Put away childish things
Sep. 18th, 2009 11:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
trinityofoneRather than analyze to death the wonderful hospital scene, which I think other people have already discussed ably, I wanted to talk a little about Dean and the movement we're already beginning to see away from him being "the guy who drives the car," as Ben Edlund put it. While for Sam much of this episode was about the first step being admitting you have a problem, for Dean I think it was the first step toward becoming a leader and not just a follower, the good little soldier taking orders.
Part of that was nicely bookended by the opening and closing scenes: in the first, Dean is asked to give up his necklace to aid in the cause, and in the last, he offers to give up the Impala. These are almost inarguably his two most valued possessions—possibly his only two constant things, with the third maybe being his dad's leather jacket (which he notably was not wearing in this episode). At the episode's start, he has to be persuaded to give up one of these symbolic objects—which he does only with a nicely petulant and immature "Don't lose it!" By the end he's offering the other—and the much more practically useful of the two—freely. Part of which can be attributed to who's doing the asking, and part to the fact that I think Dean had to know Sam was unlikely to say yes, but I do think it shows a growth. It's not that Dean's cutting ties, but that he's learning or relearning the importance of things.
What else was Dean required to give up in this episode? Well, obviously: Sam. Now, I don't think Dean can or will or should ever give up his brother for good (he wouldn't be Dean anymore if he did), but starting from the scene in the church basement where we see Dean choosing—for the first time?—not to go off running half-cocked when Sam is in trouble but staying to come up with a plan, I think we have the beginnings of Dean-the-leader, who has to consider other people's safety—the safety of the world—above that of his brother. Hopefully we will subsequently also get Dean able to recognize that Sam can (usually) take care of himself. This separation seems very necessary to me in order to get them back on even ground again: last season, Sam thought Dean wasn't strong enough anymore, and Dean thinks Sam isn't trustworthy anymore. These doubts reflect their own inner doubts. They both have a lot to prove, to themselves and to each other.
Meanwhile, Dean is without his usual support structure—as he says, his instinct when faced with an "intellectual" problem is to call Bobby or Sam. But no one underestimates Dean's intelligence more than Dean, and as we saw, with Ellen there to smack him around a bit (please can she be around to do that all the time?), he was totally capable of figuring this out on his own. (Yes, Rufus, really!) So while Dean should never have to give up his resources—Sam and Bobby and Ellen and Cas and everybody else—he does need to give up his dependence on them.
After watching 5x01 many (many) times, I finally came up with an explanation for the whole "Michael sword" thing that satisfied me—beyond Zachariah just being a lying douche. And that's that he's a narrow-minded oblivious douche. I spoke here about how Zachariah's actions in priming Dean did not make sense to me, from Zachariah's perspective, if he always thought that Dean's sole role was as a meatsuit. I'm much more taken by the idea that the prophecy that Dean will be the one to stop Lucifer is real, but that Zachariah, after getting to know Dean and clearly failing to appreciate his many charms, came up with the Michael thing because in his mind it's the only plausible explanation. Dean as Dean can't possibly stop Lucifer, thinks Zachariah. He's disrespectful! He's a simpering wad of insecurity and self-loathing! So obviously Michael's going to have to jump in there (literally) and solve this problem that oh-so-human Dean clearly can't.
I am really looking forward to Dean proving Zachariah wrong. And I think we saw the first steps toward that in this episode.
Part of that was nicely bookended by the opening and closing scenes: in the first, Dean is asked to give up his necklace to aid in the cause, and in the last, he offers to give up the Impala. These are almost inarguably his two most valued possessions—possibly his only two constant things, with the third maybe being his dad's leather jacket (which he notably was not wearing in this episode). At the episode's start, he has to be persuaded to give up one of these symbolic objects—which he does only with a nicely petulant and immature "Don't lose it!" By the end he's offering the other—and the much more practically useful of the two—freely. Part of which can be attributed to who's doing the asking, and part to the fact that I think Dean had to know Sam was unlikely to say yes, but I do think it shows a growth. It's not that Dean's cutting ties, but that he's learning or relearning the importance of things.
What else was Dean required to give up in this episode? Well, obviously: Sam. Now, I don't think Dean can or will or should ever give up his brother for good (he wouldn't be Dean anymore if he did), but starting from the scene in the church basement where we see Dean choosing—for the first time?—not to go off running half-cocked when Sam is in trouble but staying to come up with a plan, I think we have the beginnings of Dean-the-leader, who has to consider other people's safety—the safety of the world—above that of his brother. Hopefully we will subsequently also get Dean able to recognize that Sam can (usually) take care of himself. This separation seems very necessary to me in order to get them back on even ground again: last season, Sam thought Dean wasn't strong enough anymore, and Dean thinks Sam isn't trustworthy anymore. These doubts reflect their own inner doubts. They both have a lot to prove, to themselves and to each other.
Meanwhile, Dean is without his usual support structure—as he says, his instinct when faced with an "intellectual" problem is to call Bobby or Sam. But no one underestimates Dean's intelligence more than Dean, and as we saw, with Ellen there to smack him around a bit (please can she be around to do that all the time?), he was totally capable of figuring this out on his own. (Yes, Rufus, really!) So while Dean should never have to give up his resources—Sam and Bobby and Ellen and Cas and everybody else—he does need to give up his dependence on them.
After watching 5x01 many (many) times, I finally came up with an explanation for the whole "Michael sword" thing that satisfied me—beyond Zachariah just being a lying douche. And that's that he's a narrow-minded oblivious douche. I spoke here about how Zachariah's actions in priming Dean did not make sense to me, from Zachariah's perspective, if he always thought that Dean's sole role was as a meatsuit. I'm much more taken by the idea that the prophecy that Dean will be the one to stop Lucifer is real, but that Zachariah, after getting to know Dean and clearly failing to appreciate his many charms, came up with the Michael thing because in his mind it's the only plausible explanation. Dean as Dean can't possibly stop Lucifer, thinks Zachariah. He's disrespectful! He's a simpering wad of insecurity and self-loathing! So obviously Michael's going to have to jump in there (literally) and solve this problem that oh-so-human Dean clearly can't.
I am really looking forward to Dean proving Zachariah wrong. And I think we saw the first steps toward that in this episode.
