Rewatch S6: The Man Who Knew Too Much (6.22)

[hells_half_acre]

Finally at the Finale! You know, I was looking forward to being finished with my rewatches, but now I'm kind of sad that they are over. :P

This is an interesting episode in terms of Sam's clothes. Both Soulless!Sam and Hell!Sam are wearing the clothes that Sam wore when he fell. BlankSlate!Sam (or Sam!Sam, as I call him, because it's fun to say) is

Comments

[vail_kagami]

Again, this sort of negates my "angels don't have gender" wish, because Raphael still refers to himself as a "brother" even though he is in a woman's body.

In my personal head-canon, this can be blamed on limitations of the English language more than anything else. (In my personal head-canon, it's also silly that angels speak English when among themselves, but I admit that speaking Enochian would kinda make it hard for the viewer to follow.)

I've lost Lisa, I've lost Ben, now I've lost Sam, don't make me lose you too.

There's something that always rubbed me in the wrong way about Dean's words. Because it seems he's forgetting that he lost Lisa and Ben, and most of all Sam, because of Cas - or that he just doesn't care. Like, he's so dependent on having someone to cling to that he doesn't really care who it is, and everything Cas has done is forgiven if only he doesn't leave Dean. He "killed" Sam? That's okay, as long as he replaces him.
I know this wasn't meant this way, but it's still an unfortunate choice of words the writers put into Dean's mouth here.

[hells_half_acre]

In my personal head-canon, this can be blamed on limitations of the English language more than anything else.

Ooo, I like that theory! I will believe that now, so that I can keep my genderless angels. :)

Like, he's so dependent on having someone to cling to that he doesn't really care who it is, and everything Cas has done is forgiven if only he doesn't leave Dean.

That's a good point, at the same time, I'm not sure it's completely a mistake on the part of the writers - it DOES actually sound a bit like Dean (at least until you get to the 'killed' Sam part.)

I think that part of Dean was thinking that as long as Cas was still his friend, there was a chance that Cas would heal Sam for him. At least, that's how I heard it.

[vail_kagami]

I think that part of Dean was thinking that as long as Cas was still his friend, there was a chance that Cas would heal Sam for him. At least, that's how I heard it.

I like your interpretation a lot more than mine, in any case!

There have been a few things about Dean, mostly in regard to Sam, that rubbed me in the wrong way. Don't get me wrong - there's no doubt for me that Dean is absolutely in love with his brother (in the platonic, brotherly way, of course :P) and I could watch Like a Virgin over and over just for how in love with Sam Dean is, but sometimes he kind of failed to express it.
Main example (and this must be only me, since I never saw it mentioned anywhere else and maybe I just missed something vital here): Dean's motivation for getting Sam's soul back seems to be the fact that he doesn't like soulless Sam. He likes Sam with a soul, he doesn't like Sam without a soul, ergo, Sam needs his soul back. At no point did he bring up the very important fact that they should get Sam's soul out of Hell so that Sam would not be in Hell and, you know, being tortured for all eternity.

Maybe this can be blamed on Dean's inability to see things from anything but his own perspective, but, no, that doesn't work here. He's been to Hell, he can sympathize. Dean's actually always been pretty good at sympathizing if he can identify with a problem because he's been there himself. Which leaves me wondering if this was an oversight by the writers, there was a deeper meaning to it, or it's really just me...

On an unrelated note, would you mind if I friend you? I'd like to keep an eye out for your entries!

[hells_half_acre]

Which leaves me wondering if this was an oversight by the writers, there was a deeper meaning to it, or it's really just me...

It's NOT just you. I had the same problem with a lot of the episodes that discuss getting Sam's soul back. And, sadly, I do think it was an oversight by the writers - who seemed too preoccupied with what was happening on earth, rather than what was happening in hell. It doesn't make ANY sense from a character level, especially when it comes to Dean, and it annoyed the crap out of me.

On an unrelated note, would you mind if I friend you? I'd like to keep an eye out for your entries!

Go ahead! The more the merrier! :)

[vail_kagami]

Thanks! Friended you!

Glad it wasn't just me!
I guess you're right about the writer oversight - though it seems to be quite a big thing not to see. At least it was the first thing that came to my mind whenever Sam's soul still being in Hell was mentioned.
At least with Cas seeming to think it would be better for Sam to be left in Hell we can conjure some kind of explanation for this messed-up logic. Even though it's not a pretty one.

[percysowner]

You can add me to the group who was always upset that no one seemed to want to get Sam out just to stop his suffering. I NEVER understood why Dean didn't tell Castiel that if Sam's soul was so destroyed then Cas should take Sam to heaven so he could rest. If Cas had said that Sam's soul was in too bad shape for that to work the whole story would have been slightly more palatable.

I've lost Lisa, I've lost Ben, now I've lost Sam, don't make me lose you too.

I admit, I always handwaved this speech as Dean trying to keep Castiel's attention because he saw Sam sneaking up behind Castiel with the sword. I mean let's face it, Sam isn't small enough to not be seen by Dean coming up behind Cas and he was probably seizing and in bad shape. I don't see how Dean could have missed him. I really don't want to think that Dean is SO desperate for companionship that he would be friends with Sam's murderer just to avoid being alone, especially since Bobby was still alive. If he was willing to swap Cas for Sam then Dean really needed to make a bunch of apologies to Sam for blaming him for taking up with Ruby, since Ruby had supposedly been trying to save Dean and not kill him before Dean died. I mean, at least Sam didn't make friends with Lilith after Dean went to Hell.

[hells_half_acre]

I mean, at least Sam didn't make friends with Lilith after Dean went to Hell.

LOL....sorry, I just had to laugh at the idea of that.

I admit, I always handwaved this speech as Dean trying to keep Castiel's attention because he saw Sam sneaking up behind Castiel with the sword.

Oh yeah! How quickly I forget (or don't think of that)...it's sort of hard to miss your giant Sasquatch brother sneaking up behind the dude you are talking to. In which case, the "I've lost Sam" is the perfect way to say "Sam is definitely not sneaking up behind you right now with an angel sword." And the "don't make me lose you too" is code for "say something right now that's worthy of me stopping my brother from justifiably killing you."

[galwithglasses]

I think while Dean is saying these thing to Cas, Jensen looks away from Cas pretty deliberately and I think that might be when Dean sees Sam coming in. Evidently Sam still has ninja knees.

In this last little bit talking to Cas about how he's Dean's family, Dean gives him the same kind of last chance that he gave Samuel. I don't think Sam stabs Cas until after Cas turns Dean down and rejects him as family like Samuel does. If the angel sword had worked, Sam would have been the one who killed them both.

[hells_half_acre]

If the angel sword had worked, Sam would have been the one who killed them both.

Ooo, very true.