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"Crazy's what, every day of our lives?"
Didn't find as much to say about this one as the last - for all the parallels and contrasts, the bulk of the episode is a pretty straightforward and by-the-numbers case story, without much in the way of subtext to chew over. But sandwiching that case story we have meaty, juicy mytharc character development, and there's plenty to say about that. So - 21 pages of recap can be found over at my website, just click the link below.
"That's bizarre even for us."
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marishna. I don't actually like any of them, though, this time around. My limited artability has deserted me, apparently.
"That's bizarre even for us."
Graphics made by me using caps from Screencap Paradise and
marishna. I don't actually like any of them, though, this time around. My limited artability has deserted me, apparently.
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I've enjoyed all the new plots and dynamics, as you know - as much as I loved the claustrophobic feel of last season, I think opening things up again now is healthy for characters, actors and fans alike. But it is nice to have episodes like this that are old-fashioned and simple case files, just the brothers working a job with no outside influences or pressures.
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Funny is, no matter how angsty S2 was, for me S3 feels just as claustrophobic when it comes to the brother's relationship as the previous one, if not more so, since both characters are angsty but isolated from each other. Sam is in a scary space and he mirrors Dean in the beginning of S2 here, but Dean had Sam during that phase, just like Sam had Dean getting him through his Jessica grieving phase. Now Sam is left to his anger and Dean to his dealing process and they can't find a way to each other. /sigh
Isn't it nice how they logically progress from season to season with the reversals LOL. S4 we should finally have the brothers strong and together without one needing the other, full equals and partners. ;)
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ROFL If they flip-flop every season, then logic says that next season we'll have another reversal...
This season is just as angsty as last, but I'm not finding it as claustrophobic - the world has opened up a little, even if they are still very much on their own with their problems most of the time. It's just a different feel. Anyways, I like that the formula still always feels fresh.
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There's been a fair amount of meta spent on the "Could you be any more gay" comment, so I won't expound in detail here. Suffice to say, though, that I don't think it was as much a "shout-out" as a put-down to the slashers. For one thing, "Gay" in this context doesn't have anything to do with Sam's presupposed homosexuality, or even with emasculating him the way Dean often does. It's used in its much more pejorative sense, as in, "Lame" or "Stupid" or--put simply--"embarrassing."
Now, I don't happen to slash Sam and Dean myself, as I think it's pretty clear that canonically there's nothing going on. But, if I agree that I wish the digs at the slash community would stop, it's for (I suspect) very different reasons to the ones you're alluding to in your recap. It's because I get very disappointed in the writers, crew, and even cast when they perpetuate a heteronormative POV that seeks to damage or belittle any other interpretation.
Yes, the comment was "in character" for Dean - if only because Dean can be royally insensitive and tends, in his blue-collar, working-man's way, to carry the passive prejudices of his class. Passive because I don't think Dean is an active homophobe--far from it--but in that he says things and implies things that indicate any hint of sensitivity is tantamount to being feminine, and any hint of femininity is tantamount to being weak.
And I for one get really tired of having these kinds of behaviour models shoved in our faces. It's frequently funny - in this episode and in this context, it was clunky and unwarranted.
So, no, in this fandom, I'm not a "slasher" - in that I don't "see" them as gay, nor do I particularly write about them as a couple. But. I do read occasional Wincest (of many varieties), and as a (fairly BIG) slash author in other fandoms, I fully sympathize with and understand the slash fans' point of view when it comes to their particular brand of "What If" and "I reject your reality and substitute my own" subtextual interpretation.
And even if that sets the creators' teeth on edge, the least they could do is *ignore* it, because the harder they try to smack-down the slashers, the more adamant the slashers will be about reconfiguring the series to provide a platform for the kinds of explorations they want to take.
Ahem. Sorry, that was a little more soapboxy than I intended.
Um. Oh, right! There were a couple other things I wanted to say: Regarding the fairy tales. I think to some extent this was Dean winding Sam up, or else (as
And the crossroads: There's really only one crossroads with that quality of dirt. The boys just keep carrying it around in the trunk of the Impala.
Seriously - I thought to myself, "You know, those dirt crossroads are *awfully* convenient...."
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Dean was absolutely winding Sam up, all the way through the episode. He does it a lot, playing dumb just for the fun of seeing Sam puffing up into lecture mode. Here, there was a lot of tension between them, beneath the surface.
And the crossroads: There's really only one crossroads with that quality of dirt. The boys just keep carrying it around in the trunk of the Impala.
Mwahahahah. Perfect - it's the only explanation that makes sense!
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Anyway, awesome as usual. I liked the banners, but I usually do anyway.
Honestly? I liked it, but it isn't one of my favs. I was so sorry for both the boys, because Dean is in trouble, and the one person he knows will always help him, he has to tell NOT to help him. It's like he's signing his own death warrant, and while he's willing to do it it's still very scary.
Plus, there was this:
I have a sleeping!Dean kink, so I was like stuck in "AWW" mode all the way until Sam shot the demon in the head.
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It is scary. It's scary and poignant to watch season two eps again, as well. Like BUABS when Dean tells Sam that he's going to save him, even if it's the last thing he does. Back then, Sam clung to that promise as his salvation, but it was that promise and others like it - that need, on both sides - that drove Dean to do what he did. :(
I liked the banners, but I usually do anyway.
Thank you. Some weeks I like 'em more than others. They aren't intended to be great works of art anyway (ha! As if) only illustrations to go with the text. I had a sudden fit of whimsy today and started making a bunch for WIAWSNB (why? No clue) so will prob finish those and edit 'em into the recap tomorrow. I must be mad - I certainly keep myself busy!
I have a sleeping!Dean kink, so I was like stuck in "AWW" mode all the way until Sam shot the demon in the head.
And then you were in EEEEEEKKK mode! Sleeping!Dean is all kinds of adorable. He looks so peaceful. I could get all metaphysical about how we see Dean asleep more than Sam, because Dean represents physicality on the show, where Sam represents the cerebral, but Sleeping!Dean kink covers it, I feel!
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And I ♥ fake!Sam, who was all "you're still my brother" and "you're having a psychotic breakdown!" LOL. And then when his mom was begging him not to "kill himself." Poor, poor Dean.
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