Open Supernatural Couch – Houses of the Holy
Dean is not only a little astonished. But he plays it down by turning to take care about what has to be done – check out Father Gregory’s grave. In this episode they are still not as well acquainted with each other as they will be. It’s been only about a year and a half since Dean came to find Sam in Stanford and take him to search for John. They are still learning to become really close, and Sam is still having a hard time digesting what Dean told him about their dad’s words, confusion still in his soul. And fear. He doesn’t want to become what John warned his first-born son about.
Sam probably has added something to his prayers – deliverance from the destiny paved out for him… Unfortunately we never learned about it. I would have loved to be able to watch a scene with Sam praying. On the other hand – some prayers are private. Even in this show…
It’s a beautiful, gothic crypt they go down to, to take a look at Father Gregory’s sepulchre. But there is something else. Sam is being called. Blinding light… an ‘angel’s’ light…
When I first watched this scene – when Dean finds Sam unconscious on the ground – I was scared out of my wits for a short moment, and even now, after having watched this episode many times, it still moves me…
At this point, this must seem like a marvellous chance to Sam. He feels called to carry out God’s will, find redemption. A chance to escape the horrific fate he so dreads. He feels lifted, his face is calm, beautifully at peace, while Dean needs a drink.
‘So, what makes you think you saw an… angel?‘
‘It appeared before me, and then it just… this feeling washed over me, you know, like peace, like grace…’ And he doesn’t buy Dean’s desperate attempt to distract him with a silly joke. ‘Dean, I’m serious. It spoke to me. It knew who I was!’
‘It’s just a spirit, Sam.’ Jokes won’t turn Sam’s mind. So Dean will do something he’s not used to – he will open up a bit and try it with the sad truth of his early disappointments. ‘Okay? It’s not the first one to be able to read people’s minds. Let me guess: you were personally chosen to smite some sinner, you just gotta wait for some divine bat signal, is that it?’
‘Yeah, actually.’
‘Great. I suppose you didn’t ask what this alleged bad guy did?’
‘Actually, I did, Dean. And the angel told me. He hasn’t done anything. Yet. But he will.’
‘Oh, this is… this is… I don’t believe this…’
‘Dean, the angel hasn’t been wrong, yet! Someone’s gonna do something awful, and I can stop him!’
‘You know, you’re supposed to be bad, too, Sam, maybe… maybe I should just stop you right now…’
That’s exactly the point, Dean, dear. Sam’s fear of what lies ahead for him nearly kills him, the guilt is already eating him up. And now there is a chance to be chosen, again, but for a different purpose. To do good. Coming from the highest command possible.
‘Dean, I don’t understand?! Why can’t you even consider the possibility?’
‘What? That this is an angel?’
‘Yes! Maybe we’re hunting an angel here, and we should stop. Maybe this is God’s will.’
‘Okay, I get it. You’ve got faith. Hey, that’s… good for you. I’m sure it makes things easier. I tell you who else had faith like that: mom. She used to tell me when she tugged me in that angels were watching over us. That was the last thing she ever said to me.’
This strikes home, Sammy, doesn’t it? ‘You never told me that.’
‘What’s to tell? She was wrong. There is nothing protecting her. There’s no higher power, there’s no God. This is chaos and violence and random, unpredictable evil that comes out of nowhere and rips you to shreds. You want me to believe in this stuff? I’m gonna need some hard proof. You got any? Well, I do. Proof that we’re dealing with a spirit.’
It’s so sad what Dean actually describes here. He tells Sam (and us) how he lost his faith. Sera Gamble wrote the most compelling lines here. As a child, Dean believed what his mom told him – than there were protectors all around them, angels watching over them. ‘Mother is the name for God, on the lips and in the hearts of all children‘ Eric Draven says in The Crow. For Dean it was quite similar. He believed, because she did, and he trusted her faith. He was sure that angels where there, watching over his sleep, and then she died. Just like that. No angel emerged to save her.
Not only was that the moment Dean’s childhood ended. He also left behind what faith he had and learned to trust only his instincts and eyes. Faith was not an issue anymore, even though as a hunter he used rituals borrowed from various religions – those were not steps to bring him closer to faith, but means to an end: the successful destruction of evil. For that, I’d say, he left faith gladly behind.
Sam, on the other hand, didn’t experience this kind of disappointment. He grew up more protected than Dean had been. John took care of him, and Dean, of course, became little Sammy’s protector, as we all know. He became Sam’s guardian angel. And within this cocoon of care and protection, Sam was able to develop faith, trust, and hope for a heavenly force that might reach down and help those in need. Though he was exposed to demons and ghosts at an early age, he still knew that his dad and his brother built a wall to protect him.
Sam is about to learn disillusionment, too, sadly, not very different from the kind Dean experienced. His faith is about to be jerked.
Father Gregory’s tomb is covered in wormwood… also known as Artemisia absinthium, with spirally leaves of bitter taste. On planet Supernatural, a plant ‘associated with the dead, specifically the ones that are not at rest.’
‘It’s him, Sam.’
‘Maybe.’
‘Maybe?’
‘Dean, I don’t know what to think…’
Sam’s trying to hold on to what he believes to be true… so hard, and still he must feel it slowly crumble away. He knows Dean has a point. They don’t have to operate on faith, indeed, they can know for sure. Though he will go through with the séance, every fibre of his just wants to run away, not do this.
And then there is the divine bat signal! But only Sam can see it. That’s how it always is with the chosen. Only they are able to see the angel, the virgin Mary or whoever else allegedly appears at various pilgrimage sites like Lourdes. And, enticed like a willing pilgrim, Sam immediately jumps to action. Or would – if Dean was not there.
And Dean protects Sam from doing something he might regret, as he always does. He goes after the guy and stops him from hurting, perhaps raping and killing, a young woman. Ah, don’t you just love Dean in such a Zorro moment? I do… Oh, yes. I do. You could pretty much hear me sigh ‘…my hero…’ and swoon cinematographically… Ahem… Get a grip, Jas…
Sam, on the other side of town, is successful with his seance. And almost Father Reynolds falls for Father Gregory’s angel ‘mojo’. It’s such a moving scene – as the elder priest witnesses a paranormal phenomenon, in all likelihood for the very first time, and for a moment believes, perhaps hopes, to see an angel. But no, Sam tells him, sad, with a broken voice, ‘it’s just Father Gregory.’ Sam’s hopes, too, shattered… again. There is no redemption for him. No sign from God to point him to the right path.
This scene is profoundly sad, really… sentimental me reaches for tissues again. Sam’s disappointment, Father Gregory’s deep believe that he came back as an angel to help his friend and the neighbourhood by smiting ‘the wicked’. He doesn’t know that he is a spirit. He actually believes that he is a messenger of God.
‘No, this is vengeance. It’s wrong. Thomas, this goes against everything we believe.’ True. The laws of the wrathful God don’t really apply anymore, not in the sense of a tooth for a tooth. Forgiveness, kindness is at the centre of Christianity, and Father Reynolds tries to correct Gregory’s misguided faith. ‘You’re not an angel, Thomas. Men cannot be angels. (…) What you’re doing is not God’s will. Thou shalt not kill – that’s the word of God.’
And in the same moment, as Father Gregory’s hopes to be doing the right thing shatter, Sam’s idea of the fierce, avenging angel and a higher power protecting them is challenged, too. It’s heartbreaking. I’ve watched this episode often. But it still affects me. So much. Questions I keep hidden somewhere in the back of my ever busy brain – are those I loved and lost at peace? Are they in a better place and resting? Nothing, no one can answer them. Hopefully one day… I will know, when I cross the line with my own death.
I can’t know, of course, whether such a thought crosses Sam’s mind as he slowly begins to recover from this taxing and hurtful experience. Does he wonder if their parents are at peace? How often does he wish to know?
At this point, there is the dull, empty feeling of having lost the kind of hope he’d wished for… Dean was right. And, yes, now he needs that drink.
‘I wanted to believe, so badly. …it’s so damn hard to do this…what we do. All alone, you know… There’s so much evil out in the world, Dean, I feel I could drown in it. And when I think about my destiny, when I think about how I could end up…’ And – as if coming from afar – the first hums from Bob Dylan’s Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door arise….one of my all-time favourite tunes. Ever. And this song always, always goes like a burning arrow right to my heart.
‘Yeah, well, don’t worry about that, alright? I’m watching out for you.’
‘Yeah, I know you are. But you’re just one person, Dean. And I needed to think that there was something else watching, too, you know? Some higher power, some greater good… and that maybe I…’
‘Maybe what?’
‘Maybe I could be saved…‘ Taking a look at his brother’s moved face, he thinks he needs to tell Dean that he was right all along, mistaking his brother’s expression. So he forces up some laugh that, unfortunately, does nothing to conceal his pain. ‘But, ah, it just clouded my judgment… You’re right, we gotta go with what we know, what we can see, what’s right before our own two eyes.’
‘It’s funny you say that.’
‘Why?’
‘Gregory’s spirit gave you some pretty good information. The guy in the car was bad news. I barely got there in time.’
‘What happened?’
‘He’s dead.’
‘Did… you…?’
‘No. But I tell you one thing,…the way he died, if I hadn’t seen it with my own two eyes I never would have believed it. I mean…I don’t know what to call it…’
‘What? Dean, what did you see?’
‘Maybe…. God’s will.’
If I hadn’t noticed before that Kim Manners directed this episode, I’d know it now. This is as classy a scene as it gets, and both actors are incredibly, fabulously immaculate here. There is so much emotion in this scene, it leaks from my TV set to the floor of my living room.
And sometimes, watching it, I feel like I could be enveloped in the warmth of this scene. It’s like a warm blanket, a soft fire. There is so much love here, so much hope and loss of, and the desperate effort of one brother trying to protect the other.
Personally, I find so much of myself in the words Sam speaks here. How often have I wondered whether there truly is a higher power guarding us, me, those I love? Sometimes it’s so hard what I do or what happens in my life, and to know for sure that there was something taking care… well, it would be tremendously comforting in moments of doubt or fear. Of course, my fate is not as mapped out as Sam’s, and to my knowledge I’m not to be the devils doll. But I know fear. And I know how hard it is to overcome the intense panic creeping up one’s spine…it has the ability to change a person, sometimes, hopefully for the better.
Both change significantly in this episode. They learn more than they bargained for when they set off to take a look at this unusual case. And we, as audience, learn a lot about some other motivations of our beloved characters. Dean witnesses events that challenge his devout non-believe in a higher power and Sam, the devout believer, tries to convince himself that there is no one watching.
There are no life altering events in this episode, well, not on a usual scale, and yet they are exactly that. Another door was opened for them here. It won’t lead them to heaven. Knowing what will happen to the Winchesters in the years to come, I want to rush in and prepare them, save them. But it’s not my place to knock doors down for them. They will have to do that themselves. And, well, they will become even more loveable and fascinating characters – if that is possible at all.
When I watched this particular episode the second go round on the series, I had an “Ah Ha” moment. This entire episode, without perhaps meaning to originally, foreshadows everything that is to come.
It is no mistake or coincidence that they go out of their way to mention Michael and his Michael Sword. It is no mistake that angels are described as warriors, soldiers for God. I often feel like the show put ALL their cards on the table for the viewer, tipping their hand to what was coming—all without completely revealing their trump cards or next play. It grips me meta fictionally and makes me just amazed at how this show is constructed in so many ways.
Of course, when they did this episode one has to wonder how much of the Apocalypse storyline as we know it on the show was already planned or not. It’s just another one of those things to speculate on, I suppose.
As for the episode itself, I always feel my heart break for both brothers. And for all the reasons you mentioned. I thought Jared and Jensen played both their roles beautifully in this episode. And Kim Manners, genius that he is, pulled every ounce right out of them. You could feel Sam’s heart break as the doubts flooded him, when he realized that he had been chasing a ghost and not an angel. You can feel the scarred but never healed wound bleed a new when Dean describes the last moments he had with his mother. It’s just beautifully written, directed, and acted.
Perhaps when I get back from my vacation and convention and all of that jazz, leading up to the new season I’ll go through the series from the top again. You’re right. There’s always a new angle, a new twist that you pick up on when you rewatch an episode. It’s what makes this show so wonderful!
Thanks for this retro open couch!
Thank you, FarAwayEyes, looking at old episodes is one of the simple pleasures during a hiatus… I`m glad you liked this. 🙂 , Jas
I haven’t sat down to do some reviews of older episodes or really any of season 6. I’m doing other stuff with articles (the one that’s already here and a couple more brewing in the head) Of course, the monkey wrench in all of this is I leave on vacation and have a convention next weekend, so when do I manage to write said articles!?
Older episodes can be so much fun for so many reasons and you picked a really really good one here to start.
Thank you, Jas. This is one of my favorite episodes as well. It works so well on different levels, from Sam’s subdued belief (which we see later in his interactions with Castiel in season 4) to Dean’s cynicism that hides his disappointment in the structures of faith. The entire episode, as Far Away notes, foreshadows so much that will occur during the angel plotline.
Thank you for the open couch….I’ll have to go back and watch this one again.
Isn`t it nice, Linda, to indulge oneself with retro episodes… In fact, I`m going to do it in a few minutes with a lovely friend by my side, on my birthday. Can`t imagine a better way to end this beautiful day. Cheers, Jas
Happy Birthday to you Jasminka!! Hope you had some fun.
Hands down, one of the best episodes of the series (and one of my faves). It’s not one that I automatically think of when asked but it’s an amazing episode, simple yet staggeringly weighted. It’s not often you thank an episode for ripping your heart out, stomping on it, before giving it a wee kiss and shoving it back on in you but [i]Houses of the Holy[/i] does that, and I thank it for it every time. I get all teary every time I watch it. (I actually have a lump in my throat reading this article).
It starts off so innocuously, Sam chatting to a patient in a mental institution, the boys disagreeing on what’s going on, the traditional brotherly banter, Dean sulking because he’s grounded, his delight at the magic fingers (an underrated character), Sam’s discomfort at Dean’s aforementioned pleasurable habits (ahem), Sammy sarcasm (Sam’s funny when he’s sarcastic!) and Dean’s abject refusal to believe in angels (boy, will you learn!). It’s interesting to look back now, over four years later and see that the show started laying the foundation of the angel storylines even back then.
I think the reveal that Sam actively prays is interesting, and it’s something that is quite difficult to comprehend given Dean’s attitude to religion. I imagine John also eschewed religion after Mary died so it’s unlikely he got his faith that way which basically meant Sam read and believed. (Though sometimes I wonder if Sam found religion while he was with Jessica or in the aftermath of her death. Did he turn to God when he started having visions? Perhaps he knew this was something he couldn’t discuss with anyone else so he hoped God would listen, and maybe guide him.) I like the fierceness of this type of faith; it makes it (to me) so much stronger, that you choose to believe. Course, that makes it the more devastating when you lose your faith. It also makes me wonder about the strength of Sam’s relationship with Pastor Jim (all 15 seconds we saw of him!)
It’s really interesting to find out that Dean had no idea about that side of Sam and I bet it made him wonder what else he doesn’t know about his brother. Likewise, Sam had no idea about Mary and what she believed in until Dean told him. It makes us realise that as much as Sam and Dean know each other, there’s a huge amount they don’t know about each other.
Dean the Disbeliever! How ironic is it later on that our own little Doubting Thomas was the first one to have incontrovertible proof that angels exist. (Actually, how cool was it that Father Gregory’s first name is Thomas. He also doubted, believing God meant for him to kill, not save).
However, as much as there are many funny parts in this episode (Spongebob…..), there are so many moments that make my stomach knot. The look on Sam’s face when he first sees the ‘angel’, he wants to believe in them so fecking bad it’s painful to watch. He looks like he did when he first saw Mary in [i]Home[/i], full of wonder and almost afraid to blink for fear it won’t be there when he opens his eyes, such is the magnitude of what he’s seeing; he’s waited so long to see both. (What a pity that seeing them ended up being a kick in the nuts for him both times). Sam’s growing desperation as he chooses to eschew his logical brain and the mounting evidence that this is nothing more than a spirit, to cast all his knowledge and training aside for hope is painful to watch. Dean asked him ‘Don’t you want to know for sure?’ No, I don’t think Sam does want to know for sure. If he knows for sure, then all might be lost. Sometimes ignorance is bliss. (That’s why I leave my credit card bills unopened.)
Also poignant to watch are the various flashes of comprehension on Dean’s face when he is reminded of Sam’s destiny. It’s like he lets himself forget for a moment or two then its shoved right back in his face. I love the argument between Sam and Dean in relation to the man that Sam is meant to stop. Dean argues he hasn’t done anything wrong, Sam argues that he shouldn’t be given the chance to do something wrong, once again portents of what’s to come.
It’s painful to think that for the briefest of moments Sam must have felt so damn good, so at peace, to believe that he was chosen, fecking handpicked by Heaven to do good, to get a chance to right the multitude of wrongs that were done to him and he feared he would do, only to have that come crashing down around him with the realisation that no, it’s just a spirit manipulating him. He’s been chosen by do evil, again. Something else supernatural knows who Sam is, knows him on a first name basis like Meg, Ruby, Azazael, Lucifer and a whole host more. By the end of the episode Sam must be wondering if there isn’t any tendril of evil out there he hasn’t been touched by. He must be thinking these Supernatural beings drawn to him. Dean must be thinking it too, much as he will vehemently deny it.
The crushed look on Sam’s face when he realises ‘It’s just Father Gregory’. There’s something about that one line… An event that would be so extraordinary for someone else, is something that Sam has seen so often he’s numb to it. It breaks me that Sam is the one who takes Father Gregory’s faith away. I love how Sam and Father Reynolds actually talk Father Gregory into resting, there’s no violence, no burning bones, just peaceful acceptance and transition. (I think I find this harder to watch than a digging graves and burning bones type of death. Father Gregory, despite how scared he is, just kneels down and accepts his fate much the same as Sam does 3 ½ years later. How sucky must their worlds have been that they would welcome death?)
I also find the realisation that Dean sees Gods will in violent acts to be hard to take. This is the world that Dean has grown up in, surrounded by hate and evil, so much so that when he sees death, he thinks it could be Gods work. It’s not fate, not justice, it’s God. Another ow.
There are some things that puzzle me ie ‘Some people need redemption, don’t they Sam.’ How on earth does Father Gregory know so much about Sam? I mean, he could have written that final speech with Sam in mind; talking about finding peace, beating demons and getting the keys to heaven. What Sam wouldn’t have given to have had that, even at this early stage. Father Gregory said the magic word, ‘redemption’. Sam had been seeking it for years. No wonder he was in such a mess after hearing it.
And the final scene…. (I’ve today realised I don’t need to watch the entire episode to set me off, the last three minutes are more than enough.) I usually find it difficult to watch this, mainly because that lump in my throat is now the size of a basketball and there’s this strange fluid like substance welling up in my eyes. Sam is just so worn down, so weary of life at this stage. No matter how much he wants to believe or he tried to get away from his destiny, it pulls him back in. It’s no wonder Sam feels he can’t escape evil because it is everywhere. Everywhere the kid turns there’s more pain, more evil, more wrong. (It’s even more painful looking back now because we know it’s going to get a hell of a lot worse for the guy.)
Dean, in typical Dean fashion, tries to make it all better, tries to give him hope, tries to keep his head above water but it isn’t enough. I think it’s kinda cool that Dean is slowly gaining what Sam is losing. He tells Sam he’s watching out for him, that he won’t let anything happen to him but as much as Sam believes him, his belief that his fate is bigger than Dean is stronger. This is in itself crushing, Sam’s realisation that the guy who, for him, is larger than life, unstoppable, his idol since Sam was knee-high to a grasshopper, that he is just a man and might be powerless in the face of what could happen. Ow. Watching the loss of Sam’s faith is agonising to say the least. Bastard of a show….
This episode really is an underrated little gem. Thanks Jasminka. And apologies for going on (and on and on). The couch is really comfy. Did you get new cushions??
Thank you, EnchantingTim, glad you enjoyed the comfy couch. You noticed I didn`t bring the inquisitor`s cushions…
😆 , Jas
Thank you Jas for another beautifully written article. You know, we tend to forget this episode when someone asks us for our favourite SPN episode. Not because it’s forgettable, but because it is so wonderfully understated. As Far Away Eyes mentioned, it’s a precursor of things to come.
Sam wanting to believe and Dean being the unbeliever, it just breaks my heart. But I can sympathize with both guys here. Something happened to me when I was thirteen that made me hate God, even wonder if He existed. My father died, actually took his own life while I was asleep upstairs, everyone else was gone. I was always a believer, prayed every night for the welfare of my family, and He does this to me, takes my father away? Then, a few months later, I had a dream that I believe to this day was sent to me by my father. Some sort of an apology if you will. It restored my faith in God and the afterlife. I needed it then, and I still need it. So, yes Jas, I think we will be reunited with our loved ones when we pass. My sister just laughs at me (she’s quite the unbeliever) but it brings me comfort.
I will be rewatching “Houses of the Holy” tonight. It brings tears to my eyes just thinking about how this show can make us think about our own beliefs and mortality.
I just hope I didn’t bum anyone out with my sob story. I’ve recovered, my father died 34 years ago this past week.
Sylvie,
Your story of your Dad touched me deeply. It reminds me of a friend I have now, whose father died the same way. My friend is now in the process of launching some amazing suicide-awareness projects and discussions (nation-wide), in an effort to break the silence and get people talking about this issue. Sharing your story is so important.
It also reminded me of a friend in university, who had an experience very similiar to yours. Her brother killed himself when she was only about 14. They had been very close. She missed him terribly and felt tremendous guilt. Then, one night, he came to her in a dream and they had a long conversation. He absolved her of any blame and encouraged her to be happy. She woke up feeling like she’d found some peace with the way he died, and with him and it allowed her to move forward with her life.
I wanted you to know you didn’t bum me out with your story. And I hope these other stories help you a little too.
Peace,
Pragmatic Dreamer
Sylvie, to hear what you obviously had to go through moves me. When my mom died (happily not from choosing suicide, so I was lucky), I also had a dream which calmed me down, because she was well, smiling and happy, and I took that as a sign that she is in a good place.
I can only try to imagine what it means to lose a parent under such circumstances, but I am very relieved to hear that you have recovered. Sometimes it actually is possible to go on and leave pain behind. At least a huge part of it.
I doubt you did bum anyone with your story. I salute you for having the guts to share it here, with strangers.
Take care, Jas
I want to thank you both for your kind thoughts. When I hit the send button, I had doubts about what I shared, I do have a tendency to overshare sometimes, but after reading what you wrote, I’m very happy I did.
I rewatched the episode that very night, and it had me tearing up bigtime. My friend just doesn’t get how I can watch this show over and over again, it’s hard to explain to the “uninitiated” I guess. This is why I’m so glad this site exists, because even though you are all strangers, we are all connected through SPN.
Underrated gem is so true this is one of my favourite SPN episodes and that last scene btween the boys one of my all time favourites.I am so pleased that Jasminka chose this thank you .
Much obliged, Ellie. Glad you enjoyed this. 🙂 , Jas
This is one of my favorite episodes and Season 2 is my favorite season. I miss those times in many levels. Thank you for this “retro” session. 🙂
I also love it that you mentioned one of my favorite (and sadly underapreciated)Hitchcock movies. This is a great movie is Montgomery Clift is wonderful as always.
Hi Andrea, I am happy that you liked it… And I might consider writing one about your desired episode! thank you, Jas
Jas, would you consider writing a coach for Born Under a Bad Sign? This is the episode that follows Houses of the Holy, and ironically it’s where Sam is fully hit by the evil he so dreaded. Not to mention that this is a fabulous episode.
I absolutely love this episode, but out of all the past episodes, this one is the hardest for me to go back and watch. Poor, poor, Sammy, clinging onto a shred of hope, completely distraught over his destiny and what’s to come, that hope falls apart on him. His confession at the end is especially heartbreaking now considering what’s happened to him since then. He’s endured more agony, pain, heartache, physical and emotional torture than any man could bear. It’s really sad hearing him worry about his future and then knowing it does indeed get much worse for him.
That doesn’t mean I still don’t love the episode though, I do, it’s just more painful now. Great write up Jas! I definitely need to recap this one someday.
Thank you Alice! Julie is lending me her computer, so I can take a look here. I`m so happy that you enjoyed this. Please do recap this one, I`d loooooove it.
love, Jas
Hi Jas,
Your article is a gem, about a gem of an episode. I think of HOTH as a diamond – but instead of light, it catches and reflects thoughts, ideas and notions; it sparkles with new insights and understandings. But it is a hard, hard episode too, (and we know diamonds are among the hardest of substances) because of the emotion it churns up in the brothers and in us, and because of the doubts and truths it drills into, and brings to the surface.
I love how this episode foreshadows what is to come in later seasons. I also love how Dean suddenly gets more interested when Father Reynolds starts talking about the Archangel Michael as a warrior, and as someone who killed demons. It’s like Dean is a dog picking up a new scent. You can see him vibrate with excitement.
I wonder sometimes if the writers actually used this episode as touchstone when they wrote about angels in later years. Not so much foreshadowing as creating the groundwork, laying the foundation. For instance, Dean’s speech in Houses of the Holy, about only believing what he can see, and he hasn’t seen angels before is almost the same speech as the one he gives Sam in Are You There God It’s Me Dean Winchester. Even though Dean has now seen Castiel, he’s still trying to argue that there is no proof he’s an angel. I think the writers were so pleased with this episode they let it become the path for the angel stories to follow (If you follow what I’m saying).
I agree with all who have said that, knowing what we know now, it’s heartbreaking to watch Sam struggle with his faith, and what his destiny might hold. It holds all the pain and darkness he was so worried about. Dean’s speech is also equally tragic, because he did save Sam, but through those actions inadvertently condemned him to his destiny as well. These brothers are doomed!
I also think Dean called the skewering of the would-be-rapist as possibly God’s will, because that’s how Father Reynolds had been describing the actions of the warrior angels. It seemed, through his description, that they were acting on the orders of a more venegeful, wrathful deity than what is known in the New Testament.
Which leads me to wonder, new God!Cas seems rather Old Testament venegeful, and wrathful with his “worship me or die” monologue. Will the writers return to the creative juices of HOTH to shape the God!Cas character and his actions? And will the brothers long role as demon hunters, and Dean’s link to Michael be significant in a new way?
Like you, I really admire how this episode gets me to ponder faith and belief. I too have a faith. It’s not entirely conventional, and it’s a hodgepodge of this & that, but it comforts me on the darkest days. And that’s what faith is supposed to do – guide you, comfort you, give you strength.
Which leads me back to Sam & Dean. I think Dean has a very strong faith. He doesn’t believe in God, but he does believe in the power of Love (long before he said it ironically in PONR). He believes that he can save Sam, and that Sam, above all others, is worth saving. That’s what guides him, comforts him, gives him strength. Loving Sam, protecting Sam, keeping him safe is Dean’s daily prayer of action, if not words. Sscripture says “God is Love”. So Dean is perhaps far more faithful than even he knew.
Tim’s right! These new cushions are super comfy. And the cookies are delicious.
Thanks for this. I’m going to go watch it now! (My house is empty for the moment and I have the TV to myself!)
Hi PDreamy, stay as long as you wish on my comfy couch. I`m happy that you are enjoying yourself! 🙂 , Jas
Beautiful, beautiful article and posts. Thanks!
And I thank you! 😆 , Jas
Just wanted to drop a note to say that I throughly enjoyed reading this.
One of my favorite parts of your article – “Looking at this episode now, from the viewpoint of someone who’s seen all the seasons so far, comes with a significant portion of irony. Dean, the sceptic who didn’t believe in angels, becomes really close with one in the future and is chosen for an important assignment by Heaven itself, while Sam, the believer who used to pray every day, gets chosen by the Devil… It’s quite painful, actually.”
CitizenKane2, I am truly happy that you enjoyed this.Thank you for taking the time to read and comment!
Cheers, Jas
Wonderful episode. One the favourites in my list of preferred heartbreaking episodes.
Sam’s heartfelt plea at the end just knocks the fight out of you especially now, knowing all that he will have to go through.( and very unfairly I may add!)
In my humble opinion every single episode of Supernatural is special and even in the least appreciated ones there is always some little moment that shines through.
In the episode The Real Ghostbusters which is my 100% most unloved one ,the line that false Dean delivers saying that Dean should be happy because he gets to save the world every day and has a brother who would die for him makes real Dean smile for a second( and me too after having suffered through the rest of the episode) before he goes off to face some more misery.
best regards
Welcome, isleofskye! And thank you ever so much for your nice comment! Cheers, Jas
Thank you for your kind words. regards
I watched the epi before comming to you couch. I have not seen it for a long, long time and watching it now again brought in some biter tast. Because we know the angels are watching but there are not watching out (meaning interfering). They meet the Trickster/Gabriel in two episodes. So for me that means that they were the forces behinde that were pushing, watching the Winchesters (especily Sam) going down. Seeing this episode now proofs that Sam never had a chance for redemtion befor he played his part (opening the cage and beeing Lucifers vessel).
But I remember seeing the epi for the first time and I was totaly with Sam and his belive in angels and I asked myself will they go there and show angels?!
I know I do have faith and believe in a higher power. I like,want and need the guidience that faith can give and I try to pass it to my children because I know someday they need help or advice I can not give because I´m myself still looking for them.
Oh god my english… I hope you know what I mean. 😀
Hi Junkerin, don`t worry, of course I got what you meant to say! thank you, Jas
Hi Jasminka
A wonderful couch session here.
There are so many gems with this show.
So many that reach out and touch you in some way or another.
Or that gives you some new prospective to these characters lives.
This episode is definitely one of them.
No matter how many times I’ve seen this one, the ending gets to me everytime.
With Sam’s heart felt confession of how hard the job is at times and how he desperately wants to believe he could be saved. And then there’s Dean for the first time possibility believing that God could exist… all the time Dylan’s Knocking on Heaven’s Door playing in the back ground (one of many favourites I have of Dylan’s).
Thank you for sharing this with us Jas.
I hope you are able to find the time to do more.
Karen thank you so much for your sweet comment. I apologize for this late reply. I haven’t been able to access the net due to technical problems, but now, finally, I am back…
love, Jas