Supernatural: "She was the love of my life. How many times do I have to kill her?"
But first, what we loved:
"There's zombies, and then there's zombies"
Clever, clever writers. Making the living dead come back as themselves -- with all the same memories, emotions and characteristics -- instead of shambling, brainless monsters, was brilliant. It amped up both the humor ("You're a zombie!" "I'm a taxpayer!") and the heartbreak when they turned. Not only do the dearly-departed-then-returned seem extra creepy when they go from reading bedtime stories to gnawing on intestines, but it makes the emotional gut-punch that much more devastating.
Bobby Singer
Everything that Bobby did this episode -- every word, every gesture, every reaction -- felt true to us. Jim Beaver knocked it out of the park, and we are officially in awe of him. Bravo, Jim.
Check out the Bobby bits we particularly loved after the jump...
- Bobby playing Agent Willis, and the look on his face when he realizes that he's talking to someone he knows.
- The way Bobby knew that something was up, that this was another sign from Revelations, but he still wanted to cling to the idea that maybe, just maybe, this would be the one and only good thing to come out of the apocalypse.
- Bobby begging the guys to leave it be -- and then pulling a gun on them when they wouldn't.
- That final scene of Bobby with Karen -- holding her hand as he shoots her in the head. Oh, Bobby!
- The look on Bobby's face when Sam tries to reassure himself that Bobby's going to be all right. He's too shattered to pretend. Oof.
Karen
Oh, Karen -- we can see why Bobby loved you. We loved her incessant pie-making, her chirpy good spirits, and her determination to protect Bobby from the worst. Of course she remembered everything, and of course she wanted to shield him from it. That's what love makes you do. Plus, we loved her interaction with Dean -- first feeding him pie, then telling him "You hunt things. I'm a thing. I get it." It was heartbreaking to see her realize what she had become, what she might do, and what she had to ask Bobby to do again. Oof.
The guys
Sam and Dean's reactions were so ... Sam and Dean. They know what needs to be done, and they feel like they're in bizarro world when no one seems to get it, not even Bobby. They were so discombobulated the whole episode. We loved Sam edging towards Old Lady Jones, asking "Do you think you could tell me from here?" We loved Dean encountering Karen outside the house, saying "No! No, there's nothing scary about you at all." And we could see their hurt and confusion at the end when they realized that Death had raised these bodies specifically to hurt Bobby, because he helps them.
What we're not so sure about
Which brings us to the head-scratching part of the episode. This is the work of Death, the most feared horseman in the apocalyptic arsenal, and his first act is to ... emotionally brutalize a comparative bit player? It seems like a little much for Bobby, and too little for the Rider on a Pale Horse. Come on, it's Death -- would Lucifer really use Death to just send a message? Look to the mob, Lucifer -- they just send large goons with baseball bats to deal with matters like this, not the number-one assassin. You'd think he'd reserve Death for the really big blow-out that would make a worldwide impact.
And that cast a bit of a pall over the whole episode for some of us. We just couldn't wrap our heads around it. Bobby's pain was horrible and real, but it didn't seem like enough of a splash for Death. We expected more of Death, and that sort of trivialized Bobby's pain for us -- like, that's it? And we shouldn't be feeling that after watching Bobby kill the love of his life again, and seeing fast-moving zombies attempt to claw down a closet door.
But that's our take -- what about yours? Does anyone share our misgivings, or do you think we're completely crazy? Were you torn apart by this episode, or underwhelmed? Talk about it in the comments!
Comments
First of all,gotta say Jim brought down the house with his performance in this one!The scene when he was sitting at Karen's bedside completely shattered me & made me forget i was watching a TV show!
I dont think this is the last we have seen of Death,infact i think it was just a tip of the iceberg,i mean come on we havent even SEEN Death yet,or its pale horse!
I guess this is Lucifer's MO,communicating via or through dead loved ones!This is how he got Nick to say yes & communicated with Sam,so thats how his mind works,coz he catches them with their guards down.I guess he figured that just a hallucinatory rendezvous with his dead wife wont cut it with Bobby,& i guess only Death had the power of resurrecting someone who was cremated. He wanted to make it as real as possible,enough to make Bobby think that THIS might be the only good thing that comes out of Apocalypse!!! He let him spend five days with her,only to have him kill her again!He wanted to cripple him emotionally,enough to make him wonder if any of it was still worth it.
Ever since the first episode this season ,i have wondered how Bobby got possessed so easily when he knows so much that he can write books on tricks to ward off possession, watching this episode got me thinking if Lucifer was somehow involved in that.The Demon Meg wanted Bobby to kill Dean,so that he would have to live with the horrible guilt of killing his surrogate son .She obviously didnt succeed,but Bobby ended up stabbing himself & losing his power to walk. Its clear that the devil's plan was to get Sam's allies out of the way,only to catch him lost & lonely & susceptible for manipulation & so far it seems to be working!
Posted by: Rich | March 30, 2010 6:01 PM
While I admit that the episode was rather apocalypse-light, with focusing more on Bobby's personal life ... I still enjoyed (painfully emotionally) the episode. I'm wondering if they felt it was a way to have Death doing something before actually revealed (physically) in an episode?
This was another way in which the brothers are getting worn down emotionally (in addition to Bobby), which might be part of the intention.
While I'm anxious to see more apocalypse-centric episodes too .. there are still 7 more eps to go now, and I'd guess they want to ramp up to the finale.
Jim was utterly brilliant. Kudos to him.
Posted by: CandyMaize | March 28, 2010 12:33 PM