SPN 9x17 - Mother's Little Helper
SAAAAAAAAAAAAAM, BBY, YOU SAVED YOURSELF. I actually think the little things about the case were almost as important for him? Sam decided he wanted to venture out of the bunker, he worked closely with other people and had people be nice to him for once, he used his own inner resources to solve the case (both in terms of hearing his voice on the phone and remembering his experience of soullessness), he got to be a restorative force for other people when he returns the souls and gives Julia (?) a chance to confess and be absolved. <3
LOUDLY NOTING that when Sam asks for help, Dean blows him off. Sam rose to the occasion and it was good for him to remember that he can depend on himself, but still, DICK MOVE DEAN. Dean out drinking with his boy while Sam is handling the job, taking care of everyone’s emotional needs, and getting a real lead on the case Dean was so sanctimonious about…on the nose, but in a good way.
Part of me wishes I could be like JUSTIIIIIIIIICE at Dean being the one getting his head screwed with like this but…I’m actually just a bit relieved at Sam not being the one catching it? It’s still tough to see. (Maybe I am less of a hypocrite than I thought? I RESERVE ALL RIGHTS TO FUTURE HYPOCRISY.) Though as bad as Crowley’s screwing with him, I also kind of think Cain was pretty dicey in his non-disclaimer about the Mark. Oh, there’s “a” great burden involved? Wow, don’t drown the guy in fine print or anything. I do still kind of worry that the sensation he’s working so hard to dull is directed toward Sam.
Still, Dean’s had more opportunity for informed participation than he’s allowed anyone around him for a long time, and he’s being awful about it. (I WILL BE APPALLED BUT SOMEONE ELSE IS GOING TO HAVE TO COVER SHOCKED.) His line about “no matter what the consequences” kind of bolstered a theory I made a little off-handedly about how I think Dean is not so much actually reenacting the past behavior he’s been holding against Sam, and to a lesser extent Cas, as it is about, he’s lashing out and doing what he has convinced himself they did AT him. Openly saying you don’t care if you tear shit up to get what you want is a different proposition from accurately perceiving that there are no good consequences to action or inaction (as per Cas in S6) or being actively misled for years on end about the likely consequences of your choices (as with Sam). Getting off on being able to kill things more effectively is quite different than honing a skill that you use to protect people. &c, &c. Dean has spent so long projecting rather than paying attention that he has a massively distorted picture of what he’s reacting to, and now emulating.
He’s also starting to distance from Cain, which I’m not so sure he’d be bothering to do if he wasn’t actually being pushed to some uncomfortable introspection: “When I kill, I kill for a reason. I’m nothing like Cain.” Of course, Cain thought he had a reason, and in any event, that isn’t the problem, the problem is that they both like to play God with the people around them.
The episode did a lot of lifting, in terms of Sam’s actual hunt, Dean’s head space, and a fair amount of mythology work, though it didn't feel draggy or crowded. There was a common thread of institutional atrophy/resurgence going on? With the Cold War era heyday of American Catholicism contrasted with the empty convent, Abaddon possibly staging a resurgence of the Knights of Hell, and of course Sam and Dean breathing life back into the MoL.
I seem to have underestimated Abaddon’s strategic skills, which is intriguing. I do still wonder what kind of demons can she be making just by putting souls on ice? It seems like unsustainable inflation but maybe it’s brilliant of her?
I was a little put off when Josie was IN LOVE!!!! with Henry? It seemed like there was a really nice setup for her to say she loved him like a brother, which sets up another Cain parallel? In context with what he’d said about, I have a family, that could’ve been interesting. I wonder if we’re ever going to see Josie again? There’s some interesting potential there, with this woman who bore witness to the first demon cure and now houses the last Knight of Hell.
ACTUAL DISNEY PRINCE HENRY WINCHESTER aaaaaaah. He’s a…kind of uncomfortably accurate picture of someone who’s very smart but not really comfortable enough in the moment to be great in the field? Maybe he’d have gotten there eventually -Henry’s very like Sam in disposition, and Sam can more than hold his own, but only after too many decades of practice, and he’s still significantly better at puzzles and plans - but he didn’t have the inclination and ended up not having the time anyway. And I like how his strengths come across as valuable, without necessarily elevating him unrealistically.
Henry having unwittingly brought Abaddon right into the base…oh Henry, oh Gadreel, oh Sam.
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