6.03 The Third Man, part 3

[blacklid]

Comments

[themonkeytwin]

foam inserts take the whole organization thing just a bit far

Maybe it's a sacred sponge.

That doesn't mean that he's not feelling things or that he doesn't have empathy.... What he ISN'T being is completely genuine.

*glee*

Also, I agree.

Because this time Sam really sucks at lying. Sam has never sucked at lying. Ever. EVER ever. And THAT, more than anything, makes this feel like it's not 100% Sam.*thoughtful face

[datenshiblue]

Then there's also the fact that he's conflicted about lying to Dean now. Conflicted liars are bad liars. I mean, there is no hard evidence for this at all so far, but I think he is. He used to lie because he was afraid or ashamed of what he was, but he's neither anymore. There's no personal, emotional climate of needing to hide himself or justify himself to Dean. Dean is not the keeper of Sam's identity anymore. And I think, underneath it all, he does want the share his burdens with Dean.

I thought this was very perceptive, and I agree with it, in that it feels very true to what I'm seeing also.

[blacklid]

True. And I think Sam wants to tell him everything, too, but he's waiting for the right time.

[blacklid]

You know, I bet this thing grew epically since you read it because D told me that my code was broken. *facepalm*

I was mostly trying to illustrate the things about Sam that make it feel like he isn't Sam anymore. Even when he's lied before, we knew he was withholding information.

I'd be most intrigued with a discussion about whether we as the audience would know Sam is lying unless we had the barometer of Dean's reactions to rely on.

[themonkeytwin]

Yeah, no, I noticed that. But there's a Bobby/Mills fresh in the comments for 117 that I didn't want distracting from. :D (But I think I need some distance before I can judge whether I was able to do it justice in comment fic. I'd have gone for something a little more involved or epic, but what I did was all that would fit. So. Maybe one day I'll give it a proper go. Probably not.)

Ah, feel like it isn't Sam. Gotcha. Or rather, that Sam has changed in REALLY interesting ways. \o

[blacklid]

Tahirire read your story. She LOVES it. We linked it in the intro post. I wanted to post in the sticky BOBBY & THE MILLS -- THIS IS HOW YOU DO EEET, but I was fired. LOL

There was a time when we may not have known when Sam was lying without Dean as a barometer. Now that we know Sam, it's easy for us to tell when he's lying, even when Dean isn't around. But my poorly-made point was that Dean taught us, and so how we as an audience have generally come to see Sam is usually derived from what Dean sees and worries about. The way to twist that long-established dynamic is that, while Sam remains the same X-factor he's always been in your line of sight, other things are going on with Dean that no one is mentioning because Sam isn't doing anything other than squinting so far.

FWIW

[themonkeytwin]

I'm in the intro post? Gosh!... This is such a surprise. I'd like to thank the academy....

:D

other things are going on with Dean that no one is mentioning because Sam isn't doing anything other than squinting so far.

Yeah, and I agree, it's a great way to play with that dynamic. It's like Dean not twigging to Sam going seriously off the rails in S3. It's easy to see how desperate Sam was (as it is now easy to see how Dean is struggling to integrate his two lives), but not how far he was ready and willing to go. At least not immediately. Which means this season is looking iiiiiinnteresting. :)

... Of course, we are so hair-trigger when it comes to ANYTHING being wrong with our boys, it's not a question of whether we'll react, but what we're reacting to.

[SPELLING GRR]