The road so far… We’re missing some reviews of Supernatural in our backlog — specifically episodes 301 through 310 — so we’re going to spend part of our summer with the Winchesters salting, burning, and catching up. We’ll be reviewing episodes on Wednesdays; follow along with us by watching the episodes on Netflix, Blu-ray, DVD, Amazon, or on iTunes.
For more on IGN TV’s summer flashback reviews, click here.
Note: Full spoilers for the episode follow.
They really tried to get the audience to like Bela in Supernatural: Season 3, huh? The character has charm and so does Lauren Cohan, but after her constant betrayals, there’s no reason the Winchesters should be calling her. They have to have other contacts in their Rolodex who won’t stab them in the back. It made no sense for her to be in “Dream a Little Dream of Me,” and it made less sense that the Winchesters or Bobby would trust her.
Does she have Poison Ivy-esque pheromones we don’t know about? It’s about the only explanation I’d buy. It would also explain why Sam’s suddenly into her. Sure, she’s beautiful, but she’s Bela. They deserved to have the Colt stolen from them. The idjits.
Bela problems aside, the episode about dreamwalking had a lot to offer. Perhaps the biggest highlight was Bobby Singer becoming less one dimensional. He’s been around since Season 1 so learning about his past was overdue. He’s more than a problem-solver, researcher, and a father figure to the Winchesters. It was interesting to learn not even they knew how Bobby got into hunting. Since the situation involves his wife, it’s clearly painful for him and gives new meaning to the way he treats the Winchesters like family. I want to give Bobby a hug.
One of the best parts about having Bobby around is how he doesn’t hold back from asking the blunt questions. Sam and Dean could learn from him. He more or less called Sam out by asking whether Sam used his fancy powers, and I’m glad they’re keeping the topic on the table. How else did Sam manage to take control of the dream? Like always, he did what he had to do to save his brother.
Bottoms up.
It’s been eye-opening to go back and see how long Sam has fought for Dean. He’s put everything on the line. On one hand, it’s admirable, but you have to wonder if it would be best for both of them to just let go. But even at this early stage of the show, I don’t think they would know how to live without each other. Jared Padalecki really brought Sam’s frustrations with Dean home at the beginning of the episode, and it would seem his words had an effect.
When Dean fell into his dreams and had to face his nightmares, he had to look himself in the eyes. In a way, that complemented what he saw with Lisa. Part of him wants a normal, apple pie life. That part of him has to fight against the part of him that has been trained to focus only on the family business and taking care of Sammy.
Though John Winchester has been present in the series, it’s sometimes easy to forget how much baggage he left behind with his sons. His influence is obvious in their day-to-day profession, but the negative aspects are more insidious — especially when it comes to Dean. Dream Dean knew which buttons to push and how to make real Dean’s inner demon come out. So many layers of Dean’s personality were battling for top place, and angry Dean won.
He conquered himself for the moment, and it took the extreme encounter to make him both realize and admit he’s actually not ready to die or go to hell. He asks for Sam’s help (in not so many words) and that’s a huge step for Dean. And wow, did Jensen Ackles nail every scene. There were some off-putting camera movements and editing decisions that took away from the Dean vs. Dean showdown but only slightly.
Favorite Bobby Singer quote: “Everybody got into hunting somehow.”
