A few unspoiled thoughts before the next episode….

We, the audience, see the resurrection of the Elysian Fields Hotel with the potted purple flower (a spring crocus maybe?) – in a reverse of the plants dying in 2.04 Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things – brought back to life. I’m seeing it as a continuation of the ‘brought back to life’ theme we’ve had recently with doomed zombie-wives and a substitute-vessel brother bait. The hotel, along with its Astro Lounge, is also reminiscent for me of 3.14 Long Distance Call’s themed Starburst Motel.

Sam and Dean do not witness the wakening. Do they ever understand the nature of the place? Sam questioned the hotel’s location in the middle of nowhere and had the instinct to get them out of the place. I believe three of the last four episodes have put the boys in constructed or alternate realities (Heaven, Beautiful/Green Room, and this). It’s no longer the boys dealing with and defending against the supernatural invading human turf, is it? The show is clearly hijacking the Winchesters to supernatural territory (not even angel created) on a semi-regular basis.

Again, doors played active parts in the story. (Last episode, 5.18 Point of No Return, Adam was cut off from Sam and Dean when the Green Room door closed and was too hot for Dean to touch.) Dean walks past an open door to spot an elephant in the room. It has become a large black man in a towel (later revealed as the Hindu figure Lord Ganesh) by the time Dean does his double-take and the door is slammed in his face. The Winchesters are prevented from leaving when they find they’ve been locked into the hotel itself (see 5.09 The Real Ghostbusters). Additionally, the captive guests were locked in the freezer with its windowed door for the victims to plead through and where Dean hurries Sam at the lock (like in 5.11 Sam, Interrupted).

A favorite line for me in the episode was Gabriel-Trickster’s one about being the Costner to the boys’ Houston. It made me laugh that they went with referencing such a chick flick and the characters apparently all got it quicker than I did. The Bodyguard becomes a perfect choice though for suggesting the angle of some of the players having the job of sacrificing themselves for Dean’s protection. (How creepy is it that in the movie the singer needed protection due to the betrayal of a sibling?) It doesn’t hurt a bit that the movie’s theme song’s most memorable refrain is “I will always love you”- messages of love directed at Dean being yet another theme I see this season.

The reference is followed by a scene of Gabriel and Kali disagreeing about the best course and Gabriel asks Kali if she still loves him. She says no but is the initiator as they start making out. Gabriel attempts to retrieve the vials of Sam’s and Dean’s blood during the distraction only to be similarly caught. Could Gabriel’s line, “It’s a blood spell. You boys are on a leash,” be meant more literally than figuratively and go back further than this episode? (I described Sam following Dean from the dock at the end of 4.08 Wishful Thinking as if the two were tethered!) Could it be hinting at a binding instrumental in bringing about Dean’s recovery from hell or both Sam’s and Dean’s resurrections? Or perhaps an explanation for the necessity of Sam’s blood drinking?

Gabriel has one more love statement to make and that is directed at Lucifer during their showdown.

My speculating was encouraged while the gods were bickering. Zao Shen (I think) objects to Odin’s version of Armageddon. Odin replies with a challenge about what makes the other’s beliefs any more realistic. I take it as a hint that the show hasn’t forgotten bringing up the idea of something becoming real through belief.

They go on to add one more example to the many about this being a story. Gabriel tells Kali and the rest that he knows they can’t stop Lucifer because he’s skipped ahead to see the end of the story. Her response a dismissive, “Your story,” before launching into her perspective on Western arrogance.  I hope the show is laying more groundwork for the importance of who is telling the story. I haven’t given up on the boys finding how to consciously author events to halt the apocalypse and redeem themselves.

Sam asking Gabriel if Kali was right about the gods being able to defeat Lucifer was a bit like him asking Anna in 4.10 Heaven and Hell about the possibility of killing angels. I also liked Gabriel claiming runaway status when accused of being a spy. Last episode, the boys each accused the other of running away and made clear how damaging that act was/is. (In my classroom yesterday, we read about Ulysses and the Wandering Rocks herding him into more adventures. Ulysses’s line is “Heroes are made when retreat is cut off.”)

Gabriel and Lucifer sure kept up the pop culture references even when it was just the two of them facing off.

The flag returned — outside the quick shop Pestilence infects. (I never did find one in 5.18 Point of No Return.)

There’s a specific line included putting it on the record that Sam is not sleeping much.

I’m glad to see rings actively re-enter the story. It’s no surprise generally, but the particular details had been left hanging.  I think it’s clever of the show to have Dean picking up the engagement ring early in the episode. (Somewhere I read and liked someone noticing how that reflected finding Ava’s engagement ring at the end of 2.10 Hunted.) It’s almost like a clue has been left for Sam and Dean coming up with a method for locking Lucifer back up? If they had played the Casa Erotica pay per view early in the episode, would it have contained Gabriel’s message for the boys?  ( I still believe Dean’s missing ring (and amulet!!) will have a role to play.)

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