S08.E06: Southern Comfort

[Demented Daisy]

Sam and Dean team up with Garth, who has taken over Bobby's job, as they hunt down a Specter that's possessing innocent people who have a grudge against someone.

 

 

...And here's #4.  I dislike so much about this episode that I couldn't even remember what the case was.  All I could remember was:

 

"Benny's a vampire!"

 

"You killed my friend Amy!"

 

"You're not Bobby!"

 

and so on.  (I'm paraphrasing.)  Oh, and flashbacks.  More flashbacks.  If they wanted Sam to have a love story, couldn't they at least have made it interesting?  Maybe Sam wanted a little boring in his life.

[DittyDotDot]

Ugh, so much ugly here. So much. I just don't like it. And Garth continues to get more annoying each time he shows up. And that little flashback-montage at the end was way too long and drawn out and completely unnecessary since we already knew how Dean got the coin and all. Just too much stupid in this episode.

[AwesomO4000]

I agree. I hated this episode.

 

Between this episode and "Heartache" I really, really started to dread the final "talk in and/or by the Impala" scene. With those two episodes it had turned into "bitch and piss 'n moan by and/or in the Impala" scenes. I watched this ending scene again today and it was even worse than the end of "Heartache". I swear Sam in this last scene reminded me of a nasty little Chihuahua going "yipe yipe yipe, and furthermore, Dean yipe yipe yipe, so there!" I was saying "Shut up, Sam!" and that's something I'd never said about Sam until this season. Were they trying to make me hate Sam here? Because if so - good job, and screw you very much as Dean would say.

 

And I agree triple D, so much stupid in this episode. I remember thinking the first time I saw this that how the bodies got where they were made no sense to me, and I came up with a whole different scenario that made so much more sense. So ugly and so unnecessary.

[Demented Daisy]

That last scene is another example of bad writing for Sam and Dean.  Because when Sam gave Dean the ultimatum (dumb), Dean should have told Sam to go.  Instead of just standing there.  Completely illogical.  If someone makes you that irrationally angry, why the hell are you getting in the car with him?  (That applies to Sam and Dean, BTW.)

 

Bad soap opera writing.  Drama for the sake of drama.  Ugh.

 

ETA  If anyone is going to understand giving a monster a pass, shouldn't it be Sam?  Add it to the list of things that just make no freaking sense.

Edited August 22, 2014 by Demented Daisy

[FlickChick]

I suspect that most viewers loathe this episode. So much bad squeezed into it. I dislike Garth with a passion, so his "taking over for Bobby" really rubs the wrong way. Add to that, that wonderful scene at the end when Sam calls Dean out on what he said to him possessed AFTER Dean said he didn't remember what he said, threatens Benny and threatens to leave. Anytime I have the misfortune of seeing that scene I always yell to Sam to not let the door hit him in the ass on the way out! (Yes, I'm a normally totally rational individual, but not watching this drivel)

[catrox14]

I like parts of this episode that leave Garth out of it.  I did like Dean being really angry that Garth was thinking he's the new Bobby. That bit of comedy makes me laugh. 

 

I loved that Dean was saying straight up exactly what he thought. It was induced by magic, but I think this was the first time I can remember Dean really saying what he thought about Sammy not looking for him. Jensen was really something in that scene. And yes I love watching the boys brawl.  #sorrynotsorry

 

But man, they undid that with the conversation at the end. Dean should have just let Sam walk

[DittyDotDot]

The combination of Garth--who seems to annoy me more and more each time he returns--and the stupidity that occurs throughout the episode exasperates me beyond belief. Adding the angry and the ugly on top makes me seriously want to throw things at my screen.

 

What's with the sixth-grade history lesson and needing to spell everything out to us like we're the biggest idiots of all time? What's with this show thinking their audience is too dumb to follow along?

 

And as to the bitchiness at the end: I get what Sam's trying to say and I don't think he's actually wrong--nor do I think Dean is wrong for feeling angry and hurt--but I think there's at least nine hundred, fifty two thousand and three ways better to articulate it.

 

The good to end on: Garth trying to be the new Bobby and Dean's irritation of it was a good idea, I'm just not sure if it was executed all that well. Wait, was that really a compliment in the end...oh well, it's all I got.

Edited January 4, 2015 by DittyDotDot

[Goldmoon]

I'm in the minority in that I thought Garth was a lot better in this ep. They lost the excessive naivete and silliness and made him actually act like a hunter.  What I hated was that he was trying to appropriate too many of Bobby's mannerisms, but I wonder if he was just trying to put Dean at ease.  Without his FauxBobby stuff, I liked him.  The case was different enough to be interesting to me.

[supposebly]

I can't stand Garth in this. I also can't stand Sam and Dean in this. The latter is true for most of the season.

 

That last sentence by Sam is just.......petty. And Sam is anything but petty and he has absolutely NO reason to be so pissy about Benny.

 

And I don't understand why Sam would say that Dean didn't need the penny. The whole not looking for Dean while soulless had nothing to do with Sam.

 

Ugh. I hate this season. I might be repeating myself.

[RulerofallIsurvey]

Just watched this a bit ago.  Wow, so much dislike for this episode.  I didn't hate it.  It's not my all time favorite either, but, I guess I just like watching Sam and Dean so much even a 'bad' episode is still enjoyable, to me.  :)

Still with the Sam-backs in this episode.  Holy moly.  Enough already.  I do agree with whoever upthread said that if they wanted Sam to have a girl friend, they should have shown the relationship present time instead of only in flashbacks.  It's annoying.

I thought Sam's body language in the 'after' bed scene was interesting.  Now, I'm no body language expert or anything, but he's lying there with one arm behind his head and we can't even see his other arm, but it didn't look like it was around Angry Lady or possibly even touching her (Until the very end), while she's all laid out across his chest.  Seems to me like someone (Sam) was rather detached - impersonal.  (Probably not the best word, but all I can come up with right now.)

Which then made no sense in the next flashback when he wakes up and looks like a hurt puppy when Angry Lady is being totally cool about a one night stand and tells him to lock up when he leaves.  WTF?

I like Garth.  That's probably an unpopular opinion here, but I don't care.  In small doses (an ep every now and again), he's enjoyable.  But he would get very irritating if he was around too much.  

I thought Garth had a very valid point about someone needing to step in a take over Bobby's role.  And tbh, Dean was kind of jerk about the hat at first.  Dean doesn't own Bobby or his memory, so I cheered Garth when he told Dean off about it.   It didn't come across to me as Garth so much trying to BE Bobby as fill the role Bobby used to fill for A LOT of hunters (not just Sam and Dean) but in Garth's own unique way.  What's wrong with that?  Anyone who's ever gotten a new manager/CEO has had to deal with that.  No, they are not your favorite old boss, but someone has to do the job.  Deal with it.

I also thought Sam had every right to say what he did to Dean at the end of the episode.  Why shouldn't Sam still be upset about Amy when Dean now has a vampire friend he let walk?  Amy was as much his friend, and saved his life, I believe, as Benny is Dean's friend and helped save his life.  

On 1/4/2015 at 9:29 AM, DittyDotDot said:

And as to the bitchiness at the end: I get what Sam's trying to say and I don't think he's actually wrong--nor do I think Dean is wrong for feeling angry and hurt--but I think there's at least nine hundred, fifty two thousand and three ways better to articulate it.

I completely agree with this.  However, this is Sam and Dean you're talking about.  :)  I also get where they are both coming from right now.  I actually think some of the things that Dean said while in possession of the penny needed to be said.  I also believe what Dean said was what he really felt.  The penny didn't put thoughts in the possessor's head, but caused them to act on the thoughts and feelings they already had.  That being the case, what Sam said to Dean at the end also needed to be said so that they can both get past it.  

What really bothered me this episode was the sudden rotten attitude about "rednecks", particularly Sam's.  Has he acted that way before?  Because, if so, I don't remember it. And who the hell is he to cop an attitude anyway?  Where are they from?  Nebraska?  Have you all BEEN to Nebraska?  Not much there but 'rednecks' who park their John Deere's in the front yard.  I kid you not.  ('Redneck' being all relative, you understand.)  I wonder if it was because Angry Lady was all dissing him on his Army Surplus store look, so now he's trying to prove he's not a redneck.  Sorry, Sam.  Stanford not withstanding (and I'm sure there are rednecks at Stanford too) you're as much a redneck as those good old Missouri boys you were dissing.  Not to mention, with all the talk of Bobby, did they both forget that Bobby was most certainly a redneck?  So that doubly (or possibly triply) makes me wonder what the hell was with the attitude?

Also: Geography note for Sam and Dean: Missouri is NOT in the Land of Dixie.  But guess who was from Missouri?  Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain.  So - one of America's greatest authors was just a redneck, huh?  Actually, ole' Sam Clemens would probably be proud to be called that.  So FU Sam and Dean Winchester.  

Edited June 18, 2016 by RulerofallIsurvey
Bobby was a redneck. (That sounds like the opening verse of a poem or song.)

[catrox14]

38 minutes ago, RulerofallIsurvey said:

 Where are they from?  Nebraska?  Have you all BEEN to Nebraska

The boys are from Lawrence, Kansas which is the home of the University of Kansas, so it's pretty much a college town. I don't think that is particularly redneck. I guess it really depends on how one defines "redneck".

[DittyDotDot]

I believe Maya Angelo is also from Missouri. I find redneck to be in the eye of the beholder. I personally sport a redneck most of the summer months. ;)

55 minutes ago, RulerofallIsurvey said:

I completely agree with this.  However, this is Sam and Dean you're talking about.  :)  I also get where they are both coming from right now.  I actually think some of the things that Dean said while in possession of the penny needed to be said.  I also believe what Dean said was what he really felt.  The penny didn't put thoughts in the possessor's head, but caused them to act on the thoughts and feelings they already had.  That being the case, what Sam said to Dean at the end also needed to be said so that they can both get past it.  

It's funny because I'm currently rewatching S5 and feel very similar--some of the thing said needed to be said. But, yeah, I see where they're both coming from and I get it, I just don't enjoy watching it. It's a tone thing, I think.

[RulerofallIsurvey]

1 hour ago, catrox14 said:

The boys are from Lawrence, Kansas which is the home of the University of Kansas, so it's pretty much a college town. I don't think that is particularly redneck. I guess it really depends on how one defines "redneck".

Well, having lived in many a college town in the past (Raleigh, NC, Charlottesville, VA, Blacksburg, VA, Clemson, SC) I can definitely say that college towns have plenty of rednecks.  :)  However one chooses to define it, you'll find it in a college town.

Besides, the boys may have been born in Lawrence, Kansas, but I wouldn't say they were from there, especially not Sam.  Didn't they pretty much start living on the road after Mary died?  Sam was 6 months old and Dean was 4?  That's not the same as growing up in a place and being from there, imo.  And what's more redneck than living out of dumpy motel rooms?  Come on...

(College town not withstanding, Kansas might have more 'rednecks' than Missouri.  ;)  Just drove through the state two weeks ago.  And I really liked every one I met in small towns throughout Kansas.  Great people.  And yes, a little red neck.  But that's okay.)

[RulerofallIsurvey]

1 hour ago, DittyDotDot said:

I believe Maya Angelo is also from Missouri. I find redneck to be in the eye of the beholder. I personally sport a redneck most of the summer months. ;)

(Sigh) I wish I could get outside enough to get a redneck in the summer.  I'm jealous!

Quote

It's funny because I'm currently rewatching S5 and feel very similar--some of the thing said needed to be said. But, yeah, I see where they're both coming from and I get it, I just don't enjoy watching it. It's a tone thing, I think.

It's certainly not as fun to watch as when the brothers are getting along better.  So I understand why a lot of viewers wouldn't like the episode for that reason.  But after how the season started - with Sam not looking for Dean - I think they are going to have to go through these aches and pains to get to a better place.  That's my hope anyway.  Yes, I'm a closet optimist.  :)

[AwesomO4000]

2 hours ago, DittyDotDot said:

It's funny because I'm currently rewatching S5 and feel very similar--some of the thing said needed to be said. But, yeah, I see where they're both coming from and I get it, I just don't enjoy watching it. It's a tone thing, I think.

I agree. And for me it's also an "organic" thing. For me, the conflicts in season 5 made sense.  It made sense that Dean was angry with Sam for trusting Ruby, and it made sense that Sam would get frustrated after trying his best to show Dean he could be trusted again when Dean sometimes still wouldn't trust him. I didn't feel the same way about season 8.

To me, it made no sense that Sam wouldn't look for Dean or Kevin - and that he would then insist on that position and not even apologize. And to further insist that continuing hunting and finding Kevin just wasn't his problem anymore *shrug,* why would Dean even think he should've considered otherwise? Since when beyond season 1 has Sam even hinted at that kind of attitude that what they do isn't important and doesn't make a difference? And Sam's usually "what do you mean the world's gonna end and we haven't got a prayer so you're going to give up? No, we'll find a way." That makes it make even less sense that he wouldn't look for Dean or Kevin and then support that pessimistic attitude.

It was similar with Benny. Sam's attitude towards Benny also made little sense to me. Dean says Benny was important to him and saved his life, so Sam says here "well, maybe one day I'll kill him." WTF? And even Amelia made little sense. The writers seemed to be showing a damaged relationship with little chemistry, and then asking us to believe that it was this great love affair rather than what I thought it was - mostly a delusion / wishful thinking.

So the set up for the conflict here in this episode required too many things that in my opinion made little to no sense in order for them to happen, so instead of thinking both Sam and Dean had points to make and that they were just talking past each other and / or not understanding each other, I was thinking "why is Sam and / or Dean acting like that? It makes no sense." Or just sometimes "Who are these people? Because that's not the Sam (and to a lesser extent Dean) I've been watching for 7 years."

Actually for Dean, the problem with the conflict for me was that he hadn't appeared to change. Dean had been in purgatory. He survived with his loyalty intact. He insisted with Benny that they would look for Castiel, and stuck by that. That's a major accomplishment... yet now Dean had the same, old self-esteem problems. Letting Sam walk all over him at the end of this episode by basically not saying anything as Sam was saying I told you why I didn't look for you Dean, I had better things to do, why would you possibly be upset about that? Oh and by the way, I might kill Benny, too, just because. The same Dean who insisted on finding Castiel against all odds, and defending that position to Benny, here just says "I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it" when Sam threatens to kill Benny. That makes sense *sarcasm.*

Sam was shown to change too much, without showing why he would have changed, and Dean remained mostly the same when his experience should've changed him greatly.

Yeah, tone... and too much suspension of my belief.

I'd almost forgotten how much I hated this episode.

Edited June 18, 2016 by AwesomO4000

[catrox14]

Maybe Dean and Sam simply come by their opinions because they've lived on the road and maybe they've dealt with some less  savory/racist asshat  faction of rednecks.   

I didn't take it as an indictment of all rednecks just the asshole rednecks. Given this show mocks WASPs why not asshole rednecks too?
 

[RulerofallIsurvey]

1 hour ago, catrox14 said:

Maybe Dean and Sam simply come by their opinions because they've lived on the road and maybe they've dealt with some less  savory/racist asshat  faction of rednecks.   

I'm sure they have.  I'm also sure they've dealt with some decent rednecks (like Bobby, Ellen, and Jo). 

Quote

I didn't take it as an indictment of all rednecks just the asshole rednecks. Given this show mocks WASPs why not asshole rednecks too?

I don't specifically recall the show mocking WASPs.  That is not to say that it hasn't, just that it is not fresh in my memory.  I just thought the derisiveness with which they mocked rednecks in this episode was particularly jarring.  It wasn't a good-natured, or even just slightly condescending type mocking.  It was full out contempt.  That type of contempt is usually reserved for true monsters, not simply asshole rednecks, who, even if assholes, are still human after all.  ETA: I didn't get the impression that the scorn was directed only toward asshole rednecks, but rednecks in general.  That is to say, they seemed to be lumping all rednecks together, imo. 

Edited June 18, 2016 by RulerofallIsurvey
Those darn rednecks.

[JunebugWA]

Binge-watching all seasons on Netflix and I have to say - the 2nd time around is not any better. I still couldn't figure out what the heck did Jared do to the writers to make them shred his character of Sam into bits in S8. He suddenly reverted back to a child. Even young Sam (Colin Ford) was not this bad. 

Edited October 3, 2016 by JunebugWA
spelling/grammar

[GirlyGeek]

No.  Just no.  I can't with that conversation at the end.  Every single time I see it, my jaw just hangs open like... "really?  how did these guys allow these words to be filmed?!"  And I just don't understand how or why Sam is so pissed off about Benny?  It blows my mind.  Threatening to be the hunter that kills him?!  Just spiteful and hateful.  That's not Sam.

I think I've made my feelings pretty clear on this Season.  Not sure if I should continue to post, lol.  Not good for my blood pressure obviously.

[bethy]

I caught the previouslies for this episode recently. There was just a brief clip of Sam's reaction to Dean's relationship with Benny, and I felt my hatred of the early part of this season reignite with the heat of a thousand suns. 

[Hanahope]

Yeah, I don't like what they are doing to Sam either.  I dislike the Amelia story.  I will give Sam a pass on comparing Benny to Amy.  I think Dean was wrong to Sam and Amy too.

i like Garth so I'm good with his covering Bobby's old role.

i didn't like the plot of this case, seemed like a real stretch.

[bettername2come]

I kind of like Garth as the new Bobby, at least in terms of giving out the information. I don't like him copying Bobby's style. I also like that Dean considers that akin to blasphemy. Garth the dentist killing the tooth fairy is a funny backstory. "So what do we got? A ghost with an Oedipus complex? I don't know what that means." Oh, come on, you show us Sam and Amelia in bed and we don't even get a shirtless scene out of it? All the other love interests got us shirtless scenes. You had one job, Amelia! And Sam just stood there having a flashback that seemed not to be triggered by anything in the preceding scene? Ooh, "Fell on Black Days." I know they used it on the show before but they didn't play nearly as much of the song the first time. I like Garth trying to play peacekeeper when Dean's trying to kill Sam and his "Who?!" when Dean mentions Benny is funny and reminded me of an episode of Golden Girls, which is always a good thing. 

[Wayward Son]

I’m not the biggest fan of this episode! It has quite a few flaws, but after being quite negative in the Blood Brothers thread I want to be a bit more positive here! I liked Garth in this one! Yes, some of his attempts to copy Bobbyisms were over the top, but I liked the show highlighting Bobby’s importance to the hunting community and that Garth, in his own way, was trying to preserve Bobby’s legacy. I like that the final flashback between Sam and Amelia wasn’t all sweetness and light, but Sam talks about how his world imploded and he ran with no clue what do when Dean died. I liked that it tried to highligh that yes Sam grieved and didn’t just quit for the sake of it. I also enjoyed the little history lore included. I was pretty OK with most of Sam’s speech at the end since I largely agree with Sam’s earlier words. However, he then went too far when he made the threat to kill Benny. 

 

On 04/01/2015 at 2:29 PM, DittyDotDot said:

What's with the sixth-grade history lesson and needing to spell everything out to us like we're the biggest idiots of all time? What's with this show thinking their audience is too dumb to follow along?

I kind of liked the history stuff, but I can understand why you didn’t. As a non-American I know the basics of the civil war I.e. it was the union vs the confederate. However, I didn’t know any of that additional information about the Unknown soldier and I found it quite fascinating as a result :) .

[DittyDotDot]

13 minutes ago, Wayward Son said:

I kind of liked the history stuff, but I can understand why you didn’t. As a non-American I know the basics of the civil war I.e. it was the union vs the confederate. However, I didn’t know any of that additional information about the Unknown soldier and I found it quite fascinating as a result :) .

I was referring to the info dump from Garth about how the Civil War was fought between the North and the South and brothers fought brothers. Which, appears you already knew too.

[Wayward Son]

4 minutes ago, DittyDotDot said:

I was referring to the info dump from Garth about how the Civil War was fought between the North and the South and brothers fought brothers. Which, appears you already knew too.

I actually wasn’t aware of the fact it got to the point where family members fought each other! But yeah I knew about the North and the South fought each other :)

[Iju]

garth is neat, i like him. 6 episodes in and i am so close to done with dean and his whining about sam not finding him. "I never left you to die" omg when did sam ever in his life do that, i understand how very emotional dean gets especially with anything about sam but the writers need him to calm tf down. i also understand his feelings are exacerbated to the extreme, but they didn't need to do that to dean. i honestly do not believe for 1 zeptosecond that sam didn't try looking for dean, i don't care how many times the show beats it down in this season. it's so unbelievable. and when dean (verbally) attacked garth, i didn't even hate him for doing that since i am still tender about him, but i also understood what garth was trying to explain and respected that.  

the only reason i am not totally done with dean is because he is acting so strangely at sam. well no crap sherlock, going through purgatory changes you. like sam said at the end, he's "high and mighty". he's acting like the world has done him wrong and he hasn't done a thing; he's innocent. so dean's on a super edge, but the writers are giving him too much of an edge.

and for the more the writers give an edge for dean, the more they insist on making sam look like a crap brother and wanting the same tired out dream that probably would have made correctly-written sam give an uproarious laugh. how about we mature sam for once? just one time? and keep it that way?

[The Companion]

 

On 10/19/2016 at 5:07 PM, GirlyGeek said:

No.  Just no.  I can't with that conversation at the end.  Every single time I see it, my jaw just hangs open like... "really?  how did these guys allow these words to be filmed?!"  And I just don't understand how or why Sam is so pissed off about Benny?  It blows my mind.  Threatening to be the hunter that kills him?!  Just spiteful and hateful.  That's not Sam.

I think I've made my feelings pretty clear on this Season.  Not sure if I should continue to post, lol.  Not good for my blood pressure obviously.

I am surprised they didn't both lose their shit. Neither brother feels in character to me. I have all these points about what each said but, in the end, they both are acting like assholes. Sam is worse but I hated this look for both of them and I can't imagine how  pissed JA and JP were.

On 10/18/2017 at 10:16 AM, DittyDotDot said:

I was referring to the info dump from Garth about how the Civil War was fought between the North and the South and brothers fought brothers. Which, appears you already knew too.

But brothers against brothers. It's JUST LIKE THE WINCHESTERS. 🙄

 

Despite all of that, there were glimpses of good here. I do like Garth and some comic relief was sorely needed. I didn't mind the Bobby stuff. He is right. He gets to honor and remember Bobby too. Also, somebody did need to help the network. Sam and Dean don't interact with a lot of hunters, but it's clear there is a bigger network. They lost Ellen and then Bobby. 

This episode was better by comparison, if you ignore the terrible flashbacks and last scene. 

[Catfi9ht]

I had forgotten how racist this episode was. Civil War lost cause ideology was made up by the racist who wrote The Turner Diaries and Birth of a Nation.

Here's a great video on the subject and how ubiquitous lost cause ideology permeates our entertainment further normalizing the lie invented by a racist.