3.04 Sin City: All You’ve Gotta Do Is Nudge Humans in the Right Direction

[bardicvoice]

3.04 Sin City: All You’ve Gotta Do Is Nudge Humans in the Right Direction

Demonic lovers

Play on human temptations.

Sam kills with the Colt.

Episode Summary

While the boys were staying with Bobby in South Dakota working on trying to understand what had made the Colt an effective demon-killing weapon, a man killed himself in a church in the dead-end

Comments

[riverbella]

You've put your finger neatly on many of the things about this episode that I loved. Broadly speaking, I have noticed a number of comments that were less enthusiastic about this episode than others this season and in a number of cases, the complaint was in relation to the Dean/Casey conversation being too long and boring. I could not disagree more with that assessment. I thought that conversation was fascinating. "Humanizing" demons (which clearly is not doing them any favors!) and making them much more than two dimensional, generic evil beings, adds so much texture and complexity to the show's mythology and opens up so much more range for emotional exploration for the characters. I'm inclined to see in this season even more than before the Eric Kripke/Bob Singer dynamic at work--with Kripke powering the action/horror aspects forward while Singer builds more and more dimensions into even the most minor characters. And despite some occasional missteps, most of the actors cast in those roles are able to carry it off and make their characters real and interesting. Needless to say, the two stars of the show are astonishingly good at this. I was so stunned by that blink-and-you'd-miss-it moment when Jensen Ackles revealed Dean's fear through his insouciance with little more than a flicker of darkness in his eyes that I was still thinking about it hours later. Even if I hadn't genuinely loved a lot about the episode as a whole, that moment and Sam's final conversation with Ruby would have been enought to make the whole thing worth while for me.

P.S. Can't wait to read your take on Bedtime Stories, which had some incredibly freighted moments between the brothers.

[bardicvoice]

I guess it's a lucky thing for me that I don't read other people's reactions until after I write up my own; I wouldn't have been able to understand anyone complaining about this one! There was a lot of exposition, but I thought it was conveyed superbly, and things are now set up for a major payoff down the road. Yum.

Both of the boys have been dynamite this season. Jenson Ackles has always been incredible as Dean, and he just adds more subtle nuance every time he's called on. Jared Padalecki is excelling at both the comedy and the pain, growing every day. I can't wait for the rest of the season, and more!