1. What we saw in the last episode was arguably the peak of Sam
2. Episode 4.01 (“Lazarus Rising”) started from rising, episode 4.22 (“Lucifer Rising”) ends with rising, making it the 5-year long story arc’s climax. Cf. 3.16 (Dean’s “falling” to Hell), 5.01 (the plane rising to the sky), 5.22 (falling). Literary symmetry everywhere.
3. Again, the doors are closed in front of them.
4. And no hug for us this time. Saving it up for a rainy day?
5. The funny cartoon gets sinister in the current context.
6. The plane scene: I’ve got a premonition it was Lucifer himself who shot them that high above. Retrospectively, it’s clear that he didn’t want his vessel killed.
7. Also, what did I tell you about SPN being an allegory of modern [American] society and its fears? The news on the radio mention a terrorist attack is unlikely to be the reason behind the mayhem at the convent.
8. Also, the news the boys hear on the radio while driving back to Chuck’s are life-is-truer-than-fiction: the show scheduled their Apocalypse to mid-2009, and could’ve found plenty of real apocalyptic news in the last couple of years. Apocalypse is an allegory of natural, political and social disasters out now? Good timing, show.
9. The car scene. Here we go again: Sam’s all mea culpa, needs to pour his heart out and explain himself, but Dean won’t have any of it. Thing is, he’s got to figure out what to do, and, most importantly, how to treat Sam after the defeat, and he has to do it independently. And if Sam starts talking, could Dean not give in and grant him complete sympathy and total forgiveness there and then?
10. Chuck reveals Sam’s heart was beating at 200 bpm and his temperature was 150 degrees while he was killing Lilith. Wow. How did he ever survive? See, he was literally SUPERHOT in that scene. Know what I mean.
11. By the way, Sam doesn’t know about Dean’s new deal yet. Isn’t it the first time he sees Zachariah at all? But he’s seen and done so much, looks like nothing’s gonna surprise him anymore.
12. They both have learnt something useful from their mentors: hex bags and the sigil.
13. Now, for their own safety, they shouldn’t and, I guess, they wouldn’t ever separate. They’re both in danger – this is a rare occasion when demons are probably not gonna bother them (in fact, they owe Sam a “fruit basket”), but the angels are after Dean, so they have to stay together no matter how awkward they feel. Fan girls are happy.
14. This episode performs a difficult task of tying up many of the last one’s threads and at the same time introducing some of the main characters and troubles the guys will have to deal with in Season 5, so it feels a little overstuffed, with character after character coming after the boys plus the side-story of Lucifer negotiating with Nick, his first, temporary vessel.
15. Due to the density of the plot, for instance, the brilliantly funny scene of Becky Samlicker81 gets unjustly lost. It’s great slash and fandom is mentioned in the very first episode of the new season, obviously hinting at more fandom references to come.
16. REWIND: While they drive to Chuck’s house, Dean says they’re just gonna hole up somewhere and wait until it’s all over. Do you believe yourself, man? Your escapism tactics don’t work no more.
17. Sam’s “Becky, can you quit touching me?” is telling. Even though this scene is a fan girl dream come true, we don’t want any more women in this show to bother the guys now that they’ve got a much more important job to do, even if these women are their fans, right? And neither do Sam/Dean – they both are completely unamused by the idea of fan girls since “The Monster At The End Of This Book”. Now that Sam’s been so disillusioned by a woman (Dean hardly had time for chicks last year – apart from cheerleaders and a fallen angel, that is), they are definitely not gonna let any woman enter their life and mess with their business. I guess we won’t have any regular female characters in Season 5. Misogynist!Brothers are gonna work it out all by themselves.
18. Frankly, how could you expect Sam to not be deceived by some woman someday? The guy never knew any real women until he went to the college. How did he ever manage to get into that Jessica relationship? Coming from such a dysfunctional family, sure they don’t know much about women and their ways. The world they lived in was always men-centered and lacked any significant female figures – then how the hell Sam managed to have grown up so sensitive and touchy-feely? Well, Sammy was always the girl of the family, but…
19. Archangel Michael looks like Cate Blanchett to Dean? No wonder he wouldn’t want to rent his manly body to such sissy content. It’s an insult for his fragile masculinity! By the way, how implicitly homo or just sexual this angels-entering-human-bodies thing is? Note: the Angels call Dean a “Michael’s sword” – need I say more?
20. It goes to show how low self-esteemed Sam feels that he tells Bobby (Dean won’t listen, anyway) that he’s guilty and about the things he’s done, but makes no attempt to justify why he did them. No excuse for himself.
21. Dean doesn’t want Sam to tell anything to anyone, even to the closest friend they’ve got. The fewer people know what Sam did, the safer they both are?
22. Sam’s remarkably gone from I’m-the-ruler-of-the-world to a repentant sinner mode in a matter of hours. The photography the show uses underlines it: when Sam is speaking to Dean or Bobby, he literally looks them up, because either they have various floor levels in this motel room of theirs, or it’s an effect the camera men employ to show how miserable and small he feels.
23. It’s sad his words fall on unworthy ears. That Bobby turns out to be possessed by a demon but they only find it out much later into their conversation feels scary: it’s a picture of mistrust between them all. Like, you don’t even know what to expect from the closest people, even they can suddenly turn evil.
24. It’s sad that Sam’s normal fighting skills seem to have rusted a bit while he was developing his telekinetic exorcism abilities.
25. Sam’s hair sweep the floor very beautifully in this demon fight scene, if it’s any help.
26. Now that’s something new to us: provided one has enough will, he can resist the demonic beast who’d invaded his body – Bobby stabs himself with the knife Meg thought he would use on Dean. Don’t try to con the con man, indeed. There’s a hope for Sam here, and don’t we get exactly this technique of inner-demon-management triumph fabulously at the end of this season?
27. Why do they have to bring the memory of John and his storage unit back?
29. While in previous episodes Dean tried to see sense in Zachariah’s words, now he won’t have any of it. You even get the feeling at some point that maybe he’s being too categorical, maybe it would do no harm agreeing, as the damage done to him and people he loves would be more harmful if he refuses. But he’s stubborn. Life as an “Angel’s condom” is not something he was dreaming of. Dean: You promised me a mission. Now where is it? Sam gets to stop the Apocalypse, and me? I only get to wear a feathery suit? Not fair!
30. By the way, just how was Sam breathing all this time between when Zachariah took his lungs out and when Castiel appeared and ordered to restore his boys’ health back? If he was at all…
31. Ah, Castiel. Whatever it is, death and resurrection or a lazy vacation in-between the seasons, but he certainly came back on screen changed. He’s in Action Mode for the first time since we first met this character. He was already fighting in “On The Head Of A Pin”, but he never finished these fights himself – Sam helped him out with the demon, and Anna stabbed Uriel with the knife. He wouldn’t even dare use the knife. But now he’s back in full James Bond mode – he kills Zachariah’s minions like he’s done it ∞ times, and, hell, fan girls go HOT! He’s finally dropped his doubts and uncertainties and emerges as an outlaw hero of Heaven. He’s now gonna properly do his job, i.e. protect humans in his charge. Fortunately for them, unfortunately for his superiors. Maybe he’s the only angel left who does follow God’s order: to love humans. And that makes him a freak. Times, they are a-changin’.
32. Yes, he does have not one but two humans in his charge. Surely, Castiel was officially responsible for Dean only, and will only appear when he calls for him or when he’s in trouble. If Sam does, would he bother to lift a wing? There’s a question.
Anyway, he was supposed to protect Dean, but he soon learns that this difficult human being gets all suicidal and risky when his equally difficult brother feels bad – so there’s no way for Castiel to do his job properly rather than to accept the double responsibility.
And he won’t even question it. He gives them both these angel-protecting Enochian sigils in the ribs, without a doubt. He won’t even accuse Sam. All props to him.
33. While the boys managed to emerge safe out of Zachariah’s trap, the sly angel seems to have got to Mr. Singer anyway, so that his health is really damaged now. In Bobby’s ward in the hospital, Dean declares his total independence of the angels vs demons war and acts superhero. He even manages to fool Sam with this bravado.
34. The more painful is the contrast when, as soon as they’re outside, Dean jumps back into defeat mode. And then he tells Sam these scary words. Obviously, his week’s worth of lonely thinking led him to sad conclusions – that however hard he tries, he won’t be able to trust Sam anymore like he used to do. “You’ve been my (only) support”.
He forgives Sam for having unleashed the Apocalypse, but he can’t forget he’d chosen a demon over his own brother, admits Dean in his full drama queen mood. Preferred her over him. How sad is this? And this gap between them when Dean steps back from Sam to wallow in his pain alone, and Sam wouldn’t dare approach him? Oh.
35. But you know what? It’s very clever of Dean. Now that he’s said it, he pretty much secured Sam is not gonna mix with any women any time soon (god, I’m being so misogynist today), because he cherishes Dean’s trust and love too much to risk and lose it once more. Now he’d want to win Dean’s trust back, and that means be a good boy and behave. So, without even knowing it, the suave-n-sleek Dean manages to put this gentle leash on his unbridled little brother. Bravo. Will it work? Oh, even if for a while.
36. Lucifer is a total gender bender. Whoever comes to his vessel disguised as his deceased wife? In a pretty nightgown? Sweet talking to the man like only she knew how? Very clever of him.
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