You’re more than welcome, and thank you for reading! Sam’s shirt was entirely too rip-off-able in this ep, I’d say. Doesn’t he understand how distracting that is?

Best Regards,

Sylvia

Heady compliments indeed! My head will soon be too big to fit through doorways!

Best Regards,

Sylvia

Always a pleasure to get a different perspective than my own – it’s what makes this fandom so fun!

Best Regards,

Sylvia

First, thank you for helping me connect the dots with your other LJ name! And second for trying to make me feel better. I watch Sammy, and with each ep, his situation seems to get more dire. Yes, there are no obvious angels or agents for good, because at the moment, that is Dean and Sam. The minions of hell are doing a dance in anticipation of getting both the boys’ souls, and at the moment, they’ve got a specific date for when they’ll get Dean’s. As for Sam. Yeah, he’s sleeping with the enemy and for a very good cause – I know in my heart that Kripke won’t let the devil take EITHER boy, but Sam seems more in peril at the moment. A LOT of peril. He will come close to going darkside, cause it’s a fine line he walks. And in the meantime, my fingernails are bitten to the quick.

Thanks for squeeing with me!

Best Regards,

Sylvia

excellent recap as always! reading them is almost like watched the ep again with a friend. i squee with you, i do i do.

one thing i have to say tho’ (and as you know, i am a Dean Girl through and through) – Sammy Is Not Going Darkside. He is Growing Up. so don’t you worry your pretty head about that anymore – just enjoy the Ride.

ever wonder why the show has plenty of demons & evil spirits but no (apparently obvious) angels or agents for good? hmm… think about that for just a minute.

more about that here. (prettyfreckles is my *other* lj, the one where I let loose and squee alot, just so you don’t get confused).

but anyway, you do need to read that, so you will quit worrying about Sam. I totally do not believe that Sam is going Darkside – anymore than Aragorn did when he went to summon the Dead to help him fight for Middle Earth. Sam is just growing up so he can fulfill his destiny – in ways that Demons wish he would NOT.

The End.

Thank you for reading and enjoying my review! I really appreciate your saying that you read them every week!

As for the crossroads, you’ve asked a very good question! And there are two answers to it.

The first is, yes, as I am told, they always film the “crossroads” at the same spot, locationwise.

This might, in part, explain the second answer, why it looks like the same crossroads, regardless of where the boys are in the country. Cause you’re right. They drive all over everywhere, so given the fact that ANY crossroads should do, given that you’ve buried the right things in the center of it, the crossroads we see on screen should all look different. I’m betting that either they haven’t thought it through, and the set dressers, brilliant though they are, didn’t realize that they were making this crossroads look like every other crossroads. The other reason it looks the same is becauase I’ll bet they hoped we wouldh’t notice and used what set dressing they had on hand!! I’m sure it’s the latter, but sharpeyed fans have been pointing out that little oversight quite frequently over the weekend. I just loved the fact that finally Sam got his moment at the crossroads, to experience what Dean has experienced.

Best Regards,

Sylvia

Thank you so much for your feedback. I really appreciate your persepctive and your wholehearted support of Sam. He’s a very complex character, and it’s not always easy to capture everything that is going on with him. Some of it is very subtle. Plus it’s not always easy to give equal attention to both boys in the same review, given my word limitations. So, some reviews are more Dean-focused, and others are more Sam-focused. This one, yeah, I focused on Dean, but believe me, Sam was certainly a distraction! (But then, he always is.)

I see what you are saying here about the complexity of emotions Sam is going through, for example, with the interaction with the doctor, where Sam comes up to him and puts his hand on the phone. To me, that’s a very powerful scene, and I focused on the power because Sam is taking control of a very uncomfortable situation. I had so much I wanted to say about that, about the look in his eye there, and the way he stepped up to the responsibility of delivering some very bad news. And maybe I backed away from it, because it was so powerful. And perhaps, at the same time, I overlooked the gentleness shining through.

As for the scene with the crossroads demon, yeah, I see what you have to say here, and wish I’d thought of it. Sam has choices he needs to make, and none of them are going to be easy. Watching his face as he works through this (shoot her? don’t shoot her?) as well as watching him process what she’s saying (I think he’s tossing most of it out; he knows she’s messing with him) is brilliant. Jared never ceases to amaze me. I’ve always got my eye on Jensen, and then, I see Jared and he pulls me over to where he is, doing what he does, and it’s so darn distracting!

As for Sam telling Dean about the demon? I think he’s not going to, say, march up and confess it, but these things have a way of slipping out. And oh, the fallout we shall see then!

Thank you again, for your feedback. I really appreciate it!

Best Regards,

Sylvia

When Dean does the sketch artist bit to him, Sam’s eyes show not only his annoyance but his shock and some disbelief, “like how the hell to you expect me to pull this off?!” Before he breaks into the room with the doctor and his daughter, the whole running up to him (a very non-aggressive run (and it looks like he limps slightly on his left side throughout this episode)and then is all tongue tied and trying to frame what he has to say so carefully. His eyes are darting all over, as he tries to figure out how to say something so horrible to a man who has kept his daughter alive for so long with no response back. He’s on a time limit though, and knows that Dean is in danger if he doesn’t get this straightened out before that big bad wolf strikes again.

And Jared certainly has as much emotion in his eyes as Jensen in that ‘let me go episode’. He just looks at him and then after Dean leaves, he still stands there, staring after him.

The cross roads scene, after he kills the demon, his expression is flicking through a bunch of emotions: anger, sadness for not saving Dean and remorse for killing a human host, and resignation because of what he’s had to do and will likely have to do in the future.

On another note, I think the one thing that the demon said to him that resonates the most, is the ‘snotnosed’ kid comment: Sam is a grown man and likely getting darn tired of Dean trying to boss him around – see the car argument. I’m actually surprised that Sam doesn’t react more strongly to the ‘girly insults’ or the ‘gay insults’, or maybe he doesn’t let them bother him that much and picks his fights more carefully with Dean. I don’t see evidence anywhere of Sam being annoyed about ‘cleaning up after Dean’ and while he might be annoyed that Dean won’t share his feelings and hurts, I don’t see him finding Dean’s ‘issues’ that much of a burden – other than the ones where Dean decides that he gets to make decisions himself on Sam’s life/death, without giving Sam a chance to choose.

All in all a wonderful episode, showing the boys using their own resources and smarts, and relying on themselves. Good interaction and it’ll be interesting to see what Dean says/does when he finds out about the demon’s death… assuming of course, that Sam tells him.