Preview and Episode Discussion: “Unforgiven” (6.13)
Though Sam seems to be back to normal, his Robo!Sam life is catching up with him. This episode contains flashbacks to post-hell Sam, his effort to learn more about what he did while soulless and to atone for his deeds.
The younger Winchester brother starts to have flashbacks to a case he worked on with Samuel before he reunited with Dean. It also revolves around a mysterious text message complete with coordinates to a small town. When the brothers decide to investigate, Sam learns some of what he did while hunting with Grandpa Samuel.
The CW description states that “Dean is surprised when the townspeople start telling him some of the things Sam did while he lived there.” That seems to be a bit of a contradiction. Dean, of all people, knows well what soulless!Sam was capable of, but Sam, on the other hand, doesn’t. I think Sam is the one in for the surprise, at least that would hold the most continuity with the episodes to date so far. However, no one knows what writers Andrew Dabb and Daniel Loflin have in store for us. These two have penned such great scripts as ‘Yellow Fever’, ‘Jump the Shark’ and ‘Weekend at Bobby’s’.
It’s hard to tell what flashbacks we will get, however, considering some of Robo!Sam’s confessions, they might well be pretty nasty. From the promos, it seems that a lot of the ‘things’ Sam did were very illegal, given the fact he apparently ends up in jail and that he left town “covered in blood”. Certainly Robo!Sam completely loses it when he and Samuel are pulled over by an over-eager cop who doesn’t believe their “we’re federal agents!” line. Sam beats the guy senseless.
So what else do we see in the promo’s? Sam clobbering a woman (who seems to be standing in front of Dean); Dean saying to Sam, “We have a habit of leaving messes behind”, Robo!Sam being seduced in a bathroom by a woman (at least I hope it’s Robo!Sam) and later shooting someone; Samuel saying to Sam, “Your about as cold as they come”; Dean running while being chased by the impala; and then Sam saying, “That sounds healthy!” (Side note: In the Pilot episode, Dean uses this same phrase after Sam states he will not tell Jessica he’s a hunter.)
A spoiler that was not listed on the spoiler page was a transcript of Jared’s Meet and Greet session at the Chicago Convention last October. There he talks about an episode that seems very similar to 6.13. I have posted Jared’s spoiler below.
“Someone asked him about if he knows/will we find out how he got out of hell, and he said that really hadn’t come up in what they were filming so far, though there is an ep coming up (he’s seen the script) number 12 [since changed to 6.13], if I’m remembering correctly, that’s going to go back in time (whether literally or just via flashbacks he didn’t specify) and show Sam and Dean during the year between end of Swan Song and s6 and showing Sam watching but deliberately avoiding Dean. He sounded really enthusiastic about this ep so it sounds like it should be one with some answers in it. Someone asked about if we’ll find out how he hooked up with the Campbells and he said yes, but that it was more about avoiding Dean than hooking up with them.”
I’m guessing this is the episode Jared was talking about. If so, we will be getting a lot of answers here. If not, Robo!Sam fans will be treated to yet another souless!Sam episode. To read the complete transcript of the session, click here.
As for the MOTW this time, given the original title of the episode was “Kiss of the Spider-Man”, that Grandpa Campbell is shown freeing a guy’s face from a cocoon; and that we see a ‘black guy with weird growths on his face and weird, white, spider eyes with black spots instead of pupils’, I say there’s a strong possibility that spiders are involved. And, given my absolute total LOVE for watching those cute little (or big-depending on the budget) arachnids suck the life out of creatures, mainly people, I’m in seventh heaven! (Smile!!!!)
The previews (like the synopsis) suggest a Sam-centric episode, but I’m hoping for more MOTW, than Robo!Sam. I, for one, have not been a fan of psychopathic Sam, and one week after this wonderful hug, we are back to the lumps and bumps of the first half of the season. Not cool!
I would have liked to see more of the reunited bros before revisiting Robo!Sam. For me, this bad subplot just needs to go away! But I am interested in how this visit to Sam’s past will help the boys in the present/future and if they feel Sam needs to be redeemed, better to do it now than later. Hopefully this will end the ‘soul’ issue and we can get on to fun stuff. I certainly am intrigued by the spider angle and even on a small budget, those little guys can stir up a lot of creep and bloody horror. Given the size of the cocooned man, maybe we get to see mountain-sized ones.
The official synopsis: DEAN FINDS OUT ABOUT SAM’S LIFE WHEN HE HUNTED WITH SAMUEL – Sam starts to have flashbacks to a case he worked on with Samuel (guest star Mitch Pileggi) before he reconnected with Dean. Sam receives a mysterious text with coordinates to a small town, so the brothers decide to investigate. Dean is surprised when the townspeople start telling him some of the things Sam did while he lived there. Written by CW Publicity
David Barrett directed this episode and is new to ‘Supernatural’, but has a long list of directorial credits including ‘Castle’, ‘V’, ‘Nikita’ and ‘The Mentalist’.
The guest cast (IMDB) includes: Mitch Pileggi (Samuel Campbell), Joe Holt (Roy Dobbs), William C. Vaughan (Sheriff D. Atkins), Nicola Anderson (April) and Christopher Rosamond.
The show did not release any photo stills for the episode but BTS set photos were found. Two of the better ones I included below:
Jared’s laugh is so cute, and really Jensen, using baby for a table? Not nice! Maybe that’s why the impala was chasing him in the promo. Hehehe (To see all the photos, click here.)
The preview clip and trailer videos for the episode are below, including one released last week containing scenes from both 6.12 and 6.13.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaADeqDYdP8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csQYO0WTN98
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4N2U4K-Wus
Happy viewing everyone! Come back and tell us what you think!
I can’t wait to see the episode! The clip you’re talking about with Sam swinging the machete at the woman. That’s Grandpa Sam behand her, not Dean.
If you look at this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCJPqW9qDhw
and stop the frame at 0:01/0:021 you’ll see him.
Good! That means it is definitely Robo!Sam. 😆
Finally the episode i was waiting for..
As happy as we are with the brothers’ reunion, there are issues to deal with. Sam will not be Sam if he just lets go. We have only half a season ahead so we’d better get started. Besides, I’m always in awe of the way Jared switches from Sam to RoboSam and the other way around, specially if it happens in the same episode. I’m excited.
Hi
In an other group we were woundering about the frase “Dean is surpised”. That dosen´t have to be a bad thing! I just speculate (and mabe regret it by tomorrow) and say Robo!Sam wasn´t all psycho
Just adding a short note here. You do a great job of sumarizing all the available “preview” information. 🙂
Thanks! They are fun to do!
The online hashtag for tonight’s episode is #CuffMeSammy. Erm…yep, uh, is it getting a bit warm in here? 😳
Thanks for the preview! Just watched this ep. LOVED it, but sooo scared for Sam right now. Won’t say more now so as not to spoil it for others that haven’t watched, but it was great! Can’t wait to hear what others think. I’ll sure be watching the boards this week.
GAH!!!!! OMG, OMG, SAMMY!!!!!!! (happy thoughts, happy thoughts) not working!!!
Can’t…muster…thought…too…busy…being…a…TOTAL WRECK!
That was just incredible. Jared was awesome – his growth and evolution as an actor is so clearly evident in this episode.
And the monster….it was creepy.
Why did you scratch the wall Sammy!! Dean told you it would bring nothing good!
And the ending…what can I say except WTF? Was that Sam’s soul in hell, or Samifer (Sam/Lucifer)? Will he begin to remember his time in hell? God, I hope not.
So excited for the rest of this season! Can’t wait to see how alphas, souls, and Mother fit into all this.
Jared is doing an outstanding job switching between RoboSam and PuppyDogSam; I am very impressed, and enjoying watching him this season (although, frankly, enjoying watching him is usually not a problem for me!).
Promo for next week’s episode is on the spoiler page. Check it out.
Wow! What a great episode! I like seeing what Sam was up to with Samuel and Samuel didn’t seem so cold and heartless.(although I still don’t like him) Both Jared and Jensen did a great job as always. Spiders have always “creeped” me a out and so I loved this MOTW. The snow was a nice touch and really made it feel like New England. It was very believable. (as always) 😆
You know, I actually think this is one of the few episodes this season where the brotherly story and the MOTW story were excellent. Usually one or the other has fallen flat. The arachni(?) was very well done.
I just did a rewatch. Now that the initial shock has worn off, I’m so weepy. Seriously. My God poor Sammy. This was brilliant from beginning to end. The flashbacks were artfully done. In black and white, choppy, as if Sam was remembering them with a scattered mind.
I love how emotionally frantic Sam was the entire episode. He just knew something bad was coming of this. Not remembering isn’t doing him any favors, huh? Of course remembering is tearing him apart too. The guilt! So well done. He realized that he can’t make things right in the end.
Wow, they really didn’t wast anytime in breaking through that wall. I wonder how they’re going to set the reset button next week. I’m assuming he’s going to start seeing things Dean’s way.
Love Sam!
[u][b]LOVE[/b][/u]Dean!
[u][i][b]REALLY LOVE[/b][/i][/u]how the brothers relationship has evolved.
Ep just brilliant.
Excellent acting.
Friggin Freaky! Edge of my seat the entire time!
So why am I devestated?!!! THIS(!?) is what I’ve been begging for all season! Oh show! You love to kill me and I love it to.
Great episode. I my hope is that Sam will learn NOT TO TOUCH THE WALL after this.
Maybe Dean calls Cass for first aid?
Who expected the wall to go down so easily?
I feel like a lone voice in the wilderness saying that I would now change my list and put this episode as the one I least like for S6, but there’s no sense in going into why.
What I did like was the use of the black and white scenes for soulless Sam. I like that for flashbacks.
I like that John is mentioned without being demonized.
The walls of research are a pleasure to see again, as was the squatting in a dilapidated house. (Wonder what happened to that pot of gold from last week?)
I’m opting out for next week, but will read the recaps to see if anything important happens.
Nope, your not alone Ginger. It is not high on my list either.
I still think this was one of the best episodes of the season. Very noir, very well-acted by all parties, very compelling story.
I really can’t understand some fans’ bad reactions to this season. I guess the “Dean girls” are upset about the Sam-centric story arc, but I think both of our boys have had compelling stories this season, and I love the direction the show is taking. I mean, they really had to shake it up after preventing the Apocalypse, and I think for the show to survive and thrive, they needed to do this.
With a few minor exceptions, I have been loving this season and am excited about where we are going from here. I plan to enjoy the ride!!