I love your passion for Show and applaud your extremely good taste in thinking JDM is smoking HOT. I hope your viewing marathon continues to be fun!

Best Regards,

Sylvia

Thank you so much for reading and commenting. I agree with you about how sad John’s mindset about what the Colt should and should not be used for is. I like the point that you raise about the lack of a lecture about using the Colt was the definitive reason that Dean knew his Dad wasn’t THE Dad. At the same time, I don’t think your reasoning that the lack of lecture about the Colt is mutually exclusive from the clue of the heaps and heaps of praise Dean was getting. It’s not that John doesn’t praise his boys, as has been pointed out to me, but that he doesn’t praise them like this. The whole converstaion, tons of praise, and no lecture about the Colt, is summed up in Dean’s comment about the Dad not “tearing me a new one.” He knows his Dad better than anyone; I’m sure there’s a thousand details he noticed that will never come to light. But what a great scene, huh?

Best Regards,

Sylvia

I just read your review of ‘Provenance’ and posted a short comment. Tomorrow I am going to read your review of ‘Something Wicked’ and then I plan on reading your review of ‘Dead Man’s Blood’. I know I am doing things backwards now, but I like reading your reviews after I re-watch episodes as well. BTW – since you are such a Dean Girl, I can’t wait to read your review of ‘What is and Never Should be’ when you write it. An entire episode of Dean angst was almost more than I could bear but he absolutely nailed every scene. I swear my heart broke so many times in that episode and I seriously lost it at the end. Jensen Ackles deserved an Emmy for that episode. And, Jared was so awesome in ‘Born Under a Bad Sign’. What does it take for this show to get some ‘EMMY LOVE’.

Anyway, great review – keep up the good work!

Karen

Thank you for adding your voice and your opinions, I get from your perspective that you are a Samfan. : D
All three of these characters are fascinating, each alone (with their own show, for example) would be much less interesting.

Again, thank you for reading!

Best Regards,

Sylvia

Thank you very much, I’m glad you like the reviews. Interesting point that you raise here, as to how Dean knew it wasn’t The Dad. And I see what you’re saying, about the non-lecture aspect of it. But I think I took my point about the praise side of it from the fact that Demon!Dad was praising Dean, which, instead of a lecture, was his biggest clue.

However, after thinking about all of this, I don’t think you can have one without the other. If Demon!Dad hadn’t lectured Dean, but hadn’t praised him either, would Dean have figured it out at all, or as fast? I don’t think so. Maybe my article should have said, something like, Not only did he praise him, he didn’t lecture him either, at which point Dean figured it out.

Because yes, you’re right, he does praise them (both, I assume) in DMB (and by virtue of that message praises Dean, yeah!), but then a bit later in the ep, he gives Dean a verbal smack about the rust on the Impala. So, I think he praises with one hand, and lectures with the other, so to speak. They go hand in hand, so, the fact that Demon!Dad was only praising him, was the clue. Yes? I think I focused on the praise aspect of it, because it seems to me that Dean has many needs that The Dad does not meet, and this is one of them.

Really, thank you for pointing this out, because now I feel I have a more well rounded picture of that particular scene. (Which I just went and watched again. Still feels like a punch to the gut!)

Definately not a John-hater or -basher or anything close, no! I adore John and all his many facets, complex, messed up, brave, goal oriented John.

Best Regards,

Sylvia

Oh, I am a wicked, wicked reviewer sometimes, and cannot help noticing things that ought not to be noticed, and, perhaps, with a little less wine, would not have been. But I try not to self-censor too much, because when I do, the results are much less organic, and then to me, much less satisfactory. Besides it’s much, much more fun (i.e., funner) when one risks it a little.

Best Regards,

Sylvia

Thank you for the sweet smile and the appreciation! And thank you for showing me Show in the first place, otherwise neither one of us would be here now.

Best Regards,

Sylvia

I’m so glad that you liked the review! I’m not surprised this is one of your favorite episosdes, it’s so good in so many ways, it really ranks Right Up There. (She said, joining in the fun of random acts of capitalization!) It’s not an ep you can watch lightly, or very often, because every time you watch it, it takes a little peice of you.

Best Regards,

Sylvia

Hey thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed it. It was such a dark ep, all the way around, and really, the wine didn’t help. Any. And John, The Dad, you know, to make sure he’s not confused with any other Dad out there! It’s important to be clear on these things.

Best Regards,

Sylvia

I hope your bottle of wine and Supernatural viewing fest is as fine as it could possibly be. I will be interested in hearing your thoughts about which eps you viewed, and that Sam and Dean are as cute as ever.

Best Regards,

Sylvia

I think besides being like his father, Sam has more reasons to get rid of that demon than anyone: Dean and John only lost Mary, Sam lost her before he even got to know her, plus he lost Jessica. Not to mention that he suffers painful visions because of the demon – no wonder he’s ready to do nearly anything to get rid of it. Dean accuses Sam and John of being selfish, but so is Dean. He dragged Sam away from his chosen life because Dean couldn’t bear to be alone. I mean really Sam and John are willing to sacrifice themselves for everyone else who has or might be affected by the demon – how can that be considered selfish, except that it’s going to leave Dean without them? He is no longer a child, and should be able to deal by now. Dean is just as selfish. If Sam kills the demon, they get their lives back. I don’t see it so much as revenge in Sam’s mind, as he and John (who says it numerous times in the previous episode) just want this to end. Then they can try to go back to normal lives (although I don’t think John can do that now – I don’t know if he would keep on hunting or just give up and die at some point). Only Dean is reluctant. Why? Because if the demon is dead, then he won’t have Sam and Dad by his side anymore. I don’t think it is so much, as YED says, that they don’t need Dean, it’s that Dean has built nothing else in his left to be able to cope on his own. John’s wish for him was a home, but without Sam or John in it, Dean doesn’t see a home.

Sam is being the practical one in a lot of ways here: he asks why there was no mention of a trade for the gun for John. I know it’s a plot device, but why would Meg bother tracking them to Bobby’s, when the boys are going to come for John. Dean I think, is the weak link here, because he cuts off the chase for the YED to go look for his Dad. He basically fails John here – as Sam does later: both sons putting the father before the father’s mission. Sam also, as you say, tries to test John to see if he is possessed. Sam and Bobby both try to tell Dean that Meg the human, will die if they exorcise the demon, but Dean pushes on. He’s willing to sacrifice her to free her, but not sacrifice his father or his brother – both of whom HE loves. He has no connection to Meg, so it’s not as tough a decision. She doesn’t get a say in this, while both Sam and John were willing to die. Dean basically makes the choice for her, for good or bad.

I have to say that I loved Meg and the actress did a terrific job – I was sorry to see her go. I’m just totally confused by all this: possessed person as opposed to them thinking she was a demon. To my knowledge, demons are black smoke in our dimension and not human looking unless they have a ‘meat puppet’… did I miss something somewhere?

I personally didn’t find Dean all that intimidating at all in that confrontation. He was scared and it showed, to me anyway. (I thought it was foreshadowing of things to come with Sam and John’s deaths.) I would not have been afraid of him, I actually found Meg more intimidating. Sam is more frightening to me, because his coldness when he’s really pissed off is chilling. Where Dean loses his thought process and gets very emotional when he’s that angry, while Sam can still think and that’s much more frightening to me – especially for extended periods of time.

Side note: did John the ex-Marine, never teach his boys ANY first aid??? Giving water to someone who is broken and bleeding inside.. uh, SO not a good idea. Plus they never do CPR, or the basic ABC’s of first aid. I realize it is TV and time saving, but they should show them at least starting or trying. Nope: check the pulse and declare them dead. Snicker!!

Every time I watch a fight scene with Sam getting strangled or his face smashed, I have to wonder, just who the heck taught him to fight?? First rule you learn: keep you hands up in front of your head (i.e. brain). Sam is the worst at this and it frustrates the heck out of me sometimes. (and yes, I love to see those tender brotherly moments when Dean comes over to help him or vice versa), but again.. ex-Marine teaching them stuff – didn’t John bother with the basics at all? I mean Sam is 6’4″ and has a hell of a reach – use it boy! .

I totally agree with you: why beat on Sam. Especially why would this demon (who is the YED’s son apparently) want to beat up Sam, who is chosen by the YED? It’s not a test that I can see. Obviously, as you say, John should be the focal point here and the leader, so take out the head, and you break up the troup’s moral. Instead, Dean kills another human for his family, and he knows it. It makes his little speech to Sam about being selfish and revenge being a problem a bit hypocritical, when Dean’s selfishness to keep HIS family together is killing other humans. John and Sam were just going to sacrifice themselves.

Sam going to check on Dean before his Dad after shooting him makes practical sense: Dad got shot in the leg: Dean’s is bleeding internally – Dean is the one in more danger and Sam can see that.

That crash at the end, one of the few scenes where I literally jumped in shock. Honestly: scared the heck out of me, and this show does not normally do that. Bang up ending… literally!
-San

We have no canon for John not praising the boys, and proof that he did. From telling them “Good job at covering your tracks” in DMB to random compliments like the phone message saying Dean can handle all John’s referrals in PT.

In just about every ep he’s in, he mutters some form of Winchester praise… not always Hallmark moments, but even saying he knows Dean can handle getting blood in DMB, its praise.

I know you are not a John basher and you are very fair with your fantastic reviews, but this point nagged at me. I often joke with others that if John called the boys an ‘idgit’ or just ‘boy’ the way Bobby does, John would be burnt in effigy, again and 4 metas on mean Dad would be posted!

Sylvia, darling, that is what fanfic is for!!!!! I HEART your brain