Recap – “Like A Virgin”
Dean and Dr. Visyak head downstairs and man is that an amazing stained glass window for a house. Especially again the way the light is coming through it. It’s a breathtaking shot! I’m so mesmerized by the window I have to rewind a couple to times to find out what Dr. Visyak is saying to Dean. Apparently it took her two decades to find the sword and some bad sex with an Eastern European ambassador. She opens a door downstairs to show off an amazing room of priceless artifacts. This is a basement? Really? It’s the best damned basement I’ve ever seen. Dean doesn’t believe it’s real. Then we get the full shot. There’s an old not very elegant sword sticking out of one very large rock. How did she get that into a basement?
Dean asks if it’s Excalibur. The professor’s “no” hints that’s a ridiculous suggestion. This is the Sword of Brunswick. Sorry, but dragon blood forged swords are too plain for my tastes. Put some design into it! The professor is all romantic and dreamy about it, calling it the love of her life. Oh, you really don’t want to be showing this to Dean then. Everything he touches gets destroyed! Dean asks about the “cement shoe.” “You know, binding swords to stone, it used to be all the rage.” It was done to protect them. That still doesn’t explain how in the world they got that artifact into the basement. Dean would rather know how to get the sword out. Dr. Visyak laughs, surprised he doesn’t know that one. “We need a brave knight who’s willing to step up and kill the beast.” We can tell by her condescending voice she doesn’t think Dean is that knight. Dean wants to give it a go anyway so the professor is more than happy to see him try. She needs a good laugh.
Now this is where the magic happens. The framing of this scene is perfect! The camera angle is now from the bottom of the rock looking up, thus showing Dean step up to the stone in full grandeur. The dramatic King Arthur score kicks in and a gallant Dean reaches for the sword. He lightly tugs, no dice. So he adjusts his position still confident, the hallowed score still billowing this brave act. He grabs on tighter and pulls harder, it won’t budge. No problem shows Dean’s expression, he’ll use two hands! He grasps on tight, yanks, and…falls off the rock. The score dies, the professor is fighting an outburst of laughter. She asks if he’s okay. Dean hops up all casual, climbs on top of the rock now and starts yanking on it with full bodied strength as the score starts up again. The music builds and builds, Dean struggles and struggles, the professor laughs and laughs, and…Dean gives up. “Oh son of a bitch, that’s really on there.” The professor is showing extraordinarily good restraint, for I’m on the floor rolling and howling now! The sword is making noises as it rattles in the stone. Dean has another idea, but the professor isn’t going to like it!
This is where I picture an alternate outcome. Sam walks in and wonders what Dean is up to, innocently spotting the sword and pulling it out with ease while Dean and Dr. Visyak stare at him stunned. He gives a confused “what?” as he holds the sword in his hand. That would have been funny! However, Sam’s got some much bigger issues so I excuse that missed opportunity. Sam is back at the motel doing research and we can see the wheels are turning in that “cro-magnum” skull of his. He’s thinking about way more than dragons. Sam calls Bobby. On the other end, Bobby sees who it’s from and hesitates. Again my mind drifts. Did they get Sam a new cell phone on the way there, or did Dean tell him he kept the old one charged while he was gone the whole time? I know, stop over-speculating. Bobby answers despite his better sense.
Sam bounces off ideas about where dragons would have a lair considering there are no caves around. “What else do you got around that’s cold, dark, and wet?” That clicks with Sam easily. Sewers. You see, Sam’s head is somewhere else! If he was truly focusing, he would have come up with that on his own. Since Sam has Bobby on the phone though, he’s got something on his mind. He wants to know why Bobby’s been acting the way he has. “Is there something I should know?” Bobby says no, trying to get him to focus on the case. Sam asks what happened the last year anyway because he’s a wall scratcher. Bobby goes for the vague answer. “It had it’s moments. No more than usual. Got nothing to do with you Sam, how could it?” Way to outright lie there Bobby. Sam can so tell when someone’s lying, again because he’s the master of the art himself. Bobby gives a quick “call me if you need anything” and hangs up before Sam can ask more questions. Sam laments over the dead end.
What a pity Alice, I do love these recaps you write, but I understand you have a lot to do, so I’m gonna enjoy this one and you were not the only one to have fan moments of applauding or lauging a lot during the episode, I was right there with you…
Not to mention “the hug” Gosh, I wanted that hug for so long, I can’t tell you….
As usual your review is amazing.
Take care,
Clarice ; }
Sad! But I get why you don’t want to to them anylonger. They are lovely long so they must take a not nearly as lovely longer time to write.
I’ve wondered about the boys and their alcohol soaked organs as well. But then, haven’t they both died/been healed by Cas? I’m guessing (cuz I want it to be true) that the healing involved the inner damage as well. Fresh start! Longer for the boys to live!
I was wondering about how Sam would see the appearance of his new wardrobe and phone as well. Not to mention if Dean was able to delete all RoboSams number off. I’m playing pretend that Dean ‘splained as “You were asleep for a while. Thought I’d pick you up some stuff.”
Oh, and a side not on the journal scene. LOVE how far back Sam is sitting on the bed and his feet STILL touch the ground. AW! Gigantor!
I find it interesting that the Colt wasn’t brought up as a weapon of choice against the dragons. Dean said (lied?) to the Dr. that the sword was the only weapon they have, but they’ve gotta have some left over bullets from that bunch Crowley gave them. Right? Or maybe he didn’t want to waste the Colt on things that aren’t demons?
One last thing on the ep (sorry, feeling gabby) soon as Dr. Visyak made her comment about the most important artifact Dean’s touched, the thought of the Horseman rings jumped to mind.
Ok, done. Thanks for the recap Alice! Love reading them.
Awe, Alice, I understand where you are coming from but I will definitely be one of the few who will miss these recaps.
Now, as for the castles/mansions. There are actually quite a few of these kinds of places around the province. There are 2 here in Victoria in particular. Hatley Castle that many of you will know from X-Men, and Craigdarroch Castle. Both owned by the same family. Folks who got rich from coal. Over on the mainland, similar scenario, coal, lumber, pick a natural resource.
As for Sam’s clothes and cell phone, well for the cell at least, I don’t think it’s odd that Dean would have kept it around an charged up. How long did the boys keep John’s cell phones around? I would think the reason would have been the same for Dean.
And finally, the virgins. One WAS trying to open the trap door when the dragon arrived with broken arm girl. So while they were whimpering (and yes, I think it would have been nice if they weren’t quite so whiny – this is TV after all and we don’t need it to be THAT realistic – show a little back bone, will ya?) at least one of them was trying to break them out. Course they were not good on the stealth mode and Mr. Dragon hear them and heat sealed them in.
Ah well. Fun episode, great to have the brothers back together. Definitely an episode for re-watching!
Thanks again for having done all these amazing recaps Alice. Maybe come summer hellatus you could do them “special edition” for specific episodes. 🙂
Just wanted you to know, there are quite a few of us ‘lurkers’ out here who absolutely love your recaps. Understand of course if you need a break, but you will be missed 🙂
Thanks! I know there are lurkers, but being the site owner I get statistics on number of hits per article. Out of all our articles, my recaps statistically get the worst number of hits on a routine basis. These recaps take 15-20 hours per week to write. I’ve been doing them for 3 years, probably because I love writing them. However, I just can’t devote that time anymore for something that just isn’t catching on for a greater number of people. I do appreciate those that followed these and maybe I can come up with something that still goes over the key scenes in the same way but doesn’t cover the whole episode. We’ll see!
Thank you for reading these! I do appreciate the comment.
Love your recaps Alice. Too bad we won’t see them any more. I will miss that.
Aw, I read your recap everytime but didn`t comment.
What a pity, I will miss it very much. Awww!
Hi Alice what a recap! Loved it!
You know, in the part of the almost hug of Sam and Castiel, I have a different theory, I think Sam didn’t hug Cass cause he was trying to avoid Cass’s eyes, because Cass can read people’s minds looking them in to their eyes (like when Cass told Dean on [b]4.01[/b] “you don’t think you deserved to be saved” or when Cass read the Cupid’s mind on [b]5.14[/b].
I think that’s why Sam didn’t want to hug Cass for to avoid his eyes and manipulate him and ask him for the truth.
wow you really drop a bomb in the end. 🙁
Why you say that your recap don’t generate a lot of interest?, if you say that for the comments, well maybe is because you post your recap the day that the new episode is going to be aired and we are kind of anxious for the new episode, but I always read it and I usually don’t comment cause I think my English sucks and my writing too (I always had problems writing essays)… I like more the recaps that the reviews, they are really funny, you always have me giggling and laughing, you write in your recaps a lot of details (that other people doesn’t write) and are really interesting, and the way you express yourself in your writing… your recaps are [b]perfect[/b].
I was sad when I read you were not going to write more recaps, but then I remembered all the times that I was thinking: how she have time to do all this? I mean writing the review, the recap, adding things to the site, fixing it, and writing other articles, how she manage to do all this and having a job and a family and, its wow… Hey!, do you have some kind of device for to stop the time or something? 🙂
Alice, thank you so much for all this, your articles, the site, your time… Thanks
Alice, sorry to contradict you but
‘killing the evil creature has always been Dean’s number one priority’
is not a true statement. We all know that Dean’s number one priority is and always will be keeping his Sammy safe and sound(souled). 😆
This episode felt like it would fit prefectly into the first season, with all the brotherly love, John’s Journal, the forgetable MOTW (racist truck).
Sorry that you feel that these recaps aren’t appreciated. I look forward to them, but I can understand the frustration of putting in all the work and no one is reading them.
Thanks for all the hard work.
Thanks again Alice for another great recap.
I was so sad to read that this is no longer going to be a regular feature around here, I know I am not the only one to feel this way.
There are many articles on each episode now, but your recaps were really different and something special, I loved `re-watching` through your eyes. You always made me laugh and, on a few occasions, cry at the memory of a scene.
I understand that they were very time consuming, you only have to read one to see this, but I am hoping you maybe could still indulge us sometimes. Perhaps you could treat this like Jas does the Open Couch, write if an episode particularly inspires you, or maybe do a retro one like the recent IMTOD.
Whatever you decide you know you have our support and thanks for all the hard work, Love Ju
Hi Alice – I loved this recap! Agree with all of it and fangirled and laughed along with it.
I’m going to miss your recaps so much, as I look forward to them more than anything else on this site. Your feelings and thoughts along with the screencaps I enjoy immensely. (even though I really liked Lucky the skinwalker, lol)
Never could figure out how you could live your life with a family and a job and still have time to make this great site for all of us fans. Thank you for all of that and I do hope some episode inspires you to create another recap for us.
I found this site for the first time a few weeks ago, while going crazy waiting for hiatus to be over. Since then I have gone through and read as many of your recaps as I could, I absolutely love them. They saved my sanity waiting for the show to come back. I guess since this is the last one, I should take the time to say thank you for writing such awesome, entertaining recaps. I’ve enjoyed them immensely.