lots of SPN day 1(c)
TIME FOR THE BEST EPISODE.
Mystery Spot is S3’s crowning achievement, of course, in large part because of the way it sets up Sam’s future characterization. The stated lesson is a bit of an anvil. Not an unfair or misplaced one, but not particularly subtle.
TRICKSTER: How long will it take you to realize you can’t save your brother?
Except OMG, LIES, that's not the lesson at all. He’s not trying to help Sam, though I think he does sympathize. He’s running on projection and desperation Winchester-style, using Sam as his Lucifer stand-in to throw a temper tantrum at someone about how he wishes his brothers would make like him and chill the fuck out. But if he was trying to prevent the apocalypse, he blew it royally (YOU AND EVERYONE ELSE, BROSKI); if he’d been consciously trying to get Sam on the path to Lucifer Rising, he couldn’t have done a better job than this.
I will never for the life of me understand why people say “retcon” like it’s a categorically bad thing. The Trickster was great as a big old troll, but his eventual identity makes the whole thing so much more poignant. OH GABRIEL. You break my heart, kid.
DEAN: I'm telling you, Sam, this job's small fry. We should be spending our time hunting down Bela.
SAM: Okay, sure, let's get right on that-where is she again?
DEAN: Shut up.
SAM: Look, believe me, I want to find her as bad as you do. In the meantime, we have this.
(transcript from SuperWiki)
All of this happened because Sam insisted on taking a MOTW case rather than focusing on the big picture. Or did he take them to the Mystery Spot hoping it was real and he could use it somehow to indefinitely prolong the time before Dean’s deal was up, the way he does when he gets desperate in 3x15? Careful what you wish for, Sammy.
Whatever the motivations, it all goes to shit, because it’s a day that ends in “y.” And oh, the poor proactive puppy, he tries to fight it, this world that’s out to get him from every angle, he fights it so hard it’s all he can see (OH HI THERE YED ISSUES).
DEAN: A hundred Tuesdays, and you never looked what she had in her hands?
Okay, so this is probably supposed to make us think that Sam’s being self-involved, because it is coming off a scene where he’s grousing. Generally not an unfair criticism to make of Sam, but in this case, he wasn’t paying attention to the girl with the fliers because he was busy trying to keep his eyes out for everything that could possibly hurt Dean. Takeaway: focusing on small-picture protection means you miss stuff and are stupid. Way better to step back and look at things you don’t think are directly relevant.
The clowns or midgets refrain set up a Dean who is goofy and oblivious, who Sam has to protect because he just doesn’t get it. An irrational reaction, for sure, but one that would sink in subconsciously after a hundred Tuesdays. Also, if you leave him alone for two seconds, he gets ripped apart by a dog.
SAM: Nothing changes in this diner. Except for me.
He’s the only one who knows the truth. He gets validation for his certainty that he really is Special/tragically disconnected from the world around him, depending on your level of sympathy for him. Other people are oblivious at best, and almost inevitably dangerous. Fuck ‘em.
BOBBY’S VOICE: Don’t tell me you’re sitting alone in a room somewhere obsessing about that damn trickster.
Even people who think they know him can’t be trusted. Because they don’t get it, and anyway, they’re liars.
Sam already knows life will suck without Dean, that’s why he’s fighting it - but that now he has this experience which suggests to him that he can go down this dark road without losing his humanity. Really, he can stop any time he wants to. It’s not like he really went over the edge. He handled the Trickster without hurting any bystanders! Twice! He knows where to draw the line.
Right.
Most importantly, though, he does get Dean back at the end, because he kept going after the Trickster. This is the ultimate validation of his revenge obsession. Before this, it was a psychological phenomenon, a way for him to think he was asserting some agency against the forces that have yanked him around since before he even existed. This experience doesn’t just soothe his ethical discomfort with the hunter lifestyle and his emotional need to lash out, it solidifies the whole thing into a big old fight he can win. Vengeance works.
Oh Gabriel. Oh, Sam.
Mystery Spot is S3’s crowning achievement, of course, in large part because of the way it sets up Sam’s future characterization. The stated lesson is a bit of an anvil. Not an unfair or misplaced one, but not particularly subtle.
TRICKSTER: How long will it take you to realize you can’t save your brother?
Except OMG, LIES, that's not the lesson at all. He’s not trying to help Sam, though I think he does sympathize. He’s running on projection and desperation Winchester-style, using Sam as his Lucifer stand-in to throw a temper tantrum at someone about how he wishes his brothers would make like him and chill the fuck out. But if he was trying to prevent the apocalypse, he blew it royally (YOU AND EVERYONE ELSE, BROSKI); if he’d been consciously trying to get Sam on the path to Lucifer Rising, he couldn’t have done a better job than this.
I will never for the life of me understand why people say “retcon” like it’s a categorically bad thing. The Trickster was great as a big old troll, but his eventual identity makes the whole thing so much more poignant. OH GABRIEL. You break my heart, kid.
DEAN: I'm telling you, Sam, this job's small fry. We should be spending our time hunting down Bela.
SAM: Okay, sure, let's get right on that-where is she again?
DEAN: Shut up.
SAM: Look, believe me, I want to find her as bad as you do. In the meantime, we have this.
(transcript from SuperWiki)
All of this happened because Sam insisted on taking a MOTW case rather than focusing on the big picture. Or did he take them to the Mystery Spot hoping it was real and he could use it somehow to indefinitely prolong the time before Dean’s deal was up, the way he does when he gets desperate in 3x15? Careful what you wish for, Sammy.
Whatever the motivations, it all goes to shit, because it’s a day that ends in “y.” And oh, the poor proactive puppy, he tries to fight it, this world that’s out to get him from every angle, he fights it so hard it’s all he can see (OH HI THERE YED ISSUES).
DEAN: A hundred Tuesdays, and you never looked what she had in her hands?
Okay, so this is probably supposed to make us think that Sam’s being self-involved, because it is coming off a scene where he’s grousing. Generally not an unfair criticism to make of Sam, but in this case, he wasn’t paying attention to the girl with the fliers because he was busy trying to keep his eyes out for everything that could possibly hurt Dean. Takeaway: focusing on small-picture protection means you miss stuff and are stupid. Way better to step back and look at things you don’t think are directly relevant.
The clowns or midgets refrain set up a Dean who is goofy and oblivious, who Sam has to protect because he just doesn’t get it. An irrational reaction, for sure, but one that would sink in subconsciously after a hundred Tuesdays. Also, if you leave him alone for two seconds, he gets ripped apart by a dog.
SAM: Nothing changes in this diner. Except for me.
He’s the only one who knows the truth. He gets validation for his certainty that he really is Special/tragically disconnected from the world around him, depending on your level of sympathy for him. Other people are oblivious at best, and almost inevitably dangerous. Fuck ‘em.
BOBBY’S VOICE: Don’t tell me you’re sitting alone in a room somewhere obsessing about that damn trickster.
Even people who think they know him can’t be trusted. Because they don’t get it, and anyway, they’re liars.
Sam already knows life will suck without Dean, that’s why he’s fighting it - but that now he has this experience which suggests to him that he can go down this dark road without losing his humanity. Really, he can stop any time he wants to. It’s not like he really went over the edge. He handled the Trickster without hurting any bystanders! Twice! He knows where to draw the line.
Right.
Most importantly, though, he does get Dean back at the end, because he kept going after the Trickster. This is the ultimate validation of his revenge obsession. Before this, it was a psychological phenomenon, a way for him to think he was asserting some agency against the forces that have yanked him around since before he even existed. This experience doesn’t just soothe his ethical discomfort with the hunter lifestyle and his emotional need to lash out, it solidifies the whole thing into a big old fight he can win. Vengeance works.
Oh Gabriel. Oh, Sam.