In the fifth episode of the third season of Supernatural, this is fucked up. I’m fucked up. You are fucked up. If this is your fault, then it’s time for Mark to watch Supernatural.
GOD. WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME.
The Bad
I have but one complaint about this episode and I’d rather end on a high note. This episode aired in late 2007. Are you seriously telling me that a group of adults honestly thought it was okay to have Dean call Sam “gay” for knowing fairy tales? Just KNOWING them. Not being an expert on them or anything. Sam was just able to recite some details from the Grimm fairy tales, and that makes him gay.
Like…. I feel like I don’t even need to continue down this path. Don’t. Just don’t. :: rolls up magazine and smacks Supernatural on the head ::
The Good
EVERYTHING ELSE. HOLY SHIT, this is one of the strongest episodes of the show. The mystery of the week? Extremely clever and terrifying and downright heartbreaking. The connection to this series’ mythology? So unfair that it should be illegal. My god, this case is messed up on so many levels, and even if it hadn’t been paralleled with what was happening with Dean and Sam, it would still be sad. “Bedtime Stories” is about inevitability, and it’s a theme that has to be addressed in this context. Which kind of scares me? At the end of this episode, the Crossroads Demons is insistent that there is no escape for Dean, and it’s the same fate that Dr. Garrison has to eventually deal with too. There’s no escape for his daughter, who isn’t going to live at the end of this story. So how do these characters cope with the inevitable?
Well, Dr. Garrison does a much better job than Sam. I CAN CERTAINLY SAY THAT. Throughout this episode, which is SO SURREAL IT HURTS, fairy tales are enacted in viciously brutal ways, and all of it is tied to the angry spirit of Callie Garrison, who was poisoned by her step-mother years earlier. (Can you actually go into a coma after being poisoned by bleach??? Whatever, I’m not actually interested in questioning this.) But because she never got any closure or justice, she begins to act out the very Grimm fairy tales her father reads to her while she’s comatose. It’s such a heartbreaking story because Dr. Garrison wasn’t doing anything wrong. He loved his daughter so much that he didn’t even realize he was partially responsible for keeping her here on Earth. In essence, he refused to let her go. It’s through discovering the horrible truth about her poisoning that he’s able to get closure himself, too. But that doesn’t make up for all of the horrifying deaths throughout this episode. Oh god, none of the survivors will ever get closure themselves. They’ll never know what actually happened. Wow, I’m super glad I realized that. THAT’S NOT DISTURBING AT ALL.
But y’all, it’s the implications of this episode that RUIN ME. Like, it was already fucked up enough that Dr. Garrison had to bid his daughter goodbye after she’d KILLED A TON OF PEOPLE IN HIS TOWN. But we open “Bedtime Stories” with too much Winchester angst for a single episode, and I’d ask this show to stop doing this to me, but who are we kidding? That’ll never happen. It’s obvious now that Sam is not going to listen to Dean at all, and that in his quest to save his brother, he’s going to go to some dark places. I know the “Previously On…” segment reminds us that Azazel suggested that Sam didn’t come back as himself, but I actually don’t think this is the case. I think the change we’re seeing is entirely based on external factors. After learning that he literally died and that his brother is going to die in less than a year because of it, he’s changing into… I don’t know what. Not a monster, but certainly a person willing to kill to save his brother. Thankfully, he hasn’t killed any people since Jake, but is that always going to be the case? How far is Sam willing to go?
Dean wants Sam to just let go, but y’all, HE’S NOT GOING TO DO THAT. He’s not! And as I mentioned in past reviews, this role reversal is so fascinating to watch. But it’s not heading in a direction full of rainbows and hope. It’s heading towards utter terror. BECAUSE SAM SUMMONS THE CROSSROADS DEMON AND THREATENS HER JUST LIKE HE PROPOSED AT THE BEGINNING OF THIS EPISODE. SAM. SAM! THIS ISN’T GOING TO WORK. And the Crossroads Demon even confirms his worst fear: Even if she dies, her boss is actually the one who holds the contract with Dean. Oh god, who the fuck is that? Lucifer??? Wait, no one has ever met Lucifer… anyway, how does the Crossroads Demon know Ruby? And what is Ruby’s plan???
So yeah. Sam Winchester. I just realized that a couple paragraphs ago, I said that Sam hadn’t killed a person this season, but I’m wrong, aren’t I? When he shoots the Crossroads Demon (!!!!!! WHAT THE FUCK !!!!!!) with the Colt, he kills the woman who was possessed. Jesus, y’all. He killed that demon out of spite. She couldn’t have done anything to help him, and killing her didn’t bring him closer to saving his brother. Oh my god, what is Sam Winchester becoming?
The video for “Bedtime Stories” can be downloaded here for $0.99.
Mark Links Stuff
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