1. It’s a brilliant episode involving the viewers into the game and playing with the audience’s own experience: what kind of personal paradise would you get when you’ve knocked on your Heaven’s door?
2. Do the guys always sleep with their clothes on? Maybe because the danger is always out there somewhere, and it would be better facing it properly clothed?
3. The hunters in black masks must be friends of those from “Free To Be You And Me”.
4. Dean wakes up (loveable detail: both guys like to sleep while hugging their pillows) and finds one of the hunters has already fumbled beneath his pillow and taken away the trusty gun he always puts there at night. Sam gives Dean this hasty, guilty glance. Like, because of me you’ll have to suffer and risk your life, too, Dean, I’m sorry. And also, it’s a very intimate detail we’ve got here. That Dean still keeps some weapons under his pillow, just in case, but Sam obviously relies on his brother and doesn’t hide anything, not even the precious demon-killing knife, beneath his pillows, and his guilty look may reflect this regret, too.
5. Dean and Sam make no attempts at defending themselves. Sam unleashes the puppy dog eyes of pity at the hunters, but in vain. They know that neither Michael nor Lucifer will let them die for real. But still, it must hurt like hell, guys. And how many times does Dean have to watch his brother being ruthlessly murdered by some dicks?
6. Dean doesn’t really try to figure out a quick fight-or-flight plan he could possibly communicate to Sam by mere glances (they do have a couple of meaningful eye contacts here). But Dean’s just woken up and his reflexes aren’t particularly nice in the mornings (cf. “Jump The Shark”), and, most importantly, he’s too wiped out to fight one more injustice that’s come their way. And that hurts. Even when the hunter “snuffs” Sam, Dean’s not getting loud and aggressive as he’s wont to in such cases – he just stares at Sam’s blood-coated chest and pains, and the conversation the hunters are having (deciding his fate, by the way) seems to mistily flow by him. Then he lifts his eyes at them silently asking Why did you have to do that to him?, and goes all numb (like he realizes such things are bound to happen all the time, and there’s nothing he could do to fight it – it’s, like, resignation in the face of fate) and only then his normal aggression comes back to him.
7. Dean’s “When I come back I’m going to be pissed” shows he’s sure he’ll be saved. He even wants to be snuffed, too – he asks for it. Does he want to escape the destiny? Or join Sam? In “Abandon All Hope” review I asked would Sam and Dean die together like Jo and her mother, and, look, they are dying together indeed. By the way, this never happened before. And the synchronicity is enhanced by the fact that even their last gesture – spread arms – is the same.
8. Clever how the shot through Dean’s chest immediately ends up in the blood outburst of the title card.
9. One of the hunters didn’t really want to shoot the boys, to his credit.
10. Really, Supernatural, if you let them die so often (like death is a convenient plot device to let your characters travel in space and time), you’re gonna de-value the concept of death altogether. They’re perfectly aware of it – cf. Ash’s remarks later (“You boys die more than anyone I’ve ever met”).
11. So it may be like that sometime in Future!Season:
Castiel: Dean. You called me.
Dean: Yeah.
Castiel: *notices Sam lying on the bed, lifeless* What’s wrong with your brother?
Dean: What? Ah, that. He’s dead again.
Castiel: And you –
Dean: He’ll be back in 15 minutes, don’t worry.
Castiel: Then why did you call me for?
Dean: Could you translate this Enochian spell for me?.. What?
Castiel: *stares in disbelief*
12. I mean, the show makes the death of main characters so mundane (not tragic) these days. Doesn’t it cheapen Dean’s sacrifice back in Season 2?
13. Dean wakes up with a start in his car parked somewhere dark to the strains of Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” playing on the radio. To mystify the audience, the show didn’t make it clear from the start whether it was real Heaven or, again, just a Zachariah-induced dream Dean’s found himself in after he’s been snuffed. Could it be the guys were dreaming about being killed? Hunters were pretty real, though.
14. Young Sam with his thing for magic (just a phase, remember “Criss Angel Is A Douchebag”). That’s a beautiful Independence Day firework.
15. 13-year-old Sam gives Dean a hug! He’s much more spontaneous than the big Sam. I’ve been waiting for the guys to hug all this season, and this impulsive embrace is a nice gift. I kinda feel big Sam wouldn’t mind giving Dean a hug, too, only he’s too shy – his brother’s permanently in no mood for chick-flicking this year.
16. So, John forbade his sons to play with fireworks but playing with guns was encouraged. I bet they didn’t even have usual games when they were kids because their whole life has been one big live action game of survival. Mind you, other boys would’ve probably envied Dean if he’d told them about the kind of life he lived.
17. I forgot what pleasure it is to see Dean genuinely happy – no matter if it’s because he’s happy to LARP one of his own good memories or impressed by the firework, or – I’d go for that – is just happy to see his brother so cheerful.
18. The young actor (Colin Ford) this time achieves a really striking emotional and physical resemblance to Jared Padalecki’s Sam: you can really see the older Sam in the way the boy is smiling, waving his arms, flashing his eyes at Dean.
19. Psychologically, it’s interesting how Dean’s first happy memory to come to him in Heaven features his brother. And the way teen Sam and adult Dean interact – I bet that’s how Dean sees his brother to this day – he’s still this teenage boy in his mind’s eye. The way the camera slow motions – he’d like to maybe freeze that moment so that this happiness lasts.
20. Dean consequently reminiscences about the Independence Day firework in 1996, the blue toy car like the one he used to have, and the toy railroad; mother and home, and the night Sam “ditched” them for Stanford – “one of the worst nights of [his] life”. His brother, his love for the road, his family and childhood and his brother again are, predictably, the man’s “greatest hits”.
21. Sam, in his turn, relives the Thanksgiving Day when he was 11 and a girl flirting with him under the table (very “Back To The Future”), the dog from the two weeks he spent alone in Flagstaff, Arizona when he’d run away from Dean’s watch, and his quitting for Stanford night.
22. Stanford seems to be their common memory, but for Sam it’s a happy one. Note how most of Dean’s happy memories are based around family, while these of Sam are all getting away from the family.
23. The season’s running towards the end (whole “myth arc” is!), so the show is currently revealing lots of surprise!family!stuff that retroactively explains many minor mysteries suggested before.
24. Note how their first memories in Heaven are of celebrations (and, traditionally, holidays are time when strange things are bound to happen).
25. Castiel reaches Dean through some spell he’d put on the Impala’s radio – cf. “Changing Channels”, and how should we call it – Caspala?
26. Dean thinks Castiel is hijacking his dream again. Dean, when are you gonna learn?
27. “Some people see a tunnel or a river. What do you see?” For Dean Heaven comes in the form of a road – naturally.
28. Castiel’s “You’re behind the Wall” – another Pink Floyd reference?
29. By the way, the Impala (unlike Sam’s laptop), as well as Dean’s old lighter (cf. “Lazarus Rising”) totally goes to Heaven with Dean (cf. traditional rituals when warriors would be buried with their favourite weapons).
30. Sam thinks he’s dreaming, too, and that Dean crashes in his dream – and he takes it as matter-of-factly as if it’s the most natural thing in the world – and wouldn’t it be HOT, slash girls, if the boys could take a little tour around each other’s sleepy heads from time to time? Kinda “Dream A Little Dream Of Me”.
Dean: So, let’s see what you dream about, Sammy *opens the door*. Hmm, books. Right. More books. God, it’s dark in here. Come on, Sammy, pump down the volume on that alternative emo crap of yours. Where are girls yet? *stops*. Oh. *sees a poster of himself on the wall*.
31. I LOVE the dreamy, magic character of the episode’s beginning. Pink Floyd score helps create the atmosphere immensely.
32. If anything, their Heaven is like their subconscious in flesh. And they even talk to each other while they are each in his own private – and at the same time shared –Paradise, but not to the other people in each other’s memories, like in the Dean and Mary memory – poor Sam, his Mommy ignores him completely.
33. Suddenly the light shudders and goes out, only leaving the two candles (like, two souls) – one is even taller – burning in the living room.
34. Castiel over the TV set – cf. 2004 Vancouver-filmed thriller “White Noise”.
35. “I just need you to follow the road… different people see it as different things… The road will lead you to the Garden. You’ll find Joshua there. And Joshua… can take us to God”. “We should find out what the hell God has been saying”. Is Cas exasperated, he doesn’t mind his language.
36. By the way, what does Castiel think about their death-wish? I mean, Sam wouldn’t mind staying in Heaven for good to prevent Lucifer from taking his body. Suppose they have found a way of hiding from Zachariah and an answer from God. What would their angel do next? Would he try to drag them back down?
37. It’s creepily funny that earlier in Supernatural both Dean and Sam would’ve given everything to live, but now (and in “The Song Remains The Same”) they, on the contrary, would die for staying dead. Ironically, no one is letting them now. I’m already imagining Sam summoning up Crowley and pleading him to take his soul and life away.
38. I guess asking this is kinda silly and at a tangent but when you sell your soul and get dragged to Hell, and then go back, do you retrieve your soul with you? Or have they already melted it into something else? I mean, all these hints at Dean having left part of himself back in Hell, this “inside you’re… dead” from “My Bloody Valentine” and his cruel behaviour towards Sam in this episode – sometimes he does act quite soullessly.
39. When Castiel hadn’t been barred from Heaven yet, he didn’t make attempts to ever meet his Father, but now that they won’t let him home he’s willing to find him. Dad, they’re treating me so mean.
40. The road can be everywhere, so the guys are looking for the road in the house – Dean swings open a closet door (how “Narnia” is this?), and, wow, the man’s got good folkloric instincts – he finds a mechanical toy car ready to be sent across the toy railroad, so he switches it on, and lets it go, and the scenery around morphs and they’ve crossed to another memory. Epic moment.
41. Home. Ha, Dean is wearing “I WUV HUGZ” kiddie t-shirt he obviously used to wear in the happy part of his childhood. And, yeah, Sam, now wouldn’t it be a good time to do that, if he loves it?
42. Mum looks into the room (just think how cosy their pre-1983 house looked like and obviously was), asks Dean if he’s hungry, and sure he is. Now, most fairy tales don’t recommend eating any food you are offered under such circumstances – if you do, it would mean you’ve crossed over onto the “other side”, the down-under; you forget what you were and did on the Earth, it’s a transitional point – and Dean does it (cf. how Mary offers him a PIE later – a traditional Supernatural death token. Mary is like a Death Angel. She’s wearing her usual white colours – folkloric colour of death). And Sam has eaten his food even earlier, at the Thanksgiving dinner. So their house is like a folkloric “log cabin”, the departure lounge between this side and the “other world”. So they actually die twice – in real world, shot by the hunters, and metaphorically, here.
43. Re special sandwiches Mary made for Dean: both Sam and Dean had their four years of “normal” life – Dean when he was a kid, and Sam when he went to college. But Sam had his share of normalcy much later, so don’t you ask why he’s become even madder than Dean over the years – he didn’t have the childhood memories to hold him.
44. Mother ruffles Dean’s hair and, ooh, you rarely get this, Dean.
45. They always forget their ultimate goal – to track Joshua down – distracted by the power of their own memories, and have to remember it to each other – “Dean, uh. We should… go. Keep looking for the road” – “Just… just give me a minute, okay?” Had they not met Ash who made it easier for them to find the shortest way, they probably would have totally forgotten it and would have just kept on travelling across their Heaven until they bumped into Zachariah.
46. Mary ignores Sam, because it’s Dean’s memory. But whatever the boys do individually has an effect on them both anyway.
47. Sam’s got these mixed feelings through this scene. He’s never known and seen Mary’s ways with Dean, so it all must feel alien to him, so he hurries him up, not getting the magnificence of the moment .
48. John’s phone call places the date on this Dean’s memory: May – November 1983. And, yes, we learn John tended to go missing even before he became a hunter. Their marriage “wasn’t perfect until after she died”. For Sam these four years before he was even born have evidently been an idealistic example of a perfect family ideal he probably used while trying to build his own family, but now he learns not everything was pure roses back then.
49. Wow, cf. some early episode when John tells Dean he remembers how Dean tried to cheer him up when John returned back home, battered after a hunt (“In My Time Of Dying”?). So, little boy Dean felt a responsibility to console his Mum (she calls him her “angel”, natch), his Dad, and then he’d spent hours consoling his little brother, all his life.
50. Sam’s “I just never realized how long you’ve been cleaning up Dad’s messes” is a friggin’ intimate compliment.
51. Dean hugs his Mum! Hugs his MUM! And, Dean, if you’re in such “wuv hugz” mood today what’s to stop you from giving a little hug to your brother?
52. Sam finds a “Route 66” postcard in the drawer and his déjà vu immediately brings them forth to his next memory. Note how cleverly the writers parallel American geography and history with Biblical and folkloric tropes. Like, the famous Route 66 serves as a folkloric road/the “axis mundi” leading to the Garden in the middle of Heaven (as later revealed by Ash). If Heaven is America (Promised Land, what?), then the Garden must be somewhere in the Midwest states – Kansas, Texas, thus making their home a… Paradise?
53. The camera focuses on the wall display of various postcards, among which there is the said “Route 66” card. Lots of references to food in this episode – here, to junk food Sam was sustaining himself on when he’d ran away from Dean and was living alone in some motel room for two weeks until they found him. He even had a stray dog for a company.
54. Teenage Sam was so much better at hide-and-seek: Dean was looking for him for a fortnight. To his credit, it should be noted that they hardly had cell phones back then and John went on a hunt and took the Impala with him, to top it all – ha, I bet Sam wouldn’t even try to run away had their Dad been around. So, really, poor Dean must’ve worried himself into a nervous breakdown while looking for his wayward brother everywhere. He couldn’t have gotten too far away, though. “And when Dad came home…” – Dean trails off, and one imagines Dad did give him a good shakedown for his absent-mindedness. I don’t think we know how if ever John punished his “little soldiers” if they failed his orders. Naughty, I know.
55. See, the boys never stop arguing – they’ll find a reason for it even in Heaven, after they are dead.
56. Look how in this scene, if an uninitiated viewer were to watch it, s/he’ll probably get the impression Sam was like a prisoner within his own family – in general, abused.
57. Note how ambivalent both guys are about the alone/together thing. They’ve always lived in each other’s pockets, so obviously they hankered for a bit of loneliness from time to time (especially Sam, an introverted guy that he was). Yet look how they up to now cannot stand being alone for too long. The “where have you been?” or “where are you going?” could definitely enter the Top 5 of The Most Frequent Questions they ask each other. Dean never worried too much if his father was absent for days or weeks (with the exception of the series premiere), but should Sam be missing for even less than a day, Dean would be friggin’ worried and rush to look for him.
58. John evidently felt cold towards any celebrations (“Dad passed out on the couch”) – he was that freaky towards social conventions. Celebrations were a part of family life he didn’t have anymore, so he had all the reasons to hate them – and his kids inherited both his indifference to social conventions and dislike of holidays, but deep inside they both still wanted that, as holidays were a symbol of happiness they could no longer have with the loss of their family structure.
59. Oh, Sam, and you were so triumphant at your newfound independence that you never guessed what mental and emotional torture your disappearance cost Dean? Better late than never.
60. So they go out and straight into another common memory that’s horrible for Dean but happy for Sam – the night Sam quit for Stanford, and why is it the road Dean remembers most of all? Well, I guess, the three of them were in a motel room and Sam told them his news, and a frustrated John told him his “If you walk out that door…” punchline, and Sam walked out, and Dean followed him and they drove to California without saying a word to each other, said goodbye and then Dean drove the Impala back to the motel. And why is it Dean’s “worst night ever”? Why, an intellectual monster named Stan Ford took away his brother, boo hoo.
61. Dean’s more (dis)affected by Sam’s memories than his own ones. Friggin’ soul mates. He maybe (being soul mates) thinks of Sam as part of himself anyway, therefore all he thinks, dreams of, loves should coincide with Sam’s dreams and thoughts, even the favourite memories. And probably Dean feels Sam’s right in a way, that he himself also had urges to run away from home and such, only he wouldn’t let them rule him.
62. Ooh, I want to discuss this scene a bit more. Dean’s been so visibly frustrated and bitter at Sam holding the memory of running away from him as his dear one, and then the boys enter their common memory (basically, Dean didn’t like any of Sam’s memories) of the night Sam ditched his father and brother for college. And Sam seems to recognize this memory instantaneously and actually wants to hightail it as quickly as they can because he knows Dean won’t like this memory especially and he tries to spare his brother the offence and hurries him before he can remember the scene, too (“Alright, come on. Dean… Road. God. Remember?”). But Dean stubbornly lingers and predictably recognizes the memory, too. Now don’t say Sam doesn’t care for his brother’s fragile feelings. And what a beautiful conversation follows. Dean’s certainly being too harsh, and Sam’s showing wonderful patience Dean doesn’t deserve in this case, really. I mean, Dean, if he really didn’t give a damn about you and the family, would he still follow you everywhere? And yes, you’re hurt, but he’s hurt no less – after all, count your blessings – you had four years of happy childhood, your mother doted on you, but he didn’t have any of it (“I never got crusts cut off my PB & J”), so he could’ve put his little attachment to the idea of the family in much stronger terms, to be honest.
63. By the way, it goes against Sam’s earlier desire for a family life and a steady relationship. He grew to appreciate it less. Learnt the dark side of it. Cf. “Swap Meat” ending.
64. Dean’s line “Yeah, but I’m you family… I mean, we’re supposed to be a team. It’s supposed to be you and me against the world, right?” is reminiscent of some Season 1 episode when Sam tells him exactly the same (“Dean. You are the family”).
65. God, Dean is even jealous of Sam’s memories. Dean, you know what, the way you get all possessive around your brother, he’ll probably never gonna have a family of his own, indeed. Just because you disapprove. At heart. But admit. If he were to find a girl to live happily ever after with, would you be that happy, huh?
66. Dean’s so offended Sam’s happy memories are either him being with another family or him being alone. Hell of an interesting discussion, if only Zachariah didn’t interfere at that point.
67. Castiel told them to steer clear from “light” places to prevent Zachariah from getting them. Stay on the dark side, that is. Run from your heaven hound now, boys.
68. The craziest creature in this pretty around-the-bend episode: Ash, a magic helper, in his fancy cape and imitation Venetian carnival (?) mask sneaking in Sam and Dean’s Heaven and helping them hide from Zachariah in his own Heaven.
69. Zachariah, being a senior manager of heaven.com, surely has the passwords and logins and codes and keys to other people’s Heavens.
70. This episode is built like a computer game or a quest: find and “click” on an object (like a “Route 66” card), and you go to another level. Ash’s mask is like an avatar, an anonymous icon/username so that Zachariah won’t recognize him. And the sign he chalks on the door – like it’s a blackboard in his university classroom – granting them entrance to his “bar” – it’s a formula, right? Or a web address? This sign looks very much like the Angel Banishment sigil.
71. Ash’s “Blue Heaven” bar. Long time no see, genius. “Buenos dias, bitches”. Bitches! Ha.
72. Ooh, Ash has got his own geeky way of drinking beer. See, this guy thinks out of the box all the time.
73. College boy would recognize a college boy.
74. Wait, how come the boys have been to Heaven before, only they don’t remember it at all? Dean’s been to Hell and this he remembers quite well. Then, when he was nearly dying in early Season 2 he could sneak peak through the gates. When he was dying 100 times in “Mystery Spot”, including the whole three months in this time loop, where had he been? And Sam, when he died in Season 2 or recently in “The Song Remains The Same”, where did he go? We never learnt that. So maybe the transition from Deathland back to life erases the memories completely in anyone’s case?
75. “Winchesterland”, “Ashland”. I’d totally buy a ticket for a Winchesterland theme park.
76. Heavens are places where people’s dreams come true – cf. in “The Wizard Of Oz” Dorothy could return to Kansas if she helped three creatures achieve their most coveted dreams.
77. Okay, I should digress and put down all of “The Wizard Of Oz” parallels that may or may not be in this marvellous episode. Dean refers to the “axis mundi” they’re searching for as a “yellow-brick” [road] at one point. And while they follow this road, Sam and Dean do discover a clever, geek guy (Ash) (the respective “Wizard Of Oz” character would be Scarecrow), a lion (Zachariah tells them one of his four faces in Heaven is “a lion”), a dog (Bones, not Toto), and only the Tin Man is missing. The boys’ mother at one point turns into some sort of a wicked witch. The reason they’re going down this road is to find Joshua who might as well be a Wizard of Oz because he talks to no one but God. Like the magician in the book, Joshua can’t help the guys much but at least he can send them home. They meet Joshua in the lush, green botanical garden – an Emerald City in its own right (the Garden is Biblical, and so could the Emerald City in the book have Biblical roots, too? Just curious). The Garden is situated in the centre of Heaven/Magic Country, to top it all. The Garden, as Joshua says, is seen by each individual differently – and the Wizard in the book appears in front of Dorothy and each of her friends in different forms. Does this all make Castiel the good fairy? He gives them all directions, after all. Also, in the eponymous film Dorothy sleeps and only dreams of her trip to the wonderland. The boys have also been to a nightmare, you could say. Some film critics say “The Wizard Of Oz” was a metaphor of the frontier moving westwards – how does it parallel the guys’ search for God? I mean, why aren’t Sam and Dean wearing magic ruby slippers in this episode? Oh. I forgot. They can’t even stand anything ruby after what happened last season.
78. If anything, the SPN/The Wizard Of Oz connection has never been so beautifully justified as in this episode. A show featuring Kansas boys should pay homage to the great book.
79. Ash explains the Heaven mechanics to the guys. Everyone has their own “land” in Heaven, and most people are stuck there as happy prisoners. Some people share their Heaven with each other – “soul mates”, as Ash puts it, to some confusion from Dean and Sam. Modern viewers would relate to this idea easily: Heaven here is like one big social network (or a World Wide Web in general), with billions of personal LJs (=Heavens) which are, however, all locked and so each participant can only work within their own little universe. Appropriately, Dean compares Heaven to “The Matrix” film. It’s only geek MIT dropouts like Ash who can hack into other people’s LJs/Heavens. And Zachariah is like a moderator, then.
80. Random thought: angels in Heaven got no gender, neither do users in Web.
81. Ash offers a cute game for us here: try to imagine what famous dead people’s Heavens look like.
82. Another Heaven/Net parallel: it’s one big space (template), and it’s common and not physical.
83. Heaven (the if land) is the place where Ash could fully realize his technical potential: he’s constructed this supersmart DIY computer that can overhear angels “blabbing Enochian” (he’s learnt the language, too) and work as a GPS navigator of sorts. Of course he’s happier here.
84. In a way, it’s like an enchanted land – if Dean stays here longer as Pamela – a guest in Ashland – suggests (and her “Attic’s still better than the basement” line is an instant quote), he might totally lose his count of time on Earth (“down there”, where “real” life is). Basically, in Heaven there’s no time, so people can do whatever they can to while away their endless eternity.
85. Everyone in their Heaven gets a bettered version of what they really wanted in life. I find it curious that John is absent from their happy memories altogether, even though they mention him.
86. Ash’s computer with angelspeak frequencies on – white lines with regular white flashes on a snow-filled screen, soundtracked by piercing ultrasonic whine – now we know that’s how Enochian sounds to humans when spoken by angels without their vessels on. Cool. Anytime I hear my radio whine like that because of some magnetic fields interferences I’ll know these are angels speaking!
87. Learn Enochian, guys – you’ll need it.
88. Pamela kisses Dean, and, ha, I always thought she was more a sucker for Sam and his pretty ass.
89. By the way, all through the season Dean never kisses a woman himself (apart from Jo, but that was a different matter), but women assault him. Sam kisses Jessica once but she’s actually not!his girlfriend.
90. Ash draws this access-to-Garden code on the door of his Heaven in what language or semiotic system? It looks like a standard computer language of ones and zeroes, only artier.
91. They’re supposed to enter the Garden, but it’s their home again (all roads lead to it, it’s the centre, the phantom ideal and utopia they’re always looking for, chasing along their endless roads in real life), only a much darker and more menacing version of it this time. And Mum is here again, asking Dean why he isn’t sleeping yet. Ha! He is. Or is he?
92. It’s Dean’s memory, so Mary can’t interact with Sam, and Dean has to accept all the unpleasantness of her accusations alone, and I bet if she could, she’d have lashed Sam verbally to pieces, because Sam, arguably, was an even worse burden in her life, the cause of her death. Or probably, being a Zachariah construct – a demonic!Mary with yellow eyes – she approves of what’s become of him.
93. Dean notices something’s wrong the moment they enter, so that he won’t even like to look at Mary. “Sammy, let’s get out of here”, he says, but where would you go? There’s no postcard to help you escape this memory, Dean. Zachariah probably just translates what part of Dean’s mind thinks into Mary’s words. See, Dean’s got another Anima-as-his-mother moment here (cf. Sam in “When The Levee Breaks”). Still, it must hurt hearing your mother telling you that you caused her death and she never loved you. And watching the sleazy Angel grope the physical body that is Mary’s spit image – I bet only common sense (and a few of Zachariah’s minions) stopped Dean from tearing Zachariah’s lungs out.
94. Green-coloured scene! Emerald City? I told you!
95. God, why does every supernatural creature seem to lead a massive psychological attack on Dean? No wonder his stamina is so crushed and drained by the episode’s end.
96. Zachariah is a career-builder! Cf. how Ruby was motivated by the desire to serve her job right – so Zachariah used to be an “employee of the month”, too – no wonder he uses the alias of an office clerk; even the first AU he concocted for Dean in “It’s a Terrible Life” was that of a business corporation. In Zachariah’s personal Heaven, if there’s ever gonna be one, he’ll be the big boss – but the “couple of flannel-wearing maggots” he couldn’t “close the deal” on made him an object of ridicule in Heaven. Ha.
97. Zachariah says he’ll always be a mean “angel on [Dean’s] shoulder” – no, thanks. (cf. Ruby to Sam in Season 3). Dean’s already got a literal angel’s mark, yeah, exactly on his shoulder.
98. Heaven is a much more complex structure, with hierarchy, ranks and classes, like some army. That makes Castiel an AWOL.
99. Acid green lighting in this scene makes the boys’ faces look like masks and is decidedly irritating, so you wait and wait for it to switch off yet.
100. It’s never revealed how Heaven and Hell connect. Do people in Hell have their own personal “lands”, too?
101. Joshua comes to the guys’ salvation. Whatever Zachariah wants, there’s still senior management to obey. And, look, Zachariah seems to fulfill God’s will – get Dean to Michael (or is it God’s will at all? Michael’s will maybe? I mean, why did Michael and Lucifer decide God wants their battle at all?), but then God stops him. Confusing.
102. The Garden is a garden indeed, with a glass dome and birds and tall tropical trees – even Dean admits it’s “nice… ish”. Joshua says everyone sees the Garden differently, not necessarily as that beautiful place – and it’s another happy memory in the boys’ life (“The Cleveland Botanical Garden”), and Joshua is a gardener, i.e. the guardian of this place. It’s good they see it as a beautiful place – like, they’re pure at heart.
103. God talks to Joshua and now uses him as a mediator between himself and the guys. The interesting things we learn: (a) God is currently somewhere down on Earth; (b) he wants the boys, Castiel and Angels to “back off” because (c) he’d done them more than a fair favour already (“it’s more than he’s intervened in a long time”) – it was he who resurrected Castiel (so, Cas was right, Raphael wrong) and “put [them] on that plane” – not Lucifer; (d) he won’t advise them to look for him anymore.
104. So, God’s on Earth, sees the Apocalypse is coming and won’t do fuck all. As is his usual wont, though. God is anti-social – he won’t like to meet his angelic children. He’s a recluse, a hermit, a Salinger (cf. how later Chuck is to be a possible God, and he is a recluse). In general, God’s got a sick sense of humour, but it’s pretty rhetorical.
105. God wants the guys to remember what they saw on the “dark side” this time. With a flash of white light, Joshua zaps them back to life and their bodies and motel room.
106. That was hell of a gasp from Sam. Well, a classy nightmare he saw. Must be scary waking up from your own death. By the way, why do Supernatural people always come to life like that? Like, bolt upright in bed, snap open their eyes.
107. In their clean shirts now, the boys are packing up to leave while Castiel is leaning against the pillar, his prominently lashed eyes very sad. His quest for God that started in the first episode of the season is over here. He calls his father a S.O.B. (“I believed in…”). Oh, is he unangelically angry.
108. Isn’t it God’s way of telling Cas and other angels, “Cas, you’re a big boy now, get a life. Stop relying on me, you’re your own boss now”. God, like a good but a strict parent, tells his sons to leave their parents’ home and build their own story and future. Apocalypse is just an initiation test. If anything, these angels are too dependent, they are Daddy’s little girls, and they need to grow up and learn to be independent. In a way, humans (Sam and Dean including) are much more mature than Castiel and his brothers and have got something to teach the Heavenly squad.
110. In despair, Castiel throws Dean’s amulet he’s been wearing for a good few months back at Dean (since when have you learnt that classy habit of the boys of tossing things at each other, Cas?), saying the amulet is “worthless”, and Dean won’t even protest. In fact, Dean seems to share Castiel’s mood at the moment.
111. Does it never occur to Castiel and Dean that the amulet is not guilty because it might be the God is so good at hiding himself that nothing and no one can locate him?
112. Uncharacteristically, it’s Sam who does the pep talk at the end – cf. how in 5.01 “Sympathy For The Devil” Dean was the one with bolstering-up speeches, Sam was all depressed. Dean’s state of mind gradually changed from enthusiastic (if fake) determination to this it’s-all-futile resignation over the course of the season, while Sam’s gone through the reverse process. Dean’s been on a low note since about 5.10 “Abandon All Hope” – for about 3 months by this episode, and he’s certainly reaching the dangerous peak now. Since 5.10 both his inner and outward monsters have been insistently telling him how useless he is. And the guys’ visit to Heaven influenced their spirits differently: Sam’s been motivated by their failure to keep on fighting even harder, while Dean was even more broken.
113. But both men won’t listen or speak to Sam and go disappearing and turn their sexy backs on him, mean bastards. Dean even throws away the amulet and Sam has to watch it, and wasn’t that cruel, Dean? It’s his “No” to Sam’s helpful consolations. He doesn’t even turn to face him.
114. Some people commented how it could be that Dean disposes of the amulet because Dean’s disappointed in his brother or something – now, having watched the episode, I don’t think that’s the reason at all.
115. See, Dean wore his amulet (given to him by Bobby through Sam intended for John – all of the most important people in his life) all his life, and was really reluctant to give it to Castiel in the season’s beginning, as he thought it was special and protective and what not. But now that he sees the thing seems to have no power – he’s been walking without it for over half a year, and nothing worse than usual happened, and nothing better either, in Castiel’s hands, so he now treats it as a mere bling-bling that his imagination elevated into a magic object, so gets rid of it emotionlessly.
116. Probably the amulet was a symbol of faith, a belief that God protects them but now that they know the truth, neither of them needs this token – so wasting it is like a declaration of independence. If he throws anything, it’s his vane hope and futile belief, not brotherhood. I don’t think he means to hurt his brother at all. He says he’ll do it himself now, thanks, with no help from God. Now they ARE making their own future for real. They don’t need toys and substitutes of faith and power anymore. All miracles are hand-made and do not depend on any magic thing-a-lings.
117. It’s kinda great what message the writers put into this episode: they explain God’s obvious not-doing-anything as if the God wants to tell humans: Kids, grow up, you are the only ones who can and should take moral responsibility for all your actions, don’t pass it over on me. Only you can stop whatever disasters you’ve started. I won’t be doing your job.
118. I bet this is gonna be one of my favourite episodes of Supernatural ever! And, Messrs Dabb and Loflin, I even am not against you making bawdy jokes at Dean’s expense anymore, as long as you provide us with an excellent episode like this every once in a while.
119. I think the sheer amount of creative bravery Supernatural dared do here – creating a version of Paradise of its own – deserves immense respect.
