Meta - How Far We've Come
Oh Show, how I love when you circle back with themes and ideas. And you know how I love the visuals!
Was it just me? Did anyone else immediately think of this:
...when this happened?
I just love, LOVE how the show takes things we're familiar with and twists them. My mind started whirling, comparing the images and the surrounding scenes. It's a striking revelation about how far Dean has come.
The similarities are on the surface - Big Bad takes the form/inhabits a parental figure and sets about pushing Dean's buttons. The monster gets inappropriately into Dean's space. No joke, the first time I saw that scene in season 1 I almost fell off the couch because I was so beside myself that the YED might move in for a kiss. I think the sexual tension in both scenes is high and twisted with the role of the aggressor being a familiar, loved parental figure.
I love that these two scenes are not exact reflections of one another. In Devil's Trap, the YED comes at Dean head on. Lots of eye contact, very aggressive physical body language - it's uncomfortable seeing Dean so vulnerable, particularly in light the fact that he's immobilized by a force we cannot see. In Mommy Dearest, Eve also takes the position of power - Dean is seated and exposed, Eve has the higher ground and has him trapped from behind.
Another "same, yet different" element is the reason the monsters have taken action. For the YED, he was out for revenge - Dean killed his children and the YED was going to get his pound of flesh out of the Winchester he didn't need. Eve has similar reasons for stepping out into the world, but this time it was Crowly doing the killing, and she wants the Winchesters to stop him.
But then we can start to look at Dean in both situations. In Devil's Trap, Dean and Sam had no idea that John was possessed until they were alone with him; they had no plan, there was no strategy. Although Dean had experience hunting on his own, I think in the wider view, he was still pretty green. Up to that point, Dean had rarely defied a direct order. He did what he was told to do by the highest voice of authority, which at that time was John. When he was pinned to that wall, the Colt was completely beyond his reach and all he had on his side was bluster and bravado. It was the broken, desperate plea that the YED wrenched out of Dean that was his own undoing.
Skip ahead six seasons and here we are again, but this time the monster is looking for aide not revenge, and this time Dean says no. Dean had certainly broken the habit of blindly following orders - he defies Sam, he defies Bobby, he defies Heaven and Hell itself - Dean Winchester is no longer on a leash...and, he is no longer without a plan. Wheras in Devil's Trap his bluster was probably a bit to buy some time, in Mommy Dearest he is goading Eve. She thinks she's the one with the power but this time it's Dean pushing the buttons. He has a backup plan which is fairly obvious (Castiel & Bobby), but now he has a backup to the backup that only he knows about.
This calls into question "I had an accident with the ash" from the beginning of the episode. Or, did Sam's comment about the ash being like lead or salt - "hurts them, not us" - inspire Dean to mix up that special shot? I don't see Dean keeping the fact that he ingested the Phoenix ash from Sam as a demonstration of not trusting him. I think he wasn't sure if it was going to work (98% sure...) and once again he reverts to Big Brother mode in which "Keep Sammy safe" is paramount in his thinking. If anyone's going to do the reckless, suicide maneuver without alerting the rest of the team, it's going to be Dean.
Interestingly, in both situations, Sam is immobilized; in season 1 the YED needs Sam to further his plan - Sam is pinned to the wall, seemingly no threat; in season 6, Eve just needs him physically out of the way for the moment - restrained by the Jefferson Starships until she can take a bite out of him. Neither monster sees Sam as a threat. Oh Show...are you just lulling us into a false sense of security as far as Sam's soul is concerned? What was it that Sam wanted to share about Castiel [please mention getting out of the panic room...please mention that...]? When Death's Wall starts to crumble, what are we really looking at?
In the end, how the scenes end may be telling in themselves. Dean's gone from broken and bleeding, begging Sam not to take the shot that will kill the monster, to bleeding, but standing watching the monster crumble by his hand.
Where do we go from here?
Was it just me? Did anyone else immediately think of this:
...when this happened?
I just love, LOVE how the show takes things we're familiar with and twists them. My mind started whirling, comparing the images and the surrounding scenes. It's a striking revelation about how far Dean has come.
The similarities are on the surface - Big Bad takes the form/inhabits a parental figure and sets about pushing Dean's buttons. The monster gets inappropriately into Dean's space. No joke, the first time I saw that scene in season 1 I almost fell off the couch because I was so beside myself that the YED might move in for a kiss. I think the sexual tension in both scenes is high and twisted with the role of the aggressor being a familiar, loved parental figure.
I love that these two scenes are not exact reflections of one another. In Devil's Trap, the YED comes at Dean head on. Lots of eye contact, very aggressive physical body language - it's uncomfortable seeing Dean so vulnerable, particularly in light the fact that he's immobilized by a force we cannot see. In Mommy Dearest, Eve also takes the position of power - Dean is seated and exposed, Eve has the higher ground and has him trapped from behind.
Another "same, yet different" element is the reason the monsters have taken action. For the YED, he was out for revenge - Dean killed his children and the YED was going to get his pound of flesh out of the Winchester he didn't need. Eve has similar reasons for stepping out into the world, but this time it was Crowly doing the killing, and she wants the Winchesters to stop him.
But then we can start to look at Dean in both situations. In Devil's Trap, Dean and Sam had no idea that John was possessed until they were alone with him; they had no plan, there was no strategy. Although Dean had experience hunting on his own, I think in the wider view, he was still pretty green. Up to that point, Dean had rarely defied a direct order. He did what he was told to do by the highest voice of authority, which at that time was John. When he was pinned to that wall, the Colt was completely beyond his reach and all he had on his side was bluster and bravado. It was the broken, desperate plea that the YED wrenched out of Dean that was his own undoing.
Skip ahead six seasons and here we are again, but this time the monster is looking for aide not revenge, and this time Dean says no. Dean had certainly broken the habit of blindly following orders - he defies Sam, he defies Bobby, he defies Heaven and Hell itself - Dean Winchester is no longer on a leash...and, he is no longer without a plan. Wheras in Devil's Trap his bluster was probably a bit to buy some time, in Mommy Dearest he is goading Eve. She thinks she's the one with the power but this time it's Dean pushing the buttons. He has a backup plan which is fairly obvious (Castiel & Bobby), but now he has a backup to the backup that only he knows about.
This calls into question "I had an accident with the ash" from the beginning of the episode. Or, did Sam's comment about the ash being like lead or salt - "hurts them, not us" - inspire Dean to mix up that special shot? I don't see Dean keeping the fact that he ingested the Phoenix ash from Sam as a demonstration of not trusting him. I think he wasn't sure if it was going to work (98% sure...) and once again he reverts to Big Brother mode in which "Keep Sammy safe" is paramount in his thinking. If anyone's going to do the reckless, suicide maneuver without alerting the rest of the team, it's going to be Dean.
Interestingly, in both situations, Sam is immobilized; in season 1 the YED needs Sam to further his plan - Sam is pinned to the wall, seemingly no threat; in season 6, Eve just needs him physically out of the way for the moment - restrained by the Jefferson Starships until she can take a bite out of him. Neither monster sees Sam as a threat. Oh Show...are you just lulling us into a false sense of security as far as Sam's soul is concerned? What was it that Sam wanted to share about Castiel [please mention getting out of the panic room...please mention that...]? When Death's Wall starts to crumble, what are we really looking at?
In the end, how the scenes end may be telling in themselves. Dean's gone from broken and bleeding, begging Sam not to take the shot that will kill the monster, to bleeding, but standing watching the monster crumble by his hand.
Where do we go from here?