Grip Your Brother Tight And Whisper Goodbye
These are some of my reactions to the Season 5 Opener, Sympathy for the Devil. It is in no way a comprehensive reaction but really I just had to get this out in the end.
I haven’t read any other comments or metas before finishing this but I now plan on wading through the avalanche of comments and start thinking more thinky thoughts
Well it wasn’t quite “whisper goodbye” but it came close,
Dean - No One Left Now Except Bobby…
Picking up exactly at the end of Lucifer Rising, standing on the edge of Lucifer’s opening gateway, the brothers are still clutching each other close in fear of who was coming. But that automatic response by Dean, to clutch at Sam and keep him close, seems to be a last effort by him before the pain of his reaction to Sam’s actions drives him to cut Sam out.
Dean’s emotional space after their surprise escape is a complete shutdown. No discussion, no interaction that doesn’t involve discussing the case. I think even more telling was the denial of his anger when responding to Sam. No angry combatitive Dean, no angry confrontation. It’s a dangerous withdrawal that I don’t think Sam understood the meaning or depth of. Not even a cursory once over after Chuck whacks Sam on the head with a plunger. No reaction at all. Even Demon!Bobby’s suggestion they should have killed Sam, was only mildly rejected.
Dean is in withdrawal from the one person who next to his father, was the most important thing in his life. The person who completely failed him by choosing to believe a Demon and presuming that Dean had been broken by Hell and was still broken and couldn’t be fixed.
In observing the physical and emotional battering that Sam suffers during this episode, Dean appears to be expressing a silent approval of all the pain that Chuck and Demon!Bobby inflict, because he can’t yet do it himself. He can’t yet reject Sam and voice his own pain and anger. But he will no longer protect Sam from anybody else’s. It’s not until Bobby reclaims Sam and tells him he will never cut him out that Dean knows he must voice his own feelings about all that went before. That he has to admit his feelings not only to Sam but finally and painfully to himself. That Sam has let him down too badly and lost Dean’s trust. Sam has destroyed their ability to be able to work together as a team. While the habit may still be strong, the faith has been lost. Dean won’t be able to trust the decisions or choices Sam makes. Dean won’t be able to trust Sam with his deepest fears and emotions without fear of Sam’s silent negative judgement.. His trust in his brother is gone. He will always be wondering when Sam will leave him for someone else. Again.
How they move forward from this point will rely on Sam’s ability to rebuild trust with Dean. If Dean will allow him to rebuild that trust. If Dean will open up to the possibility that they can rebuild that trust together. It did break my heart a little a lot, even though it was no surprise that this was were Dean’s headspace was.
Some other Dean Notes I loved:
- Dean’s claiming of Castiel as his friend and his first thought to find Castiel after dismissing Sam’s attempt to talk. A gut reaction need to find the one other being that he felt he could trust, because the person he was with, Sam, he couldn’t trust any more. But I don’t think he knew it that definitively at this point. He only knew he wanted to find Cas.
- His preparation for the appearance of the angels at Chuck’s and his rejection of Zachariah. Twice. To the point of the death of Sam, of Bobby’s permanent loss of mobility and finally, and even less important to him, his own death. As was pointed out to me by a friend and I completely agree, Dean has been broken in Hell and then reforged. He will never break to another’s will again.
- “Cram it with walnuts ugly!” ???? This is Dean’s witty banter?
- I wonder if the production team put Dean on the raised dias in their room on purpose. Does he feel that he occupies the higher moral ground?
- Dean is Michael’s vessel?? Hmmmm so how is this different to being Daddy’s Blunt Instrument?
The Shunning of A Penitent Sam
Sam is obviously sorry. His first words to Dean after helping him kill Ruby are “I’m sorry!”. To Dean’s obvious anger and confusion. Throughout this entire episode he is attempting to apologize despite his acknowledgment of the enormity of his mistake, if one can call bringing on the apocalypse through pride and arrogance, a mistake. His painful confession to Demon!Bobby of his true error and his acceptance of Demon!Bobby’s rejection, speak to his guilt and pain and his personal need for penance.
But in truth I don’t think Sam really confronts what he has done until he is finally rejected by Dean. Dean’s confession that he has lost trust (and I interpret that as faith as well) in Sam, finally brings to bear on Sam the enormity of what he has done. And it’s not what he has done to the mortal world, but what he has lost in losing Dean that shatters him. He has no words to counter that. The one person he knew he could always count on, who came for him right to the end, into the jaws of Lucifer’s gateway. He has lost him. Through his own actions, through his own lack of faith in Dean, through his pride and arrogance
Despite his role in bringing on the apocalypse Sam seemed to suffer the slings and arrows of an outraged fortune, from Chuck to Bobby to Zachariah. Sam suffered severe physical and emotional punishment during this ep, justified perhaps for the character that has just ended the world. Yet, I found his presence through out this ep to be mostly passive in nature,
Some other Sam Notes :
- Sam’s pride in the hex bag’s until his guilty realization of the how Dean might feel about the continuing influence of Ruby and her dark witch powers.
- Sam on leaving the hotel room after Demon!Bobby’s rejection must have been feeling completely alone.
- Sam wanting to chase down the Colt…
Bobby, What Sacrifice Too Great for A Son
As cheered as I was too see Bobby deliver the Impala for Dean, I started to wonder during his rejection of Sam what was going on. Given Bobby’s comments to Dean last season about family and sticking together this wasn’t the Bobby I knew.
Then when he started talking about John and killing Sam because they couldn’t save him I was all nononononononono Not Bobby! Then black eyed Demon!Bobby chucking Dean around like a rag doll and I was flaily all over the place. O! O my! How did the Demons…? and MEG!!!! get the jump on our Crafty, Gorgeous, Old Man of the Hunt? Surely not! What went wrong…and then, and then … Bobby is no surrogate father to Dean. He has proven beyond all doubt that he IS a father to Dean. By all means that can be used to measure such a bond. He would break free of demonic possession, fight with every fibre of his spirit and captured will, would sacrifice himself to save Dean. To spare him. A father in every true sense of the word. O Bobby!
Some other Bobby Notes:
- Bobby scaring off the Dr delivering the sobering news that he may not walk again.
- Bobby being brave for Dean being brave for Bobby
- Bobby being Daddy to Sam as well by reclaiming him and reassuring him he would never be cut out or abandoned by him. Bobby for giving Sam some hope which I think he sorely needs. Hope for those who desire forgiveness is important. Even if they can’t be forgiven now. Hope that they can be in the future. A possibility to earn their redemption means that they have a goal to work towards that is worthwhile and will give them their self respect back.
Castiel, Righteous in Wrath
Fierce Castiel for the win! No doubt about what he has to do and no submission to Zachariah’s assumed authority. He drove Zachariah off, forcing Zachariah to put “the boys” back together and to question and fear his decisions in the face of the possible return of the Big Boss.
- Mournful Castiel as he confirms that yes, he was dead and in leaving he left us with more questions than answers.
Lucifer, Harshly Judged or Spoilt Brat?
Lucifer’s approach to Nick, his vessel, was one slick sell. Nick had lost his family to a murderous home invasion. Nick was lost and alone and in pain. Open to suggestion and ready to believe that only an unloving and careless God would allow this terrible thing to happen. Lucifer with soft words and a loving and loved, visage offered justice and peace. After first toying with Nick by sending bloody manifestations and a baby monitor that tormented him with the sounds of his crying child.
Of course Lucifer is still angry for his fall. It wasn’t his fault that he loved God too much to bow before God’s creation. His pride and arrogance (remind us of anyone?) wasn’t the reason he was cast from God’s presence. It was God’s fault that he fell and he want’s answers if not some payback.
I think someone forgot to toddler train this one. He sounds like he never quite got over the Terrible Twos.
Some other Lucifer/Nick Notes:
- They named Lucifer’s vessel NICK?!? Lame show, lame.
Some other Random Notes:
- OMG they blew the entire music budget for season 5 on the opening credits!
- Loving the decaying urban landscape (as much as any urban area of Canada can be called decaying) as opposed to the rolling plans of the open Midwest as a metaphor for the crumbling emotional landscape the boys find themselves on.
- Are they going to deal with Dean’s phone call and voice message? I mean really this is on top of my list of things that I want to clear up. Sometimes I get too focused on the little things...::sigh::
- Becky. Don’t make me go there. Bad show! Bad!