#this could start the Mac vs Mother Nature series

[lailuhhh]

Counting + Crate +Shake

It was a dumb thing that everyone was arguing about. There couldn’t be one natural disaster that was worse than all the rest

Or

Mac and Jack experience an earthquake

Read it here!

[letterstothemidnightsociety]

THAT’S RIGHT BITCH! It’s October and I am still watching and inexplicably blogging about Supernatural - a dinosaur of a television show that’s been on the air longer than most children I know have been alive. 

I know I’m An Old because I don’t think kids these days understand the struggle it was watching television before streaming. We had to wait for episodes. Hell, I don’t think kids these days even really have to wait for seasons. I mean, Voltron premiered on Netflix in 2016, capped off their seasons at 13 episodes a piece and, oh yeah - aired seasons 5 - 8  all in 2018. Was I mad about that? No of course not. Do I also say phrases like “kids these days? Yes, so who even knows if what I think is relevant anymore. 

Alright, so speaking of seasons, last time I looked at pilots and pilot seasons and how the streaming era is changing everything we know about starting a TV show. But once you’ve got your pilot down, now what? 

Not this kind of pilot. Also, based on the prerequisites for demon possession, we’re all agreed this co-pilot’s like, an alcoholic, right?

There’s a rule in TV (sort of) that the first six episodes (some might argue the first season entirely) should be a kind of rehash of the pilot. The pilot sets up your premise and once you’ve got your pilot down, your job as a TV writer is to re-establish that premise over and over again. You’re building your world, you’re writing it’s rules. You’re setting up a template, a formula for how your episodes are gonna play out. This helps your audience get to know the characters, get familiar with your world, get comfortable spending time with them. Essentially, you’re getting your audience to trust the show that they’re going to be tuning in to for at least the next 20-some-odd episodes. 

I’d also argue that this is important so that later, you can break that format later. I’m not saying you should break the trust your audience puts in you, and that’s probably a real fine line of distinction. But if you break your rules right, it can hit the audience with a big emotional sucker punch. Or, it can stand out as a real breakout, tentpole of an episode - I’m thinking specifically about Ghostfacers! In season 3, or Once More, With Feeling, from Buffy. Those episodes work, really work, because they deviate from the formula, but they only work because we know the formula so well.  And these aren’t big changes to the way episodes are done, they’re just shifted ever so slightly that they felt new again.. 

So what is the premise of the first four episodes Supernatural? What’s the formula they set up for the rest of the series? 

Brothers. I said it in my last post, I’ll say it again, Sam and Dean/Jensen Ackles and Jared Jared Padalecki are what makes this show. Full stop. I think we could have gotten 5 seasons out of a show starring two other dudes. I do not think this show could have gotten 15 seasons with two other dudes. So from the pilot through Phantom Traveler, we learn that Sam and Dean have a sh*tty home life - their mother was killed by some mysterious evil thing and their father raised them to be little demon-hunting child soldiers while they look for the killer. Oh yeah, and Sam’s girlfriend died the exact same way which we will never forget because Sam’s gonna have a dream about it almost every episode from here on out. We set up the tension between the brothers - that Sam got to go to college while Dean stayed with their dad like a good boi. We learn that everybody hates each other probably because they are deeply and unhealthily codependent love each other so damn much. 

Next we get the basic rundown of the season arc: 

Dad’s on a hunting trip and he hasn’t been home in a few days. The Winchester brothers are looking for him and by extension, looking for answers as to what killed their mom/Sam’s girlfriend. We also get the basic rundown of every episode: dad is a mysterious and elusive sonuvuabitch, so every episode they go about, say it with me now:

“The family business.” I would also accept “Killing as many evil sons of bitches as I possibly can,” but why can’t I find a gif for it?!? 

Backtracking on this but you know what else gets hecking established with the Winchesters? Sam is the cute one with the people skills and the puppy dog face, so you’d naturally assume that he’s the soft one. No. Not the case. Dean is the Sofffft Boi. The SOFTest boi. Dean wants Sam to talk about his feelings, Dean wants Sam to not keep things bottled up, Dean is the one who desperately wants to keep a hold of his family and also is just deeply broken and traumatized on the inside and oh no, I told myself I wouldn’t do this but I did it anyway. Sorry not sorry. This watch, I’m really picking up on the fact that Dean is, weirdly, the Mom Friend in this first season. Like, he’s basically a Trailer-Trash-Teen-Pregnancy Mom who’ll give you spaghettios five nights a week and a shot of whiskey so you’ll quit yer bitchin’ and go to sleep faster, but he’s the Mom nonetheless. Later in this season and in other seasons, I think you even see him do his dumb-baby-best filling in as the Mom when John went off the deep end. Anyway, I have a lot of feelings and we don’t have time to unpack all of that so I’ll just move on.

RUDE.

Next we set up our Supernatural Bag of Holding - what’s in it? What are the mystical artifacts they use to kill those evil sons of bitches? First up is The Car. Damn, I am not a cars girl, but that 67 Chevy, it does things to me. 

This car has some weird pavlovian trigger for me, it’s not NATURAL. 

The journal. 

John Winchester, you journal the way I imagine a psycho killer journals and I would just really appreciate it if you could be ANY MORE ORGANIZED THAN THIS.

The Trunk Full of Weapons - I love that in these first few episodes (and possibly the rest of the series???) they give this HELLA conspicuous look every time they open the trunk full of weapons. It’s hilarious EVERY TIME.

No, you’re not being obvious at ALL, guys.

The Fake ID’s - from credit cards to impersonating feds, these boys are not afraid to break the law to save some lives and I feel like that’s...that’s the theme of the show maybe? They’re here to save people and they’ll do what they have to to do that? In a world that clearly establishes a dark vs. light/good vs. evil dichotomy, the Winchester make it their job to live in a world of grey? Basically? 

Next on the checklist for this first season of Supernatural - it’s spoopy. *Spoop mileage may vary.* I said it last time, but I’ll say it again: this first season aired at 9:00pm at night. That means it’s primetime stuff for the 18 - 25 year old crowd, but they don’t want to risk some 13 year old watching it and getting too scared before bed. 9:00pm is X Files time slots, Fringe time slots. 9:00pm says you’re gonna get something a little more gruesome and gory and shocking than at 8pm. 8pm is for Friends. Vampire Diaries aired at 8pm its first season. 9pm is for the real adult content (but not too adult because the audience is still mostly children). 

SPOOP!

But yeah, let’s look at the real horror vibe that you get off of these first four episodes. We talked about La Llorona from the first episode - this is a legit ghost that they fight. The kids at the end that literally drag their mom to hell? Pretty spooky stuff. The Wendigo in episode 2 is a literal monster of the week and so for me personally, it’s not that scary, but it is a cannibal monster that eats human flesh. Dead in the Water has vibes from both Jaws and Friday the 13th. Everything from the lighting to the sound design let’s you know this is a horror show, or as horror as you can get on network television. Listen to the scenes just before somebody dies and you get a nice creepy “Come play with me” whisper coming out of the water. I’m a little spooked just thinking about it now. Yes I know I’m a chicken, and I’m OK WITH THAT. And if we go past my season 1 disc 1 into episode 5, Bloody Mary is STILL terrifying and I STILL watched that episode with half my face covered. That’s where I am these days. It’s 2020 and the world is a nightmare but imagining Bloody Mary creepin’ out in my mirror does not need to be a part of it. 

SHE F*CKIN CLIMBS OUT OF THE MIRROR GUYS! I DIDN’T KNOW SHE COULD DO THAT!!!

Then we get Phantom Traveler and our very first case of black-eyed-demonic possession. Watching this episode now, it’s like watching someone’s home movie of their first steps as a baby. They’ve never even done an exorcism before guys! They have to read the exorcism rite out of the journal! It’s so cute!!! Let’s not think too hard about how they got that full sized bottle of holy water past TSA in a post-9/11 world. And try to ignore how poorly these special effects have aged - the smoke from the demon possession?? OMG! THIS EFFECT! I’m pretty sure I could make that effect with my first ever graphic design software on my, like, 2009 mac book pro. So cute and soooo good! I’m gonna leave that CG plane alone, they’re doing their best. 

SO cute and SOOO good!

You want to know what my favorite established staple of Supernatural season 1 is? The extras. LOOKIT these guys - 

Wendigo you have Cory Monteith who later goes on to star in Glee. 

You have Alden Ehrenreich, Debatable Han Solo, doing a lot of face work with very little dialogue. 

You have Gina Holden who is in SO. MANY. Spooky-type things! My personal favs are Blood Ties and Harper’s Island, but she’s in Fringe, she’s in the SAW franchise, she’s in the Final Destination franchise, she was in some deleted scenes on an episode of Teen Wolf! I LOVE seeing Gina Holden, anywhere she pops up. 

And speaking of Harper’s Island, you’ve also got Callum Keith Rennie who played John Wakefield in Harper’s Island, a show that was A+ Great and I highly recommend if you like Agatha Christie and/or murder mysteries. 

Honestly, Rennie looks like he’s about to murder a bitch in this episode of Supernatural, it is not a stretch to believe he’s a psycho killer.

Dead in the Water you’ve got Amy Acker, a regular in Joss Whedon and Whedon-adjacent type shows.

Good LORD, this wardrobe was SO 2000′s WB and it PAINED me.

And finally in Phantom Traveler, you have Jaime Ray Newman who also shows up in a lot of the shows that I like to watch. She was in Eureka, she was in Midnight Texas, both kind of terrible shows that I love because they are terrible, but she was ALSO in Bates Motel and Veronica Mars, which are generally considered to be more quality, so there’s that. 

This still implies that they actually LIT scenes, which is a SURPRISE TO ME. 

Point is, seeing these actors in Supernatural back in the early 2000’s felt like I was seeing the start of their careers. That may or may not have been the case, but as a viewer it was exciting to see them pop up again in other things.

So what about TV now? Do we still use those first 6 (sometimes more) episodes to re-establish the premise? Well, it certainly hasn’t gone away. Look at any network show that still produces 22 - 24 episodes a season and you’ll still see that the pilot season just keeps re-iterating the premise established in the pilot episode, specifically in anything that’s procedural - that’s you’re monster/problem-of-the-week shows. Think sitcoms like Brooklyn 99 or Superstore or dramedies like Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist. The reason being that these shows play in the traditional model of television - on a network, once a week. They are not releasing episodes all at one time or relying on their audiences to stream a whole season in one sitting. These are shows that still assume that someone out there is going to tune in or stumble across their show one night while they’re surfing channels (lol) and need to be told, no matter what episode they’ve just turned on, what the premise of the show is. They need to be formulaic so that people can pick it up anywhere at any time.

But what about shows that don’t follow this traditional model? I mentioned in my last post that seasons are getting shorter and shorter, so when you’re writing a show that only has (8) episodes instead of 22, how much time do you really want to spend establishing the premise? Because of these short seasons, you’re also dealing with shows that are more serialized and less procedural than their predecessors - meaning, you’re dealing with a show that focuses on a season long story (think Game of Thrones or Stranger Things where each episode is an important chapter that you can’t skip) vs. a procedural (think the shows I mentioned above or any cop drama really) where each episode is it’s own contained story, neatly wrapped up at the end. These are shows where you can skip an episode and still know where you are in the show no matter where you start or stop watching. Supernatural is a little bit of both - procedural with their monsters of the week AND serialized with a season long arc. We’ll talk more on that in a later post. 

Not only are we getting shorter seasons, but we’re also dealing with shows that are not released over long periods of time. A few streaming channels, like Disney+ and HBO Max, make a deliberate point to slow-drip their seasons, but most streaming channels will release entire seasons in one shot. You don’t need to worry about your audience missing an episode because they have 24/7 access to all the episodes all at once. And for the most part, they’re designed to be binged. They start at full speed and they don’t slow down to keep driving you to the finale. 

Do I think the procedural is ever going to go away? No. As much talk as there is about dropping the cop drama from TV all together, I think audiences still love a good mystery series. And you can’t just think of procedurals as cop dramas either - a procedural also covers most if not all sitcoms. New Girl, Letterkenny, Parks and Rec, Superstore - these all have a premise that doesn't change from week to week. They may make tiny shifts away from what they set up in the pilot, but by and large, you know what you’re getting into any time you turn on an episode. I think we as an audience still like that kind of familiarity. We may be seeing a bigger swing towards more serialized content, but that doesn't mean that the procedural is dead and gone. 

So that’s what we’ve got for Supernatural - two dudes, driving around in a car full of spears and hand guns, killing bad guys. Some day, they may even find that father that’s missing. What could possibly go wrong? A lot. Stay tuned. 

[eddycurrents]

For the week of 1 July 2019

Quick Bits:

Aero #1 is an impressive solo debut for the Chinese original heroine spinning out of War of the Realms: New Agents of Atlas in North America and her original stories published in China. The first story is an English adaptation of one originally published in Chinese from Zhou Liefen and Keng, with the adaptation by Greg Pak, letters by Joe Caramagna. The artwork from Keng is stunning. There’s also an original back-up from Pak, Pop Mhan, Federico Blee, and Caramagna that ties in more directly to New Agents of Atlas with Aero learning more about Wave’s origin.

| Published by Marvel

Age of X-Man: Prisoner X #5 concludes another of these minis setting up for the finale in Age of X-Man: Omega. Vita Ayala, Germán Peralta, Matt Horak, Mike Spicer, and Joe Sabino deliver an entertaining story here of Bishop and his crew fighting back against their captor and figuring out who put them in this mess. Gorgeous artwork from Peralta, Horak, and Spicer.

| Published by Marvel

Analog #6 returns from the break with this action-packed start to the new arc. Great art from David O’Sullivan and Mike Spicer. Also, an interesting reveal of what people still do post-Internet.

| Published by Image

Crowded #7 kicks off the second arc as Charlie and Vita try to make their way to Las Vegas. Tons of humour, Charlie continues to be someone that you want to strangle, and Dog may just be the best part of the entire series. I love the art from Ro Stein, Ted Brandt, Tríona Farrell, Katie O’Meara, and Holly McKend.

| Published by Image

Deathstroke #45 begins “Deathstroke RIP” from Priest, Fernando Pasarin, Jason Paz, Wade von Grawbadger, Jeromy Cox, and Willie Schubert. This one deals with the legacy of Slade Wilson in a fascinating manner as Rose tries to fulfill her father’s last contract. There’s also a tie-in to the “Year of the Villain” event with someone here listening to Luthor’s offer. Should be an interesting road ahead.

| Published by DC Comics

Doom Patrol: Weight of the Worlds #1 is very much a continuation of the previous volume of Doom Patrol (with this first issue even including a “Thirteen” chapter heading), but it’s both inclusive and weird enough that it doesn’t overly matter if you’ve read the previous stuff. It helps, but this isn’t a bad place to jump in at the deep end. Gerard Way, Jeremy Lambert, James Harvey, Sajan Rai, and a seemingly uncredited letterer deliver an excellent story here, featuring a weird story on a fitness planet and Cliff dealing poorly with being flesh and blood again.

| Published by DC Comics / Young Animal

Giant Days #52 seems to be setting up how the series may see its exit as Esther travels to London for a job interview. It’s going to be sad to see it end, but John Allison, Max Sarin, Whitney Cogar, and Jim Campbell are ensuring that these final stories contain all of the humour and rich character interaction that has been a hallmark for the book.

| Published by Boom Entertainment / BOOM! Box

The Green Lantern #9 is another excellent issue with stunning artwork from Liam Sharp and Steve Oliff. This one sets up a new multiversal threat while also giving us a fun adventure on an otherwise forgotten corner of the DC Universe in Athmoora. 

| Published by DC Comics

Harley Quinn #63 is another “Year of the Villain” tie-in, with the offer being heard on the last two pages of the book. That pretty much seems to be the theme of these tie-ins, so if you’re not normally reading the books, you might otherwise want to skip them if you’re only interested in Year of the Villain. Apart from that, this is an entertaining story of Harley dealing with her mother’s cancer diagnosis from Sam Humphries, Otto Schmidt, and Dave Sharpe.

| Published by DC Comics

Immortal Hulk #20 continues to build on the confrontation between Hulk, Betty, and the new Abomination adding General Fortean’s forces to the mix directly. It’s fairly explosive, while more horrible and horrifying things seem to be happening on the other side of the Green Door and elsewhere. Al Ewing, Joe Bennett, Ruy José, Belardino Brabo, Marc Deering, Paul Mounts, and Cory Petit continue to deliver Marvel’s best title. Also, there’s an Absolute Carnage teaser from Ewing, Brian Level, Mounts, and Clayton Cowles that gives us a missing body of General Ross and hints at possibly a more nightmarish Red Hulk.

| Published by Marvel

Justice League #27 continues “Apex Predator” from James Tynion IV, Javier Fernandez, Bruno Redondo, Hi-Fi, and Tom Napolitano. It builds further on the new history of Luthor and Martian Manhunter, while the rest of the team continues to try to track down the Monitor and Anti-Monitor.

| Published by DC Comics

Lois Lane #1 is an excellent debut from Greg Rucka, Mike Perkins, Paul Mounts, and Simon Bowland. It focuses well on Lois’ day job, building up on what makes her a creditable threat to shady organizations and the US government alike as she pushes forward to find the truth. A very welcome reappearance of a Questionable character, some topical story threads of the camps at the southern US border, and gorgeous artwork from Perkins and Mounts.

| Published by DC Comics

Red Sonja #6 is the penultimate chapter of this arc with the finale spinning off in the Lord of Fools special. Some interesting developments here as the Zamoran Emperor tries to end the war by offering Sonja a marriage proposal.

| Published by Dynamite

Savage Avengers #3 fully unites the team as Electra and Punisher join the others, complete with an interesting merging for the Venom symbiote. Gerry Duggan tosses out some really great funny lines for this one amidst all of the bloody action.

| Published by Marvel

Sea of Stars #1 is a heartbreaking debut from Jason Aaron, Dennis Hallum, Stephen Green, Rico Renzi, and Jared K. Fletcher. Heartbreaking because it tells the story of a kid and his father, struggling to get by in cruel world through space shipping, and the attack of a weird space creature that tears them apart. Great set-up, beautiful art, and some bizarre events for what happens to the kid.

| Published by Image

Space Bandits #1 is worth it just for the incredible artwork from Matteo Scalera and Marcelo Maiolo. Like Scalera’s work on Black Science, the inventiveness of his art knows no limits and he explores some rich and detailed alien landscapes and characters, with a neat pastel colour palette from Maiolo. This first issue sets up two criminals screwed over by their respective crews.

| Published by Image

Star Wars: Target Vader #1 is a compelling debut that sets up a plot to kill Darth Vader from Robbie Thompson, Marc Laming, Chris Bolson, Neeraj Menon, Jordan Boyd, Andres Mossa, Federico Blee, Erick Arciniega, and Clayton Cowles. This one’s largely a gathering of the team set-up as we follow Valance from Han Solo: Imperial Cadet and learn of an organization running guns against the Empire.

| Published by Marvel

Superman: Up in the Sky #1 begins to collect the original Superman story that was published in those Walmart-exclusive 100-page anthologies from Tom King, Andy Kubert, Sandra Hope, Brad Anderson, and Clayton Cowles. It’s not a bad start, even if it seems a bit weird as to how obsessive Superman seems to be over a missing child stolen from the planet. Some of the best art from Andy Kubert I’ve seen in a while.

| Published by DC Comics

Test #1 is another highly unique and entertaining debut for Vault. Christopher Sebela, Jen Hickman, Harry Saxon, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou introduce us to Aleph, a test subject in some sort of corporate experiment that seems to have some sort of unique powers. Or maybe not. That’s the interesting thing, there are hints that it could all be in Aleph’s mind. Wonderful art from Hickman and Saxon.

| Published by Vault

Thumbs #2 continues this excellent series from Sean Lewis and Hayden Sherman. The world-building in this series is incredible, especially considering how immensely personal it happens to be in regards to being seen through Thumbs’ eyes. The colour scheme in this series of blue-grey washes and hot pink just makes this look and feel wonderfully unique. Also, how the back-up story is presented with spot illustrations and dialogue is a neat use of format.

| Published by Image

Other Highlights: Batgirl #36, Batman/TMNT III #3, Birthright #37, Black Hammer: Age of Doom #11, Captain America and the Invaders: Bahama’s Triangle #1, Charlie’s Angels vs. The Bionic Woman #1, Buffy the Vampire Slayer #6, DCeased #3, Dead Man Logan #9, Descendent #3, The Dreaming #11, Fantastic Four: Prodigal Sun #1, Female Furies #6, Hashtag: Danger #3, Heathen #7, Jim Henson’s Tale of Sand, KINO #17, The Long Con #10, Ms. Marvel Annual #1, No One Left to Fight #1, Old Man Quill #7, Postal: Deliverance #1, The Punisher #13, Secret Warps: Soldier Supreme Annual #1, Section Zero #4, She Said Destroy #2, Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider #10, Star Trek: Year Five #3, Star Wars: Age of Resistance - Finn #1, Star Wars Adventures #23, TMNT #95, Transformers #8, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #46, Uncanny X-Men #21, The World of Black Hammer Encyclopedia

Recommended Collections: Conan the Barbarian - Volume 1: Life and Death of Conan Book One, Conan: The Jewels of Gwahlur & Other Stories, Crimson Lotus, Gasolina - Volume 3, Go Go Power Rangers - Volume 4, Hellboy: 25 Years of Covers, Monstress - Book One

d. emerson eddy thinks that it’s a crime against nature to not bake homemade mac and cheese.

[gldengod-a2]

WHY I THINK DENNIS KILLED BRIAN LEFEVRE

*Be Advised* The following post contains some graphic material about murder. Do not read if the latter triggers you.

     To start off this meta, I’d like to state the following: I DO NOT believe Dennis murdered anyone prior to Brian LeFevre. I’m going to briefly go over Den’s history in this post though and explain how it eventually boils down to his first kill.

Dennis and Skin:

     As far back as season three, Dennis has shown himself to have a disturbing infatuation with skin, both human and otherwise.

     Psycho Pete Returns, where he threatens to skin Dee and turn her into a lampshade. In the season eleven episodeFrank Falls Out the Window, Dee confronts Dennis on his dream of being a veterinarian, saying that she thinks he only wants to become a vet so that he can "keep the skins." The conversation quickly devolves into a screaming match when she follows this up by telling him that he's going bald, but not before Dennis admits that he is indeed very fascinated by skins.

     One of the earliest references to Dennis's obsession with skin, which I think a lot of people miss, is in the season three episode The Aluminum Monster vs Fatty Magoo. In a brief scene towards the end of the episode, a number of parallels are drawn between Dennis and Buffalo Bill, a serial killer from the movie Silence of the Lambs that wears the skins of his victims.

Both men are naked and applying lipstick in front of a mirror.

Both men are about to dress up as women.

Both men are listening to a song from the 80s about love.

Both men are softly whispering affirmations of self-confidence about how sexually attractive they are.

     Additionally, Buffalo Bill, according to Hannibal Lecter, wants to wear the skin of his victims to become another person. This, along with Dennis's infatuation with human skin, will be very important in Dennis's possible murder of Mr. LeFevre. But before we get to the reasoning behind Dennis's killing fantasies, let's go back to where they may have started..

Gary the Serial Killer:

     Dennis starts out in the beginning of the series as an overly vain womanizer with a frat boy's mentality toward sex. It's only in mid and latter seasons that we are given hints that he may in fact be dangerous. When wondering about the reasons for this, I found myself thinking of a story I heard about a thirteenth century serial killer named Gilles de Rais. De Rais was a French nobleman and the right hand man to Joan of Arc, and by all account a virtuous individual (at least with regards to the way that the gentry viewed virtue in the middle ages). He became one of history's most notorious monsters quite by accident, after a group of con artists masquerading as alchemists convinced him to murder a child while experimenting with necromancy. De Rais discovered from this that he enjoyed killing, and went on to become one of histories earliest recorded serial murderers. If Dennis is the Gilles de Rais of our scenario, then his alchemist would be Dee's former neighbor, Gary.

     We first meet Gary in the season three episode, Mac is a Serial Killer, where the Gang suspects Mac of a series of murders that we later find out were committed by Gary when the Gang discovers "about fifteen severed heads" in his freezer. Though Gary is only around for the one episode, after which he is most likely either in prison or dead after Frank attacks him with the chainsaw, I think that the experience had a very profound effect on Dennis in a number of ways.

     For one, during the episode itself Dennis and Dee try to "get inside the mind" of the serial killer in order to find out who it is and clear Mac's name. They manage to do this by purchasing (stealing) murder weapons, dressing up as a painter and psycho clown, and going out to stalk a victim. In addition to coming up with a surprisingly feasible backstory and methodology for his killer, Dennis becomes extremely excited about the idea of strangling and dismembering the Waitress. He then gets overtly disappointed when Dee says that they can't really kill her.

     We see the episode with Gary referenced most recently in the season eleven episode, Chardee Macdennis 2: Electric Boogaloo, where Dennis sculpts a woman's head in a freezer when prompted to mold something that represents "love." His excuse is that "it represents the preservation of love for ever and ever" (this is important for the section regarding Dennis's psychotic break).

     Some have speculated, based on this last fact, that Dennis may have been the real serial killer all along, and that he framed Gary. Personally I don't think this is likely. The whole misunderstanding with Mac and Gary happened because Dennis pointed out that Mac came home late the previous night, causing Frank to suspect that Mac was the killer based on him being out while the most recent murder was taking place. This means that Dennis was home while the murder was happening because he knew that Mac wasn't. I also find it hard to believe that Dennis could have been so easily dispatched by the Waitress with a can of pepper spray if he'd already killed up to fifteen women.

     More likely, I think, is the idea that Dennis was inspired by Gary. Almost all serial killers start out fantasizing, and when that doesn't do it anymore, they graduate to the real thing. I think Dennis got such a high off the stalk and planning that he and Dee did to fake-kill the Waitress that he kept running with it, crafting more and more elaborate fantasies, such as storing zip ties and plastic wrap in his car, and describing to Mac what they could potentially do with women trapped out on the open ocean. He did this for five seasons until the opportunity arose for him to kill his first real victim: Brian LeFevre.

Brian LeFevre:

     In the season eight episode, Frank's Back in Business, the Gang finds the wallet of a man named Brian LeFevre. After boosting the cash, credit cards, and baseball tickets found inside, Dennis, Mac, and Dee soon find themselves in a luxury box with a pair of business executives that are in town to court Brian LeFevre. Dennis takes this as an opportunity to become Brian LeFevre, posing as him for the rest of the week. Dennis also invited Mac and Dee to "get off" with him by taking part in the charade. Some, as it turns out, were willing to take this farther than others...Dennis describes the experience of "getting off" as the thrill of becoming another person by "getting inside of their skin." The wording of this, "getting inside their skin," recalls to mind Dennis's previously mentioned fetish. Considering this, when we find out at the end that the real Brian LeFevre was murdered right outside Paddy's Pub, it isn't that much of a stretch to suspect that Dennis may have had something to do with it. With this in mind, consider Dennis's reaction to hearing Charlie and Mac recap LeFevre's death.

     As Charlie and Mac are describing the circumstances of the real LeFevre's death, Dennis becomes progressively more and more aroused, finally "climaxing" when they show his severed finger (which Charlie cut off in the morgue). This is very similar to the way in which real serial killers gratify themselves when reliving their crimes (also the reason that many of them take trophies, such as the severed finger). Furthermore, his choice of Dee as a companion reflects what may have been his original fantasy, when the two of them stalked the waitress in Mac is a Serial Killer.

     Now all of this is plausible, but still probably seems like a stretch. However, the show does drop one MASSIVE clue as to Dennis being the real murderer. When describing how the police believe that the murder went down, Charlie says that the real Brian LeFevre was stabbed to death by "a crackhead." Now you may hear this and assume that there's no real mystery to LeFevre's death and that it was a simple mugging. But let's not forget, Dennis is a crack addict. He became addicted to crack all the way back in the season two episode, Dennis and Dee Go On Welfare, and he's had multiple relapses in Frank's Pretty Woman and Frank Falls Out the Window. While I don't necessarily think that Charlie knows or suspects that Dennis killed LeFevre, I do believe that the show is dropping a hint that points in Dennis's direction.

Dennis's Psychotic Break:

     Usually when a serial killer first begins killing, or resumes killing after a period of inactivity, something happens that sets them off; a death in the family, getting fired, getting divorced, something of that nature. In this situation, the event that sets Dennis off is as traumatizing as any of those.

     In the episode Charlie's Mom Has Cancer, which takes place immediately before the one with LeFevre's demise, Dennis is stuck in a sort of melancholy slump. He admits to Mac that he's distressed over his inability to "feel things" emotionally. Over the course of the episode he tries a number of remedies, including attending Mac's church and seeing a holistic healer named Doctor Jynx. Unfortunately none of this works, and Dennis resigns himself to feeling nothing, admitting that the church is running a scam and that Doctor Jynx is a "sorcerer" with the name of a monkey. At the end of the episode, however, in what can only be described as a horrific twist of irony, Dennis does manage to unearth his feelings. This happens when Frank tricks him into digging up his dead mother as a means of getting revenge against Dee for insulting him and stealing his money.

     When the casket lid opens and Barbara's corpse is revealed, Dennis bursts into tears and starts hysterically sobbing, clutching Dee and screaming "I feel too much!" and "my mommy's a skeleton!"

     This would explain Dennis's desire to slip into someone else's skin, as the flood of negative emotions that overwhelmed him upon seeing his mother's dead body made it too painful to be "Dennis Reynolds." The sight of Barbara's body without skin probably also triggered his obsession with human flesh, which ties into his psychotic impulses. This likely brought on some self-loathing, given that his mother is one of the few people that Dennis could be said to love, further contributing to his urge to become someone else. So when he saw LeFevre stumbling around behind Paddy's looking for his wallet, it was too great an opportunity to miss.

Aftermath:

     In the episode immediately after the one featuring Brian LeFevre, Charlie Rules the World, we see some interesting behavior from Dennis. Throughout the episode he expresses frustrations with the Gang's lack of drive to go out and "live life." He wants to experience things on a more visceral level while the others are burying themselves in social media and online video games. He comes off as manic and overly cheerful, in a somewhat aggressive way. He wants to go out dancing, as if celebrating something, and winds up doing shots until he projectile vomits at the table. Later in the episode he spends some time alone in an isolation tank and comes to the conclusion that he's a god, and the episode ends with him deleting everyone else's game characters because they "irritated him." Though not entirely new behavior on Dennis's part, he does seem to take his divinity to a more literal level in this episode, whereas in the past he referred to himself as a "golden god" in more of a metaphorical sense. When viewed in the context of our present theory, that he in fact committed his first murder in the previous episode, Dennis's progressing god complex can be viewed as more than simple narcissism, but as the self-aggrandizing mentality of a budding serial killer.

[turtletotem]

Episode 1 - Birds of a Feather

First of all, I should note that my Dresden Files journey began with the TV show. I started watching it as it first aired, drawn in by this moment in the trailer, right here:

I loved the show, mourned when it didn't get a second season, and thereafter sought out the books—which have since become one of those life-defining things where their story is part of your story. So I might have more issues with the show if I'd been a book fan first, but I wasn't and I don't. I do consider the books superior in most ways, but they've also had 15 books to get that way; the first couple were much shakier, and in my opinion closer to the show in quality. (…though probably still better.)

So anyway. I'm rewatching the Dresden Files TV show and writing up my observations and opinions about it, particularly as compared to the books. Spoilers for both GALORE.

Episode 1: Birds of a Feather

We see a lot of Harry's dad in these first few episodes, and that's one thing I really love about the show. Book!Harry loved his dad, but barely remembers him, and is ultimately more concerned with his mother's complex magical legacy than that of his vanilla mortal father. Which is fine, it's even pretty cool to have the Orphaned Hero obsessed with his mother's legacy instead of his father's, but I really enjoy seeing more of Malcolm Dresden and the kind of dad he was, the kind of happy childhood Harry could have had if his father hadn't died. And I very much consider the two Papa Dresdens to be the same character; the only difference between them that I can think of is that show!Malcolm got to live longer. (And yeah, supposedly book!Malcolm's death was natural but tbh I am sooo not convinced of that.)

The show combines Harry's shield bracelet with his mother's amulet. I'm not sure why they would make that change; maybe just to streamline some of Harry's magical gear, which he gradually gets quite a lot of. Maybe they thought it would be weird to have a male protagonist wearing a necklace? Idk, I'm only saying that as a woman whose dad was very weirded out by her brother wearing (perfectly masculine) necklaces.

We first meet adult Harry in bed with a pretty woman, which is… rather hilarious considering book!Harry's track record with women. That is one slight beef I have with the show; here and elsewhere they characterize Harry as someone looking for a casual good time with a lady, and Harry is emphatically not that way. To the point that it costs him potential relationships, i.e. Murphy who doesn't want to get serious and Harry who's incapable of not getting serious. The only remotely casual sex Harry has in the books is with Anastasia, whom he was still explicitly and exclusively Dating.

Show!Harry drives a Jeep instead of book!Harry's famous Blue Beetle, which I think is a change a lot of people disliked. The justification I heard for it was that the actual visuals of putting a long-legged stork of a man like Harry/Paul Blackthorne into a VW Beetle were hilarious in an unwanted way. The Jeep doesn't bother me overmuch, because they did still take the effort to find an older, sturdier sort of car, like the Beetle, that Harry might actually be able to keep running—but I can't help thinking they missed the point, because the Beetle is supposed to be hilarious.

I love this opening sequence, guys. So much. So much.

It's nice that Bob calls Harry out on his Arbitrary Skepticism after he fails to believe the kid about being followed by monsters. It still bugs me that it happened. Yeah, being the only wizard in the phone book brings out the crazies, but seriously, Harry, you know there is such thing as monsters.(Nice nod to the "no birthday parties" rule, though, in that conversation.)

Show!skinwalker is an entirely, entirely different creature than book!skinwalker, to the extent that I'm pretty sure they just heard the word "skinwalker" and ran with it, but at least this skinwalker is still a very-bad-news heavy-hitter, more or less worthy of the naagloshii's legacy.

SHOW!BOB. Guys, I could easily write an entire series of essays just about show!Bob, and to my knowledge he's one of the major changes that was actually well-received by fans—because even though the similarities between the two characters are minimal, show!Bob is such a fantastic character in his own right that it's impossible to hold it against him. And honestly the show works much better with this Bob than it would have with book!Bob. He needed an actor, for one thing. A person who can emote and interact. A voice issuing from a skull is fine in a book, but makes for very boring screentime. And then weaving Bob into so much more of Harry's backstory, and giving him a more human and interesting backstory of his own—well, it works, we'll leave it at that.

Show!Murphy—I mean, she looks all wrong for the character, aside from being appropriately short, but she's got the performance down pat. She does such good exasperated I-am-trying-to-be-professional-here and I love her. On one hand it's a shame to lose "adorable perky blonde" Murphy, because watching that play out on screen would have been a trip, but it's also cool to have a Hispanic Murphy. It's one of a few different ways they sneak some diversity into the story, which it needs, because guys. Guys. I love Jim Butcher, as both a writer and a person, but he's very white, and it shows. He absolutely defaults to white, not maliciously but unthinkingly, and taking a chance to correct that is a good thing.

I wonder if this diner Harry goes to several times in the first episode is intended as version of Mac's pub? And Melissa, who could search the Council records without leaving her seat, as a version of Ivy—but if so, completely underused and prematurely discarded. I hope they had better plans for Ivy than that.

Changing the White Council to the High Council was probably another attempt to be Not Racist, which, eh, I applaud the goal and for the most part it's fine, but what were they gonna do about the Black and Grey Councils later? Change them to Low and Medium?

The kid with the monsters is supposed to be in junior high, which would make him at least 12, but he both acts and is treated more like he's 8 or 9. :P

One book-accurate trait of show!Harry is how he's always on the hustle for money because he has no money and I love that. Good noir-style voiceovers, too.

One BIG thing I hate about the show is that they have Harry combining his office and his home. WHAT. NO. HARRY WOULD LITERALLY NEVER DO THAT, TALKS EXPLICITLY ABOUT WHY HE WOULD NEVER DO THAT, AND SCOLDS OTHER PEOPLE FOR DOING THAT. The threshold is a very important magical concept, guys! Did you even read the books!

Uncle Justin Morningway vs. Justin duMorne is such an interesting thing, and one of the few instances where I think I actually like the show better?? It's always been so random that Harry happened to get orphaned and picked up by this random dark wizard. It makes a lot more sense that Harry's evil uncle offed his father specifically in order to get custody of Harry. It streamlines a lot of things about Harry's backstory—his mother's "grey magic" past, his father's death, his iffy training, Justin's death, everything. It does appear that they eliminated Elaine from the story, with Bob taking her place as little Harry's BFF, but I can deal with that because Elaine's been underutilized anyway.

The invention of a kid for Murphy is more mysterious to me, especially since, as far as I can recall, they never really went anywhere with that. Maybe she would have been some sort of Maggie replacement at some point?

Also this kid-with-the-monsters (his name is Scott) confuses me. He's been hidden from the Council, given the ravens as protectors (possibly by his birth parents? it's never explained), bad guys are trying to find him, all because he has The Gift. Well, if The Gift just means magic, that's not that unusual. I mean, the Council already has as many wizards as it can handle, the rising generation is mostly just a tiresome opportunity for someone to go all Sith on 'em, and lesser talents are frankly beneath their concern. (I have issues with the Council.) So either that's a significant worldbuilding change, or Scott is something way bigger than just another wizard.

Speaking of, lol@ the Doombox being such a big deal? Anyone can blow stuff up. Even mortals can blow stuff up, but Harry Dresden can definitely blow stuff up without needing a special box cooked up over centuries of delicate research. BUT HEY. They ended the first episode with Harry blowing up a building. You can't ask for a better Harry moment than that!

[savetopnow]

2018-03-20 10 VIDEO now

VIDEO

Bad Lip Reading

"IT'S NOT A MOON" — A Bad Lip Reading of Star Wars

"NFL 2018" — A Bad Lip Reading of the NFL

"TRUMP ANTHEM" — A Bad Lip Reading of Donald Trump

"[KARAOKE] Seagulls! (Stop It Now!)" — A Bad Lip Reading of The Empire Strikes Back

"CHRISTMAS IS HERE!" — A Bad Lip Reading of Donald Trump

Bill Wurtz

unboxing video

maybe i could eat blades of grass

La de da de da de da de day oh

soap tips

outside

Captain Disillusion

Chinese Invisibility Cloak Hoax DESTROYED!!!

TUTORIAL: Rigging the Ambiguous Cylinder for Animation

Quick D: Invisible Box Challenge

Gateway to Sedona DEBUNK

The Unbearable Loneliness of Being Right on the Internet - Live at Skepticon Australia 2017

CineFix

7 Things You (Probably) Didn't Know About Pan's Labyrinth

4 More of the Best Shots of All Time - Movie Lists

'The Shining' Meets 'Heathers' w/ Cory Finley, Director of 'Thoroughbreds'

Should 'Darkest Hour' Win Best Picture?

Will Phantom Thread Win Best Picture?

Exurb1a

A Dictionary for Your Twenties

Feelings, Pictures, and Ideas: A very simple theory of why good stories are good

Bear and Goose at the End of Everything

Problems With Mind Uploading

How Not to Do Brownies

Kurzgesagt

A Selfish Argument for Making the World a Better Place – Egoistic Altruism

String Theory Explained – What is The True Nature of Reality?

Homeopathy Explained – Gentle Healing or Reckless Fraud?

Why Alien Life Would be our Doom - The Great Filter

How to Make an Elephant Explode with Science – The Size of Life 2

Mealtime Videos

What a Dinosaur Looks Like Under a Microscope [8:51]

Darth Maul's Childhood and Teenage Years [8:08]

The Animated History of Italy [8:05]

Box Peek - Episode 1 (Special Preview Edition) [8:40]

Cambridge Analytica Uncovered: Secret filming reveals election tricks [19:12]

Nerdwriter1

The Most Disturbing Painting

The Florida Project Should've Been Nominated

Mr. Bean Is A Master Of Physical Comedy

See With Your Ears: Spielberg And Sound Design

How Fleetwood Mac Makes A Song

Reddit Videos

Prices - Tim and Eric

A speed math competition: Mr. Hush against the calculator

Harry Connick Jr. throws an extra beat into his song, so that the audience starts clapping on the preferred beats... drummer celebrates when he does.

Streamer has a special talent

Two Ships collide in Karachi Port (South Asia Terminal)

TED Talks

The role of human emotions in science and research | Ilona Stengel

You don't have to be an expert to solve big problems | Tapiwa Chiwewe

Refugees want empowerment, not handouts | Robert Hakiza

The genius of the London Tube Map | Michael Bierut on "Small Thing Big Idea"

How to have a healthier, positive relationship with sex | Tiffany Kagure Mugo and Siphumeze Khundayi

The New York Times

How a Community Was Sacrificed to Save Houston | Times Documentaries

When Mother's Day Means a Trip to Prison | Op-Docs

Scene From ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ | Anatomy of a Scene

Fighting Venezuela's Repression with My Violin | NYT - Opinion

Inside Aleppo, a City in Ruins | NYT

Unknown Videos

How to Draw Celery [4 views]

7 Most Mysterious Books Ever Found [842 views]

Senior Ditch Day (101 views)

5 More True Scary Haunted House And Church Stories [60 views]

Funny gangster series [1,583 views]

Vlog Brothers

The Most Popular Word in the World

Who Should We Root For?

John's Best Gift to Me

The Broccoli Tree: A Parable

The Best (Recent) Book Covers Including MINE!

Vox

VOX showreel våren 2015

Gordon Ramsay: The F word - promo

Hannibal sesong 2 - teaser

The Following sesong 2 - premierepromo

The Following sesong 2 - teaser

Wendover Productions

The Logistics of Living in Antarctica

How Overnight Shipping Works

Why Cities Exist

How Airlines Price Flights

The Gene Patent Question

Wisecrack

Most Philosophical Game Ever? – The Philosophy of NieR: Automata – Wisecrack Edition

Too Many Cooks vs. Don't Hug Me I'm Scared: Decoding the Disturbing – Wisecrack Edition

The Loneliest Anime – The Philosophy of Neon Genesis Evangelion – Wisecrack Edition

The Philosophy of Jigsaw – Wisecrack Edition

The Hidden Meaning in The Truman Show – Earthling Cinema