SPN 11.15 Beyond the Mat
Last catch-up review for SPN, just under the wire before new episodes start up again tomorrow night. Woot!
SPN 11.15 Beyond the Mat
Everything can be taken from a man but the last of human freedoms, the right to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances -- the right to choose one's own way.
-- Viktor E. Frankl
If our previous episode was about the demonstration of real courage, this episode could almost be said to be about cowardice. But then, upon closer inspection they really were about the same thing: the choices we make.
Take two of this episode's victims: Harley and Gunner. Two guys in the same line of work, presented with the same offer, 10 years apart.
Turns out a crossroads demon offered our likable wrestler Gunner a deal back in the day, but when it came time to collect, he made another offer. Other souls collected in favor of keeping his own out of the claws and teeth of the hellhounds. Life instead of Hell - with others paying the price for his deal. And he said yes. His first yes was born of ignorance and ambition. A horrible mistake of judgment, to be sure, but without evil or malice attached.
Gunner: Ten years ago, I wanted another shot at the belt; 50,000 people screaming my name. I was desperate and dumb.
He made a choice that came with a price tag attached. We've seen the Winchesters make a deal with a demon before, and yeah, desperate and dumb choices usually always end badly. But then he had another choice offered.
Demon: When the G-Man’s deal came due, I gave him a choice... end up hellhound chow or collect souls for me.
Gunner again made the wrong choice, this time crossing the line into doing evil to others, not just something that brought harm to himself. Let's pause there for a moment to ponder his opposite mirror character, Harley.
Harley was a guy who was presented as a hot-headed jackass. True, we never got a chance to see him at his best personality, but he initially played as far less likable than Gunner. But at the end of the day, he proved himself a better man with his choices.
Demon: So... do we have a deal?
Harley: No. Look, man. I’ve never been much for God or whatever. I sort of just thought that when your curtain came down, that was it. Night, night. But if you’re a demon, that means there’s a Hell. And if there’s a Hell, there is a Heaven. And I’m not giving up my shot at paradise for a belt I can win on my own.
Restrained and tied up in a chair, crippled by the demon for refusing the offer, then killed by Gunner on the demon's orders, Harley didn't change his choice, the attitude he adopted with a bigger picture view of what the worst thing death could mean to him. He showed the courage Gunner had lacked, punishing Gunner's conscience by the example this "brash and driven and hungry" younger man set. He chose to say no to evil no matter the consequences.
Gunner didn't want to do evil at the demon's bidding, but he allowed himself to be convinced he didn't have a choice. One can do evil without being through and through evil of heart. The thing is, as long as he continued to say yes to that crossroads demon, he would continue on his forced path of evil. But every yes would stand as a choice, as Dean obliquely pointed out.
Dean: Look, you screwed up, all right? Trust me. I’ve been there. But it is never too late to do the right thing.
Gunner: You really believe that?
Dean: I have to.
Dean (and Sam) are not in a position to throw stones, all things considered. But for all the mistakes they have made, they do continue to try doing the right thing, or making what they've done wrong right again. They are willing to pay the price for their choices.
Dean's words reached Gunner. He was already resistant to what the demon was ordering him to do, so it only took that final push from Dean to finally find his courage to face down the consequences of all his actions, his choices. He refused to follow orders and kill Dean, instead working with Dean and killing the crossroads demon. Knowing what this choice was going to cost himself.
Gunner: I’ve never been a good man. I look in the mirror and I hate the face looking back at me. No, I, uh... I got this coming.
He chose the path he put himself on; that outcome was never going to end happily ever after. He finally chose to end his part of the evil. The last human freedom left to him. Choosing hell over continuing to hurt and kill others. Earning a small portion of redemption with that final choice.
Almost the end of the story there, two wrestlers - one chose heaven, one chose hell.
But let's go back again to that likable guy we first met, before we found out he was murdering others to save his own skin. Those weren't the only choices in his life. And somewhere between that first crossroads choice and when his 10 years came due, he did a lot of learning.
Gunner: I've been beat up, spit on, stabbed, roughed up. But I will be damned if I didn't always get back up. One thing I learned, you gotta keep on grinding no matter what's thrown your way.
The big choices are easy to focus on, drawing the lion's share of attention. But life is full of choices, mostly little choices being made every single day. Somewhere along the way Gunner learned to grind out his life and keep fighting. His words to Dean about this part of his life resonated with this fellow grinder.
Dean: You think about that. Town after town putting your ass on the line for next to nothing. No money, no glory. Wow.
Sam: You realize you just literally described our jobs.
Obviously Dean was viewing Gunner with the rose-tinted glasses of lingering childhood hero-worship, so to see him able to relate to this man who lived a hard life, who made some really bad choices, but who ultimately made a stand to do the right thing despite knowing what outcome he was facing - an outcome Dean was far too familiar with - was fascinating to me. It seemed to be completing the process that was begun in The Vessel.
Dean: At the moment, I'm the least valuable player. You both know that I can't kill Amara! So the least I can do is get the thing that we need so that you can!
Dean has been feeling helpless against Amara. Knowing he doesn't have full control over himself when around her led to self-doubt about his ability to do anything against her. But he watched Delphine and the rest of that submarine's crew face an inevitable outcome, and they still chose the path of sacrifice. Then along comes Gunner, who also faced an inevitable outcome, and he too made a choice. Dean's own words about needing to believe there is always a choice become living examples. The man who was under the control of a demon broke free in the only way left to him -- refusing to do greater evil. Choosing to go out his own way, on his own terms.
Dean has been forced to be "a witness" two cases in a row now, and this has gotten under Dean's skin in a way that has refueled his determination to fight back himself. Dean has found a way to take back a sense of control: it's not about Amara and that connection he has with her. It's about what he chooses to do despite it. Every day. As he has his whole life, grinding out that fight against all the evil creepy crawlies in the world.
Sam: Dean, we’ll get [Cas] back. We will. We just got to...
Dean: Keep grinding. No matter how much it hurts, no matter how hard it gets, you got to keep grinding.
Sam: Right.
Dean: And that’s how we’re gonna win. And we’re gonna win. We’re gonna save Cas, we’re gonna ice the Devil and we’re gonna shank the Darkness. And anyone that gets in our way, well, God help them.
Dean might not sport an optimistic attitude, but grim determination works. There is a lot that has gone wrong with his world, and he is gonna do what he's done his own life.
Dean: Honestly? I think the world's gonna end bloody. But it doesn't mean we shouldn't fight. We do have choices. I choose to go down swinging. (3.12)
Whatever the odds, whatever the sacrifices, whatever the eventual outcome... it's not just shaped but given meaning by their choices.
SPN 11.15 Beyond the Mat
Everything can be taken from a man but the last of human freedoms, the right to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances -- the right to choose one's own way.
-- Viktor E. Frankl
If our previous episode was about the demonstration of real courage, this episode could almost be said to be about cowardice. But then, upon closer inspection they really were about the same thing: the choices we make.
Take two of this episode's victims: Harley and Gunner. Two guys in the same line of work, presented with the same offer, 10 years apart.
Turns out a crossroads demon offered our likable wrestler Gunner a deal back in the day, but when it came time to collect, he made another offer. Other souls collected in favor of keeping his own out of the claws and teeth of the hellhounds. Life instead of Hell - with others paying the price for his deal. And he said yes. His first yes was born of ignorance and ambition. A horrible mistake of judgment, to be sure, but without evil or malice attached.
Gunner: Ten years ago, I wanted another shot at the belt; 50,000 people screaming my name. I was desperate and dumb.
He made a choice that came with a price tag attached. We've seen the Winchesters make a deal with a demon before, and yeah, desperate and dumb choices usually always end badly. But then he had another choice offered.
Demon: When the G-Man’s deal came due, I gave him a choice... end up hellhound chow or collect souls for me.
Gunner again made the wrong choice, this time crossing the line into doing evil to others, not just something that brought harm to himself. Let's pause there for a moment to ponder his opposite mirror character, Harley.
Harley was a guy who was presented as a hot-headed jackass. True, we never got a chance to see him at his best personality, but he initially played as far less likable than Gunner. But at the end of the day, he proved himself a better man with his choices.
Demon: So... do we have a deal?
Harley: No. Look, man. I’ve never been much for God or whatever. I sort of just thought that when your curtain came down, that was it. Night, night. But if you’re a demon, that means there’s a Hell. And if there’s a Hell, there is a Heaven. And I’m not giving up my shot at paradise for a belt I can win on my own.
Restrained and tied up in a chair, crippled by the demon for refusing the offer, then killed by Gunner on the demon's orders, Harley didn't change his choice, the attitude he adopted with a bigger picture view of what the worst thing death could mean to him. He showed the courage Gunner had lacked, punishing Gunner's conscience by the example this "brash and driven and hungry" younger man set. He chose to say no to evil no matter the consequences.
Gunner didn't want to do evil at the demon's bidding, but he allowed himself to be convinced he didn't have a choice. One can do evil without being through and through evil of heart. The thing is, as long as he continued to say yes to that crossroads demon, he would continue on his forced path of evil. But every yes would stand as a choice, as Dean obliquely pointed out.
Dean: Look, you screwed up, all right? Trust me. I’ve been there. But it is never too late to do the right thing.
Gunner: You really believe that?
Dean: I have to.
Dean (and Sam) are not in a position to throw stones, all things considered. But for all the mistakes they have made, they do continue to try doing the right thing, or making what they've done wrong right again. They are willing to pay the price for their choices.
Dean's words reached Gunner. He was already resistant to what the demon was ordering him to do, so it only took that final push from Dean to finally find his courage to face down the consequences of all his actions, his choices. He refused to follow orders and kill Dean, instead working with Dean and killing the crossroads demon. Knowing what this choice was going to cost himself.
Gunner: I’ve never been a good man. I look in the mirror and I hate the face looking back at me. No, I, uh... I got this coming.
He chose the path he put himself on; that outcome was never going to end happily ever after. He finally chose to end his part of the evil. The last human freedom left to him. Choosing hell over continuing to hurt and kill others. Earning a small portion of redemption with that final choice.
Almost the end of the story there, two wrestlers - one chose heaven, one chose hell.
But let's go back again to that likable guy we first met, before we found out he was murdering others to save his own skin. Those weren't the only choices in his life. And somewhere between that first crossroads choice and when his 10 years came due, he did a lot of learning.
Gunner: I've been beat up, spit on, stabbed, roughed up. But I will be damned if I didn't always get back up. One thing I learned, you gotta keep on grinding no matter what's thrown your way.
The big choices are easy to focus on, drawing the lion's share of attention. But life is full of choices, mostly little choices being made every single day. Somewhere along the way Gunner learned to grind out his life and keep fighting. His words to Dean about this part of his life resonated with this fellow grinder.
Dean: You think about that. Town after town putting your ass on the line for next to nothing. No money, no glory. Wow.
Sam: You realize you just literally described our jobs.
Obviously Dean was viewing Gunner with the rose-tinted glasses of lingering childhood hero-worship, so to see him able to relate to this man who lived a hard life, who made some really bad choices, but who ultimately made a stand to do the right thing despite knowing what outcome he was facing - an outcome Dean was far too familiar with - was fascinating to me. It seemed to be completing the process that was begun in The Vessel.
Dean: At the moment, I'm the least valuable player. You both know that I can't kill Amara! So the least I can do is get the thing that we need so that you can!
Dean has been feeling helpless against Amara. Knowing he doesn't have full control over himself when around her led to self-doubt about his ability to do anything against her. But he watched Delphine and the rest of that submarine's crew face an inevitable outcome, and they still chose the path of sacrifice. Then along comes Gunner, who also faced an inevitable outcome, and he too made a choice. Dean's own words about needing to believe there is always a choice become living examples. The man who was under the control of a demon broke free in the only way left to him -- refusing to do greater evil. Choosing to go out his own way, on his own terms.
Dean has been forced to be "a witness" two cases in a row now, and this has gotten under Dean's skin in a way that has refueled his determination to fight back himself. Dean has found a way to take back a sense of control: it's not about Amara and that connection he has with her. It's about what he chooses to do despite it. Every day. As he has his whole life, grinding out that fight against all the evil creepy crawlies in the world.
Sam: Dean, we’ll get [Cas] back. We will. We just got to...
Dean: Keep grinding. No matter how much it hurts, no matter how hard it gets, you got to keep grinding.
Sam: Right.
Dean: And that’s how we’re gonna win. And we’re gonna win. We’re gonna save Cas, we’re gonna ice the Devil and we’re gonna shank the Darkness. And anyone that gets in our way, well, God help them.
Dean might not sport an optimistic attitude, but grim determination works. There is a lot that has gone wrong with his world, and he is gonna do what he's done his own life.
Dean: Honestly? I think the world's gonna end bloody. But it doesn't mean we shouldn't fight. We do have choices. I choose to go down swinging. (3.12)
Whatever the odds, whatever the sacrifices, whatever the eventual outcome... it's not just shaped but given meaning by their choices.