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llywelaLengthy first thoughts on the latest episode of Supernatural under the cut. Full recap and pretty banner to follow later in the week.
So much goodness to enjoy about this episode. There was nothing I didn't love.
First, the bystanders. In the case-establishing teaser, the moment we saw Angela in her car I started squealing 'Eyes on the road! Eyes on the road!" And then when she answered her phone while already not paying attention to her driving, her fate was sealed. Inevitable.
Her roommate Lindsey I really enjoyed just for the sheer interactive entertainment value, vacillating between yelling at her for being an idiot, to cheering her on as she fought back against Zombie!Angela instead of just giving in to her fate as a defenceless female victim. She kept herself alive long enough for the boys to save her.
And I liked that Neil was so obviously conflicted over what he had done – enjoying having the resurrected Angela all to himself at the same time as knowing that it wasn't really the Angela he'd loved so much any more, merely an undead perversion of who she had been, but not wanting to admit it. But yet again, the supernatural evil claims the life of the human who caused it, thus saving our boys any moral dilemmas on that front. Probably just as well, though, because they've got enough problems on their plate already.
Back to the boys. First the funny. Sam and the porn! And Dean's reaction. "Awkward." And then sneaking in little digs now and then afterward. And a myriad of other amusing little moments - Sam asking if Dean was high and Dean pausing to think about being a high point.
Mostly, though, this episode was a joy to watch due to the emotional depth and pin-point characterisation, and development of that characterisation, following on from everything that's come before.
Sam seemed really tired throughout this episode, bone-weary. We already know that Sam Doesn't Sleep when he's troubled, but this was more than that – the strain of worrying about Dean is really wearing him down. In the last episode, it was as much about Sam's issues as Dean's. Sam was feeling shut out by his brother when he needed him most, and felt hurt that Dean so readily relaxed and bonded with a gung-ho stranger when he'd been keeping Sam so much at arm's length. But all that was gone this episode, and Sam's no longer got any energy to spare for feeling hurt or lonely in his own right, he's too busy being desperately worried about Dean, who has been falling apart right before his eyes since Devil's Trap. Or even before that – it started in Salvation. Yes, Sam has been hammering on Dean's defences, and that's only been making matters worse, clearly not being the right way to handle Dean. But Sam just doesn't know what else to do. He's worried sick, and increasingly scared because Dean really is all he's got left.
Sam's determination to visit Mary's grave was really touching, but so was Dean's inability to even go near it. It's all very well to brush it off as a meaningless monument erected by a stranger, but if that were really the case he'd have no problem looking at it. He could barely even do that, couldn't bring himself to go near it. He tried so hard to talk Sam out of going – but still drove him there when Sam insisted. The excuse he offered to try to tempt Sam into changing his mind was interesting, suggesting they go to the roadhouse to see if there's any sign of the Demon – I can't remember any other occasion when Dean has himself suggested actively hunting that Demon. It's always been John and Sam's goal, that Dean supported and went along with. Even here, I think he was just presenting Sam with an alternative plan he hoped would distract his brother from his plan. But Sam just called his bluff, and since Dean isn't all that taken with the roadhouse gang – he's very wary of Ellen - of course he's not going to go there alone, but stick with what Sam wants to do instead.
Which brings us to Dean's unstable mental state, fraying at the edges and buckling under the pressure, diving headfirst into the case he stumbles on as a means of self-distraction. He's got pressures on him that Sam can't see, that he doesn't want Sam to know about, that he can't bring himself to acknowledge even to himself never mind his brother. But Sam can't take any more, and calls him on it, and Sam is absolutely right that Dean is using the case to avoid having to think about all the stuff he's going through. But he's scaring Sam, and Sam doesn't even know the half of it.
It has to be said, his assumption that Angela's father was the guilty party aside, Dean is right about every single aspect of this case. In that sense, he's pretty much on fire right now, sharp as a tack where figuring the case out all by himself is concerned, with Sam mostly just along for the ride. Although Dean's methodology - mainly his confrontational and belligerent manners when interviewing - stands as evidence of his increasing instability, the fact is that he works this case incredibly well, although his reason for doing so is very much the accusation Sam flings at him. Sam is absolutely right about that. Last episode he was itching for a fight. This episode he's desperate for something to do. It's about the distraction, not the urge for violence or to kill.
Dean throws himself headlong into this case, focuses everything he has on it, because he knows damn well he's teetering on the brink of a complete breakdown, buckling under the pressure of the secrets he's keeping and the responsibility he's bearing, and he's desperate to divert his own attention away from all that. That desperation gives an extra edge to his work, but as a distraction it's only effective up to a point. He's fine when it's pure case, or pure action, but when it starts to strike too close to home, he's every bit as scary as Sam tells him he is - see his fury with first Doctor Mason and then Neil for daring to bring back the dead.
I loved Bait!Sammy, not being taken in by Angela's appeal to his sympathy. He didn't like having to shoot her, though, judging by the face he pulled. So in retaliation she breaks his hand… ai, Clumsy!Jared in action there. I read an interview with Kripke in which he bemoans Jared not breaking his hand sooner, so it could have been written off as a crash injury!
Dean's slide into the grave to finally put Angela to rest was fab. But he was scary again while carrying out the actual killing, and then afterward he just looked haunted. "What's dead should stay dead," and it's not until it's all over that we actually learn what he means, where his anger in this episode truly stems from.
And then comes that final scene, the one that just killed me stone dead. In Everybody Loves A Clown I pondered the fact that the brothers surely had to have worked out what John had done, but couldn't bring themselves to say so out loud. And so it proves, but Dean can't hold it inside any more. The pressure is just too much. Just as Dean, a year ago, warned Sam that keeping his anger burning so brightly would kill him, so Sam turned that advice back around on him in this episode, warning that holding all that pressure inside, keeping it to himself, would kill him. Driving away from…wherever they were – was that meant to be Lawrence again? Or not? – while Sam looks pensive, Dean looks like a spring wound too tight, ready to snap. And snap he does, but not with anger or violence as earlier in this episode or the last one. Instead he hears what Sam had to say earlier, and lets some of that pressure out.
So he says he's sorry. First for the way he's been acting, because he's been freaking Sam out so much. And then for John, because he was Sam's dad too. And throughout the conversation that follows, while Dean keeps his eyes firmly fixed on the road in front of him, Sam keeps his eyes glued to his brother, and mostly stays quiet, letting him talk, but when Sam does speak he does so very gently, kind of like you'd deal with a skittish animal you don't want to spook. After hammering on Dean's emotional walls like a sledgehammer trying to crack a nut, it's a relief to see Sam handling it right now that Dean finally is opening up a little.
DEAN: "It's my fault that he's gone. I know you've been thinking it, so have I. Doesn't take a genius to figure it out. Back at the hospital, I made a full recovery. It was a miracle. Then five minutes later Dad's dead and the Colt's gone."
SAM: "Dean –"
DEAN: "You can't tell me there's not a connection. I don't know how the Demon was involved. I don't know how the whole thing went down, exactly. But Dad's dead because of me. That much I do know."
SAM: "We don't know that. Not for sure."
That's almost word for word the denial Dean offered Sam back in Salvation, when Sam was swaying beneath the burden of guilt on hearing almost concrete confirmation that Mary and Jessica's deaths had come about because of the Demon's interest in Sam. The same denial, for the same reason – the desperate need to take a brother's pain away, whether the words of that denial are true or not.
DEAN: "Sam. You and Dad, you're the most important people in my life. And now? I never should have come back, Sam, it wasn't natural, and now look what's come of it."
It wasn't natural. Now go back and watch Bloodlust through those eyes.
DEAN: "I was dead. I should have stayed dead. You wanted to know how I was feeling. Well, that's it. So tell me, what could you possibly say to make that all right?"
And…he's crying now, when he finally does meet Sam's eyes, and Sam has to look away. There's nothing Sam can say. But at least it's out there now. And the hearts of a million fangirls shatter into tiny pieces.
This season rocks.
So much goodness to enjoy about this episode. There was nothing I didn't love.
First, the bystanders. In the case-establishing teaser, the moment we saw Angela in her car I started squealing 'Eyes on the road! Eyes on the road!" And then when she answered her phone while already not paying attention to her driving, her fate was sealed. Inevitable.
Her roommate Lindsey I really enjoyed just for the sheer interactive entertainment value, vacillating between yelling at her for being an idiot, to cheering her on as she fought back against Zombie!Angela instead of just giving in to her fate as a defenceless female victim. She kept herself alive long enough for the boys to save her.
And I liked that Neil was so obviously conflicted over what he had done – enjoying having the resurrected Angela all to himself at the same time as knowing that it wasn't really the Angela he'd loved so much any more, merely an undead perversion of who she had been, but not wanting to admit it. But yet again, the supernatural evil claims the life of the human who caused it, thus saving our boys any moral dilemmas on that front. Probably just as well, though, because they've got enough problems on their plate already.
Back to the boys. First the funny. Sam and the porn! And Dean's reaction. "Awkward." And then sneaking in little digs now and then afterward. And a myriad of other amusing little moments - Sam asking if Dean was high and Dean pausing to think about being a high point.
Mostly, though, this episode was a joy to watch due to the emotional depth and pin-point characterisation, and development of that characterisation, following on from everything that's come before.
Sam seemed really tired throughout this episode, bone-weary. We already know that Sam Doesn't Sleep when he's troubled, but this was more than that – the strain of worrying about Dean is really wearing him down. In the last episode, it was as much about Sam's issues as Dean's. Sam was feeling shut out by his brother when he needed him most, and felt hurt that Dean so readily relaxed and bonded with a gung-ho stranger when he'd been keeping Sam so much at arm's length. But all that was gone this episode, and Sam's no longer got any energy to spare for feeling hurt or lonely in his own right, he's too busy being desperately worried about Dean, who has been falling apart right before his eyes since Devil's Trap. Or even before that – it started in Salvation. Yes, Sam has been hammering on Dean's defences, and that's only been making matters worse, clearly not being the right way to handle Dean. But Sam just doesn't know what else to do. He's worried sick, and increasingly scared because Dean really is all he's got left.
Sam's determination to visit Mary's grave was really touching, but so was Dean's inability to even go near it. It's all very well to brush it off as a meaningless monument erected by a stranger, but if that were really the case he'd have no problem looking at it. He could barely even do that, couldn't bring himself to go near it. He tried so hard to talk Sam out of going – but still drove him there when Sam insisted. The excuse he offered to try to tempt Sam into changing his mind was interesting, suggesting they go to the roadhouse to see if there's any sign of the Demon – I can't remember any other occasion when Dean has himself suggested actively hunting that Demon. It's always been John and Sam's goal, that Dean supported and went along with. Even here, I think he was just presenting Sam with an alternative plan he hoped would distract his brother from his plan. But Sam just called his bluff, and since Dean isn't all that taken with the roadhouse gang – he's very wary of Ellen - of course he's not going to go there alone, but stick with what Sam wants to do instead.
Which brings us to Dean's unstable mental state, fraying at the edges and buckling under the pressure, diving headfirst into the case he stumbles on as a means of self-distraction. He's got pressures on him that Sam can't see, that he doesn't want Sam to know about, that he can't bring himself to acknowledge even to himself never mind his brother. But Sam can't take any more, and calls him on it, and Sam is absolutely right that Dean is using the case to avoid having to think about all the stuff he's going through. But he's scaring Sam, and Sam doesn't even know the half of it.
It has to be said, his assumption that Angela's father was the guilty party aside, Dean is right about every single aspect of this case. In that sense, he's pretty much on fire right now, sharp as a tack where figuring the case out all by himself is concerned, with Sam mostly just along for the ride. Although Dean's methodology - mainly his confrontational and belligerent manners when interviewing - stands as evidence of his increasing instability, the fact is that he works this case incredibly well, although his reason for doing so is very much the accusation Sam flings at him. Sam is absolutely right about that. Last episode he was itching for a fight. This episode he's desperate for something to do. It's about the distraction, not the urge for violence or to kill.
Dean throws himself headlong into this case, focuses everything he has on it, because he knows damn well he's teetering on the brink of a complete breakdown, buckling under the pressure of the secrets he's keeping and the responsibility he's bearing, and he's desperate to divert his own attention away from all that. That desperation gives an extra edge to his work, but as a distraction it's only effective up to a point. He's fine when it's pure case, or pure action, but when it starts to strike too close to home, he's every bit as scary as Sam tells him he is - see his fury with first Doctor Mason and then Neil for daring to bring back the dead.
I loved Bait!Sammy, not being taken in by Angela's appeal to his sympathy. He didn't like having to shoot her, though, judging by the face he pulled. So in retaliation she breaks his hand… ai, Clumsy!Jared in action there. I read an interview with Kripke in which he bemoans Jared not breaking his hand sooner, so it could have been written off as a crash injury!
Dean's slide into the grave to finally put Angela to rest was fab. But he was scary again while carrying out the actual killing, and then afterward he just looked haunted. "What's dead should stay dead," and it's not until it's all over that we actually learn what he means, where his anger in this episode truly stems from.
And then comes that final scene, the one that just killed me stone dead. In Everybody Loves A Clown I pondered the fact that the brothers surely had to have worked out what John had done, but couldn't bring themselves to say so out loud. And so it proves, but Dean can't hold it inside any more. The pressure is just too much. Just as Dean, a year ago, warned Sam that keeping his anger burning so brightly would kill him, so Sam turned that advice back around on him in this episode, warning that holding all that pressure inside, keeping it to himself, would kill him. Driving away from…wherever they were – was that meant to be Lawrence again? Or not? – while Sam looks pensive, Dean looks like a spring wound too tight, ready to snap. And snap he does, but not with anger or violence as earlier in this episode or the last one. Instead he hears what Sam had to say earlier, and lets some of that pressure out.
So he says he's sorry. First for the way he's been acting, because he's been freaking Sam out so much. And then for John, because he was Sam's dad too. And throughout the conversation that follows, while Dean keeps his eyes firmly fixed on the road in front of him, Sam keeps his eyes glued to his brother, and mostly stays quiet, letting him talk, but when Sam does speak he does so very gently, kind of like you'd deal with a skittish animal you don't want to spook. After hammering on Dean's emotional walls like a sledgehammer trying to crack a nut, it's a relief to see Sam handling it right now that Dean finally is opening up a little.
DEAN: "It's my fault that he's gone. I know you've been thinking it, so have I. Doesn't take a genius to figure it out. Back at the hospital, I made a full recovery. It was a miracle. Then five minutes later Dad's dead and the Colt's gone."
SAM: "Dean –"
DEAN: "You can't tell me there's not a connection. I don't know how the Demon was involved. I don't know how the whole thing went down, exactly. But Dad's dead because of me. That much I do know."
SAM: "We don't know that. Not for sure."
That's almost word for word the denial Dean offered Sam back in Salvation, when Sam was swaying beneath the burden of guilt on hearing almost concrete confirmation that Mary and Jessica's deaths had come about because of the Demon's interest in Sam. The same denial, for the same reason – the desperate need to take a brother's pain away, whether the words of that denial are true or not.
DEAN: "Sam. You and Dad, you're the most important people in my life. And now? I never should have come back, Sam, it wasn't natural, and now look what's come of it."
It wasn't natural. Now go back and watch Bloodlust through those eyes.
DEAN: "I was dead. I should have stayed dead. You wanted to know how I was feeling. Well, that's it. So tell me, what could you possibly say to make that all right?"
And…he's crying now, when he finally does meet Sam's eyes, and Sam has to look away. There's nothing Sam can say. But at least it's out there now. And the hearts of a million fangirls shatter into tiny pieces.
This season rocks.
