I'm proud to offer another article from another guest columnist! This one I don't consider a stranger though. Tigershire was the very first person to post comments on this site when I first started it back in October (back when I used a boring blue and white standard blog template thrown together in a day) and she's remained loyal ever since. She was kind enough to let me post this here. This can also be found on her blog site, http://tigershire.blogspot.com/. As I request with all other guest posts, please do not repost. Link to this site or Tigershire's site.
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The other day while wandering through some older posts a thought crossed my mind. And even though I’d like to think it was a significant lightening bolt type thought, the reality is, it was more like walking down the street and suddenly noticing there’s a 20 story building in a lot you pass every day and thought was still empty.
Anyhoo, the reason for this post. Rock, paper, scissors. Sam and Dean use this game to settle the question of who gets to do (or gets out of doing) certain things.
The first time we see this used is in "Heart" from Season 2. It’s the first time Sam actually wants to stay with the pretty girl instead of letting Dean.
And what do we learn? Dean always chooses scissors. ALWAYS.
At first this just seems funny and the episode (and the series) carries on and most of us probably don’t think to hard about that scene again (except, perhaps for the funny bit in the bloopers).
Then, in Season 4, episode "Jump the Shark," we have a nasty situation where one of the boys has to go down into the duct work of the house. Rock, paper, scissors is again employed as a method to figure out who gets the unpleasant job.
Or does it?
I started to think on what is actually happening when the boys are shown, in these two instances, playing this game.
Up until "Heart," Dean pokes and prods Sam to “hook-up”. Sam comes close, once on his own in Hookman where he shows interest in Lori Sorrenson but Jessica’s death is still too fresh in his mind.
Then in "Provenance," Dean prodded for Sam to take advantage of Sarah’s interesting in him, which, he did but Dean’s tactics changed a bit. First he teased him “Maybe you wouldn’t be so grumpy”, but then he changed and brought up Jessica; “I’m sure she would want you to be happy, right?”
I think that helped free Sam somewhat because he’s been quite resistant up to this point. At this point Sam was still reluctant to use people and is probably what kept him from jumping straight into bed with Sarah but it also allowed him to go forward and let go of Jess a little bit. Almost like having permission. And I’m sure Sarah’s “How archaic/I can make my own decisions” speech helped too.
So when we get around to Madison in "Heart," Sam has moved forward enough that he challenges Dean for pretty girl sitting duty.
So if Dean has been trying to get Sam to hook up, why would he be challenging him? I think Dean was on autopilot and wasn’t thinking and Sam caught him by surprise. He just wasn’t expecting Sam to want to be with the girl. Sort of a mix of “really?” and “it’s about time” coming from Dean. Although, he wasn’t about to let Sam off after his jab about “always with the scissors” so they had to go two out of three.
You kind of get the impression that Sam doesn’t know Dean is giving him the win in though, but, he must because he chose the game. Right? And Dean agreed and he must have known what the outcome would be. So why play the game at all?
Then the game is revisited in "Jump the Shark." Neither one really wants to go down into the duct work but Dean chooses this a decision maker. Why? He’s got to know he’s going to lose right?
So why even go through the motions? Why didn’t Dean just jump right down that air duct if he wanted to do it? Or if he was making sure Sam didn’t do it.
I find it curious and I don’t really have an answer. They seem to choose this when they want to guarantee the outcome.
Course I could be reading way too much into this.
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Monday, 06 July 2009 23:24 | 
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Comments
I thought both scenes were funny. I thought they did in JTS to sort of rub it in people's faces that these two guys are really close, and Adam has a long way to go before being fully accepted into the family, into that kind of bond, if ever at all. And after that I never thought about it again.
But I think I like your theory better haha. However, why did Dean not want Sam to go down in the duct? As for Heart, no arguments here. Never really thought about it until now, but what you said about Dean giving in without tipping Sam off makes perfect sense.
My boys play Rock, Paper, Scissors all the time. They add Sharks and Molten Lava which makes the rules a touch obscure and means the whole thing generally ends in a fight ( which I suspect is rather the point ... )
I think you might be getting just a tiny bit overanalytical but it's a long time to September so never mind ... You go girl!
Of course, by JTS, DEan wants to prove that he isn't weaker than Sam, nor is he afraid to go into the duct. Old habits of doing the scary dirty work in order to keep Sam safe emerge. Thus, you have Dean offering up a decision maker that is always rigged. And the audience gets a laugh at the silliness of it all.
Alysha - I think you've got it for JTS - Dean was probably trying to prove a point to Sam.
However, I find it interesting that the way this has been played, it makes it look like Sam really doesn't get that Dean purposely choosing scissors every time they do this. Sam seems so caught up in the glee of actually being able to beat his brother at something he doesn't question the oddity that Dean always loses.
And, thanks J&J's awesome acting it's played perfectly. I especially enjoy Dean's reaction to losing in JTS - comedy gold that one.
And if you really wanted to delve deeper, Sam also knew the game would always end with Dean losing but it gave Sam an easy out, a way to acquiesce to Dean without actually giving in.
How's that for pyschoanalytic BS? Hey, it made sense to me when I read it!
I especially enjoyed the RPS in JTS because, to me, it was such a fun, nonverbal but totally comprehensible way of proving that no matter what these two are brothers and no each other so well. Dean can't help himself for taking the scissors and Sam knows it and plays along giving away the dirty job (at least in JTS)...I love the analysis...hmm, perhaps you could think of some others. After all, there's still a few weeks hanging around out there.
Rather than a conscious choice by Dean or Sam i always thought that Dean subconciously believes that one day he'll win and doesn't quite realise Sam, the little brother that he is, has his number and always will know what he's going to choose.
would like to see Dean choose paper once just to see Sam's reaction.
We got to see Dean sacrificing for Sam in Something Wicked - the scene I'm thinking of is the bit with the cereal where Dean says he hadn't even had any yet but still gives the last of it to Sam. I see him loosing in RPS the same way, except it's become this seemingly unbreakable habit.
That was what then led me to think that perhaps it was intentional on Dean's part.
Trina - interesting note about Heart. I wonder if it is a tie into the whole "if Sam could save Madison there there is hope for him" except he wasn't able to save Madison. Perhaps that episode was more of a turning point for Sam than any of us realized??
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