I know I am about a week late in this post, and I do apologize. The week just snuck up on me preparing for the Holiday weekend and working retail on Black Friday! Anyway, I am finally back and so excited for this post! Not only because it should keep pretty short, but because one of my favorite episodes was written by Gamble for this season! Call it comedic relief if you will, but we definitely see the deeper meaning here.
It’s a Terrible Life & When the Levee Breaks
Though Gamble only directly authors two episodes for season four, her work does not come without great influence on our boys. It’s a Terrible Life is a breath of fresh air in the midst of difficult character developments: such as Sam’s addiction to demon blood and the intensity of Dean’s facing himself after breaking the first seal. This is a fun little experiment to see what hot shot Dean would be like as a Corporate Dueche Bag and how Goliath-looking Sam would be in a little IT cubical! Hilarious! Not to mention the little details around our guys here: Smith & Wesson (you get it if you know guns), Bobby & Ellen as Dean’s parents, Madison (the warewolf) as Sam’s ex-fiance (her number putting him through to an animal hospital)… These are all witty little touches that would obviously bring bits of reminders and dreams back for them while their memories weren’t quite there.
I’m gonna do a public service and let you know…that, uh, you overshare.
The best “old-life” flash we get, though, is Dean’s pop culture references-
Sam: I feel like we’ve done this before…
Dean: Like, Shirley McClain before?
Classic Dean.
The “lesson,” if you will, that the brothers need to get while they’re here is this: recognizing their desitinies and playing the roles they were born to fill. Yes, this is when we meet everyone’s favorite angel, Zechariah; the Alistair of Heaven, as I call him.
How’s that for a Bonus?
Just as Corporate Dean tells his boss that he’s giving his notice to do some other type of “work,” we meet Zechariah and Dean gets his actual notice: “the path you’re on is truly in your blood. You’ll find your way to it in the dark every time.” The lights come on and Dean has a hard time facing facts: there are not too many more arguments for him to justify his hell-bent determination to fight against “destiny.”
Moving on to When the Levee Breaks, Gamble gives us brilliant writing in a desperate situation. I am not going to comment as much on the story as on the setting for this episode, as over 80% of it takes place in Bobby’s Panic Room. If you’re not a theatre geek or film nut or really into acting/directing, this wasn’t a huge moment for you to watch (beyond the hallucianations), but director Robert Singer did some incredible work alongside Jerod Padalecki (and others) with this very small space.
While watching this episode along with commentary and behind the scenes features, the smallness of this space truly hit me: it’s a panic room meant to simply keep demons and other monsters out, and a very large portion of the episode dealt with some heavy moments in here: hallucinations of torture from a dead Alistair; conversations with Sam’s past self and the desperation to be normal, and with his mother, and what he would grievously hope she might say; loss of bodily control just before Dean and Bobby have to tie him down; and the final sizeable thing that festers in the back of Sam’s mind, what his brother truly thinks of him.
How can you run away from what you really are?
The demon detox is a beautiful piece of drama and horror that is very different than other moments that occur within this show- it’s all in Sam’s mind. Gamble’s writing gave talented actors and director amazing dialogue to work within the smallness of this space.The grief comes, though, at the end of this episode when Castiel lets Sam loose. When Sam escapes and finds Ruby to feast his addictive appetite. When Sam gives in to his anger and tries to kill Dean. When Dean just lets his brother go, unable fight against him anymore because Sam won’t trust him. It’s heartbreaking and Gamble’s ending makes a perfect path for the season’s finale.
Analytically Media 