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feliciakwAs I predicted, I like this ep better and better with each re-watch. In fact, had they not already done two previous meta eps, (and perhaps had I been unspoiled for it) I think I would really have liked it better at first blush than I did.
I figured out, on first watch, about the time the guys walked into Jensen's trailer the first time, that the goal of the ep was going to be getting back home--in a yellow brick road quest kind of way. Smacks you in the face with the Wizard of Oz parallels, yeah? I mean, obviously, because Dean referenced WoO more than once. (Also, Sam has floppy hair like Toto.)
In this particular Oz, the shiny is the mansion and the bajillionaire finances and the beautiful wife (wives). The flip side of that is that playing Sam and Dean really doesn't mean much in the great cosmic scheme of things, and the boys don't get along. It's a twisted, distorted reflection, and there's really no place like home.
Place that in conjunction with, or rather, juxtaposed to, the closing conversation of last week's ep, wherein Dean wondered why they do what they do, what's the point, and Sam being cheerleader. This week they got tossed into a world with no supernatural and (if Virgil is to be believed) no hope, so what they do actually doesn't mean much beyond what it is because there's nothing else. As crummy and messed up as their home universe is, and the fact that no one knows who they are, it's preferable to this AU because even though home is worse in circumstances and people don't know who they are, what they do there is important, makes a difference, means something.
And Dean pointing out that Sam has it better in the fake!universe, and Sam countering with "You were right. We don't mean the same thing here as we do at home."
Now, for my own personal ramblings, which might or might not interest you. While sitting in church, I often connect things that are being discussed with things in my current fandom's story. And "The French Mistake"? Such parallels to be had. The easy, "glamorous" life of pretending to be Christian, versus the often difficult, often thankless (by the world's standards) life of being a true Christian. The difference between truly living what you've learned and what you believe, even when it seems pointless, and making a difference, versus going through the motions but it ultimately being futile. Reference Matthew 6:2, 5, and 16. It's the difference between going through the motions for show, and truly living the life, even (especially) when no one else is there to see it. Our Sam and Dean are the real thing, who really live the life and who really make a difference. AU "Sam and Dean" are shadows, fictitious characters who go through the motions, but don't make a difference. (Now, I can't really speak to the point of the "real people" "Jared" and "Jensen" other than how they appeared to be portrayed in the ep, which was materialistic, shallow, and disagreeable.) Then you toss the real deal Sam and Dean into the world that's just going through the motions, and no one understands.
And of course the better option is not to remain in the shallow world where there is not meaning, but to live in the world where life it tough, but where friendships are genuine, helping people isn't an abstract notion, and triumph over evil means something.
I figured out, on first watch, about the time the guys walked into Jensen's trailer the first time, that the goal of the ep was going to be getting back home--in a yellow brick road quest kind of way. Smacks you in the face with the Wizard of Oz parallels, yeah? I mean, obviously, because Dean referenced WoO more than once. (Also, Sam has floppy hair like Toto.)
In this particular Oz, the shiny is the mansion and the bajillionaire finances and the beautiful wife (wives). The flip side of that is that playing Sam and Dean really doesn't mean much in the great cosmic scheme of things, and the boys don't get along. It's a twisted, distorted reflection, and there's really no place like home.
Place that in conjunction with, or rather, juxtaposed to, the closing conversation of last week's ep, wherein Dean wondered why they do what they do, what's the point, and Sam being cheerleader. This week they got tossed into a world with no supernatural and (if Virgil is to be believed) no hope, so what they do actually doesn't mean much beyond what it is because there's nothing else. As crummy and messed up as their home universe is, and the fact that no one knows who they are, it's preferable to this AU because even though home is worse in circumstances and people don't know who they are, what they do there is important, makes a difference, means something.
And Dean pointing out that Sam has it better in the fake!universe, and Sam countering with "You were right. We don't mean the same thing here as we do at home."
Now, for my own personal ramblings, which might or might not interest you. While sitting in church, I often connect things that are being discussed with things in my current fandom's story. And "The French Mistake"? Such parallels to be had. The easy, "glamorous" life of pretending to be Christian, versus the often difficult, often thankless (by the world's standards) life of being a true Christian. The difference between truly living what you've learned and what you believe, even when it seems pointless, and making a difference, versus going through the motions but it ultimately being futile. Reference Matthew 6:2, 5, and 16. It's the difference between going through the motions for show, and truly living the life, even (especially) when no one else is there to see it. Our Sam and Dean are the real thing, who really live the life and who really make a difference. AU "Sam and Dean" are shadows, fictitious characters who go through the motions, but don't make a difference. (Now, I can't really speak to the point of the "real people" "Jared" and "Jensen" other than how they appeared to be portrayed in the ep, which was materialistic, shallow, and disagreeable.) Then you toss the real deal Sam and Dean into the world that's just going through the motions, and no one understands.
And of course the better option is not to remain in the shallow world where there is not meaning, but to live in the world where life it tough, but where friendships are genuine, helping people isn't an abstract notion, and triumph over evil means something.
