Some of my best friends are demons: but this is still the Sam and Dean show.
Some of my best friends are demons: but this is still the Sam and Dean show
Cliff's* notes:
• In Supernatural, it ain't easy to know what's right and wrong, or who's good and evil.
• Just because Ruby is a demon doesn't mean she's evil
• Dean has recently been in demon bootcamp and we like him don't we?
• Sam hopes, wants, Ruby to be good because he has demon blood in him and if there's hope for her, there's hope for him.
• Current debates about whether Sam's alliance with Ruby is mean to Dean remind me of the debates in Season One about how selfish Sam was to go to college.
• This show is the epic love story of Sam and Dean
*yes, thatCliff. He writes all my dot point summaries.
So, Sam and Ruby fucked. Shocking, although really only the icing on the devil's food cake, as we've known that Sam had allied with Ruby during Dean's time down under, and continued to work with her after Dean's return.
A Winchester and a Demon. Pretty big shit for these brothers. One of those who killed their mother. And their father. And grandparents. And Jess. They were raised to hate them. To hunt them. And now we have Sam BFFs with a demon, and Dean accepting it. So how did we get here from there?
This show has always been about exploring the nature of good and evil, right and wrong. Saving People; Hunting Things. The Family Business. I've always held this phrase as the key to this show. Hell I got it on a tattoo!
Supernatural is a show all about showing us that it ain't easy to know what's right and wrong, or who's good and evil. That in changes over time, between circumstances and even depending on your point of view. Because some time the people need hunting, and the things are not evil. And that family and your love for them may be the most dangerous thing of all. Life is hard, yo.
We've seen the boys realize that vengeful spirits are simply ghosts unable to move on - something Dean was told he himself would become in IMTOD. In "Fresh Blood", we find out vampires are not all bad, and Dean faces his own unquestioning (til then) prejudice. Importantly they were all human once. And we know humans are flawed, and sometimes bad, or evil. In "Croatoan", "Jus in bello" and "Dear God...". - these episodes spell out that how hard the choices the boys make are - and not always ones everyone would call good or right.
Demons of course remained unredeemed. However there was always a twist there too - in killing a demon, you (usually) killed the person it was possessing. Even back in S1 this gave Dean pause (killing that guy, killing Meg…) - a reminder of the decision to sacrifice one in the cause of the greater good. (Even Kripke in the commentary to ABHL2 mentions that he found it sad that as the boys are happy about the death of Azazel, no-one cares about the dead janitor).
Then there was Ruby. A demon from hell. Obviosuly she's evil - but remember this show makes us examine our preconceptions, and our assumptions. Sam was moved to show her some reluctant trust, or at least not kill her, after she saved his life and promised to help save Dean from his deal. With the stakes that high, Sam was willing to try anything.
Then after Dean's death, Sam has lost everything, his brother, his sense of purpose, his will to live. He couldn't save Dean, he can't get him back. Even Hell doesn't fucking want him. Ruby offers Sam hope of being able to do something, even if it is focused at first solely on revenge against Lilith. Hence the sex, which (to throw in some psychobabble) is symbolic of Sam's move from having been made passive, emasculated, by grief, to once again being in control (of owning the phallus so to speak yes its all about the cock) and able to act.
I think there is even more to why Sam trusts Ruby. Sam has demon blood in him. On some level, I think he wants Ruby to be trustworthy, needs her to be good. Because if she, a fullon demon can be good, there must be hope for him.
Don't forget - Dean has been down in demon bootcamp, on his way to becoming what Ruby is. We don’t yet know what he went through - what was done to him, or even more importantly what he did. But it’s a reminder that some demons at least were once people like Dean. Is it too much to imagine that maybe some demons are less than uber-evil? Especially in a universe that is showing us angels who are less clearly pure and good than we might have expected.
But while Sam has shown reluctant trust, Dean has steadfastly maintained the opposite position right up til the present when he still feels Ruby is using Sam - "so far all you’ve told me about is a manipulative bitch who screwed you, played mind games with you and did everything in the book to get you to go bad. As viewers we are used to being on board with the boys view of the world, but what do we do when they disagree? I think this is where much of our unease as viewers about Ruby stems from - we are not being given a comfortable position from which to jusge her. In a way, the show is asking us to choose between siding with Sam or Dean and we don't like that.
This episode more than ever demonstrated though, how it continues to be every steadfastly, the epic love story of Sam and Dean. We saw in raw, painful detail how Dean's death destroyed Sam. He was broken and desolate and almost unrecognizable. Its like in a way his soul died with Dean. And it makes sense that he's avoided telling Dean about this. Because really how do you say "I love you so much that my heart died when you did".
But in this episode he does tell Dean, and what a statement of love, and how hard it must have been for Dean to hear. Because Dean gave his life because of his love for Sam, and it only caused Sam more pain. So yeah, Dean still doesn't trust Ruby, and he's going to say that, but how hard is he going to be on Sam after hearing all that pain? And Ruby, well ever since they met, the only reason Dean hasn’t killed her, is because Sam has told him not to. And in Dean's world, that rules.
I know that many viewers see Ruby as disrupting the brotherly bond and see Sam's alliance with her, and using his powers even knowing Dean disapproves, as almost a betrayal of Dean. This argument to me, echoes the heated Season One debate over whether Sam leaving Dean to go to college was selfish. I see a similarity - Sam went to college to find himself, knowing it wasn't what John wanted and cutting off contact for two years at least with Dean. Again, since the knowledge of the demon taint, Sam is struggling again with the big question of "Who am I?" I think it is inevitable that these are things that he needs to work out for himself, and to some extent by himself. Selfish? Yes, purely in the sense of putting his own needs first, and I'd argue this is not an inherently bad thing.
I see this season as being a sort of remix of Season One. The boys have been separated, they've undergone different experiences in their time apart, changed from who they were, and they need to work out how to be brothers again. And it's more difficult this time, because the last way they worked out how to be brothers, we saw despite their love how terribly it worked out. The Season Four mission I see is 1) work out how to be brothers again in a way that doesn’t end up with anyone dead, and 2) stop the apocalypse.
I thought there was much symbolism about where boys' relationship is now in the wound tending scene. Sam is able to tend to his own wounds now, although he still asks for help from Dean. And Dean is more willing to let Sam look after himself, and to ask for and accept help from Sam for himself. These boys are both wounded, deeply, but in finding their own strength, and in finding each other, lies the path to their healing.
Cliff's* notes:
• In Supernatural, it ain't easy to know what's right and wrong, or who's good and evil.
• Just because Ruby is a demon doesn't mean she's evil
• Dean has recently been in demon bootcamp and we like him don't we?
• Sam hopes, wants, Ruby to be good because he has demon blood in him and if there's hope for her, there's hope for him.
• Current debates about whether Sam's alliance with Ruby is mean to Dean remind me of the debates in Season One about how selfish Sam was to go to college.
• This show is the epic love story of Sam and Dean
*yes, thatCliff. He writes all my dot point summaries.
So, Sam and Ruby fucked. Shocking, although really only the icing on the devil's food cake, as we've known that Sam had allied with Ruby during Dean's time down under, and continued to work with her after Dean's return.
A Winchester and a Demon. Pretty big shit for these brothers. One of those who killed their mother. And their father. And grandparents. And Jess. They were raised to hate them. To hunt them. And now we have Sam BFFs with a demon, and Dean accepting it. So how did we get here from there?
This show has always been about exploring the nature of good and evil, right and wrong. Saving People; Hunting Things. The Family Business. I've always held this phrase as the key to this show. Hell I got it on a tattoo!
Supernatural is a show all about showing us that it ain't easy to know what's right and wrong, or who's good and evil. That in changes over time, between circumstances and even depending on your point of view. Because some time the people need hunting, and the things are not evil. And that family and your love for them may be the most dangerous thing of all. Life is hard, yo.
We've seen the boys realize that vengeful spirits are simply ghosts unable to move on - something Dean was told he himself would become in IMTOD. In "Fresh Blood", we find out vampires are not all bad, and Dean faces his own unquestioning (til then) prejudice. Importantly they were all human once. And we know humans are flawed, and sometimes bad, or evil. In "Croatoan", "Jus in bello" and "Dear God...". - these episodes spell out that how hard the choices the boys make are - and not always ones everyone would call good or right.
Demons of course remained unredeemed. However there was always a twist there too - in killing a demon, you (usually) killed the person it was possessing. Even back in S1 this gave Dean pause (killing that guy, killing Meg…) - a reminder of the decision to sacrifice one in the cause of the greater good. (Even Kripke in the commentary to ABHL2 mentions that he found it sad that as the boys are happy about the death of Azazel, no-one cares about the dead janitor).
Then there was Ruby. A demon from hell. Obviosuly she's evil - but remember this show makes us examine our preconceptions, and our assumptions. Sam was moved to show her some reluctant trust, or at least not kill her, after she saved his life and promised to help save Dean from his deal. With the stakes that high, Sam was willing to try anything.
Then after Dean's death, Sam has lost everything, his brother, his sense of purpose, his will to live. He couldn't save Dean, he can't get him back. Even Hell doesn't fucking want him. Ruby offers Sam hope of being able to do something, even if it is focused at first solely on revenge against Lilith. Hence the sex, which (to throw in some psychobabble) is symbolic of Sam's move from having been made passive, emasculated, by grief, to once again being in control (of owning the phallus so to speak yes its all about the cock) and able to act.
I think there is even more to why Sam trusts Ruby. Sam has demon blood in him. On some level, I think he wants Ruby to be trustworthy, needs her to be good. Because if she, a fullon demon can be good, there must be hope for him.
Don't forget - Dean has been down in demon bootcamp, on his way to becoming what Ruby is. We don’t yet know what he went through - what was done to him, or even more importantly what he did. But it’s a reminder that some demons at least were once people like Dean. Is it too much to imagine that maybe some demons are less than uber-evil? Especially in a universe that is showing us angels who are less clearly pure and good than we might have expected.
But while Sam has shown reluctant trust, Dean has steadfastly maintained the opposite position right up til the present when he still feels Ruby is using Sam - "so far all you’ve told me about is a manipulative bitch who screwed you, played mind games with you and did everything in the book to get you to go bad. As viewers we are used to being on board with the boys view of the world, but what do we do when they disagree? I think this is where much of our unease as viewers about Ruby stems from - we are not being given a comfortable position from which to jusge her. In a way, the show is asking us to choose between siding with Sam or Dean and we don't like that.
This episode more than ever demonstrated though, how it continues to be every steadfastly, the epic love story of Sam and Dean. We saw in raw, painful detail how Dean's death destroyed Sam. He was broken and desolate and almost unrecognizable. Its like in a way his soul died with Dean. And it makes sense that he's avoided telling Dean about this. Because really how do you say "I love you so much that my heart died when you did".
But in this episode he does tell Dean, and what a statement of love, and how hard it must have been for Dean to hear. Because Dean gave his life because of his love for Sam, and it only caused Sam more pain. So yeah, Dean still doesn't trust Ruby, and he's going to say that, but how hard is he going to be on Sam after hearing all that pain? And Ruby, well ever since they met, the only reason Dean hasn’t killed her, is because Sam has told him not to. And in Dean's world, that rules.
I know that many viewers see Ruby as disrupting the brotherly bond and see Sam's alliance with her, and using his powers even knowing Dean disapproves, as almost a betrayal of Dean. This argument to me, echoes the heated Season One debate over whether Sam leaving Dean to go to college was selfish. I see a similarity - Sam went to college to find himself, knowing it wasn't what John wanted and cutting off contact for two years at least with Dean. Again, since the knowledge of the demon taint, Sam is struggling again with the big question of "Who am I?" I think it is inevitable that these are things that he needs to work out for himself, and to some extent by himself. Selfish? Yes, purely in the sense of putting his own needs first, and I'd argue this is not an inherently bad thing.
I see this season as being a sort of remix of Season One. The boys have been separated, they've undergone different experiences in their time apart, changed from who they were, and they need to work out how to be brothers again. And it's more difficult this time, because the last way they worked out how to be brothers, we saw despite their love how terribly it worked out. The Season Four mission I see is 1) work out how to be brothers again in a way that doesn’t end up with anyone dead, and 2) stop the apocalypse.
I thought there was much symbolism about where boys' relationship is now in the wound tending scene. Sam is able to tend to his own wounds now, although he still asks for help from Dean. And Dean is more willing to let Sam look after himself, and to ask for and accept help from Sam for himself. These boys are both wounded, deeply, but in finding their own strength, and in finding each other, lies the path to their healing.