Musings on 4x11 with a footnote of silly
While I didn’t hate “Family Remains” (4x11), it definitely left me wearing my HUH face and with an unsatisfied feeling. It was a disturbing MotW episode, with solid acting and a lots of hide-behind-the-pillow moments. I liked seeing the boys post-hunt and sleeping in the car. I liked the subtle Sam and Dean snarkiness (“Know it all”). I thought the plot, although very “Flowers in the Attic” V.C. Andrew-like, was okay. The exception was unveiling of the older brother, which Carver tried to foreshadow by planting this image (aren’t they both wearing dresses?):
Fair enough. But I thought it would’ve been creepier if the siblings had been identical twins. Not only would a single pregnancy have been the easiest way to explain the back story instead of multiple incestuous babies (that brother looked and sounded years older than the sister), it would’ve explained why the “ghost” appeared to move so quickly from inside to outside the house. Plus, showing the “ghost” in multiple places inside the house almost instantaneously would’ve been a more effective way to foreshadow the plot twist. It certainly would’ve been felt more earned having two girls crawling out of the woodwork instead of a never-seen-before brother launching out of the shadows.
But my main gripe isn’t with the nit-picky details of the surface plot or what Sam and/or Dean did or didn’t say. My issues are rooted in things that stretch beyond the merits and failings of single MotW episode broken by a team, written by one staff writer and their assistants, and overseen by Kripke. “Family Remains” is symptomatic of things I’ve been scratching my head about for a while, things like the overall story pacing and story telling efficiency, in what-over the last two seasons-seems to have become the formulaic “MotW” episode, and the writers smashing together of “MotW” episodes with loosely related characterization and mytharc reveals with their hammers. And these things combined have me wondering about execution of the rest of the season and what we’ll be left with after 4x22 fades to black.
I think “Family Remains” could’ve been great stand-alone episode. And by stand alone, I literally mean stand-alone: void of any mytharc, free of consequential emotional revelations, and without any attempts to hammer in a misplaced and awkward final scene … an awesome stand-alone on par with “Nightshifter”. But the final few minutes unbalanced this episode for me. The repetition of Dean pouring his heart out to Sam next to the Impala had the same effect as those ponderous early S3 Sam-and-Dean-fight-while-driving-in-the-Impala-at-night-and-then-divulge-into-case-file-exposition scenes. The same set up, the same conversation, the same old same old that, to me, is symptomatic of a lack of creativity or lazy writing.
While I don’t have a problem with Dean sharing and caring and furthering his emotional journey, I’m equally annoyed that such an important scene was so sloppily tacked on like an afterthought. It would’ve been more resonant at the end of “Heaven and Hell”, or the final scene of “Heaven and Hell” should’ve been reserved for this episode. Either way, the two scenes should’ve been joined because they’re the same conversation: Dean revealing to Sam what happened in Hell and his admission of guilt and shame at what he did under the duress of torture.
Dragging out the conversation over multiple episodes diluted it, reduced its impact. Kripke needs to stop holding back and teasing. He needs to hit the plot points square on and move the story forward so the plethora of the other less-developed plot points can be explored. We have a lot of meaty, compelling material to delve into. Angels, Lilith, Lucifer, Ruby, God, seals, Sam’s powers, demons, it’s all there and begging for page time. Why take the effort to open up the mytharc this last season to only pull it back and hide it behind the curtain? It makes me feel like either we’re being toyed with or else Kripke and Co. really don’t know what they’re writing beyond the next episode, and what we’re getting is them stumbling in the dark with a match instead of leading us with a blazing spotlight.
I’m not suggesting Dean’s emotional story or the number of MotW episodes should be culled. In fact, I’m arguing the opposite. I’m saying if more attention was paid to story pacing and efficiency, then a balance between MotW episodes and the mytharc/emotional journeys’ of the characters could be struck. We could move through the story more even keeled instead of thumping back and forth on an either-mytharc-or-an-ill-fitting-MotW seesaw.
Pacing: we’ve just spent two episodes and a couple of months in show time fragmenting ONE of Dean’s issues into post-episode footnotes when it could’ve been dealt with as one MAJOR plot point. What’s fascinating isn’t the conversation itself, which should’ve only taken 4 minutes of show time (not months), it’s the consequences of Dean’s revelation. What are the ramifications? How is Dean going to move forward? Does this affect the way Sam sees his brother? Apparently the angels know what Dean did, but do they know he enjoyed it and does/would that change their mission? The answers to those questions are THE STORY, not the revelation itself. We only have 11 episodes left to touch on a number of interesting and relevant ideas, some of which stem from just this reveal, some of which are Dean’s other issues, and some of which are Sam’s. What’s discussed needs to be cherry picked because there’s not the time to satisfactorily address all of them; I’d like to see the story (the evolution of the characters and their interactions) continually move forward instead of stagnate over catalyzing plot points.
Efficiency: an episode can forward the mytharc/character development and provide an open-and-closed satisfying case file if the MotW spins organically into character and plot reveals. S1, perhaps the season with the most “stand alone episodes”, had gorgeous MotW episodes that ECONOMICALLY SHOWED the evolution of the boys’ relationship, what they needed and wanted, what they were scared of. In “Home” we saw and felt Dean’s desperation as he made a tearful call to John asking for help because there’s something in their house in Lawrence, and we didn’t need to be told about Dean’s big brother complex and his need to protect Sam because we saw his wide-eyed panic and him sprinting across the lawn to frantically chop at the door with an axe to get to Sam. Likewise in “Scarecrow”, we saw Sam’s shift from Dean’s brother to Dean’s brother when he walked away from Meg, California, momentarily abandoning revenge and his search for John for Dean. These revelations were all accomplished through short scenes sprinkled throughout the episode, done efficiently through ACTION that SPUN DIRECTLY from reactions to the MotW situation instead of the writers having to waste time trying to EXPLAIN separately what they want us to see with contrived dialogue and strangely contorted and convoluted relationships between the surface story.
Furthermore, Kripke needs to stop taking major reveals and shoving them into the corners of marginally and poorly related MotW episodes. The reveal about what Dean did in Hell and the fact he liked it was huge, character changing. Why was it chopped up and tacked onto the end of two episodes that were loosely made relevant when it had the potential to be so much more?
For example, this episode marks the first time in four seasons I recall a human child has been killed in an on-scene act of violence. With the Winchester ethos about protecting the innocent and “saving people”, this is a big deal. After it was shown the girl was damaged beyond redemption, I wondered if the Show had the guts to have one of the boys kill her. And while I’m glad Dean or Sam wasn’t the one to end her life, it would’ve been more powerful and a very gutsy statement if Dean had been forced to kill her in order to save the lives of the family (the innocent) and Sam (the object of Dean’s knee-jerk prime directive since day one). This would’ve hit Dean’s fear-death-fight-or-flight primal button and been a powerful trigger unleashing the guilt, shame, self-hatred, and horror he’s been suppressing about what he did in Hell. OK, Dean did kill the brother, but because that was a character who was onscreen for about 3 seconds, that we didn't have any relationship with, it seems like rather a cheap cop out with lesser consequence to me.
ETA: In fact, I think keeping the brother behind the scenes, making him a male and appear older even though the children were to be fraternal twins (thank you to blackjedii for her steel-trap memory: apparently the siblings were referred to as twins in the sides and there were originally albino) might've been done on purpose to avoid villifying Dean. The brother's face was never revealed which prevented us from empathizing with him. He was literally a characterless shadow entity that attacked Dean. Dean killing an older male strikes different emotional chords in me than him killing a young girl even though intellectually I understand, in this case, the circumstances/facts for the sister and brother were identical (irredeamable, damaged kids who were a threat to everyone). I maintain the emotional fan response was why Kripke and Co. playing it safe here, why they protected Dean's character by keeping the brother intentionally hidden as much as possible (plot and character development wise) to the point that his reveal was almost out-of-left-field ridiculous. Furthermore, I believe this is why Kripke and Co. also chose to sacrifice Brian's character and have him kill the girl instead of Dean. While the emotional fan part of me is quite happy Dean didn't kill her, from a dramatic story perspective and probably also stemming from my general disgruntlement regarding this season's execution, I think Dean killing her would've been a bold move, one that could've paid for itself a million times over (in a good way) and upped the entire impact of this episode. Good drama isn't afraid of itself, it's not worried about backing itself into a corner, and no character is so sacred that they're beyond tarnishing. Any good story teller knows that a real hero falls to the lowest of lows and finds redemption, and the journey back out is where the power in the story lies, not in pulling punches and building glass cages around the characters. It's all just a matter of execution and restacking the pawns. [end ETA]
Dean killing the main bad guy, the girl, would’ve also established a stronger thematic tie between the surface plot and the Dean’s emotional journey, changing this from just a MotW episode with a mytharc-important scene stuck at the end to a characterization-defining episode with a relevant MotW acting as the catalyst for the change/reveal. I think part of the reason “Mystery Spot” and “In the Beginning” were such powerful episodes was due to the seamless link between the characterization reveals, the building of mytharc, and the surface plot. In both of these episodes, all sub-plots/threads complimented each other and lead us to the same end instead of pulling our attention in opposite directions. In “Family Remains”, the loose relationship between the MotW theme and Dean’s emotional reveal almost competed against each other. And the fact they were similar but not the same highlighted that the writers wanted them to be related but failed to execute the jump properly such that it became awkward and stale feeling.
Additionally, re-centering the MotW theme (Which was what exactly? Monsters are made? Faultless victims can become evil? Defending one’s family justifies murder?) and putting Dean’s journey front and center would’ve actively pushed a number of interesting questions to the forefront, making Show, once again, about more than just pretty faces and blood splatter.
Is it murder if it’s done in self-defense or in defense of the helpless and innocent? What is evil? Is it innate? Is it made? Do you have a choice to carry out evil acts when you have virtually no alternatives? Was the girl, her brother, and Dean in Hell made into something “evil”? Are humans turned demons truly evil and should they be held accountable for what they’ve been fashioned into under years of torture? The latter could’ve been a compelling question regarding Ruby that spring boarded us back into the shades of grey discussion Kripke seems so keen on these past two seasons (it seems to me Ruby and Dean should have a very big conversation coming down the pipe). Perhaps the fact that Ruby simply does remember what its like to be human (as does Dean) after her foray into Hell is literally the key unlocking her motivation(s). But more interestingly, this episode could’ve unearthed question about what it means to be a hunter, who Dean thinks he is, who he is now, and who or what has the power to decide who lives and who dies. It could’ve provided a stark contrast to the “it’s evil we kill it” black-and-white Dean and reinforce how much his character has evolved since S1/early S2. My point here is not to argue if Dean should’ve killed the girl or not, but that the surface plot should be milked for all it’s worth, and even though the it’s not literally about Sam and Dean it should be used to prompt mytharc and character-relevant questions.
But for me what’s most disappointing is the missed opportunity and unused potential. It’s sad when something that’s marginally OK could’ve been pants-on-fire awesome. I’m disappointed that Kripke keeps misbalancing the MotW episodes with character and plot growth. It’s as if someone over the last two seasons has decided there’s a formula to MotW episodes, such that they must be bracketed by five minutes of brother-relationship dialogue. What happened to the non-formulaic SHOWING of the boys’ dynamic and the organic unfolding of the mytharc throughout the episode? I want Sam and Dean’s story front and center where it belongs and given the attention it deserves by entrenching it firmly into a satisfying MotW episode and letting the story tell itself instead of being forced to unfold. Kripke, stop shoving a square peg into a round hole because it doesn’t work and the writers’ smashy hammer marks are making it hard to see the story beyond. Take the boys to dark places, be gutsy, take chances, give us something to talk really talk about. Go full speed ahead with the same break-neck gusto of the first three episodes of S4. You’re better than what you’ve been giving us. Stop trying so hard and just let it flow again.
***
OK, so as not to end on such a sour blah blah wet blanket note I’m including my cracktastic version of what went down in the writers’ room during the brainstorming for “Family Remains”. Whoo! I wrote it caffeinated! No spoilers for unaired episodes in any of the links. There’s an oblique reference to a future episode title, but unless you already know what it is, you won’t catch it. Warning: gross exploitation of Sam's sex scenes and lots of stupid, pointless humor. :P
Also, maybe I missed some vital thing that made this episode rock for some of you. Please share.
ETA: Also, also, if you're looking for a laugh, check out blackjedii's cracktastic version of "The Perfect Supernatural Script" that inadvertantly inspired whatever it is I wrote below. Spoilerphobes beware, there are spoilers in the comments to that post.
***
October, Supernatural Studios, LA: The Writers’ Room
Kripke: *paces in front of the white board* Crap. Our ratings are up. The network is likely going to renew us so they can get their paws on our syndication rights. We need to stretch out the story for another season and need new ideas for episode 4.11.
<---Dawn O! :O
Edlund: A cursed inanimate object that’s exploited by dark side of the human psyche and becomes a harbinger of destruction and chaos.
Gamble: Sex. Maybe biting?
Carver: I write what Eric tells me. *is secretly afraid he’s being set up to fail*
New Guys: *celebrate the fact they won’t have to work at Jack in the Box for another two years*
Humphris: How about an episode that underlines the nature of the Winchester family dysfunction. We use dream sequences to reflect on Sam and John’s relationship or use a monster of the week to make a statement about Dean’s capacity for darkness and his mysterious destiny-
Kripke: I’m thinking something gory. Like with blood. And gore.
Humphris: *facepalm*
Gamble: Someone faceplants in a deep fryer after they’ve had sex with Sam?
Edlund: The deep fryer could be cursed…
New Guys: We have real-life experience with deep fryers! *eager faces*
Kripke: *imagines bubbling and peeling flesh and giggles like a fangirl*
Manners (via teleconference thingy from Burnaby): Just give me something where I can use extreme close-ups. And Phil wants more montages and scenes where Jensen pretends to sing to use for the gag reel.
Singer (via teleconference thingy from across the lot): Jared has dry skin and is afraid of hot wax. According to his contract, he can’t get within 7.5 inches of candles, oiled waffle irons, or deep fryers.
Gamble: But what if a towel was involved?
Singer (via teleconference thingy from across the lot): Jared now refuses to take off his shirt for fear of being douche baggy. It’s in his contract.
Kripke: You know who is a douche bag? Criss Angel.
Everyone: ???
Kripke: Insults disguised as random pop culture references and inside jokes are awesome. *claps hands* OK, back on track … episode 4.11. Scary. What’s scary? Like piss-your-pants-eat-your-fist, big-reaction scary?
Edlund: A cursed inanimate object that’s exploited by dark side of the human psyche and becomes a harbinger of destruction and chaos.
Gamble: Werewolves. Also, Ruby.
Singer (via teleconference thingy from across the lot): We can’t make Jared douche-baggy. We’ll have to trick him into taking his shirt off voluntarily.
Carver: I think whatever Eric thinks is scary. *is secretly afraid of being set up to fail*
New Guys: Unemployment.
Humphris: We could use fear as a reflection on the boys’ psyches and their current emotional headspace. Being that they fight fear, which manifests itself literally as ghosts, even Hell, it would be an interesting to literally explore what they’re fearful of, not through the filter of the supernatural, but through their everyday-
Kripke: Come on guys, we’re writers. We’re supposed to have new ideas and write awesome stories and stuff. *makes Eric-like hand motions* I know. What’ve we written that’s really, really scary?
Humphris: *headdesk*
Edlund: People. People are scary, especially ones with inanimate objects.
Gamble: Sam’s muscles.
Singer (via teleconference thingy from across the lot): No douche ba-
Gamble: Fine. Little girls in douche-baggy dresses, alright?
Carver: When Eric made me write incest, that was scary. I thought I was being set up to fail.
Humphris: *mumbles*
New Guys: *look at Humphris* What? Balls?
Kripke: Hmm, balls … interesting. *steeples fingers*
Singer (via teleconference thingy from across the lot): Didn’t we do a ball scene with Bobby in that episode, “Hey, God, I’m Dean”?
Gamble: It was “Are You There God, It’s me, Dean Winchester”! And Judy Blume was my favorite teen author. She wrote about periods.
Humphris: No, not balls. DOLLS! Dolls are freaky. Dolls with dead, staring eyes and cut-off hair! But nobody will listen to me anyway… *rages*
New Guys: *back away slowly on rolly chairs* OK, dolls. Yeah. Not scarier than anyone anything else.
Kripke: Hmm, dolls … interesting. *rubs chin*
Manners (via teleconference thingy from Burnaby): Let’s do an episode where the boys crawl into a small space. Small spaces are good for extreme close-ups. Also, I can get the crew to dump water on them and laugh again.
Singer (via teleconference thingy from across the lot): Jared has nothing in his contract prohibiting waterboarding or Chinese water torture as long as it doesn’t involve douching.
Manners: And lets shoot it at that place where we shot “Faith” so Phil can do a montage to a Blue Oyster Cult song featuring the cow bell.
Kripke: *jumps up* OK, I got it! Episode 4.11! Think savage Missy Bender with incest and rolling balls and hairless dolls in the small space between walls shot at the place where we did the Blue Oyster Cult montage! *jazz hands* Is that kick ass or what? An extra Christmas bonus for anyone who can figure out a way to stick in the licked-hand urban legend and reference Scooby Doo and Casper the Ghost again.
Everyone: Eric, you are the God of Awesomeness! Let us worship at the shrine! \o/ *spins on their rolly chairs*
Kripke: Carver, you’re writing.
Carver: *Feels sheer terror. Glee. Suspicion. Silently wonders if he’s being set up to fail*
Gamble: Can it be Sam’s hand that’s licked?
*fade to black* ;)
Fair enough. But I thought it would’ve been creepier if the siblings had been identical twins. Not only would a single pregnancy have been the easiest way to explain the back story instead of multiple incestuous babies (that brother looked and sounded years older than the sister), it would’ve explained why the “ghost” appeared to move so quickly from inside to outside the house. Plus, showing the “ghost” in multiple places inside the house almost instantaneously would’ve been a more effective way to foreshadow the plot twist. It certainly would’ve been felt more earned having two girls crawling out of the woodwork instead of a never-seen-before brother launching out of the shadows.
But my main gripe isn’t with the nit-picky details of the surface plot or what Sam and/or Dean did or didn’t say. My issues are rooted in things that stretch beyond the merits and failings of single MotW episode broken by a team, written by one staff writer and their assistants, and overseen by Kripke. “Family Remains” is symptomatic of things I’ve been scratching my head about for a while, things like the overall story pacing and story telling efficiency, in what-over the last two seasons-seems to have become the formulaic “MotW” episode, and the writers smashing together of “MotW” episodes with loosely related characterization and mytharc reveals with their hammers. And these things combined have me wondering about execution of the rest of the season and what we’ll be left with after 4x22 fades to black.
I think “Family Remains” could’ve been great stand-alone episode. And by stand alone, I literally mean stand-alone: void of any mytharc, free of consequential emotional revelations, and without any attempts to hammer in a misplaced and awkward final scene … an awesome stand-alone on par with “Nightshifter”. But the final few minutes unbalanced this episode for me. The repetition of Dean pouring his heart out to Sam next to the Impala had the same effect as those ponderous early S3 Sam-and-Dean-fight-while-driving-in-the-Impala-at-night-and-then-divulge-into-case-file-exposition scenes. The same set up, the same conversation, the same old same old that, to me, is symptomatic of a lack of creativity or lazy writing.
While I don’t have a problem with Dean sharing and caring and furthering his emotional journey, I’m equally annoyed that such an important scene was so sloppily tacked on like an afterthought. It would’ve been more resonant at the end of “Heaven and Hell”, or the final scene of “Heaven and Hell” should’ve been reserved for this episode. Either way, the two scenes should’ve been joined because they’re the same conversation: Dean revealing to Sam what happened in Hell and his admission of guilt and shame at what he did under the duress of torture.
Dragging out the conversation over multiple episodes diluted it, reduced its impact. Kripke needs to stop holding back and teasing. He needs to hit the plot points square on and move the story forward so the plethora of the other less-developed plot points can be explored. We have a lot of meaty, compelling material to delve into. Angels, Lilith, Lucifer, Ruby, God, seals, Sam’s powers, demons, it’s all there and begging for page time. Why take the effort to open up the mytharc this last season to only pull it back and hide it behind the curtain? It makes me feel like either we’re being toyed with or else Kripke and Co. really don’t know what they’re writing beyond the next episode, and what we’re getting is them stumbling in the dark with a match instead of leading us with a blazing spotlight.
I’m not suggesting Dean’s emotional story or the number of MotW episodes should be culled. In fact, I’m arguing the opposite. I’m saying if more attention was paid to story pacing and efficiency, then a balance between MotW episodes and the mytharc/emotional journeys’ of the characters could be struck. We could move through the story more even keeled instead of thumping back and forth on an either-mytharc-or-an-ill-fitting-MotW seesaw.
Pacing: we’ve just spent two episodes and a couple of months in show time fragmenting ONE of Dean’s issues into post-episode footnotes when it could’ve been dealt with as one MAJOR plot point. What’s fascinating isn’t the conversation itself, which should’ve only taken 4 minutes of show time (not months), it’s the consequences of Dean’s revelation. What are the ramifications? How is Dean going to move forward? Does this affect the way Sam sees his brother? Apparently the angels know what Dean did, but do they know he enjoyed it and does/would that change their mission? The answers to those questions are THE STORY, not the revelation itself. We only have 11 episodes left to touch on a number of interesting and relevant ideas, some of which stem from just this reveal, some of which are Dean’s other issues, and some of which are Sam’s. What’s discussed needs to be cherry picked because there’s not the time to satisfactorily address all of them; I’d like to see the story (the evolution of the characters and their interactions) continually move forward instead of stagnate over catalyzing plot points.
Efficiency: an episode can forward the mytharc/character development and provide an open-and-closed satisfying case file if the MotW spins organically into character and plot reveals. S1, perhaps the season with the most “stand alone episodes”, had gorgeous MotW episodes that ECONOMICALLY SHOWED the evolution of the boys’ relationship, what they needed and wanted, what they were scared of. In “Home” we saw and felt Dean’s desperation as he made a tearful call to John asking for help because there’s something in their house in Lawrence, and we didn’t need to be told about Dean’s big brother complex and his need to protect Sam because we saw his wide-eyed panic and him sprinting across the lawn to frantically chop at the door with an axe to get to Sam. Likewise in “Scarecrow”, we saw Sam’s shift from Dean’s brother to Dean’s brother when he walked away from Meg, California, momentarily abandoning revenge and his search for John for Dean. These revelations were all accomplished through short scenes sprinkled throughout the episode, done efficiently through ACTION that SPUN DIRECTLY from reactions to the MotW situation instead of the writers having to waste time trying to EXPLAIN separately what they want us to see with contrived dialogue and strangely contorted and convoluted relationships between the surface story.
Furthermore, Kripke needs to stop taking major reveals and shoving them into the corners of marginally and poorly related MotW episodes. The reveal about what Dean did in Hell and the fact he liked it was huge, character changing. Why was it chopped up and tacked onto the end of two episodes that were loosely made relevant when it had the potential to be so much more?
For example, this episode marks the first time in four seasons I recall a human child has been killed in an on-scene act of violence. With the Winchester ethos about protecting the innocent and “saving people”, this is a big deal. After it was shown the girl was damaged beyond redemption, I wondered if the Show had the guts to have one of the boys kill her. And while I’m glad Dean or Sam wasn’t the one to end her life, it would’ve been more powerful and a very gutsy statement if Dean had been forced to kill her in order to save the lives of the family (the innocent) and Sam (the object of Dean’s knee-jerk prime directive since day one). This would’ve hit Dean’s fear-death-fight-or-flight primal button and been a powerful trigger unleashing the guilt, shame, self-hatred, and horror he’s been suppressing about what he did in Hell. OK, Dean did kill the brother, but because that was a character who was onscreen for about 3 seconds, that we didn't have any relationship with, it seems like rather a cheap cop out with lesser consequence to me.
ETA: In fact, I think keeping the brother behind the scenes, making him a male and appear older even though the children were to be fraternal twins (thank you to blackjedii for her steel-trap memory: apparently the siblings were referred to as twins in the sides and there were originally albino) might've been done on purpose to avoid villifying Dean. The brother's face was never revealed which prevented us from empathizing with him. He was literally a characterless shadow entity that attacked Dean. Dean killing an older male strikes different emotional chords in me than him killing a young girl even though intellectually I understand, in this case, the circumstances/facts for the sister and brother were identical (irredeamable, damaged kids who were a threat to everyone). I maintain the emotional fan response was why Kripke and Co. playing it safe here, why they protected Dean's character by keeping the brother intentionally hidden as much as possible (plot and character development wise) to the point that his reveal was almost out-of-left-field ridiculous. Furthermore, I believe this is why Kripke and Co. also chose to sacrifice Brian's character and have him kill the girl instead of Dean. While the emotional fan part of me is quite happy Dean didn't kill her, from a dramatic story perspective and probably also stemming from my general disgruntlement regarding this season's execution, I think Dean killing her would've been a bold move, one that could've paid for itself a million times over (in a good way) and upped the entire impact of this episode. Good drama isn't afraid of itself, it's not worried about backing itself into a corner, and no character is so sacred that they're beyond tarnishing. Any good story teller knows that a real hero falls to the lowest of lows and finds redemption, and the journey back out is where the power in the story lies, not in pulling punches and building glass cages around the characters. It's all just a matter of execution and restacking the pawns. [end ETA]
Dean killing the main bad guy, the girl, would’ve also established a stronger thematic tie between the surface plot and the Dean’s emotional journey, changing this from just a MotW episode with a mytharc-important scene stuck at the end to a characterization-defining episode with a relevant MotW acting as the catalyst for the change/reveal. I think part of the reason “Mystery Spot” and “In the Beginning” were such powerful episodes was due to the seamless link between the characterization reveals, the building of mytharc, and the surface plot. In both of these episodes, all sub-plots/threads complimented each other and lead us to the same end instead of pulling our attention in opposite directions. In “Family Remains”, the loose relationship between the MotW theme and Dean’s emotional reveal almost competed against each other. And the fact they were similar but not the same highlighted that the writers wanted them to be related but failed to execute the jump properly such that it became awkward and stale feeling.
Additionally, re-centering the MotW theme (Which was what exactly? Monsters are made? Faultless victims can become evil? Defending one’s family justifies murder?) and putting Dean’s journey front and center would’ve actively pushed a number of interesting questions to the forefront, making Show, once again, about more than just pretty faces and blood splatter.
Is it murder if it’s done in self-defense or in defense of the helpless and innocent? What is evil? Is it innate? Is it made? Do you have a choice to carry out evil acts when you have virtually no alternatives? Was the girl, her brother, and Dean in Hell made into something “evil”? Are humans turned demons truly evil and should they be held accountable for what they’ve been fashioned into under years of torture? The latter could’ve been a compelling question regarding Ruby that spring boarded us back into the shades of grey discussion Kripke seems so keen on these past two seasons (it seems to me Ruby and Dean should have a very big conversation coming down the pipe). Perhaps the fact that Ruby simply does remember what its like to be human (as does Dean) after her foray into Hell is literally the key unlocking her motivation(s). But more interestingly, this episode could’ve unearthed question about what it means to be a hunter, who Dean thinks he is, who he is now, and who or what has the power to decide who lives and who dies. It could’ve provided a stark contrast to the “it’s evil we kill it” black-and-white Dean and reinforce how much his character has evolved since S1/early S2. My point here is not to argue if Dean should’ve killed the girl or not, but that the surface plot should be milked for all it’s worth, and even though the it’s not literally about Sam and Dean it should be used to prompt mytharc and character-relevant questions.
But for me what’s most disappointing is the missed opportunity and unused potential. It’s sad when something that’s marginally OK could’ve been pants-on-fire awesome. I’m disappointed that Kripke keeps misbalancing the MotW episodes with character and plot growth. It’s as if someone over the last two seasons has decided there’s a formula to MotW episodes, such that they must be bracketed by five minutes of brother-relationship dialogue. What happened to the non-formulaic SHOWING of the boys’ dynamic and the organic unfolding of the mytharc throughout the episode? I want Sam and Dean’s story front and center where it belongs and given the attention it deserves by entrenching it firmly into a satisfying MotW episode and letting the story tell itself instead of being forced to unfold. Kripke, stop shoving a square peg into a round hole because it doesn’t work and the writers’ smashy hammer marks are making it hard to see the story beyond. Take the boys to dark places, be gutsy, take chances, give us something to talk really talk about. Go full speed ahead with the same break-neck gusto of the first three episodes of S4. You’re better than what you’ve been giving us. Stop trying so hard and just let it flow again.
***
OK, so as not to end on such a sour blah blah wet blanket note I’m including my cracktastic version of what went down in the writers’ room during the brainstorming for “Family Remains”. Whoo! I wrote it caffeinated! No spoilers for unaired episodes in any of the links. There’s an oblique reference to a future episode title, but unless you already know what it is, you won’t catch it. Warning: gross exploitation of Sam's sex scenes and lots of stupid, pointless humor. :P
Also, maybe I missed some vital thing that made this episode rock for some of you. Please share.
ETA: Also, also, if you're looking for a laugh, check out blackjedii's cracktastic version of "The Perfect Supernatural Script" that inadvertantly inspired whatever it is I wrote below. Spoilerphobes beware, there are spoilers in the comments to that post.
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October, Supernatural Studios, LA: The Writers’ Room
Kripke: *paces in front of the white board* Crap. Our ratings are up. The network is likely going to renew us so they can get their paws on our syndication rights. We need to stretch out the story for another season and need new ideas for episode 4.11.
<---Dawn O! :O
Edlund: A cursed inanimate object that’s exploited by dark side of the human psyche and becomes a harbinger of destruction and chaos.
Gamble: Sex. Maybe biting?
Carver: I write what Eric tells me. *is secretly afraid he’s being set up to fail*
New Guys: *celebrate the fact they won’t have to work at Jack in the Box for another two years*
Humphris: How about an episode that underlines the nature of the Winchester family dysfunction. We use dream sequences to reflect on Sam and John’s relationship or use a monster of the week to make a statement about Dean’s capacity for darkness and his mysterious destiny-
Kripke: I’m thinking something gory. Like with blood. And gore.
Humphris: *facepalm*
Gamble: Someone faceplants in a deep fryer after they’ve had sex with Sam?
Edlund: The deep fryer could be cursed…
New Guys: We have real-life experience with deep fryers! *eager faces*
Kripke: *imagines bubbling and peeling flesh and giggles like a fangirl*
Manners (via teleconference thingy from Burnaby): Just give me something where I can use extreme close-ups. And Phil wants more montages and scenes where Jensen pretends to sing to use for the gag reel.
Singer (via teleconference thingy from across the lot): Jared has dry skin and is afraid of hot wax. According to his contract, he can’t get within 7.5 inches of candles, oiled waffle irons, or deep fryers.
Gamble: But what if a towel was involved?
Singer (via teleconference thingy from across the lot): Jared now refuses to take off his shirt for fear of being douche baggy. It’s in his contract.
Kripke: You know who is a douche bag? Criss Angel.
Everyone: ???
Kripke: Insults disguised as random pop culture references and inside jokes are awesome. *claps hands* OK, back on track … episode 4.11. Scary. What’s scary? Like piss-your-pants-eat-your-fist, big-reaction scary?
Edlund: A cursed inanimate object that’s exploited by dark side of the human psyche and becomes a harbinger of destruction and chaos.
Gamble: Werewolves. Also, Ruby.
Singer (via teleconference thingy from across the lot): We can’t make Jared douche-baggy. We’ll have to trick him into taking his shirt off voluntarily.
Carver: I think whatever Eric thinks is scary. *is secretly afraid of being set up to fail*
New Guys: Unemployment.
Humphris: We could use fear as a reflection on the boys’ psyches and their current emotional headspace. Being that they fight fear, which manifests itself literally as ghosts, even Hell, it would be an interesting to literally explore what they’re fearful of, not through the filter of the supernatural, but through their everyday-
Kripke: Come on guys, we’re writers. We’re supposed to have new ideas and write awesome stories and stuff. *makes Eric-like hand motions* I know. What’ve we written that’s really, really scary?
Humphris: *headdesk*
Edlund: People. People are scary, especially ones with inanimate objects.
Gamble: Sam’s muscles.
Singer (via teleconference thingy from across the lot): No douche ba-
Gamble: Fine. Little girls in douche-baggy dresses, alright?
Carver: When Eric made me write incest, that was scary. I thought I was being set up to fail.
Humphris: *mumbles*
New Guys: *look at Humphris* What? Balls?
Kripke: Hmm, balls … interesting. *steeples fingers*
Singer (via teleconference thingy from across the lot): Didn’t we do a ball scene with Bobby in that episode, “Hey, God, I’m Dean”?
Gamble: It was “Are You There God, It’s me, Dean Winchester”! And Judy Blume was my favorite teen author. She wrote about periods.
Humphris: No, not balls. DOLLS! Dolls are freaky. Dolls with dead, staring eyes and cut-off hair! But nobody will listen to me anyway… *rages*
New Guys: *back away slowly on rolly chairs* OK, dolls. Yeah. Not scarier than anyone anything else.
Kripke: Hmm, dolls … interesting. *rubs chin*
Manners (via teleconference thingy from Burnaby): Let’s do an episode where the boys crawl into a small space. Small spaces are good for extreme close-ups. Also, I can get the crew to dump water on them and laugh again.
Singer (via teleconference thingy from across the lot): Jared has nothing in his contract prohibiting waterboarding or Chinese water torture as long as it doesn’t involve douching.
Manners: And lets shoot it at that place where we shot “Faith” so Phil can do a montage to a Blue Oyster Cult song featuring the cow bell.
Kripke: *jumps up* OK, I got it! Episode 4.11! Think savage Missy Bender with incest and rolling balls and hairless dolls in the small space between walls shot at the place where we did the Blue Oyster Cult montage! *jazz hands* Is that kick ass or what? An extra Christmas bonus for anyone who can figure out a way to stick in the licked-hand urban legend and reference Scooby Doo and Casper the Ghost again.
Everyone: Eric, you are the God of Awesomeness! Let us worship at the shrine! \o/ *spins on their rolly chairs*
Kripke: Carver, you’re writing.
Carver: *Feels sheer terror. Glee. Suspicion. Silently wonders if he’s being set up to fail*
Gamble: Can it be Sam’s hand that’s licked?
*fade to black* ;)