Jensen knocks this out of the park. Even a usually hyper Jared should be commended, for staying still this long must of been the crowning achievement of his acting career. It's not just the acting, though, that sells this scene. The camera’s perspective and the reduced lighting, complete with an ideal stream of pale light filtering through, both detail every ounce of Dean's hopelessness in sheer perfection.
Dean's at wits end. His grief turns to anger, and we know he’s gonna do something rash when he shouts out to a corpse, “What am I supposed to do?” He guns the Impala to the crossroads, hurriedly puts his box of hoodoo into the ground, and waits impatiently. Ona Grauer appears, and damn, she’s a perfect Crossroads Demon — cheeky, malevolent, and she has Dean right where she wants him. He's desperate, willing to take any deal, despite his shallow attempts at negotiation. Here’s another one of those “hit you over the head” signs — Sam is Dean's weakness.
These questions has been discussed, rediscussed, and discussed again by the fans, and there’s no accepted answer. Why did Dean do it? Why did he sell his soul for Sam, agreeing to only one year? My take comes from all he wrestled with in season two. The extreme guilt over his dad selling his soul for him; the added burden of not only watching out for Sam, but the possibility of having to kill him, thus increasing his determination to keep him safe. Suddenly, he’s facing the notion that he failed at the only crucial purpose of his life — keeping his family safe. He couldn’t live with the remorse of being the only survivor. Throw all that on top of some stewing grief and exhaustion, and this is his only chance to make things right. Simply put, it was the act of a desperate man.
In yet another brilliant piece of dramatic execution, Dean kisses the demon hard to seal the deal, and Sam shoots up from the bed, gasping and stunned. He lives! The first time I saw these two episodes was back to back, so by this point I was an emotional wreck. So naturally, Kripke goes for the jugular. Dean’s reaction when bursting into the house and seeing Sam alive still hits me hard. A very relieved Dean gives the previously elusive brotherly hug (when both of them are alive anyway), and the fans melt. Sam's too disoriented and wincing in pain (good continuity) to appreciate the gesture. I’m screaming, “Hug him back you dummy! He's had a rough few days.”
Article comments
1 - vichi
thank Alice for another great review. As I said before I liked a lot the 2nd part of AHBL1 and the first part of AHBL2. I found the death of Sam and the reactions that Dean had so hearthbreaking...Sam's death was tragic but what blow me away was the way Dean acted, you could feel his pain, his despair. That's what make it so tragic! Jensen was perfect here, this man can make even a stone move with his acting, he has something special I never seen before, he practically live and breath as Dean Winchester. He's Dean winchester all the way and not just a character. He put so much passion in this show (Jared too, he's great but here, Dean was the amazing one)and after the episode ends you only wish to go back and watch over and over again that part(that's what I did, at least:)))
When Sam died I was sad but seeing Dean's reactions, feeling his pain, was heartbreaking. Then he made the deal, the same deal his father did and got only a year of life. That shows how much Sam means in his life. He rather spend one year with Sam and the rest of his life in hell than to live a lot of years without his brother. I can understand this. Sam was his reason to live, his duty was to protect him, he did that since he was four.And to see his face when he saw Sammy alive again!God,I was trembling with emotions. I was sorry to see that John was so little in this finale and he did't said anything to Sam, but now I understand why. I didn't knew about the green screen and that only he was filming with Jensen. I always found the cemetery part a little awkard, something didn't fit, now I know what and why.
Thanks and really waiting for your surprise:))
September, 18, here we come!
2 - Eliza
Reading this got me all teary-eyed. Gah. One of the worst episode for me emotionally. A lot of tears...
Anyway, love the review. Yeah, the graveyard scene could have been better but with all the trouble they had to face, it came out pretty good.
Oh and I was sure that the whole graveyard scene was a set. I have to go check that again...
3 - Huppy
I really liked your reviews of AHBL 1 & 2, Alice. You really hit the nail on the head on the good and bad in these episodes.
The green screen scenes in the cemetery were just so painfully awkward and so obviously green screened that I fast forward through them. Which is too bad, because I would have loved seeing JDM actually act with Jared and Jensen.
4 - Anna
AHBL2 is definitely in the top 5 episodes for me. Yes, the scene with JDM was awkward but he wasn't available to film it at the time the rest of the episode was filmed so they had to do it a few weeks prior. Then they changed Jared's storyline a little and had to change the way he appeared so they had to film him separately too. Then, we also have to remember that Kripke had not gotten the green light for season 3 yet so he had to close out season 2 somehow so that if it wound up being the series finale, the viewers would be satisfied but still open enough in case there was a season 3.
Jensen's performance was exceptional, as it was in WIAWSNB. It angers me greatly that the man never gets the recognition he so greatly deserves. He is a much better actor than any "big name" stars out there and makes Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise look like amateurs in a high school theater outing. It's a shame the old farts in Hollywood bypass him merely because this is a genre show.
5 - cassi
Yeah, the review of AHBL II!
I was waiting for this review and you did another great job. Thanks! I might disagree with you on a few points but it's always fun to read your opinion.
AHBL II was my first SPN episode ever. I never saw a SPN promo before, I didn't know Jensen Ackles, never heard the names of Jeffrey or Jared. Yes, I watched Gilmore Girls but Jared didn't impress me so I didn't now the name of the actor that played Dean Forrester. For the record,I was a Jess fan! I saw AHBL II and Jensen's performance blew me away. I was instantly hooked, I didn't fully understand everything but I was interested and did everything to find out about this series. I saw this episode on a website so at the beginning I thought that the "Carry on my wayward son"-recap was the work of fan who had too much to drink. ;)
The first time I watched this episode, I wondered why Sam was just standing there and didn't go to this dad but it didn't really trouble me. I thought Sam was more the supressed feelings-guy. Of course, after buying the DVD box and watching the Making of, I do know that Jeffrey D. Morgan was busy and they had to do a little CG but I don't really mind, it's just a few seconds.
I like "Don't look back", maybe they thought of Dean not looking back at what he has done and the consquences but looking forward to fighting when he says: "we got work to do". I love that scene. The ending of "shadow" is my own muscial trauma (Aweful music choice!) The score wasn't that bad, honestly I didn't notice much of the music because I payed more attention to to the lines of the actors. Besides I'm not really a Classic Rock fan, SPN mad me listen to the songs they use for the show.I agree "Hells Bells" is awesome in the promo for "The magnifcient seven" but I can live with "Don't look back".
The cut between emotional scenes and demon war stuff was okay with me, didn't really feel akward. I have to agree the pinning Winchester to objects thing gets annoying but not in this episode. In "Malleus Malificarum" it really annoyed the crap out of me. Why Dean wasn't knocked unconcious is beyond me but I thought he used his arm to protect his head a bit.
I'm a fan of the two part season ending AHBL and was a little bit dissapointed with "NRFTW". It was just too short for me!
6 - Heather
Although I did disagree with a lot of what you wrote for this review (I found the scene between John and Dean absolutely heartbreaking) I'm write with you there on the opening scene. Jensen is stunning isn't he?