5x13 thoughts

[mickeym]

Oh, my god, I loved this episode. I think I loved this one the most out of all we've had so far in this wacky season. I loved the boys going back to try and save their parents, and the conversation Sam had with John, and Dean's with Mary. Poor Sammy, when they were first in the Winchester living room, staring at Mary with tears in his eyes. *draws hearts around him*

Pre-hunting John was so sweet. And innocent, god. It kind of broke my heart. Mary, wanting normal so badly -- shades of S1/S2 Sam.

I really liked Castiel saying Sam's his friend -- it's good that it's both Winchesters, not just Dean.

After Michael tells Dean about the blood-line thing, I guess that's why Anna looked at John so strangely when she first saw him? Because there was a moment of flinching/recoiling.

"Team Free Will". Yikes. So I guess it's canon for us now that Dean's a high-school drop out? I have trouble believing he has a GED, though, because when would he have bothered?

The last scene with Mary and John, and the "angels are watching over you" creeped me the hell out, since we know the twist on that. *shudders* (And I kind of creeped Matthew out by saying it with Mary *g*)

There was more stuff I liked -- the whole ep, really -- but I'm tired, and I have to get up early, so those will be the high points :) YAY SHOW \o/

Comments

[angelwatcher17.livejournal.com]

YES....THIS EPISODE WAS BEYOND AMAZING.....I can't even think straight!!!!

[surevesta.livejournal.com]

I'm betting that Dean got a GED at John's insistence (or his own if he thought Sam and him needed money or such and working meant a GED was a better option) and then only attended school when necessary to watch over Sam at times and worked the rest of the time. That's just my opinion though. I do have a hard time seeing John not making his boys finish High School or the equivalent.

[quiet000001.livejournal.com]

This. Plus, depending on where you get one, they can be pretty trivially easy. I got one due to high school principal related hi-jinx, and I seriously spent most of my time reading the questions going "they are not asking me this to determine if I can graduate high school. There must be a trick to this question." So it would've taken Dean about 3 hours one day, assuming he learned the basics helping Sam with homework and that sort of thing. (I mean, a lot of the occult stuff they do and know is relatively complex. As much as Dean isn't really the researcher in the family, he clearly must have reading comprehension skills and know basic math and so on.)

[quiet000001.livejournal.com]

(For the record, there were no tricks, they really WERE that trivial, and I got basically a perfect score and an award from my state for it. Go me.) (I felt bad after because I tied with someone else, so they split the award money, and that felt kind of like cheating someone else out because I seriously could've passed the GED with no problems before I started 9th grade.)

[mickeym.livejournal.com]

Okay, now THAT makes sense. Everything I've ever seen/heard/read about, re: getting a GED, made it sound as though there are classes you have to take, blah blah blah -- so it seemed to me that it wouldn't have been possible given how much they moved around.

But if you can just *take the test*, then yeah, I can buy that. And not have any trouble believing Dean could pass with flying colors -- because he's maybe not the brain Sam is, but he's not stupid by any means.

[quiet000001.livejournal.com]

I think the exact process depends on what state you're in, but at least in PA, back when I did it, as long as you were a certain age (17 or 18, I think) you could just sign up and turn up on the day and take it.

I'm sure there ARE preparatory classes for it, but there are also test prep books that it would've been easy for him to check out at the library to see if he could pass as-is - heck, with as much traveling around as they did, they could've intentionally gone someplace to TAKE the test where they knew Dean would do fine without prep. (The only thing is that it's like the SATs in that you have to register some time in advance, so they would've had to plan to swing back through for the test date if they weren't sticking around.)

(And I agree that he probably would do fine on most of them, if the PA one was any kind of indication - but some of them might have required reading prior to the exam or something, wheras the PA one just had passages that you read and then answered questions about all in the test booklet.)

(Moderately unrelated to SPN, but related to the subject - if Matthew is ever in a position where he's taking any kind of test like that - I highly recommend doing at LEAST one practice session where the conditions are 'realistic' in that it's timed and everything. Even better if you can afford it and you're allowed to pick your best score would be to sign up for it KNOWING the score was probably going to be thrown out, and then go and take it properly. It helps significantly if you know what to expect of the experience and can notice things like if you get hungry partway through - I always took a couple of peanut butter cups with me for a snack - and that sort of thing. I actually took the SATs three times, starting in 7th grade, and just between 7th and 8th grade my scores jumped because I wasn't as nervous about the process going into it.)

(I don't know if he's necessarily thinking college/PSAT/SAT, but standardized tests of that sort are used for SO MUCH now that he'll probably encounter them somewhere along the way. Also useful - prep classes that don't focus necessarily on the material covered so much as test taking strategy. Working front-to-back isn't necessarily the best way to tackle it. For example, I always find it takes a bit for my brain to get into 'test mode' so when I start if there are answers I'm not sure about or questions I feel like I'm taking a long time over, I mark them in the book and on the answer sheet - so I don't end up with my answers off-set by accident - and move on. Then often while working on something later in the section I'll realize what it was that I was missing, and go back and answer it, or I'll go back at the end of the time if I have time left and double check to make sure I still agree with my original answer. And there's a LOT of stuff like that you can do to help your score depending on the exact rules of the test and structure of it. Like on the SATs you lose points for wrong answers, so a good prep class will help you make rules to use to decide when you really should just NOT answer a question.)

[someblazingstar.livejournal.com]

Everything I've ever seen/heard/read about, re: getting a GED, made it sound as though there are classes you have to take, blah blah blah

You CAN take classes, but in Oregon, at least, you don't have to - I also took it cold, with no studying or prep whatsoever, and also got a near-perfect score. The GED is stupidly easy if your IQ is in triple digits at all.

And yeah, ugh, I hate seeing Dean characterisation where he's a dummy. Hello, he not only knew who Vonnegut was, but was familiar enough with his work to cite specific books. The fact that Dean is obviously almost entirely self-taught (I don't see him paying much attention in school) kind of makes his cleverness more impressive, at least to me.

[raynedanser.livejournal.com]

The fact that Dean is obviously almost entirely self-taught (I don't see him paying much attention in school) kind of makes his cleverness more impressive, at least to me.

Yes! This! Thisthisthisthis.... Being self taught like he clearly is isn't easy and.... Yes!

Ahem. Hi? ;-)

[surevesta.livejournal.com]

Dude, Dean made a EMF detector out of a tape player that worked.

[quiet000001.livejournal.com]

Exactly. It drives me NUTS when people paint him as a complete idiot in fic.

(I'm sure he probably doesn't think he's that smart, but he's probably comparing himself to Sam, who is canonically very smart in the 'book smart' sort of way. I don't imagine their lifestyle really allowed Dean to ever be in an environment where his own type of smart could really be encouraged - like a really good science class where a teacher could've developed his interest in engineering.)

[foxmonkey.livejournal.com]

After Michael tells Dean about the blood-line thing

I loved that, that their bloodline goes back to Cain and Abel. Gave me chills.

[girlmostlikely.livejournal.com]

This was seriously the best episode we've had in almost two seasons.

Poor Sammy, when they were first in the Winchester living room, staring at Mary with tears in his eyes. *draws hearts around him*

I thought Sam was gonna kill me in this episode, I swear!

[jamesinboots.livejournal.com]

When Sam first saw John and Mary in this episode, it kind of hit me that the only times Sam has seen his mother was when she was a ghost in Home and in All Hell 2 when Azazel shower Sam the night his mom died. And then the last thing he ever said to his dad was something about coffee. Aigh. Oh Sammy. *pet him*

[rivers-bend.livejournal.com]

Dean has mentioned twice that he has his GED, so he must have bothered. I can see John making him do it. He was still taking classes, at least sometimes, when he was 19, so I am sure it was easy for him.

I'm watching again. THIS EPISODE IS SO GOOD.

[destina.livejournal.com]

Poor Sammy, when they were first in the Winchester living room, staring at Mary with tears in his eyes.

That was totally, totally heartbreaking. I'm just...sometimes I forget the only glimpse of Mary Sam ever had was of her ghost, and so the fact he got to MEET HER is just...you know? Wow.

[britomart-is.livejournal.com]

Sam staring at his parents BROKE MY HEART.

And I'm so in love with John fucking Winchester I don't even know what to say.

[raynedanser.livejournal.com]

Pre-hunting John was so sweet. And innocent, god. It kind of broke my heart.

TRULY. The contrast to the John we saw on show was just... striking. Man.

As for the rest, I need to go watch it again because I missed a lot of it last night, but yes. I LOVED this ep. \o/

[maerhysetc.livejournal.com]

He can get his GED pretty quickly depending on the state; or, he has forged papers.

Excellent episode --- I really loved all of it.

[zillahseye.livejournal.com]

You need a GED to get a lot of jobs, maybe John or even Dean figured it'd be a good idea to have one. Though they could've forged one or something. :D