Let’s all talk about Born Under a Bad Sign (S2 E14)

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    • journalbookbinder
        August 23, 2021 at 2:22 pm #9201

        Sam suffers a bit of amnesia and thinks his dark side is finally taking over. Dean will be the judge of that!

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      • PigNaPoke
          August 23, 2021 at 2:22 pm #9230

          WOW, what a roller coaster, so gripping!

          Another really strong Jared episode. He is SO SCARY and creepy when Meg is in him!!! I always really admired that especially after knowing more about Jared and how he is nothing like that.

          I really liked the moment at the beginning where Dean finds Sam in the motel and Sam tell him totally defeated and beaten down that he doesn’t remember anything. Dean has the perfect “oh, CRAP” look on his face while Sam seems resigned to the idea that “this is it” and no one need to say out loud that BOTH are worried that this might be the moment Sam turned to the dark side.

          LOVE Dean’s disdain about the vintage beetle! HA

          Also really love watching Dean stoically NOT panicking. You can see clearly how freaked out he is and how much he won’t allow himself to let it surface. The tension between them and inside each of them is amazingly portrayed. It feels REAL. Dean worrying that Sam is slipping, and that John might have been right after all. And we think Sam is convinced that it’s too late already.

          It really comes as a surprise when we finally find out for sure it’s NOT Sam but something who wants Dean to kill Sam. SO SMART and great writing twist.

          Dean’s conviction that he won’t kill Sam, no matter what, is very revealing and touching. At the beginning he is NOT sure that this isn’t all Sam, but he says he’s rather die than kill Sam, echoing the sentiment from Croatoan that he won’t go on without his brother. And at the end in the car when he tells Sam that he’ll save Sam if it’s the last thing he’ll do….well, as we come to know…that’s exactly what he does.

          And I LOVE Dean clocking Sam one in the end. I can totally feel him knowing that it’s not SAM’S fault, but he’s pissed as hell anyway for what he’s been through with this whole mess. HA!

          I really enjoy Jo in this, too. She is strong and resillient and I like her realistic understanding that it’s JUST not going to happen with Dean when she says “no, you won’t” after he promises to call her.

          I really love watching old episodes and seeing so much more in hindsight how they fit into the BIG picture of the show. Even if not all details stayed consistent…..they did a pretty impressive job over this many season to keep most of it consistent.

          PNP

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          • kate38
              August 23, 2021 at 2:22 pm #9510

              “And I LOVE Dean clocking Sam one in the end. I can totally feel him knowing that it’s not SAM’S fault, but he’s pissed as hell anyway for what he’s been through with this whole mess. HA!”

              LOL! I love that, too! I remember reading that Jensen did that as an ad lib, and the director liked it, to they kept it in the final cut. That’s SO Jensen 🙂

              kate

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          • journalbookbinder
              August 23, 2021 at 2:22 pm #9455

              This one is pretty strong. Sam kills me here. He’s SO hopeless over his fate; over what he did to the other hunter. Sure “it’s starting” and he’s going “bad”. The scene where he puts the gun in Dean’s hand and asks him to kill him is heartbreaking; though now we know that was not really Sam talking.

              I did love the attempted exorcism scene. When Meg turns out to be stronger. When it doesn’t go the way they plan and AGAIN Bobby; so smart with the “break the line of the brand” idea with another brand to “open the lock” keeping Meg in Sam’s body. If only they’d known about the tattoos at this point.

              Watching it with my spouse, when Sam shows up at Bobby’s and Bobby tests him with the holy water beer, my spouse asked how Bobby knew. I wasn’t sure; except that Bobby kind of tests everyone and he’s very smart. It seemed that Dean did not get the chance to tip off Bobby because they made a big show of Meg/Sam cutting the phone line to Bobby’s…so he wasn’t tipped off. I think Bobby is just that smart; knew Sam was “off” and thought it was weird that he showed up without Dean. Maybe Sam and Dean never “stop by when in the area” as Sam said he was doing and that let him know.

              The rather rape-y scene with Jo is disturbing. I’m not sure I loved the way Jared decided to play “possessed by Meg”. He seemed to make her angrier, though that makes sense when we later find out that she is doing this as revenge for being sent back to hell by them the last time. When she was played by an actress (first one), she was more menacing/calm – disarmingly nice. Here, Jared played her like a real jerk. Just wanting to tell Jo all the hard truths about how Dean doesn’t feel the same way about her…about her father’s death…of course no one is sure if any of that is the truth. I would have liked it if he had played it even MORE as Sam…that would have been even more devastating to Jo, I think…as if Sam thought John was in the right, etc…but I guess by this point Jo knows it’s not really Sam.

              When Jo is patching Dean up later I thought her question about whether or not demons lie or tell the truth was mostly about her father’s death, but on rewatch it seemed like she was only asking to see if Dean’s feelings for her were platonic like the demon said or not.

              I do agree with PNP that Jared is nothing like this menacing version of Sam here and so yes, it is good acting. I just found it not to be entirely consistent with Meg #1 that I really liked as a seemingly very fully-realized character (I feel this way later with Ruby 1 and Gen as Ruby 2 – I wanted more consistency and just happened to prefer smartass Ruby 1).

              Dean’s disdain over the Beetle WAS funny. “Please tell me you didn’t steal THIS.”

              I love Dean’s total commitment. All he cares about is saving Sam. Wants them to clean the hunter’s crime scene – destroy the footage and wipe their prints and that’s his only concern…not that Sam killed someone. No question. He knows Sam. Sam doesn’t smoke or kill people. Period.

              I also liked Dean hitting Sam; just because of what he went through even though he knows it’s not Sam’s fault. And Sam’s “what was that for?” expression.

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              • kate38
                  August 23, 2021 at 2:22 pm #9511

                  Watching it with my spouse, when Sam shows up at Bobby’s and Bobby tests him with the holy water beer, my spouse asked how Bobby knew. I wasn’t sure; except that Bobby kind of tests everyone and he’s very smart. It seemed that Dean did not get the chance to tip off Bobby because they made a big show of Meg/Sam cutting the phone line to Bobby’s…so he wasn’t tipped off. I think Bobby is just that smart; knew Sam was “off” and thought it was weird that he showed up without Dean. Maybe Sam and Dean never “stop by when in the area” as Sam said he was doing and that let him know.”

                  Interesting. I always thought that Dean did successfully get a call through to Bobby. At least we hear the phone ring a few times, then suddenly cut off. Bobby would’ve known that Sam had gone missing – I’m sure Bobby would’ve been one of Dean’s first calls for help. So I suspect that with Sam missing, a phone call abruptly cut off, and the suddenly dead phone line to the house would’ve been more than enough to make Bobby suspicious when Sam suddenly showed up at his door.

                  kate

                  • This reply was modified 2 years, 6 months ago by kate38kate38.
                  • This reply was modified 2 years, 6 months ago by kate38kate38.
                  • This reply was modified 2 years, 6 months ago by kate38kate38.
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                • kate38
                    August 23, 2021 at 2:22 pm #9512

                    “When Jo is patching Dean up later I thought her question about whether or not demons lie or tell the truth was mostly about her father’s death, but on rewatch it seemed like she was only asking to see if Dean’s feelings for her were platonic like the demon said or not.”

                    Hmmm…I guess I always thought it was primarily about her father. But you’re probably right that it was about both things.

                    kate

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                • kate38
                    August 23, 2021 at 2:22 pm #9518

                    I will NEVER get tired of seeing Big Brother Dean to the rescue! Although it seemed (probably just my impression) that he hadn’t slept for days, he doesn’t even begin to relax until he knows he’s found Sam and he thinks Sam is okay. He smashes Steve Wandell’s computer, wipes all Sam’s prints, and does everything he can to protect Sam from the law and other hunters. Protective Dean makes my meatsuit all dewy 😉 😉

                    I like how this one was written. We (the audience) find out what happened essentially at the same time Dean is finding out. I like how the clues slowly reveal what’s going on. I also like the shocking reveal at the bar with the holy water.

                    When I list/recall the funniest one-off witnesses in the whole series, the convenience store guy makes my top ten. He’s so funny and pissed off! And the actor totally sells it.

                    It’s interesting that Sam confessed having feelings of rage and hate “for a few weeks”, but he was only possessed for about 1 week. That suggests that some of that rage is just plain Sam. Maybe the emergence of Azazel and the other psychic kids had something to do with amplifying Sam’s negative feelings? Much later, in “Sam Interrupted”, Sam confessed that he spends a lot of time being angry without knowing why. I suspect that’s just an aspect of Sam’s personality. I’m not even sure I can blame the demon blood for all of it.

                    When Dean and Sam are talking and Sam tries to convince Dean to kill him, Meg emerges at some point and knocks Dean out. I wonder how much of that conversation was Meg talking and not Sam.

                    I like the song that plays when Sam arrives at Jos’s bar, and I miss Dean’s cell phone ring tone. I also like the patch-up scene. Jensen TOTALLY sold that!

                    Sam was possessed for a whole week, but didn’t leave sulfur trace anywhere? Also, aren’t demons trapped inside a devil’s trap supposed to be powerless? Meg broke the devil’s trap while inside it. Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of a devil’s trap? Were those plot armor moments? Or maybe careless writing?

                    kate

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                Let’s all talk about Born Under a Bad Sign (S2 E14)

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