Things I Love About SPN Season 1: Faith #4
Supernatural, Season 1
Episode 12, “Faith”
Written by Sera Gamble and Raelle Tucker
Directed by Allan Kroeker
Warning: image heavy post.
(Continued from #3)
As the next scene opens, the brothers are researching reaper lore. It’s an interesting camera angle that suggests the boys are being watched over from above. God moving in his mysterious ways, perhaps?
They have one of those expositional conversations about the lore that I always enjoy. I feel that grounding the hunts in actual folklore always helps to make them seem more authentic and sell the reality of the supernatural. In this case, the speculation that there might be multiple reapers might also be a measure to scale back what we’re being asked to believe. The possibility that a human being could be manipulating Death itself might have seemed a little far-fetched so early in the show’s history . . .
SAM
You really think it's THE Grim Reaper? Like, angel of death, collect your soul, the whole deal?
DEAN
No no no, not THE reaper, A reaper. There's reaper law in pretty much every culture on earth, it goes by 100 different names, it's possible that there's more than one of them.
SAM
But you said you saw a dude in a suit.
DEAN
What, you think he shoulda been working the whole black robe thing? You said it yourself that the clock stopped right? Reapers stop time. And you can only see 'em when they're coming at you which is why I could see it and you couldn't.
http://www.supernaturalwiki.com/1.12_Faith_(transcript)
Technically, the reaper wasn’t “coming at” Dean; its victim was Marshall Hall, the man who died in Dean’s place. So far as we know, none of the other beneficiaries saw the old man so the explanation for Dean’s ability to see it doesn’t entirely track, but perhaps the reaper deliberately showed itself because it wanted the brothers to end its bondage. That’s what I’m running with, anyway 😉
When they discuss how Roy might be controlling the reaper (they’ve yet to discover that Sue Ann is the real perpetrator), Sam remembers the Coptic cross from the service. He finds the same symbol on an old tarot card.
SAM
It makes sense. Tarot dates back to the early Christian era right, when some
priests were still using magic? And a few of them veered into the dark stuff?
Necromancy and how to push death away, how to cause it?
(Ibid)
This is the first reference to Tarot in the series; it won’t be the last. It’s always intrigued me that there are 22 Major Acana cards in Tarot, which just happens to be the number of episodes in the season. I can’t help wondering if any effort was made to match episodes to certain cards. I can see a few possible correlations: this episode, for example, is an obvious match for Death; I suggested last episode might be referencing the Hanged Man; and the finale would, of course, allude to the Devil. Alternatively (or, possibly, additionally) key characters in the series might relate to Tarot characters. For example, I’ve always associated Bobby with the Hierophant. I have a few other ideas but if there are any Tarot practitioners out there, I’d love to hear any thoughts you might have on the subject.
So, from the presence of the cross at the service and the symbol on a Tarot card, the brothers make the leap that Roy is using black magic to control the reaper. (I’m not sure modern Coptic Christians would appreciate the logic but *hand wave*).
DEAN
(rising to put his cup in the sink, then leaning back against it) Ok then we stop Roy.
SAM
How?
DEAN
You know how.
SAM
Wait, what the hell are you talking about Dean, we can't kill Roy.
DEAN
Sam the guy’s playing God, he's deciding who lives and who dies.
That's a monster in my book.
SAM
No. We're not going to kill a human being Dean.
We do that we're no better than he is.
(Ibid.)
There are a couple of important points in this exchange that set us up for the moral dilemmas that will play out later in season one and two. First, it reiterates the rule that was highlighted last episode: the Winchesters don’t kill human beings. By the end of the season, Dean will have broken that rule. Secondly, Dean classifies Roy as a monster because he believes Roy is playing God by deciding who lives and dies. In classical tragedy, appropriating the province of the gods is Hubris and accrues divine retribution. At the end of the episode Sue Ann meets her karma at the hand of the reaper, of course, but by the end of season 2 Dean will have strayed dangerously into the same territory when he makes his demon deal to bring Sam back from the dead.
Dean points out that they can’t kill death . . . *pause for meaninful glance at season ten finale* . . . so the brothers return to the mission to see what they can find out about the spell and how to break it.
I’m tickled by Sam’s complete attitude reversal on the subject of the protestor 😊
While the service is in progress Sam checks the house for clues and finds shelves that look like they haven’t been dusted for decades.
Note to self: must dust bookshelves this weekend.
Sue Ann’s housekeeping is pretty slack so I guess she must not be next to Godly . . . or even close. But a suspiciously clean spot conveniently leads Sam to discover a hidden book with reaper illustrations and another Coptic cross image we can assume marks the spell.
It’s also helpfully bookmarked with newspaper clippings about the recent victims. We learn that Dean’s life was exchanged for that of an openly gay teacher, and the young woman from the previous scene was an abortion rights advocate. It’s clear Sue Ann is using the reaper to dispense her personal standard of moral justice, another way in which she is trespassing on the purview of the gods.
But as Sam discovers another clipping that anticipates the next victim, it becomes apparent that Sue Ann is now moving beyond making moral choices and is simply taking out those who disagree with her or get in her way. Her hubris is escalating. By assuming that those who oppose her will are opposing God’s, she is not merely presuming to enact His judgment but, effectively, equating herself with Him.
Meanwhile it’s Dean’s responsibility to stop the healing and, of course, Layla is chosen, which leaves him in a heartbreaking situation: more than just not saving the girl, he is put in the position of actively preventing her salvation. He can’t even explain himself; he tells her if Roy heals her something bad will happen but doesn’t say what. Ironically, he needs her to accept what he’s saying on faith.
Layla struggles with the decision but she looks at her mother’s anxious face and chooses to ignore Dean’s warning. It’s clear however that her choice is less about her own needs and more about sparing her mother grief.
Dean exhibits his usual quick thinking, stopping the service with a fire scare, and he subsequently discovers Sue Ann is controlling the reaper with a Coptic cross.
Before he can relieve her of it she cries for help, and Dean is escorted from the tent by the police. Sue Ann declines to press charges . . . (what charges, exactly?) . . . but is subtly threatening.
When the cops let go of Dean, he swings round to find Layla standing right behind him. The first time I watched, I thought for a moment she was going to slap him. Did anyone else have the same experience? There’s probably a reason for that. It’s a trope we’ve seen in movies a million times: guy turns around to find girl he’s wronged standing behind him; girl slaps his face. But, as we’ve seen before, our show enjoys defeating expectations. Layla simply asks "why would you do that, Dean? It could have been my only chance." There’s distress in her voice, but no heat. And, far from slapping him, she exemplifies true Christian spirit by figuratively turning the other cheek:
We realize she is that rare phenomenon: a genuinely good person.
Alas, Dean doesn’t seem to perceive himself that way. We’re left to wonder: why doesn’t he think he’s a good person? Why doesn’t he deserve good luck, or even to live? We’re starting to see something that, in season two, we’ll come to appreciate is a truly deep-seated self-loathing. Now, Dean has issues and attitude problems for sure, but we haven’t seen him do anything truly bad so where has this come from, I wonder?
I hope you've enjoyed this penultimate slice of the "Faith" pie. As always, I look forward to hearing all your own thoughts and impressions. To continue to the final section, please click here.
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