Review for 6x01 'Exile On Main Street'

[galathea]

I have to admit, I expected to hate Sera Gamble’s S6 opener Exile On Main Street thoroughly – I was spoiled for many developments in the episode and those spoilers left me disappointed and anxious – so I found myself surprised at how much I actually liked it. It is a character driven episode, which is always a plus in my book, and it sets up a lot of potentially intriguing plotlines and developments for the upcoming season. Now, I would be lying if I would say that the episode put me at ease, quite the contrary, actually. While I think that Dean’s storyline was handled pitch perfect, it’s Sam’s storyline that worries me greatly, not to mention that the state of the brotherly relationship is disconcerting to say the least. However, the characterisation is set up in a way that feels deliberate, rather than sloppy writing, and that makes me cautiously optimistic that this storyline heads towards a pre-planned resolution that will satisfy my inner Sam'n'Dean girl.



THEN ** Two months ago, when the first S6 spoilers from ComicCon hit the internet, I was so angry and disappointed with Sera Gamble & Co that if the season premiere had aired at the time, I would not have watched it. Actually, I seriously considered to not watch S6 at all and maybe catch up on it after the season is over. My resentment was directed at two major reveals: Firstly, the fact that apparently Sam would come back from Lucifer’s cage, but decided not to inform Dean about his escape for a whole year, upset me greatly. The decision to leave Dean behind and allow him to believe that his little brother is trapped in hell with Lucifer is beyond cruel. Sam of all people should know better. He was in agony when he had to live on without Dean, knowing that his brother is in hell and there is nothing he can do about it. I simply couldn’t believe that the Sam I know would do something like that to Dean. Furthermore, Sam’s decision is patronising. It’s simply not his decision to make. Dean is an adult and he has the right to make an informed choice about how to live his life. Plus, given the fact that Sam rebelled against being patronised by John and Dean all his life and had just reached a state of equality with his brother, it frustrated me greatly that the writers seemed to be intent on making Sam a hypocrite by turning around and doing the same to his brother.

Secondly, all the spoilers about new tension emerging between Sam and Dean – not least because of their year apart and Sam’s secrecy – made me uneasy. Quite frankly, I am tired of discord between the brothers. It was inevitable in S4 and understandable in S5 as the result of the severe estrangement between them. However, in the last quarter of S5 Sam and Dean reconciled and started a tentative journey towards being brothers again and the thought of seeing all that progress between them destroyed in S6 pained me. Not to mention that I am tired of Sam being painted as the bad guy in the brotherly relationship, as the one who hurts Dean, as the one who leaves, as the one who cares less. Sam has grown so much in S5. He matured emotionally and tried to make amends for his sins, he kept a strict policy of honesty with his brother and when Dean fell apart, he was there and kept him together. Again, the thought of seeing all that progress for the character negated in S6 made me angry. I had enough of cold, detached and dark Sam in S4 to last me a lifetime, so I was really not happy at the prospect of living through a similar characterisation again. Not that it didn’t make sense at the time, but I wanted something different now. I wanted them to move on with the healing process and to rediscover their bond. There is enough baggage between them as it is, there was simply no need to add more problems to keep the story interesting.

NOW ** In the two months that passed, I had time to cool down and build up the hope that there is more to the story than meets the eye and that maybe seeing it executed on screen will be more convincing than reading it on paper. Still, I was more than wary going into Exile On Main Street. In the end the episode won me over though, mostly because I think the divide between the brothers and Sam’s off-characterisation are deliberately set-up as the driving force of the first part of the season. In my opinion the writers wanted the audience to feel that something is off kilter and I believe that it will pay off later in the season. While I think that there would have been better ways to set this up, I will give the writers the benefit of the doubt, as long as I have the feeling that they know where they are going with their storylines. The episode didn't alleviate all my worries and resentments against certain plotpoints, but at the moment I have faith that once the whole story is revealed, I will feel better about it all.

Now onto the actual review! First of all I want to point out that I think Dean makes an excellent point of view in this episode, because his confusion and his feeling of being completely overwhelmed by the events are very relatable for the viewer. I often complain about the lack of Sam's point of view, but I think for this episode it makes perfect sense.

Dean: "I was a wreck half the time."
Lisa: "Yeah, but the guy that basically just saved the world shows up at your door? You expect him to have a couple of issues."

The opening montage - a juxtaposition of Dean’s old life as a hunter and his new domestic life, set to Bob Seger’s Beautiful Loser - is absolutely fabulous. ♥ Dean might have settled in his domestic life, but it is apparent that the hunter in him just retreated below the surface. I love that he demon-proofed Lisa’s home and sleeps with a gun and holy water under his bed, just in case. He is alert at all times and doesn’t even hesitate to throw himself into harm’s way, when he hears a scream in the night. Now, crawling through derelict buildings at night obviously doesn’t leave him quite as unperturbed as it used to – he sweats and is easily startled – but I think that’s understandable. Not only because he didn’t hunt for a while, but also because he has no back-up anymore and has a lot more to lose, now that he has a family to think about. I also think it is interesting that Dean contacts law enforcement when he returns from his sweep of the construction site without a satisfactory explanation for the disturbance. Given that Dean always complained about the incompetence of the police, that’s quite a step for him. It emphasises though that he is a civilian now.

Anyway, I have to say that I love Lisa and Dean together. ♥ Dean’s relationship with Lisa is exactly how I imagined it to be, mature and affectionate, built on respect and with no illusions on Lisa’s side about the issues Dean brings into the relationship. She opened her home to a distraught and grieving man because she cared about him and even though she doesn’t deny that it has not always been an easy relationship, she doesn’t regret it. And I am convinced that Dean didn’t give her any reason to regret it. Dean might have been an emotional wreck for a long time, but I think the fact that he had Lisa and Ben to care for gave him a reason to pull himself together. He has always been a caretaker, it’s one of the main motivators in his life, which, I think, is exactly why Sam sent him there in the first place. I also love about Lisa that she isn’t afraid to tell Dean off when he tries to apologise for coming into her life and putting her and Ben in potential danger. She knew who Dean was when she let him into her life, and her level-headed reaction to the relocation to Bobby shows that she accepts that aspect of living with a hunter. From The Kids Are Alright I always got the impression that Lisa is quite capable of setting boundaries and speaking her mind, and I loved to see that characterisation continued here.

As for Ben, I think it is pretty obvious that Ben is a substitute for Sam for Dean, not that he doesn’t love Ben in his own right, but he fills Sam’s role, in terms of allowing Dean to be a big brother/father to someone who looks up to him. The little moment in the opening montage where Dean shows Ben how to fix a car, which then fades into the scene where Dean showed Sam how to fix the Impala visualised that parallel between Sam and Ben perfectly. ♥ It’s no secret that I haven’t been a fan of Ben when he originally appeared in The Kids Are Alright, mainly because I felt that the writers tried too hard to make him into mini-Dean and in the process neglected to make him a real child of his age, so I was surprised that I actually liked him a lot better in Exile On Main Street. Now, obviously he didn’t actually have any major scenes in the episode, but from the little we saw, I got the impression that the writers toned him down a bit, so I am looking forward to see more interaction between him and Dean in the future.

I think it is interesting that the djinn hallucination that reveals Dean’s deepest fears revolves around Azazel destroying his newfound family. I mean, Dean has been to hell, he has been tortured by Alistair, he encountered Lucifer and the four horsemen, and yet, the yellow eyed demon is still the thing he fears most, maybe especially now that he has a family. After all, Azazel was the one who started it all for Dean, he ripped his family apart and killed everyone he ever loved. The hallucination of Ben drinking Azazel’s blood and Lisa burning at the ceiling is very disturbing, but it is an effective visualisation of the fear he expressed to Lisa earlier, namely that he lead evil right to their door simply by being with them. That’s why to stay and protect Lisa and Ben is the absolute right choice for Dean at the moment. Sam can take care of himself, he has for a long time and he has back-up now, but Lisa and Ben are Dean’s responsibility and it's simply not in Dean to walk away from that.

After seeing the Dean & family storyline play out in this episode, I am even more concerned that the writers might feel tempted to kill Lisa and Ben off, in order to facilitate Dean’s return to the hunt. I have always loved the thought that Dean (and Sam) might find a middle way between hunting and family. I mean, it’s not exactly uncommon for hunters to try and have the best of both worlds. Steve Wandell and William Harvelle combined family and hunting and Bobby and Pastor Jim are good examples for hunters who prefer to hunt from a home base rather than riding from town to town. In any case, even if Dean decides to permanently return to the hunt, I just hope it is not bought at the expense of Lisa and Ben. I really don’t want their deaths on Dean’s conscience. I could live with Dean leaving them behind or sending them away in order to protect them, but to kill them off would be just too bleak for my tastes.

Sam: "You finally had what you wanted, Dean."
Dean: "I wanted my brother alive!"
Sam: "You wanted a family. You have for a long time. Maybe the whole time. I know you. You only gave it up, because of the way we lived."

I have to admit, watching Dean in his new life with Lisa and Ben, I had a moment where I wished that Sam would not show up and drag him back into his old life. Dean looks well-rested and healthy, his smiles are genuine and bright, especially when he is with Ben, and for the first time in a long time he doesn’t look like he is burdened with the weight of the world on his shoulders. He might not be perfectly happy - Sam's fate obviously still weighs on him - but he is surrounded by people who love him and he is as close to content as a person with Dean’s past could possibly hope to be. I want that kind of peace and contentment for Dean – and for Sam, too, for that matter – and in that brief moment where I wished Dean could stay in his new life, I could understand how someone who loves Dean would come to the conclusion that it is better to walk away and leave him be. It doesn’t change that I think it is utterly wrong to not alleviate Dean’s grief over Sam and allow him to make his own decision in the matter, but seeing it from this perspective made me understand Sam’s (and Bobby's) motivation better.

It also helps that Sam is absolutely genuine when he tells Dean that he thinks he deserves a shot at a normal life. Personally, I think Sam’s argument is not altogether invalid. Dean has always wanted a family and he gave up his own dreams to follow in his father’s footsteps. He has been tired of the hunting life for a long time and he expressed several times that he wished he could do something else with his life or at least take an extended time-out, but it has never been a real option. In The Song Remains The Same Dean wished he had never been born and in Point Of No Return he was finished with this life and ready to turn himself over to Michael. Dean wanted peace, Sam is not wrong about that and he obviously listened to what his brother was telling him. However, what Sam didn’t account for is that Dean didn’t want any of it at the expense of his brother. That was the one price he wasn’t willing to pay and Sam should have known that, too. In the end he did what he thought is best for Dean and I believe he had the best intentions in mind, but that doesn’t change the fact that he deprived Dean of the ability to choose for himself.

So, overall I still think Sam’s (and Bobby's) decision to hide the truth from Dean was seriously misguided, even though I feel that there is a relatable motivation behind his decision. That all being said, however, I do suspect that there are more factors at play in Sam’s decision, factors other than just wanting to give his brother a normal life. Especially Sam's apparent disconnect from emotions (more on that in the Sam section below), which is very likely linked to his experience in Lucifer's cage, suggests to me that Sam's decision to keep his return from Dean is rooted in a more complicated psychological motivation. So, I believe firmly that once Sam's back story is revealed, a more comprehensible picture will emerge.

The fact that Dean's first thought upon seeing Sam for the first time is to think that he died and went to heaven really killed me. It's heartbreaking to watch how Dean goes from being happy to see his brother alive to feeling betrayed when Sam admits that he is back for a year already. And when he learns that Bobby, too, kept Sam's return from him, he just snaps, rightfully so. He has once again been betrayed by the people closest to him, and his anger and disbelief are more than justified. Dean's desperate accusation "You couldn't put me out of my misery?" shows just how very wrong Bobby and Sam have been to keep Sam's return from Dean. I think though that Dean isn’t entirely honest with himself, when he states that he is only with Lisa because of the promise he made to Sam. Sure, initially that was his motivation to show up at her doorstep, but the fact that he looked for a way to bust Sam out of the cage, although he promised not to, suggests to me that his promise wasn’t all that binding for him after all. He could at any time have walked away from Lisa and Ben, if he had truly wanted to return to hunting, but he didn’t. That he went to Lisa was owed to his promise, but to stay with her was a choice – not the choice he would have made if he had known that Sam is still alive, obviously, but a choice nonetheless.

Sam: "You didn’t hesitate. Because you care and that’s who you are. Me, I wouldn’t even think to try."
Dean: "Yes you would."
Sam: "No, Dean. I’m telling you. It’s just better with you around. That’s all."

Sam is back, and he might be Sam, physically, but he is not Sam, emotionally. He is distant, detached, emotionally numb and seems disconnected from the people around him. I didn’t get a real sense of camaraderie or closeness between him and the Campbells, despite the fact that he calls them family, and the connection between him and Dean seems severed. Something happened to Sam, either while he was trapped with Lucifer or after he escaped from the cage, that much is clear. Don’t get me wrong, I believe that this is the real Sam, I don’t think he is possessed or under some kind of supernatural influence, but he is not quite right either. Sam has always been driven, passionate, emotional, even if it was on the negative spectrum of emotions. The Sam now feels like he lost a part of himself or left something behind in that cage. While it is understandable that he reacts less emotional to his reunion with his brother than Dean – after all, unlike Dean he knew that his brother was alive and well all this time – it’s worrying that he barely shows any emotions, positive or otherwise, throughout the rest of the episode either. Gwen Campbell mentions that Sam has been talking non-stop about Dean since he joined them and that tells me how much he misses Dean, but he seems to be unable to show it properly at the moment.

Now, since the episode is entirely shown through Dean’s eyes, we have no point of reference to judge what exactly is going on with Sam. I think that’s the major difference to Lazarus Rising, where Sam also acts off, but we get enough insight into the secrets he keeps from Dean to know why he seems so distant towards his resurrected brother. And if the show follows its own tradition of story-changing midseason reveals/events, we will not gain any true insight into Sam’s point of view until around episode ten or eleven. However, I think Sam’s own admittance at the end of Exile On Main Street that he doesn’t care anymore and wants Dean at his side exactly because Dean still does, is the key to Sam’s story at the moment. Sam’s hesitant and almost puzzled reaction to Dean’s automatic reply that he knows Sam cares, too, is conspicuous. I mean, Sam sacrificed himself for the world and that’s just about as caring as it gets. So, Sam’s reaction cemented my feeling that something is amiss with him, and I think deep down Sam knows it, too. By the way, I think that’s also why he doesn’t accept the Impala from Dean. The Impala represents home, family, Dean, and I don’t think Sam is there at the moment, he needs to reconnect to this part of his life first, before he can get into that car again.

In that context I want to point out that I really liked the continuation of the family theme in both brothers’ storylines: Sam and Dean both lost their only remaining family at Stull cemetery – Sam by choice, Dean by a choice made for him – and both replaced that family with a new one. I think that shows that both brothers long for that kind of connection they lost, the connection they associate with family. However, the differences in the families they built for themselves couldn’t be more striking. Dean builds himself a home with a warm and loving family of his own. He basically recreates the family he lost in the fateful night of the fire in 1983. Sam, on the other hand, replaces the intimate relationship he had with Dean with a 'business' relationship to a bunch of people he might call family, but that are anything but. They don’t really know him, and there is no sense of true affection between him and his cousins, despite the fact that they are hunting together for almost a year now. The cinematography highlights that difference in the brothers’ choices beautifully. Dean’s scenes are bright and bathed in warm colours, while Sam dwells in a dark, derelict place with no warmth and no colours at all. I think that set-up is very telling in regard to Sam’s state of mind, after all, he could also hunt with Bobby to whom he has a familial connection as well, a connection based on affection and a shared past, but he doesn’t. And I think that just emphasises how detached Sam is at the moment from any real emotion.

Personally, I am excited about the possibility that Sam will need Dean to reconnect him with his humanity, after what happened to him in Lucifer’s cage. I think it would make for a great emotional journey for Sam and Dean throughout the season. That doesn’t mean that I am not tremendously worried, not least because the writers do not exactly have the best track record where expanding on Sam’s development and giving us insight into Sam’s head are concerned. They also tend to get distracted and to not follow through with storylines they set up early in the season, so I remain cautious of getting my hopes up too high. But overall I am intrigued by the set-up. Sam and Dean are independent from each other now and are not at the centre of each others worlds at the moment, and while it hurts to see them act like strangers around each other, I can see that the situation gives them the possibility to grow close again, just without the damaging co-dependency that drove them in their past.

What else was noteworthy:

(1) I have to admit that the introduction of the Campbells left me uneasy. I was actually looking forward to meet Mary’s family and hoped that Sam and Dean will finally be able to rely on a wider circle of friends and allies. Instead the Campbells come off as rather shifty and shady and their demeaning behaviour towards Dean gives the impression that they don’t really care about him – or Sam for that matter. It’s also apparent that they keep secrets from the brothers, which implies that they don’t really trust them either. And the fact that they capture a djinn for whatever purpose at least suggests that they are up to nothing good. Even Samuel comes off as creepy rather than paternal, unlike in his appearance in In The Beginning, and I suspect that he came back from the dead wrong. Also, Samuel’s answer to Dean’s question why they have never heard about these supposed third grade cousins is evasive and doesn’t actually explain anything. So, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Campbells would turn out to be the villains of the story this year. Now, obviously this is all a first impression speculation and it’s possible that once we know the characters better, they become more accessible, emotionally, but until then I feel rather suspicious where the new extended 'family' is concerned.

(2) I am intrigued by the mystery of who brought Sam back. Now, considering that it took high-ranking angels and demons a lot of scheming and considerable resources to set Lucifer free from his cage, I dare say that there are not many creatures who are powerful enough to just snatch Sam from the cage without opening it first. I think it would have to be someone who had no ties to Zachariah, Azazel & Co, because if he was able to free Sam, I am sure he could have freed Lucifer as well. Now, God would be the obvious choice, but I think that resolution would be too easy and clean and given that God never made an appearance last season, I don’t think the writers will go there. And I think Castiel is simply not powerful enough. So, my theory is that it was Death who set Sam free. He is certainly powerful enough and he has reason to be grateful to Sam. Sam’s sacrifice set him free from Lucifer, after all, so maybe bringing Sam back served his sense of justice. It would also be an interesting twist if being touched by Death is the very thing that changed Sam, rather than his experience with Lucifer. I guess only time will tell, but at the moment I am kind of intrigued by the possibility.

(3) As someone who is thoroughly tired of the angel and demon mythology of the show, I actually look forward to the 'monsters acting up' storyline. It gives the writers the opportunity to tell more standalone episodes and focus on the characters instead of the mytharc, while still maintaining an overarching storyline that keeps the season together, thematically. While I wasn’t particularly fond of how the writers changed the djinn mythology in this episode, I found the female djinn’s statement that killing Dean is revenge for her father rather intriguing. Remember, back in Jump The Shark the ghouls, too, started to hunt down Adam, Sam and Dean to get revenge for the death of their father at the hand of John Winchester. It seems that the hunters have become the hunted and given Sam and Dean’s past they will have quite a few monsters out there gunning for their blood. "You can’t outrun your past", Dean tells Lisa, and it looks like he has a point there.

(4) The new title card is absolutely stunning and might be my new favourite. This time it is shattering glass with the Supernatural writing reflected in one of the spinning shards. ♥ The implied symbolism of the title is intriguing, especially since Supernatural frequently uses mirrors and reflections in its storytelling. Often reflections are used to reveal the true faces of monsters that hide behind a human appearance or to reflect on the internal duality of characters, like for example in Sam’s mirror conversation with Lucifer in Swan Song. So, given that the seasonal arc seems to be about monsters coming out of hiding, the new title card seems very fitting.

In conclusion: Exile On Main Street is a solid season opener that left a lot of room for exciting twists and tricks further down the road. While not all is well with the Winchesters, I see plenty of satisfying directions their storyline can take, so I will rein my inner pessimist in until the writers give me reason to think that they have no clue where they are going with their main characters. I think Exile On Main Street is one of those episodes that has the potential to improve vastly with hindsight, once the character motivations are revealed properly.