Walking off the chessboard: part 5

[amonitrate]

Sorry for the delay in posting. Complicated couple of weeks. Thus ends the main body of this sucker, though I'm noodling with a short conclusion that talks about the traditional/biblical concept of the scapegoat. Sadly I know nothing of the bible, so it will probably be a really shallow isn't this kinda cool thing.

Walking off the chessboard: Sam

Comments

*grinning all over my face*

[deiseach]

I just love the careful way you unpeel the layers of the onion. Anyway, on to the incoherent commentary

Re: *grinning all over my face*

[amonitrate]

you're a superhero for reading this entire thing.

He was perfectly free to make of it what he would

Was he? I'm curious about this part, in all honesty. I don't know the traditional lore about it. Was he just put into a prison and he shaped it? His endemoning of Lilith suggests you might be right.

he swings a little too far from blaming John to absolving John, and I don't think he's quite come to a balanced adult view of his father yet.

Yeah, this started right after John died, Sam's 180. And it's completely understandable, given grief and guilt. I suspect over time he'd reach a middle ground.

I dunno if I'd call Sam happy with the hunting life; it seems much more of an attitude that he's not going to be able to have anything else so why try? Like his speech to Adam in season 4.

Sam recognises and acknowledges the choices he's made, where Lucifer can't and won't do that.

Yes, exactly.

*preens*

[deiseach]

Hero, eh? So, not a creepy internet stalker with way too much spare time

Re: *preens*

[amonitrate]

Not a stalker! I really appreciate that you're reading this thing!

Lucifer - it can be argued - was getting exactly what he wanted: a free hand to shape things as he wished, without God imposing conditions upon him. And see what he did with it.

I find this fascinating; I hadn't thought about it quite that way, though I did pick up on the part where he made the first demon. The idea that he's in exile, rather than just jail intrigues me; but at the same time there's that old definition of hell as the absolute absence of God, so I'm not sure what to make of it. Lucifer didn't want the absence of God, or so he'd let us think. I actually do believe him on that one.

I also get a hint that as soon as Sam started recognising in himself the elements he had always blamed John for (the single-mindedness for vengeance, just for one) that that contributed to his flip in attitude as well. That's a good insight. I think it does make it easier to at least have some compassion for your parents when you find yourself in similar situations, or

[redrikki]

Around the time I was born, my older sister took her favorite doll, a Dressy Bessy, and cut into strips with the kitchen sheers. When I heard the story of Lucifer and Lilith I immediately thought of the Dressy Bessy story. Like my sister, Lucifer lashed out reacted poorly to his father's newly-divided affections and then spent eons plotting his revenge for being sent to his room to think about what he'd done. Childish is exactly the word for it

*sheepishly holds hand up*

[deiseach]

I was that jealous older sister.

When I was about three, my younger sister(the first younger sibling I had) was about one year old and she became very seriously ill with pneumonia. I remember my father waking me up to tell me they were taking her to hospital, and I remember thinking "Good. All she ever does is cry."

Ouch. Everyone who's ever been four years old can recognise themselves in Lucifer. About time the guy grew up.

:-)

[amonitrate]

Thanks for reading this monster, and I appreciate you telling me that it had personal resonance for you. The show has highlighted, or made me think about again, aspects of my own family as well, and there's a lot of personal experience in these essays even if I don't talk about myself in them.

The most interesting thing to me about these roles (and the scapegoat in particular as it's what I've been focusing on) is how symbiotic the whole system is. But yeah, ultimately each person in a family hopefully has to find their own way and grow up. I really don't think one can fully be an adult until one steps away from this kind of family dysfunction in the way Sam has started to do and Lucifer failed to do; but it's a very, very difficult process, which I think the show is quite eloquent at illustrating.

[etoile444]

Thank you for this meta. Yes, the show really made me think about family dynamics. I'm an only child so I find sibling relationships facinating.

[bowtrunckle]

What an excellent meta! The argument is laid out well and your points are extremely interesting. I think your comparisons of Sam and Lucifer are apt and esp. enjoyed the last part on how they differed. I agree that Sam finally did grow up and accept responsibility for his actions in S5, and Lucifer's inability to examine his own behavior/recognize his own culpability in his "family dynamic" is what ultimately led to his downfall (not to mention arrogance, a character trait that was also attributed to Sam, esp. in S4 when the writers were industriously laying the groundwork for S5 and, no doubt, Lucifer's entrance). I often found the references to Lucifer being a child or acting childish curiously redundant to the point of being distracting. It's nice to see a meta that addresses that in such an elegant manner.

[amonitrate]

Thank you! Yeah, Lucifer and Sam's arrogance were pretty vital to the story and it was interesting to see how they played out. Thanks for reading!

[pinkphoenix1985]

I have to say that I'm glad that I stumbled upon this! This is a very well thought out meta about Sam and Lucifer. I have to admit that through S4-5, I lost sight of why Sam is doing all that he did and as well as Lucifer's role in everything, and this made everything so much more clearer! Thanks ;)

[amonitrate]

Thank you very much for reading, and for your comments. Yeah, Sam's actions in season 4-5 always made sense to me due to viewing him through this lens, so I'm touched that this essay might have made things clearer for you.

[amonitrate]

Thank you for reading!

This is not true. Beyond the fact that John (arguably) was proud of Sam for his actions/Sam was the favoured son, I never read Sam as being rejected by his family.

I am referring to John's telling Sam that if he leaves for Stanford, not to come back. That's a pretty clear message to me.

I think it's possible Sam could have filled this role, if monsters weren't real. But since they are, the problem always came down to the fact that there was this actual problem the world faced (monsters eating/killing/whatevering people), which the family was then reacting to.

Of course there was an external problem to deal with: the monsters, what had killed Mary. Dysfunctional families often are reacting to external stressors such as unemployment, poverty, medical problems, etc. That does not negate how the family deals with the problems internally, which is what the "family roles" is part of. The role Sam plays in his family is a separate issue from these external issues, though of course they are related.

Sam is the