eight point oh-one.
First. FIRST.
Is it just me or...
[Spoiler (click to open)]
...do vamps normally not wear sunglasses and hang out in cemeteries IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY.
Somehow, I feel like zero people noticed this. Were we all too busy being shocked and surprised that one of the brothers is keeping a secret from the other one, or what? Maybe we were wondering if Benny had already broken ( Read more... )
Character-wise, Dean is easy. He's always been clearly cut and therefore, easier for the writers to get their brains wrapped around. He's a purpose-driven smart alec who has always felt that without a job, a goal, he'd be nothing. And that hasn't changed; if anything, it's gotten sharper. So yeah, I suspect that's what he meant about Purgatory's purity: life there is pared down to the very basics of survival, and that agrees with Dean immensely. The job is making it to the next day. There’s no room for insecurity or depression or “I gotta be your protector, Sammy.” It appears as though eating, sleeping, money and grooming are not issues in Purgatory either. I’m not saying it was FUN for him, mind you! It certainly wasn’t; he made it clear in no uncertain terms that it was a war zone. And of course it’s delightful to see him be the consummate bad-ass! It’s, frankly, easy. It’s the part of the sandwich that is dependable and solid and core. It’s the meat and potatoes.
Dean’s flashbacks are all about PLOT. His character is set and perfectly in-tone with what we’d expect of him; it’s the circumstances that have us wondering. Where is Cas? What’s up with Benny? What’s Purgatory like? How is Dean going to be the King God Hunter this time?
Ah, but then we have Sam, a character who has morphed from season to season to season, to the point that we’re not even sure quite who he is anymore. Show’s writers have not been very careful with him (as witnessed by the ham-fisted flashbacks you’ve already noted.) They let slide the defining traits that made Sam Sam in those earlier seasons: his smarts, his stubbornness, his kindness. Hell, the past two seasons he’s barely used that Big Brain of his, that walking Encyclopedia of Weird we all used to love so much. He has existed in a constant state of ‘broken’, either addicted to demon juice, soulless, effed up in the melon, or seeing figments of Lucifer at the QuickieMart. He has had not a single untainted opportunity to be the Sam he thinks he wants to be. Until now. He has more than earned the right to say, just once, “I don’t have to save the world this time.” This, coming from a guy who didn’t just sit around wishing he could give more or sign a petition; he really did give his (fictional) life. Sam has been the unthanked hero a dozen times over. Because Sam’s character hasn’t remained firm, we tend to get more focused on the superficial stuff, the ‘condiments’. When it works, it works gloriously and makes a good sandwich great, but when it doesn’t? It further degrades the character.
Now about those damned flashbacks, Sam’s are not simply about plot, they’re about “Why is he acting this way?” Why is he flipping out at the vet hospital? Why did he leave in the middle of the night, without saying good-bye? Why did he not look for Dean or Kevin? Why why why? The questions are far more internal and less ‘exciting’. It’s a very different journey and certainly, at this point, makes him tough to like.
I hope with all my fangirl being that the writers have a great rationale for making us squirm like this. This is an opportunity for some really potent storytelling; let’s give them time to succeed! (Or fail, which would really, really suck.)
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