InsaneJournal

SPN 5.03 - All over the map
For the first two episodes of this season I was writing down notes immediately after viewing the episode. Not so for this one, even though I'd been quite looking forward to seeing how they would address the separation, I was thrilled at the return of "Jess" (even if she was no more real than Mary in Levee), I paused the episode several times to laugh, and I think that various things were done quite well.

My biggest problem with the episode is that the characters’ behavior doesn’t make much sense to me perhaps because I sensed too much of the writers bleeding through.

I'll start with the issue which I’m guessing has everyone particularly twisted up over this episode, the separation of Sam and Dean. Now, I welcomed the idea in the last episode. With their relationship being the core of the show, the writers needed to develop this in a new way, and separating them upped the ante of the otherwise largely unseen apocalypse. What’s more, I expected that this move might make them develop each brother’s storyline in a clearer, more consistent way than we saw last season.

Those things are likely still true, and I’ll be fine with it if the brothers stay separated through the better part of the season. However, something struck me about that speech of Dean’s to Castiel in the car. His discussion of how relieved he was to be on his own and how much more fun he was having with Castiel sounded an awful lot like the writers’ POV. It hadn’t occurred to me until then that all the fan focus on the brothers and their angsty relationship had become rather tiresome to them as writers, and the possibility of writing primarily for characters who were more fun to develop, namely Castiel and Dean who, let’s face it, are the ultimate buddy cop team (“He’s a foul-mouthed smartass! He’s an angel of the Lord!”) might seem like sweet relief. Given Dean’s mentorship of Castiel, and his immediate parallels in this episode of his hijinks with Castiel vs. his time with Sam, as well as what’s likely to be Lucifer’s continuous sparring with Sam, playing the older brother who knows best (since we can’t expect Jessica back), it seems the playbook is being reset on the sibling relationship.

Dean’s line to Castiel about how when humans want something very badly they lie seemed a curious statement, given that Dean stated as early as 1.02 that he lies about an awful lot. And yet Dean seems to be a character who has largely wanted little from life. One would have to suspect then, that he’s being less than truthful about how he feels being separated from Sam. Of course, what’s not getting referenced at all is how Dean has spent decades away from Sam. In fact, what I mention about Jess below is what I would also have assumed of Dean and Sam. Surely Dean never expected to see Sam again. Yet once he did, what was he expecting? Clearly he didn’t want to have to take up the mantle of responsibility for him again, and he spent the better part of last season alternately avoiding confrontation or trying to hold Sam back from the edge, There is a lot of talk of running away in this episode, and of bad things coming from it. Jessica tells Sam he’s running away, but it would seem Dean is moving just as fast in the opposite direction. I really don’t think this is going to bode well for either of them.

The Awesome

1) Let’s hear it for the superb editing of that segment where Sam arrives in Oklahoma and Dean starts his case in Pennsylvania. I loved the juxtaposition of Sam striving for normal again while Dean hunts solo. It made me think that Sam should have been unsurprised at Jess’ appearance, given that this seems to be an echo of the last time he and Dean separated. It also seemed to me that the segment was showing off the skills each had developed and the different use for them at the moment. I did think it was curious that a vampire was chosen for Dean to fight vs. a demon. On the one hand, I wouldn't put it past the writers to have chosen this nemesis solely for the purpose of throwing a jab at Twilight. But I also thought it was interesting he was killing a blood drinker who was no longer human.

2) Is this the first time we’ve heard Lynyrd Skynyrd on the soundtrack?

3) The start of the Dean and Cas show was not just entertaining, but seemed to be tossing bones left and right to the Dean/Cas shippers. So he and Cas have discussed personal space before? They’re Thelma and Louise? This is the second time an angel has spent his last night on Earth with Dean having sex? Is there some reason Dean thought of Ernie and Bert just then?

4) I had to burst out laughing at the excuse the writers’ came up with for not having Castiel teleport Dean around the country. No wonder Castiel always looks so constipated.

5) I loved seeing Sam win at darts to get out of a date.

6) Castiel as the Worst. FBI, Impersonator. Ever.

7) It was great to see Jessica again. Although she’s largely become a footnote through the seasons, especially the last two, it was remarkable to hear Sam say how much he still missed her. While I’m sure Sam loved her, I’d always felt that that love and her loss had become largely symbolic for him. Given how much has happened since then, especially his deeper losses – of his father, brother, and self-assurance – I would have expected Jess to be a pastel watercolor by now (if charred at the edges), someone who marked a time which hardly seems real to him anymore. Instead, she’s perhaps the most potent example of how he has the opposite of the Midas touch, Lucifer knows just how to hit him, trying to steal away the one thing Sam has always held more strongly than his father and brother – hope, that things can be different, and that he can be different.

8) Poor Sam. Lucifer’s retort that he will bring Sam back if he tries to escape by dying is such a blow. Given Castiel’s ability to reconstitute Dean there’s certainly no reason to expect he couldn’t. And it also lends credence to his conviction that eventually Sam will give in – you'd have to expect Lucifer's playing a long game. On the other hand, short of John Winchester, one would assume Sam was the most stubborn guy on the planet. “I know you better than you know yourself.” Where have I heard that before? Perhaps the whole bossy-older-brother thing is not going to be the best approach…

The WTF List

1) Why was Sam burning his IDs and credit cards? He’s supposedly taking a break from hunting to get himself together. And given that he seems determined to hang on to hope in this episode, that seems a rather hopeless act to start out with, doesn’t it?

2) So, finishing a crossword puzzle makes you highly educated? I guess most Brits no longer need to wonder why Americans find them sophisticated.

3) From a show perspective I can understand why the writers may not want Sam to be at Bobby’s, especially now that there’s not much reason to think Bobby’s going to be away from home much. However, I’m pretty unimpressed with how they’re handling this new plot twist they’ve given him. How did Bobby get home? Has someone built a ramp to his house so that he can get in and out? Who’s staying with him – he has a two-story house and presumably can’t get upstairs to his bedroom anymore. The obvious solution to a lot of this would have been to have Sam go home with him, and work at Bobby’s junkyard. It’s not like he couldn’t use the help right now, but more importantly, for someone who’s supposedly so close to them, both Sam and Dean sure are pretty quick to abandon him when he could really use their help.

What’s more, I can only assume it’s been a few weeks since Sam last saw Bobby at the hospital and yet this is presumably the first time he’s spoken to him, since he asks Bobby if he knows that Sam isn’t with Dean. Given this example, I’m not sure Sam and Dean have much right to complain about John anymore.

From a character development perspective, I also don’t find it much of a break from the past to discover that Dean and Bobby’s conversation has taken place offscreen, so that Bobby’s own opinion on it is largely unknown. We can tell he’s not happy, but about what isn’t clear. Does Bobby think Sam shouldn’t be on his own? Does he think Sam shouldn’t be abandoning hunting because he’s really needed? Does he think Dean was wrong to encourage Sam to leave? I guess we’re not supposed to care what he thinks.

4) Apparently trapping a hurricane with a butterfly net is pretty easy.

5) Castiel’s wide-eyed approach to living among humans is good for all sorts of fish out of water situations, but getting him laid seemed rather pointless, not to mention thoughtless. First of all, why would Castiel have had sex? Anna made it clear that angels don’t, hence her last night’s wish. But what is Castiel now? Is he in a reconstituted human body? Certainly his teleportation seems unaffected, but if he didn’t really exist in physical form that would be easy enough. Are he and Anna less powerful angels because they can now appear to humans as humans? Is Jimmy in there still? And even if he isn’t, do we know what might happen to a human if an angel had sex with one? To me this just raised all sorts of disturbing questions.

6) Which leads right into what I thought was the most appalling moment of the night: “This whole industry runs on absent fathers, it’s the natural order.” Um, what? If you’re acknowledging that prostitutes are damaged women then what does that say about you that you’ll take advantage of them? (And it's not just absentee parents but often molestation cases as well). Of course, given the whole tie in later to Rafael, which Dean helpfully drops an anvil on, presumably the suggestion is that single parent homes always lead to something bad (oh, hey, maybe that’s why Sam’s evil!) Of course, it's just a plus for the men of the planet that girls turn to the sex trade instead of apocalypses and torture, right?

Going back to the whole issue of the writers’ meta creeping through, the other thing I immediately thought of is that it’s the acting industry that runs on absent dads. I still remember some years back when Ethan Hawke appeared on the Actor’s Studio, he said that a common question actors ask one another is which parent had been missing.

7) I am completely unclear about how Rafael/Donnie got out of the hospital to go to the house in the first place. And secondly why the hospital’s smoke detectors didn’t go off. What was the point of their going to the hospital at all rather than sneaking Donny out and then doing the ritual in the abandoned house where they could keep a fire burning all day if need be? Also, how much oil was in that jar that they could have figured out exactly where Rafael would appear to get him into it? It’s not like he had to move closer to Dean to do whatever he wanted to him. I guess they’re just lucky he didn’t decide to show up while they were driving, right?

8) I’m also pretty unclear why a demon would willingly give a hunter their blood so that Sam could then go and kill them all. For that matter, if they know about Lucifer and his plans, shouldn’t they be trying to keep Sam safe from hunters? Plus, is Sam drinking blood actually important for his abilities or not?

Other Observations

1) I thought it was an interesting insight into Sam’s life experience that hardly anything is ever done just for fun. When Lindsey asks him he wants to play darts, his first response is to bet. I wonder if he first learned to play solely for the purpose of winning money?

2) Have we seen Deputy Framingham before? He looked familiar.

3) Bobby seems to be relay central in this episode. Cas uses him to find Dean, which means that Dean and Bobby have spoken recently. And, of course, Sam talks to him later in the episode. Guess he’s still manning that bank of phones.

4) When Castiel interrupts to say it was angels and demons skirmishing, I would have thought the easiest thing would have been to suggest he was referring to gang activity. So I’m assuming that Dean brought up vices for another reason. Given his indoctrination of Castiel into drinking and sex, it seemed a setup for Rafael’s suggestion that it was Lucifer who saved them both.

5) I noticed that Castiel was quite blunt with Dean about what would happen to him if Michael took him over. Should we assume that he doesn’t want to see it happen? He hasn’t given any indication one way or another, even if he did save Sam and Dean from being tortured.

6) I assume that Sam knew at least one of the three hunters who showed up at the bar, given he tried to avoid them before they spoke to him. Of course, he had a pretty long contact list in his cell phone too, so it seems particularly curious that he and Dean didn’t run into another hunter their whole first year on the road.

7) I assume the juxtaposition of Lindsey asking Sam out with Dean and Castiel at Maine’s most conveniently located brothel ever, was intentional -- in that this is how Dean wants to spend his time with Sam only Sam has far too many issues to ever do so willingly.

8) Dayenu? Dean can't remember an exorcism chant but this is a word in his vocabulary?

9) Dean is the worst sex-ed instructor ever.

10) Sam is attired in the shirt of angst this episode.

11) The line about the average wait time to speak to an angel made me think of the Colbert Christmas Special.

12) Given salt for demons and oil for angels, Dean’s quip about vinaigrette isn’t looking so silly.

13) If a bar’s closed, shouldn’t the door be locked?

14) Sam’s attack in the bar mirrored two things for me. The first was his own attack on Jo in a similar fashion, only this time he was trying to fend off a sort of possession. The second was that his hesitation to kill in front of Lindsey made me think of how he backed off from killing Jake in S2. Of course, that time no one was watching, Sam’s internal compass needed no help. The fact that this time it did makes me think his idea of shutting himself away from people is exactly the wrong one. I am reminded of Doyle’s speech to Angel in the Angel pilot – he needs to be around people to stay connected to them, and remind himself why he is trying to stay on the wagon.

And speaking of that, given their treatment of Bobby perhaps it shouldn't be so surprising that Dean's response to his brother's addiction is to let him go off alone and not even check in with him. It seemed to me that Lindsey's flashing of an AA medallion was deliberate in suggesting that sobriety is found through community, not solitude.

15) There’s still a Five and Dime somewhere in the U.S.?

16) Uh, how does Sam know what the demon said is true? Do all demons now know Sam set Lucifer free? Do they all know before he does that he’s Lucifer’s vessel of choice? Isn't it kind of silly to assume he knows what the demons told the hunters?

17) Is there some reason Dean’s going to walk off without his cooler of beer?

18) I’m guessing that rainstorm will eventually put out the fire but I sure wouldn’t want to be driving in it.

19) I’m wondering if Sam is being literal about ”being here” in the next episode. I would have assumed he’d be packing up after that little display.

20) I suppose the writers were trying to fake out the audience by initially diverting attention in 5.01 to Dean being the chosen vessel. Still, it’s not much of a fake-out if two episodes later it turns out that the obvious storyline of Sam as Lucifer’s vessel is put into play. On the other hand, if they’re writing with a S6 in mind it makes more sense that they’ll spend most of this season with both Sam and Dean trying to avoid their remarkably similar fates.

The episode ends up revealing Sam and Dean both as trying to stay away from close personal connections to others, albeit for different reasons. What’s somewhat amusing to me is that both are also trying to avoid the closest personal connection of all, being turned into a vessel.