Nightsky and Lynn Watch Supernatural 15.03 “The Rupture” (tissues not optional)
As sometimes happens with SPNFamily, I rewatched Supernatural 15.03, “The Rupture” with a friend and fellow fangirl, Lynn Zubernis of FangasmSPN. Lynn and I both write weekly reviews of Supernatural’s episodes, each for different fan sites, and while we each favor a different brother, ship different pairings, and sometimes have extremely different reactions to episodes, we find our views align more than they diverge. We happened to be together the day after “The Rupture” aired (we live in geographically distant regions of the USA) so we decided to capitalize on the opportunity to once again write a joint “reaction review” for you – two reviewers for the price of one! Follow along with us as we analyze and question, laugh and cry together with you, scene by scene, to one of Supernatural’s most powerful and emotionally poignant episodes.
THEN
Lynn: Argh I have to sit through some of that ridiculous second episode (15.02) again. Do not want.
Nightsky: I thought it was a little spoilery that they included a clip to remind us that Sam has to be the one who kills Rowena. As if fandom has forgotten that??
Lynn: Seriously.
Scene flashes with ghost guy from last week.
Nightsky: ARGH
Lynn: SAME
NOW
We start off with an interesting new hunter.
Nightsky: I like that they pulled in other hunters, recognizing that Sam and Dean aren’t the only hunters in the country.
Lynn: And she had some personality too. She was sassy.
Then our heroes (and heroine) set off to try a new spell from Rowena, who has changed into a frankly amazing pink dress. Rowena is oddly optimistic about the chances of success.
Lynn: Oh no, Rowena, stop with the optimism. It never ends well on Supernatural.
Nightsky: I appreciated the consistency of acknowledging that they left people back at the gym, with the reference to the anxious townspeople.
Lynn: Continuity FTW!
Ghosts are flying up out of the huge crack as our heroes walk by.
Nightsky: Where were these ghosts for the past three days? Late to the party? The doors of hell open and it takes you three days to get out?
Lynn: I’m totally confused by these souls cum ghosts. Why do some of them have to possess bodies and others just show up looking like they did in life, like Jack the Ripper or the woman in white? I don’t get it.
We had no answer.
Rowena and her pink dress are beautiful in the creepy crypt, btw. Just sayin.
Banging starts on the door.
Nightsky: Okay, why are ghosts now banging on the door? The team just strolled through the cemetery like they were on their way to high tea, totally unconcerned.
Lynn: I got nothin’.
Rowena starts her incantation.
Lynn: I wonder if this is the scene where she accidentally said “vulva” and J2M cracked up.
Nightsky: Bobo was so proud of that pink dress. At first I thought it was an odd choice for a red head, but in that scene her eyes glow pink and the ghost attacks on the wall glow pink as her spell works and maybe that was a nice tip of the hat that this was a woman doing this.
Lynn: Her eyes were totally violet.
Nightsky: Totally pink.
There are too many ghosts for Rowena’s power to hold and she collapses on the floor.
Rowena: We’re all going to die!
And that was just the beginning!
She asks for a drink and Sam solicitously offers her water.
Rowena: A REAL drink.
Sam looks at Dean like oh come on, I KNOW you have a flask.
Dean shrugs and tries to avoid, but Sam gives him that I’m-your-brother-and-I-know-you look until Dean reluctantly hands it over.
Lynn: I love this brother moment! That was so Sam and Dean.
Belphagor is snarky as ever about Rowena’s spell not working. Rowena, for her part, is just totally hopeless.
Nightsky: Her quote, “they’re so angry. Those walls will fall and nothing on the earth will stop it” – to me, that’s foreshadowing Dean’s anger. She felt the rage of these ghosts and how they were trying to break through walls. Dean has built a wall around himself with all his rage. She giving a glimpse of what Dean must feel like – full of rage and trapped in a ‘cage’ with no way out. She’s showing us how painful it is to feel the impact of that rage…
Lynn: …Just how Castiel will be so hurt later. Ooooh nice parallel. I don’t know if these things are really in the writer’s conscious mind, though, or does it just become clear later but it was there subconsciously?
Nightsky: if they’re a good writer, there should be multiple levels in their writing, so you can pull those threads out.
Dean immediately jumps to a determination to fight, refusing to consider the situation hopeless.
Dean: “We’re not just gonna give up, that’s not who we are!”
We paused the playback as Dean says that. Sam puts a hand out to stop Dean, and Dean listens to Sam.
Nightsky: To me, that was Sam accepting Dean unconditionally. Dean has to attack the situation and Sam knows that about Dean, so Sam is allowing Dean to be himself but he is also saying, “I’m interceding between you and the world right now because you’re not seeing that she can’t do any more this second.” Sam was protecting Rowena while also respecting Dean. I’ve never seen Sam do that before, i.e. say basically, “stop” and have Dean listen and take his lead.
Lynn: I feel like they’re really leaning into Sam as a leader this season. Even at the end of the first episode, it’s Sam taking care of Dean when Dean is so hopeless and spiraling into hopelessness, Sam is the one who gives him what he needs and reassures him. Now it’s Sam again assessing the entire situation and trying to take care of everyone, both his brother and Rowena, and Dean once again listens. He’s looking up at Sam, and I don’t just mean physically.
Nightsky: He’s looking to Sam and he takes Sam’s lead, and Sam doesn’t reproach him in any way.
Lynn: He understands his brother so well at this point and I am here for it. Then he gives Dean a reassuring pat on the chest, and then goes to Rowena.
Nightsky: Then Dean looks down at Rowena and realizes he has missed her pain. Sam is all compassion here and Dean is all action.
Lynn: And that’s so them, their different ways of coping.
Nightsky: Later they emphasize Sam’s contribution when Sam says “I feel like I should be out there on the front lines” and Rowena says, “no, what you’re doing is just as important.” Sam needs to be told that more often.
Lynn: Both are important, and maybe that’s why the Winchesters balance each other out so perfectly.
Dean arms up, saying he’s not gonna give up.
Dean: I’m not gonna sit in this crypt and wait for the walls to come down…. No, we’re gonna end this Sam, like you said. We’re gonna be free.
Lynn: See?? Dean did hear what Sam said in episode one and he did remember it. That’s why that scene in episode 2 where he seems to never have had that pivotal conversation with Sam was so jarring. Now he’s back to remembering that talk and being influenced by it.
Nightsky: Maybe they did film them out of order.
Lynn: (makes noises of frustration)
Sam is empathetic but calm, saying “I’m freaked too.”
Dean: Oh I’m not freaked, I’m angry!
He’s as bitter as we are about Chuck’s manipulations. He doesn’t have a clue what to do and he’s just stewing in it.
Nightsky: “Threads” readers will recognize the theme of everyone trying to get in the last word, and now Dean just said,
I’ll be damned if I’ll let a glorified fanboy get the last word!
Sam: Right.
He’s clearly worried about his brother, about Rowena and about everything, though.
Meanwhile, Cas and Belphagor are arguing outside.
Bel to Cas: You can’t even look at me.
Nightsky: Did you catch that? That’s exactly what Cas says to Dean at the end!
Lynn: OMG you’re right!
Cas is getting a clue that Belphagor isn’t who he says he is.
Bel: That’s the longest you’ve ever looked me in the eyes.
Cas: You don’t have any eyes!
Misha nailed Castiel’s annoyed deadpan I’ve-had-it-with-you attitude perfectly.
Lynn and Nightsky: lol
Nightsky: Also we’re back to ‘not looking me in the eyes’ as a theme.
Lynn: Ooooh
Belphagor brings up Lilith’s crook (slash horn) as a way of controlling the demons. Cas is skeptical but the Winchesters want to go after it and Rowena volunteers to slam the door shut behind them with a spell of her own.
Rowena: And I’ll need an assistant. Dibs on Samuel.
Sam: What?
Rowena: You’re as close to a seasoned witch as we’ve got.
Lynn: What did you think of that?
Nightsky: I was trying to wrack my brain if Sam had done any witchcraft. Instead, I took it as he pays attention to books and Latin and he’s comfortable reciting Latin so he’d be able to do that whole spiel, memorized, by looking at the book.
Lynn: That makes sense. I mean, I love the idea of Sam as a witch, but I was like, “huh?”
Rowena: And we need someone close to the edge to serve as a fulcrum, as a carrier – I light the fuse of the bomb, they toss it in.
Nightsky: That’s perfect as a descriptor for Dean – He’s close to the edge! But as a fulcrum, as a balance? What worlds will he have to be the balance between? In this case, it’s between Earth and Hell, but it sounds like he’ll need to serve as the fulcrum between other worlds as well in the future. I think this is foreshadowing of something bigger to come.
When Dean takes up his place in the plan, he is ‘on the edge’ with ‘his back up against the wall”, literally and figuratively.
Rowena: Whoever does this , they’ll be unprotected. No salt circles, all manner of angry spirits all up in the grill.
The camera has been one Dean, who listens with a smirk on his face.
Dean: Sounds like fun.
Nightsky: “Up in his grill.” That reminds me of the Impala. You think of Dean, you think of Baby.
Belphagor refuses to go to hell alone and demands protection.
Dean: Yeah, Cas will go. You’ve been to hell before.
Cas : Sounds like I don’t have a choice.
Dean: Good. Great. Go Team.
Lynn: Ouch
Nightsky: I thought it was very interesting that Dean volunteered Cas, threw him in harm’s way, and Castiel’s next words were “it sound s like I don’t have a choice.” Right back to the whole free will debate. It was almost like Dean wished that Cas would go there and get hurt. Maybe he’s mad enough to think that would make him happy.
Lynn: I don’t think that would have made Dean happy, but I do think he’s entirely focused on what they’re trying to do and willing to put Cas in harm’s way to do it.
There’s a jump to Ketch in the hospital recovering from his gunshot wounds and insisting “I have friends who need my help.”
Unfortunately, Ardat shows up and they have one of those sort of inexplicable demon physical fights, but she does prevail so that makes sense.
Ardat: You had one job…
Nightsky: hehehe, “you had one job…”
Ardat: I think you’re protecting humans. And you won’t give them up – at any price?
Ketch: Not at any price.
Nightsky: That was a hero’s death, his voice cracked when he said it. He knew what that meant.
Lynn: I know a lot of fans are not on board for turning Ketch into a hero, but that was at the very least a heroic last moment.
Nightsky: His death shocked me, I didn’t see that coming. …Wait a minute, I didn’t notice that the first time – she pulls his heart out but it’s still connected! So he can see it still beating and knows he’s doing to die?
Lynn: Ewww
Nightsky: OMG
Lynn: David Haydn-Jones did an amazing job. Look at his face as he stares at his own heart, so brave but so shocked and so dismayed. God, this was a brutal scene. Well done Bobo and Davey, but ARGH
Ardat snaps it off and he falls dead, clearly for real.
Nightsky: I wonder if that was a bit of foreshadowing, that we’re all about to get our hearts ripped out.
Lynn: Ouch.
Belphagor and Castiel stand on the edge of the hell portal.
Bel: Funny, your friends didn’t seem to think twice about putting you in danger.
Poor Cas just takes it, looking increasingly resigned.
Cas: How do we get down there?
Bel: I don’t see any stairs…
Castiel stares at Bel with absolute disdain for a few seconds, then unceremoniously pushes him in.
Lynn: HAHAHAHAHAHAHA OMG I loved that moment.
Nightsky: Berens tweeted that he wrote that into the script as a gag and was so happy they left it in.
Once again Misha nailed it.
Guest hunter brings Rowena her supplies “for the ginger”. Heh. She’s sassy.
Meanwhile, Ardat steals Ketch’s phone and texts Dean.
Lynn: I kinda don’t think Dean would have fallen for this so easily. Why did he have to give away the entire plan in a text message? I wonder why the bad guys don’t kill people and then steal their phones to text more often? Hmm. Okay, handwave.
Castiel and Belphagor go to Hell, which is a beautiful Jerry Wanek set and great VFX.
Nightsky: It looked like the proper grandeur and lighting of Hell, as opposed to that awful throne room we were subjected to for years.
Belphagor literally pushes Cas into the room where the crook might be and we really feel for Cas at this point.
They run into another demon and Castiel hauls off and kills him, his patience clearly “on edge”.
Lynn: Alex Calvert is brilliant here. He’s changed Belphagor from a snarky, likable, harmless, seemingly low rank demon to a menacing, totally in charge demon who clearly has an agenda and has no qualms about ordering Castiel around.
Nightsky: When Belphagor says “good thing I brought you”, you realize he knew that box was in Enochian. That was the first glimpse we have of him revealing himself to not be an innocent ally.
Lynn: Boy’s got an agenda.
Bel: Sam and Dean seem to be coming around, I think I’m growing on them. Like a cancer.
Cas: You’re not growing on anyone. Sam and Dean are just using you. Don’t mistake that for caring about you because I can assure you,, they don’t.
Bel: You learn that the hard way?
More pointed foreshadowing of Dean and Castiel’s later conversation.
Nightsky: Cas was revealing what he actually feels now; the realization he’s coming to.
Lynn: Ouch. Really, ouch.
Nightsky: When Cas and Bel were on the edge. Bel asked “what is it, Cas, this seething animosity?” Castiel’s reply was ‘every second in your presence is intolerable.’ Once again a foreshadowing of the later conversation with Cas and Dean.
Going through a rewatch frame by frame has its benefits. When Cas knelt down to read the Enochian, he’s in the exact position and angle as the three statues behind him. They’re deliberately framed by director Charles Beeson in the doorway so you can see that Castiel has taken that same supplicating position.
Lynn: I love this Show.
The fandom had been given a few teasing comments about one of the cast doing some singing on this episode, which had everyone speculating and anticipating. It turns out it’s Cas having to sing the Enochian incantation – but we only got to hear the first note and the last! Berens assured us they made Misha sing the whole thing and if that isn’t on the last gag reel, we will have been really cheated.
Back to Dean standing on the literal edge.
Lynn: My God, he’s gorgeous. Um, sorry.
Sam looks toward the door.
Sam: I just feel like I should be out there fighting.
Rowena: Dean’s doing his part, you do yours.
Lynn: Sam and Dean are used to fighting side by side, this is hard for Sam.
Nightsky: “Threads” people, the characters keep talking about shots – “the long shot”, “our one shot” – five times in this episode, reminding us that Sam’s gun shot is important.
Surprise Ardat! Throwing a monkey wrench in the crook heist.
Nightsky: I’m not sure of Ardat’s purpose. She says ‘you don’t even know what he [Belphagor] is.’ They emphasized that again this week. But then he’s killed, so what was the purpose of that tease? Both of them die.
Lynn: I thought the same exact thing.
Nightsky: Ardat seemed almost like the good guy here. Belphagor has already said how much he enjoyed torture. It seemed too important to go nowhere.
Lynn: I wondered about the foreshadowing in episode one, when Ketch shows up to “take out a demon that poses a huge threat”. The Winchesters just take Belphagor’s side without giving Ardat any credence, but that struck me as odd. Now we see that it wasn’t the smartest decision they’ve made.
Nightsky: Another thread last week was ‘power’, and all this talk from Ardat about thrones and ruling are setting us up for a ruler of Hell to come back into the picture.
Lynn: For sure. No spoilers, but for sure.
Belphagor insists he’s not trying for the throne, but to absorb all those souls and be a god.
Lynn: It’s a striking parallel to when Cas was Godstiel, when he swallowed all the Leviathans and had all that power and eventually became, not a god, but more like pure evil.
Nightsky: And it’s a parallel to what eventually happens to Rowena, who also swallows essentially pure evil. She could become the new Queen of Hell with all those souls as the source of her power. I wonder…. thinking of that pointless Rowena/Ketch tryst last week, do you think Ketch will go to Hell and ally with Rowena to rule Hell?
Castiel realizes that he’s been playing them all along, as Bel stands framed by the lit doorway, clearly the one in power, Cas in shadows with the other supplicants.
Belphagor starts to siphon the souls in, Rowena and Sam link hands to start the spell, and we are all on the edge of our seats.
Sam keeps worrying about Dean, distracted and looking toward the door.
Nightsky: Rowena here is compassionate toward Sam just as he was compassionate toward her at the start. She calls him back so gently.
As the horn blares and souls stream in, Dean jumps up and tosses the glowing bomb in.
Nightsky: Why did he throw it in before all the souls were in and before Cas was out?
Lynn: Because he had to throw it while it was glowing, I think?
Castiel whales on Belphagor, knocking his sunglasses off. Finally Belphagor calls out to him in Jack’s voice, saying “It’s me, Jack.” But Cas doesn’t fall for it, his eyes glow blue and he smites Belphagor so thoroughly that he’s just a burnt husk of a being, even the sunglasses turned to ash.
Nightsky: Cas had to dig deep to get that much power, it seems. He really, really wanted to do that. I think maybe he’s losing his power because he’s losing his heart, i.e. he’s losing his connection to Sam and Dean and what he cares about. But he cares about this.
Lynn: I thought maybe he was losing his power because God is losing his power and the angels are somehow connected to him.
Nightsky: My theory is metaphorical, yours is literal.
Who will be right? (Most likely neither of us, lol)
Lynn: Castiel looks so broken after, looking up in despair.
Nightsky: That was very heroic of Castiel. He saw that Belphagor’s threat was similar to when Cas was Godstiel, and like what Lucifer wanted to be – a new god – and he knew he had to stop it. It was very heroic but instead he got chastised and yelled at for doing it.
Dean immediately calls Sam, saying it doesn’t feel right.
Rowena knows; she stabs herself and pulls out the last resurrection sachet. And we all have a VERY bad feeling about this.
Rowena: Magic can do anything, Samuel. Can contain anything. I can soak them up for a time, if I pay the price. Death is an infinite vessel.
Lynn: And at this point I was screaming NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Sam tries to argue her out of it.
Rowena: yes, Samuel. To perform the spell, I have to die. And it has to be you who kills me.
Sam still says no.
Rowena: I believe in prophecy and magic.
Sam fights her, tries to pull the knife away, and she keeps pulling it back and you can SEE how much Sam is suffering, in pain, not wanting to do it.
Nightsky: What’s so compelling about this scene is that Ruth maintains and continually increases the emotional intensity, pulling Jared into the moment so he literally can transform Sam from not understanding,
to comprehending that she is right,
then taking action. She’s the one that escalated the emotional intensity the whole time even when he didn’t understand; she had to carry that whole scene as she convinced Sam of the tragedy of what had to happen.
Lynn: Absolutely. This is a master class, Ruth Connell.
Nightsky: She did for magic, for what she cares about.
Lynn: Not for people, but for what’s important to her.
Cas come back and encounters Dean, who asks what the hell happened.
Lynn: Why doesn’t Cas explain? He just says he killed Bel but not WHY, so of course Dean jumps to the most negative conclusion.
Nightsky: I hate that! And he lets people assume the worst. He allowed Dean to jump to conclusions.
Rowena: Do it. Kill me Samuel!
She lays her hand on his cheek, I know we’ve gotten quite fond of each other, but will you let the world die, let your brother die, just so I can live?
Sam leans in, murmur “No”.
Lynn: OMG stop it, I love this, it’s so amazing, it’s so perfect and so perfectly done. Just as you think Sam is saying “no” to refuse doing it, he leans in and pulls her into a hug and I…. (starts sobbing all over again for real)
Nightsky: It was so compassionate, so she wouldn’t have to feel the excruciating last seconds of anticipating her death.
Rowena falls into Sam’s embrace and the knife slides into her as she clings to him, and Charles Beeson gives us a close up of her face, in agony, and of Sam’s face, in equal agony. He’s crying; she’s crying.
Lynn: I’m crying.
Rowena grabs his chin, stabs the knife in deeper and twists it brutally. “That’s my boy.”
Rowena staggers outside toward the edge, bleeding, souls rushing into her. She looks back at Sam, a little smile on her face.
Nightsky: What’s interesting here is that Dean is clueless about what Castiel has just been through, and also what Sam has just been through. He doesn’t know about the emotional agony of both his partners. They thought Dean would have the hardest job, and he ended up having the easiest.
Rowena: Goodbye, boys.
Lynn: Exactly what her son said to the Winchesters. And she throws herself into the gap, her own “Swan Song.”
Lynn: (is crying for real all over again)
Nightsky: She stood on the edge of a pit of hell and allowed herself to fall in, in the same way as Sam. It’s interesting that when Cas ingested all the souls, it was through his mouth. Rowena, a woman, pulls them into her abdomen, where she bleeds.
Lynn: I saw this as a parallel to Mary’s original death on the ceiling with the bloody gash across her abdomen and Jess too. I just realized something! Samantha Smith has said that the dress Mary was originally wearing was not white – it was pink. Just like Rowena’s dress is now as she dies.
Nightsky: That music…very Scottish highlands music.
Lynn: Which made me cry even harder, because it seemed like a goodbye and a tribute to Ruth as much as to Rowena.
Then come two very important, very emotional scenes.
Sam sits alone, barefoot, looking devastated. Dean knocks on his door.
“How you holding up?”
Sam doesn’t answer, just asks how the town is doing.
Dean: They found Ketch. Dead.
Sam: What? How?
Dean: Bad. Probably a demon.
Sam sighs.
Dean tries to cheer him up. “We did it though, man. God threw one last apocalypse at us and we beat it.”
Lynn: At this point I was going, “omg, this is heartbreaking. They think this is over.”
Nightsky: Dean was very considerate here, how he told Sam about Ketch’s death. But Dean didn’t let Sam process the news before Dean immediately tried to cheer up Sam. Dean didn’t take a beat for poor Ketch. And I was thinking, Ketch’s death would have been the climax of an episode if it wasn’t the last season. But the poor guy got overshadowed by Rowena’s death, which then got overshadowed by Team Free Will breaking up.
Lynn: That was my problem with Kevin’s goodbye too, which got overshadowed by the 9876 other things that were happening in episode 15.02.
Nightsky: I thought Jared’s acting in this scene was brilliant. He shows us the full weight of everything that happened, whereas Dean is hiding or repressing or ignoring the weight of what has happened. He only wants to see the good.
Lynn: Even the blocking, Sam sitting down, barefoot, vulnerable, his head bent, the weight of all that’s happened. And Dean standing, casual – even wearing a Henley – but also holding himself back, contained, his hands folded in front of him, his ankles crossed. Only wanting to cheer Sam up, not to acknowledge his own anger and grief.
Dean: You didn’t have a choice. What you did. Rowena. You didn’t have a choice.
Sam: I know.
The Scottish music plays.
Nightsky: He can recognize that Sam didn’t have a choice, but he can’t see that Castiel also didn’t have a choice. Of course, he doesn’t really know all the facts. My guess is that Sam explained and Cas never did.
Lynn: He’s he’s own worst enemy when it comes to communication.
Cas asks how Sam is, and Dean admits “not great.” The two face off, a table between them.
Dean: You’re sorry. Why didn’t you just stick to the damn plan?
Cas: The plan changed. Something went wrong, you know this. Something always goes wrong.
Dean: Yeah, and why does that something always seem to be you?
Cas: You used to trust me, give me the benefit of the doubt. Now you can barely look at me.
Nightsky: The key point is, Dean doesn’t give Cas the benefit of the doubt, even though he just did with Sam.
Lynn: It’s a testament to how angry Dean truly is at Cas, and how much he blames him for the death of his mother, even if that’s not entirely logical.
They face off, and Dean really does have a hard time looking at Cas. His eyes are steely, walled off.
Cas: I’ve tried to talk to you, over and over, and you don’t want to hear it. I’m dead to you. You still blame me for Mary.
Dean doesn’t deny it.
Cas: Jack’s dead, Chuck’s gone, you and Sam have each other. I think it’s time for me to move on.
Nightsky: Whoa, that’s the family theme music.
Lynn: Oh yeah, you didn’t notice that? Way to stomp our hearts out.
Nightsky: I was too busy yelling, “you didn’t even say goodbye to Sam!”
Lynn: I know, poor Sam.
Nightsky: He lost Rowena, and Ketch, and Cas, and now what, just suck it up?
Nightsky: They’ve been building up to this rupture, or this rift, between Dean and Cas since Jack was conceived.
Lynn: yeah, they didn’t agree on any of it.
Nightsky: Cas chose Jack over Dean and Sam.
Lynn: And Dean at least has never completely gotten over that.
Nightsky: Cas exercised his own free will and Dean didn’t like that. I think his departure has been a long time coming and I’m glad Cas stood up for himself. I think Dean needs to understand that just like he had to accept that Sam can make his own choices and had grown into an adult with different opinions, Castiel has grown into enough of a “human” to have his own free will and make different choices that Dean might make.
Lynn: This episode in particular was hard to watch, as Cas seemed to absorb hit after hit, from Dean, from Belphagor, and to grow more and more despondent about his place in life and in his found family. I think that’s why it felt like a bit of a relief when he did make the decision to leave and carried through with it.
Nightsky: it was very painful to watch and I hope they don’t stay apart for too long. This episode also cleared the way for Jack to come back as himself, and maybe for Rowena to come back in a new role, and for Castiel to take on a new role, because his prior reasons for living are all gone.
Lynn: I’m assuming Alex Calvert will be back and soon, and I can only hope that this isn’t the last we’ve seen of Rowena since it’s only 3 episodes in. On the other hand, Rowena’s death and this episode were amazing. I can’t imagine any other send off for the character that would be better.
Nightsky: All of them were heroes. Ketch died a heroic death, Rowena died a heroic death, Sam was heroic in killing Rowena, Castiel was heroic in stopping Belphagor, and Dean did his part by tossing the bomb. Toss it in, BOOM, just like Rowena said.
Lynn: In a sense, Dean really was the fulcrum, the one in the middle who facilitates the action. The catalyst for Cas exercising his free will and making his own choice to be independent and to figure out what is meaningful for him. For Sam, when he provides the means for Sam to forgive himself for his part in Rowena’s death so he can move ahead. For Rowena, by being the one who volunteers to stand on the edge and toss the bomb in.
Nightsky: The episode was brilliantly written and acted but it was also brilliantly directed and staged and lit and set.
Lynn: I complained about the first two episodes being so brightly lit in the middle of suburbia, which just didn’t work for me. This looked like Supernatural – and had so much more impact lit the way it was.
Nightsky: I think this will be among the series’ best episodes.
Lynn: Well, if that whole ripping the heart out of Ketch thing was supposed to be a metaphor, it sure as hell worked. I don’t know if I’ve ever cried that hard on rewatch!
And now it’s time for Lynn and Nightsky to go have some drinks and dinner and calm down once again. Do we hope that next week is less of a roller coaster with not so many FEELINGS? Oh hell no! Bring it, Show!
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The Last Word
Obviously, this is a very different way to present my reactions and review to you, “Threads” readers. Maybe it’s interesting to read/hear a bit of my thought process as I bounced ideas off of a another fan and shared my first impressions of the show? Without doing my usual analysis, I heard threads of walls, power, shots (referencing, I assume, gunshots), and getting in the last word. There was also a lot of foreshadowing. What did you hear and perceive? What are you reactions to our rewatch party?
As I said above, this episode was brilliantly written and acted, but it was also brilliantly directed. In order to capture some of the visual impact of these scenes, I used screenshots created by @KayB625 (Twitter). I have said before that a reviewer can judge the directorial quality of an episode by the number of screenshots that frame visual works of art. I could have easily have shared with you dozens upon dozens more pictures, as every shot was a masterpiece. While it all goes by very quickly when we’re watching the character’s story unfold, the visual story adds immensely to the enjoyment of the episode.Charles Beeson did a superb job of bringing us Robert Berens’ script.
Your turn! Share your thoughts below!
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