Mirrors - a meta on Sin City
Credit here to lostt1 and her meta on this episode, where she discussed the use of mirrors in this episode. Also - credit to Supernatural for being so fucking fantastic, that themes and characterizations present from the Pilot continue to underpin the show and allow wankers like me to write unnecessarily long metas about it.
Casey: Do you believe in god, Dean? I'd be surprised if you did.
Dean: I don't know. I'd like to.
I was raved in my meta on 303 , about how glad I was that this show was dealing with personal faith, and also hoped it would bring the God side of the equation into the demon mytharc. Well color me happy after this week’s episode!
The mirror in 3.04 was on the macro level - God versus Lucifer, and on a personal level - Dean’s faith versus Casey’s. Casey says she can believe in her god - Lucifer - because she has faith. Dean does not have faith.
It’s not that he doesn’t believe in what he can see - he does that all the time. Dean told us what has damaged his ability to have faith - his mother’s faith that “angels were watching over us”. If Good (if God) exists why did his mother die? He believes Mary was without blame (without sin?) and cannot conceive that a power of Good would let her die. Interestingly in “Faith” Dean says that playing God… deciding who lives and who dies, that’s a monster in my book. I think implicit in this is - God is a monster for letting my mother die. (Of course, ironically Dean himself as acted to decide who lives and dies - Sam. So that while Dean could not imagine other than acting to keep Sam alive, on some level he may feel it was wrong.)
Hell has been a lot more visible than the other side in Supernatural. Is it as bleak as Andy says at the beginning of this episode? God's not with us. Not anymore…And if he can... He won't. . I’ll be interested to see whether “the other side” shows up in a more active role this season. More on that below when I discuss Ruby.
Casey: Your kind is corrupt, Dean. Weak. Our will's stronger. That's why we'll win.
Humans are just mirrors of demons.
In 3.01 The Magnificent Seven, Envy claimed that humans were just "Horny, greedy, hungry, violent animals", that the seven deadly sins were just normal human instincts.”
Casey points out that she, and Trotter, merely provided the opportunity and the people of Elizabethville accepted - made the decision to act destructively. Sam splashes holy water around like a lawn sprinkler, but finds out that Trotter is merely human. The point is made; you don’t have to have been fed demon’s blood in your crib to be evil. It isn’t a destiny - it is a decision. Likeswise, Casey makes the point that Lucifer made a decision that led to his fall from grace. The folk at Elizabethville made one decision - which one will Sam make?
We all have demons inside us. Not ones from hell, but our own fears, neuroses and vices. After Croatoan, I discussed at length that while Sam may literally have a demon inside him, that I thought anger was Sam’s demon.
In short I think Sam has struggled with his anger since childhood. Not that he has more rage in him than the average person; it is his fear of his own anger that is the point. Since AHBL1, it has been the expression of Sam’s anger that has been used as a signal that something may be wrong with him. But in killing Jake or the demons in this episode, is Sam doing anything different than Dean would’ve done in the same situation? Probably not (viz Duane Tanner in "Croatoan"), but it is Sam’s attitude as he does so (cold as Dean says to Bobby), that signals a shift in Sam.
When Ruby tells him that in the coming war there will be "collateral damage", that he will have to do things that "go against his gentle nature", he says that he doesn’t have to like it. But look at his expression - I think these actions are already bothering him less (in the moment at least). This may make him not that different from Dean, but it certainly makes him different than the Sam of old.
The question is - will Sam’s demon (his anger) control him, or he it? Will he become a fallen angel? Or will he find grace?
Sam: You do realize there's red meat within striking distance, right?
We also had a mirror for Dean in Richie. Not a demon certainly, but perhaps an indication of what Dean could be with his baser desires uncontrolled.
But the point is made clearly here that Dean is in control of his gluttony and lust. He ignores a burger because of his concern for Richie’s safety. His lust for Casey does not outweigh his instincts as a hunter. For all his bluster that his last year is about cheeseburgers and sex, it is obvious won’t be. Because Dean is so much more than that.
Bobby: Two less demons to worry about. That's not nothing.
Dean: But Trotter's still alive.
Bobby:Humans ain't our job.
Bobby and Ruby become unlikely allies this week - and mirrors for each other. They each in their own way are out to kill demons, but their motivations, to date, seem very different.
Bobby working to kill evil, and protect the people he loves. His motivation is selfless. Bobby has been at the game a long time, but demonstrates that it is possible to be a hunter and continue to value all human life. Remember, it was Bobby back in Devil’s Trap, who warned that the exorcism would kill Meg. And we know he has continued working with Sam to save Dean. (let’s just hope *eyes Kripke* that his line to Dean “it won't kill demons by then, but I can promise you it'll kill you” was just a funny bit of banter and not foreshadowing of some later confrontation)
Ruby also wants to kill demons and save Dean. But what is her motivation? It is certainly self-centered. I have posited from the beginning of this season that she is a fallen angel - a phrase she used herself this episode. Could her motivation be to redeem herself to get back to heaven? Or is she trying to gain ascendancy amongst the demon hordes?
Father Gil: Well, it's a good thing he has you -- his brother's keeper.
Finally, Sam and Dean are mirrors for each other. At the end of AHBL2, Sam said it was his turn to ‘save Dean’s ass’ for a change. Be his brother’s keeper.
Yet it really isn’t a change. Both Sam and Dean are each other’s keepers - physically, morally, emotionally.
However, Sam, like John, had it in him to go to become obsessive, even irrational, when it came to the YED. Only his love for Dean pulled him back from that precipice. But now that it his love for Dean that is driving him, what will hold him back?
Casey: Do you believe in god, Dean? I'd be surprised if you did.
Dean: I don't know. I'd like to.
I was raved in my meta on 303 , about how glad I was that this show was dealing with personal faith, and also hoped it would bring the God side of the equation into the demon mytharc. Well color me happy after this week’s episode!
The mirror in 3.04 was on the macro level - God versus Lucifer, and on a personal level - Dean’s faith versus Casey’s. Casey says she can believe in her god - Lucifer - because she has faith. Dean does not have faith.
It’s not that he doesn’t believe in what he can see - he does that all the time. Dean told us what has damaged his ability to have faith - his mother’s faith that “angels were watching over us”. If Good (if God) exists why did his mother die? He believes Mary was without blame (without sin?) and cannot conceive that a power of Good would let her die. Interestingly in “Faith” Dean says that playing God… deciding who lives and who dies, that’s a monster in my book. I think implicit in this is - God is a monster for letting my mother die. (Of course, ironically Dean himself as acted to decide who lives and dies - Sam. So that while Dean could not imagine other than acting to keep Sam alive, on some level he may feel it was wrong.)
Hell has been a lot more visible than the other side in Supernatural. Is it as bleak as Andy says at the beginning of this episode? God's not with us. Not anymore…And if he can... He won't. . I’ll be interested to see whether “the other side” shows up in a more active role this season. More on that below when I discuss Ruby.
Casey: Your kind is corrupt, Dean. Weak. Our will's stronger. That's why we'll win.
Humans are just mirrors of demons.
In 3.01 The Magnificent Seven, Envy claimed that humans were just "Horny, greedy, hungry, violent animals", that the seven deadly sins were just normal human instincts.”
Casey points out that she, and Trotter, merely provided the opportunity and the people of Elizabethville accepted - made the decision to act destructively. Sam splashes holy water around like a lawn sprinkler, but finds out that Trotter is merely human. The point is made; you don’t have to have been fed demon’s blood in your crib to be evil. It isn’t a destiny - it is a decision. Likeswise, Casey makes the point that Lucifer made a decision that led to his fall from grace. The folk at Elizabethville made one decision - which one will Sam make?
We all have demons inside us. Not ones from hell, but our own fears, neuroses and vices. After Croatoan, I discussed at length that while Sam may literally have a demon inside him, that I thought anger was Sam’s demon.
In short I think Sam has struggled with his anger since childhood. Not that he has more rage in him than the average person; it is his fear of his own anger that is the point. Since AHBL1, it has been the expression of Sam’s anger that has been used as a signal that something may be wrong with him. But in killing Jake or the demons in this episode, is Sam doing anything different than Dean would’ve done in the same situation? Probably not (viz Duane Tanner in "Croatoan"), but it is Sam’s attitude as he does so (cold as Dean says to Bobby), that signals a shift in Sam.
When Ruby tells him that in the coming war there will be "collateral damage", that he will have to do things that "go against his gentle nature", he says that he doesn’t have to like it. But look at his expression - I think these actions are already bothering him less (in the moment at least). This may make him not that different from Dean, but it certainly makes him different than the Sam of old.
The question is - will Sam’s demon (his anger) control him, or he it? Will he become a fallen angel? Or will he find grace?
Sam: You do realize there's red meat within striking distance, right?
We also had a mirror for Dean in Richie. Not a demon certainly, but perhaps an indication of what Dean could be with his baser desires uncontrolled.
But the point is made clearly here that Dean is in control of his gluttony and lust. He ignores a burger because of his concern for Richie’s safety. His lust for Casey does not outweigh his instincts as a hunter. For all his bluster that his last year is about cheeseburgers and sex, it is obvious won’t be. Because Dean is so much more than that.
Bobby: Two less demons to worry about. That's not nothing.
Dean: But Trotter's still alive.
Bobby:Humans ain't our job.
Bobby and Ruby become unlikely allies this week - and mirrors for each other. They each in their own way are out to kill demons, but their motivations, to date, seem very different.
Bobby working to kill evil, and protect the people he loves. His motivation is selfless. Bobby has been at the game a long time, but demonstrates that it is possible to be a hunter and continue to value all human life. Remember, it was Bobby back in Devil’s Trap, who warned that the exorcism would kill Meg. And we know he has continued working with Sam to save Dean. (let’s just hope *eyes Kripke* that his line to Dean “it won't kill demons by then, but I can promise you it'll kill you” was just a funny bit of banter and not foreshadowing of some later confrontation)
Ruby also wants to kill demons and save Dean. But what is her motivation? It is certainly self-centered. I have posited from the beginning of this season that she is a fallen angel - a phrase she used herself this episode. Could her motivation be to redeem herself to get back to heaven? Or is she trying to gain ascendancy amongst the demon hordes?
Father Gil: Well, it's a good thing he has you -- his brother's keeper.
Finally, Sam and Dean are mirrors for each other. At the end of AHBL2, Sam said it was his turn to ‘save Dean’s ass’ for a change. Be his brother’s keeper.
Yet it really isn’t a change. Both Sam and Dean are each other’s keepers - physically, morally, emotionally.
However, Sam, like John, had it in him to go to become obsessive, even irrational, when it came to the YED. Only his love for Dean pulled him back from that precipice. But now that it his love for Dean that is driving him, what will hold him back?