Quick Reaction: 15x17 Unity
Hello!!!
Jumping right in, because it's once again already 11pm, and I'm already tired.. this working until 7pm, having dinner, watching the show, and then writing it up, isn't easy to pull off every week - but I have a TRADITION DAMN IT.
Episode....
( I was obsessed with fractals )
Jumping right in, because it's once again already 11pm, and I'm already tired.. this working until 7pm, having dinner, watching the show, and then writing it up, isn't easy to pull off every week - but I have a TRADITION DAMN IT.
Episode....
( I was obsessed with fractals )
This one surprised me. Dean insisting with determination that Jack is not family sent shockwaves through me in a way that nothing else in the last few episodes has. It’s nice to let Sam have some scenes! It’s nice to let Cas be not entirely useless! Sam’s hope vs. Dean’s pessimism is something that’s been jumping out in my season 7 rewatch (and a very familiar theme for the show), and I like that we’re revisiting that here.
This confrontation is what I wanted to see from Sam in the finale of S14, physically putting himself between Jack and Dean. I know some people found it out of character for Dean to threaten to shoot Sam, and in most contexts it would be...but I think he was desperate enough, not to shoot Sam, but to try to scare him into “doing the right thing.” Sadly, we’ve seen him do this before. I was shouting “Call his bluff, Sam!” at my screen the whole time...because if Dean would have pulled the trigger, I do think that would have shattered my suspension of disbelief. Chuck also has his part to play in setting up these scenarios, but I don’t think he’s determining their actions. He has some level of omniscience...knowing how characters will respond if he pushes them into the right situations...but their actual actions are still their choice.
I found it veryyyyyyyyy interesting that Sam didn’t have a whole long list of all the things Dean has protected him from, he just went straight for LUCIFER and DAD. You know, the (equally?) BIG ONES. Stab me in the heart.
Rob Benedict was great this episode. He conveys so much menace, considering how much shorter he is than all of them!
“Sam is all like ‘it takes courage to sacrifice yourself, but I disagree with it’ and I'm like ‘my how the tables have turned now that it's YOUR kid jumping into a pit, and not Dean's kid (brother)!’ ”
THANK YOU for noting this!! I always get hung up on this in season 5, and the alacrity with which everyone (mainly Bobby and Cas) jumps on the Sam-Must-Sacrifice-Himself bandwagon and try to guilt Dean for resisting. Winchesters are notorious for trying to corner the market on self-sacrifice. “It takes courage to sacrifice yourself, but only I’m allowed to” should be the motto for all of them.
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Chuck also has his part to play in setting up these scenarios, but I don’t think he’s determining their actions. He has some level of omniscience...knowing how characters will respond if he pushes them into the right situations...but their actual actions are still their choice.
Yeah, I think that counts as manipulation though - like, if you know someone well enough, you really can just push them into all sorts of behaviour, because you know exactly how to do it... at which point, yes, they're making the choices (as Dean does here when he eventually stands down), but at the same time, you've made it VERY HARD for them to make the right choices.
I found it veryyyyyyyyy interesting that Sam didn’t have a whole long list of all the things Dean has protected him from, he just went straight for LUCIFER and DAD. You know, the (equally?) BIG ONES. Stab me in the heart.
I KNOW! I was like "yikes!" because you know Sam's made peace with John at this point, but to be mentioned in that company is like OUCH.
“It takes courage to sacrifice yourself, but only I’m allowed to” should be the motto for all of them.
HAHA! Yes! It really should be.
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