3x03 Bad Day At Black Rock

[galathea]

Hey, I rarely get to make the episode threads! :D YAY me! :bounce:

If someone would’ve told me that I would one day love a Ben Edlund episode more than a Sera Gamble one, I would’ve told them they were nuts, but this week’s episode filled me with so much glee and joy, that it kind of made good on the lack of brotherly connection that I felt with the first two episodes. I haven’t laughed on a Supernatural episode so hard ever since Hell House and since you all know my distaste for slapstick, it tells you a lot about how well executed and acted on all accounts Bad Day At Black Rock was, the comedic timing was impeccable. Bobby Singer and Ben Edlund made a winning team on this episode!

smart!badass!Dean, adorable!unlucky!Sam, boys talking, arguing, yelling at each other, fighting, communicating, reminiscing together = happy Chris! :heart: :heart: :heart:

Okay, enough with the flailing on to the reviewing!
Firstly, is anybody else missing Dean’s “Saving people, hunting things, the family business!” routine in the recaps at the beginning? Dean’s mission statement from Wendigo is so much more a genuine part of the show and so much more heartfelt than the faux voiceover they had Jensen do for the promos. I really wished they wouldn’t use that!

So, my boys proved me wrong as the were actually talking about Ruby’s true nature and her offer to Sam to help him getting Dean out of the deal. No hint though that Sam told Dean about what he found out about Mary and the YEDs revelation in AHBL I, he keeps his brother on a strict need to know basis. He knew they would run into Ruby again sooner or later, so telling Dean was kinda inevitable, but further than that he isn't willing to go. With telling Dean about Ruby’s offer he openly admits to Dean that he is far from taking his brother’s advice to leave it alone and is still looking for a way to get Dean out of his deal, notwithstanding the dangers for his own life.

I am glad that Sam didn’t really fall for Ruby’s offer blindly, but overall her offer proves to be too tempting to simply disregard it, so he hopes he can turn the tables on her and use her for his own purposes. A dangerous notion, since he has no clue about her agenda or her powers yet and the thing about using her is: if she can’t be trusted, neither can any information she gives them, not about the crossroads deal and not about the army’s movements either, so a connection to her in the end would prove useless and might only give her an opening to Sam and Dean’s disadvantage.

Dean’s reaction was predictably furious, but he doesn’t actually call his brother on his admission to still looking for a way to break a deal, it was too obvious last episode anyways and even Dean can’t delude himself into thinking that his brother would just give up on that topic. Sam is John Winchester’s son after all! :lol: It’s an interesting detail though that Dean obviously closely watches out for any signs that Sam is not ‘Sammy’, carefully asking his brother if he feels okay and Sam’s frustrated reaction to that question shows that this isn’t the first time. The YEDs words are nagging at Dean and it shows that underneath his carefree attitude and seemingly distant behaviour towards Sam, he still keeps close tabs on him. I love how this is delivered as one of those throwaway lines, that just reveal a lot of what is going on underneath, without needing to go at it at length.

John Winchester is haunting this show even from far beyond the grave! A secret storage locker room? How appropriate is that image as a symbol for John’s conflicted character? A room where he locks away all his secrets and memorabilia, a life full of repressed emotions documented in objects. I flashed back to the YED in IMTOD, calling John a sentimentalist, he could never really talk to his boys, but his love for them is right there for Sam and Dean to see and I adore how they revel in that moment. I love how smartly the boys surveyed the room from the entrance, carefully assessing before they take a step in and then went on like little children in a candy shop. I especially loved how it referred back to Bugs, where Sam stated that he’d rather play soccer than go bow-hunting and how he and John fought about this attitude, so finding that John kept his soccer trophy was such a fantastic continuity detail. Also, that what they find serves as a symbol for Sam’s wish for normalcy and Dean’s resourcefulness and dedication as a hunter seems very fitting. Awesome scene! :heart:

It’s interesting that Bobby knew about John’s storage room though, it implies that John trusted Bobby like not many other people. I have to wonder though: If Bobby was able to find out within a very short time that it was ‘easy’ to undo the magical ability of the rabbit foot with a ritual, why even lock it up in a sealed box instead of destroying it right away? Anyways, it makes you wonder a) what else is hidden in that room and b) who paid the rent during all those months that John is dead now?

This was a comedic episode and I admittedly often have problems with humor in SN, but this was hilarious, since it didn’t need to rely on character exaggeration to achieve its effect. The premise of this episode was pure crack, but still reasonably within a believable plot and the humor in this episode was situational and not at an expense to the characters, if anything it played rather nicely on a big brother-little brother dynamic. Kudos especially to Jared for his incredible comedic timing and delivery in this episode. Sammy was never more adorable! :heart: Honestly, the first fight scene in the apartment of Grossman & Wayne was wonderfully executed, flawlessly fluent and a pure joy to watch and from there on Sam’s turn from lucky to unlucky leading from one hilarious situation to another was classic Laurel & Hardy style and while I am usually not really a fan of that, this had me hook, line and sinker throughout the episode!

Dean’s absolute glee over the possibility to exploit Sam’s sudden luck which then turned to being concerned about his brother’s fate was great to watch. I somehow had the feeling that this wasn’t the first time he dealt with clumsy Sam and I had this image of teenage!Sam hitting his growth spurt and falling over his limbs all the time in my head, but maybe that’s just my imagination running wild. LOL Anyways, while using Sam’s winning streak on the lottery or thinking about Vegas (again!), is totally reasonable, considering that they needed to ditch all their credit cards only a couple of weeks ago, getting their faces all over the internet, seems a more reckless move, since they know that the feds are closely on their tail. That it got on the internet instead only in the local newspaper, was probably a result of Sam’s curse, but neither Dean nor Sam showed any worry over the whole event, which would be one of the few critique points that I have with this episode.

I loved Dean’s ‘I can read people’ speech towards Grossman. It was delivered with just the right intensity from Jensen and while it comes off as totally sincere, I love how it was turned against him when he delivered it on Bela. Apropos Bela! So here we had the introduction of the second female character for this season and I have to say that so far I liked her. She was smart, but didn’t outsmart our boys, it was on pretty equal footing between her and Dean. The stand-off between Bela and Dean at her apartment was enjoyable and I loved how despite all her arrogance, Dean easily outmanoeuvred her, not only in re-acquiring the rabbit foot but also at the cemetery.

Though I had to wonder why a ‘great thief’ like Bela would have the need to hire two obvious low-wits like Grossman and Wayne to acquire the object she wanted to sell. It seems like a rather unprofessional move to interpose two middle men, when she would’ve been able to steal the object herself and probably with stirring much less attention, so that Sam and Dean would probably have never caught wind of the operation.

Her assessment of hunters as "a bunch of obsessed revenge driven sociopaths, trying to save a world that can’t be saved!” though was neatly proven with the subplot around Gordon, Kubrick and Creedy (and every other hunter that we met so far LOL). Operating on hearsay, prejudices and rumours surrounding the events at the devil’s gate, rather than on hard evidence. Sam and Dean might be hunters, but within the hunter’s community they are outsiders, and it appears that only Bobby’s reputation keeps more hunters from turning against them, as Gordon needs to undermine Bobby’s account on the trustworthiness of the boys first to convince Kubrick to take action.

Gordon’s pursuit of Sam turned from anything resembling reasonable argumentation, no matter how misguided, to a personal witch-hunt. Kubrick’s statement that God revealed Sam to him as the adversary, which interestingly resembles Ruby’s referral to Sam as the anti-christ, obviously doesn’t sit too well with Gordon, but he is willing to use Kubrick for his own purposes, no matter the motivation and it makes you wonder how much influence this bunch of fanatics have on the overall community and how big this problems will turn out to be for Sam and Dean, further down the road.

So overall this was an amazing episode, that despite the crack-y premise managed to move on the character arcs, preserved plot continuity and set-up a subplot that undoubtedly will play out as even more trouble as the season moves along. There’s probably a lot more to say, but at the moment I am just content to leave it at that! ;)

[Llywela]

Bad day? No kidding – it certainly was for Sam!

I've only watched the once so far, but will try to string a few thoughts together.

Start at the beginning. Dean seemed to be a bit off-kilter again, after being so much more like himself last week. He gets a bit loud and hyper when he's uneasy, and was pretty loud and hyper in that opening scene. Sam has told him about his encounter with Glossy Blonde, hence his uneasiness, which translates into over-the-top reactions. I'm kinda disappointed, by the way, that Glossy Blonde has been named off-screen as Ruby. I mean, she seemed to be hanging back on giving her name to Sam last episode, which I'd presumed was to increase her air of mystique and keep him on the back foot. And now he just suddenly knows her name out of thin air? That's disappointing.

Anyway, Sam has told Dean about his encounter with Ruby, but only the edited highlights – he's related her offer of help, without mentioning anything about what he learned from her of their mother, and continues to deny that there was anything more to it. And Dean is wigging, because he has a very black-and-white view of demons, and rightly so, based on experience. Demons are evil. You see one, you exorcise it. You don't stand around chatting. The fact that Sam did hold a conversation with this one he finds worrying – which implies that the YED's insinuations about Sam not being 100% Sam are niggling at him a little. So Sam has to spill the beans on Ruby's offer of being able to help get Dean out of his deal with the Crossroads Demon. Sam wants to hope for the best – any possibility is worth exploring, from his point of view – but Dean thinks the very idea is ludicrous. He considers that deal completely airtight, and won't even consider the possibility that there might be a way out, which from his point of view means, logically, that Ruby is playing Sam. Which she clearly is, of course, and Sam knows it. But he also wants, very much, to make use of her, find out if she can come good on that offer. Because it would mean saving Dean, and Dean is his big weakness, and even Dean knows that perfectly well and is not afraid to say so.

Is it good or bad that they are so aware of how chronically co-dependent they are?

John's old lockup just killed me – that he'd hung onto bits and pieces of the boys' childhood but didn't tell them. That he allowed himself that sentiment and nostalgia, but couldn't let them know. Such a hard, hard man. So very screwed-up. Oh, and that Sam won a trophy for soccer and John secretly kept it, after all Sam's resentment in season one episodes of his dad's disapproval of him playing such a useless sport. I notice that time and healing has given Dean a much more rounded view of the old man – he's allowing himself to see and speak of John more as he really was, warts and all, whereas while John was alive he tended to close his eyes to the flaws and only allow himself to acknowledge the good. It was part of his emotional defence. The fact that he still keeps John's old phone charged up so long after his death, and that Sam didn't know, that killed me again. In case any old contacts call? Surely they would all know by now that he's dead, hunter's grapevine being what it is. But it paid off, with the discovery of that lockup.

Dean: "No destiny. Just a rabbit's foot."

The cursed rabbit's foot was a good device for a lot of silliness and a generally fun and light-hearted episode – although some of the themes being dealt with within the episode were pretty dark, when you think about it. I mean, Sam got pretty badly beaten for information and was then shot, all of which was glossed over in the extreme because the thrust of the episode was for humour. It would be nice to see some of the themes raised here being dealt with in more appropriately dark fashion at some point. The humorous touch here worked, though – a lot of the episode is absolutely hilarious. Who knew Jared had so much slapstick in him? *G* Heh, and Sam got strangled yet again.

The guy falling on the toasting fork, though? That was gruesome. And signposted beforehand – the moment he stuck it in the drainer prongs-up like that, with the fallen bottle lying around to slip on, I slapped my hand over my eyes and cringed in anticipation of what was to come. Ick!

So. We again have the two brothers working their way through separate storylines and themes, but with a lot more shared screentime in this episode than last, not splitting up until late in the episode, which is all to the good. Is it just me, or is Dean taking a bit of a step back from his almost obsessive 'protect Sam!' credo of last season? He honestly believes the need for that neurotic level of caution is past now, that it is safe to let Sam stand on his own two feet again. Even when Sam was falling around all over the place because of the bad luck curse, Dean wasn't too worried – it took Bela shooting Sam in the shoulder to get him really shook up. Not having heard Bobby's message of doom about the curse with his own ears no doubt contributed to this laid-back approach. With Sam cursed to bad luck and ultra-clumsy as a result, their behaviour kind of reverted to how things must have been when they were kids, when Dean hit an age where he was old enough to be a bit more independent, but was held back by a little brother still too young to keep up. The scene where he dumped Sam in a motel room with the injunction not to turn the light on, or off, or even scratch his nose was highly amusing, especially since Sam turned out not to be safe even just sitting in one spot barely moving a muscle! And poor Sam so outraged that he didn't even have to do anything for the worst to happen.

Sam: "You're wrong, about all of this."

Plot-of-the-week aside, Sam's story in this episode was all about the impossibility of shaking off the YED's legacy. He's got a demon after him, at least one, convinced there's something special about him still. And he's got hunters after him, convinced he's evil. Sucks to be Sam. All he wants is to get on with the job and find a way to save his brother, but all this stuff that was done to him not by him keeps getting in the way, dragging him back down just when he thought he was free of it at last.

Kubrick: "God led me to him, and His will is clear."
Gordon: "O-kay. That's great. Glad to have you on board."

It figures that any hunter Gordon persuaded to pick up the Sam-hunt for him would be completely nuts, and this Kubrick guy totally was. Gordon's reaction to him at the end was absolutely priceless. But he'll take what he can get, and use the guy's fervour for his own ends. Gordon is very driven, and he believes, 100%, that he is right about this. He will hunt Sam and try to kill him not because he wants revenge at all, but because he believes it has to be done to save the world. That's not going to be an easy opinion to shake, and with Gordon seeming determined to get out of jail, this looks set to be yet another ongoing plot strand for the season, of which we already have quite a few! It was interesting to hear Gordon dismissing Bobby's evidence in favour of the Winchesters as unreliable, and persuading Kubrick to think likewise. I've been wondering if Bobby's loyalty to the boys would have repercussions for him, and it seems that it is.

Bela: "I procure unique items for a select clientele."
Dean: "Yeah. A thief."

Dean's story, meanwhile, tied in with the introduction of the very smooth, very immoral Bela Talbot, who looks with open eyes at the same dark, deadly supernatural world that our boys and their fellow hunters do, but whereas the boys and their fellow hunters see work to do, Bela sees opportunity to make money – something she clearly already has plenty of. I liked her cat! I also liked that in their first moment of meeting, Dean easily got the better of her. Even if she later went and turned the tables back on him, it was still his win in the end. I always enjoy it when Dean manages to out-think an opponent, since he's not generally viewed as the brains of the operation.

So Dean was uneasy at the start of the episode, not liking what Sam had to say about Ruby and, as already noted, uneasiness tends to make Dean pretty over-the-top. The notion of the cursed rabbit's foot he found hilarious, inevitably so, it being the kind of thing that always appeals to his sense of humour. He was certainly delighted to take advantage of Sam's initial good luck streak and then later his own. I couldn't help but note that Sam didn't tell him straight off just how bad the curse could be, that it was designed to kill and inevitably would. Sam's inclination this season is to not tell Dean anything that could have negative connotations for Sam's own continued good health and wellbeing, which figures, since the stress of being under so much pressure to save Sam last season was what led Dean to sell his own soul ultimately. If Dean is Sam's weakness, the reverse is also very true.

Oh, and what's really awesome? The scene where Sam is talking to Bobby about the curse on the phone, and in the background we can see Dean labouring over his calculations, trying to figure out how much money they've won on the scratch cards. Hee. And Sam cringing away from the gun pointed at his head in the background of the scene where Dean turned up to save him and had it out with Kubrick was almost as funny. I love seeing actors acting and reacting in the background of scenes they have no lines in.

Bela: "We're all going to hell, Dean. Might as well enjoy the ride."
Dean: "I actually agree with you there."

Most of the way through, Dean was playing things pretty light, no big deal, all a big game – nasty problem, but nothing that couldn't be fixed. Even once he realised the curse could turn out fatal, he didn't see it as anything that couldn't be fixed, more of a temporary setback that required taking precautions. Sam spiralling bad luck shifted his mood more toward weary resignation – lots of eye rolling over a) Sam's clumsiness, and b) the implications of Sam's clumsiness. And poor Sam even more fed up with his run of truly appalling luck. But Dean still wasn't overly concerned – Sam was alive, anything else could and would be dealt with. Oh, but the way his mood just flipped the moment Bela shot Sam. Absolute outrage. That was the moment it stopped being a game, stopped being routine, and became personal and deadly serious.

I can't help wondering, though, if the cleansing ritual was that straightforward to find and put into effect – Bobby said it wasn't easy, but he came up with it quickly enough – why did John lock the rabbit's foot up like that rather than destroy it in the first place? Maybe the fact of Sam being in imminent peril provided extra motivation. How many favours do the boys owe Bobby by now?

The fact that Bela shot Sam, albeit only in the shoulder, sets her up as someone who means business and is capable of being pretty ruthless in pursuit of her goals. She opened fire on Dean in her apartment fairly readily, as well. Bobby knew who she was almost at once, based on limited information, so she's clearly earned herself a degree of notoriety within hunting circles, even if the boys have never encountered her before. This season really is opening up the world of the hunters in a way that season two never managed – randomly running into folk like Isaac and Tamara, and this Bela, works in a way that simply telling that the Roadhouse was full of hunters never did. So far so good on that front.

My newest theory is that this Bela will want that magic demon-killing knife of Ruby's, seeing the monetary value in it, while the boys will end up needing it as part of the ongoing demonic war, and thus all their different motivations and agendas will intersect.

And Bobby's back home with the books, it seems, since all the newly released demons appear to have gone to ground. I loved how frustrated he sounded over Sam managing to get himself cursed, like he can't let those boys out of his sight for a second without them getting into trouble.

Funny how a couple of hundred demons can just disappear like that – you'd think the hunters would be run off their feet dealing with them. So…are they gone to ground individually, because of common sense? Or are they waiting for something? They were intended to form an army, and I'm not sure we should forget that fact any time soon.

[Amantine]

Okay, I just got through with seeing the episode... and I totally LOVED it.

What really impressed me about this episode was the way comedy was brought in. Unlike Tall Tales -where the humor came through the characters themselves and which(at least for me) wasn't all that great- in Black Day at Black Rock the humor appeared in the situations the boys were put through. My opinion is that this kind of comedy works with the show in a much better way. So Kripke just got a white ball.

I really enjoyed the relationship between the brothers in this episode. Up to this point I've been a little more than concerned about the integrity of the boys' relationship because of the constant secrecy they've been forced into. Sam's been forced to take matters into his own hands regarding Dean's deal and Dean's forced himself to hide under a mask in order to downplay his fear of death etc. This epi seems to have been made just to spite out worries and tell us that things are going as well as could be expected in the current situation. I love the fact that Sam told Dean about what Ruby really is and the way the eldest Winchester took the news. As usual, he went ballistic about Sammy trusting a demon and the way he sorta freaked out, asking Sam if he was okay, fearing that the YED might have been right all along and that Sam may not be 100% back from the dead.

I'm also glad that Kripke hasn't forgotten about John and still brings up his secrets and now let's face it... who's not wondering what else is in those boxes or how many things the boys will find out about Papa Winchester? We also got to see another, more softer side of John in this episode by finding out that he kept Sam's trophy and Dean's first made gun. That's just shouting for collective 'awws' from the fans. *insert collective 'awww'*

And golly! I never would have thought that Jared Padalecki could be so darn adorable. I really loved the scene where he lost his shoe and Dean turned to face him. He looked like somebody had just kicked his puppy and his demeanor just screamed 'hug me' from the rooftops. Another interesting scene was where he was tied to that chair and looking at the gun which Kubrick was pointing at his head. I found his expression at that point absolutely adorable(should I be worried about my sanity here?). Still... I wish he'd come clean about Mary and the whole YED Antichrist thingy. That would ease so much of the tension. However, I can understand that he doesn't want to burden his brother further about the whole mess and I think there's the fact that he doesn't want to ruin the image Dean has of his mother by telling him that she knew the demon. I actually don't know if to be frustrated with him or be proud...

Dean... What's not to love about Dean when he's acting like a wise-cracking badass? What I really loved about him was the fact that he didn't blow a gasket when Sam openly admitted that he won't stop trying to get him out of the crossroads deal. That means(for me at least) that he's still holding to a bit of hope about having a future. YAY! And I liked the fact that he asked Sammy about being 'OK' so many times that Sam actually got frustrated enough to snap at him. What a good, caring older brother... And was it just me, or did he seem a bit... used to Sam being clumsy? Wonder if Sammy was a klutz as a kid or a teen...

Bella... Loved her cat and her apartment :lol: Seriously though, I sense lots of trouble from her. She seems smart enough to get the boys into a lot of desperate situations, but I think that'll add a bit of spice to the show so I think that'll be a bonus. While I must admit, I wasn't fond of the idea of seeing two new regulars on the show, I'm kind of okay with the idea at this point. Bella's a b--ch and Ruby's a demon with a weird agenda. Really interesting... What I like about Bella though is that she's not smarter than the boys. Sure, she's got sticky fingers and doesn't have any qualms when it comes to using a gun, she did get tricked by Dean when they were face to face in her apartment and she did fall for the 'think fast' thingy. :xd

Other than that, reading through the lines, I'm beginning to get a little worried about Sam. It was bad enough that Sam and Dean seem to be some of the very few hunters with moral values, now the youngest has issues with the rest of the hunting community. I highly doubt that anybody's gonna believe the 'psychic kid' over the 'good hunter', Gordon. And Ruby's apparently insignificant line about Sam being something related to the Antichrist and Kubrick's thing with 'God send me to do his bidding'(which I find a bit psychotic) seems to point towards hard times.

While I keep my fingers crossed for the next episode, I'll say it again about this one: it was FANTASTIC :heart: :heart: :heart:


P.S.: Sorry for any grammar or spelling mistakes as well as for sentences that are harder to understand. 'S been a really long day :(

[Jenni Lou]

First, I have to say that I LOVED this episode. Loved it. I know a lot of you watch them a few times each wee but I don't. I like this one so much I am going to watch it again with the fiance. :heart:

I thought it was hilarious. In the best way. Not in a weird, wacky way. Like, Hell House was a funny episode but it was funny because of outside characters coming in and not belonging and not knowing what they were getting into. Side note, that ep totally reminded of one of those fantastic X-Files eps that were totally comedy-based. Those were always refreshing. Of course, I guess that is to b expecting since Kim Manners was so involved in both shows. :D Anyhoo, funny episode. I laughed several times. "I lost my shoe. :rotflmao:

Also, as a quick note: I really enjoy reading your thoughts, guys! I know I come into these threads and write up some sloppy quick impressions and make a few comments on your thoughts and that's it. But I don't enjoy sitting down and writing what essentially amounts to essays. Not anymore anyway. I used to do that for Buffy and Angel years ago but I just don't feel like doing it anymore. So, apologies for that. I really am a much better writer than it seems; I just tend to have a few thoughts I wanna type out. So I hope you don't mind me joining in! :hug: You should just be happy to have another SN fan on your hands! :down: :p But I do rather enjoying reading your nicely compiled reviews. :)

I haven’t laughed on a Supernatural episode so hard ever since Hell House

Shut up! I thought of Hell House before I read this. Weird. :D

It’s interesting that Bobby knew about John’s storage room though, it implies that John trusted Bobby like not many other people. I have to wonder though: If Bobby was able to find out within a very short time that it was ‘easy’ to undo the magical ability of the rabbit foot with a ritual, why even lock it up in a sealed box instead of destroying it right away? Anyways, it makes you wonder a) what else is hidden in that room and b) who paid the rent during all those months that John is dead now?

Yes. Two thoughts that also crossed my mind. That John didn't destroy it outright is incredibly strange.

This was a comedic episode and I admittedly often have problems with humor in SN, but this was hilarious, since it didn’t need to rely on character exaggeration to achieve its effect. The premise of this episode was pure crack, but still reasonably within a believable plot and the humor in this episode was situational and not at an expense to the characters, if anything it played rather nicely on a big brother-little brother dynamic. Kudos especially to Jared for his incredible comedic timing and delivery in this episode. Sammy was never more adorable! :heart: Honestly, the first fight scene in the apartment of Grossman & Wayne was wonderfully executed, flawlessly fluent and a pure joy to watch and from there on Sam’s turn from lucky to unlucky leading from one hilarious situation to another was classic Laurel & Hardy style and while I am usually not really a fan of that, this had me hook, line and sinker throughout the episode!

I'm really glad to hear that! :) I have to admit this was the best job the show has done with comedy so far and I must applaud them. The timing was perfect and the choreography of the fight scenes was excellent. I never minded the comedy before though; it always worked for me.

That it got on the internet instead only in the local newspaper, was probably a result of Sam’s curse, but neither Dean nor Sam showed any worry over the whole event, which would be one of the few critique points that I have with this episode.

Well..

1. Yeah, it was on the internet but it was the restaurant's website. Which seems like a reasonable thing for them to put on their site.

2. Yeah, but it was only a small town's restaurant's website. Provided their names weren't on there (Which they might have been--I wasn't paying attention) they wouldn't have much to worry about. By the time the feds would run across it, they would be long gone.

Or, you know, I could be completely wrong!

Though I had to wonder why a ‘great thief’ like Bela would have the need to hire two obvious low-wits like Grossman and Wayne to acquire the object she wanted to sell. It seems like a rather unprofessional move to interpose two middle men, when she would’ve been able to steal the object herself and probably with stirring much less attention, so that Sam and Dean would probably have never caught wind of the operation.

I wondered that too! And the only thing I could come up with was that she was a demon and therefore couldn't retrieve it. Of course, she's not a demon. I am assuming anyway. Bobby knew who she was and it would be weird to introduce two new recurring/main characters who are demons.

I mean, Sam got pretty badly beaten for information and was then shot, all of which was glossed over in the extreme because the thrust of the episode was for humour.

I have to admit I was a little confused. After Sam was shot, he just stood there clutching his arm. Would that hurt? Even as Dean is rummaging through his pockets searching for the lotto tickets, Sam's just holding his arm seeingly oblivious to the pain. Weird.

The guy falling on the toasting fork, though? That was gruesome. And signposted beforehand – the moment he stuck it in the drainer prongs-up like that, with the fallen bottle lying around to slip on, I slapped my hand over my eyes and cringed in anticipation of what was to come. Ick!

Oh, yes. Me too! Of course we all knew it was coming. I blurred my eyes for a few moments to shield myself from it. :lol:

So. We again have the two brothers working their way through separate storylines and themes, but with a lot more shared screentime in this episode than last, not splitting up until late in the episode, which is all to the good. Is it just me, or is Dean taking a bit of a step back from his almost obsessive 'protect Sam!' credo of last season? He honestly believes the need for that neurotic level of caution is past now, that it is safe to let Sam stand on his own two feet again.

He also probably realizes that he has to let Sam fend for himself since he won't be around long to protect him.

My newest theory is that this Bela will want that magic demon-killing knife of Ruby's, seeing the monetary value in it, while the boys will end up needing it as part of the ongoing demonic war, and thus all their different motivations and agendas will intersect.

Good call! I hadn't really thought about what the future holds for her but that sounds like a fine plan!! :)

[galathea]

Also, as a quick note: I really enjoy reading your thoughts, guys! I know I come into these threads and write up some sloppy quick impressions and make a few comments on your thoughts and that's it. But I don't enjoy sitting down and writing what essentially amounts to essays. Not anymore anyway. I used to do that for Buffy and Angel years ago but I just don't feel like doing it anymore. So, apologies for that. I really am a much better writer than it seems; I just tend to have a few thoughts I wanna type out. So I hope you don't mind me joining in! :hug: You should just be happy to have another SN fan on your hands! :down: :p But I do rather enjoying reading your nicely compiled reviews. :) Oh god, please never think that anybody expects everyone to write an essay. I enjoy reading your impressions and comments and I am happy that you like the show, I really don't expect everyone to be as completely obsessed with it like I am. I write these essays because it's the only way to effectively shut my brain up or the thoughts about the show and the characters would go round and round in my head forever and drive me nuts. Writing them down, bringing them into a coherent form is my way to lock them down in a sealed boy and store them away :D and I would write them no matter if I post them here and on LJ or not. :lol:

Plus I rather enjoy analysing this show since it is very rewarding in regard to hindsight, parallels, mirroring, reoccuring themes, character psychology development, plot continuity .. these are all excellent structures in the show and often only reveal themselves on re-watching and analysing. And since SN is my passion, I can't find anything more satisfying than doing that, but I am far from expecting this from every fan of the show LOL.

I'm really glad to hear that! :) I have to admit this was the best job the show has done with comedy so far and I must applaud them. The timing was perfect and the choreography of the fight scenes was excellent. I never minded the comedy before though; it always worked for me. Well, I am picky when it comes to humor and there's a lot of forms of humor that I outright don't enjoy and the humor in Tall Tales was a prime example for that. I agree that in this episode though the comedic timing and delivery just was flawless and worked excellently within the context of the episode plot!

1. Yeah, it was on the internet but it was the restaurant's website. Which seems like a reasonable thing for them to put on their site.

2. Yeah, but it was only a small town's restaurant's website. Provided their names weren't on there (Which they might have been--I wasn't paying attention) they wouldn't have much to worry about. By the time the feds would run across it, they would be long gone. Heh, maybe .. it was just my first panicked thought when the cameras were clicking: "Oh no, think about the feds!" :lol:

He also probably realizes that he has to let Sam fend for himself since he won't be around long to protect him. I think Dean has two motivations at the moment, when it comes to protect Sam:

a) From Dean's point of view Sam is at the moment in no immediate danger, now that the threat that hung over his brother's head ever since he was born was effectively eliminated and Sam's secretiveness on anything that would reveal otherwise, allows Dean to take a more relaxed stance towards his big brother protection routine. Every danger now is actually only hunt related and hence controllable danger that simply comes with their job. Nothing to be overly fussy about, even if he is concerned about Sam's curse later in the episode, he has no reason to freak out about it, it's their job to handle situations like that. It stands to see though how Dean reacts when he realizes that Sam is in far more danger than he currently believes.

b) For Sam to be able to cope with Dean being gone, he needs to be able to rely on his own strength. He still often turns automatically to his brother to fix things, it's the established dynamics between them ever since childhood and for Sam to grow out of that, Dean needs to withdraw, let Sam handle things on his own. As Jo pointed out in her last review, Dean needed to loose his own mentor, John, to grow into a man of his own, now Sam needs to loose his (at least partly), to do the same. It will be interesting to see how this plays out over the course of the season.