Robin’s Rambles – “Hello Cruel World”
“It’s like a freakin’ doggy bag in here,” comments Bobby on Mrs. Hackett’s torso. Dr. Gaines enters. “Can I help you?” he asks. Bobby quickly flashes him some ID in his wallet. “You can maybe still help this hospital,” suggests Bobby, holding up the file, “who’s responsible for this sloppy bit of documentation?” Unfortunately, Gaines recognizes him–“We saw you, through the angel’s eyes”–and Bobby, hoping for amnesia, whomps him across the face with a hammer from the tray next to him. This brings out our first glimpse of the face of the Leviathan–a lot of sharp teeth and a forked tongue. Bobby wrests his rifle from his duffel and shoots several times, but the creature reverts back to Dr. Gaines and a bunch of little bugs go crawling away on the floor. “Fair enough,” says Bobby, and flees.
Tracking Sam on his GPS, Dean mutters, “This can’t be good.” He enters the warehouse. “Oh, look, another me,” FD tells Sam. Real Dean enters; Sam points the gun at him. “Whoa, whoa whoa!” says RD. “I thought I was with you, Dean,” says Sam, near tears. “OK,” says RD, “well here I am.” Exchanging glances with Lucifer, Sam shakily says, “I can’t know that for sure. You understand me?” “OK, we’re gonna have to start small,” says RD. “I don’t remember driving here,” says Sam. “That’s because I drove–you thought,” says Lucifer, cupping his hand to say, “Sam is very suggestible”. Sam fires at Lucifer. “Whoa whoa whoa!” cries RD, “Sam, this discussion does not require a weapons discharge!” Sam is terrified. “Look at me,” urges RD, “you don’t know what’s real? I’ve been to hell. I know a thing or two about torture, enough to know that it feels different, and the pain of this regular, stupid crappy THIS. . .” “How can you know that for sure?” demands Sam. “Let me see your hand,” asks RD, “your gimp hand, lemmee see it.” “Smell you Florence Nightingale,” teases Lucifer. RD grabs Sam’s injured hand. “This is real,” he says, “not a year ago, not in hell, “Now–I was with you when you cut it, I sewed it up. Look! He presses his thumb against the wound, making Sam hiss with pain, which also makes Lucifer flicker like a faulty light bulb for a few seconds. “We’ve done a lot more with pain,” brags Lucifer. “This is different than the crap that’s tearin’ at your walnut, right?” says RD, pressing harder, tighter against Sam’s injured hand while maintaining determined eye contact, “I’M different, right?” Sam snatches his hand away from his brother. “Yeah I think so,” says Sam breathlessly. “Ya sure about that, bunk-buddy?” asks Lucifer. “Sam?” says RD–“Sam?” Sam presses into his own hand with his thumb, causing Lucifer to flicker. “It doesn’t mean anything,” insists Luci. “Hey!” says RD–“I am your flesh and blood brother, okay, I am the only one who can legitimately kick your ass in real time. You got away. We got you out, Sammy.” “Sammy, Sammy,” says Lucifer desperately as Sam presses hard against his wound, “I’m the only one who can. . .” “Believe in that,” insists RD as Lucifer winks out, “believe me–you better make it Stone Number One and build on it, you understand?” Sam nods. “Yeah, yeah, okay,” he says. (Ed. note: This would have been the perfect place for a hug, but Sam’s phone rang, damn it.) It’s Bobby, reporting from his car that the hospital thing is definitely their kind of thing. “Double-barreled one of ’em in the morgue–silver buckshot, no effect,” reports Bobby, “bled black ooze.” “Leviathan here,” says Sam, looking at Dean. Bobby says to meet him at his house; they’ll re-group. “Bobby’s got a live one,” says Sam.
Driving back in the Impala, Sam assures his brother he’s good: “No white rabbits, I’m not seeing anything.” “Okay, baby steps,” says Dean.
When they pull up in front of Singer Salvage, there’s been a ferocious fire, and Bobby’s nowhere to be seen.
The brothers frantically search the wreckage. Dean finds Bobby’s destroyed hunter’s journal. “That place was torched; somebody knew what they were doin’,” says Dean. He calls Bobby’s special number. The message: “This is Bobby Singer’s direct hotline, you should not have this number.” “You cannot be in that crater back there,” says Dean as the phone rings, and he leaves a message: “I can’t. . .if you’re gone. I swear, I’m going to strap my Beautiful Mind brother into the car and drive us into the pier. You asked me how I was doin’. Well not good! You said you’d be here. Where are you?” He hangs up.
Sam walks the yard, calling Bobby’s name. Dean adds his voice. Amongst the wrecked cars, Sam runs into Edgar. “Winchester,” the man says, “congratulations, apparently you two are competent enough to be worth annihilating. I’d take it as a compliment.” From the side, Dean shoots him in the head. Edgar falls, but immediately stands up again and attacks Dean, beating him badly before Sam intervenes and Edgar hits him hard on the head with a tool. The brothers maneuver Edgar into position where they drop a car on top of him; black blood oozes out around his exposed hand, gross and satisfying.
Dean, worried, crawls over to his unconscious brother. “Sam, Sammy, I’m the one with the broken leg, you’ve gotta carry me! Sam!” He reaches into his pocket for his cell phone and dials 911.
In the ambulance, Dean begs, “Sam, stay with me, y’hear? The ambulance tech ticks off Sam’s condition to the hospital: “Male, late 20’s, head trauma, increasing inter-cranial pressure.” Sam opens his eyes and sees Lucifer, who says, “Hey, so maybe I’m not real. Nothing’s perfect, but I’m not going anywhere, Sam.” To Dean’s horror, Sam goes into convulsions. “Yeah, he’s seizing,” says the ambulance tech, “copy that, we’re just pulling into Sioux Falls.” “Sioux Falls General?” repeats Dean, panicking–“no, no, no, no, no, you gotta take us somewhere else, anywhere, please!” “Yeah, okay, buddy,” agrees the tech, humoring him, putting something into his IV to knock him out.
Back at Singer’s Salvage, the black blood is retreating back into Edgar, and the still fingers flutter back to life.
Comments: I love Sheriff Mills and hope she and Bobby get together someday for marriage and babies. They both know what’s really out there, they’re no-nonsense people and if he can’t have Ellen, I want him to have Jody. They lost their loved ones to the supernatural, and could be a cool hunting pair, too, if they choose. When she orders him to come save her before she is eaten, I wanted to hug the two of them and die laughing.
I love the way Dean got through to Sam, although it broke my heart that it had to be so painful and violent. Then again, torture and pain are Luci’s weapons of choice, too, right? The devil even says so. I kept begging Sam to realize that Dean wouldn’t be so cruel to him, wouldn’t say so many mean things, and I was hoping that he would realize that was Luci with him, not Dean. I’m hoping that, over time, he will learn to tell the difference between Luci posing as his brother and his real brother.
Questions
Do you think the Leviathan faces are scary or kind of silly?
Do you think we will ever see Cas again? It seems they fixed it so anyone can be a Leviathan. Do you think Cas will just appear as “The Boss”?
How did you feel when Dean fished Cas’ trenchcoat out of the water? Did it make you feel like it was a sort of burial for Cas?
What did you think of the humor in this ep, like the Dr. Sexy references and Mrs. Hackett’s story about doctors who don’t know the difference between an appendix and a vagina? I love the continuity and how they again mention Biggerson’s. Wonder how many free meals Sam and Dean collected there.
“I can’t. . .if you’re gone. I swear, I’m going to strap my Beautiful Mind brother into the car and drive us into the pier.” This line choked me up. What about you?
Are we going to see Bobby again? What about Cas?
Now That Lucifer has vowed to keep torturing Sam, what are the chances of his survival, mentally or physically? I sure hope Dean doesn’t think he’s won the war for Sam.
I give this ep an 8 out of 10. I thought it was pretty damn good.
[b]1. Do you think the Leviathan faces are scary or kind of silly?[/b]
Oh, definitely scary….I jumped when I saw the Dr.’s face turn into that monster face.
[b]2. Do you think we will ever see Cas again? It seems they fixed it so anyone can be a Leviathan. Do you think Cas will just appear as “The Boss�[/b]
I really believe that we will see Cas again in his old body. Anna was able to use her old one again after it was destroyed. Why not Cas?
As for Cas appearing as “The Boss”, I’m not sure about that. How about a reboot of Zachariah for that one? I really found him quite creepy.
[b]3. How did you feel when Dean fished Cas’ trenchcoat out of the water? Did it make you feel like it was a sort of burial for Cas?[/b]
Gosh, I was upset and very sad. I just can’t believe he’s gone. I want to wait and see. Maybe God will step in and sort this whole mess out and give us back Cas. And yes, that scene did feel like a sort of burial for Cas.
[b]4. What did you think of the humor in this ep, like the Dr. Sexy references and Mrs. Hackett’s story about doctors who don’t know the difference between an appendix and a vagina? I love the continuity and how they again mention Biggerson’s. Wonder how many free meals Sam and Dean collected there.[/b]
Changing Channels is one of my favorite episodes and so I loved hearing those Dr. Sexy references. As for Mrs. Hackett’s stories, those kind of point back to old hospital legends. I’m sure everyone has heard about cases where things were left inside although no one ever seems to know who was actually involved. Kind of an urban legend on its own in a way.
As for Biggerson’s, Dean would definitely be in pie heaven. Not so sure about Sam. He seems to be more of a healthy eater. Dean’s the bacon cheeseburger, pie and beer/whiskey kind of guy.
[b]5. “I can’t. . .if you’re gone. I swear, I’m going to strap my Beautiful Mind brother into the car and drive us into the pier.” This line choked me up. What about you?[/b]
Oh my. I teared up so much on this…Dean can’t lose Bobby, too. It would be too much. I believe he couldn’t handle it and that Sam would have some company in the psych ward.
[b]6. Are we going to see Bobby again? What about Cas?[/b]
Yes, we’ll see them again. We have to.
[b]7. Now That Lucifer has vowed to keep torturing Sam, what are the chances of his survival, mentally or physically? I sure hope Dean doesn’t think he’s won the war for Sam. [/b]
I think that Sam will overcome, but he will never be the same, just as Dean isn’t the same as he was before he went to Hell. I also think that Dean knows that it will be a long road. That’s why he told him “one stone at a time”.
I really loved this episode and I give it a score of 9 out of a 10. Also, Robin, you wrote a great article. Thanks. 😆
[b]Do you think the Leviathan faces are scary or kind of silly?[/b]
No I didn’t, but I do get the throwback idea of it.
[b]Do you think we will ever see Cas again? It seems they fixed it so anyone can be a Leviathan. Do you think Cas will just appear as “The Boss�[/b]
Yes I do! I’m thinking he is “The Boss” but I’m not so sure he’ll be himself again. He might, that could be the end him regaining control and killing all of the Leviathan underlings…?
[b]How did you feel when Dean fished Cas’ trench coat out of the water? Did it make you feel like it was a sort of burial for Cas?[/b]
Sad, oh so really sad! It was like they were putting the nail in the coffin, and I thought the black goo spreading out (but I know it was the Leviathan’s) might have even looked a bit like the angel wings… 🙁
[b]What did you think of the humor in this ep, like the Dr. Sexy references and Mrs. Hackett’s story about doctors who don’t know the difference between an appendix and a vagina? I love the continuity and how they again mention Biggerson’s. Wonder how many free meals Sam and Dean collected there.[/b]
I thought the old woman was perfect, annoying as all hell! LOL The Dr. Sexy reference was pretty funny, would have been cute even if the little girl hadn’t been actually good at being so creepy!
[b]”I can’t. . .if you’re gone. I swear, I’m going to strap my Beautiful Mind brother into the car and drive us into the pier.” This line choked me up. What about you?[/b]
Oh God I thought it was brilliant, I was near tears, it was so perfect! The most award winning moment for Jensen imo was Dean telling Sam about Hell. This scene was right up there with it. I do agree with someone else though who mentioned it would have been better with a close up.
[b]Are we going to see Bobby again? What about Cas? [/b]
Hell yeah for Bobby! Cas probably as the Leviathan, as himself I’m still in doubt.
[b]Now That Lucifer has vowed to keep torturing Sam, what are the chances of his survival, mentally or physically? I sure hope Dean doesn’t think he’s won the war for Sam.[/b]
I don’t think Dean would underestimate something like that. *crosses fingers behind back*
I thought this episode was absolutely great and the season is definitely off to a good start!
I love your recap. It is just so full of detail! (:
[b]Do you think the Leviathan faces are scary or kind of silly?[/b]
I didn’t think scary of them at all, but I saw the references to the sea monster Leviathans in there. I kinda hope they’ll do something more with that down the road instead of only using human bodies.
[b]Do you think we will ever see Cas again? It seems they fixed it so anyone can be a Leviathan. Do you think Cas will just appear as “The Boss�[/b]
That’s kinda what I was thinking when I heard them talking about the Boss. And I know they can’t just dismiss Cas’ character just like that the way they did. He has to come back somehow! Even if it’s the end of the season, I dunno.
[b]How did you feel when Dean fished Cas’ trenchcoat out of the water? Did it make you feel like it was a sort of burial for Cas?[/b]
I had a slight hope maybe the vessel was still in there, but when I saw the overcoat it was a slight conclusion to me. But ya never know, I’m hoping he’ll be back. They can keep it a secret like they did with Mark Pellegrino.
[b]What did you think of the humor in this ep, like the Dr. Sexy references and Mrs. Hackett’s story about doctors who don’t know the difference between an appendix and a vagina? I love the continuity and how they again mention Biggerson’s. Wonder how many free meals Sam and Dean collected there.[/b]
I enjoyed the humor a lot (as I do with every episode) and picking up things that others don’t is a bonus. I love Dr. Sexy’s 3rd (am I right? at least 3) mention. Appendix from vagina—hilarious old lady!
[b]”I can’t. . .if you’re gone. I swear, I’m going to strap my Beautiful Mind brother into the car and drive us into the pier.” This line choked me up. What about you?[/b]
It kinda gave me relief because Dean was admitting he was far from okay but sad at the same time [i]because[/i] he’s not okay. And I love the Beautiful Mind reference.
[b]Are we going to see Bobby again? What about Cas? [/b]
Well we already know Bobby is in the next episode. Maybe he regrouped with Jody. Anyway, Bobby won’t be goin’ anywhere that I know of since all Jim Beaver’s comments on the season are “we find Bobby getting closer and closer to the boys”.
[b]Now That Lucifer has vowed to keep torturing Sam, what are the chances of his survival, mentally or physically? I sure hope Dean doesn’t think he’s won the war for Sam.[/b]
I think he’ll be fine because that’s how the writers are, giving the main characters only a couple episodes of Hell grief and it’s over with. But I don’t know, I haven’t seen ANY Lucifer in ANY spoilers from now on so he may go away in the next episode? Just a thought, we never know. I mean what happens when the only cure to it is pain? Rofl that can’t be good.
I loved this episode overall, though. The writing was brilliant as well as the acting. It will keep its new place on my list of faves. (: