Supernatural: Crossroads Blues
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by
Sylvia Bond
Supernatural Episode Review, Season Two - Episode 8
“Crossroads Blues”
I’m not sure about the blues, but I know I don’t like jazz. Yeah, I know all about how it’s true American music, but I’ve been forced to sit through jazz that’s bad and confusing enough to kill you. Blues, on the other hand, won’t kill you. Nobody’s ever died listening to blues, or thinking about the blues, or even playing the blues. Except in this episode, naturally, this being Supernatural and all. And even I, a closet A.B.B.A fan, had heard about Robert Johnson, blues man extraordinaire, upon whom one story in this episode is based. Robert, you see, wanted to be great, so he sold his soul to the devil to be great. Problem is, when you make a deal with the devil, you have to be mighty careful about that contract, because the definition of “great” can be a loose one and therefore problematic. Great where? Great to whom? Plus, any time you go against the devil, it’s like betting against the house in Vegas. In other words, even when you win, you lose.
The teaser in this ep is beautifully filmed in a jukejoint some time in the past. In 1938 to be exact, when clothes made the woman as well as the man. There’s smoke and the rustic structure, the company’s relaxed, and you just KNOW the beer is going to be good. The authenticity (or the relative romantic authenticity) of the scene reminds me of an opener to Quantum Leap, and I half expected Sam Beckett to come zipping into the body of the guitar player, and then show us his confusion with the hallmark, “Oh, boy!” Instead, the poor guy gets ripped up by invisible hellhounds, and it turns out he sold his soul for a 10-year stretch at greatness. (Which, by some small mistake made by Show, is actually only an 8-year stretch at greatness.) You can’t beat the dealer when it’s the devil.
Enter Sam and Dean to drive, dither, and investigate. It starts in a diner, the boys sitting across from each other, knee-to-knee, like they do. Like I like it when they do, because they’re relaxed and safe and with each other. They’re discussing potential black dog sightings, totally immersed in the lore and the conversation about who’s wanted for murder where, and hang who might be listening. (I’m thinking they should be a little more discrete, but the place looks pretty empty, so they should be okay.) Sam’s on his laptop (and where did he get that and when?) and awfully worried. Dean’s shoving back greasy fries, enjoying them immensely. What he’s also enjoying is the fact that he’s now a wanted man. Like Dillenger, he says, making a joke about the fact that they’re now on the grid and he’s in the F.B.I’s database. Sam is not laughing.
I love the contrast between them here; the fact that they’re at odds so early on in the ep tells me there’s going to be even more conflict later. Dean is shining, joyful, bouncing around, even as he’s sitting still. He makes jokes about how a dog that big could hump the crap out of your leg, and he teases Sam about how Sam’s not cool enough to warrant being listed in the database as even an accessory. This makes Sam deliciously cross and sulky. His hair dances across his wrinkled brow, and he’s just not happy with the whole scenario. I adore a serious Sam, a Sam who sometimes can’t see the forest for the trees, and who worries about what the world thinks of them more than he should.
Next up, suits! Boys in suits and ties! As you know, I’ve long given up worrying about where the suits come from (they’re rented), and the boys clean up nicely, don’t you think? That’s all that really matters. They’re all spit and polish and exchanging brotherly looks full of unspoken words and meaning. Meanwhile, they’re interviewing a man who knows a gentleman I’ll refer to as Contestant #1. This guy, this genius architect guy, threw himself off his own building. Dean doesn’t care, he’s got no sympathy, none, zippo, zilch. In his book, suicide is STOOPID, and anyone lame enough to go for that deserves to have their head splatted on the sidewalk even if they were being chased by what might have been a black dog. Sam, of course, is all care and concern, worried about a stranger’s emotions while he gives Dean the evil eye.
What’s even funnier is the next scene, where Sam and Dean dither after Dean produces a list of all the complaints about black dogs in the area. He’s all up on the research, but it’s Sam who has to tell him what myspace is. Dean happily thinks it’s a porn site, and his smile is both beautiful and hopeful. I like it that Dean has no idea about internet communities and connections, and that he doesn’t have time to interact with people in what is basically an alternate reality. Porn chicks excluded, of course.
Next up is Contestant #2, the youngest chief medical surgeon in town, like ever, and she dies horribly. Ripped up by hellhounds that only she can see and hear. In another be-suited encounter, Sam and Dean learn that she hung out at Lloyd’s Bar long about 10 years ago, so off they go to visit said establishment. And here comes one of my favorite scenes in this ep: Sam and Dean in the sunlight. Call me simple, call me obsessed, because yes, while the scene entertains us with an interesting dither about yarrow flowers and crossroads demons, that’s not what it’s really about. What it’s really about is, yeah, freckles and eyelashes. Ask any fangirl, they’ll tell you.
It must have been coming on sunset when they filmed, with the light slanting through the trees from the west. Both boys are lit up like Christmas morning. Dean circles around Sam, who watches as his brother digs and then joins in the dither about graveyard dust and black cat bones. You can count the freckles across the bridge of Dean’s nose, and you could spin a rope from the thickness of Sam’s eyelashes. You can see the green glitter glint of Dean’s eyes, and the hard planes of Sam’s jaw. They’re stunning and beautiful and almost unearthly here. It’s amazing that Show doesn’t figure out how glorious this looks and film ALL of their scenes at this time of day. I’m sure that the fact that they don’t is a punishment for some past sin of mine, or maybe it’s that Show knows that if it gives me too many daylight scenes like this, I’ll just become jaded and spoiled.
What’s more fun is the fact that Sam, even though he’s heard about the Robert Johnson legend, has no idea about blues music and wouldn’t know a grace note if it hit him in the face. Normally, it’s Sam who’s got all the references in his speech to culture and enlightenment. This time around, it’s Dean who knows because, of course, the blues are the roots of rock and roll, baby. It gets even more interesting when Dean expresses his distaste at helping people out who are STOOPID enough to make a deal like that, to sell their soul for fortune and/or fame. He makes a reference to how they wouldn’t rescue people who are STOOPID and who willingly put themselves in a barrel to plummet over Niagara Falls because, according to Dean, if you volunteer for that sort of thing and no one holds a gun to your head, you kind of deserve it. Sam makes that face he does when not only is Dean out of line, Sam can’t even begin to contemplate how differently his brother thinks.
The boys find Contestant #3, yet another idiot who picked the zonk behind the wrong door. (Show took the time to set up some interesting from-above camera angles as the boys pound on the door, which gives the scene an edgy feeling. Nicely done, Show!) The guy sold his soul to be a talented artist, and he is, but unfortunately, like I said, the devil has his own idea about the legalese you put into a contract, so the man is going to die talented, but alas poor and not famous. What’s different about Contestant #3 is that he’s not on the run from the hellhounds like the other two contestants were. No, he’s going to finish what he started, and then pay the price for being foolish. He says, “I’m tired,” and the camera flicks to Dean, who looks tired as well. I love it when Show does this; you think a scene is about one thing, when it’s totally about something else. Long about now, it occurs to me just exactly what kind of deal you could make with a crossroads demon. And just what kind of deal Dean might think of engaging in.
Then the boys visit Contestant #4, which is where it gets interesting. And funny, in a quirky kind of way. Dean kicks the door down to get into #4’s house. This is always cool and macho of Dean, but when Dean tries the same thing with an interior door, Sam stops him. Sam’s all what the hell, dude, but what gets me is who else would be brave enough? I mean, there’s Dean with those powerful, masculine, and manly thighs of his about to kick a door in. He’s all focused and powered up, and in steps Sam, as if Dean wasn’t like a wild mustang that could kick him into next week. Me? I’d be getting the hell out of the way, but not Sam.
There’s more of this as the boys confront Contestant #4, with Sam telling Dean to cool it while Dean makes fun of the guy for being STOOPID. Sam wants to help, because that’s the way Sam is. But Dean, no, he thinks the guy is a self-important idiot. That is, until he learns that #4 sold his soul for his wife’s life. (He was completely enticed by hell’s version of Carol Merrill suggesting the miraculous item behind Door #3.) That’s the ultimate sacrifice, and sure the guy is willing to die for his wife, would do it again, but he’s scared, too. Scared to die. Still, Dean says that the whole thing is selfish and wrong, and you can see him thinking that what’s dead should stay dead. If your wife is bound to die, you should let her. And if you don’t, you’re really only thinking of yourself, so you’re a looser anyway.
What follows is a hallway dither, one of those wonderful and close up just Sam-and-Dean conversations where truth comes out, and it’s painful as hell. (No pun intended.) Between them they figure out that The Dad (Yeah!!! He’s in the episode even though he’s DEAD and doesn’t have any lines!!!) sold his soul for Dean’s life. We get many lovely and angsty looks, with Dean all conflicted and Sam all worried. Because now, now that they know about The Dad, The Dad who is wise in all things (in Dean’s mind), is what he did STOOPID? What’s worse is that now Dean feels g-u-i-l-t-y. Dean is not normally one to feel guilt or remorse, no, he’s fire all torpedoes and full speed ahead in all things. But now he’s got to confront the inflexibility of his own thinking, and maybe he’ll have to think it out again.
So what does he do? He’s going to snap into action. He gives Sam the goofer dust to protect Contestant #4 and wants to go to the crossroads to summon up the demon. Sam protests, as younger brothers do, and Dean plays the big brother card. He’s got that look on his face like he does when he’s given an order and expects Sam to obey it. It’s hard to explain, but it’s something Dean does when conversations like this come up. There’s something in his eyes, and the push of his jaw that makes his face serious and you just know Sam’s got to back down. Which he does here, staying behind while big brother goes into battle, turning into little brother right then and there in two seconds flat. And Ackles plays the scene exactly right, giving the impression that Dean’s got two thoughts on his mind. One, that people who make crossroads deals are STOOPID, and two, exactly how desperate is he going to have to get before he summons the demon for reasons other than saving Contestant #4? Thanks Show, for taking the time to film this delicious little scene.
While Sam protects #4 in his hunky and powerful way (Samhair flying in his eyes, just the way I like it), Dean summons the demon. I love it when Sam goes into full protection mode, spreading his arms wide, as Sam does, putting his fragile (HA!) flesh in between a civilian and danger. And when Dean summons the demon, the scene brings the episode to a sharp point, because this is what it’s all about: being STOOPID enough to love someone so much that you’d sell your soul for them.
And I must say that the whole scene with the crossroads demon was shot very well. Not that I know anything about that kind of stuff, but I like what I saw. Everything is dark, like so much on this show, but it was done in cool blue tones with tight close-ups and not a lot of moving around of the camera. It gave the interaction even more tension than it already had, so kudos to Show for that. The demon is hard to trap, but Dean tries, first with the devil’s trap under the car, which she doesn’t fall for, and then with the one under the water tower, which she does.
Dean wants her to let Contestant #4 go and he’s willing to trade up himself. And you’d think that’s it, but the scene is slowly paced, and builds up, and naturally, the crossroads demon is going to give Dean hell, all kinds of hell and even more guilt than he’s already got. She reminds him of how much it hurts that The Dad is gone, how much Dean misses him, and it’s tragic really because although demons lie, here, she’s telling the truth. Dean’s nothing but a messy pile of angst and emo, for all Sam is the emotional one, Dean hides his deep and still. The demon knows, and we fangirls know, so the scene is tragic and sad and almost too revealing. But I like it like that cause I’m whacked that way.
At one point, Dean seems about to give in, because, yeah, he WANTS The Dad back so badly, it’s almost like he says it out loud. It’s in his face and the forward tip of his shoulders, and the way he asks it with that little glass crackle in his voice: “Could you really bring him back, my dad?” Once he’s got the demon under the trap, he’s all funny and asking her to throw in steak knives, and ha ha, the whole thing was a joke. Only I don’t think it was; I think that there was at least a full on minute, if not more, where Dean actually thought about going through with it. Perhaps the only thing preventing him was the thought of The Dad coming back from hell (not a nice place, duh) and ripping Dean a new one for being so STOOPID.
It’s after the deal goes down and Dean gets his first taste of demon tongue that he learns the truth. The Dad is suffering in hell and will continue to suffer to as long as time lasts, and that Dean COULD have done something about it. But the deal is already made, Contestant #4 has been saved, so Dean can’t change anything. This, naturally, won’t keep him from beating himself up on the inside for not picking Door #1, and for not having the wherewithal to beat the ultimate dealer.
As Sam and Dean drive along in the final scene, I just wish there was some way to make Dean feel better, because you can SEE the cloud hanging above his head, in spite of Sam’s reminding him that demons lie. The hard part is watching Dean continue to believe that he’s not worth it, that he wasn’t worth it, that The Dad did it for nothing because Dean thinks he’s not the kind of guy you should sell your soul for. There’s no way I, personally, can disabuse him of this notion, sadly. But Sam can, bless him, or at least he tries.
Sam pulls out all the stops and reminds Dean that THEY, the Winchester boys, are The Dad’s legacy on account of how many people they’ve saved and are going to save. That makes it worth it right there, according to Sam. But according to me, the boys are worth it on account of them being them. Being terrific and all. Being beautiful. Being brave. But what gets me is how fast Sam figures out that Dean actually contemplated giving his soul in exchange for The Dad’s life. And this in spite of the fact that Dean, with his silence and a turned up radio, denies it. We all confront our own demons, it seems, and Sam’s personal demon is to try and figure out when and how Dean is going to do something STOOPID on Sam’s behalf. Because you know he will. You just know it.
Sylvia Bond is a ten-year technical writing veteran with too many degrees under her belt to count. She lives in Colorado, but does not ski, preferring instead to spend her money and time at the annual Great American Beer Festival, taking road trips across the United States, and reading historical fiction from the comfort of her fluffy green arm chair. She has been involved in fandom since 1993 and been writing fanfic since approximately 1993. What she finds most amazing about fandom (besides the open heartedness of fans and the sheer amount of creativity) is how visible fandom has become. “In my day,” she says, “we had to hide behind P.O. boxes to get fanfic. But nowadays, people wear t-shirts that shout their affiliation and share their shiny toys on the internet.” It’s a wonderful world.
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