Supernatural 4x8 "Wishing Well" discussion and spoiler thread

[Dorian Thompson]

My internet is back, my internet is back; thank God at last, my internet is back. One last light toned episode tonight before next week's beginning of a two parter revealing what happened to Sam in the immediate aftermath of Dean's death last May.

Tonight's episode is written by Edlund. Advance reviews say it's as funny as Monster Movie in places, although not as surreal. Something about a killer teddy bear that's come alive. We shall see. Castiel and Uriel are back in the two parter starting next week.

What pisses me off and will piss you if you live in Denver....you're preempted tonight for sports. Yes, you miss your Supernatural episode for subpar Denver Broncos' football. That's not so bad numbers wise, but next week is. Next week's episode is preempted in the New York City market for a Jets 'game and it's confirmed that it won't be aired until Saturday. If it's aired later than night and the Nielsen viewers watch, it doesn't hurt numbers. This wipes out the numbers for the largest market in the country next week. It'll inflate the fast nationals because everyone who watches the Jets game will be counted. Then those numbers will be erased in finals. What'll happen is that the final viewing number will drop approximately 500,000 viewers next week.

Sheesh. At least our first two sweeps episodes scored really well. Not that I think Supernatural won't get its fifth season (Warner wants a 5 season syndication package. It has dollar signs of love in it's collective eye) but it's frustrating that it's the largest f'ing market in the country. I'm so glad Oklahoma doesn't have a pro football team.

 

[Dorian Thompson]

Okay, that was different.

The teddy bear likes porn.

 

[Vendikarr]

Okay, that was different.

The teddy bear likes porn.

I liked Teddy's attempted suicide.

 

[Dorian Thompson]

Ben Edlund is twisted.

Since when can Sammy turn invisible people visible? How eeeenteresting.

 

[Vendikarr]

"Kneel before Todd! Bow before Todd!"

perfection.

 

[Othello]

Kneel before Todd!!! Ahahahaha along with the porn loving Teddy bear hilarious stuff...

 

[Vendikarr]

Dean remembering his time in hell should be a big motivator for him. Lucifer plans to bring hell to Earth. Dean, more than any other human on Earth knows exactly what that means. It could be part of why he was chosen. I am sure Sammy is another part, but I'm not sure how yet.

 

[Dorian Thompson]

That last scene reminded me of just how effective the chemistry is between the two leads. Reminds me of how far the two characters have evolved. It used to be that Sam couldn't accept "I don't want to talk about it." What was so ominous now is that Dean won't talk--and not out of emotional chick flick moment squeamishness. The set up is intriguing. You keep getting lured back wanting to find out more. I think Dean did terrible things while there and last week was a test to see if his humanity was still intact.

Ben Edlund is too twisted for tv. Suicidal porn loving teddies. Invisible guys yanking it in the shower while watching naked girls. Put on some pants. Funny how your mind just went there, Sammy. I guess he just startled the kid into being visible. Love that Dean ran over him in the street later. Was that Joxer who was the coin collector? I loved him whining about Dean and Sam being too good looking.

Edlund is the best.

 

[mswood]

Damn, that episode really didn't do anything for me as a whole. It had some wonderfully little moments (both serious and silly), but as solid 42 minutes of television I don't think it left any lasting impression on me. I also have a problem with the primary guest star, every time I see him he yanks me out of an episode. He's just so often cast in these odd ball roles that he is as the industry would say to "on the nose". So as an episode, I feel this was Ben's weakest effort. But also had some of his best bits. Dicodomy, how I love you so.

 

[startrekwatcher]

So far this season all the even numbered episodes have been pretty mediocre while the odd ones are quite solid. Looks like the trend continues because I wasn't very impressed or entertained by this one.

I rarely have ever cared for the show when it does these light fluff pieces. Maybe I don't have a good sense of humor but I didn't find a lot of these gags that funny although I did find the suicidal teddy bear clever. The supernatural plot was just there.

 

[Skywalker]

The living teddy bear and "Kneel before Todd!" made this episode for me. It wasn't one of the show's best episodes, but Edlund never fails to entertain me.

 

[Dorian Thompson]

I think Edlund's humor just doesn't appeal to you, mswood. It's cool and the gang. I love him, but his humor is of the twisted and bizarre type. It's not for everyone. Bipolar teddy bears are right up my alley.

The serious business starts next week and gets more intense. Castiel is back, and we're going to find out what happened to Sam right after Dean died. Hildy from "Mad Men" "is playing Anna, the psychic girl. She's a fantastic actress from a high pedigree show. They're aiming high. I wish they'd aimed that high with the Ruby recast, but all the good actresses were already employed, I guess.

I'd have thought Sam's profession that he wanted Lilith's head on a plate would have appealed, mswood. Padalecki is a hottie when you can see that sinister stuff welling up in Sam.

 

[John Picard]

"Kneel before Todd! Bow before Todd!"

perfection.

I was laughing hardily at that line

Very interesting and terrific episode.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I thought this was a really funny and twisted episode while at the same time a bit of a reprieve from all the darkness lately. I thought all the wishes were entertaining in some degree for the boys to deal with. The teddy bear is classic.

 

[Dorian Thompson]

The numbers will be a little inflated from the Denver preemption (Denver's not a big market like NY or Chicago, but it's not little), but fast nationals have us at 3.73 million viewers with a 1.6 in the demo. Worst case scenario, our finals will shake out to about 3.5 million. They'll probably be higher than that. That's good news.

That's very good ratings news. Next week, with New York City preempted for the Jets, that's when the ratings will take a huge nose dive between fast nationals and finals. Number one market in the country. Damn, it pisses me off. Next week's episode is supposed to be on par with Lazarus Rising.

In fact, the next two weeks might be preempted in New York City if I'm not mistaken. I know that in two weeks (episode 10, the last of sweeps) they're definitely preempted in Pittsburgh for football. God, the CW sucks balls. I'm sure glad the UPN/WB merger solved all those preemption problems. The NFL network signed a deal with a bunch of local CW affiliates who can do whatever they want since the CW isn't a real network. Dammit.

 

[John Picard]

^^ Yet another reason I always state that sports belong on cable.

 

[mswood]

Well finals are out and we fell to 3.244 viewers which is a huge hit (which basically means a lot of Denver fans actually watched the CW when normally they wouldn't thus the larger then normal drop). But the positive (what mswood's being positive about ratings...), that's still without a single viewer in the Denver area being able to watch the show we still outperformed every single episode last season. And I would expect larger then normal DVR results based on the viewers in Denver who will get to see in Saturday.

 

[Dorian Thompson]

Yeah, that's disappointing, but we took a "0" in a midmajor market and outscored last season, so it's alright. Smallville took almost as big a hit in finals as we did. Who knew? Denver sucks. Who did they play? Maybe it was the opponent that drew the interest.

Next week when the fast nationals are over 4 million, we'll have to remember that the #1 market was preempted and temper our expectations accordingly. With the normal viewership in the Denver market added it probably would have rounded out to 3.4 million or so. That's okay.

 

[Skywalker]

Denver played against the Cleveland Browns. But it was the first start of a highly-touted young QB for the Browns, so that might have added to the numbers, too.

 

[mswood]

And just because I think we are awesome, not only did a Denver area free episode out perform every single episode from last season, it was actually a stronger performance then the year before that as well.

I just love that.