A few speculations about Sam's flashbacks

[cordelia_gray]

I was reading this debate about Sam's flashbacks, and I still don't quite know what I think about it all. It seems to me that there are definitely things we don't know yet, and maybe we'll get some answers tonght.
[Click for mostly un-spoilery spec]The options, as I see it, are

Comments

[de_nugis]

When you say mostly unspoilery, can I read safely if I haven't read any of the interviews that have been coming out this week but was spoiled up the wazoo up till last week?

*averts eyes meanwhile*

[cordelia_gray]

Yes, I think so. Both my spec & the linked article are based almost entirely on what we've seen in aired episodes.

[monicawoe]

I'm definitely leaning towards #4. Can't wait to see the ep tonight!

[cordelia_gray]

#4 would be my favourite, but I have a feeling it's not going to happen :( Still, I am looking forward to finding out more info!

[de_nugis]

Yeah, I think I agree with you, though the rosy idealized dream life doesn't seem entirely consistent with what they seemed to be going for earlier in the season, and it's weird to me that Sam appeared to identify Don's return with whatever you are running from crashing back on you, seeing as how he and Amelia weren't running from Don being alive. And quite a bit of the Amelia stuff seems to turn on stuff being UNidealized -- more so than Jess and Lisa, Amelia's is a messy world, and the relationship has a do-it-yourself quality. And I'll be very disappointed if they are entirely moving off the idea that Sam got some real and valuable and permanent stuff out of his time with Amelia, that it gave him something to contribute, even if it was something that needed balancing, just as Dean's renewed zeal for hunting gives him something to offer, even if it's something that needs reining in

[cordelia_gray]

I don't think the idealised dream is the reality, so much as a filter Sam's trying to impose on the memory. Though in a lot of ways, some kind of memory tampering makes the most sense in terms of Sam's arc, that his feelings about the situation are shifting as more memories filter in.

I do hope we get some sense that Sam's dream isn't totally impossible, unrealistic, or selfish, because that would just be tragic.

[borgmama1of5]

I think you've summed up the possibilities quite succinctly.

Though I don't discount the possibility that Carver has come up with yet a different way to go...