Friday, March 23, 2012

Supernatural 7x17 "The Born-Again Identity"

Recap/review of Supernatural 7x17 "The Born-Again Identity"
Oh you do that research.
You guys, I have been having some serious DVR issues ever since I moved all of my stuff into the new entertainment center. For some reason, any time I want to record on The CW, the channel goes completely out. I checked it literally 20 minutes before Supernatural was meant to start to make sure it was okay, and it was FINE, then when I went to start it from the recording, there was the black screen of death AGAIN. WTF?! UGH. This happened last night with The Vampire Diaries too! And it's literally ONLY The CW that goes out. All other channels are perfectly fine! Epic frustration! Damn it all!

Anyway. The real question is, were you satisfied with tonight's episode, or left feeling as frustrated as I am when cursing at my DVR? I'm somewhere in the middle.

After last week's episode, Sam has officially really started to lose it. He can't sleep thanks to the Lucifer in his head, who won't let him. Somehow he ends up roaming the streets alone, or rather stumbling the streets alone, even goes so far as to try to buy some sedative-type drugs from a dealer, but it doesn't work. Instead, he ends up stumbling straight into oncoming traffic, kabang, kapow! To the hospital, then, Batman!

The hospital folk are, however, just plain baffled at his state, because no matter what they give him, he won't go to sleep, and from what Lucifer tells us, the longest a person went without sleep was 11 days. Sam's already at around four or five, I think, at this point. Things are looking rather grim, but Dean is determined to find a way to fix him, despite all odds stacked against them, and despite Sam kinda sorta accepting he was probably going to kick it because of this thing.

Recap/review of Supernatural 7x17 "The Born-Again Identity" by freshfromthe.com
Rollin' with our old homies.
But, Dean eventually gets wind of this new healer on the market, a man who goes by the name Emmanuel. He tracks down the guy, only to be surprised to find that this Emmanuel is none other than our previously dearly departed angel Castiel. Only, he doesn't remember anything, not even his BFF Dean. Dean decides to keep him in the dark for now, hoping he'll be able to help Sam anyway. But on their drive back to the hospital, they encounter some demons who have also heard about this healer guy's suspicious powers. But before the demons can hurt our Dean, one of their own comes to his rescue, and it's just a past villain party up in here! Meg!

Yep, Meg is back. She wants to help Dean with Cas, because I guess she doesn't want Crowley to find out he's still around, because she and Crowley have a beef, though I don't truly remember what said beef is about, but hey, a beef they have, so she's on Dean's side. For now, anyway.

Meanwhile, Sam's mental state has been deteriorating, but not to a point where he can't help a conveniently haunted fellow patient rid herself of her ghostly murderous brother. And this is where I have to say the episode did not work for me. Was she actually real, or was she part of a hallucination? And if she was real, that was really way too convenient, and easy to do. Like, boom, that ghost was dead and gone. I mean, that bracelet? I said, actually out loud I said, "There's a bracelet on her wrist, dude, obviously the ghost can follow her because of the bracelet." I mean, jeez. ANYWAY. Right after they get rid of the ghost, the doc comes in and says they want to try something new on Sam since the drugs aren't working. Some kind of surgery. Hmm. That doesn't sound too good, does it?

Outside the hospital, the trio has arrived, only to find the place surrounded by awaiting demons. With only one demon-killing knife, the odds aren't so great. Except they are, because, as Meg so kindly reminds us, this "Emmanuel" character is actually an angel and can get rid of all those dudes snip snap. Only he doesn't know it, blah blah, more whinging about whether to tell him, except he overhears them arguing about it and the cat gets let out of the bag regardless of Dean's concerns.

So, Cas goes and gets to smiting, which also has the added bonus effect of triggering his memories. And boy are they some terrible memories to behold. He's all "What I did was so wrong, I can't ever fix it, why would I come back?" etc. etc. Dean's like duh, because you want to at least try to fix it, obvs. He even gives him his busted up trenchcoat that he'd been keeping in the trunk. You know, for old time's sake. Okay, fine, guess he'll go try to fix Sam.

Just in time, too, because one of the demons has Sam strapped down and getting some serious electroshock therapy. Cas gets rid of that guy and attempts to fix Sam's wall. Only, it doesn't work. It turns out, the wall has been crumbled so completely, there's nothing he can do to fix it. But, he does have another idea. And perhaps you figured it out as I did before he did it, but instead of fixing the wall, he took all of the crap going around Sam's head and drew it into his own. So... angels can have hallucinations? Hm.

But, hey, Sam seems to be all better. Good thing, too, because his fingernails were starting to fall off. Yuck. And guess what! They just leave Cas there in the hospital. That just seems like a real dick move, but I guess I don't know what else they could do either. Meg also stays behind to watch over him. For what real purpose, I'm not sure, but probably we'll find out soon enough.

Random Thoughts:

- A mention of Faith! So long ago!

- The magical "breeze" that blew out that business card for Dean, obviously we're meant to think it's Bobby's ghost. Honestly I expect them to go there, and I really don't want them to for some reason.

- Are you guys happy to see Cas again, or no? I feel like people are very divided on the subject.

- I'm not sure I was satisfied with this amount of crazy Sam. Hmm.

- I really liked whatever song that was they had playing as Cas smote the demons.

Quotes:

"Stupid Satan." - Lucifer

"Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Now this one I could have. Sets unrealistic goals, check. But, has trouble keeping healthy relationships? Not so sure about that one. Thoughts?" - Lucifer

"This silence is very uncomfortable." - "Emmanuel"

Lucifer: Lobotomy?
Doctor: It's okay, we're not talking lobotomy.
Lucifer: Darn.

Meg: You're an angel.
"Emmanuel": I'm sorry, is that a flirtation?

Previous Episode -- Next Episode

8 comments:

  1. "I felt a great disturbance in the force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror... I feel something terrible has happened."

    That quote came to mind when watching the closing moments of this episode. I'm thinking the fandom will be upset. After looking at the fb page they are. Fans have been clamoring for Cas' return for months and when he finally shows up he redeems himself yet is now left in a loose mental state, and the boys drive off without him.

    This angel is probably not suffering from a hullucination. Perhaps Lucifer really did escape from the cage, or at least a part of him, using Sam's soul as his ticket out, perhaps Death didn't realize Luci hitched a ride or perhaps couldn't remove his essence. I'm looking forward to how this plays out. Perhaps Meg knows her lord and savior is inside Clerence and is using that to her advantage to destroy Crowley. Perhaps Cas will end up as the big bad we all were expecting him to be after the end of season 6.

    As for Dean leaving Cas in the looney bin for Meg to look after, well in Dean's mind all is not forgiven. Cas did betray him by working with Crowley lying about it, becoming some power hungry vindictive freak who would have smite him at any given chance. That is a lot for Dean to soak in now that he's back.

    One thing bothered me, Cas regains his entire memory after going on a demon killing spree. Hmmmmm half-baked perhaps? Considering how he's healed countless people and no memories trickled down. Hmm perhaps Dean just has that certain charm I guess.

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  2. This is funny but I have the same problem with my CW channel, and I typed into a search engine "CW channel sound goes in and out" and your blog stating your problem came up in the results. It is driving me crazy as I watch The Vampire Diaries too. I wonder what it is, I live in Texas, if you figure out what your problem is please comment here or make a post b/c I don't know what to do. My cable service said it isn't on their side so it has to be the CW affiliates.

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    1. My problem was to do with my actual cable going into my DVR not working when bent a certain way, but I have had some audio issues in the past with the station as well. Not sure what causes that, though!

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    2. The CW has no HD channel as of (my cable provider doesn't have one) and the affiliates are too far and few between so the signal becomes weaker when transmitting long distances, a lousey picture, or low sound may be caused by this. My fox station used to do this until their HD service started now my pic is clear and their sound is crisp.

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  3. I guess I trust the writers with this story. I'm willing to see where it goes. So far, I like that Cas is back, and I'm okay with the way things are for now (it's part of his penance to stay there and deal with what Sam has been dealing with for... oh, how long now?) and I do think he'll be back at the boys' side at some point.

    I can't remember why Meg is angry at Crowley either... hmmm... Not a huge Meg fan, but again, could be interesting.

    And I guess I don't mind Bobby's ghost because when he died, I knew they'd bring him back like this, so for me, it was a matter of time, and I'm anxious to see if they do the storyline justice.

    Supernatural is one of the few shows that I try not to have expectations about as far as season arcs go-- I like to let the writers do their thing, and if it doesn't all come out in the wash at the end of the season, I'll complain then.

    And DUDES: DIRECT TV. I've got CW in HD in Ohio on my Direct TV with digital recording (like TIVO). ;)

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. I actually have DirecTV, but not currently in HD. They'd have to come and replace the current dish and my current DVR, even though it's HD capable, which seems stupid.

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    3. Meg was team Lucifer. Lucifer wanted Crowley dead when he gave the Colt back to the boys. When Lucifer realized this he put a hit out on Crowley. After Sam put Lucifer back in the cage and assumed power over Hell he made his first order of business to gank all of Lucifer's agents and supporters this means Meg.

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