I have come to realise through interactions on social media that Sam is quite the polarising character. I think that's mostly because people view +Jared Padalecki as this cuddly giant bear/baby known as Moose; and then there's Sam. And people tend to character bleed them into each other.
Sam is a bit of a sociopathic, amoral, borderline psychopathic blood addict. An honest description of him depicts a rather self centred, asshole who plays fast and loose with everyone who loves him especially his brother. It's a testament to brilliant writing and acting that even if all these things are true, we (the fans) still like Sam. The problem comes in when someone tries to deny that Sam is all these things by creating excuses for his behaviour. Like...he only got addicted to demon blood because yada yada yada.
I'll tell you why Sam got addicted to demon blood. It was because his moral compass was not around. See, on his own, Sam is a hot mess. But when he has Dean, he has a lightning rod on which to neutralise all his crazy and make him into the best version of himself. And the best version of himself is an extremely brave compassionate individual ready to go to the most extreme extremes for the people (person) he loves. He would really absolutely do anything for his brother. Anything.
But when he and his brother are separated and he is left to make his own choices; he tends to choose wrong. like100 % of the time.That's the level of their codependency.
When Dean is separated from Sam though, even though it is made to seem like he's the gung ho hunter and Sam is the reluctant one...well; Dean stops hunting when he Sam is dead/in hell. The first time Sam died, Dean was like fuck you Bobby, I'm out. The second time Sam died, Dean shacked up with Lisa. It's a weird thing considering the impression was that Sam was only hunting for Dean's sake. While I think Dean hunts so that he can keep Sam with him. Primarily.
Just watching Season 8 again, and thinking about the fact that Sam knows that Dean would never let him go. Would never let him die.
First of all, let me address something I read on tumblr about Sam 'justifying' his not looking for Dean because he lost his mind when Dean disappeared. I mean, of course he did. He had completely done this thing where he leans on Dean ever since he got his soul back. Like completely, holding nothing back. And then suddenly Dean's gone. Just. Like. That.
It wasn't hunter heroici which justified Sam. It was him offering to be the 'blood sacrifice' to close the gates of hell. It was him biting that bullet because he let Dean down and he knew it. It was him refusing to not die because he didn't want Dean to say, "You let me down again."
But here's the kicker.
Sam knows Dean.
He knows Dean would never just let him die. Just let him go. He knows that. That's why he asked him in Red Meat what he did when he thought Sam was dead. So knowing that; and having Dean tell him, if you do this you'll die. And him saying, "So?"
Well...
He knew that even if he went through with it, Dean would walk into hell if he had to to get him back. He would do whatever it took, to keep his brother. He knew this.
So what was that?
Mind games?
Sam being Sam?
Whatever it was; Sam knew it wasn't the end. And he got Dean to admit that he was the most important person in Dean's life.
win/win.
People complain that all these things make Sam look bad or whatever. But that's why we watch. We watch because this codependent, twisted up thing the brothers have fascinates all of us. That is the crux of the show. That's why we're all here. Because even with how super crazy they both are, they still manage to have this unconditional love for each other that just keeps surviving all of this...everything. If they were both vanilla little one dimensional politically correct black and white salvatorish brothers, we'd have stopped watching long ago.
So why not just enjoy it while it lasts and stop getting ulcers?
Sam is a bit of a sociopathic, amoral, borderline psychopathic blood addict. An honest description of him depicts a rather self centred, asshole who plays fast and loose with everyone who loves him especially his brother. It's a testament to brilliant writing and acting that even if all these things are true, we (the fans) still like Sam. The problem comes in when someone tries to deny that Sam is all these things by creating excuses for his behaviour. Like...he only got addicted to demon blood because yada yada yada.
I'll tell you why Sam got addicted to demon blood. It was because his moral compass was not around. See, on his own, Sam is a hot mess. But when he has Dean, he has a lightning rod on which to neutralise all his crazy and make him into the best version of himself. And the best version of himself is an extremely brave compassionate individual ready to go to the most extreme extremes for the people (person) he loves. He would really absolutely do anything for his brother. Anything.
But when he and his brother are separated and he is left to make his own choices; he tends to choose wrong. like100 % of the time.That's the level of their codependency.
When Dean is separated from Sam though, even though it is made to seem like he's the gung ho hunter and Sam is the reluctant one...well; Dean stops hunting when he Sam is dead/in hell. The first time Sam died, Dean was like fuck you Bobby, I'm out. The second time Sam died, Dean shacked up with Lisa. It's a weird thing considering the impression was that Sam was only hunting for Dean's sake. While I think Dean hunts so that he can keep Sam with him. Primarily.
Just watching Season 8 again, and thinking about the fact that Sam knows that Dean would never let him go. Would never let him die.
First of all, let me address something I read on tumblr about Sam 'justifying' his not looking for Dean because he lost his mind when Dean disappeared. I mean, of course he did. He had completely done this thing where he leans on Dean ever since he got his soul back. Like completely, holding nothing back. And then suddenly Dean's gone. Just. Like. That.
It wasn't hunter heroici which justified Sam. It was him offering to be the 'blood sacrifice' to close the gates of hell. It was him biting that bullet because he let Dean down and he knew it. It was him refusing to not die because he didn't want Dean to say, "You let me down again."
But here's the kicker.
Sam knows Dean.
He knows Dean would never just let him die. Just let him go. He knows that. That's why he asked him in Red Meat what he did when he thought Sam was dead. So knowing that; and having Dean tell him, if you do this you'll die. And him saying, "So?"
Well...
He knew that even if he went through with it, Dean would walk into hell if he had to to get him back. He would do whatever it took, to keep his brother. He knew this.
So what was that?
Mind games?
Sam being Sam?
Whatever it was; Sam knew it wasn't the end. And he got Dean to admit that he was the most important person in Dean's life.
win/win.
People complain that all these things make Sam look bad or whatever. But that's why we watch. We watch because this codependent, twisted up thing the brothers have fascinates all of us. That is the crux of the show. That's why we're all here. Because even with how super crazy they both are, they still manage to have this unconditional love for each other that just keeps surviving all of this...everything. If they were both vanilla little one dimensional politically correct black and white salvatorish brothers, we'd have stopped watching long ago.
So why not just enjoy it while it lasts and stop getting ulcers?
No comments:
Post a Comment