Recap – “Sam,Interrupted”
Next scene Sam is seen sitting in bed, staring off into space, not looking quite himself. Dean comes in and asks Sam if he’s okay. He’s pretty motionless and says he’s not okay. “I am…awesome.” Oh, so he’s stoned out of his gourd. Dean is kind of pissed, asking if they gave him something. “They gave me everything. It’s spectacu lacular.” Then he laughs. Oh, how long has it been since we’ve seen Sammy laugh? I’ll take it any way I can get it. Dean mentions he was always a happy drunk. Really? I’d love to see that. More please!
Sam gets a moment of coherence and mentions to Dean the arrogant bastard, I mean doctor wasn’t a wraith. Dean knows. He doesn’t understand, he saw it in the mirror. “Or you’re seeing things,” Sam says with that slur in his voice. “Maybe you’re going crazy.” Dean denies this, but since Sam’s inhibitions are gone in a delightful way, we get to actually hear what he’s thinking. “Well, come on, I mean you’ve been at least half crazy for a long time, since you got back from Hell or since before that even. We’re in a mental hospital (laughs), maybe you’ve finally cracked. Maybe now you are really, for real crazy.” The delivery of these lines by Sam is just precious. He needs to get drugged up FAR more often. I do wonder if he really thinks that though. Interesting.
Dean declares he made a mistake. He’ll find the thing. So now Sam goes into supportive, “humor my big brother” mode, holding onto Dean’s shoulder. “Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. It’s okay, hey, hey, look at me. It’s okay, because you’re my brother and I still luv ya.” Dean gives him a nervous smile while Sam gives another serious show of support before grabbing Dean’s nose. “Boop!” Bwah! He is out of his mind. Anyone EVER think we’d ever see this from Sam? Sam laughs, Dean really really wants to kill him now. I rewind this scene a few times and rewatch, for it’s a Sam fan’s dream.
Dean walks down the hall and runs into therapist chick again. She’s back to play devil’s advocate and wonders if he’s still hunting that wraith. “People are dying,” Dean says. She points out people die all the time. Dean isn’t in a humoring mood this time, telling her to let him do his job. He’s saving her life. “It’s not my life I’m worried about.” Dean goes off on her, declaring he’s fine. She doesn’t buy it and lets him know all this pressure and guilt is killing him. He can’t save everybody. Then suddenly, her expression turns vicious. “Hell, these days, you can’t save anybody. Dean.” He’s surprised so she really lets go. “The truth Dean. You got Ellen and Jo killed. You shot Lucifer but you couldn’t gank him. You couldn’t stop Sam from killing Lilith and oh, yeah, you broke the first seal. All you do is fail. Did you really think that you Dean Winchester, with a GED and a give ’em hell attitude were going to beat the devil? Please, the world is going to burn and there’s nothing you can do about it.” Ooh, a bit too “on the nose” huh?
Dean naturally doesn’t take this well and demands to know who she is and how she knows this. A nearby orderly, watching with confusion, tells him to settle down. Dean shouts at the doctor some more so the orderly comes over and repeats his comment. Dean asks him “who is she?” but surprise, there’s no one there. The orderly points out there’s nobody there. Dean looks at the doctor, who stares him down with eeevilll. “I’m not real Dean. I’m in your head. Because you are going crazy.” Ooh, what a twist! She was never real. So all those questions, all that worry, it was all Dean bringing it to the surface? Yikes! That poor boy. The burden of saving the world is really consuming him, isn’t it? It’s so rare to get a look like this into Dean’s head. It’s stunning. He’s a mess.
Now she’s gone. He tells the orderly to leave him alone and walks down the hall. A doctor and evil perky nurse are standing there. They look like wraiths in the mirror. Dean lets it go and walks down the hall completely disturbed. He passes two patients. They’re wraiths in the mirror too. He tries to go through a door, but it’s locked. So, he slides down the wall and cowers in the corner, having a full fledged freak out. That’s really cool and all, but somehow off camera he manages to pull it together and get to the common area. Everyone speculate how that happened.
Sam’s turn and his situation isn’t much better. If anything, it could be worse. His talk with a doctor is real and it’s just as harsh as Dean’s hallucination. At least we think it’s real. Who knows? While Sam stares out the window being all pensive in his room, that arrogant bastard, I mean the doctor, asks if Sam wanted to see him. Yes, Sam is sorry and feels horrible about what he did. He confesses he thought he was a monster. The doctor knows, but asks why. Sam avoids the question by pointing out he had a moment of clarity. There’s no such thing as monsters. Ah, what a good liar.
The problem is the monster thing isn’t what’s bothering the doctor. “Monsters are the least of your problems.” Sam doesn’t understand. “People can learn to live with delusions but the anger I saw in you, you hurt those two men, you were going to kill me. The look in your eyes when you came after me, it’s like you were barely even human. Like a man possessed.” Ouch, the things that Sam hates hearing about himself. Time to break out the sad puppy dog eyes! The doctor really hits home with Sam. The revelation about his anger crushes him and he admits he knows. Then with those lost puppy eyes, he pleads for another chance. The doctor agrees, but he’ll have to go about the hospital under supervision. He leaves Sam with one stinging warning. One more outburst and Sam will be transferred to a facility for those with violent behaviors. They won’t be as kind. The thought frightens the crap out of Sam. Me, I want to see that.
Sam next gets to join Dean in the common area. Dean is sitting there alone, looking kind of out of it. Sam asks him what’s wrong. “It’s not the demon blood Sam. It never was.” Sam is stunned. “The problem was you, it was always you, the lies, your arrogance, the black spot on your soul.” Okay, so this is likely a sign that Sam never told Dean what Ruby said after he killed Lilith, about how he didn’t need the demon blood. I’m not at all surprised. Another angry patient comes up to Sam. “Now we’re gonna die because of you.” Now he’s surrounded by an angry mob, pushing and shoving him around.
That’s all it takes to light Sam’s fuse. He starts swinging. In a pretty cool visual, he’s then alone and swiping violently at air. Two orderlies come to restrain him. He punches one but the other gets a good hold and they both grab him. Dean sits by the window cowering, watching the whole thing with nervousness. Sam struggles but they’ve got him tight. “Leave me alone!” He yells over and over again before being dragged away. Dean stays exactly where he is, questioning what’s happening.
Great recap as usual, Alice.
The end of this episode made me really nervous, too. I don’t know what else Dean really could have said to Sam since all he does is repress and repress, but it’s certainly not what Sam needed or wanted to hear. This is definitely going to have some ramifications down the line.
When I rewatched the episode, I noticed a really cool shot they did when Dean is watching the mirror in the hallway to see who the wraith is. The female doctor comes up to talk to him, then the male doctor comes by, says hello to Dean, and when they pan back to show the mirror, only Dean is in it. The female doctor isn’t there! But it’s really quick, and I didn’t notice the first time through, since I wasn’t really watching for it. But nice subtlety there, Show!
Lastly, when Sam encounters Dean after his first conversation with his fake doctor, he says he was “thraped,” like “therapy raped,” I guess. I think I read somewhere that this was a reference from “Girl, Interrupted,” but I don’t know for sure.
Again, great recap! I, for one, don’t care when you post them. I’ll still read!
Great recap, as usual, Alice! I love reading them because your comments always make me laugh. The end scene still makes me feel odd, even just reading about it, I’m not sure what to make of it.
That was a fun review Alice. Was laughing all through it. Especially Arrogant Sadistic Bastard Doctor! LOL!
You want a fully frontal? Me, too (in a very very quiet voice down here in my gutter). Though I’m afraid if I did get it I’d immediately pass out and miss the rest of the show. Though it would be worth it as I tape them and could catch up later. Heehee!
About the final scene, just what does Sam want Dean to do about Sam’s anger issues? A few episodes ago he was telling Dean he left with Ruby to get away from Dean and he wanted Dean to let him stand on his own two feet. When does he start doing that then? Dean has to support all Sam’s insecurities and never get any support for himself? Remember the boohoos from both Sam and Bobby last season? I don’t think Dean knows what to do about Sam and is dreadfully afraid he will lose him again, especially now when it is needed for them to be united at all costs.
I really liked when Sam all drugged up told Dean that he loved him and “booped” his nose. So cute! Oh, boys, you really get to me!
Alice, I have no problem reliving an episode a week later – I like watching them a few times, after a day or a week, so what? Thank you for this recap which is great, as always. You’re great at this – but I reckon you know that by now. Doesn’t hurt repeating it, does it?
Y’all must have had a great laugh at the Babar-joke, which unfortunately eluded me, as I was not familiar with that, sigh…
I wonder how many in-jokes I might have missed simply because I’m not American?
I’ve said so much earlier about this episode that I actually don’t really know what to say that wouldn’t be redundant.
There’s one point that did strike me, though, after re-watching it. That diagnosis they gave Dean… Either Dean played his role of being an arrogant a-hole so well or they just don’t know their DSM… The personality disorder is not so clear, and I doubt that the shrink in the beginning thoroughly explored their childhood (which would be necessary to even think of that diagnosis). If he did, the assigned ‘imagined’ shrink wouldn’t have to go there again, asking about Dean’s father (since Dean would know that he already answered those questions). It all sounds more schizotypal (but those are just my ears, sorry, I like to do my job right, as in not giving the wrong diagnosis).
I believe, Alice, what he said when Sam found him in the corridor was ‘I just got raped’, well that’s what I heard (any other word I came up with seemed weird) and – imagining whatever question the ‘doc’ might have asked him (especially perhaps in regard to dad) could have felt like violation to him… I don’t remember those lines from Girl,Interrupted that Ardeospina mentioned, but ‘thraped’ sounds about logical…
We’re given some great moments in this episode. I’d also love to see more of Sam being happily drunk, yeah, that was a Sam-fan-fest… loved it just as much as I felt moved by the ending… it really hurt to see them drive away in the mindset they were in…
Thanks, by the way, for not including me in the nutty staff, Alice – I’m relieved.
Alice, love your recaps. I do, I do… Best always, Jas
P.S: I can’t find this in any dictionary – what exactly is GED?
this might be a stupid question, but that’s just one of my most lovable traits- asking such questions…
😆 😎 😆
😆 The silver lining to an episode that stretches plausibility well beyond the breaking point? A really funny recap! Nicely done. Loved how you called Sam out, too–“the king of evasiveness and internalizing.” Totally. ‘Course, when he does finally try to open up a little he gets shut down, since Dean’s barely hanging on as it is… poor guys.
Jas, GED basically stands for General Equivalency Diploma (other words have been assigned to the acronym too, e.g. General Education Development, so don’t feel bad about any confusion!). A person who didn’t graduate from an actual high school can take an exam to earn a GED, which is the equivalent of a high school diploma. Hope this helps!
wow, thanks ElenaM – that’s interesting! That acronym has been used a few times, and now it makes sense to me – does that mean, Dean might have taken some exam along the road? He might … Thank you, learned something new now. 🙂 Jas
Good recap, Alice….You always pick up neat details….like the different ways the boys wore their robes. I saw that too, but I think that was an early effect of their subconscious surfacing. Like Dean said during Sam’s ‘drunken’ scene, he is a happy drunk. He’s not as serious as he lets on, and really should open up more. Certainly would help his relation with Dean. Maybe then we’d get some ‘pudding’ dances from Sam!
As far as Dean setting himself up as a failure, I hope not. We all die if they fail!
I caught the knife angle myself. You leave your ribs wide open if you strike with it straight, and are not in a good angle for a second strike. Someone should teach the boys Martial arts…or maybe not. They seem to do okay already.
We had two signs that Sam never told Dean about Ruby, one was in the initial interview. Dean and Sam were telling the truth, and Dean excused his brother‘s actions because he was ‘high’. I don’t know, maybe I was looking for something that wasn’t there, but the look on Sam’s face when Dean said that look sad to me. Maybe that was what pushed its second time appearance, when Sam hallucinated Dean repeating Ruby’s words. That also shows how afraid Sam is that Dean will find out. …not finding out that Sam still has powers, but that its proof, at least to Sam anyway, that he is a freak (which he isn’t). Ever heard the saying, “Oh what a web we weave, when first we practice to deceiveâ€. Poor Sam…..he should just tell Dean ALL of it. Would help the two of them immensely.
After the Sam fought the imaginary patients, and they dragged him away, did he yell “Dean, help� I couldn’t tell from the episode but sounded like that on the clip.
As for the final scene, I agree with Bevie. Both Dean and Sam have had piss-poor lives, which they have done nothing to deserve. Dean copes by denying (and it works), Sam by anger (and that doesn’t). Dean faced his subconscious by himself and got them both out, Sam faced his with anger, and he almost got himself killed (and that wasn’t the first time). I just don’t feel Sam’s directing part of his anger to Dean is really fair. And Sam has to realize that on his own. Dean can’t tell him. (And that is speaking from personal experience) What Dean did was give his brother the advice that helped Dean…and that was to bury it…….at least for now. And as for leaving Dean again, I don’t think so. He has left Dean three times now in the series, and none of them worked for Sam. And for the record, I don’t think Sam followed Ruby to get away from Dean…Fallen Idol was way out of character for both boys. He did it for the reason he stated in Heaven and Hell (at least I think it was Heaven and Hell)……because Ruby acted like Dean would have to Sam….like a big brother.
As for completely giving up…I don’t think Sam is that weak. He has a lot of Dad in him… and I don’t think it would sit well with Dean either.
Okay done rambling!
Pudding! 😆 Coffee snorting moment number 39852 …
I thought Dean said ” raped ” but my speakers are shot and I had the sound turned way down so I could hear any nearby short people throwing up, so really it could have been anything ( secret of a happy life folks … Have more buckets than family members 😉 )
Wow Great review!! I really enjoy it!
Did you do 2 reviews cause I read another days before from blogcritics and says: from Alice Jester, too. but they are very different, I like more this one.
I really really like it.