Love hurts... SPN 6.14 Mannequin 3: The Reckoning. Part 1
If anything, a working weekend and a wacked up on-line connection helps put certain things in perspective and strike a semblance of perceptive equilibrium. A couple of preliminary notes first, before we proceed with the episode overview.
Granted, I'm a what you might call consistent Dean/Lisa 'shipper (as in I've always believed, and continue doing so, this particular relationship, in form of a dreamt-up and sought-after illusion first and an actual surrogate-marriage later is one of the few truly good for him, healing and healthy thins Dean's ever had, personal interaction-wise, romantic or not), unable to abstain from spoilers I was prepared to be disappointed pushing onto devastated by this advertised aspect of the episode under consideration. Same goes for the potential messages wrt the Winchester Brotherdom of Woe, its prospects and definition. But remarkably enough - I wasn't by neither. Not by a long-shot. Foremost due to the pitch and slant the episode chose to adhere to delivering the range of messages that it evenually did. Which, incidentally, rang to me more elegaic and epiphanous than dismissive as far as Dean and Lisa'n'Ben go, more contemplative and subdued than gung-ho affirmative where Dean and Sam are concerned. The episode left me heartbroken, forlorn and pensive a lot more than gratified and/or relieved, true, but I'm fairly positive, upon certain input of narrative deduction, it was absolutely meant to. And *that* kind of captured cognitive consonace was what factored prominently into my individual perceptive enjoyment. Then again, maybe it's just me.
On to the overview proper. 6.14 Mannequin 3: The Reckoning. Cut to avoid possible spoilers.
The episode as is.
Courtesy of St. Google I now know there is a mini-franchise of nameske movies, alluded to
not just by the title, but through the run of the episode (in case you're wondering, yeah, I
do happen to live under a pop-cultural rock some considerable number of thousands of miles
across the Atlantic from the SPN discourse of choice, so there *g*). Postmodernistic
mainstream culturalism aside, the title and the overall episode concept managed to work
quite nicely in terms of multi-faceted allusions and metaphors.
For indeed, the episode turned put to be about mannequins and reckoning literally as much as
it turned out to be about some metaphoric looking galsses the above succeeded in putting up
to our protagonists, their actions, interactions, reactions and motives. Which is, always,
kinda the point, methinks.
We're just recently out of half a season of Sam running about soulless - talk about
mannequins. Mannquins commit atrocities, possessed by a vengeful spirit of an otherwise
sweet and caring girl - wild guesses and metaphoric implications run abundant wrt another
'mannequin' just recently 'possessed' by his very own soul on the show. Sam's past actions
while RoboSam bear the potential (do so and most definetely still will!) come back to bite
him and the ones close to him; Dean's desperate srint to Lisa's while vampirized-by-Sam, his
subsequent decision to abstain from 'civillian' family life cost him dearly - talk about the
reckoning. And the episode, as much as the show proper, does.
But the most efficient metaphors and parallells, as it usually goes, through this episode
are not just the conceptual, more prominently - the 'human' ones. At least to my mind.
Precisely, 'cause those parallells are non-linear and manage to work on various interpersed,
multi-directional levels.
I have to admit, I wasn't going to get invested into the A-story at first, deeming it rather
tacky and redundant. What with the Mother of All at large, Dean's and Sam's mutual and
individual issues concerning RoboSam on stand-by at best, Dean's issues with Lisa and Ben at
stake, Sam's issues of Hell on the table, etc. Why would I have to care about killer
mannequins now? That was my initial standing right up to the point it became apparent the
A-story is intended to be not so much about killer dolls, but about matters of human: love,
sacrifices, actions, consequenses, repercussions, causes, effects, success and failure. All
of the listed above supplying some non-linear parables and characterization projections
where Dean and Sam are concerned: individually and as a brotherhood.
So, here goes:
Isabel and Rose.
Whenever there are siblings involved on SPN, there are *bound* to be underlying parallells,
intentional or not. I do believe Isabel and poor Rose worked as such for the Winchesters,
both retrospectively, and prospectively. But like I've mentioned above, those parallells are
not necessarily literal.
Retrospectively we've got: two siblings having derived a very close bond; one looking after
the other for their whole life, but appreciating beyond worth what the other sibling is able
to contribute to the relationship; one sibling vanished, presumably dead, the other
distraught and grieving; one sibling carrying a part of the other within. Rings familiar so
far? It looks like it certainly rang to Sam, once he heard Isabel's account of her and
Rose's sisterhood: 'I'm sure she appreciated it.' My educated guess is, Sam was doing some
unconscious projecting here. The point is, however, that up to the end of the episode he,
somehow, didn't deem it plausible and/or necessary to actively identify with either
component of the metaphor he so clearly deduced, opting for a different metaphoric
framework, instead, more atuned to the potential for projection there. But we'll tackle this
particular issue a bit later, if you bear with me.
On with Isabel and Rose. Rose-the-vengeful-spirit is attached to a part of herself that
belongs to Isabel, that is a part of Isabel now. Made me think of the claim RoboSam put on
Dean early on in the season: 'It's just better with you around'. Who knows, maybe Sam's
soulless self, for whatever reason, was homing in on some figurative, untouchable part of
his soul that is harbored within Dean, a part of who Dean is. Nothing is ever quite literal
on SPN, but hardly anything is truly quite figurative either.
Similarly, for Rose's evil spirit to be disabled and done away with, Isabel had to die
(would've lost a part of herself in a best-case scenario, but died anyway due indirectly to
an action taken by Rose's spirit). Dean underwent clinical death to figure out a way to do
away with
RoboSam. Figuratively, a part of Dean died after his stint as Death due to the
responsibilities he had to shoulder and lives he had to take. Yet more figuratively, a part
of Dean died due to exposure to RoboSam's antics.
The parallell can even go backwards, to an extend: Rose gave Isabel her kidney, whereas Dean
gave Sam his soul back.
Taken prospectively (as a possible foreshadowing) the Isabel'n'Rose metaphor works in a far
more apprehensive fashion, though. At least from where I'm standing. Rose became a
supernaturally evil entity upon death - we still don't know what exactly Sam's post-mortem
memory of the Cage harbors and what it truly did to his soul. Isabel died so that Evil!Rose
could be stopped - well, if you haven't so far, color me worried for Dean. For Sam too, as a
matter of fact.
One other, more hopeful, potential foreshadowing would be for Sam to pick up on his presumed
part in this particular metaphoric scheme and offer Dean what Rose provided Isabel within
their familial relationship: abundant, consistent unconditional love and care.
Johnny. I plan to address furthermore the way Sam projected onto Johnny (and, presumably,
Johnny's pals too) and appointed the latter his own metaphoric embodiment in this story and
what it eventually managed to convey. But for now I'd like to dwell briefly on the minute
character twist of Johnny's we became privy to right before his demise: his little
delusional, bordering on sick 'love affair' with Jenny the Real Doll. A mannequinn, whom he
appeared to genuinely love and 'animate' in a one-sided fashion. Hence, we've got a glimpse
of a person who persistently attributes human qualities to an inanimate (mind you - 'anima'
means 'soul' in Latin, just sayin') anthpomorphic object, 'lives a life' side by side with
it. The object subsequently gets 'souled up'. Rings any familiar bells? Given the way
Johnny's stint in impromptu Pygmalion ended up... Given this episode relied heavily on
implicit projections and parallells as a narrative cohesion tool... Did I say I am worried
for Dean? Double it over.
Viewed conceptually, both aspects of the A-story, both tragic outcomes of sub-stories
(Isabel and Johnny) also factor into the show's long-standing epiphany: you can't save
everyone. Which in and of itself, to my mind, ties the episode quite gracefully into the
framework of the series-spanned routes of Sam's redemption and Dean's overinflated
responsibility complex -induced depression. Besides, the said epiphany is interwoven into
the otherwise tackled dilemma of costs (personal and professional) and effects the life of
hunt forces to face.
Dean and Sam.
I have to admit, I rather enjoyed the brothers' interaction this episode (definetely more
than the prior two), just, quite probably, not for the reasons the bulk of fandom would. Not
being presumptious here or anything, just guessing. I enjoyed immenesely the set of messages
the episode managed to transmit via this interaction both on Dean's and Sam's current
individual headspaces and the current standing of their brotherhood within those respective
headspaces. Running ahead a bit, I'd say, at the end of the day, to my mind those messages
had very little to do with 'we're brothers, nothing else matters' (which I was more than a
tad apprehensive they might, especially on Dean's part, and which would've been highly
discrediting this late into the story and undermining the prior journey of this character),
and a lot to do with a more honest, ruminative take on the way the previous complex, messy,
hurtful interactive and reactive build-up factors into the identification of brotherhood
(once again, Dean, by far, was my primary concern in this respect, for he's the one usually
more inclined to dismiss personal issues for the 'hood's sake). Like I've pointed out
before, I'm left heartaching, but not disappointed. And even a bit appeased.
Foremost, the episode very composition, in and of itself, served as a rather transparent
conceptual metaphor: Dean and Sam were physically separated through the bulk of the episode,
through the bulk of case investigation, the ivestigation fails, btw, while they're are
apart, but when they finally reunite to wrap up the gig (Dean having presumably turned his
back to the interactive issues outside the framework of hunt and Sam) - it DOESN'T
tantamount to win. On the contrary. Dean and Sam still need to be brothers and partners
(Dean's never quite well-off when they're not and Sam needs to relearn to consistently feel
the same way), sure enough, need to work together to complement each other's skills, but the
brotherhood/teamwork per se is not a panacea from fail (both personal and professional).
Nor is it a sufficient excuse or justification to face away from or discard significant
aspects of life beyond it. And I'm glad this very notion is later addressed by Dean in the
mandatory closing Impala talk (we'll have a closer look a it a bit later). This episode, in
keeping with the pragmatic tradition, picked up in s2, tackles the ratio of costs and
effects (and traditionally, Dean in the voice behind contemplating this ratio: what do you
sacrifice, consciously choosing the hunt, how much of yourself do you lose in the process,
are the losses worth the gains, hands down, if you can't save everyone), landing the ball
yet again into the 'costs' square, on many a narrative level. I do firmly believe it's a
realistic and necessary moral itinerary for Dean, as well as for Sam, to explore yet again,
as a viable premise for their further growth.
The Stull Cemetery scenario was a beautiful and potent manifesto of their brotherhood, but a
condenced, heat-of-the-moment manifesto is not the same as a day in day out road to
individual and joint maturity, not a quick-fix to upcoming and left-over ethic dilemmas. The
Apocalypse over and done with - there're new and tangled aftermaths to deal with, yet more
losses to cut, more messes to clean up. Nothing can quite be cut and dry along the lines of
'it's not too big a deal as long as we stick together'. Then again, nor should it be cut and
dry. I'm content the episode managed to acknowledge that, through Dean's subtly and
unassumily depicted stance on the matter (for as far as the narrative structure goes, Dean's
stance is more often then not the defining standpoint on conflicts resolution, interior and
exterior alike).
But like I've said, I'm running a good deal ahead with corollaries here. For, since the
brothers' direct interaction, was rather sporadic through the episode, yet none the less
significant, I'd like to do a bit of a play-by-play, to try and have a look at where they
are coming from and, presumably, headed to, this time.
The opening scene.
Dean kneeling by an unconscious Sam... Let me make a confession - it's been a while since I
full-scale choked over an SPN scene, misty-eyes, tight throat and all. For that moment right
there, pretty much lampshaded the imminent heartbreak of whatever there was yet to transpire
through the episode, or, maybe, through the rest of the season as far as Dean's character
goes. The little sounds Dean makes - half sobs and half hitched paniced breaths - while
calling out to Sam... That's Cold Oak, all over again, for him. Only exponetially worse, for
it won't be the first time he's loosing Sam to death or damnation. Dispair, disbelief,
mind-numbing horror of Dean's one ultimate nightmare come true - that he failed to protect
and save Sammy. Again. That he failed, period. That Cas was right and Dean has subjected his
brother to something far worse than death, maybe. That all the hurt and fright and
sacrifices of half a year in the making were for naught. It doesn't really matter that Sam
eventually comes to fairly okay and good for the the wear, for in those 2,5 minutes Dean
lived through losing him. And all of Dean's decisions and choices henceforth (especially the
ones regarding him personally and his individual needs/aspirations) are bound to be tempered
by that experience. Dean can't turn away from it, can't let it happen again on his watch
(meaning, from where he's standing, he *has* to be on watch, for it not to happen, though I
honestly don't know what he can possibly do should the Wall crack further). It's tragic and
poignant. It's, incidentally, the story of Dean's life. But it's also a peculiar key,
methinks, to estimating his treatment (and subsequent, if hopefully, temporary disregard) of
those individual needs of his: not as necessarily invalid or insignificant in their own
right, as compared to the joy of being around Sam, but as coming at cross-purposes with his
self-appointed duty (i.e. being around Sam to keep Sam safe/alive/sane). To my mind, that's
a crucial point to keep in mind, approaching and interpreting Dean's *initial* reluctance to
face off with Lisa (by phone or personally). Which comes across as partially justified, in
this respect.
I rather like that the episode is symetrically framed by major brotherly dialogue scenes
with intermediate ones pindotted through the narrative fabric. Although, they tackle
different aspects of both Dean's and Sam's respective mindsets, to different extends, all
the exchanges tie down to the cost and effect ratio, that is the highlight of the episode as
a whole.
Significant exchange # 1.
Well, lucky for you, I'm a doctor. I got joe, grub, and... What are they? - Effective...
...Ever cross your mind that you could've died? Oh, come on. I'm serious. And none of this
"it's just a flesh wound" crap. 'cause we did it your way. We let you go explore, And every
bad thing that I said would happen happened. So guess what? Past stays past. We're not
kicking that wall again. - So I'm supposed to just ignore it? - Yes. - Dean... I might've
done... Who knows what, And you want me to just forget about it? - You shove it down, and
you let it come out In spurts of violence and alcoholism. - That sounds healthy. - Well,
works for me. It's not a joke. Your life is on the line here, sam. This is not a debate. I
mean, first you were a-a soulless dickbag... And now you're not. So we good? - Yeah.
Sure. Good. - Well, let's get your mind off it, shall we?
I'm having every intent to get a closer look at Sam's alleged state-of-fine upon the hellish
flashback on in due course, but for now I'd like to concnetrate on what this particular
scene conveys wrt Dean.
Foremost, we're treated to circumstancial proof that Dean consciously operates under the
singular imperative 'protect Sam' in pretty much everything he sets out to do as of Sam's
seizure. Which fact, incidentally, both retroactively and pro-actively discredits any
residual validity possibly ascribed to his prior exercises in denial and alienation ('it
wasn't Sam'). It's not about who RoboSam was or wasn't, it's about what Sam did in the past
and how it can affect him now.
'Past stays past' not 'cause it didn't happen, or 'cause you didn't play a part in it or
shouldn't be held accountable, but 'cause put under too close a scrutiny it bears the
potential to get the better of you and undermine your functionality (in Sam's case - sanity
and the very life). Dean would know. His own experience of Hell nearly became his undoing,
as much as many other real or assumed misgivings, he owns up to. One of the most prominent
aspects of this exchange is that Dean explicitly draws a parallell between his own track
record of Fail and Doom and that of Sam's while desouled. Through Hell and back Dean never
alienated his own 'real' self from his hellish, Alastair-carved persona, or, more recently,
from his vamped-up installation, for instance, and never once relocated or disowned
complicity (as in - 'it wasn't really me', 'it's nothing the real me would've done'). So I'm
secretly excited as to what this explication transcribes wrt to Dean's evolving approach to
perceiving Sam and RoboSam.
"... first, you were a soulless dickbag... and now you're not..." is a far healthier and a
far more realistic stance, than 'it wasn't you'. Actually, I was half expecting Dean to add
up 'and now you're not soulless', given how far on the side of douchebaggery Sam's demeanor
and treatment of Dean's concerns tilted the prior episode. The point Dean emphazises,
however, is the one Sam *tries* to pick up later on and the one Dean would do good picking
up on himself: the past can't very well be undone, but it's what you do about yourself and
those around, having acknowledged and embraced it, that defines who and what you *will* be
henceforth.
"You shove it down, and you let it come out In spurts of violence and alcoholism." - this
is far a less healthy or productive coping strategy, which is pointed out by nerd!Sam in due
course. But this wouldn't be the first time Dean resorts to 'burrying' or advocates it to
Sam (Cf. 'Sam, Interrupted', s5, 'You Can't Handle the Truth', s6, etc.). Precisely 'cause
in his individual experience it manages to work in the short-term, as a means to an
immediate end to retain functionality that Dean usually aims at. That in the long-term what
you burry inside festers, gnaws at you and poisons you and the ones closest to you - is by
far the culprit of most of Dean's life-long personal trials and tribulations. Hopefully,
this voiced out statement serves as a lampshade for a course of actions to be substituted
for actual 'dealing' with issues some time in the future (both on Dean's and Sam's part).
What this statement also manages to accomplish in juxtaposition, to my mind, is yet again
the implicit difference in Dean's and Sam's approaches to the RoboSam predicament. Or
rather, the difference in comprehension of Dean's take on it. 'To shove down' is not the
same as 'to forget', as Sam suggests. What Dean offers is essentially to apropriate the
guilt and move on from it as best you can (which is not necessarily good enough). Whereas
Sam's take is more on the side of 'apropriate the guilt and wallow in it'. Which is, yet
again, rather reminiscent of their respective standings on the Apocalypse and breaking of
the seals back in the day.
One other thing, transcribed through this particular exchange that nearly brought me to
cheer is Dean's outward acknowledgement that he was right through all of the previous
episode - and admonished every single thing that could go wrong. The way the series
narrative unfolds, presupposes that to be *usually* true where Dean's standpoint wrt Sam is
concerned, but Dean doesn't get to voice it out loud too often. Given his self-esteem issues
are on the table again, as of this episode, front and center, that's an important notion to
keep in mind, methinks.
Yet again, Dean's claim is not about the actual drive to own up to one's mistakes being
wrong, but that this drive is no good and downright counter-productive if it's decidedly
self-destructive (hitting at the Wall deliberately, in Sam's case): it won't undo or do away
with anything and the imminent self-destruction (self-deprication) will only hurt the ones
who care. If only Dean would bother to apply his Sam-oriented brand of acquired wisdom to
his own self. Oh well...
I'm far from sure Sam will keep his promise *not* to kick the Wall furhtermore - if
anything, he looked rather squirmish, pledging adherence to Dean's game-plan - but at least
Sam conceded to follow Dean's lead and to comly,if reluctantly, to Dean's arguments, for a
change. Guess, a week-long memory of the Cage would factor in there, big time. Or maybe, Sam
is finally, *finally* getting a hint to respect and trust his brother's expertise and care
without putting up a rebellious tantrum every other step of the way. I'm not holding my
breath, though. But if Sam's to enter this particular leg of the growing up journey (not
just establishing independence but learning to appreciate help/support/protection where
appreciation is due), this is as good a place to start as any.
As the case investigation commences, Dean's demeanor around Sam is in keeping with the
heretofore outlined imperative: keep Sam distracted, keep him cheered up. So Dean jokes and
banters. It's less strained than in 6.12, but still a notable effort. The effect is
reinforced, to my mind, by the drastic change of Dean's expression whenever he faces a call
from 'Lisa'. His face literally drops.
Dean's interaction with those calls is a separate case study in and of itself, but just a
quick note now. Dean's initially protective, bordering on hostile about keeping Sam out of
the loop: 'Maybe you should mind your own business.' Part of this could be rooted in the
fact that letting Sam in on the nature and premises of Dean's fall-out Lisa may trigger
another flashback. But the barely contained outburst, as Sam's edges closer to matters of
Dean and Lisa, may also hint, that the vampire incident and it's aftermath is still closer
to the surface and still more raw than Dean cares or dares to admit. Which, by default,
signifies, so is RoboSam.
Intermediate significant exchnage 1.1
Come on, man, I-I can't just leave. - Dude, you got to leave. - Yeah, but we're talking life
or death here. - Right. I can handle it for 24 hours, dean. I get you want to bury it. But I
had to deal with my past year. You got to deal with yours. - Oh, yeah, and that worked so
great for you.
As far as Dean's concerned, like I've pointed out more than once so far, Dean's expressed
reluctance to abandon Sam to his own devices and head to Lisa's is firmly rooted within the
experienced early in the episode abject fear of Sam's possible brain-death. Dean is on
watch, Sam has a long-running history of acting the opposite of reasonable while on his own,
there's no telling what might trigger the next flashback. So it's not the matter of Dean
being unwilling to rush to Lisa's side or being unconcerned for Lisa's safety, but more the
matter of prioratizing the possible menace to the different subjects under his guard. That
military-type training didn't go anywhere. Besides, I'm fairly positive Dean sensed Ben
lying (we have a reference pattern of that happening - back in 6.03) and the level of
assumed danger being far less than the one he's currently ascribing Sam. That Dean should be
voicing out his 'reservations' actually on the move to Impala and 'giving in' to Sam's
reassurances within nary a heartbeat in and of itself is quite tell-tale as to Dean's
underlying eagerness to go. Hands down, an a-okay on Sam's part was but a technicality.
Sam's standing on the whole matter of Dean going to the Breadens, however, left me
ambivalent. I think - two planes need to be considered here: a) plane of intent; b) plane of
execution.
Plane of intent - is seemingly harmless and leaves room for a measure of gratification: Sam
appears to wish his brother well, wishes Dean faced his 'Spirit of Christmas Past' and
wrapped the matters up to gain peace of heart. And that's where my perception stumbles the
frist time. From the overall looks of it Sam not just equalizes his misgivings as RoboSam
and Dean's shortcomings as a family man (which might be justified to an extend, but still:
not *all* of Dean's past year comprised of jeopardizing his family while a vamped up monster
or any other brand of monster, so wtf, Sam?), but implicitly presupposes the less than
stellar outcome of facing those respective misgivings to be inevitably identical. Which,
incidentally, Dean points out. Sam's attempt at 'fixing things up' failed so far (Brenna
didn't forgive him), to the best of his estimations. The way Sam goes about it, it's hard to
conclude he *doesn't* anticipate Dean's alleged 'fix-up' to come short too.
Palne of (verbal) execution, sadly enough, appears to conribute to the latter deduction.
Sam's voiced out ETA of Dean's 'trip down the memoty lane' is 24 hours, give or take. Which
is enough for the way Sam dealt with his past so far: admit your mistake, say you're sorry,
face the music, suck it up, move on and away. Sam doesn't fathom Dean might *not* come back
to his side right away, might have to stick around longer (it's not a random stranger Dean
did wrong by, it's a woman Dean has a long standing affection for presumably in trouble and
Dean's all but adopted kid calling for help). Dean might *want* to stick around longer, for
all Sam knows, and Sam might have to catch up with his brother having wrapped up the case on
his own. Yet, somehow, it appears Sam already labled Lisa and Ben as an imminent part of
Dean's past, necessary to be dealt with but in no way factoring into Dean's and Sam's joint
future (or endangering the latter).
Now, I'd *like* to file the way Sam words his parting statement as an attempt to placate
Dean that Sam's gonna be fine and doesn't need a chaperon, so that Dean could go deal with
Lisa without reservation, but through the rest of their phone-in conversations Sam doesn't
bring either Lisa'n'Ben or the danger Lisa might be in and how Dean feels about it up even
*once*. All he talks about is the case, and later - the hunt proper.
My guess is, Sam's demeanor is determined by two sets of factors here:
- Sam is still far from being on the same page wrt to estimating Dean's inherent, deep
rooted needs and drives (to care, to protect, to be a parent and to center a family)
adequately, especially keeping in mind a year an a half of Dean's life Sam missed. Sam is
*still* not seeing the ways his brother changed, or rather, evolved along the lines that've
always been there. Besides, implicitly, Sam's standing on the matter might retroactively
discredit his pre-Cage outlined willingness to steer Dean into 'normal': a nomal ever after
for Dean was regarded okay since Sam was exiting the picture, but now that he's back, it's
not a preferable outcome (even if subconsciously on Sam's part);
- a measure of selfish little-brotherness might be at play here (Sam's so used to being the
one doing the 'leaving' stint to pursue paths of his own, he can hardly envision Dean doing,
or needing to do the same, especailly after Dean going beyond himself for 2,5 episodes in a
row to indicate that at this very moment Sam is his brother's ultimate and primary concern -
old family patterns die hard);
yet another facet of selfishness might be hinted at here, even codified through Sam's
wording of choice (mind you, I'm in no way, shape or form aiming at Sam-bashing here, just
attempting to have a look at various textually implied interpretative aspects): if Sam
couldn't have a gratifying closure to his fix-it-up endeavor, why suppose Dean would (or
should) have one too. It's not an entirely new stance of Sam's as a sibling ('what makes him
[Adam] so special?!' back in Jump the Shark pretty much paved out this very ground).
Intermediate significant exchange 1.2.
Dr. Robert vs. hoodoo.
Just a couple of quick notes here. Foremost, the exchange highlights the brothers'
respective movement in reverse symmetrical directions wrt to the issue of dealing with
repercussions and afteraffects: Dean advocates a radical 'invasive' treatment that would do
away with the problem, whereas Sam pledges a temporary fix, a 'band-aide' to retain the
status quo for the time being (Playthings of s2 suggest, however, that kind of status quo
could last for decades). Partially, these stances are echoed through their final exchange at
the end of the episode.
The very mention of Dr. Robert and his shady below-the-radar medical den got me confused. If
you've got a glimpse at my other overviews through this part of season 6 you'd know, that
I'm EXTREMELY aware and perplexed by the fact that the logistics of Sam's resoulment and
*what* Dean had to do to attain it was not mentioned between the brothers so far. Especially
that seemed to factor into Sam's disregarding demeanor wrt to his soul and the Wall in 6.13.
That Sam should be in the know of Dr. Robert shenanigans got me wondering: either Sam knew
right away (learned off screen in between 6.12 and 6.13), which makes his behaviour through
6.13 even more douchebaggy than initially depicted; or Dean spilled the beans some time in
between Sam's seizure and their opening 'coffee'n'pills' exchange (granted, Sam presumably
became more curious about the matters of his resoulment upon the flashback).
Either way, Sam's dismissive remark and Dean's subsequent sarcasm are still expressive as
far as their respective standpoints and appreciation of the whole issue are concerned. To
Sam's credit, it ought to be pointed out that he *did* indicate signs of improvement by the
very end of the episode.
On the upside, the brother's did manage to derive a compromise, matching their opposed takes
on tackling the haunted kidney problem in the middle. I do hope there's an interactive
lampshade and/or metaphor in there somewhere.
Part 2
Part 3