SPN 12x08 “Lotus” Mature Thoughts
The mid season finale of
Supernatural was IMO unsatisfying. The narrative was incoherent and
inconsistent which lead to utter confusion. Personally I don't know
if SPN produced such episode on purpose, or not. Though I assume
because of conspicuous editing and acting, further the use of in film
usual symbols and signs, that there could be a reason behind the
shown gobbledegook.
The continuity of awkwardness...
As a nerd of course I need
reason and logic to comprehend why the shown episode couldn't evoke
any emotional respond. Just by saying “bad writing” won't simply
explain the nudging question why the SPN screen writers Buckner and
Ross-Leming AGAIN, delivered this season such an awkward and bizzare
episode. Remember episode 12x02 “Mama Mia”, also written by
Buckner and Ross-Leming, and remember how disturbing this episode
was? Correct, now I have written an extensive analysis (X) of this
episode trying to prove my thesis, namely that the British MoL are
still manipulating Sam's perception through black magic, and thereby
are using Sam like a Manchurian candidate, to gain access to the US
hunter community and further thereby collect their wanted
information. The reason why I took my time to analyze both episodes,
namely episode 12x01”Be Calm and Carry On” and 12x02 “Mamma
Mia”, was because of the very obvious, blunt contradiction and
obvious unfamiliar behavior of Sam and Dean. Further to show what we
had seen, wasn't just happening by chance and bad writing, but that
there was more to the eye that could be seen. And now again we are
confronted in the episode “Lotus” with the same blunt unfamiliar
confusing awkwardness as before, so oddly enough there is a
continuity in the awkwardness, hence this circumstance can't be a
coincident.
LOTUS
What
an odd title for a 'Supernatural' episode, normally the used title
would be a pop culture or literature reference, something modern to
which the audience could automatically relate to. Now of course it
could have been taken from Dean's plan to “Impeach
LOTUS and find Rosemary's Baby“.
But
as some of you out there know, there is also a plant named lotus.
Hmm...therefor one could also question, what's so special with this
shrubby plant of the genus
Lotus and what does this Water Lilly have in common with Lucifer and
the British MoL? I mean lets not forget these antagonist are the
dominant and driving figures of the mid season finale.
Well you would be
surprised, they truly have something in common, namely the altering
of perception.
Now have you ever heard of
the lotus-eaters also
referred to as the lotophagi or
lotophaguses? In Greek mythology
the lotus-eaters were a race of people living on an island dominated
by lotus plants. The lotus fruits and flowers were the primary food
of the island and were narcotic, causing the people to sleep in
peaceful state of dreamy and contented forgetfulness.
c.
1901 illustration to the poem by W. E. F. Britten
Hence the Lotus
fruit alters perception, like the British MoL did with Sam through
the use of hallucinogenic drugs (magic) and thereby altered Sam's
reality and Lucifer appearing as an Angel of Light and thereby
altering his victims perception to gain their trust. But
that's not all, the Lotus has also a symbolic meaning. In ancient
Egypt the flower symbolized “rebirth”, and this also correlates
with the shown narrative of Lucifer having an earthly human baby. Now
by knowing the unknown 'hidden' symbolism and meaning of the given
title “Lotus” the confusion aka lack of clearness gets a little
bit clearer and comprehensible.
“All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream.”
Edgar Allan Poe
… a dream within a
dream, thank you Mr. Poe, because precisely this is my thesis of what
the story arch of season 12 could be, namely by braking Sam's
mind in episode 2x02 “Mama Mia” the British MoL created a highly
sophisticated hallucinogenic magical dream world. I mean lets not
forget the major question, namely why were the British MoL investing
time and energy in torturing and interrogating Sam? Than they just
let him go, in the belief that all was just a misunderstanding and
overreaction of Lady Bevelle. And the only reaction of the viewers
was to say “bad writing”, oh come on, seriously?
Further why I assume this
all to be a dream in a dream is the contradicting and inconsistent
use of the supernatural in the show 'Supernatural' furthermore the
obvious dumbing down of the major protagonist Sam and Dean and of the
supernatural creatures such as the angel Castiel and the demon
Crowley.
For example why didn't Sam
and Dean just summon Lucifer? Remember in the old days they summoned
all kind of archangels and even Death. Now oddly enough some wonna be
satanist moron was able to summon Satan. But not the Winchesters?
Remember these morons in "Rock Never Dies"?
Or when they were like
cute secretaries researching on their laptops in the BUNKER(!) how to
get to the possessed president, now what was utterly wrong with this
scene? Correct, they
are sitting literally in a bunker filled with highly potent occult
literature! Books filled with tons of high magic spell's for the use
of summoning, deception, manipulation, hence mind bending techniques!
Interesting enough this most surreal scene correlates with what Tony
Bevelle said to Dean in episode 12x02 “Mamma Mia”, Lady TB:
“Gentlemen. So, to recap -- you live in the Men of
Letters bunker, awash in the world's greatest collection of occult
knowledge, and yet you know nothing."
Or why are the angel
Castiel and the demon Crowley portrayed like comedian figures, but
than not? Their actions seem contradicting, on
the one hand the angel and demon act like supernatural entities, than
not, than a little bit, or not. It's like trying to square the
circle. For example the angel Castiel can't sense
Lucifer, but
can receive “angel radio”? Okay, put into relation, Castiel the
angel can't in any ways sense Lucifer/Satan the father of lies and
destruction, a chaotic celestial being, a powerful seraph who
absolutely and utterly hates mankind, who is full of utter rage
(which is BTW spiritual energy), BUT can sense, because of angel
radio, when Satan's corrupt sperm hits the human female's ovum?
Further, when only focusing on the bunker scenes, they 'feel' and
'look' odd, untypical for the show. The one scene ends with Sam
saying “Plan C?” and the camera than turns to Castiel showing him
dramatically at loss. Editing / cut. The next scene we see they are
still at the bunker and Castiel is serving coffee, thereby he
receives angel radio, the brothers get to him, the angel than
reveals, even for Castiel in a awkward scripted manner, what he had
'heard' and than the brothers, when hearing the news, over react
actively stunned. The whole scene in it's drama looked effectively
like a Telenovela. The script, the camera close ups and the obvious
over acting, all together seem to be like “Changing Channels”.
What are we watching? Angelos TV, capitulo 666 “El Diabolo!”?
"Lucifer is dating?"
Back to the brothers and
the British MoL, the peak of awkwardness. Why did Sam call the BMoL?
There was no motive for such action. Since episode two “Mamma Mia”
the BMoL were only once mentioned but than shoved under the rug.
Further objectively Sam didn't need the BMoL, a) he had the knowledge
of the Bunker and b) he has Dean, an angel and demon on his side. The
only explanation could be, he is still under their spell.
Another conspicuousness,
the brothers were portrayed in this episode like gophers. In general
the known and famous familiar interaction was utterly missing. They
were on scene but actually not.
Or the entrance of Mr.
Ketch onto the scene was a 1:1 remake of Dean's appearance onto the
Stull cemetery at “Swan Song”.
But the most disturbing
and awkward scene was Mr. Ketch's monolog. Seriously what he said was
utter bull shit.
Namely on
the one hand Mr. Ketch colorfully elucidates towards the brothers
that he and the BMoL are only in the USA to help the US hunter
community in their effort in fighting the 'monsters'. Now on the
other hand we viewers know what this truly means, i.e episode 12x04
'American Nightmare' killing off the young psychic Magda. Further he
says the BMoL are not following the Winchesters, but we viewers again
know it's the opposite, remember the scene in 12x03 “the Foundry”
where Dean is admiring a motorcycle, well this was Mr. Ketch his
bike. So it is very obvious that Mr. Ketch is deliberately lying or
deceiving the Winchesters. Therefor his remark that Sam through his
(disconnected) call had triggered the BMoL to follow the brothers, is
just plainly false. Further Sam called the BMoL when he was at the
bunker, so Mr. Ketch must have already been near or by the bunker in
Lebanon, from where he had than directly followed the brothers to
Indianapolis. Furthermore how did Mr. Ketch know Deans admiration for
the grenade launcher, it would only make sense if Mr. Ketch was
present during the Winchester their “Thule” hunt (episode 12x05).
Than
Mr. Ketch says something very significant, namely how the British MoL
have “spent years blending
sorcery and technology.” Precisely here the brothers ears should
have prickled by such nonsense. Plainly said, sorcery is nothing
other than the use of magical powers that are obtained through evil
spirits. Hence black magic. So
Mr. Ketch literally said the BMoL have just only up dated their black
magic powers. And the thereby used 'technology' is actually
irrelevant, well actually technology contradicts magic. Hence magic
is based on metaphysics (supernatural) and technology is based on
materialism (natural). Further changing a vampires DNA is in broader
sense an alchemical process and has nothing to do with sorcery. And
exorcisms are the opposite of sorcery, namely the expulsion or
attempted expulsion of a supposed evil spirit from a person or place.
Now
I don't know if Mr. Ketch has absolutely no clue of what he is
talking about, or if he is only fooling / deceiving the brothers.
Again altering perception. Bothersome though is, the Winchesters and
the angel should have noticed the fallacies. And this brings me to
another point, namely how does it come that he coincidentally has a
'devise' in the trunk, that oddly enough fits the needs of the
brothers? Just take a look at the case in the pristine trunk. There
are only two items, and just by chance one of the two items fits the
needs of a non existing plan?
Despite
the obvious contradicting monolog of Mr. Ketch, the editing was quite
eyeopening. It was suddenly at night. NOTICE: the BMoL Bazooka rescue
scene happened during the day at broad daylight! And now they, Sam,
Dean, Castiel and Mr. Ketch, are in the woods, at the middle of the
night. Than the next scene it's daytime. This is an obvious brake, a
deliberate editing of the temporal continuity. Like in episode 12x02
“Mamma Mia” where the same obvious editing was made. So it seems,
what we are perceiving isn't actually what is happening. No wonder
confusion is the name of the game. This could also explain the
contradicting / confusing(?) narrative in the shown scene.
Day & Night
Now
there were more obvious contradicting and incoherent scenes in the
episode, but to mention them all would bust the post. But if you want
to know which ones I mean, just ask. All in all I'm not quite sure if
these contradictions were made deliberately or are truly just 'bad
writing'. But I tend to the former, because in the end we still don't
know what this seasons major story arch is.
Lets
not forget confusion is still the name of the game....or are we only
being deliberately distracted? Because oddly enough the synonym of
confusion is distraction. And the definition of distraction is
according to Wikipedia “...the process of diverting the attention
of an individual or group from the desired area of focus and thereby
blocking or diminishing the reception of desired information.”.
This leads us however to the use of distraction or misdirection in
magic, because as we know the British MoL are masters of black magic.
In his influential and scholarly The Encyclopedia of Magic and
Magicians, pg. 232, copyright 1988, author T.A. Waters wrote,
"Misdirection is the cornerstone of nearly all successful magic;
without it, even the most skilled Sleight of Hand or mechanical
device is unlikely to create an illusion of real magic."
And
creating an illusion of real magic is nothing other than the
re-framing or manipulation of perception.
And
precisely this is what we got, namely an episode full of
misdirections. And the major reason why I deliberately ignored the
Lucifer scenes, they were in the end irrelevant. The Lucifer scenes
IMO were the distraction. And according to Wikipedia distraction is
nothing other than “ ...the process of diverting the attention of
an individual or group from the desired area of focus and thereby
blocking or diminishing the reception of desired information.”
In
the end it could be all or nothing....
