S05.E21: Two Minutes To Midnight

[DittyDotDot]

The Winchesters and Bobby are reunited with Castiel, and get close to collecting the rings from the Four Horsemen.

 

Not a huge fan of this episode, personally. It's too much going on and a lot of it I just don't care for. I do like the exchange with Cass and Dean in the beginning and I think the stuff with Crowley and Bobby is funny, but I don't really care for how Bobby gets his legs back just because they needed him to be upright and walking in this episode--I just feel there should have been more to it, but whatever. I also find the stuff with Pestilence mostly boring and meh. And, I don't care for Sam's whole idea of letting Lucifer posses him--stupid plan, IMO--and I hate it even more that Cass reveals Sam needs to drink gallons of demon blood to contain Lucifer. It makes no sense at all how Adam is currently containing Michael nor how Dean would have been able to either. It just feels like they're getting to the end and scrambling too hard to tie everything up. I think I would have preferred if they just left a few loose ends hanging out there than the solutions they came up with. I do, however, love me some Death, and his introduction here is fabulous. So I accept that this episode exists for Death, and the only reason this episode is worth watching for me.

[weightyghost]

 

I do, however, love me some Death, and his introduction here is fabulous. So I accept that this episode exists for Death, and the only reason this episode is worth watching for me.

 

Basically. No offense to the actor, but he was born to play Death. Between the intro of "Oh Death" and then the conversation between him and Dean, where he just seemed so tired and over it, like a man who really has lived for billions and billions of years. 

[Hanahope]

So did Lucifer control all the horsemen or just death? I did like that death wanted to rebell against Lucifer too.  

Agree that the plan with Sam sounds flawed.  I'm sure once Lucifer took over Sam he'd know about the rings if he didn't know before.

and I know Mark Shepard characters too well to trust him about Bobby's soul.

Edited May 8, 2017 by Hanahope

[DittyDotDot]

9 minutes ago, Hanahope said:

So did Lucifer control all the horsemen or just death?

Just Death. The other horsemen were more gungho to do Lucifer's bidding. Death, not so much.

10 minutes ago, Hanahope said:

and I know Mark Shepard characters too well to trust him about Bobby's soul.

Oh, you just wait!! ;)

[bettername2come]

That opening death was gross. "All right, awesome then. End of discussion...this isn't over." Glad to see Castiel, king of the unintentional backhanded compliment. "You are not the burnt and broken shell of a man that I believed you to be." Eunice Kennedy is an unexpected choice of reference for Dean. Someone made an every reference ever made video for Dean and these last few episodes I keep finding ones they missed. "Satan wants 'em so bad he can glue them back together!" I kind of like how everybody has had enough of this "don't kill the Winchesters" crap. How is Pestilence the only villain to pick Sam up by his hair to taunt him? Damn, Castiel you shocked me with the fakeout. Nice knifework. "I don't understand your definition of good news." I'd forgotten that Bobby and Crowley's deal was "pawning" his soul not selling it. Sam is way too interested in whether or not Bobby and Crowley kissed, and Crowley took a picture. Well, pics or it didn't happen. He is a business man after all. "Oh, Death" is such a great song. I still can't believe it came out of random people working in the CW and not professional singers. I wish they'd do more songs like it. Crowley got Bobby's legs working! No way it's altruistic, but still it's fun pretending.  Crowley popping around before they meet death is funny. Seriously, Dean, you couldn't read his lips? Angel with a shotgun! "Can we commit our act of domestic terrorism already?" Death just has such a great presence. Dean eating pizza with a fork is just wrong. The storm throughout the scene and then calming when Death gives Dean the ring adds such great atmosphere to it. "But then I remember the world's dying bloody, so...drink?" I love that conversation with Bobby and Dean realizing they've got to trust Sam, flaws and all. Not surprising that Dean's scared of losing his brother as much as he's scared of the world ending. 

[RulerofallIsurvey]

Poor Sam - what is it with the bad guys giving him STDs anyway?  I liked Cas showing up.  So far there's very little of this ep I remember from my first watch, so it's all good.  :)  Crowley sniffing the whiskey and then setting the glass down was fun.  I can believe that Sam asking Bobby if he kissed Crowley was about the legitimacy of the deal: after all, Sam knows that no kiss means no deal.  

So why wasn't Bobby acting all Robo-Bobby without his soul?

Great introduction to Death.   Best of the Four Horsemen, I think. 

How did they not already figure out that Michael had taken Adam as his vessel?  Wasn't that the whole point of him being in the beautiful room?  And did they get him out of said beautiful room?  No.  No they did not.  

Lol - Demons say "It's the Winchesters" like most criminals would say "It's the cops!"  Cas does have a knack for showing up just at the right moment, doesn't he?  

I think Death telling Dean he had an inflated sense of importance was just him putting Dean in what he felt should be his place.  After all, Death had also just said he'd been wanting to talk to Dean.  If Dean (and Sam) were so unimportant, or 'bacteria' to a thing like Death, why would he bother wanting to talk to him in the first place?  That being said, if a bacterium sat at my table and started to get snarky, I think I'd be a little freaked out.  Or amused.  Or both.  

I really like that Death didn't like being bound to bratty child Lucifer and at his beck and call.  Death likes to do his own thing.  

[DittyDotDot]

3 hours ago, RulerofallIsurvey said:

So why wasn't Bobby acting all Robo-Bobby without his soul?

Bobby was never soulless. He basically sold his soul to Crowley with the understanding Crowley would remove his mark on it once Lucifer was back in the cage so Bobby's soul wouldn't go to Hell after he died. Crowley owned his soul, but Bobby still had possession of it. What Bobby did was really not much different than any other demon deal that takes 10 years to pan out.

4 hours ago, RulerofallIsurvey said:

How did they not already figure out that Michael had taken Adam as his vessel?  Wasn't that the whole point of him being in the beautiful room? 

No, Adam was bait. The angels new Dean would come to save their bastard half-brother and then they'd have him trapped. They didn't really want Adam, though, they wanted Dean. When that didn't work out for them they decided to go with the B Team after all.

[RulerofallIsurvey]

53 minutes ago, DittyDotDot said:

Bobby was never soulless.

Are you sure?  Bobby 'loaned' Crowley his soul to perform some ritual to find Death.  They didn't come out and say it, but it sounded to me like Crowley needed to take the soul out of the body in order to perform this ritual.  On top of that, Dean kept yelling at Crowley to "give him back his soul" - not tear up the contract.  I think Dean knows the difference.  And Crowley said: " But you won't kill me... As long as I have that soul in the deposit box." which, to me sounded like the soul itself was under lock and key elsewhere (not in Bobby) - not just a contract for the soul.  And then Crowley said, "I'll return it. After all this is over, and I can walk safely away. Do we all understand each other?"  I'll return it.  Not, I'll tear up the contract.  And I think that's significant since Crowley knows the difference also.  ::shrug::  Personally, I think it could be interpreted either way, but I'm still going to go with Bobby didn't actually have his soul.  :)

58 minutes ago, DittyDotDot said:

No, Adam was bait. The angels new Dean would come to save their bastard half-brother and then they'd have him trapped. They didn't really want Adam, though, they wanted Dean. When that didn't work out for them they decided to go with the B Team after all.

I meant, afterward - after Adam got stuck in the beautiful room in Van Nuys and Dean couldn't get him out.  Even at the end of that ep, when Sam and Dean are driving off, Sam asked Dean if he thought Adam was okay, and Dean replied no.  Seems to me they should have figured it out from that.   

[DittyDotDot]

23 minutes ago, RulerofallIsurvey said:

Are you sure?  Bobby 'loaned' Crowley his soul to perform some ritual to find Death.  They didn't come out and say it, but it sounded to me like Crowley needed to take the soul out of the body in order to perform this ritual.  On top of that, Dean kept yelling at Crowley to "give him back his soul" - not tear up the contract.  I think Dean knows the difference.  And Crowley said: " But you won't kill me... As long as I have that soul in the deposit box." which, to me sounded like the soul itself was under lock and key elsewhere (not in Bobby) - not just a contract for the soul.  And then Crowley said, "I'll return it. After all this is over, and I can walk safely away. Do we all understand each other?"  I'll return it.  Not, I'll tear up the contract.  And I think that's significant since Crowley knows the difference also.  ::shrug::  Personally, I think it could be interpreted either way, but I'm still going to go with Bobby didn't actually have his soul.  :)

My understanding was it was like any other demon deal, Bobby just negotiated for different terms. To me, it was no different than when Dean sold his soul; Dean didn't lose his soul in order for Sam to be resurrected, it was just marked for Hell when he died in one year.

For me, it becomes much more clear

Spoiler

in Weekend at Bobby's. Also, it becomes much clearer to me how these deals work after S6. My impression is they use the power the soul to make the magic happen, but they don't have to take the soul in order to tap into that power.

[Iju]

"Why'd you have to show that?"

"Why'd you have to add tongue?"

LOLOLOL

pestilence was too short unfortunately. i would have liked to see a little more of him FPS.

i just realised why sam ran off to save the people from the virus. he's immune to it, i almost forgot. 

death's actor was so awesome, although i didn't understand his whole "You're so arrogant" speech to dean. dean always assumed things relied in him and his brother because that's how it's always been. if it didn't rely on him he'd be more than happy.

of course dean lied. i used to be surprised when he would lie about his promise to his brother but now i understand and even half expected him to lie.

on a side note that pizza did look good. i never had chicago pizza before.

[The Companion]

This episode suffers from the same issues I raised in the last one. The season took too long to get to its endgame and now has somehow ended up completely rushed. It really feels like they threw everything into one script, and the result is a bit of a mess. We got pestilence but wait his plan has already been set in motion but also Bobby sold his soul and Death is in Chicago and Bobby can walk and Sam is the best hope and by the way he has to drink demon blood (more than ever before even though he was being prepared to be the vessel unknowingly then). Phew. That is too many ideas to cram into an episode. 

I will say I liked this episode better than the last despite its flaws, primarily because of Death. He was awesome. Intriguing and terrifying. JA sold that scene too. Poor Dean was actually worried about eating. Man, this could have been glorious if they laid the groundwork properly, but it was still awesome. 

I didn't really care about Pestilence. I like the actor but the take on the character was a bit boring. The other horsemen were twists on the traditional interpretation and then here comes Pestilence literally giving people diseases. Yawn. At least show him spreading misinformation about health issues or something. I did feel for Sam who got his third STI without getting laid. 

There were some good lines and there were some pretty entertaining moments, but I really feel like these concepts could have been tighter and I am a little sad that they weren't. 

[supposebly]

I'm doing a rewatch of some episodes with outstanding musical scenes. This one is of course because of the Death intro scene. I always wonder, does the man who bumps into Death die simply because he touched Death? 

Or did Death kill him because the man was somewhat of a jerk and Death is petty and was annoyed?

I choose to believe the first. Also because of this: "I invite you to contemplate how insignificant I find you."

Still, I do like the ambiguity in the scene.

In his intro, Death was a force of nature who was older than God and would reap God in the end. 

Spoiler for a much later incarnation.

Spoiler

Not a guy who is afraid of the Winchester brotherly love that spans galaxies. Still ugh about that whole disaster of an episode. Or a woman who makes cryptic speeches that never go anywhere.

 

[FlickChick]

20 hours ago, supposebly said:

I always wonder, does the man who bumps into Death die simply because he touched Death? 

Or did Death kill him because the man was somewhat of a jerk and Death is petty and was annoyed?

I thought it was the latter - because of the man's rudeness. If it were an accidental bump followed with a "sorry", I think he'd still be alive. Of course, just my view of the scene because of the way Death rubs the contact point off his shoulder. It took a conscious thought from Death, IMO.

[rhofmovalley]

I love the way Jensen can communicate a thought or feeling with subtlety.  He took a bite of the pizza even though he didn't really want to and with just a slight movement of his eyebrows conveyed the pizza was, in fact, good.