This week’s “Repo Man” is a fantastic episode which crystallizes the overarching theme of the season and kicks the final arc into high gear. Written by the always amazing Ben Edlund, “Repo Man” is classic Supernatural: dark, taut and layered with nuances on where Sam and Dean are emotionally. Their emotional states are critical knowledge. To take down the Leviathans, each brother will have to face his worst enemy: himself.
At the end of last season, Sam opened up his memories of his time in hell. But he did not process the memories enough to integrate them into his psyche and take away their power to hurt him. Indeed, we don’t really know if Sam can—Castiel was convinced the damage was too extreme. Yet Sam survived the taking down of the wall and he survived taking back his hell memories. The question this season is: Can he survive his own repression of not only his pain, but his fear of what it means being Lucifer’s chosen one?
Fittingly, Sam’s unconscious uses Lucifer to symbolize his damage. In “Hello Cruel World, “ Dean tried to convince Sam the Lucifer he sees and hears is not real, but Sam is not able to banish completely his doubts. We’ve seen him pressing on his scar, most notably in “Death’s Door” when Bobby was dying. In “Repo Man,” we get a glimpse of what exactly he’s been trying to repress this season. Sam doesn’t just fear the pain of remembering torture. He fears the part of himself that liked being powerful.
Edlund illuminates Sam’s fears by setting up a parallel story with Jeffrey, the man the boys exorcized four years earlier during a serial killing spree. The killings have started again and Sam and Dean come back to town to tie up loose ends. Sam’s own loose end, Lucifer, is a constant presence for Sam, though he’s able to hide the hallucinations from Dean. Sam’s presented his ability to carry on despite his damage as a good thing. Intellectually, he knows Lucifer is his mind’s representation of painful memories, and Sam thinks keeping them together means he can keep a handle on them.
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Article comments
1 - Alice Jester
This one was quite a mind bender, wasn't it? I do love the Edlund style of weaving in all those layers and intricacies just to deliver the major bang at the end that leaves you screaming as we go into break.
I don't know, but Lucifer's presence to me seems like more than a hallucination in Sam's mind. Granted the whole wall scenario is hardly a normal situation, but Lucifer's power over Sam now is very scary. If he is a figment of Sam's mind, then Sam's damage is far deeper and extensive than anyone imagined. That's more than inner fear. That's inner extreme terror. It can kill him. I smile, for again, Edlund has been the only one this season to bring that out properly (see "Hello Cruel World").
I'm with you on Sam embracing those inner violent tendencies. He'll do that for Dean though. I loved seeing it. The best episodes of Supernatural are where they blur that good and evil line.
I do worry for Dean. I'm totally, completely freaked out for Sam, but I'm scared for Dean too. The last thing he needs is another incident to blindside him. I do hope in helping Sam from the brink he will help himself.
Great review. Now we wait to frakkin' March 16th. Life so isn't fair!
2 - Gerry
Alice, so delighted you read and commented!
Yes, this one is a mind bender. I think the writers have a win/win situation as they develop what exactly Lucifer is. I think they have established Sam's damage is so severe it could kill him--Castiel thought it would, and Death was hesitant whether his wall would be able to hold against it, even before Castiel removed it.
My thought on the major emotional arc this season is it is the boys against themselves, fighting to regain their sense of why they do what they do.
Dean's fighting his sense of hopelessness and questioning of whether he's even sure he's on the side of right. To me, that's why he had the Amy story, the Osirus story, Slice Girls and this episode. He's always had a hard time handling the blur between good and evil, because he's so hard on himself (see John Winchester and the striga).
I think his story nicely segues into Sam's because Sam has really feared the difference between good and evil and has always wanted to shut away the part of himself he finds frighteningly dark. The damage has allowed him to take that tendency one step farther and really split his personality. The problem is he's not actually processed anything, he's just forced it down deep. And now that damaged part is in control.
However, this being Supernatural, if the writers end up wanting to suggest Sam and Lucifer have an actual link and Lucifer is influencing Sam from his cage, there's lots of scope in the story so far to make that believable, too. Win/win! I wouldn't be surprised if we're left to wonder and argue about Lucifer's role, rather than having it settled.
I agree, I'm also worried for Dean. We've had a lot of set up for his soul searching this year on whether he can just keep living this life. He's been low. But to my mind, he's been processing in a way Sam hasn't. His emotions have been painful, but they have been acknowledged.
My suspicion is this year is about both Sam and Dean putting themselves back together after having been torn apart by their lives. Dean will regain his sense of why he does what he does and Sam will process his damage and integrate his entire self.
Sam hasn't been whole and healthy since he threw himself in the pit, and he had a terrible sense of self when he did that. He thought he had to atone for who he is. I hope this is the year he realizes he is valuable and wonderful in his own right, whether he's completely human or not. I also suspect a healed Sam will be very powerful. He'll always need Dean to keep him connected to his human side.
How we're expected to wait until March 16th to find out what happens next, I just don't know. Perhaps we can start a support group--Supernatural fans in limbo?