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feliciakwHola.
I've noticed that my past couple of reviews have had some really weird word usage in them. This is because TextEdit automatically corrects stuff to real words (it changes "ick" to "ice," for example) when I'm not looking. I'll try to keep better track.
The more I think about it, the more I really like this week's ep as a whole. Still not overly keen on the Becky storyline, or sending her off the deep end the way they did, but overall there were delightful moments and nods and stuff to really enjoy from a "sit back and enjoy" point of view.
If you want a shorter, hipper, with shiny gifs version, go here.
Then: Okay, even the previouslies are getting into the meta/analysis act. If Show hit us any harder with "Dean's gonna have to face his proverbial demons (and maybe not-so-proverbial)," Show would be leaving bruises.
Also, Becky and her intense . . . erm . . . appreciation . . . for Sam.
Now:
Ooh, Vegas. I've long wanted them to work a case in Vegas. Sadly, this is not the ep where that happens. Dean is chatting up one of the waitresses in a strip club. Her shift is over and the conversation is comfortable flirting. Dean also saves a ton of money on therapy bills by unloading his problems to waitresses and barkeepers in bars. Using the third person, he tells Blondie about Sam, and how Sam has gone nutty in the brain pan, but things seem to be looking up, which is a freaking' miracle. Except when, on their annual pilgrimage to Vegas (when did this start? And when can they actually work a case? There's an anime ep they could use as a template) Sam decides to go on a nature hike by himself.
Maybe Sam needs some time alone. "We all need to face ourselves sometime," Blondie says.
"Maybe he does," Dean says.
"Wasn't talking about him." That there, folks is our first big, nearly anvilacious clue (of this ep) as to what this ep is about and where Dean's arc is going.
Dean's phone rings, and he's got a text message from Sammy. Address, and "WEAR FED SUIT!" Sam's four blocks away.
"See? Baby Bro needs you after all," Blondie says as she leaves. See, Dean? You're not fooling anyone by putting things in the 3rd person. Heh.
Wedding chapel. And you know there's going to be trouble. Long hallways like that, especially with those angles, never bode well. Lights flicker--not a good sign--and Dean pulls his gun. He creeps up to the door, and is startled when Sam opens it. Sam, in a suit, sporting a pink carnation boutonnière.
I kinda love how he uses a paper clip for Dean's boutonnière. Ha! Also, apparently, pink if for loyalty. Now there's gotta be a reason for that line. After doing a quick google, I find that a pink carnation is symbolic of a mother's love, a woman's love, or in some instances, "I'll never forget you." The fact that the line specifically mentions loyalty seems to tell me that even under whatever spell Sam's under, loyalty is important here. Because even if "pink is for loyalty," is wrong, Sam's belief that it is, and his specific mention of it, says something, yeah?
Dean, totally confused. Sam's getting married. Jensen is just so wonderful playing comedic reactions.
The wedding march begins, with the cheesy drum pedal backbeat or something. Ha!
The bride enters, and wow, that's a heavy veil. Of course, the bride is Becky.
Title Cake splat. Hahahaha!! And the cake is black! I tried to make a black velvet cake for Halloween, but I didn't have the right food coloring. Maybe next year.
I love that Dean falls back on the "Shouldn't she have asked my permission?" How very traditional of Dean. Because it's not losing Sam to a wife that freaks Dean out. He liked Jess because Sam loved her (WIaWSNB). He liked Sarah Blake and encouraged a relationship there. It's just . . . Becky? Really? I love Dean.
Forgetting everything else, Dean points out the average life span of Sam's hook-ups. Becky quickly jumps in, pointing out that she's totally aware. She's read all the books. BUT. Chuck stopped writing books at the end of S5. So Becky has no clue about anything that happened in S6. She doesn't know about Soulless!Sam, about the Campbells, about having the mental wall collapse. Unless Sam told her about all that. And even if he did, was Becky really listening? I don't think so. She thinks she knows the score, but she doesn't have a clue.
Becky pays for the wedding, and this makes me wonder what her day job is.
Dean is highly suspicious that Becky randomly shows up during "Vegas Week," and maybe Chuck wrote about it. So . . . this started sometime during the first five seasons. Ficwriter1966 has suggested that it started during Dean's countdown on the deal, and this makes sense. That means they've only gone for four years, and given the stuff they were dealing with during S4 and S5, I'm thinking "sacred annual" might be a bit of an overstatement. At any rate, Vegas is apparently a locale they try to hit up every once in a while. *handwave*
More importantly, flaily, frustrated Dean is one of my favorite flavors. Hee!
Becky makes her first tweet as Rosen-Winchester. On first viewing, I saw this as total name-dropping. Upon rethink, it just makes her look nuts. She's the only one (with maybe the exception of Damien and Barnes) who knows that the Supernatural books are real. Though doesn't it make you wonder what the fandom thought of the spree killings a couple weeks ago? Maybe they thought that the spree killers were fans, too, and co-opted Sam and Dean's names as covers. Anyway, tweeting as if you're married to a fictitious character is either roll playing or nuts, yeah?
Pine Creek, Delaware. Becky and Sam stop at Uncle Dietz's Alpen Haus, where a class reunion is being held. And here's where we get Becky's real reason for catching Sam.
But first. This little exchange between Becky and Joselyn just shows how on some levels, our high school years are always with us. I was actually in a play about it, Is There Life After High School?. All about how your school days are always a part of you, how you never forget where you were in the social structure, your coming of age moments. How some people grow beyond their limited position, or are late bloomers, and how others can never seem to give up their past glories. I had my first solo musical number in that play, and it always made me cry. It was about a woman whose high point in her life was when she was homecoming queen, and how the rest of her life never measured up to that. How sad to peak when you're in high school, with nothing else measuring up. I also had a monologue wherein I was never asked out until one day someone wrote something about her on the bathroom wall, which was a total lie, but she got in trouble for it. "But that was high school," she says. "You survive it. You don't forget it, but you survive it." And her mother was right. Took her until college to figure it out, but she was a late bloomer.
Your high school years--those names, those dynamics, those events, the good times and the bad times--they're with you your entire life. And sometimes, no matter how much we mature and grow out of it, those feelings niggle in the back of your head when you go to a reunion. The further along the reunion is, the less it's an issue, but Becky here is at her 10 year reunion, which is a fair amount of time, but still not the distance that, say, my 25 year reunion will give me. The dynamic here is a pretty good indicator of old cliques and old insecurities, and if they left it at that, I could feel some sympathy for Becky.
But then Sam walks in, Jocelyn takes notice, and Becky tweets about it. She doesn't love Sam. She's using him. He's arm candy, and that's about it.
In the parking lot, Becky gives a very enthusiastic hello to a guy either loading or unloading his vehicle. The guy--whose name actually is Guy--inquires about Vegas, and when Becky introduces him to Sam, Guy looks like he possibly recognizes Sam, is very startled, surprised, but keeps his composure.
Becky: We met in the erotic horror section . . .
Geo: Wait, did she just say . . .
Me: Erotic horror section, yeah.
*snerk*
Becky asks Sam to wait and catches up to Guy, who passes her a vial of something. Guy is giving me weird vibes, but in a "he could be a potentially interesting character" kind of way.
Dean has tracked Sam and Becky down (btw, he's still in the stolen Charger, so I guess he's gonna hang on to it for a while), and sees them pull out of the lot. I only mention this because I LOVE the shot of Dean's eye roll in the review mirror. Hee!
Alpen Haus . . . Oh, high John's journal! *waves* But a headline on a newspaper catches Dean's eye, and he sniffs a case.
Okay, wow. Awkward candlelit dinner is very awkward. When the champagne glasses ting on the toast, Sam gets a case of supernatural tinnitus or something. It snaps him out of his Becky-hazed stupor (I knew it was a spell), and Becky makes a quick move to dose his champagne with whatever's in the vial that Guy gave her. When it hits the bubbly, it becomes colorless and apparently odorless and tasteless in the beverage, which puts me in mind of iocane powder. Yikes.
At a baseball diamond, a batter is practicing against a pitching machine while a sinister dude in a black hoodie watches from the stands. Sinister dude cranks the pitching machine up to 11 (seriously. Geo and I got a kick out of that), and batter dude gets it in the face. Ick.
Incidentally, this ep aired on 11-11-11, which fans of Spinal Tap designated Nigel Tufnel Day. Just FYI.
Dean shows up at Sam's (well, Becky's) door bearing waffle iron. Because quite frankly, waffle irons make wonderful gifts. Tru fax. How does Dean know? Here's my theory:
The waffle iron idea came from having to wedding shop with Lisa for a friend. They got said friend a waffle iron. Which is how Dean started to explain how it works, then gave up on it. He's seen it before, or something like it, or heard Lisa talk about it.
And deep down? He thinks they're really cool, because, dude. Waffles.
The waffle iron was Dean's idea. Lisa wanted to get them something from their china or crystal registry, but Dean didn't really say much about that, because what does he know from china or crystal. Lisa wanted to include him in the gift choosing, so when she asked him what he thought would be a good gift, he kinda pointed her in the direction of the waffle iron. It wasn't on the gift registry, but the store was out of pizza-go-rounds (ask me about that for more info. We have one, and it's great!), and so, waffles.
Lisa then supplemented the waffle iron with gourmet syrups.
Sidebar: Dean also mentioned waffle irons in "Shut Up, Dr. Phil." When Don Stark said he had a "thing" with Wendy, Dean's response was, "A thing. Like a waffle iron."
"Waffle iron" is this season's recurring reference. *nods*
Also, Dean was totally rocking the Saturday morning waffles when he was with Lisa and Ben. That whole, "I don't know how to use a waffle iron" was a total ruse. ;-)
So, waffle iron for Sam and Becky. Dean being supportive. And can they get past this, because there a case.
Becky chimes in being all hot shot about it. Just based on the description of the vics? It sounds like a wishing well/wishing coin, a re-run of "Wishful Thinking." (Not that I think it is, because to me it does sound like CDR, but I'm just saying', it should ring some bells here.)
Dean is also highly suspicious of the mojo Becky is working, and that she seems to be a part of it.
Sam stands up for his new wife, which under normal circumstances would be appropriate, but he's been drugged, so all bets are off. When he tells Dean, " . . . but I don't need you anymore," Dean takes it in stride. Hurt? Yeah. But accepting of it, too. The reaction I find kinda . . . I don't know . . . puzzling? . . . uncomfortable? . . . is Becky's. She seems so . . . her heavy sigh and downcast eyes feel like a ploy. She's roleplaying, but not broken up that her favorite brother team has "broken up." She just . . . it's all a game to her, one big "reality show" roleplaying game. No consideration for Sam as a person. Just as a prize.
Dean gets on the phone to Bobby, who sets him up with a different partner. Dean is grumpy and doesn't want a different partner; he wants Bobby to partner with him. Okay, fine. *grump*
If Becky's journal is anything to go by, her maturity level actually hasn't progressed much past high school. At least it's not as bad as some stuff I've stumbled across on the internet.
At the Alpin Haus, Dean meets up with his new partner, a skinny, geeky guy slurping a vanilla milkshake.
Dean and his new partner go to question whom they think might be the next victim in this weird series of deaths going on. And may I just say that Dean is looking mighty fine and professorial in his sweater vest and wool (?) jacket? Hold that thought--both that Dean looks really good, and that he looks rather professorial.
Sam and Becky exit potential vic's office, having already questioned him. Sam? You'll pardon me if I don't take Becky's questioning as of much value. I'm sure you understand.
During the course of interviewing the potential vic, Dean's new partner, asks if PV got his CEO position by nefarious means. Dean tries to redirect the awkward question, and we discover that New Guy is actually Garth. Garth tries to clarify; didn't mean corporate backstabbing so much as black magic or hoodoo. At which point Dean calls a do-over.
So this is Garth, he of "Not me FBI, Garth, the real FBI. How are you even still alive?" fame from "Weekend at Bobby's. Hee! Both WaB and this ep were written by the same guys, so I'm rather amused by this continuity. Now, I've seen it wondered why Bobby would pair Dean up with someone who is apparently so inept. Well, isn't it obvious? Bobby paired Garth up with Dean so that Garth could learn from a seasoned hunter--and an alpha one at that--how the job should be done. Dean as mentor, Garth as mentee. Notice Dean's sweater vest/wool jacket professor wardrobe combo.
Garth has hunting in his head, but he doesn't have the skill to do it with finesse. How is he still alive? Probably working with his tri-racial paraplegic sniper cousin. Because that dude doesn't sound like someone anyone would want to tangle with.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
It turns out that this phenomenal promotion isn't Potential Vic/CEO's dream--it's his wife's. Dean tries to warn her.
Meanwhile, Becky's magic elixir is wearing off of Sam again, and what she had leaked all over the inside of her purse.
Sinister Dude from the ball diamond sends a light fixture crashing down on CEO's wife. Dean tackles her out of the way just in time. Heroic Dean is one of my favorite flavors. :-) Wife Marsha made a demon deal (that she foolishly didn't take seriously), and Dean and Garth are puzzled as to the timeline. Dean is concerned about Sam, Garth is going to take Marsha to stay with his tri-racial paraplegic sniper cousin until this all blows over. Geo and I rather got a kick out of that description, and I would be tickled if this cousin made an appearance. Heck, he might even be one of Bobby's connections.
Becky is leaving a frantic message for Guy while Sam is fighting a terrible withdrawal-type headache from the elixir wearing off. He's confused, and his first instinct is to call Dean. (Yes, he needs Dean, and he knows he needs Dean, in case anyone was freaked out by his earlier declaration.) Becky uses the waffle iron to wallop Sam upside the head. Now, here's the irony (get it? Irony? Bwahahahaha! *ahem*) of it: The waffle iron got to do what Dean sorely wanted to do, but couldn't--namely, slap Sam upside the head for marrying Becky. Yes, the waffle iron is an extension of Dean. Unfortunately, Becky used this wonderful maker of tasty treats for her own nefarious purposes.
And, okay, if things weren't weird enough with the Becky/elixir thing, now it just gets really weird (and very ficcy). Sam, of course, is furious to find himself tied to a bed in some cabin somewhere. He overhears Becky's conversation with Guy, aka her drug dealer, and lays it on the line--Guy is the one killing people, Becky is on his list, and btw, Sam doesn't love her.
George rather laughed at the muffled expletive.
Now, I know a lot of people are ticked because Becky is Show's "representation" of fandom, but I . . . just can't get worked up over it or take it as a personal insult. Because those people are out there. Those people who co-opt Jared and Jensen's lives for their own personal entertainment or agenda are out there. That very much drives me nuts. (I wrote a bit about it in my Real Ghostbusters commentary. Jensen is aware of a fan who claims (and still claims) to be married to him. And I've stumbled across some truly embarrassing, cringe-inducing poetry of fans' fantasies of Sam/Jared and Dean/Jensen. (And it's made me want to spork my eyes out.)
This behavior does not, of course, speak for the entire fandom. But it does show up in a portion of the "high profile" (let's say "verbose") fandom. Because fans such as myself, who write from time to time, who can't afford conventions, who don't collect every piece of memorabilia that comes down the pike, those kind of fans aren't really good story-telling material. We're not really that interesting. And we're not BNFs. The publisher lady was a fairly good representation of the avid, involved fan, who was intensely passionate but not overly nutty--she got one scene. Barnes and Damien had real (boring) jobs and life outside of fandom. They saw "Sam" and "Dean" as something to aspire to in the characters' determination to help people. Sure, they met on-line, but I met Izhi on-line in fandom, and we've been friends for somewhere in the vicinity of 10 years now--because we discovered early on that we have other things in common besides fandom. We've traveled to visit each other, we've met each other's families. We know of each other's lives beyond the internet. But how interesting would we be as guest characters? Anyway, I've lost my point in there somewhere.
Suffice to say that where I saw Becky as a humorous character before (because there are people out there like that), I don't really like her as a fan now (because there are those people out there).
Should probably make the point that Becky and Sam had not yet consummated their marriage. Because sex would make it too real for Becky, and emphasize that Sam wasn't in the relationship of his own free will? Because Becky doesn't want the illusion to be broken? Whatever, it's good to know she didn't date rape him.
Becky meets up with Guy for another vial, but there's a price now, because--surprise, surprise--he's a CRD. I gotta say, as a guest villain, I kinda like the guy (heh). He's . . . a fun guest villain, he's got personality, while at the same time, you know you should stay far, far away.
CDR Guy offers Becky a special deal: 25 years with Sam loving her, in exchange for her soul and her silence. And she's actually gonna consider it. (One has to wonder why? Does she think that in the course of 25 years they can get the deal broken? Or that she'll come back like Dean did? Bzuh?)
Dean and Garth investigate Becky's apartment--the color scheme of which is remarkably like the sit com set in "Changing Channels." Garth busts in with little care or finesse, and Dean just shakes his head. This is totally why Bobby paired Dean with Garth. Garth needs a competent partner to watch his back, and Bobby knew Dean wouldn't let anything happen to Garth.
Becky's only got eleven followers on Twitter, so her "Becky Rosen-Winchester" tweets aren't really making it out into the greater fandom.
Dean and Garth deduce that Becky took Sam to the family cabin on Loon Lake. (Do with that what you will.)
So, Becky left in the morning, she gets back at night, leaving Sam tied there for several hours.
Here Becky has to face reality and face her disappointment, in herself, in her situation. She says the only place people understood her was the message boards--which makes me wonder what kind of a job she has in RL, what her RL is like, etc. Like I said, Barnes and Damien met on the message boards, but they have a life outside of the internet.
Izhi and I met on-line, and when I was in her wedding recently, and friends and family would ask me how I knew Izhi, I'd tell them, "It's extremely geeky, really, but we met on-line. No, really. We met on a message board of a TV show we both like, then we started corresponding off-list and discovered we had more in common than just the TV show." Like I said, friends for 10 years now, and sharing our personal lives as people.
Becky apparently doesn't have that--real friends she can really relate to. She sees Sam as an ideal, but not a person. As something to be attained, not a person to be respected. Did she approach her relationship with Chuck with the same sense of entitlement?
One of the amazing things--and I credit the actress with this--is that I don't hate Becky. For all the terrible, awful things she's done in this ep, she's coming from a point of view wherein she must face reality and decide to change it--for real. Not with fantasy fulfillment courtesy of a CDR, but for real. Emily Perkins makes the character of Becky not totally hateful. And if a fan did this sort of thing in RL to a RL person, I'd be pretty much livid, because what she did was criminal.
I still hope this is the last we see of her as crazed fangirl (emphasis on "crazed." 'Cause she really did go off her rocker in this one).
And it was at the end of this self-disclosure that Sam talked her out of drugging him and into helping gank a CDR. Because that would be beneficial for everybody. Becky would get to really help out on a real hunt that would really save people (like Barnes and Damien did). And Sam would have his life back.
Also? Jared has really pretty eyes. I don't say that often, but the shape of them is very intriguing.
At the Alpin Haus, after the reunion, Becky shows up and says she wants to make the deal. Rather than going through, though, she drops a lighter on a devil's trap and retreats to where Dean, Garth, and Sam step into the scene. She's so excited with herself that she did it just like she and Sam planned. "I am AWESOME!" she says. Um, Becky? That's exactly what Ruby said right before Dean ganked her. You might want to . . . that's right. Just step out of the way.
Okay, why does Guy want Dean's autograph. Mocking him? Probably. Admiring of Dean? Likely. Admiring of his work under Alistair's tutelage? Disturbing thought.
Ah, and there's the knife.
So, Guy is making deals and having his intern arrange accidents so he can cash in early. Sinister Intern shows up and starts tossing the guys around. Dean takes a blow to the head against a pillar/support beam and drops the knife.
Some things never change. *snerk*
Oohh! And with the holy water and the attempted exorcism. \o/ The oldies but goodies.
Of course, the baddies also have the oldies but goodies, like choking.
Intern cracks Garth's head against a table and does a Darth Vader remote choking on Sam.
But Becky comes through in the clench, knifes Intern in the back. Sam snatches the knife, tosses it to Dean, who doesn't gank CDR just yet. He needs Guy to tear up the contracts.
All in all, that was a nice little fight scene.
"Hello, boys."
Crowley! \o/ I was wondering when he was going to get there!
Turns out, Crowley is more than a little bit upset about Guy's shenanigans. "I've got one rule: Make a deal and stick to it." Consumer confidence. "This isn't Wall Street, this is Hell. We have a little thing called integrity."
Oh, really, Crowley? So what was that about the fine print in Bobby's contract, the part about "best effort" to return his soul, and all that malarky? Sounds like a double-cross to me. Still, the humor of your comparison is not lost.
Crowley offers to cancel all the deals Guy made in exchange for Guy. Sam and Dean are obviously skeptical. But I love Crowley's reasoning. He's told his demons to steer clear of the Winchesters and let them hunt the leviathans, because Crowley hates the leviathans. It's just so deliciously Crowley, always looking for a way to work things to his own advantage. If anyone has a chance of squashing the leviathans, it's the Winchesters, and Crowley knows this from years of observation and experience. Also, if he can sit tight and let the Winchesters do all the dangerous stuff without putting himself in harm's way, Crowley's all for the self-preservation route.
Crowley rips of the deals, Dean shoves Guy over to Crowley. The demons disappear, and Garth comes to, wondering what he's missed.
Sam and Becky sign annulment papers. Sam offers some encouragement, tells her to do her own thing (be yourself) and the right guy finding her (we still don't know what Becky does in RL), and she and Garth start making eyes at each other. Dean, having had his fill and being so done with this craziness, forbids Garth to even think about it. Hee!
Outside, Garth and the Winchesters say their goodbyes. Garth can't help it, he's got to give Dean a hug. It's adorkable.
More clearing of air between the brothers. Banter! \o/ Sam emphasizes the fact that he does need Dean watching his back. Dean reiterates that Sam is a grown up and handling his crazy-making issues really well. Sam assures him that yes, he's still screwy the head, he just knows his way around it better.
But this might be nice, Sam says. "You've basically been looking out for me your whole life. Now you finally get to take care of yourself."
And judging by the look of apprehension that crosses Dean's face, taking care of himself (facing his own problems, spending time in his own head, dealing with "how bad it really is" is the last thing he wants to do).
So. Becky has confronted her perceived loser-ness and been told to do her own thing and move on with life.
Garth has been on a hunt with a professional and seen how it's done.
Sam has got a handle on his Denver scramble.
Now it's Dean's turn.
Sammy? It's gonna be your turn to step up to the plate. Because Dean's got a Denver scramble of his own.
I've noticed that my past couple of reviews have had some really weird word usage in them. This is because TextEdit automatically corrects stuff to real words (it changes "ick" to "ice," for example) when I'm not looking. I'll try to keep better track.
The more I think about it, the more I really like this week's ep as a whole. Still not overly keen on the Becky storyline, or sending her off the deep end the way they did, but overall there were delightful moments and nods and stuff to really enjoy from a "sit back and enjoy" point of view.
If you want a shorter, hipper, with shiny gifs version, go here.
Then: Okay, even the previouslies are getting into the meta/analysis act. If Show hit us any harder with "Dean's gonna have to face his proverbial demons (and maybe not-so-proverbial)," Show would be leaving bruises.
Also, Becky and her intense . . . erm . . . appreciation . . . for Sam.
Now:
Ooh, Vegas. I've long wanted them to work a case in Vegas. Sadly, this is not the ep where that happens. Dean is chatting up one of the waitresses in a strip club. Her shift is over and the conversation is comfortable flirting. Dean also saves a ton of money on therapy bills by unloading his problems to waitresses and barkeepers in bars. Using the third person, he tells Blondie about Sam, and how Sam has gone nutty in the brain pan, but things seem to be looking up, which is a freaking' miracle. Except when, on their annual pilgrimage to Vegas (when did this start? And when can they actually work a case? There's an anime ep they could use as a template) Sam decides to go on a nature hike by himself.
Maybe Sam needs some time alone. "We all need to face ourselves sometime," Blondie says.
"Maybe he does," Dean says.
"Wasn't talking about him." That there, folks is our first big, nearly anvilacious clue (of this ep) as to what this ep is about and where Dean's arc is going.
Dean's phone rings, and he's got a text message from Sammy. Address, and "WEAR FED SUIT!" Sam's four blocks away.
"See? Baby Bro needs you after all," Blondie says as she leaves. See, Dean? You're not fooling anyone by putting things in the 3rd person. Heh.
Wedding chapel. And you know there's going to be trouble. Long hallways like that, especially with those angles, never bode well. Lights flicker--not a good sign--and Dean pulls his gun. He creeps up to the door, and is startled when Sam opens it. Sam, in a suit, sporting a pink carnation boutonnière.
I kinda love how he uses a paper clip for Dean's boutonnière. Ha! Also, apparently, pink if for loyalty. Now there's gotta be a reason for that line. After doing a quick google, I find that a pink carnation is symbolic of a mother's love, a woman's love, or in some instances, "I'll never forget you." The fact that the line specifically mentions loyalty seems to tell me that even under whatever spell Sam's under, loyalty is important here. Because even if "pink is for loyalty," is wrong, Sam's belief that it is, and his specific mention of it, says something, yeah?
Dean, totally confused. Sam's getting married. Jensen is just so wonderful playing comedic reactions.
The wedding march begins, with the cheesy drum pedal backbeat or something. Ha!
The bride enters, and wow, that's a heavy veil. Of course, the bride is Becky.
I love that Dean falls back on the "Shouldn't she have asked my permission?" How very traditional of Dean. Because it's not losing Sam to a wife that freaks Dean out. He liked Jess because Sam loved her (WIaWSNB). He liked Sarah Blake and encouraged a relationship there. It's just . . . Becky? Really? I love Dean.
Forgetting everything else, Dean points out the average life span of Sam's hook-ups. Becky quickly jumps in, pointing out that she's totally aware. She's read all the books. BUT. Chuck stopped writing books at the end of S5. So Becky has no clue about anything that happened in S6. She doesn't know about Soulless!Sam, about the Campbells, about having the mental wall collapse. Unless Sam told her about all that. And even if he did, was Becky really listening? I don't think so. She thinks she knows the score, but she doesn't have a clue.
Becky pays for the wedding, and this makes me wonder what her day job is.
Dean is highly suspicious that Becky randomly shows up during "Vegas Week," and maybe Chuck wrote about it. So . . . this started sometime during the first five seasons. Ficwriter1966 has suggested that it started during Dean's countdown on the deal, and this makes sense. That means they've only gone for four years, and given the stuff they were dealing with during S4 and S5, I'm thinking "sacred annual" might be a bit of an overstatement. At any rate, Vegas is apparently a locale they try to hit up every once in a while. *handwave*
More importantly, flaily, frustrated Dean is one of my favorite flavors. Hee!
Becky makes her first tweet as Rosen-Winchester. On first viewing, I saw this as total name-dropping. Upon rethink, it just makes her look nuts. She's the only one (with maybe the exception of Damien and Barnes) who knows that the Supernatural books are real. Though doesn't it make you wonder what the fandom thought of the spree killings a couple weeks ago? Maybe they thought that the spree killers were fans, too, and co-opted Sam and Dean's names as covers. Anyway, tweeting as if you're married to a fictitious character is either roll playing or nuts, yeah?
Pine Creek, Delaware. Becky and Sam stop at Uncle Dietz's Alpen Haus, where a class reunion is being held. And here's where we get Becky's real reason for catching Sam.
But first. This little exchange between Becky and Joselyn just shows how on some levels, our high school years are always with us. I was actually in a play about it, Is There Life After High School?. All about how your school days are always a part of you, how you never forget where you were in the social structure, your coming of age moments. How some people grow beyond their limited position, or are late bloomers, and how others can never seem to give up their past glories. I had my first solo musical number in that play, and it always made me cry. It was about a woman whose high point in her life was when she was homecoming queen, and how the rest of her life never measured up to that. How sad to peak when you're in high school, with nothing else measuring up. I also had a monologue wherein I was never asked out until one day someone wrote something about her on the bathroom wall, which was a total lie, but she got in trouble for it. "But that was high school," she says. "You survive it. You don't forget it, but you survive it." And her mother was right. Took her until college to figure it out, but she was a late bloomer.
Your high school years--those names, those dynamics, those events, the good times and the bad times--they're with you your entire life. And sometimes, no matter how much we mature and grow out of it, those feelings niggle in the back of your head when you go to a reunion. The further along the reunion is, the less it's an issue, but Becky here is at her 10 year reunion, which is a fair amount of time, but still not the distance that, say, my 25 year reunion will give me. The dynamic here is a pretty good indicator of old cliques and old insecurities, and if they left it at that, I could feel some sympathy for Becky.
But then Sam walks in, Jocelyn takes notice, and Becky tweets about it. She doesn't love Sam. She's using him. He's arm candy, and that's about it.
In the parking lot, Becky gives a very enthusiastic hello to a guy either loading or unloading his vehicle. The guy--whose name actually is Guy--inquires about Vegas, and when Becky introduces him to Sam, Guy looks like he possibly recognizes Sam, is very startled, surprised, but keeps his composure.
Becky: We met in the erotic horror section . . .
Geo: Wait, did she just say . . .
Me: Erotic horror section, yeah.
*snerk*
Becky asks Sam to wait and catches up to Guy, who passes her a vial of something. Guy is giving me weird vibes, but in a "he could be a potentially interesting character" kind of way.
Dean has tracked Sam and Becky down (btw, he's still in the stolen Charger, so I guess he's gonna hang on to it for a while), and sees them pull out of the lot. I only mention this because I LOVE the shot of Dean's eye roll in the review mirror. Hee!
Alpen Haus . . . Oh, high John's journal! *waves* But a headline on a newspaper catches Dean's eye, and he sniffs a case.
Okay, wow. Awkward candlelit dinner is very awkward. When the champagne glasses ting on the toast, Sam gets a case of supernatural tinnitus or something. It snaps him out of his Becky-hazed stupor (I knew it was a spell), and Becky makes a quick move to dose his champagne with whatever's in the vial that Guy gave her. When it hits the bubbly, it becomes colorless and apparently odorless and tasteless in the beverage, which puts me in mind of iocane powder. Yikes.
At a baseball diamond, a batter is practicing against a pitching machine while a sinister dude in a black hoodie watches from the stands. Sinister dude cranks the pitching machine up to 11 (seriously. Geo and I got a kick out of that), and batter dude gets it in the face. Ick.
Incidentally, this ep aired on 11-11-11, which fans of Spinal Tap designated Nigel Tufnel Day. Just FYI.
Dean shows up at Sam's (well, Becky's) door bearing waffle iron. Because quite frankly, waffle irons make wonderful gifts. Tru fax. How does Dean know? Here's my theory:
The waffle iron idea came from having to wedding shop with Lisa for a friend. They got said friend a waffle iron. Which is how Dean started to explain how it works, then gave up on it. He's seen it before, or something like it, or heard Lisa talk about it.
And deep down? He thinks they're really cool, because, dude. Waffles.
The waffle iron was Dean's idea. Lisa wanted to get them something from their china or crystal registry, but Dean didn't really say much about that, because what does he know from china or crystal. Lisa wanted to include him in the gift choosing, so when she asked him what he thought would be a good gift, he kinda pointed her in the direction of the waffle iron. It wasn't on the gift registry, but the store was out of pizza-go-rounds (ask me about that for more info. We have one, and it's great!), and so, waffles.
Lisa then supplemented the waffle iron with gourmet syrups.
Sidebar: Dean also mentioned waffle irons in "Shut Up, Dr. Phil." When Don Stark said he had a "thing" with Wendy, Dean's response was, "A thing. Like a waffle iron."
"Waffle iron" is this season's recurring reference. *nods*
Also, Dean was totally rocking the Saturday morning waffles when he was with Lisa and Ben. That whole, "I don't know how to use a waffle iron" was a total ruse. ;-)
So, waffle iron for Sam and Becky. Dean being supportive. And can they get past this, because there a case.
Becky chimes in being all hot shot about it. Just based on the description of the vics? It sounds like a wishing well/wishing coin, a re-run of "Wishful Thinking." (Not that I think it is, because to me it does sound like CDR, but I'm just saying', it should ring some bells here.)
Dean is also highly suspicious of the mojo Becky is working, and that she seems to be a part of it.
Sam stands up for his new wife, which under normal circumstances would be appropriate, but he's been drugged, so all bets are off. When he tells Dean, " . . . but I don't need you anymore," Dean takes it in stride. Hurt? Yeah. But accepting of it, too. The reaction I find kinda . . . I don't know . . . puzzling? . . . uncomfortable? . . . is Becky's. She seems so . . . her heavy sigh and downcast eyes feel like a ploy. She's roleplaying, but not broken up that her favorite brother team has "broken up." She just . . . it's all a game to her, one big "reality show" roleplaying game. No consideration for Sam as a person. Just as a prize.
Dean gets on the phone to Bobby, who sets him up with a different partner. Dean is grumpy and doesn't want a different partner; he wants Bobby to partner with him. Okay, fine. *grump*
If Becky's journal is anything to go by, her maturity level actually hasn't progressed much past high school. At least it's not as bad as some stuff I've stumbled across on the internet.
At the Alpin Haus, Dean meets up with his new partner, a skinny, geeky guy slurping a vanilla milkshake.
Dean and his new partner go to question whom they think might be the next victim in this weird series of deaths going on. And may I just say that Dean is looking mighty fine and professorial in his sweater vest and wool (?) jacket? Hold that thought--both that Dean looks really good, and that he looks rather professorial.
Sam and Becky exit potential vic's office, having already questioned him. Sam? You'll pardon me if I don't take Becky's questioning as of much value. I'm sure you understand.
During the course of interviewing the potential vic, Dean's new partner, asks if PV got his CEO position by nefarious means. Dean tries to redirect the awkward question, and we discover that New Guy is actually Garth. Garth tries to clarify; didn't mean corporate backstabbing so much as black magic or hoodoo. At which point Dean calls a do-over.
So this is Garth, he of "Not me FBI, Garth, the real FBI. How are you even still alive?" fame from "Weekend at Bobby's. Hee! Both WaB and this ep were written by the same guys, so I'm rather amused by this continuity. Now, I've seen it wondered why Bobby would pair Dean up with someone who is apparently so inept. Well, isn't it obvious? Bobby paired Garth up with Dean so that Garth could learn from a seasoned hunter--and an alpha one at that--how the job should be done. Dean as mentor, Garth as mentee. Notice Dean's sweater vest/wool jacket professor wardrobe combo.
Garth has hunting in his head, but he doesn't have the skill to do it with finesse. How is he still alive? Probably working with his tri-racial paraplegic sniper cousin. Because that dude doesn't sound like someone anyone would want to tangle with.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
It turns out that this phenomenal promotion isn't Potential Vic/CEO's dream--it's his wife's. Dean tries to warn her.
Meanwhile, Becky's magic elixir is wearing off of Sam again, and what she had leaked all over the inside of her purse.
Sinister Dude from the ball diamond sends a light fixture crashing down on CEO's wife. Dean tackles her out of the way just in time. Heroic Dean is one of my favorite flavors. :-) Wife Marsha made a demon deal (that she foolishly didn't take seriously), and Dean and Garth are puzzled as to the timeline. Dean is concerned about Sam, Garth is going to take Marsha to stay with his tri-racial paraplegic sniper cousin until this all blows over. Geo and I rather got a kick out of that description, and I would be tickled if this cousin made an appearance. Heck, he might even be one of Bobby's connections.
Becky is leaving a frantic message for Guy while Sam is fighting a terrible withdrawal-type headache from the elixir wearing off. He's confused, and his first instinct is to call Dean. (Yes, he needs Dean, and he knows he needs Dean, in case anyone was freaked out by his earlier declaration.) Becky uses the waffle iron to wallop Sam upside the head. Now, here's the irony (get it? Irony? Bwahahahaha! *ahem*) of it: The waffle iron got to do what Dean sorely wanted to do, but couldn't--namely, slap Sam upside the head for marrying Becky. Yes, the waffle iron is an extension of Dean. Unfortunately, Becky used this wonderful maker of tasty treats for her own nefarious purposes.
And, okay, if things weren't weird enough with the Becky/elixir thing, now it just gets really weird (and very ficcy). Sam, of course, is furious to find himself tied to a bed in some cabin somewhere. He overhears Becky's conversation with Guy, aka her drug dealer, and lays it on the line--Guy is the one killing people, Becky is on his list, and btw, Sam doesn't love her.
George rather laughed at the muffled expletive.
Now, I know a lot of people are ticked because Becky is Show's "representation" of fandom, but I . . . just can't get worked up over it or take it as a personal insult. Because those people are out there. Those people who co-opt Jared and Jensen's lives for their own personal entertainment or agenda are out there. That very much drives me nuts. (I wrote a bit about it in my Real Ghostbusters commentary. Jensen is aware of a fan who claims (and still claims) to be married to him. And I've stumbled across some truly embarrassing, cringe-inducing poetry of fans' fantasies of Sam/Jared and Dean/Jensen. (And it's made me want to spork my eyes out.)
This behavior does not, of course, speak for the entire fandom. But it does show up in a portion of the "high profile" (let's say "verbose") fandom. Because fans such as myself, who write from time to time, who can't afford conventions, who don't collect every piece of memorabilia that comes down the pike, those kind of fans aren't really good story-telling material. We're not really that interesting. And we're not BNFs. The publisher lady was a fairly good representation of the avid, involved fan, who was intensely passionate but not overly nutty--she got one scene. Barnes and Damien had real (boring) jobs and life outside of fandom. They saw "Sam" and "Dean" as something to aspire to in the characters' determination to help people. Sure, they met on-line, but I met Izhi on-line in fandom, and we've been friends for somewhere in the vicinity of 10 years now--because we discovered early on that we have other things in common besides fandom. We've traveled to visit each other, we've met each other's families. We know of each other's lives beyond the internet. But how interesting would we be as guest characters? Anyway, I've lost my point in there somewhere.
Suffice to say that where I saw Becky as a humorous character before (because there are people out there like that), I don't really like her as a fan now (because there are those people out there).
Should probably make the point that Becky and Sam had not yet consummated their marriage. Because sex would make it too real for Becky, and emphasize that Sam wasn't in the relationship of his own free will? Because Becky doesn't want the illusion to be broken? Whatever, it's good to know she didn't date rape him.
Becky meets up with Guy for another vial, but there's a price now, because--surprise, surprise--he's a CRD. I gotta say, as a guest villain, I kinda like the guy (heh). He's . . . a fun guest villain, he's got personality, while at the same time, you know you should stay far, far away.
CDR Guy offers Becky a special deal: 25 years with Sam loving her, in exchange for her soul and her silence. And she's actually gonna consider it. (One has to wonder why? Does she think that in the course of 25 years they can get the deal broken? Or that she'll come back like Dean did? Bzuh?)
Dean and Garth investigate Becky's apartment--the color scheme of which is remarkably like the sit com set in "Changing Channels." Garth busts in with little care or finesse, and Dean just shakes his head. This is totally why Bobby paired Dean with Garth. Garth needs a competent partner to watch his back, and Bobby knew Dean wouldn't let anything happen to Garth.
Becky's only got eleven followers on Twitter, so her "Becky Rosen-Winchester" tweets aren't really making it out into the greater fandom.
Dean and Garth deduce that Becky took Sam to the family cabin on Loon Lake. (Do with that what you will.)
So, Becky left in the morning, she gets back at night, leaving Sam tied there for several hours.
Here Becky has to face reality and face her disappointment, in herself, in her situation. She says the only place people understood her was the message boards--which makes me wonder what kind of a job she has in RL, what her RL is like, etc. Like I said, Barnes and Damien met on the message boards, but they have a life outside of the internet.
Izhi and I met on-line, and when I was in her wedding recently, and friends and family would ask me how I knew Izhi, I'd tell them, "It's extremely geeky, really, but we met on-line. No, really. We met on a message board of a TV show we both like, then we started corresponding off-list and discovered we had more in common than just the TV show." Like I said, friends for 10 years now, and sharing our personal lives as people.
Becky apparently doesn't have that--real friends she can really relate to. She sees Sam as an ideal, but not a person. As something to be attained, not a person to be respected. Did she approach her relationship with Chuck with the same sense of entitlement?
One of the amazing things--and I credit the actress with this--is that I don't hate Becky. For all the terrible, awful things she's done in this ep, she's coming from a point of view wherein she must face reality and decide to change it--for real. Not with fantasy fulfillment courtesy of a CDR, but for real. Emily Perkins makes the character of Becky not totally hateful. And if a fan did this sort of thing in RL to a RL person, I'd be pretty much livid, because what she did was criminal.
I still hope this is the last we see of her as crazed fangirl (emphasis on "crazed." 'Cause she really did go off her rocker in this one).
And it was at the end of this self-disclosure that Sam talked her out of drugging him and into helping gank a CDR. Because that would be beneficial for everybody. Becky would get to really help out on a real hunt that would really save people (like Barnes and Damien did). And Sam would have his life back.
Also? Jared has really pretty eyes. I don't say that often, but the shape of them is very intriguing.
At the Alpin Haus, after the reunion, Becky shows up and says she wants to make the deal. Rather than going through, though, she drops a lighter on a devil's trap and retreats to where Dean, Garth, and Sam step into the scene. She's so excited with herself that she did it just like she and Sam planned. "I am AWESOME!" she says. Um, Becky? That's exactly what Ruby said right before Dean ganked her. You might want to . . . that's right. Just step out of the way.
Okay, why does Guy want Dean's autograph. Mocking him? Probably. Admiring of Dean? Likely. Admiring of his work under Alistair's tutelage? Disturbing thought.
Ah, and there's the knife.
So, Guy is making deals and having his intern arrange accidents so he can cash in early. Sinister Intern shows up and starts tossing the guys around. Dean takes a blow to the head against a pillar/support beam and drops the knife.
Some things never change. *snerk*
Oohh! And with the holy water and the attempted exorcism. \o/ The oldies but goodies.
Of course, the baddies also have the oldies but goodies, like choking.
Intern cracks Garth's head against a table and does a Darth Vader remote choking on Sam.
But Becky comes through in the clench, knifes Intern in the back. Sam snatches the knife, tosses it to Dean, who doesn't gank CDR just yet. He needs Guy to tear up the contracts.
All in all, that was a nice little fight scene.
"Hello, boys."
Crowley! \o/ I was wondering when he was going to get there!
Turns out, Crowley is more than a little bit upset about Guy's shenanigans. "I've got one rule: Make a deal and stick to it." Consumer confidence. "This isn't Wall Street, this is Hell. We have a little thing called integrity."
Oh, really, Crowley? So what was that about the fine print in Bobby's contract, the part about "best effort" to return his soul, and all that malarky? Sounds like a double-cross to me. Still, the humor of your comparison is not lost.
Crowley offers to cancel all the deals Guy made in exchange for Guy. Sam and Dean are obviously skeptical. But I love Crowley's reasoning. He's told his demons to steer clear of the Winchesters and let them hunt the leviathans, because Crowley hates the leviathans. It's just so deliciously Crowley, always looking for a way to work things to his own advantage. If anyone has a chance of squashing the leviathans, it's the Winchesters, and Crowley knows this from years of observation and experience. Also, if he can sit tight and let the Winchesters do all the dangerous stuff without putting himself in harm's way, Crowley's all for the self-preservation route.
Crowley rips of the deals, Dean shoves Guy over to Crowley. The demons disappear, and Garth comes to, wondering what he's missed.
Sam and Becky sign annulment papers. Sam offers some encouragement, tells her to do her own thing (be yourself) and the right guy finding her (we still don't know what Becky does in RL), and she and Garth start making eyes at each other. Dean, having had his fill and being so done with this craziness, forbids Garth to even think about it. Hee!
Outside, Garth and the Winchesters say their goodbyes. Garth can't help it, he's got to give Dean a hug. It's adorkable.
More clearing of air between the brothers. Banter! \o/ Sam emphasizes the fact that he does need Dean watching his back. Dean reiterates that Sam is a grown up and handling his crazy-making issues really well. Sam assures him that yes, he's still screwy the head, he just knows his way around it better.
But this might be nice, Sam says. "You've basically been looking out for me your whole life. Now you finally get to take care of yourself."
And judging by the look of apprehension that crosses Dean's face, taking care of himself (facing his own problems, spending time in his own head, dealing with "how bad it really is" is the last thing he wants to do).
So. Becky has confronted her perceived loser-ness and been told to do her own thing and move on with life.
Garth has been on a hunt with a professional and seen how it's done.
Sam has got a handle on his Denver scramble.
Now it's Dean's turn.
Sammy? It's gonna be your turn to step up to the plate. Because Dean's got a Denver scramble of his own.
