A Chasing After Wind

Just wanted to point out a quote that I still love: "My point, which is usually yours, is that she should get somewhere safe and get back to a normal life."

Feel free to take, just comment and credit.

( Icons! )

Bear in mind that I have only watched SPN through the end of S10, so what I am speculating may have been entirely retconned.

The possibility of John as an alcoholic is first raised by Sam in the pilot. When Dean tells Sam their father is missing, Sam retorts, "So he's working overtime on a Miller Time shift. He'll stumble back in sooner or later."

( A little more tequila and a little less demon hunting )

1. In Provenance we learn some historical facts (or "facts"?): When a child died sometimes their favorite toy would be preserved in a glass case, and sometimes a doll's hair would be made from the hair of the child the doll belonged to. I'm assuming this is not true, and was simply invented for storytelling purposes? Or did SPN give us an actual history lesson there?

2. I must be getting tougher. When I first watched Supernatural, Bloody Mary and Provenance scared the hell out of me. Now they aren't so bad.

3. In Dead Man's Blood, Dean, for the first time, joins Sam in standing up to John (and is startled when John says he's right). The brothers' time hunting together seems to have changed him. And I realized: this is probably the first time Dean and Sam did any extensive hunting together, just the two of them. John left them alone a lot growing up, but they weren't hunting. In the pilot, Sam is surprised that John "let" twenty-six-year-old Dean hunt alone. So I think their hunts together in season one really are a first for the two of them.

4. In Devil's Trap, Dean figures out John is possessed because "John" wasn't mad at him for "wasting" a bullet to save Sam. Yet John himself did that same thing in Dead Man's Blood, used a bullet to save Sam. I'm not sure what to make of all that.

5. John was shot in the leg in Devil's Trap. I seem to recall him walking in In My Time of Dying. How did he manage that?

1. In Home, Missouri has gotten a lot of criticism from Dean fans for being unkind to him and putting him down. I can definitely see where they are coming from - the line about Dean not being the "sharpest tool in the shed" was particularly uncalled for. Re-watching I'm wondering: why does she treat him that way? I have this idea that maybe he reminds her of someone she used to know.

I'm also thinking of her conversation with Sam near the end, when Sam wonders why his mother would have sacrificed and Missouri says, "Well, to protect her boys, of course." As far was we know, Missouri has no children, but this line makes me wonder what experiences, if any, she might have with the parent-child bond. Right now I'm going with the idea that she is infertile - that she wanted to be a mother, but was unable to conceive.

2. In Asylum, as in Wendigo, Sam and Dean let a civilian or civilians stay with them on the hunt because the civilian is concerned about a loved one (as Dean says in Wendigo: "Her brother's missing, Sam. She's not gonna just sit this out."). It's a contrast to Dean in particular's disapproving attitude towards Jo in No Exit. There are two significant differences here: Jo is out to be a hunter, not just concerned about a loved one in one hunt. Also, Jo has a mother who is vehemently opposed to her going on any hunt. Nonetheless, it's an interesting difference in attitude - especially since Jo is obviously more qualified than the civilians in Wendigo and Asylum.

I suspect it has to do with where Dean is in season one - thinking that questioning John makes one a bad son - versus questioning everything about John after his death in early season two.

3. Scarecrow is a big turning point episode for both brothers: Sam chooses his connection to Dean over his vengeance quest, while Dean sincerely gives his blessing for Sam to leave, admitting admiration. A far cry from Dead in the Water, when he pulled rank as the good son to convince Sam to go on a hunt.

I don't think it's a coincidence that this occurs right after Sam's possessed verbal and physical assault on Dean in Asylum. It's clear that Dean was not 100% convinced by Sam's claim he did not mean it. It just seems odd to me - that hearing Sam say such cruel things seems to have led to Dean being more open about his admiration for Sam's rebelliousness.

1. The name of this episode is an odd one, seeing as there is no ghost.

2. I totally forgot about how demons flinch at the name of God ("Christo"). I don't think that was ever mentioned or used again after this episode.

3. Twice in this episode, the brothers explain to each other something they already know, just of the benefit of the viewers. Dean tells Sam what an EMF meter is, while Sam tells Dean what the name of God in Latin is.

Some fans were hard on Sam for making fun of Dean's homemade EMF meter, but I think part of why Sam reacts that way is because of Dean acting like Sam doesn't know what EMF reader is. Poor Sam and Dean don't know about the audience and our need for information.

I wanted to write a bit of a defense of Sam/Amelia. A lot of fans like the ship, but a lot of fans make arguments against it that I strongly disagree with.

Amelia is far and away my favorite civilian Winchester love interest (bear in mind I have only seen through the end of S10). Jessica was a non-entity. Cassie and Lisa were much cooler in theory than in practice. But Amelia was an actual person, difficult and real.

When Amelia and Sam got together, they had both suffered a recent lost. Amelia's famous quote, "let us be messes together" is often seen as a summary of their relationship. For many people, this means their relationship is unhealthy, and not real. Essentially, the fact that both Sam and Amelia are messed up means they CAN'T have a relationship.

I disagree. People who in an unhealthy stage of their life can enter relationships, and the relationships are still real and genuine. Denying messed-up people relationships just isolates them. Sam and Amelia had a real connection that hardly solved all their problems, but was good for them in many ways.

Another common complaint is the fact that Sam didn't tell her about the supernatural, or his romantic history that involves a lot of deaths of his past partners.

I have mixed feelings about this one. On the one hand, I detest it when people use it as an example of Sam being dishonest. Keeping secrets is not the same as being dishonest. In Torn and Frayed, it is clear that Amelia knows he is keeping secrets, and they are both upfront about it. He is not lying to her. People are allowed to have secrets

That said, Sam knows something Amelia doesn't: His secrets put in her in danger. I'm not just talking about his past love life, but also the fates of Katie and Adam, and what happened to Lisa and Ben. I do think Sam owed Amelia that information.

As anyone who is following this livejournal knows, I've been rewatching Supernatural season 9. I finished Bloodlines.

I've heard Bloodlines was supposed to be a pilot for a spin-off that never materialized. Presumably it was the poor response to the episode that led to the spin-off not happening. I can't say I'm surprise.

( Problems with the episode )

I'm rewatching 9.06, Heaven Can't Wait, and this moment stuck out at me:

Dean finds Castiel working at a gas station store, and says to him: "This is not you, man. You are above this."

Um, Dean shops heavily at gas station stores. Who does he think works at them and keeps them up and running - inferior people?

It particularly startles be because I was very involved in SPN fandom in S9-S10, and I don't remember anyone pointing out this particular moment. As a Sam fan, I sometimes got tired of Dean fans who perceived Sam as classist and Dean not. This moment definitely shows that Dean can be classist with the best of them.

Corollary to this:

Note that for her first hunt, Jo does not run off alone. Instead, she teams up with two experienced hunters who she trusts. That certainly looks to me like the best way to get from amateur to profession.