Comments on: Supernatural: 99 Problems

By: Barbara

Barbara — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 16:08:23 +0000

I've always believed that Lisa lied to Dean about Ben and that the boy is his son. Why would she lie?
You have a wonderful weekend on the 'catch and release' program and end up pregnant. You raise the kid alone and a little bit over a decade later, the fish you threw back shows up looking for another wild weekend.
She looks at the life Dean leads and knows it won't work with her and her kid and him – not how he lives when she sees him.
As much as you might miss someone or want someone or even live within the fantasy you build around someone, when you have a life and a kid and a world to consider, you don't take back a guy just because you got all bendy with him and DNA was exchanged.
Ben is Dean's son and that is just biology.

By: Robijean

Robijean — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 03:53:41 +0000

Actually I didn't see the same thing as a lot of people saw in Abandon All Hope, so I don't think he was sighing over Jo as girlfriend or potential love interest at all but instead sighing over the loss of a friend and colleague. I thought he probably regretted Ellen's death as much as Jo's, only with Jo being so young it seemed more tragic in her case. In real life, I know a young person's death seems worse than someone who had a chance to live a full life.

I also didn't see Lisa as a love interest, she made it quite clear the last time she wasn't interested and it would be horribly stalkerish on Dean's part if he didn't realize that. I think he was there to warn her about the danger to Ben if he shared his bloodline. Also he wanted to let her know he was taking preparations to protect them from the events she'd soon she on the news. I think Dean believes there is a very real possibility that Ben is his and naturally he'd want to protect him and his mother.

Dean saying yes is to him the last act of a desperate man, is almost suicidal and he's taking some of the last steps a person seriously contemplating ending their life would take. Clearing up loose ends, making arrangements.

By: Robijean

Robijean — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 03:45:39 +0000

I wondered if maybe he was warning her that if Ben was really his son, he was in danger because of his bloodline. I think one of the reasons Dean might have gone to Lisa is because there is a chance Ben could be his and therefore part of the bloodline that can be a vessel for Michael.

I also thought Lisa responded to him not in the way of a woman interested in a romance but in the way of someone facing a suicidal individual and trying to get him to sit and talk. Dean had all the signs of someone about to end their life – saying his goodbyes, divesting himself of his belongings (in this case his dream fantasy of a family), and talking about ending things, death, etc.

I think she reacted to his desperation. And I think the reason he went to her in this time of desperation was two-fold – he wanted to prepare her about what she would soon be seeing on the news (because of his act of saying yes) and he wanted to also warn her that Ben could be in danger if he was actually his son.

By: Sylvia Bond

Sylvia Bond — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 18:11:47 +0000

Nice question. Hopefully we'll find out!

By: Sylvia Bond

Sylvia Bond — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 18:11:28 +0000

A lot of people have commented to me that they didn't like this ep as much as I did, and I can see why, because the Lisa and Jo thing, yeah, right out of nowhere, and lots of emo for Dean but hardly any for Sam. Even though Sam gets the blame for the apocolypse, Dean gets the credit (and the expectation for saving it.) The only thing that saves it for me is that I'm fairly comfortable that the brothers won't be saving the world on their own. They will need to do this together, at least that's where it's pointing for me.
As for the Samhair – I'm also pretty comfortable thinking that they're now styling Sam's hair for Samhair fans, that is, it's not an accident that it looks this cool!

By: Sylvia Bond

Sylvia Bond — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 18:08:58 +0000

No worries. : D

By: Sylvia Bond

Sylvia Bond — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 18:08:58 +0000

No worries. : D

By: Martha

Martha — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 14:25:28 +0000

Oops, I forgot to correct my post before posting. I'd had the capslock on by mistake. I'm so sorry.

By: Martha

Martha — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 14:22:34 +0000

nICE REVIEW, sYLVIA. i WASN'T TOO KEEN ON THE EPISDE – HATED THE LAST SCNE

Nice review as always, Sylvia. I do love reading your reviews. As for the episode I wasn't too keen on it. I thoroughly disliked the last scene with Lisa which came out of nowhere and seemed designed merely to gratuitously ramp up the Dean angst – I mean, only a few weeks ago he was sighing over Jo and now suddenly Lisa's his happy place?! And this coming after giving Sam hell last week for not having Dean in his happy memories! Hypocritical much, Dean! Plus I am so fed up with the constant Emo!Dean.
I figured that the raeson why Dean could kill Leah was because he'd become Heaven's Bitch back in LucR, not so much because he's such a pure soul.
But I did love the Sam and Castiel interaction and the little revelation of how scared Sam is too. Hey Show, nice of you to remember that Sam is stuck in the middle of this apocalyptic nightmare too.

And the Sam!Hair was magnificent.

By: Karl

Karl — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 08:24:09 +0000

Personally, I’m just curious to what Dean was whispering into Lisa’s ear at the end of the episode. It was very reminiscent of when The Dad whispered into Dean’s ear way back in season 1 or 2.

By: Amy

Amy — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 03:27:33 +0000

I hated the ending with Dean and Lisa, just hated how it came out of nowhere. First, Dean falls in love with Jo's woman hips, and he emotes over her like they had a real relationship (did Dean even mention her frikking name in GGYA?), now he's slobbering over Lisa and Ben as his imaginary perfect family and how he imagines their life would be. Yuck. Now, maybe there is a real connection between Dean and Lisa and Dean and Ben, but that's not why he showed up on her doorstep out of the blue. He wasn't there to make a real relationship with her, or even get her email address so they could communicate on the road. No, he was there to confirm his fantasy dream life of an Instant Family and Normal, all those things he ripped Sam apart (and so did the fandom) for in season 1 and 2. It is rank hypocrasy at this point in the story to trot out Dean's Special Insta-Family and pretend once again that Dean is in a love story with someone, like they did with Jo. Dean can make all the weepy emo faces he wants to, I just don't buy him and his angle anymore.

By: Amy

Amy — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 23:38:07 +0000

Now that that is out of the way, nice review, Slyvia! I am simply flat-out done with Dean's emo train. I don't care if he has good reasons to cry and look like he's just sucked lemon, because I know he does. I just don't want to see it or hear it anymore. I was sick of this Dean way, way back in the beginning of season 2, and he never, ever leaves! Plus, Sam has always paid the price for this, always. And I am flat-out done with that, too. He should be a train-wreck of issues. But no, no, let's not show how anything might affect Sam on the show. Let's not show how his addiction to demon blood started, or how his powers truly work, or his powers at all, actually. Let's not show why Sam does nor doesn't do something with actual scenes. Let's not give him a real POV on the show. Let's not let him be right ever. Let's not show him praying, even though he actually believes in God. Whatever. Dean is damn lucky he has Sam for his brother, because I wouldn't put up with his passive aggressive bs the way Sam does.

By: Amy

Amy — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 23:27:33 +0000

By: Sylvia Bond

Sylvia Bond — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 21:27:26 +0000

Yeah, the Soap Angel – funny in the right kind of way, unobtrusive, but there, and for some reason, the Columbo raincoat, all scraggy and wrinkled matches. He's a secondary character, and his job is to support the main characters, like he does here!

By: Andrea

Andrea — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 21:17:54 +0000

The only comment I want to do about this episode is that if it was SAM wanting to say YES to Lucifer, he would be the worst abomination that ever walked on Earth. But because it's DEAN, it's heartbreaking. As far as I'm concerned, the only thing that breaks my heart is the fact that he's concerned about the safey of a woman he met a long time ago and never spoke of again, while showing no concern at all about what will become of Sam if he does say YES to Michael.

By: Whiskey

Whiskey — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 19:53:16 +0000

I really hope all of this doesn't send Sam racing to Lucifer to save Dean. That would monumentally stupid. Which means it's EXACTLY what Show would do to Sam's character. I'm hoping Sam will dig in his heels and fight for Dean, ignoring what Dean is saying and doing to him, to try to save him. Because it's the right thing to do. But it all depends on how hard Dean fights back, and how much help he has. Sam can fight Dean on this, for a while at least. I don't think he can fight Dean AND heaven though.

By: Robin Vogel

Robin Vogel — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 19:32:15 +0000

I feel that Lisa as Dean's big love is a tad out of left field, but she was featured in DALDOM, as his dream gal, and I still suspect Ben in his, her claim of a test notwithstanding. That scene had me crying very hard, so Jensen's acting was incredible. Lisa, along with Ben and a home represents Dean's ideal life at this moment. If Jo were still alive, he would have paid a visit to her, maybe, but Lisa has a child, and Dean wants to be a father.

This episode was upsetting, hilarious, crazy, weird, downright insane on so many levels. A community that knows about demons and saved the brothers' lives? PERFECT! A Whore of Babylon who is false, taking the place of a beloved daughter, telling them to do bad things that will force them to kill each other? BAD! A drunk Castiel whispering in Sam's ear, telling him he's an abomination? FUNNY AS HELL! Dean acting like he doesn't give a damn about anything anymore? UPSETTING! Once-loving townspeople going mob-crazy and trying to force a man out, then one murdering him? INSANE & UPSETTING!

The episode was phenomenal, but the previous one was, IMHO, better.

Anyway, there's been a lot of speculation why Dean was able to kill Leah. As I recall, he did give himself over to heaven a while back ("On the Head of a Pin?") and agree to become heaven's servant? To serve heaven as he had his own father? He did that with Cas, and afterward, Bobby was upset that he had become heaven's bitch? Wouldn't that make it logical that he could do to Leah what he did? Of course, why would Cas be wrong about that? Some might argue that Dean doesn't belong in heaven, given what a bad boy he's been with the credit card fraud indiscriminate screwing, drinking, etc., but he's saved a lot of people, so he's allowed. God overlooked Sam's evil activities and demon blood and let him in, too.

Unless you're right, Syl, and Dean's soul is so pure, it cannot be tainted.

Like you, I'm eagerly awaiting ep #18. There are spoilers all over for those who have already seen advanced previews of the show, but I avoided them all. I do know more than I wish I did, sadly, and am pissed about it.

Love, Robin

By: Veronica

Veronica — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 19:02:05 +0000

Yes, it was shown in Sex and Violence too. It's been a current theme for at least two seasons.

Yes, I've been waiting and waiting on the Dean maturation arc. It started in season two but was pulled back. I so agree that it needs to happen. And when I see it I'll believe that Dean really loves Sam the way Sam loves Dean – for who he is, faults and all. Not just because he happens to be a brother and it's your duty to 'love' him.

Right now I just can't see the love as anything else than another of Dean's idealized concepts.

By: Veronica

Veronica — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 18:53:30 +0000

But when he met Lisa it must have been at the time Sam was at Stanford and Dean was surely free from him, if not from dad. It was also alluded that Dean did some hunting by himself at the time. If he's always had this dream, why didn't he act on it before now? Or even mention it? He can't blame Sam for not getting his own life when Sam wasn't even there any longer, neither can he claim he pushed it to the side for anybody's reasons but his own. .

Sam's always told him that there must be something Dean wants for himself As early as in Shadow. A family of his own was never mentioned, he frowned at the thought about settling down. That is until he lost the family he had, or so he thinks. It just seems odd and yes, very childish if it's just a revenge on Sam's happy memories in heaven.

I think Dean is currenlty chasing rainbows.

By: Robijean

Robijean — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 18:40:03 +0000

Great review of the episode. I think Dean is still trying to save as many people as possible by saying yes to Michael even though he's had to give up on saving everyone. To me it was seeing the mother of Dillon kill the bartender, Paul. He realized by delaying, not only lives will be lost but also souls. Following up on Pamela's statement to him in heaven about the attic being better than the basement.

For the first time, he realized there could be something worse than the loss of billions in a showdown between Michael and Lucifer. Millions of souls could be lost while trying to find another solution. He's been to hell and knows exactly what that means. Then in addition to Paul's death, he sees Castiel on the path to what he was in The End. He must be worried that things will come to pass as it did then. Michael may not be around to accept his yes if he waits to long, the angels could all leave.

I loved how this episode tied in all the things the boys have been learning this year until Dean finally realizes that his best option might be in saving only half the world's population instead of everybody. I do like how he thinks he can negotiate with Michael for those people that are special to him.

I can't wait to see what happens next. It was obvious to see in this episode that Sam has taken up the mantle of leader of "Team Free Will" and he isn't going to let his brother say Yes to Michael if he can do anything to stop it. More discord between the brothers but I think it may be that discord and the realization of how Sam feels to bring the brothers completely back together again.