Dean (Jensen Ackles) wakes next to Lisa (Cindy Sampson) as we get a series of scenarios involving Dean as his life used to be and what he does now, so much of it is pretty much the same, aside from the hunting element - such as salting food, whereas before he would salt whilst hunting, tools in his car and tools used for his job, contrasting his job as hunter and now as a family man, sharing beers with Sam (Jared Padalecki) in the past and now with a neighbour, working on the car with Sam and now with Ben (Nicholas Elia). Dean checks the house with rosary in hand and water and keeps a gun under the bed.
Dean has a drink with Sid (Russel Porter). It's been a year without Sam. Dean "lived on the road" and had a job in pest control. Dean is almost respectable now. The waitress gives Dean her number when he asks for the bill. Dean: "Chicks dig unavailable guys." Like that would have made a difference to him, but these days he's strictly a one woman guy. Dean hears a woman scream which leads him to a hotel renovation. No missing person's calls and checks out his hunch as he's been a 'cop' for a long time.
This is Dean's life now, from one lie to another. So nothing changed there then. He does his routine checks of the house. A car drives past when he's outside and watch out for the car as it was there for a reason Dean checks out a house which has scratches on a post outside of it and on the shed door. He finds a dog inside. Sid catches Dean with a gun. He thought he saw a possum since they carry rabies. Then he spots sulphur on the ground.
Dean brings out his trusty tools of his former trade and ye olde Impala. "I got this Spidey sense," he tells Lisa. He's OCD about this and he also looks at his leather jacket and Dad's journal. The light flickers and Dean sees Yellow Eyes/Azazel (Fredric Lehne). Dean shoots him. He tells Dean he's not brainy and "You can't outrun your past." Then he passes out, awakening to Sam. That's a shock to his system. Sam asks for a hug, he's real and what Dean has seen isn't. Dean thinks he's in heaven. Sam is real and he cuts his arm, as well as drinking holy water. They hug.
Sam doesn't know how he returned and tells Dean, "Cas doesn't answer my prayers." That's a clue. Most probably cos Sam hasn't been a good boy and cos Cas has his own worries. He's been back weeks, one year to be exact. Dean: !I wanted my brother alive." Going back to past events in season 2, when Dean wanted to do everything he could to stop Sam becoming evil and even brought him back when he died by selling his soul. Sam didn't want to reveal himself, cos he had a family, "after everything you deserved some regular life." Sam's been hunting and working with their family, Grandpa Samuel Campbell (Mitch Pileggi).
As we recall Sam did return at the end of last season so that makes him back for four months but never mind, it's a year in Supernatural world. When he stood outside the window watching Dean with Lisa and Ben, it looked like he would have confronted Dean and made his presence felt, but turns out he didn't and instead chose not to tell Dean and let him have his perfect life. Mind you, ordinarily under any other circumstance, Sam would have revealed himself.
Sam introduces them to the rest of the family, Gwen (Jessica Heafey) who comments Dean's got delicate features for a hunter to Mark (David Paetkau) and Christian (Corin Nemec). Like Mom they're hunters. Flashes to Samuel in season 3, when Dean went back in time. Samuel tells Dean that 'whatever pulled Sam up, pulled him down.' Sam wanted Dean left out of their fight and Sam was poisoned by a Djinn too, they blend in now. They cause them to hallucinate their worst nightmares and for Dean it looks like yellow Eyes is still his worst nightmare, even after he killed him. Samuel can show them "tricks your daddy didn't even think of." Well that's only cos he was hunting longer than Dad, who wasn't from a family of hunters.
That was Sam's car that drove past Dean in the truck, so he was checking up on him. They return to the house and find the watcher looking out for Lisa is dead. They take Lisa to Bobby's (Jim Beaver). Bobby knew all about Sam and he didn't tell him cos Dean walked away and he was relieved. Dean had nightmares and collected books just to see if he could get Sam out. Dean: "Of course I couldn't let you go. Sue me." As said, that was obvious after everything, even dying for each other, why would Dean give up on Sam and if he had known about him being alive earlier? He wouldn't have wasted all that time; and all that grief. Dean: "Do I look out to you?" That was the ultimate in cruelty, to keep his beloved brother away from him, especially after everything they endured together and Dean being alone. Okay Lisa and Ben were around but it's not the same thing.
Dean says he should have known something would come between them and Lisa knew he'd have issues cos of what he did. Ben had someone he could look up to. This is the best year of her life and there's plenty who'd want to take her place. Christian thinks it's better left to the pros to hunt the Djinns. But Dean knows they're easier to draw out with bait. Dean: "Seems almost like I'm a pro." Sam wielding a golfclub, that was an in joke since Dean, or rather Jensen I should say, loves his golf. Dean: "It's a sport."
Samuel: "I get it." Dean wanted a normal life and his attitude reminds him of Mom who also wanted a normal life. Hey Sam wanted the normal life, revealed in season 1 and when he left for college. Dean carried on hunting cos it was the only think he could do, it was too late for him to have a normal life.
The Campbells count on each other and their ancestors were killing vampires on the Mayflower, they're all blood. Three Djinn are hiding in the trees. Dean says they won't enter until they're alone. Giving Sam and Dean a snatched chance at small talk with Dean wanting to know who brought Sam back and does he recall the cage. Sam doesn't want to talk. Dean can relate to that since he spent ages avoiding the subject of hell and what he had to endure there, as well as what he had to do. Why think about hell when he's back with family; and Dean, well he kept his feelings from Sam for starters.
Sid's attacked and Dean has to get over there. Seems they can't fight a Djinn now Sam using the golfclub and just moments before he was dissing it. The female Djinn poisons Dean again, he killed her father. "It's a sport." That's what Dean just said about golf. Took four years for them to get revenge. Dean hallucinates Yellow Eyes again and sees Lisa and Ben. It's her turn to burn on the ceiling and Ben drinks his blood. "It's all your fault." Jess said that to Sam when he saw her or thought he did, back in season 1. Samuel rescues Sam and takes the female Djinn alive. Samuel doesn't appear to be quite right either, in that for a hunter, he doesn't do any killing.
Sam wanted that life for Dean; now he's not so sure, since he's putting them in danger. Sam doesn't appear to have any sort of reaction as if he can't feel. Sam wants Dean around and Dean just went without thinking. Sam: "It's better with you around." Dean gives Sam the Impala but he's got his own wheels and in black too. Sam says he's not trying to rescue people cos he'd think about it whereas Dean just did it, sounds like the old Sam, but there's something not quite right about him. The way Jared is playing Sam this season is so cool and emotionless and we know Sam was never like that.
Revisiting an old enemy - the Djinn from season 2 episode, What Is And What Should Never Be - in a hunt, kind of like reverting back to the old days of season 1, but there's more here, it's not just about hunting anymore. If Sam really wanted to be with Dean - they why'd he wait until now to tell him, or rather show up and when Sam fights the Djinn. Is it really to save Dean or as he says Sam needs him, not cos he's Dean and family but to help him hunt, having his own ulterior motives. Also in the season 2 Djinn episode, when the Djinn had Dean, he dreamt of the perfect family life he would have had, but here when he was poisoned by the Djinn, this leads to his worst nightmare. Wonder what Sam's nightmare would have been when he was poisoned? Did Sam know Dean was being targeted, or did he do his drive by just to check on Dean all the time? Let's face it he had to have known about the Djinn and Dean since Samuel was after it and yet Sam waited until Dean was actually poisoned to help him and reveal himself, not before. Clearly he has no conscience, for starters.
Also in 2.18 they used lamb's blood and a silver knife to kill the Djinn. Here they don't. In that reality it was Sam who has the perfect life. He was with Jess and doing what he wanted. This time it was Dean who was in this position with Lisa and Ben, but has to give them up. Well it wasn't a prefect life without Sam, but at least he had a life.
Beautiful Loser by Bob Seger, was an appropriate song for Dean in this episode and everything he used to be and do, and is now just an ordinary guy. The title is a Rolling Stones album. References to Spiderman and The Brady Bunch.
No comments:
Post a Comment