Supernatural Season Three - Jus In Bello episode review

Damn this episode had so many issues. I don’t even know where to begin.
The FBI agent who has spent three years tracking alleged serial killers, who finds out that there are worst things out there in the dark.
The hunters who are faced with a moral crisis. The traitor who offers to sacrifice herself. The innocent who offers to die to save her friends. The final foolhardy plan that works for a little while only to ultimately cost more lives.

It was gratifying for me to see Agent Henriksen finally on the side of the Winchester boys. It was nice to rub his face in it a little bit. Demons do exist. They possess people and make them do bad things. Henriksen found out the hard way that the Winchesters are actually the good guys in all of this. I suppose it must have been difficult for him to find out that for years he’s been on the trail of the wrong people. If he’d had a moment to think about it, it probably would have upset him that he ultimately led the demons to this little town. Fortunately for him, he barely had that minute to himself.

I’ve got to hand it to the demons, they move really quickly. I mean seriously, it’s something the Armed Forces need to learn. Still, haste makes waste and the demons really have nothing to lose after all. It’s not their bodies they are bringing to bear, it’s not their lives that are in danger.

The boys were faced with some heavy questions in this episode and Sam who is pretty heavily tested, fails it – rather spectacularly in my opinion. I suppose it is the age old question, does the good of the many outweigh the good of the few? Should we end one life today if we could save a hundred lives tomorrow? It’s a heavy question and one which many have tried answering for ages.

In my opinion approaching things in this manner is really just wrong; if you’re talking about life and death. We’re not talking about taxes or levies or tolls or any other material detriment which this adage actually applies to. The question of life and death is not one which can be quantified. It is impossible. In the episode, Ruby says the death of the one person, the virgin, is preferable to the death of the thirty odd people that may possibly die otherwise. That sounds like a logical statement until you start dissecting it. Nancy is an innocent. She was quite willing to lay her life down for her friends which is an issue I will get to later but there is still no way of saying her life is worth less than the thirty. What if it had been thirty homeless people? Or thirty criminals? Would the answer change then? What if it was a question of one person dying so five could live? We could use the Winchesters, Dean’s life for Sam’s. What if five people had to die instead? Would that be too much of a price to pay? This is still just a question of numbers. We haven’t even started thinking about the emotion factor. I mean what if, the one sacrifice was the life of someone who would go on to cure cancer? What if five human sacrifices were needed to save this one person? What if that person were your brother, or your father or your lover? Would the odds change then?

Ultimately, I think that Dean’s solution was the best in the circumstances. It stood a small chance of winning but at least everyone of them would have gone out fighting. If there is a God in all of this, maybe, that will count for something with him. At the end of the day, unless you’re God and you have in front of you the big picture, you can only act in accordance to your internal compass. Sure Ruby’s plan made sense in a sickly logical way but they would have paid the ultimate price. The price was not the death of that girl, it would have been their humanity. If they had won the battle but lost their humanity, they would have ultimately lost the war. If this is to be a fight between good and evil, then evil must be held at bay. Cold logic cannot hold the reins, for logic can rationalize anything. The slaughter of 6 million Jews may seem heartless and inhumane, but surely somewhere, it was the logical thing to do. When you start looking at the bottom line, the moment you keep your eyes fixed on the horizon, you lose sight of those around you; you stop looking at the individual you’ve just trampled over to reach your goal. The end does not justify the means. It never has. If you have your eyes fixed on the horizon, you will never be able to see any alternative routes to your goal. Sometimes, it’s not about getting there the quickest, sometimes it’s just about getting there. I don’t blame Ruby, she barely remembers her humanity, Sam’s hesitation is unforgivable. Sam is not a soldier. He is not a leader. The more I watch Supernatural, the more I think that Sam is overrated. His intelligence, his drive, his skill, his strength, none of it qualifies him to lead an army, demon or otherwise. For all his experience and intelligence, he lacks wisdom. For all his self-righteous, holier than thou ways, he lacks a true moral compass.

My rather long winded ranting about the morality of the decisions made in this episode may lead people to think that I’m some kind of sentimentalist. That is not the case. I am quite prepared to allow harsh action on the mere suggestion of threat as was the case in Croatoan between Duane and Dean. I admit Dean could have waited a little longer but still had I been in Dean’s shoes, I would have shot Duane had I the chance, Sammy’s opinion be damned.

I am also quite prepared to allow people the opportunity and the right to sacrifice themselves. It is the best quality in us all. Ruby was willing to sacrifice herself for Sam and Dean, which as a measure of devotion says an awful lot about her. Nancy was willing to sacrifice herself for her friends. No one wants to die; it isn’t a question of having a death wish, it is instead the hope of a meaningful death. It is a deep seated biological drive to ensure the propagation of the species, it is the very quality that makes us human. Yeah I know, I’ve just agreed with both sides of the argument but that’s why I write this blog, in that hopes that my thoughts sound less insane if they are aired. A very slim hope if this entry is anything to go by.

On a lighter note, it’s a shame that Henriksen was killed, because the Winchesters having someone in the FBI would have been sweet. Plus, I think Henriksen was all set to give up his day job and become supernatural hunter extraordinaire. It is also a shame because I think him and Dean would have become good friends.

Ah well c’est la vie.

Just Me.