The Monster at the End of This Book
If that wasn't the most surreal episode... Not at all what I was expecting.
♥_♥
This is probably an unpopular opinion, but meta episodes have always been extremely hit-or-miss with me, and generally fall under "miss." This sort of thing has always been a pet peeve of mine for as long as I've been watching tv: when shows break the fourth wall all the way through and instead of a nod to the audience, give a full-on curtain call. Generally a self-congratulatory one. Stargate SG-1 used to drive me up the damn wall with it. I don't like things that innately take me out of the story being placed front and center in the story.
But...! I don't know if it's because SPN played it so dead serious and less absurd than even the episode before it, or if it's because it had so many scenes that were such gems of characterization... but I LOVED THIS EPISODE. Against all odds, I loved it. It was so full of win, so many perfect scenes that just make me KEYBOARD SMASH IN CAPSLOCK... all wrapped up in something I've always disliked intensely. HOW DID THEY DO THAT?
The Sam and Dean scenes. The Dean and Cas scenes. The Sam and Chuck scene. The Dean and Chuck scenes. The boys and Chuck scenes. ALL GOLD. I could watch them forever and ever. IN FACT, I HAVE.
Three of them stand out so vividly: Sam's private talk with Chuck, Sam and Dean's confrontation over leaving and what Dean does and doesn't know, and the Cas/Dean scene which followed it. And about that one: !!!!!!!!! CAS IS AWESOME AND ABSOLUTELY DEAN'S FRIEND NOW IN CANON EVEN AND A SNEAKY MAGNIFICENT BASTARD TO BOOT. \o/ YES, CAS. YES. ZACHARIAH IS WEEPING WITH ENVY RIGHT NOW. YOU GO, BOY, YOU BAMF YOU. ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ I LOVED THAT. I LOVE HIM. I LOVE HIM AND DEAN. I LOVE THEIR DYNAMIC MORE AND MORE WITH EVERY EPISODE. YES. JUST... YES. I'M. I'M NOT QUITE COHERENT YET ABOUT HOW MUCH I LOVED CAS AND DEAN IN THIS EPISODE. SO, YEAH. Which, if I think of it even indirectly: the level of attentiveness and protectiveness Cas is showing Dean is off the charts. Because that's what that interruption of the Dean/Chuck scene was all about, right?? Because Chuck was never in danger. Archangel on his shoulder and all? Cas wasn't saving Chuck from Dean, nope! The only reason Cas showed up all intense and determined was to cool Dean's head before he went and got himself killed. Which means that Cas is keeping watch over Dean, even when Dean is completely unaware of it. Which means that 4x16 wasn't swept under the rug by Douche Yoda after all, maybe for Dean but not for Cas. Because Cas has, like, laser focus on Dean now. ICU, CAS. ICU. ♥_♥
Also? DEAN'S ANGEL >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> CHUCK'S ARCHANGEL. I'M JUST SAYIN'.
And Dean. Seeing him-of all characters-actually praying for help was just... just something I don't have words for. Very beautifully characterized, very carefully built up to. I have issues (noted below) about the whole hell/PTSD thing, but I'm in love with how Jensen has picked up the pieces here, following 4x16 and the non-closure that was 4x17, filling in what the scripts apparently are content to overlook now that the plot is marching on. He played Dean's gradual shift in this episode from skepticism to insult to caution to determination to desperation so well. Dean in the script feels a little too decisive, too controlled, too vigorous, to be anywhere near the immediate (and non-AU) wake of 4x16, but if I think of the immense pain (if not the memories) of 4x16 as retroactively scrubbed from existence by Douche Yoda and take from it all the continuity and emotion that Jensen has put into it despite the shortcomings of the scripts... then it works extremely well with the rest of Season 4 and I can even seen this Dean following the wake of 4x16's Dean. Kudos to him. That must have been an extremely difficult jump to make from 4x16 to 4x17 to 4x18 (if they filmed in order). He did it beautifully.
That said, I'm absolutely convinced now that Dean's memories of hell were, in actual fact, erased or at least selectively modified to include only the facts and none of the psychological damage. I can't explain any other reason why Dean isn't catatonic, fantasy wake-up call or no. I don't like that Douche Yoda did a Spock on him. If that's it, then his hell arc will be left irreparably incomplete, and that kind of pisses me off, if only for the fact that Jensen was giving 120% and acting his ass off with it and I hate to see his hard work swept away. But I have to accept that this happened, much like Connor in Angel going from newborn to teenager in the blink of an eye, and just take the story from there.
BUT WHO CARES, BECAUSE CAS REMEMBERS AND IT'S EVEN CHANGING HOW HE IS AROUND DEAN NOW AND I CAN'T HOLD A GRUDGE AGAINST THE SHOW, BECAUSE THEY'VE GIVEN ME THIS STUFF IN CANON. \o/
(AND I'M NOT EVEN A SHIPPER, USUALLY. WHY DOES CAS/DEAN MAKE ME SO GIDDY??)
Sam's talk with Chuck was such a great moment. And now that it's happened, I don't see how Sam could have been confronted with it any other way, since the show doesn't provide much in the way of objective narrators for the boys to bounce their self-doubts and fears against. This seemed like just the wake up call Sam needed after failing to heed the warnings that have been dropped time and again throughout this season, and even in previous ones. There was so much meta there (well, there was so much meta all over this one). It's the perfect touch to have Chuck worry about Sam being unsympathetic, the perfect touch for Sam to be taken aback by that, the perfect touch for Chuck to say "If that's what this is about" after Sam is still so insistent that his fundamental motives-whatever his active choices-are only pure and noble and protective of Dean. Seasons ago, he would have been the one taking Chuck's prophecies to heart. It's so fitting now that he's deaf and blind to what it's all spelling out, to why Dean's seemingly unreasonable fears of/for him are echoes of what every other character in the know has warned him about. Jared was so good in this episode, hitting all the right notes in his scenes with Dean and with Chuck. Oh, Sam. This isn't going to end well for you or your brother. And for fuck's sake, if you won't listen to him, then listen to what the unbiased warnings are telling you.
The Dean and Sam scene, the one where they fought for real before Lilith showed up and before Dean prayed, that was a thing of beauty, wow. I love how Jared and Jensen played it, Jared so tense and stubborn and confident and blind, and Jensen this lovely mix of being unguarded and cynical at the same time, reaching out and holding in. I love that Sam refused to budge. I love that Dean couldn't leave. I love how bitter and angry they both were, and how determined to protect each other despite whatever the other might think or feel about it. I could watch that scene a dozen times back to back and not get tired of it. Everything was perfect. Everything. ♥ ♥ ♥
Sam and Lilith, on the other hand, was a chore to sit through. It was like every Sam and Seductive Demon scene ever, as well as every Dean and Seductive Demon scene. I was hoping for something quite epic, and got... talk? And a sex deal? Supposedly as an upgrade to the usual kiss? BORED NOW. And why, dear writers, must Sam's ~darkside~ escapades always involve him either being seduced, having sex or sewing up his own meat? SEX IS NOT EVIL AND NEITHER ARE MUSCLES, OMG, GET OVER IT. The only thing that took me aback is that Sam has any confidence in his hand-to-hand fighting skills. He should probably keep those novels and research himself a little more.
The shoutouts to fandom were amusing, although frankly what with all the other amazing character scenes filling the episode, I completely forgot about the framework for the episode by the time Dean was reading about himself reading about himself in the laundromat. Them knowing about Samgirls and Deangirls and slash and so on was cute, and how the fan/publicist gushed about the series. Probably on any other show, I would have been put off by the bluntness of it, of characters realizing that they're fictional characters in other people's minds. But there's just something about Supernatural. I liked all the excess meta despite my usual dislike of it. I think the series being structured to allow prophets helped with that, since I could suspend my disbelief and think of Chuck not as their creator but as just some lazy prophet who'd rather make a buck off his visions than use them for something like, you know, world peace. That works.
Oh, and I had this quite long rant about the only real issue I have with this episode, but I thought I would spare you, since it was a downer. To sum up: I really, really hate it when a story creates an in-universe situation where the question "Why don't they just...?" is begging to be asked. If you know what I mean? Then a labored explanation has to be constructed and held in place (like Douche Yoda threatening Chuck here) so that the heroes don't utilize this tool to solve all of the problems it could otherwise solve. A character that is functionally omniscient specifically regarding the heroes thoughts/feelings/choices and a helpful chunk of their future, protected by a guardian that is functionally omnipotent (though selectively responsive, it seems), is quite a tool to introduce. And I'm not generally one to nitpick plot holes, but this has been and probably always will be a major pet peeve of mine. I hate hearing that voice in my head, "Why don't they just...?" Now I'll be thinking that whenever the boys are at a loss or have some misunderstanding. But then again, I'd hate it if they called him all the time, like a Great-Ash or something. So, yeah. I hate omniscient characters as a general rule. I hope they use Chuck sparingly in the future, or what I dislike about him as a plot device might outweigh what I like about him as a character. The final scene with Douche Yoda makes me uneasy about how they'll use him. :/ Hopefully, they won't pull him out as some Deus Ex Machina. I think I can handle him in Ghostfacer/Wee!Chester doses, but nothing more. Not as prominent as Castiel, Uriel, Ruby or Bobby, that sort of thing. (I would absolutely welcome a spoiler on this front.)
(p.s. This was probably not very coherent, sorry! I'm exhausted. Off to bed now.)
♥_♥
This is probably an unpopular opinion, but meta episodes have always been extremely hit-or-miss with me, and generally fall under "miss." This sort of thing has always been a pet peeve of mine for as long as I've been watching tv: when shows break the fourth wall all the way through and instead of a nod to the audience, give a full-on curtain call. Generally a self-congratulatory one. Stargate SG-1 used to drive me up the damn wall with it. I don't like things that innately take me out of the story being placed front and center in the story.
But...! I don't know if it's because SPN played it so dead serious and less absurd than even the episode before it, or if it's because it had so many scenes that were such gems of characterization... but I LOVED THIS EPISODE. Against all odds, I loved it. It was so full of win, so many perfect scenes that just make me KEYBOARD SMASH IN CAPSLOCK... all wrapped up in something I've always disliked intensely. HOW DID THEY DO THAT?
The Sam and Dean scenes. The Dean and Cas scenes. The Sam and Chuck scene. The Dean and Chuck scenes. The boys and Chuck scenes. ALL GOLD. I could watch them forever and ever. IN FACT, I HAVE.
Three of them stand out so vividly: Sam's private talk with Chuck, Sam and Dean's confrontation over leaving and what Dean does and doesn't know, and the Cas/Dean scene which followed it. And about that one: !!!!!!!!! CAS IS AWESOME AND ABSOLUTELY DEAN'S FRIEND NOW IN CANON EVEN AND A SNEAKY MAGNIFICENT BASTARD TO BOOT. \o/ YES, CAS. YES. ZACHARIAH IS WEEPING WITH ENVY RIGHT NOW. YOU GO, BOY, YOU BAMF YOU. ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ I LOVED THAT. I LOVE HIM. I LOVE HIM AND DEAN. I LOVE THEIR DYNAMIC MORE AND MORE WITH EVERY EPISODE. YES. JUST... YES. I'M. I'M NOT QUITE COHERENT YET ABOUT HOW MUCH I LOVED CAS AND DEAN IN THIS EPISODE. SO, YEAH. Which, if I think of it even indirectly: the level of attentiveness and protectiveness Cas is showing Dean is off the charts. Because that's what that interruption of the Dean/Chuck scene was all about, right?? Because Chuck was never in danger. Archangel on his shoulder and all? Cas wasn't saving Chuck from Dean, nope! The only reason Cas showed up all intense and determined was to cool Dean's head before he went and got himself killed. Which means that Cas is keeping watch over Dean, even when Dean is completely unaware of it. Which means that 4x16 wasn't swept under the rug by Douche Yoda after all, maybe for Dean but not for Cas. Because Cas has, like, laser focus on Dean now. ICU, CAS. ICU. ♥_♥
Also? DEAN'S ANGEL >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> CHUCK'S ARCHANGEL. I'M JUST SAYIN'.
And Dean. Seeing him-of all characters-actually praying for help was just... just something I don't have words for. Very beautifully characterized, very carefully built up to. I have issues (noted below) about the whole hell/PTSD thing, but I'm in love with how Jensen has picked up the pieces here, following 4x16 and the non-closure that was 4x17, filling in what the scripts apparently are content to overlook now that the plot is marching on. He played Dean's gradual shift in this episode from skepticism to insult to caution to determination to desperation so well. Dean in the script feels a little too decisive, too controlled, too vigorous, to be anywhere near the immediate (and non-AU) wake of 4x16, but if I think of the immense pain (if not the memories) of 4x16 as retroactively scrubbed from existence by Douche Yoda and take from it all the continuity and emotion that Jensen has put into it despite the shortcomings of the scripts... then it works extremely well with the rest of Season 4 and I can even seen this Dean following the wake of 4x16's Dean. Kudos to him. That must have been an extremely difficult jump to make from 4x16 to 4x17 to 4x18 (if they filmed in order). He did it beautifully.
That said, I'm absolutely convinced now that Dean's memories of hell were, in actual fact, erased or at least selectively modified to include only the facts and none of the psychological damage. I can't explain any other reason why Dean isn't catatonic, fantasy wake-up call or no. I don't like that Douche Yoda did a Spock on him. If that's it, then his hell arc will be left irreparably incomplete, and that kind of pisses me off, if only for the fact that Jensen was giving 120% and acting his ass off with it and I hate to see his hard work swept away. But I have to accept that this happened, much like Connor in Angel going from newborn to teenager in the blink of an eye, and just take the story from there.
BUT WHO CARES, BECAUSE CAS REMEMBERS AND IT'S EVEN CHANGING HOW HE IS AROUND DEAN NOW AND I CAN'T HOLD A GRUDGE AGAINST THE SHOW, BECAUSE THEY'VE GIVEN ME THIS STUFF IN CANON. \o/
(AND I'M NOT EVEN A SHIPPER, USUALLY. WHY DOES CAS/DEAN MAKE ME SO GIDDY??)
Sam's talk with Chuck was such a great moment. And now that it's happened, I don't see how Sam could have been confronted with it any other way, since the show doesn't provide much in the way of objective narrators for the boys to bounce their self-doubts and fears against. This seemed like just the wake up call Sam needed after failing to heed the warnings that have been dropped time and again throughout this season, and even in previous ones. There was so much meta there (well, there was so much meta all over this one). It's the perfect touch to have Chuck worry about Sam being unsympathetic, the perfect touch for Sam to be taken aback by that, the perfect touch for Chuck to say "If that's what this is about" after Sam is still so insistent that his fundamental motives-whatever his active choices-are only pure and noble and protective of Dean. Seasons ago, he would have been the one taking Chuck's prophecies to heart. It's so fitting now that he's deaf and blind to what it's all spelling out, to why Dean's seemingly unreasonable fears of/for him are echoes of what every other character in the know has warned him about. Jared was so good in this episode, hitting all the right notes in his scenes with Dean and with Chuck. Oh, Sam. This isn't going to end well for you or your brother. And for fuck's sake, if you won't listen to him, then listen to what the unbiased warnings are telling you.
The Dean and Sam scene, the one where they fought for real before Lilith showed up and before Dean prayed, that was a thing of beauty, wow. I love how Jared and Jensen played it, Jared so tense and stubborn and confident and blind, and Jensen this lovely mix of being unguarded and cynical at the same time, reaching out and holding in. I love that Sam refused to budge. I love that Dean couldn't leave. I love how bitter and angry they both were, and how determined to protect each other despite whatever the other might think or feel about it. I could watch that scene a dozen times back to back and not get tired of it. Everything was perfect. Everything. ♥ ♥ ♥
Sam and Lilith, on the other hand, was a chore to sit through. It was like every Sam and Seductive Demon scene ever, as well as every Dean and Seductive Demon scene. I was hoping for something quite epic, and got... talk? And a sex deal? Supposedly as an upgrade to the usual kiss? BORED NOW. And why, dear writers, must Sam's ~darkside~ escapades always involve him either being seduced, having sex or sewing up his own meat? SEX IS NOT EVIL AND NEITHER ARE MUSCLES, OMG, GET OVER IT. The only thing that took me aback is that Sam has any confidence in his hand-to-hand fighting skills. He should probably keep those novels and research himself a little more.
The shoutouts to fandom were amusing, although frankly what with all the other amazing character scenes filling the episode, I completely forgot about the framework for the episode by the time Dean was reading about himself reading about himself in the laundromat. Them knowing about Samgirls and Deangirls and slash and so on was cute, and how the fan/publicist gushed about the series. Probably on any other show, I would have been put off by the bluntness of it, of characters realizing that they're fictional characters in other people's minds. But there's just something about Supernatural. I liked all the excess meta despite my usual dislike of it. I think the series being structured to allow prophets helped with that, since I could suspend my disbelief and think of Chuck not as their creator but as just some lazy prophet who'd rather make a buck off his visions than use them for something like, you know, world peace. That works.
Oh, and I had this quite long rant about the only real issue I have with this episode, but I thought I would spare you, since it was a downer. To sum up: I really, really hate it when a story creates an in-universe situation where the question "Why don't they just...?" is begging to be asked. If you know what I mean? Then a labored explanation has to be constructed and held in place (like Douche Yoda threatening Chuck here) so that the heroes don't utilize this tool to solve all of the problems it could otherwise solve. A character that is functionally omniscient specifically regarding the heroes thoughts/feelings/choices and a helpful chunk of their future, protected by a guardian that is functionally omnipotent (though selectively responsive, it seems), is quite a tool to introduce. And I'm not generally one to nitpick plot holes, but this has been and probably always will be a major pet peeve of mine. I hate hearing that voice in my head, "Why don't they just...?" Now I'll be thinking that whenever the boys are at a loss or have some misunderstanding. But then again, I'd hate it if they called him all the time, like a Great-Ash or something. So, yeah. I hate omniscient characters as a general rule. I hope they use Chuck sparingly in the future, or what I dislike about him as a plot device might outweigh what I like about him as a character. The final scene with Douche Yoda makes me uneasy about how they'll use him. :/ Hopefully, they won't pull him out as some Deus Ex Machina. I think I can handle him in Ghostfacer/Wee!Chester doses, but nothing more. Not as prominent as Castiel, Uriel, Ruby or Bobby, that sort of thing. (I would absolutely welcome a spoiler on this front.)
(p.s. This was probably not very coherent, sorry! I'm exhausted. Off to bed now.)