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SPN 7.22 There Will Be Blood
Dogs of war and men of hate
With no cause, we don't discriminate
Discovery is to be disowned
Our currency is flesh and bone
Hell opened up and put on sale
Gather 'round and haggle
For hard cash, we will lie and deceive
Even our masters don't know the web we weave
One world, it's a battleground
One world, and we will smash it down
One world ... One world
What happens when worlds collide? Who is the cattle? Who is the king ordering up a nice, juicy T-bone for dinner? Eve's childen originated from Purgatory. The Leviathan, condemned to Purgatory for having too voraciously ambitious an appetite. The chompers who would chow down and destroy all other creation in the process.
Alpha Vampire: There are seven billion of them.
Leviathan!Edgar: Only seven?
There are no brothers, just food and competing predators.
An apt description -- the predator connotation was made explicitly clear in an uncomfortably direct way in the case of the Alpha Vampire and his predilection for children/virgins and their pure blood. It's just a situation of picking one battle at a time. Can't fight them all at the same time. So Sam and Dean do what they can. One person they reluctantly give up on because she doesn't want to be saved. One child who might still be salvagable. Come back to save more later. But even more pressing, because the countdown has started: Leviathans now. The Alpha Vamp?
See you next season.
Sam and Dean are not giving up on the children victimized by the Alpha. It is, however, a matter of bigger picture prioritizing. There is a whole world of children the Leviathans are preparing for the slaughter. Can't save them all, not all at the same time.
Can't even save an ally caught in a trap. Poor Kevin Tran. Caught in the snare of Dick Roman's negotiating tactics. Give me what I want, or watch your mother die. Flesh and blood put on the bargaining block.
Dick's a real dick about his pretense of a haggle with Kevin. There was no haggle. It was a straight up transaction. Kevin appeared to buy his mother's life by giving Dick the information he demanded. (I say "appeared" because this is the Leviathans we're talking about. You know. Shapeshifters. His mother could have been monster chow long before Dick Roman's "negotiations" and he would never be able to tell the difference.)
Invisible transfers, long distance calls,
Hollow laughter in marble halls
Steps have been taken, a silent uproar
Has unleashed the dogs of war
You can't stop what has begun
Signed, sealed, they deliver oblivion
We all have a dark side, to say the least
And dealing in death is the nature of the beast
One world, it's a battleground
One world, and we will smash it down
One world ... One world
One word here: Bobby.
Two words, actually. Oh crap.
Yes, we saw it coming. We all have a dark side. Bobby is staging his own protest at being benched. He doesn't see it, what has been unleashed within him. He was warned. Sam and Dean have worried and debated it.
Reaper: Come with me. Be done. You've earned it. Or fight me. Stay here. And you know the drill.
Rufus: I don't know, Bobby. I mean, you really want to get stuck, turn into some ghost?
Bobby: I know what I'm doing, Rufus.
Rufus: Yeah, yeah, you're thinking you can help those boys. But how many spirits you meet in their right mind? (7.10)
Sam: The lore doesn't have a single real life example of Casper the Friendly Ghost. It's all basicallly Poltergeist until a hunter comes along.
Dean: Yeah, well the lore sucks.
Sam: I'm talking pure hatred, Dean. No humanity. I mean, he could kill. Possess people. Bobby could burn this fricking building down. If he goes off the rails...
The nature of the beast. He's a ghost on the fast track to becoming a full blown vengeful spirit. He has his own agenda. It used to be being there for Sam and Dean. An agenda that is being slowly hollowed out into transforming into a different nature.
Bobby: Just need you a little while. Just til I get the bastard.
He is intent on his war against Dick, and it's slowly overwhelming him. Sam and Dean are being forced to tiptoe around him, worried about what they might accidentally trigger within him. And now, with his possession of the service maid -- he crossed a line. Became a predator, not just a hunter. A violation that human Bobby would never have countenanced. His future isn't looking too bright right now. What happens eventually to all vengeful spirits?
The dogs of war won't negotiate
The dogs of war don't capitulate,
They will take and you will give,
And you must die so that they may live
You can knock at any door,
But wherever you go, you know they've been there before
Well winners can lose and things can get strained
But whatever you change, you know the dogs remain.
One world, it's a battleground
One world, and we will smash it down
One world ... One world
-- Pink Floyd, Dogs of War
What happens when you're running short on friends, leaving you with the enemy of your enemy is your temporary ally, although you freely acknowledge that you'd as soon as cut their heads off or rip their throats out at first viable opportunity?
Dean: There's not even a contest.
Sam: It depends on the criteria.
Dean: Survival is the only criteria, all right? (7.10)
There is the reasoning viewpoint, and there is the pragmatic viewpoint. At one time the point was debatable. But now the choice is being forced. One problem at a time. Survival of the species, of all species, vs extinction.
United we stand, divided we fall. It's a bitter admission Dean makes, listing their choices of potential allies.
Alpha Vampire: Right, right, your flesh is crawling. All you want to do is kill me now. You hate having to wait and come back, and try again...
Dean: Pretty much. I wouldn't leave that head to close to that body for too long.
Dean: We figured you might hold a grudge.
Alpha Vampire: And why would I? Because you captured me? Tortured me? Sold me to the King of Hell?
As much as it makes Sam and Dean's skin crawl to be forced into the position of negotiation with the Alpha vampire and Crowley for their help in stopping the Leviathans, that clearly goes both ways. The Alpha vampire holds no love for the Winchesters either. But...
Alpha Vampire: So now you want to prevent the extermination of the vampire race?
Dean: No. But it beats going down with you.
Survival is the criteria. One does not make it through the centuries without keeping one's options open.
Alpha Vampire: Never hurts to get the story first.
The Leviathans put on a show of negotiation with the vampires, but they never had any intention of following through. They just wanted to make their own path easier. They are the top dogs on the food chain, and they don't have to give up anything.
Right?
Charlie: Nothing's unbreakable, really. Nothing's safe. (7.20)
Nothing's unbreakable. Not alliances. Not heads attached to bodies. Being top dog on the food chain doesn't mean you can't be outsmarted or outmanned. There are approximately seven billion humans on the planet, currently being lulled into complacency for the Leviathans' purposes. What happens if the public were to awaken to the danger posed?
Crowley: I have one rule: make a deal, keep it.
Guy: Well technically, I didn't...
Crowley: There's a reason we don't call our chits in early: consumer confidence. This isn’t Wall Street, this is Hell! We have a little something called integrity. If this gets out, who'll deal with us? Nobody! Then, where are we? (7.08)
Dick did a pretty good job cultivating complacency, not only with his target of humans but also with his rivals. But what happens when more species become aware that it's not just humans on the chopping block?
Dick Roman: Now it's your turn to listen. I'd sooner swim through hot garbage than shake hands with a bottom-feeding mutation like you. You demons are ugly, lazy, gold-digging whores. You're less than humans, and they're not good for much till you dip 'em in garlic sauce. I'd never work with you, Crowley. In fact, if I wasn't busy with better things, I might actively wipe your kind from the face of the Universe. And you'd deserve it. Are we clear? (7.06)
It turns out demons are not the only species on the Leviathans' list to wipe off the face of the earth.
Leviathan!Edgar: Our additive kills the wolves too. Shifters, those disgusting little things that eat corpses. Anything with a taste for human.
Humans, demons, vampires... every flesh-eating monster out there. They all are individually weaker than the Leviathans. But they are all becoming aware of the most pressing issue on hand. They are not all just fighting for the same territory. It has been turned into a fight for survival for everyone and everything else.
Consumer confidence. That changes things. The truth is out there now. So while Dick and his brethren may be top dog on the monster food chain... who will deal with them now?
Nobody.
In fact, everyone is willing to bleed against them.
Dean: You going to give us the blood or not?
Crowley: Happily.
Alpha Vampire: For taking care of Edgar. Now go.
Where does that leave things at the moment?
Red and black. Not exactly the colors of the rainbow. I have a feeling things are going to get messy in the finale.
Dogs of war and men of hate
With no cause, we don't discriminate
Discovery is to be disowned
Our currency is flesh and bone
Hell opened up and put on sale
Gather 'round and haggle
For hard cash, we will lie and deceive
Even our masters don't know the web we weave
One world, it's a battleground
One world, and we will smash it down
One world ... One world
What happens when worlds collide? Who is the cattle? Who is the king ordering up a nice, juicy T-bone for dinner? Eve's childen originated from Purgatory. The Leviathan, condemned to Purgatory for having too voraciously ambitious an appetite. The chompers who would chow down and destroy all other creation in the process.
Alpha Vampire: There are seven billion of them.
Leviathan!Edgar: Only seven?
There are no brothers, just food and competing predators.
An apt description -- the predator connotation was made explicitly clear in an uncomfortably direct way in the case of the Alpha Vampire and his predilection for children/virgins and their pure blood. It's just a situation of picking one battle at a time. Can't fight them all at the same time. So Sam and Dean do what they can. One person they reluctantly give up on because she doesn't want to be saved. One child who might still be salvagable. Come back to save more later. But even more pressing, because the countdown has started: Leviathans now. The Alpha Vamp?
See you next season.
Sam and Dean are not giving up on the children victimized by the Alpha. It is, however, a matter of bigger picture prioritizing. There is a whole world of children the Leviathans are preparing for the slaughter. Can't save them all, not all at the same time.
Can't even save an ally caught in a trap. Poor Kevin Tran. Caught in the snare of Dick Roman's negotiating tactics. Give me what I want, or watch your mother die. Flesh and blood put on the bargaining block.
Dick's a real dick about his pretense of a haggle with Kevin. There was no haggle. It was a straight up transaction. Kevin appeared to buy his mother's life by giving Dick the information he demanded. (I say "appeared" because this is the Leviathans we're talking about. You know. Shapeshifters. His mother could have been monster chow long before Dick Roman's "negotiations" and he would never be able to tell the difference.)
Invisible transfers, long distance calls,
Hollow laughter in marble halls
Steps have been taken, a silent uproar
Has unleashed the dogs of war
You can't stop what has begun
Signed, sealed, they deliver oblivion
We all have a dark side, to say the least
And dealing in death is the nature of the beast
One world, it's a battleground
One world, and we will smash it down
One world ... One world
One word here: Bobby.
Two words, actually. Oh crap.
Yes, we saw it coming. We all have a dark side. Bobby is staging his own protest at being benched. He doesn't see it, what has been unleashed within him. He was warned. Sam and Dean have worried and debated it.
Reaper: Come with me. Be done. You've earned it. Or fight me. Stay here. And you know the drill.
Rufus: I don't know, Bobby. I mean, you really want to get stuck, turn into some ghost?
Bobby: I know what I'm doing, Rufus.
Rufus: Yeah, yeah, you're thinking you can help those boys. But how many spirits you meet in their right mind? (7.10)
Sam: The lore doesn't have a single real life example of Casper the Friendly Ghost. It's all basicallly Poltergeist until a hunter comes along.
Dean: Yeah, well the lore sucks.
Sam: I'm talking pure hatred, Dean. No humanity. I mean, he could kill. Possess people. Bobby could burn this fricking building down. If he goes off the rails...
The nature of the beast. He's a ghost on the fast track to becoming a full blown vengeful spirit. He has his own agenda. It used to be being there for Sam and Dean. An agenda that is being slowly hollowed out into transforming into a different nature.
Bobby: Just need you a little while. Just til I get the bastard.
He is intent on his war against Dick, and it's slowly overwhelming him. Sam and Dean are being forced to tiptoe around him, worried about what they might accidentally trigger within him. And now, with his possession of the service maid -- he crossed a line. Became a predator, not just a hunter. A violation that human Bobby would never have countenanced. His future isn't looking too bright right now. What happens eventually to all vengeful spirits?
The dogs of war won't negotiate
The dogs of war don't capitulate,
They will take and you will give,
And you must die so that they may live
You can knock at any door,
But wherever you go, you know they've been there before
Well winners can lose and things can get strained
But whatever you change, you know the dogs remain.
One world, it's a battleground
One world, and we will smash it down
One world ... One world
-- Pink Floyd, Dogs of War
What happens when you're running short on friends, leaving you with the enemy of your enemy is your temporary ally, although you freely acknowledge that you'd as soon as cut their heads off or rip their throats out at first viable opportunity?
Dean: There's not even a contest.
Sam: It depends on the criteria.
Dean: Survival is the only criteria, all right? (7.10)
There is the reasoning viewpoint, and there is the pragmatic viewpoint. At one time the point was debatable. But now the choice is being forced. One problem at a time. Survival of the species, of all species, vs extinction.
United we stand, divided we fall. It's a bitter admission Dean makes, listing their choices of potential allies.
Alpha Vampire: Right, right, your flesh is crawling. All you want to do is kill me now. You hate having to wait and come back, and try again...
Dean: Pretty much. I wouldn't leave that head to close to that body for too long.
Dean: We figured you might hold a grudge.
Alpha Vampire: And why would I? Because you captured me? Tortured me? Sold me to the King of Hell?
As much as it makes Sam and Dean's skin crawl to be forced into the position of negotiation with the Alpha vampire and Crowley for their help in stopping the Leviathans, that clearly goes both ways. The Alpha vampire holds no love for the Winchesters either. But...
Alpha Vampire: So now you want to prevent the extermination of the vampire race?
Dean: No. But it beats going down with you.
Survival is the criteria. One does not make it through the centuries without keeping one's options open.
Alpha Vampire: Never hurts to get the story first.
The Leviathans put on a show of negotiation with the vampires, but they never had any intention of following through. They just wanted to make their own path easier. They are the top dogs on the food chain, and they don't have to give up anything.
Right?
Charlie: Nothing's unbreakable, really. Nothing's safe. (7.20)
Nothing's unbreakable. Not alliances. Not heads attached to bodies. Being top dog on the food chain doesn't mean you can't be outsmarted or outmanned. There are approximately seven billion humans on the planet, currently being lulled into complacency for the Leviathans' purposes. What happens if the public were to awaken to the danger posed?
Crowley: I have one rule: make a deal, keep it.
Guy: Well technically, I didn't...
Crowley: There's a reason we don't call our chits in early: consumer confidence. This isn’t Wall Street, this is Hell! We have a little something called integrity. If this gets out, who'll deal with us? Nobody! Then, where are we? (7.08)
Dick did a pretty good job cultivating complacency, not only with his target of humans but also with his rivals. But what happens when more species become aware that it's not just humans on the chopping block?
Dick Roman: Now it's your turn to listen. I'd sooner swim through hot garbage than shake hands with a bottom-feeding mutation like you. You demons are ugly, lazy, gold-digging whores. You're less than humans, and they're not good for much till you dip 'em in garlic sauce. I'd never work with you, Crowley. In fact, if I wasn't busy with better things, I might actively wipe your kind from the face of the Universe. And you'd deserve it. Are we clear? (7.06)
It turns out demons are not the only species on the Leviathans' list to wipe off the face of the earth.
Leviathan!Edgar: Our additive kills the wolves too. Shifters, those disgusting little things that eat corpses. Anything with a taste for human.
Humans, demons, vampires... every flesh-eating monster out there. They all are individually weaker than the Leviathans. But they are all becoming aware of the most pressing issue on hand. They are not all just fighting for the same territory. It has been turned into a fight for survival for everyone and everything else.
Consumer confidence. That changes things. The truth is out there now. So while Dick and his brethren may be top dog on the monster food chain... who will deal with them now?
Nobody.
In fact, everyone is willing to bleed against them.
Dean: You going to give us the blood or not?
Crowley: Happily.
Alpha Vampire: For taking care of Edgar. Now go.
Where does that leave things at the moment?
Red and black. Not exactly the colors of the rainbow. I have a feeling things are going to get messy in the finale.