Rewatch S6: Appointment in Samarra (6x11)

[hells_half_acre]

Ok, after the controversy that was yesterday's rewatch - let's continue with something a little more light-hearted and filled with puppies!

Notes:
1)Clothes were once again easy. They both wore the exact same thing the entire episode.
2)My rewatch notes are pretty short, so I might not actually have that much to say about this one - that doesn't reflect how much I liked it though!

DEATH! Woot! Bucky Haight! (I really just love that character name of his - plus, you know, how can you not love an ex-rocker who sacrifices a goat while on acid?)

Dean is in Chinatown
- I was actually in that shop without realizing it once this spring. I was in there thinking "this place looks oddly familiar for some reason."  
- I actually love the fact that they used 230 Keefer street, and didn't even rename it.

"Son, I stitched up your daddy more times than I can count - it's good to see you. Mind you, that was back when I still had my medical license."
- I love meeting old friends of John's - especially when they treat Dean and Sam like little kids still. I love the clasping of the face and the grandparent-like "aren't you adorable!" expression.

"So you have done this before?"

"Many many times."

"And your success rate?"

"Oh, great, almost 75%!"

-Hey, I think that's a pretty damn good success rate. :P

"I would have thought you'd have something for your brother Sam"

"If I don't make it back, nothing I say is going to mean a damn thing to him."

-This is both touching and sad. Because Dr. Robert knows Dean and Sam from the past and knows how close they are, but Dean hasn't told him that Sam is soulless and incapable of loving him at the moment.

I like Tessa. It's kind of weird that she's the only female reaper that we've ever seen though, and the rest are all old dudes in suits. She's the rebel, I guess.

"Sam's soul is in that box, and our other brother - Michael rode him in."

"Dean, quit shuffling and deal."

"I need you to get them both out."

"Hm, pick one... Sam's soul or Adam's?"

- And this is the last mention we ever get of Adam, I think. Poor Adam. Worst luck of any Winchester in my book. 

"Dean, Dean, what do you think the soul is? Some pie you can slice? The soul can be blundgeoned, tortured, but never broken, not even by me."

- I love this information we get about the soul in the Supernatural universe. I like that it's this amazing thing that cannot be broken, but can be tortured into something new. I mean, demons were all once humans. It makes me wonder if Sam would have eventually become a demon if he had been left in the cage...after all, Lilith was a demon created by Lucifer. Hmm...I wonder if that's what is going to happen to Adam...that would REALLY suck for Dean's guilt issues.

"But it's not permanent."

"She's right, nothing lasts forever - well, I do, but..."

- I love Death.

"Don't roll your eyes Dean, it's impolite."

- Did I mention that I love Death? I do, I really do. I love the way he is so intimidating, even though he's not intimidating physically. I love that Dean is genuinely terrified of him. I love every single seen that Jensen and Julian do together, they play the dynamic so goddamn well.

"I want you to be me for one day."

"Are you serious?"

"No, I'm being incredibly sarcastic."

-LOVE HIM. I mean, he is saying the line "No, I'm being incredibly sarcastic" INCREDIBLY SARCASTICALLY. Good god, man, you are perfect.

"You couldn't have given me 5 more seconds."

"Son, you were gone for 7 minutes."

- I like how some people were like "you can't be dead for 7 minutes! That's unrealistic" He was just TALKING TO DEATH. Uh, I don't think realism is a concern here. :P

Man, Jared has this mole at the bottom of his neck that can be...pretty distracting.

Uh, sorry, I seem to have gotten distracted somehow.

"You're the one with the compass, just don't mess it up."

"I won't." *Dean turns and walks away, passing Bobby* "Watch him."
- I like how we ALMOST get a touching brother moment, where Sam is like "I trust you to look after me." and Dean is like "you should, I'll look after you so well!" but really it's like "I'm going to pretend that I like this plan" and "I'm going to pretend that I believe you like this plan, but then I'm going to tell Bobby to watch you, because you obviously have other plans."

"So is this the part where you pull a gun on me and lock me in the panic room?"

"Do I have to?"

-It's kind of sad how often Sam gets locked inside the panic room. 

"Let's be clear, so we get through this with a minimum of screw up. I don't like this."

- I like Tessa because she is a professional, goddamn it. 

"Here's one for the list of dumbest things ever - summon the angel who wants to kill you?"

-I actually forgot that Balthazar had bad blood with the Winchesters at this point. Crazy. You know, it kind of sucks, because Sebastian Roche made such a bad impression on me at the Con, that now I have difficulty telling whether I don't enjoy Balthazar that much because of the character or because of the actor. If memory serves me correctly, before Seb kind of turned me off, I was indifferent - I liked the idea of Castiel having a friend, but I wasn't actually very enamored of the character. Maybe because he was too much like the Gabester, yet not as likable.

"I need some advice."

"Advice?"

"Angel advice."

"Well, then, go ask your boyfriend."

"Cas can't help me."

-SASSY! (Haha, again, I don't ship it - I just love the name. It's my favourite name for a ship ever, I think.)

"Where's your soul, Sam? Good god no, it's not still...it is."

"My brother found a way to put it back in me. I don't want it."

"No, you don't, no, because Michael and Luci are hate-banging it as we speak."

-And we return to our theme of sexual-assault against males. It's interesting though, when we do learn about what happened to Sam in hell, the emphasis is on Lucifer, not Michael. It makes me kind of hope that perhaps Michael wasn't THAT much of a douche, and he and Adam are sitting in the corner somewhere playing checkers or something.

"Well, you seem like a capable young man, so I'd love to have you in my debt. And I have to say, I'm not a fan of your brother, so screwing him will delight me."

-It's a shame this is never brought up again. I mean, would Sam STILL be in his debt, even if he didn't remember?

"Patricide."

"My father's been dead for years."

"To be clear - you need the blood of your father, but your father need not be blood. Comprende?"

-Family theme again - patricide is only patricide if you actually consider your father to be your father.

"Just so you know, when people die, they might have questions for you - well, not you, but Death."

"You mean like 'how did Betty White outlast me?'"

-Because Betty White is made of more awesome than you! BURN!

"He's in agonizing pain, right?"

"Ah, yes,"

"Give me a moment."

-Uh, ok, I sort of get what Dean is doing here, but it makes me uncomfortable - because he doesn't know that dying kid, he doesn't know his circumstances - and yeah, fine, what the kid did was shitty and he probably is just an asshole, but still.

"Wait, tell me what it all means"

"Everything is dust in the wind."

"That's it! A Kansas song!"

-Carry on my wayward son....Yes, yeah, I think that's it. A Kansas Song.

"This guy have any other family?"

"No, not really."

-I do like this added touch. Yes, it's about Dean not wanting to kill a little girl, but it's also about Dean not wanting to leave that guy alone in the world - because that's Dean's own worst fear.

"So, all the times you messed with life and death, it just worked out for you? It was just a beach party every time, huh?"

-Yes, and he played Volleyball without a shirt on...oh, wait, that was Top Gun. 
-Ok, I'm getting off track here. I like how the show is slowly introducing the idea that the Winchesters are pulling at threads that they shouldn't be pulling at. That they're changing the pattern, so to speak. (Um, just a warning, that my comments here and a bit later on, will make a tiny bit more sense if you've read The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan).

I love the quiet tension while Bobby and Sam are playing cards. So good.

"So her heart, it just healed?"

-Of course, what Dean does end up doing to this girl's father is kind of worse than just killing his daughter. Though, maybe it depends on your view....is it better to have a false sense of hope and happiness and then have it ripped away? Or is it better to be mentally prepared for the death? In any case, poor Dean.

"I may have been born at night, boy, but it wasn't last night."

- I love that line.

Sam took lessons from Cas on how to disappear quickly.

"I gotta do this Bobby, I'm sorry, you shouldn't have cornered yourself."

"I didn't."

- I love Bobby. Mostly, I love that I can see his thought process here, because that was the same closet that he and Dean got trapped in during the zombie attack in S5. So, you can just imagine Bobby thinking "Man, if only I had a trap door right there....oh, hey, I'll just build one."

"If Dean shoves that soul back in me, think how bad that could really be? I can't let it happen, Bobby. I mean, it's not like a I want kill you, you've been nothing but good to me."

"So what, demon deal or something?"

"Spell."

"You're making a mistake, Sam"

"I'm tryng to survive."

"Dean's got a way to make it safe."

"Oh yeah, what? Some wall inside my head that maybe stays up, come on.?"

"If it works?"

"Yeah, well what if it doesn't? Dean doesn't care about me, he just cares about his little brother Sammy, burning in hell, he'll kill me to get that other guy back."

- And here we get the clear separation between Soulless!Sam and Sammy as being two different and distinct people. Soulless!Sam doesn't identify with Sammy any more than Dean identifies him with Sammy. It's very interesting. Especially since Soulless!Sam basically sees it as Dean killing him in order to save his brother.

Oh man, Bobby, don't go down the stairs....

"You knew this would happen."

"No, I just knew that you knocked over a domino."

- Personally, I think it'd be more thrilling to not know what's going to happen next. If I were Death, I'd probably play it by the books 364 days of the year, and then on one day I'd just go crazy and watch the world implode a little. This is probably why I am not Death.

"She's disrupting the natural order by being alive. You of all people know what that means. Chaos and sadness will follow her the rest of her life."

-This is super depressing, because it is basically saying that Dean and Sam can never have happiness (and yes, yes, I know that all signs point to the fact that Supernatural is fundamentally a tragedy, but still). And it's not even their fault, because it was their mum who was manipulated by the YED to make that deal to bring John back to life...so yeah...anyway, chaos and sadness, now....

Bobby has a history of being knocked out by Sam in his salvage yard (ok, TWICE, but still).

"I lost the bet"

"Sorry about your brother."

-Dean lost the bet because he cannot be selfish. Every single time he's tried to do something for himself, he's been punished, or has punished himself for it. So, yeah, he could have just let that dude take out the bus, and killed the little girl, and won the bet - but he couldn't, because he is Dean.

"I can't keep doing this Bobby, I mean, what am I - going to tie him up every time he tries to kill someone? I mean, that's not going to hold him - I mean, he's?"

"Capable of anything."

"What am I supposed to do here?"

"I don't know."

-When I first watched this episode, I remember thinking that Dean was fiddling with Death's ring because he was sad that he had lost the bet. Someone had to point out to me that it was quite possible that Dean was thinking he would have to kill Soulless!Sam. That's heavy, man. "You either have to save Sam, or kill him" - seems to be a recurring theme in Dean's life.

"So, if you could go back, would you simply kill the little girl? No fuss, no stomping your feet?"

"Knowing what I know now, yeah"

"I'm surprised to hear that. Surprised and glad."

"Well, don't get excited, I would have saved the nurse, okay, that's it."

"I think it's a little bit more than that. Today you got a hard look behind the curtain. Wrecking the natural order isn't much fun when you have to mop up the mess, is it? This is hard for you, Dean. You throw away your life, because you've come to assume it'll bounce right back to you. The human soul is not a rubber ball. It is vulnerable, inpermanent and stronger than you know - and more valuable than you can ever imagine. So, I think you've learned something today."

- I like that it was a test that Dean passed. That Death just wanted to see where Dean's priorities really were when he was given all the facts.
- I also like the "The human soul is not a rubber ball. It is vulnerable, impermanent, and stronger than you know - and more valuable than you can ever imagine" line.

"I lost fine, but at least have the balls to admit that it was rigged from the jump."

"Most people speak to me with more respect."

"I didn't mean..."

- Again, I love these two actors together! The way you can just see Dean realize that he just pissed off the ONLY being in the universe that could help him. The way Death just DOESN'T HAVE TO TAKE YOUR SHIT! It's so well done.

"We're done. It's been lovely, but now I have to go to hell to get your brother's soul."

"Why would you do that for me?"

"I wouldn't do it for you. You and your brother keep coming back. You're an affront to the balance of the universe and you cause distruption on a global scale."
- I love that Death sets up Dean and Sam here as pattern-makers. In Wheel of Time there are three dudes who are basically pattern-makers...every action they do, every person they encounter - they change the pattern of time/events. They can be either horribly disruptive or amazingly stabilizing forces and they have very little control over which one they end up being. I sort of see Dean and Sam the same way here - they are an affront to the balance of the UNIVERSE, that is how important they are - and yet, they also must be a force for good, otherwise Death wouldn't just leave them to continue making his job difficult.

"But you have your use - right now you're digging at something..."

- See, for some reason, as much as Dean and Sam are an apparent affront to the universe, the universe actually needs them.

"Wait - with Sam, is this wall thing really going to work?"

"Call it 75%"

-Ooo, nice circle there, show. I missed that the first time.

"Now Sam, I'm going to put up a barrier inside your mind. It might feel a little itchy. Do me a favour - Don't Scratch The Wall - because trust me, you're not going to like what happens."

- I love how Death has an old-fashioned doctor-bag and talks in a calm doctor-voice too. It's very cool and very well done.

And I love the tension of this final scene - Sam screaming, and honestly, Soulless!Sam is right, we DON'T know what this is going to do to him, but we do know that it has to be done. Completely awesome mid-season cliffhanger, if you ask me.

Well, that was fun! I'm trying to do one of these per day, now, because I really want to finish up before November, when I start working again and The Novel Project starts. 

Comments

[4422shini.livejournal.com]

"Hm, pick one... Sam's soul or Adam's?"
- And this is the last mention we ever get of Adam, I think. Poor Adam. Worst luck of any Winchester in my book.

POOOOR ADAM!! This kid gets the shittiest bits of the stick. I really hope they'll bring him back this season. Or at least put him back in heaven ;____;

Yeah, I wish they continued on with the whole 'owing Balthazar' thing too. Kind of weird how they just dropped it. I mean, they made a point of making it a point... if you know what I mean.

One thing that bugged me about that whole save the little girl then kill her anyways thing (and this is a silly thing because I know it's not REAL, but whatever) is that the Doctor's like, 'hot damn, you're hearts fixed... huh.' Then she's dead. That doctor would sooo lose his medical license/be sued for malpractice. Way to go Dean, you screwed up the doctor's career. Fool. :P

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

That doctor would sooo lose his medical license/be sued for malpractice. Way to go Dean, you screwed up the doctor's career. Fool. :P

Oh man! I had the exact same thought!! I forgot to take note of it, but YES THIS. Poor Doctor.

POOOOR ADAM!! This kid gets the shittiest bits of the stick. I really hope they'll bring him back this season. Or at least put him back in heaven

I KNOW, EH!!? They really need to stick that kid back up in heaven. The kids got a prom to go to for eternity, not being the only entertainment for two arch-angels in a cage.

[galwithglasses.livejournal.com]

Death is my favorite guest star next to Bobby. I love how they wrote the character and Julian acts him awesomely. He and Jensen knock it out of the park every time. I really like Tessa and was glad to see her again.

When Dean was looking through the panic room door at Sam, I think he was realizing that he might have to kill him. I think Sam looks back as if he knows this.

Without knowing anything about Sebastian, I never warmed up to Balthazar. I agree he was kind of a knock-off Trickster without the sense of play that Loki brought to the character. I wonder if he was always taking digs sideways at Cas by comments about the angel who loves you because he was cheesed that these humans got more of Cas's attention than he did.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Death is my favorite guest star next to Bobby.

I think he's mine too. Probably him and Bobby are even tied for the position.

When Dean was looking through the panic room door at Sam, I think he was realizing that he might have to kill him. I think Sam looks back as if he knows this.

Yes, I think so too.

I wonder if he was always taking digs sideways at Cas by comments about the angel who loves you because he was cheesed that these humans got more of Cas's attention than he did.

Ha! Probably! It would certainly fit in with his selfish personality. Franztastisch makes a great point in the comment below about how the Gabester was a far more sympathetic character.

[franztastisch.livejournal.com]

Death and Tessa are wonderful because they have no agenda. Like Fate. They're part of the natural order and just doing their jobs. I think the reason Tessa is the only girl reaper is because the first time she appeared, she said that reapers took a form that the person who dies will find comforting/apporachable/whatever, and that's what she looked like for Dean. And then to have the continuity they kept that actress. OR because she's the one that turns up for Dean, she looks like how Dean first saw her. Maybe the other reapers look as they do because 1. most of the time they haven't turned up because someone's dying (like when Death was in Chicargo) and/or 2. that lady in Faith expected to see an old man in a suit, so that's what we got.

As to Balthazar, I think when I first saw him, I thought he was pretty amusing but the longer he was around, the less I liked him as a character because he was a less intelligent imitation of Gabriel. He was selfish and meddling. And maybe Gabriel was selfish, but he also had Daddy issues and a complex backstory and intentions and overall kept to himself or... he wanted to lay low. Balthazar wanted to have threesomes and get drunk. Gabe wanted to teach people a lesson and eat sweets. And I like Gabe's motives better. :P

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Death and Tessa are wonderful because they have no agenda. Like Fate. They're part of the natural order and just doing their jobs.

Yes, this is exactly why I like them so much. They aren't a villain even though they aren't human.

OR because she's the one that turns up for Dean, she looks like how Dean first saw her.

Good option. I wonder if people get assigned a particular reaper, and Tessa has been assigned to Dean.

He was selfish and meddling. And maybe Gabriel was selfish, but he also had Daddy issues and a complex backstory and intentions and overall kept to himself or... he wanted to lay low. Balthazar wanted to have threesomes and get drunk. Gabe wanted to teach people a lesson and eat sweets. And I like Gabe's motives better.

Yes, I think this is my problem with Balthazar too. I mean, once you knew Gabriel's backstory, you felt sympathy for him - but with Balthazar it's hard to feel sympathy for someone who is just eschewing his responsibilities because he wants to have sex and get drunk...and buy human souls for power. Gabriel was mean sometimes, but it was, at the very least, just part of a lesson he was trying to teach the hard way.

[franztastisch.livejournal.com]

I can't think that you'd get assigned a reaper. And I was going to explain why I think that, but then I got confused and couldn't. So I'll not, cos I can't. I just don't think you're assigned a reaper.

I actually had this think about Gabriel, Balthazar and Castiel and Free Will, and how really, Gabriel is the only one who got Free Will right. Cas was basically forced into having Free Will, through association with the Winchesters and everything they stood for. And it worked for him for a while, but mostly because he had Bobby, Sam and Dean to provide a moral compass and stuff. When they went, he degenerated. Balthazar had no one and equated Free Will with Doing What The Fuck You Want. Which it sort of is, and which it sort of isn't. And he turned out to be a bit for a fucktard. Gabriel got Free Will sort of right really, and maintained it for the longest. And I think it's cos originally, when he decided to disappear from Heaven, he created this plan of being Loki and then followed the rules of this plan. So he ws still following rules, just not the same rules. And through these rules, he came into contact with humans and, over 2000 years, learned Free Will. Free Will is against angel nature and as such, would take a long time to learn properly. Gabe is the only one to have had that amount of time (this is ignoring Anna because she cut ot her Grace and as such, learnt Free Will through actually being born human, which she then retained after getting her mojo back). So it's not a surprise really, that Balthazar did such a bad job of it. I think it likely that this is the most likely outcome of angels attempting Free Will on their own. Also cos it would take a certain type of angel to want it anyway.

It's sort of like when you go to uni and suddenly go HEY I CAN DO WHAT I WANT. And for some reason that often involves getting drunk, throwing up in a bush and passing out. Just for angels it's more... extreme. :P

(um.. sorry, that was idea I wanted to share with someone and then got out of hand..)

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

I can't think that you'd get assigned a reaper. And I was going to explain why I think that, but then I got confused and couldn't. So I'll not, cos I can't. I just don't think you're assigned a reaper.

Haha, it's ok, you don't have to explain. You can just say "I don't think you are assigned a reaper" and that's a valid enough opinion. ;)

Re: Free Will and Angels - I think you are quite smart and correct there. It makes a lot of sense. I wish I had anything to add, but I really think you covered it well and succinctly.

It's sort of like when you go to uni and suddenly go HEY I CAN DO WHAT I WANT. And for some reason that often involves getting drunk, throwing up in a bush and passing out. Just for angels it's more... extreme. :P

Apparently I was the Gabriel version of a uni-student. Haha... but I knew many a Castiel and Balthazar :P

And I think it was exactly for the reasons you said: I had been able to do whatever I wanted for a long time before I got to uni, so it wasn't the mad euphoria that it seemed to be for my fellow students.

[franztastisch.livejournal.com]

Yey! Something I thought up turned out to not actually be contradictory! (That happens a lot to me).

Apparently I was the Gabriel version of a uni-student. Haha... but I knew many a Castiel and Balthazar :P

Haha as I was writing that I was thinking, "I really wasn't like this at uni" so that makes two of us! Yey! Though I think for me it was because I don't really like the loss of control that comes with being drunk. I'm not really a control freak, I just don't like that. And starting uni I didn't have anyone I trusted enough to look after me if that was to happen. I got drunker more often in my third year than my first. :P

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm not a huge fan of being drunk either. I got drunker during my Masters (I guess my fifth year?) than I did before that - and yeah, that was mostly because I trusted the people I was hanging out with, and I was in Newfoundland, which happens to have the street with the highest concentration of pubs in...the world, I think. Also, I had one friend who would buy my drinks as long as I was drinking Strongbow. I gained like 20 pounds that year - Strongbow isn't exactly light on the calories.

[franztastisch.livejournal.com]

Eew Strongbow is rank, why would you drink that? :P Well, I guess cos it's free... but still. :P

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Haha, yeah... the things we do when we are young and foolish. :P

[franztastisch.livejournal.com]

I had my Strongbow phase at 16... That's a point, what's the legal drinking age in Canada? Is it 21 like the States?

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Drinking age is 19 in Ontario where I grew up, and 18 just across the border in Quebec. I didn't drink Strongbow until that year in Newfoundland. I was mostly a beer person when I first started drinking, well, beer and anything-with-vodka.

My parents let me have beer before I was 19 though, if I wanted. And I was never much of a party-person, so even when I was legal drinking age, I didn't go crazy. I was old going to university, so I was already legal drinking age - but I guess nowadays kids aren't. My older sister was only 17 when she went to uni, and she had a miserable time of it, because she WAS a party person, but wasn't old enough to party. My older sister was very much the more stereotypical teenager all around though. She still is.

[franztastisch.livejournal.com]

My parent's don't drink much at all. I drank with friends and as a result basically only drink spirits. Just not vodka. I hate vodka. Whiskey and rum. I don't really know why though. I just really hate beer. I only drink Guinness.

There's also the fact that I am the biggest lightweight you have ever seen in your life...

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Oh man, I'm quite the lightweight too. I'd say we should compete to see who is worse, but that competition would end pretty quickly and horribly. :P

I hate gin. Can't stand it. Other than that, I'm alright with basically anything. My parents don't drink much either, at least, not at home. They both really only drink if they are out at a pub or restaurant.

[franztastisch.livejournal.com]

I get boneless and floppy and hilarious and then I throw up. People seem to find this entertaining for some reason. At least I don't get hangovers.

Oh god gin. No no no no no. A friend made me a gin and tonic once, like a pint of the stuff. And I really didn't like it. So I left it. And the next day I asked him what happened to it. He said he had it for breakfast. I HOPE HE WAS JOKING.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Ewww, throw-up...yeah, I'm not going to be challenging you to any drinking contests. :P

I didn't used to get hangovers, but now I do. I guess it's one of the first signs of old-age.

When I get drunk, I get overly cuddly, and my speech-impediment comes back, and then I start being far too honest (though, that happens when I'm sober too sometimes.)

My eldest sister loves gin. I do not understand. It is vile.

[franztastisch.livejournal.com]

I'd be spectacuarly bad. :P

Well here's to hoping I don't get that yet.