Initial reaction 11.08: Are you having a stroke? Do you smell toast?

[caranfindel]

The "Then" reminds us that there are many weird, whimsical things out there, and some of them can kill you. And that Sam has visions, possibly from God, about the cage. Hmmm. Is this going to be a crack episode with the traditional palate cleanser of angst at the end? Let's find out!

Now.

A pre-teen girl named Maddie has a tea party with her imaginary friend, a unicorn-boy named Sparkle. Then she leaves to go to dinner and Sparkle is brutally murdered. That will certainly put a damper on your tea party.

Next.

Sam's alarm goes off at 6:30 and you know what? I already like this episode. I like it a lot. The only thing that would make it better would be if Sam didn't wear long sleeves and long pants to sleep in.

Yep. This. This is good.

I appreciate that they wanted to make it dark, because it's an underground bunker before sunrise, but there are so many wonderful things you can't see until you bump up the exposure.

Like that one eyebrow.

Anyway. Sleepy Sam adorably yawns and rubs his adorable face and wanders through the hall (wearing one of the grey v-neck t-shirts of sex) into the kitchen, completely oblivious to the dark menacing presence behind him. In the kitchen, it takes him a while to notice the table is covered in weird, whimsical food.

Da fuq?

Then a weird, whimsical guy appears behind him and gets punched in the face. Whimsically. Turns out Mr. Weird and Whimsical is Sully, Sam's "best friend" from childhood. Except, as Sam points out, he's not real.

I literally cannot stop capping this scene. The expressions. The hair. The t-shirt.

Dean shows up in the Dead Guy Robe and can see Sam threatening someone, but Sully is invisible to him, so he asks if Sam's having a stroke ("do you smell toast?") which cracks me up. Dean is actually pretty funny during this entire scene... Jensen and his face and his physical reactions are comedy gold, as always. We learn that Sully was Sam's "dumb-ass imaginary friend," and he actually belongs to a class of supernatural being called zanna, who allegedly help kids by appearing as figments of their imagination and providing guidance. Why "allegedly help kids?" More on that later.

See, Sam? Shorts. And I bet that shirt has short sleeves. Doesn't this look comfy? Wouldn't you like to sleep in this?

Anyway, Sparkle the unicorn-boy was a friend of his, and Sully wants Sam's help finding his killer. Dean doesn't want any part of it, and points out that the deaths of supernatural things are not their problem, but Sam says Sully helped him, and now he apparently feels like he owes him.

Scenes like this always amuse me, mostly because Sam is allegedly 2 inches taller than Dean. Yeah, maybe, when he slumps over.

And if someone pushes Dean's knees together.

The guys go to Maddie's house and Dean's annoyed that Sam never told him his imaginary friend was real, which is kind of like Dean blaming Sam for losing his soul, because Sam had no idea Sully was real until this morning. Dean's also annoyed that Sam even had an imaginary friend, denying Sam's statement that he was a lonely kid because "you had me." Flashback time!

Nine-year old Not!Colin Ford gets a phone call from Dean (hello again, Dylan Everett! I covered the bottom of the screen during the guest starts so this is a nice surprise) telling him he wasn't able to talk John into including Sam on their current hunt. So, now it's canon that nine-year-old Sam was left alone while John and Dean went on hunts, in case you were doubting that.

I wish they'd tried a little harder on young Sam. This kid doesn't look like him at all. He looks more like Dean. Look at those lips. Look at those eyelashes. (Oh, god, that sounds really pervy, doesn't it? I swear, I'm not perving on this kid.)

I miss little baby Colin Ford.

And now I like this episode even more.

Ladies and gentlemen, meet Hot Professor Sam. And his sidekick, Captain Cardigan.

Doctors Strummer and McGowan (wait, The Pogues? That had to be Sam's idea. I'm surprised Dean went along with it) are trauma counselors from Child Services, sent by the police because Maddie called 911 when she discovered Sparkle's body. Dean delights in naming the man/unicorn a manicorn, and I'm digging this little quirk of his, where he likes to create portmanteau names (vampirates, ghoulpires, etc.). The brothers ask to take a look around Maddie's room, where Sully is waiting for them. The room looks perfectly clean until Sully gives them the ability to see everything he can see, revealing Sparkle's corpse and a room splattered in glittery blood. Then Maddie's mom walks into the room and unknowingly gets invisible blood all over the place, including on her face, which is awful but also funny. And apparently they all just leave after that? Abandoning poor Maddie to the room full of blood and the corpse that only she can see? Isn't there some kind of Zanna clean-up crew that could help her out? Couldn't Sully take care of it, since he's in management now?

Next we see the murder of another imaginary friend, a mermaid. The guys show up on a well-being check since she didn't check in with the home office last night, and find her corpse in the pool. They bury her this time, after Dean really thoughtlessly suggests flushing her down a giant toilet. Sully says she has a clingy boyfriend named Weems, so they decide to talk to him. I wonder if he's related to Ansem Weems. During this - actually, during the whole episode - Sully seems concerned about Sam's welfare.

Sam is 110% done with your shit.

Sam has another flashback. Young Sam tells Sully he's thinking about running away from the hunting life, and Sully encourages him to do whatever he wants to do. And I agree with part of what Sully's telling him. He does have choices. He can go to school and make friends and have an entirely different life. But he goes too far. Instead of simply encouraging him to prepare himself to take control of his own life in the future, Sully's encouraging a nine-year-old kid to run away right now.

Cut to a different suburban background, where imaginary friend Weems explains to his charge that no one will know about his "pee pee problem" because Mom drank a lot of "grown-up juice" and definitely isn't going to wake up. And then someone stabs him, and we see the assailant escape in a blue VW. Weems uses the zanna psychic connection to call out to Sully, and the guys come to the rescue. Weems says he's lucky because the blade went through his love handles, and Dean, once again, thoughtlessly says "Well, the mermaid wasn't so lucky." Knowing that the mermaid was Weems's girlfriend, and that he's not aware she's been killed. Seriously, Dean is being an absolute dick to all of the zanna. It's obvious he resents everything about this case-that-isn't-a-case. Sometimes his reactions are funny but other times they're just cruel.

(Also, "clingy" Weems hasn't attempted to speak to his girlfriend all day? Even though they're psychically connected and can communicate at any time?)

There's a rather silly and pointless air guitar demo and Dean says "Well, he's no Clapton." I would have had him say "Eddie Van Halen" instead, since it sounded a lot more like him than Eric Clapton. Or he might have mentioned Jimmy Page, since we know he's a big Zeppelin fan. I don't know why I'm hung up on this. It just jumped out at me. Carry on.

Dean leaves to find the killer, and Weems realizes Sam is "Sully's Sam." He's impressed to meet Sam Winchester, although he informs him that he broke Sully's heart. We get a flashback of the heart-breaking, where Sam and Sully are getting ready to run away but Sam gets a call from John telling him to join them on the hunt. Sully tries to discourage him from going, saying that he doesn't thinking hunting "is you," but Sam says he's a Winchester and why would he want to do anything else? I guess I can see Sam having that attitude at age nine, especially since he'd been denied hunting privileges until then. Sully continues trying to talk him out of it, to look for other ways, and Sam tells him he wants to be with John and Dean. He tells Sully he doesn't need him and wishes he'd never made him up in the first place. Which is uncharacteristically cruel of Sam. Sully wishes him a "good, long life" (ha!) and disappears.

Sam apologizes to Sully, who tells him it's not necessary, and that he considered it his failure when Sam left to hunt, since it seemed clear to him that he wanted something else. But it all worked out, because Sam's a hero who saved the world. Woot! I love Sam getting some affirmation. Sam, being Sam, can't accept it, and says he also did really bad things. He confesses to releasing the Darkness, and says he thinks God wants to help him fix it but he doesn't think he can do what God is asking - to go back to the cage. Sully asks if he ever thinks about running away any more, and he says no, and Sully gives him a look that says "Then you know what you have to do, don't you?" Oh, Sam.

Yeah. I'm screwed.

Then he gets a text from Dean. He's found the killer and wants them to meet him at an address. Except, whoops! It's actually from the killer, who has Dean tied up. The killer is a girl named Reese, who wants to kill Sully because he caused her twin sister's death by running into the street while she was chasing him. Sully feels a lot of guilt over his behavior, and he's willing to sacrifice himself if she'll let Dean go. Dean gives her a speech about how revenge doesn't make you feel better, and that says Sully was there for Sam when Dean wasn't there. Of course, he also said the same thing about Ruby, so take that with a grain of salt, Reese. But she doesn't kill him, and Dean appropriates her special knife, and I wonder if that's going to come into play later.

Sam tells Sully he's a hero, and that heroes aren't perfect. Sully says "Sometimes they're scared. But that just means the thing that they're facing, it's super important. And nobody else is gonna go for it because nobody else has got the balls." Well. We all know who has the balls, don't we?

As the boys drive away, Sam brings up his visions again. Dean again insists that it's not happening, and they'll find another way, and Sam's all, "Okay, then tell me. What is the other way?" And Dean's got no answer for that.

So, this episode was kind of charming, kind of weird and whimsical, kind of funny, kind of sad. It was another classic MoTW episode with bits of greater story arc, which is always nice. I was troubled by Dean's callous behavior toward the zanna, but I liked the way he went from denying/resenting to accepting and even appreciating that Sully was there for Sam during the times he couldn't be. And our little Trickster director did a nice job. I mean, not as good as Jensen's episode, with the beautiful moody lighting and the loving closeups, but not bad. What did you think?

No spoilers in the comments, please!

Comments

[safiyabat.livejournal.com]

Honestly, you're totally right about Sully encouraging some pretty risky behavior. Encouraging a nine year old to run away is not a good thing.

I was still awestruck by the way that Sully said EVERYTHING that I've wanted SOMEONE to say to Sam, for years. Not gonna lie, I was sobbing.

[casey679.livejournal.com]

It was really awesome to finally hear someone say, Sam, you're a hero. You saved the world.

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

Absolutely.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

I hate it when they make Dean be a total dick but at least in this episode they let him make amends at the end. Perhaps there might have been more in the script but some parts were sacrificed in editing - that's me being generous to the writer. Anyroads, I enjoyed it for all the Sam feels and the SleepySam pretty.

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I got it, but he really seemed unnecessarily douchey until he turned it around.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Yep, and they often seem to do that to him, which bugs me. Either it's poor writing, or poor editing - or they really want us to think Dean is a total dickhead most of the time.

[quickreaver.livejournal.com]

Dean's always been pretty surly at 'monsters' and I didn't view him as being a dick, exactly? I thought he might be feeling guilt because of why Sully had shown up in Sam's life, and that was contributing to his dislike of the zanna, which felt like classic Dean to me. I'd have felt guilty too! Even though the poor kid was barely a teen, for Pete's sake; wasn't his fault.

All that being said, I do think this particular writer is a little ham-fisted when it comes to emotional arcs. Dean was a tad more crotchety than usual and Sam, a tad more maudlin. Neither of which bugged me much, but I did notice.

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

It was his way of speaking about the dead mermaid zanna that seemed over the top to me.

[quickreaver.livejournal.com]

Hmm! I haven't done a rewatch yet, so I'll pay extra attention to that.

[anytimedelivery.livejournal.com]

Lol

[casey679.livejournal.com]

I loved the way Jensen played Dean in this episode. His anger didn't bother me; it seemed completely rational in context. To me it felt like Dean was being such a dick because he resented the hell out of Sully.

Sully threatens everything he had as a kid - taking care of Sammy was what Dean did. It was his job. So here's this invisible guy who tells Sam he doesn't have to be like Dean, or do what his family does, who should maybe think about college, or running away. And Sam did run away, just a few years later, to Flagstaff., which Dean was traumatized by and blamed for. I'm sure Sam talked all about Sully to Dean; up to then, he must have thought it was just Sam's imagination, but no, it was an actual supernatural being trying to get his kid brother to leave the family. Add that to the guilt of what Sam's been through by sticking with the family business... and there's the bitter gall that Sully might have been right. And maybe deep down there might be a little unfairness at the fact that he never got to be a kid long enough to have one of his own; once again Sam gets the support, while no one but Dean takes care of Dean.

As for Sully trying to convince Sam to run away - I can see how Sully would have thought it was the right thing to do. What healthy family leaves a 9-year-old kid alone for what had to be more than a day - far enough away that he has to catch a bus on his own to get to them. Obviously the kid is no worse on his own, since he's ALREADY on his own. And what is it that the family does? Constantly risk their lives fighting things. How much more danger is he going to be in, especially with a supernatural being with magical abilities around?

Questions I DID have, though:
- The boys went hungry a lot. Sully can magically create food that was real even when Dean couldn't see Sully. So why?
- That house looked far nicer than anyplace I thought the boys got to stay in growing up, didn't it?

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

Lots of good points. I can see Dean resenting Sully. And maybe the food was imaginary. :-)

[thursdaysisters.livejournal.com]

The acting was fantastic all around, and yeah the boys were extra yummy in the hair/bathrobe/dad sweaters department :-)

[madebyme-x.livejournal.com]

Loved loved loved it! I especially adored how one minute I laughing and then in the blink of an eye it suddenly wasn't so funny anymore, and I was tearing up with feels.

I loved how Sam opened up to Sully about the cage, that whole scene really made me think about the magnitude of what this means to Sam, about what 'God' is telling Sam to do. I want Sully back. I might need him to come back for Sam. Come back Sully!!!

I think Richard did a wonderful job, and I hope he comes back for more (that shot at the end with Sam staring into space and how it cuts into Sam staring into space in the car. Beautiful!)

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

That was a very cool shot.

[flawedteacup.livejournal.com]

He tells Sully he doesn't need him and wishes he'd never made him up in the first place. Which is uncharacteristically cruel of Sam.

I actually enjoyed this line, because I disagree (unfortunately) that the cruelty was uncharacteristic. Sam is kind of extreme, you know? I thought it was very reflective of what we would see later-- Flagstaff, Stanford (even if you think there were only two years of silence vs. four), the missing six months after Mystery Spot, Ruby, etc. I don't think he ever trusted any of his decisions, so he burns all the bridges to make his decisions necessary.

The one thing that really left me wondering about this episode was how we were meant to assess Sam's grasp of reality from childhood on. It seems like the new head canon is that Sam was never really moored in the world very well. An imaginary friend, the Easter Bunny, teen kitsune girls, killer clowns, Lucifer (if only we could retcon Amelia into non-reality too.) I felt like the arc of S1-5 for Sam was Pride Goes Before A Fall, but now I feel like it's Sam Is Not A Part of Your World.

Dean, Dean, Dean. Jensen said once that he thought it was his job to make Dean less of a dick, but after the MoC, forget that. He knows he'll never have a chance at that dream of domesticity anymore, so why bother to be nice?

[flawedteacup.livejournal.com]

Edited to add, apparently I don't understand how LJ makes italics...

[borgmama1of5.livejournal.com]

Best part was Sully talking to Sam about being a hero and about having the balls. And Dean's flash of guilt after he makes the joke about flushing the mermaid down a toilet and Sully and Sam give him death looks.

However now that Sully has affirmed that Sam needs to go to the Cage, I am figuring the mid-season finale will a) break my heart and b) make hiatus excruciating...

[jj1564.livejournal.com]

"And if someone pushes Dean's knees together." this cracked me up, I love Dean's (Jensen's) bowlegs but I wonder how much taller he would be!! Hee hee!

[meadowphoenix]

He tells Sully he doesn't need him and wishes he'd never made him up in the first place. Which is uncharacteristically cruel of Sam.

I didn't think this was uncharacteristic at all. Sam thinks he's essentially talking to himself, and he's not really ever that nice to himself, especially when his "self" is criticizing the way he's going about things. Think how Sam reacted to the younger version of himself who asked why Sam abandoned normal in Levee.

I also wasn't that surprised by Dean's behavior. Sully threatened Dean's view of himself and his rather skewed perspective on how much control he really had back then and has now, and anytime Dean is threatened that way, he's gets callous. It's clearly a self-defense mechanism and you can see it in early seasons too, it's just not a particularly nice one.

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

Oooh, good point about Sam.

[quickreaver.livejournal.com]

Loved your review, as always! I thought RSJr did a great job directing, and Sparkle's demise (and ensuing mess) had me cackling.

Good catch about the spread of sweets. I didn't really think about it until everyone brought it up. I suspect it was just LOLcanon, to be honest. That notwithstanding, it was a great scene. Jensen's comic timing and Jared's manchild expressions were perfection. :D And then there was all the sleepwear and bedhead. (What, me, objectify?)

Overall, the episode was fun and gave us a tease of mytharc (which I love MotW eps to do), and I betcha Dean will use that knife later, too.

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

I want that knife to come back! I don't know why but I do.

[frankie98.livejournal.com]

Whew, I agreed with everything you mentioned except disapproval of Lil' Sam's casting. Perhaps his lips were too plush (my friend brought this up also), but he looked enough like Colin (who is canon Sam in my head) with the hair and shape of his face and dewy eyes, that I was satisfied and then to have him be a convincing actor, too? Good stuff.
Shallow end deep diving: Please do not restrain yourself from capping scenes in which Jared Padelecki has perfect hair, expressions and clothing. Sooo appreciated!

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

Surely I haven't done anything that could make anyone suspect I'm going to use restraint regarding Sam... :-D

[cuddyclothes.livejournal.com]

Great review, great screencaps...I love you so much. I'm so glad you do the captions now, too.

I wanted every flavor of Sam in this episode. Really didn't like the actor who played young Sam. Too pretty! One of the many things Colin Ford had going for him was that he wasn't pretty. That, and a more believable persona. This kid looked like he could be in a cereal commercial.

Watching it again, fast-forwarding through the flashbacks, made it wonderful for me. I even choked up. When's THAT happened in the past two seasons?

Dean's reactions made me laugh, and I don't give a shit whether or not they were cruel. But I'm an evil person. And I don't care about the season's mytharc at all. The hiatus doesn't bother me at all.

[cassiopeia7.livejournal.com]

Huh. I received no LJ notification for this post -- only found it because of the "extension" you posted today. :(

Anyhow, I'm in major agreement here. Loved this episode!

kind of charming, kind of weird and whimsical, kind of funny, kind of sad.

. . . and so very much old-school SPN. I'd be perfectly happy if the rest of the season went this way. (Yeah, yeah, we know that it won't, but still . . . ) :)