llywela | under no circumstances are you to tell the truth, they'll just think you're nuts.

Foreign Naked Guy and Foreign Naked Girlfriend, who live opposite and share garden space with me, came home with a kitten yesterday. I swear, it's like they copy everything I do! It's this tiny, tiny bundle of fluff, six weeks old, black with white feet, called Socks. Still all wobbly and blue-eyed, it's such a baby. So they promptly left the back door wide open so it could escape and then shouted at it when it got outside! Idiots. Not a promising beginning, but hopefully they'll get the hang of how cats work! Poppy was fascinated with it, but I had to bring her in because she was scaring it just by being big, poor little thing.

It's been over a fortnight now since the finale of Supernatural's third season aired, the first spoilers about the general direction of season four are starting to come out, and hiatus is looking incredibly long. So I've pulled together a few notes and pictures to make the next List of Love in the series, this one for episode 1.08: Bugs.

~~Quite a few~~ Things I Love about Bugs
…and other standout moments

I know this episode isn't a fave for many people – bugs aren't the scariest opponents ever, and the plotting is more than a little on the wobbly side. But when you look beyond the flaws, there's some really important character work going on that makes it well worth enjoying.

Here we go. In no particular order.

1. I love the insight this episode gives us into the brothers' conflicting memories of childhood events – each brother looks back on their shared past from an utterly different perspective and from the vantage point of completely different sets of priorities. Sam only sees what he resented about his upbringing, acknowledging nothing of the good. Dean, on the other hand, refuses to admit that there was anything wrong with the way they were raised, and won't allow himself to see anything to complain about, focusing only on the fact that there were important reasons behind all of their father's parenting decisions. Over the course of the seasons that follow they will slowly but surely come to meet in the middle, but for now, the gulf between their perspectives is immense.

This episode comes relatively early in the show's run, when we were still getting to know the characters and their background. Despite the dodgy plot, what we learn here about the brothers' respective relationships with their father provides a lot of important groundwork that will be built on in later episodes.

2. I love the way Sam lounges so casually on the hood of the Impala, reading, while Dean hustles pool in a bar.

Here we get to see a pattern that has been heavily implied in previous episodes: Dean earning money to share with his brother, who grumbles about the source but accepts the cash. Sam does have a good point when he suggests that they could get day jobs once in a while, but Dean has no interest in doing any such thing. Dean does not associate himself or his life with anything 'normal'; there is always a very clear divide between the two. Also, Dean isn't one to challenge a status quo – this is how they have always financed themselves. It's what his Dad taught him, and Dean doesn't easily go against his father's teachings. Plus, he tends to feel that they provide a valuable public service, whether the public in general knows it or not. Therefore the world owes them something, whether or not it realises that.

3. The bugs might not work well on camera, but hey: Dean + makeshift flamethrower = love. And you can see in these shots that he'd already been stung on the face a couple of times by the bees they used to film the scene!

4. In this episode, we see Dean homing in on free food for the first time.

With accompanying bitchface of resigned exasperation from Sam.

I love Dean's ongoing love affair with free food.

It's one of those character details that is both quirky and psychologically fascinating, because on the one hand Dean's just being a greedy pig who loves food, especially food provided by someone else. But on the other hand, this is a guy who leads a hand-to-mouth existence and has done most of his life, who has to scrounge a living for both his brother and himself as best his itinerant lifestyle allows – this episode has already shown us that Dean is the breadwinner of the family. Every free meal they can find releases hard-earned (or de-frauded) cash for other purposes, such as keeping the car fuelled, paying for the roof over their heads, or purchasing ammunition for the ongoing hunt against evil.

5. I love pretty, pretty establishing shots. Check out that sky. So dramatic!

6. I love that the brothers squat for the night in an empty house, and that this is Dean's idea. Sam, fresh from his pre-law degree, is still hung up on doing the right thing as decreed by the laws of society and on disapproval of his family's more illegal activities. He can afford to indulge in this disapproval because he isn't the one carrying the responsibility of keeping the pair of them financially afloat. But for Dean, who is the provider of this little family, the notion of spending a night in a well-fitted empty house says much the same thing as his keenness to partake of free food while interviewing potential witnesses for a case: it's pure practicality. Not having to pay for a motel for the night means his hard-hustled cash will stretch that much further, and this house is a lot more comfortable than any motel they can afford, which isn't something he gets to experience all that often.

Plus, more importantly, this scene gives us Sam smacking Dean in the stomach as he drives past into the garage. Was this scripted or improvised by the actor on the spur of the moment, fans wonder?

7. I love the way Dean cons Sam into being the one to explore the sinkhole, so typically big brother. And you know he'd never mock Sam into doing anything he actually believed to be dangerous.

I especially love Sam's sullen and plaintive little 'don't drop me', as he prepares to go down. He sounds all of six years old.

8. Squatting in an empty house gives us the delightful (but sadly brief and limited) sight of Dean in a towel, enjoying the luxury of a steam shower.

The motels the brothers usually stay at tend to be of the cheap and seedy variety, and we can project this back on their entire childhood, Dean's entire life. It's hardly surprising he makes the most of whatever creature comforts he can find along the way!

9. "You watch Oprah?"
Sam's face: picture. And Dean's reaction as he regroups and decides to change the subject rather than attempt any defence. Mwah.

10. As previously noted, this episode gives us a couple of really important conversations between the brothers looking back on their shared past. So much of what we will later take for granted about the very different relationship each has with their father is first spelled out for us here, having been given a more general outline in previous episodes.

Sam is convinced that John was disappointed with him; Dean knows that this was not the case. Sam believes that Dean was John's golden boy, the good little soldier, perfect in every way; it'll be another ten episodes before he begins to understand just why Dean strove so hard to achieve the perceived 'perfection' he struggled in the shadows of throughout his childhood. Sam learns for the first time that, far from disowning his rebellious son and despite being too proud to make the first move, John was concerned enough to regularly check up on him at Stanford. And it is made clear that Dean was caught in the middle of his warring family, and had no part in the final fight that saw them estranged for so many years, for all that the fallout affected him so greatly. It is all information that we will later take for granted, and that has been implied in earlier episodes, but this is the first time this backstory and these issues have been dealt with so overtly.

11. Here we have the first (and second) time the brothers are mistaken for a gay couple, and their reactions. Always good for a giggle, as long as the joke isn't overdone. Here, it is fresh and new.

Plus, this in turn gives us Dean smacking Sam on the backside, just to embarrass his brother in public, because winding up the little brother is always, always fun. Mwahahah.

12. Dean is Mr Empirical Approach.

13. Bless his heart, as the brothers head for their appointment at the university, Sam is so very careful to keep the box of bones covered up, lest anyone see. It's adorably Sam, to be so concerned about not attracting the wrong kind of attention.

14. There's something that just really appeals to me about the tiny scene of Dean stopping to ask for directions.

15. I'm not a person who has any problem with spiders, in general, but even so I'm always impressed – and a little squicked – when Sam so casually picks up the tarantula to return to his mischievous owner.

16. Sam gets to drive the Impala in this episode! This is noteworthy since from season two onward he will barely touch the wheel again. Not that he drives all that often even in season one.

17. "We had a plan, Matt. What happened to the plan?"
Hee. That line is so very Dean. I also love the characterisation in the minor disagreement the brothers had in the car preceding this scene, where Sam – channelling his own issues with John – had wanted Matt to force the situation with his father by telling the truth, rather than trying to think of a solution that might actually work, fast. That's so very Sam. And Dean's more matter-of-fact and sensible suggestion of faking appendicitis is so very Dean. That Matt chose Sam's path of open confrontation over Dean's sneakier yet more sensible suggestion, and therefore failed in the crucial task of getting his family out of harm's way, says something about Matt.

18. This is the only time we ever see the brothers sheltering under umbrellas. They usually just put up with getting wet when it rains. So just how bad was the rain that day, we wonder.

19. While Sam chats to Matt at the end of the episode, we can see Dean helping load up the removal van, helpful soul that he is. I can't quite believe the family managed to organise a move quite so fast, but never mind. We can go with it.

20. It tickles me that the professor who analyses the bones the brothers find is so easily convinced that they are students in one of his classes. Yeah, classes can run to a couple of hundred students – impossible to learn all of their faces.

21. Old Joe Whitetree mispronounces the word 'cavalry' as 'calvary' every single time, and it really annoys me every time I watch his expository scene.

22. Following a schoolboy into the woods could be construed as somewhat dodgy…

23. I love it when a case ends with genuine gratitude and a hearty handshake. Recognition is important, no matter how small the scale.

24. The insta-dawn really is a huge stumbling block to the credibility of the plot. But hey – for a second time in one episode we get to see the brothers peering through a hole. And it's kind of an amusing image.

25. "I wanna find Dad."
I love this whole conversation. I really like when they sit side by side like this to talk, like it's easier somehow to get the words out if they don't have to look one another in the eye. John's continuing disappearance is hurting them both so badly, and they just don't know what to do about it. They have tried everything they know to find him, but he doesn't want to be found and they don't know why he would cut them loose like that. They both know that Jessica's death, paralleling Mary's, has to mean something important, but without pooling their knowledge with John's they have no way to understand what that something is, and are just trying to feel their way through it all as best they can, and it is just so hurty.

And I love that Dean can make Sam laugh in spite of the hurt. No matter how uncertain he might be about anything else, taking care of Sam is something he knows how to do, and he does it so very well, and lo! it is beautiful to see.

Caps made by me.

Oh, and I've also updated my timeline for the show to include season three, if anyone's interested in taking a look. Let me know if I've missed anything obvious!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

galathea-snb.livejournal.com

AWWW! As you know I really love Bugs because I totally adore the brother plotline in this episode and really don't care about the MotW issues at all.

Over the course of the seasons that follow they will slowly but surely come to meet in the middle, but for now, the gulf between their perspectives is immense.

I always figured from the way Dean admits later how much he actually appreciates 'normal' that a lot of their conversations in the beginning of S1 are about convincing the other of the value of their own perspective. Sam resenting the hunter’s life and the way they were raised dismisses everything Dean stands for, everything he is proud of in his life and hence Sam's disapproval hurts him. On the other hand Dean's dismissal of 'normal' hurts Sam just as much, since it is all he really wants at that point. Their pride and hurt stands in their way to find a compromise in their arguments. It's so typical for their early interaction! *hugs boys*

I love the way Sam lounges so casually on the hood of the Impala, reading, while Dean hustles pool in a bar.

Man, that's one of my favourite opening sequences in the show still. I love that Sam lounges on the Impala (we never see that again :( ). It's early in the show and he isn't really comfortable being back in this life, but he feels visibly at home on the hood of the Impala, it's like a learned muscle memory; the car is home and safety, so he can relax! ♥ And I still want to have a scene where we actually see Dean hustling pool! LOL

Sam is convinced that John was disappointed with him; Dean knows that this was not the case. Sam believes that Dean was John's golden boy ...

That dialogue never fails to kill me. We as viewers of course know how much Dean himself thinks that John was disappointed with him and yet he doesn't say a word to Sam, it's all about comforting and reassuring his little brother and his own feelings take a back-seat. He also only says that John stopped by Stanford to have an eye on Sam but never says if he did the same thing, which I guess we all figure was the case as well. But this isn't about him, it's about Sam and John and he takes himself completely out of the equation in this conversation. /sigh

The fact that John managed to make both his kids believe that he favours the other is really a trademark of his special brand of parenting. /sigh And with all his stubborness, Sam is still worried if John would even want to see him when they find him. Man, he loves his father and it really hurts to see him so insecure about John's feelings! *hugs boys again*

There's so much goodness in this episode! Heh, and fortunately it's on my marathon list for this evening! *g*

From:

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under no circumstances are you to tell the truth, they'll just think you're nuts.

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