eachdraidhean | Good God, Y'all Review and Meta

Okay, so we go into this episode knowing that Dean doesn’t trust Sam, and doesn’t know if they’ll ever get back to what they were before.

It starts with an excellent recap montage, and I love the reuse of Foreigner’s “Long, Long Way From Home”, and after watching the whole episode, it was very appropriate. The full lyrics are at the end of the post, if anyone’s interested.

Poor Bobby. He’s the person who usually helps get everyone else out of trouble, out of harms way, and now he’s facing life in a wheelchair. The boys feel helpless over wheat to do.

The humor of “We could give him a backrub.” is quashed by Sam’s observation that Bobby might never bounce back from his injuries.

The sigils on the boy’s ribs? Awesome!! Course the doctors were baffled. Not everyday someone shows up with intricate rib carvings!

I like the way Cas has to call them on their cells before he can find them now but it was a bad moment when Cas told Bobby he couldn’t heal him.

Cas tells the boys that he doesn’t support their plan to kill Lucifer, and he says there is someone, stronger than Michael, who could do it. It’s interesting that when he said that, the shot changed to show Bobby in the foreground before closing back up on Cas and Dean.

I loved the exchange between Dean and Cas. “Try New Mexico, he’s on a tortilla.” and Cas was so serious with his reply “No, he’s not on any flatbread.”

I like that Cas is done with following orders, and isn’t concerned about telling Dean exactly how he’s feeling with regard to rebelling against his brothers and sisters, and that Dean should keep his opinions to himself.

“You failed. You and your brother destroyed the world and I lost everything. For nothing.”

“You didn’t drop in just to tear us a new one.” Bobby, also being nicely straightforward :)

Didn’t you just know that the amulet was going to play an even bigger part than it does already? Very rare, very powerful. That makes me happy for some reason.

“God EMF?” *snickers*

I love that Dean’s reaction to Cas’s request for the amulet is “No!” and his face is definitely a WTF? face. Dean’s totally unwilling to give Cas him amulet, despite what he needs it for.

Although he says “alright, I guess.” the way he holds it safely and runs the cord through his fingers says it’s anything but alright and as Cas reaches for it, he pulls it back. “Don’t lose it.”

“Oh great, now I feel naked.” We wish :)

Then Cas is gone, along with the amulet, and Bobby yells “When ya find God, tell him to send legs!” I’m hoping that someone, somehow, finds a way to fix him.

The boys head to Colorado. They have to leave the Impala on the busted bridge and hike into town.

Ellen’s back! Yay!! And she hugs and slaps Dean!! Well, he should have called :)

“This is it? End times?”

“Seems like it.”

With the first pan of the camera over the people with Ellen, I knew it was the guy with glasses that would turn out to be the bad guy.

As they head out to pick up guns and salt, Dean unsuccessfully tries to deny that he doesn’t trust Sam around demons, and Sam asks him of they can at least behave like professionals

When he’s confronted by a couple of demons while he’s getting salt, I was a little surprised that Sam didn’t get that the guys he killed weren’t possessed. In all other cases I can remember where the knife has been used to kill a demon, there’s been a little light show along with it, like the knife fries them from the inside, and you get to see the glow and fizzle. This time, nothing. These guys didn’t die like demons and I’m not sure if it was because Sam was then straightaway fixated on the blood that he didn’t notice it or that he just missed it.

You can see the fascination for the blood pooling on the floor and dripping from the knife on Sam’s face, and I was sure he was going to lick the blood from the knife off his thumb, and I’m glad he didn’t! But when Dean finds him, he looks so guilty (and a little like he’s wearing eyeliner!), that it’s obvious he really, really wanted to taste it. And Dean stares at him with that “I don’t trust you” face on, and who could blame him.

As they show the townspeople how to use guns, The young ex soldier asks, “Where’d you serve?”

“Hell.”

“No, seriously?”

“Seriously. Hell.”

I like that Dean goes over to see how Sam is. Regardless of how betrayed he feels and how he can’t trust Sam, small touches like this show that all that doesn’t mean he doesn’t care about his brother.

Sam says he wishes he could save people, like he used to, and I felt as if he meant before destinies and demons and deals and hell came into it, and they were all about the family business, saving people and hunting things, but Dean took it to mean when he was hyped up on demon blood. And Sam’s reply kind of confirms that. I did feel an echo back to earlier seasons where Sam was the conflicted, emo one over aspects of the job.

Then things come to a head.

“Oh that’s right, I forgot, you think I’ll take one look at a demon and then suddenly fall off the wagon as if after everything, I haven’t learned my lesson.”

“Well, have you?”

Sam snaps and pushes Dean violently against a wall.

“If you actually think I …

And then he gets it. That’s exactly what Dean thinks and why he can’t trust him.

This exchange seems like a bad thing, but there’s a lot of healthy honesty in it. Dean’s not hiding his mistrust of Sam here, and Sam lets out some of the frustration he feels because of that mistrust.

So Sam goes with Ellen. As expected, she asks him what’s up with him and Dean and Sam puts it down to the stresses of the job. That’s one way of looking at it!

He then asks about Jo, and is surprised they are hunting together. He reminds Ellen that she didn’t think that Jo could hack the life. She agrees, and adds, “but if she’s gonna do it anyway … You’re gonna keep an eye on her“. I think he can understand that, given he didn’t think dean was up to hunting either after he got back from hell.

They find the so-called demon’s base camp, following the smoke coming from a chimney, but as Sam points out, demons don’t get cold.

They get ambushed, and it becomes plain that both sides are seeing demons in the other, but not why.

Sammy torture! He sees them with black eyes, they see him with the same.

Dean paces, waiting for Ellen and Sam to get back, and when Ellen comes back alone, and he asks where Sam is, she just shakes her head.

What happens next is an example of Dean’s growing strength and is discussed at the end. Instead of charging off, he pauses. First, they need a plan. They both agree that something is off. Holy water and salt don’t have any effect, and Jo called Ellen a black eyed bitch.

When she asks “What’s your instinct?”, Dean replies that it’s to call Bobby for help, or Sam. I love her reply.

“Well tough! All you got’s me and all I got’s you, so lets figure it out.”

And they do. The Four Horsemen are coming, and it looks like War is in town driving a cherry red mustang.

Gotta love those charismatic bad guys!

Back to Sam. War introduces himself, and points out that people don’t need much of a reason to start killing each other.

“Look at the Irish. They’re all Irish.”

“I’m jello shots at a party, I just move things along.”

He also thinks it’s adorable when Sam threatens to kill him, calls him his poster boy. *meep* War calls him out on how he’s really feeling, how he still wants to be strong, and not just that, he wants to be stronger than everybody.

“You think it’s bad now? Wait until you’re thigh deep in warm corpses.”

War rattles both camps enough to get them ready to kill each other, and turns the original group against Dean and Ellen, who run out. Jo has doubts, concerned that Rufus isn’t worried about hurting her Mom with the pipe bombs he’s planting. His reassurances sound hollow and patronizing.

The two sides clash, and dean goes to free Sam. The brothers have both figured it out, and go after the horseman. They confront him and cut the ring, and a few of his finger off, just in time to stop Ellen being butchered.

War disappears, leaving behind the ring he used to make the town hallucinate. I’m thinking we’ll be seeing that again.

The last scene. I thought at first they were still in town. But it’s doubtful the bridge was repaired in such a short length of time, and the Impala is with them, so they’ve obviously moved on.

Dean examines the ring.

“So, pit stop at Mount Doom?” As a long time LOTR fan, that warmed my heart J

And then came the tough part. This time they do talk, and the outcome wasn’t one I expected, and provoked a lot of thinky thoughts.

Sam’s admission that he doesn’t trust himself must have been a hard one for him to make, and after his first attempt to shut Sam up, Dean listens. Now Sam is saying something that’s worth listening to. He can say sorry til the end of time, but it’s only words. Here, he’s admitting that he’s not okay, that he does still think about the blood and how it made him feel, even that he misses it. He admits that the problem isn’t the blood, it’s him, and how far he’ll go, that there’s something in him that scares him. Dean listens because Sam is telling the truth, something that hasn’t happened often lately. I’m not saying that Sam is lying about being sorry, but he has been lying about being okay.

And up until now, he wanted things back the way they were, wanted Dean to tear him a new one, then pat him on the back and make things okay again.

Only this time, Dean can’t.

They say the first step in solving a problem is to admit that there is a problem? That’s what Sam’s doing here.

When Sam says he thinks he should leave and means it, and Dean doesn’t put up a fight, doesn’t stop him and even offers him the Impala? That shows how much they’ve both changed and grown. Sam needs to sort himself out, to come to terms with what he’s done, not just to the world and to Dean, but to himself as well, and he needs to find the strength to forgive himself. I don’t think he could ever get to that point if he stayed with Dean now. He’d always be reminded of his failures.

And Dean? Even though I was whimpering and making grabby hands at the screen because I didn’t want Sam to leave, I was proud of Dean for letting him go. Despite the lack of trust, and how he says he can’t afford to be worrying about Sam now, the offer of the car and how he watches Sam as he leaves, show how hard it was for him to do that.

So, despite my wailing about the last scene in last week‘s episode, I’m not seeing what happens at the end of this one as a final or a bad thing.

I’m also not putting any blame for the situation on either brother. They’ve both made bad choices and they’ve both been manipulated.

People change and grow. And events, especially traumatic ones, and the recovery from such events, have great influence on that change and growth.

Personally, I hate the phrase “whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”, but only because I know it’s true. Dean and Sam have both been through so much in their lives that there had to come a point where they needed to go their separate ways, if only for a while. Sam’s tried it before, but Dean hasn’t, and despite it being heartbreaking to watch, I think it’s necessary.

The new found strength that we saw in Dean in the last episode continues to grow. When Sam is taken by the supposed demons in this episode, his first instinct is to go charging off to save him, but he curbs it. This fight is about more than just the two of them, and Dean reins that instinct back in, and thinks things through, comes up with an answer and a plan, which stands more of a chance of succeeding than if he’d gone in there himself, not knowing what he’s facing.

I’ll admit, my first instinct was “Oh no! He’s not going after Sammy!”, but considered action helped get more people out of the situation than throwing himself in there blindly would have. They both played a part in seeing off War. Dean figured out who he was (War himself told Sam), and Sam had seen him use the ring. Working together, they dealt with the threat.

So despite the lack of trust, and the obvious rift in their relationship, this proves that they can still work together, work well together. Sadly, that’s not enough, and deep down they both know it.

The most poignant moment was right at the start, when Castiel asked Dean for his amulet. Even though it might help find God, Dean’s gut reaction of “No!” shows how much it means to him. Even though he knows he has to give it up, his reluctance is clear. He insists that he get it back, that Castiel takes care of it and the way he holds it in his hands before reluctantly giving it up, shows exactly how loathe he is to let it go.

This is the amulet that Sam gave him, that he feels so strongly about, we’ve only ever seen him take it off once voluntarily, (that I can remember), when he was with Anna in the Impala. (And for once, I’m at a loss as to what exactly that meant. Feel free to give me your theories!!). Sam wore it while Dean was in Hell, and you could see the relief on Dean’s face when he got it back. It’s part of his shield, his amour against the world, and he feels it’s loss when Castiel takes it from him. “I feel naked without it.”

Letting go of his amulet was a foreshadowing of letting go of Sam. He knows it’s necessary, but that doesn’t mean he likes it. He knows he’ll get it back, and hopes that it’ll be in one piece when he does. The way he holds it in his hand, runs the leather through his fingers, must be how he feels as he watches Sam walk away from him.

And he has to trust, TRUST, that Sam, like his amulet, will come back to him unharmed. He can’t be with them on their journeys, and they can’t be with him on his, but I do think these solitary journeys are necessary.

Sam running his hand along the Impala after he got his bag from the back seat was what made me finally sniffle. The way his fingers trailed along the sleek metal of the one constant in his life, apart from Dean. Given how much they traveled around, the Impala’s the closest thing either of them have to a home, and both of them are willing to give it up. Dean, so Sam could take it with him, Sam, because he knows he has to go, and therefore leave it behind.

There’s a sharp contrast to the way Dean willingly offers Sam his beloved car to the way he’s very unwilling to give up his amulet even though it’s for a damned good cause. Both are essential parts of his life, but he’d rather give Sam the Impala than give the amulet to Cas.

Giving Sam the Impala would be giving him a security blanket, which is why Sam can’t take it. Twice, he’s had the Impala after Dean was killed. The first time during Mystery Spot, after Dean is shot, and Sam lives for six months on his own (and there’s a ridiculously long meta begging to be written about that!), and the second time after Dean goes to Hell. Both times, he was obsessed with Dean, whether it was bringing him back or seeking revenge. Taking the Impala this time would be like having Dean with him, and the whole point of leaving is to be alone and work things out for himself.

I think Dean needs to face the world without Sam for a while, and I do think he’ll come to believe more in himself as he does so.

And Sam needs to, at the risk of sounding new-agey, find himself again. Rediscover the strength that took him to college when he was 19.

This isn’t about them breaking up. You just have to watch them together, see the instinctual way they still look out for each other. There’s still love there, that’s obvious too, but sometimes, like here, it isn’t enough. This is about them both being strong enough to let go for a while and build on that strength. The trust they had is fractured and broken. What they need is to build something new, something stronger, a relationship where they are both equals. A true partnership.

The show is built on the relationship between the brothers, and I‘m certain that sooner rather than later, we’ll see them together again. Both stronger, forging a new relationship, a new trust, and facing the apocalypse together

Long, Long Way from Home by Foreigner

It was a Monday, A day like any other day, I left a small town, For the apple in decay

It was my destiny, Its what we needed to do, They were telling me, I’m telling you

I was inside looking outside, The millions of faces, But still I’m alone
Waiting, hours of waiting, Paying a penance, I was longing for home

I’m looking out for the two of us, I hope well be here when they’re through with us

I was inside looking outside, Oh the millions of faces, But still I’m alone
Waiting, hours of waiting, I could feel the tension, I was longing for home

I’m looking out for the two of us, And I hope we’ll be here when they’re through with us, I’m coming home

Monday, sad, sad Monday, She’s waiting for me, But I’m a long, long way from home

Sad, sad Monday, She’s waiting for me, But I’m a long, long way from home

Sad, sad Monday, Oh she’s waiting for me, But I’m a long, long way from home

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