said:

Once again I'm disappointed.

One week after Sam tells Dean that he's "a genius, in lore, a better hunter than dad, than anyone," we find that Dean, evidently, has no idea that witches have "familiars." Huh?? So he's gone from genius....a "lore master" to grunt in just one week?

And his constant sexualization of Portia was just silly. We all know Dean has a healthy sexual appetite, but do we have to see him being portrayed as a sex starved teenager week after week?

And once he knew that Portia was a dog, why didn't he suspect, after he broadly tells us he only sneezes around cats, that the guy they're talking to in the witches bar just MAY be a familiar who becomes a cat? Why would he look so astonished to see him become a cat? Again, it makes him look stupid.

Still not quite getting why the cop decides to become a witch. And how is he going to manage to hide from his former cop partners when they have so much evidence against him in the several murders that were committed? So many loose ends.

And what's the first thing Sam does after Dean tells him he does trust him and that when Sam tells him he's okay, he's behind him 100%? Sam LIES. Geez. Maybe it's Sam who has the trust issues.

We only have 8 more episodes until the end of the season. I sure hope the rest of the episodes are better than this one.

Although I enjoyed watching the episode, SoCal, you make some very good observations. I knew the dude was a cat when Dean was sneezing, but maybe being surrounded by so many witches gave Dean a brain freeze. No excuses for not knowing about witches' familiars and they have seen many creatures change form so the look of surprise was baffling.

Dean's saving grace is that he did not make any bestiality jokes.

The cop must have made a deal with a demon to have the powers he demonstrated. He went way beyond chanting spells. That was a weird scenario. (His features reminded me of the magician in the Cris Angel episode, but I have not investigated that yet.)

Only 8 more episodes? They need to read all the books in the MOL library, finish the trials, gank Naomi, save Castiel, find the Angel tablet, send Crowley to Hell before they close the gates, and then succeed in closing the gates forever. I bet they accomplish all of that in the season finale - except for sending Crowley to Hell. He will be the cliff hanger.

I'm betting they won't complete all those tasks since the show has already been renewed for season 9. They can drag this storyline out for a couple of seasons, which might be okay as long as they write GOOD stories. They did the same thing with season 1-2. A lot of strings were left hanging at the end of season 1 and weren't tied up until the end of season 2.

[AntiArbitrator]

Feb 21, 2013 14:54:59 GMT -5 SoCal said:

I'm betting they won't complete all those tasks since the show has already been renewed for season 9. They can drag this storyline out for a couple of seasons, which might be okay as long as they write GOOD stories. They did the same thing with season 1-2. A lot of strings were left hanging at the end of season 1 and weren't tied up until the end of season 2.

As usual, I think you're right. They will drag it out. That way they will have time to expand the angel tablet story line. I cannot imagine what that tablet says. Do you think God would let the prophet write down how to destroy Heaven?

[SoCal]

Feb 21, 2013 15:12:58 GMT -5 AntiArbitrator said:

Feb 21, 2013 14:54:59 GMT -5 SoCal said:

I'm betting they won't complete all those tasks since the show has already been renewed for season 9. They can drag this storyline out for a couple of seasons, which might be okay as long as they write GOOD stories. They did the same thing with season 1-2. A lot of strings were left hanging at the end of season 1 and weren't tied up until the end of season 2.

As usual, I think you're right. They will drag it out. That way they will have time to expand the angel tablet story line. I cannot imagine what that tablet says. Do you think God would let the prophet write down how to destroy Heaven?

Oooooooooooooooooo, Anti, you bring up a wonderful point.

It makes me wonder, too, what, exactly is on that so-called angel tablet. Maybe it isn't instructions on how to destroy Heaven, but a method to destroy the rebellious angels in Heaven. What do you think? I mean, Naomi seems pretty un-angelic, doesn't she? Although I find it a little odd that God would allow such antics to go on in Heaven.

I have a million questions!!

[Aeryn]

Okay...I'm about to watch it.

[AntiArbitrator]

Feb 21, 2013 17:04:46 GMT -5 Aeryn said:

Okay...I'm about to watch it.

I'm glad you can retract your vote and rate it a 5 for bestiality.

[AntiArbitrator]

Feb 21, 2013 15:52:10 GMT -5 SoCal said:

Feb 21, 2013 15:12:58 GMT -5 AntiArbitrator said:

As usual, I think you're right. They will drag it out. That way they will have time to expand the angel tablet story line. I cannot imagine what that tablet says. Do you think God would let the prophet write down how to destroy Heaven?

Oooooooooooooooooo, Anti, you bring up a wonderful point.

It makes me wonder, too, what, exactly is on that so-called angel tablet. Maybe it isn't instructions on how to destroy Heaven, but a method to destroy the rebellious angels in Heaven. What do you think? I mean, Naomi seems pretty un-angelic, doesn't she? Although I find it a little odd that God would allow such antics to go on in Heaven.

I have a million questions!!

I wonder too! Naomi is definitely worried about the King of Hell getting his hands on the tablet. I doubt she could possibly know what is on it since she is not even an Arch Angel, but she is in a panic. Naomi does seem like an unholy inquisitor and probably would love to obtain instructions on how to destroy the rebellious angels.

The deadbeat-dad God of Supernatural doesn't give a crap about his Angels or Heaven apparently. I'm sure there is a special corner of Hell reserved for the Supernatural producers.

[Aeryn]

I sat through this episode, thinking about how crappy the series has become.

Bad acting, lame writing, bad music...TOO MANY FLASHBACKS!!!

However, the actor who played James was pretty good. And sadly, Jared and Jensen slept walked through it.

My "crappy" vote stands.

[novemberschild]

Hi , I made myself watch it for a third time before I posted about it, I gave it a 2. It was just OK for me.
First off though I am glad you enjoyed it Anti, , we all see things differently and we all have different perspectives and I am happy that you enjoyed it.

There were numerous things in this that I didn't enjoy so I am only going to mention what I did like.
I liked the beginning with Sam, Dean and Portia in the motel room, I loved the way Dean was like yea, she can stay
I liked the way Sam and Dean sat in James house while waiting for James to come out and talk to him, as if they were there for a friendly visit.
Dean and Portia had a nice chemistry together, I enjoyed their scenes together. I liked the end scene of the 2 male witches fighting, Sam and Dean coming into it and then Portia coming in at the last.
I was happy that the guys let James and Portia go at the end, they are starting to let a lot more go than they ever did, is that because we are starting to build up the Winchester allies again?

I will only say about the icky scene with James and Portia is that in that moment I thought I was watching a soap opera just for a minute and then it passed. Don't need to see that again EVER

[AntiArbitrator]

Feb 22, 2013 21:04:11 GMT -5 novemberschild said:

I will only say about the icky scene with James and Portia is that in that moment I thought I was watching a soap opera just for a minute and then it passed. Don't need to see that again EVER

That scene has to be the worst scene ever on Supernatural. I wonder what is wrong with them? Ew!

[SoCal]

Fake sex scenes filmed for a TV audience really do spew.

[AntiArbitrator]

I will never understand the need for gratuitous sex scenes on TV. In the movies, they do that to move the rating to M for mature audiences.

[SoCal]

Feb 23, 2013 12:57:03 GMT -5 AntiArbitrator said:

I will never understand the need for gratuitous sex scenes on TV. In the movies, they do that to move the rating to M for mature audiences.

I think they do it for 2 reasons: 1. to avoid having a "G" rating which makes the teenagers think it's a worthless movie and 2. to move it to PG so the teenagers with raging hormones will pay to see it (since it may be the only sex they're getting!).

[AntiArbitrator]

I read this yesterday, and I am still laughing because it is so true.

[SoCal]

[lemongrover]

Feb 25, 2013 13:58:58 GMT -5 SoCal said:

Feb 23, 2013 12:57:03 GMT -5 AntiArbitrator said:

I will never understand the need for gratuitous sex scenes on TV. In the movies, they do that to move the rating to M for mature audiences.

I think they do it for 2 reasons: 1. to avoid having a "G" rating which makes the teenagers think it's a worthless movie and 2. to move it to PG so the teenagers with raging hormones will pay to see it (since it may be the only sex they're getting!).

Do you think it's strange that the writers who wrote this episode constantly do these gratuitous sex scenes? (And one of them happens to be married to Robert Singer?)

You think they would have learned that these random sex scenes just don't work. Supernatural has never been good at placing sex scenes and half the time they are sleazy. But these two writers are the worst at writing sex scenes. This year's "Slice Girls" without the murder and music.

[AntiArbitrator]

It is strange and because of the rotation system, it is not likely that their episodes call for the sex scenes. I think the writers enjoy writing the scenes into the episodes.

[yimhappy]

Feb 21, 2013 14:13:34 GMT -5 AntiArbitrator said:

Dean's saving grace is that he did not make any bestiality jokes.

My husband caught me at dinner a couple of weeks ago with this epi, one of the few I've seen. Before that I saw "Torn and Frayed".

I gave it a 2 because I don't remember cringing, but I couldn't remember hardly anything either. I totally agree with anti that I'm so glad Dean didn't make a bestiality joke.

However, I do remember feeling uncomfortable with this woman in her pink collar, and witches fighting to be her master. Plus, Dean/Sam thinking she's hot. The familiar seemed like her own woman. Oh wait, she's only firm about who owns her? Plus, she acts independent because that makes guys hot??
IDK what it was. Maybe it's all BDSM parallels? Yeesh. Uneasy with this epi.

Anyway, thanks for the reviews that reminded me something happened this epi.