4x21: Reaction
Helloween's "The Departed (Sun Is Going Down)" has been on my mind today. It's a song that reminds me of In My Time of Dying (2x01) and John. Considering what's happened after that, it fits the boys, too, imo.
But without further ado, onto the next to last episode of S4. :)
ETA: Episode reaction in a nutshell: *FLAILS*
Then
Lilith in a grown-up body, vo by Anna explaining the gist of S4, MARY! FROM HOME (1x09)! Followed by a shot from All Hell Breaks Loose, Part I (2x21; *hee*), After School Special (4x13) and Sam wanting to be 'normal', Castiel suggesting Sam's on a wrong path, Dean echoing that sentiment while we're shown just how much of a junkie Sam is. And the situation we were left with a week ago.
Holy fudge, but they managed to fit a lot in not even a minute. But what does Mary have to do with Sam's junkie-status? Besides the deal she made? The Lilith-part I get, and the addiction, but Mary's role is a tad obscure... However, in Kripke we'll trust?
We'll see. For I demand answers.
Now
I love the shot of the ceiling fan with its Devil's Trap. :) And hey, this episode picks up right where the last one ended. \o/
Please note the red, red light in the room, sharing the shot with Sam. Oh, Show! \o/
"Damn straight."
I also love this shot of Dean. \o/
Oh, fudge this. I'm loving all of these shots! How can I not? There's a red!Sam, Dean with bars over his eyes (*recalling Crow*), voices, everything! *draws sparkly, glittery hearts all over the Show*
The words! *dumps the whole box of glitter on the Show*
This? This is what I've been practically praying for throughout the season... or all of them. Boys, jagged edges and all, distanced enough, hurt enough to bleed it all out. \o/
"Oh, Lilith's gonna die. Bobby and I will kill her."
Um...How?
The blade didn't work on Alistair, and if Lilith's worse than Alistair, and the Mystical, Magical Colt's gone, too... how?
Methinks the 'Now' of this ep just became my favourite scene of them all. :)
The title card still bloody rocks.
"When the Levee Breaks"
What's a 'levee'? *checks* Oh.
Well, then... either it's 'meeting adjourned' or 'all hell breaks loose'. I'm cool with either, because the first suggests dissent among the ranks and the second? The second promises powered-up!Sammy. Win-win, far as I can tell. \o/
ETA: And the Show manages to work with any and all interpretations of the word. \o/
Sam's not looking too cool, though.
Oh, fudge. I'm not a fan of that effect, either. Poor boy. But Dean and Bobby didn't leave a single book for Sam to read? And where's that poster of Bo Derek?
But breath misting is not a good sign. Not in this Show, at least. Not combined with flashing lights.
But why'd Bobby make a Supernatural Panic Room and make it extra-safe against demons, while leaving out ghost repellants? Or do those wards fudge up each other? Or is the ghostie something extra-strong, or just in Sam's head?
Okay, it's all inside Sam's head, then. Because Alistair (and the meatsuit he wore) went bye-bye. But I'm not really complaining. Freaked out, yes, but not complaining.
I fudging love that man's voice. It's downright... I don't know. But it brings to mind serpent's coils, oil on water, gas hissing through a crack... and it's bloody perfect for someone like Alistair.
"-Goodness. How will we pass the time?"
It bears repeating: I love the demons of this Show, as a general rule. Simply because they're visceral. And awesomely non-caring far as their meatsuits are concerned. Kripke and co. have managed to make the demons truly a dark mirror of humanity...
*heeeeee*
Messiah syndrome imagery? Check.
One of the clearest, best shots of a Devil's Trap? Check.
Sam strapped and helpless, at the hands of Hell's Head Inquisitor? Check.
*heee*
Meanwhile, the Samgirl-part of me's sobbing unconsolably.
However, why did JPad get to keep all those multiple layers of clothing when a couple of episodes back (Heaven and Hell, 4x10) Genevieve Cortese/Ruby was stripped apparently completely naked in a similar scene, in the same contraption? *sulks*
ETA: How the heck would Sam know what that contraption looks like? Did Ruby draw him a diagram or something?
Yep. Inside Sam's head. I like how the 'real world' shot's reversed, compared to the hallucination. :)
It also serves to remind one of The Hanged Man, the twelth card in the Major Arcana of Tarot...which, *heeeee*.
Detail: Bobby pours blended scotch whiskey into the glasses. The label features the black silhouette of a crow-like bird, but I can't make out the name.
Oh, Dean... but you know Bobby's telling the truth: far as records go, getting addicted on demon blood hasn't happened before. Though I'd like to disagree: blood's way too significant for someone not to have given it a go. Even if demons were a lot rarer before 2005, or so. Humans are insane, after all, and there has probably always been individuals ready to imbibe any substance whatsoever in order to find out what kind of a trip it would induce.
RUFUS! FROM TIME IS ON MY SIDE (3x15)! RUFUS!!! \o/ Yay for sort of remembered canon characters! \o/
"-This better be important!"
And then that look Bobby throws at Dean... I wonder what's up? Ask and ye shall receive, I see.
I wonder what those magazines under Sam's bed are. Good to know that Dean and Bobby were considerate enough to let him have an alternative way to pass the time, if the hallucinations become boring.
WEE!SAM! \o/\o/\o/
I cover the list of stars at the beginning, because it spoils the surprises like this. Yay for Colin Ford! He's awesome. \o/
And this? Sam and wee!Sam? *draws hearts around it*
"'Sorry, kid.' That's what you have to say?"
Owww... But JPad and Colin Ford work wonderfully together.
This keeps up, this'll end up as one of my favourite eps in the Show's history. :)
Does that count as a Teen!AntiChrist shoutout, btw? ;)
As an aside, there are not enough words to correctly relay just how bloody much I LOVE the fact that, even though he was slain at the end of S2, Azazel still continues to cast a shadow. :)
Detail: The news seals include ten species going extinct in Key West, 15 fishermen struck blind inexplicably in Alaska and a teacher going on a killing spree (66 students) in New York.
"How many are left?"
Methinks that's the wrong way to put it, because based on what Anna said in I Know What You Did Last Summer (4x09), 66 is the number of seals that need to be broken, not how many seals there are in total. There might be several hundred still left (it was 66 out of about 600), even if, say, 57 seals were already broken.
And in (4x12), at least according to Ruby, 34 seals were broken.
"Where the hell are your angel pals?"
Um... oops? Uriel's dead, Castiel was rebooted, Anna's... um. A rogue angel? Would that make Ruby a rogue demon?
Oh, Bobby...
And oh, Dean... you've been subjected to that "sacrifice for the greater good"/good of the many vs. good of the one way too many times, methinks. But it's still good to see that despite everything, you're firm in your opinion, far as that particular suggestion goes. No matter who's the suggested sacrifice.
"-'cause we love him too much?"
That decides that, then. Though what this smells like brings to my mind the second generation X-Men comics, specifically Rachel Summers, used to hunt down mutants.
Detail: one of the magazines Sam's been left with is "Hunting (can't make sense)". Another is "Weekly Woodsman".
Random: When the camera's approaching the pitcher of water and the glass, the mirror above it reflects something, making it look like there's a bullet hovering above the water. I had to watch this couple of times to assure myself that that wasn't a literal 'shot in the dark'/that Sam wasn't hovering a bullet there. :)
MARY! O.O
Just-Before-Barbeque!Mary with the slashed, bloody belly and all...\o/
I wonder why Sam's head conjures her forth looking like that...
If we're to trust hallucinations...
Detail: Mary came from a long line of hunters.
"No. For justice."
For great justice? ;)
I don't think I like this Mary. Some of it fits, rings true, but mostly? Mostly I'm just thinking that for whatever reason, Mary's form is the one the 'devil' in Sam's soul has chosen to take. I wonder if wee!Sam counts as the 'angel', then...
ETA: Alistair, wee!Sam and Mary... I'm drawing a blank with Al, but wee!Sam serves as the voice of innocence, of possibilities lost, lives ruined. Mary, considering her appearance, is the 'beginning' of this all; the one because of whom it all started. The reason wee!Sam felt like a freak.
ETA: On second watch through, I'm okay with this Mary, think she sounds just like she should. Wtf, brains?
"Don't let anyone or anything get in your way. Not even Dean."
Well, Sam's killed a'Bobby' once already (Mystery Spot, 3x11)...think we'll get a revision of that?
Meanwhile, the Samgirl's curled up, rocking in the corner.
Dean looks decidedly not happy in the junkyard. Someone give him a crowbar?
Wingsound! And Castiel! \o/
Situated like he is, though, under the light, framed by that red thing, the broken down car... looks like he has wings.
"Dean. I can't. I'm sorry."
It's good to know that Castiel wasn't formatted as well as rebooted. He's still who he was, doubts and all, but he's just trying to fly under the radar a tad better than before. I think I like this. :)
"If I do this, Sammy doesn't have to?"
"If it gives you comfort to see it that way."
Watch those words, people. Methinks this episode is one of those where you really, really have to think twice about what's being said, how it's being said, and all the possible ways to interpret it. For so very many words mean more than one thing...
That shadow of a tree's branches: first it covered Castiel's, then Dean's. Reminding me of the striga, its fingers. Wonder if there's some deeper thought behind that element; won't be accepting the suggestion that it's an accident, since it's so prominent...
And recalling the very first frames of the Pilot, the branches of the tree on the Winchesters' lawn, curling around the window of Sam's nursery doesn't exactly help, either. :)
"You swear to follow His will and His word as swiftly and obediently as you did your own father's?"
Ah, but there's a catch there. "I want you to look out for Sammy", but no way could Dean do John's last bidding...
And *hee* at the way Dean straightens a bit before answering, like he's heard something more than what the words appear on the surface. ;)
Okay, I've heard of hallucinating about bugs under your skin, but this? Sam's veins...burning? DO NOT WANT. Because I can remember what that felt like. DO NOT WANT!
So, Dean has to be the bitch of either Heaven or Hell?
But there's a third option... "suppose you throw a coin enough times...suppose one day, it lands on its edge."
"-they come on like shady politicians from planet Vulcan."
*hee*
"That's a little too much of nothing."
And now I imagine Sam's got his hand in the cookie jar. Because that's the silence of the kids doing something they know they shouldn't be doing.
Holy fudge. O.o
The convulsions, I think, are something one might expect during a detox. But I wonder... is getting flung all over the place a demonic convulsion? Hunger drives people mad, and the baby will scream and trash about with all the power it possesses if deprived of food a good while before the tiny body tires.
I'm just wondering about Azazel's blood, the myth of life springing from spilled blood (pegasus), wee!Sam's suggestion... "better than mother's milk" and Ruby as a mirror of Mary, "Hell's bitch" vs. the Heavenly Virgin. *thinky*
And Sam's arms, flund wide, grasping... just like a baby's when it's scared.
But oh, Dean... That's a terrible, terrible position to be in: seeing someone you do care about, to the extent of there never having really been any doubt about it, in the throes of something you simply can't help with...so far away you can't even reach them, no matter what you do. *wantses to wrap the boys in cuddly blankets*
Or just sharing one. And having them kiss and make up.
I wonder how long Dean can take this. Or Sam. ETA: Never mind. Hallucination!Dean doesn't count, and real!Dean made it clear.
Ow, boys. Bloody OW. And Sam's brains? So very, very screwed up...
"At least he dies human!"
Owwwwwwww... But then, Dean's lost the rest of his family to a demon. No bloody way he'd let them have Sam, too. Even if it'd kill him. Owww....
Curious. Dean's the only one of the hallucinations Sam tells to leave him alone. Alistair, wee!Sam, Mary...? Not a single word along the lines of "go away" or "shut up". But with Dean?
However, all those preceding Dean were dead, and Sam knows it. Dean, however, is alive and kicking and hands down the winner in the Knowing Sam-contest, even with this season.
*hands heart over to Kripke, Sera and The Boys* Holy fudge, guys. JAck's bloody creepy. And Sera? Oh, fudge. Should've known her being the writer meant getting one's heart ripped.
The fan starting up is eery.
The stuff springing open is even more so, though I do believe that that's just all part of the newest hallucination. But what's with the *whoomph* sound?
Castiel?!
Okay, maybe it's not a hallucination. But damn it, angels! You're playing a dirty bloody game...and I don't like the fact that people's agendas aren't clear...
However, Heaven so far has seemed rather "ends justify the means". You want to make sure a (supposedly bad) demon is slain? Let's wipe out the whole town!
Oh, Castiel, how pretty you look, leaning on that railing...
Yay, Anna! I'm still not sure what to think of her, but she's a pleasure to look at. Though her cleavage/breasts are distracting.
*heehee* In the close-ups, Castiel shares the screen with orange/reddish blobs, and Anna? Dimmer, but red, blue, yellow... ;)
"You really shouldn't have come."
Oh.
Well, then. Byebye, Anna. If you come back, still wearing a redhead, I may have to start calling you Jean. And oh, Cas(tiel)... you're really screwed, aren't you?
But why the heck were you where ever the heck you were? Were you supposed to meet someone? Did you call for Anna? Answers, Show!
Hey, Sam's picking a lock! \o/
Oh, fudge, Bobby! You do realize you're wearing (in this case, metaphorically) a red shirt?
Goddammit, Show!
Just how many lives does Bobby bloody have? Not that I'm not happy Sam didn't kill him, but... I'd like it a whole hell of a lot more if it didn't feel like Bobby's playing completely by luck, now.
And he shared the screen in his close-ups with a white blob.
And for a moment there, I thought Sam had hotwired the Impala. Stop giving me bad palpitations, Show!
Oh, angels, you're playing a dirty, dirty game... as if Dean needed any more reason to harden his heart against Ruby...
There's an awful lot of white in this ep, you know. Especially in that room Sam picked.
ETA: including white tulips or somesuch in the corridor.
Detail: The honeymoon suite Sam's gotten is number 523.
Detail: It's been three weeks since Sam last heard/met/saw Ruby.
Show of hands: who doesn't trust Ruby? Or trusts her even less than before? *raises hand*
"You know, it's sad."
That's not Ruby, right? I mean, Lilith kicked her out of her meatsuit before (No Rest For the Wicked, 3x16)... what would stop her from doing so again, taking up residence in order to get whatever the heck it is she wants from Sam? Especially since Ruby's spent those MIA-weeks "trying to dig up Lilith"...
"That things have gotten this bad between you two."
I do not trust her. She smells wrong. *hssst*
Detail: The car Sam took was found in an alley in Jamestown, North Dakota.
Detail: 1999 Honda Civic (blue, nice and anonymous) and white '05 Escalade with custom rims were stolen in Jamestown.
"Your appetite's gotten much bigger."
Um... I'm really not sure what to think of that.
But why are they in bed, under the covers, half-undressed?
Random: The walldecor's curious. Though methinks we can chalk it up to my perverted nature that the golden detail looks a tad like a vulva in my eyes...it even has the g-spot marked! :p
Detail: According to this Ruby, only a couple of seals are left. And the final seal can only be broken by "Lucifer's First", which, according to her, is Lilith.
ETA: Lilith would fit in with the general mythology, her being named as Samael's wife and all, but... what's the story of Azazel? And if there's a YED taking up space inside Sam... I don't like what this is starting to smell like.
'Personal chef'? And one would think Sam would've dug up everything ever written about Lilith after the boys learned about her. Because she's the demoness behind SIDS, according to the lore. She's the one who preys on small kids and babies...
Demons near babies DO NOT WANT!
*bad, bad, bad flashbacks to Hellblazer*
Detail: At St. Paul's, "one of neonatal nurses walked right off the unit with two babies." That nurse had worked there for 17 years.
Lilith's lackey is on nightshift the next night, according to Ruby.
Detail: The Escalade was later found "in a ditch outside Elk River".
Cold Spring is the name of the town where all the funny folk seem to be gathering.
Yay for action!Dean! But where's all the wonderful BED-strength, Ruby? Or is Dean just badass enough for that to not matter?
Sam rescues Ruby and I'm left to curse the fact that her eyes didn't flash white. But there's a brother-on-brother conflict, so I'm otherwise occupied.
And oh, boys... But this time, there's no steel door between you. Just broken, jagged edges. That don't fit together.
It's like a trainwreck in progress: you know you don't want to see what's happening (save for that masochistic voyeur-part) but you can't turn away, either.
Choking Dean. REALLY, SAM?!
"-and you never will."
Holy hell. Sam's way too fatalistic for my tastes, imo.
"You walk out that door, don't you ever come back."
OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW, BOYS!
*hands heart to Kripke, Sera and co.*
After some sleep, watching this again...
I wonder if three's the magic number with this ep, considering its prevalence in this ep... and its significance, truly contested only by numbers seven and nine in common symbology.
Other than that, methinks I can't brain. Way, way too flaily and lacking the ability to concentrate, atm.
Just... it can be Finale tiems nao?
*FLAILS*