Bardic’s Descant: 6.22 I’m Not Leaving My Brother Alone Out There
Commentary and Meta Analysis
This episode suffered from the usual problems attendant on being a middle chapter in a story, because while it was the season finale, it definitely wasn’t the end of anything in the narrative. It can’t be judged fairly until we see what happens next, because as it stands, it’s incomplete.
That said, however, it made for one hell of a good chapter. In this discussion, I’m going to look at Castiel’s choices and transformation, and at Sam’s reintegration of himself.
Humpty Dumpty Has To Put Himself Together Again
I loved the concept of Sam having to reintegrate himself after Castiel brought down the protective wall in his mind, and being determined to do it no matter the cost because he couldn’t choose to leave Dean alone. That was a brilliant culmination not just to the soulless Sam storyline, but to the brothers’ estrangement in seasons four and five. The brother bond is solidly back in all its glory after having been tarnished, tested, and stressed to its breaking point, and that bodes VERY well for season seven, whatever else betides.
Sam’s split wasn’t precisely Freudian or Jungian, but it shared elements with a lot of classical psychology. We found Sam split into thirds, but not entirely the classic ones. Instead, his thirds were based in part on memory and in part on self. The narrative Sam was essentially super-ego, Sam’s personal consciousness and awareness both of others and of right and wrong; Sam’s soul, in Supernatural parlance. Soulless Sam was predominantly id and ego – his physical self and drives and his purely intellectual awareness – unrestrained by their missing third; I discussed that back in my commentary on Like A Virgin. Hell-Sam presented something else, something outside our customary categorizations of experience: his memories of Hell.
Narrative Sam was the only one of the three who actually wanted to integrate them all into one. Initially, I reacted with irritation to soulless Sam’s lousy marksmanship and his stereotypical villain’s tendency to talk the hero to death instead of simply shooting him. Then I realized that soulless Sam, intellectually understanding the rules of the game as narrative Sam did not, really didn’t want to “kill” Sam and thus integrate with his ensouled self, precisely because that would have saddled him with a soul. Frankly, I think soulless Sam missed his target – whether intentionally or unconsciously – until he satisfied himself that he was in control of the situation and ensouled Sam lacked the backbone to defeat him, and thus calculated that even if he “killed” ensouled Sam, he would still be able to subdue the soul within himself and drive the body without interference from his soul. Big mistake – but that’s animal instinct, intellect, and calculation without heart.
Hell-Sam really encompassed two things: Sam’s repressed memories of his unbearable existence in Hell, and his fear of what experiencing Hell consciously would do to him. Sam had heard from multiple disparate sources, including Castiel, Crowley, Meg, Death, Balthazar, and even Dean, that realizing his memories of Hell would be a bad thing and would most likely destroy him outright or turn him into a drooling vegetable. Hearing the same from the part of himself that actually knew what had happened to him in Hell had to have been the worst of all. Sam’s courage in insisting on doing it anyway precisely because he couldn’t leave Dean to face things alone just melted my heart, and emphatically declared the end of the rift between the brothers. We’ve always known that Dean was all about Sam; now anyone who doubted has demonstrable, incontrovertible proof that the reverse is also true.
Sam’s appearance at the mansion and the timing of his arrival indicated that he’d woken not long after Dean and Bobby had left, and likely taken either Bobby’s car or another from the salvage yard to follow them. How he managed to drive while combating repeated visions and sensations of burning alive in Hell, I can’t say, but it’s a tribute to his sheer force of will. Even when he stabbed Castiel, he was obviously barely hanging on to being himself, conscious, and upright. I fully expect that he’s still going to be in the throes of his reintegration when season seven begins, and that his problems and challenges with respect to trying not to be overwhelmed by his memories of Hell and dealing with his shame and guilt over the things he did while soulless will feature prominently in the storyline for a long time to come.
I Am Your New God. A Better One.
My immediate reaction at the end of the episode was to quote the old adage about power corrupting, and absolute power corrupting absolutely. I would submit that what happened to Castiel when he succeeded in raiding Purgatory wasn’t anything he’d ever intended, and Dean was right: all that power, all those souls inside him, were acting like a drug, overriding his normal inhibitions and rational processes and sending him on the ultimate power trip. That wasn’t the Cass we know and love: that was Cass on PCP.
I’m certain a lot of fans reacted angrily to Castiel being out of character in proclaiming himself God and demanding worship, but that’s the point: that kind of drug will absolutely change your personality and sidestep your rational, conscious awareness. If you’ve ever tried to deal with anyone as massively stoned and utterly delusional as Castiel was at the end, you know that whoever they normally are has left the building. It has nothing to do with who they are or what they intend; it’s the drug opening the cages in which they normally confine the ugly, arrogant, selfish, vicious aspects of themselves they would never normally let loose.
I’ve talked a lot in earlier reviews about my thoughts along the way on what was driving Castiel’s decisions. While I was wrong about some very major things – I hadn’t guessed Castiel had made a deal with Crowley and was planning to use the power of souls in Purgatory in his war against Raphael in Heaven – I think I was right in most of my analysis of his motivations. And none of them concerned setting himself up as the new God.
As he described in The Man Who Would Be King, I do believe Castiel started with nothing more than his earnest desire to bring peace, order, and the new gospel of freedom to Heaven in the aftermath of the aborted apocalypse. When he discovered Raphael was adamant about putting the apocalypse back on track, destroying all Castiel and the Winchesters had striven and sacrificed to save, he was desperate for a way to avert disaster. Knowing himself hopelessly outmatched in a conflict with an archangel, he looked for leverage – but rather than seek advice from Dean, he let himself, out of mingled pride, fear, and shame, be seduced into a partnership with Crowley, telling himself all along he could outsmart the demon and keep his integrity. And each time he might have chosen differently along the way, he kept repeating to himself that the stakes were too high, that he couldn’t afford to fail, and that whatever he did in pursuit of that ultimate goal was justified and necessary because it would avert the greater evil of seeing the apocalypse restarted. I do truly think he wasn’t in it at the beginning for the power in and of itself; I think he sought the power only in pursuit of the goal of preservation. And I think that was still what was mostly in his mind when he opened the Purgatory door.
That’s not to say the lure of power wasn’t there and wasn’t already corrupting him in small ways, however. When he harried Hell in his absolute conviction of mission and rescued Sam, he was admittedly too pumped on his own achievement to heed the niggling voice of his disquiet telling him something about Sam wasn’t right. When he carried Crowley’s loan of fifty thousand souls into Heaven and used them to blast Raphael out of his complacency making his declaration of war, he was juiced up on power and pride, setting himself up as Raphael’s direct opposition. When he successfully touched Bobby’s soul to draw power directly into himself to be able to bring the brothers back from the past in Frontierland, I think he cemented his belief that he’d be strong enough to contain more souls, although he said at the time he never wanted to do that again. And when Raphael, saying he wouldn’t allow Castiel to acquire that much power, phrased it as, If anyone’s going to be the new God, it’s going to be me, I think he planted the seed that shaped the specific form of Castiel’s power delusion.
Unlike Raphael, Castiel was at least torn along the way, uncomfortable with the things he was doing and always aware on some level that they were wrong. That discomfort made him hide the truth not only from Dean, but also from the angels who followed him. He even kept the core of his plans hidden from Balthazar, whose moral code was far more lax than Castiel’s. Balthazar was not only in on but crucial to some of his shadier plots, as evidenced in The French Mistake and My Heart Will Go On, but he didn’t know about his partnership with Crowley or his designs on Purgatory until the Winchesters told him about them here.
I think Castiel’s premeditated execution of Balthazar when he confirmed to himself that Balthazar was lying to him marked the crossing of a line in his gradual corruption. He didn’t accuse Balthazar outright and didn’t ask why the angel had betrayed him to the Winchesters, as he would have in the past; he simply killed him. Knowing Balthazar’s nature, Castiel would have had good reason to think Balthazar likely to be a threat as soon as he knew he’d been discovered, but still; this was his first preemptive strike, his first murder of a friend. Castiel had killed other angels before during the fight to avert the apocalypse and when he himself was attacked, but not like this. His sorrowfully expressed inability to understand why his friends were against him as the lead-in to Balthazar’s execution just underscored his growing dissociation; he was asking about his friends’ betrayal when he was planning a fatal one of his own.
And then he opened the door to Purgatory and took millions of monster souls into himself. I can’t imagine what it would feel like, to realize you had the power within you to do virtually anything. Add to that the absolute conviction that what he was doing was necessary and right – that whatever he was doing was necessary and right – and the power surge could become its own reason for doing anything, just because he could.
Beyond just the awareness of power itself, however, I wonder how much the nature of the souls providing the power might affect it. I suspect this isn’t like electricity, which is the same whether it’s produced by coal, oil, geothermal, water, nuclear, solar, or wind power: I would bet that souls carry with them the essence of their being, whether that is good and kind or evil and malevolent. If that’s the case, Castiel, in absorbing not just pure power but monster souls, may have been further polluted by the souls themselves incorporating murderous evil and infecting him with it. I think Castiel’s obvious relish in contemplating punishing Raphael’s followers severely might have been a strong clue that the monstrous nature of the souls he’d swallowed was affecting him right along with the delusional high of just containing that much power.
If that’s the case, there may be hope that direct contact with other souls – purer souls, Heaven-bound souls like Dean, Sam, and Bobby – might help counteract the taint. And I think Dean was absolutely right in trying to persuade Castiel to let the power go now that Raphael’s threat was gone, to return the souls to Purgatory before the end of the eclipse presumably closes the door again, in the belief that getting rid of the souls and the power might – like coming off a drug – restore Castiel to equilibrium and his right mind. That would be even more crucial if the monster nature of the souls was further distorting the angel’s personality and perception of reality.
For the record, I don’t believe Castiel is lost to us or that he’s destined to be the villain of season seven. I think it’s more likely that Castiel will come off his power high, whether by Dean, Sam, and Bobby getting through to him – I wonder what would happen, for example, if the three of them, led by Dean, refused to worship Castiel; would he follow through on his threat to destroy them, or find that he couldn’t bring himself to go that far? – and persuading him to return the souls, or by Castiel simply losing his hold on the power and the souls under stress and challenge. In either case, I would bet that a lot of the souls would wind up loose on Earth rather than being sucked back through the door, providing a lot of adversaries to hunt – but would they be like demons, possessing others, or take on new monster forms, perhaps not subject to the particular weaknesses they had before? And I think Castiel, stripped of the power overload, would react as Dean and Sam have done before, realizing his mistakes and and resolving to try to make things right both on Earth and in Heaven.
Personal responsibility, bad choices, and redemption are pieces as crucial to the Supernatural story as family, brotherhood, and the clash between fate and free will. I think the whole story of this season was how Castiel, just like Dean and especially Sam before him, chose the wrong path with the best intentions, bringing bad consequences he never intended while believing he was doing what had to be done. And I think Castiel, like Dean and Sam, will ultimately realize and admit his mistakes, and try to make up for them.
I loved your review and I look forward to your analysis of the overall season. Like you I enjoyed this season more than many people. I think the writers may have been a tad too ambitious, leading to some dropped plotlines (The Campbells, the Weapons of Heaven), but I think it hangs together in an interesting way and that when rewatched it will be much easier to see how earlier elements of the story fit into the entire narrative.
I do put Castiel’s final descent earlier than you do. At the very least, breaking Sam’s wall was an act of cruelty that wasn’t necessary, in as much as Cas had the power to teleport Sam. Dean and Bobby to the middle of nowhere in Europe to keep them from bothering his final move toward Purgatory. I also think his decision to fight with and kill Rachel who was only fighting for the morality that they both had been raised with was an indication he had gone off the rails. I can also make the argument that once Balthazar threw in with Castiel, gave him ALL the weapons of heaven and agreed to change history to give Cas a working advantage in souls that Cas no longer needed the Purgatory souls. If he was going to break the deal, that was the time to do it.
Admittedly, I am one who doesn’t care if Castiel can be redeemed, or even if he should. I have viewed Cas in a more negative light than many fans since the beginning and I truly believe that he was only a loyal friend during season five and therefore this fall has been in the making since his introductions. In some ways I think his part in the storyline parallels Ruby’s. He was a supernatural being that started out as untrustworthy and his race was shown to be either disinterested or actively hostile to humans. The angels as a whole saw humanity and the Winchesters as things to be used in their prophecies and human casualties were not a consideration. Knowing this, Dean came to trust one member of an untrustworthy race and remained blind to Cas’s “regrettable actions” until he was brought face to face with them after trapping Cas in the ring of fire.
The Message of Supernatural is that non-humans should not be given unreserved trust. Sam broke this rule with Ruby, who appeared to be doing helpful things for the world right up until the end. Similarly, Dean broke the “don’t trust the Supernatural” rule with Castiel because of a year of support and loyalty, which followed a year of deceit and betrayal as Cas played his part in helping to permit Sam to break the final seal. In the end Cas was like taming a tiger. It may look as if they are under your control, but in reality they are a different species and can lash out at any time and revert to their inbred natures.
I am also less certain than you, that Castiel didn’t realize that taking in all those souls would give him godlike power. The initial deal included a 50/50 split with Crowley and that might have left him non-godlike. Raphael immediately recognized that taking in all those souls would give him godlike powers and although Castiel has been portrayed as being “not the sharpest knife in the drawer” previously, I can’t believe that he didn’t recognize exactly what taking in that much power would do.
I want to say, you have been a great addition to this site. I have followed you on lj and I am glad to see you posting your thought provoking articles here.
Percywowner, I’m a long time admirer of your cogent and pertinent writings. I totally agree that Cas’ descent started early, hinted when he refused to answer soulless Sam’s prayers. In “Family Matters” Cas made it clear that it was impossible to rescue Sam from the cage, which of course we all know that Cas in fact tried already and was partially successful. One would think after being empowered with 50,000 more souls that Cas could have gone back for the rest of Sam, but instead he tried very hard to convince Dean in “Caged Heat” to leave Sam to be tortured for eternity, and then got royally pissed off that Dean rescued Sam from Hell and yelled at Dean that he should have killed Sam instead.
Then in his final act of cruelty, Cas shattered Sam and put a conditional on saving Sam only if Dean didn’t interfere. And since Dean didn’t, Cas had no intention of saving Sam. Thankfully, Sam was stronger than Cas gave him credit for and saved himself.
I also agree that Cas did not need the purgatory souls to win the war as he controls an army and the heaven weapons, forcing Raphael into retreating. Even IF Cas didn’t realize taking the souls would make him godlike, he definitely knew when Raphael said it would. It was the umpteenth opportunity for Cas to turn back, but he didn’t.
It always grated me since season 4 that Cas never took personal responsibility or accountability, so it was of no surprise to me that Cas wanted to equate himself with God. Why should he own his misdeeds and culpability when he is convinced of his own superiority? Malignant narcissists are constant liars, convinced that the worlds revolves around them and everybody else are bit players created for the sole purpose of loving the narcissist.
Overall I really enjoyed how season 6 coalesced by the finale. Most of SPN’s finales are incomplete stories, this one is just less traumatic than the others.
Thanks, [b]percysowner[/b]! Glad you’ve enjoyed!
We disagree a bit on Castiel simply because I don’t believe he ever consciously intended to take on the mantle of God. I do think he was unconsciously seduced by the power as he approached it, thinking of what he could/would do with it, but I don’t believe he intended it. I do agree that what he chose to do was wrong, particularly as he became monofocused on one single strategy and discounted all other opportunities (uniting other angels, employing the power of the Heaven weapons – although I had my own issues with those!) that might have worked to counter Raphael. But I really don’t think Castiel anticipated experiencing the arrogance that ingesting all those souls brought with them.
You’re right that I failed to point out Castiel’s deliberate decision to break Sam’s wall purely to distract Dean as the earlier crossing of a line; that was brutal, and not something Dean will find easy to forgive … although since Sam found his way home afterward, Dean might forgive where he otherwise never would have. Hurting Sam will always be the fastest way to gaining Dean’s enmity!
Your point about [i]Supernatural[/i] having a theme of NEVER trusting the supernatural is definitely a worthy one to contemplate. Thanks for that!
Another great review. Thank you for sharing. 🙂
The parts about the brotherly bond were the ones that impressed me most. Like you, my heart also melted when Sam chose to face his private hell rather than leaving his brother alone. I never doubted that everything to Sam is about Dean, like everything to Dean is about Sam. Even Sam’s descent into darkeness was about Dean. The explanation for his descent is complex and involve more than one reason but I believe that, deep down, he wanted to prove to Dean that he was not just some freak; he wanted to show that he could do something good out of his freakness. One scene that comes to my mind is when Sam hallucinates about Dean in WTLB; he was desperate when fake Dean told him that he was a monster and that he, Dean, didn’t care about him.
This is a love story unlike any others, and that’s why this show is so special to me. I’m looking forward to seeing how the brothers will deal with this new challenge – Sam’s condition – in Season 7. September can’t come soon enough!
Thanks, [b]AndreaW[/b]! I’m right with you in believing these brothers have always been about each other. And I can’t wait to see where season 7 takes both us and them!
What a great article! I appreciate your insight into these episodes. I love SPN so much that I don’t take time to analyze it, that’s why I keep coming back to the WFB every day to see what the writers have posted.
I agree with you about the season being much better than what a lot people have said about it. I’ve watched the season over from beginning to end a few times already, and I love the progression. I love deep and dark, but when I’ve had enough pathos, I start all the way back in season one. Yes I am a true fan! It nearly broke my heart when Sam said he couldn’t leave his brother alone out there, but then again, I expected nothing less of him. This is what keeps me coming back to the Winchesters over and over, the love that these two brothers have for each other. I know I would willingly die for one of my siblings if they were in mortal danger. You can’t choose your family, but when you have a good one, you better do the utmost to keep it.
Again, thank you for the great article, I’ll be looking forward to Hellatus now just to read what else you have to say!
Thanks, [b]Sylvie[/b]! I will try to have worthy things to say over the summer hellatus!
This show always has been and always will be about the brothers; and that’s what keeps me invested in it to the point of writing hours of analysis every week!
Aw rats! The site ate my post! 😕
So I’ll just reiterate how much I enjoy your thoughtful deep reviews and am looking forward to your season 6 review.
I loved season 6 more than 4 or 5 just because the brothers are back together like they should be, on the same page and loving as in seasons 1, 2 & 3. Although the horror was what brought me to check out this series it was the love between them that keeps me watching and I’ll be watching til the bitter end. (the talk about Butch and Sundance is making me a little nervous as I do so hope the series ends with some deserving rewards and a lot of hope for the boys and not a dramatic leap to the death together) 😥
Thanks, Bevie!
Isn’t it funny that, however far apart our reasons for watching the show in the first place, we almost all come back precisely because of the bond between the brothers? Unlike you, I watched the premiere [i]despite[/i] it being styled as a horror story; as a rule, I hate horror films, if only because the characters pretty much have to choose to do the dumbest possible things in order to keep the story from ending when reason would otherwise dictate it should. *grin* That wasn’t the case with Supernatural, and I was hooked on the brothers from the start.
And I’m with you in hoping the guys don’t go out in the end in a freeze-frame, black-screen blaze of glory. Give me one last iteration of “We’ve got work to do” as they toss weapons in the Impala’s trunk and drive off into the sunset … perhaps to appear on the big screen later!
[i]”Jared Padalecki did a wonderful job playing four different aspects of Sam: memory-wiped dream-narrative Sam, soulless Sam, Hell-Sam, and imperfectly reintegrated real-Sam. He succeeded in making them all distinctly different, and yet all Sam. They all walked, talked, and moved differently, and to accomplish that in the course of a single episode was an acting tour-de-force.” [/i]
I agree with this so much. In the season premiere, before we knew about Robo!Sam, Jared’s performance was so textured that we knew [i]something[/i] was amiss. He was Sam . . . .but Not!Sam.
To me Jared’s work has been wonderful all season. Robo!Sam, to me – mileage may vary – injected an unpredictability that was interesting and exciting. And what I loved about the reintegration is that now, Robo!Sam isn’t behind the wall anymore.
[i]”I wonder whether we might see partial echoes of the different Sams in the new season as he tries to balance all the memories and sort out who exactly will be in charge; whether there may be crisis moments when soulless Sam or Hell-Sam manage to take the lead, for example, or if real-Sam will always manage to keep hold of the reins. Real-Sam was in charge at the end, holding on by sheer grim determination, but I wonder how long he’ll be able to keep that up. I do trust he will endure and triumph in the end”[/i]
I so, so hope that this is what we see in S7. I’ll be greatly disappointed if Cas ‘fixes’ Sam quickly and easily.
Thank you for all your insights, Mary. I have really enjoyed S6 very much and I think theme-wise and in structure its a much stronger season than S5.
Thanks, Melanie!
I emphatically agree that Jared did a bang-up job this season. I’m betting Sam won’t be simply or easily “fixed” come season 7; there’s just so much story potential in his reintegration that I can’t see this writer’s stable ignoring that. I know I’m looking forward to seeing what happens next!
Bardic, amazing review.
I hadn’t thought of Soulless Sam being tentative about killing Narrative Sam. It makes sense. Who is to say that if he had successfully done it that he would have ended up in control? When he figured he had talked Narrative Sam down, complete with a taunt out of Lucifer’s book no less, I think then he felt confident enough, hence shooting the jacket thinking he had made a kill shot.
I think, in terms of the next season, Sam will have to deal with this on his own. I don’t see Cas as he is in this current state actually helping him in any meaningful and beneficial way. And if Cas should end up losing his new God-like powers, he probably won’t be able to do so, either. It’s beyond him to actually fix. I think he simply said he would because of his hubris and crazy power trip. At that stage, Cas believed he could do anything and what would fixing one man’s damaged psyche be to him?
I wonder if we’ll see Sam’s many sides warring with him—if sometimes Hell!Sam or Soulless Sam will find a way to drive the meat suit at times. I think it could be a fascinating avenue if they pursue it correctly.
The line that made me pump my fist, outside of Narrative Sam’s big line about not leaving Dean outside was actually Hell!Sam’s line that Narrative Sam wouldn’t be able to handle those memories. Hell!Sam is just as much Sam as the others that he fractured into, and as we all know, Sam is STUBBORN. Give him a challenge and tell him that he CAN’T do something and he’ll go out of his way to prove you wrong. I think Hell!Sam said it deliberately, knowing it and Dean would be the strength that Sam would need to endure what would happen next. Hell, even Lucifer found out the hard way just how stubborn Sam can be and lost. Sam is far too stubborn to simply go to a vegetable state.
Having restarted the season (I just saw the Third Man), I got the hints that we might actually get to deal with Dean’s trip downstairs—and now that Sam actually remembers, we’ll deal with his issues as well. We can certainly hope, since Dean has never truly talked about—and what struck me is how hard he tried to draw it out of Soulless Sam—albeit he didn’t realize at the time that Sam had no soul. Dean seemed actually open to discussing it. Let’s hope he’ll still be that way in the next season.
No matter what Cas’s powers are or will be in season 7, this is something both brothers must do THEMSELVES. I think and hope that’s what we’ll get.
Thank you, Far Away Eyes!
Like you, I don’t see Castiel “fixing” Sam in season 7; I doubt he’ll have the juice, and even if he does (though I really don’t see him continuing with the God-thing), as you point out, he wouldn’t have the incentive. I think this one’s going to be on Sam, with whatever help and support Dean and Bobby can give him. And doing that would necessarily involve Dean dealing with his own issues as well.
I can’t wait to watch!
And I loved your point about Hell-Sam deliberately inciting Real-Sam to the stubborn determination to succeed precisely to prove wrong the assertion that he couldn’t! Definitely a red flag to wave in front of the Sam-bull … *grin*
It’s always been both Sam’s biggest strength and weakness. He takes being stubborn to a whole new art form, really.
And yeah, is it September already?
I’ll settle for July, though. I get to go to my first convention and as it gets closer the more nervous I get.
“I so, so hope that this is what we see in S7. I’ll be greatly disappointed if Cas ‘fixes’ Sam quickly and easily.”
That would be terribly disappointing, no doubt. I love Sammy and I’m no sadist, but he made a choice and was told that there would be consequences. So seeing how he deals with those consequences promises great drama. And if both boys get to share their mutual experiences, it gets better.
I really, really hope they won’t have Castiel to fix things in a clumsy attempt to redeem him or show him as a benevolent god. Maybe he does it because he can, just to show his newly gained powers. That would suck. Sera, if you’re reading us, don’t even think about it!
Wonderful review, as usual! Your reviews are the only ones I read now, as I can rest assured that they will be clear-eyed, insightful, and unvitriolic. Like you, I enjoyed season 6 very much. I love challenging stories that twist and turn. I hope you plan to share more of your thoughts with us over the Hellatus. 🙂
Thanks, Kayo! I definitely plan to be writing things over the summer; I think I’ll be looking back over past seasons for character and thematic things. And I’ve been working on a meta about guilt, blame, and proximate cause … that will probably incite some comment when it goes up!
Hi Mary, and thanks for this interesting read.
The style of narration chosen in this episode had quite an impact on me, and to me (based on personal professional experiences with a patient suffering from dissociative identity disorder) the story of Sam here read like various personalities that emerged based on his traumatic hell experience.
No worries, I’m not going to repeat it here, since I’ve given it a lot of thought in my review and you’ve probably read that and thereby know what I mean.
What was fascinating to me, though, was the ‘battle’ for dominance within Sam’s head. Usually, with that specific disorder, there is one persona in charge who also knows about all the others (while the others often have no knowledge of one another).
Here the only persona having cognizance of the other ‘parts’ was Soulless Sam. He had been in charge quite a while, before the soul got ‘crammed back in’ and messed his dominance up.
So, I would like to congratulate you on your correct assessment in regard to this matter – it was not about actually ‘killing’ Soul Sam, but taking charge. Or, well, taking it back. This is an important distinction.
To me it would be wonderfully fascinating, if the writers were to pick that up. What if Sam truly emerged as a multiple personality, with several pieces… Sure, according to psychological research this is not possible in adulthood, but who says creative licence wouldn’t work?
It would give Jared great moments to play against himself. He is always utterly amazing in those scenes, and I’m sure he would welcome the challenge.
But, of course, that’s not for me to decide. However, I’m very curious, very, where season seven will lead us.
Be well, Jas
Thank you VERY much, Jas! I’m glad you’re validating the observations I’m hatching out of my very-long-ago psych classes!
I’m finally catching up on everyone else’s reviews; that’s the hardest part about mine taking so bloody long to write! I always appreciate your very professional take on the psychological underpinnings of the characters. I love the depth the Winchesters have; it’s extraordinary!
From a writing perspective, I would think the idea of playing with Sam’s fragmented psyche almost impossible to resist, so I’m with you in hoping we might see that as an aspect of season 7, and a new challenge for Jared to play.
Be seeing you here this summer!
You bet! 🙂
Hi Mary
I just checked the callender it´s first of June, so I belive we have to wait.
I liked season 6 and I hope for season 7 it doesn´t get toooo dark.
Oh, rats – you mean we really do [i]have[/i] to wait? Shucks!
Thanks, Junkerin!
I loved S6. In fact I’ve loved each new season better than the last. That can’t be said with many shows. But this is a journey, more like reading a good book.
S6 was uncomfortable – and that’s not a bad thing to me. I enjoyed that things weren’t right out there (I also enjoy the parts left to our imagination – I don’t want every little question answered.) S5 we knew exactly what they were up against from the jump, and the mystery was how would they get out of it. S6 was more “what’s going on?†and I really enjoyed the ride.
For S7 opener it’s “How are they going to get out of this situation?†As with any good story, there are things I don’t like, but that doesn’t make the story bad, it only adds to the story itself. Castiel is a great character, Misha is a great actor, but how do you move the story along when the angel friend keeps popping in to Save the Day? Actually I wondered how they would pull it off in S6, but I shouldn’t have worried.
This show excels at so many levels and this S6 finale really was beautifully done. Cast & Crew deserve the highest praise – as usual.
Thank you so much for your review, I do so enjoy reading the articles from this site. I’m always seeing things from a different view point and whether I agree or not, I am happy to find articles about the show and not about the… hmmmm…how do I say that?
Keep up the good work!
Thanks, miggymom58!
I’ve loved every season of this show for different reasons. Well, always for the brothers, of course, but to me, each season has had something particularly to recommend it. Season one was a spectacular start, and we got to see the brothers beginning to realize who their adult selves truly were after a period of separation. Season two made things spectacularly deeper as we saw the brothers dealing with John’s death and their own perceptions of their roles. Season three, although truncated by the writers’ strike, gave us Dean facing not just mortality but damnation, and Sam desperately determined to save him. Season four – the most tightly scripted of the seasons, I think, although season six shared a lot of that pre-planning – brought Dean back with new realizations about himself and ran Sam down the Hell-bound road of good intentions. Season five wrapped the first story arc in a way different from Kripke’s initial idea (Dean having to kill Sam) precisely because the brothers had developed beyond the simple good/evil story engine he had initially envisioned; thus, we saw Sam finally achieving redemption through sacrificing himself, while Dean matured to accept Sam as an adult empowered to make his own decisions. Season six took us down a new path without discounting or forgetting where we’d been, but did it in a whole new way, and in the process, reestablished the full depth of the brother bond.
I suspect we won’t see angels popping conveniently in and out in season seven; while I think Heaven and Hell will always be part of the overall story, I’m guessing they’ll shift to more off-screen developments that now only occasionally impact our brothers directly. If I were to guess, I’d think Castiel would lose his godlike powers and have to deal with fixing what had gone awry in Heaven, while Crowley concentrated on cementing his power base in Hell – and while both those things would intersect with the brothers’ activities on Earth, they wouldn’t be the focus of them as they were in seasons four through six.
But that’s just my guess … *grin*
“while Dean matured to accept Sam as an adult empowered to make his own decisions.”
I always had trouble with this Kripke’s claim. It’s “easy” to accept somebody when they are about to commit suicide to save the world. It’s a deathbed kind of thing.
In a way I thought that RoboSam was necessary for Dean, he had to experience a Sam who truly didn’t care about him and compare this Sam to the other Sam who did love him but due to Dean’s nearly impossible high expectations, fall short of “proof” in Dean’s eyes.
I love this interpretation. Dean, due to his understandable abandonment issues always viewed Sam’s need for independence and control over his own life as indicating that Sam didn’t love Dean. Soulless!Sam showed Dean a Sam that really didn’t love, like or even care about Dean. I hope this helps Dean to view his relationship with Sam in a more healthy light. I hope he can see that Sam wanting his own life had everything to do with Sam and nothing to do with how he felt about Dean.
Same here, percysowner! I always thought Dean needed something drastic to shake him out of his abandonment issues regarding Sam. And along comes RoboSam who doesn’t care one iota about Dean but returns to Dean nonetheless and sticks with him. Classic case of being given what you need and not what you want.
It’s been more than 2 weeks since the finale aired & I am still thinking about it daily. No other show does this to me!!
Jared was just amazing playing all the “pieces” of Sam plus the reintegrated Sam, & I really do hope that the writers give him the chance to explore that territory further next season (and in turn, let Jensen show his skill in revealing more of Dean’s story too).
My initial, knee jerk reaction to Castiel’s declaration of godhood was “Oh no, they didn’t just go there! Not my beloved Cas!” And Misha really sold that too, leaving me feeling very cold toward the angel that had broken my heart with his fervent prayer to his Father just 2 episodes earlier. However, your thoughts about the direction his character could take next season have left me hopeful for his redemption.
Jensen & Jim were awesome as usual! I am delighted that Crowley is still out there so that we’ll likely see Mark again. I’m going to miss Balthazar, but am excited that I’ll get to meet Sebastian in Vancouver come August.
I think I’ve enjoyed this season as much as any of the others, but we indeed need to see how this story arc concludes in season 7 before we can really judge this one overall.
Thanks for a fantastic review!
Dawn