I Believe The Children Are Our Future (506)

[Madwelshboy]

fairy tales do come true — sam (jared padalecki) and dean (jensen ackles) investigate a series of odd murders that strangely resemble fairytales and urban legends. The brothers track down an 11-year-old boy named jesse (guest star gattlin griffith) and realize that whatever jesse believes is coming true. Castiel (misha collins) tells sam and dean that jesse is a serious threat and needs to be eliminated. Charles beeson directed the episode written by andrew dabb & daniel loflin.

post viewing discussion only

[the fifth man]

Anyone know when this one airs?

[LoneStar1836]

Anyone know when this one airs?

It seems to be airing next week on schedule according to a couple of sites I looked at...though I could never find a schedule on the CW's site. I know they are getting very close to a break, but this one looks great. Can't wait.

[the fifth man]

Very solid episode IMO. Had a really nice mix of comedy and serious. I wonder if Jesse will pop up again near the end of the season?

[Lord Kira]

Great episode. I'm really liking this Jesse kid.

My only problem with this episode was the whoopee-cushion. Completely ruined the seriousness of the situation.

[the fifth man]

Great episode. I'm really liking this Jesse kid.

My only problem with this episode was the whoopee-cushion. Completely ruined the seriousness of the situation.

I still thought that bit was pretty funny.

[Esquin]

That was great. In 1 episode they

Spoiler:

Met the anti-christ, then got him to tell the demons where to stick it. So you know, yay.

I hope we see the kid again.

[eviladam]

The trailer they showed last week seemed to hint at several episodes with altered realities. Or at least one episode with several different realities. So I'm guessing Jesse will be back several times.

I gotta say I was all for ganking the kid though. No good can come of this.

[iheartshep]

I have a feeling we haven't seen the last of that kid.

Jeez.....I thought the whoopee cushion bit was funny......especially Castiel's reaction. Misha Collins has this way with lines like that I just LOVE!!

No SPN next week........why?

IHS

[Arative]

I have a feeling we haven't seen the last of that kid.

Jeez.....I thought the whoopee cushion bit was funny......especially Castiel's reaction. Misha Collins has this way with lines like that I just LOVE!!

No SPN next week........why?

IHS

Probably because of baseball if I had to guess.

This episode was funny. I lost it when Dean had the hairy palm.

Was a good episode too. Good drama. Cas was probably right, the should have killed the kid. I can see Lucifer turning Jesse to his side. It will be interesting to see how this all turns out. Honestly I don't know how they will keep the kid from turning to the dark side. I mean if it was me and I could basically do anything I wanted, I don't know if I would have the discipline to not.

[iheartshep]

So......Sam (with his demon blood and all).......could possibly be one of this kid's followers/devotees/whatever, am I right? I'm just basing this on how his mother talked to and about Sam......and how the kid listened to him. He must sense that Sam is going through the same inner struggles. Am I making sense here?

IHS

[Crichiel]

I wasn't sure what to expect from this episode. And when it was done I gotta say, I wasn't thinking "WOW!". I was just thinking it was a good episode. Then as I re-watched, thought about it overnight and then watched it again this morning, I thought both things; Wow! This is a GOOD episode!! No huge action pieces or the giant emotional bombs between Sam and Dean, but there wasn't a single bad, boring, or unnecessary scene in the whole ep.

First of all, can I say? Inventive with a capital "I". Both of the big plotlines. 1) the kids' beliefs (I also used to believe that the Sea Monkeys would be just like the ad in the back of the comics. ), and 2) the story of Jesse.

First up, the lies kids are told. This part of the episode just made me smile.

-Sam and Dean itching after the coroner suggests it (I was itching, too)

-Dean totally knowing that Jimmy was lying and the way he came down like the law on him. The babysitter comment was interesting. Dean seemed like he was truly thinking of a past babysitter, not just making it up for the kid. He must have a really good memory and is thinking of a sitter from before the fire, because I can't imagine John EVER allowing a sitter to watch them afterwards!

-The joy buzzer. Loved the way they tested it. And Dean just digging in, haven't seen him chowing down in a while. And the later comment "Dude, seriously? Still with the ham?" It is such a little throw-away line when Dean responds, "We don't have a fridge!", but it stuck out to me because it's one of those things that you don't think about with them spending their lives living in motels. Few of them DO have a fridge. Such a simple convenience that they often have to do without.

-The Conjurarium. Dean in there is like seeing a kid in a candy store....or come to think of it, like seeing DEAN in a candy store! Although, I have to agree with the comment made by one of you earlier, I didn't like the Whoopie Cushion gag. Bad timing in that it undermined the serious conversation happening.

-Tooth Fairy. *shudder* that was one the scariest parts of this ep for me. Anything with the teeth (to this day I haven't watched the opening scene of Malleus Maleficarum, I fast forward through it.) Best part though was that he left 32 quarters. Hee hee

-Dean's "I'll see your crazy and raise you some." and "Another guy...his face froze that way." I laughed at that even before Dean made the face because I always thought that was a funny thing for parents to tell kids.

-Thinking of the Trickster. Nice continuity. And Sam saying that Dean and a 9-yr-old have the same sense of humour.

-The joy buzzer again. While I liked the humour involved there (Dude! WHAT the Hell?!), I can not believe Dean would risk Sam's life on a hunch. Not cool.

Ok, the serious part of this ep now. Jesse's storyline. I thought this was just fantastic. I'll be bouncing around the episode a bit here, because it's easier for me to concentrate on one character at a time.

Going to Cas for help. Still loving how Misha is no longer billed as a 'guest star', but they haven't let him horn in on the Sam and Dean Show. All right so, wow. Was he harsh on Sam! I forgot I was going to grab my Bible and look up Revelations before I came to work and wrote this. I can't remember exactly if it DOES say that the anti-Christ is Lucifer's son. I didn't think so, but it has been almost a year since I read it (Yes, I read it. I read the whole Bible cover to cover over a couple years and just finished it last Feb.), so I could be mistaken. Castiel is SORT of right when he says the Bible gets more wrong than right. A lot of people READ it wrong. When you read all the footnotes in the Bible, you see that the average person (myself included), takes way too much of what is said literally, not understanding what was just meant to be symbolism. This is especially true of Revelations. Sorry, I'm done with the Sunday school lesson. Anyway, I like Castiel's explanation of the Anti-Christ. And I like that our Sammy is back and unwilling to kill children because he will no longer do "whatever it takes".

Jesse's mom and her story. The most disgusting part of this was her shoving road salt in her mouth. *super shudder*. My favourite part of this was Dean gently telling her her son's name and that he is a good kid. It was so sweet the way he said it. There were many times during this episode when both Sam and Dean were just...sweet. (helps me forgive Dean for the last ep! ). The actress that played Jesse's mom was great. I am so impressed with the guest actors this year. (btw, what do I know her from? She looks SO familiar). She carried off the humour (throwing the salt at them) and the drama with equal aplomb. Her scenes at Jesse's house as the demon, though? Freakin. A Maz. Ing!! I raise kids for a living and what she was doing, the way she was talking to Jesse, was the scariest thing ever because she was saying exactly the right things in exactly the right tone of voice that will get a child to believe you. That's how you suck kids into cults or bully them into giving into peer pressure. Dang, she was good!

The kid who played Jesse. There are times, even on this wonderful show, that the kid actors have just made me cringe. Not this time. This little boy acts so naturally and had such honesty in his reactions. And the way Sam and Dean interacted with him was enthralling. Between the three of them and the actress playing his demon/mom, I can tell already that I will be watching the last scenes Jesse's house over and over.

Dean telling Jesse that he is a superhero is 'awwww'. I totally saw Wee!Dean talking to Wee!Sammy this way. And I liked that Dean would come up with this gentle lie, while Sam would go for the straight up truth because that gels with what we know of their childhood. Dean DID lie to Sammy as a child because he wanted to protect him and keep him innocent. And Sam DID just want to know the truth. And boy did Sam tell him the truth! You got to admire the guy. Even determined to do so, I think I would have shied away from the "am I half demon?" question. I thought it was a very nice touch that once Sam told him the truth, Dean was right there with him. This speaks a lot to how different their relationship is from last year. When Sam wanted to tell Adam the truth, Dean fought him at every step, but here he backed him up. Nice.

What I most liked about Jesse was that he wasn't at all what I was expecting from the previews. I was looking for him to be Damian. They SO set you up to believe that. You find out it is this kid doing these things and you think: "Aha! Evil!" Wait, he didn't know. They play creepy music when he looks out the window and you think: "Aha! Evil!" Wait, he really didn't know. You find out what he is, Cas goes after him, the kid is scared, cut away so you think: "Aha! He was pushed into Evil!". Wait, he just turned him into an action figure to protect himself (how cute was that Cas figure? ). Demon Mom gets him angry so you think : "Aha. NOW Evil!". Wait, he STILL isn't hurting anyone and is still trusting enough to want to hear what Sam has to say. He does the slow walk upstairs into his parents bedroom and you think: "Aha! Now we find out he really IS Evil!, and he is going to kill the parents." Wait...what? That was so awesome, the kid never turned evil. That was the coolest non-twist twist I've seen in a long time. I didn't want him evil.

Couple of last random notes I made when I was watching:

-The writers did such a good job of getting me immersed in this story that I forgot for a bit about the 'vessel' storyline. So I liked the reminder the demon gave us: "Can't hurt you. Orders. You on the other hand? Hurting you's encouraged."

-You may have noticed that I skipped the joke with Dean in the motel and...um...yeah. Like the Whoopie Cushion, I wasn't fond of this. I know given the mentality of the modern world I can be old-fashioned. And it may be hippocritical of me considering some of the things on tv (and this show particularly) that don't bother me. But that gag was just TOO crude for my tastes.

-At the end when Dean says he is starting to understand why parents lie to their kids. I get that they need a little coda like that at the end of the eps to kind of bring home the point they were trying to make. But Dean saying it made no sense since again, he already knew this. He lied to Sammy as a kid for exactly these reasons. Still, it led to the sweet exchange about how Dean wished their dad had lied to them and Sam AGREED!

-Speaking of...mentioning John here and at two other times in the ep (Dean saying his dad told him different stories. And talking about how he brought them everywhere and was killed by a demon). There have been more than the usual amount of John-mentions this season. I love love love that they are doing this. And secretly, I keep hoping it is their way of hinting that they are going to find a way to FINALLY bring back JDM for an episode this season. (although, if any of you know for sure one way or the other, don't tell me! Still trying to not spolier! )

[P-90_177]

So......Sam (with his demon blood and all).......could possibly be one of this kid's followers/devotees/whatever, am I right? I'm just basing this on how his mother talked to and about Sam......and how the kid listened to him. He must sense that Sam is going through the same inner struggles. Am I making sense here?

IHS

Well.....Sam is supposed to be Lucifers vessel so if anything he's suposed to be the kids boss. But I reckon he did still sense that Sam knew what he was talking about. But I think this was more to do with the fact that Sam was so sincere about everything. If you think about it from a childs perspective you have adults sticking to their guns and telling you something is definately true and not to listen to anyone else. The never backtrack so the fact that Sam turned around and said "yeah we were lieing....but now i'm telling the truth" kinda made jesse inclined to believe him more.........cos adults just don't do that.........

[LoneStar1836]

Initial impression is that it was okay. *shrug* Was looking forward to this episode after the preview of Cas saying they needed to kill this kid last week, but I rather thought it was a let down.

Partly because they didn't kill the kid I suppose. (Yes I'm evil. ) If we never see the kid again, I won't exactly be disappointed. Too powerful a character. (Great little actor though.) Have read very little about the Antichrist lore so Kripke can go where he wants in that regard and I'd never know the difference, not that it matters as long as the story is still good. But in the end, he is not supposed to be a force for good...basically a false messiah/false god. So I hope he enjoys his stay in Australia and sits this fight out. Who wouldn't want to spend their days relaxing on an Australian beach.

I know they only have 42 minutes to work with, but the kid accepting all this being thrown at him at once was just...well too convenient. And too rushed which is why I think the balance between funny and serious in this episode missed the mark. Too much was time was spent on the funny and not enough on the serious for the nature of the episode. There should have been a bit more build up to the kid making the decision to leave his parents rather than everything going down in like an hour.

Despite me being rather meh on the overall episode, I did think it had great pieces within...both funny and serious.

-Dean totally knowing that Jimmy was lying and the way he came down like the law on him. The babysitter comment was interesting. Dean seemed like he was truly thinking of a past babysitter, not just making it up for the kid. He must have a really good memory and is thinking of a sitter from before the fire, because I can't imagine John EVER allowing a sitter to watch them afterwards!

I think it could have been afterwards. I wouldn't say she was a paid babysitter but probably somebody John knew and trusted...like say he did Pastor Jim.

Although, I have to agree with the comment made by one of you earlier, I didn't like the Whoopie Cushion gag. Bad timing in that it undermined the serious conversation happening.

Ditto. Totally out of place. I know Cas would have been the only one to fall for the gag, but they just didn't need it.

Heh. And I didn't exactly need confirmation for what I already knew Dean did in his spare time.

[LizzieAnne]

I thought it was an OK ep…but can’t image it’ll become one of my favourites.

For me, introducing the anti-christ boy was a bit of a let down. I knew Dean and Sam wouldn’t kill him…at that point he was basically innocent and not at all scary…not sure how he can be worked back into the story….although…..

….about the anti-christ…. I prefer to consult the fountain of all knowledge…Wiki. It seems you can basically make of him/her what you want.

It will be interesting if Kripke uses other Revelations lore because…

Spoiler:

The antichrist teams up with Lucifer and one other powerful beast to form the unholy trinity. Now that would be one hell of a battle. I wonder who the other one will be?

In this ep it was back to Dean the comedian and Sam the straight guy…with some great one liners in there.

So......Sam (with his demon blood and all).......could possibly be one of this kid's followers/devotees/whatever, am I right? I'm just basing this on how his mother talked to and about Sam......and how the kid listened to him. He must sense that Sam is going through the same inner struggles. Am I making sense here?

IHS

I think you’re right…there seemed to be a bit of a connection between them. But I know I’d believe anything Sam told me…..

Now I kind of have issues with Cas here…when he was in Sam’s face about the choices he made. I seem to recall that it was partly because of Cas’ choice of not giving up the information he had …about Lilith being the final seal…. that led to Sam doing what he did. So he’s not totally blameless in the mess. Also as Cas was so keen to kill the boy, it kind of suggests that ‘the host of heaven’ isn’t very strong or powerful. Why is that? How can this boy be more powerful than a host of angels/heaven?

Not normally a fan of the whoopee cushion but making light of a serious situation is the whole point of it…and, shame on me, I did laugh…even on a re-watch.

And Dean’s interrogation of the ‘itching powder’ boy…I think he knew where the boy was coming from…being the nine year old kid himself The look on Dean’s face as his stressed ‘bedtime’ I reckon Dean was making the babysitter story up…drawing from an encounter of the non childish kind.


Considering the kind of humour in this ep, I’m guessing that it was a guy wrote it or is that being too sexist?