Supernatural Book Club - Roadkill
As you all may have noticed, I really don’t post commentaries on the episodes. I usually just enjoy reading others, and posting comments. So I’m going a little outside of my comfort zone here, but I really think we could use a pleasant distraction. Especially right about now. :-)
UPDATE *** Sarie will host the next Book Club meeting. Her episode is Skin**** (Thank Sarie!)
Darn you Kripke and Company! I went into watching this episode with just one theme in mind, trying to keep this simple. I simply wanted to watch and comment on the physical interaction between Molly and the boys. However, because of the brilliance that is Supernatural, we will be discussing the full interaction between Molly and the Winchesters and comparing it to their normal method of operations.
****Warning: if you haven’t seen this episode yet, there are spoilers to follow!***
The physical interaction, or lack thereof, between Molly and the boys is the reason I picked this episode. The last time that I watched this episode, I was struck by how the boys spend pretty much the entire time with Molly, but don’t touch her. Now, she interacts with the physical world. She opens and closes the door of the Impala. She also picks up a book and brings it over to Sam. And, we know that ghosts can touch people and vice versa. For example, Dean touches the spirit of Greely as he tries to hold the knife away from him. However I didn’t remember seeing the boys and Molly physically interact.
So I began watching, and my suspicions were confirmed. The boys do not physically interact with Molly. Even when Dean has to go past her to get into the hunting cabin, he moves around her rather than brushing past her. At one point, Molly and Sam sit next to each other to look at the pictures, but from what I can see, they are still sitting slightly apart. I know that at some point, she needed to get down from the hook after they destroyed Greely, but that is not shown on camera.
The reason that this was so odd to me, is that our boys have a very physical job. And they get pretty physical with their co-stars at times, including the damsels in distress (DID).
Why are everyone’s eyes glazing over? *snaps fingers* Focus, now!
Think about it. They routinely knock people out of the way of cars, pull them out of bathtubs, pools and lakes, etc. Dean even holds Bela when she is “drowning” although he doesn’t really like her and there is nothing he can do for her but to tell Sam to hurry up. And yet, at no point do they physically reach out to Molly. Once I saw this, I realized that the writers, directors, etc had given us a big clue that something was not right about this particular DID.
That was going to be the main part of my commentary, but then I heard this:
Sammy’s always getting a little J Love Hewitt when it comes to things like this. Me? I don’t like them. And I’m sure as hell ain’t making apologies for them.
(I love the way Jensen drawls that first line.) It was in hearing this line in the re-watch that I realized the verbal and emotional interactions between Molly and the boys are as telling at the physical. And this is for both Dean and Sam.
One of my complaints with this season and having Sam channel his “inner Dean” is that I think they’re missing something crucial. I know that Dean can shoot first and ask questions later, but Dean is about saving people and then hunting things. Just watch Houses of the Holy, where Dean rescues the DID from the man Sam was supposed to kill. Dean pulls her out of the car, and the baddie begins to drive off. Dean wants to go after him, but stays long enough to make sure that the girl is unharmed, and has a cell phone to call 911.
We see none of that compassion for Molly, at least at the beginning of the episode.
We weren’t just cruising for chicks when we ran into you sister, we were already out here. Hunting
Hunting for what?
Ghosts.
Look at Dean’s expression when he says this to her, and the look he gives Sam afterward. He’s not going to sugar-coat it for her. He doesn’t like them, and he ain’t going to make apologies.
And later in the hunting lodge:
You’re like Ghostbusters
Yeah, minus the jumpsuits. Look lady this is a fascinating conversation and all, but this highway’s only haunted once a year and we’ve got to sunup to wrap this thing up so what do you say we move it along, OK? OK.
Again, this should have been a big clue to me that something wasn’t right. Dean’s tone and body language both project that Molly is not someone for whom he cares or for whom he has compassion.
Then, when Molly is grabbed by Greely, Sam says:
We’ve got to find Molly.
To which Dean, who is about saving people first and hunting things second, replies:
We’ve got to find Greely’s bones and uh, no pressure or anything, but we’ve got less than two hours before sunrise.
Finally at the end, when they are telling Molly that she didn’t survive the accident, you see compassion in Dean’s face for the first time.
In complete contrast, if you watch Sam, he is instantly compassionate to Molly. The entire episode, he is slowing working toward getting her ready for the “reveal”. He goes above and beyond what he usually tells the DID about his thoughts and beliefs. On the first watch, I thought that they were just trying to expand Sam’s character, but when you watch with the end in mind, it becomes obvious that he’s priming her to accept the truth.
Anyway, the relationship between Molly and our boys was something that really stood out for me in this episode. And it made me reflect back to how the boys usually treat the people with whom they come into contact. What do you think? How else was this DID treated differently by Kripke and Company?