Touched by an Angel?
Feb. 3rd, 2007 01:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwaevalarin That episode leaves me with a pretty weird feeling. And I really hope that they don't go much further down that road with the show. The problem's probably not the episode itself but the problems I personally have with christianity and especially it's god. No offense to the christians out there. That's just something between me and your religion/your god. Please keep that in mind for the rest of the review because it'll probably be very subjective.
The episode starts in a pretty dark and a little wracked apartment without the ususal "then" and "now" and I sort of miss it. It's pretty much the same every week but I got used to it and now it's just gone. Strange.
Anyway: There are angels made of stone on a table that look a little out of place. A woman is watching tv, looking bored. She switches to some "Just have faith. Listen to god blablub" show and then turns off the tv. The lights start flickering - demon? - the tv turns itself on again, the whole apartment's shaking like in an earth quake and a bright light with a dark figure in it appears at the end of the hallway.
Next thing we see of Gloria she's in an asylum (not that Asylum) and looks like she got brain washed and then told that she's the happiest person in the world. Okay, if I was in an asylum and then the door opend and the nurse who came in looked like Sam Winchester I'd probably look pretty happy, too. I'm still trying to figure out if Sam looks ridiculous or hot in those clothes. Or both. She tells Sam that god send an angel to her and that angel told her to stab a bad man. And she did it without knowing who that guy was or what he did that was so bad. Obviously it's just much easier to let a higher power think for you and take all the responsibility.
When Sam comes back to the motel room Dean's enjoying some music and a massage.
"Man you gotta try this. There really is magic in the magic fingers."
"Dean, you're enjoying this way to much. It's kinda making me uncomfortable."
Why? He's just making the best out of the situation which is: He can't leave the motel room or at least not walk into a government facility because he was on the news and the FBI is after him. And we know how easily Dean get's bored. But unfortuately there are no quarters left which means no more magic finger for you, Dean.
Sam thinks that Gloria really was visited by an angel. Erm, Sammy? Something seemingly supernatural told her to kill someone? What about this sounds like "angel" to you? But Dean's argument that there's no such thing as angels just because they never ran into one is not really convincing either.
"There's a ton of lore on unicorns, too. I hear they ride on silver moon beams and they shoot rainbows out of their ass."
"Wait! There's no such thing as unicorns?"
Thihi! *ruffels sammy's hair*
They drive by the victim's house and find an angel figure by the door.
"I think I learnd a valuable lesson: Always take down your christmas decorations afer new years or you might get filleted by a hooker from god."
"I'm laughing on the inside."
Sammy, lighten up. A little? Please?
They decide to take a look at the basement since Gloria said that "the guy was guilty to his deepest foundations.". I don't think she meant that literally but the basement always is a good place to look for dirt. You know, the saying "to have skeletons in the closet" in german is "to have bodies in the basement". You can take that one literally here. So it seems like the "angel" did tell Gloria to kill a murderer. Which still means that she killed another human, one she didn't know a thing about, just because some supernatural being talked her into it. And that's something I still think is scary, not matter who her victim was and what he did.
The "angel" talks another guy into a killing who then goes to the police and confesses. Things about christianity I don't get number I-stopped-counting: You can pretty much commit every sin you want and then you just confess and everything's fine again. Makes things pretty easy.
"Did you bring quarters?"
"Dude, I'm not enableing your sick habit. You're like on of those lab rats that pushes the pleasure button instead of the food button until it dies."
I knew you can get addicted to a lot of things but to vibrating beds? And Dean the lab rat. Awww! How cute! I want a rat and call it Dean. I promise it'll get food and a pleasure button.
Sammy, the expert in opening every window, door and password protected computer file. And, hell, those e-mails are sick. *shivers* Stupid girl. Lucky for her that he won't show up. But talking about his murderer: Doing the "right" thing for the wrong reason or without thinking about the reasons at all in this case... I think you got my opinion about this by now.
The victims went to the same church so that's the place to go. Wah! Churches! *hides* But I kind of like the priest. They learn that another priest was shot two months earlier.
"Devoted priest dies a violent death. That's vengful spirit material there."
Exactly!
"What's next? You're gonna start praying every day?"
"I do."
I swear to you I said "What?!" exactly the same moment Dean said it. You're looking for a force of good in your life, Sam? Look right beside you. Why do people never see what's right in front of them?
Next thing Sam meets the "angel". Not good. Dean finds Sam lying on the floor and is by his side in a second. Awwww! *feels all warm inside* Could you now please open your eyes, Sammy? There is an angel. He might not look like one but he is your personal angel and force of good and he doesn't need some bright light.
But Sammy is brain washed like Gloria and the drunk. And you know the funny thing about this? The guy the "angel" wants him to kill didn't do anything yet. But he will. Wasn't that Gordon's argument when he wanted to kill Sam? Can you hear yourself, Sammy? Trying to shake some sense back into him didnt work the last time. Maybe I'll try pouring cold water over his heas this time. Lots of icy cold water. Sammy, I love you but right now you're driving me insane.
"You know, you're supossed to be bad, too, Sam. Maybe I should just stop you right now."
Thank you, Dean.
I don't think Sam gets the point (at least my point). It's not about if there's good in the world it's about his clinging to this like it's the only possible force of good. This thing, angel or not, makes people kill. That's nothing good in my eyes, that's nothing good in Dean's eyes, and, I'm pretty sure, that'd be nothing good in Sam's eyes if he'd let go and not desperatly try to change it into something he wants it to be. Which is hard for him right now, I do see that and I do understand that.
"I tell you who else had faith like that: Mom. She used to tell me when she tucked me in that angels are watching over us. I think that was the last thing she ever said to me."
I can picture that so well. Mary comes pretty close to my picture of an angel. And I see how Dean lost faith in everything that's good when his mother died and no angel came to save her. That's really sad.
Dean wants to prove Sam that they are dealing with a spirit. And the only way to convince Sam is a seance. Even if they have to use a SpongeBob placemat. But before they get the chance for that Sam sees his victim and is all about stopping him.
"Define stop."
At this point I was really scared that Sam'd kill an innocent in this episode. And, yeah, so far he is an innocent. (Why does the whole "No, Chris, we're not vanquishing a baby." - "It's a demon!" discussion from Charmed 609 come to my mind now?) Dean tricks Sam to prevent exactly that from happening. He follows the guy and saves the girl he (the guy, not Dean) would have hurt otherwise. There's a car chase that ends very apruptly with an accident and the guy being dead with a pipe through his chest. I hope that was an accident or that god is worse than I thought he is.
Meanwhile Sam performs the seance at father Gregorys grave. Sam is speaking Latin. *rrrrr* He get's caught by father Reynolds.
"I can explain. ... Actually, maybe I can't. Erm... this is a seance."
"A seance? Young man, you are in a house of god."
"It's based on early christian rites if that helps any."
Cute. *g* That moment the "angel"/ghost shows up.
"What's that? Is that an angel?"
"No it's not."
I do feel sorry for Sam. It hurts to have taken something away that you cling to. I want to hug him and tell him that though this was not an angel and there may be no god answering him doesn't mean that there isn't good in the world. There is, Sammy. I promise.
And it made me smile sadly that Sam accepts that he was wrong even though it hurts.
Reynolds and Gregory seem to be two sides of christianity here. Reynolds represents the side that I can accept though it'll never be what I believe in and Gregory is the side I seem to meet most of the time, the side that judges others and their believes. That formed my picture of this religion so much that I don't manage to be neutral though I know that's not exactly fair.
And then there's the last scene back in the motel:
"I don't know, Dean. I just... I wanted to believe. So badly. It's so damn hard to do this. What we do. All alone, you know and... There's so much evil on the world Dean I feel like I could drown in it."
Oh, Sammy. *hugs*
"And when I think about my destiny and when I think about how I could end up."
"Yeah, well, don't worry about that, all right? I'm watching out for ya."
"Yeah, I know you are."
*melts*
"But you're just one person, Dean. And I needed to think that there was something else watching, too, you know. Some higher power. Some greater good. And then maybe..."
"Maybe what."
"Maybe I could be saved."
Maybe you don't need a "higher power", Sam. Maybe you "just" need a little hope and faith in yourself. And in Dean. Maybe "one person" is enough.
"But, you know, it just clouded my judgement and you're right. I mean we gotta go with what we know, with what we can see, with what's right there in front of our own two eyes."
"Well, that's funny you say that."
"What?"
"This spirit gave you some good information. The guy in the car was bad news. I barely got there in time."
"What happend?"
"He's dead."
"Did you...?"
"No. But I tell you one thing: If... the way he died, if I hadn't seen it with my own two eyes I wouldn't have believed it. I mean... I don't know what to call it."
"What? Dean, what did you see?"
"Maybe... god's will."
That last part of the scene is where my problem with the episode lies. I don't like what it's saying. Or maybe it doesn't really say anything about the mythologie of the show but more about our boys and I'm just afraid what it might be saying. *is confusing herself* Maybe I should just finally get over my issues with the christian god. But I just don't manage to. For me evil is a matter of perspective and from my point of view, if he exists and if he is the way he's portrayed (not just) in this episode, he is evil. Different to the way demons are evil but still. Which makes a world where no other power than those of heaven and hell exist a pretty messed up place in my eyes. Fortunately Supernatural, at least in the other episodes, is a show where other powers do matter. And I hope that won't change.
Don't get me wrong: I think it's great that Dean found a little faith. I just don't like the place he found it in.
So in conclusion: Watching the epsiode again and writing about it made things better but I still don't know if I liked the episode.
The episode starts in a pretty dark and a little wracked apartment without the ususal "then" and "now" and I sort of miss it. It's pretty much the same every week but I got used to it and now it's just gone. Strange.
Anyway: There are angels made of stone on a table that look a little out of place. A woman is watching tv, looking bored. She switches to some "Just have faith. Listen to god blablub" show and then turns off the tv. The lights start flickering - demon? - the tv turns itself on again, the whole apartment's shaking like in an earth quake and a bright light with a dark figure in it appears at the end of the hallway.
Next thing we see of Gloria she's in an asylum (not that Asylum) and looks like she got brain washed and then told that she's the happiest person in the world. Okay, if I was in an asylum and then the door opend and the nurse who came in looked like Sam Winchester I'd probably look pretty happy, too. I'm still trying to figure out if Sam looks ridiculous or hot in those clothes. Or both. She tells Sam that god send an angel to her and that angel told her to stab a bad man. And she did it without knowing who that guy was or what he did that was so bad. Obviously it's just much easier to let a higher power think for you and take all the responsibility.
When Sam comes back to the motel room Dean's enjoying some music and a massage.
"Man you gotta try this. There really is magic in the magic fingers."
"Dean, you're enjoying this way to much. It's kinda making me uncomfortable."
Why? He's just making the best out of the situation which is: He can't leave the motel room or at least not walk into a government facility because he was on the news and the FBI is after him. And we know how easily Dean get's bored. But unfortuately there are no quarters left which means no more magic finger for you, Dean.
Sam thinks that Gloria really was visited by an angel. Erm, Sammy? Something seemingly supernatural told her to kill someone? What about this sounds like "angel" to you? But Dean's argument that there's no such thing as angels just because they never ran into one is not really convincing either.
"There's a ton of lore on unicorns, too. I hear they ride on silver moon beams and they shoot rainbows out of their ass."
"Wait! There's no such thing as unicorns?"
Thihi! *ruffels sammy's hair*
They drive by the victim's house and find an angel figure by the door.
"I think I learnd a valuable lesson: Always take down your christmas decorations afer new years or you might get filleted by a hooker from god."
"I'm laughing on the inside."
Sammy, lighten up. A little? Please?
They decide to take a look at the basement since Gloria said that "the guy was guilty to his deepest foundations.". I don't think she meant that literally but the basement always is a good place to look for dirt. You know, the saying "to have skeletons in the closet" in german is "to have bodies in the basement". You can take that one literally here. So it seems like the "angel" did tell Gloria to kill a murderer. Which still means that she killed another human, one she didn't know a thing about, just because some supernatural being talked her into it. And that's something I still think is scary, not matter who her victim was and what he did.
The "angel" talks another guy into a killing who then goes to the police and confesses. Things about christianity I don't get number I-stopped-counting: You can pretty much commit every sin you want and then you just confess and everything's fine again. Makes things pretty easy.
"Did you bring quarters?"
"Dude, I'm not enableing your sick habit. You're like on of those lab rats that pushes the pleasure button instead of the food button until it dies."
I knew you can get addicted to a lot of things but to vibrating beds? And Dean the lab rat. Awww! How cute! I want a rat and call it Dean. I promise it'll get food and a pleasure button.
Sammy, the expert in opening every window, door and password protected computer file. And, hell, those e-mails are sick. *shivers* Stupid girl. Lucky for her that he won't show up. But talking about his murderer: Doing the "right" thing for the wrong reason or without thinking about the reasons at all in this case... I think you got my opinion about this by now.
The victims went to the same church so that's the place to go. Wah! Churches! *hides* But I kind of like the priest. They learn that another priest was shot two months earlier.
"Devoted priest dies a violent death. That's vengful spirit material there."
Exactly!
"What's next? You're gonna start praying every day?"
"I do."
I swear to you I said "What?!" exactly the same moment Dean said it. You're looking for a force of good in your life, Sam? Look right beside you. Why do people never see what's right in front of them?
Next thing Sam meets the "angel". Not good. Dean finds Sam lying on the floor and is by his side in a second. Awwww! *feels all warm inside* Could you now please open your eyes, Sammy? There is an angel. He might not look like one but he is your personal angel and force of good and he doesn't need some bright light.
But Sammy is brain washed like Gloria and the drunk. And you know the funny thing about this? The guy the "angel" wants him to kill didn't do anything yet. But he will. Wasn't that Gordon's argument when he wanted to kill Sam? Can you hear yourself, Sammy? Trying to shake some sense back into him didnt work the last time. Maybe I'll try pouring cold water over his heas this time. Lots of icy cold water. Sammy, I love you but right now you're driving me insane.
"You know, you're supossed to be bad, too, Sam. Maybe I should just stop you right now."
Thank you, Dean.
I don't think Sam gets the point (at least my point). It's not about if there's good in the world it's about his clinging to this like it's the only possible force of good. This thing, angel or not, makes people kill. That's nothing good in my eyes, that's nothing good in Dean's eyes, and, I'm pretty sure, that'd be nothing good in Sam's eyes if he'd let go and not desperatly try to change it into something he wants it to be. Which is hard for him right now, I do see that and I do understand that.
"I tell you who else had faith like that: Mom. She used to tell me when she tucked me in that angels are watching over us. I think that was the last thing she ever said to me."
I can picture that so well. Mary comes pretty close to my picture of an angel. And I see how Dean lost faith in everything that's good when his mother died and no angel came to save her. That's really sad.
Dean wants to prove Sam that they are dealing with a spirit. And the only way to convince Sam is a seance. Even if they have to use a SpongeBob placemat. But before they get the chance for that Sam sees his victim and is all about stopping him.
"Define stop."
At this point I was really scared that Sam'd kill an innocent in this episode. And, yeah, so far he is an innocent. (Why does the whole "No, Chris, we're not vanquishing a baby." - "It's a demon!" discussion from Charmed 609 come to my mind now?) Dean tricks Sam to prevent exactly that from happening. He follows the guy and saves the girl he (the guy, not Dean) would have hurt otherwise. There's a car chase that ends very apruptly with an accident and the guy being dead with a pipe through his chest. I hope that was an accident or that god is worse than I thought he is.
Meanwhile Sam performs the seance at father Gregorys grave. Sam is speaking Latin. *rrrrr* He get's caught by father Reynolds.
"I can explain. ... Actually, maybe I can't. Erm... this is a seance."
"A seance? Young man, you are in a house of god."
"It's based on early christian rites if that helps any."
Cute. *g* That moment the "angel"/ghost shows up.
"What's that? Is that an angel?"
"No it's not."
I do feel sorry for Sam. It hurts to have taken something away that you cling to. I want to hug him and tell him that though this was not an angel and there may be no god answering him doesn't mean that there isn't good in the world. There is, Sammy. I promise.
And it made me smile sadly that Sam accepts that he was wrong even though it hurts.
Reynolds and Gregory seem to be two sides of christianity here. Reynolds represents the side that I can accept though it'll never be what I believe in and Gregory is the side I seem to meet most of the time, the side that judges others and their believes. That formed my picture of this religion so much that I don't manage to be neutral though I know that's not exactly fair.
And then there's the last scene back in the motel:
"I don't know, Dean. I just... I wanted to believe. So badly. It's so damn hard to do this. What we do. All alone, you know and... There's so much evil on the world Dean I feel like I could drown in it."
Oh, Sammy. *hugs*
"And when I think about my destiny and when I think about how I could end up."
"Yeah, well, don't worry about that, all right? I'm watching out for ya."
"Yeah, I know you are."
*melts*
"But you're just one person, Dean. And I needed to think that there was something else watching, too, you know. Some higher power. Some greater good. And then maybe..."
"Maybe what."
"Maybe I could be saved."
Maybe you don't need a "higher power", Sam. Maybe you "just" need a little hope and faith in yourself. And in Dean. Maybe "one person" is enough.
"But, you know, it just clouded my judgement and you're right. I mean we gotta go with what we know, with what we can see, with what's right there in front of our own two eyes."
"Well, that's funny you say that."
"What?"
"This spirit gave you some good information. The guy in the car was bad news. I barely got there in time."
"What happend?"
"He's dead."
"Did you...?"
"No. But I tell you one thing: If... the way he died, if I hadn't seen it with my own two eyes I wouldn't have believed it. I mean... I don't know what to call it."
"What? Dean, what did you see?"
"Maybe... god's will."
That last part of the scene is where my problem with the episode lies. I don't like what it's saying. Or maybe it doesn't really say anything about the mythologie of the show but more about our boys and I'm just afraid what it might be saying. *is confusing herself* Maybe I should just finally get over my issues with the christian god. But I just don't manage to. For me evil is a matter of perspective and from my point of view, if he exists and if he is the way he's portrayed (not just) in this episode, he is evil. Different to the way demons are evil but still. Which makes a world where no other power than those of heaven and hell exist a pretty messed up place in my eyes. Fortunately Supernatural, at least in the other episodes, is a show where other powers do matter. And I hope that won't change.
Don't get me wrong: I think it's great that Dean found a little faith. I just don't like the place he found it in.
So in conclusion: Watching the epsiode again and writing about it made things better but I still don't know if I liked the episode.
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no subject
Date: 2007-02-03 11:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-03 11:44 am (UTC)Dean really is an angel...Sam's angel.
He definately is.
no subject
Date: 2007-02-03 02:21 pm (UTC)And you're right, Dean is Sam's Angel. And Sam is Dean's Angel. I wanted to shake Dean awake and scream at him to finally open his eyes and see, that there are Angels among us. That Sam IS an Angel...
But I totally understand Sam and his belief.
Maybe you don't need a "higher power", Sam. Maybe you "just" need a little hope and faith in yourself. And in Dean. Maybe "one person" is enough.
And maybe this is not enough for some people... See, that's why I could understand Sam's faith in something good. A higher being, a greater good. I mean, after all he was raised in christian environment. Yes, he sees the evil every day, he fights it and he kills it. Doesn't mean that there's no god or something else that's trying to do good work.
And the scene with that accident where the bad guy got killed through "God's will" - why not? Maybe there really is a greater good, weather you call it God or Allah or Jahwe or something completely else, which only wants to make the world a better place. And if that means that it has to kill people, why not? As long - and here I do agree with you - as it doesn't tell people to do it's work. If it wants to kill then it should do that by itself and not tell some human being to do that dirty job.
Don't get me wrong: I think it's great that Dean found a little faith. I just don't like the place he found it in.
Why?
no subject
Date: 2007-02-03 03:35 pm (UTC)That's really hard to explain. I don't even know if I understand it myself. I think it started when I was about 14 or something that I just started hating this god. I didn't even grow up in a very religious environment but everytime I came in contact with that religion I felt like it's god tried to force his so called "love" on me. And I felt like I was drowning and my free will and my freedom were taken away from me. And the only thing I could do was fight it with everything I had. That's why I hate churches and crosses... because they bring that feeling back.
I tried a long time to just ignore that power, find protection with other forces I feel save with. Just not let this god have any influence on my life. And most of the time I manage but there are situations when all these feelings, the hate, the fear, come back.
If you still want to know more about this, can we talk about it via PM? But I can't promise that what it'll make any sense.
And you're right, Dean is Sam's Angel. And Sam is Dean's Angel.
And I think that's the most important part.
I mean, after all he was raised in christian environment.
Huh? What did I miss? As far as I know John (at least officially) had no religion and I always got the feeling that using christian ritual had more practical reasons because...well, they worked so the "why" wasn't really important.
And the scene with that accident where the bad guy got killed through "God's will" - why not? Maybe there really is a greater good, weather you call it God or Allah or Jahwe or something completely else, which only wants to make the world a better place. And if that means that it has to kill people, why not?
He/she/it's making the world a better place by killing? If there's a force (one that calls itself THE power/force/whatever) that just decides who's worth saving and who's not, that decides if you deserve another chance or you if you don't, that punishes, than I'm never going to call it "greater good". If it's really that powerful than it will find other ways.
Why?
Because he found it in someone's death. Not in someone dying so someone else could be saved cause the girl was save by then but just simply in someone getting killed.
And one more thing: When I say that somethings good/evil/right/wrong I don't mean from an objective point of view but from my personal point of view. Cause that's all I have.
And when I say that I don't like the christian god then I can still accept that other people find faith, peace or whatever in his religion. As long as they don't try to force me into it. I have issues with him not his followers.