So, I Saw the 300th Episode of Supernatural ...
I'm reminded of a story I read about Jeffrey Dean Morgan attending a SPN convention, and a fan tried to take him to task for the way the writers have portrayed John Winchester since JDM moved on from the show (Jump the Shark, Bad Boys, etc.), how they took a character who used to be just a flawed parent who needed to reassess his priorities and turned him into a shithead who deserved a visit from Child Protective Services and possibly some jail time for abuse and neglect. JDM put that fan right in their place, stressing that the man the writers turned John into was NOT the same man JDM played. Since we've gotten far more of the writers' version of John than JDM's version over the years, I always hoped if JDM ever did come back to the show he would remind fans of who John used to be, the man who loved his boys fiercely but learned a brutal lesson that the best way to love them was to prepare them for the coming war, the parent who reminded me of that badass warrior mama Sarah Connor from Terminator 2.
I think I got my wish. It's rare as hell that I sit down for a new episode of SPN nowadays, but I tuned in for this one, and I wasn't disappointed.
After JDM left the show, the writers would have us believe John was a man who took off to knock up some nurse with Adam (remember him?) and then ignore the kid all his life, the man who dropped Dean off at a boys' home and told Sam his brother was lost. The man who allegedly not only figured out the Yellow-Eyed Demon's ultimate plan for Psychic!Sam to lead a demon army, but also for Sam to become Satan's meatsuit and bring on the fucking Apocalypse, and didn't see fit to warn his sons about any of it. But that's not the John Winchester I saw the other night. I saw the one who praised young Dean for knowing the drill on how to protect little Sammy when John had to leave them alone to hunt a shtriga. I saw the one who DID return to Lawrence, setting his obsession with the YED aside because Dean crying on the phone, saying he needed his dad's help, was reason enough. I saw the one who, in his own way, was both protecting his eldest boy and trusting a well-trained grown man to hunt on his own when he parted ways with Dean to track down the YED alone. I saw the one who showed up at Stanford every chance he got, not just to check up on Sam, but also, I believe, because he missed him. I saw the one who, the first time he stood face to face with Sam again after their big split, was holding back tears and wanted nothing more than to hug his youngest son. I saw the man who may have fought with and even took breaks from Mary, but obviously never gave up on his marriage and family because he was right there in that house, hugging his kids and kissing his wife, the night the YED showed up. In short, I saw a man who'd never win a Father of the Year award, but was nowhere near the Grade-A asshole the writers made him out to be in the years since his death, a man who's worth Sam, Dean and Mary missing him terribly. That's who John Winchester was when Jeffrey Dean Morgan played him, and that's who John was when JDM came back.
Thank you, Mr. Morgan, for sticking to your guns about the kind of character you played. Thank you, Andrew Dabb and Meredith Glynn, for reminding the fandom of the broken man that always lay just underneath the stone-cold hunter exterior. Thank you, Jared and Jensen, for convincing us once again that Sam and Dean still love and miss their dad very much, and with good reason. Thank you all for reminding me that the looming legend of John Winchester is one of the elements of the early seasons that made me fall in love with this show in the first place.
Just ... thank you.
I think I got my wish. It's rare as hell that I sit down for a new episode of SPN nowadays, but I tuned in for this one, and I wasn't disappointed.
After JDM left the show, the writers would have us believe John was a man who took off to knock up some nurse with Adam (remember him?) and then ignore the kid all his life, the man who dropped Dean off at a boys' home and told Sam his brother was lost. The man who allegedly not only figured out the Yellow-Eyed Demon's ultimate plan for Psychic!Sam to lead a demon army, but also for Sam to become Satan's meatsuit and bring on the fucking Apocalypse, and didn't see fit to warn his sons about any of it. But that's not the John Winchester I saw the other night. I saw the one who praised young Dean for knowing the drill on how to protect little Sammy when John had to leave them alone to hunt a shtriga. I saw the one who DID return to Lawrence, setting his obsession with the YED aside because Dean crying on the phone, saying he needed his dad's help, was reason enough. I saw the one who, in his own way, was both protecting his eldest boy and trusting a well-trained grown man to hunt on his own when he parted ways with Dean to track down the YED alone. I saw the one who showed up at Stanford every chance he got, not just to check up on Sam, but also, I believe, because he missed him. I saw the one who, the first time he stood face to face with Sam again after their big split, was holding back tears and wanted nothing more than to hug his youngest son. I saw the man who may have fought with and even took breaks from Mary, but obviously never gave up on his marriage and family because he was right there in that house, hugging his kids and kissing his wife, the night the YED showed up. In short, I saw a man who'd never win a Father of the Year award, but was nowhere near the Grade-A asshole the writers made him out to be in the years since his death, a man who's worth Sam, Dean and Mary missing him terribly. That's who John Winchester was when Jeffrey Dean Morgan played him, and that's who John was when JDM came back.
Thank you, Mr. Morgan, for sticking to your guns about the kind of character you played. Thank you, Andrew Dabb and Meredith Glynn, for reminding the fandom of the broken man that always lay just underneath the stone-cold hunter exterior. Thank you, Jared and Jensen, for convincing us once again that Sam and Dean still love and miss their dad very much, and with good reason. Thank you all for reminding me that the looming legend of John Winchester is one of the elements of the early seasons that made me fall in love with this show in the first place.
Just ... thank you.