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I wish I were better at the sort of deep analysis and attention to detail that this episode deserves. I'm pretty sure I won't be able to do it justice.
First, let me just get this out of the way so I can concentrate on the important parts of this episode. Why why why are Sam and Dean still so surprised when Bela screws them over? I'm not. As soon as she said she owed Bobby for saving her life, I knew she was full of crap. When Sam and Dean saved her life, all she did was throw money at them and split. She certainly wasn't full of gratitude and good will. Bela doesn't do anything that doesn't directly benefit her.
The stated plot of this episode was fairly simplistic and straightforward. The boys figured out what was going on and who was to blame fairly quickly. That's not a criticism though, because Jeremy killing people while dreamwalking was basically just a framework for the real plot, which was an in-depth psychological analysis of Dean and Bobby.
I wasn't surprised that the nightmare Bobby was given was about his wife. I'd guessed that before the episode started. It must really hurt Bobby to know that the person he is now could've saved his wife, when the person he was then just didn't have the knowledge to help her.
Speaking of Bobby, is the wall o' clippings a generational thing? John seemed to regularly wallpaper his rooms with information he gathered on his hunts, and Bobby had his closet. Sam and Dean seem to go more for spreading things around on tables and keeping their clippings in a file folder, and Jo seemed to be the same from what little we saw of her hunting.
The scene in the bar at the beginning was a gut punch. It seemed to finally be setting in for Sam that he wasn't going to be able to save his brother and that the consequences of that failure were going to be worse than he thought, with Dean not only going to hell for eternity, but also eventually becoming a demon. Dean was looking a little traumatized by the whole idea, too. And, boy, Dean answered the phone fast to get out of discussing his self-esteem with Sam. I wonder if there's any truth to what Sam said about not being able to save Dean if Dean didn't want to be saved? I mean that in a literal sense. There's a mental component to a lot of the supernatural events they've encountered (the special kids and their mental abilities, a symbol that allowed a ghost to be created solely because people believed in it, spells and incantations that require concentration to cast), so why not Dean's deal, too?
Dean facing himself in his dream was also no surprise, and neither was his non-existent self-worth. It was great to see him finally crack and admit some hard truths to himself, though. After all those years of idolizing his dad, he was finally able to admit that John wasn't perfect and that he's the one who's always been there for Sam. How sad, though, that so much of Dean's life (the hunting, his music choices, the Impala, even his jacket) were all John's. Hopefully, Dean's epiphany that he doesn't deserve what's happening to him will also translate into an improvement in his self-image.
Plus, I'm glad Dean finally confronted the issue of John's supposed favoritism. Demons have been using the "Daddy loved Sam best" line on Dean since season one, but when have we ever seen any canon evidence of that? None of their interactions together or apart have shown any evidence of favoritism towards Sam. Not even the flashbacks show John doting on Sam, except for the one time 5-year-old Sammy was almost killed by a striga.
I was very annoyed at first that once again the writers passed on an opportunity to explore Sam's psyche. We really know the least about what's going on inside Sam of just about any recurring character that's been on the show. Then I started wondering if it was deliberate foreshadowing. Jeremy was getting into his victims' heads and presenting them with their worst nightmares to kill them with, but not Sam. Sam's encounters with Jeremy were never personalized, they were just straight on physical assault. What if Jeremy couldn't see inside Sam like he could the others, so he had no choice but to attack him head on? What if Sam's ability to create a new dreamscape for Jeremy to fall into really was an indication that Sam's powers are coming back like Bobby thought? And good for Sam figuring out that Jeremy was too strong to confront directly. Sam couldn't seem to affect anything Jeremy created in the dreamscape, so Sam created something of his own (Jeremy's abusive father).
And as much as the scene made me want to gouge my eyes out with a spork, I wonder if Sam's erotic dream about Bela was also a sign that his powers are coming back. Bear with me for a sec. Sam used to have dreams and then waking visions of the future. Lacy teddies notwithstanding, Bela's visit to the boys had some of the same elements as Sam's dream. Bela even said some of the same lines and made some of the same gestures as she did in Sam's dream.
I'm looking forward to seeing what people who are better at this sort of analysis than I am have to say about this episode. And I'm counting down the seconds towards the last two episodes. It looks like there are some major plot developments coming.
First, let me just get this out of the way so I can concentrate on the important parts of this episode. Why why why are Sam and Dean still so surprised when Bela screws them over? I'm not. As soon as she said she owed Bobby for saving her life, I knew she was full of crap. When Sam and Dean saved her life, all she did was throw money at them and split. She certainly wasn't full of gratitude and good will. Bela doesn't do anything that doesn't directly benefit her.
The stated plot of this episode was fairly simplistic and straightforward. The boys figured out what was going on and who was to blame fairly quickly. That's not a criticism though, because Jeremy killing people while dreamwalking was basically just a framework for the real plot, which was an in-depth psychological analysis of Dean and Bobby.
I wasn't surprised that the nightmare Bobby was given was about his wife. I'd guessed that before the episode started. It must really hurt Bobby to know that the person he is now could've saved his wife, when the person he was then just didn't have the knowledge to help her.
Speaking of Bobby, is the wall o' clippings a generational thing? John seemed to regularly wallpaper his rooms with information he gathered on his hunts, and Bobby had his closet. Sam and Dean seem to go more for spreading things around on tables and keeping their clippings in a file folder, and Jo seemed to be the same from what little we saw of her hunting.
The scene in the bar at the beginning was a gut punch. It seemed to finally be setting in for Sam that he wasn't going to be able to save his brother and that the consequences of that failure were going to be worse than he thought, with Dean not only going to hell for eternity, but also eventually becoming a demon. Dean was looking a little traumatized by the whole idea, too. And, boy, Dean answered the phone fast to get out of discussing his self-esteem with Sam. I wonder if there's any truth to what Sam said about not being able to save Dean if Dean didn't want to be saved? I mean that in a literal sense. There's a mental component to a lot of the supernatural events they've encountered (the special kids and their mental abilities, a symbol that allowed a ghost to be created solely because people believed in it, spells and incantations that require concentration to cast), so why not Dean's deal, too?
Dean facing himself in his dream was also no surprise, and neither was his non-existent self-worth. It was great to see him finally crack and admit some hard truths to himself, though. After all those years of idolizing his dad, he was finally able to admit that John wasn't perfect and that he's the one who's always been there for Sam. How sad, though, that so much of Dean's life (the hunting, his music choices, the Impala, even his jacket) were all John's. Hopefully, Dean's epiphany that he doesn't deserve what's happening to him will also translate into an improvement in his self-image.
Plus, I'm glad Dean finally confronted the issue of John's supposed favoritism. Demons have been using the "Daddy loved Sam best" line on Dean since season one, but when have we ever seen any canon evidence of that? None of their interactions together or apart have shown any evidence of favoritism towards Sam. Not even the flashbacks show John doting on Sam, except for the one time 5-year-old Sammy was almost killed by a striga.
I was very annoyed at first that once again the writers passed on an opportunity to explore Sam's psyche. We really know the least about what's going on inside Sam of just about any recurring character that's been on the show. Then I started wondering if it was deliberate foreshadowing. Jeremy was getting into his victims' heads and presenting them with their worst nightmares to kill them with, but not Sam. Sam's encounters with Jeremy were never personalized, they were just straight on physical assault. What if Jeremy couldn't see inside Sam like he could the others, so he had no choice but to attack him head on? What if Sam's ability to create a new dreamscape for Jeremy to fall into really was an indication that Sam's powers are coming back like Bobby thought? And good for Sam figuring out that Jeremy was too strong to confront directly. Sam couldn't seem to affect anything Jeremy created in the dreamscape, so Sam created something of his own (Jeremy's abusive father).
And as much as the scene made me want to gouge my eyes out with a spork, I wonder if Sam's erotic dream about Bela was also a sign that his powers are coming back. Bear with me for a sec. Sam used to have dreams and then waking visions of the future. Lacy teddies notwithstanding, Bela's visit to the boys had some of the same elements as Sam's dream. Bela even said some of the same lines and made some of the same gestures as she did in Sam's dream.
I'm looking forward to seeing what people who are better at this sort of analysis than I am have to say about this episode. And I'm counting down the seconds towards the last two episodes. It looks like there are some major plot developments coming.
