Things I Love About SPN Season 1: Bloody Mary (Part 2 of 2)
Continued from Part 1
Sam and Dean learn that the mirror Mary Worthington died in front of has now been sold to an antique store, and we’re treated to some more mirror folklore:
DEAN
So wherever the mirror goes, that's where Mary goes?
SAM
Her spirit's definitely tied up with it somehow.
DEAN
Isn't there an old superstition that says mirrors can capture spirits?
SAM
Yeah there is. Yeah, when someone would die in a house people would cover up the mirrors so the ghost wouldn't get trapped.
DEAN
So Mary dies in front of a mirror, and it draws in her spirit.
SAM
Yeah but how could she move through like a hundred different mirrors?
DEAN
I don't know, but if the mirror is the source, I say we find it and smash it.
SAM
Yeah, I don't know, maybe.
http://www.supernaturalwiki.com/1.05_Bloody_Mary_(transcript)
Meanwhile, Mary has been pursuing Charlie and when the brothers learn about it, they conclude that Charlie must also be harbouring a secret.
She reveals that she had an emotionally abusive boyfriend who threatened suicide when she broke up with him and subsequently made good on the threat.
This scene has come to trouble me as I’ve re-watched it through the lens of later seasons. There’s typically a parallel between the brothers’ lives and those of the victims they rescue. The obvious parallel in this case is that Sam feels responsible for Jessica’s death since it happened when he went away and left her alone. Unlike Charlie’s boyfriend, however, Jessica wasn’t scary and manipulative. There is someone in Sam’s life who might fit that description, though, and the way he and Dean look at each other while Charlie is telling her story seems to underscore that point.
I don’t think the show’s original intent was for the brothers’ relationship to become as overtly abusive as it did in some of the later seasons, but there were always hints that it had that dimension, and this may be one of them. It’s already been implied that Sam is, at some level, slightly afraid of Dean. I don’t think this is a physical fear (although the next episode will hint at a potentially dark and violent side to Dean’s character); rather, he seems afraid of the hold that Dean can exert over him. Again, the next episode will reveal that Dean felt personally abandoned by Sam when he left to go to college. We know, in broad strokes, what transpired between Sam and John that night, but it’s never been revealed how Dean reacted at the time. Show has been silent on the subject and allowed it to remain an empty space for fanfiction to fill. Did Dean try to apply emotional pressure on Sam, as Charlie’s boyfriend did in his attempt to coerce her to stay? We don’t know, but it’s possible.
Actress Marnette Patterson gives a nice performance in this scene, by the way.
Afterward the brothers discuss the situation in the car, beginning with a conversation that underscores the theme of black and white vs shades of grey:
DEAN
You know her boyfriend killing himself, that's not really Charlie's fault.
SAM
You know as well as I do spirits don't exactly see shades of gray, DEAN. Charlie had a secret, someone died, that's good enough for Mary.
The Sam conjectures that in order to vanquish Mary, it may be necessary to summon her to her own mirror, then smash it, and he proposes to offer himself up as bait. Dean isn’t happy about the idea:
DEAN
Well who's gonna summon her?
SAM
I will. She'll come after me.
DEAN
You know what, that's it. {He pulls the car over.} This is about Jessica, isn't it? You think that's your dirty little secret that you killed her somehow? SAM, this has got to stop, man. I mean, the nightmares and calling her name out in the middle of the night-it's gonna kill you. Now listen to me-It wasn't your fault. If you wanna blame something, then blame the thing that killed her. Or hell, why don't you take a swing at me? I mean I'm the one that dragged you away from her in the first place.
And so begins the blurring of details that morphs into unreliable narrative as the brothers begin to misrepresent themselves and each other. At this stage, nothing is said that’s technically untrue; Jessica did die while Sam was away, and it was Dean who originally persuaded him to leave, but already the important point that Dean delivered Sam home at the end of the weekend has been omitted because, strictly speaking, it isn’t relevant to the thrust of the present argument. Nevertheless, Sam rightfully asserts that he doesn’t blame Dean but, by the end of the season, he will become less clear on this point.
Dean continues “well you shouldn't blame yourself, because there's nothing you could've done,” which is true, but Sam responds, “I could've warned her,” which again, as we soon discover, is also technically true, but overlooks the crucial point that it would have made no difference. Even armed with Sam’s foresight, there is nothing either she or Sam or Dean could have done to prevent Jessica’s death. At the time, they simply lacked the knowledge and means to stop it.
However, of course, both Dean and the audience are presently unaware of Sam’s abilities, and Dean’s response to Sam’s statement leads to the revelation that Sam is harbouring a secret:
DEAN
About what? You didn't know what was gonna happen! And besides, all of this isn't a secret, I mean I know all about it. It's not gonna work with Mary anyway.
SAM
No you don't.
DEAN
I don't what?
SAM
You don't know all about it. I haven't told you everything.
DEAN
What are you talking about?
SAM
Well it wouldn't really be a secret if I told you, would it?
http://www.supernaturalwiki.com/1.05_Bloody_Mary_(transcript)
And so we have reached the crux of the episode: Sam’s deadly “truth or dare” game with Mary. Like Lily in the opening scene, Sam has the choice of telling the truth and revealing his secret, or saying “Bloody Mary” three times in front of the mirror, and he chooses to dare the confrontation.
Unsurprisingly, Dean isn’t happy - about the secret, or the plan - but, after the application of Sam’s other power (I’m referring, of course, to his puppy-dog eyes) he is persuaded to go along with it.
But now I’m going to make a suggestion that will doubtless be very controversial, and that is that the power of Sam’s puppy-dog eyes is a bit of a fandom myth. Oh, I don’t deny that he has them (I mean, we can all see the picture, right?) but my contention is that he tends to get his way on most occasions when he asserts himself, regardless of whether he employs the puppy-peepers or not. We’ve already seen an example in this episode when Sam unilaterally handed over Dean’s hard-won cash to the coroner’s assistant. I would submit that, despite all Dean’s alpha-male posturing, he mostly follows Sam’s lead in the early seasons and rarely has the confidence to assert his will over Sam’s, except in one specific circumstance - and that’s when he has received (or believes he has received) direct orders from John. And, in that case, it is not really his own will he’s asserting, but his father’s. As the season progresses, we will begin to see more evidence that Dean is, by nature, a follower rather than a leader.
After receiving information that Mary’s original mirror is now in an antique shop in Toledo, the boys hightail it to a store that contains Vancouver’s entire supply of quite a few mirrors. They manage to locate the right one and Sam prepares to confront Mary. It’s worth mentioning an interesting reverberation on the soundtrack that builds up as Sam repeats the infamous phrase. It’s a clever use of sound that effectively heightens the tension and drama of the moment. Unfortunately, the brothers have tripped the alarm system, attracting the attention of local security guards. Dean is forced to deal with their arrival, leaving Sam with the advice “smash anything that moves”. Sam takes him at his word, smashing a number of mirrors where he glimpses Mary, unconscious of the threat posed by his own reflection until mirror!Sam smirks maliciously at him and his eyes begin to bleed.
It appears that having your eyes cut out causes some unusual referred symptoms: Jill’s response was to choke, and here we see Sam apparently suffering from chest pain. Personally, I’d have expected clutching your eyes to be the more natural response but, I guess, when make-up have gone to the trouble of painting blood trickles on your face, you’re required not to ruin their good work :P
Meanwhile, Dean adlibs some BS to placate the security guards:
DEAN
Whoa guys, false alarm, I tripped the system.
Police
Who are you?
DEAN
I'm the boss's kid.
You know, I’ve always considered Dean to be good at thinking on his feet but, as I’m re-watching episodes again, I’m starting to notice how often his improvisations blow up in his face:
He tries unsuccessfully to talk his way out of it, but is forced to resort to Plan B.
His next move simply happens too fast to cap. He takes down both guards in three moves and less seconds. This is a fascinating scene for at least two reasons: first, it reveals that, in ordinary circumstances, Dean is actually surprisingly reluctant to resort to violence. His go-to response to trouble is to try to talk his way out of it. Despite the fact that violence is evidently the far quicker and easier option for him, he only uses it when he has no other choice. Secondly, the speed with which he dispatches these men highlights how highly trained and dangerous he is far more effectively than the prolonged punch-ups ubiquitous in later seasons.
At some point in the show’s evolution, it apparently became mandatory to have an extended fight scene in every episode. I don’t know how others feel about this, but I’ve never understood the popularity of these scenes. To my mind, there’s only so many ways a fight can go down and, when they happen every week, they become predictable, repetitive and boring. They don’t advance the plot, they take up too much screen time and, likely as not, I’ll wind up fast-forwarding through them to get on with the story. Also, for me, the fact that the antagonists have to be magically disempowered to give Sam and Dean a plausible chance of beating them in a fist fight actually makes it less exciting. I dunno. Maybe show was contractually obliged to give the stunt crew regular work.
By contrast, the monsters of season one are powerful creatures that cannot be defeated with mere fisticuffs, which makes them far more threatening. The brothers must use their wits to overcome them. There are relatively few fight scenes and - most of them - when they occur, are as short lived as this one. I feel the sparing use of violence makes it more effective when it happens. There are notable exceptions; indeed, there’s a striking (;D) example in the next episode. But the few extended fight scenes that took place in the first season usually followed as a culmination of built-up tensions that accumulated over several episodes. The resulting effect was cathartic, and more memorable as a consequence.
What do you guys think? Did you enjoy the regular fight scenes of the later seasons? Or did you prefer the earlier more measured approach to violence?
Meanwhile, back in the shop, we finally get the big reveal. Sam’s secret is that he has supernatural powers of his own: prophetic dreams! (Incidentally, this scene provides the first of the many occasions when Jared had the opportunity to play alternative versions of Sam, and he delivers a nicely menacing performance as mirror!Sam, beautifully accentuated by the use of lighting and shadow on his face, and the tears of blood.
Evil!Sam is evil.
Fortunately, Dean arrives in time to smash the mirror and save Sam’s eyeballs from exploding.
Face hug! 😊😊😊
And then we get the iconic shot of Mary climbing out of the mirror.
Whoops! Sorry! Sorry, that’s from “The Ring” again. This is the one of Mary:
The boys aren’t out of the woods yet.
Now, I confess, when I watched the episode for the first time, I didn’t give much thought to the fact that both Sam and Dean’s eyes are bleeding when they confront Mary.
Monsters often deviate from their typical MO when defending themselves against hunters, and I just assumed that’s what was happening in this scene, but I’m indebted to stir_of_echoes' brilliant meditation on the character of Dean Winchester for making me look at the scene with fresh eyes. (And I highly recommend the full article to anyone here who hasn’t read it yet):
It took me a while to understand why it bothered me so much, Dean crying blood tears, or Dean’s eyes bleeding . . . That image stayed with me throughout several episodes . . . At that point I’d only known Dean Winchester for a period of six hours and I was still taking in everything. The whole backstory, and trying to piece together a puzzle . . . But I went back and rewatched and then I froze the clip on the exact moment above and just stared at the image and thought about the episode, and what I’d seen of previous episodes because I found it hard to think that there was a death somewhere that Dean felt responsible for. A significant death, something that was Dean’s fault.
Or something that Dean thought was his fault.
And then I thought back to what Sam said, and what I’d already learned of Dean.
“You know as well as I do, spirits don’t exactly see shades of grey.”
And perhaps nor does Dean Winchester.
He’s sees failure, his failure. One for every life he couldn’t save. Each one just one more failure in the long list of failures. Because Dean doesn’t remember all those who died.
He remembers all those he failed to save.
And that for me, became Dean’s secret. You can’t always save everyone, people die and that’s Dean’s responsibility.
https://stir-of-echoes.dreamwidth.org/2008/01/24/
Stir’s assessment is more than a valid interpretation of the scene; it’s a perceptive and beautifully expressed observation of a general truth about Dean’s character.
Having said that, though, Stir’s comments prompted me to consider whether there might be a more specific failure from his past that Dean might be concealing, and it occurred to me that we discover later in the season that Dean does, in fact, have a secret that involved someone almost dying, specifically Sam. In episode 18, “Something Wicked”, we learn that young Dean left baby Sam alone and Sam was attacked by the shtriga while he was gone. I’m sure that, where Sam’s concerned, almost dying is a grey that would be as good as black to Dean. Also, it seems to me that Sam’s near-death experience in Dean’s absence bears a striking parallel to Jessica’s death in Sam’s, which lends weight to the possibility that the writers had the later episode consciously in mind when they planned this scene. But it’s a nuance to the scene that can only be appreciated in retrospect, after numerous re-watches. As I’ve said before, it’s a mark of a work of art that there’s always something more to be gleaned from it.
Anyhoo, back to Sam and Dean who are about to die a bloody death at the hands of the newly embodied Mary, but quick-thinking Dean uses the Medusa method to defeat her by picking up a mirror and weaponizing her own reflection against her. Mary gets a taste of her own guilt trip and promptly explodes in a shower of bloody shards, at which point Dean drops the mirror and it smashes. The scene ends with him gazing around the shop at the numerous smashed mirrors and quipping:
Mmm. Not so frickin’ funny in retrospect, is it, Dean? o_O
With Mary defeated, the brothers drive Charlie home and assure her that the ordeal is over. Sam tries to convince her to forgive herself since she probably couldn’t have prevented her boyfriend’s suicide.
This is what I’m saying!
Dean likewise suggests that Sam should forgive himself for Jessica’s death but, of course, he doesn’t know it all, so he tries to persuade Sam to reveal his secret. Sam, however, asserts his right to privacy:
SAM
Look...you're my brother and I'd die for you, but there are some things I need to keep to myself.
http://www.supernaturalwiki.com/1.05_Bloody_Mary_(transcript)
Sadly, by season four Sam has lost confidence in his right to personal autonomy to the point where he feels compelled to use lies and subterfuge rather than politely telling Dean to mind his own business, as he does in this scene.
Incidentally, Dean side-eyes Sam in the middle of this speech, and I’ve always been curious as to what was going on in his mind at that moment:
How should we interpret that micro-expression, I wonder? Does it convey surprise? Doubt? Disbelief? Does Sam’s declaration make a permanent impression? Does it play into Dean’s future decision to sacrifice himself to save Sam? I guess we’ll never know for sure.
We’re treated to one of SPN’s iconic musical moments: “Laugh, I Nearly Died” by the Rolling Stones (unless you’re watching on a streaming service, in which case you get “Bones Into Dust” by Fred Haring.) I’m not sure how the lyrics to either song are supposed to fit in with the action but the Stones number, particularly, seems to amp up the emotional intensity as Sam’s attention is suddenly caught by the image of a woman in white: Jessica standing at the side of the road.
This is another ambiguous moment open to multiple interpretations. Is this real, or just Sam’s imagination? A residual daytime nightmare, perhaps? Or a psychotic guilt-induced hallucination? Does she appear in white because Sam feels he was unfaithful to her when he left her behind to ride with Dean?
Or is Sam having an actual vision? Alternatively, has Jessica passed into the shadow world and become a supernatural being? Her image doesn’t stutter as a spirit’s might but, it is momentarily blocked by a telegraph pole and, once the car passes the obstruction, she has mysteriously disappeared - much in the manner that demons are seen to do in later episodes.
The character of Jessica returns toward the end of season 2, then again in season 5, but I think I recall Kripke saying in an interview that he’d originally hoped to bring her back sooner, but the actress was unavailable at the time. In episode 9, “Home” we discover that Mary Winchester became a spirit after her violent death. Was the demon’s claim in “Phantom Traveler”, that Jessica was still burning, originally a set up for bringing her back as a burning spirit, like Mary, or perhaps, somehow, a demon? Again, we’ll never know, but it’s fun to wonder.
What might have been is an abstraction
Remaining a perpetual possibility
Only in a world of speculation.
(T S Eliot, “Burnt Norton”.)
I hope you’ve enjoyed my ruminations on “Bloody Mary”. As always, I look forward to hearing your comments, observations and insights.
PS: This episode and the folklore it contained made such an impression on me that it later inspired an original short story that I wrote for a local competition. It didn't win, but I've since posted it on my Live Journal page. If anyone's curious, it does contain a character who should be somewhat familiar to dark!Dean fans :P You can find it here:
The Mirror of My Soul
.
Sam and Dean learn that the mirror Mary Worthington died in front of has now been sold to an antique store, and we’re treated to some more mirror folklore:
DEAN
So wherever the mirror goes, that's where Mary goes?
SAM
Her spirit's definitely tied up with it somehow.
DEAN
Isn't there an old superstition that says mirrors can capture spirits?
SAM
Yeah there is. Yeah, when someone would die in a house people would cover up the mirrors so the ghost wouldn't get trapped.
DEAN
So Mary dies in front of a mirror, and it draws in her spirit.
SAM
Yeah but how could she move through like a hundred different mirrors?
DEAN
I don't know, but if the mirror is the source, I say we find it and smash it.
SAM
Yeah, I don't know, maybe.
http://www.supernaturalwiki.com/1.05_Bloody_Mary_(transcript)
Meanwhile, Mary has been pursuing Charlie and when the brothers learn about it, they conclude that Charlie must also be harbouring a secret.
She reveals that she had an emotionally abusive boyfriend who threatened suicide when she broke up with him and subsequently made good on the threat.
This scene has come to trouble me as I’ve re-watched it through the lens of later seasons. There’s typically a parallel between the brothers’ lives and those of the victims they rescue. The obvious parallel in this case is that Sam feels responsible for Jessica’s death since it happened when he went away and left her alone. Unlike Charlie’s boyfriend, however, Jessica wasn’t scary and manipulative. There is someone in Sam’s life who might fit that description, though, and the way he and Dean look at each other while Charlie is telling her story seems to underscore that point.
I don’t think the show’s original intent was for the brothers’ relationship to become as overtly abusive as it did in some of the later seasons, but there were always hints that it had that dimension, and this may be one of them. It’s already been implied that Sam is, at some level, slightly afraid of Dean. I don’t think this is a physical fear (although the next episode will hint at a potentially dark and violent side to Dean’s character); rather, he seems afraid of the hold that Dean can exert over him. Again, the next episode will reveal that Dean felt personally abandoned by Sam when he left to go to college. We know, in broad strokes, what transpired between Sam and John that night, but it’s never been revealed how Dean reacted at the time. Show has been silent on the subject and allowed it to remain an empty space for fanfiction to fill. Did Dean try to apply emotional pressure on Sam, as Charlie’s boyfriend did in his attempt to coerce her to stay? We don’t know, but it’s possible.
Actress Marnette Patterson gives a nice performance in this scene, by the way.
Afterward the brothers discuss the situation in the car, beginning with a conversation that underscores the theme of black and white vs shades of grey:
DEAN
You know her boyfriend killing himself, that's not really Charlie's fault.
SAM
You know as well as I do spirits don't exactly see shades of gray, DEAN. Charlie had a secret, someone died, that's good enough for Mary.
The Sam conjectures that in order to vanquish Mary, it may be necessary to summon her to her own mirror, then smash it, and he proposes to offer himself up as bait. Dean isn’t happy about the idea:
DEAN
Well who's gonna summon her?
SAM
I will. She'll come after me.
DEAN
You know what, that's it. {He pulls the car over.} This is about Jessica, isn't it? You think that's your dirty little secret that you killed her somehow? SAM, this has got to stop, man. I mean, the nightmares and calling her name out in the middle of the night-it's gonna kill you. Now listen to me-It wasn't your fault. If you wanna blame something, then blame the thing that killed her. Or hell, why don't you take a swing at me? I mean I'm the one that dragged you away from her in the first place.
And so begins the blurring of details that morphs into unreliable narrative as the brothers begin to misrepresent themselves and each other. At this stage, nothing is said that’s technically untrue; Jessica did die while Sam was away, and it was Dean who originally persuaded him to leave, but already the important point that Dean delivered Sam home at the end of the weekend has been omitted because, strictly speaking, it isn’t relevant to the thrust of the present argument. Nevertheless, Sam rightfully asserts that he doesn’t blame Dean but, by the end of the season, he will become less clear on this point.
Dean continues “well you shouldn't blame yourself, because there's nothing you could've done,” which is true, but Sam responds, “I could've warned her,” which again, as we soon discover, is also technically true, but overlooks the crucial point that it would have made no difference. Even armed with Sam’s foresight, there is nothing either she or Sam or Dean could have done to prevent Jessica’s death. At the time, they simply lacked the knowledge and means to stop it.
However, of course, both Dean and the audience are presently unaware of Sam’s abilities, and Dean’s response to Sam’s statement leads to the revelation that Sam is harbouring a secret:
DEAN
About what? You didn't know what was gonna happen! And besides, all of this isn't a secret, I mean I know all about it. It's not gonna work with Mary anyway.
SAM
No you don't.
DEAN
I don't what?
SAM
You don't know all about it. I haven't told you everything.
DEAN
What are you talking about?
SAM
Well it wouldn't really be a secret if I told you, would it?
http://www.supernaturalwiki.com/1.05_Bloody_Mary_(transcript)
And so we have reached the crux of the episode: Sam’s deadly “truth or dare” game with Mary. Like Lily in the opening scene, Sam has the choice of telling the truth and revealing his secret, or saying “Bloody Mary” three times in front of the mirror, and he chooses to dare the confrontation.
Unsurprisingly, Dean isn’t happy - about the secret, or the plan - but, after the application of Sam’s other power (I’m referring, of course, to his puppy-dog eyes) he is persuaded to go along with it.
But now I’m going to make a suggestion that will doubtless be very controversial, and that is that the power of Sam’s puppy-dog eyes is a bit of a fandom myth. Oh, I don’t deny that he has them (I mean, we can all see the picture, right?) but my contention is that he tends to get his way on most occasions when he asserts himself, regardless of whether he employs the puppy-peepers or not. We’ve already seen an example in this episode when Sam unilaterally handed over Dean’s hard-won cash to the coroner’s assistant. I would submit that, despite all Dean’s alpha-male posturing, he mostly follows Sam’s lead in the early seasons and rarely has the confidence to assert his will over Sam’s, except in one specific circumstance - and that’s when he has received (or believes he has received) direct orders from John. And, in that case, it is not really his own will he’s asserting, but his father’s. As the season progresses, we will begin to see more evidence that Dean is, by nature, a follower rather than a leader.
After receiving information that Mary’s original mirror is now in an antique shop in Toledo, the boys hightail it to a store that contains Vancouver’s entire supply of quite a few mirrors. They manage to locate the right one and Sam prepares to confront Mary. It’s worth mentioning an interesting reverberation on the soundtrack that builds up as Sam repeats the infamous phrase. It’s a clever use of sound that effectively heightens the tension and drama of the moment. Unfortunately, the brothers have tripped the alarm system, attracting the attention of local security guards. Dean is forced to deal with their arrival, leaving Sam with the advice “smash anything that moves”. Sam takes him at his word, smashing a number of mirrors where he glimpses Mary, unconscious of the threat posed by his own reflection until mirror!Sam smirks maliciously at him and his eyes begin to bleed.
It appears that having your eyes cut out causes some unusual referred symptoms: Jill’s response was to choke, and here we see Sam apparently suffering from chest pain. Personally, I’d have expected clutching your eyes to be the more natural response but, I guess, when make-up have gone to the trouble of painting blood trickles on your face, you’re required not to ruin their good work :P
Meanwhile, Dean adlibs some BS to placate the security guards:
DEAN
Whoa guys, false alarm, I tripped the system.
Police
Who are you?
DEAN
I'm the boss's kid.
You know, I’ve always considered Dean to be good at thinking on his feet but, as I’m re-watching episodes again, I’m starting to notice how often his improvisations blow up in his face:
He tries unsuccessfully to talk his way out of it, but is forced to resort to Plan B.
His next move simply happens too fast to cap. He takes down both guards in three moves and less seconds. This is a fascinating scene for at least two reasons: first, it reveals that, in ordinary circumstances, Dean is actually surprisingly reluctant to resort to violence. His go-to response to trouble is to try to talk his way out of it. Despite the fact that violence is evidently the far quicker and easier option for him, he only uses it when he has no other choice. Secondly, the speed with which he dispatches these men highlights how highly trained and dangerous he is far more effectively than the prolonged punch-ups ubiquitous in later seasons.
At some point in the show’s evolution, it apparently became mandatory to have an extended fight scene in every episode. I don’t know how others feel about this, but I’ve never understood the popularity of these scenes. To my mind, there’s only so many ways a fight can go down and, when they happen every week, they become predictable, repetitive and boring. They don’t advance the plot, they take up too much screen time and, likely as not, I’ll wind up fast-forwarding through them to get on with the story. Also, for me, the fact that the antagonists have to be magically disempowered to give Sam and Dean a plausible chance of beating them in a fist fight actually makes it less exciting. I dunno. Maybe show was contractually obliged to give the stunt crew regular work.
By contrast, the monsters of season one are powerful creatures that cannot be defeated with mere fisticuffs, which makes them far more threatening. The brothers must use their wits to overcome them. There are relatively few fight scenes and - most of them - when they occur, are as short lived as this one. I feel the sparing use of violence makes it more effective when it happens. There are notable exceptions; indeed, there’s a striking (;D) example in the next episode. But the few extended fight scenes that took place in the first season usually followed as a culmination of built-up tensions that accumulated over several episodes. The resulting effect was cathartic, and more memorable as a consequence.
What do you guys think? Did you enjoy the regular fight scenes of the later seasons? Or did you prefer the earlier more measured approach to violence?
Meanwhile, back in the shop, we finally get the big reveal. Sam’s secret is that he has supernatural powers of his own: prophetic dreams! (Incidentally, this scene provides the first of the many occasions when Jared had the opportunity to play alternative versions of Sam, and he delivers a nicely menacing performance as mirror!Sam, beautifully accentuated by the use of lighting and shadow on his face, and the tears of blood.
Evil!Sam is evil.
Fortunately, Dean arrives in time to smash the mirror and save Sam’s eyeballs from exploding.
Face hug! 😊😊😊
And then we get the iconic shot of Mary climbing out of the mirror.
Whoops! Sorry! Sorry, that’s from “The Ring” again. This is the one of Mary:
The boys aren’t out of the woods yet.
Now, I confess, when I watched the episode for the first time, I didn’t give much thought to the fact that both Sam and Dean’s eyes are bleeding when they confront Mary.
Monsters often deviate from their typical MO when defending themselves against hunters, and I just assumed that’s what was happening in this scene, but I’m indebted to stir_of_echoes' brilliant meditation on the character of Dean Winchester for making me look at the scene with fresh eyes. (And I highly recommend the full article to anyone here who hasn’t read it yet):
It took me a while to understand why it bothered me so much, Dean crying blood tears, or Dean’s eyes bleeding . . . That image stayed with me throughout several episodes . . . At that point I’d only known Dean Winchester for a period of six hours and I was still taking in everything. The whole backstory, and trying to piece together a puzzle . . . But I went back and rewatched and then I froze the clip on the exact moment above and just stared at the image and thought about the episode, and what I’d seen of previous episodes because I found it hard to think that there was a death somewhere that Dean felt responsible for. A significant death, something that was Dean’s fault.
Or something that Dean thought was his fault.
And then I thought back to what Sam said, and what I’d already learned of Dean.
“You know as well as I do, spirits don’t exactly see shades of grey.”
And perhaps nor does Dean Winchester.
He’s sees failure, his failure. One for every life he couldn’t save. Each one just one more failure in the long list of failures. Because Dean doesn’t remember all those who died.
He remembers all those he failed to save.
And that for me, became Dean’s secret. You can’t always save everyone, people die and that’s Dean’s responsibility.
https://stir-of-echoes.dreamwidth.org/2008/01/24/
Stir’s assessment is more than a valid interpretation of the scene; it’s a perceptive and beautifully expressed observation of a general truth about Dean’s character.
Having said that, though, Stir’s comments prompted me to consider whether there might be a more specific failure from his past that Dean might be concealing, and it occurred to me that we discover later in the season that Dean does, in fact, have a secret that involved someone almost dying, specifically Sam. In episode 18, “Something Wicked”, we learn that young Dean left baby Sam alone and Sam was attacked by the shtriga while he was gone. I’m sure that, where Sam’s concerned, almost dying is a grey that would be as good as black to Dean. Also, it seems to me that Sam’s near-death experience in Dean’s absence bears a striking parallel to Jessica’s death in Sam’s, which lends weight to the possibility that the writers had the later episode consciously in mind when they planned this scene. But it’s a nuance to the scene that can only be appreciated in retrospect, after numerous re-watches. As I’ve said before, it’s a mark of a work of art that there’s always something more to be gleaned from it.
Anyhoo, back to Sam and Dean who are about to die a bloody death at the hands of the newly embodied Mary, but quick-thinking Dean uses the Medusa method to defeat her by picking up a mirror and weaponizing her own reflection against her. Mary gets a taste of her own guilt trip and promptly explodes in a shower of bloody shards, at which point Dean drops the mirror and it smashes. The scene ends with him gazing around the shop at the numerous smashed mirrors and quipping:
Mmm. Not so frickin’ funny in retrospect, is it, Dean? o_O
With Mary defeated, the brothers drive Charlie home and assure her that the ordeal is over. Sam tries to convince her to forgive herself since she probably couldn’t have prevented her boyfriend’s suicide.
This is what I’m saying!
Dean likewise suggests that Sam should forgive himself for Jessica’s death but, of course, he doesn’t know it all, so he tries to persuade Sam to reveal his secret. Sam, however, asserts his right to privacy:
SAM
Look...you're my brother and I'd die for you, but there are some things I need to keep to myself.
http://www.supernaturalwiki.com/1.05_Bloody_Mary_(transcript)
Sadly, by season four Sam has lost confidence in his right to personal autonomy to the point where he feels compelled to use lies and subterfuge rather than politely telling Dean to mind his own business, as he does in this scene.
Incidentally, Dean side-eyes Sam in the middle of this speech, and I’ve always been curious as to what was going on in his mind at that moment:
How should we interpret that micro-expression, I wonder? Does it convey surprise? Doubt? Disbelief? Does Sam’s declaration make a permanent impression? Does it play into Dean’s future decision to sacrifice himself to save Sam? I guess we’ll never know for sure.
We’re treated to one of SPN’s iconic musical moments: “Laugh, I Nearly Died” by the Rolling Stones (unless you’re watching on a streaming service, in which case you get “Bones Into Dust” by Fred Haring.) I’m not sure how the lyrics to either song are supposed to fit in with the action but the Stones number, particularly, seems to amp up the emotional intensity as Sam’s attention is suddenly caught by the image of a woman in white: Jessica standing at the side of the road.
This is another ambiguous moment open to multiple interpretations. Is this real, or just Sam’s imagination? A residual daytime nightmare, perhaps? Or a psychotic guilt-induced hallucination? Does she appear in white because Sam feels he was unfaithful to her when he left her behind to ride with Dean?
Or is Sam having an actual vision? Alternatively, has Jessica passed into the shadow world and become a supernatural being? Her image doesn’t stutter as a spirit’s might but, it is momentarily blocked by a telegraph pole and, once the car passes the obstruction, she has mysteriously disappeared - much in the manner that demons are seen to do in later episodes.
The character of Jessica returns toward the end of season 2, then again in season 5, but I think I recall Kripke saying in an interview that he’d originally hoped to bring her back sooner, but the actress was unavailable at the time. In episode 9, “Home” we discover that Mary Winchester became a spirit after her violent death. Was the demon’s claim in “Phantom Traveler”, that Jessica was still burning, originally a set up for bringing her back as a burning spirit, like Mary, or perhaps, somehow, a demon? Again, we’ll never know, but it’s fun to wonder.
What might have been is an abstraction
Remaining a perpetual possibility
Only in a world of speculation.
(T S Eliot, “Burnt Norton”.)
I hope you’ve enjoyed my ruminations on “Bloody Mary”. As always, I look forward to hearing your comments, observations and insights.
PS: This episode and the folklore it contained made such an impression on me that it later inspired an original short story that I wrote for a local competition. It didn't win, but I've since posted it on my Live Journal page. If anyone's curious, it does contain a character who should be somewhat familiar to dark!Dean fans :P You can find it here:
The Mirror of My Soul
.