Reap what you sow. SPN 6.13 Unforgiven overview: Part 3

[water_fowl182]

Part 1, Part 2 

Comments

[wynne88]

You brought up a LOT of interesting points!

I really like what you said about resouled Sam having all his original attributes - both good and bad. And saying that Dean had embellished the good stuff and forgotten the bad in his absence is probably true. I'm actually glad the writers didn't bring back a gilded version of Sam; this is much more believeable.

I will say that in 'Like a Virgin', one of the first things Sam did after hugging Dean and Bobby was to ask what Dean had done to bring him back. I felt he was truly concerned about what Dean might have paid for his soul. Also, when he called Bobby from the hotel room, he had picked up on the fact he was acting weird and asked if he was okay. So he's not entirely self-centered, although Unforgiven definitely framed him that way.

I thought about what you wrote concerning Dean's ability to fix himself after Hell: "It nearly drove him to the ground, but he did pull up eventually (and no, he didn't have the benefit of a doting supportive brother, sucking up his own issues in favor of those Dean suffered from)." I don't remember Dean ever being willing to allow anyone else to shoulder any of his burden, except for maybe Bobby a little bit in recent times. He seems to be a very private person when it comes to his own emotions. Mostly I'm thinking back to his grief over John's death, and his inability to even discuss it with Sam (who did try). I have no idea how Dean managed to claw his way out of his memories of hell (and the writers sure didn't do much to tell us). The only thing I can think of is that he has spent so much of his life focused on other people instead of himself, that maybe he was able to use that ability to keep from getting lost in his own mind.

Great review - thanks!

[water_fowl182]

Thank you for your comment! I really appreciate your feedback.

The thing about Sam's concern for what Dean might have done to bring his back is something I also dwelt in my overview of 'Like a Virgin' - it bothered me then, and it bothers me still: the initial concern is there and lasts exactly 2 seconds. Sam never even tries to bring the subject back up, to figure out the *nature* of the deal Dean struck (it doesn't appear he tired to grill Cas for that info too - for that'd be too big of a revelation to omit furthermore). True, Dean dropped the subject, but when was the last time Dean's alleged claim that everything was 'alright' true to fact? Sam, of all people, should know better. The last time Sam got resurrected from the dead, Dean didn't confess having sold his soul downright either.
My primary concern is the this here episode 'Unforgiven' managed to showcase further that Sam's either clueless or unperturbed enough by the price Dean paid (dying, playing Death, shouldering the guilt of disrupting the Natural Order - all that didn't leave Dean unscathed) to bring his soul back complete with a Wall - or else Sam might've been more respectful and mindful of Dean's worry. Let alone, maybe, grateful. This way, the single speck of Sam's concern, right upon resoulment, gets effectively drowned in subsequent disregard and self-centerdness. Much to my regret, as a viewer.

I do completely agree with all the points you make about Dean and his ways of dealing with grief. He does tend to internalize it all (John's death was one example and later, after Sam's demise Lisa pointed out the same thing). As to the memories of Hell, it looks like through s4 his reaction fluctuates in sinusoid waves: Dean's reluctant to share first, then does open up and makes confessions (Heaven and Hell, Family Remains), but as Sam's perception of Dean, founded on those revelations, tilts further toward contempt and assessment of Dean as weak, the latter presumably snaps shut again, and then has to refocus even more intently on what is happening to Sam (demon blood and psychic power addiction). I think Dean's depression through s5, among MANY other things, was also fueled by those unaddressed and repressed issues of Hell. And I wonder if, maybe, now that Sam is about to face off his own Hell, Dean's recollections and trauma is to be revisited, as a reference pattern.