#live rewatch

Sam returns from getting coffee and sees John on the floor of his room. The entirety of this next bit happens in slo mo and its a great shot. The coffee cup drops to the floor and lands right side up with coffee exploding everywhere (with the cup still upright) is one of the genius details of this show. Sam starts running to John, he’s drops down over him and we don’t hear it but we can obviously see him yelling for help.

The next scene Sam’s obviously gone to get Dean and he’s helping him to their dad’s room where they watch the team working on their dad. A nurse tries to get them to leave but Dean gets angry,  “No, no, no, it's our dad. It's our dad!”

They’re watching desperately for the team to bring him back.

Nurse: Still no pulse.

Doctor: Okay, that's it everybody. I’ll call it [Screen blacksout] Time of death: 10:41 am.

The impact of this scene. Wow, what can I say

The entire episode from start to finish, *chef kiss

So, the episode is off to a great start with the very tedious "is it Katherine or Elena?" scene that's taking more time than I felt like watching because by this point it's gotten old. I will note that Damon was better at spotting which was the real Katherine which while most would say is a point in Delena's favor, I think speaks more to the fact that Katherine fucks with Damon the most, and while he is really dumb a lot he is finally catching on and by the end of the episode he's definitely caught on.

With Elijah’s compulsion on Katherine being erased, this episode made me think about Stefan in season 8 and the whole compulsion erasing when they turned human and all of the discourse around it and a) it actually makes sense given that compulsion goes away when they die and the cure "kills" them for a bit before bringing them back, b) they should have done this with Katherine, it would have been epic, and c) I'm tired of this "Stefan is the only one to face consequences" mentality because unlike some characters (i.e Bonnie and Tyler) he's facing the consequences of HIS OWN ACTIONS. The issue isn't that Stefan should have the same consequences as Damon (i.e none), but rather Damon and everyone should have to face THEIR OWN CONSEQUENCES. This is what's always annoyed me about this fandom, Damon's free pass doesn't equate everyone's free pass, but rather Damon's free pass equates TAKING AWAY HIS FREE PASS along with everyone else's because there needs to be consequences to everyone's actions and they shouldn't be paid for by the POC's of the show.

It's only the first 2 minutes of the episode and I'm already so annoyed with everyone especially the world's most boring protagonist, Elena Gilbert. Yes sweetie, telling Katherine to leave worked the first time so it'll definitely work this *insert sarcasm*. God, she's a whiny bitch. Now I'm not really going to condemn her for wanting Katherine gone, if I were her I would want her gone too, what's pissing me off is the level of entitlement she has ordering Stefan or Damon to get rid of her and the whiny voice isn't helping.If you want her gone you should probably do more than whine about it. But of course she Elena, so what can she do about it other than whine which makes the “I can take care of myself” mentality she had this season all the more annoying because she can’t--she can do absolutely fuck all so where is this confidence coming from. I honestly thnk sometimes she suffers from delusions of grandeur. 

And another annoying thng this episode and now I’m at leats 7 minutes in. Katherine's around so we must get Bonnie's powers asap to stop Katherine, not because they're apart of her or her identity and she needs them for her 🙄. Although I was happy when she got her powers back, but didn't tell anyone. Why didn't it stay that way? She could have died 0 times had she done that, and I mean that because 2 episodes later is when she first dies for Elena.

Oh and then after that scene, secret Beremy, what a way to turn down the heat which wasn’t that high to begin with, but seriously, they have like no chemistry. And oh the cringe while Bonnie asks permission to date Jeremy. I sometimes think she hid it for so long because she felt the cringe from their relationship--giving herself an out. 

I feel so so bad for the Martin family that they're related to Greta, someone who not only left voluntarily but didn't even bat an eyelash when her whole family was killed. It's almost as bad as being related to Elena, at least Greta didn't fuck the guy who murdered her family. "You can trust us," the phrase that gets every outsider who helps them killed, brutally, and in the same episode. RIP Doctor and Luka Martin. Although I guess this episode is a bit of an exception since not trusting is what got them killed but that's equally as bad in TVD land because if you're against the MFG you obviously deserve to be killed, and Jeremy even states that in the episode.  "I know you feel bad but I don't," the main staple of The Vampire Diaries where killing someone has no meaning, and neither does their death, and if you care about their death you’re whiny and judgey (reference every phrase directed at Bonnie and even Tyler when someone gets killed because of them).

It was really weird when Elena was talking to Jenna about her relationship with Alaric. Why wasn't she more alarmed that her adult boyfriend was talking to her teenage niece about their relationship problems. No red flags there??? Not a one???

So, Kat has a career singing, and has never once sang on the show. Candice has brief period of time singing professionally, as backup, and has sang twice, two more than anyone on a teenage vampire show should have. Also added with the fact that it's always the cheesiest songs and her voice reminds me why she never made it that far past backup singer--this show amazes me with it’s logical leaps.

Finale note as I’m watching Elena’s last scene, Nina Dobrev isn't that great of an actress, the only difference in the way she plays Katherine opposed to Elena is the hair. Otherwise she saunters the same, speaks the same, does everything else the same which would mean something if Katherine was pretending to be Elena, but most of this episode she isn't. I also reminds me of season 5 when she was outraged that no one caught on to it not being Katherine. 1) Katherine has never had issue impersonating her believably, 2) Elena does a lot of the same shit Katherine does (especially that season) just under the guise of being the “nice” doppelganger so of course people let a lot of the shit she did while in her body slide--she was Elena after all, and 3) given how neglectful Elena had been since season 1 she wouldn’t have fared any better so I don’t understand that high horse she always be on--it ain’t cute.

Anyway, John and Sam get along for precisely 2 minutes before John tries to tell Sam what he doesn’t want to hear - that they might not find anything to save Dean.  Yeah, that's going down as well as you would expect with Sam.

John then asks about the colt.

Sam (pissed):  Your son is dying, and you're worried about the Colt?

John says he is worried about the demon tracking them which calms Sam down.

This scene is just... it’s their entire relationship in a few exchanges. John gives Sam instructions on what to do and Sam’s already done it (and is a little pissy that John doesn’t have faith in him to know what to do.

John sends Sam off to meet Bobby to sort the impala but not before giving Sam a list of things to get from Bobby. Sam asks what it’s for and John tells him protection. Before Sam goes he asks what the demon meant when he said he had plans for Sam and the children like him. John says he doesn’t know.

Sam leaves and as the camera pans around Dean is against the wall slightly blurred, camera then focuses in on him and his arms are crossed and he’s clearly pissed as he looks at John: “Well you sure know something.”

Did I mention I love this show?

Dean’s slammed into a display case and Sam gives the one he’s fight a good old fashioned Glasgow kiss! (headbutt).  

They both get the upper hand eventually but Dean’s werewolf lands near a gun which he grabs and points at Sam. The slow motion of the next sequence is one of my favourites. Dean watches in horror as Sam is shot and drops to his knees. Dean leaps forward and stabs the werewolf in the back and turns back to Sam as Sam falls backward (entire thing still in slow motion).

All of this is going on as two people are tied up in the background.

Love it, one of my favourite opening scenes ever in the show!  AU!Mintchesters would be up there as another.

Directed by Nina Lopez-Corrado, I’ll need to look up their other stuff to see which others they did, but this is good so far.