I find it hard to rate this episode. In my opinion it's far from bad, but there are some things about it that keep it from working.
I loved the first seconds where we see the crime scene with the music playing, before Sam and Dean enter the scene. Very atmospheric. I wish they would leave their usual paths of shooting and story-telling more often. It made my expectation go up, but unfortunately this scene didn't set the style of the episode.
I generally like the idea of seeing things happening from the monsters' point of view, and I don't mind having little of Sam and Dean in this episode. But this is only interesting when I actually sympathize with the new protagonists, and here I don't. I guess the main problem is the 'found footage' shtick. The intent is clear: If done *really* well then the reality-style can make you connect with the figures, because then they come across like people you could actually know, which makes the things that happen to them all the more touching. The last bits of the movie where we see each of them talk about his/her future attests to this intent, trying to provoke emotions in the viewer. But since these emotions haven't been there in the first place it feels amateurish and forced, and this special kind of 'flashback' has been done too often by now anyway. So here the reality-style just puts a wall between the viewer and the figures. First, because it feels clumsy and far from real, and second, because it takes us too far away from Supernatural.
In my opinion it would have been much more efficient to shoot the episode the conventional way, just with the monsters as the main characters and Sam and Dean completely viewed from their perspectives. Then we would have an SPN episode from the monster's POV.
That's my main issue with this episode. An other problem is that the short S & D moments seem pretty insignificant, all but the last one where they decide to give Kate a shot. It's great to have them agree on something like this, and I find it especially *awesome* that each of them seemed kind of sure the other wouldn't, which made the moment when they realized they had the same opinion funny and somewhat heart-warming at the same time. And the picture of Kate leaving town was beautiful.
I also give an extra point for the 'workplace romance' line. I really missed the gay jokes...
6/10
I loved the first seconds where we see the crime scene with the music playing, before Sam and Dean enter the scene. Very atmospheric. I wish they would leave their usual paths of shooting and story-telling more often. It made my expectation go up, but unfortunately this scene didn't set the style of the episode.
I generally like the idea of seeing things happening from the monsters' point of view, and I don't mind having little of Sam and Dean in this episode. But this is only interesting when I actually sympathize with the new protagonists, and here I don't. I guess the main problem is the 'found footage' shtick. The intent is clear: If done *really* well then the reality-style can make you connect with the figures, because then they come across like people you could actually know, which makes the things that happen to them all the more touching. The last bits of the movie where we see each of them talk about his/her future attests to this intent, trying to provoke emotions in the viewer. But since these emotions haven't been there in the first place it feels amateurish and forced, and this special kind of 'flashback' has been done too often by now anyway. So here the reality-style just puts a wall between the viewer and the figures. First, because it feels clumsy and far from real, and second, because it takes us too far away from Supernatural.
In my opinion it would have been much more efficient to shoot the episode the conventional way, just with the monsters as the main characters and Sam and Dean completely viewed from their perspectives. Then we would have an SPN episode from the monster's POV.
That's my main issue with this episode. An other problem is that the short S & D moments seem pretty insignificant, all but the last one where they decide to give Kate a shot. It's great to have them agree on something like this, and I find it especially *awesome* that each of them seemed kind of sure the other wouldn't, which made the moment when they realized they had the same opinion funny and somewhat heart-warming at the same time. And the picture of Kate leaving town was beautiful.
I also give an extra point for the 'workplace romance' line. I really missed the gay jokes...
6/10