and Sam calling his brother’s name with such relief was because Sam thought he’d finally been saved, that Dean was finally there and that made everything, somehow, all right.
But now, having thought about it, I’m not so sure.
Mere hours before this scene took place, Sam and Jake had a heart-to-heart, and Sam admitted that he didn’t know if Dean was alive. When Azazel later visited him in a dream, Sam’s first concern was to ask where Dean was; Azazel told him to “Quit worrying about Dean. I’d worry more about yourself.” During that same conversation, Sam says “You killed everyone I ever loved”, which I found odd considering Dean was still alive.
It finally clicked for me that it had been a day since Sam’s disappearance, and Dean hadn’t come for him. Azazel was obviously behind Sam and the other children being in Cold Oak, and he was also the one who had killed the rest of Sam’s family, and his girlfriend. Logic dictated that Dean was dead.
I don’t think Sam’s relief in that instant before he died was for himself. I think Sam’s last fully-formed emotion was complete and utter relief that his brother was alive.
Dean, you’re covered in ghoul, man, and- and- and wraith. And I think you have a piece of siren in your hair.
I’ve seen a lot of complaints about how the characterisation of Dean was off in 12×15, offering this scene as a big bit of the evidence.
But you know what? Maybe it was on point if Dean’s feeling depressed at the moment and hardly keeping things together, because so much crap has gone down over the past year.
I know I wouldn’t be okay after getting ready to finally die and then not dying.
I think a lot of people mischaracterize him when they label him a neat freak or a germaphobe. They are taking a few instances we are shown and using them to oversimplify his personality. If we look at everything we’ve seen about Dean it becomes pretty apparent that he’s more complex. A germaphobe, to the degree that some seem to claim Dean is, couldn’t sleep on the sheets in the motels that Dean has always lived in. They would frequently need to wash or wipe their hands after touching the tables in the greasy spoons that he seems to prefer eating in. They wouldn’t be ok with disinfecting wounds with liquor or any of the other “medical” techniques Sam and Dean use on themselves. And have you seen some of the bathrooms they’ve shown him using? But these everyday things don’t seem to really bother him. Instead, I think the moments they’ve shown us of him being skivved out by a phone booth, a stair rail, etc., better illustrate how dirty and gross those specific places were. Pay phones were filthy at the best of times. Ones still around in the late 00’s, if still functional, would be even worse. That stair rail could have been actually greasy, or sticky. We were supposed to infer from that that the entire place was unsanitary to reinforce Dean’s unease at letting Dr. Kruger (I forget the character’s actual name) perform any sort of medical procedure on him. In other words, these moments are meant to show us that the situation is extraordinarily disgusting rather than that Dean is extraordinarily clean by nature. Now, even taking this view, I still think it is more than a little odd that Dean went from hunt to hunt to hunt without showering any of the blood and bits off of himself, even as an attempt to explain the rapid series of cases Sam (the BMoL) found for them to tackle, because Sam clearly took some time to clean up and change his clothes. This is where, perhaps, Dean’s mental/emotional state comes in. Dean is unhappy with Mary working with the BMoL, because they captured and tortured Sam. He finally, finally got his mom back and he doesn’t feel like he can fully trust her. I am sure he is worried about Cas, dude almost died badly and was only saved because Crowley chose to. And what’s up with Crowley helping them after they had sent his son back to the past to die? And then he almost lost himself to some stupid witches’ spell and Lucifer’s baby is still alive somewhere. I mean, he’s got a lot on his mind and maybe he just isn’t taking care of himself like he should. Plus, the scene was funny and gave us some great sibling interaction, which is always a plus.
Definitely on board with all of this @jinkieswouldyoulookatthis. Dean would not have been able to have cope with their lifestyle at all if he was as big of a neat freak as people have made out.
Plus grave dirt. Grave tallow. Falling into the river in 1×01…
It’s when he doesn’t clean himself up that people should worry about Dean. And there is definitely a lot on his mind right now.
Agree, Jinkies! Also, as I’ve said before – sometimes I think Dean enjoys yanking Sam’s chain a little. I think he gets some big brother enjoyment out of grossing his little bro out occasionally (rubbing Sam’s toothbrush in his armpits, farting on his pillow :D).
When season 11 revealed that Amara was Chuck’s sister, it changed things in the show. BIG things. Like, the whole entire shows mytharc since day one things.
I’m actually not exaggerating here, hear me out please.
Okay, so what do we know about the “Winchester Gospels”? They were written to record the end times and the roles that Sam and Dean Winchester were supposed to play. Sam and Dean are the tragic siblings, manufactured by the angels to be the perfect vessels because they are in themselves mirrors for Michael and Lucifer on earth. The show spells it out for us thanks to Gabriel: “why do you think you two are the vessels? Think about it. Michael, the big brother, loyal to an absent father, and Lucifer, the little brother, rebellious of Daddy’s plan. You were born to this, boys. It’s your destiny! It was always you! As it is in heaven, so it must be on earth. One brother has to kill the other.”
So Dean is supposed to kill Sam as Michael killed Lucifer, one must destroy the other, the older sibling destroys the younger sibling for the sake of the world. That is what Chuck was writing about, Sam and Dean and their destiny in the apocalypse.
Now, Sam and Dean may have ripped up the ending, but that wasn’t the whole story, because Chuck has his own part in this giant mirror of a mirror. Because Michael and Lucifer weren’t even the original story. Chuck and Amara were.
Before creation, Chuck and Amara were siblings in chaos, I dunno if I imagined this or not but I am pretty sure that Amara calls Chuck her ‘big brother’ implying she is the younger sibling but I am not entirely sure on that so don’t quote me here. Nevertheless, we have two siblings, and in order to create the universe, one destroys the other. Chuck chooses creation over Amara, thus starting a millennia long series of events ending in Sam and Dean fighting it out on that day in Stull Cemetery.
Why therefore did Chuck hide away during the apocalypse? Why didn’t he reveal himself? Because he was ashamed at what he had done to his sister. Because the whole apocalyptic mess was his fault because of his guilt at choosing everything over her. So what does he do instead of fixing things? He writes.
Chuck wrote Dean Winchester to be himself. Dean is Chuck’s “Mary Sue”. (yes I damn well used that term.) And Sam? Sam is the sibling he gave up for the universe.
So when Chuck poured all of his love and guilt and sorrow over his sister into his new creation, Dean Winchester became everything that Chuck could not be. Dean Winchester will always put his brother before everything else in the entire universe. Because that is a fundamental part of Dean’s creation. Chuck wrote the Winchester’s specifically to undo his own tragic story. In his writing, Dean does not sacrifice Sam for the world, Dean always saves Sam. Even at the risk OF the world. Because Chuck’s biggest regret was not putting his sister first.
It all combines in a rather beautiful narrative symmetry doesn’t it?
O. M. G.
That’s not even a crack theory, that’s a perfectly legitimate interpretation, and I want to read a dissertation on it.
I just rewatched this episode and I realized something: in a show like SPN that’s chiefly about brothers, any brothers they show are probably a sort of mirror for Sam and Dean. So I started really thinking about Andy Gallagher and Ansen Weems. Yes, they both have powers like Sam but only Ansen is really using them. Andy is just amusing himself and trying to keep out of trouble. He likes classic cars, women, and giant bongs but he’s also secretly way smarter than he lets on. I’m going to say he’s got a lot in common with Dean. Ansen on the other hand is everything Sam fears he might be: one of Azazel’s special children who’s embraced that dark side and is using his powers to kill people. And who’s he targeting? Anyone who has ever come between him and Andy. That must scare the hell out of Sam.
When Andy finally has to kill Ansen, Dean says Andy’s a hero but Sam has a different view:
SAM: Bottom line, last night, he wasted somebody. DEAN: Yeah, but he’s not a foaming-at-the-mouth psycho. He was just, he was pushed into that. SAM: Weber was pushed too, in his own way. Max Miller was pushed. Hell, I was pushed by Jessica’s death. DEAN: What’s your point, Sam? SAM: Right circumstances, everyone’s capable of murder. Everyone.
And Sam’s right. He was possibly just as capable as going darkside as the rest of the special children but maybe Azazel didn’t apply pressure in quite the right place. What if he’d targeted Dean instead of Jess? The Trickster did in Mystery Spot when he killed Dean on Wednesday and look what happened: Sam became a killing machine focused on hunting down the Trickster. Same thing happened later when Sam was torturing that demon at the beginning of season 10 while he was looking for Dean. Or when he was determined to save Dean from the Mark no matter what. Fiercely protective Sam determined to save his brother at all costs. Maybe Azazel should have worked on him that way.
nothingidputbeforeyou 