Goodbye Stranger, Supernatural “Soul Survivor” 

OK, I entertained not writing a blog about this particular episode.

Don’t get me wrong. I like “Soul Survivor.” I think Jensen did a great job pulling double duty as actor and director. And I’m so happy for Sam (and Jared) because Sam finally got to save Dean from something so huge. That part is so satisfying.

What’s not as satisfying is the fact we had to say goodbye to Demon Dean already. I’m just not ready to let go of him. I enjoy him way too much. I feel the same now that I did when the Purgatory flashbacks ended midway through season eight. Why get rid of a good thing so soon? There’s much more to mine from the Demon Dean situation. Three episodes isn’t enough. It’s just not. He couldn’t have stuck around until the 200^th episode? I would have been okay with that. I’m well aware that you can’t have a Demon Dean around for roughly half a season like you did Gadreel!Sam or Soulless Sam. But it needed to be more than three episodes.

I guess you can consider me a Demon Dean Girl. I know that there is talk of Dean’s story somehow continuing since he still has the Mark of Cain. I’ll believe it when I see it. Alas, unless we get flashbacks or somehow that Mark leads Dean down a demonic path once again, I’m going to have to rewatch the last 11 minutes of “Reichenbach” coupled with the Demon Dean stalking Sam business in “Soul Survivor.” Because, to me, the demon is the most fully realized in those scenes.

Random Thoughts about the events of “Soul Survivor”

-Much love to Sam the “one-armed doctor” (Jensen’s words – go check his Twitter account). He had to steal enough blood to cure his brother. He didn’t have the sling but he managed not to use his bum arm. Go, Dr. Sam Winchester. And I don’t know why but I find the whole “Doctor, Father” exchange hilarious.

-I hope the show explains someday why Dean didn’t want to seek the cure from the get go. Although maybe not. The powers that be would probably say he really wanted to howl at the moon for a while. I choose to think he felt like he deserved the punishment after what he did to Sam last season (which also led to Kevin’s death). I go for the angst every time. Cas did give some sort of explanation but I want to hear it from Dean.

-It must have been so hard for Sam to watch Dean go through that pain. Part of me thought Demon Dean was faking it. But I don’t think those growls of pain were fake.

-Apparently Hannah is Dean. And Cas is Sam. Because we get the obligatory “How are you holding up — I’m fine” conversation in a car, which actually results in a pretty funny moment:

Hannah: “You say you’re fine but you don’t look fine.”

Cas: “It’s what the humans do. They say they’re fine. And even if I…I don’t look it, you say I look well and that way we avoid talking about something we can do nothing about.”

-Cut to the end of the episode when Cas tells Dean he looks terrible. And Dean wishes he had lied. More hilarity.

-Sam basically introduces Loser Lester to the (crossroads) demon world. LL ends up selling his soul and ultimately this path kills him (thanks to Demon Dean). And it could have resulted in someone else getting killed (Lester’s cheating wife). The guy is pathetic as we learned in “Reichenbach” and has no reason for feeling so damn sorry for himself. But still, while it’s a very clever move on Sam’s part, it’s a very dark and dangerous move to make. It does show how far he’s willing to go to find his brother. And for that, I’m on board. But I don’t know. I pictured Sam doing worse. I guess he did play with human lives. And that’s never cool.

-Crowley is back on top and really has a Game of Thrones thing going in hell where he punishes those who didn’t choose Team Crowley. But, seriously, how cute is it that he flashes back to his misadventures with Squirrel? (I can’t believe I used the word ‘cute’) He has it bad for Demon Dean. I really wish they showed us bonding scenes we haven’t seen yet.

-“I was just thinking of better days.” Oh, Crowley. I love you. And nobody else can take Demon Dean’s place. So glad Crowley does away with the wannabe howl at the moon buddy.

-This was an ambitious episode to give Jensen to direct. And he worked it…on both sides of the camera. But part of me wishes the entire hour took place in the bunker instead of jumping from the bunker to hell to the car/gas station. Since this was the final episode of Demon Dean, I wanted as much of him as possible. For me the action completely stops whenever it cuts to Cas and Hannah. I just really wanted Cas to be involved in things with Sam way before the end of the episode. At least Crowley gave Cas a temporary reprieve by lifting an angel’s grace and giving it to him.

-Cas and Demon Dean never got a real scene. That’s one of the reasons why I think DD needed to last longer. It’s really upsetting to me that this didn’t happen.

-I didn’t like cutting away to hell either. But, damn, Mark Sheppard keeps me entertained with the way he so eloquently delivers his amazing one-liners. So in the end I was cool with it.

-Demon Dean has some identity issues. At one point, he says you can’t bring your brother back. And then s few seconds later (after the “Lean Mean Dean” line) he’s saying things like, “You notice how I tried to get as far away from you as possible…” Me thinks he started utilizing the “I” when he really wanted to hurt Sammy.

-“We don’t get to quit. This family is all we’ve ever had.” Remember you said that, Sam. Just saying.

-And does OG Dean believe any of the stuff Demon Dean had to say? It’s hurtful and hard to hear, especially the stuff about Sam being responsible for their mother’s death. I want to think DD was trying to hurt Sam in every way possible. So he played the Sam ruined my life card.

-I still wish these scenes had gone further with the conversation. I like anytime they bring up the past whether hurtful or not.

-Crowley: “You’re guilty of something. Which I won’t tolerate. Whatever it was.” Perfection.

-Demon: “You run off with your boy toy, Dean Winchester…” One of the best lines in this episode.

-What was the point of the demon who didn’t want to live in the Hell Crowley made? He killed himself. To me that’s time taken away from the bunker. However, Crowley’s “didn’t see that coming” was classic.

-Cas basically tells Hannah we have no time for anything more than fighting side by side. Nothing romantic. It reminds me of what Demon Dean said to Annemarie in “Black.” (By the by, I totally loved Annemarie.)

-I still think Hannah will make some sort of sacrifice to get Cas his grace back.

-One of my favorite moments in “Soul Survivor” is Sam remembering the good old days in Dean’s room. Looking at the pictures. Wanting his brother back so much. I can’t believe the pie is still sitting there after all these months or however long it’s been. But I’ll take it because it represents the Old Dean. The Dean we (and Sam) know and love. And then the powers that be had to up the angst factor and play the music cue of doom aka “Americana” and I just about lost it. Well played, Show.

-Another representation of Dean? Multiple Issues of Busty Asian Beauties lying around.

-Love the Demon Dean hunting Sam portion of the episode. I wanted even more of that intensity in “Soul Survivor.” Wish the writers hadn’t waited so long to get to this point. Maybe I needed this episode to be two hours long or a two parter because I wanted more. So much more. Demon Dean is so scary at this point. I needed more of that.

-Crowley: “I’m not sentimental.” Yes he is. He’s very sentimental. And sappy. Evil but sappy. Is it possible to be evil and sappy at the same time?

-Demon Dean gets his Jack Nicholson/The Shining moment. He breaks down the door. Gets to say: “You act like I want to be cured. Personally, I like the disease.” AWESOME.

-Knife trumps Hammer, I guess? It’s the new rocks paper scissors. Dean always loses that game, too. Go, Sam.

-Cas to the rescue — both he and Sam get to save Dean. I’m still pissed we didn’t get a proper Cas/Demon Dean scene (I won’t let it go). We got God!Cas and Leviathan!Cas scenes with Dean, didn’t we? Boo.

-I love Cas’ insight after Sam wonders about what they’re doing to Dean. Even after pumping him full of all that blood (I’m guess Type A for Awesome), his brother didn’t want to be cured: “I can see his point. You know, only humans can feel real joy but also such profound pain. This is easier.”

-While I love the conflicting emotions that Dean expressed when he woke up human again, I feel like the moment was so anticlimactic. I guess I didn’t like how quiet it was. And Dean didn’t seem to be all that affected (physically) by the whole thing. It just seemed too easy. I don’t know if that’s because of the Mark of Cain or what. But he really wasn’t the worse for wear. Certainly not like Sam after he went through the trials. And not like Cas without his grace. I guess I feel like it should have been more difficult to un-Demon yourself. I wish the writers had built it up more. But that’s just me.

-And at the end of the episode, Sam goes out to get groceries and Cas talks to Dean. Which I loved. Really. But I also needed some sort of Sam/Dean moment. I think Sam needs his space. But I also hate having to wait to next week to see how the brothers are with each other. It’s classic avoidance and the Winchesters love taking that route. But I’m being selfish here. I needed more payoff. (This is my mantra for this episode. More. More. More. Bunker. Less. Less. Less. Everything else.)

-Having said that, I still like the Cas/Dean convo. My heart kind of broke when Dean asked if Sam wants a divorce. He’s going to feel very guilty about trying to kill his brother. This is what he does.

-And I really do not like the fact that there was a teaser at the end of the episode. Was it necessary to show us right this very second that something evil is on the horizon? I don’t. We know that something’s coming. To me, that’s more time taken away from the brothers and Cas.

-Although, I love that whatever’s happening is in Tulsa, OK. I lived there for three years. On another note, is it bad I was hoping they found some way to bring Abaddon back? I saw red hair and immediately thought of her.

Ok, next week it’s Sam and Dean Winchester back to saving people, hunting things and wearing awesome cop uniforms. Talk to you guys then.

Supernatural airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on the CW.