a response to responses to criticisms of Dean throughout S9
In numerous meta communities, I've seen conversations of S9 which strike me as incomplete about some very important dimensions to the season, and I'd like to respond.
( cut for abuse triggers; discusses through the most recent episode )
( cut for abuse triggers; discusses through the most recent episode )
Comments 27
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I would think thoughts at you, but it is crunch school time and my brain went and died. But I think the distinction between manipulating reality (ouch, buttons) and the initial choice is a very good distinction to keep in mind. Although I miss Sera Gamble, I do trust Jeremy Carver to address the emotional interdependence and the ugliness that comes with it. He sort of tried to with the Amelia storyline, but it was sort of...unevenly...developed? I don't know, the storyline felt like a waterlogged duck. It tried so hard to fly and it just couldn't get out of the water.
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I loved Sam/Amelia, but I think it was doing something really different from this? I thought it was about Sam experiencing a relationship of equals with someone who was in many ways a lot like him, which made the re-establishment of the toxic dynamic with Dean feel really jarring (to him and to us) instead of just being the usual. And I think that's a huge part of why things could get to the crisis point where he was ready to off himself by the end of the season, was because he finally had some basis for comparison.
And yeah, I was a huge fan of Gamble's seasons as well, but I have to say I'm also a big fan of how willing Carver is to really hone in on the problem here and whale on it for this long. Dean's tendency to, as you say, manipulate people's realities, especially Sam's, has been a big problem for me for a while and it's a relief to see the issue taken as seriously as it's been in the first half of the season.
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ahaha, other perspectives like all the crying about SAM IS MARGINALLY LESS MISERABLE THIS IS THE WORST THING EVURRRRRR WARBLGRBL BRUDDERS???!?? One could say that. *still side-eying mfers*
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If/when Sam finds out, the healthiest thing he could do is separate himself from Dean. If Sam's even there anymore.
/solidarity rant
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I've been utterly disgusted with Dean's very *character* since he's gotten back from Purgatory, really. He's hard and unyielding, unteachable and selfish, but he doesn't *look* like any of those things until you delve under the surface of his behavior.I'm LOVING it, tbqh. Because it's such a ruthless deconstruction of a lot of the stuff most viewers were willing to let slide, or at least give him the benefit of the doubt on, pre-Purgatory and especially during those first few seasons. Like, was the YOU DIDN'T LOOK FOR ME WHO CARES ABOUT YOUR YEAR-LONG NERVOUS BREAKDOWN HOW DARE YOU NOT RIP THE WORLD APART FOR MEEEE of S8 really all that different from the "Sam, you're so SELFISH to have abandoned us for college" of S1? Is the use of an angel to control Sam's mind all that different from the use of a different angel to control Lisa's and Ben's minds? Is his literal dehumanization of Sam, this merging Sam into a being that could well be dependent on angelic grace for the rest of its (super?)natural life, really all that ( ... )
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But yes, exactly this--I remember being appalled when Dean had Cas mindwipe Lisa and Ben--as if that would help them at all if demons came calling. If anything, Dean should have had Cas wipe *his* mind so they wouldn't be important to him, or something, but nooooo... I digress. Dean's selfishness is practically preternatural, if you will. Pathological. And other words beginning with 'p.'
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I've been a little estranged from spn fandom (so much crazy!) lately, and I was so excited to stumble across your thoughts and learn that someone is still talking honestly and seriously about these characters. ~~liz
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