SPN S401

[layne67]

SHIT!

Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Aaaarrrgghhh!!!!

It's not bad, in fact I think it's quite good. Not 'IMTOD'-good, but certainly not 'The Magnificent 7'-bad, which I'm sorry to say left me feeling -- flat.

I kind of screamed a little bit at the end there, I was that frustrated. Not much answered except for that angel thing. Which I think is Very Cool. Love that. I thought at first that was the YED's son, Meg's brother whom Dean killed in 'Salvation'. I think I'm having a bit of a crush on Castiel now. Watch out, Dean! :DD

Ruby - didn't see that one coming AT ALL. That's a good one, though I miss Katie Cassidy. Ha, never thought I'd say that.

Sam with power - AWESOME.

Dean pulled out of hell by an angel, by Castiel - that's beyond AWESOME.

One bed in that motel room - yes!! *g*

What's not so awesome about it :
1. Sam. He didn't seem to be grieving for Dean at all! There's the iPod, which I didn't get, and he seemed to be having a relationship with Ruby! Though I guess there's more about Sam that hasn't been said yet.
2. Dean. Four months in hell and he didn't seem to be suffering much from it. Well, granted that he has amnesia and he was saved by an angel and all, but still, he looked like he just came out of summer camp or something. And sadly, no naked Dean ...
3. Dean not saved by Sam. I don't like that. I want Sam be the one to save Dean, Castiel or no Castiel. Dean seemed a bit put-out when Sam told him he didn't do it, but Sam? He just seemed to, I don't quite know how to say it, shrugged it off, he couldn't save Dean and that's it. Though again, I suppose there's a lot more to Sam that we don't know yet.

So I guess now we have Dean and his mentor, Castiel ( I *like* that ), and Sam and his mentor, Ruby ( I want Katie back! ), Dean doesn't know about Ruby, and Sam doesn't know about Castiel.

What now?

I enjoyed it, it's so, so much better than S301, but those little things, well, not that little - Dean suffering, Sam grieving - those are big issues to me, I want those and I'm not getting any at all :/

I'd give 'Lazarus Rising' a rating of 7 to IMTOD's 10 and 'The Magnificent 7''s 4.

Btw, who's the actor playing Castiel?

Comments

[ala-tariel.livejournal.com]

The guy playing Castiel is Misha Collins.

http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0172557/

Oh no, you seen it already? *sighs* I'm still downloading it. The machine says it will be finished in 17 or 18 hrs.

[layne67.livejournal.com]

Hee, I think I'm having the hots for Castiel now :DD

[janinelearner.livejournal.com]

I thought there was just one bed in that motel room too, but then when I looked again, Dean looks over to another bed to see Sam gone, the room just has 2 big beds.

[layne67.livejournal.com]

But wasn't that the same room Bobby and Dean found Sam in earlier on? Hmm, I really thought there was only one, I'll watch it again tomorrow, but you're probably right. And my brain had it fixed that there's only one bed that I only saw one bed.

Btw, was Dean wearing Sam's clothes?

[arabia764.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed it.

Yeah, I think Kripke is going down the whole good Vs evil route but, if he's any sense, he'll have the brothers realise it and fight together against it.

At the end of the day you have to trust Kripke.

[layne67.livejournal.com]

I have to watch it again tomorrow. Watching it with the family might be it. I've just been trawling the flist and there's only one other person that has less than enthusiastic response to it.

I don't hate it, but oh Arabia, the ... disconnection between Sam and Dean, that HURTS, and it was only four months. They were separated longer than that when Sam went to college. Same thing in 'Mystery Spot' - they connected almost immediately after. I'd understand it if it was years but 4 months is such a short time for them to be strangers like that, because yes, that's what it felt to me. They're strangers to each other now.

And what's with Sam and Ruby now? *cries*

Give me some pep-talk, love, or I am so going to ship Dean/Castiel after this.

I want Raelle Tucker back.

[ckll.livejournal.com]

I think Sam grieved with his own way and he wanted more power and i can't blame him because he had lost his brother. His darker mood is a result of his grief.
Eventually, we see how much Dean suffered in Hell

[layne67.livejournal.com]

I need to watch it again tomorrow, this time alone without the rest of the family :)

[annwyn55.livejournal.com]

I thought it was pretty good, although P and I did wonder why Dean was so nonchalant about his sojourn in hell. You'd think he would have had issues liek whoa, even with the induced amnesia. The angelic revelation fit the explodey eyeballs, so I liked that too, and liked that I didn't see it coming. Nice touch, and explained a lot of things.

I like Sam W better, but I find JP more attractive. :D

[layne67.livejournal.com]

Oh it was good, a bit rushed IMO, but good. But I'm all for the chick-flick moments you know, which I found a wee bit lacking in that episode.

Dean's mother, Mary, always told little Dean, before he went to bed, that an angel would always be watching out for him. I wonder whether there's a connection there or not.

I used to like JP and SW better, too!

AND YOU ARE WATCHING SUPERNATURAL!!!!!!!!!!!!

*points to your icon*

:D

[montmorency.livejournal.com]

Have to agreed, Layne my dear, that Sam did NOT seem that he had grieved nearly enough. The writing, the acting, SOMETHING... seemed really off. Bobby's response felt lots more real. Bobby OTOH was great in this episode. Dean was great, too

I like that an angel got Dean out of hell. Job for Dean? Castiel wants Dean to kill Sam, doncha think? There's a nice new twist.

Sam having powers = awesome.

New Ruby = blah.

[layne67.livejournal.com]

Thank you God, finally, one person who thinks the same as I do, that Sam's grief wasn't heartfelt enough *kicks Sam*

And I'm totally blaming all the post-hell fics that I've been reading.

/is frustrated.

I read through every single response to the premier last night, and except for one other person, everybody seems to think there's nothing wrong with Sam's reaction to Dean. I'd totally get it if it had been 4 years, but it's only 4 months and he's already sleeping around? And the iPod? What a travesty to Dean's memory.

*kicks Sam again*

I'm just hoping that things are not the way they appear on the surface. For Sam to change that much in 4 months ...

[goodbyetoyou.livejournal.com]

Actor playing Castiel
If no one's told you yet, lol... but it's weird cuz it's not listed on his thing, so weird.

[layne67.livejournal.com]

I think he's HOT!!!

I wonder whether he's of Russian descent. Misha is a Russian name, isn't it?

[chloe-amethyst.livejournal.com]

I think Jared's performance was more subtle this time around compared with Emo boy crying at the drop of a hat in past seasons. It was a more mature performance as well, which fits the circumstances of season 4 now. But watching closely, I did see the grief, and it was right behind Sam trying very hard to hold it all together. He had to toughen up as Ruby and the Trickster were telling him last season, and what we are seeing is the result. It may not be permanent, so don't fret. But you could see how much control Sam is exerting over himself compared to seasons past, and I wonder if it is because of fear of getting out of control in a general sense due to his new influences.

I wouldn't believe it if the boys were able to connect just like always immediately. This time the separation was under very different circumstances from going to college or what happened in Mystery Spot. Plus Dean was so angry underneath the reunion, believing that Sam had made a deal. That made the emotional connection even harder. Even married couples separated by war do not reconnect instantly when reunited. It takes time.

I do think Sam tried very hard to save Dean--listen to his dialogue. He says as much that he tried in who knows how many ways, everything he could think of. And he really gets more emotional about being sorry that he ultimately could not save Dean. That's why he apologized. That's where the depth of his grief came through, yet rendered differently than in past seasons because of subtlety of the acting and in light of Sam's hardening. I thought the sorry scene was quite effective.

As for Dean, remember when he looked in the mirror and had a teeny flashback. You know Kripke, so there will be much more to come.

Finally, they were trying to do so much in this episode to set up the resurrection and new mythology that there wasn't time for more emoting and emo girly stuff. Expect more of that in future episodes as the fallout from the last 4 months comes to the surface.

Just my view of things...

[layne67.livejournal.com]

Thank you, darling Chloe. I need to hear that so very badly. I love the show and the boys so much that it pains me to see them being almost strangers to each other.

I need to watch it again, this time alone, without distraction from the kids - Daniel who kept on asking where's the Impala, and my 7-yr-old incessant "What happened to Dean?", "Where's the ghost?", so I may have missed the nuances of Sam's grief.

I wish they have made the separation longer, a year at least, because I still think 4 months is such a short time for Sam to be so changed. Here's hoping that they'll really tell us why Sam's like that.

[montmorency.livejournal.com]

Butting in... I do agree that they were trying to get too much done in this episode and it left too little time for emotions.

[leelust.livejournal.com]

OK, finally read your thoughts. I'm not sure what to think about Sam's grieve (cos, hello, Dean girls here0 but your #2 - why is it's strange to you? For Dean there's no 4 months - all he remember is the day of 316 and then he woke up in that coffin. He will remember something about those 4 months later (i'm sure of it) but for now almost nothing changed for him. Only the way he was resurrected.
As to your #3 - i'm actually glad it wasn't Sam. Maybe he has his part in it but if it'd be Sam it'd be still the same circle - Dean saved Sam and now Sam saved Dean, but Kripke goes to bigger conflict i presume so he need to involve new bigger players and Dean's resurrection was prefect opportunity to do it.

[layne67.livejournal.com]

It's just that of the two, I was expecting Dean to be the one who was more changed, after all, he went to hell and back, and he came back exactly the same. I'm sure Kripke has his explainations of course, Dean not remembering anything etc etc, it's just my personal preference to have a Dean who's hurting.

[angels3.livejournal.com]

I thought it was fucking Awesome.

I like the guy playing Castiel. He's so soft spoken but I have a feeling he can pull of all terrifying if he needs to, but then again his mere presence probably scares the piss out of demons.

Now I'm confused was the chick in the motel Ruby or was it a different girl? I couldn't tell cause as the diner she was always in the shadows and she looked shorter or something than the girl at the motel but then I think about it and she seemed like the same person so I don't know.


I think we were expecting a little too much from Sam, yes it would have been great if he'd been the one to save Dean but I didn't think it'd work that way. I mean if he'd found a deal breaker last season yes but not after he was planted as they so tactfully put it.


I think the suffering will be spread across the season, I think I like it better this way. I don't think I could stand the overload it would have been if it had all hit in one episode.


If it's given to us throughout the season, how Sam did or the way it sounds didn't deal Dean's death well and his inability to save him and how he went AWOL for four months killing things. Then Dean having a PTS syndrome with his events I mean if we'd have gotten it all at once I think I'd be so depressed I'd never want to watch the episode agian.

[layne67.livejournal.com]

I've watched it again just now, and I have to admit, it gets better with the second viewing. I know what to expect this time ( I guess I was expecting TOO MUCH the first time around, and like I said to Monty above, it's all because of the preconceived idea I have of post-hell Sam and Dean from all those awesome fanfics ).

The girl at the diner and the one in Sam's room was one and the same. She ( and Sam, I guess ) didn't want Dean to know about her. What I'm not sure is whether or not Sam's banging her, because hello, a demon?

I'm so very happy to hear that our show got very good ratings!

[willoweese.livejournal.com]

"I thought at first that was the YED's son, Meg's brother whom Dean killed in 'Salvation'"
Yes! I did too :)

Ruby surprised me. I wasn't expecting her to come back. I'm still very curious to see what role she plays in the story.

"Dean not saved by Sam."
I kinda agree here. I'd psyched myself up over the last four months to think that Sam would have to save Dean, and it threw me a little when he didn't.

[layne67.livejournal.com]

I had been expecting Ruby to make an appearance but didn't think that she'd be possessing a new body. I prefer the old Ruby :/

And I am very disappointed that it wasn't Sam who save Dean. But you know, I think Sam was the reason why Castiel got Dean out of hell, maybe from the things that Sam did, so indirectly, Sam did save Dean.

[i-o-r-h-a-e-l.livejournal.com]

#1 and 3 - I think they did that on purpose. Sam's a bit going to the other side? Though, really, it's sad. :(

No naked Dean. :(

Hey, is there only one bed? I thought so too until Dean looks the other way and it seems there is another bed there.

Dean/Castiel, how about that? Dean still bottom though. Heheh.

[layne67.livejournal.com]

I think maybe Dean slept on a pull-out couch. I watched it again just now and the sheets looked a bit different.

Ha, serve Sam right if Dean's into Castiel now ;D

[munibunny.livejournal.com]

I agree that Sam should have been a little bit more "OMG, Dean!" and dewy eyed, and 'can't stop touching you' than he was. I mean, if I'd spent the last 4 months trying to resurrect my dead brother whom I love more than the sun, I'd have been way more 'is it really you?' touchy feely... But then, that would have been totally gay. *lol*

And, girl in her underwear in Sam's room? Uh. No! Even worse that she's Ruby because... Ew!

But I like that little bit of awkwardness as they struggle with their secrets. It's still Dean trying to protect Sammy, and Sam trying to protect his big brother Dean... It's good.

Sam with his freaky mind powers? Made-of-win!

Anyway, yeah, I loved it!

[layne67.livejournal.com]

I love it better now that I've seen it three times. As someone pointed out to me, Sam's grief is probably suppressed because he had been so numb by everything - Dean's death, his failure to get Dean back, going down the demonic road when Dean had expressedly forbidden him to - so yeah, I think I got it now, Sam's muted reaction to Dean's return.

But I still can't forgive him for the iPod!

[tj-smartz.livejournal.com]

I knew you would be cussing about the boys and their seemingly lack of emotion or brokenness. But give it time, they are both so busy hiding things from each other (Sam - his blooming powers under Ruby's tutorship and Dean - his rememberance/flashbacks of hell).

I love the angel angle but I'm positive there is way more to this angel than it seems. Is he an angel???

Ah to be honest, I'm still reeling. My reaction post is up but its not that coherent but *flails*....

I'm very very pleased with how FUCKING AWESOME this episode was.

[layne67.livejournal.com]

A fallen angel maybe? But I think, I hope that he's a good angel. Dean SO deserved being looked after by angels, the way Mary said he would be.

That episode gets better with repeated viewing - have watched it 3 times already :DD