Mystery Spot is like a capsule S4. Everything Sam does later packed into one episode!
I will never for the life of me understand why people say “retcon” like it’s a categorically bad thing.
Cause it usually is, lol? I hate retcons. To me, most of the time, they don't actually add 'just thought of' layers, but contradict stuff like crazy. That said, the Gabriel retcon is awesome, because it DOES work, and it DOES make sense. That's my thing, really--making sense.
the best episodeauroramamaJune 9 2012, 00:37:48 UTC
TRICKSTER: How long will it take you to realize you can’t save your brother?
He's lucky Sam doesn't know who he is. Otherwise he might have gotten the answer, "I don't know, dickwad, how many thousands of years is it taking you?"
he couldn’t have done a better job than this
He really couldn't have. For the longest time I expected to find out that Ruby had made a deal with him.
Vengeance works.
I have a modified take on this. Sam didn't win his fight with the Trickster. His quest for vengeance only got him the chance to argue with the Trickster. What finally worked was being so stubborn and so pathetically miserable that even the Trickster couldn't stand it anymore. Which, now that I think about it, explains why Sam's first months after losing Dean don't look quite like Mystery Spot Sam. He spends quite a lot of the time being drunk and miserable (the Winchester way to deal with frustration) and letting demons call him pathetic
( ... )
Re: the best episodepocochinaJune 9 2012, 03:27:03 UTC
He's lucky Sam doesn't know who he is. Otherwise he might have gotten the answer, "I don't know, dickwad, how many thousands of years is it taking you?"
for real! I couldn't believe Sam didn't throw this back in his face during the confrontation at the end of Changing Channels. I would've, apocalypse be damned. I would've been like "you sit there for a YEAR and think about what you DID."
I have a modified take on this. Sam didn't win his fight with the Trickster. His quest for vengeance only got him the chance to argue with the Trickster.
True enough! I don't think he takes anything particularly rational away from the whole experience. He just knows he went after the Trickster and the Trickster gave him Dean.
What finally worked was being so stubborn and so pathetically miserable that even the Trickster couldn't stand it anymore.
HAHAHA. The Winchester family's own Art of War right there.
Which, now that I think about it, explains why Sam's first months after losing Dean don't look quite like Mystery Spot Sam.Yeah. I feel like
( ... )
Re: the best episodeauroramamaJune 9 2012, 03:58:40 UTC
You're right, it's not rational. He learns to persist beyond reason, to venture past his moral boundaries, and to track down and confront whoever is causing the problem, god or demon or destiny. After all, what's the worst that can happen? He still thinks whatever it is will happen only to him, and who cares what happens to a soul that isn't good enough for Hell?
It just drives him crazy when he diligently tries to do the Winchester thing and somehow he's the only one who can't manage it. Dean got a year, John got his son back, and Sam got condescending lectures and a year in DeadDeanWorld. Thanks, Willie Wonka!
Re: the best episodepocochinaJune 9 2012, 05:35:44 UTC
After all, what's the worst that can happen? He still thinks whatever it is will happen only to him, and who cares what happens to a soul that isn't good enough for Hell?
YES. It's one thing to really feel like he's choosing to opt out of hunting/demon destiny/whatever, but it's quite another to be afraid that he's just rationalizing not being able to hack it the way apparently anyone else could.
It just drives him crazy when he diligently tries to do the Winchester thing and somehow he's the only one who can't manage it.
DUDE, THIS. Your Sam is my Sam. I feel like some of that hubris comes from powerlessness, in a weird way? As if he's so used to nothing he does making a goddamn dent anyway, that he might as well have the rush of going all in.
ha, for real. I support on principle the idea of messing with the Winchesters for the fun of it, obviously, but Gabriel is such a wonderfully tragic figure.
(And how awesomely meta is that? Going back and changing the history of a Trickster for the LOL GOTCHA?)
Comments 12
I will never for the life of me understand why people say “retcon” like it’s a categorically bad thing.
Cause it usually is, lol? I hate retcons. To me, most of the time, they don't actually add 'just thought of' layers, but contradict stuff like crazy. That said, the Gabriel retcon is awesome, because it DOES work, and it DOES make sense. That's my thing, really--making sense.
Reply
SO GREAT. And it shows they thought so hard and for so long about where they were going to develop him.
To me, most of the time, they don't actually add 'just thought of' layers, but contradict stuff like crazy.
ha, fair enough. I think I'm spoiled by the good ones of the Whedonverse.
Reply
He's lucky Sam doesn't know who he is. Otherwise he might have gotten the answer, "I don't know, dickwad, how many thousands of years is it taking you?"
he couldn’t have done a better job than this
He really couldn't have. For the longest time I expected to find out that Ruby had made a deal with him.
Vengeance works.
I have a modified take on this. Sam didn't win his fight with the Trickster. His quest for vengeance only got him the chance to argue with the Trickster. What finally worked was being so stubborn and so pathetically miserable that even the Trickster couldn't stand it anymore. Which, now that I think about it, explains why Sam's first months after losing Dean don't look quite like Mystery Spot Sam. He spends quite a lot of the time being drunk and miserable (the Winchester way to deal with frustration) and letting demons call him pathetic ( ... )
Reply
for real! I couldn't believe Sam didn't throw this back in his face during the confrontation at the end of Changing Channels. I would've, apocalypse be damned. I would've been like "you sit there for a YEAR and think about what you DID."
I have a modified take on this. Sam didn't win his fight with the Trickster. His quest for vengeance only got him the chance to argue with the Trickster.
True enough! I don't think he takes anything particularly rational away from the whole experience. He just knows he went after the Trickster and the Trickster gave him Dean.
What finally worked was being so stubborn and so pathetically miserable that even the Trickster couldn't stand it anymore.
HAHAHA. The Winchester family's own Art of War right there.
Which, now that I think about it, explains why Sam's first months after losing Dean don't look quite like Mystery Spot Sam.Yeah. I feel like ( ... )
Reply
It just drives him crazy when he diligently tries to do the Winchester thing and somehow he's the only one who can't manage it. Dean got a year, John got his son back, and Sam got condescending lectures and a year in DeadDeanWorld. Thanks, Willie Wonka!
Reply
YES. It's one thing to really feel like he's choosing to opt out of hunting/demon destiny/whatever, but it's quite another to be afraid that he's just rationalizing not being able to hack it the way apparently anyone else could.
It just drives him crazy when he diligently tries to do the Winchester thing and somehow he's the only one who can't manage it.
DUDE, THIS. Your Sam is my Sam. I feel like some of that hubris comes from powerlessness, in a weird way? As if he's so used to nothing he does making a goddamn dent anyway, that he might as well have the rush of going all in.
Reply
The Trickster was great as a big old troll, but his eventual identity makes the whole thing so much more poignant.
WORD. The best retcon there ever was, lol.
Reply
The best retcon there ever was, lol.
ha, for real. I support on principle the idea of messing with the Winchesters for the fun of it, obviously, but Gabriel is such a wonderfully tragic figure.
(And how awesomely meta is that? Going back and changing the history of a Trickster for the LOL GOTCHA?)
Reply
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