Recap – “Dark Side of The Moon”
I already knew this would be a great episode the second it started. A scene that intense is the teaser? So, dig in, for this recap could get hairy. First, let’s get the credits out of the way. The writers are Andrew Dabb and Daniel Loflin, who really hit a major stride here. It’s good to see them produce something so good. The director is Jeff Woolnough, who’s done plenty of other shows (most recently Bones) but is a newcomer to Supernatural. He too brought something to the table we haven’t seen before.
First, I’m really amused by the “Then” sequence because it brings light to the fact that the boys have died plenty of times. We even got to see a few of the more graphic ones. I love it. We already know from the episode description they die again, but I adore how the show decides to be playful with it. It’s about time. They also tease about the amulet too. It’s about time with that too! We’ve missed it.
Okay, “Now” – The camera pans along an impressive collection of empty and crushed beer cans, plus an empty liquor bottle, all littering this retro motel room. Dean is passed out on the bed in clothes and man what I would give to see that bender. As the shot pulls away from Dean there’s a shotgun barrel pointed at him. He wakes up and reaches under the pillow, but doesn’t find what he’s looking for. A masked man has his precious gun and asks him if he’s “looking for this” as he drops out the cartridge. Dean looks over at Sam, who’s already uncomfortably awake and has his own gunman pointing a weapon at him. ”Morning,” Dean says to him. Not a good way to start the day.
Dean’s gunman warns “hands where I can see them.” Dean looks at the guy and knows who it is. ”Is that you Roy?” He doesn’t answer and Dean knows he’s right. He turns to the other guy “Which makes you Walt.” Roy and Walt? As in Disney? How great it is to have such fun with references when coming up with gun toting yahoos. Roy and Walt look at each other and Walt lifts off his mask, saying it doesn’t matter. So Dean sticks with the flippant attitude. ”Is it just me or do you two seem a tad upset?”
Walt reveals his beef to Sam. ”You think you can just flip the switch on the apocalypse, just walk away Sam?” Sam’s heart sinks. ”Who told you that?” Um, let me see – I think it was those hunters in Oklahoma that got you to admit you started the apocalypse before you kicked the snot out of them. Yeah, probably those guys. Walt lets Sam know that they aren’t the only hunters after him and cocks his rifle. Sam jumps and he’s really worried now. Ditto for Dean. ”See you in the next life,” Walt says. Sam starts pleading, telling him he can explain. He even uses the puppy dog “Please.” Sadly, Walt kicks puppies. The camera does the round robin of faces and ends back at Sam’s, just a split second before Walt blows him away violently with two shots.
SAMMY!!!! Oh my God, you bastard, you killed Sammy! Kudos the Jared for jerking back like that as those two shots hit him. Man does that get a viewer’s heart pumping!
Dean jumps up and is warned by Roy to stay back. Ooooh, now Dean is pissed. That is a dude you don’t want to get angry. Or let me borrow a comment from Randal. Dean has his “I will burn a hole through your fucking soul stare” (yes he even trademarked it) as he gazes at his dead brother flopped on the other bed. Walt orders Roy to kill Dean but Roy has an issue with that. Killing Sam was right but Dean? Of course Dean isn’t tuning into any of this conversation because he’s still fuming over the corpse of his baby brother. Walt’s pitch is that Dean has made them and they just “snuffed” his brother. Do you want to live knowing Dean Winchester is after you? That’s a brilliant pitch. Even I would shoot Dean in that situation.
Dean comes to his senses and turns to Roy with that cold, hard stare. He challenges Roy to do it. ”But I’m going to warn you. WHEN I come back, I’m gonna be pissed.” I think Roy pissed in his pants after that comment. He totally believes Dean and can’t shoot, so Dean eggs him on harder. ”Come on, let’s get this show on the road!” Roy and Dean have the dramatic stare down, his finger is on the trigger but he can’t do it. Walt though, being the Sammy killing dick he is, won’t buy it and fires. In what I call “the best use of the title sequence EVER” the gun goes off and in perfect timing the blood hits the water. Awesome!!! I have a feeling this is going to be a great one.
“Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door,” the vastly superior Bob Dylan version (no, it’s not by Guns N’ Roses) is playing on the radio of the Impala. Dean is in the driver’s seat sleeping and startles himself awake, likely because the good version of the song is playing. He gets out really confused about where he is. It’s dark and the Impala is just sitting in the middle of a blacktop road. The trunk slams and Dean looks behind him, shocked to find Sam. Except it isn’t Jared Padalecki Sam, it’s Colin Ford Sam! He’s holding a box of fireworks. ”Sammy?” He asks. Young Sam is all excited. ”Come on, let’s go.” Dean is confused. ”Weird dream.” You don’t dream about Sam as a boy Dean? Oh, that’s right. It’s usually hookers and fishing.
Sam puts down the box and grabs a couple of firecrackers. ”Got your lighter?” Dean pulls one out of his pocket and smiles, for he hasn’t seen that one in years. He lights the firecrackers and he and Sam watch them explode into the sky. Dean’s face lights up in the most adorable happiness, a look that we so rarely get to see. Then he remembers this. It’s 4th of July 1996. That would make Sam thirteen and him seventeen. Sam’s face is all smiles too. ”Dad would never let us do anything like this. Thanks Dean, this is great.” He then gives Dean a huge hug! Oh wow, to think they were like that once. Why am I getting all misty only five minutes into the program?
Dean isn’t sure what to make of the hug, but he eventually smiles. That feeling seems so lost on him. Sam lets go and “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” comes back on again from the beginning. Sam lights all the rest and he and Dean watch them all explode into the night sky, HUGE smiles as both marvel at the spectacle. There’s no description I could possibly provide to say how great this scene is. With the music, the acting, the way the scene is shot with the red lights of the fireworks hitting their faces at the right moment, it’s incredible. They watch, Dean sees Sam’s joy, and then Sam moves closer into the action. He jumps around in slow motion as the sparks come down all around him. I don’t know how I’m getting through this scene to describe it. Wiping tears right now, I tell ya.
Dean and Sam exchange more smiles, Dean watches the fireworks explode in the air and suddenly the quick flash of adult Sam and him back at the motel getting blown away comes to mind. He comes out of it disconcerted in the field all alone, calling for Sam. Dean goes back to the Impala and he’s definitely disoriented. There’s a nice shot of his blurred reflection in the hood of the Impala, there to symbolize his fuzzy state of mind. Dean hears static on the radio and then a voice. It’s Cas! Dean calls out his name and Cas verifies on the radio it’s him. Dean gets in the Impala to have the conversation.
This would be the first time i will be disagreeing with you Alice. I think Zachariah was manipulating which memories of Sam came up with the intent to destroy Dean’s faith and hope to get him closer to saying yes. He tried and did in season 4 to the extent of kidnapping Dean and imprisoning him so that he won’t be able to get to Sam and warn him. It took Dean persuading Castiel to leave and it was already too late by then. He tried breaking Dean’s hope and faith in Sam by sending him to the faux future and asking Dean to say yes to stop Sam from giving in to Lucifer but luckily, Dean learnt a different lesson than intended.
This time around, he manipulated which memories were shown to break Dean’s faith in Sam. When Joshua told them God had left the building coupled with his faux Mary manipulation, a Dean who had been wounded and feeling like his brother didn’t value him and love him and wanted to get away from him destroyed what little hope Dean had. Zachriah knows the brothers are stronger when they are together. Breaking them apart is an excellent tactic.
What helped was Dean’s belief in that your greatest memories represented your heaven. There was absolutely nothing to back that up. It was Sam who threw it out there as a guess that heaven may be the reliving of your greatest hits. Ash and Pamela’s heaven were completely different in the form it took. Ash had the never changing roadhouse while Pamela had the never ending show at the meadow-lands. None of them said anything about reliving their greatest hits. The fact that Sam and Dean’s were so different in form is a big clue that it was not all without manipulation.
And for me the biggest reason that makes me disagree is that when Dean questioned Sam, shocked if that was a happy moment for him? Sam’s reply was “I don’t know.” I don’t think he was saying that for Dean’s benefit. He genuinely sounded like he really didn’t know like he never thought about it. And in all honesty, it probably was more of a victory for him than happy because i don’t think anyone would be happy about their father telling them “if you walk out that door,don’t ever come back.” and leaving the only other person who knows and understand you who would be Dean to Sam. And clearly it wasn’t happy for Sam because he was still upset and sad about what their father said to him as he unleashed four years of locked up hurt at John in “Dean Man’s Blood” where he yelled and confronted John about it on the roadside. That scene and Sam’s “i don’t think dad would want to see me” to Dean didn’t speak of happy memories.
So with all that contrary evidence, i respectfully disagree that and conclude that it was all manipulated and geared to break Dean’s confidence in the one person he needs the most.
In another topic, i actually believe Sam and Dean share the same view of family a lot more than they both think. Sam craves for a normal family setting: thanksgiving with all its trimmings, going to college as a good thing, safe and non-hunting e.t.c All things associated with what we view as a normal family. Dean craves for the period pre-mum burning on the ceiling and Dad’s vengeful hunting. He also craved for a simple quality bonding time with Sam rebelling and sneaking behind a parents back. None of his memories were off hunting. Very similar view in my opinion. Sam may have never gotten the crusts cut of his PB&J but he craved for it to have happened.
And last of all, How is remembering your parents being separated and you comforting your upset mother a greatest hit? I honestly doubt that it is one of Dean’s happy memory. He didn’t look it. Even more proof that it was handpicked to break him even more.
The flipside that i bet Zachariah wasn’t counting on was that it would all give Sam an understanding of his brother and energizing him to keep fighting and helping his brother.
P.S: Sam and Dean are total soul mates. It is now cannon. Anyone who watches the way Ash says it to Sam and Dean would totally see that he was referring to them unless why bring it up? In fact i watched that scene a couple of times. Ash looks between them very nonchalant like it was plenty obvious that they were before he went on not to mention the look on Sam and Dean’s faces.
Sorry for the long ramble. 😕
Oh and anyone with half a brain would guess that Joshua was either Jesus Christ or God himself in disguise. And most importantly, the whole ‘i wash myself off the whole apocalypse. Your’re on your own” is a huge test from God. He wants to see if they would still have faith in the face of adversity and exercise their freewill. A test Sam is passing so far and Dean and Castiel are failing miserably.
I feel more for Dean simply because the whole fiasco had been engineered to destroy whatever hope and faith he had left. After loosing faith in his brotherhood, God checking out didn’t get as much thought and rational consideration of it being a test like it would normally take. As fpr Castiel, i was disappointed. For an angel to loose faith in God and curse at him is pitiful and just plain disappointing. Of all three, i expect him to have the most faith left. And the whole he is turning human excuse doesn’t fly with me. Angels were not made from humans so i don’t understand how they can turn human simply by not being in heaven. Anna had to reap out her grace. Lucifer rebelled from God and displayed the same human weakness of emotions but he never became human. SO yeah, i almost felt sorry for him due to Misha’s great acting but caught myself. Until further notice, i don’t like this version of Castiel.
Great review Alice I agree with much of it. That scene with Colin as Sam was simply stunning. The episode was beautiful to look at all round.
I think that Zach chose which memories to show though, in order to hurt Dean the most, take away the last of his faith in himself and Sam, his family and set him firmly on the road to saying yes. I think the memories were real but not necessarily the guys “greatest hits” except for Dean’s first memory.
Joshua was a bit odd, oozing sympathy like you said but also managing to hit every one of the hurts Dean suffered this episode. I am very suspicious of Joshua. Pamela was also very suspicious. I agree that the continuity on show is pretty poor at times but I can’t imagine that Tracey would not have remembered how her character died. Bit of a clue slipped in there maybe. Coupled with how hard she was pushing Michael’s agenda I doubt that Pamela was real at all.
This was one of the better episodes of this season by quite a bit, I have to admit I am surprised considering the writers but kudos to them they did a pretty good job.
Hi Alice
Love the recap…always so entertaining.
I also like your production notes as I don’t always catch them myself.
As heart wrenching this episode was, I loved it.
That firecracker scene has been added to my top 10.
I’m afraid I’m one who also believe Zack was choosing which memories to use.
Just like Joshua was able to see Dean’s faith failing, I believe Zack could see it too and played on it. Possibly heard Dean’s plea to God for help, just as Castiel did back in The Monster at the end of this book.
All of Zack’s plans have been foiled, he has now become a laughing stock and is no longer respected amongst his fellow Angles. So he is playing dirty…or dirtier.
He needs to break their spirits, their free will, their hope and most of all their alliance.
By breaking their bond and having them turn on each other, he has a better chance of them saying yes. United We Stand. Divided We Fall.
I have to agree with anene’s arguments here aswell, why were Dean and Sam going thru different memories and not staying in their own Heaven world like Ash and Pamela.
It just seemed too orchestrated to me.
I also thought Pamela was off…not grabbing Sam’s ass, not calling him Grumpy.
Anyway our team free will is in trouble.
Our beloved brothers are falling apart along with Bobby and Castiel.
The next 6 episodes is going to be a killer…going to have to stock up on the Kleenex,smelling salts and heart medication.
Anene, I have to disagree with what you said about Cas. I mean…that man fell from heaven’s graces because he believed in what was right and even when Raphael and the others mocked him for looking for god…he still persevered and never gave up hope because he had faith in his father, he trusted that god would not abandon his creation and that he would help if he was made aware of the dire situation they were in right now. But, to be let down by someone he believed in so much really hurt him…especially now when the whole situation with the apocalypse seems hopeless and there is no other way to defeat Lucifer. It is only normal that he feels angry and dissapointed…just because his an angel doesn’t mean he has no right to feel angry. Atleast he only believed that god truly abandoned them when he heard it from “god” himself unlike the other angels(whom just assumed that he was dead or gone). Anyways, Alice, this is an awesome article and I really like the way you got all the small changes in the boys expressions and all the references. Honestly this was an awesome tear-jerking episode and it is officially one of my favourite episodes. Jensen and Jared did an absolutely wonderful job and although Misha only had a brief appearance…he made an impact with his amazing acting. Dean and Cas hopelessness really crushed my heart,and hopefully they will be able to pull themselves out of this ditch soon. Finally, I really hope Sam picked up the necklace before leaving and gives it back to Dean when he is needs it. Dean (and SPN) just won’t be the same without the necklace. It is almost like losing the Impala…
P.S Can’t wait for this week’s ep!!!!
Again Alice, thanks so much for a wondeful recap. Testement to your writing and the prog that I am now again in tears. What a heartbreaking episode, I was an emotional wreck most of the way through and then came the killer punch of the `amulet in the bin.` Like you I am also sure this was not a rejection of Sam.
While other episodes had scenes/moments which reduced me to tears this one sustained the emotional involvement all the way through, the fireworks and the kitchen scene, even the screen caps of this set me off.
Team free will seems to be totally disintegrating before our eyes, held up at the moment by Sam, but how long can he keep paddling for everyone else?
I have no idea how much we should believe and how much is all planted evil from Zach, who I now officially hate as much as I did Alistair , as lets face it, we know what he is capable of and the lengths he will go to to achieve what he wants.
I think the next 6 weeks are going to be a little traumatic for both Team Free Will and for us, after reading what is going to happen in the 100th ,(I cannot resist spoilers!!) just how low can they make rock bottom? I think I will need to share Karens stock of tissues etc.
BTW got great alternative for your `shocked` problem– good old irish term `Banjaxed`, something I think we are all going to be very soon.
Ai, ai, yeah. That was my Axl-doing-Dylan impression. Sorry about that. Check out the difference between the fourth and fifth cap. Can these dudes do the whole range of emoting with only the face, or what?
A minor point, but I’m glad I’m not the only one who thought the ‘condolences’ line was more than an angel-human cultural disconnect. You all know damn well that Cas is learning our ways.
Alright, Misha Collins needs to be in a comedic version of 1984. Big bucks just waiting to be made, I tells ya.
I loved the interplay between the two, that, as you said, Dean is at wit’s end and Sam isn’t connecting as we beyond the fourth wall are. His burgeoning turn to take the reins of going-down-swinging.
As for the cleaning up dad’s messes part, that was another punch to the gut. The dude’s been the rock for decades. And I don’t think resentment of Sam’s “escape” is what fuels whatever discord they have, but merely at a lost opportunity for family because of Azazel’s plans. Re: the dog and Flagstaff: when we’re in our own world, we’re really in our own world. Think of someone texting away on their phone, oblivious to his or her environment. Same gig here. Even if only for the briefest of moments, Sam had escaped the hunting life.
Now, onto Stanford, I can easily see that being both a memory (if not a 100% happy one) and a Zachariah curveball. And yes, those of us that are married know exactly what you’re getting at here. Hell, for all intents and purposes, that’s how close their relationship is (settle down, Wincesters). The smallest (okay, apocalypse and hunting and such are larger than a foible, affectation or a late cable bill) differences can feed on themselves. Thus, as you say, selective choosing. Choosy angels choose Jif.
Ash! Remember, he’s an enlightened redneck. MIT probably soured him on bluebloods. 😀
For a Ramones fan to pick a completely non-intimate megastadium, now that’s creepy. What, no CBGB’s?
Thesaurus: buy or borrow a copy of the Oxford American Writers Thesaurus. Use that sucker all the time myself. 😎
Now that I’m reading this recap, I have to amend my Kurt Fuller grade from A+ to A+++ What a supreme fucking asshole. I should be using bullet points in this comment. Heaven would be watching the Browns finally win a goddamn Super Bowl. From the 50-yard line. With Casey. I mean, with my wife.
Yes, Milton! (great poem and all, but still not as cool as Ash). Lucifer is beautiful and a prick and god’s just a prick.
Yes, it’s now up to Sam. Stop, Redemption Time! No parachute pants though, please. If I can answer Dany, why even intervene in the first place? Because god’s a prick. Duh. 😉 As Kripke himself has stated, this show is humanocentric. Who are the heroes, whether they save the day or not? Us humans. And hell, given his current mindset and friendship with the brothers, Cas, too.
Oh, Alice, to hit 10000 words next time, add mini-comments under each screen cap. You’re welcome.
Alice, this was wonderful. I loved the fireworks scene. Dean and Colin made it all look so happy. That I’ve relayed many times. Wish I could get a video of it. Too bad that was at the beginning not the end. Would have loved to end on a happy note.
The scene caps were gorgeous. Thanks to you, I now have so many pretty pics of the boys; it’s hard to choose a good screen saver.
Soul mates concept, at least the one I’m familiar with, is a very sweet thought. I hope that’s the one they mean.
Thanks Alice. You put a ton of work into this!
Excellent recap as usual, Alice. The screencaps you chose were ideal and I really relived the emotional bits in reading this piece.
I don’t know where I stand on the whole Zach-manipulating the memories, but I’m leaning towards the idea that he didn’t. I truly believe that the insight Sam gained from witnessing Dean’s memories will be an asset, and Zach wouldn’t facilitate that. I think the Mary-Dean scene was a greatest hit because it’s a sweet memory with his mom, of which he has so few. Yes, he witnessed his parents fighting but he also got to be his mom’s “hero”, for lack of a better word. Dean always seems happiest when he’s taking care of those around him, so for me this makes perfect sense as a happy Dean memory. Also, if Zach could manipulate their memories in that manner it wouldn’t have been necessary for the big chase scene, search light, etc. IMHO, anyways.
On the issue of Castiel, Anene, I have to disagree with you. I don’t find it pitiful at all, but sad. Yes, he’s lost his faith but its taken an awful lot for him to do so – you can only take so much before you’re too exhausted to go on. I believe this goes hand in hand with the humanization that Cas has undergone throughout the season. While I agree that God probably hasn’t checked out entirely on the end of the world and that yes, perhaps it is an exercise in free will and consequence, I wouldn’t say Dean and Cas are failing at all. Cas gave up everything, even to the extent where using his angel mojo is killing him, and Dean has just kept moving forward through everything that has been thrown at him. So they’re tired and lost right now – that doesn’t equal failing. Dean just can’t be the leader right now, someone else has to pick up the burden and help him along.
Let’s be honest, Dean hasn’t had a break from hunting – EVER. This episode illustrated well that he’s been carrying the emotional burdens of his family since he was a small child (and parental fighting – especially to the extent where one moves out, even for a few days, takes its toll on children and leaves a mark) even before hunting was a factor. Add to that the horrific death of his mother, the soldier raising mentality and violent hunting lifestyle, playing peacekeeper between Sam and John, having his brother whom he practically raised leave him for school (not that I’m saying Sam was wrong for doing that – but it had to sting something fierce for Dean), losing John followed by knowledge that John traded his own life for Dean’s, Sam’s death, 40 years in Hell as both torturee and torturer, the rift between him and Sam (and all of the other manipulations courtesy of Ruby) AND the apocolypse (which thus far has led to his father-figure in a wheelchair and the death of two close friends) of which God wants no part – ya, I’d be done too. None of this is to say that Sam hasn’t had his share of heartache and struggles – because he definately has – but he also had break in there during Standford – he got to live some of his own life, and he wasn’t as in denial about his feelings as Dean has been. Dean’s breakdown has been a long time coming, I guess is what I’m saying here.
I guess we’ll all just have to wait and see what happens now.
Thanks Alice!
I cant understand Dean and Castiel get broken and exhausted . Dean kept plowing through everything for the last few seasons? and now he cant and both these characters get sympathy?. Sam just keeps going forever like a clock work toy regardless of everything he goes through because he can apparently despite all he has gone through? and not a so much has a weeny breakdown or even a tearful moment and when he got destroyed by Dean deal and losing Dean he ends up being the bad guy because of the way the show portrayed it now he gets to see how selfish he was because the show loves telling us this because he went to Stanford and Dean got hurt .So what exactly is Sam supposedly having redemption for? last season or his entire life? and has Sam actually got any thoughts on this or a pov or anything?
I love episodes like this where Sam was stupid enough not to realize he hurt his brother and now he does and he can make up for it and he keep going through everything like that clock work toy while all fall around him . Well certainly a roundabout redemption arc but interesting .
Oh I did like this one and loved seeing Ash again and thank you Alice for your review .
Alice, forgive me, I can’t say really much right now (which is not my usual way of commenting to your recaps), as I’m choking up again after going through your recount of the episode which moved me and reminded me of the holy crap the brothers have been through – as it a reminder of that was necessary.
This is one of my favourite episodes, again, the range of faves expanding once more, and I agree wholeheartedly with you. This episode had probably the best intro ever – and the most devastating ending. I hate this show sometimes, as it puts my heart through a meatgrinder every once in a while.
Thank you. I need your reviews sometimes like I need hot chocolate. Cheers, Jas
Love this episode; love this recap. Just want to point out (because I’ve been seeing this all over the internet), I don’t think Pamela said she “got shot”, I think she said “guts shot”… like, gut torn apart by the knife that killed her. So, she knew how she died. I don’t think that line was supposed to be some sort of hint that Pam wasn’t herself.
Alice, wonderful recap, as usual. This was such an excellent episode for me, and you really captured the essence of it in your recap.
I keep going back and forth about whether I think Zachariah was manipulating the memories the boys saw, though. On the one hand, it’s a total dick-move to do something like that, and he’s fully capable of something like that. On the other, if he knew enough to be able to control which memories each saw, why did he need the spotlight search to smoke them out? Wouldn’t he know exactly where they were since he was controlling their heaven? Round and round I shall go, I think.
And as many others have pointed out, the fireworks scene was just amazing. Brilliantly executed. I really love that they stopped flashing the credits for that scene, too, and let it play out uninterrupted. Good choice, Show. Maybe they can talk to the people who had the V counter on last week’s LOST!
I also agree with AmberAnn because what I heard Pamela say was “gut shot,” which I immediately took to mean her stab wound to the gut, not a literal gunshot.
Really excellent point about Dean’s love of pie being an emotional trigger for him. I didn’t even think of that when his mom offered some. I just thought he’d always loved pie, but it just adds a whole new meaning for it now as a comfort food.
Lastly, just a minor thing, but I thought it was such a great detail that when we see Dean in his 4-year-old outfit for the first time, he has little skateboard shoes on with the laces undone! Of course he was a child with perpetually untied laces! I just loved that.
Thanks again for the great recap, Alice.
I’m so behind the eight-ball here, still catching up! Great recap, and once again, really interesting character discussion from everyone in the comments. Fireworks scene = instant classic. These guys nailed it to the wall! I quite like this new director. Kudos to the DP, too, the look and lighting were just beautiful. Thought that head on shot of the Impala, with the light effect from the headlights was really beautiful too… Best use of title card transition EVER: My thoughts exactly!!!
OK, srsly, there are people who think Axl wrote Knockin On Heaven’s Door? Now, I like my GnR from time to time but that, that’s sacrilege.
Speaking of, though I totally understand where Cas is coming from at the end and it’s heartbreaking, i still think it’s pretty ballsy to call the Creator an SOB… I look up nervously everytime I watch that scene, fully expecting to be struck by lightning at any moment 😕