Those Tiny Trifles: 1x22, Devil's Trap

[sadelyrate]

Kripke and co. thought that if they'd go, they would at least go out with a bang. And honestly? That seems like the only fitting ending for the Winchesters...
Oh, and don't expect much thinky-thoughts from this. My objectivity's broken for this episode. Even more than usually.
Not a picspam.

1x22: Devil's Trap
Sam verifies that they've "still got 3 bullets left."
Dean repeats his own expression from Salvation (1x21): "We're no good to anybody dead."
The arch seems to say Singer Auto Salvage.
Bobby's tow-truck (Ford) has South Dakota plates with 9NO3L1.
The flasks Bobby hands to Dean are embellished with even-armed crosses decorated with Celtic knotwork. Between the arms, there are triquetras.
The last time Dean saw Bobby, they parted on apparently less-than-friendly terms: Bobby "cocked the shotgun and everything."
According to Bobby "John just has that effect on people."
Sam's never seen anything like the Key of Solomon.
Normal year, Bobby claims he hears about 3 demonic possessions, 4 at the most. "This year" (2006), however, there's been 27 so far.
The name of Bobby's rottweiler is Rumsfeld.
His chain's snapped.
The wallpaper at Bobby's isn't exclusive to that place. The very same design covered the walls of Evelyn's home in Provenance (1x19).
Bobby has a cute, old, small radio near the books Dean lands on. I might have fallen a tiny little bit more in love with him for that.
The devil's trap on Bobby's ceiling has been looked at by researchgrrrl here (you have to scroll past details from 2x01, though) and by nina-nicky here, and they've done such an awesome job of it that I'll keep my grubby hands to myself.
dairwendan is a gift to this fandom, because she's transcribed all the Latin in the show, including the exorcism in this episode.
On Bobby's wall, when Sam begins reciting the last part of the exorcism, the Coptic cross seen in Faith (1x12) is visible.
John was taken to the Sunrise Apartments in Jefferson City, Missouri.
Flames dance over the ceiling as the demon leaves Meg's body.
Post-exorcism, Meg says "it's been a year."
When the camera turns to look over Sam's shoulder at the Key of Solomon, he's on the spread with the design on Bobby's ceiling.
Turning the page brings him to a spread featuring the star-within-a-circle-within-a-triangle together with the syllables MI-CHA-EL, the devil's trap Sam ends up drawing on the trunk of the Impala. I can't be sure about the possible meanings of the seven lines around its top: they look like something I might have seen in sigils, but...
On the opposite page, there's the Fourth Pentacle of Sun and also the Sixth Pentacle of Sun. There's a third design, too, but it's camera-shy.
The Sunrise Apartments building is number 1386.
According to the boys, the city responds in 7 minutes.
The doorframe near the fire alarm Sam pulls bears numbers 24 and 26.
The firetrucks on the site are 10 and 08.
Dean is number 9, Sam number 8, while they're wearing their fireman-uniforms.
John is kept in the apartment 33, close to 32.
The small metal bottle of Holy Water Sam pulls out has a Celtic knotwork design decorating it.
The newly-possessed, baldish man has a nametag on his coat: Kim.
On the other side of his jacket, it designates him as a member of some Motors-company.
'Tom' hits Sam 10 times total: twice before Dean kicks him, 8 more times before Dean intervenes. In addition to, of course, tackling Sam.
The car 'Tom' lies in front of has Missouri plates with 6S4 WXE.
This is the first (and, so far, the only canon) instance where the Holy Water has failed.
"I could've killed you a 100 times today, but this..."
YED!John calls Dean by name 3 times.
They're "only 10 minutes away" from a hospital.
The truck driver's possessed by a BED.
"Hope you got your things together
Hope you are quite prepared to die
Looks like we're in for nasty weather
One eye is taken for an eye
Well, don't go around tonight,
Well, it's bound to take your life,
There's a bad moon on the rise."


Thoughts and Shtuff

*hugs Dean*
It's painful to watch how Dean sees everything unraveling around himself and how he scrambles to keep the reins in his own hands... This episode embodies how Dean's let his desires, his wants, his dreams be overshadowed by what needs to be done, what others need...
*hugs the boy*
Why do the Season Finales need to drop the anvil about just how completely fucked up that boy is?

Meg joins the ranks of beautiful blonde women with blood on their midriffs and their end associated with fire. Curiously enough, I don't think any other exorcism we've seen has featured anything similar to flames, like here, when the devilsmoke interacts with the devil's trap on Bobby's ceiling. She should've known better than to wear anything white/lacy around the Winchesters...

There are no words for how much I adore this series. Because implementing the archangel Michael's name in a design meant to stand fast against demons? Makes me so very, very happy inside. *smishes the show*

Every time Sam and Dean fight, it has something to do with John. What surprised me, here, is how Dean practically quotes himself from Scarecrow (1x11). And gods, the boys... It's easy to see how they ended up the way they did, during the Second Season.

Oh, and I hope you took a really, really good look at the Key of Solomon. Just like Daniel Elkins' journal from Dead Man's Blood (1x20), it seems to have been a one-time wonder.

It would be ridiculously easy and sort of cracktastic to meta about the black and white photographs mounted on the wall above the bed John's lying on. The other depicts sky as seen from within four windowed skyscraper-walls and the other looks like a bird flying among skyscrapers.
Considering what will happen to John... Light at the end of the tunnel and the human soul, anyone? :)

angstslashhope made a post based on a single screenshot about how devious Kripke and company are. All I can say is damn.

...if the boys would stop being so fucking beautiful breaking apart...
Either the make-up department's planning on ridding every cognisant person watching this series off their last brain cells, or then the Powers That Be have managed to film the most hurting episodes when the boys are in the prettiest phase of their cycle.
Because, damn it, JAck's never looked prettier than in this episode. *sniff*

The Colt's 'history' looks like this:
The Colt and the 13 Magic Bullets created in 1835.
Hunter-On-Horseback used 6 Magic Bullets.
2 Magic Bullets unaccounted for.
John Winchester shot Luthor the vampire with 1 Magic Bullet in Dead Man's Blood (1x20).
Sam Winchester shot at the YED with 1 Magic Bullet and 'missed' in Salvation (1x21).
Dean Winchester shot BED!'Tom' with 1 Magic Bullet in Devil's Trap (1x22).
Sam Winchester shot YED!John in the leg with 1 Magic Bullet in Devil's Trap (1x22).
1 Magic Bullet remained for the Second Season.

Everyone should go and read bowtrunckle's awesome meta about red and yellow and demons in Supernatural.

Pet peeve: Why is it always the heart? Why not the head? Just easier to fake, not to mention the symbolic value heart holds?

That's it, then, for the First Season. I still fail, trying to watch Salvation and Devil's Trap objectively. Utterly.
Until I get a hold of the Second Season DVDs (and the subsequent squee has abated a smidgen more), Those Tiny Trifles will take a hiatus by necessity. :)
*stares at the calendar and tries not to freak out* They're due to be in my hands by Friday! Just a few short days from now! WANTSESSS!
But now, it's beddy-bye for me!
(And tomorrow, apparently, flamingos!)