Supernatural - "Jump the Shark"

[kitsu84]

This is one episode that left me feeling - unsatisfied? Conflicted? Angry?

So the Winchesters do indeed - or shall I say did have a younger brother; a brother who was brought up by a good mother; who had father that took him to baseball games, and took him fishing.

Normal parents. A normal life. Something which Dean Winchester has never known, and something that Sam Winchester has only had a small taste of: normalcy. Too bad the kid's been dead a while, and is in fact a ghoul intent on killing the Winchester brothers because their father killed his.

Strange, though, isn't it? Strange how a man who seemed so obsessed with seeking vengeance for the death of the love of his life could in fact being living a second 'normal' one.

♠ Dean -

Oh, Dean. I can only imagine how you must've felt, standing there looking at this boy who had everything you've always wanted: A normal life, a mother, a father who was proud of you. And yet, despite all of that, you still wanted to protect the boy; protect him from the life of a hunter. Even when faced with something such as this, you put your anger aside, and thought of the boy.

♠ Sam -

What's going on here, Sam? This boy has a fighting chance at something that you want for yourself and Dean, and yet you're so quick to condemn him to the same tragic life that both you and your older brother have been forced to bear? What has happened to you?

By the way, Sam, I honestly don't think that was meant to be a compliment, and quite frankly, I agree completely with your brother: you are exactly like your father, in both the good ways and the bad.

♠ Papa Winchester -

A double-life. I must admit that I never would've thought that you would be capable of something such as this, Papa Winchester. Still, you never abandoned the boy. You made sure to let him know that he was loved - something all fathers should do, but unfortunately, many don't.

Maybe if you had showed the same consideration to your other two boys, things would've been different...

That's all I've got to say on this episode. I was left feeling extremely angry, and I actually felt like crying, so yeah... I'm just going to stop there before I actually do start crying.

Oh, boys... I love both of you so very, very much.

KITSU'S FINAL GRADE: C+

Comments

[raphaellover.livejournal.com]

I just don't understand the point of this episode?!?!?!

I mean, it added NOTHING to the show. Sam's John-ness was already disgustingly apparent, something else could have triggered Dean's notice of it. I don't even think his reaction to Adam was a decent enough trigger because, despite being like how John treated them, it's not how John treated Adam.

It's just... dumb.

All it does is make me like John Winchester less, and that actually sucks balls. I liked the guy, even with all his flaws before, even with how much he hurt Dean... I sort of understood. He was obsessed. Dedicated. Blind. But now, with Adam, we're shown that that's not necessarily the case. He could play decent dad quite easily and not bat an eye... he could put at least one child's happiness/sanity/well-being before hunting and darkness.

And it even lessens his love for Mary, if you ask me. That he would put Mary's children in the one place she NEVER wanted them to be (even if he didn't know that, you'd think, being half Mary's, John would have loved them so much that he'd tuck them away to keep a piece of her), and then some one night stand's son, whom he doesn't learn about until way later... well, he gets protection and support. Fuck that shit.

I just... John is dead. John was super flawed. Couldn't they have left us our delusions of him trying the best he could with what he had?! That's all this episode did... it ruined my love of a great character.

Now I'm upset. Great.

[kitsu84.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I think that was the reason for this episode: To show that John was like any other man - he had needs, flaws, and was in fact not the hero Dean always thought of him to be.

I think another reason for it was to further fracture the boys' relationship.

[raphaellover.livejournal.com]

But see, I saw Dean become a bit disillusioned with John at the end of season one. I don't think he's hero-worshipped him that hard at all lately. So, again, this episode was pointless to me. And the Sam=John thing was obvious since the very first episode.

And I don't see it driving enough of a wedge between them. They've already been running in the opposite direction from each other. The demonic powers thing is a MUCH bigger issue.

That's all I'm saying. This episode didn't bring in anything new. Dean may have been hurt, but I don't think he loved his dad any less.. or thought less of him for it. He defended John's (very Mary-like) reasons for keeping Adam out of things. He empathized. All Sam's behavior did was highlight where and why John (and now Sam) was so selfish and misguided. Dean already knew enough of that to call Sam on it.

So, I don't know. There were so many other paths up the side of that mountain, bb. Bringing in a new brother for all of 45 minutes was kind of... pointless.

If anything, it sort of made it all blatant... and laid it out, Cliff's Notes style. ^_~

[kitsu84.livejournal.com]

I guess from that point of view, it does indeed make sense. There were plenty of directions the Kripkeeper could've went without turning down the 'long lost brother' route. So, yeah... I agree with you there.

Still, I do believe that something broke in Dean where John was concerned. So, on that front, I disagree. I think Dean did indeed loose a little bit of love for his father, as did the rest of us. That much was evident in what he said to Sam.

[raphaellover.livejournal.com]

Ok, I do actually agree with you there (on losing a bit of love for John... 'cause I TOTALLY did), so I worded that wrong... I just meant, I don't get why that was necessary to do that is all. I do think it's the only relevant shift in the episode, but I don't get the point of it. That bit of faith he had in John doesn't affect the faith/love he has for Sam... even if he DOES think Sam is similar, he judges Sam based on Sam's actions alone. Becoming more disillusioned with his father means nothing in the trajectory of the show.

John is dead. Adam is dead. I don't get why they had to knock Papa Winchester down another peg. Why they had to take even that away from Dean. Are they trying to make him wholly dependent on Cas? I'm cool with that if they are, but it hurts me.

I liked John before. I'm a bit sickened by him now. And I break even more for Dean. But, I don't get why it was necessary to do that to Dean/the audiance. What does it prove?

All this episode did was take a little bit of something away from me/Dean. I don't think it moves the plot along in any direction it wasn't already going.

*hugs* <--- needs that :(

[kitsu84.livejournal.com]

The whole point of this episode was to show just how much the boys have changed since season one, I suppose. To show the audience just how far they've fallen away from one-another. The younger brother was just a plot-device to successfully demonstrate that fact.

Are they trying to make him wholly dependent on Cas?

You know... believe it or not, I actually think that's where the Kripkeeper is planning to go. Or at least, I hope he does. ♥

*hugs* <--- needs that :(

Aw, bb... *hugs tightly*

[raphaellover.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I guess that's why it's blah to me... blah + suckage.... major (to quote the Ghostfacers, teehee). Because, I think most fans GET what's happening (or at least, I hope they do). I don't really like having it all spelled out to me. Especially at the expense of my John Winchester love. They took away too much to tell me something I already knew. :(

That's the only solace I can take. If they hurt Dean (and me) with knocking down John even more the least they can do is build Dean back up with Cas. Because all I'm getting on the Winchester - Dean front is that Sam and John are "better" when Dean's not around. At least, that's how I'd take it if I were Dean. He's not strong enough/a good enough brother to fight with or listen to (going to Stanford, going after Lilith, siding with Ruby, etc); He's not a good enough son to treat like a son.

It hurts!! *sniffles*

So, at least Castiel loves him/has the utmost faith in him. If they're going to destroy everything in Dean's life and make him so unloved, the least they can do is give him a Cas-bear to cuddle.

*hugs back* You needed one, too!!

[jsluv.livejournal.com]

This is what I thought as well and ITA!! with you on everything you have said.