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Article by Sylvia Bond
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. 37 Comments
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[...] can read my review of the Supernatural episode “Yellow Fever” at pinkraygun.com. Thank [...]
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Sylvia!,
I missed you! You didn’t come back to comment on our comments last week and I have to admit it made me sad. I hope you are okay. Or maybe you actually took some time off. Which, by the way, you deserve. I am not trying to be nosy but I feel like you are my friend now.
Anyway, I really loved this episode. I know I probably sound like a broken record but this season has been so unbelievably satisfying. I have enjoyed it so much.
Jared and Jensen had a significant amount of time together and that made me a very happy fangirl.
It was great seeing another side of Dean. It was so unlike his character to be unhinged like that but it once again proved to me how good of an actor Jensen really is. You are right, he missed his calling.
But, I am ready for an episode where Sam is the focus because I miss that. I want the show to delve more into what he did while Dean was in hell.
Some quick comments:
Loved Luther’s brother.
Dean screaming like a girl – I fell on the floor laughing.
I loved Dean’s tirade. Like you, I love it when the characters throw caution to the wind like that and just rant. Sam did it few weeks back and now Dean.
The scenes with yellow-eyed Sam and Lilith were scary.
Dean’s worst fears personified. Those scenes made my heart hurt. I am not sure I can handle what really happened to Dean in hell but at the same time I want to know.
Finally, Jensen’s video at the end. OMG! I have watched it at least ten times now. I love hearing Jared giggling. And, yes, Jensen is sexy as hell but a lovable dork at the same time. When he played air guitar on his leg I swooned. And when he jumped off the car and smiled I melted into a pool of mush.
Take care
Joan
Hi Sylvia,
I know I am repeating myself but once again I loved your review. I just love all the details you pick up on and how well you express your thoughts. How I enjoy your reviews and look forward to them every week.
Here is my lame attempt of to express I feel …
I have been trying to be patient and giving Show the benefit of doubt but here we are into the sixth episode and I have to say I am really disappointed in this season. Sure there are amazing scenes throughout that you have so well written about but my main beef is the way Sam and Dean’s characters are being written. I don’t even recognize them anymore. Sam in this episode was so badly written that it made feel so sorry for Jared trying to do anything with it … talk about character assassination!
I think Show is suffering from trying to cater to its fans. Instead of reading through Dean biased fandom forums, I wish it would revert to the great story that it started with or maybe at very least read a few forums where Sam is appreciated too and get the other side of the story. We even get Kripke coming out to reply to those fans who laughingly were so distraught at Dean being called a dick. How pathetic is that. Was I that only one who got that part in the episode when Lillith was taunting Dean about his time in Hell and what he remembered and that he knew what he got infected. I guess it helps if you’re not looking at Show from a Saint Dean perspective. Truth is both Sam and Dean are saints and dicks at times … it’s called being human. Show is becoming way too self-conscious for its own good.
Even when there were complaints that it was all about Sam, it was never the Sam Show. Now all we are getting is the Dean Show with Sam the straight man sidekick (especially in last week’s show). Dean was great before mixed with serious and then those charming funny momemts but now we get TWO shows where his comedic side is shown. Sorry but I am really tired of his facial ticks and quirks. It is way too much. I am becoming frankly bored with Dean and if this shocks you, believe me no one is more shocked than me because I love Dean. And I echo your feelings about Bobby too.
Truth be told, Jared does vulnerable (and comedy as well) way better and had he had the Yellow Fever, this episode would have rocked. Only difference, if no one would have made a stink about Sam being called a dick.
I disagree with you that Sam can be cold towards Dean. He certainly wasn’t in Faith or In My Time Of Dying. Sure he is more awkward in caring for Dean and rightly so always having been in that position as the little brother but he always stepped up when needed. This is purely a case of new writers not getting the Sam character at all.
If I recall in Bad Day at Black Rock, Dean didn’t seem exactly torn up about Sam’s impending death. When he barged in to save Sam who was beaten, bloody and bruised, he cracked a joke that he was Batman! And Dean didn’t exactly go running to Sam when Bela shot him. But the writing in that episode worked with well with the mixture of comedy and drama. This episode’s writing failed miserably.
As awesome as that clip of Jensen was at the end, I felt it was totally out of place and should have been left in the Season 4 gag reel. In all fairness, I just hope we get one of Jared at the end of a future episode.
And as for the casting people, how can the same people who cast Castiel, Pamela, Jamie and Luther’s brother also cast Cortese as Ruby and in the process greatly undermine Sam’s storyline. They should have just gone out and hired someone off the street for free in that case.
Anyway, thanks for allowing me to rant. I only hope that future episodes will restore my faith in Show. All I can say if Kripke plans to continue paying fanservice, then he has to realize that there are a whole slew of Sam and Jared fans out there who would love to see Jared being given equal moments to shine no more no less.
Take care,
Tonia
Dear Joan,
You are very sweet to worry about me, thank you. I had a house guest for five lovely days, and on top of that I had the cold that’s going around. So on top of getting sucked into Battlestar Galactica pretty good, I was hopped up on cold medicine and didn’t feel I could do any replies justice. Back now!
I too thought it was a terrific episode. It’s not exactly like Seasons 1 and 2, but it’s satisfying, just the same. And yeah, the boys had TONS of time together, can it get any better than that?
Dean unhinged, I wished I’d thought of that term for my review, because that’s exactly what he was. The yellow fever was a lovely excuse for Show to show the other side of the lad, and Jensen knew just what to do with it! All the screaming and running, what a hoot!
I think you are not alone in wanting a Sammy ep; I hear fangirls far and wide screaming for this very thing. We need to know what he was doing while Dean was in hell, we WANT to know how he managed, and what has changed him so! Besides, I’m rather in love with the Camera Guy when he focuses on Padalecki’s beautiful face; we need closeups too!
Ackles does great lip synching, who knew? What a delight that was! Plus, Ackles has great legs and that’s just facts.
Take care till next week!
Best Regards,
Sylvia
Dear Tonia,
Thank you for saying you liked the review, I really appreciate it, especially in light of the fact that you didn’t like the ep (overall), and are unhappy with the way Season 4 is going. I think you might be alone in not liking Season 4, but you are not alone in your bemoaning the lack of Sam. Lots of fans have said the same; I keep hearing rumors about there being more Sam-centric eps soon, so hang in there.
I need to clarify about the cold Sam statement. I think what I meant here is that Sam has become rather detached from Dean during Season 4, for reasons that really, really need to be explained by Show. On top of which, Sam tends to be unable to deal with a vulnerable Dean, and thus, to me, comes across as rather more cold than his normal loving self. Not cold like he doesn’t care, but cold like he’s holding himself back because he needs to be detached to deal. Dean is much better able to unbend and reach out and take care of Sam than the reverse. Except for, of course, Bad Day at Black Rock, which was a travesty of Show. Dean would never, ever, EVER allow someone to live who shot Sam, especially not someone who shot him for no freaking reason.
As to the character assassination, and the fact that you think Show is catering to fans, now, I had to think about that.
You make an interesting point about what Kripke did when he stepped down to explain what Show meant. I had heard something about that, but didn’t have a chance to actually read his statement word for word until after I’d written this review. Now I’ve read it. While I appreciate his clarification, frankly, the fact that he had to step down and clarify bespeaks of incredibly slopping writing. Apparently, what Sam meant was that the ghost attacked Dean because he uses fear as a weapon; while the dialog attempted to say that, what the dialog actually said was that Sam thinks Dean is a dick, which the Sam we know and love clearly does not think. But instead of turning this into a joke that Sam was making at Dean’s expense (which Padalecki could have easily pulled off, if the dialog had been there), Show dropped the ball – BADLY enough so that Show’s creator had to say something about it. That’s a new one on me. I think Kripke should have just let it be what it was, and then used future dialog to clarify. Tsk, tsk, Show.
The fact that Kripke heard the outcry means that yes, he’s reading the boards, and responding to them, but I don’t think that means he’s catering to fans in writing Dean-centric eps. I think the problem is what you pointed out: new writers. That and the whole Dean/Ackles Love Fest has been going on for some time, not to mention that if before the show was about Sam, now it’s about Dean, so the scales are way tipped over in the Deanish direction. I don’t think you’re imaging things, but I don’t think it’s going to go away.
I’ll never get tired of the many things Ackles can do with his face; he makes Dean come alive each and every time. But. Yeah. Sam’s being relegated to a sidekick a lot of the time, a LOT. Sam’s starting to remind me of a set of guest towels, you know the ones, the kind that hang in the little quarter bathroom on the first floor, that look awfully nice, but that you don’t dare use because you don’t want to ruck them up by washing them? Are they saving Sam’s character for a special occasion or something? Show needs to get the lead out here and start utilizing a terrific and, what’s more, CENTRAL character to keep the story arc interesting and balanced. Ackles and Padalecki do Sam and Dean SO well, it seems a shame not to let Sam shine as brightly as Dean.
As for Bobby: overused, overused, overused. He’s become Show’s own Mary Sue and Exposition Pony, and Jim Beaver is too nice a guy to be relegated to playing such a two-dimensional character. Ruby? Don’t even get me started about her. And Ackles’ vid was a hoot (would love to know the story behind how that came about!), and YES, I hope we get something similar with Padalecki!
You’re always welcome to rant!
Best Regards,
Sylvia
First off, I have to say that I’ve just finished reading all of your reviews, and I have enjoyed all of them. Good job!
This episode was up and down for me. It was the first episode of this season that I couldn’t wait to watch again, and in fact was the first episode of this season that I have watched more than once. I enjoyed the laughs, and the not Deanlike Dean that we saw. I agree that Bobby is becoming too “special” and I too am getting tired of him always fixing things for the guys. Two episodes of Dean acting goofy was a little too much for my tastes though, but if I had to choose, I would discard Monster Movie and keep this one.
“c) because the writers are showing appropriate amounts of interest in the boys and their inner workings.”
I’m sorry, but I have to disagree with you here. They are showing plenty of interest in Dean and his inner workings, and we’ve learned a lot about him, not just in the few episodes of this season, but from last season as well. Sam, on the other hand, has been largely ignored since the end of season two, and now has been reduced to little more than a plot device and straight man for Dean’s awesomeness. Yet even when they reduce him to that level, the character still catches hell from the fans for not doing what they want him to do. It’s crazy.
I saw Sam’s behaviour in this episode thusly: He was well aware of the situation, and the seriousness of it, and he was worried about Dean. But it was going to do neither of them any good for Sam to freak out as well. Keeping calm and collected was his only option. If he had joined Dean in flipping out over the whole mess, how would they ever have saved Dean?
As Tonia pointed out in her post, in Bad Day at Black Rock, which put Sam in a similar place, Dean wasn’t falling all over himself fretting over Sam, and he shouldn’t have been for the same reasons Sam shouldn’t have been in this episode. One could even argue that Sam’s situation in Bad Day at Black Rock was more precarious, because the curse could have killed him at any moment, rather than having a specific time limit on it. Yet Dean was joking, and gently teasing Sam throughout the whole episode, and one could even argue that it was Dean’s fault that Sam got shot. If he hadn’t been mouthing off to Bela, maybe she wouldn’t have fired. Or maybe she would have, we’ll never know.
However, in the fan response to that episode, I don’t recall seeing anyone calling Dean out for his behaviour, or claiming he didn’t care about Sam or that he was cold or unfeeling toward his brother. Not that I’m saying there should have been any fallout on Dean for that. He was focused on saving Sam, and he did, and his emotions would only have gotten in the way.
I also agree with Tonia in that Show is pandering too much to the fans, and not even to all of fandom, just portions of it. If the tables had been turned and fans thought that Dean had called Sam a “dick” nary an eyelash would have been batted. It would have been explained away as good natured big brother ribbing, or something of that sort and probably not mentioned again by the majority of fandom. I dare say that there probably would have been a few people saying that Sam deserved it even, which he doesn’t, but that wouldn’t have stopped them. Yet because it was the other way around, people were up in arms about it. I thought it was fairly clear what was actually meant, and I took it much the way you did. I revised my understanding of it after Lilith’s comments in Dean’s hallucination.
I personally was somewhat ashamed that fandom had been so loud about its distaste over what seemed to be a failure to listen and understand what was actually said that Kripke felt it necessary to speak up. Then too, I wonder where he’s been when fans have been crying out about other issues of greater importance, but that’s neither here nor there.
I was also thinking that, in the scene with the locker, part of Sam’s reaction might have been Jared trying to keep a straight face. He’s admitted that he’s not very good at doing that, and apparently once he gets the giggles he has a hard time stopping. Then again it could have just been Sam’s complete discombobulation over Dean acting like that.
I enjoyed Jensen’s Eye of the Tiger bit, but I too felt that it might have been better suited for the gag reel. It didn’t serve any purpose in regards to the episode, and those two minutes could have been better spent in the plot and storyline. Then again, Show has been consistantly running quite short this season, so likely those two minutes would have just gone down the drain. I can’t help but hope that they’ll give us a bit of Jared’s goofiness in the same vein at some point during the season. I love Dean, and Jensen is amazingly talented, but honestly, I’m getting a little tired of it being the Dean show on screen and the Jensen show behind the scenes. Two brothers, two leads; equal time for both is all I’m asking for.
Dear Jen,
Thank you! I’m glad you have been liking the reviews!
I think that all along it’s been the Dean Show, and while I’m a fan of both boys, I never noticed the lack of Sam-focus, or the out-of-character presentation of him until now. (Now that I’ve become a Samgirl, um, though I believe I write with enthusiasm that is equal for both boys.) Lack of Sam is now keenly felt by me, and I’m now hearing the fanroar about it; he’s not a secondary character, he needs to have his story told. I truly believe we will hear it, and am content to wait, because the view is so very fine of both boys.
As for OOC, Samwise (heh), I think that your other point was that Dean gets away with murder and Sam does not. I cannot even begin to explain why this is, but you’re right. Sam can’t do anything right and Dean can’t do anything wrong. Is it because there are fewer Samgirls than Deangirls, but Samgirls yell louder? I know, personally, that when I write a review that is more Dean-centric than Sam-centric, I HEAR about it. I also hear about it when there are more pictures of Dean than there are of Sam, in response to which I have a weekly tally that I do just to keep it even. But the Deangirls, in reverse, never make a peep, even when the review is Samcentric, and most of the pics are of Sam. I think the majority rules here, and Samgirls, being in the minority, feel the lack of Sam (or any negativity towards his character, which comes across as OOC) very keenly.
You point out the BDABR ep, where Dean was silly and almost flip in the face of Sam’s imminent demise. Yeah, Dean knows how to take care of little brother, even when his life is on the line. I think that what I object to personally with regard to Sam being casual about Dean’s imminent demise, is not his detached actions, but his lack of solicitous behavior. Because even when Dean is being flip, you can see it in his eyes that he’s terribly worried and concerned. I don’t see that same expression in Sam’s eyes, which makes me wonder what’s up with that?
Is it the dialog? The direction? Is it Sam’s character, which has possibly undergone so very many changes? Or is it Padalecki, and this is his interpretation of how Sam would handle it? It could be any or all of the above, but the general consensus seems to be that Sam has changed and fangirls want to know WHY! Kripke can step down from the pedestal to reassure us that Show doesn’t think Dean is a dick, he can certainly get that whip cracking and have those writers of his addressing this issue about Sam. Hell, I’d be happy to assist with the writing of or beta read ANY script for them to make sure they bloody well get it right. (As would any fangirl!) Which only proves your point. Explaining away the “dick” issue is small potatoes when all this time Sam is heading down a Slippery Slope Into Hell, which is most definitely a far bigger issue to be dealing with.
The Eye of the Tiger sequence has become a guilty pleasure for me, because you are right. Show barely tops 40 minutes as it is, and using those two minutes to showcase only Ackles is wrong, wrong, wrong. Unbalanced. Out of line. Unless, of course, we get the same showcasing of Padalecki to redress the balance, until which time, this will always remain a guilty pleasure and I will agree at the top of my lungs, but could we go ahead and press rewind and watch it again, please?
Best Regards,
Sylvia
Syl, Sam needed Bobby to get rid of Luthor; it was a two-man job and Dean wasn’t in the right state of mind to help. Sam had to get the chain around the ghost’s neck while Bobby waited to drive the Impala. I had no problem with Bobby’s appearance here.
This WAS a much more serious ep than Dean’s humorous behavior made it seem:
1. A sweet, lonely giant of a man (Sam-like) with a crush on a kind lady is brutally murdered–and he’s innocent.
2. A seemingly sweet, gentle young woman disappears and is found days later dead, a suicide. Why? Why was her life that terrible that she needed drugs?
3. A man loses his brother and the law ignores him. This man goes on hating until he realizes hate and fear do nothing but engender more hate and fear.
4. A sheriff covers up the fact that his friend murdered an innocent man, and allows that friend to live free for 20 years.
5. Dean is once again under the gun to die and be returned to hell. His hallucinations–Sam turning into a YED by choice and strangling him, Lilith taunting him with the horrific sound of his own heartbeat–are his worst fears come to life. Even when he’s cured, he still sees his little brother with yellow eyes. Is this Dean’s mind playing tricks or did Sam’s eyes REALLY go yellow for that one moment????
So take away all of the hilarity of Dean’s reactions to his ghost sickness and you have a tragedy in “Yellow Fever.”
This was not like last week, a funny, feel-good ep of SUPERNATURAL. This left me feeling kind of sad.
Seriously!
Love, Robin
Dear Robin,
I love that you can see the tragedy behind the funny, and I think that might be what’s getting lost here in all the talk. Bad things happen to good people, and sometimes there’s no stopping it. They never really did address why the wife committed suicide, or why Frank decided he couldn’t just shoot Luther (why the death had to be so ugly), and how in the midst of this, Frank’s brother was able to let go of the hate. There was no healing, not for any of these characters. Sadly.
Sadly, also, there was no healing for Dean or Sam. I don’t think Dean got any comfort for his fevered state; I thought the scene at the end was mocking and cruel. Some say that sure, men will be men and men make fun of each other. But I thought what Sam and Bobby did was out of character; they seemed terribly unconcerned about what Dean had gone through. Sure, Bobby and Sam were being manly so that Dean could be manly, but I didn’t like that scene overall.
Sam got no comfort either, and I think it makes him terribly uncomfortable to see Dean fall apart like that. He hardly knows what to do with his hands; Dean is his whole world.
And as for Bobby, Sam might have needed him to help with Luther, but the Japanese bit was over the top and felt very Mary Sue to me. I’m really weary of Bobby solving all the boys problems for them! Esp Sam’s, because I get the feeling that Sam likes the research aspect of his job. It always feels so emasculating for the boys to always call Bobby.
Loved your stimulating points of view!
Best Regards,
Sylvia
I loved the episode (and I greatly enjoy all your reviews Sylvia!)
Yes, Dean’s ghost sickness is played up for laughs (and it did get quite a few from me!) but under that, there was a fair amount of serious that I saw – Dean’s “hunting ghosts? Who does that” rant, the “You’re going to die. Again. Loser.” hallucination with the book, and the fact that he does remember all four months in hell (that’s like forty years). To top it all off, the fear of Sam with the Yellow Eyes.
Sam seemed to me to be floundering a bit, trying to give his brother what he needed (the room on the bottom floor) but really not sure how to deal with a Dean who was so… un-big-brother-like. So he focused on just getting the job done so things would be OK again.
As for the easter egg at the end… I fell off the couch laughing and now have the clip set as my screen saver. It is definitely Ackles, not Dean, but man… when he starts in on that leg-guitar……..
Dear Finajk,
Hey, thank you; I appreciate the readership!
The leg guitar, oh man. I wanted to go on and on about that THIGH of his, cause, oh, OH, does he have nice legs. Manly legs. Nom, nom, nom. (Can I say that and still get a G rating?) Plus it was funny as hell. I was hooting and hollering and ON my feet the first time I watched it. Never saw it coming, and would dearly love to know the wheres and whys behind it. Whose idea was it? And where’d they get the budget to pay for that song? Ackles HAS it, he just does.
Sam. Floundering, yes. Not sure how to deal, doing his best, being (to me) a bit distanced. Diffident. Cold. I would love to be there when the walls come crashing down for this character, he’s not cried nor collapsed in AGES. Hell, he barely batted an eye when Dean came back, so what’s going on there? I put my faith in Show; I know they will give us the goods.
And yes, I agree about Dean’s suffering. So he’s got ghost fever, and ha ha, isn’t that funny. I wish I could have considered this at the time I was writing the review, but it took you guys to point it out to me, because I don’t read any other reviews till I’ve written my own. There’s a lot of sadness and fear going on here, and isn’t that what the fever is all about? Sure it attacks people who use fear as a weapon, but it’s weapon is also fear, and Dean is not immune to that and never has been. His biggest fear has always been Sam’s leaving him, that he’ll be alone. Now his biggest fear seems to be about going back to hell; he’s no longer worried about Sam leaving. But maybe Sam doesn’t know this? Maybe Sam is trying to deal with Dean’s old fear, and not the current one. Nor is Sam aware of Dean being afraid of Sam – as much as he protests this, I think that apart from him not thinking “freak” in his head, Dean is really terrified of Sam going darkside. There needs to be more about this issue!
Best Regards,
Sylvia