Supernatural musing

[louiselux]

So, a few thoughts about giant woobie Dean Winchester the latest developments in Supernatural .

Dean spent forty years in hell! Thirty of them were spent being tortured, the others spent torturing other souls and enjoying it.

So it's quite a thing, what happened to him. How is he not insane? I don't get it. I have a suspicion that the scriptwriters don't know how to deal with all this angst, and I wonder if actually Dean's plight is of a too extreme nature for the characterisation and the show to bear. How are they going to have him moving on from that? What is he going to do? I don't know. Maybe do a Frodo? 'Sail' to the 'West'? Maybe he can be healed by the hot hot touch of an angel.

I think part of the problem structure wise is that there's an imbalance happening between the two angsts: Dean's and Sam's. If Sam's storylines were more developed and he was explored more as a character, then Dean's HUMOUNGOUS angst would have something to resonate against. As it is, he wins the Season Four Angst Open hands down and we're not even halfway through. It's worrying me.

Comments

[2metaldog.livejournal.com]

I think they dropped the ball a little on this opener. The amount of fuck-ups that they pulled just wasn't the kind of thing that we've seen from the Winchester boys up to this point. I think the writers are confused as to what they're supposed to be doing with Dean's angst and have pretty much forgotten about Sam's.

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

I agree - they do seem confused. I think part of the problem is the way it's presented - a little at a time, with Dean revealing the truth. It would be more effective if it was revealed through action and plot rather than Dean just telling us.

[musesfool.livejournal.com]

I am handwaving Dean's non-gibbering in insanity as Castiel healing his soul/mind as well as his body when he pulled him out of hell, enough so that the memories are there but muted enough not to making him completely incapable of functioning, since the angels need him to do a job.

But yeah, I am worried that they are making Dean way too broken to come back from this. I hope they are not going with the self-sacrifice for atonement route, and instead having to save Sam somehow will make Dean realize that he has to forgive himself.

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

I hope they are not going with the self-sacrifice for atonement route

Me too. They've done it too many times, frankly.

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

I only just thought of Castiel healing him as I was writing the post, but it's the thing that makes most sense.

Self sacrifice for atonement - yeah, I hope not too. It sounds like the easy scriptwriting option, doesn't it? I'd like Sam to help Dean forgive himself and accept what he has done.

[kanzenhanzai.livejournal.com]

Given that they keep writing these little revelations as' very end of the show, no one has to react to it really' moments, I'm voting the writers aren't sure how to deal. (however I'm also voting for hot hot touch of an angel, pleaseandthankyou)

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

This is part of the problem for me - the truth about what's going on in Dean's head is revealed by Dean telling us, rather than us being shown it through how he acts. It just numbs the whole thing into one mass of incomprehensible angst.

[enigel]

Oof, thank you for voicing this. I used to be from the "in Kripke we trust" school, but some developments in the otherwise excellent season 4 so far have made me doubt it. Leaving aside the whole "bottled grace" silliness, and the "angels falling like meteorites" can of dubious canon, I really felt like they dropped the ball the moment when Dean said he "enjoyed it."

Firstly, like I said somewhere else, Dean is no Methos. ;) Secondly, I just groaned because it fell flatter than a squished pancake. It feels like they're piling up angst for the sake of angst now, and so we can wring tears in choruses of "poor Dean!"

I hadn't thought of it in terms of competition, but it's a really fucked-up one if it is, and the writers are obviously biased. They were actually doing pretty well before the enjoyment part - Dean *was* obviously shaken, took to drinking and so on, while Castiel's healing could account for his being still generally functional.

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

I really felt like they dropped the ball the moment when Dean said he "enjoyed it."

I realize thanks to this discussion that I've been doing my own handwaving on this point; I think I've been reading that Dean 'enjoyed it' in the sense that 'being on the rack was so fucking miserable that doing pretty much anything else was enjoyable,' and that most of his phrasing and characterization of his behavior in hell was due to his overwhelming guilt.