Supernatural 4x01 - Lazarus Rising

[ivyfic]

I am very pleased with this new season. Oh, it looks like it's going to be fun. At the end of last season, I was very worried about the premiere since you can't really show Hell on a tv show's budget and not have it suck. So imagine how happy I was when we skipped all that.

Aside from the many fantastic moments of the show ("You are NOT invited!"), I love how this has set up the emotional arcs for the season. You have Dean, who I think still genuinely believes that Sammy would be fine without him, thinking that Sam was upset but basically functional when he was gone, so we're going to see him slowly realize just how fucked up Sam is now. (And I think that, for however despondent Dean was without Sam, he would not give in to the despair the way Sam seems to have done.)

You have Dean wrestling with his lack of faith and his belief that there is nothing good and no redemption. I also think that Dean is still essentially looking for a father figure. He's been forced to take on the entire burden of holding his family together, but I think if he ever starts to believe in some greater power that could help and protect him, he's going to want to give some of that burden up. And (I hope) we're going to see some of the extent of the psychic damage on Dean as he remembers bits of his time in Hell.

Then we've got Sam who, when he sees his brother, seems to have genuinely lost hope in ever bringing Dean back. I'd guess that his progression over the last four months has been an initial bull-headed determination to pull Dean out of Hell (and it has to hurt that he couldn't, when Dean managed to do it for him). Did anyone notice that Sam tried to open the Hellgate? He tried to open a gateway between Hell and Earth! You know, the one they almost died to close in season 2? Why isn't Dean, or, hell, Bobby, more disturbed by this? Then as time passed and his efforts fail, I see him turning more and more to Ruby and using his powers more and more. After all, if he doesn't think he's getting Dean back, it doesn't matter what he does because Dean will never know. And that whole "I'm saving lives" thing? I think Sam knows that's a rationalization. He's doing this because he enjoys it. The fact that he'd sneak out of a hotel room with his newly returned-from-Hell brother in it to go kill demons speaks to how addictive this is. He shouldn't want to let Dean out of his sight, let alone go behind his back to do something he knows Dean will hate on the first night he's back.

I did not guess ahead of time that Castiel was an angel, though that made perfect sense with the eyes burning and such. (Also, as a sidenote, poor meatsuit the angel possessed. He would have been fine had Dean and Bobby not killed the body. Oops.) But if you think about it, why would they pull Dean back specifically? Because Dean is the only one that can reach Sam. So for Dean to have come back now I think means that Sam has reached a turning point where he alone is no longer able to choose a different path.

So is this season going to be bro versus bro? Hell yes. I look forward to all the angst that will provide.

I also just love that Dean is being chosen, against his will, to be a warrior for good. I loved that part of "Houses of the Holy," which anticipated the arc of this season, I think—Dean finds faith, Sam loses his. As dotfic mentioned, we are definitely heading into Hellblazer territory here. Though not Hellblazer so much as movie Constantine, which had the whole unwilling instrument of God thing going for it. Given how much I loved that, I know I will love this. I already loved that Castiel thought Dean would be able to see and hear his true form. I don't know what it means that he was mistaken—that Dean can't or that he is able to but won't let himself—and I'm hoping Sam can.

There is a part of me the mourns the loss of the way the show was. Season one was about two average people fighting the supernatural with completely non-mystical tools—shot guns and salt. Their interaction that season was very realistic as a real family. That was part of what drew me to the show. Despite it having ghosts and demons, they were dealing with issues every set of siblings, to some extent, deals with. Learning to relate to each other as adults. Learning to redefine their relationship without the parent. Trying to get past the hurts and betrayals of their teenage selves. I also loved that season one was telling me versions of ghost stories I used to hear and tell at summer camp—Bloody Mary, the Hook man.

At this point, we have moved so far past that. Sam and Dean no longer relate to each other like real siblings. I don't mean that in a Wincest way, I just mean that by the point that they have each died for each other and sold their souls (or tried to) for each other and shown that they cannot function without each other, we have moved beyond the realm of normal siblings into the epic. Neither of them are just average joes fighting the supernatural with what they have at hand, either. A part of me misses that as they both acquire ever more powerful abilities, but that ship done sailed a while ago.

In any case, wow am I looking forward to this season. It should be awesome. But if this season heads toward the ultimate Dean vs. Sam showdown, if they get renewed, what the hell would they do for an encore?

Comments

[i-speak-tongue.livejournal.com]

There is a part of me the mourns the loss of the way the show was. Season one was about two average people fighting the supernatural with completely non-mystical tools—shot guns and salt. Their interaction that season was very realistic as a real family. That was part of what drew me to the show. Despite it having ghosts and demons, they were dealing with issues every set of siblings, to some extent, deals with. Learning to relate to each other as adults. Learning to redefine their relationship without the parent. Trying to get past the hurts and betrayals of their teenage selves. I also loved that season one was telling me versions of ghost stories I used to hear and tell at summer camp—Bloody Mary, the Hook man.


I feel the same way. It's a very different show now. It was a much smaller playing field in season one. Almost every episode was a standalone. Now it's almost like some grand Wagner Opera.

But you know what? Fuck it. Wagner Rocks.

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

Yeah, exactly. And I have the DVDs, so I can go back and visit what it used to be.

[gryphonrose.livejournal.com]

We finally watched it last night. I know, I know.
I enjoyed it. I did guess about Castiel right away, and it does fit with what they showed/did, though I'd rather they'd picked someone else--Castiel is a minor angel found only in occult lore, whereas Cassiel, for example, is the ruler of Saturn and the angel of temperance. Oh well.

I do like the setup that we have one brother using demonic powers and one unwillingly using angelic powers. I don't know about the faith thing, though--I don't think it's as simple as saying Sam lost his or Dean found his. Dean still has no faith--it's part of why he couldn't see or hear Castiel. Sam still believes, he just doesn't care. But that may change, esp. once he hears about Castiel.

I think it's going to be an interesting season. And I mean that in a good way.

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

I like that they used an angel that only appears in the occult. I think the closer you get to things people still believe in, the more wank there will be in fandom. :) Castiel's the angel of Tuesday!

Dean still has no faith--it's part of why he couldn't see or hear Castiel
I'm kind of with you on this--that Dean could hear Castiel if he let himself. I'm hoping that gets used to good effect later.

I'm starting to see Dean sort of like Curdie in The Princess and the Goblin. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Princess_and_the_Goblin) How's that for an obscure reference?

[gryphonrose.livejournal.com]

Thursday, actually. The thing is, that's a really minor role, so anyone who bothers to check up on it (as both of us did) will know he's a really minor angel. So why send someone so weak to fetch and watch over Dean? And how would someone like that have been able to break into Hell in the first place? They should have gone with a Throne or something of that order.

And why do you see Dean as being like Curdie? Because he's not afraid of them so they're afraid of him?

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

It's been a while since I've read those books, but at some point, Curdie acquired the ability to tell someone's true nature by touching their hand. I think we're going to start seeing Dean acquiring his own talents.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I'm hoping they get back to the idea of how freakish Dean's return is soon. It all fell back into routine far too fast.

And I laughed at the "You are NOT invited" line, too.