Momma put my guns in the ground... SN 5.16
I've watched and rewatched and then watched again....
and there's no avoiding it, I just need to talk about this episode. ash48 posted a question that was posted in her initial reaction post about what it was about this episode that caused such a massive and wildly polarised response. I found my own experience of this episode to be something akin to a stomach lurching roller coaster of moods and feelings - from an exhilarating sense of joy and warmth to the low of feeling really quite ill from the angst.
It truly felt like an exercise in creating an experience of absolute conflict of emotions for the fans. I don't know much about Dabb and Loflin but they seemed to pick from both ends of the spectrum when it came to showing scenes the fans would love/swoon over and scenes that would cause loud screaming at the tv screen and intensely vitriolic reactions.
On balance the episode was much more heavily weighted towards the angsty side of things - a fatalists delight - the optimists left looking for the vicodin.
I'm curious to know if peoples' reactions to this episode are heavily influenced by their individual general natures in real life. Are you a generally happy-go-lucky person who doesn't get stressed or depressed often? If so was your reaction all doom and gloom or was it still hopeful? If you were entirely pissed off with what the writers did in this episode and find youself thinking that show is NEVER going to fix these boys to ever be a fraction of what they once were - are you generally a glass half empty kind of temperament? As an aside I'm not the kind of person who confuses realism with pessimism. I'm generally very realistic about possible outcomes which has been misconstrued in the past as pessimism but I prefer to call it Realistic Idealism :)
That was just a fairly tangental musing I had about episode. What follows may be construed as the completely idealistic notions of a person with their head in the clouds but I'm one of the happy-go-lucky types.
First of all Sam's memories. I can totally understand where Dean's coming from here. He has every right to be pissed about those memories being part of Sam's "Greatest Hits" - but there's "pissed" and then there's real and abject hurt/disappointment. I'm pretty sure Dean knows that Sam is unable to help what he longed for as a kid. He was a teenage kid and that includes all the self-absorbed, grass is always greener, me first emo crap that goes along with that. That scene reliving the night he left for Stanford was one of those writer selections of breaking the boys to the point that TV screens get yelled at. Because we know Dean is not that unreasonable. Case in point - conversation at the end of Fallen Idols. And I'm pretty sure that had the "road" they followed taken them longer then there would have definitely been some happy Sam POV Sam and Dean memories. Someone should write those up - stat.
Secondly I wanted to look at the good things in this episode purely from a fan seeing what she likes perspective:
1) First memory - the fireworks scene - Dean's emotions so clear in his expressions it was an achingly beautiful moment and it was just so far removed from where Dean has been recently that it made it all the more visceral. Nice one Jensen - this was some great work.
2) Castiel getting a little snarky with the boys when he was in the TV set. Misha delivered that line with just the right amount cutting sharpness - I loved it because it's a great example of Castiel's humanisation.
3) Dean's memory of his Mom. This was one of those scenes that made me feel a little unsure of what I was feeling - I loved Dean's memory of his room, his toys, his Mom, how much he loves her and how much she clearly loves him. But I ached for his early onset of responsibility - trying to comfort his Mom about Dad - and Sam just summed it up and brought it right home to Dean. This one was a positive and a negative for me.
4) Sam had a dog! I've always thought he would have had one at some stage no matter how impossible it seemed given their lives. Again this was bittersweet because this memory basically meant Dean's life was hell for two weeks. I'm not defending Sam for his choice - but a teenage kid who'd had it up to there with their so far from normal lives - every kid rebels at some point.
5) Dr Badass is IN!!!! Oh Ash - never stop your mad skills and your exotic beer chugging habits. Loved EVERYTHING about this scene - although the dialogue with Pam did raise my suspicions a little I was just happy that she was at peace. But the BEST thing about this whole scene? Show confirmed it - out loud - SOULMATES. Can't share less you've found your soulmate and there's Sam and Dean. Sharing their slice of heaven together. Of course we all knew this already but still - it's now confirmed CANON.
Okay those were the FIVE main happy making parts of the episode for me. Of course with the title being the DARK side of the moon it was always going to finish Dark. There's still six episodes to go - it would be premature of #16 to end on an uplifting, boys are getting fixed note.
But as usual the Supernatural version of dark is always with capital letters.
1) Knowing that Dean even as a four year old was trying hard to fix his family.
2) Knowing that Dean later on went through two weeks of hell thinking Sammy was dead.
3) Dean clearly upset by the fact that Sam's good memories of family never seem to include him.
4) Zachariah being a gross, lecherous dick of an Angel who manipulates the memory of Mary to further torture Dean.
5) Joshua informing the boys that God is finished with it all and the repercussions of this - Dean writing God off as another dead-beat Dad (and when the hell has he ever referred to John like that!?! I was alarmed), Castiel's subsequent desolation and clear sense of abandonment and finally Dean throwing the amulet. That pissed me off the most I think. The amulet thing because it certainly punches a hole in my above theory that deep down Dean is reasonable enough to realise the child/teenage Sam is a vastly different Sam to the one that is with him now. But then as soon as episode closed with Sam still in the room I was mildly placated because I'm more than 90% sure Sam has picked that amulet up. It still has a place in the story and I think we will be seeing it glow before the final moment of the Season 5 finale.
Really Sam got off lightly in this episode (apart from the guilt tripping by Dean and Joshua) and on a shallow note - that brown button up he was wearing at the end? Absolutely Sam's colour. Mmmm.
So I ended up with five scenes on both sides of the spectrum for me. It didn't leave me with a sense of despair - that snippet at the end of Sam still being in the room with the amulet, the insight into the memories and stories from the boys childhoods, the fact that God is on Earth, that Ash and Pamela are at peace were all feel-good moments for me. I have my suspicions (as do most from the reactions I've read) about how orchestrated the whole incident was by powers invested in Dean saying yes to Michael (especially given Sam's presence in Heaven) and that's just triggered another positive for me - Dean's assertion that Sam totally belongs there because was he did was borne out of his intentions to do good - I'll just ignore that old adage Sam brought up as completely irrelevant.
I can see where this episode would elicit reactions of intense dislike and impassioned offense. I can also see very clearly the good in this episode and it is heartwarming moments. A lesson in extremes and I'm placing this one in my top 5 of the season so far. Call me a sucker for nostalgic reminiscence but Dylan's Knockin' On Heaven's Door will never be the same for me ever again.
and there's no avoiding it, I just need to talk about this episode. ash48 posted a question that was posted in her initial reaction post about what it was about this episode that caused such a massive and wildly polarised response. I found my own experience of this episode to be something akin to a stomach lurching roller coaster of moods and feelings - from an exhilarating sense of joy and warmth to the low of feeling really quite ill from the angst.
It truly felt like an exercise in creating an experience of absolute conflict of emotions for the fans. I don't know much about Dabb and Loflin but they seemed to pick from both ends of the spectrum when it came to showing scenes the fans would love/swoon over and scenes that would cause loud screaming at the tv screen and intensely vitriolic reactions.
On balance the episode was much more heavily weighted towards the angsty side of things - a fatalists delight - the optimists left looking for the vicodin.
I'm curious to know if peoples' reactions to this episode are heavily influenced by their individual general natures in real life. Are you a generally happy-go-lucky person who doesn't get stressed or depressed often? If so was your reaction all doom and gloom or was it still hopeful? If you were entirely pissed off with what the writers did in this episode and find youself thinking that show is NEVER going to fix these boys to ever be a fraction of what they once were - are you generally a glass half empty kind of temperament? As an aside I'm not the kind of person who confuses realism with pessimism. I'm generally very realistic about possible outcomes which has been misconstrued in the past as pessimism but I prefer to call it Realistic Idealism :)
That was just a fairly tangental musing I had about episode. What follows may be construed as the completely idealistic notions of a person with their head in the clouds but I'm one of the happy-go-lucky types.
First of all Sam's memories. I can totally understand where Dean's coming from here. He has every right to be pissed about those memories being part of Sam's "Greatest Hits" - but there's "pissed" and then there's real and abject hurt/disappointment. I'm pretty sure Dean knows that Sam is unable to help what he longed for as a kid. He was a teenage kid and that includes all the self-absorbed, grass is always greener, me first emo crap that goes along with that. That scene reliving the night he left for Stanford was one of those writer selections of breaking the boys to the point that TV screens get yelled at. Because we know Dean is not that unreasonable. Case in point - conversation at the end of Fallen Idols. And I'm pretty sure that had the "road" they followed taken them longer then there would have definitely been some happy Sam POV Sam and Dean memories. Someone should write those up - stat.
Secondly I wanted to look at the good things in this episode purely from a fan seeing what she likes perspective:
1) First memory - the fireworks scene - Dean's emotions so clear in his expressions it was an achingly beautiful moment and it was just so far removed from where Dean has been recently that it made it all the more visceral. Nice one Jensen - this was some great work.
2) Castiel getting a little snarky with the boys when he was in the TV set. Misha delivered that line with just the right amount cutting sharpness - I loved it because it's a great example of Castiel's humanisation.
3) Dean's memory of his Mom. This was one of those scenes that made me feel a little unsure of what I was feeling - I loved Dean's memory of his room, his toys, his Mom, how much he loves her and how much she clearly loves him. But I ached for his early onset of responsibility - trying to comfort his Mom about Dad - and Sam just summed it up and brought it right home to Dean. This one was a positive and a negative for me.
4) Sam had a dog! I've always thought he would have had one at some stage no matter how impossible it seemed given their lives. Again this was bittersweet because this memory basically meant Dean's life was hell for two weeks. I'm not defending Sam for his choice - but a teenage kid who'd had it up to there with their so far from normal lives - every kid rebels at some point.
5) Dr Badass is IN!!!! Oh Ash - never stop your mad skills and your exotic beer chugging habits. Loved EVERYTHING about this scene - although the dialogue with Pam did raise my suspicions a little I was just happy that she was at peace. But the BEST thing about this whole scene? Show confirmed it - out loud - SOULMATES. Can't share less you've found your soulmate and there's Sam and Dean. Sharing their slice of heaven together. Of course we all knew this already but still - it's now confirmed CANON.
Okay those were the FIVE main happy making parts of the episode for me. Of course with the title being the DARK side of the moon it was always going to finish Dark. There's still six episodes to go - it would be premature of #16 to end on an uplifting, boys are getting fixed note.
But as usual the Supernatural version of dark is always with capital letters.
1) Knowing that Dean even as a four year old was trying hard to fix his family.
2) Knowing that Dean later on went through two weeks of hell thinking Sammy was dead.
3) Dean clearly upset by the fact that Sam's good memories of family never seem to include him.
4) Zachariah being a gross, lecherous dick of an Angel who manipulates the memory of Mary to further torture Dean.
5) Joshua informing the boys that God is finished with it all and the repercussions of this - Dean writing God off as another dead-beat Dad (and when the hell has he ever referred to John like that!?! I was alarmed), Castiel's subsequent desolation and clear sense of abandonment and finally Dean throwing the amulet. That pissed me off the most I think. The amulet thing because it certainly punches a hole in my above theory that deep down Dean is reasonable enough to realise the child/teenage Sam is a vastly different Sam to the one that is with him now. But then as soon as episode closed with Sam still in the room I was mildly placated because I'm more than 90% sure Sam has picked that amulet up. It still has a place in the story and I think we will be seeing it glow before the final moment of the Season 5 finale.
Really Sam got off lightly in this episode (apart from the guilt tripping by Dean and Joshua) and on a shallow note - that brown button up he was wearing at the end? Absolutely Sam's colour. Mmmm.
So I ended up with five scenes on both sides of the spectrum for me. It didn't leave me with a sense of despair - that snippet at the end of Sam still being in the room with the amulet, the insight into the memories and stories from the boys childhoods, the fact that God is on Earth, that Ash and Pamela are at peace were all feel-good moments for me. I have my suspicions (as do most from the reactions I've read) about how orchestrated the whole incident was by powers invested in Dean saying yes to Michael (especially given Sam's presence in Heaven) and that's just triggered another positive for me - Dean's assertion that Sam totally belongs there because was he did was borne out of his intentions to do good - I'll just ignore that old adage Sam brought up as completely irrelevant.
I can see where this episode would elicit reactions of intense dislike and impassioned offense. I can also see very clearly the good in this episode and it is heartwarming moments. A lesson in extremes and I'm placing this one in my top 5 of the season so far. Call me a sucker for nostalgic reminiscence but Dylan's Knockin' On Heaven's Door will never be the same for me ever again.