Supernatural: More Fuel for the John Fire
Poing!
Yep, it seems John was in town 19 years ago investigating a bunch of grave robberies. He suffered a "hunting accident" and went to the local hospital, where Kate -- Adam's mom -- cared for him. Romance -- or at least nookie -- blossomed, and nine months later, a son was born. John didn't know about Adam until the boy was 12, but he embraced him -- visited when he could, took him to baseball games on his birthday, bought him his first beer, taught him to drive in the Metallicar... it's that last bit that makes Dean snap. We're John's sons, you're an imposter or a demon or a shapeshifter or a SOMETHING, and I cannot, WILL not, believe you're who you say you are!
But Dean is eventually convinced -- there are a whole bunch of happy John pictures, the times John was with Adam coincide with blank or cryptic parts of the journal, and Kate was apparently grabbed by something that dragged her into the air duct and caused a big mess. Let's face it -- contact with John often leads to contact with monsters. So now the boys just have to figure out what to do about it. And where the guys end up on the issue is surprising, because they've flipped positions from season one: Sam wants Adam to be a relentless hunter who has no outside ties, and Dean wants him to have a normal life. Dean asks Sam what's going on.
Sam: Dean, when I look at Adam, you know what I see?
Dean: A normal kid.
Sam: No. Meat. Because to the demons and monsters out there, that's all he is. So we didn't have a dog and a white picket fence, so what. Dad did right by us. He taught us how to protect ourselves. Adam deserves the same.
But Dean has a different perspective:
Dean: It's too late for us. This is our life, this is who we are, and it's fine, I accept that. But with Adam, he's still got a chance, man, he can go to school, he can be a doctor...
Sam: What makes Adam so special?
Dean: What are you jealous of the kid?
Sam: Are you? Dean, all this, it's not real. The dad Adam knew he wasn't real. The things out there in the shadows, they are real. The world is coming to an end, that's real. Everything else is part of the crap people tell themselves to get through the day.
Dean: Dad didn't have a choice with us, but with Adam he did. Adam doesn't have to be cursed!
Sam: He's a Winchester. He's already cursed.
So same adopts Adam as an alterna-brother, just like Dean did with Nick back in Sex and Violence. And just like Nick, things ain't what they seem. Sam looks at Adam and sees meat, and Adam returns the favor. That's because Adam and his mom are ghouls. They take the form of the last people they've eaten, and they decided to branch out from feasting on dead things to creating dead things on which to feast. John killed their ghoul father when he came into town all those years ago. now they're going to return the favor by killing John's sons. They trap Dean in their crypt lair, and cold cock Sam and tie him to a table. They're going to feast on him -- while he's still alive. Let the bleeding begin!
Fortunately, Dean gets out of the prison and rescues Sam. You kill a ghoul by destroying the head, so he dispatches Kate-ghoul with a headshot. Adam-ghoul gets a more personal approach -- Dean bashes his head in with a lamp. It takes a long, long time. Urg. All the while, Sam is bleeding out. Uh-oh. We're guessing he's going to need another demon transfusion soon...
The guys give Adam a Hunter's send off, torching the body. Because yes, he was John's son. John really did have another family, a normal one that didn't labor under the same curse. He really did have a son he took to ball games. He had a son who was allowed a normal life. That son got eaten by a ghoul in the end, but he had 19 years of normality -- something our boys never had. Oof.
And Dean tells Sam he's figured something out:
Dean: I finally get why you and dad butted heads so much: You two are practically the same person. I mean, I worshiped the guy -- I dressed like him, I acted like him, I listened to the same music -- but you were more like him than I will ever be. And I see that now.
[Pause]
Sam: I'll take that as a compliment.
Dean: You take it any way you want.
OK, so how do YOU take that? And how did you take the rest of the episode?
Has your opinion of John changed? Are you still suspicious that Adam wasn't really John's son? Did the boys' change of view on Hunting surprise you? Talk!
Comments
This episode was absolutely amazing. Great tension, sadness, and hilarity all packed into one hour long episode. But I do have one grevience to air. In the end where Sam is tied down by the ghouls, both his wrists were slit in 2-3 places, vertically. That is a VERY serious wound and would take more than just two towels, and homemade stiches. That would have definately required a hospital visit. Maybe they just didn't show it, but that left me feeling a little uneven because that is one thing that the Winchesters can't patch up themselves. Also (sorry I know this is a lot), why would Dean take SO long beating the ghouls brains in if he saw Sam's wrists and knew there was limited time?? Dean is the very protective brother and that just seemed off to me. The Dean that I've grown to know in these past 4 seasons would go for Sam first, evil later. Idk it just seemed weird to me. Maybe I'm crazy.... But the episode was extremely amazing and I enjoyed every moment of it! The acting on both Jared and Jensen's part was outstanding. Keep up the great work Kripke & Co!!
Posted by: Sady | April 26, 2009 7:07 PM
I voted I liked it, I would have voted I loved it but you put "It changed the way I looked at Dean and Sam" and it didn't change the way I looked at Dean and Sam. I've always thought Sam had an arrogant streak a mile wide and was very much like John in his tendency to get tunnel vision. I've thought Dean's opinion of his father was shifting all throughout the seasons and this is perfectly logical as was his reaction to Adam, he's never been about putting untrained people in harm's way if he can at all help it, only as a very last resort. So to me Dean was Dean and Sam was Sam.
Also Dean beat GhoulAdam because he'd dropped the gun. He was so worried about Sam, he ran to him right after GhoulMom was killed without making sure GhoulAdam was dead. It's not easy to bash someone's head in, so it took him quite a few times to do so.
Posted by: Em | April 25, 2009 9:16 PM
I'm not surprised by how either brother acted. I think it fits with where the characters are going. It was a believable transition. All through Sam's speech to Adam I just thought about season one Dean who was all about the "family business." They have changed and their view of their father has changed and it makes sense.
Posted by: Erin | April 25, 2009 12:25 PM
that last comment was convoluted with lots of layers of subtext wasn't it!
loved it though...and its true.
dean lived that life out of respect and responsibility, but sam started out of revenge..the same reason as john.
and dean is 'weak' after hell - but sam doesn't let the cure of deamon blood stop him from being strong for the fight...i dont know, but he doesnt have to dress like john to help him fight demon, like dean.
very interesting.
take care guys!
oxxo Shailee
Posted by: shailee | April 25, 2009 4:49 AM
It's kind of weird, but if John had raised Adam like Sam and Dean, bottom line-he and his Mom would most likely still be around.
Posted by: pizzapixie | April 24, 2009 6:05 PM
I think it's pretty certain that Adam was John's son - photographs, John's having been on the scene 9mths prior to Adam's birth, the ghouls' revenge motive. It all fits. Sam's perspective on hunting surprised me. Dean's didn't. Dean has expressed more than once (especially in Something Wicked) that he wished he could have protected Sam from the truth. And his recent trip to the past (In the Beginning) he learned that his mother wanted to protect her children from the hunters' life as well.
Posted by: Scarlotti | April 24, 2009 3:48 PM