hells_half_acre | Quick Reaction: 6x14 Mannequin 3: The Reckoning

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Quick Reaction: 6x14 Mannequin 3: The Reckoning

Alright folks, let's just jump right in, as I'm sure we were all on the edge of our seat after last week...

The episode picks up where it left off! Yay! Dean is freaking out because Sam is unconscious...and, well it's kind of heartbreaking, because it's always heartbreaking when a Winchester DOESN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO!

But Sam snaps out of it and Dean gets him the hell out of town...and they stop for snacks...and, well, I guess I thought there might be more repercussions than that...but then again, maybe there are! Because Sam is quiet. Very quiet. Dean tells him to repress and drink, and when Sam criticizes that method, Dean admits that it's what works for him. It's nice that Dean is self-aware.

Sam doesn't want to talk about it - but it appears that Sam remembered about a week of hell.

He still wants to revisit the past though, and try to make up for his soulless self. Meanwhile, Lisa is calling Dean and Dean doesn't want to pick up...and Sam thinks that he should revisit his past and get closure or something.

But before all that happens, some dude gets ganked by an anatomical dummy. I couldn't watch this part, because it's the type of horror that I can't stand...namely: suspense....and creepitude (shut-up, that's a word!)

So, Sam and Dean head off to investigate. I love all Dean's heart puns...adorable. It's nice that Dean is back to his old self now that Sam's normal (or as normal as Sam gets anyway). No leads here though, so Sam and Dean shrug.

Then a security guard gets ganked by eyeless dummies in a sewing factory. And hey, he's asian! Awesome. I've been pulling for more asian representation on TV ever since it was pointed out to me that we never see them even though they're the majority of the world. Anyway, poor Asian dude gets killed....and Sam and Dean investigate!

Sam floats the idea that it's the dummies, and Dean is suddenly creeped out...but before Sam and Dean can investigate too much Lisa calls Dean again, and Sam is like "Dude! FIX YOUR PROBLEMS!"

So...firstly, when was it about Lisa calling Dean and Dean not answering? Last time they were mentioned (All Dogs Go to Heaven) it was the other way around.

Anyway, Dean's answers and it's Ben calling - telling Dean that something is wrong with his mom and Dean should swoop in to save the day. Ok, I knew he was lying from the start, because Lisa (for all her faults that are coming up) is a BAMF (because Dean only falls for BAMFs) and she would NOT waste away in bed...she'd wear nice dresses and go out with doctors! Oh...right...

Dean drives like the devil and gets there and sure enough, Lisa's all dressed up to go out and it's all a childish ruse by Ben to get his father-figure back. And who can blame the kid, really?

So, now we come to the first sort of...weird thing...Lisa tells Dean that she can't stomach being with him because he could die at any moment and she doesn't know what he wants from them. Last time they talked, she dumped him because he pushed Ben, but she doesn't even bring that up this time. This time, it's all about her, and the fact that she didn't sign up to be an army wife, she sighed up to be a veteran wife (there's a difference). Of course, one could argue that when she TOLD Dean that he could come and go as he pleased as long as he came...(heheh, dirty mind)...she didn't actually know what she was signing up for, and now that she's lived with it for many months without word, she's decided that she CAN'T live like that...but still, sort of odd.

Anyway, they have a this-marriage-isn't-working-anymore argument and Lisa tells Dean that he keeps showing up whenever she thinks that she's over him, and yeah...I'm glad Dean is loved, it's good for his self-esteem.

Speaking of self-esteem, Dean goes to talk to Ben, and Ben tells him off. Ben echoes his mother when he tries to call Dean out on his low self-esteem, and then he echoes Bobby when he tells Dean that family isn't blood, it's people who love you even though your a dick. Nice, Ben. Then Ben pulls out the trump card, and tells Dean he's abandoning his family.

ETA: My friend,

kaybee751 (who I happen to watch the show with every week) had a great comment, and I want to include it in the post (because I had meant to after she made it to me in person, but then forgot by the time I got home.) So, here's her thoughts:

"re: hunting being a crap life for Ben, didn't Dean learn anything from the LARPers - would he rather that Ben fix photocopiers or sell stereos for a living? Or poor Adam,whose father figure showed up once per year for a ball game? I'm not criticizing - I'm commending the show for setting this up for the characters. What defines a good father and a good life all seems to be a matter of perpective."

Then Dean drives back to Sam and we get a montage of every time (3?) he showed up at Lisa's door, and how he had a family and such...and my friend's husband hates montages...and I'm not sure what this means...because we never actually get to see how Dean resolved it with Ben? Did he say goodbye? Did he work out some sort of deal? What? Is this the last we'll see of the Braedons?

Anyway, while Dean was playing the part of the husband, Sam was playing the part of the Hunter. There was a missing girl, and he interviewed everyone she worked with...and then finally, interviewed a really bad liar and then saved him from the ghost and got the scoop: which is a bad practical joke and an accidental murder and a non-accidental cover-up.

The back story is not that important here, because was it just me or was Sam a little...well, more like soulless-Sam? He seemed a bit more ruthless and a bit less concerned about people's feelings...but maybe that's just me. He could have just been annoyed.

Anyway, burning the bones doesn't work, and the dude is killed by the sex-doll that he thinks is a real person...probably for the best. (I'm a horrible person.)

Eventually, Sam figured out that there are still remains inside the sister because she has her kidney. So they meet up with Dean and discuss Hoodoo...and I love how Dean gets all uppity that it's Hoodoo not Voodoo.

Not much time for discussion though, because the Impala gets possessed for the second time in the series and starts chasing after Dean! Oh noes! I love how Dean keeps calling the car "baby" and apologizes to her before making her crash into the empty store-front. I swear, one of these days Dean's anthropomorphizing of that car is going to turn it into a sentient being.

Ok, so, another quibble: I don't like the direction here. The crash is nice, but we don't get any sort of spacial reference that allows us to believe that the sister was close enough to the crash to get impaled by a stray HUGE shard of glass. So, yeah, what could have been a cool "will of God" fluke like the car crash in Houses of the Holy, turns out to be more of a bit of confusing hard-to-believe thing.

Anyway, girly dies. Her ghost sister has a very nice top on. I really like it.

And then we get the denouement by the Impala in Bobby's yard. I DO like the direction here, because the first shot of the Winchesters by the Impala mirrors the shot we saw of Dean and Ben working on the Impala...

Dean's down in the dumps because if they didn't have bad luck, they'd have no luck at all. But Sam points out that they DID defeat Lucifer, and Dean DID get Sam his soul back...and he has a point. Then he thanks Dean for getting his soul back...and part of me wonders if this is Sam thanking Dean for choosing him over Lisa and Ben...or if Dean has ever even made that choice or if it was always just made for him...or how exactly he did leave it with Ben...

All in all, questions largely left unanswered, but it was cool to see Ben again - I really did want to get Ben's opinion on everything, so that was really cool to get.

Alright, that's all she wrote! Until next week (which I'm spoiled for and REALLY REALLY can't wait to see...) don't spoil next week in comments though! Just in case others aren't spoiled yet!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I've been awake for 19 hours and need to go pass out now....(19 hours is a lot for someone who doesn't drink caffeine).

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Nice little review. :) I like reading your thoughts.

I still don't know what to think about the whole Dean/Lisa thing. I'm glad they brought her and Ben back into the show, though I wonder if they'll ever be back again. I didn't like that they used that one clip of Lisa telling Dean to stay away from the recap. That was when Dean was under the influence of Veritas, so Lisa was spilling how she really felt, but would she even remember that later on? And most of us aren't really all that honest with each other, so she never would have said all that to Dean over the phone without that outside influence. Yet, in the recap it's shown as how she really felt, without her basically being forced to tell the truth against her will. She also mentions all the calls she made to Dean where he didn't answer. When did this happen? I dunno...I feel like I'm missing something. Maybe I'll have to take another look at some eppies.

I loved the first and end scenes with the boys. So heartbreaking in the first and sweet and hopeful, yet sad in the ending. I love how the opening scene mirrors Sam's death scene in AHBL. Right down to Dean yelling "Sam!", clutching at his clothes and everything. I'm so happy they gave us that moment, continuing from where they left off. I love big brother, protective Dean. :)

People do remember what they say under Veritas...as we found out in the Veritas episode. But yeah, it's kind of harsh way to recap-clip her.

But yes, I agree with everything you're saying!

I'm waiting on my download, because I want to watch that first scene again... :P

Ah, okay. I couldn't remember. Still kinda misleading in the recap clips.

If you don't wanna wait, here's just the opening scene from last night on youtube. ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7zMjwE3njg

Awesome, thanks! Slow download is slow :P

Great Episode - I didn't think Sam was more like Soulless Sam because Soulless Sam would have called the dude out when he was interviewing him and not followed him around to save him. In You Can't Handle The Truth - Sam called out the sister of the girl who killed herself with talking about the tell (when she moved her hair). Sam in this ep said that the guy seemed nervious not scared. So, seeing Sam like this didn't remind me of Soulless Sam but Sam towards the end of Season 5 (before Lucifer).

I liked that Ben "parent trapped them" it was his heart - he loves Dean and was telling Dean what is so wrong with being like you? You are a great guy - kind of what one could get from the conversation. I liked Ben's reference to the third date reference I watch TV.

You were correct about Lisa saying that Dean could come back (I liked the pun) however, it was harder for her than she thought from what the conversation sounded and Dean's realization in You can't handle the truth - that Dean was a killer - Dean still realing from everything this season too; Finally getting Sam back and then almost losing him again.

Thank you for sharing. Cappy712

Hmm..very good points. I retract my statement about Sam being more soulless. I guess I'm just worried about him now that he's started to remember hell, and we don't know what it means.

And good point about Lisa and Dean...and especially how Dean is sort of still stressed out about everything. Poor Dean.

Thanks for commenting! :)

I agree about that shard of glass. I was like "What the heck?" because where was she when the window shattered? Not near enough for that large a piece to enter her body. Actually, I thought the guy murdered by mannequins was Hispanic not Asian. Sam was short-tempered with the guy he saved from the ghost but you know, flashback to a week of Hell does not make anyone happy plus the guy's story--not a stellar moment in anyone's life with the taunting of the shy gal that results in her death.

I am not sure how to feel about the confrontation with the Braedens either. Is it trying to be closure? If so, it failed. Is it trying to set up more contact with Ben in the future (potential Hunt maybe)? If so, I did not receive the message clearly. Is Sam's seizure a warning? Maybe or more dire than that. There were those flames in his eyes before he responded verbally to Dean. That has me on edge more than anything.

As for next week's episode, I have mixed feelings.

Exactly (about shard of glass)! I had similar thoughts. Also, Sam ran up to Dean first, which would indicate that he was closer to the window than the girl was...yet the girl gets a huge shard of glass knocked into her and doesn't seem to notice until she starts barfing blood? Sigh...

Anyhoo...hispanic? Damn. I thought he looked somewhat Filipino. Ah well, even if he isn't't Asian, at least they are being a little more diverse in their casting of rolls.

And yes, I agree with everything you say in the your last major paragraph...this episode left more things open, rather than giving us closure on anything...and the annoying part is that we're not even sure it was supposed to!

I just rewatched the episode and you are right: the character murdered by the mannequins is Filipino. I should know better as my grad school advisor and a fellow grad student were both Filipino.

I liked many things in this ep, but it did leave me with some mixed feelings.

When I first saw the glass in the sister I actually thought she stabbed herself, but then I realized she didn't know enough about the 'haunted kidney' thing and I don't know if she would have killed herself for two strangers even if it was her sister's ghost. So she must have been hit by flying glass, but it does seem off. I was also a little confused about the ghost disappearing in flames because even though the sister was dead the kidney was still there, not yet salted and burned. And even if she did move on by herself why in flames?

I was very sad for Dean here, but I think he maybe got a little closure. The silences were very important. I never liked the Dean/Lisa thing, though I think eventually if Dean never hunted again (and Sam was dead, and not in Hell) Dean could have been content with her. I don't think he loved her. I think he cared about her a lot, but I don't know about love. I think he did love Ben, though. Ben was what made Lisa special for Dean.

I don't think Sam was like soul-less Sam with the third murder guy. The story of the meaningless humiliation, and murder of Rose would make anyone not like a guy involved. I was wondering a little about what happened to the 4th guy...I guess he didn't get attacked.

When I first saw the glass in the sister, I thought it was a coat hanger :P Hahaha...so, yes, confusion all around it seems.

I think Dean cared for Lisa and appreciated her...but yes, I think he really loved her because of Ben more than anything. And yes, Dean could be content with them, but not while Sam is alive or in hell...and possibly not even then. Dean did miss Hunting during that year.

And good point about Sam. I agree...he's just annoyed and disappointed in humanity, not soulless. :P

I just realized that this whole episode would have made a lot more sense if it had aired on the originally planned Feb.11th date - making it the Valentine's Day episode. The theme of what constitutes love, with "I always have your back" being the strongest bond (agreed!!), would have worked in quite nicely with the whole Feb. 14 thing.

*Shakes fist at CW again*

Aaaanyway, loved the "be my valentine?" with the heart - second time and counting!

Finally - re: hunting being a crap life for Ben, didn't Dean learn anything from the LARPers - would he rather that Ben fix photocopiers or sell stereos for a living? Or poor Adam,whose father figure showed up once per year for a ball game? I'm not criticizing - I'm commending the show for setting this up for the characters. What defines a good father and a good life all seems to be a matter of perpective.

Oh man, it WOULD make more sense if it had aired February 11th!

*also shakes fist at CW again*

And YES, I totally forgot to put that in my post - and I was totally going to steal it from you...but it's a good point. Dean doesn't want to choose the course of Ben's life for him, but he's not letting Ben choose either.

I do like the discussion about what constitutes a family, or a good father versus a crappy father, etc...poor Adam - out of all the Winchesters, I'd argue he is the most cursed.

Feel free to ETA your post & get folks discussing whether it's worse to be a hunter on the road with someone who has your back, or a photocopy repair man ;)

Is it acceptable to cross-post other comments? As there's a great comment at the AV Club by Snugglesaurus Rex, in a thread where people are discussing the possibility of Sam's possible soul-less-ness in this ep:

"I was hoping the cheesiest part of the episode was on purpose. For a second, I was praying Sam had stabbed the girl in the kidney while Dean wasn't looking. But how do you stab someone in the kidney without them noticing? It's more plausible than a random piece of glass happening to hit the offending organ."

HAHA, I love it! I think I'm just going to pretend that Sam DID stab her while Dean wasn't looking :P

I think I will ETA my post. Most people probably won't revisit it, but perhaps there are a few who haven't read it yet and they can pick up the discussion...

Yeah, Sam still seems a little off to me, although he's definitely much better than RoboSam. For some reason I don't think he'll really feel like Sam until we see him really and truly angry again.

I'm really looking forward to next week as well! It's going to be crazy!

Yeah, I'm still worried about Sam. I think you're right. I'll feel better once he shows a full range of emotions and still comes out the other side.

:)

I always like Lisa and Ben. I'll always like them, and I think they left things so vague in order to get them back into the show, but also possibly leaving them out.
Which is a bit cheap in some ways, but there you go.

the last time we heard from Lisa was her calling Dean while he was under the truth-spell. And after that, it's implied that he didn't pick up the phone again. Which would be rather logical, I think. Because he heard the TRUTH from her, and everything she was going to tell him now was therefor an excuse, an apology or her trying to make it sound like she didn't mean it that way.

Which he couldn't ever believe, could he? Not to mention that he had other crap to deal with then.

So yeah, I get that he didn't pick up the phone, and I also could very well believe that Lisa tried to take back some of the troth she told, because maybe some Dean was better than none Dean.

Which brings me to Ben, who has found his "real dad" in Dean, no matter what and who loves Dean and I personally think he'd go out to be a hunter anyway, no matter (or maybe just because) what Dean tells him and thinks of himself.
If you take Jo, who lost her dad so early, you see that wanting to be like the father usually leads to exactly that life that Dean wants to protect Ben from. But just telling him the life is badbadbad and makes you badbadbad wouldn't automatically lead to hims choosing a different lifestyle. It could very well be initiative to go out an "show him" that it's not true.

Ah, well. Soo much fodder for new and exciting issues in there, and only so much time to try.

I wish we still get more of the Braedens, I like the new dynamic they could bring into the Winchester-life.

I also liked how it was Sam who's quoting Dean's pick-me-up-lines from the first seasons to Dean: I'll have your back and we do good work and hunting is a good thing.

I like that. Wonder if we might even get one of my wishes filled this season...

Whoops, forgot:

The glass-thing was weird and unnecessary. Well, no, she had to die one way or another, but she could at least been killed by her sister or something! Not by some randomly flying glass that couldn't have hit her!

Haha, agreed!

Yeah, the Braedens are a really interesting part of the show...but I do feel like the writers may have been trying to put them behind a partially closed door. Leaving it open, but not intending to go back any time soon...

And true, this season is very much a role-reversal for the boys...with Dean just coming off a year of "normal" and Sam being the gung-ho Hunter.

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Quick Reaction: 6x14 Mannequin 3: The Reckoning

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