Supernatural 7x16 "Out With the Old"

[Dorian Thompson]

At last, a new episode tonight, good people. Lots of questions.....will Sam save his sanity? Will Dean keep mentioning the girl on girl in "Black Swan" jokes? Will Mrs. Jared Padalecki, who is now 4 days overdue, deliver before the weekend is out?

Stay tuned. I, as usual, am finishing up at work and will have to watch by "other means" later.

 

[Obiwanshinobi]

The demon spawn doesnt wanna come out!

 

[startrekwatcher]

I gave up on Supernatural a while ago but based on what I've heard about this episode it sounds like an homage to the late 1980s cult hit Friday the 13th The Series starring Robey, Chris Wiggins and John D. LeMay--where two cousins come to town to settle their late uncle Louis Vendredi's affairs and learn that he left them his antiques shop called Curious Goods-.

The antique objects can't be destroyed so there is a vault in the basement where the objects are kept and not knowing this they open it up and start selling them to people only to later learn the dark secret and that is where the series starts with cousins being helped by an older wiser benefactor named Jack Marshak to track all these down--there was even an episode during the series involving a cursed music box that made the dancers dance to their deaths.

This wasn't the first episode that reminded me of that Fthe13--that show also had a scarecrow and faith healer episode much like SN back in season 1.

 

[mswood]

And don't forget the possessed car.....


Though seriously, this episode was basically just filler. The type of episode that happens in each of the seasons, that slowly pushes the main arc, but doesn't stand on its own two feet as mythology episode (to use X-Files fan terminology).

It was just an ok episode in my book. A little too much humor, and the bad guys remain with the exception currently of "Dick" rather pointless.

Probably the weakest episode since the insipid episode with BEcky. This was just paint by numbers, and not awful like that episode was.

Seriously this season's biggest problems (besides Osiris, and Becky, and Spike/ Cordelia my God those were three awful episodes) the Leviatians have been villains without any bite.

Sure Dick is actually pretty descent. And some of the earlier scenes (the one that tracked them before Bobby finally discovered how to hurt them) and basically all of them in the 2nd episode have been good. But its been a while since then. And for the most part I don't care. I can't say the same about Azazel, Lilith, Lucifer, or even Castiel.

Really the meat of the season hasn't been the bad guys, its been how Dean processes all the shit that's happening to them, and how Sam deals with that as well has having Lucifer as a copilot. Those two aspects of the season have been really strong to out and out great. Even if that's the thrust for the writers (and it certainly could be, as the character aspects are what I personally have always liked the best), they do need to strengthen the characters in the black hats. And they need to do it soon.

So lets get to some real positives.

Hey Sam's being honest. Yah! More safety net getting yanked away from the boys. Yah! Some of the banter!! (remember I love natural humor banter, just not a full episode of it). And I did like the cursed objects, but I actually wished that was a little more explored. I love the kid's Hey that's mine!

Not getting a preview for next week! NOOOOOO!!!!!!! I hate, hate, hate my affiliate.

All I know is that next week better not completely cure Sam, because I will be pisssssseeeeeddddddddddd!!!!!!!!! Help him at least to function as a troubled person in society, sure all for that. But please, please don't wipe the slate clean.

The other aspect...lets just wait until next week to see how I handle that.

 

[Vasquez Rocks]

Hey Sam's being honest. Yah! More safety net getting yanked away from the boys. Yah! Some of the banter!! (remember I love natural humor banter, just not a full episode of it). And I did like the cursed objects, but I actually wished that was a little more explored. I love the kid's Hey that's mine!
.

That's what I wanted to see too, more of the cursed objects stuff. As soon as they switched over to the real estate Leviathian lady and her helper I lost all interest. Really this episode was just disappointing all around. I feel like the show has been spinning it's wheels. Also, the break for a couple of weeks doesn't help when they come back with an episode like this.

 

[LaxScrutiny]

re the cursed objects, I find myself comparing to the 'Rabbit's foot' episode. In that one, the cursed object was a McGuffin, but it kept leading them through the story from one integral plot point, to a ridiculously funny scene, to another plot point, to a ridiculously funny scene, etc.

In this ep, the cursed objects became irrelevent almost as soon as they were introduced.

It results in a very linear story. With the rabbit's foot example, the story interwove back and forth like tacky Celtic tattoos. "Out with the old" just moved abruptly from one scene to the next.

A good storyline is like using a laser pointer to get the cat to chase around the room. The "cat" is the audience attention, the "laser" is the McGuffin of the week. As the McGuffin moves through the story, it pulls our attention from place to place to person to person.

This episode lacked that, because lacked a good hook. It almost had us with the ballet shoes, but then they got put away, we weren't involved anymore, the "cat" got distracted and stopped following the pointer.

Personally I'm fine with the Leviathons, it is all about how the tale is executed, and in this case the execution fell flat.

I do notice that the boys are running almost completely out of allies (the woman sheriff is still alive), which puts them back roughly to were they were in season one. It SHOULD be returning them to those roots, a freestyle, figure-it-out-as-you-go road trip, but it hasn't grasped that dynamic the way Kripke did in the beginning.

I still like the show and there have been great moments this season. The leviathons aren't quite as charmingly evil as Crowley et al, but they are funny and engaging at times. Bobby's death and his episode with the Reeper was totally memorable. The lapse here is that the filler episodes are so completely filler, they lack any "HEYTHATWASSOCOOL" moments.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Those shoes distracted me because when the ballerina wore them they were really scuffed and dirty which they weren't later. I suppose she might have had some thing for buying used dirty ballet shoes that the cursed object was appealing to but that seemed rather seedy. And so five minutes in and my mind was already going in weird directions...

 

[auntiehill]

Yeah, a very forgettable episode. It's obviously just set-up for the bigger story lines to come. Nothing too great here, but I will miss Frank a little. But, then again, dead doesn't always mean dead on this show.

I can't WAIT until next week! *squee*

 

[Dorian Thompson]

I didn't think it was so forgettable. I thought Mary Page Keller was a riot as the Leviathan real estate agent. I remember her from "Another World" back in the early 90s as the young ingenue. Poor thing's aged, but I never knew she was such a great comedienne.

I got a kick out of the cursed objects and the man destined for a porn induced death (perhaps they're Rick Santorum's curse laced magazines to fight porn as he's pledged), but it was a set up story for next week when there's a most welcome development.

Six days overdue and counting on baby boy Padalecki. Poor Gen. She's a tiny thing carrying ginormotron spawn. She must be tired by now, the poor dear. Darling I love you but let's get this thing the hell out. They're going the midwife route. Good for them.

 

[Dorian Thompson]

At 2:28 a.m., Jared tweeted that his son had arrived. Healthy. Congratulations to Jared, Genevieve, and baby boy Padalecki.

 

[Dorian Thompson]

God bless Jared and Gen. They gave their son a normal name. He's not Apple, Blue Ivy, Pilot Inspecktor or Kal-El.

Born Monday night, March 19, 2012. Weighing 8 lbs. 6 oz.
Thomas Colton Padalecki. Very nice name.

 

[mswood]

If my parents had named me Kal-el I think society should legally allow me to kill my parents.

 

[Dorian Thompson]

Well, Nic Cage has had his run ins with the law. It's only fitting that little Kal-El Cage continues the family tradition.

Or is it Kal-El Coppola?

 

[Skywalker]

Sure, his first and middle names are nice and normal, but the poor kid's still got a goofy last name! But he'll probably grow up to be a giant freak of nature like his dad, so I doubt the other kids will make fun of him for it.

 

[SaNtIaGo 94]

By the way any of you know the name of the classic music the ballerina is dancing??? Found it really familiar but i don't know the name of this song.

 

[Dorian Thompson]

I'm not sure. I'd have to watch the episode again. It sounded a tad familiar. Was it from The Nutcracker?