Review | 3x02 | The Kids Are Alright
So, I expected some changes in S3, after the writers effectively brought closure to most of the main driving forces behind S1 and S2, and so far that expectation seems to be confirmed. Admittedly, I have some troubles to adjust, although the characters and the storylines make sense so far. I guess, it’s more a question of comfort level, rather than a problem with the story in general. Sam and Dean’s closeness has always been my safe place within the darker moments of the story, and at the moment that safe place seems to be a labyrinth, with secret doors and hidden traps. Sera Gamble's The Kids Are Alright only cemented that feeling further, and I am nervous as to where that development leads us.
First off, one of my biggest problems with The Kids Are Alright is that Sam and Dean have maybe three scenes together and even those few scenes between them are barely meaningful. The brothers work apart for most of the episode, with Sam even handling the interrogation of the victims on his own, and I don’t recall an episode at the moment, where that has ever been the case before. That's really disconcerting to me, probably because I expected Dean’s limited time to result in an even closer relationship between the brothers, not in a more distanced one. There seems to be a deep chasm between Sam and Dean at the moment, and that throws me slightly off. Although it seems that distance is less a result of an emotional falling out between the brothers and more the result of the need to keep secrets, facilitated by the fact that Sam and Dean have different agendas at the moment. In any case, they seem farther away from each other than even at the beginning of S1. They talk to other people, but not to each other, and that worries me greatly.
It all started with Sam keeping the YED's revelations in All Hell Breaks Loose I - namely that Mary knew the YED and that he visited the Winchesters that night to feed Sam his demon blood - to himself. And it seems unlikely that Sam is going to tell Dean about his run-in with Ruby and her revelations about the Winchester family history either. Why Sam feels the need to keep the circumstances surrounding Mary’s death hidden from Dean is still not entirely clear to me though. Is he afraid of Dean’s reaction to Sam having demon blood in him? Dean has never given him any reason to think that he would resent Sam, no matter what Sam's connection to the YED would turn out to be. Does Sam try to maintain his brother's newly found joy and peace, suspecting that Dean would feel burdened again, if he knew the truth? I really hope that the show sheds some light on Sam's motives later on in the season. While Sam is keeping secrets, Dean tries to keep Sam at a distance, presumably to slowly ease Sam into the concept of being alone, as well as to hide is own fears about going to hell. Together they seem intent on building an unsurmountable wall between them.
Sam: "You want to drive all the way to Cicero, just to hook up with some random chick?"
Dean: "She was a yoga teacher. It was the bendiest weekend of my life. C'mon, have a heart. It's my dying wish!"
While Dean is obviously still in his hedonistic phase, his overall behaviour is enthusiastic, but not quite as out of control as it was in The Magnificent Seven. It seems that openly laying out the restrictive terms of his crossroads deal to Sam and conveying his hard stance towards an attempt to save him, has calmed him down considerably. He might still joke about his own death and tease Sam with 'dying wishes', but mostly it lost its bite here. Additionally, Sam seems to be more than willing to indulge Dean and follow his brother's 'nostalgic' moods. However, I suspect that his outwardly relaxed attitude is the result of a more personal agenda than just granting his brother 'dying wishes'. As I already predicted after the brother's argument at the end of The Magnificent Seven, Sam now tries to keep his efforts to get Dean out of the deal hidden, which explains why he so easily sends Dean off for his 'escapades'. It allows him to spend more time on his own, thus providing him with more opportunities to press ahead with the research.
I assume the fact that Sam and Bobby conspire behind Dean's back - against his direct wish that they leave the demon deal alone - will provide further material for conflict in the future, should Dean ever learn about it. Although I have to say that Sam’s effort to cover up his activities at the beginning of the episode, when Dean nearly catches him decoding the scripture, was clumsy at best and very transparent. Either Dean didn’t really pay attention or he subconsciously puts a blind eye to Sam’s obvious secrecy.
A very interesting detail about the brother’s opening conversation in the diner is the fact that eight years ago Dean took a 'five states, five days' road trip on his own, leaving Sam and John alone to wrap up a banshee case. Sam was 15/16 yrs old at that time and as far as we know probably already in his problematic teenager phase, squaring it off with John on a regular basis. I couldn't help but wonder if Dean needed a time-out from the family drama and simply took off, having his own belated teenage rebellion, or if John supported Dean's need for independence and freedom for a while and sent him on his way with his blessing. I already see plenty of fanfics sprouting from that tiny bit of back story! ;)
Dean: "So, I met Ben. Cool kid. You know, I couldn't help but notice that he's turning eight. You and me, you know?"
Lisa: "You're not trying to ask me if he's yours?"
I was really looking forward to this episode, because, okay I admit it, I have this really soft spot for Dean and kids, ever since Dead in the Water. The way he easily connects to children, his gentle, yet honest and respectful, approach to kids and ability to personally open up to them, has always been one of the most endearing Dean character traits for me. The childlike qualities in Dean’s own character, combined with the parenting abilities he acquired while caring for his baby brother, really shine when he is confronted with kids in distress. The Kids Are Alright is no exception in that regard. He easily connects to Ben, based on similar tastes and personality traits, he relates to Ben's cautious reaction to being bullied and helps him to master the situation. While Dean is clearly thrown for a moment when he comes to the realisation that Ben might be his son, he quickly adapts to the concept and even visibly enjoys the thought of having a child.
That all being said, however, I had difficulties to emotionally connect to the storyline between Dean and Ben, mainly because the episode tried too hard to play on the supposed similarities between them. The parallels between them came off as forced and were detrimental to Ben's likeability for me. In their first encounter at Ben's birthday party the resemblance between Dean and Ben is clearly played for humorous reasons, yet it's still annoyingly over-the-top and over the course of the episode that pattern only gets worse. In their attempt to make Ben a wee!Dean clone, the writers neglected to make him a real child of his age and give him a personality of his own. I have yet to meet an eight year old boy who would make innuendos about chicks, who would hug a total stranger or who would not be terrified after being kidnapped and held hostage in a cage. The lack of sympathy I felt for Ben interfered considerably with the emotional impact the episode could have had for me, and it was only salvaged by the believable chemistry between Lisa and Dean.
Talking about Lisa: It’s a lovely consistent character trait that while Dean can be a horndog, he is also very sensitive. Just like Dean dropped any hint of flirting with Andrea back in Dead In The Water as soon as he found out that she just lost her husband in a tragic accident, he just as easily forgets about his initial reason to visit Lisa, when he is confronted with Ben. Lisa rapidly changes from 'gumby girl' - a random hook-up to blow off some steam - to a single mother with a life of responsibilities and Dean adjusts his attitude towards her instantly. I love that about him! ♥ I really enjoyed the dynamics between the characters thoroughly - from Lisa's initial surprise when Dean shows up, to her firm position when she feels Dean crosses a line, to her sincere gratitude after Dean saved Ben - Lisa was a great match for Dean and it was easy to see why he felt drawn to her in the first place.
Dean: "Anyway, a guy in my situation, you start to think, you know? I'll be gone one day and what am I leaving behind, besides a car?"
The parting scene between Lisa and Dean was probably my favourite scene of the episode. ♥ It’s easily understandable that being confronted with the possibility of having a child motivates Dean to think about his own mortality and to question what he leaves behind once he is gone. In Ben he sees a kind of future that he will never be able to have, a future he probably never expected to have, even before he made the deal for Sam's life. It's no surprise that Dean questions what he achieved in his life, what his life was worth in the end. He simply reiterates the same sentiment he already expressed to Bobby in All Hell Breaks Loose II, where he insisted that saving Sam at the expense of his own life was the one thing that gave his life meaning. I really loved that Lisa finds the same response to Dean's doubts that Sam vocalised several times before her, namely that the tremendous impact Dean had on the lives of the people he saved is in itself a legacy he can be proud of.
Anyway, kudos to Jensen, who again shone in this quiet character moment and convincingly displayed Dean's different layers of emotions in this short exchange. Admittedly, part of me wanted that exchange to take place between Sam and Dean, but I can see that this is impossible at the moment. The separation between the brothers shows very clearly here. Dean can’t talk to Sam about these issues, because he wants Sam to let go of him. And how could Sam do that, if he sees how much Dean struggles with the reality of his deal? Dean has to present his carefree game face to Sam, there’s no room for doubt. Still, it saddens me that Dean’s deal in the end drives them further apart, after they were so close in S2.
Sam: "Why are you following me?"
Ruby: "I am interested in you."
Sam "Why?"
Ruby: "Because you're tall. I love a tall man. And then there's the whole antichrist thing."
That finally brings me to our mysterious guest star from The Magnificent Seven: Hello Meg No.2! I have to say that I enjoyed Ruby a lot more in this episode than in the last one. Her interaction with Sam was interesting and Katie Cassidy did a pretty convincing job to me, now that she had the opportunity to actually act like a person and not only as a convenient tool. I am not so sure if the whole 'demon girl' and 'magic weapon' won’t be very repetitive (considering Meg and the Colt in S1), but I try to keep an open mind about it.
While I was at first very annoyed that Ruby seemed to know all about the Winchester family history, whereas Sam and Dean are still completely in the dark about it, I reconciled with that fact when she was revealed as a demon with an unknown agenda, since it makes a lot more sense to me that a demon knows more about the YED's plans and activities than some random hunter. We have been shown in the past that the demonic grapevine is pretty active and can be a useful source of information for human and demon alike, like for example Gordon who learned all about Sam and the coming war from a demon, or Meg who seemed to have picked up all kinds of rumours in hell about the fateful joint hunt of John Wichester and Bill Harvelle, or Pride who knew a lot about the YED's plans for Sam. While we know that demons lie and are not always entirely reliable, they also use the truth, especially if it gives them an advantage.
Sam and Dean’s lack of knowledge about their own family history is bothering, but not completely surprising. We know from Home that although John’s focus was on hunting down Mary's killer, the three Winchester men rarely ever spoke about what happened in that fateful night. Sam didn’t even know the most basic facts about the night of the fire, and the fact that Dean was still visibly troubled by talking about it 22 years later, indicates that Dean and Sam never really broached the issue of Mary’s death either, because it was too painful for Dean. Dean also mentioned in Home that John never shared his theories with them, even though they asked him often enough, so even if John knew anything about the suspicious row of deaths that had befallen all of Mary’s friends and relatives, it's unlikely that he would have confided in his sons about it. I have to point out though that it is not entirely correct that everybody who ever knew Mary was killed. We know that at least the Gundersons, who seemed to be close friends with John and Mary, survived the YED's wipe-out - if they haven't been killed within the last 2 years, that is.
Anyway, I have to wonder why the YED went through all this trouble, if Mary’s death was an unfortunate, random accident, as he claimed in All Hell Breaks Loose I. Was he lying to Sam? It was also implicated so far that there were no signs of any YED activity during that 22 year period, which made sense after the revelation that the YED works in 'generational' cycles. Did his activities just slip under John's radar? What about the other children whose mothers were killed in the house fires? Obviously the friends and family of Max’s or Andy’s mother weren’t attacked. Ruby indicates that Sam was special, special in a way that separates him from the other children and not only in the way the YED pointed out to Sam, with Sam being better trained and sharper than the rest of them. So, the mystery around Mary’s murder seems to be thickening by the minute and is very inconclusive so far.
Ruby obviously acts on her own agenda and is inscrutable at the moment. A demon offering Sam a way out of Dean’s deal? That can’t be a good sign. Admittedly, it would really annoy me, if Sam wouldn't be able to find a way out of Dean's deal on his own, but needs to rely on demonic help to free Dean from his contract. I am still struggling with the idea of Ruby's character being too convenient, if she is used as an uber-powerful ally to Sam, providing an easy tool to get him or both of the brothers out of complicated situations, like in The Magnificent Seven. I guess we will see how that works out over the course of the season. Supernatural has always been a show where hindsight can change the interpretation of the story considerably, so I have faith that the ride will be interesting.
What else was noteworthy:
(1) This is the first Supernatural episode in a long time, that I found extremely creepy. The story of the changelings who feed off the mothers was seriously spooky, and I honestly expected the children to be dead in the end. Especially the mother drowning her not!daughter in the pond and then finding her in the kitchen again, was very disturbing. The visual effects were really excellent as well, even though I could really, really do without any further chainsaws and garbage disposals. *shudder*.
In conclusion: While I really enjoy how they develop the mytharc so far, Sam and Dean’s relationship at the moment is far from my personal comfort level, which keeps me from squeeing over the episodes in my usual fashion. Even when the brothers were struggling last season, they were at least struggling together, and the way they are now hiding from each other is even more painful to watch than Dean’s self destructive behaviour at the beginning of S2. If Supernatural stays true to its usual structure though, we will have a fallout to all those secrets and repressed emotions around mid-season, resulting in Sam and Dean coming stronger out of the crisis than before, and I really look forward to that.
* * *
Did you know? For the scene where Ruby steals one of Sam's fries and dips it into ketchup, Jared played a prank on Katie Cassidy: He loosened the lid of the ketchup bottle so she splattered herself all over with the sticky liquid, when she used it in the scene. *g* Also, the kiss between Lisa and Dean wasn't scripted. Director Phil Sgriccia talked it through with the actress but Jensen didn't know that she would move in and kiss him. He didn't break character and just instinctively reacted to it though. ♥
First off, one of my biggest problems with The Kids Are Alright is that Sam and Dean have maybe three scenes together and even those few scenes between them are barely meaningful. The brothers work apart for most of the episode, with Sam even handling the interrogation of the victims on his own, and I don’t recall an episode at the moment, where that has ever been the case before. That's really disconcerting to me, probably because I expected Dean’s limited time to result in an even closer relationship between the brothers, not in a more distanced one. There seems to be a deep chasm between Sam and Dean at the moment, and that throws me slightly off. Although it seems that distance is less a result of an emotional falling out between the brothers and more the result of the need to keep secrets, facilitated by the fact that Sam and Dean have different agendas at the moment. In any case, they seem farther away from each other than even at the beginning of S1. They talk to other people, but not to each other, and that worries me greatly.
It all started with Sam keeping the YED's revelations in All Hell Breaks Loose I - namely that Mary knew the YED and that he visited the Winchesters that night to feed Sam his demon blood - to himself. And it seems unlikely that Sam is going to tell Dean about his run-in with Ruby and her revelations about the Winchester family history either. Why Sam feels the need to keep the circumstances surrounding Mary’s death hidden from Dean is still not entirely clear to me though. Is he afraid of Dean’s reaction to Sam having demon blood in him? Dean has never given him any reason to think that he would resent Sam, no matter what Sam's connection to the YED would turn out to be. Does Sam try to maintain his brother's newly found joy and peace, suspecting that Dean would feel burdened again, if he knew the truth? I really hope that the show sheds some light on Sam's motives later on in the season. While Sam is keeping secrets, Dean tries to keep Sam at a distance, presumably to slowly ease Sam into the concept of being alone, as well as to hide is own fears about going to hell. Together they seem intent on building an unsurmountable wall between them.
Sam: "You want to drive all the way to Cicero, just to hook up with some random chick?"
Dean: "She was a yoga teacher. It was the bendiest weekend of my life. C'mon, have a heart. It's my dying wish!"
While Dean is obviously still in his hedonistic phase, his overall behaviour is enthusiastic, but not quite as out of control as it was in The Magnificent Seven. It seems that openly laying out the restrictive terms of his crossroads deal to Sam and conveying his hard stance towards an attempt to save him, has calmed him down considerably. He might still joke about his own death and tease Sam with 'dying wishes', but mostly it lost its bite here. Additionally, Sam seems to be more than willing to indulge Dean and follow his brother's 'nostalgic' moods. However, I suspect that his outwardly relaxed attitude is the result of a more personal agenda than just granting his brother 'dying wishes'. As I already predicted after the brother's argument at the end of The Magnificent Seven, Sam now tries to keep his efforts to get Dean out of the deal hidden, which explains why he so easily sends Dean off for his 'escapades'. It allows him to spend more time on his own, thus providing him with more opportunities to press ahead with the research.
I assume the fact that Sam and Bobby conspire behind Dean's back - against his direct wish that they leave the demon deal alone - will provide further material for conflict in the future, should Dean ever learn about it. Although I have to say that Sam’s effort to cover up his activities at the beginning of the episode, when Dean nearly catches him decoding the scripture, was clumsy at best and very transparent. Either Dean didn’t really pay attention or he subconsciously puts a blind eye to Sam’s obvious secrecy.
A very interesting detail about the brother’s opening conversation in the diner is the fact that eight years ago Dean took a 'five states, five days' road trip on his own, leaving Sam and John alone to wrap up a banshee case. Sam was 15/16 yrs old at that time and as far as we know probably already in his problematic teenager phase, squaring it off with John on a regular basis. I couldn't help but wonder if Dean needed a time-out from the family drama and simply took off, having his own belated teenage rebellion, or if John supported Dean's need for independence and freedom for a while and sent him on his way with his blessing. I already see plenty of fanfics sprouting from that tiny bit of back story! ;)
Dean: "So, I met Ben. Cool kid. You know, I couldn't help but notice that he's turning eight. You and me, you know?"
Lisa: "You're not trying to ask me if he's yours?"
I was really looking forward to this episode, because, okay I admit it, I have this really soft spot for Dean and kids, ever since Dead in the Water. The way he easily connects to children, his gentle, yet honest and respectful, approach to kids and ability to personally open up to them, has always been one of the most endearing Dean character traits for me. The childlike qualities in Dean’s own character, combined with the parenting abilities he acquired while caring for his baby brother, really shine when he is confronted with kids in distress. The Kids Are Alright is no exception in that regard. He easily connects to Ben, based on similar tastes and personality traits, he relates to Ben's cautious reaction to being bullied and helps him to master the situation. While Dean is clearly thrown for a moment when he comes to the realisation that Ben might be his son, he quickly adapts to the concept and even visibly enjoys the thought of having a child.
That all being said, however, I had difficulties to emotionally connect to the storyline between Dean and Ben, mainly because the episode tried too hard to play on the supposed similarities between them. The parallels between them came off as forced and were detrimental to Ben's likeability for me. In their first encounter at Ben's birthday party the resemblance between Dean and Ben is clearly played for humorous reasons, yet it's still annoyingly over-the-top and over the course of the episode that pattern only gets worse. In their attempt to make Ben a wee!Dean clone, the writers neglected to make him a real child of his age and give him a personality of his own. I have yet to meet an eight year old boy who would make innuendos about chicks, who would hug a total stranger or who would not be terrified after being kidnapped and held hostage in a cage. The lack of sympathy I felt for Ben interfered considerably with the emotional impact the episode could have had for me, and it was only salvaged by the believable chemistry between Lisa and Dean.
Talking about Lisa: It’s a lovely consistent character trait that while Dean can be a horndog, he is also very sensitive. Just like Dean dropped any hint of flirting with Andrea back in Dead In The Water as soon as he found out that she just lost her husband in a tragic accident, he just as easily forgets about his initial reason to visit Lisa, when he is confronted with Ben. Lisa rapidly changes from 'gumby girl' - a random hook-up to blow off some steam - to a single mother with a life of responsibilities and Dean adjusts his attitude towards her instantly. I love that about him! ♥ I really enjoyed the dynamics between the characters thoroughly - from Lisa's initial surprise when Dean shows up, to her firm position when she feels Dean crosses a line, to her sincere gratitude after Dean saved Ben - Lisa was a great match for Dean and it was easy to see why he felt drawn to her in the first place.
Dean: "Anyway, a guy in my situation, you start to think, you know? I'll be gone one day and what am I leaving behind, besides a car?"
The parting scene between Lisa and Dean was probably my favourite scene of the episode. ♥ It’s easily understandable that being confronted with the possibility of having a child motivates Dean to think about his own mortality and to question what he leaves behind once he is gone. In Ben he sees a kind of future that he will never be able to have, a future he probably never expected to have, even before he made the deal for Sam's life. It's no surprise that Dean questions what he achieved in his life, what his life was worth in the end. He simply reiterates the same sentiment he already expressed to Bobby in All Hell Breaks Loose II, where he insisted that saving Sam at the expense of his own life was the one thing that gave his life meaning. I really loved that Lisa finds the same response to Dean's doubts that Sam vocalised several times before her, namely that the tremendous impact Dean had on the lives of the people he saved is in itself a legacy he can be proud of.
Anyway, kudos to Jensen, who again shone in this quiet character moment and convincingly displayed Dean's different layers of emotions in this short exchange. Admittedly, part of me wanted that exchange to take place between Sam and Dean, but I can see that this is impossible at the moment. The separation between the brothers shows very clearly here. Dean can’t talk to Sam about these issues, because he wants Sam to let go of him. And how could Sam do that, if he sees how much Dean struggles with the reality of his deal? Dean has to present his carefree game face to Sam, there’s no room for doubt. Still, it saddens me that Dean’s deal in the end drives them further apart, after they were so close in S2.
Sam: "Why are you following me?"
Ruby: "I am interested in you."
Sam "Why?"
Ruby: "Because you're tall. I love a tall man. And then there's the whole antichrist thing."
That finally brings me to our mysterious guest star from The Magnificent Seven: Hello Meg No.2! I have to say that I enjoyed Ruby a lot more in this episode than in the last one. Her interaction with Sam was interesting and Katie Cassidy did a pretty convincing job to me, now that she had the opportunity to actually act like a person and not only as a convenient tool. I am not so sure if the whole 'demon girl' and 'magic weapon' won’t be very repetitive (considering Meg and the Colt in S1), but I try to keep an open mind about it.
While I was at first very annoyed that Ruby seemed to know all about the Winchester family history, whereas Sam and Dean are still completely in the dark about it, I reconciled with that fact when she was revealed as a demon with an unknown agenda, since it makes a lot more sense to me that a demon knows more about the YED's plans and activities than some random hunter. We have been shown in the past that the demonic grapevine is pretty active and can be a useful source of information for human and demon alike, like for example Gordon who learned all about Sam and the coming war from a demon, or Meg who seemed to have picked up all kinds of rumours in hell about the fateful joint hunt of John Wichester and Bill Harvelle, or Pride who knew a lot about the YED's plans for Sam. While we know that demons lie and are not always entirely reliable, they also use the truth, especially if it gives them an advantage.
Sam and Dean’s lack of knowledge about their own family history is bothering, but not completely surprising. We know from Home that although John’s focus was on hunting down Mary's killer, the three Winchester men rarely ever spoke about what happened in that fateful night. Sam didn’t even know the most basic facts about the night of the fire, and the fact that Dean was still visibly troubled by talking about it 22 years later, indicates that Dean and Sam never really broached the issue of Mary’s death either, because it was too painful for Dean. Dean also mentioned in Home that John never shared his theories with them, even though they asked him often enough, so even if John knew anything about the suspicious row of deaths that had befallen all of Mary’s friends and relatives, it's unlikely that he would have confided in his sons about it. I have to point out though that it is not entirely correct that everybody who ever knew Mary was killed. We know that at least the Gundersons, who seemed to be close friends with John and Mary, survived the YED's wipe-out - if they haven't been killed within the last 2 years, that is.
Anyway, I have to wonder why the YED went through all this trouble, if Mary’s death was an unfortunate, random accident, as he claimed in All Hell Breaks Loose I. Was he lying to Sam? It was also implicated so far that there were no signs of any YED activity during that 22 year period, which made sense after the revelation that the YED works in 'generational' cycles. Did his activities just slip under John's radar? What about the other children whose mothers were killed in the house fires? Obviously the friends and family of Max’s or Andy’s mother weren’t attacked. Ruby indicates that Sam was special, special in a way that separates him from the other children and not only in the way the YED pointed out to Sam, with Sam being better trained and sharper than the rest of them. So, the mystery around Mary’s murder seems to be thickening by the minute and is very inconclusive so far.
Ruby obviously acts on her own agenda and is inscrutable at the moment. A demon offering Sam a way out of Dean’s deal? That can’t be a good sign. Admittedly, it would really annoy me, if Sam wouldn't be able to find a way out of Dean's deal on his own, but needs to rely on demonic help to free Dean from his contract. I am still struggling with the idea of Ruby's character being too convenient, if she is used as an uber-powerful ally to Sam, providing an easy tool to get him or both of the brothers out of complicated situations, like in The Magnificent Seven. I guess we will see how that works out over the course of the season. Supernatural has always been a show where hindsight can change the interpretation of the story considerably, so I have faith that the ride will be interesting.
What else was noteworthy:
(1) This is the first Supernatural episode in a long time, that I found extremely creepy. The story of the changelings who feed off the mothers was seriously spooky, and I honestly expected the children to be dead in the end. Especially the mother drowning her not!daughter in the pond and then finding her in the kitchen again, was very disturbing. The visual effects were really excellent as well, even though I could really, really do without any further chainsaws and garbage disposals. *shudder*.
In conclusion: While I really enjoy how they develop the mytharc so far, Sam and Dean’s relationship at the moment is far from my personal comfort level, which keeps me from squeeing over the episodes in my usual fashion. Even when the brothers were struggling last season, they were at least struggling together, and the way they are now hiding from each other is even more painful to watch than Dean’s self destructive behaviour at the beginning of S2. If Supernatural stays true to its usual structure though, we will have a fallout to all those secrets and repressed emotions around mid-season, resulting in Sam and Dean coming stronger out of the crisis than before, and I really look forward to that.
* * *
Did you know? For the scene where Ruby steals one of Sam's fries and dips it into ketchup, Jared played a prank on Katie Cassidy: He loosened the lid of the ketchup bottle so she splattered herself all over with the sticky liquid, when she used it in the scene. *g* Also, the kiss between Lisa and Dean wasn't scripted. Director Phil Sgriccia talked it through with the actress but Jensen didn't know that she would move in and kiss him. He didn't break character and just instinctively reacted to it though. ♥