List of Love for The Benders
Aug. 7th, 2010 07:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
llywelaWow, it's been forever since I did one of these! I haven't written anything show/fandom related in months, but since I'm now in the throes of my marathon Supernatural re-watch, I decided it was time to give those writing muscles a bit of exercise, see if I could still remember how to do it. But to ease myself back in gently, I opted for a list of love - which was cheating, really, because this has been sitting half-finished on my harddrive for months already, so most of the work was already done!
A Multitude of
…plus random other observations
The Benders tends to get a bit of a bad rap, as season one episodes go. Not many people seem to like it all that much. I've always been rather fond of it, myself, though.
1. I actually start flailing with glee the moment Jensen Ackles says 'previously on Supernatural'. Season one style previouslies, ftw!
2. That's not Jensen Ackles!
He looks rather more like the young Dean might have looked than Ridge Canipe does, though.
3. You know, most of this episode plot just about works, if you are prepared to suspend disbelief in the concept of cannibalistic hillbillies and take it from there, but I never really understood the 'grabbing victims from underneath cars' scheme. I mean, it looks super creepy, sure, but there have got to be easier ways of abducting people!
4. I love that heads-down shot of Sam'n'Dean posing as police officers in full uniform for the first time.
Although I can't help wondering where they stole those outfits from!
5. I love watching 'em take their hats off in unison, as if they'd both decided at the exact same moment that they simply couldn't bear the prickly weight on their heads a second longer.
Great minds think alike!
6. Aww, lookit, earnest fake police officer Sammy with the puppy dog eyes! ♥
7. Fake police officer Dean is shooting for sincere – really, he is.
Yeah, it's a struggle, but he's trying.
8. I love our boys being fake cops.
9. I love the way Dean bonds with young witness Evan over their shared love of Godzilla. Sure, Sam doesn't approve of what to him looks like unprofessional behaviour that might blow their cover, but it works – by approaching the boy on his own level, Dean successfully puts Evan at his ease, which helps to draw valuable information out of him.
I love that the brothers have very different styles and take a very different approach to the job, and that they are able to complement one another so very well.
10. Sam, at a bar…doing research!
11. Dean, at a bar…kicking back and enjoying some downtime.
12. You know, the middle of a crowded bar doesn't really seem like the most private of locations to discuss the potentially supernatural.
You'd think they'd draw more puzzled glances than they do, given the things they tend to talk about!
13. Aww, Sam is so earnest. He's been sat here researching this possible case all night instead of joining Dean at the dartboard, that's how much it matters to him…
Oh yeah, he'd have done that anyway. Sam prefers research to relaxation.
14. I love when Sam pulls this face.
15. I love the way Dean snaps his fingers and jiggles with glee in celebration of scoring a bull's-eye. Hard to cap, though. You have to watch for the full effect!
16. Playing the killjoy amuses Sam.
17. Dean's an awfully long time, just 'taking a leak' – Sam's got time to be abducted before Dean makes it outside to look for him!
…yeah, probably best not to ponder that one too closely…
18. It turns out to be just as well, in the long run, but Sam really should put John's journal safely away in a pocket, rather than dumping it on the hood of the car like that.
19. Sam's scared of kitties! Hee!
Dean would give him hell for that, if he'd seen it – at least until Sam got his own back upon witnessing Dean's own cat-fright a few seasons later…
At least Sam's got a sense of humour about it.
20. I love the scene where Dean realises Sam is missing. It's just so well-played, with Dean at first unsuspecting, but then slowly growing uneasy, and that unease then rapidly developing into full-blown panic, all conveyed via expression, action and body language, with barely a word of dialogue spoken.
21. I love that, presumably having searched for Sam all night and found no trace whatsoever, Dean's first port of call is the police. It's so humdrum and mundane, so normal, foreshadowing the nature of the case, while also being intensely practical.
By reporting his brother missing, while maintaining his false identity as a police officer – risky though the strategy is – Dean can gain access to evidence he would struggle to acquire by other means. He simply doesn't have time to waste looking into the background of this case as they normally might, not with Sam missing – he just has to work whatever angle he can find, fast, and this is all he's got. That means cooperating with the authorities, however frustrating it might be.
22. I really like Kathleen. As guest characters go, this one is great.
23. It makes me sad that Dean has to claim that Sam is his cousin, rather than admit they are brothers, but it's a nice, understated nod to continuity that he does. This is the first time in the show's run that we get to see the consequences of Dean going on record as a dead serial killer back in Skin. At the time it was treated as a joke by both brothers, but the mere fact that Dean goes out of his way to describe Sam as his cousin rather than admit their fraternal relationship makes clear that the deeper implications are something he has since thought about in some detail, whether or not he and Sam have ever discussed them. And the fact that Kathleen immediately brings Dean's record up along with Sam's proves just how right he was to opt for this strategy.
We won't dwell on the myriad of other Winchester records that should have come up as well, John's in particular. This is merely a plot device to remind us of Dean's police record.
24. I love that this episode gives us our first glimpse of on-screen stats for the brothers…even if it does get some of the details wrong.
Nope, sorry, police computer – Dean is considerably less than 6'4"!
25. I love the way Dean scoots back from the screen when he sees his record come up, wary and cautious and so, so far outside his comfort zone.
26. Dean's dismay is written all over his face when Kathleen insists that he fill in a missing person's form and wait for her to fetch the traffic camera footage for him, even as he works hard not to let it show.
Dean has made a decision, has chosen to play this by the book because he only has that one possible lead and he needs Kathleen's cooperation to pursue it. But you can see that it is killing him, having to wait, having to move so very slowly, having to rely on someone else, someone unknown – a civilian – when all he wants to do is get the information he needs and get back out there looking for Sam.
27. "Sam's coming back. I'm bringing him back."
Oh, Dean. ♥
28. I love t-shirted Sam rattling his cage and trying in vain to kick the door down – both because I approve of his pro-activeness and because I approve of all those muscles!
29. Dean keeps such a tight leash on his panic throughout the episode, focuses intently on the practicalities of the search, but nonetheless you can see that it's killing him to have to play this so very by-the-book, so slowly and methodically, when he just wants to get out there and tear the countryside apart looking for Sam. I've seen people criticising this episode, saying that Dean isn't emotional enough, isn't panic-stricken enough. Those people aren't looking closely enough, say I – the panic might be understated, consciously so given that Dean's focus is on remaining functional because he's no good to Sam otherwise, but it is there all right.
Also, it kind of kills me to hear Kathleen calling Dean 'Greg' – we don't hear them actually using their fake names often enough!
30. A van with stolen licence plates passed the traffic camera near to where Sam went missing, therefore it must be involved. Obviously. Crack police work there.
Yeah, some of the jumps from plot point to plot point are a bit creaky. We'll just go with it, okay, because…
31. I love the way the episode plays with preconceptions, both ours and the characters'. It makes for a lumbersome plot, sure, which visibly strains to set up and then subvert those preconceptions, but it's good to see the show trying something a bit different.
32. "I lost some weight. And I got that Michael Jackson skin disease…"
Oh, Dean. He just can't stop himself from pushing the lie that bit further even when exposed, mouth on automatic as he tries desperately to stall, to not lose this one chance he has of retrieving Sam.
33. "Look, here's the thing. When we were young, I pretty much pulled him from a fire. And ever since then, I've felt responsible for him. Like it's my job to keep him safe. I'm just afraid if we don't find him fast…. Please. He's my family."
Oh, Dean. (This is a very 'oh, Dean' episode) Although he is still keeping a tight lid on his panic, his voice and eyes betray his desperation.
34. I kinda love Kathleen for being willing to set her reservations aside long enough to help, for the sake of her missing brother.
I really like Kathleen. I like that she's brisk and efficient and motivated, that she is determined to help a stranger find his missing relative because she never found her own. I like that she takes immediate action when she learns that said stranger isn't who he claimed to be…and I especially like that in spite of all her better instincts she absolutely cannot resist Dean's woobie eyes. I mean, who could? Look at them!
35. I love that Sam won't allow Jenkins to call him Sammy, even though he has long since stopped protesting when Dean uses that childhood nickname.
Dean is allowed to use that name, Sam recognising it now as the term of affection that it is and no longer seeing it as a reminder of his junior status. But this random stranger is another matter entirely.
36. "Well, thank God, a bracket. Now we've got 'em, huh?"
Heh. Jenkins amuses me immensely. I'm a little sad that he dies so horribly, for that reason alone, even though he really should have listened to Sam!
37. "Look, I don't mean to press my luck…"
"Your luck is so pressed."
Ha! Did I mention that I like Kathleen?
38. Dean looks rather fetching here, don't you think?
39. "Shake on it."
Yeah, Dean's an idiot. A pretty idiot, but still an idiot.
40. Missy Bender = creepiness personified.
41. Watching Dean all but pull himself in half stretching to reach the aerial, in its guise of potential impromptu lockpick, will never not be fun.
42. I love that Dean's boots and legs are so instantly recognisable.
43. I love how happy Sam is that his big brother has come to save him. ♥
44. I love the way Dean dives at the cage Sam is in, so very relieved to find his little brother in one piece.
45. "Oh, I know a trick or two."
♥
46. I love the look on Dean's face upon being confronted by a lock he can't pick.
47. I love the brothers' carefully coded conversation about their 'usual playmates'.
Poor Kathleen is so confused, listening in ignorance.
48. I love that as the brothers discuss Sam and Kathleen's predicament and how it came about, Dean is constantly moving, assessing the cages and searching for a way of opening them.
Multitasking, ahoy!
49. All poor Sam can do is sit and wait to be released, while trying to point his brother in the right direction, and contributing whatever little information he can.
He's doing better than Kathleen, though, who is excluded from the brothers' conversation by their shared language, in which she can have no part.
50. But then it is Sam's turn to be excluded, while Dean confirms Kathleen's worst fears of her brother's fate – this is something that these two have shared, during the time they have spent together, in which Sam has no part.
It is this, the beautifully layered web of relationships between the characters, both established and newly formed, that I really love about this episode. I love the way all these characters relate to one another, in the crucible of the experiences they share here.
51. I love the way Dean turns to Sam to ask where he might find the key, in hopes that Sam will have noticed something, trusting his brother's keen powers of observation.
Alas, though, on this occasion Sam remains clueless.
52. I love all the grisly little details that have gone into the construction of the Benders' basement – the trophy photos of their victims and jars full of teeth and organs, or whatever.
53. I love Dean's habit of talking to himself when he is alone. "I'll say it again: demons I get; people are crazy." So true!
54. I love the way Dean startles upon hearing a creak as he proceeds upstairs. It feels so natural.
The early seasons were stuffed full of tiny, subtle, throwaway little details like that, which make the episodes feel so very rich. Alas we get fewer and fewer of them as the seasons go on and the episode plots become too complex, too full, for such attention to minor detail work.
55. That mobile made of human bone is a nicely grisly touch!
56. I love how Dean tries really hard to be stealthy…but when you are required to search an occupied house as cluttered as this, inhabited by homicidal lunatics, there just isn't really any such thing as stealth!
57. I love that we never get to see just what it is Pa Bender is busily sawing up in there, but that we are nonetheless left with the uncomfortable impression that it is probably Jenkins being reduced to a steak dinner!
58. I love that Dean finds himself a weapon, very practical – but that it proves completely useless to him, because he puts it down when he gets distracted (by keys! Which is what he's looking for, so fair enough…but then a jar of teeth becomes his downfall) and then isn't able to retrieve it when he needs it!
59. I love that Dean is completely disarmed when he finds himself face to face with Missy Bender – and not just because he has put his weapon down.
She's a little girl, ragged and bedraggled, and every instinct he possesses immediately labels her 'victim'. He drops his guard to attempt to reassure her, and that gives her the upper hand. It's unfortunate, but very in character.
60. Three against one – four, counting young Missy, and on their home turf – can't be considered a fair fight in anyone's book! Dean does well to hold out as long as he does.
61. That scene where Dean comes around to find himself tied to a chair with all four Benders gloating over his capture, that scene is really well done. It's so very creepy and menacing, so that you really feel how much danger he is in. And that's even before they start torturing him!
62. Dean looks good when he's all bloody and hurt and defiant.
63. I love how very creepy young Missy is, how much sinister nastiness is implied in the way she interacts with her father and much older brothers, without anything concrete ever actually being said. It's nicely played, ambiguous while still creepy as all heck.
64. I love that you can totally tell that Pa Bender's breath stinks, just by looking at him, even without Dean's disgusted reaction to confirm it.
65. "Oh, eat me. No, no, no, wait, wait – you actually might!"
66. The torture scenes are really well done – the special effects and general air of menace are very effective.
67. I love that Dean tells them to hunt Sam, rather than Kathleen.
Dean trusts his brother's ability to turn the tables on the Benders and escape, if only they will open that damn cage and give him a chance, whereas he wouldn't dream of placing a civilian in that position. Excellent character work stemming from a seemingly impossible choice, made under torture.
68. Oh, but Dean is so distraught to realise that Sam won't be given that chance after all.
It's all very tense.
69. I love that Dean's belief in Sam is totally justified, even though he isn't given the head start Dean thought he would get, because Sam remains alert enough and pro-active enough to turn the tables on his would-be executioner anyway, even from within his cage.
Yay, Sam!
70. Oh, but Dean's face when he thinks his brother has just been killed.
71. For once, Sam doesn't suck at hand-to-hand! Of course, he has the advantage over Dean earlier, in that he only has to face the various Benders one at a time, with the element of surprise on his side.
Plus, lack of layers…muscles…six pack…such a nice view!
72. Sam really should drag the wounded Pa Bender into one of those cages with his sons, instead of leaving him lying there, just because he's wounded.
Yeah, he totally knows that leaving the man alone with Kathleen is as good as signing his death warrant, he must know, but he does it anyway.
73. We don't get a good look at the burn on Dean's shoulder/upper chest, but you can just make it out at the bottom of this shot and it looks pretty nasty!
74. So, on the one hand, Kathleen is being incredibly generous when she lets the brothers leave before the authorities can arrive to take statements.
On the other hand, though, they've both been knocked unconscious and have eaten next to nothing in the last couple of days, plus Dean has a bleeding head wound and a very unpleasant untreated burn, and they are going to have to walk miles through rain and mud to get back to civilisation – no wonder this episode spawned so many h/c oriented codas!
75. I love that Dean takes the time before leaving to check how Kathleen is doing one last time, what with the confirmation they have found of her brother's death and all. They have bonded over their missing brothers (or cousin, as far as Kathleen knows), and it is a source of regret to Dean that there could be no happy ending for Kathleen, although she helped secure his.
76. I still like Kathleen. Even though she murdered a man in cold blood for revenge.
77. "Never do that again."
"Do what?"
"Go missin' like that."
"You were worried about me."
"All I'm sayin' is, you vanish like that again, I'm not lookin' for ya."
"Sure, you won't."
Oh, boys.
Wow, this turned out longer than I expected!
web link
…plus random other observations
The Benders tends to get a bit of a bad rap, as season one episodes go. Not many people seem to like it all that much. I've always been rather fond of it, myself, though.
1. I actually start flailing with glee the moment Jensen Ackles says 'previously on Supernatural'. Season one style previouslies, ftw!
2. That's not Jensen Ackles!
He looks rather more like the young Dean might have looked than Ridge Canipe does, though.
3. You know, most of this episode plot just about works, if you are prepared to suspend disbelief in the concept of cannibalistic hillbillies and take it from there, but I never really understood the 'grabbing victims from underneath cars' scheme. I mean, it looks super creepy, sure, but there have got to be easier ways of abducting people!
4. I love that heads-down shot of Sam'n'Dean posing as police officers in full uniform for the first time.
Although I can't help wondering where they stole those outfits from!
5. I love watching 'em take their hats off in unison, as if they'd both decided at the exact same moment that they simply couldn't bear the prickly weight on their heads a second longer.
Great minds think alike!
6. Aww, lookit, earnest fake police officer Sammy with the puppy dog eyes! ♥
7. Fake police officer Dean is shooting for sincere – really, he is.
Yeah, it's a struggle, but he's trying.
8. I love our boys being fake cops.
9. I love the way Dean bonds with young witness Evan over their shared love of Godzilla. Sure, Sam doesn't approve of what to him looks like unprofessional behaviour that might blow their cover, but it works – by approaching the boy on his own level, Dean successfully puts Evan at his ease, which helps to draw valuable information out of him.
I love that the brothers have very different styles and take a very different approach to the job, and that they are able to complement one another so very well.
10. Sam, at a bar…doing research!
11. Dean, at a bar…kicking back and enjoying some downtime.
12. You know, the middle of a crowded bar doesn't really seem like the most private of locations to discuss the potentially supernatural.
You'd think they'd draw more puzzled glances than they do, given the things they tend to talk about!
13. Aww, Sam is so earnest. He's been sat here researching this possible case all night instead of joining Dean at the dartboard, that's how much it matters to him…
Oh yeah, he'd have done that anyway. Sam prefers research to relaxation.
14. I love when Sam pulls this face.
15. I love the way Dean snaps his fingers and jiggles with glee in celebration of scoring a bull's-eye. Hard to cap, though. You have to watch for the full effect!
16. Playing the killjoy amuses Sam.
17. Dean's an awfully long time, just 'taking a leak' – Sam's got time to be abducted before Dean makes it outside to look for him!
…yeah, probably best not to ponder that one too closely…
18. It turns out to be just as well, in the long run, but Sam really should put John's journal safely away in a pocket, rather than dumping it on the hood of the car like that.
19. Sam's scared of kitties! Hee!
Dean would give him hell for that, if he'd seen it – at least until Sam got his own back upon witnessing Dean's own cat-fright a few seasons later…
At least Sam's got a sense of humour about it.
20. I love the scene where Dean realises Sam is missing. It's just so well-played, with Dean at first unsuspecting, but then slowly growing uneasy, and that unease then rapidly developing into full-blown panic, all conveyed via expression, action and body language, with barely a word of dialogue spoken.
21. I love that, presumably having searched for Sam all night and found no trace whatsoever, Dean's first port of call is the police. It's so humdrum and mundane, so normal, foreshadowing the nature of the case, while also being intensely practical.
By reporting his brother missing, while maintaining his false identity as a police officer – risky though the strategy is – Dean can gain access to evidence he would struggle to acquire by other means. He simply doesn't have time to waste looking into the background of this case as they normally might, not with Sam missing – he just has to work whatever angle he can find, fast, and this is all he's got. That means cooperating with the authorities, however frustrating it might be.
22. I really like Kathleen. As guest characters go, this one is great.
23. It makes me sad that Dean has to claim that Sam is his cousin, rather than admit they are brothers, but it's a nice, understated nod to continuity that he does. This is the first time in the show's run that we get to see the consequences of Dean going on record as a dead serial killer back in Skin. At the time it was treated as a joke by both brothers, but the mere fact that Dean goes out of his way to describe Sam as his cousin rather than admit their fraternal relationship makes clear that the deeper implications are something he has since thought about in some detail, whether or not he and Sam have ever discussed them. And the fact that Kathleen immediately brings Dean's record up along with Sam's proves just how right he was to opt for this strategy.
We won't dwell on the myriad of other Winchester records that should have come up as well, John's in particular. This is merely a plot device to remind us of Dean's police record.
24. I love that this episode gives us our first glimpse of on-screen stats for the brothers…even if it does get some of the details wrong.
Nope, sorry, police computer – Dean is considerably less than 6'4"!
25. I love the way Dean scoots back from the screen when he sees his record come up, wary and cautious and so, so far outside his comfort zone.
26. Dean's dismay is written all over his face when Kathleen insists that he fill in a missing person's form and wait for her to fetch the traffic camera footage for him, even as he works hard not to let it show.
Dean has made a decision, has chosen to play this by the book because he only has that one possible lead and he needs Kathleen's cooperation to pursue it. But you can see that it is killing him, having to wait, having to move so very slowly, having to rely on someone else, someone unknown – a civilian – when all he wants to do is get the information he needs and get back out there looking for Sam.
27. "Sam's coming back. I'm bringing him back."
Oh, Dean. ♥
28. I love t-shirted Sam rattling his cage and trying in vain to kick the door down – both because I approve of his pro-activeness and because I approve of all those muscles!
29. Dean keeps such a tight leash on his panic throughout the episode, focuses intently on the practicalities of the search, but nonetheless you can see that it's killing him to have to play this so very by-the-book, so slowly and methodically, when he just wants to get out there and tear the countryside apart looking for Sam. I've seen people criticising this episode, saying that Dean isn't emotional enough, isn't panic-stricken enough. Those people aren't looking closely enough, say I – the panic might be understated, consciously so given that Dean's focus is on remaining functional because he's no good to Sam otherwise, but it is there all right.
Also, it kind of kills me to hear Kathleen calling Dean 'Greg' – we don't hear them actually using their fake names often enough!
30. A van with stolen licence plates passed the traffic camera near to where Sam went missing, therefore it must be involved. Obviously. Crack police work there.
Yeah, some of the jumps from plot point to plot point are a bit creaky. We'll just go with it, okay, because…
31. I love the way the episode plays with preconceptions, both ours and the characters'. It makes for a lumbersome plot, sure, which visibly strains to set up and then subvert those preconceptions, but it's good to see the show trying something a bit different.
32. "I lost some weight. And I got that Michael Jackson skin disease…"
Oh, Dean. He just can't stop himself from pushing the lie that bit further even when exposed, mouth on automatic as he tries desperately to stall, to not lose this one chance he has of retrieving Sam.
33. "Look, here's the thing. When we were young, I pretty much pulled him from a fire. And ever since then, I've felt responsible for him. Like it's my job to keep him safe. I'm just afraid if we don't find him fast…. Please. He's my family."
Oh, Dean. (This is a very 'oh, Dean' episode) Although he is still keeping a tight lid on his panic, his voice and eyes betray his desperation.
34. I kinda love Kathleen for being willing to set her reservations aside long enough to help, for the sake of her missing brother.
I really like Kathleen. I like that she's brisk and efficient and motivated, that she is determined to help a stranger find his missing relative because she never found her own. I like that she takes immediate action when she learns that said stranger isn't who he claimed to be…and I especially like that in spite of all her better instincts she absolutely cannot resist Dean's woobie eyes. I mean, who could? Look at them!
35. I love that Sam won't allow Jenkins to call him Sammy, even though he has long since stopped protesting when Dean uses that childhood nickname.
Dean is allowed to use that name, Sam recognising it now as the term of affection that it is and no longer seeing it as a reminder of his junior status. But this random stranger is another matter entirely.
36. "Well, thank God, a bracket. Now we've got 'em, huh?"
Heh. Jenkins amuses me immensely. I'm a little sad that he dies so horribly, for that reason alone, even though he really should have listened to Sam!
37. "Look, I don't mean to press my luck…"
"Your luck is so pressed."
Ha! Did I mention that I like Kathleen?
38. Dean looks rather fetching here, don't you think?
39. "Shake on it."
Yeah, Dean's an idiot. A pretty idiot, but still an idiot.
40. Missy Bender = creepiness personified.
41. Watching Dean all but pull himself in half stretching to reach the aerial, in its guise of potential impromptu lockpick, will never not be fun.
42. I love that Dean's boots and legs are so instantly recognisable.
43. I love how happy Sam is that his big brother has come to save him. ♥
44. I love the way Dean dives at the cage Sam is in, so very relieved to find his little brother in one piece.
45. "Oh, I know a trick or two."
♥
46. I love the look on Dean's face upon being confronted by a lock he can't pick.
47. I love the brothers' carefully coded conversation about their 'usual playmates'.
Poor Kathleen is so confused, listening in ignorance.
48. I love that as the brothers discuss Sam and Kathleen's predicament and how it came about, Dean is constantly moving, assessing the cages and searching for a way of opening them.
Multitasking, ahoy!
49. All poor Sam can do is sit and wait to be released, while trying to point his brother in the right direction, and contributing whatever little information he can.
He's doing better than Kathleen, though, who is excluded from the brothers' conversation by their shared language, in which she can have no part.
50. But then it is Sam's turn to be excluded, while Dean confirms Kathleen's worst fears of her brother's fate – this is something that these two have shared, during the time they have spent together, in which Sam has no part.
It is this, the beautifully layered web of relationships between the characters, both established and newly formed, that I really love about this episode. I love the way all these characters relate to one another, in the crucible of the experiences they share here.
51. I love the way Dean turns to Sam to ask where he might find the key, in hopes that Sam will have noticed something, trusting his brother's keen powers of observation.
Alas, though, on this occasion Sam remains clueless.
52. I love all the grisly little details that have gone into the construction of the Benders' basement – the trophy photos of their victims and jars full of teeth and organs, or whatever.
53. I love Dean's habit of talking to himself when he is alone. "I'll say it again: demons I get; people are crazy." So true!
54. I love the way Dean startles upon hearing a creak as he proceeds upstairs. It feels so natural.
The early seasons were stuffed full of tiny, subtle, throwaway little details like that, which make the episodes feel so very rich. Alas we get fewer and fewer of them as the seasons go on and the episode plots become too complex, too full, for such attention to minor detail work.
55. That mobile made of human bone is a nicely grisly touch!
56. I love how Dean tries really hard to be stealthy…but when you are required to search an occupied house as cluttered as this, inhabited by homicidal lunatics, there just isn't really any such thing as stealth!
57. I love that we never get to see just what it is Pa Bender is busily sawing up in there, but that we are nonetheless left with the uncomfortable impression that it is probably Jenkins being reduced to a steak dinner!
58. I love that Dean finds himself a weapon, very practical – but that it proves completely useless to him, because he puts it down when he gets distracted (by keys! Which is what he's looking for, so fair enough…but then a jar of teeth becomes his downfall) and then isn't able to retrieve it when he needs it!
59. I love that Dean is completely disarmed when he finds himself face to face with Missy Bender – and not just because he has put his weapon down.
She's a little girl, ragged and bedraggled, and every instinct he possesses immediately labels her 'victim'. He drops his guard to attempt to reassure her, and that gives her the upper hand. It's unfortunate, but very in character.
60. Three against one – four, counting young Missy, and on their home turf – can't be considered a fair fight in anyone's book! Dean does well to hold out as long as he does.
61. That scene where Dean comes around to find himself tied to a chair with all four Benders gloating over his capture, that scene is really well done. It's so very creepy and menacing, so that you really feel how much danger he is in. And that's even before they start torturing him!
62. Dean looks good when he's all bloody and hurt and defiant.
63. I love how very creepy young Missy is, how much sinister nastiness is implied in the way she interacts with her father and much older brothers, without anything concrete ever actually being said. It's nicely played, ambiguous while still creepy as all heck.
64. I love that you can totally tell that Pa Bender's breath stinks, just by looking at him, even without Dean's disgusted reaction to confirm it.
65. "Oh, eat me. No, no, no, wait, wait – you actually might!"
66. The torture scenes are really well done – the special effects and general air of menace are very effective.
67. I love that Dean tells them to hunt Sam, rather than Kathleen.
Dean trusts his brother's ability to turn the tables on the Benders and escape, if only they will open that damn cage and give him a chance, whereas he wouldn't dream of placing a civilian in that position. Excellent character work stemming from a seemingly impossible choice, made under torture.
68. Oh, but Dean is so distraught to realise that Sam won't be given that chance after all.
It's all very tense.
69. I love that Dean's belief in Sam is totally justified, even though he isn't given the head start Dean thought he would get, because Sam remains alert enough and pro-active enough to turn the tables on his would-be executioner anyway, even from within his cage.
Yay, Sam!
70. Oh, but Dean's face when he thinks his brother has just been killed.
71. For once, Sam doesn't suck at hand-to-hand! Of course, he has the advantage over Dean earlier, in that he only has to face the various Benders one at a time, with the element of surprise on his side.
Plus, lack of layers…muscles…six pack…such a nice view!
72. Sam really should drag the wounded Pa Bender into one of those cages with his sons, instead of leaving him lying there, just because he's wounded.
Yeah, he totally knows that leaving the man alone with Kathleen is as good as signing his death warrant, he must know, but he does it anyway.
73. We don't get a good look at the burn on Dean's shoulder/upper chest, but you can just make it out at the bottom of this shot and it looks pretty nasty!
74. So, on the one hand, Kathleen is being incredibly generous when she lets the brothers leave before the authorities can arrive to take statements.
On the other hand, though, they've both been knocked unconscious and have eaten next to nothing in the last couple of days, plus Dean has a bleeding head wound and a very unpleasant untreated burn, and they are going to have to walk miles through rain and mud to get back to civilisation – no wonder this episode spawned so many h/c oriented codas!
75. I love that Dean takes the time before leaving to check how Kathleen is doing one last time, what with the confirmation they have found of her brother's death and all. They have bonded over their missing brothers (or cousin, as far as Kathleen knows), and it is a source of regret to Dean that there could be no happy ending for Kathleen, although she helped secure his.
76. I still like Kathleen. Even though she murdered a man in cold blood for revenge.
77. "Never do that again."
"Do what?"
"Go missin' like that."
"You were worried about me."
"All I'm sayin' is, you vanish like that again, I'm not lookin' for ya."
"Sure, you won't."
Oh, boys.
Wow, this turned out longer than I expected!
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