Is Love in the Cards?

I think it's safe to say that it's hard to love a Winchester boy. Not that it's actually difficult to fall for one of them, but that the likelihood of that relationship working out long term is next to zip. Not only would most sane girls not be willing to give up a normal life to ride around the country fighting really scary dudes, but I'm pretty sure some of the fans would do her in.

Supernatural is, above all, about the relationship of these two brothers. Other characters can be secondary at best and more commonly window dressing or "victim of the week." This is why there is fan outcry when things happen like the introduction of Ruby and Bela or the upcoming episode in which we will evidently be introduced to a third Winchester brother. Some fans don't want to shift the focus off Sam and Dean, and I suspect some don't want any girlfriend material in there so they can continue imagining themselves in that role. :)

Let's face it -- if you're a girl and you get introduced on Supernatural, my bet is that you're not long for this world or that we'll soon be seeing you in the Impala's rear view mirror. This trend is set early when Sam's serious girlfriend, Jessica, is killed (like his mother was) in the pilot, as soon as he heads back toward the supernatural-hunting life. The girl who we learn in "Route 666" was Dean's foray into a serious relationship, Cassie, is a casualty (though she's still alive) of the boys' hunting lifestyle too. One of the saddest, tear-inducing episodes for me has been "Heart", in which Sam finally lets go of Jessica enough to fall for someone else. Too bad Madison ends up being a werewolf and he has to kill her.

I'm sensing a trend here.

But here's the thing -- the boys have given so much, worked so hard, been to hell and back (Dean, literally) that I think they deserve to find love and somehow live a happily ever after. Somehow I don't suspect that's in the cards. I'm not sure they'll even survive in the end. And if they do, how do they leave all they've seen and done behind to marry and raise kids in small-town America or suburbia? Do you think that's even possible? Will there ever be no evil baddies to fight?

If the writers somehow make this possible, what kind of women do you think they'll have to create as potential love interests for Sam and Dean to make the fans happy? How soon before the series finale do you think these women can be introduced so that the fans don't revolt? Or do you think we've already met them. Have to say that Anna grew on me in the recent episode, "On the Head of a Pin." The only way I can see this is if somehow God or the angels can wipe their memories of all the bad stuff and allow them to start with a fresh slate. Could that be their reward for helping heaven defeat Lucifer and his minions?

I'm curious what you think. Is long-term love in the cards for the boys?

John Winchester's Journal

In last week’s review of The Supernatural Book of Monsters, Spirits, Demons and Ghouls by Alex Irvine, I complained that the book wasn’t anchored in any one voice. I’m happy to say that’s not the case with his second SPN title, John Winchester’s Journal. The diary opens in 1983, two weeks after Mary’s death, when Fletcher Gable gave John the blank book to “write everything down.” Each year highlights Dean (Jan. 24) and Sammy’s (May 2) birthdays, as well as the anniversaries of Mary’s death (Nov. 2) and their wedding (May 17). There are also ample notes and doodles throughout on hunter lore and methodology.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and recommend it to fans because it smoothly mixed the mythology with the story of a dad who wants nothing more than to avenge his beloved wife’s death and protect this two sons, but finds himself struggling with whether or not he’s made the right choices. John’s pain and frustration are palpable, as is his pride in the boys. He knows he’s not going to win any parent of the year awards, but he wants to, needs to, prepare them for the time when he won’t be around. He’s especially hard on Dean who he tasks with watching over his little brother. It’s a duty he’s drilled into his head from the time he was five. Sammy, on the other hand, has always been different and John often draws comparisons. When Dean turned eleven he asked for his own gun, when Sammy turned eleven he asked for a computer. John knows there’s something “special” about Sam, but doesn’t know what. It’s just one more thing about his youngest he doesn’t understand. The diary format does a great job of demonstrating the growth and change the Winchesters go through. John realizes he’s been hunting Mary’s murderer for longer than he knew her. Dean goes from a quiet and contemplative kid to a lady killer bad ass who Dad thinks he did right by. And Sammy, dear Sammy, rebels like any normal young man and totally pisses his father off by being…normal.

The book gives an intimate portrayal of this hunter family, parallels the show well and offers additional insight, especially into Lilith.

* A succubus is a female demon who harvests semen that her male counterpart (incubi) then uses to impregnate women with babies who are more susceptible to demon possession or become witches. Hebrews call the succubus Lilith.

* And, get this, Sammy’s not the only one to do the deed with a demon! A lonely John slept with Ms. Lyle, Sammy’s teacher, but learned she was a demon when she tried to kidnap Sammy. Dean performed his first exorcism and John wondered if Lyle was really Lilith. He also questioned why she wanted Sammy, but remembered some lore: “The stories also say that succubi come to claim the children that have been fathered by incubi, which is ridiculous.”

Hmm….

The last entry is October 28, 2005, twenty-two years and two grown sons later, John finally finds Azazel.

Now if only they’d publish the boys journal.

Urban Legends

One of the things I loved about Supernatural is the way the boys investigated urban legends. (I’m one who prefers the stand-alone episodes, though I know the show wouldn’t be the same without the myth-arc.) I loved the Bloody Mary episode, the Hookman, the Woman in White.

I know the boys have bigger fish to fry right now, but here are some cases I would love to see them on.

La Bruja Lechuza is a Mexican legend. She is a witch who comes to a house in the form of a giant owl-type bird, to take away someone who is close to death. Some of my students claim to have seen her, and are terrified of her. I would love to see the boys come to town (how about a San Antonio set show? Hmm?) and hunt her down, only to find out she isn’t what they believe her to be?

The Jersey Devil is another interesting urban legend, but from what I’ve seen, it doesn’t do much, like a chupacabra. It just eats livestock and freaks people out. Still, I have faith Kripke could make it a fun monster-of-the-week.

A haunted lighthouse would make a good setting for an episode. Maybe set during a hurricane or something…definitely with a love interest.

New Orleans…something in the cemeteries. I know, cliché, but again, I have faith in Kripke. Wouldn’t it be cool to see the boys vs. a voodoo priestess? Or working side by side with one?

But my number one wish for a setting is Stull Cemetery in Lawrence, Kansas. (I wonder if this doesn’t tie in to Mary’s family’s careers as hunters.) Supposedly, Satan can manifest there, and does on Halloween. His only son is rumored to be buried there, and when Pope John Paul II flew across the country, he had his plane avoid Kansas. Weird, huh? It’s said to be a devil’s gate, which I know we’ve done, but how cool would it be to have it in a real place? They could even go up against a group of Satan worshipers or something.

What stories would you like to see the boys tackle?

Wishin' and Hopin' ... and Kripke don't mix

(Mild spoilers for episodes already aired)

Hope is an interesting thematic element in television shows. Throughout most of (Joss Whedon's) series Angel, hope (for Angel's redemption) was a major driving force--but some would argue it never paid off, given the Butch Cassidy/Sundance Kid ending of the series. Ron Moore's and David Eick's Battlestar Galactica is undoubtedly the darkest television show I've ever watched, but hope was a predominant element (the hope to find Earth, the hope for survival). And then we have Supernatural. It's always had its dark moments (see: death, demons, hell), but before this season, I never would have thought to characterize it as bleak (and even this season, I cracked up during Monster Movie and Yellow Fever), yet looking back, I wonder if maybe it's always been bleaker than I realize. (The reason I didn't truly think last season was bleak was because I was just certain Dean would find a way to escape Lilith. At least, I hoped he would.)

Courtesy of Merriam-Webster online, bleak: "not hopeful or encouraging."

Yep, that's Show all right.

In the pilot, Sam had the gall to hope for, to actually try to build, a normal life. Dean mocked that wish in a fight, basically telling Sam to give it up because he was never going to be normal, he was a Winchester. And then fate (well, actually, Azazel) took if a step further and killed Sam's girlfriend. Although none of us knew it at the time, this cycle dated back to Sam's mom, Mary, who'd been raised a hunter. She wished for a normal life, to marry John and settle down peacefully--but wound up having to make a demonic pact with Azazel to save John's life. Eventually, she gave up her own life for it and set the boys on their current course.

In season 2, we got the episode "What Is and What Should Never Be," where Dean gets his wishes (sort of) at a cost. He almost decides to stay in the dream world, even though his dad is dead there, too, and Sam is contemputous of him (but successful and healthy and engaged to Jessica) but to do so would have meant sacrificing himself to the Djinn. So, thumbnail hypothesis: wishes equal death? Well, certainly Sam's wishing for a normal life, and Mary doing so before him, ended in flaming-ceiling-death for various parties. This season brought us "Wishful Thinking," which also characterized wishes as potentially dangerous--and even though some people I know thought it was pretty funny, I thought that the suicidal teddy bear (brought to life by a little girl's wish) was disturbing. He tries to blow his head off and ends up sobbing because he can't die.

Throughout the entire series, there's been the possibility that things will "end bloody" for the boys. But even the alternative (growing old naturally) was painted as bleak and bitter in "Criss Angel is a Douchebag." Um, okay, Show, you really don't want us to have any hope for the boys' future, do you?

But wait! There's always the Buffy-esque season 5, the boys may die in the fight against good and evil (make that, die again, since they've both been down that particular road), may have to sacrifice themselves, but perhaps then they can save the world and move on to a better place. Ha, Krikpe, I've found at least a small smidge of something to hope for...haven't I?

Alas, no. In "Death takes a Holiday," a Reaper talks about the better place being a lie we tell ourselves for comfort and hope. And then, as a final tire iron to the kneecap, in "On the Head of a Pin," an angel utters the statement that God doesn't exist. Well, alrighty then. Dean Winchester by the end of that episode was a bruised and bloody portrait of despair. He told Castiel that he can't do it, he can't fight the apocalypse, and on one hand, I kind of think he's right. After all, without hope, how can you pick yourself back up and go on? Even though Dean himself once mocked Sam's hopes for a normal life (which Sam reiterated right back to him in "Death Takes a Holiday") Dean has hoped for things along the way--to find his father (which they did, only to lose him when John traded his life for Dean's), to protect Sam (which Dean sacrificed his own life to do--only to risk losing Sam in a different way now that he's sleeping with Ruby and swilling demon blood), to be a good man slaying demons and a son his father could be proud of (only to learn that while John never broke, Dean was down there torturing people and breaking apocalpytic seals). You see where I'm going with this, yes? Wishes and hope for the future end very badly.

Which makes me wonder, how is our show going to end? Will the boys be able to rediscover enough optimism to get back into the fray, enough hope in love and each other to at least repair their own relationship even if they can't save the rest of the world?

I wish I knew.

Coming this week...

Whee, another week of Winchester goodness headed your way...

Monday -- Tanya asks if wishing is dangerous and explores how Supernatural looks at the dangers of hoping and wishing.

Tuesday --MJ will go looking for new cases for the boys among some well-known (and less well known) urban legends.

Wednesday -- Terri focuses on John Winchester's Journal.

Thursday -- I (Trish) will look at the pros and cons of Sam and Dean finding love.

Friday -- Natalie recaps this week's episode, "It's a Terrible Life."

On the Head of a Pin-Spoilers Abound

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS!!!!!!

I knew going into this episode that it would go places I did not want the show to go, so reviewing it is going to be tough. Now we know what Sam didn’t like about drawing demons—eek! Who knew, watching Season One, we’d end up here? Even though Ben Edlund wrote it, I’m pretty sure this isn’t going to be cheery.

We open with Castiel kneeling beside a blonde beauty with an odd-shaped wound below her throat. He leaves as the cops arrive, and the camera pulls out to reveal the shadow of angel wings behind the woman.

The brothers are fighting in the Impala. They’ve just come from Pamela’s funeral and Dean is frustrated and angry. When Sam suggests they hook up with Ruby, Dean snarls that he doesn’t care. Sam argues Dean should be getting angry, not wary. They step into a motel room and there are Castiel and Uriel. Dean unleashes his anger on them when they ask for help. Dean snaps that they’ve just been helping another seal remain closed. The angels reveal that seven angels have been killed, and they need to find the demon who’s doing it. They need Dean to torture Allistair to find out who it is. The look on Dean’s face as they bring up his living nightmare, ask him to relive it….heartbreaking. Uriel says they’re not asking, and the angels disappear with Dean.

Dean looks into the room where the angels are holding Allistair in an elaborate devil’s trap. Dean still resists, and asks to talk to Castiel alone. Cas looks weary. He reveals that his superiors are questioning his sympathies, that he’s getting too close to his humans, that he’s beginning to expression emotions, and it’s affecting his judgment. He reveals he’d give anything not to have Dean torture Allistair after Dean warns him that if Dean walks through the door, Castiel won’t like what walks out.

Okay, here’s Ben Edlund’s touch, the snark of Allistair. I love this character. He taunts Dean, even as he’s chained to this Devil’s Trap. Allistair tells Dean how he tortured John for almost a century without breaking, that he was made of the stuff of heroes. Then he taunts Dean that he only lasted thirty years, that he wasn’t the man his father wanted him to be.

This is the part I found out about by accidentally watching a Canadian preview. I was hoping Allistair would reveal that John had broken, because though I like John’s character, I hate seeing Dean become more twisted up inside by knowing he had failed his father. Dean buries his reaction, as he’s so good at doing, and tells Allistair that he’s dreamed of payback, and he has some ideas. Some of the snark disappears when Dean loads a syringe with holy water.

Back at the motel, Ruby shows up to help Sam find where the angels have taken Dean. She thinks Sam is worried that Dean has to torture Allistair. Instead, Sam tells her he doesn’t think Dean is strong enough for the job, and Sam has to do it. And the way Sam gets strong enough? BY DRINKING RUBY’S BLOOD. Uh-huh, that’s right. (I actually saw this in that damn preview, too, and was thinking, “Tanya’s not going to like this one bit.”) So…wow, Kripke. That’s the part of pulling demons Sam didn’t like. Well, hell, he sure seemed to like it now.

(Can you believe my laptop battery died and now I’m watching over my shoulder as I type…grrr. I had it on the charger, damn it.)

We go back to Dean coating a knife with holy water as Allistair asks if Dean really thinks torturing Allistair will give him closure. Allistair reminds Dean he carved him into a new animal and there’s no going back.

Okay, the creepy is that Dean really seems to be into this.

The camera cuts to one of the pipes Allistair is strapped to, slipping, and a drop of water sizzles on the ground, erasing a line of the devil’s trap. Oops, we know what that means!

Outside the room, lights flicker and Anna returns in her old body, though it was destroyed. She said she called in some favors to get it back. She demands (okay, not demands, way too calm for that) to know why Cas is letting Dean do this. He tells her it’s God’s work. She doesn’t buy that torturing is God’s work. She’s afraid he’s going to ruin the one real weapon they have. Castiel chides her for questioning God’s will, but she doesn’t think it’s God’s will. She believes the orders are coming from somewhere, but not God. She doesn’t think God would ask that of Cas. She points out that what Cas is feeling is doubt.

Dean is meanwhile doing some awful things to Allistair. Not watching. Ick.

Anna tries to convince Cas to stop it, but he claims he’s not like her. She doubted and fell, and he’s not willing to do that. He tells her to go.

Meanwhile, Allistair reveals the Big Deal. The event that started the apocalypse. Because Dean doesn’t have enough baggage, he now learns that he broke the first seal when he, a righteous man, sheds blood in hell. Allistair wanted John to be the one to break the seal but he wouldn’t pick up the razor. Dean’s weakness got the ball rolling, started the dominos falling.

Dean turns his back, trying to recover himself, and when he turns back, ready to end Allistair, he finds the demon free of the trap and ready for payback. He beats the holy hell out of Dean and pins him to the trap. Dean is dying when Castiel rushes in (hello, where have you been?) . They fight and Allistair pins Castiel to the wall, ready to send him back to heaven in a kind of exorcism when Sam stops him, pinning Allistair to the wall (hey, Sam’s the only one not pinned to the wall tonight!) Castiel watches as Sam tortures Allistair without touching him, revealing that Lilith isn’t behind the deaths of the angels. She wouldn’t kill seven, she’d kill hundreds. Allistair taunts Sam to send him back to hell, but Sam reveals that he can KILL DEMONS WITH HIS MIND. Holy. Hell.

So he does. Man, I liked Allistair. Cas is absolutely freaked out. This is Not Good.

Dean’s back in the hospital, intubated, Sam by his side. Castiel comes by and Sam begs him for a miracle, that Dean deserves it after doing what he did for the angels. Castiel can’t, and his doubt deepens. He meets Uriel in a snowy park. Uriel is freaking out because he’s been told to stop hunting the demons responsible for killing angels. Cas tells him what Allistair said, what Anna said, that maybe the orders are coming from heaven, but not God. Both angels wonder what is going on up there. Are they being punished because they’re losing the war?

Cas calls Anna and tells her he’s considering disobedience, that he’s beginning to feel. She tells him it’s only going to get worse, that making choices is confusing and terrifying. He’s not sure what to do next. He needs her to tell him what to do, but she won’t.

He returns to the room where they held Allistair and inspects the devil’s trap. Uriel joins him to see if Cas is ready to fight with him (fight who? I missed that.)

This episode is just full of surprises, because while Cas is questioning why a leaky faucet can undo the work of angels, and Uriel reminds him that the only thing that can kill an angel is another angel, as he unsheathes a lethal looking knife. Uriel loathes being trapped with humans, and claims that God stopped being their father when He created humans. Uriel wants Castiel to join with him to raise Lucifer. Uriel envies Lucifer’s strength and beauty, and the fact he didn’t bow to humanity. He was cast out for standing up for the angels, according to Uriel. Uriel urges Cas to believe in Lucifer, and that God no longer cares about what they do.

Cas asks what Uriel’s plan was. Did he want to kill the whole garrison? But no, he’d only killed the ones who said no. He wants Cas to help him bring on the apocalypse. Cas fights him, and dayum. Hell of a fight, and boy, is it wrong to think an angel is sexy? Uriel has the upper hand, and is about to deal a killing blow, proclaiming there is no God. Then he jolts as a blade slices through his throat. Anna leans in, with one of the most awkward lines I’ve ever heard on this show. “Maybe not, but there’s still me.”

So, Allistair and Uriel are dead. Cas goes to the hospital to sit by Dean’s side. Groggy Dean sounds JUST like his daddy. Cas reveals that Uriel was working against them. Dean asks if it’s true, that he broke the seal. Cas confirms it. He says as soon as they learned Lilith’s plan, they laid siege to hell to get to him, but were too late. He then tells Dean that blame doesn’t fall on him, fate does, because the man who breaks the first seal is the only person who can end it. Dean does not want to hear that. He knows he’s not strong enough. He doesn’t want this responsibility. He’s not the man his father wanted him to be, or that God wanted him to be.

I love how so many story threads came together in this episode, and smoothly, IMO. Watching Dean torture was rough, knowing the effect of Allistair’s revelation was rougher. I hate what Sam has to do to get stronger in his abilities. I hate that Allistair is gone, since he was my favorite demon since Meg. I loved everything else (except forementioned line from Anna. Really, Ben?)

What did you think?

Brother vs. Brother

It started in the pilot.

Sam wakes up in the middle of the night, hearing an intruder in the house. He engages him, they fight, and I'm hooked. Passion ignited.

That "fight" scene did more than grab me (and many other fans). It grounded the boys' relationship, in a way. They were pretty evenly matched in that fight. Sure, Dean was holding back because he knew it was Sam, but Sam wasn't swinging to kill, either, just subdue. One got the upper hand, then the other, and such has been their relationship ever since.

For three seasons, Dean's role as protector and leader was undisrupted. He saved Sam from possession, from death, from the Yellow-Eyed Demon, even sacrificed himself to keep Sam safe. But all along, Sam has matured (in most ways) and learned how to lead, himself. He exerted some control when he saved Dean from Gordon and later killed Gordon with his bare hands. At the end of season 3, when they were going after Lilith and trying to save Dean from Hell, Sam pushed harder and harder to influence their course of action. He learned things about himself, and was forced to go out on his own when the Trickster killed Dean "for good."

And then he was alone. Dean's influence could never disappear, but when he was in Hell, Sam made all the decisions. He made his own choices, and explored every facet of his identity, including the part manifested by the demon blood forced on him when he was six months old.

You can't go back after that, and I knew the brotherly dynamics would change. Dean had missed four months, and his time in Hell would have permanent effects. Sam wouldn't be subverted to his brother's will anymore.

In some ways, I was right. I mean, Dean does still get to choose the music in the Impala. But Sam doesn't listen to him anymore, especially when his reasons are "Because I said so!" But I hoped their partnership would grow stronger, that they could see each other more as equals. That their fight against a common enemy would be enough to help them overcome the adjustment to the changes.

But Kripke doesn't play that way.

It starts out simple, and gets more and more complex the more detail you add:

Sam works with a demon. He has demon powers, and that's bad.

Dean works with an angel. Angels work for God, so that's good.

But the demon has a good goal, ridding the earth of one of the worst demons in existence. Her motives are suspicious and likely selfish. She manipulates to get her way.

The angels have a good goal, stopping that same really bad demon from freeing Lucifer and bringing hell to earth, but they don't seem to care how many people die to stop that from happening. They, too, manipulate to get their way.

Sam's powers enable him to save people while killing demons. Dean equates "demon" with "evil" and can't seem to unbend even a little. So Sam has stopped trying to make him understand. That opens a rift between them, one that gets wider and wider the more he lies. It was worsened by Dean lying, too, about Hell, but Dean's lies were internal and didn't affect others (so far!). And he came clean. He opened up to Sam, who didn't offer any support or commiseration for the pain Dean's been suffering. Is Sam too wrapped up in his own issues, or did Dean's confession change how Sam feels about him? Or does he just feel inadequate and therefore does nothing?

The angels, and Dean, and now Pam have all told Sam that he does not have the right idea, using his powers, that he's going down an unknown path they all fear. But Sam's intentions have always been noble. Even though he has a need for personal revenge, and his own pain to exorcise (hee--get it?), his goal, getting rid of Lilith, is consistent with the rest of their lives. Saving people, hunting things. Evil things.

Until "Sex and Violence," I could envision a path where the brothers were at personal odds but still had the same goals, the same core values, the same basic way of looking at things. They could continue down the road side by side, or fighting back to back, with nothing in the world more important or more valued than each other.

But then, under the siren's spell, Sam said some horrible things, things he really seems to believe, despite his repeated assertion that he didn't mean them. He has decided his powers, his history, elevates him above others. In "Death Takes a Holiday" he said the rules don't apply to "us," not just himself, but the fact that he's including Dean in the "specialness" doesn't help. It's not that he's wrong, on the face of it. They are different. They've escaped death, and Hell, and all manner of bad things. At this point, they've probably defeated more and worse things than any hunter on earth, which would put them at the top of the game.

But Sam now seems to be equating "different" with "better." He acts superior toward
demons, angels, and Dean alike. His disillusionment with the angels and his fear of the future have brought him to a dangerous place. A Spider-Man place*, a test that I think he's going to fail, devastatingly.

Since early in season 4, many people have predicted a "brother against brother" showdown. I've fought the idea not just because I hate it, but because I didn't think the events, early on, necessarily supported it. The complexity of the influences (good demon, bad angel) didn't pit the brothers against each other, and they had, and still have, the same goal.

My position is getting harder to hold onto, now that Sam is lying to little boy ghosts as well as his brother, and he seems to care less and less about the people than about winning the battle. Now that Dean seems to be letting Sam's attitude and his words sever the ties he has knotted so tightly in the past.

In season one's episode "Scarecrow," Dean leaves Sam on the side of the road. Their needs were at odds then, but it never felt like they were truly ready to cut each other off. If something similar happened now, I don't think it would be so easy to overcome. They've damaged each other, and been damaged by outside sources, and the bond that would hold them through anything is far more tenuous.

What's coming, though? Speculation is really difficult when we don't know if this war will continue into season 5, if we avoid any spoilers or pretend we didn't hear anything about the season finale. And the external framework still makes it really hard to envision Sam and Dean truly fighting each other, as themselves and not some monster's plaything.




Still, every episode, every moment of character development, seems to be leading us to that end. I'm kind of resigned to facing it, but I cling to the belief that Kripke and Co. know--they have to know, how can they not know?--that breaking the brothers the wrong way will break his show completely, so whatever they do to them in the end, they'll fix. I am, of course, fully invested in the ride.

Your turn! What do you think of the inevitability of a brother-vs.-brother showdown, and how do you think it will manifest? (Speculation only, let's avoid spoilers!)

~~~~~~~~
*With great power comes great responsibility.