1.16: "I want us to be a family again."
May. 8th, 2006 10:18 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
llywelaThere was a lot of great stuff in this episode, but it doesn't go down as one of my favourites – overall it felt a bit bitty, somehow. More a place-marker in the season – moving ongoing plots forward and characters into place – than a coherent story in its own right.
I did appreciate the fact that the good guys really didn't win in this episode. They got smacked down and just barely escaped with their lives. No salting and burning, no exorcising of restless spirits, no killing of the demons…nope, this one definitely chalks up as a defeat. Which is good – it's always good to be reminded that our protagonists are human and fallible.
Felt very bad for the unfortunate girl who got murdered so gruesomely in the teaser. Very creepy, being stalked by a shadow; she really should have turned the lights on when she got home. Might not have helped, but it really couldn't have hurt, especially given the fright she'd just had. I hate wandering around in the dark they way she was. And then, splat: we have our case of the week.
Dean and Sam dressed up as alarm company technicians…lots of LOL there.
LANDLADY: Everything was in perfect condition—except Meredith.
SAM: And what condition was Meredith in?
LANDLADY: Meredith was all over. In pieces.
Lots of ick, too.
The way Dean is written seems a bit off at this stage in the episode – playing up the ladies' man, not-so-bookish side of his personality a bit too heavy-handedly. It jars ever so slightly.
And then we have Meg, who I disliked intensely the first time we met her, and disliked just as intensely on her reappearance. But here at last we start to get into some real meat in this episode, as the moment she's introduced to Dean Meg starts dragging out all those old issues that Sam spouted to her when they met previously.
DEAN: So, you’ve heard of me?
MEG: Oh, yeah. I’ve heard of you. Nice—the way you treat your brother like luggage. (He looks confused.)
DEAN: Sorry?
MEG: Why don’t you let him do what he wants to do? Stop dragging him over God’s green earth.
SAM: Meg, it’s all right. (The three of them look around quietly. DEAN whistles lowly.)
DEAN: Okay, awkward. I’m gonna get a drink now. (He gives SAM a puzzled look, then walks over to the bar.)
MEG: Sam, I’m sorry. It’s just—the way you told me he treats you...if it were me, I’d kill him.
SAM: It’s all right. He means well.
"I'd kill him"? Way to overreact, and I like that Sam is, in his own quiet way, instantly suspicious of Meg. I also like the way Dean reacts to her accusations – those issues between the brothers that came to a head in Scarecrow were resolved, and they've come a long way since then, but that doesn't mean that their differences have gone away. They've just learned to live with them a little better, and having them dragged up again now hurts.
DEAN: And what was she saying? I treat you like luggage? What, were you bitchin’ about me to some chick?
SAM: Look, I’m sorry, Dean. It was when we had that huge fight when I was in that bus stop in Indiana. But that’s not important, just listen—
DEAN: Well, is there any truth to what she’s saying? I mean, am I keeping you against your will, Sam?
SAM: No, of course not.
Sam's reasons for being suspicious of Meg aren't all that convincing – it does come across as a very thin excuse for following her. But on the other hand, he's right – random coincidences tend not to be that random or coincidental in their lives.
I liked Dean doing the book research and giving Sam the exposition for once. Except, of course, that it turns out he didn't do the research himself, but called a contact of their dad's for help. The expo on the Daevas sounded really cool and detailed – someone had a lot of fun researching the bad guys for this show!
Sam spying on Meg while she did her little blood ritual to communicate with her demonic master was the point at which I really started to feel invested in this story. Although I was sitting there thinking 'no way can't she hear him grunting and gasping back there!" But the characterisation still feels a little off during random conversations between the brothers, and doesn't kick in again until the later conversation, as they prepare to go stake out Meg's warehouse. By which time they've already called Dad to leave a message explaining their suspicions and asking for his help, which – he's never come in response to any of their messages before, even when Dean was dying. But the potential lead on the demon that killed their mom is what they're hoping will draw him in this time. Although, as I understand it, America is an awfully big place. Travelling around it isn't quick. Dad would need to be somewhere in the vicinity already to get there in time.
And then we get the real meat of the episode as, preparing to go into battle, those differences between the outlooks of the brothers, so recently stirred up by Meg's barbed comments, resurface once more in heated conversation. Sam is so excited at the prospect of finding the mom-and-Jess-killing demon it's almost painful, while Dean is much more guarded right from the start. But it's what would happen if they really did find and destroy it that really divides them.
SAM: God, could you imagine if we actually found that damn thing? That demon?
DEAN: Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, all right?
SAM: I know. I’m just sayin’, what if we did? What if this whole thing was over tonight? Man, I’d sleep for a month. Go back to school—be a person again.
DEAN: You wanna go back to school?
SAM: Yeah, once we’re done huntin’ the thing.
DEAN: Huh.
SAM: Why, is there somethin’ wrong with that?
DEAN: No. No, it’s, uh, great. Good for you.
SAM: I mean, what are you gonna do when it’s all over?
DEAN: It’s never gonna be over. There’s gonna be others. There’s always gonna be somethin’ to hunt.
SAM: But there’s got to be somethin’ that you want for yourself—
DEAN: Yeah, I don’t want you to leave the second this thing’s over, Sam.
Man, Jensen really does break my heart in scenes like this. Sam's pretty much a small picture guy: he wants to find and destroy this one demon and then get on with his life. He's prepared to hunt and kill other bad things along the way, but that one demon is where it all starts and ends for him. Whereas Dean…
For Dean, this is his life. He's the big picture guy. He wants to find and destroy that demon as much as Sam does, but he's also looking beyond that. It's just one demon, and there will always be more, and this is what they do. The family business. And he wants, desperately, to have his family back together again, and to keep them together.
DEAN: Why do you think I drag you everywhere? Huh? I mean, why do you think I came and got you at Stanford in the first place?
SAM: ‘Cause Dad was in trouble. ‘Cause you wanted to find the thing that killed Mom.
DEAN: Yes, that, but it’s more than that, man. (He returns to the dresser and is silent again, then once more turns to Sam.) You and me and Dad—I mean, I want us… I want us to be together again. I want us to be a family again.
SAM: Dean, we are a family. I’d do anything for you. But things will never be the way they were before. (DEAN looks heartbroken.)
DEAN: (sadly) Could be.
SAM: I don’t want them to be. I'm not gonna live this life forever. Dean, when this is all over, you’re gonna have to let me go my own way.
Like I said: break my heart.
Then comes the showdown with Meg and the Daevas, and the reveal that this was all an elaborate trap set up not for them, but for their dad. But it just…feels off somehow. Like the writing was a bit clumsy. They're telling us how good the dad is, and how the boys are his weakness, but we've seen absolutely no evidence of that so far, and the first rule of storytelling is: show, don't tell. I think that's what bothers me about this episode: too much telling, not enough showing.
MEG: He is pretty good. I’ll give you that. But you see, he has one weakness.
DEAN: What’s that?
MEG: You. He lets his guard down around his boys, lets his emotions cloud his judgment. I happen to know he is in town. And he’ll come and try to save you. And then the Daevas will kill everybody—nice and slow and messy.
This is the reason John Winchester abandoned his sons (or rather, son, since it was just Dean at that stage) so abruptly, I gather. Because all of a sudden they became his weak spot, his Achilles heel. But it feels like a weak excuse because, really – he'd been hunting with Dean for years. Would a quick note to explain have been so hard or so dangerous, or taken so long?
Loved that both brothers had knives and were working on getting free the whole time Meg was toying with them. So Sam destroys her altar, the Daevas turn on Meg and drag her out of the window, and the story clearly doesn't end there because there's still at least ten minutes to go…
But the boys don't know that. They think it's all over, and head back to the motel to repair their war wound. And lo and behold! Dad's there waiting for them. He must've been somewhere in the vicinity after all. The lure of a potential lead on the mom-killing-demon really was what it took to draw him to them, over and above the prospect of losing a son. Damn.
Love the character detail in this scene – Dean goes straight to his dad for a big, manly bear-hug; Sam hangs back. Because Sam and his dad have been estranged for years, so a little distance and wariness is only to be expected here.
John's excuses for keeping his sons at a distance remain weak, which bugs me because I really wanted to be convinced.
JOHN: It’s tried to stop me before.
SAM: The demon has?
JOHN: It knows I’m close. It knows I’m gonna kill it. Not just exorcise it or send it back to hell—actually kill it.
DEAN: How? (JOHN smiles.)
JOHN: I’m workin’ on that.
SAM: Let us come with you. We’ll help. (DEAN gives SAM a warning look.)
JOHN: No, Sam. Not yet. Just try to understand. This demon is a scary son of a bitch. I don’t want you caught in a crossfire. I don’t want you hurt.
He doesn't want them hurt? But he's the one who raised them to hunt, who has actively sent them on missions in his absence, knowingly sending them into mortal danger of a kind where, if anything went wrong, he'd never find out what happened to them…
So I'm assuming he believes this particular danger is greater, somehow, but we aren't really shown that so are left to draw our own conclusions from what we're told. The emotional content is a lot stronger; Sam and John reconciled at last is beautiful. And abruptly ended by the Daevas attacking once more.
Meg can survive a fall like that from a window and control the Daevas without her altar, because she had a pendant with the symbol on it? Girl's got some power behind her.
The Daevas attack is gruesome stuff, and suitably scary because our protagonists really do take a beating before Sam – who is coming off lightest this time around – manages to break out a flare and light up the room, giving them a chance to escape.
And in all the rush Sam has the presence of mind to grab the bag of weapons and take it out with them. Nice, because they really do need to have their weapons with them.
The ending…leaves me unsatisfied. This is the second episode in a row where the fallout has felt rushed. It's probably important in terms of character that it's Dean who first realises they'll have to split up again, and even John seems undecided at first, while Sam is the one who desperately doesn't want to. But there isn't time for in depth analysis of the whys and wherefores – a rapid decision has to be made because they're all beat up and bleeding, with enemies right on their tail.
So, John heads off in one direction, and the boys speed away in the other.
And boy, for an episode I said didn't rank as a favourite, I've found plenty to say about it!
I did appreciate the fact that the good guys really didn't win in this episode. They got smacked down and just barely escaped with their lives. No salting and burning, no exorcising of restless spirits, no killing of the demons…nope, this one definitely chalks up as a defeat. Which is good – it's always good to be reminded that our protagonists are human and fallible.
Felt very bad for the unfortunate girl who got murdered so gruesomely in the teaser. Very creepy, being stalked by a shadow; she really should have turned the lights on when she got home. Might not have helped, but it really couldn't have hurt, especially given the fright she'd just had. I hate wandering around in the dark they way she was. And then, splat: we have our case of the week.
Dean and Sam dressed up as alarm company technicians…lots of LOL there.
LANDLADY: Everything was in perfect condition—except Meredith.
SAM: And what condition was Meredith in?
LANDLADY: Meredith was all over. In pieces.
Lots of ick, too.
The way Dean is written seems a bit off at this stage in the episode – playing up the ladies' man, not-so-bookish side of his personality a bit too heavy-handedly. It jars ever so slightly.
And then we have Meg, who I disliked intensely the first time we met her, and disliked just as intensely on her reappearance. But here at last we start to get into some real meat in this episode, as the moment she's introduced to Dean Meg starts dragging out all those old issues that Sam spouted to her when they met previously.
DEAN: So, you’ve heard of me?
MEG: Oh, yeah. I’ve heard of you. Nice—the way you treat your brother like luggage. (He looks confused.)
DEAN: Sorry?
MEG: Why don’t you let him do what he wants to do? Stop dragging him over God’s green earth.
SAM: Meg, it’s all right. (The three of them look around quietly. DEAN whistles lowly.)
DEAN: Okay, awkward. I’m gonna get a drink now. (He gives SAM a puzzled look, then walks over to the bar.)
MEG: Sam, I’m sorry. It’s just—the way you told me he treats you...if it were me, I’d kill him.
SAM: It’s all right. He means well.
"I'd kill him"? Way to overreact, and I like that Sam is, in his own quiet way, instantly suspicious of Meg. I also like the way Dean reacts to her accusations – those issues between the brothers that came to a head in Scarecrow were resolved, and they've come a long way since then, but that doesn't mean that their differences have gone away. They've just learned to live with them a little better, and having them dragged up again now hurts.
DEAN: And what was she saying? I treat you like luggage? What, were you bitchin’ about me to some chick?
SAM: Look, I’m sorry, Dean. It was when we had that huge fight when I was in that bus stop in Indiana. But that’s not important, just listen—
DEAN: Well, is there any truth to what she’s saying? I mean, am I keeping you against your will, Sam?
SAM: No, of course not.
Sam's reasons for being suspicious of Meg aren't all that convincing – it does come across as a very thin excuse for following her. But on the other hand, he's right – random coincidences tend not to be that random or coincidental in their lives.
I liked Dean doing the book research and giving Sam the exposition for once. Except, of course, that it turns out he didn't do the research himself, but called a contact of their dad's for help. The expo on the Daevas sounded really cool and detailed – someone had a lot of fun researching the bad guys for this show!
Sam spying on Meg while she did her little blood ritual to communicate with her demonic master was the point at which I really started to feel invested in this story. Although I was sitting there thinking 'no way can't she hear him grunting and gasping back there!" But the characterisation still feels a little off during random conversations between the brothers, and doesn't kick in again until the later conversation, as they prepare to go stake out Meg's warehouse. By which time they've already called Dad to leave a message explaining their suspicions and asking for his help, which – he's never come in response to any of their messages before, even when Dean was dying. But the potential lead on the demon that killed their mom is what they're hoping will draw him in this time. Although, as I understand it, America is an awfully big place. Travelling around it isn't quick. Dad would need to be somewhere in the vicinity already to get there in time.
And then we get the real meat of the episode as, preparing to go into battle, those differences between the outlooks of the brothers, so recently stirred up by Meg's barbed comments, resurface once more in heated conversation. Sam is so excited at the prospect of finding the mom-and-Jess-killing demon it's almost painful, while Dean is much more guarded right from the start. But it's what would happen if they really did find and destroy it that really divides them.
SAM: God, could you imagine if we actually found that damn thing? That demon?
DEAN: Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, all right?
SAM: I know. I’m just sayin’, what if we did? What if this whole thing was over tonight? Man, I’d sleep for a month. Go back to school—be a person again.
DEAN: You wanna go back to school?
SAM: Yeah, once we’re done huntin’ the thing.
DEAN: Huh.
SAM: Why, is there somethin’ wrong with that?
DEAN: No. No, it’s, uh, great. Good for you.
SAM: I mean, what are you gonna do when it’s all over?
DEAN: It’s never gonna be over. There’s gonna be others. There’s always gonna be somethin’ to hunt.
SAM: But there’s got to be somethin’ that you want for yourself—
DEAN: Yeah, I don’t want you to leave the second this thing’s over, Sam.
Man, Jensen really does break my heart in scenes like this. Sam's pretty much a small picture guy: he wants to find and destroy this one demon and then get on with his life. He's prepared to hunt and kill other bad things along the way, but that one demon is where it all starts and ends for him. Whereas Dean…
For Dean, this is his life. He's the big picture guy. He wants to find and destroy that demon as much as Sam does, but he's also looking beyond that. It's just one demon, and there will always be more, and this is what they do. The family business. And he wants, desperately, to have his family back together again, and to keep them together.
DEAN: Why do you think I drag you everywhere? Huh? I mean, why do you think I came and got you at Stanford in the first place?
SAM: ‘Cause Dad was in trouble. ‘Cause you wanted to find the thing that killed Mom.
DEAN: Yes, that, but it’s more than that, man. (He returns to the dresser and is silent again, then once more turns to Sam.) You and me and Dad—I mean, I want us… I want us to be together again. I want us to be a family again.
SAM: Dean, we are a family. I’d do anything for you. But things will never be the way they were before. (DEAN looks heartbroken.)
DEAN: (sadly) Could be.
SAM: I don’t want them to be. I'm not gonna live this life forever. Dean, when this is all over, you’re gonna have to let me go my own way.
Like I said: break my heart.
Then comes the showdown with Meg and the Daevas, and the reveal that this was all an elaborate trap set up not for them, but for their dad. But it just…feels off somehow. Like the writing was a bit clumsy. They're telling us how good the dad is, and how the boys are his weakness, but we've seen absolutely no evidence of that so far, and the first rule of storytelling is: show, don't tell. I think that's what bothers me about this episode: too much telling, not enough showing.
MEG: He is pretty good. I’ll give you that. But you see, he has one weakness.
DEAN: What’s that?
MEG: You. He lets his guard down around his boys, lets his emotions cloud his judgment. I happen to know he is in town. And he’ll come and try to save you. And then the Daevas will kill everybody—nice and slow and messy.
This is the reason John Winchester abandoned his sons (or rather, son, since it was just Dean at that stage) so abruptly, I gather. Because all of a sudden they became his weak spot, his Achilles heel. But it feels like a weak excuse because, really – he'd been hunting with Dean for years. Would a quick note to explain have been so hard or so dangerous, or taken so long?
Loved that both brothers had knives and were working on getting free the whole time Meg was toying with them. So Sam destroys her altar, the Daevas turn on Meg and drag her out of the window, and the story clearly doesn't end there because there's still at least ten minutes to go…
But the boys don't know that. They think it's all over, and head back to the motel to repair their war wound. And lo and behold! Dad's there waiting for them. He must've been somewhere in the vicinity after all. The lure of a potential lead on the mom-killing-demon really was what it took to draw him to them, over and above the prospect of losing a son. Damn.
Love the character detail in this scene – Dean goes straight to his dad for a big, manly bear-hug; Sam hangs back. Because Sam and his dad have been estranged for years, so a little distance and wariness is only to be expected here.
John's excuses for keeping his sons at a distance remain weak, which bugs me because I really wanted to be convinced.
JOHN: It’s tried to stop me before.
SAM: The demon has?
JOHN: It knows I’m close. It knows I’m gonna kill it. Not just exorcise it or send it back to hell—actually kill it.
DEAN: How? (JOHN smiles.)
JOHN: I’m workin’ on that.
SAM: Let us come with you. We’ll help. (DEAN gives SAM a warning look.)
JOHN: No, Sam. Not yet. Just try to understand. This demon is a scary son of a bitch. I don’t want you caught in a crossfire. I don’t want you hurt.
He doesn't want them hurt? But he's the one who raised them to hunt, who has actively sent them on missions in his absence, knowingly sending them into mortal danger of a kind where, if anything went wrong, he'd never find out what happened to them…
So I'm assuming he believes this particular danger is greater, somehow, but we aren't really shown that so are left to draw our own conclusions from what we're told. The emotional content is a lot stronger; Sam and John reconciled at last is beautiful. And abruptly ended by the Daevas attacking once more.
Meg can survive a fall like that from a window and control the Daevas without her altar, because she had a pendant with the symbol on it? Girl's got some power behind her.
The Daevas attack is gruesome stuff, and suitably scary because our protagonists really do take a beating before Sam – who is coming off lightest this time around – manages to break out a flare and light up the room, giving them a chance to escape.
And in all the rush Sam has the presence of mind to grab the bag of weapons and take it out with them. Nice, because they really do need to have their weapons with them.
The ending…leaves me unsatisfied. This is the second episode in a row where the fallout has felt rushed. It's probably important in terms of character that it's Dean who first realises they'll have to split up again, and even John seems undecided at first, while Sam is the one who desperately doesn't want to. But there isn't time for in depth analysis of the whys and wherefores – a rapid decision has to be made because they're all beat up and bleeding, with enemies right on their tail.
So, John heads off in one direction, and the boys speed away in the other.
And boy, for an episode I said didn't rank as a favourite, I've found plenty to say about it!
