Recap – “The Third Man”
Sam apparently still has his FBI badge in his pocket and shows it. He plays the arrogant prick and is instant with the accusations, seeing all the newspaper clippings on the table. Sam tells him they know his son didn’t have a gun. The father is pleased those cops are getting theirs. Sam in major dick mode asks who’s giving it to them. Dean a bit more diplomatically asks him if he killed the cops. The father denies, using the very sound argument of look how they died. So Castiel bluntly accuses him of smoking them with the Staff of Moses. Oh yeah, that doesn’t sound nuts. “What the hell kind of fed are you?” He asks.
Dean takes over, because he can obviously tell that Castiel is a little uncorked. Sam isn’t exactly doing well either. He promises the boy they aren’t there to hurt him, but they have to know where he got the thing. Aaron is still worried about his dad, but Dean asks again. The boy doesn’t think they’ll believe him. Dean gives him a try me. That’s an understatement. He got it from an angel. The boy was angry that those cops got away with killing his brother, so he prayed to God every night to punish them. He didn’t answer, but the angel did.
Castiel wants a name. Aaron didn’t get one. The angel gave the boy a stick. Dean isn’t easily fooled, not convinced the angel just gave it to him. The boy admits he bought it. Sam, still being facetious, wonders what in the world he could have bought it with. “With what? What’s your allowance.” That’s when Dean whips around and clocks Sam hard for being a dick and continues to talk rationally. Oops, sorry, that was me wishing again. Dean realizes the boy gave him something for it. His soul. So angels are in the demon business now? Intriguing. Dean asks Cas if that can happen. Castiel knows its never happened before, but an angel buying souls could explain why he cut the staff into pieces. “More pieces, more product.” Dean wants to know who this guy is. Good question! Cue the fingers to the forehead on the boy. “What did you do that for?” Dean asks. “Portability,” Cas replies, and next thing you know they’re back in the motel room. Man Cas is fast! Welcome back full strength angel powers. That’s some clever editing.
“You’re going to torture a kid,” Dean says, not sitting right with that at all. Castiel can’t care about that. “I don’t have the luxury.” Castiel then sticks his arm in the kid and he sparks inside, and oh yeah, he’s yelling in agony. Dean steps forward to intervene, but Sam holds him back! Oh, this is so not going to do much for the brotherly trust issues. Dean looks at Sam very irritated, but stays back. Kid screams more as Castiel digs in deeper. Dean looks very bothered, Sam watches like he’s watching an exorcism or something. He’s more focused on the outcome and doesn’t seem to care about what’s happening to the kid.
He thanks Castiel, promising they’ll make good use of the name. Suddenly those two are clanging angel killing swords and dueling away. Sam and Dean stand there and watch, bothered but know stepping into an angel sword fight would be foolish. “By the way, Raphael says Hello,” says the other guy. Oh, a solider for Raphael. That would explain why he wants Castiel dead. Castiel pushes him away but the dude has both swords now. Sam and Dean keep on being wallpaper. Bad angel charges after Castiel, but Cas manages to flank him and knock both swords out of his hand. He kicks the guy and then rushes forward. They both go tumbling out the window!
Yes, they are on the fourth story of the motel, so Castiel and other angel freefall downward. Um, don’t these guys have wings? They both land on top of a car, smashing it to bits. Back to Sam and Dean, who realize that just when they’ve seen it all, they’re wrong. The car alarm is going off. Uh oh, it’s a new car. I wonder… Sam and Dean look down and Castiel and bad angel are on top of the smashed car looking unharmed. Castiel gets up. View of Sam and Dean looking down and wow what looks! Castiel looks up at them, the other guy is gone.
Oh yeah, it’s the Charger. The alarm is going off and there’s not much left to salvage. I liked that car! Sure, they really can’t have separate cars but still, Sam’s never had his own before. It was a cool choice. The camera pans upward from Sam and Dean POV in a really nice shot. “My car,” Sam says. “Okay, silver lining,” Dean says. One exasperated Sam looks over like he’s ready to choke him. Dean drops his smirk. Ooh, these two have issues! My question is, can’t Castiel touch the car and restore it back to normal? He can only fix humans, not cars? Oh well, we all know two cars is problematic.
Next shot shows another view of Castiel standing next to the smashed car. Dean and Sam share a stare and suddenly Castiel is in the room behind them. “He’s gone.” Then Castiel goes about his business. Sam wants to know who that was. A soldier of Raphael. Must have followed him when he answered their call. Sam and Dean take this news with a bit more trepidation than Castiel, who is fishing through the cabinets for this. “I’m sorry, what’s going on here?” Sam asks, feeling like he’s missing a key piece of information.
Dean is asking what’s in the back of my mind now, what happens if Raphael wins? “What he’s always wanted, to end the story the way it was written.” Dean clarifies, the apocalypse, the one they derailed. While Castiel says yes, we can clearly see the look of panic on Sam’s face. Poor Sammy! I don’t think the idea of Lucifer surfacing again is giving him warm fuzzies. After all he went through to prevent that from happening, he’s probably got thoughts racing through his head that he can’t do that again. Castiel says Raphael wants to put the apocalypse back on the rails and Dean asks why. He gets “I need mir” instead and Cas disappears!
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.