Re-post for Sheltering-in-Place Re-watch
Directed by David Nutter
written by Ron Milbauer & Terri Burton
teleplay by Eric Kripke
After the intricate pilot, filled with exposition and set-up and flashbacks, with episode 2, we are introduced to the normal structure of the show as it will stand. (Of course this will morph and change, especially when it comes to the Larger Arc of Good vs. Evil, and Angels vs. Demons, and all that). But in general, Supernatural is a road-trip show, featuring Sam and Dean Winchester (Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles) driving around America in a black ’67 Impala, investigating/ fighting monsters of the supernatural variety. All we know, at this point, is that Sam broke with the family and went to Stanford University. Dean stayed with Dad. There was clearly some bad blood between the brothers, because of Sam’s defection. They haven’t been in touch in a couple of years. Dean, only 26 years old at the start of the series, is already too far gone for a normal life, and he knows it. The pilot ended with Sam returning to Stanford after an unexpected weekend with his brother where they looked for their missing father. On the night of Sam’s return, November 2, his girlfriend Jess is killed, killed in the same way his mother had been killed 22 years before.
As we learn more about John Winchester (Dad, played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan), we learn that he trained his sons to fight and kill from when they were a very young age. The lack of love and affection shown to them as children has marked them, and Dean, in particular, doesn’t even know he’s marked. He lives in the shadow of his Dad, and he has been trained so well that he thinks it’s normal. Sam recognized before Dean that something was “off”, that Dad should have shielded them a bit more. This is a long-ass Family Drama Arc (almost as long as this long-ass re-cap), and in many ways it is still playing out in Season 9.
But in episode 2 of the series, we tiptoe our way into that landmine.
Teaser
David Nutter, who directed the pilot, also directed episode 2, and there’s a new DP here, the phenomenally talented Serge Ladouceur, who is still shooting the show. If the DP for the pilot, Aaron Schneider, helped establish the dark mood and horror-movie feel of the series, then Ladouceur just helped deepen and strengthen that continuum. The look of the show has changed, by Season 9. I would say that it has a more glamorous look now, more colorful, while certainly still very dramatic (even melodramatic). Supernatural is (and has been) one of the best looking shows on television.
If you’re a horror movie fan, it’s fun to count the homages. “Oh hey that’s like Texas Chainsaw Massacre!” “That’s like Night of the Living Dead!” “That shot was stolen from Halloween!”
In the pilot, Dad left Dean a message of coordinates, and the brothers figured out that the coordinates point to a place called Blackwater Ridge in Lost Creek, Colorado. So episode 2 opens (as episodes usually will) with white words on a black screen, telling us where we are in America. And in episode 2 we’re in Blackwater Ridge. The opening of Wendigo is dark and scary, and steals from the Horror Movie playbook (I mean: lost campers in the woods? It’s Horror Movie #101, except without the blondes in bikinis.). We see two tents in the woods at night. The hand-held camera moves through the bushes, stalking the tents, giving the opening scene a deeply uneasy feeling, and the little glowing tents just sit there, fragile-looking, vulnerable.
Two guys are in one tent, playing video games together, trading insults. Their buddy, Tommy (Graham Wardle) sits in the other tent, sending a video message to someone named “Haley”, telling her he’s fine, he’s having fun.
Just a quick moment to give a shout-out to Cory Monteith, who plays one of the video game guys. Of course he would go on to huge success in Glee, before dying this past year. Awful. He was a friend of my cousin’s, and was, by all accounts, a sweet and caring person. It’s terrible, so it’s a bit breath-catching to see him here.
One of the guys goes outside to pee, and, of course, the camera stalks him, peeking at him through branches. Then comes a growling sound, and the dude looks around, alarmed, his face then going blank with horror as he opens his mouth to scream. (There are financial reasons for not showing the monsters too clearly, but I think it adds to the creep factor, as well as its authenticity, to NOT see too much. This may seem weird to say, in this day and age when you can show ANYthing in film. But I think we shall see that special effects do not date well, especially CGI. Something filmed even 5 or 6 years ago already looks fake whereas a movie like Halloween will be terrifying forever.)
The two friends left behind are freaked out, calling for their friend. Something seems to be circling their tents. Cory Monteith is attacked inside his tent, and he scrambles backwards, screaming up into the camera. Poor Tommy, isolated in his own tent, is now left alone, in the silence, with that strange shadow whizzing around his tent. It claws through and Tommy screams. BLACKOUT.
1st scene
Words on the screen tell us we are in “Palo Alto California”, and we see Sam, in a suit, walking through a cemetery with a bouquet in his hands. The light in this scene is bright and over-saturated, giving almost a fuzz to the image. The sky is blue, and the light blasts its way through the scene. It doesn’t look like any scene we have seen thus far and if you’re in tune with visual information (which everyone is), it will strike you on some level as odd, not right. I like to point out these subtle mood/style shifts because they are always motivated in Supernatural.
Jared Padalecki looks so young in this scene and the work he does here is extremely touching. He stands by Jess’ grave, in tears, and talks to her, telling her how he is sorry he did not protect her. This isn’t the first time we will see a Winchester brother RACE to take the blame for something that is not his fault, ultimately. Dean is nowhere to be seen. Sam leans down to put the bouquet before the headstone, saying, “I got you these, because you said roses were lame” … (and that detail gives Jess humanity and specificity). As he puts the flowers down on the grass, suddenly with an ice-pick musical cue a bloody hand reaches up out of the earth and grabs him. Hello, final moment of Carrie! I’d throw in an echo of the final moment of Deliverance, too, but the entire scene is a steal from Carrie, and it’s awesome.
Sam wakes up with a start from what was obviously a nightmare. He is in the passenger seat of the Impala, and “Hot Blooded” by Foreigner is blaring from out of the radio, which, I’m sorry, hilarious. And typical of the show. We get a tear-drenched tender scene and are shaken out of it by … Foreigner.
Supernatural, in recent seasons, has let some of that musical stuff go, maybe because the brothers aren’t on the road as much anymore. Perhaps everyone thought: “Okay, we’ve established the whole classic rock/heavy metal thing, no need to keep hammering it home.” But I miss it. It’s another reason why I think the show won’t “date” as much as, say, Dawson’s Creek dates itself. Or Grey’s Anatomy WILL date itself. The music in Grey’s Anatomy is so very much “of the here and the Right Now” that, as effective as it often is, will say to future audiences: “This was filmed at such-and-such an exact time.” The music in Supernatural, most of it recorded in the 70s and 80s, some by one-hit wonders but others by giants in the field like Black Sabbath or Lynyrd Skynyrd, has already withstood the test of time. Bob Seger’s biggest hits from the 1970s and 80s still get radio play. The show won’t date itself. (I notice, by the way, that Metallica actually never is represented on the soundtrack, although Sam and Dean talk about Metallica all the time. I imagine the cost for using a Metallica song was prohibitive.)
The brothers barrel along in the Impala, and Dean is obviously worried about his brother. They have an exchange that goes as follows:
Dean: “You okay?”
Sam: “I’m fine.”
I have not kept a running tally of how many times the same exchange goes down in the show, sometimes with Sam saying “You okay?” and Dean barking, “I’m fine” but it’s up there in triple digits. Admitting weakness is just so not in these guys, and that’s partly from the shadow of their Dad, who beat weakness out of them (sometimes actually? I don’t know. I think it’s certainly in the realm of possibility that he wacked Dean around – never Sam, only Dean – if he was drunk or pissed off or scared). Both of these guys are natural protectors. It gives them softness (both of them) when dealing with scared victims, especially when the victims are children, both guys squat down to talk to the kids on the kid’s level. But in themselves? Feelings? Both of them run for the hills.
It’s interesting. Because Sam already seems like the one with more emotional fluidity. He was able to let in other people in his life, fellow students, a girlfriend, and they have influenced him. But with his brother, all of that gets shut down for Sam. And Dean seems pretty rigid. I talked about the rigid thing here. The scared-hurt-little-boy underbelly of Dean Winchester is a hard nut to crack, but that’s one of the transformations that occurs over the next 3, 4 seasons. It is a credit to Jensen Ackles that we don’t get sick of that arc. Dean Winchester is often infuriating, mainly because he is so willing to throw out his own emotional growth, having contempt for people who give their mental energy to such pussy-ish pursuits. You can see where he’s coming from though. How could he grow, while he was chained to his Dad, who would not allow any softness (i.e.: weakness) in his sons? One of the underlying tensions in the show is between strength and vulnerability, and how often they are one and the same. The brothers will have to learn such lessons again and again. Both of these guys are fearless when it comes to crawling around in dark mausoleums and underground tunnels overrun with demons. But admitting, “Hey, I’m scared” or “I’m feeling really upset” is the most terrifying thing of all.
Dean tries to draw Sam out as they drive. We learn that they stayed in Palo Alto for a week, trying to find any lead on what the hell that was that killed Jess, and they came up with nothing. Meanwhile, Sam has nightmares every night. It’s not easy for Dean to talk about feelings, but he tries. And he is met with a cold “I’m fine” wall from his brother. Dean doesn’t like that because it feels untruthful, and it feels like Sam is hiding something from him. Dean has boundary problems. If you keep a diary, you should hope you don’t room with Dean Winchester, because he would be reading that shit, and all up in your private grill every time you left the house. If you put a lock on the diary, he’d pick the lock. And he wouldn’t see anything wrong with snooping, he would feel perfectly justified. Dean thinks secrets are dangerous. Sam has a lot of secrets. Sam already blindsided the family by applying to Stanford without letting anyone know his plans, and then he fucking WENT to Stanford. Secrets are BAD to Dean. So even though he hates emotions, he needs to know what is going on. It’s his job to say “It’s okay, Sammy”. But in doing so, he’s not letting his brother have natural boundaries. Grief is often a private thing. Sam is grieving for Jess. Leave him alone, Dean, for the love of Pete.
Dean asks Sam if he wants to drive. We haven’t gotten into the symbolism of the Impala yet, and what it means to Dean, but we’re already getting the idea. And all we need to see is Jared Padalecki’s stunned reaction to the offer to understand that nobody drives Dean’s car but Dean. Sam isn’t flattered. Instead, he sees the offer as pitying, and screw Dean for that. “You’ve never once asked me that. I’m perfectly fine.”
They argue about what the hell they are doing. Sam thinks it is urgent to find Dad. That’s the priority. Dean agrees, which is why they are headed to the coordinates that Dad left them in the journal. Sam thinks that’s dumb. He’s looked at the map. The coordinates are smack in the middle of a national forest. There’s nothing there. Why would Dad send them there?
This line of questioning is anathema to a guy like Dean, whose family is run like a paramilitary organization with a clear hierarchy, Dad being at the top. You don’t question the orders coming from the top. What the hell is wrong with you?
It’s the first hint of a divide between the brothers, a philosophical divide, which will widen. It’s going to be devastating.
2nd scene
The brothers stop off at the rangers station for Blackwater Ridge, to try to figure out if their Dad has passed through, or what the hell they might be dealing with. Sam narrates the history of the area, bless his heart. Dean, meanwhile, is distracted by a picture of a grizzly bear. “Dude, look at this friggin’ bear.” Dude, you need to focus. The ranger comes in to talk to them, and they pose as environmental studies majors at the university in Boulder. Sam says they are “working on a paper”, clearly improvising, and you can watch the glorious schtick of Jensen Ackles as he adjusts to the new information of who he is supposed to be pretending to be. God is in the details, people, and it’s the detailed scene work of both Ackles and Padalecki that keeps this show going. David Nutter referred to Jensen Ackles once as a “meticulous actor” in terms of his preparation for every scene, no matter how small, and it pays off. He knows what the fuck he is doing. So does Padalecki. I couldn’t give two shits about the demons. It’s that DYNAMIC that is so entertaining and watch-able.
As we move along, small shout-out, again, to the production design team for the ranger’s station. Most of episode 2 takes place outside, in the forest, with only three interiors, the ranger’s station being one of them. It’s perfect. And it goes deep into the other room seen through the doorway. Every prop is carefully chosen.
I’ve driven cross-country a couple of times. I’ve camped in national forests. That is totally the vibe of those places, even down to the clutter, and the dark wood walls, the stone fireplace, the low light. You can almost smell the fir trees outside.
The ranger doesn’t buy the shit that they’re selling and guesses that they are actually friends with “that Haley girl”. Sam and Dean have no idea what he is talking about, but they sense an “in” and so they say yes, of course, they are friends with her. The ranger gives us the exposition: Haley has filed a missing persons report for her brother who had gone out camping with some friends on Blackwater Ridge and has not returned. The guys filed a camping permit with the ranger’s station and weren’t SUPPOSED to return as of yet, so as far as the ranger is concerned, nobody is missing and Haley is being a pain in the ass.
The brothers listen to this story and they are framed in a way which will become a Supernatural staple.
Both guys crowded into one frame, sometimes Dean in front, sometimes Sam, but usually Dean, because of the height difference between the actors. Sometimes the camera will show one of the guy’s faces with clarity, leaving the other blurry, and then the focus will switch. Camera operator shout-out. These are tricks of the trade, and it’s a matter of choreography and timing to get it all right. It also adds to the dual-nature of the storyline being told. There isn’t one protagonist in the series. There are two. Putting them both in the same frame underlines that for the audience, again and again.
Dean, going off on his own investigative track, causing Sam to be first baffled and then suspicious, asks the ranger if they could have a copy of the permit filed by the missing campers. They’d like to go show it to Haley, as proof that her brother is okay.
They walk back out to the car, permit in hand, and Sam lays into Dean: “Are you cruising for a hookup or something?” There’s a lot of history in that line. Of course Dean is always “cruising for a hookup”, it’s how he’s built. Along with a gun, a knife, his precious necklace, and a roll of duct tape, you know that the man always has a condom somewhere on his person. He would never need to stop off at a drugstore and ruin the momentum. Sam’s annoyance at Dean’s “cruising” behavior is really just a coverup, though, and the argument that ensues now (taking place over the top of the Impala) is super important.
It’s the theme of the whole show, it’s the real engine, not the growling stalking monster out in the woods.
Sam doesn’t give a shit about “that Haley girl” and her brother. He thinks they should head right out into Blackwater Ridge and look for Dad, who clearly must be out there, or why would he have given them those coordinates? Dean’s supernatural spidey-sense is working on overdrive and he thinks they should question Haley to see what the hell they might be dealing with before they charge out there. Sam is intense and coiled and fierce, but he’s holding back tears. He has to find Dad. Dean doesn’t disagree, but he thinks Haley and her brother are connected. On a deeper subtextual level, not articulated in this scene although it will come up big-time later, we feel Dean’s overall sense of mission. This is a job, and he takes it seriously. Haley needs help, whoever she is. Like I said, he is a natural protector. It’s not that missing Dad can go fuck himself, but the missing camper is ALSO important. We can’t just leave these poor people hanging, not if this turns out to be “our kind of thing”. Dean couldn’t forgive himself if he left innocent people in the lurch.
It’s a standoff and Dean is taken aback by Sam’s intensity.
Dean: “Since when are you all shoot first and ask questions later?”
Sam: “Since now.”
We’ll get back to this.
3rd scene
At Haley’s house.
Haley (Gina Holden) opens the door to see the two Hottie McTotties standing there.
It’s the mini moments, as I said, that makes this show work. Dean Winchester, floozy though he is, or maybe it’s because he’s a floozy, is taken aback by women. He stops in his tracks if a pretty girl goes by (and, on one memorable occasion, a guy – so we can infer from that whatever we want), he can’t help but stop and look. Even though he’s successful with women if he puts even the tiniest bit of effort into it, he’s not “over it” and he doesn’t consider it his due. He doesn’t have contempt for women, and he’s not scared of them. He likes them. This is not an easy thing to play, you kind of just have to have it in you. It would be so easy to have Dean Winchester tip over into Gross Land, and he does so in the pilot, with Jess. But that had more to do with Sam, and his rage at Sam, than anything else. Here, in episode 2, we first see Dean in operation when he’s in the presence of a woman and all kinds of bizarre stuff comes out as a result. And this is all on Ackles. Nobody’s telling him to play a scene this way. He just infers it from the script and his growing understanding of the character. It’s not the LINES that matter, it’s the behavior between and during the lines. That’s how we get to know someone in real life, and that’s how we get to know fictional characters.
So she opens the door, and she is clearly struck almost dumb by who the hell is standing there (wouldn’t you be?) and Dean, too, is struck by her prettiness and the fact that, you know, boobs. It’s not just about sex. I think it’s about women in general, and the lack of a regular woman in his life, i.e.: Mom. Women are almost like mythical creatures to him, they are not “normalized”, they are totally outside of his regular everyday experience. He sleeps with them, but that’s not the same thing as having women around, influencing you, counter-acting your testosterone, being there for you, supporting you, all that. He keeps it together, his sense of mission is strong, but you can see that internal switch being flipped when she appears.
They flash fake ranger badges at her through the screen. They tell her that they were sent over here by the Blackwater Ridge ranger just to follow up on her brother. She is suspicious and asks for a closer look at their badges. (I love the whole fake-badge motif of the show.)
Haley examines their badges, decides they’re okay, and then gets a glimpse of the gleaming Impala on the sidewalk. “Is that your car?” she asks. Dean is visibly proud, a peacock unfurling his feathers, and says, “Yes.” She says, “Nice car.”
Complimenting Dean’s car is the clearest road to his heart and other areas. That’s all Haley says but she decides to let them in, and there is an awesome silent moment between the brothers as they enter the house, something I’m so glad that the director and everyone else knew had to be there. Without character-building moments, the show is nothing. As Dean walks into the house, he throws Sam this crazy look which can’t quite be classified. If I had to boil it down I would say it’s a horny look, but also psyched and freaked at the same time, i.e.: “Holy shit, did you hear her just say she liked my car? Did you see how pretty she is? I’m in, dude, I’m in!” It’s not a cocky look. The show could have gone that road with Dean. Of course sometimes he is cocky that some stupid pickup line worked, but he still, after everything, manages to be psyched and freaked about women. I said somewhere else that I’m glad the show is about brothers, and not a typical buddy show, where two guys, who may be close but who are not related to one another, team up to fight monsters. You know, Miami Vice or Starsky and Hutch with monsters. The ace in the hole of the show is that Brother thing, because you can’t throw bullshit at your brother, it just won’t work. Your brother saw you crying over spilt milk, literally, when you were kids. Your brother has seen you in feetie pajamas, your brother knows your whole life. That gives both characters a vulnerability to one another that is such a strength of the show. It helps us know them. Dean Winchester is un-knowable, really, to anyone outside the immediate family circle. You need to earn your way into his heart, and very few people get to see in there. But Sam does. So Dean looks like a teenager about to go make out under the boardwalk in that moment at the doorway, and only Sam would get to see that part of Dean. It’s awesome. But best of all, is the button to all of that from Jared Padalecki, as he walks through the door behind his brother. He rolls his eyes to himself. Again, there’s so much history in that eye-roll. Dean’s on the make. He’s going to embarrass himself. Or get what he wants. Either way, it’s embarrassing to observe and it’s like no time has passed at all since Sam left the family nest.
Haley has two brothers, the lost Tommy and teenage Ben (Alden Ehrenreich), who sits there at the table, clearly upset but quiet. Haley, young as she is, is the matriarch. She informs Sam and Dean that their parents are dead and it is just the three kids now, and they keep close tabs on one another. She hadn’t heard from Tommy since he sent that cell phone video three days ago, and it is not like him, something is not right. She shows them the cell phone video. Sam squints at the screen. Despite the fact that Sam is treating this as a Dean-driven diversion from the REAL issue, which is finding Dad, he can’t help but stare at that video closely. He asks if she could forward that file to him.
Dean tells her that he and his fellow ranger over there are going to go out to look for her brother, so she should just stay home and wait for them to call. Haley doesn’t fall for that. No. That’s her brother out there. She’s heading out in the morning with a guide she hired, and that’s final.
Sam doesn’t like this. But Dean’s face goes all soft and thoughtful as he takes in her intensity. He says, “I think I know how you feel.”
That’s the moment where, subtextually, the Monster of the Week arc connects to the Family Drama arc. Those dovetails are always there, churning beneath the surface, usually not expressed outright. Dean may have been struck by Haley’s prettiness, but he is more struck by her devotion to her siblings and her determination to protect her brothers. He sees himself in her. So both family units, siblings only, are on a quest to find a missing family member. Dean understands that connection before Sam does and it drives him forward.
4th scene
Sam and Dean sit in a dark bar, with photocopies of local newspapers spread out on the table. The scene is filmed like a movie would be, with shots of pool balls scattering to the four corners of a pool table, and a waitress carrying a tray of shots through the frame. These are atmospheric details, extremely helpful in setting up the Supernatural world.
Sam is filling Dean in on the history of missing hikers at Blackwater Ridge, a history that goes back over 50 years. What I love about this scene is that it plunges us into the Sam/Dean relationship, and how naturally they assume the roles that will become familiar as the series progresses. Dean is smart, and he knows how to do research, but once Sam is in the picture, Sam naturally takes on that role. He’s good at it, he doesn’t find it tiresome and boring, like Dean does, and he sniffs out the underlying story like a bloodhound. Sam put together a pattern: every 23 years a bunch of hikers go missing. Everyone assumes it’s grizzly bear attacks, but Sam is not so sure. He pulls out his laptop and shows Dean the cell phone video sent from Tommy, the same one we saw him sending in the teaser. Sam slows down the video for Dean and shows him the shadow outside the tent that can only be perceived in freeze-frame. Whatever that thing was, it was moving almost too fast to be seen by the naked eye.
Sam has discovered that only one person survived one of these so-called grizzly attacks, and he’s still alive, even though the attack happened in 1959. The guy is an old man now, but he’s still in town.
5th scene
Sam and Dean are let into the dark and squalid room of the survivor, a tormented old guy smoking a cigarette. If I’m not mistaken, this is the only time we ever see anyone actually smoking in the show. It’s a bit of an authenticity-glitch, although I get why a network wouldn’t want to show characters lighting up every other second. But the Winchester boys come from a world where everyone smokes, let’s be real. For example, if this were a movie, no way would Dean Winchester NOT smoke. Bobby would be a smoker. Ellen would be a smoker. Moving on.
The old guy lets them in, and he shuffles off to the corner armchair and sits down, baffled as to why anyone would want to dredge up the horrible story from his childhood. The scene is dark as hell, and totally noir-inspired, with a neon light outside, suggesting that the old guy is so down and out he’s living in am SRO joint or something equally as depressing. You can barely see anyone. It’s dark, rich, evocative. This is the room of a man for whom time has stopped.
The guy’s name is Shaw and he is played by wonderful Winnipeg actor Donnelly Rhodes. (He also appears as another character in this past year’s season – they do do that sometimes, when they feel they can get away with it.) Battlestar Galactica fans will recognize him. He’s a powerhouse of an actor, and is one of the many many examples of the gravitas brought to the show by their guest spot actors. These are the scenes that help give the show its stakes on an episodic basis, it helps remind us of how horrible it is to have this unknown THING out there that has taken everything from you. If you got cheesy actors, you’d get cheesy scenes. But someone like Donnelly Rhodes, smoking and crumpled up in his armchair, brings his whole history into that scene, and it’s so serious that you can feel Sam and Dean almost tiptoeing in the presence of it.
Reluctantly, he relates the story of what happened when he was a kid. Nobody believed him then, and he assumes that nobody would believe him now. He says that whatever it was that killed his family “moved too fast to see”. Dean and Sam both assumed that they were in tents, like the missing campers, but Shaw corrects them, providing the chilling detail that whatever it was that ripped up his parents and dragged them off into the woods, was able to unlock the door of their cabin. He still does not know why he was left alive, and that knowledge is why his life is filled with wreckage. He doesn’t say that, but he doesn’t need to because Rhodes is playing it.
The brothers listen, and we get more dramatic shots of the two of them in the same frame, focus on one of them, the other face blurry, before the focus then switches so we can see the other face.
6th scene
Dean and Sam walk down the darkest hallway in the universe, debating about what they just learned. Seriously. Hats off to the lighting team, and to Ladouceur for turning what is a somewhat-stock scene of the brothers summing up for us the information as it stands into a Moody Festival of Creepiness.
As of now, in Season 9, I have enough information to ward off a Demon should that situation ever come to pass. I would know the signs. I know how to fight a ghost. I know the weapons I would need to kill each supernatural being. When a brother says, “Is it a shape-shifter?” I know what they mean. I know the difference between a ghost and a ghoul and a cursed object. It’s hysterical. But here, we’re only in episode 2, and the only evil things we know of is whatever it is that killed Mom and Jess, and the “Woman in White”, a sexy bosomy tormented ghost. We don’t know what else is out there, but Sam and Dean do, and so short scenes like this help us play catch up. They’re debating on what the hell it could be.
It can’t be a demon, because demons can go through walls, they wouldn’t need to unlock a door.
The following exchange is a thing of beauty and a joy forever, both in the writing and in the performing of it:
Sam: “So it’s something else. Something corporeal.”
Dean: “Corporeal? Excuse me, Professor.”
Sam: “Shut up. So what do you think?”
Dean: “The claws, the speed that it moves. Whatever we’re talking about, it’s a creature and it’s corporeal. Which means we can kill it.”
Dean making fun of Sam’s nerdiness is an ongoing theme. He can’t resist. But he also knows what corporeal means, proceeds to use it in a sentence, and takes the leap through deductive reasoning that corporeality is in their favor as hunters.
I realize that I am easily pleased. I think it’s one of my best qualities. And an exchange like that, 4 lines, is pleasing. It illuminates plot and character, it’s funny, it’s informative, and it takes 2 seconds of screen time. That’s efficiency.
7th scene
Cut straight into Dean going through his weapons, tossing shit into his duffel bag. He stands over his terrifying arsenal in the trunk (I love how he props the trunk open with a sawed-off shotgun). Dean is focused, tunnel vision, ready for the fight. Sam has other things on his mind, and brings them up, leading us into a pretty big argument, which will have reverb through the rest of the episode. They’ve sort of been fighting it all along but now it comes out into the open. Sam’s point is that he doesn’t want Haley and her teenage brother to come out hunting with them, it’s too dangerous and it will also hold them back from their REAL mission, which is to find Dad. Sam says, “Finding Dad’s not enough? Now we have to babysit too?” Dean doesn’t see how they could stop Haley from coming along. Besides, he points out, if he were in her position he wouldn’t let anything stop HIM from going out there either. It will be safer for Haley and Ben if they were with them, anyway. Sam is jumping out of his skin with irritation and impatience. This will pay off later in the episode too. Dean pulls rank, once he feels the argument has gone on long enough. He’s a big “Because I said so. End of discussion” kind of guy.
The argument they have here will stretch out over the next couple of episodes, over the whole first season really. It takes Sam some time to let go of his old life, the life at Stanford, with Jess, where he was ready to go to law school. He can see that old life in the rear view mirror. He’s not ready to let it go yet. But if he IS going to let it go, it’s not going to be to help virtual STRANGERS find their family. That’s a waste of time. Totally annoying. He doesn’t CARE about them.
We could also make the leap that this lack of empathy in Sam is not just because he is grief-struck for his girlfriend (although that is certainly true). It’s that something in him is “off”, something cuts him off from the empathy and fellow-human-feeling that is Dean’s reason to get up in the morning. It started in the nursery that fiery night so many years before. This won’t pay off for seasons yet, unbelievably. But I think it’s there already. Jared Padalecki obviously wouldn’t know the entire five-season arc at this point. He knows the script in front of him, and next week’s script. He’s working blind. But boy, did they cast well. Boy, did they get the right guy to play Sam Winchester.
8th scene
Haley, her brother Ben, and Roy (Callum Keith Rennie)- their guide, who is carrying a rifle – stand at the head of the trail, ready to start out. The Impala barrels up behind them. There is immediate alpha-male bullshit between Dean and Roy. Roy is a confident guy, who knows this national forest, and swaggers around about it. He assumes he will be the leader, because Duh. Dean can’t help but swagger back. It is tiresome, and everyone present (except for Dean and Roy) seem bored by the altercation. Okay, now that we’ve established that you both have HUGE cocks, can we get started?
Haley already senses that something is not quite right with these two so-called rangers, who have arrived with no camping supplies, just a duffel bag. She looks at Dean and says, “You’re hiking in biker boots and jeans?” Dean replies, “Sweetheart, I don’t do shorts.”
It’s so Han Solo. It’s so Humphrey Bogart/Clark Gable. It’s every cranky Tough Guy association you can think of. And the “sweetheart” is so rude, so infuriating, and so attractive. It shuts her up.
9th scene
Suddenly, we are underground in some sort of abandoned mine. Light peers dimly through wooden slats far above, and everything is dark and wet and stony. Two of the campers are strung up by their hands, dirty, bloody, and yet still alive. The way it is filmed is like from something out of a nightmare, or from out of a serial killer film/series which features dungeons and human trafficking. We hear growls ripping through the dark air and we get a glimpse of the monster in the doorway, but just a glimpse. He’s more of a shadow than anything else, and his arms seem way too long to be human. They’re awful arms, dangling and thin. Tommy, strung up in a dark corner, closes his eyes as he hears his buddy (Cory Monteith) scream in pain and horror as the monster attacks. We don’t see much. We don’t see anything, really. Supernatural learned its lesson from the shower scene in Psycho. It’s a well-known fact that you never see the knife actually going into Janet Leigh. Hitchcock’s point was: the CUTS of the camera are the knife stabs. Pretty amazing.
10th scene
The contentious little group of hikers make their way through a gloomy forest, all greens and greys and mist and dark shadows. Dean still can’t let it go, the whole Roy thing, and needles Roy with obnoxious questions about hunting, like “Bambi or Yogi ever hunt you back?” Everyone else walks in silence, almost visibly bored by the two Bucks up front clashing antlers.
Roy scores a point, though, when he grabs Dean and yanks him off the path out of the way of a bear trap lying there. Dean is startled at first, pissed about being manhandled (Dean doesn’t like to be touched, not without warning), adrenaline racing, but what comes out of his mouth is a soft comment, it’s almost a “coo”, if I’m being honest, it’s sexy: “Whatcha doin’, Roy?” Look for how Dean Winchester sexualizes moments. Not just with women he’s hitting on, but with everyone. It’s how he operates, it’s automatic, and it’s all due to Jensen Ackles’ ability and suggestibility: the script suggests it, he runs with it, he allows his behavior to tell the story, the glances, the pauses, the tonal shifts. The show operates on that sexual plane, sometimes explicitly, it being so much about losing control of yourself, and being under the control of someone else (supernatural or otherwise), and how destabilizing it is for a Tough Guy like Dean to actually deal with that. His way of dealing with it is to treat almost every moment, even a confrontation with a demon, like a come-on. Which, on some level, it is.
So while the moment with Roy is an aggressive confrontation, Dean subverts it by going to the Sex, treating it like a come-on, a sexy grope. Dean is not entirely wrong. Sexual tension also exists in bucks clashing antlers. Dean knows that on a gut level. Fascinating.
We can make guesses about what was going on in Dean’s life in the couple of years before the series starts, and Supernatural wants you to make guesses about it, they are still providing us with information about those missing years, and interesting glimpses are certainly suggested in the script from time to time. But it’s left off the table. All we can see is the result.
I’ve always thought Supernatural was, on a pretty primal level, about men, and what it “means” to be a man, and also what it means to be a man to two guys who were brought up by a ruthless driven father who valued stoic toughness above all else. This is the first time we’ve seen Dean deal with another man in this particular way, aggressive and yet sexual, and it comes up over and over again.
Roy gestures at the bear trap and snarls in Dean’s face, “You should watch where you’re stepping. Ranger.” Dean, busted, laughs awkwardly and tries to scuffle his way out of the moment, all as Sam looks on, rolling his eyes again. This is his brother. This happens on a daily basis. As the group continues on down the path, Haley, now pissed off, pulls Dean aside and confronts him. She knows they’re not rangers. Who the fuck are they?
Something about her, the same quality that made his face go soft and open back at her house, makes him come clean. He tells her that no, they’re not rangers. They’re brothers and their Dad is missing out there too. Haley, still suspicious, still angry, asks him why the hell he didn’t just say that in the first place. Dean feels cornered and so he then barks defensively what is the most ridiculous line in the entire episode: “This is probably the most honest I’ve ever been with a woman. Ever.” He wants points for that. It’s so inappropriate, it is also not true, but it’s also something that Clark Gable would most certainly say if some little chippie was giving him a hard time. What is apparent here, in this scene, is Dean’s openness to women, believe it or not, despite the bullshit Tough Guy comment. Watch how his face changes when she pulls him aside. He’s not annoyed, the way he is when Roy grabs him, and while he still can’t help but go to the Sex undercurrent of the moment, he’s curious and open to her. It’s only once they start, you know, talking, that he has to remind her that he is the Boss of himself. Got it, cowboy. But Jensen Ackles can’t help but let that empathy come through, he knows that that is what is motivating Dean throughout the entire episode and so – as Elia Kazan taught us all in script analysis: it is the “spine” of Dean Winchester in this episode. A spine can’t just exist in one scene. It has to run throughout, it has to drill down in every moment. That’s how you get a through line that makes sense, that’s how you understand what is REALLY going on, besides the plot.
Both actors have to pull this off every single episode. Neither of them ever miss a beat.
Of course, Dean’s openness to her and her missing brother has to be clamped down on with the “honest with a woman” comment, and Haley is stunned into silence by both his rudeness and also the clear “you are woman I am man” connotations of his comment.
Perfectly, though, after that Tough Guy moment, he can’t help himself, and says to her, “So are we okay?”
Dean Winchester may not be okay, but he needs everyone around him to be okay, so okay? We okay now? After this little talk which was super-awkward? Are we okay? So yeah, Dean has boundary problems, with pretty much everyone. Despite the armor he’s got going on in his personality, his borders are porous. Having zero boundaries can come out in negative ways, but it can come out in positive ways too, like this moment with Haley.
Dean munches on M&Ms as they walk through the woods. Of course you have to immediately think of E.T., and all of the associations with that film (supernatural forces, an alien being, a trail of M&Ms, as well as, most importantly, the yearning for “Home”).
The merry band of hikers make it to Dad’s exact coordinates. Nothing there. But Sam and Dean both notice how quiet it is, no birds, no crickets. Something feels way way off to both of them. The forest they stare off into is ominous as hell. I don’t want to go hiking there, that’s for sure.
Moving forward into that forest, they come upon the horrifying sight of the two tents, destroyed, splashed with blood. Haley and Ben look at the scene and panic starts rising. Sam and Dean, feeling like they may be losing control of the group, especially with Roy charging off into the greenery with his rifle, try to keep everyone together, their eyes scanning the scene for clues, hints. Dean finds markings in the brush showing that the bodies were dragged away from the tents, but then all of a sudden the trail disappears. He murmurs to Sam, “I’ll tell you what. It’s no skin walker or black dog.” I have zero idea what you are talking about, Dean, but I know that YOU know and I feel comforted in that knowledge!
Haley finds her brother’s cell phone in the dirt, now smashed, and smeared with blood. She’s in tears. Dean circles around all of this, worried (“Are we okay?” “So we okay now?”). A shout from Roy interrupts the scene at the campsite, he is calling out to Haley, who jumps up and races off, again giving Sam and Dean the distinct feeling that they are losing control of the situation. Roy is nowhere to be seen, although that was clearly his voice, and nothing is to be found “out there”, just more trees and dark shadows. Dean, whose empathy sometimes makes him lose focus, stares around him into the woods, and it is Sam who now grabs control, Alpha Dog, undeniably, barking out an order: “Everyone back to camp. Now.”
The whole group, including Dean, hilariously, obeys. When a Leader like that emerges, you don’t question it. Once they get back to the campsite area, they see that everything has been stolen, their packs, their supplies, the tents, their phones, it’s all gone. Dean has the same “Duh??” expression on his face as Haley and her brother, and Sam, again, roars into the power vacuum left by Dean’s confusion and takes over, pulling his brother aside to speak with him in private.
Sam is so commanding here, so certain and sure of himself, that Dean doesn’t balk at it at all. He actually needs it, he needs that balancing strong-man, because hell if HE knows what’s going on here. Look at Dean’s face. Sam is clearly in charge now. Phew. Are we okay though? Everything okay?
Sam, on his own, based on the clues they have accumulated, has figured out what they are dealing with, and it is a Wendigo. Kudos to the writing staff of Supernatural, by the way, who spend the majority of their time Googling old gods and deities and creepy phenomenon and local legends and ghost stories. Jared Padalecki, once again, gets saddled with the “explanation of the lore” monologue. Sam shows Dean the “Wendigo” section in Dad’s precious journal.
Wendigos are hunters, they live in the woods, they move fast, they have claws, and they can mimic a human voice. How does one BECOME a Wendigo? Well, Supernatural isn’t going to give you all the information in one go now, come on! Besides Dean already knows what a Wendigo is, and is even more confused because he’s never heard of a Wendigo this far West. He’s pissed off, too, because he knows his gun is useless. Sam and Dean are both in a panic, it’s getting to be night, and Sam is urgent: they have to get everyone back to the cars, NOW. They cannot wait any longer, people are going to start dying. The situation becomes the Sam Winchester Show now, Sam in the driver’s seat. It’s no surprise that when they go back to the ruined campsite and Sam tries to order everyone to go back down the trail to the cars, he is met with resistance. Roy laughs in contempt, he could stay out here for months at a time, and he isn’t afraid of a grizzly bear. The confrontation between Roy and Sam gets heated. Notice Sam doesn’t sexualize it though. He’s more like a military general, faced with underlings disobeying him. You get the sense that the whole thing could get physical. Sam suddenly seems capable of knocking everyone out and dragging their unconscious bodies back to the cars like a caveman.
Dean is forced to break up the fight between Roy and Sam, and then Dean and Roy start arguing and Haley is forced to break up that fight, and honestly the testosterone level is deafening. Haley is the one who tips the scales though. She is NOT leaving until she finds her brother.
11th scene
As Haley and Ben set up camp and start a fire, Sam and Dean carve Anasazi symbols into the dirt, symbols that the Wendigo can’t cross over. They still haven’t filled anyone in on what a Wendigo is, and Roy continues to insist it’s a grizzly bear. Haley seems torn. She doesn’t trust anyone, really, except her brothers.
We’re now at the halfway point of the episode, and it’s time to put all the cards on the table, structurally. Everything’s been set up, Sam’s nightmares, his resistance to the Haley sub-plot, his determination to find Dad, his anger at his brother. We’ve also got Dean’s openness to Haley, his accessibility to a two-pronged approach (sure, find Dad, but help these people too), as well as his underlying worry that Sammy is upset and he has to help him out in some way. All of that has been established and now it’s time for some payoff.
The following scene, Dean’s monologue in particular, will be used again and again in episode re-caps, in commercials and promos. It is the POINT. Sam sits off to the side, brooding in his own little world, and Dean goes over and says, “You want to tell me what’s going on in that freaky head of yours?” Sam tries to start talking and Dean cuts him off, already moving us past that first conversation in the Impala, saying, “No, you’re not fine. You’re like a powder keg. It’s not like you.” (“You okay? We okay now? Everyone okay?”) Sam is in tears. Padalecki kills me. What is going on for Sam right now, and what Padalecki has been DOING in every scene thus far, although he has no dialogue to support it, is he is shattered that Dad isn’t here after all. It’s abandonment all over again, not to mention the fact that he has somehow conflated Dad with the “thing that killed Jess”. So now he’s no closer to finding out the truth about that either. He doesn’t understand why they are still hanging out with Haley and her brother. They need to haul ass out of the woods, go back to town, and start the search for Dad again.
It’s interesting: the fallout between Sam and Dad will be the subject of many episodes to come. Sam’s need to show he is his own man, and his long-lasting anger at how his Dad not only subjected him to so much violence as a child but wouldn’t let him go his own way. However, Padalecki is also playing in this scene a burning desire for reconciliation with Dad. It’s not in the language, it’s in the performance. He MUST see his Dad again, before it’s too late.
Dean gets the full blast of Sam’s pain, he feels it, and it’s awful for him but he is more accustomed to Dad’s vanishing acts. He doesn’t think Dad was ever IN Blackwater Ridge to begin with. Sam is confused. Then WHY. ARE. WE. HERE.
So now we get full-frontal Missionary Man Dean. The one who has the Big Picture in his head, the one who understands the job and knows what it entails. He smacks Dad’s journal, and launches the monologue, Supernatural getting that now they can afford a pretty blatant thematic reveal: “This is Dad’s single most valuable possession. Everything he knows about every single evil thing is in here and he’s passed it on to us. I think he wants us to pick up where he left off. Saving people, hunting things. The family business.”
Sam feels Dad should have looped them in, called them, something. Treated them like adults, in other words. Dean is cut and dry about it: Dad’s given us a job to do, and like hell we’re not gonna do it. Dean sees Sam’s torment, and while he gets it, he pulls rank and gives some emotional advice: “This search for Dad and Jess’ killer could take a while. All this anger you have, you can’t keep it burning over the long haul. It’ll kill you.”
Please just take a moment to appreciate the beauty (and difficulty) of the following shot of Jensen Ackles.
In my original post about Dean Winchester (and Jensen Ackles), I brought up Jeremy Renner in The Hurt Locker. The whole warrior-out-of-place-in-civilian-life thing which is so important in understanding Dean Winchester. In The Hurt Locker there’s a great scene in a Humvee, between Renner and Anthony Mackie. It, too, is a scene where the film puts its cards on the table about the Renner character. Mackie turns to him and says, “Lemme ask you something.” Renner is open, not suspicious, “Shoot.” Mackie says, “How do you do it?” Meaning: how do you handle yourself in battle and not go crazy? How do you do it? How are you so good at what you do, and how do you manage the implications of that for yourself? Renner knows what is being asked of him, but he lives inside his own skin, and it’s the only thing that makes sense to him, he was Born for War, and he says, “I don’t know, man. I just do it.”
Sam then asks Dean the same question: “How do you do it?”
Dean responds, gesturing over at Haley and Ben, and his comment is key on multiple levels: “Well, for one – them. I figure our family is so screwed to hell, maybe we can help some others. It makes things a little bit more bearable.” It’s an honorable response, for sure, but it is illuminating of darker waters. It’s an admission that Dean finds life unbearable and looks for things that can help him to bear it. Sex helps, alcohol helps, sleep helps, burgers and pie help, and helping people helps. But he’s not kidding himself. Life is unbearable. It also gives shadings to the Dean we met in the pilot, who kept insisting that their childhood was not so bad, and their family was not so bad. Come on, Dean knows how bad it was.
The brotherly tete-a-tete is interrupted by a scream for help out in the darkness. This is followed by a whizzing sound, rustling branches, angry growling, and the group huddles inside the Anasazi symbols, staring out at nothing. Badass dumbass Roy shoots into the darkness and races off, convinced he’s killed a grizzly. As he charges through the dark woods, he stops under a tree, looking around. Then, in a quick flash, a long snaky arm drops down from the top of the frame, breaks his neck, and pulls him up into the tree. Totes gross.
12th scene
It clearly was a long night. Morning comes, and the mist undulates through the forest. Sam, who probably didn’t get a wink of sleep, sits off by himself against a giant rotting tree trunk, holding his Dad’s journal, deep in thought. The camera slowly pans around him from behind, a beautiful and emotional choice. It’s all about Sam’s transformation, it’s all about Sam’s journey, letting go his life behind, and accepting the road ahead. But he can’t accept it just because Dean told him to in an inspirational monologue. He has to come to it on his own. He’s his own man.
It’s also a great shot because it acts as a breather. A small pause. A breath taken. Supernatural would get real old real quick without those small breathers. Sam has to decide to be a hunter, and in deciding to be a hunter he has to stop thinking only about himself.
Back at the campsite, Dean and Haley and Ben pack up some stuff, and as they do so, Haley asks Dean, “How do you know about this stuff?” The way other people look at Dean helps us to know how to look at him. He’s a beautiful disaster. He’s strong and obnoxious, he’s vulnerable and funny. He’s brave. He’s impatient. He’s smart. He’s clearly tough but he also wears his heart on his sleeve, and you can see he’s a giant goofball in many respects. There’s just a quick glimpse of Haley looking up at Dean, and we get it all there in her face. She’s not idolizing him, but she’s seeing him in a way she hadn’t seen before. This guy isn’t just a cocky sonofabitch with a fake badge, some bad pickup lines, and a cool car. He’s … rather extraordinary. And doesn’t seem quite to be aware of it.
Sam, having communed all night with himself and Dad’s journal, returns to the group, ready to do what needs to be done to kill this creature. Now we get a small lecture from both Dean and Sam about the history of the Wendigo, the payoff from the earlier reference. I love how they tag-team the explanation. They both seem so formidable, and Haley and Ben just listen, trying to grasp what they are hearing. Wendigos were once human, usually a frontiersman or a Native American or a miner, and during a tough winter these humans were forced into cannibalism. Ben says, “Oh. Like the Donner party.” Dean shrugs and walks out of frame, and it’s a minuscule moment but it makes me laugh. “Sure, whatever, Donner, I don’t know, nerd, let me get my supplies ready, whatever.” So the Wendigo is immortal, and the Wendigo is always hungry. They drag their victims off to a safe place, and keep them alive, so they can feed on them throughout the winter months. Charming. But this means there’s a chance that Tommy is still alive.
Haley asks, “How do we kill it?”
Dean, looking like the freakin’ Unabomber, says, “We torch the sucker.”
13th scene
As the four characters hike through the forest, we see bloody claw marks in some of the trees, unnoticed by anyone at first. Finally, Sam notices, and they realize they are surrounded by a circle of trees, all of which have the same bloody claw marks far up the trunks. Sam’s alarm bells go off. It’s got to be a trap of some kind and they walked right into it. As if on cue, we hear a ferocious growl, we see bushes waving with some unseen thing moving past. Then, in a horrifying dovetail with the blood dripping down on John Winchester and on Sam Winchester in the pilot, Haley, standing under a tree, suddenly feels something dripping down on her shoulder. It is blood. She looks up and screams, as Roy, his neck broken, falls down onto the ground. Dean shouts at all of them to run and then follows a thrillingly filmed sequence, with cliffhanger-dramatic music accompanying, of all of them tearing through the woods.
Somehow in the mayhem they get separated, and when things settle down, Sam and Ben discover quickly that Dean and Haley have vanished.
14th scene
Sam and Ben charge around shouting for their lost siblings, and Sam suddenly finds a trail of colored M&Ms leading off through the forest. Brill. Not only is it an E.T. reference, but a Hansel and Gretel one too. The show is great that way, piling on our already-existing associations. The M&Ms lead to an old mine shaft, with a big scary sign above it: NO ADMITTANCE. It is boarded up, but with a gap in the boards, and Sam glances at Ben, shrugs casually, and enters.
I love the casual shrug. It shows sensitivity on Padalecki’s part, as well as the director. Any normal person would hesitate before entering that dark hole. Sam doesn’t. Why would he? He’s been in worse places. His brother is in there. His instincts are back in gear from a lifetime of training.
15th scene
Gorgeous scary shot of Sam and Ben making their way down a tunnel in the abandoned mine, with tracks along the ground, a light source from behind them, emanating weirdly, and Sam’s dim flashlight bulb piercing the darkness ahead. We get a shot, too, of what they see, utter blackness filling the screen with a small hole far ahead, showing where the tunnel goes in the dimmest of light. It’s just beautiful.
A growl rips through the blackness and Sam and Ben huddle in a shadow. In the light source beyond, down the tunnel, we see a blurry shadow of a skinny misshapen figure moving off into the distance. Again, there is such potent power in NOT seeing the monster. The glimpse we get is enough to know that that things is not human, and it is freakin’ scary. Sam and Ben follow the monster, knowing it will lead them to their siblings, but then they find themselves tumbling through some rotten floorboards into a kind of cave far beneath the ground. It’s really gross. There are piles of skulls on the ground, but you can still barely see anything. I love that Sam says to Ben at this point, “It’s okay.”
It is? For real? Cause I’m pretty sure you all just fell into a monster’s lair and your brother and sister are missing and I am not sure how any of it is okay. But it’s a nice detail, Sam taking on the Dean role. Naturally. Over in the dark corner, they see both Haley and Dean, strung up by their arms, bloody and battered. Sam and Ben rush over to cut them down. Both are still alive. Once Haley is down, she peers around in the darkness, and her eyes fall upon her brother, also strung up. She and Ben run to him to take him down.
The placement of the characters in the scene is great, because essentially what we have going on in that dark monstrous place is two simultaneous family reunions. Haley, Ben and Tommy huddle together, hugging each other, and almost crying. Sam and Dean are separated by the three huddled siblings, Sam peering down the tunnel, Dean lying down on the ground getting himself together. He lost his torch, but he has some flare guns in his pocket (because, of course, he would). He holds them out to show them to Sam, and Sam grins, “Those’ll work.”
That’s their reunion.
The show walks a fine line. We love the brothers, and there are some killer scenes in later episodes where we get some crying and hugging and all that. But it takes a LOT for them to “go there”, and it would be out of character for them to behave in that way on a regular basis. They just don’t express themselves like that. The “that’ll work” is the brothers’ first moment of real solidarity in the entire episode.
That solidarity then leads into telepathy. The plan comes to life for both of them, in a glance, a nod. Sam stays with Haley, Ben and Tommy, and Dean wielding his flare guns, charges off into the dark tunnel. Haley tries to stop him, and Dean throws a wink back at her, which is so super over-the-top and should not be attempted by any actor who is not Harrison Ford, Clark Gable, Charles Bronson or Jensen Ackles. Or Bruce Willis. He could get away with it too. Dean is using himself as bait so the others can get away. And, of course, because he’s Dean, he shouts out provocative sexual come-ons into the darkness. “Bring it on, baby. I taste good!” Or, even better, “You want some white meat, bitch? I’m right here!”
So now we get the dual journey, of Dean in the tunnel, and Sam, Haley, Ben and Tommy making a staggering run for it. It’s edited together masterfully, building in tension and fear, with Sam pushing the three siblings ahead of him, as he holds back for Dean. They are shot from behind, being chased down the tunnel by the camera (monster), and growls fill the air, and finally, at the very last second (of course), Dean emerges from the shadows, shoots the towering thin Wendigo with a flare gun, and we see the thing burn up and crumple to the floor, howling in outrage.
Dean grins at the traumatized others, and says, “Not bad, huh?” Through the lingering flames of the dying Wendigo (I can’t believe I just wrote those words AND that I know what they mean), we see how everyone else is looking at Dean, Sam smiling, and Haley gob-smacked by his awesome-ness. Fine line, again. Idolizing characters is the fan’s job, the show shouldn’t do too much of it, they should undercut it, they should tread gently. Supernatural does, but in small moments we are given a glimpse in from the outside, of what these brothers seem like to those encountering them for the first time.
Check it out. It’s beautiful. It’s done quickly, eloquently, with no words. The implications are left to us.
And, best of all, the scene doesn’t end there. If it had ended there, it would have been not only unbearably sentimental towards one of its lead characters, but way too unironically idol-making of him. Nutter and crew decide to cut back to Dean, dirty and triumphant, grinning back at everyone, and he does this weird little head roll, with a cocky goofy look on his face, like, “Did you see that cool thing I just did?” The look in his eyes is vulnerable and pleased. And he wants praise. He’s like a kid who’s riding without training wheels for the first time. I certainly don’t mind a little un-ironic Tough Guy stuff, but without irony Supernatural would suck and I would probably hate it. Without humor, Supernatural would be self-congratulatory and embarrassing, not to mention way too idolatrous of “Real” Men Being Cool and Tough. We have enough of that in our cultural landscape. Supernatural is up to something different. Half of the battle is won through the casting of Padalecki and Ackles, who, naturally, are gifted with handsomeness and sex appeal and all that stuff (but everyone in television has all that, that doesn’t set them apart). What sets them apart is their smarts and their humor. And that final moment of the scene, and Dean’s little goofball “Look at what I just did” gesture and expression helps take the edge off the moment, and it is the vulnerability behind his eyes that allows him to get away with it.
Final scene
Big tracking shot at the rangers station, showing the cop cars, the flashing lights, the waiting ambulance, the EMTs. It tracks across the scene, a nice and complicated shot, showing Ben being questioned by the cops as Sam hovers supportively nearby (we hear Ben saying: “It was a grizzly bear – I saw it …”) and the camera rests on Haley and Dean off to the side in the shadows. We need the payoff from the sexual tension that has been percolating from the second she opened the door to them. The scene is short. Dean has a bandage on his neck, Haley has one on her forehead. She says to him, “I don’t know how to thank you.”
This is clearly a mistake because Dean, of course, has an idea of how she could thank him, and smiles at her. It’s hard to put into words that smile. It’s not the lecherous leer he threw at Jess in the pilot, although it is still, technically, a leer. But it’s friendly. Sex came into his mind when dealing with her, and he’s experienced enough to know that it crossed her mind too, so he can’t help it. He eye-fucks her, knowing he’s being silly and ridiculous but what the hell. Seriously. How does this actor do it? It would be so gross in someone else’s hands.
But her reaction is even better. She is struck by how obvious he’s being, for real, dude?, but she can’t help but flirt back. You know, it’s a game, it’s a courtship dance, it’s how these things work. He’s so friendly about the come-on, he kind of forces her into it. She laughs and says, “Must you cheapen the moment?” And Dean smiles and says, with gusto, “Yeah!!” More cheapened moments in life, please!! He looks pretty crazy when he says it, with the bandage, and the gleam in his eyes, but he’s not putting her down. Some men hit on women by putting them down. That is not this guy’s style. He can’t keep the friendliness out of his behavior, even when he’s on the make. It’s a calling-card. Sex is fun. Women aren’t conquests, they’re potential play mates.
Flirting makes life worth living, on a pretty elemental level. It’s fun. We all deserve it, especially when there are evil creatures out there who try to kill us. Come on. You know you’ve been thinking about me that way too. Let’s just pretend it could go somewhere for 2 seconds so we can salvage something “bearable” out of this whole situation. He doesn’t say any of that of course, but it’s all in the way he says “Yeah!!”, which is classic Jensen Ackles, and why we love him, and why we love the character.
This is only episode 2. The Entelechy is already there.
Haley and her brother get into the ambulance with Tommy, and still staring out at Sam and Dean through the back window, are driven off to the hospital. Dean and Sam are left behind, leaning back on the hood of the Impala.
As with the pilot, nobody speaks for a while.
Then we get two lines of dialogue, potent with meaning, which has been set up for us throughout the episode. Dean, suddenly vulnerable, says to Sam, “Sam, you know we’re gonna find Dad, right?” He actually doesn’t sound sure of that.
Sam, who doesn’t seem vulnerable at all right now, he seems a bit more steely-eyed and resolute, replies, “I know. But in the meantime, I’m driving.”
Dean flips him the keys, and they get in the car, all as Rush’s “Fly by Night” starts up, which, I’ll be damned, suddenly sounds new and fresh in this context.
The lyrics speak to Sam’s journey throughout the episode. It could be his internal monologue.
Start a new chapter
Find what I’m after
It’s changing every day
The change of a season
Is enough of a reason
To want to get away
Quiet and pensive
My thoughts apprehensive
The hours drift away
Leaving my homeland
Playing a lone hand
My life begins today.
Sheila, a great and insightful read again.
In a show that’s all about suspending disbelief (and has already burned mom on the ceiling), when I saw the shorts the girl wears to hike up the mountain, my first reaction was, ‘now that’s ridiculous.’
Season 1 is great for End of Episode kiss/hug/’thank you boys’/’get out of my life’ scenes.
Helena – thanks!
hahahahaha about Haley’s shorts.
Right – no worries about poison ivy? Getting scratched by thorns? Bug bites? Really, Haley?
and “thank you boys / get out of my life” – hahaha.
//Really, Haley? //
And her character makes of point of saying Dean is unsuitably dressed. I mean, really.
I’m sure the actress saw her costume for the hike in the woods and was like, “Great. Thanks a lot, team.”
well, this is awesome.
I love that you’re easy to please. It makes it a celebration. It makes me happy!
Non-verbal stuff: the writers and directors must have thanked their lucky stars when they figured out how quickly JA and JP clicked and how much they could work into that relationship. Bet the word count on the scripts went way down. A lovely moment that complements the goofy, brotherly one you note at Hayley’s door: just after she pulls Dean aside to confront him on that first part of the hike, there’s a fraction of a second when Dean and Sam quickly confer without words: Ok if I tell a measure of the truth? Yup; you good? Yup. It’s so grown-up!. It’s so professional! I LOVE IT.
I’ve gotta say a word about Callum Keith Rennie (two-for-one BSG actors!). I love this guy. He can do extraordinary things with the right material — often unpredictable things. He often goes soft when you expect hard, for one thing — and in that moment you deconstruct, he doesn’t snarl. He matches Dean’s energy with an odd coyness. Roy is competent and knowledgeable. Roy knows who he is. He just doesn’t know what world he’s stepped into. And the way he gets in Sam’s face and laughs? HAHAHAHA-you-know-you’re-crazy-right? I hope to god they find a way to repurpose him for something substantial at some point.
Sam in that convo in the dark. Ugh he breaks my fucking heart.
Jessie – that gif is hilarious!!
Yes, the look Sam and Dean throw each other over Haley’s head, the tiny silent conversation – so good. It says so much, you’re right – grown up! Professional!
And Rennie is awesome, it’s a very good performance – you’re right. He IS an expert guide, he knows these woods, he knows how to hunt. But he’s out of his depth here, poor sap. You know that if he had lived, and gone into that tunnel, he would have been an asset, and afterwards he and Dean would have done shots and become BFFs. It takes an Alpha Dog to know an Alpha Dog. But it’s so interesting how Dean goes so Beta in these confrontational moments – it’s still super tough but it’s so subliminal and disturbing.
I love when Roy gets crazy – these lunatics are holding him back, and that crazy laugh. You really get the sense of the situation spinning out of control – no real clear leader, and even Sam and Dean are a bit lost, without Dad. and they aren’t yet in the position where they call Bobby every other second for backup. They’re on their own.
Sam is totally heartbreaking. JP is so damn good.
also: it’s so great that Jess and Sam’s love for her (and ensuing guilt) is set up so powerfully in the pilot and in the first season – that they felt certain enough that they could bring her back in season 5 (I think? or is it season 4??) when Lucifer is circling him, waiting for an “in”, and ghostly Jess shows up and they have those two scenes chatting in bed. It’s established enough in these early episodes that Sam is a good guy and loved her and was looking to the future with her and giving that up is a total Tragedy for him. The reverb of that was still palpable four seasons later – that’s a powerful set up!
Yeah, Jess is a great character, and the writers and actress pack a lot into her few scenes to make her more than just a symbol — and the way Sam relates to her is part of that.
There are a few feminist criticisms you can make about this show but it is very upfront about being about Men Without Women — specifically Men Whose Women Were Taken Away From Them. That’s a pretty worked-over trope and you can argue (I do argue!) that there should be more space for other kinds of stories…but anyway. I accept the premise of Supernatural. It goes over this tired theme with enough subtlety, passion and invention to make it (very!) worthwhile. The humour, as you point out, is a HUGE part of that.
But yes, Men Without Women — and following on from my comment below to Helena — next episode we see more on that theme with Mr Carlton (I started writing this comment forgetting that we weren’t already talking about ep 3!). And we also see in Mr Carlton what happens to the children of grieving parents. His son is immediately looking after him. O hai Dean.
“O hai Dean”. hahahaha
Exactly. Dead in the Water is killer – JA is spectacular in it. And Amy Acker!!
I think, too, about the Men Without Women thing: men are often fucked up about women, in sometimes not-so-nice ways – and the series does admit that. I’m not sure that it’s quite aware of what it is doing sometimes – but sometimes it seems to be fully aware of it.
It certainly could have been so much worse. Imagine Dean without the freaked-out look at his brother as he goes into Haley’s house – imagine if he had just swaggered into the house. Like I said, we do get some of that with Dean sometimes – but honestly, not that often. JA undercuts it. That leaves a space for me – i.e.: a woman – to not feel alienated by it. So many movies with “guys on the make” treat women like they’re wild animals who need to be taken down with a stun gun. I’m sick of it. Supernatural, on the whole, avoids that – thanks, mostly, to the actors.
Just a thought about the way the monsters are set up in this first series – I’m sure all this has already occured to you, but humour me ;-). I got the impression from the early episodes that the show was very much going to be a weekly ‘hunt the monster, kiss the girl and move on and find dad.’ It was really only about half way through series one (Heart and shapeshifter episode in particular) that I got how tightly constructed the show is, so that pretty much each monster reflects directly on the Winchesters themselves. Also, how much of the monsters ‘stick’ to Dean and Sam – they don’t walk away unscathed and things come back to haunt them. So, here we are in episode two, hunting a Wendigo, which is a man who has turned into a monster – and the guys are there because their dad has sent them there. (And the old man’s story of the monster who enters the cabin is a retelling of their own story.) So you can directly connect the wendigo and John Winchester – and obviously as the series continues, questions are raised about who is John Winchester – hero, monster, or both? And what made him that way and what effect has he had on his sons? Which raises the bigger moral question, given the effects of the hunting life on those caught up in it, is there a point at which hunter becomes indistinguishable from the hunted?
Helena – very nice! Right, the writers and Kripke really had the long view in mind, didn’t they? They never lose track of it. In later episodes they will, because they can relax a bit – but everything is so tightly themed and held together, and I keep noticing things when I go back and re-watch. Season 1 is full of victims who are family people, siblings, parents. I love that it’s not too on-the-nose and we almost never have a “here is what I have learned about myself” moment. It’s done more elegantly, more emotionally.
The urgency of finding Dad starts to build – I think you’re right, with the turning points of those episodes – and the pressure starts to intensify.
The concept of empathy is huge in the series and it’s still being worked out – especially when they start to encounter angels, who are supposed to be merciful and yet are quite cold and analytical. Even Castiel – whose job it is to protect Dean (and Sam, by default) doesn’t quite get the whole “fellow human feeling” thing. And so he has a journey to go on too. The scene where he and Uriel force Dean to confront the demon that tortured him … Castiel starts to “get it” there.
And I love your point about how each “case” marks them. They leave bits of themselves behind, they pick up other pieces. The show has a long memory too – they reference stuff that happened two, three seasons ago. I love the confidence of that. Quantum Leap, for example, never did that. Each episode was practically a stand-alone, with one or two exceptions.
It’s that slow reveal of the larger questions that Supernatural does so well. Very slow reveal. Peeling back the layers.
And your last question is crucial!! Both of them lose their humanity from time to time – there’s that great line from Dean in season 5 when they re-connect after separating – and Dean says, “We keep each other human.”
Killer. It’s hard for both of them!
Jumping in here — I hope you don’t mind but I love your observation that thematically we get this question in our face over and over — is John a monster or a hero? How does what they hunt reflect on their own family? And I think one of the other cool things about this show is the way that so many of the monsters arise out of these corrupted domestic situations. Families and towns poisoned by murder or fear or prejudice or desire. The show takes those fears and desires and regrets and turns them literal. How creepy is that?
Hello, Jesse
//so many of the monsters arise out of these corrupted domestic situations.//
Indeed – roll on episode 3!
What I enjoy about series 1 is the contrast between the road trip aspect, the ‘quest’ – and this sense of the domestic, if you like. As you say, so much of the weekly monsters or monstrous situations arise from the fallout between family and friends. It hasn’t yet embarked on the bigger, cosmic picture, although that is being set up piece by piece.
Right – didn’t Erik Kripke say that the show is really about how “family is hell”? The Monsters reflect that, AND I love how in order to track down a spirit or whatever, you have to understand the motivation. You have to get at what is REALLY going on. No wonder Dean hates secrets. Secrets then turn into rage that can then turn someone into a vengeful spirit.
“I realize that I am easily pleased. I think it’s one of my best qualities.”
I love that you said this! It reminded me of the Ruth Hussey character in Philadelphia Story-where Jimmy Stewart says something like “you are the darndest girl” and she replies “I think I’m sweet!”.
These are such a joy to read, I feel like I don’t have much to add to the discussion except to say how much I love your analysis of these episodes. I find myself thinking about what you have written, when I watch other things. I saw a Joan Crawford movie last night, Susan and God (which was so good), and I noticed she has that same ability to really listen to the other actors, like you mentioned with Ackles-you see her face responding to what they say in such subtle ways.
There is something about Callum Keith Rennie that I find so attractive. Of course, he is good looking-but I think Jessie hit the nail on the head, he does surprising things. He has that quality-when he is on the screen-I can’t keep my eyes off him.
Maureen – Bless you for pointing out Joan Crawford’s world-class listening skills. I don’t think she gets enough credit for that (if any). She makes other actors better/more interesting by how she listens to them. I have not seen Susan and God!
Just enjoying everyone’s comments ;-)
And your breakdown of Dean’s ‘mad dog’ exchange at Haley at the end is great – again, three seconds of film. There’s also the look he gives her afterthat she gives him that sisterly kiss on the cheek, (love the way it’s framed) which shades that cocky leer with a much more vulnerable look.
Yes!! He goes all soft and accessible – that porous-borders thing he has. He’s taken aback by women – by vulnerability – somehow, even after everything he’s been through, he doesn’t have contempt for vulnerability – which is amazing, considering his father tried to smash it out of him. It’s such an important tension in Dean.
But yeah, I love how the leer vanishes once shit gets real and she shows him some tenderness. This will happen again and again with Dean and women.
They provide something essential for him – it’s like oxygen.
Kudos to a show that only 2 episodes in doesn’t have you questioning the existence of the Wendigo but rather the borders of its habitat! Also, this PNW resident noticed in the first image of the underground lair the similarity with strips of salmon hanging from alder planks in the ceiling. Evocative not only of native culture but also food. Fooood….
// doesn’t have you questioning the existence of the Wendigo but rather the borders of its habitat! //
hahahaha Totally true.
I forgot Cory Monteith guest starred, I’ll have to rewatch that scene. The show does look different now – the vibrant colours, more light, sharp quality, as you said, glamourous – in the last episode that came to mind when one the new characters ( C ) looked particularly glossy (not saying the complete name because I don’t know if you watched it already!).
Loved all the comments – there’s little I could add by now!
I didn’t know Kripke said that, about family being hell, but that definitely comes through while watching this show. The brother’s relationship with their father is one of the most interesting running subjects of the series, and the way it affects their growth as men is VERY well developed. More than anything I love how polarising it is: how they both love and resent John at different levels and in various ways. They’re such complex relationships, and that’s exactly what family is most of the time so Kripke got it.
Never had made the connections between the monster and the father though – loved that! Also, what JP does in this episode is beautiful indeed, and that feeling of abandonment you described was perfectly achieved.
And Dean… him idolising/resenting his father for the “family business” is such an intricate web of feelings and expectations, absolutely fascinating. I think now (s9) more than ever he walks around like he has a curse on him, yet he is willing to go to such extreme lengths to get “the job” done and protect his brother… he can’t let go, he’s on the verge of crashing and burning any second now, and it’s heart breaking. And Sam too, all that sacrifice/dying talk, I want to slap him in the face! They’re both so damaged, but so REAL you know? All their issues go back to family and values, and that is something everyone can relate to, so all the conflicts and struggles never feel trifle.
Oh and what Crowley said on the last episode about Dean was so spot on; even what C said about him was striking – loved the ep!
Sofia – yes, I’ve seen the latest episode!
Yes, they don’t seem to be doing the “drenched in dark shadows” thing as much – which is its own kind of glamour. There’s more color in the frame. Not too crazy about it.
I love, too, the polarizing nature of the brothers’ relationship and how they morph and shift and go back and forth. I have three siblings myself and it’s just so realistic – You have this expectation of your “role” in the family hierarchy and then of course that role is challenged, or subverted and everyone has to adjust. My family is really close – and it can be quite codependent (not always a bad thing). And sometimes it’s hard to remember that we are all adults now. And that we are separate people. The show just never gets sick of exploring that dynamic – showing Kripke’s intent in the original – and it’s one of the main reasons that I am into the show at all. It’s not because I have a crush on JA or JP – or because I love horror films – although both of those things are true. It’s because this is a show that delves into family – and SIBLINGS – in a way that is exhaustive and complex, and it is something I never get sick of thinking about in my own life.
I think at this point in the series there needs to be some breakthrough in understanding for Dean – I get the sense that that is where they are headed, especially with the confrontation at the end of the episode before this last one, with Dean and Sam on the wooden bridge. What is happening now IS all on Dean and he needs to Let. Go. He is not a kid anymore, and he needs to understand that he and Sam are separate people and this pattern he is in DOES NOT WORK.
He seems to know it too. He was truly desperate in that scene on the wooden bridge, and yet it was the desperation of a man who was losing.
So I am very interested to see where it will all go, and how this Cain thing works out. I had been hoping that they would go in a Cain/Abel direction for YEARS. It’s so dumb, but in the Jimmy Dean car episode – when Dean referred to the James Dean wax statue as “East of Eden”, I suddenly though: “Oh my God. East of Eden. Cain and Abel. The show NEEDS to explore those parallels explicitly.” (Judging from your fabulous site, I am assuming you have seen East of Eden??)
It took a couple of seasons but here they are.
Cain is a farmer and Abel is a shepherd. God favors Abel. Cain is pissed. He’s the first born. There are all kinds of inversions and subtexts floating around there – and I am very excited to see where they take it. I just loved how Cain was shucking corn at the table and was a beekeeper. PERFECT.
I loved the episode too.
I loved Sam hugging Castiel. “Here’s the part where you hug me back.” hahahaha Poor Castiel.
I have a brother too and sometimes it’s not easy, but it is always worth it, so yes – even though I didn’t realise it in the beginning, I’m watching Supernatural for the same reason.
I’ve watched the film and liked it so much I had to read the book – love both! The parallels are fabulous, I can’t wait to see what happens either. It definitely feels like a crossroads for Dean.
hahah, Castiel is hilarious — “you have a guinea pig? where?” LOL
Oh my God the guinea pig moment. CLASSIC. He is so literal. Misha Collins is brilliant – this is a highly comedic performance and it’s so character-based and subtle. It’s also great because you see him in interviews and he is not like Castiel at ALL. He has created a character. It’s almost jarring to see him in interviews – you realize how completely he has transformed.
I love when Sam, desperate to make contact with Castiel, narrates the plot of Raiders of the Lost Ark into the air and suddenly Castiel is there, urgent and focused: “Where is the box, Sam?”
DYING.
I actually would say the same thing about total transformation for Jensen Ackles although his work is even more subtle – because, maybe, he’s playing a human being and not an angel who doesn’t understand human emotions. JA is pretty reclusive so we don’t get much “off camera” stuff from him in order to compare. But his voice is totally different in real life. JA’s voice is mellifluous and gentle, very pleasing to the ear, he’s a singer, you can tell. But that gruff gravelly Dean voice – he has CREATED that. All on his own. He INHABITS that voice, too. It never looks like a “bit” or like he’s acting. It’s just the character. I’m very admiring of JA’s character-work and I don’t think it gets nearly enough credit – is it because he’s so beautiful? People can’t see past that? Eff that. He’s an amazing and meticulous actor who has created a character here, who moves different than he does in real life, whose face looks different, when I see clips of JA roaring with laughter in out-takes or whatever, I think: “Jesus. You never see Dean laugh like that.” – his voice is different – and it all seems completely seamless, not at all “put on”. My admiration of the work that he does as an actor is part of the reason I’m doing these re-caps. He’s so brilliant.
and then, of course, in The French Mistake, one of my favorite episodes of television ever, never mind Supernatural – Jensen Ackles then parodies that voice he has created for Dean – as Dean Winchester tries to “act” like this pretty-boy actor named Jensen Ackles (what a ridiculous douchebag name!, thinks Dean) acting the character of Dean Winchester – Insanely meta – and it all comes to glorious fruition in the immortal line: “We need all three of that crap.”
I laugh every time I see him say that line, and I am laughing right now as I type this.
Exactly, with Castiel it’s not just that operatic voice and motion, his EYES have a different life in them. I could barely imagine Collins being an actual person before seeing interviews and press conferences.
Oh yes, I think the pretty boy curse is real. It’s when they make the transition to “handsome men” that magic happens, and suddenly people regard them as “serious actors”. Maybe their faces are too distracting, maybe people think the allure is due to physical attributes and not to their talent, I don’t know. Or maybe I’m wrong, but it does seems that actors like JA always end up in “hot” and not “best” lists.
Anyway yeah, that VOICE. I knew him from his work in Smallville, and the difference between the characters is astonishing. In that show he was this pretty, nice, playful guy, with a soft voice and clean face – like a puppy you’d want to hug forever – basically the opposite of Dean, which was quite a shock when I started watching the show. Even though in the beginning he wasn’t nearly as “rough” as he is now.
That episode is hilarious, they’re both so uncomfortable, hahah.
Maybe in the first season there’s a bit of Return of Prodigal Son thing going on as well … Pays to know your bible.
Definitely with the Prodigal Son – nice one.
And there’s obviously an ongoing Lazarus theme!
Enough with the resurrections already!
Yeah, a completely upside version of Prodigal Son natch. In the parable the brother who stays behind has a bit of a a thankless role. But you feel sympathy for this one.
//But that gruff gravelly Dean voice – he has CREATED that. //
I have wondered a lot about That Voice. Dean’s voice plummets from Season Two onwards from a rather mellifluous (great word) drawl to sheer gin and gravel (plus it sounds like he’s acquired a broken nose by Season 4). The only time the early Dean voice reappears is in an episode in maybe Season 7 (very end of episode 14, if you want to check it out.) when Sam confront evil clowns and gets splattered in pink glitter. Dean’s laughter and vocal reaction to this is so different to his normal register that I assumed this must be his ‘real’ voice – and I was rather relieved that this voice is still there.
I get to write sentences about confronting evil clowns … heavens above.
Jumping in here! That is actually a good way to describe his voice – I’ve been struggling to find the right english words for it!
I see the evolution of his voice as a side effect of the character’s own development: over the seasons Dean got more grown-up, more serious and scarred, even more aggressive – there are scenes where you can see the tension and anger building inside him, so when he speaks, he sounds almost like a monster. It is great work from JA, really.
As for personal preferences, I happen to have a weak spot for these rugged voices, so I don’t mind at all!
Hi Sophia, I don’t mind them, either ;-) And I do absolutely get it as part of the character development, too. The boy of Season 1 gradually disappears and with him goes the boy’s voice. But luckily Dean doesn’t morph into the strong silent type, rather the gruff, aphoristic type.
// so when he speaks, he sounds almost like a monster. //
Totally. It is sometimes so over-the-top, like Charles Bronson over-the-top – but he makes it work.
Interesting to look at the development – and I will definitely check out the episodes you mean. Evil clowns. Dying.
There are certain moments when Dean gets upset when the gravel disappears from his voice. That’s when he’s connecting to hurt, in a way that is almost child-like. Shouting at Sam, with big gestures, and hurt eyes. JA seems totally in charge of all of that – maybe it’s his singer’s background – I don’t know, he is totally on top of the development of and use of that voice. The gravel has so much anger in it, it’s so coiled-up. It’s a smoker’s voice but he doesn’t smoke. Even though, in the real world (if Supernatural were the real world), Dean obviously would be a smoker.
and everything changes after he comes back from Purgatory. His look, his body shape, his expression. The very look in his eyes is different.
Humphrey Bogart said that good acting was “six feet back in the eyes”. JA has that going on.
// I get to write sentences about confronting evil clowns … heavens above. //
hahahahahahahaha
//It’s a smoker’s voice but he doesn’t smoke.//
Just on the inside.
Jumping in very late; only found this site a few days ago. Don’t know if anyone will see this. JA, at a con, said he made a conscious decision to lower his voice because it was higher in the pilot (natural) and after working with JDM and his deep, “manly” voice, Ackles wanted Dean’s voice to be lower. These days, his natural voice is much deeper than it was on Dark Angel, Smallville, or even in S1 of SPN, and it’s GORgeous. He said it was because “The young man became a man,” and I’ve wondered why he doesn’t allow Dean to use JA’s natural voice now, because it is so much deeper.
You mention a “memorable” moment in the series when Dean checked out a guy, and I’ve been racking my brains trying to think of such a scene. When was it?
Great recaps and discussion, by the way. You’ve really been making me rethink certain aspects of the show.
Rebecca – thanks!! Thanks for reading!
Well, there’s a double-take Dean does in the episode when he goes back and works with Eliot Ness. A soldier walks by and Dean checks him out as though it’s a hot babe in heels. It could be read either way (as it usually can with Dean – there’s that flexibility thing): It could obviously be: “Hey look, a WWII soldier!” But it could also be: “Well, helloooooo handsome.” But you can’t nail it down either way.
And then of course there’s Dr. Sexy! Dean doesn’t fall apart when he meets all the hot chicks on the show but he literally disintegrates when he meets Dr. Sexy. :)
There are multiple moments, actually. The deputy in Yellow Fever.
I prefer to read these things in a flexible way – as opposed to “He is at THIS point on the sexuality spectrum” – which is too reductive for what is going on here (in my opinion). I write a lot about it. It has to do with Dean’s yearning to be included in the “real men’ bucket – something his father robbed him of.
And because Dean is so sexually charged at all times – he reacts to everyone sexually. Sometimes as a way to deal with the fact that he is constantly creeped on by everyone – it’s his natural milieu. This is what JA brings to the table. So Dean doesn’t just react to women sexually – he reacts to EVERYONE sexually. Positive, negative, indifferent, Dean is operating sexually. Great stuff.
Thanks again for commenting!
LOVE that super obvious flirtation with the soldier. I thought maybe it could be “wow, WWII soldier” too, but then I noticed they actually are having some kind of exchange, the guys looking at him, while dean is smiling! and then dean moves down to check out his ass once he’s passed. pretty freaking awesome. I think this is actually one of those times it can’t be said that “that’s not what JA is going for there” as a lot of people like to, misguidedly “defending” him. It so totally is!
I agree. It’s a totally appreciative double-take, exactly the same as he has given countless women throughout the series.
I don’t listen to people who want to ‘defend’ Dean against this – I think they are over-compensating. Or nervous about something. What are you investing in this character that makes you NEED him to be only one way?
I wrote about this in another re-cap, I can’t remember which one. It was when I addressed the whole “Dean is homophobic” thing I’ve seen in some fandom circles – I went into that there. It’s similar to the “Dean is a misogynist” conversation. It’s frustrating – HOWEVER: these back-and-forth controversies (which I don’t pay attention to, they just seep into me through osmosis) is just a testament to the subtlety of what JA is doing, and how he does not give two fucks about being so clear that every motivation/feeling would be discernible to a kindergardener. He is a grown-up and this is a grown-up part, full of subtlety and nuance and switch-backs and unconsciousness. And dark unresolved issues and lying to oneself and covering up pain and blah blah blah. This isn’t pre-school where everything is spelled out. There is always more than one level going on with anything JA does – every single moment is multi-layered, even down to putting down a coffee cup on a table (which I’ll get to in the next re-cap, Route 666).
And then there are fans who think that JA has somehow been “duped” into playing these sexy fluid moments and has no idea how they come across. “Does he even know what that moment looks like?”
But these people do not understand acting, the industry, what it means to be a professional who is a lead in a series that is going into its 10th year, and just how GOOD you have to be to get to that level, how SMART, how excellent at your work you have to be, how thoughtful, how prepared.
JA knows EXACTLY what he is doing. He chose to play that moment with Roy in “Wendigo” like a sexy soft taunt. It so easily could have been played in a macho posturing way. But JA chose to go to the sex, because that’s who Dean is, that’s how he controls all of that shit going on inside of him when he feels threatened.
And those who “defend” Dean against these moments … they often come off sounding homophobic as hell. And then there are those from the other side who are so gay-identified that they sneer at any actress who comes on as a potential love interest – the commentary from these folks is often vicious and misogynistic, and this from people who should know better.
The whole TONE of the conversation is charged. I hope the people who engage in those conversations get something out of it. They don’t personally satisfy me, so I try to ignore it. I find the show very entertaining, deep, subtle, and super-fun. It’s fun to talk about and think about.
The spectrum of sexuality is important, especially when it comes to Dean. It all goes along with everything else we’ve talked about – childhood abuse and trauma whittling away at his boundaries, an adult sexual persona that is so palpable that every person/monster in his vicinity drools over him – which makes him a constant OBJECT – he is AWARE of this and he HATES it and he tries to use it to his advantage – and also a general self-loathing that has to do with not feeling like a real man, a good enough man, blah blah blah.
Also, let’s not forget: in the siren episode, Dean’s siren is a man. To all the other men, it’s a hot stripper. Not to Dean. To Dean, it’s a man, a buddy he can relax with, talk to … something he does not have in his life. Anywhere. His life is so sterile that way.
Women to him are fun, and comforting, and soft, and he needs them very much. He is changed by having them around, their perspective. He lets it in, he welcomes it. (From very few women, but still, the ones who get in there are very important to him.) I imagine if he ever did imagine a future outside of hunting, a woman would be there at his side. (We see that in Dream a Little Dream, and also in one of my favorite episodes – the djinn episode, where we see the alternate reality). With women, he can fucking BREATHE.
It’s his relationship to men (and therefore himself) that is the problem.
Rebecca – just in case: None of my last comment was directed at you! None at all!!
I’m just spouting off. :)
These are some pretty subtle nuance-y things – although once you start looking for them you notice them everywhere. It is a conscious choice on JA’s part. Kind of a fun subtextual thru-line he’s been working for seasons now, almost never referenced outright. But THERE.
ROUTE 666 COFFEE CUP YESSSSSSSS
and that is all I have to add to the conversation
Jessie – You know what I’m talking about!! hahaha
TINY moment but a lesson in justifying behavior.
Jensen Ackles’ thought process: “I cannot be holding a coffee cup during this next moment with Cassie. I need my hands free. But I have to have a reason to put it down. Because human beings have reasons for everything they do, however banal. So why does Dean put the coffee cup down?”
Dean’s thought process: “Hm. This coffee is way too complicated and girlie for me – sugar cubes and saucers and a little spoon and I don’t know how to drink it – what the hell – how is Sam drinking it?” (quick glance over) ” Oh, Sam looks normal drinking it … but … I can’t deal with it right now.”
If I were teaching an acting class, I might point out that moment as how specific you have to be in every choice you make. Take NOTHING for granted. That level of specificity separates the men from the boys.
But I absolutely love that you know what I’m talking about. It’s not even half a second of screen time but it’s so awesome.
the coffee cup business – really makes me laugh. Dean so can’t do genteel accoutrements. Doesn’t bode well for him and Cassie, does it?
Plus, the coffee comes out of a teapot. WTF? As an English person I can’t tell you how weird that looks. I wouldn’t drink it ;-)
It seriously is the most complicated cup of coffee in the history of coffee.
Kudos to the actress for handling all that business.
How about in the Fairy episode? The teeny teeny cups? Their big meaty hands trying to pick them up?
Apparently, Padalecki improvised what is, perhaps, my favorite line in the ENTIRETY of the series:
“Do you have bigger cups?”
He said it during one of the rehearsals for the scene and everyone died laughing so they kept it in.
I can’t explain how comforting I find the fact that I say “putting down the coffee cup” in an episode from Season 1, and you both know exactly what I’m talking about.
One of us. One of us.
I have no problem with Dean’s fluidity and JA’s use of sexual acting approaches, as described in these discussions. I do have a problem with fans who decide it must be one way or the other, such as the Destiel adherents. Ackles doesn’t like the Destiel trope–he talked to Carver and Robbie Thompson about it for “Fan Fiction,” and has said so–but clearly he has no problem playing Dean in ways that *might* be conceived as somewhat sexually ambiguous. God knows the show plays with the homoerotic/gay vibe now and then, including some suggestive language. Dean: “Cas, get out of my ass.” I mean, you can’t get more blatant than that. Unfortunately, there are those who consider this gay-baiting, or “proof” that Destiel exists. I say, let the actors do their jobs and stop insisting actor fluidity must be seen this way, or that way, with nothing in between.
No worries, I didn’t think it was directed at me :) I’m actually rewatching the series a second time now, after binging my way through it the first time over the past month, and it’s been very interesting keeping some of what you’ve been pointing out in mind. I feel like the first time through, I was gorging myself on the show and trying to get through it as quickly as possible because I HAD to know what happened next. I know I missed a lot of nuances.
You’ve obviously got a few seasons to get through, but I’m looking forward to seeing what you have to say in regards to Castiel and his relationship with Dean. Hope you stick with it for that long!
// I feel like the first time through, I was gorging myself on the show and trying to get through it as quickly as possible because I HAD to know what happened next. I know I missed a lot of nuances. //
That was my same experience watching it the first time. It was the second time when I could really settle in!
I’m not a “Destiel” person – although I do love the relationship with Cas, and the betrayal of Cas clearly sets up an entire season of Dean drinking too much and coiled up in misery. It’s a brutal moment for Dean. But the “Destiel” theory doesn’t work for me – or it’s too reductive, too simplistic. Seeing it ONLY through that romantic filter means other nuances are missed. Just my experience of it.
Even though I am a film critic by trade, I am against telling other people what they should feel. :) Or how they should interpret stuff. All I can do is put out my take on it. And do so strongly!
Whatever the case may be – it is an important friendship – and, as we know, Dean doesn’t have any friends. It’s a huge huge deal, that relationship.
You know, I think one of my very favorite things is having a clever person explain to me all the amazing details of my favorite show that I missed. Some just because I was racing through too fast, some I think I just never would have picked up on at all, partly because I only really fell in love with this show from season four onwards. Thank you for writing these.
Lythea – thank you so much!!
It’s really fun to discuss these episodes, and hear what everybody else gets from them. There’s so much there!
Sorry but I disagree with you shelia about dean/jensen being bi. And max your wrong about dean cause he did not check out that 1944 guy. Dean is straight and that’s fact and jensen plays it that way. Plus no dean would not smoke if he dweeb a movie. Love the fact that dean is not a heavy smoker. I agree with some of your re caps on this but your wrong on some others.
Nope. Max is not “wrong”, Mia. And I’m not wrong either. No one is wrong. You just disagree. There’s a difference.
The show is open to all kinds of interpretations and as I say repeatedly, I don’t care what the actors say about their characters, I don’t care what other fans say – or what the “consensus” is, I don’t care what Kripke says about what he was going for . I don’t care what Jensen said at a “con” about how he played something or whatever. Once the show is out there in the world, it’s not THEIRS anymore. It’s OURS. We all, each of us, get to figure out what we think, and figure out how we feel.
So no, nobody is “wrong” when they’re talking about how they INTERPRET something.
The conversations here are good because we discuss things – great back and forth – we have the best discussions ever in these SPN threads.
I love hearing different takes. I live for different takes! There are so many diverse people commenting here and everyone comes at the show from their own angle and sometimes we have vastly different responses to things. Like, OPPOSITE. And then we get to discuss it like grown-ups and it’s super-fun.
The fact that there are so many different interpretations is a credit to the show.
So no more of that “you’re wrong”, Mia. I don’t allow that here. And it’s a silly way to talk about Art, anyway. This is only your second comment here. You’ll get the hang of it.
Really late to the party but I am enjoying your Supernatural recaps and reviews especially the ‘show business’ insights that afaik are unique to yours. I first started reading at the wrong end: Folsom Prison Blues through AHBL2. Now rather than work backwards I chose to find your beginning. That’s my excuse for the late post. Hopefully, you will see it. Now for the hard part.
I think it is unfair to Sam at this point to attribute his anxiousness to find John and reluctance to want to begin a hunt to a coldness or lack of empathy in his character. As you note, part of it is grieving Jessica but I think most of it is wanting to find out more about what killed both his mother and girlfriend and why — specifically why were both impaled and immolated on ceilings in his bedrooms. The most recent less than two weeks past. It is not so strange that he would be obsessive about it. He really needed to talk to John.
I thought Dean’s behavior was stranger and that the ‘saving people, hunting things, family business’ spiel was pure invention. I doubt John ever thought of what he was doing like that. His motivations would align more with Sam’s. What did that to his wife and why and how does Sam fit into it. Revenge may have been part of John and Sam’s motivations but it was not the major part.
Please don’t interpret this as dissing Dean. I think it is endearing that he invented a noble rationale for what he and his family did. I liked knight-errant Dean. Surrogate-parent Dean? Not so much.
Anyway. JMO. FWIW.
I’m very, very late to the party, but I’m really loving your recaps! I recently started to rewatch the show with a friend who made the mistake of telling me she liked the concept of Grimm but wished it was a bit…more, and I went ‘Oh, boy, do I have a show for you.’ It’s actually pretty fun to watch it again with a newbie, picking up more nuances as we go, and also watch her see it for the first time. She just commented tonight that they like killing off side characters and now I can’t WAIT to see her reaction to the season 2 finale and what I consider the first real ‘will they, won’t they, no way they wouldn’t dare, he’s one of their leads-HOLY SHIT THEY DID!’ Supernatural season finale. It’s going to be glorious.
I really enjoyed your breakdown of Wendigo, which is one of my favorite episode. I love how Dean responds to Roy – I hadn’t consciously realized how Dean sexualized that moment, but in hindsight you’re absolutely right, and it’s such a great tactic and utter mindfuck for this alpha male guide. But there’s a moment in that scene that’s always stuck in my head: Sam, back behind Dean and Roy, has been carrying his bag with his arm up, bag slung back across his shoulder. As soon as the tension mounts, JP casually drops his arm down as he watches so the bag’s held loosely down by his side and his body language switchs from casual to ready in a second. It’s a fantastic bit of very subtle acting that says so much in a second: yeah, Sam’s pretty sure Dean’s got this handled…but if it blows up in Dean’s face, he can now drop the bag instantly and back his brother up. Such a small thing, but it really solidified a couple of things in my head: one, Sam is very fucking dangerous, and two, these guys are so attuned to each other that it’s not even conscious.
I was rewatching Wendigo yesterday. Your analysis is thoughtful and well reasoned. This time I sensed that palpable tension between the brothers at the Impala better. There are so many layers to Sam’s , “Starting now,” anger, grief, resignation, coldness, a steely resolve. No wonder Dean tries to cover his surprise but doesn’t quite manage it.
The homoerotic tension in Dean’s little standoff with Roy now makes me wonder how I missed it the first time. You’d expect him to be the aggressive guy but by not doing it they added dimension to his character, far more than a cardboard cutout.
I also vividly remember Algernon Blackwood’s classic short story “Wendigo” which scared the hell out of me. It has a slightly different premise and the setting is in Canada but the title and the way Roy was grabbed up in the trees was a recall.
thank you for this comment which reminds me of how much I love Roy and those scenes between him and Dean, and him and Sam — put a smile on my face!
// You’d expect him to be the aggressive guy but by not doing it they added dimension to his character, far more than a cardboard cutout. //
Yes!! The pilot establishes him one way and the series – and Ackles – immediately went about de-constructing it, and deepening it. I love it!
Okay so moving right along in the re-watch:
WENDIGO.
Where … nothing happens except they figure out early on what they’re dealing with – and then they hunt it down.
My favorite moment is still how Dean sexualizes the aggressive standoff with the “guide” – that’s ALL JA. Nobody directed him to play it like that and this is the second episode in and it’s so revealing.
I also think that they set up nicely the orphaned family – sister and two brothers – who all “look out for each other” – even though it isn’t quite as deep a pool of associations as the Woman in White in the pilot.
The thing about the orphaned family is that the big sister – feeling responsible – taking care – is Dean. There’s a reason they connect and also spar and it’s not just physical attraction. You can still see the sort of Han Solo-ish echo in his character conception “this is the most honest I’ve ever been with a woman …” You know. That isn’t quite how he ends up as a character – and thankfully that kind of “presentational” thing vanished pretty quickly.
Him screaming at the monster: “WANT SOME WHITE MEAT, BITCH” is pretty shocking – and that pisses me off because thats one of the parts of Dean I latched onto early – how he “feeds himself” to the monsters, screaming aggressive sexual come-ons – I found it interesting, and after the vampire episode later on in the season I figured out why. His dad used him as bait – and probably sexual bait. But i sensed it already from Wendigo. i.e. this guy has done and seen some shit.
All of that is now gone. I am not saying I want people to run around yelling “bitch” at everyone – but “bitch” is built into the pilot (“bitch” “jerk”) and I honestly should have stopped watching recently when Sam & Dean had an exchange where one of them (I almost blocked it out) said “rhymes with itch.”
That’s who’s in charge now. Squeamish conservative progressives.
One last thing about this ep:
And this wasn’t really present in Woman in White:
This will be a show where they enter into a group of people’s lives as they work the case – they connect with these people – they go THROUGH stuff with these people – and they move on, roaring off into the Impala. One of the things they did such a great job with early on was creating reallllly specific people – and then casting realllly well – so everyone feels real, not stock characters, not insanely good-looking Hollywood-types – not generic – but real people.
I miss that aspect of the show – even the casting has suffered.
Oh, and lastly: RIP Cory Monteith. Made me sad to see him.
ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOY!
This episode’s got plenty of great stuff but for me the key take away has always been Roy (+bros), and then, at the end, those two moments in the dark: Dean’s extraordinary non-lecherous come-on with the sister, and the gorgeous exchange between Sam and Dean in profile at the end, the way Sam’s head slides around to face him. So much caution and connection and beauty! Too much!!!!
Oh my God your “ROOOOY” went all the way off the page. Lol!!
// Dean’s extraordinary non-lecherous come-on with the sister //
Extraordinary is definitely the word for it. Just think: in the pilot he really is written as a letch. The WAY he treats Jess. I supposed you could justify it by “taking Sam down a peg by coming on to the girlfriend” … but that’s not really Dean as he developed. What would be more in-character would be … jealousy? Open dismay? Maybe Dean was putting on a show – well, he obviously was –
But still – I maintain my guess/feeling that this change in Dean – in re: how he deals with women – that openness – is all JA, and they who were actually paying attention to what he was doing – started writing FOR it. which was smart.
Even the way he comes on to Amy Acker. It’s obnoxious – but still not … toxic. He’s just gotta make the attempt – because she’s pretty – and he’s drawn to her.
But yeah – the way he GLEAMS at the sister … still somehow friendly … I mean, very few people can pull off that combination. a friendly come-on.
// and the gorgeous exchange between Sam and Dean in profile at the end, the way Sam’s head slides around to face him.//
You know, jessie – it’s interesting re-watching – and of course I’ve rewatched Season 1 before – but I am really trying to NOT compare to what the show has become – and sometimes I succeed – and one of the things I am really getting – like it seems like this whole season is ABOUT this – is Sam’s journey. It’s so intricate. and on TOP of all of it, is grief about Jess – which is still going on in Hook Man – like, they continue to incorporate all the weirdo levels Sam is operating on.
Dean is much simpler (of course that will change). It’s Sam who draws me in. and it really is – IMO – from Sam’s POV at first. Dead in the Water – where we learn more about Dean – we’re really seeing it though from Sam’s POV. Like: “wow, okay I had an opinion about this person and … now I need to adjust my opinion.”
another thing that is so interesting is: John sends them to work a case. Dean takes it at face value. Sam is determined to find Dad. This plays out in increasing intensity over the next series of episodes – until Scarecrow, really, when Sam takes off to find Dad after that argument.
Watching the construction of this multi-episode ongoing argument shows how GOOD the team was back then – how CONSCIOUS they were of putting everything in place, piece by piece, so it all 1. makes sense (while still leaving a lot unsaid, a lot to be guessed at) and 2. has a payoff eventually (but they have patience in DELAYING the payoff) and 3. yields dividens along the way.
Compare to Dean and Castiel’s fake fight this current season.
Which made no sense, had no resonance, was designed for one small subset of the fandom, and then was resolved with this weepy monologue in the middle of Purgaoty that just … it was so heavy-handed. and they hadn’t built it up piece by piece – and so there was no real Payoff.
same too with “will Dean forgive Jack”?
You have to keep that ball in the air over multiple episodes – meaning you have to somehow underline it every episode, even just a remider.
Season 1 … they already were doing that. It adds to the trust factor – I trust that I am in good hands, that I am not wrong to be invested in the characters, that we are going to continue to keep learning about them, and that THEY know where we are going.
I don’t feel that at all now.
I love everything that you’re saying, the skill and care and craft it took — I think all the time about how the Soulless!Sam arc drove me up the WALL with frustration; how long they strung us along and how satisfying the payoff was (as well as many moments along the way). I should have trusted! A great lesson in withholding in storytelling. Teaches you everything you need to know about how to exploit audience investment and desire. Only show them half the face; keep the other half in shadow.
we’re really seeing it though from Sam’s POV. Like: “wow, okay I had an opinion about this person and … now I need to adjust my opinion.”
This is one of the genius elements, mixed with the serendipity of casting, of those early episodes. Sam, we assume, is fairly normal; we’re looking through his eyes after a long familial absence, trying to relearn this brother, trying to puzzle Dean out, and because it’s JA, there’s really something there to puzzle out; that’s clear by Faith. He’s wounded, he dazzles, he goes places you don’t predict.
And then, by the end of s3, we have a crystal clear picture of him: his desires, drives, foibles. There’s still stuff to learn, but by this stage he’s an open book, and we pivot behind his eyes. Now, for at least 2.5 seasons, it’s Sam who’s the dark mystery, and we have to watch him, and worry about him, and what he’ll do. Great stuff.
// A great lesson in withholding in storytelling. //
So true!!
Having a story that can keep a secret is just key – how many films work because there’s a reveal that no one saw coming?
Because Supernatural is mainly about emotion (or … “was”) – the withholding – when it worked – was always emotional in nature. Like Dean keeping the secret about John’s final whispered command to Dean … that dragged on for half a season – AND it makes it fun to re-watch it, and consider that Dean was keeping a secret that whole time.
Same with Dean descending into alcoholism and night terrors after killing Sam’s monster-friend and then lying about it – I loved that arc, too.
// and because it’s JA, there’s really something there to puzzle out; that’s clear by Faith. He’s wounded, he dazzles, he goes places you don’t predict. //
I love how you put this. That was my initial “way in” – like, “wow, who IS this guy.” Just like Sam was experiencing.
and then of course Sam’s mystery starts rising soon after. It really was beautifully designed.
Oh, Roy.
My favourite thing in this episode is the music – JOKING!
My favourite this is this shot – what’s that toxic material that’s inside? Family, ha!
oops, messed up that link, sorry!
I fixed it – yes, that shot is hilarious!
Toxic Material: All of your siblings strung up in a monster’s lair. Good times!
I got into Supernatural the Sumner of season two. There was some slash, but the desperate hardcore push of the Destial fandom hadn’t started. Mostly there were tons of posts analyzing the show, the photography, set design dialog, characters. I remember some discussions I got into where I was the discerning view point. When every one was leaning to puppy dog Sam and slutty self centered Dean, I was championing Sam as the intellectual General and Dean as the senior Sergeant who may have one time served under molded Sam when Sam was his lieutenant. There was a thought problem that said if someone opened the hellraiser box and you and a prettt young thing were caught and would need to ge helped getting out, who would you want to come save you. Most people picked Sam for his fierceness strength and intelligence. I picked Dean, I said both would rescue the pretty young thing first, but Sam seeing the box closing would make the intelligent choice and not come back for me. Dean would, if he had to fight his way out and even if he failed, he would not leave any innocent in that situation and live with himself. Later in the series I was proved right when time after time Dean pushed himself past what made sense to help others. I never could articulate why I felt this way but your reviews point out what I only sensed. I really disliked Dabb as an author and show runner so the last 3 seasons I barely watched. Your articles remind me why I loved the show so much. Thank you
Destiel exploded in Season 4 when Castiel arrived and I think really solidified in Season 5 – when Sam and Dean separated and Dean and Cas worked some cases together. But I wasn’t watching in real time so that’s just a guess. I have written elsewhere about how I got into the show – I started watching as Season 9 was up and running. It was the Destiel fans who got me curious to start seeing what the fuss was about. Then of course I got into it all on my own!
Zaz – thanks so much for all your insights here, about your own perceptions as compared to the others around you at that time. Really interesting!
In Dabb’s view: Sam was a vegan bookworm, and Dean was a macho slobby celibate. He didn’t get it at all.
Wrong email