S03.E15: Time Is On My Side

[DittyDotDot]

A doctor who has achieved immortality is harvesting organs from victims. Sam thinks immortality will get Dean out of his deal, so he insists they take the case.

 

I have a love/hate relationship with this episode. I find the whole case of Doc Benton to be interesting and creepy and all that Supernatural likes to be, but then they cram Rufus and Bella's story into it and it just feel like too much in the end. This would have been better served as two different episodes, IMO.

 

I'll start with the love...The idea that Sam's chasing immortality for Dean and Dean choosing to go to Hell rather than become a monster is very Sam and Dean; so that works for me. I like that Sam is almost gleeful that he thinks he's found a solution--the way he smiles as they leave the testy coroner's office and Sam trying to gross Dean out with the maggot talk are really nicely woven in. And when his "surprise" is revealed, it's almost heartbreaking watching Sam realize that Dean's never going to go for it. I don't blame Dean, I wouldn't either, not in a million years!  But I really can feel for Sam; especially when they are burying Doc Benton and the book with the key to immortality. That whole eyeball scene is some disturbing shit, though, and I'm really not sure how it is that Doc Benton was able to perform his own heart transplant, but since Sam and Dean make sense, I roll with it, right?

 

The hate...Bella's story doesn't work for me, at all. I don't care that she's going to Hell or that she sold her soul to get rid of her parents. It annoys me that they tried to make Bella some sort of tragic character with the child abuse factor added on. But I could have rolled with it, I guess, if they had actually dipped into it better. It's just so crammed in with all the other stuff, that I find it irksome. And I can't really give them a break because of the Writer's Strike simply because this is their standard modus operandi. Almost every season we get to the penultimate episode and they realize they have all this stuff out there they haven't tied up so they cram it all into the last two episodes. It's just too much and each plot point doesn't get the service it deserves. I know they really wanted to do the Ghostfacers concept, but they really should have saved it for S4 and split this episode into two, IMO.

 

I guess the tiebreaker would be Rufus...I love me some Rufus! He and Dean drinking together is pure gold, IMO. So, I guess this one barely makes the win column, in the end.

[Demented Daisy]

*Sigh*  Dean chooses death over being a monster.  Months ago I said that

Demon Dean

would make me rethink previous episodes/seasons and I was right.  It sucks.

[catrox14]

*Sigh*  Dean chooses death over being a monster.  Months ago I said that

Demon Dean

would make me rethink previous episodes/seasons and I was right.  It sucks.

 

If it helps, s9 spoilers

s 9x23 Dean actually did choose death there too. He said to Sam right before he died /gross sobbing  "It's better this way. The mark is making me into something I don't want to be". It was  Crowley who had other ideas. 

[DittyDotDot]

I was watching this last night and the weirdest thing struck me: this episode was beautifully shot. I had to look it up, but I'm shocked to learn it was directed by Bob Singer. I give him so much crap in the visual department so I just had to come in here and give him some kudos when they are due.  Not only did he find some interesting angles, but the there was a couple camera moves I found rather delightful too. And because I can, examples are now provided! Nice job with the look of the episode Mr. Singer, nice job!

 

 

 

 

[Demented Daisy]

*Sigh*  Dean chooses death over being a monster.  Months ago I said that

Demon Dean

would make me rethink previous episodes/seasons and I was right.  It sucks.

 

Almost a year later and, to make matters worse, this was when the boys

still chose humanity over saving their own skins

.  Carver is such an ass.

[Dobian]

I'm sorry to see Bela depart, I thought she made a good foil for the brothers and would have liked to see her as a recurring character each season.  Of course Lauren Cohan went on to bigger and better things in Walking Dead, but I like her better as Bela than Maggie.

 

Addendum:

 

Thinking about it, Bela's whole back story really doesn't ring true to me.  First of all, she was a young girl at the time of this deal, maybe 16?  If demons can approach anyone they want regardless of age, what's to stop them from offering a five year old all the ice cream they can eat if they will just come away with them in ten years?  (an eternity to a five year old)  Also, deals with the devil involve the person very specifically traveling to a crossroads and performing the ritual.  It is an expression of deliberate intent.  In this case, the demon (Lilith) actually solicits Bela, and furthermore proposes what the deal is.  Bela did not initiate this.  Also, these deals are generally about fulfilling a person's base desires - wealth, fame, power, etc.  Seven Deadly Sins kind of stuff.  In this case, Bela simply wants to protect herself and end her torment.  That's hardly the thing you would expect someone to go to hell over, it's self-defense.  So this whole story just doesn't sit right.  It feels like they trampled over the rules of demon wish fulfillment in order to quickly wrap up Bela's story.

Edited March 15, 2016 by Dobian

[Hanahope]

I agree, Bela's story didn't make sense compared to all the other 'deals.'    And the exposition of her calling someone, Lillith?, to say she knows where the boys are was clunky.  

I didn't agree with Sam about going after the doctor to learn his secret for Dean.  It wasn't death by worn out/bad parts that gets Dean, its the hell hounds.  So you replace his heart, what's to stop the hell hounds from continuing to go after him.  I didn't get the impression that they only get one night to try and if they fail, the boys win.  And really Sam, your going to kill some innocent for a new heart for Dean?  You really have changed.

Oh and the last scene with dead Dean 'somewhere'.  so where did he go for the 6 months he was dead in the trickster episode?

Taking a short break from my (first time) binging to finish S3 of Orphan Black I had started on Amazon Prime.  I'll be back for S4 in a bit.

[bettername2come]

Barbas! Demon of Fear! Good to see you, Billy Drago. Top notch villainy. The heart monitor watch speeding up and then stopping is so creepy.

Rufus acting all tough and then he shares the scotch with Dean. I should appreciate this character more.

I really like the scene of Sam breaking into the doctor's house and finding the innocent woman there. It's a good scene with very few spoken words, but I have to admit, I had to rewatch the scene several times because I kept getting distracted without dialogue. I'm a sucker for Sammy rescuing the victims. This makes four episodes in a row of Sammy getting restrained. This seems excessive. I really don't think the plan would've worked even if they'd listened to the doctor. 

I underappreciated Lauren Cohan's performance as Bela the first time around. I still don't like Bela. Bitch tried to kill Sam. But she's a tragic character who went through something terrible and made a terrible choice. Well, lots of terrible choices. And if she'd just stopped smirking and worked with Sam and Dean things could've gone so much better for her. But she can't believe in people, so tragedy strikes. Lauren Cohan did good work here, and I'm glad she's gotten better roles. 

[Iju]

i halfway thought sam was crazy when he was talking about using that old murderer's "solution" to being immortal, when they both knew the price to keep living. but just like dean he is reckless and desprate.
(i mean even if they went through with it they could just use people who wanted to die/suicidal people so they wouldn't exactly murder people who didn't want to be killed, but they are too good of two souls to even do that.) 

SO glad that bitxh is dead, bye bella. like dean said, she could have just came to them for help but she chose not to. and her weak excuse of "Yeah and end up saving yourself too" bitxh what? does that change you could have asked for help? even if they couldn't they would try and you know it, they saved your life before. sam and dean are beautiful human beings and even though dean is the "killer", both of them would love it if that option was the last one. they want to save everyone, people they don't even know, like YOU. who cares if she was a molested/rape victim, like hendrickson said, we all have wrecked up lives and we all don't become killers. even for bella killing her parents okay but why does she have to be such a BITXH to everyone and everything though??? those are not excuses, give me a break. goodbye and good riddance. i mean if the writers tried making us feel bad for her they shouldn't have done it right after SHE TRIED TO SHOOT THEM IN THEIR SLEEP.

although there is one thing i liked how they wrote her, is that only we (the audience) knew of what happened to bella and she never explained to dean and sam. in this sense she is a misunderstood character and dean and sam aren't going to know everything about everyone they come across, so there's that. although if she confided in them they would have a heat for her fo sure, but they don't know her and she doesn't know them, so in that perspective there was no need for her to say a word to them about it. and shame and guilt and all that but you know what i mean.

Edited March 12, 2018 by Iju

[DeeDee79]

Hey! I'm rewatching this episode and I just realized that the demon that they're interrogating in the beginning is the same actor that plays Patience's father. It's pretty cool how they reuse the same actors in different roles; it reminds me of how Law & Order did the same thing.

Edited March 28, 2018 by DeeDee79

[The Companion]

On 3/12/2016 at 11:00 AM, Dobian said:

I'm sorry to see Bela depart, I thought she made a good foil for the brothers and would have liked to see her as a recurring character each season.  Of course Lauren Cohan went on to bigger and better things in Walking Dead, but I like her better as Bela than Maggie.

Addendum:

Thinking about it, Bela's whole back story really doesn't ring true to me.  First of all, she was a young girl at the time of this deal, maybe 16?  If demons can approach anyone they want regardless of age, what's to stop them from offering a five year old all the ice cream they can eat if they will just come away with them in ten years?  (an eternity to a five year old)  Also, deals with the devil involve the person very specifically traveling to a crossroads and performing the ritual.  It is an expression of deliberate intent.  In this case, the demon (Lilith) actually solicits Bela, and furthermore proposes what the deal is.  Bela did not initiate this.  Also, these deals are generally about fulfilling a person's base desires - wealth, fame, power, etc.  Seven Deadly Sins kind of stuff.  In this case, Bela simply wants to protect herself and end her torment.  That's hardly the thing you would expect someone to go to hell over, it's self-defense.  So this whole story just doesn't sit right.  It feels like they trampled over the rules of demon wish fulfillment in order to quickly wrap up Bela's story.

Agreed. She needs a good attorney. Should be plenty in hell.* 😆 She lacked capacity and made the contract under duress.

*I kid! I am an attorney and you know what they say about lawyer jokes. Nobody likes them. Attorneys don't think they are funny and non-attorneys don't think they are jokes. 

On 6/18/2017 at 10:52 PM, bettername2come said:

Barbas! Demon of Fear! Good to see you, Billy Drago. Top notch villainy. The heart monitor watch speeding up and then stopping is so creepy.

Rufus acting all tough and then he shares the scotch with Dean. I should appreciate this character more.

I really like the scene of Sam breaking into the doctor's house and finding the innocent woman there. It's a good scene with very few spoken words, but I have to admit, I had to rewatch the scene several times because I kept getting distracted without dialogue. I'm a sucker for Sammy rescuing the victims. This makes four episodes in a row of Sammy getting restrained. This seems excessive. I really don't think the plan would've worked even if they'd listened to the doctor. 

I underappreciated Lauren Cohan's performance as Bela the first time around. I still don't like Bela. Bitch tried to kill Sam. But she's a tragic character who went through something terrible and made a terrible choice. Well, lots of terrible choices. And if she'd just stopped smirking and worked with Sam and Dean things could've gone so much better for her. But she can't believe in people, so tragedy strikes. Lauren Cohan did good work here, and I'm glad she's gotten better roles. 

In the end,  I like Bela's story. She is on borrowed time and uses her knowledge to make her own way. In the end, Lauren Cohan does a beautiful job, especially that moment of vulnerability when she considers telling the truth. 

But all of that is distraction from the huge WTF of leaving a still alive and conscious person in a grave for eternity. Seriously, WTF? I guess eventually he will rot enough to actually die. Otherwise why worry about the parts. At least I am telling myself that because that is next level horrifying. I mean, try burning him. Destroy his brain. Something other than burying him alive. Yeah, he killed but only when he "had to." And he was never intentionally cruel. He was definitely not the worst monster we have seen. The resolution just seemed truly awful to me.

Obviously, this episode was about desperation and the things it can drive us to do. The lengths to which we will go when desperate. I loved the doctor who was part Frankenstein and part his monster. But the totality of the episode had too many threads and it lessened the impact. Maybe they were rushed as noted above. But it ended up messier than intended, I think. PLUS THE WHOLE BURYING THE MONSTER ALIVE THING.

[DeeDee79]

2 hours ago, The Companion said:

Yeah, he killed but only when he "had to." And he was never intentionally cruel. He was definitely not the worst monster we have seen. The resolution just seemed truly awful to me.

I would say that he was definitely intentionally cruel. Considering that he cut out a mans heart while he was still alive, was going to scoop out Sam's eye and knocked out a guy in order to cut out his liver removes all sympathy for him and firmly puts him in the monster that needs to die category.  Also, he didn't have to kill; he did so because he wanted to continue to live forever at the expense of others. IMO being buried alive is the least of what he should have gotten.

Edited November 18, 2019 by DeeDee79

[The Companion]

36 minutes ago, DeeDee79 said:

I would say that he was definitely intentionally cruel. Considering that he cut out a mans heart while he was still alive, was going to scoop out Sam's eye and knocked out a guy in order to cut out his liver removes all sympathy for him and firmly puts him in the monster that needs to die category.  Also, he didn't have to kill; he did so because he wanted to continue to live forever at the expense of others. IMO being buried alive is the least of what he should have gotten.

Needs to die, yes. Buried for eternity alive and aware? That is pretty intense. 

[DeeDee79]

27 minutes ago, The Companion said:

Needs to die, yes. Buried for eternity alive and aware? That is pretty intense. 

Not as intense as cutting out someone's beating heart.

[The Companion]

2 hours ago, DeeDee79 said:

Not as intense as cutting out someone's beating heart.

I guess we will just have to disagree on this. We have seen a lot of pretty terrible monsters. The week before featured a monster that psychologically tortured its victims by pretending to be their loved ones. We have seen werewolves (who also rip out their victims' heart), monsters that steal children and lock them in cages to feed on their mothers, clowns that slaughter entire families, etc. This guy wasn't any worse than any number of the other monsters. The typical treatment is to kill the monster. Their father tried and failed that method, but Dean himself seemed to think it was possible to cut him into little pieces. Instead they settled on burying him alive. 

[DeeDee79]

9 minutes ago, The Companion said:

I guess we will just have to disagree on this. We have seen a lot of pretty terrible monsters. The week before featured a monster that psychologically tortured its victims by pretending to be their loved ones. We have seen werewolves (who also rip out their victims' heart), monsters that steal children and lock them in cages to feed on their mothers, clowns that slaughter entire families, etc. This guy wasn't any worse than any number of the other monsters. The typical treatment is to kill the monster. Their father tried and failed that method, but Dean himself seemed to think it was possible to cut him into little pieces. Instead they settled on burying him alive. 

I’m fine disagreeing. I stated my opinion and you’ve stated yours. I have no interest in continuing the discussion.