Supernatural Think Tank - Thinky Thoughts and Theories on Supernatural 11x17 "Red Meat"

- by Anna

I have one thing to say about this episode.....SAM F***ING WINCHESTER. Okay, I lied, I have much to say about this episode. But can I just reiterate....SAM F***ING WINCHESTER. Dean may be Batman, but Sam, Sam is friggen Superman. Gee, whizz I just had a Lois Lane fantasy moment. So let me just say it. This episode was an emotional roller coaster ride. It was intense to the highest power and I cursed every friggen commercial for interrupting my show. Jared and Jensen were amazing. The guests were great. The feel of the ep was scary, intense, scary, intense....did I mention intense? Can I just reiterate how BADASS Sam Winchester is, you know just in it hasn't sunk in yet. I guess it could be boiled down to this.....I LOVED IT....I LOVE SAM WINCHESTER....and DEAN WINCHESTER AIN'T BAD EITHER.

That out of the way, I guess I had a few thinky thoughts after watching the ep. Though how I managed any thoughts is a miracle in and of itself. 

I thought Sam died. I mean I really sat there and believed he had died. It actually wasn't until Billie told Dean that Sam wasn't dead that I realised of course he isn't ....If Sam died, then why didn't we see Sam see Billie, or any reaper for that matter. It was all very Sixth Sense.

I don't think Billie's role is to threaten the boys. This is the second time, and we're nearing the end of the season, that Billie once again reminded a Winchester about the Empty. I really feel her presence is more helpful than harmful. I believe her threat regarding the boys to be an empty one....While I do believe that she means it when she says when it's time for them to go, it'll be permanent, I don't believe she has the authority or the desire to send either Winchester to the Empty. Think about it. What was the point of Billie freezing the moment of Dean's death? Did anyone actually believe her when she said she simply wanted to savour the moment? Perhaps that comment would've been more plausible if she had actually reaped Dean. She certainly spent that time giving quite the monologue. When you think about it her monologue gave Sam the time he needed to get back to Dean. What I find way too much of a coincidence is the timing of her unfreezing the moment as well and her final words to Dean - "Dean the Empty is waiting". Billie totally unfreezed the moment and said those words as Dean was about to get revived, which by the look on Billie's face as she was walking away, is a clear indication of what she knew was going to happen. (Seriously all, give it a rewatch and look at Billie's face. It was a look of satisfaction, like she'd done her job, what she truly meant to do). I don't believe she was there to collect Dean at all, but to once again provide Dean with the answer to the Amara problem. I think the solution is in her empty threat. I didn't feel Dean was ever in any danger. Let's really think about it, Billie keeps making this so called threat, but doesn't carry it out. As far as I know, given past canon, as in "Appointment in Samarra", Death has a list....if Death wants you, Death takes you regardless of the effort going into trying to save that person. If Billie wanted Dean like she claimed, no doctor would've been able to save him. No, I'm sorry, but Billie definitely is more than just a mere threat to the boys. The boys already know her mindset, I'm not buying that Billie's presence in this episode was just to tell Dean what he already knows. I don't know about you guys, but I believe Billie's character holds more importance than just threatening the boys with the same threat over and over, besides if she really wanted them, she could've taken them both at any time. I tell you what she has done both times she's encountered the Winchesters, she's provided the solution to the Amara problem. She also helped in the Devil is in the Details. I think Billie is definitely pro Winchester and doth protest too much. Besides, I don't think Billie has the authority to decide where souls go., I always felt that was more of a heavenly decision and I'm still a believer that Death isn't really dead.

I'd seen posts elsewhere that weren't too keen on Dean going back to lying to Sam. I gotta say though, I thought Dean did the right thing. First off, the horror that came to Dean seeing his brother dead, having that nightmare vision just the week before in "Safe House", had to be the worst thing ever. I was gut wrenched more by this death than the one in "AHBL2". I totally understood where Dean was coming from. Dean couldn't call on Cas to save Sam and following what happened with Gadreel, I can't see Dean calling on any angel to save his brother. (Big step there.) I thought that what Dean did made perfect sense. As much as Dean needs his brother and will do what it takes to save him, Dean also knows that Sam is humanity's only hope right now against Amara, as Dean knows very well that he's under some kind of a spell and has no control. Saving Sam is for the greater good. Bargaining himself away in this case was not suicidal. He can't fight Amara, Sam can. Dean dying in Sam's place is essentially for the greater good and as he is his father's son, a strategic one at that, at least how he sees it. What I think was made clear here, though quite subtlety, is that it will take both Winchesters to defeat Amara. It was very clear to me, as the boys drove away, that the boys are stronger together and it will be both of them that will beat the Darkness. What I also found so telling in this episode is how much Dean's love for his brother has more of a hold on him than Amara ever could. Dean didn't crumble and give up when he believed his brother died. No he looked at his brother and he finished the job they started, saving this couple. So while Dean may have been willing to bargain himself away for Sam, I think it's also very important to note that he also kept fighting for Sam as well. He stayed on mission. He got that couple to a hospital. Saving people. Add that to Dean wanting to save people by bringing Sam back and even trading places. I would say that Dean has most definitely come along way from only saving each other. I also loved the symbolism of Sam coming back to the hospital and killing the werewolf. Sam told Dean in "Love Hurts"....not to worry, he's got it. He told Dean again in "Safe House", "You're good, "you're good, I got you". Then we have Sam arriving at the hospital, once again, having Dean's back. He's got him. I don't think Dean's attitude at the beginning was for nothing. I totally believe that Dean, who believed he saw his brother dead on that cabin floor, and then witnessing his gut shot brother standing before him in that clinic taking out that werewolf and saving his life, most definitely has renewed faith. If we the audience know it, then I too have no doubt that Dean knows the sheer strength, will, and love that Sam has for his brother that enabled him, in that condition to get himself to Dean. Sam is one BAD ASS MOTHER and if anyone is capable of taking out Amara, it's Sam Winchester. Dean might have been making light of it at the end, but the way I saw it, Dean was expressing his utmost faith in his brother and impressing to both Sam and the audience that Dean has no doubt in Sam's ability to defeat the D, as well as acknowledging Sam's pledge of having Dean's back. 

Amara doesn't stand a chance. 

-Anna

Read sweetondean's review of "Red Meat"