Getting a Freddie Mercury biopic to the big screen has been a decades-long struggle with Sacha Baron Cohen orginally slated to play the Queen frontman, but Mr. Robot’s Rami Malek took on the music icon in a memorable performance.
While the film won’t satisfy purists of Mercury or Queen (I am one of them who met Freddie when I was very young). Malek is the one shining light in this film. He takes on Mercury with a vengeance and truly does him justice. It’s a shame that Bryan Singer’s script (written by Anthony McCarten) suffers and isn’t worthy of a subject like Freddie Mercury. This one feels like a Lifetime sanitized version of Queen and Mercury’s life, and not the passion project it would have been in a different director’s hands. Freddie’s life was complex, but Singer doesn’t bother to delve deep enough.
I wish that a much better writer could have captured both him and Queen better. It would have been worth it to wait another year or so longer with a great script. Biopics don’t fare well on the big screen, and this is a life that deserved the Netflix mini-series treatment over what it’s given instead.
Freddie Mercury (l), Rami Malek (r)
Rami Malek says he identified with the immigrant side of Freddie Mercury while tackling the role of the legendary Queen frontman.
The first-generation American spoke about his starring role at the New York premiere of “Bohemian Rhapsody” on Tuesday. The “Mr. Robot” star connected with Mercury’s outsider passion for success.
“I set out to be an actor some, I don’t know, over a decade ago. I think something was possibly burning inside the both of us. We had aspirations to live our dream. And I’m getting a chance to do that right now in this very moment,” Malek said.
“At first it was pure shock,” he says about being offered the role. “As an actor, I don’t think there’s ever this law of depreciating excitement when things like this happen in your career, especially when you are being asked to play Freddie Mercury.
“So it’s a moment that halts you in your tracks, and it is at once euphoric and thrilling and then there’s a hit of the magnitude and of the weight you have to take on with this legendary man who lives in the hearts of so many people and is revered as being one of the most talented artists of any generation.
He adds: “You can imagine the immense weight of that. Now there’s also some ambitious part of me that gets wildly excited and starts thinking about how to begin to inhabit this unique and magnificent creature.”
While many aspects defined Mercury, including being one of the best vocalists to front a rock band, his flamboyant presence and a penchant for taking chances, Malek felt like he had to dig deeper to find the beating heart of the Tanzania-born Mercury, who arrived in London at 18.
“In some way he became the Freddie Mercury superstar that overcame every obstacle imaginable to be the guy that we all know can command the stage, and hold us in the palm of his hand like no other,” Malek said. “My family is from Egypt. I’m a first-generation American. And somehow I thought there were strings that I could tether together with him.”
“I went to Abbey Road to record everything, which was such an unforgettable moment for me,” Malek continues. “It is one of the world’s most famous recording studios, and it’s full of photographs of the legends that have recorded there. It’s incredibly inspiring.
“On my last day, when we got to go back and do a little more recording, I had a chance to play a little bit on the piano that The Beatles used, and it was unforgettable. This film has run the gamut of emotions for me, but the highs have been higher than any you could hope for.”
One of the most daunting moments for Malek was undoubtedly when he had to play two Queen legends the tape of his own Mercury impression.
“Sharing what I got to record with Brian May and Roger Taylor was quite a moment,” he admits. “I thought they had seen it before we met and half way through our conversation I realized they hadn’t.
“And so I had to watch myself, interpreting Freddie for the first time standing between two of the people who know him better than anyone. You can imagine how intimidating that was. What I knew immediately was ‘I can move like that. I can get that down.’ That was where I tried to pull all of my confidence from.
“I also knew that I could get that shyness that he had and that I could get that gregarious showman aspect to when I worked on it. It was the singing that was going to be the most challenging.
He continues: “Roger was characteristically cool and reserved, and Brian, who I had noticed had been eyeing me up and down, came out with such a compliment that I was quite moved by. I had put all of myself into preparing for this and trying to do this person justice that getting that acceptance from them was inspiring and propelling.”
The actor made sure he listened to Queen’s back catalogue to understand what made the frontman tick. He says: “I began to look through the songs that Freddie wrote and look for the themes that underlined every track, so that through the songs I could understand the man.
“My thinking was that if you are going to write something so passionately you are going to draw on some deep emotions.
“Without a doubt it’s love; the search and desperate need to find love and how that has escaped him. Here’s a man who throughout his life was constantly searching for love. Another theme is identity. I tried to build from the ground up, so I looked at his childhood. Here’s a boy who was born in Zanzibar and shipped off to St. Peter’s boarding school in Bombay at a very young age. He returns home to Zanzibar and there’s a revolution going on and his family is forced to seek refuge, almost, in England.”
Malek’s performance has more than impressed fans; it has impressed members of the band too. Current Queen lead singer Adam Lambert even feels the resemblance between the two is uncanny.
“I love the heart that he brings to the role, the sensitivity. I love that the music of this band affects people in a way. And I know it firsthand, you know, being on tour with them for the past six years,” Lambert said.
“You play one of these hit songs and just watching the audience light up and go through all their nostalgia and all of their memories that they’ve shared over this piece of music and they knew every word and they’re laughing and they’re crying and they’re dancing. That’s what you want, it really unites people. So I think the film is going to have that power as well,” Lambert said.
And Malek has also captivated guitarist Brian May, who says the actor’s performance, “suspends disbelief.”
“You believe he’s Freddie,” May said.
Mike Myers, known for head-banging to “Bohemian Rhapsody” in his own film “Wayne’s World,” has an ironic cameo playing a record executive who tries to tell the band nobody will play the song on the radio.
“I spent so hard fighting to get ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ into ‘Wayne’s World’ that I thought there was unbelievable irony, and such a crazy honor,” Myers said.
The film’s focus on Mercury’s relationship with Mary Austin (Lucy Boynton) has cause grumblings with some fans accusing the film of “bi erasure,” and Malek is very understanding of this.
“I totally understand” the criticism, says Rami Malek, who has earned raves for his spot-on portrayal of Mercury. Had “Bohemian” been a miniseries, he adds, there would have been more time to explore the rock icon’s sexuality. (The movie ends with Queen’s 1985 Live Aid performance – the same year the singer started dating Hutton, who was with Mercury until his death in 1991 at age 45.)
“Mary meant the world to Freddie and surprisingly few people are aware of the impact she had on his life,” says Malek. “They will be when they see the film. Freddie referred to Mary as the love of his life and he wrote the song Love of My Life for her.
“She was his confidante for so much of his life. She understood him in a way that no one else could or would.
“They were in a relationship for six years and were tethered together till the end of his life. He referred to her as his common-law wife, and the person he trusted the most. Without Mary, I don’t think we would have had the Freddie Mercury we know today.”’
“He had a beautiful relationship with Jim Hutton, and we had a finite period in which we wanted to tell this story,” Malek says. “Believe me: There were conversations left and right about how to incorporate more of that story into this film. It was something I pushed for, to be quite honest, as much as possible and repeatedly brought to the attention of producers and directors and everyone who would listen.
“Freddie Mercury is a gay icon, and he’s an icon for all of us,” Malek adds. “I hope people do not feel that the film does a disservice to the community, and if it were me, I would’ve loved to have incorporated more.”
Expect to see the hashtag #GoogleWalkout trending Thursday as major fallout continues after the Andy Rubin allegations. More than 1,500 employees are planning to walk out from more than 60 percent of Google’s offices at 11:10 AM in all timezones.
Hundreds of Google engineers and other workers are expected to walk off the job Thursday morning to protest the internet company’s lenient treatment of executives accused of sexual misconduct.
It is the latest expression of a backlash against men’s exploitation of female subordinates in a business, entertainment, and politics. In Silicon Valley, women also are becoming fed up with the male-dominated composition of the technology industry’s workforce — a glaring imbalance that critics say fosters unsavory behavior akin to a college fraternity house.
The Google protest, billed “Walkout For Real Change,” is unfolding a week after a New York Times story detailed allegations of sexual misconduct about the creator of its Android software, Andy Rubin. The report said Rubin received a $90 million severance package in 2014 even though Google concluded the sexual misconduct allegations against him were credible.
Rubin derided the Times story article as inaccurate and denied the allegations in a tweet.
The same story also disclosed allegations of sexual misconduct of other executives, including Richard DeVaul, a director at the same Google-affiliated lab that created far-flung projects such as self-driving cars and internet-beaming balloons. DeVaul had remained at the “X″ lab after allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced about him a few years ago, but he resigned Tuesday without severance, Google confirmed Wednesday.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai apologized for the company’s “past actions” in an email sent to employees Tuesday. “I understand the anger and disappointment that many of you feel,” Pichai wrote. “I feel it as well, and I am fully committed to making progress on an issue that has persisted for far too long in our society. and, yes, here at Google, too.”
The email didn’t mention the reported incidents involving Rubin, DeVaul or anyone else, but Pichai didn’t dispute anything in the Times story.
In an email last week, Pichai and Eileen Naughton, Google’s executive in charge of personnel issues, sought to reassure workers that the company had cracked down on sexual misconduct since Rubin’s departure four years ago.
Among other things, Pichai and Naughton disclosed that Google had fired 48 employees, including 13 senior managers, for “sexual harassment” in recent years without giving any of them severance packages.
But Thursday’s workout could signal that a significant number of the 94,000 employees working for Google and its corporate parent Alphabet Inc. remained unconvinced the company is doing enough to adhere to Alphabet’s own edict urging all employees to ”do the right thing .”
A Silicon Valley congresswoman tweeted her support of the Google walkout using the “metoo” hashtag that has become a battle cry for women fighting sexual misconduct. “Why do they think it’s OK to reward perpetrators & further violate victims?” asked Rep. Jackie Speier, who represents an affluent district where many of Google’s employees live.
Apple Gives iPads A New Screen
Apple’s new iPads will more closely resemble its latest iPhones as they ditch a home button and fingerprint sensor to make more room for the screen.
As with the latest iPhone models — the XR and XS —the new iPad Pro will use facial-recognition technology to unlock the device and to authorize app and Apple Pay purchases.
Apple also unveiled new Mac computers, including an overdue refresh of the MacBook Air laptop, now with a high-resolution screen.
Better screens come with price increases for both iPads and Macs.
Tuesday’s announcements took place at an opera house in New York, where the company emphasized its products’ ability to create music, video, and sketches. Neither the Mac nor the iPad generates as much revenue for Apple as iPhones.
Tablet sales have been declining overall, though Apple saw a 3 percent increase in iPad sales last year to nearly 44 million, commanding a 27 percent market share, according to research firm IDC. Apple has been promoting its high-end iPad Pro as ideal for artists, photographers, and other creators.
D.A. Davidson Co. analyst Tom Forte said Apple did “a nice job of rolling out next-generation devices with features customers want to sustain momentum” in iPad sales growth.
The smaller of the two new Pros will have a wider display than before when held horizontally. Its screen is 11 inches rather than 10.5 inches, measured diagonally. It starts at about $800, or $150 more than the 10.5-inch version.
For the larger, 12.9-inch model, Apple is fitting the same-size display into a smaller device — about the size of a standard sheet of paper. That starts at about $1,000, a price hike of $200.
The new iPads will have an LCD screen similar to the iPhone XR rather than the more vibrant one found in the top-of-the-line iPhone XS models. The displays on the new iPads don’t run to the edges as much as they do on iPhones.
An updated pencil, still at $99, will attach magnetically to the iPad for storage and charging.
Apple is bringing a high-resolution display to its low-end MacBook Air, something until now limited to pricier models such as the MacBook Pro products. But the starting price goes up $200 to about $1,200.
The Air also joins higher-end Pros in sporting a fingerprint sensor, something the iPad just lost.
Apple also announced an updated desktop computer, the Mac Mini, starting at about $800.
The company said both Macs will use aluminum left over from producing iPads and other products.
The new MacBook Air and iPad Pros will now use a standard, oval-shaped connector called USB-C. That means accessories using the iPad’s old Lightning port will need adapters, sold separately. The change will allow people to charge their iPhones through the iPad.
The Air also loses the slot for camera memory cards. An adapter costs $39.
Patrick Moorhead, founder of Moor Insights & Strategy, said the refreshed products are likely to please Apple fans and users.
“The company hadn’t updated the Mac Mini for years, and the MacBook Air for a while, so these are very welcome changes,” he said. But he said the new Mac features aren’t significant enough to draw many people away from Windows computers.
“Overall some nice improvements, but I don’t think these are game changers,” he said.
All the new products come out Nov. 7.
Apple also is releasing a free software update for iPhones and iPads on Tuesday with previously announced features such as group video chats on FaceTime.
Rafael Nadal couldn’t escape his injury-prone past, and just after returning from one injury to play at the Paris Masters, Rafael Nadal was forced to pull out with another one. It was a strange day as three of the top tennis stars withdrew from the tournament.
Milos Raonic was the first to go with an elbow injury. Nadal was next with an abdomen issue which led to a rather furious audience reaction booing throughout the rest of the afternoon. Marton Fucsovics was the third player to pull out.
This time it wasn’t the troublesome right knee which had sidelined him since the U.S. Open semifinals in early September, but rather an abdominal injury which just crept up on him.
Given his history of injuries, Nadal listened to advice and did not play his second-round match against Fernando Verdasco on Wednesday.
“The last few days I start to feel a little bit the abdominal, especially when I was serving,” Nadal said. “The doctor says that is recommended to not play, because if I continue the abdominal maybe can break and can be a major thing.”
This latest injury will cost him his No. 1 ranking, which goes back to longtime rival Novak Djokovic next week.
Djokovic lost his top ranking to Andy Murray at the Paris Masters two years ago.
As he then struggled to come back from a lingering elbow injury, the 31-year-old Serb’s ranking plummeted to No. 22 in May this year.
But Djokovic has completely turned his form around, winning four of the last five tournaments he has entered, including Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and most recently the Shanghai Masters. The 14-time Grand Slam champion’s brilliant comeback makes him the first player to reach No. 1 after being ranked below 20th in the same season since Marat Safin in 2000, according to the ATP Tour.
Djokovic faces Damir Dzumhur in the third round, the first time they have played each other.
For Nadal, it is the second straight year he has withdrawn from the Paris indoor tournament, and he is not sure if he will play at the season-ending ATP Finals in London, starting Nov. 11.
“I cannot answer. I just go day by day,” the 17-time Grand Slam champion said. “The most important thing for me is to be healthy, be healthy and have the chance to compete weeks in a row. Something that I was not able to do this year, playing only nine events and retiring in two.”
Nadal has dealt with off-and-on knee problems for years, and the 32-year-old Spaniard prefers to be cautious. At the U.S. Open, he retired during his match against Juan Martin del Potro. He then skipped the Asia swing to recover, missing tournaments in Beijing and Shanghai.
“It has been a tough year for me in terms of injuries, so I want to avoid drastic things,” Nadal said. “The doctor says if I want to play the tournament, I want to try to win the tournament, the abdominal with a break for sure.”
Nadal is optimistic his latest injury will pass, providing he does not rush back.
“It would not be fair to say it’s a real injury today, but what is sure, if I continue it will be a real injury,” he said. “When you come back after injuries, and you push a little bit, the body at the beginning some issues can happen.”
Lucky loser Malek Jaziri replaced Nadal and beat Verdasco 7-6 (5), 1-6, 6-3 and next faces defending champion Jack Sock.
Roger Federer also advanced to Thursday’s third round after big-serving Milos Raonic retired before their match with a right elbow injury.
Raonic injured himself during a three-set win against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Tuesday.
“In the middle of second set, I overextended my elbow and it did some kind of pain,” he said. “I went and I did an ultrasound and MRI, and they found some kind of a lesion in the tricep.”
Federer, who won his 99th career title at the Swiss Indoors last Sunday, will next face 13th-seeded Fabio Fognini. He leads the Italian 3-0 in matchups.
Sock and fourth-seeded Alexander Zverev reached round three in straight sets.
The 16th-seeded Sock won 6-3, 6-3 win against Frenchman Richard Gasquet, while Zverev advanced 6-4, 6-4 over American Francis Tiafoe.
Sixth-seeded Dominic Thiem won 6-4, 6-2 against Gilles Simon, beating the Frenchman for the eighth time in 10 meetings.
No. 7 Kevin Anderson, the Wimbledon runner-up; No. 8 John Isner, No. 9 Grigor Dimitrov, No. 10 Kei Nishikori and No. 15 Diego Schwartzman also advanced.
Isner and Nishikori are competing with No. 5 Marin Cilic and Thiem for the last two ATP finals places. Cilic faces Dimitrov on Thursday.
No. 11 Borna Coric completed second-round action with a 6-4, 6-4 win against Daniil Medvedev and next faces Thiem.
One normally loud donator for the midterm elections is being unusually quiet in 2018. The National Rifle Association (NRA) has been under much Russian scrutiny since the 2016 elections, and they are wisely keeping a low profile this election season. You can be sure they’ll more than likely pump in more quiet money the closer we get to Tuesday, but for now, they’re staying off the public’s radar. You can be sure, Robert Mueller hasn’t forgotten them during the course of his investigation though.
The NRA, long seen as a kingmaker in Republican politics, is taking a lower profile in this year’s high-stakes midterm campaign, a sign of the shifting dynamics of the gun debate as the GOP fights to maintain its grip on Congress.
The NRA has put $11 million into midterm races this year — less than half what it spent four years ago in an election that gave Republicans full control of Congress. This year’s totals are also far below the $54 million the group spent in 2016 on both the presidential and congressional races.
The shift comes as spending to support tougher gun control measures has surged. Everytown for Gun Safety, a group founded by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, pledged $30 million for this year’s election and has continued to put new money into competitive races in the final days. A political action committee formed by Gabby Giffords, the former congresswoman wounded in a shooting, is spending nearly $5 million.
It’s the first time under current campaign finance laws that the NRA might be outspent by gun control groups, though the organization often ramps up spending late in the campaign. That money won’t show up in federal financial reports until after Election Day.
It all underscores a changing political landscape on guns after a series of election year mass shootings, including the February massacre at a Parkland, Florida, high school that left 17 people dead, and Saturday’s deadly attack at a Pittsburgh synagogue.
“The politics of guns has changed,” said Jim Kessler, the senior vice president for policy at Third Way, a centrist think tank. “The groups supporting more gun safety restrictions are smarter than in the past and have more resources, both in terms of people and money, than in the past.”
With polls showing that the majority of Americans now support at least some tightening of gun laws, the issue is no longer taboo in swing districts, particularly the suburban areas that could determine which party controls the House next year. Everytown and Giffords’ group are on the air in competitive districts in Texas, Virginia, Kansas and elsewhere.
After the Pittsburgh shooting, a Bloomberg aide said Everytown bought another $700,000 in advertisements aimed at ousting Rep. Mike Coffman, a vulnerable Republican who represents a suburban Denver district — a significant sum to spend on a single House race in one week.
The group has also spent about $4 million in the Atlanta suburbs to back Democrat and gun control advocate Lucy McBath, whose son was shot and killed in 2012.
Despite the public polling, there are no guarantees that sending more pro-gun-control lawmakers to Washington would result in tougher legislation. Modest measures have repeatedly been blocked in Congress, even as Americans have grown more supportive of steps like banning assault weapons and tightening background checks.
Bloomberg, who is weighing a run for president as a Democrat in 2020, promises to keep up the pressure on lawmakers and candidates he’s backing if they end up on Capitol Hill.
“I’ve put an awful lot of my money and an awful lot of my time into this,” he said in an interview. “I’m not going to forget it. I’m not going to walk away.”
He continued: “The nice thing about the House, it may be a stupidly designed system, but if they don’t do what they said they were going to do, you get another crack at deciding to support them or somebody else two years from now.”
An NRA spokeswoman would not comment on the group’s election spending compared to organizations pushing for stricter gun laws.
Bloomberg, who is spending $120 million on the midterms, has helped pro-gun control groups level a playing field long dominated by the NRA.
The organization was riding high after the 2016 election, with a strong supporter in the White House and Republicans in charge of both the House and Senate.
But 2018 has proved to be a tumultuous year for the NRA. The group has faced boycotts from parts of corporate America in the wake of mass shootings, as well as an investigation into what federal authorities allege were covert Russian agents seeking to influence the 2016 election to benefit Trump by courting NRA officials and funneling money through the group.
Publicly, the NRA has portrayed itself as being in financial distress because of deep-pocketed liberal opposition to guns and what it calls the mainstream media “spewing toxic lies” about the group. Over the summer, the organization raised its annual dues fees from $40 to $45 — the second increase in two years.
NRA watchers dismiss the notion that the organization is in trouble and say it’s more of a ploy to energize its ardent supporters, which in turn could help bring in more donations.
“It’s in the NRA’s interests to exaggerate how much trouble it’s in,” said Robert J. Spitzer, chairman of political science at the State University of New York at Cortland and an expert on guns and the Second Amendment.
Indeed, the group’s political fundraising is up this year compared to the last midterm election. According to data provided by an NRA official, the group’s Political Victory Fund has raised more than $12 million this year compared to nearly $11 million at this same point in the 2014 midterms.
While the NRA is not pumping the same levels of money into this year’s elections, it still has much at its disposal to try to sway campaigns: its NRATV media arm, social media and an ability to mobilize its millions of members to get them to the polls.
The NRA’s membership rolls and finances are not public, but the organization has said it has about 6 million in its ranks. Those who closely watch the group believe its membership is closer to 4 million.
Both the NRA and groups such as Everytown can also quietly influence elections with money that doesn’t have to be reported in publicly available campaign finance reports.
Donald Trump is now throwing out so many new ideas and policies daily that even MIA Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan surfaced to disqualify the president’s birthright citizenship facts. It took this to bring Ryan out in public which led the president to discount his opinion in a tweet. This was even after he tried turning the massacre in Pittsburgh into his own event.
Paul Ryan should be focusing on holding the Majority rather than giving his opinions on Birthright Citizenship, something he knows nothing about! Our new Republican Majority will work on this, Closing the Immigration Loopholes and Securing our Border!
Trump has astonished legal scholars with his claim that he can end birthright citizenship with a swipe of his pen. No, they say, he can’t.
Trump also went far off track in asserting that the U.S. is the only country that automatically grants citizenship to anyone born in the country. Many do.
His comments in an interview with “Axios on HBO”:
TRUMP: “It was always told to me that you needed a constitutional amendment. Guess what? You don’t. … Well, you can definitely do it with an act of Congress. But now they’re saying I can do it just with an executive order.”
THE FACTS: Scholars widely pan the idea that Trump could unilaterally change the rules on who is a citizen. It’s highly questionable whether an act of Congress could do it, either, though it is conceivable that legislators could change the rules regarding children born in the U.S. of parents who are in the country illegally.
Peter Schuck is perhaps the most prominent advocate of the idea that birthright citizenship is not conveyed by the Constitution to children of parents who are living illegally in the U.S. Even he says “Trump clearly cannot act by” executive order.
“I feel confident that no competent lawyer would advise him otherwise,” he said by email Tuesday. “This is just pre-election politics and misrepresentation and should be sharply criticized as such.”
Schuck, of Yale, and colleague Rogers Smith of the University of Pennsylvania have argued since the mid-1980s that Congress can set the rules for providing citizenship to U.S.-born children of parents who came illegally.
But most scholars on the left and right share the view that it would take a constitutional amendment to deny automatic citizenship to children born in the U.S. to parents who are in the country illegally.
James Ho, a conservative Trump-appointed federal appeals court judge, wrote in the Green Bag legal journal in 2006 that birthright citizenship “is protected no less for children of undocumented persons than for descendants of Mayflower passengers.”
Stephen Yale-Loehr, a Cornell University immigration expert, said the case against Trump’s authority is “not open and shut, but the better view is it would require a constitutional amendment.”
The Constitution’s citizenship clause was part of the post-Civil War amendments that enshrined the rights of African-Americans. The citizenship clause, in particular, was intended to overturn the Supreme Court’s notorious Dred Scott decision of 1857 that held African-Americans were not citizens.
The Supreme Court has never ruled squarely about the clause’s application to children of immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally. Trump did not make a distinction between legal and illegal status in his remarks. An 1898 Supreme Court decision held that the U.S.-born son of legal Chinese immigrants was a citizen under the 14th Amendment; a footnote in a 1982 decision suggests there should be no difference for children of foreign-born parents whether they are in the U.S. legally or illegally.
TRUMP: “We’re the only country in the world where a person comes in, has a baby and the baby is essentially a citizen of the United States for 85 years with all of those benefits. It’s ridiculous. It’s ridiculous. And it has to end.”
THE FACTS: That’s flat-out wrong.
The U.S. is among about 30 countries where birthright citizenship — the principle of jus soli or “right of the soil” — is applied, according to the World Atlas and other sources. Most are in the Americas. Canada and Mexico are among them. Most other countries confer citizenship based on that of at least one parent — jus sanguinis, or “right of blood” — or have a modified form of birthright citizenship that may restrict automatic citizenship to children of parents who are on their territory legally.
More broadly, Trump’s view that U.S.-born children of foreigners live a lifetime of taking “all those benefits” ignores the taxes they pay, the work they do and their other contributions to society.
In a week when Donald Trump could have stepped up and increased his ratings, he chose to take to his Teleprompter to sound presidential, but then quickly cast that aside to get his rally audiences worked up. The fact that 14 pipebombs were sent out through the U.S. postal service to high ranking Democrats couldn’t get the president to state that this was an act of terrorism. He chose to blame the media instead.
In the blink of a tweet, Trump gave subtle credence to the notion that bombs mailed to Democrats were actually a ploy to hurt Republicans in the election. That flew in the face of known facts in the episode, just one example of reality being twisted in the house of mirrors otherwise known as the final stretch of the election campaign.
Here’s a closer look at the facts vs Donald Trump’s fictions for the week:
POLITICAL VIOLENCE
TRUMP: “Republicans are doing so well in early voting, and at the polls, and now this ‘Bomb’ stuff happens and the momentum greatly slows – news not talking politics. Very unfortunate, what is going on. Republicans, go out and vote!” — tweet Friday.
THE FACTS: His use of “bomb” in quotation marks lent weight to conspiracy theories that Democrats and CNN were targeted as part of a liberal plot to drum up voter anger at Trump and fellow Republicans. There’s no evidence of that. Trump’s tweet bemoaned the diversion of attention away from the campaign by news organizations that shifted priority to the attack. Given Trump’s vow that no effort would be spared to bring the perpetrator or perpetrators to justice, it’s questionable whether the president actually believed the theory he seemed to be subscribing to in the tweet.
Later Friday, police arrested a Florida man who is a fervent Trump supporter and accused him of sending more than a dozen mail bombs. Trump hailed law enforcement for acting so swiftly against “terrorizing acts” he called “despicable.”
TRUMP, on the discovery of pipe bombs targeting prominent Democratic politicians and CNN: “Those engaged in the political arena must stop treating political opponents as being morally defective.” — Wisconsin rally Wednesday.
THE FACTS: Trump specifically calls out opponents as being morally defective. He called Democrats and other opponents of Justice Brett Kavanaugh “very evil people.” He has routinely described Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters as “low IQ.” She was among those targeted by pipe bombs in the mail, as was CNN, prime among the news organizations he calls “fake” and an “enemy of the people” in his stump speech.
For much of his political career, Trump has often embraced deeply personal attacks against his opponents. During the 2016 campaign, for instance, he repeatedly encouraged supporters to physically attack liberal protesters, offering to pay for their legal bills.
His recent rhetoric has sometimes turned darker.
“The Democrats are willing to do anything, to hurt anyone, to get the power they so desperately crave,” Trump declared at a Minnesota rally this month. “They want to destroy.”
He also praised a Republican congressman from Montana for body slamming a reporter.
TAX CUTS
TRUMP: “We’re going to be putting in a 10 percent tax cut for middle-income families. It’s going to be put in next week, 10 percent tax cut. Kevin Brady is working on it. We’ve been working on it for a few months, a 10 percent brand-new — and that is in addition to the big tax cuts that you’ve already gotten. But this one is for middle income.” — Texas rally Monday.
TRUMP: “We’re putting in a resolution some time in the next week and a half to two weeks (and) we’re giving a middle-income tax reduction of about 10 percent.” — remarks Monday at White House.
THE FACTS: A reality check is in order.
His suggestion that he can soon secure a tax cut for middle-class families is highly questionable. Congress is out of session as lawmakers campaign for the Nov. 6 midterm elections. When pressed about when a bill can be approved, Trump insisted that “we’ll do the vote after the election.”
But he’s making a big assumption that Congress can act in a lame-duck session this year or that Republicans will keep control of the House and Senate next year.
Addressing reporters on Wednesday, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch said it was “highly unlikely” the Senate would vote on Trump’s tax cut plan after the election. When asked if it could pass, he said: “I’ve seen miracles happen before.”
Coming so close to critical elections, the tax proposal appeared to be more a tacit acknowledgement by the Trump administration that the $1.5 trillion package of tax cuts passed last year failed to deliver the political traction that Republicans had hoped for. So he’s dangling the prospect for more.
TRUMP: “We’ve saved your family farms, ranches and small businesses from the estate tax, also known as the death tax. …There’s no tax. …That was in our tax cuts.” — Texas rally Monday.
THE FACTS: There is so an estate tax. The Republican-controlled Congress did not eliminate the estate tax as part of its 2017 law. Rather, it increased the tax exemption — temporarily — so fewer people will be subject to those taxes. There also wasn’t much that Trump “saved” since very few farms or small businesses were subject to an estate tax even before the 2017 law.
Previously, any assets from estates valued at more than $5.49 million, or nearly $11 million for couples, were subject to the estate tax in 2017. The new law doubled that minimum for 2018 to $11.2 million, or $22.4 million for couples. Those increased minimums will expire at the end of 2025.
According to an analysis by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, only about 50 small farms and closely held businesses were subject to the estate tax in 2017. Those estates represent about 1 percent of all taxable estate tax returns.
VOTER FRAUD
TRUMP: “All levels of government and Law Enforcement are watching carefully for VOTER FRAUD, including during EARLY VOTING. Cheat at your own peril. Violators will be subject to maximum penalties, both civil and criminal!” — tweet Oct. 20.
TRUMP: “The illegals — and by the way, I hate to tell you, you go to California, you go — they vote anyway. They vote anyway. And they’re not supposed to. …Voter ID, folks. Voter ID. Voter ID.” — Texas rally Monday.
THE FACTS: He’s exaggerating the extent of voting fraud.
The actual number of fraud cases is very small, and the type that voter IDs are designed to prevent — voter impersonation at the ballot box — is virtually nonexistent.
In court cases that have invalidated some ID laws as having discriminatory effects, election officials could barely cite a case in which a person was charged with in-person voting fraud.
Democrats have opposed voter-ID laws as unnecessarily restricting access for nonwhites and young people, who tend to vote Democratic. Republicans accuse Democrats of wanting noncitizens to be able to vote in U.S. elections.
Trump often asserts that voter fraud is a significant issue, but has not provided evidence of consequential fraud.
After the 2016 election, Trump convened a commission to investigate potential voting fraud, after alleging repeatedly and without evidence that fraud cost him the popular vote. Trump won the Electoral College.
But he disbanded the panel in January, blaming the decision on more than a dozen states that refused to comply with the commission’s demand for reams of personal voter data.
PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS
TRUMP: “Republicans will totally protect people with Pre-Existing Conditions, Democrats will not! Vote Republican.” — tweet Wednesday.
THE FACTS: He’s not “totally” protecting health coverage for patients with pre-existing medical conditions. In fact, his Justice Department is arguing in court that those protections in the Obama-era health law should fall. And the short-term health plans Trump often promotes as a bargain alternative offer no guarantee of covering pre-existing conditions.
Government lawyers said in legal filings in June that they will no longer defend key parts of the Affordable Care Act, including provisions that guarantee access to health insurance regardless of any medical conditions. Attorney General Jeff Sessions wrote in a letter to Congress that Trump approved the legal strategy.
The decision was a rare departure from the Justice Department’s custom of defending federal laws in court. It came after Texas and other Republican-led states sued to strike down the entire law because Congress repealed a provision that people without health insurance must pay a fine.
The Trump administration said it won’t defend the provision shielding people with medical conditions from being denied coverage or charged higher premiums.
Former President Barack Obama’s health care law requires insurers to take all applicants, regardless of medical history, and patients with health problems pay the same standard premiums as healthy ones. Bills supported last year by Trump and congressional Republicans to repeal the law could have pushed up costs for people with pre-existing conditions.
JUDGES
TRUMP: “We’re after George Washington” in federal judicial appointments. — Texas rally Monday.
THE FACTS: Trump is not No. 2.
Trump has appointed 84 judges who have been confirmed. That translates to about 10 percent of the total federal judgeships at the 21-month mark in his presidency. That lags at least two other presidents in terms of both raw numbers and percentages, said Russell Wheeler, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution and expert on judicial appointments.
Wheeler, a former deputy director of the Federal Judicial Center, analyzed historical data from the center and the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. He found that Trump trails Democrats John F. Kennedy (110) and Bill Clinton (128) at comparable points in their presidencies in the number of judges seated.
Wheeler also put together a ranking based on the number of appointees in 21 months as a percentage of “authorized judgeships,” or the total seats created by Congress. Trump lags more than a dozen other presidents, including Washington, who as the first president appointed 100 percent of the federal judges. At the 21-month mark, for instance, Kennedy appointees occupied roughly 28 percent of the judicial seats then authorized by Congress, far higher than Trump’s 10 percent.
IMMIGRATION
VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE: “In the last fiscal year, we apprehended more than 10 terrorists or suspected terrorists per day at our southern border from countries that are referred to in the lexicon as other than Mexico. That means from the Middle East region.” — remarks Tuesday at a Washington Post event.
THE FACTS: He misused information from the government.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection arrested an average of 10 people a day in the 2017 budget year who were trying to enter the U.S. from countries with suspected links to terrorism, according to Pence’s office. That average applies to all points of entry, not just the southern border. And the primary points of entry for people coming from overseas are airports, not the two borders.
Pence’s office acknowledged his mistake. Pence cited the information accurately later, at an Oval Office bill signing by Trump.
THE CARAVAN
TRUMP: “Take your camera, go into the middle and search. You’re gonna find MS-13, you’re gonna find Middle Eastern, you’re going to find everything. And guess what? We’re not allowing them in our country. We want safety.” — remarks to reporters Monday.
TRUMP: “Sadly, it looks like Mexico’s Police and Military are unable to stop the Caravan heading to the Southern Border of the United States. Criminals and unknown Middle Easterners are mixed in. I have alerted Border Patrol and Military that this is a National Emergy. Must change laws!” — tweet Monday.
THE FACTS: Trump provided no evidence to support these assertions and later acknowledged “there’s no proof of anything.”
The migrants in this caravan are mostly from Honduras, where it started, as well as El Salvador and Guatemala. On the whole they are poor, carrying the belongings that fit into a knapsack and fleeing gang violence or poverty. They are roughly 1,000 miles (1,600 km) from the nearest U.S. border crossing.
Are some criminals mixed in with the throngs? That’s probably true, given the sheer number of migrants. Trump did not substantiate his claim that members of the MS-13 gang, in particular, are among them.
Some migrants clashed with Mexican police at the Mexico-Guatemala border, hurling stones and other objects as they tried to cross the international bridge. Caravan leaders said they had expelled a number of troublemakers from the procession, exhibiting some self-policing. Ultimately, most entered Guatemala — and later, Mexico — by illegally bypassing immigration checkpoints.
The caravan otherwise has been overwhelmingly peaceful, receiving applause and donated food from residents of the towns they pass.
Guatemalan officials say they detained several Syrian citizens with false documents two years ago and deported them. No evidence was made public connecting them to the Islamic State or this caravan.
This week’s Supernatural brought a divided reaction from fans – but I really enjoyed it. Writer Robert Berens kept things mostly canon-compliant, so I had fewer head scratching or WTF moments. And while the back and forth between story lines still jarred me, at least this week there were only two story lines running simultaneously instead of three. So instead of a scene by scene analysis, here are the things I loved, the things I liked, and the things that didn’t work for me in this episode for each of those storylines.
Story line number one is Sam and Dean together again and in pursuit of something that will harm Michael, and I have a lot to say about that one. Story line number two diverges after the first few minutes to follow Castiel and Jack at the bunker trying to save a hapless young woman who the hunters have rescued from a witch. (Nick is off trying to find himself or his family’s killers, so thankfully no story line number three. He apparently left a note and isn’t returning Castiel’s phone calls, which isn’t ominous at all… but that’s okay; I’m just glad we only have two stories to bounce back and forth between this week because that’s jarring enough!)
I have a lot to say about the first, so let me start with the latter. I continue to like the exploration of Cas and Jack’s relationship that this season is undertaking. Jack continues to struggle with finding his place with the hunters, so hurt after Dean dismisses that Jack decides to run away. He’s such a teenager sometimes, and I find that endearing. He packs up his little backpack and prepares to leave, writing a note out for all three of his “dads”, but then hears Cas and AU hunter Jules trying to help Laura, a young woman kidnapped by a witch and dying from an aging spell. Jack, who can be quite empathic at times, decides to stay, drawn in by the woman’s dire circumstances and his desire to console her. We’ re reminded of his innocence as he first exclaims with wonder, “She’s like Sleeping Beauty..”
Cas corrects him that she’s in fact dying, and Cas hasn’t been able to heal her. Jack puts down his backpack and sits beside Laura.
Laura: Is that your dad?
Jack: (smiling) One of them, yes.
I know that was a bit of a fan service line, but I still liked it. I like that all three of them, in their own way, have tried to be a parent to Jack, and that he knows and appreciates it.
Laura has a rather long expositional scene that tells me way more than I needed to know about the witch and what happened. When she says that the witch at first was nice to the three captive young women, telling them that they “kept her young,” I knew right away that she meant that literally. Also, anyone notice that gigantic very prominent necklace she’s wearing? She even helpfully touches it, saying the witch “gave us nice things.”
Helloooooo guys, I think that’s a hint…
Jack: Don’t worry, Cas is gonna fix this.
Cas: (looks worried)
Poor Cas doesn’t have a very good track record of fixing things this season, though he clearly is trying his best. Once again, third episode in a row, I feel bad for the guy. Cas and Jules chant over a bowl of ingredients (with a little phone advice from Rowena), and there’s an explosion of purple smoke. Laura sits up and seems okay for a second, then in classic horror movie fashion, screams and dies in front of a horrified Jack.
There’s almost constant back and forth between story line one and two after this point, which makes both of them hard to stay connected to emotionally and diminishes the sense of danger in the first one substantially].
Jack is at first distraught; then he has the realization that most of us had a while ago – it’s the damn necklace! Sure enough, the witch has hers on and still looks young even though the witch killing bullet is keeping her dead. Jack yanks it off and prepares to smash it.
Castiel: Jack, are you sure?
Jack: No.
He does it anyway, after a jump back and forth from storyline one, and Laura is cured. Way to go, Jack!
Once Laura has been returned safely to her mother (something that must really be painful for Jack, who can never do that – but something he desperately wants to help others do), Castiel comes to chat with him in his room. (Jack spends an alarming amount of time just sitting on his bed or lying there staring up at the ceiling. I worry about you, Jack.)
Cas apologizes to Jack for not being there for him, saying he knows Jack is going through a lot. He goes on to say that “you made me so proud” and Jack beams. It’s a touching moment, and both Misha and Alex brought the emotional beats.
Cas: Holding your own in a fight without powers takes training and time, but you have the mind and heart of a hunter.”
It’s just what Jack needs to hear, and it’s true – Jack is learning to tap into his humanity, both his empathy and his intellect, to be helpful. Cas suggests that if Sam and Dean are okay with it, maybe the two of them can go on a hunting trip. One of the things that Castiel struggled with in the past is finding his own place in the human world, and his longing for his own kind as well – even though the rest of the angels constantly either rejected or disappointed him. I get the feeling that is part of why his relationship with Jack is important to him – Jack is, after all, part angel. He’s the only other being around that is close to who and what Cas is. Both of them share a longing to connect with others like themselves, as neither entirely fit in with the others around them. I’m really enjoying the way their relationship is playing out and what that seems to be affording both of them.
That should be a happy ending to story line number two, but this is Supernatural, so as soon as we get lulled into a little “aww” moment, the Show decides to break our hearts. Jack coughs, passing it off as getting a cold, and Cas goes to make him some soup (aww).
Then we see that Jack isn’t getting a cold at all – his trashcan is full of bloodied tissues. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Jack has clearly learned from the Winchesters that when something is wrong, you hide it. Let’s hope Cas and Sam and Dean are smart enough to figure it out anyway!
My biggest complaint with story line number two is that there was too much back and forth between it and storyline number one, but that’s a complaint I constantly have about this show now. Early seasons were much less jumpy and tended to follow just one story line in an episode, and I will miss that forever. Taken on its own, however, (and with minor quibbles about the obviousness of the necklace) this one mostly worked,
And for me? So did the vast majority of storyline number two.
The episode begins with Sam and Dean together again and back home in the bunker. Dean is still half dressed in Michael’s clothes, which is way hotter than it probably should be, and Sam is still sporting his very hot grief beard. In fact, that’s what they’re bickering about.
Dean: I mean, I can’t eat, I can’t sleep…it’s always just there, watching…
Sam: (exasperated but fond) It’s just a beard, Dean.
Sam protests that he’s been kinda busy, and Dean pronounces that no excuse.
Dean: Duck Dynasty called, they want it all back.
Sam protests, with an adorable smirk, that some people say he looks good.
Dean: No Sam, no people say that.
I saw this scene as the sneak preview and probably watched it fifty times. I had missed Dean so much, and missed Sam AND Dean so much, that finally getting a real brother moment felt incredibly good – cathartic almost. I missed them, okay? It felt so right to have them back, communicating all the things they can’t say to each other through their brotherly ribbing.
Sam (what he’s really saying): It was too hard when you were gone, I didn’t care about anything but getting you back.
Dean (what he’s really saying): I’m back now Sam, you can go back to being yourself, I got your back.
Of course, they say all this with jabs and insults, but if you look at their faces, there’s so much affection there. And in Sam’s case, tremendous relief that his brother is back to try to make him miserable!
Thank you, Robert Berens, for this scene. I definitely want to know how much of that dialogue was embellished by Jared and Jensen too.
The scene was also brilliant because it tells us everything we need to know about the brothers – that they’re back to being Sam and Dean. It reassures us, the viewers, that the universe is back to how it should be. And for the first time this season, for me, it feels like Supernatural.
Sam and Dean also have a familiar conversation – or maybe I should say non-conversation.
Dean: I’m okay…
Sam: You didn’t talk a lot on the trip here…
Dean insists he doesn’t remember what happened from the second he said yes until the moment Michael left. This is the one canon question that bothered me in this episode – that was Dean who killed Lucifer, not Michael, so he should remember that, right? He should remember up until the moment that Michael wrenched back control, after Dean yelled out “We had a deal!”
I’ll handwave it as Dean still trying to convince Sam he’s okay and thus getting it slightly wrong, but hmm.
Dean: It’s good to be…. (looks around at like 50 people in their library)… Home?
I loved that line, because it echoes what a lot of us are feeling about the bunker these days too. There are too damn many people milling about. Instead of their home, it feels like tactical headquarters or a war room, and while I realize the bunker was built to be a residence for a lot of people, up until now it has been Sam and Dean and sometimes Castiel and Jack. Dean is none too happy about having a ton of people invading their home, and neither am I.
Dean is even less happy when he reassures one of the strangers that he’s no longer Michael and the man responds, “Right, Chief told us. Welcome home.”
Dean whips his head around to stare at Sam.
Dean: “Chief??”
Sam shrugs. “I asked them not to call me that…”
It’s a small moment, but it brings up a dynamic that makes sense to me. I thoroughly enjoyed Sam stepping up to the plate and being a kickass leader the past two episodes, but it was always going to be an adjustment when Dean returned. He’s used to being the leader, and now Sam is too – and that is bound to cause some friction. I’m not sure yet whether I’m looking forward to that or dreading it. I just got the brothers back together; I don’t think I want them seriously not getting along, Show!
Jack joins them, approaching Dean with a hopeful expression.
Jack: Dean?
Dean: (affectionately) Hey, kid.
Cas joins them, almost stunned speechless with relief to see Dean standing there.
Jack steps forward and hugs Dean, and Cas apologizes for not being able to go on the rescue mission.
Dean: Sam told me, ain’t no thing.
Dean-speak for I get it, and it’s okay, no apology needed.
Almost as soon as they’ve welcomed him back, though, Dean retreats, saying he needs a shower – and reassuring Sam once again that he’s “okay.” Castiel questions Sam about how he really is, but Sam just shakes his head, saying he doesn’t know.
I also had a moment here of feeling a weird clash between the touching scene of Jack welcoming Dean back with a hug and last week when he argued with Cas that they might have to kill Dean rather coldly. Not sure if Berens read that scene (and of course he hadn’t seen how it would play), but it jarred me watching.
Dean’s quick retreat, on the other hand, rang very true to me – whether he’s willing to talk about it or not, Dean has been through a trauma. His body was used without his permission for what he must know are horrible things even if he can’t remember. And like anyone who feels used and dirtied, he wants to rip off those clothes that belonged to his assaulter.
Back in his room, Dean rips Michael’s vest and shirt off with disgust, throwing them to the floor. That whole scene rang so true and felt so authentic – kudos to Ackles, Berens, the director or all of the above. And forgive me for admiring Jensen in a white tee shirt at such a moment.
He faces himself in the mirror and notices something he hadn’t before – a prominent scar on his shoulder. And forgive me again…
Thrown off by the scar and angry, I think, at the reminder of his possession, Dean insists that Cas get in his head and figure out what happened. Both Cas and Sam are reluctant, not sure if Dean’s ready to remember, but Dean doggedly insists.
Dean: Get in there and do the Vulcan mind meld thing…. I can handle it, come on, hit me.
I’m not sure the words are a coincidence. In some sense, I think that’s Dean’s guilt that he’s frantically trying not to look at. He welcomes this invasion as an almost penance for allowing the other. As flashbacks start to come, we see a dark hooded figure with a lance stab Michael and injure him.
Me: Kaia????!
I knew that Yadi Guevara-Prip would be back this season, so it was pretty clear that was her, but it was still a moment of surprise that I enjoyed.
The boys call Jody Mills, who’s texting with an offscreen Claire. She picks up the phone with all the urgency that you would expect, because Kim Rhodes is a great actor, demanding “Sam, any news?”
The relief on Jody’s face at hearing Dean’s voice, and the soft expression on Dean’s when he hears hers, was heartwarming.
Rhodes is capable of that same sort of nuanced acting with your face that the other actors are, and it makes such a difference. They tell her that the thing that killed Kaia might be here and Dean describes his scar.
Jody: Like you got stabbed with a giant meat fork?
Dean: Yeah, how did you know?
The cases converge (is Kaia’s double near Jody Mills for a reason??), and Team Free Will starts packing up to head there. Jack wants to come, but the three try to discourage him. Cas and Sam do that rather gently, then Dean jumps in and snaps at him.
Dean: Look at you, you’re barely 100 pounds soaking wet!
Jack looks devastated and then stalks off.
Dean: Wait…Jack… I didn’t mean to be….a dick…
At least he recognizes it. Dean is clearly a man on a mission, and not letting anything get in his way. Even if that makes him (temporarily) a dick.
Cas stays behind to help Jules and the injured Laura, thinking he can cure her given a bit of time. Sam doesn’t like this idea very much, but Dean rolls right over him.
Dean: Cas can handle this, let’s go!
And go they do. Dean pushes the Impala to 80, speeding along looking frighteningly driven.
Sam: Dean, we still have no idea why Michael let you go…something huge happened, and you won’t talk about it!
Dean: I’m literally going 80, how can I be running from something when I’m racing toward it?
Sam, however, is not fooled. He knows his brother better than anyone.
Sam: I don’t know, that’s kinda your thing…
Dean: Okay…
Sam isn’t put off by Dean’s annoyance. He opens up and tells Dean that although Dean doesn’t remember all those weeks, Sam does.
Sam: For me, you were gone, for weeks. I didn’t know if you were alive… I just need you to talk to me. Slow down so I can catch up.
I loved this scene so much, loved Sam’s emotional plea, loved Berens’ dialogue and love love loved Jared’s delivery. It’s similar to when Sam was possessed and terribly traumatized, but Dean was traumatized by that too. Not knowing if the other is okay, dead or alive, tortured or despairing – that’s the worst kind of pain. And Sam doesn’t hide it, like Winchesters so often do. He shares not only his concern for his brother, but his own pain as well.
Dean: (stoic) Call Jody, let her know we’re almost there.
Oh Dean. I love you so much, but you can be such a stubborn ass. At this point in the live watch, I think I tweeted “Talk to your brother, Dean Winchester!”
Someone tweeted back: 14 seasons of Supernatural.
Sam is endlessly patient with Dean in this episode, because he of all people knows exactly what it’s like to be possessed. To not know what you did during the time someone else had control of your body. To be wracked with guilt about it and want desperately to know and yet fear what that knowing will do to you. He gets it, more than anyone else.
They meet up with Jody, which means a nice reunion scene. I can always feel the genuine affection that the Winchesters have for Jody and that she has for them, because all the actors are so good at showing it. Jody’s face when she sees Dean, so fond.
And her appreciation of Sam’s beard, like she instinctively knows he needs to hear it. (I loved Sam’s little gloating glance toward his brother when she said that, and Dean’s exasperated almost-eyeroll. It’s the little things, and every single time Sam and Dean are onscreen together, they make this show the special thing it is).
Berens again remembers the show’s own canon, which these days I’m always very grateful for. Sam gets to show off his continuing serial killer obsession, knowing exactly who the last serial killer was around those parts much to Jody’s surprise. Sam suggests they wait until daybreak to go after whoever killed the headless people Jody found, but Dean once again insists they get started right effing now. He stalks off; Sam huffs and follows, Jody along with him. When Dean suggests they split up, Sam finally puts his foot down, saying it’s too dangerous.
Jody: If I get a vote, I’m Team Sam, stick together.
Dean reluctantly agrees, but he’s not happy about it. He once again stalks off ahead, and soon encounters a trio of decapitated heads on sticks. Ewww. Dean, not as put off as me obviously, walks right up and examines their teeth. Again, ewww.
They turn out to be vampires, though Jody reiterates to Sam that the rest of them (the bodies) didn’t react to silver or dead man’s blood. So not your ordinary vamps, then.
Soon enough, they encounter Dark Kaia, who knocks them down and then vaults over a thicket to run away. Impressive!
Sam gets to be the clear thinking Winchester in this episode, because Dean is half out of his mind bent on getting his revenge on Michael. He points out that Dark Kaia’s face was bruised, and theorizes that it’s from a fight with Michael, who sent the super strong vamps to get her weapon – one of the only things that can actually hurt him. Love me some smart Sammy!
This is hard for Dean to hear; he’s still trying to not think about all the things that Michael has done. He stalks off; Sam huffs again and he and Jody follow.
There are some lovely but oddly long scenes of the threesome walking through the beautiful Vancouver woods. Jody fills them in on Claire and why she’s avoiding telling Claire what’s happened – Claire’s been doing good, but anything to do with Kaia and she’s a powder keg.
“First love strikes quick,” Jody says, “And to lose it like that…” Sam nods knowingly. Most of the fandom also nods knowingly, since many fans anticipated that Claire and Kaia would have been an item if Kaia had lived (and Wayward Sisters had been picked up).
Jody also has an observation about the state of the Winchesters’ relationship.
Jody: Wow, you two are having a time of it.
Sam: He’s…working something out. Alone. One thing I know, he’s not ready for this case.
Jody: But maybe he needs it.
Jody is so wise. Both she and Sam are right, of course.
They catch up to Dark Kaia at a cabin where she’s scavenging (she must have found some great shampoo and conditioner on one of her scavenging trips…). Dean surprises her and surprises ME by punching her in the face and knocking her out. Ouch!
Sam and Jody look a little stunned, and it stunned me a bit too. It’s never very comfortable to see a grown man punch a seemingly young woman in the face, even when you know that this is a television show and Dark Kaia is a powerful entity and not a human girl (I guess?) Dean looks absolutely murderous in close-up though, so the scene also seems to be commenting on his mental state and his willingness to do whatever it takes to get Michael. A Dean who looks like that is a scary Dean indeed.
A tied up Kaia remains defiant, and I enjoy Yadi’s performance as much as I did in her other episodes last season. She sells the cocky attitude while also showing us hints of vulnerability that we don’t yet understand. We learn that she didn’t mean to kill Kaia.
Dark Kaia: I was trying to kill the blonde.
Jody’s face when she says that she was trying to kill Claire is an expression every mom can relate to.
The confrontation between Dean and Dark Kaia was so tense it was almost nail biting. Dean feels like a powder keg with a hair trigger, and Dark Kaia is perfectly willing to provoke him.
Dark Kaia: I know you’re not Michael. You’re much weaker.
Oh dear, that’s not the way to calm Dean Winchester down.
Kaia stands her ground, saying she’s not afraid of him – she’s afraid of them, the monsters Michael keeps sending after her.
Jody wisely points out that they should get out of there, but Dean isn’t having it.
Dean: (looking a disturbing combination of unhinged and really hot): No, we need to break her, right now!
Sam: (looking concerned about his brother’s sanity) Break her?
But Dark Kaia gets it. He wants her weapon, and will do anything to get it. I don’t know if we’re seeing some residue of Michael’s violence in Dean from his possession (similar to what we’re maybe seeing in Nick) or if this is just Dean being driven by guilt and vengeance and rage.
Dean corroborates what she’s saying, shoving her chair across the room to slam against the wall and demanding, “Where is it??”
[During this extremely tense scene, the show repeatedly cut back and forth to this and the similarly tense scene of Jack and Cas trying to save Laura – much to my great aggravation. For godsakes, Show, you’re sabotaging your own plot lines here!]
As Dean leans in menacingly and I hold my breath, Dark Kaia smirks.
Dark Kaia: You’re no different from him. Threats, violence, anything to get what you want.
Dean: I’m nothing like him!
Dark Kaia: Yeah you are. You always have been.
[Annoying cut to other story line to ruin the tension]
Dark Kaia: I saw what you did to her.
Me: OMG are they really remembering that moment??? What is this canon reference??? I was so happy to see this revisited, because Dean’s behavior in that scene has always bothered me.
Dark Kaia: When you got angry, you shoved your gun in her face…
The memory of what he did seems to finally break the dark spell Dean’s under. His face softens and he backs up a little bit.
Dean: How do you know about that?
Sam, the smart one in this episode: You’re a dreamwalker too.
Kaia confirms this, and then faces Dean again.
Dark Kaia: I know where it comes from, your anger, your impatience. You’re scared. And you’re weak.
Dean: (clearly rattled) Shut up!
Dark Kaia: Michael hurt you. He hurt me too.
And we get one of those flashbacks of Michael that we’ve been told were coming, a way to keep the Michael story going and also have Dean back – which is a compromise that I personally am fine with. Michael and Dark Kaia fight, which is so beautifully choreographed and enacted, it looks like half battle half ballet. Ackles not only speaks differently as Michael, he moves differently – he’s all grace and arrogance. You can see it even in the way he fights. And that’s pretty amazing.
On twitter, fight coordinator Rob Hayter confirmed that it was purposeful, having Michael fight differently than Dean.
Rob: Dean and Michael are so different – physically and in terms of their status. It was important that we incorporate those essential character differences into the action. Otherwise, it doesn’t read that Michael is inhabiting Dean’s body.
That right there? Is one of the reasons I love this show!
Dean remembers the moment when Michael was taken down and stabbed.
Sam, the smart voice of reason in this episode, finally states the obvious: We should get out of here.
Too late, here come those monsters Dark Kaia was talking about!
Every episode of Season 14 so far has had a major fight scene, and this one has another – the souped up vamps pretty much beat the crap out of the Winchesters and Jody, painfully breaking her arm in the process. (Rhodes played that so realistically that I gasped and grabbed my own arm when she screamed). As Dean is pinned to the floor, his arm with his gun held down, he points his gun at Kaia, still bound in the chair. For a second, I thought he was going to kill her, but instead, he shoots out one leg of her chair, knocking her over and letting her get free.
Dean smirks up at the vamp.
Dean: Now you’re in trouble…
Dark Kaia leaps out the window.
Dean: Or not…
Just when you might think all is lost (if you didn’t think Dark Kaia was coming back, which I did), that lethal spear comes through the window and kills one of the vamps, closely followed by Dark Kaia, who spins around and decapitates the other two as graceful as can be.
I relish the Winchesters and Jody’s hunting and fighting prowess, so sometimes I don’t find it believable when they’re bested, but in this case Kaia isn’t human, and her weapon is powerful enough to harm an Archangel, so I had no trouble not only believing this but jumping up from the couch and screaming about the badassery of it.
Jody: You saved us. You didn’t have to.
Dark Kaia insists she came back to kill the monsters who were after her. Sam reminds her that as long as she has that weapon, she’ll be a target, but she leaves anyway. Dean looks heartbreakingly defeated as she goes.
Jody looks defeated too, as she heads home. Berens, the writer of the Wayward Sisters episodes and the possible spinoff, gives Rhodes some lines here that seemed designed to give the actress some closure.
Jody: I feel like I lost before I even got a chance to get started…
That’s how fans who were very much hoping for Wayward Sisters felt when the pilot didn’t get picked up. And Rhodes, who would have starred in the spinoff, lets us see all that crushing disappointment, so vividly that it made my heart clench.
Jody heads home to explain to the girls, and Sam and Dean climb into the Impala, which is how every episode should end. And here we get an honest to god broment in the car! Thank you, Mr. Berens!
The Winchesters have always had their best heart to hearts in Baby, the need to watch where he’s driving a welcome excuse for Dean to keep staring straight ahead as he finally opens up to his brother.
Dean: I put us all in danger today. Stupid danger. You were right. I didn’t want to look at it, what Michael used me for.
Caps kayb625Sam looks so sad immediately, because he knows. He KNOWS.
Dean: I just wanted to race ahead, to the part where we get the bad guy, kill Michael.
Sam: Yeah, I know.
Dean: I said yes to him because I thought….
He trails off, and it’s clear he’s in pain. He knows why he did it – he did it to save Sam. To save Jack. And he doesn’t regret that part of it, he could never –but what happened after? He’s putting that all on himself. He doesn’t even finish his sentence because he doesn’t want Sam to feel any part of the responsibility.
Dean: It was stupid…I was stupid.
Sam: Dean, you did what you had to do.
With Sam’s empathy, Dean is able to go on and open up even more.
Dean: And it wasn’t a blank… I don’t remember most of what Michael did with me, because…. I was underwater, drowning, and that I remember, I remember every second of it. Fighting, clawing for air… I thought I could make it out, but I…I wasn’t strong enough. And now he’s out there hurting people. And it’s all on me, man. I said yes. It’s my fault.
Sam listens, his eyes brimming with tears, sharing his brother’s pain and understanding his guilt.
I know there are a lot of people who wanted Sam to say something – we all know, and showrunner Andrew Dabb has confirmed recently that he also remembers – that Sam has been possessed by an archangel who did horrible things with his body too. Sam, of all people, really does understand. He too said yes to save others, and he too suffered horribly because of it. He doesn’t just have sympathy for his brother; he has empathy.
I at first wanted Sam to say that out loud, but on re-watching it, I think Sam knew that he just needed to give Dean room to talk. It’s so hard for Dean – he so didn’t want to – and when he finally opens up, he just needs Sam to hear him. Admitting that he wasn’t strong enough to do something is incredibly hard for Dean Winchester, goes against everything he is. He is trusting Sam so much in this scene, trusting Sam with his deepest darkest shame and guilt and fear and sadness. That is hard for anyone, but for Dean Winchester? It’s everything he has conditioned himself not to do. I think Sam knows this, and he’s honoring the trust his brother is showing him by not even adding what Dean must surely know – I get it, I’ve been there too.
I hope that conversation will come, but maybe this was not the time. (And yes, I’m well aware that my hope may be unrealized and that will suck, but for now, I’m hanging onto it). I have loved the glimpses we got in Season 13 of Sam dealing with his Lucifer trauma – with Rowena, with confronting Lucifer. I am still hoping for more, and for Dean and Sam to have some conversation about what they have BOTH been through.
Despite the fact that I enjoyed the first two episodes of Season 14, this was the first episode that really felt like my show. I fell in love with Supernatural because I fell in love with Sam and Dean, and it doesn’t feel like my show when they are not both there. Their emotional journey is my route into the show, and what makes me care about what’s happening. I care about Castiel’s feelings and I care about Jack’s feelings, and I loved Jody being back this week, but I need Sam and Dean there to make it Supernatural. And not just for fifteen minutes out of the forty-two.
Ratings were lower this week than they’ve been in a while, and I wonder if it’s because too many people felt the loss of the core of the show in its beginning this season. I need enough Sam and Dean in every episode to make it Supernatural, and that hasn’t always happened. This is not an ensemble show – it’s not the same show when it’s following too many story lines or ten different characters and Sam and Dean become bit players. I’m sort of with Dean – too many random people in the bunker right now!
That said, I really enjoyed this episode. And I’m not at all ready for this to be the last season, so if you were on the fence after the first few episodes of Season 14, dive back in and pick it up again!
One of the scenes that really crackled in last week’s Supernatural episode was the intense power-struggle-disguised-as-flirtation scene between Michael and the beautiful but dangerous werewolf Melanie. Although it was a relatively brief scene, Andrea Drepaul managed to bring Melanie to life and make me even care about her a little (despite the fact that she was intent on eating Michael and therefore Dean Winchester!) Okay, maybe I don’t care all that much…
Andrea had shared a few enthusiastic posts about her experience on the show, so I was eager to ask her about her guest role and her take on Melanie the werewolf. But before we go there, in case you’ve forgotten (which is highly unlikely), here’s a brief reminder of the scene. Michael is dressed to the nines, charming as he offers Melanie a glass of wine.
Melanie: Mmmm, very elegant. But then, so are you.
Everyone watching at that moment: (nodding enthusiastically)
They banter, and Michael tells her that Duluth is nothing like his hometown, which is windswept and barren and oh, there are lots of dead bodies lying around.
Melanie, instead of running away like I would have in about two seconds flat, giggles.
Melanie: You’re so funny…what a nice surprise meeting you.
Not what my reaction would have been, but then again, this is Jensen Ackles in a tux.
Their banter takes on a darker tone as it goes on, Michael’s cruel streak coming through as he assures her with a hint of derision that he most certainly does know why she was in that bar alone. They each think they’re playing the other, but Michael has the upper hand – he knows she’s a werewolf, but she has no idea she’s planning to eat an Archangel. Nevertheless, nothing he says discourages her or frightens her – this is one badass werewolf.
Melanie shows her (rather substantial) teeth, and Michael picks her up by the throat like she’s nothing and tosses her across the room, coolly ordering her to summon her master.
So much for the power struggle!
I had a few questions for Andrea about her portrayal of the fearless werewolf and her experience on Supernatural.
Lynn: You were able to make Melanie a memorable character even with the short amount of time she had onscreen – it was a well written scene but you also invested her with a great deal of personality. How was the character described when you auditioned for the part?
Andrea: This scene was my audition piece. From the first moment of reading the scene I felt very connected to Melanie. The character description was very limited. I believe they do this to see what the actor will bring in the room. It made no mention she was a werewolf, or monster of any kind. The one thing that stood out for me was they had mentioned she “Seemingly had an ulterior motive.” As I dug a bit deeper, the writer mentions in the screen direction that she was sophisticated, and the location was a high end hotel. I saw right from the the get go she was a very complex woman. This scene was in fact a ruse. A tactic that Melanie was using to get what she really wanted. As a performer, I find leaning into the strength of the character is really what makes her exciting. Also because she loses in the end of the scene, I wanted her to be in control until the end. So in fact the scene becomes a dark twisted power struggle between Michael and Melanie.
Lynn: Yes, that’s exactly what came through in the scene! I loved how sassy and confident Melanie was (even if she was wrong about being the baddest monster in the room). Was your personal take on the character that she was attracted to Michael (even if she planned on eating him…)? I mean, it is Jensen Ackles we’re talking about…in a tux no less…
Andrea: Oh definitely yes! But I feel that her attraction came from feeling his power. In a sadistic type of way. Because Melanie is always in control, always in power, she relishes in a man who can hold the same power as her. Her sass and confidence comes from the fact that she believes she is stronger than humans.
Lynn: That definitely comes through, even when confronted by the likes of Michael. Melanie and Michael’s interactions were very flirtatious. Was that a fun vibe to play or is it challenging to enact that sort of vibe with another actor who you may not know very well?
Andrea: It’s a funny thing when a scene is written in a certain way. Because I would say that it reads flirtatious but I definitely didn’t feel that way when we were shooting. I was more locked into the certainty that I could have some fun and eat him too! Boy oh boy was Melanie wrong! Jensen is an incredible actor — he was very generous in his performance so I felt completely comfortable working with him. There’s definitely a salt of the earth quality he has that allows a performer to feel safe.
Lynn: I’ve heard people say that before. And there was also a dark undercurrent to the whole scene that went against that flirty giggling sort of vibe, as Michael eventually shows his power in a very physical way – and even before that, as he takes on a darker tone saying “Oh I think I know why you were in that bar alone”. It comes off as a sexual comment and a put down, though he really means he knows she’s a werewolf. Melanie is not put off by this and in fact seems to relish Michael’s dark streak – was that your take on it as well? That as a “monster”, she is amused by the dark side of what she thinks is a human?
Andrea: I love that you could see all this. It’s of great satisfaction to me as an artist when the audience really gets what’s going on. It is a very dark and twisted scene. That is my favourite moment in the scene. In Melanie’s mind she was not afraid or put off in any way but more saw it as a challenge, I had made this discovery, that for Melanie, wolfing out was a sexual experience, so I feel what you see there is in fact sexual tension combined with the threat of violence. I’ve always enjoyed playing into the darker grittier side of primal instinct. Melanie is a very sadistic character.
Lynn: Which explains why she’s such a good match for Michael! Their interaction is almost like a dance, right up until the reveal of both of their power. So switching gears to something less dark, I’ve had the pleasure of being on set several times to watch filming and I’m always struck by what a well oiled machine Supernatural is and how well everyone gets along – and how much goofing around they do sometimes! What was your experience on the set like and how does it compare to other sets and cast/crews? Any possible gag reel moments?
Andrea: This set is best described as putting on a pair of old comfy jeans and a t shirt (laughing). The entire cast and crew is very organized, friendly. A real treat to be on. The people are so lovely. Right down to the makeup and hair team (shout out to Kara! who took such good care of my hair) The jokes and gags don’t stop on this set. Lots of foolishness happening – it is hard to figure out how they get everything done! It’s a dream set. No egos. Just people who do their jobs phenomenally well and have fun at the same time. I count myself fortunate to have always worked on great sets. But I do feel this set has set a new standard in my mind. It’s like the golden goose of sets!!!
Lynn: I love that, and I’ve heard that sentiment from many other guest actors too. It really is something special. Any other behind the scenes tidbits you can share? I feel like you and Jensen must have had some jokes about those protruding teeth…
Andrea: THE TEETH!!! My goodness, those teeth! I mean Jensen had a field day. He would start telling jokes just so that I would laugh and my teeth would fall out or I would begin drooling! Yes, lots of drooling ensued!!!! They had a cup on standby so that I could spit them out. I felt like I was wearing dentures!!
Source: Andrea Drepaul Twitter
Lynn: Oh I really hope some of that ends up on the gag reel! And speaking of those teeth, how long did it take to get them on? And how awkward was it to maneuver with those long werewolf claws on?
Andrea: They actually were loosely put in, so I could just spit them out after a shot. And the claws really only became an issue when I had to go to the restroom – how do you get your pants up or down??? ( laughing)
Lynn: Seriously, I wouldn’t want to find out! This episode was directed by Richard Speight, Jr. I’ve known Richard for over a decade – I remember when he first told me about his aspirations to direct, a long long time ago, so I’m beyond thrilled for his directorial success. What was it like being directed by him in this episode? Can you share any notes he gave you about this scene and portraying Melanie?
Andrea: Richard is amazing! A dream to work with. Right from the moment I met him in the audition we hit it off. He’s a real actor’s director. And it’s because he really understands actors and the characters’ motivation. To be honest, he really didn’t have too many notes for me, we played around with a different choice off the top of the scene. But he really loved the sardonic tone.
With talented and intrepid stunt performer @RorTio – Tweet @AndreaDrepaul
Lynn: It definitely worked, so well. What other projects are coming up for you or should we be on the lookout for?
Andrea: There is something coming down the pipeline, but I can’t say what it is. I will keep ya’ll posted. That will happen around end of November.
Lynn: I’ll keep a lookout. Switching topics for a minute, I saw one of your tweets commenting on the importance of talking about being mixed race. I recently wrote a book with the Supernatural actors, Family Don’t End With Blood, in which they share their personal stories of how being on the show and the fandom have impacted them greatly. I’m currently working on another book about women in Supernatural (and the importance of representation from the perspective of fans who identify with characters and from the actors playing those characters) so I’d love to hear more of your thoughts. Hmmm…maybe you want to write a chapter…
Andrea: Ohhh gosh, get me the kleenex box. Where do I begin…. I think to really understand what it means to me to be included and have a place in Television goes all the way back to my childhood. I was bullied and tormented by the kids in my hometown for being and looking different. Racism was very prevalent in my town. So inherently I felt a real strong need and desire to be accepted. The first time I saw a woman on tv that looked like me was a very defining moment in my life. It made me feel like I could do it too, and that I was somehow validated as a human being. That I could have a place to belong. I am mixed race, but also not easily identifiable. For a long time this really haunted me with my career. The whole inclusivity movement has really shifted and now the industry is widening their nets to having ALL races included. If I may speak to this a little more in depth I would want women and little girls to know that every time I work and am cast in a role, part of me is so deeply humbled, grateful and honoured to know that someone can watch me on tv and say “Hey that girl looks like me!” There is no greater joy for me than knowing I get to be part of someone’s journey to feel accepted as they are and that they have a unique place on this planet, that they belong. OKKKK I made it through without crying… YAY!
Lynn: But now I’m emotional too…. Tissues all around! Thank you so much for your thoughtful answers – and welcome to the SPNFamily! And for all your SPNFamily members, you can keep up with Andrea at @AndreaDrepaul.
We were late this week with Lynn’s Supernatural review recap thesis due to a family tragedy, but here it is just in time for tonight’s ‘The Scar’ episode.
After a season premiere that kicked up conflicting emotions for me, the second episode of Season 14 of Supernatural was a different kind of episode – but once again, it kicked up some conflicting emotions. I had a lot of anticipation for this one because I enjoy Richard Speight’s directing and always look forward to hearing his thoughtful take on how he brought a script to life. On the other hand, my track record with enjoying the episodes from these particular writers is spotty. So I guess I went into this with conflicting emotions!
Speight is proficient at juggling the back and forth story lines that Supernatural sometimes serves up, and he did an admirable job here, but I tend to get whiplash if we’re bouncing back and forth between too many stories no matter how proficient the directing is. That was the case here to some extent, though Speight managed to keep the transitions smooth enough that I didn’t feel too jarred. Because there are so many story lines going on, I’ll touch on each scene briefly here, but with the through line of what worked and what didn’t in each one.
I pay more attention to the “Then” montage than ever before these days, because it usually gives a clue to what will be foregrounded in the episode, or at the very least what they don’t trust us to remember (of course we all do) or what they think a viewer who has somehow avoided seeing Supernatural for 14 years would need to know to just step right in and pick it up (totally and completely impossible at this point, give it up, Show!) The “Then” this week features the final showdown with Lucifer and the moment of Dean’s possession, and a reminder of Jack’s trauma and his hatred of both Michael and Lucifer. With that frame set, we enter the episode through Michael and what he’s up to now – no disposable characters or case of the week for the beginning minutes.
The opening scene is visually striking and sets the tone for who Michael is and how we should feel about him. Speight likes to set up close up shots that are like works of art and emotionally evocative – this time it’s done in flashes, like there’s a thunderstorm outside, and the fact that you only get glimpses adds to the feeling of trepidation. A flash of heavy chains, broken statues, a church organ covered in cobwebs, light filtered through age-dimmed stained glass windows. A church defiled. The last close-up shot is of blood slowly dripping from the cut throat of a restrained man, leaning over a chalice that’s slowly filling as he’s drained. The musical score is full of foreboding, fear mirrored on the faces of the chained up people waiting their turn. (The slow drip of blood will be a recurring image in this episode).
It was a strong opening, and a fitting frame for Michael, still dressed impeccably and as implacable as he was last week (though he has donned an imposing leather apron because clearly he loves his nice suits staying impeccable). It makes him look like a butcher, the leather and straps both terrifying and (perhaps because this is Jensen Ackles) also an oddly sexualized image. Michael seems to pull for objectification, a fact not lost on fandom.
Caps by kayb625
Michael heals the vampire’s slit throat and adds a pinch of archangel grace to the blood.
Michael: A little of this, a little of that…
He then grabs the vampire’s head and forcefully makes him drink. When the vampire acquiesces, Michael does nothing to reduce the erotic vibe of the scene by crooning, “Yes, good boy” as the bound vampire follows his orders.
Unfortunately for the compliant vamp, no sooner has he done so than he burns out and dies, much to the other vampires’ horror.
Michael remains unemotional.
Michael: Huh. Too much that…
It’s our first glimpse of Michael having a sense of humor, albeit a twisted dark one. Ackles did flesh out the character a bit more in this episode, which at first threw me a bit. Last week he was so unemotional he was almost flat, disturbingly so. This week, he showed some humor and some other emotional notes, including pride and a sadistic enjoyment from wielding his power over others. I felt like that was consistent with Christian Keyes’ portrayal of Michael, but it was more personality than Michael showed last week.
There’s another visually effective shot of the dead vampire’s feet dragging across the floor as Michael pulls him over to a pile of other dead vampires; the camera pulls out to show just how many, with lots of impact.
Michael flips the curved blade he’s holding, cocky.
Michael: All right, who’s next?
I might have needed a cold drink at that moment. There’s something hot about the cocky expression and the facile skill with which he flips that blade. Actually the same thing happens when Ackles flips his mic onstage with equal agility, which he has a habit of doing quite often. But I digress.
Now that we know what Michael is up to, it’s back to the bunker. There are so many people in the bunker that these scenes feel frenetic to me, though once again Speight keeps the continuity intact. Mary and Bobby are noting angels’ propensity for lying when Cas walks in (though he tends to agree). Sam is researching, which I always enjoy, and he still has that grief beard of course so he looks amazing doing it. He also has a lead on Michael in Duluth, of all places, so Sam, Mary and Bobby prepare to set out immediately. (Can I say that I really appreciate that they’re giving this search for Dean some urgency for a change? Too often the characters are supposed to be frantically looking for someone and yet they waste a lot of time bantering or doing something else or simply not moving as fast as I’m quite sure they would under those circumstances!)
Sam, still in leader mode and rocking it, tells Cas he can’t come along, since Michael will sense his angelic presence (better canon compliance than last week when Cas couldn’t sense any demons in a room full of them…). Cas isn’t thrilled about having to babysit Jack and Nick, but he gets it – Jack is lost, Nick is a mess. Sam gets to show his empathic side, which I’m really glad Show keeps remembering this season, saying that it’s not Nick’s fault, he deserves a chance. Oh Sam, I love that side of you that can put others first, even when Nick looks like the guy who traumatized you so horribly.
First Cas wanders in to find Mary and Bobby dissing angels, then Jack walks in when everyone is talking about Lucifer.
Jack: Talking about my dad again?
(That’s what happens when a ton of people all live in the bunker, Show! People keep overhearing conversations!)
Jack is also okay with staying behind, mostly because he’s still beating himself up for “sucking last time”. Poor Jack, he’s so determined to do better.
Sam (cocking his gun): Let’s move.
Sam Effing Winchester? Present.
So we’ve caught up with Michael and with Sam, Cas and company. Now we jump to story arc number three, which is Nick. Speight starts out with a similar shot to last week’s, Nick still sitting in the middle of his bed staring at the wall, which seems really sad. Poor guy must really be in bad shape if all he can do is just sit there.
The composition of the shot frames him as trapped, but it also feels like there’s some foreboding there. Nick is tortured by flashbacks of what Lucifer did. Castiel, having clearly listened to Sam’s plea for pity, puts his own feelings aside and brings Nick some food.
This scene between Mark Pellegrino and Misha Collins is masterfully acted and directed. Collins lets you feel Castiel’s discomfort around Lucifer’s former vessel, and Pellegrino portrays Nick as a man who doesn’t keep his feelings bottled up and speaks his mind.
Nick: I’m not him, Castiel. You can’t even look at me…
(Side note: Fans who are wiser than me have pointed out that when Castiel looked at Lucifer, he should have seen his true form, not his vessel. It makes sense that Sam is really thrown by having to look at the same face as Lucifer had, but it doesn’t really make sense that Cas feels the same way.)
Anyway. Despite that, Misha makes Castiel’s feelings believable. It clearly is uncomfortable for him to interact with Nick, yet he gently tries to answer Nick’s anguished question of why he would have let Lucifer possess him, explaining that he was in a lot of pain because his family was murdered. In a flashback, Nick remembers his family and their horrific death, exclaiming “Ohmygod, who could do that? That was a monster – and Lucifer found me and made me a monster too!”
Nick is not one of the characters that I care about much in a show that’s too crowded with characters right now, but Mark Pellegrino did an incredible job of showing Nick’s anguish. My chest was tight just listening to his pain; Pellegrino is another actor who can allow himself to be very vulnerable in portraying grief the way it sounds in real life. It’s not pretty or sanitized; it comes out in whimpers and howls and sounds that seem inhuman but are the most human of all noises, and we all instinctively recognize them. Whatever he channeled to get to that place, the loss and grief came through loud and clear. And it hurt. Kudos to Pellegrino and to Speight for the way this scene played. Also? Ouch.
Back to Sam, Mary and Bobby, who are visiting the morgue in Duluth to examine the bodies of the people who were found dead.
Bobby asks the coroner about the ETA or the TOD of the DOA and she reacts like she has no idea what he’s talking about but seriously? Even I know what those particular acronyms mean and what he’s asking.
Minor quibble, and Sam looks amazing in his FBI suit with that grief beard, and he gets to be smart!Sam and figure out the bodies are vampires and the girl who visited them is one too. Love me some smart Sam.
Back to Cas and Jack at the bunker. There’s a beautiful shot of Jack sitting in the MoL library studying the lore on how quickly Archangel grace replenishes. Speight knows how to set up a shot to take advantage of the beauty of the MoL set, and I appreciate it. Misha and Alex Calvert hit all the right notes in this scene, as Cas tries to help Jack get past grieving over what is lost and instead focus on the future.
When Jack protests that Cas doesn’t understand (a recurring accusation in this episode), Cas protests that yes, he actually does.
Cas: Yes I do understand, a little. In the fall, I lost everything. I felt helpless, useless.
If anyone understands Jack, Castiel certainly should relate to at least some of his experience. I think both Cas and Sam have found ways to empathize with Jack’s experience, if only he could feel that.
Jack: What did you have left?
Cas: I had Sam and Dean. But I had something else extremely important – I had myself. Just the basic me.
He goes on to say that Sam and Dean weren’t born with all the expertise they have, that they’ve been at this since they were children. That it takes patience, persistence, and those are skills too. That the past is not as important as the future. It’s a beautiful little speech, and Misha makes it a heartfelt one. It rings true in the show, but it immediately evoked so much of what the fandom and the cast are all about too – it’s the show’s mantra of “Always keep fighting” that has spread right into the real world. It’s what Family Don’t End With Blood is all about and why the cast all wrote chapters in it. So those lines really got to me, maybe more than they would have otherwise.
I love Speight’s use of these beautiful close-up shots, because the actors on this show are skilled enough to say so much with their expressions; Richard uses that very effectively.
We switch again, back to Michael. In a tux. As in, Jensen in a tux. Adjusting his tie in the mirror. Close up shot of Michael adjusting his cuffs, and why should that be so hot?
I was so distracted by what Ackles looks like in a tux (and that invitation to objectify that I mentioned) that I got caught off guard by what happened next – Michael’s reflection in the mirror is suddenly not Michael, but Dean! I gasped out loud and threw my hand over my mouth, instantly overwhelmed with unexpected emotion. I realize Dean hasn’t been gone long, but I think the anticipation of Dean being gone and the intense way I missed him the entire first episode had an impact. So seeing him suddenly make an appearance made me very emotional!
Dean grits out a demand, his face contorted with both effort and anger.
Dean: GET. OUT. You…can’t…
Michael: (smashes the mirror, then nearly smiles, utterly unconcerned) Oh but I can. I own you, so hang on and enjoy the ride.
He smirks, the bastard. And the glimpse of Dean is over.
I sat there overwhelmed for at least another minute or two, rather shocked by my own emotional reaction to seeing the character I’ve been missing so much even for a short glimpse. This was a brilliant scene, the glass breaking to distort the reflection perfectly as Michael lashes out and pushes Dean down. It also worked as a call back to the Samifer mirror scene, and I love when Show remembers and celebrates its own history.
The next jump was to another Supernatural scene flowing into an advertisement for the Halloween movie, but this time it wasn’t a spoiler – it was a scene that had already aired. Better job, network!
After the commercial break, we’re back to Nick and Castiel. Once again, Pellegrino and Collins knocked it out of the park. Now that he’s remembered the tragedy of his family, Nick has tapped into not just agony but anger. He starts ranting and Cas reaches out to touch his shoulder to console him, and Nick just snaps – he extends his hand and goes to snap his fingers, as though he’s expecting that to destroy the angel. Castiel, shocked, jumps back, putting both hands up in a gesture of harmlessness. Misha let us see every bit of Castiel’s confusion and apprehension here, not knowing if he’s seeing a piece of Lucifer coming through or what just happened.
Nick, meanwhile, doesn’t seem to know he did it. Cas tries to read his mind to make sure there isn’t some of Lucifer left in Nick, but the results seem a little unclear.
Cas: Lucifer may have inflicted more damage that we expected.
Me: What does that mean?? Sounds ominous…
Back to Sam and company looking for the vampire girl who escaped Michael. They find her apartment and when she tries to escape out the window, Sam Effing Winchester kicks in the damn door and bursts in wielding his gun and damn, is it hot in here?
I’m not sure if I was supposed to feel this way, but I felt bad for the vampire girl, who says she’s never killed anyone and drinks animal blood. Bobby threatens to kill her anyway, and she pleads for her life and offers to tell them where Michael is.
Back to Michael in that tux, now entertaining a beautiful woman. The two are flirty, and we see another side of Michael we’ve never seen before. He’s charming, debonair, on the outside at least quite the gentleman.
Melanie: (grinning as Michael pours her some wine) Mmm, elegant. But then, so are you…
Speight films this with close-ups of their hands as the wine is poured, adding to the tension of the scene and evoking the almost disembodied nature of Michael’s physicality and emotionality. He’s acting, faking it, but she’s totally taken in (understandably…)
Michael says Duluth is nothing like where he’s from, windswept, barren, bodies lying around…
Melanie: (giggling and still flirty) You’re so funny, what a nice surprise meeting you.
Melanie is clearly a unique person, because if a guy calmly told me there are lots of dead bodies lying around where he’s from, I’d be out that door so fast even an archangel might not be able to catch me!
Andrea Drepaul plays Melanie with charm as she matches Michael parry for parry, mistakenly thinking she has the upper hand and is the real monster in this room. Michael insinuates that he knows exactly why she was all alone in the bar (he does), and she laughs again.
Melanie: Oh Michael, I am so not that girl.
Michael: Oh but you really are, aren’t you?
Melanie: (giggling again) You’re terrible!
She looks up at him flirtatious, puts her hands on his shoulders and leans in close, coquettish.
Michael: You have no idea.
Melanie shows her werewolf teeth, and Michael shows his true strength, letting her know that she didn’t choose him – he chose her. He effortlessly picks her up by the throat and lifts her off the ground, then unceremoniously tosses her across the room. He calmly walks over and stands above her, sipping his wine and cooly giving her an order.
Michael: Now summon your master.
I want Dean back so bad I can taste it, but I have to admit, Michael being all ordering everyone around while looking like that is pretty incendiary. Speight filmed this scene from interesting angles to evoke the power differential, and Drepaul did a great job of creating a character who you felt you knew a little bit even in the few minutes she had onscreen. (And yes, I kinda felt bad for her as she was manipulated and then tossed around like that)
Back to Cas and Nick, and another person telling Castiel that he doesn’t understand. Once again, Cas proves that he has a unique perspective – this time because he’s also an angel possessing someone, just as Lucifer was. Nick reacts to this information with shock and then with anger, which seems to be bubbling out of him almost constantly at this point. Nick has a mean streak, and it’s starting to make my blood run cold.
Cas: Yes, I do understand. Because I am occupying someone else’s body.
Nick: Occupying? A cleaned up way of saying steal.
And that’s not all he has to say. Even after Cas explains that yes, Jimmy Novak wanted this and agreed to this, and that Jimmy is now dead, Nick is unforgiving.
Nick: Castiel, you’re just a stone cold body snatcher, no different than Lucifer.
He says it with such derision, such contempt, that you can tell it hits Cas hard. Kudos to Misha for letting some of that emotion show and to Speight for directing it that way. It’s not often we get some insight into what Castiel feels about his own journey, especially since Jimmy Novak, so this was an important scene. It’s also not often that anyone confronts him or any other angel about what possession really entails or its consequences.
Cas: In all my thousands of years, what happened to Jimmy Novak and his family, it’s my greatest regret.
Ouch. And kudos.
Meanwhile, while Melanie sits silently and looking none too happy, Michael gets to meet with her master – the werewolf pack leader. This is the scene Jensen talked about, saying he was struggling a bit to figure out how to play Michael opposite an actor who was making similar choices (Ben Wilkinson), and how much Richard Speight’s direction helped him. It’s a great scene, two powerful Alpha males facing off, all genteel nice suits and expensive liquor as they parry back and forth and negotiate a nefarious (for humanity) plan.
Michael again has more personality here than he did last week, but he’s also got a coldness to him that is so un-Dean-like. Dean runs hot, all his emotions strong even when he’s not showing them. Michael runs cold, smug and self assured even as he’s negotiating with the pack leader.
The pack leader mentions God and Michael snickers.
Michael: God who? God’s on permanent vacation, gone fishin’. So I’m in charge.
I guess no Rob Benedict any time soon then? Darn.
Michael lays out a little more of his motivations in this scene, saying that he wants to work with the werewolf pack leader because he respects him – they kill but not for sport or trophy like humans. (Which actually made a lot of sense)
Michael and the pack leader share a vision of a world where those pesky humans are subjugated, good for either food or labor but not much else. The typical dystopian future power-hungry dictator scenario, in other words. Michael does make you feel like he might be able to pull it off though.
Next we’re back to Jack, who has escaped Castiel’s attempts at babysitting and gone to visit his mother’s parents, the Klines. (Do not leave your toddler with Cas, just saying – both his charges ended up escaping his watch).
Give Alex Calvert all the kudos for the touching scene of Jack meeting the only thing he has left of his mother in this world – her parents. From the moment they open the door, Jack is almost physically in anguish, his emotions are so strong.
His mother is so important to Jack, the only parent who ever conveyed love or hope to him. That makes her death before he was even born all the more tragic, and Jack clearly longs for her. It must be overwhelming to meet her parents, and to bond with them over missing her. It broke my heart that they don’t even know their daughter is dead, and Jack isn’t able to tell them.
Mrs. Kline: (awed) We have a grandson…
That they don’t know he’s sitting right in front of them is absolutely heartbreaking.
Jack relates to them the important things that Kelly taught him, including the conviction that he’s in charge of his own fate and can be who he chooses to be. He’s clinging to that now, in the midst of his struggle to figure out just who and what that is.
I’m a little surprised that the Klines were pretty much the perfect parents, because I wasn’t all that taken with Kelly, especially in the beginning. I do think she loved Jack, and that’s what came through to him, but she’s certainly different than I might have expected from these two parents.
Scene switch, back to the vampire girl. Turns out Sam and company did spare her, so phew. Michael, on the other hand, is not so forgiving. He appears in her kitchen, dapper hat back in place, and lets her know that he let her escape. It was his plan all along. And here we get a hint about Michael’s other plans.
Michael: Rule Number One, you can’t have a trap without bait. And Rule Number Two, once that trap has been sprung, you don’t need the bait anymore.
He kills her without a trace of emotion, but what’s really ominous about his words don’t come clear until the end of the episode.
Back to the bunker, and Cas confronts Jack about going AWOL on his babysitting night. Jack protests that the Klines are the only real family he has left. Castiel clearly wants to remind Jack that “family don’t end with blood”, but he’s getting a lot better at this human interaction thing, so he forces himself not to go there and to listen instead. Jack is so earnest and there’s real joy on his face when he tells Cas that they thought he looked like his mother – he’s so desperate to identify with her, with something good in one of his parents at least. Castiel responds that what he did came from a place of kindness and that there are worse ways to be human than to be kind (which sounded so very Misha it threw me out of the story for a moment, but not really in a bad way).
The end of their conversation is not so touching, however. When Jack finds out that Sam and the hunters may have found Michael, he just wants to know that they’re going to kill him.
Jack: Michael has to be stopped. Dean doesn’t matter. If he can’t be saved, Michael has to be stopped.
Castiel: (looking shocked) And if Dean dies too?
Jack: Then Dean dies.
Cas is now looking devastated, even moreso when Jack adds “Do you think he would want it any other way?”
Castiel knows the answer is no; but that has never been an answer the others can accept.
Misha and Alex again were awesome in this scene, and Richard Speight’s direction kept the emotional focus right where it needed to be. The framing of the wide shot puts Jack and Cas on opposite sides of this issue, and the use of close up shots of both their faces, with their expressions conveying so much, was really effective in making the entire conversation impactful. Sometimes I’m just in awe of the fact that we got so lucky with this cast – and with cast-turned-directors!
Finally we get to the wrap ups of the other two story arcs that have been traversing this episode. Nick visits his old neighbor Artie. At first it seems like a friendly visit, but Nick’s barely repressed rage is bubbling hot under the surface of tea and pleasantries. He becomes increasingly agitated as Artie refuses to add any additional information, claiming he at first thought he saw a man outside Nick’s house and then realized he was mistaken. Pellegrino is terrifying here, clearly on the verge of becoming unhinged. There’s an amazing shot of Nick pulling back the curtain on the window that Artie was looking out of that night, Artie framed within and every single thing about the shot so menacing, like a Hitchcock shot. We finally learn the truth about what happened that night, to our horror – whoever killed Nick’s wife and baby smashed their skulls, over and over, with a hammer.
That line plays out with all the gravity it should, and I think I had my hand over my mouth again for an entirely different reason. Nick finally snaps, choking Artie and yelling “I deserve justice!”
Cut to Sam, Bobby and Mary following the vamp girl’s directions to the now abandoned church. We get a beautiful flashlight-lit scene, and then the newly enhanced werewolves crash through the windows. The hunters soon realize that none of the usual lore is helpful, because nothing seems to stop these werewolves except decapitation.
Bobby: (deadpans) Well, that worked.
There’s a fight, and the hunters finally prevail.
Then it’s silent as they catch their breath, trying to figure out what the hell is going on and realizing just how screwed they really are.
It’s silent for a second.
Then the doors to the church slam open (Sam flinches, in a brilliant move by either Jared or Richard or both) and there stands Michael.
He walks in slowly, raises his hand like he’s going to smite them once and for all, and then he staggers and instead braces himself against a support pillar. Slowly, clearly struggling, he takes off that hat as he sinks to the floor – and I think we all knew. Sam too, I think, or at least he’s hoping beyond hope.
“Sammy, it’s me.”
Me: OMG! It’s Dean. IT’S DEAN!
Sam approaches cautiously, crouches down to where Dean has collapsed, tentatively touches his brother.
Sam: Is it really you?
Dean: Yeah, it’s really me.
And because this is Sam and Dean, Sam doesn’t ask again – he asks what’s most important.
Sam: Are you okay?
Also because they’re brothers, Dean is immediately back to being an exasperated big brother.
Dean: No, I’m not okay!
Sam points out that Dean somehow got Michael to leave, but Dean shakes his head.
Dean: No, I…I didn’t. He just left.
Sam: Why?
Dean looks up, and we can see how confused and worried he is.
Dean: I don’t know.
Sam: (gives him a look, i.e. wordless Winchester communication)
Dean: I don’t know!
Me: THAT’S MY SAM AND DEAN!!!!!!!!!!
I was relieved, yes. But I didn’t expect it to go like this! I was a wee bit spoiled for Dean most likely being back by the end of this episode, so I did believe it was Dean right away, but my twitter feed immediately started blowing up with “It’s a trick, it’s not Dean!” Just because it’s Dean, though, doesn’t mean it’s not a trick. I mean, of course it’s a trick – why else would Michael lure them all there to the church, send Dean in and then depart (or hide out in the back of Dean’s brain or whatever it is he’s doing)? Is Michael’s plan to toss a monkey wrench into Sam’s effective leadership and the smooth running machine the hunters have going by returning Dean to the mix? Will there be a shared leadership or will that cause conflict between the brothers? Will the other hunters trust him to really BE Dean? And will their mistrust be well placed if he’s some sort of sleeper agent embedded with the hunters? How smart is this Michael guy anyway??
We end with Nick, standing in Artie’s house and regarding himself in the mirror. He’s bloody, looks almost in shock. And he’s holding a hammer.
What the hell? Did he snap? Is he part Nick and part Lucifer? Or was Nick a bad guy all along and doesn’t remember that it was he who hammered his family to death? I don’t know! I honestly wasn’t expecting a Nick twist, nor am I sure I wanted one.
We end with a close up shot of the bloody hammer, another beautiful Speight shot, and the ominous horrible sound of blood dripping – from Artie’s lifeless body. It’s a fitting call back to Nick’s baby’s crib, the blood dripping down the sides and falling to the floor.
The title ‘Gods and Monsters’ becomes a clearer commentary by the time the episode ends. Michael wryly notes that God is nowhere to be found, so he’s stepping in to fill the power void. In a way, that makes God himself monstrous, to leave the universe on its own to be conquered – to leave a void that allows monsters to become gods. Lucifer, Michael, Amara, Eve, the Leviathans….there have been so many. The episode also leaves open the question of what makes a being a monster – Nick is now human, but his actions certainly make him monstrous. Jack struggles with the “monstrous” side of himself, and yet he seems more human than most non-hybrid people right about now. Dean may still have some of the monstrous in him; Sam has been in those shoes too. It will be interesting to see how that theme continues to play out this season.
So that’s where we are. This was a compelling episode, with great performances and directing. The Nick scenes were some of the strongest, but here are those mixed feelings again. I don’t watch this show for the emotional journeys of the other characters. I can appreciate how well they were done. The Nick story arc left me feeling more like I’d just watched a really well done horror movie – but not an episode of my favorite show in the history of the world. I’m sure they’ll wind this story arc back into the main one, but I never feel 100% satisfied when there are multiple stories going and I don’t get enough of the ones I care about the most. In a weird way, the Michael scenes were the same. Very well done, great performances, compelling scenes. But not entirely the show I fell in love with and crave 42 minutes of every week.
It was a satisfying episode for Cas and Jack’s story arcs, with great performances and lots of emotional insight into both characters. But there wasn’t much Sam (unlike last week) and there wasn’t much Dean. It’s a testament to how much I miss them when they’re not there that I had such a strong emotional reaction to Dean’s brief reappearance in the mirror. The last minute or so, when it was finally Sam and Dean again, were a tremendous relief, but also oddly anti-climactic. I was hoping for a dramatic nail-biting oh-so-very-satisfying Sam saves Dean, to be honest. If we can’t have that, could we not have allotted more than one minute for the big reunion and the question of where it will take our heroes now? The will-they-get-Dean-back was the big question of the start of the season, and it ended (seemingly) rather abruptly. Mary didn’t even get a chance to say a word or react at all to her own son being suddenly apparently saved. I loved Sam’s reaction but there wasn’t much time devoted to it and I definitely was left wanting MORE.
I know, I know, we’ll get it. Next episode. At least I hope we will. But there have been a few spoilery interviews recently that seem to imply that we might not get as much of the ‘Dean copes with the trauma of possession’ aftermath exploration as I was led to believe at Comic Con. I was looking forward to that as a perfect way of both having Dean back and continuing the dramatic impact of Michael’s possession. Did Michael even kill any humans while he was possessing Dean? Believe me, I’m all for Dean being back, but I was looking forward to Jensen having the opportunity to dig his teeth into some real emotional work for Dean in the aftermath, and maybe Sam continuing the emotional work he began in Season 13 dealing with his Lucifer trauma too.
Not sure where we’re going from here. Will Nick eventually be a host for Michael? If Michael isn’t the “big bad” of the season, who is? We really don’t need multiple bad guys, Show – or endless numbers of story arcs either. Just give me the show I signed up for! Meanwhile, what I care most about is what’s going to happen now that Dean is most likely that “bait” that Michael referenced earlier. And once the bait isn’t needed anymore…..
I had quibbles, but the bottom line is, I ended this episode worried. Worried for the fate of the fictional characters I care about – and that’s the best evidence of all that this show is still bringing it for me, despite those quibbles. So kudos to Richard Speight Jr. for the direction and the best cast ever for those amazing performances that keep me watching week after week.
When I was a little kid Rock the Vote was launched in 1990 by Virgin Records America Co-Chairman Jeff Ayeroff. I was only around 8 years old, but I have a cousin who is eight and a half years older than me and let me tell you, MTV was always on. I still have vague memories of the almost continuous ads, so many famous people and flags, but at that age I had no concept of why Rock the Vote was a thing.
I grew up and I learned.
I learned that MTV and Rock the Vote had partnered to get young adults, specifically those aged 18-24, college aged people, to get up, get out, and go vote.
Because they weren’t. Young adults at that time, those born in the late ’60s to the mid ‘70s just weren’t bothering to get themselves to the polls. They weren’t even bothering to register. Especially those who considered themselves to be liberal. Now I don’t know about other states, but in Texas when I turned 18 in December of 1999 I had to go in and get my “grown up” driver’s license and they asked me if I wanted to register to vote. I said, “yes,” because even at 18 I couldn’t see a reason not to, but I know people who said “no”.
Sometimes I take my upbringing for granted. I was raised by a Mexican-American mom and a Black dad. My dad has always been into politics, he votes in every single election, he votes early. He’s always informed about candidates. He takes his right to vote seriously. My mom is, to this day, a true hippie liberal. She raised me on documentaries about LGBTQ+ lives like And The Band Played On, Paris is Burning, and The Life and Times of Harvey Milk. She had me read books about the struggles of Black people like Roots, Queen, Malcolm X, and even Out of Control: Confessions of a NFL Casualty (which you may think is just a book about a football player, but it’s so much more than that).
Hell, she’s technically in the history books because she (and my aunt) were part of the fight for the union rights of the Farah Factory workers and it didn’t stop there for her. Picketing for union rights was something I was exposed to my entire childhood and adolescence.
She made me learn what other people had gone through, even though my skin is on the lighter side, even though I’m heterosexual. She made sure I knew that people before me fought for rights that I was born into.
I still think about those Rock the Vote ads. I think about people being so far removed from struggles of those before them. I think about white men who don’t realize that this country was founded because their ancestors were escaping the royal thumb of England. I think about non-white men who don’t think about those who fought to vote, because even though the Civil War was over, not every male had the same rights. I think about the fact that it’s been less than 100 years since women won the right to vote then I think of any woman of any ethnicity who simply doesn’t bother.
Voting is your legal right, but it’s also a privilege.
There wasn’t an election in 1999 when I first registered, but there was in 2000. I voted because I finally could. I voted Democrat despite living in Texas, the home of the Republican candidate. That year, Al Gore lost to George W. Bush. Well, he lost the Electoral College, he won the popular vote.
Then less than a year later the Twin Towers fell.
My experience with that can’t compare to that of some people I know. It doesn’t compare to people who were at or near Ground Zero, those who lost loved ones, those who were injured or fell ill as a result. It doesn’t compare, but I remember it. I remember my phone ringing way too early in the morning because I live in El Paso, TX, the only part of Texas in the Mountain Standard Time Zone, I remember one of my oldest friends telling me, “turn on the news, the Twin Towers have been hit,” and I remember thinking what an absurd joke to wake someone up with on their day off. I turned on the news just in time to watch the South Tower collapse.
Hurrican Karina aftermath
Four years after that, Hurricane Katrina devastated the coast from Florida to Texas, with the majority of casualties being in the New Orleans area.
I’ll never feel that George W. Bush handled these situations well, but I’m not going to get into that right now. In the simplest terms, it’s as I’ve always said: not everyone who scores a promotion is management material. That said, I can complain because I voted. The 18-24 year olds of 1990 were the 28-44 year olds of 2000, they were the 32-48 year olds of 2004. And they still weren’t voting. If you could vote in 2000 or 2004, but didn’t, yet you’re online complaining about GWB now, well, I don’t want to hear you.
Thing is, I grew up in historically blue El Paso, TX in El Paso County. We’ve only ever had one Republican House Representative in 115 years. There are times in my area where there isn’t even a Republican candidate on the ballot for many of the seats, whether it’s for judge, county commissioner or Congress.
In fact, right now Democratic El Paso Congressman Beto O’Rourke is running for senate and Veronica Escobar is poised to fill his seat and become the first Latina congresswomen from Texas and while there is a Republican opponent, most people in the city are wholly unaware of him. Literally. Most people don’t even know his name off the top of their head. If he were to win it would be a unheard of upset in the county.
Now, I could have spent this whole piece talking to you about Beto O’Rourke. I could tell you that the O’Rourke family has deep roots in El Paso and, yes, he’s always been known as Beto. I could tell you that he’s worked to ensure border security in the area and that a wall isn’t something that makes any economic sense. I could also tell you something you may not know… we actually already have a fence, have for a long time. I could tell you he supports DREAMERS, that he supports the right to bear arms, but also that background checks and restrictive exceptions should also exist, that he supports women having control over their own bodies.
2016 Democrat gun control sit in
I can tell you that in June 2016, when the GOP shut down the stream of the Democratic party gun control sit in from the U.S. House of Representatives floor, Beto O’Rourke grabbed his cellphone and continued the livestream via Facebook. He was one of only two Congressional members who did so.
Photo: https://supernaturalnardog.tumblr.com/
Texas has 254 counties, almost 100 more than the state in second place. Beto O’Rourke has spent the past year visiting each one. He’s gone viral multiple times, garnering the attention of pop culture icons like LeBron James and Elle Degeneres. (As a longtime Supernatural fan I can’t tell you the pride I felt seeing Genevieve Padalecki attend a fundraiser for him with Chris Bosh’s wife, Adrienne. Or seeing her, Jared Padalecki, and Danneel Harris sporting Beto t-shirts at this year’s Austin City Limits Music Festival.)
Ted Cruz, Beto O’Rourke
But the truth is, you probably know these fast facts or other ones that make you feel that Beto O’Rourke is a far better choice than Ted Cruz to lead Texas to its full potential. I’m not here to sell you on Beto O’Rourke. I’m not here to sell you on the candidate in your county or state that I think you should vote for. You can learn more about Beto here.
I’m here to tell you that cities such as El Paso, San Antonio, Houston, Austin, and Laredo are blue as the sky on a Texas midsummer morning. These are some of the biggest cities in the state. I’m here to tell you that your vote does matter. I’m here to tell you that change is more than attending a protest so you can post pictures on Instagram, it’s more than having a scathing tweet go viral. Local level voting matters. It arguably matters more than the big election you only bother to acknowledge every four years.
I’m here to tell you, yes you, person between the ages of 18 to 55, to vote. Early vote, absentee ballot vote, get that day of rush and vote on the 6th, but VOTE. There are no valid excuses, polls are open early and late, they’re open now, they’re open next week, they’re open on November 6th. Your first step is easy and here is the link to get your started to register or see if you are registered to vote.
LL Cool J Rock the Vote for MTV
I’m here to tell you that apathy isn’t an argument. Vote with pride because it’s a right and a privilege. Almost 30 years after Rock the Vote launched I want you understand the message that went over my 8-year-old head: it wasn’t that voting is what cool celebrities want you to do, it’s that your young adult voice has power, but only if you speak up with your vote.
Traditional television is constantly losing ground in the face of newly invented and diversifying types of entertainment. With the Internet becoming ubiquitous in every home, especially in developed countries, people gained access to video content repositories such as Youtube and on-demand entertainment platforms like Netflix or Hulu.
Among these products are also services like sling-tv, which provide the same scheduled broadcasts as available on cable TV or satellite TV with the difference that these happen over the Internet, without the need to pay for a cable TV subscription and with the possibility to watch content on a range of Internet-capable devices. Sling TV enables many users to save money and still get the same quality content. For some users, it also solves the problem of missing cable TV infrastructure in the region – one can watch Sling TV on a smartphone or tablet using mobile data.
Of course, the shift in the entertainment paradigm towards on-demand entertainment services has the potential to aggravate the problem of habits and dependency. Indeed, on a regular TV, the viewer depends on scheduled broadcasts and would eventually run into less interesting shows, which would lead to a pause. By contrast with on-demand entertainment (such as Netflix or even services that offer previous recordings of a show), it might be more complicated to resist the impulse, and one can watch entire seasons of the preferred show without interruption.
The problem is especially concerning with kids, given that they usually find it more difficult to resist temptations and are worse at projecting the short and long-term consequences of such behavior. On this site, the author overviews the transforming role that digital media had on our society, highlighting the major benefits but also some disadvantages. The greater message is that it is ultimately the final user who needs to adapt to the new reality and treat digital media more responsibly.
The Role Of VPNs For Safe Entertainment
While with services like Netflix, you would be able to access content internationally, with Sling TV, for instance, it is not possible by default given that the service is geoblocked outside the US. As a solution, residents of other countries or US citizens that reside abroad have turned to proxy servers or, more recently, to VPNs to be able to watch Sling TV. VPNs are faster and safer than a proxy and are also a comprehensive solution helping with many other aspects of online activity.
Thus, the crucial advantages that come with VPNs are as follows:
Enabling access of geo-restricted content. The way VPNs function is by establishing a direct connection between the user and a VPN server of choice located in a country of interest that the user can normally select. This is of great use not only for enabling services like Sling TV, by choosing to route your traffic through an US-located server but also for being able to access local content with services like Netflix, by choosing a server in the country you are interested in.
Hiding your online identity. Just like proxies, the VPN provider would allow you to use an IP address different from your physical IP, concealing your identity from the accessed website. However, proxy servers are known to be associated with a slow access speed (especially if overwhelmed by many users). Additionally, your identity is known to proxy servers, with all associated consequences. For instance, user data leakage events from such servers are rather frequent. Moreover, a proxy might not be able to hide either the destination or the content of your web traffic from the ISP. With VPN providers, you simply use the infrastructure provided by the ISP to establish a connection with the VPN server from which you can access the entire Internet through safely encrypted traffic. The encryption makes it incredibly hard for all other parties (ranging from your ISP to the government) to “read” the content of your traffic or the websites you access. Surely the VPN provider knows your identity and has the encryption keys, but this is a party whose business depends directly on ensuring your safety with the appropriate approaches, tools, and ethics (unlike with a simple proxy). Also, many VPN providers limit the amount of data stored about you – for instance, many providers have a no-logs policy, which means they disable automatic logging of your online activity.
Greater surfing speeds in particular situations. It is true that VPNs add layers of complexity to your Internet access through data encryption and rerouting of the traffic through the VPN server. This normally results in a slight drop in your browsing and streaming speeds (with a reliable top provider, this would be insignificant and would not affect the browsing experience). On the other hand, VPNs can allow you to bypass a severe local traffic bottleneck – by simply choosing a less accessed server from your own country; you could reroute the streaming at your will and get better access speeds (provided the speed drops do not come from your ISP). Another speed-related issue can come from the fact that, after the legislative attack on net neutrality in the US, the ISPs can choose to limit bandwidth for accessing certain websites while prioritizing others. If you’d like to avoid splitting your traffic into slower and faster lanes and would like to preserve top access speed regardless of the accessed website, then VPNs do solve this problem perfectly by encrypting the data (and hiding it from the ISP).
Choosing Your VPN Provider
Choosing a VPN provider has to come with a bit of research. One should first understand his or her primary needs from this technology– is it simply to avoid geographical constraints with streaming media or rather, to ensure maximum safety online? Virtually all providers do both, but some are better than others in the first, while others – in the second. Thus, streaming geoblocked entertainment content would be more efficient with a big number of servers distributed in as many countries of interest as possible and with protocols prioritizing speed rather than encryption depth. (Ultra-safe browsing, on the other hand, would require protocols involving very strong encryption keys as well as a “no logs” policy or the availability of a kill-switch feature.)
If entertainment is in mind, it is also very important to consider what types and how many devices you need to cover – smartphones, tablets, laptops, PCs, WiFi routers, TV Boxes, etc.
Every year, Halloween parties see lots of candy corn, punch bowls and bobbing for apples. Miniature candy bars are all the rage with homeowners purchasing treats for the door to door trick-or-treaters. According to the product review website Influenster, each different state in the US has a Halloween candy that is more popular than all the rest. Check out a few of the candies and states on that list.
Alaska and Illinois – Snickers
Colorado and Ohio – Milky Way
Connecticut and Rhode Island – Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Wyoming – Candy Corn
Looking at that list, and thinking about your own favorite Halloween candy, you may be worrying that it will be tough to come up with whole food substitutions for those and other popular sugar-filled and preservative-rich Halloween treats. Here are a few ideas of how you can create whole food alternatives to the teeth-decaying, obesity-promoting, unhealthy snacks and treats that are so popular every October 31.
Replace Bobbing for Apples with … Nothing!
Bobbing for apples is a Halloween mainstay. A dozen or so apples are placed in a large bucket or basin filled with water. The idea is to bite into an apple without using your hands, by dunking your head down into the apple-bobbing water. Since apples are perfectly healthy whole foods, there is nothing to replace here. Get some organic apples and bob away!
Replace Candy Corn with … whole Food Candy Corn Cookies
Healthy Whole food-friendly cookies can be made using some combination of coconut flour, almond flour, natural nut butter, eggs, mashed bananas, puréed pumpkin, raw honey, organic maple syrup, applesauce and other healthy, unprocessed ingredients. You can use Halloween cookie cutters to make cookies in shapes of witches, goblins, pumpkins, bats, and monsters.
The three iconic colors of candy corn are white, orange and yellow.
You can make a healthy whole food orange glaze by combining molasses or raw honey with the juice from carrots and oranges, or puréed pumpkin. The yellow of the candy corn color rainbow can be made with juice taken from grapefruits, lemons and ginger root, mixed with turmeric and the honey mentioned above or molasses. Stick a white potato through your juicing machine and combine that juice with, you guessed it, honey or molasses to create a healthy white glaze.
Paint your cookies, and any Halloween treats like candy corn, and your kids may not miss the sugary, preservative-filled, toxic, bad-health-promoter that is traditional candy corn.
Ingredients
2 sticks butter, softened
1.5 cups powdered sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 egg
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
3 cups flour
red food coloring
yellow food coloring
Directions
Cream together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and continue to beat until incorporated.
In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Add dry ingredients to the butter-sugar mixture and mix until a soft dough just forms.
Remove dough from mixer bowl and separate into three equal pieces (use a food scale to weigh each piece if you want to be exact!). Mix together a little bit of red and yellow food coloring to make orange and then add the orange coloring to one of the dough pieces. Make another dough piece yellow and leave the third plain.
Place a piece of plastic wrap or tin foil inside a loaf pan and pat down the white dough inside. Place the orange dough on top (pat down firmly) followed by the yellow dough. Remove dough from pan, wrap up in either tin foil or plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or for at least four hours.
When you are ready to bake your cookies, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Cut 1/4th-inch slices down the width of the dough. Continue cutting each slice into small triangles.
Place triangles on a lined baking sheet and bake for 6-8 minutes until tops are puffy and bottoms are golden.
Replace Candy Bars with … Sinful Decadent Healthy Bars without the Guilt
Any number of healthy, whole food candy bar alternatives can be made with walnuts, cashews, almonds and other nuts, your favorite fresh berries, dates, puréed or mashed bananas and pumpkin, and many other whole food fruits and vegetables. Blend your dates and mashed fruit, and then combine this mixture with chopped or ground nuts, berries, and seeds. Form in candy bar shapes and place in the refrigerator for an hour.
Making whole food versions of popular Halloween treats requires a little creativity and a lot of testing and experimenting, but it’s worth the payoff when you know you are giving your children (and yourself) a healthy alternative to traditionally unhealthy Halloween candy.
The Colossal Healthy Candy Bar is three tasty parts. First, the bottom biscuit layer inspired by Twix, is a mildly sweet, vegan and grain-free cookie made with coconut flour. It is crisp when it comes out of the oven, but goes pretty cake-y once it is combined with the other ingredients. Delicious nonetheless, and a pretty important counter-point to all the richness of the other layers.
Second, the caramel-and-nut layer inspired by Snickers, but with a twist: instead of just using dates in the caramel, I balanced out the sweetness by adding a healthy dose of hazelnut butter. Wowzers. This was a very delicious decision. The caramel became far more complex, rich-tasting, and it is essential to note that this would make a fantastic spread or topping all on its own. If you do not have hazelnut butter, I recommend almond or cashew in its place. Instead of using peanuts, I used roasted hazelnuts to sink into the top of the caramel for awesome texture and crunch – almonds could also be used here.
Lastly, each bar is enrobed in luscious, raw, dark chocolate. I usually use coconut oil in my raw chocolate recipes, but after reading the (incredible!) new cookbook Clean Cakes by Henrietta Inman I was convinced that using solely raw cacao butter was the way to go. It delivers a crisper finish and creamier texture. If you want to make things simpler and faster, feel free to use a ready-made bar of chocolate in this recipe instead of making your own. Raw chocolate is, of course, the healthier choice, but if you’re pressed for time or ingredients, this is a good shortcut to take.
Coconut Flour Power! With so many diets and lifestyles focusing on gluten-free and grain-free eating, coconut flour is a wonderful option for many people. Made entirely from dried coconut flesh that is pulverized into a soft, fine powder, coconut flour is a nutrient-dense alternative that is increasingly available at health food stores and even supermarkets. Score!
There are several benefits of coconut flour, my favorite being that it is remarkably high in protein and fiber. Translation: super filling and satisfying! It is low in sugar and digestible carbohydrates, and scores low on the glycemic index, so it a perfect choice for paleo eaters and diabetics. It’s also nut-free and non-allergenic.
The flavor of coconut flour is slightly coconut-y, but not overwhelmingly so. I like it in things like these chocolate bars where there are many other strong tastes going on that overshadow the taste of the flour. If you want to compliment and enhance the flavor of the flour, use coconut milk as the liquid portion of a baked good. Seriously yummy.
What’s the catch you ask? Well, there are a few downsides to using coconut flour, mainly due to its density, dryness, and lack of elasticity. It’s certainly not a flour to experiment with if you’re looking to replace wheat flour for instance, as the two behave completely differently (that goes for using coconut flour in place of almost any other flour, whether grain, seed, or nut-based). Coconut flour is also crazy-absorbent and needs quite a large proportion of liquid to solid to avoid crumbly results (I’ve read the comments below, and it seems like a lot of you are struggling with this factor!) Most recipes I’ve found online remedy this by using a lot of eggs, but I used applesauce and flax seeds instead with good results. Once you get the correct ratio down it’s pretty easy to work with, but I’ve learned the hard way that it’s best to use tried and true recipes with this finicky ingredient!
The Colossal Healthy Candy Bar Makes 16 bars
Coconut flour cookie bottom
1 ½ cups / 175g coconut flour
¼ tsp. fine sea salt
½ cup / 125ml unsweetened applesauce
2 Tbsp. ground flax seeds
1/3 cup / 85ml coconut oil, melted
2-3 Tbsp. maple syrup, as needed
Date and nut caramel
1 ¼ cup / 325g pitted soft dates
1/3 cup / 80 ml nut butter (I used hazelnut)
seeds of 1 vanilla bean
½ tsp. sea salt
Roasted nuts
¾ cup /115g raw hazelnuts or almonds
Raw chocolate coating
8.8 oz. / 250g cacao butter (not coconut butter or coconut oil)
1 ½ cup / 150g raw cacao powder
¼ cup / 60ml maple syrup
pinch of sea salt
Note: raw chocolate can be substituted with two 3½ oz. / 100g bars of dark chocolate (minimum 70% cacao).
Directions:
1. Start by making the cookie bottom. In a small bowl stir the applesauce and the ground flax together. Set aside and let gel for 15 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350°F / 175°C. In a large bowl sift together the coconut flour and sea salt. Stir in the melted coconut oil, two tablespoons of maple syrup, the applesauce-flax mixture and blend until the mixture holds together when pressed. If not, add the remaining tablespoon of maple syrup and stir to combine.
2. Line a brownie pan with baking paper and firmly press the mixture into the pan, especially around the edges. Place in the oven and bake for 12-15 minutes until the edges are beginning to turn golden. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool at room temperature.
3. Lower the oven temperature to 300°F/150°C. Spread the nuts out in a single layer on baking sheet and roast for 20-30 minutes until fragrant and slightly darker in color (a good way to check is to cut one in half and check the color in the center. Instead of cream, it should be golden). Remove from oven and let cool completely. If you are using hazelnuts, rub them together to remove as much of their skins as possible. Roughly chop and set aside.
4. Make the nut caramel. Add the pitted dates to a food processor and blend until creamy. Add the nut butter, vanilla bean, and sea salt. Taste and adjust according to your tastes.
5. Spread the nut caramel in an even layer over the cooled cookie bottom. Cover the caramel with the chopped toasted nuts, and press them down so that they are slightly sunken, reserving a few for garnish. Place the pan in the freezer to firm up for at least 4 hours (frozen bars are easier to cut and coat with chocolate).
6. Prepare the chocolate. Melt the cacao butter in a double boiler over barely simmering water. Remove from heat, stir in the maple syrup and salt, then sift in the cacao powder. Whisk together until smooth.
7. Remove the brownie pan from the freezer and pull up the edges of the baking paper to remove the filling. Place on a cutting board and slice into 16 equal bars.
8. Roll each bar in the melted chocolate, then pick up using a fork, allowing most of the excess chocolate to drip off. Set on a wrack and let harden. Take remaining chocolate and drizzle across the width of the bar to create a design (this step is optional, but it makes the bars look really beautiful). While the chocolate is still wet, sprinkle with remaining hazelnuts and let set. Place all bars in the freezer to firm up. Store in an airtight container in the freezer, and remove 10-15 minutes before serving. (Note: these are okay outside of the freezer, but if you’re using raw chocolate they will be relatively soft if left at room temperature).
