META: 'Not Normal. Safe.' - Why S8!Sam Makes Sense in Context of his History & in Relation to Dean

[zimshan]

My God, metas for shows with eight seasons are EXHAUSTING. I believe this is why I haven't gotten an SPN meta done since last fall. This was an extra hard one for me to write up, because it was based on an initial feeling, one that I was not expecting to get from the premiere. And one that I felt the need to work out exactly WHY that was. So cue

Comments

[counteragent]

This is a beautiful meta. I would like to think you are right (I found the PTSD symptoms with the two different clusters particularly interesting and convincing--thanks). It is similar to maraceles' positive take on it all, although you've pushed it even further with the series-long quotes and pics--wow!

However, I think that to pull off this storyline convincingly for Sam (which is a MUCH more nuanced storyline than either Dean's current storyline or previous Sam storylines), they will need a lot of Sam POV, which I have little faith we will get. Already we've gotten a ton of Dean flashbacks that are frankly narratively unnecessary because he's told Sam or Benny topside about as much as we've gotten to see. (I like the Purgatory flashbacks because they have emotion and violence, but they aren't necessary to move the plot forward yet.) Given their preponderance, I worry that the writers don't care enough (or think fans don't care enough) to portray the more mundane but more narratively important Sam flashbacks.

I am not sure I have the energy to hope for more Sam POV with nuance and "human story" emotion, and then have that hope dashed.

[zimshan]

No doubt, the show has to get its priorities straight. For a couple seasons now, I've thought that Sam's intraseasonal character arc has made alot of sense in terms of where its tracked year to year. They've definitely had moments they've drafted to hit, and they've done so. The problem is, like you said, the time spent on it. Last year is a perfect example. The moments they gave him, I think they got it right. But the space in between, they wasted good time glossing it over when they could have adequately expanded on it.

S7 excluded (cause ha, what happened to that arc?), it's the opposite problem for Dean. He seems to have those interseasonal character arcs every year. And yet season to season, it's kinda a mess, in that it feels like that carousel ride over and over again. I sometimes feel like the problem with Dean is that they give him too much time, without properly working out what they want to do with that time in the larger context.

So far, unfortunately, with the way spoilers seem to be tracking, it looks like that's one recaliberation that hasn't happened yet. I'll be honest, I am kinda worried by it. But their set up is so clearly Sam's year by himself, Dean's year by himself, and Sam and Dean together on this quest. And with that setup there's an implicit need for balance. So if they do tip the scales and weight the season with so much more purgatory flashbacks, it will be an error on their part. The purgatory flashbacks in my mind need that real world counter for half of its story. So I guess we'll have to wait and see. That's partly why I needed to write this up now. It's real clear to me at this moment, but who knows how muddy the waters will get in the next five or six episodes. I would LOVE nothing more than to see the above story track out. But there's no way of knowing whether it will or not, so it's easiest to say 'this is what I see now' and whatever else you get after that is cake. :D

At any rate, glad to hear you could enjoy the read! (You were awfully fast too!) I've been saving all the fandom links from the last couple weeks until I cleared my head with this, but I'll have to track down maraceles posts about this season too.

[counteragent]

I was fast because your post made so much sense. :) If it had been all muddy and contradictory I would have been slower (and probably not commented, heh).

Ooh, good point, and I agree. Before Season 8 began, I would have said that Sam has shown much more character growth overall than Dean, who tends to just vibrate on one plane--better and worse at times, but essentially the same (he's still all "I'M A KILLER and I CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS" which is pretty much where he was in S1--not that I'm complaining. I like Dean the way he is, and I don't mind that he tends to respond to Sam as a character trait). But I'm never sure how much of Sam's growth is fanon and how much is canon, given how much fic I read and how little (comparative) story time he gets.

Again, I'm not sure if your smart take = the take of the writers. And even if it does, I don't know if they have the gumption and finesse to tell it. And even if they do(!) I'm not sure fandom has the patience, the interest, and the faith to hear that story told. A lot of people have already thrown in the towel, because of lack of one of the three.