Supernatural

Oh, wow! This episode gave me so much of what I’ve been waiting for. When Marin explained her situation to Sam — a dead brother (who eventually shows up wearing a hoodie!) demanding she join him! — I couldn’t help posting mid-episode. That has never happened to me before with this show.

Little things that add up to everything for me:

- Sam asleep in the dealer’s front seat was like when in 3.10 Dream a Little Dream of Me he fell asleep next to Dean and woke up next to Jeremy. The pole crashing through the windshield to wake him was like “God’s will” in 2.13 Houses of the Holy.

- Lucifer explicitly draws the parallel between being with Sam in the hospital and in the hellcage. The hospital room has a sailboat picture on the wall and a tan robe hanging which could be mistaken for Castiel’s trench. Lucifer is playing cat’s cradle – actively spinning a web? We also get Lucifer using a loudspeaker on Sam. (Was his reaction anything like Dean’s in 4.01 Lazarus Rising when his hearing was assaulted by Castiel’s attempts to make contact?)

- Dean is pointed toward Emmanuel by a taxidermist-hunter! (I immediately thought about 6.14 Mannequin 3.) It turns out that Mackey was blind in one eye before Emmanuel healed him.

- Marin offers Sam stolen chocolate. (I’m stretching, but… sweets = trickster? Dean??)

- Emmanuel is wearing a sweater jacket. Daphne is in purple. Castiel’s entire set-up there is very reminiscent of Dean’s healing times at Sandover Bridge or with Carmen or with Lisa and Ben.

- The diagnosis from the doctors is that Marin is “psychotically depressed with suicidal ideation.” That aside, she feels like “crap” and “wants it to be over.” How can we NOT hear Dean in this? (I must mention as well that Lucifer diagnoses himself as narcissistic which was a label Dean’s imaginary doctor gave Dean in 5.11 Sam Interrupted.)

- Marin (fire-damaged Marin) and Sam compare notes about the voices they hear. I’m certain she was articulating something Sam needs to know/needs to be prevented from knowing. What was at first welcomed becomes untenable.

- LOVED Dean’s line to Castiel that, “This whole thing couldn’t be messier.” That “mess” characterization and label goes way back and just last week we had another janitor whose efforts at cleaning up coincide with a gruesome death. Tangent: I’ve been thinking in fact about the amputations so prevalent this season. Are they are a bigger version of the stolen organs of last season and could that could be seen as a bigger take on the lost teeth and fingernails of season three? Is this a way of showing the pieces carved from Dean in hell?

- Dean at the lighted cooler full of blue and white reminded me of the the soda machine from 1.12 Faith and other appearances. (I love that he’s wearing his 3.07 Fresh Blood Impala Maintenance flannel throughout this episode.) As he’s getting bashed by demons he’s sprawled out in the baby supplies aisle.

- “He doesn’t know he’s Cass.” That’s said by Dean to Meg, but I believe there’s a broader application.

- I’m pretty sure Meg is there to do Dean’s dirty work and press Castiel back into service. She can “believe in the little tree topper” for Dean, and she can spill the beans to ruin the good life Emmanuel’s got going. I couldn’t help thinking about how Dean restoring the trenchcoat to Castiel should have been accompanied by the “Play your role” mantra so often directed at the Winchesters.

- Sam is pragmatic and willing for it to be over. Castiel doesn’t know why he’s back.  Castiel says flat out that he deserved to die.  Dean suggests Castiel is back to fix things.

- Sam looks at Castiel and sees Lucifer and denies the reality of either. Castiel looks at Sam and sees Lucifer. Of course, from Sam’s viewpoint the doctor and the orderly both are also seen as Lucifer. What a mess, huh?

- Sparks! Lucifer is setting off firecrackers to drive Sam crazy. Sam uses the lighter to burn the spirit-brother’s blooded bracelet. By the end of the episode, Sam is subjected to electroshock. (Again with the memories of Dean electrocuted in 1.12 Faith and of the mysterious battery in Bobby’s living room in 6.18 Frontierland when Castiel needed to power up by soulfisting Bobby — as well as other spark images.) I take it as another metaphor for thinking it’s possible (or necessary) to use something dangerous but finding it too difficult to control and being at its mercy.

I need to think more about where the show is likely to go from here. (As usual, I’m unspoiled for anything not aired.) There’s a definite pattern across seasons of Sam almost going through a door (understanding something vital) and being held back.

Tags: 7.17 Born Again Identity, sparks

I see on the TV schedule that today’s daytime eps of SPN were 4.09 I Know What You Did Last Summer and 4.10 Heaven and Hell. I wish I had time to give these a rewatch. I couldn’t help revisiting how my original thoughts about Anna have expanded to seeing more Sam in her than I did originally. (I probably shouldn’t comment without rewatching, but oh, well.)

Now I see Anna as so directly a reflection of the good parts of Sam’n'Dean that it can not be accidental. When we meet her she’s dressed like spirit!Dean in In My Time of Dying. She’s a 20-something college kid diagnosed as schizophrenic with father issues. (Of course the show does this regularly. The kid from 5.12 Swap Meat didn’t have a single characteristic that couldn’t be connected right back to Sam or Dean.) With as cornily symbolic as the story gets at this point (grace meteors, grace trees, and grace amulets! \o/), Anna practically HAS to a product of Winchester issues and bond. I don’t think it’s coincidence that we move from here to a case focused on incest.

Yes, this means I believe 7.15 Repo Man’s flashback isn’t going to have a clean home. I think S4 IS S3, and I truly love this show.

BTW, When Anna gave Ruby her seal of acceptance during this arc, it turned me around entirely on Ruby. (Heck, I still wish she was redeemable.) I have never experienced such an extreme turn-around about a character  before or since.

Another recent Supernatural thought I had was while rewatching 6.05 Live Free or Twihard on the treadmill. I was struck by Dean calling the kid out for wearing glitter and then expressing mild interest if it worked for getting girls. Since then we’ve had glitter referenced in at least two more episodes. In 6.09 Clap Your Hands If You Believe, Sam pointed out that Dean had sat in glitter at the fairy expert’s trailer. Dean’s response was to claim he felt like he had the crazy on him. Most recently we had 7.14 Plucky Pennywhistle and Dean delighting in Sam’s glitter coating after his encounter with the clown collision.

Could we see the glitter as symbolic of the magic and miracles getting the boys through? Maybe it is meant as a sign that the knowledge Dean has feared is ultimately harmless and could even be beneficial?

I’m so looking forward to a new episode this week!

Tags: 4.09 I Know What You Did Last Summer, 4.10 Heaven and Hell, 5.12 Swap Meat, 6.05 Life Free or Twihard, 6.09 Clap Your Hands If You Believe, 7.14 Plucky Pennywhistle's Magical Menagerie

I never posted about this when it originally aired, but that shouldn’t be taken as indicating anything less than love for the episode. (I’ve seen through 7.15 Repo Man but am unspoiled otherwise.) This episode actually got me feeling more fannish than usual. The unicorn gifs floating around are just plain fun and even had me attempting motivators.

(BTW – I couldn’t help counting and that’s a nonapus in the chalk drawing.)

Anyway, the rerun was on tonight. Boy, it makes my week nicer to have two eps airing. It reminds of when I was catching up to live airings the summer between 2nd and 3rd seasons. For awhile, I think there was a temporary Sunday timeslot?

So, what I noticed in a stronger way during this viewing was the repetition of denial of responsibility. “I wouldn’t do anything illegal,” from the manager as she heads out to light up a joint. “It wasn’t me,” out of the Lion about the meth lab and ‘shrooming in the ball pit. He goes a step further and attempts to direct blame at an imaginary brother and at Saul. By the time we get to Howard, he is penalizing others for their faults as parents. It turns out his brother drowned, and Howard insists it wasn’t his fault, that his parents were to blame for not listening.

It’s a different message from the many times we’ve heard assurances that something wasn’t the fault of whoever is blaming himself. Notably, I’m thinking of the boys attempting to excuse each other for their actions and the consequences. You didn’t know. It wasn’t your fault. You did your best.

This episode’s message about childhood fears having power to mess up adult lives leads into Repo Man’s, “Never tell.”

I truly love the moments that recall past episodes for me. The vengeful silent drowned brother reminded me of the condemned sailor (whose hand was made into the hand of glory – Oh! Slice Girls and the missing hands and feet?) from 3.06 Red Sky at Morning. For that matter, the clown collision and resulting glitter shower was a bit like those nautical brother spirits merging into a watery blast.

We also got the little boy’s robot with the “laser eyes.” Hey, Ronald and 2.12 Nightshifter!  The seltzer spray at Sam from the clown’s flower had me remembering venomous Nick the siren from 4.14 Sex and Violence. There were also the cackling clown dolls which had me flashing on 2.11 Playthings, 1.19 Provenance, and 1.17 Hell House.

Tags: 7.14 Plucky Pennywhistle's Magical Menagerie

We’re at the late February break after 7.15 Repo Man. No spoilers beyond that for me.

I’m out of the swing of writing about the show. But, I will say this without worrying about elaborating to any real extent. While looking through screencaps (from true-fellings), I’m struck with an explanation for dressing the little dog in a head cone. It serves the same purpose as a wall, doesn’t it? Sam was even advised by Death not to scratch at his! So are there implications to the dog carrying the removed cone as he trustingly follows his owner – only to fulfill his role as blood sacrifice?

So, yep. I’m still happily watching with my crackpot view of everything being instructive of the Winchesters and their situation. The season is making that a delightfully rewarding occupation even while I dread more than one of the directions I can imagine this heading.

+++++++

Just got my ticket to see Kansas perform at the Holland Center next month! (Wasn’t fast enough to snag Jimmy Buffett though.) Anyway, I’m psyched about this and am busy thinking about how Kansas’ “The Wall” (youtube 2009 1976) fits my theories as well as “Wayward Son” fits the show.

Tags: 7.15 Repo Man, vid link, visuals

Biggest regret of my life, this fight. You’d think it was when I had to stab her to death, but… no. All through that… I was thinking we never got to get past this. If I’d have known, I’d have said anything she wanted to hear.

It didn’t take any extra thought to see parallels between Sam and Dean and the Bobby and Rufus scenes of the episode. But, now I’m wondering if there isn’t something to learn about Sam and Dean when paying attention to the dynamics of Bobby and Karen.

This is Karen’s third appearance. She’s introduced in season three with Dream a Little Dream of Me. We learn then (as Dean enters Bobby’s nightmare and Sam plays God to deal with Jeremy) that Bobby had to kill her after she was possessed. We’re told this is how he entered the world of hunting.

In season five’s Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid, a zombie Karen returns to Bobby. He’s able to enjoy some time with her before things go to shit (the wishes go bad?) and he’s put in the position of killing her again. It turns out she has a last minute message for him from DEATH that Bobby is a target for helping the Winchesters hold out against destiny.

This newest episode brings a new revelation. Bobby and Karen were arguing prior to her possession. It was major difference of vision for their lives. She wanted children and Bobby was unwilling to risk what that would bring out in him.

I can’t help thinking about the fundamental differences Sam and Dean have had and how very rotten that has been from both sides. I believe Bobby’s desire to heal the rift with Karen even at the cost of placating her or subjugating his own wishes is an illustration of the extremes that were gone to to stay connected to Dean when he was resurrected. He needed to hear (or say?) something and expected it to be awful. If it yet comes down to John’s last words of saving or killing Sam, it’s becoming clear that there are worse situations. Being at odds with your partner is an even bigger regret and one that we can hope will be resolved with an actual meeting  of the minds.

There’s a definite theme with the quotes I’ve selected for the two 7.10 entry titles that ties back to an ongoing show theme. How many times have Sam and Dean excused the other with “You didn’t know” over the course of the series?

Tags: 7.10 Death's Door