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stillaneOh my god. Oh my... just oh.
That was fantastic.
Every now and again the world would intrude, and I'd realize I'd been sitting there for the last umpteen minutes with my mouth open and my eyes wide and my heart in my throat. Thank all that is holy I had the house to myself, because I would never have lived this down. But, oh, oh so worth it.
As usual, plenty more than a day late and a dollar short, and almost certainly already said by others, but... *shrug*
The details:
-The warehouse scene: so, why is there already blood on the knife? Did I miss something? The answer to that question is yes, but it's not my fault yet.
- I like the meta of Dean waking up to a horror movie in the background. Is that a St. Christopher's medal around his neck? For my own purposes, I really, really want it to be. If you're going to go on a headtrip, you should have the patron saint of travelers on your side.
- The porch scene: Oh. I love that his first reaction to being touched is to flinch. He didn't flinch from her actual ghost, but the living, breathing version he doesn't know what to do with. I love that his eyes never once leave her; he doesn't so much as blink. And when she can't see him anymore, and he finally breaks... eee.
- John's jersey number is 66. Huh.
-It's more than a little heartbreaking that there is no world in which Dean can bring John back as a happy man, and there is no world in which Dean himself is a man worth knowing if he isn't a hunter. Oh, Dean.
- There are no pictures of Sam and Dean together over the age of ten. I love how this show knows where it's going, and plans accordingly.
- There is very little on this Earth more frightening than John Winchester in a Santa hat.
- Ahem. Eyelashes. And freckles. And scruffiness. Yeah.
- They're estranged, and yet Dean's number is still in Sam's phone. I want the fic about the Stanford years, and all the phone changes in between on both sides. Has anybody written that yet?
- "Or maybe it's not really evil." Can you imagine him saying that at any point before this season? That's a fairly huge character moment, there, and it just slides right on by. Ooo.
- Dean, honey, please look both ways before crossing. No one wants to have to write in your obituary, "Smushed by a Volvo."
- I'm pretty sure the writers are on a quest to show us Dean eating at least once every other episode. Heh.
- Dean the happy yardboy is adorable, in its own sad little way.
- He knew Jessica for all of five minutes, and yet he latches on to her like... well, like he did his mom. I'm a little fascinated by the three women in this episode, given that he doesn't actually know any of them. His mother is a construct of a time he barely remembers, and whatever John may have told them (and I can't see John doing much reminiscing). Carmen is his fantasy - and ain't that a trip, all things considered. The ones he's honest with, the ones he really falls for, are the bright, strong, stable types. From Cassie to Carmen: beautiful, yes, but not glamorous, or spectacular. Just real. That boy's not nearly as shallow as he wants to be.
And then there's Jess, who consists of only what Sam might have told him. She's very copy-of-a-copy, and yet she works because we don't know her all that well either. Hm.
- And the way he looks at happy Sam... oh. The contrast to the pilot hit me right here, with the complete turnaround of Dean's attitude toward normal!Sam. Back at the beginning, this fate was the worst one he could imagine for his brother, to be tamed and trimmed down into a content oblivion. Now, it sure beats the alternative.
- The way he just glows at the dinner table... that aches.
- They shake hands, and I was waiting for a brief, manly hug. For all Dean's don't-touch-me talk, I think they would have, in the real world.
- He still looks bad dressed up, though. Admittedly, I'm a t-shirt and jeans kind of girl, but I've been known to have a thing for button-downs. Ackles is the only man I've ever seen who does not pull off a standard suit at all well.
- Dean looks like someone just knifed him when Sam pulls away during their non-heart-to-heart. That quiet, passive space between them is worse than any of the shouted fights they've had on the series. And the "I think you'd be great at it" strikes me as the first serious, flat-out compliment they've ever exchanged. Ow.
- Carmen works nights. And here Dean is very clearly thinking, "She's going to say she's a stripper." Hee.
- The whole idea that all the bad things that they prevent are undone... Dean can't conceive of a world without monsters. There's been a running theme about the stain of knowledge, and how you can't ever unknow something, and this is it all rolled up into one prickly little ball. Dean can take the burden away from Sam, but he can't do it for himself. His wish is only that Mary hadn't died, which is somehow less impossible than the erasure of all things demonic.
- My fandom has skeletons in its closet. Really.
- We are not going to talk about the grave scene. We will especially not mention my forlorn, whimpery reaction to it.
- And then the pilot redux. So. Cool.
- The moment when Dean decides to lie to Sam and let him keep his illusions guts me. It very clearly kills him that Sam believes it, too.
- And when it comes right down to it, when he believes this world is as real as his own, it's only Sam he says goodbye to. Just like in the pilot, I think that Dean only got caught here because he wanted to be. He could have gotten silver from a good many places, and he could have gotten in and out of the house without anyone ever knowing, and he doesn't. As always, his biggest weakness is that he wants Sam with him, even when he can't let himself want it.
- Bright spot: just as there is no world in which Dean can imagine a happy John, or a well-adjusted self, there is likewise none in which Sam won't back him up in the end.
- Hee. Primandproper!Sam cracks me up. He reminds me of BlahBlah!Sam.
- They are in the Metallicar, zooming along, music blaring, and all is again right with the world. Even if Sam does still have goofy hair.
- The girl in the warehouse is one of the best victim of the weeks they've had, I think. Maybe I was just primed for pain, but she got under my skin, especially given how very little screentime she had. Likewise, the djinn creeped me out with his normalcy. When he walks up the stairs, I had the bizarre urge to wonder where he buys his shoes.
- The fact that Dean says, "What if all this is in my head?" like it has never occurred to him strikes me as one hell of a case of denial. It would have been my first thought, personally, but he doesn't want to know it. He may ask the professor earlier about the djinn's powers, but he never seriously entertains the idea that this isn't real until it is shoved in his face.
-Again with the blood already on the knife. What am I missing? The obvious, as it turns out. I can only claim distraction by the boys. *facepalm*
- In the very few commentaries I've read, I've seen some discussion of this warehouse scene, and some very, very wise people didn't like it much. They noted that it is drawn out and fairly unnecessary, and that there really isn't any suspense whatsoever. It crushed me, though, and here's why: we know what Dean is going to do. Dean knows what he's going to do. There's never really any doubt at all, and so for me, it wasn't about the suspense here, or the lack of it. It punched me in the chest because he knows, and he drags it out. He lets himself have just five more minutes with these people, none of whom he'll ever see again. He says goodbye.
And that will take me down every damn time. I'm easy like that.
- Also on the list of things which push buttons: frantic, scared Sam. Oh, yeah.
- The count of monster hands that have now touched the sanctified neck of Sam Winchester gets a new addition.
And now... related spoilers for another show. Specifically, Life on Mars. Run away!!!
- I couldn't help drawing parallels throughout. How can what is so unutterably right for one character be so incredibly wrong for another? I watched Life on Mars not more than a few weeks ago, and hurt myself smiling when that Sam made the opposite choice. He took a flying leap off a building to go back to his manufactured life, and that was exactly as it should be. (Except I would argue about the simplicity of labeling Gene and Co. real vs. not, just because I think there's a whole hell of a lot of grey area where this show is concerned. But ignore that, for now.)
Dean has it comparatively easy. He only has to smile and decide to live within the construct, and yet that would have felt so terribly wrong it doesn't bear mentioning. Personally, I chalk it up to the world building involved, as well as the central personalities: Sam's "fantasy" is astonishingly real, while Dean's never stops feeling like a dream. Aside from that, Sam becomes a better person in this other place; I always thought he was a bit of a schmuck in 2006, and a good man in 1973. Dean has the reverse problem, as a product of his environment. Being a novelty doesn't work quite so well in suburbia.
And then comes that final bit: I don't believe Dean could ever be happy without the truth. He's just not built that way. There is no compromise in him that allows for fakes, and in the end that hauls him out of his own personal heaven.
-
- I like the meta of Dean waking up to a horror movie in the background. Is that a St. Christopher's medal around his neck? For my own purposes, I really, really want it to be. If you're going to go on a headtrip, you should have the patron saint of travelers on your side.
- The porch scene: Oh. I love that his first reaction to being touched is to flinch. He didn't flinch from her actual ghost, but the living, breathing version he doesn't know what to do with. I love that his eyes never once leave her; he doesn't so much as blink. And when she can't see him anymore, and he finally breaks... eee.
- John's jersey number is 66. Huh.
-It's more than a little heartbreaking that there is no world in which Dean can bring John back as a happy man, and there is no world in which Dean himself is a man worth knowing if he isn't a hunter. Oh, Dean.
- There are no pictures of Sam and Dean together over the age of ten. I love how this show knows where it's going, and plans accordingly.
- There is very little on this Earth more frightening than John Winchester in a Santa hat.
- Ahem. Eyelashes. And freckles. And scruffiness. Yeah.
- They're estranged, and yet Dean's number is still in Sam's phone. I want the fic about the Stanford years, and all the phone changes in between on both sides. Has anybody written that yet?
- "Or maybe it's not really evil." Can you imagine him saying that at any point before this season? That's a fairly huge character moment, there, and it just slides right on by. Ooo.
- Dean, honey, please look both ways before crossing. No one wants to have to write in your obituary, "Smushed by a Volvo."
- I'm pretty sure the writers are on a quest to show us Dean eating at least once every other episode. Heh.
- Dean the happy yardboy is adorable, in its own sad little way.
- He knew Jessica for all of five minutes, and yet he latches on to her like... well, like he did his mom. I'm a little fascinated by the three women in this episode, given that he doesn't actually know any of them. His mother is a construct of a time he barely remembers, and whatever John may have told them (and I can't see John doing much reminiscing). Carmen is his fantasy - and ain't that a trip, all things considered. The ones he's honest with, the ones he really falls for, are the bright, strong, stable types. From Cassie to Carmen: beautiful, yes, but not glamorous, or spectacular. Just real. That boy's not nearly as shallow as he wants to be.
And then there's Jess, who consists of only what Sam might have told him. She's very copy-of-a-copy, and yet she works because we don't know her all that well either. Hm.
- And the way he looks at happy Sam... oh. The contrast to the pilot hit me right here, with the complete turnaround of Dean's attitude toward normal!Sam. Back at the beginning, this fate was the worst one he could imagine for his brother, to be tamed and trimmed down into a content oblivion. Now, it sure beats the alternative.
- The way he just glows at the dinner table... that aches.
- They shake hands, and I was waiting for a brief, manly hug. For all Dean's don't-touch-me talk, I think they would have, in the real world.
- He still looks bad dressed up, though. Admittedly, I'm a t-shirt and jeans kind of girl, but I've been known to have a thing for button-downs. Ackles is the only man I've ever seen who does not pull off a standard suit at all well.
- Dean looks like someone just knifed him when Sam pulls away during their non-heart-to-heart. That quiet, passive space between them is worse than any of the shouted fights they've had on the series. And the "I think you'd be great at it" strikes me as the first serious, flat-out compliment they've ever exchanged. Ow.
- Carmen works nights. And here Dean is very clearly thinking, "She's going to say she's a stripper." Hee.
- The whole idea that all the bad things that they prevent are undone... Dean can't conceive of a world without monsters. There's been a running theme about the stain of knowledge, and how you can't ever unknow something, and this is it all rolled up into one prickly little ball. Dean can take the burden away from Sam, but he can't do it for himself. His wish is only that Mary hadn't died, which is somehow less impossible than the erasure of all things demonic.
- My fandom has skeletons in its closet. Really.
- We are not going to talk about the grave scene. We will especially not mention my forlorn, whimpery reaction to it.
- And then the pilot redux. So. Cool.
- The moment when Dean decides to lie to Sam and let him keep his illusions guts me. It very clearly kills him that Sam believes it, too.
- And when it comes right down to it, when he believes this world is as real as his own, it's only Sam he says goodbye to. Just like in the pilot, I think that Dean only got caught here because he wanted to be. He could have gotten silver from a good many places, and he could have gotten in and out of the house without anyone ever knowing, and he doesn't. As always, his biggest weakness is that he wants Sam with him, even when he can't let himself want it.
- Bright spot: just as there is no world in which Dean can imagine a happy John, or a well-adjusted self, there is likewise none in which Sam won't back him up in the end.
- Hee. Primandproper!Sam cracks me up. He reminds me of BlahBlah!Sam.
- They are in the Metallicar, zooming along, music blaring, and all is again right with the world. Even if Sam does still have goofy hair.
- The girl in the warehouse is one of the best victim of the weeks they've had, I think. Maybe I was just primed for pain, but she got under my skin, especially given how very little screentime she had. Likewise, the djinn creeped me out with his normalcy. When he walks up the stairs, I had the bizarre urge to wonder where he buys his shoes.
- The fact that Dean says, "What if all this is in my head?" like it has never occurred to him strikes me as one hell of a case of denial. It would have been my first thought, personally, but he doesn't want to know it. He may ask the professor earlier about the djinn's powers, but he never seriously entertains the idea that this isn't real until it is shoved in his face.
-
- In the very few commentaries I've read, I've seen some discussion of this warehouse scene, and some very, very wise people didn't like it much. They noted that it is drawn out and fairly unnecessary, and that there really isn't any suspense whatsoever. It crushed me, though, and here's why: we know what Dean is going to do. Dean knows what he's going to do. There's never really any doubt at all, and so for me, it wasn't about the suspense here, or the lack of it. It punched me in the chest because he knows, and he drags it out. He lets himself have just five more minutes with these people, none of whom he'll ever see again. He says goodbye.
And that will take me down every damn time. I'm easy like that.
- Also on the list of things which push buttons: frantic, scared Sam. Oh, yeah.
- The count of monster hands that have now touched the sanctified neck of Sam Winchester gets a new addition.
And now... related spoilers for another show. Specifically, Life on Mars. Run away!!!
- I couldn't help drawing parallels throughout. How can what is so unutterably right for one character be so incredibly wrong for another? I watched Life on Mars not more than a few weeks ago, and hurt myself smiling when that Sam made the opposite choice. He took a flying leap off a building to go back to his manufactured life, and that was exactly as it should be. (Except I would argue about the simplicity of labeling Gene and Co. real vs. not, just because I think there's a whole hell of a lot of grey area where this show is concerned. But ignore that, for now.)
Dean has it comparatively easy. He only has to smile and decide to live within the construct, and yet that would have felt so terribly wrong it doesn't bear mentioning. Personally, I chalk it up to the world building involved, as well as the central personalities: Sam's "fantasy" is astonishingly real, while Dean's never stops feeling like a dream. Aside from that, Sam becomes a better person in this other place; I always thought he was a bit of a schmuck in 2006, and a good man in 1973. Dean has the reverse problem, as a product of his environment. Being a novelty doesn't work quite so well in suburbia.
And then comes that final bit: I don't believe Dean could ever be happy without the truth. He's just not built that way. There is no compromise in him that allows for fakes, and in the end that hauls him out of his own personal heaven.
So yeah. What did you think?
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no subject
Date: 2007-05-07 02:45 am (UTC)Again with the blood already on the knife. What am I missing?
Wasn't that the lamb's blood that Sam found in the car? Dean said something about how the knife had to be dipped in that, I think.
Ackles is the only man I've ever seen who does not pull off a standard suit at all well.
Heh... Remind me to scan my prom picture sometime. It's not pretty. :x
it wasn't about the suspense here, or the lack of it. It punched me in the chest because he knows, and he drags it out. He lets himself have just five more minutes with these people, none of whom he'll ever see again. He says goodbye.
Definitely the better reading of it -- the show has a lot of kind of "thriller" elements to it, but this wasn't really one of those episodes. You know right from the moment he wakes up in the bed with Carmen that this isn't going to last -- it's not about whether it will come undone, it's the HOW. Which is why I liked the episode as a whole; that "the good stories are about character more than plot" adage.
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From:Meep
Date: 2007-05-07 07:33 pm (UTC)--Sal (formerly known as slytherindyke)
Re: Meep
From: