The episode starts with montage set to an emotional Dean giving Kevin a hunter’s funeral and dealing with the fallout of Gadreel’s betrayal and murder of Kevin. It ends with Dean walking away from Sam and Castiel to seek revenge on Gadreel alone. In between we see the story play out on a few fronts – Dean, Cas and Crowley (yes, Crowley) on a mission to save Sam; Gadreel falling further as he kills his best friend; and a jockeying between Hell leaders for the loyalty of demons. But throughout these various stories, there is a repeating verse voiced by the many characters that we had also heard in a previous episode, and that’s that they’re doing what they have to do.
We’ve seen Dean since the start of the season – since the start of the series really – make a lot of questionable choices based on the emotional programming set in his personality as a child. He’s not only been unable to let go of Sam, he’s become addicted to taking on the burden of everything, and everyone else’s decisions, alone. While he wants Sam by his side, he also doesn’t want to treat Sam as an equal. This came to a head in season 5 when Sam forced Dean to start acknowledge that their partnership needed to be a two-way street.
While you can chalk this up to the codependency set up in Dean’s childhood – left motherless and with a mostly absent father, Dean overly bonded to his younger brother who he been tasked with taking care of. But Dean’s inability to trust in others goes beyond Sam and Dean’s relationship. When Cas was struggling in season 6 with learning about free will and leadership and was making mistakes, instead of listening to Cas and being a mentor, Dean responded with an inflexibility and a demand that Cas blindly trust him and follow his orders. Dean’s sense of responsibility over others was portrayed to have reached absurd levels in season 7, when Dean was forced to account for things he felt guilty of, and Jo’s choice to become a hunter was one of them. That was a choice that was clearly never ever Dean’s to make.
While Dean has been overprotective of Sam in the past, this season Dean’s sense of responsibility over his brother stretched to new levels – to the point where not only had Dean made a decision about Sam without Sam’s consent (to help an angel possess him so that Sam could live), but Dean continually lied to Sam because he believed – he knew – he was doing something to Sam that Sam wouldn’t want.
Road Trip ends with a somewhat cryptic comment from Sam, following Dean’s assertion that he’s poison – that when people get close to him they get killed, to not “go thinking that’s the problem because it’s not.” The exact meaning in Sam’s comment is unclear. It could mean that Dean’s too hard on himself. It could mean the brothers’ codependent relationship and Dean’s unwillingness to let Sam go is the problem. It could mean that Dean’s lying to Sam is the problem. It could mean that Dean’s unwillingness to truly trust in and relinquish some control to others is the problem. Or it could mean that hunting is the problem.
Personally I’m hoping it means that it means that Dean’s inability to think things can change – that he can change – is the problem. Dean’s always felt stuck. He’s not happy hunting and he’s not happy not hunting. He wants Sam with him hunting, but he wants Sam safe and alive and living the normal life Dean could never have. He doesn’t see a future for himself because he doesn’t think he can change. So fingers crossed we’ll finally see some real movement forward with Dean, and that Sam – who seems to see things more clearly – will help him to get there.
The Highlights
Meanwhile, Dean and Cas decide to use Crowley’s Samandriel experiments on Gadreel/Sam in an effort to communicate directly with Sam so that Sam will cast out Gadreel. They need Crowley’s help, and Crowley is able to use this to bargain for his freedom. When Gadreel proves more difficult to bypass than expected, Crowley double-possesses Sam. Crowley, Gadreel, and Sam have it out inside Sam’s head, and Sam casts Gadreel out. Gadreel then finds his way back to his previous Tahmoh Penikett-looking vessel, and Sam remembers everything that happened while he was possessed, including Dean’s lies.
The Good
It was nice to get some forward movement with both Dean and Sam. It was great to see Sam actively take back control of his body and force Gadreel out. We’ve seen too much of passive Sam lately, so here’s to hoping this is a sign of a more active Sam to come.
Cas was also well-written in this episode. The character’s portrayal has been inconsistent from week to week to say the least, but this week we were treated to supportive, intuitive Cas – a characterization that makes sense considering how much exposure he’s had with humans over the years.
There were some very nice filming effects in this episode. The scene that stood out in particular to me was the confrontation inside Sam’s head. There was an dream-like element to the scene, with extra contrast
or lighter saturation and extreme close-ups, giving it an older-film feel and reminding me of a Hitchcock movie.
The Bad
There was a lot of character history and psychological baggage for Sam around the issues of possession and having his control taken away. The last angel who possessed Sam was Lucifer. Enough said. We may get more fallout from Sam’s side of this story in the second half of the season, but looking at what’s been shown up to this point – calling the exploration of Sam’s side of the possession story unsatisfying is a huge understatement.Sam’s reactions in the final scene were rushed. While I’m not necessarily opposed to where we ended with Sam – which seems to be a tired acceptance and a clarity of the situation – brushing Sam’s entire perspective off with a cryptic comment that’s meant to be more about Dean than about Sam is not adequate.
This arc might have worked much better if Sam had become aware of the possession earlier in the season but had chosen to hide his knowledge from Dean because he trusted that Dean had his reasons and he wanted to see where this was going. In that case, Sam could have cycled through the emotions from learning of a betrayal – shock, disbelief, anger, and finally acceptance – over the course of four or five episodes rather than the little over two minutes that was allocated to it. We’ll have to see if more attention is paid to this in the second half of the season, but I’m skeptical there will be.
Next, I’m certain I’m a minority in this, but I didn’t think the choice of Bob Seger’s Famous Final Scene for the opening montage worked. It’s is a great song. I love it. But it’s a melancholy song about the acceptance of the end of a relationship, and the tone didn’t fit. The words of the songs that are selected don’t have to match up exactly, but the tone does, and this felt like a miss.
