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llywelaHollywood Babylon. Okay, so this isn't the best timed or most well-placed episode ever, and neither is it the most gripping, but it's a lot more amusing than I'd expected it to be after Tall Tales, and it has a lot of great Dean moments. It's probably a good thing it comes after a four-week hiatus, though, rather than following hot on the heels of Heart with such a solidly standalone and light-hearted offering.
There is only one real nod to continuity in this episode, and that is this early exchange between the brothers:
SAM: "Dude, you wanted to come to LA."
DEAN: "Yeah, for a vacation. I mean, swimming pools and movie stars, not to work."
SAM: "This seem like swimming pool weather to you, Dean? I mean, it's practically Canadian."
DEAN: "Yeah. I just figured after everything that happened with…Madison…you could use a little R&R, that's all."
SAM: "Well, maybe I want to work, Dean, maybe it keeps my mind off things."
DEAN: "Okay. Okay, all right."
This is probably the single most important exchange of the episode, as well as being the sole nod to continuity we are given. The last episode was hugely emotionally traumatic, but it isn't unexpected for the show to follow that up with a light-hearted offering like this one, with little or no mention of those distressing events. This short exchange, skirting around the issue, tells us pretty much everything we need to know. Heart took place in San Francisco, not so far from LA, relatively speaking, and was obviously devastating for Sam and upsetting for Dean. We don't know how much time has passed, but probably not much. Worried about the effect Madison's death will have had on Sam, Dean has finally got his way and dragged his little brother to LA for a holiday – and it's a nice nod to continuity that LA was on his list of potential holiday destinations way back in Croatoan, and the closest one on that list to San Francisco. But Sam, not wanting, or possibly not able, to just kick back and relax with everything that's been going on, has turned that holiday into a new job.
Hence this scene. It's become a working vacation, and Dean wants to salvage as much vacation from it as he can, wants to enjoy the experience of being on a film set – and from his behaviour, and depth of film knowledge displayed all through the episode and hinted at throughout the show, it wouldn't be a stretch to say that this is probably a bit of a dream come true for him. But Sam, on the other hand, wants to focus on the job and nothing else, wants to not have to think about anything else. They've always had such different coping mechanisms for stress.
The random prowling around on-set to work the case amuses me immensely, as once they are off the official tour, they seem able to pretty much go wherever they like, no security at all.
DEAN: "What's a PA?"
SAM: "I think they're kinda like slaves."
That's how easy it is to get a job in Hollywood? You just wander onto set and everyone assumes you are meant to be there? Fly me out there at once!
Dean's enthusiasm for free food is such a consistent and endearing character trait, and Sam's frustrated resignation to it is equally consistent. Sam's 'I can't believe we're related' face will never not be amusing. Oh, and how much do I love that Sam has got just about all his information about this potential case online. Almost as much as I love Dean's coy bashfulness when he first talks to Tara, an adopted persona that has her confiding in him almost at once. I really like this conversation because it gives us so many different facets of Dean, skilfully and deliberately woven together in order to achieve the desired result – getting vital information for the case out of the sole eyewitness. And, as a bonus, getting to talk to an actress he admires at the same time. Dean never takes his eyes off the case throughout this episode, but he also very much makes the most of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to indulge a little, as well.
So at first the case seems to be a bust, a fake rumour deliberately seeded in order to gain free publicity for the movie. And for all his determination to have a job to work to keep his mind off things, Sam doesn't seem all that bothered by this, more mildly irritated yet resigned to the waste of time. And I always like seeing hints of cases that turn out not to be, because it stands to reason that a lot of the vague reports they investigate will turn out to be non-supernatural in origin. They have to investigate them all, though, in order to find the ones that are genuine.
But then there's a genuine death, so the fake haunting becomes a genuine haunting, and Dean working on-set as PA is fab - headset, utility belt, official 'Hell Hazers II' t-shirt, and all. I especially like the anonymity of the job he's doing, the way he smirks quietly to himself when the creative types query salt as a spirit deterrent but isn't even remotely tempted to pitch into the debate. It would be so easy to jump on in and act the professional, full of information, and would also be so very inappropriate, drawing unwanted and negative attention to himself, and making it harder to work the case. Validation really isn't something Dean ever seems to crave; he's always happy just knowing what he knows and doing what he does, without anyone else ever really knowing anything about it.
Sam asks Dean how it's going, and he promptly starts waxing lyrical about the film production in general and Tara's performance in particular, like a child in a sweetshop, absolutely entranced by this tiny taste of something he can never actually have. With his love of bad horror films already established, it figures that he'd get an enormous kick out of watching one being made.
Sam looks incredulous. "Dean, you know, when I ask how it's going, I'm talking about the case, right? We don't really work here. You know, I thought you hated being a PA?"
Cue semi-gratuitous crotch shot as Dean grins with the kind of boyish enthusiasm we haven't seen all that much this season. "I don't know, it's not so bad – I kind of feel like part of the team, you know."
Sam gives his absolute best pissy little brother look, but I can see how Dean, who has lived most of his life in such extreme isolation from regular society, would find inclusion in any kind of team spirit appealing, even from such a lowly position. Sam, though, not wanting his mind to be on other things, has reason for being irritated at this display of apparently cavalier attitude to the case.
Then there's the amusing little interplay with Sam trying to tell Dean he's confirmed that they have a genuine death this time, while Dean is distracted by someone talking to him over his headset - amusing mostly because Sam doesn't seem to realise that the headset isn't just for show, or that Dean isn't just hanging around eating on set, but has been actively interacting and working with the people around him, rather than merely pretending to – hence the team spirit thing. And although Sam is a bit pissy about it, Dean quickly demonstrates the value of his working on set when he gets the sound guy to play a tape of a scene ruined by EVP. See, this is the benefit of Dean throwing himself so wholeheartedly into the role of PA – he isn't just indulging himself, he's forming valuable contacts that will help with the case. Enjoying himself at the same time is a benefit, of course, and Dean has always drawn whatever transient enjoyment he can from his work, rather than letting each job be the be all and end all of his existence. If the job is going to be his life, he might as well make some kind of life out of it, and that's an attitude Sam has never really grasped, being as single-mindedly focused as he is.
Whether this laid-back attitude is entirely fitting at this point in the season, after the very grave events of Heart, is another matter. But I really can't find it in me to begrudge Dean his desire to make the most of whatever 'holiday' he can salvage from this vacation-turned-job, not when a vacation of any kind is something he's needed so very badly for such a long time. A working holiday like this is a compromise that suits both him and Sam, and despite Sam's occasional pissy expressions and comments, he doesn't really seem to begrudge Dean's enjoyment of his time on set either. That Sam can't unwind enough to share in that enjoyment is both fitting to where Sam is emotionally right now and testament to the very different interests of the brothers. Dean clearly loves this kind of really awful horror film, whereas Sam has always preferred to read and learn in his downtime.
Sam listens to the EVP, and a raised eyebrow each is all the communication he and his brother need on the subject – however different their attitudes to the superficialities of this job, when it comes down to the nuts and bolts of it they are very much in synch, and I really like that. Dean then further demonstrates the value of his networking on set, because he's got hold of a copy of the dailies. And oh how I love the nonchalance with which he relates this networking, which reinforces his comment about team spirit earlier. It's so nice to be allowed to see Dean interacting with a large group of people and being so completely accepted by them as just another one of them, rather than being the weirdly intense outsider trying awkwardly to obtain unusual information, to see him able to recognise people and talk to them about things without being seen as a freak. Sam is usually the one who shines in social situations, but here, in a setting he's not best suited for, and still being so subdued and too case-focused post-Madison, Sam is much more in the background of this episode.
I feel I should be more bothered than I am about Sam's reduced role, but although the long scenes with the guest characters are a little dull at times, and could have been shortened to allow more time for Sam, I find his background-ness actually rather fitting to his state of mind. He wants to keep focused on this case in order to take his mind off Madison and his destiny, and everything else he's got going on, but that very focus makes it harder for him to achieve the networking and information-gathering needed to actually resolve the case – he can't unwind enough. So he's off doing the grunt work while Dean holds the focus of the episode, working on the film set. When he is around, Sam mostly seems pretty much like his usual self – broody and morose, sure, but not so much so that he isn't alternately amused and frustrated by his brother's behaviour. In other words, he seems to be handling the circumstances of Madison's death pretty well, it being just another in a long line of traumatic events, and he's learning to roll with the punches to avoid going under. Any repercussions and fallout are clearly going to come later rather than sooner.
And maybe Dean should be paying a little more overt attention to Sam's state of mind post-Madison. But not only does Sam not seem like he really needs to be monitored that closely, but I get the feeling they've already worked their way past that point, already talked it out as much as either of them can stand while in the process of agreeing to come to LA, Dean feeling that they both need a vacation, and Sam turning that vacation into a new job. Yes, in the past we've seen them each prodding at the other to open up more about whatever was bothering them, but they're past that now, and have been for quite a while. They both know perfectly well what's going on in the other's head, and also know that there is absolutely nothing they can do about it, other than carry on doing what they are doing. Both have been determinedly playing the 'denial' and 'business as usual' cards pretty much since Playthings. They might not be together that much in this episode – their interaction is pretty much entirely case related, with no 'domestic' motel/Impala scenes at all – but they're on the same page here, and it shows in very subtle ways, rather than being spelled out for us. Sam wants it to be a job, and nothing but a job, and Dean is letting him get on with that as a coping mechanism, while Dean wants it to be a bit of a vacation as well as a job, and Sam is letting him get on with that, beyond the odd snarky comment and eye roll.
They both draw a lot of comfort in difficult times from withdrawing into the relative safety of their long-established roles and banter, avoiding serious discussion of whatever's wrong, and we've seen that on numerous occasions – Playthings sticks out as an obvious recent example of this, although the roles each assumed felt slightly forced in that episode, as suited the fact that they were still a little at odds with one another, dancing around their differences and overcompensating. They don't have that conflict here, and so can just slide into patterns that come naturally to them, a welcome distraction from issues that can't be resolved. That they are so very comfortable and at ease with one another despite recent traumatic events is rather lovely to see, and speaks volumes for the fact that their unity, even while working mostly separately, is providing them both with a lot of strength.
The attitudes and behaviour of both actually are strongly reminiscent of Nightshifter – following on from emotionally draining events, Sam is tightly buttoned up and a little on the snippy side, while Dean is relaxed and laid-back, since everything is out in the open, both of them completely at ease with the other's attitude, and drawing a lot more comfort from their normal banter than they would any deep-and-meaningful heart-to-hearts about painful events that can't be changed.
I love that when Dean plays the scene in which the studio guy's death was caught on camera, Sam instantly spots the relevant detail - a ghost, also caught on camera. That's such consistent characterisation for Sam – if there's the tiniest detail to be seen, nine times out of ten it will be Sam, with his meticulous eye for detail, who catches it. I also love that he is able to recognise the 'Thirties starlet' from that dark, grainy image, even though he seems to know nothing whatsoever about the more modern film lore that Dean has at his fingertips.
So then there's the requisite salting and burning.
DEAN: "Hey, we gotta go check out Johnny Ramone's grave when we're done here."
SAM: "You wanna dig him up, too?"
DEAN: "Bite your tongue, heathen!" Hee.
Sam stands around watching while Dean finishes off the digging - this is a very normal pattern for their work. Then Sam salts while Dean douses with lighter fluid, and then Dean does the final honours and drops a lighted match into the grave, with a very grim air and no parting words for the homicidal spirit. Here, at the business end of the job, the extreme greyness of the issues they've been dealing with lately are apparent in the weary stance and expression of both, however much of a relaxing distraction working on a film set has been for Dean, if not so much for Sam.
Except that another grisly death means the case remains far from solved, which leaves both boys looking rather disconsolate, with the notion of a second ghost suddenly operating in the same location is unsettling for both. "These things don't usually tag-team," Dean grumbles.
With production shut down for a few days, Dean and Sam kind of alternate tasks from what has been established thus far in the episode - Sam hangs around on set, watching the dailies in their purloined trailer, while Dean researches this second haunting.
SAM: "Maybe the spirits are trying to shut down the movie 'cause they think it sucks. 'Cause I mean it kinda does." Hee.
I love Latin-Geek!Sam, recognising the mangled Latin chanting on screen as a genuine necromantic summoning ritual. Sam really is the man for fine detail. But then when they go to talk to the writer, Sam's usual faux-sincerity kinda seems all the more obviously faux compared to Dean's very genuine geeky enthusiasm seen earlier, because he's trying but he really can't fake any semblance of authentic interest in the script. Dean's not all that impressed either, because the script really isn't what he's been finding so much fun about the making of this film.
And it's a pretty steady progression from there to working out what's going on - the original writer being so pissed off about having his script ripped to bits that he's using black magic to exact revenge, and this revelation leads us into the final showdown, with Dean and Sam having to defend the new writer from a bunch of ghosts.
MARTIN: "You're one hell of a PA."
DEAN: "Yeah, I know."
Heh. It's always nice to see the boys' life-saving work being acknowledged and thanked. Appreciation is so rare for them.
I also like just how pissed off Sam is when he confronts Walter - the boys really don't like it when humans start messing with dark forces like this. As if their work wasn't difficult enough when the spirits are naturally occurring, without having them deliberately summoned by idiots like this.
MARTIN: "I cannot believe there's an afterlife."
DEAN: "Oh, there's an afterlife, all right. But mostly it's a pain in the ass."
If Dean's networking on set has proved so vital to solving the case, so too have Sam's sharp-eyes and quick brain, his idea about using the camera in his phone to locate the ghosts proving so crucial now - and how impressive is Dean's ability to blast the ghosts to bits so accurately from the pretty vague direction he's given.
Leaving Dean to defend Martin, Sam goes off to confront Walter, the culprit, and Sam just seems so very pissed off about it all - like a stern teacher reprimanding a particularly dense and recalcitrant child. He is so very much John's son in moments like this. Then Walter throws a temper tantrum and destroys his talisman, and Sam is dismayed, but not particularly sympathetic about the guy sealing his own fate.
SAM: "Walter, you brought them back, forced them to murder. They're not going to be very happy with you."
That's a recurring theme with supernatural creatures that are entrapped by humans – we saw it in Faith and again in Shadow. Once that control is broken, vengeance is exacted upon the person who had enslaved them. And so it proves here, with Walter meeting a very grisly end.
Case closed. A delighted Martin uses his newfound supernatural knowledge to spice up his script, because that's show business, and Sam can only roll his eyes in amused disbelief. Dean gets to live the ultimate fanboy's dream of sleeping with the lead actress before grabbing one last food freebie as he and his brother wander off into the sunset together...
Toward the fake sunset, that is, because this is Hollywood, where nothing is real. Such a post-modern episode this is. And how enormously pronounced the difference in height is in this final scene.
And that's a wrap. Not my favourite episode ever, by any means, but I enjoy and appreciate a lot of the character detail, if not so much the episode taken as a whole.
Full recap to come later in the week.
There is only one real nod to continuity in this episode, and that is this early exchange between the brothers:
SAM: "Dude, you wanted to come to LA."
DEAN: "Yeah, for a vacation. I mean, swimming pools and movie stars, not to work."
SAM: "This seem like swimming pool weather to you, Dean? I mean, it's practically Canadian."
DEAN: "Yeah. I just figured after everything that happened with…Madison…you could use a little R&R, that's all."
SAM: "Well, maybe I want to work, Dean, maybe it keeps my mind off things."
DEAN: "Okay. Okay, all right."
This is probably the single most important exchange of the episode, as well as being the sole nod to continuity we are given. The last episode was hugely emotionally traumatic, but it isn't unexpected for the show to follow that up with a light-hearted offering like this one, with little or no mention of those distressing events. This short exchange, skirting around the issue, tells us pretty much everything we need to know. Heart took place in San Francisco, not so far from LA, relatively speaking, and was obviously devastating for Sam and upsetting for Dean. We don't know how much time has passed, but probably not much. Worried about the effect Madison's death will have had on Sam, Dean has finally got his way and dragged his little brother to LA for a holiday – and it's a nice nod to continuity that LA was on his list of potential holiday destinations way back in Croatoan, and the closest one on that list to San Francisco. But Sam, not wanting, or possibly not able, to just kick back and relax with everything that's been going on, has turned that holiday into a new job.
Hence this scene. It's become a working vacation, and Dean wants to salvage as much vacation from it as he can, wants to enjoy the experience of being on a film set – and from his behaviour, and depth of film knowledge displayed all through the episode and hinted at throughout the show, it wouldn't be a stretch to say that this is probably a bit of a dream come true for him. But Sam, on the other hand, wants to focus on the job and nothing else, wants to not have to think about anything else. They've always had such different coping mechanisms for stress.
The random prowling around on-set to work the case amuses me immensely, as once they are off the official tour, they seem able to pretty much go wherever they like, no security at all.
DEAN: "What's a PA?"
SAM: "I think they're kinda like slaves."
That's how easy it is to get a job in Hollywood? You just wander onto set and everyone assumes you are meant to be there? Fly me out there at once!
Dean's enthusiasm for free food is such a consistent and endearing character trait, and Sam's frustrated resignation to it is equally consistent. Sam's 'I can't believe we're related' face will never not be amusing. Oh, and how much do I love that Sam has got just about all his information about this potential case online. Almost as much as I love Dean's coy bashfulness when he first talks to Tara, an adopted persona that has her confiding in him almost at once. I really like this conversation because it gives us so many different facets of Dean, skilfully and deliberately woven together in order to achieve the desired result – getting vital information for the case out of the sole eyewitness. And, as a bonus, getting to talk to an actress he admires at the same time. Dean never takes his eyes off the case throughout this episode, but he also very much makes the most of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to indulge a little, as well.
So at first the case seems to be a bust, a fake rumour deliberately seeded in order to gain free publicity for the movie. And for all his determination to have a job to work to keep his mind off things, Sam doesn't seem all that bothered by this, more mildly irritated yet resigned to the waste of time. And I always like seeing hints of cases that turn out not to be, because it stands to reason that a lot of the vague reports they investigate will turn out to be non-supernatural in origin. They have to investigate them all, though, in order to find the ones that are genuine.
But then there's a genuine death, so the fake haunting becomes a genuine haunting, and Dean working on-set as PA is fab - headset, utility belt, official 'Hell Hazers II' t-shirt, and all. I especially like the anonymity of the job he's doing, the way he smirks quietly to himself when the creative types query salt as a spirit deterrent but isn't even remotely tempted to pitch into the debate. It would be so easy to jump on in and act the professional, full of information, and would also be so very inappropriate, drawing unwanted and negative attention to himself, and making it harder to work the case. Validation really isn't something Dean ever seems to crave; he's always happy just knowing what he knows and doing what he does, without anyone else ever really knowing anything about it.
Sam asks Dean how it's going, and he promptly starts waxing lyrical about the film production in general and Tara's performance in particular, like a child in a sweetshop, absolutely entranced by this tiny taste of something he can never actually have. With his love of bad horror films already established, it figures that he'd get an enormous kick out of watching one being made.
Sam looks incredulous. "Dean, you know, when I ask how it's going, I'm talking about the case, right? We don't really work here. You know, I thought you hated being a PA?"
Cue semi-gratuitous crotch shot as Dean grins with the kind of boyish enthusiasm we haven't seen all that much this season. "I don't know, it's not so bad – I kind of feel like part of the team, you know."
Sam gives his absolute best pissy little brother look, but I can see how Dean, who has lived most of his life in such extreme isolation from regular society, would find inclusion in any kind of team spirit appealing, even from such a lowly position. Sam, though, not wanting his mind to be on other things, has reason for being irritated at this display of apparently cavalier attitude to the case.
Then there's the amusing little interplay with Sam trying to tell Dean he's confirmed that they have a genuine death this time, while Dean is distracted by someone talking to him over his headset - amusing mostly because Sam doesn't seem to realise that the headset isn't just for show, or that Dean isn't just hanging around eating on set, but has been actively interacting and working with the people around him, rather than merely pretending to – hence the team spirit thing. And although Sam is a bit pissy about it, Dean quickly demonstrates the value of his working on set when he gets the sound guy to play a tape of a scene ruined by EVP. See, this is the benefit of Dean throwing himself so wholeheartedly into the role of PA – he isn't just indulging himself, he's forming valuable contacts that will help with the case. Enjoying himself at the same time is a benefit, of course, and Dean has always drawn whatever transient enjoyment he can from his work, rather than letting each job be the be all and end all of his existence. If the job is going to be his life, he might as well make some kind of life out of it, and that's an attitude Sam has never really grasped, being as single-mindedly focused as he is.
Whether this laid-back attitude is entirely fitting at this point in the season, after the very grave events of Heart, is another matter. But I really can't find it in me to begrudge Dean his desire to make the most of whatever 'holiday' he can salvage from this vacation-turned-job, not when a vacation of any kind is something he's needed so very badly for such a long time. A working holiday like this is a compromise that suits both him and Sam, and despite Sam's occasional pissy expressions and comments, he doesn't really seem to begrudge Dean's enjoyment of his time on set either. That Sam can't unwind enough to share in that enjoyment is both fitting to where Sam is emotionally right now and testament to the very different interests of the brothers. Dean clearly loves this kind of really awful horror film, whereas Sam has always preferred to read and learn in his downtime.
Sam listens to the EVP, and a raised eyebrow each is all the communication he and his brother need on the subject – however different their attitudes to the superficialities of this job, when it comes down to the nuts and bolts of it they are very much in synch, and I really like that. Dean then further demonstrates the value of his networking on set, because he's got hold of a copy of the dailies. And oh how I love the nonchalance with which he relates this networking, which reinforces his comment about team spirit earlier. It's so nice to be allowed to see Dean interacting with a large group of people and being so completely accepted by them as just another one of them, rather than being the weirdly intense outsider trying awkwardly to obtain unusual information, to see him able to recognise people and talk to them about things without being seen as a freak. Sam is usually the one who shines in social situations, but here, in a setting he's not best suited for, and still being so subdued and too case-focused post-Madison, Sam is much more in the background of this episode.
I feel I should be more bothered than I am about Sam's reduced role, but although the long scenes with the guest characters are a little dull at times, and could have been shortened to allow more time for Sam, I find his background-ness actually rather fitting to his state of mind. He wants to keep focused on this case in order to take his mind off Madison and his destiny, and everything else he's got going on, but that very focus makes it harder for him to achieve the networking and information-gathering needed to actually resolve the case – he can't unwind enough. So he's off doing the grunt work while Dean holds the focus of the episode, working on the film set. When he is around, Sam mostly seems pretty much like his usual self – broody and morose, sure, but not so much so that he isn't alternately amused and frustrated by his brother's behaviour. In other words, he seems to be handling the circumstances of Madison's death pretty well, it being just another in a long line of traumatic events, and he's learning to roll with the punches to avoid going under. Any repercussions and fallout are clearly going to come later rather than sooner.
And maybe Dean should be paying a little more overt attention to Sam's state of mind post-Madison. But not only does Sam not seem like he really needs to be monitored that closely, but I get the feeling they've already worked their way past that point, already talked it out as much as either of them can stand while in the process of agreeing to come to LA, Dean feeling that they both need a vacation, and Sam turning that vacation into a new job. Yes, in the past we've seen them each prodding at the other to open up more about whatever was bothering them, but they're past that now, and have been for quite a while. They both know perfectly well what's going on in the other's head, and also know that there is absolutely nothing they can do about it, other than carry on doing what they are doing. Both have been determinedly playing the 'denial' and 'business as usual' cards pretty much since Playthings. They might not be together that much in this episode – their interaction is pretty much entirely case related, with no 'domestic' motel/Impala scenes at all – but they're on the same page here, and it shows in very subtle ways, rather than being spelled out for us. Sam wants it to be a job, and nothing but a job, and Dean is letting him get on with that as a coping mechanism, while Dean wants it to be a bit of a vacation as well as a job, and Sam is letting him get on with that, beyond the odd snarky comment and eye roll.
They both draw a lot of comfort in difficult times from withdrawing into the relative safety of their long-established roles and banter, avoiding serious discussion of whatever's wrong, and we've seen that on numerous occasions – Playthings sticks out as an obvious recent example of this, although the roles each assumed felt slightly forced in that episode, as suited the fact that they were still a little at odds with one another, dancing around their differences and overcompensating. They don't have that conflict here, and so can just slide into patterns that come naturally to them, a welcome distraction from issues that can't be resolved. That they are so very comfortable and at ease with one another despite recent traumatic events is rather lovely to see, and speaks volumes for the fact that their unity, even while working mostly separately, is providing them both with a lot of strength.
The attitudes and behaviour of both actually are strongly reminiscent of Nightshifter – following on from emotionally draining events, Sam is tightly buttoned up and a little on the snippy side, while Dean is relaxed and laid-back, since everything is out in the open, both of them completely at ease with the other's attitude, and drawing a lot more comfort from their normal banter than they would any deep-and-meaningful heart-to-hearts about painful events that can't be changed.
I love that when Dean plays the scene in which the studio guy's death was caught on camera, Sam instantly spots the relevant detail - a ghost, also caught on camera. That's such consistent characterisation for Sam – if there's the tiniest detail to be seen, nine times out of ten it will be Sam, with his meticulous eye for detail, who catches it. I also love that he is able to recognise the 'Thirties starlet' from that dark, grainy image, even though he seems to know nothing whatsoever about the more modern film lore that Dean has at his fingertips.
So then there's the requisite salting and burning.
DEAN: "Hey, we gotta go check out Johnny Ramone's grave when we're done here."
SAM: "You wanna dig him up, too?"
DEAN: "Bite your tongue, heathen!" Hee.
Sam stands around watching while Dean finishes off the digging - this is a very normal pattern for their work. Then Sam salts while Dean douses with lighter fluid, and then Dean does the final honours and drops a lighted match into the grave, with a very grim air and no parting words for the homicidal spirit. Here, at the business end of the job, the extreme greyness of the issues they've been dealing with lately are apparent in the weary stance and expression of both, however much of a relaxing distraction working on a film set has been for Dean, if not so much for Sam.
Except that another grisly death means the case remains far from solved, which leaves both boys looking rather disconsolate, with the notion of a second ghost suddenly operating in the same location is unsettling for both. "These things don't usually tag-team," Dean grumbles.
With production shut down for a few days, Dean and Sam kind of alternate tasks from what has been established thus far in the episode - Sam hangs around on set, watching the dailies in their purloined trailer, while Dean researches this second haunting.
SAM: "Maybe the spirits are trying to shut down the movie 'cause they think it sucks. 'Cause I mean it kinda does." Hee.
I love Latin-Geek!Sam, recognising the mangled Latin chanting on screen as a genuine necromantic summoning ritual. Sam really is the man for fine detail. But then when they go to talk to the writer, Sam's usual faux-sincerity kinda seems all the more obviously faux compared to Dean's very genuine geeky enthusiasm seen earlier, because he's trying but he really can't fake any semblance of authentic interest in the script. Dean's not all that impressed either, because the script really isn't what he's been finding so much fun about the making of this film.
And it's a pretty steady progression from there to working out what's going on - the original writer being so pissed off about having his script ripped to bits that he's using black magic to exact revenge, and this revelation leads us into the final showdown, with Dean and Sam having to defend the new writer from a bunch of ghosts.
MARTIN: "You're one hell of a PA."
DEAN: "Yeah, I know."
Heh. It's always nice to see the boys' life-saving work being acknowledged and thanked. Appreciation is so rare for them.
I also like just how pissed off Sam is when he confronts Walter - the boys really don't like it when humans start messing with dark forces like this. As if their work wasn't difficult enough when the spirits are naturally occurring, without having them deliberately summoned by idiots like this.
MARTIN: "I cannot believe there's an afterlife."
DEAN: "Oh, there's an afterlife, all right. But mostly it's a pain in the ass."
If Dean's networking on set has proved so vital to solving the case, so too have Sam's sharp-eyes and quick brain, his idea about using the camera in his phone to locate the ghosts proving so crucial now - and how impressive is Dean's ability to blast the ghosts to bits so accurately from the pretty vague direction he's given.
Leaving Dean to defend Martin, Sam goes off to confront Walter, the culprit, and Sam just seems so very pissed off about it all - like a stern teacher reprimanding a particularly dense and recalcitrant child. He is so very much John's son in moments like this. Then Walter throws a temper tantrum and destroys his talisman, and Sam is dismayed, but not particularly sympathetic about the guy sealing his own fate.
SAM: "Walter, you brought them back, forced them to murder. They're not going to be very happy with you."
That's a recurring theme with supernatural creatures that are entrapped by humans – we saw it in Faith and again in Shadow. Once that control is broken, vengeance is exacted upon the person who had enslaved them. And so it proves here, with Walter meeting a very grisly end.
Case closed. A delighted Martin uses his newfound supernatural knowledge to spice up his script, because that's show business, and Sam can only roll his eyes in amused disbelief. Dean gets to live the ultimate fanboy's dream of sleeping with the lead actress before grabbing one last food freebie as he and his brother wander off into the sunset together...
Toward the fake sunset, that is, because this is Hollywood, where nothing is real. Such a post-modern episode this is. And how enormously pronounced the difference in height is in this final scene.
And that's a wrap. Not my favourite episode ever, by any means, but I enjoy and appreciate a lot of the character detail, if not so much the episode taken as a whole.
Full recap to come later in the week.
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Date: 2007-04-23 11:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-23 11:44 am (UTC)Oh, and hi :)
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Date: 2007-04-23 11:56 am (UTC)Wordy is good. I like reading episode reviews.
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Date: 2007-04-23 01:26 pm (UTC)Ahh well, I guess I get over it sooner or later. If watched out of context I am sure I'll love this episode a lot more. :)
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Date: 2007-04-23 01:48 pm (UTC)With this episode, I totally get where you are coming from. The numerous guest characters receive a lot of time and attention, which takes away from Sam's screentime especially, and it would have been nice to see a bit of the post-Madison emotional progression that got them both to this stage. Also, the very self-conscious post-modern-ness of the inside jokes kinda leave me cold, although I find them more amusing than I expected.
But the episode does work for me in a lot of ways - the characterisation of both brothers is excellent in the fine detail. Such as Sam's keen eye for detail. And I can see how that post-Madison emotional progression would have got them to this stage, so it doesn't bother me too much that I didn't get to see it - certainly no more so than not seeing how Shadow got to Hell House bothers me.
So...not my favourite by any means. But I like it more than Tall Tales ;)
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Date: 2007-04-23 02:03 pm (UTC)And in my reviews or the BW discussion I just try to pin down where this comes from and just like with your thinking about the LoM finale, throwing the thoughts around and around in my head it gets worse the more I think about it. /sigh
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Date: 2007-04-23 02:18 pm (UTC)I dunno, though - a lot of what little squeeing I've read has been about the in-jokes and post-modernism, which didn't do much for me. I liked the character stuff, and although I see that it was mostly job-related and thus lacking in the emotional impact you were craving after Heart, I could see enough to trace the emotional progression from there to here, albeit with a bit of stretching on my part, and that was enough for me to be more or less satisfied with the other stuff.
Heh. We usually see everything so alike, it's always interesting to work out where our differences lie!
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Date: 2007-04-23 02:27 pm (UTC)LOL very true! First HotH and now HB, we're slipping, Jo! *g*