galathea | Review for 2x08 'Crossroad Blues'

After a couple of mostly stand-alone episodes the show jumps right back into the storyline about John’s death, re-opening wounds for the boys that had barely time to heal. Sera Gamble really knows how to torture our boys! /sigh

This episode starts on a more unusual opening sequence for Supernatural: The flashback to Mississippi in the late 30s, showing a performance of blues guitarist Robert Johnson, was visualised with a lot of love to detail. The music, the sepia colours, the sets and costumes created a fantastic atmosphere; I think it’s one of my favourite opening teasers for the show to date! ♥ I heard of the Johnson legend before, mainly through the Coen movie O Brother Where Art Thou, and I loved that they picked up this famous legend for the show. It’s especially appropriate since it neatly links into the mytharc, confirming Dean’s greatest fears about the nature of his father’s death and giving room to explore the impact John’s sacrifice has on the boys further.

With hindsight the opening scene between the boys in the diner is bittersweet. The easy banter and relaxed atmosphere between them is wonderful to watch and knowing how the events of the episode will throw them back into a crisis, after they fought so hard to move on from the turmoil John’s death created for them, is devastating. I really appreciated the continuity from The Usual Suspects as the events of last week’s episode obviously resulted in a further complication of the brothers' legal status, since Dean is now in the Fed’s database and officially listed as a serial killer on the run. It’s very likely that this will pose some serious problems for Sam and Dean further down the road, and I am really curious how this will play out in the later episodes.

Dean: "Great. So we've gotta clean up these peoples' mess for 'em? I mean, they're not exactly squeaky clean. Nobody put a gun to their head and forced 'em to play Let's Make A Deal."
Sam: "So what, we should just leave them to die?"

As soon as it is clear that they are dealing with people who made pacts with a demon for their own personal gain, Dean’s whole demeanour changes drastically, especially compared to his relaxed stance earlier in the episode. He is visibly distraught and his tone towards George Darrow and Evan Hudson is bitter, sarcastic and accusatory. Dean has no patience or understanding for humans who get themselves involved with the supernatural at the best of times, but this time it’s apparent that it hits even closer to home than usual. Sam pretty fast picks up on his brother’s discomfort and on the obvious distress the case creates in Dean, throwing him worried glances and calming him with words and light touches. I love how attuned Sam is to his brother’s feelings nowadays. ♥

As a sidenote, Sam’s instant willingness to save all those people from the fate they brought upon themselves was interesting: I couldn't help but wonder if it was some sort of surrogate attempt to get over his guilt for not being able to save his father. While Dean is understandably conflicted about the whole situation because he knows that he was the cause for John’s deal, Sam comes from a completely different perspective. If Sam had followed John's orders and killed the YED in Devil’s Trap, John wouldn’t have been forced to make this deal in the first place. In his attempt to save John, Sam let the YED escape, which gave him the opportunity to attack the Winchesters when they were vulnerable. I wouldn't be surprised if John’s heated words to Sam in In My Time Of Dying - where he puts the blame for their situation on his youngest son - are still nagging at him. Of course Sam couldn’t have decided any other way in Devil’s Trap, but in the end John ended up dead, no matter how much Sam wanted to save his life.

Anyway, especially in their conversation with Evan Hudson it becomes apparent why Dean reacts so fiercely to this case: He always assumed that John’s death had an unnatural cause and was connected to his own miraculous recovery, he just didn’t know how things went down exactly. While I think that Dean must have at least considered the possibility that some kind of deal was involved at some point, it’s probable that it was unfathomable for him that John would make a deliberate pact with their worst enemy, selling out his principles in the process. Upon the confrontation with the deal-makers though, the unthinkable takes hold in Dean’s mind and puts him on the edge. While George and Sylvia’s shallow motives for the deal are easily condemned, Evan’s background story is more complex though and obviously hits a nerve. Dean’s tone towards Evan changes the instant he learns that he made this deal to save his wife from dying, but he isn’t appeased in the slightest.

He has been at the receiving end of such a sacrifice and clearly perceives it as a burden and a curse and not as a blessing. While at first glance Evan’s motives seem noble, Dean points out the hypocrisy and selfishness that go along with a deal like that. Unable to live with the loss of a loved one, the deal-makers doom those who are left behind to live with the very loss they themselves couldn’t bear and even worse, they condemn them to carry the extra burden of survivor's guilt. Dean’s utter devastation, anger and hurt is palpable, and it is obvious that he also refers to John here, who put him in the very same situation. He already loathed the idea of being brought back from the dead by supernatural means back in Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things, but now the exact circumstances of his recovery turn out to be even more horrific than Dean imagined.

Sam, on the other hand, is more sympathetic. I guess mainly because he knows the desperation of a man who faces the prospect of losing the person closest to him and the feeling of helplessness at being unable to do anything about it. Twice now he was on the verge of losing Dean, and I imagine that he, too, would have considered extreme measures to save his brother. I doubt that he condemns his father for making the deal, when the alternative would have been to lose his brother. While he surely understands Dean’s problem with John’s actions, he can never be sorry about the fact that his brother is still with him, and I love that he tries to reconcile Dean with being alive later in their end conversation.

Anyway, the short brotherly exchange in Evan’s house about the possibility that John made a deal too, shows how willingly Dean opens up to his brother now. It just needs a little push and a direct confrontation from Sam’s side and Dean spills his fears and thoughts. It seems like the logical consequence from their conversation at the end of Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things, that once Dean’s walls are broken down, it’s easier for him to trust his brother with his feelings. I think Dean’s willingness to save Evan, despite his contempt for the man’s deal, stems from his wish to spare Evan's wife the same ordeal he is going through. He can’t change the outcome of John’s deal, but he may be able to change this one. Understandably, Sam is wary of Dean’s motives when he offers to summon the crossroad demon to get Evan out of his deal, but under the circumstances he has no other option than to trust his brother on this. Still, his anxious expression when Dean storms off is very telling.

Crossroad Demon: "You wake up and your first thought is, "I can't do this anymore." You're all lit up with pain. I mean, you loved him so much. And it's all your fault."

Dean’s confrontation with the crossroad demon was fantastic and kudos to Jensen for knocking this scene out of the park! Every one of Dean’s nuanced emotions clearly shows in his expressions. ♥ Dean is amazingly calm and collected in their conversation and although the hurt and pain and guilt visibly play all over his face when the demon teases and mocks him, he keeps his focus straight on the case and the mission: to bargain for Evan’s life. Compared to his impulsive and violent behaviour whenever it came to the topic of John’s death at the beginning of the season, he is clearly more in control of his feelings nowadays.

Anyway, the demon not only confirms his greatest fear, namely that John sold his soul in exchange for Dean’s recovery, she also offers him a way to get his father back by making a deal of his own. That’s an incredibly tempting offer, especially since Dean thinks he shouldn’t be alive anyway; it would give him the opportunity to set the natural order of things right again, with the extra bonus of having ten years with the family he already thought lost. While we know that Dean is playing the demon by considering her offer, the struggle we see in him is real and how could it not be? After all, the burden of survivor's guilt on his shoulders is too heavy to not see a promise of salvation in that offer. But in the end Dean would only sell out his own principles by making that deal, he would take the same route he condemned his father for taking and no matter how tempted Dean might be, he isn’t willing to do that.

I actually didn’t foresee Dean trapping the demon under the wood construction, so I was pleasantly surprised at that little stunt. I really enjoyed Dean’s sudden switch in attitude, going from pained to confident and playful. I loved that once he was in control of the situation, he closed off any signs of weakness or insecurity in his expression, not giving her any more leverage to hurt him. He’s as casually teasing with her as she was with him, and I enjoyed that role reversal a lot. Still, her last spiteful attack after the deal for Evan’s contract is done - vividly conjuring up John’s suffering in hell for Dean - visibly cuts him to the quick and achieves exactly what she stated earlier was the whole point of her game with him: seeing him in misery. Despite beating the demon at her own game, Dean goes out of the confrontation utterly defeated in spirit.

Sam: "Evan Hudson is safe because of what Dad taught us. That’s his legacy, Dean. Now we’re still here man, so we gotta keep going. For him!"

The final scene between the boys in the car is heartbreaking! While Sam tries to process the new information about John, he is still concerned about Dean's obvious distress first and foremost. The memory of Dean's breakdown in the direct aftermath of John's death undoubtedly still fresh in his mind, he gently reaches out to his brother and tries to comfort him, although it can't be easy for him either. He lost his father, too, after all.

"Dad wants us to pick up where he left off. Saving people, hunting things, the family business!" These words have been Dean's mission statement from the very beginning, and they echoe in Sam’s statement here that the knowledge John left them is his legacy - and that they have to carry on to honour that legacy. Sam has come a long, long way over the last couple of episodes and in comparison to Everybody Loves A Clown, where his obedience to John's wishes sounded hollow and dictated by guilt, he is absolutely sincere in Crossroad Blues. ♥

After Jessica's murder and with his ever growing psychic abilities, a normal life seems to be out of reach for Sam. However, being on the road with his brother and growing into a new, more responsible role, seems to genuinely have changed his perspective on life. While I am still not convinced that hunting is the best route for Sammy to go, his steadiness and level-headedness, as well as his caring support for Dean and focus on the job over these last couple of episodes, show that he has matured considerably this season. I absolutely enjoy seeing this new facet of Sam and while I always loved him, I developed a new kind of respect for him in this season.

Dean on the other hand has a hard time to reconcile with his father's decision. Dean had to re-evaluate his father constantly in the short span of this season, all the bases of his life seem to slowly crumble away right under him. His bitter and self-deprecating tone when he voices his inability to live with the sacrifice John made for him is heartbreaking. He obviously not only feels utterly undeserving of a sacrifice of that scale, he is also hurt and angry at John for bargaining with the very thing that was responsible for the destruction of their lives in the first place. It's a violation of everything John ever taught them, and it's understandable that Dean can't easily accept that.

I hope that he comes to realize though, that for all it’s worth, he is still alive and kicking and needs to make the best out of the life he was given, if only to make John’s sacrifice count for something. I am not sure if he will never be able to forgive John for the deal he stroke with the YED, but giving himself over to despair and bitterness not only confirms that John’s decision was wrong, it also renders his sacrifice useless. Sam is right, honouring John's legacy may be the only way to come to terms with the burdening situation at all.

It’s funny that with all the Dean angst in this episode, it’s really Sam’s forlorn, frightened and heartbroken expression at the end - after Dean refuses to diffuse Sam's fear that he actually considered making a deal himself - that haunted me after the end of the episode. After they seemed to have grown back into a comfortable level of brotherly closeness, as displayed just in the beginning of the episode, it's clear how fragile that balance still is. I am really hurting for the both of them.

What else is noteworthy?

(1) There were some really creepy effects in this episode: The distorted faces or Doctor Pearlman’s gory demise were really well done. I also loved that they didn’t show the hellhounds but decided to make them invisible, playing with the viewers imagination.

(2) I loved the fatalistic demeanour of George Darrow, who was fully aware of the reasons why he stroke that deal. I liked that he took responsibility for his actions and was willing to face the consequences. His life-weary attitude was palpable and seeped into each and every of his paintings. His art talked of death and pain and torture and his life seemed to be hell on earth. And although he brought this upon himself, I felt pity for him. I loved the paintings we saw scattered througout George's loft and wished I knew if they were just props or actual artworks of some kind.

Overall this was a great episode, that brought back the angst and moved the plot around John’s death further. It will be interesting to see the direction the characters will take now, with Dean being thrown back in his recovery process and Sam so determined to follow in John's footsteps.

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Did you notice? The actress who played the crossroad demon in the Robert Johnson flashback, was also Lori’s roommate in the episode Hook Man.