"So you're mad because I'm starting to agree with you?"

[llywela]

I am SO BORED of coughing and sneezing now. How long can this stupid cold possibly last?

*grumble grumble*

Okay, so my meta-rific recap for Malleus Maleficarum is now up - 25 pages in which I ramble on about how much teeth and maggots squick me out, the brothers' shared vocabulary, Sam's expressions, Dean's expertise, gender issues versus archetypes, what it means for Sam to have Dean and Ruby in the same place at the same time, Sam's perception of Dean the Hunter and why trying to shape himself according to that perception is dangerous, role reversal, Sam's chilling ruthlessness when he has a goal in sight, demonic power struggles, Ruby's machinations, and what the show's demon mythology means for Dean. Among other things.

To read the recap, click the link below:

"Nice dick work, Magnum."

The banner was made using caps by marishna. I haven't made any of my usual illustrative graphics this week, due to the brain death caused by this stupid cold, but might edit some in at a later date.

Comments

[littlepunkryo.livejournal.com]

RECAP!!! OMG OMG BUT IT'S ONLY BARELY WEDNESDAY! (And I really need to go to bed because it took me like 10 tries to spell Wednesday right. And I just spelled that one wrong too.)

I have a cold too. I was fine up until yesterday, and now my throat is killing me so bad I can't sleep.

[littlepunkryo.livejournal.com]

Aww, no pretty things to print! Oh well, I'll live. I'm actually still on the fence about this episode, but it was fun to read through your review!

You know what's particularly heartbreaking to me? For all the years before this one, Dean was trying to protect Sam from becoming too hardened. It was Dean opting to take on all the tough decisions and choices that allowed Sam to keep his soft heart, and now it looks like it will all be for nothing, because Sam is right - if he wants to survive, he can't really be the Sam we known and love.

And what's also hard is that I think Sam is hardening not only because he has to, but because he thinks it will somehow help him save Dean. And he couldn't kill someone before - meaning Jake and Gordon - when it was his own life at stake, but the second it's Dean's soul on the line, he doesn't have a problem.

[galathea-snb.livejournal.com]

Ahh Jo review! ♥ Really loved this one, very sharp and well structured. *hugs*

I've seen grumbling about gender issues in this episode, with all the witches being women, but honestly, I think that's being a little over-sensitive to political correctness.
OMG yes! I am honestly every time baffled this comes up. Nobody ever complains if the victims are males or kids and they are often enough. I made a statistic once that showed that there's even more male deaths on the show than female and on the evil side they are spread out as well.

The same goes for the complaint about Dean calling witches/Ruby bitches and skanks sexistic, I mean, c'mon, we never heard Dean use those names on real women, he always treats them with respect. We can't forget that he talks to a demon here, who doesn't constitute as a person for Dean. Same goes for people who use black magic. He hates those people, knowing what kind of havoc they wreak for personal gain. I can't believe that people complain about his words choices here. :( I was never ever offended by anything in the show.

That unwavering intensity is Sam's scariest and most dangerous characteristic, when you think about it. It's Sam, though, and he's his father's son.
It always kills me to see just how much like John Sam often is in his single-mindedness and how much he really needs Dean at his side to remind him what's important in the end. Sam might be Dean's conscience, but Dean is Sam's connection to family and loyalty. It's so devastating to see that stripped away from Sam, leaving a ruthless hunter in its wake. Ruthless!Sam by choice is even more scary than evil!Sam, turned by forces beyond his control. :(

But the trap she set for Dean involved black magic rather than demon power, presumably because it was an assassination carried out at distance.
I still haven't come up with a good reason for her to attack Dean in the first place. Why not go for Sam directly? Since she knows where their motel is, she could've even just went there and confront Sam directly, with her telekinetic power Sam was never any match for her and if she wanted to kill him she could have achieved that goal any time after she met him at Elisabeth's place. That whole set-up just doesn't make sense to me. :(

I don't think gender or sex mean anything to demons.
I used to think the same. I think that demons tend to possess persons who are either useful to them or match their own character profile. Like the Envy demon possessing the guy who was envious of his neighbor or Meg and Tammi possessing the persons that were close to those they needed them to be. On the other hand, with the reveal that demons were humans it might be that they do have gender preferences, based on their gender when they were alive, but Meg proved that they can possess persons of any gender if they want to.

Still loving the episode after multiple viewings. A lot to chew over and the question of Ruby's agenda is still in the open and I hope it turns out to be a spectacular twist in the story .. even if we might only get it somewhen around fall. /sigh

[kilynn16.livejournal.com]

I finally got a chance to read this, and I'm so glad I did! 3.09 was a difficult episode for me to watch. It was so hard to see Sam giving up and becoming more and more jaded and hardened, but it was even harder seeing Dean see Sam become those things. If that makes any sense. I just feel like, Dean truly thought he was doing the right thing, making his deal. As long as Sam was all right, Dean didn't care what happened to himself. But it turns out that Sam isn't going to be all right. Dean has created what is essentially hell on earth for Sam and Sam is going to have to deal with that all on his own. Dean has made this bed, but Sam's the one that's going to have to lie in it. And my heart breaks with the unfairness of it all, because Dean really was just trying to do what was best for his family. *sigh* I just can't even think about it for too long because I get all worked up.

I wish I had more time to ramble on about all the fantastic points you made, but the new episode is airing here in an hour and I must go, you know, prepare myself emotionally. *L*