- Recap and Review: Supernatural 7.01: Meet the New Boss
- Recap and Review: Supernatural 7.02: Hello, Cruel World
- Recap and Review: Supernatural 7.03: The Girl Next Door
- Recap and Review: Supernatural 7.04: Defending Your Life
- Recap and Review: Supernatural 7.05: Shut Up, Dr. Phil
- Recap and Review: Supernatural 7.06: Slash Fiction
- Recap and Review: Supernatural 7.07: The Mentalists
- Recap and Review: Supernatural 7.08: Season 7, Time for a Wedding!
- Recap and Review: Supernatural 7.09: How to Win Friends and Influence Monsters
- Recap and Review: Supernatural 7.10: Death’s Door
- Recap and Review: Supernatural 7.11: Adventures in Babysitting
- Recap and Review: Supernatural 7.12: Time After Time
- Recap and Review: Supernatural 7.13: The Slice Girls
- Recap and Review: Supernatural 7.14: Plucky Pennywhistle’s Magical Menagerie
- Recap and Review: Supernatural 7.15: Repo Man
- Recap and Review: Supernatural 7.16: Out with the Old
- Recap and Review: Supernatural 7.17: The Born-Again Identity
- Recap and Review: Supernatural 7.18: Party On, Garth
- Recap and Review: Supernatural 7.19: Of Grave Importance
- Recap and Review: Supernatural 7.20: The Girl with the Dungeons and Dragons Tattoo
- Recap and Review: Supernatural 7.21: Reading Is Fundamental
- Recap and Review: Supernatural 7.22: There Will Be Blood
- Recap and Review: Supernatural 7.23: Survival of the Fittest (Season Finale)
By Paula R. Stiles
[spoilers ahoy]
Tagline: The brothers and Bobby hunt the Jersey Devil in the Pine Barrens, but discover the local fast food may be more of a danger.
Recap: Recap of the Leviathans, as well as Frank Deveraux (who gets mentioned a lot without actually appearing in the episode) and Dick Roman (who does appear).
Cut to Wharton State Forest in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey. There, something stalks a husband and wife in what looks like a pre-fab cabin or a very stout and large “tent”, which is stocked up with all the comforts of home, including lights and a TV. Their idea of “camping” is to sleep on a nice, big bed in separate sleeping bags. It seems they call them “glampers” now. Funny, when I was a kid, the rest of us campers just called them “idiots with too much money”.
As if they were back home, the happy, stout, middle-aged couple say goodnight to each other and go to sleep, the husband to a MP3 player’s “Nature Sounds”. Later, the husband wakes up in a tree, upside down in his sleeping bag, in which he is zipped up like a grub. Before he can get his bearings or properly panic, something snatches him down and eats him alive. With sound effects. And body parts.
Cue title cards.
In Hammonton, New Jersey, the brothers are trying to get electricity back on in an abandoned house, using jumper cables (Why the electric company would continue to send electricity to an abandoned house is never explained and there’s no mention of an alternative like a car battery or generator). Briefly, they find success and in comes Bobby with a cooler to set down next to a camping lantern. We then get some infodump about how they’ve been way off the grid for weeks, hiding from the Leviathans. Dean complains that they’ve hit rock bottom in terms of living conditions (which is surprising, since only Dean of these three has seen a postapocalyptic world firsthand). When the lights fritz off, and Bobby turns on the camper lamp, Dean throws up his hands and goes over to the couch, where he’s got his bedroll. He takes the cooler with him. It has (naturally) beer. From there, he wonders if saving the world is worth it, since they’ve done it twice in two years, already (This is a big glitch, as there ought to be two years in between Lucifer’s Apocalypse and Crowley/Castiel/Raphael’s big plan to rob Purgatory of its souls, not just one). Sam and Bobby have little to persuade him otherwise, besides concentrating on the little picture. Yep. After all that talk about how they have to deal with the Leviathans, they decide to do a minor hunt, instead. This time, they’re after the Jersey Devil, a bipedal, winged monster that has reputedly haunted the Pine Barrens since the early 18th century.
Why are they hunting it now (I mean, aside from the fact that this is only the ninth episode of the season and the writers don’t seem to have enough uberplot to stretch for 23 episodes?)? Because of the glamper guy who got eaten out of a tree. Seems his wife is missing, too. But don’t expect to hear from or about her again.
Bobby is all perky about going hunting for real, but has to have the term “glamper” explained to him, by both brothers. His opinion of the phenomenon? “Idiotic”.
At the local Biggerson’s, Dean and Sam are interviewing Park Ranger Rick Evans about the missing camper/glampers, while Evans enjoys a Pepperjack Turducken Slammer sandwich (which sounds vaguely wrong in a biblical way). Ranger Rick is a decidedly mellow fellow who doesn’t much care about the missing people, who happen to include his boss, Phil. He’s been a park ranger for 12 years and he’s never seen anything like this case. When Sam brings up the State Police’s theory that it was a bear attack, he laughs and says that law enforcement actually has no clue what the thing was. Maybe it was Mother Nature. He and Phil have been finding animal parts all over for the past few weeks. Whatever ate them may have eaten the camper – sorry, glamper.
Bobby walks in, dressed in a suit like the brothers, and a coat like Castiel’s. They take their leave of Ranger Rick and go talk to Bobby, who just checked out the dead glamper at the morgue. Bobby is confused. The bite marks are too small for a Leviathan, the heart’s still there (so, not a werewolf) and a Wendigo would have left nothing behind. He’s stumped.
They decide to break for lunch, but when Dean asks one of the waiters, Brandon, if they can just grab a booth, the waiter calls him a “douchebag” and tells him to find a hostess. Sam is amused by Dean’s confused response, but Dean is shocked by Brandon’s strange attitude. Bobby just hopes they don’t get Brandon for a waiter. Of course they do.
Brandon is a very angry young man. Yes, indeed. He brings their orders (a salad for Sam, a Turducken Slammer for Dean, and a healthy Chinese salad special for Bobby), complete with insults. When Dean calls him on it, Brandon flounces off in a rage. Dean is somewhat mollified by his Turducken, which is a chicken inside a duck inside a turkey (How holiday-friendly). He’s enjoying it a bit too much, while the three of them discuss the case. Though they all agree that Ranger Rick seemed a bit off, Dean is of the opinion that the guy was just a pothead. Their conversation is interrupted by the waiter yelling at his manager about how one of the women in the restaurant is “fat”. Then he storms out.
Off the three go hunting. Bobby shows mad tracking skills (like determining that some deer fur left on a leaf is the record of a rutting contest between two bucks). While they go along, we get snippets of all of their childhoods. Bobby grew up a hunter and shot a lot of game as a kid. He also took the brothers deer-hunting when John would go on a supernatural hunt and leave them at Bobby’s. They learned most of their tracking skills from Bobby, even though they refused to shoot any deer. This harkens back to Dean’s dislike of the hunter guide in “Wendigo” in season one. Bobby’s comment to Dean about how you shoot “Bambi’s mother” is both inaccurate (Doe licenses are harder to get than buck licenses, and why would you kill a mother with babies when there are loads of bucks around?) and possibly insensitive. Considering what happened to Mary. But the brothers just laugh it off.
The humour evaporates when they find Ranger Phil, who is in pieces up a tree. They call Ranger Rick, and he does arrive, but he’s so laid-back that he’s dragged off into the bushes in the middle of reporting the body, despite their warnings. They chase the thing through the trees until they corner it. Bobby insists the brothers turn off the lights on their rifles. Then, with his own light turned off, he closes his eyes, fires blind into the tree, and knocks down the creature.
It lands at their feet, still clutching one of Ranger Rick’s arms. It’s human. Or, at least, it’s a zombie with white eyes that used to be human. They are most surprised. They’re even more surprised that all that took it down was an ordinary bullet. But when it revives, they react immediately (Dean first) and put it down for good. Despite his excellent reflexes, Dean seems a little off, commenting that he liked Ranger Rick (He didn’t in the restaurant) and bemoaning the ruined leather of the zombie’s wallet.
The zombie’s name is “Gerald Browder”, according to his driver’s license. Also according to his license, he once weighed 235 pounds. Right now, he’d be lucky to weigh half that. And when Bobby puts a stick through one of the bullet holes in the body, he comes up with a weird grey substance. So, he and Sam decide to do an autopsy (Note to show: Autopsies really aren’t as easy to perform as those anatomical dummies in “Mannequin 3: The Reckoning” make it look). They find all sorts of crap in there, rather like what you’d find inside a shark – parts of Ranger Phil, parts of Ranger Rick (of course), a cat’s skull, and a huge pine cone. Mr. Browder was very hungry. Meanwhile, Dean is drinking booze and complaining about being hungry (in the middle of a very gross autopsy that has Sam about losing his lunch), while looking stoned. The big thing, though, is when Bobby finds what he thinks might have been the adrenal glands, except that they’re supposed to be “bright orange” and about five times smaller.
Back at the Biggerson’s, Sam and Bobby discuss the case while Dean tucks into another TDK Slammer (I pity Jensen Ackles on this one. Lord knows how many bites of sandwich he had to eat, or at least spit out). Sam finds out that Browder disappeared eight days ago, which means he’s probably responsible for all the people gone missing. But what happened to him? Their first clue arises when Dean admits that he doesn’t give “two shakes of a rat’s ass” about the case. As Sam and Bobby look around, they realise that people of all races, both genders, and from all walks of life are sitting in the restaurant, like cows with their cud, over their TDK Slammers, too. Horrified, Sam grabs Dean’s sandwich away from him.
Back at the shack, they open up the swan foil around the sandwich and interrogate Dean on how he feels. Dean says he feels great, that he hasn’t felt this great in months. He doesn’t care that he doesn’t care about anything, which is just awesome. In the middle of this conversation, the half-eaten sandwich belches out a huge bubble of grey goo that looks just like what was on Browder’s organs. Dean, who notices it first, admits that if he weren’t so stoned, he’d puke (since he just ate that). They realise that the killer and some the victims were affected by the same thing.
Later that night, they stake out the Biggerson’s in Bobby’s van. Sam and Bobby are in the front, while Dean sleeps off his “tryptophan coma” in the back (Tryptophan is a natural antidepressant that is found in turkey meat). Sam starts a conversation with Bobby about Dean’s current mental health. Sam thinks it’s very bad. He’s worried that Dean hasn’t got over the loss of Castiel (whom Dean mentioned in his stoned rant) and is “just going through the motions.” Bobby, who ought to know just how bad it is (since he must have got that suicidal phone message from Dean back in 7.02), tells Sam to worry about himself and cuts Sam off in the middle of a “what if”. What if what, Sam? Inquiring minds want to know.
But Bobby doesn’t want to hear it. So, he tells Sam to stop worrying about Dean, that all the brothers ever do is worry about each other and Sam has enough on his plate. When Sam, while rubbing his palm, tentatively admits that maybe being able to see the demons inside your head and tell them to get lost is better and luckier than the lot of some others in life (obviously meaning Dean), Bobby tells him that he’s always been “deep”. Really, Bobby? Really, show? Gimme a break.
This conversation is interrupted by the arrival of a white truck with the letters “Midwest Meat & Poultry Wholesale Distribution” on the outside and a man with white hair who rolls a hand truck loaded with white boxes into Biggerson’s. Taking a deductive leap worthy of Sherlock Holmes, Sam deduces that this all looks odd because why would Biggerson’s be supplied by such a shady-looking company (Sam, have you never worked at a fast food place before?)? They follow the truck to a plain white warehouse (of which there are many in the northeast).
Meanwhile, a young woman coming out of a law office gets attacked by Brandon, who is rabid. He cracks her head against the ground a couple of times, but before he can commence to eat her (Like the glamper wife, we never find out what happens to her), a car pulls up, someone gets out, and that person knocks Brandon out cold. Those boots look awfully familiar…
…and, sure enough, as Sam is watching through binoculars, while a sobering-up Dean is drinking coffee, Sam sees a car pull up alongside the truck at the warehouse and a familiar face get out – Edgar the Leviathan. Edgar then gets a hooded Brandon out of his car and sees him inside with the white-haired truck driver. Despite having seen him only briefly before getting clobbered with a tire iron and suffering brain damage, Sam remembers Edgar just fine. Ah, the wonders of modern medicine. Maybe Dean will do a marathon sometime on that broken leg, too.
Inside, Edgar politely tells the truck driver to put Brandon “with the others”. He also meets up with Dr. Sexy (Remember Sheriff Mills’ surgeon from 7.02?). Dr. Sexy has been doing experiments on local humans. Edgar, however, is concerned about the side effects. It seems that the placid-cow attitude is what Dr. Sexy was going for, but 0.03% of the subjects go rabid (like Brandon), instead. When they visit these unfortunates, Edgar warns Brandon that “The Boss” won’t be happy and then tells Dr. Sexy to burn the zombies alive. When Dr. Sexy protests, Edgar warns him, “Dick is coming.” (Gross, Mr. Edlund. Very gross.) Dr. Sexy immediately changes his tune and tells an attendant to burn the “test subjects”.
Outside, the next morning, Sam is out casing the area (in broad daylight?) while Bobby and Dean sit in the van, Dean drinking more coffee. Bobby asks Dean about his “head”. Thinking he means the sandwich, Dean assures Bobby he’s off the high. Bobby says that’s not what he means. He says that he’s buried a lot of hunters and Dean is talking like one of the dead, with his Let the World Burn attitude.
Dean gets annoyed and tells Bobby to get off it, but Bobby digs himself even deeper by bitching Dean out and telling him he’s not a “person”. Dean already tried to make a normal life with Lisa and Ben (As I recall, both Bobby and Sambot did an excellent job of screwing up that chance for Dean, even if it hadn’t been a case where Dean had felt forced into the situation) and failed at it. Now, he’s just a hunter and he’s whatever the hunt requires. Bobby threatens to kill Dean if Dean dies before him, which is, you know, always motivational. Fortunately, Dean has as much moxie as he did when he was an old coot: “We need to scrape some money together – buy you a condo, or something.” Which reminds me greatly of “Shove it up your ass, Ironsides!”
Sam comes back, telling them that something is going on. A car rolls up and out gets the man with whom Crowley tried to meet – Dick Roman. Bobby recognises him and Sam recognises the name. Since Dean recognises neither, Sam plays him a badly photoshopped documentary called “The Rise of Dick”, that informs us about Roman’s rise to power, from his being a ruthless businessman to a ruthless politician to a ruthless “author” of a bestselling book. Dean may not know how the country’s politicians are, but he does make the immediate connection between “Dick” and the “dick” referred to by Crowley last week. This must be the head Leviathan, who is on the outs with the King of Hell. Bobby pulls out a listening device and goes out to see what he can hear from the roof.
Inside, Dr. Sexy is showing Roman and Roman’s Asian assistant his experiment. He has a portly family in a test living room. They chow down as they watch a graphic documentary on eye surgery without a twitch, oblivious to the fact that the grandmother has died in mid-chew right beside them. Dr. Sexy assures his boss that the test subjects become fat and utterly complacent in no time, and hooked on the burgers, though the effects themselves start to wear off after an hour or so (Hence Dean’s quick recovery).
However, Roman wants to talk about the “failures” – the 0.03% of rabid zombies who came out of the experiment. As Bobby and the brothers try to watch and listen outside, Roman takes Dr. Sexy into his office and informs him that his experiment is being shut down. It is absolutely necessary to the Leviathans’ plans that humans never find out that monsters are real. Why this is so important, when quite a few humans seemed well aware of this fact long before the Leviathans showed up, is not explained. Neither is why Roman thinks it’s smart to show up at an obscure warehouse in broad daylight, if he’s trying to keep Leviathan operations under the radar, either. He then hands Dr. Sexy a bib and orders him to eat himself, right in front of a picture window where anybody could see, while Edgar and the assistant coldly look on. I guess this is one way for Leviathans to die (though, again, it’s never explained how you can completely eat yourself. Wouldn’t at least your mouth be left?). In the process of viewing this, Bobby, who is up on a nearby rooftop, pretty much in plain sight, gets himself captured.
Bobby wakes up in Roman’s office, where Roman’s assistant is filling him in on his itinerary and removing the black-stained bib that’s all that is left of Dr. Sexy (awwww – ew). Bobby pretends to be unconscious, but Roman knows he’s not. Right, so that actually makes Roman even dumber, since he’s so arrogant about his superiority that he allows his enemies to gather all sorts of intel on him without hiding anything. And yet, this is also the Big Bad who is terribly worried that humans might start to believe that monsters are real. [eyeroll]
While loading up one of a brace of pearl-handled dueling pistols, Roman brags about how he’s going to shoot and then eat Bobby, but he’s interrupted. Sam and Dean have been to the rooftop and sussed out that Bobby has been captured. Sam fatalistically says Bobby’s screwed. They can’t possibly go into the warehouse when there are at least four Leviathans in there and they have no way of killing them. Dean then spots a cleaning truck rolling up and starts plotting. Roman’s interruption is the two of them storming the warehouse with improvised supersoakers loaded with Borax solution. They nail Edgar and a few other Leviathan, as well as Roman, when he shows up. Roman mocks them, but the Borax still definitely slows him down.
Bobby, meanwhile, is hurriedly loading the other dueling pistol and searching through Roman’s files. He sees something shocking before making a break for it (because Roman hasn’t even bothered to tie him up). The assistant tries to stop him, but he shoots her (albeit, obviously, not fatally), losing the files in the process. He comes out as Sam is running out of Borax and leading a motivational-speech-spouting Roman into an ambush by Dean with a bucket. Bobby shoots Roman in the back a few times for good measure.
Sam and Dean get the van, but Bobby takes forever to get out to the loading dock, partly because he’s delayed by a henchman, which gives Roman enough time to rush out and shoot wildly at the van in the dark that has suddenly fallen (It was broad daylight not long before), hitting Bobby in the head. Yes, that’s right – not only is Roman’s aim ridiculously good, but a superstrong, superfast, shapeshifting monster that can’t be killed chooses to shoot his adversary with an ordinary handgun. Because that makes so much sense.
As they speed away, Sam and Dean call out to Bobby, but there’s no answer.
Review: While I did enjoy this episode and found it flew by pretty quickly, as soon as the connection between the burgers and both types of victims was firmly established, I wanted to say, “Joss Whedon called and he’d like his plot to Serenity back.” I’m no Whedon fangirl by any stretch, but I did love Serenity and Edlund didn’t even try to file the serial numbers off Whedon’s Pax virus. I mean, come on.
Let’s start with Bobby, who isn’t my favourite part of “How to Win Friends and Influence Monsters”, but he is an important one. So, needs must. The momentous cliffhanger involving his shooting probably would have had more impact on me if Bobby hadn’t suddenly gone from supersmart and competent (ridiculously so) to shuffling along like a 90-year-old pensioner with a walker at the end. Or if the writers hadn’t already threatened to kill him off every season (and even did it at the end of season five, only to bring him back a minute later). Or if “Dick” had been a tiny bit more charismatic while Evil Overlord Monologuing. Or if Bobby hadn’t turned into a complete jerk in the two separate speeches to Sam and Dean about Dean’s mental state (which, for the record, is very, very bad). Then I didn’t much care if he got killed off or not.
Now, I get that Bobby is a drunk (and drunks can be pretty mean) and I also get that Bobby has basically replaced John as the brothers’ daddy figure, which boils down (on this dysfunctional little show) to acting like an abusive douchebag. But it’s still too bad because Bobby was pretty positive and supportive once upon a time. It’s been a while, though. Quite a while.
Telling someone, who left you a phone message (which you never acknowledged) a couple of months ago saying he would commit murder-suicide if you died, that he needs to suck it up, buttercup, is stupid and abusive. Telling his self-absorbed brother that he needs to disappear even further into his own navel is counterproductive (especially since Sam’s attempts to distract himself and heal himself by counting his blessings, helping others, and not brooding are actually very healthy coping behaviours – and yeah, show, there are worse lots out there).
I could add that Bobby tends to act worse around those he loves and can’t afford to lose (like Rufus and Ellen in the Titanic universe), but that doesn’t actually make it better. It makes it worse. It means he isn’t just doing this to Dean, but is generally, all-round douchey to the ones he truly loves. And it implies that he’s easier on Sam because he just doesn’t love Sam all that much. However you slice it, it makes Bobby look like a character I need a break from. Unfortunately, in two weeks, it’s going to be an all-Bobby extravaganza from the sound of things. Way to make me hope you kill him off and to not give a crap about your cliffhanger, show.
I also couldn’t help rolling my eyes at Bobby’s comment that Sam was “deep”. Please. I’ve owned frisbees deeper than Sam Winchester. Case in point – how easily he got roofied last week. What Bobby was just interfering with, there, was Sam’s attempt to achieve some depth. But then, Bobby is the guy who spent an entire season up his own ass and in a wheelchair.
Speaking of characters I can’t stand – I was very happy to see Edgar return and not the least bit happy to see Dick Roman (the slimy, corporate head of the Leviathans). He’s boring, bland, arrogant in an Evil Overlord way we’ve seen too many times, and not the least bit scary. I’ve owned pet rocks with more personality. Make him get off my TV screen. Even better, have Edgar eat him and take over.
Edgar is fun. He’s like a blue collar union boss – clever, cool-headed, sinister. And in this case, I think that the old cliche of some privileged WASP suit being in charge of the blue collar ethnic guy comes off as especially tired and uncreative. Corporate suits don’t scare me, even if they have big teeth. Corrupt politicians don’t scare me, either (and could the anti-Republican satire get any less subtle?). The idiots who vote for them? Yes. I do fear a mob. But some dude who looks as though he’d freak out if he got a spot of mud on his suit? There’s nothing inherently scary, there. Making him a Leviathan doesn’t fix that. I saw another review that compared him to the Mayor in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I’m sorry, but Dick is no Mayor.
One major reason why Dick and his job description made the Leviathans less scary is that the Leviathans we saw inside Castiel had a whackjob sense of humour and no concern whatsoever about what the neighbours might think. Even Edgar didn’t seem terribly concerned about that so much as securing a steady food source. Dr. Sexy was a voracious and childlike idiot, albeit creative and eager to please. And Leveeta combined his work hours with snacking on humans covered with melted cheese.
Now, suddenly, they’re trying to keep themselves out of the papers and turn humans into complacent cattle. Huh? What for? There are hundreds of these creatures, at least. They’re the Sea Lampreys of the Earth. They can eat their way through anything (including each other). And they can’t be killed (except by themselves or each other). So, why do they even give a crap about keeping up with the Joneses when they can just devour them? After such a creepy introduction at the beginning of the season, the Leviathans are rapidly becoming depressingly mundane. I sure hope Dick truly isn’t their ultimate fearless leader.
There were also some silly lapses in logic. Okay, so, Team Free Will is so far off the grid that they can’t stay in a motel and have to find an abandoned shack to hole up in (that somebody has been sending electricity to, even though it’s been abandoned for years. Yeah, right). On the other hand, they have no problems with walking into a major fast-food chain, interviewing a Park Service ranger, and even eating there? What happened to staying off the grid? And what happened to the past few weeks, in which Sam was getting married in Vegas and the two of them were running around a tourist trap loaded with fake psychics? Inconsistent, much? Why not get with the program and acknowledge that sending the brothers as far off the grid as they would really need to go would make for a boring show and almost no fun MOTWs?
Then Dean’s comment about saving the world three times in three years…I guess the showrunners have finally developed permanent amnesia about that missing year between seasons five and six, right?
Okay, moving on to the better stuff – first of all, thank God for the gore! I cheerfully sat through that nasty autopsy, eating ice cream (and soup on rewatch). I even put up with the cat skull (Sheesh, enough with killing the cat), but I found the grey goo coming out of Dean’s sandwich pretty gross (I have a thing about mucus). After a rather dull and bloodless death toll last week, we had gristle and grue galore, which made me very happy. The “Ranger Rick” crack also made me giggle and brought back fond childhood memories. The “Dick” jokes were less funny, but by then, I’d had a good dose of Edgar’s middle management and Dean’s stoner humour, so it balanced out. The Asian power-suit Leviathan who attacked Bobby also looked like potential fun (despite being a dragon lady cliche). I hope she’ll be back, too.
Dean’s stoner attitude served the obvious purpose of acting as truth serum. At the beginning, we see him expressing skepticism about saving the world one more time. He compares the world to a drug addict that keeps trying to OD and maybe they should just let it do that this time round. Sam and Bobby get upset. Not surprising. Sam was that drug addict three seasons ago and claimed it was all Dean’s fault. Bobby was in a wheelchair the following season and spent a good part of it putting the responsibility on Dean for his not shooting himself. Yeah, I don’t think Dean was just talking about the world, there. Or just about Sam post-Hell.
In the middle, Dean is mellowed out of his gourd and admits that, not only does he not care, he doesn’t care about not caring. No wonder he had a case of the munchies. Naturally, since he is not in his usual mood, this means that his usual mood is caring too much and wishing he could turn it off. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that this is even why it’s easier to sympathise with Dean than with Sam or Bobby. If saving the world were down to Sam or Bobby, we’d all be screwed. Those two would be too busy feeling sorry for themselves (Look at “My Bloody Valentine” and “Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid”) and their own issues to get it together. Dean has always been the one expected to go out there and take one for the team. I don’t blame him for getting tired. He’s only human (as the writers keep informing us).
But it does bring to a boil the gravity of the situation. Dean has always been the canary in the coal mine, the character whose inner weather most closely mirrored the SPNverse’s current state of collective mind. And that inner weather is getting ugly.
Which brings us to the third conversation, in which Bobby calls Dean out on being suicidal and then tries to solve it by telling him to suck it up and claiming it’s turning him into a lousy hunter. Yeah, ’cause that works so well with someone who already feels like dog food. Good one, Bobby. Do try to dry out a little before you go on a hunt, next time. But I noticed that this conversation had little resolution (aside from Dean showing some balls and calling Bobby out on his sour attitude with the “condo” comment. Two can play that game, old man). In fact, the end of the episode will undoubtedly make Dean’s frayed state of mind even worse.
This leads me to the question of who is worse off here (since the writers are so stuck on making it a competition rather than different types of very severe mental illness). I’ll tell you what – in psychological triage terms, the person who is eager to check out of Hotel Supernatural first is the one who needs help the most. Sam’s got a handle on his hallucinations and also has Dean to lean on. Bobby’s currently functional in his alcoholism – and he also has both brothers to lean on.
Dean, meanwhile, trusts no one at this point, has no support system left, and has been putting out warning signs all over the place that he is suicidal. Nice to see the writers finally get with the program a little in addressing this, since their previous treatment of the subject indicates none of them has ever had to talk a friend off a ledge, literal or otherwise. Dean seems to be well past the point where he’s using the option of suicide as a safety valve for when he’s just had enough. He’s now in the process of sinking for the third and final time. He doesn’t need to be called “weak”. He doesn’t need to be called a “princess”. He doesn’t need to be told he’s not a “person”, that his life (and afterlife) is guaranteed to be one long, bleak misery on behalf of a world full of ungrateful jackasses who don’t even have the brains to get out of the way of the cosmic bus, let alone the grit to pull someone else out of the way. He doesn’t need a hunt to distract him. He sure as hell doesn’t need to be walking around with a gun in his hands. He needs help. Right now. And lots of it. Dean makes the characters on The Walking Dead look happy and well-adjusted.
Finally, the woods. The tromping through the dark and scary woods was fun, even if the folkloric element ended up far too truncated in favour of a rather blah interpretation of the season’s Old Testament baddies. I liked seeing the brothers and Bobby running around with guns, even if Bobby shooting a zombie out of a tree based on hearing it rustling around was ridiculous. That’s how family members shoot each other on hunting trips (“I thought the husband I just took an insurance policy out on was a deer!”). That said, we really need some information about the Leviathans Big Plot to Take Over the World that makes sense. One could insist that we must surely wait for all the dots before we can truly connect them, but since an uberplot that makes no sense early in the season on this show means an uberplot that will end up making no sense at the end, either, I think it’s okay to start pointing that out now.
Fun lines:
Sam: The Motel 6 just ain’t leaving the light on, anymore.
Bobby: I’m taking a page out of Frank Deveraux’s bible on this: If everybody’s out to get you, paranoia’s just plain common sense.
Dean: Weeks, guys…weeks. We’ve been living with cold showers, cold Hot Pockets, cold-friggin’ everything. I mean, this is the bottom that we’re living in. You guys get that, right?
Dean: We’ve steered the bus away from the cliff, what, twice, already?
Sam: Someone’s gotta do it.
Dean: What if the bus wants to go over the cliff?
Sam: You think the world wants to end?
Dean: I think if we didn’t take its belt and all its pins away each year, that yeah, the whole enchilada would’ve offed itself, already.
Headline: CAMPING HIGH SEASON HARSHED BY HUMAN BURRITO.
Dean: When’s the last time you saw a bear string up its own piñata?
Ranger Rick: You gotta respect Mother Nature. You respect her or she’s gonna string you up and eat your ass right through the Gortex.
Brandon: Side one of Stupid Salad goes to Big Bird. TDK Slammer goes to Ken Doll. And a little HeartSmart for Creepy Uncle.
Dean: You’re talking about Bambi, man.
Bobby: You don’t shoot Bambi, you jackass. You shoot Bambi’s mom.
Bobby: Everybody’s lovin’ the Turducken.
Dean: I think you pissed off my sandwich.
Sam: Okay, whatever turned Browder into a Pumpkinhead. And is currently turning Dean into an idiot -
Dean [offended]: I’m right here. Right here.
Bobby: - is in the Turducken Slammer at Biggerson’s.
Dean: Bobby, don’t go all Sigmund Freud on me, right now, okay? I just got drugged by a sandwich.
Bobby [imitating Dean]: The world’s a suicide case, we save it, it just steals more pills?
Bobby: Now I have officially seen it all.
Sam: Bobby, what is it?
Bobby: [Roman]‘s making the doctor eat himself.
Next week (Monday): No Exit: We have a mini-hiatus for Thanksgiving, so we’ll be doing a retro recap about the World’s Fair, Jo Harvelle, and America’s “first” serial killer.
In Two Weeks (Monday): Death’s Door: While Sam and Dean go on a dangerous mission, Bobby is visited by three spirits – I mean, hovers between life and death.
You can watch (or download) this episode, in standard or HD definition, on Amazon.com.















Was this one shuffled in viewing order? It seems that it should have been Ep3 or 4ish, instead of 9.
Your recaps are like water on fire. Nothing can calm me down except for your reviews.
You mentioned the things that even writers have forgotten, like one year gap between s5 & s6, or Lisa, I really wanted to punch Bobby into face when he was talking to Dean. Did he really forget it was Sam that ruined the relationship between Lisa & Dean? as I recall, 1st episode last season he didn’t tell Dean about Sam cause “he had a new life with Lisa & Ben, that he got out”(though It was Sam’s request)! Now he’s telling Dean he can’t have a normal life cause he’s not a person? I mean REALLY? It’s like no matter what, it’s always Dean’s fault! And for once, JUST ONCE…Sam is worried about Dean, WTH was that speech about stop worrying?! Oh man…If they kill Bobby in next ep I’ll have no problem with it. I used to love him, when he wasn’t an arrogant bastard. I hate him when he comments about Dean like he’s a stupid, worthless person, oh not a person, a hunter! and tell Sam how deep & smart & amazing he’s! I really could’ve enjoyed this episode if Bobby had talked less. Next episode, another Bobby-centric ep, UGH! seriously it’s mid-season finale, next time something more interesting, huh?!!
Thanks again for another amazing recap!
I’ve been anxiously waiting for your review, Paula. I thought you might not like it, since there was absolutely nothing in it to do with the Jersey Devil. I’m glad your reaction was the same as mine. I liked it, but am totally disgusted with these writers. First they give the fans the middle finger with Becky and now they have laid out the season’s theme as evil corporate America and conservative bashing. Some of us happen to think the idiots are those that follow Hollywood’s liberal leanings. And I do not for one minute think that these writers are any brighter than I am when it comes to politics and economics…writing? Yes. Government? No way. Economics? Certainly not. And that is putting aside the fact that I turned to the sci fi genre to get away from Hollywood’s social engineering agenda. So, as far as I am concerned, they can stuff that crap and get on with laying out a story for this season (what they get paid to do) that isn’t told in the last three episodes (i.e., S6).
Let’s do start with Bobby. I used to like him, now I want him to die. I don’t want a John 2.0 who is smarter than the brothers and the most awesome hunter on the planet. I want Dean in that role, with Sam the second best hunter on the planet and watching Dean’s back.
Do you remember the talk Dean had with Bobby in The Curious Case of Dean Winchester? That was supportive, loving, and made Dean look awesome. Bobby’s talk to Dean was all that you said.
Another point on that is a comparison to the current Bobby (since the wheelchair incident) and Rufus. I always liked Rufus because of his interactions with Dean. He was grumpy and scarcastic, but I always got the feeling that he admired Dean, and I liked that Dean treated him with respect (out of deference to an older hunter and an older man). I would much rather have hunter types on my screen like Rufus (or even Hendrickson personality hunters) than a douche bag like Bobby or a parody of a hunter like Garth.
My take on Bobby’s talk with Sam was just the opposite of yours. I came away thinking that Bobby admires (idolizes) Sam as much as Dean does. He just doesn’t say so. Two Minutes to Midnight being another example, where Bobby lavishes praise on Sam to Dean for saving people and never giving up and scolds Dean for not giving Sam that credit. Never once have I heard Bobby say a compliment about Dean (except for saying he was his favorite while under the truth curse). I was glad you explained the condo comment, though. I didn’t understand if Dean was listening or just blowing him off. I don’t think I still know, actually.
I do like Edgar. Sinister was the right descriptive word. Let’s hope he eats Dick soon and gets a bigger role.
After Sam’s two solo walkabouts while dumping Dean, it was good to hear that he is somewhat worried about Dean. That was good. In fact (and I’ve said this on a couple of other boards) Jared’s strength as an actor is in the quiet, understated strength role. I want to see more of that Sam and less of what we’ve been shown since S4.
I did notice the lapse of a vacation in Vegas and a romp through a tourist town and now hiding out in abandoned houses. But I must say, it was good to see the boys in an abandoned house again. I like that enough to ignore the utilities and the occasional wi-fi working.
The big so-not-shocking cliffhanger left me very worried that TPTB are, in fact, considering taking Dean on the Sam destroyed character route that you have mentioned before. I hope not. I want awesome badass hunter, crazy, close to the edge Dean, but not Dean falling off the cliff.
Final word. I don’t give two shakes of a rat’s ass about a mid-season finale featuring Bobby. I’m not even convinced that the writers won’t string out the ‘will Bobby die’ mystery until after the long winter break. But I do so hope that Sam’s healing himself sticks and we don’t spend the second half of the season having Dean worry about Sam’s worst Hell experience ever all over again.
Thanks for another terrific review! You always give me hope for Dean, and Dean is the show as far as I’m concerned. I liked this episode, I have liked most of them this season as long as I don’t think about some of them too deeply. I do miss the depth though. I would like more of that, and more of a building epic showdown between the Winchesters and the leviathan.
Bobby’s foray into psychoanalysis was pretty awful. Though it was interesting in that his “words of wisdom” were so descriptive of how the writers see and write both Sam and Dean. On the leviathan front, I seriously wonder why so little has been done on the brother’s part to modify the weapons against them. I mean spraying with a bug sprayer is hardly heroic looking. Why didn’t they have the chemical with them? Why didn’t they have their machetes? Why aren’t they making borax rounds for their shotguns, etc? It does come in a box and is not much different than salt. Seems like there are all kinds of delivery systems that should have been worked on by now. It’s making our amazing heroes look kind of slow. The writers really do need to get it together and spell out what the leviathan’s objective is and how the brothers are going to thwart them. Please, no more repeats of the off-camera war in Heaven.
Thanks for the review Paula, I always enjoy reading your thoughts,especially on Dean’s state of mind.
I agree with your thoughts on Bobby. Maybe if someone takes the time to remind Dean he’s a worthwhile person, he wouldn’t think he’s 90% crap.
@ Marisol: When I was watching the scene with the garden sprayer, I was thinking, geez, guys, did you learn nothing from the Lutheran Sacrament Militia. Those guys had sprayers! If they aren’t going to drive the Impala, at least get a pickup with a Borax tank and a long hose on it! Dean can stay on the truck and hose them (or shoot them with Borax rounds) and Sam can charge them with a big machete, hacking heads as he goes a la All Dogs Go To Heaven.
(Okay, I’m being snarky, I know.)
I had the same reaction as you to this one. I enjoyed it but I expected so much more from Edlund. It seemed inferior to his usual writing.
I’m wondering how things would go with Bobby dead. I think it would be the spark to force this current bunch to think up new ways to entertain, because they sure need it. But since we need to know what Bobby knows about the uber-plot, I doubt they’ll be that brave.
Thanks for the recap/review, Paula.
I have mixed feelings about this episode. I liked it but it was far from Edlund’s best. I don’t know if Edlund’s bored or annoyed or what but the episode just felt like it was missing something. I found the first half much more entertaining, while the Leviathan/Bobbycentric second half dragged- it reminded me of “Clap” in that sense. And the plot holes were just sloppy.
Still, it wasn’t all bad. Loved, loved, loved stoned!Dean and the insights we got into his state of mind. I’m actually really surprised that Dean’s depression arc wasn’t dumped after the first 2 episodes. With so much build up, it does seem as if his storyline is leading to something; I’m just curious if it’ll remain a personal arc or if it’ll spill over into the mytharc somehow. There’s so much potential here. I hope the writers realize that and don’t shortchange Dean to switch over to their usual Samcentric second half of the season.
Bobby….what to say about the old Bobster. I used to love the character but he just grates. And what’s with his constant propping up the brother with the self absorbed personality while constantly invalidating/insulting the one with the low self esteeem? I miss Cas.
Anyways, thanks again, Paula. The next episode looks dull- I hope the promo was just misleading but with how much time JB spent filming, it seems like another Bobbycentric yawnfest. As the winter hiatus finale. Okay then.
Thanks for the comments, guys.
@shamangrrl
There was some talk early on about the order of the episodes being switched, but as I recall, it was “The Mentalists” and “Time for a Wedding”. It wouldn’t make much sense for this one to be out of order, since it’s part one of a two-parter. I agree, though, that the situation seems out of whack compared to the last couple of weeks.
@Haleh
Glad to hear it! Every season is different and it can be hard to adjust. I try to remind myself that season three was a letdown in many ways for me from season two, as I got into the show around the end of season two. Yet I have fond memories of season three, now. Also, the show always has slumps in about the same spots in a season and then recovers.
Watching other stuff also reminds me that I’m mainly judging SPN based on how I’d like it to be, or how much it as delivered in some cases in the past. American Gothic, for example, had such a mess of a pilot that it forcibly reminded me that there are far worse shows on TV, even right now, than SPN!
@Ginger
Yes, I do remember that conversation. What a contrast, huh? I get that the writers wanted to make Bobby more human, but…jeez.
As for the lack of machetes, I did wonder about that, but it could be the brothers were just going for distraction rather than a kill, thus turning a suicide mission into a fairly successful rescue mission by keeping the goal manageable. And we don’t know for sure that Dean got the Borax from the truck so much as a more efficient method of delivery than the brothers already had in the van.
@Marisol
You’re welcome! The sad thing about that is that it’s actually pretty accurate–I’ve known older drunks who were exceedingly mean to anyone who demonstrated psychological weakness. It’s a way of making yourself feel “normal” (when you’re anything but) by tearing down someone else who appears to be vulnerable. We see some of that in Dean’s comments about people being “whackadoo”. The fairy lady, for example. But in Dean’s case, those comments are mostly skin-deep. If someone else attacks that person in the same way, he’s shocked. Bobby’s just mean and, as I said in the review, is intentionally so to those he loves the most, not just Dean. To me, that’s crossing the line, especially with someone who is so profoundly ill that two other people who could also use in-house therapy pronto are talking about him as if he’s the Weakest Link. Dean’s like poor Boxer the Horse in Animal Farm, who worked his tail off all his life for the farm and then got shipped off to the glue factory as soon as he got old and lame.
@Crowley_Gal
It does seem counterproductive, doesn’t it? But a lot of people are like that with those who are severely depressed. It goes against our hyperactive, Can-Do culture to believe that some people are so unwell that they really just can’t get out of bed in the morning–through no fault of their own.
@Laurie
I’m skeptical that they’ll kill off Bobby completely, too. While it would be in keeping with the stated message of the brothers being totally isolated, there are problems with that game plan (as we saw this week). And Padalecki and Ackles have been complaining since season one that they like/need to have other regulars/semi-regulars against whom to interact.
Good review as usual and I pretty much agree with you on all points. I too used to love Bobby and worry for his safety every season and now I just don’t care anymore, especially since he’s turned into such a jerk. I wonder if the writers are having him pile it on Dean to help push him to the edge for his arc or is it just them honestly thinking what he’s doing is helping Dean. You know I was one of those people who never liked the Lisa/Ben thing (still don’t) because I knew from the moment he went there it would end badly. I knew he’d never stay with them or have some type of home base away from Sam, and now it’s turned into just another way to make Dean feel even worse about himself…what with Bobby throwing it back into his face. I don’t think Bobby is gonna die though; with the show probably getting an 8th season they’d need him to solve their issues with his books.
I agree about Dick; he is boring and run of the mill and Edgar would probably fair better if he were in charge. He just has a menacing look about him. I think the whole ‘make people complacent’ thing is stupid. They are ancient creatures who at one point just wanted to screw the world up. So what’s changed? Why aren’t they just wrecking stuff because they can and causing panic because it’s fun? But this is one of the issues I have with the whole ‘going back to basics’ thing besides the point it obviously wasn’t well thought out. In early seasons the show was basic because it was new and had to establish who the characters were. Well we already know who they are and after demons & angels and all that going back to filler hunting episodes is so lame in my humble opinion. Sure they work on a small scale but as a whole? I don’t think so. And like you mentioned it’s caused a few errors because if they do have to be so far off the grid then that means they can’t use fake ids or be anywhere a camera might catch their image, and well there goes the show. Not to mention what’s the point of having them burn their ids if they can just get new ones?
However as usual Dean was awesome and we got Castiel mentions which always make me happy. I liked that Sam is noticing something isn’t right with Dean and is worried about him, but I’m always a little wary of when Sam acts like a normal human being because the writers tend to nip that in the bud after a while. It would be nice though if this is just how he is from now on.
Superb recap Paula! I have looking forward to your analysis of the show and as always it was a fun read. You should consider comedy because you are really funny!” Make him get off my TV screen. Even better, have Edgar eat him and take over.” I couldn’t agree more! This guy is so boring and there is absolutely nothing scary about him. I hope the big bad is really as menacing as Edger. I was thinking Roman was plotting a Manchurian Candidate type take over. Unfortunately, I don’t see the point. They can pretty much eat their way through anything in the petri-dish so why even bother hiding. Do you think they’re trying to stay off the God radar? I would think He would know they were on the loose Maybe their threat to come back for Dean has to do with Dean being heavens mighty weapon so they fear him. I’m not sure where this is going, but I hope we find out soon.
I agree with your take on Dean. Dean is seriously struggling and Bobby was a dick in this episode. I always hoped he might come through for Dean, but I’m always disappointed. Bobby telling Dean to stop channeling Ann Sexton because he’s going to get himself killed is probably not the best way to do it. To me, Bobby was basically telling Dean to buck up and find a reason to go on without addressing what is going on with him. This really reinforces the fact that Bobby is not the person who is capable of helping Dean find his center. Dean didn’t leave Lisa and Ben because he wasn’t a person who could make it work; instead, he sacrificed what he needed in service of Sam. As you pointed out Sam and bobby played a role in Dean’s loss of his family, which I think is weighing on him too. So, for Dean, what has his sacrifices achieved? His best friend is supposedly dead, and broke his brother’s noggin, released the leviathans, and now they are living as fugitives. Although all of the above reasons are definitely at play in Dean’s spiral of depression, and suicidal tendencies, IMO something else is also at play.
I was pleased with Sam, which is hard most of the time. But even he realizes Dean’s struggles are much worse than what he is going through. He knows what the crazies are all about for him but he seems genuinely worried about Dean. I think if Dean loses Bobby he may go completely off the rails so for Dean’s sanity I hope Bobby survives.
Some other general notes: I didn’t emphasise as much as I should have that this seems to be the show’s version of a Thanksgiving episode (though I still think “Croatoan” is their definitive version). And the next one sounds like Bobby’s version of “A Christmas Carol”, so maybe Bobby will come out of it a better person (assuming he doesn’t die).
In terms of the Leviathans’ plan, I didn’t bring this up in the review because it was tentative and not supported by actual dialogue (particularly that of what we heard from the Leviathans, who may or may not have known they were being overheard). However, it must be said that this new plan of theirs does make some sense if it was a hit on Dean—with a fair bit of collateral damage to hide the true target. It does seem awfully strange that the food being additived was something Dean specifically would find tasty (Why not put the additive in a whole bunch of foods?), as well as something that might attract the attention of a hunter. It would also explain why Roman was so casual in holding Bobby (who was obviously bait) and stalking Sam. And it would tie in with Levstiel’s threat to come back specifically for Dean.
Partly, this is down to the obvious Serenity rip-off/homage, but a certain Serenity quote may also be pertinent: “They’ll come at you sideways. It’s how they think. It’s how they move. Sidle up and smile. Hit you where you’re weak.”
It could apply as well to the Leviathans and Dean as to the Operative and Mal.
I’m doing this as a separate comment because the previous one was so long.
@Sunny
I just saw your comment. Yes, the MOTWs do seem a bit incongruous now. Unfortunately, they have to throw in a bunch of MOTWs every season for syndication purposes. Jim Beaver was talking about this a couple of seasons back (after “The Curious Case of Dean Winchester”, I believe). They could improve the mix better, but the MOTWs aren’t really going anywhere. Oddly, I might have been happier with this if it had been an MOTW, as it turned out to be yet another bait-and-switch kind of episode and those really annoy me on shows like Criminal Intent. If you’re hooked by the intriguing premise, but don’t like the ubervillain they switch to mid-episode, you’re kind of out of luck. I like the Leviathans on balance, but I don’t like Dick Roman and I don’t like that kind of switch.
@Lily
Thanks!
I think they did a good job with Sam this time round. It makes someone more sympathetic to count his/her blessings and reach out to others. And I’m sorry, Bobby, but there are others out there who are far worse off than Sam (yes, besides Dean). Yes, Sam has hallucinations. Yes, he’s homeless. Yes, he’s being hunted. But he’s not alone. He has family. He has his physical health. He’s not severely depressed. He still can think and plan and (as he said) has a way of compartmentalising his illness. And he’s no longer got demon blood, or an addiction to it. And he’s doing a heroic job. So, while his blessings may be small in some ways, he does have some that he can count, enough to feel compassion for those in worse straits.
However, it must be said that this new plan of theirs does make some sense if it was a hit on Dean—with a fair bit of collateral damage to hide the true target.
I would have to agree with you! Dean is the person they are after so Bobby might have been bait since Roman really had no use for him. He hasn’t even made an effort to go after Sam, but the TDK Slammer is definitely something Dean would eat. Don’t forget LeviDean knew how much Dean liked hamburgers so this would fit. What better way to get a complacent Dean. This is so like the demon Croatoan virus. What worries me is the leviathans have down loaded all of Cas’s memories, which means they know everything about Dean. As much as I like the mentioning of Lisa and Ben, I don’t like the fact that this is foreshadowing of a future attack by the leviathans, which would also send Dean over the rails.
I never watched Serenity but it sounds like they may be tapping it for some ideas, which is not out of character for SPN.
When I watched this episode, with the people eating the TDK sandwich and what with Gerald and Brandon munching on humans, I was thinking, “Long pig is my word of the day.” (Metamorphasis).
@Ginger
LOL!
@Lily
Yeah, it’s a bit tough to voice right now because it’s fairly nebulous, but…remember when Castiel kept insisting last year he had to run off to do Heaven stuff, wouldn’t discuss what he was doing and wouldn’t let the brothers help, kept complaining about their taking up his time–yet always showed up when Dean asked? Remember how that made no sense? The Leviathan’s motivation is similar. Dean seems to be the big, black hole in the picture, the elephant in the room that the Big Bads are not discussing. At the same time, Castiel gets mentioned almost every episode, and it’s either Dean mentioning him or someone mentioning Dean losing him. As you say, the Leviathans now know everything Castiel did and Castiel has been literally inside Dean’s head. Castiel knew things like Dean’s Phoenix blood, that Dean is an angel vessel, that Dean was the Servant of Heaven, and other such things that could well be pertinent to the plot. It could also be something that Castiel saw that was never mentioned before.
The Leviathans also come off as much smarter and scarier in this episode if they are using Bobby and Sam as bait. Roman openly admits to using Bobby that way (“Holding onto you could pay big dividends. I bet your friends are on their way right now to rescue the damsel”), but there’s also no reason for him to stalk Sam the way he does in the warehouse except to draw out Dean. Also, Dean is the one who’s been coming up with strategies to thwart the Leviathans. No, he hasn’t figured out how to kill them yet (and yes, it was Sheriff Mills and Bobby who accidentally figured out how to hurt them), but he’s already engineered two hair-raising escapes and the taking of three minor villains off the board. Dean’s the real problem. Yet, the Leviathans are pretty reticent about discussing him specifically. Much the way Castiel hid his obsession for Dean behind his rah-rah helping of Team Free Will, even when his actions spoke otherwise.
Ohh Paula, that a great idea, if only it’s really true. It sure connects the dots in an intriguing way that’s hard to ignore once you see it! For motivation, goolgle “Leviathan” and in there is a quote from the Bible Isaiah 27:1 that says
“In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.”
They made 2 years out of Dean being the “Sword” of the Lord. Wouldn’t it be an amazing connection to go there? But TPTB have that track record of benching his story after the mid-season hiatus.
Paula: You intricately connect all the dots for a possible fantastic story and that is what is keeping my spirits up for this season. All those possibilities…it’s exciting to watch each episode to see if, in fact, any of those connections are touched upon. Unfortunately, I think you could probably tell a better story than what these writers come up with, given SS and all of S6.
Somehow, though, we know Cas will be connected to it, and I suspect that (gag and regurgitate) Adam is too.
I’m not sure that Dick was stalking Sam in an effort to draw out Dean or just giving Sam some screen time. It is an interesting concept, though.
I was so disappointed in this Edlund effort for 2 reasons-first, I was really looking forward to a MOTW epsiode about the Jersey Devil-Boo! Hiss! writers-for using the bait and switch and especially for using it on this particular urban legend-one that I have been waitng forever for them to do an episode on.
And second, for giving us both AsshatBobby AND BobbySue in the same friggin’ epsiode! ARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!! I hated both speeches for the same reasons as you, Paula, and I also hated that Bobby told Dean to stop looking at the big picture because it would “hurt his head”. FU, Bobby. How could he NOT think of it, when Dean was told by both Death and Tessa in Appointment in Samarra that both he and Sam are affronts to the natural order and because of this, they may have quite a lot to do with the big picture now, and what’s taking place/going wrong in it; and about how if Dean had let the little girl in that episode live, sadness and chaos would have followed her around all the days of her life. Yeah, Bobby, Sam is the only deep thinker of the family. Sheesh.
I also wasn’t impressed with or really even that scared of the leviathons in this one, and I actually liked them and found them creepier as just the Hungry, Hungry for Humans Monsters that they were in the previous episodes.
I found this one to be decent right up until about the halfway point-StonedDean was the best part of the episode, IMO-loved him!-but after he sobered up, the episode crashed and burned for me. I just hope the next one utilizes the brothers better even though it’s looking to be Bobby-centric again…and some more. Sheesh again.
Thanks for another great re-cap and review, Paula. I look forward to it and all the comments after every new ep., now.
I’ve been eagerly awaiting your review on this episode Paula. And I have to say its fantastic and spells out how I felt after watching the episode but could not say.
I know most people commenting here loved Stoned!Dean, but for me it made me cringe. Not because Jensen was awful at it or anything (the man is brilliant at his craft and I love watching him work), but because I’ve become so used to such moments of ‘levity’ taking such a negative turn, especially for how Sam and Bobby see Dean and how they treat him. Does that make any sense? I did like that after Dean came down from the high, he showed he was still very smart and capable of putting the pieces together despite being pretty fed up with having to save the world again.
And ya know, I miss the days when I used to like Bobby. I don’t mind seeing his humanity and that he’s not perfect, but that should be balanced by character growth and much like Sam, Bobby’s growth and change for the most part has me scratching my head, especially once Season 6 rolled around. Season 5 made sense in terms of character (for the most part) right up until 5.21 and his praise Sam speech *gags*
Oh and I love your speculation about Dean being the real target of this bizarre Leviathan plan, Paula! Now if only it pans out…
Well, it’s just a theory, but it does seem that the language being used for Dean is very similar to Sam Done Come Back Wrong. Now it’s There’s Something Wrong with Dean. And that seems to be heightened at the same time that we get more stuff about the Leviathans (especially now that Amy nonsense is out of the way). We’ll have to wait and see, of course, but it’s better than assuming nothing will come of it and getting angry about it prematurely.
Paula: Do you have any ideas about what they are doing with Sam. I’m no Sam lover, but I have noticed that he is just (what the Sam lovers are calling) Zen Sam these days. It’s like he is parked in the corner like Dean was last season, and this after all the hype about Sam’s humongous suffering that was going to happen because of the wall falling. It’s just weird, and I don’t even think jogging, meditating in the woods, and all that is even in character.
I’m quite happy seeing Dean in the lead. I think Jensen is this show’s greatest asset and it’s about time they used him. I’m not missing all the Sam problems and issues at all, but it is kind of glaring in the season.