A Thank You and SPN Thoughts

[moonshayde]

First, I want to thank everyone for their support yesterday. I tend to live in my own bubble a lot and was surprised to find so many people offering even a few words. I sometimes forget just how supportive people in fandom can be. So thank you.

I'm a little behind since I have class on Thursdays, so here are my thoughts.



Malleus Maleficarum

I liked this episode. Then again, I like Ruby and how she fits into this season anyway.

I was a little nervous when I saw the preview and noticed it would be about witches. I'm not as fond of the storylines that deal with pagan gods, etc., but I feel the writers did a good job with this one. Maybe my pagan friends would disagree. But when I walked away from this episode, I didn't feel like all witches are evil and sell their souls to demons. I felt like there were certain demons that used different practices as a cover to get to people.

That is basically what this episode was about.

I'm not sure I believe Ruby. Why would she be the only demon we've met so far that would have retained her humanity? I still think she's speaking half truths and telling Sam and Dean what they want to hear in order to push her own agenda. Since her agenda is in line with the brothers right now, she is siding with them. However, I do think she is more with them than not, unlike Bela. I was surprised that Ruby was a human at one point. That was a nice twist.

The part that I saw coming was that humans were once demons. I've been waiting for a good part of this season to see if they would go this route. It creates a nice parallel between how people can become angry spirits and how people who sell their souls can become demons. Poor Dean. He's been stuck in the same type of situation twice now - the threat of becoming the thing that you hunt.

I don't think all demons are one time humans, though. I can't see how that would work. There had to be some in place to begin with I would imagine.

I'm on the fence about Sam. While I'm in the camp that doesn't want Sam to go evil (and if he does, then he has to be able to redeem himself), I would prefer to buy into the idea that he is just trying to emulate Dean. I just find that a rationalization on Sam's part for what he's done this season. Hopefully, the writers will treat this area well and not go to either extreme.

Anyway, it was a great episode and I was very pleased with it. It had elements that I love - whumped Dean and heroic Sam. I was a little surprised by an scene with Ruby and Dean at the end since the episode has either been the brothers together or Sam with Ruby and Dean with Bela. It was an interesting change and it worked for me. I remember thinking at the end of the episode that maybe they'll switch it up again and have a Sam and Bela scene at some point.

Oy.



Dream a Little Dream of Me

I just watched this episode this morning.

Okay, I had been slightly spoiled for this one a long time ago, so I knew some daddy issues were going to crop up. I'll discuss that later.

I'm thinky on this episode. I've been anticipating it for a while, but I'm not quite sure how I feel about it yet. I enjoyed it - that's for sure. But there is a lot to digest in this episode and I think I'll have to see the results and consequences before I can really decide whether this episode was gold for me.

The idea of dreaming and controlling dreams has always fascinated me, so the idea itself already intrigued me. Plus I *love* Bobby. I keep getting scared that he'll die.

Bobby in a coma. Eep!

The dreaming was done wonderfully in this episode. Exploring a little bit of Bobby's past was nice and also tragic. He did this horrible thing but you still felt sympathy for him.

That lady on the picnic blanket...I assume I missed something with that. I haven't finished watching S2 and I wonder if that whole bit is from an episode I haven't seen yet. So maybe it will make sense once I get through Folsom Prison Blues and What Is and What Never Should Be. (Or whatever that episode's name is!)

When Dean grabbed the beer from the test subject person, I was like oh crap, Dean. You just didn't something stupid, didn't you? I'm glad that it wasn't random and that it was relevant to the story.

I wish there had been more for Sam to do, like have Sam face his fears, but they didn't go that route. Maybe we're not supposed to really know what is going on in Sam's head right now so we're left to question if he's alright or not. I did like the bit how Dean wants to live (of course he does). I also liked the stark reminder of what awaits Dean in hell.

I do hope, though, they keep in line that Dean won't just do anything. He needs to find a way where Sam doesn't die in the process. What a dilemma.

There were a couple of things that bothered me about this episode, though.

Sam and Bela. Where the heck did that come from? I don't recall any other episode that touched upon any attraction Sam might have had toward Bela. I mean, the scene was funny and all, and we all tend to have fantasies, but it seemed too odd and random. It didn't even make sense in the context of the episode. And all this time I was afraid they would have Dean and Bela hook up. Ack.

The other part I'm uneasy about is the confrontation between Dean and Dean. I understand it. I really do. I identify strongly with Dean which may be why it has me unsettled. But I was bothered a bit by his outburst about his father. Honestly, I don't think he really means it.

When you're an older sibling and you've been given the burden of protecting a younger sibling, you're forced to grow up fast. You become the kid that looks for approval and affection from the parents, and you essentially do become the good soldier. Your parents can be seen an infallible. You tend to place your own needs and desires last and decide to do whatever it takes to make the parent proud of you. This can lead to low self-esteem, identity issues, and lack of focus.

Dean is an extreme example of this. One of this days I'll do a write up how this relates to me and how I identify with Dean, but I don't feel like doing it right now LOL

Anyway, after a while all of that builds inside and it bursts. Dean burst in this episode. Everything he's been bottling up for so long came out in an angry outburst filled with resentment. This is normal. He said angry things. Some of the things he said had truth to them. Some were part of his anger and resentment. And with his death imminent, he is feeling it even more.

If they hadn't had Dean have this outburst, I would wonder what was wrong with him. He finally broke under the burden that he wasn't ready to have. I have no doubt that Dean loves his father and still admires John. But that resentment he's been holding onto that he couldn't live his own life because of his obligations, whether real or imagined, has finally come to the surface. He should be able to better deal with his situation. He should be able to come to terms with the love for his father, not as a hero, but as a person who made mistakes while still doing the best he could.

So the outburst made me uncomfortable, yes, but it made sense. It was unsettling for a reason. Like everything, I wouldn't take it as the gospel truth because every person's thoughts and opinions are filtered through their own emotions and biases. But this was an important episode. No one is perfect on this show and that is one of things I love about it :)

Next week's episode looks awesome :)

Comments

[moonshayde.livejournal.com]

I think it was pretty much inline with your Halloween/horror genre witches, which if you keep that in mind, you can hand wave a lot of stuff. But the way they presented it sat better with me than the pagan gods killing people on Christmas (which is too bad because the actors were funny and interesting), because I felt there was some wiggle room for true witchcraft even if you may disagree with me on that point. My problem is that they emphasized too much that real witches are this variety and then you have the fluffy pagan people that are the New Agers that are harmless. That dicotomy doesn't work.

But I think there is still room to move in between. They really only showed witches that were duped into Satanic/demon focused stuff. There are people that claim to be witches that do dabble in this sort of thing. The Catholic church warns against stuff like that. So these witches were more of devil-worship/occult problem than witchcraft. They failed to make the distinction that witches don't worship the devil, etc.

I see it as a mislabeling issues which doesn't make it any better. But when I walked away from the episode, I didn't feel like all witches had to be evil and selling their souls. I got the impression that Sam and Dean *think* that all witches are like this.

Now the auidence? That's a different story. Everyone might not see it that way and might walk away thinking all witches are supposed to be this way which is false. And that is where must of my discomfort comes from.

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

I consider myself a real witch, and have for more than half of my life (lately I have just "come out of the closet" on lj about it), and so the mislableling thing is actually what worries me the most. Witches have almost no good press (though for a while on Buffy we had a shot) and certainly no non-fictional good press. That's why I want a good witch episode. And I don't mean a recovering witch (ie. Ruby), I mean an actual, powerful, fact busting, good witch.

Still, much, much better than the Christmas episode. Which made me *very* angry.