Supernatural 4x19: Jump the Shark
Aug. 13th, 2010 04:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meg_tdjI love that this show can bravely use a title like that with subject matter like this, and come out all the awesomer in the end. ;)
Who knew how important Adam would become? I sure didn't. It seemed really random at the time for them to go there, even though I'm sure most hunters have kids they don't know about. I had no idea that it would become a major plot point in the overall storyarc.
I enjoyed the way they played it, especially with Dean being angry at Adam for even existing while Sam was all "I'm a big bro now, yay!" about it, heh. The only thing I hated was that they never actually got to meet the real guy. I'm glad it happened eventually, and that Adam became "family" to them. But I'll talk about that more when we get there.
I can see why John didn't want Adam to have anything to do with hunting - Adam had a mom, and John wasn't about to deprive him of that. Dean was right, John didn't have a choice with Sam and Dean because he was raising them alone and wanted them to stay together in their quest for revenge, but with Adam... he couldn't exactly take him off with him, and he couldn't stick around to protect him either, so Adam was better off living "normal." He ripped the pages out of his journal so no monsters who might get their hands on it would know he existed (although leaving evidence of the page-ripping was a bit sloppy), but he still wanted to know his boy. Doing the math, he must have found out about Adam just after Sam ran off to college. He must have thought maybe he had a second chance to get it right.
I can see Sam's side of the argument, too, though. Adam was already in danger from one monster. What was stopping the next one from going after him, too? Chuck would be writing about this kid now, so everyone would know he existed... angels, demons, everyone would want a piece of the new Winchester pie. Now that he'd been sucked into the hunting world, he DID need to be trained how to handle it. It was just odd that this came from Sam, the guy who always wanted more than anything to get OUT of this life and protect others from getting tangled up in it. Over the years he'd turned a complete 180 on the subject. His words from Wishful Thinking came to mind - "I'm not that guy anymore." He really is just like John. All he can see now is evil everywhere.
This episode was a perfect way to show how the boys' opinions of John have changed. Or NOT changed, as the case may be. Dean was so unwilling to accept that John was ever with anyone but Mary, let alone that he hid a secret life from his devoted eldest son. I mean, OUCH. And yet even though he was bitter and angry, he still wanted to respect John's wishes and protect the kid.
Sam, meanwhile, had come to agree with John's original "hunting is life" philosophy, while still rebelling against him in keeping his youngest son out of the hunting world. I love the contradiction in that, on both their sides of the argument. Dean has now adopted Sam's hatred of being stuck in the life, but he accepts it for himself. He just doesn't want anyone else being sucked into it. Sam has come to feel that hunting is the only REAL way to live. Self-defense mechanism, maybe, but he sure seems to believe it wholeheartedly.
And Dean's comments at the end, that he always worshipped John and tried to be just like him, but that Sam WAS him. It's SO TRUE. Dean tried to be like John on the surface, but Sam inherited his personality. And from Dean's "take it any way you want" comment, it seems as though Dean doesn't see that as a good thing. Sam has slowly become one-track-minded just like Daddy, and Dean can see now how self-destructive that can be.
LOVE the glimpse we got of a glamourous Winchester morning on the road, LOL. And seeing the rock-paper-scissors again... Sam doesn't even have to think about it, he knows that if he throws rock he's gonna win, LOL.
Best part for me, though - Sam training Adam. He has SO always wanted to be a big brother, LOL. And coaching the kid on wanting revenge for his mom... oh, Sam, you KNOW that doesn't end well. And I love that Sam wanted to call in a favour with Cas and get Adam brought back to life. Soon, Sam. Soon. ;)
I thought the almost-bleeding-to-death thing was a great segue into the next episode, where Sam is seriously detoxing from the demon blood. He probably bled it all out and only had a flaskful to replenish it, so the sudden detox made total sense. (Funny that the wounds healed up so fast, though. *cough*)
Btw, I noticed Adam recognized Sam's voice as soon as he spoke in the diner, so I'm guessing Sam must have taken the phone from Dean after the "I'm his son" revelation. I wish we'd seen that.
Possible timeline mix-up - How did Adam learn to drive in the Impala? Wouldn't Dean have had it by then?
Randomness -
*Dean has faked being FBI so much that he now officially has a "law and order vibe." ;)
*Ever notice how often they fire guns or do weird stuff in and around motels, yet nobody ever seems to care?
Quotes -
Dean: *wakes up in front seat, opens door, falls out of car*
Sam: *leaning against hood, brushing his teeth* Hey! How'd you sleep?
Dean: Ugh. How do you think? I'm starving. Let's get breakfast.
Sam: Where? We're, like, two hours from anything.
Dean: But I'm hungry now!
Sam: There's probably still a sandwich in the backseat.
Dean: *fishes it out, sniffs, almost passes out* It's tuna!
Sam: Look, man, I don't wanna believe it either, I'm just saying it's possible. I mean, Dad would be gone for weeks at a time, and he wasn't exactly a monk. I mean, a hunter rolls into town, uh, kills a monster, saves the girl... sometimes the girl is grateful.
Dean: Well, now I'm thinking about Dad sex. Stop talking.
Sam: Maybe he slipped one past the goalie.
Dean: Dude!!
Adam: How did he die?
Sam: On the job.
Adam: He was a mechanic, right?
Dean: A car fell on him.
Dean: He took you to a freakin' baseball game?!
Adam: What, think the cops missed something?
Dean: Maybe. They don't have my eyes.
Adam: You're a mechanic.
Dean: Yeah. That's right.
Dean: *sighs* Why didn't I throw paper?
Adam: Okay, so basically you're saying that every movie monster, every nightmare that I've ever had, that's all real.
Dean: Godzilla's just a movie.
Adam: Do I get a say in this?
Sam & Dean: No!
Dean: Babysit the kid.
Sam: Where are you going?
Dean: I'm goin' out! *storms out*
Adam: Is he always like this?
Sam: *laughs* Welcome to the family.
Crypt guy: Tell me, Agent Nugent, have you thought about where you might like to spend eternity?
Dean: All the damn time.
Mrs. Barton: First beer's on the house for cops. Feds, too.
Dean: Am I that obvious?
Mrs. Barton: I know all the local badges, and you've got that law and order vibe.
Adam: Sam, how did Dad really die?
Sam: Demon.
Adam: You hunted it down? Got revenge?
Sam: Dean killed it.
Adam: So it's over for you?
Sam: It's never over.
Sam: We shouldn't leave.
Dean: Yeah, let's stay here where the kid's mom got ganked. Good one.
Adam: Beginner's luck, right?
Sam: Nah, man, you're a natural. Good shootin'.
Sam: So, then we lit it on fire.
Adam: With a homemade flamethrower?
Sam: Yeah. They're easy to build. I'll show ya.
Adam: That is some job you got, man.
Sam: Being a hunter isn't a job, Adam. It's life. You're pre-med. You got a girlfriend, friends?
Adam: *nods*
Sam: Not anymore, you don't.
Dean: Dad gave you that exact same speech, remember? It was just before you ditched us for Stanford. You hated Dad for saying that stuff, and now you're quoting him?
Sam: Yeah, well, turns out Dad was right.
Dean: Since when?
Sam: Since always.
Sam: What makes Adam so special?
Dean: What, are you jealous of the kid?
Sam: Are you?
Dean: Dad didn't have a choice with us, okay? But with Adam, he did. Adam doesn't have to be cursed.
Sam: He's a Winchester. He's already cursed.
Sam: Alright, we've closed off every other way into the house. If this thing's coming, it's coming through here.
*back door creaks open*
Adam: You were saying?
Sam: You're ghouls.
Kate: Now, I find that term racist.
Dean: You know, I finally get why you and Dad butted heads so much. You two are practically the same person. I mean, I worshipped the guy, you know? I, I dressed like him, I acted like him, I listened to the same music... but you are more like him than I will ever be. I see that now.
Sam: I'll take that as a compliment.
Dean: Take it any way you want.
Who knew how important Adam would become? I sure didn't. It seemed really random at the time for them to go there, even though I'm sure most hunters have kids they don't know about. I had no idea that it would become a major plot point in the overall storyarc.
I enjoyed the way they played it, especially with Dean being angry at Adam for even existing while Sam was all "I'm a big bro now, yay!" about it, heh. The only thing I hated was that they never actually got to meet the real guy. I'm glad it happened eventually, and that Adam became "family" to them. But I'll talk about that more when we get there.
I can see why John didn't want Adam to have anything to do with hunting - Adam had a mom, and John wasn't about to deprive him of that. Dean was right, John didn't have a choice with Sam and Dean because he was raising them alone and wanted them to stay together in their quest for revenge, but with Adam... he couldn't exactly take him off with him, and he couldn't stick around to protect him either, so Adam was better off living "normal." He ripped the pages out of his journal so no monsters who might get their hands on it would know he existed (although leaving evidence of the page-ripping was a bit sloppy), but he still wanted to know his boy. Doing the math, he must have found out about Adam just after Sam ran off to college. He must have thought maybe he had a second chance to get it right.
I can see Sam's side of the argument, too, though. Adam was already in danger from one monster. What was stopping the next one from going after him, too? Chuck would be writing about this kid now, so everyone would know he existed... angels, demons, everyone would want a piece of the new Winchester pie. Now that he'd been sucked into the hunting world, he DID need to be trained how to handle it. It was just odd that this came from Sam, the guy who always wanted more than anything to get OUT of this life and protect others from getting tangled up in it. Over the years he'd turned a complete 180 on the subject. His words from Wishful Thinking came to mind - "I'm not that guy anymore." He really is just like John. All he can see now is evil everywhere.
This episode was a perfect way to show how the boys' opinions of John have changed. Or NOT changed, as the case may be. Dean was so unwilling to accept that John was ever with anyone but Mary, let alone that he hid a secret life from his devoted eldest son. I mean, OUCH. And yet even though he was bitter and angry, he still wanted to respect John's wishes and protect the kid.
Sam, meanwhile, had come to agree with John's original "hunting is life" philosophy, while still rebelling against him in keeping his youngest son out of the hunting world. I love the contradiction in that, on both their sides of the argument. Dean has now adopted Sam's hatred of being stuck in the life, but he accepts it for himself. He just doesn't want anyone else being sucked into it. Sam has come to feel that hunting is the only REAL way to live. Self-defense mechanism, maybe, but he sure seems to believe it wholeheartedly.
And Dean's comments at the end, that he always worshipped John and tried to be just like him, but that Sam WAS him. It's SO TRUE. Dean tried to be like John on the surface, but Sam inherited his personality. And from Dean's "take it any way you want" comment, it seems as though Dean doesn't see that as a good thing. Sam has slowly become one-track-minded just like Daddy, and Dean can see now how self-destructive that can be.
LOVE the glimpse we got of a glamourous Winchester morning on the road, LOL. And seeing the rock-paper-scissors again... Sam doesn't even have to think about it, he knows that if he throws rock he's gonna win, LOL.
Best part for me, though - Sam training Adam. He has SO always wanted to be a big brother, LOL. And coaching the kid on wanting revenge for his mom... oh, Sam, you KNOW that doesn't end well. And I love that Sam wanted to call in a favour with Cas and get Adam brought back to life. Soon, Sam. Soon. ;)
I thought the almost-bleeding-to-death thing was a great segue into the next episode, where Sam is seriously detoxing from the demon blood. He probably bled it all out and only had a flaskful to replenish it, so the sudden detox made total sense. (Funny that the wounds healed up so fast, though. *cough*)
Btw, I noticed Adam recognized Sam's voice as soon as he spoke in the diner, so I'm guessing Sam must have taken the phone from Dean after the "I'm his son" revelation. I wish we'd seen that.
Possible timeline mix-up - How did Adam learn to drive in the Impala? Wouldn't Dean have had it by then?
Randomness -
*Dean has faked being FBI so much that he now officially has a "law and order vibe." ;)
*Ever notice how often they fire guns or do weird stuff in and around motels, yet nobody ever seems to care?
Quotes -
Dean: *wakes up in front seat, opens door, falls out of car*
Sam: *leaning against hood, brushing his teeth* Hey! How'd you sleep?
Dean: Ugh. How do you think? I'm starving. Let's get breakfast.
Sam: Where? We're, like, two hours from anything.
Dean: But I'm hungry now!
Sam: There's probably still a sandwich in the backseat.
Dean: *fishes it out, sniffs, almost passes out* It's tuna!
Sam: Look, man, I don't wanna believe it either, I'm just saying it's possible. I mean, Dad would be gone for weeks at a time, and he wasn't exactly a monk. I mean, a hunter rolls into town, uh, kills a monster, saves the girl... sometimes the girl is grateful.
Dean: Well, now I'm thinking about Dad sex. Stop talking.
Sam: Maybe he slipped one past the goalie.
Dean: Dude!!
Adam: How did he die?
Sam: On the job.
Adam: He was a mechanic, right?
Dean: A car fell on him.
Dean: He took you to a freakin' baseball game?!
Adam: What, think the cops missed something?
Dean: Maybe. They don't have my eyes.
Adam: You're a mechanic.
Dean: Yeah. That's right.
Dean: *sighs* Why didn't I throw paper?
Adam: Okay, so basically you're saying that every movie monster, every nightmare that I've ever had, that's all real.
Dean: Godzilla's just a movie.
Adam: Do I get a say in this?
Sam & Dean: No!
Dean: Babysit the kid.
Sam: Where are you going?
Dean: I'm goin' out! *storms out*
Adam: Is he always like this?
Sam: *laughs* Welcome to the family.
Crypt guy: Tell me, Agent Nugent, have you thought about where you might like to spend eternity?
Dean: All the damn time.
Mrs. Barton: First beer's on the house for cops. Feds, too.
Dean: Am I that obvious?
Mrs. Barton: I know all the local badges, and you've got that law and order vibe.
Adam: Sam, how did Dad really die?
Sam: Demon.
Adam: You hunted it down? Got revenge?
Sam: Dean killed it.
Adam: So it's over for you?
Sam: It's never over.
Sam: We shouldn't leave.
Dean: Yeah, let's stay here where the kid's mom got ganked. Good one.
Adam: Beginner's luck, right?
Sam: Nah, man, you're a natural. Good shootin'.
Sam: So, then we lit it on fire.
Adam: With a homemade flamethrower?
Sam: Yeah. They're easy to build. I'll show ya.
Adam: That is some job you got, man.
Sam: Being a hunter isn't a job, Adam. It's life. You're pre-med. You got a girlfriend, friends?
Adam: *nods*
Sam: Not anymore, you don't.
Dean: Dad gave you that exact same speech, remember? It was just before you ditched us for Stanford. You hated Dad for saying that stuff, and now you're quoting him?
Sam: Yeah, well, turns out Dad was right.
Dean: Since when?
Sam: Since always.
Sam: What makes Adam so special?
Dean: What, are you jealous of the kid?
Sam: Are you?
Dean: Dad didn't have a choice with us, okay? But with Adam, he did. Adam doesn't have to be cursed.
Sam: He's a Winchester. He's already cursed.
Sam: Alright, we've closed off every other way into the house. If this thing's coming, it's coming through here.
*back door creaks open*
Adam: You were saying?
Sam: You're ghouls.
Kate: Now, I find that term racist.
Dean: You know, I finally get why you and Dad butted heads so much. You two are practically the same person. I mean, I worshipped the guy, you know? I, I dressed like him, I acted like him, I listened to the same music... but you are more like him than I will ever be. I see that now.
Sam: I'll take that as a compliment.
Dean: Take it any way you want.
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no subject
Date: 2010-08-14 01:08 am (UTC)Really, though, the way that Sam jumps for the chance to be the big brother - the protector and teacher - says a lot about how much he looks up to and wants to be Dean. Also, about how much he is in the mindset of their dad that there is a lot in the world to fight against and on guard against. And, about how much Dean regrets that they had to know about it. I feel like a lot of the way he didn't want Adam involved reflects how much he wanted Sam to stay innocent, and almost a desire to fix what he feels as his failure with Sam through Adam.
I agree that I wish they had actually gotten a chance to know Adam. It kind of hurts that it wasn't him, especially when you know just how important family is to the Winchesters. To know that by the time they got there it was already too late is awful.
One thing that has always bothered me, though - the amount of damage that the ghouls inflict on Sam is substantial. I feel like, demon blood or not, there would have been some need to deal with it, particularly since so much is on his wrists.
And - yay for the title, haha.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-14 06:53 pm (UTC)YES. Exactly. Maaaan, the characterization in this show... it's always bang on.
One thing that has always bothered me, though - the amount of damage that the ghouls inflict on Sam is substantial. I feel like, demon blood or not, there would have been some need to deal with it, particularly since so much is on his wrists.
I know, right? He would have been in serious need for a blood transfusion, not to mention a million delicate stitches to put his wrists back to rights. There's no way Dean could have patched him up without leaving massive scars and internal damage. Just no way. Usually I can laugh off the wound thing on this show, but this was one of those times when it just made no sense.