Episode 2.01 In My Time Of Dying

Gosh I love this song...

Welcome to Season Two! Most of the episode, it looks like Dean’s time of dying, but he just refused to go. Or, well... things happen, etc. etc., and surprise! Dean does not permadie in episode 1 of season 2, and in fact they go on to make quite a goodly number more episodes! Uh... spoiler alert?

Welcome to the official merge lane at the top of the on ramp to the Spiral Narrative of the entire series, the staking of Dean’s position on free will versus fate, the beginning of Dean’s intense personal relationship with Death.

(and I only get mad at the series finale like twice... maybe three times...)

Important things referenced in this episode:

The Superwiki page for the episode

My tag for this episode

Kim Manners and Eric Kripke talking about “ghost rules”

Casting Sides for Tessa (14 pages)

Casting Sides for Janitor/Azazel (technically the script from 1.22 and not 2.01... sorry I didn’t link these last week, but they’re marked as for 2.01 and were the readings used for this character, but I’m including it here for the record)

And a few interesting things from the casting sides for Tessa that I mentioned in the podcast I'd include here:

-the second deleted scene with the “wounded man” is referenced at the top of the first page

-lol forgot to mention part of the first deleted scene included a gratuitous shot of a patient removing her top before the doctor shut the door, and Dean debating if he was a bad person for wanting to sneak another look >.> (glad that got deleted because wtf...)

-Several lines have been rewritten, mostly just for pacing (one likely because network censors wouldn’t let Dean say “dicking” lol), but one of John’s lines was mostly cut and the rest was changed substantially: “I... I know you don’t believe me... but you boys really are the most important things in my life. And I swear. I won’t hunt the Demon. Not until  we figure out how to help Dean.”  It’s replaced with: “ Wait, Sam. I promise I won't hunt this demon. Not until we know Dean's okay.”

-apparently the apparition of the reaper is referred to in the script as a “Black Phantom” before Dean identifies it as a reaper

-a whole section of Dean explaining the “Black Phantom” to Tessa and then flirting with her, and her flirting back... which was cut entirely

-Tessa asking if Dean was ever in AA (he says no), and then she justifies her acceptance of her fate with the Serenity Prayer. This whole bit was cut.

-another deleted reference to the bloodied man from the cut scenes, that Tessa now conveniently uses as an example of someone who refused to accept his fate and is now trapped in the hospital-- or is it just another of Tessa’s illusions for Dean?

-another deleted speech from Tessa to Dean in their final scene:

TESSA: You don’t think I can see it?

DEAN: See what?

TESSA: Beneath the bravado? All that pain and hurt and suffering? You're tired, Dean. You've had to bear so much... more than almost anyone. It’s time to rest. It’s time to put the pain behind you.

the scene then continues as written through Tessa’s possession and the demon healing Dean.

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