What’s Love Got To Do With It?
What’s love got to do with it?
Bonjour, ladies and gentlemen, it’s that most wonderfully magical time of the year when the ladies once again lament the loathsome state of their gentlemen because said gentlemen aren’t genteel or generally thoughtful enough, thus leading to relationship gangrene. Or so the multimedia Hallmark commodification process would have us believe.
Yet, as we all know, even for those of us that are the inferior creative offspring of Catullus and Ronsard and Swinburne, there’s much more to this masterfully maddening abstraction than cheap confections, droopy, overpriced flowers, a trip to the orchestra, a candlelight dinner and subsequent shenaningans ‘neath the sheets between consenting adults (not that there’s anything wrong with those last three, right, dearest wife?), not to mention the oxytocin and vasopressin world of cold, impersonal science. And if you’ve watched Supernatural over its 4+ seasons, you know the engine that drives the brothers on their quest to save as many people as they possibly can isn’t fortune and glory (“Straitjacket. Or a punch in face. Sometimes both.”) worthy of Indiana Jones, but, in the broadest of terms, love. Think I’m crazy? That’s beside the point. Read on nevertheless, mes amis.
Nuclear family, nuked
Cloak of autumn shroud
I gaze, dim ricochet of stars
I reckon it is time for me to leave
You sleep in the light
Yet the night and the silent water
Still so dark — Opeth, Night and the Silent Water
The Pilot, aside from setting the aesthetic and thematic tone of the series, strikes this lingering chord, this leitmotif, in the initial scene. Only the fact that his wife’s body was nine feet high and engulfed in flames prevented John from rescuing her; I’d wager it’s far more difficult than it looks. But he did manage to get their children to safety. Love is quite the formidable bulwark against fear; it was what kept four-year-old Dean’s head level as he carried baby Sam away from their own private inferno and has kept them rolling across America ever since.
When most of us think of Sam and Dean, we think of them as heroes, and a whole host of common tropes are immediately conjured up: bravery, resolve, righteousness, honor, brashness, toughness, tolerance for pain, inappropriately-timed wisecracks and so on and so forth. But what pushes someone to be a hero in the first place, what drives him or her to such heights beyond the call of duty and other such cliches?
SAM: How do you do it? How does dad do it?
DEAN: Well for one, them. I mean I figure our family’s so screwed to hell; maybe we can help some others. Makes things a little more bearable. I’ll tell you what else helps. Killing as many sons of bitches as I possibly can.
Killing evil sons of bitches may be grist for the sanity mill helping to stave off a permanent vacation in the nuthouse, but Dean speaks volumes in this statement. There are two levels at work, one giving birth to the other. As articulated more than once, Dean longs for them to be a family once again. Recall his revelatory speech in Shadow (and Sam’s disheartening (to Dean) reaction) or John’s in Salvation. Even if the white picketed image has been through the filtering ringer, it remains the gold standard the heart strives for. Don’t lie and say you didn’t detect a lingering bit of the Norman Rockwell in Dean’s expression at the end of Swap Meat. And what of the ever-widening gyre of this visceral desire, projected through their job onto others? Witness Dean’s protectiveness towards Lucas in Dead In the Water; the transference of decade-plus guilt into the energy needed to save the young brothers in Something Wicked; in Sam’s near-suicidal determination to save another family from Azazel’s machinations in Salvation, the earnest rescue of Ben and the other children in The Kids Are Alright.
Sacrificing yourself for your offspring is perhaps the ultimate expression of love, of family: I will give of myself so that you may live, and this is precisely what Mary did way back when, what John did to save Dean from the great beyond and we see this legacy in the brothers’ willingness to sacrifice for each other. If I may paraphrase from another series and apply this phrase to not just the romantic variety, but all forms, love isn’t brains, people, it’s blood. Despite the dour, rain-soaked hue of the show and the task at hand, this humanity burns rich enough to be visible to the naked heart.
SPOCK: Don’t grieve, Admiral. It is logical. The needs of the many outweigh…
KIRK: …the needs of the few…
SPOCK: …or the one.
We’ll conveniently ignore the warping of this tragically beautiful sentiment by the Peyton Place-esque denizens of Burkittsville. Freakin’ nutjobs. Anyway, the safeguarding of the pedestal on which family is placed certainly isn’t exclusive to the Winchesters: Grandma Rose working hoodoo to protect her daughter, grandchild and home; Dr. Garrison watching over his comatose daughter; even Meg understands loyalty and love in her own twisted, demonic way. And what of the Winchesters’ extended family? Ellen trying her hardest to direct Jo away from the dangerous hunting life; the countless times Bobby has come to the aid of Sam and Dean, and vice versa; the brothers fulfilling a debt to Deacon. Dean may have spoken of it as a knight would have upon honoring his obligations, but it was all about love of the family. Without Deacon, that family would never have existed.
These actions aren’t done solely out of duty, though that’s certainly paid lip service in the ubiquitous term “job” that even I’m guilty of using. Love relationships are often the pinnacle of convoluted confusion, and usually (here, at any rate) painful; see the revisiting of such a deep-seated misery (Home), the brothers’ willingness to let their father go after such a long search for the safety of everyone involved (Shadow), the desire to be with one’s parents again (Long-Distance Call). Even knowing that his success would result in the death of all those they were to save, Dean was adamant about taking advantage of the opportunity to rescue his parents way back in 1973. Or how about both coming to their rescue five years later (with a timely assist from the king of the dicks), or Sam refusing to fire the kill shot into his possessed father decades beyond. Yes, it is called being a good son.
I’d like to teach the world to sing
“You know what’s real? People, families. That’s what’s real.”
— Dean, to Castiel and, frankly, everyone and everything in heaven, earth and hell
JO: It’s worth it, isn’t it?
SAM: Yeah. Yeah, it is.
Sacrifice, like family, doesn’t end with blood, and despite the inherent risk, hunters fight for the protection of human civilization. At any moment, one of these combatants could shuffle off this mortal coil because of the tangible danger of the cases they’re presented. Don’t believe me? Just tune in Thursdays at 9. Sorry, Europeans, I don’t mean to cast aspersions at your fine continent; watch whenever you can.
Despite all of my caterwauling about selfless love, this visceral sentiment does contain a whiff of self-interest, does it not? When someone we cherish dies, do we weep for them, or ourselves? When we fail to protect a loved one, do we cry at their injury or our failure? As with everything in this complex system called life, it’s a little bit of both and we see the strain this can cause with profundity in What Is And What Should Never Be, Dean weighing the bittersweet successes against the alluring failure of this second chance; personal happiness against the lives of hundreds, if not thousands. I believe that we can ignore the fact that he figured out the jinn’s game, for, given what we know about the goodness of his heart, even if this fresh reality was, for all intents and purposes, the result of a real wish, Dean would still choose the happiness (and life) of the world’s over his own. And it hurts to watch that unfold, but that’s a hero for you.
“I get it. But you know what? If you’d have waved that magic, time-travel wand of yours, and we had to do it all over again, I’d make the same call. See I don’t know what’s gonna happen when these seals are broken, hell I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. But what I do know is that this, here, these kids, the swings, the trees – is still here because of my brother and me.”
Love makes the world go around
Given that the writers have pored through the Book of Revelation and a mountain of non-canonical apocrypha in mapping out the storyline, I’m pretty sure they must have run across Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, chapter 13:
If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
Looked at through the Supernatural lens, a decidedly humanocentric model of the universe, the true heroes are not the angels or those mortals who refuse the fight, but men and women like Sam and Dean and Ellen and Samuel and the countless deceased. The empty cans rattle the most. Yeah, I’m looking at you Zach, Lucifer. Moving on to verse eight,
Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end.
Hmm, anyone know of anything coming to an end? And what of the final two verses of this chapter?
For now we see in a mirror, dimly, – but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.
For so long, John didn’t know everything that was going on despite his otherworldly successes, nor did his sons after his passing, nor do they now. But what carries them further into the fight, the outcome unknowable? The one percent of hope that can never be vanquished no matter how desperate the situation may be, forever kept afloat by love. We see Dean’s consuming impulse for some form of domesticity slowly wither throughout the seasons, especially after the death of his father, his impending damnation and his subsequent resurrection into an apocalypse at the door, but it never completely flickers out, and its diffused light bleeds into his abiding, macrocosmic love for his fellow humans. In The End, he was adamant that he would forever say no to become Michael’s vessel, regardless of the Zachariah’s veracity or lack thereof. Or how about convincing a wheelchair-bound Bobby that he’s still a warrior (The Curious Case of Dean Winchester), that he remains someone with a purpose, Bobby returning the favor by providing the necessary emotional foundation as their world was beginning to crumble (Abandon All Hope). Over and over, the one percent solution manifests, that fighting spirit, that unbounded love for what’s tangible, what’s worth fighting for.
And what of Sam? The parallel runs long, for did not his refusal to celebrate Christmas, to “go back home,” whatever form that refuge took, not mirror Dean’s own refusal to go back Home? In the face of all apparently good sense, and one devious angel-in-disguise, his absolute rejection of giving up on his brother. Yes, it is like talking to a brick wall. Let us not forget also the dalliance with a twisted form of immortality and the summoning of Ruby in order to capture her knife despite the explicit wishes of his brother. Whether couched in pragmatism or draped in strangling emotion, love lies at the root of their collective actions.
Love hurts
I’ll hold your hand while they drag the river
I’ll cuddle you in the undertow
I’ll keep my hand on your trigger finger
I’ll take you down where the train tracks go — Jill Tracy, Evil Night Together
Romantic love? In this show? Fine, fine, we’ll tackle that most classical of permutations, what yokels like myself still write bad verse about. Granted, it isn’t explored here as much as it is in other genre shows for obvious reasons (Wincesters, be quiet) but it’s not without examples. Number one, let’s use each of the brothers’ Get Out of Flub Free card (Hook Man for Sam, Route 666 for Dean) and number two, remember that this is a road show. Opportunities for lasting relationships are going to be extremely few and quite far between; are Tamara and Isaac the only hunting couple in a successful, intimate relationship that we’ve seen? I suppose we could mention Luther and Kate, but they’re, you know, evil bloodsuckers.
I’m surprised you didn’t mention future Dean of “The End” as an example of your lovely quotes Alice. After all, that Dean perfectly illustrated how without love, everything crumbles or in Dean’s case, he looses his humanity. At least, that was what i took from that episode. And by the way, great article. It made me squee to see an article acknowledging that Supernatural is all about love;(fraternal and familial of course.) Something I’ve always known from day one. 😉
Deep, profound, poetic, but you’re going to have to write really, really small to get it all on the card …
Wow Randal…this was wonderful. You actually had my bottom lip quivering on the last line. :cry::
I’m with Suze on this one “Deep, profound, poetic….â€
And Suze! “You crack me so consistanly up.†😀
Randal – my God, what a spectacular piece! You have never managed to convince me of being a cynic, sorry, and I’ve read some stuff you’ve written so far… A man who observes with this poetic clarity the cruelty and beauty of love is anything else but.
I’m with you in every sentence, and I’m deeply moved (as I am, apart from being quite cynical sometimes (ha!), a sometimes too compassionate soul). After reading this, it became very obvious to me, again, that you describe what drew me to the show from the first moment on.
It could have been the gory horror, the handsome faces, the classic car – and it was, but what touched me most from episode one was the bond between the brothers, already palpable in those many nuances that expanded over the course of now five seasons. The love, if you will.
And that is universal, as you wonderfully pointed out. Those are the stories that have captured me for as long as I can remember, as their themes are universal – Aramis, Athos, Porthos, D’Artagnan. Patroclos and Achilles. Frodo and Sam. Robin Hood and Little John. Hamlet and Horatio (thanks by the way for putting a line of my all-time favourite Hamlet in your text, along with those other fine quotes). Sam and Dean. It’s always about love. About fellowship. Family. The kind of family that doesn’t end with blood and that ‘second’ family is easily capable of taking the place of the ‘first’ blood-ties when that first one isn’t there anymore. Believe me, I know. (I wouldn’t mind the occasional romantic tangle, though, I know,I know, it’s a road trip…)
Being there for each other and doing everything humanly possible – that is damn worth fighting for. It is, indeed, what makes us human. That is something I have always admired about people, the determination to go on, no matter how torn and wounded your soul is. Not everyone manages that, but those who do leave me in awe – as do our dear brothers here. Perhaps, as far as the ability to bear pain goes, they, indeed, are to some extend super-human, because I can’t imagine how a person not endowed with demon blood or divine sword power could do and survive what they have (I have an article in the works concerning that specific point, coming soon). Of if they can, it takes a lot more inner strength than most people possess. Well, that’s what makes them heroes.
We are most vulnerable when we love. Olde buddy Sigmund F. already made that clear, as did most poets you and I and many others love (yes, dear, I’m still on Team Tennyson and Team Shakespeare. And Team Coleridge. And Team Poe. And – I’ll shut up now).
Would anyone of us consider sacrificing his soul, as Dean did and Sam was prepared to do, to save a loved one? To bring him back? I don’t know if I could, but I have been at points in my life when I would have done anything to have just one minute more with the one I lost. I understood Dean here perfectly well. And I have always felt very close to Sam and his idea of being cursed (movingly depicted in Provenance). You see, people I love keep dying. Sometimes I feel fear nagging in my cortex that something might happen to my friends,a result of that. Men I loved died. There were moments when I was massively afraid to even consider falling in love again. However irrational that might have been, the thought alone, and the experience was deeply painful, and there are moments I fear I haven’t completely recovered, but hey, what the heck, the show of life goes on and you do what needs to be done. (Good heavens, the anonymity of the web makes it easier to say that than I expected.)
From that point of view I’ve had a deep understanding of the brothers’ actions and motivations, and I’ve admired the writers’ capability to make their psychological journey logical and organic, as I mentioned before. This isn’t the best show on tv – my humble opinion – for no reason.
I need to read your article again, a few times, to find all the undertones that are there and perhaps react to them later. You have given us an insightful piece here, and personally you reminded me of the kind of strength I’m forever grateful to own, because else I would not have known, sometimes, how to go on. Being able to love, even if it’s painful, is a gift to be cherished. So – on a very personal note: thank you.
Little question – could you recommend a good English translation of the Edda? No doubt you’ve read it, and all those (I guess 66) stanzas of the Völuspá. I have a German version of it and felt tempted to quote from it before, but a bad translation, mine, just won’t do. Any edition you find in particular good?
;-)Jas
awwwwwwwwwwh, sometimes I talk too much… so sorry… 😮
Randal, man, this was beautiful. And to get an article about love, from a guy, is quite unique.
I agree whole heartedly on everything you say here.
And the bond between the brothers is something special and unspoken yet so clearly there, underneath all the unfairness that has befallen on them. That’s the thing that has kept them going, that’s the thing that will save them and in the end (I hope atleast) will give them peace and rest.
The End had a message. Without love, what’s the point?
Ps. Bonus points for quoting one of my fave bands, Katatonia. Omerta is a beautiful song. Come by, you have come far… *love*
Randal – that was………..awesomely beautiful!
You brought the tears to my eyes.
All of that is why I love this show Supernatural above all others I have ever seen.
Thank you.
Randal, great article. Love is what makes the world go round and you layed it out perfectly, not only in the realm of our fave show, Supernatural, but also in life itself. Thanks (tears are streaming down my face)
As said so brilliantly and commented from others, love is at the core of this show and that is what makes this show THE best show on TV, along with everything else this show entails.
And Jas, I think of my own experience when you touch on losing a loved one to death. My heart truly goes out to you and others who feel that way. I lost a man I loved, not to death, but he chose another woman. That hurt me deeply and I cut myself off from love. Shut down. And only recently have begun to open myself back up and become vulnerable again. I totally get that fear of opening yourself up again to love and be loved – it’s hard, but so worth it. I have never been happier than making that decision to be vulnerable again. Life does go on, and so must we. And to repeat what I said at the beginning – LOVE makes the world go round, and indeed it does. 🙂
Randal…awesome!!! What a beautiful piece to write. And, of course, you are right on!! Nothing moves people more than love. So nicely put!
Evelyn, thank you for your sweet words. I guess there is no greater pain than losing someone – to death, or to another woman. It is not exactly a rare specimen of experience, I think sometimes…
Don’t worry about me, though I appreciate your kindness. Perhaps I was not clear. I haven’t shut myself off. There were moments I wanted to (and I probably did for a short while), but that’s not who I am. Being vulnerable is also strength. I do believe that. And as life is helplessly imperfect it needs to be lived to the full. I need to believe that. To try to restrain what’s in the core of our being – the desire to be loved and to love, why else would we love such a show that finds that in its centre, as Randal so beautifully described – would only dilute the experience of living, like water does to good wine.
We need to protect ourselves at times, but I think only new experiences will protect us from the greatest danger of all – becoming bitter. I’ve met elder people who were bitter and disillusioned, with good reason as I found out, but I hope and pray that I will always find a way to find that smile in my heart. However cheesy and trivial that might sound.
Thanks again, Jas
Randal– Good God, dude … just … wow. 😯
Thanks, all! Don’t forget to buy a t-shirt! Buy two, and get a free Action Figure Cas accessory!
anene, believe me, there were about 750 more quotes I could have added, but then this would have been a novella finished sometime after Labor Day.
suze, you don’t think Valentine’s Day cards on microfilm will ever catch on? Have faith that the plan is just.
clarice, as long as no one is crying at my run-on sentences!
karen, I sure hope the poetry contest judge has the same response; I’ll be a shoe-in!
“Ah, it’s-a no good without the loop.”
jas, oh, I’m a cynic, trust me. I just happen to simultaneously be a sap. It’s frustrating. 😀
Don’t shut about those poets, those are some of my favorite! What I love about this show is that these sentiments and never portrayed with any cheese; it’s genuine. I was just watched the Benders the other day, and when Dean finds Sam (I won’t mention the cage for I don’t want to be deafened by a chorus of squee from you ladies), there’s a deep sense of relief that’s almost palpable.
Thanks for your comment, and for your strength to comment on this and on the pain that, sadly, is often intertwined with it (yes, thank the internets gods for anonymity!) and as for an English translation of the Edda, the two that I have that are good (according the experts; I can’t read Old Norse!) are Carolyne Larrington and Anthony Faulkes. Both should be pretty easy to nab at Amazon for a decent cost, too.
Dany, crap, now I have to restore our hard-won rep. Football, beer, boobies.
One thing that I hope I made clear is that even if Sam or Dean or Bobby or anyone doesn’t *like* a particular person, they’ll still fight for them because of love for the greater whole. Look at Hollywood Babylon. That writer was a yokel, Dean knew it, but they saved him anyway.
Supernarttu, remember, we’re still Neanderthals. 😎
As alluring as the surface trappings are (monsters, blood, violence, a cool mythology, a cool car, eye candy though far less for us dudes, c’mon Kripke), the show can’t be about anything BUT that.
You mean there’s actually another Katatonia fan out there? WOO! I see your bonus points and raise you!
bevie, thanks, I’m glad I seemed to have touched a chord with everyone. Good to see there are no heartless robotic monsters (like Cheney) among us.
evelyn, thanks, for at the end of the day, that’s what we’re all looking for, something that profound. Unless, you know, you’re a nihilist.
sablegreen, thanks, I’m just glad love doesn’t include naked Cupids running around hugging everyone, ’cause that would be awkward.
jas, I agree about the vulnerability is strength. In this day and age, there are expectations, roles and what not, and people are so often afraid to completely let someone in. Fear of rejection, this, that, the other thing.
I think the show plays on that well; everyone has their defense mechanism, but when you are vulnerable, naked, those shields are gone, and you hope the other party understands because they have the power to knock you on your ass.
Hey, absinthe is bitter and that’s good. 😎
ElenaM, merci!
Randal, some of my friends and hubby dig the band A LOT but it’s not really a “hit” here… Dunno what’s the state of their gloryness across the ocean but I hope they have made success there. A truly amazing band. I wish they’d tour here so I could go and see. We have the new album and it’s quite good. Well, no Viva Emptiness or Last Fair Deal Gone Down but it’s still respectable.
Another great one that is a little less known (here anyway) is Anathema. Another incredible band with lots of great songs with beutiful lyrics. That one we got to see live and it was fabulous. Me and hubby were all misty when Last goodbye came on. That was the song that we danced to through the last hours of our wedding night. It’s a really sad song but so so beautiful.
O, crap. Didn’t mean to turn this lovely article discussion into a band review, sorry folks.
Still loving youuuuu, I mean this aartiicleee.
Come on, I know you love the Scorps 🙂
I’m a little late to the party here, but really cool article, Randal. I don’t really have anything to add that hasn’t already been mentioned, but thanks for writing it!
This is an amazing article. I enjoyed reading it (even though I don’t claim to understand all of it !) 🙂