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Feb. 15th, 2008 11:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
llywelaLondon yesterday was very cold. And the buses were frustrating. The exhibition was excellent, but very crowded - there's nothing quite like a bunch of people spending 15 minutes in front of every single item on display to create a log-jam!
The Car Scrapping Man came out this morning, but decided it was going to be too much like hard work to get the car out of the car park and then left again. I have to find someone to get the engine boosted and turn the car around so it can be pulled right out of the yard with no effort required by him, apparently. Bah. Such a waste of time!
SN's Mystery Spot
"Whoever said Dean was the dysfunctional one has never seen you with a sharp object in your hands."
Whoa.
1. Is it just me, or did this episode feel like it could or should have been twice as long?
2. Okay, so Groundhog Day is kind of a cliché. In genre film and television, every man and his dog eventually makes a show like this. But this was a fantastic twisting of the formula! Various repetitive elements were established very early on, with enough variety in each re-run to prevent it becoming stale, yet monotonous enough that Sam's increasingly weary frustration was palpable. And then to twist the formula further, by allowing the timeloop to end but still continue to mess with both Sam and viewers…that was a neat twist.
3. Timing is everything. This episode wasn't intended to air in this slot – it was switched with next week's episode. And yet…having Dean die in the teaser, when last week's episode ended on Dean telling Sam that he didn't want to die, man, that gives the death scene so much more impact even than it would have had anyway.
4. The ending. On first viewing, I was a bit puzzled as to why the hell the Trickster would go to so much trouble to confront Sam again, when it had no need to, and to undo three months worth of time to put him back, because that seems to require a lot of time-and-space bending power and seemed rather extreme and motiveless, not to mention, let's say it, not entirely possible – undoing time seems to take the laws of this universe a lot further than they've ever gone before. So I tend to think, no – it wasn't anything to do with manipulating the actual universe. It had created a little mini-reality just for Sam, and kept it going to watch Sam's reactions, but then when, to use the Trickster's own words, it was no longer fun, then it wasn't worth the effort of maintaining that separate reality any longer. So it messed with Sam's head one last time, and then burst the bubble, so to speak, putting him back where he should have been all along.
5. Sam's three months alone. I wanted more. This is where the episode felt like it could and should have been a lot longer, so that we could really dig deep into Sam's head during his time alone, post-Dean. It feels kind of morbid to say, but I wanted details, like…I wanted to know if he burned Dean's body or buried it, since burning is standard for hunters, but burial seems safe for Dean, since the crossroads deal means they know his spirit isn't going to be wandering the earth. I wanted to follow Sam through those excruciating first hours and days, although I suppose we already did that with Dean and there just wasn't time or space in this episode. The cheesy little montage is what we got, with Bobby's voicemail messages supplying timeframe and specifics, and that kind of fits with the idea of the Trickster having created a separate reality for Sam.
6. Sam became so...neat during that time alone. Organising the weapons compartment in the trunk in much the same way that John organised his, keeping the motel room so neurotically tidy, pinning the research so neatly – such an enormously painful contrast to Dean's more slapdash approach. Sam is tidier and more methodical than Dean; we already knew that, but this was extreme. Almost as if he needed to underline the difference between his life now and his life then as a constant reminder of what he was missing.
7. Sam's clinical ruthlessness in that final scene with the Trickster-conjured Bobby, man, that was so cold and so terrifying a prospect for what he could become. I hope he takes a good hard look at himself now, with the memory of that burned into his mind. Family is everything, but the loop of sacrifice has to end somewhere. Someone has to draw the line and learn how to let go, but as things stand it doesn't look as if Sam is going to be able to be that person.
8. Dean's many deaths. Boy. From the sublime to the ridiculous. Sam's little 'not like this' really broke my heart, and so did each of his initial faltering attempts to break the loop – changing the time of their visit to the Mystery Spot, pulling Dean back before the car could hit him – gradually developing into increasingly desperate mania: verbally sniping at Dean, taking the Mystery Spot owner hostage so he could rip the place apart, and so on. And the way DyingDean that first time around kept his eyes glued to Sam's face the whole time he was dying. The many, many loops that were referenced but we didn't get to see, or were implied off camera, such as Sam accidentally hitting Dean with the axe. I think that one was probably the worst, and maybe all the more awful because neither we nor Sam got to dwell on the fact of his being the one to kill his brother, because the day reset itself immediately. Overall, I kept expecting Sam to reach the conclusion that tying Dean to the bed and maybe sedating him for the day was the only way to keep him safe - and even then, the motel would probably have burned down!
9. The fact that Sam got so caught up in trying to find ways to save Dean that he totally lost his focus on the case, that was interesting – another example of Sam's tunnel-vision when he gets focused like that. And so it was Dean who thought to talk to the missing man's daughter, which provided Sam with the clue he needed to figure out the Trickster's involvement. I can't help thinking there's a significant point there, and maybe that's the point that the Trickster was trying to make, although why he would care I don't know: that Sam is not going to cope when Dean is gone because his balance will be gone. We've seen it already this season, that Sam's focus on saving Dean at all costs is affecting his judgement and blinding him to the bigger picture. His reaction to Dean's many Tuesday deaths and more particularly the Wednesday death only served to drive that point home all the more. Sam has had a taste now of what lies ahead of him, and it wasn't pretty.
10. Sam chose not to tell Dean about the Trickster's final game, about the months he spent alone with Dean dead. Those boys are keeping a lot of secrets from one another this season, and that's never healthy. I can understand why he wouldn't want Dean to know, but it feels significant that he has opted for non-disclosure once again.
11. A Sam-initiated hug. Yay! Sam is never touchy-feely in the slightest, he almost never touches his brother even casually, so to grab Dean and hug him like that is the biggest possible statement he could make of just how devastated he was during those three months alone. As if he needed any more motivation to find a solution for the crossroads deal!
12. I'm now having visions of ParanoidSam not wanting to let Dean out of his sight for many days to come!
There's so much more I could say about this episode, but I've got application forms to fill in, and a car conundrum to put some thought into, so the rest will have to wait for the full recap.
The Car Scrapping Man came out this morning, but decided it was going to be too much like hard work to get the car out of the car park and then left again. I have to find someone to get the engine boosted and turn the car around so it can be pulled right out of the yard with no effort required by him, apparently. Bah. Such a waste of time!
SN's Mystery Spot
"Whoever said Dean was the dysfunctional one has never seen you with a sharp object in your hands."
Whoa.
1. Is it just me, or did this episode feel like it could or should have been twice as long?
2. Okay, so Groundhog Day is kind of a cliché. In genre film and television, every man and his dog eventually makes a show like this. But this was a fantastic twisting of the formula! Various repetitive elements were established very early on, with enough variety in each re-run to prevent it becoming stale, yet monotonous enough that Sam's increasingly weary frustration was palpable. And then to twist the formula further, by allowing the timeloop to end but still continue to mess with both Sam and viewers…that was a neat twist.
3. Timing is everything. This episode wasn't intended to air in this slot – it was switched with next week's episode. And yet…having Dean die in the teaser, when last week's episode ended on Dean telling Sam that he didn't want to die, man, that gives the death scene so much more impact even than it would have had anyway.
4. The ending. On first viewing, I was a bit puzzled as to why the hell the Trickster would go to so much trouble to confront Sam again, when it had no need to, and to undo three months worth of time to put him back, because that seems to require a lot of time-and-space bending power and seemed rather extreme and motiveless, not to mention, let's say it, not entirely possible – undoing time seems to take the laws of this universe a lot further than they've ever gone before. So I tend to think, no – it wasn't anything to do with manipulating the actual universe. It had created a little mini-reality just for Sam, and kept it going to watch Sam's reactions, but then when, to use the Trickster's own words, it was no longer fun, then it wasn't worth the effort of maintaining that separate reality any longer. So it messed with Sam's head one last time, and then burst the bubble, so to speak, putting him back where he should have been all along.
5. Sam's three months alone. I wanted more. This is where the episode felt like it could and should have been a lot longer, so that we could really dig deep into Sam's head during his time alone, post-Dean. It feels kind of morbid to say, but I wanted details, like…I wanted to know if he burned Dean's body or buried it, since burning is standard for hunters, but burial seems safe for Dean, since the crossroads deal means they know his spirit isn't going to be wandering the earth. I wanted to follow Sam through those excruciating first hours and days, although I suppose we already did that with Dean and there just wasn't time or space in this episode. The cheesy little montage is what we got, with Bobby's voicemail messages supplying timeframe and specifics, and that kind of fits with the idea of the Trickster having created a separate reality for Sam.
6. Sam became so...neat during that time alone. Organising the weapons compartment in the trunk in much the same way that John organised his, keeping the motel room so neurotically tidy, pinning the research so neatly – such an enormously painful contrast to Dean's more slapdash approach. Sam is tidier and more methodical than Dean; we already knew that, but this was extreme. Almost as if he needed to underline the difference between his life now and his life then as a constant reminder of what he was missing.
7. Sam's clinical ruthlessness in that final scene with the Trickster-conjured Bobby, man, that was so cold and so terrifying a prospect for what he could become. I hope he takes a good hard look at himself now, with the memory of that burned into his mind. Family is everything, but the loop of sacrifice has to end somewhere. Someone has to draw the line and learn how to let go, but as things stand it doesn't look as if Sam is going to be able to be that person.
8. Dean's many deaths. Boy. From the sublime to the ridiculous. Sam's little 'not like this' really broke my heart, and so did each of his initial faltering attempts to break the loop – changing the time of their visit to the Mystery Spot, pulling Dean back before the car could hit him – gradually developing into increasingly desperate mania: verbally sniping at Dean, taking the Mystery Spot owner hostage so he could rip the place apart, and so on. And the way DyingDean that first time around kept his eyes glued to Sam's face the whole time he was dying. The many, many loops that were referenced but we didn't get to see, or were implied off camera, such as Sam accidentally hitting Dean with the axe. I think that one was probably the worst, and maybe all the more awful because neither we nor Sam got to dwell on the fact of his being the one to kill his brother, because the day reset itself immediately. Overall, I kept expecting Sam to reach the conclusion that tying Dean to the bed and maybe sedating him for the day was the only way to keep him safe - and even then, the motel would probably have burned down!
9. The fact that Sam got so caught up in trying to find ways to save Dean that he totally lost his focus on the case, that was interesting – another example of Sam's tunnel-vision when he gets focused like that. And so it was Dean who thought to talk to the missing man's daughter, which provided Sam with the clue he needed to figure out the Trickster's involvement. I can't help thinking there's a significant point there, and maybe that's the point that the Trickster was trying to make, although why he would care I don't know: that Sam is not going to cope when Dean is gone because his balance will be gone. We've seen it already this season, that Sam's focus on saving Dean at all costs is affecting his judgement and blinding him to the bigger picture. His reaction to Dean's many Tuesday deaths and more particularly the Wednesday death only served to drive that point home all the more. Sam has had a taste now of what lies ahead of him, and it wasn't pretty.
10. Sam chose not to tell Dean about the Trickster's final game, about the months he spent alone with Dean dead. Those boys are keeping a lot of secrets from one another this season, and that's never healthy. I can understand why he wouldn't want Dean to know, but it feels significant that he has opted for non-disclosure once again.
11. A Sam-initiated hug. Yay! Sam is never touchy-feely in the slightest, he almost never touches his brother even casually, so to grab Dean and hug him like that is the biggest possible statement he could make of just how devastated he was during those three months alone. As if he needed any more motivation to find a solution for the crossroads deal!
12. I'm now having visions of ParanoidSam not wanting to let Dean out of his sight for many days to come!
There's so much more I could say about this episode, but I've got application forms to fill in, and a car conundrum to put some thought into, so the rest will have to wait for the full recap.
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Date: 2008-02-15 12:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-15 02:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-15 03:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-15 12:38 pm (UTC)I agree wholeheartedly, I wanted more of the Sam alone scenes. I wished they had cut down the first funny part considerably and explored Sam's time without Dean more thoroughly instead of just throwing us some gruesome images and Bobby's worried voiceover. That was an excellent opportunity to explore Sam's character in more depth, something we have with Dean plenty of times, but still misses for Sam and unfortunately they have wasted it.
I loved the return of the trickster (that twist surprised me) although his motivation to 'teach Sam a lesson' was a bit on the shaky side. So, Sam's lesson was that he needs to learn how to let Dean go if he can't save him and that he can't allow himself to turn into that ruthless and cold-hearted person? Why would the Trickster show him what he will become without Dean and then encourage him to just let Dean go? I guess I am a bit confused over the Trickster's intent here. I need to re-watch this.
LOVED the HUG!! ♥
Edit: Oh and btw it's 3x11 not 10! ;)
no subject
Date: 2008-02-15 01:38 pm (UTC)Bah. I'm having a bad week. Fixed, thanks.
LOVED the HUG!! ♥
And Dean's reaction - unlike Sam's nonplussed and pained shrugging off of Dean's hug in AHBL, although he doesn't have the full story of what brought this on he just goes with it and appreciates the gesture because he knows enough.
I am not quite sure how I feel about this episode to be honest. I love Groundhog day, it's a comedy with pretty serious undertones and what I think didn't really work well in Mystery Spot is the meshing of funny and bleak. Dean's death is Sam's worst nightmare and the repition of funny Dean death scenes seem very inappropriate in the serious context that event means for Sam. I guess I don't like Dean's death being reduced to a joke on the background of how devastating the plotline has been all season. The switch from funny to devastating threw me off, I wished they could've decided what they wanted - comedy or tragedy.
I only watched the once so far, but I'm leaning toward feeling that there are enough little moments, overall, to satisfy me. Like how Dean can't accept what Sam is telling him until Sam gets upset and admits that Dean dies every time, and then he just drops all his objections instantly and goes along with whatever Sam wants to do. And they way his eyes are glued to Sam's face throughout his first death scene. Little things. I'd have liked more depth, though - this would have been an awesome double-length episode!
I loved the return of the trickster (that twist surprised me) although his motivation to 'teach Sam a lesson' was a bit on the shaky side. So, Sam's lesson was that he needs to learn how to let Dean go if he can't save him and that he can't allow himself to turn into that ruthless and cold-hearted person? Why would the Trickster show him what he will become without Dean and then encourage him to just let Dean go? I guess I am a bit confused over the Trickster's intent here. I need to re-watch this.
Okay, thinking as I type here, so this might not be the most cogent argument ever, but I think the Trickster's MO is all about opportunism. He runs into someone he thinks needs to be taught a lesson, and he turns it into a game to amuse himself. So he has this bloke sucked into a fake wormhole (gone for good - yet another personal tragedy for someone just touched on in the episode) and then the Winchesters show up, and he's got a history with them. Like just about every supernatural creature we've ever met, he can dig into their heads and find their weaknesses, so he immediately spots Sam's almost crippling need to save Dean at all costs and just decides on a whim to make this his next game. Only the game ends up going further than he anticipated, and loses the fun element, which is why he stops it in the end. I kind of imagine that after watching Sam go through all these loops and then the three months alone 'learn to let go' is about all he can think to say!
That's all I can think at the moment, anyway.
no subject
Date: 2008-02-15 02:00 pm (UTC)I also loved how the Tuesdays were repetitive but always slightly changed, especially the delivery of the same sentences by Sam and Dean, they were always dinstinctly different. Great work from the JJ's. Dean going along with everything Sam says, as soon as he sees Sam's distress was fascinating to see. Also loved the visible disappointment in his expression when the Trickster says to Sam that he can't save his brother. So yeah, a lot of great little moments and it just didn't sit quite right on the bigger picture at times. I guess it is more that this had all the potential to be an awesome episode on every scale and just fell a bit short.
And Dean's reaction - unlike Sam's nonplussed and pained shrugging off of Dean's hug in AHBL, although he doesn't have the full story of what brought this on he just goes with it and appreciates the gesture because he knows enough. Yeah well, Sam didn't know at all what brought Dean's hug on, while Dean at least had a pretty good clue why Sam was so distressed. I just loved how it mirrored the hug in AHBL with both brothers without hesitation walking up to the other and pulling them into a bear hug, both after they experienced each other's death. These boys are so damn dependent on each other. *sighs*
Yeah, it's clear that the Trickster didn't go after them specifically in the first place, they just happened to show up and he took the opportunity to to exact revenge on them. But in the end it stops being about a practical joke, about abusing Sam's greatest weakness and I am not sure why he would want to teach Sam that lesson of life without Dean. I am asking myself if he has ulterior motifs, like somehow being involved with that whole demon war. *is still confused*
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Date: 2008-02-15 02:22 pm (UTC)Oh, and since this was meant to be episode 12 and they still haven't found Bela and the Colt, I'm guessing they won't be running into her next week, either...
Sam didn't know at all what brought Dean's hug on, while Dean at least had a pretty good clue why Sam was so distressed. I just loved how it mirrored the hug in AHBL with both brothers without hesitation walking up to the other and pulling them into a bear hug, both after they experienced each other's death. These boys are so damn dependent on each other. *sighs*
Dean knew enough, yeah. At least, he knew that Sam had experienced his death many times over and so was relieved to have broken the loop. I can't help wondering if Sam will ever tell him about the 'dead for three months' thing, because how can Sam just snap back to status quo after that? Spending that much time alone, consumed by his obsession with reversing what had happened, that has to make some kind of ongoing impression on him, surely? I suspect he will reset, though - not least because next week's episode was originally intended to air before this one, so there can't be any subtle character continuity woven into it.
But in the end it stops being about a practical joke, about abusing Sam's greatest weakness and I am not sure why he would want to teach Sam that lesson of life without Dean. I am asking myself if he has ulterior motifs, like somehow being involved with that whole demon war. *is still confused*
I'm not entirely sure, but I don't really think it was about teaching Sam a lesson - unless he said so, I forget. Although, having said that, isn't the Trickster's MO all about teaching people a lesson, teaching them the folly of their ways? Wasn't that what Tall Tales was all about, although his methods tend to leave them a little bit too dead to learn anything...
Even then, though, I'm not sure his word can be taken at face value. I think it was just that the Trickster allowed one of his games to get out of hand, with the inevitable result that he got a truly in depth look at how messed up Sam is, and that was where he couldn't help but drive home the moral of the story: get over it, already, and move on.
Not that Sam is going to, of course. Just that now he has a taste of what lies in store for him. But maybe what the Trickster has shown him is that he has a choice - he can either let himself fall apart and become a shell of who he was and a shadow of everything Dean worked so hard to preserve for him, or he can make different choices when the end comes and perhaps retain a few positives. I don't know. I need to watch again!
no subject
Date: 2008-02-15 02:56 pm (UTC)I can't help wondering if Sam will ever tell him about the 'dead for three months' thing, because how can Sam just snap back to status quo after that? I don't think he can and that's kind of the point. Just like the experience of seeing Sam dead for good and feeling the loneliness and guilt on his shoulders changed Dean forever too and forced him to make a decision. The question is, what kind of decision will Sam make now, with all that knowledge. He was so severely lost without Dean and the scene where he practically begged the Trickster to return Dean to him left me heartbroken. I can't see a way that Sam is letting go, especially with knowing how it will feel like now. How devastating the failure to save Dean over and over again in this episode must've been to him after the hesitant hope they both had just last week. *hugs boys*
The changing of the episode sequence surely will make it more difficult to sustain proper character continuity and I am curious if and how they weaseled their way out of that.
I'm not entirely sure, but I don't really think it was about teaching Sam a lesson - unless he said so Yeah, he said so, which is why that is so confusing. That he plays a joke on Sam I understand but that whole moral lesson thing that doesn't fit with his profile all that much. Not everybody died after his pranks (frat boy for example) but more often than not it was more for his own amusement than for actually wanting to change people, well, that was my impression anyway. LOL I need to watch again too! ;)
no subject
Date: 2008-02-15 03:25 pm (UTC)Yeah, he said so, which is why that is so confusing. That he plays a joke on Sam I understand but that whole moral lesson thing that doesn't fit with his profile all that much. Not everybody died after his pranks (frat boy for example) but more often than not it was more for his own amusement than for actually wanting to change people, well, that was my impression anyway. LOL I need to watch again too! ;)
Having watched again, I do think the emphasis has to be placed on the fact that the Trickster likes to play games with peoples' heads for his own amusement, has no moral code that we would understand, and really doesn't care if they actually learn something or end up dead: the entertainment value is the same, for him. So the boys arrive and he spots them and immediately sees in Sam a desperation that looks like it will be fun to toy with, so he does, because it also offers him revenge on them both.
But then when Sam finally caught on to him, he stepped the game up a level, and I do think again it was for his own amusement - but he also likes to take people down a peg, that was established, so if they survive his game and learn a lesson from it, he's satisfied with that. The frat boy established that - it was good entertainment for the Trickster, and the boy will never be the same again. And so we have with Sam - he survived his months hunting ferociously alone, he's not likely to really be the same again, so when the fun's over, the game ends. But imparting that little cautionary tale maybe screws with his head a little more, and that's also fun. Teach him the error of his ways in the cruelest way possible.
And hopefully in a few months time we'll find out if any of this plays into future episodes...
no subject
Date: 2008-02-15 02:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-15 03:12 pm (UTC)You would think so, wouldn't you? I wasn't paying him to do it, though - they were going to give me £50 for the scrap metal, so if it's too much bother I suppose it's no skin off their nose. I'll have to get my dad to come jump-start the engine and hopefully get it turned around, then arrange for the man to come back. A big nuisance, since I was off work anyway today, but now I'll have to take another day off...
Not that I mind taking time off, since I'm leaving anyway, of course.
no subject
Date: 2008-02-15 04:00 pm (UTC)But if they'd been able to do it as a two-parter, maybe we could have got into Sam's head better.
The trickster's motivations bothered me too, a little, but the more I think about it the more I think it's just that people are his playground. That puts him in natural competition with demons. So it's not that he *likes* the Winchesters--especially not while they were hunting him--but he likes the demons even less than the Winchesters. Plus this way, after torturing Sam so effectively, he now has Sam's promise that they'll let him be and leave him to mete out his just desserts in peace.
Re: 6 -
Re: 8 - I LOVED this montage. Loved the way it played out, after the first couple shocking deaths, and loved how Sam's reactions went from his complete devastation at the first couple, to his increasingly frenetic attempts to save Dean, to finally, more frustration and--not resignation--but more a determined, "Okay, that didn't work. I'll try something else" that gives way to impatience and anger.
Which then makes Wednesday's "real" death the more horrifying. That "I'm supposed to wake up" just about broke me. And realizing he's wasted precious seconds by dicking around expecting to wake up. Awwww.
Re: 9 - LOVED this, too. Because it's *not* just that Sam got so wrapped up he forgot to work the case (which is just love, and double love to Dean being the one to point it out to him), it's that Dean himself, at least up until that point, apparently follows Sam's lead and gets wrapped up in working this through with Sam, ignoring the girl in his concern for his brother who's freaking out. But I just adore that it's Dean who gives Sam the clue he needs to work out the rest. Hee.
11. I find your observation really interesting that Sam's not touchy-feely. I wonder how much of that is in reaction to Dean resisting intimate touch like that. (As you know I did that matrix way back cataloging all Dean's physical contact.) Dean touches Sam all the time, but it's usually fairly aggressive/affectionate contact: the slap on the chest, the clap on the shoulder, the double-tap to the thigh, etc. But to touch each other with tenderness is something that would be VERY UNCOMFORTABLE for Dean. It makes me wonder whether Sam's "no touch" mannerism is a sop to Dean's discomfort.
You realize you're going to make me go back and catalog all *Sam's* physical contact, aren't you? Evil, I tell you. Evil.
no subject
Date: 2008-02-15 08:21 pm (UTC)I agree - the trickster just loves playing with peoples' lives. Sometimes it ends gruesomely, other times he lets them go, but either way he just enjoys the game.
She (CaffeineKitty) also pointed out that Sam ordered two burgers and only ate one.
Good spot, and bless his heart.
I LOVED this montage. Loved the way it played out, after the first couple shocking deaths, and loved how Sam's reactions went from his complete devastation at the first couple, to his increasingly frenetic attempts to save Dean, to finally, more frustration and--not resignation--but more a determined, "Okay, that didn't work. I'll try something else" that gives way to impatience and anger.
It was the later montage I was talking about - Sam alone. It's all great stuff, albeit kinda cheesy, but so fast! That's the bit that could have made an episode all its own (giving JA a few days off ;)) Sam's progression throughout the groundhog day part of the episode I love to bits, how he starts with total bewilderment and passes through comprehension, shock and horror into utter despondency.
Because it's *not* just that Sam got so wrapped up he forgot to work the case (which is just love, and double love to Dean being the one to point it out to him), it's that Dean himself, at least up until that point, apparently follows Sam's lead and gets wrapped up in working this through with Sam, ignoring the girl in his concern for his brother who's freaking out. But I just adore that it's Dean who gives Sam the clue he needs to work out the rest. Hee.
Well, Dean was never really invested in the case to begin with - nice to have a clear distinction as to who initiated the job, for a change; it's been a while - so he just latches onto Sam's distress and goes with the flow. But while Sam is freaking out about keeping Dean alive, because he's the one experiencing the horror every time, Dean is able to keep a clearer head because he's outside the problem, so to speak. He hasn't experienced it, and is just going along with what Sam told him.
I find your observation really interesting that Sam's not touchy-feely. I wonder how much of that is in reaction to Dean resisting intimate touch like that. (As you know I did that matrix way back cataloging all Dean's physical contact.) Dean touches Sam all the time, but it's usually fairly aggressive/affectionate contact: the slap on the chest, the clap on the shoulder, the double-tap to the thigh, etc. But to touch each other with tenderness is something that would be VERY UNCOMFORTABLE for Dean. It makes me wonder whether Sam's "no touch" mannerism is a sop to Dean's discomfort.
Dean tends toward little slaps and thumps, but it's always affectionate. Sam, on the other hand, tends to touch only if he has a point to make or if there is something wrong with Dean. It's been an ongoing distinction for ages.
You realize you're going to make me go back and catalog all *Sam's* physical contact, aren't you? Evil, I tell you. Evil.
I live to torment. Go catalogue - go! Then I won't have to!
no subject
Date: 2008-02-15 10:40 pm (UTC)I just rewatched and I utterly love how intense-yet-bored he is with the 100th Tuesday. Catching the bottle without even looking, already looking at everyone with somewhat deadened eyes. He looks incredibly weary. Way to go, Jared.
I guess it's just that when I was putting together Dean's contact matrix, I was focused on him and missed (or didn't pay attention to) a lot of Sam's willing contact. (Crap. Now I really do have to go back and LOOK. Thanks. Bitch. Ta ever so.)
no subject
Date: 2008-02-18 09:59 am (UTC)Oh, the contact thing -
no subject
Date: 2008-02-18 01:51 pm (UTC)Looks like she moved it to a comm and is catching up on Season 2 over there.
Whee!
no subject
Date: 2008-02-18 02:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-17 07:16 pm (UTC)Okay, back to 311. Trust SPN to take something so overused, like Groundhog Day, and make it both painful - Dean dies like over 1oo times - and funny.
5. Sam's three months alone. I wanted more. This is where the episode felt like it could and should have been a lot longer, so that we could really dig deep into Sam's head during his time alone, post-Dean. It feels kind of morbid to say, but I wanted details, like…I wanted to know if he burned Dean's body or buried it, since burning is standard for hunters, but burial seems safe for Dean, since the crossroads deal means they know his spirit isn't going to be wandering the earth. I wanted to follow Sam through those excruciating first hours and days, although I suppose we already did that with Dean and there just wasn't time or space in this episode. The cheesy little montage is what we got, with Bobby's voicemail messages supplying timeframe and specifics, and that kind of fits with the idea of the Trickster having created a separate reality for Sam.
For some reason, I liked hunter!Sam but it freaked me out at the same time. I can't quite explain it, but, it's like...it's completely in character but so, so shocking that I never expected it. I have a feeling that Sam turned into what John came close to turning into, if he hadn't had his boys. And didn't I just say that John and Sam are more alike than John and Dean could ever hope to be? Apparently I have a one-track mind!
6. Sam became so...neat during that time alone. Organising the weapons compartment in the trunk in much the same way that John organised his, keeping the motel room so neurotically tidy, pinning the research so neatly – such an enormously painful contrast to Dean's more slapdash approach. Sam is tidier and more methodical than Dean; we already knew that, but this was extreme. Almost as if he needed to underline the difference between his life now and his life then as a constant reminder of what he was missing.
I actually think someone said that it WAS John's weapons rack in the back of the Impala. It hurts that it seems like Sam was kind of trying to erase Dean's presence from his life completely, at least in the sense of personal items that aren't weapons or the Impala. (And he may have gotten new weapons, who knows?) Dean could be felt in that entire car before that, so that was so sad for me.
And also, did Bobby's message say Sam had taken out an entire nest of vampires without the Colt? I realize it wasn't "real," but I'm sure it felt real to him, and I was like "OMFG a whole NEST?!" Also, the stitching himself togather was both fascinated and heartbreaking.
Random note: I thought the boys brushing their teeth together was cute. I love to get little glimpses into the "normal" things the boys still have to do.
no subject
Date: 2008-02-18 10:10 am (UTC)Thanks, hon. I love my DVD caps. I wish I could do more with them.
For some reason, I liked hunter!Sam but it freaked me out at the same time. I can't quite explain it, but, it's like...it's completely in character but so, so shocking that I never expected it. I have a feeling that Sam turned into what John came close to turning into, if he hadn't had his boys. And didn't I just say that John and Sam are more alike than John and Dean could ever hope to be? Apparently I have a one-track mind!
Sam has always been more like John than Dean is, in terms of personality - just that they were usually too bull-headed to realise it. Dean really is the odd man out of the family, and that's sad, too. But SamAlone was way worse than John, because John had the children to sustain him while Sam had nothing. He was more like Gordon - just completely let go of everything that made him him, completely shut down. It was awful to see :( I hope he's taken the lesson to heart, but somehow I doubt it.
I actually think someone said that it WAS John's weapons rack in the back of the Impala. It hurts that it seems like Sam was kind of trying to erase Dean's presence from his life completely, at least in the sense of personal items that aren't weapons or the Impala. (And he may have gotten new weapons, who knows?) Dean could be felt in that entire car before that, so that was so sad for me.
It looks like John's weapons tray, but there's no evidence as to whether it actually is or not - I mean, if it is, he'd have had to store it somewhere during the intervening time, and re-shaped it to fit the Impala... Who knows. It did seem like Sam was obliterating all traces of Dean, probably because it hurt too much to have daily reminders. But also, we should remember that Sam has always craved control over his life, and having lost everything he'd ever cared about seems to have just pushed him over the edge into genuine obsessive-complusion to impose order and control on whatever he had left, his focus maintaining that absolute precision the only way, perhaps, he could keep himself from falling apart completely. Poor Sam.
The whole nest of vampires thing says to me, a) wow, there are a lot more vampires out there than John thought, and b) wow, Sam really has turned into Gordon, hardcore, and c) is he trying to commit suicide by hunting, in case he can't find the Trickster. Going up against a whole nest alone says that he genuinely doesn't care any more if he lives or dies.
I love domestic scenes. I want to have more domestic scenes! And I desperately want a scene where we actually see one brother patching up the other after an injury.
no subject
Date: 2008-02-17 10:48 pm (UTC)Just had to find a comment bit to say;
Happy Birthday! Hope you had a great day! :D
no subject
Date: 2008-02-18 10:00 am (UTC)Go catch up! *G*