Brief SPN thoughts

[feliciakw]

First, Provenance is an excellent episode. I'm always delighted with the brother banter and the smooth criminals and the creepy and the guest star of that ep. Good, good stuff.

As I said, I finished up S1 yesterday and one thing that got me to thinking this time around was the final shot after the wreck. During the course of their escape, Sam tells John that the demon does not come "before everything," and looks at Dean through the rear-view mirror. Then the truck broadsides them, and the last-last image we see is Dean. Because, as the voice in the back of my head says, it's all about Dean.

Now, bear with me a moment, as I'm not saying anything new, and I'm not changing my mind about anything, not really. The mytharc has always been all about Sam. The cosmic battle of Good vs. Evil centers on Sam. Sam has always displayed a certain amount of hubris, and the thought that he might be wrong, or there might be a better way, has never really been a part of his thinking--not up until the very end. But prior to S5 (when things get twitchy), he's always known that he can count on Dean. He's always believed that Dean would always be there. He has, dare I say, taken Dean for granted upon more than one occasion.

But it's still all about Dean. Because Dean is the one who holds Sam together. Dean is the one who offers the advice (even if Sam doesn't heed it). Dean always has Sam's back, as Sam says. Even when Sam couldn't count on anyone else, he could count on Dean (see: Salvation). And when it came to a choice between Dad and killing the demon, and Dean, Sam chose Dean. (I won't get into the poor choices at the end of S4 right now.)

But what part does Dean play in the mytharc? Nothing overtly significant, as it turns out. But the part he does play is uniquely his. He's there. He's there for Sam. He's there to pick on Sam and make Sam laugh and offer guidance and comfort and wisdom and love. It's because of Dean's presence and everything the brothers have gone through together and meant to each other that Sam can grab hold of Lucifer and take the fight into the abyss.

Jensen described it as Dean just hanging out, being awesome. And I totally get that he was excited to actually play a part in the mytharc. I was excited for him. I would have liked to have seen that, too. (Jensen as Michael? Oh, yeah.) But as it is, the role he plays is not nothing. He was hanging out, being awesome. And just by being there, he changed the course of the Apocalypse.

In this way, he kind of reminds me of Donna Noble. (For those who don't watch Dr. Who, you can skip this paragraph.) Donna didn't see herself as anything special, and yet she was the most important person in the universe when her time came. (I really do need to write my Donna post. I keep threatening promising to do that.) The same goes for Dean. He was in the supporting role, but a building collapses if it doesn't have the proper support.

So. In conclusion . . . Dean Winchester: Hanging out, being awesome, saving the world.

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[izhilzha.livejournal.com]

Yes. Oh, yes, this.