Recap – “Free To Be You And Me”
Back to Sam, whose demon hunting researching ways won’t leave him that easily. He’s checking out Revelation online, or at least a scan of it in old world Latin. That must be the lesser know n version. Sam pulls out his phone, goes to Dean on the contact list, and then back up to Bobby. He calls, and we see Bobby back at home, in his wheelchair, looking pretty glum. Sam tells him where he is and yes, Bobby has been informed of the brotherly split. Sam points out the omens and Bobby rightfully wants to know why Sam is calling him. Sam hopes Bobby can “put a man on it.” Bobby breaks out the sarcastic tone he’s so good at . “Okay, let me see if I can think of the best hunter who might be in the immediate vicinity. Oh, that be you.” Sam insists he’s sitting this one out. Oh Sammy, you know this is going to backfire, right ? He hangs up before Bobby can give him one of his trademark verbal ass whoopings.
Dean has taken up shelter in an abandoned house this time, and Castiel appears from nowhere. I know that’s a camera trick, but wouldn’t it be so cool if I had the ability to do that? I’d freak the living crap out of everyone who knows me. Actually, I’d only use it at work as a show of dominance. That’ll teach everyone to stop ignoring my emails. Muhwahaha! Anyway, Dean asks Cas where he’s been. “Jerusalem.” “Oh, how was it?” Dean asks with that hint of sarcasm one gives when a quick errand to Jerusalem is not something we mortals do. “Arid.” Hee, for some reason I really love that answer.
Castiel has an old pitcher with some very special oil, very rare. “Great,” Dean says, “so we’re going to trap Raphael with a nice vinaigrette?” Oh come on Cas, laugh at that. It’s funny! He doesn’t. The ritual goes down at sunrise. “Isn’t that kind of like trapping a hurricane with a butterfly net?” Dean asks. “No, it’s harder,” Castiel dryly replies. “Do we have any chances of surviving it?” You’re only asking now Dean? Wouldn’t have that been the first question? “You do,” Castiel answers.
Dean’s eating this up. “So odds are you’re a dead man tomorrow.” Considering Cas recently blew up and was resurrected, Dean knows that’s likely not going to happen. He plays along, ask ing Castiel what he plans on doing on his last night on earth. “I just thought I’d sit here quietly.” Dean is slight ly exasperated by that. He prods some more, asking if he does anything, booze, women, that sort of thing. Um Dean, angel. Nope. “You have been with a woman before, or an angel at least.” Cas’ uncomfortable adjust ment of his collar makes that a negatory. “You mean to tell me you’ve never been up there doing a little cloud seeding?” Castiel has never had occasion. Seriously? How old is he? I t doesn’t matter, for Cas has opened the door. Dean stops himself from busting out laughing and man does he have a great reaction. I just can’t describe it. Dean’s taking on the mission to do something about th is . “Let me tell you something there are two things I know for certain. One, Bert and Ernie are gay. Two, you are not going to die a virgin, not on my watch.” Oh no, this can’t go well.
Sam on the other hand has bigger problems. He’s doing his bus boy thing at the bar and someone shouts out “Sam!” He ignores them since his name is “Keith” but waitress Lindsay knows they’re talking to him and points that out. Now its time for Sam to do some lame covering of his own. “That’s my middle name.” No, it isn’t, but I’d love to know what his real middle name is. Dean’s too. She finds the name Keith Sam to be odd, but one of the three men there , who we’ll call hunter #1 says its really Samuel. Has anyone in this show ever called him Samuel? We only know it due to one glimpse on a monitor in “The Benders.”
Anyway, these three guys know Sam because they hunted with his Dad. Of course Samuel is a decent hunter himself. “Oh, so you hunt deer and things?” Lindsay asks. “And things,” hunter #1 clarifies. Awkward! It also should be noted Sam has his trademark white shirt on that only buttons half way with the weird paisley-like print and the red markings on the rolled up sleeves. That thing is really looking ropey by season five. I first remember that shirt in “A Very Supernatural Christmas,” but I’m going to have to go back to see if it was worn earlier than that. Someone gets a huge prize of bragging rights if you find that out first.
Sam sits down with these guys, serving them all up beers. The hunters want to know why Sam isn’t doing this hunt. “It’s personal.” Oh Sam, you know evasive answers invite trouble. H e hasn’t learned his lesson. “What baggage is so heavy it can’t be stowed away for the freaking apocalypse?” h unter #1 asks. Only if…never mind, you find out. Sam tries again to avoid the answer and I start pounding my head on a desk. Throw them a bone Sam, hunters don’t respect privacy. This scene is where you deserve to have the snot kicked out of you, not later. The boys go on their merry, yet very suspicious ways and they say Sam’s buying the beers when they get back. These guys are going out to what could be certain death and all they want from Sam is a beer? It better be damned good beer.
Lindsay is now more curious than ever. “So now your parents were drunk when they named you and you shoot Bambi?” Trust me, he wishes it was just Bambi. He goes for the “long story” cop out, but she’s had enough of his “Kung Fu wandering the earth” thing as have I. She’s buying him dinner and they’re talking. Sam doesn’t want to , but s he won’t take no for an answer.
Dean and Castiel are in a place of “uncertain morals .” Dean smiles and has a beer while Castiel’s freaked out expression is priceless! Dean tells him to relax. “This is a den of iniquity, I should not be here.” Dean’s logic gets somewhat twisted. “Dude, you full on rebelled against Heaven. Iniquity is one of the perks.” A girl in a see through white nightie comes over and asks Castiel his name, which he can’t answer. He’s too nervous . Way to go Misha, you actually nail in one terrified look the absurd notion of a thousands year old angel being set up with a hooker. One named Chastity. Someone who abstains from sex on moral grounds? Funny Mr. Carver. What’s also funny? Watching Castiel slam down a beer.
Chastity starts to drag Castiel to the back, but Dean stops him. He gives him a wad of cash and some instructions. “Take this. If she asks for a credit card, no. Just stick to the basics. Do not order off the menu. Go get her tiger, don’t make me push you.” Castiel grabs the money in fear and goes. I know, why is Cas listening to Dean? He won’t listen to Dean when it comes to matters of God, why now? Who knows, but let’s try to not over think it since this scene was meant for comic relief. Dean mingles a beautiful woman and there’s a scream in the back. Dean investigates and Chastity is going off on Castiel, throwing things at him and telling him ” screw you jerk. ” Can’t they bleep out harsher language and then leave in the real stuff on the DVD? No prostitute is going to go off without obscenities. She tells the same thing to Dean on the way out and continues her girky hissy fit while storming away.
I really tried to get some more and better Dean and Castiel screenshots, especially with Raphael, but it was impossible. The scenes were too shaky and dark. Plenty of good Sam ones though as you can see.
Excellent recap! Alice, I think you should record commentary for this show, because what you have to say is hilarious! This was my favourite part: “…monloguing, telling the truth to screw the Winchesters demons†– this made me laugh out loud, mostly because it’s very true!
I pretty much love every moment that Cas is on screen these days. “I just thought I’d sit here quietly.†That makes me go ‘aww’ every time. Not only is it funny, but it’s endearing. Castiel is so cute sometimes, in that floppy-puppy way.
My theory about the vessels is as follows: the basic angels (such as Castiel and Uriel) don’t need specific vessels to contain their energy – just a certain type of person (DNA wise). Angels like Michael and Lucifer, however, require very specific people (beyond Angel-DNA compatibility) to house their essences’ which is why when Raphael is in that body and then leaves it, it’s pretty much burned out inside. Consider: Pamela’s eyes burnt out for ‘peeking’ at Cas – she wasn’t the right type of person able to experience the angels in their true form through her sense (yes, I would categorize her mind’s eye as one such sense). Cas needed a person with specific DNA (Jimmy Novak) to possess him and hear him and Jimmy didn’t suffer the results the man worn by Raphael was seen to suffer because Castiel isn’t as powerful. Lucifer told Sam that Nick’s body could barely contain him – he was the runner up in the Who-Wears-Lucy-Best contest, Sam being the winner. So, to sum up that long and non-sensical babble: more powerful an angel is, the more specialized his/her meat suit needs to be.
Only 23 hours and 10 minutes (give or take) until episode 4! (How can we be at episode 4 already!?)
While we’re getting all deep and thoughtful about vesselology, has any one else noticed that the angel/ninja turtle slated to be wearing Dean in weeks to come is Mikey – The Party and Pizza Mindless Hedonism Turtle ( in case anyone cares the others are Sensible Turtle, Techno Turtle and Punch Anything That Moves Turtle ) This is just too fitting to be a coincedence … There must be more to it, watch this space …
Thanks again Alice for your recap. It’s always such a joy to read.
The amount of light humour this episode was nice after such two very heavy episodes.
Although the brothel scene may have offended some viewers, I for one found the expression on Castiel’s face priceless. (chalk one up for Misha).
It was good to see Dean’s one-liners being said with the old jovial wit.
I found the first two episodes his one-liners were delivered with more anger than actual humour.
Dean’s admission to being relieved to be free of his family obligation and happy to be able to live for himself was quite understandable.
What he has sacrificed for his family has been more than anyone could of given. He needed to step back and take a breather and be his own man.
However after seeing how he was with Castiel, straightening of his tie, assisting him with the FBI badge. Taking him to the house of ill repute. His pep talk to listen to his heart and continue to search for his father.
Sounded to me like some one still needed to be the big brother. Still wanted to be needed. So his comment about not missing Sam, really didn’t come off as his true feelings.
I wonder if Dean’s has had thoughts of regret about selling his soul to save Sam. That if he had not had Sam resurrected than none of this would be happening.
I would imagine the guilt with having these thoughts would be unbearable and make it hard to face Sam.
As for Sam, I also wonder if he is ever going to get a break.
What more could Sam possibly endure, with out having a complete mental breakdown.
The words “Poor Sammy!†have been leaving my lips at the end of each episode since “Raptureâ€. My heart is simply breaking for him.
I don’t know about you but Lucifer using Jessica’s image to talk to Sam, looked like someone lying and using trickery to me.
Thanks Alice for the recap. Jared acting was superb! It was the first time I saw an actual tear run down his face in the series, although he has come close. Jensen is an expert in that.
Great, great recap of a stellar episode. There are a few ways the inevitable God vs. Satan/Dean vs. Sam deal is going, but every so slowly nudging us towards it, these bastard writers are going to wring every bit of maddening lunacy from it. I can’t wait to see how this ends up.
@Suze, does this mean Lucifer is Krang? Muah.
Mmmm … Possibly, or Shredder … Like I said, it’s a work in progress.
Good article Alice. I think there is plenty of hope for Sam, and Dean. Both boys just need to stop beating themselves up over events they really had no control over. (And that doesn’t mean I believe in the destiny ideas). Like Lindsey said in FTBYAM, “No one has ever done anything so bad they can’t be forgiven, they can’t change.” That is SO true. For me, it’s sad that this has dragged on for so long. Hopefully they will get back to the happier things soon.
I do have to disagree with one thing. I don’t think Sam is a monster. I think he THINKS he’s a monster, and Dean does too. Both of them are wrong. Sam has extraordinary abilities that he needs to learn to use properly, not throw away. I think in MBV, he learned that for the first time, and hopefully soon he will learn that he doesn’t need blood to turn them on. At least that’s what I hope the writers will do. 🙂