SPN 2 ep review

[oselle]

A few things occurred to me while watching the past 2 episodes. Most of this relates to last night's episode, "Swap Meat."

1. Lather, Rinse, Repeat
The show seems to be treading familiar ground an awful lot lately, and by that I mean, repeating old episodes. "Sam, Interrupted" was such a reworking of Season Two's "Folsom Prison Blues" that those two writers should only get half salary for it. Last night's episode wasn't so much of a redo of a past episode as of past themes, including the idea that Dean finds more companionship and compatibility with strangers than he does with his own brother, a repeat of what we saw in last season's "Sex and Violence."

Another revisited theme was the contrast between the Winchesters' life and the "white picket fence" life that Sam and Dean have alternately both seemed to yearn for and deplore. The "twist" this time around is that Sam and Dean have apparently reversed roles -- it's now Sam who's turning up his nose at an ordinary life, while Dean is feeling wistful about it, virtually repeating each other's dialogue from ancient Season One episodes like "Bugs." More on this later.

2. It's What's Outside That Counts
My biggest problem with last night's episode was the suggestion that Gary, while inside Sam's body, could acquiesce to Lucifer with the same result as if Sam himself had said yes to Lucifer. I won't mince words: this is stupid. I can't believe that it took three people to write last night's episode and not one of them had a problem with this.

On the surface the drama is obvious -- OMG, Sam's meat suit is on the loose and Lucifer can get hold of it! But wow, is that a superficial concept. If this is true, then Sam saying "yes" to Lucifer (or Dean giving in to Michael) is wholly pointless. If the body is all that matters, then there's no reason why Lucifer (or Michael) couldn't kill Sam or Dean and then jump in while the corpse was still warm. Silly me! I still expect at least some depth of thought from this show, and I thought what mattered was the idea of saying yes. Of Sam or Dean, either willingly or through coercion, giving permission to these entities to inhabit their bodies. It ties into deeper concepts like free will and sin, and considering how the show tries to link itself to Judeo-Christian theology, you'd think someone would have thought of this. But I guess not. The meat suit is all that matters. Now, I'll be the first to admit that both of these boys are sporting some pretty fine meat suits but nevertheless, if the idea is "strength" then there's a vast population of bodybuilders, Olympians and WWF champions out there to choose from. I was under the mistaken assumption that Sam and Dean were special, were different. If the show is going to tell us (as it has) that it "always" had to be Sam and Dean to be the respective incarnations of Lucifer and Michael, then you would think that this unusual fate was based on something a little more profound than both of these guys being fit and well-trained. But, no. Their bodies are what matters, their will and their souls are, apparently, irrelevant. Good to know. And also, way to take any import away from the idea of either one of them finally giving up and giving in. They're both just a bag of bones waiting to be hijacked. Nothing more.

3. Chemistry 101
One of the real appeals of this show used to be the chemistry between Sam and Dean but watching last night's episode, I realized that chemistry has all but evaporated into thin air. I don't know if this is something I'm imagining, or if the actors are being directed to behave this way, but whatever I once saw between the two of them is now gone. They just seem like two guys who don't like each other very much and who hardly have anything in common, and yet who are miserably stuck with each other.

Personally, I don't think the show is deliberately doing this, because I don't think the show's that clever. I'm one of those viewers who believes that Sam's remorse has been shallow and that Dean is trying to pretend everything with Ruby never happened. I don't think the show's writers share this opinion. I think they believe that Sam has apologized, and that's good enough, that Dean has accepted the apology, and that's good enough too. End of story, let's move on. But there is a Stonehenge-sized wedge between these two guys that was never there before and it has, in my opinion, changed the whole feel of the show. Sam always had a touch of selfishness about him, but now he also seems mean and wholly self-absorbed. Dean always had that tendency towards self-sacrifice, but now he seems to be sticking with Sam because he knows he has to, not because he wants to. There is no real affection left between these characters and watching them onscreen together has become as painful and depressing as watching any relationship crumble. You just want to look away. I question whether the writers are aware of this at all. If they are, they need to acknowledge it and not with one of their 30-second roadside confessionals, because I don't see how they're going to go another season and a half pretending that two such pitifully estranged characters aren't...pitifully estranged.

4. Happily Ever After
Speaking of another season, just yesterday afternoon, before this episode aired, I was talking with my co-worker and fellow SPN fan about how the series will end. I predicted that it's going to end with Sam carrying on "the family business" and Dean meeting some nice yoga instructor and finally settling down for the whole "white picket fence" life to which the show has frequently alluded. Last night's episode reinforced my theory: I think that was a great big dose of foreshadowing, and I really think that's the direction they're going to go. Sam has become totally creepy and antisocial, I can't see him ever taking up with anyone, and frankly, I see him turning into one of those half-crazy hunters, like Kubrick, who winds up living out of his van. Dean? Oh boy, how many times has the show come out and shown us that a normal life, with wife, kids and soccer games, is what he craves more than anything? Considering how many times the show has also said that a normal life is boring, pointless and pathetic (q.v., "It's a Terrible Life" and "The Real Ghostbusters"), it's going to be a bit of a stretch to claim that regular, "civilian" life is a totally awesome and fitting reward for Dean, but then the show has never had a problem with contradicting itself.

At one time this resolution would have annoyed the living shit out me -- the only satisfying end I ever envisioned for this series was Sam and Dean indomitably driving off into the sunset to the strains of some wonderfully pounding classic rock. But going back to what I was saying about Sam and Dean's relationship, this ending doesn't really appeal to me so much anymore. I'm not sure I want to see Dean attending PTA meetings, but I think it would be dreadful for him to spend the rest of his life with Sam -- who frankly, does not even like him, much less love him. Dean has been through enough and deserves a little happiness with someone who actually does love him and doesn't secretly (or not-so-secretly) think he's a worthless mook. Sam? Sam has a lot to atone for and probably deserves a life of solitude and penance. Maybe that's just the Catholic in me coming out, but that's the only way I see it right now. And God help the writers if they think it's shocking or funny to close the series with Dean's wife immolating up on the ceiling, or any suggestion that that's about to happen. No...just no.

Comments

[oxer12.livejournal.com]

The fact that apparently it's not Sam who has to say "yes" is complete bullshit and totally contradicts all the plot points they've set up so far this season. I was so pissed when I realized they were really going to go there. Ugh.

It also bothered me terribly that NOBODY mentioned the dead teenager in his parents' basement. Hello?? Doesn't the girl remember it even though she was possessed? Nobody gives a crap that this kid got his heart ripped out? It was just such an example of lazy writing, and it infuriated me.

Agree that the chemistry is quickly waning, and that's sad. :(

[amonitrate.livejournal.com]

interesting and insightful. I think that I agree with most everything here, but I disagree that it's not intentional on the part of the show. I do think Sam and Dean are estranged, I think this is how it's being played: you can be estranged from someone and go on through the motions of pretending you're not. It's horrible and painful, and it's just that to watch, but it makes sense to me in context of everything that's happened.

I guess I see this season's estrangement and difficulty as a direct consequence of season 4; just as season 4 played as a direct consequence of Dean's deal and season 3, etc, etc, etc.

I think the writing of the last two episodes has been poor, but the characterizations have been too consistent this season for me to think it's not intentional, if badly executed plot wise here and there.

I hope so, anyway. Maybe I'm too optimistic.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

I believe that it may be intentional...but I also think it's something they're not going to take the time to deal with in any sort of satisfying way. Which is actually worse than if it were unintentional.

I remember how I felt after Season Four's "Head of a Pin," when Dean was so crushed (both physically and emotionally) and I remember posting about how the show had to deal with this in a meaningful way, they couldn't so reduce this character and then not do the work to build him up again and guess what? They didn't do the work. They gave us that silly "It's a Terrible Life" episode where Dean just got back on the horse because Zachariah showed him how totally awesome his life really was. End of story and we never had to deal with it again. They have a habit of doing this -- setting up devastating scenarios and then sweeping them under the rug and moving on. You just get to a place where it's impossible to care about these characters or anything that happens to them, because none of it matters.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

It also bothered me terribly that NOBODY mentioned the dead teenager in his parents' basement.

Yes...but I was able to handwave that because this show has a long tradition of racking up a consequence-free body count. But the cutesy-poo ending, with Gary and Nora being driven home as if they'd just been a couple of silly kids who'd been out past curfew, was very annoying and, as you said, lazy.

[tskterata.livejournal.com]

As usual, I agree with most of what you've written (although I confess I don't understand how "Sam, Interrupted" was a repeat of "Folsom Prison Blues" - but it's been a long week, and my brain is very tired).

For my own peace of mind, I have decided that the demon possessing what's-her-face was ill-informed and wrong about the whole possessed meat-suit being able to give consent. It's the only way I can get past that. I thought the whole point of the angels, fallen or otherwise, needing consent was that the soul had to agree - otherwise what's the point? Anyway - that's my version of the story, and I'm sticking to it.

[morganslady.livejournal.com]

I honestly have to say this was a weak episode. I know not every episode can be terrific,but I found this one substandard.
The first time Gary did something Sam wouldn't have Dean's radar would have been on overdrive.
The kids were annoying.. AND BTW how do they explain the dead kid?? They just left him in the basement!!
I didn't expect them to bury him,but what happens when the parents find him and his hearts been ripped out. I doubt seriously they other two kids will hold up under questioning.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

In "Folsom," Sam and Dean get themselves incarcerated so that they can help out an old friend of Dad's. In "Sam, Interrupted," Sam and Dean get themselves put away so that they can help out an old friend of Dad's. In both episodes it was equally ridiculous that they both let themselves get put away instead of at least leaving one of them on the outside to act as backup, and in both episodes the MoTW turned out not to be what or who they thought it was.

The way the whole scene was set up, right down to the dun-dun-DUN! music suggests to me that we were supposed to take the demon at face value and really believe that Lucifer was this close to getting what he wanted. But I understand needing to tell yourself something to move on, so I'll leave you to your peace of mind.

Re: totally with you on all of that

[oselle.livejournal.com]

No they better not. If they're going to go that route with Dean, then I don't want any "the cycle begins again!" bullshit.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

The whole ending of the episode was so flat -- Sam and Dean just seemed to be driving a couple of juvenile delinquents home and the worst that was going to happen to them was they would be grounded, and maybe not even that. Meanwhile these kids fucked around with the occult, raised demons, tried to murder Dean, stole Sam's body, got a kid killed...um, they really need more than a stern warning.

[amonitrate.livejournal.com]

I guess for me the continuing characterization is the way that "Head of a Pin" was dealt with. You're right that it hasn't been dealt with in a direct way, but the way Dean has been going through the motions, more or less, since then seems to me an acknowledgment of everything, in an organic way. Dean's MO has pretty much been denial and repression.

I interpreted the end of "It's a terrible life" differently, maybe. Dean got back on the horse, but I'm not sure it was because he bought into how supposedly awesome his life was. I'm not sure he felt he had a choice. That one had strong parallels to the end of "What is and what should never be" -- there, Dean rejoined the fight, with Sam (instead of Zach) telling him how awesome it was, but it was clear to me that Dean wasn't buying it so much anymore then, and it's not like he's shown to be recommitted to the love of the hunter life in season 4. It was a responsibility and a burden rather than a calling. Hunting has become his coping mechanism rather than something he's doing with much enthusiasm.

It feels to me like we're still seeing the results of these devastating scenarios in the continuing estrangement, in Dean questioning how he even gets up in the morning, in the sense of depression he's been playing. We're watching him spiral towards the future Dean of "The End" -- which seems to me to be a logical reaction to everything that's remained unresolved for him.

maybe the difference is I see them very purposefully not building Dean back up after the events of season 4. which is depressing, but feels realistic.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

I don't really see a parallel between "Terrible Life" and "What Is..." In the latter, Dean chose to reject something that he very much wanted but that he also had figured out was a sham, and a lethal one to boot. Dean didn't so much choose to "rejoin the fight" as he chose not to be slowly bled to death...and when Sam dragged him out from the djinn's spell it wasn't with slick platitudes about how much he had to come back to, but more, "I've got to get you out of here or you're gonna die!" That's a wholly different scenario from what was going on between Zachariah and Dean in "Terrible Life."

I did see Dean go downhill emotionally after his father died, but I personally think SPN was a more thoughtful show back then, and while they didn't really resolve Dean's grief, they at least let it play out over a few episodes. It seems to me that his depression plateaued around "Croatoan," when he first started talking about how tired he was and first hinted at being suicidal. I've seen that unhappiness continue, it's true, but it's been more or less the same -- the devastating events of "Head Of A Pin" didn't seem to have much lasting effect one way or the other, and were neatly swept under the rug in "Terrible Life." Sera Gamble's own glib description of that episode as Dean's "much-needed shot in the arm" tells me that she saw it as just that, and no more -- and no more needed.

I see them very purposefully not building Dean back up

And this is exactly what I don't see. I think that they think they have built him back up, both in "Terrible Life" and in "The Real Ghostbusters," where similar "your life is so awesome!" sentiments were repeated almost verbatim, and with Dean once again nodding and smiling. Let's not forget that Dean also got a nice verbal ass-kicking from Bobby in "Lucifer Rising," which I'm sure was meant to be yet another quick-fix "shot in the arm" for Dean.

I don't see Dean on any sort of downward spiral and I don't think the writers do either. I see him having the same sort of moments of despair and doubt that have been part of his character for a long time, and whenever the writers realize they've piled the agony on a little too thick, they have someone show up to wheedle or yell Dean out of it and then act like it's all fixed...until next time. I'd have to fanwank myself pretty hard to discern any deliberate, thoughtful purpose to what they're doing with Dean's character, and while I'm all for fiction leaving space for interpretation, it shouldn't be so formless that I have to do all the work myself.

[amonitrate.livejournal.com]

and when Sam dragged him out from the djinn's spell it wasn't with slick platitudes about how much he had to come back to, but more, "I've got to get you out of here or you're gonna die!"

I'm referring to the talk at the end of the episode, where Sam tries to reinforce that Dean had made the right decision, and the camera ends on Dean's face, definitely not enthusiastically agreeing -- he's feeling ambiguous at best about leaving the dream behind. Yeah, he chose not to bleed to death; but he also chose the hunter life because of a sense of responsibility more than any kind of enthusiasm.

What Sam says to Dean at the end of that episode is very much similar to Zach's little pep talk.

similar "your life is so awesome!" sentiments were repeated almost verbatim, and with Dean once again nodding and smiling

Where I don't see him nodding and smiling here. His repeated wistfulness about wanting a regular life seems to contradict that. It's just how the other characters see his life; Dean isn't played as agreeing with either Sam in s2, with Zach, or with the LARPers.

I feel like one of the major ongoing themes of the show in general is that things don't get resolved. And these unresolved things have consequences.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

What Sam says to Dean at the end of that episode is very much similar to Zach's little pep talk.

I'll have to go back and watch "What Is..." and "Terrible Life" because all I remember is Zachariah bleating a lot of smarmy crap about saving the world and cool cars and hot girls and I don't remember Sam saying anything remotely similar.

Where I don't see him nodding and smiling here.

I have to disagree because he was literally nodding and smiling! Nodding and smiling after those two geeks told him how great his life was, especially compared to their own boring one. And yes, that is a contradiction with his wistfulness, but part of my point is that the show routinely contradicts itself, and maybe they're trying to make a statement about life's complexity but they're being awfully klutzy about it.

And these unresolved things have consequences.

Except that they don't. I'm just...I'm sorry, I'm totally not seeing whatever you are.

[amonitrate.livejournal.com]

okay, thanks for the discussion. I think we're seeing two different shows here.

[layne67.livejournal.com]

Do you think, deep, deep down in the darkest corner of your mind/heart, that what goes on in their RL is being reflected in their reel-lives?

As for the episode itself, I think Felisblanco said it best here.

But I'm still not giving up hope, SPN has a history of coming up with absolute gems after series of let-downers!

[oselle.livejournal.com]

No kidding. I'm glad you're enjoying yours, at least.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

All I can say is that both of them are doing an excellent job of acting like they can't stand the sight of each other and while it might be, shall we say, tempting to draw certain conclusions from that...I'll just say they're being very "method."

I'm sure that SPN still has the juice to crank out a few great episodes now and then, but for this season so far, only "The End" and "Abandon All Hope" really stood out for me. The premiere was lackluster and then there was that dreadful run of five, count 'em, five comedy episodes and then hiatus and now this. And there are only ten episodes left for them to bring their A-game.

[layne67.livejournal.com]

Ellen said exactly what I was thinking in 'Good God Y'all' - "Did a woman get between you?" HA!!!

Anyway, I guess it was just amazing coincidence that the chemistry they had seemed to slowly evaporate during filming of season 4. And I'm still not convinced that it's all "method". The brothers had their fights ( Asylum for one ) before but the chemistry between the two actors are still there but now it's just not there. But I hope you're right though, that it's just them being method.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

In all honesty, they've both publicly said that they're tired of working on the show and maybe they're sick of each other, too -- especially now that they're locked in for another season. It could help explain why the distance between them feels so real.

ETA: Looking at your icon, I have to add that Dean really should never wear anything on this show but white v-neck t-shirts and pajama pants. Man, oh man.

[fates3.livejournal.com]

Oh man, I so agree about the huge distance between the boys now! Dean just seemed kind of...depressed and distance from Sam. Not that Sam would ever see it, self centered person that he is. But Dean just seemed so disconnected, resigned to being forced to be with someone who is completely opposite him, and isn't afraid to both belittle him and look down on him. That ending "yea, it's you, welcome back" was so not genuine. Not snide either, but just a resigned, "yea, it's you again. Oh joy." It's just...sad. They've built the show around the relationship between the brothers, and it's been so irreparably damaged to me, and that damage so ignored by the show, that maybe it's bleeding through the way the actors portray it as well.

I mean, I'd really like to believe that this is all part of a master plan, but frankly, I don't think the writers are that smart.

I have to admit though, for all of the plot holes and "WTF" things in last night's ep, the one that really pissed me off the most was the retconning that the boys had babysitters. Oh, and not just babysitters for WEEKS on end, but freaking babysitters when THEY WERE TEENAGERS!!!! Sam was in 6th grade, so say 12, which would make Dean 16 and NOW John gets them babysitters? NOW??? *bangs head on desk* I guess Dean at 16 just wasn't the mature, responsible child that he was at freaking 9 :-/

Good lord. Siege should just never ever write another SPN episode. EVER!!! Her episodes this season have just been pure crap.

Oh, and add me to the ones who envisions Dean's "happy every after" being finding someone, settling down, and having a family/normal life. I never really did see that ending for him before, but now...the guy just deserves some peace and happiness in his life. And some freaking LOVE from someone who genuinely likes him and appreciates him. And hanging with Sam just ain't gonna give it to him. I'd love to see him find someone to love, and have a couple of kids, and that be his ending. He'd be an awesome dad, and an awesome husband, and he could still do some "advising" on hunting stuff. And Sam can go off and do whatever he wants to do, and not have to deal with the brother he so clearly doesn't even love, let alone like. Dean just deserves some happiness.

[i-o-r-h-a-e-l.livejournal.com]

I almost hate you because I realize how right you are about these all while I - I just want to close my eyes and accept anything they have to offer. There are too many holes but I still want to love the show so much.

:)

[mangokulfi.livejournal.com]

Oh man, it's like you got inside my head and read all my thoughts on what's happening with the show. Especially the part about the chemistry between the Js. I also really feel like it has drained away and I don't have a clue about whether it's deliberate or not.

I actually thought it was just me and that I was so taken with the Dean/Cas that it was affecting my view of the Dean/Sam. But if other people are seeing the lack of warmth between the Js as well, maybe it's not just in my head. It's like that twinkling warmth that existed between the actors regardless of what Sam and Dean were doing to each other , has kind of just disappeared over the last year or so.

I've been wondering if all this nonsense with the J2 tinhats and Ted and the bodyguard saga, is getting to them and they're acting more remote from each other without even realizing it.

Or maybe it's that the writers did their usual half-assed job "fixing" things that they broke, but as always Jensen has a much better sense of what is going on with Dean and so he's playing it much cooler and just waiting for the writers to figure it out and catch up. I suspect that actually happens quite a lot where Dean is concerned. That character stopped being Kripke's baby a long time ago. ;)

Anyway thanks for your thoughts. I too have wondered about a lot of this stuff but have been too lazy to write it down. :)

[ghyste.livejournal.com]

Sam and Dean’s characterisation has been all over the shop this Season, to the extent that they not only do they seem to take on whatever personality best fits the plot of the moment but also that the writers don’t care which one of them they assign which traits to. Whilst I’d like to believe it’s all planned, I honestly don’t know where the writers are heading and suspect that they don’t either.

They just seem like two guys who don't like each other very much and who hardly have anything in common, and yet who are miserably stuck with each other

Yeah – I almost preferred them fighting because at least they were putting feelings behind it. Now it seems that Sam can’t relate honestly to anyone and Dean has a better time with anybody that’s sitting in the passenger seat other than Sam.

I’d always shared your hope of the Series ending with Sam and Dean heading into the sunset in the Impala. Season 4 pretty much put the kybosh on that and I’d been assuming that the Apocalypse would end with Sam earning “redemption” in a grand gesture that left him dead. Now that there’s a Season 6 I haven’t the faintest – Kripke talks about returning to a S1 feel, but he’s effectively killed everything that raised S1 above your average MoTW show.

[ariadnes-string.livejournal.com]

Hey--finally saw 5.12, for what it's worth. I think you know I totally agree with you about the lack of chemistry between the Js and the distance in Sam and Dean's relationship, but it is getting more painful...

I thought the contrast between the drunk scene in "Playthings" and the "drugged" scene in 5.11 was pretty instructive. The former is often, and justifiably, cited as one of the most "Wincesty" scenes the show has ever had--in the latter, when Sam touches Dean, Dean looks like it's making his flesh crawl....I can't believe people are making icons and .gifs of that moment, because it's so painful. Likewise, the scene in 5.12 when Gary!Sam tells Dean he's awesome, and Dean is just so painfully surprised. Ouch.

So, yeah, I'm with you in wishing for a Sam-free future for Dean--with some well-deserved love (not that he'd know what to do with it, poor guy).

[oselle.livejournal.com]

You know, the whole babysitter thing sailed over my head -- I mean the age that the boys were supposed to have been when they were being babysat. I thought the comment about Dean having a crush on the babysitter was a joke about Dean being a wee ladies' man at an early age. Seriously, he would have been SIXTEEN at the time? Oh, that is too ridiculous for words...especially since the show has ALWAYS told us that Dean was solely responsible for taking care of Sam, even when he was just a little kid himself. How is it possible that they had a better knowledge of these characters in Season One than they do now? I'm at the point where I think the writers are plugging in shit like this so they can run to the TWoP message boards and cackle over who's bitching about it.

The ending with Sam telling Dean to turn down the radio and Dean's "yeah, it's you" response was what really slapped me in the face. I've been feeling their estrangement for a long time but that was the first time I've felt such open contempt coming from Sam and such weary resignation from Dean. It's painful to watch, it really is.