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hells_half_acreMy internet went down at noon today, so it was the perfect excuse not to do my job and instead watch Supernatural DVDs all afternoon. I watched four episodes, but I've only typed up my thoughts for two of them.
I Know What You Did Last Summer
This episode is fantastic. I had forgotten. Sera Gamble wrote it, I tend to like her episodes, I think...and it was directed by Charles Beeson. I've decided that I should take note of who writes and directs my favorite episodes.
I like crazy Anna...I mean, human Anna. She's nice and amusing.
We get to see Sam and Dean hustling pool! I LOVE it! I love it that this season we get to see a lot of things that they've talked about, or we've assumed about their life, but never actually seen before.
It's a three day drive from where they are to where Anna is.
I love the fact that the crossroads demon is a man in this episode. I see this as the case for two reasons:
1)The common fandom belief is that the crossroads demon takes the form of either someone you desire, or someone you feel you can trust - Sam wants his brother back, he trust his brother, the cross-roads demon takes the form of a man around 30 with dark hair.
2)It's stating right off the bat that there is NOT going to be a deal made. In order to make a deal, you have to kiss, and as much as Sam WOULD make out with a dude if it meant getting Dean back, I think having the crossroads demon appear as a man is giving him a sign right off the bat that this isn't going to go how he wants. Also...I really don't think the CW is forward thinking enough to have Jared Padalecki make out with a dude, so it also tells us that this isn't going to go how Sam wants.
Sidenote: In In The Beginning, Charlie Wiltshire makes a deal with good old YED and describes him as a man...haha, nice that he leaves out the little detail of the encounter when recounting it to "Father Dean."
"Round and round the Winchesters go..." - I love that line.
Sam: "I don't what ten years. I don't want one year. I don't want candy. I want to trade places with Dean."
CRD: "No"
Sam: "Just take me! It's a fair trade!"
CRD: "No."
Sam: "Why not? Lilith wants me dead. Just let Dean go. She can have me."
-A couple of things I love about this conversation: 1)The way Jared is able to deliver the line "I don't want candy" and not have it be funny in the slightest. 2)The fact that Sam is offering a straight exchange. We spent 3 seasons of this show being amazed at the level of dependency that Dean had on Sam's well being, and now we get to see how it runs both ways.
Mostly though, I just think that Jared is absolutely amazing in these flashbacks.
Out of the flashbacks now...
I like how Sam just gives a disappointed sigh when he finds Anna's parents. He's no longer appalled at finding murder victims, he's just like "oh damn, oh well." I think this season, more than any other season, we see the Winchesters as experienced Hunters - they no longer rely on their Dad's teachings, they've surpassed them - angels aside, they've dealt with more than their Dad ever did.
"*THE* Dean?" - love that.
I like how Dean immediately starts winning over Anna...not even on purpose, but you can tell that she becomes slightly infatuated with him just because he talks to her like she's completely sane.
Recovery at the hotel scene! I find it interesting that we see Sam patching himself up - it's reminiscent of Mystery Spot when Sam hunted without Dean for 6 months...yet, Dean's there, he just can't help because of a dislocated shoulder. Theoretically, Sam could have popped that shoulder back into place BEFORE he started stitching up his arm, but he didn't. He started patching himself up...to me it sort of indicates the weird place Sam is in psychologically - Dean is back, but Sam is still in "Lilith killed Dean - must get revenge for being last Winchester alive" mode.
Then, we get the further theme of this season: Sam being the one to save/help Dean. Sam has no problem stitching up his own arm, but Dean has to wait patiently for Sam to finish, because he can't deal with his injury on his own, like Sam can.
Then Sam describes how Ruby totally manipulated him into a dub-con scenario.
Dean: "So far all you've told me about his a manipulative bitch that screwed you, played mind-games with you, and did everything she could to get you to go bad."
-You should have stopped there, Dean.
Sam: "What she said to me...it's what you would have said."
-I think this is another REALLY important character point. After Dean went to hell there was a void in Sam's life and all Ruby had to do was say the right words and slip right into it - it helped that she had met Dean before, knew what he was like - I don't think it's that much of a coincidence that after her first body failed, she went and found a short darkhaired girl and dressed her in dark clothes. The thing with Sam is that Dean has ALWAYS been there - brother, pseudo-parent - he was a constant presence in Sam's life. Add to that the fact that it wasn't Sam that controlled Dean's wild ways with level-headedness, it was Dean that kept his eye on Sam for his whole life - it was Dean that constantly had final say because "I'm the oldest." It was Dean that Sam listened to even when he refused to listen to his other parent. Sam's always had Dean to tell him what to do, save for those 3+ years that he spent at Stanford...but we have never seen Sam in those years. It makes me wonder what his relationship with Jess was really like...it brings new meaning to the "What would I do without you?" "Crash and burn" lines. I think after Dean's death, Sam was a follower without anyone to follow, and that's exactly what Lilith/Ruby wanted, because then all Ruby had to do was give Sam his marching orders.
I love Sam's face when he realizes that Ruby's possessing the maid.
Heaven and Hell
Interesting: Only Dean attacks the angels, Sam just backs away and looks pleadingly at them while saying "guys stop, please."
They drove separately to Bobby's house - again, for some reason Dean went ahead in another car and Sam drove the Impala with Anna and Ruby.
Screen shot of psyche report tells us that Anna was admitted on October 9th, 2008. We also learn that Anna was born in December 1985. (Dean certainly likes an age difference...Anna's younger than Jo).
I love the throw-away line by Ruby when Sam is talking about the meteor - "You're pretty buff for a nerd."
Ruby is a Pusher.
When Anna names the good things about being human, the first three she says are: Loyalty, Forgiveness, Love. - I really hope these are themes for S5.
Anna: "I was stationed on earth for 2000 years - watching, silent, miserable, out on the road, sick for home, waiting on orders from an unknowable father I can't begin to understand, so don't tell me...what is so funny? what?"
-I love the way they did this...have Dean's experience actually mirror that of an angel. It's also another instance where we see the idea that Dean didn't know his father, not really - sure, he was the first to realize that John was possessed, but you can know behaviour without knowing a person.
Anna: "Dean Winchester gives us Anna by midnight or..."
Dean: "Or what?"
Anna: "Or we hurl him back to damnation."
Sam: "Anna, do you know of any weapon that works on an angel?"
Anna: "To what? To kill them?"
*Sam makes half-apologetic head movement*
Anna: "Nothing we could get to, not right now."
-Again, Sam's immediate reaction to Dean being threatened is to kill angels. Yeah, if we didn't know Dean was Sam's weakness for going darkside before...
Jensen is so good when Anna tries to talk to him about hell, and he says "Anna, I can't...can't talk about that." - he is amazing at putting so much emotion into little things.
Mmm...gentle Impala sex....these two episodes are great for showing the difference in the two brother's personalities - when it comes to sex. Sam may be the more monogamous of the two, but man, he always looks like he's trying to eat the girl's face. Dean is always slow and "let's not hurt the pretty girl."
Castiel likes Dean...awww.
I find it interesting that Uriel says that Dean can be replaced...is he bluffing? does he just not know what he's talking about?
Dean: "What can I say? I don't break easy."
Uriel: "Yes, you do. You just ave to know where to apply the right pressure..."
-I love this conversation because Uriel is talking about something we don't even know about yet. We only assume he means that all he has to do is threaten Sam, but he could also be talking about Dean breaking in hell...which to me, indicates that Dean broke because Alaistair figured out where to apply the right pressure...so, yeah, in my mind it wasn't just physical torture that Dean had to put up with.
Dean's line of "it's 2am somewhere" when someone calls him out on drinking reminds me of my grandmother...ah grandma, "any port in a storm" indeed.
Even though it was all part of the plan...I think Dean would have chosen Sam over Anna. In anycase, I think when Dean is apologizing to Anna, what he is really apologizing for is the fact that the plan is for her to go back to being an angel, and he knows that she doesn't want to.
Heaven and Hell battle it out and it's the Winchester's in the middle...and we strike a theme that's going to carry us all the way into S5.
Dean rescues Castiel! And I think that messes with Castiel's mind, because now they are a little even...a little!
It was all Sam's plan...Sam is smart (sometimes).
Then we get THE conversation. It's Dean's usual limit on secret-keeping, which is 10 episodes or half a year. I like how he opens with a simple fact - start of small - it wasn't four months, it was 40 years.
Both actors are so good with this conversation. You can see Sam immediately tear up the minute Dean says "But then I couldn't do it anymore, Sammy" - on Jensen's coverage.
This conversation always makes me cry...and that's an impressive feat, since my heart is only an engine formed from remnants of a dead star.
Extended Scene
In the extended scene, it's when Anna delivers the ultimatum message, but this time instead of Sam being the one that speaks next, Dean first says: "Why am I getting singled out? It was Sam's fault too!" - haha, interesting. I can see why they didn't leave it in, but it'd be good foreshadowing for S5. In this episode though, I think Dean is still on the "I deserve whatever I get, because I'm a horrible person" train of thought.
Cut Scene
Cas and Uriel walk through the woods - presumably away from the barn-thing at the end of the episode. Uriel wants to kill Sam because that was the ultimatum he gave Dean, but Cas won't let him. Uriel goes on about how Sam has the bad blood and whatnot and doesn't understand why he can't kill him, and Cas says he doesn't know why either. Then Uriel wants to kill Ruby, but Cas tells him he can't do that either...then Uriel says "what's going on up there?!" and Cas says something along the lines of "I dunno" and then the scene ends with Uriel stalking off to kill SOMETHING.
I can see why they didn't leave this in. It makes the reveal later that Uriel has gone darkside more confusing...was he just a good actor in this scene? or had he not yet been converted?
I Know What You Did Last Summer
This episode is fantastic. I had forgotten. Sera Gamble wrote it, I tend to like her episodes, I think...and it was directed by Charles Beeson. I've decided that I should take note of who writes and directs my favorite episodes.
I like crazy Anna...I mean, human Anna. She's nice and amusing.
We get to see Sam and Dean hustling pool! I LOVE it! I love it that this season we get to see a lot of things that they've talked about, or we've assumed about their life, but never actually seen before.
It's a three day drive from where they are to where Anna is.
I love the fact that the crossroads demon is a man in this episode. I see this as the case for two reasons:
1)The common fandom belief is that the crossroads demon takes the form of either someone you desire, or someone you feel you can trust - Sam wants his brother back, he trust his brother, the cross-roads demon takes the form of a man around 30 with dark hair.
2)It's stating right off the bat that there is NOT going to be a deal made. In order to make a deal, you have to kiss, and as much as Sam WOULD make out with a dude if it meant getting Dean back, I think having the crossroads demon appear as a man is giving him a sign right off the bat that this isn't going to go how he wants. Also...I really don't think the CW is forward thinking enough to have Jared Padalecki make out with a dude, so it also tells us that this isn't going to go how Sam wants.
Sidenote: In In The Beginning, Charlie Wiltshire makes a deal with good old YED and describes him as a man...haha, nice that he leaves out the little detail of the encounter when recounting it to "Father Dean."
"Round and round the Winchesters go..." - I love that line.
Sam: "I don't what ten years. I don't want one year. I don't want candy. I want to trade places with Dean."
CRD: "No"
Sam: "Just take me! It's a fair trade!"
CRD: "No."
Sam: "Why not? Lilith wants me dead. Just let Dean go. She can have me."
-A couple of things I love about this conversation: 1)The way Jared is able to deliver the line "I don't want candy" and not have it be funny in the slightest. 2)The fact that Sam is offering a straight exchange. We spent 3 seasons of this show being amazed at the level of dependency that Dean had on Sam's well being, and now we get to see how it runs both ways.
Mostly though, I just think that Jared is absolutely amazing in these flashbacks.
Out of the flashbacks now...
I like how Sam just gives a disappointed sigh when he finds Anna's parents. He's no longer appalled at finding murder victims, he's just like "oh damn, oh well." I think this season, more than any other season, we see the Winchesters as experienced Hunters - they no longer rely on their Dad's teachings, they've surpassed them - angels aside, they've dealt with more than their Dad ever did.
"*THE* Dean?" - love that.
I like how Dean immediately starts winning over Anna...not even on purpose, but you can tell that she becomes slightly infatuated with him just because he talks to her like she's completely sane.
Recovery at the hotel scene! I find it interesting that we see Sam patching himself up - it's reminiscent of Mystery Spot when Sam hunted without Dean for 6 months...yet, Dean's there, he just can't help because of a dislocated shoulder. Theoretically, Sam could have popped that shoulder back into place BEFORE he started stitching up his arm, but he didn't. He started patching himself up...to me it sort of indicates the weird place Sam is in psychologically - Dean is back, but Sam is still in "Lilith killed Dean - must get revenge for being last Winchester alive" mode.
Then, we get the further theme of this season: Sam being the one to save/help Dean. Sam has no problem stitching up his own arm, but Dean has to wait patiently for Sam to finish, because he can't deal with his injury on his own, like Sam can.
Then Sam describes how Ruby totally manipulated him into a dub-con scenario.
Dean: "So far all you've told me about his a manipulative bitch that screwed you, played mind-games with you, and did everything she could to get you to go bad."
-You should have stopped there, Dean.
Sam: "What she said to me...it's what you would have said."
-I think this is another REALLY important character point. After Dean went to hell there was a void in Sam's life and all Ruby had to do was say the right words and slip right into it - it helped that she had met Dean before, knew what he was like - I don't think it's that much of a coincidence that after her first body failed, she went and found a short darkhaired girl and dressed her in dark clothes. The thing with Sam is that Dean has ALWAYS been there - brother, pseudo-parent - he was a constant presence in Sam's life. Add to that the fact that it wasn't Sam that controlled Dean's wild ways with level-headedness, it was Dean that kept his eye on Sam for his whole life - it was Dean that constantly had final say because "I'm the oldest." It was Dean that Sam listened to even when he refused to listen to his other parent. Sam's always had Dean to tell him what to do, save for those 3+ years that he spent at Stanford...but we have never seen Sam in those years. It makes me wonder what his relationship with Jess was really like...it brings new meaning to the "What would I do without you?" "Crash and burn" lines. I think after Dean's death, Sam was a follower without anyone to follow, and that's exactly what Lilith/Ruby wanted, because then all Ruby had to do was give Sam his marching orders.
I love Sam's face when he realizes that Ruby's possessing the maid.
Heaven and Hell
Interesting: Only Dean attacks the angels, Sam just backs away and looks pleadingly at them while saying "guys stop, please."
They drove separately to Bobby's house - again, for some reason Dean went ahead in another car and Sam drove the Impala with Anna and Ruby.
Screen shot of psyche report tells us that Anna was admitted on October 9th, 2008. We also learn that Anna was born in December 1985. (Dean certainly likes an age difference...Anna's younger than Jo).
I love the throw-away line by Ruby when Sam is talking about the meteor - "You're pretty buff for a nerd."
Ruby is a Pusher.
When Anna names the good things about being human, the first three she says are: Loyalty, Forgiveness, Love. - I really hope these are themes for S5.
Anna: "I was stationed on earth for 2000 years - watching, silent, miserable, out on the road, sick for home, waiting on orders from an unknowable father I can't begin to understand, so don't tell me...what is so funny? what?"
-I love the way they did this...have Dean's experience actually mirror that of an angel. It's also another instance where we see the idea that Dean didn't know his father, not really - sure, he was the first to realize that John was possessed, but you can know behaviour without knowing a person.
Anna: "Dean Winchester gives us Anna by midnight or..."
Dean: "Or what?"
Anna: "Or we hurl him back to damnation."
Sam: "Anna, do you know of any weapon that works on an angel?"
Anna: "To what? To kill them?"
*Sam makes half-apologetic head movement*
Anna: "Nothing we could get to, not right now."
-Again, Sam's immediate reaction to Dean being threatened is to kill angels. Yeah, if we didn't know Dean was Sam's weakness for going darkside before...
Jensen is so good when Anna tries to talk to him about hell, and he says "Anna, I can't...can't talk about that." - he is amazing at putting so much emotion into little things.
Mmm...gentle Impala sex....these two episodes are great for showing the difference in the two brother's personalities - when it comes to sex. Sam may be the more monogamous of the two, but man, he always looks like he's trying to eat the girl's face. Dean is always slow and "let's not hurt the pretty girl."
Castiel likes Dean...awww.
I find it interesting that Uriel says that Dean can be replaced...is he bluffing? does he just not know what he's talking about?
Dean: "What can I say? I don't break easy."
Uriel: "Yes, you do. You just ave to know where to apply the right pressure..."
-I love this conversation because Uriel is talking about something we don't even know about yet. We only assume he means that all he has to do is threaten Sam, but he could also be talking about Dean breaking in hell...which to me, indicates that Dean broke because Alaistair figured out where to apply the right pressure...so, yeah, in my mind it wasn't just physical torture that Dean had to put up with.
Dean's line of "it's 2am somewhere" when someone calls him out on drinking reminds me of my grandmother...ah grandma, "any port in a storm" indeed.
Even though it was all part of the plan...I think Dean would have chosen Sam over Anna. In anycase, I think when Dean is apologizing to Anna, what he is really apologizing for is the fact that the plan is for her to go back to being an angel, and he knows that she doesn't want to.
Heaven and Hell battle it out and it's the Winchester's in the middle...and we strike a theme that's going to carry us all the way into S5.
Dean rescues Castiel! And I think that messes with Castiel's mind, because now they are a little even...a little!
It was all Sam's plan...Sam is smart (sometimes).
Then we get THE conversation. It's Dean's usual limit on secret-keeping, which is 10 episodes or half a year. I like how he opens with a simple fact - start of small - it wasn't four months, it was 40 years.
Both actors are so good with this conversation. You can see Sam immediately tear up the minute Dean says "But then I couldn't do it anymore, Sammy" - on Jensen's coverage.
This conversation always makes me cry...and that's an impressive feat, since my heart is only an engine formed from remnants of a dead star.
Extended Scene
In the extended scene, it's when Anna delivers the ultimatum message, but this time instead of Sam being the one that speaks next, Dean first says: "Why am I getting singled out? It was Sam's fault too!" - haha, interesting. I can see why they didn't leave it in, but it'd be good foreshadowing for S5. In this episode though, I think Dean is still on the "I deserve whatever I get, because I'm a horrible person" train of thought.
Cut Scene
Cas and Uriel walk through the woods - presumably away from the barn-thing at the end of the episode. Uriel wants to kill Sam because that was the ultimatum he gave Dean, but Cas won't let him. Uriel goes on about how Sam has the bad blood and whatnot and doesn't understand why he can't kill him, and Cas says he doesn't know why either. Then Uriel wants to kill Ruby, but Cas tells him he can't do that either...then Uriel says "what's going on up there?!" and Cas says something along the lines of "I dunno" and then the scene ends with Uriel stalking off to kill SOMETHING.
I can see why they didn't leave this in. It makes the reveal later that Uriel has gone darkside more confusing...was he just a good actor in this scene? or had he not yet been converted?
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Date: 2009-09-15 05:47 pm (UTC)love the reviews...and i like your reasoning about why the CRD is a MAN in IKWYDLS, too.
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Date: 2009-09-16 05:59 am (UTC)Thanks for reading! I'm glad you enjoy my ramblings. :)
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Date: 2009-09-16 06:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-16 07:32 am (UTC)4x09 is possibly my favorite episodes or at least it ranks right up there. The second viewing of it just cemented that fact. It's everything from the writing to the acting to the camera angles...it's just a very well thought out and put together episode. 4x10...well, not as well thought out, I find - but if you ignore the umm...no-free-will-emoting-disobeying-angels - it does move the plot to interesting places.
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Date: 2009-09-16 01:58 pm (UTC)