Remember the Titans (816)

[Bagpuss]

Episode synopsis :

From the CW: "Sam and Dean are stumped when they investigate a possible zombie case where an amnesiac man dies and then revives himself once a day. After the guy is attacked by the goddess Artemis, Sam and Dean realize he‘s not a zombie but instead a god, more specifically, Prometheus."

Original Air Date : 02/27/2013

[The Urban Spaceman]

If I hadn't read the synopsis in advance, my first thought would have been "that dude is an angel", as I couldn't really think of anything else that could take a hard hit and then get up again afterwards. Of course, that first thought would have been very wrong.

Overall, I like the episode, but it had some high and low points for me.

The Low:

* Sam Winchester, Amazing Fountain of Knowledge. Armed only with the fact Shane dies every day, Sam goes into a motel room and comes out twenty minutes later with "That dude is Prometheus". Seriously, Sam? Did you ask your magic 8 ball? Don't get me wrong, I know that sometimes a character needs to have all the answers, or most of them, because nobody wants to see the boys sitting around for 35 minutes of the show trying to figure out what they're dealing with. For example, take Mulder, from the X Files. He, like Sam, knows everything, but it's been specifically mentioned that he had a photographic memory and pretty much remembers everything he reads. And granted, Sam is clever, but I don't think he's Mulder-clever. For him to just pull "Prometheus" out of his ass was asking me to suspend belief just a little too much.

* Sam Winchester, Amazing Observer of Human (and Godly) behaviour. This man sees Artemis for some 30 seconds, and correctly deduces that not only is Artemis in love with Prometheus, but that she also allowed him to escape from the mountain. And yet after some 18 months of knowing and porking Ruby, he can't see that she's using him. And "but he was high on demon blood!" doesn't count as an excuse, because that came later, after the porking.

* Kung-fu skills. I don't recall it being explained how Prometheus got them.

* Random, unaddressed statements made by characters. For example, Big Z states that only when Prometheus has "a thousand children, dying every day" will he know how hurt Zeus feels by what Prometheus did. From this I kinda got the impression that Prometheus didn't just nick a bit of fire, but also sacrificed all of Zeus' relatives, their puppies, and their dear little flower gardens, to some dark and dangerous overlord, and then snacked on their spicy brains whilst Zeus was forced to watch. The punishment seems disproportionate to the crime, and I still don't know why Zeus was so pissed. If Prometheus hadn't nicked the fire, it would only have been done by Coyote, or Loki, or Renard. Every culture has its "stole the fire from the gods and gave it to the mortals" hero-trickster figure. Methinks Zeus was just a jerk.

The High:

* Overall (and not including the deus ex, Sam Winchester) I think the story was well-told. It was good to see 'pagan' Gods again, I'd worried all those guys had been systematically wiped out by Lucifer after the whole Hammer of the Gods incident at the end of Season 5. In fact, I think this is the first time we've seen other Gods since then, IIRC.

* Sam's Pain. It was interesting to see Sam in pain (I'm not sadistic) as it gives us something to visualise. It makes it obvious that these trials are really starting to affect him, and we have no idea where they're going. It adds a feeling of impending peril, and makes it clear that these trials are not going to be easy. They're going to take something out of Sam; maybe even his life. On a side note, Sam's hair is looking much better this season. It's clear that now he has his secret Men Of Letters base, he's conditioning at least once a week.

* Dean's plea at the end. Very heart-felt, and very well done. We all know that Dean only ever prays when he gets desperate, and he only ever prays for help for Sam, not for himself (he prays for assistance when Sam and Lilith are due to meet in the Red Motel, season 4, and he prays when Sam is going through a painful detox following the events in the Cupid episode, season 5). It's becoming increasingly obvious (to me, anyway) that with Bobby gone, Dean is having to fend for himself more and more, and he sometimes struggles with his decisions. He's so used to having somebody of authority to lean on (his Dad, Bobby) that I think he's really starting to feel that loss. It's quite telling that he's now asking Castiel for help, and I can't help but wonder if the dynamic of their relationship is starting to change. Dean's seen Castiel as a friend and sometimes a brother, but now he almost seems to be looking for a father figure again, someone to sit down with him and try to help him work through everything that's happening. Not sure he'll find that in Cas, though it was a good way of foreshadowing what's going to be happening in next week's episode, and I suspect the "Then..." recap will end with Dean questioning where the angel is, promptly followed by answers.


As much as I'm looking forward to next episode, I'm acutely aware that we're marching inexorably towards the end of season 8 I just hope we'll get some more Crowley soon!

[Krisz]

I really enjoyed this one. SN always does a good job of making the up on high mystical beings of myth and legend very 'human' and gives them aspects we can relate to. They are vengeful and petty, they sulk, suffer, live and love in their own ways. Zeus was really brought down to earth here and was really well portrayed as a very old God who resented the loss of humanity's respect and worship of him. To me he was one really pissed of guy and took it all out on Prometheus with his disproportionate punishment of him and his offspring. He came across as a grumpy old man who pines for the 'good old days'!

That kid was really cute. Even though he only said one thing he played the traumatised suffering kid so well with his expressive eyes. I would be surprised not to see that kid again in other things, he came across as such a good actor for such a young age.

I knew it was Prometheus as soon I saw the eagle pecking at his liver when he was lying at the side of the road after being hit by that drunk driver. I never forgot what I read about his punishment as a kid, yuk!

[The Urban Spaceman]

Zeus was really brought down to earth here and was really well portrayed as a very old God who resented the loss of humanity's respect and worship of him.

I found that bit confusing. In Hammer of the Gods, Kali, Baldur et al. seem to blame their dwindling worship and influence on the emergence of Christianity and the 'western' ideals (eg, one God, his angels, etc). If that's the case, then Prometheus' actions didn't really do all that much, and the Greek gods were pretty much destined to take a back seat anyway.

I didn't really like the way Zeus' character played out. The writers had a chance to make him into something more than yet another petty and vengeful 'pagan' god, and he could have at least broken the curse on Prometheus' son, if not on Prometheus himself, to show himself as above such concerns, and capable of at least some measure of mercy. But no, they continued along the same lines as before, with the pagan god continuing to act like a petulant child who's had his favourite toys taken off him. With behaviour like that, is it any wonder people stopped worshipping him?

[iheartshep]

I liked this one.

ITA.......with the curse on Prometheus' son. He didn't even know he had a son.......and are all his children doomed to have this curse (providing he sired more children and doesn't remember) or just the males? Zeus could have been merciful and spared the child.

And oh boy......but Sam's gonna struggle with these tests. He hid his trouble from Dean, correct? I'm wondering if Castiel will be back sometime this season.......seems like we're about at the end already! For that matter, will Rachel be back? I'm interested in where they're going with that character.

Got a few weeks' break again. When is the next new show?

IHS

[LoneStar1836]

Got a few weeks' break again. When is the next new show?

IHS

March 20. Can't wait. Looks great.

I liked the episode well enough. Not one of their best, but then I didn't particularly like the other one with pagan gods. Trickster was the only pagan I liked and then he turned out not to be one....

[The Urban Spaceman]

I liked this one.

ITA.......with the curse on Prometheus' son. He didn't even know he had a son.......and are all his children doomed to have this curse (providing he sired more children and doesn't remember) or just the males? Zeus could have been merciful and spared the child.

I doubt he sired more children, as he spent several thousand years being tortured on a mountain and only seven or so as an amnesiac immortal. I'm willing to bet daily death was a hindrance to siring children, plus he did mentioned that he mostly lived in isolation for most of those years, until he was forced to leave.

And oh boy......but Sam's gonna struggle with these tests. He hid his trouble from Dean, correct? I'm wondering if Castiel will be back sometime this season.......seems like we're about at the end already! For that matter, will Rachel be back? I'm interested in where they're going with that character.

Got a few weeks' break again. When is the next new show?

I think Sam isn't hiding his problems as well as he thinks. Dean is obviously aware of Sam's troubles, if not the exact extent of them.

AFAIK Castiel will be back next episode, which according to Supernatural Wiki is due to air on 20th March.

I don't understand why all these silly 'breaks' are required. Just make a damn show and run it weekly without interruption!

Also, who's Rachel? Wasn't she some lame one-time angel who was killed back in season 6? Or do you mean Rachel Miner, who plays Meg? Or is Rachel some character I've just mentally blanked for some reason?

[iheartshep]

Sorry.......don't know where I got Rachel from......I meant Naomi. *headdesk*

March 20.......got it.

IHS

[The Urban Spaceman]

I suspect we'll see Naomi at least once more... we need a resolution to this whole 'angel programming' business. Plus I wanna find out of she's secretly one of the soulless minions of orthodoxy.

[mr_kennedy]

Not a horrible episode, but not exactly a high point for the season, also no Castiel

[The Urban Spaceman]

also no Castiel

I don't see that as a bad thing. I don't think Castiel could have added anything to the episode, except perhaps turned it into some sort of deathfight between a seraph and a pagan god. And whilst I'm sure such a showdown might have been entertaining and full of interesting explosions, it would have detracted away from pretty much everything else.

[the fifth man]

This episode was really very good. Much better than I thought it might be.