Er… um… wow. Thanks, Sera Gamble, you did it to us again. You turned us into quivering piles of soft matter just so you could have more fun with brotherly drama. They split up? Dean let Sam go without a fight? Dean offered Sam the Impala? Dammit, thanks for pushing buttons.
When I spoke with Sera Gamble, Eric Kripke, and Ben Edlund at Comic-Con, much of what they talked about ended up in this episode. We were told Dean would have to break his patterns of jumping in and saving Sam for the sake of others, that there would be a town under siege with people hiding in the basement, that Ellen, Jo, and Rufus would be back, that Sam would be kidnapped, and that there would be big fallout in the brotherly relationship. Kripke even mentioned the four horsemen would be driving muscle cars and I must say a 1965 cherry red Ford Mustang fastback is my dream car (yes, I giggled at Dean admiring it). I’m really envying War right now.
It’s one thing, though, to get nuggets like that but it’s another to actually see it in action. “Good God, Y’All” played out way better than I could have possibly hoped. I think it’s a no brainer as to why. Throw in some great music ("Spirit In The Sky"), an apocalyptic battle, clever directing, and Jared and Jensen at the top of their games and the results far exceed anything on paper (which is also great). Even though we’ve come to expect such excellence every week, somehow most of what’s delivered always manages to impress us.
The second episode of a season usually follows the same format. The character of focus is in distress, a story of suspense unfolds that leads to a climactic showdown, a character’s issues are raised during said plot, and then there’s a big shift in which the character comes away learning something about themselves that they may or may not like. In this show, it’s usually "may not."
This year Sam gets the main focus as he rightly should. The dude has some major problems. While Sam was healed physically in the season opener, we all knew that whatever was lingering inside wouldn’t go away. After all, he can’t be healed from himself. Sam comes away with an understanding of why he craved the demon blood but only after the hint was applied to him like a sledgehammer.
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Article comments
1 - elle2
Sam running his hand slowly down the Impala as he walked away at the end said so much, that choked me up...He's in so much pain. Great jogb to whoever thought to do that, Jared, Phil or Sera, doesn't matter, it delivered!
Like you I loved seeing Jo, Ellen and Rufus but such rich characters, so wasted. Sure we 'know them' much more Ellen and Jo so a lot of time isn't needed, but I would have liked to see the good-bye scene, catch you when the next horseman arrives. I'm betting something was filmed but cut to make sure there was time for the lengthy and oh-so-necessary Sam and Dean good-bye scene.
Bring on next THursday!
2 - JoAnne
Thank you for an outstanding review.
In "A Very Supernatural Christmas" it was a beautiful and touching moment to see who actually gave the amulet to Dean, then to know that Dean never would take it off and that it was once again his beloved brother giving it back to him in "Lazarus Rising." He treasures this amulet so, as he treasures his "baby" and he treasures his brother.
That it why it was so hard for me to watch Dean just( with some reluctance) hand over the amulet to Castiel without even looking at Sam for approval/understanding.
It was hard for me to watch Dean struggle with should he go out and find Sam or take care of the people in the basement, when at any other time, Sam would have been his first and only major concern. The struggle Dean went through...
Then Sam, staring at the blood on the floor, touching the blood on the knife, then realizing his brother was watching him making Sam wonder how many more doubts Dean now had. The inner struggle he has continually been going through for awhile now eating away at him, eroding any bit of confidence he thought he was gaining by trying to do the right thing. Poor, poor Sammy. He always thought he was doing the right thing, for the greater good, for his brother who went to hell for him. And look what happens. The apocalypse is starting, Lucifer walks free and Sam has, at this time, lost his brother's trust, which is as monumental if not even more so than the other two.
Dean taking Sammy by surprise and not arguing with him to stay, stunned Sammy, but crushed Dean. They could barely get their words out to each other.
For Dean to offer his beloved car to Sam, not only showed his love for his brother, but also that if he was going to lose Sammy then nothing else matters.
3 - Suze
It was nice to see Rufus and all the old faces but they didn't really do much ... It felt as if the whole episode was building towards the last scene. Everything has changed. Part of me is well pleased as the split should lead to loads of meaty drama and self-discovery and whatnot and the other part is horrified by what's been lost.
If they keep this up I'm going to be a small puddle of tearful angstyness by November. Kripke hates us ...
4 - vichi
Hei Alice,
Nice to read your review, as always! For me, this was a perfect episode. And you were right, the scene where Dean offers Sammy the Impala, was the one that made me cry! I mean, this guy lost everything and now he must let go his own brother, and all this for the greater good! The same goes for the amulet. It was the first step Dean took in letting Sammy go, Kripke was right, season 5 shows us a new Dean, Dean - the leader!
5 - San
Very inciteful review and I agree with pretty much everything you've said there. Both brothers are hurting so much, but by being together they are hurting even more.
The only thing I don't agree with and this is the writers, not you, is the whole thing with Sam wanting power. I've never seen this until they threw it in in season 4. Sam wanted CONTROL of his life yes, and that is completely normal and he had to fight for it against a domineering father and an overprotective brother. Sam likes order in his life, and he has some compulsive tendancies, as evidenced by his actions in the episode where Dean died over 100 times. But control is not the same as wanting to be more powerful than everyone at all and I don't see any indications that this was in him before last year. He has pretty much been content to follow Dean, occassionally arguing with him when he felt strongly about something, but Dean argued equally as strongly and most often he forced the issue. So to me, this is coming out of nowhere and isn't a part of the Sam that has been there seasons 1 thru 3.
Other than that, I'm curious to see what exactly it is inside Sam that gives him his power to begin with - since demon blood isn't the origin supposedly. Is Sam truly evil by nature and physic to boot? Not the Sam I saw, because other than his desperation when he killed that nurse, he always tried to save people, unlike Dean who used that knife and killed the host.
I'm also curious to see how Dean is going to deal with trying to save humanity, deal with his brother and decide what to do about the whole 'angel condom' issue. Since Dean has never been possesed, it would be very interesting to see how he dealt with the whole idea of someone else 'running' him in his skin.
6 - Jennifer
I was also tremendously touched when Sam trailed his hand along the Impala during the last scene. I had read once that the state or condition of the Impala is a direct reflection of Dean's state of mind. The dirtier the Impala the more conflicted or upset Dean is... and boy was the Impala filty! Especially compared with episode three.