"Crazy's what, every day of our lives?"

[llywela]

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."

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.

Comments

[galathea-snb.livejournal.com]

Lovely! :) I agree that this was a very straightforward casefile episode, with some nice, even if obvious, parallels to the brother's situation. Actually I really liked that because it gave at least in the middle part some time to breathe. This season starts off with throwing us so intensely into the drama and new plots and characters, that I just needed something 'normal'. Of course the last scene just erased that feeling again! *lol*

[gwendolyngrace.livejournal.com]

I've only had time to watch this episode once, but as usual, this is very helpful to put everything in perspective and offers some hints about what's coming. I love what you point about about how both boys are taking on some of John's (worse) characteristics, esp. in their interaction with each other.

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 missyjack points out, he deliberately set fairy tales aside as a too-painful reminder of Before. But I'm not sure it's possible for him to have been educated in a state school system and *not* have come into contact with some fairy tales. He does clearly know more than he's admitting - because he comes up with some of the details on his own. I think it's just that, not being all that literary in his tastes, he hasn't immersed himself in them like some of us have done. (OTOH, dude! Not knowing that huge a body of folklore? Tsk.)

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...."

[shaw012145.livejournal.com]

The banner is different, not your usual style, which to me ... you have not used textures. However, it is lovely.

[littlepunkryo.livejournal.com]

How the heck did I miss this the first time???

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.