Bardic’s Descant: 6:19 Mommy Dearest: I’m Building The Perfect Beast
Production Notes
I’m really enjoying the addition of Adam Glass to the writers’ stable; even though his scripts tend to have logic holes, they hold up emotionally, and he writes the brothers’ relationship beautifully. This episode was no exception.
Okay; criticisms first. The big logic hole in this one was, why didn’t Eve simply turn the brothers and Bobby and have done, rather than trying to persuade them to cooperate with her? Unless she was worried that her new, improved, monster-DNA-resequencing virus wasn’t perfect and might have resulted in the brothers being beta-test failures like Ed Bright rather than fully successful, impossible-to-detect Jefferson Starships like little Ryan, making deals instead of transforming them outright just didn’t make sense. Not acting until she was certain that Ryan had passed their screening tests and convinced them he was human made sense, but holding off on simply taking them after that was artificial.
My second problem came when Dean touched the blood on the ground at the doctor’s office. We learned in short order that what Eve had done to Ed and the others in the town was highly contagious, so how did Dean not get infected from his contact with Ed’s blood? For the rest of the episode, he, Sam, and Bobby took pains to try avoiding coming in physical contact with the victims, but the damage should already have been done. Either Dean was immune, or that contagion didn’t spread the way we were given to understand it did.
My third issue came with the script’s blatant fan service to slash fandom. The sly sexual innuendo in the dialogue and physical blocking between Dean and Castiel when the angel first appeared and in all the references to Castiel being limp or impotent around Eve and the suggestion to the doctor’s nurse that he was suffering from a sexually transmitted disease doubtless made slash fans giddy, but they just made me roll my eyes. The insistence by slash fans that every single close, same-sex friendship absolutely must have a physically sexual component to it has always struck me as tiresome and forced, and seeing the show’s writers obviously winking while pandering to that segment of the audience just makes me sigh. Love Ain’t Nothing But Sex Misspelled is just the title of a 1968 short story collection by Harlan Ellison, not a statement of fact. That’s my opinion. You’re just as entitled to yours, but I’m simply speaking my truth when I say it fatigues me and leaves me cold.
But enough kvetching. Eve had a lot of exposition to deliver, but having the bulk of it come through the mouth of Samantha Smith playing Eve playing Mary Winchester made even the expository dialogue come to life. That was a great move, and a lovely performance! And apart from Dean’s little misstep with the finger in the blood, I enjoyed seeing him being a smart hunter. I loved the subtle bit with him dropping the gloves in the basement at Bobby’s place when he said he’d had a mishap with the phoenix ash, learning that physical contact with it didn’t harm him; the clear implication that he’d been wearing gloves and being ultra-careful with the ash up until he evidently spilled some on his skin and came away unhurt was really nice. And it was clear how that experience, combined with Sam’s cogent observation about the ash possibly being like silver or iron, prompted Dean to toss back a precautionary slug of whiskey and ash, to turn himself into a Trojan horse to defeat Eve by taunting her into biting him. I really enjoyed that. I also liked the touch of Eve intelligently and deliberately having created a monster able to defeat all the usual hunters’ tests; the brothers weren’t taken in through any foolish lack of caution, but purely because the trap had been so perfectly laid that it couldn’t be detected by any empirical means. Sam coming up with the idea of utilizing a friendly monster as an inside man was a less chilling version of his soulless self having used the same approach to infiltrate the vampire lair in Live Free Or Twi-Hard. I appreciated that symmetry and also loved seeing Amber Benson return as Lenore, tying this season directly back into season two.
John Showalter’s direction was very straightforward and easy to follow. I can only imagine the organized chaos of shooting that massive crowd fight scene in the teaser; pulling off a major stunt sequence like that is anything but easy, and takes a tremendous amount of planning to stage and shoot. My hat’s off to director Showalter and to stunt coordinator Lou Bollo! I think the scene I most loved, however, was the one of the two sets of brothers in the car on the way to the uncle’s house. Serge Ladouceur’s lighting and the way the brothers were framed and shot just made that whole scene ache so beautifully, with the kids in the back seat serving as the mirror for Sam and Dean in both the past and the present the way we most love to see them: united, protective, trusting and loving each other. Seeing Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki as both of the older brothers smiling not just for the memory of their younger selves but in appreciation for each other now felt so good after all their long estrangement that we knew it had to presage something really terrible , but that image sticks in my mind as something to cling to and keep.
The performances were also a treat, and Mark Sheppard again foregoing an opening credit to make his reappearance a surprise, as he did in Family Matters, makes me appreciate his professionalism all the more. I may hate what Crowley has done to Castiel, but I love Mark as Crowley! I still suspect Crowley isn’t as secure in his apparent kingship of Hell as he pretends to be; I’m guessing that in his own way, he’s paddling just as hard as Castiel to keep his head above water, but he’s just better at hiding the effort from prying eyes, being more practiced in deceit.
I’m looking forward to rewatching this entire season to see all the subtle ways in which Misha Collins incorporated hints about what’s up with Castiel, without ever revealing it until now. I’ve been thinking back over his every abstracted look and every sideways glance away from Dean’s eyes, and I’m convinced we’ve been royally had by a master. I’m afraid of the future, but I can’t wait to see it and learn what happens next.
The effects crew did a sweet job with Eve transforming into the image of Mary Winchester, and the trick of having Eve dying with multiple physical effects, as if she embodied the different forms of all the various monsters she had created, was a neat touch. (I am wondering about that little bloody wound in her side during the teaser, though; will we ever learn about that? And if anyone wonders, by the way, my money is on Eve simply having been flung back into Purgatory, not totally destroyed; the lore said the ash could burn her, which leads me to think that had happened before …)
I have to give a shout to Jay Gruska for his gorgeous original score, especially his incorporation of the themes he’s used before for Dean’s love of family to underscore how emotionally close Sam and Dean are again, and to music coordinator Alexandra Patsavas for securing the use of both Jefferson Starship’s “Miracles” and Hot Chocolate’s “You Sexy Thing” to bookend the episode with classic rock. Hmm, songs that mention miracles in an episode featuring souls and Eve’s warped ability to create: great job. And somehow, I suspect Eric Kripke had a hand in the monsters being christened “Jefferson Starships”; I’m betting he appreciated Jefferson Airplane back in the day (remember “White Rabbit” being used so effectively back in Simon Said?) but winced at the group’s later reincarnation!
Finally, I have to applaud the show’s second delightful backhanded product placement for Apple. Dean in Lazarus Rising disparaging Sam having installed an iPod jack in the Impala and tossing the iPod into the back seat was great; Bobby dissing the iPad for lacking buttons was in the same vein, and will probably do equally well for Apple’s image. Way to make placement actually work, and not intrude!
I will freely confess that I’m terrified about where the rest of this season will take Bobby, Castiel, the Winchesters, and us. If we thought this season was dark before, well , I fear we ain’t seen nothing yet. There may be nothing so dangerous as a man , or an angel , who believes he has to do whatever it takes to win; all too often, that choice means he loses himself and everything he is, as well as everything he fought to win.
Judgment day may be coming.
Wow.
This was a very enjoyable – and insightful article. 🙂
Just let me add a few quick thoughts.
[b]Why didn’t Eve simply turn the brothers and Bobby and have done, rather than trying to persuade them to cooperate with her?[/b]
I suspect that the Winchester brothers and Bobby would have been better hunters if they were not tampered with (i.e. turned); and perhaps Eve thought so as well. This could have been important since Crowley was (in her view) difficult to find.
I think the bigger gap in logic (as another writer has pointed out) is why didn’t Eve simply summon Crowley the way Bobby did in “Weekend at Bobby’s”, or procured someone to do it, instead of trying to get hunters (or “turned” hunters”) to get Crowley ?
[b]So how did Dean not get infected from his contact with Ed’s blood?[/b]
Perhaps the consumed ash had something to do with it (if he had ingested it by then) ? No idea really.
[b](T)he script’s blatant fan service to slash fandom.[/b]
While I did feel a bit uncomfortable with the “slashy” bits, I do think that they were fine (i.e not overdone), and if truth be told, a little funny (even with the discomfort) – they were at most one or two throw away inconsequential lines. And if those few lines help to generate more viewership for Supernatural …
A quick thought about Crowley’s fake death in “Caged Heat”. Why was Megan able to detect it at that time ?
Also, Megan would have presumably known that Crowley wasn’t really dead at some point in time thereafter – why didn’t she attempt to reestablish her alliance with the Winchester brothers after “Caged Heat” ?
Thanks – and I’m glad you enjoyed the piece, because I definitely had fun writing it!
I could see the brothers possibly being better hunters with all their human instincts intact; let’s say that’s why Eve left them human. Keeping them human definitely works for me! 🙂
On the question of why Eve didn’t just summon Crowley, or have someone do it; I don’t think we’ve ever been given a solid reason to believe, in [i]Supernatural[/i], that summoning a demon forcibly compels it to appear, at least not if it’s a really powerful one. I’m guessing that, for the top echelon of demons, it’s not a compulsion so much as it is an invitation, with the demon able to choose whether to pick up the phone or not. (And I wonder whether that may also apply to angels; whether the reason Rachel wasn’t already visible and present in the warehouse to which she summoned Castiel in [i]Frontierland[/i] was simply because she didn’t want him to know she was the one who summoned him, and spiked his curiosity by popping out to make him answer the call to the seemingly empty warehouse in order to learn who had called him.) If that’s the case, then Azazel, Ruby, and Crowley chose to respond when they were called because they wanted to, not because they absolutely had to; and I could see that being the case every time, given the nature and timing of their various summonses. I could also see Crowley being able to take a peek at the setup and deciding not to answer if Mommy Dearest was in the neighborhood.
Or, it could be something completely different … let me go away and think for a while!
Heh: I also like your explanation for Dean avoiding infection from touching the blood with his finger. Let’s call him temporarily inoculated! *grin*
On the slashiness, I’ll admit I chuckled a little for Cass appearing immediately behind Dean on the “not living in my ass” line, but there was still a lot of fatigue in my reaction to the humor, especially by the time we got around to the “ointment” lines. Slash is just such an easy target for cheap laughs; I’m tired of it, if only because it’s so very vocal.
On Crowley’s fake death – I don’t think Meg did detect it. She had wanted Crowley to die for having betrayed Lucifer; all I saw on her face in [i]Caged Heat[/i] was pleasure for Crowley being destroyed, followed by determination to escape. As for why she didn’t get in touch with the Winchesters when she learned Crowley was actually alive, well; there really was no love lost there. I think Meg was perfectly well aware that both Sam and Dean meant to kill her after she took down Crowley, so teaming with them again wouldn’t have been in the cards unless she could have seen some way to protect herself from them in the process.
I strongly suspect we’ve going to see Meg again someday, if only because she has to be in the forefront of the opposition to Crowley in Hell. But when, where, and doing what – I haven’t a clue!
Thanks again for engaging, especially since I’ve been notoriously absent from the dialogue thing. Glad to be back!!
[quote]Given Eve’s comment about souls being fuel, little nuclear reactors that when combined produce the sun, I wonder whether the ultimate purpose of creating humans may have been to power Heaven, setting up a self-replicating engine that freed God to move on to other things. Wouldn’t it be ironic – especially for Zachariah and the other angels who chose deliberately to bring about the apocalypse – if all that Heavenly power angels can draw on and channel is generated by the presence of human souls dwelling in and generating bliss in Heaven, and relies on the steady arrival of more souls to replace the power being consumed? If human souls reliving their bliss power Heaven and angels, then I would guess that human souls in torment in Hell provide the power for all we’ve seen demons and Lucifer able to do.[/quote]
Interesting that you say that because I believe Cas wants these souls only because he knows they are the only way he can heal himself and his fellow angels. Didn’t he tell Dean once that their “numbers are not unlimited” If they are wounded in battle, siphoning a human soul might be the only way to save them. I think he might be doing what ever it takes to keep what few angels he has on his side alive. Also, I don’t believe for an instant that he is doing this for evil purposes. Misguided maybe, but not evil. Perhaps in his mind the end justifies the means. If this is the only way he can win the war then, he’s gonna do what he thinks he has to do even if it means hooking up with Crowley and stretching the boundaries of his ethics.
Learning to do questionable things out of desperation, even for all the right reasons, would certainly be something he would have picked up hanging around the Winchesters all this time. Too bad he didn’t pick up that those decisions usually don’t end well.
I hope we get definitive answers tomorrow night and I hope that one of them isn’t that Cas is their new enemy. It will break my heart if that is the case.
Another great review Bardic.
Oooh; nice thought on Castiel seeking souls because siphoning power could save angels who otherwise would die. Me likey!
I’m both impatient for and afraid of tomorrow night; what lines will we learn Castiel had already crossed? And is one of them his Rubicon, that can’t be crossed back again, to change his fate?
I would hate to see Dean so badly hurt by this surprise and this betrayal that he would consider Castiel beyond the pale. Dean found forgiveness for Sam, even after expressing extreme reservations about and distrust of him at the end of [i]Sympathy For The Devil[/i]; I hope he can do the same for Castiel, and not reject him out of hand in the first blush of discovering how far he has fallen.
Is it Friday yet?
And thanks for the praise!
Thanks for another wonderfully written and insightful review!
I am also worried about what Cas is up to working with Crowley. Also a bit concerned about the “nothing” that Sam tried to dismiss at the end-was it really nothing or some memory/crack?
When we were discussing this episode, a friend of mine brought up one of the early season 6 promos – “Trust No One”. Looks like another layer of meaning has been added to that one.
Thanks, m’dear – glad you enjoyed!
Sam seems to have been remembering more little snatches, as indicated by his discovery of the Campbell family library in [i]Frontierland[/i]. What’s really not clear is how much he’s indicating to Dean and Bobby about [u]remembering[/u] rather than [u]deducing[/u]: if he’s pretending deduction to explain things he’s actually recalling, it’s going to be a rude awakening for his brother and Bobby.
I am [i]so[/i] afraid of what remains of this season; I know it will break my heart.
This summer is going to be one hell of a hellacious hiatus …
Oh, such a good review, especially on your thoughts about the storylines and meaning and purpose of souls. Unfortunately, as you say, it’s too big, too impersonal to the brothers, and I gave up even thinking about it all a long time ago. Mostly, I think, the bigness has put a stop to character focus for the brothers. Sure, they get screen time, but the story isn’t focused on them, IMO.
I’m glad you gave Adam Glass and John Showalter credit. For the first time this season, I felt Mr. Glass gave us Old Dean back…loved the appearance of reckless, simple and effective, have a Plan B Dean after such a long time…and I appreciated that. His portrayal of the brothers was perfect and enjoyable. And, you know what? I’ve always liked the locker room humor for our tough, blue collar, fringe of society guys.
Loved the Dean’s reflection in the glass of the interrogation room, and the mirror shots in the car. I’ve always liked John Showalter’s work.
I love Mark Sheppard and, yes, what professionalism. The only thing with Crowley this season is that instead of an adorable rat fenemy, he is now just a rat. Boo hoo. I hope he doesn’t become a Bela, with no redeeming qualities. I kind of liked the adorable rat. Killing Crowley off way back was good, because I did not like the show having Sam/Dean working for him. It just seemed so wrong for Dean, and made him look dumb in that he worked for Crowley for months without thinking of hunting up Death sooner. Crowley returning now, I feel, once and for all takes death off the table for any character, demon, monster, or angel. It’s a twist that I fear will weaken any suspense in further seasons. I mean, we already knew death was off the table for the brothers, which takes a lot of the suspense out of the show period, but now everyone and everything is fair game. I’m not sure I like that move, despite my pleasure of not having Mark gone from the show.
Let me just say that I loved this episode and anything I have said is nitpicky and didn’t take anything away from how much I enjoyed it.
Season-wise, though, I still do not see the brother’s investment in the mytharc and various stories. Why did Eve want the Winchesters specifically to work for her? Why did Death want the brothers working for him? Why does Cas feel a need to lie to the brothers about what he is doing in Heaven? Why was Dean left out of the picture for a year? Why were the Campbells brought into it? Why did Crowley make them his attack puppets (when he had legions of demons to do his work)? Why was Sam resurrected w/o a soul and why did he hook up wit the Campbells? I’m just not seeing what investment the brothers have in the saving of the world business? Because the world would be lost if Cas loses? Not personal enough for me. I guess that puts me in the ‘I’m getting tired of all the greater purposes’ camp, yet am so happy to have enjoyed everything in the episode.
I love that this show makes me actually think about what I believe Heaven & Hell & Purgatory to be, & what really is a soul & its purpose, & what is the meaning of all this (I only wish my philosophy classes back in college could have been so interesting!). Fascinating stuff!
However, what I really enjoy are the personal things, the relationships among this small group of characters that I’ve grown to love so fiercely. Boy, did my heart ache for Sam & Dean when they realized that they hadn’t saved the Silver brothers. I am also cringing at how devastated Dean will be to learn of Castiel’s “dirty little secret”. I still can’t figure what Castiel’s motivation for working with Crowley truly is. I hope we find out tonight.
As always, this was a wonderful & thought-provoking review!