[Fandom: It's...again, Friday]
It's in your blood.
There's such an emphasis on blood in this show. And at first when Zachariah said that, I thought, 'Yeah, it's in your blood, Sammy is your blood.' It was nice to see something uplifting happen to Dean for once, of course (no, really) but for some reason I still can't trust the angels here. Because the conclusion of the episode is still Dean's deciding to go on because he's been "chosen" to some degree, no matter how Zachariah worded it. Zachariah still defined him (though, as chasingtides pointed out, the definition wasn't negative) and made it all about his being a hero rather than the world needing saving and when Sam pleaded with him to go save people with him, Dean declined. But, then again, I guess that was the point, because that would have been Sam's defining him like he kind of always has.
Dean's always been the odd man out when it comes to hunting. The conflicting thing about hunters is that you want to believe that they're this selfless group of people because they're the everyday man who picks up a gun and goes out to protect people for free from things they don't even know exist (and protect their not knowing). But every hunter has a story, some personal tragedy that drove them into it; it's how they make that concrete choice to do what they do and why they're all so solitary, and it's also an escape and a way to bear living without whoever was taken by evil. Dad had Mary, Sam had Jess (then Lilith) and Dean had - the fact that Dad was a drill sergeant. He is the only hunter who has yet to choose hunting and I guess that's always been the void that Sam's filled; Dean's had no personal reason to do what he's been doing 26 years of his life, he barely knew Mary. He has yet to figure out his Why, not just this season, but in all seasons, really. And I guess that's the beautiful thing because I think that Dean is the one hunter whose motivation could end up being something other than hatred or bitterness, maybe that's part of what makes him righteous. The first thing he ever did wasn't kill something, it was save someone (though Mary did die, she was never as present for him as Sam). Even in this episode, though I wanted to say that Sam was the one taking independent action, in reality, it was all revenge against that phone, the printers, the pencils (was that a shout-out to Office Space, btw? Did I actually understand an SPN reference for once!!), it was an escape. But for Dean, unlike any other hunter, Sammy's always been the escape from hunting rather than hunting being an escape from some horrible reality, I think. And for once, Sammy wasn't that; that part of Dean that is to some degree always present but also very buried was, and was less an escape than it was a kind of coming home.
Sort of. I mean, there is that element of it being an angel basically stepping in, fucking around with him, and telling him, 'young man, you need an attitude adjustment because you have a destiny!' from on high, but unlike Castiel or even John (I compare it to Johns commanding Dean to take care of Sam; something Dean's naturally good at but that is soured a bit by the command) he told him that his attitude/feelings actually made a difference, which was important. It was less you can do it than it was you can do it.
I also liked Dean's telling Sam 'you don't know me.' Because I think it's true to a larger degree than Sammy knows. Or maybe even that we the audience know because so much of the story is shown through Sammy's PoV. His whole life, Dean's always tried to be for Sam whatever Sam needed him to be at the time, that was his escape, and he's never thought of that as lying, though in a way it is. And though Sam can see through that to some degree, I think he is dependent on Dean's remaining a constant moreso than Dean is dependent on Sam remaining Sam. They've said the opposite for seasons but Dean's the one that's had to adapt to change in order to keep things somewhat constant for Sam, Dean's the one that adapted the most to this (the corporate) world, he's the one who could have survived in it if he'd had to. And Dean is the one who's always put Sam first, though Sam doesn't appreciate it. Dean is Sam's anchor, not the other way around and Sam might wanna wake up and recognize this before it's too late, since Dean's putting Sam first all the time I think springs from a lot of his inadequacy issues that are being addressed this season.
Also, randomly, I liked that Sammy was in the service industry but didn't seem to care much for the people he's serving and I think it was particularly fitting that Dean's job was basically to smooth-talk people - it's what Dean does best, don't forget that. And of course, the lightheartedness of the episode was nice (I mean, except for the guy sticking his head in a microwave but it is SPN) and lol at the cleansing. I've heard of that but only because Bonnie Wright talked about it on facebook (like she needs to be any skinnier) and it was in a post-Oscar's people where girls talked about how they got into their dresses. "WHY AM I SO HUNGRY!" There's so much to lol at, I won't make a list, but the humor was excellent here (despite the fact that the above meta's on the serious side).
There's such an emphasis on blood in this show. And at first when Zachariah said that, I thought, 'Yeah, it's in your blood, Sammy is your blood.' It was nice to see something uplifting happen to Dean for once, of course (no, really) but for some reason I still can't trust the angels here. Because the conclusion of the episode is still Dean's deciding to go on because he's been "chosen" to some degree, no matter how Zachariah worded it. Zachariah still defined him (though, as chasingtides pointed out, the definition wasn't negative) and made it all about his being a hero rather than the world needing saving and when Sam pleaded with him to go save people with him, Dean declined. But, then again, I guess that was the point, because that would have been Sam's defining him like he kind of always has.
Dean's always been the odd man out when it comes to hunting. The conflicting thing about hunters is that you want to believe that they're this selfless group of people because they're the everyday man who picks up a gun and goes out to protect people for free from things they don't even know exist (and protect their not knowing). But every hunter has a story, some personal tragedy that drove them into it; it's how they make that concrete choice to do what they do and why they're all so solitary, and it's also an escape and a way to bear living without whoever was taken by evil. Dad had Mary, Sam had Jess (then Lilith) and Dean had - the fact that Dad was a drill sergeant. He is the only hunter who has yet to choose hunting and I guess that's always been the void that Sam's filled; Dean's had no personal reason to do what he's been doing 26 years of his life, he barely knew Mary. He has yet to figure out his Why, not just this season, but in all seasons, really. And I guess that's the beautiful thing because I think that Dean is the one hunter whose motivation could end up being something other than hatred or bitterness, maybe that's part of what makes him righteous. The first thing he ever did wasn't kill something, it was save someone (though Mary did die, she was never as present for him as Sam). Even in this episode, though I wanted to say that Sam was the one taking independent action, in reality, it was all revenge against that phone, the printers, the pencils (was that a shout-out to Office Space, btw? Did I actually understand an SPN reference for once!!), it was an escape. But for Dean, unlike any other hunter, Sammy's always been the escape from hunting rather than hunting being an escape from some horrible reality, I think. And for once, Sammy wasn't that; that part of Dean that is to some degree always present but also very buried was, and was less an escape than it was a kind of coming home.
Sort of. I mean, there is that element of it being an angel basically stepping in, fucking around with him, and telling him, 'young man, you need an attitude adjustment because you have a destiny!' from on high, but unlike Castiel or even John (I compare it to Johns commanding Dean to take care of Sam; something Dean's naturally good at but that is soured a bit by the command) he told him that his attitude/feelings actually made a difference, which was important. It was less you can do it than it was you can do it.
I also liked Dean's telling Sam 'you don't know me.' Because I think it's true to a larger degree than Sammy knows. Or maybe even that we the audience know because so much of the story is shown through Sammy's PoV. His whole life, Dean's always tried to be for Sam whatever Sam needed him to be at the time, that was his escape, and he's never thought of that as lying, though in a way it is. And though Sam can see through that to some degree, I think he is dependent on Dean's remaining a constant moreso than Dean is dependent on Sam remaining Sam. They've said the opposite for seasons but Dean's the one that's had to adapt to change in order to keep things somewhat constant for Sam, Dean's the one that adapted the most to this (the corporate) world, he's the one who could have survived in it if he'd had to. And Dean is the one who's always put Sam first, though Sam doesn't appreciate it. Dean is Sam's anchor, not the other way around and Sam might wanna wake up and recognize this before it's too late, since Dean's putting Sam first all the time I think springs from a lot of his inadequacy issues that are being addressed this season.
Also, randomly, I liked that Sammy was in the service industry but didn't seem to care much for the people he's serving and I think it was particularly fitting that Dean's job was basically to smooth-talk people - it's what Dean does best, don't forget that. And of course, the lightheartedness of the episode was nice (I mean, except for the guy sticking his head in a microwave but it is SPN) and lol at the cleansing. I've heard of that but only because Bonnie Wright talked about it on facebook (like she needs to be any skinnier) and it was in a post-Oscar's people where girls talked about how they got into their dresses. "WHY AM I SO HUNGRY!" There's so much to lol at, I won't make a list, but the humor was excellent here (despite the fact that the above meta's on the serious side).