SPN meta: Sam's powers
Firstly, thanks everyone for the birthday wishes! I appreciate it so much!
So. Sam's powers.
I've read a couple of interesting posts about Sam's powers, persuna's here and shadow_walker3's here and I want to throw in my two cents. (Surprise!)
I cannot believe that Sam's powers are inherently evil.
How can power itself be good or bad? It's what you do with it. And why are we so convinced these powers are bad? Because they're from the YED? Because Jake and Ava turned? What about Andy, who bragged about how he was getting better at it? What about Scott and Lily, who avoided hurting people? The YED was telling Scott to use his powers to hurt people, but Scott was resisting. How many other special kids did the YED bring to Cold Oak, and were they all evil? Ava and Jake let the YED convince them there was no other way out, but Sam tried to get everyone to work together. Killing wasn't the only way out.
Also, just because it came from a demon doesn't make it bad for Sam. Someone will pay for it, yes. And the person who paid was Mary. Mary made the deal. Sam got the benefit. It's like Evan Handler and his wife. His wife was cancer free. On that level (purely on that level), there were no consequences. Evan paid, she got a free gift from a demon. Sam can make demons obey him. Mary paid, Sam got the gift. It's like when Sam died in Cold Oak. Dean paid, Sam came back to life.
The whole "slippery slope" argument I find to be a bunch of BS. Sam's had these powers for four years (I count the dreams and visions) and when was he at his darkest? Season 3, when they were dormant. Sam has never shown any inclination to use these powers in any sort of bad way. Not when he was threatened, not when Dean's threatened, never. He didn't use them when Dean punched him. He didn't retaliate at all.
Sam's used his powers to save people when he knew bad things were going to happen, to move a cabinet when Dean's life was in danger, and now to exorcise demons. He's not even controlling the demons. He could have made that demon shut up (according to what Ava said), but he just exorcised it. I'm just not seeing any escalation here.
The "it's playing with fire" argument also fails to convince me. There was an episode of House, "Acceptance," where a House discovered that a death row inmate had a disease that caused him to have random surges of adrenaline and rage attacks, and he killed people. Foreman was all, "Hey, he shouldn't be in jail, then" and House was all, "Yeah, let's just give that guy a pass. I mean, sure there are lots of other people out there who managed to control their rage and become lawyers, race car drivers, doctors, whatever, but you know, this guy had no choice." It's the same thing, to me, for Sam. Sam's going to have these powers. This "dark pit inside him." But he's learned how to use it productively.
Also, this icon? Takes on a whole new level of funny after 4x04, doesn't it?
Randomly, I've uploaded some music for my sister. Enjoy, won't you? This is a folder of mashups. This is Let's Dance to Joy Division by The Wombats.
ETA: gigglingkat has a great post on her LJ.
So. Sam's powers.
I've read a couple of interesting posts about Sam's powers, persuna's here and shadow_walker3's here and I want to throw in my two cents. (Surprise!)
I cannot believe that Sam's powers are inherently evil.
How can power itself be good or bad? It's what you do with it. And why are we so convinced these powers are bad? Because they're from the YED? Because Jake and Ava turned? What about Andy, who bragged about how he was getting better at it? What about Scott and Lily, who avoided hurting people? The YED was telling Scott to use his powers to hurt people, but Scott was resisting. How many other special kids did the YED bring to Cold Oak, and were they all evil? Ava and Jake let the YED convince them there was no other way out, but Sam tried to get everyone to work together. Killing wasn't the only way out.
Also, just because it came from a demon doesn't make it bad for Sam. Someone will pay for it, yes. And the person who paid was Mary. Mary made the deal. Sam got the benefit. It's like Evan Handler and his wife. His wife was cancer free. On that level (purely on that level), there were no consequences. Evan paid, she got a free gift from a demon. Sam can make demons obey him. Mary paid, Sam got the gift. It's like when Sam died in Cold Oak. Dean paid, Sam came back to life.
The whole "slippery slope" argument I find to be a bunch of BS. Sam's had these powers for four years (I count the dreams and visions) and when was he at his darkest? Season 3, when they were dormant. Sam has never shown any inclination to use these powers in any sort of bad way. Not when he was threatened, not when Dean's threatened, never. He didn't use them when Dean punched him. He didn't retaliate at all.
Sam's used his powers to save people when he knew bad things were going to happen, to move a cabinet when Dean's life was in danger, and now to exorcise demons. He's not even controlling the demons. He could have made that demon shut up (according to what Ava said), but he just exorcised it. I'm just not seeing any escalation here.
The "it's playing with fire" argument also fails to convince me. There was an episode of House, "Acceptance," where a House discovered that a death row inmate had a disease that caused him to have random surges of adrenaline and rage attacks, and he killed people. Foreman was all, "Hey, he shouldn't be in jail, then" and House was all, "Yeah, let's just give that guy a pass. I mean, sure there are lots of other people out there who managed to control their rage and become lawyers, race car drivers, doctors, whatever, but you know, this guy had no choice." It's the same thing, to me, for Sam. Sam's going to have these powers. This "dark pit inside him." But he's learned how to use it productively.
Also, this icon? Takes on a whole new level of funny after 4x04, doesn't it?
Randomly, I've uploaded some music for my sister. Enjoy, won't you? This is a folder of mashups. This is Let's Dance to Joy Division by The Wombats.
ETA: gigglingkat has a great post on her LJ.