XI: Winchester Brothers Report “All that’s ever mattered is that we’re together.”

Welcome to the Winchester Motel. I have an announcement. I might change my name to Mildred, and if you’ve seen “Into the Mystic”, you know why. Since “The Werther Project”, I’ve been searching for that perfect 10, and last night’s episode is the closest I’ve come to finding it in season 11. I’m so giddy, I could dance on the roof of an Impala!

Sam and Lucifer: “You didn’t even bother trying to find him.”

The Devil is in Sam’s head and won’t let him sleep. It’s not season 7 all over again, just Sam’s mind replaying parts of the conversation he had with Lucifer in “The Devil In the Details”: his failure to look for Dean, and the human sacrifices that have to be made in order to defeat The Darkness. Sleep eludes him and he spends the night assembling and disassembling his gun. It’s been days since he left the bunker.

Sam and Dean on the hunt: “Figure out who in this place is vulnerable.”

The brothers investigate suspicious deaths at Oak Park Retirement Living. A banshee has been attacking “vulnerable” residents, and driving them mad with her screams before feeding on their brains. The hunting duo becomes a quartet when Mildred, a resident identified as a potential target, and Eileen, a former victim turned hunter join the boys and help take down the monster of the week. Eileen is also a legacy through her adoptive grandfather who was a Men of Letters.

Dean and his lady loves Part I : “I got dibs”

“So does this mean she has a shot?”
Our handsome duo is a hit with Mildred, but she’s especially smitten with Dean. She has competition. She’s not the only lady who wants a piece of him. She borrows a knee, one hand and one arm. Banshee tries to steal Dean’s head, and it looks like Amara, the “lucky’ one, already has his mind.

 

Overall grade: 9.5/10

I loved this episode. I’m always up for a hunt and a monster of the week, but it’s the attention to details that makes all the difference. The beautiful setting of Oak Park, the likable manager who meets a grisly end, Mildred, the sophisticated witness who gets close to the heroes and helps save the day, Eileen, the mysterious woman who lost her parents and her hearing to the banshee as a child and grew up to become the hunter that killed it, the connection to the Men of Letters, the new matching  symbols used to trap the monster for a visually satisfying kill, the gold blades, and the monster that actually looks like a monster and not just a regular human with glowing eyes.

I also liked the way the relationships were portrayed in this episode between Sam’s budding friendship with Eileen, and every single moment of Dean and Mildred. Dee Wallace was irresistible and Mildred knew how to put the moves on Dean. She had him watching the sunset, talking abstract concepts like the value of life, love and the calling one’s heart, and pondering the concrete things that could happen if she moved her hand from his knee to more interesting places of his anatomy. In the end, she had him, jokingly asking why they wouldn’t work out. Well played.

There were also the funny moments that I expected and still greeted with a smile. Of course they had to slide in a joke about Viagra somewhere, and before you ask, no Dean doesn’t need the blue pills. I will just refer you to “Trial and Error” and “Mannequin 3: The Reckoning” as proof that the man likes to have a well-stocked pharmacy at all times.

To the surprise of no one, the most amazing parts of the episode for me were the brothers’ conversation about a topic I was ranting about just last week, the long-awaited resolution for the terrible Sam didn’t look storyline of season 8, as well as the brothers’ individual stories and revelations about their hopes for the future.

 

Sam and the Cage aftermath: “Let’s just burn the bones so we can go home.”

 

I liked the continuity of Sam’s PTSD arc. Remember what Sam was doing in “Hello Cruel World” when Lucifer was whispering words of death in his mind? He was manipulating weapons, taking them apart and putting them back together, and that’s what Sam is doing four years later after when he hops out of bed in the middle of the night, unable to sleep. He also avoids the outside world and seems anxious to expedite the hunt so he can go “back home”, where he feels a little safer.

Sam and Dean and the future: “Maybe we ought to make a reservation.”

When Dean sees an ad for the Oak Park Retirement Living featuring a happy-looking older couple, he suggests Sam and he make reservations for themselves. He brings up the idea of retirement a second time,while he’s in the middle of the kind of back-breaking work no retiree would be in the mood for, digging a grave with Sam.

“So, no retirement, huh?”
“Hey you’re the one who always wanted to go out blaze of glory-style.”

Dean used to be the one who didn’t believe in the future. In “Criss Angel Is a Douchebag”, he told Sam he would die before he got old, like most hunters he knew. Back then, Sam had hope. “Maybe we’ll be different, Dean.”

Seven seasons later, Dean is the one who seems to be looking forward to a time in their lives when they can relax without having to worry about monsters and Sam is now saying “We should be so lucky to live long enough.”

Sam’s answer makes sense at a time where Lucifer’s warned him death will be the price to pay to defeat Amara. But what happened to Dean? It looked like he was opening up to the idea of a life that had more to offer than despair and tragedy when he confessed to a priest that he wanted to experience things differently in “Paint It Black”, but was afraid it was too late. Now that he has a second chance, it looks like the blaze at the end of the tunnel has been replaced by a sunset. It is… dare I say, blissful? As in, could Amara have something to do with it?

Dean’s “vulnerability”: “It scares me. I don’t know that I can stop it.”

Not!Castiel gives Dean the perfect opening to share his difficulties with Amara when he mentions that he tried and failed to kill her himself. The first thing Lucifer mentions when Dean says there’s more between him and Amara than the Mark is “attraction”. How does he know? Two possibilities. He’s reading Dean’s mind, and/or, having met The Darkness before, he knows how she operates.

Either way, this is an important moment because Dean has never admitted up until now that he was attracted to Amara. He’s also afraid because he’s not sure he can resist this attraction. Interestingly enough, Mildred tells Dean not to resist the “lucky lady” he’s pining for, which brings us to the Amara parallels.

Dean and his lady loves Part II: “I don’t know who the lucky lady is, but I’m damn sure jealous.”

The Banshee was a clear parallel to Amara in my eyes. She preys on Dean through a supernatural connection she establishes with him, enthralls him with her song and controls his mind. The breaking of the skull caused by the banshee and the fact that Dean wants to keep his connection to Amara a secret from Sam brings me back to something else I talked about in the “Plush” Report. I mentioned then that Rita Johnson not “trusting” her brother Chester with her secret resulted in Chester skull being broken against rocks. Dean is hearing a dangerous song. It’s drawing him toward a siren who’s controlling his mind, and he still doesn’t want Sam to know.

“Shine a light on me.”

The danger of Amara represents becomes more evident at the end of the episode. Something is keeping Dean up. He’s wearing black, he’s in the dark, and he’s grabbing his head as if to hold on to the mind that is inside. The song playing says, “Shine the light on me”. The light of the truth might be a way to combat the darkness that is swallowing him. On a bigger scale, it could be the light of the Light Bringer, Lucifer, which needs to be shone on The Darkness in order to weaken her.

The second parallel to Amara was less obvious but it became clearer as I compared Amara’s gentle tone to the Banshee’s screams, and her blissful and painless atmosphere to the chaos of bloody heads breaking against walls. It takes two women to be an Amara, the danger and the protective warmth, and that’s where Mildred, seductive and controlling in the way she takes charge of her man, comes in to represent the more caring yet still bewitching part of The Darkness. Amara did say that her grown up body was hers, “for today”. I don’t know who else she could be possessing to get close to Dean but anything’s possible.

 

Best quote

“I’m not much of a mountain climber anymore.”
Whoa! Hum. Okay. Sam girls? Here’s your new name. Wear it with pride.

The Mighty Winsync

Whether a purse or a beer can, their minds work so well together that only one needs eyes on the other to achieve this flawless exercise in synchronicity, elegance and telepathy.

Best Dean moment

“Honey, it’s almost as gorgeous as you are.”

In “Tall Tales” she said looking at him was like looking into the sun. 9 years later, he’s still has the sunset beat. Above these shallow waters, there’s the beautiful moment where Dean wants to know the secret to a happy life. It’s a wonderful scene made even more compelling by and Jensen and Dee’s talent and chemistry.

Best Sam moment / Defining broment

 

 “I should have looked for you.”
“I should have turned over every stone. But I didn’t, and I’ve never forgiven myself for it.”

It was refreshing to see the way Sam and Dean were communicating with each other. Bits by bits. Checking in, not pushing, listening to the answer, nobody storming out in a huff. Then Sam mentioned the fact that he didn’t look for Dean when Dean disappeared after killing the Leviathan. I, and many, many, many people I know have been waiting for this moment since season 8. We knew it was unforgivable. We needed Carver to admit it and for a long time, he wouldn’t. Last night, Sam finally expressed to Dean that not looking for him was the mistake of his life. I have so much pent-up anger floating away from my chest and evaporating into the sun that I’m out of breath. I appreciate this moment. I begged and screamed for it, and now that it is here, I will take my time and let it sink in.

Hall of fame

“All that’s ever mattered is that we’re together.”

This one sentence sums up the entire reason I watch the show, and it will now reside in the Hall of Fame, next to “You know Sam and Dean Winchester are psychotically, irrationally, erotically codependent on each other, right?”

The Winchester Treasure Chest

That was a mouthful. That’s also the box from “Home”. They’ve had it for a decade and they keep adding mementos and trinkets to it, like the samulet from “Fan Fiction” and now the Oak Park retirement home pamphlet. The old married couple jokes write themselves, so why am I tearing up?

 

Final verdict

 

“Into the Mystic ” was an incredible episode. The setting is fun, the hunt is creative, the guest starts are amazing and have great chemistry with the guys. Mildred is the queen of my tribe, also known as the Sam-loving Dean worshipers, and I loved the appreciation she had for both the guys as well as her unabashed lust for Dean.

I liked that the show explored the way Lucifer affected Sam and showed Sam reverting to using coping mechanisms he’s used in the past, also in relation with Lucifer. It was strange that the banshee didn’t choose Sam as a vulnerable target. It would have made sense, but it would have been predictable. Choosing Dean added a welcome element of surprise and concern because we didn’t necessarily realize that his connection to Amara had brought him to such a vulnerable place. The MOTW and potential victim of the week, both female characters who wanted something for Dean, provided interesting parallels to Amara and in a way represented two sides of the Amara coin: the bliss and the destruction.

It is possible that the bliss Dean experiences with Amara amplifies the desire for happiness he’s kept in a corner of his mind for most of his life. The control she has over him always seemed dangerous, but more and more, it’s looking like it’s taking the shape of a massive rock heading toward his skull. I used to think the world  would be in danger but Dean would remain be safe because Amara wouldn’t harm him. I’m not so sure anymore.

All this speculating is making me hungry for more development on the Deanmara front. In the meantime, I love that Dean is looking for the secret to living a long and happy life and that Sam’s kept the pamphlet for the retirement home Dean chose for them. Oh, and Sam admitted that not looking for Dean was the worst mistake he ever made and Dean’s answer? All that matters is we’re together.

 

All that matters is we’re together… I’ll be on the roof of the Impala basking in the sun if anybody needs me.

Merci,

Vee

XI : Winchester Brothers Report
11.01 “We Broke It, We Bought It”
11.02 “That Giant, Crazy Fart”
11.03 “And I have a fake badge”
11.04 “We’re home”
11.05 “That whole sensitive verbal massage”
11.06 “She overpowered me, end of story”
11.07 “What do you mean, killer bunny?”
11.08 “The family that showers together”
11.09 “If Sam’s not safe, it’s not happening”
11A Midseason Report Card “So, lock and key?”
11.10 “Sam can’t talk cause he’s waxing…”

Gif credits