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« Critical Myth
Supernatural 3.15: "Time Is on My Side"
This episode gets the season arc back on track, and brings the quality back to its usual excellence. This has nothing to do with the well-discussed death at the end of the episode (which has been celebrated far too loudly with a blood thirst that is disturbing to behold), but rather, the exploration of how far Sam is willing to go to save Dean’s life.
Both brothers are challenged in terms of the lengths they will go to change Dean’s fate. In previous seasons, Dean would probably have been the one with questionable morals, or at the very least, the one willing to take chances with his own existence. The past year has forced Dean to consider what he has to live for, and with the war still escalating and Sam’s nature still in doubt. Saving Sam is not purely a matter of keeping him alive.
Sam, on the other hand, has allowed his desperation to save Dean to undermine his usual compassionate perspective. With a bit of time to reflect on the matter, it’s unlikely that Sam would have suggested that Dean endure an existence like that of Doc Benton. After all, would Sam really want Dean to have to replace worn or damaged organs and body parts to survive? And there was no guarantee that immortality would have saved Dean at all.
In the process, however, Dean managed to get one over on Bela, whose motivations were finally clear. Hopefully, Bela’s exit was not purely a response to fan pressure; fans should never have that much power, as it is inevitably abused by those with an extreme point of view. Instead, I would hope that Bela’s demise was a response to the writers’ inability to give her a solid and balanced role on the series. The potential was there, and the character has its place, but the writing staff never seemed to find it.
But the writers did manage to give her a logical exit, and it provided the link between Dean’s current situation and Sam’s competition for control of the demonic horde. In my opinion, Sam’s attitude about Doc Benton and Lilith’s interference adds to the long list of plot elements pointing to Sam’s decision, possibly in the finale, to assume the mantle of Antichrist. Sam’s character arc this season has been pointing in that direction for quite some time, and if they don’t go in that direction, the alternative will need to be equally compelling.
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May 11, 2008 7:06 PM
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long list of plot elements pointing to Sam’s decision, possibly in the finale, to assume the mantle of Antichrist.
Oh, that just makes me queasy even reading that...
But what's really scary is that Jared has said himself in interviews to really watch Sam's changing behavior to see if it's pointing to something in the storyline...and the whole "Sam going bad to take control of the demon hoarde to save Dean" would fall into line with that.
Crap!
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May 11, 2008 7:18 PM
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One of the things I loved about this episode, is that Sam was without even a moments hesitation was willing to be the first one to take the immortality formula. So that Dean could be saved without it having a death sentence for himself.
One of the best episode of the season and series, I really loved it.
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May 12, 2008 12:05 AM
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The problem I had with Bela's character was that she got away with too much. In every situation she was able to get the better of the boys and make them look foolish in the process. Kripke admitted as much in a couple of his interviews. I think his own realization about what the writers had done with Bela was what induced him to end her character, and the way it was done was brilliant.
But who knows if that was the last we will see of her? If Dean is indeed sent to hell in the finale, she may show up again.
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May 12, 2008 2:34 PM
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Metalligirl:
See, in my estimation, I don't think Sam would "go bad" per se. I think he would assume his place, the one mentioned by Ruby (which is why I think Kripke continues to say she's important), with the intentions of playing the bad guy. He could then save Dean by overruling or challenging Lilith and, potentially, fight the demonic horde from the inside. I think he would expect Dean to be in a position to help find a way to get him off the throne ASAP.
But...I also think that Sam would be strongly tempted by the power at his command. With Sam already teetering on the moral folcrum, so to speak, he could start straying into demonic territory himself. That would effectively reverse their current situation, because the fourth season could be the race to save Sam before his situation corrupts his soul too far.
I may be wrong, but that's where I've felt the story going for a very, very long time.
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May 12, 2008 2:39 PM
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Oh, that's good...that's very, very good!
My first thought when you wrote "playing the bad guy" was that absolute power corrupts absolutely and what's to stop Sammy from sliding down that slope? But then you addressed that in the very next paragraph...
I think you're definitely onto something here...it will be very interesting to see how this all pans out.
Thanks for your thoughts! They're very intriguing.
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May 12, 2008 3:19 PM
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