hells_half_acre (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
hells_half_acre) wrote2012-03-24 12:04 am
hells_half_acre) wrote2012-03-24 12:04 am
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Quick Reaction: 7x17 The Born-Again Identity
I was able to watch the episode after all!! Yay for still-Jet-lagged friends who go to bed early!!
Now...HOLY CRAP...
The opener by the railway tracks is what was shot down the road from my old place. I've always wanted them to film there because it is such a creepy neighbourhood...but that's also why I couldn't stay and watch them film that night. I knew I would have to walk home at the end of it all. When I did find them, they were really vague about what was going to happen. There was an ambulance parked there and when I asked about it, they said "we're doing some stunts, so we have to have it on standby...*something* is going to..uh...fall...on the windshield of a car."
Anyway, yeah, they actually represented that particular neighbourhood well - it is not a place that you want to be at night...even though there are some GREAT graffiti alleys. Actually, I have a picture of the one that Sam met the drug dealer in:
(Just a note: I know it's night time in the picture, but this was earlier this winter, so it was actually only 5pm or something ridiculous like that...welcome to the north. When they were filming, it was already 10pm and they were filming until 1am...so there was no way I was going to stick around. That being said: That building? ALL art studios.)
Anyway, um, I'll stop talking about filming locations and start talking about the episode...
GOOD EPISODE.
Poor Sam! I like the continuity of it all...they're still drinking to fall asleep, and it worked on Dean, but not on Sam...and then, why did Sam take off? This is why you shouldn't leave your brother, Sammy. I wonder if that drug dealer charged Sam...maybe...too bad it didn't work.
The visual effects on the glass was a little weak, but then, I guess it was a hallucination anyway.
And then BAM car accident. Those always make me jump.
Dean coming in and being super protective brother was awesome...but, I think the conversation with the doctor really shows how much Dean is out of his depth with Sam's current issues.
Then we get into the preview clip. Just a note here: I had to unfollow two people on tumblr this week for spoilers. Listen, I know I have a stricter policy on spoilers than most people, and I know we were all really jazzed for this episode, but that doesn't mean you should post every single tidbit of information that comes your way. Especially if you don't tag your posts with the word "spoilers"...so you don't even have the excuse that I should block tags.
Anyway, someone on Tumblr DID point out that this is a reversal to the way things normally go. (And yes, I did reblog it, then felt like a huge idiot hypocrite and vowed never to be stupid again...we'll see how long that lasts.) Usually it's Dean telling Sam that he's tired whenever Sam asks why Dean isn't fighting harder/escaping. It really does show how broken Sam is that he's finally lost that drive in himself...that eternal optimism. As I've often said, Supernatural is just a story of an optimist and a pessimist driving around the country together....
Anyhow, Dean takes off to Rufus' cabin in Montana to make phone calls, while Sam stays behind to get tortured. I wonder how close they were to the cabin? I mean, they must have been fairly close, because there's no way Dean would go THAT far away from Sam, I don't think. That being said, he does seem to leave him for several days.
So, since they're storylines are separate, I'll talk about them separately...let's do Dean first (....that's what she said!)
It's a complete reversal of Faith, which is awesome, because they even mentioned it before Dean left! This time, it's Dean desperately searching through Bobby's address book to save Sam, whereas before it was Sam with John's contacts. I wonder if any of John's contacts are still alive? Or still friendly with the Winchesters? I'm actually REALLY curious about what the Winchesters "status" in the Hunting community is. I'm willing to bet that they will never ever do an episode that tells me though.
Then....BOBBY'S GHOST! Okay guys? It TOTALLY has to be Bobby's ghost. How Bobby knew that Mackey (or whatever his name was) knew the answer, I don't know...but man, that ghost is handy. I mean, I suppose it COULD be God. But we'll get to that...
Mackey sends Dean to check out this Emmanuel guy...and DUN DUN DUN! It's CAS! And he's MARRIED! And he's dressed like a dweeb. I wonder if he has sex with his wife...*things I should not think about, but I totally do* ...also, what the hell happens to his wife at the end of the episode?
I'm getting off track...Dean's reaction is amazingly well done. Kudos to Jensen, of course, because he has to have Dean basically have an emotional breakdown - but keep it all inside.
Then THE BEST CAR RIDE EVER!
Okay, sorry, I have a thing for amnesia fics...mainly, I love the bit where they are able to talk about the amnesiac as though they are a stranger that the amnesiac doesn't know. I think I like the idea of being a stranger to yourself. Or, it's just fun anyway...my best friend (who is male) used to pretend to be someone else (female) sometimes when we talked (it's a long story), and it was really fun to talk to "her" about my friend, while still stalking to my friend...and yeah...um...it sounds weird when I say it out loud, but it was awesome and you'll have to take my word for it.
I loved the signs of Cas that we see in Emmanuel....the fact that he's a bit embarrassed that he was completely nude...the way he bluntly states, without realizing how funny it is, that he got his name from BouncingBabyNames.com ....but we also get to the heart of who Cas is...someone who wants to help, who doesn't FEEL like a bad person (because he isn't one...even good people can make mistakes)...who thinks Cas is an odd name...and who doesn't freak out that Dean seems the type to kill people.
Then DEMON ATTACK! At first I was afraid that the demon at "Emmanuel's house" was right and that Crowley had called off the truce...but I think he was sent by Meg too, and it was all so that she could get her claws into some free angel mojo. I do wonder what game she's running...she was in Lucifer's court after all, does she now just want to usurp Crowley, or is she another Raphael who wants to restart the apocalypse?
I do wonder about Dean deciding to let her come...I mean, he really COULD have just killed her, couldn't he have? I think he should have.
Oh wait...it just occurred to me that Crowley MUST have crawled off the truce...because if those demons at the hospital were Meg's, then SHE could have just called them off...oh...right...she mentioned being completely alone...okay, I'm a nincompoop...damn, Crowley...I guess he was just trying to get at Cas too? To what end? The plot thickens...this also helps explain the ending. Cool. Uh...sorry for having to work through this as I type, I kind of do these things stream-of-consciousness style, in case you haven't noticed.
Anyway, where was I?
Oh yeah, demons all over the hospital....and Meg has a point, the best way to go in is with a fully charged Angel. This also shows us the core of Castiel, because he's someone who walks bravely up to a handful of demons without even actually remembering how to exercise them. I also liked this exchange:
Dean: "...like riding a bicycle."
Cas: "I don't know how to do that either."
It was cool that as Cas used his angel powers (other than healing) he remembered everything...all (or most) centering around Dean. (I swear, I don't even ship them....but I always liked the idea of Dean having a best friend).
Also, you know, it all my concern over Sam, I had kind of forgotten that Cas KILLED TONS OF ANGELS AND PEOPLE. I was so wound up in how he hurt the Winchesters, I totally forgot about his rampage through Heaven and Earth. It makes sense though that Cas would freak the hell out when he remembered all that.
And I like the fact that Dean doesn't just forgive Castiel...when Cas says "we didn't part as friends" and Dean doesn't say "oh, we'll be friends again,no worries!" Because that would be lying...though, I do think that Dean showed that he was on the PATH to forgiveness when he told him that maybe he was alive so that he could try to fix this...and that a part of Dean had always believed that Cas would come back...and that Dean had KEPT his blood-stained trench coat.
I don't know, when me and my best friend had our first big fight (completely his fault), he hid from me for a day...then I finally found him and we had this exchange:
Friend: Did you eat?
Me: No, I'm kind of hungry.
Friend: I will make you a sandwich.
*eat sandwiches, watch hockey, friendship resumes.*
I don't think there has to be huge speeches about forgiveness...I don't even think you necessarily HAVE to forgive in order to resume a friendship...or start to rebuild it anyway.
Alright, now, let's talk about Sam....
Sam is painful to watch this episode...firstly, because he makes me tired. Secondly, because those abrasions look painful...thirdly, because SAM! Oh Sam.
Lucifer is crazy annoying. Lucifer DID have a good point that maybe putting Sam in a locked ward wasn't the BEST thing to do to a guy who is basically crazy because he was locked in a cage with a tormentor....but I guess, since his current tormentor is in his head, no matter where he is, he's locked in a cage with a tormentor.
I once went to Munich with a guy who hadn't slept in 3 days...(and may have been mildly schizophrenic)...and yeah, by the third day statues were talking to him.
The maggots thing was really gross.
And leave it to Sam to find a ghost hunt while he's locked up in a mental ward. Sam is awesome though, and I love the fact that even when he's basically coming down with schizophrenia, he can still rock the puppy-eyes and sympathy and he still only wants to help people...I mean, geez, Sam...you are like the epitome of selfless, you deserve a much better life than the one you are living (though, I suppose the one he is living is what made him into the person he is...but yeah, strength of character is high in this one.)
I knew there was something wrong as soon as that guy started wheeling him somewhere...because they are not allowed to do anything to a mental patient without the consent of the mental patient's family.
It was pretty heart breaking for Cas to see what he'd done to Sam. I mean, in Cas's defense, he did not know that those souls would corrupt him. He thought he could crack the wall, then become super-powerful and seal it back up again. He did not know that he would crack the wall, go power-mad, unleash monsters onto the world, then disappear for almost a full year, while Sam's wall cracks further and further and further until it's crumbled into dust.
It does make me wonder though: Was Lucifer worse because Sam talked to him? Or was he getting steadily worse the entire season? Did Sam actually learn how to cope with the cracks, only to have the cracks slowly widen and widen and the wall crumble and crumble, until there was nothing he could do? Basically...is there a reason that we weren't seeing more of Sam's issues between 7x03 and 7x15? Were the remnants of his wall just more intact then?
(Holy crap, I am getting exhausted.)
Okay...um, right...Cas can't heal Sam.
I'm sad that Cas's "final" words to Sam were sort of lost to Sam's hallucination...but I'm glad Castiel apologized regardless. We all know that Sam's already forgiven him, because that's what Sam does...but still, it was nice to actually hear the words.
The transfer was cool...I wonder how it worked? I mean, did he transport Sam's memories? Did he transport whatever part of his brain was broken? It was his soul that was scarred, but you can't break a soul....are Cas and Sam's minds linked now? Is the scarring still in Sam, but the effects felt by Cas?
And then I didn't quite understand the last exchange between Dean and Sam, because I was too busy thinking "mmm...scruffy Sam, more please!" But I think I get it now...because Meg (and I don't mean this disrespectfully, but has Meg gained a little weight? I actually found myself liking it more because she didn't look like a stereotypical actress anymore.)...Meg is going to watch over Castiel, right? She's going to keep Crowley from getting his hands on him? I ASSUME that's the "deal" that Dean struck with her.
I'm very interested to see what becomes of all this. It's a very interesting position to put Castiel in. Cas DOESN'T need sleep. He can literally spend ETERNITY suffering Sam's Lucifer hallucinations.
Oh, one last thing: I also really liked how Castiel's final words to Dean were to tell him not to worry about him. Say what you will, THAT'S someone who KNOWS Dean. I don't think Castiel expected Dean's forgiveness, but I think he understands that just because Dean hasn't given it, it doesn't mean that Dean has stopped caring about him.
Oh man...if I had a soul, I would be weepy.
So, HUGE episode tonight folks! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. I'm sure despite this lengthy entry, I have missed out on a bunch of stuff, but I am TIRED....and this has taken me an 1.25 hours to write.
Now...HOLY CRAP...
The opener by the railway tracks is what was shot down the road from my old place. I've always wanted them to film there because it is such a creepy neighbourhood...but that's also why I couldn't stay and watch them film that night. I knew I would have to walk home at the end of it all. When I did find them, they were really vague about what was going to happen. There was an ambulance parked there and when I asked about it, they said "we're doing some stunts, so we have to have it on standby...*something* is going to..uh...fall...on the windshield of a car."
Anyway, yeah, they actually represented that particular neighbourhood well - it is not a place that you want to be at night...even though there are some GREAT graffiti alleys. Actually, I have a picture of the one that Sam met the drug dealer in:
(Just a note: I know it's night time in the picture, but this was earlier this winter, so it was actually only 5pm or something ridiculous like that...welcome to the north. When they were filming, it was already 10pm and they were filming until 1am...so there was no way I was going to stick around. That being said: That building? ALL art studios.)
Anyway, um, I'll stop talking about filming locations and start talking about the episode...
GOOD EPISODE.
Poor Sam! I like the continuity of it all...they're still drinking to fall asleep, and it worked on Dean, but not on Sam...and then, why did Sam take off? This is why you shouldn't leave your brother, Sammy. I wonder if that drug dealer charged Sam...maybe...too bad it didn't work.
The visual effects on the glass was a little weak, but then, I guess it was a hallucination anyway.
And then BAM car accident. Those always make me jump.
Dean coming in and being super protective brother was awesome...but, I think the conversation with the doctor really shows how much Dean is out of his depth with Sam's current issues.
Then we get into the preview clip. Just a note here: I had to unfollow two people on tumblr this week for spoilers. Listen, I know I have a stricter policy on spoilers than most people, and I know we were all really jazzed for this episode, but that doesn't mean you should post every single tidbit of information that comes your way. Especially if you don't tag your posts with the word "spoilers"...so you don't even have the excuse that I should block tags.
Anyway, someone on Tumblr DID point out that this is a reversal to the way things normally go. (And yes, I did reblog it, then felt like a huge idiot hypocrite and vowed never to be stupid again...we'll see how long that lasts.) Usually it's Dean telling Sam that he's tired whenever Sam asks why Dean isn't fighting harder/escaping. It really does show how broken Sam is that he's finally lost that drive in himself...that eternal optimism. As I've often said, Supernatural is just a story of an optimist and a pessimist driving around the country together....
Anyhow, Dean takes off to Rufus' cabin in Montana to make phone calls, while Sam stays behind to get tortured. I wonder how close they were to the cabin? I mean, they must have been fairly close, because there's no way Dean would go THAT far away from Sam, I don't think. That being said, he does seem to leave him for several days.
So, since they're storylines are separate, I'll talk about them separately...let's do Dean first (....that's what she said!)
It's a complete reversal of Faith, which is awesome, because they even mentioned it before Dean left! This time, it's Dean desperately searching through Bobby's address book to save Sam, whereas before it was Sam with John's contacts. I wonder if any of John's contacts are still alive? Or still friendly with the Winchesters? I'm actually REALLY curious about what the Winchesters "status" in the Hunting community is. I'm willing to bet that they will never ever do an episode that tells me though.
Then....BOBBY'S GHOST! Okay guys? It TOTALLY has to be Bobby's ghost. How Bobby knew that Mackey (or whatever his name was) knew the answer, I don't know...but man, that ghost is handy. I mean, I suppose it COULD be God. But we'll get to that...
Mackey sends Dean to check out this Emmanuel guy...and DUN DUN DUN! It's CAS! And he's MARRIED! And he's dressed like a dweeb. I wonder if he has sex with his wife...*things I should not think about, but I totally do* ...also, what the hell happens to his wife at the end of the episode?
I'm getting off track...Dean's reaction is amazingly well done. Kudos to Jensen, of course, because he has to have Dean basically have an emotional breakdown - but keep it all inside.
Then THE BEST CAR RIDE EVER!
Okay, sorry, I have a thing for amnesia fics...mainly, I love the bit where they are able to talk about the amnesiac as though they are a stranger that the amnesiac doesn't know. I think I like the idea of being a stranger to yourself. Or, it's just fun anyway...my best friend (who is male) used to pretend to be someone else (female) sometimes when we talked (it's a long story), and it was really fun to talk to "her" about my friend, while still stalking to my friend...and yeah...um...it sounds weird when I say it out loud, but it was awesome and you'll have to take my word for it.
I loved the signs of Cas that we see in Emmanuel....the fact that he's a bit embarrassed that he was completely nude...the way he bluntly states, without realizing how funny it is, that he got his name from BouncingBabyNames.com ....but we also get to the heart of who Cas is...someone who wants to help, who doesn't FEEL like a bad person (because he isn't one...even good people can make mistakes)...who thinks Cas is an odd name...and who doesn't freak out that Dean seems the type to kill people.
Then DEMON ATTACK! At first I was afraid that the demon at "Emmanuel's house" was right and that Crowley had called off the truce...but I think he was sent by Meg too, and it was all so that she could get her claws into some free angel mojo. I do wonder what game she's running...she was in Lucifer's court after all, does she now just want to usurp Crowley, or is she another Raphael who wants to restart the apocalypse?
I do wonder about Dean deciding to let her come...I mean, he really COULD have just killed her, couldn't he have? I think he should have.
Oh wait...it just occurred to me that Crowley MUST have crawled off the truce...because if those demons at the hospital were Meg's, then SHE could have just called them off...oh...right...she mentioned being completely alone...okay, I'm a nincompoop...damn, Crowley...I guess he was just trying to get at Cas too? To what end? The plot thickens...this also helps explain the ending. Cool. Uh...sorry for having to work through this as I type, I kind of do these things stream-of-consciousness style, in case you haven't noticed.
Anyway, where was I?
Oh yeah, demons all over the hospital....and Meg has a point, the best way to go in is with a fully charged Angel. This also shows us the core of Castiel, because he's someone who walks bravely up to a handful of demons without even actually remembering how to exercise them. I also liked this exchange:
Dean: "...like riding a bicycle."
Cas: "I don't know how to do that either."
It was cool that as Cas used his angel powers (other than healing) he remembered everything...all (or most) centering around Dean. (I swear, I don't even ship them....but I always liked the idea of Dean having a best friend).
Also, you know, it all my concern over Sam, I had kind of forgotten that Cas KILLED TONS OF ANGELS AND PEOPLE. I was so wound up in how he hurt the Winchesters, I totally forgot about his rampage through Heaven and Earth. It makes sense though that Cas would freak the hell out when he remembered all that.
And I like the fact that Dean doesn't just forgive Castiel...when Cas says "we didn't part as friends" and Dean doesn't say "oh, we'll be friends again,no worries!" Because that would be lying...though, I do think that Dean showed that he was on the PATH to forgiveness when he told him that maybe he was alive so that he could try to fix this...and that a part of Dean had always believed that Cas would come back...and that Dean had KEPT his blood-stained trench coat.
I don't know, when me and my best friend had our first big fight (completely his fault), he hid from me for a day...then I finally found him and we had this exchange:
Friend: Did you eat?
Me: No, I'm kind of hungry.
Friend: I will make you a sandwich.
*eat sandwiches, watch hockey, friendship resumes.*
I don't think there has to be huge speeches about forgiveness...I don't even think you necessarily HAVE to forgive in order to resume a friendship...or start to rebuild it anyway.
Alright, now, let's talk about Sam....
Sam is painful to watch this episode...firstly, because he makes me tired. Secondly, because those abrasions look painful...thirdly, because SAM! Oh Sam.
Lucifer is crazy annoying. Lucifer DID have a good point that maybe putting Sam in a locked ward wasn't the BEST thing to do to a guy who is basically crazy because he was locked in a cage with a tormentor....but I guess, since his current tormentor is in his head, no matter where he is, he's locked in a cage with a tormentor.
I once went to Munich with a guy who hadn't slept in 3 days...(and may have been mildly schizophrenic)...and yeah, by the third day statues were talking to him.
The maggots thing was really gross.
And leave it to Sam to find a ghost hunt while he's locked up in a mental ward. Sam is awesome though, and I love the fact that even when he's basically coming down with schizophrenia, he can still rock the puppy-eyes and sympathy and he still only wants to help people...I mean, geez, Sam...you are like the epitome of selfless, you deserve a much better life than the one you are living (though, I suppose the one he is living is what made him into the person he is...but yeah, strength of character is high in this one.)
I knew there was something wrong as soon as that guy started wheeling him somewhere...because they are not allowed to do anything to a mental patient without the consent of the mental patient's family.
It was pretty heart breaking for Cas to see what he'd done to Sam. I mean, in Cas's defense, he did not know that those souls would corrupt him. He thought he could crack the wall, then become super-powerful and seal it back up again. He did not know that he would crack the wall, go power-mad, unleash monsters onto the world, then disappear for almost a full year, while Sam's wall cracks further and further and further until it's crumbled into dust.
It does make me wonder though: Was Lucifer worse because Sam talked to him? Or was he getting steadily worse the entire season? Did Sam actually learn how to cope with the cracks, only to have the cracks slowly widen and widen and the wall crumble and crumble, until there was nothing he could do? Basically...is there a reason that we weren't seeing more of Sam's issues between 7x03 and 7x15? Were the remnants of his wall just more intact then?
(Holy crap, I am getting exhausted.)
Okay...um, right...Cas can't heal Sam.
I'm sad that Cas's "final" words to Sam were sort of lost to Sam's hallucination...but I'm glad Castiel apologized regardless. We all know that Sam's already forgiven him, because that's what Sam does...but still, it was nice to actually hear the words.
The transfer was cool...I wonder how it worked? I mean, did he transport Sam's memories? Did he transport whatever part of his brain was broken? It was his soul that was scarred, but you can't break a soul....are Cas and Sam's minds linked now? Is the scarring still in Sam, but the effects felt by Cas?
And then I didn't quite understand the last exchange between Dean and Sam, because I was too busy thinking "mmm...scruffy Sam, more please!" But I think I get it now...because Meg (and I don't mean this disrespectfully, but has Meg gained a little weight? I actually found myself liking it more because she didn't look like a stereotypical actress anymore.)...Meg is going to watch over Castiel, right? She's going to keep Crowley from getting his hands on him? I ASSUME that's the "deal" that Dean struck with her.
I'm very interested to see what becomes of all this. It's a very interesting position to put Castiel in. Cas DOESN'T need sleep. He can literally spend ETERNITY suffering Sam's Lucifer hallucinations.
Oh, one last thing: I also really liked how Castiel's final words to Dean were to tell him not to worry about him. Say what you will, THAT'S someone who KNOWS Dean. I don't think Castiel expected Dean's forgiveness, but I think he understands that just because Dean hasn't given it, it doesn't mean that Dean has stopped caring about him.
Oh man...if I had a soul, I would be weepy.
So, HUGE episode tonight folks! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. I'm sure despite this lengthy entry, I have missed out on a bunch of stuff, but I am TIRED....and this has taken me an 1.25 hours to write.
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Regardless - ALL THE APPLAUSE to Jared and Pellegrino - they were amazing!
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But yes, ALL THE APPLAUSE! :)