4.13 After School Special: I’m Looking For The Brutal, Funny, Maybe Even Painful Truth

[bardicvoice]

4.13 After School Special: I’m Looking For The Brutal, Funny, Maybe Even Painful Truth

Ghost high school bully
Drives nerds to revenge on jocks;
Sam sees with new eyes.

Comments

[labseraph]

Ah, it was worth the wait for your meta, dear Mary. You hit everything we thought about (and some that we didn't) right on the head; so concisely and comprehensively too.

Dean’s hate for Truman High wasn’t for Sam having been bullied and beaten up there, or even for Amanda having struck back at him with such perfect aim: it was for having had the pathetic core of his life laid bare not just to others, but to himself. Hunting, saving others, was the only thing he could claim that gave his life value, but it wasn’t a value that anyone else could see or credit.

This has got to be one of the best examination of Dean's soft underbelly, elucidating how little he thought of himself; which, in turn, explains his willingness to sacrifice himself. His code of heroism is very close to John's persona: if so, how could he acknowledge the part of himself that is still the little boy who misses his father?

Your examination of Dean and Sam's approach to school is very interesting: although it's fun to read fics where Dean applied himself in school and scored something out of it, but his flippancy at Sam's scholarship offer does indicate that academia is something that he scorned in some way. He's proud that Sam is smart, but he doesn't really care what that means to society at large.

I agree with you that Amanda's reaction to finding her boyfriend snuggling with another girl is rather ... too calculated. An 18 y.o. is very unlikely to react with such level headedness; although I'd buy her viciousness in exposing Dean's vulnerability. Having been a teenaged girl, one knows that a girl's best weapon is her tongue and the words that she utilises with the accuracy of a heat-seeking missile. Teen!Dean's reaction is more painful to watch, but he was trying to save face and I don't think he really thought about what he said to her. although he'd remember the visceral emotional discomfort.

Again, a most satisfying read and I thank you.

[bardicvoice]

Thank you! I loved what this episode gave us about the younger boys ... it rang so true with what we've seen of their grown-up selves.

And your comment on Amanda is dead-on, I think. On re-watch, Dean's protestation of heroism felt less of, less forced, precisely because I saw it through that lens: he was trying to save face and I don't think he really thought about what he said to her. although he'd remember the visceral emotional discomfort. Yes. That's it, I think.