Review for 5x15 'Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid'

[galathea]

Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid was a good, solid Supernatural episode, quiet and surprisingly introspective for a zombie horror story. Jeremy Carver’s script offered some subtle character insights and an interesting monster-of-the-week plot that cleverly tied in with the mytharc, but still kept the story deeply personal. The only real weakness of the episode was the lack of a deeper exploration of the parallels between Sam and Dean’s own history and the zombie plot, but that didn’t negatively affect my enjoyment of the episode as a whole.



First off, Jim Beaver confirmed that Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid was filmed before My Bloody Valentine, but the episodes aired in reverse order because of the extended hiatus due to the winter Olympics. Since My Bloody Valentine was supposed to tie in with Valentine’s Day and the hiatus would have pushed its airdate weeks past the actual holiday, they moved the episode up. Unsurprisingly the episode switch resulted in a lack of continuity between My Bloody Valentine and Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid. There was no reference to the devastating effect the confrontation with Famine had on both Sam and Dean, and the switch makes it unlikely that next week’s episode will deal extensively with the aftermath of Sam’s detox and Dean’s near breakdown either. I think it is sad that the show didn’t seize the opportunity to use the brothers’ vulnerable state of mind to allow them to reconnect emotionally, thus building a direct counterpoint to When The Levee Breaks, where Sam also went through a detox, but their relationship completely fell apart afterwards.

Anyway, the show has never been very good at following up on emotionally heavy episodes, on the contrary, the writers often deliberately chose to contrast those episodes with light-hearted ones, so I never really expected a fallout to the events of My Bloody Valentine right away. The quiet and introspective tone of Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid and the fact that Sam and Dean both came off as reasonably subdued throughout the episode connected it rather well to the previous episode, the brothers’ characterisation didn’t jar as much as one would have expected from an episode switch. Furthermore, since the continuity between The Song Remains The Same and My Bloody Valentine has actually been excellent – it was not apparent that an episode in between was missing – I think the damaging effect of the episode switch has been minimal this time, unlike all the other times where they messed with the 'natural order of things'. Still, the final judgment on the overall impact of the switch obviously depends on how smoothly next week’s episode follows from here.

Sam: "It’s his wife, Dean."
Dean: "So he goes full metal jacket on us? We’re his family, Sam."

My biggest regret about Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid is that it missed the opportunity to tie the zombie plot more directly to Sam and Dean’s own personal history with death and resurrection. There were a lot of strong parallels to explore between the Winchesters and the people who got their loved one's back through Death’s interference with the natural order, and the episode should have put a stronger focus on that in my opinion. I think Sam and Dean (or Bobby) should at least have acknowledged the fact that technically they, too, are the 'living dead'. They both died. They both tried everything to get their respective brother back from the dead, unable to live on without the other. Dean embraced Sam’s return wholeheartedly, despite the fact that he had the sneaking suspicion for a while that his brother might have come back from the dead wrong. Similarly, Sam not once questioned Dean’s integrity as human being, although he felt his brother had changed significantly after his resurrection. Karen obviously retained enough of her humanity for Bobby to emotionally connect to her and accept her in his life, despite her not quite human appearance. So, Bobby’s emotional dilemma should have strongly resonated with Sam and Dean, and they should have met his plight with more sympathy.

It’s noteworthy though that Sam clearly feels torn about killing the 'dead', voicing doubts in both Clay and Karen’s cases, when Dean is set on shooting first and asking questions later. It’s very reminiscent of the brothers’ interaction in S2, where they constantly argued about the right of the 'monsters' to live, and I am happy to see that Sam more and more returns to his old self. Dean's uncompromising reaction to Karen’s return in particular is interesting though, given that Bobby has always been so supportive in contrast. I mean, just like Karen, Dean clawed his way out of his grave - body miraculously restored - with no memory of the how or why, and Bobby accepted him with open arms, once it was clear that he was no impostor. When Dean resurrected Sam at the expense of his own soul, Bobby reacted furious that Dean cared so little about his own life, but not once did he suggest that they should consider to kill Sam. Furthermore, back in Sin City, when Dean turned to Bobby, deeply troubled by the possibility that Sam might have come back from the dead wrong, Bobby reassured Dean, although the doubts were written all over his face. He knew better than to alienate Dean by expressing his own scepticism, although I doubt that he would ever have questioned Sam’s right to live. So, at first glance Dean’s instant determination to kill Karen seems rude, given Bobby and Dean’s history.

However, I strongly suspect that Dean’s hard stance towards Karen isn’t really rooted in a lack of understanding or sympathy for Bobby’s dilemma, but rather in very personal reasons. Firstly, Dean explicitly regretted the fact that he was brought back from the dead. "I wish I’d gone with you for good." he stated to Tessa back in Death Takes a Holiday and since then things only got worse. By messing with the natural order to avoid death, Sam and Dean became instrumental in bringing on the apocalypse, after all. What’s dead should stay dead, Dean knows that better than anybody else, and the recent events only reinforced that lesson. Secondly, Dean relies on and trusts in his family above everything else, although he was lied to and rejected by his family on a regular basis. John kept Dean on a strict need-to-know basis, he lied to him if it served his purpose and put his own needs above those of his son. Sam lied to Dean for most of the last year and even chose a demon over his brother, and now Bobby lies to him as well and turns against him in favour of his dead wife. The hurt of being lied to and rejected, again, surely has an impact on Dean’s reaction to Bobby’s situation. Not to mention that Dean knows that if a consummate hunter like Bobby resorts to means of deception to throw them off, his judgment has already been severely compromised and hence he can’t be trusted to do the right thing.

So, overall it isn’t really surprising that Dean’s approach to the fairly emotional situation is hardened. I love though that Dean’s first instinct is to watch over Bobby anyway and try to save him, even against his own will. It’s worth noting in this context though that Dean's decision to stay back in order to protect Bobby - forcing Sam to deal with the threat against the townspeople alone - stands in direct opposition to his decision in Good God, Y’all, where he put the protection of the helpless townspeople ahead of his instinct to save Sam from captivity, acknowledging that sometimes he needs to listen to his head, rather than his heart. Granted, here and now Dean is not alone and he obviously trusts that Sam is capable of handling the situation on his own, still, it’s a step back from his development at the beginning of the season, and I think that’s another sign of how much Dean’s defences and determination were torn down again over these last couple of months.

Dean: "You? Why you?"
Bobby: "Because I’ve been helping you, you sons of bitches. I'm one of the reasons you're still saying no to Lucifer, Sam."

I really loved the final reveal that Lucifer used Death to strike out against Sam’s family in an attempt to deprive him of the little support he has left. After all, the fact that Sam succumbs to Lucifer’s advances when he is isolated from everyone he loves – as shown in The End – demonstrates that undermining the familial bond between Sam, Dean and Bobby is an effective strategy to get past Sam’s defences. It makes sense that with Sam resisting his dream manipulations and Dean being inaccessible to him, Lucifer needs to apply pressure where he can, and attacking Bobby is the first logical step. Now, obviously someone as powerful as Lucifer could simply kill Bobby, if he really just wanted him dead, but his effort to cause as much hurt as possible in the process is actually very consistent with the penchant for psychological torture Lucifer displayed throughout the season so far. In the end it doesn’t matter to Lucifer if Bobby is dead or alive, but broken in spirit, as long as he is removed as a support structure for the brothers and Sam in particular. Every man has his limits, after all, and judging from Bobby’s bitter tone and resigned expression at the end, Lucifer might just have succeeded.

I think in this context the revelation that Bobby is known as the town drunk in Sioux Falls is very telling. While we have never seen Bobby drink excessively over the course of the show, we know that he hit the bottle frequently after Dean died, so alcohol is obviously his poison of choice to numb the pain down, just like it is for Dean. It’s clear that especially the events of the last two years left their mark on Bobby, both in terms of emotional and physical damage, and it’s easy to imagine that his drinking habits got increasingly worse in the process. Bobby not only lost both Sam and Dean in close succession, but also Ellen and Jo, as well as a lot of his close hunter friends, when Lilith initiated the 'rising of the witnesses'. He was unable to prevent Sam and Dean from falling into a self-destructive spiral that lead to the unleashing of Lucifer on the world, and in the end he paid for his connection to the brothers with a permanent paralysis. The fact that he now also had to relive the trauma of killing his wife, just because he stands between Lucifer and Sam, might have just been the straw that broke the camel’s back, and it will be interesting to see if the relationship between the brothers and Bobby, their one steady human ally in this war, survived this hit undamaged.

Overall, I think it was one of the writers’ better narrative ideas to use the mytharc driven plot to explore the importance of the family bonds between Sam, Dean and Bobby, keeping the story deeply personal, instead of delving into yet another epic horseman storyline. In the end the episode wasn’t about Death, he simply served as a catalyst for the actual story and as such it wasn’t necessary to actually introduce him as a character. Anyway, I think the ongoing role reversal between the brothers and Bobby this season shows us some interesting new angles to their relationship. Where Sam and Dean used to be the ones who leaned on Bobby’s strength, his slowly crumbling spirit now forces the brothers to take care of Bobby instead. In terms of story-telling it would only be consequent if Sam and Dean would lose their last support structure before their final confrontation with Lucifer, after all, the show has been one long story of loss for the brothers.

Sam: "But you’re going to be alright. Right, Bobby?"

The episode ends with yet another shot of Sam, Dean and Bobby in front of a funeral pyre, and if that is not symbolic for the story of their lives lately, I don’t know what is. While Bobby and Dean fall silent, Sam desperately seeks reassurance that Bobby will be okay, and that speaks volumes about his own terrified state of mind. It’s obvious that he relies on the strength of the people around him to keep up his own defences. The fact that Sam is still far from trusting himself to do the right thing on his own – despite the tentative steps he has taken on the road to redemption and his determination to withstand Lucifer – has been frequently addressed in these last couple of weeks. In Sam, Interrupted a drugged up Sam revealed his deep seated worry that Dean might crack under the strain of his burdens, effectively leaving him to deal with the situation alone, and in The Song Remains The Same he expressed his fear that he will succumb to his own weakness again, a fear that has been cruelly reinforced after his confrontation with Famine. With the perception of himself as weak and the fear that Dean and Bobby, his last stronghold against Lucifer, might be close to throwing the towel as well, his anxiety understandably reaches a new height. I think though that Sam is stronger than he gives himself credit for, and I hope that he will get the chance to prove to himself (and Dean) that he can stand his ground against Lucifer, no matter what.

I want to mention here that although there have been a row of really good, positive character moments for Sam this season, overall they don’t really connect to one strong, continuous arc, and I find that regrettable, because of all the characters Sam was the one who needed a strong and consistent arc the most in S5. I think the problem is twofold though, it has external as well as internal story-telling reasons. Firstly, while the writers have put a lot of effort into exploring Dean’s complicated psyche over the last four seasons, they have neglected to continuously build on Sam's equally complicated emotional story in a similar manner. That’s not to say that Sam’s character has had no constant development, but it has always been less obvious, less direct and less extensive, forcing the audience to look to the small moments in order to get a read on Sam’s state of mind. Secondly, despite his reputation as the more emotional of the brothers, Sam is actually the more private one. He doesn’t easily confide in strangers and shows reservations even towards the people he is close to, like Bobby for example. Sam’s only real confidante in the show has been Dean, and with the relationship between the brothers strained and damaged these last 2 years, the opportunity to reveal Sam’s thoughts through a dialogue with his brother became extremely limited. I think both of these story-telling decisions made Sam’s character less accessible over the years, or at least it takes a lot more active effort to follow his development, and I think that has been a disservice to the character.

What else was noteworthy:

(1) Obviously there have been a lot of significant differences between the zombies in Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid and the zombie Angela in Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things. The latter episode established that zombies need to be nailed to their grave beds in order to be put to rest again. Furthermore, a head shot didn’t even slow zombie Angela down, it only made her mad. So, from the lore on zombies in the show itself, it’s more conclusive that Karen and the others have been a class of their own, which makes a certain sense, given that they were raised by Death himself. Bobby even explicitly says that he doesn’t exactly know what these creatures are, so I think we can just assume that the term 'zombie' is loosely used here in lack of a better term.

(2) I complained a lot about the inappropriate humour in the show lately, so it’s all the more pleasant that the few humorous moments in Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid were highly amusing to me. The scene where Sam, Dean and Bobby’s clever FBI cover unexpectedly gets busted by Sheriff Mills was just hilarious. Also, Bobby’s exasperated reaction to Dean’s claim that zombies can’t lock pick – which they promptly do – was funny and successfully brought some humour into a very tense situation. ♥ This is just the kind of humour that works best for me in the show, situational humour that derives out of the unusual life the brothers lead and that is naturally woven into the episode plot.

(3) I think that Sheriff Mills and Karen Singer have been two of the more interesting one shot characters this season. Both characters were well written and managed to give the story more emotional depth by highlighting the perspective of the victim as well as the perspective of the 'monster' with equal sympathy. The fact that both actresses were very convincing helped, obviously. I only wished they had dyed the hair of the actress who played Karen brown, in order to preserve the continuity to Karen’s appearance in Dream A Little Dream Of Me.

(4) This was the first time in the show that one of the brothers had to actually kill a child. Okay, so it was a zombie, but it was a child nonetheless. Back in No Rest For The Wicked, where Sam faced the horrible task to kill the little girl Lilith used as her host, he visibly fought with his emotions. He was deeply conflicted about the act, even though he was sure that it had to be done for the greater good. Now, while I am glad that we were spared to watch Sam kill the zombie boy, I am frustrated that the episode neglected to at least hint at how Sam dealt with it afterwards. I simply can't imagine that Sam wasn't affected by the deed at all, and it would have been nice if that had been acknowledged at some point.

(5) Last but not least a word about the title: I love the classic film noir parody Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid with Steve Martin, so was delighted to see that the writers used the movie title for this episode. The main attraction of the movie lies in the fact that – through clever editing of classic film noir movie scenes into the plot – Steve Martin seems to interact with a row of (now) long dead movie stars like Humphrey Bogart, Cary Grant or Burt Lancaster. So, the use of the title at least loosely connected to the episode plot, what with the living interacting with the dead and all. :)

In conclusion: Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid was a good episode that kept me engaged throughout. However, the episode could have raised from just 'good' to 'outstanding' if the writers had managed to properly connect the plot to the show’s rich history with the themes of death and resurrection, thus giving it more depth and overall importance for the character development of Sam and Dean. Still, this was the third episode in a row that I really loved and that makes me cautiously optimistic for the rest of the season.

Comments

[chiiyo86.livejournal.com]

Nice review! I agree with you that they could have tied this episode better with the Winchesters' storyline. I kept expecting someone to mention it and I was puzzled that it never came up.

However, I strongly suspect that Dean’s hard stance towards Karen isn’t really rooted in a lack of understanding or sympathy for Bobby’s dilemma, but rather in very personal reasons.

Yes, I totally agree with your analysis of Dean's motivations. Bobby lying obviously really hurt the brothers and I can't blame them given their history with lies, and at heart they just wanted to protect Bobby. Also, I think Bobby lied to them because he knew what they were going to tell him and deep down he knew they were right. I think that one of the differences between this episodes' zombies and Sam and Dean, is that the brothers were really brought back to life with all human functions, when the zombies were more like reanimated corspes (with a consciousness) - their palor, the fact that they couldn't sleep, and, I suspect, couldn't eat either. I'm sure Bobby noticed those things.

I also liked Sherill Mills and Karen Singer - I liked how different they were portrayed.

PS: I completely forgot to thank you for you virtual gift! I was touched - I do enjoy speaking with you too. <3

[galathea-snb.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

Yes, there have definitely been differences between Sam and Dean, post-resurrection, and Karen and the other 'zombies'. However, Dean thought that Sam was wrong as well, and still he would have denied anybody who would have suggested to kill Sam on those grounds. Karen retained enough humanity to allow Bobby to emotionally connect to her as his wife, if she hadn't turned, would they have had the right to demand her death?

You're welcome. :)

[chiiyo86.livejournal.com]

Karen retained enough humanity to allow Bobby to emotionally connect to her as his wife, if she hadn't turned, would they have had the right to demand her death?

No, and I don't think they would have done it. If I remember well, they were adamant to kill her only after the first zombie had turned (though they talked about it). Before that, Sam was investigating and Dean was watching the house - he even ate pie alone with Karen and didn't do anything to her! If nothing had happened, I think they would have left her alone.

[galathea-snb.livejournal.com]

Heh, I am still undecided about that. In the diner, where they discuss what to do about the situation and Sam is hesitant to 'blow Karen's head of in front of Bobby', Dean is pretty determined, because he simply doesn't trust the peace. On the other hand he seems indecisive after talking to Karen and seeing how protective she is of Bobby. I am just not sure if he could ever have fully trusted her enough. Too bad she turned in the end, would have been interesting to see what happened. :)

[etoile444.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed the review. I do also worry that it is Bobby and Dean who are keeping Sam strong. We've seen Dean desparately praying and Bobby seeingly hpeless. That doesn't make for much strength to keep Sam afloat.

I agree that this was a personal episode with a good tie to the myth arc, oh and the humor was noticeably organic, no frat boy stupid humor and dumb expressions! Yay for that. Smart humor is what made Supernatural. The over the top stuff seems weak to me.

[galathea-snb.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :) Glad you enjoyed the review.

Well, in the end I wish for Sam to be strong enough to keep himself afloat. I mean, obviously both Sam and Dean take strength from each other, but I think that Sam really needs the experience that he can make it on his own, after he failed so badly in S4. :)

Oh yeah, the humour this season was so terrible. :( I am always so relieved when I actually do find jokes funny in this show.

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

Oh, you finished this already. Well done, you! I still haven't even touched mine.

We already talked all this through in depth, so you know I agree with everything you said. Strong episode; could have been stronger still with a little tweaking. You've written it all up rather beautifully.

[galathea-snb.livejournal.com]

Thanks, hon! *hug*

I am not quite satisfied with this review. I have this nagging feeling that I missed something rather important, but I don't know what. *grrh*

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

Oh, it'll hit you eventually - probably completely randomly during a re-watching session after the season has already ended! Until then, it reads as complete and comprehensive enough.

[galathea-snb.livejournal.com]

ROFL yeah probably. Reviews are never really finished, are they? /sigh

[novembersguest.livejournal.com]

Yes, I, too, was surprised when the show didn't connect the overall theme to the fact that both Sam and Dean have been dead and now are alive. Though, I do think there is a difference between the boys and Karen (they don't look dead, for one and they aren't zombies, for two)it was still such an obvious connection to make.

Also, I agree that Sam has been muddled and hard to read, especially the last two years. Honestly, I'm just so ready for the boys to re-connect on a level that will provide that two-way conversation again simply because I miss it. But I thought your comparison between Sam in this episode and Sam in season two was interesting. I hadn't thought of it and I hope it is a deliberate showing of the Sam we once knew.

I know he also did the same thing in Metamorphosis, but that felt different. That was clearly Sam fearing that he was turning into a monster, whereas the other two instances seem to be more of a moral standing. Very interesting, indeed.

And, also agree that Sheriff Mills and Karen were very well done. I was a little sorry to see them go.

[galathea-snb.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the connection was really so obvious that it is a mystery to me why they didn't point it out. Show used to love its anvils, after all. Of course there were differences between Sam and Dean and the 'zombies' in the episode, especially physically, but still, the emotional aspect was very similar.

I think I was possible to read Sam just fine last season, even if it took some effort, but really there have been so many missed opportunities with Sam's overall story, it makes me sad. And tell me about it, I am so, so tired of the tension, the figths, the trust issues. I just want them to work through it and make up already. I miss the closeness of their relationship so much, it used to be the heart of the show. Kripke promised a reconciliation between the brothers, but nothing of the sort happened so far. Sure, they work together and are civil around each other, but their emotional connection is still severely damaged. :(

Yes, I think there have been a few instances this season where the Sam of old made a re-appearance, and I am happy about that. His objections here definitely had no roots in identification with the monsters and seemed more motivated by emotional/moral concerns.

[erin-nikki.livejournal.com]

Once again, another great review. I really enjoyed this episode too, especially since I am a fan of zombie films and I thought they did a really great job with camera tricks. I agree about the appearance of Bobby's wife. I really wish they would have dyed her hair to match the 1st time Bobby's wife was shown in "Dream A Little Dream Of Me". I'm big on if you can't get the same actor to play the part, don't use the character so altho this new actress's performance was good it really annoyed me throughout the episode.

[galathea-snb.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Erin. :) I thought it was okay that they used a different actress, I mean, Karen's appearance in 3x10 was really short, so I wouldn't necessarily have recognised her features (if I wouldn't watch each episode a gazillion times that is *g*), but I was really disappointed that they didn't even make an effort with the most basic thing like hair colour, which could have easily been changed through a wig or dye.