Let’s Speculate – “Like A Virgin”
Warning!!!! If you haven’t seen the latest episode of “Supernatural” and the preview for next week, do not read this! There is going to be plot-based speculation and discussion! You’ve been officially warned!
Let’s Speculate! Like A Virgin, or How To Train Your Dragon to Read From A Human-Skin Book and Release You From Purgatory.
Show is back, everyone! I really enjoyed that episode, most of all because it was great to finally have the brothers back on the same side working the case together with the same goals in mind, and one of them wasn’t trying to outmanouver the other. As much as I enjoyed the first half of this season, I’m ready now for them to move forward together. While much of the episode centered around the band getting back together, there were some things in here worth speculating about. So now I present to you three episode-related theories and one crazy theory I’ve come up with that I want to talk about. Here we go!
All In All, Hell’s Just Another Brick in the Wall
It took over a week, but Sam woke up with the wall intact. I mean, he didn’t remember anything at all from the end of “Swan Song” until the time he woke up. But then he kind of did. He had a bit of a deja vu moment with the skinwalker. Uh-oh. I think that’s a hint of things to come, and I’m guessing that wall starts to come down sooner rather than later. Any bets on how long before Sam remembers something from Hell? I think no longer than two episodes. Yep, sorry, everyone who hoped the “Great Wall of Sam” was going to last the rest of the season. My money is on some crumbling and soon.
I know that Castiel told Sam about what he’d done during his Robo!Sam escapades, but there’s a difference between knowing and remembering and feeling. Plus, Cass probably doesn’t know everything Sam did during that whole year. He was busy fighting in heaven, so I’m sure he wasn’t exactly keeping tabs on Sam’s actions. And he definitely doesn’t know about what precisely happened to Sam in hell, though he can probably hazard a pretty good guess since Cass has been there before.
And one more thing about this whole wall deal. Sam is, after all, a Winchester. You just know he’s going to poke at that wall no matter how many times people tell him not to. He’s going to do it because he will feel guilty about what he did during his soulless year, and he’ll think he got off to lightly by not being able to remember, and to try and atone for things, he’s going to poke at the wall. He wouldn’t really be Sam if he didn’t do that.
Knock, knock! Who’s there? Only the Mother of us all!
We finally met our big bad of the season tonight. I like that we’re halfway through and only just seeing her for the first time. This way she can be around just enough to be menacing but not too much so she loses mystique and scare factor. Now, way back in my speculation article for “Family Matters,†I posted the following theory about who I think the Mother is:
“Sticking with Christian mythology, I’m going to say it was Eve. When she bit that apple, this is what happened. She gave birth to a race of monsters as an added punishment. Not literally gave birth but figuratively; her giving in to temptation twisted earth’s beautiful creatures into something ugly.â€
I am sticking with it! I still think the show is going with Eve here. I don’t know precisely how they’ll portray her giving birth to monsters, but I still think she will end up being Eve. I know that technically in the bible Lilith was the mother of monsters or demons or something, but they already used her, so no Lilith. Also, “Supernatural†has a habit of taking Judeo/Christian beliefs and tweaking them in interesting ways. Whoever she turns out to be, I am looking forward to seeing how this all plays out. I wonder what other creatures she’s going to bring around?
Someone brought this up in the Cbox discussion after the episode, and I’m sorry that I forget who, but they mentioned an interesting question: why now? Why are dragons roaming the earth now after 700 years? Why is the Mother coming to earth now? Of course it all has to tie into all the other random monsters that have popped up lately, but why is all of this happening now? I’m guessing it’s because heaven and hell are in turmoil right now, so the monsters see an opportunity to gain some ground.
Knock, Knock, Knockin’ on Purgatory’s Door
I am curious about whether this chasm to Purgatory is going to spew forth any other monsters or if it was a Mother-only affair. If demons can get to earth via doors to hell, I’m guessing monsters can do the same thing. And because it’s way past my bedtime when I’m writing this, I just got this great mental image of all these monsters queueing to get out of Purgatory and getting in this huge monster traffic jam and getting really frustrated and sighing a lot and checking their phone for texts just like I do when I’m stuck in a traffic jam. But seriously, if that door can let anything into earth, not good. How are you going to seal that thing up? It was a pretty giant chasm.
All right, that was three things about the episode, so are you ready for my crazy theory?
I Want Nick To Be the Next Ruler of Hell
For those of you who might not recall, Nick was Lucifer’s vessel in season 5. Here’s how I see this scenario going down. When Lucifer left Nick in “Swan Song,” he collapsed on the floor and must have died. He was rotting pretty badly, and I really don’t think he would have survived that. Nick was also drinking demon blood, a lot of it, to keep Lucifer from tearing him to pieces. All that demon blood surely changed Nick irreparably, just as it would have changed Sam. So now we’ve got a dead Lucifer vessel who drank copious amounts of demon blood who also said yes to Lucifer to get revenge for his dead family. There’s no way that he’s getting into heaven after all that.
So now Nick is in hell, and he’s been there since “Swan Song.” I think, due to all the demon blood, he was already well on his way to becoming a demon, and it didn’t take long to turn him into one once he was in the pit. Now, if you’re a Lucufer-supporting, anti-Crowley demon and you’re looking for someone to follow, you’re going to jump at the chance to pal around with the demon who once housed Lucifer. So all that trouble Crowley was having down in hell? I want it to be Nick leading the way.
Now, Meg is also a viable option, based on characters we’ve already met, but I think Meg is better as a number-two demon than the head honcho. I just think she has a better time when she can run amok for someone else than when she has to be the one in charge herself. She fell in line pretty quickly with Sam’s way of thinking in “Caged Heat” after all. I’m not saying she couldn’t rule. I’m just saying I think she’s better as a right-hand demon.
And that’s it! What do you guys think? Am I crazy to think that Sam is going to tear down that wall soon? How about Eve as the Mother? And I know you all have some opinions on my Nick theory, so let’s hear about it.
When I first saw The Mother I thought:It’s Eve…I pretty much agree with you there and about Sam.
Interesting theories, though I’m not certain how I feel about them all since I’m still in a state of [i]JOY[/i] over the return of The Bond of Brothers.
I do agree that Sam will start remembering things rather soon, though I’m not sure if the Hell memories will start in that quickly. RoboSam, yes, but Hell is a big one. Plus, after this ep, I find that I [u]REALLY[/u] want that wall to stay up. I know it won’t but just to see Sam as he was? Wow. Oh wow.
Mind if I go off on a rabbit trail for a moment? It’s just so much happy I can’t contain it!
This Sam is as angst free as perhaps we’ve ever seen him and I’m surprised how much I loved it. There was no rift in the family to sigh over, no newly dead Jess, no revenge, no newly dead Dad, no hell bound Dean, no Dead Dean, no twisted, manipulative Ruby feeding him blood and his revenge, no broken relationship, no weight of ‘I ended the world’, no broken brotherly relationship…What a wonderful, light FREEDOM that must be for Sam.
I mean think about his POV. He woke up from the world ending, having unspeakable evil fill him, feeling himself murder two friends, beating Dean to a pulp and jumping for eternity into hell, YESTERDAY. He wakes to find himself healthy (though hungry) Bobby alive, Cas alive, Dean well and whole, the world in one piece, and the memory of how love saved the earth still fresh in his mind.
It must feel like walking on sunshine.
Ok, rabbit trail done. (Sorry Arde, felt like I was gonna ‘splode!)
I’m not sure how I feel about Eve being the Mother of all. I kinda hope not, just cause Eve get’s beat up in literature and lore enough already. (Adam was there to Dammit! He just friggin stood there and WATCHED! Why’s Eve gotta have all the blame dumped on her?) But the theory does make sense considering what the writers have done in the past.
Nick as the new King of Hell would be AWESOME. Too bad he couldn’t come back in the same meat suit. But not certain how viable it is. Sure, he drank gallons and gallons, but that was his meat suit, not soul. He was definately possessed by the ultimate evil, but wouldn’t that be more scarring than empowering? In the SPN world it takes some time to turn a human soul into a demon, even if Nick is on the fast track, I think it would take at least a decade or three.
Ok, this is getting way long. So I’ll close in saying, this episode was AMAZING!!! 😆
My theories: you’re right about Sam. *Of course* he’s gonna pick at that wall, and soon. I don’t think it’ll come down immediately, though, or even all at once—too many opportunities for angst and flashbacks (remember, it took Dean 8 episodes to even admit that he remembered Hell!)—but come down it will.
Eve as “motherâ€â€¦possibly. Depends on if they’re sticking with Judeo-Christian mythology or going elsewhere. As I recall, the Greek “mother of monsters†was Echidna (she had a guest shot on Hercules…)
And while I wouldn’t mind Nick being the next Lord of Hell, I don’t think it’s gonna happen for two reasons: one, Nick-the-vessel was pretty weak by himself (remember him in Sympathy for the Devil before Luci took over?) so I don’t think Nick-the-demon would be much better. The second, more practical one, is that Mark Pellegrino is now working fulltime on Being Human, so I’m guessing isn’t available.
And for one final throw-away thought as to why now, after 700 years…remember Death’s warning to Dean about how they’ve been messing with the natural order on a massive scale for years, that there are repercussions to it, and having to clean up after themselves? Sounds like an omen to me….
Eve? Interesting. I was thinking Lilith (as in Adam’s first crush) AND the mother of demons in some traditions, but they’ve already used that name for a demon, who, I think, was pretty clearly NOT supposed to be the Lilith of Judaic folklore. So that’s out. I also thought of Echidna, or Angrboda, the Norse Mother of Monsters (curiously LOKI’s baby-momma..!!!Oh my!!?) but SN seems to be pretty rooted in it’s own wacky, Western, Bible-bending and (tho’ I speak from love) misogynist version of stuff, so Eve might make actually more sense. Where do the souls come in? And Purgatory? I still don’t get that. They seem to be envisioning it as Hell Light. Must be Sister Ignatius’s voice still ringing in my 3rd grade ear, but Purgatory was ( and I think still is) supposed to be a (painful) place of redemptive suffering. Souls consigned there still reach heaven, they just have to work harder for it (Sam?). The unredeemed, or those with “underdeveloped” souls, went to Limbo to await Judgement Day. Admittedly, Sister Ig described Limbo as a place where “virtuous pagans” and unbaptized babies went, so I always pictured it as a Jamaican resort, where Socrates and Hippocrates sipped umbrella drinks while babysitting a lot of cute newborns, and waiting for Jesus to show up and give everyone a ride back to the big party at the condo, ….but most adults seemed really terrified of it, so perhaps it would be a better monster-soul storage area. I can’t quibble too much, the boys are back.
[quote] And Purgatory? I still don’t get that. They seem to be envisioning it as Hell Light. Must be Sister Ignatius’s voice still ringing in my 3rd grade ear, but Purgatory was ( and I think still is) supposed to be a (painful) place of redemptive suffering. Souls consigned there still reach heaven, they just have to work harder for it (Sam?). The unredeemed, or those with “underdeveloped” souls, went to Limbo to await Judgement Day. [/quote]
Yes, but this is the Christian Purgatory. And we know pretty well tha SN take what it likes and what it needs from religions and mytholigies of the real world and twist it to make it fit into its own mythology. SN Heaven and Hell are SO not the [u]real [/u]Christian Heaven and Hell that I don’t bother if Purgatory is a post-mortem place for monsters and realm of this mysterious “Mother” instead of a place for souls purifying before going to Heaven
I’m with Yvonne. Just so happy the boys are back together and on the same page along with a great hug that I’m not too concerned about plot points at this time.
Dean and Sam loving each other and working together is all that I prayed for the last 2 and a half years. I’ll worry about plot points later on.
Loved loved loved the hug, and the battle with the rock! Oh, Dean! So glad you are back too, I missed your snarky self.
So beyond excited that the real Sam Winchester is back!
Still curious as to why Dean couldn’t pull the sword from the stone? Maybe I’m overthinking it :-*
Hoping I can now rewatch and enjoy the first half of the season in the knowledge that Sammy is back.
Eve as the Mother? I agree Alice, it certainly sounds like something the show would do. Though I must confess to hoping for something a bit less Judeo-Christian….
While Dean is brave, willing, and I like to think of him as a knight, I think Dean couldn’t pull it since he is out of the destiny game. It’s probably another showing by the writers that Sam and Dean are no longer the center of the universe.
“We need a brave knight who’s willing to step up and kill the beast.”
He just happens not to be the knight who could pull the sword
I think the Mother is Echidna, she is called the ¨Mother of All Monsters¨.
Here is some info about her [url]http://www.monstropedia.org/monster/Echidna[/url]
I just remembered the snake around Sam arm in the promo picure..maybe a reference to Eve??
I feel sooooooooooooo relivied to see the sweet Sam again!!! His puppy faces kill me…by the way Jared is awesome this season!! His acting is superb
I have another idea about the mother… Could it be Mary? I know, that one might be a stretch…
Gaia was another one I was batting about… She is the “earth mother” in the pagan religions…
Sam is going to pick at the wall and some of it is going to crumble… I’d be willing to bet that’s where the season is going to end…
What about the souls? Death told Dean to keep digging… What do souls have to do with the “mother of all”?
I totally agree that the wall is going to come down. Of course I was just too ecstatic that Sam was back. Ironically I had recorded the majority of “Lazarus Rising” off TNT just the other day (love my DVR). When I got home tonight (spent the night at a friend’s after our weekly Supernatural hangout session), I ended up deleting it. As lovely as Dean’s return was, it was bittersweet due to the secrets that Sam held. Sam’s return, or second return this season, was sweet and everything Dean’s should have been (if not for Ruby).
My friend’s first thought for Mother was Eve. Mine? Mine was “Mother Gaia”, and not just in the pagan sense. Wait, well..yes in the pagan sense. But in all senses. Ergh…What I’m trying to say here is that..Lemme start from the beginning.
I am taking a World Religions course in my Community College. Recently, we went through the “Indigenous Religions”…And in almost all Indigenous, and Pagan and many, many others, the Earth is the Mother. In the old Greek myths, there was Uranus and then there was Gaia. Gaia, or Mother Earth or whathaveyou shows up EVERYWHERE. So I don’t think it’s Eve. I think it’s this all-powerful being that has shown up in just about every ancient religion I can think of from Green to Native American to African. If one looks far enough, you’ll find her peaking out from creation myths ACROSS THE GLOBE!
Ahem…Sorry, that turned into a rant. I’m hoping, and thinking, it’s her, because it makes the most sense to me. But then I’m a crazy girl who’s taking a World Religions class, what the hell do I know?
I totally agree with Yvonne on Sam’s POV, though. I loved that when I thought about it last night during the episode. His absolute joy at finding out that Bobby and Cas and Dean were all fine. It must seem like mere minutes to him. One moment he’s falling into the Pit (although I wonder where the memory cut off is?), the next he’s waking up in the Panic Room and everything is sunshine and rainbows.
I know that I simply can’t wait for more of this season now. I’m having a very, very hard time convincing myself to buy seasons 4 & 5 on DVD. Not that I don’t love Supernatural, or Castiel mind you, it’s just that…Season 4 is where the lies began, where the brothers’ mutual spiral downwards began and Season 5 is the loss of hope and the dragging of EVERYONE through the mud (oh yes, I think everyone was dragged through the mud, not just Sam who dragged his own ass through the mud). They’re so depressing for me that it’s hard. I own seasons 1-3, and am simply IN LOVE with the boys in those three seasons.
In fact, I even love Sam’s hair. So this episode…For me this was a return to Heaven.
I know, I know I don’t really have a right to an opinion, I’m a very, very new fan, having only joined the team in…God, when was it? August or September of 2010. But I fell in love. Maybe it’s because I’m an only child and Sam & Dean have that sibling relationship I’ve always dreamed about. Maybe it’s simply the shallow fact that they are both incredibly hot. Maybe it’s the fact that the show has made me less afraid of the dark (or perhaps more some nights!). Maybe it’s the wonderful, addicting story. And maybe, just maybe it’s some wacko combination of all of these. I dunno, I just know that I am in love just as my mother was in love with LOST. I did not understand that love and she does not understand my love. It is what it is and she accepts it because I love it.
Now I’m rambling. My Chuck, I’m just going to shut up before I do any further damage to myself. Good night!!!
PS – I get to work tomorrow for the first time since the weekend BEFORE Christmas. I’m both grateful and resentful at the same time. How is that possible???
PPS – I am very, very frustrated right now. I have asked for a new password from the site at least three different times, but it won’t send me one. So I can’t log in, which means I’m forced to find other ways to leave commments.
On the Italian Discussion Board a user made the name of Tiamat, the Babylonian mother-goddess of all monsters.
But I don’t think it’s really necessary give her a specific name: I think she is a “typical” mother-goddess, resuming all the more dark characteristics of the various mother-goddesses of the world. All the more archaic mother-goddesses represent Nature’s force, and Nature can be very motherly, but also very terrifying, she can give life and take it away, she can create human being and good animals, but also savage beasts and dangerous animals (= “monsters”). Who dies return to Earth, so the Earth (or the underworld) is also the realm of the dead, and so Mother Earth can be also the queen of the dead…
Can I just ask… is anyone else curious as to what is going to happen to Dean?
He stole Dragon’s gold. Last time I checked that was never a good thing.