Review for 5x13 'The Song Remains The Same'

[galathea]

Sorry, I'm late to the party. I don't really have any excuses, other than the fact that I had troubles to focus on writing these last couple of days. :)

So, just when I was about to write S5 off, the show sends the unexpected gift of The Song Remains The Same our way, and I am immensely grateful to see that the writers remembered how to do it right. The episode was chock-full of Winchester goodness and successfully managed to achieve the rare combination of mytharc driven plot with in depth character exploration. The excellent script by Sera Gamble and Nancy Weiner, combined with outstanding acting and an atmospheric setting, made for great forty minutes of television. Of course The Song Remains The Same raised the bar on the episodes that follow considerably. I just hope the team can keep this level of quality up for the rest of the season.



I guess, considering the track record of S5, it shouldn’t really surprise me that there was almost no character continuity in between Swap Meat and The Song Remains The Same, which just serves to emphasise that the last episode felt weirdly out of order and really should have come earlier in the season. Last week’s odd relapse of the brothers’ relationship into a more distanced and disillusioned state – although they had been growing back together for a while now, however tentatively – seemed to be forgotten this week, but to be honest, I couldn’t bring myself to care. That’s mostly owed to the fact that Show instead returned Sam'n'Dean, the dynamic duo, to the screen, and I missed those two like something fierce. It’s the first time in a very long while that there wasn’t a single off-key note or lingering tension between Sam and Dean, instead they felt almost as close and united in their quest as they had been pre-S4, and for that alone I can’t really mourn a lack of continuity. I’ve accepted that I’ll never get out of this season what I wanted, but I am determined to make the most of what we get.

Anyway, I’m incredibly happy that – unlike in In The Beginning – Sam was part of the time-travel adventure this time, because it allowed for an abundance of great little Sam and Dean moments. Taken together, all of those little moments not only made for a really strong partnership, as the brothers played to each other’s strengths and compensated for each other’s weaknesses, but also conveyed a renewed closeness between them, like for example, Dean promptly reassuring Sam whenever his little brother shows signs of insecurity or doubt. Or Sam instantly seeking eye contact when he is mortally wounded, while Dean is desperately calling out to him. Or Dean not even sparing Michael a glance, simply ordering him to fix Sam. Or their shared drink and thoughtful conversation at the end, which was especially poignant, because just last episode Dean mourned the fact that he and Sam don’t drink together anymore. It was just brotherly goodness all around. I think that in sharing this experience with the one person who is able to relate to the overwhelming emotional impact of that experience, their bond as brothers was strengthened. For a very short time they were a whole family, granted, a very unconventional one, but a family nonetheless, and in rediscovering the meaning of family, Sam and Dean found a way back to their former closeness. ♥ I really hope that from here on their relationship is truly on the mend.

John: "Your father was supposed to protect you."
Sam: "He was trying. He died trying. I used to be mad at him. I used to hate the guy, but now I get it. He was just doing the best he could. My dad died before I got to tell him that I understand why he did what he did. And I forgive him for what it did to us, I do. I love him."

The scene where Sam meets young John and Mary for the first time was truly heart wrenching. He is so choked up that he is unable to act naturally around them, staring at Mary in silent adoration and gripping John’s hand like he never wants to let go. Admittedly, I really wanted to see more interaction between Sam and Mary, but I think his confrontation with John was more important for Sam’s development. Sam has never met Mary, so he has nothing to compare her to and can simply accept her as she is, but he is now confronted with a version of John, who is nothing like the father he resented for so long, and more like Sam’s own innocent younger self, and that unsettling realisation shakes something loose in Sam. In a roundabout way John apologises to Sam by condemning his own future actions, and that allows Sam to take a step back and express his understanding and forgiveness in return, and given their rocky history that’s a huge step forward for Sam.

"I’m sorry the last time I was with him, I tried to pick a fight. I’m sorry I spent most of my life angry at him. For all I know he died, thinking that I hate him," Sam confessed to Dean back in Everybody Loves A Clown. He struggled with the guilt he felt towards John for a long time – even channelling it into a misdirected sense of belated obedience to John – but over the years he slowly tried to come to terms with his father’s actions. While losing Jessica made Sam more sympathetic to John’s plight and allowed him to re-evaluate his opinion on his father back in S1, it was the mind numbing grief and insanity that followed losing Dean, which truly opened Sam’s eyes to why John went off the rails after Mary’s death. Just like losing Mary shattered John, Sam didn’t come back from Dean’s death either, and as a result he made the same dark turn in personality – revenge driven, single-minded, secretive, controlling, just as unable to emotionally connect to his brother, as John was unable to connect to his sons. By the time Jump The Shark came around, Sam had basically reversed his initial negative position on John’s drill regime and enforced it on his younger brother Adam, like John had enforced it on him. Ultimately, Sam lost any and all perspective on his own actions in pursuit of his chosen course, just like John did before him.

So, it's all the more important that meeting young John not only allowed Sam to unburden himself of all the unresolved feelings of guilt and anger towards his father, but also gave him a starting point to make peace with himself. Sam's forgiveness comes from a place of self-awareness. He walked in John’s shoes for a while and for the first time in his life truly understands John’s choices and from that understanding grew acceptance and ultimately forgiveness. "I forgive him what it did to us," states Sam. He doesn’t make any excuses for John, he doesn’t diminish the pain John caused – and by extension Sam admits the same of himself and the pain he caused Dean – but he is now ready to forgive his father, as I hope he will be able forgive himself one day. Moreover, there has been a lot of anger tied to Sam’s resentment of John and maybe by making his peace with his father, Sam is able to let go of at least some of that rage inside him. In forgiving John, Sam finally outgrows his inner rebellious teenager and demonstrates exactly the kind of maturity and character growth that I wanted to see for him this season. ♥

It’s funny, really. I never even knew that I wanted a reconciliation scene between young John and Sam – I was so excited that Sam would finally meet Mary – until it was on my screen, and now I can’t really imagine the show without one. It’s no secret that I heavily resent John and his (questionable) parenting methods, but I can’t begrudge Sam finally finding closure for that chapter of his life, at least that’s one less burden for him to bear.

Mary: "I raised my kids to be hunters?"
Dean: "No, you didn’t do it, because you’re dead. The yellow eyed demon. He killed you. And John became a hunter to get revenge. He raised us in this life."

Dean was more composed at meeting young John and Mary than Sam, unsurprisingly so, after all he already went through that experience once. Still, it's obvious just how deeply the encounter moves him. As usual, it’s Dean’s interaction with Mary that is especially heartbreaking. Once Dean realises that Mary will only fully trust them if he tells her the truth, the dam breaks and und his unconditional love for the woman in front of him pours out. Dean sharing the few precious memories he has of his mother - that she made him tomato-rice soup when he was sick or would sing him Hey Jude as a lullaby - with her younger self is a truly touching moment. It’s tragic that Mary has to realise that the one thing she never wanted, namely her children to be raised as hunters, will come to pass, no matter the choices she makes. Even if she didn’t raise them herself, she is still indirectly responsible.

Anyway, just like in In The Beginning Dean’s immediate reaction is to try and change the course of their family history by explicitly telling Mary to take Sam and run on the 2nd of November, 1983. Dean knows from his previous experience that the past cannot be changed, but he has to try anyway, because it is in his nature to believe that he can control his destiny, no matter if he is in 1978 or 2010 or 2014. And, bless him, it’s so very Dean that he doesn’t spare a single thought of how it would affect John or his own four year old self, if his mother and little brother would suddenly vanish from their lives without a trace, the only thing that matters to him is that Mary and Sam would be safe. ♥ Of course Sam is right, it wouldn’t really matter, because the YED proved more than once that he can find them wherever they are, and Mary’s escape would only delay the inevitable. No, the only 'reasonable' solution is to prevent that they will ever be born and hence would never break the seals in the first place.

And it’s mind-blowing how fast Dean is on the same page, once he realises what Sam is suggesting. "There is a big difference between dying and never being born, and trust me, we’re okay with that." Sam and Dean know for a fact that death is not the end, that the afterlife is a reality they can never escape. In Roadkill Sam still clung to the hope that souls can find peace and go to a better place, but since then they have seen the ugly faces of 'the other side' and were robbed of the illusion that death is anything other than a transition to more pain. Dean experienced the horror of hell first hand and heaven holds no peaceful prospect for them either, now that they have learned about corrupted angels, absent gods and heavenly torture. Dean already rejected heaven once, namely in Lucifer Rising, and the thought of returning to hell is unbearable to him, so unsurprisingly never being born is infinitely better than death, for either of them really. It’s tragic to see the brothers so accepting, excited even, at the thought of their own non-existence, firm in their belief that it would not only save the world, but that it is also the only way they might ever find rest.

Castiel: "The answer is still no, because Sam is my friend."

Admittedly, I find myself frustrated at the fact that the lack of consistent storytelling over the last eight episodes reverberates so strongly throughout the season and negatively impacts episodes like Abandon All Hope or The Song Remains The Same. Castiel’s relationship with Sam is another instance where the show neglected to tell a story this season. I mean, when Castiel stated to Anna that Sam is his friend, I really couldn’t help but wonder 'When did that happen?' Now, when S5 started, I really wanted to see a more balanced relationship between Castiel and the brothers, one that included Sam in the tentative alliance and friendship Dean and Castiel had formed. However, the only time dedicated to a direct interaction between Sam and Castiel this season was their fight in I Believe The Children Are Our Future, where neither Castiel nor Sam were very impressed with the other. Sam’s loss of faith and Castiel’s disapproval of Sam’s choices negatively reflected back on their relationship, and while they had accepted each other as allies in a war – not least because of Dean as their common denominator – genuine friendship didn’t seem to be in the cards at that time. In the weeks that followed Castiel worked side by side with the brothers on several occasions and it stands to reason that the angel learned to value Sam as a friend in his own right during that time, but I really would have liked to actually see that happen, instead of just being told so by Castiel.

That all being said, however, I really loved to see Castiel’s resolved stance towards Anna’s suggestion to end the threat of the apocalypse by eliminating Sam from the equation. It’s obvious that Castiel does see merits in Anna’s plan – not only during his conversation with her, but also later when he (unconvincingly) tries to reassure Sam that Anna is wrong – but Castiel betrayed the brothers before, and he paid a high price for that betrayal, because if he had chosen the right side earlier, they might have had a chance to prevent Lucifer from rising. So, Castiel demonstrates here that he has truly learned his lesson. He has chosen to be a part of a team again, and even if it is a very different team in comparison to his former angelic garrison, Castiel knows that loyalty and trust are essential factors for the effectiveness of a team. The fact that Castiel is also willing to bend to Sam and Dean’s wishes and take them back in time at great personal risk to his own well-being, underlines his emotional investment in their little group as well.

Last but not least, I was pleasantly surprised that, for the first time, Castiel openly acknowledged part of his own misguided actions in the days before Lucifer was set free – at least where Anna was concerned – and showed regret at the fact that it took him too long to see the error of Zachariah’s ways. It conveys that on some level Castiel is aware of his own short-comings, even if he isn’t quite willing to openly discuss them with Sam and Dean. While Anna’s reveal to Dean that Castiel betrayed her was unlikely to cast a shadow on the firmly established alliance between the angel and the Winchesters, it would still be interesting to see how Sam and Dean would react to the more personal betrayal of Castiel setting Sam free from the panic room. I really wished the show would finally address that issue, because it is really the one thing that still makes it difficult for me to fully warm up to Castiel as part of the team.

Michael: "Think of the million random choices that you make and yet how each and every one of them brings you closer to your destiny. Do you know why that is? Because it’s not random. It’s not chance. It’s a plan that is playing itself out perfectly. Free will is an illusion, Dean. That’s why you’re going to say yes."

The appearance of the long-awaited archangel Michael in The Song Remains The Same came as a pleasant surprise, and I am happy that for once I wasn’t spoiled for that twist in the tale. My first impression of the ever elusive angel was 'Yep, he’s Lucifer’s brother, alright' – charming, eloquent, deceptively congenial, and yet with an underlying arrogance and coldness that belies his outward benevolent appearance. The cruel way he eliminates his sister Anna doesn’t speak of a compassionate nature, neither does the fact that he emphasises how much he still loves his brother Lucifer, while stating in the same breath that he is going to kill him. Furthermore, just like Lucifer deliberately tried to set himself up as a mirror to Sam, Michael tries to set himself up as a mirror to Dean. He heavily appeals to Dean’s sense of family and duty, stresses the parallels between himself and Dean and generally tries everything to undermine Dean’s sense of self-determination. Just like his brother, Michael comes off as a master manipulator, and in order to bend Dean to his will, he pulls out all the stops.

It’s interesting to note here, that Michael doesn’t use Sam’s death as leverage to force Dean’s consent right there and then. Michael wants this confrontation with Lucifer for personal reasons, that much is clear, and he also believes that their confrontation will play out according to a divine plan, so he needs Sam to resume his place in the present. It has to be said though, that Michael’s little speech about predestination and the illusion of free will was indeed compelling, because it didn’t contradict the notion of choice in itself, it only contradicted the notion that said choices have meaning. All roads lead to the same destination and all that. However, I think that Lucifer and Michael wouldn’t try so hard to convince Sam and Dean that their choices don’t matter, if their choices would truly be meaningless. Because if the angels are right and whatever Sam and Dean's choices, they will always lead to the same endresult, why bother with the self-advertising campaigns? No, it’s more likely that Sam and Dean’s greatest power lies in fact in their ability to make choices, to execute their free will, and I really hope that this will be the message at the end of this season.

Anyway, it’s great to see that just like Dean didn’t buy into Lucifer’s attempt to convince him of the inevitability of fate in The End, he doesn’t buy into Michael’s persuasion tactic here either. "I got to believe that I can choose what I do with my unimportant little life." As mentioned before, it’s one of Dean’s most consistent character traits that he doesn’t believe in destiny. It’s one of his most fundamental convictions, the belief that he has the ultimate control over his life, and no amount of cajoling will ever convince him otherwise. However, assuming there was a situation where saying yes to Michael seems to be the more desirable choice, would Dean say no simply to disapprove fate?

One last thought: Lately I started to wonder if the end goal – and by that I mean Kripke’s plan – is in fact to reconcile Lucifer and Michael, instead of the one killing/banning the other. The show plays pretty heavily on family motifs for the heavenly host and on the parallels between Lucifer-Michael and Sam-Dean in particular, and it wouldn’t be entirely surprising if the parallels would extend to the overarching theme of the season, i.e. the rebuild of the relationship between brothers. So far the antagonism between the one pair only fuelled the bond between the other, and I think it would be interesting if it would work the other way around as well, if the love between Sam and Dean would positively reflect back on Lucifer and Michael and allow them to overcome their millennia old conflict. It would certainly be an unconventional direction to take for a resolution of the apocalypse, but one that would fit the message of the show quite well, I think. Well, it’s a theory, only time will tell I guess.

Anna: "Sam Winchester has to die. Sam is the only vessel that matters. You know what that means. If Lucifer can’t take Sam, his whole plan short-circuits."

Okay, let me speculate a bit about vessels here. A while back I had a theory about the vessel mythology and how it could possibly tie into the 'psychic kids' storyline, and Michael’s speech brought that theory to my mind again. We know that every angel has one true vessel, but that there are other, less perfect vessels for them as well. We also know that Lucifer and Michael are the ultimate antagonistic angelic pair. Michael’s reveal that John’s bloodline carries the vessel capacity implicates that Sam, too, was a Michael vessel when he was born. However, it stands to reason that when he was infused with Azazel's demon blood, he flipped to the opposite, i.e. into a Lucifer vessel. Furthermore, if we assume that all the other psychic kids Azazel created also came from Michael vessel bloodlines, he switched them all into Lucifer vessels by infusing them with his blood. As a result Michael vessels would become incredibly rare – which would explain why he didn’t take a vessel yet in order to contact Dean – and give Lucifer a huge advantage over Michael. By the way, Nick, Lucifer’s current vessel, is obviously too old to be one of Azazel’s kids, though we can just assume that he is a 'natural' Lucifer vessel, rather than a turned Michael one.

Now, unfortunately the show neglected to clarify so far why exactly Sam and Dean are the true Lucifer and Michael vessels. Is John’s bloodline in itself the one true vessel-line, so that the brothers were born as the true vessels? Or is it the fact that Dean and Sam broke the first and last seal, respectively, which 'upgraded' them from normal vessels to the true ones? The fact that the angels believe that it always had to be Sam and Dean, specifically, seems to point to the first, but the first seal prophecy – the righteous man who begins it, is the only one who can finish it – as well as the YEDs 'psychic kids' plan, would strongly suggest the latter, because they postulate a causal link between the breaking of the seals and Michael and Lucifer’s vessel, respectively. Of course it is possible to combine these two strands by stating that only descendants of the true bloodline were ever destined to break the seals, and that Azazel and Lucifer didn’t know which Michael/Lucifer bloodline was the true one, so they just targeted all of them, trusting that the true vessel line would reveal itself in the process.

In any case, if John’s bloodline is the one true vessel-line and both Lucifer and Michael depend on true vessels in order to confront each other, Anna’s plan to wipe John’s bloodline out, would indeed have prevented the apocalypse. It would support the theory that Anna acted on her own, rather than on behalf of Zachariah, and that her motives were genuine, that she acted out of concern for the world, even if it left her with the tough choice to sacrifice Sam. However, if the true vessels are created by breaking the seals, no matter the original bloodline, preventing Sam and Dean from being born would achieve absolutely nothing, as the demons and angels would simply be able to manipulate two different carriers of Michael and Lucifer vessel-lines into breaking the seals. I really wished the show would clarify all the details on the vessel mythology, especially since I’d really like to see the YED’s masterplan tied to it in some believable capacity. Overall I fear though that by now the mythology became too convoluted to withstand close scrutiny of all details.

Dean: "This is it."
Sam: "This is what?"
Dean: "Team Free Will. One ex-blood junkie, one drop-out with 6 bucks to his name and Mister Comatose over there."

So, will Sam and Dean say yes? Sam makes a good point when he asks Dean what he would have done, if he could have saved Mary by saying yes to Michael. In the past their will to sacrifice for each other has always played into their enemies’ hands, and it is not unthinkable that, despite their resistance, Lucifer or Michael catch them in a vulnerable moment. As a side note: I love that Sam has no problem to admit here that he has been weak before, which conveys that he is completely aware that the feeling of power and control he experienced last season was an illusion. 'Weak' is not an attribute Sam likes to associate with himself, so his use of this particular adjective stood out to me. Anyway, Dean also makes a good argument when he points out that for John the situation was different than for either of them. If they say yes, they not only put the whole world at stake, chances also are that only one of them walks away alive, with his brother’s blood on his hands. So, I think the notion that Sam can save Dean by saying yes, or vice versa, would be a tough sell for either Lucifer or Michael, after all, they are intent on killing each other at the moment. I am really curious how the writers weasel their way out of this one.

What else was noteworthy:

(1) I thought the end scene – Mary soothing an unborn Dean by telling him that angels are watching over him – was extremely chilling and managed to retroactively put that sweet line associated with Mary into a very disturbing context. We know that Mary didn’t believe in angels before the events of The Song Remains The Same, so I see two possible interpretations for that scene: a) Michael deliberately left an 'imprint' on Mary, manipulating her beliefs in the hope that she would pass her faith onto her son and open him to the idea of benevolent angels, thus making it easier for Dean to accept his 'destiny' when his time comes. b) The memory wipe deleted the events from Mary’s mind, but left a subconscious 'knowledge' about the existence of angels and she put an innocent spin on that belief. In any case Mary’s 'angels are watching over you' is now a rather ominous line, and I really like how the episode twisted that long-standing piece of canon into something pretty dark, without retconning it into oblivion.

(2) Mythology wise it is interesting to note that obviously Michael had no problem to speak to John directly and ask him for his consent to the possession. So if John is able to perceive the true visage and voice of an angel, why can't Dean? Shouldn't Dean have inherited that ability as part of the true vessel bloodline?

(3) I find it kind of hard to believe that John thinks Mary’s father died of a heart attack. Samuel had a deep knife wound in his belly and John woke up right next to him when he was resurrected. They had to 'dispose' of the body somehow and there is no way that John wouldn’t have noticed the lethal wound. By the way, I still wonder how Mary explained Samuel’s death to John and if he remembers being attacked by Mary’s father. Anyway, I concede that Mary and John probably agreed to stick to the heart attack story in front of strangers, as the 'truth' would be hard to explain.

(4) I had forgotten that Castiel is in possession of Uriel’s angel-killing blade, and now I have to wonder why Castiel didn’t give it to Dean, when they confronted Lucifer in Abandon All Hope. It was in no way certain that the Colt would work and Dean could have used the blade as a back-up solution, just in case. The fact that Castiel agreed to Dean’s plan of killing Lucifer with the Colt in the first place, shows that Uriel’s claim that only an angel can kill other angels is questionable at best, and since Mary successfully used the blade against Anna, it obviously can be used by humans as well, so unless I miss something here, I see really no reason why they didn’t at least try the blade on Lucifer.

(5) Last, but not least, kudos to Amy Gumenick and Matthew Cohen for their brilliant portrayal of young Mary and John/Michael. I already thought they were wonderfully cast back in In The Beginning, but the characters had a bigger range here, and the actors really filled their roles. Mary’s switch from sweet housewife to kick-ass hunter, her tearful disbelief when Dean tells her who they are, and her horror at realising her family’s fate, Amy played every facet of it convincingly. Matthew even had to play three roles in one – young innocent John, flashes of the John he will become after Mary’s death and the archangel Michael – and he sold me on every one of them. It’s really sad that it’s unlikely that there will ever be the necessity to revisit these characters in the show.

In conclusion: Supernatural can create plotlines about Lucifer & God & the apocalypse all day long, but they will never create anything more powerful than the tragedy of the Winchester family in this show. The interaction between Sam, Dean, Mary and John in The Song Remains The Same has been phenomenal. This is why I watch the show. It’s been a long while since an episode managed to hit all the right emotional notes for me, so I am an extremely happy fan today. :)

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Did you know? Matt Cohen came to Jensen and asked for advice on how to play John possessed by Michael. Jensen took Matt to his trailer and played him the clip of Jared as Lucifer in The End. He said to Matt, "Same guy, but different. You’re still his brother, but also this angelic otherworldly presence."