Supernatural report
Oct. 22nd, 2010 22:26![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
zubeneschamaliInsta-reaction to 6.05 below the cut, along with spoilers...
That was one of the most genuinely creepy SPN eps I've seen in a long time. Thanks to spoilers, I knew Dean got partially but not fully turned, and I also figured that he would be okay by the end of it. But that meant that what happened in between in the creepy-ass nest was more suspenseful than usual, because if they've already gone to the extent of making a Dean a monster, what else could they do to the poor guy?
A lot, as it turns out.
The almost-snacking-on-Lisa bit was creepy as hell. So was the moment in the motel room where vamp!Dean was facing off machete!Sam and Samuel. Man, dark!Dean is hot. I don't get the whole giving yourself to a vampire thing, except then I think of vamp!Dean, and yeah, okay, maybe I get it a little.
Speaking of things I don't get, except maybe a little: the almost snacking bit is also the reason Sam didn't use himself or a Campbell as bait, because he trusted that Dean would be strong enough to resist feeding and therefore be re-turnable (and therefore able to carry information about the Alpha). There's a really twisted way in which Sam trusts Dean right now, which is why he was so calm in the motel room when they were waiting for Samuel. I loved that Dean could hear his too-calm heartbeat, which wasn't just calm because Sam knew Dean could be saved. It was because he wasn't afraid of him, because he trusted Dean not to hurt him.
At the same time, Sam was totally using Dean as bait, the same way he used him as bait for the djinn. I've been leaning towards the PTSD explanation for Sam being out of sorts this season; maybe his time in the cage was like the classic definition of Hell as the absence of God, which explains why he's been unable to get at all close to anyone. Nuh uh. Not any more. I'm not sure I'm down with the "missing soul" theory or the "Sam is evil" theory, but he definitely isn't right.
Because there's more to it than standing there in head-tilted curiosity as Dean was turned--there was the way he reacted so swiftly to "Efron" and chopped his head off without bothering (or needing to?) look. There was the way he heard the vamp before he landed on the roof of Grandpa's van. Both of those struck me as a little too good, even for a lifelong hunter like Sam. Something's not right with him, and it's more than what's going on inside his head.
On an unrelated note, I continue to be equal parts amused and exasperated as to how Sam can keep deep, dark secrets about himself and yet suck so hard at lying to a family member's face. I bet he developed the puppy dog eyes as a kid to make up for his innate fail at lying. Man, I miss puppy!Sam.
Let's see, what else...I'm glad they didn't go overboard on the Twilight mocking, although Dean finding out that glitter helps guys get laid was pretty hilarious. Vamp!Dean jumping down from the second-story balcony was sweet, and the image of him sitting there waiting for the Sams with his foot on the dead vamp's head was well-done and creepy. Kind of like the whole ep, come to think of it.
Here's a bit of bonus meta: this season is supposed to be the mirror of S1, right? So "Exile on Main Street" had Sam showing up to take Dean away on a hunt which got too close to home, although thankfully Lisa was only on the ceiling in Dean's nightmare. "Two and a Half Men" had them briefly becoming hunted by the monster they were after, and it ended with Dean's decision to go back to saving people, hunting things--compare to "Wendigo". "The Third Man" was about murderers being punished for their hidden crime, like "Dead in the Water", and the last time Dean had to get on a plane before "Weekend at Bobby's" was "Phantom Traveler."
Now, you could probably pick any two random SPN episodes and find parallels between them. But. "Bloody Mary", 1.05, was where we found out that something was wrong with Sam, because his eyes bled. But we didn't find out what that was until 1.09, when he admitted to having a vision about Jessica. And in the meantime, 1.06, "Skin", was all about Sam finding out, courtesy of a monster, some of what was going on in Dean's head. So far, S6 seems to be a mix of inversions and repetitions of S1, so the question is, next week are we going to find out what's going on Sam's head or in Dean's?
That was one of the most genuinely creepy SPN eps I've seen in a long time. Thanks to spoilers, I knew Dean got partially but not fully turned, and I also figured that he would be okay by the end of it. But that meant that what happened in between in the creepy-ass nest was more suspenseful than usual, because if they've already gone to the extent of making a Dean a monster, what else could they do to the poor guy?
A lot, as it turns out.
The almost-snacking-on-Lisa bit was creepy as hell. So was the moment in the motel room where vamp!Dean was facing off machete!Sam and Samuel. Man, dark!Dean is hot. I don't get the whole giving yourself to a vampire thing, except then I think of vamp!Dean, and yeah, okay, maybe I get it a little.
Speaking of things I don't get, except maybe a little: the almost snacking bit is also the reason Sam didn't use himself or a Campbell as bait, because he trusted that Dean would be strong enough to resist feeding and therefore be re-turnable (and therefore able to carry information about the Alpha). There's a really twisted way in which Sam trusts Dean right now, which is why he was so calm in the motel room when they were waiting for Samuel. I loved that Dean could hear his too-calm heartbeat, which wasn't just calm because Sam knew Dean could be saved. It was because he wasn't afraid of him, because he trusted Dean not to hurt him.
At the same time, Sam was totally using Dean as bait, the same way he used him as bait for the djinn. I've been leaning towards the PTSD explanation for Sam being out of sorts this season; maybe his time in the cage was like the classic definition of Hell as the absence of God, which explains why he's been unable to get at all close to anyone. Nuh uh. Not any more. I'm not sure I'm down with the "missing soul" theory or the "Sam is evil" theory, but he definitely isn't right.
Because there's more to it than standing there in head-tilted curiosity as Dean was turned--there was the way he reacted so swiftly to "Efron" and chopped his head off without bothering (or needing to?) look. There was the way he heard the vamp before he landed on the roof of Grandpa's van. Both of those struck me as a little too good, even for a lifelong hunter like Sam. Something's not right with him, and it's more than what's going on inside his head.
On an unrelated note, I continue to be equal parts amused and exasperated as to how Sam can keep deep, dark secrets about himself and yet suck so hard at lying to a family member's face. I bet he developed the puppy dog eyes as a kid to make up for his innate fail at lying. Man, I miss puppy!Sam.
Let's see, what else...I'm glad they didn't go overboard on the Twilight mocking, although Dean finding out that glitter helps guys get laid was pretty hilarious. Vamp!Dean jumping down from the second-story balcony was sweet, and the image of him sitting there waiting for the Sams with his foot on the dead vamp's head was well-done and creepy. Kind of like the whole ep, come to think of it.
Here's a bit of bonus meta: this season is supposed to be the mirror of S1, right? So "Exile on Main Street" had Sam showing up to take Dean away on a hunt which got too close to home, although thankfully Lisa was only on the ceiling in Dean's nightmare. "Two and a Half Men" had them briefly becoming hunted by the monster they were after, and it ended with Dean's decision to go back to saving people, hunting things--compare to "Wendigo". "The Third Man" was about murderers being punished for their hidden crime, like "Dead in the Water", and the last time Dean had to get on a plane before "Weekend at Bobby's" was "Phantom Traveler."
Now, you could probably pick any two random SPN episodes and find parallels between them. But. "Bloody Mary", 1.05, was where we found out that something was wrong with Sam, because his eyes bled. But we didn't find out what that was until 1.09, when he admitted to having a vision about Jessica. And in the meantime, 1.06, "Skin", was all about Sam finding out, courtesy of a monster, some of what was going on in Dean's head. So far, S6 seems to be a mix of inversions and repetitions of S1, so the question is, next week are we going to find out what's going on Sam's head or in Dean's?
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no subject
Date: 2010-10-23 03:36 (UTC)And I love your bonus meta. I hadn't realized that till now.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-23 03:50 (UTC)I'm kind of appalled at what's going on with Sam, but I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, at least for now. There better be a damn good explanation coming down the pike, though. :(
no subject
Date: 2010-10-23 03:52 (UTC)Yes. If there's not a reasoning behind it, I'll be really pissed. There has to be a reason why he's acting like this. I'm trusting that the writers won't screw us on that.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-23 04:00 (UTC)Er, excuse me, I think I need to go write some fic...
no subject
Date: 2010-10-23 06:41 (UTC)I'd like a proper brother hug, to be honest. None of that ridiculous holding back from Sam.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-24 05:19 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-10-23 06:48 (UTC)WHAT THE BLITHERING BLUMBERING FUCK SAM
That said, I have to admit I'm not sure I like it... I mean, ok, it's Dean vamirized and Twilght coked (which was, very, very funny indeed) and yes, Dean was ... *uuhhhhhhhhhh*
But I'm not sure if it had what I wanted from the Vamp!Dean stuff after getting know about it last week. But I'm not sure what I wanted either, so I'm just going to go with in dubio pro reo.
Not so much for Sam though, JESUS H. CHRIST ON A POGOSTICK. That boy has some very fancy ideas about means and ends nowadays. And I completely agree with the stuff you mentioned, he's definitely physically not all he seems to be... At the beginning I thought that he let Dean get turned to make him experience this need for blood and the powerlessness to go against what is your nature now that Dean never understood about Sam. Granted he DID have a choice other than Dean, but he thought it was about saving the world and I say talk about coercion there. I still think part of him watching Dean get turned like that is about this, even though there was a bait plan in place.
What I find very interesting is the dynamics that have suddenly changed between him and Samuel. Who's the following sheep now, bitches? I think we haven't really seen at all who pulls the strings here, but I'm interested. I have to say that I don't really like the fact that the new plot rips Sam and Dean apart again before they could even come together properly, but I'm willing to give the arc a chance to evolve and make it better.
Mirror S1, wow, I had no idea but it's GENIUS, really, our own history inverted like they've done with the mirrored five season arc and all, I love how the writers put so much thought into those BIG patterns even if the little ones might be a little rough around the edges for that reason. And can I say YES FUCK YES VAMPIRE-EP? But now you got me really wondering who will shed their skin next week.
On the matter of Alphas.... I think it's a brilliant idea to bring in the firsts because how do you get bigger after the (judeo-christian, lets not forget it) apocalypse? Right, you don't, you go deeper. Kinda makes me wonder if God is all in all another Alpha with just a lot of juice. Hmhmmm... And there we be at the Man In Black inversion with galaxies in marbles, right? I can't wait to see where this is going. But I think our dear Sammy's going to have a spotlight there. Hell, he had the big bad inside himself something's gotta stuck right?
Maybe it's not a matter of too little, but too much?
On that note, WEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeee, me wants to write fic now. If only I could.
Cat
no subject
Date: 2010-10-24 05:21 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-10-24 11:08 (UTC)Just lemme say that I have no idea what I was doing, but some things you said sparked some things in my brain. Ahem. Well... I'll be gone.
Cat
http://mangacat201.livejournal.com/35689.html
no subject
Date: 2010-10-24 15:33 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-10-25 20:31 (UTC)I like this take. I'm going to adopt it and take it home and feed it cookies. And I'm going to hope that this is what the writers are thinking and that we're going to see more evidence of it in upcoming eps.
P.S. I was super duper confused after this episode, but I'm feeling less so after reading your episode reaction. :D
no subject
Date: 2010-10-26 16:39 (UTC)Hee! I have to think that it's what was running through Sam's mind when he was standing there watching in the alley, that his amoral calculus included the faith that Dean wouldn't feed and could therefore be saved. Not that I approve of it, but it's a tiny bit of normal!Sam to be noted and perhaps fed cookies.