Monday, October 17, 2011
Edohotep
Writer: Adam Glass.
In "Supernatural’s" latest, “Defending Your Life,” Dean Winchester has to deal with his guilt and face those actions he had regret over. This episode continues from the previous one, “The Girl Next Door,” where he killed Amy in cold blood. Viewers are left wondering if he will tell Sam. Instead, the Egyptian god Osiris (Faran Tahir) may be the one forcing him to tell all.
Apparently this deity has no qualms of changing the status quo either. He can leave the Underworld once in a blue moon to go bar hopping. He is nonchalant when prying into the affairs of mortals. No explanation is given for why he chose the town of Dearborn, Michigan as his entry-point. Maybe there are no more pure blood Egyptians he can preside over back home.
As interesting as this interpretation is, there are some elements from his origins that are not revealed. According to the Ancient Egyptians’ spiritual beliefs, the weighing of the heart and courtroom session requires several deities to be present, and Ammit the Devourer. She is described to have the hindquarters of a hippopotamus, a body of a lion, and the head of a crocodile. She eats the hearts of those souls laden with guilt. The deeds of the deceased’s heart are weighted against the feather of truth, the Ma’at. To not have either present, must mean Osiris is simply behaving much like the Winchesters when he is visiting the "Supernatural" universe.
Other details could have been beneficial to ascertain the purpose of this episode. Osiris is also known as the god of resurrection, agriculture, and fertility. He is a very complex deity that is worshipped by the people of Ancient Egypt. These days, he’s just an image to be found in travel brochures. Even when Sam sends him home with a ram’s horn, nothing is said in how that connects to the worship of the deity. Not everything is needed to be known, but writer Adam Glass is not giving him the treatment this bringer of civilization deserves.
Tahir doe not even reflect the opulent omnipotence that is required to make Osiris who he really is. He died twice so he would live again in another world, and it is here where he presides in Judgement of all who pass through his dark halls. Those are the only two details that this episode focuses on.
If there’s ever a moment that deals with the death and rebirth process, Sam is the one to know. He explains how he has begun his life anew after all he has witnessed in Hell. Technically, he has died, but unlike Osiris, his body was not mutilated and put back together again. Dean has, which makes for an interesting comparison on why Osiris chose to examine Dean.
The question of whether or not Dean will ever tell Sam about killing Amy may not get revealed at all. That is certainly one more skeleton piling up in his closet. Also, Dean’s time in Hell was not long enough to give him the perspective he needed to deal with pain and rejunivation much like how Sam saw things. He spent 40 years in Hell, which equates to four months elapsing on Earth. Sam’s torment in the cage was longer, which was a year, and all he had to contend with was Lucifer and Michael.
Dean even admitted that he walked the dark side just to avoid being tortured himself. He dealt the pain to other human souls, and revealed this information to Sam in the episode, “Family Remains.” That fact does not haunt him as frequently as the show writers want it to, but action speaks louder than words. Whether or not he enjoyed putting the blade into Amy, his response was very matter-of-fact, than anything else.
Eventually, everything that Dean has done will catch up to him. The next episode, “Shut Up, Dr. Phil,” feels like a huge miss, but the episode “Slash Fiction,” will take a look at what happens when the brothers are framed for murder. The answers that viewers are hoping for may not get revealed for another two weeks.
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Posted in: 2011,dean winchester,devil,movie still,sam winchester,supernatural,supernatural television review,television review
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