Thoughts on last night - spoiler, spoiler, spoiler
Thoughts on last night. First - I've read no other reviews purposefully. I wanted to throw my two cents in before I was influenced by anyone else. And since I'm such a SPN ho, I figured anyone could convince me of anything.
This is not anti-squee but not my typical rah rah post either.
Normally, I’m all WOOT WOOT but let me explain.
As usual, I enjoyed the show…I never hate the show but - and this is a big but - the whole scrubbing Lisa and Ben’s memories has me upset.
There is more I could talk about but right now, I’m fixated on that.
I get it, I do. Dean doesn’t want Ben to remember his mother bleeding out in some monster warehouse. He doesn’t want the kid remembering shooting bad guys and backing up his father as Dean carried Lisa out. He doesn’t want the kid to remember a death vigil for his mom. He doesn’t want Lisa to have to live through the horror either. He wants Ben and, Lisa too, to have normal. The tension that was thrumming through Dean as he was trying to get his family to safety was palpable. Dean carrying Lisa and expecting Ben cover him, well I think that was hard for Dean to order Ben to do, just like it was hard to watch the love of his life dying in his arms. But Ben did it. He rose to the occasion and handled himself in true Winchester fashion. The kid may be just a kid, but he has got a set of brass ones, I’ll tell you that.
Even before that happens - Dean encourages Ben to jump out a window. What kind of father does that? The kind that knows yes, broken bones can be fixed but death and torture by demons…not so much.
How horrible for Dean to feel responsible for this? But he is NOT responsible, not really. The big bad has always been out there and while knowing Ben and Lisa have in fact drawn a big old target on them, having them NOT REMEMBER him is going to do nothing to alleviate that.
They can still be used as leverage against him. And it will work. All he needs is a to find out they are in trouble and he will come running. They won’t know who he is (other than the guy who hit them) but he will still protect them.
So what is the benefit? Ben and Lisa will have a false sense of security. They will believe their lives are normal. But that is not the case. How can that be better? Not knowing is better on the surface but that lack of knowledge puts them in the extremely vulnerable position of not being unable to protect themselves.
John Winchester would have more than one or two things to say about that!
Dean has been following this premise all year, that by staying away from Ben and Lisa, he is protecting them. It hasn’t worked all year - why does he think it will now?
So, is it just a convenient way for the writers to have Dean not to have to deal with Lisa and Ben? That is kind of how it feels to me. I feel like the Lisa Ben story arch is being neatly wrapped up and tossed out in the trash.
Even encouraging Ben to jump out the window. I’m sure the writers put that in there to prove a point. What person tries to get his kid to jump out a window? I say someone who loves their child fiercely. It has happened in RL where parents have thrown children out of windows to avoid death in a fire. Why was Dean’s orders much more different than that?
Then Sam brings up Ben and Lisa and Dean threatens him with a broken nose. (Something I feel that Sam feels could absolutely happen) Not only do the writers want them gone, they don’t want Sam even talking about them!
It bothers me. I am the first one to admit that I’m bothered because I love Ben and Lisa…especially Ben. When Lisa was dying, all I could think of was that Ben would be living with Sam and Dean (okay, okay…I know that SPN is not the Sam and Dean and Ben show - I know that bringing Ben in to drive around with Sam and Dean is not going to happen) but I couldn’t help but go there and then WHAM. Not only is Ben going to NOT be a part of Dean’s life as his son (whether real or adopted - even the demons are playing that card) now he is gone completely.
And if I thought that by Cas erasing their memories it would mean they were 100% safe and sound? Well, I could buy that. But they aren’t and Dean’s pretending (or the writers pretending that Dean is pretending) is just wrong. And if Dean is not pretending (which also could be the case, he really believes that them “Not” remembering will keep them safe) Well, that is almost worse because when has putting your head in the sand and pretending that something isn’t so has ever solved anything?
Again, all I can think of is John’s reaction to that game plan.
Which makes me bring up the Adam story line. As I’ve said before, Adam wasn’t raised in the life and how did that help him in the long run?
Oh, that’s right - there was no long run, the kid was killed before he had the chance to really live.
So now, we have unprepared, unknowlegable Ben and Lisa. At least before Dean had their minds scrubbed - well they knew of some things to protect themselves.
So this is how Dean solves the dilemma? Pretend none of it happened? OR is this how the writers solved the problem. Doesn't matter, I do not like.
ACCCKK. IT MAKES ME CRAZY!
This is not anti-squee but not my typical rah rah post either.
Normally, I’m all WOOT WOOT but let me explain.
As usual, I enjoyed the show…I never hate the show but - and this is a big but - the whole scrubbing Lisa and Ben’s memories has me upset.
There is more I could talk about but right now, I’m fixated on that.
I get it, I do. Dean doesn’t want Ben to remember his mother bleeding out in some monster warehouse. He doesn’t want the kid remembering shooting bad guys and backing up his father as Dean carried Lisa out. He doesn’t want the kid to remember a death vigil for his mom. He doesn’t want Lisa to have to live through the horror either. He wants Ben and, Lisa too, to have normal. The tension that was thrumming through Dean as he was trying to get his family to safety was palpable. Dean carrying Lisa and expecting Ben cover him, well I think that was hard for Dean to order Ben to do, just like it was hard to watch the love of his life dying in his arms. But Ben did it. He rose to the occasion and handled himself in true Winchester fashion. The kid may be just a kid, but he has got a set of brass ones, I’ll tell you that.
Even before that happens - Dean encourages Ben to jump out a window. What kind of father does that? The kind that knows yes, broken bones can be fixed but death and torture by demons…not so much.
How horrible for Dean to feel responsible for this? But he is NOT responsible, not really. The big bad has always been out there and while knowing Ben and Lisa have in fact drawn a big old target on them, having them NOT REMEMBER him is going to do nothing to alleviate that.
They can still be used as leverage against him. And it will work. All he needs is a to find out they are in trouble and he will come running. They won’t know who he is (other than the guy who hit them) but he will still protect them.
So what is the benefit? Ben and Lisa will have a false sense of security. They will believe their lives are normal. But that is not the case. How can that be better? Not knowing is better on the surface but that lack of knowledge puts them in the extremely vulnerable position of not being unable to protect themselves.
John Winchester would have more than one or two things to say about that!
Dean has been following this premise all year, that by staying away from Ben and Lisa, he is protecting them. It hasn’t worked all year - why does he think it will now?
So, is it just a convenient way for the writers to have Dean not to have to deal with Lisa and Ben? That is kind of how it feels to me. I feel like the Lisa Ben story arch is being neatly wrapped up and tossed out in the trash.
Even encouraging Ben to jump out the window. I’m sure the writers put that in there to prove a point. What person tries to get his kid to jump out a window? I say someone who loves their child fiercely. It has happened in RL where parents have thrown children out of windows to avoid death in a fire. Why was Dean’s orders much more different than that?
Then Sam brings up Ben and Lisa and Dean threatens him with a broken nose. (Something I feel that Sam feels could absolutely happen) Not only do the writers want them gone, they don’t want Sam even talking about them!
It bothers me. I am the first one to admit that I’m bothered because I love Ben and Lisa…especially Ben. When Lisa was dying, all I could think of was that Ben would be living with Sam and Dean (okay, okay…I know that SPN is not the Sam and Dean and Ben show - I know that bringing Ben in to drive around with Sam and Dean is not going to happen) but I couldn’t help but go there and then WHAM. Not only is Ben going to NOT be a part of Dean’s life as his son (whether real or adopted - even the demons are playing that card) now he is gone completely.
And if I thought that by Cas erasing their memories it would mean they were 100% safe and sound? Well, I could buy that. But they aren’t and Dean’s pretending (or the writers pretending that Dean is pretending) is just wrong. And if Dean is not pretending (which also could be the case, he really believes that them “Not” remembering will keep them safe) Well, that is almost worse because when has putting your head in the sand and pretending that something isn’t so has ever solved anything?
Again, all I can think of is John’s reaction to that game plan.
Which makes me bring up the Adam story line. As I’ve said before, Adam wasn’t raised in the life and how did that help him in the long run?
Oh, that’s right - there was no long run, the kid was killed before he had the chance to really live.
So now, we have unprepared, unknowlegable Ben and Lisa. At least before Dean had their minds scrubbed - well they knew of some things to protect themselves.
So this is how Dean solves the dilemma? Pretend none of it happened? OR is this how the writers solved the problem. Doesn't matter, I do not like.
ACCCKK. IT MAKES ME CRAZY!