"the devil you know" episode 5x20
initially, this episode left me cold and kinda bored aka super disappointed! only 3 eps left and they give us this low action, super expositiony stuff? but i think i was just over-excited (surprise, surprise) and my adrenaline flow didn't match that of the show's. upon second viewing, this episode is as brilliant as any of ben edlund's previous efforts and really ties together the whole mythology of the show.
the teaser opens on an animal testing lab, total "outbreak" style. there are some monkeys, a couple lab coats and a random janitor. (do they usually clean labs while in use? doesn't that pose a problem with sterility?) anyway, the scientists are discussing the new swine flu vaccine, which is being put into production without proper testing. then, uh-oh! suspiciously conspicuous janitor is really a demon sent by pestilence to help spread, well, pestilence. he injects one guy with what i suppose is croatoan virus because the guy goes bonkers and kills his colleague. and the demon gets away.
cut to the boys in investigator mode, wearing medical masks in the lobby of a hospital and interviewing a doctor. the town has been hit by a mini-epidemic of swine flu, a tell tale sign of the horseman of the week. this whole scene seemed really surreal because you couldn't see anyone's mouth move. it kinda freaked me out.
i wonder if this scene was a deliberate suggestion on jensen's part to show how he can emote, even only working with his eyes. you can totally tell how big his smile is here. the eye crinkles give it away!on with the hunt, the boys drive along, heading east when pure awesome appears in the backseat. that's right, pure awesome in the form of crowley the demon, played by the utterly charming, scene-chomping, sexy beast mark sheppard (aka badger from "firefly", romo lampkin from bsg, etc) this man makes everything he's in better and is pretty much solely responsible for my reassessment of this episode. sheppard has a magnetic personality and that coupled with his ridiculously sexy voice makes his crowley the most charismatic motherfucker in the room at all times. i wouldn't trust him, but i'd do what he told me to anyway.
on a side note, the impala's been getting a lot of love/screen time lately. it is a coincidence that everyone's heading
so crowley pops in to propose that they all work together to kill/cage lucifer. he's oozing charm and snake oil smiles, but due to his somewhat spotty history with the brothers, the winchesters are pretty pissed that he'd show his face.
even pretty when he's pissed.
sam has a 'roid rage moment and tries to kill crowley, who eventually explains his offer of satanic assassination assistance. lucifer knows that crowley gave sam and dean the colt, which puts crowley squarely in the hunted category, right along with the winchesters.
crowley also discloses that he's been watching over the winchesters with the help of a magical coin planted in the impala that allows him to see and hear the boys. with a smirk crowley drawls, "and my the things i've heard." (what exactly have you hear!?! i'm gonna pretend it was wincest!)
eventually, they agree to work together. crowley confesses that while he can't deliver pestilence and the third power ring, he can give them the "horseman's stableboy" in the form of a possessed pharmaceutical company exec.
the name of the company is niveus, which means snowy or white. a reference to the morningstar, perhaps? lucifer!sam was wearing that white suit in "the end." i could just be reading too much into, but i think the writers are just as nerdy about that shit as the fangirls, so i doubt it's a coincidence.
sam's so emo.dean gets sent upstairs alone to face the demon, tries his usual cocky smartass routine and gets the ever living shit kicked out of him. this demon does work for the horseman after all, so he's kind of a badass.
dean wiping blood on the demon's suit jacket. just delightfully insouciant, that dean :-)
dean ekes out an escape, takes the world's longest elevator ride down and regroups with crowley. the demon, of course, reappears, but crowley has the latest in devil's trap headwear handy and uses it to capture the evil exec.
this makes me giggle :-)en route to their hideout, crowley instructs dean to drive in the opposite direction, away from sam. apparently, the younger winchester has a history with this demon and crowley doesn't trust sam to not kill their hostage. but dean ain't having that shit, so they go back to the lair. when they arrive sam somehow immediately knows something's up and pops up to investigate.
sam's spidey sense is tingling!dean and crowley unmask the demon for sam to reveal....dundundun...brady! wait, who?
we learn that brady was sam's college friend, the man who introduced him to jess. brady was apparently possessed throughout most of their friendship, on assignment from azazel. brady was sent to put sam back on the "right" path, as yellow eyes thought sam was becoming too much of a civilian. the demons conspired to hook him up with a beautiful innocent girl, and then kill her, in order to ignite sam's anger switch and steer him back toward the dark side.
basically, sammy's been screwed since forever. poor puppy.
the puppy doesn't last long though and then, out comes angry sasquatch sam!
dean has to physically keep sam from killing brady then and there, as they still need him to find pestilence. crowley thanks the winchesters for getting brady "nice and fluffed" and takes a swing at trying to pry pestilence's whereabouts from the demon. the negotiations don't go well, and crowley rather abruptly leaves to pursue an alternate plan. sam takes advantage of their demon den mother's absence, locks dean in a closet and goes after brady with ruby's knife. he gets this close...
...and then doesn't kill him! sam takes control of his temper! hallelujah! does this mean he could take control of lucifer too? has sam finally mastered the force?
i found this recently, but couldn't find out who made it. but they are clearly awesome.team free will isn't out of the woods yet though. turns out a demon planted a magic gps tracker on crowley and sent hellhounds after them. dean looks suitably terrified, poor thing, and crowley promptly skedaddles. not knowing what else to do, sam and dean prepare for a hellhound fight, shotguns at the ready. just as dean's about to get mauled (again), crowley reappears with a jumbo sized hound, who rips the others to shreds. demons and winchesters all escape in the impala.
later, brady hands over directions to pestilence and acknowledges that he's now on the lam, just like the rest of them. job done, crowley takes off and dean draws a salt line in the alley behind him, hemming in the winchesters and brady. they stand at opposite ends, showdown style and dean brings the butch saying, "we're the one's you should be afraid of."
intimidating as fuck.and then sam stabs the shit out of brady! and nearly smiles while he does it! his mannerisms and facial expressions are becoming more and more like lucifer!sam in "the end." which makes me sad cause i'm just starting to like sam again. i don't want either of the brothers to say yes!
this is part snarl, part smile, all lucifer's vessel.after the demon slaying, sam walks off into the shadows and dean just lets. him. go.
dean just stands there, like he's finally resigned to sam's tremendous anger and aggression. or maybe he's just finally letting sammy become sam? or is he resigned to the whole damn apocalypse? these guys really have the worst lives and they are stressing me out. srsly.
let's see...final thoughts. 1. when they first introduced brady, i immediately thought of eric brady, jensen's character on "days of our lives." i find comfort knowing i am not the only one :-) 2. sam stabs the impala's upholstery when crowley first shows up in the back seat! i couldn't help but think how mad dean must have been. 3. the flies in the blood chalice when brady was communicating with pestilence were super cool and clever!
next week, more pestilence, hopefully some castiel action and (finally) hello death!
