I see nothing but pain here
Oct. 1st, 2011 03:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwaevalarinSo, now that I have found a safe place for my angel I think I can talk about a few other things that happened in that episode.
Other than usual I will ignore everything related to Castiel because I'm not ready to deal with that, and I won't rewatch the episode so I write abut everything from memory.
Let's start with Sam and his visions of Lucifer.
Mark Pellegrino is absolutely brilliant. I missed his Lucifer, and I hope he sticks around for a while. And yes, I do realise that this means a lot of pain for Sammy, and I don't want him to suffer. I just feel that this is by far the best storyline they have at the moment.
It's weird that Michael (and Adam!) don't come up at all. Are they in different cages? I think I remember Lucifer saying something about his/their cell?
Anyway, even Sam knows by the end of the episode that he is out of the cage, and that Lucifer is not real. Doesn't mean that he won't forget it when things get really bad. So everything that he sees is stuff that Sam's tortured mind comes up with.
The most prominent theme in this episode was Lucifer posing as Dean, and therefore taking the one thing from him that he knows he can always rely on.
I'm not sure I like that phyisical pain is the way for Sam to tell hallucination from reality, and I don't want to think about where this may lead.
The other theme is a direction I didn't expect them to actually, canonically go. I mean, there was always the subtext that Dean may have been raped by Alaistair. But with Sam and Lucifer it is all but actually spelled out: "Long time, no spooning.", Sam being his bitch in every sense of the word? Not much room left for interpretation, is there?
And Dean? Dean is at the point where he considers suicide. I don't think he just said that. I don't know if he literally meant it, but he did mean it. And even then he won't leave Sam behind. He is at the point where killing Sam and himself seems like the only option left. Except that, with their luck they would probably end up in Hell somehow, so for these boys not even death is a way out.
And then there was Dean telling Sam that he is the one with the broken leg and that Sam needs to carry him, and that heartbrealing scene in the ambulance, and Dean begging, and I really don't know how they are even supposed to last another season.
I know that Supernatural has the goal to break our hearts every week, and to prove to us that things can always get worse. But I think there comes a point where too much is too much. These boys have been broken beyond repair for years, but there was always some hope left, something to fight for. But when you reach the point where there is nothing left to break, where you have reached the end of all hope, isn't that where you are taking it too far?
I love that these boys are clearly more anti-heroes than heroes. That's what makes them interesting characters. But I literally see nothing but pain here any more, and I wonder if that is really the way they want to go? Is that really the message of the story?
Other than usual I will ignore everything related to Castiel because I'm not ready to deal with that, and I won't rewatch the episode so I write abut everything from memory.
Let's start with Sam and his visions of Lucifer.
Mark Pellegrino is absolutely brilliant. I missed his Lucifer, and I hope he sticks around for a while. And yes, I do realise that this means a lot of pain for Sammy, and I don't want him to suffer. I just feel that this is by far the best storyline they have at the moment.
It's weird that Michael (and Adam!) don't come up at all. Are they in different cages? I think I remember Lucifer saying something about his/their cell?
Anyway, even Sam knows by the end of the episode that he is out of the cage, and that Lucifer is not real. Doesn't mean that he won't forget it when things get really bad. So everything that he sees is stuff that Sam's tortured mind comes up with.
The most prominent theme in this episode was Lucifer posing as Dean, and therefore taking the one thing from him that he knows he can always rely on.
I'm not sure I like that phyisical pain is the way for Sam to tell hallucination from reality, and I don't want to think about where this may lead.
The other theme is a direction I didn't expect them to actually, canonically go. I mean, there was always the subtext that Dean may have been raped by Alaistair. But with Sam and Lucifer it is all but actually spelled out: "Long time, no spooning.", Sam being his bitch in every sense of the word? Not much room left for interpretation, is there?
And Dean? Dean is at the point where he considers suicide. I don't think he just said that. I don't know if he literally meant it, but he did mean it. And even then he won't leave Sam behind. He is at the point where killing Sam and himself seems like the only option left. Except that, with their luck they would probably end up in Hell somehow, so for these boys not even death is a way out.
And then there was Dean telling Sam that he is the one with the broken leg and that Sam needs to carry him, and that heartbrealing scene in the ambulance, and Dean begging, and I really don't know how they are even supposed to last another season.
I know that Supernatural has the goal to break our hearts every week, and to prove to us that things can always get worse. But I think there comes a point where too much is too much. These boys have been broken beyond repair for years, but there was always some hope left, something to fight for. But when you reach the point where there is nothing left to break, where you have reached the end of all hope, isn't that where you are taking it too far?
I love that these boys are clearly more anti-heroes than heroes. That's what makes them interesting characters. But I literally see nothing but pain here any more, and I wonder if that is really the way they want to go? Is that really the message of the story?
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no subject
Date: 2011-10-01 04:46 pm (UTC)I watched it again several times last night and I have to think that finding the coat with no body means that the boss Leviathan is in Cas and has healed the body and he is inside finding out how Jimmy felt and will help the brothers from there when the time comes. That can NOT be the end of Castiel...it just can't.
no subject
Date: 2011-10-01 05:00 pm (UTC)But I'm sitting here thinking, what kind of world is he going to come back to? Everyone he knows and loves is either dead (Bathazar) or broken beyond repair (Dean, Sam), and Cas will probably blame himself for everything, because that's what Dean taught him to do, and the thought is killing me.
I honestly don't see how we can have a lighthearted episode anytime soon, not without that episode feeling completely out of place and ridiculous.
no subject
Date: 2011-10-01 04:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-01 05:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-01 09:50 pm (UTC)And true, the pain being heaped on the characters sucks, but I think it also gives so many people hope, especially now. RL sucks for so many people right now. It's horribly dark and painful for many with no end in sight (economy, getting or keeping a job, insurance, depression, 'why bother' etc). Their favorite characters are taking a beating on a different level, so in some sense fans and characters are making a difficult journey side-by-side. I doubt that was intentional by TPTB, but I'm sure it's a welcomed one for many who feel just as bad as Sam and Dean.
no subject
Date: 2011-10-02 06:05 am (UTC)But then I remember Balthazar, and how sure I was at first that the missing wing shot had to mean something. No necessarily that he was alive, but something that would at least give his death a little more meaning. Granted, it's still possible, but I doubt it considering he wasn't even mentioned in the first two episodes.
Of course Cas is different insofar as he wasn't just in a few episodes but pretty much a main character for 3 seasons. But still, these 10% doubt keep nagging at me. What if that's it? What if they just keep dangling his possible return in front of our faces, mentioning him once in while, but never actually bring him back? What if they do bring it back just to rip him away from us again two minutes later?
I never properly mourned Balthazar, because I held on to that hope, and now I feel like I never got closure. I'm so afraid that the same may happen with Cas, but of course I can't give up on him either.
It's great that you can still find hope in this show, but that is exactly my point: I don't see how this show still gives hope.
If it wanted to give hope, I would expect the boys to make it through whatever horrible thing is happening, and then get some kind of reward for it. Of course the world won't be rainbows and unicorns all of a sudden, but shouldn't they get something? A little space to breathe? Someone they love safe? Just something? Something that tells me, see, it was worth all the pain in the end.
But instead, Supernatural just keeps throwing new, and worse, things at them. They fight, they don't give up, they make it through something, and things only get worse. Instantly.
What Supernatural tells me is that the light at the end of the tunnel is indeed most likely hellfire.
Just to be clear, I don't dislike the new season. I already think that it is so much better than season 6, storytelling-wise. It's just a lot to take, and I'm starting to think, maybe too much.