kate38
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“ONE qualm – When Dean says “You have one thing Max never had” it never made sense to me that the writers had Sam conclude he meant JOHN at that point! In my understanding of Sam’s character at that time Sam would have totally gotten Dean’s point and agreed. But….I know….good conflict.”
That’s a good point, PNP.
I got the impression that in season 1, Sam had NO IDEA how truly devoted Dean was to him, and how much Dean had already sacrificed for him. In “Skin”, Sam finds out for the first time that Dean is the one who carried him out of the fire. Later in season 1, Sam and John almost get into a fist fight, and it’s Dean who steps between them. From Dean’s reaction, it seemed like he’d spent a lot of his youth doing exactly that. In “Something Wicked”, and again in the Christmas episode (season 3) we see Dean doing his best to take care of Sam in a motel, try to keep Sam safe, and try to give the kid some sort of Christmas. And much later, in “Dark Side of the Moon”, Sam learns that even at the age of four, Dean was already trying to help keep the peace between John and Mary.Dean literally sacrificed his life — all of it, without regret or hesitation — for Sam and John. To me, Sam’s response iin this episode says that Sam didn’t realize or appreciate how much he truly owed Dean until much later in the series.
kate
“Really? They didn’t continue with Sam’s psychic thing? I thought he still had psychic connections to the other “special” children in later episodes…some of them? I guess I’ll find out I was remembering wrong as we watch.”
I was talking specifically about telekinesis — when he moved the armoire out of the way to save Dean. We never see Sam with telekinetic powers again, as far as I know. It sort of felt like the writers wanted to go there initially, but decided against it. Like PNP said above, maybe they didn’t want to make Sam too super-hero-y with his abilities.
I’ve never thought Supernatural was actually scary. But the Benders is definitely one of those episodes that captures just the right amount of creepiess. The darkness, rain, mud, and general atmosphere are all spot on. And the Benders are utterly disgusting. I really hated them. Humans truly do make the worst monsters, don’t we?
I like Kathleen a lot. I genuinely felt bad that her brother was killed.
Who knew! The puppy dog eyes work for Dean, too 😊. I like the scene when he tells Kathleen that he pulled Sam from a fire when they were kids, and he’s felt responsible for him ever since.
Did you guys recognize Dean’s daughter, Emma, from “Slice Girls”? Love these cameos 😊
Plot armor alert, PNP: Dean being able to pick a lock using a car antennae, and Dean talking himself out of getting arrested are probably both plot armor. Good thing there was no rebar sticking out of a pillar in that barn (Ooops — too soon?)
kate
I know I’m supposed to feel bad for Max, and I do. I just don’t feel as bad as I’m supposed to. We’re not supposed to become monsters trying to defeat or punish monsters. I understand Max’s rage about his father. If Max had killed his father during a beating, it would make more sense to me. But the murders were calculated and cold. And killing his stepmother was too far. Yes, she should have done something to protect her son, but did she deserve to die because she didn’t? Like Sam said, Max could’ve left. Even after Sam explained everything to him about how their mothers died the same way, and how they were both “chosen” for something due to their psychic abilities, Max still only wanted revenge. He was even willing to kill Dean simply for getting in the way of that revenge.
I love that Dean was ready to charge out in the middle of the night on nothing but Sam’s hunch. I also love Dean trying to put on a brave face for Sam, when he’s truly afraid for Sam, since he doesn’t know if the psychic visions are doing him real harm.
I love Sera Gamble and Raelle Tucker as a writing team!!! I like the parallel they were trying to show us about what life could have been like for Dean and Sam if John wasn’t a stronger person. It sounds like Max’s beatings and his fathers’ drinking didn’t start until after Max’s mother died on the ceiling of Max’s nursery. For all we know, he was a loving father before then. Like Dean said, without hunting (and without John’s inner strength), John could easily have turned into an angry, abusive mess.
I wonder why the show never showed us any more of Sam’s telekinetic powers. It’s like they wanted initially to go there, but abandoned it for some reason.
Speaking of abandoning ideas, I’m glad they got rid of the weirdo infrared laser ghost hunting thingy. It looked too much like a cheap visual effect that got thrown in at the last minute but didn’t make sense.
kate
I also really like the actress who played Mrs. Robinson. She was hauntingly convincing.
“There is SO MUCH internal stuff about Dean here too; how we really start to see that he does not want special treatment; that he does not seem himself as special at all. If anything, it’s the opposite and he believes he should die instead of someone, anyone else. It’s so touching. Sam’s just excited that Dean is better; willing to take it and not question it much, then kind of begrudgingly admits that Dean is right; something bad is going on here.
I love that Roy got to be innocent. He seemed like a sweet person who really wanted to do good and I was glad that it was not him with the agenda that his wife had; to punish those she saw as immoral by taking their lives to heal the people coming to see Roy.
Leila was so very compelling. The ending of this one is amazing. How she basically accepts her fate; has truth faith; and is not mad at Dean in the end of surviving when she will not. It’s like Dean can barely comprehend that kind of forgiveness and it’s SUCH a great scene.
I have always wished they kept this reaper model. Old man with all the makeup and creepy grin. I guess non one ever wanted to go through the makeup in future years…they pretty quickly made reapers human-looking (Tessa) at least to other humans like Dean when he died; Tessa chose to appear that way. But she was more like a ghost in her real form. I kinda wish they’d chosen a type of reaper and stuck with it. By the end of the series they were just all regular-human-looking people!”
These are all excellent points!
Yes, Dean’s self loathing became truly apparent after Sam died and he made the deal, but we see a big glimpse of it here. Poor guy.
I also found myself pitying Reverend LeGrange a the end of this one. Will he ever understand why his wife died suddenly? Will he be demoralized when he realizes that suddenly he can’t heal people anymore? He’ll probably never understand why. And if the brothers did explain everything to him and he believed them, I’m sure he’d feel terrible because he’d realize that every person he’d cured had resulted in someone else’s death. I can’t imaging having to deal with that much guilt.
Yes about Layla’s ability to forgive and maintain her faith. I still remind myself that sometimes I have to believe when things are really bad and the miracles aren’t happening.
Does anyone else ever wonder if this was the moment when Dean actually did start to pray? I’m sure he prayed for Layla, because I take him at his word.
And definitely yes about reapers! I wish they had remained creepier.
“I love Sam’s determination to go to whatever length necessary to save Dean. Even if it’s unorthodox faith healing. I feel bad for both of them when they find out that it indeed was to good to be true and someone else died to Dean could live. And Dean’s inner conflict over saving Layla’s life over some stranger’s is visceral in Jensen’s performance. SO tough to do the right thing!!”
Yes, I loved that about this episode, too. Dean knew Layla wouldn’t understand why he stopped her from being healed. And he took the chance that Layla and her mother would probably hate him for it. However tough it was, I love that Dean unflinchingly did the right thing.
“I’ll watch for Kate’s aforementioned moment of Jensen’s gorgeous physical perfection in this one.”
Ah yes! Adonis in all his glory would be put to shame. It’s likely a combination of things — the lighting, the red shirt, the hair, the perfect amount of scruff, and those eyes. I always rewind and rewatch this scene multiple times because he is just breathtakingly gorgeous here: https://www.homeofthenutty.com/supernatural/screencaps/displayimage.php?album=12&pid=134519#top_display_media
Faith is one of my favorite season 1 episodes. I love the story, the gritty feeling, and Sam to the rescue. I know some fans didn’t like Sera Gamble, but I thought she did a decent job as show runner (still a few years down the road at this point), and I love what she and Raelle Tucker did when writing this episode.
Hannah! Yay!!
Loved Julie Benz in this episode! Love Layla, but hate her mother. Just sayin’. It’s “interesting” that the people who consider themselves the most “religious” can be the most cruel and uncaring.
I love the dark, damp atmosphere of this episode! The rain, the mud, and the desperation are all palpable and feel real. In the early seasons, “The Benders” and “Something Wicked” do the BEST job of creating atmosphere, but this one is excellent, too.
I kinda wish they’d left reapers alone. I liked the idea of an invisible creature that could stop time, change reality, and literally find anybody anywhere. I love the scene in “Abandon All Hope” when Castiel sees all those reapers just standing watch and waiting for oceans of people to die. Making them angels and making them approachable made them less frightening.
That said, when Reverend LeGrange said he looked into Dean’s soul and saw a young man with an unfinished mission, I wonder if the reaper was already working towards the events surrounding Armageddon. I also wonder why the reaper would heal Roy of his cancer, but leave him blind. Theories?
“One of my all-time favorite Dean love interests. I wish she had returned or had a larger role. She was smart and beautiful and established that Dean has diverse taste in women and I loved that.”
I agree with all this! I would’ve liked a reference to Cassie at some point later in the series. At least it would be nice to know if she’s still alive.
“Calling Dean pathetic and unthinking and being John’s “good little soldier” just following orders….And then SHOOTING HIM, TWICE???
It went too far.
And the lame excuse “I couldn’t control it” at the end from Sam was way too little too late.”
I was actually okay with this, because it was clear that Sam wasn’t “right”. The only thing I question is how Dean knew so far ahead of time. The handgun was already unloaded when Sam shot Dean with the shotgun (rock salt). So that means Dean already knew when he came down to the basement that something might not be right with Sam. But if he didn’t yet know what he was up against, why empty your weapon ahead of time? Maybe he knew by then that it was a ghost, so a regular gun wouldn’t be helpful?
I understand why the writers had possessed-Sam try to kill Dean. Shock value was probably a factor. It made sense in this story, because that’s what Doc Ellicott did to everybody else he possessed. And in retrospect, it gets reinforced several times throughout the series. The only time the brothers use fatal force against each other is if one of them is possessed or “off” in some way. Soulless Sam let Dean get turned by a vampire, spectre-possessed Dean pointed a loaded gun at Sam, DemonDean tried to kill Sam with a hammer, etc. The ONLY exception to this was in season 15, when Dean pulled a loaded gun on Sam. Whoever came up with that idea clearly has NO idea who these characters truly are and doesn’t understand that Dean would never do that. Sigh…
I personally think that Sam’s harsh words were absolutely Sam. That anger bubbles to the surface again in “Scarecrow” and a few other times. Sam clearly resented some things about Dean. His anger comes out in other ways besides words, but I don’t doubt for one second that Sam truly felt that way when he said that.
kate
Side note — whenever I hear “Bad Company” I think of that scene when Meg is in the van with the creepy guy and she kills him. For better or worse, that song has been changed forever.
kate
“One thing…that’s the weirdest-looking orchard and I wonder if it was really an orchard? In the U.S., orchards are pruned to within an inch of their lives so there is ONE TRUNK on each tree with horizontal branches above that. This looked more like an orchard full of bushes, but okay, I’ll let it go. Maybe it’s different in Canada but I’ve always wondered if that was a real orchard and, if not, what was it?”
It’s settled. When we go to Vancouver, we’re gonna find that creepy orchard 🙂
“And I have to talk for a minute about how drop dead gorgeous Jensen is in this episode. The camera just loves him and there are so many great closeups with his gorgeous long eyelashes. A more perfect-looking man has never been created.
Sam’s still a bit young for me to think of him that way here, but he’s ADORABLE and so sincere with Meg. I didn’t mind the closeups of him either!”
Amen, Sister! For me, there’s a scene in “Faith” that I always have to watch more than once because Jensen is simply too beautiful to only behold once. It’s after he’s healed, and he’s talking to the doctor, who tells him that his heart is perfectly fine, but another young man his age dropped dead from a heart attack the same day. Jensen’s entire “everything” is just so perfect there — the color of his shirt, his eyes, his facial expression when Sam says people’s hearts give out all the time, and Dean says “No, they don’t.” Perfection.
I’m just gonna say this since I know I’m among friends. Dean is exceptionally beautiful, but I spent most of the first two seasons just wanting to feed him and keep him safe and warm. He didn’t start to look “sexy” until he’s a little older. But he’s still a pleasure to behold. Dude is a work of art…
kate
“The scarecrow is creepy as hell. Made from the skin of all his victims and the fresh addition of the arm tattoo that Dean notices is just gross and effective as hell!”
YES!! Very creepy! Especially the part about using human skin from previous victims. Eeeeew…