Supernatural TalkTarts talk about When the Levee Breaks
Sam is in detox and faces his literal and metaphorical demons. Meanwhile, Bobby is having second thoughts: shouldn't Sam be let out to fight seal-breaking demons? Dean disagrees: he's rather that his brother die human than live as a demon. The debate is moot as, unbeknownst to the Winchesters, Castiel springs Sam. Sam goes back to Ruby, and when Dean tracks him down, the boys go mano-a-mano. Sam beats Dean and walks out to prevent the apocalpse — at the risk of losing Dean forever.
How well does the drug addition/intervention narrative play with Supernatural's more typical use of monster stories and urban legends?
Patti Martinson, Staff Writer: I'm not sure it plays very well at all. Drug addiction/intervention seems like such a human thing to do. The detox attempt with Sam seems to jar with the general nature of the show — almost injecting too much reality in the mythos.
The drug addiction metaphor would seem to work better with monsters, as you can still get the lesson of addiction, but without making it too close to comfort for the viewers.
Suzette Chan, Assistant Copy Editrix and Staff Writer: Like any other story, the addiction narrative is used to make sense of nonsensical events or conditions. But there are limits to the addiction narrative. Writers have to be wary of falling into a trap that takes volition away from characters. Happily, Sera Gamble, who wrote "When the Levee Breaks," avoided that trap by making it clear that Sam's hallucinations are his own constructions, and that he chooses his response to them.
One trope of the addiction narrative is to characterize the addiction itself as a kind of beast or animal that preys on the victim. The same can be said about depression, which is often a pre-condition or result of addiction: Winston Churchill called it "the black dog." Sam was certainly in a depressive state when he met up with Ruby at the beginning of the season. He slept with her while in a vulnerable state; sometime thereafter he learned that he could amp up his demon powers by drinking her blood, and an addiction was born. So it's not a stretch to read Sam's addiction as the monster of the week. While he deals with his literal inner demon by talking it out with his metaphorical inner demons.
However, this episode felt different than most. The monsters of the week are usually externalized representations of the psychological "demons" that haunt both Sam and Dean. There is usually a distance between that externalized story (such as the monstrous rugaru that's seeded in a good man in "Metamorphosis," 4.04) that gives both the characters and the viewing audience a different perspective on the boys' predicament. However, as a MoTW, Sam's addition is tied so tightly to the show's mythology that in some ways, you could read the story in this episode as a single, flat narrative layer. Or you could read Sam's warring psyche as its own story — a head-on exploration of the core saga of Sam's nature and destiny — while Dean carries the intervention plot and Castiel and Ruby drive the apocalypse plot.
Katherine Keller, Culture Vultures Editrix: I like the idea that sometimes the biggest, scariest monsters are (a) the monkey on your back and (b) the darkest corners of your psyche.
I know this episode left a bad taste in many fans' mouths, because of the "magical crack addict Willow" story line in Buffy, but the placement of this episode means that "magical smack addict Sam" won't drag on for several episodes this season.
Several times in the series (most notably "The Benders," 1.15) the scariest, creepiest monsters have been nothing more than "mere" humans, and this plays right along with that.
Also, the build up to this issue was much better handled than what happened in with Willow in Buffy, where, for several seasons Willow's use of magic was all sparkle shiny good, and then suddenly it's Wheel of Morality, turn, turn, turn. Tell us the lesson that we should learn bad, and then it's okay again. Nope, we knew from day one that what Sam was doing was bad and dangerous and what he went through in this episode was heartbreaking and gut-wrenching.
Wolfen Moondaughter, Assistant Reviews Editrix and Den Mother: The structure of the story is considerably different: rather than man vs monster, it's man vs man (Sam vs Dean) and man vs himself. Then again, it's technically man vs monster in that it's Human-Sam vs Monster-Sam, and Dean vs Monster-Sam. And I'm not just talking about Sam being half demon, either; I also mean, as Suzette suggested, it in the sense of how people with an addiction often are considered monsters because they behave monstrously, like when Sam slugged Dean. Still, there's not a sense of myth — well, not external myth, anyway. Certainly show myth, though.
What did the hallucinations reveal about Sam and how he perceives himself?
Patti: That is one thing that saved the addiction plot for me, it allowed the writers to do hallucinations that showed Sammy how he thinks of himself. He seems to feel himself worthless and has to build his self-esteem through the demon powers.
Suzette: Both Sam and Dean have interacted with people who return as some kind of revenant (Sam with Mary in "Home," 1.09) or while in a supernaturally-induced state of consciousness (Dean, Sam and Bobby with the rising of the witnesses — Meg, Ronald, Agent Henrikson and two kids who blame Bobby for failing to save them — in "Are You There God, It's Me, Dean Winchester," 4.02). But this is the first episode wherein we've seen one of the boys' internal conversations with self-generated constructions of himself and others.
Of course, we're seeing an extreme view of things since Sam is in withdrawal, but Sam is a thinker, so it's not hard to imagine that he's constantly debating himself, especially this season, when he's chosen to withhold information and flat out lie to Dean and Bobby. Even in the miasma of withdrawal, Sam's rational mind can't help but create a narrative from the irrational eruptions of his psyche. Sadly, no one is guiding him in his inner journey to create self-meaning.
Sam certainly knows which of his own buttons to push to torture himself. He believes in a Nietzschen will to power — to a certain extent. Throughout his life, he has tried to assert self-determination by constructing sets of personae to challenge his supposed fate as first a hunter, then a demon warrior. But of late, he has become more fatalistic. The hallucinations in the panic room force Sam to reconcile these warring philosophies, and to find a path forward for himself.
The Alastair hallucination didn't have a lot of dialogue, but his actions recalled two scenes from this season: the incident wherein Sam is strapped down to a table, semi-gutted and declared to "taste different" by ghouls in "Jump the Shark," (4.19) and the scene in "Heaven and Hell," (4.10) in which Ruby is knife-tortured by other demons while held with the same devil's trap-embossed leather straps. Semiotically, these and other scenes this season — from Ruby's high shock-value seduction of Sam in "I Know What You Did Last Summer (4.09)" to the low humour of incorporeal Dean sticking his arm into astral Sam in "Death Takes a Holiday (4.15)" — depict Sam as being the bodily site for all sorts supernatural violations. The hallucination articulates Sam's profound anxiety about having been physically violated with demon's blood from infancy, and having Azazel's blood — and now Ruby's blood — change who he is or might have been.
Sam's younger self pushes his adult self to voice the guilt he still carries for Jessica's death. He might have been momentarily placated by his own words to a suicide survivor in "Blood Mary," (1.05): "Your boyfriend's death: you really should try to forgive yourself. You probably couldn't have stopped it. Sometimes bad things happen." But on another level, he has never believed that for his own situation.
Sam's conversation with his mother was particularly interesting. Her actions led him to become a total outsider — monster, if you will — but he never knew her. Sam's construction of his mother is based on his knowledge and belief of her as a merciless, lifelong hunter who did whatever was necessary to kill demons and protect her loved ones. Sam extrapolates that instinct to bolster his conviction that he has evil in him and must redeem himself by using his demon-seeded powers to do good. He concludes that if he is already double-damned — to die, to become a demon — he might as well do whatever it takes to kill stop the apocalypse. As a man who values rationality and self-determination, Sam has no problem with choosing to a path that could directly lead to his demise, but he hates the idea of the demon blood determining his actions. Sam's interpretation of his mother gives him the charge: "Make my death mean something."
The Dean hallucination confirms a belief of Sam's that we've seen underscoring his relationship with his brother all season: that, despite whatever Sam does, what Sam is is anathema to Dean's sense of human purity. Although Sam is absolutely convinced that his actions will redeem his nature, he's tortured by his brother's rebuke and the possibility that he might lose Dean's respect and approval forever. That is a much worse torture than the bodily violation that Alastair or any of the monsters Sam has faced could possibly inflict.
How truthful are these hallucinations? Sam has articulated his issues about what demons have done and might still do to him; the adult Sam confirms that the issues young Sam brought up remain unresolved; and later in this episode, Dean says the words that Sam most fears hearing from him, confirming truth of the Dean hallucination. The only unknown is how Mary Winchester would view Sam. Given the accuracy of the other hallucinations, there's no reason to doubt that Sam is convinced that his mother would say those things, and that they are true.
Katherine: Sam now has a world view that's something along the lines of "it's me against the world" and a martyr/messiah complex. And there's more than a little self-deception in those views.
I find it very telling though, that his last and greatest fear was rejection by Dean, that despite everything, a part of his identity is always going to be tied to what he thinks Dean thinks of him. And he is very, very afraid of Dean seeing him not as Sam anymore, but as a monster to be hunted.
Wolfie: He perceives himself much like anyone does, really — disgusted with himself one moment and then trying to justify his actions the next and back again. I think the psyche is rather like a living embodiment of the "Hopes and Fears" position in a Celtic Cross tarot reading: our hopes and fears are often irrevocably intertwined. We hope we're right; we fear we're wrong. Sam hopes he will be proven righteous in his actions, be vindicated; he fears he won't. And the hallucinations always serve as the counterpoint: when he feels certain, the hallucination degrades his certainty, and when he crumbles in fear, the hallucinations build him back up. He's really doing an effective job of torturing himself, breaking and restoring only to break again. Alastair would be pleased.
I am suspicious of the hallucination of his mother, though: the way she spoke and behaved made me wonder if she really was an hallucination. How much did Dean actually tell Sam about his little trip back in time, about their mother being the true hunter, anyway?
Throughout the season, we've seen that the wedge between Sam and Dean hinges on each brother's view of the meaning and uses of Sam's demon-stained nature. In this episode, how did their views drive their actions — or vice versa?
Patti: It's driven each of them to desperation believing that what he do can save the other. Dean to pledge service and loyalty to God and Sam to succumb totally to the demon blood.
Suzette: Dean's extreme prejudice against demons has prompted Ruby to call him a "racist." The fact that Dean would rather Sam die human than to live part-demon was shocking, but less so when you take into account the hunter culture that Dean comes from. The hunters are portrayed as being a quasi-militia force with individualistic, human-supremicist leanings, so for most of the hunters, Sam is a big problem. The hunter who most exemplified this view was Gordon ("Bloodlust," 2.03, "Hunted," 2.10 and "Fresh Blood," 3.07), under whose tutelage Dean fell for a period of time. In her essay, "Latchkey Hero," Julia M. Wright summed up Gordon's attitude: "...in a clear evocation of discourses of miscegenation and racial purity, one drop of blood is enough to racially Other Sam."
It's a harsh view, but this episode showed the depth of Dean's demonphobia. However, if it came down to it, would Dean would actually let his brother die, or would he ultimately save him, no matter his nature? Is Dean like people who are wildly homophobic until someone close to them comes out and puts a face to the "scary" Other? Yet Dean is not above trading with demons. While he hated the fact that his father sold himself out to Azazel in exchange for Dean's life, Dean went on to make the same kind of deal to save Sammy. So Dean's statement that he'd rather Sam die human than live part-demon may be less the demonphobia talking than Dean's awareness of how much the supernatural extension of life — or the cheating of death — costs, a price that Dean does not want Sammy to have to pay.
For now, Dean is completely irrational about anything demon-related. Seeing Ruby in Sam's hotel room knocks Dean completely off-message. Instead of following Bobby's advice not to push Sam away, Dean tries to kill Ruby — with her own knife! oh, the irony! — then gets on Sam's bad side by laying into Sam's fundamental sense of self and self-worth: "It's not something that you're doing: it's what you are."
But doing good is the last straw that Sam is clutching. He is convinced that there is nothing that can cure him of being part-demon — nothing other than compensating for his evil nature with good deeds. In fact, he sees it as irresponsible not to use the power available to him — something that we see veteran hunters Mary and Bobby advocating. Sam has also been convinced that Dean is morally weak, that Dean won't do what it takes to stop the apocalypse, which to Sam's mind is to make full use of his demon powers. As much as it's Winchester nature to be self-sacrificing, it's also the Winchester way to choose the reality of loved ones over the possibility of abstract victories.
Sam's answer to Dean is, "You don't know me and you never will." The statement is factual — it may never be possible to truly know anyone, including ourselves — but it is also designed to challenge Dean's sense of knowledge of Sam. Throughout the episode, Dean tells Bobby how well he knows Sam. That kind of knowledge is an expression of control or possessiveness. So when Sam states the fact that Dean doesn't truly know him, Sam is repudiating Dean (I imagine that Sam's fight with his father when he left for college went down in a similar fashion).
But Dean owns nothing in this life or the afterlife. Dean sold himself body and soul to the demons in exchange for Sam's life and now Dean has pledged the same to the angels in exchange for Sam's humanity. Dean doesn't even have a claim on the hotel room that he banishes Sam from — it's an anonymous room that Sam rented in an attempt to be unlike himself. Dean's claims on Sam have so diminished that he's lying on his back, beaten by Sam, in a null space rented by a non-likeness of his brother. From Dean's point of view, all he really has for himself is his vision of Sam — and that particular illusion (what is an illusion but lucid hallucination?) is shattered when Sam walks away.
Katherine: Sam views his demonic bits as intrinsic to himself and a necessary evil. (After all, how else is he going to stop the apocalypse?) Dean views them as the things that will make Sam stop being Sam, and that's his worst fear, losing his beloved brother.
Wolfie: They've each gone as far to the extreme in their viewpoints as they could go, I think. Each had gotten to the point where they will even kill the other — or at least consider it — in order to reach their final objective. I think Dean figures if Sam goes so far as to side with Ruby despite his protest, he's already too far gone to save — nothing of his brother left, only demon. In that, he seems quite influenced by the angels, who seem similarly ready to dismiss Sam's humanity as irrelevant in the face of his demonhood. With Sam, I'm not sure if he's finally come to resent Dean's controlling influence more than he loves him or if he has just gotten so used to the idea that they can't die that he figures it doesn't matter if Dean dies or not, he'll come back like a comic book character. Perhaps Sam figures they can fix their problems after he takes care of Lilith, and that they can't really get on with their lives until that happens — so if Dean insists on getting in the way, Sam can break off their relationship for the interim. When he left Dean after Dean told him he better not come back if he walks out the door, I had the impression that Sam didn't see it as an act so much of an of finality as Dean did, that e thought Dean was juts blowing smoke the way a parent does when they say such a thing to a problematic teen. But for Dean, the door shutting was a metaphor for what happened in his psyche: his brother is gone. Now there's only a demon to fight. Let's hope that there's something inside him that wouldn’t let that door close completely.
Suzette: I think Sam takes Dean more seriously than in the parent-teen analogy. Sam believes that the world might end, and if it does, there will be no opportunity to make things right with Dean. And since Sam also thinks he's the only person who can stop the apocalypse, then he needs to do that no matter what — not only to save the world, but to have a tomorrow during which to make up with Dean.
Thanks to advice from the angel and demon factions, Dean and Sam each think that he is the only one who can prevent the apocalypse. What will be their real roles vis-a-vis the last seal? And now that we have both Sam and Dean's agendas on the table, what agendas do you think Castiel, Ruby, Anna, Zachariah and Lilith are operating under?
Patti: I think Ruby lied to Sam about Lilith and the final seal. I still am not sure what her endgame is although I have no doubt she will what is best for herself. Anna and Zachariah are too cipher-like for me to understand their agenda besides what they have stated. I do think that Castiel is up to something. The way he carefully worded Dean's oath and that his freeing of Sam indicates that he has a plan of his own that he isn't sharing with anyone, including God.
Suzette: The fact that Sam and Dean are each convinced that he is The One pretty much guarantees that neither of them is, or that both are required. I've been suspicious of the angels' hands-off approach to Sam, but by springing him from the safe room in this episode, Castiel confirms that it's in the angels' interest for Sam to continue his demon blood-fueled revenge on Lilith. But they also need Dean onside to prevent the breaking of the last seal. So what are the last seals left? The murder of the first demon, Lilith? Is Sam the only person who can kill her? Should he kill her? Lilith tried to deal with him in "The Monster at the End of This Book" (4.18). She made it sound like her death is a mandatory step in the apocalypse, so surely, her death must be avoided. What if she and Sam reach a detente? Is that when Dean has to step up to the plate and force Sam to kill her, or will he do it himself as promised? And if Sam is so steeped in demon blood that he can kill Lilith, will Dean have to kill Sam?
There's also a possibility that Ruby got it wrong: maybe "Lucifer's first" isn't a reference to the first demon that Lucifer created, but the first human-demon fusion. Sam is unique in both the natural and supernatural worlds. While it's clear he's no mere human, his ability to ingest demon blood and convert it to demon-killing superpowers seems unheard of in the demon world. As Dean points out, it's unlikely that Ruby has "the mojo," even though she can act as a source for Sam's powers. In fact, Sam's powers can come from any demon blood, so neither Ruby nor any of the other minor demons Sam has met is in his league. He killed Alastair and he has fought Lilith to a stalemate, twice. So he's at least as powerful as that class of demon. But Lilith is afraid of the apocalypse and Sam is not. Perhaps his humanity gives him some advantages and protections that even a high-ranking demon like Lilith does not have.
I suspect the show will find a way to get the boys out of the fratricide predicament, but it may still come at the cost of separating the boys in a physical way, compared to the metaphorical distance they've put between each other this season. (Wait, crazy thought: since Dean went to Hell last year, what if Sam somehow gets sent to Heaven at the end of this season?)
I've been mulling over the possibility that Lucifer has been imprisoned in Zachariah. He is a most inscrutable angel and may have been manipulating the angel hierarchy to move Heaven and Earth and Sam and Dean into positions that are unnatural for them, but possibly ideal for him. Another possibility is that Lucifer is trapped in Sam, or that Lucifer needs a vessel as strong as Sam to flow into once he's freed. In any case, the idea that Lucifer is imprisoned in a dank basement in Hell is a lot less interesting that the possibility that he's trapped in a body, or that he needs to be embodied to express his full power.
Whatever is going on in Heaven, Castiel doesn't like it, and he's been proven to be a trustworthy character. Getting Dean to swear to obey the angels as he did his own father is loophole like the one Castiel gave him in "The Monster at the End of This Book": Dean did follow his father's orders, but he has so far not followed John's order to kill Sam if the younger Winchester began to act unlike himself. However, although certain principles guide Dean's brother, Sam's identity is in constant flux and self-construction, so it may never be possible for Dean to follow John's last order. But the angels may not fully understand that.
Last week, I thought Anna might be working for the pro-Lucifer side, but this week, I recant. The scene where she challenges Castiel and is taken in by Heaven's heavies pretty much proves that we can take her word at face value. I'm unclear whether Anna has been taken upstairs for a talking to, or if she's been dispersed in a final way. She has saved the day for the forces of good in the past, but she might not be around to do the same in the season finale.
Unlike Anna, Ruby does not have any scenes in which other characters can elucidate her intentions. But her relationship with Sam is equivalent to relationships between Dean and Castiel and Dean and Anna. Out of sheer literary parallelism, I'm prepared to take Ruby at face value: that she is actually helping the boys, and not some kind of mole for Lucifer or the scarier, anti-human denizens of Heaven. (My roommate thinks the proof that Ruby is evil is in her ecstatic look when Sam is sucking her blood. But I had to explain to him that most probably, the girl just can't help it: she's being sucked by SAM WINCHESTER!)
Katherine: I'm more and more thinking that "Good" and "Evil" in the SPNverse are akin to "Light" and "Shadow" in the Babylon 5-verse. We discovered by B5's end that the war between the "good" elder races and the "bad" elder races wasn't what we thought it was, and that both saw humans as tools, things to be used, manipulated as means to an end.
Both sides are showing that they are more than willing to "burn the village to save the village" and their war seems to be more about ideology than anything else.
Suzette: That's a great point. While the angels and demons are ready to burn the village (as Uriel spelled out in "It's the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester," 4.07), Sam and Dean are the champions of the village. They're Promethean figures: since neither of them are purely human anymore, they're both mythic advocates for humankind. Is this why Sam keeps getting tied down and his insides poked at, as advance punishment for helping humans? Prometheus, who was punished for stealing fire from the gods to help humans, was chained to a rock and had his liver eaten out by an eagle every day.
Katherine: I'm not going to discount the Sam as Prometheus theory, because yes, I like it and it makes sense. It's certainly not a very fair or just fate for Sam, but I'm willing to buy, based on the evidence at hand, that SPNverse God is just as capricious, mercurial, and "because-I-said-so" as those in the Greek/Roman pantheon.
But it could also be because several of Supernatural's writers are women and they're all for giving the female portion of the fanbase a little "manservice" every now and again. And if that also works on a mythical or meta level? Well, that's just two birds with one stone.
Wolfie: I think it cruxes on just how that seal will be broken. What they should be doing is let Sam prevent Lilith from breaking it while Dean works to restore the seal he broke by doing whatever he needs to do to atone for that. But I fear the final seal will be broken by the very fact of the brothers fighting — perhaps spilling each other's blood on hallowed ground? So instead of either/both preventing the apocalypse, they'll bring it about. And the thing is, I think that's what both sides — angels and demons — want. Perhaps some of the angels, like Uriel, actually want Armageddon, to get rid of humanity, a la Cain being jealous of and killing his brother, Abel. Thing is, I wonder if either side really knows what will happen, or if they are each operating under their own preconceptions and acting accordingly — much like Sam and Dean. And who knows if Castiel, Ruby, Anna, Zachariah, or Lilith even knows what side they're on? I'm not convinced any of them are on the side they seem to be — or even that they are actually on opposing sides! They may just be serving seemingly differing agendas in the same organization, all for the sole purpose of making the brothers fight in order to break the last seal! Same as how the re-possessing of Jimmy seemed to me to be a cooperative effort on the part of angels and demons - both parties seemed to want the same end!
Personally, I'm hoping that the showdown in "Heaven and Hell" (4.10), when they were protecting Anna and working with Ruby, will prove to be a bit of foreshadowing, that they'll find a way to thwart both sides simultaneously in a tricky double-cross. Basically, I think existence hinges on whether they remain loyal to each other or to their personal views and chosen alliances. Armageddon might still happen no matter what, but will it be an end, or a new beginning for mankind, free of angels and demons alike?
Other penultimate thoughts?
Patti: I am struck that, other than Dean and Ruby, most of the characters are still not paying attention to Sam. Castiel, Uriel, Zachariah barely give Sam a thought although he has considerable power . I find it hard to believe that they wouldn't use Sam in their plans as they have expended considerable effort to recruit Dean. In the upcoming battle, Sam has already demonstrated that he can easily kill demons, something that you would think angels would find an enormous assets, regardless of the source of that.
Suzette: Robert Singer (Bobby's namesake!) directed the heck out of this episode. Some favourite moments:
- In the teaser, Sam in the panic room with Dean outside. Sam is lit in devilish red, while Dean is in ice cold blue. Both boys look less than human, but Sam is burning with anger while Dean is a corpse. Sam is talking possibilities, while Dean is half in mourning for the loss of his brother's humanity.
- Revealing the Dean hallucination by shifting to a security cam point of view. The fact that Bobby doesn't have a security camera in the room underlined the metaphorical nature of the entire detox situation.
- Dean and Bobby running from the living room to the basement. The scene is shot from the kitchen, so we had a unique view of the path Dean and Bobby take to get to Sam.
The scene where Sam hallucinates that his mother is comforting him reminds us that Sam allows himself very few comforts — not even the base needs type (food, porn, sex) that Dean never denies himself. This asceticism reflects Sam's mission-driven ethos, even if the mission itself changes from time to time. We certainly saw the extremes to which Sam can go in "Mystery Spot," 3.11. On a more poignant note, the scene with Mary depicted something that never could have happened and never will. Sam didn't know his mother, and as far as we can tell, Sam has never known maternal love; Dean is as close to being a mother as Sam has ever experienced.
Coincidentally, this same week's episode of House ("Under My Skin," 5.23) also portrayed what happens when a rational mind is set against itself as it withdraws from narcotic influences. Both shows used hallucinations to dramatize the warring factions within the overactive imaginations of the individuals affected. They did what art — including what people down-value as entertainment — does well: offer a narrative framework to think about difficult or abstract things. Kudos to these shows for going there.
The little metal bed in the panic room must be bolted to the floor. How else could Bobby imagine it would survive flailing, ginormous Sammy?
Bobby and Dean forgot to lay down angel-proofing! Let that be a lesson to all you demon-hunting youngsters out there.
The black-on-gold pillows on the sofa in the comparatively tasteful honeymoon suite look exactly like the one I have on my settee. I'm not sure whether or not I should be insulted!
Katherine: I think that Cas is playing more remote and unmoved by Dean's plight than he feels. He's going to play at being a good soldier, but I hope that he'll show his true colors ASAP.
I'm also really really hoping that the Trixter God shows up. (BTW — given the nature of who/what this being is, I feel it only fitting his name be spelled with an "x" for the cheezy 80's hair metal reference. It's certainly the sort of humor he'd be into.) Given what he had to say in S3's "Mystery Spot," (3.11) about Sam and his opinion of the two sides, I think it's the perfect time for him to show his hand and throw a monkey wrench into the proceedings of both sides. (Frankly, as much as I love Castiel, he's really overdue for a "neener!")
I know I'd certainly be disappointed if the Trixter made no S4 appearances.
Suzette: Supernatural spells the Trickster with "ck", but yes, missed opportunities for the connection to the 80s hair band! Kripke doesn't miss much, but this one escaped him.
Katherine: Well, Kripke either fumbled the punt, or the cheezy 80's hair metal band has lawyers.
Wolfie: I'll be curious to see just how Dean's oath plays out. Did he really mean it, or is he just playing Castiel to get what he wants? Does he understand and accept that the angels may ask him to kill a loved one or an innocent in the name of the greater good? That regardless of whether or not God exists and He's become the supposed kind deity of the New Testament, the forces Dean's playing with are more Old Testament in terms of their moral compass? That if God Himself is actually Old Testament in His perceptions and behavior, He may actually want Dean to destroy the world, not save it? He already did it once with the Great Flood, after all ....
Beautiful bit of angst when Dean said he'd rather his brother died than become a monster.
I have to wonder if Castiel's breaking of the seal on the panic room — seeming to parallel Alastair's breaking of the Seal of Solomon in "On the Head of a Pin" (4.16) — was meant to suggest that Castiel is really Alastair? Well, I guess we'll find out in the finale. At least I got to see Christopher Heyerdahl as Alastair again in the hallucination!
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