SPN Rewatch #15
Sep. 21st, 2014 01:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
borgmama1of58.23 Sacrifice
It is so very different watching a season in a condensed timeframe, knowing what follows...
Sacrifice did not impress me the first time I saw it...there were lots of little things that annoyed me. But this time (technically the 3rd time I've seen it) I could see more of the culmination of lots of threads.
It hurts, though, knowing what happens next.
First--Crowley messing with our Jody--and I do remember that we were left hanging all summer as to her fate!
Dean gives Kevin the key to the bunker--finally although we still don't get any clue as to where Kevin was for the whole previous episode...oh well...
Then the Winchesters' greatest moment of the season--trapping Crowley! The teamwork, playing off each other--that's been the best part of Sam and Dean since the beginning. Too bad the story couldn't have ended there, on a win...
And...cut to angel story, Metatron stringing Cas along, though we don't know it yet...but Naomi nabs Metatron and the angel story is set on its disastrous trajectory. Oh, Naomi, when you finally see how you screwed up and tell the truth--no one believes you. Well, Dean does, but then Dean has always had that 6th sense about who to believe...and Cas still doesn't understand that Dean is just about always right on those calls.
Sigh. It's hard to watch it all go to hell in a handbasket...
Before Sam starts the final trial, when he wonders about what to confess...I just wanted to smack Dean for his swift recitation of Sam's errors. Way to support your brother...And yeah, Dean might have been semi-joking, but Sam didn't hear it like that, he heard how Dean considers him a failure, and he took it to heart. And Dean looks so shocked later when Sam says Dean is better off without him!
Sam and Crowley...and briefly Abaddon...in the church--excruciating and riveting and...heart-seizing, for want of a better word.
Then Metatron's machinations are intercut with Sam and Dean and it's all going wrong, even with Dean's declaration that there's nothing more important to him than Sam...
And the final, terrifyingly beautiful final scene of falling angels.
9.01 I Think I'm Gonna Like it Here
It's going to be really hard to rewatch this season knowing the end. I am anguishing over every time a choice is made that leads to the inevitable...it's like watching a train wreck, you see it coming but are helpless to do anything. And what's so very hard is that the choices, at least in the beginning, are made in good faith, and didn't necessarily have to lead to the way the season ended. I'm seeing every fork in the road, and I predict I am going to be destroyed by seeing the exact spots where it all goes south.
It's a no-win spot for Dean no matter what he does--either he lets Sam die or he lets Sam get possessed by an angel. And honestly, it would have been the right thing to let Sam go, even though his death is then pointless--if Sam had to die, then he should have been allowed to die closing the gates of Hell. Someone should pointed that out, more justification for Dean's choice...
Sam and Dean and Bobby and then Death all inside Sam's mind--beautifully played, all the different parts of him trying to decide whether to live or die. Fascinating how in Sam's head Dean embodies the will to live...Death was so respectful of him...too bad that it was only Sam's take on Death, not really Death himself.
I don't think Ezekiel/Gadreel started out as a bad guy. It's different watching Zeke this time knowing his secret identity, but given that he'd just gotten out of angel jail and given that he'd been fond of humanity back in the day, I think he really was intending to heal Sam and then leave.
And Dean knows, he totally knows, that Sam wouldn't want to be saved this way...but Dean can't let him go...again. He did it once, when he let Sam take Lucifer into the Cage, and I think Dean feels he couldn't survive the grief a second time. He's under pressure, has no good option...and decides.
But consider if Dean had done the right thing and let Sam die, that would be the end of the Sam and Dean show. I wonder if anyone will ever right an AU where Dean does let Sam die and then season 9 is about getting him back again...
Give Dean credit, he intended to tell Sam the truth right away, but Zeke scared him out of doing so...Dean knows Zeke is right, Sam would eject him and die. So we start the season with a bad choice made for love, followed by the decision to hide the truth.
My heart hurts knowing what is going to happen...
9.02 Devil May Care
I assume that Abaddon could reanimate the toasted meatsuit because of special 'Knight of Hell' abilities. She must have a real soft spot for that body...fortunately for us, because Alaina Huffman is terrifyingly perfect playing her...
And we have Crowley set up in the dungeon. Best way the boys handled him the entire time was when they turned around and walked out on him...because Crowley needs an audience. The entire scene between Crowley and Kevin, I was repeating over and over, 'Just walk away, Kevin...' Would it have made any difference in the long wrong? Probably not...but it would have been very satisfying. Okay, a waste of Mark Sheppard to have him sitting alone in the dark, beause that is the point of Crowley, watching him manipulate...but, man, he pisses me off so much, and that he manages to worm his way into being needed by the Winchesters even though he just killed Sarah and as far as we know at this point, Jody...
It was cruel of them to leave us hanging till the very end whether Kevin let Crowley go or not!
Re: the actual 'hunt' of the episode...Kevin outwitting the lady officer was funny, though I did think it was unfair that pictures that had nothing to do with her service were used to bring her in line. But. Kevin Freakin' Solo.
I liked Irv. Was sorry he didn't make it.
Abaddon and Dean...what to say? Except listening to Abaddon's threat knowing the end of the season...well:
...I'll use your body. Have you ever felt an infant's blood drip down your chin? Or listened to a girl scream as you rip her guts out? Because you will...
I'm screaming 'Noooo' on the inside...
Fight between Sam and the 3 demons was intense...and then 'Zeke' makes his appearance. It ranks with Castiel's in Lazarus Rising for sheer impressiveness...Jared's body language and the decimated wings...wow.
And we get the next one of Zeke's admonitions to not tell Sam. Still probably innocent, as he relates some of what he's picked up from Sam's mind--'you did it for love' and his assurance Dean Winchester, you are doing the right thing.
He's not...but he didn't have any other choice, did he?
It is so very different watching a season in a condensed timeframe, knowing what follows...
Sacrifice did not impress me the first time I saw it...there were lots of little things that annoyed me. But this time (technically the 3rd time I've seen it) I could see more of the culmination of lots of threads.
It hurts, though, knowing what happens next.
First--Crowley messing with our Jody--and I do remember that we were left hanging all summer as to her fate!
Dean gives Kevin the key to the bunker--finally although we still don't get any clue as to where Kevin was for the whole previous episode...oh well...
Then the Winchesters' greatest moment of the season--trapping Crowley! The teamwork, playing off each other--that's been the best part of Sam and Dean since the beginning. Too bad the story couldn't have ended there, on a win...
And...cut to angel story, Metatron stringing Cas along, though we don't know it yet...but Naomi nabs Metatron and the angel story is set on its disastrous trajectory. Oh, Naomi, when you finally see how you screwed up and tell the truth--no one believes you. Well, Dean does, but then Dean has always had that 6th sense about who to believe...and Cas still doesn't understand that Dean is just about always right on those calls.
Sigh. It's hard to watch it all go to hell in a handbasket...
Before Sam starts the final trial, when he wonders about what to confess...I just wanted to smack Dean for his swift recitation of Sam's errors. Way to support your brother...And yeah, Dean might have been semi-joking, but Sam didn't hear it like that, he heard how Dean considers him a failure, and he took it to heart. And Dean looks so shocked later when Sam says Dean is better off without him!
Sam and Crowley...and briefly Abaddon...in the church--excruciating and riveting and...heart-seizing, for want of a better word.
Then Metatron's machinations are intercut with Sam and Dean and it's all going wrong, even with Dean's declaration that there's nothing more important to him than Sam...
And the final, terrifyingly beautiful final scene of falling angels.
9.01 I Think I'm Gonna Like it Here
It's going to be really hard to rewatch this season knowing the end. I am anguishing over every time a choice is made that leads to the inevitable...it's like watching a train wreck, you see it coming but are helpless to do anything. And what's so very hard is that the choices, at least in the beginning, are made in good faith, and didn't necessarily have to lead to the way the season ended. I'm seeing every fork in the road, and I predict I am going to be destroyed by seeing the exact spots where it all goes south.
It's a no-win spot for Dean no matter what he does--either he lets Sam die or he lets Sam get possessed by an angel. And honestly, it would have been the right thing to let Sam go, even though his death is then pointless--if Sam had to die, then he should have been allowed to die closing the gates of Hell. Someone should pointed that out, more justification for Dean's choice...
Sam and Dean and Bobby and then Death all inside Sam's mind--beautifully played, all the different parts of him trying to decide whether to live or die. Fascinating how in Sam's head Dean embodies the will to live...Death was so respectful of him...too bad that it was only Sam's take on Death, not really Death himself.
I don't think Ezekiel/Gadreel started out as a bad guy. It's different watching Zeke this time knowing his secret identity, but given that he'd just gotten out of angel jail and given that he'd been fond of humanity back in the day, I think he really was intending to heal Sam and then leave.
And Dean knows, he totally knows, that Sam wouldn't want to be saved this way...but Dean can't let him go...again. He did it once, when he let Sam take Lucifer into the Cage, and I think Dean feels he couldn't survive the grief a second time. He's under pressure, has no good option...and decides.
But consider if Dean had done the right thing and let Sam die, that would be the end of the Sam and Dean show. I wonder if anyone will ever right an AU where Dean does let Sam die and then season 9 is about getting him back again...
Give Dean credit, he intended to tell Sam the truth right away, but Zeke scared him out of doing so...Dean knows Zeke is right, Sam would eject him and die. So we start the season with a bad choice made for love, followed by the decision to hide the truth.
My heart hurts knowing what is going to happen...
9.02 Devil May Care
I assume that Abaddon could reanimate the toasted meatsuit because of special 'Knight of Hell' abilities. She must have a real soft spot for that body...fortunately for us, because Alaina Huffman is terrifyingly perfect playing her...
And we have Crowley set up in the dungeon. Best way the boys handled him the entire time was when they turned around and walked out on him...because Crowley needs an audience. The entire scene between Crowley and Kevin, I was repeating over and over, 'Just walk away, Kevin...' Would it have made any difference in the long wrong? Probably not...but it would have been very satisfying. Okay, a waste of Mark Sheppard to have him sitting alone in the dark, beause that is the point of Crowley, watching him manipulate...but, man, he pisses me off so much, and that he manages to worm his way into being needed by the Winchesters even though he just killed Sarah and as far as we know at this point, Jody...
It was cruel of them to leave us hanging till the very end whether Kevin let Crowley go or not!
Re: the actual 'hunt' of the episode...Kevin outwitting the lady officer was funny, though I did think it was unfair that pictures that had nothing to do with her service were used to bring her in line. But. Kevin Freakin' Solo.
I liked Irv. Was sorry he didn't make it.
Abaddon and Dean...what to say? Except listening to Abaddon's threat knowing the end of the season...well:
...I'll use your body. Have you ever felt an infant's blood drip down your chin? Or listened to a girl scream as you rip her guts out? Because you will...
I'm screaming 'Noooo' on the inside...
Fight between Sam and the 3 demons was intense...and then 'Zeke' makes his appearance. It ranks with Castiel's in Lazarus Rising for sheer impressiveness...Jared's body language and the decimated wings...wow.
And we get the next one of Zeke's admonitions to not tell Sam. Still probably innocent, as he relates some of what he's picked up from Sam's mind--'you did it for love' and his assurance Dean Winchester, you are doing the right thing.
He's not...but he didn't have any other choice, did he?
