SPN 4:21

[oselle]

I don't feel like I have enough information to comment on last night's episode. It just seemed to pile on a lot of questions and I'm hoping that we'll get at least a little enlightenmnet about some of them next week. It was a good episode and I really liked it but at the same time I almost felt like it was similar to "On The Head of a Pin" in that it created a catastrophic situation that I'm not fully confident will be well resolved. With that said, just a few observations.

Ruby
I don't see any way that Ruby can not be evil and if the show tries to prove that she's good, or at least paint her in shades of gray after what's happened to Sam...the show can kiss my ass. I almost laughed out loud at what I assume was her feigned regret over Sam and Dean's rift -- honey, if you gave a shit about that, you'd have been out of the picture a long time ago.

Last night's episode really made me miss Katie Cassidy and especially the old version of Ruby. I sure as hell can't picture KC/old Ruby engaging in cozy pillow-talk with Sam the way Ruby 2.0 did last night and Genevieve Cortese's dopey, cow-eyed performance is baffling me. Is she in love with Sam? Manipulating him? In love with him and manipulating him?

I wish they'd never made Sam & Ruby into a sexual relationship and please please don't anyone try and tell me that it isn't, that they only had sex "that one time" while Dean was still in hell. They cut from a shot of Sam lustily drinking Ruby's blood to the two of them dreamily lazing under the covers with half their clothes off -- the only thing missing were the post-coital cigarettes. Sam-as-addict would be bad enough but he's also getting led around by his cock and he's let this infatuation with demon-girl destroy his bond with his brother which makes him look like the biggest asshole ever. Couldn't they have had Sam seduced by power and demon-blood without having him literally seduced as well? I've come to believe that Sera Gamble really does have a crush on Jared and I wish she'd just work it out in fanfic like the rest of us. Sheesh.

Sam
I don't know what to make of Sam's withdrawal hallucinations but it was kind of interesting that he imagined his mother (whom he never even knew) showing up to tell him how wonderful he was and how weak Dean was -- something I think Sam really wants to believe. He does not want to admit that Dean has any role to play in stopping the apocalypse and he sure as hell doesn't want to admit that Dean is right -- if this really is him and not a demon-addled shadow of himself, then Sam has become a monster. Has, in fact, not become stronger, but has completely caved in to what Azazel did to him and caved in willingly, almost enthusiastically, with no sign of a struggle.

I wrote a post about Sam a few months ago in which I claimed that this hideous Sam is more or less the dark fulfillment of the person he's always been. While some new information has come out since I wrote that post, the basic premise still stands. It isn't just demon blood or Ruby's sexual spell that got Sam to this point...it's Sam. Sam's flaws. He likes this thing that he's become, he thinks he's tough and strong and meant for greatness and wow...wow does he hate Dean. I mean he hates him. It's been hinted at throughout the series that the love between them isn't exactly a two-way street but trying to choke someone to death after they're already down for the count? That's hate. That's pure, venomous hate, and hate that deep is not a new thing, it's not coming from a recent influx of demon-blood. Sam hates Dean.

Dean
Nothing was more depressing than seeing Dean left there on the floor at the end of the episode, completely destroyed (again). Is there anything left to do to this guy? Seriously. What's left? And yet you know that he's going to get up and go after Sam. And not just to stop the apocalypse but to save Sam even though at this point he hardly seems worth saving.

Castiel
I think that Castiel is still on Dean's side but can't show it. Those two angels who showed up to take Anna into custody didn't come out of nowhere -- I suspect Castiel's being tailed, kept in line. Castiel's in a tough spot. I think he does want to obey heaven but he also wants to help Dean -- so I think the wording of his pledge was no accident. He told Dean to swear to be as loyal to God as he was to his own father, and we all know that when it came to Sam, Dean was not loyal to his own father. I'm very, very interested to find out what Dean's pledge of alliegance to God and the angels will really mean.

(As a side note, I'm certain that if Dean had made that deal with a female angel, there would have been some mandatory spit-swapping involved. Just wanted to throw that out there for the edification of Misha Collins and anyone else who thinks there's no significant difference between the way male characters and female characters are portrayed on the show.)

Lilith
I have no idea anymore. Is she the last seal? Is it her death that will release Lucifer? If so, you'd think she'd be seeking Dean and Sam out for some kind of real truce but according to next week's previews she's apparently too busy lounging around in lingerie (see note in parentheses, above) and waiting for Sam to show up and exact his wholly inexplicable and seemingly unwarranted vengeance against her.

I don't know. I don't know. But hey...we did get to see Dean's One Perfect Tear! And wasn't it a beaut?! Pretty, pretty, pretty man.