Lazarus Rising, A Bit Deeper
Okay so now that I've read a couple of metas, a few more reactions and all I can remark a bit more on the opener.
Whether or not you agree, I thought it was nearly perfect. Sam's attitude as whole was not shocking to me in the least. There are many out there that will doubt my next few sentences with great intensity. But here's how I always felt about Sam.
Since way back in Season One, I've always thought he was darker than Dean, in the same way that John was darker than Dean. I do however also think that Sam has gone even farther than John. John was always this sort of broken man to me, full of pain, and therefore unable to adequately offer emotional support to anyone. I think the only thing that really kept him surging on was that burning in his chest. The anger, the betrayal, the grief, it helped him pick up some of the pieces and go forward. He had a direction, and tunnel vision. That is until, like many, right before it all comes to an end for him.
With Sam I've always seen him as I see someone else I know well. Of course we remember him as the thoughtful, sensitive, intelligent Winchester but I never thought him purely good. He went to that place, that angry, entitled, self-first sort of place. And it might speak to my warped sense of sacrifice and selfishness but leaving when you know what goes bump in the night, I don't know. On the one hand of course he deserves a life, but I respect Dean so much more for never trying to shirk his, at times, misplaced responsibilities. Monogamous, caring, tortured Sam being labeled as the better of the two way back in the beginning, as opposed to Dean the fornicator, the gruff, faithful to a fault older brother, was not something I was comfortable with. Sam's motives have usually been more self-serving. That is not to say that he is not a very good young man, but he asks Dean to kill him. He wasn't thinking of his brother when he put that burden on his shoulder. He was thinking about himself. When he rejoined the hunting community, he did it for himself. He did it for closure and vengeance and as retaliation for the girl and the life he lost. He's the quintessential baby of the family, while caring, sensitive, thoughtful, and sweet he thinks often of himself, he feels jipped, he leaves home all pissed off and then shuts even Dean out.
With Dean while of course his entering this wacked profession is a product of his loyalty to John, and his desperate need to please him, it's not the only reason. He says it to Sam, for him it's about saving those families from the dark. He's actually in it for a reason that has little to do with his self-interests. While he does commit some selfish acts, like say selling his soul for Sam's in that I honestly do feel that while slightly self-serving in a 'I'm not living w/o Sammy' way, was also fueled by him really thinking that Sam was so much more important than him, so much better and more deserving of life, and that it was what he should do for his little brother.
Flip back to when this premiere where Sam says that he wishes it had been him that had gotten Dean back. Why? Okay so if a terrible demon brought Dean back there was a fight on the way with a bad mother but why was he so eager to have his soul on the line? I can see him saying in anger to Dean this season as they grow apart, which I think they will and have, that he's pissed at him for making him owe Dean that way. I don't think he'll completely mean it, but I think he might say it. Point out how selfish it was to make Sam live those four months without him and how he can't say a damn thing about the way he did because he wasn't there and that was his decision.
The Sam of 4.01 is not the Sam of 1.01, or of 2.22. He's pretty freaking cold. And Dean said it last year, he knows what that road is paved with and he knows where it leads. He's just not listening to his brother. Doesn't he know that when they do that things go badly? For either of our boys really.
Okay so 4.01 brought about another topic that seems to be sort of controversial. The introduction of Castiel, a self-proclaimed Angel of the Lord. Truthfully, unless they suddenly switch from where it seems they intend to head, I'm thrilled. I loved Castiel, I love his detachedness. It reaffirms that he is not human, he does not feel daily tragedy, such as the blinding of the psychic-friend of Bobby's. It's unfortunate circumstance but it's so beyond him. Which dude, he's an immortal hand of the G-O-D, why would he bothered by one human's pain in the span of one lifetime. Dark and cold yes, but so much better. I love this side, I hope they stay to the not apathetic God, but one so steadfast in the belief of free will that he/she/it honestly can do no more then help set the chess board with a few pieces , like say Dean, and then let man battle for their humanity.
And there's also the idea of Brother vs. Brother when the epic battle comes. I wish I could say that I didn't see that as a plausible plot direction, especially since the boys acting alone so soon after being reunited seems an omen of the near future. However I can, and I think, in a really messed up way, that if they do it right I might be okay with it. I'm not sure, I love Dean to pieces but Sam really did grow on me in season 2. Hm. Then again this Sam I saw in S4, I might mind less and less.
Oh Sam. I miss you. Don't go all Anakin, k'please? Garg, now I'm all worried we lost Sammy for the good. Damn you show, why must you make me love the characters before you make them go all evil? Huh? Ava ring any bells?
So in closing, I'm fine with Angels, I actually like it a lot, and I'll point you to a post I made so damn long ago it's crazy, right here. There was another that spoke on it more directly and even gave it a nickname, a WFG, and stuff but I can't find it. Then I'll say that while I love Sam I think his capacity for darkness is great. Luke might be the wrong Skywalker.
Kripke you're a mad awesome genius. Don't change, don't regress, stay on this course.
Whether or not you agree, I thought it was nearly perfect. Sam's attitude as whole was not shocking to me in the least. There are many out there that will doubt my next few sentences with great intensity. But here's how I always felt about Sam.
Since way back in Season One, I've always thought he was darker than Dean, in the same way that John was darker than Dean. I do however also think that Sam has gone even farther than John. John was always this sort of broken man to me, full of pain, and therefore unable to adequately offer emotional support to anyone. I think the only thing that really kept him surging on was that burning in his chest. The anger, the betrayal, the grief, it helped him pick up some of the pieces and go forward. He had a direction, and tunnel vision. That is until, like many, right before it all comes to an end for him.
With Sam I've always seen him as I see someone else I know well. Of course we remember him as the thoughtful, sensitive, intelligent Winchester but I never thought him purely good. He went to that place, that angry, entitled, self-first sort of place. And it might speak to my warped sense of sacrifice and selfishness but leaving when you know what goes bump in the night, I don't know. On the one hand of course he deserves a life, but I respect Dean so much more for never trying to shirk his, at times, misplaced responsibilities. Monogamous, caring, tortured Sam being labeled as the better of the two way back in the beginning, as opposed to Dean the fornicator, the gruff, faithful to a fault older brother, was not something I was comfortable with. Sam's motives have usually been more self-serving. That is not to say that he is not a very good young man, but he asks Dean to kill him. He wasn't thinking of his brother when he put that burden on his shoulder. He was thinking about himself. When he rejoined the hunting community, he did it for himself. He did it for closure and vengeance and as retaliation for the girl and the life he lost. He's the quintessential baby of the family, while caring, sensitive, thoughtful, and sweet he thinks often of himself, he feels jipped, he leaves home all pissed off and then shuts even Dean out.
With Dean while of course his entering this wacked profession is a product of his loyalty to John, and his desperate need to please him, it's not the only reason. He says it to Sam, for him it's about saving those families from the dark. He's actually in it for a reason that has little to do with his self-interests. While he does commit some selfish acts, like say selling his soul for Sam's in that I honestly do feel that while slightly self-serving in a 'I'm not living w/o Sammy' way, was also fueled by him really thinking that Sam was so much more important than him, so much better and more deserving of life, and that it was what he should do for his little brother.
Flip back to when this premiere where Sam says that he wishes it had been him that had gotten Dean back. Why? Okay so if a terrible demon brought Dean back there was a fight on the way with a bad mother but why was he so eager to have his soul on the line? I can see him saying in anger to Dean this season as they grow apart, which I think they will and have, that he's pissed at him for making him owe Dean that way. I don't think he'll completely mean it, but I think he might say it. Point out how selfish it was to make Sam live those four months without him and how he can't say a damn thing about the way he did because he wasn't there and that was his decision.
The Sam of 4.01 is not the Sam of 1.01, or of 2.22. He's pretty freaking cold. And Dean said it last year, he knows what that road is paved with and he knows where it leads. He's just not listening to his brother. Doesn't he know that when they do that things go badly? For either of our boys really.
Okay so 4.01 brought about another topic that seems to be sort of controversial. The introduction of Castiel, a self-proclaimed Angel of the Lord. Truthfully, unless they suddenly switch from where it seems they intend to head, I'm thrilled. I loved Castiel, I love his detachedness. It reaffirms that he is not human, he does not feel daily tragedy, such as the blinding of the psychic-friend of Bobby's. It's unfortunate circumstance but it's so beyond him. Which dude, he's an immortal hand of the G-O-D, why would he bothered by one human's pain in the span of one lifetime. Dark and cold yes, but so much better. I love this side, I hope they stay to the not apathetic God, but one so steadfast in the belief of free will that he/she/it honestly can do no more then help set the chess board with a few pieces , like say Dean, and then let man battle for their humanity.
And there's also the idea of Brother vs. Brother when the epic battle comes. I wish I could say that I didn't see that as a plausible plot direction, especially since the boys acting alone so soon after being reunited seems an omen of the near future. However I can, and I think, in a really messed up way, that if they do it right I might be okay with it. I'm not sure, I love Dean to pieces but Sam really did grow on me in season 2. Hm. Then again this Sam I saw in S4, I might mind less and less.
Oh Sam. I miss you. Don't go all Anakin, k'please? Garg, now I'm all worried we lost Sammy for the good. Damn you show, why must you make me love the characters before you make them go all evil? Huh? Ava ring any bells?
So in closing, I'm fine with Angels, I actually like it a lot, and I'll point you to a post I made so damn long ago it's crazy, right here. There was another that spoke on it more directly and even gave it a nickname, a WFG, and stuff but I can't find it. Then I'll say that while I love Sam I think his capacity for darkness is great. Luke might be the wrong Skywalker.
Kripke you're a mad awesome genius. Don't change, don't regress, stay on this course.