Supernatural - 1x12 "Faith" Rewatch
Added 2024-01-17 09:13:15 +0000 UTC
Comments
And you catching all the great lines in the first watch plus now seeing how it all unfolded makes this another reason this is one of my favorite season 1 episodes still. I loved the lore expansion in the early days and building on that eons later when they were just going season to season back in the day.
CrystalDeth
2024-03-15 05:09:25 +0000 UTCDean doesn't like getting singled out at birthday parties, healing church tents or by god! I've occasionally looked back at older seasons before I even understood all that Dean/Sam girl stuff because no matter what, that boy had me hooked so early! Everyone seemed to be into Sam which I get, but I didn't stand a chance especially after this episode. Plus I stand by him to the end even when we see both boys transform drastically over the years while we know those sparks from season 1 are still showing. Dang...Jensen is still insanely gorgeous and only gets better with age that it's almost criminal! So blessed in spades, but really just the connections made in this series at the beginning with Jared and the crew being family and committed so much of their lives to each other and fans. I just love this show and everyone within the SPN family, never fails to make me happy and that's a gift!
CrystalDeth
2024-03-15 04:10:47 +0000 UTCAlso Roy is played by the actor who plays the butler in the terrible 'Clue' episode in S10. And Erica Carroll comes back in S1's 'Something Wicked' for a short scene. She's the parent at the empty playground who tells Sam that the parents of the town are scared and keeping their kids at home (because of the disease putting them in comas - ie the Shtriga). It's my fanon that Mrs. Rourke goes to England after Layla's death, joins the BMoL, changes her name to Dr. Hess, and comes back with the sole goal of killing Dean due to his being saved over Layla. She uses the cover of killing all US hunters, just to get Dean. ;~D
Amye Sabin
2024-01-22 09:55:09 +0000 UTCCompletely forgot that that Erica Carroll (the angel Hannah) was the nurse at the beginning of this ep, but I had remembered that Mrs Rourke was in the British MOL in S12 (although on my first go round I kept confusing Mrs Rourke and Sue Ann!) My understanding is that a life was always exchanged for a life - and that Roy was just window dressing. The whole deal started and ended with Sue-Ann - Roy was the Great and Powerful Oz and she was the man behind the curtain. I think this was also the episode where Sam really started appealing to me. I think up til then, Jared had been finding his footing (along with the writers/directors/editors) with the character of Sam). But in this episode he killed every scene and it all started to cohere into this real believable complicated person for me. (Coincidentally Faith is where I also completely fell in love with Dean Winchester - there's a reason why it's my favourite episode of my favourite season!) Loved your catch of 'Angel of Death'- I've lost count of many times I've rewatched this, but I've never picked up on that phrase before. And I do agree the initial lore on demons and reapers is so different to that later - I wonder how many changes Kripke made in hiatuses and in the 2007 writers' strike... That line "God save us from half the people who think they're doing God's work". Perfection.
YazH
2024-01-20 20:40:35 +0000 UTCYep, as you say Tessa was just one form a reaper can take (and in 2.01 we see her original form hovering about the bed of someone about to die and it's much closer to the ugly bastard here). It was s9 that retconned reapers as a form of angel and i believe that might have been a Buckleming initiative but I can't swear to it.
Jay
2024-01-18 13:11:10 +0000 UTCcoming late to this again but had some thoughts on echoes forward or whatever the opposite of a callback is: Asylum is the first of several episodes using the horror trope of the same name (others are 5.11 Sam Interrupted, 7.17 The Born Again Identity and 13.05 Advanced Thanatology) and they often seem to be related to Sam - or reflect the mental illness associations buzzing around Sam (addiction, visions, hallucinations, mental breakdown). It's notable that Sam is the one who gets "possessed" in Asylum - also an example of smart Dean, unloading his gun in advance so Sam can't shoot him, finding the hidden door etc. In Asylum, Sam tries to kill Dean; in Advanced Thanatology, Dean kills himself, then Sam tries to revive him by 'shooting' him in the heart. I wonder if Dean's final death is a callback to his first "death" here - meaningless, by accident, on a hunt but actually killed by a random piece of equipment. Both times he accepts it and it breaks my heart how willingly he lets go of life here. In Appointment in Samarra in s6, when Dean makes a deal with Death to wear his ring for the day in exchange for Sam's soul, they go into the idea of Death and the reapers making a big deal of balance, and the saving of one life meaning the loss of others. Later on, this will be an enduring theme with Billie's arrival - she starts out pissed off at the Winchesters' constant tipping up of the balance of the universe, spends a time as an ally, then as her plan unfolds it's all about restoring the balance - which makes her their adversary at the end (not going to dwell on how that turns out). "We can't kill Death" is one of the great non-truths said by the boys, along with "There's no such thing as angels" and "Mary's never coming back".
Jay
2024-01-18 12:53:21 +0000 UTCI feel the same about Asylum. I really appreciate what you do with the notes and thoughts. It's really interesting and I enjoy it a great deal. Oh I never noticed the nurse in this episode was Hannah 😄
BexFangirl
2024-01-18 09:29:40 +0000 UTCMy computer went kaput again so this is going to be brief - no Superwiki highlights this time - as I post this via my cell phone's notes apps and it is such a chore as I am not well versed with it. Just wanted to point out at the 9.04 min mark Shelly, John did call Dean's phone not Sam's. As the cell phone rang, Sam called out to Dean to wake him. If it was his, then he wouldn't need to call out to Dean before he answered it. And at the 49.20 min mark, I laughed so hard at your reaction Shelly, I hurt my stomach. That is one out of many points where the 'Dean is not straight' truther fandom defenders reiterated - that having shipper goggles on weren't the only reason for saying this (as Cas hadn't shown up yet). But others weren't ready to have that conversation. (For legal reasons, this is a joke)
rose mnor
2024-01-18 01:20:04 +0000 UTCAfter the series finale, some people who loved the finale referred back at this episode to say that's when dean was naturally supposed to die, so he didn't die young, he actually lived 14 extra years, it's funny how the boys say "cheating death" in a horrifying way as if that's something they would never do in the same episode where Sam finds a way for dean to cheat death, obviously that's a horrifying thought to me, could you imagine dean dying permeantly this early on and Sam doing what for the rest of the show? Become lucifer vessel with meg's help or quitting hunting and living a normal life! Yep dean got a gay heart in this episode, don't read anything into it lol, the super religious woman saw him as as immoral as that openly gay teacher, wonder why
Hasnaa
2024-01-17 16:12:39 +0000 UTCThis episode has so much to love in it, especially with what we learn later. With this reapers appearance, the episode where Ellen and Jo die… when they roll into town and Cas sees all the reapers, a LOT of them look like this. And Dean learns In My Time of Dying, that reapers can look like whatever they want “even a pretty girl.” This ep also manages to load even more guilt onto Dean, which I hate, and we know he certainly doesn’t need any more than he always places on himself. I really like how this episode really kind of introduced the bigger picture, not our regular MoTW… I think that’s a big part of the reason I love this ep so much. Oh, btw, I was so happy you have the original edit and not the Netflix version. That version doesn’t play Don’t Fear the Reaper (rights issue)… but I felt the song really helped make the mood. We get so much insight into the boys beliefs which I love. I think Sam won this episode and I think the line for me is something Layla said …I guess if you’re going to have faith, you can’t just have it when the miracles happen, you have to have it when they don’t.” Re the link with healings and the deaths, I took it that she was using dark magic to enable the healings, and we know magic has a cost. But because she bound the reaper, she could also just make him kill.
BunkerGirl
2024-01-17 14:54:19 +0000 UTCSam and Meg in Scarecrow. Meg is trying to build Sam’s Lucifer sympathies. (She is working directly for Azazel and yep she calls him ‘father’ 👍🏻😄) and I totally agree with you about all the Michael lucifer themes of the episode. Dean the good son. Sam not fitting in with family or the plan that they had for him. Meg was trying to encourage Sam’s rebellion to a) follow the same path lucifer did so that they have more in common and b) be more isolated and vulnerable to demon influence. But Sam chose Dean and we see why the Michael Lucifer parallel will never work for Sam and Dean, because in the end they won’t give up on each other 😄 it’s so good! 🤗💛 Faith: Sam wants to put his faith in a higher power, maybe because he doesn’t have faith in himself? He is quick on the judgment call of Sue-Anne as evil, where as Dean understands she was first desperate and then misguided thinking she was doing ‘righteous’ work. Sam is trying to think grand picture right and wrong where as Dean wants to see the human aspect. And we also see that Dean refuses to put his faith in a higher unseen power even while he is still giving John that blind god-like faith. It says a lot to me about how Dean is terrified of abandonment and disappointment. He clings so hard to his faith in John so he doesn’t have to face that disappointment (which is coming). And he refuses to make himself vulnerable like that to anything else. I feel so bad for Dean sometimes and how hurt he is! So my quote for the episode is: It must be rough to believe in something like that and have it disappoint you. But i really love how the episode digs into the boy’s different motivations and POVs. Reapers as angels is a later retcon 👍🏻. In Christian mythology The Angel of Death is Death himself (killed the first born of Egypt, the forth horseman in Revelations) but in the show Death is an entity outside of heavens hierarchy and the horseman aren’t angels. Reapers were just Death’s minions until the retcon. Also in 2x01 Tessa try’s to explain the funky look of this first reaper just by saying that reapers aren’t corporeal and can appear anyway they want. But it’s kinda just similar to how the first demon in phantom traveller was a bit funky compared to how the writers later refined the law 🤷🏻♂️😄 Really enjoyed your reaction! Thank you! Am looking forward to your thoughts on Nightmare. Yep Max Miller is one of Azazels special kids and we start digging into that. And then I’m really looking forward to rewatching shadow with you. Can’t wait 👍🏻😄. Cheers.
MidnightSilver
2024-01-17 11:51:29 +0000 UTCIn terms of the Reapers look - Reapers can appear to look like anyone. In Season 5 we see a lot of reapers and a lot of them have this look about them. Two Minutes to Midnight is the episode when Dean was looking for Death.
Sharon Owen
2024-01-17 11:46:27 +0000 UTCIn terms of the poll - we did have an idea - if there is a big gap, miss an episode and you can put something else in there instead - eg. Good Omens or fan content or the DC con.
Sharon Owen
2024-01-17 10:38:22 +0000 UTCRip to 1st Meg gone far too soon🥺🌹
NSTG_Eddie
2024-01-17 10:36:03 +0000 UTC
