Rewatch S5: Point of No Return (5x18)
Woo! Supernatural's 100th episode, and it only get's more life affirming from here...
"What's your crime against humanity?"
-Oh Stuart, if you only knew what Zach's crime against humanity was....
"It's all they care about upstairs: results, results, results. They don't know. They're not down on the ground in the mud, nose to nose with all you pig-filthy humans, am I right?"
"Absol- filthy what?"
-Hahaha
Super gross though, when Michael comes down to hover over the bar and rehire Zachariah. You'd think there'd be an easier, less catastrophic way to deliver a message...but apparently the angels really see human life as insignificant. I like how Zachariah picks the glass out of his cup before finishing his scotch.
Dean's staying in the motel room 100. :)
I like the melancholy music as he boxes up his life and leaves his suicide note.
"Sending someone a candy gram?"
-I also like Sam's opening lines.
"How could you do that?"
"How could I? All you've ever done is run away!"
"And I was wrong, every single time I did."
-Sam's storyline has always been about trying to escape the fate carved out for him, even when it was only carved out by his father. I think he's been dealing with this problem a lot longer than Dean has. Running away is an extremely reaction to it - when Sam ran away though, he was running away from his destiny, not towards it like Dean...or at least he THOUGHT he was running away from it. At certain points, he was in fact running towards it unknowingly...but that's besides the point. Sometimes, in order to beat the system, you have to work from within it.
"I have to stop you"
"You can try. Just remember, your not all hopped up on demon blood this time."
-the way Dean says this, I sort of think he is still really pissed about that beating.
"Yeah, I know, but I brought help"
-You DID take off on Sam while Castiel was convalescing in the motel room with him, Dean. You shouldn't be that surprised.
"Well, that's easy for you to say, but if Lucifer burns this mother down and I could have done something about it, guess what? That's on me."
-Dean, your fear of failure is showing.
"You can't just give up, son"
"You're not my father, and you ain't in my shoes."
-I love Sam's stern head shake. Dean is pushing away his loved ones...it's what everyone who wants to leave does.
Cas senses a disturbance in the force - as though a thousand souls cried out, and were silenced. Oh wait, no? As though one soul was ripped out of heaven and had it's body reconstituted? My mistake.
So, here's a question for you...where does Adam get his clean clothes? Are they Dean's? I don't think I recognize them. I'm going to have to go through my list. (It doesn't help that Dean has fifty billion grey/blue/green shirts).
"Maybe they're desperate. Maybe they wrongly assumed Dean would be brave enough to withstand them."
-BURN! I love Castiel's BURNING WRATH.
"You know what? Blow me, Cas"
-I also love Castiel's forehead furrow of confusion.
"No way, after everything that happened - all that crap about destiny - suddenly the angels have a plan B? Does that smell right to anybody?"
-Oh Sam, congratulations on being smart.
Another thoughts about Adam's clothes. Do you notice when Adam was ghoul!Adam, he was dressed more like Sam (S1!Sam at least). Now that he's real Adam...cynical, sarcastic, jaded Adam...he's dressed more like Dean? Brought back to life to take Dean's place in the apocalypse...I think it's interesting.
"There's another way"
"Oh yeah, what is it?"
"Well, we're working on the power of love."
"How's that going?"
"Mm, not so good."
-Ah Dean, your sarcasm is actually quite accurate, and it will actually work in the end.
"Give me one good reason"
"Because we're blood"
"You've got no right to say that to me..."
"You're still John's boy"
"No, John Winchester was some guy who took me to a baseball game once a year. I don't have a dad. So we may be blood, but we are not family. my mom is my family..."
-I think a good theme of this season, or of Supernatural in general, is that family is what you make it. Now, of course, I might be a little biased, because that's also the theme of my own novel (which I will eventually start working on again, as soon as I stop doing foolish things like writing HP/SPN fanfic and rewatching tv shows I've already seen). Anyway, I'm thinking this theme might be visited again in S6? *is hopeful and also distrustful of certain new characters*
Sam's chat with Adam (which I'm not going to write out)
-I like how Sam tries to go for the sympathy angle - the whole "I hated our Dad too, we have so much in common!" strategy. However, that falls flat, because in true Winchester form, Adam is throwing himself a pity party and Sam's not invited.
I have a question for you though - who's right? Is Adam correct in saying that it was worse for him - home alone with a single mother whom he never saw? Or was it worse for Sam - being dragged around the country by an obsessed father whom he never saw? Debate! Personally, I'm leaning more towards Sam being worse off...after all, Adam was pre-med before he was eaten by a ghoul. Supposedly, with a nurse Mother who fully supported him (and they lived in a pretty swanky house, in my opinion.) Whereas Sam had to run away from home in order to end up pre-law...and sure, he wasn't eaten by a ghoul, but his girlfriend was killed and he had what little he had of an innocent childhood ripped away from him at the age of eight. But, feel free to debate the issue. Maybe it's just a matter of everyone always thinking that they personally have it worse than anyone...even when no matter what, there's always someone worse off than you.
"Cas, not for nothing, but the last person who looked at me like that - I got laid."
-Ah fanservice, I enjoy you even when I don't support the pairing. Also, I enjoy angry angels slamming doors using angel mojo.
"Kid's not taking a bullet for me...[...]...think of all the people we've gotten killed, Sam - Mom, Dad, Jess, Jo, Ellen..."
-Not for nothing, Dean, but I'm pretty sure it was your mother who got herself killed...and for that matter, got Jess killed too...everyone's always so eager to blame John for being a bad father, but Mary's the one who couldn't just let her fiance die. Everything in your lives is the result of her decision, not yours.
Also, notice how 4/5th of that list is female? The the comments to my last rewatch, I mentioned how I don't like the feminist complaining about how Supernatural doesn't have recurring female characters, because to me, this is a show about MEN, for whom the great tragedy in their lives is that they can't keep recurring female characters in their LIVES. I actually think I'm onto something there and should write a meta on it....their mother dies, their girlfriends die, they're female friends die...they're forced to live in a masculine dominated society where they basically have no recourse but to form an emotionally-incestuous relationship with each other. I think Supernatural is as much a commentary on modern masculinity as it is on family and love. But you know, maybe I'm just reading too much into this.
"Well, you think maybe you could take a half second and stop trying to sacrifice yourself for a change? Maybe we could actually stick together?"
-Listen to Sam, Dean. You might be about to call Sam out on all his fault, but he's got your number right here...this is how the angels are wining. If Sam's anger is what will inevitably fuel Lucifer. Dean's low self-worth and penchant for self-sacrifice is what is going to fuel Michael.
"I just, I don't believe"
"In what?"
-It's heart breaking that Sam actually knows what Dean's answer is a half second before he says it.
"In you. I mean, I don't...I don't know if it's going to be demon blood or another demon chick, but I do know their going to find a way to turn you"
"So you're saying I'm not strong enough?"
"You're angry. You're self-righteous. Lucifer's going to wear you to the prom, man. It's just a matter of time."
-Part of me thinks it's not so much that Dean doesn't believe in Sam (he doesn't, but that's besides the point here), it's that he doesn't believe in HIMSELF. What's Dean's one job? Look after Sammy? How many times has he failed at that? At least twice by my count...three times if you include when Walt shot Sam two episodes ago. John said that Dean would either have to save Sam or kill him...if he doesn't believe he's capable of saving him, and if he can't bring himself to kill him (or in this case, if it wouldn't make a difference), then all that's left to do is jump ship. Now that being said, I think after being raised to view Sam as someone who needed to be watched, looked-out-for, and coddled to death, I don't think it occurs to Dean that maybe Sam is capable of saving himself.
"Don't say that to me. Not you. Of all people."
-This breaks my heart...as well, because it's similar to how Sam pleaded with Hallucination!Dean in the 4x21 (When the Levee Breaks), when he said "Don't say that to me. Don't you say that to me." Awww...Sammy.
"I don't want to, but it's the truth."
-I also think this is about Dean pushing Sam away...as people who are planning to kick the bucket are wont to do.
Personally, I think Cas was going downstairs to yell at Dean for upsetting Sam so much. In my mind they have formed a weird sort of friendship.
"So, you know you can't trust them, right? You know Sam and Dean Winchester are psychotically, irrationally, erotically co-dependent on each other, right?"
-At first, I was like "Dude, enough with the fanservice" but then it occurred to me that this isn't the first time we've heard something similar to this. Remember Hendriksen? How he thought John Winchester "no doubt touched [Dean] in a bad place" - it's a way to make the Winchesters seem sick and twisted, to shake Adam's trust in them. After all, North American society tends to treat deviant sexualities with far more disgust than we do common criminals, rightly or wrongly. For some reason, depending on your upbringing, if someone let's say...has an affair, they're suddenly viewed as no longer fit to be President...even though ones ability to be monogamous has nothing to do with ones ability to run a country/state/city. It becomes an issue of trust with people. And even when all parties are consenting...like let's say, the wife is completely fine with the senator hiring a rent-boy, the general population in America still isn't...they still lose all trust in that politician. American "values" or not, insinuating that Sam and Dean have an incestuous relationship automatically plays into Adam's trust issues...how can you trust brothers who are so twisted that they might be banging each other? Obviously they have sick minds...minds that could come up with all sorts of excuses for anything...
"Trust me, when the heat gets hot, they're not going to give a flying crap about you...[...]...They're not your family, understand."
-Again, playing into the "what makes a family" theme. And Adam's distrust of people related to a Dad who couldn't be bothered to see him more than once a year.
"OUR FATHER WHO ART IN HEAVEN, HALLOWED BE THEY NAME-"
"You pray to loud"
-Amen.
"I rebelled for this? I gave everything for you and this is how you repay me?"
-You tell him Cas...much like Bobby's speech about the bullet in the beginning of the episode, which I didn't talk about at the time. This is yet another person pointing out that Dean made promises to more people than just Sam...implied promises that Dean was going to practice what he preached.
"Do it. Just do it."
-I don't know if Dean thought Cas was going to kill him or not - but I love the way Jensen delivers this line...Dean knows he deserves it, and he also wants it. Also, AWESOME ANGEL VS. HUMAN FIST FIGHT!
Poor Sam, he's trying so hard to keep it together this episode. He's playing Dean's roll the whole time - managing people, trying to figure out how to fix things, and everything just keeps going wrong.
"What happened to him?"
"Me."
-Awesome.
"Hey, if it's any consolation, you do happen to be the illegitimate half-brother of the guy we do care about."
-it just occurred to me that at one point in my life I was an illegitimate half-sibling. I knew there was a reason I liked this line...well, that and I have a deep love for Edmund in King Lear, who is another good illegitimate half-brother, who gets royally screwed over (though he kind of deserves it).
"Hey, how do you thihnk I feel? I'm the one who has to put up with that dumb slack jawed look on your face."
-I love Adam's glare here.
"Kid, we didn't have a choice. The Winchesters have one blindspot, and it's family. See, Sam and Dean, they're going to put aside their differences and they're going to come find you, and that is going to put Dean right here..."
-I love how Zachariah shows Adam who the real liar is quite efficiently. Basically going against everything he said to Adam to get Adam to give him his location. And Adam realizes it too...
"Word to the wise - don't piss off the nerd angels"
-I love how Dean refers to Castiel as a "nerd angel"...what's his bases for that? It's adorable, really.
"When push shoves, you'll make the right call."
"You know, tables were turned, I'd let you rot in here. Hell, I have let you rot in here..."
"Yeah, well, I guess I'm not that smart."
"I don't get it Sam, why are you doing this?"
"Because you're still my big brother"
-Sam knows what he's doing, whether he actually trusts Dean or not. He's taking a gamble that if he expects something of Dean, Dean will want to live up to that expectation...just like Dean has always tried to live up to his father's expectations. Plus, Sam knows what it's like not to be trusted.
"Isn't that suicide?"
"Maybe it is, but then I won't have to watch you fail. Sorry Dean, but I don't have the same faith in you that Sam does."
-Ouch...and also heartbreaking that Cas would rather die than see the end of Dean's fight.
Sidenote: the cut on the bottom of Dean's chin is in a very similar location to a scar I have on my chin. We should totally go out.
And then, after much angel banishing, and hemorrhaging, we get....THE WINK!
DEAN WINKS AT US AND EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE OK!
"Before Michael gets on piece of this sweet ass, he has to turn you into a piece of charcoal."
-Really, I just wrote this down because I like Dean referring to himself as "this sweet ass"...also, language totally supports the sexual-assault theme inherent in possessions in this show.
"Michael's not going to kill me"
"Maybe not, but I am"
-Awesome line, and very reminiscent of Anna's line from 4x16, which I loved - "there is no God" "Maybe, maybe not, but there's still me." Now, this is a theme I could get behind.
I love Zachariah's death tableau, with the wing up the wall and across the floor. Beautiful.
I also like the fact that Adam just didn't get left behind because Dean was more concerned with Sam - Sam actually couldn't walk. When Dean dumps him outside the room, he just crumples to the ground. Obviously taking longer to recover than Adam. This is why we don't go towards the light, Adam...it distracts us from the fire-escape route.
"I saw your eyes. You were totally rocking the yes...what made you change your mind?"
"Honestly? Damndest thing. I mean, the world is ending, the walls are coming down around us, and I look over to you and I think 'Stupid son of a bitch brought me here.' I just didn't want to let you down."
"You didn't. You almost did. But you didn't."
"I owe you an apology"
"No man, you don't."
"Just let me say this. I don't know if it's being a big brother, or not, but to me you've always been this snot nose kid that I had to keep on the straight and narrow. I think we both know that's not you any more. I mean, if you're grown up enough to find faith in me, least I can do is return the favour. So, screw destiny, right in the face. I saw we take the fight to them and do it our way."
-And with that, Dean finally gets on board with the attitude that Sam has had for probably about 6 months (since 5x05 anyhow). And one could argue that it's bad writing, that Dean promised Sam before that he'd treat him like a grown up, and they shouldn't even be having this conversation...but as my Mum says, what do flowers have to do with anything? And what I mean by that is that words are nothing without action. Yes, Dean promised Sam before that he'd treat him like an equal partner, and he made a gesture of letting him drive for a day...but a gesture doesn't mean anything unless it's followed up by an actual change, and that's where Dean failed. He acknowledged Sam's complaint, but didn't change the behaviour Sam was complaining about - maybe he didn't even understand the complaint, but understood what gesture would appease Sam. Maybe he didn't even realize how deep the distrust went.
Because the truth is that Sam has ALWAYS had faith in Dean...it has nothing to do with Sam being grown-up. Sam has had faith in Dean probably since Sam could understand simple sentences (ETA: Except in S4, see all my S4 rewatch posts for why). It's Dean that has never had faith in himself. And when you don't have faith in yourself, you don't realize that other people might have faith in you...you don't realize how good people having faith in you feels. I think it wasn't until now that Dean realized what he was doing to Sam by openly distrusting him. He didn't realize how unfair it was for him to distrust Sam, when Sam had the decency to trust Dean despite Dean's numerous failures (in Dean's eyes). Like Dean said, the least he could do was return the favour.
Alright! That took forever to type up, so it must be fairly long.
I'm off to bed, before I pass out on my keyboard.
"What's your crime against humanity?"
-Oh Stuart, if you only knew what Zach's crime against humanity was....
"It's all they care about upstairs: results, results, results. They don't know. They're not down on the ground in the mud, nose to nose with all you pig-filthy humans, am I right?"
"Absol- filthy what?"
-Hahaha
Super gross though, when Michael comes down to hover over the bar and rehire Zachariah. You'd think there'd be an easier, less catastrophic way to deliver a message...but apparently the angels really see human life as insignificant. I like how Zachariah picks the glass out of his cup before finishing his scotch.
Dean's staying in the motel room 100. :)
I like the melancholy music as he boxes up his life and leaves his suicide note.
"Sending someone a candy gram?"
-I also like Sam's opening lines.
"How could you do that?"
"How could I? All you've ever done is run away!"
"And I was wrong, every single time I did."
-Sam's storyline has always been about trying to escape the fate carved out for him, even when it was only carved out by his father. I think he's been dealing with this problem a lot longer than Dean has. Running away is an extremely reaction to it - when Sam ran away though, he was running away from his destiny, not towards it like Dean...or at least he THOUGHT he was running away from it. At certain points, he was in fact running towards it unknowingly...but that's besides the point. Sometimes, in order to beat the system, you have to work from within it.
"I have to stop you"
"You can try. Just remember, your not all hopped up on demon blood this time."
-the way Dean says this, I sort of think he is still really pissed about that beating.
"Yeah, I know, but I brought help"
-You DID take off on Sam while Castiel was convalescing in the motel room with him, Dean. You shouldn't be that surprised.
"Well, that's easy for you to say, but if Lucifer burns this mother down and I could have done something about it, guess what? That's on me."
-Dean, your fear of failure is showing.
"You can't just give up, son"
"You're not my father, and you ain't in my shoes."
-I love Sam's stern head shake. Dean is pushing away his loved ones...it's what everyone who wants to leave does.
Cas senses a disturbance in the force - as though a thousand souls cried out, and were silenced. Oh wait, no? As though one soul was ripped out of heaven and had it's body reconstituted? My mistake.
So, here's a question for you...where does Adam get his clean clothes? Are they Dean's? I don't think I recognize them. I'm going to have to go through my list. (It doesn't help that Dean has fifty billion grey/blue/green shirts).
"Maybe they're desperate. Maybe they wrongly assumed Dean would be brave enough to withstand them."
-BURN! I love Castiel's BURNING WRATH.
"You know what? Blow me, Cas"
-I also love Castiel's forehead furrow of confusion.
"No way, after everything that happened - all that crap about destiny - suddenly the angels have a plan B? Does that smell right to anybody?"
-Oh Sam, congratulations on being smart.
Another thoughts about Adam's clothes. Do you notice when Adam was ghoul!Adam, he was dressed more like Sam (S1!Sam at least). Now that he's real Adam...cynical, sarcastic, jaded Adam...he's dressed more like Dean? Brought back to life to take Dean's place in the apocalypse...I think it's interesting.
"There's another way"
"Oh yeah, what is it?"
"Well, we're working on the power of love."
"How's that going?"
"Mm, not so good."
-Ah Dean, your sarcasm is actually quite accurate, and it will actually work in the end.
"Give me one good reason"
"Because we're blood"
"You've got no right to say that to me..."
"You're still John's boy"
"No, John Winchester was some guy who took me to a baseball game once a year. I don't have a dad. So we may be blood, but we are not family. my mom is my family..."
-I think a good theme of this season, or of Supernatural in general, is that family is what you make it. Now, of course, I might be a little biased, because that's also the theme of my own novel (which I will eventually start working on again, as soon as I stop doing foolish things like writing HP/SPN fanfic and rewatching tv shows I've already seen). Anyway, I'm thinking this theme might be visited again in S6? *is hopeful and also distrustful of certain new characters*
Sam's chat with Adam (which I'm not going to write out)
-I like how Sam tries to go for the sympathy angle - the whole "I hated our Dad too, we have so much in common!" strategy. However, that falls flat, because in true Winchester form, Adam is throwing himself a pity party and Sam's not invited.
I have a question for you though - who's right? Is Adam correct in saying that it was worse for him - home alone with a single mother whom he never saw? Or was it worse for Sam - being dragged around the country by an obsessed father whom he never saw? Debate! Personally, I'm leaning more towards Sam being worse off...after all, Adam was pre-med before he was eaten by a ghoul. Supposedly, with a nurse Mother who fully supported him (and they lived in a pretty swanky house, in my opinion.) Whereas Sam had to run away from home in order to end up pre-law...and sure, he wasn't eaten by a ghoul, but his girlfriend was killed and he had what little he had of an innocent childhood ripped away from him at the age of eight. But, feel free to debate the issue. Maybe it's just a matter of everyone always thinking that they personally have it worse than anyone...even when no matter what, there's always someone worse off than you.
"Cas, not for nothing, but the last person who looked at me like that - I got laid."
-Ah fanservice, I enjoy you even when I don't support the pairing. Also, I enjoy angry angels slamming doors using angel mojo.
"Kid's not taking a bullet for me...[...]...think of all the people we've gotten killed, Sam - Mom, Dad, Jess, Jo, Ellen..."
-Not for nothing, Dean, but I'm pretty sure it was your mother who got herself killed...and for that matter, got Jess killed too...everyone's always so eager to blame John for being a bad father, but Mary's the one who couldn't just let her fiance die. Everything in your lives is the result of her decision, not yours.
Also, notice how 4/5th of that list is female? The the comments to my last rewatch, I mentioned how I don't like the feminist complaining about how Supernatural doesn't have recurring female characters, because to me, this is a show about MEN, for whom the great tragedy in their lives is that they can't keep recurring female characters in their LIVES. I actually think I'm onto something there and should write a meta on it....their mother dies, their girlfriends die, they're female friends die...they're forced to live in a masculine dominated society where they basically have no recourse but to form an emotionally-incestuous relationship with each other. I think Supernatural is as much a commentary on modern masculinity as it is on family and love. But you know, maybe I'm just reading too much into this.
"Well, you think maybe you could take a half second and stop trying to sacrifice yourself for a change? Maybe we could actually stick together?"
-Listen to Sam, Dean. You might be about to call Sam out on all his fault, but he's got your number right here...this is how the angels are wining. If Sam's anger is what will inevitably fuel Lucifer. Dean's low self-worth and penchant for self-sacrifice is what is going to fuel Michael.
"I just, I don't believe"
"In what?"
-It's heart breaking that Sam actually knows what Dean's answer is a half second before he says it.
"In you. I mean, I don't...I don't know if it's going to be demon blood or another demon chick, but I do know their going to find a way to turn you"
"So you're saying I'm not strong enough?"
"You're angry. You're self-righteous. Lucifer's going to wear you to the prom, man. It's just a matter of time."
-Part of me thinks it's not so much that Dean doesn't believe in Sam (he doesn't, but that's besides the point here), it's that he doesn't believe in HIMSELF. What's Dean's one job? Look after Sammy? How many times has he failed at that? At least twice by my count...three times if you include when Walt shot Sam two episodes ago. John said that Dean would either have to save Sam or kill him...if he doesn't believe he's capable of saving him, and if he can't bring himself to kill him (or in this case, if it wouldn't make a difference), then all that's left to do is jump ship. Now that being said, I think after being raised to view Sam as someone who needed to be watched, looked-out-for, and coddled to death, I don't think it occurs to Dean that maybe Sam is capable of saving himself.
"Don't say that to me. Not you. Of all people."
-This breaks my heart...as well, because it's similar to how Sam pleaded with Hallucination!Dean in the 4x21 (When the Levee Breaks), when he said "Don't say that to me. Don't you say that to me." Awww...Sammy.
"I don't want to, but it's the truth."
-I also think this is about Dean pushing Sam away...as people who are planning to kick the bucket are wont to do.
Personally, I think Cas was going downstairs to yell at Dean for upsetting Sam so much. In my mind they have formed a weird sort of friendship.
"So, you know you can't trust them, right? You know Sam and Dean Winchester are psychotically, irrationally, erotically co-dependent on each other, right?"
-At first, I was like "Dude, enough with the fanservice" but then it occurred to me that this isn't the first time we've heard something similar to this. Remember Hendriksen? How he thought John Winchester "no doubt touched [Dean] in a bad place" - it's a way to make the Winchesters seem sick and twisted, to shake Adam's trust in them. After all, North American society tends to treat deviant sexualities with far more disgust than we do common criminals, rightly or wrongly. For some reason, depending on your upbringing, if someone let's say...has an affair, they're suddenly viewed as no longer fit to be President...even though ones ability to be monogamous has nothing to do with ones ability to run a country/state/city. It becomes an issue of trust with people. And even when all parties are consenting...like let's say, the wife is completely fine with the senator hiring a rent-boy, the general population in America still isn't...they still lose all trust in that politician. American "values" or not, insinuating that Sam and Dean have an incestuous relationship automatically plays into Adam's trust issues...how can you trust brothers who are so twisted that they might be banging each other? Obviously they have sick minds...minds that could come up with all sorts of excuses for anything...
"Trust me, when the heat gets hot, they're not going to give a flying crap about you...[...]...They're not your family, understand."
-Again, playing into the "what makes a family" theme. And Adam's distrust of people related to a Dad who couldn't be bothered to see him more than once a year.
"OUR FATHER WHO ART IN HEAVEN, HALLOWED BE THEY NAME-"
"You pray to loud"
-Amen.
"I rebelled for this? I gave everything for you and this is how you repay me?"
-You tell him Cas...much like Bobby's speech about the bullet in the beginning of the episode, which I didn't talk about at the time. This is yet another person pointing out that Dean made promises to more people than just Sam...implied promises that Dean was going to practice what he preached.
"Do it. Just do it."
-I don't know if Dean thought Cas was going to kill him or not - but I love the way Jensen delivers this line...Dean knows he deserves it, and he also wants it. Also, AWESOME ANGEL VS. HUMAN FIST FIGHT!
Poor Sam, he's trying so hard to keep it together this episode. He's playing Dean's roll the whole time - managing people, trying to figure out how to fix things, and everything just keeps going wrong.
"What happened to him?"
"Me."
-Awesome.
"Hey, if it's any consolation, you do happen to be the illegitimate half-brother of the guy we do care about."
-it just occurred to me that at one point in my life I was an illegitimate half-sibling. I knew there was a reason I liked this line...well, that and I have a deep love for Edmund in King Lear, who is another good illegitimate half-brother, who gets royally screwed over (though he kind of deserves it).
"Hey, how do you thihnk I feel? I'm the one who has to put up with that dumb slack jawed look on your face."
-I love Adam's glare here.
"Kid, we didn't have a choice. The Winchesters have one blindspot, and it's family. See, Sam and Dean, they're going to put aside their differences and they're going to come find you, and that is going to put Dean right here..."
-I love how Zachariah shows Adam who the real liar is quite efficiently. Basically going against everything he said to Adam to get Adam to give him his location. And Adam realizes it too...
"Word to the wise - don't piss off the nerd angels"
-I love how Dean refers to Castiel as a "nerd angel"...what's his bases for that? It's adorable, really.
"When push shoves, you'll make the right call."
"You know, tables were turned, I'd let you rot in here. Hell, I have let you rot in here..."
"Yeah, well, I guess I'm not that smart."
"I don't get it Sam, why are you doing this?"
"Because you're still my big brother"
-Sam knows what he's doing, whether he actually trusts Dean or not. He's taking a gamble that if he expects something of Dean, Dean will want to live up to that expectation...just like Dean has always tried to live up to his father's expectations. Plus, Sam knows what it's like not to be trusted.
"Isn't that suicide?"
"Maybe it is, but then I won't have to watch you fail. Sorry Dean, but I don't have the same faith in you that Sam does."
-Ouch...and also heartbreaking that Cas would rather die than see the end of Dean's fight.
Sidenote: the cut on the bottom of Dean's chin is in a very similar location to a scar I have on my chin. We should totally go out.
And then, after much angel banishing, and hemorrhaging, we get....THE WINK!
DEAN WINKS AT US AND EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE OK!
"Before Michael gets on piece of this sweet ass, he has to turn you into a piece of charcoal."
-Really, I just wrote this down because I like Dean referring to himself as "this sweet ass"...also, language totally supports the sexual-assault theme inherent in possessions in this show.
"Michael's not going to kill me"
"Maybe not, but I am"
-Awesome line, and very reminiscent of Anna's line from 4x16, which I loved - "there is no God" "Maybe, maybe not, but there's still me." Now, this is a theme I could get behind.
I love Zachariah's death tableau, with the wing up the wall and across the floor. Beautiful.
I also like the fact that Adam just didn't get left behind because Dean was more concerned with Sam - Sam actually couldn't walk. When Dean dumps him outside the room, he just crumples to the ground. Obviously taking longer to recover than Adam. This is why we don't go towards the light, Adam...it distracts us from the fire-escape route.
"I saw your eyes. You were totally rocking the yes...what made you change your mind?"
"Honestly? Damndest thing. I mean, the world is ending, the walls are coming down around us, and I look over to you and I think 'Stupid son of a bitch brought me here.' I just didn't want to let you down."
"You didn't. You almost did. But you didn't."
"I owe you an apology"
"No man, you don't."
"Just let me say this. I don't know if it's being a big brother, or not, but to me you've always been this snot nose kid that I had to keep on the straight and narrow. I think we both know that's not you any more. I mean, if you're grown up enough to find faith in me, least I can do is return the favour. So, screw destiny, right in the face. I saw we take the fight to them and do it our way."
-And with that, Dean finally gets on board with the attitude that Sam has had for probably about 6 months (since 5x05 anyhow). And one could argue that it's bad writing, that Dean promised Sam before that he'd treat him like a grown up, and they shouldn't even be having this conversation...but as my Mum says, what do flowers have to do with anything? And what I mean by that is that words are nothing without action. Yes, Dean promised Sam before that he'd treat him like an equal partner, and he made a gesture of letting him drive for a day...but a gesture doesn't mean anything unless it's followed up by an actual change, and that's where Dean failed. He acknowledged Sam's complaint, but didn't change the behaviour Sam was complaining about - maybe he didn't even understand the complaint, but understood what gesture would appease Sam. Maybe he didn't even realize how deep the distrust went.
Because the truth is that Sam has ALWAYS had faith in Dean...it has nothing to do with Sam being grown-up. Sam has had faith in Dean probably since Sam could understand simple sentences (ETA: Except in S4, see all my S4 rewatch posts for why). It's Dean that has never had faith in himself. And when you don't have faith in yourself, you don't realize that other people might have faith in you...you don't realize how good people having faith in you feels. I think it wasn't until now that Dean realized what he was doing to Sam by openly distrusting him. He didn't realize how unfair it was for him to distrust Sam, when Sam had the decency to trust Dean despite Dean's numerous failures (in Dean's eyes). Like Dean said, the least he could do was return the favour.
Alright! That took forever to type up, so it must be fairly long.
I'm off to bed, before I pass out on my keyboard.