SPN Ep: Hello, Cruel World

[the_other_sandy]

This was the first episode in a long time to make my stomach knot up, and I mean that in a good way.

I had a feeling there was more than one leviathan stuck inside Jimmy. I wonder how many are actually out there? It looked like quite a few at the reservoir. And I wonder what happened to Jimmy's body? It was kind of implied that it went 'splody, but if it did, then the trenchcoat wouldn't still be intact like it was. Then again, it's still in one piece after everything else Castiel has put it through, so it clearly has some pretty mad survival skillz.

I'm having trouble figuring out how the leviathans work. Watching the black goo enter victims and take over their bodies was pretty obvious at first, but then later we saw the little girl and the high school boys shapeshift into the people they wanted to be (and, I assume, eat the originals, because those bodies never turned up and the leviathans were hungry).

I've seen a lot of complaints that Sam's PTSD is getting more screen time than Dean's ever did, but I don't think Sam is actually suffering from PTSD (not that both boys haven't earned the right to a bucketload of PTSD symptoms), at least not by itself. PTSD doesn't cause hallucinations, just flashbacks (along with insomnia, hypervigilance, etc., etc.). Dean had flashbacks to what happened to him in hell back in season 4. Sam has had two flashbacks, one last season and one last episode. This Lucifer stuff is all new material, not something that has already happened to Sam, so I think there's something else going on. But if it really is Sam's own brain torturing him with Lucifer hallucinations trying to talk Sam into killing himself, then wow, Sam's brain is a very unhappy place. "It had to be a mess, Sam, or you wouldn't believe it was your life." So sad, but so true.

Meanwhile, Sam discovered (with Dean's help) that inflicting pain on himself can make the hallucinations flicker. On the one hand that's a quick and easy way for Sam to tell what's real and what isn't, but on the other hand self-harm. Somehow I can't see this going well.

Bobby's "idjit" is clearly how Singers say "I love you." It was very sweet and made me long for a "bitch/jerk" moment. I really hope the show doesn't end without giving us one more of those. Even though Sam and Dean's relationship is much better than it was, to me they won't truly be reconciled without a "bitch/jerk."

That cliffhanger was a dirty rotten trick. I can't wait for next week.

Comments

[viridian5.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the self-harm is almost guaranteed to lead to bad places.

Next week's SPN ep looks like my own nightmare fuel. I have such a phobia about being trapped in a hospital helpless in the hands of doctors who don't have my best interests at heart. Sure, nobody wants that, but the very thought puts me into a panic.

[the-other-sandy.livejournal.com]

That helpless feeling in whatever situation is a primal fear for a lot of people. It's why I'm afraid to fly. My fate is in the hands of mechanics and pilots I don't know.

There was trend back in the Eighties for plots where a hospital patient witnesses a murder, but no one believes him or her because the patient was on painkillers or coming out of sedation or something. No one except the killer, of course, who works on the hospital staff and was usually a doctor. I'm sure that plot has been done at other times, but I remember a whole lot of books, TV episodes, and movies with that plot all coming out in a bunch when I was in high school.

[mangacrack.livejournal.com]

But if it really is Sam's own brain torturing him with Lucifer hallucinations trying to talk Sam into killing himself, then wow, Sam's brain is a very unhappy place.

Wow, poor Sam. That's what means being a Winchester.
Thanks for the recap, it's the best I've read to far.

*goes to stalk the internet for ep 7.02*

[the-other-sandy.livejournal.com]

Thanks. And yeah, being a Winchester doesn't sound like a whole lot of fun. Although it makes for good television.

[light-ftw.livejournal.com]

Certain forms of PTSD *do* cause hallucinations (thinking of Complex PTSD, C-PTSD for one.), so does acute stress on already PTSD having individual and not so rarely.

Just correcting facts, this one is really a pet peeve of mine, sorry. ;)

[the-other-sandy.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the correction. I had looked up PTSD symptoms on medical websites and none of them listed hallucinations as a symptom, but I'll take your word for it.

Still, these seemed to be very long-lasting and complex hallucinations for this just to be PTSD. And besides, the show is called Supernatural for a reason. I would be very surprised if there wasn't something more going on.

[light-ftw.livejournal.com]

No problem. Just wanted to add really, there's no single determinant of how long the hallucinations *should* last. I'd be very surprised if someone who came through so much pain's mind *didn't* come with something complex. And long lasting.

But I agree in there, it's probably going to be a plot device for something else. After all, the show never labels issues for what they could be realistically.

[queeberquabbler.livejournal.com]

I think the head Leviathan guy/thing/whatever is still in Jimmy Novak's body. And i also think Cas is still in there too. No idea if I'm right but DAMN, more eps like that this season, and I'll fall in love with the show all over again! WHAT AN EP! And yes, I loved the fond "idjit," too :) Aww!

[the-other-sandy.livejournal.com]

You may be right. Jimmy's body may not have been able to contain a whole bunch of leviathans, but as we saw from those other poor slobs it could hold one.

I just want to know how all these leviathans are communicating. They all popped up in a pretty random group of people all over town, yet they had no trouble finding each other and hooking up again. And the construction guy was apparently getting orders from the Head Fred leviathan somehow.

[shopgirl318.livejournal.com]

Poor Jimmiy. I hope the guy gets some peace after this.

I really don't like the fan complaints about Sam's storyline. I think maybe Sera is writing some wrongs and the way it was presented it would be dumb to white wash everything like they did with Dean in season 4. Both brothers are getting a similar amount of screentime imho but there are those who thinks it should be all about Dean and that Sam should be offscreen, but anyway fandom being fandom. [roll eyes*****]

I do like Sam's storyline. I don't necessarily think it is PTSD though not this time around. I think maybe he has that psychic link with Lucifier still, or maybe that wall is coming down bit by bit and is confusing him by reality vs hallucinations though. When Sam gotten his soul back it was poorly done by Castiel and maybe this a side affect of this + the torture it endured.

One thing I hope that Sam's hell would lead to some conversations about both brother's time in hell. The scene with SD in the wharehouse had me thinking that Dean still has those nightmares from time to time.

[the-other-sandy.livejournal.com]

I think maybe he has that psychic link with Lucifier still

I was thinking the same thing, that maybe the wall coming down allowed Lucifer to telepathically connect with Sam somehow.

I imagine both boys will be having nightmares about hell for the rest of their lives.