I liked the episode a lot on first watch, and that satisfaction continues to grow.  I have a ridiculously long list of points I’m thinking about. As always, I’m unspoiled and have an unconventional read on the story. (Honestly, I do try talking myself out of it, but I’ve probably crossed a threshold where that’s no longer likely.) Other views are helpful for getting me to think through what I’m forgetting to factor into my speculating.

I’ll start here since I haven’t seen anyone else mentioning the motivational aphorism appearing over the nurse’s station and dispensary. Believe in yourself and anything becomes possible. Sure it’s corporate cliche, but somehow that seems right for angels (or whoever?) trying to get a message through to our boys. I had to go through screencaps carefully to catch shots even this clear, so I imagine it acting as a subliminal encouragement? The point might be an attempt at encouraging the idea that self-doubt (Sam’s “I can’t trust myself” and Dean’s “I’m afraid”) is the block to stopping Lucifer and the apocalypse? Oooorr? While the guys aren’t pointing at the words on a giant publicity check, the fact that the glare leaves “in yourself becomes possible” legible might be as significant as 3.03 Bad Day at Black Rock’s “free for one year.” I can’t help smiling at this idea (though it kind of terrifies me as well).

I think it’s notable that we get a look at Dean’s admission chart (dated Sep. 2009?) and hear his imaginary doctor’s diagnosis, including paranoia, schizophrenia, narcissistic personality and religious delusions. Except for the narcissism, that was angel Anna’s diagnosis when we were being introduced to her character in 4.09 I Know What You Did Last Summer! Further, when the boys entered the interview with Dr. Fuller, they were ostensibly there to get Sam admitted and play it so that Dean would be deemed in need of professional evaluation, too. Did they consider having one of the guys go in as an orderly or something or was there a reason they both took on the role of patient? I’m certainly curious about why we weren’t seeing paperwork on Sam or hearing professional evaluations of his mental health beyond including him in the “dangerously codependent”  designation and having Sam’s anger described as seeming “barely even human – like a man possessed.”

While I’m still thinking about that initial interview, I’d like to note that Dean’s slightly stilted, deadpan line reading of, “I don’t own any elephant books,” came across to me as more than a little Castiel-like. I understand it’s a Fletch reference (I must rent that movie!) and the allusion to the undercover reporter character is welcome. Writers not who they seem? I’m on board for that.

Let’s talk about sleep in the episode. The show opens with an interview with the patient Susan apparently afraid to go to sleep because that’s when the monsters come. Her roommate, Annie (hmm), was labeled a suicide, though Susan was certain that she’d been killed. We get Dean acknowledging that he’s living on only three or four hours of sleep even couple nights – and that much is due to the fifty-plus drinks he’s consuming weekly.

Later, we see a freaking out Dean wake Martin, John’s traumatized (Albuquerque?) hunter friend who stress stutters at the thought of dead bodies and views himself as useless after being like the Winchesters once. A televisionwithoutpity episode post brought up the idea of Dean’s jumpiness in that scene reminding her of Grover in Monster at the End of This Book and, boy, did that ever hit home for me. Wish I’d thought of it.

In fact, Crazy Dean is both funny and heartbreaking. I believe we were treated to two Jack Nicholson references in the episode. Once with Dean’s bravado when meeting Nurse Ratched (and is it an accident that she shares a last name with the director of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest?). Later, when Dean is avoiding cracks as he walks down the hall, I thought it like the OCD Melvin Udall in As Good As It Gets.

I have to admit the “Pudding!” bit provoked a laugh. Jensen made it just as expressive as “Astronaut!” didn’t he? I was trying to guess what Christmas carol they would break into and wondering if either would know the words this time when Dean dropped his pants. When I stretched for any extra layer of meaning, the best I could do was thinking of a cross between William Wallace’s battlefield etiquette in Braveheart and Robin Williams’s character’s penchant for “freeing up the little guy” in The Fisher King. (That’s not so far fetched for me since that movie has a bedside scene of a despairing friend calling out, “What am I supposed to do?” – very similar to All Hell Breaks Loose Part 2.)

We are with Dean as he tells Sam, “Crazy works,” and brainstorms with Martin, “Crazy is the clue.” Questioning reality was a (perhaps the ) major theme throughout the episode and is tied heavily into sanity. The patient, Susan, knows her son’s appearance is a hallucination in the doctor’s office and yet insists the monster is real and coming. The security mirror Dean was using during his hallway stake-out was convex and couldn’t do other than distort the reality of the scene. The moment of clarity Sam relates to Dr. Fuller is that “there’s no such thing as monsters.” Dean’s phantom doc reveals her nature with, “I’m not real, Dean. I’m in your head ’cause you are going crazy.” Dean asks Martin’s opinion about his guess the wraith is amping up the crazy by asking, “Is that possible? Does that seem real?” His question when he finds the wraith attacking Wendy is to ask, “Is this real?”

More tragically, Dean is clinging to his pattern of deny and repress and bury the scary stuff. My take on him telling Sam at the end to do the same was the Dean isn’t ready to do anything else. His problems are so entwined with Sam’s that if they were to figure out why Sam is so angry, Dean would lose the protection of ignorance.

There were lots of characters and other points I thought were worth noticing!

  • Martin tells a huddled in the corner Dean trying to beg off chasing down the wraith, “You have to. You have no choice, son.”
  • Sam removing a skull top and poking around at brains? Ewww. Are we supposed to be thinking of the other scalpings and head wounds the show has had recently?
  • Sam’s “I am awesome” calls to mind two other times we’ve heard the line – once from Ava and more recently from Ruby.
  • Sam’s “Boop” when tweaking Dean’s nose made me think first of Alanis Morissette playing God in Dogma and then of Mr Miyagi in The Karate Kid.
  • Sam and Martin merely observe in their group’s session where the witness-patient boils the situation down to, “We’re all dead.” (Jed and Susan were both seen through door windows while being attacked.)
  • In the desaturated, mostly muted fields of solid greens and blues at the mental facility, the brightest shock of color is a semi-psychedelic paisley-ish wall hanging of golds and olives. Sam is the brother associated with the piece.
  • One bystander patient is petting a stuffed bunny (a creature with more than one Supernatural credit – Bad Day at Black Rock and Malleus Maleficarum at least).
  • The wraith tasting Sam was creepy — like ghouls and the siren taking physical pleasure in their acts.
  • Wendy kissing each brother? I read it as an illustration that they are in this together and are tied into experiencing what the other experiences. What if she’s a manifestation of the “surprisingly physical” aspect to the “total shared perception” Castiel describes in 5.04 The End?
  • Both the admitting nurse/wraith and Dean’s hallucination doctor deserve more time and thought than I can give them right now.

(I’m posting this though it is not complete! I want to get it done before the new ep tonight. However, I am certain I’m not done thinking about this wonderful episode!)

(5.11 episode screencaps are from tonicangel at  toxic_caps.)

Okay, I realize this has nothing to do with the episode, but look what I noticed while checking out a Dean’s Birthday picspam on livejournal.

101 Little Dean in pajamas as John hands over baby Sam in the Pilot episode.

222_vigil_shirt In 2.22 All Hell Breaks Loose Part 2, the vigil over murdered Sam has Dean wearing a shirt that is actually a bit reminiscent in color (red, white, and blue!), pattern, and material.  The same shirt also shows up in 1.09 Home when Dean is making ‘that’ phone call asking for John’s help as well as throughout 1.16 Shadow – which also includes Dean trying to call his father.

Could that be more than a coincidence? Man, when you start to notice the echoed ideas and elements, it makes you wish for subtitles to know which are intended to convey a message and which are merely serendipitous. It’s way too easy to notice something and ascribe unintended meaning to it. Anyway… just an interesting observation. In a, you know, observationally interesting way. (Heh, never thought I’d find much reason to quote Route 666.)

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