Supernatural: The Third Man

[I was very excited to see Ben Edlund's name on the episode -- immediately built up my expectations and I was not disappointed.]

Before the episode began I was thinking about last season, and all of the complaints I read when episodes about the apocalypse were bookended by funny or stand alone episodes. I know we've only had a few episodes this season, but I'm relieved that this type of issue doesn't seem to be a concern. I think they've done a really solid job of broaching this new Dean and Sam life, but at the same time they've given themselves the latitude to create some episodic TV that hints at some of the underlying arc without making every moment dark and depressing.

There were elements of this episode that were kind-of like a Supernatural McGuffin. I think the beginning scenes fall under this. A police officer is in a locker room, post-shower, and notices that he's bleeding. But he's more than bleeding. His skin is falling off of his face. The soles of his feet have eroded and leave bloody prints and when he falls over -- in a swoon? dead? -- his entire body ruptures and blood sprays everywhere. It was a seriously disgusting beginning to an episode. I really had forgotten how gross Supernatural could be. It was awesome, but nauseating.

Continuing with the theme of the past few episodes, we once again get to see the new contrast between the lives and characters of Sam and Dean. Dean's sleeping in the Impala and Sam's all Cape Fear. Dean's dreaming of Lisa and Sam's turned into a man-whore. Dean knocks on doors and Sam kicks them in. Sam finds the case and basically orders Dean to meet him there. Interviews with Sera Gamble and crew pre-season 6 mentioned that Sam was going to be a bit darker -- a bit more like early Dean -- and I guess we're witnessing the effects of that transformation.

When Dean meets up with Sam, Dean is talking to Ben on the phone. It's a nice moment. The writers are assuring us that Dean's reversion to once again being a hunter does not mean that Ben and Lisa will just disappear from our screens. They are continuing to ease us into the Dean transformation of a family man/hunter. It doesn't feel too forced, and yet it also doesn't feel like they're cramming it down our throats.

Uncomfortable Sam moment -- when Dean tells him that Lisa was actually rather cool with him leaving, Sam implied that that's good -- it's best for everyone if Dean's not there. It felt. . .wrong.

In the meantime, another police officer has suddenly been inflicted with a symptom of biblical plague -- as he's sitting in his car, trying to catch drivers in a speed trap, his face breaks out in horrific boils. Gross moment #2.

Dean and Sam check out the body in the morgue and decide to go talk to the partner of the first dead officer -- Ed Colfax. When they arrive at Colfax's door, it's clear that the man is not well. He looks almost jaundiced and can't really carry on a coherent conversation. Sam kicks in the officer's door, much to Dean's surprise, and they find Colfax sitting at his dining room table scratching out the faces of pictures. They have a nonsensical conversation in which Colfax says that God wants all three officers dead. When prodded he explains (kind-of) that the three caused the death of a boy (Christopher Birch) and that they planted a gun at the scene. During this Colfax is scratching his head through his hat. Blood drips down Colfax's face. And then he keels over, dead. Sam removes Colfax's hat and locusts crawl out of his hollowed out brain. Gross moment #3.

The episode then makes a shift. When the boys realize they are dealing with deaths that mimic the Egyptian plague, Dean matter-of-factly says that they should call Castiel. (hooray!) Sam expresses near-contempt for the idea, showing his frustration at the fact that Cas never came when he called -- and he called over and over after his release from hell's cage. Dean calls him anyway -- a call cloaked in some nice Dean parody of a prayer. And, as we all knew he would, Cas shows up. He always did like Dean the best.

And in a fantastic Castiel scene, he does admit that he and Dean have a profound bond, but says that he answered the call because of the type of crime, not because it's Dean. I choose to ignore this.

The boys find out that the plague is being caused by The Staff of Moses -- one of many relics that have been stolen from heaven. I wonder, does heaven have museums? Arsenals? Archives? When they mention that The Staff seems to be causing minor damage, rather than, say, parting the Red Sea, we are gifted with one of the best lines of the episode. His eyes growing wide with sudden understanding, Cas exclaims, "The Staff isn't being used at full capacity. I think we can rule Moses out as a suspect." Bwha-ha-ha.

Realizing that the family of Christopher Birch is probably the best bet for a revenge scenario, Cas beams them there. Initially thinking that the father is the main suspect, all seem surprised when Christopher's younger brother, Aaron, confronts the trio with a sawed-off. . .no, not a sawed-off shotgun, but a sawed-off piece of Staff. Dean comments on the small size of The Staff and Cas explains that more pieces equals more product. Heaven's arsenal is basically akin to illegal drugs. They ask Aaron where he got the staff and he murmurs that an angel gave it to him. Cue much shock.

Aaron tells them, when asked, that the angel asked for nothing in return. Dean, however, has become rather good at being around kids -- and knowing when they are lying. And he knows that Aaron is not telling the truth. He gets Aaron to confess that he sold his soul to the angel. Cue even more shock.

Dean, serving as the voice of the audience, turns to Cas and asks if angels would do something like that. Cas, who seems more resigned than shocked, says that they never have before. Clearly much is amiss in the kingdom of heaven.

In a very upsetting scene, Cas beams them all, Aaron included, back to the boys hotel room. Dean is clearly upset with this, not very comfortable with the kidnapping of a child. Cas explains that he the angel would have left a mark that Cas can decipher, but he needs to read the child. And by read, I mean torture.

Dean, of course, protests loudly and tries to put a stop to the proceedings, recognizing what we all do -- that this is a child and there's something terribly wrong with torturing a child. Cass doesn't care (not totally surprising) arguing that the ends justify the means. He has motives we can't begin to understand, as we don't really have a sense of what is happening in the celestial paradise. Dean looks to Sam for support. He gets none. In that moment you see just how fractured their relationship has become. Sam even goes so far as to physically stop Dean from moving forward to help Aaron.

I'm not sure what your response was, but my heart hurt to see Sam so altered.

Cas, torture completed, seems devastated to realize that the angel who bought Aaron's soul is his longtime friend, Balthazar (one of the Magi). And once Cas discovers this info, one of Raphael's soldiers shows up and engages in battle with Cas. A battle that leads the two to plunge out of the hotel window and down onto Sam's car. They killed KITT!

More beaming as Cas travels them all to Balthazar's house(?), compound (?), villa (?). Dean breaks a tiny bit of the tension by looking around and quipping, "I was expecting Dr. No, not Liberace."

So it turns out Balthazar is from the Fringe universe. Okay, not really, but Sebastian Roche does play Thomas Jerome Newton in Fringe so I was expecting him to be conspiring against Peter and Walter, not Sam and Dean. Also, apparently his design aesthetic really was influenced by Vegas, as he confronts Cas in what appears to be a disco room. Apparently there is a civil war in heaven and Balthazar is a mercenary. He emulates Cas and wants to be a rebellious angel. And to do this he has grabbed as many valuable weapons from heaven's arsenal as possible and has generated a new life. Cas is less than understanding. He just wants his friend back -- one who will fight in battle at his side -- not indulging his own whims and turning his back on the ethics of heaven. Is this the heavenly version of Dean and Sam?

Raphael and his minions show up. There is much angel fighting, including a scene in which Cas begs one of the minions to turn his back on fighting and work to return heaven to its normal state. The desperation in Cas's voice and displayed on his face is tragic. The angel does not listen and is killed. Raphael and Cas battle. It is bloody. For Cas. Raphael is kicking the hell (heaven?) out of him. In fact, it looks rather desperate. Then Balthazar shows up to save him -- and does so in one of the cooler scenes in the episode. Holding up a piece of rock -- it looks almost like rock salt -- he gets Raphael to look at it. Raphael turns into salt -- falling for the same curse as Lot's wife.

However Balthazar has also fallen into the Winchester trap, and the boys capture him in a circle of flaming oil. They ask Balthazar why he would be collecting souls. His provoking answer: "Do you have any idea what souls are worth? What power they hold?"

Dean gets Balthazar to cancel out Aaron's deal and return his soul. And while the boys would have left Balthazar trapped in the circle -- or possibly dead -- Castiel frees him and both angels disappear.

Then, in the tradition of all good Supernatural episodes, we have a moment of Winchester traumatic conversation while standing next to the Impala.

Dean peppers Sam with questions -- what the hell is going on? Why didn't he help stop the torture of Aaron Birch or at the very least lodge a protest? Why is he so different?

Sam has no good response. He dances around the subject of Aaron, saying something lame like he was in agreement with Dean but it was a silent agreement. He also admits to almost being feral from having spent the past year hunting nonstop. It made little sense.

Dean tries to get him to open up and confess to having some kind of PTSD from his time in hell. Dean says exactly what you would expect in that moment -- been there, done that, let me help you through it.

In the most painful moment of the episode, Sam shrugs off Dean's concern, saying that, frankly, he's not at all tortured by his experience in hell. He goes on to say that Dean suffers from his time in hell -- that it had a terrible impact on him -- but Sam's just not bothered. Dean is both offended and devastated.

It's completely hinky. What is wrong with Sam!?!?!? I'm curious to know how all of the Sam-girls are feeling about these developments. It seems like we're not just headed down the regular Supernatural path of the boys having some growing pains in their relationship, but of there being an inherently damaged in Sam's character.

Three of my favorite moments from the episode:

1. CASTIEL! So glad he's back on our screens.

2. Before KITT is killed, Dean and Sam are driving their cars to Ed Colfax's house to interview him. As Sam is driving down the road, Dean comes tearing out of a side-street, cuts in front of Sam, and parks in front of Colfax's house. They both get out of their cars and slam the doors in sync. Sam looks at Dean and says, "Were you. . .racing me?" Dean scoffs and emphatically replies, "No!" and then mutters, "I was kicking your ass." Sam rolls his eyes and says, "Very mature."

3. When Raphael's minion and Cas fall out of the window and destroy KITT, Sam and Dean look out the window to witness the damage. In a pained voice Sam cries, "My car!" Dean looks over, smirks, and says, "Okay, silver lining."

Very Ben Edlund moments.

PS -- How psyched are you for the next episode? It's Jensen Ackles' directing debut. He showed us a few moments of the episode at Comic-Con and he was so excited that he was almost jumping up and down.

Supernatural: Two and a Half Men

Wow. Wasn't it refreshing to get a very old-school Supernatural episode? It was like the writers, with the episode credited to Adam Glass, anticipated how badly the audience would want Sam and Dean hunting together again. And after the final episodes of season 5 and the premiere of season 6 opened with the focus immediately on one of the brothers, it was nice to see a cold-open that featured a Supernatural strength -- blood, blood, and more blood. And, of course, people in peril.

While the episode opened with the nightmare scenario of a baby in danger with a mother and father brutally murdered, we quickly move to Sam posing as a detective (?) and querying an officer about details regarding the incident. He then makes a phone call to Samuel, suggesting that perhaps the kidnapping of the child is less a supernatural crime and more a perverse human one. Samuel alerts the audience to the fact that there have been multiple child abduction/parent murders in the area and that regardless of the origin of the perpetrator, that heinous crimes are being committed that need to be solved. Sam seems to deflate a bit with this -- again highlighting a behavior that he mentioned to Dean in the season premiere -- he simply doesn't care about the victims -- he's far more concerned with the being responsible for the crime.

In an interesting exchange, Samuel remarks, "You know, sometimes I wonder about you Sam." To which Sam replies, with possible regret, "Sometimes I wonder about me too."

Underlying all of this, I can't help but again feel the inharmonious union of Samuel and Sam. This is a conversation that Sam and Dean should be having. The hunters should be the brothers, not two souls brought back from heaven and hell.

And clever, I thought, to show Samuel in a different light. He seems to care about the abducted children; how cute that he is so frustrated with using the laptop (oh this complicated newfangled technology); how curious that he seems to draw attention to Sam's lack of empathy. Compared to the scenes that will come later with the Campbell clan, it's a tone that almost made me question my concerns about the family.

In contrast to all of this, Dean is struggling to yoke together his past and present life. His decision to remain with Ben and Lisa at the close of the last episode was an emphatic one. The ramifications of this decision are immediately apparent when we first see our new nuclear family. Dean and Lisa are unpacking boxes in a new home. Ben is clearly upset with this sudden unrest. Ben wants to take his bike out and explore the new neighborhood, but Dean clearly is terrified at the thought. He coaxes Ben into staying in the house by laying a gentle guilt trip about leaving Lisa to unload the boxes without his help, and Lisa, recognizing that Ben is going a bit stir-crazy, promises that they will all go out for lunch and drive around the new area. Dean mumbles an agreement, but soon after we see him paying a pizza delivery guy and then locking them all inside.

Dean simply cannot deal with the seeping over of the demon world into the Ben and Lisa world. He is clearly desperate to keep Ben's life from becoming what his childhood was like, forgetting that the whole reason Dean was brought back into their lives was because he had to save Lisa and Ben from a monster. Dean underestimates what Ben already knows and accepts. It used to be Sam who wanted to keep the truth about demons and monsters from kids -- now it's Dean.

Luckily Lisa is once again the voice of reason. Seeing that Dean is trying to keep them under lockdown, she confronts him -- gently of course. She tries to find out what the threat is, and, in a moment of pure frustration, Dean has no answer. In that moment there is no threat, but he doesn't know if and when something might be coming. Lisa asserts, "We have to live our lives." In response Dean can only articulate his greatest fear, "If something happens on my watch. . . ."

It's really such a metaphor for what real life is like. Dean has never cared this deeply about anyone other than Sam and Bobby. And just like a new parent he's coming to the sickening realization that he can't keep them safe always and forever.

This is such an odd little show. An opening scene with buckets of blood and a conversation between two hunters seems so normal, whereas watching Dean unpack boxes and adjust to family life is completely disconcerting.

Back to the babies. . . .Sam and Samuel realize where the shifter is going to hit next and Sam tries to prevent the attack. He gets there too late to save the mother, but not too late to save the baby. We only realize this after he makes a phone call to Dean asking for help. Dean is reluctant, emphasizing that he's no longer a hunter, but Sam says something that gets him to join him. (At this point I noted, "17 minutes and still no Impala)

Dean walks up to Sam's spiffy new car, which I call KITT, looks in the back seat and sees a rather adorable baby. Sam's comment, "Welcome to the party Gutenberg." Who doesn't appreciate a Three Men and a Baby reference?

After the trauma/drama of the last few episodes, the scene of Dean and Sam shopping for baby gear was fabulous. As was the moment that the baby sat screaming while both boys stared at him, unsure what to do to make him stop. It was funny, but I have to question whether they are so inept that they didn't know how to pick him up and hold him? Does that really happen?

The funny stopped, however, when the elderly woman behind them who offered to help turned out to be a shifter looking for the baby. Escaping in the car, but not without the shifter catching sight of their plates, Sam takes them back to the hotel. Dean, who proves to be rather adept with the baby, explains to Sam some of his fears for Ben and Lisa. He shares that he wants to keep them safe -- and that he wants to give them a life different than the one that he and Sam had with their father. Sam says, "You sure about that?" When Dean bristles, Sam explains: ". . .moving them around, keeping them on lockdown. . .that seems a lot like how we were raised." And so the eternal question is posed, "How do you keep them safe and not turn into Dad?"

When it's discovered that one of the fathers of the kidnapped babies is still alive, as he was not living with the mother and child at the time, Sam goes out to question him and Dean stays with the baby. Sam finds out that the man left his wife after she became pregnant, given that the timeline meant he was not the father. When he confronted his then wife she told him that it could only be his, and described a sexual encounter with him that could not have happened because he was not in town. Sam realizes that a shifter posed as the man, impregnating the woman, and she truly did believe she had slept with her husband. It's like a darker version of The X-Files episode Small Potatoes.

As Sam realizes the implications of this, we see Dean, our own Mulder, enjoying the hotel room's magic fingers. The baby starts screaming and before Dean can reach him there's a horrific burst, splat, and blood and goo sprays all over the wall. Dean looks into the crib and the caucasian baby that was there just prior has not morphed into an African-American baby whose image can be seen on the box of diapers. Sam calls Dean to warn him that the baby is a shifter. Too late!

Back in KITT, Sam argues that they should take the baby to Samuel -- that he'll know what to do. Dean is extremely skeptical and argues, "We don't know them." Sam responds, "I do." Trying to appease Dean, Sam says, "Samuel is a lot like you." It is an unconvincing argument.

Another tonal shift.

Sam and Dean drive up to the Campbell home, which is not a home -- it's a compound. There are guards with guns at the gate. It's night, so the entire place is cloaked in darkness. There is ominous music. The room where Sam and Dean meet the rest of the family is spare, grey, and there's not a comforting piece of decor. All I could think of was the episode from season 5 where Dean ends up five years in the future -- a world heavily engaged with the apocalypse, with the Croatoan virus turning people into monsters. The Campbell compound had a similar, end-of-the-world feel.

Like the audience, Dean trusts neither Samuel nor the rest of the Campbell clan, and he is very hesitant to hand over the baby. He asks what they are going to do with the baby, worried that they are going to kill him. Samuel says that they will raise the baby themselves. He asks Dean to hand him the baby. Dean will not. In a very telling moment, Sam asks Dean to hand him the baby. Dean does, and Sam turns and hands the baby over to Samuel. Sam as intermediary? Untrustworthy? A traitor?

Mark, who is usually silent, finally speaks, saying that having a shifter as a hunter will make them very powerful. Samuel asks Christian if he and his wife (whose name I cannot remember) are still trying to conceive. When Christian answers yes, Samuel hands him the baby and says "Congratulations, it's a boy."

The music is still very ominous. Although the words might seem light, the whole scene is rife with tension. The way Dean and Christian are glaring at each other, they are seem headed down the route of being mortal enemies.

Outside things begin to go awry, and Samuel sends Sam and Dean downstairs into a demon panic room with the baby. The shifter storms into the compound, snapping Mark's neck. Oh Mark, we hardly knew ye. . .we hardly heard ye. . . .The shifter cannot be beaten, and in order to save Gwen, Samuel must hand over the child.

When Sam and Dean leave the room and go upstairs, Samuel explains that the shifter is actually the alpha-shifter. Samuel is kind-of like their info-Giles.

Two interesting things: 1. As they leave the compound Dean wonders aloud whether Sam actually planned this -- taking the baby to the compound to be used as bait for the alpha-shifter. The answer from Sam is not convincing -- what has happened to him? 2. After the boys have left, Samuel makes a phone call -- a rather mysterious one of course -- to someone to whom he has promised captured monsters.

Upon returning home, Dean and Lisa have a talk. Ever the perfect girlfriend, Lisa proves that she is completely accepting of the fact that Dean is a hunter, not a construction worker. She argues that she doesn't want Dean there -- she wants him out on the road, fighting monsters, making the world a better place. Dean misunderstands, thinking that Lisa wants him to leave. She comforts him, explaining "If there's a rule that says this all has to be either/or, then how 'bout we break it."

Yeah, Lisa is perfect. But it wouldn't work any other way. It would be way too frustrating for the audience if Dean was trapped with a woman who nags, whines, complains, begs him to stay home, etc. And while she might be too perfect, I think that Dean deserves one bit of happiness in a completely fractured world.

And then. . .EPIC! Minute 56 --- IMPALA!!!!

I will admit it -- I was happier to see the Impala then I was to see Sam!

Questions: Do you think Samuel and Dean are similar? And what is up with this Campbell clan? And who could that have been on the phone?

Supernatural: Exile on Main Street

Hello fellow Supernatural addicts!

Shinyswoots has been kind enough to offer me a place to ramble on about my thoughts and theories on all things Winchester. Since I'm a bit behind, I'm going to write about the first episode (I've delayed watching the second episode until this post is finished) and then I'll post again within the next few days on the second episode. So if I write any questions/theories that were answered/disproved on Friday, you can just laugh at how wrong I am. Also, I'm writing less of a recap and more of a review. I think. Hope that works for everyone.

I would hazard a guess that the question on most fans' minds for the season opener was when Sam and Dean were finally going to reconnect. That last shot of the season 5 finale, with Sam ominously looking into the windows was seared into my mind over the summer. How had Sam escaped from hell? Was he "normal"? Evil? Why was he staring into the windows and not knocking on the door? Luckily we didn't have to wait too long for some answers.

The episode's opening montage was clever -- the music selection even more so. Set to Bob Seger's song "Beautiful Loser," we see Dean wake up from a nightmare just prior to his 7 a.m. alarm with Lisa by his side. After she asks him if he's okay, to which he responds with what I considered a half-hearted "yeah, I'm good," the chorus of the song kicks in.

Beautiful loser/
Where you gonna fall?/
When you realize/
You just can't have it all.

The montage artfully shows Dean using items that in a former life were implements of torture and protection, intercut with blue-toned scenes from past episodes. He reaches for a canister of salt, but rather than sprinkling it around doorways and windowsills he puts it on the eggs he's cooking for Ben. We see a box open that is filled with tools, reminiscent of the Impala's trunk filled with weapons, only to discover that they are tools for Dean's new job -- and, horror, are in a pickup truck, not the beloved Impala. (Okay, maybe only I was horrified, but that shot alone made me very sad.) Tools that Dean used to kill monsters and demons are now used to build houses -- construction rather destruction. Beers from a cooler that would usually be handed to Sam are now dealt out at a backyard BBQ with neighbors. And the memory of Dean teaching Sam how to fix the Impala is now complemented by him teaching Ben how to work on the truck. And finally, we see Dean's nighttime routine: walking through the house, locking doors and shutting blinds as he looks outside one last time, checking to see that Ben is safe and asleep, and finally climbing into bed with Lisa. But lest we think he has become complacent, the camera pans to underneath the bed, where there is a jar of holy water (rosary blessed) and a shotgun that we know has rock salt shells. (And later in the episode we will see that there's a devil's trap under the rug by the front door.)

During all of this Bob Seger's song continued. A song that really could be read as a microcosm of the entire episode for Dean. One year later and Dean still thinks Sam is dead. He has the facade of a normal life, and, unlike many of my compatriots on the node site, I think it's a life that he is happy with. There was never a moment during that opening montage that I didn't think Dean was satisfied with his life. The reason it is so jarring is that it is so normal. And seeing Dean in a situation of normalcy is disconcerting. Our Dean shouldn't be working construction and fixing scrambled eggs; he should be killing demons. He shouldn't be at a bar with his neighbor Sid having a beer; he should be drinking with Sam, planning their next hunt.

And here I think the first stanza of Seger's song, which was fairly muted as the episode opened, is where we can see the similitude between song and character.

He wants to dream like a young man/
With the wisdom of an old man/
He wants his home and security/
He wants to live like a sailor at sea.

Oh to have it all -- to be young and wise, to have home and security, with the freedom to leave it and sail the seas. Because once Sam comes back into his life that is the struggle. Can he be a hunter and have a happy family? It hasn't worked for any other.

Dean has always been a character torn between two worlds. Unlike Sam, who actually escaped and had a few years of normal life, Dean has only been a hunter. Yet twice, in past episodes, we've seen inside Dean's mind and his dreams for a settled life. Once, in the brilliant episode that first introduced us to the djinn, "What Is and What Should Never Be," Dean is given a new life -- one in which his mother is alive and he has a life with a beautiful girlfriend, Carmen, and works as a mechanic. And in "Dream a Little Dream of Me," we discover that Dean dreams of a life with Lisa. In both of those episodes, however, Dean's dreams turn to nightmares. In "What Is" Dean's happiness comes at the sacrifice of his relationship with Sam -- not only are they not close but Sam doesn't even like Dean -- and the sacrifice of all of the people he has saved over the years. He realizes that he can never be happy -- he must continue to martyr himself to the cause. And in "Dream" the life with Lisa is just a snippet, one that he is embarrassed for Sam to see, and quickly turns into his nightmare of confronting the self that he will become once he travels to hell.

As soon as Dean leaves the bar and hears a girl screaming, he quickly reverts to form, arming himself and trying to help -- finding nothing but claw marks and blood. A trail that he continues to follow the next day, until Sid catches him in a neighbor's yard, gun aimed, almost shooting the Glickman's Yorkie. It's the immediate tension between his old instincts and his new life. An instinct, quite honestly, that Lisa seems okay with, as she catches him in the garage attempting to load up on his old supplies. And while he tries to lie to her, he soon confesses and rather than try to stop him or nag him about what he's doing (as would happen in a lesser show), she simply tells him to be careful.*

Oh how crazy the subsequent moments are, as Dean finds himself confronted by Azazel, who proclaims himself shaken free from hell by the apocalypse. It seems completely feasible. And here, again, Seger's song proves prophetic.

Beautiful loser/
Read it on the wall/
And realize/
You just can't have it all/
. . . . .
You can try, you can try, but you can't have it all.

As Azazel slowly chokes the life out of Dean, he mocks him for the choices he's made. Commenting on Lisa's beauty and understanding, saying that Ben is "a hell of a kid," Azazel then threatens to take it all away. He taunts Dean, snarling "did you really think you were gonna get to keep all of this? You had to know we'd be coming for you sometime pal. You can't outrun your past." And then just when all seems lost, Sam jumps through him and stabs Dean in the chest with a hypodermic.

When Dean comes to he is in a ramshackle cabin, with Sam watching him. Dean is, as you would expect, shattered. He thinks he's dead and in hell. When Sam explains that Dean's been poisoned and has been hallucinating -- that Azazel wasn't real -- he then needs to prove to Dean that he's both real and not a demon. It's truly a discombobulating scene. The tone is discordant -- hell the color is discordant. Unlike Dean's return in the first episode of season 5, which was bathed in light (both when he was resurrected and in the scenes with Bobby and Dean), this is all in darkness. Again, like the flashbacks, looking like it was shot through a blue filter.

Sam's mood seems impatient, cocky, annoyed even. He berates Dean's lack of response with an almost tight jocularity, as if he's attempting to be funny but it comes off as flippant and abrupt. When Dean finally realizes that it is Sam standing in front of him, he grabs Sam in a bear hug and there is finally a moment where Sam seems to appreciate the response. On the node boards people have commented that Sam is off throughout this episode (which he is) and have wondered if he has PTSD or perhaps has been infected with a touch of evil from his time in hell. Having watched the episode again, I would argue that Sam's tone comes from a place of guilt.

The first thing Dean did when he was resurrected was find Sam. Okay, technically he went to Bobby first, but that's because Sam's phone was disconnected. Sam has waited a full year to tell Dean that he was alive -- and he only did that because Dean's life was in danger. If not for that, how long would he have waited? Would he have ever told Dean? His quick, impudent tone. . .his barrage of statements before Dean could even take in what was happening. . .his gulping down of salt water and slicing open his arm without prompting. . .I think it's all the action of a guilty brother.**

I realize there's an entire djinn storyline in this episode, but truly it's superfluous. It's simply a means of getting the pieces in place -- and of course serves as a nice callback to "What Is and What Should Never Be." Because what this episode is truly about is Dean and the concept of betrayal. The djinn highlights the threat that Lisa and Ben are under by living with Dean -- a fact that Dean reads as his betrayal -- his failure to protect his new family.***

Then there's also Sam's betrayal. Not only did he not tell Dean he was alive, but he's also hunting with a new group -- members of the Campbell family -- family that Dean didn't even know existed -- including a grandfather who should be dead. One whole year without telling the person who spent their life making sure you were safe that you were alive. Letting Dean suffer through the anguish of that loss without offering him solace. It seems even more reprehensible because we learned in season five how horrid and excruciating the four months without Dean were on Sam. He knows that pain first hand.

But the worst had to be the discovery that Bobby knew that Sam was alive -- had known for an entire year. That seems the worst betrayal of all, simply because you can't imagine Bobby ever causing Dean pain, especially since he has long been Dean's surrogate father. The excuse he gives, that Dean was happier than any hunter has ever been, seemed unfair. Though Bobby's passionate response seemed real.

I'm hoping there will be more to this story. Especially given that Sam's wish at the end of the episode, that they will hunt together again, seems anathema to what he's put Dean through over the year.

So how did Sam escape hell? Who brought him back? And what about these Campbells? Dean's question, "I thought all of Mom's relatives were gone?" was both appropriate and left unanswered. There is a hint at something bigger -- an arc that we're going to explore over the season.

And while another show might give us the happy family together hunting, this felt rough. The scene where the clan gathered in Dean's house, making fun of his new life, was not endearing. It was annoying. (Maybe that's because Dean's my favorite.) Also, they seem like mediocre hunters. They really couldn't figure out how to draw out the djinn? And the hunter initially sent out to protect the house (and by default Ben and Lisa) ended up dead. Of course, there was also that final moment with the Campbells, where they captured a djinn and took her away with them, making sure that Sam and Dean didn't see their hostage, with whom they are going to??? A moment obviously meant to make the audience question the intentions of this odd little family.

What's great about Mitch Pileggi is that he can play both good (Skinner on The X-Files) and evil (Ernest Darby on Sons of Anarchy) with relative ease, so as of now I'm not sure what to think of him. The scene with Samuel and Dean in the kitchen of the house was both sweet "you remind me of your mother" and supercilious "maybe this isn't the time for golf." He also makes a point of consistently reminding Dean that he's a Campbell, which is interesting after all the years of living with the defining burden of being a Winchester.

The third verse of the Seger song:

He's your oldest and your best friend/
If you need him, he'll be there again/
He's always willing to be second-best/
A perfect lodger, a perfect guest.

As I listened to this I immediately thought of Sam. He's Dean's oldest and best friend, and he literally shows up at the moment that Dean needs him, as he's about to be choked by Azazel. Initially he is more than happy to be second-best. Sam has pushed Dean away so that he would finally have the family that he's always wanted. He is just a guest in Dean's life. What interesting is that at the end of the episode he wants to take it all back. He tries to get Dean to leave Ben and Lisa under the auspices that they are no longer safe with Dean around. But Dean's final djinn nightmare, reliving the death of his mother and the infection of Sam, but this time with Lisa and Dean as the recipients of Azazel's wrath, has exactly the opposite effect. He now sees himself as their protectors -- that his presence is the only thing that will keep them safe.

Sam explains to Dean that he wants him to rejoin the hunt because Dean brings to it a human aspect. He cares about people and puts their safety above everything else. It's a quality that Sam used to have but has apparently lost. I also wonder if he doesn't recognize that something is amiss with the Campbell family. That hunting with them makes him less emotional -- less empathetic -- less human.

Phew, I warned you that I ramble on. I'll try to be more succinct when discussing the next episode. Regardless, I'm really looking forward to seeing where Sera Gamble takes us this season. I think she's always been the strongest writing asset on that show -- especially when writing the deep, emotionally resonant episodes. While I'm excited to see some Edlund & Carver eps., especially when we need to laugh, I think that the entire tone of the first episode -- and the way that it completely discombobulated the audience -- was brilliant. Seeing Dean and Sam grow apart because their lives are taking different paths, because they are maturing as a family man and hunter respectively, is hard to watch. Yet it provides fertile ground that hasn't been covered before.

I can only hope that Seger's final stanza isn't some prophetic warning for Dean.

Beautiful loser/
Never take it all/
'Cause it's easier/
And faster when you fall/
You just don't need it all.

*I wasn't sure what I would think of Lisa, but that moment on Bobby's steps, where she really lets Dean know what she thinks of the whole situation, how she thought her year with Dean was the best year of her life, was awesome.

**Side note: I think it's fascinating that this first episode is once again told from Dean's perspective. Think how different the episode would have been if we had seen it all through Sam's eyes -- rather than that opening montage we could have seen Dean's life from Sam's perspective -- outside looking in. And I think we would have felt a bit more relaxed about Sam. Instead, we get to come into this from Dean's place of hurt -- his unease becomes ours. And I think this is one of the reasons the entire episode is completely disconcerting.

***Can I just say that once again Dean has so little regard for his self-worth that all he can see is failure, when he actually does protect his family. No harm comes to Ben and Lisa; in fact, there wasn't even a moment where they were in true danger. Granted, that all could have been different if they hadn't gone to the movies, but he did exactly what needed to do.