SPN 6x01
As always, my post-ep reviews will be honest - some squee, some thinkiness, and some discussion of things that don't please me, as applicable. This one is long, and has a little of everything. Lots to discuss!
This episode had some wonderful things, but it was a very mixed bag for me, in terms of characterization, continuity, deus ex machina, and plot. It was fantastic in the first 20 minutes or so, but it sort of went downhill after that -- the last 20 minutes were incredibly abrupt, and what was left out was almost more important than what was shown. There were a few things I absolutely loved, however, so I will start with those.
Lisa. She is wonderful in this. How can anyone not love her?? Seriously. She's smart, she speaks her mind, she loves Dean and her son, and she's good to Dean. In return, he has clearly been good to her, and he loves her kid. (More on that in a second.) I was so pleased to see her fleshed out, even a little bit, as someone who made a conscious choice to take a broken man into her home and who doesn't regret that. Knowing how messed up Dean was at the start makes her decision even more important and significant. She sort of rehabilitated him, in a way, and he clearly benefited from her care. I HEART LISA, on her own, and for what she has meant to Dean.
As for Ben...this ep needed 1000% more Ben. Dean clearly thinks of Ben as a substitute Sam, from back in the day when Sam was his world, and needed him, and he could do stuff with Sam and teach Sam, and Sam looked up to Dean as his father figure and his world. Lisa wanted this, but dude -- so did Dean. Cooking breakfast? Teaching him about cars? Oh, my heart. That was so the point of the opening montage. Everything, and I do mean EVERYTHING, reminds Dean of Sam. There's nothing he does in his day, from horsing around with Ben to having a beer with a buddy, that isn't somehow a reminder of what he lost.
I absolutely, totally loved that. It was beautifully done. I loved Dean having a friend he hangs out with who is not a cool dude, but who is interested in Dean and his life. Dean has a friend! Well, had. Awww. Anyway.
And I loved the fact that Dean turned on a dime from husbandly construction worker who checks the locks at night to wary hunter who checks the devil's traps instead. He left the life, but the life never left him, and he is a hunter at his core. He might be rusty, and he might be out of practice, but it is truly who he is -- one faint scream, and he's off to save the day. I loved that when Lisa confronted him about that, she was non-judgmental about it. She gets it. She gets DEAN. And that matters so much.
Hell, when you think about it, Sam never really left the life, either. When Dean came to get him at college, he packed his knife. His knife, that clearly was never more than a few feet from him at any time while he lived with Jessica. Awesome.
Other stuff I loved: Dean goes back to Dad's journal, even after all this time, for the answers. MY HEARRRRT. Dean has discovered that chicks dig unavailable guys. (Hilarious. *g*) The MOTW are now actively hunting the hunters. OMG, that line -- "That's for our father, you son of a bitch" -- the callback to Dean and Sam killing the YED! THE TABLES ARE TURNED! That invoked a serious shiver. Whoa.
Now we will get to the stuff I didn't love as much as I wanted to. I'll try to be organized about it.
Continuity: where is Adam? What happened to Lucifer? I mean, okay, Sam, you don't want to talk about it...but this was a huge deal last season. The dangling threads need some tying up.
Oh, Sam. There is something clearly wrong with Sam. I'm not sure what's going on there, but he as much as admitted to Dean at the end of the episode that he doesn't care about people like he should. (merryish? I guess I have to take it all back!) He seems very distant, and at times, colder than the grave. I'm resisting the urge to say he was brought back wrong, but...wow.
I don't think he was especially emotionless with Dean, because keep in mind, he has never really been separated from Dean this last year. He's known where Dean was, that he was safe, and he has clearly been keeping tabs on his brother. So there is no big outburst of emotion there; he's glad to see Dean. But still...their reunion was so hollow. I mean, we did get a hug, but...I'm not feeling it.
And this is where I get to the point that has had me hung up since I first spoiled myself about Sam's return. On the one hand, I truly believe Sam feels/tells himself he did the right thing for Dean all the way around. They were both so tired, before the big battle. They didn't trust each other. They were not happy on the road together. Everything was a disgreement, an argument, and there were no happy moments for them. Since season three, Dean has basically been telling Sam he's tired, that he wants off the road. Sam has been listening. So he took this opportunity to do for Dean what he thinks Dean will never do for himself: give Dean the normal life Dean has always craved (see: WIAWSNB, several years ago) and the family he wants, while Sam goes on hunting, having given up all desire for it himself. He knows there's no way out.
Also, you can't help but think Sam was a little tired of the fighting and bickering, and when he came back from Hell, he was probably not in any shape to go back to the same old patterns. So he made a choice. Was it a good choice? No. Was it motivated with Dean's best interests at heart? We're supposed to believe it was. Bobby clearly thinks it was. Bobby comes from a position of someone who lost his apple pie life; he's not objective about this at all. And he loves Dean, like Sam does. They both want the best for him.
But I don't buy it. I'm sorry, Sam has to be colossally stupid about the person he knows (well, used to know) best in the world to think even for one moment that Dean's normal life WITHOUT SAM has any meaning whatsoever. Let's not forget that Sam was on the other side of that fence once, and he knows how it feels to have your brother in hell and be powerless to save him, so there's no excuse! There was a time Sam was completely perceptive about Dean, back in seasons 1 and 2, and I feel like that has totally disappeared. In what universe does a Winchester come back from the dead and let his brother live on in agony, thinking he's still in the pit? It just doesn't make sense. I can't make it make sense; I've tried. Even if Sam assumes Dean would try to leave his normal life and get back on the road, Sam doesn't have to let him. See this ep's manuever about how he has his car like he wants it. They could have reunited and agreed to part as friends, see each other every now and then.
So...it's hard for me to buy, and after two months of trying and one ep of working on it, I'm not there. Maybe someone else will write an argument that will convince me.
Also high on the skepticism scale: the resurrection of Grandpa Skinner. I mean...really? I'm trying to go with it, because I like Grandpa, but. It's odd. I'm not feeling much for the Campbell cousins. Especially Harold Lauder Jonas Quinn the one played by Corin Corky Nemec. I did love that he and Dean didn't quite hit it off, tho. I APPROVE DEAN. SHOOT HIM IN THE FACE AND BE DONE WITH IT. Sorry. I am not a Nemec fan.
The last 20 mins of the ep were so uneven. We didn't see Sam go after Dean; we didn't see quite a lot, actually. We missed all the kinds of things that used to make the show worth watching, for me. The YED stuff was totally terrifying, and shows once again how much Dean thinks of Ben as a Sam sub-in, and how terrified he is of losing Lisa the way Jess and Mary went. But that was it. Everything else, I was mostly going...wow, this is so abrupt.
I did like Sam turning down the Impala, because Impala = true reunion. They are meant to ride in her TOGETHER. So that will be the turning point, I predict.
And the ending. Sigh. Well, here is where I diverge from the pack, I guess. Perhaps it's my fears about this season getting in my way, but I am really kind of actively repelled by the idea of another season where Sam and Dean aren't getting along, where they are not able to have happy moments together. Sam's coldness, their distant parting, it's all wrong, wrong, wrong. See, back in season one when they were strangers to each other, and had to find their way back together...you could always sense their affection for each other, the bond they have. Now it feels severed. I don't want that to be a dealbreaker for me, but. I'm on the fence about where I think this season is going, and whether I can stand more disaffection between them, and distance, and not getting along.
Wow, this got long. Sorry. In conclusion...I'm not sure what my conclusion is. It was so uneven, I have trouble figuring out where to land on this one. I guess...I will wait and see what comes next. I'm trying to keep an open mind for the possibilities of Dean and Sam reuniting on the road, but...if this is any indication of how they will be together, I don't see how that's going to be pleasing. We shall see, I guess.
This episode had some wonderful things, but it was a very mixed bag for me, in terms of characterization, continuity, deus ex machina, and plot. It was fantastic in the first 20 minutes or so, but it sort of went downhill after that -- the last 20 minutes were incredibly abrupt, and what was left out was almost more important than what was shown. There were a few things I absolutely loved, however, so I will start with those.
Lisa. She is wonderful in this. How can anyone not love her?? Seriously. She's smart, she speaks her mind, she loves Dean and her son, and she's good to Dean. In return, he has clearly been good to her, and he loves her kid. (More on that in a second.) I was so pleased to see her fleshed out, even a little bit, as someone who made a conscious choice to take a broken man into her home and who doesn't regret that. Knowing how messed up Dean was at the start makes her decision even more important and significant. She sort of rehabilitated him, in a way, and he clearly benefited from her care. I HEART LISA, on her own, and for what she has meant to Dean.
As for Ben...this ep needed 1000% more Ben. Dean clearly thinks of Ben as a substitute Sam, from back in the day when Sam was his world, and needed him, and he could do stuff with Sam and teach Sam, and Sam looked up to Dean as his father figure and his world. Lisa wanted this, but dude -- so did Dean. Cooking breakfast? Teaching him about cars? Oh, my heart. That was so the point of the opening montage. Everything, and I do mean EVERYTHING, reminds Dean of Sam. There's nothing he does in his day, from horsing around with Ben to having a beer with a buddy, that isn't somehow a reminder of what he lost.
I absolutely, totally loved that. It was beautifully done. I loved Dean having a friend he hangs out with who is not a cool dude, but who is interested in Dean and his life. Dean has a friend! Well, had. Awww. Anyway.
And I loved the fact that Dean turned on a dime from husbandly construction worker who checks the locks at night to wary hunter who checks the devil's traps instead. He left the life, but the life never left him, and he is a hunter at his core. He might be rusty, and he might be out of practice, but it is truly who he is -- one faint scream, and he's off to save the day. I loved that when Lisa confronted him about that, she was non-judgmental about it. She gets it. She gets DEAN. And that matters so much.
Hell, when you think about it, Sam never really left the life, either. When Dean came to get him at college, he packed his knife. His knife, that clearly was never more than a few feet from him at any time while he lived with Jessica. Awesome.
Other stuff I loved: Dean goes back to Dad's journal, even after all this time, for the answers. MY HEARRRRT. Dean has discovered that chicks dig unavailable guys. (Hilarious. *g*) The MOTW are now actively hunting the hunters. OMG, that line -- "That's for our father, you son of a bitch" -- the callback to Dean and Sam killing the YED! THE TABLES ARE TURNED! That invoked a serious shiver. Whoa.
Now we will get to the stuff I didn't love as much as I wanted to. I'll try to be organized about it.
Continuity: where is Adam? What happened to Lucifer? I mean, okay, Sam, you don't want to talk about it...but this was a huge deal last season. The dangling threads need some tying up.
Oh, Sam. There is something clearly wrong with Sam. I'm not sure what's going on there, but he as much as admitted to Dean at the end of the episode that he doesn't care about people like he should. (merryish? I guess I have to take it all back!) He seems very distant, and at times, colder than the grave. I'm resisting the urge to say he was brought back wrong, but...wow.
I don't think he was especially emotionless with Dean, because keep in mind, he has never really been separated from Dean this last year. He's known where Dean was, that he was safe, and he has clearly been keeping tabs on his brother. So there is no big outburst of emotion there; he's glad to see Dean. But still...their reunion was so hollow. I mean, we did get a hug, but...I'm not feeling it.
And this is where I get to the point that has had me hung up since I first spoiled myself about Sam's return. On the one hand, I truly believe Sam feels/tells himself he did the right thing for Dean all the way around. They were both so tired, before the big battle. They didn't trust each other. They were not happy on the road together. Everything was a disgreement, an argument, and there were no happy moments for them. Since season three, Dean has basically been telling Sam he's tired, that he wants off the road. Sam has been listening. So he took this opportunity to do for Dean what he thinks Dean will never do for himself: give Dean the normal life Dean has always craved (see: WIAWSNB, several years ago) and the family he wants, while Sam goes on hunting, having given up all desire for it himself. He knows there's no way out.
Also, you can't help but think Sam was a little tired of the fighting and bickering, and when he came back from Hell, he was probably not in any shape to go back to the same old patterns. So he made a choice. Was it a good choice? No. Was it motivated with Dean's best interests at heart? We're supposed to believe it was. Bobby clearly thinks it was. Bobby comes from a position of someone who lost his apple pie life; he's not objective about this at all. And he loves Dean, like Sam does. They both want the best for him.
But I don't buy it. I'm sorry, Sam has to be colossally stupid about the person he knows (well, used to know) best in the world to think even for one moment that Dean's normal life WITHOUT SAM has any meaning whatsoever. Let's not forget that Sam was on the other side of that fence once, and he knows how it feels to have your brother in hell and be powerless to save him, so there's no excuse! There was a time Sam was completely perceptive about Dean, back in seasons 1 and 2, and I feel like that has totally disappeared. In what universe does a Winchester come back from the dead and let his brother live on in agony, thinking he's still in the pit? It just doesn't make sense. I can't make it make sense; I've tried. Even if Sam assumes Dean would try to leave his normal life and get back on the road, Sam doesn't have to let him. See this ep's manuever about how he has his car like he wants it. They could have reunited and agreed to part as friends, see each other every now and then.
So...it's hard for me to buy, and after two months of trying and one ep of working on it, I'm not there. Maybe someone else will write an argument that will convince me.
Also high on the skepticism scale: the resurrection of Grandpa Skinner. I mean...really? I'm trying to go with it, because I like Grandpa, but. It's odd. I'm not feeling much for the Campbell cousins. Especially Harold Lauder Jonas Quinn the one played by Corin Corky Nemec. I did love that he and Dean didn't quite hit it off, tho. I APPROVE DEAN. SHOOT HIM IN THE FACE AND BE DONE WITH IT. Sorry. I am not a Nemec fan.
The last 20 mins of the ep were so uneven. We didn't see Sam go after Dean; we didn't see quite a lot, actually. We missed all the kinds of things that used to make the show worth watching, for me. The YED stuff was totally terrifying, and shows once again how much Dean thinks of Ben as a Sam sub-in, and how terrified he is of losing Lisa the way Jess and Mary went. But that was it. Everything else, I was mostly going...wow, this is so abrupt.
I did like Sam turning down the Impala, because Impala = true reunion. They are meant to ride in her TOGETHER. So that will be the turning point, I predict.
And the ending. Sigh. Well, here is where I diverge from the pack, I guess. Perhaps it's my fears about this season getting in my way, but I am really kind of actively repelled by the idea of another season where Sam and Dean aren't getting along, where they are not able to have happy moments together. Sam's coldness, their distant parting, it's all wrong, wrong, wrong. See, back in season one when they were strangers to each other, and had to find their way back together...you could always sense their affection for each other, the bond they have. Now it feels severed. I don't want that to be a dealbreaker for me, but. I'm on the fence about where I think this season is going, and whether I can stand more disaffection between them, and distance, and not getting along.
Wow, this got long. Sorry. In conclusion...I'm not sure what my conclusion is. It was so uneven, I have trouble figuring out where to land on this one. I guess...I will wait and see what comes next. I'm trying to keep an open mind for the possibilities of Dean and Sam reuniting on the road, but...if this is any indication of how they will be together, I don't see how that's going to be pleasing. We shall see, I guess.