Reply To: Let’s all talk about Fresh Blood (S3 E7)
The end of Gordon. He was such a great, fully-formed “side” character. I remember J&J both thought that they saw genius in Sterling K. Brown’s acting ability and of course he’s gone on to do amazing things in shows like “This Is Us”, but I loved him as Gordon. He was flat-out scary! And this episode reminds me of how tragic Supernatural often is. This one is dark. Not only does Dean behead the woman at the start who just wanted to get a high and ended up ingesting vampire blood, but Gordon not only turns into a monster, but into the monster he hates the most; the one that killed his sister and set him on his entire quest for revenge.
It’s also the end of the surviving hunter from “Bad Day at Black Rock” and I thought he was very interesting with his religious zealot approach to hunting.
But this one is dark dark dark. No one is happy. Everyone dies. The vampire they encounter and talk to is also miserable, facing the prospect of eternity alone (I am sure this was a heavy-handed reference to Sam’s pending future without his brother; way to make Sam think even MORE about how horrible that will be!!!).
And one of the most badass “Sam” moves in the entire series. Decapitating Gorden with razor wire and his bare hands. I appreciate that they at least went for a shred of realism and had Sam put some rags around his hands before grabbing the wire. Great, grisly death and a bit of a “huh” where Sam is concerned because he is now seemingly becoming ruthless and Dean notices. Sam was absolute that Gordon wasn’t going to stop until they were dead, so they have to kill him. Dean’s surprised to hear it.
Sam’s awkward speech to Dean about how he misses his brother and just wants Dean to drop the macho act is so great and so sweet. It starts to get through to Dean that Sam needs him now. At least enough for him to NOT go after Gordon alone as he planned to. His “I’m going to die so what the hell” attitude is well-established at the start of this one when he uses himself as bait to draw out the newly-turned female vampire.
I’m not sure WHY Gordon goes to see, then kills Kubric (thanks, PigNaPoke for reminding me what his name was). Gordon could have gone after Sam alone so I’m not sure why he wants to involve Kubric at all; except knowing that now that he, Gordon, is a monster, Kubric will go after him and he wants to get him out of the way first?
I thought it was interesting and more “gray area” that the vampire’s family was killed…he’s really just like Gordon. Each had a family member killed by the “other side” and they hate that other side for it.
The shooting of the warehouse scene where Sam can’t see IS very very good. I loved it. And again, Sam and Dean get separated by the wall coming down…and we find out that Gordon ALSO turned the girl he had just so Dean would have to contend with her! And he wasted a Colt bullet on her (right?). For all that Gordon insisted he only wanted to kill “antichrist” Sam, he apparently didn’t mind trying to do away with Dean too by way of the woman he turned.
Yes, PigNaPoke, I wish they had kept their mythology consistent over the years! And it’s a bit confusing that it’s not the BITE that turns you…it’s the blood contact. I mean, then you can turn people like the vampire did Gordon by pressing wounds together, but my spouse didn’t quite get why Dean wasn’t turned because he was bitten. It’s getting bitten by a werewolf that turns you there, but it’s not the vampire bite which, splitting hairs…diseases or viruses are usually transmitted by body fluid and saliva or semen can usually do it just as well as blood; so PRACTICALLY speaking, I never really got why a bite with saliva wouldn’t turn you.
But this one was DARK and SAD and really effective too.