Changing Channels (508)

[iheartshep]

I don't know which had me laughing more......Sam in the herpes commercial, Sam's Caruso imitation.......or the Grey's Anatomy "STAT!!!!" line. Oh yeah......and Sam as KITT and Dean as Knight Rider!

Thank you, Supernatural, for my laugh(s) of the week.

IHS

[flameling]

You just can't beat a trickster episode. I personally want to see him smack down with a few demons now, just for its awesomeness. I think that this retcon, if played out correctly, as it probably would, will be very interesting. And that intro was amazing.

[the fifth man]

My favorite line: I need a pen knife, some dental floss, and a 5th of whiskey. .... Stat! Them in the hospital was my favorite bit, far and away...and I've never ever watched a single ep of Grey's Anatomy.

That hospital bit was my favorite too. I know my wife will laugh her butt off when she sees that, since she is a fan of Grey's Anatomy.

[LizzieAnne]

Supernatural is filmed before a live studio audience.

What an ep! There wasn’t a thing I didn’t love.

Far too many great lines to mention and so many laugh out loud moments. Their cheesy grins in the sitcom, for one.

Even though I’ve not seen Grey’s Anatomy or CSI Miami it didn’t matter as I know enough about all those types of shows to get the picture.
Loved Dean’s crush on Dr Sexy and he knows all about the show, his guilty pleasure, and Sam knows nothing! Sam the seriously brilliant coward! And getting smacked...twice.
And OMG Sam having to perform that surgery on Dean…dental floss..STAT!. LMAO

Sam and Dean riding the bikes.

And the Japanese game show ..LMAO at that one as well. I’ve watched quite a few of those a while back and that was so accurate…The Japanese really like to torture their contestants. . Poor Sam…. again! And Dean was so horrified! .I don’t want to get it in the nuts.

Then they have Sam in the Herpes commercial…so they had him getting the clap last week and now this…what have they against the poor guy?

And Detectives Cool Sam and Cool Dean in the shades …I confess I had a total fangirl moment with Sam in the shades doing his CSI moment and, just like last week, he outsmarts the bad guy.

The most surprising fun bit for me though has to be Knight Rider. When Dean was looking around the Impala after hearing Sam’s voice I thought for a minute that perhaps he was invisible …but didn’t expect him to be Kitt . Totally wonderful job, especially when Dean opened the boot of the Impala…
Er..Dean ..that feels really uncomfortable…OW …
Didn’t think the Impala could be more awesome either.

So then we get the reveal about the trickster being Gabriel…now THAT I didn’t see coming. I was thinking it was Zach at that point. I guessed that Gabriel would be putting in an appearance but never thought it would be him. I know some are not happy about it but I really liked it. I’ve never been comfortable with the thinking that he was a demi-god…something didn’t quite sit well with me there… as he could alter reality and reverse time. I don’t see it as a retcon at all…I think it was planned a while ago. The things which the Trickster said and did in Mystery Spot makes so much more sense now…

Loved the ending with Dean not leaving Gabriel in the ring of fire, and the look of surprise on Gabriel’s face. We’re bound to see more of him. Hopefully he’ll be on right side.

And mustn’t forget Cas…when he first appeared he didn’t seem to know at that point that the Trickster was Gabriel. I ‘m supposing that Gabriel had the power to hide his identity.

It now feels that the angels /heaven bit is playing out more like the Greek gods and Olympus….with the gods playing around with humans and manipulating them for their pleasure and own interests. I wonder whether God is going to be more like Zeus?

Maybe God and Daddy Winchester will get together at some point and discuss their sons.

[Epideme]

WOW! loved it! watched it again today, and wow. Revelations or what!!

Spoiler:

I couldn't believe it when we saw who The Trickster really was!! I thought Gabriel would be a nice, peace-loving guy but, boy, was I wrong! I see the whole "why they were chosen" plot now, but I never imagined it. It makes perfect sense. And what Dean said as they left, about Gabe being a coward and not standing up to his family, was that aimed at Sam? In a good way though (as he always tried to stand up to John, even in the face of death). Anyway, nice one Kripke and TPTB!!!

Keep it comin!!
x

[Mealla McAllister]

this episode was hilarious! I couldn't stop laughing!
Also the revelation was really surprising and unexpected.

[Crichiel]

As I said, this is probably my favourite episode of the new season so far. They started the season with 4 eps that had little to no humour. The last 3 then had more than their fair share. While I love the humour, I was ready to get back to more pressing issues, like the apocalypse!

In light of this, I was SOOOOO pleased with the way Changing Channels turned out! Absolutely best of both worlds. Unlike IBTCAOF, it didn't seem like either part was rushed, instead, the stories dovetailed together neatly to make one solid cohesive story.

-What I loved about each of the skits, was the level of detail they displayed with the different tv genres in order to mimic them so perfectly.

-In the sitcom, it was the dumb jokes, audience cheers, and sunny atmosphere (which really stands out when a minute later you see the same motel room in the 'normal' Supernatural lighting).

-Great quote: "Supernatural is filmed before a live studio audience" Jensen would be an amazing voiceover guy.

-The theme song. There isn't anything I could say to properly express just how corny, Bosom Buddies/Charles in Charge-ish , & freakin' HILARIOUS this sequence is. The visual is one things, and the lyrics? Gold. I would absolutely love to see the bloopers from filming this, because I don't know how Jared or Jensen kept it together!

-One niggle with the sitcom. I know they were trying to keep viewers in the dark as to what's happening at this point, but we find when we come back to this skit that Dean and Sam are just playing along trying to get through, right? In this opening scene, they seem like they are a little TOO into it. I like it better when it is revisited later because we can see through their parts to see that they are trying to fight the roles.

-Great quote: "When'd you hit menopause?"

-Scene in the police station. I was worried after the first few episodes about the boys' partnership, but they are settling back nicely into their working relationship.

-The slam on the Incredible Hulk movies.

-Enlightening quote: "Good. I've been wanting to gank that mother since Mystery Spot." That settles some fanfic I've seen , Sam DID fill him about all that happened that day.

-Interesting conversation: Dean, "A bloody, violent monster and you want to be Facebook Friends with him? Nice, Sammy." Sam, "The world is going to end, Dean. We don't have the luxury of a moral stand." This is something to think about because while on the one hand, we have old school Sam and Dean (Dean says kill the monster, Sam says lets talk to him), Sam is also treading close to his season 4 mistaken belief that the ends justify the means by saying they can't worry about morals. I disagree there. It is their morals which separate them from the monsters. And why, when everyone else is telling them they can't shake destiny, I think Sam's and Dean's humanity is what will prove them all wrong.

-Transition to the hospital. I don't watch Grey's Anatomy. But I am a tv buff and follow entertainment news closely. So even without sitting down and watching Grey's, I totally understood all the inside jokes on this parody...and they were GOOD! In fact, I was surprised by how UN-subtle they were in making fun of them. The names and descriptions of the various doctors left no doubt as to who each one was supposed to represent. The disdain for a hospital show using ghosts (esp. funny considering the ghost is Dad!), sex in every closet and elevator, the melodramatic soap opera face-slaps and lines like "You are a brilliant brilliant coward." , doing a face transplant, shooting a 'doctor'.

-Mini-break in the humour. I liked Sam's "No no no no no." when Dean is shot because it echoes his reaction when Dean was shot in Mystery Spot.

-The operating room. Ok, first there is the music. The best part of this episode is that I can now point to it and say, "See? These are all the reasons why I DON'T watch hospital dramas/cop shows/game shows." Just the few minutes of that horrid music and I was torn between laughing and being sick to my stomach!

-Sam being so clueless. Confused when he's told Dean's blood pressure, shaking off the scalpel "I don't know how to use any of this crap!". All made funnier by Dean being conscious yelling, "Sam, come on. I'm waiting!". Finally Sam just reverts to triage the Winchester way. I know a couple of you have already mentioned the great line, but it bears repeating, "Ok, I need a penknife, some dental floss, a sewing needle, and a fifth of whiskey."

-The game show. OMG this was funny! Jared still says he is more comfortable with drama, but I think he has gotten just as good at comedy in the past few years. "Is he screwing with me?"

-And while Sam's response to the Nutcracker is classic, even more I love Dean's horrified reaction.

-The in-show commercial. Perfect.

-More quintessential Sam and Dean: Dean asks Sam what to do. In moments like this, Dean trusts Sam implicitly to figure things out and think of a solution fast.

-I thought the most interesting part of this skit was the questions that were asked. They were very dark and serious questions which was a cool juxtaposition to the silliness of the situation. I found it especially curious that the correct answer for Dean's question was 'yes'.

-Speaking of which, Dean answering Japanese...hee hee!

-I fell for the herpes commercial for a few seconds. I had pressed pause on the DVD recorder until the old man's part, then luckily I realised it was a spoof and hit the record button, getting Sam's part of the commercial. How funny is Dean in the background just playing basketball while poor Sam has to suffer through this indignity!

-And more Jensen-voiceover, listing all the side effects of Herpexia. Honestly, I think he's found his calling for in-between series!

-Back to the sitcom, and as I said, I like it better this time around now that you can see their frustration in playing the part.

-I was happy when Castiel said maybe this guy wasn't a Trickster. But more on that later.

-Like the end of Fallen Idols, the writers are starting to equalise the blame for the apocalypse a little better. You'll notice that the Trickster looks at Sam when he asked who let Lucifer out, but he also looks to Dean and says, "It's started. You started it."

-The Trickster slamming Dean against the wall. That is the first time we have actually seen him lose his temper and physically attack one of our boys. Suddenly you see this totally other side of him and the episode has now taken on a totally different tone. Nice turn of events.

-Procedural cop show. Yep, Dean pointed out every reason I don't watch THOSE shows. The fact that there are 300 of them on tv and 99% of them are interchangeable. The cops that are always too cool for school with their cool walks, cool sunglasses, glib lines, and growly voices. Oi!

-Smart Sam and Dean figuring out that the guy with the lollipop wasn't the Trickster. Although when it shows the Trickster dead in the warehouse, I didn't believe it for a second...but more on that later.

-I was confused for a second in the next scene when Sam was gone, but I remembered just before the reveal that in the "Soon" preview from a few weeks ago I saw the low angle beauty shot of the Impala and the glowing lights in the grill and figured that probably meant "Knight Rider". Surprised they got the rights to use the actual music from the show.

-Using the holy oil again. Nice.

Ok, the reveal that the Trickster is Gabriel. I like it and I'll tell you why! (this is where I explain the 'more on that later's):

-First of all, no one can backsell an idea like Eric Kripke. In interviews as late as 2008, Kripke admitted that he had no idea how he was going to get Dean out of Hell. The idea for adding angels to the mythology didn't come up until they were breaking stories for season 4. Which means that no, when the other two Trickster episodes were made, he was NOT supposed to be an angel. But, I thought the writers did a good job in going back and finding a way to say he HAS always been an angel, while not messing too much with established canon.

-As much as I enjoy Mystery Spot (and to a lesser degree Tall Tales), I have always had a couple issues with the Trickster. One big one is that they can't kill him (Why I didn't believe he was dead for a second). That always annoyed me to no end because WHY couldn't they kill him? They killed other demi-gods just fine, what made him so special? Making him an archangel lets me now accept the ease with which he always escapes the Winchesters.

-Question (because destiny and time-paradoxes always confuse me): Gabriel says, "I had carved out my own little corner of the world. Til you two screwed it up." But...if, as he says in a minute, he ALWAYS knew that it was going to come down to the two of them, how did they mess it up? Gabriel insists they can't change their destiny, so why was he surprised by what they've done?

-Gabriel flips when Dean disses his brothers. He's just like the Winchesters in that way. They may be angry at each other, but they still love their family and will defend them to the death. The anger is generally just a mask for frustration and despite Gabriel saying he wants them to fight, the more accurate truth is when he says he just wants it over with. He doesn't really WANT the fight.

-The 'revelation' about why Sam and Dean are the vessels. One of you said you didn't think there were any great revelations in this episode, but I respectfully disagree. I breathed a huge sigh of relief when Gabriel FINALLY said flat-out, no vagueness about it why SPECIFICALLY it "Always had to be you." to both Sam and Dean. I was getting tired of hearing that line and wanted to know the exact reason they were chosen (this also answers some fanfic speculation!! ).

-I loved the analogy between Lucifer/Michael and Sam/Dean. It seems obvious as soon as Gabriel starts describing his brothers, but until then, I hadn't honestly realised just how similar their situtions were.

-Because of this revelation, I can NOW accept that Sam would be chosen as Lucifer's vessel without feeling like it was just a way of putting him in the same boat as Dean, being Michael's vessel. It no longer seems plot convenience, it now seems logical and the correct way to go (IMHO!).

-Great quote: "Yeah. Or we're going to dunk you in some holy oil and deep fry ourselves and archangel." Yikes, Dean!

-And here is Dean's specialty. For Sam, it is fast thinking when put under the gun. For Dean, it is confrontation. If you notice, most of the time when an episode gets to the actual confrontation with a bad guy, it is Dean that takes over the episode. And that is true this time, too. From here through to the end of the warehouse scene, Dean totally takes over the conversation while Sam (and Castiel) just stand by silently, there to back him up, but letting him handle everything. Personally, I like it. It feels right.

-Lastly, my second Trickster issue was addressed in the final scenes when the fire sprinklers go off. I have never taken the Trickster seriously. That's why I was surprised by how intense this episode got. Yes, he has showed his sad, empathetic side but I honestly didn't think Richard Speight was capable of handle true drama. Just one look at his face, standing under the sprinklers as the others leave proved me wrong. Can he carry serious? Hell, yeah. His look was downright scary!

Thank you all for your time, I'll be back again next week!

[starg8fans]

Totally awesome episode, I'm sure I'll be watching that one again and again. Not much to add to Lizzie's and Crichiel's great analyses (thank you guys, I just love to get your takes on the different eps!), just a few notes.

And the Japanese game show ..LMAO at that one as well. I’ve watched quite a few of those a while back and that was so accurate…The Japanese really like to torture their contestants. . Poor Sam…. again! And Dean was so horrified! .I don’t want to get it in the nuts.

I also liked that Dean was just horrified to see Sam getting punished like that, and didn't make any off-color jokes about it.

The most surprising fun bit for me though has to be Knight Rider. When Dean was looking around the Impala after hearing Sam’s voice I thought for a minute that perhaps he was invisible …but didn’t expect him to be Kitt . Totally wonderful job, especially when Dean opened the boot of the Impala…
Er..Dean ..that feels really uncomfortable…OW …
Didn’t think the Impala could be more awesome either.

I think that was my favorite spoof. I had completely forgotten about that clip in the previews, so I only cottoned on to what was happening when the red voice light came on. Another great quote: Should I honk?

So then we get the reveal about the trickster being Gabriel…now THAT I didn’t see coming. I was thinking it was Zach at that point. I guessed that Gabriel would be putting in an appearance but never thought it would be him. I know some are not happy about it but I really liked it. I’ve never been comfortable with the thinking that he was a demi-god…something didn’t quite sit well with me there… as he could alter reality and reverse time. I don’t see it as a retcon at all…I think it was planned a while ago. The things which the Trickster said and did in Mystery Spot makes so much more sense now…

Exactly. That was one loose end I was just dying to see resolved. There's been a lot of complaining about this plot device being 'ret-con' (whatever that means?), but IMHO it fits. And for crying out loud, they can't seriously expect Kripke to have every plot twist mapped out three years in advance???

Maybe God and Daddy Winchester will get together at some point and discuss their sons.

Now that I would LOVE to see. Unless they have God appear in John's shape. Either would be fine by me.

As I said, this is probably my favourite episode of the new season so far. They started the season with 4 eps that had little to no humour. The last 3 then had more than their fair share. While I love the humour, I was ready to get back to more pressing issues, like the apocalypse!

In light of this, I was SOOOOO pleased with the way Changing Channels turned out! Absolutely best of both worlds.

Same here. In spite of the fact that I trust Kripke implicitely, I was wondering about this switch over from dark to light. But the way this show combines the two is simply amazing.

Transition to the hospital. I don't watch Grey's Anatomy. But I am a tv buff and follow entertainment news closely. So even without sitting down and watching Grey's, I totally understood all the inside jokes on this parody...and they were GOOD! In fact, I was surprised by how UN-subtle they were in making fun of them. The names and descriptions of the various doctors left no doubt as to who each one was supposed to represent. The disdain for a hospital show using ghosts (esp. funny considering the ghost is Dad!), sex in every closet and elevator, the melodramatic soap opera face-slaps and lines like "You are a brilliant brilliant coward." , doing a face transplant, shooting a 'doctor'.

I also liked the way they tied this show in with Monster at the end of the book. Remember, the girl at the publisher's office tells them that nowadays people wanna read stuff like 'Dr. Sexy M.D.'. At the time I thought it was just a generalization, but when Dean told Sam that 'it's based on a book' it showed that she was in fact referring to an actual published series. Kudos for the writers to remembering such a small detail from last season.

Using the holy oil again. Nice.

Okay, that was one part that didn't sit well with me. That jug Cas brought back from Jerusalem wasn't that big, and they already used it twice. And he said it's very rare. How come there seems to be a kind of unlimited supply? And anyway, why does Dean have it all of a sudden? Isn't Cas the one who is more liable to need it when he runs into another angel? Oh, and another great quote. You might say we pulled it out of Sam's @ss. LMAO

Ok, the reveal that the Trickster is Gabriel. I like it and I'll tell you why! (this is where I explain the 'more on that later's):

-First of all, no one can backsell an idea like Eric Kripke. In interviews as late as 2008, Kripke admitted that he had no idea how he was going to get Dean out of Hell. The idea for adding angels to the mythology didn't come up until they were breaking stories for season 4. Which means that no, when the other two Trickster episodes were made, he was NOT supposed to be an angel. But, I thought the writers did a good job in going back and finding a way to say he HAS always been an angel, while not messing too much with established canon.

I also like the fact that they're using an established character to fill a new role. With seven or so (depending on what source you use) Archangels around, it could get confusing very quickly if they brought in a new actor for each one.

Question (because destiny and time-paradoxes always confuse me): Gabriel says, "I had carved out my own little corner of the world. Til you two screwed it up." But...if, as he says in a minute, he ALWAYS knew that it was going to come down to the two of them, how did they mess it up? Gabriel insists they can't change their destiny, so why was he surprised by what they've done?

Actually, I didn't think the Trickster was referring to the Apocalypse when he said they 'messed it up'. I rather thought it was that they sussed him out and came after him. Maybe that drew attention to him upstairs that he didn't want. Performing major magic like the time continuum in Mystery Spot may have given away his presence to the other angels he was hiding from.

Thank you all for your time, I'll be back again next week!

No, thank YOU, and I'm looking forward to the next one!

[Crichiel]

I can not even tell you how many times I have watched the Grey's Anatomy and Japanese game show spoofs of this episode in the past month. The 4-yr-old LOVES these parts and has asked over and over to watch them. She also likes the theme song. She will talk about it and laaaaaugh!

She also quotes it pretty well (Every once in a while I hear a little voice from the back seat of the car "Hello? Trickster!" ). I have to be careful to turn it off right after the game show, though, or she is going to start quoting a herpes commercial!!

[iheartshep]

Hubby just saw this episode for the first time the other day. The part where he laughed the most? The Japanese game show.

I'm sitting here giggling as I type this....thinking about Sam's......"well, I say........Jackpot!"

IHS

[the fifth man]

Such a funny episode. I really need to watch this again soon.

[fumblesmcstupid]

I was trying to watch this Wednesday's CSI episode 5-8-13 about the Ghost Hunter who gets killed. I had to stop watching because all I could hear was the boys mocking Caruso, which was bad enough. Then all I could think of was "Ghostfacers". I had to turn the episode off. I just couldn't stop giggling.