Rewatch S7: Survival of the Fittest (7x23)
FINAL EPISODE!
Oh man, I always forget about Carry On My Wayward Son. God, the feelings...
I think it says a lot about this fandom - the fact that our "theme" is played on the finales not the premieres...it's a sad sad world for Supernatural fans.
Crowley and Dick... they are good together.
"So, if you're suddenly calling, I take it you're up to speed on the Winchesters, which means you intercepted the prophet and the prophet told you that my blood was key to everything."
- I like how Crowley's always working quickly in the background. Within seconds of arriving in Dick's office, he already knows the location of the prophet. If we're operating under the belief that Crowley already knows the location of the Demon tablet - then he's now go all his ducks in a row.
Crowley: "You know what I like about you."
Dick: "Lack of pretension?"
Crowley: "You're smarter than you look."
Dick: "Oh, well, now you're just flirting."
- Seriously, how can you not like the banter between these two?
Dick: "Full immunity for you and your constituency. I'm talking free range grazing for all demon kind, I'm willing to cordon off, say, Canada. You and your crew can work your little deals, have your way with the locals-"
Crowley: "All of Canada?"
Dick: "Have it."
Crowley: "Fair. And down here?"
Dick: "Americas ours. Your sales team stays out, period. That's not up for negotiation. We need America, they're so fat."
- Canada has 10% the population of America. So, yeah, I don't think this deal is fair to Crowley at all. YES, we're the second largest country in the world, but you can't make deals with fir trees and elk. :P Also, how would this amazing future work? You'd have to leave Canadians un-stoned in order for them to sell their souls, would you? Or maybe not... yeah, probably not.
- I wonder if American really are fatter than Canadians. I mean, we're nto exactly horribly thin up here. We need the insulation. :P
Crowley: "You have a deal. I suppose you want it in writing."
Dick: "I don't kiss on the mouth."
Crowley: "Your loss. I just so happen to have a standard rider right here. I do so like this part, don't you?"
- Aww, no kisses. Still, I know there's little debate about why it was that Crowley was able to break this deal... most people just assumed that he took a page out of Castiel's book and simply broke it. Personally, I kind of think that it wasn't an official "unbreakable demon deal" because Dick a)doesn't have a soul and b)didn't kiss to seal the deal. This would mean that Castiel and Crowley's deal was also not an official demon deal either.
Dean: "I still say this was a bad idea."
Sam: "Dean, it was your idea and it was the best one either of us had"
Dean: "I said it as a joke"
Sam: "It was a bad joke. Good idea."
- I just love the fact that Dean hates his own idea and is giving Sam a hard time about it.
Sam: "We can call Castiel again"
Dean: "Dude, on my car, he showed up naked, covered in bees."
Sam: "Yeah, I'm not really sorry I missed that."
- What we all would have paid to have seen that. (FYI: If any of you fan-artists out there wanted to render the scene - the boys haven't changed clothes since the last episode, so Dean would have been wearing the exactly same thing that he's wearing in this episode.)
Maid!Bobby. That actress kind of reminds me of the actress from King of Queens... I don't know here name. It's her jaw line.
And the negotiations continue between Crowley and Dick. Part of me thinks that Crowley's purposefully stalling a bit... maybe actually trying to give Sam and Dean time to gather the ingredients.
Sam: "There's Sister Mary Eunice. Fed the poor. Became Mother Superior at age sixty."
Dean: "Sounds political. Power corrupts."
- I love the fact that the former Righteous Man is the judge of righteousness in the list of names Sam is giving him.
Dean: "Well, let's bone this nun.... sorry."
- Ha, thanks for apologizing, Dean.
Dean: "Is he waiting to make a grand entrance?"
Sam: "I don't know."
Dean: "Son of a bitch, he's standing us up."
Sam: "We summoned him, doesn't he have to-"
Dean: "If Crowley wants to screw ya, he'll screw ya."
- And we find out which is stronger: a summoning or a devil's trap. It makes sense that it'd be the devil's trap, otherwise demons would just be summoning each other to safety all the time. :P
*knock knock*
Dean: "Maybe it's good news."
- I love you, Dean.
Meg: "You deal with him. I can't anymore."
...
Meg: "I was laying low have-way across the world when emo-boy pops in and zaps me right back here."
Dean: "Why?"
Meg: "Go ask him. He was your boyfriend first."
- I don't think Meg really understood what she was getting into with Cas. You can't manipulate someone who can't keep tabs on reality. Interesting though, I just realized that at the end of Reading is Fundamental, despite all Meg's talk about who Cas would follow if they both called and "taking power where I can get it", Meg LEFT WITHOUT HIM. We never see Meg's exit, but we do see Cas', and it's alone, the morning after, with no sign of Meg anywhere. So, Meg either decided that heaven knowing about Cas made him too dangerous a weapon to hold, or she just didn't know how to deal with him.
Dean: "Hey there. So, Cas, what's the word."
Cas: "Well, Dean, I've been thinking. Monkeys are so clever, and they're sensible in that they leave the skins on the bananas that they eat. Is it really necessary to test cosmetics on them? I mean, how important is lipstick to you, Dean?"
Dean: "Not very. Do you want to come inside and tell us what's going on?"
- They don't actually test cosmetics on monkeys. Monkeys are too expensive for that... so, I don't know where Cas has been. Mind you, maybe they test cosmetics on monkeys in the Supernatural-Universe. I AM watching a TV show about a fantasy world after all.
- Also, nice to know that lipstick isn't that important to Dean. I don't like it much myself.
- I do like how patient Dean is trying to be with Cas. I think he learned that from his mistakes in S6 and is just trying to stay calm and listen.
Cas: "Now, you understand, I don't participate in aggressive activity. Hmm, Sister Mary Constant - good choice."
- I love how Cas can tell who it is by smelling the bone. :P
- I really think this pacifism on Castiel's part is a direct result of his guilt in screwing up. He doesn't trust himself to make decisions anymore, so he just doesn't make them. He "follows the bees" and he doesn't have any responsibility whatsoever, so therefore he doesn't need to take responsibility when things go wrong.
Dean: "Why'd you go to Meg, Cas?"
Cas: "When I left, I wanted to observe the flowers, and fruit, flowers come first obviously. But I heard nothing from them."
Dean: "You heard nothing from who?"
Cas: "Well, finally the silence was deafening, so I went to look - to the home of the prophet. You know, leviathan can kill angels. It's the reason my father locked them in purgatory. They're the piranha that would eat the whole aquarium. They're gone. The entire garrison, dead. If there's anyone left at all, they're in hiding."
- The problem with deciding to avoid decisions though - or, rather, the problem with being uninvolved - is that deciding to do nothing is also a decision. You are involved by deciding to not be involved. You can look the other way when you see someone being beat-up and claim that it has nothing to do with you because you didn't raise a hand to them, but at the end of the day you are still going to feel as guilty as if you had, because you didn't stop it either. And that's what Cas has discovered - "the silence was deafening", and Cas knew that he was the only one that could hear it who could "call the cops" as it were and let the Winchesters know.
- Also, ouch for poor Cas. Really, his entire family has been killed. The garrison was his regiment since the dawn of man.
Dean: "Um, I'm sorry? The angels are dead? Where's Kevin?"
Cas: "I could steal them from their cages, the monkeys, but where would I put them all?"
- So, Cas retreats back into "madness", because he's imparted the bit of knowledge he knows for sure, and he doesn't want to be tasked with acquiring more...and he knows he's getting close to being tasked with more.
- Also, it's interesting that Cas is choosing to talk about rescuing laboratory test animals... basically, creatures that have fates beyond their country that can lead to torture and death. (NOTE TO CAS: There are actually primate sanctuaries that specialize in being homes for former lab monkeys. There's one in Quebec....so, you can put the monkeys there.)
Dean: "Hey, focus! Is Kevin alive?!"
Cas: "I don't want to fight."
Dean: "I'm not- We're worried."
- Again, it's actually a pretty huge deal for Dean to mitigate his town and try to cater to Cas a little.
Cas: "They took him. He's alive. Oh, I felt such responsibility, but it's in your hands now."
Dean: "Now hold on a friggin minute-"
Cas: "I feel much better."
- And this is the thing, Cas told the Winchesters because until he did, he had sole responsibility. Now that's he's told though, he can return to his insect watching and feel unburdened by guilt. Cas has told the grown-ups and now he can go back to being a kid.
Meg: "Guys, what's all that?"
Sam: "We called Crowley."
Me: "You what?"
Dean: "Don't worry, he never showed."
Meg: "What do you mean he never-?"
Dean: "You see him anywhere? He stood us up."
Meg: "I'm sorry about that, but I'm outie, he could still-"
Crowley: "-show up at any time. Hello boys, sorry I'm late. This is an embarrassment of riches."
- It's interesting that until the demon shows up, the door remains open once you've summoned it. I like this entrance of Crowley's. I think he secretly WAS waiting to make a grand entrance. :P
- I hate Meg's use of the word "outie"...it drives me nuts in Clueless too. In my mind, "outie" should only refer to a type of belly button.
Crowley: "Castiel, when last we spoke, you enslaved me. But I'm confused, why aren't you dead?"
Cas: "I don't know"
- I love the way Cas says "I don't know" - it's perfect. You can tell that he's trying to mask the fact that he's having difficulty coping.
Crowley: "Well do you want to be? Because I can help with that-"
Dean: "Alright, enough."
Crowley: "It's enough when I say. I came here to help you, find out you've been lying to me, harbouring an angel - and not just any angel, the one angel I most want to crush between my teeth."
Meg: "Oh, so you can crush angels now, huh?"
Crowley: "You bore me, you know that? You have no sense of poetry..."
- Personally, I agree with Crowley's criticism of Meg. Also, BURN!
- I also think that Cas actually helped Crowley in the end. What would have happened had Crowley taken half the souls? Would they not have destroyed him too? Though, maybe he would have sent them straight to hell, and then maybe the leviathans would have ripped hell apart instead of Crowley's body. Either way, I think Crowley dodged a bullet.
Crowley: "...now, what do you have to say for yourself?"
Cas: "Well, I'm still...honing my communication strategy. I haven't even been back to heaven, I keep thinking 'there's no insects up there' but here we have trillions, you know. They're making honey and silk and miracles, really."
Crowley: "What are you talking about?"
Cas: "Um, preferring insects to angels, I guess. Here, I can offer a token if you like. It's honey. I collected it myself."
- Again, I like to think about Cas is really trying to say here. Insects vs. Angels. Part of him obviously wants to return to heaven. It's his home. He has great affection for his fellow angels still...as we saw when Hester and Inais showed up. So, why doesn't he go? Because angels have responsibilities, whereas insects don't... or rather, they aren't burdened by their responsibilities. They work on stinct for the basics - food, shelter, water, procreation, and that's it. Cas is hippie who is trying to get back to "the basics", he's just taking it even farther than most hippies do.
Dean: "Look, did you come here to donkey-punch your old grudges or to help us end Dick? Pick a battle."
Crowley: "Well, I'm vexed. I'd like to do both, but where's the fun in clobbering a ball of wet fur. Text me when sparkles here retrieves his marbles, I suppose."
- I think Crowley just compared Cas to a wet kitten... I find that idea adorable.
Dean: "Why should we trust you?"
Crowley: "Good god, don't, never trust anyone - little lesson I learned from my last business partner."
- I also love Crowley's sage advice here.
Oh yeah, Bobby! See, I completely forgot about him. I just...at this point, he's not adding anything to the storyline. I'm sorry Bobby.
Dick: "Susan, do I look like a fool?"
Susan: "Not in that particular body, no."
- I love this line because it doesn't actually answer his question...at least, not in general. Call my a pessimist or cynic, but when I hear "not in that particular body, no" what I understand is "...but the rest of the time? Totally."
Kevin: "I'm Kevin"
Polly: "Polly"
Kevin: "What are you doing here?"
Polly: "Sitting, I guess."
Kevin: "Are you a prophet?" *Polly eats a twizzler* "So, basically, I'm on my own."
- The first time I watched this, I didn't actually clue in that Polly was stoned. I was like "she's weirdly uncommunicative." Oh, me. I'll assume I was drinking (fairly safe assumption.)
- I do feel bad for Kevin though, thinking for even a moment that he wasn't on his own. :(
Sam: "You think Crowley's-"
Dean: "-double crossing us?"
Sam: "Yeah"
Dean: "You gotta figure who he wants dead more, us or Dick."
Sam: "Depends what Dick offered."
- Oh, the jokes...
- I just like Sam and Dean finishing each other's sentences and thoughts really.
Dean: "Okay, so do we uh..."
Sam: "There's no magic woods, nothing, we just go."
Dean: "Alright then."
*they pour the blood over the bone*
Dean: "Where's all the thunder and lightening?"
Sam: "Uh, maybe it worked?"
Dean: "Awesome."
- I actually absolutely love this. I love how it's so anti-climatic and there's absolutely no way to tell if it worked or not...and they know it. I think this is the first final-boss fight that Sam and Dean have gone into where I actually FEEL like they're going in blind and half-cocked.
Cas: "So, none of this should cause you any ill-effect. I went to a little farm in Normandy for the wheat and the lettuce and tomato, and I thoroughly comforted the pig before I slaughtered it for the ham. Here, you need your strength."
Dean: "Thanks Cas"
Sam: "Hey Cas, why was Crowley so certain that you need to come with us?"
Cas: "Crowley's wrong. I'll be waiting right here. Please, accept this sandwich as a gesture of solidarity."
- And you can still see Cas' internal battle here. Why is he hanging around and giving them sandwiches? Why hasn't he left to watch the bees? It's because he knows they need him, but he doesn't want to admit to it, because he doesn't want the responsibility of possibly failing them again.... but doing nothing makes him feel just as guilty as though he has already failed them...so, obviously, the solution is to make sandwiches. Be supportive and tell himself that he's helping in all the ways he can, even though he's not.
Why would the leviathan give Polly hair pins? Why change at all? I have issues with this aspect of the episode. They could have just had polly already have a bobby pin in her hair, and Kevin just yanks it out. It's not like Polly's going to care.
*leviathan brings Kevin a burger and fries*
Kevin: "I'm a vegan"
- My goodness. I wonder how long it's been since Kevin's eaten. He was kidnapped TWO EPISODES AGO. Maybe he picks the tomato off the burgers or something.
- Also, I kind of love the fact that Kevin's a vegan. I wonder if they'll remember that in S8, or if Kevin will suddenly decide that his circumstances are such that he cannot manage the lifestyle anymore. :P
- I also love the absolutely disgusted look on the leviathan's face at the very notion of veganism.
Dick: "Well, I'm pleased as punch to see you all here. Last time we were all in one room, it was inside that angel."
- Wait, so, are all the leviathan in that room (except Susan)? Or just the top brass? In either case. When Sam left the building, I hope he did so swinging a machete and collecting heads!
Dick: "She's a slip of a thing, isn't she? And she eats like a linebacker. Bottomline, we're not making art. We want to engineer the perfect beast. We want meat, and these zippy little hummingbirds need to be bread out fast..."
- Okay, so I kind of have issues with this part. Why does she have to be in her underwear? Also, I kind of take offense at the "we're not making art" line, as though the "artistic" thing to do would be to make everyone skinny and gorgeous. That...well, it's offensive, and it also has absolutely nothing to do with the world of art. Firsty, the ideal body image changes over the years (back in the renaissance, it was MY body-type that was popular...they liked big butts and they could not lie). Secondly, my artist-sister actually prefers to paint and draw non-skinny nudes, because she finds skinny people "boring" and not a test of her skills at all. (Sorry skinny people who dream of becoming nude models for my sister.) Anyway, yeah, I just... had issues with this part...I'll stop nitpicking throwaway lines now. :P OH WAIT! Thirdly, just to 'round this out: obese people can have a harder time having children - so if the leviathan actually do want to have a "breeding program" in florida, it might due them some good to keep some of those "zippy little hummingbirds."
Also, Kevin left the window of the conference room and was recaptured by Susan BEFORE Dick showed off Polly... so how come when Sam finds him later, he knows all about it? Maybe Susan is chatty.
Sam *hacking into the surveillance cameras*: "Thank you, Charlie, wherever you are."
- Yay Charlie! I love that she was able to show Sam a new trick and increase his software hacking abilities. :)
Sam: "That's the maid from the motel."
Dean: "What motel?"
Sam: "Oh no, oh Bobby what are you doing."
Dean: "Wait, are you saying, Bobby-"
Sam: "Just wait here,"
Dean: "Are you out of your-"
Sam: "You've got the weapon and eyes on Dick, plural, I'll take care of Bobby."
Dean: "Sam! Hey!"
Sam: "Shut-up."
- Oh Sammy, I get all tingly when you take control like that.
Sam: "...there are cameras everywhere, there's one right there. Stop okay, you're going to get her killed."
- I really like that it's Sam who confronts Bobby and forces him to realize what he's doing. I don't want to sound like a complaining Sam-girl, but sometimes I do feel like Dean gets all the major relationship-scenes...and the only relationship-scene we get from Sam are therefore with Dean. We don't really get to explore Sam's relationship with Bobby or Cas or anyone as much... which is part of the reason that I loved Sam and Jody spending a whole episode together. But I digress...
- I also like that the problem here isn't Bobby going after Dick himself, it's the fact that he's going to sacrifice an innocent woman to do it.
*Bobby sees himself strangling Sam and leaves the maid's body*
- Aww, Bobby loves Sam. That's good. Sam needs more love... because you know, Dean's crazy devotional love isn't NEARLY enough :P (I think there was one day where Dean looked out onto the world and said: "This world does not love my brother enough...therefore, I must love him with the strength of 7 BILLION PEOPLE" and Sam saw this and said "Right back atcha, bro!" and then they hugged forever. ....what just happened to me there?)
Sam: "Because Dick made more Dicks..."
*Dean sees Cas' reaction*
- I love how Dean is instantly attuned to changes in Cas' behaviour. I mean, Sam's all standing large in the foreground and Cas is washing the dishes (I wish an angel would come wash MY dishes)...and Dean still sees the moment Sam's mask slips.
Dean: "Hey, Shifty, what's your problem?"
Cas: "Do we need a cat, doesn't this place feel one species short."
- An attempt at a misdirect, "don't pay attention to the crazy person!"
Dean: "Do you have anything to say on the topic of Dicks. Crowley was pretty sure you could help-"
Cas: "I can't help. You understand, I can't. I destroyed everything, and I will destroy everything again. Can we just leave it at that?"
- And the real problem Cas has finally surfaces.
Dean: "No, no we can't."
Sam: "Dean-"
Dean: "We can't leave it. You let these friggin' things in. So you don't get to make a sandwich, you don't get a damn cat. Nobody cares that you're broken, Cas. Clean up your mess."
- And I love this line, because Dean's HAD IT. He's tried to indulge Cas, but at the same time - no one DOES care that you're broken, and Dean knows this first hand. No one has ever cared that Dean is broken. He was a mute five year-old, but by six or seven, his Dad had him at target practice...and no one has cared that Dean is broken since. He's cleaned up John's messes, he's cleaned up Sam's messes, and he's cleaned up his own messes, and he's done it all at varying degrees of brokenness. More than that, because of Cas, he spent the better part of the year grief-stricken and trying to clean up Cas' mess with a very broken Sam...and no one seemed to care that Sam was broken either, besides Dean.
Cas: "You know...we should play twister."
- But Cas is persistent. I also think that if Dean had just told Cas that he was forgiven, Cas would be a lot "better" at this point...but Dean works in actions not words, and unfortunately, Cas isn't the best at interpreting action.
"So, what's it feel like?"
Bobby: "What, going vengeful? It's an itch you can't scratch out. Look, I'm done. Go get Dick, but don't do it 'cause you think it will scratch the itch, do it because it's the job. And when it's your time, Go."
- Didn't we learn the "revenge is bad" lesson in S4? I guess this is a "don't fight death" lesson...which Dean, I think, learned from Death.
- Personally, itches I can't scratch just leave me writhing around on the floor like I'm a woman in an Andrey Tarkovskiy film. (eh, Russian film nerds? Anyone? Bueller?)
- I guess at this point I'm mostly making fun of Ghost!Bobby, and now I feel bad about that. I just think that somehow his ending should have been more heroic - like his death was. But then, I guess that's the tragedy of it all - the fact that if you don't make the right decisions, you don't get to go out with the dignity you may have deserved.
Bobby: "Here's to running into you guys on the other side. Only, not too soon, alright?"
- So, now, instead of an atheist's death, Bobby believes that he's going to the afterlife. Interesting. Maybe he is! I think he still has a place in heaven reserved for him, despite ducking his reaper... but maybe that's just wishful thinking.
- The burning of the flask scene is good. I kind of want them to say "I love you" or something, but I guess that's not what manly men do...instead they say it with their eyes! :) I like the fact that they didn't actually show Bobby burning. I also like the fact that Cas was there too, even if he wasn't participating...he's become an honourary Winchester, completely with horrible mistakes, so it's nice that he's there for this too.
Dean: "Cas, I need a wingman."
Cas: "Dean..."
Dean: "You don't want to jump into the jaws of death, that's fine. How about we run a little errand?"
- I also like how Dean isn't trying to force Cas to help them. I think though, that maybe that's what Cas wants Dean to do - to take the decision out of his hands somehow. Yet, I like the fact that Dean doesn't...Dean's already forgiven Cas, but he knows Cas hasn't forgiven himself, and I think Dean realizes that Cas isn't going to start forgiving himself until he starts trusting himself to make the right decisions again.
Dean: "Cas, we've been over it. I get it, you can't help."
Cas: "If we attack Dick and fail, then you and Sam die heroically, correct?"
Dean: "I don't know, I guess."
- I like that them dying heroically is important to Cas. :)
Cas: "At best, I die trying to fix my own stupid mistake, or I don't die and I'm brought back again - because, you know, it's a punishment, resurrection. It's worse every time."
Dean: "Sorry? We're talking about God crap, right?"
- As horrible as it is, I really love the way that Cas has come to view resurrection as a punishment...that he thinks the BEST outcome, the one he would HOPE for, is death. I mean, it's tragic, because when he was first brought back in S5, he thought it was proof that he was on the right track in helping Sam and Dean (and I believe that was the case), and then when he was brought back at the end of S5, he still felt like it was a reward and a sign that he still had a higher purpose...but, that's the problem, when you start believing that you're special and above others in the eyes of God, you start making bad judgement calls. I don't think Cas entered his "punishment resurrections" until S7...but I think that's indeed what they were... or maybe he was never resurrected, maybe he just never died... but still, it IS a punishment to live sometimes. Ask anyone who suffers from survivor's guilt. :P (I also wonder how this attitude may carry over to S8 or not.)
Cas: "I'm not good luck, Dean."
Dean: "You know what, bottom of the ninth and your the only guy left on the bench? Sorry, but I'd rather have you. Cursed or not. And anyway, nut-up, we're all cursed. I seem like good luck to you?"
- I love you, Dean. I mean, Dean has a point, he and Sam were cursed from BEFORE THEY WERE BORN.
Dean: "What?"
Cas: "I don't want to make you uncomfortable, but I detect a note of forgiveness."
Dean: "Heh, well, I'm probably going to die tomorrow, so..."
Cas: "Well, I'll go with you, and I'll do my best."
- Aww, Dean loves you too Cas. Also, I love that Cas doesn't want to make Dean uncomfortable by talking about feelings...even though it would have probably saved them a bunch of tiem if Cas had had this conversation a while ago.
- Dean should have let Cas in on his "if I die, blanket forgiveness all around" rule that he established in S6 with Bobby and Sam.
Yay Impala! You CAN see two people in the front seat when they drive in - but I just think they cut out the scene where Cas zaps Sam and Dean to the backdoor of Sucrocorp before Meg crashes the car.
Haha, Dick in the conference room is moving his mouth while he reads. :P
Kevin: "Wait, we can't leave yet!"
Sam: "Uh, yeah we can"
- Sam, your FACE! I love it.
Kevin: "You don't understand, Dick's got creamer in his lab. He's going to kill all the skinny people."
Sam: "Wait what? Slowdown!"
Kevin: "We have to blow up the lab, Sam, please."
Sam: "Yeah, fine, let's go."
- I love Kevin...and also Sam. Really, I just like that there is a conversation that is "we must BLOW UP THE LAB" and the answer is, all "*exasperated* FINE."
Dean: "Here's the thing about dealing with Crowley, he will always find a way to bone you."
Dick: "This meeting's over."
*Cas steps infront of Dean to fight Dick*
- I'm not sure if this move is calculated or impromptu. Dean seems somewhat surprised by it. I'm not sure I'm OVERLY happy with the way this fight was written/choreographed. Did Cas purposefully charge Dick in order to ensure he ended up in a flanking position?
Dick: "Did you really think you could trump me?"
Dean: "Honestly, no, figured we'd need to catch you off guard."
- And here, why the misdirect with the first bone? It would make sense if Cas had one bone and Dean had the other, and maybe Cas had the real one - so Dick would try to disarm Dean, but not bother with Cas and then Cas would come from behind and bone dick... (sorry, I had to). But, Dean had both, so Dean stabs him in the heart for no reason, and then all Cas does is tilt his headback so that Dean can stab him properly in the neck...why? It would make sense if there was something about having to stab him in the neck in the instructions...like, maybe it was the only way it would work. Then it would make sense, because necks are more easy to defend then torsos, I think. So, needing someone as strong as Cas to expose the neck better would be a good strategy.
This is the part where you RUN, BOYS! But sadly, they do not. Though, part of me wonders if maybe the very first fluxuation-thingy marked them and started the process - to the point where by the first fluxuation-thingy, they had already begun to disappear into purgatory, and there was no moving or running possible because they were no longer fully in the "real" world.
Kevin: "Sam, we should go."
Sam: "What the hell?"
Kevin: "More chompers any second, Sam."
- You were the one that wanted to blow up the lab, Kevin.
Crowley: "Not to worry, I have a small army of demons outside. Cut off the head and the body will flounder, after all. Think if you had just one king since before the first sunrise. You'd be in a kerfluffle too."
Sam: "Which is exactly what you wanted."
- Part of me wonders if Crowley is referring to more than just the leviathans here. "Cut off the head and the body will flounder"...isn't that much different than "get rid of one Winchester brother and you render the second one useless."
Crowley: "So did you. Without a master plan, the Levis are just another monster - hard to stomp, sure, but you love a challenge. Your job, is to keep them from organizing."
- I wonder if Crowley had intended both Winchesters to get trapped in the blast radius. Probably.
- Anyway, this means that leviathans don't automatically die when they're leader does... but yeah, they'll probably go rogue or at least faction off into small groups, be less organized, and easier to pick off. I wonder if Sam did try to kill any of them...
Sam: "Where's Dean?"
Crowley: "That bone has a bit of a kick. God weapons often do, they should put a warning on the box."
Sam: "Where are they, Crowley?"
Crowley: "Can't help you, Sam... sorry, Sam, prophet's mine. You got what you wanted. Dick's dead, saved the world, so I want one little prophet. Sorry, Moose, wish I could help, you certainly got a lot on your plate right now. Looks like you are well and truly on your own."
- Sam does as "where" Dean is... not necessarily if he's alive or dead. But, I gues without any idea that purgatory is a possibility, Sam can only assume the worst. After all, as far as he knows, maybe the Bone-God-Weapon-Thing works like the colt and just removes it's target and everything near it from existence completely.
Cas: "Wake up. Good. We need to get out of here."
Dean: "Where are we?"
Cas: "You don't know?"
- Cas, the dude just woke up. Give him a break.
Dean: "Last I remember we ganked Dick."
Cas: "And where would he go in death?"
Dean: "Wait, are you telling me-"
Cas: "Every soul here is a monster. This is where they come to prey upon each other for all eternity."
Dean: "We're in purgatory? How do we get out?"
Cas: "I'm afraid we're much more likely to be ripped to shreds."
Dean: "Cas, I think we better g- Cas?!"
- Ugh, it still kind of pains me when Cas leaves, because Dean is fuckin' terrified.
- That being said, I like how you can tell immediately that Cas has switched from "avoidance/crazy mode" to "I have to get my shit together immediately" mode.
- Also, if Dick went to Purgatory with them, then why isn't he with them? Personally, I think Dean passed out from the transition to Purgatory, but Cas didn't - and he's already zapped Dean someplace away from Dick.
And thus we have our set up for S8... Sam alone in the world of humans, and Dean and Cas alone, but separate, in the world of monsters. It's a great launching pad, in my opinion. :)
COMMENTARY
Sera Gamble and Robert (Bob) Singer. Woo!
Sera loves the scene where Crowley and Dick first meet in the limousine (in Slash Fiction).
Sera describes the episode as a high-stakes poker game - people trying to figure out who's bluffing. The ultimate winner is Crowley. Crowley and Dick are the two best negotiators.
Sera wonders how many Act Ones begin with Sam and Dean driving in the car.
Bob: "many."
So going to get the bone actually DID start as a joke IN THE WRITER'S ROOM. It was Ben Edlund who suggested that it should be a bone of man, since they were using the three bloods of different "monsters." (and then I'm guessing they made a lot of bone jokes).
Bob talks about the work of the art department and how much work they have to do every week since there are no standing sets. Sera agrees that they are awesome.
Sera and Ben came up with naming the head of the leviathan Dick - and they stuck with it because they enjoyed the dick jokes so much.
Bob talks about the song that Cas was listing to in the car - it was a last minute editing addition, but he thought it suited perfectly.
Originally Sera wrote that Dean got into the car, but Bob changed it and used Dean gathering his patience instead as a break before the dialogue. Sera likes it better than what she wrote and tells Bob "You should do this professionally!"
Sera was really happy to give the mad!Cas storyline to Misha because he's so good.
Bob talks about how Cas can flip between childlike behaviour and "reality."
Sera talks about how they constantly have to figure out a way to take Cas out of the story so that he can't solve all their problems, but still have him be around so that we can enjoy Cas.
- Ironically, this is part of Cas' storyline that constantly bothers me. I know from writing him into fanfiction, that you can't have him around all the time because he's too BAMF, but I kind of just wish the show would pick a way of making him occassional and/or less powerful and stick with it. He's gone through so many variations now, it's starting to give me whiplash. (Though, it is LOVELY to see all the ways Misha can flesh out each version of Cas differently and still have it be Cas.)
Bob talks about how hard it is to shoot scenes with lots of actors in a confined space. They get boring when you are shooting them, but when you cut them they turn out okay. Sera talks about the difficulty of writing scenes with a lot of characters and still keeping it light and non-exposition-y.
Bob talks about how great the actress who played Bobby was. She's only five-feet tall.
Sera talks about the ghost!Bobby storyline - a cautionary tale "about the levels a hunter can reach in devotion to their job." She adds that it's a cautionary tale "....about Sam and Dean, who they could become. I like to think maybe they won't come back as ghosts now that they saw."
- I'd like to think they wouldn't come back as a ghost because they're smart, and also would want peace when they died. Also, Dean's BFF with Death now and he KNOWS how much Death hates it when you mess with the system.
Sera talks about how she wasn't concerned about not knowing where the righteous bone was coming - she likes the added tension of them not being sure that they actually have one.
Sera: "Cas has come a long way from that character we brought in for a couple of episodes at the beginning of season four."
Bob: "Only Kevin Tran would be more interested in bobby pins than the girl getting undressed in front of him."
Sera talks about the leviathans as a metaphor for corporate greed. When the writers talked about what they were most afraid of and decided that corporations and the lack of morality of greed was the most frightening thing in the modern world.
Sera talks about how Kevin is one of the only characters who they've allowed to use the word "Supernatural" (in Reading is Fundamental). They had a huge debate about it in the writers room and then decided it was okay.
Every creamer cup in the lab had the sucrocorp label on it. Sera thought they were adorable (which is Dick's line about them too.)
They had to reformulate the ectoplasm because it looked too much like leviathan goo.
-I was wondering why it was so much more watery looking. :P
They talk about choreographing a fight-scene between Jared and the maid - 6'5'' vs. 5'
They talk about the difficulty of writing the last episode of the series and how there's so much to wrap up. Sera contrasts with second to last and last - Set-up vs. a huge pile of stuff with the addition of "setting the table for next season." ...both are hard for different reasons.
Bob talks about how Sera had been with the show since the beginning - started as a story-editor. Bob says he's going to miss her now that she's leaving. Sera thanks Bob and then gets uncomfortable with displaying emotion (haha, she's me!)
Sera says that it would have been nice if Bobby had gone with the reaper, but she thinks it "makes sense for the character that he would have stayed with the boys and gotten into this kind of trouble, because he's never left the boys when they were into something before."
- Again, I reluctantly agree, but think there should have been something more said about his sudden uncompromising turn for revenge.
Bob talks about sending Bobby off and keeping it off screen, because it was more moving for it to be off screen, he thought. Sera agrees, because watching the ghosts burn is such a horror-movie thing that it's not respectful, and what Bob did was "much more ethereal."
Sera talks about the missing leather casing from the flask. Bob: "Well, you always have to have an out."
Bob: "The guys are great at this sort of stuff. Without saying a word, you just know what they're going through."
Sera: "I swear, if they gave out Emmys for dudes looking at each other..."
Sera: "Cas is now very into broad games." She laughs at the fact that Cas is still wearing his pajamas from the mental hospital.
Sera says that Cas watching Sam and Dean bravely set Bobby's ghost free is the beginning of the turning point for him coming around to wanting to help... and then working through his stuff with Dean when they go see the Impala.
Sera talks about how the great thing about writing Cas is that when it comes to the emotional scenes - "Cas can just bluntly say...he has no subtext!" - basically, she likes how Cas always just says what he thinks.
Sera likes Rachel's interpretation of Meg, because she always looks so annoyed - like she's waiting for everyone else to catch up.
Bob thinks cool confident villians are the best. "They seem impenetrable, like they're always one step ahead of you." He thinks James does a great job. He talks about the smile Dick gives in the end that makes you wonder why he's smiling...and of course he does know something you don't know.
Sera (about Crowley): "I like putting words like kerfuffle in that guy's mouth."
Sera: "So we kind of thought, the nice thing about this season...they got all united at the end, Sam and Dean were working together... by the end of this, everybody was alone."
Mark Sheppard called Sera and said: "I did a little something I think you're going to like." - about the added "moose" line.
Shot Purgatory at 3am. Bob talkes about how "I don't think at any stage we embraced the idea of a 23rd episode." - it's just SO MUCH WORK, and "your body gets used to 22 episodes." S7 wasn't even done yet, and Bob was already working on S8.
AND I'M DONE!
Thank you so much for joining me for this S7 rewatch. :)
If Clothes Could Talk will slowly start to be updated over the next month or so, my goal is to have it done by Christmas (which should be fairly easy compared to doing the rewatch in one month.... I swear, it was like having a second far-more-enjoyable full-time job.)
I've also been debating whether I should make my metas/rewatches available in PDF form. So, if you want to weigh in on that concept, please do.
I figure I'll start in on my S2 Sherlock rewatches possibly in January to commemorate them starting to film S3. :P
Oh man, I always forget about Carry On My Wayward Son. God, the feelings...
I think it says a lot about this fandom - the fact that our "theme" is played on the finales not the premieres...it's a sad sad world for Supernatural fans.
Crowley and Dick... they are good together.
"So, if you're suddenly calling, I take it you're up to speed on the Winchesters, which means you intercepted the prophet and the prophet told you that my blood was key to everything."
- I like how Crowley's always working quickly in the background. Within seconds of arriving in Dick's office, he already knows the location of the prophet. If we're operating under the belief that Crowley already knows the location of the Demon tablet - then he's now go all his ducks in a row.
Crowley: "You know what I like about you."
Dick: "Lack of pretension?"
Crowley: "You're smarter than you look."
Dick: "Oh, well, now you're just flirting."
- Seriously, how can you not like the banter between these two?
Dick: "Full immunity for you and your constituency. I'm talking free range grazing for all demon kind, I'm willing to cordon off, say, Canada. You and your crew can work your little deals, have your way with the locals-"
Crowley: "All of Canada?"
Dick: "Have it."
Crowley: "Fair. And down here?"
Dick: "Americas ours. Your sales team stays out, period. That's not up for negotiation. We need America, they're so fat."
- Canada has 10% the population of America. So, yeah, I don't think this deal is fair to Crowley at all. YES, we're the second largest country in the world, but you can't make deals with fir trees and elk. :P Also, how would this amazing future work? You'd have to leave Canadians un-stoned in order for them to sell their souls, would you? Or maybe not... yeah, probably not.
- I wonder if American really are fatter than Canadians. I mean, we're nto exactly horribly thin up here. We need the insulation. :P
Crowley: "You have a deal. I suppose you want it in writing."
Dick: "I don't kiss on the mouth."
Crowley: "Your loss. I just so happen to have a standard rider right here. I do so like this part, don't you?"
- Aww, no kisses. Still, I know there's little debate about why it was that Crowley was able to break this deal... most people just assumed that he took a page out of Castiel's book and simply broke it. Personally, I kind of think that it wasn't an official "unbreakable demon deal" because Dick a)doesn't have a soul and b)didn't kiss to seal the deal. This would mean that Castiel and Crowley's deal was also not an official demon deal either.
Dean: "I still say this was a bad idea."
Sam: "Dean, it was your idea and it was the best one either of us had"
Dean: "I said it as a joke"
Sam: "It was a bad joke. Good idea."
- I just love the fact that Dean hates his own idea and is giving Sam a hard time about it.
Sam: "We can call Castiel again"
Dean: "Dude, on my car, he showed up naked, covered in bees."
Sam: "Yeah, I'm not really sorry I missed that."
- What we all would have paid to have seen that. (FYI: If any of you fan-artists out there wanted to render the scene - the boys haven't changed clothes since the last episode, so Dean would have been wearing the exactly same thing that he's wearing in this episode.)
Maid!Bobby. That actress kind of reminds me of the actress from King of Queens... I don't know here name. It's her jaw line.
And the negotiations continue between Crowley and Dick. Part of me thinks that Crowley's purposefully stalling a bit... maybe actually trying to give Sam and Dean time to gather the ingredients.
Sam: "There's Sister Mary Eunice. Fed the poor. Became Mother Superior at age sixty."
Dean: "Sounds political. Power corrupts."
- I love the fact that the former Righteous Man is the judge of righteousness in the list of names Sam is giving him.
Dean: "Well, let's bone this nun.... sorry."
- Ha, thanks for apologizing, Dean.
Dean: "Is he waiting to make a grand entrance?"
Sam: "I don't know."
Dean: "Son of a bitch, he's standing us up."
Sam: "We summoned him, doesn't he have to-"
Dean: "If Crowley wants to screw ya, he'll screw ya."
- And we find out which is stronger: a summoning or a devil's trap. It makes sense that it'd be the devil's trap, otherwise demons would just be summoning each other to safety all the time. :P
*knock knock*
Dean: "Maybe it's good news."
- I love you, Dean.
Meg: "You deal with him. I can't anymore."
...
Meg: "I was laying low have-way across the world when emo-boy pops in and zaps me right back here."
Dean: "Why?"
Meg: "Go ask him. He was your boyfriend first."
- I don't think Meg really understood what she was getting into with Cas. You can't manipulate someone who can't keep tabs on reality. Interesting though, I just realized that at the end of Reading is Fundamental, despite all Meg's talk about who Cas would follow if they both called and "taking power where I can get it", Meg LEFT WITHOUT HIM. We never see Meg's exit, but we do see Cas', and it's alone, the morning after, with no sign of Meg anywhere. So, Meg either decided that heaven knowing about Cas made him too dangerous a weapon to hold, or she just didn't know how to deal with him.
Dean: "Hey there. So, Cas, what's the word."
Cas: "Well, Dean, I've been thinking. Monkeys are so clever, and they're sensible in that they leave the skins on the bananas that they eat. Is it really necessary to test cosmetics on them? I mean, how important is lipstick to you, Dean?"
Dean: "Not very. Do you want to come inside and tell us what's going on?"
- They don't actually test cosmetics on monkeys. Monkeys are too expensive for that... so, I don't know where Cas has been. Mind you, maybe they test cosmetics on monkeys in the Supernatural-Universe. I AM watching a TV show about a fantasy world after all.
- Also, nice to know that lipstick isn't that important to Dean. I don't like it much myself.
- I do like how patient Dean is trying to be with Cas. I think he learned that from his mistakes in S6 and is just trying to stay calm and listen.
Cas: "Now, you understand, I don't participate in aggressive activity. Hmm, Sister Mary Constant - good choice."
- I love how Cas can tell who it is by smelling the bone. :P
- I really think this pacifism on Castiel's part is a direct result of his guilt in screwing up. He doesn't trust himself to make decisions anymore, so he just doesn't make them. He "follows the bees" and he doesn't have any responsibility whatsoever, so therefore he doesn't need to take responsibility when things go wrong.
Dean: "Why'd you go to Meg, Cas?"
Cas: "When I left, I wanted to observe the flowers, and fruit, flowers come first obviously. But I heard nothing from them."
Dean: "You heard nothing from who?"
Cas: "Well, finally the silence was deafening, so I went to look - to the home of the prophet. You know, leviathan can kill angels. It's the reason my father locked them in purgatory. They're the piranha that would eat the whole aquarium. They're gone. The entire garrison, dead. If there's anyone left at all, they're in hiding."
- The problem with deciding to avoid decisions though - or, rather, the problem with being uninvolved - is that deciding to do nothing is also a decision. You are involved by deciding to not be involved. You can look the other way when you see someone being beat-up and claim that it has nothing to do with you because you didn't raise a hand to them, but at the end of the day you are still going to feel as guilty as if you had, because you didn't stop it either. And that's what Cas has discovered - "the silence was deafening", and Cas knew that he was the only one that could hear it who could "call the cops" as it were and let the Winchesters know.
- Also, ouch for poor Cas. Really, his entire family has been killed. The garrison was his regiment since the dawn of man.
Dean: "Um, I'm sorry? The angels are dead? Where's Kevin?"
Cas: "I could steal them from their cages, the monkeys, but where would I put them all?"
- So, Cas retreats back into "madness", because he's imparted the bit of knowledge he knows for sure, and he doesn't want to be tasked with acquiring more...and he knows he's getting close to being tasked with more.
- Also, it's interesting that Cas is choosing to talk about rescuing laboratory test animals... basically, creatures that have fates beyond their country that can lead to torture and death. (NOTE TO CAS: There are actually primate sanctuaries that specialize in being homes for former lab monkeys. There's one in Quebec....so, you can put the monkeys there.)
Dean: "Hey, focus! Is Kevin alive?!"
Cas: "I don't want to fight."
Dean: "I'm not- We're worried."
- Again, it's actually a pretty huge deal for Dean to mitigate his town and try to cater to Cas a little.
Cas: "They took him. He's alive. Oh, I felt such responsibility, but it's in your hands now."
Dean: "Now hold on a friggin minute-"
Cas: "I feel much better."
- And this is the thing, Cas told the Winchesters because until he did, he had sole responsibility. Now that's he's told though, he can return to his insect watching and feel unburdened by guilt. Cas has told the grown-ups and now he can go back to being a kid.
Meg: "Guys, what's all that?"
Sam: "We called Crowley."
Me: "You what?"
Dean: "Don't worry, he never showed."
Meg: "What do you mean he never-?"
Dean: "You see him anywhere? He stood us up."
Meg: "I'm sorry about that, but I'm outie, he could still-"
Crowley: "-show up at any time. Hello boys, sorry I'm late. This is an embarrassment of riches."
- It's interesting that until the demon shows up, the door remains open once you've summoned it. I like this entrance of Crowley's. I think he secretly WAS waiting to make a grand entrance. :P
- I hate Meg's use of the word "outie"...it drives me nuts in Clueless too. In my mind, "outie" should only refer to a type of belly button.
Crowley: "Castiel, when last we spoke, you enslaved me. But I'm confused, why aren't you dead?"
Cas: "I don't know"
- I love the way Cas says "I don't know" - it's perfect. You can tell that he's trying to mask the fact that he's having difficulty coping.
Crowley: "Well do you want to be? Because I can help with that-"
Dean: "Alright, enough."
Crowley: "It's enough when I say. I came here to help you, find out you've been lying to me, harbouring an angel - and not just any angel, the one angel I most want to crush between my teeth."
Meg: "Oh, so you can crush angels now, huh?"
Crowley: "You bore me, you know that? You have no sense of poetry..."
- Personally, I agree with Crowley's criticism of Meg. Also, BURN!
- I also think that Cas actually helped Crowley in the end. What would have happened had Crowley taken half the souls? Would they not have destroyed him too? Though, maybe he would have sent them straight to hell, and then maybe the leviathans would have ripped hell apart instead of Crowley's body. Either way, I think Crowley dodged a bullet.
Crowley: "...now, what do you have to say for yourself?"
Cas: "Well, I'm still...honing my communication strategy. I haven't even been back to heaven, I keep thinking 'there's no insects up there' but here we have trillions, you know. They're making honey and silk and miracles, really."
Crowley: "What are you talking about?"
Cas: "Um, preferring insects to angels, I guess. Here, I can offer a token if you like. It's honey. I collected it myself."
- Again, I like to think about Cas is really trying to say here. Insects vs. Angels. Part of him obviously wants to return to heaven. It's his home. He has great affection for his fellow angels still...as we saw when Hester and Inais showed up. So, why doesn't he go? Because angels have responsibilities, whereas insects don't... or rather, they aren't burdened by their responsibilities. They work on stinct for the basics - food, shelter, water, procreation, and that's it. Cas is hippie who is trying to get back to "the basics", he's just taking it even farther than most hippies do.
Dean: "Look, did you come here to donkey-punch your old grudges or to help us end Dick? Pick a battle."
Crowley: "Well, I'm vexed. I'd like to do both, but where's the fun in clobbering a ball of wet fur. Text me when sparkles here retrieves his marbles, I suppose."
- I think Crowley just compared Cas to a wet kitten... I find that idea adorable.
Dean: "Why should we trust you?"
Crowley: "Good god, don't, never trust anyone - little lesson I learned from my last business partner."
- I also love Crowley's sage advice here.
Oh yeah, Bobby! See, I completely forgot about him. I just...at this point, he's not adding anything to the storyline. I'm sorry Bobby.
Dick: "Susan, do I look like a fool?"
Susan: "Not in that particular body, no."
- I love this line because it doesn't actually answer his question...at least, not in general. Call my a pessimist or cynic, but when I hear "not in that particular body, no" what I understand is "...but the rest of the time? Totally."
Kevin: "I'm Kevin"
Polly: "Polly"
Kevin: "What are you doing here?"
Polly: "Sitting, I guess."
Kevin: "Are you a prophet?" *Polly eats a twizzler* "So, basically, I'm on my own."
- The first time I watched this, I didn't actually clue in that Polly was stoned. I was like "she's weirdly uncommunicative." Oh, me. I'll assume I was drinking (fairly safe assumption.)
- I do feel bad for Kevin though, thinking for even a moment that he wasn't on his own. :(
Sam: "You think Crowley's-"
Dean: "-double crossing us?"
Sam: "Yeah"
Dean: "You gotta figure who he wants dead more, us or Dick."
Sam: "Depends what Dick offered."
- Oh, the jokes...
- I just like Sam and Dean finishing each other's sentences and thoughts really.
Dean: "Okay, so do we uh..."
Sam: "There's no magic woods, nothing, we just go."
Dean: "Alright then."
*they pour the blood over the bone*
Dean: "Where's all the thunder and lightening?"
Sam: "Uh, maybe it worked?"
Dean: "Awesome."
- I actually absolutely love this. I love how it's so anti-climatic and there's absolutely no way to tell if it worked or not...and they know it. I think this is the first final-boss fight that Sam and Dean have gone into where I actually FEEL like they're going in blind and half-cocked.
Cas: "So, none of this should cause you any ill-effect. I went to a little farm in Normandy for the wheat and the lettuce and tomato, and I thoroughly comforted the pig before I slaughtered it for the ham. Here, you need your strength."
Dean: "Thanks Cas"
Sam: "Hey Cas, why was Crowley so certain that you need to come with us?"
Cas: "Crowley's wrong. I'll be waiting right here. Please, accept this sandwich as a gesture of solidarity."
- And you can still see Cas' internal battle here. Why is he hanging around and giving them sandwiches? Why hasn't he left to watch the bees? It's because he knows they need him, but he doesn't want to admit to it, because he doesn't want the responsibility of possibly failing them again.... but doing nothing makes him feel just as guilty as though he has already failed them...so, obviously, the solution is to make sandwiches. Be supportive and tell himself that he's helping in all the ways he can, even though he's not.
Why would the leviathan give Polly hair pins? Why change at all? I have issues with this aspect of the episode. They could have just had polly already have a bobby pin in her hair, and Kevin just yanks it out. It's not like Polly's going to care.
*leviathan brings Kevin a burger and fries*
Kevin: "I'm a vegan"
- My goodness. I wonder how long it's been since Kevin's eaten. He was kidnapped TWO EPISODES AGO. Maybe he picks the tomato off the burgers or something.
- Also, I kind of love the fact that Kevin's a vegan. I wonder if they'll remember that in S8, or if Kevin will suddenly decide that his circumstances are such that he cannot manage the lifestyle anymore. :P
- I also love the absolutely disgusted look on the leviathan's face at the very notion of veganism.
Dick: "Well, I'm pleased as punch to see you all here. Last time we were all in one room, it was inside that angel."
- Wait, so, are all the leviathan in that room (except Susan)? Or just the top brass? In either case. When Sam left the building, I hope he did so swinging a machete and collecting heads!
Dick: "She's a slip of a thing, isn't she? And she eats like a linebacker. Bottomline, we're not making art. We want to engineer the perfect beast. We want meat, and these zippy little hummingbirds need to be bread out fast..."
- Okay, so I kind of have issues with this part. Why does she have to be in her underwear? Also, I kind of take offense at the "we're not making art" line, as though the "artistic" thing to do would be to make everyone skinny and gorgeous. That...well, it's offensive, and it also has absolutely nothing to do with the world of art. Firsty, the ideal body image changes over the years (back in the renaissance, it was MY body-type that was popular...they liked big butts and they could not lie). Secondly, my artist-sister actually prefers to paint and draw non-skinny nudes, because she finds skinny people "boring" and not a test of her skills at all. (Sorry skinny people who dream of becoming nude models for my sister.) Anyway, yeah, I just... had issues with this part...I'll stop nitpicking throwaway lines now. :P OH WAIT! Thirdly, just to 'round this out: obese people can have a harder time having children - so if the leviathan actually do want to have a "breeding program" in florida, it might due them some good to keep some of those "zippy little hummingbirds."
Also, Kevin left the window of the conference room and was recaptured by Susan BEFORE Dick showed off Polly... so how come when Sam finds him later, he knows all about it? Maybe Susan is chatty.
Sam *hacking into the surveillance cameras*: "Thank you, Charlie, wherever you are."
- Yay Charlie! I love that she was able to show Sam a new trick and increase his software hacking abilities. :)
Sam: "That's the maid from the motel."
Dean: "What motel?"
Sam: "Oh no, oh Bobby what are you doing."
Dean: "Wait, are you saying, Bobby-"
Sam: "Just wait here,"
Dean: "Are you out of your-"
Sam: "You've got the weapon and eyes on Dick, plural, I'll take care of Bobby."
Dean: "Sam! Hey!"
Sam: "Shut-up."
- Oh Sammy, I get all tingly when you take control like that.
Sam: "...there are cameras everywhere, there's one right there. Stop okay, you're going to get her killed."
- I really like that it's Sam who confronts Bobby and forces him to realize what he's doing. I don't want to sound like a complaining Sam-girl, but sometimes I do feel like Dean gets all the major relationship-scenes...and the only relationship-scene we get from Sam are therefore with Dean. We don't really get to explore Sam's relationship with Bobby or Cas or anyone as much... which is part of the reason that I loved Sam and Jody spending a whole episode together. But I digress...
- I also like that the problem here isn't Bobby going after Dick himself, it's the fact that he's going to sacrifice an innocent woman to do it.
*Bobby sees himself strangling Sam and leaves the maid's body*
- Aww, Bobby loves Sam. That's good. Sam needs more love... because you know, Dean's crazy devotional love isn't NEARLY enough :P (I think there was one day where Dean looked out onto the world and said: "This world does not love my brother enough...therefore, I must love him with the strength of 7 BILLION PEOPLE" and Sam saw this and said "Right back atcha, bro!" and then they hugged forever. ....what just happened to me there?)
Sam: "Because Dick made more Dicks..."
*Dean sees Cas' reaction*
- I love how Dean is instantly attuned to changes in Cas' behaviour. I mean, Sam's all standing large in the foreground and Cas is washing the dishes (I wish an angel would come wash MY dishes)...and Dean still sees the moment Sam's mask slips.
Dean: "Hey, Shifty, what's your problem?"
Cas: "Do we need a cat, doesn't this place feel one species short."
- An attempt at a misdirect, "don't pay attention to the crazy person!"
Dean: "Do you have anything to say on the topic of Dicks. Crowley was pretty sure you could help-"
Cas: "I can't help. You understand, I can't. I destroyed everything, and I will destroy everything again. Can we just leave it at that?"
- And the real problem Cas has finally surfaces.
Dean: "No, no we can't."
Sam: "Dean-"
Dean: "We can't leave it. You let these friggin' things in. So you don't get to make a sandwich, you don't get a damn cat. Nobody cares that you're broken, Cas. Clean up your mess."
- And I love this line, because Dean's HAD IT. He's tried to indulge Cas, but at the same time - no one DOES care that you're broken, and Dean knows this first hand. No one has ever cared that Dean is broken. He was a mute five year-old, but by six or seven, his Dad had him at target practice...and no one has cared that Dean is broken since. He's cleaned up John's messes, he's cleaned up Sam's messes, and he's cleaned up his own messes, and he's done it all at varying degrees of brokenness. More than that, because of Cas, he spent the better part of the year grief-stricken and trying to clean up Cas' mess with a very broken Sam...and no one seemed to care that Sam was broken either, besides Dean.
Cas: "You know...we should play twister."
- But Cas is persistent. I also think that if Dean had just told Cas that he was forgiven, Cas would be a lot "better" at this point...but Dean works in actions not words, and unfortunately, Cas isn't the best at interpreting action.
"So, what's it feel like?"
Bobby: "What, going vengeful? It's an itch you can't scratch out. Look, I'm done. Go get Dick, but don't do it 'cause you think it will scratch the itch, do it because it's the job. And when it's your time, Go."
- Didn't we learn the "revenge is bad" lesson in S4? I guess this is a "don't fight death" lesson...which Dean, I think, learned from Death.
- Personally, itches I can't scratch just leave me writhing around on the floor like I'm a woman in an Andrey Tarkovskiy film. (eh, Russian film nerds? Anyone? Bueller?)
- I guess at this point I'm mostly making fun of Ghost!Bobby, and now I feel bad about that. I just think that somehow his ending should have been more heroic - like his death was. But then, I guess that's the tragedy of it all - the fact that if you don't make the right decisions, you don't get to go out with the dignity you may have deserved.
Bobby: "Here's to running into you guys on the other side. Only, not too soon, alright?"
- So, now, instead of an atheist's death, Bobby believes that he's going to the afterlife. Interesting. Maybe he is! I think he still has a place in heaven reserved for him, despite ducking his reaper... but maybe that's just wishful thinking.
- The burning of the flask scene is good. I kind of want them to say "I love you" or something, but I guess that's not what manly men do...instead they say it with their eyes! :) I like the fact that they didn't actually show Bobby burning. I also like the fact that Cas was there too, even if he wasn't participating...he's become an honourary Winchester, completely with horrible mistakes, so it's nice that he's there for this too.
Dean: "Cas, I need a wingman."
Cas: "Dean..."
Dean: "You don't want to jump into the jaws of death, that's fine. How about we run a little errand?"
- I also like how Dean isn't trying to force Cas to help them. I think though, that maybe that's what Cas wants Dean to do - to take the decision out of his hands somehow. Yet, I like the fact that Dean doesn't...Dean's already forgiven Cas, but he knows Cas hasn't forgiven himself, and I think Dean realizes that Cas isn't going to start forgiving himself until he starts trusting himself to make the right decisions again.
Dean: "Cas, we've been over it. I get it, you can't help."
Cas: "If we attack Dick and fail, then you and Sam die heroically, correct?"
Dean: "I don't know, I guess."
- I like that them dying heroically is important to Cas. :)
Cas: "At best, I die trying to fix my own stupid mistake, or I don't die and I'm brought back again - because, you know, it's a punishment, resurrection. It's worse every time."
Dean: "Sorry? We're talking about God crap, right?"
- As horrible as it is, I really love the way that Cas has come to view resurrection as a punishment...that he thinks the BEST outcome, the one he would HOPE for, is death. I mean, it's tragic, because when he was first brought back in S5, he thought it was proof that he was on the right track in helping Sam and Dean (and I believe that was the case), and then when he was brought back at the end of S5, he still felt like it was a reward and a sign that he still had a higher purpose...but, that's the problem, when you start believing that you're special and above others in the eyes of God, you start making bad judgement calls. I don't think Cas entered his "punishment resurrections" until S7...but I think that's indeed what they were... or maybe he was never resurrected, maybe he just never died... but still, it IS a punishment to live sometimes. Ask anyone who suffers from survivor's guilt. :P (I also wonder how this attitude may carry over to S8 or not.)
Cas: "I'm not good luck, Dean."
Dean: "You know what, bottom of the ninth and your the only guy left on the bench? Sorry, but I'd rather have you. Cursed or not. And anyway, nut-up, we're all cursed. I seem like good luck to you?"
- I love you, Dean. I mean, Dean has a point, he and Sam were cursed from BEFORE THEY WERE BORN.
Dean: "What?"
Cas: "I don't want to make you uncomfortable, but I detect a note of forgiveness."
Dean: "Heh, well, I'm probably going to die tomorrow, so..."
Cas: "Well, I'll go with you, and I'll do my best."
- Aww, Dean loves you too Cas. Also, I love that Cas doesn't want to make Dean uncomfortable by talking about feelings...even though it would have probably saved them a bunch of tiem if Cas had had this conversation a while ago.
- Dean should have let Cas in on his "if I die, blanket forgiveness all around" rule that he established in S6 with Bobby and Sam.
Yay Impala! You CAN see two people in the front seat when they drive in - but I just think they cut out the scene where Cas zaps Sam and Dean to the backdoor of Sucrocorp before Meg crashes the car.
Haha, Dick in the conference room is moving his mouth while he reads. :P
Kevin: "Wait, we can't leave yet!"
Sam: "Uh, yeah we can"
- Sam, your FACE! I love it.
Kevin: "You don't understand, Dick's got creamer in his lab. He's going to kill all the skinny people."
Sam: "Wait what? Slowdown!"
Kevin: "We have to blow up the lab, Sam, please."
Sam: "Yeah, fine, let's go."
- I love Kevin...and also Sam. Really, I just like that there is a conversation that is "we must BLOW UP THE LAB" and the answer is, all "*exasperated* FINE."
Dean: "Here's the thing about dealing with Crowley, he will always find a way to bone you."
Dick: "This meeting's over."
*Cas steps infront of Dean to fight Dick*
- I'm not sure if this move is calculated or impromptu. Dean seems somewhat surprised by it. I'm not sure I'm OVERLY happy with the way this fight was written/choreographed. Did Cas purposefully charge Dick in order to ensure he ended up in a flanking position?
Dick: "Did you really think you could trump me?"
Dean: "Honestly, no, figured we'd need to catch you off guard."
- And here, why the misdirect with the first bone? It would make sense if Cas had one bone and Dean had the other, and maybe Cas had the real one - so Dick would try to disarm Dean, but not bother with Cas and then Cas would come from behind and bone dick... (sorry, I had to). But, Dean had both, so Dean stabs him in the heart for no reason, and then all Cas does is tilt his headback so that Dean can stab him properly in the neck...why? It would make sense if there was something about having to stab him in the neck in the instructions...like, maybe it was the only way it would work. Then it would make sense, because necks are more easy to defend then torsos, I think. So, needing someone as strong as Cas to expose the neck better would be a good strategy.
This is the part where you RUN, BOYS! But sadly, they do not. Though, part of me wonders if maybe the very first fluxuation-thingy marked them and started the process - to the point where by the first fluxuation-thingy, they had already begun to disappear into purgatory, and there was no moving or running possible because they were no longer fully in the "real" world.
Kevin: "Sam, we should go."
Sam: "What the hell?"
Kevin: "More chompers any second, Sam."
- You were the one that wanted to blow up the lab, Kevin.
Crowley: "Not to worry, I have a small army of demons outside. Cut off the head and the body will flounder, after all. Think if you had just one king since before the first sunrise. You'd be in a kerfluffle too."
Sam: "Which is exactly what you wanted."
- Part of me wonders if Crowley is referring to more than just the leviathans here. "Cut off the head and the body will flounder"...isn't that much different than "get rid of one Winchester brother and you render the second one useless."
Crowley: "So did you. Without a master plan, the Levis are just another monster - hard to stomp, sure, but you love a challenge. Your job, is to keep them from organizing."
- I wonder if Crowley had intended both Winchesters to get trapped in the blast radius. Probably.
- Anyway, this means that leviathans don't automatically die when they're leader does... but yeah, they'll probably go rogue or at least faction off into small groups, be less organized, and easier to pick off. I wonder if Sam did try to kill any of them...
Sam: "Where's Dean?"
Crowley: "That bone has a bit of a kick. God weapons often do, they should put a warning on the box."
Sam: "Where are they, Crowley?"
Crowley: "Can't help you, Sam... sorry, Sam, prophet's mine. You got what you wanted. Dick's dead, saved the world, so I want one little prophet. Sorry, Moose, wish I could help, you certainly got a lot on your plate right now. Looks like you are well and truly on your own."
- Sam does as "where" Dean is... not necessarily if he's alive or dead. But, I gues without any idea that purgatory is a possibility, Sam can only assume the worst. After all, as far as he knows, maybe the Bone-God-Weapon-Thing works like the colt and just removes it's target and everything near it from existence completely.
Cas: "Wake up. Good. We need to get out of here."
Dean: "Where are we?"
Cas: "You don't know?"
- Cas, the dude just woke up. Give him a break.
Dean: "Last I remember we ganked Dick."
Cas: "And where would he go in death?"
Dean: "Wait, are you telling me-"
Cas: "Every soul here is a monster. This is where they come to prey upon each other for all eternity."
Dean: "We're in purgatory? How do we get out?"
Cas: "I'm afraid we're much more likely to be ripped to shreds."
Dean: "Cas, I think we better g- Cas?!"
- Ugh, it still kind of pains me when Cas leaves, because Dean is fuckin' terrified.
- That being said, I like how you can tell immediately that Cas has switched from "avoidance/crazy mode" to "I have to get my shit together immediately" mode.
- Also, if Dick went to Purgatory with them, then why isn't he with them? Personally, I think Dean passed out from the transition to Purgatory, but Cas didn't - and he's already zapped Dean someplace away from Dick.
And thus we have our set up for S8... Sam alone in the world of humans, and Dean and Cas alone, but separate, in the world of monsters. It's a great launching pad, in my opinion. :)
COMMENTARY
Sera Gamble and Robert (Bob) Singer. Woo!
Sera loves the scene where Crowley and Dick first meet in the limousine (in Slash Fiction).
Sera describes the episode as a high-stakes poker game - people trying to figure out who's bluffing. The ultimate winner is Crowley. Crowley and Dick are the two best negotiators.
Sera wonders how many Act Ones begin with Sam and Dean driving in the car.
Bob: "many."
So going to get the bone actually DID start as a joke IN THE WRITER'S ROOM. It was Ben Edlund who suggested that it should be a bone of man, since they were using the three bloods of different "monsters." (and then I'm guessing they made a lot of bone jokes).
Bob talks about the work of the art department and how much work they have to do every week since there are no standing sets. Sera agrees that they are awesome.
Sera and Ben came up with naming the head of the leviathan Dick - and they stuck with it because they enjoyed the dick jokes so much.
Bob talks about the song that Cas was listing to in the car - it was a last minute editing addition, but he thought it suited perfectly.
Originally Sera wrote that Dean got into the car, but Bob changed it and used Dean gathering his patience instead as a break before the dialogue. Sera likes it better than what she wrote and tells Bob "You should do this professionally!"
Sera was really happy to give the mad!Cas storyline to Misha because he's so good.
Bob talks about how Cas can flip between childlike behaviour and "reality."
Sera talks about how they constantly have to figure out a way to take Cas out of the story so that he can't solve all their problems, but still have him be around so that we can enjoy Cas.
- Ironically, this is part of Cas' storyline that constantly bothers me. I know from writing him into fanfiction, that you can't have him around all the time because he's too BAMF, but I kind of just wish the show would pick a way of making him occassional and/or less powerful and stick with it. He's gone through so many variations now, it's starting to give me whiplash. (Though, it is LOVELY to see all the ways Misha can flesh out each version of Cas differently and still have it be Cas.)
Bob talks about how hard it is to shoot scenes with lots of actors in a confined space. They get boring when you are shooting them, but when you cut them they turn out okay. Sera talks about the difficulty of writing scenes with a lot of characters and still keeping it light and non-exposition-y.
Bob talks about how great the actress who played Bobby was. She's only five-feet tall.
Sera talks about the ghost!Bobby storyline - a cautionary tale "about the levels a hunter can reach in devotion to their job." She adds that it's a cautionary tale "....about Sam and Dean, who they could become. I like to think maybe they won't come back as ghosts now that they saw."
- I'd like to think they wouldn't come back as a ghost because they're smart, and also would want peace when they died. Also, Dean's BFF with Death now and he KNOWS how much Death hates it when you mess with the system.
Sera talks about how she wasn't concerned about not knowing where the righteous bone was coming - she likes the added tension of them not being sure that they actually have one.
Sera: "Cas has come a long way from that character we brought in for a couple of episodes at the beginning of season four."
Bob: "Only Kevin Tran would be more interested in bobby pins than the girl getting undressed in front of him."
Sera talks about the leviathans as a metaphor for corporate greed. When the writers talked about what they were most afraid of and decided that corporations and the lack of morality of greed was the most frightening thing in the modern world.
Sera talks about how Kevin is one of the only characters who they've allowed to use the word "Supernatural" (in Reading is Fundamental). They had a huge debate about it in the writers room and then decided it was okay.
Every creamer cup in the lab had the sucrocorp label on it. Sera thought they were adorable (which is Dick's line about them too.)
They had to reformulate the ectoplasm because it looked too much like leviathan goo.
-I was wondering why it was so much more watery looking. :P
They talk about choreographing a fight-scene between Jared and the maid - 6'5'' vs. 5'
They talk about the difficulty of writing the last episode of the series and how there's so much to wrap up. Sera contrasts with second to last and last - Set-up vs. a huge pile of stuff with the addition of "setting the table for next season." ...both are hard for different reasons.
Bob talks about how Sera had been with the show since the beginning - started as a story-editor. Bob says he's going to miss her now that she's leaving. Sera thanks Bob and then gets uncomfortable with displaying emotion (haha, she's me!)
Sera says that it would have been nice if Bobby had gone with the reaper, but she thinks it "makes sense for the character that he would have stayed with the boys and gotten into this kind of trouble, because he's never left the boys when they were into something before."
- Again, I reluctantly agree, but think there should have been something more said about his sudden uncompromising turn for revenge.
Bob talks about sending Bobby off and keeping it off screen, because it was more moving for it to be off screen, he thought. Sera agrees, because watching the ghosts burn is such a horror-movie thing that it's not respectful, and what Bob did was "much more ethereal."
Sera talks about the missing leather casing from the flask. Bob: "Well, you always have to have an out."
Bob: "The guys are great at this sort of stuff. Without saying a word, you just know what they're going through."
Sera: "I swear, if they gave out Emmys for dudes looking at each other..."
Sera: "Cas is now very into broad games." She laughs at the fact that Cas is still wearing his pajamas from the mental hospital.
Sera says that Cas watching Sam and Dean bravely set Bobby's ghost free is the beginning of the turning point for him coming around to wanting to help... and then working through his stuff with Dean when they go see the Impala.
Sera talks about how the great thing about writing Cas is that when it comes to the emotional scenes - "Cas can just bluntly say...he has no subtext!" - basically, she likes how Cas always just says what he thinks.
Sera likes Rachel's interpretation of Meg, because she always looks so annoyed - like she's waiting for everyone else to catch up.
Bob thinks cool confident villians are the best. "They seem impenetrable, like they're always one step ahead of you." He thinks James does a great job. He talks about the smile Dick gives in the end that makes you wonder why he's smiling...and of course he does know something you don't know.
Sera (about Crowley): "I like putting words like kerfuffle in that guy's mouth."
Sera: "So we kind of thought, the nice thing about this season...they got all united at the end, Sam and Dean were working together... by the end of this, everybody was alone."
Mark Sheppard called Sera and said: "I did a little something I think you're going to like." - about the added "moose" line.
Shot Purgatory at 3am. Bob talkes about how "I don't think at any stage we embraced the idea of a 23rd episode." - it's just SO MUCH WORK, and "your body gets used to 22 episodes." S7 wasn't even done yet, and Bob was already working on S8.
AND I'M DONE!
Thank you so much for joining me for this S7 rewatch. :)
If Clothes Could Talk will slowly start to be updated over the next month or so, my goal is to have it done by Christmas (which should be fairly easy compared to doing the rewatch in one month.... I swear, it was like having a second far-more-enjoyable full-time job.)
I've also been debating whether I should make my metas/rewatches available in PDF form. So, if you want to weigh in on that concept, please do.
I figure I'll start in on my S2 Sherlock rewatches possibly in January to commemorate them starting to film S3. :P