Supernatural: S08E16 - Remember The Titans.

I know this is late but my Supernatural reviews get the least amount of interest even when I post them near immediately so I figured there was no rush. Whoever comes here each week to see my opinion though, sorry this is like 12 hours later than last week, I hope you enjoy it anyway!


Remember The Titans starts strong, I can't say I know much about Greek Mythology and I hadn't read this weeks episode blurb, so I was completely hooked by the mystery of a man who dies once a day and always comes back. My interest was peaked as the man was attacked by a mysterious, super powered assassin in the dead of night as the episode balanced all this with laugh out loud moments, it had all the elements for a great Supernatural episode. Then...then the title became clear.

As it turns out our man who dies once a day is Prometheus, yeah the Titan...hence the title. I'm not a religious man but I've never really liked Supernatural's version of Gods. Due to their small budget and general visual style, Gods are basically just the cast of Heroes and I think that is kinda shitty. I think Hammer of The Gods may well be the ultimate low point for me in Supernatural history. A cool concept utterly ruined by Supernatural's usual weak execution.

One thing that really impresses me about Supernatural, is the writers wrote themselves into a corner four seasons ago and yet they just keep going even though it's clear that their idea pool has long since been exhausted. What I mean is, the shows choice to always drop Sam and Dean's supernatural abilities if they ever gain them (vampirism, demon blood etc) really renders the boys completely redundant in their own story. I mean sure, the show always finds ways to chuck the brothers into the middle of things somehow as they are apparently the only hunters on the entire planet and every key villain and major mythological figure seems to float around them and only them as if to suggest the Winchester's were some kind of sun but now they are going head first against Archangels, The Four Horsemen, Fate, Gods, the Apocalypse and every other thing in between, all the brothers can really do any more is get chucked across the floor.

But of course the bigger problem is, they are our protagonists, so they still have to win but the writers seem to have long since stopped caring about making believable conclusions so we no longer really have climaxes, just anti-climaxes. Gods who simply stand there and wait for the Winchester's to kill them, for what it is worth. This causes a domino effect of  underwhelming moment after underwhelming moment as the entire show has to dumb itself down so the two humans can win against enemies that outclass them in every single sense.

I mean how the hell do you manage to make something as crazy awesome as summoning Zeus to call him out on his bullshit so uninteresting? Supernatural has been able to enjoy itself in the past but it seems to have this odd style choice where the bigger and goofier the premise, the smaller and blander the execution. Supernatural has always had a very muted style but it's just odd that the show has had more epic, visceral and engaging fights with lesser monsters like shapeshifters fighting the brothers when they were much less experienced than when the show featured battles like the Archangel Lucifer against the Pagan Gods, like wtf?  I guess what I'm trying to say is there is a huge difference between a muted, restrained visual style and just looking like a web series. I never once thought Zeus, I thought an old man in a suit with stock electricity effects...which is exactly what it was.

And do I even want to think about how any of this fits, Zeus seems to be a lot stronger than the Gods we saw on that God awful Hammer episode, don't even ask me how that works but with his power in mind, where the fuck has he been along with the rest of his gang? Fuck this episode seems to get worse the more I try and think on it.

Also, I know Season Eight will probably go down as the season where Sam and Dean were characterised at their absolute worst but somehow this episode still had me asking what the fuck. Dean is a goof and an idiot through the whole episode, in that way he was before...six seasons of shit in his face and it just felt extremely out of place. Almost as out of place as when Sam decided to just do a 360 turn and start going on about how he'll probably fail the trials now. For fucks sake.

You can take Remember The Titans in one of two ways; the first is that this episode is utter garbage. It doesn't characterise the brothers properly, it makes no sense in a wider context, is lazily written and exposes pretty much every problem this series has had since season 5. The second, is that this is probably the best episode of Heroes you're ever going to see.

Pros;

• The first ten or so minutes are great.
• It's intentionally funny and very much so.

Cons;

• Please stop with the God crap, you suck at it.
• That underwhelming Supernatural style.
• It's almost impressive just how unimpressive this episode is.
• Please for the love of Christ give the brothers some kind of power other than plot convenience this is slowly slipping from Supernatural to the 'Weekly Floor Slide'. 
• Well this episode gives us about ten new things to add to the 'wtf is Supernatural's continuity, how the hell does anything in this show work or make any kind of logical sense' list.
• Terrible characterisation. 

Think About It!

-Locke

What would you rate, 'Remember The Titans'?