[There were two episodes of Supernatural last night. But it wasn't a two-parter, so I'm reviewing them separately.]
Dean: "I lost control for a minute. And I just wanted to say that I'm sorry."
It was a dark and stormy night. Okay, I couldn't resist opening my review with this. And I wanted to leave spoiler space before saying...
So much for Lisa and Ben. Dean not only gave up his "ex-lady friend and not kid" to protect them; he even gave up the memory of their mutual past. During the past season, Dean has undoubtedly taken some comfort in the knowledge that at least Lisa and Ben loved him, that the three of them had been a successful family of sorts, that Dean really could have had a normal life. And now, even that is gone. Dean's sacrifice really got to me. And all this just confirmed Dean's core belief that everything he touches turns to crap. Except that Ben would be long dead if it weren't for Dean, but I bet Dean never thinks of that.
The car crash was the perfect metaphor. Lisa and Ben have always been in mortal danger as long as Dean loved them, and an angelic memory wipe was pretty much the only way to end their part of the story without killing off both characters. Or even worse, Lisa dying and Dean being forced to raise Ben as a hunter, just as he was raised. Dean just saved Ben from becoming another Dean. It's so sad.
I knew Lisa, Ben or both would have to be possessed, so why didn't Dean see it coming? You know, everyone who has ever met Dean and Sam should have one of those protective tatts. And I know demons lie, but I believe Lisa really was thinking that Dean was indeed the worst mistake she ever made, and unfortunately, she was right. Props to Cindy Sampson; she was totally poisonous and hurtful, believable as a demon.
So apparently, after a season of mystery and all this carrying on, the reason Castiel wants the souls in Purgatory isn't so much to win the war in Heaven, after all. It's about power. Oh, Castiel. That's so disappointing. At least we know now that Balthazar has a shred of decency under the snark, as Dean says. Maybe Balthazar will turn out to be their white knight, so to speak. Although the writers are signalling pretty strongly that he's going to bite it in the finale.
Bits and pieces:
-- March 15, 1937, Providence, Rhode Island, and the Lovecraft story was "Haunter of the Dark." I'm not a Lovecraft fab, although it's obvious from reading about him that his work fits into the Supernaturalverse.
-- Balthazar said that taking in millions of souls was nuclear and could cause an explosion that would take out most of the planet. So I'm thinking that would be bad.
-- In the parallel old flame department, it was Dean's ex-ladyfriend who got kidnapped by Crowley, and Bobby's ex-ladyfriend Ellie Visniak who was cornered by Castiel at the end of the episode. So she's from Purgatory, huh?
-- Ben did a great job as shotgun back-up while Dean was carrying Lisa out of the warehouse. The writers have been pretty consistent with Ben; he's always been Dean all over again.
-- Can I say again that I really hate seeing our heroes torture demons? Especially Dean, after what happened to him in Hell? And we've been getting way too much of it lately.
-- Moishe Campbell of the New York Campbells. Loved it.
-- And I always love the decor in Supernatural. This week's favorite was the velvet paintings and weird posters in the Lovecraft fan's house.
-- Gold acting stars for Jensen Ackles. He made me cry. Misha Collins also did some superb work. Castiel's face when Dean refused to trust him? Heartbreaking.
Quotes:
Sam: "So we gotta get it back."
Bobby: "Or we read the copy I already made. Hi, glad to meet you. Bobby Singer, paranoid bastard."
Dean: "Am I supposed to know who that is?"
Bobby: "Horror writer? 'At the Mountains of Madness'? 'The Call of Cthulhu'?"
Dean: "Yeah. No, I was too busy having sex with women."
Crowley: "Your chocolate has been in my peanut butter for far too long."
Crowley: "I promise I won't hurt them, provided you and Jolly Green stand down. Got it? Splendid. Kisses."
Jolly Green. :) Even better than Sasquatch.
Lovecraft fan: "H.P. Lovecraft? This guy is literature. He should be taught in schools. He's up there with Dickens and Dean R. Koontz."
Bobby: "I hear you have a large collection of Lovecraft's private letters."
Lovecraft fan: "Yeah. World's largest."
Bobby: "Wow. You must be catnip to the ladies."
Lovecraft fan: "I'm in a long term online relationship."
That's two geek digs in the same episode. Come on. I might just start taking offense. If I weren't already sure that the Supernatural writers are as geeky as I am.
Balthazar: "I know I'm going to live to regret this, but I'm officially on your team. (pause) You bastards."
Four out of four car crashes. On to part two,
Billie
14 comments:
Sorry Billie, but I hated this one pretty much from beginning to end. The mindwipe was just - yech! Then again, I never liked Lisa and Ben, so maybe that has something to do with it. I did like El and, while I'm not an H.P. Lovecraft fan, I found the parts about him interesting. SL
I've said it before, I'm not a big fan of Ben and Lisa, but this episode actually got to me. Maybe because there was no sappy montage to take me out of the moment.
That final exchange between the brothers pissed me off, does Dean have to be such a jerk. I get he's hurt but Sam doesn't deserve that.
So, evil Castiel? This is why I stopped watching this show after season five. I just couldn't watch my beloved characters get so tortured anymore and evil Castiel would be definitely too much for me.
First of all you should have listed Bobby Fisher paranoid bastard quote too :)
Dean reads Vonnegut so "I was having sex" comment was stupid. Unless it was intentionally stupid that was a mistake on the writers part.
Speaking of intentionally stupid things mindwipe takes the cake. Lisa and Ben are still targets regardless of their memories of Dean. Oh and when they are captured this time they won't have a chance to call Dean and warn him/call for help. On the selfish part Dean will know that those two won't curse his name in their every waking second.
It was a mediocre episode.
I was actively rooting for Lisa and Ben to die, just so we could be done with them already. And yet, I still found the mindwipe thing incredibly poignant, because I know that losing the love/care of those two people was terribly painful for Dean. Why can't Sam and Dean ever have nice things?
Of course, I have to admit that I also had zob's thought that the wipe was semi-pointless because Lisa and Ben would still be targets, just as they were in this episode. Even if they can't remember Dean, they are still important to him and all the demons know it. Guess he should have had his own memories scrubbed, too.
Poor Dean! I felt so sorry for him that I just wanted to hug him!!
I believe that one of the reasons he did the mind-wipe is that he was becoming John Winchester 2.0. and that was one thing that he didn´t wanna become. But still it was a good resolution to Dean´s family arc this season.
Check out an HPL story (probably online) called The Music of Erich Zann. Unlike a lot of his creep-filled stories, this one is more psychological, and a lot scarier. It's also poignant and may fit with this episode in some ways.
I loved this episode. I do wonder if Lisa and Ben are safe, so I think we'll see them again.
Jen
That sounds like a great story Jen, thanks for the heads up.
I was totally emotionally drawn into this episode too, even to the Lisa and Ben aspects. While they've never mattered too much to me, the writers found the best thing about them which was how much Dean cared about them. Jensen Ackles and Misha Collins had some brilliant moments in this episode. I'm glad the director realised that and gave them the close ups they needed to rip our hearts out with their sad faces!
Evidently the writers also decided to make Dean an illogical idiot since Crowley could phone him up an hour later going "Hey Dean, guess who's ex-girlfriend and not-son I've got again? They seem not to remember you but you remember them right?"
The demons remembering that Lisa and Ben are still important to Dean didn't even occur to me, because I assumed that when Castiel wiped out Lisa's and Ben's memories of Dean, he also wiped it out of everyone else's as well. Otherwise, what would be the point?
I took the mind wipe as a gift from Dean. I immediately saw that they would still be targets but I'm sure he knew that. Perhaps Dean wants them to live in peace and unafraid of the world he let them in on. Bad decision? Maybe. Ignorance is bliss though right?
Jensen Ackles deserves an Emmy. He really is that good. Just saying.
I don't think it started out with Castiel just wanting power. Does no one see the parallel between his struggle and Sam's earlier with the demon blood?
My first reaction to the mindwipe was the same as Zob's. Upon reflection, though, I'm interpreting it as a purely selfish act on Dean's part, which, of course, he's rationalizing with his usual martyr complex.
Demon Lisa told Dean he was the worst mistake in her life, and Ben looked at him with so much resentment at the hospital. I think Dean would rather be forgotten than hated by the family he once had. It's a cop out (for the character, not the story) because he's too scared to go through the process of getting forgiven, which is why Sam objects, I think.
Erasing Lisa's and Ben's memories is just illogical. Now they can be kidnapped without a warning call to Dean. Nice job breaking it, hero!
We didn't learn who killed Lovecraft and his buddies since it wasn't Dr.Visyak. But we know something did from the teaser. Might be important for the finale.
Did Lovecraft ever get to live in a big house that screams "i have money". I thought he was a recluse with barely any income who sometimes got a story published in a maganize.
I agree with a lot of the comments here that the mindwipe was a bad idea. As Sam knows, those memories will find their way back -- photos, Ben knowing how to handle a gun, Dean's phone number in Ben's phone. Were these all wiped as well? I think Dean understands how bad the choice was just by the way he snapped at Sam. Overreaction is always a telltale sign.
Castiel's power thing is not what I was expecting. I wish Dean would ease up on him. Dean is hardly blameless when it comes to things like this. And, it annoys me that he won't try to understand Cass, but is still willing to use him for his powers.
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