(As I mentioned in my post announcing this rewatch project,Β there will be spoilers!)
Season 2, Episode 20:Β What Is and What Should Never Be
Image and episode summary from Wikipedia:
Dean is attacked by a djinn, and suddenly finds himself in a world in which his mother had never been killed by Azazel. He and Sam were not brought up as hunters, and thus are no longer close. Although Dean enjoys his new life, a ghostly young woman seems to be haunting him. When he realizes that all the people that he and Sam had saved as hunters are now dead, he decides that he must give up his new-found happiness to save them. Though Sam does not believe him, he accompanies his brother to the djinn's lair. There Dean discovers that the young woman he has been seeing is a victim of the creature. Noticing that she is alive but hallucinating βa way for the djinn to keep its victims captive while it feeds off their blood βDean realizes that he, too, is within an illusory world. Despite his dream family trying to convince him to stay, Dean kills himself in the dream, waking himself in the real world where Sam rescues him. Sam and Dean battle the djinn and Dean kills it. They discover the other victim is still alive and take her to the hospital where she is expected to recover.
Weβre nearing the end of season two! This season has been much better than I remembered.
Sam calls Dean from the hotel room about a cop car outside the motel β theyβre worried about being fugitives still. Theyβre on a case. People have been going missing. Sam thinks theyβre hunting a djinn β a genie. Wish granters. They feed off people for centuries and usually live in ruins. Dean going to check out a place he saw a couple miles back. Sam says to come get him first but Dean says no.
Dean going to investigate, to see if thereβs a djinn. I remember this being an emotional gut-punch type episode.
Dean senses that something isnβt right in this old warehouse. He slowly makes his way around, and we the viewer see someone hiding β a djinn! He uses some sort of magic on Dean.Β Now we are taken into Deanβs djinn-magic infused life.
Dean wakes up in bed next to a girl β he seems confused. He walks around the place; calls Sam on the phone. Dean is confused, not sure where he is, talks about djinn. Sam doesnβt seem to understand what heβs talking about. The girl turns out to be Deanβs girlfriend. On the phone, Sam thinks Dean is drunk, and has no idea what heβs talking about. Sam is studying law like pre-pilot episode Sam!
Dean realizes all the mail in this home is addressed to him, in Lawrence, Kansas. Heβs living a life in a world where the demon never killed his mother and he and Sam never became hunters, and neither did their father (since Mary never died). BUT (SPOILER)β we learn later that Mary was from a family of hunters, before she met John Winchester. So does THIS universeβs Mary know about hunting and monsters?? Hmm.Β (END SPOILER)
Dean rushes to his childhood home β where his mother died in the pilot episode. He is so wonderfully happy to see his mom alive. Of course, she has no idea why heβs so upset. Dean asks his mom what she always told him when she put him to bed (angels were watching over him). She answers, and he knows itβs really her. He doesnβt know how, but he knows itβs really her. Has the djinn granted him a wish?
He tells Mary heβs happy to see her, sheβs beautiful. He looks around the house, asks if there was ever a fire. Mary says no. Dean looks at all the family pictures β adorable! Whereβs dad? He played on a softball team, according to the pictures. John Winchester is still dead, it turns out, but not by a monster. He died of a stroke, in his sleep. Dean is happy that he went peacefully β not the way he went out in Deanβs βrealβ universe.
Dean doesnβt want Mary to call Carmen to pick him up. He wants to stay here for the night. He gets to be back in a childhood home with his mother who, in his world, died when he was just a kid.
The next morning, Dean wakes up and calls Sam again. He gets his voice mail. Dean visits a professor, and asks him about djinn. He is told that they are mentioned in the Koran. But Dean wants to know if they can really grant wishes. The professor says they are mythic creatures β not real. But Dean asks the professor in the stories, if one had a wish that they never even said out loud, could a djinn grant it? The professor says yes. They have a godlike power to alter reality however they want β past, present, future.
Dean laughs when he sees his trunk is weapon-free. But then he notices a girl across the road, in a white dress, staring at him. He approaches her but is distracted and when he turns back, sheβs gone.
Back at his motherβs place, Dean is enjoying a delicious sandwich. He tells Mary he tried to call Sam but couldnβt reach him. Says he’s dying to see him. Mary is happy that Dean is hanging out all of a sudden, but why isnβt he at work at the garage? Dean says heβs got the day off. He notices the state of the lawn and mows it β I love to see Dean taking such joy in something so mundane, that in his world he never actually gets to do. The clip of him mowing β poorly at times β and waving to neighbours, to the tune of What a Wonderful World, is both funny and heartwarming. Deanβs deepest wish is for a normal life, with his family. He is happy here.
Sam pulls up and Dean canβt believe heβs with Jessica β sheβs alive too! Dean is so happy to see her. But Sam seems distant and a bit cold with Sam. They live in California, where Sam is going to law school at Standford. And itβs momβs birthday β which Sam doesnβt seem surprised that Dean forgot. Their relationship definitely seems strained.
The family is all out at dinner for momβs birthday. Everyone seems happy. Sam makes an announcement β he and Jessica are getting engaged. Everyone is happy, and Dean gives his congratulations. Mary is sad that the boysβ dad canβt be there. Dean tells Sam heβs really glad that heβs happy.
Again, Dean sees that girl in the background and goes to investigate, but when he gets closer, she disappears. His family think heβs acting strangely.
Back at the momβs house, Sam asks Dean what that was all about. Dean said he thought he saw someone but it was nothing. Mary goes to bed after thanking them for a lovely birthday. Sam and Jessica make to leave, but Dean says itβs still early, letβs get a drink. Sam says maybe another time. Dean pushes and Sam asks the ladies to leave them alone. Sam wants to know β whatβs gotten into him, with this whole warm fuzzy thing. Dean says heβs happy for Sammy. Sam says they donβt talk outside of holidays, and Dean doesnβt call him Sammy. It seems this Dean has stolen money and a prom date from Sam, missed his graduation, etc. Sam says they donβt have anything in common. Dean says they do β hunting. But Sam says heβs never been hunting in his life. In this universe, if they arenβt hunting monsters, saving people, etc., what do they have to bring them together? Nothing, apparently.
Back at his place, Dean and Carmen are hanging out. She tells him that Sam and Dean donβt really know each other all that well, but Sam doesnβt know what heβs missing. Dean wants to make it up to Sam, fix things with him, with everyone. Dean tells her that he feels like heβs been given a second chance and he doesnβt want to waste it. They start to get romantic but Carmen has to go to work at the night shift at the hospital. Sheβs a nurse.
Alone, Dean is having a beer, watching TV. Normal life stuff! As he goes through the channels, he notices that itβs the anniversary of the crash of flight 424 β back in the βrealβ world, Sam and Dean stopped that crash. But in this world, without them as hunters, without Maryβs death as the catalyst for John Winchesterβs hunting, all the people theyβve helped died.
Dean opens a closet door and sees bodies hanging, then sees the mysterious girl again β then it all flickers and disappears.
Dean goes to John Winchesterβs grave and tells him that everyone John saved, everyone Sam and Dean saved, are all dead. And this girl is haunting him. He doesnβt know why. Itβs like his old life is coming after him, like it doesnβt want him to be happy. He says the John Winchester he knows β not softball John β would tell him to go hunt the djinn. His happiness vs. those other peopleβs lives is no contest. But Dean wants to know why. Why canβt he and Mary and Sam have happiness? Why do they have to sacrifice everything?
Sam and Jessica are in bed, sleeping. Sam hears a noise and gets up to investigate. I LOVE that this scene parallels the pilot episode, when Sam and DeanΒ first meet on screen. It’s such a wonderful callback. (Listening to Eric Kripke’s commentary on the DVD of this episode, he does say that they tried as much as possible to do shot for shot recreations of those scenes, with the lighting and angles and music and everything. So great!)
Sam is not happy to see Dean. Dean jokes, saying he is looking for a beer. Sam accuses Dean of breaking into the house to steal momβs silver. We know that Dean wants the silver to kill a djinn, but Sam wonβt believe it, so Dean says he owes someone money. Sam says he canβt believe theyβre related. Dean says heβs sorry they donβt get along, he wishes he could stay and fix it, but heβs gotta go do this. Peopleβs lives depend on it. He says to tell mom he loves her.
βIβll see you, Sammy.β SADDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD. I donβt like a world they donβt have a good a relationship.
To Deanβs surprise, Sam gets in the car and says that whatever stupid thing Deanβs about to do, heβs not doing it alone, and thatβs that. Because Dean is still his brother. βBitchβ βWhat are you calling me a bitch for?β HAHAHAHAH Classic. This show already knows the emotional heartbeat moments that fans love.
Sam opens Dean’s bag and finds a container of blood, and of course freaks out. Dean says he doesnβt want to know what this is about. Dean says he needed a silver knife dipped in lambβs blood to kill a djinn. He tells him that there are bad things out there in the dark and that people have to be saved. Sam understandably thinks Dean is having some sort of psychotic breakdown and tries to make a call, but Dean chucks the phone out the window.
Dean tells him to sit tight and try not to get them both killed.
Itβs not even the right license plate in this world!
They get to their destination: Illinois. Itβs the same building Dean investigated at the beginning of the episode.
They go in, and Sam tells Dean thereβs nothing here. He tries to persuade him to leave. But they hear something. Dean tells Sam to stay behind him and keep his mouth shut.
They move along and find the djinnβs victims, hanging up like Deanβs vision when he opened the closet. Sam is freaked out.
One of the victims is the girl Dean kept seeing. Thatβs the connection. The djinn is making his way over to his victims. Sam and Dean hide. The girl cries, and the djinn uses magic to put her back to sleep, in her wish-granted world.
Then he drinks her blood from a bag thatβs been used to drain it.
Sam makes a noise and the djinn hears, but the boys manage to hide somewhere else. Sam is freaking out when he comes to understand that Dean is not crazy, that this is all real.
Dean realizes that the djinn isnβt granting wishes, it’s just making victims think it has granted wishes.
Dean notices the lights are flickering β Sam tries to get him to leave, saying the djinn could come back. Dean wonders, what if this is all in his head, and he is another victim tied up somewhere. Heβs in here somewhere, taking it all in, but canβt snap out of it. Sam tries harder and harder to get him to leave. Dean says Sam isnβt real. Sam tries to get him to leave. Dean pulls out the silver knife and asksΒ Sam that isnβt it an old wives tale that if you are about to die in a dream, you wake up? So what if he kills himself here β will he wake up somewhere in that warehouse as one of the djinnβs victims?
Sam tells him thatβs crazy, heβs real, this is real, they have to leave. Sam says heβs here, it isnβt a dream, and Dean is about to kill himself. Dean says no, heβs pretty sure, like 90 percent sure, but sure enough. He moves to do it but Sam yells wait. And then their mom walks in, and Carmen. Sam asks Dean why he had to keep digging and couldn’t leaveΒ well enough alone? Jess is there too. Sam says Dean was happy. His mom says to put the knife down. Dean tells her she isnβt real, none of it is. Mary says it doesnβt matter, it’s still better than anything he had. Itβs everything he wants. They are a family again. She asks him to go home. Dean says that he’ll die. The djinn will drain the life out of him in a couple of days. Mary says in here, it will feel like a lifetime. No more pain or fear, just love and comfort and safety.
Mary asks DeanΒ to stay with them. Jessica says Dean doesnβt have to worry about Sam, and can watch him live a full life. Carmen kisses Dean and says they can have a future, their own family. She loves him. They all want him to stay. Sam asks why itβs their job to save everyone. Havenβt they done enough? Heβs begging Dean to give him the knife.
Dean looks at them all. With tears in his eyes, he says heβs sorry, and stabs himself. He wakes up, tied up in the djinnβs lair, with Sam there trying to save him.
Sam says he thought he lost Dean for a second and Dean says he almost did. Sam goes to cut him down but the djinn appears before he can finish. He fights with the djinn, who seems to have the upper hand, but then Dean appears and stabs the djinn, killing it.
Phew!
Dean goes to find the other victims. The girl from earlier is still alive. They cut her down, and Dean promises to get her out of there.
Back at the motel, Dean sees Carmen in a beer ad β thatβs where the djinn got the image of the girl to play Deanβs perfect girl.
The girl they saved is in the hospital, stabilized. She will pull through.
Dean says Sam should have seen it. Their lives. Sam was such a wussy. Sam asks Dean that they didnβt get along? Wasnβt it supposed to be a perfect fantasy?
Dean says it was just a wish for their mom to live. But if she never died, Sam never would have stuck around and they never would have hunted.
Sam says heβs glad Dean got himself out β most people wouldnβt have the strength and would have stayed. Dean tells him all about the fantasy but Sam says it wasnβt real. But Dean admits that he wanted to stay so bad. Ever since their dad died, all he can think about is how much the job of hunting has cost them. Theyβve lost so much. Theyβve sacrificed so much. But Sam says itβs worth it β people are alive because of him. It isn’t fair and it hurts, but itβs worth it.
Lore:
-Djinn
Overall thoughts:
What an episode! I really love the way it tugs on the heartstrings, showing us Deanβs wish that their mother had never died, and then showing us what that life could have looked like. And even though he and Sam didnβt get along, and even though it would have cost him his life, Dean was so tempted to stay in that fantasy.
And Iβm happy that Sam understands where Deanβs coming from β after all, heβs lost his mother and father, andΒ also Jess and the potential of a normal life that he wanted β but that he knows that the sacrifices theyβve had to make are worth it for the lives theyβve saved and the people theyβve helped.
