SPN 7.03
The good, the bad and the thinky-thoughts:
So. let's get the ugly bit out of the way first. You know where I CRY LIKE A LITTLE GIRL BECAUSE THEY SKIPPED OVER THREE WEEKS OF DEAN WITH A BROKEN LEG. WTF. MY EXPECTATIONS ARE STILL WAITING BY THE PHONE FOR THE H/C TO CALL. THEY ASKED FOR MY PHONE NUMBER AND I WAS SO EXCITED GUYS. BUT IT WAS A PRANK CALL AND NOW IM SAD. THE PAIN!!!! NOW I HAZ IT, NOT DEAN AND THAT'S NO FAIR!
But moving on....
I also thought it was weird that they would leave us with such a dramatic cliffhanger and have it all resolved 5 minutes and 13 seconds in. I mean, Sam and Dean were inside the belly of the beast. Even Pinocchio had to come up with the old sneezing trick to get him and Geppetto from out of Monstro's belly. Apparently, all Bobby had to do was show up. It seemed to me like last week was a fake TBC. And that Dean's broken leg was really just a plot device used to divide the brothers up and free up JA to direct. Which sucks.
But looking beyond that, I thought the episode wasn't bad. And I'm glad it's provoked some discussion about Dean's moral fiber. There's a lot of mixed feelings about what happened in that last scene, and I can see why. Amy's (and Sam's) story comes off as quite sympathetic (plus Jewel Staite is such a doll!) that it's hard to watch Dean listen to it, and then turn around and kill her behind Sam's back.
I have to agree with the folks on my f-list who note that Dean is feeling pretty hopeless right now, and that his lack of belief that he or Sam will ever be able to shake off the terrible hand they've been dealt in life is only being reflected in the way he thinks things will turn out with Amy if he doesn't stop her. He's convinced he'll never be able to be anything but a hunter with the weight of the world on his shoulders, no matter how hard he tries, and Amy will never be able to be anything but a monster, no matter how hard she tries. Everyone is basically fucked.
But there are other elements at work here as well, other aspects of Dean's personality, and life experiences that caused him to react the way he did.
Think about everything Dean went through with Cas last season. All of Cas' "buts". Like "I know it's wrong to work with Crowley, but...." or "I know this is super dangerous but..." And Cas just begged Dean to trust him, to go along with the plan and believe that everything would turn out for the best.
No, Dean isn't a fan of "buts" right now. So when Sam provided him with his heartfelt story of "I know she's a monster, buuuuuut..." Dean did what he couldn't do for Cas. He nipped it in the bud (although if he'd really wanted to do so thoroughly, he WOULD have killed the kid too, but kids are just... well that's just a line he can't cross, thank god). A huge part of Dean's identity is wrapped up in damage control - not just protecting those he loves, but cleaning up their messes and tying up the loose ends they leave behind. The fact that he couldn't manage to pull it off with Castiel, and is still grieving his loss because of it, just makes him that much more sensitive about maintaining that role with Sam.
If we look even further back into the life and times of Dean Winchester, back to the beloved episode, "Faith", we'll recall that Dean believes that one can't place a higher value on one human than another. Roy LeGrange's wife did just that with him, and a man she believed was immoral was taken by a reaper so that Dean could live. It troubled him to his core, and it's a burden he's carried ever since. So the idea of killing others in order to save one of your own? Even if you think they deserve it? Amy is essentially no better than Sue-Ann LeGrange, and is "playing god" by deciding her son's life has more value than the lives of the men she's killed.
Anyways, these are my thoughts, and even if the way the scene was written made Dean's actions seem cold and heartless, remember that he's emotionally numb, and I hope some of the things I've brought up here shed some light on, or at least take some of the sting out of his actions.
Here's hoping he gets to shed at least one emo tear soon, so we can be sure his heart hasn't shriveled up completely!
*PS, I just read the Wikipedia entry about the novel of the same name, about two sisters and their abusive aunt who also allows other kids to also abuse one of the girls. It has this to say regarding the narrator, who ends up killing the Aunt in the end:
As he grows up he tracks the whereabouts of the other children who helped to torture Meg, discovering that they have either died young as a result of reckless lifestyles or have gone on to lives of poverty and crime. After reading of a brutal crime spree perpetuated by one of the now grown children, David is left to wonder what has become of the children he was unable to track.
Interesting!
So. let's get the ugly bit out of the way first. You know where I CRY LIKE A LITTLE GIRL BECAUSE THEY SKIPPED OVER THREE WEEKS OF DEAN WITH A BROKEN LEG. WTF. MY EXPECTATIONS ARE STILL WAITING BY THE PHONE FOR THE H/C TO CALL. THEY ASKED FOR MY PHONE NUMBER AND I WAS SO EXCITED GUYS. BUT IT WAS A PRANK CALL AND NOW IM SAD. THE PAIN!!!! NOW I HAZ IT, NOT DEAN AND THAT'S NO FAIR!
But moving on....
I also thought it was weird that they would leave us with such a dramatic cliffhanger and have it all resolved 5 minutes and 13 seconds in. I mean, Sam and Dean were inside the belly of the beast. Even Pinocchio had to come up with the old sneezing trick to get him and Geppetto from out of Monstro's belly. Apparently, all Bobby had to do was show up. It seemed to me like last week was a fake TBC. And that Dean's broken leg was really just a plot device used to divide the brothers up and free up JA to direct. Which sucks.
But looking beyond that, I thought the episode wasn't bad. And I'm glad it's provoked some discussion about Dean's moral fiber. There's a lot of mixed feelings about what happened in that last scene, and I can see why. Amy's (and Sam's) story comes off as quite sympathetic (plus Jewel Staite is such a doll!) that it's hard to watch Dean listen to it, and then turn around and kill her behind Sam's back.
I have to agree with the folks on my f-list who note that Dean is feeling pretty hopeless right now, and that his lack of belief that he or Sam will ever be able to shake off the terrible hand they've been dealt in life is only being reflected in the way he thinks things will turn out with Amy if he doesn't stop her. He's convinced he'll never be able to be anything but a hunter with the weight of the world on his shoulders, no matter how hard he tries, and Amy will never be able to be anything but a monster, no matter how hard she tries. Everyone is basically fucked.
But there are other elements at work here as well, other aspects of Dean's personality, and life experiences that caused him to react the way he did.
Think about everything Dean went through with Cas last season. All of Cas' "buts". Like "I know it's wrong to work with Crowley, but...." or "I know this is super dangerous but..." And Cas just begged Dean to trust him, to go along with the plan and believe that everything would turn out for the best.
No, Dean isn't a fan of "buts" right now. So when Sam provided him with his heartfelt story of "I know she's a monster, buuuuuut..." Dean did what he couldn't do for Cas. He nipped it in the bud (although if he'd really wanted to do so thoroughly, he WOULD have killed the kid too, but kids are just... well that's just a line he can't cross, thank god). A huge part of Dean's identity is wrapped up in damage control - not just protecting those he loves, but cleaning up their messes and tying up the loose ends they leave behind. The fact that he couldn't manage to pull it off with Castiel, and is still grieving his loss because of it, just makes him that much more sensitive about maintaining that role with Sam.
If we look even further back into the life and times of Dean Winchester, back to the beloved episode, "Faith", we'll recall that Dean believes that one can't place a higher value on one human than another. Roy LeGrange's wife did just that with him, and a man she believed was immoral was taken by a reaper so that Dean could live. It troubled him to his core, and it's a burden he's carried ever since. So the idea of killing others in order to save one of your own? Even if you think they deserve it? Amy is essentially no better than Sue-Ann LeGrange, and is "playing god" by deciding her son's life has more value than the lives of the men she's killed.
Anyways, these are my thoughts, and even if the way the scene was written made Dean's actions seem cold and heartless, remember that he's emotionally numb, and I hope some of the things I've brought up here shed some light on, or at least take some of the sting out of his actions.
Here's hoping he gets to shed at least one emo tear soon, so we can be sure his heart hasn't shriveled up completely!
*PS, I just read the Wikipedia entry about the novel of the same name, about two sisters and their abusive aunt who also allows other kids to also abuse one of the girls. It has this to say regarding the narrator, who ends up killing the Aunt in the end:
As he grows up he tracks the whereabouts of the other children who helped to torture Meg, discovering that they have either died young as a result of reckless lifestyles or have gone on to lives of poverty and crime. After reading of a brutal crime spree perpetuated by one of the now grown children, David is left to wonder what has become of the children he was unable to track.
Interesting!