Rewatch S8: 8x23 Sacrifice
Mar. 9th, 2014 05:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hells_half_acreCarry on wayward son!
And so, we come to the end of S8. It actually ended up on up-note in my opinion, but I guess we'll get to that.
Nancy: "On the house, Sheriff"
Jodie: "Thanks, Nance, but I didn't order-"
*Crowley arrives*
Nancy: "Good luck!"
- I never realized that the Sheriff knew the waitress. Geez, it would have sucked doubly hard is the Sheriff had died. Or maybe that's just IMO, since I'd prefer to die amongst strangers than people I know - because I don't want people I know to see me all corpsified and gross. Actually, I should really write a will, just so that I can stipulate that no one is allowed to look at me. I hate goddamn wakes. Just chuck me in a fire ASAP, read "I imagine the Gods" by Jack Gilbert, and then call it a day.
Crowley: "We do share something, you and I."
Jodie: "What?"
Crowley: "Loss."
Jodie: "My son and my husband. How did you know?"
- I really like the fact that they brought this back up. In S7, when the Sheriff talked about her experiences, she emphasized Bobby's death more, and that kind of annoyed me. I mean, granted, she was talking to the Winchesters and I guess Bobby was her rock after her zombie son killed her husband - but yeah, as much as Bobby's death is sad, I think on the scale of things, the Sheriff is probably more traumatized by the whole zombie son murdering husband thing.
You know, I know Mark Sheppard is in everything under the sun, and that he did play a nice guy in Doctor Who, but I kind of wish he would play nice guys more often rather than sleezeballs and demons. It'd be a nice change of pace.
Jodie: "He's attractive though, right? He's hot."
- I like Jodie talking to herself in the mirror. It's something I've done before.
Why Crowley has the big butts song as his ring tone, I don't know.
Dean: "Fine, but the angel tablet comes to us."
Crowley: "On what grounds?"
Dean: "On the grounds that you're a douchebag and no douchebag should have that much power."
- Aw, Dean. I don't think those grounds would hold up in a court of law, but you are correct about them.
Ah, we see that Kevin arrived at the demon tablet separately. So, maybe he was just hanging out in Colorado, telling Metatron everything he needed to know.
Dean: "You hid the demon tablet under the devil? Seriously?"
Kevin: "What, I was delirious."
- Snicker.
- Also, super windy day!
Dean: "Alright, listen, this is a secret lair, you understand me? No keggers."
Kevin: "I don't have any friends."
- Way to rip my heart out with one sentence, Kevin.
Castiel: "What was he like?"
Metatron: "Who? God? Pretty much like you'd expect. Larger than life. Gruff. Bit of a sexist, but fair, eminently fair."
- You know why he was a sexist? Goddamn menstrual cycles, that's why. I tell you, if I believed in God, I'd want to kick him in the junk for that... and if he doesn't have junk, I'd settle for showing up and stabbing him in the stomach once a month for all eternity.
- That being said, I call shananigans, because you can't be sexist AND be fair, unless you don't let your sexism influence your decisions, which I guess is possible. In which case, God would have faults that he was aware of - and I'm pretty sure God isn't allowed to have faults in the Judeo-Christian-Islamic religions. I could be wrong though. I am not God, after all.
Metatron: "...I've been listening into angel radio. Cupid frequency, actually..."
- So, I've talked about this before, but it always kind of annoys me when angels refer to it as angel-radio, because that's just what Dean nicknamed it. Also, radio is a human invention and blah blah blah... but on the other hand, it MIGHT be the best way to describe it. Because obviously angels talk over great distances on frequencies that only other angels can hear and pick up... and that's pretty much how radio works. So, this might be a case of them just not having an english equivalent besides "radio" to describe it. Also, it's what Ash has been listening in on in Heaven, which has got to be interesting. He's basically having the most entertaining afterlife, I'm sure - one big long soap opera.
Metatron: "...he's next on their list."
Castiel: "List?"
Metatron: "To do the horizontal mambo. To slap bellies?...to find love."
Castiel: "Oh."
- *snicker*, again, I don't think Castiel's so much naive as a romantic. :P
Oh god, I had forgotten that they went to Bobby's scrapyard to meet Crowley. Geez. Way to rip my heart out AGAIN.
Crowley: "The highlights - we swap tablets, you stand down from the trials forever."
Sam: "And you stop killing everyone we've ever saved."
Crowley: "Agreed."
- Ah, I stand corrected, getting Crowley to stop killing people DID mean that they'd have to stop the trials. It wasn't just about giving him the tablet.
Crowley: "Ah ah ah, nice try Squirrel. Moose is doing these trials, Moose signs."
Dean: "No no no, he's not sighing anything until I read the fine print."
Sam: "I can read it."
Dean: "Hey, you wanted me here, I'm here, but I'll be damned if I'm going to let him screw us even more-"
Crowley: "What's this? Trouble in paradise, boys?"
- The staged argument is actually genius on their parts, because if they were in sync and in agreement with every move the other was making then it'd be suspicious. This makes it seem like they're making decisions in the moment instead of in advance.
Naomi: "What is it Nathanial?"
- Sorry, this is just a note that Naomi suddenly plunged me back into the third grade where I had a classmate that kind of looked like this guy, whose name was actually Nathanial. Crazyness.
Crowley: "You know why I always defeat you? It's your humanity. It's a built in handicap. You always put emotion ahead of good old common sense."
- Oh Crowley, if only you knew what was coming. Not that he's wrong about Dean though - Dean always does let his emotions make his decisions for him, which sometimes works out and sometimes doesn't.
Crowley: "What's he mouthing on about?"
Sam: "You're the third trial, Crowley."
- It is very rare to see Crowley when someone's got the drop on him. It's kind of awesome.
Metatron: "What are you reading?"
Castiel: "Personal ads. The faster that man finds love, the faster the cupid will come. Trust me, I'm friends with friends who do this for a living."
- I just love that "friends with friends" part... who is he talking about? Cupids? It's just, vague and therefore hilarious.
Metatron: "You're not the most subtle tool in the shed, are you?"
- Hehe, nope.
And then Naomi and her goons show up. Bravo on the barkeeper for firing his shot-gun rather than stand there dumbfounded at the people who materialized out of nowhere.
Metatron: "Stop. Please, Castiel, don't make this any worse. Please."
- Ah, because Metatron WANTS to get into Heaven, he needs Naomi to bring him to her office... it's a plan coming together, really.
So, yeah, I forget where I heard this - maybe Russ' location tour back in August at VanCon... but apparently that church location was chosen because the view was gorgeous. And it was actually outside the studio-zone and so cost extra to film there, and they had to build the church set because it was just a field - but it was deemed worth it based on the view. Then, when the day for filming actually came, it was raining so hard and the clouds were so heavy that you couldn't even see the view. :P
Dean: "Have you ever done the 'forgive me Father' before?"
Sam: "Once, when we were kids-"
- I'd be interested in that story.
Sam:"-which is why I have no clue what to say now."
Dean: "I can give you suggestions, if you want."
Sam: "Okay, yeah, sure."
Dean: "Uh, spit-balling here, but if I were you - Ruby, killing Lilith, letting Lucifer out, losing your soul, not looking for me when I went to purgatory-"
Sam: "Kay-"
Dean: "-for starters. Hey! How about what you did to Penny Markle in the sixth grade - why don't you lead with that!"
Sam: "That was you."
Dean: "Carry on!"
- So, here we get one bone of contention among fandom... Dean listing Sam's greatest mistakes. And yeah, it's bad - but I don't think Dean is actually doing it maliciously. And I think the proof of that is the fact that he mentions Penny Markle. Dean is thinking of things that people would traditionally go to confession for, he's not listing things that HE needs to forgive, he's listing things that a major religion would think requires forgiveness. Ruby - being seduced by a demon. Killing Lilith and setting Lucifer free - Dean wanted to kill Lilith too, he just objected to Sam's methods, so technically this mistake is on both of them. "Losing your soul" - okay, so here we get into trouble, because it wasn't Sam's fault that he lost his soul, but possibly what Dean means here is "everything soulless!Sam did", because although those things were Sam's soul's fault, they were still done by Sam's body, so could conceivably be on the list of things that would go into a confession. "Not looking for me when I went to purgatory" is actually the only personal offense that Dean mentions, and yeah, that one I can't argue his way out of, because he IS still pissed about that. Dean equates crazy resurrection-obsessions with love, and the fact that Sam just moved on with his life when he thought Dean was dead DOES still hurt Dean's feelings.
- But, Dean mentioning Penny Markle means that he's not actually trying to think of "things Sam did that I'm mad at him for." He's trying to think of "things we/I/he regret(s) doing." Which is a very different thing.
Castiel: "Dean, I need your help."
Dean: "Little busy, Cas, take a number."
- I love Dean's jump when Cas says "Dean" hehehe.
Naomi: "One question before I begin. You had to know that we would leap at the chance to extract all of God's secrets from that head of yours, which is why I ask myself - why, why would the scribe suddenly come in from the shadows? And what are doing with Castiel?"
Metatron: "'Of the blessings set before you, make your choice and be content.' Not a big reader, are we."
- Naomi knows what's up, or rather, she knows SOMETHING is up. In the comments of my last rewatch, someone (percysowner?) pointed out that with Castiel's body count, they don't understand why any angel would willingly follow him or work with him or go anywhere near him. But, I was thinking about it, and I think that if Castiel was basically BORN to be a wrench in the works, than he's probably been close to the centre of all great upheavals in Heaven, even if the only upheavals have been the recent ones. The idea of CONTROLLING that is enticing. If you can control the wrench, then you can control the works. And I think that's why Naomi rescued him from Purgatory and tried to bend him to her will - and I also think that's why she's wary of anyone who seems to be trying to use Cas similarly.
- And Metatron quotes Samuel Johnson, about making a choice between two things, because you cannot have both - you can either have one, or neither. So, is it about Naomi asking him two questions? Why come in from the shadows? What is he doing with Castiel? Or is it something else entirely... like criticizing the angel's choice to drive him out of Heaven, ruining paradise? Causing him to choose between a life in exile on earth and a life in heaven?
Dean: "Metatron - the guy who was full on crazy cat-lady hoarder yesterday, now he wants to save Heaven?"
- Dean knows when something sounds fishy. He's convinced Gabriel to take on Lucifer, but that's different, because Gabriel was already interfering... going from complete recluse to completely involved grand-plan man IS a pretty big leap.
Dean: "Look Cas, that's all well and good, but you're asking me to leave Sam, and we've got Crowley in there tied and trussed." *Sam walks in behind Dean* "Now, if anyone needs a chaperon while doing the heavy lifting, it's Sam."
- Worst sentence to walk in on EVER. Especially just because Dean meant it because Sam looks like he's DYING, not because Sam doesn't make good decisions. Sigh... it's like a train wreck in slow motion... which basically describes this entire series. :P
- And Dean knows it too, because as soon as he hears Sam's final footstep, his face just does this "shit!" expression.
Sam: "You should go. Seriously."
Dean: "Oh what, and leave you here with the King of Hell? Come on!"
Sam: "I got this, and if you guys can lock the angels up too - that's a good day."
Dean: "Look, I... I'm down with sending the angels back to heaven - just 'cause they're dicks, but the demons, this is on us. Start the injections now, if I'm not back in 8 hours, finish it. No questions, no hesitation."
Sam: "Yeah."
- Oh man... do you think at this point Sam knows that he's going to die? Do you think he believes that Dean knows it to? I don't think so, I mean, at least not about the last part. I think Sam might know, but I think he's been deliberately not mentioning it to Dean, because he KNOWS Dean would never let him die. He must know that by now, anyway.
- And did he think that was the last time he would ever see Dean?
- And what does it LOOK like when Angels fly away? It must look pretty weird.
Sam looks pretty sexy as he backs away from Crowley.
Kevin: "Is this a joke."
Castiel: "No, it's the word of god."
- Oh Cas.
Kevin: "It's the angel tablet, which I've never laid eyes on. And you want me to translate it in what, six hours? When it took me six months and a dead mom to translate a piece of the demon tablet! According to your own words, THIS morning, this is not what I do, it's what I DID. You told me I was out, Dean."
- So, spoilers for S9 in this paragraph, but this is why I wasn't OVERLY surprised when they got rid of Kevin. Having someone able to read the word of god made things too easy. Kevin read the Leviathan tablet in a few hours, and then suddenly they needed it to take him longer... and longer... and longer... because having the solution makes for dull TV. Now, that being said, I don't think they needed to kill him - I kind of wish SPN would stop killing people, actually... but I guess they're SUPER insistent on keeping it a two man show, so whatever. After 9 years, I guess I should be used to it. :P
- Also, I like surly Kevin.
Kevin: "And if this is going to be another 'guys like us are never out' speech, save it."
*Cas picks Kevin up*: "Dean is right."
Dean: "Cas!"
Cas: "There is no out, only duty."
Kevin: "Get the hell off me!"
Cas: "You are a prophet of the lord, always and forever...until the day you cease to exist and another prophet takes your place. Now, are you clear as to the task you have before you. Then do it. Let's go."
- I love BAMF Cas, I really do. That's the Cas who threatens to throw Dean back in hell and beats him up in dark alleys. Cas always looks so much like a puppy, that I think people forget that he is actually one of the most powerful angels in heaven and doesn't need to put up with any of your bullshit.
Sam: "What the hell, Crowley! Biting! Seriously!?"
- Hahaha, I love how personally offended Sam is.
- Crowley sucking that much blood out so quickly is impressive. Also, pretty ingenious plan there to getting a phone call in.
Castiel: "There was one female, but..."
Dean: "What?"
Castiel: "...I don't think she was female."
- So, I know some people get really pissed off at this line as being transphobic, but I actually think that Cas just met a drag queen. There's a huge difference between a transwoman and a man wearing a dress pretending to be a woman for an evening. That's just my opinion anyway. Not every man who is "passing" as a woman on a given evening is a transwoman. But, I do agree that given the discrimination faced by the trans* community, it's probably not a good idea to make ambiguous jokes like that. /end of I've-spent-too-much-time-on-tumblr rant.
Dean: "Talk to me. You sure about this? I mean, it's one thing, me and Sammy shutting the gates to the pit, but you - you're boarding up Heaven, and you're locking the doors behind you."
Castiel: "Yeah, I know."
Dean: "You did a lot of damage up there, man. You think they're just going to let that slide?"
Castiel: "You mean, do you think they'll kill me? Yeah, they might."
Dean: "So, this is it? ET goes home."
- Awww, this conversation. Firstly, I love how Dean now begins his and Cas' serious talks with "Talk to me", because I think/hope it means that he recognizes that everything that has ever one wrong between them is due to a failure of communication.
- Secondly, we'll notice that Dean has seemingly forgiven Cas for taking the angel tablet and skipping town and not trusting him, etc, AGAIN. You know, I think Sam might be the most forgiving person to ever forgive when it comes to Dean (a line stolen from shadowsong26 commenter on the last post, I think), but I think Dean is the most forgiving person to ever forgive when it comes to Cas. I mean, seriously, he was mad for a single episode and that's it. He's been madder for longer at Cas in the past though, so maybe that's not true.
-Thirdly, Dean is pretty calm about Castiel's impending possible death - a possible death that Castiel is going to of his own free will too.
- Fourthly, and most importantly, I LOVE the fact that that Dean just compared him and Cas to that kid and ET. Like Cas is Dean's little alien friend that's he grown a really fucked up attachment to.... because he kind of has. Anyway, I like it - even though I really hate ET with a passion, because it traumatized me as a child.
Heheh, I LOVE Dean's face when he realizes the bartender is gay. Cas is just like "Ah, okay, must go after cupid now", meanwhile Dean is just sitting there reconsidering everything he thought he knew.
I just got distracted watching Crowley and Abaddon and forgot I was supposed to be taking notes...Sam being tossed through the window is a cool stunt.
Crowley: "Undo these chains, I'll kill him myself."
- Will you though? I kind of think Crowley has a soft spot for the Winchesters, or at the very least, he seems to continually find reasons to keep them around. Maybe because he thinks they're easy to manipulate?
Cupid: "Hello Brother"
Castiel: "Give us your bow"
Cupid: "What?"
Dean: "Whoa whoa whoa, hey hey, talk first, stab later."
- Ah Dean, how much you've grown.
Crowley: "You know what that boy's trying to do right? He's trying to shut the gates of hell."
Abaddon: "You and I are going to talk about a regime change."
Crowley: "You little whore, I am your Ki-"
*Abaddon kicks him in the face*
- these two are so great on screen together, seriously.
Sam: "Love the suit."
*lights Abaddon on fire*
- Geez, does he really say "suit" there? Craziness, and interesting choice for a one liner.
Cupid: "I've been afraid to go home for some time now. Orders used to come once a day and now it's chaos. It all seems to be breaking down. And you think you can fix that?"
Castiel: "With time, yes."
- It's interesting that this cupid is so different from the previous one. No comedic hugging, nor overly cheerfulness, no naked times. :P Mind you, she's on the job and in costume. But yeah, I guess this is what civil war does to angels, it turns cupids weary.
Metatron: "You've been digging."
Naomi: "Why are you doing this? This?"
Metatron: "Do you have any idea what it would be like - to be plucked from obscurity. To sit at God's feet. To be asked to write down His Word. The ache I felt while he was gone - telling myself Father's left, but look what he's left us! Paradise! But you and your archangels couldn't leave well enough alone. You ran me from my home. Did you really think you could do all of that to me and there'd be no payback?"
- Ah, and then we get the truth, or the beginnings of it. Metatron isn't in it to save Heaven and the angels from fighting, he's in it for revenge, cold and simple.
Crowley: "Band of Brothers, the Pacific? None of this means anything to you? All those motels, you never once watched HBO, not once? Girls? You're my Marny, Moose, and Hannah, she just, she NEEDS to be loved. She deserves it. Don't we all? You, me? We deserve to be loved. I DESERVE TO BE LOVED. I just want to be loved."
Sam: "... what?"
- Best "what?" in the history of television. Hahah, seriously, I just love the way Jared delivers that line.
- Also, I think Mark Sheppard slips into a little bit of Irish accent there briefly or something, during the speech. There's something just a little different about his accent, but I don't have the best ear, so I might be wrong.
- Mark Sheppard is amazing in this episode, btw. I just love the slow decline of Crowley - the way he DOES change and IS effected by what Sam's doing. The way he slowly does become more and more human.
Crowley: "Would it be possible, Moose... I'd like, to ask you a favour, Sam. Earlier, when you were confessing back there, what did you say? I only ask, because given my history, it raises the question, where do I start to even look for forgiveness? I mean..."
Sam: "How about we start with this?"
*Crowley tilts head to the side for the needle.*
- Seriously, Sheppard knocks this out of the park. But Crowley raises a question here - if the King of Hell IS made mortal again, is it even possible for him to have his sins forgiven? When he has sinned for millennia?
- Jared is also amazing, and make-up is amazing too, because Sam just looks WRECKED. It hurts my soul to look at him.
Kevin: "I think I found angel trials, but I haven't found anything about Nephilim or a cupid's bow-"
Dean: "Ah, come on. Kev, we're on the one yard line here."
Kevin: "And I should have mentioned this six months ago, but the sports metaphors - you want to motivate me? Magic cards, Skyrim, Aziz Ansari-"
Dean: "What?!"
- Hahaha, oh, clash of both personality and generations.
- More seriously though, Kevin is giving us our first major clue that what Metatron is having Castiel do is NOT the angel trials.
Naomi: "I'm not here to fight you, Castiel, not anymore."
Castiel: "Where is Metatron?"
- I love Dean's "oh shit, possible angel fight" face.
- I also love Kevin listening in to the exchange.
Naomi: "... It's a lie. I've been in his head."
Castiel: "You've been in all our heads, that's the problem."
Naomi: "No, Castiel, you're wrong."
Castiel: "This is what you do, you twist things."
- And this is Naomi's hubris? Or... whatever the word is.... because she's a manipulator, her words cannot be trusted. If you spin every story to your own advantage, if you lie to get people to do what you want, then no one will ever believe you if one day you tell them the truth.
But, Dean DOES believe her, for whatever reason - maybe he just wants the full story even if it's bullshit, or maybe he sees something in her expression, or maybe he's just following through on his earlier hunch that Metatron's sudden involvement seemed fishy.
Dean: "Cast you out? To where? Hell?"
Naomi: "Here. Thousands of us, walking the earth."
Cas: "Lies!"
Dean: "Wait!" *restrains Cas*
- Seriously, the fact that Cas listens to Dean here even a little is pretty amazing. Everytime Dean restrains Cas, it's because Cas allows him to.
Naomi: "Our mission was to protect what God created. I don't know when we forgot that. I want nothing more than to see you shut the gates of hell, but I told you that you could trust me - if Sam completes those trials, he is going to die."
Dean: "What the hell are you talking about?"
Naomi: "I saw it in Metatron's head. It was always God's intention - the ultimate sacrifice."
- So, yes, you need to sacrifice someone to close the gates of Hell. I still think it'd have been cooler if the death was Sam specific - but then, I guess that would mean that Dean could do the trials and live and S9 would be about Dean doing the trials instead of Sam, instead of them just abandoning them because no one wants to die, or Dean doesn't want to die and Dean doesn't want Sam to die, anyway.
Castiel: "Dean, I'm not wrong. I'm going to fix my home."
Dean: "Cas!"
- Oh Cas.
Dean: "Sammy, stop!"
- Aww, he called him Sammy... also, Sam's "WTF" face is great.
And Naomi is sadly dead, now that she has turned a new leaf... like I said, these people are trapped in a Shakespearen tragedy. Her epiphany came too late.
Sam: "What? What's going on? Where's Cas?"
Dean: "Metatron lied. You finish this trial, you're dead, Sam."
Sam: "... so?"
- Most heartbreaking, "so?" ever.
Metatron: "And now, something wonderful is going to happen, for me, and for you. I want you to live this life to the fullest. Find a woman. Make babies. And when you die and your soul comes to Heaven? Find me, and tell me your story."
- I wondered if this was Metatrons original plan - just to collect stories in his own personal Heaven... and then he got bored and decided to shoot for god-hood? I don't know, I guess that's a S9 debate.
Sam: "Look at him. Look at him. Look how close we are. Other people will die if I don't finish this!"
Dean: "Look at what we know - curing demons, pulling souls from hell. Hell, ganking a hellhound. We have enough knowledge to turn the tide here. I can't do it without you."
- Uh, Dean, you won't have to do it at all if he closes the gates. Though, I know that's not the point you are trying to make - you are trying to say that Sam doesn't need to kill himself to defeat Hell.
Sam: "You can barely do it with me. I mean, you think I screw up everything I try. You think I need a chaperon, remember?"
Dean: "Come on, man, that's not what I meant."
Sam: "No, that's exactly what you meant."
- No, it isn't Sam. :(
Sam: "You want to know what I confessed in there - what my greatest sin was? Was how many times I've let you down. I can't do that again. What happens when you've decided that I can't be trusted - again. Who are you going to turn to next time instead of me? Another angel, another...another vampire? Do you have any idea what it feels like to watch your brother-"
- Oh man, the Winchesters are so messed up. Firstly, though, I want to talk about how this is one of the reasons I find Sam and Castiel's relationship so fascinating - because at it's core, it's this really awkward thing, and I think part of that awkwardness comes from the fact that Sam maybe resents Castiel a little - because Dean met Castiel when Sam was running around with Ruby. So, Castiel remains a symbol of the time when Dean couldn't trust Sam. Likewise, this explains why Sam hated Benny so much and couldn't stand to see Dean keep Benny in his life... Castiel was one thing, but Benny was another case of a "monster" that Dean started calling brother when Sam messed up again.
- Basically, the fact that Dean befriends monsters when he's on the outs with Sam is like salt in the wound, because Sam has spent a lot of his years with Dean worried about the fact that he was a freak, and they were trained to hate all freaks - and what if Dean hated him? So, Sam tried to be as least monstrous as possible, but he still messed up, and when he did, Dean basically made a show of pointing out that ACTUAL MONSTERS were better than Sam was.
Dean: "Just hold on, HOLD ON! You seriously think that? Because none of it, NONE of it, is true. Listen man, I know we've had our disagreements, hell, I know I've said some stuff that set you back on your heels. But Sammy, come on, I killed Benny to save you. I'm willing to let this bastard and all the sons of bitches that killed Mom WALK because of you. Don't you dare think that there is anything past or present that I would put in front of you. It has never bee like that. Ever. I need you to see that. I'm begging you."
- Aww, Dean, you are breaking my heart. Because it's true... and we've seen that, not just with Benny, but earlier when Dean was talking to Cas - he didn't raise on word of protest when Cas chose to go board up heaven and possibly be killed as a result. At the very least, even if Cas wasn't killed, Dean would never see him again (until Dean died, anyway)... and that was fine with Dean. But Dean is not fine with Sam dying - and YES, it's not a good thing, since Dean doesn't respect Sam's free will, but it's the strongest evidence that Sam holds a very very special place, unsurpassed by anyone else, in Dean's heart and mind.
Sam: "How do I stop?"
- But here's the thing... is Sam stopping because he wants to live or is he stopping because he once again is just trying to make Dean happy? Both? Neither?
Dean: Sam?! I got you little brother, you're going to be just fine... Cas! CASTIEL!! Where the hell are you."
- Oh god, don't call Sam "little brother" - only bad things happen when you do that.
And then the angels fall... and it is both awesome and horrible.
But, I think the season DID end on a good note, because at the time, at least, it looked like the Winchesters were finally on the same page in their relationship - they had both the angel and the demon tablet. Crowley was 3/4 cured. Cas was still alive. Kevin was safe... but yeah, how quickly that all went to shit in the S9 premiere. :P
CUT SCENES:
1)
A flashback during the Crowley meet-up scene, with Sam and Dean arguing about whether they should take Crowley's deal or not. Sam doesn't want any of the people they saved to die, Dean accusses him of letting Crowley manipulate his emotions.
Dean: "...but we can end ALL of the killing, and sure that comes with a price, I know - but you know sometimes good people have to die for the greater good."
- Yikes, Dean... you're going to be eating those words later.
Dean then shows Sam a picture of THEIR MOTHER to drive his point home. Man, Dean, who is manipulating emotions now, because I don't think it's Crowley!
2)
Sam falling asleep during the third trial.
Crowley: "Where are we?"
Sam: "It'll all be over in less then five minutes."
Crowley: "The syringe, I get, the knife - what's with the pea shooter?"
Sam: "It's for when you're human."
Crowley: "Hm, 'course. Smart, Moose. Should have seen that."
3)
Kevin frantically reading the demon tablet. "I can't find one thing in here that says Sam's going to die, I swear."
Castiel: "That's because she's lying."
Kevin: "I don't, I don't know!"
..and then it bleeds into the part they did use, which was Dean saying "Take me to him. Take me to him NOW!"
And I'm done! There will be a post about the special features on the bluRay/DVDs, because I happen to be at my friends place where she has the BluRay and a nice set-up, and then that's it! Finito! Ende!
Clothes will start updating next week sometime with the goal to have it all done inside of this month.
And so, we come to the end of S8. It actually ended up on up-note in my opinion, but I guess we'll get to that.
Nancy: "On the house, Sheriff"
Jodie: "Thanks, Nance, but I didn't order-"
*Crowley arrives*
Nancy: "Good luck!"
- I never realized that the Sheriff knew the waitress. Geez, it would have sucked doubly hard is the Sheriff had died. Or maybe that's just IMO, since I'd prefer to die amongst strangers than people I know - because I don't want people I know to see me all corpsified and gross. Actually, I should really write a will, just so that I can stipulate that no one is allowed to look at me. I hate goddamn wakes. Just chuck me in a fire ASAP, read "I imagine the Gods" by Jack Gilbert, and then call it a day.
Crowley: "We do share something, you and I."
Jodie: "What?"
Crowley: "Loss."
Jodie: "My son and my husband. How did you know?"
- I really like the fact that they brought this back up. In S7, when the Sheriff talked about her experiences, she emphasized Bobby's death more, and that kind of annoyed me. I mean, granted, she was talking to the Winchesters and I guess Bobby was her rock after her zombie son killed her husband - but yeah, as much as Bobby's death is sad, I think on the scale of things, the Sheriff is probably more traumatized by the whole zombie son murdering husband thing.
You know, I know Mark Sheppard is in everything under the sun, and that he did play a nice guy in Doctor Who, but I kind of wish he would play nice guys more often rather than sleezeballs and demons. It'd be a nice change of pace.
Jodie: "He's attractive though, right? He's hot."
- I like Jodie talking to herself in the mirror. It's something I've done before.
Why Crowley has the big butts song as his ring tone, I don't know.
Dean: "Fine, but the angel tablet comes to us."
Crowley: "On what grounds?"
Dean: "On the grounds that you're a douchebag and no douchebag should have that much power."
- Aw, Dean. I don't think those grounds would hold up in a court of law, but you are correct about them.
Ah, we see that Kevin arrived at the demon tablet separately. So, maybe he was just hanging out in Colorado, telling Metatron everything he needed to know.
Dean: "You hid the demon tablet under the devil? Seriously?"
Kevin: "What, I was delirious."
- Snicker.
- Also, super windy day!
Dean: "Alright, listen, this is a secret lair, you understand me? No keggers."
Kevin: "I don't have any friends."
- Way to rip my heart out with one sentence, Kevin.
Castiel: "What was he like?"
Metatron: "Who? God? Pretty much like you'd expect. Larger than life. Gruff. Bit of a sexist, but fair, eminently fair."
- You know why he was a sexist? Goddamn menstrual cycles, that's why. I tell you, if I believed in God, I'd want to kick him in the junk for that... and if he doesn't have junk, I'd settle for showing up and stabbing him in the stomach once a month for all eternity.
- That being said, I call shananigans, because you can't be sexist AND be fair, unless you don't let your sexism influence your decisions, which I guess is possible. In which case, God would have faults that he was aware of - and I'm pretty sure God isn't allowed to have faults in the Judeo-Christian-Islamic religions. I could be wrong though. I am not God, after all.
Metatron: "...I've been listening into angel radio. Cupid frequency, actually..."
- So, I've talked about this before, but it always kind of annoys me when angels refer to it as angel-radio, because that's just what Dean nicknamed it. Also, radio is a human invention and blah blah blah... but on the other hand, it MIGHT be the best way to describe it. Because obviously angels talk over great distances on frequencies that only other angels can hear and pick up... and that's pretty much how radio works. So, this might be a case of them just not having an english equivalent besides "radio" to describe it. Also, it's what Ash has been listening in on in Heaven, which has got to be interesting. He's basically having the most entertaining afterlife, I'm sure - one big long soap opera.
Metatron: "...he's next on their list."
Castiel: "List?"
Metatron: "To do the horizontal mambo. To slap bellies?...to find love."
Castiel: "Oh."
- *snicker*, again, I don't think Castiel's so much naive as a romantic. :P
Oh god, I had forgotten that they went to Bobby's scrapyard to meet Crowley. Geez. Way to rip my heart out AGAIN.
Crowley: "The highlights - we swap tablets, you stand down from the trials forever."
Sam: "And you stop killing everyone we've ever saved."
Crowley: "Agreed."
- Ah, I stand corrected, getting Crowley to stop killing people DID mean that they'd have to stop the trials. It wasn't just about giving him the tablet.
Crowley: "Ah ah ah, nice try Squirrel. Moose is doing these trials, Moose signs."
Dean: "No no no, he's not sighing anything until I read the fine print."
Sam: "I can read it."
Dean: "Hey, you wanted me here, I'm here, but I'll be damned if I'm going to let him screw us even more-"
Crowley: "What's this? Trouble in paradise, boys?"
- The staged argument is actually genius on their parts, because if they were in sync and in agreement with every move the other was making then it'd be suspicious. This makes it seem like they're making decisions in the moment instead of in advance.
Naomi: "What is it Nathanial?"
- Sorry, this is just a note that Naomi suddenly plunged me back into the third grade where I had a classmate that kind of looked like this guy, whose name was actually Nathanial. Crazyness.
Crowley: "You know why I always defeat you? It's your humanity. It's a built in handicap. You always put emotion ahead of good old common sense."
- Oh Crowley, if only you knew what was coming. Not that he's wrong about Dean though - Dean always does let his emotions make his decisions for him, which sometimes works out and sometimes doesn't.
Crowley: "What's he mouthing on about?"
Sam: "You're the third trial, Crowley."
- It is very rare to see Crowley when someone's got the drop on him. It's kind of awesome.
Metatron: "What are you reading?"
Castiel: "Personal ads. The faster that man finds love, the faster the cupid will come. Trust me, I'm friends with friends who do this for a living."
- I just love that "friends with friends" part... who is he talking about? Cupids? It's just, vague and therefore hilarious.
Metatron: "You're not the most subtle tool in the shed, are you?"
- Hehe, nope.
And then Naomi and her goons show up. Bravo on the barkeeper for firing his shot-gun rather than stand there dumbfounded at the people who materialized out of nowhere.
Metatron: "Stop. Please, Castiel, don't make this any worse. Please."
- Ah, because Metatron WANTS to get into Heaven, he needs Naomi to bring him to her office... it's a plan coming together, really.
So, yeah, I forget where I heard this - maybe Russ' location tour back in August at VanCon... but apparently that church location was chosen because the view was gorgeous. And it was actually outside the studio-zone and so cost extra to film there, and they had to build the church set because it was just a field - but it was deemed worth it based on the view. Then, when the day for filming actually came, it was raining so hard and the clouds were so heavy that you couldn't even see the view. :P
Dean: "Have you ever done the 'forgive me Father' before?"
Sam: "Once, when we were kids-"
- I'd be interested in that story.
Sam:"-which is why I have no clue what to say now."
Dean: "I can give you suggestions, if you want."
Sam: "Okay, yeah, sure."
Dean: "Uh, spit-balling here, but if I were you - Ruby, killing Lilith, letting Lucifer out, losing your soul, not looking for me when I went to purgatory-"
Sam: "Kay-"
Dean: "-for starters. Hey! How about what you did to Penny Markle in the sixth grade - why don't you lead with that!"
Sam: "That was you."
Dean: "Carry on!"
- So, here we get one bone of contention among fandom... Dean listing Sam's greatest mistakes. And yeah, it's bad - but I don't think Dean is actually doing it maliciously. And I think the proof of that is the fact that he mentions Penny Markle. Dean is thinking of things that people would traditionally go to confession for, he's not listing things that HE needs to forgive, he's listing things that a major religion would think requires forgiveness. Ruby - being seduced by a demon. Killing Lilith and setting Lucifer free - Dean wanted to kill Lilith too, he just objected to Sam's methods, so technically this mistake is on both of them. "Losing your soul" - okay, so here we get into trouble, because it wasn't Sam's fault that he lost his soul, but possibly what Dean means here is "everything soulless!Sam did", because although those things were Sam's soul's fault, they were still done by Sam's body, so could conceivably be on the list of things that would go into a confession. "Not looking for me when I went to purgatory" is actually the only personal offense that Dean mentions, and yeah, that one I can't argue his way out of, because he IS still pissed about that. Dean equates crazy resurrection-obsessions with love, and the fact that Sam just moved on with his life when he thought Dean was dead DOES still hurt Dean's feelings.
- But, Dean mentioning Penny Markle means that he's not actually trying to think of "things Sam did that I'm mad at him for." He's trying to think of "things we/I/he regret(s) doing." Which is a very different thing.
Castiel: "Dean, I need your help."
Dean: "Little busy, Cas, take a number."
- I love Dean's jump when Cas says "Dean" hehehe.
Naomi: "One question before I begin. You had to know that we would leap at the chance to extract all of God's secrets from that head of yours, which is why I ask myself - why, why would the scribe suddenly come in from the shadows? And what are doing with Castiel?"
Metatron: "'Of the blessings set before you, make your choice and be content.' Not a big reader, are we."
- Naomi knows what's up, or rather, she knows SOMETHING is up. In the comments of my last rewatch, someone (percysowner?) pointed out that with Castiel's body count, they don't understand why any angel would willingly follow him or work with him or go anywhere near him. But, I was thinking about it, and I think that if Castiel was basically BORN to be a wrench in the works, than he's probably been close to the centre of all great upheavals in Heaven, even if the only upheavals have been the recent ones. The idea of CONTROLLING that is enticing. If you can control the wrench, then you can control the works. And I think that's why Naomi rescued him from Purgatory and tried to bend him to her will - and I also think that's why she's wary of anyone who seems to be trying to use Cas similarly.
- And Metatron quotes Samuel Johnson, about making a choice between two things, because you cannot have both - you can either have one, or neither. So, is it about Naomi asking him two questions? Why come in from the shadows? What is he doing with Castiel? Or is it something else entirely... like criticizing the angel's choice to drive him out of Heaven, ruining paradise? Causing him to choose between a life in exile on earth and a life in heaven?
Dean: "Metatron - the guy who was full on crazy cat-lady hoarder yesterday, now he wants to save Heaven?"
- Dean knows when something sounds fishy. He's convinced Gabriel to take on Lucifer, but that's different, because Gabriel was already interfering... going from complete recluse to completely involved grand-plan man IS a pretty big leap.
Dean: "Look Cas, that's all well and good, but you're asking me to leave Sam, and we've got Crowley in there tied and trussed." *Sam walks in behind Dean* "Now, if anyone needs a chaperon while doing the heavy lifting, it's Sam."
- Worst sentence to walk in on EVER. Especially just because Dean meant it because Sam looks like he's DYING, not because Sam doesn't make good decisions. Sigh... it's like a train wreck in slow motion... which basically describes this entire series. :P
- And Dean knows it too, because as soon as he hears Sam's final footstep, his face just does this "shit!" expression.
Sam: "You should go. Seriously."
Dean: "Oh what, and leave you here with the King of Hell? Come on!"
Sam: "I got this, and if you guys can lock the angels up too - that's a good day."
Dean: "Look, I... I'm down with sending the angels back to heaven - just 'cause they're dicks, but the demons, this is on us. Start the injections now, if I'm not back in 8 hours, finish it. No questions, no hesitation."
Sam: "Yeah."
- Oh man... do you think at this point Sam knows that he's going to die? Do you think he believes that Dean knows it to? I don't think so, I mean, at least not about the last part. I think Sam might know, but I think he's been deliberately not mentioning it to Dean, because he KNOWS Dean would never let him die. He must know that by now, anyway.
- And did he think that was the last time he would ever see Dean?
- And what does it LOOK like when Angels fly away? It must look pretty weird.
Sam looks pretty sexy as he backs away from Crowley.
Kevin: "Is this a joke."
Castiel: "No, it's the word of god."
- Oh Cas.
Kevin: "It's the angel tablet, which I've never laid eyes on. And you want me to translate it in what, six hours? When it took me six months and a dead mom to translate a piece of the demon tablet! According to your own words, THIS morning, this is not what I do, it's what I DID. You told me I was out, Dean."
- So, spoilers for S9 in this paragraph, but this is why I wasn't OVERLY surprised when they got rid of Kevin. Having someone able to read the word of god made things too easy. Kevin read the Leviathan tablet in a few hours, and then suddenly they needed it to take him longer... and longer... and longer... because having the solution makes for dull TV. Now, that being said, I don't think they needed to kill him - I kind of wish SPN would stop killing people, actually... but I guess they're SUPER insistent on keeping it a two man show, so whatever. After 9 years, I guess I should be used to it. :P
- Also, I like surly Kevin.
Kevin: "And if this is going to be another 'guys like us are never out' speech, save it."
*Cas picks Kevin up*: "Dean is right."
Dean: "Cas!"
Cas: "There is no out, only duty."
Kevin: "Get the hell off me!"
Cas: "You are a prophet of the lord, always and forever...until the day you cease to exist and another prophet takes your place. Now, are you clear as to the task you have before you. Then do it. Let's go."
- I love BAMF Cas, I really do. That's the Cas who threatens to throw Dean back in hell and beats him up in dark alleys. Cas always looks so much like a puppy, that I think people forget that he is actually one of the most powerful angels in heaven and doesn't need to put up with any of your bullshit.
Sam: "What the hell, Crowley! Biting! Seriously!?"
- Hahaha, I love how personally offended Sam is.
- Crowley sucking that much blood out so quickly is impressive. Also, pretty ingenious plan there to getting a phone call in.
Castiel: "There was one female, but..."
Dean: "What?"
Castiel: "...I don't think she was female."
- So, I know some people get really pissed off at this line as being transphobic, but I actually think that Cas just met a drag queen. There's a huge difference between a transwoman and a man wearing a dress pretending to be a woman for an evening. That's just my opinion anyway. Not every man who is "passing" as a woman on a given evening is a transwoman. But, I do agree that given the discrimination faced by the trans* community, it's probably not a good idea to make ambiguous jokes like that. /end of I've-spent-too-much-time-on-tumblr rant.
Dean: "Talk to me. You sure about this? I mean, it's one thing, me and Sammy shutting the gates to the pit, but you - you're boarding up Heaven, and you're locking the doors behind you."
Castiel: "Yeah, I know."
Dean: "You did a lot of damage up there, man. You think they're just going to let that slide?"
Castiel: "You mean, do you think they'll kill me? Yeah, they might."
Dean: "So, this is it? ET goes home."
- Awww, this conversation. Firstly, I love how Dean now begins his and Cas' serious talks with "Talk to me", because I think/hope it means that he recognizes that everything that has ever one wrong between them is due to a failure of communication.
- Secondly, we'll notice that Dean has seemingly forgiven Cas for taking the angel tablet and skipping town and not trusting him, etc, AGAIN. You know, I think Sam might be the most forgiving person to ever forgive when it comes to Dean (a line stolen from shadowsong26 commenter on the last post, I think), but I think Dean is the most forgiving person to ever forgive when it comes to Cas. I mean, seriously, he was mad for a single episode and that's it. He's been madder for longer at Cas in the past though, so maybe that's not true.
-Thirdly, Dean is pretty calm about Castiel's impending possible death - a possible death that Castiel is going to of his own free will too.
- Fourthly, and most importantly, I LOVE the fact that that Dean just compared him and Cas to that kid and ET. Like Cas is Dean's little alien friend that's he grown a really fucked up attachment to.... because he kind of has. Anyway, I like it - even though I really hate ET with a passion, because it traumatized me as a child.
Heheh, I LOVE Dean's face when he realizes the bartender is gay. Cas is just like "Ah, okay, must go after cupid now", meanwhile Dean is just sitting there reconsidering everything he thought he knew.
I just got distracted watching Crowley and Abaddon and forgot I was supposed to be taking notes...Sam being tossed through the window is a cool stunt.
Crowley: "Undo these chains, I'll kill him myself."
- Will you though? I kind of think Crowley has a soft spot for the Winchesters, or at the very least, he seems to continually find reasons to keep them around. Maybe because he thinks they're easy to manipulate?
Cupid: "Hello Brother"
Castiel: "Give us your bow"
Cupid: "What?"
Dean: "Whoa whoa whoa, hey hey, talk first, stab later."
- Ah Dean, how much you've grown.
Crowley: "You know what that boy's trying to do right? He's trying to shut the gates of hell."
Abaddon: "You and I are going to talk about a regime change."
Crowley: "You little whore, I am your Ki-"
*Abaddon kicks him in the face*
- these two are so great on screen together, seriously.
Sam: "Love the suit."
*lights Abaddon on fire*
- Geez, does he really say "suit" there? Craziness, and interesting choice for a one liner.
Cupid: "I've been afraid to go home for some time now. Orders used to come once a day and now it's chaos. It all seems to be breaking down. And you think you can fix that?"
Castiel: "With time, yes."
- It's interesting that this cupid is so different from the previous one. No comedic hugging, nor overly cheerfulness, no naked times. :P Mind you, she's on the job and in costume. But yeah, I guess this is what civil war does to angels, it turns cupids weary.
Metatron: "You've been digging."
Naomi: "Why are you doing this? This?"
Metatron: "Do you have any idea what it would be like - to be plucked from obscurity. To sit at God's feet. To be asked to write down His Word. The ache I felt while he was gone - telling myself Father's left, but look what he's left us! Paradise! But you and your archangels couldn't leave well enough alone. You ran me from my home. Did you really think you could do all of that to me and there'd be no payback?"
- Ah, and then we get the truth, or the beginnings of it. Metatron isn't in it to save Heaven and the angels from fighting, he's in it for revenge, cold and simple.
Crowley: "Band of Brothers, the Pacific? None of this means anything to you? All those motels, you never once watched HBO, not once? Girls? You're my Marny, Moose, and Hannah, she just, she NEEDS to be loved. She deserves it. Don't we all? You, me? We deserve to be loved. I DESERVE TO BE LOVED. I just want to be loved."
Sam: "... what?"
- Best "what?" in the history of television. Hahah, seriously, I just love the way Jared delivers that line.
- Also, I think Mark Sheppard slips into a little bit of Irish accent there briefly or something, during the speech. There's something just a little different about his accent, but I don't have the best ear, so I might be wrong.
- Mark Sheppard is amazing in this episode, btw. I just love the slow decline of Crowley - the way he DOES change and IS effected by what Sam's doing. The way he slowly does become more and more human.
Crowley: "Would it be possible, Moose... I'd like, to ask you a favour, Sam. Earlier, when you were confessing back there, what did you say? I only ask, because given my history, it raises the question, where do I start to even look for forgiveness? I mean..."
Sam: "How about we start with this?"
*Crowley tilts head to the side for the needle.*
- Seriously, Sheppard knocks this out of the park. But Crowley raises a question here - if the King of Hell IS made mortal again, is it even possible for him to have his sins forgiven? When he has sinned for millennia?
- Jared is also amazing, and make-up is amazing too, because Sam just looks WRECKED. It hurts my soul to look at him.
Kevin: "I think I found angel trials, but I haven't found anything about Nephilim or a cupid's bow-"
Dean: "Ah, come on. Kev, we're on the one yard line here."
Kevin: "And I should have mentioned this six months ago, but the sports metaphors - you want to motivate me? Magic cards, Skyrim, Aziz Ansari-"
Dean: "What?!"
- Hahaha, oh, clash of both personality and generations.
- More seriously though, Kevin is giving us our first major clue that what Metatron is having Castiel do is NOT the angel trials.
Naomi: "I'm not here to fight you, Castiel, not anymore."
Castiel: "Where is Metatron?"
- I love Dean's "oh shit, possible angel fight" face.
- I also love Kevin listening in to the exchange.
Naomi: "... It's a lie. I've been in his head."
Castiel: "You've been in all our heads, that's the problem."
Naomi: "No, Castiel, you're wrong."
Castiel: "This is what you do, you twist things."
- And this is Naomi's hubris? Or... whatever the word is.... because she's a manipulator, her words cannot be trusted. If you spin every story to your own advantage, if you lie to get people to do what you want, then no one will ever believe you if one day you tell them the truth.
But, Dean DOES believe her, for whatever reason - maybe he just wants the full story even if it's bullshit, or maybe he sees something in her expression, or maybe he's just following through on his earlier hunch that Metatron's sudden involvement seemed fishy.
Dean: "Cast you out? To where? Hell?"
Naomi: "Here. Thousands of us, walking the earth."
Cas: "Lies!"
Dean: "Wait!" *restrains Cas*
- Seriously, the fact that Cas listens to Dean here even a little is pretty amazing. Everytime Dean restrains Cas, it's because Cas allows him to.
Naomi: "Our mission was to protect what God created. I don't know when we forgot that. I want nothing more than to see you shut the gates of hell, but I told you that you could trust me - if Sam completes those trials, he is going to die."
Dean: "What the hell are you talking about?"
Naomi: "I saw it in Metatron's head. It was always God's intention - the ultimate sacrifice."
- So, yes, you need to sacrifice someone to close the gates of Hell. I still think it'd have been cooler if the death was Sam specific - but then, I guess that would mean that Dean could do the trials and live and S9 would be about Dean doing the trials instead of Sam, instead of them just abandoning them because no one wants to die, or Dean doesn't want to die and Dean doesn't want Sam to die, anyway.
Castiel: "Dean, I'm not wrong. I'm going to fix my home."
Dean: "Cas!"
- Oh Cas.
Dean: "Sammy, stop!"
- Aww, he called him Sammy... also, Sam's "WTF" face is great.
And Naomi is sadly dead, now that she has turned a new leaf... like I said, these people are trapped in a Shakespearen tragedy. Her epiphany came too late.
Sam: "What? What's going on? Where's Cas?"
Dean: "Metatron lied. You finish this trial, you're dead, Sam."
Sam: "... so?"
- Most heartbreaking, "so?" ever.
Metatron: "And now, something wonderful is going to happen, for me, and for you. I want you to live this life to the fullest. Find a woman. Make babies. And when you die and your soul comes to Heaven? Find me, and tell me your story."
- I wondered if this was Metatrons original plan - just to collect stories in his own personal Heaven... and then he got bored and decided to shoot for god-hood? I don't know, I guess that's a S9 debate.
Sam: "Look at him. Look at him. Look how close we are. Other people will die if I don't finish this!"
Dean: "Look at what we know - curing demons, pulling souls from hell. Hell, ganking a hellhound. We have enough knowledge to turn the tide here. I can't do it without you."
- Uh, Dean, you won't have to do it at all if he closes the gates. Though, I know that's not the point you are trying to make - you are trying to say that Sam doesn't need to kill himself to defeat Hell.
Sam: "You can barely do it with me. I mean, you think I screw up everything I try. You think I need a chaperon, remember?"
Dean: "Come on, man, that's not what I meant."
Sam: "No, that's exactly what you meant."
- No, it isn't Sam. :(
Sam: "You want to know what I confessed in there - what my greatest sin was? Was how many times I've let you down. I can't do that again. What happens when you've decided that I can't be trusted - again. Who are you going to turn to next time instead of me? Another angel, another...another vampire? Do you have any idea what it feels like to watch your brother-"
- Oh man, the Winchesters are so messed up. Firstly, though, I want to talk about how this is one of the reasons I find Sam and Castiel's relationship so fascinating - because at it's core, it's this really awkward thing, and I think part of that awkwardness comes from the fact that Sam maybe resents Castiel a little - because Dean met Castiel when Sam was running around with Ruby. So, Castiel remains a symbol of the time when Dean couldn't trust Sam. Likewise, this explains why Sam hated Benny so much and couldn't stand to see Dean keep Benny in his life... Castiel was one thing, but Benny was another case of a "monster" that Dean started calling brother when Sam messed up again.
- Basically, the fact that Dean befriends monsters when he's on the outs with Sam is like salt in the wound, because Sam has spent a lot of his years with Dean worried about the fact that he was a freak, and they were trained to hate all freaks - and what if Dean hated him? So, Sam tried to be as least monstrous as possible, but he still messed up, and when he did, Dean basically made a show of pointing out that ACTUAL MONSTERS were better than Sam was.
Dean: "Just hold on, HOLD ON! You seriously think that? Because none of it, NONE of it, is true. Listen man, I know we've had our disagreements, hell, I know I've said some stuff that set you back on your heels. But Sammy, come on, I killed Benny to save you. I'm willing to let this bastard and all the sons of bitches that killed Mom WALK because of you. Don't you dare think that there is anything past or present that I would put in front of you. It has never bee like that. Ever. I need you to see that. I'm begging you."
- Aww, Dean, you are breaking my heart. Because it's true... and we've seen that, not just with Benny, but earlier when Dean was talking to Cas - he didn't raise on word of protest when Cas chose to go board up heaven and possibly be killed as a result. At the very least, even if Cas wasn't killed, Dean would never see him again (until Dean died, anyway)... and that was fine with Dean. But Dean is not fine with Sam dying - and YES, it's not a good thing, since Dean doesn't respect Sam's free will, but it's the strongest evidence that Sam holds a very very special place, unsurpassed by anyone else, in Dean's heart and mind.
Sam: "How do I stop?"
- But here's the thing... is Sam stopping because he wants to live or is he stopping because he once again is just trying to make Dean happy? Both? Neither?
Dean: Sam?! I got you little brother, you're going to be just fine... Cas! CASTIEL!! Where the hell are you."
- Oh god, don't call Sam "little brother" - only bad things happen when you do that.
And then the angels fall... and it is both awesome and horrible.
But, I think the season DID end on a good note, because at the time, at least, it looked like the Winchesters were finally on the same page in their relationship - they had both the angel and the demon tablet. Crowley was 3/4 cured. Cas was still alive. Kevin was safe... but yeah, how quickly that all went to shit in the S9 premiere. :P
CUT SCENES:
1)
A flashback during the Crowley meet-up scene, with Sam and Dean arguing about whether they should take Crowley's deal or not. Sam doesn't want any of the people they saved to die, Dean accusses him of letting Crowley manipulate his emotions.
Dean: "...but we can end ALL of the killing, and sure that comes with a price, I know - but you know sometimes good people have to die for the greater good."
- Yikes, Dean... you're going to be eating those words later.
Dean then shows Sam a picture of THEIR MOTHER to drive his point home. Man, Dean, who is manipulating emotions now, because I don't think it's Crowley!
2)
Sam falling asleep during the third trial.
Crowley: "Where are we?"
Sam: "It'll all be over in less then five minutes."
Crowley: "The syringe, I get, the knife - what's with the pea shooter?"
Sam: "It's for when you're human."
Crowley: "Hm, 'course. Smart, Moose. Should have seen that."
3)
Kevin frantically reading the demon tablet. "I can't find one thing in here that says Sam's going to die, I swear."
Castiel: "That's because she's lying."
Kevin: "I don't, I don't know!"
..and then it bleeds into the part they did use, which was Dean saying "Take me to him. Take me to him NOW!"
And I'm done! There will be a post about the special features on the bluRay/DVDs, because I happen to be at my friends place where she has the BluRay and a nice set-up, and then that's it! Finito! Ende!
Clothes will start updating next week sometime with the goal to have it all done inside of this month.
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no subject
Date: 2014-03-10 01:14 am (UTC)I found the mention of Penny amidst Sam's serious transgressions to be odd, so your take makes sense. And makes Dean less of a jerk in that conversation...
The whole scenario that suddenly Sam is aware he is going to die and is cool with it and Dean is stunned that the trials will kill Sam--it all felt so contrived to me. Dialogue from earlier eps make it seem like Sam's death would be the likely outcome and yet suddenly it's a big surprise? It made the whole big 'you don't trust me'--'don't do it Sam' exchange not logical in the context of what we'd gotten before. Does that make any sense to you? I mean, Dean's speech was pure Dean and very moving, but he really thought Sam was going to be fine afterwards?
In retrospect, the inconsistency of the whole season 8 makes seasons 6 & 7 look really good.
Sigh.
no subject
Date: 2014-03-10 01:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-03-10 01:47 am (UTC)It may have been a denial, but Dean was comfortably living there.
Sam, I think, went back and forth a lot with wondering if the trial would kill him.
So, yeah, I mean, in my opinion, it'd hard to be worse than S7 and S8 does not accomplish it. Is it as good as S2, no, but it's not awful either. I think Carver's Supernatural is less "cards on the table" and doesn't let us into the character's heads as much as Supernatural has done in the past - so it might seem more muddied, but I DO think there's a consistency there, but it takes a bit more to decipher it.
no subject
Date: 2014-03-10 11:10 am (UTC)My only quibble was the bit about God being imperfect and that not being allowed in Judo-Christian belief - my quibble being, that the rules of Judo-Christian belief clearly don't apply to SPN and I wasn't sure why it sounded like you thought they should. While clearly the show has borrowed characters from Judo-Christian belief I always felt Kripke was pretty clear about the fact they would not be bound by any 'rules' from religion itself. But this may have been me reading too much into your comment.
So many fantastic observations about Sam, Dean and Cas though. I agreed with a lot, like the way Dean does really tend to forgive Cas, I mean yes he's been mad with him for longer but when he was able to forgive Cas in the past it was really part of that transition to seeing Cas as family rather than just a friend/ally, because Dean can forgive anything of family.
no subject
Date: 2014-03-10 07:25 pm (UTC)Oh, sorry! That was a failure to communicate on my part. I didn't mean that the show should and/or does follow the rules of Judo-Christian belief, it obviously doesn't. I was just wondering if the rule was in Judo-Christian-Islamic beliefs that God can't have faults... it seems a stupid question perhaps, because I'm pretty sure the the answer is "God is infallible" - but I'm not religious, and it's been a long time since I actively learned about the major religions (I was probably 12 or something, seriously.) So, it was just a legit question on my part unrelated to how God appears in SPN... where quite obviously deities are allowed to be assholes and no rules apply.
I mean yes he's been mad with him for longer but when he was able to forgive Cas in the past it was really part of that transition to seeing Cas as family rather than just a friend/ally, because Dean can forgive anything of family.
Very true.
no subject
Date: 2014-03-11 12:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-03-10 02:44 pm (UTC)This episode was the epitome of Season 8... and I still hate it after almost a year. The only scenes I like are (1) cuffing Crowley, and (2) Crowley and Sam in the church. I didn't need all that unresolved drama between the boys. I don't need it now either. I'm really really tired of it. I might think differently once/if things change in Season 9. I hope I do.
no subject
Date: 2014-03-10 07:27 pm (UTC)That being said, I do think Carver is deliberately trying to move the brothers into a healthier place than they have been - in which case, the pay-off MIGHT be worth it.
Time will tell!
no subject
Date: 2014-03-10 05:58 pm (UTC)I want to know about Sam's childhood confession, too!
You have a point about Dean's list of 'things Sam should confess.' The thing that bothered me most abut it was that...apart from Ruby and not looking for Dean, the bulk of that (or, in the case of killing Lilith, the consequences of it) wasn't entirely his fault. Especially the 'losing his soul' bit. But, yeah, your take on it makes a little more sense.
I think that Sam doesn't necessarily know he's absolutely 100% positively going to die at this point? He just knows how likely it is and he's accepted/made his peace with it. But, yeah, definitely not letting Dean know any of that.
Surly Kevin is adorable.
Oh, man, that whole biting thing. And Sam is all 'FFS, you're not a two-year-old, I expect better than you!'
One of the things I like about this episode is that...basically, this entire show, among other things, is a case study in Poor Communication Kills, and for one shining moment (or, a couple, like you mention with Cas and Dean, and kind of sort of almost with Sam and Crowley a little bit, and then with Sam and Dean at the end), it's like they recognize it and try to actually explain what's going on to each other/be honest all around. Even if it doesn't last, it's nice.
It is kind of funny that Crowley keeps failing to kill the Winchesters, when he seems to be the only major villain who doesn't underestimate them, as he himself pointed out late in s6 (which I only remember because I really like that line).
Crowley's accent definitely slips into something during that speech, but IDK exactly what, either.
Naomi's whole thing is sort of an interesting take on 'boy who cried wolf,' isn't it? Especially when you take into account her role in Samandiriel's death...
I kind of wish she'd survived, despite all the horrible things she's done. Because (at least IMO, and my roommate agrees with me) she's kind of the closest the show's come to a sympathetic arc villain, and here she recognizes she screwed up and is trying to fix it...which goes back to this thing that keeps coming up with Cas, and Sam, and has come up again in s9 with Gadreel, about fixing the world you broke, regardless of how good your intentions were.
That 'so' legit made me cry the first time I watched this episode <.<
I honestly think Sam stopping is more about not wanting to hurt Dean than it is about wanting to live.
I agree that this season (despite the angels-crashing-to-earth, Abaddon-running-free, we-didn't-actually-close-Hell) did end on probably the highest note...like, ever. Especially comparing with the last two season finales (s6 with God!Cas and Sam's broken wall, and s7 with Sam totally on his own and Crowley walking away with a royal flush), but even looking back on s1-5...By now, you have to figure their least favorite month is May.
...I have to wonder about that second deleted scene. Was Sam planning to shoot Crowley after he was cured? Was that always the plan? It puts the Abaddon-surgery in a slightly different context, and is kind of...um...ouch? What kind of comment does that make about redemption, especially given how Sam found it for everything with Lucifer--not only do you have to repent/be cleansed, but you have to die for it to stick? If that's true, it puts his willingness to die in yet another context...
no subject
Date: 2014-03-10 07:49 pm (UTC)Good point! And I was wondering about Joshua too - I almost wrote it in the review, but for some reason didn't.
I think that Sam doesn't necessarily know he's absolutely 100% positively going to die at this point? He just knows how likely it is and he's accepted/made his peace with it. But, yeah, definitely not letting Dean know any of that.
Agreed. I think this makes sense, in terms of Sam not really knowing, but knowing it's a possibility and accepting that.
it's like they recognize it and try to actually explain what's going on to each other/be honest all around. Even if it doesn't last, it's nice.
Agreed. I wonder if they'll ever learn to communicate well? Probably not. I know I never have. :P I think one of the great struggles of humans in general is trying and failing to communicate with each other.
It is kind of funny that Crowley keeps failing to kill the Winchesters, when he seems to be the only major villain who doesn't underestimate them, as he himself pointed out late in s6.
Agreed again! Which is why I wonder if sometimes it is his choice to let them live... I mean, the other people is that they keep coming back from the dead - so maybe Crowley's way of dealing with them is just to get them out of the way OR working for him in some capacity.
I kind of wish she'd survived, despite all the horrible things she's done. Because (at least IMO, and my roommate agrees with me) she's kind of the closest the show's come to a sympathetic arc villain, and here she recognizes she screwed up and is trying to fix it...
Very true. It'd be interesting to have a "grey" villain on the show... and she WAS on the road to a redemptive arc when she died.
But even looking back on s1-5...By now, you have to figure their least favorite month is May.
lol! Agreed. Sam's birthday usually kicks off the horribleness too. No wonder we never see them celebrating. ;)
...I have to wonder about that second deleted scene. Was Sam planning to shoot Crowley after he was cured? Was that always the plan? It puts the Abaddon-surgery in a slightly different context, and is kind of...um...ouch? What kind of comment does that make about redemption, especially given how Sam found it for everything with Lucifer--not only do you have to repent/be cleansed, but you have to die for it to stick? If that's true, it puts his willingness to die in yet another context...
Very interesting point. Especially because when I read this comment, I had a different thought than you at first before I finished.
Because, yes, I got the impression that Sam was going to shoot Crowley when he was cured. And then I realized that THAT'S why it didn't matter to the boys that Abaddon wouldn't survive the frankenstein-surgery.
But then we parted ways in our train of thought, because my immediate thought was "The Winchesters plan to DENY the demons a shot at redemption, by killing them immediately", but then you're thought was that death is PART and NECESSARY for the redemption to take place... and both thoughts are extremely interesting to contemplate.
If the Winchesters do believe that you have to sacrifice your life for redemption, then yes, Sam being willing to die (yet again) for the benefit of the world, does suggest that Sam might feel that he still NEEDS to die, that he hasn't been redeemed for his very existence yet - even though, I'm pretty sure that in S7, he had decided that yes, he had been redeemed and had paid for his mistakes.
On the other hand, if killing the demon denies them any shot at redemption (my first thought), that's a whole other level of hatred from the Winchesters... basically, instant death-penalty rather than allowing the criminals to "serve time." With no care as to where the purified soul would go in the after-life.
And it's sort of doubly "ouch" because Dean himself was once on the path to becoming a demon.