Review for 5x01 'Sympathy For The Devil'

[galathea]

The S5 opener Sympathy For The Devil, by courtesy of Eric Kripke, was neither as emotional and character driven as In My Time Of Dying, nor as well structured and groundbreaking as Lazarus Rising, but it wasn’t a disaster like The Magnificent Seven either. Overall the believable character work outweighed annoyances with the mytharc development, failed attempts at humour and badly structured scenes and made it a mostly enjoyable watch. However, the episode did raise a couple of concerns about the direction of the character arcs this season, but it’s way too early to discern how much of that concern is misdirected, so I’ll try to remain positive.



Sympathy For The Devil predictably starts right where Lucifer Rising left off, with the brothers in the church, facing the rising of Lucifer and unable to leave the convent in time to get to safety. While I appreciated the sense of continuity between the S4 finale and the S5 premiere, I thought the teaser sequence as well as the first scene in Chuck’s house have been structured very awkwardly and felt extremely rushed. The jump from the convent, to the plane and back to the brothers in the car was completely disorientating, and even with the hindsight knowledge of divine intervention, the teaser doesn’t really feel less confusing. Similarly, while Dean banning Zachariah & Co in Chuck’s house was a nice scene, we have been with Sam and Dean from the moment they entered that house, so there was no time for Dean to draw that sigil on the door. The scene had no build-up and hence raised eyebrows, instead of having impact. So, the beginning of the episode left me more than underwhelmed, but from there on the structuring got considerably better, even if it wasn’t as smooth as in other episodes.

Sam: "What can I do?"
Dean: "Honestly? Nothing. I just don’t - I don’t think that we can ever be what we were, you know."

The brotherly dynamic in Sympathy For The Devil felt pitch perfect after the events of When The Levee Breaks and Lucifer Rising. I never expected Sam and Dean to simply go back to normal, and hoped for a realistic fall-out to the deterioration their relationship took in S4. Dean’s knee-jerk reaction to Sam’s hesitant attempts to reconnect with him by talking the underlying tension out, is to go with his usual denial of 'we just keep doing what we do, and things will fall into place sooner or later', but for once in his life he is not able to uphold this trusted coping mechanism. It’s very indicative of how deeply he is hurt and of the trust issues he harbours, but also shows a new level of maturity in Dean, because in the end he rather faces this problem head-on, instead of hiding behind his usual walls in order to spare Sam having to deal with the consequences of his actions.

Sam on the other hand has to take a taste of his own medicine, when Dean refuses his attempts to reconcile emotionally, something Sam did to Dean over and over again in the 2nd half of S4. It was especially telling that Dean allowed possessed!Bobby to lay into Sam without trying to protect his brother or even showing a visible emotional reaction to it. He wants Sam to hear it, because it reflects to a great part his own feelings, but he is unable to express that kind of cruel sentiment himself in that moment, after all, he does love his brother still. So, overall the brotherly power balance from S4 basically flipped again: In S4 it was Dean who was incapacitated by crippling guilt and self-loathing in the wake of his hell experience, while Sam took control for both of their sakes. Now Sam is struggling with the crushing blow to his confidence and self-identity, while Dean takes the wheel determined and confident. Dean already dealt with his own shortcomings and moved on, Sam still has that road in front of him.

By the way, I want to insert here that I really enjoyed how subtly Jensen and Jared underlined through their body language how much Sam and Dean were not okay, no matter how often they said otherwise or how 'normal' their interaction seemed at the surface. They kept a good distance between them most of the times, where they usually stand close together and at each others backs. The easiness in their physical interaction with each other was gone and their posture stiff and awkward. Dean’s struggle to rein in his feelings of resentment clearly showed in Jensen’s face and resonated in his voice throughout the episode, as did Sam’s unconvincing attempts to act normal in Jared’s expressions and subdued manner. The end scene was once again a brilliant display of how well these two actors play off each other. Kudos! They really broke my heart in this episode.

In any case, the last scene between the brothers was devastating and deeply revealing. It's the first time in this show that Dean isn't able to forgive his brother. Usually Dean can't hold a grudge against Sam if his life depended on it, but this time the hurt runs so deep that even Dean's life long instinct as the peacemaker of the family fails him and he can't cope immediately. I don't doubt for a second though, that his love for Sam will overcome the sense of betrayal that rules Dean's emotions at the moment. After all, that's what always defined their bond - the ability to prevail over all obstacles, internal as well as external. Dean’s resigned words 'We can never be what we were' are not as bleak as they seem though, because they have been unhealthily co-dependent and that got them - and the world - into this mess in the first place. So, maybe they can be something new, something better even. Maybe they can grow into a truly mature and equal partnership on the way to reconciliation. The love is there, and I believe the will is there as well, all they need is the time to get there.

That all being said, however, I will be extremely cross if this season heads towards a saint!Dean and beat-into-submission!Sam direction. Yes, Sam screwed-up. He trusted a demon and acted on misinformation, without questioning where it came from, inadvertently bringing on the apocalypse, but he isn’t the only one to blame for this mess, even if he himself feels that way at the moment. Sam, Dean and Castiel are all culpable for creating the current situation. It was Dean who willingly sold his soul, he set the wheel in motion and Sam back on his path. And Dean trusted Castiel in a crucial moment, although he knew that angels weren’t necessarily trustworthy, and Castiel promptly used that trust against him. Dean was lied to, manipulated and betrayed by Castiel, when he needed him most, and the fact that Dean simply doesn’t know that yet, makes it no less foolish than Sam trusting Ruby, when he was at his most vulnerable.

What remains is the hurt: Sam turning his back on Dean, calling him weak and mocking his pain, Sam lying and trying to kill his brother. This is personal and has nothing to do with Sam starting the apocalypse, this is about their familial bond, which was severely damaged in S4. Dean has every right not to trust Sam, to be resentful and angry with his brother at the moment. In fact, I think Dean needs to face these emotions and let them out, if he ever wants to be able to get past them. That doesn’t mean though that Sam wasn’t hurt by Dean last season as well, a hurt that was mainly rooted in the feeling of being rejected by Dean for what he is, or at least what he thought he is. Nobody is blameless here, and I want to see that addressed in some capacity. To make Sam the bad guy in all of this will simply not cut it, on the contrary, it will do the character’s suffering injustice and destroy the balance between the brothers' stories.

Dean: "What if we win? I’m serious! Screw the angels and the demons and their crap apocalypse. They want to fight a war, they can find their own planet."

Dean was an absolute joy to watch throughout the episode and it was visible how much he has grown as a person over these last couple of months. He faced his inner demons and found the will within himself to get up from the crushing blow hell delivered to his self-identity and he is stronger for it, that shows in his whole demeanour. He doesn’t allow either demons or angels to push him around anymore and meets them with the confidence and determination of an equal. It has always been visible in Dean that he would make an excellent leader, once he got over his insecurities and self-worth issues, and while I don’t think that those are gone and dealt with, he is on his way there.

He also grew emotionally. His inability to hide behind his usual defence mechanisms where Sam is concerned and his continuing honesty and openness about his feelings picture a man who became comfortable in expressing himself. The Dean from S1 came a long and painful way to get here, and my only complaint would be that while his recovery in between On The Head Of A Pin and Sympathy For The Devil was visible, it was never explicitly addressed by Dean at least once of twice. The intervention of It’s A Terrible Life just isn't enough in my opinion, and I would like to have a deeper insight into Dean’s head in that matter.

Anyway, Dean’s refusal to submit to Zachariah and his plans to use him as a vessel for the archangel Michael was fabulous and so very Dean. The angels lied to him and manipulated him into doing their bidding right from the start, thus undermining any trust Dean might have developed otherwise. He knows for a fact that Zachariah does not act on God’s behalf and is only interested in his little 'pissing contest' with Lucifer and the demons, disregarding Dean’s first priority, i.e. humanity, as a necessary casualty. Zachariah has no conscience and only serves his own goals, which would make it foolish for Dean to willingly give himself over into his power. He vowed obedience to the angels once, only to be betrayed on the first opportunity, and he is done being their puppet. Additionally, he has no means to know how trustworthy Michael is and unless the archangel himself is manipulated by Zachariah as well, there’s a good chance that he is every bit as cold and unconcerned with humanity. Dean would deliberately partake in the destruction of millions of lives. That’s an absolutely horrid option, for Dean especially, who dedicated his own life to the safety of others.

Also, how often have Sam and Dean been told now that there is no other way out of a predicament than the one suggested by an opposing party, and they defied the odds each and every time, with creativity and self-reliance. Dean’s insistence that he rather takes on both, angels and demons, than to allow them to control his fate, or that of humanity for that matter, is very in character for Dean. He always believed in choices and that there is no such thing as destiny or predetermination. Humans make their own fate and if they fail, they at least fail with their integrity intact. "I think the world is going to end bloody. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t fight. We do have choices. I choose to go down swinging," Dean stated back in Jus In Bello. I think that sums it up pretty nicely.

Sam: "I’m fine. No shakes. No fever. It’s like whoever put me on that plane, cleaned me right up."

I have to express one of my biggest concerns with this episode here, namely the way the writers seem to be willing to cheat out of Sam’s blood addiction/powers storyline. I am not quite sure what to make of that yet, at least not until I see how this all will play out. I hope that the writers simply didn’t want to deal with yet another inconvenient detox episode and took a short-cut for that specific problem by cleansing Sam through divine intervention, but that they will still deal with Sam’s addiction in general, showing his struggle to resist the temptation to start 'using' again. The detox cop-out in itself is frustrating enough, especially since it could have been done as a simple b-plot for Sam, but it would be unforgivable if the complete storyline is dropped after it was the main driving factor for the character in S4.

We also have no answer to what happened to Sam’s real powers, why his eyes turned black or if he is permanently changed in some capacity, as he stated in Lucifer Rising. Meg’s mocking statement that Sam seems to have a hard time defending himself without his powers suggests that Ruby’s claim that Sam blew his payload on Lilith meant indeed that he exhausted his powers completely. It doesn’t make any sense to me though that Sam’s powers are simply depleted now, because they are a part of him, physically. "I have demon blood in me. This disease pumping through my veins and I can’t ever rip it out or scrub it clean," Sam stated back in Metamorphosis. He can choose not to use his powers, but he should be stuck with them, for better or for worse. If Sam’s powers are dormant/exhausted/inaccessible now, I want at least a reasonable, more detailed explanation for that given in canon, otherwise we would have yet another storyline for a main character simply fizzling out in a dissatisfactory manner.

I admit, slowly but surely I can’t help the feeling that the writers have no idea anymore, how to handle all the different plot strands they keep piling up, if the way they keep failing to effectively follow-through with storylines they built up for better parts of whole seasons is any indication. It’s not that it never happened in earlier seasons before, but the scale is increasing from season to season. In S1/2 it was 'only' the fall-out to single episodes that was swept under the rug, but by S4/5 it’s whole overarching themes that seem to get the short-cut, simply because dealing with them properly takes time and hence stands in the way of fast forward movement. I think it is a serious decrease in the standards this show used to have when it comes to details and coherent story-telling.

Okay, sorry for the rant, moving on now! :)

Sam: "What can I even say? I’m sorry? I screwed-up? Doesn’t really do it justice, you know. Look, there is nothing that I can do or say to ever make this right again..."

Where Dean is the poster boy for confidence and self-determination, Sam’s frame of mind is the complete opposite. He hits the same low point of self-loathing and crushing self-doubt that Dean hit at the end of On The Head Of A Pin, only that it’s unlikely that he will be granted angelic interference to restore his spirit and make him trust in his own judgement again. He will have to work hard for it and in the meanwhile he will need to face the consequences his actions had on his relationship with his brother. For once he cannot count on Dean to catch his fall and that is painful for Sam, but on the other hand I think this is a unique chance for Sam to actually achieve the self-reliance he always craved.

I always admired Sam’s need for independence and while he might have achieved it on the surface when he followed his dreams to Stanford, I think he never actually achieved a healthy emotional independence from Dean (which obviously is true the other way round as well). Now, facing his problems on his own, because he managed to alienate his brother for the first time in his life, he needs to find the strength to overcome his shortcomings within himself. He can’t rely on big brother to fix this for him, and I have no doubt that Sam is just as capable as Dean has been in facing his inner demons and move on from the pit of despair and self-loathing. He, too, will come out of this a stronger and better man, which will in return build the basis for a new trust between him and his brother. Or well, at least that’s my hope for his character arc anyway.

Right at this moment though, Sam is completely beat down. His attempt at normalcy, which Dean offers to him in the beginning of the episode, fails miserably and the cracks show in his demeanour at every turn. He also shows the first signs of trying to turn his life around: He is reaching out to Dean, if only hesitantly, and for the first time in a long while he also finds relief in telling the truth out of his own volition, as his need to fill Bobby in on his true involvement in Lucifer's escape - without trying to make any excuses for himself - clearly shows. There is no doubt that Sam is fully aware of the extent of his fall, the way he not only betrayed his brotherly bond with Dean, but also his own principles and values, when he allowed Ruby to control him in a moment of weakness.

He started out with the best of intentions, so where did he go so horribly wrong? And how can he go on with the knowledge that he brought on the end of the world? The weight of this burden must be crushing, so when possessed!Bobby starts to take him apart, he bears it without protest, because he feels he deserves all that and more. I think that’s why it was extremely important for Sam to receive Bobby’s absolution in the end. He screwed-up, but he is not a bad person or deserves to be condemned. In my opinion Bobby’s forgiveness was Sam’s equivalent of Dean’s moment of angelic intervention in It’s A Terrible Life, a moment of peace and grace within his despair that will allow him to start rebuilding himself. ♥

Bobby: "I ain’t cutting you out boy. Not ever."

Let me say upfront that I find it highly unbelievable that the demon expert and near paranoid Bobby, who provided Sam and Dean with possession protection amulets in the first place, wouldn’t have the same kind of protection for himself in place, especially after he killed his wife because of a demonic possession. I just can’t see him let that happen, ever. So, I had to get over my initial disbelief in the matter, but apart from that consistency problem, his characterisation was wonderful: Bobby’s steadfast love for Sam, his loyal support for Dean and his optimism and will to go on fighting, in the face of his own (possibly irreversible) fate of being crippled by the angels, was marvellous. ♥

I knew that Bobby was possessed from the moment he started to rip into Sam and disowned him. Bobby can be harsh, he can be brutally honest or even take the position of a devil’s advocate, but he isn’t cruel or contemptuous, and he certainly wouldn’t kick someone who is already down, especially not these boys, who he loves like his own sons. His sudden agreement with John’s 'save him or kill him' dogma didn’t ring true either, especially after he begged Dean to try again to reconnect with his brother and to not act like John, where Sam is concerned, only days before in Lucifer Rising. So, I didn’t think that this is the genuine Bobby for a second and if, against all odds, it had been genuine, I would have been really disappointed with this scene. Anyway, the reveal of Bobby’s possession was a nice call-back to possessed!John in Devil’s Trap, not only because both times the demons used Dean’s father figure to get close to the Winchesters, but also because both times said father figure loved Dean fiercely enough to fight off the demonic possession in order to spare Dean further harm. In Bobby’s case even at the risk of his own life. ♥

As a side-note: I always speculated that Sam wasn’t able to fight off Meg’s possession in Born Under A Bad Sign - when she was torturing Dean in particular - simply because he wasn’t awake at the time and not because he was too weak. Sam’s genuine confusion after Meg was exorcised and his conversation with Dean in the aftermath of the possession indicate that he had no clue what Meg did to Dean. He only remembered killing Steve Wandell and attacking Jo. So, Meg’s statement here that Bobby was kept deliberately awake in his body in order to make him suffer, seems to lend more credence to my theory. The fact that he was conscious obviously allowed Bobby to fight back, and we know that John, too, was awake during the YED possession. When Meg possessed Sam, she wanted to hurt Dean specifically, and she had no particular interest in keeping Sam awake when she tortured his brother. The YED and Meg in her new incarnation though, wanted to see John, respectively Bobby, suffer, when they used them to attack Dean, consequentially, they kept them conscious and by doing so, they thwarted their own efforts.

One of the highlights of the episode for me was clearly Bobby offering forgiveness to Sam and making sure that Sam has no doubt whatsoever that he will always be loved, no matter what. ♥ Bobby killed his own wife in an horrible moment of misjudgement, and I think that experience taught him that sometimes people need absolution, even if they themselves think they don’t deserve it. Bobby’s gentleness and Sam’s tearful gratitude were absolutely heart-warming! ♥ I loved especially though that Dean listened to Bobby intently as well. I think he realised in that moment, that he isn’t ready to bestow that kind of absolution on his brother himself. He isn’t anywhere near in the frame of mind to forgive Sam, understandably so, but I think nonetheless that he needed to see that moment of peace between these two people he loves. Forgiveness is possible, even if he doesn’t believe it at the moment.

In any way, it will be extremely interesting to see where they take Bobby with this plotline. Incapacitated he won’t be able to assist the brothers in his usual fashion, robbing them of one of their most valuable allies. He will be limited to providing the boys with information, but his active days are over, at least for now and that in itself could prove to be a psychological breaking point to an energetic and hard-working man like Bobby.

Castiel: "It scares you. Well, it should! Now put these boys back together and go. I won’t ask twice."

It’s no secret that I am not the biggest Castiel fan, but I think his appearance in Sympathy For The Devil was fabulous! His scene was short, but incredibly poignant. The Castiel we meet in this episode is the exact opposite from his subdued self, full of doubt and torn loyalties, in Lucifer Rising. He is a determined warrior of the Lord with a righteous wrath and blazing faith shining through in every of his actions. Something happened to Castiel after he died, and it’s at least heavily implied that God himself resurrected him and set him on his path again to do His work. And I loved it! ♥ I loved that God intervened and put his trust in his faithful warrior and two overwhelmed and severely damaged humans. By the way, I have to say that God seems to have sense of humour by putting flight-phobic Dean on a plane in order to get him out of harms way. *g* I also enjoyed very much that Castiel without hesitation included Sam in his protective stance, because it implicates that God looks with mercy and free of judgment onto Sam.

That said, I still want Castiel to take responsibility for his own culpability in setting Lucifer free and admit to Dean that he betrayed him. Their current friendship and the trust between them is based on a lie by omission at the moment, and I think that both characters deserve better. It would also go a long way in taking some of the burdens from Sam’s shoulders, because he didn’t know that Lilith was the last seal, Castiel though did and helped Zachariah along despite his better knowledge.

Zachariah: "You’re just a human, Dean. You’re Michael’s weapon or rather his - receptacle."

I enjoyed Zachariah as an open adversary in Sympathy For The Devil a lot more than as a questionable ally with an attitude. His barely concealed contempt towards humans, which isn’t far off from Uriel’s 'mud monkeys', shone through last season as well, but I loved that he dropped all pretence now and revealed his true nature openly, and that means his complete disrespect for Dean as a person as well. The time of pep-talks is over. He never really got Dean, his motivations or even his simple desires, hence he continuously underestimates Dean’s strengths. He simply doesn’t expect rebellion from an inferior human. His mean-spirited attempts to bully Dean into obeying him were pretty funny though, because what did he expect? That Dean keels over, because of an empty threat to kill him, although he just before stated that they need him alive? C’mon, the guy withstood 30 years of torture at the hands of an expert torturer. Nothing Zachariah can do to him is likely to make him give in. More surprising though was Dean's refusal to budge, even when the angel threatened his family, Sam and Bobby. Too often the bad guys took advantage of Dean's willingness to sacrifice for those he loves, but Dean truly learned his lesson by now. Zachariah met his match in Dean, and I enjoyed the power shift between the two characters immensely.

One of the biggest problems I had with the episode is the new reveal that Dean is destined to be the vessel of the archangel Michael, because once again, that doesn’t really track well with the angel mythology in S4. Firstly, Castiel explained in On The Head Of A Pin that the righteous man who begins it, is the only one who can finish it! Now we learn the he achieves that very task by serving as a vessel for Michael. In The Rapture it became clear that only people with a rare genetic set-up can actually function as angel vessels, people with a special characteristic in their blood, which is hereditary. Hence, the righteous man who breaks the first seal, also has to have that rare characteristic in his blood. I mean, how likely is that scenario? While that would explain at least why no righteous soul in hell ever broke the first seal before, it’s incredibly annoying that the 'first seal' prophecy suddenly comes with a fine print, that was never mentioned before. So, what comes next, that John was the one who passed that special blood down to his son and that it was in their bloodline ever since the beginning? Please, just no!

Secondly, in Lazarus Rising Castiel stated that only very special, chosen people can endure the true voice and visage of an angel, and it’s established that Dean wasn’t one of them. As a contrast: Jimmy was chosen and able to communicate with Castiel after one failed attempt. So, what? Dean is special enough to be the mighty Michael’s vessel, but not that tiny bit special enough to actually communicate with said angel? How would he be able to give consent then? Jimmy gave his consent to Castiel directly, while Dean needs a mediator like Zachariah? The gaping illogical differences between Jimmy and Dean as chosen angel vessels are extremely frustrating. As a side note: It’s also unclear to me why Zachariah points out that the demons could have grabbed Dean, the sword, any time they wanted. I mean, what possible use could the demons have for Dean, other than killing him, which they try to do anyway, sword or not! Zachariah’s little monologue was really irritating.

Also, another detail that chafed with established angel lore is Zachariah’s statement that it is a rule that every angel needs a vessel, hence so does Lucifer, but we know that Castiel didn’t even consider that he would need a vessel, when he approached Dean in Lazarus Rising. So, not a well-known rule then, huh? Not to mention the tiny fact that Anna, and obviously the post-resurrection Castiel too, actually got a human body created out of thin air, so that 'rule' is obviously not binding. I feel that the only reason why this rule was suddenly added is to explain why Lucifer, who hated humans and rather fell from God's grace than bow to the inferior creature, would even need to take a human vessel in the first place. I mean, I figure Lucifer would despise to be bound to the very creature that was the cause for his estrangement from God. So, this rule of 'every angel needs a vessel' was retroactively added, although it doesn't really track back well.

I am sorry to say that, but it seems to me that the mytharc gets messier with every episode. It looks all fancy and shiny on the outside, but it doesn’t stand up to close scrutiny. They get very sloppy in the details and the consistency is sketchy at best. Once I hoped that Supernatural would fare better than the X-Files, when it comes to the mytharc, but at the moment I don’t think that’s still an option.

What else was noteworthy:

(1) The worst 'head-desk'-moment in this episode was clearly the insertion of Becky, the wincest fangirl, into the story. That plot trope had its time and place in The Monster At The End Of This Book, where it was played reasonably well, but it had no place whatsoever in Sympathy For The Devil. In fact, it completely undermined the gravity of the episode in that moment and abruptly pulled the viewer out of the ongoing story. The scene was badly written, with cringe-worthy dialogue and not funny at all. I really wished they would stop to force self-referential fandom 'jokes' in such a blatant fashion, especially if it’s outside an episode setting that allows for such shenanigans. I really miss the days of episodes like Nightshifter where jabs at fandom where played in a wonderfully subtle and humorous manner, i.e. Sherri, the Dean girl.

(2) And talking about undermining the gravity of the story: It always chafes if the death of a character is played with a comedic undercurrent in a scene, because not only does it make the surviving characters look unsympathetic, but it also undercuts a genuine reaction of the audience. It frustrated me in Mystery Spot with the string of funny Dean deaths, and it felt wrong with Castiel in Sympathy For The Devil as well. Chuck’s facial expressions clearly conveyed shock at Castiel’s demise, but his scenes were written humorously, and that contrast subverted the emotional impact of the information that Castiel had died in his attempt to protect Sam and Dean. I get that the writers want to lighten up the dark atmosphere of the show, but they should still try to respect the story they want to tell, by allowing grave events to have an appropriate setting.

(3) What happened to Meg’s powers? In Born Under A Bad Sign she demonstrated that she gathered enough strength to break a devil’s trap from within, and she had no problem whatsoever to telekinetically throw Bobby through the room and pin Dean to the wall. Why would she suddenly engage in a lame fist fight without getting the chaos in the room under control with her demonic powers first? Other than that, I thought Rachel Miner did good job, not particularly brilliant, but not bad either. I think it was mostly her soft voice which made it a bit difficult for me to associate her with Nicki Aycox’s Meg, who had a very distinct voice and precise intonation, but the dialogue for Meg was spot on.

(4) I have to say that I was positively surprised at how much I actually enjoyed the subplot around Lucifer’s vessel Nick, whom I found a lot more engaging than Jimmy in The Rapture. I also thought the storyline was wonderfully creepy. The psychological torture Lucifer used on Nick, in order to make him more susceptible for his offer, was chilling and it really made for a fabulous contrast between the cruelty expressed in these manipulations and his soft-spoken manner, when he finally approached Nick personally. I am really looking forward to see how this plot strand is further explored in the show, and I didn’t expect that.

(5) Last but not least: Like every year, we have a new title card, blood exploding over a white surface with the sound of a fast heartbeat in the background. Not my favourite of the title cards, but effective nonetheless. Blood is a constant in this show ever since the Pilot. It always all comes back to blood, literally as well as figuratively, and that it so prominently featured in the titles this season, gives reason to believe that this motif will play an even more important role this season than usual.

In conclusion: Overall Sympathy For The Devil had a lot of structural and narrative weaknesses and the mytharc is a mess, but at least the characters were spot on, and that’s what I care about the most anyway. The episode actually made me crave more of S5, just to see how the character dynamics will play out and that’s a good start for me, as I was pretty apprehensive about the season until today. :)

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Did you know? In the scene where Zachariah threatens Sam's life in order to get Dean to say yes to Michael, Jared pulled one of his silly pranks on Kurt Fuller. While the camera zoomed in on the stand-off between Dean and Zachariah, Jared - who was on the floor at Fuller's feet and hence off camera - stuck the nozzle of a compressed air can up Fuller's pants leg, blasting him with air.