Supernatural’s Pivotal Episodes: Season 2
Crossroad Blues:
“Crossroads are where pacts are made.” When one is at a crossroads, there is a choice to be made, left, right, straight or go back” – in this case sell my soul or don’t sell my soul.
We viewers knew that John had sold his soul back in In My Time of Dying. Dean suspected it and said as much to Sam in Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things; here it’s confirmed. John is in hell, the demons are torturing him. Dean is given the opportunity to trade his life to release John and have ten years as a family. Dean is tempted, very tempted but it’s a defining moment as the dedicated hunter in him holds firm; Evan Hudson needs saving and Dean takes action to save him.
Crossroad Blues lays massive groundwork for the future, here the events of All Hell Breaks Loose II are foreshadowed, from Dean dealing with a demon to his lack of self-worth speech to Bobby to being tired and worn down. George Darrow’s recitation of his choices and how he’s accepted them are much of what Dean embodies throughout Season 3 and we see it all outlined in the eighth episode of Season 2.
Crossroads Blues shows that deals have been made with demons for a long time and that while sometimes people seek the demon out sometimes the demon hangs around and makes its own mischief and misery; something that we learn all the way in Season 4 when it’s shown that back in 1973 Azazel was making deals for his own purposes. We learn that crossroad demon deals are nothing new to the Winchester family. What we thought was a first in In My Time of Dying and almost occurred here — and ultimately did in All Hell Breaks Loose II — was, in fact, but a number in a long list of encounters between the Winchesters and crossroad demons.
Sam doesn’t learn as much in this episode as Dean did in Nightmare but the cracks between the brothers and the desperation of
Dean is reflected by Sam’s growing concern over Dean’s head space as well as his revealing question at the end:
Sam: “When you were trapping that demon, you weren’t, I mean, it was all a trick, right? You never considered actually making that deal, right?”
Dean doesn’t answer but we the viewers, as well as Sam, know that he did, in fact, consider making that deal; if it were not for Evan Hudson ““ and the fact that this is a show about two brothers, not a father and a son, and also that Jeffrey Dean Morgan was otherwise working ““ Dean likely would have made that deal.
Crossroad Blues continued the course that is unchanged to today, as reflected in Sam’s comment to Dean in Point of No Return ““ Dean will self-sacrifice because he does not see himself as worthy.
Dean’s disdain for those that made their deals, the doctor, the architect, the husband, George Darrow, are all manifestations of one of his greatest coping mechanisms, deflect with anger or alcohol or sex or humor. Rarely do we see Dean so contemptuous of the people they are trying to help except when the topic hits so close to him personally, remember Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things and then again in Point of No Return when he uses anger to push the three closest away from him. If he can’t crush it down and bury it, he’ll use anger to remove it from his presence.
Crossroad Blues may be a bit of a monster of the week but it also brilliantly showcases what Eric Kripke has said all along, demons, angels and the like are all backdrop, the emotional family drama is the core of the show and where the real story lies. Here Dean’s suspicions and fears are confirmed and the seed is planted for sacrifice. John sacrificed for him, unworthy Dean, and when the time comes to “˜right that wrong’ Dean takes it. From that we get angels and seals and Lucifer”¦Crossroad Blues is the pivotal episode in Season 2.
All right. Bring on the comments. If you think this one is going to generate debate, wait until Season 3’s comes out next week.
Thanks for reading! Elle2
Actually, Elle2, this time I have no debate to start, as I agree with you. I am also of the opinion that the moments Dean spent at the crossroads trapping the demon and the brushes the brothers had with the other ‘victims’ laid the seeds for things to come.
Maybe for the first time, Dean actually saw a possibility to change fate if necessary, and since he was already more than a wounded soul at that point, eaten up by grief, guilt and beginning of losing hope, these exploits might have lodged themselves in his mind like a bullet. Sam, sensitive brother that he is, noticed that, thanks to his marvellous instincts, and brought it to Dean’s (and our) attention.
Though we didn’t know at that point when and how Dean was going to do ‘the deed’, I remember thinking: he will do it one day, albeit I was still thinking he might do it to exchange his soul for dad’s. Well, this show proved me wrong more than once. BUt I love that about it – that it doesn’t follow the well-trodden paths.
Elle2, I will be eagerly awaiting your other offers. Three more seasons to go.
Thank you! love, Jas
Hi Elle2
I was torn between Crossroad Blues and believe it or not Tall Tales.
I think you may be right with Crossroad Blues, you do have strong arguments, but I would like to voice why I thought Tall Tales should be in the running as well.
Tall Tales brought us the Trickster, who later turned out to be Archangel Gabriel, which added to the mytharc. Gabriel would then be the one to provide the information needed to re-open Lucifer’s cage and the importance of the horsemen’s rings. This in turn led us to Sam’s plan to say yes to Lucifer and to successfully re-trap him.
So what do you think, yes, no, maybe or is my bias for the Trickster showing. 😉
Hi Elle2, Crossroad Blues, certainly set the stage for all the demon soul selling down the road, but In My Time of Dying really took home big messages for Dean that carried through all ther other seasons; his family, his brother, and his relationship with his father. I think both were very important episode for the series.
Look forward to the part 3!
I have to agree with you elle2 on this assessment. Crossroad Blues does bring a lot to the table in that it educates us more on crossroad deals which plays a huge part in the coming seasons. But as you stated, the core of this show is the brothers – the family drama – and CB hit a homerun in that aspect. I thing IMTOD and WIAWSNB would be a close 2nd and 3rd. And Karen, while Tall Tales is a good episode and it brings us the Trickster, it doesn’t really move the story along as far as the family drama is concerned, which is what CB does in spades. The brothers relationship is the meat of the show and everything else are just side dishes. Looking forward to your thoughts on Season 3.
Hi, Jas, Karen, Sablegreen and Evelyn,
Thanks for the comments, this wasn’t so contentious at all so far. Karen, while I do think the Trickster is a valuable character, in my opinion and based on the rules I arbitrarily set up 😀 the arrival of a valuable character in and of itself isn’t enough to hang ‘pivotal’ episode on…but I’m with you for bias towards the Trickster…love him!
Also, IMTOD and WIAWSNB are definitely close in the idea of pivotal, they have pivotal moments, quite a few not to mention that they are truly classic episodes (what makes a classic anyway, can someone tell me? Oh, bother, I love them!)
Glad that you guys are enjoying the ‘brain food’ thus far…and each new article brings us that much further through Hellatus…heck, it’s already three weeks old today!!!!
And Burn Notice premiers tonight, me likey!
Loved your picks for season 1&2–great analyses, and very much agree both Nightmare and Crossroad Blues marked key turning points for the series. Doesn’t hurt that I love both, especially Crossroad Blues, a personal favorite. I find myself tending to think of Nightmare as a season 2 episode sometimes, given the way it introduced the psychic kids and was referred back to several times during that season… I think an argument could be made for IMTOD, in that John’s death had significant repercussions through the rest of the series and definitely affected future events, but like I said, love your choices– Can’t wait for season 3!
just wanted to add im a big fan of the show
😯 at NLpa
hmmm is Nick L? wow
sometimes hes an angel