#they’ve moved on to an extended flashback arc and the op changed

[boardwalk-absurdist]

recently started watching bungo stray dogs and blew through the first 40 or so episodes this past week and it’s been a fantastic time

currently rotating and examining several shiny new blorbos. brushing their hair and putting bows in it etc

[dotthings]

spn 14.05 is another solid ep, and I’m pretty excited for both Sam and Dean’s invididual storylines this season as well as how their dynamics are evolving.

Breaking my commentaries on the ep out into separate posts. This post is Sam and Dean’s individual arcs with some notes about how the bunker crew links with that since I had a lot to say.

Sam

SPN has been telegraphing Sam as ops manager and a leader of hunters for a few seasons, mostly in S12, so this isn’t coming out of nowhere, but it is also a little surprising because it is defying the expected roles. Dean has been head of family and leader of TFW (which he named) for a really long time. But rather than “stealing” Dean’s storyline—Dean has his own meaty storyline going on—this is a flip in roles. Sam is now the lead manager and strategizer watching over everyone while there is Something Wrong With Dean (more on that in the Dean section).

I have been wanting to see this for a long time—Winchesters as teachers of hunters.

Sam worried about Dean was Sam not sleeping and not shaving. Sam getting Dean back is Sam shaves again but left a little stubble I noticed...and now he is sleeping but only about 3-4 hrs a night which is like the grief beard is gone but leaves some stubble behind. What’s going on in your head, Sam?

He seems grounded and focused and I’m getting no vibe here of Sam trying to hide in being busy, otoh not sleeping enough and losing himself in his new role are red flags. Sam seems to be thriving, but the lack of downtime or full sleeps, he’s compensating for something he felt was lacking before. A sense of purpose other than just killing monsters. A whole bunker of people relies on him. This aligns with Cas finding sense of purpose in being a father to Jack. Jack trying to figure out his own role. Dean is adrift (more on that in the Dean section). What’s Sam’s role outside of Dean’s shadow and little brother, just as we ask what is Dean’s role outside of watching over Sam.

The bunker people are like the cantina is Star Wars. I noticed spn casts and costumes and dresses them non-generically. They are distinct, if un-named and unknown to us. Uptick in incidental casual representarion. Like the cantina, you know every one of them has a good story to tell but we aren’t going to see it. They are background. Worldbuilding. There to give main characters a frame. The crowdedness, the lack of connection the audience feels—kinda part of the point. It’s there to reflect on our main characters. Sam as leader, Dean feeling out of step. Hunter community at work.

Sam leads them and he knows them and cares—remember he knows them and audience doesn’t (please try to remember that distinction)—but he isn’t one of them. Sam takes point in saving Maggie and feels responsible for watching over this rookie hunter. He’s not in the group hug reunion with Maggie. He watches over them. SPN is having Sam and Dean witness a warm supportive hunter community circle, while they build and expand their extended family, Sam, Dean, Cas, and Jack all living under one roof even if some wander in and out, their connection with Jody and the Waywards, Mary (who is in and out) maybe AU Bobby...AU Charlie question mark...Rowena is possibly drawn into this as well, she is there in a pinch. But 4 steady bunker inhabitants.

The big warm circle that surrounds Maggie isn’t anything Sam and Dean had growing up...maybe SPN is showing them a possible future. Maybe telegraphing, maybe just a comment on what they’ve somewhat missed out on but are building for themselves, and the AU hunters will return home.

Sam is emerging amid all this into a role other than “little brother in distress” or “research guy.”

Dean

The annoyance Dean feels at the bunker overrun with strangers, the sense of being out of step, while Dean recovers from trauma—that’s all on purpose and it’s not here to diminish Dean or cut him out. Dean had drilled into him by John since the age of 4 that his only value was “watch out for Sammy” and then that expanded to “keep all my loved ones alive.” “You did it for me, for Jack, for family.” Or look at Dean’s devastation over losing Cas. It’s not just about Sam. Dean’s relationship with family is a mutli-armed thing. Dean doesn’t define himself looking after Cas the way he did with Sam but Dean’s primary role is still “protect the ones I love” and that encompasses Cas. Which is admirable but also what else is he? Just as Sam isn’t just little brother in peril research guy with demon blood. Who is Dean?

S14 is showing Dean’s trauma and showing us more of his geeky side. It’s explored how fear drives his actions at times. In this ep we see his out of stepness with the crowded bunker. Dean, without a whiff of restlessness or regret or resentment, accepts Sam’s new role. Dean still seems like head of family, emotionally. But Sam is managing a bunkerful of hunters and takes point to save Maggie. What role does Dean see for himself if “Sammy” is a capable, competent grown-ass adult with a skill for managing a whole team of hunters and has become a mentor to them? Dean has already mentored Sam and now the mentor is mentoring others. Which fits with Sam and Dean mentoring Cas who is now teaching Jack how to hunt.

The talk Dean has with the old man’s daughter, about the old man, yells with John parallels. The father consumed with his work who emotionally neglected his children. All the things we know of how John raised his kids, not just neglect but at the least emotional abuse. The horrors he drew his children into. Dean advising her to put it behind her, to not let the bad feelings and hurt define her and how he tries to do that “every day” inplies it’s not the least bit easy and it’s a work in progress. It’s not about forgiveness even. It’s an admission it’s not okay what happened but he’s also not willing to let it consume him. It doesn’t define him. Dean has come to terms with John as a not great father. He had his confrontation with Mary, he loves her and hates her and forgives her. Dean’s his own person, not consumed with pleasing his parents. It hurts but he’ll keep moving forward. He’s trying to figure out how not to drown in the post-Michael trauma—no getting over it but he’ll keep putting one foot in front of the other and be Dean as much as he can. Not avoiding or denying. It just is.

Dean’s post-Michael trauma isn’t healed but Dean seems to be moving towards some self-acceptance. He’s not threatened by Sam as leader he just isn’t sure what his role is while Sam is doing that. He’s so used to his job being watching over someone who is now on more even footing with him. Roles change. Characters evolve—as they certainly should on a show over a decade old.

As I expected, Michael Dean continues to be an A-plot. This time sneaking into a MOTW. So we have flashbacks and we have Dean being directly confronted in realtime with the dominoes Michael knocked over, his supermonsters.

That djinn saw something horrifying when it touched Dean. It was something that scared the beejesus out if a djinn who specializes in feeding off other people’s fears. So it’s something that scares the djinn, not just something Dean fears. WTF did the djinn see inside Dean?

Maybe my theory about sleeper Michael hiding in there isn’t wrong, or maybe it’s something even scarier than Michael.

So for Dean we have a slow burn self-acceptance and how he is dealing with his trauma, Dean coming to terms with the nature of his parents as parents, Dean trying to figure out how he fits in the crowded bunker, Dean’s role re-aligning as he and Sam move past their childhood roles of “Dean protect Sammy” as their primary mechanism, and Dean continuing to be faced with his nemesis, Michael, via fallout...his mirror as well as Michael represents some fears Dean has about the darker aspects of himself.

There’s a lot going on for both Sam and Dean and in turn the relationship is growing into a space where I’m regaining some of my feeling of connection with it that I lost. While placing them in context of being part of the wider family of TFW 2.0 and plonking a warm supportive hunter community under their noses for them to witness. Oh and Cas is with Jack in Sarasota, a beach community, after Dean’s talk last season about TFW retiring on a beach.