The Winchester Family Business

 


We love our show, don’t we? ‘Thank you, Captain Obvious!’ Yes, it is obvious, but why? We have spoken about our reasons on this site frequently. I have done so, too, in various articles and comments. But because the show is so multi-faceted, the reasons for my love of Supernatural and its extraordinary, human heroes are, too. 
 
 
Today I’d like to take a look at one of those reasons. I want to call it Survival of the Kindest. I think one of the reasons Supernatural is still on air and advancing into its seventh season is the compassion and capability of caring of its leading characters (and also of many of the supporting ones). Partly because they are highly emotional people. They often try to hide that behind a cool exterior or a loose tongue, but – bottom line – they care. Deeply. That is one of their most appealing qualities. I know it is for me.
 
Throughout the show’s seasons we’ve witnessed the Winchester brothers’ random acts of kindness toward strangers. If someone is in need of protection, of rescue – they are there and do whatever they can, even putting their lives at risk countless times. In doing that, they act on one of the foundations that make us human. The ingenious naturalist Charles Darwin did not only determine the Origin of the Species, but also postulated that kindness and caring was one of the most important factors that help us survive. He studied with incredible energy the emotional expressions of humans and animals, early discussing the evolution of human psychology, which inspired numerous researchers of the human soul and led to important results. One of them: we are a caretaking species. The vulnerability of our offspring reorganized our social system as well as our nervous system. Belonging to someone else (in terms of family) is hugely important to survive.
 
And it is appealing. When I look at the people that have inspired me throughout my life, the books I love to read or the films/TV shows I love to watch, I find many characters in real life or fiction that are capable of showing tremendous kindness and own the ability to forgive. 
 
And that, I think, is a sign of true courage. It’s not a sign of weakness, though today’s world seems to thrive on narcissism. Being kind/forgiving/caring for someone else is diametrically opposed to the trend of the overblown view of the self which eventually makes people lonely. 
 
The moment we are being kind, we lay ourselves open to another person. Sam and Dean have done so many times; in fact, I’d say they do it constantly. They do that with their care for the other (rendering themselves immensely vulnerable) and with their determination to do good. To save people. 
 
When I look back at the show’s episodes, I can’t think of one where they would have abandoned a person in need of help. They don’t turn away. They fight, yes, hunt the evil riff raff down, but they are also around to comfort and guide. 
 
In the very beginning, it was Sam who appeared more empathetic with his gentle way of questioning relatives of lost people, but only until we learned that Dean’s sarcastic behaviour was merely a mask behind which he hid a very compassionate soul. When it was called for, Dean could be just as comforting and sweet as his younger sibling. 
 
Some of the most beautiful moments in this department were those with Dean and little Lucas in Dead in the Water or Dean’s reactions to Layla in Faith, as well as Sam’s tenderness with Jenny in Home or his carefully comforting reaction to Max in Nightmare. It doesn’t matter, really, that those are older episodes. The emotion in those scenes carries over to the episodes of today. We find it in Free to Be You and Me or Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid, and many others. 
 
It is one constant that carries the show. Sam’s and Dean’s dealings with other people are not based on exploitation, but on generosity. I think it’s inspirational how selflessly these men offer their support. Doing that, they are not turned inward and focused on their own concerns only. No. Their biggest goal has always been ‘the greater good’, if you like. This was even more important than their own lives. When it came to make a decision like: don’t engage in a fight with angels/the devil and survive (and keep your brother by your side) or take a stand and try to save many you don’t even know… We know what choice they made. 
 
It’s quite understandable if we take into account the ideals they grew up with and add psycho-biological details. Empathising with someone creates an exceptional human connection that can inspire us to take action on someone’s behalf. It’s also one of the most important facets that make us human – Ian McEwan calls it ‘Imagining what it is like to be someone other than yourself is at the core of our humanity. It is the essence of compassion, and it is the beginning or morality.’ 
 
It also comes with a variety of biological advantages: for instance, in recent studies, researchers found that the ability to forgive reduced stress and showed positive results in electrocardiography (diagnostic tool to record and interpret the electrical activity of the heart which allows diagnosis of a wide range of heart conditions). Furthermore, helping others often results in what some scientists call a ‘helper’s high’. The ‘happiness hormone’ serotonin is secreted when we help others which, in combination with relieved stress, are an immune system booster. 
 
There might lie the reason why our heroes rarely suffer from the common cold. We have never actually seen them sick (not counting being wounded), so I’d assume their immune systems to be intact despite their rather poor diet. They rarely eat regularly, and the quality of their food differs, too. 
 
Despite these medical advantage, in their lives hides a sad irony: when Sam and Dean are able to successfully help someone, they feel content with what they’ve done. But the moment they focus on anger or revenge, their mood is destabilised, there is less serotonin. When they focus on their own emotional distress, they become somewhat unbalanced, because their anger is about helplessness – which stands in contrast to their successful handling of the ‘saving people, hunting things’ turf. When they feel helpless and can’t do anything to really change a situation, their power of kindness is diminished. Desperation kicks in which can result in unpleasant handling of situations or other people (like, for instance, when Dean rejected Bobby with a harsh ‘You’re not my father’, being completely lost in worry and saying things he later regretted).
 
There are different shades, though. It’s not only about being kind to other people. It’s also about being kind to each another. And to find forgiveness for each other. When they hold on to bitterness, that emotion beings to corrode their souls like rust and not only renders them more or less helpless but also pushes them on the brink of depression (and sometimes even down the bottomless darkness depression can be). 


 
 
It was positively palpable how Dean’s mood began to stabilise when he decided to trust Sam with his plan to overcome Lucifer. He was still in pain, desperate and afraid, but he had found a new objective. With that he felt less destitute. The toxic emotion of resentment was replaced by one far more constructive. And he again felt connected to Sam. 
 
That connection was like an outstretched hand for the younger Winchester which enabled Sam to be stable enough to implement their plan in Swan Song and find his courage and strength to sacrifice himself to put Lucifer back into his cage. 
 
It was the same kind of trust Sam offered to Dean in Point of No Return when he allowed his brother to leave he panic room. At the bottom of the trust both found for each other lies empathy and, well, kindness. Those are the really profound qualities in a prosperous relationship, be it lovers or siblings. They allow us to relate to other people as flawed human beings, even our perceived enemies or those we feel let us down. 
 
Disappointment, resentment, anger, implacability… are venomous emotions. I doubt that there are any crueller or more destructive words than never or always. We’ve heard words of that category come out of the mouths of our favourite heroes. When Dean said to Sam ‘If you walk out that door, don’t ever come back’ at the end of When the Levee Breaks it was one of those never moments. Words like that close doors to our hearts. And we need to find it in us to open them again when we care about someone. 
 
Sam and Dean have learned, through painful experience, that it is necessary to stop and think before we speak. Words cannot be taken back. We can say we’re sorry, we didn’t mean it, but the memory of them (and the painful stroke delivered by them) lives on. Both brothers have hurt each other with words. But have also evolved – they have learned to forgive, too. 
 
It’s rarely linear. Not with them, not with us. The traumatic events they suffered transformed them, made them fragile, wide open. I think it also changed them mentally, irretrievably. They are in many ways still the same people, but – they are not. They have grown stronger. I believe that by their survival of atrocities, they became strong enough to actually find forgiveness and a tighter bond as brothers. And, I hope, they found it within themselves to leave past moments in the past and move on,  together.
 
I believe they will be able to do so because they carry a strong, practically unconquerable streak of kindness within their souls. Which brings be back to Darwin who claimed that acts of altruism and sympathy are the ‘simple result of the greater strength of the social or maternal instincts than that of any other instinct or motive.’ And that evolved tendencies toward goodness are performed with the automatic, well-honed speed of other reflexes. It’s just there. We see it in our show, don’t we? The Winchesters jump to the help of others and each other. Another proof for me that good is always stronger than bad in the long run, because it fuels us with a positive drive and not with the parasitic energy born from anger and malevolence. 
 
 
The power of their kindness, kind readers, will help them overcome whatever lies in store for them, I strongly believe that. The writers will do their best to make up cruelties for our heroes. No doubt. But because they are above all their other qualities simple, kind human beings, the goodness in them will be their strongest ally. 
 
 
 
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