The Refreshingly Optimistic Supernatural Season 6 Outlook
I've been thinking and reading and watching and probably spending way too much time contemplating all the vagaries of Season 6 Supernatural so far.
The result of all this introspection is that I am blithely determined to be refreshingly optimistic about all the angst we are currently wading in.
Sam has no soul. Looking at this problem relative to other issues he has had in the past - his crippling guilt over not saving Dean from Hell, his decision to become an addict, his skewed perception of Dean's ability to hunt, his decision to choose Ruby over his brother, to kill Lilith and then the subsequent guilt he felt over letting Lucifer out (which made his previous guilt trip seem like a walk in the park) - the soul free Sam issue not as huge as previous ones.
Allowing that it has taken SEVEN fairly stress filled episodes for Dean to get to the bottom of the Sam problem I take great solace in the fact that now the problem has been identified - Sam is VERY clearly still on the side of his brother and aware of his soul free limitations to the point where he will rely very heavily on Dean to be his 'soul' for him. Dean is still probably not trusting him but that's completely fair - given Sam's transgressions so far and given that a soul free Sam's rationalisations may not be up to par. Common sense dictates that you don't trust the fully loaded weapon with a missing soul.
However what I am LOVING about all this is that it doesn't seem to matter that Dean knows he cannot currently trust Sam because Dean has a completely logical justification for why that is. His brother, to right a wrong, sacrificed himself to save the world and he's paid for it with his soul. Dean thinks the absolute world of Sam for that - and he will defend Sam's integrity to the ends of the earth. Dean has a mission, a purpose again - he's got to be looking out for Sam AND he's got to get his brother's soul back. There's no dark designs going on, no Sam (soul intact and of his own free will) choosing a demon over his brother. I'm loving how Sam's soullessness is almost forcing Dean to step up and take lead again (I know it's great that by Fallen Idols last season they'd made great inroads towards Dean not treating Sam like a little brother anymore, there was much applause around fandom for that etc etc). That equal partnership is still going to be there - but Sam is definitely the weapon that Dean points right now. As much as I love Sam and know he is completely capable I love that Dean is having to be the big brother of yesteryear again. At least until Sam gets his soul back.
I'm not so sure I properly articulated why I'm feeling optimistic in spite of the angst so far. The problems just seem more cut and dried to me, and that alone makes me feel better about watching Dean get wild about Sam making some clearly soul free choices. There could be some excellent opportunties for some real comedic elements in amongst this too. But that could just be my quirky left of centre sense of humour. Of course show being the way that it is - my carefully composed optimistic outlook may be blown to smithereens in the next three episodes and I could be back on here wailing about the injustice of it all and cursing the Gamble so who knows? All I know is that seven episodes in - I'm feeling good about the brothers being brothers again.
The result of all this introspection is that I am blithely determined to be refreshingly optimistic about all the angst we are currently wading in.
Sam has no soul. Looking at this problem relative to other issues he has had in the past - his crippling guilt over not saving Dean from Hell, his decision to become an addict, his skewed perception of Dean's ability to hunt, his decision to choose Ruby over his brother, to kill Lilith and then the subsequent guilt he felt over letting Lucifer out (which made his previous guilt trip seem like a walk in the park) - the soul free Sam issue not as huge as previous ones.
Allowing that it has taken SEVEN fairly stress filled episodes for Dean to get to the bottom of the Sam problem I take great solace in the fact that now the problem has been identified - Sam is VERY clearly still on the side of his brother and aware of his soul free limitations to the point where he will rely very heavily on Dean to be his 'soul' for him. Dean is still probably not trusting him but that's completely fair - given Sam's transgressions so far and given that a soul free Sam's rationalisations may not be up to par. Common sense dictates that you don't trust the fully loaded weapon with a missing soul.
However what I am LOVING about all this is that it doesn't seem to matter that Dean knows he cannot currently trust Sam because Dean has a completely logical justification for why that is. His brother, to right a wrong, sacrificed himself to save the world and he's paid for it with his soul. Dean thinks the absolute world of Sam for that - and he will defend Sam's integrity to the ends of the earth. Dean has a mission, a purpose again - he's got to be looking out for Sam AND he's got to get his brother's soul back. There's no dark designs going on, no Sam (soul intact and of his own free will) choosing a demon over his brother. I'm loving how Sam's soullessness is almost forcing Dean to step up and take lead again (I know it's great that by Fallen Idols last season they'd made great inroads towards Dean not treating Sam like a little brother anymore, there was much applause around fandom for that etc etc). That equal partnership is still going to be there - but Sam is definitely the weapon that Dean points right now. As much as I love Sam and know he is completely capable I love that Dean is having to be the big brother of yesteryear again. At least until Sam gets his soul back.
I'm not so sure I properly articulated why I'm feeling optimistic in spite of the angst so far. The problems just seem more cut and dried to me, and that alone makes me feel better about watching Dean get wild about Sam making some clearly soul free choices. There could be some excellent opportunties for some real comedic elements in amongst this too. But that could just be my quirky left of centre sense of humour. Of course show being the way that it is - my carefully composed optimistic outlook may be blown to smithereens in the next three episodes and I could be back on here wailing about the injustice of it all and cursing the Gamble so who knows? All I know is that seven episodes in - I'm feeling good about the brothers being brothers again.