SPN - 6.06 & 6.07 promo - I've got questions, surrounding the promo spill...
Well I’m glad after four stalled weeks I finally got that post done at the perfect time, eh?
For once, I’m glad they spilled the beans about the soul thing in the promo, since I didn’t want it nagging me for a whole other week. Because, while I did enjoy the 'back to the brothers' focus that I've been sorely missing the last couple weeks, the episode itself was pretty short on giving many answers. (Which, I’ll admit, I figured.)
So they’ve answered that this Sam has been going through the motions of emotions without actually feeling them. And the promo has answered that he’s missing his soul, which can be assumed to be the inherent cause. That’s really it.
But curiously, I’ve seen posts all over talking about Sam now as if he’s evil or a monster without his soul, as if he’s an outright villain now. And this really has me confused. We haven’t been told anything concretely yet that should make us jump to that conclusion. Until we’re told otherwise, the most logical assumption is that he lost in sometime in the pit. In, um, Hell. Which he jumped in out of his own free will to save the world. Doesn‘t that makes Sam less a villain, more of a victim? I actually doubt very much that they’re gonna go for a blatant Angelous interpretation of soul vs. nonsoul, good vs. evil dichotomy. I also doubt it’s gonna be a ‘OH THE SEARCH FOR SAM’S SOUL IN A GLASS BOTTLE’ thing.
For me, I’m really just at this question of, okay, SPN. You want to play this game, let’s play it: Souls. They can be bought and sold, but WHAT ARE THEY? Do demons really lack them or are they simply blackened? (The smoke we see during possession, perhaps?) Do angels lack them? Sam’s description of his condition does resemble Anna’s explanation of being unable to feel as an angel. Does that mean Cas loosing his angeldom and gaining his humanity last year was really him gaining a soul? Or simply responding to Jimmy’s more as he lost his grace? Do monsters lack them? What happened to Dean’s soul in 5.05 when he turned into a vampire, and then turned back? Anything? He was still able to resist drinking, and harness choice, much like Lenore way back in ‘Bloodlust‘. In the past, we’ve been told the line between a monster (who the Winchesters hunt and kill) and a being to be left alone was whether it killed humans. But that’s been kinda shot to hell since the show has become so loose with demon host killing. Are they moving to revise this?
Logically, by Sam not having one, we could assume that they’ve already been telling us what a soul is. (By virtue of being clearly identified as Soul!Knockout Sam now, since I just can't leave the knockout mice thing alone. It's so apt!) therefore, evidence of S6!Sam is the evidence of what a lack of a soul looks like. And it doesn’t resemble a demon or a monster to me. What it resembles is an angel.
Let’s revisit that description from Anna about what it’s like to be an angel for a second:
ANNA: I mean it. Every emotion, Dean, even the bad ones... It's why I fell. It's why... Why I'd give anything not to have to go back. Anything.
DEAN: Feelings are overrated, if you ask me.
ANNA: Beats being an angel.
DEAN: How's that possible? You guys are powerful and perfect. You don't doubt yourselves or God or anything.
ANNA: Perfect... Like a marble statue. Cold... No choice... Only obedience.
Now Sam from this week:
DEAN: I could have died. I could have killed Ben.
SAM: I know and that should have stopped me cold. But I just don’t feel it…Ever since I came back, I am a better hunter than I have ever been. Nothing scares me anymore. ‘Cause I can‘t feel it.
DEAN: Can‘t feel what, Sam.
SAM: I don’t know…what’s wrong with me. I think…I need help.”
In fact, one thing I’d wanted to mention and missed in my meta last week was how many facial ticks of this new Sam has reminded me of Cas, especially in early S4. I’m not saying Sam could be an angel, I’m just saying that if this Sam is one without a soul, and his personality change resembles the difference between Jimmy and Cas, it could be an indication that angels lack souls too. And therefore that lacking a soul doesn’t necessarily make you evil or a monster. Rather that it simply makes you unable to use emotions or see morality issues or connect to others. It makes you the perfect soldier, practical, efficient, confident, unquestioning, without fear. (Sam did say he’s a better hunter than he’s ever been.) Therefore, it seems to me as if calling this Sam outright evil or a monster is just about as fruitless as calling Cas evil or a monster.
The one thing that stopped me when thinking about the idea that Sam might be missing his whole soul is, how does the show go about getting it back? It's not exactly like this show to do a SPECIAL 'DEAN HUNTS FOR SAM'S SOUL' two-parter, you know? It seems as though the solution for this would have to be progressive somehow. And so I'm wondering: Could this connection be pointing to the possibility that just as Cas slowly gained a soul and became human throughout S5, that the same might be possible for Sam over the course of this season? Perhaps whoever up in Heaven that’s holding the purse strings on his soul (the infamous Host of Heaven Cas keeps referring tom perhaps?) has agreed to give it back as he progresses on his job rounding up the Alphas. IN FACT. HEY. COULD THE MONSTERS AND ALPHAS GOING CRAZY BE CONNECTED WITH THE NUCS IN HEAVEN GOING MISSING???????
SOOO MANY QUESTIONS and this show has always been so bad at defining it's mythology specifically, I'm unsure how many answers we'll ever get. Really, I shouldn't even be allowed to think about mythology details, they'll make my brain spin. But I know Gamble said in interviews that they were moving to explain the mythology more, so it'll be interesting to see how far they go with explaining the rules and definitions here throughout the course of the season.
As for my actual reaction to the epsiode? Well, completing that Sam meta picspam obviously tapped into a hunk load of affection and sympathy for this new damaged Sam ‘cause the whole episode was me going OH SAMMMMMMMM. If you’re gonna talk about the most depressing part of the episode, being convinced he was real Sam like I was (just not all of him), it was hearing Dean say he wanted to murder the guy sitting next to him. Remember when Dean couldn’t conceive of killing him if any part of that was Sam???? So, as an effect, I'll admit the ending of rage-exploding!Dean made me wince beyond belief. I get that some evil goddess just told you your brother’s not human and you’ve had a rough week and all but he also just confessed himself and begged for your help. Giving him brain damage is probably not the greatest way of doing that. (SERIOUSLY, what an absolutely horrifying way to end the episode. I HAD CHILLS, GUYS. CHILLS.)
As for Enigma!Sam wearing red this week, I have but one response: Obviously this Sam knows ALL ABOUT the color meta, and with Dean acting suspiciously, he practically reasoned wearing red again would be the most efficient way of throwing his brother off the trail. ;) [Honestly, I have no idea what was going on there? Besides screwing up a lovely 30+ episode consistency on color meta!]
For once, I’m glad they spilled the beans about the soul thing in the promo, since I didn’t want it nagging me for a whole other week. Because, while I did enjoy the 'back to the brothers' focus that I've been sorely missing the last couple weeks, the episode itself was pretty short on giving many answers. (Which, I’ll admit, I figured.)
So they’ve answered that this Sam has been going through the motions of emotions without actually feeling them. And the promo has answered that he’s missing his soul, which can be assumed to be the inherent cause. That’s really it.
But curiously, I’ve seen posts all over talking about Sam now as if he’s evil or a monster without his soul, as if he’s an outright villain now. And this really has me confused. We haven’t been told anything concretely yet that should make us jump to that conclusion. Until we’re told otherwise, the most logical assumption is that he lost in sometime in the pit. In, um, Hell. Which he jumped in out of his own free will to save the world. Doesn‘t that makes Sam less a villain, more of a victim? I actually doubt very much that they’re gonna go for a blatant Angelous interpretation of soul vs. nonsoul, good vs. evil dichotomy. I also doubt it’s gonna be a ‘OH THE SEARCH FOR SAM’S SOUL IN A GLASS BOTTLE’ thing.
For me, I’m really just at this question of, okay, SPN. You want to play this game, let’s play it: Souls. They can be bought and sold, but WHAT ARE THEY? Do demons really lack them or are they simply blackened? (The smoke we see during possession, perhaps?) Do angels lack them? Sam’s description of his condition does resemble Anna’s explanation of being unable to feel as an angel. Does that mean Cas loosing his angeldom and gaining his humanity last year was really him gaining a soul? Or simply responding to Jimmy’s more as he lost his grace? Do monsters lack them? What happened to Dean’s soul in 5.05 when he turned into a vampire, and then turned back? Anything? He was still able to resist drinking, and harness choice, much like Lenore way back in ‘Bloodlust‘. In the past, we’ve been told the line between a monster (who the Winchesters hunt and kill) and a being to be left alone was whether it killed humans. But that’s been kinda shot to hell since the show has become so loose with demon host killing. Are they moving to revise this?
Logically, by Sam not having one, we could assume that they’ve already been telling us what a soul is. (By virtue of being clearly identified as Soul!Knockout Sam now, since I just can't leave the knockout mice thing alone. It's so apt!) therefore, evidence of S6!Sam is the evidence of what a lack of a soul looks like. And it doesn’t resemble a demon or a monster to me. What it resembles is an angel.
Let’s revisit that description from Anna about what it’s like to be an angel for a second:
ANNA: I mean it. Every emotion, Dean, even the bad ones... It's why I fell. It's why... Why I'd give anything not to have to go back. Anything.
DEAN: Feelings are overrated, if you ask me.
ANNA: Beats being an angel.
DEAN: How's that possible? You guys are powerful and perfect. You don't doubt yourselves or God or anything.
ANNA: Perfect... Like a marble statue. Cold... No choice... Only obedience.
Now Sam from this week:
DEAN: I could have died. I could have killed Ben.
SAM: I know and that should have stopped me cold. But I just don’t feel it…Ever since I came back, I am a better hunter than I have ever been. Nothing scares me anymore. ‘Cause I can‘t feel it.
DEAN: Can‘t feel what, Sam.
SAM: I don’t know…what’s wrong with me. I think…I need help.”
In fact, one thing I’d wanted to mention and missed in my meta last week was how many facial ticks of this new Sam has reminded me of Cas, especially in early S4. I’m not saying Sam could be an angel, I’m just saying that if this Sam is one without a soul, and his personality change resembles the difference between Jimmy and Cas, it could be an indication that angels lack souls too. And therefore that lacking a soul doesn’t necessarily make you evil or a monster. Rather that it simply makes you unable to use emotions or see morality issues or connect to others. It makes you the perfect soldier, practical, efficient, confident, unquestioning, without fear. (Sam did say he’s a better hunter than he’s ever been.) Therefore, it seems to me as if calling this Sam outright evil or a monster is just about as fruitless as calling Cas evil or a monster.
The one thing that stopped me when thinking about the idea that Sam might be missing his whole soul is, how does the show go about getting it back? It's not exactly like this show to do a SPECIAL 'DEAN HUNTS FOR SAM'S SOUL' two-parter, you know? It seems as though the solution for this would have to be progressive somehow. And so I'm wondering: Could this connection be pointing to the possibility that just as Cas slowly gained a soul and became human throughout S5, that the same might be possible for Sam over the course of this season? Perhaps whoever up in Heaven that’s holding the purse strings on his soul (the infamous Host of Heaven Cas keeps referring tom perhaps?) has agreed to give it back as he progresses on his job rounding up the Alphas. IN FACT. HEY. COULD THE MONSTERS AND ALPHAS GOING CRAZY BE CONNECTED WITH THE NUCS IN HEAVEN GOING MISSING???????
SOOO MANY QUESTIONS and this show has always been so bad at defining it's mythology specifically, I'm unsure how many answers we'll ever get. Really, I shouldn't even be allowed to think about mythology details, they'll make my brain spin. But I know Gamble said in interviews that they were moving to explain the mythology more, so it'll be interesting to see how far they go with explaining the rules and definitions here throughout the course of the season.
As for my actual reaction to the epsiode? Well, completing that Sam meta picspam obviously tapped into a hunk load of affection and sympathy for this new damaged Sam ‘cause the whole episode was me going OH SAMMMMMMMM. If you’re gonna talk about the most depressing part of the episode, being convinced he was real Sam like I was (just not all of him), it was hearing Dean say he wanted to murder the guy sitting next to him. Remember when Dean couldn’t conceive of killing him if any part of that was Sam???? So, as an effect, I'll admit the ending of rage-exploding!Dean made me wince beyond belief. I get that some evil goddess just told you your brother’s not human and you’ve had a rough week and all but he also just confessed himself and begged for your help. Giving him brain damage is probably not the greatest way of doing that. (SERIOUSLY, what an absolutely horrifying way to end the episode. I HAD CHILLS, GUYS. CHILLS.)
As for Enigma!Sam wearing red this week, I have but one response: Obviously this Sam knows ALL ABOUT the color meta, and with Dean acting suspiciously, he practically reasoned wearing red again would be the most efficient way of throwing his brother off the trail. ;) [Honestly, I have no idea what was going on there? Besides screwing up a lovely 30+ episode consistency on color meta!]