SPN Ep Rxn 6.2: Cribbing From Fandom Again
Anybody read Dodger-Winslow's WIP epic Skin Deep? Shapeshifter lifecycle: nailed!
Is Sam on drugs? Seriously. There's precedent. He's either on drugs, brain-damaged, poorly written, or knee-deep in Samuel's nefarious machinations, and I've only got charity toward one option. He is not normally quite this dumb.
So explain to us, Sammy. How does a guy who's been dead since 1979 fall in with a troop of hunters and start leading them instead of getting shot, or at the very least, quarantined by them, without the hunters being together with him in some sort of infernal conspiracy?
Please at least tell us you're a double agent, Sam.
Epic opening scene: A woman, her arms caked with blood to the elbow, clutches her baby and flees for her bedroom, where she hides under the bed and struggles to quiet the child's cries. How did she get that much blood on her? Was she recently possessed? Was she manhandling her dead husband, her dead watchdog? How long before she ran for the baby?
She dies, of course. But she dies heroically. (All mothers are heroes.)
Cut to an unfamiliar house, rented. The Braedens moved - yeah, like that'll keep anything off their tail. Hexbags and salt won't do crap when your family is occupying a place in their legal names. Heck, those propane tanks can be rigged to explode! Dean, understandably, is freaking out - contemplating an 'accident' to decommission Ben's bike, getting delivery food, rechecking the armory. Dean is also in full denial mode: no I'm not scared something's coming after us, how could you accuse me of having something to worry about? No this is no hunter car, this is a soft flannel drop cloth. Pay no attention to the sleek lines beneath the shroud.
So of course Ben starts poking around in the Impala, and Dean flips. Somebody thinks he can preserve a child's innocence by keeping secrets!
Dean really needs to take Ben to the range before he does something stupid like fire a shotgun straight at the floor. Lisa's getting a bit fed up with Dean's escalating neurosis, and especially the denial. Things are less happy in Pie Land. Dean's attempts to preserve Ben and Lisa in a false stasis of sweetness and happiness while beating back the monsters from their door could ruin their family where Dean's grief and his many family issues did not.
Meanwhile, Sam is hunting alone, playing FBI agent and acting as Bald Samuel's eyes and ears in the field. I think one of those TV Federal Agent bungee-wire ear pieces would really set the mood here. Sam is good at talking to witnesses, kicking down doors, and slicing up monsters, but he's also good at research. Why is he not researching? Why is he not being a control-freak and double-checking his information source? This is sad.
What's also sad is this exchange between Sam and Samuel:
"I'm just saying - I think this one might be on the police."
"OK, So either we got monsters grabbing babies to make baby stew, or we got psychotic yokels grabbing babies to make baby stew. Either way, it's baby stew, and that's bad. . . . Sometimes I don't know about you, Sam."
"Sometimes I don't know about me, either."
All those dead baby comments are shooting right into Sam's poor refurbished little heart and making him feel so guilty he doesn't even question the fact that Samuel is so set on pursuing this particular case, even without solid evidence that it's not a police matter. He jumps straight to "I'm a terrible person and need someone to tell me what to do" without ever wondering "since when is it worth the risk to stick our noses into human crimes?"
"Sometimes I don't know about me, either" should be bolded and highlighted for reference. I think it's one of the few solid pointers we've had so far for what's going on in Sam's head.
Anyway, later covert-ops!Sam breaks into the presumptive target's house and finds two corpses, a supernatural being in a security company uniform - who knocks the wind out of him and escapes because Sam doesn't have backup - and a baby. This means that Sam entered the house during the two minute window between the shapeshifter's murder of the parents and retrieval of the baby. I couldn't forgive Sam if that was planned. Let's hope it was a coincidence for narrative convenience.
Confronted with a moral dilemma, an unresolved case, and a total lack of childcare skills, Sam calls Dean to babysit. Putting the child up for adoption is not a good idea yet: it's a six-month-old whose parents were murdered by a supernatural evil; who knows what kind of time bomb it has in it. Wouldn't do to return to base to drop the kid off with Samuel before the case is solved, either, I'm guessing. Don't want to make the bossman disappointed.
Dean arrives, making a statement in his beige Ford. *Civilian! Dedicated civilian here, 100% committed to the safety and well-being of my own family, without attracting more supernatural nastiness who might kill them all for revenge on me!*
Because Sam has been remarkably non-bitchy since late Season 5, Sam's Charger takes it upon itself to bitch at Dean to buckle his seatbelt, and off they go to pick up baby supplies. I was distracted from the nice banter and interdependence they were starting to develop because I kept cringing in anticipation of bad gay jokes which never came. Dean and Sam flailed around trying to keep the baby from crying, grabbed a basic baby-care kit from the grocery store, spotted the shapeshifter on the store's CCTV monitors near the checkout, assaulted what looked like a defenseless church lady in full view of witnesses, and screamed out of the parking lot in Sam's pretty new Charger. A perfect start to a fresh partnership. Dean's still got it.
Apparently Sam's still got some of whatever he's supposed to have, too. They hole up in a motel, and Sam smiles as he watches Dean “defuse the IED” and get the baby to bed (They seriously got a crib? That's what dresser drawers are for! Oh, Dean, you stickler for perfection.). Sam's happy that Dean's happy. He allowed himself a laugh and a decent grin. Nothing creepy here, except that Sam seems to be living vicariously through Dean.
Sam, the guy with the suit, goes out to impersonate a Federal Agent, leaving Dean, the civilian, alone with the kidnap victim. Sam's not gone for two minutes before Dean gives the baby its first taste of bourbon.
Sam talks to a dead mother's ex-husband and deduces the following scenario: a shapeshifter takes on the form of the husband of a married human couple, impregnates the wife, and leaves with no one the wiser. After the baby is born, it returns to collect its spawn, murdering anyone or anything that gets in its way.
Lying on the bed wishing he'd brought quarters for the magic fingers, Dean observes the baby switch from Caucasian to African in a splatter of shifter skin and comes to the same conclusion.
Sam and Dean find themselves in the same shoes as any well-meaning environmentalists happening upon a motherless cougar cub in the woods. Sure, it's adorable now, but once it hits its surly teen years and can smack you across the room with one hand, you've got yourself a terror. And there are laws about raising wild animals.
The shifter, doing its best T1000 impression in the form of an unfortunate sheriff, barges in on Dean, intent on retrieving the baby. The following exchange has plot significance, because it marks the appearance of crucial information:
[Fake Sheriff makes a ruckus, talking about noise complaints and demanding entry. Dean ambushes the shifter as it jimmies its way past the lock, and comes at it with the silver knife. Dean knows it's a shifter, and the shifter knows he knows.]
Shifter (T1000 voice): “Get out of the way.”
Dean: “Yeah, that's not going to happen.”
Shifter: “The child should be with its father.”
Dean: “To be honest, I'm not really seeing the family resemblance.”
Shifter: “I'm not just talking about me. I'm talking about our father.”
Spooky.
[Shifter charges. Punches are thrown. Knives are slashed. Lightbulbs are broken. After about ten seconds of this, the shifter manages to knock the wind out of Dean, and approaches the crib. ENTER SAM, with gun, silver loads. Sam kills the shifter, not so much as hair out of place (not that you could tell).
Fleeing the scene with the baby in the backseat, Sam remarks, “I didn't even know they had babies. I thought they were just freaks of nature, like, like X-Men style.”
SamnDean seem to be getting their groove back as they discuss the case, until Sam, who apparently is receiving stupid pills with his vitamins, mistakes the Campbell Institute for Advanced Voodoo for the Campbell Unnatural Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, and suggests they bring the baby shapeshifter to Samuel. Dean is unimpressed, but he doesn't have any better ideas.
Interestingly, Sam tells Dean, “Samuel is actually a lot like you.” In Samuel's interactions with Sam, he's been bossy, innovative, businesslike, and focused on saving people, which is more how Dean used to be (before he really started listening to Sam on equal terms) than how Dean had been since at least Hell. Samuel in In the Beginning seemed pretty cool to me, too, so maybe he just leaves a good impression on the unwary.
Camp Campbell is ready for the Apocalypse. I like their setup.
At Headquarters, Dean is snuggling the baby, shoulders hunched and eyes darting like the baby's been smeared with chum and they're surrounded by land sharks. The cousins give their best land shark impressions, with Whatsherface walking up to stroke the baby's forehead, saying “Well aren't you the best disguise a monster ever wore.” And smiling. The smiling. “I'm kidding, Dean. Relax.” Sure, Gwen. You really need to work on your comedic timing.
Sam finds himself playing mediator, and by the way conversation with Christian was heading, he is the only thing keeping the situation from exploding into wolf-pack-on-papa-bear violence. He takes Dean's trust, and hands off the baby to Samuel.
Samuel holds the baby gently, reminiscing about holding baby Mary. SUPREMELY CREEPY. Here's why:
Samuel's cuddle with the baby is the exact same move I used to pull when I picked up meat rabbits out of their holding pen before cutting their heads off. I mean, that was OMG someone had a secret camera on my abattoir spooky. That smile and compassion for your prey is what you get when you are so totally beyond all sense of guilt that you don't even need to compartmentalize anymore.
Pair this with talking about his own daughter? Nobody is this cool with a child that's not the same species.
“What are you gonna do with it?”
“Raise it.” Duh. Not like the kid's going to have any gender or species identity angst or go looking for revenge or anything. Simple.
Christian, who is just jonesin' for a fight with Dean for no obvious reason, says, “You're mind goes right to torture, Dean. Don't assume that for everyone.” And later, forcing Sam to intervene to head off a beat-down, “You're starting to become a pain in my ass.” Apparently, Dean's presence - which could potentially affect Sam's loyalty - is a personal annoyance to Christian.
Then Samuel and the cousins construct a scenario with so many holes you couldn't strain macaroni through it.
“Christian? You and Arlene, still no luck on the baby front?”
“Not yet, no.”
“Want one?”
Sure, I'll take a free special needs kid. He come with the bassinet, or is that extra?
Dean's all, I think I walked into the Hotel California, Sam, point me to the exit? . . . Sam?
The dogs start barking, thankfully breaking up that farcical awkwardness. A shapeshifter in Samuel's form enters. We can assume that this is the first time this shifter has encountered Samuel, which puts it in a separate power category from normal shifters. The Campbells stab it in the heart (silver or not silver?) shoot it with buckshot, and pump four darts into it before Samuel feels safe to say, “Get the silver nets. We're gonna box him up.” Note that at this moment, baby-face blond cousin is dead on the floor. Just as Samuel lowers his airgun, the shifter expels the darts from its back at projectile velocity, and the Campbells strategically retreat.
We're treated to some Evil!Sam action as the shifter rips the entire vault door off the panic room wall, flings Sam to the floor like last week's trash, and sneers at Dean, before changing into Dean's dark alternate with a cool (and sanitary) mirage ripple effect. (Interesting how Sam positively spooked at the sight of his own face popping into the port hole. Quick reflexes, or something Hellish? Cause that was not just a “here's the monster” horrified gasp.)
“Gimme the baby.”
This shifter is not interested in carnage. He's content to dole out concussions and stranglings, with the occasional broken neck thrown in when absolutely necessary. The shifter chokes Dean out, takes his child, and walks peacefully away. This thing does not consider any of the hunters a threat, or else he would have killed them on the way out.
Symbolically, Dean tries and fails to defend his adopted family from himself.
In the aftermath, after they've packed away the unfortunate quiet blond cousin for a quick pyre in the backyard, Samuel explains exactly what that aberrant shifter was. It's an alpha. Well, of course. Of course there's human knowledge about the lifecycle and genetics of a homicidal species that can look like anyone and assume any sex. (Although, if shapeshifters have unique DNA, anyone with a couple mail-order enzymes, a centrifuge, and a homemade electrophoresis tank could figure out that they're all half-siblings. That's well within Campbell capabilities.)
Walking out, Dean digs up all his paranoia and shoves it cruelly in Sam's face.
Dean: “That's funny.”
Sam: “What's that?”
Dean: “It's just before you, uh, ganked that shifter at the motel, he mentioned a father, which makes sense now, 'cause he meant the alpha.”
Sam: “Huh. Yeah, I guess so.”
Dean: “Did you hear him say that?”
Sam, either oblivious to where Dean is going with this or very dedicated to his deception: “Uh, I dunno. Kind of a . . . hot moment. You know? Why?”
Dean: “Oh, 'cause if you heard him, then . . . then you knew the alpha was out there.”
Sam: “Okay.” Paranoid freak.
Dean: “And if you knew he was out there, then you knew he might come back for the baby. In which case you were . . . using the baby as bait. So. Was that the plan, to use the baby as bait?”
Sam: “Course not. Dean, I just thought . . . Samuel's was the safest place, that's all.”
Dean: “Right. 'Course.”
Faced with this unforgivable accusation, Sam appears mildly dismayed. He's either actually mildly dismayed, or he now sees unforgivable accusations as just another one of those things he deserves to suffer through.
I think Dean was hoping to see some outrage.
And they hop back in the car for a tense, silent ride back to Dean's civilian pickup. Shouldn't have lied to Dean's face back in 2008, there, Sammy. Bites you in the butt.
Turns out, Samuel has his own boss, who is displeased. “No, I didn't catch it. It killed three of my people, I shot it full of elephant tranquilizer, and it chuckled.” The boss is insistent. He/she/it really, really wants an alpha shapeshifter for its birthday. Tests? Organ harvesting? Life force? Politics? I am liking this season.
Dean returns to the Braedens, and apparently Ben can't go on a bike ride without giving him a heart attack. It's justifiable. That bike better come with a salt sprayer, a Gatling gun, an exorcism boombox, and an emergency beacon. Lisa tells him, basically, go hang out with your brother for a while and come back when you're not so crazy, 'cause I'm not doing the captive wolf in the house thing. Go be wild and free in your natural habitat! Don't worry, honey, I can pour a line of salt and operate a semi-auto.
I can't wait for Lisa to shoot something, btw. It must be done!
Dean and his other main woman have a touching reunion to the tune of “Smoke on the Water.” She's still black and sleek and shiny and waxy, and that soft flannel drop cloth didn't do her no harm at all.
Roll credits.
The Facts:
Sam hunts without backup, letting William Stryker, I mean Bald Samuel, feed him research and orders from home base.
Shapeshifter reproduction: Fertile non-shedding +3 ton strength shapeshifter mates with human female, collects shapeshifter infant (presumably sterile). Infants begin to shed at 6 months of age. The alpha shapeshifter has some sort of familial telepathic bond that allows it to home in on its progeny. Other shapeshifters seem to rely on their wits to track each-other.
Camp Campbell: I love it. It's like Waco or something. They've got a fence, enough manpower to post armed guards, watchdogs, a small saferoom (that apparently can't keep out anything with a strength class over 3 tons), outbuildings, exotic weaponry, tranquilizer darts, and WiFi.
Silver nets can be used to immobilize creatures harmed by silver.
Dean's Summer Internship In Hell is common knowledge among the Campbells. Could be from Sam (wheedled out under the pretense of “knowledge is power”) or could be from some random demon.
Samuel is collecting critters for someone else, and has mysterious access to suspiciously detailed lore that Sam had never even heard of.
Lisa is game with home defense.
Closing Thoughts:
Christian and Arlene are hunting and starting a family at the same time. I guess that's an advantage of hunting with a large group: if Mom and Dad bite it, someone's going to be around to teach the kids to shoot straight. What kind of culture does this small insular society have, anyway? Where do they acquire new breeding stock? Kidnapping? Exploiting grateful rescued victims? Cousin-banging?
Sam. Come on, Sam. Your gullibility is stretching the limits of my credulity. Do you seriously buy that story that some hunter couple would adopt a kid? I mean, you bought that you were doomed to turn evil and that a demon who was actively working to separate you from your brother could be on your side, but did you get smacked in the head a few too many times? And what's with the good little soldier/hitman act? Isn't this why you ran away to Stanford? You admit you no longer trust your own moral judgment, but you know whose judgment you should trust? Dean's! Not Grandpa's! Sam, just assume anyone who's interested in you and didn't grow up with you is evil and wants to use you for your evil schemes. It's not paranoia when it's true.
Samuel. So this is where Sam's flaky moral compass comes from. Not Azazel: just 100% natural human sociopath. It also explains why Mary accepted Azazel's offer to resurrect her boyfriend - instead of her parents. I'm betting Samuel knows exactly how and why he's back on Earth. I'd also guess he's drugging Sam into compliance, but that would just be old.
Dean. No way is he so happy to get back on the road. No. Way.
Single Dean, yes. Dean shacking up with Gumby Girl, yes. Quasi-father Dean?
Having kids changes a guy. Even fake having kids. There is no room for thrill-seeking. If you have someone depending on you, your life outlook changes fundamentally, because all of a sudden, your life isn't your own: it's the precious fragile veneer of security between the big bad world and the new generation that you'd give your life up for. It's what made John Winchester so crazy badass, and why the entire hunting community hated his guts: I would buy that John risked - and lost - Bill Harvelle's life because getting home to his own kids was more important than watching his partner's back. John managed to survive hunting for twenty-one years. Sam survived for maybe ten-ish.
Don't get me wrong, playing Suburban Defend Your Castle would have sent Dean spiraling down to psychosis. But he's leaving his dependents unprotected. He could die and then it would just be stupid Sam and the stinking Campbells around to protect his family. Forget the arrogance and sexism in that statement: this is primal. Psychosis should have already set in. It's a dad thing.
I don't like how Show keeps ragging on John's parenting philosophy. Letting your kid have a normal life gets them eaten by ghouls, and failing to teach them gun safety dooms them to shoot their eyes out. It's facts, people!