Rewatch S10: Brother's Keeper (10x23)
Apr. 24th, 2016 05:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hells_half_acreWoot! Let's finish the season!
Brother's Keeper
Oh yeah, I forgot they used the acapella version of Carry On from the FanFiction episode to begin. It doesn't have the same kick, but it's still nice.
I love the way Supernatural has a theme song without actually having a theme song. I love that it was an accident. It's not like CSI and Who Are You... it sort of just staggered into having this theme.
And we get the first glimpse of the pictures in the opening scene. Nice.
Also, I think Sam has YET ANOTHER new plaid shirt. Sam, this is no time to go shopping.
Cas: "...if she removes the Mark using the Book of the Damned. What of the consequences?"
Sam: "Which are what?"
Cas: "Dean said-"
Sam: "DEAN GUESSED!"
- I love Cas' "why are you yelling at me" face and I also love Sam's "sorry for yelling at you" face.
- I think one of the things that is fascinating about Sam's character is that he canonically has a low thrum of anger running through him at all times.
Sam: "Cas - what are we supposed to do, huh? Just sit on our asses, do nothing?"
Cas: "No, we find Dean."
Sam: "And then what!? The only thing that stopped Cain was death. Do you want to kill Dean, because I don't!..."
- Not to mention that you can't, unless Dean gives one of you the MoC, and then you're just back to square one with yourself (or someone else.)
They've also got Dean in blue plaid. Matchy matchy.
Dean: "I'm good. I'm good."
- If you mean "good" as in healthy...uh, not so much. If you mean "good" as in "fundamentally a good person" then yes, you are.
- ETA: After watching the deleted scene that was meant to be before this scene, I think it's safe to say that Dean really did mean "good person"...awww, poor Dean.
Sheriff: "...parents were god-fearing folk."
Dean: "They let her leave the house looking like a whore."
- Man, MoC!Dean is a misogynist douchebag. Do not like.
Rudy has nice eyes.
Dean: "Not today you're not, I'm going to need you to take a walk on this one."
Rudy: "Okay, 'cept uh, I called you, so if anybody's walking..."
Dean: ".... you begged me, just like [tus-talusa] just like [old lime]. We both know you're playing dress-up out here and it's just a matter of time before you get yourself killed..."
- Oh, MoC!Dean, such a mean prick. Though, unlike the misogyny, this does more clearly follow from Dean's own personality, because we all know Dean hates amateurs and always tries to protect/dissuade inexperienced hunters from hunting. (You could also argue about the misogyny stemming from Dean's personality, as he has a normal level of internalized-misogyny that goes relatively unnoticed in our society - but still, Dean's usually MUCH better than that.)
Rudy: "...I don't know what crawled up your ass today, and I don't care. Regards to your brother."
- I wonder what the other hunters say about Sam and Dean when they're not around. I'd love to watch an episode of that.
Sam threatens Rowena.
Rowena: "Hello boys, something on your mind?"
Sam: "Five things, actually. Hollow tips, full of witch killing brew."
- I forgot that Sam was making bullets in that first scene for a reason. Man, I love clever Sammy.
Rowena: "...let's talk about what I'll take. My freedom, guaranteed, and the codex."
- See, THAT's a good deal, even though you have no way to insure they'll deliver.
Sam: "You know which spell?"
Rowena: "I do."
Cas: "Sam, this is a mistake!"
- I love how you can't even see Cas. He's just a disembodied voice telling Sam that he's making a mistake. It's literally the angel on Sam's shoulder being like "Nooooooo...." and Sam not even acknowledging it.
Dean interviewing the parents. I love how tactless Dean is, but I also love this:
Dean: "Then I came here, and I smelled the beatings, and the deceit, and the shame, and you know, I don't blame Rose anymore. No wonder she put on that skank outfit and went out there looking for validation. Joe, who did this?"
- Yeah, I mean, whether it's the Mark enhancing Dean's ability to see the true character of people, or whether it's Dean just being a super good detective - I love the fact that Dean just puts it all together and confronts the guy about it.
I also love Dean just letting Joe hit him twice and then pulling the gun on him. So great.
Rose's brother spills the beans about where the vampires are.
Rowena: "Something made by God, but forbidden to man."
Sam: "Forbidden?"
Cas: "The forbidden fruit?"
Sam: "No! The actual apple is the first ingrediant?"
[...]
Rowena: "Something made by man, but forbidden by God."
Sam: "'key, well, God forbade false idols, right?"
Cas: "The golden calf."
Sam: "Wasn't that destroyed?"
- See, with impossible ingrediants, they should have done either one of the following A)Translate the spell earlier in the season, spend whole episodes tracking down the ingrediants. B)Have the spell be impossible and find a different solution... either substituing other ingrediants to unpredictable results or just going with another solution altogether (like having the power to remove the Mark actually come from Dean, like Sam's optimism thought it might - even though Cain poo-pooed that idea.)
Rowena: "...the problem is I don't love anything!"
Cas: "What about Crowley?"
Rowena: "Happy to kill him. Let's not call it love."
Cas: "I don't believe you. Everyone loves something."
- I wonder if Rowena actually forgets that she loved Oscar, or if she did think of him, but was trying to protect him.
- Also, I love that Cas doesn't think it's possible for someone NOT to love something. I mean, I guess all (or most) angels love God... but I'd like to think that Cas means something beyond that. (ETA: Watched the deleted scenes and YES, he DOES!)
Rudy calls to tell Sam about where Dean is.
Rudy: "... he's not playing well with others."
Sam: "Yeah, Dean isn't in a good place right now."
- This is really where Sam should have said "It's best you stay the hell away from Dean right now." But perhaps Rudy wouldn't have listened anyway.
Sam: "Cas, take this, it's Dean's hair, you need it for the spell. Cas, I need you to do this for me - whatever it takes. Please."
- So, the first thing to love is that Sam just happens to have a baggy of Dean's hair. Do they keep bags of hair around - did he collect it from the shower drain?
- This is also where Sam sets things in motion that means they can't be stopped. Long before Death tells them of the consequences of the spell, Sam has already set the spell in motion. If, at the end of the episode, Dean HAD killed Sam and accepted Death's offer - the spell still would have gone through, and Dean would be markless, facing the Darkness, and without his brother. The most Sam could have done was called Cas right away and called it off, but even then, I don't think Sam had any clue how close they were to completing the spell. I'll wait and see though.
Dean's killing vampires.
Rudy: "Deano, this is Reggie, we're just going to talk, and come to an understanding."
...
Dean: "Yeah, no. Rudy walk away."
Rudy: "No, Dean, Deano, just do what he says, okay?"
Reggie: "Oh, I will kill him, friend..."
Rudy: "He's not going to kill you - you're his insurance. Now man-up and walk away."
*Dean approaches, making the vamp more nervous*
Dean: "Boo!"
*vamp flinches and kills Rudy*
*Dean kills vamp*
- You know, MoC Dean isn't that dissimilar to Soulless!Sam. I wonder if that's what the MoC does, just tamps down the good parts of your soul and ramps up the more angry violent parts.
And then Dean has hallucinations in the mirror of the people he hurt.... and then trashes the motel room. It's a great scene. I love how Jensen plays it - just the really swift brutal movements.
Sam comes across the vamp nest crime scene and sees Rudy's dead body.
- I actually love how they do the sort of ringing/fuzzy sound over the voices while Sam looks at Rudy, where you're preceiving the scene like Sam is... with the unimportant voices being drowned out by the realization of how violent and unpredictable Dean has become.
Meanwhile, over on the DoD lands, Cas summons Crowley.
Crowley: "Who summons anymore? Couldn't you call?"
Cas: "You're not in my contacts list."
- *snigger*
Crowley: "Maybe I'd feel a little different if Sam Winchester hadn't just tried to BLOODY KILL ME!"
Cas: "I'm afraid no is not an acceptable answer."
Crowley: "Or what?"
Cas: "Or?"
Crowley: "That's right - burn those eyes blue. Spread those broken wings and destroy me! Or, do it my way? Right, now beg."
Cas: "What?"
Crowley: "Blast me or beg."
Cas: "Crowley-"
Crowley: "King!"
Cas: "King, if you... if you would be so kind... the three items on this list."
- Cas and Crowley have such a weird relationship too.
- I talked a little about this in the comments to the last rewatch, how Crowley's big speech to Sam in 10x22 seemed to be setting him up to be an adversary again... and yet, it's immediately undercut in this episode, where he once again willingly help. Not only that, but he doesn't even really make Cas beg him that hard. It's a pretty damn pathetic begging.
Crowley: "Well, first, you big dummy, it's a quince, not an apple."
- Native to South-West Asia, Turkey and Iran (wikipedia)...so, that narrows down where the Garden of Eden was. Though, I think none of us are surprised that they're basically saying the garden was in the same region that gave us the Judeo-Christian-Islamic religions. I'm more surprised that they didn't go with Fig, but I guess that'd be too predictable.
- Also, I like how Crowley calls Cas a "big dummy"... Cas' trueform is the size of the Chrysler building. :P
I like how Sam turns on all the lights at once using his gun.
And Dean's given Sam the Impala. So, Sam KNOWS Dean's not planning on ever coming back from wherever he's gone.
I like how Dean's at a restaurant called Juanita's, but when he clicks on the lights, the "ita'" is burnt out, so it becomes Juan s. Otherwise known as "John" ...otherwise known as "God is Gracious"
And Dean's wearing his murder shirt to summon Death.
Death: "Don't tell me that's Queso"
Dean: "Yes, Queso, and Taquitas [...] homemade by yours truly, all with the bad fat. Consider it an offering."
Death: "For?"
Dean: "I want you to kill me."
- Forgive me for not being able to spell Mexican food names. I am from Canadaland and eat Mexican food very rarely.
- I love how Dean cooked for Death! I just think that's sweet of him, to homecook his offering.
- Also, I actually think Dean's pretty clever for thinking of this solution to the problem - even though suicide is never the answer to life's problems for the rest of us.
Death: "Well, I never thought I'd see the day. My goodness. Dean Winchester has tipped over his king."
- It's interesting, because in S8, we had suicidal Sam (driven there by misplaced guilt and shame) and now in S10, we have suicidal Dean (driven there by desperation.) In both cases, the other brother pulls them back. Dean with reassuring Sam that he's loved, and Sam by... well, basically doing the same thing. (And yes, at that point, Sam was saving Dean from lonely exile rather than death, but that's onlly a stand-in for death, since Dean couldn't be killed.)
Death: "But I won't kill you Dean."
Dean: "You're death."
Death: "And that Mark on your arm is the first curse - nothing can kill you."
- So, I have some problems with this episode, and they all revolve around Death, because to me, it goes against previously established canon. The way I interpreted Supernatural's universe was that God and Death were actually equally as powerful - God creates, Death destroys, God created Death, Death will reap God... they're in balance. So, Death SHOULD be able to undo whatever God does. God is the big bang. Death is the heat death of the universe. etc.
- Also, in my headcanon, you can't kill Death. You can't. It doesn't make any sense. He's entropy personified. He's a natural process. The Winchesters never killed War, Pestilence, or Famine either, they just defeated them momentarily. While it's true that it was already established that Death could only be "killed" by his own scythe... he shouldn't be any different than War, Pestilence or Famine, which again, all natural (war-arguable) processes personified. He can be DEFEATED MOMENTARILY but not killed.
- I really like that headcanon guys. So, in my mind, Death has to be lying to Dean here. Obviously, he can kill Dean, just as Dean killed Cain... Lucifer still has the MoC, so killing Dean wouldn't even let loose the Darkness. So, either Death PROMISED God that he wouldn't kill the MoC people, or he just doesn't want to kill Dean... either because he wants them to continue doing what they're doing, despite the consequences, or he's just having fun. Who knows.
Dean: "Forget killing me, can you get rid of it?"
Death: "I could [...] "God created the earth out of nothing" or so your Sunday school teacher would have you believe."
...
Death: "Before there was light, before there was God and the archangels there wasn't nothing. There was the Darkness. A horribly distructive amoral force that was beaten back by God and his archangels in a terrible war. God locked the Darkness away where it could do no harm. And he created a Mark that would serve as both lock and key, which he intrusted to his most trusted lieutenant, Lucifer. But the Mark began to assert it's own will, revealed itself as a curse and began to corrupt. Lucifer became jealous or man. God banished Lucifer to Hell. Lucifer passed the Mark to Cain, who passed the Mark to you. The perverbial finger in the dyke."
- So, but Cain still had the Mark... so therefore Lucifer still has the Mark... so if Death removed the Mark ONLY FROM DEAN, then everything would have been fixed, because Lucifer (safely locked up himself) would have kept the lock on the Darkness simply by existing.
- So, now that I've pocked a hole in this plot, the only solution must be that Death wants the Darkness free and he KNOWS Sam has the spell, and all he's doing is stalling for time.
Death: "So, I could remove the Mark, but only if you share it with another - to insure that the lock remains unbroken and the Darkness remains bound."
Dean: "I'm not doing that. Not to anyone."
- You DON'T HAVE TO DO THAT. Lucifer still has the Mark. More than that, that's not a solution, as you'd still have someone running around murdering everyone, and have no way of killing them. So, yeah, Death is having you on here and this is no solution.
- Now, of course, Cain lived for centuries wandering around murdering people and seemingly not causing THAT much of a hassle, given that humans were all still alive enough to make civilization up until the 1800s when Cain hung up his murder-hat for a little over a hundred years. But still.
Death: "What if I told you that I could relocate you far away, not on this earth, where you'd still be alive but no longer a danger to yourself or others?"
- Dean becomes the Little Prince, all alone on an planet...
- Again, though, I think Death is just stalling for time with all this stuff.
Sam: "Dean."
Dean: "I gave it a shot, Sammy."
...
Dean: "...well then you saw what I did."
Sam: "No, that wasn't you."
Dean: "Sure as hell felt like me. Brother, I'm done."
Sam: "No you're not."
Dean: "Get a pen, it's time to say goodbye."
- Oh, Dean.
- Again though, Death makes Dean call Sam to him. Makes them wait until Sam GETS there. He could easily bring himself and Dean to where Sam is, but now, he enjoys the food Dean made while he waits. It might not be what the writers intended, but if they didn't intend for this all to be a game on Death's part, then their script is full of holes. (plausible, but this means my interpretation is just as valid.)
Back with Oscar in the cafe! Crowley makes an entrance. Then tells Oscar his own story.
Crowley's visit in a previous episode (which I didn't mention) was very much a human thing for Crowley to do. To visit the person that his mother DID love, no doubt wondering why THEY were loved when Crowley was not. I think anyone who has a parent who leaves them and starts a whole other family has thoughts like that ocassionally (I don't, because my father has a particular psychology that means that I'm reassured that he loves me no more or less than any of his other kids, and that he's not particularly more close with his current step-children than he is with his actual children.) But, I'd imagine for people who have the sort of parent who leaves them and starts a new family in which they're far more doting, it's gotta be a mind-trip to wrap your head around.
So, yeah, I sort of see Crowley visiting Oscar before as one of his last acts as "Fergus", before Sam tried to kill him and made him decide to embrace the "Crowley" aspect of his persona. Much, ironically, like we find out that Rowena did when she found magic and then decided to leave Fergus behind (which we don't find out until S11, so I'll shut-up about it now.)
Anyway, we find out that Oscar was given the gift of immortality by Rowena.... which explains why "Seth" has traveled so far while being so young.
Sam arrives at the restaurant.
Sam: "...you don't need to go with him! You don't need to die!"
Dean: "Funny you should say that - truth is, when I left, I thought the only way out was my death. I was wrong, Sam. It's yours."
- DUN DUN DUN!
- Well, it is the Mark of CAIN for a reason, I guess. :P
Sam: "What evil?"
Dean: "The Darkness."
Sam: "What the hell is that?"
Dean: "What does it sound like? Does it sound like a good thing?"
- This is such a brother-exchange. I love it. :P
Dean: "Even if I remove Dean from the playing field, we're still left with you - loyal, dogged, Sam, who I suspect will never rest until he sets his brother free. Will never rest, until his brother is free of the Mark, which simply cannot happen, left the Darkness be set free. Then there was that time you stood me up."
- I love this, because Death isn't wrong. And I love how Death sees both Winchesters as dangerous in this situation - or, perhaps maybe even sees Sam as the more dangerous - more capable of getting what he wants without regard to the consequences.
- I still think that Death knows it's already too late. I actuallly think he repeats "will never rest" and puts such emphasis on it, because if Dean doesn't kill Sam in this meeting, then he WANTS Sam to never rest.
- So, why kill Sam? Stall for time? Does Death KNOW that Dean's unlikely to go through with it? Does he set up EVERY aspect of this situation, including where he stands when Dean has the scythe? Or, is it as Death says, and he actually has a grudge against Sam, because Sam was supposed to die at the end of S8 and he didn't. Death DOES hate that, but then, Death is also the one that frequently lets the Winchesters come back to life... so that could be part of the act as well. A convincing maliciousness to sell the idea that he's serious.
Sam: "You traded my life?"
Dean: "I'm willing to live with this thing forever, as long as I know that I, and it, will never hurt another living thing."
Sam: "This isn't you. This doesn't make any sense."
Dean: "No, it makes perfect sense, if you stop thinking about YOURSELF FOR ONE DAMN MINUTE!"
- Man, it's actually pretty rare that Dean raises his voice to Sam. It's so jarring.
- But, to be on Dean's side for a moment here... this isn't actually that dissimilar to Sam deciding to spent an eternity being tormented in the cage in order to save the world from the apocalypse. Dean is making an equal decision here - his worst nightmare - being isolated and alone - in order to save earth from the MoC. Dean respected Sam's decision then, even though it was against his own wishes. But here, Sam can't find it in himself to do the same.... though, he could be saying that it doesn't make any sense to kill him, that they could just talk about it and figure something out. Or, it could be that Dean had time to THINK about the idea of Sam sacrificing himself. Sam's had no time to do the same. His reactions are all the reactions of someone who was just told something horrible that they don't want to hear and don't want to believe.
Death: "It's for the greater good. Once you consider that. It makes all the sense in the world."
- But, Sam and Dean haven't done anything for the greater good since S5. In S8, the greater good would have been Sam closing the gates of Hell - Dean chose to instead talk Sam off that ledge. Now, we're just back again with the table's turned. The greater good would be to let each other die/go, but Dean's planning to kill Sam right now because he knows Sam won't do that. It's interesting that the lesson Sam and Dean had to learn from S1-5 was to let each other go - to not be so horribly co-dependent. And yet, we're back to where we started.
Though, actually, S1-S5 would have happened the same even if the Winchesters DID know how to let each other go... Dean would have died in S2, been, most likely, sent down to Hell by the bad angels, broken, Sam would have been called in at the end of S2 to become Lucifer's vessel, once the first seal had broken, the others would break... Dean would have been brought back to life in order to serve as Michael's vessel... and there we go, same deal. Hopefully love would have still saved the day, only John might still be alive? It's an interesting AU situation to think about.
Anyway, back to the episode I'm actually watching...
Crowley: "Ah, yes, all my long life I wondered, what I'd done to deserve a mother who refused to show love. I pained over it. I built my bloody kingdom on top of it. And then one day, epiphany struck, my mother was incapable of loving anything - for the first time in hundreds of years, I felt free. Then you showed up in my dungeon, we communed, and I began to realize you weren't incapable of love. You're incapable of loving me."
- Poor Crowley.
And then he summons Oscar and poor Rowena. But then, I can't feel too bad for her, since she DOES kill him. It's a nice mirror to Dean... but we'll get there.
Dean: "Remember when we were in that church, making Crowley human, about to close the gates of Hell. You sure as hell were ready to die for the greater good then."
Sam: "Yeah, and Dean, you pulled me back."
Dean: "And I was wrong. You were right, Sam. You knew that this world would be better without us in it."
Sam: "No, no, wait a second, you're twisting my words here, Dean."
- Here's the other thing, if Death really wanted to incapacitate Sam Winchester, he wouldn't kill him. He'd just send him WITH Dean. Bam, solved all your problems. You still have each other, but can't harm earth.
Dean: "Why? Because we track evil and kill it? The family business. Is that it? Look at the tape, Sam. Evil tracks us and it nukes everyone in our vicinity - our family, our friends. It's time we put a proper name to what we are and we deal with it."
Sam: "Wait a second, we are not evil. Listen, we are not evil. We're far from perfect, but we are good. That thing on your arm is evil, but not you, not me."
- No one who is evil worries about being evil. At least, not in my experience. :P
- I do love this though, because my favourite potential ending for Supernatural is the idea of Sam and Dean ascending to become legendary/mythological beings themselves... and this is on that road, this is Dean realizing they're on that road and not knowing whether they're going to be the mythological beings that Hunters would kill or the beings that Hunters would pray too.
Dean: "I know what I am, Sam. But who were you when you drove that man to sell his soul? Or when you bullied Charlie into getting herself killed? [...]"
Sam: "You're also willing to summon Death, to make sure you could never do anymore harm. You summoned me, because you knew I would do anything to protect you. That's not evil, Dean. That's not an evil man, that's a good man, crying to be heard, searching for some other way."
- You tell 'im, Sammy.
- That being said, Dean, like usual, really knows how to cut to Sam's heart when he wants to. Those things WEREN'T Sam's fault. Sam intended to stop the dude before he sold his soul and he intended to keep Charlie safe while she helped him (and he asked, he didn't bully or force her to help), and it was both the man's and Charlie's free will that led to their deaths. But, Sam blames himself for EVERYTHING, so he's not going to argue here.
- And he really doesn't argue for himself. He argues FOR DEAN. Sam never addresses whether HE'S evil, he only addresses whether Dean is evil.
Dean: "...there is no other way."
*Sam punches him*
*Sam looks slightly terrified*
Dean: "Good, good. Fight."
- Sam's face after he punches Dean though. Sam RARELY punches Dean, I think the only time he has was when he was hepped up on demon-blood. Though, you'd think there'd be a punch thrown somewhere between S6-S9 too, but I honestly can't think of one. His face is totally the face of "I can't believe I just did that."
- I think Sam was maybe trying to punch some sense into Dean...like, maybe if Dean got hit in the head, he'd snap out of it. I don't know. Seems counter intruitive, given that we know violence feeds the Mark... or at the very least, the Mark enjoys it.
Rowena: "Even for you, Fergus, this is a new low, a cruel and disgusting low."
Crowley: "It's only cruel if you actually go through with it. But then, who's the cruel one then?"
- So, slightly different circumstances, of course. Killing Oscar buys Rowena her freedom. Killing Sam... supposedly... buys Dean a chance at eternal exile and saving the world from himself. But, the fundamental question is the same: "Can you kill the person you love most in the world? And what does your answer say about you?"
Dean beats the crap out of Sam, because he's super charged. I love the fist catches.
Sam: "You'll never, ever, hear me say, that you - the real you - is anything but good. But you're right. Before you hurt anyone else. You have to be stopped at any cost. I understand. Do it."
*Dean's face*
- There's like a split second where Dean's face basically goes "OH NO!" Jensen is so good at those little milliseconds of reaction that tell you so much.
- I think Sam agrees here because Sam still doesn't care about his own life as much as he cares about Dean's. And he knows that HE can't kill Dean (both can't, and won't) and if Dean is currrently so changed that he can kill Sam, maybe that's Sam's perferred option - dying, instead of facing a life where Dean is sent away and Sam never sees him again.
Dean: "Close your eyes. Sammy, close your eyes."
- The "Sammy" there BREAKS MY HEART.
Sam: "Wait, take these, and one day, when you find your way back - let these be your guide. They can help you remember what it was to be good. What it was to love."
- So, we get into super saccharine territory here. I think they could have done without the pictures, it's a little OTT, but I do like the motif of them - because we've seen those pictures a good number of times since Sam and Dean "settled down" in the Bunker.
Death: "It's for family you must proceed, Dean. What you've become is a stain on their memory. Do it. Or I will."
- Yeah, but how much will killing Sam be a stain on their memory? Both Dean's parents gave up everything, for better or for worse, in order to have/save their family... where did they put the emphasis? Did John choose the saving the world from YED over Dean? Did Mary choose saving people over having kids?
Dean: "Forgive me."
*Dean 'kills' Death*
- I wonder if Dean was talking to Sam or Death... and if he was talking to Sam, if he meant forgive him for almost killing him, or for killing him... when did he make the decision? In my opinion, he made the decision after Death spoke, when he was looking at the picture of Mary, and his forgive me was just a general "I'm about to do something possibly really stupid."
The scythe also disintigrates. That's just a factoid for myself, because I remember wondering why they didn't take it with them when they left, but they couldn't.
Rowena kills Oscar with a fountain pen. Pretty brutal.
Dean: "You okay?"
Sam: "I'll live. You?"
Dean: "Fantastic. I think I just killed Death."
- I do love that line, as much as I don't believe you can kill Death.
And then the spell is completed and Rowena escapes, before turning Castiel into an attack God.
- So, here's the thing, Rowena escapes OF HER OWN POWER. She takes off the shackles (I don't think they were broken by the spell. It looks like she can just TAKE THEM OFF. And freezes both Crowley and Castiel... so, if she could have done that the whole time? Why play along? Could she not have? Or was it about doing something great and powerful? Or was it about giving the Winchesters what they wanted and making a deal, in the hopes that they wouldn't pursue her? Maybe it was about not being pursued. I can buy that.
Sam: "This is good, Dean. This is good. The Mark is off your arm. You get your Baby back, nothing crazy happened."
- Oh Sam, you needed to wait just a little longer.
- In fairness to Sam, it was DEAN who got the speech about what the Darkness was - Sam was just told "the Darkness" a bunch of times WHILE trying to argue for Dean to spare his life AND not "kill" himself either. It was a little too rushed for Sam to think "huh, maybe I should call Cas and tell him to hold off on the spell..." :P
But, my theory about Death playing them is still my headcanon. I'm definitely interested to see where this all goes in S11 and beyond (because it's still going in S11, they've actually not resolved anything at all and there are only about 4 episodes left or something ridiculous like that.)
WOOT! DONE!
DELETED SCENES
FIRST
Dean in a bar. The bartender (in an empty bar) tells Dean he has an admirer while handing him a shot. When he looks over, it's a bloodied Castiel.
Dean: "And, you've come to apologize?"
Castiel disappears.
Crowley appears.
Crowley: "So this is how you dream. Really? Stale beer, sticky bar. Ugh, what is this, syphillus? The only thing you got right was the bartender."
Dean: "Well, they don't call them dry-dreams for nothing. Now beat it, this is me time."
Crowley: "Sorry, Squirrel, this is really me. Well, me inside your dream, but that's as close as I'm willing to get, since Moose tried to cash my chips."
Dean: "Really, hm. I'm sorry he missed."
Crowley tells Dean about Sam working with Rowena. Crowley blames Dean rejecting his offer to be his right-hand man.
Crowley: "...at the risk of taking this dream in a totally different direction - we complete each other."
Dean: "Ah, Crowley, I'm nothing like you, I never will be."
Crowley: "Actually, you're much worse - insane man, doesn't know he's insane."
*Dean breaks his beer bottle and threatens Crowley*
Dean: "I'm nothing like you."
Crowley snaps Dean awake.
- Obviously, this scene was supposed to go in before we see Dean wake up on the motel room floor.
SECOND
Sam is cleaning up the blood and gasoline in the bunke, and finds the picture in the pile of books.
-I think this was supposed to go in before the bullet-making scene, since he had the pictures on the table in that scene.
THIRD
Castiel questions Rowena wondering why she'd want to kill her own son.
Rowena: "Are you joking?"
Castiel: "No, that would be uncharacteristic of me. Though, I have been told I'm getting funnier."
- Ha, cute.
Rowena tells him that Crowley and Castiel himself have "Winchester derangement syndrome."
Rowena: "...more power than I can possibly dream of, utterly wasted, shattered, at the alter of Winchester. [...] It totally sinkens me to see so much power goes unspent, so much glory unclaimed."
Castiel: "Glory? I've seen glory. I've seen defeat. But I've seen the glory. I have won epic battles and I have reaped vast rewards, and none of it has meant as much to me as the relationships I've formed on earth. Sam and Dean they're like a family to me. Claire Novak, when she smiled at me, nothing, no angelic crusade or victor's bounty, none of that could ever hold a candle to that sweet, crooked smile."
Rowena: "You can't honestly think you're happier now. Broken wings, [suck-up?]."
Castiel: "All I know is that for the first time in a long time, I feel at peace with who I am. Whatever that may be."
Rowena: "A bitch."
Castiel: "Oh, I can assure you, if there is one thing I am not, it is a female dog."
- Oh man, I really like this scene. We get an answer to Castiel's "everyone loves something" comment earlier - Castiel does too! He loves Sam and Dean and also Claire. They're love doesn't even compare to the glory of heaven. It's SUPER SWEET, you guys. I love love.
- It's also insight into why Rowena didn't love Crowley... has rarely loved. She loves power and has chosen to essew love in favour of it.
- Also, this explains why Castiel suggested that Rowena might love Crowley, and then seemed confused when she didn't. Castiel loves a girl who isn't even really his daughter, so I bet he can't fathom someone who actually HAS children not loving them.
And we're done!! Woo!
I'll probaby do another post reviewing the special features, eventually, but yay! S10 rewatch finished BEFORE S11 ends. Good job, me.
Brother's Keeper
Oh yeah, I forgot they used the acapella version of Carry On from the FanFiction episode to begin. It doesn't have the same kick, but it's still nice.
I love the way Supernatural has a theme song without actually having a theme song. I love that it was an accident. It's not like CSI and Who Are You... it sort of just staggered into having this theme.
And we get the first glimpse of the pictures in the opening scene. Nice.
Also, I think Sam has YET ANOTHER new plaid shirt. Sam, this is no time to go shopping.
Cas: "...if she removes the Mark using the Book of the Damned. What of the consequences?"
Sam: "Which are what?"
Cas: "Dean said-"
Sam: "DEAN GUESSED!"
- I love Cas' "why are you yelling at me" face and I also love Sam's "sorry for yelling at you" face.
- I think one of the things that is fascinating about Sam's character is that he canonically has a low thrum of anger running through him at all times.
Sam: "Cas - what are we supposed to do, huh? Just sit on our asses, do nothing?"
Cas: "No, we find Dean."
Sam: "And then what!? The only thing that stopped Cain was death. Do you want to kill Dean, because I don't!..."
- Not to mention that you can't, unless Dean gives one of you the MoC, and then you're just back to square one with yourself (or someone else.)
They've also got Dean in blue plaid. Matchy matchy.
Dean: "I'm good. I'm good."
- If you mean "good" as in healthy...uh, not so much. If you mean "good" as in "fundamentally a good person" then yes, you are.
- ETA: After watching the deleted scene that was meant to be before this scene, I think it's safe to say that Dean really did mean "good person"...awww, poor Dean.
Sheriff: "...parents were god-fearing folk."
Dean: "They let her leave the house looking like a whore."
- Man, MoC!Dean is a misogynist douchebag. Do not like.
Rudy has nice eyes.
Dean: "Not today you're not, I'm going to need you to take a walk on this one."
Rudy: "Okay, 'cept uh, I called you, so if anybody's walking..."
Dean: ".... you begged me, just like [tus-talusa] just like [old lime]. We both know you're playing dress-up out here and it's just a matter of time before you get yourself killed..."
- Oh, MoC!Dean, such a mean prick. Though, unlike the misogyny, this does more clearly follow from Dean's own personality, because we all know Dean hates amateurs and always tries to protect/dissuade inexperienced hunters from hunting. (You could also argue about the misogyny stemming from Dean's personality, as he has a normal level of internalized-misogyny that goes relatively unnoticed in our society - but still, Dean's usually MUCH better than that.)
Rudy: "...I don't know what crawled up your ass today, and I don't care. Regards to your brother."
- I wonder what the other hunters say about Sam and Dean when they're not around. I'd love to watch an episode of that.
Sam threatens Rowena.
Rowena: "Hello boys, something on your mind?"
Sam: "Five things, actually. Hollow tips, full of witch killing brew."
- I forgot that Sam was making bullets in that first scene for a reason. Man, I love clever Sammy.
Rowena: "...let's talk about what I'll take. My freedom, guaranteed, and the codex."
- See, THAT's a good deal, even though you have no way to insure they'll deliver.
Sam: "You know which spell?"
Rowena: "I do."
Cas: "Sam, this is a mistake!"
- I love how you can't even see Cas. He's just a disembodied voice telling Sam that he's making a mistake. It's literally the angel on Sam's shoulder being like "Nooooooo...." and Sam not even acknowledging it.
Dean interviewing the parents. I love how tactless Dean is, but I also love this:
Dean: "Then I came here, and I smelled the beatings, and the deceit, and the shame, and you know, I don't blame Rose anymore. No wonder she put on that skank outfit and went out there looking for validation. Joe, who did this?"
- Yeah, I mean, whether it's the Mark enhancing Dean's ability to see the true character of people, or whether it's Dean just being a super good detective - I love the fact that Dean just puts it all together and confronts the guy about it.
I also love Dean just letting Joe hit him twice and then pulling the gun on him. So great.
Rose's brother spills the beans about where the vampires are.
Rowena: "Something made by God, but forbidden to man."
Sam: "Forbidden?"
Cas: "The forbidden fruit?"
Sam: "No! The actual apple is the first ingrediant?"
[...]
Rowena: "Something made by man, but forbidden by God."
Sam: "'key, well, God forbade false idols, right?"
Cas: "The golden calf."
Sam: "Wasn't that destroyed?"
- See, with impossible ingrediants, they should have done either one of the following A)Translate the spell earlier in the season, spend whole episodes tracking down the ingrediants. B)Have the spell be impossible and find a different solution... either substituing other ingrediants to unpredictable results or just going with another solution altogether (like having the power to remove the Mark actually come from Dean, like Sam's optimism thought it might - even though Cain poo-pooed that idea.)
Rowena: "...the problem is I don't love anything!"
Cas: "What about Crowley?"
Rowena: "Happy to kill him. Let's not call it love."
Cas: "I don't believe you. Everyone loves something."
- I wonder if Rowena actually forgets that she loved Oscar, or if she did think of him, but was trying to protect him.
- Also, I love that Cas doesn't think it's possible for someone NOT to love something. I mean, I guess all (or most) angels love God... but I'd like to think that Cas means something beyond that. (ETA: Watched the deleted scenes and YES, he DOES!)
Rudy calls to tell Sam about where Dean is.
Rudy: "... he's not playing well with others."
Sam: "Yeah, Dean isn't in a good place right now."
- This is really where Sam should have said "It's best you stay the hell away from Dean right now." But perhaps Rudy wouldn't have listened anyway.
Sam: "Cas, take this, it's Dean's hair, you need it for the spell. Cas, I need you to do this for me - whatever it takes. Please."
- So, the first thing to love is that Sam just happens to have a baggy of Dean's hair. Do they keep bags of hair around - did he collect it from the shower drain?
- This is also where Sam sets things in motion that means they can't be stopped. Long before Death tells them of the consequences of the spell, Sam has already set the spell in motion. If, at the end of the episode, Dean HAD killed Sam and accepted Death's offer - the spell still would have gone through, and Dean would be markless, facing the Darkness, and without his brother. The most Sam could have done was called Cas right away and called it off, but even then, I don't think Sam had any clue how close they were to completing the spell. I'll wait and see though.
Dean's killing vampires.
Rudy: "Deano, this is Reggie, we're just going to talk, and come to an understanding."
...
Dean: "Yeah, no. Rudy walk away."
Rudy: "No, Dean, Deano, just do what he says, okay?"
Reggie: "Oh, I will kill him, friend..."
Rudy: "He's not going to kill you - you're his insurance. Now man-up and walk away."
*Dean approaches, making the vamp more nervous*
Dean: "Boo!"
*vamp flinches and kills Rudy*
*Dean kills vamp*
- You know, MoC Dean isn't that dissimilar to Soulless!Sam. I wonder if that's what the MoC does, just tamps down the good parts of your soul and ramps up the more angry violent parts.
And then Dean has hallucinations in the mirror of the people he hurt.... and then trashes the motel room. It's a great scene. I love how Jensen plays it - just the really swift brutal movements.
Sam comes across the vamp nest crime scene and sees Rudy's dead body.
- I actually love how they do the sort of ringing/fuzzy sound over the voices while Sam looks at Rudy, where you're preceiving the scene like Sam is... with the unimportant voices being drowned out by the realization of how violent and unpredictable Dean has become.
Meanwhile, over on the DoD lands, Cas summons Crowley.
Crowley: "Who summons anymore? Couldn't you call?"
Cas: "You're not in my contacts list."
- *snigger*
Crowley: "Maybe I'd feel a little different if Sam Winchester hadn't just tried to BLOODY KILL ME!"
Cas: "I'm afraid no is not an acceptable answer."
Crowley: "Or what?"
Cas: "Or?"
Crowley: "That's right - burn those eyes blue. Spread those broken wings and destroy me! Or, do it my way? Right, now beg."
Cas: "What?"
Crowley: "Blast me or beg."
Cas: "Crowley-"
Crowley: "King!"
Cas: "King, if you... if you would be so kind... the three items on this list."
- Cas and Crowley have such a weird relationship too.
- I talked a little about this in the comments to the last rewatch, how Crowley's big speech to Sam in 10x22 seemed to be setting him up to be an adversary again... and yet, it's immediately undercut in this episode, where he once again willingly help. Not only that, but he doesn't even really make Cas beg him that hard. It's a pretty damn pathetic begging.
Crowley: "Well, first, you big dummy, it's a quince, not an apple."
- Native to South-West Asia, Turkey and Iran (wikipedia)...so, that narrows down where the Garden of Eden was. Though, I think none of us are surprised that they're basically saying the garden was in the same region that gave us the Judeo-Christian-Islamic religions. I'm more surprised that they didn't go with Fig, but I guess that'd be too predictable.
- Also, I like how Crowley calls Cas a "big dummy"... Cas' trueform is the size of the Chrysler building. :P
I like how Sam turns on all the lights at once using his gun.
And Dean's given Sam the Impala. So, Sam KNOWS Dean's not planning on ever coming back from wherever he's gone.
I like how Dean's at a restaurant called Juanita's, but when he clicks on the lights, the "ita'" is burnt out, so it becomes Juan s. Otherwise known as "John" ...otherwise known as "God is Gracious"
And Dean's wearing his murder shirt to summon Death.
Death: "Don't tell me that's Queso"
Dean: "Yes, Queso, and Taquitas [...] homemade by yours truly, all with the bad fat. Consider it an offering."
Death: "For?"
Dean: "I want you to kill me."
- Forgive me for not being able to spell Mexican food names. I am from Canadaland and eat Mexican food very rarely.
- I love how Dean cooked for Death! I just think that's sweet of him, to homecook his offering.
- Also, I actually think Dean's pretty clever for thinking of this solution to the problem - even though suicide is never the answer to life's problems for the rest of us.
Death: "Well, I never thought I'd see the day. My goodness. Dean Winchester has tipped over his king."
- It's interesting, because in S8, we had suicidal Sam (driven there by misplaced guilt and shame) and now in S10, we have suicidal Dean (driven there by desperation.) In both cases, the other brother pulls them back. Dean with reassuring Sam that he's loved, and Sam by... well, basically doing the same thing. (And yes, at that point, Sam was saving Dean from lonely exile rather than death, but that's onlly a stand-in for death, since Dean couldn't be killed.)
Death: "But I won't kill you Dean."
Dean: "You're death."
Death: "And that Mark on your arm is the first curse - nothing can kill you."
- So, I have some problems with this episode, and they all revolve around Death, because to me, it goes against previously established canon. The way I interpreted Supernatural's universe was that God and Death were actually equally as powerful - God creates, Death destroys, God created Death, Death will reap God... they're in balance. So, Death SHOULD be able to undo whatever God does. God is the big bang. Death is the heat death of the universe. etc.
- Also, in my headcanon, you can't kill Death. You can't. It doesn't make any sense. He's entropy personified. He's a natural process. The Winchesters never killed War, Pestilence, or Famine either, they just defeated them momentarily. While it's true that it was already established that Death could only be "killed" by his own scythe... he shouldn't be any different than War, Pestilence or Famine, which again, all natural (war-arguable) processes personified. He can be DEFEATED MOMENTARILY but not killed.
- I really like that headcanon guys. So, in my mind, Death has to be lying to Dean here. Obviously, he can kill Dean, just as Dean killed Cain... Lucifer still has the MoC, so killing Dean wouldn't even let loose the Darkness. So, either Death PROMISED God that he wouldn't kill the MoC people, or he just doesn't want to kill Dean... either because he wants them to continue doing what they're doing, despite the consequences, or he's just having fun. Who knows.
Dean: "Forget killing me, can you get rid of it?"
Death: "I could [...] "God created the earth out of nothing" or so your Sunday school teacher would have you believe."
...
Death: "Before there was light, before there was God and the archangels there wasn't nothing. There was the Darkness. A horribly distructive amoral force that was beaten back by God and his archangels in a terrible war. God locked the Darkness away where it could do no harm. And he created a Mark that would serve as both lock and key, which he intrusted to his most trusted lieutenant, Lucifer. But the Mark began to assert it's own will, revealed itself as a curse and began to corrupt. Lucifer became jealous or man. God banished Lucifer to Hell. Lucifer passed the Mark to Cain, who passed the Mark to you. The perverbial finger in the dyke."
- So, but Cain still had the Mark... so therefore Lucifer still has the Mark... so if Death removed the Mark ONLY FROM DEAN, then everything would have been fixed, because Lucifer (safely locked up himself) would have kept the lock on the Darkness simply by existing.
- So, now that I've pocked a hole in this plot, the only solution must be that Death wants the Darkness free and he KNOWS Sam has the spell, and all he's doing is stalling for time.
Death: "So, I could remove the Mark, but only if you share it with another - to insure that the lock remains unbroken and the Darkness remains bound."
Dean: "I'm not doing that. Not to anyone."
- You DON'T HAVE TO DO THAT. Lucifer still has the Mark. More than that, that's not a solution, as you'd still have someone running around murdering everyone, and have no way of killing them. So, yeah, Death is having you on here and this is no solution.
- Now, of course, Cain lived for centuries wandering around murdering people and seemingly not causing THAT much of a hassle, given that humans were all still alive enough to make civilization up until the 1800s when Cain hung up his murder-hat for a little over a hundred years. But still.
Death: "What if I told you that I could relocate you far away, not on this earth, where you'd still be alive but no longer a danger to yourself or others?"
- Dean becomes the Little Prince, all alone on an planet...
- Again, though, I think Death is just stalling for time with all this stuff.
Sam: "Dean."
Dean: "I gave it a shot, Sammy."
...
Dean: "...well then you saw what I did."
Sam: "No, that wasn't you."
Dean: "Sure as hell felt like me. Brother, I'm done."
Sam: "No you're not."
Dean: "Get a pen, it's time to say goodbye."
- Oh, Dean.
- Again though, Death makes Dean call Sam to him. Makes them wait until Sam GETS there. He could easily bring himself and Dean to where Sam is, but now, he enjoys the food Dean made while he waits. It might not be what the writers intended, but if they didn't intend for this all to be a game on Death's part, then their script is full of holes. (plausible, but this means my interpretation is just as valid.)
Back with Oscar in the cafe! Crowley makes an entrance. Then tells Oscar his own story.
Crowley's visit in a previous episode (which I didn't mention) was very much a human thing for Crowley to do. To visit the person that his mother DID love, no doubt wondering why THEY were loved when Crowley was not. I think anyone who has a parent who leaves them and starts a whole other family has thoughts like that ocassionally (I don't, because my father has a particular psychology that means that I'm reassured that he loves me no more or less than any of his other kids, and that he's not particularly more close with his current step-children than he is with his actual children.) But, I'd imagine for people who have the sort of parent who leaves them and starts a new family in which they're far more doting, it's gotta be a mind-trip to wrap your head around.
So, yeah, I sort of see Crowley visiting Oscar before as one of his last acts as "Fergus", before Sam tried to kill him and made him decide to embrace the "Crowley" aspect of his persona. Much, ironically, like we find out that Rowena did when she found magic and then decided to leave Fergus behind (which we don't find out until S11, so I'll shut-up about it now.)
Anyway, we find out that Oscar was given the gift of immortality by Rowena.... which explains why "Seth" has traveled so far while being so young.
Sam arrives at the restaurant.
Sam: "...you don't need to go with him! You don't need to die!"
Dean: "Funny you should say that - truth is, when I left, I thought the only way out was my death. I was wrong, Sam. It's yours."
- DUN DUN DUN!
- Well, it is the Mark of CAIN for a reason, I guess. :P
Sam: "What evil?"
Dean: "The Darkness."
Sam: "What the hell is that?"
Dean: "What does it sound like? Does it sound like a good thing?"
- This is such a brother-exchange. I love it. :P
Dean: "Even if I remove Dean from the playing field, we're still left with you - loyal, dogged, Sam, who I suspect will never rest until he sets his brother free. Will never rest, until his brother is free of the Mark, which simply cannot happen, left the Darkness be set free. Then there was that time you stood me up."
- I love this, because Death isn't wrong. And I love how Death sees both Winchesters as dangerous in this situation - or, perhaps maybe even sees Sam as the more dangerous - more capable of getting what he wants without regard to the consequences.
- I still think that Death knows it's already too late. I actuallly think he repeats "will never rest" and puts such emphasis on it, because if Dean doesn't kill Sam in this meeting, then he WANTS Sam to never rest.
- So, why kill Sam? Stall for time? Does Death KNOW that Dean's unlikely to go through with it? Does he set up EVERY aspect of this situation, including where he stands when Dean has the scythe? Or, is it as Death says, and he actually has a grudge against Sam, because Sam was supposed to die at the end of S8 and he didn't. Death DOES hate that, but then, Death is also the one that frequently lets the Winchesters come back to life... so that could be part of the act as well. A convincing maliciousness to sell the idea that he's serious.
Sam: "You traded my life?"
Dean: "I'm willing to live with this thing forever, as long as I know that I, and it, will never hurt another living thing."
Sam: "This isn't you. This doesn't make any sense."
Dean: "No, it makes perfect sense, if you stop thinking about YOURSELF FOR ONE DAMN MINUTE!"
- Man, it's actually pretty rare that Dean raises his voice to Sam. It's so jarring.
- But, to be on Dean's side for a moment here... this isn't actually that dissimilar to Sam deciding to spent an eternity being tormented in the cage in order to save the world from the apocalypse. Dean is making an equal decision here - his worst nightmare - being isolated and alone - in order to save earth from the MoC. Dean respected Sam's decision then, even though it was against his own wishes. But here, Sam can't find it in himself to do the same.... though, he could be saying that it doesn't make any sense to kill him, that they could just talk about it and figure something out. Or, it could be that Dean had time to THINK about the idea of Sam sacrificing himself. Sam's had no time to do the same. His reactions are all the reactions of someone who was just told something horrible that they don't want to hear and don't want to believe.
Death: "It's for the greater good. Once you consider that. It makes all the sense in the world."
- But, Sam and Dean haven't done anything for the greater good since S5. In S8, the greater good would have been Sam closing the gates of Hell - Dean chose to instead talk Sam off that ledge. Now, we're just back again with the table's turned. The greater good would be to let each other die/go, but Dean's planning to kill Sam right now because he knows Sam won't do that. It's interesting that the lesson Sam and Dean had to learn from S1-5 was to let each other go - to not be so horribly co-dependent. And yet, we're back to where we started.
Though, actually, S1-S5 would have happened the same even if the Winchesters DID know how to let each other go... Dean would have died in S2, been, most likely, sent down to Hell by the bad angels, broken, Sam would have been called in at the end of S2 to become Lucifer's vessel, once the first seal had broken, the others would break... Dean would have been brought back to life in order to serve as Michael's vessel... and there we go, same deal. Hopefully love would have still saved the day, only John might still be alive? It's an interesting AU situation to think about.
Anyway, back to the episode I'm actually watching...
Crowley: "Ah, yes, all my long life I wondered, what I'd done to deserve a mother who refused to show love. I pained over it. I built my bloody kingdom on top of it. And then one day, epiphany struck, my mother was incapable of loving anything - for the first time in hundreds of years, I felt free. Then you showed up in my dungeon, we communed, and I began to realize you weren't incapable of love. You're incapable of loving me."
- Poor Crowley.
And then he summons Oscar and poor Rowena. But then, I can't feel too bad for her, since she DOES kill him. It's a nice mirror to Dean... but we'll get there.
Dean: "Remember when we were in that church, making Crowley human, about to close the gates of Hell. You sure as hell were ready to die for the greater good then."
Sam: "Yeah, and Dean, you pulled me back."
Dean: "And I was wrong. You were right, Sam. You knew that this world would be better without us in it."
Sam: "No, no, wait a second, you're twisting my words here, Dean."
- Here's the other thing, if Death really wanted to incapacitate Sam Winchester, he wouldn't kill him. He'd just send him WITH Dean. Bam, solved all your problems. You still have each other, but can't harm earth.
Dean: "Why? Because we track evil and kill it? The family business. Is that it? Look at the tape, Sam. Evil tracks us and it nukes everyone in our vicinity - our family, our friends. It's time we put a proper name to what we are and we deal with it."
Sam: "Wait a second, we are not evil. Listen, we are not evil. We're far from perfect, but we are good. That thing on your arm is evil, but not you, not me."
- No one who is evil worries about being evil. At least, not in my experience. :P
- I do love this though, because my favourite potential ending for Supernatural is the idea of Sam and Dean ascending to become legendary/mythological beings themselves... and this is on that road, this is Dean realizing they're on that road and not knowing whether they're going to be the mythological beings that Hunters would kill or the beings that Hunters would pray too.
Dean: "I know what I am, Sam. But who were you when you drove that man to sell his soul? Or when you bullied Charlie into getting herself killed? [...]"
Sam: "You're also willing to summon Death, to make sure you could never do anymore harm. You summoned me, because you knew I would do anything to protect you. That's not evil, Dean. That's not an evil man, that's a good man, crying to be heard, searching for some other way."
- You tell 'im, Sammy.
- That being said, Dean, like usual, really knows how to cut to Sam's heart when he wants to. Those things WEREN'T Sam's fault. Sam intended to stop the dude before he sold his soul and he intended to keep Charlie safe while she helped him (and he asked, he didn't bully or force her to help), and it was both the man's and Charlie's free will that led to their deaths. But, Sam blames himself for EVERYTHING, so he's not going to argue here.
- And he really doesn't argue for himself. He argues FOR DEAN. Sam never addresses whether HE'S evil, he only addresses whether Dean is evil.
Dean: "...there is no other way."
*Sam punches him*
*Sam looks slightly terrified*
Dean: "Good, good. Fight."
- Sam's face after he punches Dean though. Sam RARELY punches Dean, I think the only time he has was when he was hepped up on demon-blood. Though, you'd think there'd be a punch thrown somewhere between S6-S9 too, but I honestly can't think of one. His face is totally the face of "I can't believe I just did that."
- I think Sam was maybe trying to punch some sense into Dean...like, maybe if Dean got hit in the head, he'd snap out of it. I don't know. Seems counter intruitive, given that we know violence feeds the Mark... or at the very least, the Mark enjoys it.
Rowena: "Even for you, Fergus, this is a new low, a cruel and disgusting low."
Crowley: "It's only cruel if you actually go through with it. But then, who's the cruel one then?"
- So, slightly different circumstances, of course. Killing Oscar buys Rowena her freedom. Killing Sam... supposedly... buys Dean a chance at eternal exile and saving the world from himself. But, the fundamental question is the same: "Can you kill the person you love most in the world? And what does your answer say about you?"
Dean beats the crap out of Sam, because he's super charged. I love the fist catches.
Sam: "You'll never, ever, hear me say, that you - the real you - is anything but good. But you're right. Before you hurt anyone else. You have to be stopped at any cost. I understand. Do it."
*Dean's face*
- There's like a split second where Dean's face basically goes "OH NO!" Jensen is so good at those little milliseconds of reaction that tell you so much.
- I think Sam agrees here because Sam still doesn't care about his own life as much as he cares about Dean's. And he knows that HE can't kill Dean (both can't, and won't) and if Dean is currrently so changed that he can kill Sam, maybe that's Sam's perferred option - dying, instead of facing a life where Dean is sent away and Sam never sees him again.
Dean: "Close your eyes. Sammy, close your eyes."
- The "Sammy" there BREAKS MY HEART.
Sam: "Wait, take these, and one day, when you find your way back - let these be your guide. They can help you remember what it was to be good. What it was to love."
- So, we get into super saccharine territory here. I think they could have done without the pictures, it's a little OTT, but I do like the motif of them - because we've seen those pictures a good number of times since Sam and Dean "settled down" in the Bunker.
Death: "It's for family you must proceed, Dean. What you've become is a stain on their memory. Do it. Or I will."
- Yeah, but how much will killing Sam be a stain on their memory? Both Dean's parents gave up everything, for better or for worse, in order to have/save their family... where did they put the emphasis? Did John choose the saving the world from YED over Dean? Did Mary choose saving people over having kids?
Dean: "Forgive me."
*Dean 'kills' Death*
- I wonder if Dean was talking to Sam or Death... and if he was talking to Sam, if he meant forgive him for almost killing him, or for killing him... when did he make the decision? In my opinion, he made the decision after Death spoke, when he was looking at the picture of Mary, and his forgive me was just a general "I'm about to do something possibly really stupid."
The scythe also disintigrates. That's just a factoid for myself, because I remember wondering why they didn't take it with them when they left, but they couldn't.
Rowena kills Oscar with a fountain pen. Pretty brutal.
Dean: "You okay?"
Sam: "I'll live. You?"
Dean: "Fantastic. I think I just killed Death."
- I do love that line, as much as I don't believe you can kill Death.
And then the spell is completed and Rowena escapes, before turning Castiel into an attack God.
- So, here's the thing, Rowena escapes OF HER OWN POWER. She takes off the shackles (I don't think they were broken by the spell. It looks like she can just TAKE THEM OFF. And freezes both Crowley and Castiel... so, if she could have done that the whole time? Why play along? Could she not have? Or was it about doing something great and powerful? Or was it about giving the Winchesters what they wanted and making a deal, in the hopes that they wouldn't pursue her? Maybe it was about not being pursued. I can buy that.
Sam: "This is good, Dean. This is good. The Mark is off your arm. You get your Baby back, nothing crazy happened."
- Oh Sam, you needed to wait just a little longer.
- In fairness to Sam, it was DEAN who got the speech about what the Darkness was - Sam was just told "the Darkness" a bunch of times WHILE trying to argue for Dean to spare his life AND not "kill" himself either. It was a little too rushed for Sam to think "huh, maybe I should call Cas and tell him to hold off on the spell..." :P
But, my theory about Death playing them is still my headcanon. I'm definitely interested to see where this all goes in S11 and beyond (because it's still going in S11, they've actually not resolved anything at all and there are only about 4 episodes left or something ridiculous like that.)
WOOT! DONE!
DELETED SCENES
FIRST
Dean: "And, you've come to apologize?"
Castiel disappears.
Crowley appears.
Crowley: "So this is how you dream. Really? Stale beer, sticky bar. Ugh, what is this, syphillus? The only thing you got right was the bartender."
Dean: "Well, they don't call them dry-dreams for nothing. Now beat it, this is me time."
Crowley: "Sorry, Squirrel, this is really me. Well, me inside your dream, but that's as close as I'm willing to get, since Moose tried to cash my chips."
Dean: "Really, hm. I'm sorry he missed."
Crowley tells Dean about Sam working with Rowena. Crowley blames Dean rejecting his offer to be his right-hand man.
Crowley: "...at the risk of taking this dream in a totally different direction - we complete each other."
Dean: "Ah, Crowley, I'm nothing like you, I never will be."
Crowley: "Actually, you're much worse - insane man, doesn't know he's insane."
*Dean breaks his beer bottle and threatens Crowley*
Dean: "I'm nothing like you."
Crowley snaps Dean awake.
- Obviously, this scene was supposed to go in before we see Dean wake up on the motel room floor.
SECOND
-I think this was supposed to go in before the bullet-making scene, since he had the pictures on the table in that scene.
THIRD
Rowena: "Are you joking?"
Castiel: "No, that would be uncharacteristic of me. Though, I have been told I'm getting funnier."
- Ha, cute.
Rowena tells him that Crowley and Castiel himself have "Winchester derangement syndrome."
Rowena: "...more power than I can possibly dream of, utterly wasted, shattered, at the alter of Winchester. [...] It totally sinkens me to see so much power goes unspent, so much glory unclaimed."
Castiel: "Glory? I've seen glory. I've seen defeat. But I've seen the glory. I have won epic battles and I have reaped vast rewards, and none of it has meant as much to me as the relationships I've formed on earth. Sam and Dean they're like a family to me. Claire Novak, when she smiled at me, nothing, no angelic crusade or victor's bounty, none of that could ever hold a candle to that sweet, crooked smile."
Rowena: "You can't honestly think you're happier now. Broken wings, [suck-up?]."
Castiel: "All I know is that for the first time in a long time, I feel at peace with who I am. Whatever that may be."
Rowena: "A bitch."
Castiel: "Oh, I can assure you, if there is one thing I am not, it is a female dog."
- Oh man, I really like this scene. We get an answer to Castiel's "everyone loves something" comment earlier - Castiel does too! He loves Sam and Dean and also Claire. They're love doesn't even compare to the glory of heaven. It's SUPER SWEET, you guys. I love love.
- It's also insight into why Rowena didn't love Crowley... has rarely loved. She loves power and has chosen to essew love in favour of it.
- Also, this explains why Castiel suggested that Rowena might love Crowley, and then seemed confused when she didn't. Castiel loves a girl who isn't even really his daughter, so I bet he can't fathom someone who actually HAS children not loving them.
And we're done!! Woo!
I'll probaby do another post reviewing the special features, eventually, but yay! S10 rewatch finished BEFORE S11 ends. Good job, me.
