Recap: “Faith”
It’s time to go into the tent, where there’s security cameras and prime seats upfront, both making Dean very uncomfortable. Rev. LeGrange, who’s blind, speaks about corrupt and evil blah, blah, blah and Sam notices a strange cross on the altar. Keep that in mind for later. Dean makes an offhanded comment that the reverend hears. Uh Dean, the dude’s blind, so his hearing is better than most. Just a note for next time.
The reverend calls Dean up to the stage, and while Sam is excited Dean refuses, saying he should pick someone else. “I didn’t pick you Dean, the Lord did.” That REALLY bothers Dean. He goes up after Sam insists. As Dean gets up there, he gives Sam a look telling him he feels like an idiot, and Sam looks back with an “it’s worth a shot” expression. Even this early in the series, these two say so much to each other with so little.
Dean tells the reverend he isn’t a believer and is told “You will be, you will be.” Sorry reverend, but Dean here even questioned the existence of God and angels when one pulled him out of Hell and brought him back to life. He’s got trust issues. The reverend raises his hands and opens them up. Sam watches with anticipation and Dean watches like this is total bullshit. That is until the reverend touches Dean and he gets woozy. Then he sinks to his knees.
Now Sam is worried. Then Dean collapses to the ground. Sam rushes up to help while everyone claps. Yay, he’s dead! Sam shakes Dean and he suddenly wakes up with a huge gasp. He’s disoriented, then sees a ghoulish figure in a nice suit next to the reverend before disappearing into thin air. Well that’s a story for the grandchildren.
Dean’s at a doctor. He’s fine, no sign his heart was ever damaged. Sam is overjoyed, Dean is pretty disturbed. Then the doctor, using the ‘you never know’ analogy, mentions a supposedly healthy 27 year old man suddenly dying of a heart attack yesterday. After the doctor leaves, Dean doesn’t think that’s a coincidence. Sam wants to believe it is, but Dean can’t shake his bad feeling. His healing felt wrong, he felt cold, and he mentions the spirit.
Sam claims that if it was there, he’d be seeing it too. He’s been seeing a lot of things lately. “Excuse me psychic wonder, but you just need a little faith on this one.” Okay, so being brought back from the brink of death makes Dean testy. Who knew? Sam sees his point, so he’ll check out the heart attack guy while Dean sees the reverend.
This scene turns out in time to be quite a pivotal one, at least for season four. Dean is talking with reverend and Mrs. LeGrange (a rather pious and annoying Sue Ann) and tells them he feels great, but is trying to make sense of what happened. Sue Ann calls it a miracle, and they seem to happen a lot around Roy. Okay, if that’s what you want to call it.
Dean wants to know when they started happening. The reverend woke up one morning stone blind. He had cancer and only had a month. So, as all religious types do, they prayed for a miracle. Sure, “pray” and “black magic” mean the same thing. He went into a coma, woke up against doctors expectations, and the cancer was gone. He discovered afterward he could heal people.
Dean has one last question. “Why, why me? Out of all the sick people why save me?” Reverend LeGrange’s answer still
packs a punch to this day. His heart stood out from all the rest. What did he see? “A young man with an important purpose, a job to do. And it isn’t finished.” Interesting how that compares with Castiel’s “we have work for you.”
Sam talks to a guy at the pool. Heart attack guy was healthy, swam everyday, didn’t smoke. The guy was running and freaking out before he collapsed, saying something was after him. They didn’t see anything. While leaving Sam notices the busted clock. It stopped at 4:17. The same time the guy died. Now that’s no coincidence.
Dean leaves and Leila comes in, asking how he’s feeling. Sorry, but this chick is just way too sweet for him. Dean feels good, except for the whole being bothered over getting saved thing. Leila’s there to see the reverend, but Sue Ann appears and says he’s resting right now and they can’t see him. Leila’s mother, who really rubs me the wrong way, gets all snippy, and wants to see him now. Sue Ann gives them a smile and a “have faith” line. Bitch.
Leila’s mother, who is not only annoying but a really bad actress, looks at Dean with pure scorn, wondering why he’s still there. Leila objects but mom goes into a fit about how they’ve been to every single service and he keeps picking strangers over her. Strangers that don’t even believe. Hey, give Dean a break! He’s feeling guilty enough. Dean wants to know what’s wrong. Mom steps in with even more terrible over-the-top dramatic acting, going on about inoperable brain tumor, six months to live, blah, blah, blah.
She looks at Dean with hatred and asks “Why do you deserve to live more than my daughter?” Duh, Leila is obviously lacking that important purpose. Plus her mom is a bitch. Needless to say, this doesn’t leave Dean with warm fuzzies. You know, this scene might have worked if it wasn’t so overwrought and poorly acted. The mom is such a bad actress, she sucks the life out of Jensen! That’s pretty bad. In the end, a potentially touching scene comes off as contrived and forced.
However, the next scene rocks, and it’s my favorite of the episode. That’s because it sticks to the formula that works; Jensen, Jared, and some awesomely placed classic rock. Dean exhaustively enters the motel room looking unhappy, and Sam’s at the computer looking unhappy. Aww, sad Winchesters. Dean dares to ask Sam what he found out. “I’m sorry,” Sam solemnly says. Uh oh, it’s not good news.
Marshall Hall (dead swimming guy) died at 4:17, the exact time Dean was healed. So Sam cross checked everyone that was healed with the local obits. Everytime someone was healed, somebody else died. Each time the victim died of the same symptom LeGrange was healing. Yeah, that sounds fishy. Now a healthy woman is running in the woods. The middle guitar riff to “Don’t Fear The Reaper” comes on and while the woman in the woods knows something is wrong, the voices of Sam and Dean discuss how a life is being traded for a life over top of that. Back to Sam and Dean, in which Dean figures out Marshall Hall died to save him. Sam points out the guy would have died anyway for someone else, but that doesn’t make Dean feel better.
I just have to laugh at your review Alice.
As much as I love where I live, there are only so many placed BC can imitate. Especially for a knowledgable eye like yours. GRIN
Also, what many folks don’t realize is that this area of the world is a Sub Tropical Rain Forest. Yes, you read that right, RAIN Forest!!. So ya, it rains here a lot. Due to the mountains, Vancouver sits in a natural pocket for the clouds to get trapped in.
I would love to convince them to move the production over here to the island. We still have the mood setting greyness but it rains a whole lot less over here!
As for the episode – I agree. It’s not one of my favourites either and I probably couldn’t have told you why, but turns out I don’t have to because of your lovely review! Many of the reasons you list are why this epi clunks for me too. Good job! 🙂
Hi Alice!
Great recap! And I just loved your comments about the all transplant thing, but if they would go there this would not be a supernatural ep, would it? 🙂
I’m going tru my season 1 dvd’s and I’m finding that now, after seeing season 4, is so much easy to understand some of the things that happened there! And your recaps give a lot of help too, so I thank you Alice (and you can keep them coming 😀 )
Very entertaining recap, Alice! I snickered just about the whole way through. I like Faith okay, but I’ll admit it’s not my favourite either. It’s clearly a first season episode where they are still finding their footing as a show and getting the feel for the characters.
I read that while they were filming this episode, the rain was so bad all the cars (and people walking) kept getting stuck in really deep mud, so everyone (Jensen and Jared included) were out there pushing cars out of the mud. Ah, Canadian weather – completely unpredictable and unanticipated. At least it wasn’t snow. (That’s my motto just about every day when the last of the white stuff disappears in April/May and later, as we edge closer to winter in October).
Hi Alice, great review 🙂
I agree this wasn’t my fave either but I just have something against the Leila -character… I dunno what it is but I don’t like Julie in this, or in Buffy or in Angel… But then again, I love her in Dexter so I don’t know what is my problem…
This ep would have been a better for me if Leila had been played by someone else (and her mom would have been so less cruel…and played by someone else *g*) Leila seemed kinda old… I dunno, I can’t quite explain it…
But without those scenes I truly love this ep, it has bro-moments and action and Don’t fear the reaper (awesomeness!!) and angst… The whole Sam’s “watch me” and phonecall to Papa made my heart blead, oh boys ;(
But your recap was awesome and funny and full of wittyness and color…
So keep up the god’s work…oops, did I write that? I mean good work naturally 😉
Hi, Alice,
I agree that Faith had some uneven parts (and defintiely mom’s acting was part of it…that whole bit where she walks across the stair landing to stare off into the distance…gone with the wind melodrama (and I hate Gone With The Wind…dumb, dumb, dumb — but that’s another story)
I really like Faith, mostly because looking back there is so much to see, Sam doesn’t really learn the lesson of Faith, it sets up Dean’s lack of faith issues and Layla is a wonderful character to pair off of Dean…for all his initial come on to her he quickly looses that and geniuinly cares and in the end is burdened more by knowing that she (who he says deserves it more than he) likely dies but holds true to her faith.
I also enjoy the many plays on Faith, Sam had faith that he could find a way, anyway, to save Dean, Dean has faith in what he sees, Roy Le Grange truly does have faith, Sue Ann has none, Layla has faith, her mother has faith but needs to see as well…very multi-layered.
Sure there were plot issues (and kinda like OTHOAP, what happened to the rawhead, what happened to Alastair back in that torture chamber and how did Sam get Dean … each time … to the ER? I dunno but there’s only 40 some minutes so I’ll let it go.
🙂
Great screen caps you captured..awesome as always.
Hi Alice
Thanks for the recap, but I really agree with elle2 on this episode. I truly love it! Hope I still can. LOL! I loved the brotherly relationship in this episode and the way Sam cared and desperately tried to save his brother. Big contrast with the ending of season 4.
Loved the screen caps you got.
Really really liked Layla too. I don’t know if her mom was such a bad actress as she was supposed to be an annoying bitch, wasn’t she? And boy, was she ever!
Hope you recap one you really enjoyed next.
Thanks for keeping us entertained almost every day here.
Snigger …
A bit cheesey, right enough, but can’t be all bad with the mighty Blue Oyster Cult in there. I can’t get my head round Saintly Leila being Darla-in-disguise, I kept expecting her to sprout fangs and need staking. The Reapers were nice and spooky but the rest was a bit too heavily syruped, especially the end!
Everytime I see Julie Benz (actress who plays Leila) I have an immediate dislike stemming from Darla (a character I loved to hate) and her evilness. It’s hard to see her in the “good girl” role after watching her eat a guy while donning a Catholic school girl outfit, you know?
Good review Alice! I too enjoyed your enphasis on the lack of the transplant option. I’d like your opinion on something you didn’t touch on though. It always seemed to me that while Dean wasn’t willing to let anyone else die to save Leila, he was willing to let the reaper take his life to do so. There was the whole build up of things like “you deserve it more then me” ect and then when he sees the reaper he just stands there and lets it take him. He definetly had the option of evading and buying Sam time to break the spell, but he didn’t. What are your thoughts?