When Sam gets shot while rescuing two victims from a pair of werewolves, Dean must get everyone out and try to evade the pack that is pursuing them.
To refresh everyone's memories above is an outline of that episode.
I wanted to re-visit this episode and ask why people didn't like it? I have read a number of reasons so I have my own thoughts but wanted to digest yours.
Let's talk 'Red Meat'
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I loved it! The acting, direction and editing was fantastic. My only quibble was I would have liked to see what Berens entire script would have looked like.
Since Sam and Dean survive unsurvivable injuries all the time (head trauma alone should render them vegatables) I bought into the gunshot wound and Sam's determination to get to Dean before Corbin killed him and everyone else. Same with Dean's overdose and miraculous recovery. I loved the brothers aspect of it. Did we learn anything? Did it advance the arc of the season? No but as a stand alone it worked for me.
I loved it too!
shareSorry, but I loved it. The idea that these brothers would go to any length to save one another just never gets old for me. And the amazing scene when Dean finds Sam "dead"- we see him go from dismay, to rage, to acceptance, to sorrow in a manner of seconds; each emotion quietly played to perfection by Jensen. I can watch that scene over and over. Like Cassiopeia I thought the acting, direction and editing were fantastic. It might not have been the greatest episode of the season, but it's still one of my favorites.
shareGreat replies both of you, I have just read so many poor reviews with this episode and just wondered about your thoughts regarding it. There was so much going on, and as you say louise the moment when Dean finds Sam dead once again is still heartbreaking and breathtaking to watch. These boys are so good at acting emotions, they nail it every damned time. I just kept wondering why Corbin wanted Sam dead when he'd tried to rescue and save both of them. That took a while for me to sink in.
share"I just kept wondering why Corbin wanted Sam dead when he'd tried to rescue and save both of them."
I guess that's just the effects of becoming a werewolf. Remember in Bitten when the first kid got bitten by the teacher in the woods? He seemed okay at first, but eventually he lost control of his emotions and attacked his friend for threatening his girlfriend. Corbin was the same way. He thought he was protecting Michelle when he told Sam that he wanted to leave before the werewolves came back, but he knew Dean wouldn't leave without Sam; and he and Michelle wouldn't survive without Dean. So he created the only scenario in which Dean would ever leave Sam behind... literally, over Sam's dead body.
People who didn't liked it had a problem with Dean committing suicide and Sam managing to defeat the monsters in spite of his injuries.
Yes, I get tired of Dean being portrayed as unable to exist at all if Sam is dead - which isn't true. And it was just one of so many episodes in season 11, which has become a worse trait in season 12, where Dean is rendered useless and ridiculous just so Sam can defeat the bad, made all the worse this time because he's supposed to be dead, but apparently that's not enough to keep him down or allow Dean to play the hero for a single episode.
Everything with Sam was eye-rolling and preposterous. But as a Dean fan my bigger gripe was watching Dean getting tossed to the side by Berens - which, again, has become his mantra once he hooked up with Dabb - just to get him out of the way of Sam being the lone hero. This is my hate-on for the series in general now, because unlike years before when Dean was allowed to be portrayed as a good competent hunter, now it looks like a BTS decision that Dean is no longer allowed to do anything badass or heroic on screen.
And cutting Dean out of the action all the time is not the way to make me a fan of the other guy. It's going to have exactly the opposite effect.
I also didn't like much about this episode, the way they had Sam be near death but able to kill everything etc it just was so ludicrous that it just took me out of the action totally. It is not that I don't think Sam should get some action it was just that it was IMO way over the top.
shareYes to all of this.
shareI thought the little ad lib in the scene where Dean is trying to gather wood to make a sled/hammock?(can't think of the word at the moment) to carry Sam was great. When the branch gets caught up in his clothing and he strikes out at it in frustration yelling "Get off of me!" Such a human reaction/thing to do. Loved that touch.
shareI absolutely loved it.
Gave it 9.5/10 in my review.
https://samanddeanbrothersinarms.wordpress.com/2016/03/31/xi-winchester-brothers-report-you-got-him-i-need-him-lets-make-a-deal/
Only episode that got more was the one where the amulet came back and Chuck revealed himself to be God. 10/10
I did love it too, but as previously said, I have found fans on other boards disliking it very much, I cannot fathom out why. My only gripe was why did Corbin want Sam dead and louise explained it perfectly to me. I loved those little touches that AC expresses, these boys know their characters so well, and how to get their feelings across in a way that it breaks our hearts. Sam dying and Dean committing suicide were such powerful scenes. I still wonder how Sam came back to life if someone can explain that one to me..... When he was out cold for some time, was it feasibly possible?
shareIt was a fast paced adventure. Kept me interested and entertained and wondering what will happen next. Jensen has mentioned at convention panels that it was quite complicated to film some of the action scenes and he was very impressed with the director.
My only quibble would be Billie. I don't like her condescending attitude and wish the actress would play it a different way. Or better still, bring back Death.
Not a favourite episode by any means, but certainly not an episode I dislike. I'm finding this current season lacking in terms of fast pace and 'adventure'.