"Moment's gone. Unbelievable."
May. 3rd, 2008 10:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
llywelaThere were three shows on Thursday night that I wanted to watch, all on at the same time. I had my plan of action all worked out - watch one, tape another, catch the third on repeat. And then I completely forgot to watch any of them. Madness. So, House is missed for good, but I'm re-strategising for Heroes and The Invisibles. Thank heavens for catch-up TV!
Supernatural 3.14 Long Distance Call.
Aww, man. We're really building up momentum for the season finale now.
My reactions to this episode divide pretty neatly into the good and the bad. The good was, of course, the Winchester brothers as they enter Dean's final days, and the bad revolves around the plot and MOTW.
"Come to me."
So, just to get it out of the way, I'll deal with the bad first. The plotting and structure of this episode are a lot weaker than last week, and the MO of the Crocotta makes no sense to me. Its actions aren't even all that consistent within the episode, and its abilities are never made clear. Mimicking a dead person over the telephone is one thing, mimicking that person by email another – but conjuring up an image of the girl's dead mother? Where did it get that from? And how? How close would it have to be to do that, or can it monitor events with a chosen victim long-distance? How does it acquire such complete information about chosen victims and their lost loved ones? It implied while talking to Sam that it could pick all the information out of the ether, tapping into technology, but no amount of hacking of emails and old voicemails could give it that much insight into a person's relationship with a deceased relative. Is it able to delve into the minds of the people it meets, as so many other supernatural creatures do? We simply aren't told, as the monster isn't fleshed out in any way, existing only as a vehicle for the story.
I also don't get the whole 'come to me' business. These people were being driven to suicide by the Crocotta's actions – but unless the creature was right there at the time to eat their souls, how did it benefit in any way? How long would the soul hang around in the corpse for the creature to hotfoot on over and collect? Clearly its habits have evolved from the pattern Sam describes of luring people into the dark, since it operated remotely for almost all of its victims in this episode. But surely it would be easier to just mug people in dodgy parts of town, and pick up snacks that way? Maybe it's just a sadist who enjoys tormenting victims before eating their souls.
Still, having said all that, telephone stalking is creepy. It's not your typical Supernatural creepy, but still creepy. It's something that happens in real life, even when ghosts and monsters aren't involved.
One more thought: shouldn't the first guy's wife have heard the telephone ringing incessantly? Heard the shot? She sounds so vague and clueless when questioned. And it was obvious that whatever was going on would be traced back to the phone company the moment that fly flew into Sam's ear!
"Well, what the hell else have we been doing lately other than trying to break your deal?"
Onto the good. The MOTW might be a weak plot device, but where this episode shines is what Supernatural does best: delving into the heart of the relationship between the two leads. In Ghostfacers last week we learned that Dean had only two months left before his crossroads deal came due. That was February 29th. We know from the Season Two Companion that Sam was brought back to life on his birthday, May 2nd. A screenshot of the printout of telephone calls that the phone company tech gives the brothers shows that the most recent call from the Crocotta was on April 26th. Dean is down to his last few days now.
"Chasing our tails, that's what. Sam, we've talked to every professor, witch, soothsayer and two-bit carnie act in lower 48 and nobody knows squat. And we can't find Bela, we can't find the Colt, so until we actually find something, I'd like to do my job."
That's Dean in a nutshell. Throwing himself into work has always been his favoured method of denial. We've seen so many times in the past how much he needed the focus provided by working a case to keep from being overwhelmed by his own problems; how much more so now, just days away from eternity in hell?
I'm a little curious to know why finding Bela and the Colt is so important in connection to the crossroads deal. Are they hoping the contract-holding demon will show up in person to collect? Or is the plan to try to shoot off a few of the hellhounds when they come snapping at Dean's heels? Either way, it seems a vain hope – but at this stage, any hope is better than none.
And maybe that's why Dean has held off from telling Sam about Ruby's admission that she can't save him – he was allowing his increasingly desperate little brother to hold onto that faint last hope for as long as possible. It is clear that he doesn't want to admit it even now, it slips out in the heat of the quarrel, and oh, their faces. Both of them. Sam is crushed along with his hope, and Dean looks just as defeated. Saying it out loud makes it real.
"So what, now you're keeping secrets from me, Dean?"
"You really want to talk about who's keeping secrets from who?"
Ooh, nice one. It's good to see that issue being touched on. Dean hasn't forgotten Jus in Bello. He's just been letting it go. He doesn't press the matter even now, just brings it up as a tool to make Sam back off.
"When my partner says run the number, I suggest you run the number."
For all that Dean only has a matter of days left to live now, and for all Sam's deep reluctance to take on the job in the first place, once they are on the case they work it as smoothly and professionally as ever. It's something we've seen from Sam many times since the Pilot, that no matter how little he wants to take on a given job, once he is committed to it he gives it his full attention. Having said that, though, we do see Dean doing the initial Internet research while Sam lounges around doing nothing. That doesn't happen often, and perhaps is a further sign of Dean's determination to distract himself with this job in contrast to Sam's continued half-heartedness about it, when not with a witness.
When questioning the first witness, the brothers are well and truly back on form, however: Dean being a little abrupt and Sam stepping in to smooth the way. Those roles have been reversed so often this season, it's good to see a return to mild-mannered Sam!
Sam is very pretty in this episode. Dean, too, of course – Dean always looks good. But Sam is especially pretty here.
I love the scene where Dean good cop-bad cops the little phone company tech, no input from Sam required, other than to stand there backing his brother up with a spot of glowering. I especially love that once Dean has menaced the guy into helping, the brothers smirk at each other in delight that the ruse worked. It's the exact opposite point of view than we had last week, when the Ghostfacer's were on Stewie's side of similar exchanges, and we got to see what it is like to be the outsider on the receiving end of Dean's menace. And that initial visit to the phone company also gives us Dean angling for free food. Hee. And suits! So pretty in the suits.
Do they deliberately cast midgets in the guest roles? So many of the guest actors are tiny in comparison to the JJs!
Also in this episode, we see Sam driving a rental! What's that all about? It's very practical, sure, enabling the brothers to cover more ground as they work separate angles on the job, but it's not something we've ever seen before. Maybe it's a sign that they're feeling a bit flush now they no longer have the FBI on their backs.
The girl, Lanie, rags on Sam's cheap suit just moments after I was thinking how good he looks in it. Is that the faux-FBI suit purchased way back in Phantom Traveler? Looks like it. I'm surprised she didn't have a dig at his hair, as well! But I love the way Sam deals with her, gently coaxing her into a full confession of her telephone interaction with her dead mother. He looks so amused by her teenage stroppiness the whole time they're talking. Maybe her belligerent attitude reminds him of himself at the same age. Lanie isn't the most engaging Girl In Danger they've had ever, but she serves her purpose, and I like that SuperSammy recognises the creature just by the line 'come to me.
"Completely rocked my understanding of the word 'necrophilia'." Mwahah – what kills me is that there's a girl walking past Dean just in time to hear that, and she looks kind of disturbed and hurries past, whereupon he turns to check her out automatically.
Hey, there's SleepingSam! Whoa. When do we ever get to see Sam fast asleep in bed? Oh, but I'm sure a lot of this motel furniture is recycled. That bedding looks familiar. Oh, and Sam's wearing season one hoodies and jackets.
"Newsflash, Sam: people are supposed to be freaked out by ghosts."
I don't know why that line amuses me so much. Maybe because the brothers are so rarely freaked out by ghosts.
Hee @ Dean's voicemail message. "This is Herman Munster. Leave a message."
"What's with the quotey fingers?" Hah. The spirit phone might be a red herring, but it's always good to see Dean's homemade EMF meter making an appearance! And the phone thing feeds into Dean's need to believe that it really is John calling him. He's no longer working the job as a job; he's searching for evidence to back up what he wants to believe.
"Why aren't we sure?"
"Because I don't know what's going on around here, Dean."
It's very much the cheap option to have JDM make a return to the show and only do voice, no? So much easier to schedule than flying him all the way out to Vancouver to film!
Everything changes the moment Dean takes the first telephone call from notJohn. Up till that moment he'd been focused on working this job, keeping his mind off his own problems for just a little while longer. It's how he's got through the last few months. Ever since DALDOM he's seemed so very at peace with himself, with all his doubts and fears out in the open, able to take refuge in his old habit of compartmentalising and living for the moment, very firmly not thinking about what lies ahead. But then he hears his Dad's voice, and all that resolve comes crashing down, and oh man, the look on his face just slays me. Little boy lost. He's only got a few days left to live, and he's going to hell forever, where his soul will be burned away until there's nothing left but a demon where there used to be Dean, and he is terrified.
Dean has been the better part of two seasons coming to terms with his father's death and with who John really was, flaws and all, gaining badly needed independence and growing into his own man. But then he hears John's voice and all of a sudden he's right back in that place, transformed once more into the 12-year-old who believes his father is a superhero because clinging to that belief is the only way he can hold his fears at bay. He wants so badly to believe that it's real. "What if it really is Dad? What happens if he calls back? […] What do I say?" Aww. Dean. And his reaction when Sam can't come up with anything better than 'hello', stomping out of the motel in scorn – that's a return to form. Dean always needs a bit of distance when there's any kind of emotional storm on the horizon.
Sam, when he first hears about the phone call, has a similar look little boy lost look about him. John's death was so hard for them both to deal with. But Sam isn't the one who heard John's voice, didn't have the same kind of relationship with him to begin with, so he is able to remain more objective and question the situation. And what he sees worries him deeply, because they have been drawn right into the heart of the case, and he didn't want to take the job in the first place, and time is running out, and now all kinds of old wounds are being reopened.
Dean sitting up all night waiting for John to call again just really hurts. It's exactly how the Crocatta operates, of course – finding a weak spot to tap into – and he's found a prime specimen here.
"Dean, how could you do it? […] Sell your soul."
"I was looking after Sammy, like you told me to."
Oh, man. Those two sentences, right there? Their relationship in a nutshell. This creature is good. There's no way it tapped into all this floating around the technological ether. It's got to be able to delve into the mind, as well, to be able to manipulate its victims like this. And just…man. The way Dean's voice breaks on the words. "I was looking after Sammy, like you told me to." Oh, that hurts. It's such a huge part of why he made that deal in the first place, the overwhelming sense of having failed in his Dad-given duty to look after his little brother no matter what. He'd never expect anything but censure for it.
"I never wanted this. Never. You're my boy; I love you. I can't watch you go to hell, Dean."
"I'm sorry. I don't know how to stop it."
"'Cause if you break the deal, Sam dies, right? […] I know a way out, for both of you."
Yep, this creature is really good at what it does. Finds the exact right spot to apply pressure. First the reproof Dean would be expecting, followed by the affirmation and offer of salvation he craves, the combination more than sufficient to throw him well and truly off balance and keep him there, in his current state of mind.
"Don't get too excited, Sammy. You might pull something."
Dean's used that crack before. He's just so, so desperate to believe, and Sam really hates having to be the sceptical one and point out the holes in the theory. They both need the hope, so very much. I don't think I've ever loved Sam more than I do here, so weary and hurt and trying so hard not to crush Dean's hope at the same time as trying to make his brother see how false that hope really is.
The situation here is an exact reversal of that we saw in Houses of the Holy last season. Then, Sam was the one who wanted so badly to believe in something more, while Dean was sceptical of anything he had no evidence for. This time around, Dean's the one clinging to blind faith, but this is an old faith, faith in his Dad, the Dad he always believed in so strongly, no matter what happened.
"Meanwhile, I'll be here getting ready to save my life."
Oh, that's a low blow. Dean always has tended to lash out when he's hurting and has no way of escape from it. Sam looks so tired in this scene. He desperately needs hope to cling to, as well, and I don't doubt that he wants this to be real as much as Dean does, but he can see how unlikely it is, and it hurts.
"After everything, you're still going on blind faith.
"Well, maybe that's all I've got, okay!"
Dean's lack of faith in him must hurt Sam badly, as well. Dean doesn't believe Sam can save him; that much is pretty clear, even if he isn't saying so out loud.
"Dean's not going to fall for this. He's not going to kill that guy."
Aww, Sam's faith in his brother is touching. And after all Sam's emphasis on Dean not going off on his own, we end up with the brothers fighting very separate battles at the end. Maybe symbolic of how they are about to be separated forever.
The scenes where Dean breaks into the man's house and gets into a brutal fight with him are very uncomfortable to watch. The guy gives as good as he gets, of course, but he's a grieving father who believes he's confronting his child's killer in his own home. Then again, Dean believes he's fighting the demon who holds the contract on his soul, although he should still be more careful with the host body – his fear and desperation are in control in this scene. I suppose it shows how easy it is to cross lines in this business, how dangerous it is to blindly follow the voice of a dead man. Not easy scenes to watch. Dean's dismay when he realises the truth is painful. He wanted it to be his Dad on the phone, he wanted this to be a demon that could be destroyed, wanted to save his own life, wanted it all to be over. But it was all a lie, and that last hope is extinguished.
You have to wonder, though, how Dean's very pro-active anti-demon preparations and actions here tie in with the 'no weaselling out' clause on his demon deal. He isn't supposed to be able to do anything to try to get out of the deal, on pain of Sam's death – by so actively working to release himself from that deal, he's treading a very fine line here, surely.
I'm starting to worry that something is going to happen to Sam in the finale. Because we've spent the entire season expecting it to be Dean, and the Show does like to twist our expectations, so I'm starting to get a little anxious about Sam's continued good health. The next two weeks will tell if I'm way off base on that one, or not.
"I know what you are. And I know how to kill you."
"Wait! Wait! If we're overcharging you for the call waiting, or something, I know how to fix that." Bless.
Sam also attacks an innocent man before realising he's got it wrong. The Crocatta is very good at manipulating people. That's two weeks in a row Sam has been forced to watch an innocent person murdered right before him, while bound and unable to help them in any way. Like he didn't already have a complex about being helpless to save people, specifically Dean. Kinda nasty that the creature uses Sam's knife to do it.
"Found Dean's number. Then your number, your Dad's number. Emails, voicemails. You see, people think that stuff gets erased. But it doesn't. You'd be surprised at how much of yourself is just floating out there, waiting to be plucked. […] Technology makes life so much easier. […] You're all so connected. But you've never been so alone."
Wow, the FBI would have loved this guy, while they were searching in vain for any trace of the brothers!
The Crocatta stroking Sam's hair with the bloody knife is very creepy. Sam's hair isn't even that wild at the moment!
"I'm sorry it wasn't Dad."
The audio is out of sync for the last scene, which is annoying. But it's an awesome scene. Sitting side by side, as is usual for emotional scenes, but Dean actually turns to look Sam in the eye, which isn't so usual. And this is Sam at his best: no judgement, no recriminations, just listening, making soothing noises in all the right places, letting his brother say what he needs to say.
"I gave you a hell of a time on this one. You were right."
"Forget about it."
"I can't. I wanted to believe so badly that there was a way out of this. I mean, I'm staring down the barrel of this thing. You know, hell. For real, forever, and I'm just…"
"Yeah."
"I'm scared, Sam. I'm really scared."
"I know."
"I guess I was willing to believe anything. You know, last act of a desperate man."
"There's nothing wrong with having hope, Dean."
"Hope doesn't get you jack squat. I can't expect Dad to show up with some miracle at the last minute. I can't expect anybody to, you know. The only person who can get me out of this thing is me."
"And me."
And…that's as much deep-and-meaningful as Dean can take, and so the moment is broken. And Sam reciprocates in kind, understanding and facilitating his brother's need to lighten the moment.
"'And me'? […] Deep revelation, having a moment, that's what you come back with? 'And me'?"
"Do you want a poem?"
"Moment's gone. Unbelievable."
Oh, boys. There's so, so much more I could say right now, but words fail me. It'll have to wait. Full recap will be up later in the week.
Supernatural 3.14 Long Distance Call.
Aww, man. We're really building up momentum for the season finale now.
My reactions to this episode divide pretty neatly into the good and the bad. The good was, of course, the Winchester brothers as they enter Dean's final days, and the bad revolves around the plot and MOTW.
"Come to me."
So, just to get it out of the way, I'll deal with the bad first. The plotting and structure of this episode are a lot weaker than last week, and the MO of the Crocotta makes no sense to me. Its actions aren't even all that consistent within the episode, and its abilities are never made clear. Mimicking a dead person over the telephone is one thing, mimicking that person by email another – but conjuring up an image of the girl's dead mother? Where did it get that from? And how? How close would it have to be to do that, or can it monitor events with a chosen victim long-distance? How does it acquire such complete information about chosen victims and their lost loved ones? It implied while talking to Sam that it could pick all the information out of the ether, tapping into technology, but no amount of hacking of emails and old voicemails could give it that much insight into a person's relationship with a deceased relative. Is it able to delve into the minds of the people it meets, as so many other supernatural creatures do? We simply aren't told, as the monster isn't fleshed out in any way, existing only as a vehicle for the story.
I also don't get the whole 'come to me' business. These people were being driven to suicide by the Crocotta's actions – but unless the creature was right there at the time to eat their souls, how did it benefit in any way? How long would the soul hang around in the corpse for the creature to hotfoot on over and collect? Clearly its habits have evolved from the pattern Sam describes of luring people into the dark, since it operated remotely for almost all of its victims in this episode. But surely it would be easier to just mug people in dodgy parts of town, and pick up snacks that way? Maybe it's just a sadist who enjoys tormenting victims before eating their souls.
Still, having said all that, telephone stalking is creepy. It's not your typical Supernatural creepy, but still creepy. It's something that happens in real life, even when ghosts and monsters aren't involved.
One more thought: shouldn't the first guy's wife have heard the telephone ringing incessantly? Heard the shot? She sounds so vague and clueless when questioned. And it was obvious that whatever was going on would be traced back to the phone company the moment that fly flew into Sam's ear!
"Well, what the hell else have we been doing lately other than trying to break your deal?"
Onto the good. The MOTW might be a weak plot device, but where this episode shines is what Supernatural does best: delving into the heart of the relationship between the two leads. In Ghostfacers last week we learned that Dean had only two months left before his crossroads deal came due. That was February 29th. We know from the Season Two Companion that Sam was brought back to life on his birthday, May 2nd. A screenshot of the printout of telephone calls that the phone company tech gives the brothers shows that the most recent call from the Crocotta was on April 26th. Dean is down to his last few days now.
"Chasing our tails, that's what. Sam, we've talked to every professor, witch, soothsayer and two-bit carnie act in lower 48 and nobody knows squat. And we can't find Bela, we can't find the Colt, so until we actually find something, I'd like to do my job."
That's Dean in a nutshell. Throwing himself into work has always been his favoured method of denial. We've seen so many times in the past how much he needed the focus provided by working a case to keep from being overwhelmed by his own problems; how much more so now, just days away from eternity in hell?
I'm a little curious to know why finding Bela and the Colt is so important in connection to the crossroads deal. Are they hoping the contract-holding demon will show up in person to collect? Or is the plan to try to shoot off a few of the hellhounds when they come snapping at Dean's heels? Either way, it seems a vain hope – but at this stage, any hope is better than none.
And maybe that's why Dean has held off from telling Sam about Ruby's admission that she can't save him – he was allowing his increasingly desperate little brother to hold onto that faint last hope for as long as possible. It is clear that he doesn't want to admit it even now, it slips out in the heat of the quarrel, and oh, their faces. Both of them. Sam is crushed along with his hope, and Dean looks just as defeated. Saying it out loud makes it real.
"So what, now you're keeping secrets from me, Dean?"
"You really want to talk about who's keeping secrets from who?"
Ooh, nice one. It's good to see that issue being touched on. Dean hasn't forgotten Jus in Bello. He's just been letting it go. He doesn't press the matter even now, just brings it up as a tool to make Sam back off.
"When my partner says run the number, I suggest you run the number."
For all that Dean only has a matter of days left to live now, and for all Sam's deep reluctance to take on the job in the first place, once they are on the case they work it as smoothly and professionally as ever. It's something we've seen from Sam many times since the Pilot, that no matter how little he wants to take on a given job, once he is committed to it he gives it his full attention. Having said that, though, we do see Dean doing the initial Internet research while Sam lounges around doing nothing. That doesn't happen often, and perhaps is a further sign of Dean's determination to distract himself with this job in contrast to Sam's continued half-heartedness about it, when not with a witness.
When questioning the first witness, the brothers are well and truly back on form, however: Dean being a little abrupt and Sam stepping in to smooth the way. Those roles have been reversed so often this season, it's good to see a return to mild-mannered Sam!
Sam is very pretty in this episode. Dean, too, of course – Dean always looks good. But Sam is especially pretty here.
I love the scene where Dean good cop-bad cops the little phone company tech, no input from Sam required, other than to stand there backing his brother up with a spot of glowering. I especially love that once Dean has menaced the guy into helping, the brothers smirk at each other in delight that the ruse worked. It's the exact opposite point of view than we had last week, when the Ghostfacer's were on Stewie's side of similar exchanges, and we got to see what it is like to be the outsider on the receiving end of Dean's menace. And that initial visit to the phone company also gives us Dean angling for free food. Hee. And suits! So pretty in the suits.
Do they deliberately cast midgets in the guest roles? So many of the guest actors are tiny in comparison to the JJs!
Also in this episode, we see Sam driving a rental! What's that all about? It's very practical, sure, enabling the brothers to cover more ground as they work separate angles on the job, but it's not something we've ever seen before. Maybe it's a sign that they're feeling a bit flush now they no longer have the FBI on their backs.
The girl, Lanie, rags on Sam's cheap suit just moments after I was thinking how good he looks in it. Is that the faux-FBI suit purchased way back in Phantom Traveler? Looks like it. I'm surprised she didn't have a dig at his hair, as well! But I love the way Sam deals with her, gently coaxing her into a full confession of her telephone interaction with her dead mother. He looks so amused by her teenage stroppiness the whole time they're talking. Maybe her belligerent attitude reminds him of himself at the same age. Lanie isn't the most engaging Girl In Danger they've had ever, but she serves her purpose, and I like that SuperSammy recognises the creature just by the line 'come to me.
"Completely rocked my understanding of the word 'necrophilia'." Mwahah – what kills me is that there's a girl walking past Dean just in time to hear that, and she looks kind of disturbed and hurries past, whereupon he turns to check her out automatically.
Hey, there's SleepingSam! Whoa. When do we ever get to see Sam fast asleep in bed? Oh, but I'm sure a lot of this motel furniture is recycled. That bedding looks familiar. Oh, and Sam's wearing season one hoodies and jackets.
"Newsflash, Sam: people are supposed to be freaked out by ghosts."
I don't know why that line amuses me so much. Maybe because the brothers are so rarely freaked out by ghosts.
Hee @ Dean's voicemail message. "This is Herman Munster. Leave a message."
"What's with the quotey fingers?" Hah. The spirit phone might be a red herring, but it's always good to see Dean's homemade EMF meter making an appearance! And the phone thing feeds into Dean's need to believe that it really is John calling him. He's no longer working the job as a job; he's searching for evidence to back up what he wants to believe.
"Why aren't we sure?"
"Because I don't know what's going on around here, Dean."
It's very much the cheap option to have JDM make a return to the show and only do voice, no? So much easier to schedule than flying him all the way out to Vancouver to film!
Everything changes the moment Dean takes the first telephone call from notJohn. Up till that moment he'd been focused on working this job, keeping his mind off his own problems for just a little while longer. It's how he's got through the last few months. Ever since DALDOM he's seemed so very at peace with himself, with all his doubts and fears out in the open, able to take refuge in his old habit of compartmentalising and living for the moment, very firmly not thinking about what lies ahead. But then he hears his Dad's voice, and all that resolve comes crashing down, and oh man, the look on his face just slays me. Little boy lost. He's only got a few days left to live, and he's going to hell forever, where his soul will be burned away until there's nothing left but a demon where there used to be Dean, and he is terrified.
Dean has been the better part of two seasons coming to terms with his father's death and with who John really was, flaws and all, gaining badly needed independence and growing into his own man. But then he hears John's voice and all of a sudden he's right back in that place, transformed once more into the 12-year-old who believes his father is a superhero because clinging to that belief is the only way he can hold his fears at bay. He wants so badly to believe that it's real. "What if it really is Dad? What happens if he calls back? […] What do I say?" Aww. Dean. And his reaction when Sam can't come up with anything better than 'hello', stomping out of the motel in scorn – that's a return to form. Dean always needs a bit of distance when there's any kind of emotional storm on the horizon.
Sam, when he first hears about the phone call, has a similar look little boy lost look about him. John's death was so hard for them both to deal with. But Sam isn't the one who heard John's voice, didn't have the same kind of relationship with him to begin with, so he is able to remain more objective and question the situation. And what he sees worries him deeply, because they have been drawn right into the heart of the case, and he didn't want to take the job in the first place, and time is running out, and now all kinds of old wounds are being reopened.
Dean sitting up all night waiting for John to call again just really hurts. It's exactly how the Crocatta operates, of course – finding a weak spot to tap into – and he's found a prime specimen here.
"Dean, how could you do it? […] Sell your soul."
"I was looking after Sammy, like you told me to."
Oh, man. Those two sentences, right there? Their relationship in a nutshell. This creature is good. There's no way it tapped into all this floating around the technological ether. It's got to be able to delve into the mind, as well, to be able to manipulate its victims like this. And just…man. The way Dean's voice breaks on the words. "I was looking after Sammy, like you told me to." Oh, that hurts. It's such a huge part of why he made that deal in the first place, the overwhelming sense of having failed in his Dad-given duty to look after his little brother no matter what. He'd never expect anything but censure for it.
"I never wanted this. Never. You're my boy; I love you. I can't watch you go to hell, Dean."
"I'm sorry. I don't know how to stop it."
"'Cause if you break the deal, Sam dies, right? […] I know a way out, for both of you."
Yep, this creature is really good at what it does. Finds the exact right spot to apply pressure. First the reproof Dean would be expecting, followed by the affirmation and offer of salvation he craves, the combination more than sufficient to throw him well and truly off balance and keep him there, in his current state of mind.
"Don't get too excited, Sammy. You might pull something."
Dean's used that crack before. He's just so, so desperate to believe, and Sam really hates having to be the sceptical one and point out the holes in the theory. They both need the hope, so very much. I don't think I've ever loved Sam more than I do here, so weary and hurt and trying so hard not to crush Dean's hope at the same time as trying to make his brother see how false that hope really is.
The situation here is an exact reversal of that we saw in Houses of the Holy last season. Then, Sam was the one who wanted so badly to believe in something more, while Dean was sceptical of anything he had no evidence for. This time around, Dean's the one clinging to blind faith, but this is an old faith, faith in his Dad, the Dad he always believed in so strongly, no matter what happened.
"Meanwhile, I'll be here getting ready to save my life."
Oh, that's a low blow. Dean always has tended to lash out when he's hurting and has no way of escape from it. Sam looks so tired in this scene. He desperately needs hope to cling to, as well, and I don't doubt that he wants this to be real as much as Dean does, but he can see how unlikely it is, and it hurts.
"After everything, you're still going on blind faith.
"Well, maybe that's all I've got, okay!"
Dean's lack of faith in him must hurt Sam badly, as well. Dean doesn't believe Sam can save him; that much is pretty clear, even if he isn't saying so out loud.
"Dean's not going to fall for this. He's not going to kill that guy."
Aww, Sam's faith in his brother is touching. And after all Sam's emphasis on Dean not going off on his own, we end up with the brothers fighting very separate battles at the end. Maybe symbolic of how they are about to be separated forever.
The scenes where Dean breaks into the man's house and gets into a brutal fight with him are very uncomfortable to watch. The guy gives as good as he gets, of course, but he's a grieving father who believes he's confronting his child's killer in his own home. Then again, Dean believes he's fighting the demon who holds the contract on his soul, although he should still be more careful with the host body – his fear and desperation are in control in this scene. I suppose it shows how easy it is to cross lines in this business, how dangerous it is to blindly follow the voice of a dead man. Not easy scenes to watch. Dean's dismay when he realises the truth is painful. He wanted it to be his Dad on the phone, he wanted this to be a demon that could be destroyed, wanted to save his own life, wanted it all to be over. But it was all a lie, and that last hope is extinguished.
You have to wonder, though, how Dean's very pro-active anti-demon preparations and actions here tie in with the 'no weaselling out' clause on his demon deal. He isn't supposed to be able to do anything to try to get out of the deal, on pain of Sam's death – by so actively working to release himself from that deal, he's treading a very fine line here, surely.
I'm starting to worry that something is going to happen to Sam in the finale. Because we've spent the entire season expecting it to be Dean, and the Show does like to twist our expectations, so I'm starting to get a little anxious about Sam's continued good health. The next two weeks will tell if I'm way off base on that one, or not.
"I know what you are. And I know how to kill you."
"Wait! Wait! If we're overcharging you for the call waiting, or something, I know how to fix that." Bless.
Sam also attacks an innocent man before realising he's got it wrong. The Crocatta is very good at manipulating people. That's two weeks in a row Sam has been forced to watch an innocent person murdered right before him, while bound and unable to help them in any way. Like he didn't already have a complex about being helpless to save people, specifically Dean. Kinda nasty that the creature uses Sam's knife to do it.
"Found Dean's number. Then your number, your Dad's number. Emails, voicemails. You see, people think that stuff gets erased. But it doesn't. You'd be surprised at how much of yourself is just floating out there, waiting to be plucked. […] Technology makes life so much easier. […] You're all so connected. But you've never been so alone."
Wow, the FBI would have loved this guy, while they were searching in vain for any trace of the brothers!
The Crocatta stroking Sam's hair with the bloody knife is very creepy. Sam's hair isn't even that wild at the moment!
"I'm sorry it wasn't Dad."
The audio is out of sync for the last scene, which is annoying. But it's an awesome scene. Sitting side by side, as is usual for emotional scenes, but Dean actually turns to look Sam in the eye, which isn't so usual. And this is Sam at his best: no judgement, no recriminations, just listening, making soothing noises in all the right places, letting his brother say what he needs to say.
"I gave you a hell of a time on this one. You were right."
"Forget about it."
"I can't. I wanted to believe so badly that there was a way out of this. I mean, I'm staring down the barrel of this thing. You know, hell. For real, forever, and I'm just…"
"Yeah."
"I'm scared, Sam. I'm really scared."
"I know."
"I guess I was willing to believe anything. You know, last act of a desperate man."
"There's nothing wrong with having hope, Dean."
"Hope doesn't get you jack squat. I can't expect Dad to show up with some miracle at the last minute. I can't expect anybody to, you know. The only person who can get me out of this thing is me."
"And me."
And…that's as much deep-and-meaningful as Dean can take, and so the moment is broken. And Sam reciprocates in kind, understanding and facilitating his brother's need to lighten the moment.
"'And me'? […] Deep revelation, having a moment, that's what you come back with? 'And me'?"
"Do you want a poem?"
"Moment's gone. Unbelievable."
Oh, boys. There's so, so much more I could say right now, but words fail me. It'll have to wait. Full recap will be up later in the week.
