Rewatch S14: Unhuman Nature (14x07) & Byzantium (14x08)
Rewatches!
And yes, I know I've missed like two weeks of these.....
Unhuman Nature
Oh man, I forgot this was another Nick episode. You'll have to forgive me, but I'm going to skip his scenes alone. I just... don't want to sit through them again? So, yeah...you only live once, and I can avoid being annoyed for at least 10 minutes of my life by skipping.
I do love the turnaround on Dean, being so concerned over Jack just a year after claiming that he didn't trust him and was going to kill him.
Also, is this the first time we see the hallway outside Jack's room. I think this is a slightly new hallway for the show. It still curves the same way, but the archway is bigger. I should add it to my sketches.
Cas doesn't know what's wrong with Jack and can't heal him.
To the hospital! Jack becomes Jack Kline... I know some of us, were hoping for hoping for Winchester, but I like the fact that they kept Kelly's presence there. Also, some of us were hoping for Klein, because that's how we spell that name and everything else looks wrong - but some of us will just have to suck it up (I am talking about myself. Some of us is me.)
Awww, poor everyone :( :(
Still skipping MP's scenes - I do apologize. It doesn't help that I'm trying to do this episode before dinner, so I'm a little hangry at the moment.
Sam: "This place - we tried - but they've never seen anything like Jack..."
- Ah the dangers of having an "unhuman" son.
Dean: "Hell, I was even thinking Rowena."
Sam: "Heh. I already called her."
- I do love Sam's relationship with Rowena. It's one of the rare enemies to *something* relationships that I like. Also, when it's done right, I really enjoy the Winchester's slow slide into a sort of moral grey area when it comes to their contacts and practices. Not so much that what they're doing is immoral, but more so that they aren't as strict as they were in S1 or S2. They've basically gone from Lawful Good to Chaotic Good, and I'm here for it.
I forgot that Sam tricked Rowena into coming by saying Dean was sick. And he has to break it to her that Jack's Lucifer's son, and does it so awkwardly. Like, dude, just tell her he's a nephilim and don't tell her who the dad was. Make her think that it's Cas! Hahaha
I do like that Jack sweet-talks her, and then she's like "damn it, I have fallen in love with this kid."
Jack's grace was the only thing keeping him in balance between angel and human - and is falling apart. Cas offering Jack his own grace is also heartwarming/breaking.
Oh yeah, and then we get Dean's "dizzy" spells - which is actually Michael spying on them.
Jack is taking off... he wants to live for his last few weeks. Get a tan or see a hockey game, or get a parking ticket, or get bored. Hey, I've done all those things! I've lived a good life, according to Jack.
Ah, and this is the first appearance of Sergei... or soon will be.
Dean teaches Jack to drive. Ah heartwarming.
Also, Sam nearly tripped me up by changing from pink plaid to red plaid - but I caught the change, Sam! Nice try.
Jack: "It's like I'm you!"
Dean: "No, it's not! :D"
-Hahaha, I love it. You can tell that Jack looks up to Dean.
Cas and Sam have a talk about how Dean's taking it hard. Sam assumes Dean feels guilty for giving Jack a hard time to begin with.
Cas: "...losing a... a son... feels different."
- I also love how they actually put the words to the fact that Jack's their son. Like, we knew Cas already felt that way, but Cas acknowledging that he knows Sam and Dean also feel that way is meaningful too. I love a family that's made up of 3 dads and the son of satan.
Ah, it's that house they use all the time!! Only now it's blue! Oh, these are Nick scenes. I'm leaving...
I wonder where tehy are - maybe up near the Lynn Valley? That's a nice creek.
Jack has taken Dean fishing because it was Dean's happiest memory of John... and Jack wanted to have that memory with Dean. Ugh, my heart. Jack would miss more time with Dean more than anything else if he died. I can't take it.
Jack: "I've had a good life, Dean."
- Jack, you have literally only lived for a year and a half.
But yeah, better than nothing, I suppose.
Never trust strange Russian men with beanbag chairs and hookahs.
Skipping Nick again... It just doesn't even make sense for him to still be alive. BLAH.
And they shouldn't have trusted Sergei.
You know, I don't think I've ever personally met a Sergei. Mind you, I think the only Russians I've come into contact with have been women. So, I've met some Natashas and Sophias.
Sam: "But life, all of it, is a risk - Jack knew that."
Cas: "And you made him happy - you did more for him than any of us."
- Awww... you all made him happy not just Dean.
EPISODE OVER ON A HEARTBREAKING NOTE!
It's a good episode if you can stand the heartbreak and you don't mind Nick existing. It's mostly setting up the plot for the back-half of the season though. I do like that, at least for the Winchester plot, it's more character/emotion focused rather than plot.
Byzantium
Ah, this is the one where Lily Sunder returns! I actually really like her - she was interesting. And I like the version of her that returns in this episode too.
Jack is dying. It's very sad. And Jack raises the question of what afterlife he goes to... and he's being horribly cheerful and optimistic for everyone's sake - and it's all the more heartbreaking.
And Jack dies while Dean is out of the room trying to pull himself together. SAD TIMES.
I seem flippant, but I mean it.
Cas and Dean start planning the funeral, but Sam storms off. Cas wants to follow, but Dean holds him back. I love their different dynamics.
Dean breaks the news to Mary on her voicemail... ouch.
"To tell you the truth, it'd be really nice to hear your voice - if you could just call us back" - Mary and John were really a pair weren't they!
Now, Dean is mad at Cas for letting Sam leave.
I love how Dean accuses Sam of making a deal, but really Sam just came out in the woods to angrily chop down trees and then cry. We've all been there, Sam.
Dean: "At least you were there for him."
- Dean, you literally were just not there for the last minute, relax.
The plan is to drink. It's a proper Wake.
We always see Cas laugh only in montages - because that's actually Misha breaking and yet they choose to use it, so technically it's canon that Sam and Dean CAN get Cas to laugh like that, but we have no idea how.
Jack is in his happy memories and then it's attack of the OOBLECK! Or rather, the Empty.
Dean wakes up in the kitchen, very hungover - because he's in his 40s now.
And the plan unfolds, as Sam has drunkenly called in Lily Sunder - but even sober, thinks he has good ideas when drunk. Sam's willing to sacrifice a little bit of Jack's soul in order to save Jack - Dean isn't so sure.
It's interesting that Supernatural has decided to merge Egyptian and Christian mythology - with Anubis working as the judge for Heaven, since God left. It's very much in keeping with the corporate-image of Heaven... that they needed to "hire" someone when they lost Chuck. But, in a way it works with the way they've explained the different pantheons in S15... that Chuck created the universe, humans created the gods - but Chuck "allowed/created" them in response to human belief" so they'd be somewhat beholden to his will, being also his creations.
Kelly in heaven meeting Jack is a heartbreaking scene. Like - even being reunited with her son is a sad event because she's sad that he's dead.
Cas has to go to Heaven - apparently all the gates are open, even the ones Metatron closed (I wonder if it stays that way afterwards) the show has been WILDLY inconsistent with what Metatron's spell did all those years ago and what the consequences are - what has been reversible and what hasn't. Like, it's clear angels are seemingly never getting their wings back, but I'm assuming souls can now get in and out of heaven... and if all the gates are open now, maybe they don't have to continually only use that playground entrance.
Speaking of wildly inconsistent canon - SOULS - Lily has a "sliver" of her soul left and wants to make sure she gets into heaven to be reunited with her daughter. Now, if we drag this back to S6, we were told that "souls cannot be severed" - like, souls are eternal, or they're not, you know? And the show isn't very clear on which it is.
"The Shadow" - I like that name for the Cosmic Entity/Empty. We find out that there's a war between Heaven and the Empty for Jack's soul, since he's half human (Heaven destination) and half angel (Empty destined.)
Naomi isn't wrong about how Jack is TECHNICALLY not worth endangering the entirity of heaven and earth... because if heaven falls, so do all the souls it contains.
But, Castiel is a true Winchester now - and there's nothing more important than family, INCLUDING the world. (I should caveat that with the fact that when push comes to shove, Sam and Dean have proven that they'll sacrifice themselves for the world - but they'll also royally berk it if they think there's even a remote chance they'll be able to recover the situation.)
I do like how Anubis is adament that it's not some external higher power that decides fate, but rather individual human actions. He's Team Free Will.
Kelly is skeptical about the soul plan too.
The actress who plays Duma and the Entity is very good.
Also, I forgot about Castiel's deal - I REALLY hope they resolve that somehow in S15 so that Castiel doesn't kick it.
Sam: "He's OUR KID!"
- I love when Sam loses his temper, even briefly, because he does it so rarely. He tries so hard to be even kieled all the time.
Dean is smart though, by pointing out that she's condeming them to the same fate as her - losing their child. I don't think they realize that it's going to kill her when he does that though.
Castiel really has become a Winchester - he's just become JOHN WINCHESTER haha... sorry, he's just trading his life for his son's, that's the only commonality.
But this deal is pretty brutal. Though, the fact that he'll die in a moment of happiness is pretty sweet... like, as long as the death isn't painful, that's probably the best way to go.
Also, this is an important factor in how upset Castiel gets when Jack only lives for another couple of months. I think it's also important to remember that Castiel really did envision Jack as being a good force in the world - as a way too achieve paradise on earth - that he had that much potential. That's an extremely hard thing to let go of - I mean, even on top of it just being your kids' life.
Like, there's your normal kid, where them dying is a horrible waste of potential... and then there's your kid where you ACTUALLY HAD A VISION of a utopia they created. It'd be like a cosmic being handing you a baby and being like "this baby is going to fix climate change" and you're like "Sweet!" and then they die two years later before they can do anything.
Lily gets into heaven! Yay!
And Naomi gives Castiel Michael's location.
Burger time in the Bunker! And everyone is super glad that Jack is alive. And everything is momentarily optimistic.
Let me know your thoughts in comments! Is there any theories or interpretations you'd like to discuss that I did not mention? This entry was originally posted at https://hells-half-acre.dreamwidth.org/586106.html.
And yes, I know I've missed like two weeks of these.....
Unhuman Nature
Oh man, I forgot this was another Nick episode. You'll have to forgive me, but I'm going to skip his scenes alone. I just... don't want to sit through them again? So, yeah...you only live once, and I can avoid being annoyed for at least 10 minutes of my life by skipping.
I do love the turnaround on Dean, being so concerned over Jack just a year after claiming that he didn't trust him and was going to kill him.
Also, is this the first time we see the hallway outside Jack's room. I think this is a slightly new hallway for the show. It still curves the same way, but the archway is bigger. I should add it to my sketches.
Cas doesn't know what's wrong with Jack and can't heal him.
To the hospital! Jack becomes Jack Kline... I know some of us, were hoping for hoping for Winchester, but I like the fact that they kept Kelly's presence there. Also, some of us were hoping for Klein, because that's how we spell that name and everything else looks wrong - but some of us will just have to suck it up (I am talking about myself. Some of us is me.)
Awww, poor everyone :( :(
Still skipping MP's scenes - I do apologize. It doesn't help that I'm trying to do this episode before dinner, so I'm a little hangry at the moment.
Sam: "This place - we tried - but they've never seen anything like Jack..."
- Ah the dangers of having an "unhuman" son.
Dean: "Hell, I was even thinking Rowena."
Sam: "Heh. I already called her."
- I do love Sam's relationship with Rowena. It's one of the rare enemies to *something* relationships that I like. Also, when it's done right, I really enjoy the Winchester's slow slide into a sort of moral grey area when it comes to their contacts and practices. Not so much that what they're doing is immoral, but more so that they aren't as strict as they were in S1 or S2. They've basically gone from Lawful Good to Chaotic Good, and I'm here for it.
I forgot that Sam tricked Rowena into coming by saying Dean was sick. And he has to break it to her that Jack's Lucifer's son, and does it so awkwardly. Like, dude, just tell her he's a nephilim and don't tell her who the dad was. Make her think that it's Cas! Hahaha
I do like that Jack sweet-talks her, and then she's like "damn it, I have fallen in love with this kid."
Jack's grace was the only thing keeping him in balance between angel and human - and is falling apart. Cas offering Jack his own grace is also heartwarming/breaking.
Oh yeah, and then we get Dean's "dizzy" spells - which is actually Michael spying on them.
Jack is taking off... he wants to live for his last few weeks. Get a tan or see a hockey game, or get a parking ticket, or get bored. Hey, I've done all those things! I've lived a good life, according to Jack.
Ah, and this is the first appearance of Sergei... or soon will be.
Dean teaches Jack to drive. Ah heartwarming.
Also, Sam nearly tripped me up by changing from pink plaid to red plaid - but I caught the change, Sam! Nice try.
Jack: "It's like I'm you!"
Dean: "No, it's not! :D"
-Hahaha, I love it. You can tell that Jack looks up to Dean.
Cas and Sam have a talk about how Dean's taking it hard. Sam assumes Dean feels guilty for giving Jack a hard time to begin with.
Cas: "...losing a... a son... feels different."
- I also love how they actually put the words to the fact that Jack's their son. Like, we knew Cas already felt that way, but Cas acknowledging that he knows Sam and Dean also feel that way is meaningful too. I love a family that's made up of 3 dads and the son of satan.
Ah, it's that house they use all the time!! Only now it's blue! Oh, these are Nick scenes. I'm leaving...
I wonder where tehy are - maybe up near the Lynn Valley? That's a nice creek.
Jack has taken Dean fishing because it was Dean's happiest memory of John... and Jack wanted to have that memory with Dean. Ugh, my heart. Jack would miss more time with Dean more than anything else if he died. I can't take it.
Jack: "I've had a good life, Dean."
- Jack, you have literally only lived for a year and a half.
But yeah, better than nothing, I suppose.
Never trust strange Russian men with beanbag chairs and hookahs.
Skipping Nick again... It just doesn't even make sense for him to still be alive. BLAH.
And they shouldn't have trusted Sergei.
You know, I don't think I've ever personally met a Sergei. Mind you, I think the only Russians I've come into contact with have been women. So, I've met some Natashas and Sophias.
Sam: "But life, all of it, is a risk - Jack knew that."
Cas: "And you made him happy - you did more for him than any of us."
- Awww... you all made him happy not just Dean.
EPISODE OVER ON A HEARTBREAKING NOTE!
It's a good episode if you can stand the heartbreak and you don't mind Nick existing. It's mostly setting up the plot for the back-half of the season though. I do like that, at least for the Winchester plot, it's more character/emotion focused rather than plot.
Byzantium
Ah, this is the one where Lily Sunder returns! I actually really like her - she was interesting. And I like the version of her that returns in this episode too.
Jack is dying. It's very sad. And Jack raises the question of what afterlife he goes to... and he's being horribly cheerful and optimistic for everyone's sake - and it's all the more heartbreaking.
And Jack dies while Dean is out of the room trying to pull himself together. SAD TIMES.
I seem flippant, but I mean it.
Cas and Dean start planning the funeral, but Sam storms off. Cas wants to follow, but Dean holds him back. I love their different dynamics.
Dean breaks the news to Mary on her voicemail... ouch.
"To tell you the truth, it'd be really nice to hear your voice - if you could just call us back" - Mary and John were really a pair weren't they!
Now, Dean is mad at Cas for letting Sam leave.
I love how Dean accuses Sam of making a deal, but really Sam just came out in the woods to angrily chop down trees and then cry. We've all been there, Sam.
Dean: "At least you were there for him."
- Dean, you literally were just not there for the last minute, relax.
The plan is to drink. It's a proper Wake.
We always see Cas laugh only in montages - because that's actually Misha breaking and yet they choose to use it, so technically it's canon that Sam and Dean CAN get Cas to laugh like that, but we have no idea how.
Jack is in his happy memories and then it's attack of the OOBLECK! Or rather, the Empty.
Dean wakes up in the kitchen, very hungover - because he's in his 40s now.
And the plan unfolds, as Sam has drunkenly called in Lily Sunder - but even sober, thinks he has good ideas when drunk. Sam's willing to sacrifice a little bit of Jack's soul in order to save Jack - Dean isn't so sure.
It's interesting that Supernatural has decided to merge Egyptian and Christian mythology - with Anubis working as the judge for Heaven, since God left. It's very much in keeping with the corporate-image of Heaven... that they needed to "hire" someone when they lost Chuck. But, in a way it works with the way they've explained the different pantheons in S15... that Chuck created the universe, humans created the gods - but Chuck "allowed/created" them in response to human belief" so they'd be somewhat beholden to his will, being also his creations.
Kelly in heaven meeting Jack is a heartbreaking scene. Like - even being reunited with her son is a sad event because she's sad that he's dead.
Cas has to go to Heaven - apparently all the gates are open, even the ones Metatron closed (I wonder if it stays that way afterwards) the show has been WILDLY inconsistent with what Metatron's spell did all those years ago and what the consequences are - what has been reversible and what hasn't. Like, it's clear angels are seemingly never getting their wings back, but I'm assuming souls can now get in and out of heaven... and if all the gates are open now, maybe they don't have to continually only use that playground entrance.
Speaking of wildly inconsistent canon - SOULS - Lily has a "sliver" of her soul left and wants to make sure she gets into heaven to be reunited with her daughter. Now, if we drag this back to S6, we were told that "souls cannot be severed" - like, souls are eternal, or they're not, you know? And the show isn't very clear on which it is.
"The Shadow" - I like that name for the Cosmic Entity/Empty. We find out that there's a war between Heaven and the Empty for Jack's soul, since he's half human (Heaven destination) and half angel (Empty destined.)
Naomi isn't wrong about how Jack is TECHNICALLY not worth endangering the entirity of heaven and earth... because if heaven falls, so do all the souls it contains.
But, Castiel is a true Winchester now - and there's nothing more important than family, INCLUDING the world. (I should caveat that with the fact that when push comes to shove, Sam and Dean have proven that they'll sacrifice themselves for the world - but they'll also royally berk it if they think there's even a remote chance they'll be able to recover the situation.)
I do like how Anubis is adament that it's not some external higher power that decides fate, but rather individual human actions. He's Team Free Will.
Kelly is skeptical about the soul plan too.
The actress who plays Duma and the Entity is very good.
Also, I forgot about Castiel's deal - I REALLY hope they resolve that somehow in S15 so that Castiel doesn't kick it.
Sam: "He's OUR KID!"
- I love when Sam loses his temper, even briefly, because he does it so rarely. He tries so hard to be even kieled all the time.
Dean is smart though, by pointing out that she's condeming them to the same fate as her - losing their child. I don't think they realize that it's going to kill her when he does that though.
Castiel really has become a Winchester - he's just become JOHN WINCHESTER haha... sorry, he's just trading his life for his son's, that's the only commonality.
But this deal is pretty brutal. Though, the fact that he'll die in a moment of happiness is pretty sweet... like, as long as the death isn't painful, that's probably the best way to go.
Also, this is an important factor in how upset Castiel gets when Jack only lives for another couple of months. I think it's also important to remember that Castiel really did envision Jack as being a good force in the world - as a way too achieve paradise on earth - that he had that much potential. That's an extremely hard thing to let go of - I mean, even on top of it just being your kids' life.
Like, there's your normal kid, where them dying is a horrible waste of potential... and then there's your kid where you ACTUALLY HAD A VISION of a utopia they created. It'd be like a cosmic being handing you a baby and being like "this baby is going to fix climate change" and you're like "Sweet!" and then they die two years later before they can do anything.
Lily gets into heaven! Yay!
And Naomi gives Castiel Michael's location.
Burger time in the Bunker! And everyone is super glad that Jack is alive. And everything is momentarily optimistic.
Let me know your thoughts in comments! Is there any theories or interpretations you'd like to discuss that I did not mention? This entry was originally posted at https://hells-half-acre.dreamwidth.org/586106.html.