SPN 9x5 - Dog Dean Afternoon
I really liked the effect of the “previously on.” Intentionally or not - though I do tend to think it was intentional - it was really illustrative of the number this whole angel-what-angel situation Sam’s living in right now must feel like to him. When shit is so fucked up, it’s that much more important to be able to trust what your eyes are telling you and what your brain makes of it.
Again, Dean starts the episode by walking in and tell Sam that Sam needs healing, Sam isn’t himself, Sam I know you better than you know you and you should just believe me when I tell you you’re not capable of doing what you want to do. Sam did the trials to prove that he was worthwhile to Dean, and now here Dean is using the trials as an excuse to put him down and tell him he’s the load. AGAIN. By the end of the episode, I was wondering if his motivations for continuing to lie to Sam about Ezekiel have grown to include that he deliberately wants to reserve the ability to call on Zeke’s power for himself. If Sam’d known that he had angel-power at his disposal, he could have protected himself against the chef (Leo?).
The Zeke situation is highlighted unsettlingly with the constant reminders that Sam has no idea what’s going on and is relying on Dean to translate for him. His irritability at not knowing what's going on outweighs even his love of playing with doggies (what? He didn't know it was a perv!) (edit: the dog was Beverly Leslie! I FUCKING KNEW IT!). And oh, how chillingly appropriate was the fact that the chef got the jump on Sam by camouflage? Sam looks around and everything seems fine to him; he has no idea there’s a threat lurking right there. When he does get into it with the chef, he loses critical seconds just standing there wondering “WHAT HUH?!” He’s just suspicious enough to want to know what the guy means, rather than swinging back into the fight, but he’s only aware that he’s clueless, so he can’t figure it out in time.
The episode leaned satisfyingly hard on the real motivation for Dean’s behavior this season (and for a very long time previously): “You really think that the power you have over other people’s lives can make up for what you lack in your own?” I don’t think it’s an accident that Dean’s been threatened with, or experienced, some form of identity compromise with a frequency he hasn’t for a very long time. It’s serving to highlight what he’s doing in covering for Ezekiel, but I think it’s also contributing to the bad behavior. After Abaddon’s threats, the witch’s spell, and coming over all canine, Dean has been forcefully reminded that he can’t control whether or not he gets possessed. But he can control whether or not Sam is possessed.
The episode also suggested that Ezekiel is jerking Sam around intentionally. Zeke is capable of laser-targeting Sam’s memory loss, but he’s only doing so selectively. Sam doesn’t remember the slash to the jugular he took, but he does remember the chef suggesting he’s inhuman. It seems likely that Zeke is leaving Sam a trail of bread crumbs - just enough that Sam constantly feels destabilized and Dean is always called on for explanations, leading him to dig himself in deeper by lying more.
Also, Sam is sleeping for eight hours a night? That is to say, he’s unconscious for an unusual amount of time? That’s a lot of time for Zeke to get up to something.
(Just in case it’s not clear, I didn’t pick these two quotes for being particularly problematic or anything, they just came up on my dash very recently and close together, and crystallized the issue conveniently. This is a problem in much of SPN fandom right now.)
comment A:
Just wanted to say that this scene broke my heart into a million pieces and I cried like a little baby.The way Dean hovered over Sam and begged him to wake up.How he took his face into his hands and desperately shook him.He was terrified he had lost him.Just.DON’T.TOUCH.ME.I CAN’T HANDLE MY FEELINGS RIGHT NOW.
comment B:
Sam should be demanding to know what’s going on by now.
Seriously, there aren’t any excuses.
The phenomenon described in Comment A is THE REASON the phenomenon described in Comment B is happening. Because SAM believes this whole yarn about THE BROTHERS ON THE SAME PAGE BROTHER LOVE THE BEST THING IN THE WORLD OVERRIDING ALL RATIONAL THOUGHT WARBLGRBL. Sam isn’t demanding to know what’s going on primarily* because he thinks things are so great, Dean loves him so much, they’re on the same page now, he’s so lucky his big brother looks out for him and worries about him like this, that he’s working hard to ignore what his logical mind is telling him. This isn’t something for which the character or THE RITURRRZZZ need to make excuses. It is the most likely outcome of Dean’s course of action here. It is a classic psychological horror trope. I’m not saying anyone has to be into the storytelling in the way I am, but let’s not pretend this is bizarre and inexplicable.
*There are two other reasons:
(1) that Dean has been specifically undermining Sam’s sense of competence, which makes it a lot harder for Sam to question Dean’s competence, even if he rationally knows the feats Dean claims to be pulling off are unlikely or impossible. In Sam’s (even more tortured than usual) logic: “I don’t think Dean could have done that -> well, I know I couldn’t have done that -> but I TOTALLY KNOW Dean is tougher than me -> I’m just making excuses for being weaker than Dean -> Dean is right, I’m so lucky I have him to protect me.”
(2) We really are getting a lot more information about this than Sam is. He doesn’t know he’s blanking out, since Zeke can cut him off and leave him back mid-sentence. He just knows he’s gotten a few improbable saves here and there, which he’s probably only needed because like Dean says he’s still weak from the Trials (even if he doesn’t know he feels weak, he must be, right?) and gosh, isn’t Dean swell?
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