Fic: A tendency toward impulsivity (10.16 episode coda)
There were highs and lows in this week's episode.[Spoiler (click to open)]It gets a great big thumbs up for smart!Sam solving the problem with research and knowledge and for that lovely scene with Dean in the confessional. Jensen nailed the delivery--from the slightly comic oversell of Dean's shortcomings for the ghost's benefit, to his more serious revelations about his hopes for the future. I thought the lighting was particularly well done too; the way the shadows played over Dean's face like the bars on a cage was lovely.
Isabella's story and the Rowena/Olivette scenes I thought were very poorly integrated--jarringly so--and Rowena's storyline dragged. And I actually really like Rowena's character, so I can imagine that for those who don't those scenes must have been excrutiating.
Please writers, may we have more smart!Sam solving problems and kicking ass? And more Sam and Dean working together and supporting each other.
And now, here is fic:
Title: A tendency toward impulsivity
Author: zara_zee
Beta: Not beta’d
Genre(s): Episode coda
Rating: PG-13, Gen
Spoilers: Episode 10.16
Word Count: ~400
Disclaimer: Not mine, just playing in the sand box.
Summary: His brother’s gung-ho, take-violent-action-first, ask-intelligent-questions-later attitude is how they got into this whole Mark of Cain mess to begin with.
--
Sam. Burn it.
Sam watches with a furrowed brow and a clenched jaw as his brother and Sister Mathias leave.
Sam loves his brother unconditionally; he does. And he respects his expertise as a Hunter; Dean is one of the best. When Sam was at Stanford studying, among other things, Latin, Psychology and Art History, Dean was making an EMF out of a busted Walkman and taking out werewolf packs single-handedly. Dean is smart and skilled and brave and so Goddamn reckless that sometimes Sam wants to lock him in the Bunker’s dungeon until he learns to value himself.
His brother’s gung-ho, take-violent-action-first, ask-intelligent-questions-later attitude is how they got into this whole Mark of Cain mess to begin with. Cain told him there would be consequences and Dean just didn’t care.
Sam remembers studying mental disorders in second year Psych and thinking that Dean checked a lot of the boxes for anti-social personality disorder, borderline personality disorder and ADHD; he certainly has a tendency toward impulsivity and aggression and a reckless disregard for his own safety, anyway. Sam frowns. These days, after everything Dean’s been through, he’d add PTSD and Alcoholism to any diagnosis of his brother’s mental state.
The point is, whatever causes it, Dean’s inconsequential behavior-his failure to take the time to follow through, his lack of attention to detail-is a serious flaw. So no matter how many times Dean tells him to burn the journal (stop researching the Mark of Cain), Sam isn’t going to listen, because Dean is wrong and Sam can be stubborn when he knows he’s right.
Sam opens the dead nun’s journal. Old Italian. Huh. He finds he understands it well enough to get by and he feels a flash of triumph when he learns that Isabella’s flesh and blood and bone is mixed in with the paint. Reading the journal; doing the research; has given him the knowledge he needs to solve the problem and it fuels the fire of his determination to keep researching the Mark.
The Mark of Cain is only magic, Sam thinks, as he douses the painting in lighter fluid and sets it alight, and magic is only science we don’t yet understand. As Sam watches the flickering flames he vows that he will understand the Mark’s magic if it’s the last thing he does. His brother’s life depends on it and when the stakes are that high, nothing in this world or beyond is going to stop him. Not even Dean.
--
Isabella's story and the Rowena/Olivette scenes I thought were very poorly integrated--jarringly so--and Rowena's storyline dragged. And I actually really like Rowena's character, so I can imagine that for those who don't those scenes must have been excrutiating.
Please writers, may we have more smart!Sam solving problems and kicking ass? And more Sam and Dean working together and supporting each other.
And now, here is fic:
Title: A tendency toward impulsivity
Author: zara_zee
Beta: Not beta’d
Genre(s): Episode coda
Rating: PG-13, Gen
Spoilers: Episode 10.16
Word Count: ~400
Disclaimer: Not mine, just playing in the sand box.
Summary: His brother’s gung-ho, take-violent-action-first, ask-intelligent-questions-later attitude is how they got into this whole Mark of Cain mess to begin with.
--
Sam. Burn it.
Sam watches with a furrowed brow and a clenched jaw as his brother and Sister Mathias leave.
Sam loves his brother unconditionally; he does. And he respects his expertise as a Hunter; Dean is one of the best. When Sam was at Stanford studying, among other things, Latin, Psychology and Art History, Dean was making an EMF out of a busted Walkman and taking out werewolf packs single-handedly. Dean is smart and skilled and brave and so Goddamn reckless that sometimes Sam wants to lock him in the Bunker’s dungeon until he learns to value himself.
His brother’s gung-ho, take-violent-action-first, ask-intelligent-questions-later attitude is how they got into this whole Mark of Cain mess to begin with. Cain told him there would be consequences and Dean just didn’t care.
Sam remembers studying mental disorders in second year Psych and thinking that Dean checked a lot of the boxes for anti-social personality disorder, borderline personality disorder and ADHD; he certainly has a tendency toward impulsivity and aggression and a reckless disregard for his own safety, anyway. Sam frowns. These days, after everything Dean’s been through, he’d add PTSD and Alcoholism to any diagnosis of his brother’s mental state.
The point is, whatever causes it, Dean’s inconsequential behavior-his failure to take the time to follow through, his lack of attention to detail-is a serious flaw. So no matter how many times Dean tells him to burn the journal (stop researching the Mark of Cain), Sam isn’t going to listen, because Dean is wrong and Sam can be stubborn when he knows he’s right.
Sam opens the dead nun’s journal. Old Italian. Huh. He finds he understands it well enough to get by and he feels a flash of triumph when he learns that Isabella’s flesh and blood and bone is mixed in with the paint. Reading the journal; doing the research; has given him the knowledge he needs to solve the problem and it fuels the fire of his determination to keep researching the Mark.
The Mark of Cain is only magic, Sam thinks, as he douses the painting in lighter fluid and sets it alight, and magic is only science we don’t yet understand. As Sam watches the flickering flames he vows that he will understand the Mark’s magic if it’s the last thing he does. His brother’s life depends on it and when the stakes are that high, nothing in this world or beyond is going to stop him. Not even Dean.
--