Mirror Mirror: Theories & Thinky Thoughts on SPN S6
“I’ve been looking up to you since I was four, Dean. Studying you- trying to be just like my big brother.” ----Sam Winchester in Fresh Blood.
The following is a theory - or at least a series of thinky thoughts that have been floating around in my head since the beginning of the season which have solidified since “Clap Your Hands If You Believe”. (And which may also all be blown to smithereens by tomorrow’s episode)
Throughout the Season so far there have been several recurring themes, both blatant and subtle. There’s been a theme of origins and Alphas - family legacy if you will (Hello Grandpa Campbell!), a theme about souls that was so anvilicious in the early episodes that most folks figured out what was up with Sam long before anyone on the Show had a clue (Shut up, Crowley!).
And there’s also been a fairly subtle theme of Mirrors.
Right from the beginning, I thought that the new opening title card was a mirror shattering.
Click to viewThe shards of glass show bits of the title in reverse as they fly out. My initial reaction to this imagery was to flash back to last Season’s Finale when Sam and Lucifer had their little chat in the cracked mirror…
...and to panic thoroughly.
Though now I think Luci’s been most likely taken out of the equation (not counting him out completely though) the mirror imagery has been pretty persistent. There have been numerous shots of reflective surfaces that have been held long enough to seem important, significant looks in the mirror, the Alpha Shifter becoming the Double of whomever he attacked (*which annoyed me at first, but now I think they may have been making a point), and of course those creepy little Vampire Twins from Dean’s dream sequence. They haven’t been mentioned again, and if they turn out to have no further significance to the plot, they at least serve as a powerful image that falls into the same theme of mirroring.
Then in this past episode, the theme continued as Sam and Dean posed as reporters for The Mirror (kudos to feliciakw for catching that one) and the Rumplestilskin/ Red Cap Fairy who “mirrored” Dean’s movements while stalking him.
What do all the mirrors have to do with anything? Well, for one of course, there’s plenty of lore about mirrors reflecting the Soul or potentially capturing Souls (Remember Bloody Mary? Of course you do!) This could hold a key to how Sam might actually get his Soul back.
But it was during a discussion in ash48 ’s episode recap that a different angle occurred to me. amnisias pointed out that “current SAM - a soul seams to = old DEAN. The boozing, the picking up or ogling gorgeous ladies, the denial of suffering... I just had these weird flash-backs when Dean was trying to talk to Sam and he kept being distracted by the waitress. It used to be just the other way round, with Sam trying to talk about a case and Dean doing a bit of flirting on the side and Sam giving him a stern look. They even seem to have copied each others mannerisms...”… And my brain instantly flashed upon the concept of “Mirroring”.
This usually refers to “the behavior in which one person copies another person usually while in social interaction with them.” (Monkey see, Monkey do). But it can also refer to a trait found among Sociopaths or people with Borderline Personality Disorder. In a nutshell, the person with such a personality disorder has no strong sense of self and so will reflect back the personality, habits and values they perceive in another in order to establish some kind of connection with that person.
Which leads us back to dear Sammy’s current dilemma. No Soul. No moral compass. No sense of Self. He has nothing to guide him but his primal instincts, his body...
(and whadda body!)
...his memories of what “normal” looks like. Ironically though, his external actions no long reflect Old!Sam’s values or ideals. Instead they reflect DEAN’S (or Old!Dean’s at any rate)
The Dean of earlier seasons was a driven hunter, completely focused on his job, his mission and above all his own warped idea of “family”. He was also guided by the physical pleasures of food, booze and sex. These were all things that Old!Sam shunned before. He hated the hunters’ life and resented the idea that “family” meant falling in line, obeying orders. He longed for and eventually sought greener pastures and “ditched” the life he had known before. He also had much less interest in food and sex than Dean. He was always more interested in establishing an emotional relationship with women and balked at the idea of just “hooking up” for the fun of it. Soulless!Sam still has his memories and must remember his own past behavior. And yet, instead of choosing to model his behavior after memories of his old self- he instead models his behavior after his brother! (and to a certain extent his father and Grandfather -consummate hunters they)
Now most folks are probably thinking: “Yeah, but even at his horn doggiest, Dean was never THAT bad! And driven as he was hunting wise, he was never as heartless as Sam is now acting!” And you’re right. Deep down, Dean was never that bad.
But remember how the brothers perceived one another in “Tall Tales”? Sam’s perception of Dean as a boozing womanizer was skewed and over the top (as was Dean’s perception of Sam as pissy little bitchfaced Emo boy).
Sam, without a Soul has no concept of personal truth or depth. Again he’s all about the body. All about the surface. And this is what he’s reflecting is his perception of the outward surface of Dean’s behavior. (Monkey See, Monkey Do to a scary extent)
To drive this point home further, Soulless!Sam spent much of his year up top blindly devoted to his Grandpa and his cousins even though he knew nothing about them or what their ultimate motives were. They were “family” and Soulless!Sam was reflecting Dean’s emphasis on “family” as being deeply important. It wasn’t until Dean pointed out to him that “family” might not have the same meaning to the Campbells as it did to the Winchesters that Sam even realized there was a potential flaw in his logic. Because to Soulless!Sam there is no deep meaning to words like family- only the surface definition of blood relative.
What’s significant to me is that the surface things Soulless!Sam has decided are important and worth connecting with (hunting, family, horn doggery) are things he perceived were important to Dean. Otherwise, Soulless!Sam would have woken up in that field and promptly enrolled himself in Law School. (I’m sure there’s a Soulless Lawyer joke in there somewhere, but I’m not gonna make it ;-)
To me, this means that even though he claims not to care about Dean (and his actions certainly do demonstrate a lack of caring) deep down, somewhere in the depths of where Sam’s soul should be there’s a void. And he’s chosen to fill that void up with Dean-ness. As he said to Dean in “Fresh Blood”, he’s spent his whole life studying Dean and trying to be just like his big brother. And now, stripped of any real sense of self Sam goes back to that earliest primal instinct of mimicking normal human behavior. Dean was his first teacher, his first model and therefore the more important to him.
I’d also like to believe that his choice in mirroring Dean above anyone else (including himself) shows that somewhere he DOES care about his brother. That this is the connection that means something to him in a world without meaning.
I also like to think that if mirrors are reflections of the Soul, then Sam’s need to mirror Dean has a deeper significance that these two are in fact Soul Mates. (Not in the romantic sense- but in a deep, spiritually bonded kind of way.) cece_away wrote this gorgeous fic wherein a lot of these same themes cropped up. And while I won’t spoil that for you here, let’s just say there was a very good reason given as to why the boys were mirroring each other’s behavior.
For Dean too has in his own way been mirroring a lot of Old!Sam’s behaviors. He’s more compassionate when interviewing witnesses, less enthused about hunting and more concerned behaving ethically while hunting. Family is still important to him, but not as a vague, unbending concept. The family he wishes to establish with Lisa and Ben- that white picket fence life that used to be important to Sam. Now, a lot of Dean’s current behavior has to do with personal growth on his part. But at the same time, there may be an instinctual, primal need to fill the void that was left behind with Sammy took the plunge… and sadly is still there as the giant Sam shaped thing currently joined at his hip is NOT Sam.
What’s going on with these two is NOT a role reversal, but rather a reflection of surface behaviors- a mirroring of what each brother believed was important to the other. And I’d love for that to mean that even though we’re getting no true brother moments, no sharing of beers, no Double Mint twins, no “Bitch” “Jerk” exchanges (and pardon me while a wipe away a tear for THAT) that the brother bond is still there- not far. Just a quick step through the Looking Glass.
And again, everything I’ve spoken of could be completely shattered by whatever is to happen in tomorrow night’s episode. But ummmm… if so…. Well, look at all the pretty pictures posted here!
PRETTY!!