"Last act of a desperate man."
May. 7th, 2008 10:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
llywelaYou'd think, being unemployed and all, that I'd have more time on my hands than I know what to do with. It isn't working out that way! So this recap has been pulled together and edited in fits and starts - please let me know if you spot any glaring errors.
Oh, Dean. Oh, Sam. Oh, boys. I found myself repeating those three phrases over and over while writing this! There are 27 pages this time, in which I ramble on about the brothers' respective states of mind going into this case, the keeping of secrets, return to form regarding witness interviews versus breaks in pattern at home, Dean's ability to be both good cop and bad cop all rolled into one and the contrast between the Sam'n'Dean perspective of this week versus the outsider perspective last week, Sam driving a rental, Sam looking fabulous in his suit, Dean looking lovely in his suit, Dean's reaction to his father's voice, the downward spiral of desperation, Dean's terror versus Sam's determined effort to remain rational, brothers and blinkers, the manipulative and sadistic nature of the Crocotta and the ripping open of old wounds, Dean's need for salvation, the weakness and inconsistency of the plot, brotherly loggerheads and role reversal, Sam's isolation, how terrifyingly little time remains, and much more besides.
To read the recap, click the link below:
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marishna, and by rosely at Screencap Paradise
Oh, Dean. Oh, Sam. Oh, boys. I found myself repeating those three phrases over and over while writing this! There are 27 pages this time, in which I ramble on about the brothers' respective states of mind going into this case, the keeping of secrets, return to form regarding witness interviews versus breaks in pattern at home, Dean's ability to be both good cop and bad cop all rolled into one and the contrast between the Sam'n'Dean perspective of this week versus the outsider perspective last week, Sam driving a rental, Sam looking fabulous in his suit, Dean looking lovely in his suit, Dean's reaction to his father's voice, the downward spiral of desperation, Dean's terror versus Sam's determined effort to remain rational, brothers and blinkers, the manipulative and sadistic nature of the Crocotta and the ripping open of old wounds, Dean's need for salvation, the weakness and inconsistency of the plot, brotherly loggerheads and role reversal, Sam's isolation, how terrifyingly little time remains, and much more besides.
To read the recap, click the link below:
"This is Herman Munster. Leave a message."
Header made using caps by
marishna, and by rosely at Screencap Paradise
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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Date: 2008-05-07 10:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-08 05:33 am (UTC)*edits*
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Date: 2008-05-08 06:46 pm (UTC)Gulp. So it is. I’m almost in as much of a tizzy as the boys are! And I’m 95% unspoiled for the finale and that really is an achievement for me (whether I’ll manage to keep that up for another week is another question entirely though!).
I have really loved this deal storyline (or at least my imagination’s interpretation of it) and the way it’s piled on the desperation and dread, spiralling down into darkness, even if it hasn’t been handled quite as well as it could have been what with the strike and a few clunky, flat episodes early on.
But this episode is the one we’ve really been waiting for and it doesn’t really matter that the MOTW plot is microns thick, because it’s just a framework to hang the meat of the episode on. Dean is getting really scared and with that comes the desperate need to act on any possibility that might arise. One criticism I do have though is that if this episode is really set days before the Dean’s payment is due, and I’m not disputing anyone’s timelines here, then it doesn’t really feel like it. It feels like the beginning of the endgame, maybe a month or a couple of weeks off, but the sense that there just isn’t any more sand left in the hourglass is missing to me.
>> I tend to think it is far more likely that Dean called Bobby
Yes! It really never occurred to me but I think you are so right. Dean might be implying otherwise, but this makes a lot more sense.
This is of course playing into my earlier point of not feeling the real press of time, because there’s no sense that if they take the case on there might not be any time left to finish it.
>> Also, Sam has taken the bed nearest to the door, we should note – it isn't the first time, but isn't usual.
Are you sure? Sam’s bed appears to me to be next to the room divider, opposite the bathroom door, with Dean’s (unslept in) bed nearest the window, which is next to the outside door.
>> The number is about a century old.
I’d love to know how he found that out.
>>"'Hello'?" is all he has to offer.
Poor Sam, what’s he supposed to say? I’d have said the exact same thing! Dean’s question is loaded though [what do I tell dad about the deal I made?] and leads nicely into expecting the rebuke he Crocotta supplies later.
>> As the guide gathers up her flock and briskly walks them away,
The people on the tour crack me up as much as the guide, they are the most unlikely looking museum tour group (I’m not saying that people couldn’t look like that, but none of them seem remotely interested in anything around them, none are wearing coats or toting big touristy bags, and they all seem of a uniform age – where’s the older couple in cagoules? The young family with the wayward and noisy children? The bored teenager cracking gum?).
>>"But as long as the mouldy are calling the freshers around here, it's the best reason we've got,"
That was my favourite line of the episode, even if it doesn’t seem to be anyone else’s…
>> Under normal circumstances a statement like 'I love you' coming from John would be cause for the deepest of suspicion
Not many people seem to have mentioned this, but that was the moment I knew it wasn’t actually John.
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Date: 2008-05-08 06:47 pm (UTC)>> I'm not sure leaving Dean alone right now is the wisest decision,
No, and people keep making it. I was very angry at Bobby for leaving Dean in AHBL2. He had to know Dean would do something rash. It wasn’t any kind of stretch to think Dean might kill himself. Even if he gave Dean some space, but didn’t go far, it would have been more reasonable. And look what decision led to.
>> Dean prepares himself a nice big bottle of DIY holy water, then pulls back a rug and paints a devil's trap on the floor beneath.
My immediate thought was of the cost of repairing the floor after that.
>> Sam comes swooping in out of nowhere to snatch the little boy out of the path of the truck.
That was rather feeble, wasn’t it? It not like we haven’t seen things like that a million times before! Couldn’t he have gone playing by the pond or something? It might have made a nice link back to Dead in the Water, in an episode full of call backs to previous episodes (that annoyed me a bit actually. I’m all for continuity, but there is such a thing as overkill. On first viewing I found myself listing all the references instead of following the story).
>> That's illegal in the UK, but apparently not in the US.
It’s somewhat easier to drive and talk on the phone when the roads are all straight and the car is an automatic. I’ve always wondered how people manage to use phones without a hands-free kit – I’d wobble off the road before I got to the end of the street!
>> That's a worrisome thought for all of us cyber-geeks!
Oh yes, and the rubbish you find when you goggle yourself! For some reason a very daft conversation I had years go about trousers keeps coming back to haunt me.
>> Officer believes that he is coming home to confront – and try to kill – the man who murdered his daughter.
I didn’t notice he was a Police Officer. His rage then is quite understandable as a father, but inexcusable as law enforcement.
Dean’s fight with him was so very brutal. For all of its realism and what it is showing about Dean’s mental state, I do think it was a little excessive. I barely blink at the horror elements of Supernatural, but sometimes I feel the show gets very close to the edge of what I think is acceptable violence for TV. And that’s not even going into the way it fetishises guns to worrying level. I still love it though.
>> He strokes the bloody knife through Sam's hair, which is just creepy and gross
Shame the blood looks like jam – which is still unpleasant but in a very different and sticky way.
>> It's a very striking contrast to Ghostfacers last week, in which Sam was similarly captured and bound and had to be rescued by Dean. This time, Dean isn't coming to his rescue, so he has to save himself.
Obviously, Daggett was better with the knots in the scouts.
>> The brothers perch on the ends of their beds, sitting side by side as so often this season.
I do miss the days when Dean at least was doing something while they talk. These end of bed talks are static, repetitive and boring and they contribute to some of the flatness of the season. It’s as if some of the realisim has been taken away. It’s the small details that give the show life.
No idea how the Crocotta works, but I did think that it might not have been such a bad thing (if bleak and disturbing) for Dean’s soul to have been devoured by the creature. At least he wouldn’t be in hell.
Another error I noticed:
He knows Dean is desperate and hurting, jut days away from eternity in hell – that eternity in hell being the price for Sam's own life.
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Date: 2008-05-08 07:33 pm (UTC)It's good to talk!
My immediate thought was of the cost of repairing the floor after that.
Hee. I had a similar reaction in Crossroad Blues when the hellhounds started scratching up the floor. *G*
That was rather feeble, wasn’t it?
It felt very...abrupt and tacked on. Just there for the sake of keeping Sam occupied and wrapping up the b-plot as quickly and neatly as possible before moving on. The plotting and structure of this episode really are quite weak, which is worrying heading into the finale. I'd have thought they would have had plenty of time during the strike to make contingency plans, if only in their heads! But this episode really feels as if it was rushed into production.
It’s somewhat easier to drive and talk on the phone when the roads are all straight and the car is an automatic.
Yes, I'd imagine it is. Here, the roads tend toward narrow and bendy!
I didn’t notice he was a Police Officer.
When we first see him taking the call, he's in a locker room that could be anywhere, really, but the other guy in the room is wearing police uniform.
For all of its realism and what it is showing about Dean’s mental state, I do think it was a little excessive.
It was definitely hard to watch. The horror elements barely make me blink, either (except the hand in the waste disposal. And the teeth and maggots really did squick me out. But other than that!) but the violence really does seem to be on the increase, and I'm not sure it is necessary. At least not always.
These end of bed talks are static, repetitive and boring and they contribute to some of the flatness of the season.
The end-of-bed talks are stacking up now. On the one hand, I can see why - Sam has always tended to just sit around while talking, with Dean fidgeting and keeping his hands occupied, but I can believe that Dean would need to be still for some of these deep-and-meaningful conversations. The still, for me, adds to the sense that he is pretty much resigned to his fate and preparing himself for it. I miss the activity, though.
I had a lot of trouble with the car arguments in the middle of the season - especially the ones that we just landed in the middle of at the start of the episode. They never quite sat right with me, going into such intense arguments cold like that. I always wanted build up to know how each brother had reached the state of agitation he appeared to be in. Plus, as you say, static. Movement always adds to the realism of any conversation - I know back in the days when I wrote fic I always felt that action dialogue was more natural than static dialogue, keeping the characters busy while they talked.
It’s as if some of the realisim has been taken away. It’s the small details that give the show life.
I've fretted over the loss of those small details all season. It feels as if they have got so much to cram into every episode these days that a lot of the depth and nuance has fallen by the wayside, and that is disappointing.
Wow, this has been nitpicky! But we pick because we love!
Ta for pointing out errors. I never catch 'em all myself, no matter how many times I proof-read. What's wrong with that sentence, though? It makes sense to me, but that could just be because I know what I meant.
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Date: 2008-05-08 07:38 pm (UTC)I had three betas at one point and I still find typos in those old stories (missing words tends to be my thing).
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Date: 2008-05-08 07:41 pm (UTC)*is blind*
I spot typos and missing words every time I look through my old recaps, which I don't do often because I always want to completely re-write them!
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Date: 2008-05-08 08:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-08 08:46 pm (UTC)I know! I once drove overnight from Holyhead through the mountains, probably far too fast, and it was terrifying! They're all full of bloody traffic too.
>>When we first see him taking the call, he's in a locker room that could be anywhere, really, but the other guy in the room is wearing police uniform.
I gave it a quick look. It's terribly hard to spot. If he had managed to kill Dean, he would had a lot of explaining to do to his colleagues.
>>Except the hand in the waste disposal. And the teeth and maggots really did squick me out.
I had no problem with the maggots. The waste disposal, the saw and the fingernail were are a bit icky, but nothing too bad. I work in Construction Health and Safety and my boss regularly tries to freak me out with pictures of skin diseases and impalements without success, but it's the descriptions of people cutting themselves which give you the uncomfortable shivers. The moment in SPN that always gets me, even though I know it's coming, is the impact of the car crash.
>>The still, for me, adds to the sense that he is pretty much resigned to his fate and preparing himself for it. I miss the activity, though.
Maybe, although sadly, most likely a victim of the cost thing, they could vary the locations a bit though from just car and bed. Even if it was just sitting on other bits of furniture in the room.
>>hey never quite sat right with me, going into such intense arguments cold like that. I always wanted build up to know how each brother had reached the state of agitation he appeared to be in.
It feels like you're missing the best bits.
>>I know back in the days when I wrote fic I always felt that action dialogue was more natural than static dialogue, keeping the characters busy while they talked.
Tell me about it. I find that very difficult.
>>Wow, this has been nitpicky! But we pick because we love!
;D
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Date: 2008-05-09 07:44 pm (UTC)Oooh, I know that road. Lethal in bad weather!
most likely a victim of the cost thing, they could vary the locations a bit though from just car and bed. Even if it was just sitting on other bits of furniture in the room.
The new episode has a really nice scene of action dialogue - Sam on the laptop and Dean eating while they talk. And it is brilliant, so natural and believable and brotherly. I want more conversations like that!
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Date: 2008-05-09 10:41 pm (UTC)>>The new episode has a really nice scene of action dialogue - Sam on the laptop and Dean eating while they talk. And it is brilliant, so natural and believable and brotherly. I want more conversations like that!
It can be done!
The maggots made me laugh after what we were saying last night. And I was going to mention eyeballs too. Eyeballs, now they do make me squirm.
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Date: 2008-05-08 07:17 pm (UTC)I can boast 100% unspoiled! I don't even know the episode title. I've done plenty of speculating, but I know absolutely nothing!
It feels like the beginning of the endgame, maybe a month or a couple of weeks off, but the sense that there just isn’t any more sand left in the hourglass is missing to me.
I think that's where the 6 lost episodes are really felt, because we didn't get to see any of the build up, didn't get to see any of the head-down intense research and going round in circles with the clock ticking. We were just told about it, which doesn't convey the sense of immediacy we needed. It would probably be hard to make an engaging episode out of 100% solid research, though!
Dean might be implying otherwise
I'm not even sure he implies anything. Sam asks who was on the phone, and Dean says that it was Bobby, and then talks about the case Bobby told him about. There is nothing to indicate either way who made the call. I'm convinced it was Dean. I've seen complicated rationalisations around Bobby understanding that Dean would need a diversion, but that just doesn't ring true to me, not in the final days, and besides, it's too complicated. It is very, very easy to believe that Dean would be going crazy and call Bobby to beg for something to do.
Sam’s bed appears to me to be next to the room divider, opposite the bathroom door, with Dean’s (unslept in) bed nearest the window, which is next to the outside door.
*blinks* Have I been visualising the room wrong in my head? I think you might be right!
Not many people seem to have mentioned this, but that was the moment I knew it wasn’t actually John.
It was nicely subtle, though, because John has managed to voice his affection in the past, just that one time, when he knew it was the end and his time was almost up. So it is still possible that it could be him. Just...not if you play the averages.
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Date: 2008-05-08 08:27 pm (UTC)Such a good place be. I can't resist photos though and I got spoilt for the title and the first line of the summary whilst looking them up. Fortunately, it only confirmed stuff I could have easily guessed.
>>I think that's where the 6 lost episodes are really felt, because we didn't get to see any of the build up,
Absolutely. It feels like we missed the best bit.
>It would probably be hard to make an engaging episode out of 100% solid research, though!
It would be a long 45 minutes, but there could always have been some oracle with a few local murders nearby or a dreamquest, perhaps we could get a look into Sam's head for a change, but I suppose that's too similar to the dreams that have been covered already. The point is, there are more interesting ways to research than talking to Professors or reading books.
>>I've seen complicated rationalisations around Bobby understanding that Dean would need a diversion, but that just doesn't ring true to me
I think the implication is all in the 'That was Bobby' rather saying 'I just called Bobby'. It's in what Dean's not saying. Maybe it isn't intentional, but that's the way it seems on face value. But I agree, Bobby diverting someone away from saving their life? I can't see that either. Plus it's Dean's MO all over.
>>Have I been visualising the room wrong in my head?
I thought you might have mistaken the bathroom door with the outside one, especially as the outside one cunningly only has a view of some trellising - it makes the room feel more enclosed.
>>It was nicely subtle, though, because John has managed to voice his affection in the past, just that one time
And because it doesn't trip Dean up either. He's too blinkered to it. You would think the Crocotta could have downloaded a dodgy copy of Devil's Trap while he was rooting though all those phone calls etc (the brainpower of this thing must be phenomenal to be able to process all this communication debris/thoughts).
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Date: 2008-05-07 10:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-08 01:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-08 07:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-08 08:33 am (UTC)I am more and more frustrated about the loss of 6 episodes this season, because I would have loved to see those 2 months of intense research and their increasing desperation leading them to their hopless state of mind in 'Long Distance Call'. We miss out on so much detailed exploration of the brothers because of those 6 missing episodes. It's a shame. :(
"Well, I know a way out, for both of you." NotJohn dangles the bait like meat on a hook. What strikes me most about this bait that the Crocotta conjures up for Dean is that it offers him a way out without breaking the clause of his deal, a way out without endangering Sam's life in the process and that's why Dean is so damn willing to go after the supposed contract holder without any hesitation. If not!John hadn't mentioned that it is a way out for both of them Dean's worry for Sam's life would probably have held him back! Very clever to successfully knock out the only reason that would stop Dean!
Dean to slide so unquestioningly back into his old role of trusting and obedient son I've read a couple of statements of people who said that Dean falls back into the obedient 'good soldier stance' and I can't really agree with that. It's all about hope and faith and how Dean has lost both. It's not about obedience at all, but about the need to believe in something good looking out for them! Oh boys!
"You might pull something." Ah, he's used that line before. I can't quite place the episode right now, but I know he's said it at some point. Dean says the very thing to Sam in 'Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things' when Sam refuses to be exited about finding a case on the cemetary. Heh!
Oh and you have a typo here ...and kudos to Jared Pacalecki because... ;)
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Date: 2008-05-08 12:30 pm (UTC)The motivation is completely different, definitely, but it still demands trust and obedience! He needs to believe it, and the outcome is that he follows the plan presented to him to the letter, no doubt or hesitation required. Same outcome, just arrived at by a different route.
The Crocotta's manipulation of Dean is absolutely masterful - it covers every base.
'Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things'
Your encylopaedic knowledge beats mine!
Cheers for the typo, I never catch everything *sigh*
I am more and more frustrated about the loss of 6 episodes this season
I'm just trying really, really hard not to think about that, to focus on appreciating what we are getting, because it's just depressing otherwise, and it can't be helped now.
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Date: 2008-05-08 01:14 pm (UTC)Your encylopaedic knowledge beats mine! LOL well, it's probably one of the most re-watched S2 episodes for me, plus I just re-wrote my review for it, so it was fresh in my mind. :)
I know it can't be helped *sigh* still, the huge leaps in Dean's year over the season really bother me.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-08 01:51 pm (UTC)