ep reaction to Mannequin 3 the Reckoning.

[fannishliss]

The title is funny to me, because I actually watched Mannequin when it came out.  Very romantic for me as a teen!  :P  But also, this ep was intensely creepy for me.  I am afraid of mannequins.  O_O  One of the scariest eps of Kolchak the Nightstalker is when dress mannequins come to life and try to kill Kolchak.  Flash back to me at age six, on the couch, peeping out from under my blanket.    I also had a really great creepy comic book where the woman who was trapped in a department store with a werewolf after her, turned out to be a mannequin in a Halloween display window!  I must've read that comic a hundred times.  creepy!!!!!!

Anyways, here's my review -- I liked it a lot!

 

 

I love the Fade in from white, Sam pinching his nose.  Dean offers coffee, food and effective pills which Sam refuses.  Dean tells Sam that he has to shove it down and “let it come out in spurts of violence and alcoholism,” which is really sad, but at least Dean knows his problems.  The nice thing is the openness and honesty between them.  They move on to a job. Rose Brown – fairy tale name for the plain girl – and then the sister’s name is Isabelle – meaning beauty.  Isabelle defended Rose, but Rose “did more than anybody else ever could” – not just spending a life as a sister without parents, but even donating her kidney.  The parallel of siblings trying to take care of each other is obvious—though Rose’s vengeance ends up destroying Isabelle, so that both sisters are dead in the end.

 

The monster of the week doesn’t seem random to me at all.  There’s been a long history of shapeshifters taking the form of one of the brothers, and now, the mannequins are doing the killing. “Fifty bucks says vengeful spirit.” – the mannequins are haunted.  But in terms of the mirror theme of this season, the mannequins represent Sam – the soulless body that walked around like T-1000 doing a deadly mimicry of a human.  It struck me as I pondered this that the T-1000 is the Terminator who takes the form of a mirror, with his fluid, shiny, reflective surface... and he also comes to an end after he’s been shattered into little pieces and then finally killed in a smelting furnace.   Hm!  I love how Dean stares into the blank face of the dress doll—an echo of how he had previously searched Sam’s face for signs of emotion.

 

Dean’s phone keeps going off and it says Lisa is calling.  Later we find out that it was Ben calling, though Lisa also tells Dean she called him six times since they last talked.

Dean finally answers the phone, and it turns out to be Ben, who lures Dean by telling him that she won’t come out of her room.   Sam urges Dean to face up to his past year, and Dean accuses him that his journey ended up with a flashback of Hell.  I don’t really think the outcome for Dean is parallel, thankfully.  Dean remains in suspension at the end of the episode, his emotions stirred up to a greater extent than they were before he talked with Lisa and Ben.  He’s unable to just shove it down, which I think is good.

 

I love the direction when Sam is interviewing factory workers.  Johnny gives a lovely, squirrelly interview.  I also love the Sammy-eye Jared gives the suspect as he walks away. In terms of the problem having been created because of the machinations of a bunch of dicks?  Yeah, it does resemble the brothers’ predicament in s5 just in terms of the bare bones.

 

 

I love the staging of the talk Dean has with Lisa. He rings the doorbell insistently, no longer with a key of his own. The glass panes of the door are beautifully decorated with etched stars, which to me show the peace, security and comfort inside.   Lisa comes running down the stairs barefoot, eager to let in Dr. Matt, her date. Lisa lets Dean in, but with a feeling of reluctance, not the welcome she’s shown in the past. They’re back to square one, when he shows up unannounced at her son’s eighth birthday party an unknown quantity and possible threat, a mere figure from a past she’s moved on from. Again, I just have to single out Cindy’s performance.  She matches Jensen’s energies so perfectly, giving him just the right levels of reluctance to play off of as he awkwardly tromps through the door.  I can’t think of any other female actor, with the possible exception of Sam Ferris, that Jensen has worked with so well.

 

 Dean perches on the barseat, opening himself a beer, almost at home. Lisa crosses the screen her back to us, and she’s thrown on a sweater, covering her exposed shoulders from Dean’s gaze (break, my heart!).   His army surplus shirt is laying nicely folded on the creamy white couch, blatantly at odds with the rest of the tidy, feminine scene.

 

The awkwardness between them, Dean’s bitterness and Lisa’s disappointment, rises up immediately, as Dean snarks about Dr. Matt.  I love that Lisa calls him on it right away.  She refuses to take any of Dean’s bullshit, which it one thing I really love about the way her character has always been played.  Fandom may insist that she’s trumped up as an unbelievably accepting woman for Dean, but I don’t think it plays that way.  As a Dean girl, I’ll freely admit my bias – I think Lisa is a lucky woman; she’s gotten to know Dean, and despite his multitude of problems, he’s a keeper.  She says “I know what I want, I just can’t have it.”  What she wants is Dean, home safe with her. “I called you Six Times, Dean.” “And I almost called you back about a hundred,” he says, veiling his eyes with a slow blink.  (My husband has the same quirk, covering his large, expressive green eyes with a slow blink when he’s thinking up a retort.)  “Good to know,” she says, turning away.  Clearly, his withdrawal is very painful for her, and she’s trying to move on.  Dean tells her that he cares, but she says, “that doesn’t help me.”  “Well then ask for something!” Dean demands.  He’s always been a person who lives to provide what other people need.  If Lisa lays it out for him, I have no doubt he’ll do exactly what she tells him to do, because that’s how Dean is. 

 

Ben’s appearance in the scene is perfect – Dean and Lisa yell “go to your room” in unison – does Dean ever speak in unison with anyone other than SAM? (edited for extremely stupid typo, sorry!)  Lisa finally sits down beside him at the bar.   (I just have to say, Lisa is very well off. People who try to portray her as working class, I don’t see where you get that.  Her kitchen is four times the size of mine!!  After at least four moves in one year? She’s a trust fund kid, I guarantee you.)  I love the mirroring of Dean’s and Lisa’s expressions and body language as they sit at the bar. 

 

Lisa delivers a very good speech about what she wants and what she can’t have. 

 

“I know what I want – but I can’t have it, not how you live.  My phone rings, I think, tiny chance, it’s you, big chance it’s Sam calling to tell me you’re dead. ...  Don’t apologize or anything.  It’s just, I get to this place where I’m okay, and then you show up at our door.  You keep doing that!  Every time I think I’m never gonna see you again. I’m trying to get over you.  What’re you trying to do?  What do you want from us, Dean?”

 

Lisa doesn’t know Sam, you know—if you go back to 3.2, she hardly even meets him.  She only knows him as the man who’s taken Dean away from her.  She doesn’t realize that Dean is with her at that moment only because of Sam’s intercession.  I hope they meet someday.

 

Dean has no answer, but Jensen almost takes him to tears there, swallowing, blinking, lips trembling.  She’s given him a lot to think about.  He’s admitted that he cares, that he wants her to ask for something.  I think it’s a very rich place for the character to be.

 

The scene between Dean and Ben worked very well for me too.  I like Ben’s perspective; I like that he admires Dean and loves him and wants him around.    “Why won’t you come home?”

 

Dean: “Just cause you love someone doesn’t mean you should stick around and screw up their life. So I can’t be here.  I think that my job turns me into somebody that can’t sit at your dinner table.  And if I stayed you’d end up just like me.  Trust me, I’m not someone you’d want to aim to be.”  We’ve heard this a lot from Dean.

 

Ben: “Don’t I get a vote?”  Dean: “No, you don’t.”  Dean wants to make a parental type decision for Ben, but the only one he can make is removing himself from Ben’s life.  “With me, there’s just the one road,” Dean says, insisting that his life is a trap only.

 

But Ben sees it differently.  Because he loves Dean, he sees all the great things that Dean can’s see about himself.  He also points out the truth, that family isn’t just blood, but it’s the people you love: “You say family’s so important, but what do you call people who care for you, even when you’re a dick.  You know you’re walking out on your family, right?”  RANT:  Everything Ben says here is true, and it's central to the message of this show as far as I'm concerned.  It pisses me off when fans rag on Ben or Lisa, saying that they're not really Dean's family, when they took him in and loved him for who he is. It's not just history or blood that make a family.  Dean is a complicated package -- he's a true hero, but with a lot of problems; he's a unique and wonderful personality, but he doesn't believe in his own worth.  I like other people who see through to the good man he's spent his whole life trying to be.  It's not just Bobby and Sammy who I dearly love who are Dean's family.  They also want more for him.  I want more for all of them!  I do not appreciate the Lisa haters.  She is awesome.  And Ben did a good job in this ep, even if the actor is a tad wooden.  He looks like Dean though, yay.  I am still a believer that Ben is Dean's son -- but the love between them  at this stage totally trumps the connection by blood.   Ben means good in Latin, but in Hebrew it means Son.  Yeah.  end rant.

 

Cut to Sammy saying: “A new beginning.  A lot of chances not to be a jackass.”

 

I actually really love the montage of Lisa looking less and less thrilled to see Dean.  And I love the montage that shows him reflecting on what he loved about having a family, what he’s missing out on.   My final opinion is that it is a moment rich in introspection – opening up the idea that Dean has thinking to do, that he can’t just shut down his past like he advised for Sam. Our one piece of classic rock for the show:  “Love Hurts.” 

 

The ghost uses the Impala to try to kill Sam and Dean, but ends up killing her sister by accident. Both sisters are dead by end.

 

  Back at Singer Salvage, Dean works on the Impala, and regrets the outcome of the Hunt and of his conversations with Ben and Lisa – “I got a heartbroken kid and a woman who’s so pissed at me.”  It’s not exactly a flashback of Hell, though – to me, it’s a moment with the potential for painful change – maybe even growth. 

 

At least Sam and Dean are together, and Sam’s trying to encourage Dean that he believes they’re fighting the good fight.

 

 

 

 

Comments

[borgmama1of5.livejournal.com]

Very insightful comments!

[fannishliss.livejournal.com]

thanks!

[jensenrick.livejournal.com]

My thoughts exactly

[fannishliss.livejournal.com]

cheers!

[tifaching.livejournal.com]

I also like Lisa and I agree with just about everything you said here. I was a little put off at Sam's saving people pep talk to Dean at the end, but it makes sense from where Dean's head is at these day.

And yay for original Kolshak. I loved Darrin McGavin in that and it truly creeped me out!

[fannishliss.livejournal.com]

I need a Kolchak icon. I went as Kolchak for Halloween, which was really fun! No one recognized me though. :P

The two of them must have to constantly trade pep talks, right?

[tahirire.livejournal.com]

Heh.

Does Dean ever speak in unison with anyone other than Lisa?

Yeah, he does. Sam. That's the problem, isn't it - as much as he wants to live WITH Ben and Lisa, he can't live WITHOUT Sam. I'm with you on the whole thing - I want him to have both SO BAD, but Lisa's acceptance of him was contingent upon him being retired from hunting, as it should be. She can't afford to put her kid, who comes first, at risk, and she doesn't know Sam. I hope they get to meet, too.

I went back and watched What is and What Should Never be. It was SUCH a parallel episode to this - Dean even snarks at himself in a perfect mirror of what he said to Lisa - "I'm ... dating a nurse. That's so ... respectable." they even both end with one of Sam's 'it's worth it' speeches. Seriously, go back and watch it. The more things change, the more they really just stay the same.

[fannishliss.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, you caught me in a typo. Today is a no-school day, and I was being pestered by my offspring so I rushed through the proofread -- where it says Lisa, it was meant to say Sam -- of course! *red face*

Actually, for a while there, Lisa did argue that it didn't have to be either/or, that she thought it might work for Dean to come and go. Experience has taught her how hard that is. But I love that she told him not to apologize. I'm very curious to see where this storyline goes.... I don't think they would keep bringing Lisa and Ben back in if they weren't serious about it.

The way the show keeps its own themes first and foremost, the way everything keeps coming around, is one of the big reasons I love it so much!!

[themonkeytwin.livejournal.com]

Great minds. I was about to be all, "Cut it out, Sam.... Sam! You think you're funny but you're being really really childish...." But you got there first :)

[fannishliss.livejournal.com]

STUPIDEST TYPO EVER, SORRY.

I actually have a problem processing proper names, so it's something I do a lot, but I usually catch it before it goes out. sorry.

[themonkeytwin.livejournal.com]

I forgive you. *nods grandly*

:)

[themonkeytwin.livejournal.com]

Ah, typos. *pats kindly* They'll getcha.

I'm sure I've mentioned that I agree with you about liking Lisa, so ditto to all of that, and agreed that they are family. Dean has a tendency to draw people into the aegis of his family; not just Bobby, Lisa and Ben, but Ellen and Jo and Ash and Pamela and Cas and even Chuck. Even Richie and Anna; even Gordon before he showed his true colours. They're his people, and he gives himself for any of them. But family comes with a sorting algorithim, and it's not about how much you love them but how much they need you. Sam's at the top of that list; Ben and Lisa don't need him, they want him. And for all his pettily hedonistic ways, real want has always been a luxury he cannot afford. "Want" is just not the most important thing, and he can't change that about himself, or line up with people who have the security to make want and not need their guiding star. Maybe one day, if Sam (and the whole world, or his other family members) doesn't need him as much, but not now. And from where he's standing, he can't afford to dream about that one day, either, because it may never come.

So although I see the value of Lisa and Ben expressing their want for him, it is also a very cruel place to put Dean. Lisa hasn't asked much of Dean, she's mostly given; and so she hasn't given him many opportunities to show his love the way he can, the way he has always offered value. Until she needs him and tells him so, it's just not a contest.... Okay, I think I'm rambling now. But my read of the scenes with them was not necessarily that they were telling him anything new. It was just putting him in a position where he had no choice but to hurt them, again (which hurts him as much as it hurts them), while dangling the impossible dream in front of him.

Mind you, I think he's beyond much of the angst of this, too; he's made his decision, he's committed to his course, and he's not letting himself entertain anything else. So, hopeless, but not torn.... Yay?

[fannishliss.livejournal.com]

Thanks for forgiving my typo. I do it out loud too, using the wrong name for the person, so that my entire train of thought is bizarre and nonsensical to the listener. At least in conversation I can see the confused expressions and backpedal! :P

I think the most painful thing about Dean's relationship with Lisa is that even when he was living with them for the whole year, he was constantly trying to figure out a way to get Sam out of the cage. I think people were a bit misled by Jensen's early comment that Dean read as a bit "soft" on the page.... to my mind, Dean was on the most important Hunt of his whole life that entire year. At least, that's how I read it.

Lisa must've gotten to know painfully well how deep Dean's love for Sam really goes. He never stopped grieving (how could he, knowing Sam was in Hell), never stopped trying to get Sam out. (I pulled a bit of an Angel-whammy on him in my post-5.22 verse, just to give the boy a little peace!)

And Dean did of course go running as soon as Sam called for him... so Lisa knows how that is, and how it will always be.

It's really a terrible situation. But if I could change one thing, it would be Dean's fatalistic understanding of his own nature. He's never understood the breadth of who he is. I think if he could just feel a little "luckier" -- to take it in terms of the last scene of the ep -- he'd find that Lisa is willing to put up with a lot from him. After all, she seemed to call it quits after the Veritas ep, but then tried again and again to get a hold of him.

Dean has been cursed with a series of terrible crises, always going from bad to worse. With Sam's sanity protected by this flimsy wall... well, I think the words of the ep show that he is still torn. But that's my read -- in action, there he is back with Sam, despite his regret that Ben and Lisa are heartbroken and pissed -- but he is still thinking of them in the terms that they are "his". I have HOPE. Painful hope, but HOPE nonetheless!

[themonkeytwin.livejournal.com]

(Somehow I hit the wrong button. *headtilt* Brain is off today. I blame taxes.)

Well, I'm not saying that there isn't any hope, just that DEAN isn't letting himself have any at this point. I'm pretty sure we're mostly agreeing ... for example, Lisa WOULD put up with a lot from him. But I also think he's assessing it clearly right now, that who he is – right now – is not something he will ask her to accept, ever. The hardest thing Dean will probably ever face is real hope, and even if he can ever gear himself to face that battle (and it will be a battle), it's not now. So he's not going to spend time on it.

I'm with you, I'm hoping for him, and that Show will one day give both brothers the peace it's been promising so long – and in the form of life, not death! But for now, I'll wait with him, and Sam both.

Oh, boys. :(

[erinrua.livejournal.com]

Thank you x a billionty for helping me revisit the many wonderful, thoughtful, important points this episode made. I really enjoyed it, and came away from it feeling completely satisfied with everything, however angsty or sad, that it delivered. :)

[fannishliss.livejournal.com]

You're certainly welcome! It's always interesting to me when an ep comes out that people react to so subjectively. This seems to have been a glass half full/half empty test in terms of whether people took it as shutting down the Braeden/Winchester relationship or keeping it going. Me, I seem to be the Eternal Optimist with Show. :)

[erinrua.livejournal.com]

Yup, I always see a glass half full, until proven otherwise. Maybe this was The End ... but maybe not. :) Thanks again for your review!