Supernatural 4x16 On the Head of a Pin
Mar. 22nd, 2009 04:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ivyficI jotted down a bunch of thoughts on "On the Head of a Pin" with the intent of shaping it into a coherent post. But...that's not happening. So have some jumbled thoughts!
- Last episode, Sam states he's willing to say whatever necessary to get Cole to talk. We're seeing that more and more—Sam is willing to do whatever is necessary to accomplish his goals. And if his goal is keeping Dean alive, it seems like he's perfectly willing to sacrifice their relationship to do that.
- I love that the angels have to take it on faith that there is a god.
- Uriel's reveal was a little bit Scooby Doo. I was thinking it was Anna killing the angels—she did show up just as the pipe started leaking. Uriel was really hammy when he revealed all to Castiel. I started to count the times that he turned his back on Castiel or vice versa, which just didn't seem wise when the guy is already holding the angel-killing weapon. His motivations rang true to me, though, but maybe that's just because I love the movie Constantine.
- I looooooove that Dean started the apocalypse. Love that Alistair first tells him that his father was on the rack three times longer than Dean and didn't break, and then that Dean breaking started all of this. It makes me wonder if Dean would have been able to hold out a little longer if he'd known—he might not have. But I also love that it means Castiel pulled Dean out of hell for what Dean had done, not for Sam. I still think Sam is the way that Dean will stop the apocalypse, but I don't think Castiel knows that.
I love that Dean was just breaking down in front of Castiel. You know he wouldn't show that to Sam, or at least not for a long time. I just don't see him admitting to Sam that all of this is his fault. But it seems like he's looking on Castiel as a father figure now, and he will show his weakness to him.
It brings new meaning to Dean's confession to Tessa last week. If he'd just gone with Tessa, his father would never have sold his soul, never gone to hell, Dean wouldn't have sold his soul, never gone to hell himself, never broken the first seal. But now that he has, he has no choice but to see it through. I love that we see Dean really wanting to give up now. If he was overwhelmed by his burden in season two, how much more so now.
I also love that what brings Dean to the breaking point at the beginning of the episode is Pam's death. Dean was the one who was so eager to bring her in last episode, and now he is so filled with guilt for what her friendship with them brought on her. …and Sam doesn't seem too upset by it, either. He seems to think it was worth it to save the seal. Interesting, no?
- I'm not sure how I feel about Sam drinking demon blood. Not because I don't want Sam to go dark—that's inevitable—it just feels like that particular twist has so been done.
- I love Sam killing Alistair in front of Castiel. Like—fuck. He couldn't even exorcise him before. And Castiel is standing right there with such a look of horror on his face.
- I love that the first thing Castiel does when he's considering disobeying orders is go to someone else and try to get orders. He is just not capable right now of thinking on his own. I wonder how much he will reveal to Dean about his doubts—because I don't think Dean could keep going if his angel protector admitted that he no longer thought there was a plan. I love that he now no longer knows which angels may have turned. I don't understand, though, why he is still doubting god when it could just have been Uriel and other angels messing things up. It seems like Uriel was the one passing on orders to Castiel, so if Uriel lost his faith and turned against them—does that necessarily mean that the entire system is flawed? Though I could see why another angel that Castiel has known for eternity losing his faith would really shake him.
- One thing that bothered me—all the close-ups on people's faces with wing sound effects, then them looking around confused. Come on! I know you have a limited effects budget, but the same sleight of hand trick starts to get old, oh, the twentieth time I see it in an hour.
- I posted this as a comment elsewhere, but it's no secret that I have not liked Ruby ever since her introduction. Portraying her as this very earnest demon with human feelings who just wants to help the Winchesters...gag me. But I've always hoped that she had her own agenda going in. If she was running some kind of deep undercover mission, winning Sam's trust, to an eventual endgame, then I'd kind of love her. And now I'm leaning to that interpretation again.
If Lilith made the deal with Dean because she wanted his soul in hell, not because she wanted Sam back in the game, which is what I always assumed, why'd she give him an extra year? It seems like a stupid move--gives the angels that much more time to suss out her plan. I'd always figured that since getting Sam back was the goal, Dean suffering for a year was just gravy. But--that year had another consequence. It drove Sam to Ruby in his desperation to save Dean. So now I think that was the point the whole time. I look forward to Ruby's eventual reveal (and inevitable death) and hope that it's a lot more awesome and a lot less Scooby Doo than Uriel's.
- Also, my fandoms are getting closer and closer together. It is now entirely plausible for John Constantine (of the movie-verse, the really, the comics-verse would work too) to walk in. Heck, I'd be thrilled by a Gabriel cameo.
- Last episode, Sam states he's willing to say whatever necessary to get Cole to talk. We're seeing that more and more—Sam is willing to do whatever is necessary to accomplish his goals. And if his goal is keeping Dean alive, it seems like he's perfectly willing to sacrifice their relationship to do that.
- I love that the angels have to take it on faith that there is a god.
- Uriel's reveal was a little bit Scooby Doo. I was thinking it was Anna killing the angels—she did show up just as the pipe started leaking. Uriel was really hammy when he revealed all to Castiel. I started to count the times that he turned his back on Castiel or vice versa, which just didn't seem wise when the guy is already holding the angel-killing weapon. His motivations rang true to me, though, but maybe that's just because I love the movie Constantine.
- I looooooove that Dean started the apocalypse. Love that Alistair first tells him that his father was on the rack three times longer than Dean and didn't break, and then that Dean breaking started all of this. It makes me wonder if Dean would have been able to hold out a little longer if he'd known—he might not have. But I also love that it means Castiel pulled Dean out of hell for what Dean had done, not for Sam. I still think Sam is the way that Dean will stop the apocalypse, but I don't think Castiel knows that.
I love that Dean was just breaking down in front of Castiel. You know he wouldn't show that to Sam, or at least not for a long time. I just don't see him admitting to Sam that all of this is his fault. But it seems like he's looking on Castiel as a father figure now, and he will show his weakness to him.
It brings new meaning to Dean's confession to Tessa last week. If he'd just gone with Tessa, his father would never have sold his soul, never gone to hell, Dean wouldn't have sold his soul, never gone to hell himself, never broken the first seal. But now that he has, he has no choice but to see it through. I love that we see Dean really wanting to give up now. If he was overwhelmed by his burden in season two, how much more so now.
I also love that what brings Dean to the breaking point at the beginning of the episode is Pam's death. Dean was the one who was so eager to bring her in last episode, and now he is so filled with guilt for what her friendship with them brought on her. …and Sam doesn't seem too upset by it, either. He seems to think it was worth it to save the seal. Interesting, no?
- I'm not sure how I feel about Sam drinking demon blood. Not because I don't want Sam to go dark—that's inevitable—it just feels like that particular twist has so been done.
- I love Sam killing Alistair in front of Castiel. Like—fuck. He couldn't even exorcise him before. And Castiel is standing right there with such a look of horror on his face.
- I love that the first thing Castiel does when he's considering disobeying orders is go to someone else and try to get orders. He is just not capable right now of thinking on his own. I wonder how much he will reveal to Dean about his doubts—because I don't think Dean could keep going if his angel protector admitted that he no longer thought there was a plan. I love that he now no longer knows which angels may have turned. I don't understand, though, why he is still doubting god when it could just have been Uriel and other angels messing things up. It seems like Uriel was the one passing on orders to Castiel, so if Uriel lost his faith and turned against them—does that necessarily mean that the entire system is flawed? Though I could see why another angel that Castiel has known for eternity losing his faith would really shake him.
- One thing that bothered me—all the close-ups on people's faces with wing sound effects, then them looking around confused. Come on! I know you have a limited effects budget, but the same sleight of hand trick starts to get old, oh, the twentieth time I see it in an hour.
- I posted this as a comment elsewhere, but it's no secret that I have not liked Ruby ever since her introduction. Portraying her as this very earnest demon with human feelings who just wants to help the Winchesters...gag me. But I've always hoped that she had her own agenda going in. If she was running some kind of deep undercover mission, winning Sam's trust, to an eventual endgame, then I'd kind of love her. And now I'm leaning to that interpretation again.
If Lilith made the deal with Dean because she wanted his soul in hell, not because she wanted Sam back in the game, which is what I always assumed, why'd she give him an extra year? It seems like a stupid move--gives the angels that much more time to suss out her plan. I'd always figured that since getting Sam back was the goal, Dean suffering for a year was just gravy. But--that year had another consequence. It drove Sam to Ruby in his desperation to save Dean. So now I think that was the point the whole time. I look forward to Ruby's eventual reveal (and inevitable death) and hope that it's a lot more awesome and a lot less Scooby Doo than Uriel's.
- Also, my fandoms are getting closer and closer together. It is now entirely plausible for John Constantine (of the movie-verse, the really, the comics-verse would work too) to walk in. Heck, I'd be thrilled by a Gabriel cameo.