Thank you for this. My ability to watch this show and participate in the fandom is currently at-500%, but I read this because I needed someone to say these things. ♥
I'm enjoying the show as much as anything else I'm watching right now, except maaaaaaaaaaybe The Originals. But the fandom is.....challenging. I'm sorry your enjoyment of stuff is taking a hit.
Sam teaching yoga and going namaste! How cute! I think he was in the middle of teaching them the Surya Namaskar? Because that was... steps four and five. (Don't know about "downward dog" because LOL- westerners and yoga.) Headcanon--Sam and Amelia went for yoga classes during his year off. Not only was it great for their peace of mind, it also well, helped them apply their bendiness in more constructive ways.
Sam and Dean's power struggles through the episode was rather beautiful. Like--Sam's little attempts at superiority weren't lost on me: the little gesture at Dean to wipe the sugar off his mouth, or reminding Dean that he'd lied about his age... nothing compared to Dean trying to wrest back control, true, and I found it all fascinating.
When Sam asks the upside of his being alive, Dean doesn’t say “your life is valuable” he says “your presence in this relationship is valuable and your continued breathing is a means to that end.”
YES. Not, "well... you're alive!" As if Sam's life has no meaning outside of being Dean's hunting
( ... )
Headcanon--Sam and Amelia went for yoga classes during his year off. Not only was it great for their peace of mind, it also well, helped them apply their bendiness in more constructive ways.
AWWWWWWWWW, BABIES. <3
reminding Dean that he'd lied about his age
oooooh, see, I didn't so much interpret that as a status play, as...I think the episode worked to contextualize the big consent issue with the smaller-scale, relatable consent issues? Like, Dean being so familiar with roofies and lying to women to get them into bed - not to mention, if 35 was going to strike whoever he was hitting on as off-puttingly old, she was really young - was about, Dean doesn't work and manipulate Sam because Sam is a special snowflake and their relationship is otherworldly and no rules or standards can apply, it's about, he plays people, he pushes boundaries he shouldn't because he prioritizes his desperation for companionship over others' comfort and autonomy. (IMO this was also the issue with the chastity coach/porn star earlier this season that people
( ... )
Sam, again, gives way more ground than was healthy for him to do, because he projects onto Dean and really thinks Dean wants to make things work. haha, bby, ur 2 qt. I do think this scene served to clarify something people have been crying about since last week.
Baby steps for Sam. I think he's working this out as he goes along. I love that he keeps cutting Dean off at the knees when Dean tries to talk him around so that he can take back control.
As he loses his assurance that he can get away with ragging on Sam, he slips up and loses his ability to charm others. He’s gross at the first witness, the woman who put the blessing bag in with the first victim, and puts her on the spot about her taste in men, because the idea that someone would value a person over a body doesn’t occur to him. His brash claim of being an ass-kicker puts the spa owners off allowing him near any of the clients. Sam takes point on the case, hops to protect Dean after Dean eats the roofies, finds the monster and fights with it all aloneYESSS! Love this as
( ... )
I love that he keeps cutting Dean off at the knees when Dean tries to talk him around so that he can take back control.
Dean is so used to it working and IT ISN'T WORKING ANYMORE.
I honestly think what Dean did last year with that phone message in order to get Sam out of the way for Benny has, along with what Dean did by allowing the angel possession has helped Sam to see Dean more clearly. I don't think it was just the Gad situation but it was the final straw for Sam.
The phone call was a big thing, definitely. And it probably did trip off some intuitive alarm bells, but it happened while Sam was still thinking he could ~win Dean over, and so he blamed himself for it. But after the Trials, after that huge heroic effort still didn't get Dean to think of him as a person, he's a lot clearer on how Dean treats him.
Sam, again, gives way more ground than was healthy for him to do, because he projects onto Dean and really thinks Dean wants to make things work. haha, bby, ur 2 qt. I do think this scene served to clarify something people have been crying about since last week.Realistically, for the show to continue Sam and Dean have to work things out, so Sam giving ground is kind of necessary. From a real life psychological POV, Sam wants to make this a healthy working relationship. He has since season one. Back then he wanted a normal we call each other every week and get together for holidays and maybe vacations and Dean can crash at my house kind of healthy relationship, but now he's back to every time I try to get out, they pull me back in, so he's trying to get a healthy working relationship. I do understand Sam has very few resources outside of Dean. Amelia is with Don and Sam burned that bridge. Amelia, I think, is smart enough to have meant what she said, if Sam wasn't 100% in then she wasn't going to wait around, which is healthy for her
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Agreed with your take on why Sam is doing what he's doing, and I actually am impressed that the show seems to be finding a way to handle it that's realistic and not minimizing the problem.
Fandom excusing Dean and blaming the victim is already getting really nasty and I'm sure will get worse.
It's horrifying, and that's even with the knowledge that I'm avoiding the vast majority of it. I pretty much only see the crap that comes across my dash already shot down and it's still extremely upsetting.
The narrative thrust of it is so strong that I'd be shocked if it were some random accident. Like, some of my earliest episode reviews from when Carver took over are about these same issues Sam has started to raise. (Especially 8x3 and 8x6, but a lot of them.) But people just do not want to get it.
You're absolutely welcome! If it weren't for you I don't know where I would be in terms of Supernatural because the Sam hatred seems to be endless (all the "I understand where Sam is coming from BUT he shouldn't say that to our poor Woobie Dean Emphasis mine :P is just wtf
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This fandom has been living in Dean's World for so long , they dont know anything different. The reaction to what Sam said is a prime example of only seeing Dean and not truly understanding the violation to Sam and what it meant for him. And once again because we dived into Dean's pov after the truth came out the fandom only sees that.
Dean is abusive , what he did was abusive but he has been idealized and romanticized by alot of the fandom to such a degree that any behaviour goes . And Sam is seen has 'cold and mean' because he did not Mills and Boon how he felt.
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Sam and Dean's power struggles through the episode was rather beautiful. Like--Sam's little attempts at superiority weren't lost on me: the little gesture at Dean to wipe the sugar off his mouth, or reminding Dean that he'd lied about his age... nothing compared to Dean trying to wrest back control, true, and I found it all fascinating.
When Sam asks the upside of his being alive, Dean doesn’t say “your life is valuable” he says “your presence in this relationship is valuable and your continued breathing is a means to that end.”
YES. Not, "well... you're alive!" As if Sam's life has no meaning outside of being Dean's hunting ( ... )
Reply
AWWWWWWWWW, BABIES. <3
reminding Dean that he'd lied about his age
oooooh, see, I didn't so much interpret that as a status play, as...I think the episode worked to contextualize the big consent issue with the smaller-scale, relatable consent issues? Like, Dean being so familiar with roofies and lying to women to get them into bed - not to mention, if 35 was going to strike whoever he was hitting on as off-puttingly old, she was really young - was about, Dean doesn't work and manipulate Sam because Sam is a special snowflake and their relationship is otherworldly and no rules or standards can apply, it's about, he plays people, he pushes boundaries he shouldn't because he prioritizes his desperation for companionship over others' comfort and autonomy. (IMO this was also the issue with the chastity coach/porn star earlier this season that people ( ... )
Reply
Baby steps for Sam. I think he's working this out as he goes along. I love that he keeps cutting Dean off at the knees when Dean tries to talk him around so that he can take back control.
As he loses his assurance that he can get away with ragging on Sam, he slips up and loses his ability to charm others. He’s gross at the first witness, the woman who put the blessing bag in with the first victim, and puts her on the spot about her taste in men, because the idea that someone would value a person over a body doesn’t occur to him. His brash claim of being an ass-kicker puts the spa owners off allowing him near any of the clients. Sam takes point on the case, hops to protect Dean after Dean eats the roofies, finds the monster and fights with it all aloneYESSS! Love this as ( ... )
Reply
Dean is so used to it working and IT ISN'T WORKING ANYMORE.
I honestly think what Dean did last year with that phone message in order to get Sam out of the way for Benny has, along with what Dean did by allowing the angel possession has helped Sam to see Dean more clearly. I don't think it was just the Gad situation but it was the final straw for Sam.
The phone call was a big thing, definitely. And it probably did trip off some intuitive alarm bells, but it happened while Sam was still thinking he could ~win Dean over, and so he blamed himself for it. But after the Trials, after that huge heroic effort still didn't get Dean to think of him as a person, he's a lot clearer on how Dean treats him.
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Fandom excusing Dean and blaming the victim is already getting really nasty and I'm sure will get worse.
It's horrifying, and that's even with the knowledge that I'm avoiding the vast majority of it. I pretty much only see the crap that comes across my dash already shot down and it's still extremely upsetting.
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The narrative thrust of it is so strong that I'd be shocked if it were some random accident. Like, some of my earliest episode reviews from when Carver took over are about these same issues Sam has started to raise. (Especially 8x3 and 8x6, but a lot of them.) But people just do not want to get it.
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Dean is abusive , what he did was abusive but he has been idealized and romanticized by alot of the fandom to such a degree that any behaviour goes . And Sam is seen has 'cold and mean' because he did not Mills and Boon how he felt.
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