Robin’s Rambles: “Unforgiven”
Outside, it’s snowing, wind blowing hard, and it sounds very cold. Brenna, who has been sleeping on the sofa, awakens. Her husband, now an arachnoid monster, is there. “Roy?” she whispers. “I love you,” he says.
Sam is trying to reach Brenna on his cell. Dean wants to know what he’s going to say to her. “Relax,” Sam tells him. When he reaches her, Sam says, “Just checking in. . .of course I can swing by. OK, yeah, bye.” “What was that about?” asks Dean. “She wants me to swing by,” says Sam. “For?” asks Dean. “She says it’s no big deal,” says Sam, “but I can tell she’s in deep trouble.”
They drive the Impala to Brenna’s house. “Dean, back door,” orders Sam. “Lights are on in the shed,” says Dean. They enter the shed. “My spidey senses are tingling,” says Dean. Sam shushes him. “Sam?” calls Brenna. He finds her sitting next to a tool chest. “What you did to Roy,” she says, tears falling down her cheeks, “is it true?” Roy suddenly sends Dean flying across the room. Roy, his face distorted and hideous, one huge blue and black eye sharing the white space with a much smaller one, has Sam slammed, pinned to the wall. “Answer the question, Sam,” he commands.
Editor’s comments: Dean wants to leave town and let Bobby and Rufus wrap up the case. Sam lays on the guilt trip: “I got a friggin’ soul now, and it won’t just let me walk away! I’m staying here, and I need you to back me up.” Dean can’t say no to that, it’s like a crying four year old Sammy sobbing that he fell and hurt his knee. Unfortunately, they “Memento” everything and cause Sam’s memories of the previous year to flood back in. He remembers coldly using Roy as bait for the Arachne without telling him (much as he let Dean be turned into a vamp), and the female spider-woman attacks and drags him away.
LOL, so old Grandpa Campbell is a Trekker? He knows about the Red Shirt guys always being the sacrificial lambs in the first STAR TREK series?
I couldn’t help but notice that, when Sam executes Roy and the others, he has the exact same expression on his face that he did when he killed Jake, the man who knifed him in the back and caused Dean to make a deal with a demon to bring him back to life. Did it even occur to Sam that killing them wasn’t necessary? That Samuel was right? Of course, Sam was wrong, and his decision to shoot them ill-advised. They couldn’t have been saved in any case. But Sam DID sacrifice Roy, a friend he trusted enough to tell the truth about himself, to the Arachne, things his souled self would never do. Then again, would his souled self, posing as an FBI agent, bang so many women involved with the case? Soulless Sam had a lack of morals, didn’t he?
Cruelest of all, Sam calls Roy a hero before blowing him away. Before his memory returns, Sam assures Brenna he’s sure Roy died a hero. It’s too much to bear, the difference between the two Sams, it really is.
Roy must have terrified his wife, showing up alive, but in that horrific face. Ugh! Now she knows the supernatural is really there. That scene was exciting, ending with Roy pinning Sam to the wall and demanding he answer his wife’s question. DID YOU REALLY DO THAT TO MY HUSBAND?? no, my soulless self did, not me!
Sam and Dean have been imprisoned in thick webbery from the necks down. “You gotta admit, I look good, Sam,” chortles Roy, “well, except for your little souvenir.” He points to the bullet hole scar. “You win, I’m here, let Brenna go,” says Sam, “this has nothing to do with her.” “You come back around, start hanging around with my WIFE!–and you think this has nothing to do with her? But then, you thought I was out of the way, right? (Dean has spotted a broken piece of glass which he grabs and surreptitiously uses to begin tearing into the web keeping him prisoner. Handcuffs or spiderwebs, our Dean knows his way out!) “I gotta say, you get a helluva lot wrong, Sam. Like that thing you threw me to. You thought it was here to feed.” “She was here to BREED,” realizes Sam. “Yeah!” says Roy–“that thing was playing the mating game, and I guess I fit her profile, me and all those other poor bastards–she did this to turn us into what SHE was. By the time you pulled that trigger, I wasn’t human, not anymore, so bullets didn’t hurt me much–oh, and neither did fire. In fact, after you left, we ran. Me, I hid for months, nearly starved, but you know what kept me going? Every night I dreamed of ripping your throat out. Thought I was sending you a neon sign. The texts! Taking all those girls you screwed! I was kickin’ so much sand in your eye, I couldn’t figure out why you weren’t gettin’ it! Then Bren tells me you got brain damage. It’s just too good.” “Where are they, Roy?” asks Sam–“the women?” “Scattered,” answers Roy, “in the wind. They’re like me now–you killed one monster, you made so many more–congratulations. Now the question is, do I kill you–or turn you?”
Looks are exchanged between Roy and Sam, Roy and Dean. The latter is now free of the sticky web, and with a cry of anger that this spider freak has plans to harm his brother, he attacks Roy, who quickly pins him against a wall, strangling him.
Brenna, unable to stop her husband, grabs a sword, rushes to Sam’s side and slices him out of his web. He takes the sword and quickly decapitates Roy. Brenna stands over her dead husband and cries, looks at the two hunters, and cries some more.
Sam walks Brenna to her door. “I am SO sorry,” he tells her. She doesn’t respond, so he tries again. She closes the door in his face. Sam sighs, sad. Back where they hid from the cops, Dean is getting them ready to leave. “You all right?” he asks Sam. “You were right,” says Sam quietly, “I shouldn’t have come back here.” “Well, you did kill spider-man,” Dean reminds him. “So you’re suggesting what I did back there was a good thing?” asks Sam. “I’m just sayin’,” begins Dean. “What?” challenges Sam. “Sam, you gotta understand, all that crap last year, all of it. . .none of it was you.” “Let’s be crystal clear, OK?” says Sam–“it WAS me.” “Can I get you anything?” asks Dean. “What are you now, my waitress?” asks Sam. “I’m just tryin’ to make you feel better, don’t be a bitch,” says Dean. “Yeah, I’m fine,” says Sam. “Yeah, you look fine,” says Dean sarcastically, “all I’m sayin’ is that everything is gonna be OK.” “I dunno, Dean, if I did this here, then who knows how many other–” Dean sniffs a piece of his clothing and recoils. There’s a thud and the sound of more thuds. “Sammy? Sammy!” calls Dean, finding his brother on the floor having a seizure. “Sammy, talk to me!” cries Dean, clutching at Sam’s flailing arms.
Sam lies still, eyes wide open, and we travel into his left eye to hell, where everything is red and he lies BURNING, his face and clothing in flames. He is screaming, screaming, screaming as the fire consumes him.
Editor’s comments: Taken prisoner by Roy, the Arachne, Dean cleverly escapes his web with a piece of glass while Brenna frees Sam with his own sword. This gives him a chance to behead Roy, killing one Arachne, leaving all the other humans-turned-Arachne still out there. As Roy pointed out, Sam killed one monster, but made so many more. This happened despite the fact that Sam was soulless. There was just no happy outcome for this story, no matter what. Dean points out to Sam the one bright spot–he killed Roy. Sam, realizing HE was the reason Roy NEEDED to be killed in the first place, finds no comfort there. Dean insists, “It wasn’t YOU,” but Sam isn’t buying that. When Dean offers to get him something, Sam sarcastically asks if Dean’s his waitress now. Dean, who always hated chick flick moments, says, “I’m just trying to make you feel better, don’t be a bitch.” I wanted Sam to just say, “JERK!” and end the episode like that.
Sigh. Instead, Sam fell to the floor, convulsing, reminding me instantly of my poor dog, Snaps, and his final seizure the night we put him to sleep. I burst into tears, for Sam, Dean and Snaps, as Dean called to Sam and clutched frantically at him.
That wall in Sam’s head has been scratched. How much? How hard? Oh, Sam, your brother loves you so much, please don’t scratch anymore.
1. Now that you’ve seen souled and soulless Sam in the same episode, what do you think of the two Sams? How about Jared’s acting?
2. Do you feel that the Winchesters should never have chased this case? Would Roy’s death have made that much of a difference, given what it’s done to the wall in Sam’s head?
3. What do you think of the morality of soulless Sam? The womanizing, beating up the lawman, sending an innocent man, a friend, right into danger? Is the soul that responsible for how good we are?
4 Despite Deanâ’s insistence that they leave, Sam was easily able to talk him into staying. How have the dynamics changed between the older and younger brother? There used to be a time that what Dean said was what they did!
5. Is this how it’s going to be for Sam, little episodes like the one we saw at the end, until he scratches so much, he punches through altogether and goes mad or dies?
6. What did you think of the Arachne? Creeeeepy eyes! I wonder if the mating business had anything to do with the Mother of All?
7. The brothers seem tighter than ever. Isn’t it fantastic?
[b]1. Now that you’ve seen souled and soulless Sam in the same episode, what do you think of the two Sams? How about Jared’s acting?
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Souled v soulless Sam? So different yet so alike. I’m kind of reminded of the Samifer – Sam conversation in Swan Song whenever I think of them. Samifer and Soulless Sam are quite similar, they both have logic in abundance, one of the things that differentiates them from Sam is how they apply this logic. (Sorry, this souled v soulless thing deserves more thought than I can give you this early in the morning!)
The acting = A1. I don’t think they even needed the black and white for the flashbacks because it’s like watching two different characters; the way he carries himself, the way he talks, what he says, his manner etc. Soulless Sam’s face seems a lot more… pinched and closed whereas souled up Sams’ is like an open book (one that Dean, especially, can read very easily) Soulless Sam just had an air of imperiousness about him where souled up Sam just invites everyone in.
[b]2. Do you feel that the Winchesters should never have chased this case? Would Roy’s death have made that much of a difference, given what it’s done to the wall in Sam’s head?[/b]
As the saying goes ‘If I knew then what I know now I’d be a wiser man’. I think they were always going to chase the case, just as the wall was always going to come down. They showed a loaded gun being put into Sam’s head during the first half of the season; they wouldn’t have done that unless they planned for it to go off at some stage.
[b]3. What do you think of the morality of soulless Sam? The womanizing, beating up the lawman, sending an innocent man, a friend, right into danger? Is the soul that responsible for how good we are?[/b]
Thing is, Sam was in a no-win situation here. Had he helped the men (not shot them, brought them to the hospital or whatever), odds are they would have died, only this time over a prolonged period, probably in agony (as soulless Sam believed would happen).
In a way, Sam’s choice was rather redundant, because he was damned if he did and damned if he didn’t. Was what he did ruthless? Sure. Was it the right thing to do…. (Wonder what Dean and souled up Sam would have done had they been in this situation)
However, (and this is where the show deserves a serious pat on the back, they blur the lines between ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ so well) Sam and Dean have used humans as bait before (Something Wicked and The Real Ghostbusters being two examples). They’ve killed monsters who were unaware of their um… ‘monsterhood’ before, they’ve beaten people up before, they’ve had random sex with strangers before (Dean might not have slept with half the female population of a town before but God knows, I’d say he’s like to give it a shot!)
So looking at it purely logically, what exactly is it, based on this episode, that makes souled up Sam so different from soulless Sam. We know he’s different but I find it hard to pinpoint exactly what it is that makes him different because most of what he’s done here, he’s already done before.
Sigh…. Show, I like you.
[b]4 Despite Dean’s insistence that they leave, Sam was easily able to talk him into staying. How have the dynamics changed between the older and younger brother? There used to be a time that what Dean said was what they did!
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I was thinking either (a) Dean stayed because Sam would just have bitched him into submission (just accept the inevitable Dean) or (b) Dean figured this case, if it wasn’t closed, would haunt Sam, thereby leading to more scratching, and therefore more of a chance of the wall collapsing. By staying around, maybe Dean hoped to have the case finished quickly enough that Sam wouldn’t need to scratch as much.
Though you’re right, Dean does seem to be maintaining a policy of appeasement towards Sam at the moment. He’s kinda treating him with kid gloves, probably because he’s concerned with the frailty of Sam’s mind. As was alluded to in Like A Virgin, Dean knows the memories of hell, he knows what they can do to a person, he doesn’t want that for Sam.
I love how this show can say ten different things with one look or one line of dialogue!
[b]5. Is this how it’s going to be for Sam, little episodes like the one we saw at the end, until he scratches so much, he punches through altogether and goes mad or dies?[/b]
I really hope not. Seeing seizures makes me uncomfortable. I guess a lot will depend on whether there’s a renewal for Season 7. Maybe there might be a few miniature flashbacks every once in a while but when and how, no idea. Plus, I don’t want Sam to go mad or die (cos I like him sane and alive….)
[b]6. What did you think of the Arachne? Creeeeepy eyes! I wonder if the mating business had anything to do with the Mother of All? [/b]
Spiders mating. Something else I could have gone a lifetime without thinking about! Those eyes were unnerving, all right. It’s hard to know if anything (everything?) ties in with Mother at the minute because what we know about her and Purgatory is still very much up in the air. (Though I really hope her plans for world domination amount to more than just ‘Go forth and fornicate’)
[b]7. The brothers seem tighter than ever. Isn’t it fantastic?[/b]
It certainly is. This was like early SPN with an added dimension. From the crappy room, to the maps (and I loved how they worked flawlessly together to set that up, like a well oiled machine), to the food (iced tea WITH LEMON!!), to Deans silent ‘How you doin’?’ everything really.
Thanks for the rambles, Robin 🙂
Loved this epi, love how the [i]early SPN episodes feel[/i] is coming through again. Yes, the brotherly bonding IS fantastic.
Yet two things bothered me in this story: after they found out Sam and Samuel were working a case here a year ago, why didn’t they just call Samuel to find out what it was all about? Would have saved them a lot of time and trouble, right? And second: Sam saw the web at Brenna’s house, a very unusual spider web, and didn’t do anything about it, just walked away? I dunno, doesn’t seem like our boys.
Those Arachne monsters were SO creepy, I get all itchy when I see monster eyes 😡 .
Jared was just AMAZING! The difference between soulless and souled up Sam – so convincing. Well done, dude 🙂 !
I love show !
Hi Robin
1. Now that you’ve seen souled and soulless Sam in the same episode, what do you think of the two Sams? How about Jared’s acting?
Jared was fantastic portraying both soulless and soulful Sam. You could really see the difference in both.
2. Do you feel that the Winchesters should never have chased this case? Would Roy’s death have made that much of a difference, given what it’s done to the wall in Sam’s head?
I think they needed to chance this case, more as a learning experience. Sam needed to learn just how fragile and dangerous this wall really is.
3. What do you think of the morality of soulless Sam? The womanizing, beating up the lawman, sending an innocent man, a friend, right into danger? Is the soul that responsible for how good we are?
Sam was pretty scary without his soul. It does make you think that if someone as sensitive and compassionate as Sam was can turn into this ‘monster’ then just how bad would I be without mine?
4. Despite Dean’s insistence that they leave, Sam was easily able to talk him into staying. How have the dynamics changed between the older and younger brother? There used to be a time that what Dean said was what they did!
I think this was showing that the dynamics are changing, that Dean was willing to let Sam learn for himself the dangers of picking at the wall.
5. Is this how it’s going to be for Sam, little episodes like the one we saw at the end, until he scratches so much, he punches through altogether and goes mad or dies?
I’m hoping that this experience will teach Sam that he has to stop scratching at the wall. But I think it will be a slow process until either the end of this season or will lead into season 7…if there is one.
6. What did you think of the Arachne? Creeeeepy eyes! I wonder if the mating business had anything to do with the Mother of All?
I hate spiders, have always been afraid of them so this was alittle easier to take, however they were still very creepy. I don’t think it had anything to do with the Mother of All.
7. The brothers seem tighter than ever. Isn’t it fantastic?
Yes I’m loving the brotherly dynamics…I have so missed it these past 2 ½ years.