Rewatch S2: Ep 21 & 22
I sucked it up and watched the two episodes! Yay! Now, I have a question: Can anyone tell me why Winchester-Journal's Timeline has the date for these episodes as May 2nd? Because I couldn't find any evidence for it, and that's one hellava sucky birthday for our youngest Winchester!
All Hell Breaks Loose Part I
Ok, after much avoidance, I sat down to watch this episode...you can't avoid death, after all.
The beginning still has the ability to make me panic right along with Dean. This is why I have trouble watching scary movies, I'm actually WAY too empathetic for my own good.
Sam: "Dean..."
Andy: "Your brother? Is he here?"
Sam: "I don't know where he is. I don't even know if he's..."
-I sometimes wonder if Sam had an inkling that everyone in the cafe was killed...or maybe he just assumes that if he's there and Dean with him, that something horrible must have happened to Dean to prevent him from following.
I still like Ava, I don't care that she's gone evil.
Although I like Ava, I love Andy. It's my belief that he didn't have a single evil bone in his body...it's why he dies of course, but damn, how can you not fall in love with this guy? I mean projecting the gayporn into the douchbags head? GOLDEN.
Oh hey, a demon that can manifest itself without a vessel. I guess it's a lesser-Demon, though, since it seems to not have much of a consciousness.
And Bobby knows about Sam's visions. I was wondering if he knew about them...I don't remember them ever explicitly telling him - but I suppose if they told Ellen, there's no reason not to tell Bobby.
Sam: "I got this brother, right. And he's alway telling me he's going to watch out for me, how everything's going to be ok...I don't know if I believe it this time."
-Aww, I like the fact that Sam mentions this...how it tells us that Sam has believed Dean until now. I find that amazingly sweet.
There are other generations of special kids. I think they put this in just to jive with Salvation, but you never know...I guess we still haven't gotten the full version of the YED's plans.
Again, they had to find an actor as tall or taller than Jared to play Jake. I think they did a great job.
Really being punched in the face with superstrength would have crushed Sam's skull. This is where the show employs comic-book physics.
What do I say about the end, really? This write up has been ridiculously short, but seriously, this episode is very nicely done, and the end just breaks my heart so much that I don't even know what to say about it. It's fine acting by Jensen. The boy tears my heart out.
Commentary Goodness
The commentary on this episode is done by Eric Kripke, Robert Singer, and Sara Gamble. They mostly talk about the writing process.
At the beginning they make fun of the mote around the cafe - which was completely built from scratch by production design.
Kripke jokes about really killing all the actors in the beginning.
They then go on about the weather for a bit. How it poured constantly throughout the entire shoot...washed out the road to the ghost town they were using for Cold Oak and everything. I find this weather talk amusing, because it's a cultural thing that Canadians have, where we talk about the weather CONSTANTLY. I have traveled the world over and no one talks about weather as much as Canadians do....also, no one ignores weather and does whatever they want anyway (even though they talked about the weather for days as if it would matter one way or the other) the way that Canadians do. Weather is a very important thing when you live in this country.
Apparently they wanted to have a corpse with a mullet for Ash, but soon realized the ridiculousness of it and went with the distinctive watch instead...which Sara wanted to be a calculator watch, but Singer couldn't find one.
Gamble *talking to Lily character*: "You were cast in Canada, you know you're going to die." - oh man...I never thought of it before, but Supernatural is really a show with a bunch of Americans trying to save Canadians from being killed by ghosts and demons and stuff...how sweet of them...of course, the downside of that is that it is also a show with a bunch of Americans killing "evil" Canadians....hmmm...
Kripke goes on about how much he hates the Roadhouse and was so happy to have it burned to the ground. Really, it sounds like they used the S2 finale as a way to kill off everything they didn't like about the show (including Sam! lol /kidding), because Kripke also says he didn't really like the other psychic children.
Kripke and Sara also comment about how much they liked given Dean a vision...and then having him basically say "I'm not a psychic freak!" (even though he doesn't say it, it's implied).
Either Robert Singer or Kripke or both also compliment Sara on the fact that she knows that what a character doesn't say is just as important as what they do...and I completely agree.
Sara Gamble likes Evil!Sam...this does not bode well for me :-P
Then Kripke jokes about YED riding around in a janitor for a year, and comments about the poor Janitor who the Winchesters are so happy to kill next episode.
I must say, the commentary made me laugh out loud a couple of times.
Gamble also complains about spoilers on the internet, that she doesn't understand why people read them, because it ruins the show. I agree! I don't like spoilers.
Gamble also talks about how beautiful Jensen and Jared are, saying that she'll see a shot of Sam and think "look at those cheekbones!" Singer says: "I must say, it didn't occur to me..." and Kripke replies: "Not me. I could drink him like a glass of water" and then they all laugh. Singer than goes on to say that mostly when he sees Jared he's thinking about how hard it is to frame the shot because he's so tall.
So, yeah, commentary was amusing...and informative on the writing process.
All Hell Breaks Loose Part II
Bobby gives Dean the option of burying Sam first...sort of odd considering their usual precations.
I absolutely love the scene between Bobby and Dean in the cabin. It inspired an entire fic out of me. My absolute favorite is the way Bobby is trying so hard to get Dean focused on something else, trying to get him back in the hunt as though it'd be a distraction...and he tells him it's "end of the world" big, and Dean says "Let it end!" - That completely sums up Dean's grief right there.
Where'd Jake get his gear?
I don't know what to say about Dean's monologue over Sam. It is heartbreaking and so perfectly acted. Dean is really laid bare completely for us in this episode. He feels he's only ever let his family down. He has absolutely no direction in life without Sam there..."What am I supposed to do?!" - and the answer is "whatever you want" for the first time in his entire life...and what Dean wants is Sam back.
I think Dean knows that Sam is lying when Sam says that the YED didn't tell him anything else.
And it's also heartbreaking that Dean can't keep his brother safe for even a couple of hours, that Sam just marches out the door like it's any other day, because he doesn't realize...not yet, anyway...though, I think he begins to suspect pretty early, because Sam gives Dean an odd look when Dean says "You almost died...I mean, what would I have-" and then cuts himself off.
And I love how guilty Dean looks when Bobby opens the door...like he knows he's going to get his ass kicked.
But the BEST look of the episode is the look that Bobby shoots Dean after Sam walks passed him into the house..that "What. the. fuck!" look.
And then we come to the other AMAZING scene between Bobby and Dean of the episode, and I honestly can't decide which one I love more. Bobby calls Dean on all his self-worth problems and then asks Dean how Sam is going to feel when he finds out, and Dean says "You can't tell him. You take a shot at me...whatever you have to do, but please don't tell him"...and Bobby is on the verge of tears and just reaches up and cups Dean's face...man, I just want to cry, because Dean just confirmed everything Bobby just said - because he told Bobby to take a shot at him, like he had made Bobby angry, let him down like he let down everyone else, like he deserved to be hit...and Bobby's moves to hold him instead...I think this is the moment where Bobby is sealed in as part of the family, where we see for the first time just how much Bobby loves the boys.
Then there's the way Dean hugs Ellen...and really, it's like Dean's walls came crumbling down when Sam died, and he hasn't put his inhibitions back in place...because we have never seen him THAT affectionate with Ellen before. He only ever hugs family like that.
Now, off the emotional stuff and onto a plot question (before I start crying)...how would YED get SAM to open the devil's gate if Sam had been the last one standing like he had wanted? Because it's pretty easy for him to manipulate Jake...but you hand Sam the colt and tell him not to shoot, and you'd be a goner.
Oh cool...Jake's eyes flash yellow when he uses his powers on Ellen...very interesting.
Jensen actually jumps over the gravestone and does a shoulder roll himself...I am so jealous. I've always wanted to do stuff like that, but I'm frequently too fragile.
John Winchester saves the day!! I like that he doesn't talk, just smiles and goes to heaven...or wherever.
Now, in Sam and Dean's talk at the end, there are two line deliveries that I absolutely love from Jensen. They are "Don't get mad at me. Don't you do that" and:
Sam: "And what do you think my job is?"
Dean: "What?"
-The whole conversation is great, but the way he says those two lines are my favorite.
I like the tribute to the pilot for the close - with the Impala trunk POV of Dean throwing in the empty colt and saying "We've got work to do."
And thankfully, I survived watching the sadest episode EVER.
S2 DVD special features review will be a separate post.