Epic SPN Rewatch: Season 4
Jan. 12th, 2019 10:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
caitriSeason 4 is actually even better than I remembered. There's very little wasted space/weak episodes, and an awful lot of my all time favorites: "Monster Movie", "Family Remains" (what I consider to be the most genuinely frightening episode--because it is about humans), "The Monster at the End of This Book." All of the character arcs are great too: Dean as incredibly insecure Righteous Man, Cas's journey from good soldier to....not, Sam's demon blood addiction.
Which, the first go-round I had a lot more empathy for Sam. He's been manipulated into making a number of bad choices, but in his head, he's convinced he's saving people and especially his brother. But then Chuck is the one who points it out, "C'mon, you're drinking demon blood. You know that's wrong!"
I also remember Castiel's arc, but I hadn't remembered how quickly he falls for Dean. (All but literally, too.) By his sixth episode Uriel is pulling rank and telling Dean that Cas "has this weakness. He LIKES you." By his eighth he has doubts about orders from Heaven. His tenth episode is "The Rapture," where we flashback and learn about Cas's vessel, Jimmy Novak. That ep is an emotional wringer--Castiel (and Heaven) inadvertently destroy an innocent, devout man's life, and his family. (It's rough watching, especially knowing how things will be picked up in S10.) And by the season finale, Castiel chooses to sacrifice himself for Dean (the first of two such such sacrifices, plus three additional deaths). That's a helluva leap of faith there. "I'm learning as we go along" he says as Dean stares at him--some people argue that's when Dean started to fall in love with Cas and I buy it. And he holds off an archangel long enough to get Dean a head start.
Finally, Dean. Dean goes through such an emotional wringer every single season. When he is in the hospital, breaking down in tears in "On the Head of a Pin"--it's utterly brutal. Which, mad props to all the boys for their acting in these episodes--they knock it out of the park every time. Also, forever love to Dean whose immediate response to being told of the imminent Apocalypse was that it was time to go to Vegas and The Star Trek Experience. <3
SPN always has brutal cliffies, but this one is extra so. Looking forward to S5--I remember how seamlessly the two seasons go together. I'm wondering how that aspect will hold up.
Which, the first go-round I had a lot more empathy for Sam. He's been manipulated into making a number of bad choices, but in his head, he's convinced he's saving people and especially his brother. But then Chuck is the one who points it out, "C'mon, you're drinking demon blood. You know that's wrong!"
I also remember Castiel's arc, but I hadn't remembered how quickly he falls for Dean. (All but literally, too.) By his sixth episode Uriel is pulling rank and telling Dean that Cas "has this weakness. He LIKES you." By his eighth he has doubts about orders from Heaven. His tenth episode is "The Rapture," where we flashback and learn about Cas's vessel, Jimmy Novak. That ep is an emotional wringer--Castiel (and Heaven) inadvertently destroy an innocent, devout man's life, and his family. (It's rough watching, especially knowing how things will be picked up in S10.) And by the season finale, Castiel chooses to sacrifice himself for Dean (the first of two such such sacrifices, plus three additional deaths). That's a helluva leap of faith there. "I'm learning as we go along" he says as Dean stares at him--some people argue that's when Dean started to fall in love with Cas and I buy it. And he holds off an archangel long enough to get Dean a head start.
Finally, Dean. Dean goes through such an emotional wringer every single season. When he is in the hospital, breaking down in tears in "On the Head of a Pin"--it's utterly brutal. Which, mad props to all the boys for their acting in these episodes--they knock it out of the park every time. Also, forever love to Dean whose immediate response to being told of the imminent Apocalypse was that it was time to go to Vegas and The Star Trek Experience. <3
SPN always has brutal cliffies, but this one is extra so. Looking forward to S5--I remember how seamlessly the two seasons go together. I'm wondering how that aspect will hold up.
