Supernatural 7.04 - Defending Your Life
I liked this episode a a lot...see my thoughts below. (SPOILERS for 7.04, no future spoilers)
This was a good episode. I actually liked the stuff with Osiris and the trial - it seemed well-done and captivating enough the first time I watched the episode, so yeah, I liked it.
Jo was great! I was a huge fan of Jo before, and I always felt like there was a lot of wasted Dean/Jo potential. (That may be an unpopular opinion, but oh well...) Anyway, I thought her appearance here was about as good as it could be. I did feel her death was premature, but there you go. Anyway, as the ghost who's unwillingly brought back and forced to kill Dean, who obviously does feel guilty about her death - it was great. Her scenes were great, really emotional, and I enjoyed them thoroughly. Awww, I miss her!
So at the end of the ep, Sam said that he doesn't feel guilty anymore. I for one was shocked by this, and I can't help but wonder if it's true. I mean, he could be putting up a front for Dean. But - if it IS true, then um, wow. I really feel like anger and guilt have motivated Sam for so long - from coming back to hunting in the first place (avenging Jess and Mom's deaths), to drinking the demon blood to kill Lilith, to jumping in the hole with Lucifer to atone for letting him out in the first place.
And I mean - the thing is, he has atoned for all that. YED's dead, and Sam did avert the apocalypse after helping start it. And then he spent 100+ years getting tortured in Hell by Lucifer. Umm, yeah, he's atoned for his sins.
But the fact that Sam gets that is what surprises me. The Winchesters are always self-sacrificial, so I was really surprised/impressed that Sam seems to have dealt with all that. So - if he's for real, then, wow. This is a huge character development for Sam, and one that I'm really happy to see.
So...Dean. Dean, of course, was lying through his teeth on the stand, about not feeling guilty. Of course he does. (And, how powerful and emotional were those flashbacks? Loved them.) Unfortunately, Dean's tour in Hell didn't help him atone for his sins - if anything, it made him feel even MORE guilty, because Dean's torture included being forced to torture himself. Which, for someone as martyr-like as Dean is indeed the ultimate punishment.
Dean has a lot of issues. Understatement. But I can't help but wonder/hope that the show will actually, finally go there a little bit with resolving them. There were hints in this ep - the alcoholism, for one thing. Many have noted Dean's excessive drinking but it's never been commented on the show like today. So...maybe that's finally going to get acknowledged. Dean absolutely drinks too much, and he uses it as a crutch to NOT deal with all his emotional issues. So if dealing with his alcoholism means dealing with his issues, then I'm all for that.
Honestly, the way Dean's been living his life is not mentally healthy at all. And if Sam has worked through/dealt with all his crap (of which he had plenty) then Dean really, really needs to do the same. He never deals with anything, just buries it all and drinks to keep it down. And that's not even remotely healthy.
So...maybe the show's going to address this issue. Maybe Dean's storyline for this season will involve him finally putting to rest some of his own demons, the kind you can't just exorcise away. As someone who loves Dean, I would absolutely love for this to happen. It would be such an interesting storyline, and such a necessary one for Dean after seven years.
What else...the Amy stuff - yeah, I'm over Dean lying to Sam. He needs to tell him the truth ASAP and not drag this out, because come on, we have totally been there, done that with this storyline before.
I liked the mainstream hunting case again, that was nice, and the episode overall was pretty good. I'm feeling pretty optimistic for the rest of the season!
This was a good episode. I actually liked the stuff with Osiris and the trial - it seemed well-done and captivating enough the first time I watched the episode, so yeah, I liked it.
Jo was great! I was a huge fan of Jo before, and I always felt like there was a lot of wasted Dean/Jo potential. (That may be an unpopular opinion, but oh well...) Anyway, I thought her appearance here was about as good as it could be. I did feel her death was premature, but there you go. Anyway, as the ghost who's unwillingly brought back and forced to kill Dean, who obviously does feel guilty about her death - it was great. Her scenes were great, really emotional, and I enjoyed them thoroughly. Awww, I miss her!
So at the end of the ep, Sam said that he doesn't feel guilty anymore. I for one was shocked by this, and I can't help but wonder if it's true. I mean, he could be putting up a front for Dean. But - if it IS true, then um, wow. I really feel like anger and guilt have motivated Sam for so long - from coming back to hunting in the first place (avenging Jess and Mom's deaths), to drinking the demon blood to kill Lilith, to jumping in the hole with Lucifer to atone for letting him out in the first place.
And I mean - the thing is, he has atoned for all that. YED's dead, and Sam did avert the apocalypse after helping start it. And then he spent 100+ years getting tortured in Hell by Lucifer. Umm, yeah, he's atoned for his sins.
But the fact that Sam gets that is what surprises me. The Winchesters are always self-sacrificial, so I was really surprised/impressed that Sam seems to have dealt with all that. So - if he's for real, then, wow. This is a huge character development for Sam, and one that I'm really happy to see.
So...Dean. Dean, of course, was lying through his teeth on the stand, about not feeling guilty. Of course he does. (And, how powerful and emotional were those flashbacks? Loved them.) Unfortunately, Dean's tour in Hell didn't help him atone for his sins - if anything, it made him feel even MORE guilty, because Dean's torture included being forced to torture himself. Which, for someone as martyr-like as Dean is indeed the ultimate punishment.
Dean has a lot of issues. Understatement. But I can't help but wonder/hope that the show will actually, finally go there a little bit with resolving them. There were hints in this ep - the alcoholism, for one thing. Many have noted Dean's excessive drinking but it's never been commented on the show like today. So...maybe that's finally going to get acknowledged. Dean absolutely drinks too much, and he uses it as a crutch to NOT deal with all his emotional issues. So if dealing with his alcoholism means dealing with his issues, then I'm all for that.
Honestly, the way Dean's been living his life is not mentally healthy at all. And if Sam has worked through/dealt with all his crap (of which he had plenty) then Dean really, really needs to do the same. He never deals with anything, just buries it all and drinks to keep it down. And that's not even remotely healthy.
So...maybe the show's going to address this issue. Maybe Dean's storyline for this season will involve him finally putting to rest some of his own demons, the kind you can't just exorcise away. As someone who loves Dean, I would absolutely love for this to happen. It would be such an interesting storyline, and such a necessary one for Dean after seven years.
What else...the Amy stuff - yeah, I'm over Dean lying to Sam. He needs to tell him the truth ASAP and not drag this out, because come on, we have totally been there, done that with this storyline before.
I liked the mainstream hunting case again, that was nice, and the episode overall was pretty good. I'm feeling pretty optimistic for the rest of the season!