Supernatural

[norwich36]

The existentialist Teddy Bear was a real bit of comedic genius, I think. I cannot decide which part of it was funniest: the porn? the fact that the way he was rocking when Dean and Sam first opened the door made it appear like he was masturbating? The absolutely dumbfounded look Sam and Dean exchanged on realizing it was a real Teddy Bear? Dean's (quite legitimate) fear that shooting it and setting it on fire would simply result in an angry flaming Teddy Bear? The fact that the only answer the poor thing got for the meaning of its existence was to have tea parties with Audrey? Its unsuccessful suicide attempt? The fact that Audrey's bear was clearly recovering from its wounds in the final scene? Just sheer brilliance, the whole storyline.

Though honestly I felt worse for the Teddy Bear than for Joxer the Mighty Ted Raimi's character, who I think we were supposed to sympathize with for losing the one thing he wanted most in life. There were serious issues of consent in his relationship with that woman, and I kind of wish Dean and Sam had brought that up when they were trying to persuade him to take back his wish, rather than just focusing on how life is pain, or whatever point it was they were trying to make to him.

I felt much worse for Sam and Dean than either Ted or Teddy, though. Dean's revelation that he remembers hell, and that hell's horrors are so unspeakable and unforgettable that he will never be free of them, was really stunning. I didn't think they'd say he remembered it all, despite what Uriel said last week; I thought maybe he was having dreams and flashes of things. No wonder he's drinking so much.

And yet somehow I found Sam even more heartbreaking in this episode. Sam's confession that he can't even wish for the kind of dream of a golden life he wanted in the past--the one pretty much everyone in the episode was wishing for--since he's so damaged, kind of broke me. (Ok, he didn't actually say he was damaged, he said he was changed--but I took it to mean he can't even imagine another life now. And of course that's very pragmatic, and it was wise of him to avoid making cursed wishes, obviously, but he wouldn't even play the wishing game, with Dean. The only wish he can imagine is bloody vengeance on Lilith. I think even John Winchester, given a choice between vengeance on Azazel and getting Mary back, would have chosen Mary. And maybe it's true that Sam, now, couldn't go back to a golden life with Jess, and he's embraced things the way they are, but the gap between his desires and what Dean wants for him are just another symbol of the widening divide between the two of them this season.

That rift was really reinforced by Dean's speech at the end of the episode, too; like Sam's speech in Metamorphosis, it underscored one of them was fundamentally transformed by an experience the other one can neither share nor understand. OH, BOYS, you break my heart.

Two more light-hearted things, since I am underplaying some of the sheer comedic fun of this episode:
I love that Sam bogarted the "getting to save naked women" job from Dean. Hah ha ha! Though it was fun that it gave Dean a chance to prove he can pull the research mojo when he needs to. (And I'm glad that Sam didn't hit on the woman after he saved her; one could interpret that as him saving her from Dean's advances.)

And I was a little worried about Dean's adorability-with-kids mojo, because despite working the lollipop disease angle, he seemed to not really connect with Audrey, and he was really FAILBOATING with Todd ("kneel before Todd,")--not even his Spider Man references were effective!!--and kudos to the writers for working a DC and a Marvel comics reference in the same scene!--but the fact that he helped Todd with the bullies even after Todd nearly killed him? was completely made of awesome.

Oh, and did anyone else say "Uriel, you're not supposed to use that wishing well" immediately after Sam got zapped by the lightning? No, it was just me? Never mind

ETA: I almost forgot, my favorite part is Sam writing the book "Supernatural," because it gives fanfic writers another potential series ending besides the "Butch and Cassidy" one that comes up in interviews. After the demon wars are all over Sam clearly becomes a "novelist" (really a memoirist) writing Supernatural, and he and Dean retire and settle down and only hunt very occasionally, when something big comes up.