You Can't Handle the Truth
So episode six. Spoilers inside for that episode, and a very slight spoiler for next week (not really big news but still considered a spoiler).
The Good:
I am glad Lisa didn’t just take Dean back. Now, I will say I never liked the whole Lisa and Dean situation, it felt fake to me, it felt like a con. Cassie was the only woman Dean ever admitted to being in love with, it felt like he was with Lisa to live up to Sam’s dying wish, and his own hopes for a family. And in this episode there is acknowledgement of that, that Dean was just hoping for normality, even when he knew he couldn’t have it. (more on that later). But that said, I’m not glad that it appears over because I didn’t like her. I glad because she said, no one shoves my son, no one is violent to my son and gets away with it. Now I can hear fans going, but it’s Dean he’d never have hurt him if he wasn’t a vampire. But is that any different than the women that stay with abusive husbands or boyfriends because, the husband was drinking, or lost his job, or whatever other excuse. Finally we have a woman that says, there’s no excuse, there’s no second chances when it comes to the safety of my son. One of the things that sort of irritated me about Lisa was I thought she was with Dean not because she was in love with him, but that she wanted a good father-figure for her son. This was consistent with that.
Dean and Bobby. There is just something about their interactions that always gets me. The first interaction when they were trying to work out what was going on with Sam was spot on, and that heartwrenching, maybe we’ll just have to accept that this is just Sam. There is a subtlety there that I’ve seen in them before. And the whole humorous truth phone call, must be the highlight of the episode for me. Cas and Dean. OK so I have a huge spot for Dean and Cas, and I think there’s hints there that Cas’ storyline is more important than it seems. At least I hope so.
Dean’s speech about being a killer. I know a lot of people I know, and reviews I’ve read aren’t that happy with that, but for me it’s so right. Oddly for a completely fantasy based tv show, I think its very realistic. You can’t do what Sam and Dean and all the other hunters do and continue being good and light. They kill monsters, monsters that were often once human with people that loved them, that lived good lives. They see the horror that evil creates in the world, they have to witness the savagery and gore of rampaging evil. You can not look into the abyss without the abyss looking back into you. It’s a sugary sweet naivety that says you can step outside that evil and leave it behind you. It’s the image of a war veteran that steps out of the battlefield leaving the war behind them, untouched by the experience. I think we all would like to believe it, believe the action movies, and cop shows that leave our heroes shining bright and smelling pure. But that’s not how it works. Dean knows that, Dean knows he became a killer to survive what he did, and he can’t just not be that. Is he doomed? I don’t know, its hard to find rehabilitation for fighting demons, and I doubt he ever wants to. The war for him isn’t over.
The Bad:
The script, pace, direction of this episode just seemed off. Probably because everything was focused on the big reveal at the end, so the whole truth curse thing became secondary and they failed to reach the potential of it. It wasn’t the worst episode I’ve ever watched, it just seemed a little pointless and a lot predictable. The girl at the beginning, ok some of those truths were awful harsh, but seriously, she blew her brains out? Maybe there’s just some backstory of mental instability there, but it seemed major overreaction to a handful of people saying they don’t like you. I miss Kripke, I miss the show of the past, but I think I’ve said that before.
The Blah:
I’m so over the Sam thing that I can’t even put this in the bad. So we learn, Sam can’t feel anything. I would agree with everything else that it means he hasn’t got his soul. It sort of makes sense, no distress about his trip to hell, no concern in lying to his brother, to having no loyalty with him, the total lack of doe-eyed Sam. And maybe that makes other people feel compassion, feel sorry for Sam trying to make his way, but I just go blah, I don’t care. The most interest I can summon is wondering if its got anything to do with whathisface Angel buying souls a couple of episodes ago.
Dean’s reaction, well I think if I actually gave a damn about the whole Sam story I might have had a better reaction. I liked that Dean punched the shit out of Sam, not because Sam deserved it. I don’t know if he did or not, again I say, don’t give a shit. Part of me likes that he didn’t just walk off all angsty, brokenhearted and wimpified. But then and the next part is a slight spoiler I know next week’s episode they are off hunting together. So I liked that Dean showed how fucked up it all was, but what’s the point if nothing changes, if Sam’s still this unsympathetic character, and Dean is just a softened out tween hero.
The Good:
I am glad Lisa didn’t just take Dean back. Now, I will say I never liked the whole Lisa and Dean situation, it felt fake to me, it felt like a con. Cassie was the only woman Dean ever admitted to being in love with, it felt like he was with Lisa to live up to Sam’s dying wish, and his own hopes for a family. And in this episode there is acknowledgement of that, that Dean was just hoping for normality, even when he knew he couldn’t have it. (more on that later). But that said, I’m not glad that it appears over because I didn’t like her. I glad because she said, no one shoves my son, no one is violent to my son and gets away with it. Now I can hear fans going, but it’s Dean he’d never have hurt him if he wasn’t a vampire. But is that any different than the women that stay with abusive husbands or boyfriends because, the husband was drinking, or lost his job, or whatever other excuse. Finally we have a woman that says, there’s no excuse, there’s no second chances when it comes to the safety of my son. One of the things that sort of irritated me about Lisa was I thought she was with Dean not because she was in love with him, but that she wanted a good father-figure for her son. This was consistent with that.
Dean and Bobby. There is just something about their interactions that always gets me. The first interaction when they were trying to work out what was going on with Sam was spot on, and that heartwrenching, maybe we’ll just have to accept that this is just Sam. There is a subtlety there that I’ve seen in them before. And the whole humorous truth phone call, must be the highlight of the episode for me. Cas and Dean. OK so I have a huge spot for Dean and Cas, and I think there’s hints there that Cas’ storyline is more important than it seems. At least I hope so.
Dean’s speech about being a killer. I know a lot of people I know, and reviews I’ve read aren’t that happy with that, but for me it’s so right. Oddly for a completely fantasy based tv show, I think its very realistic. You can’t do what Sam and Dean and all the other hunters do and continue being good and light. They kill monsters, monsters that were often once human with people that loved them, that lived good lives. They see the horror that evil creates in the world, they have to witness the savagery and gore of rampaging evil. You can not look into the abyss without the abyss looking back into you. It’s a sugary sweet naivety that says you can step outside that evil and leave it behind you. It’s the image of a war veteran that steps out of the battlefield leaving the war behind them, untouched by the experience. I think we all would like to believe it, believe the action movies, and cop shows that leave our heroes shining bright and smelling pure. But that’s not how it works. Dean knows that, Dean knows he became a killer to survive what he did, and he can’t just not be that. Is he doomed? I don’t know, its hard to find rehabilitation for fighting demons, and I doubt he ever wants to. The war for him isn’t over.
The Bad:
The script, pace, direction of this episode just seemed off. Probably because everything was focused on the big reveal at the end, so the whole truth curse thing became secondary and they failed to reach the potential of it. It wasn’t the worst episode I’ve ever watched, it just seemed a little pointless and a lot predictable. The girl at the beginning, ok some of those truths were awful harsh, but seriously, she blew her brains out? Maybe there’s just some backstory of mental instability there, but it seemed major overreaction to a handful of people saying they don’t like you. I miss Kripke, I miss the show of the past, but I think I’ve said that before.
The Blah:
I’m so over the Sam thing that I can’t even put this in the bad. So we learn, Sam can’t feel anything. I would agree with everything else that it means he hasn’t got his soul. It sort of makes sense, no distress about his trip to hell, no concern in lying to his brother, to having no loyalty with him, the total lack of doe-eyed Sam. And maybe that makes other people feel compassion, feel sorry for Sam trying to make his way, but I just go blah, I don’t care. The most interest I can summon is wondering if its got anything to do with whathisface Angel buying souls a couple of episodes ago.
Dean’s reaction, well I think if I actually gave a damn about the whole Sam story I might have had a better reaction. I liked that Dean punched the shit out of Sam, not because Sam deserved it. I don’t know if he did or not, again I say, don’t give a shit. Part of me likes that he didn’t just walk off all angsty, brokenhearted and wimpified. But then and the next part is a slight spoiler I know next week’s episode they are off hunting together. So I liked that Dean showed how fucked up it all was, but what’s the point if nothing changes, if Sam’s still this unsympathetic character, and Dean is just a softened out tween hero.