I told everyone this would be a surprise. The question is, why review this one? There are two reasons. First, there isn’t an episode other than “Ghostfacers” more polarizing, thus making it worthy of critical review. Second, I felt like it.
“Heart” instantly commanded attention since it combined the writing of Sera Gamble with the direction of Kim Manners, a usual guarantee of a memorable episode. However, many fans weren't happy because they thought it went overboard with the Sam strife and broke out all the anvils. Was the overwrought emotion in this one heavy-handed? Yes. Was it compelling to watch? Yes.
Upon deeper examination, I found “Heart” to be far more complex that what appears on the surface. The episode isn’t just about Sam. Dean is forced to face some realities as well, and in the end, the events hit them both hard. Sure, it took an implausible setup to do it, but whatever, drama is drama.
In an unusually long intro, we meet Madison, who has an ass for a boss, and a stalker. The only part of this intro I liked is the setting of San Francisco, which is pretty cosmopolitan for this show. I had my honeymoon in the Bay Area, so I have a fondness. Madison finds her boss in the office next morning looking like a spit up hamburger, and somehow, I’m not shocked. He looked like dog food to me from the first appearance.
Sam’s in the morgue investigating and I’m wondering how he got this detail, since he’s the Winchester with the weaker stomach. He must have lost a coin flip, since we know he never ends up on the losing end of rock-paper-scissors. He goes back to Dean, who's cleaning the guns. Is that all Dean does in his off time? I have a neighbor who’s constantly washing his Cadillac, so I wonder if there’s some OCD going on there. I’m worried about Dean.
Dean is all excited, for he gets to off a werewolf, bringing back fond childhood memories. He even has the silver bullets. This time Sam gets the smart ass line, and could you picture the Winchesters at Disneyland? Yeah, that scares me more than werewolves. They talk to Madison, with whom Dean immediately makes nice, and she mentions the evil ex-boyfriend. What a weak red herring.
The brothers break into Kurt’s place, and he collects model cars. That right there tells me he’s no evil werewolf. Plus we know that it’s never the first suspect, otherwise these shows would be ten minutes. A cop becomes this week’s red shirt outside Kurt's place, and Sam and Dean race in just in time to catch fresh hamburger mess number two. A bit late there, guys?
Article comments
1 - cassi
"He looked like dog food to me from the first appearance." I couldn't agree more.
2 - Rosewood
Nice choice for a review!
To me, the way Dean and Sam cry in this episode, (and in general) is so reflective of their personalities. Sam lets his messy emotions out nearly involuntarily. He's got goo and tears all over. Dean holds his emotions all in so tight he will barely let one drop fall down. Blink and Dean removes all traces behind his mask.
I agree that most of Sam's emotion at the end is not for Madison, it's for himself. He couldn't save her, and because he failed, he has to kill her. Maybe he can't be saved and how do you face that? Maybe whatever's happening to him can't be stopped. Not only does he have to kill someone in cold blood (for I believe the first time?), but he has to kill someone he cares about more than a regular victim-of-the week.
Dean's not ready to kill Sam if he can't save him. (We saw this in Croatoan and BUABS.) He knows what it's like to have to kill someone. Dean wants to protect Sam from having to kill Madison, because that's another awful act that there's no going back from. When Sam looks back at him, Dean must be crushed by how much he hasn't been able to protect Sam from. Now here's another terrible milestone for Sam - killing someone he cares about and couldn't save. And maybe Dean's looking at Sam, thinking someday Sam will be looking at him just this way this right before Dean has to shoot him (Kripke! don't go there....)
Thanks for writing these reviews. They've been a great distraction waiting for Season 4 (since I avoid the spoilers).
3 - heraldtalia
Thanks for another great review Alice! I loved this ep the first time I saw it and was surprised to learn that this is such a divisive episode in the fandom.
I'm also surprised to learn that people think Jared over-acted at having to kill Madison. While I agree with your deeper analysis regarding the complete reasons behind Sam's sobbing, I really don't understand why people couldn't understand why Sam would be that upset over having to kill an innocent person who was not responsible for what she was doing, even if we leave the parallels with Sam out of it. I mean, Sam had always been the one who didn't want to kill humans (at least until AHBL2), so is it so hard to believe he'd have this much difficulty murdering a woman he was fond of? I know I'd be a wreck over it, but maybe that's just me. ^_~
Anyway, thanks for the insightful review and I'm looking forward to your overall S3 and DVD commentary next week.
4 - Kat
What a great review, thanks for writing it. i don't think it was overacted at all, it was obvious sam was at breaking point and dean was worried he might have to do the same thing to sam.
5 - Tigershire
I also don't get the whole "overacting" thing that some people thought. To me it was very believable. He had to shoot Madison when she was a person, all normal and sad and scared. I would think that if any one of us were in that position we'd be in tears and distressed too.
Now if Madison had been in full werewolf rage when he had to shoot her I'm sure he wouldn't have been quite so emo.
Heart is one of my favourite episodes for all the heartbreaking reasons.