Supernatural 8x12 "As Time Goes By" spoiler discussion thread

[Dorian Thompson]

I'm a little late, good people. Sorry. Still stuck at work, sneaking some time on the boss's computer. So....what's the verdict on Henry Winchester, father of John? i'm eager to hear.

[auntiehill]

Not really sure. He wasn't that engaging of a character, but I found the "men of letters" group really interesting, and how they characterized the hunters as the "mouth-breathers" who just did the dirty work.

This little box, the Key, seems pretty damn important. Isn't that the sort of thing that Naomi and her crowd would be after?

eta: found this on tumblr; couldn't resist.

[Aeolusdallas]

I thought The Men of Letters were an interesting addition to the shows mythology.
I kind of hope Sam goes down that road.

[Icemizer]

Lots added to the mythology this week. Men of Letters, Knights of Hell. Really enjoyed this week. However shouldnt Cass have made an appearance or Crowly. Surely the appearance of sucha powerful demon would have set off some signal in the supernatural world.

[Worf2DS9]

Was Abadon played by the actress who was T.J. on the last Stargate series? Shame she had to kill that cute goth girl in the store, but I guess that t-shirt was too hard to pass up.

[JD]

Yeah, that was Alaina Huffman from SGU. As for the episode, I really enjoyed it. Henry was an OK character, but the rest of the mythology added by the episode was pretty cool.

[auntiehill]

Icemizer wrote:

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Lots added to the mythology this week. Men of Letters, Knights of Hell. Really enjoyed this week. However shouldnt Cass have made an appearance or Crowly. Surely the appearance of sucha powerful demon would have set off some signal in the supernatural world.

I wondered about that, too. I kept thinking they would try to call Cas, or that he would suddenly show up and take the little box. It certainly seems like something the Angels would want.

[FreezeC77]

Supernatural has coincidences that make Lost look like everything that happened was completely random and unrelated.

So their Father who we found out in one of the other time travel episodes had no idea what supernatual creatures were or what hunting was ended up introduced to it by their Mother because it was *HER* side of the family that was hunters.

So now we found out that the Father's side of the family actually were recorders of Supernatural history?

[eklypse]

I'm also intrigued by the Men of Letters. Am I the only one who thought that Henry Winchester's mannerisms were a bit angelic? I'm referring to his facial expressions and speech patterns. Also, here is an interesting interview from Robert Singer about some things happening later this season (SPOILERS): LINK

[Reverend]

FreezeC77 wrote:

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Supernatural has coincidences that make Lost look like everything that happened was completely random and unrelated.

So their Father who we found out in one of the other time travel episodes had no idea what supernatual creatures were or what hunting was ended up introduced to it by their Mother because it was *HER* side of the family that was hunters.

So now we found out that the Father's side of the family actually were recorders of Supernatural history?

Except it's not a coincidence. It was stated very explicitly that the union of Sam & Dean's parents was a result of them upstairs pulling strings. It's just now we know *why* their father's bloodline was important.

As to the time travelling bit...while it's unlikely that Abaddon knew about Heaven's agenda, it was just a hired gun, so perhaps it's boss (Azazel?) at least hand an inkling that Winchester was important and sent it there to get the box at that time with the express intent of derailing Heaven's plan. Him zapping himself into the future probably wasn't in either party's agenda, but that's free will for you.

[Icemizer]

Interesting stuff in the spoilers link and I am looking forward to it.

[RJDiogenes]

Very nice episode. The Men of Letters idea is a fantastic addition to the mythology and I can't wait to see what they do with it. While I've said that I'd be happy to see a return to the original concept of episodic stories involving American folklore, I'm just as happy to see the situation evolve into something new-- the guys deserve some sort of forward motion, some sort of reward for what they've done and some assets to work with. It also works with the idea that the Winchesters are destined to be some sort of game changer for the dynamic between Heaven and Hell.

The only thing that felt awkward was that Castiel was never even mentioned. I know he can't become a Deus Ex Machina, but in a situation as extreme as this, his name should have come up at least.

[Gotham Central]

The one thing that felt kind of weird to me was the casual way they let Henry sacrifice himself. Remember these are guys that up to that point have lost ALL of their family on both sides...including an unknown brother. So for they seemed kind of aloof toward Henry despite the fact that he was their only living relative.

To lose yet ANOTHER relative on their watch should have been a bit more emotional for the guys.

[Snaploud]

Gotham Central wrote:

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The one thing that felt kind of weird to me was the casual way they let Henry sacrifice himself. Remember these are guys that up to that point have lost ALL of their family on both sides...including an unknown brother. So for they seemed kind of aloof toward Henry despite the fact that he was their only living relative.

To lose yet ANOTHER relative on their watch should have been a bit more emotional for the guys.

Dean in particular appears to only really feel connected to family he grew up around. He never seemed to care very much about the Campbells either. Plus, Henry had already demonstrated that he was willing to wipe Sam and Dean from existence, so his familial feelings may have been further dampened.

Sam, on the other hand, never really had anything to do with the plan that got Henry killed.