Liz Watches: Supernatural Season 2, Episode 4: Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things (SPOILER BLOG)

The funniest thing about this episode to me is the title. I mean, I get it, but there’s an episode coming up (I think it’s only one or two away, actually) that should be called “Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things” and it makes this episode look completely misnamed. This episode should be called “What’s Dead Should Stay Dead” or something like that.

To be completely honest, I kind of forgot what a terror Dean is in this season (or at least these past couple episodes). With everything that happened with Sam and Castiel, I tend to fall into a kind of hero worship when it comes to Dean. But even I can admit that Dean’s been acting horribly. For some reason, Sam has become the incredibly mature one. I don’t know what prompted this: I feel like John’s death could have just made Sam more angry and vengeful. But for some reason this has transferred to Dean.

I suppose we get a reason why in the final scene. It’s funny, I actually just watched a video of the most recent convention where Jensen says that this scene was one his top three hardest scenes to film. I can completely see why. This is a man eaten up with guilt, maybe not completely broken yet, but close. He is trying to accept the fact that if he wasn’t around, his dad would be alive. Actually, it kind of reminds me of “The Lion King” (yes, I just went there). Mufasa’s death was not Simba’s fault, but the fact remains that if Simba wasn’t alive, his dad would be. That’s how I imagine Dean is feeling in this moment.

I actually made a weird sobbing noise when Sam was yelling at Dean outside of the father’s house. He says this, “We’ve already lost Dad. We’ve lost Mom. I’ve lost Jessica. And now I’m going to lose you, too?” I’ll have to be on the lookout for if Dean says something like this to Sam in the later seasons, but in the moment, it reminded me too much of what Dean says to Castiel in the season six finale... something along the lines of, “I’ve lost Lisa, I’ve lost Ben, and now I’ve lost Sam. Don’t make me lose you, too.” I guess it was just a moment where I can recognize how much Dean has grown from the earlier seasons to the later ones.

The most interesting thing about this episode, to me, is that Dean is so preachy about letting dead people stay dead. He is so vehement about the fact that he should have been left to die instead of brought back. However, when it comes to Sam dying, Dean makes deals with demons and sacrifices himself to bring Sam back to life. I don’t know whether it’s because all bets are off when it comes to Sam, or whether Dean doesn’t think he deserves to be saved, but it’s definitely something to think about.

Two favorite moments of this episode: 1) Dean’s “Pretty in Pink” reference. It’s one thing for Dean to talk about “The Shining” or “Silence of the Lambs”, but the Brat Pack? This is why we’re soulmates, Dean. 2) “It’s your grief counselors! We’ve come to hug!”