Recap – “Sympathy For The Devil”
Wow, the summer flew right by, didn’t it? (Dodges flying objects). Okay, fine, the wait was excruciating. It’s all better now, right? So here we are, at the season five premiere. Thanks to Kripke and his ADHD with this script, I’ll just get started with this freaking long ass recap for “Sympathy for the Devil.”
In tradition with the past two season openers there must be a montage of the previous season set to a rocking AC/DC tune. This year its “Thunderstruck,” which in my mind is the best possible tune they could have picked that hadn’t been used yet. The opener is as great as expected and gives an adequate summary of what happened. Sam started the apocalypse. Everyone’s screwed.
Back to where we left off, the boys look in horror at the white light emerging from the floor of the convent. They get their wits about them and head for the door but oops, those doors again slam right on them. Those demon controlled entrances seem to bite them in the ass every time. They’re trapped and overcome by a deafening sound before being engulfed in white light. While I would normally worry that they would be obliterated by the light much like Alastair in “Heaven and Hell,” I know the two leads of the show aren’t going to bite it in the season opener.
Dean astutely observes that weren’t they just in Ilchester? The pilot suddenly sees a white burst of light shooting out of the ground below and loses control of the plane, exclaiming “holy crap!” Oh, come on, he could have at least said “holy” and then the rest bleeped out. That would have been a more reaction. Everything starts shaking wildly and the oxygen masks come down. There’s a shot of Dean with the oxygen mask on from the outside of the window freaking out by the white light outside and the plane going down. How sweet. It’s Phantom Traveler all over again. This time though it likely did take an act of God to get him on that plane.
New title sequence! I like this one better than last year’s, but that’s because the birds got on my nerves quick. I hate birds. An explosion of red and black smoke swirling on top of a white background with the words “Supernatural” in a deep red. It’s so…end of the world.
Sam turns off the radio in disgust and looks guilty while Dean looks pissed. Sam tries to apologize but Dean shuts him down, and that disturbs Sam a bit. Okay, a lot. Dean just wants to put their heads down and figure out what next. “First thing first, how did we end up on Soul Plane?” Hee, good one ! Sam speculates it’s the angels. Dean dismisses it as the least of their worries. He has a better idea. They’ve got to find Cas.
Let’s take a paragraph to follow the road map on this one. Quite a bit of territory is covered. They have to drive from Baltimore to Kripke’s Hollow, Ohio, which is obviously fictional. So best case scenario Kripke’s Hollow is in northeastern or eastern Ohio. That’s a f ive to six hour drive. Trust me, I know. Then later they end up in Upstate New York near Buffalo, since the lockup is in Black Rock, NY, which is another 3 to 4 hours at least. Throw in Delaware, and there’s some strange road covered in this story.
Back at Chuck’s place and aside from the blood splattered everywhere it doesn’t look all that different since it looked like a bomb exploded in there to begin with . Sam and Dean ar e in full investigation mode and hear a noise. Sam goes to check it out without a weapon or cover. Yeah Sam, it’s not like something is waiting around the corner to strike you. So Chuck comes out from around the corner and hits Sam with a plunger. That’s the best weapon he can find? Still, it’s a pretty gnarly strike. Chuck is floored to see them. “You’re okay!” Chuck exclaims. “Well, my head hurts,” Sam replies, not forgetting about the plunger thing. You’re lucky it was rubber object Sam.
Thanks, i got to see it thanks to itunes but it was great to skim through it here.
Sam dies again had my dying. Poor guy.
I am so glad that recaps are back! Thanks for these Alice, I love them so.
BTW: the “cram it with walnuts, ugly!” is a line Homer Simpson has used. I love the way references sneak in. During my rewatch of Lucifer Rising, though, I have to wonder when Sam and Dean find the time to watch as much TV as they seem to I mean, how *does* Dean know about the Suite Life? (Still one of my top ten favourite Deanisms ever!)
I apologize deeply in advance, but I’m probably going to end up double posting again because I am too full of squee and I just wanna say a couple of things before I move on to the second page of the recap.
1. Red smoke? Hmm..I assumed it was blood, because it looks like swirling liquid to me. But I dunno.
2. Google-Fu tells me that 16 Celsius is equals 60.8 Fahrenheit, and 24 Celsius is 75.2 Fahrenheit. I was born and raised in a tropical country where the temperature averages around late 20s to early 30s in Celsius (30++ in cities). To me, 16 is COLD.
Hi..It’s me again (sorry). I think I’ll proceed in point form (again).
-Chuck is getting more awesome.
-Bobby is absolutely amazing. Bar none. Period.
-I don’t get the Soul Plane reference (?)
-First a Cate Blanchett lookalike, and now Dean? Micheal has a thing for the pretties doesn’t he?
-Cas finally kicks ass *woot, woot*
-Whatever divine detox plan Sam might be on, it seems to be amping his puppy-power. Puppy-eyes-of-doom are really packing more of a punch now!
-Becky…yes, I think her character is gross. Do I mind? No. Kripke is having some harmless fun..he’s the one who made us all batshit crazy anyway, so he’s entitled to it. I can’t figure why some people are so offended by the existence of Becky.
-Lucifer..I can’t wait to see all the wonderful ways he’ss torture our boys.
-Dean walking away from Sam in the parking lot, and the little half-turn he did..I think a part of me died. Oh BOYS!!!
Don’t fret, they will get it together again and sooner rather than later, I hope, as the Dean-stoney-glare-of-unforgivingness and Sam’s kicked puppy face could get tedious after a while ( say a year or two, anyway! )
I love Becky, just thinking about the hotel room scene cracks me up … I reckon that Poor Old Chuck’s shadow army of sleazy fangurrls are a fabulous idea, they’re sort of like the anti-ghostfacers … who in turn are the anti-winchesters, and … er … well, you get my drift … I’m so pleased they’re back! 😀
Thanks for the recap, Alice. I really had trouble with some of the words in that episode. Meg’s comment about ‘icing’ Lucifer for instance. Even after I played it back a few times , I still could not understand her. :cry::
I have read all the comments posted about the show, and no one mentioned Dean’s ‘troubled’ look at Sam just before the two of them ran for the door at the very beginning. Dean pulled Sam to go, and Sam didn’t move. Sam just stared at the light….the look was one of complete awe! I thought ‘OMG Sam is completely controlled by the demon. He wants Lucifer out’. They showed Dean’s reaction to Sam for more than a second, so I have to think it was supposed to indicate some point in the story. ….maybe some hint of future demon-Sam. Sam’s look changed though to one of complete fear when he realized Lucifer WAS coming. Then he was ready to go.
Look forward to tomorrow nights episode! The clips show Sam’s ‘puppy-dog’ eyes are in full force!
Awesome recap! I look forward to these so much! And the needlepoint idea? Inspired! Sam’s puppy dog eyes & Dean’s reaction to being mauled by Meg were highlights for me. I needed Kleenex too for Bobby’s words to Sam (both times) & the end scene between the boys.
Great, great recap. I’m surprised myself that Sam hasn’t had a trip to straitjacket land. And good catch on the 375 hours of driving in 8 minutes. Maybe there’s a jet engine in the trunk. And I prefer my weepy moments to come later in the season. First episode? At least they didn’t toss Beethoven’s 7th over that last scene or I’d have been crying on the bus to work the following morning.
great recap! so lets summerise – bobby is awesome, cas is awesome, chuck is awesome, a defiant dean is awesome, sam is breaking our hearts – and the boys finally get honest with each other. I keep saying it but i think it’s a good thing, only once everything is out in the open can you work out the problem and then work to fix it. Although painful and awkward and brutal at times it’s better than the lies and the denial of last season.
Also Lucifer is brilliant, hypnotic and persausive, creepy and cruel….. I can’t wait for him to come into play!
oh and Dean’s never going to get over that fear of flying is he?
I don’t know about any other references, but “Cram it with walnuts, ugly” was a line from a Simpsons episode. One of the Itchy & Scratchy ones. Did Kripke ever work on the Simpsons as a writer?