Sofia’s Review – “Season 7: Time For A Wedding!”

After last week’s brotherly blowout and the relatively quick fix that followed I wasn’t totally sure where Time For A Wedding would take us. Would Sam be completely over Dean’s betrayal of his trust? Would Dean open up any more about what’s going on with him? I really wasn’t sure where everything stood. 
 
Enter Time for a Wedding which served as a quirky and surprising plot vehicle. On the surface it was a fun and fluffy episode but I think there were some important bits and pieces that advanced the season arc nicely.
 
We find Dean in a strip club putting the patented Dean Winchester moves on a club employee. There have certainly been a lot of these kinds of scenes lately. It would seem that Dean is back to his usual self after Lisa or at least that’s what he’d like to believe. There’s a fairly obvious difference between Dean in these scenes and the Dean of the past; his total inability to seal the deal. He’s been close; take Defending Your Life for example. But he needed to give himself a pep talk. “You’re Dean Winchester, this is what you do.” Since when has he needed that? And in last week’s The Mentalists he had a clear opportunity with Melanie and he didn’t take it. Maybe I’m reading into this too much, but to me this seems like a clear sign that he’s not ready to move on. Whether that’s a subconscious decision or not, I’m not sure. 

It was interesting to me how open Dean was with the girl in the strip club. He shared things with her that Sam couldn’t get out of him no matter how hard he tried. He admits that his “friend” is nervous about his brother’s mental state and the fact that he doesn’t need him anymore. He explains that he’s worried about how well Sam is coping because he’s not sure how long it will last. These are all things that Sam wants Dean to talk about with him. But instead he’s confiding in a stranger. I’ll ask again, why is it so hard for Dean to open up to Sam? I get that he feels a sense of parental obligation. And I know that he wants to be that stone #1 for Sam; the thing that grounds him. But you can only build on a firm foundation and that’s something you can’t fake. 
 
Dean is given another reason to worry about his brother’s sanity when he’s invited to Sam and Becky’s wedding. I have to admit I was pretty happy to see Becky in the “Then” segment at the beginning of the episode. I’ve always found her obsession with Sam entertaining. And being the spoilerphobe I am, I was clueless as to who Sam’s mystery bride would be. Seeing her I knew something was up. This couldn’t be a psychotic break on Sam’s part. It had to be something…supernatural. Dean didn’t seem totally convinced at first though. For a while there it seemed he thought Sam was losing it. Thankfully Sam’s odd behavior tipped Dean off eventually.

But in the meantime Dean actually tried being supportive. Dean bringing Sam a waffle iron was most likely meant to be a lighthearted moment but seeing as how I like to read into things way to much I will do just that. To me the waffle iron meant that Dean was respecting Sam’s wishes. It meant that even though he didn’t agree with Sam’s choice and was very skeptical of Becky he wanted to stay a part of Sam’s life. He could have just wedged his way back into Sam’s world like he did last week, using the case as an excuse to stay close to his brother. But this time he made a gesture and waited to be invited back in. And when Sam told him he was working the case with Becky he just let him. Are these two growing up or what? 

Becky’s Wiccan friend/crossroads demon Guy was an interesting character. I enjoyed his charisma. For me it wasn’t a stretch of the imagination to believe that someone as invested in the Supernatural books as Becky could be fooled by Guy’s charm. He was certainly very convincing; painting vivid pictures of what her life could be. Unfortunately for him Crowley isn’t a fan of rule benders. It struck me as odd that the King of Hell was so opposed to the idea of bending the truth to get what you want. Which made me think this may be Crowley’s first attempt to butter up the Winchesters. Richard Rowman, the leader of the leviathan, snubbed Crowley so completely that he can’t hope to ever partner with them. But I would guess that demons and leviathan would find it hard to peacefully coexist. So if Crowley can’t join them, he’ll want to beat them.

Lucky for him the Winchesters want the same thing. He already told Sam and Dean that he’s asked his demons to stay out of their way as long as they are hunting the leviathan. And now he’s punishing his demons for doing demon-type-things and giving souls back to their original owners. Doesn’t that seem a little benevolent to you? I don’t know to what extent he’d like to work with Sam and Dean but I’m pretty sure he’s working toward a partnership of sorts. I can’t think what it would take to get Sam and Dean to agree to work with the demon who manipulated Castiel. They would have to be pretty desperate. Do you think there’s any way Sam and Dean would agree to work with Crowley? What would it take?

While Sam was off hunting with Becky Bobby managed to scrounge up an intern for Dean. I think Dean could have handled the job alone but Garth did provide some comic relief. I wonder where Bobby even dug him up and if we’ll get to see him again in the future? 
 
When Sam was under the spell of the love potion Becky was giving him, I wonder if he was suffering from any Hell-ucinations? It didn’t seem like it. But he did seem to be in pain when he would ease back to reality and I assumed it was a result of his hell memories flooding back in. Were you all under a similar impression? I have to say I was glad to be given a reason to remember that Sam is still suffering. We haven’t dealt much with his story line for the past few weeks and I don’t like when things are kept on the back burner for too long. So I was really happy for Sam and Dean’s talk by the car. Sam tells Dean that he still needs him watching his back which is something I’m sure Dean wanted to hear.

“Don’t be too impressed, it’s still a Denver scramble up here, I just know my way around the plate now.”
 
Dean even gives his brother a long overdue compliment on how well he’s been handling his stress. 
 
“You know I gotta say man, for a whack job you really pulled yourself together.”
 
That’s a pretty big compliment by Dean standards. But he doesn’t stop there. 
 
“It’s stupid to think that you need me around all that time, you’re a grown up”
 
I can’t think of another time when I’ve heard Dean tell Sam that he knows he doesn’t need him. It has to be a hard thing to admit. To some extent I think Dean finds his worth in the fact that Sam needs him. So what is he left with now? Well according to Sam he can take some time and take care of himself for a change; a thought that doesn’t seem to sit well with Dean. I can only hope he takes Sam’s advice. 
 
So what did you all think of the episode? Did you think it patched up any of the holes left by last week’s quick fix?
 
There were some other random observations and quotes worth mentioning. 
 
*I love that Sam and Dean have a yearly Vegas week. They’ve hinted at their Vegas trips in the past but we’ve never gotten to see them take any sort of vacation. 
 
*”You came in here looking like someone shot your puppy.”
 
*The “granola munching hike in the desert” quote coupled with “you’re a hike in the desert, hippie douche grown up.” pretty much sums up my feelings about camping as well. I’m glad me and Dean share that sentiment. 
 
* Sam: “Pink is for loyalty.” That was an interesting comment. Was that meant as a backhanded insult?
 
* I loved the exploding wedding cake title card. 

 
* Dean: “Shouldn’t she ask for my permission or something?”
Sam: “You want her to ask for my hand?”
 
*Sam getting misty over Becky’s journal was hilarious.

 
*Garth: “You Dean? I thought you’d be taller.”
 
*Dean: “No, I’m pointing out a pattern. Why does everyone always think I’m threatening them?”
 
*Sam: “Becky, why am I not wearing any pants?”
Becky: “They were very constricting.”
 
*Guy: “You’re so pathetic it actually loops back around to cute.”
 
*Sam: “Aw, you made a fwend.”

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