SPN 5.02 - Makeups and Breakups
Snaps for Sera Gamble – there are some things in this episode I think she just nailed, and the rest was certainly passable. In some ways I think this episode was deceptively simple. As I started rewatching I realized she had actually packed a good bit of character development onto the screen, which is likely what made it so satisfying. After the mishmash that was last week's episode we got a pretty straightforward one this time out. In fact it seemed curiously low on content compared to 5.01, with an extension of some issues brought up in the first episode, a relatively simple case, though with a nice twist, and some very welcome faces back in the mix.
I appreciated Gamble's attention to detail in the episode, such as the explanation for why Castiel is inexplicably using a telephone (talk about a great subject for a crack fic – Castiel sets up his calling plan…). Very cool idea of the sigil x-ray too – and its recurrence in this episode confirms for me that these are definitely going to come into play later this season.
I think these were valuable moments and I'm glad there wasn't a whole lot left dangling, considering how much time was spent on the bridge being out and the "stalking through town" scene. It's not that I minded those, in fact it had the kind of pacing that has become rarer in SPN episodes and which was so welcome at the beginning of Lazarus Rising. It's just that there was a lot of time and expense involved to set all that up when not a lot happened. I couldn't help thinking how we could have used some of those minutes in 5.01 to slow things down a bit and explain some of its rather baffling elements.
Speaking for the moment about budgeting, I actually carped at the screen "Use this music money in the episode, not the recap!" I was glad we got Spirit in the Sky because, heh. But I've missed the music so much I really want more of it back in the storyline.
Gamble had some punches in store in this episode and I thought she set them up nicely – no anvils for the longtime viewers, but lots of content for the newcomers. For example, she foreshadowed Dean and Sam's own possibly permanent changes with Sam's line about needing to accept that Bobby ”won’t bounce back this time.”
Then there was Sam’s comment to Ellen about Jo. Ellen thinks she can’t do the job, but she stays with her rather than let her go off on her own, unlike what Dean does with Sam at episode’s end. This is interestingly juxtaposed with the clearest example of Sam and Dean being on the same page during a case since Usual Suspects. Both Sam and Dean figure out who’s behind it all, and who’s not, pretty much simultaneously. They’re still working together just fine, it’s Sam’s ambivalence and Dean’s mistrust which are a bigger problem than who they’re facing.
Sam and Dean and Dean and Sam
The first surprise set up the closing one. I could just imagine the collective gasp going on over this major canon development as Castiel reached for Dean's amulet. It took 5 seasons but finally the amulet is given a potentially significant role in the storyline. It's always had a role as defining Dean and, since S3, standing in for Sam and Dean's bond. So the idea that Dean has been wearing God EMF all this time? It made me remember that Sera Gamble also wrote HotH, where Dean first tells Sam about Mary's final words to him, regarding angels watching over him.
What I thought was missing from that scene was not emotional content, of which there was plenty, but a scene where, hopefully in the next episode, Dean will ask Bobby the obvious question regarding what he knew about the amulet. Because it came from Bobby for John by way of Sam, and was diverted to Dean. From what Bobby said in this episode he apparently didn't realize its larger significance. Or it could be that Castiel is on a snipe hunt and only thinks the amulet will be useful.
Speaking of Bobby for a moment, this scene managed to say several things at once. He doesn’t like to ask for help, for one, because his hostility towards Castiel was out of place given that his condition has nothing to do with Castiel's actions. Instead, it was a combination of demons and his own choices. This displacement of anger struck me as similar to what happened in 5.01 when demon!Bobby gives voice to what Sam needs to hear. Even had he known Castiel couldn’t heal him, I doubt Bobby would have opted differently than to save Dean and rid himself of the demon. But that doesn't mean he isn't angry he had to pay the price for being involved with Sam and Dean, he just can't bring himself (yet) to voice that to the boys. I am hopeful that we are going to see a real storyline for Bobby grappling with his new condition. Kudos to the writers for making it clear there will be no quick fix.
Returning to the amulet, Dean's surrender of it is reluctant. He is ready to refuse outright until Castiel pressures him. Apparently Castiel's machina is broken and he's trying to find the deus to power it again. But he did give voice to what this scene, if not the episode is all about, and that's seeing things as they are. Just about everyone in the episode knows the truth but isn't paying attention to the signs they're seeing.
Castiel makes plain to Dean that he is so focused on his own issues that he is completely overlooking Castiel's anger and desperation. Sam points out to Dean that he's not confronting what may be happening with Bobby. And of course Sam is not willing to confront what's going on inside him.
I just groaned when I saw Sam eyeing the blood on the knife. Oh Sam. And that unrushed moment where they look at one another and Dean knows what's going on was nicely done. But even so it took a sit-down with War who, like Chuck, could see completely past what Sam was saying for him to finally give voice to what he already knew. The parallel with his talk with Chuck struck me for another reason, which was that then Sam was not only in denial but so was Dean about his ability to pull Sam back from the edge. He was still willing to put saving Sam first. Now that Sam's no longer in denial, Dean throws in the towel. It was easy to empathize with Sam's surprise that Dean wasn't willing to fight him about going their separate ways. It's not that Sam and Dean haven't often been on opposite sides of the fence about things, but just like Bobby to Castiel, he's asking for help and being turned down.
And that makes me wonder where Dean's motivation is coming from. Is it really that he feels he can't be distracted by Sam while fighting the apocalypse? He was once ready to let the world end when Sam died. I wonder if what Dean's thinking about now is his own redemption after what happened in hell? Or is it simply that, like Castiel, he is incapable of helping Sam at this time, feeling that he has already tried everything he knew and failed, and thinks he has nothing to offer?
The decision certainly seems emotionally based and not practical. Dean lets Sam walk off without a stash of weapons at a time like this. He really thinks Meg and company won’t be after him again? His offer of the Impala was unexpected but a welcome sign that it's not that Dean doesn't care, but I have to wonder what Bobby will think of his choice.
As an aside, I wonder if Sam's now going to pursue the Colt hunt he suggested to Dean in 5.01.
The Winchester Mirror
Along with all the other parallels between Castiel and Sam in the amulet scene, Castiel also being "cast out" and hunted, was Castiel remarking to Dean about how he had to kill fellow angels. Later in the episode we have Sam regretting the deaths of the townspeople in the store. Remembering how he tried to do an exorcism first before stabbing, though, I think he was being sincere in that regret, just not completely truthful.
Secondly, there was Castiel being very clear with Dean that he is in as dire straits as anyone else on earth, and this is all because of Dean and Sam. I expect at some point that Dean is going to make clearer to Castiel his own role in all that happened. Dean doesn't know Castiel let Sam out, nor does he know about the phone call, and Castiel was apparently out of the loop in terms of the larger angel plan. Regardless, he played his own part in leading both Sam and Dean down the wrong path. After all, Sam didn't realize he was being fooled either. Like Castiel, he preferred to believe what he was being told for his own reasons.
Castiel’s speech about a plan to stop Lucifer being foolish and searching instead for more power struck me as awfully similar to Sam’s conviction that fighting the war Dean’s way was pointless, but that powering himself up to kill Lilith was a cure-all.
And it's for these parallels, as well as the giant flashing metaphor of Dean surrendering Sam's amulet to Castiel, that I suspect what I interpreted in S3 as Dean working out some of his issues with John through Castiel, may continue this season. I think within this episode the amulet surrender echoed Dean's willingness to give Sam up for a larger purpose. But in a broader sense, I see the amulet surrender as a metaphor for it returning to its intended recipient.
Slasher Pinball
So Dean thinks a backrub from him will cheer Bobby up? Bobby calls Castiel’s conversation foreplay? Castiel voicies his sacrifice for love Dean and leaves him feeling "naked" without Sam the amulet? Ellen's line to Sam about a girl coming between them? Is the entire writing team going for a record this season?
Supporting Characters, Yay!
I was thrilled at the return of Rufus, Jo, and Ellen, and I think all were put to good use in this episode. My stand up and cheer moment was when Ellen lays into both (though primarily Dean) for not staying in touch. Definitely a meta moment there, as some of that could have come straight off of fan boards, but perfectly Ellen regardless.
Nice bit with Ellen reprising her first appearance by coming up behind them with a gun. On the other hand, it just made my point for me about how Sam and Dean were less than sneaky strolling down the center of the street like that, barely looking for potential snipers.
I thought they set up Ellen's non-possession in a nicely clear but unremarked way, with the devil's traps and salt lines that everyone had to pass over. Also, I would have whistled at that red Mustang too, but I appreciated how they called attention to it with an in-character moment for Dean. (I was wondering if it was in the script or ad-libbed).
The conversation between Jo and Rufus about the window trap was telling. If they had Sam, both must have known Dean would be close at hand (at least in this episode!) And Jo talks about Ellen, yet the window set up continues, each apparently ready to do whatever it takes.
I don't have much to say about the town survivors. I think we were given just enough of them to recognize Roger, and to be concerned about them dying. I did love the bit with Dean and the soldier though. It was a nice touch given that the villain of the episode was War who is so often equated with hell. It's perhaps also part of a deliberate effort to integrate more current events into the episodes, the way they did with the radio bit in 5.01. I think it was Kripke who said it in an interview (or two) what if we were currently living through the apocalypse and just didn't realize it? So I suspect there may be more of these.
The one thing I thought was too pat were all the townspeople suddenly dropping what they were doing when the hallucinations ended. There was dramatic tension in Ellen's knife attack of course, and given SPN's propensity to kill characters left and right, I was afraid she really might be killed. But it seemed a rather sudden pullback for someone in battle fever.
I'll go on record in expressing my concern with what's going to happen to Rufus. Given the phone reference to him in 4.22, my feeling is that he's being set up for a larger role this season and we'll be seeing him back. Which is great, but I have a bad feeling about where that storyline might head.
Lots of little observations this week
1) From Sam's viewpoint at the door, Bobby sure looked like a dejected figure. That shot said a lot. 2) Does the fact that the sigil is so elaborate mean that it stops working if any part of it is damaged? 3) Castiel calls Sam, which was a nice touch in including him in the whole event even if it transpired primarily between Castiel and Dean. I also noticed for the first time that Sam says the name differently, making it two syllables instead of three. 4)I suspect that the bridge being out was actually a CG effect, yes? 5) I wish that when Dean agreed to relnquish the amulet we’d seen a reaction shot from Sam or Sam and Bobby. After all, that amulet was connected to all of them. 6) Was that actually Jerry Wanek’s photo? I remembered his appearance on the Dark Angel extras and I thought he looked different. 7) Where do they find all the classic cars for this show? It’s hard to spot a car less than 25 years old in most episodes. 8) The episode neatly sidestepped Jo and Sam’s reunion, though I suppose in a way Jo got some of her own back from the last time they met. 9) They have rock salt in convenience stores? 10) I liked the view of the fight in the store mirror, nice touch. 11) Sammy’s getting choked again. No wonder he wants his mojo back. 12) I guess it’s fall in Colorado for people to be using a fireplace in the daytime. 13) So what is War actually? Not a demon judging from the lack of effect that Devil’s traps and salt lines have on him. Something like the Trickster? 14) Funny that War would cite the Irish since on the face of it their problem was religious, just like the apocalypse. Of course, like all disputes, it was really just about who had power, just like Sam. 15) I kept thinking War looked like Jason Jones of the Daily Show. 16) Guess Ellen or Dean had a grenade in their pockets when they made a break for it. 17) Heh about Mount Doom. But where is that ring going to end up? John’s lock-up? 18) It must have been really bright during that picnic table scene, the way both were squinitng. 19) Funny how people on TV are always ready to pick up hitchhikers. 20) So the CW doesn’t have a newer promo shot of Sam and Dean than from S1?