Rewatch S3: Ep 11 & 12
Jan. 13th, 2009 06:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hells_half_acreI didn't do any work today...after having to wake up early yesterday morning and drive across town for training, and then spending the day doing various other errands...well, I slept until 1pm and then just watched Supernatural instead of logging on to the work servers. There is like a week until my vacation people!
Mind you, I only have 2 more installments and then I'm done S3...then there's just special features (of which there aren't many)..and then I'm all done! Then all there will be left to do is write, I guess. But that probably won't be happening until after my upcoming 4-6 week absence.
Mystery Spot
I don't actually have that much to say about this episode, mainly because it's really really good. I know I've heard Jared talk about it in interviews before, about how he had to be miserable the entire shoot, because otherwise it wouldn't have worked as well...and I must say, he does an awesome job. I have to focus on the absurdity of it all, otherwise I empathize too much with Sam and want to break out in tears.
Anyway, on with the show...
I love the domesticity at the beginning. We actually never really get to see the boys doing mundane stuff like brushing their teeth - mainly, because it would make for very boring TV - so it's nice that we get this little snapshot of some of their habits. I love how Dean ties his boots on the bed, how he gurgles forever, the squashed messy toothpaste...the little annoyed-but-amused smiles that Sam gives him when he's bopping along to the radio...the little annoyed-but-used-to-it looks that Sam gives him when he asks Sam if the bra is his and he has to have his gun before he goes to breakfast...
Dean making sure he has his gun before he goes to breakfast amuses me greatly.
And really, that first death is some damn good dying on Jensen's part.
Sam: "Man, I had the strangest dream..."
Dean: "Clowns or midgets?"
-hehe, the first time I watched this episode, I had completely forgotten that Sam was afraid of clowns and midgets...now that I remember, the line is just as funny really.
Sam: "He'll have the special, side of bacon and a coffee. Nothing for me."
Dean: "Sammy, I get all tingly when you take control like that"
Sam's a good pickpocket when he swipes the old-guys keys, I guess he's had time to practice.
You know what my favorite Dean death is?...
*Dog barks*
Dean: "Hey buddy! Somebody need a friend?"
And then we get psycho Sam...with is perfect Hunting bulletin board - his perfectly made bed - his laid out meal that he eats with a knife and fork - his nice tube of toothpaste.
Sam begging the trickster to give Dean back always breaks my heart...because he went through 6 months of being a killing machine so that he could track the guy down and kill him, but in the end he just cries and says please...in the end, the Trickster wins for that reason alone.
Trickster: "This obsession to save Dean, the way you two keep sacrificing yourselves for each other - nothing good comes out of it, just blood and pain. Dean's your weakness. The bad guys know it too. It's going to be the death of you Sam."
I think when it comes down to it the Trickster likes the Winchesters. He likes Dean, which is why it was never about killing Dean...it was about trying to teach Sam how Hell was going to take advantage of him, how they could (are/will be) using his love for Dean against him. And yeah, Sam doesn't get the message, because what else does he have besides Dean? Even if he does understand, there's nothing much he can do...he's not going to give up trying to save the only person he loves.
Jus In Bello
I can't believe Bela called the FBI on the boys. I guess they must have been getting too close to her. I mean, I know Bela doesn't have many morals, but I did think that turning in the Winchesters to the FBI was a little below her.
Hendrickson: "...Hannibal Lector and his half-wit little brother"
-I think you might be underestimating Sam a little bit there, chief.
I like how both Sam and Dean make a note to read Nancy's name off her desk as they are ushered through the police station - it's a glimpse into how the boys have been taught to pay attention to every detail of a place.
I think they have 6'1'' on Dean's wanted poster at the FBI office...also that his eyes are hazel and that his hair is light brown - LIGHT BROWN...a lot of fanfiction calls him blond, and it sort of annoys me. He was blond as a kid maybe, but so were all my siblings and we all have light-dark brown hair now - it's a Northern European thing.
It's Peter Deluise! I like that guy.
Hendrickson: "I've got a lot to celebrate after all, seeing you two in chains."
Dean: "You kinky sonofabitch, we don't swing that way."
And then the line about their Daddy touching them as kids and both Dean and Sam give Hendrickson the evil eye...Dean actually doesn't get as angry as Sam does, I thought that was neat...mind you, Dean's heard Hendrickson insult his dad before.
Oh, Peter Deluise's character is dead now...that was short lived.
Dean: "It's like we've got a contract out on us. D'you think it's because we're so awesome? I think it's because we're so awesome."
The tattoos! For some reason I thought they were in Bobby's house when they revealed those for the first time, but nope! Nice tats boys. They also have a bag full of those medallions that Bobby gave them instead of just two...good thinking!
Ok, here's the thing...I REALLY liked the idea of Hendrickson the Hunter. I so thought that they were building him up to have him take off on his own - hunt evil stuff...I was so excited...
Did I miss an episode? When did Ruby tell Sam about the demon gunning for him? Was that in her introductory episodes? I don't remember now. Anyway, this is when we first hear about Lilith.
Dean: "Stop! Stop! Nobody kill any virgins!" - hehehe
Dean: "I'm not going to kill a sweet innocent girl, who hasn't even been laid." - again, hehehe.
Then everyone dies, and I don't get my Hendrickson Hunter, and the boys are sad because they tried to save people and failed...it's a sad world.
But the boys are both dead in the eyes of the law now, making this the second time for Dean and the first for Sam. I wonder what all of Sam's college buddy's thought...if they ever found out, I guess it's been three years since they last heard from him anyway.
Closer Look:
We get Sera Gamble (whose name I spelt wrong on all my previous posts, because I am silly) talking about the reason for the episode. They needed to wrap up the FBI storyline so that the boys wouldn't have that hanging over their heads anymore. Sera seems to suggest that maybe Hendrickson didn't die, but I think we all know that he did...
Anyway, the important thing is that she also says that up until they wrote this episode they were thinking of having the demon be a dude, which is why everyone up until now has called him a "he"...and it was writing this episode that they decided that it'd be a girl, a little girl, and her name would be Lilith.
Mind you, I only have 2 more installments and then I'm done S3...then there's just special features (of which there aren't many)..and then I'm all done! Then all there will be left to do is write, I guess. But that probably won't be happening until after my upcoming 4-6 week absence.
Mystery Spot
I don't actually have that much to say about this episode, mainly because it's really really good. I know I've heard Jared talk about it in interviews before, about how he had to be miserable the entire shoot, because otherwise it wouldn't have worked as well...and I must say, he does an awesome job. I have to focus on the absurdity of it all, otherwise I empathize too much with Sam and want to break out in tears.
Anyway, on with the show...
I love the domesticity at the beginning. We actually never really get to see the boys doing mundane stuff like brushing their teeth - mainly, because it would make for very boring TV - so it's nice that we get this little snapshot of some of their habits. I love how Dean ties his boots on the bed, how he gurgles forever, the squashed messy toothpaste...the little annoyed-but-amused smiles that Sam gives him when he's bopping along to the radio...the little annoyed-but-used-to-it looks that Sam gives him when he asks Sam if the bra is his and he has to have his gun before he goes to breakfast...
Dean making sure he has his gun before he goes to breakfast amuses me greatly.
And really, that first death is some damn good dying on Jensen's part.
Sam: "Man, I had the strangest dream..."
Dean: "Clowns or midgets?"
-hehe, the first time I watched this episode, I had completely forgotten that Sam was afraid of clowns and midgets...now that I remember, the line is just as funny really.
Sam: "He'll have the special, side of bacon and a coffee. Nothing for me."
Dean: "Sammy, I get all tingly when you take control like that"
Sam's a good pickpocket when he swipes the old-guys keys, I guess he's had time to practice.
You know what my favorite Dean death is?...
*Dog barks*
Dean: "Hey buddy! Somebody need a friend?"
And then we get psycho Sam...with is perfect Hunting bulletin board - his perfectly made bed - his laid out meal that he eats with a knife and fork - his nice tube of toothpaste.
Sam begging the trickster to give Dean back always breaks my heart...because he went through 6 months of being a killing machine so that he could track the guy down and kill him, but in the end he just cries and says please...in the end, the Trickster wins for that reason alone.
Trickster: "This obsession to save Dean, the way you two keep sacrificing yourselves for each other - nothing good comes out of it, just blood and pain. Dean's your weakness. The bad guys know it too. It's going to be the death of you Sam."
I think when it comes down to it the Trickster likes the Winchesters. He likes Dean, which is why it was never about killing Dean...it was about trying to teach Sam how Hell was going to take advantage of him, how they could (are/will be) using his love for Dean against him. And yeah, Sam doesn't get the message, because what else does he have besides Dean? Even if he does understand, there's nothing much he can do...he's not going to give up trying to save the only person he loves.
Jus In Bello
I can't believe Bela called the FBI on the boys. I guess they must have been getting too close to her. I mean, I know Bela doesn't have many morals, but I did think that turning in the Winchesters to the FBI was a little below her.
Hendrickson: "...Hannibal Lector and his half-wit little brother"
-I think you might be underestimating Sam a little bit there, chief.
I like how both Sam and Dean make a note to read Nancy's name off her desk as they are ushered through the police station - it's a glimpse into how the boys have been taught to pay attention to every detail of a place.
I think they have 6'1'' on Dean's wanted poster at the FBI office...also that his eyes are hazel and that his hair is light brown - LIGHT BROWN...a lot of fanfiction calls him blond, and it sort of annoys me. He was blond as a kid maybe, but so were all my siblings and we all have light-dark brown hair now - it's a Northern European thing.
It's Peter Deluise! I like that guy.
Hendrickson: "I've got a lot to celebrate after all, seeing you two in chains."
Dean: "You kinky sonofabitch, we don't swing that way."
And then the line about their Daddy touching them as kids and both Dean and Sam give Hendrickson the evil eye...Dean actually doesn't get as angry as Sam does, I thought that was neat...mind you, Dean's heard Hendrickson insult his dad before.
Oh, Peter Deluise's character is dead now...that was short lived.
Dean: "It's like we've got a contract out on us. D'you think it's because we're so awesome? I think it's because we're so awesome."
The tattoos! For some reason I thought they were in Bobby's house when they revealed those for the first time, but nope! Nice tats boys. They also have a bag full of those medallions that Bobby gave them instead of just two...good thinking!
Ok, here's the thing...I REALLY liked the idea of Hendrickson the Hunter. I so thought that they were building him up to have him take off on his own - hunt evil stuff...I was so excited...
Did I miss an episode? When did Ruby tell Sam about the demon gunning for him? Was that in her introductory episodes? I don't remember now. Anyway, this is when we first hear about Lilith.
Dean: "Stop! Stop! Nobody kill any virgins!" - hehehe
Dean: "I'm not going to kill a sweet innocent girl, who hasn't even been laid." - again, hehehe.
Then everyone dies, and I don't get my Hendrickson Hunter, and the boys are sad because they tried to save people and failed...it's a sad world.
But the boys are both dead in the eyes of the law now, making this the second time for Dean and the first for Sam. I wonder what all of Sam's college buddy's thought...if they ever found out, I guess it's been three years since they last heard from him anyway.
Closer Look:
We get Sera Gamble (whose name I spelt wrong on all my previous posts, because I am silly) talking about the reason for the episode. They needed to wrap up the FBI storyline so that the boys wouldn't have that hanging over their heads anymore. Sera seems to suggest that maybe Hendrickson didn't die, but I think we all know that he did...
Anyway, the important thing is that she also says that up until they wrote this episode they were thinking of having the demon be a dude, which is why everyone up until now has called him a "he"...and it was writing this episode that they decided that it'd be a girl, a little girl, and her name would be Lilith.
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no subject
Date: 2009-01-14 01:33 am (UTC)Good interpretation. In the lore of various cultures, the Trickster (a.k.a. Raven, Loki, et al. -- did you notice the picture of Raven on the wall in Trickster's pad in the episode with the skeevy college professor?)...um...lost my train of thought. Oh yeah.
Anyway, his job in the spiritual world of these cultures, and it's a loving sort of job, is to teach people things they need to know, and usually, whilst at it, to knock them down a peg or two, arrogance-wise.
This is almost always a good way to learn things; i.e., to have somebody jam a stick in the spokes of your runaway downhill bike so you get pitched off into a ditch and have to look at your journey in a whole new, much more fundamental, way. Think of the Fool in the Tarot deck, or the Hanged Man, Same sort of idea.
This is exactly the role the Trickster is playing in Sam's life in this episode. He has no intention of wounding Sam or killing off Dean. He has taught Sam how to survive a relentless series of crushing emotional blows and the stuff of madness all by himself. He's taught him the true extent of his devotion to Dean. Both those lessons combine to teach him something even greater about his limits. Remember the best teacher you ever had? S/he probably did something along those lines to you.
Poor Sam. We get only a small slice of what he's learned. It's all foreshadowing something that hasn't happened yet, though we might think it has, with Dean dying and going to Hell and all that.
The scene I like most in this ep is the one in which Sam matches Dean's lines syllable-for-syllable, by rote, at the diner. I'll bet they had fun with that. The little thing about Sam keeping a ruler on his night-stand is priceless. Such boys.
no subject
Date: 2009-01-14 02:20 am (UTC)You are completely right about the best "teacher" I ever had. It was someone who basically reached their hand into my chest, pulled out my heart, and left me a bloody mess on the floor while they pointed out all these things about myself that I hadn't realized...so yeah, painful, but I'm better off for it. I completely understand the Trickster's methods, because hey, why tell when you can show?
no subject
Date: 2009-01-14 02:30 am (UTC)Exactly! Good tatoo for the insides of writers' eyelids.
no subject
Date: 2009-01-14 02:36 pm (UTC)Lots of people really like Jus in Bello. Don't get me wrong, I like it, but it's not one of my faves. I'd forgotten that Henricksen insults their dad. Oh writers, they're just poking fun at us fangirls, aren't they?
no subject
Date: 2009-01-14 03:47 pm (UTC)Hehe, poor Jensen, constantly having to eat.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-10 01:50 am (UTC)My first stop, my absolute favorite episode of all time:Mystery Spot.
I LOVE MYSTERY SPOT. We got caring!Dean. Protective!Sam. CrazyoutofhismindbecauseDeanisdead!Sam. HUG. What is there not to love.
Look at the teeny tiny rewatch. LOL And this is a two-fer as well and it is so short.
I also liked the 'A day in the life of Sam and Dean' feel to it.
'Sam's a good pickpocket when he swipes the old-guys keys, I guess he's had time to practice.'
Hmm, I think that John taught them how to be good pick-pockets when they were younger, I don't think that it is a 'new' skill that Sam just picked (LOL) up.
Don't forget that after Dean is killed, Sam re-does the Impala's trunk just like John's. Sam really does become his father, not after Jessica's death, but after Dean's. Also, there is no Ruby. She still existed but Sam never called on her for help in finding the Trickster. Maybe if the episode had been two hours long, then we would have gotten more of CrazyoutofhismindbecauseDeanisdead!Sam. I suppose that is why fanfic is so popular for SPN, especially for this episode.
Then they ret-con the Trickster into Gabriel.
I think that the first death had to be serious as a way to shock us(and Sam) into thinking that this was it, Dean had gone to Hell. Then the deaths get funnier and funnier, then the Wednesday death, which is also a gun shot, comes and we(and Sam) are waiting for the reset that never happens.
Love Mystery Spot.
I guess I will say a little bit about Jus in Bello as while.
It wasn't a bad episode. It did open up Henriksen's(official spelling according to Superwiki) eyes, then you are right, we lost another potential ally to our boys.
Since JiB was supposed to have been shown before 'Mystery Spot', to me it seems like Sam recovered rather quickly from his ordeal. But because of the dreaded writer's strike, the episodes were switched and so Sam's ordeal became 'forgotten', except in fanfic. Too bad we never got a actual episode of Sam recovering from losing Dean.
That I think was the main problem I had with season four, because they showed Sam in 'Mystery Spot' one way after Dean's death, but he was completely different after Dean's actual death. You can say that Sam 'learned' a lesson and did things differently (demon blood and Ruby) but why wouldn't he have gone looking for Ruby and use his 'power' to force the Trickster to bring back Dean. Whatever, ancient history, we are now in season EIGHT.
But what is funny, you wrote this in between 'Heaven and Hell' and 'Family Remains'. When seals were being broken and we didn't even know about Ruby and her lies, or even about Sam and his blood addiction. How different you see those episodes, knowing how season four ended. Remember in season three, how everyone wondered if Ruby could be trusted or not? Although truthfully, I liked season 3 Ruby better, she was an 'ally' to the boys, but in season 4, she was more of a pusher (and other things).
This is probably longer than the rewatch itself, but it is fun looking at these older episodes knowing what we know about where the story has gone.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-10 06:24 am (UTC)Anyway, yeah, I should probably redo these someday in the future...
Mystery Spot is one of my all time faves too. It's actually usually the one I show people who have never seen the show...which, might be odd, but I just think it has so much of what makes Supernatural great.
Then they ret-con the Trickster into Gabriel.
I actually don't like the term ret-con being used when it comes to Gabriel. To me, ret-con means something else...but, that's an argument of definitions. I also think disenfranchised should mean something different too. :P
Since JiB was supposed to have been shown before 'Mystery Spot', to me it seems like Sam recovered rather quickly from his ordeal. But because of the dreaded writer's strike, the episodes were switched and so Sam's ordeal became 'forgotten', except in fanfic. Too bad we never got a actual episode of Sam recovering from losing Dean.
Agreed. I would have loved that.
That I think was the main problem I had with season four, because they showed Sam in 'Mystery Spot' one way after Dean's death, but he was completely different after Dean's actual death. You can say that Sam 'learned' a lesson and did things differently (demon blood and Ruby) but why wouldn't he have gone looking for Ruby and use his 'power' to force the Trickster to bring back Dean.
See, I think it's different because in Mystery Spot, Sam KNEW who his enemy was - not only that, but he knew that his enemy could BRING DEAN BACK. It wasn't about revenge, it was about saving Dean...well, it was partially about revenge too, but mostly about saving Dean, since all Sam does once he meets back up with the Trickster is beg him to give Dean back.
Also, Ruby didn't really start pushing the possibility of his powers until 3x16, so I don't think Sam even thought of them (or Ruby) as a possibility in Mystery Spot. Not only that, but at this point, Ruby was just showing up when SHE felt like it. Sam didn't call her until 3x16, and that was only because she promised that she could get Dean out of his deal.
So, that's why the two reactions were so different. When Dean went to hell, Sam hit the booze because he COULDN'T save Dean - it was Ruby who showed up on her own and convinced him that revenge was a good strategy (and dub-conned him too while she was there.)
I still wondered if Ruby could be trusted right up until 4x16, I think. I liked S4 Ruby way better than S3 Ruby, BECAUSE she was harder to read for me - I never trusted S3 Ruby at all...or at least, I don't remember trusting her.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-10 05:35 pm (UTC)That is too funny. No wonder this is so tiny, notes on 3x3 post-its. LOL
'I actually don't like the term ret-con being used when it comes to Gabriel.'
Sorry :(
You are right, Sam's mission became tracking down the Trickster to get Dean back, and once he did, he just fell to pieces. Poor Sammy, come here, somebody needs a hug. OK, I will give you that, and now that I think back to IKWYDLS (sorry), Sam became almost suicidal and wanted Lilith to find him.
Wow, you were undecided about Ruby right up until 'On the Head of a Pin'. My problem is that in 'Lazarus Rising', you know almost right away that Sam is going to keep secrets from Dean. Dean doesn't find out until episode 4 that Ruby is back and that is only because Castiel led him to where Sam and Ruby were. That is probably why I don't like season 4 that much (I do like it more than seasons 6 and 7 combined LOL), because I believe that we should have had more h/c and less freaking secrets and lies.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-10 06:44 pm (UTC)Yeah, to me, the secrets and lies make it interesting - even though it did break my heart. I think that's why I had a huge problem with S7, finally there was an opportunity for h/c without secrets and lies and instead we don't get EITHER. :P
I knew Sam should be honest with Dean, and that it wasn't good to keep secrets, but I didn't necessarily blame that on Ruby - especially since Ruby TOLD Sam to tell Dean. So, yeah, that's why I was undecided until I saw her evil smirk in OTHOAP. :P
no subject
Date: 2012-10-10 06:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-10-10 06:55 pm (UTC)