Bardic’s Descant: 6:16 …And Then There Were None – She Has A Message For You
It would seem the Winchesters and their apocalypse were the catalyst that brought Bobby and Rufus back together through simple, essential need. After Dean’s meeting with Rufus during season three, we didn’t hear from him directly again until the end of season four, when he called Bobby in When The Levee Breaks with word of multiple disasters marking the rapid breaking of seals on Lucifer’s prison. We next saw him in Good God, Y’All, in which he’d gone to River Pass, Colorado because he’d interpreted apocalyptic omens in the fall of a meteorite and a river running red, and suddenly discovered himself apparently up to his ass in demons. Plainly, the need to attempt to avert the apocalypse had been incentive enough for him to give over living his hermit’s life and return to active hunting. We learned then that Rufus had known about Dean being back from Hell even though Ellen hadn’t gotten the word, something I suspect he’d learned independently from the same sources that had informed him earlier about Dean’s deal. If Bobby hadn’t even told Ellen Dean was back, it was unlikely he’d have told Rufus, and Bobby certainly hadn’t told anyone about Dean’s deal. Rufus clearly had his own resources as a hunter, going beyond the ones he’d shared with Bobby. He tapped them again to compare notes in a phone call with Bobby on omens possibly indicating the presence of Death in The Devil You Know.
The first time we ever actually saw Rufus with Bobby came in Weekend At Bobby’s when Rufus turned up in person at Singer Salvage, much to Bobby’s surprise, with the body of an okami in his truck. All the unexplained, unresolved tension we saw between the two men during that episode now makes so much more sense. They clearly knew each other and worked together without even having to think about it, but at the same time, Bobby was desperately trying to avoid asking Rufus for help or incurring debt to him. It seemed the continuation of a long-standing game of oneupmanship, but it had an uncomfortable edge that hinted at larger emotional stakes. After Bobby dispatched the okami with the wood chipper and Rufus uncomfortably thanked him for cleaning up his mistake, Bobby concluded that he was still in Rufus’s debt, an oblique reference to Omaha, as we know now, and that seemed to reset the tone for the rest of their relationship. From that moment on, acknowledging that Bobby still owed him, Rufus volunteered his help, and while Bobby was reluctant about it, he asked for it explicitly.
Looking back on it now, we can trace through Weekend At Bobby’s the uneasy reestablishment of the once-close bond between Bobby and Rufus. They made it a balance ledger, constantly adding up their columns to determine who owed whom, and while they did it partially in jest, we now know there was a deadly serious core to it: Rufus’s determination never to forgive Bobby for Bobby’s actions in Omaha that cost Rufus a woman he loved. As long as that debt outweighed every other thing in the balance and both of them acknowledged it but kept it in the background, they could still work together again. But Rufus emphatically slammed the door on Bobby’s attempt to bring it out into the open and consider whether it could ever be resolved. Bobby finally apologized openly for what he’d done and what it had cost, but Rufus couldn’t let it go. And with Rufus now dead, that balance can never be restored.
I’m grateful for Dean’s ability to see the lesson in what happened between Bobby and Rufus and his determination to apply it in his own life. He and Sam, quite unintentionally and unconsciously, had begun long ago to keep something of an unspoken balance ledger of blame running between them, built out of the accumulated resentments of a shared lifetime. While they’ve absolved each other along the way of many things, there’s always been a snarled core of things left unresolved, some of which are very basic and go very far back, for example, Dean’s hurt belief that Sam’s desire for independence meant Sam didn’t love his family as much as Dean loved Sam, and Sam’s abiding resentment of Dean’s smothering protectiveness and seemingly frequent mistrust and some of which are much more recent.
This is something very human, something virtually all of us do. When we’re hurt, we tend to mark it down in our mental emotional ledger whether we talk about it or not. When we look at each other, our view is often colored by shadows of resentment and anger we may never even have shared with the people whose actions often unintentionally triggered them. Just think of the things about family, friends, and co-workers that irritate you: the niggling, common things that often make you feel unappreciated or imposed upon. Those things are mostly a lot smaller and less consequential than having cause to blame someone for the death of a loved one, but they can take just as great a toll on our ability to maintain close, healthy, and loving relationships over time. And if they aren’t resolved within lifetimes, they continue to haunt us afterward with recriminations and regrets.
Dean’s rationale for and approach to dealing with the situation is one we could all aspire to.
Bobby: It was Omaha. It was my fault. And he never let it go.
Dean: Well, he should have.
Bobby: You don’t know what I did, Dean.
Dean: Doesn’t matter.
Bobby: What do you mean, it doesn’t …?
Dean: I mean, at the end of the day, you two were family. Life’s short. Ours are shorter than most. Are we going to spend it wringing our hands? Something’s gonna get us, eventually. And when my guts get ripped out, just so you two know, we’re good. Blanket apology for all the crap that anybody’s done, all the way around.
Sam: Some of us pulled a lot of crap, Dean.
Dean: Well, clean slate.
Dean was definitely speaking for the future, granting his absolution to Bobby and Sam for anything left unresolved at his own death, but what he said, what he gave them, was more than that. I think he was speaking as well to all the consuming regrets and apologies owed that could never be given or received: to Bobby, for never having been able to be fully reconciled to Rufus and for having been unable to save his wife; to Sam, for all the things he still doesn’t even know his soulless self did, as well as all the earlier missteps he already bitterly regrets; and to and from himself for all the people he knows he’s hurt, from Sam and Bobby to Lisa, Ben, and even Gwen.
What Dean may not realize yet is that keeping that promise – both giving and accepting that blanket apology and absolution – means eventually forgiving himself as well as others, and that may be the biggest challenge of all and the hardest promise for all of them to keep. And it will be hard for all of us, too; but it’s still a life lesson we should learn and accept in dealing with the people we love. I intend to try.
Just Cause You’re Blood Doesn’t Make You Family; You’ve Got To Earn That
Samuel very cagily tried to play the family card with Gwen and Sam despite realizing Dean would never forgive him. Dean’s harsh attitude toward Samuel stood in stark contrast to his all-forgiving view of Bobby and Sam, but I didn’t see that as a contradiction; instead, I saw it as a proof. Family forgives and is forgiven, but in Dean’s definition, without love, there is no family in the first place, and that means blood can be irrelevant in the family equation.
Dean has always been all about family. From the very beginning, he defined his life in terms of his father and brother, and the memory of his mother: his family. Along the way, he expanded his definition of family to include others, among them Bobby, Ellen, Jo, Lisa, and Ben. Family to Dean always meant love and duty, in lockstep. Blood was part of that definition in the beginning, but as Bobby so succinctly put it in No Rest For The Wicked, Family don’t end with blood, boy. Dean realized long ago that where there was love, there was family, and that meant there was duty, too; the responsibility to protect and defend those he loved, and as part of that, to put their happiness and well-being at least on a level with if not above his own.
[b]Very well written!!! 🙂 [/b]
Good one.
I’m sorry to lose Roops and Grandpa too. The formers back-story with Bobby was starting to look really fascinating and Ol’Eyebrows and his mysterious-but-definitely-dodgy hidden agenda was the most entertaining thing about this season so far.
I can’t work up much interest in Eve … Standard SPN issue decorative monologing murder minx. I hope she dredges up some hidden depths soon or the rest of the run’s going to be a bit short of properly hissable baddies!
Bravo! This was well written and very enjoyable to read. I agree with your assessments. I hope that the Campbell history is not lost. Samuel’s journal and his grandfathers must hold a wealth of knowledge that Bobby, Dean and Sam could use. Someday, I hope that we get to know more about John and his family.
Another excellent article. You are so positive, even in your criticisms. I hope you are right about some explanation about the Sampa; why was he brought back, why and maybe even how he hooked up with Sam…some kind of explanation as to why the Campbells were even in the season. As it was left, it appears as of now that this was a lost opportunity to flesh out an interesting story.
I’m still disappointed that Rufus was killed, especially since death of any kind is no longer a surprise or suspenseful event in SPN. The show has taken death as something surprising or shocking off the table by bringing everybody and their grandfather back.
I did like the episode…especially dark Dean, who is oh so much scarier than that silly Eve…and sweet Sam…and the brothers working together. Two episodes of that now, but that is probably not going to last much longer.
Excellent review. I always love them.
“One of my absolute favorite memories from this episode will always be the four men meeting outside the cannery at night to hunt together; it’s been a long time since we saw such smiles and perfectly shared happiness”
I’m so glad you mentioned it! It was my favorite scene of the episode. It seemed so natural, like they were actually having a good time, even if it was just for a second.
Wonderful review, as always! See ya in two weeks! 😉
Loves your assesement. But I wonder about the Khan worm’s confession. I wonder if it told the boys what it did while there is something far more insideous. The trap set for the hunters inside that cannery…what if Eve set it up so she could see how Hunters; specifically the Winchesters acted when no one could rely on each other,knowing that any moment one of them could be possessesed; manipulating the others. And what if Eve was psychically linked to the khan worm? She could see how easily humans mistrust each other in the face of the unknown. Of course she might be discounting these 4 hunters experience and personal history.
Also…when Sam got seperated and he and Dean shouted out each others names several times it was like their own version of MArco Polo and their own way of letting the other know they were there and not alone.
Amy
Hi Bardic!
Your analysis of Rufus & assessment of his backstory made me love his character & mourn his loss as part of the extended Winchester family even more. I will truly miss him!
I mourn too for the relationship the guys could have had with their grandfather & the Campbell clan. Samuel certainly did destroy that with his obsessive desire to get Mary back. He was a pawn of demons, yet he used his grandsons & all of his extended blood family as pawns also. How did seemingly all the current members of the Campbell clan readily accept the reappearance & leadership of a man they had believed dead for decades? I agree that we need to see more of the Campbell clan; the history of a centuries-old family of hunters is too tantalizing a carrot to dangle before fans, then simply drop it without further mention.
I think your explanation of Dean’s definition of family is spot-on. His speech at the cemetery made me think about how trivial are some of the squabbles I’ve had with my loved ones, & how my own family doesn’t end with blood either.
Dawn
Wow Mary, well worth the wait! I think this is your best, most insightful review yet. And that’s saying a lot because I’ve enjoyed every single one of your reviews. Your analysis of Dean’s speech at the cemetery has me thinking of my own families and how I want to interact with them. Thanks for that, m’dear!
Cheers, Rose