SPN - "Heartache"
Oct. 23rd, 2012 12:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feliciakwFor some reason, my brain has been very tired of late. Maybe I need to start making a greater effort to get to sleep at a reasonable hour.
Upon rewatch, I like this ep. Without the expectation of choice backstory (Previews Always Lie), it's pretty good to just let the case unfold. Jensen directed this one, which was somewhat less "action-y" than his previous eps. Well, less action-y than "Weekend at Bobby's," anyway. Still nicely dynamic in style.
Loved the scene he played with his dad, who seemed quite comfortable snarking with Dean. Occasionally there are one-off characters I'd like to keep. The morgue attendant in "Slice Girls," for example. I'd really rather like to keep Detective Ackles around a while, too.
Also, it was a reasonably entertaining case.
Now for analytical stuff.
We have come full circle, back to S1, when Sam wanted "out," and Dean relished the hunt. But now, eight years (plus trips to Hell and Hell time) later, there's a different edge, a harder edge in some ways, to it. Back then, Sam was all about revenge, and there was always one more thing to deal with. First it was avenging Jess, then it was saving Dean from the deal. Then it was killing Lilith, then stopping Lucifer and the Apocalypse. After he came back, it was about keeping Purgatory from being opened, and finally defeating the Leviathans. Now? His "year off" has reacquainted him with what he used to want. Now Sam sees an end in sight. Close the book on Kevin and demons, and he's out. But what does that mean?
Dean, otoh, who always fought for the greater good, to preserve families, to save people--his year in Purgatory has rekindled in him the passion he has for the hunt. He's going at it with such zeal, though, that part of me is worried. I hope Dean (or more specifically, the writers) hasn't killed his compassionate side. Even when hunting with gusto and enthusiasm, there's always been a caring part, a part that values the importance of family--both to himself and to others. When under Veritas' truth spell, he confessed his desire for a family of his own even as he recognized without a doubt that he's a hunter. At this moment in time, having just returned from the front lines, from 360-degree combat, his is primed, charged, and in the zone. And yet I can't help but sense that this enthusiasm serves not only to keep him focused, but also to help him avoid "living inside his own head."
Another similarity to S1: Sam wants to focus on one goal. Then it was finding Dad. Now it is finding Kevin. Dean, otoh, while not neglecting the larger goal, has zero problem with stopping off along the way to solve individual cases and save people. Right now, at this point in time, I get the feeling that Dean's priority is more the "hunting things" than the "saving people." He's become an adrenalin junkie in need of his monster-hunting fix. So the individual goals are still there, but the motivations are different.
Sam then: Find Dad, avenge Jess
Dean then: Saving people, hunting things, find Dad
Sam now: Find Kevin, close the book, get back to normal life
Dean now: saving people, Hunting things, eliminate Crowley
Now, about their current behaviors.
Sam: Says he didn't get any of Dean's messages. Why then was he at the cabin, and why such a low-key response to his brother's return? Also, Amelia. Methinks Sam's perception of the past year is far more idyllic than it really was. It seems almost as if Amelia (or someone) purposely diverted Sam from getting his head on straight. Part of me wonders if perhaps Amelia is a leviathan or some other supernatural nasty. (Another part of me wants things to be a little more original than that.) At any rate, I think something's hinky with Sam.
Dean: Something's hinky with Dean, too, but his issues are a little more obvious right now. I've covered a lot of it already--return from the front, adrenaline junkie, living for the fight, etc. His challenge is going to be regaining his balance from living combat-ready and "by any means necessary" to being a regular hunter. He's always preferred the black-and-white cases, which is why I think he found Purgatory to be so "pure." Very cut and dried. No moral considerations. He was the only human in Purgatory, and he lived in a kill-or-be-killed environment and mindset. About the time that catches up to him and he mistakes a human for a monster, things are going to become problematic.
Then there's Benny. At first an ally of convenience, but now a comrade-in-arms. Sam wants to leave, so will Dean find a hunting companion in a vampire? Will Dean's brief time as a vampire enter the equation? Sam wants out, but what will he say or do when he discovers Dean's allegiance to a bloodsucker?
So many interesting paths this could take! And at the same time, so many ways it could go horribly, spectacularly, tragically wrong. Things are going to get a lot more problematic before they get better.
Upon rewatch, I like this ep. Without the expectation of choice backstory (Previews Always Lie), it's pretty good to just let the case unfold. Jensen directed this one, which was somewhat less "action-y" than his previous eps. Well, less action-y than "Weekend at Bobby's," anyway. Still nicely dynamic in style.
Loved the scene he played with his dad, who seemed quite comfortable snarking with Dean. Occasionally there are one-off characters I'd like to keep. The morgue attendant in "Slice Girls," for example. I'd really rather like to keep Detective Ackles around a while, too.
Also, it was a reasonably entertaining case.
Now for analytical stuff.
We have come full circle, back to S1, when Sam wanted "out," and Dean relished the hunt. But now, eight years (plus trips to Hell and Hell time) later, there's a different edge, a harder edge in some ways, to it. Back then, Sam was all about revenge, and there was always one more thing to deal with. First it was avenging Jess, then it was saving Dean from the deal. Then it was killing Lilith, then stopping Lucifer and the Apocalypse. After he came back, it was about keeping Purgatory from being opened, and finally defeating the Leviathans. Now? His "year off" has reacquainted him with what he used to want. Now Sam sees an end in sight. Close the book on Kevin and demons, and he's out. But what does that mean?
Dean, otoh, who always fought for the greater good, to preserve families, to save people--his year in Purgatory has rekindled in him the passion he has for the hunt. He's going at it with such zeal, though, that part of me is worried. I hope Dean (or more specifically, the writers) hasn't killed his compassionate side. Even when hunting with gusto and enthusiasm, there's always been a caring part, a part that values the importance of family--both to himself and to others. When under Veritas' truth spell, he confessed his desire for a family of his own even as he recognized without a doubt that he's a hunter. At this moment in time, having just returned from the front lines, from 360-degree combat, his is primed, charged, and in the zone. And yet I can't help but sense that this enthusiasm serves not only to keep him focused, but also to help him avoid "living inside his own head."
Another similarity to S1: Sam wants to focus on one goal. Then it was finding Dad. Now it is finding Kevin. Dean, otoh, while not neglecting the larger goal, has zero problem with stopping off along the way to solve individual cases and save people. Right now, at this point in time, I get the feeling that Dean's priority is more the "hunting things" than the "saving people." He's become an adrenalin junkie in need of his monster-hunting fix. So the individual goals are still there, but the motivations are different.
Sam then: Find Dad, avenge Jess
Dean then: Saving people, hunting things, find Dad
Sam now: Find Kevin, close the book, get back to normal life
Dean now: saving people, Hunting things, eliminate Crowley
Now, about their current behaviors.
Sam: Says he didn't get any of Dean's messages. Why then was he at the cabin, and why such a low-key response to his brother's return? Also, Amelia. Methinks Sam's perception of the past year is far more idyllic than it really was. It seems almost as if Amelia (or someone) purposely diverted Sam from getting his head on straight. Part of me wonders if perhaps Amelia is a leviathan or some other supernatural nasty. (Another part of me wants things to be a little more original than that.) At any rate, I think something's hinky with Sam.
Dean: Something's hinky with Dean, too, but his issues are a little more obvious right now. I've covered a lot of it already--return from the front, adrenaline junkie, living for the fight, etc. His challenge is going to be regaining his balance from living combat-ready and "by any means necessary" to being a regular hunter. He's always preferred the black-and-white cases, which is why I think he found Purgatory to be so "pure." Very cut and dried. No moral considerations. He was the only human in Purgatory, and he lived in a kill-or-be-killed environment and mindset. About the time that catches up to him and he mistakes a human for a monster, things are going to become problematic.
Then there's Benny. At first an ally of convenience, but now a comrade-in-arms. Sam wants to leave, so will Dean find a hunting companion in a vampire? Will Dean's brief time as a vampire enter the equation? Sam wants out, but what will he say or do when he discovers Dean's allegiance to a bloodsucker?
So many interesting paths this could take! And at the same time, so many ways it could go horribly, spectacularly, tragically wrong. Things are going to get a lot more problematic before they get better.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2012-10-24 09:12 pm (UTC)I have no idea how it's all going to play out...and I'm kinda glad. Keeps it interesting IMO.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-24 09:51 pm (UTC)But just going by what Sam said, Sam said he didn't get any of Dean's messages, which supports what Jim says. But yeah, this begs the question, what's up?
Something is certainly "off" about it, so I'm interested to see how it plays out. I'd lay money on things not being as they appear.
New ep tonight! But I'm really looking forward to next week's ep.