Supernatural 4x06: Yellow Fever

[moonshayde]

Finally, some thoughts on "Yellow Fever."



It's been a tough week and I've been an emotional wreck, so I didn't want to talk about my fave show until now. If I had posted last week, I would have posted a bunch of stuff that didn't make sense. Now that I've had a week, I can talk about the show and actually form sentence and not be snippy LOL

I liked the episode. I need to, um, "acquire it" so I can watch it again to get a better idea about it since I watched it in the middle of chaos, but from what I saw I enjoyed it. And I've tried my best to stay away from some of the controversy because I just want to have fun. :)

Just a few things:

1. More drama. I liked the funny, but I was hoping for more of a balance between the freaky stuff and the OOC stuff. This is probably my fault for getting spoiled and having high expectations. If I hadn't been spoiled, this likely wouldn't have pinged me, but it did. I loved the funny stuff and the episode was a hoot. Like the writing in the book, the mini!Hellhound - little dogs are vicious!, the screaming at the cat, the flashlight scene, the fight with the sheriff guy - all good stuff. I just would have preferred a longer transition between the funny stuff and the stuff with Yellow-Eyed Sam and Lilith.

2. Sam limbo. I've discussed this on other journals, and I know it's a hot topic in fandom, but I'm not all that comfortable with Sam this season whether it is intentional or not. Now, don't lump me in with the Sam haters or anything. I'm just stating how I feel. I think I understand what the writers are doing or trying to do. I don't mind him being distant, but I'm feeling a disconnect with the character that is bordering on dangerous for this viewer. If Sam is colder and more detached as was foreshadowed in Mystery Spot, I need to see him going through the motions. Sam and Dean deal with things way way differently. Sam isn't going to react like Dean. But I still need to see something. There is a fine line betweetn mysterious and neglect. We've seen a couple of glimpes in LR and Metamorphosis, but I was hoping we'd start to get more in Yellow Fever. It was kind of hard since a lot of it was funneled through Dean, but I did see a few missed opportunities there. I need to get into his head, just a tad. I'm a Deangirl and very proud of it. I love Dean. I love his storyarc this year. I love the attention he is getting. He's my fave. But I also have a great love for Sam and I like the show best when it is balanced. So far we haven't really had much Sam and even if the writers are intentionally keeping us in the dark, we need to get into Sam's head ASAP. The show is on the verge of losing at least me in terms of sympathy for Sam. I'm becoming rather apathetic toward him and I don't want to be that way. I have high hopes that my needs will start to be filled tonight, though. Time for some Sam love to go with the Dean love.

And that is all I am going to say about that.

3. As a fan of both heroic Dean and vunerable Dean, I loved this episode. I loved seeing Sam in charage and Dean a mess. And Dean knowing he was a mess.

4. The heart? Again? Hahahaha. That amuses me. Poor poor Dean and his heart.

5. The way they killed that ghost was so sad and horrible :( That really added to the show though.

6. Did Dean's heart stop there for a second? It looked like it did.

7. For anyone who suffers from anxiety, phobias, and different kinds of fears, I bet this episode really made sense at times. I know it did for me.

8. Not quite getting this fandom fiasco over the "Dean is a dick" thing. Whether he is or not wasn't the point. It was a conversation between Sam and Dean. Later in the episode, I thought they were quite clear at saying that people who have used fear as a weapon were victims of the disease. My guess is that Dean did something bad in Hell and that is going to come back to haunt him. If not something from Hell, something else that we haven't learned yet. But it would make the most sense - to me anyway - that it would be Hell related. If hallucination!Lilith is right, then he was there for 40 years Hell time. That's quite some time to be tortured. Dean might have done some things to stay "alive."

And does he remember? I don't know. I guess we'll find out. If he does remember everything, I can't see how he could act that well adjusted. I figure it's all there in his subconscious waiting to come out. Unless it's all happened in offscreenville.

9. The outtake was AWESOME.

10. The flash in Sam's eyes at the end. I think that was just Dean seeing his worst fear again, reminding him of what could happen. And reminding the audience what could happen. Whether all of this ends up being a false lead or a red herring or it comes to pass remains to be seen.

Season 4 has been excellent so far, imo. Bobby FTW. I just wish I was so stressed so I could enjoy it more :)

Comments

[maychorian.livejournal.com]

This is probably my fault for getting spoiled and having high expectations. If I hadn't been spoiled, this likely wouldn't have pinged me, but it did.

I wasn't spoiled and it bugged me too. :(

Total agreement on needing some Sam sympathy. Dean's my favorite, but Sam needs lovin' too. I have no idea what's on the plate tonight but I'm stoked for another episode, and also really nervous. How does this show do this to me, every single week?

Not quite getting this fandom fiasco over the "Dean is a dick" thing.

Me neither. That didn't even register on my radar. It was just SamnDean teasing each other, as always, a little bit of normality in a bizarre situation. I really thought fandom would complain about Sam's characterization, not that, so that kerfuffle came out of the blue for me. I'm all like just, "Pfff. Dean's not a dick. You know it, I know it. Why are we discussing this?"

I loved seeing Sam in charge and Dean a mess. And Dean knowing he was a mess.

Me too! Oh, canon crack, how we love thee. Already though I'm expecting fics exploring it more.

"The Eye of the Tiger" totally made my year a whole, whole lot better. Possibly my life.

[moonshayde.livejournal.com]

The key word is "urgency" as suggested below. That was the word I was looking for. I didn't feel any urgency as Dean's time was running out. We had that sense last year. And even though they have been in a similair place before, there still should have been something there. And I just don't think the writing or the direction captured that. I still loved the episode though.

[handyhunter.livejournal.com]

2 (and 1). It seems to me that Sam is off too; the show does have a habit of centering on Dean, for whatever reason, even in ostensibly, Sam-centric arcs, so more balance would be nice -- and I say this as a Deangirl. I thought this episode lacked urgency -- Dean's impending death has been covered before, but at least then the characters cared more about it; this time around it's like they were all just going through the motions, and unable to mix the funny and the serious properly.

5. I was rather disturbed by that. Also because neither Bobby nor Sam (nor Dean at the end) seemed bothered by it.

8. Someone on my flist commented that it might be tied into season one's "Bloody Mary", in which Dean's eyes also bled, suggesting he was keeping a secret too.

[moonshayde.livejournal.com]

Sense of urgency! Thank you! That is what I was trying to say. You know, I used to complain about a lack of a sense of urgency in the later seasons of Stargate SG-1 all the time and I just forgot all about it here. Dean was going to die. I don't care if he has before. There should have been a sense of urgency and the writing and direction just didn't have it. The other eps this season have, though, in some form or another and that is why I think this was the odd one out. Though, one of my chief complaints of S3 -which I loved despite its flaws - was that there wasn't much urgency to the very end. S3 should have been an intense season.

And even if both Bobby and Sam were so burdened with this happening to Dean again - death - we should have at least seen more of the distance or the weariness in that urgent state. I don't know. I loved the episode. I did. But I didn't feel like it came together right at the end.

I've heard the Bloody Mary spec. I think something in Hell would suit the season better, but it could be something from Bloody Mary. We all know that not too much gets abadoned on this show.

Poor ghosty guy :(

[fiesty-red.livejournal.com]

Not quite getting this fandom fiasco over the "Dean is a dick" thing.

Me neither. I didn't take the conversation seriously b/c I know Dean's not a dick as should the fans. Some people just take this show way out of context and too seriously sometimes and this is the result, forcing Kripke to make a public statement. Pretty pathetic.

The flash in Sam's eyes at the end. I think that was just Dean seeing his worst fear again, reminding him of what could happen.

That's what I think, too. Some people don't agree with me, but I keep thinking if it really was Sam I think Dean would be a little more freaked out about it.

I think in due time we will find out what happened to Sam in those four months to cause him to become so detached now. I have to agree that Sam's attitude is rubbing me the wrong way and I'm hoping he snaps out of it soon.

[moonshayde.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Sam's been setting me off unfortunately :( I figure we'll get more insight into him later, but I would have liked a little more upfront. it's not the actor's fault. It's more of a writing/directing issue I am having right now. I just get annoyed when people automatically assume you hate Sam because you have a criticism of him.

[superbadgirl]

People thought the yellow eyes at the end actually happened? I thought it was pretty clear it was Dean seeing things. The whole what-if.

I don't really see Sam as off as some of you all do simply for the fact we haven't been given the opportunity to see much of his internal workings since, you know, day one this season. How can he be off when he is not truly there? ;) Hence: I will rail against how he's being written as compared to Dean until I'm blue in the face. I love both guys, but the disparity right now is kinda, well, obvious. I think many never invested in Sam because of the show's choice to make him more of a painting canvas than a hunk of marble which will be carved into something three dimensional.

[moonshayde.livejournal.com]

In all honestly, I don't think we're very far apart in what we are arguing. I am arguing that we need more Sam and it's hard to judge him based on the fact we aren't seeing anything.

Where we branch off is that I am unfortunately feeling it as a viewer where you are able to separate that it seems. I try, but for me Sam is "off" because of it. It's hard for me to react otherwise. But it hasn't really been fair on his character to judge him like that since there's not much to judge. I jusrt can't help it. ;)

[superbadgirl]

Oh, I know we're not. It's like how I thought Daniel Jackson was off very soon after descension, but others didn't notice such a thing until he was "mean" to Vala that one time. Then he was off. (Note: this is a far more extreme example than The Sam Winchester Problem.)

I also have been struggling to articulate my issues in a way that doesn't come off wrong. My little rant earlier this week yielded responses I didn't quite expect.

[banana-cave.livejournal.com]

OMG! I loved the Eye of the Tiger thing at the end. That was the greatest part of it!

[moonshayde.livejournal.com]

The Eye of the Tiger thing was awesome :)

[meg-tdj.livejournal.com]

Re: Sam... I don't really see it as him being distant from Dean, I see it as the writers not giving him stuff to do beyond the casework. There were a few shots of Sam in this ep that were blink-and-miss, but it was like Jared was trying to show that Sam was worried despite there being NOTHING in the script for him to work with. Like when he said it was ghost sickness, Dean reacted as though that was terrible news, and Sam just said, "Yeah." The expression on his face showed how worried he was, but his lines didn't. And when the ghost's brother said the guy had been dragged up and down that road, the camera cut to Sam to show this look of, "Noooo, that means I can't save Dean!" on his face for a split second, but then his next line was again about the case. I bet most people read that as compassion for Luther, and so did I when I first watched the ep, but after his comment at the car about it not being as easy as burning the bones, I realized that was what had hit him in that moment.

I'm getting mighty tired of it, to be honest. Even in the Halloween ep, the most insight we got into Sam was that he was star struck by the angels and then was let down by them. Oh, and a slight mention of how rough Nov. 2 must be for him, though he didn't respond to the comment. And that was supposed to be a Sam episode? And Metamorphosis might have given us glimpses of what Sam's been going through, but I'm starting to think it was too little too late. We should have gotten most of that in season 3, or at least not had to wait so long into season 4.

Sorry to rant in your LJ about this, but it really makes me sad that people are losing Sam love over this. I don't see that he's been cold and distant at all, I just see that for some reason the writers are way more focused on Dean this year, and because Sam doesn't stand in the background making quippy comebacks and playing with the props for attention like Dean does when the focus is on Sam, people are missing his little nuances and subtle expressions entirely. :(