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more on "Lazarus Rising"
After watching "Lazarus Rising," I went back and rewatched a couple of episodes I think really informed it, particularly "Houses of the Holy" and "Mystery Spot."
In "Houses of the Holy," we see that Dean is the skeptic and Sam has faith. But as Sam talks about it at the end, he has faith because he needs to believe there is something that can save him. Of course, given the events in the rest of the season, it's clear that nothing does—or at least, no greater power. This episode is, I think, the beginning of Sam losing his faith, and the beginning of Dean gaining his. I'd bet that by the time "Lazarus Rising" rolls around, Sam has lost his faith entirely.
I had surprisingly forgot just how dark Sam got in "Mystery Spot." At the end, he was completely willing to murder a random stranger on the off chance that it might make a ritual work to call the Trickster. He has no guaruntee at all that the Trickster would bring Dean back. But he's willing to kill someone just for the slim hope that he might. I don't think the show would ever go there, but I would totally believe that somewhere in the four months Dean was dead after the season finale, Sam did murder someone as part of a ritual he hoped would bring his brother back.
There's a tendency for a show, and a fandom, to treat a stand alone episode as less important to a character than a mythology episode. But in the case of "Mystery Spot," we know that Sam spent at least a hundred Tuesdays stuck in the loop—I'd guess more like two hundred. And then he spent six months without Dean. Compared to that, it was only a few months later Dean was dragged to Hell, then four months since his death. He's spent far less time since the loop than he did in it. And since he already spent six months with Dean dead, when Dean died again, Sam was already at that place of desperation. The show is unlikely to reference that episode, but this has to feel completely surreal to Sam. I think the time loop had a profound effect on him that we haven't even begun to deal with.
What that episode also showed is that though both Sam and Dean would sell their souls to save their brother, Sam is willing to go much farther than that. For Dean, I think there's still a line. He'd sacrifice himself, but he wouldn't take an innocent life. Sam would. Sam seems to have no problem with doing so. I don't think Dean gets that at all—I just don't think he can see how dangerous Sam can be. I'm hoping this season he'll find out.
Other random thoughts:
- As I watched the scene between Dean and Bobby, I was glad I already posted Balance of Days, since I wrote a scene a whole lot like that.
- Did anyone else notice that most of the recap, at least the first part of it, was all the different ways Sam and Dean have killed women on the show? And then there's the gratuitous slapping of the female demon and the blinding of the female psychic. Wow, Supernatural, make my point for me.
- The fact that Bobby is all messed up about this speaks volumes, I think. Also, if they ever kill Bobby on this show, I will hate Eric Kripke FOREVER.
I have now rewatched the final scene of "Lazarus Rising" way too many times. Bring on the fic!
In "Houses of the Holy," we see that Dean is the skeptic and Sam has faith. But as Sam talks about it at the end, he has faith because he needs to believe there is something that can save him. Of course, given the events in the rest of the season, it's clear that nothing does—or at least, no greater power. This episode is, I think, the beginning of Sam losing his faith, and the beginning of Dean gaining his. I'd bet that by the time "Lazarus Rising" rolls around, Sam has lost his faith entirely.
I had surprisingly forgot just how dark Sam got in "Mystery Spot." At the end, he was completely willing to murder a random stranger on the off chance that it might make a ritual work to call the Trickster. He has no guaruntee at all that the Trickster would bring Dean back. But he's willing to kill someone just for the slim hope that he might. I don't think the show would ever go there, but I would totally believe that somewhere in the four months Dean was dead after the season finale, Sam did murder someone as part of a ritual he hoped would bring his brother back.
There's a tendency for a show, and a fandom, to treat a stand alone episode as less important to a character than a mythology episode. But in the case of "Mystery Spot," we know that Sam spent at least a hundred Tuesdays stuck in the loop—I'd guess more like two hundred. And then he spent six months without Dean. Compared to that, it was only a few months later Dean was dragged to Hell, then four months since his death. He's spent far less time since the loop than he did in it. And since he already spent six months with Dean dead, when Dean died again, Sam was already at that place of desperation. The show is unlikely to reference that episode, but this has to feel completely surreal to Sam. I think the time loop had a profound effect on him that we haven't even begun to deal with.
What that episode also showed is that though both Sam and Dean would sell their souls to save their brother, Sam is willing to go much farther than that. For Dean, I think there's still a line. He'd sacrifice himself, but he wouldn't take an innocent life. Sam would. Sam seems to have no problem with doing so. I don't think Dean gets that at all—I just don't think he can see how dangerous Sam can be. I'm hoping this season he'll find out.
Other random thoughts:
- As I watched the scene between Dean and Bobby, I was glad I already posted Balance of Days, since I wrote a scene a whole lot like that.
- Did anyone else notice that most of the recap, at least the first part of it, was all the different ways Sam and Dean have killed women on the show? And then there's the gratuitous slapping of the female demon and the blinding of the female psychic. Wow, Supernatural, make my point for me.
- The fact that Bobby is all messed up about this speaks volumes, I think. Also, if they ever kill Bobby on this show, I will hate Eric Kripke FOREVER.
I have now rewatched the final scene of "Lazarus Rising" way too many times. Bring on the fic!
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And I think Bobby's relatively safe, since he's named after a producer. LOL But I think if they ever needed a way to rip out our hearts without killing a Winchester, that's the way they'd do it.
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Yeah, Sam can get very dark. And yes, he's still seriously messed up from everything. I agree we're going to see a lot more of that as the season goes on.
I would hate it if they killed Bobby but I also don't want him in every episode. He works better as someone they turn to every once in a while and vice-versa. Make him a regular and he loses his edge. (Can we say Gunn on Angel? I knew we could.)
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See, Roy the preacher man, didn't know his wife had caught and bound that Reaper, and that the Reaper was trading a life for a life. So if you go on the assumption that Roy was a true believer, and that maybe God took double advantage of the situation - save Dean, stop the evil - then God told Roy that Dean had more work to do.
I haven't had a chance to watch Faith, HotH, Mystery Spot and Lazarus back to back, but I don't think Faith should be discounted when one contemplated God's plan for Dean.
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