galathea | Review for 3x09 'Malleus Maleficarum' (Reply)

After 7 weeks of hiatus and the writer’s strike seemingly going on without any hope of any resolution, I had reached a mental stage in which I actually nearly convinced myself to be okay with having no more SN episodes ever again. Boy, the way the mind works sometimes, to avoid pain. *g* Malleus Maleficarum though taught me the insanity of my ways by showing me how much I actually missed the boys. It’s good to have the show back, even if it is only for a short while. /sigh

I think I have to make amends to Ben Edlund by now. The lapse of Hollywood Babylon aside, his episodes prove to be very solid material for Supernatural, and I think it’s time that I overcome the dislike for him that I carried over from AtS. His cooperation with Bobby Singer in Malleus Maleficarum is another good implement in this season, and it really looks like the writing team hit a stride in the last couple of episodes. All the more reason to be really sorry about the abrupt stop the writer’s strike put to the creative flow.

Sam: "I got to stay here in this craphole of a world, alone. So the way I see it, if I’m gonna make it, if I’m gonna fight this war after you’re gone, then I gotta change."
Dean: "Change into what?"
Sam: "Into you! I gotta be more like you!"

Did I mention lately, how much I love it, when the show refers back to its own history? Back in the Pilot Sam firmly argued that he is not like Dean and that he doesn’t ever want to be, when Dean tries to convince him that sooner or later he has to face up to who he is, one of them, a hunter. Two and half a season later Sam is at the exact point Dean tried to make him see back then, actively deciding to turn himself into the ruthless hunter he perceives Dean to be, and that’s heartbreaking and flattering for Dean at the same time.

On the one hand, Sam's statement that he needs to become more like Dean, is the highest form of praise for his brother’s abilities as a hunter. On the other hand though, Dean always loved the Sam he raised, and he admired the gentle and caring person Sam used to be, and it has to break his heart to see Sam change into something he never wanted him to be - someone who Sam never wanted to be either - on account of his own actions, i.e. making the deal for Sam’s life. I love how Sam’s behaviour forces Dean into a role reversal, playing the Sam to Sam’s Dean, by reminding him that the sanctity of life was once his greatest concern. Dean always needed Sam to be his conscience, just like Sam always needed Dean to be the one to make the tough decisions, both balancing each other out, which was one of their greatest strengths as a team. But now Sam is gearing himself up for a life without Dean at his side, and he can’t find the balance within himself.

Sam’s outlook on the life after Dean is gone (this craphole of a world) is so bleak and devoid of any hope that I really hurt badly for him. It seems that he has given up completely on saving Dean and spirals down into despair. Sam trying to model himself after Dean is fascinating though, seeing how he perceives his brother as ruthless hunter, able to make tough decisions, but with Sam being who he is - very determined, single-minded and focused to the point of blindness to anything else if circumstances push him to it - his own 'version' of Dean turns out to be even more ruthless than Dean himself at times.

Sam’s admission also finally reveals the true cause for the change in his personality: It affirms that each and every of his actions so far in the season root firmly in his own will to change, fuelled by his guilt and desperation over Dean's deal. He came back from his resurrection unchanged. The YED's words to Dean in All Hell Breaks Loose II were a simple mind game, designed to make Dean question his brother. That makes me really happy, because one of the main themes from last season was the element of choice in Sam's destiny, and if it had turned out that Sam was under whatever 'foreign' influence due to his resurrection status, it would have cheapened that aspect of the show for me. Anyway, I love how readily Dean was able to voice his worries over Sam’s behaviour now. Ever since their talk in Fresh Blood Dean shows an openness in sharing his feelings with Sam that warms my heart. Sam, on the other hand, still holds back the secret about Mary and the blood ritual, another role reversal this season, with Sam only opening up when pushed into it and Dean being more responsive. I quite enjoy that. :)

Demon: "You’re not our messiah, we don’t believe in you. There’s a new leader rising in the west."

This episode was again heavy on the mytharc elements. It seems that in the months after Sin City, the scattered demon front finally united under a new demonic leader, which doesn’t bode well for Sam. Even with Sam refusing to take on his leadership, we learned that there are enough demons willing to follow him and still root for him. In order to clean out the competition and to gather all demonic forces behind him, the new leader is obviously set out to actively hunt Sam down. Like the Tammy!Demon stated 'a PR thing', with Sam gone, his demonic 'followers' should easily fall into line with the new leader.

The demons this season prove to be enormously powerful compared to the standard demons from earlier seasons. Only the YED managed to dodge a bullet from the Colt before (Salvation) and only the Meg demon was able to break a Devil’s Trap from within the trap, rather than from the outside. The demon in this episode was similarly powerful and not even Ruby was able to stop her. Still, even with all their new powers, the demons weren’t able to locate Sam, while the YED never had any troubles with that, and I wonder if that is a side effect of the blood ritual, creating a kind of bond between the demon and the human recipient.

As a side note: I have to mention here that I was glad that it wasn’t Ruby who stopped the demon, but Elisabeth, the human witch, who summoned up the courage to turn the game against the demon, hurting its human host so badly that it lost control over its powers, which created a chance for Dean to kill the demon with Ruby’s knife. I was complaining a lot about Ruby being used as a tool to save the brothers whenever necessary, so it was good to see that it wasn’t as clear cut in this episode, although of course she did save Dean in this episode, so that trend still needs to be monitored. Dean’s violent outbreak, when stabbing the demon, bordered on rage, no wonder given that she not only tried to kill him, but also nearly got Sam killed.

The storyline around the coven was a bit confusing, since it isn’t quite clear, if the witches were only set up as a trap for Sam or if Sam showing up was an unforeseen side event for the demon. She had to recognise him though, when the brothers interrogated Elisabeth and after that she probably hid the hexbag in their motel room in order to lure Sam to the coven, counting on the fact that he would search them out in order to save Dean, otherwise her attack on Dean wouldn’t make a lot of sense. Still, why not attack Sam directly with the spell and go for Dean instead?

Ruby: "That’s what hell is, forgetting what you are!"

This episode has the first encounter between Dean and Ruby, and I have to say that I really enjoyed the Ruby and Dean interaction a lot. I love that Dean was prepared, waiting for her to show up eventually, so he could set an end to her mind games with Sam. He’s pulling no punches and cuts straight to the point, very in character for Dean. He might have been surprised by the compassion Casey showed in Sin City, but it obviously didn’t change his stance towards demons in general, especially not if they try to mess with his little brother. Of course that sets him into conflict with Sam, who really needs the hope that Ruby provides with her promise to help with Dean’s deal. It’s the only card left for him, uncertain as it may seem.

Which brings me to another side note: I kind of wished we would have seen more of Sam’s efforts to find a way out of Dean’s deal, because apart from the scripture searches in the first two episodes and shooting the crossroads demon, we didn’t witness a lot of activity. His frustration and in the end resignation ever since last episode seems to come a bit out of nowhere, and I would have liked to see an actual trigger for him giving up at this point, since he showed no sign of resignation directly after the crossroad demon proved to be a dead end. At least this episode managed to diffuse one of my greatest fears in regard to Dean’s deal, namely that Ruby would be the one to actually free Dean from his contract and not Sam. There is no way for us to discern if Ruby really lied to Sam in The Kids Are Alright, when she told him that she would be able to help him save Dean, or if she lies to Dean here, when she tells him that she told Sam a lie, but either way, Ruby playing an active part in Dean's rescue seems very unlikely now, and that makes me very happy!

Anyway, the end dialogue between Ruby and Dean was really interesting and leaves a lot open for speculation. Even with part of her human back-story revealed, we cannot forget that she is a demon and that everything she says has to be taken with a grain of salt, especially this season where one of the main themes is misdirection and rumours, employed by demons to push humans where they want them to be. All of the demons we met so far, who were set free from the devil's gate (the Seven Deadly Sins, Casey, Tammy), secretly played on human weaknesses, instead of attacking openly, and even with Ruby stating she is not like the others, I see no reason to trust her. She openly admits that she lied to Sam, baited him with Dean’s deal to get him to cooperate with her, manipulating him at his weakest point, just as Dean suspected in Bad Day At Black Rock. So, who’s to say that she isn’t trying the exact same thing with Dean here, trying to bait him as well, exploiting his fear for Sam’s well-being after he is gone. Convincing Dean there is no hope for him to get out of the deal, which, even with faith in Sam’s perseverance, he already pretty much resigned himself to anyway, could push him into aiding her goals, without even realizing it.

Her explanation that she fights on Sam and Dean’s side, because she retained part of her humanity and doesn't want to see humankind destroyed, can also be interpreted as an attempt to diffuse Dean's suspicions, as it not only makes her look more sympathetic, more human, but it also resonates with Dean's own humanitarian principles. So, I do tend to believe that Ruby still has a hidden agenda and only plays with the boys at the moment, adding to their desperation in order to make them more vulnerable for her plans. Actually, I really hope that’s the case, because if Ruby really turned out to be what she claims to be, i.e. a 'good' demon, her potential as a clever adversary would effectively be destroyed. Instead she would be reduced to a simple and convenient tool for Sam and Dean, whenever they are in trouble. And that would be really disappointing, wasting a good opportunity for an intriguing plotline and a couple of twists in the end game.

Apart from the arguments she (might or might not have) used to bait Dean into helping her with Sam, I think that the reveal about the origin of demons can be taken as genuine demon mythology for Supernatural and was no lie on Ruby’s side. Human souls turning into demons after centuries of torture, humanity stripped away, leaving a twisted and broken soul that turns to evil - that's a very intriguing scenario, and I love that twist in the mythology of the show. There seems to be some confusion in fandom, stating that this would contradict the information that was given in Sin City about the origin of demons as fallen angels, but actually it doesn’t contradict Sin City at all. Casey doesn’t state that demons are fallen angels, she simply explained that some demons believe that Lucifer is a fallen angel and that he created the demons, comparable to how God created humankind in his own image. It's never stated in Sin City how exactly Lucifer created the demons. It’s simply a demonic belief system, a demonic religion, if you so want. Ruby stated that demons forget who they are and where they came from, so this new information is perfectly within the mythology so far. Ruby's little quip about being the 'fallen angel' on Sam's shoulder in Sin City would be just a metaphorical phrase referring to that belief system.

Anyway, Ruby telling Dean that he will sooner or later turn into a demon himself, mirrored perfectly the conversation Dean had with the Reaper in In My Time Of Dying. It’s a lovely reverse parallel that while he needed to decide to die, in order to escape becoming an angry spirit in In My Time Of Dying, he now needs to decide that he wants to live to escape becoming a demon. However, the fact that Sam will die again, should Dean actively pursue his release from the deal, still holds Dean back from committing himself to that cause, but there’s certainly an added layer of conflict to that now. It will be very interesting to see if Dean shares his conversation with Ruby with Sam. It’s very suspicious that she always catches one of the boys alone, when she does her little manipulation routine, which only adds to the impression that she still follows an agenda of her own.

What else was noteworthy:

(1) I loved the scene where Sam and Dean find the dead witch and survey the room. I was very delighted that Dean actually did not touch the body and simply turned over her wrists with the gun. It’s also the first time we see the boys call 911, a minor detail that I really enjoyed and Dean going all sympathetic on a dead rabbit was just totally adorable. *g* Dean’s effortless identification of all the herbs in Elisabeth’s garden and his quick reaction when he grabbed the knife and killed the demon, again showed how good Dean is with his job, and I always love when they feature his hunting abilities properly in an episode.

(2) Heh, Sam and Dean introducing themselves as Bachman and Turner was fun, as was the music choice in this episode. I loved how the radio turned from 'Every Rose has its thorn' to 'I put a spell on you'. Not subtle in any way, but I still had to grin about that.

In conclusion: Overall this was a nice episode, with intriguing mytharc reveals and a new level of devastation and despair for the boys! And don’t we love the hurt! I can’t wait for the rest of the episodes and I really hope there’s an end to the writer’s strike in the next 2 weeks, so Kripke & Co get the chance to at least get a couple of more episodes for this season done.