‘This is a national best seller! How’s that possible?!’ I just love this scene. The décor of Kristen’s room, the references to Twilight and Vampire Diaries, candelabra in the form of skulls, …a screaming computer when you type in the wrong password. Fantastic! And – Sam and Dean, you are so exposed! Dean knows Lautner, and Sam even knows what character he’s playing. Come on, admit it – you have watched the films, also. For research reasons only, of course. Sam, The Black Rose is not that strange… you obviously stayed in The Night Owl Hotel yourself, eh?

Actually, the vampires of this town are not exactly the brainy ones, are they? Their Alpha doesn’t protect them as he should. Robbing a blood bank delivery? Leaving the driver dead in the street? Come on. If I was a vampire, I’d own a blood bank (and an undertaker’s for practical reasons) to keep a low profile. 

Following Samuel’s advice our Winchesters find themselves in the bar, looking for the potential vampires responsible. Dean, though, is hit by a melancholy thought of memory ‘When was the last time we had a beer together, anyway?’ but Sam doesn’t pay attention to what he says. His eyes and mind are fixed on his mission – finding vampires. And since the vampires here are looking for pretty faces to attract horny teenage girls Sam and Dean are just the right choices – one brooding and at present somewhat menacing, the other forlornly beautiful. Perfect vamp material. 

One (the real one) of them leads Sam down to a storage room. Alas, Sam is too well trained. He decapitates the attacker in a heartbeat, not even flinching. Dean follows a wannabe to an alley – to a wonderfully funny and sweet scene: ‘You wearing glitter?’ – ‘I’m only doing it to get laid, man!’ – ‘Does it work?’ – boy nods – ‘I’ll be damned.’ Hilarious! And sad – is that boy so lonely and desperate that he has to play this role to get a chance to meet a girl? Has no girl ever loved him the way he is, with his own teeth, no make-up and no dog collar, just his plain self? 

No wonder, the vampire stories of today have so many followers. People today, especially teenagers, are very much lost in a world that demands a lot of them. There are new commandments today that rule Western societies: Be happy!, Use your time to an optimum!, Think positive!, Be successful!, Manage your body!, Be the best!, Market yourself!, Never wilt!, Stay young! 

Being yourself is not exactly an option if you are young and believing all kinds of magazines and books wanting to teach you how to be ‘perfect’. Diving into a fantasy world of the glorious undead, all the blemishes you might have, disappear. You become a stunning, desirable, flawless beauty or a strong, handsome, impeccable guy. It’s the classic avoidance schema. You don’t have to face your ‘faults’ (if you like to call them that), but imagine to be someone, something else. However, it’s a fragile position. The moment that ivory tower of evasion crumbles, you are left with your ‘pitiable, lacking’ self. And the character you modelled your ideal on doesn’t hold a strategy how to overcome the inevitable despair and fear. It’s not the most recommendable role model.  

‘You’re pretty’ – ‘Sorry, again, pal. I don’t play for your team.’ 

Dean, my dear, you don’t know it yet, but in a moment you will play for his team. The elder Winchester is caught off guard, still a bit rusty, and getting beaten up by the curly vamp. Ah – all is well: Sam is already rushing to his brother’s rescue… Is he? 

There is so much happening in his face within a few seconds – worry, decisiveness, fascination, scheming… and pretending to save Dean. It’s the same interest Sam displayed when Castiel tortured that boy in an earlier episode. And that smug, self-righteous smile. Sammy, I love you. But at this point you deserve a damn good thrashing.

I can’t believe my eyes. I just can’t. What is happening to my favourite character here? The creators of Supernatural do their very best to twist that knife in my flesh. This Sam makes it hard to love him. And I bet Jared is having the time of his life portraying the character, playing against type which he does wonderfully.

I still believe that Sam is suffering from an extreme form of PTSD with a coping strategy you might call emotional detachment. When a person experiences terrible horrors over a long period of time, their personality can change, as I have written about in earlier articles. So – what happened to Sam in hell? In Lucifer’s cage? 

Plus: we have been told that to ingest the amount of blood Sam needed to keep Lucifer contained would change him forever. I am inclined to believe that the significant changes in Sam’s nature and demeanour stem from those gallons of blood he had to consume. All that demon blood must have left some imprint of sorts, perhaps some boost of power or increase of strength? He appears, after all, much like an Alpha hunter himself right now.

I know, from my professional point of view, that a character change so significant is possible after a horrific ordeal. The psyche takes over, in order to protect the soul from noticing the damage there.  I assume that many of you probably are not familiar with the phenomenon of posttraumatic stress disorder. Slowly, there is a rising awareness of it among people not working in the mental health field, but still many probably can’t imagine that such a shift of character might be possible.