Sam rushes to Dean, wearing only his grey undershirt under his jacket, and I’m thinking he should change his look, since dressing in layers is too inhibiting. We get some fine detail from that shirt. Sam is understandably emotional and won’t listen to Dean’s attempts at rationality. He even berates Dean that he can’t kill him, even though he’s evil, but he can kill Madison with no problem. Whoa, going for the jugular there Sammy? You’re his brother, of course he can’t.
Madison calls Sam, shirt intact, and now for the part that throws everyone in a tizzy. Back at the apartment, Sam won’t give up, but Dean and Madison are a little more practical. I’ll admit, Madison asking Sam to kill her is a heavy-handed plot turn. Granted, she doesn’t know Sam’s sad history, but come on, you just spent an entire day rolling in the sheets with this guy, getting to know him in every physical way imaginable, and now you expect him to off you? Cut him some slack.
But no, we need the setup for the big emotional finish, so I suspend believability and watch it play out. One of the major criticisms I heard was Jared overacted, for there was no way Sam would be that upset over killing a girl he recently met. That would be true except that his distress had little to do with Madison. This is the Sam breakdown we’d been waiting for all season. All those fears, anxieties over his destiny, over the monster inside of him, over John’s warning to Dean — well, he clearly hasn’t dealt with it properly. He’s been holding it all in, giving us only glimpses of his worry like getting drunk in “Playthings” and his loss of faith in “Houses of the Holy”. Both times his fears were swept under the rug, continuing to fester and grow inside. He finally meets someone he opens up to, who just like him is carrying an uncontrollable monster inside. When all attempts fail and she admits defeat, Sam’s world crashes down on him. There’s no chance for him either. So yes, emotionally he lost it, big time.
But, notice how the final shot didn't involve Sam. It ended with Dean. There's a huge reason for that. The person ultimately responsible for saving Sam is Dean. He watches Sam crumble, all hope lost in his brother’s eyes, and for one brief moment there, he doubts Sam can be saved. He finally realizes how much everything has taken its toll on Sam, and how much he’s not alright.
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.