Robin’s Rambles: Supernatural 10.15 “The Things They Carried”
This was a good, tightly written episode that I really enjoyed. That they tied it to the war and soldiers gave it added poignancy and depth. It’s not bad enough our soldiers are dealing with the human enemies, but this also has supernatural bad guys after them, too. Which totally sucks.
The ep reminded me a lot of an old school ep, where the brothers split up to try to help two different war veterans suffering from attacks from the khan worm (which our boys had encountered in another ep with Bobby and Rufus. Ah, good times)!
So Sam is still researching The Mark of Cain and not porn, which Dean would prefer. The scene where he told Sam to zip up was hilarious.
On to our questions for the week:
1. Was it me, or was this ep especially violent and bloody? From the mesmerizing opening NOW scene with the girl being hung upside down and drained of blood to the scenes of the Khan worms being squishily crashed under Dean’s stomping boot, I felt my dinner racing for the exit. What did you think?
2. What was your opinion of Cole this time around? It seemed to me that his accent was different each time we saw him. Or was that just my faulty hearing?
3. Speaking of Cole, what did you think of his actions this time? He tried to put the brothers off the trail of his war vet friend and handle the situation himself–with disastrous results. Shouldn’t he have trusted Sam and Dean? I also didn’t like him calling the brothers nicknames like Deano and Sammy. Too familiar for someone who hardly knows them. And by the way, did he ever apologize to Sam for what he did to him a few eps back? The torture and stuff?
4. Okay, so Sammy couldn’t save Kit. He felt especially bad about it because he fears it foreshadows the future and that he will be unable to save Dean from the Mark. Do you agree? I think the Mark is much worse than the Khan worm, so it’s apples and oranges, but Sam knows he has his work more than cut out for him. Thoughts?
5. Why didn’t they let Dean give Cole mouth to mouth when he was resuscitating him? Too gay for TV? Just wondering. . .
6. What did you think of the military connection in this ep? The Winchesters are frequently called warriors, so they are soldiers against the supernatural. The men in the video Cole showed Sam and Dean showed heroes being infected by the Khan worm while fighting for the USA. Doesn’t seem fair, huh?
7. I thought this ep was terrific and give it a solid 9. You?
Love,
Robin
Hi Robin,
1) Yep it was a little gnarlier than usual. That’s ok with me, at least it wasn’t another of the overused “monsters”
2) Cole isn’t my favorite character. I like him but I wish they would flesh him out a little. Which brings me to…..
3) The nicknames really rubbed me wrong. No he didn’t apologize to Sam.
4) I agree it was demoralizing for Sam. He wants to believe so badly that there is hope for Dean.
5) I believe the rules are changing a little for resuscitation. Mouth to mouth is no longer considered necessary. I think the chest compression’s are considered the most important thing now.
6) I liked the military angle.
7) I enjoyed it. I would give it an 7.5
Thanks Robin:)
1. Yes it was gory, but that was a nice change after the relatively bloodless episodes lately. As for gross, I thought the body on the slab in “Hibbing 9-1-1” was a bit much. Personallythe scariest thing I’ve ever seen is an image of a tapeworm inside a kid.
2. Cole’s southern accent does come and go, but I’ve found that happens wth people who don’t stay in the south. From what he said he was a military brat. His parents might have been from the south. I look at speech patterns, like saying “y’all” or “all y’all.”
3. Why should Cole trust Sam and Dean? He has not seen them save anyone, just kill monsters. Military folks take care of their own when they can and don’t easily trust civilians they don’t know well.
Cole uses nicknames for Sam and Dean becasuse it will bug them and it’s demeans them. . He’s not their friend. He picks those particular nickames because they’re the common ones for the names Sam and Dean.
As for apologizing for torturing Sam, he might not think he has done anything requiring an apology. We may not agree, but we love the Winchesters. Cole doesn’t. He has respect for them now, but affection? Probably not. He did lose his father and his best friend because of things from the Winchester’s world. He can understand why they do what they do, admire them for doing it, but that doesn’t translate to more positive feelings. We all have people in our lives we admire and respect but don’t want to hang around with.
4. I think there are a lot of reasons Sam was hit hard when he had to kill Kit. First of all, ther’s the Winchesters desire to save everyone they can. But the last ghost they fought killed two kids while they were in town and it didn’t devastate him. There are the natural parallels between the Khan worm and the MOC. But I think the main reason is he knew how important Kit was to Cole and his wife. He let himself down by letting them down. He already feels like he let’s people down-remember how Bobby reacted when he learned Sam started the Apocalypse? He let Charlie down when she had to kill the good wizard. And he can’t forget the times he let Dean down.
5. Don’t you use CPR if someone isn’t breathing. Dean had to restart Cole’s heart.
6. It kinda sucks that it’s not just enemy combatants that can get our troops. If only PTSD was due to an organism we can kill. The Winchesters have much in common with military brats: lack of a stable home because you are moving all the time, changing schools all the time for the same reason, getting dumped on other people when a parent is deployed/goes off on a solo hunting trip and depenance on siblings. I know from my own experience you will turn out OK if your family is stable but if it isn’t, and you need to get your stability from outside your home, you will be a mess. For all the disruptions in their childhood, Sam and Dean had each other and Bobby, as well as their Dad.
That said, they’ve been fighting a war their whole lives. It would be natural for them to have PTSD.
7. This episode gets a 10 from me, as does the season so far. Sam and Dean are finally dealing with some of their inner demons.
By the way, Dean knew exactly what Sam was doing on his computer. When has he ever called him out directly?
Insightful comments. I hope I will see you commenting more here too.
I was going to write something similar so will just give my thumbs up for this. 🙂
Also about the nicknames it is a guy/soldier thing. I think Travis told that Cole has grown a “relationship” to the boys because he has hunted Dean for the most of his life so in that way he feels he has known them a long long time. Also he needed to find out everything about them he could find that added to that effect + what you mentioned.
For me the freak factor kept this a solid 8. which in my category is not bad. I mean grade 10 episode would be for sure a crossroads deal and witchcraft combined. It would need to be totally perfect.
– Lilah
See what Travis doesn’t know that we do is that everyone (with the sole exception of Dean) who ever referred to Sam as ‘Sammy’ not only dies (duh) but they stay dead once they do. I remember going through this before and I think it still holds true. John and Mary both refer to Sam as Sammy in an affectionate way (both dead and not even to be found in heaven apparently). Our long term bad guys like Crowley never referred to him as Sammy I am pretty sure but everyone else who has ever done it, and without exception they did it to antagonise him, has died and stayed dead.
If Travis wants Cole to have a long term gig then Cole needs to start treating Sam with a little respect 😀
Poor Cole, he just wasn’t warned…..:)
Well, he survived this round! 😉
– Lilah
The Winchesters need to have a warning label….guest stars have a short shelf life…..