Unforgiven (613)

[Madwelshboy]

DEAN FINDS OUT ABOUT SAM’S LIFE WHEN HE HUNTED WITH SAMUEL — Sam (Jared Padalecki) starts to have flashbacks to a case he worked on with Samuel (guest star Mitch Pileggi) before he reconnected with Dean (Jensen Ackles). Sam receives a mysterious text with coordinates to a small town, so the brothers decide to investigate. Dean is surprised when the townspeople start telling him some of the things Sam did while he lived there. David Barrett directed the episode written by Andrew Dabb & Daniel Loflin (#613).

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[LizzieAnne]

I loved this look at Sam's missing time. In fact that was the whole purpose of the ep really, and no worse for that.

So the story was pretty much a monster of the week but had the whole 'what Soulless Sam did' woven in there very nicely. It also gave us a peek at Samuel which is good as we don't really know much about him. He'd only been back for a short while when this hunt took place and had no idea how Sam would have normally behaved and was shocked to see his grandson behaving so coldly. But he didn't protest too much either so I'm thinking that generally hunters are pretty much a hard bunch and soulless Sam fitted in just fine with them. But I think Samual was uncomfortable knowing that his own family could be quite so bad-ass at that point.


When it finished I had to look and see who wrote this ep (Loflin and Dabb) because they had Sam and Dean's characters spot on I reckon. I love how they're now back to some of their old ways but with some additional character growth, which is what you'd expect with all they've gone through.

I loved how this was shot as well. The flashbacks in black and white had the look of the old 1940's movies. Especially the gangster movies (film noir I suppose was the idea there) with Sam being so clinically cold as he beat the Deputy to a pulp and then shot the cocoon-ed victims.

Although I was expecting Sam to have flashbacks to his time in the town, it was a total shock to have him collapse at the end with those first flashbacks to hell. I didn't think they'd do it quite so soon. I expect they'll be many more...before....the finale!

Oh yes ...no Metallica's 'Unforgiven' playing, so that's the only thing I'm going to complain about!

Not quite so many great quotes in this one but still a few good ones:

Sam: Mel Gibson really took a turn this past year huh?
Dean: or he's possessed.

And a bit of interesting trivia:

Sam's alias Agent H.Roark is a reference to the main character in a novel called "The Fountainhead" where individual self-interest was held as the purpose of one's life. Very fitting.

[iolanda]

I was pretty impressed about this episode and I for sure need a re-watch to catch all the little things I liked about it.

It was good to see the boys on the road again, with a pretty standard monster of the week - as if would seem wouldn't there have been the first glimpse of what happened an year ago with Sam and Samuel. I liked how the non-linear narration weaved the past with the present and it unfold how this wasn't a simple monster.

To prevent re-telling what LizzieAnne just wrote (because she pretty much wrote what I was about to write) I'll just add some more points:
- The difference between Soulless!Sam and Sam was so vivid and I am so happy that we have our old Sam back
- Spiders!
- Loved to see how caring Dean is about his brother without being the over-protective. It was almost like having the boys back where we all wanted them =)
- It was clear that there was something wrong when Sam shot in the first flashback, just telling by the expression on Samuels face. And when I saw the final scene where we see that Sam shot the living, conscious and awake sheriff with the words "you are a hero", just the same words Sam used when he talked to the sheriffs wife, that was eerie.
- I am not really sure if the portrayal of Samuel fits 100% to what we saw in the first half of the season. He was harder there, here it almost had the impression, that he didn't dare to stop Sam
- I was relieved when I saw then deputy alive and walking. I nearly expected him to be dead or crippled, but I guess the writers can only put so much stuff on Sam to find out. The death of the sheriff might have been cold blooded, but reasonable at that time while beating the deputy into a pulp wasn't
- When did Souless!Sam get that nasty wound on his arm? Has to be, when they fought the arachniae, but I didn't see it there

And at last: I didn't expect that last scene at all. It was pretty clear, that the wall wouldn't stay untouched, but I thought that there would be a couple of episodes before they'd be severe cracks. Poor Sammy

[warrior_chic]

Well, you guys hit just about everything. Not much left to say.

I love having Sammy back, and the flashbacks in this episode were a nice way to fill in some missing information and really show just how bad Sam needed his soul back. Right at the midseason break, I missed old Sammy, but I apparently underestimated just how much. Now that he's back, I literally find myself smiling at the little brother-brother interactions between them that were missing with T-1000.

And it is nice to see Dean kinda step back a little and let Sam do whatever he thinks he needs to, even though Dean is definitely not comfortable with it. Although, if the wall is starting to crumble, Sam's gonna need Dean as the only one who can understand even a smidge of what happened to him in the Cage.

I didn't expect the wall to budge so soon. I figured he'd remember a lot more of what has happened in the year and a half since he'd been back, but it would take longer to remember Hell. But since we've got some lighter episodes coming up, I guess Sammy will be able to survive intact a little longer.

[Jeffer]

- When did Souless!Sam get that nasty wound on his arm? Has to be, when they fought the arachniae, but I didn't see it there

when he was thrown against the wall there was some sort of hook on it


great ep i also didnt expect the wall to start to fall down this soon

[the fifth man]

Really good episode. I just hope Sam can withstand these cracks in the wall. If not, I wonder how bad it will really get for him?

[LizzieAnne]

- I am not really sure if the portrayal of Samuel fits 100% to what we saw in the first half of the season. He was harder there, here it almost had the impression, that he didn't dare to stop Sam

I've been thinking about that as well. Both Samuel and Sam hadn't known each other for long when the flashback took place.
Did they get together straight away after they were both resurrected? I can't remember if it's mentioned. I get the feeling that when Sam said to Samuel "do we care?" he was implying that they'd done that kind of thing before. But even so, Samuel seemed more than a bit disturbed about Sam's behaviour I thought...even for a tough hunter. But then he knew he'd been pulled out of Hell so I suppose he was making allowances for that.

In the earlier eps, that were set a year later..I suppose he'd gotten used to him by then. Although in Ep 2 ...the one with the missing babies..Samuel did have that telephone conversation with Sam when Sam seemed reluctant to help. "Sometimes I wonder about you Sam." So in that respect he still wasn't totally comfortable with him.

when he was thrown against the wall there was some sort of hook on it

I must admit I'd assumed that he'd been shot at first. But you're right..Sam was holding his arm after he'd been thrown against the wall, so it must have been that.