moragmacpherson (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
moragmacpherson) wrote2011-09-24 10:56 am
moragmacpherson) wrote2011-09-24 10:56 am
Supernatural Premiere (7.01) reaction
Okay, so I normally don't do this because lots of other folks and comms on my f-list have established and wonderful threads in which to do it - and I'm there too, still, and still a little keysmash-y, even the morning after. I'll discuss this premier with ANYONE right now because it was so deliriously good and promising and ballsy and yes, once again, potentially lifting from one of my favorite works of sci-fi. Which, well, no one in fandom I've talked to yet has seen, because it's not from Neil Gaiman (yay, Show, you're growing as a derivative work - which isn't an insult - everything's derivative and it's nice to see them branching out in their field of references.)
Anyway, just saying the name of the movie is slightly spoilery for the premiere if you've seen the movie, so my theory is under the cut.
So yeah, the AMAZING SAM HALLUCINATION STORYLINE OF AWESOME is teasing us with the possibility that it's drawing heavily from Jacob's Ladder (1990). Which is not a bad thing or actually could be a horrible thing if you like your Winchester boys alive - which I do - but I also love a good story and I can see how going the Jacob's Ladder route would lead to one of the most emotionally cathartic endings to the series as a whole without pulling a huge deus ex machina out of their butts.
Why do I think they're drawing from the movie? Luci said it as plain as could be last night (and boy, it was nice to see Mark Pelligrino again and I was too distracted by the awesome on screen to pay attention to the credits, so it came entirely from left field for me): "You never made it out, Sam." Which is the ultimate mindscrew from the end of Jacob's Ladder (albeit, in that case, the cause was experimental drugs, not being in Hell, but hey, you work with what your text's reality has to offer): the bulk of the movie about a man suffering from hallucinations during his unsatisfying post-war life is itself a hallucination of a life-he-never-had-the-opportunity-to-live right before dying, as our hero never made it home from Vietnam.
What makes this theory so very bonus tempting? Because one of the things that the movie's famous for (and is, as it turns out, the centerpiece of its Wikipedia page instead of the original controversial allegation (and urban legend!) by the movie that the CIA used Vietnam soldiers as guinea pigs) is popularizing a quote from an otherwise obscure (outside of Catholic theology circles) medieval Christian mystic named Eckhart. Reproduced in full (thank you Wikipedia, for making it so accessible):
Eckhart saw Hell too. He said: "The only thing that burns in Hell is the part of you that won't let go of life, your memories, your attachments. They burn them all away. But they're not punishing you," he said. "They're freeing your soul. So, if you're frightened of dying and... you're holding on, you'll see devils tearing your life away. But if you've made your peace, then the devils are really angels, freeing you from the earth."
Heck, on reading this in the morning, that already parallels the canon process of becoming a demon. But also sounds quite a bit like the chains and meathooks Lucifer's alleging he's got in Sam, not to mention the convolution of devils and angels we had at the end of the Dean and Castiel story what with the Leviathans and all. It also opens up a very strong possibility that everything since Swan Song has been one of Sam's hallucination as he comes to terms with being dead and is freed from the Cage at the end. Which, for those of you not terribly fond of season six, may be very appealing (I still haven't figured out how I feel about last season, which made last night all the more bewildering, but I do have to say: Show, I'm totally on board right now.)
Unless we're going full Cthulhu and are actually standing at the Mountains of Madness, which would be the more obvious and equally awesome route to go. But seriously, this 'verse is already one of the worst Crapsack Worlds ever and now they're gonna have shoggoths? That's just mean.
Anyway, just saying the name of the movie is slightly spoilery for the premiere if you've seen the movie, so my theory is under the cut.
So yeah, the AMAZING SAM HALLUCINATION STORYLINE OF AWESOME is teasing us with the possibility that it's drawing heavily from Jacob's Ladder (1990). Which is not a bad thing or actually could be a horrible thing if you like your Winchester boys alive - which I do - but I also love a good story and I can see how going the Jacob's Ladder route would lead to one of the most emotionally cathartic endings to the series as a whole without pulling a huge deus ex machina out of their butts.
Why do I think they're drawing from the movie? Luci said it as plain as could be last night (and boy, it was nice to see Mark Pelligrino again and I was too distracted by the awesome on screen to pay attention to the credits, so it came entirely from left field for me): "You never made it out, Sam." Which is the ultimate mindscrew from the end of Jacob's Ladder (albeit, in that case, the cause was experimental drugs, not being in Hell, but hey, you work with what your text's reality has to offer): the bulk of the movie about a man suffering from hallucinations during his unsatisfying post-war life is itself a hallucination of a life-he-never-had-the-opportunity-to-live right before dying, as our hero never made it home from Vietnam.
What makes this theory so very bonus tempting? Because one of the things that the movie's famous for (and is, as it turns out, the centerpiece of its Wikipedia page instead of the original controversial allegation (and urban legend!) by the movie that the CIA used Vietnam soldiers as guinea pigs) is popularizing a quote from an otherwise obscure (outside of Catholic theology circles) medieval Christian mystic named Eckhart. Reproduced in full (thank you Wikipedia, for making it so accessible):
Eckhart saw Hell too. He said: "The only thing that burns in Hell is the part of you that won't let go of life, your memories, your attachments. They burn them all away. But they're not punishing you," he said. "They're freeing your soul. So, if you're frightened of dying and... you're holding on, you'll see devils tearing your life away. But if you've made your peace, then the devils are really angels, freeing you from the earth."
Heck, on reading this in the morning, that already parallels the canon process of becoming a demon. But also sounds quite a bit like the chains and meathooks Lucifer's alleging he's got in Sam, not to mention the convolution of devils and angels we had at the end of the Dean and Castiel story what with the Leviathans and all. It also opens up a very strong possibility that everything since Swan Song has been one of Sam's hallucination as he comes to terms with being dead and is freed from the Cage at the end. Which, for those of you not terribly fond of season six, may be very appealing (I still haven't figured out how I feel about last season, which made last night all the more bewildering, but I do have to say: Show, I'm totally on board right now.)
Unless we're going full Cthulhu and are actually standing at the Mountains of Madness, which would be the more obvious and equally awesome route to go. But seriously, this 'verse is already one of the worst Crapsack Worlds ever and now they're gonna have shoggoths? That's just mean.