SPN countdown -- Season Two

[fufaraw]

Let's linger on this scene for a moment. The last we saw of the Impala and her passengers, savaged, broken, alone in some dark field, no sound but the ticking of hot metal as it cooled, the only glimpse of her interior showing three bodies slumped unmoving, faces slack and bloody.

This is what we carried into summer, our last glimpse of a show we'd come to love, characters we cared about, their unknown fate, and an unresolved storyline. This is what we had, for months ("for months!"), while the fate of the show teetered in the hands of the network and whoever was making decisions about fall lineup. We had no way of knowing if we'd ever find out what happened. Did they all die? Lost and alone in that desolate field? Did someone find them? Did rescue come? Did any of them survive? Who?

Then late in the summer, hope broke--SPN had been picked up for the 2006-2007 season! We would find out what happened after this traumatic season finale!


In August that summer, a young relative spent a week comatose in ICU. This was a jarring reminder for me of that week.


In spite of that, In My Time of Dying was, and has remained, in my opinion, one of the best episodes of the entire series. We got to see Bobby again, got to see Sam's first dogged determination to save his family, "If there's just one piece left, we have to save it." Got to see that same stubborn determination focused on Dean. "I don't know if you can hear me..."


We saw John sitting vigil while Dean questioned whether his having "given everything" was enough to make John fight for Dean's life. We got to meet Tessa, so bewildered and harmless-seeming, someone for Dean to help, even in his own extremis. And we got to see John, having made the decision to save his sons, prepare to confront a demon. The more erudite and educated among fans was able to identify the symbol John chalked on the basement floor as indentified with the demon Azazel. And though we called the entity who possessed Stan the janitor throughout Season two "Old Yellow Eyes" the fan was proven correct, in the end.

As an actor, I've always wondered what Jensen and Jeffrey were told, to illicit the emotion in this scene--given that the reveal was only teased in ep. 9, before a long and impatient hiatus, and then actually revealed in ep. 10.

From this scene, I've always resented that it was Sam who discovered John's body--Sam, who never had a chance to make peace with his father, Sam, who was the focus of forces he couldn't begin to imagine, or to understand well enough to fight, effectively. Sam, for whom this moment would pale in the succession of emotional blows to come.

From a technical standpoint, though, this shot was a lucky fluke.



IMTOD brought SPN roaring back onto our screens, and set a standard for excellence I believe most of Season two lived up to. Overall, it may be my favorite season.

Comments

[fufaraw]

Yes, you do have a point. I do love that Sam is the agent in this episode, the ambulatory one, leaving the hospital to get spell components for John, meeting Bobby to discuss salvaging the car, stealing John's journal to search for a way to help, shopping for a ouija board to try and communicate with Dean, being sent for coffee. Sam has purpose in this episode, some of it directed by John, but also on his own initiative. We see him coming into his own, using his training as well as his wit and intelligence to search for a way to save his family. In future seasons, Sam seems to subside into a character who is *acted upon*, so I believe seeing him active here is one of the reasons this episode remains a favorite of mine.