S03.E10: Dream A Little Dream Of Me

[DittyDotDot]

Sam & Dean enter Bobby's dreams to fight an interloper preventing him from waking

 

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I adore this episode to a ridiculous amount and mostly just for the stuff the art department did here. There's a lot of subtle touches with the bird wallpaper and Bobby's house and the forest hallway and such. Every time I watch it I keep looking for more things that I've missed before. I also think that Steve Boyum did a fantastic job directing. Although, I'm not sure if I should forgive him for removing the spotlights on Baby so they could mount cameras on her side. On the one hand, he did it so they could get better angles inside the car, on the other, he messed with Baby and that should never be taken lightly. Hee! Anyway, I love how he uses some simple and subtle camera trickery in the dream sequences and the quick cuts are very effective for me. They tend to over-show their hand in the later seasons, but this episode is an example of how they used to not need to show off their special effects or camera moves to be visually effective.

 

So, some good performances by both Jensen and Jim Beaver. Jim really shows how he can handle more than a few catch phrases and a trucker hat in his nightmare scenes and Jensen blows the doors off his "Superman on Superman junkyard scene". Playing two sides of a coin can easily become the most cheesiest thing on a genre show, but Jensen always walks that line perfectly. Also, one of Jensen's other strengths, building to a moment, is on full display here.

 

Story wise, I think this is a great episode too. We learn a bit more about Bobby and why he probably felt a kinship to John--both losing their wives to the supernatural and all. And you see Dean really start to latch on to Bobby as a father figure for the first time with the absence of his own father. I never really believed that Bobby was so involved in their young lives as the show tried to retroactively tell me. It really changes how I see some of the earlier episodes, like this one, so I choose to ignore that bit of retconning. It makes more sense to me that Bobby stepped in to fill a role and a need once John was dead. And we finally get Dean admit he not only doesn't want to die, but doesn't deserve to go to Hell. It feels like we can finally start moving forward towards the end of the season now.

 

And, I'm not too bothered by Bella stealing the Colt because I like to pretend she didn't exist in this episode. Sam can still have a wet dream if he likes and they can get their dream root from some other source...see, easy as pie if you try. Oh look, I rhymed and didn't even mean too. ;)

[catrox14]

I have mixed feelings about this episode.  I love it mostly but gods I hate the Lisa dream sequence because it just is so shoehorned in IMO. 

 

But for me the entire episode is anchored on Dean fighting himself as a demon

 

s9 spoilers :

o no no nononononoooooooooooooooooooooooo. I just .....no. It's all so wrong and horrible and my heart still can't handle seeing Dean with demon eyes.  Augggh  fuck you Carver. :(.

[mertensia]

I love that wallpaper. It's just so gorgeous.

The Dean vs. Dean was the best part of the episode.

[DittyDotDot]

I have mixed feelings about this episode.  I love it mostly but gods I hate the Lisa dream sequence because it just is so shoehorned in IMO. 

 

Even though I know this was a last minute addition because they didn't have the rights they thought they did to Jason, I always think of this as kind of a happy accident. For me, it doesn't feel shoehorned in at all. It represents that part of Dean that's looking for the simpler and more peaceful life. As I've always said, I thought Dean loved the idea of Lisa and Ben more than the reality of them--a woman who loves him unconditionally and a kid that looks up to him complete with an place to call home. I've never felt like Lisa was Dean's soul mate or that he even thinks she's the love of his life. In fact, I think he knows that it's more of a fantasy and that's why she's in his dream and not sitting next to him instead of Sam. 

 

I think she's that same kind of "what if" that we saw in What Is And What Should Never Be. It's a peek over the fence at what you perceive as being greener pastures. I think most people have a recurring dream like this--something we unconsciously think we want but make every conscious choice contrary to that end. That's why I've always had a fondness for Lisa, not because she's some kickass wonderful female character that I want Dean to make passionate love to or anything like that, but because she shows us another side of Dean and adds another level to his character and reminds us he's human, like the rest of us.

 

Sam's dream, on the other hand, feels more shoehorned in to me, but still works on some level in the same way Dean's does. They're dreams--unconscious streams of thought that our sleeping minds puts together from bits of reality. Do I really think that Sam wants to make passionate love to Bella? No more than I think Dean really wants to live that apple-pie life, even though I think he's thought about once or twice.

[catrox14]

The dream was presented as though Dean wanting a committed relationship was BRAND NEW INFORMATION!   Well, hey show, I already learned that back in s1 with Cassie regardless of the outcome of that relationship.  IMO that was far more character progression and shading and nuance than this "reveal". 
 

I completely believe that since Dean knows he's going to die, he's thinking about the whatifs and maybe if he had been Ben's dad even more so.  I totally buy that he might have a random dream. However, it's strongly implied that Dean is lying when he says he never dreamed it before which bothers much more than him randomly dreaming it now. It's implying that Dean has always been wanting this with Lisa or even it was just the idea of the life it rings totally false with me. It's not organic storytelling IMO.

 

IMO the difference between this and the djinn is that the djinn was accessing Dean real memories to manipulate him.  I have wondered if Lisa was in Dean's memory and apparently frequently accessed because of the apparent recurring dream why wasn't she a memory for the djinn to use considering it was 8 years ago which was 4 years before WIANWSNB. Huh, that means Lisa was even before Cassie.   Answer is Lisa had been created yet.  Oh show. The contrivance is strong.

 

IMO, Dean will always choose hunting over the apple pie life because it is who he is. He never wanted out of the life. He just didn't want to do it alone anymore.

Edited August 26, 2014 by catrox14

[DittyDotDot]

The dream was presented as though Dean wanting a committed relationship was BRAND NEW INFORMATION!   Well, hey show, I already learned that back in s1 with Cassie regardless of the outcome of that relationship.  IMO that was far more character progression and shading and nuance than this "reveal".

 

I completely believe that since Dean knows he's going to die, he's thinking about the whatifs and maybe if he had been Ben's dad even more so.  I totally buy that he might have a random dream. However, it's strongly implied that Dean is lying when he says he never dreamed it before which bothers much more than him randomly dreaming it now. It's implying that Dean has always been wanting this with Lisa or even it was just the idea of the life it rings totally false with me. It's not organic storytelling IMO.

 

I'm not sure that they were implying that he wanted Lisa in particular--in fact, I'd argue it had nothing at all to do with Lisa herself, but how she represented instant-family and legacy to him--or that he'd been having this dream years. I think he's had this dream, or a similar one, a few times since he met up with Lisa recently and had the experience of thinking Ben was his kid which made him start thinking about how he was going to die soon and what was he leaving behind. He didn't even know about Ben until recently, so the version of Lisa here can only take on this form after The Kids Are All Right.  For me, this dream is just a representation of his unconscious mind blending in his regrets over not having anything to leave behind with a recent experience.

 

For me, there's a big difference between what we saw with Cassie and what we are seeing now. Cassie was the first woman he considered letting into his life, but he never considered giving up hunting to be with her. He wanted his pie and wanted to eat it too (this is a stupid phrase, who wouldn't want to eat their pie? It's flaky and gooey and delicious...sorry tangent...). But now with his death looming over him and he's questioning whether he would have liked to have done it differently. Personally, I don't think he's looking for a committed relationship with Lisa; IMO he's looking for legacy. And, I never believe that he actually would choose to live an apple-pie life, but can appreciate that he has enough depth of character to think about these things from time to time.

 

IMO the difference between this and the djinn is that the djinn was accessing Dean real memories to manipulate him.  I have wondered if Lisa was in Dean's memory and apparently frequently accessed because of the apparent recurring dream why wasn't she a memory for the djinn to use considering it was 8 years ago which was 4 years before WIANWSNB. Huh, that means Lisa was even before Cassie.   Answer is Lisa had been created yet.  Oh show. The contrivance is strong.

 

Well, that guy was also accessing Dean's memories and using them in a dream-form to manipulate him. But, I don't think Dean ever thought of Lisa as anything but a hookup until their recent experience. The only reason he wanted to go see her was to have another bendy weekend with her. If she hadn't "grown up" and had a kid, that's all Lisa would have been to him. I don't think Dean's been sitting around pining away just waiting for the day to set up housekeeping with her. So, no I don't think there was anything there for the djinn to work with, at the time, concerning Lisa.

Edited August 27, 2014 by DittyDotDot

[rue721]

Maybe Bobby is growing on me. Verrrrrry slowly,

apparently, since he's been dead for how many years now?

He didn't irritate me in this episode, he was hardly in it, really, but I think I've avoided it because the setup is all about the guys going to his bedside and into his head.

 

Anyway, the Winchesters were so likeable! Wow! I forgot when they were young and goofy like this! And this was probably a ~heavy~ episode, too, and they were probably less young and goofy than usual. Maybe I should go back and watch S3, tbh. Anyway, they seemed like fun people to be around, and like they liked each other, which made the episode so enjoyable.

 

I think that the picnic-with-Lisa dream was just a counterpoint to Sam's sex-with-Bella dream. Sam has an embarrassing sex dream, and Dean's version of an embarrassing sex dream is an embarrassing relationship dream. Tbh, I thought that was funny.

 

Not that Sam wouldn't want to get laid or Dean wouldn't want to settle down, but I don't think those were meant to seem like "real," pressing desires. I think that those dreams were mostly to emphasize that, in a dream, anything is possible. So even desires that you're keeping on a tight leash or maybe aren't conscious of in your real life still might blossom when you're dreaming.

 

I don't think that it meant much that Sam was dreaming about Bella specifically or that Dean was dreaming about Lisa in specifically. I've had about a million waitressing stress dreams and I've served *trolls* (literal trolls!) in those dreams before (and the ~guests~ being trolls was never the stressful part! just some weird dream thing). Who shows up in dreamland is kind of irrelevant imo. The most important part about dreams imo is how they make you feel. The feelings are real, but nothing else is, I don't think.

 

Why were they pressing the "Dean has low self esteem" thing so hard? It seemed a little much. Maybe I should rewatch the beginning of the season, because I don't remember him as having especially low self esteem, I thought he was just pissed off/distraught/confused that he'd sentenced himself to an eternity of torment because he couldn't handle Sam dying. Part of it is that I don't actually think that, in a world where Crossroads Demons exist, deals like Dean's would be that unusual. Tbh, people's souls would probably be getting sold right and left for drugs and other depressingly petty reasons. And I thought that selling his soul was basically his way of not killing himself, it just sort of backfired in that the consequences were actually going to be worse than if he'd just killed himself. Because nothing goes right for these people.

 

That said, tbh it doesn't matter that now, after the fact, I don't really buy what dream!Dean was saying, because during the episode I thought he was terrifying. It's mind-boggling that Dean is so self aware that he can call all his own bluffs without blinking, but I also thought that was the best part about that whole confrontation. It was even fun how Dean smirked and was like, "oh, so I'm my own worst nightmare, I get it" when he first walked in -- I liked that he was genre savvy, and that being genre savvy didn't matter a bit.

 

Not sure how I feel about Sam siccing the Bad Guy's dead, abusive father on him. I know he was the Bad Guy, and Sam was in trouble, but knowing that the man beat him so bad he got brain damage made it really difficult for me to root for him to "get his comeuppance" by having his father go after him. Regardless of whether he "deserved" the comeuppance or not. There probably wasn't another way to go that wouldn't have been too saccharine or that didn't involve Dean saving the day (which obviously couldn't happen, since the whole point was that they were going to be separated for good soon), but it still left a bad taste in my mouth. Especially about Sam as a character, because he seemed almost proud/gleeful when the Bad Guy's father showed up, not regretful at all. Idk, maybe they were aiming to show that without Dean, he becomes too ruthless and too arrogant?

[catrox14]

"Craap.....Bela"...

 

"Bela?...Craap"

 

LOLZ forever with that exchange.

 

So okay if Bobby was so much the boys 2nd father and practically raised them...how did they never know that Bobby was married?

[AwesomO4000]

I can imagine Bobby not ever wanting to bring that up, and I'm guessing that she was killed before the boys even knew Bobby. I was under the impression that his killing her happened fairly early in their marriage.

[Hanahope]

Bella really is a bit of a Mary Sue, the way she always gets the goods.

Dean fighting himself was pretty funny.  It was nice that it woke Dean up to realize that he doesn't want to die.

[Diane]

Watching a very good run of episodes today.  This is a good one, we get some insight into all the characters.  We find out about Bobby's wife and his guilt over having to kill her. Dean fighting himself (Jensen was incredible in that scene). Sam using his head to save both of them. Dean deciding he really wants to live. Good stuff, now on to the Mystery Spot, one of my favorites.

[bettername2come]

Bobby! Bobby makes everything better. Bobby's hotel has awesome wallpaper and a great staff. Go maid who knew something was up when Bobby didn't wake up when she entered. "You boys better check your pockets." Boys check. "Not literally."

Sam stop being attracted to dangerous women! His reaction when real Bela starts to take off her trenchcoat is hilarious.

Jensen plays great opposite Jensen. His screaming about John is beautiful. I love Dean facing his issues with his dad and knowing he deserved better. It's nice to see him stick up for himself for once. 

I always enjoy the human villains. And Jeremy is an understandable villain. I get pissed off when I can't dream too.

[Iju]

sam's wet dream is somewhat relatable with me. not that i've had a wet dream (i certainly don't intend to either) but i did have a dream when a boy up the street kissed me on the cheek and in the dream i was so excited and blushing and happy and i woke up like wtf, lol. i had and still have no attraction to him at all. sometimes the brain just chooses for you and you're helpless. the dream was so random and sam liking the woman who shot him is just no so even if i'm 100% wrong i'll just go with my theory anyway :P

i think when sam and dean went into his mind we were expecting some pornish looking women and a bar or club to be the setting, but it went dark, and fast. we do see a woman, but it's in a pure, calming view. the soft, fairy like music in the background i cannot express enough how PERFECTLY it makes you think it's in a dream. whoever chose that song, and whoever chose to play it at that exact volume, MAJOR kudos to him/her. 

then there's the subtle but powerful emotions in jensen's face. dean is pulled in and he can't look away. "I've never had this dream before," he swears to sam. is it a hint that dean isn't even aware of the things in his mind, because he's so focused on his brother? or just a desire he's pushed in the back of his head long, long ago?

either way, dean is taken. his eyes are soft and focused. his emotions are stirring until the vision vanishes, then he sternly says to sam, "Don't look at me like that." and that freaking broke my heart. it made me realise sam was right next to him, looking at dean stare at his vision and feeling so bad for him, wanting him to have his dream as much as dean. he saw the longing and empathy in his brother's eyes and couldn't take it. right then and there they knew what each other was seeing and feeling, completely.

i know that many people give credit to jensen with his acting at screaming and shooting the head dean but his real acting is when demon dean resurrects and snarles "You can't escape me. You're gonna die. And this? This is what you're gonna become!" i'm always more interested in seeing this how people act "outside" of theirselves, like when sam was possessed. and jensen and jared did a fantastic job doing just that.

the two gripes i had with this episode was that same gripe i had in the jinn episode with cameron. the writers obviously do not take cassie as seriously as they wrote her which just plain sucks. she's the only women in his life he shared his heart to and told her voluntarily what he does as his job. he hasn't been like that with any other woman, so why aren't they using that dangit? i'll be bitter to the writers forever for that. but if anyone has any spoilers of her returning for whatever reason, please spoil it for me and tell me. on the other hand, don't!

the second gripe i had was the reaction dean had in the car. i don't think it would have been cheesy or cliche for him to have been unconsciously crying, you know in his sleep? maybe even shaking as well. and when he woke up and realised it he just darted his face away from sam and collected himself. the script says that dean was shaken for what just happened, and i don't think that it was shown besides a worried look jensen gave.

i mean come on the dean showed the most emotion he has probably his whole life, he was terrified and angry that he had to go to hell. he tried so hard, so damn hard at keeping his family together. followed his father without a word of rebellion. and as much as he was with his father the most and gotten along with him, he needed and wanted sam with him in those two years he broke up the family. as proven by the pilot he could have dropped by in sam's life at anytime, even his father at least visited sam's college, but dean respected sam's wish and didn't bother a hair on his head. even if he wanted to he had no-one to talk to about him missing sam because guess what, his father loved him but didn't get along with him as dean did. so when their father goes missing, he really needs sam this time but can't help himself. he has no one but him and he's already thinking of ways to make sam stay. then when they finally have the family together, the family he raised by himself, john dies and sam seemingly almost directly afterwards. both are dean's fault (in his view). so looking at it that way, yes i don't think any trembling or crying would have been out of line. but besides that i can't argue with much of the episode. i don't even care that bella the bitxh slipped them one once again. on my rewatch list~

P.S. i know that sam's ability played at least somewhat into him defeating jeremy, but i still would have wanted him to force jeremy to take the binds off of him or something like that. i'm done now!

Edited March 9, 2018 by Iju

[Aithne]

One of the great things about taking a decade-long break from this show is coming back and feeling a great, renewed enthusiasm for all the things I loved so much back then. To wit - Dean and John and their totally screwed up relationship. 

I was just rewatching the Dean vs Dean scene and, although I think they laid the self-esteem stuff on a bit thick (does Dean actually hate himself or did he hate feeling like he'd failed his family? Maybe at this point those things were inseparable), I forgot just how blunt Dean's  dream-self got with the condemnation of John as using Dean vs doting on Sam. And how Dean, when he explodes, is most angry about John's various failures - failing to protect his family, shoving his responsibilities onto Dean. 

So interesting. Not entirely fair across the board - dream!self claimed John didn't care if Dean died, when we know that he at least cared in 50% of the episodes in which Dean was dying, and Dean said John let Mary die, which, come on. There was nothing he could've done about that. But there were definitely some interesting nuggets in there regarding how Dean believes John saw him, and it's a little bleaker than my general headcanon about them. JDM's portrayal always seemed to me like a guy who had a temper and could get mean in an argument or petty after (like the jab about the car in DMB), but could also be decently affectionate if everything was going all right. Which is not to say he was very open (Dean's concern when John starts being sweet to him in IMToD tells that tale, as does his recognition that John's possessed in DT because John doesn't berate him over the bullet), but this scene seems to suggest that the relationship between them was maybe a little harder-edged than I typically think of it. 

Edited January 21, 2022 by Aithne

[FlickChick]

I am not a John hater. I believe when his life went to hell and he found out about the supernatural as the cause, he went into military mode. Instead of raising a family, he was raising fighters. He made many mistakes with his boys, but I always believed he loved them both. I hated that he gave Dean the order to save Sam or kill him knowing that he would be gone, but John gave his own life and soul to save Dean. You don't do that for someone you don't love.

[Aithne]

Yeah, definitely believe that he loved them. I can't believe that anyone thinks otherwise. 

I think the love is just sort of thorny. Like, John's love for Sam is more of a straightforward thing where they're very alike personality-wise and butt heads because Sam is growing up and doesn't want to follow in Dad's footsteps. Classic tale. And John is worried about his safety if he leaves, so there's that conflict. 

John and Dean is so complicated, though, with the parentification and Dean taking on some of John's responsibilities re: caring for and providing protection for Sam, being trained up so early to help in a violent, dangerous profession, and according to John, taking care of him as well without complaint. I think John ended up feeling a bit of obligation, and remorse for not showing his love in a more visible/tangible way. Azazel had reached right in and pointed out something that had probably gone unsaid for Dean's whole life (that John rarely voiced concern or interest in him beyond how he could be useful to the family), and I think John was determined to come through for Dean, to prove that that loyalty ran both ways. 

I think it's all very complicated, but love is at the root of it. 

Edited January 21, 2022 by Aithne