4.21 When the Levee Breaks
4.21 When the Levee Breaks
This is another episode that’s left me stewing about what it all means and where we’re going – leaving me to stall around on actually posting. So, I’ll skip around pointing out what I noticed as it fits with my S4 theory. In part, I’m preparing for tonight’s season finale to close off this avenue of (obviously unspoiled) speculation. I think that will be okay with me. For one thing, I could stop wondering if I’m crazy for seeing what I see in the storytelling. Please, though! Could we get some tiny bit of hope for the boys? I’m dreading a repeat of last summer especially since our once happy resolution of Dean’s trip to hell – Dean Winchester is saved! — hasn’t stayed happy. Otherwise, I’m going to need room to continue speculating.
My first question is about whether the set decorators had a hand in the costuming this week. Lilith’s personal chef/demon baby nurse is wearing scrubs decorated with angels. I can’t bear to work out any hidden message in that (though it may be there considering Adam’s mom was a nurse, etc.), so part of me is cringing at the poor taste of the joke but another part is hoping I’m supposed to be giggling this much about the humor. Actually, now that I stop to think, the costuming was more noticeably deliberate than usual in 4.18 Jump the Shark’s bartender Lisa and in Sam’s hallucinations.
Others have discussed the decor of the honeymoon hotel room with its abundance of octagons. Instead of the usual half divider, here we get two full length ones, and door molding, etc. My thought connects the octagonal shape to STOP signs and remembers how often Dean’s been told to “stop it” this season. In 4.03 In the Beginning, it was presumably to stop Mary’s deal-making. Then, when Dean was told he couldn’t have changed anything in 1973 anyway, Castiel points Dean at Sam and the demon-pulling he’s doing with Ruby. Later, in 4.16 On the Head of a Pin, Dean learns he’s the one who started the apocalypse and is the only one the angels believe is able to “stop it.” Castiel’s line tonight during the oath scene is, “Stand up and accept your role. You are the one who will stop it.” I’m of course wondering if we’re going to get yet a new understanding for the phrase. (My theory needs Dean to stop fighting and understand whatever Sam is doing to bring Dean fully back from hell.)
Again, others have already discussed this image. I’m particularly pleased to find this meta focused on the dream symbolism of mirrors, two way mirrors, and broken mirrors. I can’t remember another time when we’ve been shown a character through a mirror in quite this way which is a bit surprising given their recurring nature from the earliest days. For me, the significance is that Dean does the breaking and that it’s due to Sam forcing it to happen. I like the way this shows that both boys’ views of themselves and each other and their partnership are at a crisis. I do not think it accidental that this image appears in an ep with so many variations on “I know that kid,” and “He knows you better than anyone,” and “You don’t know me!”
It occurs to me we’ve had lots of hotwiring of cars this season and the show has taken the trouble to include the close ups. Dean did it in 4.01 Lazarus Rising and Sam did it last week in 4.20 The Rapture and in this new ep as well. It makes me think of breaking the rules to bring something to life. And, you know I might be thinking of resurrected Winchesters and not just cars!
We do get more sleep as Dean and Bobby catch enough rest to allow Sam to make his Castiel instigated escape, so that streak is alive and well. We also get an odd couple of beats when Dean seems to space out while he and Bobby are putting Sam into restraints. Bobby has to call more than once to get Dean’s attention. This is uncommon for season four. We don’t know if he’s flashbacking or what because the storytelling is allowing that to remain private. Fitting in with my theory, it could mean Dean has figuring out how to have private thoughts after all. Given the recent emphasis on traps, I’d believe Dean could be setting his own.
I was very pleasantly surprised to see both young Sam and Mary pop up in this episode. A couple weeks ago, I posted over at spnematography about Mary’s presence in 4.19 Jump the Shark and was glad to get a little discussion. It makes me wonder if back then the roses were deliberately foreshadowing her appearance in Sam’s When the Levee Breaks hallucination? I’d give a lot to see Sam and Mary together when it’s not tinged with blood and nightmares.
I’m much more interested though in Sam’s bookend hallucinations of Alastair and Dean. Talk about literary symmetry?! A visual comparison of Sam and Alastair over at LJ got me thinking.
We’ve seen Sam in this position often, perhaps most dramatically in All Hell Breaks Loose Part 1, Dream a Little Dream of Me, and Time Is On My Side. I’m sure we’re also meant to remember naked Ruby from 4.10 Heaven and Hell with the same rack, restraints, and tormentor.
And here’s Alastair waiting for Dean to be cast in the torturer role – this time by the angels.
It needs to be taken a step further, though. 
Dean IS made a monster – or the next thing to it - in hell. Sam is not the only Winchester [still] in danger of losing his soul.
<- In On the Head of a Pin, after the first syringe of holy water, the camera framing pans up Dean to reveal that he is lined up squarely to the bound position. This episode to me was always about Dean the tortured as much as Dean the torturer. Is there a difference between Dean and Alastair? I don’t think Dean would argue the point.
<- Dean learning he broke the first seal begs the question of who is torturing whom?
It makes an awful sense for Sam in When the Levee Breaks to be tormented by the hallucination Dean we first saw in Dream a Little Dream of Me. Of course, how does Sam know to visualize Dean in his Dream a Little Dream of Me shirt and jacket? (I’m leaving these as thumbs so they can be looked at for clothing detail.)
Hallucination Dean looming over Sam in 4.21 – not unlike Sam’s first ‘visitor’ Alastair.
Here’s Dean in 3.10 Dream a Little Dream of Me – same jacket and black tee.
Dean heading upstairs early in 4.21- wearing a different shirt and jacket over the black tee.
Dean meeting with Castiel in 4.21. The lighting adds a blue tone to his jacket.
Castiel entering Jimmy in 4.20 The Rapture. I include this picture partly because I didn’t point out the crosses in his house windows earlier. That makes for a suitable image considering the sacrifice and suffering resulting from this act of faith. The arms aren’t fully extended and I’m thinking of it as indicative of a willing rather than forced sacrifice?
The position is not dissimilar to when Dean risks being sent back to hell in 4.10 Heaven and Hell. He’s unwilling to give up Anna to the angels but is unable to risk Sam.
I’ve lost the original connection I made, but did want to circle back to Castiel standing vigil outside the torture room under all those chains in 4.16. And back to Jimmy asking his family to trust him and his call to serve. It was impossible for them, but still he asked for that. A bit like Sam asking for Dean’s trust even though he knows Dean can’t wrap his head around the choices Sam is compelled to make. Jimmy’s faith cost him his family. And, so it appears Sam’s also will.
Oh! Here’s where I visited a new-ish Supernatural forum, To Hell and Back. It’s Dean-centric which makes for a nice cozy feeling for me. However, there’s quite a strong bias against Sam (and Ruby and anyone else not Dean or Castiel <g>) and that gets in the way of me truly relaxing and enjoying myself. I really hope the season ends with enough room for some of the stronger voices there to allow for a more positive way to look at Dean’s brother. I definitely feel the need to find other obsessed fans willing to support more than a single SPN thread, and a new group that’s small but growing would be a good fit. They were kind enough to let me spin out my theory (pp. 2-17 of the unspoiled speculation thread) and give me feedback. Naurally, it didn’t really work for anyone, but I can’t express how much fun I had trying to articulate it – and how much I appreciate their generosity in not chasing me away.
14 May 2009 04:02 pm robin 0 comments