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It looks like this episode ran short too, but all we got was more commercials.
"Wishful Thinking" reminded me a lot of a Saturday Night Live sketch in that it had a cute premise that was stretched out way too long and then beaten into the ground. Long story short: be careful what you wish for. It just seemed like an awful long way to go just so Ben Edlund could get a giant teddy bear into an episode. I didn't really hate it (there are worse episodes), but I don't see this as being one I'll watch over and over again.
The wishes were fairly revealing of the wishers' personalities. What else would a little girl want but a live teddy bear to have tea parties with her? Or a bullied little boy but the ability to get back at the kids who hurt him? At least Wes eventually recognized that it wasn't cool to force some poor girl who didn't even know he existed to love him more than anything and took his wish back. It was especially revealing that Dean kept thinking of happy, fun things to wish for, while all Sam could come up with was Lilith's head on a platter (I think poor Sam needs a vacation).
Here's the part where I'm probably inviting wank down on myself.
We all know that Dean is the best big brother ever. He's always there for Sam and doesn't let Sam bottle things up until he explodes. Meanwhile, Sam has the reputation in fandom of being selfish and self-centered. Yet, every time Sam tries to be there for Dean like Dean is there for him, Dean shuts him down cold.
I get it. Really. Dean is the big brother and he sees letting Sam look after him as an enormous failure on his own part because he's supposed to take care of Sam, not the other way around. I also totally understand that Dean is right--there are probably no words in any language that can adequately describe what he went through in hell. What he saw there can never be unseen, and what he experienced there can never be understood by anyone who hasn't been there...which is basically nobody except for demons. There's nothing Sam can say or do to make it better, but just once I'd like for Dean to let him try, because the stoic big brother thing inadvertently makes Sam feel like the worst and most useless brother ever. He tries so freakin' hard, and yet he never really gets to give back in his relationship with Dean.
But on the other hand, "Kneel before Todd!" = best line ever.
"Wishful Thinking" reminded me a lot of a Saturday Night Live sketch in that it had a cute premise that was stretched out way too long and then beaten into the ground. Long story short: be careful what you wish for. It just seemed like an awful long way to go just so Ben Edlund could get a giant teddy bear into an episode. I didn't really hate it (there are worse episodes), but I don't see this as being one I'll watch over and over again.
The wishes were fairly revealing of the wishers' personalities. What else would a little girl want but a live teddy bear to have tea parties with her? Or a bullied little boy but the ability to get back at the kids who hurt him? At least Wes eventually recognized that it wasn't cool to force some poor girl who didn't even know he existed to love him more than anything and took his wish back. It was especially revealing that Dean kept thinking of happy, fun things to wish for, while all Sam could come up with was Lilith's head on a platter (I think poor Sam needs a vacation).
Here's the part where I'm probably inviting wank down on myself.
We all know that Dean is the best big brother ever. He's always there for Sam and doesn't let Sam bottle things up until he explodes. Meanwhile, Sam has the reputation in fandom of being selfish and self-centered. Yet, every time Sam tries to be there for Dean like Dean is there for him, Dean shuts him down cold.
I get it. Really. Dean is the big brother and he sees letting Sam look after him as an enormous failure on his own part because he's supposed to take care of Sam, not the other way around. I also totally understand that Dean is right--there are probably no words in any language that can adequately describe what he went through in hell. What he saw there can never be unseen, and what he experienced there can never be understood by anyone who hasn't been there...which is basically nobody except for demons. There's nothing Sam can say or do to make it better, but just once I'd like for Dean to let him try, because the stoic big brother thing inadvertently makes Sam feel like the worst and most useless brother ever. He tries so freakin' hard, and yet he never really gets to give back in his relationship with Dean.
But on the other hand, "Kneel before Todd!" = best line ever.
no subject
Date: 2008-11-08 04:50 am (UTC)From:We're pretty much agreed on all points; while I love my men stoic and tough but brittle, I'd like to see just a tiny bit more evolution in Dean where he's able to admit things to Sam. The one line I kept waiting (with bated breath) for Dean to say was "I don't WANT you to understand" - not because Dean doesn't need to be understood, which Sam does with alacrity and an admirable degree of patience, but because the things you see in Hell are not something you want someone you love seeing with you. Not only can Sam not do anything to actively remove or really even soften the effect of the memories (which, for the record - really? 40 years of torturous memories and Dean still snaps back to basically how he was when he went into the ground? C'mon, Kripke, that's more years than he's even been alive) but Dean doesn't want him to know what Hell is like. Ever.
But I, too, think it's a process. Dean tends to skip around the normal processes until he's pounded out his own - first he denies, then realizes he's slipping up too much to refuse being affected at all. Then he tries to say that yes, he's hurting, but he'll handle it. Eventually he'll hit that wall where trying and failing to handle it on his own will endanger Sam or them both or someone else when he freezes up under the pressure, and he'll be forced to either drop it, let Sam help, or just sit down and give up.
Here's to Dean Winchester (and Sam Winchester) never sitting down and giving up.
...That got a bit long. Apologies, and feel free to delete if I'm an annoyance.
no subject
Date: 2008-11-08 05:27 am (UTC)From:Not at all. The more, the merrier. ;-)
I'd like to see just a tiny bit more evolution in Dean where he's able to admit things to Sam.
Seriously, my dream is that by the end of the series, Dean will be comfortable enough that he won't feel like he has to keep a game face on for Sam all the time.
The one line I kept waiting (with bated breath) for Dean to say was "I don't WANT you to understand"
I could totally go with that. That would be very Dean. It would also be easier for Sam to accept.
Here's to Dean Winchester (and Sam Winchester) never sitting down and giving up.
::taps drink glasses with you::
Apologies, and feel free to delete if I'm an annoyance.
Not at all. Believe it or not, I don't know anyone in real life who watches the show (despite my best efforts at recruiting), so I'm more than happy to talk about the show with anybody and everybody. I even let people disagree with me. ;-)
no subject
Date: 2008-11-08 05:39 am (UTC)From:I could totally go with that. That would be very Dean. It would also be easier for Sam to accept.
...So I suppose it goes without saying that I can't believe he didn't say it.
I would also like to point out that I really don't think Sam would have wished for Lillith's head on a plate, bloody or otherwise. I think he wanted Dean to shut up, be serious, and stop trying to oversimplify matters. Also, it was the easy answer that Dean wouldn't think to argue over.
I also can't believe that I've been reading reviews and lurking all over summary posts about this episode all night and, while most of them have mentioned Sam saying the title of his book is Supernatural, no one has thought it might be a nod to the original premise of the show way back before Kripke ever thought of the Winchesters. You know, the one where he thought it might be a lone reporter, going around the U.S. writing stories about urban legends? Or am I delusional?
no subject
Date: 2008-11-08 08:44 pm (UTC)From:If Sam had said that last year, I wouldn't have believed him. But we saw what Sam turned into after Dean's death in "Mystery Spot," and after everything that Lilith has done, I can totally believe that Sam's greatest wish right now is Lilith's death.
while most of them have mentioned Sam saying the title of his book is Supernatural, no one has thought it might be a nod to the original premise of the show way back before Kripke ever thought of the Winchesters
I did see someone mention that on Yahoo!Groups. I'm afraid it went right past me, probably because he said he was writing a book and I thought the original premise was for the protagonist to be a tabloid reporter. Or maybe I'm just dense sometimes. ;-)