The 'terrifying' climax in this story is one of the weakest moments in the show, and it's a shame that that is what is remembered about it, since the Sam/John and Matt/Larry parrallels were instructive. And the reveal that John did check on Sam at Stanford always felt very significant to me.
It's really distracting. I tend to think of this as 'the one where the ending makes no sense', and remember that there's more too it than that when I actually sit down and watch it. :)
Yes - I think the thing with John becomes significant when it becomes clear that he has very little difficulty popping up wherever Sam and Dean are when he wants to. It's got that same feel to it, because he can constantly reassure himself that they're still breathing, but it doesn't really make them feel less abandoned because he's still not actually there.
They made comments here and there that Sam was the favored one. Checking up on Sam at Stanford? Continuing the pattern.
The interesting thing is Dean knows Sam's the favorite and doesn't care. And it's kind of amusing when demon's are throwing this in Dean's face as if it's some sort of revelation for Dean and Dean's all "yeah, and next?"
Well, Dean thinks Sam is John's favourite. Sam thinks otherwise, because Dean seems to get along with John better than he does. I don't think John's issues break down quite that way, myself. Mostly, he doesn't understand how their heads work because he operates as a loner and they don't. So they're interpreting it as favouritism when it's more John not quite appreciating what they need to get out of their relationship with him.
I don't think John understood his kids at all. He could appreciate that Dean wanted to follow in his footsteps and be a hunter and he could be proud of Sam's smarts, but I doubt he really understood either kid.
I get the impression that he's fairly bright, and when he actually devotes a bit of time to working them out he comes up with a few valuable insights. But mostly he just doesn't. He's either not there or he's worrying about something else, so he misses pretty much everything - and by the time he does start trying to understand them it's too late; he's dead before he really gets going.
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Yes - I think the thing with John becomes significant when it becomes clear that he has very little difficulty popping up wherever Sam and Dean are when he wants to. It's got that same feel to it, because he can constantly reassure himself that they're still breathing, but it doesn't really make them feel less abandoned because he's still not actually there.
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The interesting thing is Dean knows Sam's the favorite and doesn't care. And it's kind of amusing when demon's are throwing this in Dean's face as if it's some sort of revelation for Dean and Dean's all "yeah, and next?"
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