Friday, April 20, 2012

Supernatural 7x19 "Of Grave Importance"

Oh look, a new episode! It's been awhile. I have to assume they'll be going nonstop to the finale now, right? RIGHT? Enough with the mini breaks, I say!

Anyway, the last new episode confirmed the suspicion that Bobby was still around as a ghost, and this week we get a full on Ghost Bobby episode. He's trying to get the boys to notice his tiny movements of the flask and drapes and whatnot, but his efforts are for naught at the moment. Instead, they get ready to meet up with another hunter named Annie, who we come to find out not only slept with Bobby, but also slept with Dean and soulless Sam. Girl's got some game!

Recap/review of Supernatural 7x19 "Of Grave Importance" by freshfromthe.com
Ghost Bobby is here, so his  poignant death earlier in the season now means nothing!
 She's in this town called Bodega Bay to investigate the Van Ness house, and asks the boys to meet up with her. When she doesn't show up to the meeting, however, they investigate, and that's when we go off into the ghost stories. Because once the boys show up, flask in tow, Ghost Bobby is able to see Ghost Annie, but seeing as they are both dead and, you know, ghosts, their reunion isn't all rainbows and puppies. Instead, they get some snarky ghost tips from another dude.

While this is going on, the boys are investigating the place, but finding nothing despite the many ghostly figures that we as an audience can see are everywhere. Thus stymied, they decide to go check on Annie's other research. Bobby is annoyed that he has to go along for the ride, though, because he wanted to stay with his hot ghost lady to figure out things from that side. Because, it turns out, while it seems like the gnarly large man was the culprit of all these untimely deaths, it was actually the namesake of the house, Whitman Van Ness. He's collecting ghosts from which he can draw power from, full on hand in the chest, burn 'em up style.

Back at the motel, Bobby gets zen enough to finally get the boys a message on the bathroom mirror. Well, if they had doubts before, they don't anymore. Ghost Bobby is here. They head back to the house, get some intel help from another of the ghosts, and hightail it out of there to find ole Whitman's bones to burn before he can do any more damage. Only problem? Whitman hitches a ride Bobby-style by leaving a key in Sam's pocket. And Bobby isn't there to help because he swiped his flask and left it in the house. Whoops.

While the boys rush off to the cemetery and nearly get driven off the road by Whitman's ghost, Bobby and Annie find his hiding place for all of the bodies. Yada yada, ghost fights, the boys burn the dude's bones just in time, etc. etc.

When they come back to the house this time, however, they are able to finally see Ghost Bobby in his otherworldly form of "flesh." Though it seems like he expects them to be happy about it, they're not quite there. Or, at least, Dean is especially twitchy about the whole thing, as it's not the natural order. I have to say I'm with Dean on this one. But since they already gave Bobby the hunter's funeral, they're not quite sure what to do now.

One thing is for certain: there's no way this ends well.

Random Thoughts:

- The Van Ness house really reminded me of the hotel they went to in season two's episode Playthings, particularly the outside.

- Same goes for the pier scene being reminiscent from Red Sky at Morning. Why I must notice these things and not just let them slide is a mystery.

- Seeing those ghosts just standing all over the place in the house the first time was perhaps one of the creepiest things I've ever seen on the show. CREEPY.

- I always find it a little bit convenient when they have these stories with random hunters that we've never heard of before with these involved backstories. All three of them got friendly with this Annie, and as far as I'm aware, this is the first time we've even heard her name, let alone met her.

- Honestly I'm not on board with the whole Ghost Bobby plot, but I'll try to refrain from complaining about it too much. I just don't like how trivial death has become on the show. It just lowers the stakes a lot.

Quotes:

Dean: She and I kinda went Hemingway this one time too.
Sam: All right. Well. That happens.
Dean: ... Wait, you too?

Annie: Wow. Dead. Ghost. Me. Three words you never want to use in a sentence.

Dean: We combed the crap out of this place. If we didn't find her...
Sam: It means someone didn't want us to.
Dean: Awesome. Let's walk right into that.

Dean: That's not odd.

Dean: Annie? ...Slimer?

Dean: I hate these indie films, nothing ever happens.

Previous Episode -- Next Episode

6 comments:

  1. I've been saying this for awhile now but since you already displayed your thoughts on here about Ghost Bobby, and Death itself, I'm gonna refrain myself. However I did not like how Annie was protrayed at all!

    Annie is a hunter we've never heard of or seen and yet there's all this backstory. Why? No one outside of 14 years old is gonna at all feel invested in this character. I never did once feel sorrow, or well anything about this character throughout the episode, she was just a throwaway character to me. That changed a bit after she discovers her own body, and makes Bobby promise to put her at rest by burning her, yet WE DON'T SEE IT! Why?!

    The writers had a perfect opportunity to show compassion for Annie to see genuine release as she's put to rest, the emotions we could see Bobby and her as they say goodbye, yet they just throw her aside like a piece of trash much like all the female characters lil to none of them ever got treated with any respect, on or off the camera!

    I didn't buy any of that "I need ghosts to draw power off of" either. Why does he need power, to live forever, to somehow escape his house someday, being he's trapped! You can't even say he's bored and lonely so he accumulating souls to give him company, because he was a real turd in life, he killed everyone there while he was alive, and then more dead. Overall there was some interesting new ideas for the tired ghost story but there just wasn't a lot there to gel it. No sympathetic villian for the lonely bit to work and no explanation for the power drain it was a mess.

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    1. Also if Bobby could not move things how could he drink a beer a few eps back? Really someone explain this.

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  2. Why did Annie feel familiar to me? I kinda felt like we'd met her before-- is it possible I'm thinking of some other show the actress was on?

    I'm cool with Bobby. Mainly because I saw it coming and prepared for it. Even when he died and that last scene was fading, I thought, "They intentionally never let us see the reaper get him... he'll be back." Also, if you're going to be a big fan of these kinds of shows, you kind of have to let the whole death thing go. There is no real respect for death on shows like Doctor Who, Buffy, Angel, Supernatural (especially the regular characters)-- and I'm kinda cool with that.

    Also, I thought it was a big hint that Bobby wasn't done mainly because he died before the season had ended. He'll probably get his send off with the season finale and it will actually be his send off.

    I LOVE ghosts and ghost storylines, creepier the better, so I LOVED this ep, if only for the way they staged all those ghosts. So well done! The stopped, silent, staring ghosts. And this episode set up that eventually (end of the season *spoiler alert*) Bobby has to move on or he goes mad like the rest of them.

    Also, wouldn't shock me if they explained the power drain later, that they purposely brought it in and left it as a question as part of Bobby's storyline-- it will probably come into play again as Bobby's ghost progresses.

    I usually have a gift for being able to tell where the writing is going. We'll see...

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    1. I see your point, and I do agree with it, mostly. Sci-fi shows do show characters escape death or loved ones ressurect them either because of fan service demands and the writers caving, or because they can, or in the case of Buffy the show was renewed. However to kill off a character just to bring back a handful of episodes later really limits the effect death SHOULD have on a drama driven horror show.

      I dont know maybe I'm just tired of the show it's been on for 7 years and I guess like myself the writers are struggling to find ideas because they in turn are tired of writing material for the same characters over and over again. Writer's fatigue. Even die hard viewers are tuning out. I l still like the characters though I think this episode particularly shows just how dumb the writers think Sam and Dean are if they are forcing the idea Bobby still needs to help them.

      Sam and Dean have solved cases before Bobby in season 1 and season 2-3. Now they may have had dad's journal to help em, but you saw them research, and investigate, without resorting to a call to Bobby and I felt as the series went on they became more and more dependant on their friend. I can understand this from a family's point of view. He's their father and it's common for all sons to inquire help from daddy, but these guys are in their 30's now I think it's time for them to officially leave the nest.

      As for Bobby's sendoff we are gonna see another plotline recycled from season 2 then. When John escaped from Hell to save his boys from yellow eyes and then accended(?) are we gonna see that again with Bobby? Wow season 7 How far we've come.

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  3. I know where I've seen her before! She was that redhead on Just the Ten of Us, a short-lived 80s sitcom. She was also in Melrose Place. She looks very different but was still familiar to me.

    One thought: the boys know how to let Bobby go for good now: destroy the flask. So it's in their power to decide and give him a send off at some point.

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    1. I think the focus on this flask throughout the season will lead to it's destruction, that's how Bobby will be put to rest, it's gonna be after the leviathan are vanquished of course, and it's gonna be a tearjerker moment. Any other way would just be damaging to the remaining integrity of the show.

      I also think Cas will bring the end to the leviathan after all it's his mess and he's the only one who can clean it up. With the help of Lucifer no doubt who is in fact still alive and it wasnt so much Sam hullucinating as it was Luci himself and with him now inside Cas and Meg grooming him, I think Cas will be possessed by Luci he will have the power to vanquish the big L, but since we saw that last year it's doubtful but with all the emphasis on Luci's "hey little brother" I like to think he's more than just a delusion.

      I remember her from Profiler and a guest spot on several CSI episodes

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