llywela | list of love

On Monday I bought a couple of t-shirts for my brother's birthday on Sunday. Tonight I went to wrap them...only to find that they've disappeared completely. Starting to get a little concerned that maybe I put the bag down in another shop and forgot to pick it back up again, only I'm sure I came straight home after. Why can't I remember?! Bah. Stupid memory.

Anyway, after all that irritating Life Stuff I've been dealing with all week, I decided it was time to kick back with a quick bit of fandom pleasure. So, without any further ado, here's the latest List of Love in the series: this time for Supernatural 1.07 Hookman.

~~A Whole Host of~~ Things I love about 1.07 Hookman
…and other points worth mentioning

In no particular order, as usual

1. Dean exhuming a grave: hot, sticky, dirty…. He can complain all he wants, but we all know he loves a good salt'n'burn!

I believe this is our first actual salt'n'burn of the show!

2. There's no dialogue, no commentary within the episode referring to it at all, but for me, the sequence where the brothers climb onto the balcony completely encapsulates their relationship. Dean gives Sam a leg up. He's the older brother, and automatically tries to make things a little easier for Sam, whether he actually needs the help or not, and Sam accepts that support without even registering it.

As the younger sibling, on the other hand, Sam automatically assumes that his brother can do everything perfectly well all by himself. Once up he makes no effort at all to help Dean in return, instead scurrying off to explore and leaving his brother to make his own way up.

Neither brother is even consciously aware of what they are doing; it's all completely instinctive, and is a tiny moment so representative of their relationship.

3. Dean is the ladies man – but so far, Sam's had the most on-screen snog action! Jessica in the Pilot, and now Lori…

I do like the way the Lori storyline works out for Sam. He feels drawn to her because her murdered boyfriend situation resonates strongly with his post-Jessica angst, rather than because of who she is as such, but then that leads to all kinds of inner conflict and turmoil. Sam is just born to angst!

4. Seeing Sam on the phone at the start of the episode digging for any information he can possibly unearth about John's disappearance is a timely reminder that the brothers' search for their missing father remains ongoing in the background of the various cases they've been working. I love that he uses a payphone for anonymity, rather than his cellphone, which is traceable. And I love that we can see Dean in the background of the shot beavering away on the laptop, looking for a job to keep them busy in the meantime.

"I had 'em check the FBI's Missing Persons Data Bank. No John Does fitting Dad's description. I even ran his plates for traffic violations."
"Sam, I'm tellin' ya, I don't think Dad wants to be found."

It was Dean's anxiety over his father's unexpected and unexplained disappearance that kicked the show off in the first place, but now that a few episodes have gone by and the situation has developed further, the brothers are reacting to John's continued absence very differently. Sam, who has very personal reasons of his own for wanting to find his father, over and above concern for his safety, is channelling his frustration into obsessive determination to run down any potential lead he can think of. Dean, on the other hand, has reluctantly reached the conclusion that their father has deliberately gone into hiding for whatever reason, and that they'll never find him if he doesn't want to be found. And he's dealing with it by trying to keep himself and his brother occupied the best way he knows how – by throwing themselves into the hunt. At this early stage of the show, he allows nothing of how he really feels about the situation to be seen by anyone, least of all Sam.

5. I love the invisible spirit scratching along the wall, to announce his presence and freak everyone out – ghosts were so creepy in season one! And I love Dean in profile. ♥ Therefore, this scene? A winner.

6. I love the way Dean watches over Sam, knows that his brother has connected with Lori but is conflicted about it because of Jessica, and tries to feel his way through what to do, offering to stay even, if that's what Sam wants or needs. It's been beautifully understated, always background and never the main focus of any episode, but Dean has been trying hard to ease Sam through his grief ever since the Pilot. For all that Dean has been teasing Sam about Lori through the episode, this sequence demonstrates clearly that he is very aware of the emotional impact all this is having on his little brother.

But alas, poor Sam is still hurting badly over Jessica. Being attracted to Lori only makes that worse, reminding him of his pain rather than alleviating it. He doesn't have to say a word – the look in his eyes says it all.

7. "Dude, sorority girls! Think we'll see a naked pillow fight?"

Hee. I love seeing Dean able to kick back and have fun from time to time, even if only for the briefest moment. Doesn't happen often enough, for either brother. Dean being so much more laid-back than his brother, he manages to derive a lot more enjoyment from very simple pleasures than Sam does.

8. "We're your new…fraternity brothers."

Dean does keep trying that college student line in season one, despite not knowing the first thing about college or student life. It helps that Sam is still so fresh from his university experience, the beard to sell the fake identity.

9. The cinematography as Dean searches the graveyard is beautiful and misleadingly spooky.

10. Neither brother has the first clue how to behave in church – Sam lets the door slam, and Dean forgets to bow his head for the prayer. Pastor Jim must have despaired of them! I love that each rolls his eyes and tuts at his brother's faux pas, but manages no better himself.

11. I love the synchronised tossing of shotgun and haunted necklace.

Would have been fun if they'd used the take we get to see in the DVD gag reel where JA fumbles the catch, though!

12. "He's the artist. Things he can do with a brush."
Hee. And Sam's death eyes. Even more hee.

13. Sam barely even notices the guy who barges into him at the party. Dean does, though, glares, and promptly steers his brother to a quieter location. And I love that the girl in the background is blatantly checking out the guy's ass.

14. "It's a pleasure to meet you, sir. I must say, that was an inspiring sermon."
Hee. Dean being the cynical badass he is, seeing him pulling the reverend aside to fake his way through a conversation about church groups, so that Sam can talk to Lori alone, is very funny.

It's also another sign of his adroitness in bluffing his way through any and every situation. And it's a mark of how good an actor he is, and how charming he can be, that he so rarely gets called on those acts, no matter how outrageous.

15. Badass!Sam with the shotgun! To the rescue!

16. I love seeing the brother talk ghost stories while wandering the stacks at the library.

17. This job was Dean's idea, and Sam wasn't keen on taking it, wanted to keep brooding and obsessing over John's continuing absence. But having been persuaded to work the case by his brother, Sam is adorably earnest about it, so intense and focused. It's a character trait we see over and over, and I love that about him. Once he's committed to something, he's committed, no holds barred.

Also, Sam looks so young and innocent back here in season one!

18. Dean can't stop himself checking out anything female that crosses his path.

19. I love when they sit on the car.

It looks like such a lovely, bright sunny day when this was filmed.

20. Sam has such a cute smile.

21. "Sam! Drop!"
I love Dean charging to the rescue, whatever the circumstances. You can just picture him down in the cellar, frantically burning all the silver he can find, hearing the sounds of a struggle above and fretting madly until he can't stand it any more and has to go save his little brother.

22. "So this is how you spent four good years of your life."
"Welcome to higher education."

Mwah.
They've corrected that error from the early episodes as to how long Sam was away at university, and in its place created a canonical conundrum for fans to puzzle over.

23. "Dad would check it out." I can't believe that's the winning argument! But Sam's resentment of their enigmatic father hasn't yet simmered over, and he's open to the idea of remaining gainfully occupied while the Dad-search remains so elusive. Plus, Dean can be very persuasive when he wants to be.

Here at the start of it all, Dean initiated the lion's share of the hunts. That statistic has changed enormously in the seasons that have followed!

24. I love the look on Sam's face as Dean eyes the party longingly, so huffy and disapproving. Sam really doesn't get it. For him, being back on the road is a chore – he just wants to get the job done so he can get back to his life. But for Dean, this is his life, and he's entitled to enjoy himself along the way wherever possible.

Dean makes a show of hating to tear himself away from the party to go roam around a cemetery at night in search of an unmarked grave. He does it, though. The job comes first, always.

25. "If it is a spirit, buckshot won't do much good."
"Yeah, rock salt."
"Huh. Salt being a spirit deterrent."
"Yeah. It won't kill 'em. But it'll slow 'em down."
"That's pretty good. You and Dad think of this?"
"I told you. You don't have to be a college graduate to be a genius."

The exposition is kind of awkward, but this is our introduction to the salt guns. Yay! It's pretty heavily implied that this was Dean's idea, and it's very, very in keeping with the character that he'd come up with such an innovation; Dean is a practical soul right to the core, and is all about improvisation.

26. I love collaborative research, seeing the brothers ploughing through the paperwork together in search of clues. And that Dean is always bored by it, but does it anyway. Whatever it takes to get the job done.

It also kills me how readily Sam slides into lecture mode. Forget law, this kid was born to teach.

27. Busted!

"Put the gun down now! Now! Put your hands behind your head!"

Another brush with the law, but back in these days, it was relatively easy to talk their way out of trouble – St Louis and the shapeshifter debacle haven't caught up with Dean yet. Man, these were such innocent times!

28. Sneaking around all covert like. Absolutely love it. So cute!

29. I love Dean's thinking face.

He has such an expressive face.

30. "Dude, I am Matlock!"

31. "Hey, be quiet."
"Me be quiet? You be quiet!"

32. I love that Dean gets a parking ticket and just shrugs it off, no big deal. They're just passing through, won't be sticking around longer than it takes to solve the case, and you just know that he never pays these.

33. "Man, you've been holding out on me. This college thing is awesome!"
"This wasn't really my experience."

"Let me guess. Libraries, studying, straight A's? What a geek."

I love that Dean is so enthused by this glimpse into the frat party lifestyle, while Sam is completely nonplussed by it. We did see him at a party in the Pilot, but its odds on he only ever went when Jessica dragged him along!

34. There might not be anything to give the name of the grave's occupant, but between the headstone and the symbol carved into it, it isn't exactly what I'd call unmarked.

35. Dean can work a job and notice pretty girls, all at the same time. Multi-tasking, ahoy.

36. "Your, uh, half-caf, double vanilla latte is gettin' cold over here, Francis."
"Bite me."
Hee.

Dean, of course, drinks his coffee black.

37. Stalker!Sam! And yet Lori falls for it and isn't at all creeped out by this strange guy she just met hanging around outside her house at night. Strange girl.

38. "Hey, brother!"
A big hee @ Dean persuading the cops to let him through to Sam at the hospital. And the way he rolls his eyes when they let him pass.

On rejoining Sam, his first question is "you okay?" Because checking on Sam's well-being is always Dean's first priority, even when Sam is so clearly uninjured. He tries not to let it show too much in these early days, but Dean is as much of a born worrier as Sam is a born angster!

39. I love the way Lori uses her arms to wind herself up for a good, hearty scream when she discovers her boyfriend dead. It's hilarious.

And she'd been doing so well earlier, having the good sense to lock herself in the car and all, only to blow it by then getting out of the car and thus exposing herself to all kinds of unknown danger.

40. Injured Sam conducting one-armed defence!

41. I love the little look Dean often gives Sam when he's just figured something out, impressed and proud of his smart little brother.

42. We're not going to worry about pesky details like furnaces in church basements, or the melting point of silver.

43. More joint research! Notice how Sam's the one who looks bored with the bookwork this time, while Dean is engrossed.

"Yeah, but if the hook were at the church or Lori's house, don't you think someone might've seen it? I mean, a bloodstained, silver-handled hook?"
Ah, Sam. Usually so bright and quick-thinking, but amazingly shortsighted here. As if the hook would have been left in its bloodstained, murder-weapon condition for all this time.

44. Footsteps up above! I love the way the brothers freeze. Dean leads the charge, and that's very typical – he'll always put himself in danger before Sam – but as soon as they see it's just Lori, he's like, 'over to you, Sam'. Both because Sam has already forged a bond with Lori and because weeping females really aren't Dean's thing.

45. I love that having destroyed the haunted necklace to dispel the spirit, finally, Dean has to sprint all the way back upstairs to check that he wasn't too late and that Sam is still alive and in one piece. Born worrier, like I said. I love how the weight just melts off his shoulders the moment he has Sam in sight once more – that's a character trait that has never changed, in three seasons.