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Jan. 13th, 2007 09:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
llywelaWoot! Okay, I loved this episode. I loved all kinds of things about it. I especially loved that it cheered me up so much when I was having a really bad day yesterday.
So many loose ends were tied up in this episode, which seems to mark a turning point in the season. Since John's death in the season opener, the brothers have been struggling badly, more out-of-synch than we've ever seen them, even right back at the start when they were coming off a years' long estrangement. They started this episode in that exact same place, but ended it closer than ever, the air cleared and facing the future together once more.
So, what John whispered into Dean's ear back in the season opener was that if he couldn't save Sam he would have to kill him. And that was the last thing he said to his son before his death? Damn, that man infuriates me so much! In Something Wicked we saw the child Dean learning the enormous lesson that if he failed to look after Sam properly, his brother could die. He's had a complex about that ever since. And now he is told outright that if he fails to look after Sam properly, he'll have to kill him himself? Nice one, John - way to screw up your son even more badly than ever. I appreciate the difficult position John must have been in for the bulk of last season - for the past couple of decades, come to that - but there are so many ways he could have handled just about everything that would have been less damaging to both his children.
Last episode we saw Dean reach the point of complete burnout. He started this episode in that exact same place - needing to stop and rest and gather thoughts, work out what to do next, anxious to just lie low and try to avoid whatever is coming, keep Sam away from it somehow. But Sam, of course, once he finally learned just what John told Dean about him, reacted with extreme anger both at the secret being kept so long and at the implication of what Dean was telling him. Dean wanted to take some time out and get away from it all, but Sam - who, as we all know, can be impossibly single-minded once he's set his heart on something - wanted to go charging off and confront this thing head-on. So, rather than trying to talk Dean around to his way of thinking, he just snuck away in the middle of the night. That should do wonders for Dean's abandonment complex, although his reaction was positive and pro-active.
So, we had another episode where the brothers were separated for the bulk of the action. I'm usually wary of those, but enjoyed this one thoroughly. I liked that when Sam went to Ellen - or, rather, to Ash via Ellen - for help, the history between them was acknowledged and dealt with before they could move on. I also liked that she didn't try to hide from Dean the fact that Sam had been to her - she puts family first, so she told him straight away where Sam had gone.
Ash's discovery about the nursery-fire children was fascinating. There were only four children born in 1983 whose mothers died in a nursery fire on their six-month birthday - Sam Winchester, Max Miller and Andy Gallagher are three out of the four, and we've already met all three, of course. The fourth we saw murdered in the teaser, another guy. But we know that there are other psychics out there - Andy's brother Webber was one, and there was no nursery fire in his case. We also know that they aren't all guys, judging by little Rosie in Salvation. And in this episode we met another, Ava, who gets visions just like Sam. So, some of the psychics share abilities, rather than all having completely different abilities - Andy and Webber's shared power wasn't just a twin thing.
Ava had no nursery fire. I'm not sure those are as significant as they seem - or at least, that the six-month dating of them might not be as significant as it seems. I mean, we have to take Jessica into account. It is possible that others of these psychics have had significant figures in their life removed in similar circumstances but at completely different stages in their life, which wouldn't come up in a search of nursery fires and six-month birthdays.
I really, really liked Ava. Her reactions were just perfect for the situation she was in - scared, disbelieving, but determined to do the right thing, keen to help, utterly bemused by Sam and delighted by her own daring. She was great - which made the kick to the guts at the end all the greater. I was as worried about her as Sam, finding her fiance so brutally murdered and Ava gone. So, either the Demon took her, or she was possessed, presumably at some point after leaving Sam. Either way, that happy normal life of hers is gone for good, and that's a tragedy, no two ways about it.
And then we have Gordon, and the implications of his return. He acquired his information about Sam somehow - yeah, a loose-tongued demon gave him the gist, but he acknowledged having contacts of his own at the Roadhouse who'd confirmed the story. The only people in the room when Sam confessed his abilities were Ellen and Jo. It seems safe to say that Ash is also in on the secret, since he's the one doing all the research. But other hunters frequent that saloon (too many, in fact - a secret underground network should be spread out over the country, not all concentrated in one small place like that) and someone hasn't been careful enough while talking about the Winchester brothers. Just how much can Dean and Sam trust these new contacts of theirs?
That Gordon would turn on Sam was predictable enough and a continuation of his character as last seen in Bloodlust. It was kinda disturbing how keen he was to talk Dean around to his way of thinking. I get the impression that for all his 'I work alone' stance, Gordon would actually like to have a partner to work with. He just can't find anyone willing to work with him, being such a psycho.
I winced when Gordon laid Dean out with his rifle - those boys take so many blows to the head. And it was a head injury that would have killed Dean in In My Time Of Dying, had John not made his fateful deal. He really needs to be careful about bangs on the head! They both do.
If Ava's reactions were perfect, so were Dean's, from his horror and dread at what Gordon was saying about Sam and at what Gordon planned to do to his devastation when he believed Sam had been killed - dry-eyed with shock and literally choking. He'd have thrown up on the spot if he wasn't gagged. The scene that followed was just gorgeous, once Sam had taken Gordon out and came to release Dean. Sam all battered and weary but knowing exactly how Dean would have reacted to what just happened, clapping him on the shoulder for reassurance before untying him, and Dean promptly leaping to his feet to get a look at Sam's cuts and bruises and to reassure himself that, yes, his brother was still alive and in one piece and not blown into a thousand pieces. Fabulous.
Sam setting Gordon up with the police was also fabulous - that's what Gordon gets for being such a psycho. I mean, honestly - walking into the middle of the street all guns blazing? He got exactly what he deserved.
And the brothers are reunited once more.
SAM: "You can't protect me."
DEAN: "I can try."
Fantastic.
Also last night, I watched the Beeb's new period drama, Lilies, which is set immediately post-World War I - giving them all kinds of meaty social issues to explore, as that was a time of enormous social change. The series follows the lives of three young sisters in Liverpool, Iris, May and Ruby, and also their widowed father, and brother Billy, who was invalided out of the Navy with shell shock after his ship was sunk at Jutland in 1917 and is still suffering badly now that the war is over.
I didn't give the first episode my full attention, I confess, but even so I thought it was a strong introduction to the series. Youngest sister Ruby, with her Olympic swimming team ambitions, was given the most attention in this first episode, with poor traumatised Billy also focused on. I expect to see more of the other sisters in later outings. The period detail was delightful, the characters were engaging, and the focus of the series seems to be on characterisation and character development - just the kind of thing I generally adore. I look forward to seeing how the rest of the series develops.
So many loose ends were tied up in this episode, which seems to mark a turning point in the season. Since John's death in the season opener, the brothers have been struggling badly, more out-of-synch than we've ever seen them, even right back at the start when they were coming off a years' long estrangement. They started this episode in that exact same place, but ended it closer than ever, the air cleared and facing the future together once more.
So, what John whispered into Dean's ear back in the season opener was that if he couldn't save Sam he would have to kill him. And that was the last thing he said to his son before his death? Damn, that man infuriates me so much! In Something Wicked we saw the child Dean learning the enormous lesson that if he failed to look after Sam properly, his brother could die. He's had a complex about that ever since. And now he is told outright that if he fails to look after Sam properly, he'll have to kill him himself? Nice one, John - way to screw up your son even more badly than ever. I appreciate the difficult position John must have been in for the bulk of last season - for the past couple of decades, come to that - but there are so many ways he could have handled just about everything that would have been less damaging to both his children.
Last episode we saw Dean reach the point of complete burnout. He started this episode in that exact same place - needing to stop and rest and gather thoughts, work out what to do next, anxious to just lie low and try to avoid whatever is coming, keep Sam away from it somehow. But Sam, of course, once he finally learned just what John told Dean about him, reacted with extreme anger both at the secret being kept so long and at the implication of what Dean was telling him. Dean wanted to take some time out and get away from it all, but Sam - who, as we all know, can be impossibly single-minded once he's set his heart on something - wanted to go charging off and confront this thing head-on. So, rather than trying to talk Dean around to his way of thinking, he just snuck away in the middle of the night. That should do wonders for Dean's abandonment complex, although his reaction was positive and pro-active.
So, we had another episode where the brothers were separated for the bulk of the action. I'm usually wary of those, but enjoyed this one thoroughly. I liked that when Sam went to Ellen - or, rather, to Ash via Ellen - for help, the history between them was acknowledged and dealt with before they could move on. I also liked that she didn't try to hide from Dean the fact that Sam had been to her - she puts family first, so she told him straight away where Sam had gone.
Ash's discovery about the nursery-fire children was fascinating. There were only four children born in 1983 whose mothers died in a nursery fire on their six-month birthday - Sam Winchester, Max Miller and Andy Gallagher are three out of the four, and we've already met all three, of course. The fourth we saw murdered in the teaser, another guy. But we know that there are other psychics out there - Andy's brother Webber was one, and there was no nursery fire in his case. We also know that they aren't all guys, judging by little Rosie in Salvation. And in this episode we met another, Ava, who gets visions just like Sam. So, some of the psychics share abilities, rather than all having completely different abilities - Andy and Webber's shared power wasn't just a twin thing.
Ava had no nursery fire. I'm not sure those are as significant as they seem - or at least, that the six-month dating of them might not be as significant as it seems. I mean, we have to take Jessica into account. It is possible that others of these psychics have had significant figures in their life removed in similar circumstances but at completely different stages in their life, which wouldn't come up in a search of nursery fires and six-month birthdays.
I really, really liked Ava. Her reactions were just perfect for the situation she was in - scared, disbelieving, but determined to do the right thing, keen to help, utterly bemused by Sam and delighted by her own daring. She was great - which made the kick to the guts at the end all the greater. I was as worried about her as Sam, finding her fiance so brutally murdered and Ava gone. So, either the Demon took her, or she was possessed, presumably at some point after leaving Sam. Either way, that happy normal life of hers is gone for good, and that's a tragedy, no two ways about it.
And then we have Gordon, and the implications of his return. He acquired his information about Sam somehow - yeah, a loose-tongued demon gave him the gist, but he acknowledged having contacts of his own at the Roadhouse who'd confirmed the story. The only people in the room when Sam confessed his abilities were Ellen and Jo. It seems safe to say that Ash is also in on the secret, since he's the one doing all the research. But other hunters frequent that saloon (too many, in fact - a secret underground network should be spread out over the country, not all concentrated in one small place like that) and someone hasn't been careful enough while talking about the Winchester brothers. Just how much can Dean and Sam trust these new contacts of theirs?
That Gordon would turn on Sam was predictable enough and a continuation of his character as last seen in Bloodlust. It was kinda disturbing how keen he was to talk Dean around to his way of thinking. I get the impression that for all his 'I work alone' stance, Gordon would actually like to have a partner to work with. He just can't find anyone willing to work with him, being such a psycho.
I winced when Gordon laid Dean out with his rifle - those boys take so many blows to the head. And it was a head injury that would have killed Dean in In My Time Of Dying, had John not made his fateful deal. He really needs to be careful about bangs on the head! They both do.
If Ava's reactions were perfect, so were Dean's, from his horror and dread at what Gordon was saying about Sam and at what Gordon planned to do to his devastation when he believed Sam had been killed - dry-eyed with shock and literally choking. He'd have thrown up on the spot if he wasn't gagged. The scene that followed was just gorgeous, once Sam had taken Gordon out and came to release Dean. Sam all battered and weary but knowing exactly how Dean would have reacted to what just happened, clapping him on the shoulder for reassurance before untying him, and Dean promptly leaping to his feet to get a look at Sam's cuts and bruises and to reassure himself that, yes, his brother was still alive and in one piece and not blown into a thousand pieces. Fabulous.
Sam setting Gordon up with the police was also fabulous - that's what Gordon gets for being such a psycho. I mean, honestly - walking into the middle of the street all guns blazing? He got exactly what he deserved.
And the brothers are reunited once more.
SAM: "You can't protect me."
DEAN: "I can try."
Fantastic.
Also last night, I watched the Beeb's new period drama, Lilies, which is set immediately post-World War I - giving them all kinds of meaty social issues to explore, as that was a time of enormous social change. The series follows the lives of three young sisters in Liverpool, Iris, May and Ruby, and also their widowed father, and brother Billy, who was invalided out of the Navy with shell shock after his ship was sunk at Jutland in 1917 and is still suffering badly now that the war is over.
I didn't give the first episode my full attention, I confess, but even so I thought it was a strong introduction to the series. Youngest sister Ruby, with her Olympic swimming team ambitions, was given the most attention in this first episode, with poor traumatised Billy also focused on. I expect to see more of the other sisters in later outings. The period detail was delightful, the characters were engaging, and the focus of the series seems to be on characterisation and character development - just the kind of thing I generally adore. I look forward to seeing how the rest of the series develops.
