Things I Love About SPN Season 1: Asylum #6 (Conclusion)
Supernatural, Season 1
Episode 10, “Asylum”
Written by Richard Hatem
Directed by Guy Bee
Continued from # 5
The final scene begins with a shot of one of the “no trespassing” signs we saw at the start of the teaser but now, on reflection, it seems to have acquired different connotations . . .
considering violation has been a major theme of the episode: violation of the patients’ human rights, of the victims’ minds in general, and of Sam’s mind in particular. Well, I guess you could say that Dean prosecuted the hell out of Dr. Ellicott!
After thanking the brothers for their help, the young couple walk away, and we see Gavin place his hand on Kat’s shoulder. Interestingly, in the original script it says that Kat’s response is to remove it, indicating that the experience in the asylum has done permanent damage and she is sticking with her previously stated decision to break up. And perhaps Hatem’s intent was that we should see reflected in the couple’s separation a similar schism in the brothers’ relationship, foreshadowing the big break up between Sam and Dean that’s about to happen in the next episode. However, in the aired episode we never see Kat’s gesture of rejection. Presumably the producers decided they didn’t want to end the episode on such a negative note for the couple. Probably a wise decision since the young people were appealing and entertaining and the general audience was doubtless hoping for a happy ending for them.
For the brothers, however, the episode ends more equivocally. Sam apologizes for the things he said to Dean and insists he didn’t mean them. It’s interesting that his concern is to deny the “awful things” he said, rather than apologize for attempting to shoot Dean. Perhaps he feels it goes without saying that he didn’t genuinely want to kill his brother whereas he feels bad about what he said because he knows, deep down, there was a grain of truth in it.
First time around I watched the show naively and tended to take the things the characters said about themselves at face value, so I accepted at the time that Sam’s comments were just a product of the spirit’s evil influence but, over time, as the same themes kept coming up time after time, it became clear that the monsters don’t put the words into the brothers’ mouths, they simply exploit feelings the characters actually have but wouldn’t normally express or act on. So, it seems there is a dark corner of Sam that genuinely believes he’s better than Dean, and thinks he’d be better off without him. Maybe, at some deeply buried level, even the murder longings are real. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t love his brother; as Dr. Cara Roberts indicates later in the series, feelings can be complex and twisted:
Haven't you ever been in a relationship where you really loved somebody
and still kinda wanted to bash their head in?
http://www.supernaturalwiki.com/4.14_Sex_and_Violence_(transcript)
It doesn’t mean he’s a bad person, either. To borrow from another fandom: “the world isn't split into good people and (evildoers). We've all got both light and dark inside of us. What matters is the part we choose to act on.” (Sirius Black in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix https://tvshowtranscripts.ourboard.org/viewtopic.php?f=150&t=9156 )
As for Dean, he seems disinclined to accept Sam’s assertion that he didn’t mean the things he said:
DEAN
You didn't, huh?
SAM
No, of course not! Do we need to talk about this?
DEAN
(moving to get in the Impala) No. I'm not really in the sharing and caring kinda mood. I just wanna get some sleep.
http://www.supernaturalwiki.com/1.10_Asylum_(transcript)
Dean clearly retains his doubts but declines Sam’s offer to talk about it. I think it’s the popular consensus that the brothers’ problems would all be resolved if they communicated and expressed their feelings more, but I’m not sure that’s the moral the show dramatizes. Generally, there are good reasons why the brothers withhold things from each other, and when they come clean the fears that made them reticent in the first place typically prove to be justified. Often, no good comes from these revelations. In this episode, for example, we’re already seeing evidence that, now that Sam’s supernatural abilities are out in the open, they have the potential to rupture the brothers’ relationship.
Expressing their feelings sure didn’t help Ellicott’s patients and, as I suggested earlier, the plot of the episode may be a hyperbole for the psychiatric field in general. Sam’s more conventional session with Ellicott Jr. didn’t seem to resolve anything. In fact, is it possible the “talking cure” even aggravated the problem, distilling all his issues with Dean in the forefront of his mind and making him even more angry and, consequently, more vulnerable to the spirit’s attack?
I don’t think the show rates psychiatrists, and the early seasons seem ambivalent about expressing feelings generally. When it revisits the subject of mental health in season 5, Dean makes a compelling argument that suppression is necessary for the practical purpose of functioning in one’s daily life, and possibly even retaining one’s sanity:
SAM: Most of the time, I can hide it, but...I am angry. I'm mad at everything. I used to be mad at you and Dad, then Lilith, now it's Lucifer, and I make excuses. I blame Ruby or the demon blood, but it's not their fault. It's not them. It's me. It's inside me. I'm mad...all the time...and I don't know why.
SAM is very anguished and exasperated. DEAN steps closer.
DEAN: Stop. Stop it. So, what if you are? What are you gonna do?
You gonna take a leave of absence? You gonna say yes to Lucifer? What?
SAM: No, of course not. I--
DEAN: Exactly. And that's exactly what you're gonna do. You're gonna take all that crap and you're gonna bury it. You're gonna forget about it, because that's how we keep going! That's how we don't end up like Martin! Are you with me?
SAM is silent.
DEAN: Come on, man. Are you with me?
SAM: I'm with you.
DEAN: Good. Let's get the hell out of here.
DEAN gets into the IMPALA. SAM hesitates a moment and gets in the passenger seat. DEAN drives away into the night.
http://www.supernaturalwiki.com/5.11_Sam,_Interrupted_(transcript)
Perhaps the moral is that too much introspection is bad for you. As the saying goes, when you look into the abyss, it tends to look back. Or, to put it another way, you (literally) can’t handle the truth.
A typical episode would normally end here, with the brothers getting into the car and driving on to the next stop along the never-ending road, but this time we get an extra scene that shows them sleeping in a random hotel somewhere. Well, Dean’s sleeping, at least.
I’ve always loved this iconic shot of Dean. I can’t imagine why.
Sam may still have unresolved issues disturbing his slumber since he’s lying on his back, awake, while Dean is sleeping the sleep of the just; when his phone rings, Sam answers it for him. Then he sits bolt upright.
Roll credits!
I hope you've enjoyed this recap of Asylum, and that you've found the new approach helpful. As always, I look forward to hearing all your thoughts and impressions of the episode. Did you enjoy it? What were your favourite things about it?
I'll start reviewing the next episode, Scarecrow, soon. Please follow the "episode rewatch" tag to be notified when new updates are posted.
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