Dean: "It's Halloween, man."
Sam: "For us, every day is Halloween."
Again, really loved the title. And it meant something important, too: disillusionment with childhood beliefs. Sam's beliefs in particular.
Back in season two, Sam said that he prayed to God every day. When Castiel turned up in their motel room, Sam acted like he was about to meet his favorite movie star. And then he went from religious awe to "angels are dicks" in the space of, like, five minutes. "This is what I've been praying to?" If Sam no longer has respect for God, this is yet another division between the brothers.
Plus it's downright dangerous for Sam. He just pulled an extremely powerful demon out of someone. That's pretty impressive, even if it was a big angelic no-no. I wonder if Sam wanted to use his power? After all, he went after Samhain alone, and made Dean stay in the vault to fight the rising nasties instead of going with him. Okay, maybe Sam was protecting Dean. Hard to tell.
Dean, apparently, is important to God after all. Castiel and new dick, ah, angel Uriel were actually told to follow Dean's orders. You can imagine a line of exclamation points after that sentence. During that long scene where Dean was arguing with the two angels, all we saw of Sam was him fuzzy, in the background, and in a mirror. Nice symbolism there.
I thought it was interesting that Castiel isn't just a divine robot, that he disagreed with Uriel and quite possibly with God. Of course, Lucifer was an angel once, so that shouldn't have been a surprise. Not so sure about Uriel, who was big with the Old Testament smiting. Yeah, let's take out an entire town to get one witch. Overcompensate much?
The Halloween plotline was pagan, just like "A Very Supernatural Christmas." They went back to the real meaning of the holiday with Samhain and demons and the ancient reason for the masks and costumes. The razor blades in the candy was a grossout salute to the urban legend; bobbing for apples in boiling water, not so much. (It's probably from a horror movie I haven't seen.) But I loved Sam being smart enough to smear their faces with blood in order to fake a "mask" and deceive Samhain. Just a reminder that Sam is the brain of the outfit. (Dean is the heart, of course.)
We got reminders that Dean hasn't told Sam the truth about remembering what happened in Hell. Must be important. I bet it's coming. It'll be interesting to see how Sam reacts when he finds out.
Bits and pieces:
— Interestingly, everyone, even the angels, mispronounced the word "Samhain." It's Gaelic and pronounced "Sahwin." How did the writers miss that one?
— Despite the defeat of Samhain, another of the seals has been broken. So I'm assuming that Lucifer will rise (or nearly rise) for the season finale?
— Loved Dean stuffing his face with Halloween candy. I guess razor blades don't scare you when you've literally been to Hell and back.
— The apple-bobbing victim was wearing a sexy nurse costume. Wasn't Jess wearing one in the pilot episode? Uriel pointed out to Sam that November 2, the day Mary and Jess died, was the next day.
— The Impala got on the wrong side of an angry trick-or-treater.
— Dean was agent Seger; later, he and Sam were agents Geddy and Lee. Bob Seger is, of course, a big time rocker, and Geddy Lee is the lead for Rush. Heavy with the FBI impersonation lately. The guys haven't dressed up as electricians or U.S. marshals or gay antique dealers for awhile now.
— The Moonlight Motel was dark and tacky and not all that memorable, except for its bright purple bedspreads and bright green sofa.
— In this week's hair report, Sam's hair looked shorter to me. And better. It's not that I hate long hair or anything, but Sam always looks better when you can see more of his face.
Quotes:
Dean: "So we're talking ghosts."
Sam: "Yeah."
Dean: "Zombies?"
Sam: "Mm hmm."
Dean: "Leprechauns?"
Sam: "Dean."
Dean: "Those little dudes are scary. Small hands."
I was reminded of the leprechaun jokes on Buffy. Ah, memories.
Dean: "If you were a six hundred year old hag and you could pick any costume to come back in, wouldn't you go for a hot cheerleader? I would. (pause) Hmm."
Dean: "Luck is not our style. Her friends don't know where she is. It's like the bitch popped a broomstick."
Sam: "Yeah. That demon ray gun stuff? Doesn't work on me."
Dean: "Zombie ghost orgy, huh? Well, that's it. I'm torching everybody."
Castiel: "It was a test. To see how you would perform under battlefield conditions."
Dean: "It was a witch. Not the Tet Offensive."
Very good episode. I don't think it was quite a four, though. Three stars,
Billie
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Billie Doux adores Supernatural which is a good thing since apparently, it's eternal.
nice review, i thought the episode was pretty close to 4 as well, but not quite.
ReplyDeleteA very solid 3 in my book. I like the development of Castiel's character. I agree completely with what you're saying about the season finale...my guess is a lot of these seals are going to get broken.
ReplyDeleteI still wish I knew what kind of plan Azazel had for Sam. Maybe he wanted a super-exorciser to defeat Lucifer for him? I don't know. I do think that Ruby will return eventually, and possibly shed some light on Azazel's end-game...
I have a theory about where this is going. I think Sam is Lucifer, and when the seals break, he will pop out, although I'm sure they have a fancier way of making that happen.
ReplyDeleteReally good episode and I gotta agree with Dean, these angels are really dicks. I mean, they need them but they act all mighty like the brothers are nothing to them.
ReplyDeletePoor guys, the decks are always stacked against them. How were they supposed to know that there were 2 witches? I'd like to see them stop a seal from breaking.
ReplyDeleteExcellent character development with Castiel. He was in the episode for about a minute and a half but I can see a difference in him. SL
P.S. There should be a rule that neither a witch nor a demon can be used as a sacrifice in a summoning ritual that it initiated. I'm just sayin'. SL
ReplyDeleteSolid episode, but not a four. I agree that the endgame for the season will be something along the lines of heaven v. hell, Dean v. Sam. The writers really seem to be driving the brothers apart.
ReplyDeleteOn a production note, Robert Wisdom, who plays Uriel, is simply magnificent in 'The 'Wire'. A rare series that actually lived up to all the hype.
The razor blades in the candy and the nurse getting boiled in water are both straight up references to Halloween II (1982). The kids in the mausoleum are also a reference to 1983 movie mausoleum and other kids partying and demons showing up in those places movies from the 80s. They really put some thought into these episodes for nostalgia!
ReplyDeleteLoved the scene with Sam being disappointed with his first encounter with the angels. This is actually an episode that did constantly remind me of its awesome title lol. Sam's blues. I like this underused trope where the rescuers the main characters were holding out for finally arrive and they turn out to be another situation to manage. I think it's a good coming-of-age maturation technique for Young Adult stories and I like seeing it here. Enjoyed Dean asking him to keep his faith. Is Dean a believer btw? I don't remember. It could be more touching if he wasn't but still wanted to preserve Sam's trust in God.
ReplyDeleteI love seeing Robert Wisdom, the actor for Uriel, but damn his character is such an asshole. Almost too much of one, I wish there was more nuance or fleshing out. Upsetting, but kind of fitting that angels in this universe are varied and are capable of feeling disgust for humanity. Damn it feels like Castiel didn't really pop back in again in a prominent way since the premiere. This feels like it should be the 2nd episode of the season or something, but I am totally cool with this habit of having standalones that don't seem to try to maintain the status quo and are almost completely isolated. I thought the serial nature of the show would've been in full throttle at this point in the series. Not really, until now maybe with all these seals and stuff.