Rewatch S5: The Devil You Know (5x20)

[hells_half_acre]

My plans were foiled! My boss discovered that I had no work and gave me some! Boo!

Anyway, so, this is later than I intended and I'm probably too tired now to work on VVV tonight. Story of my life! Still I'm only two episodes away from finishing the rewatch, which will mean that I can do fun stuff like: A)post my S5 timeline, such that it is. B)Get back to posting If Clothes Could Talk posts (because I know you are all dying to know more about the wardrobe...I can sense these things.)

Surprisingly, I didn't have that much to say about this one either....so let's get on with it!

THE DEVIL YOU KNOW

Those poor lab monkeys are going to be traumatized for life after witnessing that murder. Though, I suppose they are already being used for experiments, so their lives kind of suck already. Dude, one of these days apes and monkeys are going to revolt on us, then where will we be?! Screwed. 

This first scene with the Winchesters kind of weirds me out. I find it very disconcerting to have people talking when I can't see their mouths. I am not sure why this is.

This is the fourth town that they've followed Pestilence through...I wonder what that means for how much time has passed between the last epiosde and this one. Dean is still wearing the same shirt, but a different jacket.

Poor Impala, Sam totally STABS YOU IN THE BACKseat...and yet, you still forgive him and save the world by the sheer power of being awesome. You are a good home.

"Fancy a fag and a chat"
-Oh Crowley...even though you got a little too Deus ex Machina for me in these episodes, I still love you.

You know what else I love? - Angry!Sam. I am seriously way too turned on by angry hot guys. I'm sure it's going to create problems for me in my life. It's a good thing I'm a hermit. Maybe I shouldn't join the movie industry after all.

"Call your dog off please"
-Mmm, I love this too...SAMMY PUPPY SMASH!

"...well one thing has changed: now the devil knows I want him dead, which makes me the most buggered son in all creation-"
"Holy crap, we don't care"
"They burnt down my house. THEY ATE MY TAILOR!"
-Oh Crowley, we know you like tailors...your life is so hard.

"...it [the magic coin] allows me to hear things too, and, my, the things I've heard."
-I had forgotten about this...now I kind of want to go back and listen to all conversations had in the car. One things for sure, Crowley heard Cas chowing down on all those burgers.

"I've sold sin to saints for centuries..."
-lovely alliteration here.

Brady to Pestilence about the drug shipment: "...and don't even get me started on the Teamsters"
-Who wants to bet this is an industry inside joke?

"Sam's not coming"
"Why the hell not?"
"Because I don't like you. I don't trust you, and, oh yes, you keep trying to kill me!"
-I can't remember what I wanted to say about this...maybe I just liked it? I did.

So yeah, Dean choses a demon over Sam, but hey...at least now he HAS to forgive Sam for choosing Ruby over him!

Always remember folks: It's not drinking alone, if you are on the phone!

Here we get a nice little example of one of the times Sam has called Bobby to bitch about Dean...this was nice to watch after seeing 6x04. It's also nice to watch because a lot of the series has been about Bobby and DEAN'S relationship. It's nice to see a little Bobby-Sam interaction.

"Hey Bobby"
"Yeah"
"Remember that time you were possessed?"
-I love the way Sam says this...so, casual, but not forced casual, he's just actually that casual about it...plus, it's delivered in a sort of 'yes, I've been drinking' way.
"Yeah, rings a bell"
"[...] How'd you do it? How'd you take back the wheel?"
"Why are you asking, Sam?"
-I love how Bobby immediately sobers, and knows why Sam is asking.

"What if you guys lead the devil to the cage, and I jump in"
"Sam?"
"It'd be just like when you turned the knife on yourself. One action. One leap."
"Are you idjits trying to kill me!?!"
"Bobby"
"We just got done talking your brother off the ledge, and now your lining up to say yes?"
"It's not like that. I'm not going to do it, not unless we all agree. But I think we got to look at our options."
"This isn't an option, Sam"
"Why not?"
-Sam is very Dean like here...and I'm surprised Bobby lets him. But the way he talks about this plan, there's no consideration for the fact that he is basically saying "So, what if I damn myself to eternal torment and leave you and my brother a grieving mess because you love me so much?" No, the fact that Sam is beloved is not entering into this at all...it's why won't this work logistically?

"...he's going to use every chink in your armour against you - your fear, your grief, your anger. And let's face it, you aren't exactly anger management. How are you going to control the devil, when you can't even control yourself?"
-I will come back to this.

"Well, how'd it go? Did he buy your girl scout cookies?"
"Not yet. Where's your moose?"
-Favorite Crowley-Dean conversation ever. Also, I think I have a kink for Crowley calling Sam different large animal names yet always as though Dean is the pet-owner. I feel somewhat dirty.

So, Sam locks Dean in the bathroom and goes after Brady with the knife. The first time I saw this, it didn't occur to me...but Sam is purposefully testing himself. He took Bobby's words to heart, and now he is seeing if he CAN control his anger. His first reaction to Brady - white hot rage! Now watch as he LETS Brady goad him, until he loses it...then he only knicks him...and then suddenly his anger goes from white-hot to ice cold. This is an anger management technique that I myself use. Oh, you're still angry...but instead of throwing furniture like the Hulk, you become an evil supervillain.

Personally, I play this game where I try to be as polite as possible to the person I'm mad at. Apparently it freaks people right out. That's not quite what Sam is doing here, but his uncontrolled INTENSE anger, because super-controlled INTENSE ANGER.

I'm not saying this is better, because I think the devil gains strength just from anger itself, not the form it takes...but still, it's interesting to see Sam trying here. It's also another example of how Sam as a character is an extremely internal character, which is why people always complain that it's the Dean show. Dean is the character that wears everything on his sleeve, so we see more evidently what his growth is, what his plans are, and where his loyalties lie...with Sam, he keeps it all inside, so we never quite know what's up with him. I think that's what they're playing up in S6. Sam is HARD TO KNOW, and even when there is something obviously wrong with him, we can't figure out exactly what it is...we just know it's horrible, because he's even harder to read than usual.

Also, awww....Sam's a good friend. I like Brady telling him he was a good friend, even though Brady was a douchebag demon and was using the fact to taunt him. Poor Sammy.

Lovers in League against Satan.
-Ah hahaha...love it. 

"All those angels, all those demons, all those sons of bitches, they just don't get it, do they, Sammy?"
"No they don't, Dean"
"You see, Brady, we're the ones you should be afraid of."
-I love this line. I also like how Sam and Dean say each other's names. And I like how it's ambiguous...Dean doesn't say whether they are a force for good, or a force for evil, only that they should be feared. (Obviously, they are a force for good...I'm just saying that I like how the emphasis is on the fact that they should be feared).

"Maybe the only difference between you and a demon is that your hell is right here."
"kills him* "Interesting theory"
-Mmm, Sam. Did I mention that I love you? Also, what exactly do you think Brady meant? That Sam's hell was on earth, his life...or that what Sam RULED was earth? Analyze this exchange for me in comments!

I also want to say how much I love the fact that Sam killed Brady in front of a giant mural for a barbershop. I've associated barbershops with murders ever since I read that short story in High School about the barber who has an evil dictator come into his shop- and the whole story is the barber trying to decide if he should kill him with the straight razor...and it is crazy intense. Does anyone know what that was called?

ETA: See this comment for my interpretation of Dean's reaction to Sam killing Brady. borgmama1of5  rightly pointed out that I had forgotten to mention it up here.

Finally - oh Bobby.

Ok! That was fun! Only two more episodes to go, and then special features time!!!

I should mention that Ghostfacers were on Disc 5, but I'm going to wait until I finish all the episodes before I post about the extras.

Comments

[mymuseandi.livejournal.com]

Personally, I play this game where I try to be as polite as possible to the person I'm mad at. Apparently it freaks people right out.

LOL I do this too, but it's not really a game, per se. My works previously involved customer service, and doing that in a country that is well-known got being complainers, it's a necessity, otherwise you'll go mad. So I'll be polite and smile and etc to them, and if it gets too much, once the're out of the immediate area, I'll be bitching about them.

"Maybe the only difference between you and a demon is that your hell is right here."

I'm not entirely sure what this means, but I always thought that Sam could never really be at peace eve since season 1, when Jessica was killed, and then finding out that the YED had some grand plan for him, and then Dean selling his soul and subsequently going to Hell for him, and then he was consumed with revenge and Dean not trusting him when he returned from Hell, and then learning that the King of Demons himself wanted him as a vessel.

Isn't that like, Hell, itself, sort of? :)

Not sure what season 6's Sam is feeling though. Although it's interesting for me when you see that Sam is the brother who plays things close to his chest. I'm not disagreeing, but to me, it's more of an equal. I thought that Sam is like one of those chocolate Kinder eggs, like you don't know what the surprise is inside, only that you KNOW there's a surprise, while Dean is like a thousand-layer cakes, that it's only when you cut it that you see how many layers it has.

And now I'm hungry. LOL

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

I started the politeness thing in high school. I had this one teacher who was just rude. I noticed that the students who were (quite rightly) rude right back to her, were immediately put on her "bad list" and subsequently marked down for it. So, I figured it'd be a game - the more rude she was to me, the more polite I would be to her, and then she'd have absolutely no grounds with which to be marking me down and she'd feel like a complete idiot when she did so - so ultimately, I would win. It worked wonders. In the end, she liked me so much that she'd ignore my mistakes on tests, and mark me as correct. I still hated her, but she'd never know it from my behaviour. The "game" just branched out from there.

LOL - I like your food analogy. If I could expand on it though...I think you're right about Dean, only, once you cut into the cake and see the layers, you are like "oh hey, layers!" but Sam's Kinder egg keeps sealing itself back up everytime and regenerating a new toy. So, sometimes you are like "oh hey, a little space man!" and then suddenly you are like "wait...a toy car?" and then sometimes you are like "oh man...it's a very small puzzle! Now I've got to put this little puzzle together to figure out what it all means!"

Not to say that Dean is simple of course. Just that he's much easier to know. At least for me.

Re: Sam's Hell - yes, that could be what Brady meant! Certainly, Sam's life has not been easy at all. It's interesting about S6, because it seems to be the first opportunity for Sam to actually CHOOSE to hunt, with no dark destiny hanging over his head anymore...yet, there is something wrong with him...

[borgmama1of5.livejournal.com]

I think Brady means Sam's life is hell because of the way he has unknowingly been living his 'destiny' and all the awful stuff he has gone through.

I'm surprised you didn't remark on Dean's reaction when Sam went to kill Brady.

I read the look on Dean's face as though he didn't want Sam to do it but that he knew Sam HAD to. Almost like when Sam had to shoot Madison, and Dean would rather have done it to spare Sam the pain.

Difference being, by this point in the show Dean knows he can't spare Sam the pain and lets Sam have his vengeance, even though he wishes his little brother hadn't gotten hard enough to want to do it himself.

Am I making any sense?

It's a look that says Dean didn't like it, but not in a disapproving way but in a sad way.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Hmm...you're right. I should have commented on that. I also should have commented on the fact that after 5 years, Sam finally gets the vengence on Jess' killer that he wanted in S1.

Dean's look was hard to interpret. Personally, I think Dean wanted Sam to do it...wanted to give him that. I think though, that just like always, he was disturbed by the things the demon was saying about his brother. Also, I don't think he's used to Sam being cold like that. Sam didn't kill Brady in a rage, he killed him in a calculating way and then afterwards just walked calmly away. I think ordinarily Dean is used to Sam being a huge ball of emotions.

That all being said: Yes, I agree. Dean didn't like it in a sad way, but not in a disapproving way - otherwise he wouldn't have laid the salt down and given that speech and let Sam go at the dude with the knife. Brady's death was something that Dean could give Sam. He didn't necessarily like watching it, but he knew it was a catharsis that his brother needed.

[trystan830.livejournal.com]

again another awesome review! thanks for another good read. =)