Supernatural

I loved the episode and was on the edge of my seat grinning all the way. Until that final scene. Then I may have cried a bit.

First, the show was certainly encouraging about continuing to be alert for stairs as a motif this season. The base Ellen has set up with town refugees is down in the church basement. We are shown Ellen leading the boys down the stairs.

On the way back up, the brothers pause on the stairs and argue about whether Sam ought to stay behind rather than expose himself to a town full of demons.

Later, Dean joins Sam and they sit together on a step-down (step-up?) surveying the main room and we watch from behind. Their conversation reveals Sam wishing he could save people. This shot framing is rarely used and I think creates a sense of honest intimacy – particularly here with the boys shoulder to shoulder on the same island so to speak.

This is just before they step out of the main room to the bottom of the stairs to discuss who should go with Ellen looking for Jo. Sam shoves Dean in his frustration over Dean questioning whether Sam has learned his lesson about demon blood. (The stairs are mostly out of frame here, just as they are when Ellen is hugging and slapping Dean at the top of them upon entering the church.)

If the stairs idea makes another appearance next week, I’ll want to sit down and attempt a real articulation of the message they are sending.

For now, though, it’s impossible not to point out the collapsed bridge on the only road into River Pass, Colorado.

It’s reasonable to remember the bridge that was out and preventing the boys from leaving the town in 4.18 Monster At the End of This Book and the bridge covered with armed men enforcing the quarantine preventing the Winchesters from leaving the town in 2.09 Croatoan.  I’m noticing that post-apocalypse the broken bridge acts as a roadblock to the boys even entering the scene.

The show also laid the fish/fishing theme on thick this week. (Last week, Nick was approached by Lucifer in PIKE Creek, Delaware. Nice multiple meaning there.) The main business entering River Pass is Big Louie’s Sporting Goods. The emphasis on fishing spills out to the sidewalk.

It’s probably time for cataloging the uses of the fishing motif since there have been so many and it was given such prominence in Dean’s dream at the beginning of 4.20 The Rapture.

I love this repeated shot of the boys entering town…

… and later exploring the demon infested place. For me, it’s a reminder of looking at both boys through the mirror they broke during their fight in 4.21 When the Levee Breaks. Of course it continues the idea of obstructed and filtered views that were so prevalent last season. But, what is particularly cool to me is the clear patch they pass through.

There’s also the blasted out window and blinds Dean drags Rufus out through. (The boobytrap itself reminds us of Gordon and 2.10 Hunted.) With any luck, we’ll see the field of clarity continue to increase?

I simply can’t make up my mind about whether to be encouraged or distressed by the end of the episode! I’m afraid I’m both simultaneously. Early on we get Dean reluctantly allowing Castiel to take possession of his amulet. (I’m leaving the entire very important discussion of ‘consent’ throughout the episode to the many other reviews and reactions sure to be focusing on the issue. This is too long now!) The thing is how symbolic the amulet is of the bond between Sam and Dean. I suppose it’s legitimate to see Dean entrusting the amulet to Castiel as a way of saying he needs to/ is ready to stand without Sam’s caretaking (for I believe the demon blood was actually allowing Sam to control many of the nightmares dragging at Dean throughout season four).

I don’t see a better opening so here’s where I’ll mention this episode’s look at story creation and control. The amulet is suddenly revealed as God-EMF. Says who??? Castiel, Dean’s personal angel? The one whose orders were to follow Dean’s orders? The one who couldn’t handle Dean’s personal torturer? The one who died and was impossibly resurrected? The one who sacrificed his position and who killed his brother angels all for Dean? I’ll personally be disappointed if we don’t see the amulet acting as another opportunity for grace. Maybe it will burn and indicate God’s presence leading to a realization of faith and accepting the gift of God’s love (and a final return from hell?).

We also get Bobby demanding and expecting a healing miracle (like Sam at the end of 4.16 On the Head of a Pin insisting on a miracle for Dean). Castiel is unable to fix Bobby which comes across to me like the sucker punch of 4.19 Jump the Shark and finding out Adam was really a Winchester. Bobby’s self-sacrifice for Dean’s sake is unexpectedly real and costly. Maybe it’s that now the door is open, Dean needs to make his next moves without Sam or Bobby able to easily back him up?

Ellen’s greeting for the boys was focused almost entirely on Dean (holy water face splash, hug, and slap). Could there be a tag team thing going on with Ellen jumping in to cover for an out of commission Bobby and a Sam in need of backup? Has she tried before to enter Dean’s post-hell experience and only now gotten through? She and Sam exchanged looks that said to me they both see this as about Dean. Still, she has words for Sam when they speak privately. Ellen explains that she is hunting with Jo in order to keep an eye on her daughter. Sam and Ellen identifying in this way makes sense to me given that I saw one aspect of season four as a role reversal until Sam got lost in the job of being his brother’s caretaker.

The monster of the week, WAR, also needs to be noted for his method of attack. He induces hallucinations! Much as he claims to be jello shots lowering inhibitions, this is different from 2.20 What Is and What Should Never Be’s djinn or 3.10 Dream a Little Dream of Me’s dreamroot or even 3.04 Sin City’s Casey making suggestions. Those used and shaped a person’s subconscious wishes and fears. Here, we have a town made to see demons where none exist. This is more like the Trickster’s creations that mess with perceptions? (Although…. we do know Dean is preoccupied over Sam’s demon status. hmmm)

Encouragingly, we see Dean and others able to reason their way out of the hallucination – even prior to gaining control of the ring! Too bad it wasn’t before torturing Sam with pouring salt down his throat (like Dean did Alastair in 4.16 On the Head of a Pin?). Goodness, it’s difficult to find anything in the episode that doesn’t echo off of somewhere. Dean holding War for Sam to get the ring was like when he held Sam in 4.14 Sex and Violence.

I think it’s also significant that during War’s talk with Sam he claims to be able to see inside Sam’s head – much like Alastair did with Dean – and uses terminology like “quick slide to hell” which recalls Dean’s warnings of a “slippery slope” in 4.04 Metamorphosis. The idea that Sam had a lesson to learn is very Trickster-esque too, isn’t it?

By episode’s end, Dean and Sam part ways. It’s done without animosity and purportedly so that each is able to refocus. We’re told Sam needs to be away from hunting. “The problem’s me. How far I’ll go.” (I hope I’m not the only one to flash onto Dean’s 1.22 Devil’s Trap moment of reflection, “For you or Dad, the things I’m willing to do or kill, it just…. it scares me sometimes,” and add the same ‘for you or Dad’ qualifier to Sam’s stated concern.)  Dean doesn’t put up a fight because he needs to be able to not worry about Sam in order to do the job right.

Visually they are presented having this discussion on their own little island of a clearing. The nearly infinite forest fits in perfectly with the tree meta by livejournalist riveryklown. It might be thought of as reinforcing the idea of the boys basing their decisions on the big picture and the greater good?

But, oh! How can this be good?  I’ve thought one good thing that happened in season four was that the boys refused to be split up despite Sam being made to appear as – and be seen by Dean as – a monster. It’s no secret I’ve believed there’s an outside entity acting with the goal of separating the boys. I’m afraid that the decision to split is mostly because they are worn out and not because it’s what either really wants. I worry that they are leaving themselves vulnerable (like molting?). Is it fair to worry that Dean may become unhealthily dependent on Castiel in much the same way that Sam relied on Ruby? I know I’d feel  bit easier if the boys had made a plan for checking in with each other either directly or through Bobby.

The best I can do to turn this development into a positive is to note that it isn’t happening secretly. Castiel included Sam in his rib carving and used Sam’s phone number to get in touch with the boys. Bobby and Sam were present and could have objected when Dean handed off the amulet.  Sam didn’t suggest stepping away until Dean had Ellen and Jo (his alternate family from 4.17 It’s a Terrible Life) and Rufus back in contact.  If the Winchesters’ current togetherness isn’t wholehearted or is smothering, it makes sense for them to choose to partner up again from a less turbulent place than Lucifer’s doorway?

SO! Here’s where I am.  If there’s anything to the theorizing I’ve been doing since the Anna arc in season four, we should see the separation bring about a cease to the darker incest references. That’s assuming they’ve stood for the wrong intimacy of privacy invaded through dreamwalking or whatever mechanics has put the boys into each other’s psyches since Dean was resurrected. We should see Dean become more and more conscious of the control HE has over the way a story develops. We should more and more see Dean question the veracity of what he has been shown including the accepted version of Sam’s descent over the past year.

I don’t picture Sam initiating contact with Dean unless his brother-sense kicks into gear and it’s to swoop in and save Dean from a crisis.

——–

Off topic, but while I’m at it, I can’t resist mentioning that the bearded refugee in the church basement had me thinking of livejournalist bowtrunckle’s crack meta about Sam being stalked by Sinterklaus.

Tags: 5.02 Good God, bridges, fishing, livejournal link, stairs, visuals