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born under a bad sign
First and foremost - I need an evil!Sammy icon ASAP.
Okay, so, episode thoughts ....
If you think about this episode for too long, the actual plot behind it unravels. When did Meg possess Sam? How did she do it? If it's that easy for demons to possess humans (and the Winchesters in particular), why aren't they trying it all the time? If the demons have a nifty little symbol (Alex: "It's the Quicktime symbol!" Jaime: "Dear god, Big Daddy Demon is Steve Jobs. I always knew those Mac people were freaky.") that allows them to bind themselves to a body, why don't they do that more often? If charms exist that ward off demon possession, why doesn't every hunter wear them 24/7? And, if Meg was back in hell and not completely destroyed, why was Big Daddy Demon so pissed at them for "killing" one of his kids? It's not like he was sentimental over the body or anything.
But, for what it was meant to be - emotional porn, pure and simple - it was a fantastic episode. We were meant to see, foremost, where Sam could possibly go, under the demon's influence, and what he'd be like on the other side. Secondary, and slightly more subtle, I think we were meant to see exactly how different Dean is from John, evil!Sammy commentary notwithstanding. Because, I think that the actual story behind Bill Harvelle's death falls more under the "mercy killing" category. He was dying - or perhaps even in danger of being possessed/changed/whatever - and John killed him out of mercy, perhaps even at Bill's request. I think we're going to end up contrasting that to Dean's refusal to kill Sam - family (and other innocents) means more to Dean than the hunt, which is both a strength and a weakness. More of a strength, though, in my book.
And, as for evil!Sammy? Gah. There are not words. Quite frankly, I wouldn't argue if they decided to play a whole arc of episodes with evil!Sammy, because not only is he HOTTER THAN ALL FUCK, but Jared Padalecki plays that shit with more glee than even David Boreanaz brought to Angelus. Yeah. Sam needs to be possessed more often. ::nods:: Because Sam? Is fucking terrifying as a demon. He's got all that righteous energy, that simmering anger that he represses so much to temper his brother. Perhaps it's going to be a matter of "you have to embrace the dark side to defeat it" - as long as being turned into a demon minion is his greatest fear, the demon will have that power over him. I wonder if Sam will need something that scares him more - like, perhaps, Dean being threatened with death, or worse, with being turned into a minion himself - to force him to take the risk of turning, to put himself out there and gain the opportunity to win once and for all.
... huh, I like that. If I were writing the story, that's how I'd do it. :)
Jo ... you know, I didn't mind her before, but something about this episode brought me down firmly into her camp. It annoyed me only slightly that she didn't fight back harder against Sam - but, as Alex pointed out, Sam's got a foot and at least fifty pounds on her even when he's good, and demon enhanced Sam is probably even stronger. So, by the time she figured out he was really fucked up, it was too late to really do anything. And, of course Sam had to attack people the audience already knows - it wouldn't have had the same punch if he was going after more anonymous hunters. We're invested in Jo - even if it's only to think "oh, shit, if Sam kills her, they can forget about the Big Bad Demon, because Ellen will HUNT THEM DOWN and leave maybe a couple of teeth and bones for the demon to play with" - so having her in danger means something. We know only two other hunters that we like - Bobby and Jo - and Jo's the young, inexperienced one, so she gets to be tied up and used as bait. Bobby gets to kick ass. That's the way it works.
I like the chemistry that Jensen and Alona have fallen into, finally - it took a couple of episodes to get there, but the squabbling works. And they might have now hit my unrequited love kink, but I'm not sure I'm quite ready to admit it. ;)
So. If you're trying to puzzle the mythology, this episode might make you a little crazy if you think too hard. So don't think to hard. Enjoy the emo-porn. And super-hot evil!Sammy. You don't get too much better than that.
Okay, so, episode thoughts ....
If you think about this episode for too long, the actual plot behind it unravels. When did Meg possess Sam? How did she do it? If it's that easy for demons to possess humans (and the Winchesters in particular), why aren't they trying it all the time? If the demons have a nifty little symbol (Alex: "It's the Quicktime symbol!" Jaime: "Dear god, Big Daddy Demon is Steve Jobs. I always knew those Mac people were freaky.") that allows them to bind themselves to a body, why don't they do that more often? If charms exist that ward off demon possession, why doesn't every hunter wear them 24/7? And, if Meg was back in hell and not completely destroyed, why was Big Daddy Demon so pissed at them for "killing" one of his kids? It's not like he was sentimental over the body or anything.
But, for what it was meant to be - emotional porn, pure and simple - it was a fantastic episode. We were meant to see, foremost, where Sam could possibly go, under the demon's influence, and what he'd be like on the other side. Secondary, and slightly more subtle, I think we were meant to see exactly how different Dean is from John, evil!Sammy commentary notwithstanding. Because, I think that the actual story behind Bill Harvelle's death falls more under the "mercy killing" category. He was dying - or perhaps even in danger of being possessed/changed/whatever - and John killed him out of mercy, perhaps even at Bill's request. I think we're going to end up contrasting that to Dean's refusal to kill Sam - family (and other innocents) means more to Dean than the hunt, which is both a strength and a weakness. More of a strength, though, in my book.
And, as for evil!Sammy? Gah. There are not words. Quite frankly, I wouldn't argue if they decided to play a whole arc of episodes with evil!Sammy, because not only is he HOTTER THAN ALL FUCK, but Jared Padalecki plays that shit with more glee than even David Boreanaz brought to Angelus. Yeah. Sam needs to be possessed more often. ::nods:: Because Sam? Is fucking terrifying as a demon. He's got all that righteous energy, that simmering anger that he represses so much to temper his brother. Perhaps it's going to be a matter of "you have to embrace the dark side to defeat it" - as long as being turned into a demon minion is his greatest fear, the demon will have that power over him. I wonder if Sam will need something that scares him more - like, perhaps, Dean being threatened with death, or worse, with being turned into a minion himself - to force him to take the risk of turning, to put himself out there and gain the opportunity to win once and for all.
... huh, I like that. If I were writing the story, that's how I'd do it. :)
Jo ... you know, I didn't mind her before, but something about this episode brought me down firmly into her camp. It annoyed me only slightly that she didn't fight back harder against Sam - but, as Alex pointed out, Sam's got a foot and at least fifty pounds on her even when he's good, and demon enhanced Sam is probably even stronger. So, by the time she figured out he was really fucked up, it was too late to really do anything. And, of course Sam had to attack people the audience already knows - it wouldn't have had the same punch if he was going after more anonymous hunters. We're invested in Jo - even if it's only to think "oh, shit, if Sam kills her, they can forget about the Big Bad Demon, because Ellen will HUNT THEM DOWN and leave maybe a couple of teeth and bones for the demon to play with" - so having her in danger means something. We know only two other hunters that we like - Bobby and Jo - and Jo's the young, inexperienced one, so she gets to be tied up and used as bait. Bobby gets to kick ass. That's the way it works.
I like the chemistry that Jensen and Alona have fallen into, finally - it took a couple of episodes to get there, but the squabbling works. And they might have now hit my unrequited love kink, but I'm not sure I'm quite ready to admit it. ;)
So. If you're trying to puzzle the mythology, this episode might make you a little crazy if you think too hard. So don't think to hard. Enjoy the emo-porn. And super-hot evil!Sammy. You don't get too much better than that.