feliciakw | Continuing apace with S3

I wrote about "The Magnificent Seven" and "The Kids Are Alright" last year.

M7: I still miss Ruby 1.0. Also? The apocalypse as introduced in S3 after the opening of the Devil's Gate is, for my money, more anxiety inducing than the apocalypse we ended up with. I'll have to think more on why this is.

TKAA: When I popped this in, Geo asks, "Oh, is this the one with the table saw?" "Yes," says I, cringing. "That is why I will never get a table saw," says he.

Then Geo says, "Oh! This is a really important ep, isn't it." "Yes," says I, "it is." "They introduce Lisa and the kid in this one," says Geo.

TKAA is still one of my favorite eps, simply for the humor content. Because we always laugh at Dean's discomfort at the party, and Geo is particularly amused (or perhaps pleased) with Dean as father figure, teaching Ben how to get his game back. I think Geo is most amused by how Jensen plays Dean's reaction to Lisa when she finds them. He knows he's in trouble. Heh.

Dean as family man brings me to a point I've been pondering, in that SPN is all about the role reversal.

In S1, we have Sam as the central figure and, I believe, the character to which the audience was supposed to relate to. He's the one who wants "normal." He's been to school, he has a girlfriend, he left the seedy, nomadic life on the road. We're introduced to the Winchesters through Sam. And Dean is the hunter, the one embracing the hunting life.

But we very soon find out that Sam has a vengeful streak in him, and that Dean is in it for the family loyalty and the saving people.

Then we discover that Sam has visions, and as S2 progresses, we find that Dean is the one who wants to step back and lay low, while Sam is gung ho with the hunt for the demon and, if not embracing the life, at least accepting it. Come the end of S2, we discover that Sam has ingested demon blood, and now Dean is the "normal" one with problems the audience can relate to.

S3 sees even more of this with Dean, with his admission that he'd be proud to be Ben's dad, and his admission that he'd like to believe in God, etc. More and more, he wants normal, but he knows he can't have it. Meanwhile, Sam is keeping company with a demon in the hopes of being able to help Dean out of his deal.

The whole thing is much more layered than what I've outlined here, but I think it's interesting that Sam was introduced to us as the "normal" one, when deep at their innermost core, Dean is the one who craves stability.

Or something.

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I think it's interesting that Sam was introduced to us as the "normal" one, when deep at their innermost core, Dean is the one who craves stability.

An excellent point well stated. And even from S1 it's clear that they see stability in different terms, isn't it? For Sam (at least for a while) it has to do with the outward trappings of stability, which he's never had; for Dean, it has to do with keeping his family (which he's always striven for, after losing Mary).

Which ep is it with the line about "not 'normal'--'safe'"?

Which ep is it with the line about "not 'normal'--'safe'"?

Is that a rhetorical question? :) It's the pilot. When Dean shows up at Stanford, as he and Sam are walking to the Impala, even before Dean shares the EVP recording. So, yeah. Very early. *BG*

for Dean, it has to do with keeping his family

Dean needs family. He needs to be needed. That is why I think he would make it work with Lisa. With his blood family (and 99% of his friends) gone, he needs to build a new family. He's got a history, a connection, with Lisa and Ben. I really hope they do that justice in S6.

And Sam . . . I don't even know what. He's the wild card in all this. I haven't even decided what I really want to see with his character (other than not be evol, and have a new and better understanding of Dean).

other than not be evol, and have a new and better understanding of Dean

This, yes please. (Although imho he's had a new and better understanding of Dean since at least DSotM--he reached that ability to give before Dean did, I think because Sam reached a breaking point months before Dean did. All to say, yes, please, what you said.)

he's had a new and better understanding of Dean since at least DSotM

Yes, that's where it started. (Unless you go back to "Something Wicked" . . . but that's a whole 'nother topic). I just don't want to see that lost. Hopefully, with Sera being a Sam!girl who apparently likes to see Dean happy, I won't be disappointed.

Ha! I accidentally posted to the post from last year, 'cause I'm often braindead like that these days. But in reading over this new!Shiny!Insightful! post- yep, very good point about the role reversal. In some ways, I've always thought Sam's great tragedy was that he fought so hard to have this "normal" life when he was doomed from the outset to never be normal. Not with the blood flowing in his veins. Dean who outwardly scoffed at that apple pie, white picket fence existence (well... maybe not the pie part) is actually about the most sane, grounded one in his whole family. He's the one with the least deep dark secrets- even Mommy had those!

This is what I wrote before about TKAA:
I had nightmares after watching The Kids Are All Right. My Godson still teases me about that. I don't freak out easily. I'm a gore hound and pretty desensitized to fictionalized horror. I didn't freak out while watching the episode. But that night, those darn leech mouth children invaded my dreams. I didn't want Godson to watch it for that reason because I figured if it affected my subconscious as a veteran 30-something horror buff it was not the thing for a 10 year old to watch. But he watched it anyway, and was SOOOOO not scared and now will never let me hear the end of it.

(Repeated only because all must know my deep shame and the taunting I get from a now 11 year old about this almost every time we watch SPN! :-(! )

Continuing apace with S3

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