SPN 5.06 - "I Believe the Children . . . "

[feliciakw]

Sorry, no catchy title, or even non-catchy title. I really thought I wouldn't do one of these, but there's one point I want to get off my chest. So I'll just do a run-through of the whole thing. Might be interesting, might not be.



Wow. Babysitter is sitting really close the the TV there.

Jimmy: "IIIII can't. IIIII'm dead." Okay, Jimmy kinda cracks me up. Except for being a bit of a perv. And a practical joker. But the "IIIIII can't. IIIIII'm dead" cracks me up.

The possibility of "scratching your brains out." Um . . . okay, as Dean said, something "clawed through her skull." Not that I expect there to be an answer to this, but her press-on nails were actually able to scratch through solid bone matter? Through a cranial plate? Wow. Those are some tough press-on nails. Hard as diamonds, indeed.

Boys' reaction to phantom itch . . . cute. Heh.

Love Dean with Jimmy. The kid being so earnest, and calling him "sir." A little too earnest. Heh. Dean's story about the babysitter. Truth? Or story to have a point of commonality to offer the kid? Either way, I love that Dean relates to the kids while Sam questions the parents.

But I feel so bad for the old guy in the hospital. A practical joke that's not supposed to go wrong. Like, it's impossible for it to go wrong. And yet, someone gets electrocuted.

I love Dean getting suited up for the experiment. I also love when they bounce ideas around. "Cursed objects?" "Maybe a witch." This is going to be an interesting ep!

And of course Dean completely unable to let food go to waste.

And when Dean picks up the whoopee cushion, I can't help but think of all those out-takes in the gag reel.

Dean electrocuting the rubber chicken . . . bwah. Very bizarre.

Only $0.25 per tooth? Obviously, this dad has not kept up with the cost of inflation. It should at least be a $0.50 piece. If not a silver (or gold) dollar. Dude. Get with the times.

And you know? I never had a specific mental picture of the tooth fairy. I mean, I always assumed the tooth fairy was a girl, and maybe wore pink, but other than that? Nada. Just a nebulous entity that left coins under my pillow. Though I do have it on pretty good authority (via a Muppet story) that her name is Maxine.

Mixing Pop Rocks and Coke does not give you stomach ulcers. It makes your stomach explode. I heard that that's how the kid who played Mikey in the Life cereal commercials died. Except Mikey isn't dead, and Pop Rocks and pop won't kill you. It will, however, make you foam like a rabid dog. Good times.

Also, Bubble Yum bubble gum had spider legs (or spider eggs, depending on whom you asked) in it.

"His face froze that way." Okay, seriously. Jensen's delivery on that whole bit amuses me greatly. It does. *chortle*

Aw, the sea monkey ads. I remember those! And yeah, I always wondered if they were real, too.

Smart!Dean who remembers what it was like to be a kid figures out the connection. \o/

Because he still has the sense of humor of a nine-year-old.

"We don't have a fridge!" Excellent point, Dean. And you can't let your experiment-turned-sandwich go to waste. Which reminds me, I've got a ham bone in the freezer I should pull out and use for bean soup. Hm . . .

Wow. Snarky child. Good little actor.

"That stuff will make you scratch your brains out." Ah. The child has yet to learn the literary device called hyperbole.

And the joy buzzer thing? I always thought that it would shock a person, not electrocute them. I can't even remember who told me it wouldn't really hurt you beyond a shock, but I never had the impression that it would actually kill you. Huh.

Rather disconcerting stare from the kid at the end of the scene there.

"He probably doesn't even know he's doing it. How is he doing it?" Curiouser and curiouser!

Dean, in a shirt and tie, reading. Not entirely unattractive.

I kinda like the homespun decor of their room. Not what I would choose for my own decorating, but it reminds me of some members of my family.

And here we get Julia's backstory . . . which I'm not really thrilled with. You see, demon-spawn stories (ala Rosemary's Baby or The Omen) have never held much interest for me. And now we've got something else to cram into an already full mytharc and . . . sorry, writers. I'm just not impressed.

I will admit that Julia's feeding herself massive quantities of salt to get rid of the demon was clever.

Castiel's exposition. Oh, okay. Maybe we're going to take this tidbit of mytharc from another culture. "You know him as the antichrist." Or . . . maybe not.

Important reveal, followed by whoopee cushion. Um . . . ookay. Kind of heavy-handed on the bathroom humor, writers. But then, I've never been one for that particular type of humor. *eyeroll*

Otoh, I wonder how many times they shot that scene. Because you know that at least once the cushion was in place for real.

"Your bible gets more wrong than it does right." This line was completely unnecessary. (Also, don't get squashed by the falling anvil.) First of all, we've already established that Show is not going by the (Good) Book. Show gave us 66 seals rather than the scriptural 7. Show gave us demons as humans who had been corrupted in Hell. Show gave us fallen angels who aren't demons. And grace as some sort of glowy angel juice. And that angels need to possess a vessel. They pick and choose and use it where it fits into Show (the Four Horsemen, the End Time signs), and they write their own stuff and borrow from elsewhere when it suits them. I get it.

But more than that, Show uses that line to "debunk" a concept . . . I'm not even sure if it's a traditional belief or not . . . that's not even in the Bible. Someone who knows their Bible scholarship better than I (because I'm no scholar) can point out Scripture to correct me if I'm wrong, but I did some research before making the post, and I can't find anywhere in the Bible that says the Antichrist will be the literal, physical son of Satan. So for Sam to make that assumption, and then Castiel to tell him he's been misinformed because the Bible got it wrong . . . that's wrong. It's not in the Bible. So how could the Bible have it wrong when it says no such thing? And it bothers me that Castiel was the one to deliver that line.

(A brief aside: This is akin to my peeve with the N3 ep, "Thirteen," in which a serial killer was killing men in the same manner that the Twelve Apostles died. Including Luke. Except Luke wasn't one of the Twelve. Which only takes a small amount of research to figure out. *frown*)

A sidebar: As someone on my f-list points out, the term "antichrist" is used in reference to anyone with a spirit opposed to Christ. It's even used in the plural. But I suppose that's neither here nor there for our purposes with Show.

So, I've seen some complaints here and there about Castiel's behavior and insistence that Jesse had to die. And I get that Sam and Dean see Jesse as a child, and Sam in particular is going to feel a certain kinship with Jesse. But from Castiel's point of view? In human terms, we're talking genocide. With a word, Jesse can wipe out an entire . . . race . . . of beings. Including Castiel himself. And what I'm not sure has clicked with Sam or Dean yet is that if Lucifer wins, he will wipe all of humanity from the earth. So, yeah, I think I can see both sides of the equation here. Sam and Dean don't want to kill a child, and later they'll give Jesse the free will choice of what to do. Otoh, Castiel is thinking about the complete annihilation of his race. So, yeah. I think Cas has good reason to be concerned.

And there's Dean in the role of peacemaker again, acknowledging both sides and trying to come up with a compromise.

I also get that Castiel has lost faith in Sam. But . . . it makes my brain hurt to think about trying to put it into words, so I'm just gonna move on, 'kay?

Postmen out after dark are always suspect, yeah?

And Castiel so doesn't want to do what he thinks he needs to do. Killing powerful threats to the Winchesters is no problem. Killing a child who doesn't even know what he is, is a different story.

And I see he's picked up the Winchesters' habit of telegraphing his moves.

Dean's superhero story . . . You know? That's how Dean first explained to Sam what John did. "He's a superhero. He fights monsters." Then there's his, "I'm Batman," when he saves Sam from getting shot in the head by Kubrick. Jesse certainly has a lot in common with "superheroes." So really, is "You're a superhero" any more of a lie than the demon tells Jesse about his adoptive parents not being his parents? (I'll get to that in a minute.)

Enter demon, who is under orders not to harm Sam, but to Dean it says, "Hurting you is encouraged." 1) I hope Sam picked up on that. 2) I hope the writers don't forget that over the course of the season.

"Those people you call your parents? They lied to you. They're not your parents." And I realize this is coming from a demon. Which is a good thing, because the only way Jesse's parents would have been lying to him is if they purposely told him that they were his biological parents. Because adoptive parents? Just as freakin' real as biological parents. "Not really." Um, yeah, lady. Really. They feed him and shelter him and clothe him and teach him and love him. Yeah, you're trying to manipulate an 11-year-old. I get that. You are such a liar.

And okay, seriously? I don't remember my parents telling me anything like what's been going on in this ep. In my experience, those stories came from other kids. (Well, with the exception of the tooth fairy. But then, like I said, things were kind of nebulous on that point. And there was a point in time when there was no possible way you would have convinced me Santa Claus wasn't real, but that's a completely different story.)

"We can wash it all clean." Because that's what the final goal is here. Cleanse the planet of humans and let the demons take over.

Okay, Sam's exchange with Jesse? This is another reason I kind of have an issue with this particular addition to the mytharc. Because now the overall focus of free will and decisions and redemption in spite of wrong decisions is moved from Sam to Jesse. Sam sees in Jesse a chance for someone to get it right. Okay, whatever. But Jesse is just a juiced up version of the psyckids. Sam has demon blood. Well, with Jesse, the writers one-up Sam and make Jesse half demon. Bzuh? And this was necessary to the mytharc why? It just . . . seems totally unnecessary to me. But, you know. Whatever.

Um . . . okay, why are there office doors on the bedrooms, complete with deadbolt locks?

Dean's concern about ruining children's lives by telling them what's out there in the dark . . . that's so very Dean, going back to AHBL and the deathbed monologue, wanting Sam to keep his innocence as long as he could. Further back, even, to "Something Wicked," and wishing that Sam could have the kind of innocence Michael used to have.

"The more I think about it, the more I wish Dad had lied to us." Oh, Dean. You never had a chance. You remember the fire. You remember carrying Sam out of the house. You remember not talking for a while after. Your innocence was snatched from you at age 4. The best your dad could do was damage control.

And . . . what an abrupt place to leave it. Huh.

Comments

[just-ruth.livejournal.com]

I tried to come back to watching the show with this episode and well, I was just disappointed.

No, only in movies (the Omen, etc) is the Anti-Christ the son of Satan. In fact, if I remember back when I beat my head against Revelations, there's two or three commentaries that equate the Anti-Christ with Satan/Lucifer.

I'm sorry I came back.

And I want a Castiel action figure the same way I wanted an Iolaus action figure. . .

[feliciakw.livejournal.com]

Revelation being the very symbolic book that it is, there's a lot of discussion about what means what.

Having just re-read Rev. 13 (and the passage regarding the Man of Lawlessness in II Thessalonians 2), I'm inclined to believe that the Antichrist is not Satan. Rather the Antichrist will be commanded by Satan and given power by Satan. (In that regard, Show got it kind of right, I guess.) But I can't find anything that indicates that the Antichrist will be the literal son of Satan. I always figured that was just a Hollywood invention. But it might also be part of other mythos somewhere, as Castiel cited.

Regardless, my original peeve stands.

This season has certainly had its high and low points.

Comparing your desire for a Castiel action figure to the desire for an Iolaus action figure is high praise indeed. I was actually wondering if maybe that was taken off of a mold that the merchandisers are working on. Maybe you'll be able to get one.

[izhilzha.livejournal.com]

Having just re-read Rev. 13 (and the passage regarding the Man of Lawlessness in II Thessalonians 2), I'm inclined to believe that the Antichrist is not Satan. Rather the Antichrist will be commanded by Satan and given power by Satan.

Yes, this. When Castiel delivered that line I said, out loud, "Oh come on Show, the Scripture actually kinda-sorta backs up what you want to do in this ep, why did you say that?!"

[feliciakw.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I'm glad I wasn't the only one who wanted to slap Show upside the head there.

So, basically, the line is made of fail, unnecessary, and made of unnecessary fail. Because they "correct" something that doesn't even exist, and actually use a (very) loose variation on what's actually there.

I'd better be careful, or my eyeballs are gonna roll right out of my head.

[leelust.livejournal.com]

I actually agree with you and The Book stuff doesn't bother me that much because it's Kripke's universe after all and we know he likes to see everything as fun (sometimes it frustrates me a lot) and that line is totally Kripke's. It's like Sam read one version of the Bible from some other universe and Cas told him he was wrong and this universe's version got it wrong. it has no relation to our version, you know.
But i agree, the whole point in making Jesse a half-demon and giving him so much power is 'too much'. After that 'reveal' i wonder why are they afraid of Luci if Jesse looks like even more powerful that Luci himself?
As for Cas wanting to kill Jesse - i totally agree with your view on that and more to it, i think he was right. No matter how good the kid is right now. He has no control over his wishes, he's too young to understand responsibility for the whole world. There's no way he won't giving in if demons will find him and they will find him. It sounds awful but to save the whole race there's no way but to kill one child.

[feliciakw.livejournal.com]

The Book stuff doesn't bother me that much

I didn't expect it to. I don't expect it to bother anyone who's still watching the show except me.

It's like Sam read one version of the Bible from some other universe and Cas told him he was wrong and this universe's version got it wrong. it has no relation to our version, you know.

That's not how the scene reads, though. Because when Castiel says "your bible," the implication--as I saw it--is the one available to everyone. There was no implication that Sam is reading "his own version" of the bible. And "our" Bible doesn't get this point wrong, because it's not even in our Bible.

We already know that last season they were using some sort of super secret "little known translations" that only Bobby had access to. But my point is that Show is saying that something is in the Bible--"our" Bible--the Bible that everyone has access too--that isn't in the Bible, and then saying that the Bible got it wrong. So if Sam is using "our" bible, that's not where he got the idea that the Antichrist is the son of Satan, because it's not in there to begin with.

Now, if Dean had delivered the line, and Castiel had responded with something like, "That . . . is merely an invention of your Hollywood movies. It holds no basis in reality" . . . that would have addressed both the misconception Show wants to tweak and attributed the misconception to its proper source.

If they're going to use "their own translation," like they did all last season, and addressed it as such, fine. Whatever. They're telling a story. I get that. But this season they've decided also to use actual scripture, as in the War episode, where they used actual Scripture as the basis for the plot of the ep. But then to attribute a misconception to the Bible that doesn't even appear in the Bible, and then refute it for the purposes of the story . . . it was totally unnecessary and annoys me. (See my note regarding the N3 ep that also used a common misunderstanding that could have easily been remedied with naught but the smallest amount of research.)

I know I'm probably the only one who was bothered by this. And yes, I know it's a totally Kripke thing, and I would expect nothing better from him. But they seem like they're so on-board with reading Revelation (one of the writers in the DVD extras says he's read Revelation multiple times this season) and using things found there to write their story, and saying there's something in there that's "wrong" for the purposes of Show, that isn't in there at all . . . bothers me.

Sorry this is so rambly. I just had to get the whole thing off my chest.

[kalquessa.livejournal.com]

Haven't had a chance to finish reading this (the small one summons me even now) but: yeah, I'm pretty sure no one I know believes that the Antichrist is Lucifer's child. It would be nice if the writers could have someone crack open a New Testament every now and then, given the direction the show's been going for the past two seasons. *eyeroll* They're in every hotel room, how hard can it be to come by a copy?

[feliciakw.livejournal.com]

I believe that should be written the Small One.

His Fourthness, he is, to use the Latin, parvus sed potens. And shall be master of all he surveys. Even now his compatriot is recruiting the feline masses to advance his nefarious plot to overthrown those who would oppose him!

Today, the Ancestral Abode; tomorrow, the world!!!!!

*engage plotty fingers of cunning*