The Great Supernatural Rewatch Project - The Benders
Sept 11, 2017 20:59:35 GMT -5
Mystique and onali like this
Post by luxshine on Sept 11, 2017 20:59:35 GMT -5
Full disclosure: What Route 666 is for the general fandom, The Benders is to me. I hate this episode with a passion. And yet… it surprised me to see that the one piece of canon I adore? Came from this.
General stuff
This is a comment that has to do more with timing than with the episode itself. As I write this recap, the premiere of season 11 aired. And in it, Sam had this… really weird speech about how the brothers needed to start saving people again. I have to say, given the original preview segment where we have Dean saying the iconic “Saving people, hunting things” line to Sam’s immediate answer (Through the power of editing) of “I gotta find dad, that’s all I can think about”… well, it is ironic. And something to ponder and remember for when we get to season 11.
Anyway, kid watching horror movie gets to see how a man is… dragged? Eaten? Kidnapped? Under his car. As the kid was watching a horror movie, it is obvious no one believes him, especially his mom, but well, good reason to see Sam and Dean in state police uniforms.
(As an aside? I miss those days when they would dress up as something other than FBI agents)
Dean bonds with the kid over Chuckzilla movies, and Sam is uncomfortable over that because he simply can’t seem to connect with people who don’t reflect him in any way, according to the writers. (As an aside, this episode was written by John Shiban, who seems to favor Dean as the selfless hero and Sam as the reluctant hero. He also wrote Skin, Hook Man, Scarecrow, Dead Man’s Blood, Everybody loves a Clown, Croatoan, Tall Tales, and Forlson Prison Blues. All of them episodes that end up with at least one really memorable Dean scene regarding his issues with parental authorities)
They finish the interrogation and we move to the other standard set of the season, the pool hall. There are notes of the county in John’s journal (of course), but neither Dean nor Sam seen convinced that it is one of their cases. Sam decides it’s time to sleep, and although Dean originally wants to stay for a final round, he accepts Sam’s decision and tells him he’ll meet him outside.
(as a second aside, this is yet another example of how Dean trusts and follows Sam’s judgment)
Sam leaves, and we get ominous dark music in an equally ominous dark parking lot. After a cat scare (and really, we need more cat scares in Supernatural. If only because I am still in denial and I think Dean is a cat person) and ominous shot of Sam’s foot.
Which means that when Dean leaves the bar, there’s no sign of Sam. Whatever got the other guy, seems to have gotten Sam.
And… here again we get another incredible moment of acting from Jensen because for the first time in the series, we see Dean REALLY panicked. This is not “monster got Sam and I have to save him panic”, this is straight forward “I don’t know where Sammy is!!!” panic. Which will come to haunt me when we reach Dark Side of the Moon and that week we know that Sam disappeared on Dean’s watch. This is all on Jensen, too, what makes Dean so deep as a character. The writers, we know, have no idea what parentification means and they didn’t decide that Dean was parentified until much, much later so this deep, parental panic? Had to come from Jensen who figured that Dean HAD been like a parent to Sam growing up and thus was scared out of his wits that his “child” wasn’t around.
(Compare his movements to ANY mother caught on security tapes on malls when they can’t find their kids. It’s really similar)
Next morning, Dean is at the Sheriff Department with a fake Id (different fake Id than before, and again, we keep seeing how Dean is completely off his usual game) trying to find his “cousin”. Putting aside that Dean is still listed as dead, and as a suspect in a murder investigation, Dean is completely out of it with worry to the point that he can’t pretend to be patient. Still, the Sheriff doesn’t budge, and while Dean waits, we get to see that Sam is in a cage with our other missing victim of the week.
While Sam is trying with all his strength to get out of said cage (I am sorry, Sam in a cage… in a few years won’t be funny for the guys), Dean realizes what happened to his brother. The problem is, for dramatic reasons we have to wait until Sam sees them come and feed him and the VoW and realize… that they’re not monsters, but humans.
(I know this is for drama sake, but it is a bit weird that we had to see Sam see him JUST as Dean got to that same conclusion without having seen them kidnap Sam.)
Dean and the Sheriff are looking for the kidnappers when Dean’s cover gets blown thanks to the fact that this Sheriff is the ONLY intelligent person in the whole USA who actually RAN the badge numbers that Dean gave her and so, she realizes that he is not who he claims he is. Sheriff threatens to arrest Dean, and we get what is probably the BEST description of Dean’s feelings towards Sam in the whole series (yes, all 11 seasons of it, and yes, it does explain the clusterfuck that was season 9’s premiere)
There you have it, clear as day. For Dean, Sam’s well being has ALWAYS been his job. And he doesn’t care if he’s going to get arrested afterwards, first, he needs to know Sam is safe.
Sam is STILL trying to free himself –which automatically voids the idea that Sam is just a damisel in distress; despite knowing that Dean will find him, Sam doesn’t just sit and wait for rescue. He is still a hero. But before he can free himself, the voW (his name is Jenkins), finds his cage open and tries to escape, despite Sam warning him not to.
Because of course, we are in a poor’s man version of the World Deadliest Game.
(Seriously, as interesting as the “humans can be worst than monsters” idea is… crazy killer hillbillies went old by the second Chainsaw Massacre Movie)
Dean and the sheriff, Kathleen, are still looking for Sam (editing makes it look as if it was a second day) and Dean figures out where the truck they’re looking for is. Points for really smart Dean, despite what the text wants to say about him.
Kathleen decides to go alone, and to make sure Dean is not going to follow… she handcuffs him to the car. Bad idea, Kathleen.
Of course, Kathleen gets distracted by the obligatory young daughter of the hillbillies, so now it’s all up to Dean.
Dean, who in a really tense scene where it seems as if he’s going to be caugth chained by the hillbillies manages to get the antenae off, use it as a lockpick and HIDE under the car just before the brothers get the car. I might have to start a “Dean is McGyver” counter, and if so, he’s 2 out of 2.
Kathleen wakes up in a cage, next to Sam, and she tells him that Dean is looking for her. Just as she admits to cuff him to the car, Dean comes in to find them both.
And here… here we have a very interesting scene that gives us again a lot of insight on how Dean views himself in regards to Sam.
We know that Dean knows that the kidnappers are people. He saw them when they got Kathleen’s car, he realized that even before Sam did when he saw the van. It is not news for him. And yet, we have this exchange with Sam.
First, we have the fact that Dean already assumes that, with time, he CAN get to the locks of the cages. Smart Dean. But the moment that Sam expresses that the kidnappers are people, Dean goes into a bit of a teasing mode. It is not an aggressive “put you down” tone (hence why this is not in emotional violence”) but a misdirection so that he doesn’t have to say “yes, I know, and I knew that before finding you”. He is LETTING Sam have that discovery. Letting Sam have his “I am smarter than Dean” moment.
Like a parent.
Oh, we also know that Kathleen’s brother disappeared 3 years ago and was a victim of our crazy family.
Dean goes to look for the key for the lock, and finds proof that the crazy family are hunting their kidnapping victims, and mutters another classic line of the show: “Demons I get. People are crazy”.
As he keeps looking, he ends up fighting the whole family, after being hurt by the girl who manages to nick him with a knife (Find it funny that one of the cannibal brothers is named Jared) , and he manages to hold his own more or less until the father hits him with a pan from the back.
Angry, the father of the crazy hunter/cannibals, presents Dean with a sadistic choice: They will either hunt Sam or Kathleen. Dean choses Sam, and again we have another important trait to remember: Dean will ALWAYS protect Sam, but he won’t put the immediate safety of INNOCENTS over Sam’s. Sam is a hunter, Dean knows that Sam can hold his own and have a chance against the crazies. He’s not sure about Kathleen. So he chooses Sam.
Unfortunately, crazy man is not really honorable, and he sends his sons to kill both Sam and Kathleen while Dean swears he’s going to kill them if they hurt Sam.
Fortunately, Sam is not as defenseless as the family thinks, and thanks to some fast thinking he manages to overpower the first Cannibal, forcing Pops and Jared to go after him and leaving “Missy”, the little girl, to look out for Dean, who is tied to a chair (This will be important later).
Sam and Kathleen together manage to overpower the hillbillies, thanks mostly to Jared’s bad aiming that hits his father instead of Sam. Sam leaves Kathleen alone with the father, to go and look for Dean, which of course means Kathleen will get his revenge for her brother. Especially as the idjit cannibal mocks her, which earns him a bullet to the brain.
They meet outside, and, since Dean and Sam are not going to go against Kathleen over shooting crazy Cannibal dad? Kathleen tells them to go away as fast as they can, just so they are not arrested and they can live to hunt a new case.
And we have one last conversation that, unfortunately, needs to be cut in two parts. The first part goes here, since it will be an echo of something that will happen way, way far down the line, in Season 8
There was this argument during season 8 about when exactly, the brothers made a non agreement to not go and look for the other if one ended up in, say, Hell. Or something. Bobby told them it was stupid, which was so right. But I couldn’t help but remember that as I saw this scene because I think it is the CLOSEST we’ve had to either Sam or Dean actually saying “I won’t look for you”. Except that it is a joke. Of course Dean will look for Sam, no matter what. And with Sam’s chuckle, we can assume that Sam would do the same (except this is subtext, and interpretation. We are not getting Sam SAYING he “wouldn’t look” for Dean, meaning that he would).
Ending the episode here? Would’ve been perfect. Unfortunately, the writers added two more lines… and those have to be discussed in Emotional Violence.
Violence
No violence between the brothers! At all! And I am so happy that we are keeping this trend.
Emotional Violence
Up until 56 SECONDS before the episode ended, I was completely sure that this was going to be an episode where there was NO emotional violence between the brothers. There was friendly banter, there was worry, there was the fact that the brothers didn’t spend most of the episode together… but hey, at this point? I take what I can get.
But… there was that final conversation.
Now, as I already established? Dean was far beyond worried. He was so worried that he didn’t use a real fake id, but a stolen one, and didn’t even take care of cover his tracks. So worried that he was going to get arrested (And then probably tried for murder), just to make sure that Sam was ok.
And what does Sam do? Makes fun of the (erroneous) fact that Dean got caught by a girl (never mind he had been fighting the whole family alone, unlike Sam, who had help).
It can be argued that the writers were trying to make a funny come back to the earlier scene when Dean tells Sam he was getting rusty, which I didn’t count as emotional violence from Dean. Thing is? The situations are completely different. When Dean tells that to Sam? Sam is not looking stressed. In fact, he had just gotten a big ego boost from Dean acting as if Sam was the one who figured out the case. And they’re talking about a grown man getting to Sam, which is understandable as they were not expecting normal humans attacking. Sam’s comment comes when Dean is visibly shaken since he was worried (worried enough that Sam noticed), BLEEDING, and not only that? It is an emasculating comment, as Sam makes a point of mentioning the little girl.
So once again, even as he was being saved? Sam has to undercut Dean’s efforts and make it seem as a joke. Because no one can get offended at a joke, right?
Secrets, Lies (and their consequences)
This episode has neither secrets, nor lies. But we can see that Dean is still suffering the consequences of helping Sam’s friends in Skin.
Speeches and Apologies
No speeches or apologies in this episode, as neither were needed.
Final Tally
This is another low episode. No one really likes the Benders. And yet… I hadn’t realized it is so pivotal, as a MotW filler episode, to what we know of Dean’s upbringing and his feelings for Sam. Also, it is really, really sad that the only reason why the counters moved so little was because the brothers weren’t together for most of it.
This will change next time, because it’s time to tackle Shadows…. And I am kind of wary of that one since it’s the first time we see the boys with John.
Numbers (or the TL;DR summary)
(Episode/Total so far)
Times Dean has lied to Sam or to a loved one: 0 / 0
Times Sam has lied to Dean or to a loved one: 0 / 3
Times Dean has been caught in a lie: 0 / 0
Times Sam has been caught in a lie: 0 / 1
Times Dean has hit Sam in anger: 0 / 1
Times Sam has hit Dean in anger: 0 / 3
Times Dean’s lies or secrets have caused someone’s death: 0 / 0
Times Sam’s lies or secrets have caused someone’s death: 0 / 1
Times Dean has abandoned (Or wanted to abandon) a hunt in the middle for his own needs: 0 / 0
Times Sam has abandoned (Or wanted to abandon) a hunt in the middle for his own needs: 0 / 6
Times Dean forced Sam to do something: 0 / 0
Times Sam forced Dean to do something: 0 / 6
Secrets kept by Dean: 0 / 1
Secrets kept by Sam: 0 / 1
Times Dean has blamed Sam for something: 0 / 0
Times Sam has blamed Dean for something: 0 / 2
Times Dean has apologized with words to Sam: 0 / 2
Times Sam has apologized with words to Dean: 0 / 1
Times Dean has respected Sam’s boundaries and/or rules: 0 / 6
Times Sam has respected Dean’s boundaries and/or rules: 0 / 0
Times Dean hasn’t respected Sam’s boundaries and/or rules: 0 / 0
Times Sam hasn’t respected Dean’s boundaries and / or rules: 0 / 10
Times Dean has made fun of something Sam does or has: 0 / 4
Times Sam has made fun of something Dean does or has: 1 / 21
Times we focus on Dean’s needs: 0 / 0
Times we focus on Sam’s needs: 0 / 4
Arc episodes dedicated to Sam: 0 / 5
Filler episodes dedicated to Sam: 0 / 5
Arc episodes dedicated to Dean: 0 / 0
Filler episodes dedicated to Dean: 0 / 3
Arc episodes dedicated to both brothers (or to none): 0 / 1
Filler episodes dedicated to both brothers (or to none) : 1 / 1
Dean’s Dropped Plotlines: 0 / 1
Sam’s Dropped Plotlines: 0 / 1
General stuff
This is a comment that has to do more with timing than with the episode itself. As I write this recap, the premiere of season 11 aired. And in it, Sam had this… really weird speech about how the brothers needed to start saving people again. I have to say, given the original preview segment where we have Dean saying the iconic “Saving people, hunting things” line to Sam’s immediate answer (Through the power of editing) of “I gotta find dad, that’s all I can think about”… well, it is ironic. And something to ponder and remember for when we get to season 11.
Anyway, kid watching horror movie gets to see how a man is… dragged? Eaten? Kidnapped? Under his car. As the kid was watching a horror movie, it is obvious no one believes him, especially his mom, but well, good reason to see Sam and Dean in state police uniforms.
(As an aside? I miss those days when they would dress up as something other than FBI agents)
Dean bonds with the kid over Chuckzilla movies, and Sam is uncomfortable over that because he simply can’t seem to connect with people who don’t reflect him in any way, according to the writers. (As an aside, this episode was written by John Shiban, who seems to favor Dean as the selfless hero and Sam as the reluctant hero. He also wrote Skin, Hook Man, Scarecrow, Dead Man’s Blood, Everybody loves a Clown, Croatoan, Tall Tales, and Forlson Prison Blues. All of them episodes that end up with at least one really memorable Dean scene regarding his issues with parental authorities)
They finish the interrogation and we move to the other standard set of the season, the pool hall. There are notes of the county in John’s journal (of course), but neither Dean nor Sam seen convinced that it is one of their cases. Sam decides it’s time to sleep, and although Dean originally wants to stay for a final round, he accepts Sam’s decision and tells him he’ll meet him outside.
(as a second aside, this is yet another example of how Dean trusts and follows Sam’s judgment)
Sam leaves, and we get ominous dark music in an equally ominous dark parking lot. After a cat scare (and really, we need more cat scares in Supernatural. If only because I am still in denial and I think Dean is a cat person) and ominous shot of Sam’s foot.
Which means that when Dean leaves the bar, there’s no sign of Sam. Whatever got the other guy, seems to have gotten Sam.
And… here again we get another incredible moment of acting from Jensen because for the first time in the series, we see Dean REALLY panicked. This is not “monster got Sam and I have to save him panic”, this is straight forward “I don’t know where Sammy is!!!” panic. Which will come to haunt me when we reach Dark Side of the Moon and that week we know that Sam disappeared on Dean’s watch. This is all on Jensen, too, what makes Dean so deep as a character. The writers, we know, have no idea what parentification means and they didn’t decide that Dean was parentified until much, much later so this deep, parental panic? Had to come from Jensen who figured that Dean HAD been like a parent to Sam growing up and thus was scared out of his wits that his “child” wasn’t around.
(Compare his movements to ANY mother caught on security tapes on malls when they can’t find their kids. It’s really similar)
Next morning, Dean is at the Sheriff Department with a fake Id (different fake Id than before, and again, we keep seeing how Dean is completely off his usual game) trying to find his “cousin”. Putting aside that Dean is still listed as dead, and as a suspect in a murder investigation, Dean is completely out of it with worry to the point that he can’t pretend to be patient. Still, the Sheriff doesn’t budge, and while Dean waits, we get to see that Sam is in a cage with our other missing victim of the week.
While Sam is trying with all his strength to get out of said cage (I am sorry, Sam in a cage… in a few years won’t be funny for the guys), Dean realizes what happened to his brother. The problem is, for dramatic reasons we have to wait until Sam sees them come and feed him and the VoW and realize… that they’re not monsters, but humans.
(I know this is for drama sake, but it is a bit weird that we had to see Sam see him JUST as Dean got to that same conclusion without having seen them kidnap Sam.)
Dean and the Sheriff are looking for the kidnappers when Dean’s cover gets blown thanks to the fact that this Sheriff is the ONLY intelligent person in the whole USA who actually RAN the badge numbers that Dean gave her and so, she realizes that he is not who he claims he is. Sheriff threatens to arrest Dean, and we get what is probably the BEST description of Dean’s feelings towards Sam in the whole series (yes, all 11 seasons of it, and yes, it does explain the clusterfuck that was season 9’s premiere)
DEAN: Look, here’s the thing. When we were young, I pretty much pulled him from a fire. And ever since then, I’ve felt responsible for him. Like it’s my job to keep him safe. I’m just afraid if we don’t find him fast—please. (His voice breaks.) He’s my family.
There you have it, clear as day. For Dean, Sam’s well being has ALWAYS been his job. And he doesn’t care if he’s going to get arrested afterwards, first, he needs to know Sam is safe.
Sam is STILL trying to free himself –which automatically voids the idea that Sam is just a damisel in distress; despite knowing that Dean will find him, Sam doesn’t just sit and wait for rescue. He is still a hero. But before he can free himself, the voW (his name is Jenkins), finds his cage open and tries to escape, despite Sam warning him not to.
Because of course, we are in a poor’s man version of the World Deadliest Game.
(Seriously, as interesting as the “humans can be worst than monsters” idea is… crazy killer hillbillies went old by the second Chainsaw Massacre Movie)
Dean and the sheriff, Kathleen, are still looking for Sam (editing makes it look as if it was a second day) and Dean figures out where the truck they’re looking for is. Points for really smart Dean, despite what the text wants to say about him.
Kathleen decides to go alone, and to make sure Dean is not going to follow… she handcuffs him to the car. Bad idea, Kathleen.
Of course, Kathleen gets distracted by the obligatory young daughter of the hillbillies, so now it’s all up to Dean.
Dean, who in a really tense scene where it seems as if he’s going to be caugth chained by the hillbillies manages to get the antenae off, use it as a lockpick and HIDE under the car just before the brothers get the car. I might have to start a “Dean is McGyver” counter, and if so, he’s 2 out of 2.
Kathleen wakes up in a cage, next to Sam, and she tells him that Dean is looking for her. Just as she admits to cuff him to the car, Dean comes in to find them both.
And here… here we have a very interesting scene that gives us again a lot of insight on how Dean views himself in regards to Sam.
We know that Dean knows that the kidnappers are people. He saw them when they got Kathleen’s car, he realized that even before Sam did when he saw the van. It is not news for him. And yet, we have this exchange with Sam.
DEAN: Oh, I know a trick or two. (She stares at him, confused.) Alright. (He moves to the door of the cage and sees the locks.) Oh, these locks look like they’re gonna be a bitch.
SAM: Well, there’s some kind of automatic control right there. (He points to the control panel.)
DEAN: Have you seen ‘em?
SAM: Yeah. Dude, they’re just people.
DEAN: And they jumped you? Must be gettin’ a little rusty there, kiddo. (He walks over to the control panel and starts trying different buttons.) What do they want?
SAM: Well, there’s some kind of automatic control right there. (He points to the control panel.)
DEAN: Have you seen ‘em?
SAM: Yeah. Dude, they’re just people.
DEAN: And they jumped you? Must be gettin’ a little rusty there, kiddo. (He walks over to the control panel and starts trying different buttons.) What do they want?
First, we have the fact that Dean already assumes that, with time, he CAN get to the locks of the cages. Smart Dean. But the moment that Sam expresses that the kidnappers are people, Dean goes into a bit of a teasing mode. It is not an aggressive “put you down” tone (hence why this is not in emotional violence”) but a misdirection so that he doesn’t have to say “yes, I know, and I knew that before finding you”. He is LETTING Sam have that discovery. Letting Sam have his “I am smarter than Dean” moment.
Like a parent.
Oh, we also know that Kathleen’s brother disappeared 3 years ago and was a victim of our crazy family.
Dean goes to look for the key for the lock, and finds proof that the crazy family are hunting their kidnapping victims, and mutters another classic line of the show: “Demons I get. People are crazy”.
As he keeps looking, he ends up fighting the whole family, after being hurt by the girl who manages to nick him with a knife (Find it funny that one of the cannibal brothers is named Jared) , and he manages to hold his own more or less until the father hits him with a pan from the back.
Angry, the father of the crazy hunter/cannibals, presents Dean with a sadistic choice: They will either hunt Sam or Kathleen. Dean choses Sam, and again we have another important trait to remember: Dean will ALWAYS protect Sam, but he won’t put the immediate safety of INNOCENTS over Sam’s. Sam is a hunter, Dean knows that Sam can hold his own and have a chance against the crazies. He’s not sure about Kathleen. So he chooses Sam.
Unfortunately, crazy man is not really honorable, and he sends his sons to kill both Sam and Kathleen while Dean swears he’s going to kill them if they hurt Sam.
Fortunately, Sam is not as defenseless as the family thinks, and thanks to some fast thinking he manages to overpower the first Cannibal, forcing Pops and Jared to go after him and leaving “Missy”, the little girl, to look out for Dean, who is tied to a chair (This will be important later).
Sam and Kathleen together manage to overpower the hillbillies, thanks mostly to Jared’s bad aiming that hits his father instead of Sam. Sam leaves Kathleen alone with the father, to go and look for Dean, which of course means Kathleen will get his revenge for her brother. Especially as the idjit cannibal mocks her, which earns him a bullet to the brain.
They meet outside, and, since Dean and Sam are not going to go against Kathleen over shooting crazy Cannibal dad? Kathleen tells them to go away as fast as they can, just so they are not arrested and they can live to hunt a new case.
And we have one last conversation that, unfortunately, needs to be cut in two parts. The first part goes here, since it will be an echo of something that will happen way, way far down the line, in Season 8
DEAN: Never do that again.
SAM: Do what?
DEAN: Go missin’ like that. (SAM laughs.)
SAM: You were worried about me.
DEAN: All I’m sayin’ is, you vanish like that again, I’m not lookin’ for ya.
SAM: Sure, you won’t.
DEAN: I’m not. (SAM chuckles.)
SAM: Do what?
DEAN: Go missin’ like that. (SAM laughs.)
SAM: You were worried about me.
DEAN: All I’m sayin’ is, you vanish like that again, I’m not lookin’ for ya.
SAM: Sure, you won’t.
DEAN: I’m not. (SAM chuckles.)
There was this argument during season 8 about when exactly, the brothers made a non agreement to not go and look for the other if one ended up in, say, Hell. Or something. Bobby told them it was stupid, which was so right. But I couldn’t help but remember that as I saw this scene because I think it is the CLOSEST we’ve had to either Sam or Dean actually saying “I won’t look for you”. Except that it is a joke. Of course Dean will look for Sam, no matter what. And with Sam’s chuckle, we can assume that Sam would do the same (except this is subtext, and interpretation. We are not getting Sam SAYING he “wouldn’t look” for Dean, meaning that he would).
Ending the episode here? Would’ve been perfect. Unfortunately, the writers added two more lines… and those have to be discussed in Emotional Violence.
Violence
No violence between the brothers! At all! And I am so happy that we are keeping this trend.
Emotional Violence
Up until 56 SECONDS before the episode ended, I was completely sure that this was going to be an episode where there was NO emotional violence between the brothers. There was friendly banter, there was worry, there was the fact that the brothers didn’t spend most of the episode together… but hey, at this point? I take what I can get.
But… there was that final conversation.
DEAN: Never do that again.
SAM: Do what?
DEAN: Go missin’ like that. (SAM laughs.)
SAM: You were worried about me.
DEAN: All I’m sayin’ is, you vanish like that again, I’m not lookin’ for ya.
SAM: Sure, you won’t.
DEAN: I’m not. (SAM chuckles.)
SAM: So, you got sidelined by a thirteen-year-old girl, huh?
DEAN: Oh, shut up.
SAM: Just sayin’, gettin’ rusty there, kiddo.
DEAN: (chuckling) Shut up. (SAM laughs. They continue walking as the screen fades to black.)
SAM: Do what?
DEAN: Go missin’ like that. (SAM laughs.)
SAM: You were worried about me.
DEAN: All I’m sayin’ is, you vanish like that again, I’m not lookin’ for ya.
SAM: Sure, you won’t.
DEAN: I’m not. (SAM chuckles.)
SAM: So, you got sidelined by a thirteen-year-old girl, huh?
DEAN: Oh, shut up.
SAM: Just sayin’, gettin’ rusty there, kiddo.
DEAN: (chuckling) Shut up. (SAM laughs. They continue walking as the screen fades to black.)
Now, as I already established? Dean was far beyond worried. He was so worried that he didn’t use a real fake id, but a stolen one, and didn’t even take care of cover his tracks. So worried that he was going to get arrested (And then probably tried for murder), just to make sure that Sam was ok.
And what does Sam do? Makes fun of the (erroneous) fact that Dean got caught by a girl (never mind he had been fighting the whole family alone, unlike Sam, who had help).
It can be argued that the writers were trying to make a funny come back to the earlier scene when Dean tells Sam he was getting rusty, which I didn’t count as emotional violence from Dean. Thing is? The situations are completely different. When Dean tells that to Sam? Sam is not looking stressed. In fact, he had just gotten a big ego boost from Dean acting as if Sam was the one who figured out the case. And they’re talking about a grown man getting to Sam, which is understandable as they were not expecting normal humans attacking. Sam’s comment comes when Dean is visibly shaken since he was worried (worried enough that Sam noticed), BLEEDING, and not only that? It is an emasculating comment, as Sam makes a point of mentioning the little girl.
So once again, even as he was being saved? Sam has to undercut Dean’s efforts and make it seem as a joke. Because no one can get offended at a joke, right?
Secrets, Lies (and their consequences)
This episode has neither secrets, nor lies. But we can see that Dean is still suffering the consequences of helping Sam’s friends in Skin.
Speeches and Apologies
No speeches or apologies in this episode, as neither were needed.
Final Tally
This is another low episode. No one really likes the Benders. And yet… I hadn’t realized it is so pivotal, as a MotW filler episode, to what we know of Dean’s upbringing and his feelings for Sam. Also, it is really, really sad that the only reason why the counters moved so little was because the brothers weren’t together for most of it.
This will change next time, because it’s time to tackle Shadows…. And I am kind of wary of that one since it’s the first time we see the boys with John.
Numbers (or the TL;DR summary)
(Episode/Total so far)
Times Dean has lied to Sam or to a loved one: 0 / 0
Times Sam has lied to Dean or to a loved one: 0 / 3
Times Dean has been caught in a lie: 0 / 0
Times Sam has been caught in a lie: 0 / 1
Times Dean has hit Sam in anger: 0 / 1
Times Sam has hit Dean in anger: 0 / 3
Times Dean’s lies or secrets have caused someone’s death: 0 / 0
Times Sam’s lies or secrets have caused someone’s death: 0 / 1
Times Dean has abandoned (Or wanted to abandon) a hunt in the middle for his own needs: 0 / 0
Times Sam has abandoned (Or wanted to abandon) a hunt in the middle for his own needs: 0 / 6
Times Dean forced Sam to do something: 0 / 0
Times Sam forced Dean to do something: 0 / 6
Secrets kept by Dean: 0 / 1
Secrets kept by Sam: 0 / 1
Times Dean has blamed Sam for something: 0 / 0
Times Sam has blamed Dean for something: 0 / 2
Times Dean has apologized with words to Sam: 0 / 2
Times Sam has apologized with words to Dean: 0 / 1
Times Dean has respected Sam’s boundaries and/or rules: 0 / 6
Times Sam has respected Dean’s boundaries and/or rules: 0 / 0
Times Dean hasn’t respected Sam’s boundaries and/or rules: 0 / 0
Times Sam hasn’t respected Dean’s boundaries and / or rules: 0 / 10
Times Dean has made fun of something Sam does or has: 0 / 4
Times Sam has made fun of something Dean does or has: 1 / 21
Times we focus on Dean’s needs: 0 / 0
Times we focus on Sam’s needs: 0 / 4
Arc episodes dedicated to Sam: 0 / 5
Filler episodes dedicated to Sam: 0 / 5
Arc episodes dedicated to Dean: 0 / 0
Filler episodes dedicated to Dean: 0 / 3
Arc episodes dedicated to both brothers (or to none): 0 / 1
Filler episodes dedicated to both brothers (or to none) : 1 / 1
Dean’s Dropped Plotlines: 0 / 1
Sam’s Dropped Plotlines: 0 / 1