WARNING! If you haven't seen "Hunteri Heroici," read no further! There will be discussion and spoilers and all that, and you really want to watch this episode for yourself to get the full effect of the hilarity! Come back when you've watched!
So, was that fun or was that fun? Because for me, it was pretty damn awesome. I liked that episode a lot. So, yes, this review is probably gonna be a love fest. BUT! Never fear, for I have some Questions (with a capital Q) that need answering! And some other things to discuss. But first off, the thing that's on my mind right now is...
The CIAngels
They don't want Cass in heaven, unless Naomi calls him up there to report. But why? Why don't they want him being seen in heaven? It's obvious that some angels know Castiel is out of Purgatory because they went and got him. I think that the CIAngels are the ones who rescued Cass, and that the other angels left in heaven don't know about the CIAngels. Castiel was in charge of heaven for a time and didn't know about them. The CIAngels don't want it known that Castiel is out because the rest of the angels in heaven will be pissed about it, and it will blow the CIAngel cover.
The only other angel we've seen this season has been Samandriel, and he was asking about Castiel. The next time we see him, he's been captured and is being tortured by Crowley. Did the CIAngels catch wind of Samandriel's questions and hand him over to Crowley? Naomi does seem to find it imperative that she's the only angel who speaks to Castiel right now. She needs to control him.
My Sam Theory
As many of you probably know, since I posted a link in the news section on Monday, Clarissa from TVOvermind.com and I wrote a theories and speculation article about what we think is going on this season. If you haven't read it and want to, you can find it here. That was before the episode aired, but I think my theory about Sam still holds true, and I'll explain why. For those of you who didn't read that article, I'll cover my theory now. For those of you that did, you can skip the next paragraph, if you want.
I think that after Dean and everyone else disappeared, Sam had a mental breakdown of some sort. He ran, just like he said he did. He reached his breaking point and just couldn't handle it anymore. His mind shut down, and he ran. Then he hit a dog and met Amelia. I think those two did bond for a bit, and that they slept together. But I think that when she kicked Sam out the next morning, that the real-life relationship ended there. They had one night, and that's it. But Sam needed something to hold onto, so he created a relationship with Amelia. Everything that happened after their one night is fake, created by Sam as a coping mechanism. And I think tonight's episode fits with this theory.
Amelia's dad is a manifestation of Sam's self-doubt, spewing all the things Sam feels about himself: that he's a mess, that he's not worthy of Amelia, that he's not good enough in so many ways. But then a begrudging acceptance of himself, flaws and all. And then he opens up and is actually honest with himself, lets himself admit that he ran after Dean died to someone other than sypathetic Amelia construct. He starts to forgive himself for it, to accept it. Which is why his brain immediately sabotages the situation by creating Don's fake return. Like he said in his speech to Fred, he was trying so hard to hold on to that dream world that it ended up falling apart on him. And I believe that for Sam, the dream world was a LITERAL dream, not a figurative one where it's like, "oh, in my dream world, the sun shines all the time and ice cream doesn't go straight to my hips and kitty cats and rainbows and every inch of the world has free high-speed WiFi." Dean coming back was the punch in the gut to wake Sam from his dream world, the one his brain made up to help him cope, much like Fred Jones made up his cartoon world to help him cope.
Okay, it's time to bullet point the rest of the episode. Shall we?
- Cass as a hunter was just precious. He was trying so hard, bless him. He got some of the best lines of the episode, too.
- TALKING CAT!!!!!!!
- The cartoon physics and rules were just great. It was just enough to be awesome but not too much.
- There was a great balance of humor and tragedy in this episode. I mean, Fred's story was so sad. And Castiel being suicidal...man, that was heartbreaking.
- It was great to see Castiel find some peace at the end of the episode, though. He realized that helping people didn't have to mean hunting. It could just be sitting quietly with them, even if they didn't really know you were there. It reminded me a lot of Cass' heaven, actually, watching the autistic man fly a kite.
- "There was a pastry mishap. The frosting reached near supersonic speed." Anyone else think the cake wasn't the only thing that exploded at first?
- Sam's facial expression "bemused reaction to Cass and Dean antics" is getting quite the workout lately.
- The fight between Dean and the creepy doctor was epic!
- "What's up, Doc?" "That's all, folks."
- How great were the VFX tonight, especially in Fred's head? That was cool.
- CASS TRIED TO CRACK THE TALKING CAT!!!!!!
- Aw, Cass was gonna get to ride shotgun because he "done good." That's so adorable. Also hilarious was Sam totally hipchecking him out of the way.
- Don's alive! Didn't see that one coming. How do you think this is going to play out?
Comments
I can't get out my mind in episode 1 this season when Dean was doing the test, with the salt, cutting of the knife, holy water in all. Sam said he knew it was him.
How was he so sure and how did Sam get back in contact with Martin for the next episode?
I'm all over the place right now.lol
I will say Sam not looking for Dean better be something influenced it or he cracked the F up. I never thought in a million years a sane Sam would do that.
Also to throw into the ether. I think Dean is going to be killed (eventually) by Amy's son. Who else agrees with that?
Anyway, I loved tonight's episode. I loved having the old Cas back. The talking cat was priceless! Mike Farrell was a great addition to the cast. It was nice to see the boys speak fondly of their father and not have that "sour lemon" look on their face when his name is mentioned. I hope to keep seeing their contacts in the hunting world expand.
NOW I KNOW WHY SAM LEFT IN THE FIRST EPISODE, IT IS ONLY RIGHT. IF IT IS MEANT TO BE, SHE WILL BE BACK.
Not warming up to Amelia at all. The writing in those scenes is soapy and the acting is stiff. I was not surprised by Don's return because it is so obviously supposed to be mirroring Dean coming back. Even the choice of name for this character, Don, is so not subtle. Someone on Twitter just said that there's all of a sudden a lot of Nicholas Sparks in their SPN and I must agree.
I hold out less and less hope that there is more going on than meets the eye, but recent cast interviews and now this episode make me fear there is not. Perhaps only some involvement from the angels in bringing Don (and perhaps even Dean) back from presumed death. That would at least add some much needed layers. I read that Jeremy Carver is about to post some interviews on a CW website, I am not sure if I am brave enough to read those at this point. But maybe I am wrong and we are being bamboozled all together and some amazing plot twist is yet to come. I sure hope so.
Even in Sam's FBs, we're not getting any substantive dialogue re: his thoughts, feelings. "I lost my brother . . . so I ran." Okay. What does that mean? Lost him to death, Purgatory, what? What are you talking about, Sam? How can you know you lost Dean unless you investigated? Since when does a disappearance on this show equal death? Huh?
I can buy Sam researching, not being successful, and then moving on, but I will never buy into this idea that he wouldn't even investigate!
At first, I thought Sam's flashbacks were brief on purpose but would become more informational as time went on, however, whilst the flashbacks have become longer at times, I don't feel like they've given me much more information than the first few flashbacks I saw.
I really want to know what went on (and what is going on) inside Sam's head. We didn't get much more info from Dean's flashbacks but I, somehow, feel I have a slightly clearer idea of what Dean is feeling/thinkin g. Although, I would like to know why Dean seems to be suddenly healed of his post-Purgatory PTSD
Dean, for the most part, is fully fleshed out and developed. We didn't get much about him in Purgatory, but the experience seems to have cured his apathy for hunting, which is nice. But Sam . . . I have no clue about him.
I'm just ready for a full understanding of Sam's story. I want to know what he was thinking, why he was thinking it, and how those thoughts impacted his actions. In my opinion, his FBs have been wasted on Amelia and her feelings when I want to know what Sam was thinking and feeling.
Just tell his story already! And preferably in a straightforward manner.
When I say that I feel I have a better understanding of Dean's motivations this year, I think I should qualify that somewhat too: I love the character of Dean too but I'm starting to resent the way that his issues are being treated/shown in a simplistic way. It's as though Dean's character can just be rebooted as Soldier!Dean when it suits the writers' needs.
It's safe to say that the characterisatio n of the brothers Winchester is confusing me this year.
I went back and read a few of bookdal's articles on WFB and it made me realise that Dean's story is generally made more accessible for the viewer whereas Sam's story is rarely explained in a straightforward manner by SPN writers. This strikes me as very much what is happening in this season, so far this year. Sam's is being treated as a mystery (we are left to query what his thoughts/feelin gs could be and what his behaviours could mean) however, Dean is shown as more straightforward and we're given more of an understanding of what his possible motivations might be (although, as I said above, Dean's motivations are shown in a simplistic manner which I think does the character a disservice because he is actually complex and Jensen plays him as wonderfully complex).
I really hope this is all resolved by the writers and that the resolution will be worth the confusion
I loved all the Sam FB's. I am still uncertain as to whether they are real or a figment of Sam's mind but I am sure he had a breakdown of sorts. His comment that he ran was illuminating. It says that he was out of control and that certainly jives with other times his brother was presumed dead.
The CIAngels and their hidden agenda are intriguing. It surely must be tied to the tablets and it can't be good or else why all the subterfuge?
Cas as hunter was predictable in a good way. Try as he might, he just doesn't get it most of the time. I guess that's why I love him. I'm glad they are spending a lot of time showing his remorse, something sorely missing from last season. I know it can't last but I am enjoying Cas riding around with S&D and it IS fun watching Sam's reactions to the other two.
The visual effects were pretty great, I agree!
One last note, they use the tried and true blood/guts wall- splatter so much that I think it was fun for them to make us think that a bunch of elderly people blew up. Bad, bad director! :-0
Following your theory on Sam's dream like FB is a LITERAL dream, haven't you notice that Sam's shirt when he enters Amelia's motel is exactly the same as the wallpaper?
If you look it up again in 'Heartbreak' FB. The wallpaper in Amelia's motel room is just like Sam's shirt. What's this mean? Sam's entering his own mind?
These are some of the things that Ash48 has pointed out in her journal : (She allows me to reference it here as a discussion material)
Amelia's clothes in the hospital is exactly like what Dean wears in Changing Channel. Black undershirt with white doctor's robe.
Amelia's clothes when she's lazying with the dog, the same time as Sam enters her motel (his own mind?) is the same like Dean's clothes when he was in the mental institution in Sam Interrupted. White undershirt and light blue robe/robe like shirt.
When Amelia finds Sam fixing her sink she wears Dean's angst shirt. Red stripes shirt.
The decor in her motel also weird. I don't know what motel decor should be but usually they go with a theme, right? Amelia's wallpaper is red stripes but her bed cover is flowery. Sam looks like a sad princess with flowery skirt when Amelia dumps him.
The bedside lamp looks exactly like the lamp in Sam and Dean's usual motel room.
Ash48 in LJ also point out that Amelia's room number 118 plays a significant role that it represent the angel number 118. (1’s and 8’s, such as 118 or 881 - You are nearing the end of a significant phase of your life. If you are tired of some part of your life, be glad that it will soon be healed or replaced with something better. Surrender and release those parts of your life that aren't working, as your thoughts of a better life are coming to pass. Taken from http://clevelandohiousa.tripod.com/angelnumbers/)
Is this Sam trying to make better of his situation that he creates this dream in FB?
Also the painting above the bed is of the ocean. We know that ocean represent turbulence and uncertainty and doubt.
{Ocean Water – Depending on where you are in the ocean has different ways of interpreting the dream. If the ocean is dark or deep it represents your emotional state in your walking life. If the ocean water is turbulent it means that there might be rough time ahead. If your crossing the ocean water with ease means that you show a great ability to experience freedom and independence.
Sea Water – Sea like the Ocean symbolizes your emotional state, but unlike the ocean dreaming of the sea is the connection between the conscious and unconscious mind. De-coding the dream you can come up with “I See Now†or “See It Comingâ€. If your lost at sea it relates to you floating around in life with out any sense of direction.
taken from http://www.dreamdictionary.org/common/water-dreams/ }
There are lots of coincidence here if Sam's FB is nothing but what we're shown. Why would they put the decor like this? Supernatural always plays with symbolism.
Also. considering that Sam is :
1. A psychic
2. Had a split personality inside his mine before.
3. Been hallucinating Lucifer for the better part of last year.
So..... ?
Good to have you back!! Been missing your comments. :-D
I really can't take credit on the things that I've said above about Amelia's shirt having similarities with Dean's and the motel wallpaper with Sam's shirt. It's because Ash48 has pointed that out in her LJ.
About the Ocean and the 118 number, I look it up and the definition seems fits.
I will credit her in the above comment. Sorry...
LJ = Lifejournal
You're right FB = Flashback,
LJ= Livejournal. Once I read what ASH48 said in her journal, I start to look things up more closely.
Also I remember Jared said that Amelia has two names? I need to look up the interview again.
I like that you are bringing some of Ash48's speculation here. I know she meant some of it to be tongue in cheek, but it got my brain cooking about all of the little things that could be bits of hidden meaning. Did you also notice that the last shot of Sam while he was sitting in bed (with his flowery skirt all around) that he was seen behind the bars of the motel partition? Metaphor for Sam being locked up in the nut house perhaps?
And now we find out that Sam has been in contact with Martin Creaser from Season 5's Sam Interrupted; hmmm... maybe Sam had met back up with Martin once again while he was BACK in the nut house while Dean was in Purgatory?
And did anyone else notice in Blood Brothers that while Sam and Amelia were talking with each other that her radio clock was not set to an actual time? It was just blinking the same time over and over. I have speculated about this on another thread, but felt like addressing it again here. I suppose that the clock thing could have been a crew oversight, but it was really distracting; the blinking of the clock really drew my eye... so maybe it was deliberate? Could it signify that Sam was out of touch? That his time in his dream state was not like real time?
I re-watched Blood Brothers again and yes those red digits was blinking just like a blinking eye. D'you know who else have red eye?
That's right Crowley. For all three seasons we've never shown that Crowley has red eye even if we know that he's a crossroad demon.
There are lots of symbolical in Sam's FB. I think we need a thread for this.
Please mods...
www.thewinchesterfamilybusiness.com/archive-articles/89-lets-discuss/17547-lets-discuss-sam-and-deans-flashbacks.html
I was thinking that maybe it's a play on word. Hit the dog. Maybe it means Sam literally hit the dog with a knife or something, thinking that's it's blackdog or hellhound? Hallucinating?
What if the dog and Amelia is real but the background and decor is all wrong. Like Sam was not actually in a motel, not actually in a park when Amelia brought him a cake. Not actually have a relationship with her but seeing her in daily basis.
If this is true, then I'd like to see an episode where Dean does some investigation of Amelia on his own, without Sam knowing, and he puts the puzzle pieces together and figures out that Sam's memories of the relationship are false (perhaps a manipulation by Naomi?). Then this is the impetus for Dean to approach Sam about Amelia and what happened during that year so that they can really talk about it and then together they will try to figure out what's going on.
I loved this episode! great one liners, cartoonish, yet they didn't go overboard and all the emotional scenes, poor Cas. I thought this episode explains Sam's off behavior, he has been running for his life literally trying to keep himself sane and as he said he was living a dream world,unable to face reality. Since Dean has been back he has been holding on to that ,maybe talking with Mike Ferrell's character was the first time he even admitted to himself that it was what he was doing. His scenes with Amelia's dad, every time her dad complained about something it was all he could do not to cry, he was trying so hard to hold it together, to me it was so sad to see the internal turmoil. This episode needed to be funny or I would have cried the entire episode lol. It is one of my favorites so far.
I USUALLY JUST WATCH THE ACTING & WRITING. MAKE-UP AND CLOTHES ONLY LIKE IN TIME AFTER TIME. SPECIAL OCCASIONS.
NOW I GOTTA GO BACK & LOOK FOR WHAT I HAVE MISSED. BBL.
Having said that, I am officially totally confused now.
I can't reconcile the Sam flashbacks coming to the realization that he and Amelia were running away from their lives and clinging to each other to the pissy Sam, downright distainful of his brother, 'I found something I never had before,' 'I'll do this hunt and I'm hanging it up' Sam that we've seen since Ep. 8.01.
I guess Dean didn't have PTSD. He just needed a few weeks to get his feet back under him and he's perfectly fine now. Was the PTSD just a tease, or was it a way to reset Dean's character from the functioning alcoholic? Was Dean's story a plot device to get Cas reset from Looney Tunes Cas back to a recognizable character? Why even send Dean to Purgatory in the first place if the Purgatory story over now? Does Dean have a story this season?
So Naomi wanted Cas to spy on the Winchesters two weeks ago, but now Cas should just go do what makes him happy?
How did Cas get so all powerful? He heals mortal wounds (death is off the table for the Winchesters again, I guess), he can mind meld and brain adjust. He can move impossibly heavy weights. Actually, I thought the writer did a very good job the way he used fix-all Cas, but didn't over-use him. Nice job.
The thing that struck me the most in this episode was that Carver is a very mainstream TV guy. The show I'm seeing this season is not what I would have ever envisioned SPN becoming.
That said, other than the constant whiplash I'm getting each time I watch the show, I thought the episode was very good for the most part, with the exception of too many Sam Days of Our Lives flashbacks randomly thrown in. I did like that Sam, Cas, and Fred all were living in Fantasyland, but Sam's Fantasyland just didn't jive with what we've been shown of Sam this season.
I suppose it's all going somewhere, but I admit to having lost interest in the main characters stories. SPN is just not 'special' anymore. I'm down to watching the show to see Jensen perform and watching the action scenes.
The show has definitely lost, IMO, that something that made it unique and special. I watch now mostly out of habit and a desire to see how the Winchester story ends.
I know people change, and TV characters change, but I'm not sure that the ways in which Sam and Dean have changed in the show are as a result of a natural evolution of their personalities or are a result of dodgy/inconsist ent writing.
But I'd like to have a look!
The AO3 website (http://bit.ly/iQefDv) has lots of SPN fic and has lots of filters you can use to exclude the types of story content that you don't enjoy reading.
Fanfiction.net has lots of SPN fic but I don't tend to use it, I prefer the two sites I mentioned above.
Hope this info is of use to you
But now seeing that the flashback is more like a dreamworld, that Amelia's dad giving Sam the stink eye and her husband is returning. I don't see it as a happy life. Sam doesn't look like he loves her other than just using her as a floating board while he was drifting in the middle of a stormy ocean. Using Amelia to stay afloat above the water. I guess that's the same for Amelia too.
Now, this is what I don't get. Sam said he had something that he didn't have before. What is it? If I may ask?
1. The life with Amelia? His life with Amelia is all fake. Her husband is coming back. He ran away and hook up just for the shared desperation to have normalcy. That's what Sam wants to come back to? He's living with another man's wife.
2. The dog? Sam had a dog before when he was in flagstaff.
I don't get it. In Heartache Sam is so adamant to leave Dean. Even telling him that he better off hunting alone. ALONE while he knows how dangerous hunting alone is.
And this life is wht Sam wants to come back to? This fake dreamlike life where Amelia's husband is due to comeback from war?
I fail to see the happy part out of that.
God, I had to fight to hold it together in those scenes.
If the timeline makes sense, and he left Amelia right after she got the call.... wouldn´t that have been about the time, Dean got back?
Don/Dean?
Don gets back/Dean gets back?
isn´t that odd?
Like someone saying "Sam, it´s time to go. He´s back"
And all the references, strewn in there, pointing to things DEAN would have done...
God, I can´t!
Also, what struck me as odd. Sam didn´t "douche up the car"
He did everything the way, HE would do things (Farmer's market e.g.)... except touch up the damned car.
And Cas... poor Baby. How he tried to be like the brothers. Saying all the things, they would have said. Only slightly off... never really fitting, but he was trying SO hard.
But uhm.. Amelia MUST be real, as does Riot... just.. but yeah. She was there, when Sam left. And the car smelled of dog.
But yeah... it makes sense.
Good catch.
Sometimes people just see what they want to see, right? Who knows if there are other people in the house? Just the fact that we don't see them and just the fact that we see Amelia that doesn't mean that they all true. Because we see it from Sam's perspective. And just like Dean's memory, perspective can miss lead.
Is that really a house? We see Amelia there because Sam thinks she's there.
But I am sure that the dog is real because it's bleeding. Remember Plucky? If it bleeds, you can kill it. So, the dog is real.
Sam is stalking another man's wife. Amelia probably lives with her husband now but Sam is stalking her with his computer, looking up her data. Why? She's another man's wife. Why do they write Sam become a creepy stalker?
Is this what Sam means by saying "It'll destroy everything"? By wanting to keep his dreamlike life (whether if his relationship is true or hallucination) Sam is destroying a family. Keeping Amelia from seeing her husband maybe? Just for his selfish need to keep living in a dream life?
I LOVED all the Sam flashbacks, there is definitely more to his story than meets the eye. Ardeospina, I really like your take on Amelia's dad; I do think that he is Sam's psyche in some ways, confronting him with all of the things that he thinks about himself. That actor was the same one used in season 1's Phantom Traveler, and he appeared up on X-Files several times as well. I really like also, your take on what was going on with Sam; all of his comments to Fred about living in a dream world were telling, and leaves me wondering just how real Sam's dreamworld was to him while he was living in it? Does Sam know how much of a dream his world was? Will he have to be confronted at some point this season by how deluded he was? Poor Sammy. The more that they fill in the blanks of his 'normal' year, the more sorry for him I feel.
I am more worried of Sam's speech to Fred that if he keeps the dream life it'll destroy everything.
Did Sam destroy Amelia's life just for the sake of keeping his own dream life? I mean her husband is coming back and she's finally going to reconcile with him while Sam still got nothing to hold on.
I was thinking that Sam's line about 'destroying everything' was less about Amelia and more about himself, like his inability to act was destroying everything and that he had to get out of his dreamworld and confront reality. I still think that the angels may be involved in what is going on with Sam; maybe even WITH his knowledge.
I think Sam knows that Dean talks only when Dean is ready. Like after his trip to hell, Sam could keep asking, but Dean only spilled when Dean was ready. Hopefully that point will come soon. (And he did talk a little about Cas, so I think he's getting there).
I wish Sam would be a little more obvious with Dean that there is a NEED for that little "Talk to me" chat. Dean doesn't see it, because all he knows is that Sam had a normal life while he was gone. Nothing there to talk about.
It will (soon, I hope) come to a head, and then the proverbial stuff will hit the fan and Dean will be mad that Sam hadn't told him his life wasn't all sunshine and roses. Yadayada... (Hoping the writers get more inventive this time)
I know what you mean about the cyclical "one brother keeps a secret and the other brother gets angry when it comes into the open" plot elements. I think that SPN trope has got a wee bit tired from overuse, although if this type of plot was used again, and was written in the right way, it could be good because we know that the Js can play emotional and angsty scenes really well.
That's exactly the way I see it. Hoping we get to the Js playing those "emotional and angsty scenes" really soon!
Sam only said "I had something that I haven't had before", "I want a normal life", "I didn't hunt", "I hit a dog and met a girl". That's it. When Dean ask why Sam didn't look for him, Sam just quiet. Like he's embarrassed for admitting weakness in front of his big brother.
Does Sam think it's better that Dean think of him as a bad brother than Dean think of him weak? Perhaps if Dean think of him weak then Dean will fuss about him and Sam doesn't want that?
Sam should've been the one who perform the test if he really thinks that Dean was dead. How did he know that Dean was really Dean at the time? Dean was dead. That's why he didn't look, right?
Very Odd. I really hope they don't just shove it under a rug or something.
I have a thought that Sam thought he was still living in a dream world where he hallucinated Dean's return. If he's sure that Dean's a hallucination then he didn't have to perform any test.
"Dean, I know it's you."
I really enjoyed this episode. The last few have felt like we're getting back on track. Not quite season 1-5 Supernatural, I think that phase is done, but back to characters I know and understand.
I really enjoyed Cas this time - not catching references - the shortened name/3rd wheel stuff. Some great lines.
I agree that Dean seems to have lost his PTSD again. and I guess his "Survivor's guilt" phase is over, since Cas is back.
Will he be betrayed by Benny? Dean is all about loyalty, so either Sam or Benny will be in the hot seat all midseason break.
Sammy - oh what to say about Sammy. I really felt for the guy. I think Amelia's real, but there's something off with his flashbacks - the colour had been more normal in the last couple, but it was off again in this episode. So these memories aren't quite accurate - if they're memories, and not his dream world.
What is obvious, - with the survivor guilt comment, the I just ran, and even with Amelia's Dad calling him out as a guy with "that look" - is that our always-sensitiv e, been-to-hell-wi th-Lucifer-and- brought-him-bac k-inside-my-hea d Sammy had reached his breaking point.
Whether she's real or not, Sam just had another person torn out of his heart. This boy just can't stop loosing people!
Where are we going with this, Carver?
HE doesn´t he never had. ALright, he might have had after Hell.
But this time?
No.
Dean does not have PTSD.
He had a little trouble readjusting. Just a normal reaction. It might have gone sideways, but it didn´t.
He came home in his head.
In all fairness, though, the PTSD idea was really emphasized by Jensen talking about 'hurt locker' and how he enjoyed playing that... We had no reason to assume it wasn't PTSD the way he was playing/promoti ng it.
I was confused as all heck that Sam and Dean knew a guy who was a hunter and was psychic AND who had psycokenisis. It sort of negates Sam's concerns during seasons one and two about his powers because, hey!, they already knew a guy with powers and John trusted him enough to introduce him to his sons. I was also confused by Cas's shifting healing powers. He was able to take Sam's crazy away. He was able to save gunshot victim. He couldn't cure the Alzheimers or the crazy that Fred Jones was suffering? He had to keep him ill, but give him new delusions? Personally, I'd rather be dead, but that's just me.
I am also disturbed by the continued verbal downgrading of Sam. First Benny is the better brother, now Dean specifically tells Cas that CAS deserves shotgun and Sam can just ride in the back and be the third wheel. That just annoyed me.
They are still being cagey with the Sam flashbacks. Is it real or is it Memorex and the longer they keep it up, the less I care. The writers decided to throw Sam under the bus by having him not look for Dean. They decided to show how that affected Dean. They decided to tell, not show us how Sam felt with Dean gone. It's becoming far to late to give Sam any kind of sympathy. If we knew from the beginning that Sam had a breakdown, it would be better, but as of now all we have is Dean repeating what a terrible brother Sam is and Sam not refuting that in any way.
They always seem to know where my patience starts to run out, and give me enough tidbits to keep going....
Can't wait for several "big reveals" this season!
(And I really want to know how they're going to keep Cas being fun, and not the "instant fix Winchester angel". Surely they're not going to just "park" him now and again. Maybe the CIAngels will limit his powers to heal/fix where they don't want him to??)
I can definitely understand how Dean could have been thrown for a loop by the Sam w/whom he reunited. This Sam isn't any Sam I know or understand.
It's confusing to try and work out how each brother might feel about the other because,
a) they don't talk to each other about anything meaningful, or personal, much any more;
b) a year is a long time for them to be apart but we only get brief flashbacks to fill in the gaps and those flashbacks are very lacking in details on emotions or feelings;
c) how they relate to each other seems to change from week to week depending on who wrote the episode.
edited to add
d) the writers seem more interested in exploring the brothers' relationships with Benny, Amelia, and Cas rather than exploring the brothers' relationship with each other.
Quote:Dean never called Sam a third wheel. He was trying to be nice to Cas because Cas was actually trying to be a better hunter, and because Cas had revealed to Dean that he was suicidal. I think Dean was just trying to give Cas a little encouragement, that's all.
I thought Dean and Sam's interactions in this episode were wonderful. I just don't understand the need to hate-on Dean?
I think there are some really great theories here about Sam & Amelia. It's nice that the show seems to be setting up something with Sam's flashbacks and also Naomi's influence over Cas. I do think both storylines are related and more will be revealed about what happened to Sam in that year.
Geesh.
I do have to agree that the show is not like the earlier years. Those were some amazing, but not completely flawless seasons. This season is not like those in many ways but it is still one of the best series around 8 years in and that in itself is amazing IMO.
But I made a conscious decision that if I was going to continue to watch my show, I'd have to find something to enjoy. Even promising myself to "keep it shallow" if all else failed.
The funny thing is, that since I promised myself to enjoy it - or else- I have started seeing some really great things. I don't like that Sam quit hunting and didn't look, but he's still my faulty hero, and in these last few episodes, I see the Sam character that I fell in love with. And I'm starting to see where there just might be a plan.
Dean's character has its issues this season, too, but I never felt they were beyond repair.... They're just going in directions that surprise me.
Forcing myself to let go of my own issues is what saved the show for me.
I am sick of waiting for Sam to be allowed to talk about his feelings and for Dean to actually acknowledge that Sam HAS feelings and has a right to his feelings.
I actually thought this episode wasnt to bad and Sam looked absolutely gorgeous in those flashbacks but the narrative for Sam's story the unnecessary rant from Dean a few weeks back towards Sam has a brother the whole Cas riding shotgun although at another time would not of bothered people however coming at this time it did seem a little bit of a dig it has left me wondering why? what was the need to of gone down this road this season with Sam .
I can understand to a point Dean being hurt by Sam not looking but he doesnt know Sam's year and its all come across as a tad heavy handed for me the brother stuff esp . I truly hope the up coming episodes does give us more of Sam's story and at some point Dean listening to how Sam feels.
Benny is different or at least how Dean sees it is different now if Benny started killing then yes I would expect the swift justice giving to him that has been given to others.
But the point is Dean had no qualms about waving the friend card when it was someone important to him but suffering no counternance when it came to a friend of Sam,s.
Not, that I say, Dean was right. I don´t like it, that he killed her either.
But he might have had a point here...
This would have been a classic "wait and see"
Only Dean hasn´t been the wait and see type before Benny
Amy is an iffy situation. She actively found a way to feed herself and her child for many years. She didn't break because she had a sudden longing, but to save her child. OTOH, she was killing. I think wait and see was a legitimate option. Sam did tell her if she did it again he would come after her.
Dean has said that Benny should be killed if he reverts, but he told Sam that some other hunter would have to handle it. Sam asked what if Sam had to handle it and Dean was we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. That is very different from Sam being willing to kill Amy if she slipped.
Fred Jones was old- therefore the Alzhiemers. And he can't be cured of a natural talent. It isn't exactly a mental or physical or even spiritual injury, it's his own mind collapsing on itself quite naturally. Or maybe Cas did take the crazy away, but the crazy was so part of Fred that he retreated into his own mind. (As implied by "I don't know how much of you will be left")
Sam: I hope when this is all over that we can go back to what we were
Dean: I dont think we can be what we were
Yet they always managed to see their way through. I have faith that the relationship is as strong as ever.
I have never felt that the bond between the boys has been really repaired. The cracks have been plastered over, but it isn't what it was and perhaps it never will be.
I'd love to see the bond between Sam and Dean being repaired. I don't think that their bond/connection is anywhere near what it used to be. It feels, to me, like Kripke et al broke the brothers' relationship in an attempt to fuel high drama in S4 and then they were unable to fix it again
Although, what keeps me hanging on, and keeps me watching, is the hope that (bit by bit) the writers *might* begin to try to repair the bond between Sam and Dean. You are correct when you say that the angst and the bond between the brothers is the core of the show and I'm hoping that SPN writers will finally realise this and do something about it.
I thought Sam's flashbacks distinctly suggested that he was quite messed up, and I liked the flashbacks in this episode. I liked how the flashbacks and Sam's conversation with Fred rang true for all three of them- Fred, Sam and Cas. And Sam seemed so sad saying all that. (There were also a few scenes when I thought at least Cas was getting the sad-Sam vibe)
But Sam keeps repeating "I ran," the unsaid subtext of which seems to be "like a coward." I ran, I left everything, and I ran. This Sam doesn't sit well with the Sam in "Heartache", the 'I found a normal life,' 'I want to leave after this' Sam. So what happened between?
What is this dream world that Sam retreated into? Does it simply suggest his psychedelic life with Amelia or does it imply more? I think that Amelia is real, that we're seeing exactly what happened, but that Don is an angel/demon-pla nt.
Which would make this a reboot of season 1, when Jess was killed to push Sam into hunting- just that this time, they didn't kill the girlfriend, they brought her husband back. I don't, however, think that it was Don watching Sam- that would just be really creepy- probably whatever brought Don back.
And I also think this is what must have caused Sam to leave Amelia. I mean, she's not going to know what to say to him leaving now that her husband is back!
This, of course, is the simplest and most obvious explanation, so anything that deviates from this and surprises me is totally welcome.
About the CIAngels: Cas is making his wrongs "all right" by doing what he's told? How? And does he remember meeting Naomi before? He seems to just jump into conversation with her.
There's a lot going on, and I just want answers. I agree with percysowner- I like the season a lot so far, but they're dragging out the Sam story. While I'm sympathizing with Sam and his emotional trauma, which seemed most visible to me in the Fred Jones-cartoon land conversation, and while I can understand why he ran and why he's holding onto Amelia (that line was so telling; he just needed an anchor, and I really loved it) enough is enough. ANSWERS, please.
January is looking like a very long time away.
Initially after finishing last night's episode I thought I didn't care for it at all. But upon my second viewing this morning, I actually think it will become one of my go-to episodes - whenever I need my SPN fix but don't want any heartbreak. Sam, Dean, Cas, all getting along in cartoon land - I think that makes my heart happy :))) And I'm guessing that will last for one episode: I saw the trailer for 8.09. Can't wait for it, but also fearing it a little bit. No more heartbreaks, please???? I can't take anymore!!!
Back to this episode, though, I do agree with upthread comments on two things:
- Damn it Dean, can't you sit yourself in front of Sam and say, "Talk to me." ????
- If Sam's life with Amelia was a result of him running because he'd lost Dean, then why wasn't he ecstatic when Dean came back? I mean the I-lost-him-and- I-ran thing just doesn't fit with the I-had-something -I-never-had thing. Was he even referring to the same thing at all???
1) Shoddy writing. Really, really shoddy writing.
2) Sam preferring to stay in his made-up brightly-lit dream world than accepting that Dean is back, that he has to get back in the saddle and fight again, that he can't run anymore.
3) Carver playing a cat and mouse game with us.
Personally, I'm all for number 3.
Hmmm... let me go ruminate on that one... It would explain Sam's reserve, and lack of overt surprise/caring on Dean's re-appearance at the cabin... And how Sam would "know" it was Dean without all the usual tests...
Of course it would seem like the real Dean if it was a repetition of halluciDean!
you might be on to something... Or at least something to hold me over until January!
So he´s keeping himself back. And only gradually starts to let himself come closer again.
From episode to episode, I get the feeling, Sam is moving closer to Dean in tiniest bits.
At first he was holding back completely. But in the last two, it felt, there was the beginning of a careful, reluctant connection again.
I´m all for Theory 3!
That would be so awesome
I truly think that this "big reveal" or twist that everyone is waiting for is the one we are seeing right now. THIS is the big reveal: Sam's trauma and subsequent running and finding a fellow runner to hold onto. The "big reveal" is Sam figuring out that this idea of two people running from their trauma is "a dreamworld" and that real life can't be escaped, in fact it's harmful to others to try to escape it. Besides the tablet stuff, the story this season is a simple human one, one of relationships, be it set in a Supernatural universe (Being Human anyone?!)
Granted, I do think that the angels orchestrated Don's (and perhaps Dean's) return in order to keep them in the tablet hunt. Probably was an angel watching Sam leave Amelia.
But every time I think I see an indication that something more interesting is going to happen, for example when this cartoony dreamworld was introduced, it turns out to be quite literal and is simply a metaphorical vehicle, a clunky, painfully obvious, sledge hammer of a metaphor. The cartoon "dreamworld" makes Sam flash back to where Amelia's father literally says to her that she is living in a dreamworld and should come home. Sam then tells Fred that living in a dreamworld is not sustainable and he should get out because it hurts other people. I wish it meant more and that it was clever writing with hidden clues and foreshadowing, but I just don't believe that to be true anymore. Even Don coming back from the dead is just a mirror of Dean coming back, another "monkey wrench" to use Jared's words. I was not a bit surprised that Don was still alive, of course he was!
I did not find Sam's speech to Fred touching at all, even though Jared delivered it with great emotion. No, in fact, it made me roll my eyes, as a lot of the dialogue has me do lately. Because did we really need to be hit over the head with a speech spelling out the already incredibly obvious metaphors and similiarities between Cas' , Sam's and Fred's issues? It had already been spelled out in Dean's buddy chat with Cas AND in every Sam and Amelia flash back AND in Fred's storyline. We are smart enough to piece these things together, in fact we are fantastic at detecting subtext. We do NOT need to be hit over the head in every episode with exposition to explain the metaphor that illustrates the theme so we can understand where they want us to go. We get it the first time!
THIS is what is making me very frustrated with the show this season. THIS is what makes it feel so alien and different from the Supernatural I know and love. And it makes the Sam story line feel like a soap opera.
If we are being deliberately misled and this is all a ruse and an alternate reality I will have to eat some crow and reevaluate :) In the meantime I will keep watching and will look for the positives and the pretty in each episode.
To be fair, the one thing that makes me wonder is that Sam said Dean coming back through a monkey wrench in his life and now it seems like Dan, Amelia's husband coming back did it, so who knows what they are hiding. I've heard there are interviews with Carver coming up and I hope this gets clarified. If he makes it perfectly clear that Sam never looked, I may not make it to the end of the season. Why bother when they have trashed the character I love?
Like we see someone who looks like Sam but having none of Sam's personality living in a dreamlike world.
It's the fan argument that he has with himself : If Dean could escape Purgatory, does that mean Sam really could have saved him? If yes, what does that mean for Sam? That he ran, does that seem weak in his own eyes? Then the "maybe you're better off without me" line makes more sense because he sincerely believes he can't hold up his side, be a good hunting partner, because he thinks he's failed. The whole I-want-normal could be Sam trying to push Dean away, all the while considering himself weak to carry on the family business with Dean.
That he keeps repeating "I ran" could be an indication of this guilt. Maybe this Sam wants to leave because he no longer finds himself efficient enough to stay on the saddle and fight side by side with Dean. Maybe it's less about wanting normal and happy (only making Dean believe that to make him let Sam go) and more about really believing that Dean is better off without him and hence it's best for both of them if Sam leaves hunting. Even the line from Blood Brother "You've been kicking me ever since you got back" heightens his sense of having failed Dean.
The way they write it, they only show us that Dean keep kicking Sam and blaming him, further thrashing Sam's character ans assassinating him.
The big question, why would they write this Sam at all? Why write a weak Sam? It's OOC to me because Sam has never been weak before. he had never thought of himself as being weak. He even insisted in S7 that he can take Hallucifer just fine. He can take Lucifer's possession just fine. He can take Demon's blood and be just fine. One of the problem of S4-S5, according to Dean's perspective, was that Sam's too arrogant of his own capability.
The road that the writers' take this season is making Sam OOC.
I'm pretty sure there's more to Sammy's story than they're letting on right now, and I've always loved the guessing, so I'm completely content to wait it out and see what happens. I like that SPN isn't predictable. I think my favourite theory is that all/part of Sam's relationship with Amelia isn't true, it's one of the first things I considered.
It did take all 3 of them this time!
I love it.
I love how Dean and Sam work together perfectly. I love how Sam has this patient loving smile, whenever Dean is doing something deany.
I love the flashbacks and how Sam massages the scar, when he talks to Amelias Dad.
And it´s so sad, how lost Sam looks. But here, he already got that far away feeling, like Sam has withdrawn so far inside himself, that nothing can really touch him anymore.
And Im beginning to suspect, the lack of real passionate chemistry between him and Amelia is intenionally.
Like, they´re not really in love, they´re just two survivers, all that´s left, holding on to each other to stay afloat.
But if Sam in this episode is making me sad... Cas is outright killing me.
And not in a good way. Was ist funny? yes, maybe.
But the laughter always stuck in my throat.
it broke my heart, to see, how he tried to fit in with Sam and Dean. How he copied them, howhe tried to belong.
And never truly got it right.
They´re well and truly all, that he has left.
And he´s like a little boy, trying to fit in, begging silently, that they don´t kick him out. And with trying to act, as he thinks, they like it... he´s just alienating them.
All they want, is for him to be Cas. And Cas is trying to be a Dean copy.
And that last scene? right after Sam remembered, Don coming back?
So lost and... just lost... and Cas has this gentle, happy smile on his face, as he sits with Fred and just looks at home there?
Sam just remembered losing everything he has, all over again, and there is this distance between him and Dean, that they can´t seem to be able to bridge....and Cas is listening to Ode to Joy, if not happy, then at least at peace for the moment?
Alright, I admit... I cried.
That fucking broke my heart!
For those who don´t know the translation of the German text:
www.ca-in-sapporo.com/interests/beethoven.html
Post scriptum: I love theory 3! I totally love that!
The orderly in the old folks home has what looks a lot like a djinn tattoo - why? If tattoos are not relevant to the show they are usually covered up - but not in his case.
Sam didn't open the book of photographs and he was gone before Amelia's husband came back. Sam doesn't know what Amelia's husband looks like - why does that suddenly seem like it might be important?
The callbacks to old episodes are interesting. And yet again the solution is the opposite of what would have seemed right to either Sam or Dean previously - in this case the telekenetic guy who, (in Dean's world anyway) would be categorized the 'freak', shoots the doctor, who IS a bad guy but is fully human and wasn't actually an imminent danger to anyone – they aren’t usually fair game for hunters. That doesn't follow any of the normal SPN rules.
And recurring actors – ok there are only so many tv actors to go around, and maybe SPN recycles people all the time and it isn’t obvious and maybe it is easier to work with people who have been on the show before…but this seems like a lot of recurring actors:
Episode 1 Ty Olson
Episode 2 Mr Vili / The Reaper (Faith), Samandriel / Matt Pike (bugs)
Episode 3 Detective Pike / Newscaster (Weekend at Bobbys), Paul Hayes / Superintendent (no Exit), Officer Levitt / Roger (the Rapture)
Episode 4 – none
Episode 5 Mike Carpenter (though that probably doesn’t count - it being Mike Carpenter and all)
Episode 6 Mary Lew / Mrs Tanner (Croatoan), Dave Wright / Deputy Doug Wallace (Faith), Chester Lew / uncredited (Folsom Prison Blues)
Episode 7 (actor) Douglas Newell – neither one of his characters are listed on IMDB (Supernatural Christmas)
Episode 8 Amelia’s Father/ Jerry Panowski (Phantom Traveler)
If Sam were hallucinating, then he might populate those hallucinations with people he met at different times? Sam has met all of the actors / characters that had big enough roles to remember.
Of course doing a 'Bobby in the Shower' with (say) half a season of episodes would be a very good way to annoy lots of viewers...
Red Dwarf did an entire season in a computer game though - that seemed to work out ok.
While I firmly believe that Amelia is real and everything we've been seeing is real too (the lighting a cool trick to contrast Purgatory) these little things throw me.
I guess they were saying that Dean used to open the bottle for the person he was giving it to? Don't people usually do that?
In S2 and S3 even we also see Sam opens a beer bottle for Dean when he was fixing the Impala. I think this scene is just invented by the writer to show that Sam remembers Dean in his flashback.
Well, a little too late. There are lots of things that SHOULD trigger Sam's memory of Dean because they live practically in each other's pocket their whole live. BUT we see none of it affected Sam in his flashback. We don't get to see Sam remembering Dean AT ALL during his flashback except the beer scene.
Instead we always see lots of things trigger Sam's flashback memory when he is with Dean.
This is what I call a disservice of Dean's memory in Sam's mind (flashback). The writers only TELL us that Sam is grieving Dean but not SHOW us the scene how Sam was grieving Dean. They don't give the brother's bond justice. We only get to see Sam chasing a girl. We don't get to SEE a scene where Sam was grieving and being a mess and a wreck like he claimed to be. It's just not fair. While Sam is remembering Amelia while he is with Dean, why didn't he remembered Dean when he was with her?
I am jealous.
Is this how they write Sam? The brother who just not care?
Sam acknoledges Deans existence only two times in the FBs. Once, when he told Amelia, that Dean died, but that was just an explanation for his behaviour.
Before the beer bottle scene, he even said, the Impala had been his FATHERS car.
Only in that scene does he outright share something personal from his time with Dean, not, he existed and he died, but DEAN DID THIS TOO.
And it reminds me of Dean.
And next we know, Boom! Don´s alive.
Both times he's mentioned Dean in the FBs, it was because he kind of had to. First to explain himself to Amelia. Second, not because of the beer bottles, but because Amelia's father was seeing right through him, asking him what he's running from. Considering that Amelia was his anchor, it makes sense why Sam would want acceptance from her father. Not getting any acceptance is Sam's life story, mostly.
Perhaps, not only acknowledging, that Dean had existed, but finally acknoledging that something reminds him of his brother. Being able to go down that road, triggered something inportant. Like the ability to face it, to get up and look at the fact, that he had lost Dean. That Dean was truly gone. Just as Crowley had said.
And That made him able to step back into the world. Literally or figuratively.
Kind of... a beautiful thougtht.
But I still find it odd, that right at that moment came the info: Don is back
"You don´t take a joint from a guy named Don and there´s no dogs in the car?"
I mean..: REALLY?!
OMG! Sam really has taken a 'joint' from a guy named DON. Taking his wife!
WTH !
How did everyone forget that?
How could he have known?
uhm?
So, what´s really going on here?
We just see how Sam lived in a fairy tale world. Where is the mess? Where is the grieving? Where is the scene that depicts Sam's world imploded and raining down on him? Where is the months after the lab scene and the dog scene?
These flashback is useless and just dragging down Sam's story. And what impression that it serves? Just to show that Sam somehow more care about her that about Dean.
We see lots of her flashback but we don't get to see Dean's flashback in Sam's last year. You know they can write sometime when Amelia and Sam was eating pie, Sam remembered Dean and said that pie was Dean's fav food and talked about his brother.
When Amelia asked why he touched up the Impala very often, Sam would say that that's what his brother used to do.
When they were watching TV and Sam suddenly smiles. Amelia asked why, then Sam explained that the old movie was Dean's fetish.
Lot's of memory of Dean in Sam's whole life. I repeat his whole life. But we don't get to see it manifesting in Sam's numerous flashback, as a trigger or something. Sam should have ran away to China if he really wanted to run away from Dean's memory because everything around him (if he still stayed in the same country) would remind him of Dean
Sorry, as I write this I am starting to hate those flashbacks. Why is it only last night's writer that put Dean's memory in Sam's flashback. Is the other writers don't think it's important?
There are lots of ground for the writers to slip just a tiny details of Dean's in Sam's FB. I mean when Sam was watching TV in motel and there was an old diehard movie and he quickly change the channel. When he was in grocery story and saw pie and he quickly leave the store altogether. Things like that. Sam still lives in America, there are lots of things that could remind him of Dean if he's still there. It's kind of inevitable. That is of course IF the writers really are being serious about writing Sam 'running away'. Sam should have run to China or India if he really wanted to run. But they just said it like in passing. "My world imploded and I ran" That's it. No scenes whatsoever describing how horrible that experience was for Sam.
I mean the different in quantity should have better quality.
Ooh, yes, he could run to India. I'd be very happy if he did.
I think the Don line is just a jokey foreshadowing, like in Hullo Cruel World when the warehouse Sam went into said "Morning Star Endeavors" symbolizing Lucifer. SPN does that. I think Dean doesn't actually know anything. But the timing of the phone call does make me wonder....
I think she said that her husband was missing in a fire. The military perhaps just assumed he's dead. I think it's implied somehow.
"Don't take a joint from a guy named Don and no dogs in the car." Sam had broken Dean's rules. Judging by how heavy the Vet is resembling Dean and how dreamy the FB is, they only serves to hit Sam in the head about how wrong is what he was doing, by running away, by not looking for Dean, by just giving up .
Further cementing the idea that the writer wants us to think that Sam is just a weak guy who will be sent into a tailspin the moment Dean's gone. Sam's dream about having a life without Dean is all lies because apparently in reality he can't survive alone without his brother. Cas situation is also resembling Sam's. Cas says he is afraid that he'll kill himself if he knows goes to heaven. Perhaps Sam too is suicidal and afraid to end up killing himself . Heartache definitely alludes that idea.
Me OTOH would rather think that Sam is stronger than that. He survived Lucifer, albeit by holding on to his stone number one, and he is smart and resourceful and more reasonable than Dean sometimes.
Because if it really was just illusions and he had a breakdown, he dug himself out of it, all by himself.
No Dean, no angel, only Sam crawling his way back to the world, he didn´t want to face.
To be honest, I think there's a lot of badly paced and clunky storytelling here, whether Sam's story is 'human' or supernatural. The whole flashback device is breaking up the narrative so much I'm not getting a clear emotional arc either in the past or the present (and that goes for Dean as well as Sam), let alone a rich and interesting connection between the two. A lot of the individual episodes have had some quite solid and interesting stuff, and I do enjoy Sam in a sweater, but the way the season is fitting together is a big let down to me -- I don't think it works as a build, either for a surprise reveal or for a simpler character arc.
Dean is dead... at least, that´s what he thinks
IF.. it is so...
I think he would have gradually, from the first episode onward stepped back into reality.
Or finally believed, that the reality was reality.
Do I make sense?
But I don't think it's that your thoughts aren't interesting potentials, I think it's that the story isn't well constructed, whatever is behind it, and the fan theories aren't enough to turn it into something elegant and subtle. Which maybe does argue for it being something supernatural, because this season feels like a hot mess the way Lost turned into a hot mess, more than the way a soap opera is a hot mess. But my money is actually still more at the face value end of things.
** Jensen said in a recent interview that all of the story bits do, in fact, fit together and he then called it "good story telling". Jared went on to say that some of what is coming up will set up the story arc for the next few seasons. **
I am waiting to see how it all plays out and still have hope that it will be compelling and satisfying for all characters.
The situation is the same. At initial incident, Sam didn't know who took Dean. He just know that he disappeared with the red lights.
- Dean disappeared in red lights, Dean disappeared in black goo
- Dean was gone along with a monster (Sam didn't know what monster it was at the time), Dean disappeared with Roman. (He knows Roman is a Levis and the worst one of possibilities are Roman ends up in Purgatory, perhaps so was Dean)
-Sam has small clue on the red lighted monster, Sam has small clue about God's weapon, perhaps the only clue is Kevin but Crowley got Kevin. Next logical step, track Crowley to find Kevin. Find Kevin ask for God's weapon. Perhaps then find a clue about Dean's whereabouts.
The difference is in TATA Sam didn't give up on Dean. He held on and he investigate. I am just asking what is it that so different from those two scenario above? Why can't Sam just investigate and looking?
Why would the writer choose to write a Sam that is running away? It's OOC. Sam's been in a wrench before. There got to be something happening that makes Sam just give up. Writing a Sam that has a breakdown is not enough answer for his OOC behavior.
If they want a breakdown Sam, TATA would be a perfect place for that. He was under Hallucifer influence. You can't get more crazy than that. I never found anyone hallucinating Lucifer and still sane. But Sam stays sane that time and still find a strength to research and to investigate Dean's disappearance. That has to count, man. That has to.
This time, there is no reason for Sam to just give up. He's not under Lucifer hallucination, had plenty of leads, had access to Bobby's books. How come Sam's world didn't implode and rain down on him when Chronos took Dean? Is it because the episode was in the middle of a season? And they can't get Dean out for good?
See, the more I think about it, the more the writer's decision to make Sam not looking for Dean for whatever reason they are showing us now is not a good decision. It only serves to make Sam OOC.
I'd like to see that during the few months right after the lab scene, Sam did trying to look for Dean. He tried every way he could think of but failed. THEN and only Then Sam gave up and finally have a breakdown. Or maybe someone told Sam that Dean was dean and in heaven. Right then I would believe that Sam had a breakdown.
Because I also believe that If Chronos didn't return with Dean at that time, I strongly believe that Sam would be having a major breakdown, perhaps full on insane due to Lucfer's hallucination.
Oh and the trashing of Sam is complete. The trashing of the basis of the show is complete. I don't want [spoiler]Gossip Supernatural[/s poiler].
Since Sam is living with Amelia and Don is coming home - that is a 'love triangle' right there. Or it could be Amelia who doesn't want Sam to leave and Sam won't remain involved with someone who is married and clearly still loves her husband.
A love triangle (with no qualifier) on the other hand would be Mills and Boon.
EDIT: Mills and Boon is like Harlequin books in the US if you aren't familiar with the name
I never thought I would say this but I am beginning to miss monster of the week episodes myself...they used write conversations and interactions for the boys in MOTW episodes - I liked those days *sigh* - you could skip past the splat and watch the other stuff..
Having said that the only two pieces of splattiness in the entire series that I HAVE to skip over because they are too gross are the guy with his arm in the waste disposal and the guy who ate twinkies to death...
Is Carver for real? This is really what he's done to Sam Winchester. SMH . . . . what a shame! This show is really slipping at this point!
I really enjoyed the first series of the BBC's 'Being Human' (Carver was involved in writing the US version of this, wasn't he?) because in the first series the show stuck to its mission statement of 3 supernatural people trying to live normal lives without hurting ordinary people. But then, from the second series onwards, I felt that the show became all about romantic relationships for the characters which meant the cool world-building and sci-fi elements took a back seat. I stopped watching because of that change in the show's emphasis and I'm really hoping that Carver isn't planning to do the same sort of thing with Supernatural.
I genuinely prefer Sam and Dean having stunted romantic lives because it makes sense given their upbringing and the lives they live, and, frankly, it also makes the show work better.
I'm really hoping that Sam's life with Amelia was some sort of hallucination or the result of something supernatural because otherwise it's the most boring plot Sam's been part of. If I compare "Sam's adventures in having a domestic life with Amelia" to "Dean's attempt to have a settled life with Lisa and Ben":
- I didn't mind watching Dean having a settled home-life for the first parts of S6 because his living situation came about a) as a result of a promise he made to a dying Sam, b) because it served to show he wasn't settling down in a normal life well, and c) because it didn't last very long and Dean went back to hunting (and Sam) because it's all he knows and it's all he wants. So, Dean's adventures in domesticity made sense within the framework of the show and within the framework of the character.
- I don't enjoy Sam's decision to settle down with an angry woman, and a dog, as an alternative to looking for Dean (for some tenuous reason or other, I'm not convinced by the show's reasons for Sam's decision so far) and I don't understand why Sam does this despite resolving in earlier seasons that he had given up on the idea of living a settled, normal life because he wanted to be a Hunter. To me, Sam's entire relationship with Amelia makes no sense within the framework of the character or within the framework of the show.
So, in summary
There is definitely something more to these flashbacks, but I don't think they are hallucinations. I think that Sam's story is being focused on, and he's being avoided right now because there's going to be a big reveal crucial to the plot and it will be impacting.
There is the manipulation factor. This season is all about perception, so I think there is a great deal of manipulation being thrown around.
I have a feeling they're going to give us a nasty cliff hanger about Sam tomorrow night. Baha.