- Master of Reality - SPN 12x01-02 analysis

- Master of Reality - 

 SPN 12x01-02 analysis: Symbols & Editing

 

 "The true skill of the magician is in the skill he exhibits in influencing the spectators mind." (Dariel Fitzkee, Magic by Misdirection)

 

I know for some out there the analysis is going to be too long and too much to read. But to prove that very obvious 'strange' things are going on in the show, one has to go step by step, and dissect the shown events and used film techniques. Now of course one can say the scriptwriters and prep department are stupid, and thereby deliberately ignore the given hints, but than this kind of argument ad hominem only proves how ignorant one self would be. And well, that's not me, I have been literally conditioned to scrutinize everything on information or knowledge that is given to me. Yeap that's what happens when one went through the post war classical trivium old school German education system. Therefor don't put the blame on me. :D

After watching the first two episode of season 12, I was honestly pissed off. Caught in an emotional roller coaster rid, with all the loops, ups and downs. I was mad, being duped to believe, after the disastrous Carver era, the new producers could truly create a show like it once was. But than after my emotional fit cooled off, reason knocked on the door and brought me to think about of what I truly saw. I watched again and realized there is more to the eye that can be seen. In general lets not forget the show 'Supernatural' is about the supernatural.

How could we know? Simple by listening very carefully, and observing / reading the given signs and symbols seen in the show. In general TV and film are full of them. The reason is quite easy, in a very short time information has to be transmitted. The tricky thing of giving information though, the depicted information can by the viewer be acknowledged consciously because of knowledge but also unconsciously. And the movie / show makers know this. That is why not only the scriptwriter's but also the editing, prep and settings in a film are as important as the actors. Therefore on film / TV absolutely nothing happens accidentally or by coincident.

- SAM & TONI BEVELLE- episode 12x01 'Keep Calm and Carry On' 

“So... we stop trying to break his body. We break his mind.” Toni Bevelle

 

This statement made by Toni Bevelle was the most significant moment in the first episode “Keep Calm and Carry On”. Why? Because it's one of the worst and horrific things a human can do to another human. A broken arm or bruises are visible and can be healed, put a cast on or band aid and in a couple of weeks the wounds are gone. But a truly broken mind is a scary thing, it can't be seen and can't be healed, there is no band aid that than can grant healing. A broken mind, stays broken, in time the mind will adopt the brokenness, but it will not heal.

Now my thesis is, the UKMoL created through magic a stage crafted alternative reality. Because lets not forget the main goal is to brake Sam's mind.

In the first episode 'Keep Calm and Carry On' after the physical torture had failed to brake Sam's strong will, Toni Bevelle and her assistant thug Watts evaluate the current situation and concluded, if their prisoner can't be physically broken, than his mind has to be broken. The viewer than sees Sam untied lying unconscious on the floor, he than gains consciousness, is stunned to be freed from the shackles and thereby he's aware something had been injected into his neck but also recognizes, he is being surveyed through cameras.

This is the beginning of a nefarious mind play, it may seem as if Sam had been freed from the physical shackles, which had restrained his body, therefor he could now take control of the situation, and thereby could actively determine his actions. But the cameras, the all seeing eyes, are the unseen shackles that now restrain his mind and passively control him. The effect thereby, the unseen control mechanism alter and determine now in a passive manner his cognitive performance. He is only given the illusion of being freed from his restraints but in reality the restraints have been utterly tightened. 

The next step of the pharmaceutical / mind torture begins with an obvious 'light' hallucination, Sam believes to see all the familiar dead friends and associates. Now some viewers mentioned, the seen hallucinations appeared to be odd, like old school film technique, and untypical for how Supernatural would normally depict hallucinations. I assume there is a reason behind the use of such kind of setting, the depicted 'old school' hallucinations, reflect precisely 1:1 what they are, namely Supernatural 'old school' familiar Sam's guilt complex themes. So, why the use of such setting? It could be to tell the audience, that what the viewer and Sam saw were not real hallucinations, but by the UKMoL deliberately created magical projection of the dead to initiate / trigger the mental brake down. Lastly Sam's guilt complex is the major driving force of his subconscious mind.

Sam than, after seeing and reacting emotionally to the projected / hallucinated dead, turns to the mirror on the wall and encounters his reflection, thereby he hears Dean's accusing voice in his head. In Sam's subconscious mind Dean is the guardian of his shame and guilt. This isn't anything new, the viewer knows how guilty Sam feels and who, namely Dean over years, in a constant manner subconsciously patronized this strong emotion. 

The mirror in this scene plays a major role, because in film mirrors are a symbol of the human psyche. Mirrors (and any other reflective material for that matter) are a well-used narrative tool for presenting the duality of characters on screen, whether they are protagonists or antagonists. In general mirrors symbolize the character duality between the conscious and subconscious mind. And broken mirrors reflect broken identity or multilevel identities. For example in episode 5x22 “Swan Song” SPN used a 'broken' and a normal mirror to portrait the multi-level's of Lucifer and Sam in one body. Since SPN used mirrors in the past to portrait the conscious and subconscious mind of it's protagonist, than one can assume in the episode 12x01, when Sam is drugged to the gills with hallucinogenics, the situation is similar.

By looking into the mirror Sam's subconscious mind reflects back to him, thereby his ego, the part of the psychic apparatus that experiences and reacts to the outside, tries to fight his triggered guilty subconscious mind and thereby forcefully punches his reflection, symbolizing how Sam is fighting against himself. The mirror brakes into multiple pieces. Hence Sam's strong willed ego just broke his secured and controlled subconscious mind, his broken identity is now shattered into multilevel identities, and are spread as mirror fractures on to the floor.

Again this concept of Sam's subconscious multi-level identities are nothing new, in 6x22 “The Man Who Knew To Much” and 9x01 “I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here”, there also the audience could witness Sam's inner struggle to take control of his fractured inner self. Trying to control his multiple alter ego's. An alter ego (Latin, "the other I") is a second self, which is believed to be distinct from a person's normal or original personality. After braking the mirror, which had reflected his inner self, broken Sam than picks a mirror shard from the floor. This scene is very symbolic, simply because the viewer, like Toni Bevelle, starring at the monitor are simultaneously witnessing from an out side view, Sam's alter ego arising from the fractured mind. Sam's conscious mind knows he is being watched, therefor his alter ego's is also aware that they are being watched and passively controlled. Watched by Tony Bevelle, but also by the viewer. At this moment the viewer is sharing Toni Bevelle's position and perception, an outsider who through the monitor acts like a voyeur when watching Sam's torment in his cell.

The viewer see's precisely what she see's, like her, the viewer is glued to the screen, like her, the viewer is in aw when Sam apparently slices his throat with the picked up mirror shard. But because the pc monitor can only create an illusion of reality, Bevelle than goes down into the cellar, too see and check with her own eyes, if what she had seen on the pc monitor, is truly real. Which is a great little twist, the controller of the illusion has at that moment lost control of the illusion, is now unsure of what she had perceived is true or just an illusion, therefor takes a weapon to be secured, to gain back the feeling of control. In the cell(ar) she than see's with her own eyes, Sam on the floor lying in his blood. The moment when Bevelle encounters the assumed dead prisoner, the camera goes back and forth to the upper room where the monitor depicts the event. The audience is kept in and out of the scenario and is thereby forced to watch the encounter through two settings, namely in real as an omnipotent viewer over seeing the event, but simultaneously the viewer's perception is than limited only to perceive the following event through the monitor which in reality projects only the illusion of moving images. Here SPN deliberately manipulates the viewers perception, both viewed settings seem to be seen as a real observed event, but in reality it's an illusion captured in an illusion. 
 

The following scene shows the borders of reality and illusion become totally indistinct when Sam suddenly arises from the 'believed' dead and attacks Bevelle, his torturer. The viewer and Bevelle are stunned, to have witnessed, by the alter ego Sam a deliberately stage-crafted scenario. A conscious by the subconscious mind choreographed cold blooded mocked death scene, but also a revealing scene. The viewer now knows which alter ego is momentarily determining Sam's conscious mind, namely no one other than the familiar over-rational, controlling, goal oriented and non-empathic Sam. This über-Sam who is determined to survive, an alter ego who neglects moral and ethical boundaries. 

This über-Sam now takes control, confident and proudly reveals his mind play. Bevelle the creator of illusions got deceived by an illusion. But than über-Sam vice versa gets deceived by Bevelle, she also uses the illusion of death to escape her death. Significant here are the repeated themes of a false impression of reality. Über-Sam now overpowered, realizing he had lost the fight, mentally brakes down and yells out is anger and frustration, of still being literally locked up in the cellar, kept down under in the dark, utterly forlorn. Despite the highly emotional scenery, this scene has also multiple deeper meanings. At first there is a visual symbolism literally played out in front of the audience, namely a dark and light or hell and heaven metaphor. Which plays in Sam's case an important role. During the scene where über-Sam overpowered Bevelle, he is literally trying to get out of the dark by climbing up the stairs to the open cellar door into the light. Or the cellar representing the cage in hell and the stairway is the path into heaven. This is Sam's life in a nut shell. And the second metaphor is according to Carl Jung, the cellar of a house represents the subconscious mind. So what we are literally seeing is a vivid reflection of Sam's current state of mind, namely his subconscious mind is now broken, dark (blinded) and forlorn. 

The song that than underlines Sam's utter chaotic and hopeless situation, namely 'Solitude' played by Black Sabbath, is from the album 'Master of Reality'. And the master of reality is Toni Bevelle, who from the distance observes Sam and thereby has utterly control over his reality but also his illusions, hence she is the master of his conscious but also his subconscious mind. Master of Reality.

 

- DEAN & MARY & CASTIEL – episode 12x01 'Keep Calm and Carry On'

“Now, I'm gonna give you one chance -- just one -- to hand Sam back.” Dean

 

Now bear with me, because it's getting a little bit technical. 

Chronology and the change of familiar behavior will play a major roll in the Dean & Mary & Castiel scenes, also the coming episode 'Mamma Mia'. At first the shift of chronology is not as visible as one would assume. On closer examination though, one will notice some odd temporal anomalies. Something one wouldn't expect in a show like Supernatural. But when noticed, than they are remarkably striking, one therefor has to assume it was deliberately made. As I had mentioned before, almost nothing in film happens by coincident, it is mostly deliberately planed. The reason is, because film per se is edited. On its most fundamental level, film editing is the art, technique, and practice of assembling shots into a coherent sequence. A film editor must creatively work with the layers of images, story, dialogue, music, pacing, as well as the actors' performances to effectively "re-imagine" and even rewrite the film to craft a cohesive whole. Editors usually play a dynamic role in the making of a film. This brings us to continuity editing. In most films, logical coherence is achieved by cutting to continuity, which emphasizes smooth transition of time and space. However, some films incorporate cutting to continuity into a more complex classical cutting technique, one which also tries to show psychological continuity of shots. The montage technique relies on symbolic association of ideas between shots rather than association of simple physical action for its continuity. In conclusion, the noticed subtle continuity anomalies don't occur randomly, they are deliberately made to get the viewers attention, to make the viewer be aware that something strange (out of the norm) is happening in the ongoing narrative.

The most conspicuousness was Jensen's performance or Dean and Mary's behavior. In this case Mary is still an unknown factor to rely on, but not Dean. After 11 years the viewer knows and is familiar with Dean's major (human) characteristics. One of the many characterizations, is Dean's significant protectiveness towards his brother Sam, another, his skills in combat fighting, lets not forget one year in Purgatory, and his stubborn eagerness to get things done asap. He's a shaker and maker, period. Now if these significant characteristics suddenly change and Dean acts in a quit opposite manner, than the viewer would automatically, without deep thinking, notice there is a huge change / shift in the shown narrative, and would come to the conclusion that something out of the norm is going on. 

The setting starts with Dean finding Mary at night in the woods. After clarifying the obvious, the following scene shows them two sitting in a park on a bench. It appears to be early dawn, the park lamps are still on but it's already getting light outside. Dean's jacket is now covering Mary's shoulders. Nothing unusual, the temporal continuity is kept in line, first it's night than dawn, and the protagonist still wear the same clothes. A simple continuity editing. Than Dean and Mary calmly enter the bunker, noticeably Mary is wearing a new outfit. Therefor one can assume they had stopped somewhere to get Mary some clothes, which seems reasonable. 

Until than everything appears to be normal and coherent. Dean interacts with Mary, thereby he's trying to grasp the supernatural event, but also typically Dean, trying to take control in a positive manner. So far, so good, everything seems reasonable, but oddly enough during Dean's encounter with his mother and during their conversation, Sam didn't play a single role. He was only slightly mentioned. Which in retrospect is quite unusual, if one keeps in mind that Dean actually a couple of hours ago just said farewell to his brother and was suppose to die. Now wouldn't it be reasonable if Dean would have been a little bit anxious to get to Sam, to let Sam know he's not dead and and let him know Amara left them a surprise, because he knows Sam is in the meantime suffering and mourning his assumed dead brother? In my opinion the relations don't fit, it feels odd. First we had this highly dramatic, chick-flick sacrificial Dean saves the world event, all are left back in aw and grief. But than oh, Dean survives, than dead mommy comes along and now lets have a relaxed, long pep talk in the park and a shopping tour. The shown calmness doesn't fit the actual drama. Hence a significant brake in continuity, tempo and behavior.

The next significant oddness is when Dean and Castiel fight against the UKMoL thug Watts. I know a lot of viewers truly believe in the “women power propaganda”, but reality is, because of physic and biology (scientific facts) women are not stronger than man. Sorry, therefor this Watts thug beating up Dean, who is a highly trained combat fighter, is very questionable. I mean Dean fights against supernatural entities and survived Purgatory, and now he can't handle a female thug?

I grasp that the thug using warded brass-knuckles is able to knock out the angel Castiel, but did he completely lose his supernatural qualities when he got smacked by this women? Why is the angel pushing the van together with Dean into the bushes and decorating it with branches? He's a supernatural entity, he is not bound to earthly physics, why didn't he just zap the van away or supernaturally hide the van? Does this scene want to tell us that the angel Castiel has absolutely no mojo anymore? Now thanks to Mary the men are saved. Okay I get it, women and especially Mary are awesome, but why is she than having a mental brake down. Until than she was the furious mommy who wanted to get her son back, and now she remembers why she didn't want to hunt anymore? Again her utter mood change at this moment makes no sense, her son is still in dire straits, and she didn't kill an innocent person, she eliminated a threat, an aggressor, somebody who is involved in Sam's kidnapping. Further even if she doesn't like it, she is a hunter herself, she is aware of the consequences, so why suddenly the change of mood? But not only her mood changes but also the temporal continuity changes. Notice after the fight when the Impala drives off, it was broad day light, and than in the car it's suddenly night and in the off the viewer hears the same song that is played after Sam's brake down, namely the Black Sabbath song 'Solitude' from the album 'Master of Reality'.

In my opinion this can't be a coincident. We have in this episode two mental brake downs, namely Sam and Mary, further notice Dean and the angel Castiel appear to be a weak projection of the original. Seeing Sam's torture and Dean and Mary's interaction in context as one picture, than the major theme is than the manufacturing of reality. Hence who's perceived reality is the viewer actually perceiving? 

 

Episode 12x02 'Mamma Mia'

“Signs and Symbols rule the world not words or laws” Confucius

 

The following episode 12x02 'Mamma Mia' is overloaded with signs, symbols and awkward continuity editing. In my opinion actually to much to access, even for the subconscious mind. Therefor I assume that's one of the main reasons why this episode appeared for various viewers to be incoherent and therefor uncomprehending. At the moment I can't tell if it was necessary, not only to overload the episode with signs, symbols and awkward continuity editing, but also with all major actors of the show. Normally SPN would have it's leading actors Jared and Jensen and than approximately two or three guest actors in the show, but 'Mamma Mia' broke the SPN record. This episode must have been extraordinary expensive. Which means CW must have given it's approval to allow such expensive episode. So to say the scriptwriters Brad Buckner & Eugenie Ross-Leming alone had done an awful job is ignoring the whole industry behind the show and well the making of a show in general.

The episode 'Mamma Mia' starts with the usual recap of past episodes and thereby puts it's focus on Lucifer, Dean, Mary and Sam's torture, hence the viewer will automatically in a couple of seconds comprehend what major topic is going to dominate the coming episode. Naturally the viewer still has the last image in their mind of a broken Sam and Mary. The viewers emotions are already prepared to accept the worst outcome, simply because Sam is still kept as a prisoner of the UKMoL, and Mary is still deeply in thoughts of what her sons had become. 

But what follows is absolutely the opposite of what was expected. Namely Sam having a very vivid romanticized sexual relationship with his torturer Toni Bevelle. Shock and aw! The viewer is stunned. The setting appears to be real, Sam's reaction seems to be authentic, not imposed or forced. But than after a short while the viewers, as like Sam notice something is wrong with the perceived reality and finds out the whole scenery was an illusion, except for the in reality felt intimate interaction. 

 

- NIGHT & MORNING – episode 12x02 'Mamma Mia'

“An hallucination created by potion and powerful spell work.” Toni Bevelle

 

The viewer is now informed that Toni Bevelle has a profound knowledge of the occult and high black magic. Hence Potions and spell work, that can alter and deceive the mind in such realistic manner, show how powerful the UKMoL are. This leads us to the question why is the UKMoL investing such vast effort in getting information that could be easily obtained. Again the relations don't fit, except it's something personal between Toni Bevelle or between the UKMoL and the Winchesters or in general a grand deception. The until now unknown motive will probably reveal itself over time, but right now it's a fact that the UKMoL have resources and not only monetary but also esoteric power to manipulate reality.

The last time we saw Sam sitting brok-ish in the cellar on the stairs, but now he is chained to the chair. The continuity is interrupted. Why? Despite the crafted illusion, what happened in the mean time? How did she get this 6.4 foot man onto the chair and chained again? The viewer is aware that Sam is utterly broken, not only physically but also mentally, but still he wouldn't have simply obliged to her orders and death is not an argument that would make him do what she would force him to do. Therefor is the illusion, the crafted alternative reality still ongoing? Again which reality are the viewers actually perceiving? We had two settings, which one is the real one? 

Because the following monolog by Toni Bevelle is quite interesting. Further if one listens very carefully, one will notice the said, by any logic, doesn't match with the actual 'seen' narrative. Lets not forget she is momentarily braking Sam's mind, thereby she used hardcore magic, namely potion and spell work, so why is she than now saying “Sadly, I can't do the spell again. Your brain would liquify, which we don't want. I'll have to resort to less... pleasant methods.” 

The contradicting is simple, why begin with such elaborated spell if it in the end can't be utilized, and than go back to the physical torture, knowing that pain per se won't have any effect? Except, the created hallucination or alternative reality is still in process. And by using physical force again, she gives Sam the impression, the belief, the illusion the believed hallucination is over, even though it is still ongoing. Hence there are two basic principles of magical deception applicable to all types of deception and not just to those used by magicians. The first rule says that if the magician/deceiver doesn’t treat something as being important (in our case the hallucination / spell), then the one being deceived/victim will not treat it as important. This makes it easy to hide what must be hidden by paying less attention to it. The second rule is that deceiving somebody in the simplest way is best, because it doesn’t matter how they’re deceived, as long as they are deceived. Further according to bona fide magicians, magic is defined as a science and an art that causes change to occur in conformity with their will, meaning the sorcerer can in essence transform reality to his or hers liking usually in accordance with the laws of the universe.

And this, oddly enough leads us to the next Dean and Mary scene. I know, I know... I'm repeating my self, but it has to be said again, remember in film nothing happens by coincident. What the viewer sees on film has been deliberately edited, even the assumed errors, anti-climax or what ever.

The last time we saw Dean, Mary and Castiel in the Impala at night, all hanging in their own thoughts. Knowing that Sam is held in Aldrich Missouri. The following scene opens with Dean casually sitting in the bunker having a cup of coffee, in front of him on the table lies the laptop, and thereby talking to Castiel on the phone. Castiel is already in Aldrich, it is still night time, and he say's to Dean he will call back in the morning. 

The peculiar thing is, why did they drive back to the bunker? There is no logical need for the bunker. Why not go to a motel in Aldrich and start researching and searching from there, it saves time. Time is the most precious commodity, when some one is missing further injured. And why send the angel to do the foot work, until now Dean had never or seldom used the angel for such task? Than Dean talking to the angel about his insecurities towards his mom. Dean doesn't talk openly, and especially not with the angel, about his insecurities. This all is not how Dean in general would act, especially when knowing Sam is in danger. And the long time viewer is aware of this, and this is the reason why it feels utterly wrong. Jensen's performance, hence the whole scenario in itself acts like a symbol, a neon sign, it appears to be the opposite of what the viewer in such situation would expect, the tune of the setting is calm and slack not tensed and strained. I assume what has been shown is from someone else perception, someone who doesn't know Dean by heart and only guesses how Dean could act in such situation. Again who's reality are the viewers actually perceiving or WHAT reality?

The easiness of the scene, which contradicts the actual narrative, goes even further. Not only are Dean and Mary now at the bunker, but they are taking their time to get refreshed, change clothes and even get comfy. Mary arrives on the scene dressed in a bathrobe and asks in an obvious casual manner if there are any information concerning Sam. Why is she wearing a bathrobe? Again time is precious, ask any real police detective how every hour counts, whole police sequels conditioned the viewer to comprehend how important time is during a rescue mission, geez even films are based on this concept like for instance the movie “Taken”, which btw is titled in Germany “96 Hours”. 

The viewer is aware of the temporal continuity, it's still in the middle of the night, the angel Castiel was shown outside in the dark and he clearly mentioned he will contact Dean in the morning. The only reason for Mary to wear a bathrobe at this moment would be she want's to go to bed or take a shower and get comfortable. Even Dean took his time to change his clothes. Both are signaling they are not in a hurry. Further take their time to have an emotional talk. Where Mary than out the blue takes responsibility for what happened in the past with Sam. Hence, right at the beginning of the show, the viewer is informed, that Mary straight ahead takes responsibility for her actions. This tells / signals us, she is self-confident and accepts her wrong doing, without fussing around. But than again, the revelation feels displaced, such a catharsis would fit after a dramatic act. The dialog, their demeanor, Mary's confession doesn't fit into the setting or narrative. It's not the right time. It's like looking at a surreal scenery, everything is at place but it feels unrealistic. 

 

- DEAN and MARY – episode 12x02 'Mamma Mia'

- “He was a great father” - Mary

 The next scene with Dean and Mary gets even weirder. Dean, hours later, is still in the same position by the table, drinking coffee and still looking at the laptop. Was he sitting there all the time, not bothered or anxious, just staring at the surveillance videos? Further why isn't he gathering information about the UKMoL, I mean he is sitting in a MoL bunker, they are the enemy right now, duh.

This scene truly tells the viewer something odd is going on. Okay, Mary than walks easily into the room, now fully dressed. Dean than asks her how she slept. Right at this moment the viewer is informed that she indeed went to bed, further she answers Dean by saying, the whole time she slept she had dreams, dreams about John and how a great father he was. Notice again the tempo and dialog don't fit into the Sam rescue narrative, the rescue dynamic as well the brotherly dynamic is utterly missing. Further, notice how John is right from the beginning always on Mary's mind, not only conscious but now also on a subconscious level. John is Mary's epicenter. Not missing Sam, nor Dean. I will get into this obvious Mary / John topic in an extra separate analysis. Than like Castiel had said, he calls back in the morning telling Dean he found the location were Sam is being held. The temporal continuity is coherent, the angel is shown calling Dean at broad daylight. Finally (it took a while) Dean and Mary are on their way to Aldrich, Missouri. 

Another prove that the temporal continuity is coherent and at this moment of importance, can be seen after the cut, namely than comes a Sam scene, and attention please, notice what Toni Bevelle clearly says, right, good morning to Sam. Further she changed her clothes and is now dressed in a ladies suit. It is very significant how SPN truly tries to tell the viewer three times in a row it is 'morning' now. Hence Castiel says he will call back in the morning, Dean asking Mary how she slept indicate it is morning time and Bevelle says to Sam good morning. Such repeated elements in a film act as a motive / pattern and have a symbolic meaning. Motifs strengthen a story by adding images and ideas to the theme present throughout the narrative. And in our case the viewer is suppose to be truly aware of the given coherent time line. The image 'morning' time is the major key element in this episode. From the beginning of the episode until now the Sam, Dean, Mary and Castiel scenes followed precisely a coherent temporal continuity. This is important, so please keep in mind it is 'morning' time. Dean and Mary left the bunker during the morning time. 

 

- The Rescue Plot – episode 12x02 'Mamma Mia”

- “Dean?” - Sam

The following scene, Dean and Mary are in the Impala on their way to Castiel at Aldrich – ATTENTION – is now dark and nighttime!

A total brake in the temporal continuity! They are driving through the night, a rainy night. First morning than without any logical or natural reason it's suddenly nighttime. Similar to the last episode where the three dove off at daytime, but than – cut - it was nighttime. The perceived 'reality' changed. Now which reality is the real one? Is the 'daytime' the alternative reality and the 'nighttime' the original reality or vice versa? Or is the 'daytime' an illusion and the 'nighttime' reality or vice versa? Personally I can't decipher precisely which is which. I can only assume, based on intuition as a long time viewer, that the rainy 'nighttime' scene in the car, appeared to be the real McCoy. It seemed more authentic, further the rainy 'nighttime' scene mentioned for the first time Sam as an individual. Furthermore it's the first time, after Mary's resurrection, that she can not only see, but also feel Dean's expressed admiration for his brother. A significant and important brotherly emotion the knowing viewer until now had utterly missed. 
 

Fast forward Dean and Mary arrive at their meeting point where Castiel is already waiting. Notice, it's now daytime! Again in the car on their way to Aldrich it was nighttime, now at the farm it's daytime. The temporal brake has been reversed, the temporal continuity is now coherent again. And than as before the viewer is confronted with an awkward Dean.

 A Dean who ignores all strategic and tactical moves. A Dean who has issues with mommy, a trained HUNTER by his side. Who ignores given info for instance “the place is heavily worded”, and since Magnus and his grandpa Henry, he knows the MoL in general have all kind of heavy duty magical shit in petto. But beside these marginally contradicting behavior patterns, the most IMO disturbing scenery was Dean being captured and held by this estimated 5.5 foot skinny, on high heels, women Bevelle. Sorry, but something is awfully wrong here. Even with those lose shackles, which were loosely hanging around his wrists, he could have easily over powered Toni Bevelle. It's like in a dream where one knows one can't overpower the villain and thereby the loose shackles only symbolize the lack of strength and power.

 So there must be a reason for Dean's very obvious anti-Dean behavior. Another indication of Dean not being Dean was his lack of reaction when seeing Sam beaten and chained to the chair. Our familiar Dean would have been shocked and furious, not calm and sassy. Now because (anti-) Dean wasn't able to rescue Sam, Mary than saves the day by overwhelming Bevelle where than (anti-) Dean, who suddenly, after seeing mommy in danger, can free himself, than takes over. Knocks Bevelle out, and thereby unbinds the than during the fight used Chinese binding spell, and et voila, ta ta rescues a seemingly 'healthy' and 'cognitive', but still tied up Sam. To be than surprised by a new UKMoL player named Mike, who than excuses in a sophisticated manner Bevelle's naughty behavior towards Sam. And well Sam, beaten up, electrocuted, burned, suffering hypothermia, probably dehydration, who knows has hunger too, drugged up to the gills with hallucinogenics, potions and let's not forget the magic spells, notices with out any hesitation Dean and Mary right away, even though assumed dead, and than miraculously stands next to his rescuers as if nothing unusual had happened. Makes sense? Nope.

Okay, now a few viewers will say the angel Castiel healed Sam, which is a good argument, because Castiel heals the brothers all the time. Hence no big deal. Except a) why does Castiel have now angel power but the episode before, after the fight he lacked angel power. And b) the angelic healing process act was until now always(!) played out on screen or like in “Red Meat” indicated by being in a medical facility. Saying the viewer until now directly observed and thereby witnessed the healing process. However this time such angelic healing act wasn't directly witnessed, the viewer could only assume / guess / believe / imagine the angelic healing process took place. Consequently this unfamiliar non-acting can only imply something unusual is happening. The lack of Dean comforting Sam, than Sam calmly accepting Dean and Mary's existence without any mental difficulties and the non witnessed angelic healing are huge red signs signaling in my opinion a surreal SPN reality.

The temporal editing and illogical / contradicting performance signal in a bright fashion, that truly something is out of the ordinary. So to say the scriptwriters were incompetent, is simply not true, because the viewer got tons of hints and signals literally telling and showing the viewer that something out of the SPN norm is going on. Remember when Kevin was confronted with the Sam and Dean (demon) imposters? Remember what he said when asked how he knew they weren't the real brothers? Correct, he said the imposters acted too nice, they were too friendly to him. And in a similar way we have the same situation, but instead of too friendly and nice attributes, the viewer got a very obvious impassioned, weak and contradicting Dean and a fantastic, unrealistic roly-poly Sam doll. Hence something is rotten in Denmark.

- THE SUPREME ILLUSION – episode 12x02 'Mamma Mia'

- “... fills in the biggest blank” - Sam

As if until now the given hints, editing, signals and symbolism weren't enough, SPN goes even further in deliberately pointing out that something surreal, unreal is momentarily going on. Simply because SPN knows the audience will be unsatisfied with the seen 'brotherly reunion', especially after Jensen, Jared and Mr. Singer had openly announced, during conventions and press meetings, that the reunion would be totally awesome. Therefor the SPN crew is aware the audience would be displeased and well furious with the shown unfamiliar and contradicting event. To make sure the viewers truly comprehend, that the observed oddities were in fact really seen and not something based on some 'felt' feelings, SPN deliberately placed an object, that could have, by any means, never truly existed in the Supernatural familiar ongoing narrative, namely nothing other than the AU Camp Chitaqua photo in John's diary. The diary handed over to Mary by Sam.

Notice how Mary reacts, when opening the diary, she recognizes John's military insignia's right away. Hence the Marine Corps weapons (highest) qualification badge “Rifle Expert”, than under the badge follows the military ribbons (Bronze Star Medal / Purple Heart / MC Good Conduct / Vietnam Service Medal), than under the military ribbons follows a black & white photo of John in military outfit. These items are very familiar to her, bear precious memories of the past, of John, objects to which only she can relate too. For a short moment she closes her eyes and gasps, it hurts when thinking of the past. Than she moves on and finds next to John's photo another black & white photo of a group of men, armed with weapons in a non military style but guerrilla like fashion. She looks at it, but than visibly shakes her head, signaling the audience, that this photo doesn't tell her anything, there is no connection, no relation.

But in comparison to Mary, the audience(!) can relate to the photo, the long time viewer knows the connections, knows this photo depicting Camp Chitaqua, can impossibly exist. Because it depicts a non existing reality, an illusion, deliberately created by the angel Zachariah in season 5 episode 04 “The End”. Further an illusion or alternative reality, which only Dean and the viewer is aware of. THIS is the most ever amazing scene in the whole episode. The Supernatural crew is DIRECTLY corresponding with the audience. Actively telling the audience, what they had seen on TV, during this episode, is an illusion. Therefor to say the prep department made a mistake is quite ignorant. Because the photo is not a 'passive' decoration, just put in to fill the setting, it was deliberately placed as an 'active' prep, a 'silent' tool to enforce the ongoing narrative. Notice the protagonist Mary is obviously interacting with the prep, hence no accident. 
 
Despite the unreal photo of Camp Chitaqua, Mary and Dean have photo's of the past, to which they can relate to, photo's which validate their memories but are also a material object connecting to the past. A moment in time preserved on a piece of paper. Except for Sam, he has no pictures to which he can connect to. No material objects that serve as evidence his memories can rely on. In comparison to Dean and Mary, who are at the same moment looking at photos, Sam is lying on his bed and staring at the ceiling fan. Here in this scene the ceiling fan is the dominant object. At first the viewer sees the rotating fan, a fan whirling around and around without end. Than the viewer sees Sam lying under the rotating fan. But because of the circling propeller blades the view is interrupted, Sam appears only fractured, out and in of place. The camera moves than back up to the endless rotating fan, a cut occurs than the camera focuses on Sam's face showing the viewer Sam looking up to the fan in a mesmerizing state of mind. The fan symbolizes repetition, further symbolizes in an abstract form something that’s happening has happened before. The last time the mesmerizing effects of a fan in combination with Sam could be seen in episode 4x21 'When The Levee Brakes' during Sam's enforced detox in Bobby's bunker, where the huge ceiling fan endlessly rotated during Sam's hallucinations of his mother and brother. Again a used familiar situation out of the past put into the present.


The viewer is aware of the Men of Letters capacity in mingling with the occult, he or she met Henry Winchester deliberately manipulating time by using spells and ritualistic magic, as like Cuthbert Sinclair consciously manipulating perception and perceived reality, which btw caused hallucinations, also by using spells and ritualistic magic. Therefor in conclusion it isn't far fetched to claim Toni Bevelle, a British Men of Letters member, could be truly in a nefarious way manipulating Sam's perceived reality. Anything goes.

-  Reality  -

“...you live in the Men of Letters bunker, awash in the world's greatest collection of occult knowledge, and yet you know nothing.” Toni Bevelle

Never before on a show have truer words been said, various viewers, as like me at first insulted the show makers of being incapable of creating a story the way the viewer had expected and wanted the story to be, BUT this is not their task. The only obligation the long running show 'Supernatural' has, is to create STORIES based on the magical world of 'Supernatural'. And for crying out loud they nailed it!! They created a magical reality hidden in a familiar 'Supernatural' reality, and the only way to find out which reality is which, is simply by knowing the used hidden aka occult techniques and trusting the known and familiar characterizations. 
 
All in all both episodes 12x01-02 are a beautiful enigma wrapped in a deception, wrapped in an illusion, wrapped in magic.
Who is the – Master of Reality - ?

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