Recap – “The Third Man”
Sam is outside the police station leaning against his Charger while Dean pulls up in the Impala. That’s a really cool visual! Dean is on the phone. He’s lecturing Ben. Aww, he’s in Dad mode. I like this. “Ben, I know you’re lying…Because I lie professionally, that’s how.” No kid can get around that. “Tell your mom you broke the damn thing and take it like a man.” Hee, Ben is so becoming a hunter. Face it Dean.
Sam is listening all amused. “Wow,” Sam says and Dean wants to know what. “You, molding the minds of tomorrow.” You know Sam, I’ll take Dean as the responsible parent over you any day! Dean asks for the file from Sam. He asks Dean how Lisa took it when he bailed. “Shockingly cool actually.” Sam nods. “Better for everybody,” he says rather coldly. Dean looks at him stunned, but then concedes. “Yeah, suppose.” Don’t let Sam get away with that! I know, he took one for the team. Oh wait, Dean does know how to get back at Sam for that comment. He looks at the Charger. “Still driving the plastic piece of crap, huh?” “What’s your mileage again?” Sam asks. Dean tells him to shut up.
They go to the Morgue and Sam gives Dean the background, including the graphic description of the cop liquification process. Dean doesn’t get it. Sam says no one does. That’s not what Dean means, there’s nothing to look at. Sam claims they aren’t looking at him. Sam finds the body of puss ball and this dude actually looks better as a corpse. The puss balls aren’t as big and the body is all shriveled. Extreme allergic reaction? That’s creative. Dean suspects witchcraft, but Sam didn’t find any hexbags. “There must be some sort of link between skid mark and bubble wrap here.” Love it! Oh, wisecracking Dean. I missed you so much buddy. Is there a witness? Yep, Ed Colfax, aka freaked out cop that saw his partner in the opener go from a solid to a liquid. Right, he’s going to be okay.
Sam is turning the corner in his Charger and suddenly the Impala thunders from another street and cuts right in front of him. That’s one way to one up your jerky brother! They pull over and get out of their cars, even the closing of the front doors in perfect unison. That had to have been a trip to get right in filming. How many takes did that take? “Were you racing me?” Sam asks perplexed. “No,” Dean denies. “I was kicking your ass.” There’s that sibling rivalry. Oh, that’s so right. “Very mature,” Sam says. You should have tried it Sammy. It may have made you feel better. Dean’s smile makes me feel better.
Dean knock on the door and the cop opens his front door, in full uniform, hat and everything. “Whoa, pretty sharp Kojak.” Wasn’t Kojak a detective? The cop is pretty shaky and looks awful. “Who the hell are you?” He asks. “The Fed, Ed.” Sammy made a funny. He tells Ed they have follow up questions. Ed tells them not to worry about it, it’s nobody’s business. They try to ask again and he yells for them to don’t worry about it before slamming the door on them. Sam responds by doing a patented Sam Winchester Gigantor move (see panel at Chicago Con for that running joke) and kicks the door in. Dean protests with a “Dude.” I’m sure he was thinking, “Dude, what the fuck are you doing?” but this is TV and we don’t have that sort of time.
Sam walks briskly into the place and all the pictures have their faces scratched out. That’s not normal. The find Ed sitting at the table scratching out the face of another picture with a knife. His. Dean realizes something isn’t cool and asks him if he’s alright. He repeats “Don’t worry about it.” Now both Sam and Dean are staring at him kind of strange. Dean tries to tell this guy they think his partner died of unnatural causes (really?) but Ed is scratching his head now. Without taking his hat off.
“Did he have any enemies you know of?” He was a cop Dean, that’s a lot of people busted. Ed replies you might say that. While pouring whiskey, he says they both had it coming, him too. “I’ll be the next to go. And then it’ll all be over. God will be satisfied.” Hmm, sounds like an angel is messing with his noodle. Dean wants to know why God wants them all dead. Because of Christopher Birch. He explains he has no face while he’s fixated with the whiskey bottle that has tipped over and is pouring all the whiskey to the floor. Sam and Dean try to get his attention. He picks the bottle back up. Sam demands to know who Christopher Birch is. A kid with no face and a planted gun. That’s when blood starts trailing from his hat. Dean tries to bring that to his attention. “My head’s been itching like a dirty jock.” He collapses. Well that’s some interesting last words. Sam checks, he’s dead. Dean hears bugs chirping. They pull off the hat, locusts have eaten through this guy’s brain. On how pleasant. When that ends up being the least gross moment of this story, something is very wrong. Or right, depending how you look at it.
Alice Jester is the founder, editor-in-chief, head writer, programmer, web designer, site administrator, marketer, and moderator for The Winchester Family Business. She is a 30 year IT applications and database expert with a penchant for creative and freelance writing in her spare (ha!!) time. That’s on top of being a wife, mother of two active kids, and four loving (aka needy) pets.
Great recap for a stellar episode !
I (mostly) like your choice of pics also, although I have to say that I thought there were perhaps a tad too many of Sam (just look at the first page ! :P)
A quick thought –
I thought it was a nice link between how Dean could tell from a phone call that Ben was lying, and how he could also tell that Aaron was holding back on the fact that he sold his soul for (part of) Moses’ Staff.
Dean appears to be quite an expert on when kids are lying. 🙂
Great recap for a much better episode.
Love badass/mysterious Sam, Jared is really bringing this season. I love how Sam is different yet there’s a hint of the Sammy we all know and love under the surface. Cant wait to see more of his story unfold.
BTW.You can never have too many pictures of Sam. I heard we may have more nekkid Sam before Christmas too. Yay!
Still rooting for the Dean/Lisa/Ben storyline to be over soon and I’m still thinking episode 5 will mark the beginning of the end of that arc, it’ll be over in 6 (just a hunch). Then maybe we can get to the real issues at hand like Sam, the Campbell’s, gods stolen weapons. Most of all we really need to get back to the brothers relationship and cut down on the fan servicing-I like more to my Supernatural than just Dean with a kiddie every week and Sam getting his kit off (even if I really appreciate the latter).
Hi Alice,
I think I better clarify – I wasn’t implying that Sam and Dean should get equal pictorial exposure !
I just mean that as an individual sharing the same gender and marital status as Jensen and Jared (and on top of that we have 3 young kids – it’s too bad the missus does not think it’s a good idea to start them on a horror television series just yet :P), I guess I was not prepared for the onslaught, on a single page, of so much … er… Sam exposure 😛
That being said, I appreciate that many other readers will enjoy your layout on page 1 more than I did, and personally, the Sam skin onslaught did not (for me) detract from your excellent and enjoyable recap. 🙂
Before I start I have to say, I really love reading your reviews and not just because of the comprehensive or enlightening nature of them but because they are so freaking full of joy!! You seem to find delight in everything new and old that’s shown and that’s great because it reflects in your writing (goes for all the writers on here!).
At a time when a lot of other places are moaning or complaining about the ‘direction’ of the show etc, to be able to read someone who is still entranced with the show… well, an rud is annamh is iontach (what’s rare is wonderful) so thanks.
Maybe I’m being overly optimistic (it’s contagious!) but I’m seeing flickers of old Sam everywhere I look. That ‘okay’ when the lady was walking out was one such moment. It makes me believe more and more that this whole hard exterior is something Sam has chosen to put on, that he’s not actually ‘soul less/damaged/Lucifered up etc. Also, as you said, Dean is the key. In many regards, I think Sam is scared of the effect Dean will have on him so at times, will be colder towards him, hence some comments that sound harsh eg ‘Better for everybody’
I think, up until the very end of the episode, Dean was more content than he had been in a long time. He had his brother, his angel, a case, Sam back in the Impala. He had everything he wanted right there; they might be somewhat different, but it was better than nothing (am happy for Dean!)
Mr. Angel, sir. Good to see you back. Re: Castiels revelation. I think not only was Sam hoping it was God, but he’s absolutely terrified that it’s not. If the angels didn’t do it and God (probably) didn’t do it, then that just leaves one other team, and they play downstairs…
I know most people probably cheered at the loss of Sams car but I think it was more than a car for Sam. It represented his independence. In it, he was just Sam, the Hunter, no background etc but in the Impala, he’s also Sam, the little brother, and with Sam’s need to not let his emotions get away from him, being so close to Dean, in his ‘home’ on a constant basis, I’m sure he feels it could be a pretty risky place for him to be.
I think it’s kind of a Winchester family mantra that they ‘don’t talk about it’. Sure, show off the scars etc but anything of a mental or emotional nature doesn’t matter. There’s now a part of me thinking that maybe Sam wasn’t physically tortured in the Pit (don’t know why) but I’d say they ‘ouched him in the head sad’ fairly good. This could be another reason why Sam says he ok. Physically, he’s fine and the psychological stuff doesn’t count because it’s just his head.
Just in relation to the bigger picture comment. I wonder if, when Lucifer was perched in Sam, Sam got any insight into what Lucifer had planned. This could explain why torturing the kid didn’t faze him. Sam knows what could happen, so he can’t afford to think about the smaller man. This only ‘seeing the bigger picture’ Sammy both excites and saddens me….
Love the recap Alice, great job, as always. Also appreciate of your little insights, although conservative republican, really?
I agree with Tim the Enchanters assessment of Sam’s torture. I also don’t think it was a mostly physical torture like Dean’s. (Although I think Dean’s was mostly physical with a some mental torture thrown in for good measure.) I am of the feeling that Lucifer’s cage in Hell is set off from the rest of the demons, so Sam’s time in Hell was spent with Lucifer in his head, which brings me to believe that his torture was all mental, and that Luci was really working him over similar to how he spoke to him in Swan Song. So, however long Sam was down there, he had Lucifer constantly ragging on him and that, I am sure, really did a number on his psyche (not that Sam wasn’t already psyche damaged with all the years of facing the demon blood crap).
I loved the beginning sequence of Dean and Sam and how different their lives are now after this past year. Sam and a prostitute – who would have thunk, but he does indeed look hot. I loved it that Dean was dreaming about Lisa. And As for Dean/Lisa/Ben – it looks like something will be happening in that story line in 6.05 and 6.06 and I am so wanting this story line to continue for Dean. We can still have the brothers story line front and center, that is what SPN is all about. But a show and characters cannot continue to grow and evolve without changes, and continuing to have Lisa and Ben in Dean’s life, and Sam’s as an offshoot of that (not central but still have a presence in his life) will be a chance for these two characters to grow as individuals and learn to not be so codependent on each other. That they can become more equals. I think it’s an important part of their maturation.
I hope they bring back Demore Barnes as Raphael. I cannot accept anyone else period. He is the only angel that comes close to what i would imagine the warrior angels of Supernatural should be like, not wimpy like Gabriel, dirty like Balthazar or child like and lost like Castiel. Even though i liked them, i still was disappointed with them. And Demore Barnes voice is just the coolest and most powerful voice ever. And come on, he is the only angel who has lightning for wings.
I would rather see his return than Balthazar. And he knows how to do fight scenes better than all his opponents.