Review for 2x13 'Houses Of The Holy'

[galathea]

Talk about a change of mood: after the fast paced, action-heavy Nightshifter they just sneak up on you and rip your heart out, again! Well, who needs a heart anyways. *sigh* Houses Of The Holy was a quiet, intense and very slow episode about spiritual beliefs, a follow-up to Faith if you want, but it hits the boys in a completely different state of mind. I have so much love for this episode and it’s hard to sum it up in a review, but well I’ll try anyways.



I was pretty worried about this episode when I read upfront what it was about: The portrayal of spiritual and religious beliefs is always a difficult task for a tv show, you need to stay true to the characters, you probably want to convey a message but you don’t want to spook away either part of your viewers, so it’s a delicate path to walk and Supernatural just goes there and pulls it off, they did it in Faith and they did it again in Houses of the Holy.

Five minutes after the episode I was still shaken up and I don’t only say that to prove what a complete wuss I am when it comes to this series (everybody knows that already anyways *g*) but to show how deeply they touched me with this episode. I am a convinced atheist and they didn’t spook me with an episode about angels and the need to believe in something transcendent and that is a huge achievement as I am easily disturbed if things get too metaphysical.

I love that again they start off with the direct consequences of last episode’s events. Dean condemned to laying it low, because his face was all over the news in connection to the bank robbery and it seems that not much time passed between Nightshifter and Houses Of The Holy or they wouldn’t be so worried about someone recognising him. One can imagine that Dean climbs up the walls with nothing to do and even having to send Sam out on his own, which no doubt worries him, even if it doesn’t show here. On a sidenote: Dean and the 'magic fingers' bed and Sam’s annoyance with it was just adorable! ♥

The opening dialogue between Sam and Dean mirrors their dialogue in front of the tents of Roy LeGrange in Faith where Dean stated that he doesn’t believe in a good force in the universe, while he does believe in the reality of evil, because he witnesses it with his own eyes on a daily basis, and I wished back then that they would explore that facet of Dean's character a bit deeper, since I find it utterly intriguing. It's a very unique approach for a tv show in general but even more so for a show based on supernatural themes, since those are usually rooted in the balancing duality of good and evil as metaphysical concepts rather than only as human traits.

It’s especially interesting given the fact that Dean doesn't believe in God but utilizes the symbols and rituals of different religions with utter conviction of their effectiveness against the forces of evil. He trusts in the effect of something (through experience) but doesn’t believe in what causes that effect and I was always curious how he sustains the inner contradiction of this attitude.

I think Houses Of The Holy showed clearly that Dean doesn’t allow himself to believe rather than being a convinced non-believer. For some people faith provides comfort in the face of evil, even if they don’t always understand the ways of God, while for others faith provides the constant feeling of betrayal, of being let down when they needed it most and so it is easier to rule it out completely.

I hear John in Dean here, John who admitted that after Mary’s death he was only able to see evil in the world. John and Dean share this experience of loss, it formed a conscious bond between them that Sam misses with both of them and I think that in terms of beliefs, John couldn’t help but shape his oldest son’s rejection of faith. We know that after Mary’s death Sam and Dean had contact to at least one person, who assumedly had a completely different ideology than John and that was Pastor Jim. I can’t help but wonder if he tried to influence the boy’s views on the world and that while he obviously couldn’t come through to Dean and John, he might have to Sam, but that’s speculation anyway.

Dean: "There’s just chaos and violence and random unpredictable evil, that comes out of nowhere .. and rips you to shreds!"

The scene in the church, where Dean talks about Mary just killed me. Dean very rarely mentions Mary or what he remembers about that fateful night. He usually needs to be very distressed like in Home or Dead in the Water to open up about it. It again emphasizes how different Dean sees things because he is the one who remembers. He is the one who had that time with his mother and Sam didn’t, he had a family that Sam never experienced and had it ripped away in an instant and that makes all the difference between these brothers.

Mary had faith and it didn’t protect her, Layla had faith and presumably it didn’t protect her either. In Dean’s experience it is not like Sue-Ann, the preacher’s wife in Faith, stated: "The Lord rewards the Just and punishes the Wicked!", but the other way round. The Just suffer while evil gets away, if people like the Winchesters don’t interfere and that’s maybe one reason for Dean’s amazement at the death of the perpetrator at the end of the episode.

I guess he saw more unusual deaths’ in his life than a guy pierced onto a pole, so it had to be the circumstances of the act itself that unsettled him, the fact that an evil-doer was punished out of nowhere in the exact fashion the spirit of Father Gregory demanded, a stab right through the heart. While one could argue that again it was Dean’s interference that indirectly lead to the guy’s demise, I can see that the exact circumstances might open his mind at least a bit to the idea that there is some kind of balancing force in the world.

Although I do believe that seeing his brother fall apart in the aftermath of getting his faith ripped away from him, is another strong factor that leads to his admittance at the end, giving Sam a bit of his faith back, just as he didn’t argue with Sam’s confession that he prays every day. Dean might reject the idea that praying actually leads to help from a benevolent power, but he doesn’t invalidate the hope and strength someone can draw from his faith and I think part of him is glad to see that Sam has something to hold onto, just because he himself doesn’t. He always wished for more for Sammy than for himself.

Sam: "I needed to think that there was something else watching. Some higher power, some greater good! And then maybe I could be saved."

Now, Sam on the other hand comes from a different position. Sam always seemed more connected to the religious rituals and spiritual approach than Dean. We see that in Hook Man, where he actually seems sincere when praying during the funeral ceremony and in Faith, where he is willing to believe that because Dean is worth saving, he can be saved. He even recognizes catholic iconology, so I guess it’s fair to say that Sam was an confident believer even before he got burdened with his 'destiny'.

Which is very likely the reason why he thinks he can save his soul by doing as much good as he can, balancing the cosmic scale in his favour. It's also the reason why he takes the revelation about his 'destiny' so hard, because how can he be evil without even knowing it? For all intents and purposes he was never anything but a good person, so how can that be happening to him of all people? It’s like he has a stain on his soul and has no idea how it got there and how to get rid of it, hence his obvious belief he needs some form of redemption. So he was bound to fall for the idea of a messenger from God, offering the exact thing to him he craves so badly. He wants to believe as he confesses later to Dean.

The feeling of peace and grace that washed over him after he saw Father Gregory’s spirit must have been like deliverance to Sam after the burden of what might await him dragged him down for a while now and it’s like a justification for his faith in the face of Dean’s scepticism and that’s why he fights his brother so hard on this. Now he suddenly has hope and he clings to it! Is even willing to 'stop' (however he planned on doing that) a supposedly evil man before he can carry out his intentions.

I want to insert here, that I loved how this short exchange paralleled the dialogue between Gordon and Dean in Hunted. Dean needs proof, has to see with his own eyes that someone crossed the line between good and evil before he can take action, he can’t judge on intangible and to him improbable values like 'destiny' or he would have to follow Gordon’s approach. "You know, you’re supposed to be bad too, Sam. Maybe I should stop you right now!" and that’s just it, you can’t condemn someone on the belief of what he might do, but Sam’s judgement here is clouded by his desperate need for redemption.

I don’t blame him, he has my deepest sympathy. The look of desperation on his face as he realizes it is just another spirit they are dealing with and his bleakness when he lost all hope at the end of the episode is killing me (kudos to Jared for his great delivery of that scenes). He has faith and trust in his brother, but he did see him vulnerable and fighting off his own demons in the last couple of months and what seems to be coming after them is huge and they are alone, with their backs to the wall. It’s easy to fall into despair and personally, I don’t know how these two keep going at all.

They lost the security net of their father in In My Time Of Dying, the possible backup of the hunter’s network in Hunted, the possibility to fall back on official authorities in Nightshifter and now Sam even lost his faith to a degree. The situation is bleak and desperate and it’s time they finally find someone or something to back them up in their fight.

Another interesting point in this episode is that Dean obviously decided that the only possible course of action for him to protect Sam is not only to keep him close and stand between him and evil but also keeping him from every activity that could result in pushing Sam over the edge somehow. As I said before he is fighting blind, he doesn’t know what to expect, what the trigger for Sam’s supposed evilness might be and how to prevent it.

So although Sam says he won’t kill the guy the 'angel' pointed out to him, Dean decides to not take any chances and shuts him out (which has to be the first time in the history of that car that one of the doors was actually locked *g*), going after the guy alone. On the one hand he is kind of patronizing Sam here and I don’t think that it is necessarily the best way to go, but it is his approach to stand to his word and watch out for Sam and if that means to get his own hands dirty in the process he is willing to, we saw that many times before.

I am not sure what Dean was planning to do with the guy once he got proof he was evil. It’s not that he could walk him to the next police station for arrest and I am worried that he might have considered to take out the man himself, he suggested that course of action with evil human perpetrators before. So, I was relieved that although ultimately Dean’s decisions lead to the chain of events that killed the man, it was no deliberate execution on his side. And I think it is up to everybody’s own beliefs if one interprets this outcome as coincidence or divine intervention and I like that they don’t force the one or the other view on the audience by visualising it more clearly.

There is probably a ton more to say about this episode, about Sam’s wish to 'sell' the idea of angels to Dean by painting them as warriors, about how they manage to make me care for the misguided spirit of Father Gregory and about fabulous breaking&entering scenes and Impala car chasing sequences, but for the moment I am too exhausted to expand on that. So maybe at another time :)

Comments

[bre2004.livejournal.com]

You rock my socks. I watched it late last night and still can't put more than two words together while speaking, so bravo, as always. :D

Although I do want to comment on the idea of the religion in this episode. I completely agree with you that they once again pulled that idea off seamlessly, as they did in 'Faith'. I've never really understood belief and how it affects people because I grew up without a concrete religion, and I can get antsy whenever it is brought up in a television show or movie because of my misunderstandings about how people can feel about it, but I loved, loved, loved the line that the writers walked with Sam and Dean, their differences and how it ties back to the roots of growing up. Very powerful stuff.

And the 'magic fingers' bed. Very giggle-worthy. :P

[galathea-snb.livejournal.com]

Thanks, hon! *hugs*

Well,I watched it yesterday evening as well, but spent half of my night brooding about it *g* very thought provoking episode!

I agree with you, the way Sera Gamble approaches this topic with bringing in Sam and Dean's different backgrounds is beautifully done and easily accessible for either religious persons as well as non-religious ones. It's hard to pull that off successfully.

I love this show! *heart*