Review for 3x03 'Bad Day At Black Rock'
Oct. 19th, 2007 08:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
If someone would have told me that I would one day love a Ben Edlund episode more than a Sera Gamble episode, I would have told them they were insane, but Bad Day At Black Rock filled me with so much joy that my disappointment about the lack of brotherly closeness in the first two episodes was almost forgotten. I haven’t laughed about a Supernatural episode so hard ever since Hell House and since my distaste for slapstick is well known, it shows how well executed Bad Day At Black Rock was, on all accounts. The comedic timing was impeccable. Robert Singer and Ben Edlund made a winning team on this episode!
Firstly, does anybody else miss Dean’s "Saving people, hunting things, the family business!" voiceover in the recaps at the beginning? Dean’s mission statement from Wendigo is so much more a genuine part of the show and so much more heartfelt than the faux voiceover they had Jensen do for the promos. I really wished they wouldn’t use that!
Dean: "How could she possibly help us?"
Sam: "She told me she could help you, okay. Help you out of the crossroads deal!"
So, Sam and Dean proved me wrong, because they actually talked about Ruby’s true nature and her offer to help Sam to get Dean out of his deal. There is still no indication though that Sam told Dean about Ruby's revelation that the YED killed all of Mary's family and friends or about the YED's replay of the events of the fateful night of the fire in All Hell Breaks Loose I. He obviously keeps his brother on a strict need-to-know basis. Sam knew that they would run into Ruby again sooner or later, so telling Dean about her was inevitable, but he isn't willing to go further than that and his lack of honesty is worrying. However, by telling Dean about Ruby’s offer, he at least openly admits that he is far from taking his brother’s advice to leave the deal alone, and that he is still looking for a way to get Dean out of his contract, regardless of the danger to his own life.
I am glad that Sam didn’t really fall for Ruby’s offer blindly. It's understandable though that overall her offer proves to be too tempting to simply disregard it. Sam's hope that he can turn the tables on her and use Ruby for his own purposes is a dangerous notion though, since he has no idea what her real agenda is or what powers she might possess. If she can’t be trusted, neither can any information she gives them, not about the crossroads deal and not about the demon army either. It would be entirely possible that Sam plays into her hands, without even knowing it. While an alliance with Ruby could prove to be useful - after all, she already saved Sam's life once - it could also put Sam and Dean at a serious disadvantage by unknowingly opening the floodgates to their worst enemy.
Dean’s reaction to Sam's report is predictably furious, although it's interesting that he doesn’t actually call his brother on his admission that he still looks for a way to break his deal. I think Sam's behaviour in The Kids Are Alright was too obvious anyway, and even Dean can’t delude himself into thinking that his brother would just give up so easily. Sam is John Winchester’s son after all! It's also noteworthy that apparently Dean keeps an eye out for any signs that Sam is not 'Sammy'. The way he carefully asks Sam if he feels okay and Sam’s frustrated reaction to that inquiry shows that this isn’t the first time the brothers had a conversation like that. It's obvious that the YED's last words are eating away at Dean. He might act carefree and seems more distant towards Sam lately, but behind that front he obviously still keeps close tabs on his little brother. I love that this one throwaway line reveals so much about Dean's state of mind.
Anyway, it's interesting that at the moment Dean seems noticeably less concerned with protecting Sam, and I think that's still a result of the YED's death. From Dean's point of view Sam is in no immediate danger, now that the threat that hung over his brother's head since he was six months old is effectively eliminated, and Sam's secretiveness about anything that would reveal otherwise, allows Dean to be more relaxed with his big brother protection routine. Everyday risks that come with their job? That's something they are used to. It's controllable danger, well, most of the time anyway. And even when Dean is concerned about Sam's curse later in the episode, he doesn't really lose his composure over it. For Sam to be able to cope with Dean being gone, he needs to be able to rely on his own strength. He still often turns automatically to his big brother to fix things, it's the established role allocation between them, and for Sam to grow out of that, Dean needs to take a step back and let Sam handle things on his own. Dean needed to lose his mentor, i.e. John, in order to grow into a man of his own. Now Sam needs to lose his own role-model to do the same. It will be interesting to see how this plays out over the course of the season.
Dean: "Just dad. Him and his secrets. You spend all this time with the guy and it's like you barely even know the man."
John Winchester is haunting this show even from far beyond the grave! A secret storage locker room? How appropriate is that image as a symbol for John’s conflicted character? A room where he locks away all his secrets and memorabilia, a life full of repressed emotions documented in objects. Back in In My Time Of Dying the YED called John a sentimentalist and obviously he wasn't far off with that assessment. John could never really talk to his boys, but his love for them is right there for Sam and Dean to see, and the mix of awe, disbelief and affection the brothers have for their old man in that moment is tangible. ♥
I love how smartly the boys surveyed the room from the entrance, carefully assessing any traps before they take a step in and explore the room like little children in a candy shop. I especially loved how Sam finding his old soccer trophy referred back to Bugs, where Sam stated that he and John always fought about the fact that he'd rather play soccer than go bow-hunting. So, finding that John kept his soccer trophy was not only a fantastic continuity detail, it also showed that John was never able to show Sam how proud he was of his achievements, despite his rejection of Sam's dreams. Sam finding the soccer trophy and Dean finding his first sawed-off very nicely called back to young Sam’s wish for normalcy and young Dean’s resourcefulness and dedication to becoming a hunter, respectively, and that seems very fitting. Awesome scene! ♥
Dean: "What?"
Sam: "I lost my shoe."
Bad Day At Black Rock was a comedic episode and admittedly, I often have problems with the humour in Supernatural, but even I found this episode hilarious. Mainly I think that is owed to the fact that it didn’t need to reduce the character to caricatures of themselves to achieve its effect. The premise for the episode was pure crack, but still within a reasonably believable plot and the humour was situational and not at the expense of the characters. On the contrary, if anything it played rather nicely on a big brother/little brother dynamic. Kudos especially to Jared for his incredible comedic timing and delivery in this episode. Sammy was never more adorable! ♥ Honestly, the choreography of the first fight scene in the apartment of Grossman and Wayne was flawless and a pure joy to watch. Sam’s turn from good luck to bad lack allowed for one hilarious situation after another - in classic Laurel & Hardy style - and while I am usually not really a fan of slapstick, this had me hook, line and sinker throughout the episode!
Dean’s absolute excitement at the opportunity to exploit Sam’s sudden luck, which rapidly shifts to concern about his brother’s fate when that luck turns sour, was great to watch. I had the feeling that this wasn’t the first time that Dean dealt with a clumsy Sam, and I had this image in my head of a young Sam hitting his growth spurt, fighting with his uncoordinated limbs, but maybe that’s just my imagination running wild. Anyways, while it is understandable that Dean instantly exploits Sam’s winning streak on the lottery or considers going to Vegas (again!) - especially given that they needed to ditch all their credit cards only a couple of weeks ago - getting their faces all over the internet seems a more reckless move, after all, they know that the Feds are closely on their tail. That the photo of Sam and Dean found its way in the internet was probably a result of Sam’s curse, but neither Dean nor Sam showed any worry over the whole incident, and that seems to be an awfully careless attitude for two FBI fugitives.
Bela: "We're all going to hell, Dean. Might as well enjoy the ride!"
Dean: "I actually agree with you there."
So, finally we had the introduction of the second female character for this season - Bela Talbot, a thief and dealer in supernatural artifacts - and I have to say that so far I liked her. She was smart, but didn’t outsmart our boys, it was on pretty equal footing between her and Dean. The stand-off between Bela and Dean at her apartment was enjoyable, and I loved how despite all her arrogance, Dean easily outmanoeuvred her, not only in re-acquiring the rabbit's foot, but also at the cemetery, where he tricks Bela in touching the foot herself. Although I had to wonder why a 'great thief' like Bela would have the need to hire two obvious dim-wits like Grossman and Wayne to acquire the object she wanted to sell. It seems like a rather unprofessional move to interpose two middle men, when she would have been able to steal the object herself - probably with stirring much less attention - so that Sam and Dean would have never caught wind of the operation.
Her assessment of hunters as "a bunch of obsessed revenge driven sociopaths, trying to save a world that can’t be saved!" was proven correct though, as the subplot around Gordon, Kubrick and Creedy - not to mention every other hunter that we met so far - shows. The hunters operate on prejudice and hearsay in regard to the events at the devil’s gate, rather than on hard evidence, and Kubrick and Creedy don't seem to have any qualms to end a man's life based on Gordon's barely concealed fanatism. Sam and Dean might be hunters, but within the hunter’s community they are clearly outsiders, and it appears that only Bobby’s reputation keeps more hunters from turning against them, as Gordon needs to undermine Bobby’s account of the trustworthiness of the brothers Winchester first, in order to convince Kubrick to take action.
It's clear that Gordon’s pursuit of Sam turned into a personal witch-hunt, he left anything resembling reasonable arguments behind. Kubrick’s statement that God revealed Sam to him as the adversary - which interestingly mirrors Ruby’s referral to Sam as the antichrist - obviously doesn’t sit too well with Gordon, but he is willing to use Kubrick for his own purposes, despite disagreeing with his motivations. It makes me wonder how much influence this bunch of fanatics has on the hunter's community in general, and if their continuing hunt for Sam will pose even more problems for the brothers further down the road.
What else was noteworthy:
(1) It’s interesting that Bobby knew about John’s storage room, while boys did not. It further strengthens the impression that John trusted Bobby like no other person. I have to wonder though: If Bobby was able to find out within a very short time that it was 'easy' to undo the magical ability of the rabbit's foot with a ritual, why even lock it up in a sealed box instead of destroying it right away? Anyways, the locker room made me wonder a) what else is hidden in that there and b) who paid the rent during all those months that John is dead now?
In conclusion: Bad Day At Black Rock was an amazing episode that - despite the crack-y premise - managed to move the character arcs forward, preserved plot continuity and set up a subplot that undoubtedly will play out as even more trouble as the season moves along. There’s probably a lot more to say, but at the moment I am just content to leave it at that! ;) I may edit some more thoughts in later though!
Did you know? At the end of the scene in the cemetery when Dean shouts 'sonofabitch' and Sam starts to laugh, it was actually Jared cracking up and breaking character. Sam wasn't supposed to laugh in that moment. ;)