Rewatch S10: The Prisoner (10x22)
Apr. 23rd, 2016 07:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hells_half_acreSecond to last rewatch!! Woot! It's time for...
The Prisoner
I wonder if this is named after the Prisoner's Dilemma, where it's in two people's best interests to cooperate with each other, but they don't, due to their own self-interest. Probably... probably... I guess that's what's happening here really.
Time for Baby Styne. He's a little cutie.
Bully: "I mean, you ain't never got laid before...obviously."
- Man, that look-over he gives Baby Styne is pretty damn sexual. Poor internalized-homophobia bully.
I do like how they immediately set up Baby Styne to be sympathetic by making him clever.
Sy? Is that is name? The dude totally just said it, but it sounded like "Sah"... they'll say it again, I'm sure.
Poor Bully is now gonna die.
Oh, plastic bag suffication death... or incapacitation, anyway.
And Charlie's funeral. They're still in the same clothes, so probably the very next morning. Hunters are very Islamic in their burial traditions, at least when it comes to speed of cremation. (For the record, those are my wishes as well - just in case any of you find my rotting corpse one day. Burn it as fast as possible. Perferably before the cops even come. I don't like the idea of people seeing my body when I'm no longer in it.)
Sam: "Charlie. We're gonna miss you. You were the best. And I'm so sorry-"
Dean: "Shut-up. You got her killed. You don't get to apologize."
Sam: "We were trying to help you."
- You can tell Dean is 95% MoC right now, because that doesn't even make sense. If Sam actually had gotten her killed, then he'd be the only one that was required to apologize. He didn't though, Charlie got herself killed, because we've all got free agency in this world, and all Sam did was present Charlie with a choice - she's the one that chose the option that ended up getting her killed. And actually, since they were still pursuing her anyway from back when she FIRST found the book - it was actually her decision to track down the book way back at the beginning of the season that ended up getting her killed. Sam probably handed her the library info, but it's not like he knew sending Charlie to a library was going to get her killed. :P
Dean: "The Mark isn't going to kill me."
Sam: "Maybe not, but when it's done with you, you won't be you anymore. Dean, you're all I got. So, of course, I was going to fight for you, because that's what we do. Listen, I had a shot-"
- I once wrote a bad poem debating this question - what happens when the person you love becomes another person? Do you still love them? Bad poetry aside, you also see people come across this dilemma when they have a partner that desends into drugs or alcoholism... at what point do you actually lose the person? Anyway, poor Sam and Dean.
- Of course, the mean side of me wants to point out that maybe Dean wouldn't be all Sam had if Sam and Dean would stop getting all their friends killed in order to save each other. I mean... Kevin was killed because Dean saved Sam (arguable though - Metatron may have still eventually prayed on Gadreel in his bartender vessel and had him go after Kevin when Kevin stepped out of the Bunker to pick up pizza.) Charlie was killed in a joint effort with Sam to save Dean... though, again, that was her decision, not Sam's.
Dean: "Yeah, you had a shot. Charlie's dead. Nice shot."
Sam: "You think I'm- You think I'm ever gonna forgive myself for that."
- This is also just a heart breaking thing about Sam, because he does blame himself for EVERYTHING, even things that aren't his fault. Charlie had free will. Heaven ORCHESTATED the breaking of 65 seals (or at least LET them break - there's a reason Cas was "late" saving Dean) and then TRICKED Sam into breaking the last one... and yet Sam still blames himself for the apocalypse (and everyone else blaming him doesn't help either, whether they're joking or not). Anyway, yeah, if Dean thinks HE has a misplaced guilt problem, it obviously runs in the family.
Dean: "You know what I think. I think it should be you up there and not her. This thing with Cas and the book, ends now. Shut it down before someone else gets hurt, you hear me?"
Sam: "What about you?"
Dean: "Oh, I'm gonna find whoever did this and I'm going to rip apart everything and everyone that they ever loved and then I'm going to rip out their heart."
Sam: "Is that you talking or the Mark?"
Dean: "Does it matter?"
- This is the other thing. Dean says that it should be Sam on the fire, and Sam is hurt but doesn't say anything.... and then it's only when Dean talks about ripping people's hearts out that Sam is like "is that the Mark talking?" Sam, Dean just METAPHORICALLY ripped your heart out - that was definitely the Mark talking. You should know by now that Dean loves you more than anything or anyone else on God's green earth. Of course if Dean were in his right mind, he wouldn't ever want you to die instead of someone else. It doesn't diminish Dean's love for Charlie at all, either, as I'm 100% sure that if Sam had died and Charlie was still alive, Dean (in his right mind) would never trade her life for Sam's. That's just not something people do with their loved ones.... I mean, Sophie's Choice is a horrible scenario FOR A REASON.
Cyrus. That's his name. Anyway, once again, we get to like him because he refuses to be a weird psycho. Also, for some reason, he's not talking with the same really think southern accent that the rest of his family has? Why not? Weird... is this some sort of weird typcasting of Southerners? I'm confused. A southern accent = evil, I guess. Texas must not count though, or Sam and Dean would be evil everytime Jared and Jensen had a long shooting day and got too sleepy to hide their natural accent (mind you, the accent slips are extremely rare and were really only apparent in the early seasons, and mostly on the gag reels, but I loved them all.)
So, Dean tracks the black sedan that Elton drove when he tried to jump Dean. Again, just to continue my rewrite from the last episode - this is information that Dean had BEFORE Charlie's death, which means that Charlie's death was only used to give Dean a justifiable reason to go after the Stynes... even though it'd be way more... suspense/thrill/horror-whatever... to have Dean OVERREACT to Elton's attack/escape and go slaughter them all just for looking at him wrong. It'd give WAY more pressure on Sam to fix the Mark problem and it would make the audience WAY more torn-up about what the hell the show was going to do about the Mark, since it would be quite clear, even before Dean attacks Cas, that Dean doesn't have control of himself anymore. More than that, it would make the confrontation with Cas all the more nerve-wracking, because we would have just seen Dean slaughter an entire family just for looking at him wrong (well, AND being crazy teen-murdering psychos.)
And we also start pulling the other hunter Rudy into the show, so that Dean can get him killed next episode. :P Poor Rudy. No wonder Sam and Dean don't have many hunter friends.
Cas: "Stop looking at me."
Rowena: "Sorry, you're just fascinating. An angel that rejected Heaven. That's like a fish that wants to fly or a dog that thinks he's people."
Cas: "Well, I'm a lot like people."
Rowena: "Keep telling yourself that, dear."
- I love it when people find Cas fascinating, because he IS.
- I also think that the reason Cas fell in love with the Winchesters is because they treated him like he was a person, rather than a mindless automaton of Heaven... or just another soldier. And I think that's what Cas tried to do with the other angels himself, but they didn't know how to cope with it or what to do with it.
Cas: "Where's Charlie?"
Sam: ...
Cas: "Oh no, god. I should have gone after her. I- What happened?"
Sam: "Me. ... The Stynes, they caught up with her. Dean's gone after them."
- Ugh, Sam, stop it! It's not your fault.
- Though, I do love that for a moment Cas is like "Are you trying to tell me that you killed Charlie? Because I'm not buying that." Cas knows what's up.
Sam's shutting down the operation...
Cas: "What about her [Rowena]?"
Sam: "Guess."
Cas: "I'd be happy to kill her. She just called me a fish."
- Haha, aww, fish can be cool too, Cas!
Cas: "What about Dean?"
Sam: "We should be able to track him. I low-jacked the Impala a few weeks back, just in case. Here."
- Aww, Sam - always thinking ahead.
And Sam gets Charlie's email...
Rowena: "We can cure the Mark of Cain."
Sam: "Cas, go find Dean, make sure he doesn't go too far off the reservation, okay?"
- Do we have to use that phrase? Really? I just think it's a little sketchy at best. But I think I went into a whole discussion about it in a previous episode (maybe S8? S9? I can't remember), so I'll shut up now.
- I will say that I love how Jared let's ALL of Sam's thoughts play out on his face - usually Sam is so internal, but I think when he's super tired or just super run down, he becomes less guarded. Anyway, it's such "little boy not sure if he should break rules" and I love it.
Cas: "What are you doing?"
Sam: "I'm saving my brother."
Cas: "You told Dean-"
Sam: "I KNOW what I told Dean. Cas, listen, I've been the one out there, messed up and scared, and alone, and Dean-"
Cas: "Did whatever he could to save you."
Sam: "Yes! I mean, it's become his THING. I owe him this! I owe him everything!..."
- Oh Sam. I think he must be referring to S4 here, because that's the only time I can remember Sam being messed up and scared and alone. And Dean DID come to save him then, even though Sam had just beaten the snot out of him... so yeah, fair point. I guess in S8, Sam was also messed up, but Dean was with him and just didn't realize until it was almost too late.
- And this argument is going to work on Cas too, even though Cas is extremely loyal to Dean, because Cas has also been messed up and scared and alone and had Dean (and Sam) try to reach out to him. Actually, at the beginning of S7, Dean had given up on him and it was SAM who saved Cas... so, yeah, Cas is going to do what Sam wants for a whole slew of reasons. I know there's a contingent of fans out there who think the Winchesters take advantage of Cas and don't appreciate/love him as much as he deserves, but I don't think Cas feels unloved or underappreciated at all (but that's just IMHO. YMMV.)
Cas is still wearing his tie! Cute. Sorry, just realized.
And Rowena wants Sam to fulfill his end of bargain before she does everything. Ooo...
And Elton and Cyrus head off towards Lebanon, now that Elton has a new arm.
Dirty cops arrest Dean...oh, they are going to regret that.
Oh yeah, and we also get the storyline with Crowley having tracked down Rowena's surrogate son.
Crowley: "Yellow?"
'Dean': "Hey, I need your help."
- I love how Sam uses a recording of Dean's voice to call Crowley, knowing that Crowley will come for Dean but probably not Sam. :)
Cop: "Like, for example, you've got 17 fake ideas and a trunk full of guns, knives, frickin' ninja stars - I mean, who are you, man?"
Dean: "I'm the guy who's going to get outta here in about 30 seconds."
Cop: "Yeah, right."
*Dean knocks cup off the table*
- Gotta love confidence... cat-like confidence.
Elden, not Elton... huh, okay.
Sheriff: "You can't take on the Stynes. They own this town. They're practically gods around here."
Dean: "Yeah, while I kill gods."
- I love that line.
And Sam traps Crowley.
Crowley: "Does he know you're doing this? I only ask, because your brother and I are such close friend now."
Sam: "Friends. You're the reason Dean has the Mark of Cain. Everything that's happening, all of this, it's your fault! So this, you had this coming for a long time."
- There you go, put blame where it belongs, Sam.
- Also, finally someone is trying to kill Crowley. Yay! It's not that I don't like Crowley, it's that it annoys me that they've let him live for so long (so easily). I'm fine with scenarios where Crowley is powerful/clever enough to escape with his life - such as is about to happen here - but I'm annoyed by them not even trying.
Crowley: "Hex bag?"
Sam: "By the way, she said to tell you, she should have taken the three pigs."
- It's important to remember that Rowena told Sam to kill Crowley HER way... as in, she had specific intructions. So, yeah, not Sam's fault it fails either, but I think he'll yell that at her later.
They really love using this house with the spriral staircase on this show. They've done SO MANY EPISODES there.
Crowley: "I thought you were the smart one. Working with my mother - are you insane? You actually trust her?"
Sam: "Course not. Not even a little."
Crowley: "Then why? What has she got over you?"
- I do love that Sam IS the smart one... and I kind of love that you can interpret Crowley's question as concern if you want. He's either wondering what Rowena has over Sam because he's concerned about Sam being used, or in order to offer Sam a better deal or a way out in exhange for NOT killing him.
Sam: "Would you just die already?"
- Hahaha
Crowley: "That's what I get-"
Sam: "What?"
Crowley: "I said that's what I get for trying to be the good guy."
Sam: "Wait a second - so you're the good guy?"
Crowley: "Do you have any idea what I've been at for the past year? The changes I made to hell!"
Sam: "Am I supposed to be impressed by that?"
Crowley: "I thought, if I did better, I might actually feel something again. That it might matter."
- It's interesting, because I forgot for a moment there that Sam and Crowley actually have a really weird connection with each other, due to S8 finale fiasco and the ritual in the church... Sam did, very briefly, make Crowley nearly human. Sam was privy to the most human moments that Crowley has ever had. Yet, Crowley went after Dean when he tried to woo a Winchester to his side, maybe because Dean was easier to manipulate? Maybe because, like Sam, Crowley just likes Dean best? Crowley has spent more time with a VERSION of Dean, but Sam's spent more time with Fergus (or as close as Crowley's ever got to him.) It's a weird relationship.
Sam: "It doesn't matter. You know, maybe everyone else has forgotten about all the bad you've done, but I haven't! I have watched you kill people, Crowley, innocent people! People I cared about, people I loved! So yeah, you have the accent and the suit and the snark, but at the end of it, you are a monster, just like all the rest of them. And I'm going to watch you die, screaming, just like all the rest of them."
- Man, I love Sam. I also love Andrew Dabb's writing here, because he obviously hasn't forgotten either, that just before the ritual in the church, Crowley killed Sarah - someone Sam had loved - and I love that, even though the reference isn't solid, it's pretty heavily implied that she wasn't just another throwaway death, but a death that Sam has been grieving over (and is STILL grieving over)... that he hasn't just forgotten that she was murdered.
- I also love it because it DOES reiterate that Crowley is evil and they SHOULD be killing him. That although it might be the case that it's better the devil you know, and that they have used their acquaintence with him to their advantage, by letting him live, they are, in fact. not doing their jobs.
Crowley: "You're right. I am a monster and I've done bad. I've done things you can't even imagine. Horrible, evil, messy things. And I've loved every damn minute. So, thank you Sam, for reminding me, who I really am!"
- This is also a great mirror to the S8 finale, because once again we have Sam reminding Crowley of who he is. Sam showed Crowley he could be human in 8x23, and Crowley embraced it, and in 10x22, Sam shows Crowley that he's also a monster, and Crowley once again embraces it. I wonder just how many times Sam can flip this switch. :P
Crowley: "Powerful magic. Might have worked on any other demon, but me, please. I could kill you. Snap my fingers - easiest thing in the world. From here on, I want you to know that the only reason you're alive is because I allowed it..."
- This is also brilliant, because obviously, Crowley has recognized that Sam has no qualms about killing him, would be glad to do it - by showing Sam mercy here, Crowley's creating at least the semblance of Sam owing him one. I don't kill you, you don't kill me.
Dean: "You're going to play Operation."
Munro: "It is my favourite game!"
Dean: "Don't do this."
Munro: "We are past the bargaining stage."
Dean: "No, the Mark on my arm means that I can't die. I'm not bargaining. You flatline me, I will come back, but I'll come back with black eyes and then you'll all die."
Eli: "So we let you go and what? You just mosey on down the road?"
Dean: "No, but I will be human, so maybe a few of you live. Maybe."
- Again, confidence is sexy.
And then the slaughter begins!
And the Styne's just bust into the bunker... we'll just have to assume the wards don't work if you've been shown where it is. :P
Styne: "Hey, this isn't a damn library."
Cyrus: "Yeah it is."
- Awww... also, they're setting Cyrus up as a nice mirror to young!Sam, which I didn't mention before, when he was talking about leaving home and going out to California - against his family's wishes. And he's super keen on books....and....
Cyrus: "Elden wait! We don't have to."
- ...and he's super keen on free will and not just doing what your family tells you to do.
Dean entrance here is great.
Elden: "...see my old man."
Dean: "Your old man's dead. They're all dead. So you can save me the speech on the three hearts, the spleens, the seven nipples for the ladies, or the fellas, I don't judge. But even with all that, you only have one brain."
Elden: "So?"
*Dean shoots him in the head*
- So awesome.
Now poor Cyrus begs for his life, but Dean is too far gone to show mercy at this point.
Dean: "Oh, you are like them. There's bad in you. It's in your blood. Now you can deny it, and you can run from it all you want, but that bad will always win."
- Oh Dean... you are only talking about yourself and you're poor self image. But it's actually the opposite for you - there's good in you, and that good will always win. Maybe... not in this situation though.
Cyrus: "You don't need to do this!"
Dean: "Yeah...." *points the gun away, briefly* "I do." *shoots Cyrus*
- I actually think the glimmer of hope that Dean gave Cyrus when he briefly made it look like he was changing his mind about killing him was his scewed up version of a mercy kill. He killed the kid when he was still feeling that rush of relief that he was going to live. Maybe you'd consider that crueler, but to me, it's kinder.
Dean: "You can leave now, Cas."
Cas: "No, I can't, because I'm your friend."
Dean: "Really, then let me ask you something? You screw over all your friends!?"
Cas: "Sam and I were trying to cure you! We still are!"
- Awww... Dean, they're breaking the rules because they LOVE YOU.
Dean: "...but even if you do, what's it going to cost? Because magic like that does not come free! No, it comes with a price that you pay in blood. So thanks, but I'm good."
- Dean knows what's up. BUT, like I've said a billion times, they can't exactly leave him the way he is either.
Cas: "No, you're not. Maybe you could fight the Mark for years, maybe for centuries like Cain did, but you cannot fight it forever, and when you finally turn - and you will turn - Sam, and everyone you know and everyone you love, they could be long dead. Everyone except me. I'm the one that would have to watch you murder the world. So if there's even a small chance that we can save you, I won't let you walk out of this room."
- I love that speech too. Mainly, because Cas is right. It's the problem with being near-immortal... Cas WILL eventually have to watch Dean turn evil, and that'd be more heartbreaking than watching him die.
Cas: "I think the Mark is changing you."
Dean: "You're wrong."
Cas: "Am I? Because the Dean Winchester I know, would never have murdered that kid."
- It's true. Dean once let a KNOWN monster kid go, even though said monster kid could only survive by eating brains and HAD NO SAFE SOURCE FOR THEM... man, Dean's an idiot when it comes to kids sometimes. Or, he's just pushing the problem onto other hunters, because he can't stomach killing kids - which you know, fair enough, I guess. I make my friends kill bugs for me, even though I'm the one that wants them gone.
Cas: "Dean, I don't want to have to hurt you."
Dean: "I don't think that's going to be a problem."
*beats the snot out of Cas*
- Sad times forever. :(
Dean: "You and Sam stay the hell away from me. Next time, I won't miss."
- Awww.... so sad. But, just goes to prove my point that when push comes to shove, the good/love in Dean still wins out.
Woot! Only one episode to go! I might actually do it tomorrow, just to get it done, you know? We'll see though. I might also just sit around and read fanfic all day.
The Prisoner
I wonder if this is named after the Prisoner's Dilemma, where it's in two people's best interests to cooperate with each other, but they don't, due to their own self-interest. Probably... probably... I guess that's what's happening here really.
Time for Baby Styne. He's a little cutie.
Bully: "I mean, you ain't never got laid before...obviously."
- Man, that look-over he gives Baby Styne is pretty damn sexual. Poor internalized-homophobia bully.
I do like how they immediately set up Baby Styne to be sympathetic by making him clever.
Sy? Is that is name? The dude totally just said it, but it sounded like "Sah"... they'll say it again, I'm sure.
Poor Bully is now gonna die.
Oh, plastic bag suffication death... or incapacitation, anyway.
And Charlie's funeral. They're still in the same clothes, so probably the very next morning. Hunters are very Islamic in their burial traditions, at least when it comes to speed of cremation. (For the record, those are my wishes as well - just in case any of you find my rotting corpse one day. Burn it as fast as possible. Perferably before the cops even come. I don't like the idea of people seeing my body when I'm no longer in it.)
Sam: "Charlie. We're gonna miss you. You were the best. And I'm so sorry-"
Dean: "Shut-up. You got her killed. You don't get to apologize."
Sam: "We were trying to help you."
- You can tell Dean is 95% MoC right now, because that doesn't even make sense. If Sam actually had gotten her killed, then he'd be the only one that was required to apologize. He didn't though, Charlie got herself killed, because we've all got free agency in this world, and all Sam did was present Charlie with a choice - she's the one that chose the option that ended up getting her killed. And actually, since they were still pursuing her anyway from back when she FIRST found the book - it was actually her decision to track down the book way back at the beginning of the season that ended up getting her killed. Sam probably handed her the library info, but it's not like he knew sending Charlie to a library was going to get her killed. :P
Dean: "The Mark isn't going to kill me."
Sam: "Maybe not, but when it's done with you, you won't be you anymore. Dean, you're all I got. So, of course, I was going to fight for you, because that's what we do. Listen, I had a shot-"
- I once wrote a bad poem debating this question - what happens when the person you love becomes another person? Do you still love them? Bad poetry aside, you also see people come across this dilemma when they have a partner that desends into drugs or alcoholism... at what point do you actually lose the person? Anyway, poor Sam and Dean.
- Of course, the mean side of me wants to point out that maybe Dean wouldn't be all Sam had if Sam and Dean would stop getting all their friends killed in order to save each other. I mean... Kevin was killed because Dean saved Sam (arguable though - Metatron may have still eventually prayed on Gadreel in his bartender vessel and had him go after Kevin when Kevin stepped out of the Bunker to pick up pizza.) Charlie was killed in a joint effort with Sam to save Dean... though, again, that was her decision, not Sam's.
Dean: "Yeah, you had a shot. Charlie's dead. Nice shot."
Sam: "You think I'm- You think I'm ever gonna forgive myself for that."
- This is also just a heart breaking thing about Sam, because he does blame himself for EVERYTHING, even things that aren't his fault. Charlie had free will. Heaven ORCHESTATED the breaking of 65 seals (or at least LET them break - there's a reason Cas was "late" saving Dean) and then TRICKED Sam into breaking the last one... and yet Sam still blames himself for the apocalypse (and everyone else blaming him doesn't help either, whether they're joking or not). Anyway, yeah, if Dean thinks HE has a misplaced guilt problem, it obviously runs in the family.
Dean: "You know what I think. I think it should be you up there and not her. This thing with Cas and the book, ends now. Shut it down before someone else gets hurt, you hear me?"
Sam: "What about you?"
Dean: "Oh, I'm gonna find whoever did this and I'm going to rip apart everything and everyone that they ever loved and then I'm going to rip out their heart."
Sam: "Is that you talking or the Mark?"
Dean: "Does it matter?"
- This is the other thing. Dean says that it should be Sam on the fire, and Sam is hurt but doesn't say anything.... and then it's only when Dean talks about ripping people's hearts out that Sam is like "is that the Mark talking?" Sam, Dean just METAPHORICALLY ripped your heart out - that was definitely the Mark talking. You should know by now that Dean loves you more than anything or anyone else on God's green earth. Of course if Dean were in his right mind, he wouldn't ever want you to die instead of someone else. It doesn't diminish Dean's love for Charlie at all, either, as I'm 100% sure that if Sam had died and Charlie was still alive, Dean (in his right mind) would never trade her life for Sam's. That's just not something people do with their loved ones.... I mean, Sophie's Choice is a horrible scenario FOR A REASON.
Cyrus. That's his name. Anyway, once again, we get to like him because he refuses to be a weird psycho. Also, for some reason, he's not talking with the same really think southern accent that the rest of his family has? Why not? Weird... is this some sort of weird typcasting of Southerners? I'm confused. A southern accent = evil, I guess. Texas must not count though, or Sam and Dean would be evil everytime Jared and Jensen had a long shooting day and got too sleepy to hide their natural accent (mind you, the accent slips are extremely rare and were really only apparent in the early seasons, and mostly on the gag reels, but I loved them all.)
So, Dean tracks the black sedan that Elton drove when he tried to jump Dean. Again, just to continue my rewrite from the last episode - this is information that Dean had BEFORE Charlie's death, which means that Charlie's death was only used to give Dean a justifiable reason to go after the Stynes... even though it'd be way more... suspense/thrill/horror-whatever... to have Dean OVERREACT to Elton's attack/escape and go slaughter them all just for looking at him wrong. It'd give WAY more pressure on Sam to fix the Mark problem and it would make the audience WAY more torn-up about what the hell the show was going to do about the Mark, since it would be quite clear, even before Dean attacks Cas, that Dean doesn't have control of himself anymore. More than that, it would make the confrontation with Cas all the more nerve-wracking, because we would have just seen Dean slaughter an entire family just for looking at him wrong (well, AND being crazy teen-murdering psychos.)
And we also start pulling the other hunter Rudy into the show, so that Dean can get him killed next episode. :P Poor Rudy. No wonder Sam and Dean don't have many hunter friends.
Cas: "Stop looking at me."
Rowena: "Sorry, you're just fascinating. An angel that rejected Heaven. That's like a fish that wants to fly or a dog that thinks he's people."
Cas: "Well, I'm a lot like people."
Rowena: "Keep telling yourself that, dear."
- I love it when people find Cas fascinating, because he IS.
- I also think that the reason Cas fell in love with the Winchesters is because they treated him like he was a person, rather than a mindless automaton of Heaven... or just another soldier. And I think that's what Cas tried to do with the other angels himself, but they didn't know how to cope with it or what to do with it.
Cas: "Where's Charlie?"
Sam: ...
Cas: "Oh no, god. I should have gone after her. I- What happened?"
Sam: "Me. ... The Stynes, they caught up with her. Dean's gone after them."
- Ugh, Sam, stop it! It's not your fault.
- Though, I do love that for a moment Cas is like "Are you trying to tell me that you killed Charlie? Because I'm not buying that." Cas knows what's up.
Sam's shutting down the operation...
Cas: "What about her [Rowena]?"
Sam: "Guess."
Cas: "I'd be happy to kill her. She just called me a fish."
- Haha, aww, fish can be cool too, Cas!
Cas: "What about Dean?"
Sam: "We should be able to track him. I low-jacked the Impala a few weeks back, just in case. Here."
- Aww, Sam - always thinking ahead.
And Sam gets Charlie's email...
Rowena: "We can cure the Mark of Cain."
Sam: "Cas, go find Dean, make sure he doesn't go too far off the reservation, okay?"
- Do we have to use that phrase? Really? I just think it's a little sketchy at best. But I think I went into a whole discussion about it in a previous episode (maybe S8? S9? I can't remember), so I'll shut up now.
- I will say that I love how Jared let's ALL of Sam's thoughts play out on his face - usually Sam is so internal, but I think when he's super tired or just super run down, he becomes less guarded. Anyway, it's such "little boy not sure if he should break rules" and I love it.
Cas: "What are you doing?"
Sam: "I'm saving my brother."
Cas: "You told Dean-"
Sam: "I KNOW what I told Dean. Cas, listen, I've been the one out there, messed up and scared, and alone, and Dean-"
Cas: "Did whatever he could to save you."
Sam: "Yes! I mean, it's become his THING. I owe him this! I owe him everything!..."
- Oh Sam. I think he must be referring to S4 here, because that's the only time I can remember Sam being messed up and scared and alone. And Dean DID come to save him then, even though Sam had just beaten the snot out of him... so yeah, fair point. I guess in S8, Sam was also messed up, but Dean was with him and just didn't realize until it was almost too late.
- And this argument is going to work on Cas too, even though Cas is extremely loyal to Dean, because Cas has also been messed up and scared and alone and had Dean (and Sam) try to reach out to him. Actually, at the beginning of S7, Dean had given up on him and it was SAM who saved Cas... so, yeah, Cas is going to do what Sam wants for a whole slew of reasons. I know there's a contingent of fans out there who think the Winchesters take advantage of Cas and don't appreciate/love him as much as he deserves, but I don't think Cas feels unloved or underappreciated at all (but that's just IMHO. YMMV.)
Cas is still wearing his tie! Cute. Sorry, just realized.
And Rowena wants Sam to fulfill his end of bargain before she does everything. Ooo...
And Elton and Cyrus head off towards Lebanon, now that Elton has a new arm.
Dirty cops arrest Dean...oh, they are going to regret that.
Oh yeah, and we also get the storyline with Crowley having tracked down Rowena's surrogate son.
Crowley: "Yellow?"
'Dean': "Hey, I need your help."
- I love how Sam uses a recording of Dean's voice to call Crowley, knowing that Crowley will come for Dean but probably not Sam. :)
Cop: "Like, for example, you've got 17 fake ideas and a trunk full of guns, knives, frickin' ninja stars - I mean, who are you, man?"
Dean: "I'm the guy who's going to get outta here in about 30 seconds."
Cop: "Yeah, right."
*Dean knocks cup off the table*
- Gotta love confidence... cat-like confidence.
Elden, not Elton... huh, okay.
Sheriff: "You can't take on the Stynes. They own this town. They're practically gods around here."
Dean: "Yeah, while I kill gods."
- I love that line.
And Sam traps Crowley.
Crowley: "Does he know you're doing this? I only ask, because your brother and I are such close friend now."
Sam: "Friends. You're the reason Dean has the Mark of Cain. Everything that's happening, all of this, it's your fault! So this, you had this coming for a long time."
- There you go, put blame where it belongs, Sam.
- Also, finally someone is trying to kill Crowley. Yay! It's not that I don't like Crowley, it's that it annoys me that they've let him live for so long (so easily). I'm fine with scenarios where Crowley is powerful/clever enough to escape with his life - such as is about to happen here - but I'm annoyed by them not even trying.
Crowley: "Hex bag?"
Sam: "By the way, she said to tell you, she should have taken the three pigs."
- It's important to remember that Rowena told Sam to kill Crowley HER way... as in, she had specific intructions. So, yeah, not Sam's fault it fails either, but I think he'll yell that at her later.
They really love using this house with the spriral staircase on this show. They've done SO MANY EPISODES there.
Crowley: "I thought you were the smart one. Working with my mother - are you insane? You actually trust her?"
Sam: "Course not. Not even a little."
Crowley: "Then why? What has she got over you?"
- I do love that Sam IS the smart one... and I kind of love that you can interpret Crowley's question as concern if you want. He's either wondering what Rowena has over Sam because he's concerned about Sam being used, or in order to offer Sam a better deal or a way out in exhange for NOT killing him.
Sam: "Would you just die already?"
- Hahaha
Crowley: "That's what I get-"
Sam: "What?"
Crowley: "I said that's what I get for trying to be the good guy."
Sam: "Wait a second - so you're the good guy?"
Crowley: "Do you have any idea what I've been at for the past year? The changes I made to hell!"
Sam: "Am I supposed to be impressed by that?"
Crowley: "I thought, if I did better, I might actually feel something again. That it might matter."
- It's interesting, because I forgot for a moment there that Sam and Crowley actually have a really weird connection with each other, due to S8 finale fiasco and the ritual in the church... Sam did, very briefly, make Crowley nearly human. Sam was privy to the most human moments that Crowley has ever had. Yet, Crowley went after Dean when he tried to woo a Winchester to his side, maybe because Dean was easier to manipulate? Maybe because, like Sam, Crowley just likes Dean best? Crowley has spent more time with a VERSION of Dean, but Sam's spent more time with Fergus (or as close as Crowley's ever got to him.) It's a weird relationship.
Sam: "It doesn't matter. You know, maybe everyone else has forgotten about all the bad you've done, but I haven't! I have watched you kill people, Crowley, innocent people! People I cared about, people I loved! So yeah, you have the accent and the suit and the snark, but at the end of it, you are a monster, just like all the rest of them. And I'm going to watch you die, screaming, just like all the rest of them."
- Man, I love Sam. I also love Andrew Dabb's writing here, because he obviously hasn't forgotten either, that just before the ritual in the church, Crowley killed Sarah - someone Sam had loved - and I love that, even though the reference isn't solid, it's pretty heavily implied that she wasn't just another throwaway death, but a death that Sam has been grieving over (and is STILL grieving over)... that he hasn't just forgotten that she was murdered.
- I also love it because it DOES reiterate that Crowley is evil and they SHOULD be killing him. That although it might be the case that it's better the devil you know, and that they have used their acquaintence with him to their advantage, by letting him live, they are, in fact. not doing their jobs.
Crowley: "You're right. I am a monster and I've done bad. I've done things you can't even imagine. Horrible, evil, messy things. And I've loved every damn minute. So, thank you Sam, for reminding me, who I really am!"
- This is also a great mirror to the S8 finale, because once again we have Sam reminding Crowley of who he is. Sam showed Crowley he could be human in 8x23, and Crowley embraced it, and in 10x22, Sam shows Crowley that he's also a monster, and Crowley once again embraces it. I wonder just how many times Sam can flip this switch. :P
Crowley: "Powerful magic. Might have worked on any other demon, but me, please. I could kill you. Snap my fingers - easiest thing in the world. From here on, I want you to know that the only reason you're alive is because I allowed it..."
- This is also brilliant, because obviously, Crowley has recognized that Sam has no qualms about killing him, would be glad to do it - by showing Sam mercy here, Crowley's creating at least the semblance of Sam owing him one. I don't kill you, you don't kill me.
Dean: "You're going to play Operation."
Munro: "It is my favourite game!"
Dean: "Don't do this."
Munro: "We are past the bargaining stage."
Dean: "No, the Mark on my arm means that I can't die. I'm not bargaining. You flatline me, I will come back, but I'll come back with black eyes and then you'll all die."
Eli: "So we let you go and what? You just mosey on down the road?"
Dean: "No, but I will be human, so maybe a few of you live. Maybe."
- Again, confidence is sexy.
And then the slaughter begins!
And the Styne's just bust into the bunker... we'll just have to assume the wards don't work if you've been shown where it is. :P
Styne: "Hey, this isn't a damn library."
Cyrus: "Yeah it is."
- Awww... also, they're setting Cyrus up as a nice mirror to young!Sam, which I didn't mention before, when he was talking about leaving home and going out to California - against his family's wishes. And he's super keen on books....and....
Cyrus: "Elden wait! We don't have to."
- ...and he's super keen on free will and not just doing what your family tells you to do.
Dean entrance here is great.
Elden: "...see my old man."
Dean: "Your old man's dead. They're all dead. So you can save me the speech on the three hearts, the spleens, the seven nipples for the ladies, or the fellas, I don't judge. But even with all that, you only have one brain."
Elden: "So?"
*Dean shoots him in the head*
- So awesome.
Now poor Cyrus begs for his life, but Dean is too far gone to show mercy at this point.
Dean: "Oh, you are like them. There's bad in you. It's in your blood. Now you can deny it, and you can run from it all you want, but that bad will always win."
- Oh Dean... you are only talking about yourself and you're poor self image. But it's actually the opposite for you - there's good in you, and that good will always win. Maybe... not in this situation though.
Cyrus: "You don't need to do this!"
Dean: "Yeah...." *points the gun away, briefly* "I do." *shoots Cyrus*
- I actually think the glimmer of hope that Dean gave Cyrus when he briefly made it look like he was changing his mind about killing him was his scewed up version of a mercy kill. He killed the kid when he was still feeling that rush of relief that he was going to live. Maybe you'd consider that crueler, but to me, it's kinder.
Dean: "You can leave now, Cas."
Cas: "No, I can't, because I'm your friend."
Dean: "Really, then let me ask you something? You screw over all your friends!?"
Cas: "Sam and I were trying to cure you! We still are!"
- Awww... Dean, they're breaking the rules because they LOVE YOU.
Dean: "...but even if you do, what's it going to cost? Because magic like that does not come free! No, it comes with a price that you pay in blood. So thanks, but I'm good."
- Dean knows what's up. BUT, like I've said a billion times, they can't exactly leave him the way he is either.
Cas: "No, you're not. Maybe you could fight the Mark for years, maybe for centuries like Cain did, but you cannot fight it forever, and when you finally turn - and you will turn - Sam, and everyone you know and everyone you love, they could be long dead. Everyone except me. I'm the one that would have to watch you murder the world. So if there's even a small chance that we can save you, I won't let you walk out of this room."
- I love that speech too. Mainly, because Cas is right. It's the problem with being near-immortal... Cas WILL eventually have to watch Dean turn evil, and that'd be more heartbreaking than watching him die.
Cas: "I think the Mark is changing you."
Dean: "You're wrong."
Cas: "Am I? Because the Dean Winchester I know, would never have murdered that kid."
- It's true. Dean once let a KNOWN monster kid go, even though said monster kid could only survive by eating brains and HAD NO SAFE SOURCE FOR THEM... man, Dean's an idiot when it comes to kids sometimes. Or, he's just pushing the problem onto other hunters, because he can't stomach killing kids - which you know, fair enough, I guess. I make my friends kill bugs for me, even though I'm the one that wants them gone.
Cas: "Dean, I don't want to have to hurt you."
Dean: "I don't think that's going to be a problem."
*beats the snot out of Cas*
- Sad times forever. :(
Dean: "You and Sam stay the hell away from me. Next time, I won't miss."
- Awww.... so sad. But, just goes to prove my point that when push comes to shove, the good/love in Dean still wins out.
Woot! Only one episode to go! I might actually do it tomorrow, just to get it done, you know? We'll see though. I might also just sit around and read fanfic all day.
