4:09: I finally saw it

[oselle]

Well, I finally saw it. I was so spoiled for this episode that I guess it didn't strike me as being as BAD as I expected. I think if I'd gone in cold there would've been a lot more WTF reaction on my end, but as it was, I was prepared for all the WTFness.

That said, a few comments:

The big bang (no pun intended) of this episode was the raunchy Sam/Ruby sex scene which...I must be getting old or something because this was almost too explicit for me. I found it kind of embarrassing to watch, actually. But far worse than that was the "seduction" scene that preceded it and I put "seduction" in quotes because as far as seductions go, this was just dreadful. I don't even know what we're supposed to take away from it because it came out of NOWHERE. All of a sudden, I mean literally all of a sudden Ruby's throwing herself at Sam like a desperate teenage stalker. Huh? And Sam goes from being grossed out by the very idea one second to rolling around on the floor with her the next. Double huh? And the writing...oh God...the writing. What on earth was Ruby babbling about this being so "bad and naughty and wrong" or whatever the hell that was? I had my hand over my mouth to keep myself from laughing out loud and somehow, I don't think that was the writers' intent.

The question is: what DID they intend us to think about Ruby and Sam having sex? I THINK we're supposed to imagine that Sam just did it out of desperate loneliness. Okay I can totally buy that but it doesn't explain what Ruby got out of it. Did she just need to scratch an itch? Is she really evil and using everything at her disposal to lure Sam into her web of deception? Or are the writers setting us up for a genuine Sam/Ruby romance that they think is deliciously fucked up and the rest of us will just find a boring distraction? Remember, these are the folks who loved Bela so...this last possibility is not out of the question.

Frankly, everything about Ruby has turned into a hot mess for me and the only way I see to fix it is if Ruby turns out to be no good in the end. And the only way that can work is if it's revealed that Sam is also playing her because otherwise he just looks like an idiot. A horny idiot, because there's no way the writers could expect us to believe that their hot coupling was a one-time deal. They lived together for five months after that. Are we supposed to think they did so chastely?

Unfortunately, right now there's no evidence that Sam is anything but wrapped around Ruby's finger. He thinks she's awesome and it looks like Dean's starting to think so as well. Yeah sure, his "thanks" to her was kind of gritted through his teeth but he clearly has a newfound admiration or at least respect for her -- it's written all over his pretty face. He even seemed taken aback when Uriel referred to her as a "stain" -- I'm eternally grateful that Dean didn't say something to defend her there because that would have been just stomach turning.

I don't have much to say about Dean in this episode because he wasn't around much. I did, of course, greatly enjoy the shoulder relocation followed by application of ridiculously tiny icepack. Seriously, prop department? Seriously?

But my enjoyment of that can't take the sting out of Sam's shallow grief. For crying out loud. I mourned for my dog longer and harder than Sam mourned for Dean. I'm still in mourning for that dog, damnit! The grief-stricken Sam of "Mystery Spot" was so convincing and now we get one drunken attempt at a deal and then nothing but Sam boozing and feeling sorry for himself and then apparently forgetting all about Dean just because Ruby says there's nothing anyone can do for him and they should focus on Lilith instead...oh, and has sex with him. Behold! The Miraculous Healing Power of Pussy! What. The. Fuck?!

All right, a few other points:

Anna would be a lot more interesting if she hadn't been written as such a doe-eyed, mealy-mouthed victim. Wouldn't it have been more fun to make her a really strong character who is genuinely going mad from hearing these things and not being believed? In the beginning of the episode, we're told that she attacked someone with such force that it took four people to restrain her -- where's that girl? I wanna see that girl. Oh wait, they can't do that because they're setting her up for some violin-backed kissyface with Dean next week followed by damsel-in-distressing and we can't have either of those things if she's remotely interesting as a character. Got it.

There were so many inconsistencies in this episode that I can't even count them but the biggest one for me was that Lilith -- the mighty Lilith -- was powerless against Sam but Alistair was not. So who's Alistair? A bigger bad than Lilith? I love the way this show just plays fast and loose with its own internal logic. I can deal with a little hand-waving now and then but COME ON PEOPLE. Try.

Uriel is irritating me and I liked it better when Castiel was the only angel on the scene. Now it suddenly seems like Castiel can't do anything on his own and if Castiel's the one who pulled Dean out of hell then why do we suddenly need Uriel shadowing him? Or being his boss? Or whatever is going on there?

Both of the "other" Rubies in the episode were better than G. Cortese's rendition. I especially liked blonde "secretary" Ruby who not only resembled Katie Cassidy a little but did a better job of mimicking her attitude. Unfortunately it seems that since Ruby's turned out to be a love interest after all, we have to settle for an actress who's there more for her looks than her talent.

So overall...I don't know. Right now, for me, everything hinges on what they do with Ruby. If they're genuinely pursuing this Mary Sueish approach with her, it's just gonna drag the season down from the heights of those first few episodes. If she's working an angle, it could get interesting. Guess we'll have to wait and see.

Comments

Re: yeah, i wish they had a few more subtle minds there in the writers pit

[mews1945.livejournal.com]

personally, PERSONALLY, i think he went nuts after dean's death and is still well off the tracks...

Same here.

Re: yeah, i wish they had a few more subtle minds there in the writers pit

[oselle.livejournal.com]

I think that's what we saw in "Mystery Spot" but it's just not what I'm seeing here. Up until this week's episode I firmly believed that Sam's weird distance from Dean did indicate that he had lost his mind after Dean's death but these flashbacks show a guy who got on with his life pretty well and pretty quickly and who seemed almost dismayed at having to give up his fun, new, exorcising, hot-demon girlfried life once Dean was back in the picture.

Re: yeah, i wish they had a few more subtle minds there in the writers pit

[mews1945.livejournal.com]

I don't know. I'm willing to give them some more time to develop the story and see where they take us. I don't like Uriel coming into it, unless he's there to stir things and play the real big-bad angel, so that Castiel can eventually side with Dean and Sam and defy him. What they need on this show is Raelle Tucker back, to put the humanity back into Sam and Dean's relationship.

Re: yeah, i wish they had a few more subtle minds there in the writers pit

[oselle.livejournal.com]

Amen to Raelle Tucker coming back. Some of the lines in this ep were just cringeworthy. Alas (for us, not for her) Raelle's HBO series has been renewed for another season.

Re: yeah, i wish they had a few more subtle minds there in the writers pit

[oselle.livejournal.com]

and having a male crossroads demon, surely you found that a bit interesting?

I think the only reason they did that was because Crossroads Demons have heretofore been sexy brunettes whose dealmaking always had an element of seduction to it...and there was only room for one sexy, seductive brunette in this episode. Either that or they just decided to make him a guy because the answer to Sam's request was a flat-out NO DEAL, so Hell didn't bother sending the usual seductress as an ambassador.

[layne67.livejournal.com]

I've just been watching season 3 Ruby, and God, do I miss Katie Cassidy. This Ruby doesn't feel like the old Ruby at all. How could people who did it so right with the casting of young John and young Mary and grandpa!YED could be so wrong when it came to this Ruby? She's so ... needy ...

[oselle.livejournal.com]

What's really interesting is that, while we're all sitting here puzzling over Ruby's 180-degree personality change, Sam clearly is not. Doesn't he find it the least bit unusual that the tough-talking, uncompromising bitch of last year is suddenly sweet-tempered, caring and apparently in love with him? Does he think that Lilith so chastised Ruby that she turned into a completely different person/demon?

[ghyste.livejournal.com]

Or are the writers setting us up for a genuine Sam/Ruby romance that they think is deliciously fucked up and the rest of us will just find a boring distraction? Remember, these are the folks who loved Bela so...this last possibility is not out of the question

This one would be my best guess and I won't find it any more exciting than the Buffy/Spike relationship they're so obviously trying to imitate. However, until next week at least I can tell myself that Ruby is bad and the rest of it is all a big ruse on Sam and Dean's part.

apparently forgetting all about Dean just because Ruby says there's nothing anyone can do for him and they should focus on Lilith instead...oh, and has sex with him

Well gosh, where would he find the time to think about Dean when he's so busy taking Ruby to see Indiana Jones movies and putting together playlists for her on his new iPod?

[oselle.livejournal.com]

the Buffy/Spike relationship they're so obviously trying to imitate

I'm gonna fall back on my usual complaint that anytime Whedonesque elements creep into this show it goes off the rails. Although at least with Buffy she had sort of a...track record of sleeping with vampires.

that Ruby is bad and the rest of it is all a big ruse on Sam and Dean's part

There's still a possibility that Ruby is bad. There's also a chance that Sam is in on it and is playing her...but I can't see any way that Dean is in the know. Even in private conversations with Dean, Sam does nothing but praise Ruby, there's not even a hint of anything else. So if Sam's playing Ruby he's also playing Dean and while there may be some justification for that (protecting Dean?) it still wouldn't make a whole lot of sense for Sam to keep Dean in the dark. Alas, the more I think about it the more I believe that she really is St. Ruby the Good and we're supposed to love her as much as Sam and Dean and Anna already do and no doubt the angels themselves eventually will.

Well gosh, where would he find the time to think about Dean when he's so busy taking Ruby to see Indiana Jones movies and putting together playlists for her on his new iPod?

One of the most unfortunate effects of this week's episode (and one that I think was wholly unintended by the writers) was making me believe that except for one drunken month, Sam adjusted pretty well to Dean being gone and the knowledge of him being in hell. I find myself rethinking the season premiere and how Sam's lackluster reaction to having Dean back now reads as genuine oh-shit disappointment and wow...bad call, Show. Bad fucking call.

[ghyste.livejournal.com]

I'm gonna fall back on my usual complaint that anytime Whedonesque elements creep into this show it goes off the rails. Although at least with Buffy she had sort of a...track record of sleeping with vampires.

Though I was somewhat of a minority in Buffy fandom at the time, I thought Buffy itself went off the rails with Buffy/Spike because they had to fundamentally change everything about the characters in order to justify it. Kripke has already changed Ruby beyond all recognition and the lack of interest Sam has shown in either Dean’s return from Hell or keeping him from going back there would argue that they’re doing the same with Sam. Now, if that’s all in the service of some awesome double-bluff scenario that’s fine, but it’s equally likely that (like Spuffy) there’s no purpose beyond getting a ‘romance’ into the story.

BTW: Re the oft raised issue (not by you, of course!) of sex with Whedonverse vampires being the same as Demon Sex in SPN, all I have to say is “utter tosh”. Joss may have stated off by saying that a Vamp was a corpse possessed by a Demon but he soon dropped the idea and, Angel/Angelus aside, his vamps were precisely the same as their human counterparts.

Alas, the more I think about it the more I believe that she really is St. Ruby the Good and we're supposed to love her as much as Sam and Dean and Anna already do and no doubt the angels themselves eventually will.

I admit that at my heart of hearts that’s what I believe too (after all, these are the people who thought we should believe that Bela was “classy” and Cassie was "fearless”) but at least for this week I’m going to pretend very hard that there’s something cleverer at work.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

the lack of interest Sam has shown in either Dean’s return from Hell or keeping him from going back there would argue that they’re doing the same with Sam

In retrospect, we should have seen this coming with "Yellow Fever." True, a lot of that episode was written for laughs but there really was no explanation for Sam being so cavalier about Dean's very real illness and impending death. No explanation until this episode, that is -- because now we know that Dean has become relatively unnecessary in Sam's life. That isn't to say that Sam wants Dean to die, or would prefer that Dean were still in hell, but there definitely seems to be some regret...not that Dean is alive and well, but that Dean is once again part of Sam's life. If this really is a double-bluff then Sam's doing a great job of keeping everyone in the dark, including Dean, but I'm just not getting any sensation of that dramatic tension. Once again, going back to "Yellow Fever" -- since Sam was essentially joking about Dean having a few hours to live, that would be one hell of a charade for Sam to keep up, if it actually were a charade.

Rambling about random things after seeing the ep

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

So I finally just saw this ep and was sort of confused by Ruby. Or more like bored. ITA that both other actresses were better than the regular one, which is unfortunate, because this ep made me think about how usually the casting of the person says something about the supernatural being inside. The other two Rubies had some presence but this girl seems like any regular girl you'd come across at a bar and that makes her just another young girl on the show. Both Sam and Dean would have to work to hold their own against the other two Rubies more.

But that's also what makes me compare her to Castiel. It looks like their conflicts kind of mirror each other? Both are sort of leaning towards the two human brothers against their supernatural bretheren. Only with Ruby it's not as interesting since she used to be human so is already sort of like a human. I assumed she had sex with Sam because she wanted sex the same way she wanted a cheeseburger, and I felt like she had to be playing some sort of game for herself. I'd find it hard to believe if she really cares about him or even stranger is supposed to be in love with him.

By contrast the casting of Castiel is really interesting. Uriel's this monotonous, physically intimidating rock of a man, like Andre Braugher. The kind of guy who's just all, "I am the law" and never bends. But with Castiel you've got this angel played by a tired-looking, small guy. He just does really well with making me see the human he's possessing as reflecting this other worldly creature. So that makes his conflict a lot more interesting than Ruby's because I'm actually interested in the idea of this non-arch-angel seriously questioning things (in ways Ruby doesn't come across as having the depth to really question). I can believe that God has a special love for Castiel, actually, and wants him to make the right choice by siding with Dean.

It kind of blows away the naughty "because it's wrong" sex--yeah, I didn't get that particular method of seduction either. Presumably Sam's supposed to be turned on by the wrongness of it? But since when is he the type of character to be turned on by that sort of thing? It's much more believable to apply those words to his use of his demon powers, which would hopefully be what Ruby was really going for, in order to save herself.

Re: Rambling about random things after seeing the ep

[oselle.livejournal.com]

The other two Rubies had some presence but this girl seems like any regular girl you'd come across at a bar and that makes her just another young girl on the show.

I agree. She's just another interchangeable brunette. But it's like they want to have it both ways. They went over the top with the "kickass" Ruby last season and now they're making her into what? A damsel in distress? Last season Ruby was able to walk past 30 demons who didn't dare lay a hand on her and now she needs Sam and his powers to save her from just one? Ruby was a tough dame cliche last year but instead of fixing that, they're just floundering and making a hash out of this character. Of course, we're only nine episodes in, so there could still be something very unexpected around the bend but right now Ruby is dancing towards Mary Sue territory and you're right...it's boring.

I assumed she had sex with Sam because she wanted sex the same way she wanted a cheeseburger, and I felt like she had to be playing some sort of game for herself.

True, but didn't they make it seem as if she cared about him? Or at least felt something for him? And then there's Sam who just...falls for this? Whether the show intended it or not, it really did seem that Sam became closer to Ruby after they'd had sex. What are we supposed to make of that? She's a demon running around in a corpse and Sam seems all but besotted with her. If he's not playing her, then he's an idiot and if I were a big Samgirl I'd be really disgusted by this depiction of him.

But with Castiel you've got this angel played by a tired-looking, small guy.

The casting of Castiel was really well done. This show usually does pretty well with casting the male characters, but it seems not to know what to do with women. I think Eric Kripke really needs to cancel his subscription to Maxim.

I find it interesting that Uriel's appearance coincided with Castiel starting to let down his guard and admit that he has his own doubts. Maybe that's why Uriel is there -- to keep Castiel in line. I like the thought that being around Dean and witnessing how hard it is just to be human is having a humanizing effect on Castiel, one that clearly doesn't sit well with unequivocal angels like Uriel.

Re: Rambling about random things after seeing the ep

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

It did seem like they were making it seem like she suddenly cared about Sam...plus that's the only way that Sam's behavior would even make sense, is if Ruby's now truly in love with him. Which just makes very little sense. I was with Dean in thinking it was crazy--and also thought that even his apology might be too soon. If she saved Sam I'd assume she had some reason for saving Sam. Like maybe that was what Lilith really wanted her to do or something. If this is really supposed to be all it takes to win over Sam...that's pretty simple. Why didn't they do that before?

Also I almost said the same thing as you about secretary!Ruby. OMG, she looks like she might be as old as 30. She can't last.

I totally agree!

[akankshaa.livejournal.com]

I have to say - I completely agree with your review of 4.09 - I was very disappointed with this episode. And the new Ruby is terrible - she has none of the snarkiness I would expect from a demon. I didn't think I would miss Kate Cassidy, but Cortese is extremely disappointing - she cannot command any kind of presence on the screen.

And the fact that we are expected to believe that Sam is falling for this new Ruby is ridiculous, cause she somehow "got through to him"? In Mystery Spot, Sam tracked down the Trickster for months, and only asked for Dean to be returned, cause that was more important than retribution for him. Yet now he can just forget about saving Dean's soul from hell and pursue the new goal of getting revenge against Lilith? I certainly hope that is not where the writers are headed...I definitely prefer the idea that somehow Sam is playing Ruby to reach some unknown goal.

The one thing I did find interesting though...was the look on Dean's face when Sam said that she got through to him because she said what he (Dean) would have said. I just felt there was something there - some indication that maybe the reason for that was something that happened in hell...or maybe I am just reading too much into it...

Re: I totally agree!

[oselle.livejournal.com]

she has none of the snarkiness I would expect from a demon

What I don't understand is why the opposite of snark has to be this sappy mush that we're getting from the New Ruby. I don't think this can possibly be all G. Cortese's fault -- the character is now being written this way. If they wanted to tone down some of the demonic snark (which, IMO, really has been done to death by this show), why couldn't they have written a changed Ruby who was just...serious? Castiel is not snarky but he's not a wet noodle either. Though I agree that G. Cortese doesn't bring a whole lot of presence to the role. I really liked the actress who played the "secretary" Ruby, but she looked like she might have been skirting the decrepit age of...thirty, which of course would have made her completely unsuitable as a love/lust interest for Sam, which is what Ruby is clearly supposed to be no matter what Eric Kripke has said about this character's direction. It's pretty hard to back up Kripke's claim that "Ruby won't be a love interest" when he's got her rolling on the floor naked with Sam.

the look on Dean's face when Sam said that she got through to him because she said what he (Dean) would have said

This didn't even register with me so I don't know why it registered with Dean. We've gone through three seasons of hearing that demons are liars, so Dean is supposed to be all, "wow, I get it now" when Sam says that Ruby fed him some line about what "Dean would have wanted?" I think they're just trying to take a shortcut to making Ruby into a likable character, an ally. If this turns out to be a double-cross I'll rescind everything I've said, but if they really are going the "demon with a heart of gold" route...meh.