I, frankly, was surprised I didn’t hear all the fangirls screaming with JOY from coast to coast!!! It’s delightful news, enough to turn any bad day around. Looking forward to squeeing with you (and everyone) for many eps to come!

Best Regards,

Sylvia

No worries, okay? I thought it was an interesting idea, so I was compelled to look it up.

Best Regards,

Sylvia

Interesting observations all.

About Sam and that exorcism, maybe you are right that Sam only memorized it on account of what happened to Dean, but I still think, at the very least, he more readily had it memorized than Dean ever did. Certainly canon shows us that Sam has it memorized, but they’ve not shown us that Dean has done the same. So I’m going to stick to my guns here. : D

As for Dean turning into Sam, I should have been more clear. I meant Dean turning into the Sam that was, the Sam before Mystery Spot, the Sam before AHBL, the Sam before killing the crossroads demon. The Sam from the before time. Gentle Sam. Humane Sam. The Sam that wouldn’t sacrifice a civilian to save himself. While at the same time, Sam is turning into a harder version of Dean, doing what must be done, killing what needs to be killed. I think the whole ep had to do with finding out what each character was willing to do to win the war or the battle. What sacrifices of self or of others are they willing to make? Sam seems to have stepped over the line, while Dean is backing away from it. Not that he’s afraid, but, as he says, that’s not the kind of war he wants to fight.

Loved what you had to say about Dean being a great leader, a leader you’d want to follow, not blindly, or because you were afraid, but because you knew this guy would get the job done. Or you’d all go down fighting together. Wonderful!

Best Regards,

Syliva

To be fair we never saw Sam do it BEFORE Dean couldn’t do it. For all we know Sam only learned it by heart after that incident with Dean having the book blown out of his hands.

I have to say I disagree that Dean has become more Sam-like. I don’t believe ANY season’s Dean would have countenanced the sacrifice of a “civilian” to essentially just save his own and Sam’s skins. It’s one thing when it’s in self-defense(the possessed who are attacking, the infected who cannot be uninfected) it another thing entirely to cut out a virgin’s living heart just to get out of a situation alive on the say so of a demon. I can’t see Dean, with his ‘saving people, hunting things’ mantra from Wendigo or the guy who thought the Djinn had given him his mother back and his brother safe but gave it up because he discovered that everyone they had saved after his mother’s and Jessica’s deaths were killed, ever agreeing to that plan. To me this episode was the return of classic Dean.

I find Dean to be a more convincing leader and one who ultimately I could see the people around him following–because he makes you feel that if anyone can get you through this, he can and if he can’t, well there is no one you’d rather go down with. You’d want to because he makes you believe you’re important, not just that you should follow him because HE is important. It’s a quality I’ve noted about him since Wendigo and it’s one that I think both Sam and John have lacked. You might follow them because you felt you ‘had’ no choice but to follow them(and in John’s case anyway I think this shows in how he ended up alienating in one form or another most of his friends:), but with Dean you’d do it because you want to. People don’t want to follow a leader whom they feel could sacrifice them at any time for expediency’s sake or reasons of personal vendetta.

For me that was my favorite thing about this episode. No “dumb Dean”(except the requisite 50 point IQ drop everyone suffers when Bela is around–please kill her off Kripke, PLEASE!!), no wishy washy Dean. This was smart, experienced, outside the box thinking, sometimes crude but still managing to be sensitive, “saving people”, big damn hero Dean! It was wonderful seeing him again.

I just hope they allow him to stick to his principals rather than just being led around by the nose by Ruby in what they thing is yet another clever “role reversal”.

Thanks for liking the review, and for posting to say so. I firmly believe that this show is beyond excellent and deserves all the best recognition, hence why my reviews are typically glowing. I can see that sometimes Show should have done this or not done the other thing, but it’s so far and away better than anything else out there, it’s almost unbelievable.

As for tattoo parlors, in spite of the popularity of Miami Ink on TLC, and in spite of the fact that nice folks like you own and run them incredibly well (and cleanly, I’m sure), I was raised to feel that tattoo parlors were not nice places to go. And my Nana always told me that nice ladies don’t get tattoos. (Actually what she told me was about the kind of ladies who DO get tattoos and how I didn’t want to be one of those.) She was old-fashioned and loved me very much. It’s hard to go against years of training, hence, it’s an oxymoron to me.

Is the pattern they got a tribal sun flash and will it be able to protect them? Would your husband’s parlor have something to protect them against demons? (It concerns the boys so I want to know all about it!)

Best Regards,

Sylvia

Yeah, heck, they could do anything in shackles and I’d be happy. And then they did other things as well, like pile on the dark and weird humor beneath the plot, giving it so much texture that it was almost overwhelming.

Did Dean actually get chained to a chair in the Pilot? Did I watch a different Pilot? Man, I might have to take another look at this one!

Keep up the fun, the new eps will be here before you know it!

Best Regards,

Sylvia

Thanks for reading, kiddo, you know it doesn’t mean a thing unless I hear from you and get that smiley stamp of approval!!

Best Regards,

Sylvia

Thank you so much for posting! You’ve got a good point in that Ruby might just have been trying to push the boys’ buttons, either for fun, or to twist Sam’s psyche just a little harder. And Dean’s in this case. Everything could get messed up so fast, it wouldn’t even be funny. Which, of course, is why we LOVe this show!!!

Best Regards,

Sylvia

Never fear, I’m going to keep reviewing older eps to keep myself occupied whilst we wait for the rest of season three. We got lucky that they were able to do any at all, I’m thinking. The writer’s strike sure was messy.

And fingers crossed that Ruby finally figures out what to do with that Colt. (If she can find it.)

I’m not sure where that teacher got his information, but I believe he is incorrect. Latin legal phrases typically do not contain English words, although in this case the “in” in this phrase roughly translates to our English “in” here, because the two words share the same root meaning, but they don’t always mean the same thing. Sometimes the Latin “in” can mean “into,” though it can translate as “against” or “on” or “onto” or “during” in English.

In Latin, each word is inflected, or marked, as to its function in the sentence, so the word “in” can mean different things, depending on the inflection of the words around it. For example, in the phrase Malum In Se means “inherently wrong,” but the Latin word “in” doesn’t translate to mean “in” in English. There are other examples like In Pari Delicto (equally wrong), or In Pari Materia (on a like subject matter), or In Personam (against the person), and in each case “in” means something different. (Hey! I think my linguistics background just came in handy for once!)

On with the show. Thanks for posting and squeeing with me over this delightlyfully kinky and interesting episode. And I don’t think we’ll ever get the old Sam back. But do we want to?

Best Regards,

Sylvia

One itty-bitty nitpick, though…you said:”…a reputable tattoo parlor (now there’s an oxymoron for you.”

I beg to differ. My husband and brother in law own such a shop. *And there would have been no tribal sun flash for the boys if they’d come here, let me tell you.*

So many funny lines in this one, too, mostly from Henricksen: “Hannibal Lecter and his half-wit little brother” was their introduction to the Mayberry PD staff. And another: “Life sucks. Get a helmet.” – this is my current status on MySpace lol And did anyone notice the “Blue Steel” mug-shot of Dean pinned up on the police station wall?

I really did see potential for Henricksen as a fellow hunter. Too bad.

Thanks again, as always, Sylvia.

P.S. To get over the hiatus, a like-minded friend and I are meeting on-line twice a week to review episodes from the beginning. We discussed Pilot last night (which brought the slashy angst and bondage right away – They have a little wrestle upon their first meeting in 2 years, Dean’s chained to a chair, said “you are SUCH a control-freak” to Sam, and I swear he’s wearing guy-liner in at least one scene *thud*), and Friday we’ll review Wendingo. Hey, it’s a way to pass the time without our boys.

Cheers!

You worried about Sammy? Heck, he’s just coming into his own, and needs to understand his darker side in order to become powerful enough to save his brother. (Or that’s one theory anyway!) I’ve been enjoying watching him change, but I can see why you are worried about him. He used to be so SWEET, and now look at him!

Thanks for liking the review!

Best Regards,

Sylvia

Thank you so much for your enthusiasm, and yes, I will definately be reviewing older eps during the hiatus. Because I’m addicted too! There’s nothing better than watching these guys do their thing.

Best Regards,

Sylvia