SUPERNATURAL: Dark Side of the Moon
April 2, 2010 by Nicole
“You gotta stop thinking of heaven as one place…it’s more like a butt load of places all crammed together. Like Disneyland, except without all the anti-Semitism.” – Ash; dead barkeep, angel whisperer, scientist, top snake handler.
Well, first let me briefly address last week’s episode, “Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid”, by saying that I was a big fan. It’s been well established by now that I love zombie movies, and so you can imagine how much I loved Sam and Dean fighting a town full of ‘em, complete with creepy dad-eating child zombie. Ew. On the flip side of all the fun shoot-em-up action was a very touching and heartbreaking story of Bobby being reunited with his (undead) wife. I was very happy with the way the show handled that arc, because I really didn’t want to see Bobby’s wife trying to kill him or doing gross zombie things, because I didn’t want Bobby to have to deal with that after everything he’s been through. You knew from the start that he was going to have to kill her by episode’s end, but the way it was done was very respectful, and honored the relationship that they had before he had to kill her the first time (after she was possessed). Let me just also add that Jim Beaver is fantastic. After everything he’s been through in real life, which you can read about in his book Life’s That Way, for him to take on this story could not have been easy and he was great.
As for last night’s acid trip of an episode, wow. There was a lot going on and it didn’t follow the typical episode structure at all – lots of sudden jumps and quick cuts, going from funny to sad to angst-y and back again. In that respect, it sort of reminded me of a more heavy Changing Channels except this time instead of jumping from tv show to show, they were jumping between various versions of heaven. Or rather, various people’s interpretations of heaven – the most concise and hilarious description of SPN heaven would have to be the quote from Ash at the beginning of this post. Since the brothers were offed in the cold open (with an excellent use of the season five blood title card right as Dean was shot), we spent about 95% of the episode traipsing through heaven, and by default, Sam and Dean’s memories.
Since the show was very non-linear, this post will be as well – I’m busting out the bullet points, y’all. But before I break down the highlights, I just wanted to point out the major things we can take away from Dark Side of the Moon:
1. God is walking on earth, but we don’t know where.
2. God doesn’t think any of this Apocalypse shizz is his problem.
3. God wants Dean, Sam and Cas to back the eff off.
4. By all appearances, God is kind of a dillhole.
So, at least for now, it looks like the four members of the A-Team (A for Apocalypse, get it?) are flying solo. Cas was convinced that God would help them, and was clearly devastated when he found out that wouldn’t be the case. The poor guy looked like his next stop would be a bar or maybe Lindsay Lohan’s dealer’s house.
As for the rest of the show, here are things that stood out to me, and things that made me go “hmmmm”:
* The first memory we saw, of Dean setting off fireworks with pre-teen Sam, was really beautiful. Once again we’re seeing Dean unabashedly happy with his brother, but only in a situation where it’s not REALLY Sam (similar to when that kid had switched bodies with Sam earlier in the season). When are we going to see that easy happiness between actual Sam and actual Dean again? WILL we see that again??
* Cas’s two electronic appearances were amazing – the first was like K.I.T.T. from Knight Rider (K.I.T.T. Cas!!!) and the second was like an old Dharma Initiative training video, the way the tv kept cutting in and out and the audio kept changing.
* Once again, the boys’ complicated past with their parents comes into play, as Dean gets to spend some quality time with his mom (while Sam watches, clearly in pain that he can’t participate). We (and Sam) are reminded that Dean has been the man of the family for a very, very long time – starting from before his mom was killed.
* Sam’s apparent idea of heaven are all of the times when he exerted independence from his family; Thanksgiving as a kid with his first girlfriend’s family, a cabin he stayed in for two weeks once when he ran away, and the night he left home to go to Stanford. Considering Dean’s heavenly memories are ALL about family, this really upsets him and Sam reminds him that he never had the traditional family experience that Dean got for the first part of his life – family doesn’t have the same meaning for him.
* Two fan favorites were back – Ash and Pamela! As two of the more painful losses on the show, it was really nice for the writers to give them both eternal happiness – Ash with his own exact replica of the Roadhouse to hang out in, and Pamela with a new set of eyes, living every day like a rock show at the Meadowlands. Plus there was that super hot kiss between Pamela and Dean – Pamela’s overt flirting finally paid off. And this line from Ash: “You boys die more than anyone I’ve ever met”.
* Zachariah is PISSED – he’s over being evil with a side of cute and funny and onto just pure evil. “Lucifer may be strong, but I’m petty”. He informs the boys that he’ll be hounding them for eternity until they give in and say yes to the vess(els). Just call him Tenacious Z.
* After Joshua destroys hope for God’s helping hand and returns the boys to earth, they tell Cas what they learned. Cas gives the amulet back to Dean, clearly despondent that God is unwilling to help, and Dean promptly tosses the necklace into the trash, presumably because he’s upset that their childhood had seemingly little impact on Sam, and he doesn’t want to be the only one clinging to those memories. All I can say is that Sam BETTER have snagged the necklace before leaving. He wouldn’t leave it there, right? RIGHT?
* So, I have to admit that heaven confused me a bit – when Ash talked about how people could share a place in heaven if they were soulmates, Sam and Dean snuck a look at each other. Was that meant to imply that they were they sharing their heaven? I initially had thought that they were in separate heavens, but then teamed up, going back and forth between the two. How could Pamela waltz into Ash’s heaven if it’s so difficult to do? These things probably don’t really matter, but since they made such a big deal of defining the “separate compartment” style of heaven, it seemed like they went against that a lot in the story. Also, why couldn’t Ash find Mary or John? Because they’re down below, or another reason?
Okay guys, those are my thoughts on this week – I’d love to hear yours. Now that we know that God is on earth, it opens up a whole realm of possibilities – I know I’m going to be wondering now if everyone they come into contact with is God. Were you happy with the return of Ash and Pamela? Do you think we’ll be seeing them again? Were you as confused by heaven as I was? What is the A-Team going to do now that the last hope they had has been crushed? On that note, here’s a look at next week’s episode, “99 Problems”:
Can’t wait to hear your comments below – and if you haven’t already, you should join in the everlasting tv discussions going on on Twitter – you can follow me at @ToNicole.
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I think that Bobby is God. He’s been God. He’s been on Earth since John died guiding the boys.
I think you learned the John and Mary may have been on the outs of their relationship when she died. Ironically, looking at the pilot John was sleeping in front of the TV and not next to Mary. It makes one begin to question if John went all uber hunter to get justice or out of guilt. It also finally, basically concludes what we’ve always known and that Sam was John’s favorite. Dean was Mary’s son and it’s proven that he has her love of family and family values. Sam is John’s son; the independent and strong willed if he doesn’t like it he walks away.
The issue now is Dean’s world is destroyed. Cass’s world is destroyed. The only hope the world has is Sam… it’s redemption time… But the curious question becomes is the only way for both brothers to gain redemption and heal to say “yes.”
I was so not prepared to get all misty when I watched this! And so early in the episode! While flashback Dean seems to always rip me apart, it’s always Dean and Mary that KILL me. At lease when she is not being a bitch. And watching Sam watch Dean with her? Oops, there goes a little more of that ice cracking away from my heart.
I loved Ash in the Mexican wrestler mask! It was good to see him back and happy. Pam too.
I hope Sam picked the necklace out of the trash. What if he has it and he’s the one to find God? That little amulet burning a hole in his chest at some random moment. It would be great.
I think it was a great episode. Now Sam knows that Dean actually prayed. Cas is devastated. What if it’s Sam who actually turns everything around with HIS faith? I mean, he doesn’t actually WANT to be the vessel for the devil. He is the one who always prayed and believed in God. Sam was the one who has always believed there was good in all the evil.
I am watching this baby again tonight when I get home from work. I swear there are little bits of greatness that I can’t remember right now.
Okay, so I get that there’s a link between God and Daddy Winchester (it’s been forced down our throats this season). Somehow I think both will be exonerated at the end, seemingly because now they are both being painted in such a negative light. God has saved all of them (Dean, Sam, and Castiel) from the dead and DW sacrificed his life for Dean. So they’re not cookie-cutter characters… I think that there’s a bigger picture here that both Dean and Castiel are not seeing. I think that God is with the brothers in a way that people say “Jesus is inside you.” Once they realize that, maybe they’ll be strong enough to fight the good fight. Whether they like it or not, they are more of a product of their father (and not their mother) than anybody else. They may have had a rough upbringing, but they have been adults for a while (and he did keep them alive). Same for Castiel… dude, you’ve been an angel for 2000 years! You sure do break easy!
I know he’s a fallen angel, but he acts like Dean did in “In the Beginning” – in his search for “God” to stop the apocalypse he is actually enabling it’s forward motion. He should already know that such thought processes don’t work; I guess he’s becoming more human after all. Bobby knows more about the apocalypse that he does! The parallels between Dean and Castiel are astounding.
I keep wondering how Mary could live with herself after that deal she made with YED. That was quite a secret to keep from John, and could have possibly affected their marriage. It *almost* makes that Zach delusion of Mary seem a little suspicious, especially since Dean was like Mary’s angel in “In the Beginning.” Her rant stung Dean a little more than it should have, and I think it’s because he believed that those words could have possibly come from her. Plus, this is not the first time she’s appeared as a hallucination that has bashed Dean (even though that was Sam’s delusion in “When the Levee Breaks”). Mary may not be in Heaven at all, although I hope she is. This all really started because of her (Eve shoutout?).
Anyway, this episode seems to be some turning point for Sam. Yes, he didn’t realize that his fight for independence had a side-effect: Dean’s resentment and feeling of abandonment… but Dean is definitely at a low point right now. Good thing it seems that something sparked in Sam after they left heaven. He told Dean that they would find a way and fight together, which I think has been God’s plan all along (forget being vessels). Plus, someone on another board noted that the buttons on Sam’s shirt at the end look like a big white Cross on his chest. I think that was a sign as well (can someone say redeemer??)
This was a really good episode that I had to watch a second time just to fully comprehend how masterful it was. Oh, but Zachariah was… ugh!! I still had to mask my face a second time during that part he was with Mary… so freaking creepy! I hope God is taking notes… I hope Zach is allowed to join Lucifer when he’s cast back in the pit!
Ooh, I really liked this episode! And thanks to my first-time watchings of S1 – S4 recently, I totally knew who Ash was! And Pamela too! Well, I think I knew Pamela from last season, but now I know how she was blinded! Damn Cas and his angel goodness.
Now that I follow Misha Collins on Twitter, I find Castiel to be extra hilarious. He’s just so monotone, and dead-panned with his humour, and I love it. Him being in Dean’s car was extra funny, and I loved his appearance on the television set too.
Thanks for the promo for next week … again, my CW channel is overridden by some Canadian channel that takes over, and doesn’t air promos. Argh!
I was assuming when I was watching that Ash was able to jump from one person’s heaven to anothers by making those symbols in chalk- whatever he drew it on would turn into a portal to their heaven, because each person had a different symbol. I wasn’t sure about Sam and Dean’s heaven until I saw that Ash only had to bring them out of one place, which means they were in the same heaven.
I really, really hope that Sam picked up the necklace- I still think that is going to play a huge part in these last few episodes of the season.
Thanks everyone for the input! I am in an unusual place right now in that I really don’t have a clear prediction for how things are going to play out, which is strange for me. Normally I have a very strong idea about what’s going to happen in my favourite shows (not that I’m always right – far from it – but at least a picture has formed). In this case though, I’m totally just along for the ride and not even trying to guess at what’s coming. It’s too big – the story is so huge and the show has been so fantastic about keeping things surpirsing that I don’t even want to venture a guess.
A lot of what you guys said makes sense – I’m still a litte confused about the compartmentalized heavens – I get that Ash could go from place to place, but how come Pam could just waltz into Ash’s heaven? Did he teach her how? I guess I’ll just go with that.
You guys are right – it’s time for Sam’s redemption in some form or another – he is the only one left with a sense of hope (and again, he’d BETTER have snagged the amulet). I’m confident that in some way or another, he will atone for his past by the end of this season. And I guess that’s what’s going to have to happen before he and Dean can really and truly make peace. Can’t wait. I’m looking forward to dark, hopeless Cas – I think there’s a lot of comedy potential in that, if that makes any sense (drinking binge Cas, depressed Cas, etc).
I realize I’ve been waiting all season for the boys to really and truly embrace each other again (metaphorically – keep your pants on, Wincesters :)) but I shouldn’t have been. Clearly it’s going to come as this story reaches it’s climax, and not before. I’m good with that – the payoff will be much better I think.
Thanks for all your comments guys! It’s very gratifying to know that there are people out there who take the time to ponder fake apocalypse scenarios besides me.
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