Friday, May 20, 2011

Supernatural 6x21 "Let It Bleed"

Full disclosure: I am writing the recap of this episode before I watch the second one, so I won't be having any back opinions on the two as a whole. I was informed that they're not really one long episode anyway, so we should be good. Why am I making excuses? Yeesh. Who cares! It's a blog!
Recap/review of Supernatural 6x21 "Let It Bleed" by freshfromthe.com

But, seriously, how heartbreaking was the ending to this episode? The things Dean does for the people he loves, come on. Before I get too into that, though, let's start at the beginning. Dean, Sam and Bobby are on the trail of purgatory. I guess their plan is to figure out what is going to need to be done to open it, so that they can prevent it from happening? It turns out that a clue to this is in some Campbell's journal, a Moisha (I have no idea how that's spelled!), whose journal leads them to HP Lovecraft, he of the horror writing.

Apparently he wasn't just a writer, though, but also a looker-into-er of the blacker, witchcrafty arts. But before the guys can get too into their research, Dean gets a frantic call from Ben - some men have come to their house and taken Lisa (also killing the dude she was with, poor schmo), and are coming for him next. And it's not just any men doing this - it's Crowley! You see, he fancied himself a loophole in Castiel's warning that he not harm Dean and Sam. Well, he didn't say anything about not harming people they care about, now, did he? Crowley tells Dean they have to back off the purgatory stuff and Lisa and Ben will be fine.

While Dean and Sam go off in search of Lisa and Ben, Bobby sticks to the research. He tracks down a guy who has some old letters of Lovecraft's detailing a dinner party in 1937 wherein they tried to open a gate to, we presume, purgatory. It didn't appear to work, except that everyone who was at the party died within the year. Only one person survived, a boy who is now in his 80s living in a mental hospital. Bobby pays him a visit, and the guy informs him that it actually worked, their opening the door, only the thing that came out was invisible. The only reason he knows about it was because it went into his mom, and he could tell the difference. His mom, we come to find out, is Eleanor, who we met briefly once before back in the dragons episode. She was the woman who Dean got the sword from? Right, I would not have known who she was if we hadn't had the recap.

Bobby pays her a visit and tries to get her to tell him the secret to purgatory door opening, but she won't tell him, instead opting to go on her own, figuring she has a better chance of fighting off Cas if he finds her. Which he will, because he's also been on this trail the whole episode, almost always one step ahead of Bobby except for this last step, because Bobby conveniently already knew this woman and where she might be hiding. In the end, Cas does find her before she can make a getaway. Uh oh.

Back in the other storyline, Dean is frantically trying to get demons to tell him where Crowley is, but none of them are spilling anything but blood out of their guts. Dean gets a little sloppy and messes up his devil's trap, letting one of the demons come for him, but Cas shows up just in time to stop him. He tries to get Dean to understand his plight again and to trust him for a change, but Dean isn't having it.

How in the world are they going to find Lisa and Ben, anyway? Well, earlier on they asked for Balthazar's help. Balthazar was less than excited about the prospect, but after learning just what Castiel has been up to with Crowley and the quest for the souls, he decides to join Team Winchester and finds out where the demons are holding Lisa and Ben. He can't go in and get them thanks to some angel-proofing, so he drops the boys off to fend for themselves.

Sam gets knocked out pretty much right away, and locked in a cell, leaving Dean to go it alone. He does some badass demon-killing on his way to finding the two, but find them he does. Only once he unties them, Lisa's eyes turn demonic black and she puts a knife to Ben's throat. Yep, she's possessed. She throws some verbal barbs around the joint, at one point saying that Dean was actually Ben's father (the assumption, in the end, is that he still isn't) and how Ben's holding her back and all this crap. Dean manages to throw some holy water in her face, getting her to release Ben.

But now what to do? He can't kill Lisa. So he starts doing the exorcising latinizing. But DemonLisa is not happy about that, obviously. So what does she do? She stabs herself in the gut! I saw that coming, but whatever, still gut-wrenching (har har, pun!). But Dean doesn't stop the exorcism, sending the demonic smoke on its way, and Lisa tumbling to the ground, badly wounded. He gets Ben to man a shotgun to blast their way out of there while he carries her, and manages to free Sam along the way as well.

They get Lisa to the hospital, but things do not look good. While Ben goes off to sulk and be angry at Dean, Cas shows up, though Dean did not ask him to. Castiel heals Lisa, but Dean wants him to do one more thing. And even before it cut to Lisa awakening with Ben at her side, I knew what he was going to make Cas do, and how terrible to behold it would be. Dean stands there in the doorway watching them as Ben explains they were in a car crash, but they're okay. They eventually notice the handsome but sad gentleman standing there and Ben inquires, "who are you?" Yes, Dean asked Castiel to make them forget him and their time together! Weep! The most heartbreaking part of the whole thing was when Dean told them he was the one who crashed into their car, and he was going to let them get on with their lives now. Oh god, seriously. Dean!

Sam admonishes Dean for taking away their memories like that, as someone who knows what that's like, but Dean stonewalls him, telling him if he ever brings up Lisa and Ben again, he'll break his nose.

Random Thoughts:

- Those demons sure incapacitated Sam easily. That seemed a might too convenient for me, like it was done just to get Dean alone in the room with DemonLisa and Ben.

- It's possible that if Castiel takes in too many souls, he'll go nuclear, possibly taking out half the planet with him. Okay. I'm confused. What happens to the souls if they get angel-ingested? They just disappear? Or they end up in heaven that way? I don't get it. Since when can they ingest souls, and why would they only just be doing it now if they always knew they were powerful? I'm having to suspend my disbelief and questions a lot when it come to the soul stuff.

- The look on Dean's face when DemonLisa says Ben is actually his. Oof.

- I'm glad Lisa and Ben weren't killed, I was getting seriously worried there for a bit.

- Sam. Get a haircut. Jeez.

Quotes:

"Hi. Glad to meet ya. Bobby Singer, paranoid bastard." - Bobby

"Let them go now, or I swear..." - Dean
"Right right, you'll rip me a cornucopia of orifices..." - Crowley

"You know, trench coat, looks like Columbo, talks like Rain Man." - Dude

"I'm officially on your team. You bastards." - Balthazar

Previous Episode -- Next Episode

3 comments:

  1. I totally agree with you on the soul stuff. I think it would have helped if we'd had more information on what the "going nuclear" thing really means, because after watching the second ep, I think it means whoever takes that many in will go mad. That's the only explanation for Cas's revelation at the end-- he's off his rockers and it's the souls talking, because he's pretty much the most humble of all the characters.

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  2. Ok so Lisa and Ben's minds are cloroxed. Does this mean they are out of the danger zone cause they cannot remember anything. Hell NO! After all the reason why Crowley went after Lisa and Ben in the first place was because Dean loved them. If Dean was smart with the mindwipe and wanted them truely safe he should of asked for the mindwipe as well.

    There's no "We cannot kill her because she doesnt remember our enemy anymore."

    Dean still remembers her and their time spent and that's enough for Crowley or any demon. Crowley wasnt after Lisa and Ben just because Crowley wanted Dean kept at bay and if he held on to his former girlfriend then that would be his trump card.

    Writing off Lisa and Ben that way was half assed and just ignorant to these characters Sera obviously had no respect nor cared for these characters at all she was better off killing Lisa and Dean made guardian of Ben after all Ben's a good shot, he'd make a great hunter.

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  3. Laura - My impression was that going nuclear meant that he could've physically exploded upon intaking the souls, which didn't seem to happen. Now it seems that all of that power is corrupting his mind. I guess we'll find out more next season.

    Darren - Yeah I thought of that too in regards to Lisa and Ben, obviously the fact that he remembers makes them the targets, not the other way around. I feel like maybe they did it that way so they wouldn't have to kill them off to get them out of the picture, even though logically it doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

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