Saturday nights are wild times (except when they're really not)

[ann_tara]

You always hear the "empty nest syndrome" described as if it were a bad thing. I'd give my left tit right now to be reveling in The Empty Nest. I'm just saying. One of those days.

Comments

[coppertopp]

You know, a friend of mine made an interesting observation while we were talking about SPN this morning. He said that in S1, particularly the first part, that Sam was meant to be the audience POV character, in that he was a cipher and was just joining in the story and trying to catch up, and that as he learned more and got up to speed, the audience did with him. Dean was already part of the story, already chasing the Demon. It was Sam's POV that the more closely resembled where the average audience member would be. But, this season, now that Sam has served that purpose in full, the audience POV tends to shift naturally to Dean because he is the one who is more focused and grounded, and also just plain more sympathetic because of the situation he is in. Like so many of us, he is faced with all of these problems and he's just trying to hold it together. That is far more emotionally resonant for your average viewer than Sam's plight of dealing with having supernatural abilities and some weird destiny. This season, an audience member can picture themselves more readily in Dean's shoes than they can in Sam's, whereas before, Sam was presented as the more emotionally engaging character.

But after talking to folks in fandom, it's clear that many of them sympathized with Dean more right from the get-go, even though he was far less accessible emotionally during the first part of S1. But it's an interesting theory - explaining the emphasis on certain characters based on which one is supposed to carry the audience POV. I guess whether the theory works or not depends on what kind of audience member you are.

So this demon had a strong thing for Dean, and I still think (hope?!) that has to mean something in the long run.
I think it likely will. The Meg-Demon's personal animosity toward Dean may be what's leading her to target him specifically at this point. But she's right on the money insofar as she sees that Dean is as much of a threat/concern as Sam is - more, in fact. And the threat he presents will feature more prominently in future eps. How could it not?

I will confess that I liked Sam more than you apparently did first season. I totally got why he became so obsessive after his girlfriend's death, and how blind grief can make you to things. I forgave him for his persistence in seeing Dean as a second father-figure even as I ached for poor Dean for being placed in such an untenable position. But this season, I'm starting to become more impatient with Sam, and I think that a lot of it has to do with the whole Destiny thing, which is a pet peeve of mine anyway. I consider it a shameless plot device and character development copout to invoke Destiny as a reason why people do things. People do things because it's what they choose to do. The dramatic part isn't whether they *have* a choice on account of the mysterious force of Fate, but rather, how difficult the choice is. Choices are what reveal a character - who they are at their core. Sam needs to get over being "chosen" or "special" or whatever and make up his mind who he really is and what he wants. If he can't do that, he loses my sympathy. At least Dean knows where his priorities lie, no matter how fucked up things get.

IMO, it's Dean who is driving the story now, while Sam flails around, paralyzed by self-doubt. If they continue in this vein with Sam's character, he will just end up being the bone of contention when the Demon tries to come for him and Dean responds with extreme prejudice. The fight would be between the two of them with Sam as the prize. Granted, I suppose that still would make Sam the center, but in a very Lana-esque, DID sort of way. *snerk*

[ann_tara]

I will confess that I liked Sam more than you apparently did first season.

But I do like Sam, and the funny thing is, I was prepared for him to be the primary draw for me in the beginning because I was familiar with JP from GG (before GG turned awful). I only knew JA from SV and that whole horrible witchy Lanaville crapfest from season four, so needless to say, he didn't exactly impress me. Not that I blamed him for the shite he was having to wallow in - I mean, it was a job. But I had nothing else to compare him to, so I didn't come away with much of an impression at all (particularly since I didn't watch most of the fourth season).

I totally got why he became so obsessive after his girlfriend's death, and how blind grief can make you to things. I forgave him for his persistence in seeing Dean as a second father-figure even as I ached for poor Dean for being placed in such an untenable position. But this season, I'm starting to become more impatient with Sam, and I think that a lot of it has to do with the whole Destiny thing, which is a pet peeve of mine anyway. I consider it a shameless plot device and character development copout to invoke Destiny as a reason why people do things.

And I think all that right there is your explanation for why so many fans got more attached to Dean in the beginning than you'd expect, given the Sam POV at the time; because it's obvious - Dean was and is, of the two bros, the everyman. We can all identify with Dean to some extent - but, really, how many of us are demon fire babies with psychic powahs? Nothing really to identify with there.

And I agree with you about the whole Destiny thing being a downfall where Sam's development is concerned, and that's part of the reason it annoys me more often than not. Plus it's so much of the same old, same old - how many psychics do we have on TV right now, at this moment? How many times has this shtick been done already before now? It's not new story-telling at all. The only thing that makes it different in this case is the fraternal relationship - the more mundane aspect of the show, which has nothing to do with Destiny, really. Family, love, brotherhood, enduring no matter what. And Dean is all about that every week, regardless of the story line, where Sam gets bogged down in the Destiny thing which stunts or stalls his character growth whenever it rears its head. And I certainly don't wish the Lanaville treatment on him. Oy. Unfortunately, the possibility is there, that's a fear. I just hope Kripke can manage to steer clear of it.

I did like seeing Sam playing evil for a while in this last episode, I do admit that. I thought JP sold that very well, and certainly looked like he was having fun with it. OTOH, it's a bit of a cop-out, another instance of the writers using Destiny in the form of being possessed as an excuse over personal responsibility. So Sam's hands remain squeaky clean because it was all the Meg-Demon's fault. Reset-button time.