No rest for the wicked - a meta on families

[missyjack]

Supernatural has always been a show about family, and in the finale we had a comparison of two families - the Winchesters and the Freemonts. Both are families isolated and suffering, each unhappy in their own way.

We have spent three seasons now exploring the Winchester family. Unhappy? Sometimes. Dysfunctional? Certainly.

Isolation is a major

Comments

[lilacsigil]

I really liked that Dean tried to break the cycle of death and sacrifice, something that had been instilled in him at an early age. Sam does need to remember what John taught him, and what John taught Sam is rather different to what he taught Dean, regardless of his intent. John taught Sam loyalty, but he also taught him independent thought and self-preservation, to "use his giant brain". Sam needs to remember those lessons - Dean has given him a chance to break free of the abusive cycle (which, while done with love, certainly hasn't given Dean his own life - we saw his first frustration with this after John's sacrifice, and again in his dreams) and Sam needs to stop following the old, destructive paths.

I wonder if Sam's refusal to use his supposed powers is part of the old "supernatural is evil" path, which he has often refused (e.g. Lenore) and to which Dean has strongly reverted as his deal came closer (refusing the immortality route, telling Sam not to use his powers, etc.)

[missyjack]

Of course I have no doubt that Dean is all "do as i say not as i do", I dont doubt, even now that he would not, could not, make the same deal again. Knowing whats played out in the family and being able to resist it being two different things. I am really interested to see how things progress from here, whether Sam will break this cycle. Certainly there has also been a strong blurring of the supernatural=evil divide since S2 and I can't to see how this gets played out.

[runedgirl]

One of the things I love most about Supernatural is its refusal to paint things black and white, its determination to show ambiguity and ambivalence and nuance -- the way things are in 'real life'. The multiple layers that every episode tries to convey (I didn't even realize the Fremonts were also an homage to an old Twilight Zone ep, which often tackled similar issues of isolation, paranoia, prejudice, etc) echo the multiple layers the writers/directors/actors try to portray in the characters as well. There aren't easy answers, they have to struggle, and they sometimes waver or are inconsistent (or say things that aren't very well considered, as recent fandom discussions keep pondering), but they always seem *real*. And the themes are always there underneath -- in this case, yes, the dangers and the costs of isolation, as well as the very real depiction of how impossibly hard it is to break cycles within families. We can see Dean and Sam struggling with this, just like in real life we all struggle to break free from our own family

[stare_at_walls]

YES. That's all I have to say. YES. :)