The Great Supernatural Rewatch Project - Shadow
Sept 18, 2017 19:41:55 GMT -5
Mystique and onali like this
Post by luxshine on Sept 18, 2017 19:41:55 GMT -5
Sixteen episodes! Finally. Ok, this is going a lot slower than I expected, but then again… it is a lot more involved than I originally thought. And it is also giving me a lot of new information for future fics and meta… which is great If I manage to finish it before Supernatural ends, that is.
So let’s do Shadow.
General stuff
I have commented before on the Then segments, and how they are edited weirdly to make a scene look in a completely different context. But this time this one really hit home for me as it takes scenes from Scarecrow… and makes it look as if Dean abandoned Sam, Sam hooked up with Meg and that’s a fanfic I read once. It really makes Dean look uncaring, when the actual episode was the other way around, Sam abandoning Dean mid-hunt.
So after doomed girl of the week, the brothers go to investigate as security technicians. And here’s a funny scene that opens the relationship with the brothers and how what some see as mocking, others might see as normal brother banter. I will discuss this at length under emotional violence, but it is important to see, again, that Sam pretty much doesn’t care for Dean’s way of earning money. It is starting to be recurring in the season.
In fact, pretty much all the way up to the apartment goes into the Emotional Violence subtitle as Sam managed to get 3 marks there.
Still, while they’re in the apartment, Sam takes the lead, asks all the questions, gives all the suggestions, being very much the hero, and yet the one who puts the “random” splatter together to find the demonic vigil is Dean.
Basically, this episode stars with “Dean can’t do anything right in Sam’s book” and we’re going to stay here for a long while, especially as the writers seemed to remember that they hadn’t shown us Dean being a horndog, so now we’re going to get that in spades, first as we know about the “perky” Amy, and later when Dean is seen “Flirting” with the waitress at the bar.
(There is a very good Dean is bi meta about the scene around tumblr, but I lost the link. I will not repeat it here as it is not quite the point of my review, but it does mention that Dean’s body language with the female bartender we see is not specifically flirting, and that there’s the implication that Dean talked with a lot more people than just her. And of course, proves my point that people were seeing Bisexual!Dean long before any ships were in the table)
Sam mocks Dean about the bartender, again, and pretty much ignores what his brother is saying when he gets distracted by Meg.
And here we get again a scene where Sam pretty much doesn’t want to introduce Dean to his friends. Three strikes in this account, as it started with Jess (who hadn’t even seen pictures of Dean), continued with the girl from Skin and now with Meg.
See the small hesitation? That is Sam not wanting to acknowledge Dean’s presence.
And immediately, Meg acts like the original Sam Stan, by tearing Dean apart with things that, according to her, were things that Sam said.
(I say “according to her” since while we know Sam thinks that about Dean, she might be exaggerating due to her being a demon and the demonic team wanting Sam apart from his family. It is not a lie, as Sam doesn’t defend himself. And we will go by Meg’s dialogue later on)
Sam, however, doesn’t fall for this coincidence, and immediately grows suspicious as he can’t believe how they meet with her like that. Still, Dean seems more interested in SAM’s reaction to Meg, and immediately starts insinuating that Sam should hook up with Meg, especially as they already spend a night together.
This is another thing that will come up again with Dean. For someone who “carries his brother around like luggage”, he takes every chance where his brother seems to click with a girl to tell Sam that it’s ok to stop hunting, that it’s ok to find love again. In fact, it’s a trait that directly contradicts the idea that Dean can’t live with Sam, as it is obvious that he can as he keeps trying to give Sam a normal life.
Sam goes to follow Meg, while Dean sets to research the symbol –important thing to note, SAM decides that Dean is going to research and Dean agrees, no fight. And here we get a really, really strange scene where Dean is researching, both Meg in the computer, and the sigil. It is strange because while we get that the information Dean got was thanks to a phonecall to Caleb, the page on his notebook looks more like the notes John takes, in a new journal (Dean’s journal? We’ve never known if Dean has a journal) rather than something that he got dictated over the phone. Sam’s reaction is quite telling too, but we’ll go about that later.
Sam hangs up, angrily, when Dean insists that he’s attracted to Meg and then he proceeds to do exactly what Dean accused him of being doing by watching Meg getting dressed. It is also a very unnecessary scene, since all we needed to see was Meg leaving the building and Sam following her, rather than seeing her in her underwear. It all works to show Sam as someone who is protesting too much about his attraction to Meg, which makes no sense as in two episodes we never saw him really interested in her.
Meg is obviously evil, and Sam spies her as she reports to a “Sir” who is coming to Chicago. Ah, Chicago. In 9 seasons we’ll see how this episode ruins all the chances for a bad spinoff. But I digress. Important thing about Meg, for the future, she doesn’t mindlessly obeys “Sir”. She has her own opinions that are often dismissed.
Sam doesn’t destroy the altar, and instead goes directly to talk to Dean, who also has something important to tell him.
Sam tells Dean his news first, which is basically what we already saw. Then Dean tells him that his friend Amy (yes, the one whom Sam dismissed as just one of Dean’s hook ups) gave him all the information on the two victims: Both were born in Lawerence, Kansas. Because everything goes back to Lawrence, Kansas.
Dean wants to capture Meg and interrogate her, but Sam decides that they’re going to stake out the warehouse and wait for whomever is going to meet with her. Dean finally agrees, but he doesn’t think they should go after Meg alone, so he calls John, leaving a message that they finally have a lead on the thing that killed Mary (and Jess)
Sam brings everything from the Impala trunk to get ready for whatever is meeting Meg, and we have a nice moment between the brothers. Sam is starting to hope that everything is going to end soon.
And here we have the first chunk in Dean’s armor. And one that contradicts a LOT of what we have seen up until now, specifically with Dean telling Sam he can stay with different girls and not hunt.
This is Kirkpe’s Dean, no doubt about it. The Dean who has been abandoned by everyone in his family, and who only wants to get that family back (and keep saving innocents) and who tries to keep at least ONE member of his family at his side. I mentioned it contradicts other non-Kirpke penned episodes, but that is because at this point? Kirkpe had already said that he didn’t care about continuity and he was just interested in pushing his vision no matter what growth the characters had had over 16 episodes. And yet? Thanks to Jensen’s deliverance we see again the same vulnerability that we saw in Skin –when we found out that Dean doesn’t really want anything for himself, at least not if it will cost him his family-, and in Home –when we see that… well, no one in the family cares about Dean’s feelings- as well as in Faith –when we find out that for Dean, the first part of the mission, “saving people”, is what makes him be a hunter, not the vague notion of revenge.
Sam gets a jab in there too. For Sam, Dean is not “a person” (something that will be echoed in season 7). Hunters are not “real”. His real life is school, and ignoring everything that goes bump in the night. And he is not going to sacrifice that for anything. Not even for his brother, because despite the fact that SAM has led the hunt so far… DEAN is the one who has to “let” Sam go his own way.
(and really, it is jarring how text and image say two different things. I wonder how Kim Manners felt about the whole thing)
They go again to the Warehouse where Meg is talking latin to her jar, and they position themselves behind her. Of course, she knows they’re there, so she taunts them to come out of hiding.
Of course, Meg reveals that the whole thing was a trap, and the Daeva attacks both brothers. It is a shadow monster, so shotguns aren’t good against them. They end up unconscious and, after the commercial break, they’re tied up.
Finally, Sam clues in that it was all a trap (so much for the smart brother), and Meg gets her first chance to gloat over the Winchesters that she was trying to trap John.
In a bit of really cool accidental foreshadowing, Meg focus on Dean, rather than in Sam, until Sam tells her to go to hell, which is when Meg goes to Sam, and now SHE teases him about how he is attracted to her. The brothers are taking some advantage of her changing her focus from Sam to Dean and backwards, so Sam manages to free himself, and destroy the altar, which makes the Devaes throw Meg out of the window.
(I have to say, I felt really uncomfortable watching the scene of Meg seducing Sam. Because Sam was obviously not into it, and it sets a precedent of Meg using her meatsuit sexuality to get what she wants)
Finally, the brothers return to the hotel to find John waiting for them. John hugs Dean, while Sam is watching, and I have to say, great acting from Jared as he really looks conflicted about seeing John.
John explains that he is close to the demon, but he doesn’t accept Sam’s help since the demon is “a scary Sonovabitch”.
John doesn’t apologize for the fight he had with Sam, but they end up hugging, so we can count that as a non-apology accepted by both parties and move on.
Unfortunately, that’s when the Devaes attack, as Meg was not dead after her fall from a third floor and she still had one of the sigils.
Sam has a great inspiration as he uses a flare to save himself, John and Dean, so they pick everything up blindly and leave the room. It is not clear if they actually destroyed the demons or just managed to blind them but they do manage to get out.
And here we get the punchline for Dean’s earlier breakdown. Dean knows that Meg was telling the truth, and John is weaker when he is protecting his sons, so he tells John to go. Sam, however, doesn’t see it that way not because he wants to be with his father (we know that saying goodbye must be killing Dean), but because he wants to be part of the fight. However, as John repeats the same words Sam had told Dean before “you gotta let me go”, he finally accepts that they can’t follow the demon together, yet.
Bloodied and beaten, the brothers watch their father drive away, and then they do the same not noticing Meg watching in the shadows.
Violence
No violence between the Winchesters at all, which is weird since we know that Sam and John always fight… except this first time, it seems.
Emotional Violence
Ok, when we open up, we see two things: Despite Dean being the older brother, the most experienced hunter, and, in the view of some “the one in charge”, he is definitively not on board with the costumes out of monetary reasons. In fact, he goes right on and calls them stupid.
However, the next sentence is why I don’t count this as Dean being insulting to Sam. First, while he is calling the costumes themselves stupid, he still went on with Sam’s plan. He is letting Sam lead. And second, he immediately goes and gives Sam a fatherly compliment, reminding a time when Sam was happy. (sure, later we find out Sam was a tree… but it was still a nice moment)
And yet… Sam reacts to this with little patience, and a patented eye roll. But then, we get this:
Once again, we get that Sam doesn’t approve Dean’s way of living, but he keeps using that money, that effort. And yes, it is Dean’s money, again, because apparently… Sam is never doing anything for the household. Carhold. Whatever.
Why I am putting this in emotional violence? Simple: Because Sam is still putting down Dean’s efforts both to have a normal, nice conversation (Dean is not mocking Sam when he talks about “highschool dorks”, as he immediately goes to call Sam “Cute” in his play) and then we go back to the fact that Sam simply doesn’t care where the money comes from as long as he gets to spend it. So that’s two marks on the tally and we haven’t even gone through the first arc. Not only that, he also disrespects Dean’s experience as a hunter as the possibility of doing research the “old” way (which we have never seen) is never mentioned. It’s Sam’s way or the highway.
Speaking of that, I said I was going to go over Meg’s dialogue later on. Keep in mind that as far as DEAN knows? All Meg knows about him is what Sam said to her. In fact, as far as WE know, Meg only knows about their relationship due to what Sam said to her.
More importantly, Sam never defends Dean of her accusations. We are told in script that yes, Sam thinks Dean treats him like luggage, doesn’t let him do what Sam wants to do and drags him over Chuck’s green earth.
Which is the earliest moment where we see that Sam seems to live in his own world since we’ve seen Dean tell him he can stop hunting, he can have a happy life… at least 3 times in half a season. Even now, after this argument… Dean is still trying to convince Sam to not let his quest for revenge be everything in his life.
Then we have the conversation while Sam is spying on Meg.
Dean is acting pretty much like an older brother. Doing exactly the opposite of what Sam told Meg he does. Sure, he is a bit insistent, but so far, he’s not doing anything Sam himself didn’t do when he found out about Cassie (or what he will do when he found out about Lisa). Not only that, he found out a LOT of information about the sigil, which will come in handy. But how does Sam react? Immediately insulting Dean’s intelligence, which is now a habit. Every time Dean does something out of Sam’s expectations, Sam insults Dean’s intelligence. And Dean lets it go. And while in a first view I didn’t saw anything strange in this scene, now, 11 seasons later, we know that Dean is very smart, and not only that… he reads. And he reads for pleasure too. Just that he doesn’t share that with Sam and it seems it’s because whenever he shares with Sam something like this… Sam scoffs. Or laughs. (in fact, the transcript misses the fact that Sam laughs when Dean admits that he called Caleb).
And there’s the thing I mentioned before about the notes. It could have been that Dean saw the sigil in John’s journal –even if they didn’t use the prop- or that he did some research of his own. But with the writers wanting to reassure us that Sam is the “smart one” and Dean the “dumb one”… then we have to have this scene that is starting to pile up with the others.
The conversation ends with Dean, once again, joking with Sam about his obsession with Meg.
Which yes, counts as Dean making fun of something Sam does, so we get a tally on Dean’s side.
Secrets, Lies (and their consequences)
I am not counting the fact that Sam never told Dean about Meg as a big secret, as at the time Sam couldn’t know that Meg would end up being a thorn on their side for 8 years. It has narrative consequences, yes, but it was not a secret kept in purpose so it doesn’t count.
I mean, if Meg had been a random girl who never appeared again, Sam wouldn’t have to tell Dean about her at all so… no secret.
Speeches and Apologies
There’s a weird pseudo apology from Sam in this episode, which goes again with the idea that “Sam apologizes… but”. In fact, it is a really eerie parallel with what he would say in season 5 about freeing Lucifer.
Right after their first meeting with Meg, Dean follows Sam out of the bar and wants to know why she said the things she said.
Now, Sam says the words “I’m sorry”, however, he immediately gives it a justification “It was when we had that huge fight” (aka. If YOU hadn’t angered me and going off to save innocent people, I wouldn’t have bitched about you. And when one puts it that way… it doesn’t look good on Sam) and in the exact next sentence he dismisses it as “not important”.
So he goes, badmouths the brother that so far has done everything Sam has asked for during hunts except abandoning innocents… and Dean’s hurt feelings are not important.
Dean doesn’t let it go, and now he is worried that he is, in fact, forcing Sam to do something Sam doesn’t want to do. Sam, being Sam, immediately dismisses it and insists that HE has to be heard. The problem between them (That Sam is telling strangers about their problems, not two episodes after Sam got mad at Dean for revealing his hunting life to his girlfriend) is left alone because Sam doesn’t think it is important. Sure, the narrative justifies him (We need to find out Meg is a demon) but it is another example where Sam starts apologizing but then shifts the blame to Dean.
By the way, this is the reason why I am not tallying it as an apology: I have no idea what the “I’m Sorry” is for. Is it for talking to Meg about Dean? Or is it about the things that Meg said that Sam said? Or is it because he’s going to dismiss Dean in a few sentences. An unclear disclaimer is no one’s friend, so this one doesn’t count as a real apology. At least with Asylum we knew that Sam was talking about “letting my anger possess me and pulling the trigger on you”.
Final Tally
Shadow is what I consider the first planned ending of Supernatural. The “ok, if our ratings aren’t that good, at least we can end with a bang”. And it used to be one of my favorites of season 1, and now… I have mixed feelings about it.
First, it is obvious that it’s one of the ones Kirkpe had in mind when he started writing Supernatural as we have a very flanderized Dean (seriously, I don’t think there’s any other episode where Dean is as sex-obsessed as he is in Shadow), and an incredibly loving and doting John, while Sam is the one who gets most of the answers in true hero fashion. In fact, I do wonder what would have the episode looked like without Kim Manners behind the camera, as things like Dean’s speech about wanting a family again could be read completely different (As in, really codependent and selfish) with a different light and acting choices.
Second, well, here I can see where the disconnection between Sam fans and Dean fans come from. It comes down to that scene. In paper, without Jensen’s acting, Dean sound like a really selfish brother who only wants things to remain the same, fudge growing up and change. Sam, in turn, sounds like the voice of reason, who is pointing out that growth and change are good and who only wants a normal life for himself. Which, on paper, is good. And right here? Yeah, Team Sam has a point and Dean does drag Sam around for selfish reasons.
HOWEVER, when we add 15 previous episodes of character growth and Jensen and Jared’s acting? The reading changes. Dean is no longer a selfish brother, but a broken man who has been abandoned over and over again by everyone in his life, who has been treated not like a family member but as a tool for revenge, both by John and by Sam. Whom, upon hearing that yes, the revenge is going to be fulfilled… is just told that he’s no longer needed. His fears about being a tool are confirmed since Sam easily tells him that he’s going to abandon him. John is not around, hasn’t been around in a while, and of course, Dean feels like crap because he’s got confirmation that he has no place for himself in their family. Which means that yes, Team Dean ALSO has a point and Dean is being abandoned by his family the second he’s no longer useful.
Then there’s John. I really wonder what happened between this and Dead Man’s Blood to make John seem so different and cold to both brothers as time passed. Because here? We actually see a man who loves BOTH their sons, and where do the “I don’t apologize with words, but with actions” thing that Dean has going on.
And finally, I debated long and hard on how to tally this one, if an arc episode dedicated to both brothers (As it seems in the surface) or an arc episode dedicated to Sam. At the end, I choose to tally it as dedicated to Sam as the brunt of the episode is about Sam’s relationship to Meg, and how Meg was interested in Sam. Sure, right now we don’t know why Meg is interested in Sam… but she was, so there it goes. Also, I am counting Sam’s interest in Meg’s vessel and Meg’s sexual advances towards Sam as a dropped Sam’s plot as I am pretty sure it went nowhere after this episode, to the point that I forgot that once upon a time, Meg was a possible romantic interest for Sam.
In any case, this was a hard episode to measure, so for once I am looking forward to the Ghosthunters just because I can hope it will be a “light” episode, tally-wise.
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: 1 / 5
Times Sam has made fun of something Dean does or has: 5 / 26
Times we focus on Dean’s needs: 0 / 0
Times we focus on Sam’s needs: 0 / 4
Arc episodes dedicated to Sam: 1 / 6
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) : 0 / 1
Dean’s Dropped Plotlines: 0 / 1
Sam’s Dropped Plotlines: 1 / 2
So let’s do Shadow.
General stuff
I have commented before on the Then segments, and how they are edited weirdly to make a scene look in a completely different context. But this time this one really hit home for me as it takes scenes from Scarecrow… and makes it look as if Dean abandoned Sam, Sam hooked up with Meg and that’s a fanfic I read once. It really makes Dean look uncaring, when the actual episode was the other way around, Sam abandoning Dean mid-hunt.
So after doomed girl of the week, the brothers go to investigate as security technicians. And here’s a funny scene that opens the relationship with the brothers and how what some see as mocking, others might see as normal brother banter. I will discuss this at length under emotional violence, but it is important to see, again, that Sam pretty much doesn’t care for Dean’s way of earning money. It is starting to be recurring in the season.
In fact, pretty much all the way up to the apartment goes into the Emotional Violence subtitle as Sam managed to get 3 marks there.
Still, while they’re in the apartment, Sam takes the lead, asks all the questions, gives all the suggestions, being very much the hero, and yet the one who puts the “random” splatter together to find the demonic vigil is Dean.
Basically, this episode stars with “Dean can’t do anything right in Sam’s book” and we’re going to stay here for a long while, especially as the writers seemed to remember that they hadn’t shown us Dean being a horndog, so now we’re going to get that in spades, first as we know about the “perky” Amy, and later when Dean is seen “Flirting” with the waitress at the bar.
(There is a very good Dean is bi meta about the scene around tumblr, but I lost the link. I will not repeat it here as it is not quite the point of my review, but it does mention that Dean’s body language with the female bartender we see is not specifically flirting, and that there’s the implication that Dean talked with a lot more people than just her. And of course, proves my point that people were seeing Bisexual!Dean long before any ships were in the table)
Sam mocks Dean about the bartender, again, and pretty much ignores what his brother is saying when he gets distracted by Meg.
And here we get again a scene where Sam pretty much doesn’t want to introduce Dean to his friends. Three strikes in this account, as it started with Jess (who hadn’t even seen pictures of Dean), continued with the girl from Skin and now with Meg.
SAM: Yeah, um, I’m sorry, Meg. This is, uh—this is my brother, Dean. (MEG is surprised.)
See the small hesitation? That is Sam not wanting to acknowledge Dean’s presence.
And immediately, Meg acts like the original Sam Stan, by tearing Dean apart with things that, according to her, were things that Sam said.
(I say “according to her” since while we know Sam thinks that about Dean, she might be exaggerating due to her being a demon and the demonic team wanting Sam apart from his family. It is not a lie, as Sam doesn’t defend himself. And we will go by Meg’s dialogue later on)
Sam, however, doesn’t fall for this coincidence, and immediately grows suspicious as he can’t believe how they meet with her like that. Still, Dean seems more interested in SAM’s reaction to Meg, and immediately starts insinuating that Sam should hook up with Meg, especially as they already spend a night together.
This is another thing that will come up again with Dean. For someone who “carries his brother around like luggage”, he takes every chance where his brother seems to click with a girl to tell Sam that it’s ok to stop hunting, that it’s ok to find love again. In fact, it’s a trait that directly contradicts the idea that Dean can’t live with Sam, as it is obvious that he can as he keeps trying to give Sam a normal life.
Sam goes to follow Meg, while Dean sets to research the symbol –important thing to note, SAM decides that Dean is going to research and Dean agrees, no fight. And here we get a really, really strange scene where Dean is researching, both Meg in the computer, and the sigil. It is strange because while we get that the information Dean got was thanks to a phonecall to Caleb, the page on his notebook looks more like the notes John takes, in a new journal (Dean’s journal? We’ve never known if Dean has a journal) rather than something that he got dictated over the phone. Sam’s reaction is quite telling too, but we’ll go about that later.
Sam hangs up, angrily, when Dean insists that he’s attracted to Meg and then he proceeds to do exactly what Dean accused him of being doing by watching Meg getting dressed. It is also a very unnecessary scene, since all we needed to see was Meg leaving the building and Sam following her, rather than seeing her in her underwear. It all works to show Sam as someone who is protesting too much about his attraction to Meg, which makes no sense as in two episodes we never saw him really interested in her.
Meg is obviously evil, and Sam spies her as she reports to a “Sir” who is coming to Chicago. Ah, Chicago. In 9 seasons we’ll see how this episode ruins all the chances for a bad spinoff. But I digress. Important thing about Meg, for the future, she doesn’t mindlessly obeys “Sir”. She has her own opinions that are often dismissed.
Sam doesn’t destroy the altar, and instead goes directly to talk to Dean, who also has something important to tell him.
Sam tells Dean his news first, which is basically what we already saw. Then Dean tells him that his friend Amy (yes, the one whom Sam dismissed as just one of Dean’s hook ups) gave him all the information on the two victims: Both were born in Lawerence, Kansas. Because everything goes back to Lawrence, Kansas.
Dean wants to capture Meg and interrogate her, but Sam decides that they’re going to stake out the warehouse and wait for whomever is going to meet with her. Dean finally agrees, but he doesn’t think they should go after Meg alone, so he calls John, leaving a message that they finally have a lead on the thing that killed Mary (and Jess)
Sam brings everything from the Impala trunk to get ready for whatever is meeting Meg, and we have a nice moment between the brothers. Sam is starting to hope that everything is going to end soon.
And here we have the first chunk in Dean’s armor. And one that contradicts a LOT of what we have seen up until now, specifically with Dean telling Sam he can stay with different girls and not hunt.
SAM: I know. I’m just sayin’, what if we did? What if this whole thing was over tonight? Man, I’d sleep for a month. Go back to school—be a person again.
DEAN: You wanna go back to school?
SAM: Yeah, once we’re done huntin’ the thing.
DEAN: Huh.
SAM: Why, is there somethin’ wrong with that?
DEAN: No. No, it’s, uh, great. Good for you.
SAM: I mean, what are you gonna do when it’s all over?
DEAN: It’s never gonna be over. There’s gonna be others. There’s always gonna be somethin’ to hunt.
SAM: But there’s got to be somethin’ that you want for yourself—
DEAN: Yeah, I don’t want you to leave the second this thing’s over, Sam. (He walks over to the dresser.)
SAM: Dude, what’s your problem? (DEAN is silent for a while, then turns back to SAM.)
DEAN: Why do you think I drag you everywhere? Huh? I mean, why do you think I came and got you at Stanford in the first place?
SAM: ‘Cause Dad was in trouble. ‘Cause you wanted to find the thing that killed Mom.
DEAN: Yes, that, but it’s more than that, man. (He returns to the dresser and is silent again, then once more turns to Sam.) You and me and Dad—I mean, I want us….I want us to be together again. I want us to be a family again.
SAM: Dean, we are a family. I’d do anything for you. But things will never be the way they were before. (DEAN looks heartbroken.)
DEAN: (sadly) Could be.
SAM: I don’t want them to be. I’m not gonna live this life forever. Dean, when this is all over, you’re gonna have to let me go my own way. (He and DEAN share a look.)
DEAN: You wanna go back to school?
SAM: Yeah, once we’re done huntin’ the thing.
DEAN: Huh.
SAM: Why, is there somethin’ wrong with that?
DEAN: No. No, it’s, uh, great. Good for you.
SAM: I mean, what are you gonna do when it’s all over?
DEAN: It’s never gonna be over. There’s gonna be others. There’s always gonna be somethin’ to hunt.
SAM: But there’s got to be somethin’ that you want for yourself—
DEAN: Yeah, I don’t want you to leave the second this thing’s over, Sam. (He walks over to the dresser.)
SAM: Dude, what’s your problem? (DEAN is silent for a while, then turns back to SAM.)
DEAN: Why do you think I drag you everywhere? Huh? I mean, why do you think I came and got you at Stanford in the first place?
SAM: ‘Cause Dad was in trouble. ‘Cause you wanted to find the thing that killed Mom.
DEAN: Yes, that, but it’s more than that, man. (He returns to the dresser and is silent again, then once more turns to Sam.) You and me and Dad—I mean, I want us….I want us to be together again. I want us to be a family again.
SAM: Dean, we are a family. I’d do anything for you. But things will never be the way they were before. (DEAN looks heartbroken.)
DEAN: (sadly) Could be.
SAM: I don’t want them to be. I’m not gonna live this life forever. Dean, when this is all over, you’re gonna have to let me go my own way. (He and DEAN share a look.)
This is Kirkpe’s Dean, no doubt about it. The Dean who has been abandoned by everyone in his family, and who only wants to get that family back (and keep saving innocents) and who tries to keep at least ONE member of his family at his side. I mentioned it contradicts other non-Kirpke penned episodes, but that is because at this point? Kirkpe had already said that he didn’t care about continuity and he was just interested in pushing his vision no matter what growth the characters had had over 16 episodes. And yet? Thanks to Jensen’s deliverance we see again the same vulnerability that we saw in Skin –when we found out that Dean doesn’t really want anything for himself, at least not if it will cost him his family-, and in Home –when we see that… well, no one in the family cares about Dean’s feelings- as well as in Faith –when we find out that for Dean, the first part of the mission, “saving people”, is what makes him be a hunter, not the vague notion of revenge.
Sam gets a jab in there too. For Sam, Dean is not “a person” (something that will be echoed in season 7). Hunters are not “real”. His real life is school, and ignoring everything that goes bump in the night. And he is not going to sacrifice that for anything. Not even for his brother, because despite the fact that SAM has led the hunt so far… DEAN is the one who has to “let” Sam go his own way.
(and really, it is jarring how text and image say two different things. I wonder how Kim Manners felt about the whole thing)
They go again to the Warehouse where Meg is talking latin to her jar, and they position themselves behind her. Of course, she knows they’re there, so she taunts them to come out of hiding.
Of course, Meg reveals that the whole thing was a trap, and the Daeva attacks both brothers. It is a shadow monster, so shotguns aren’t good against them. They end up unconscious and, after the commercial break, they’re tied up.
Finally, Sam clues in that it was all a trap (so much for the smart brother), and Meg gets her first chance to gloat over the Winchesters that she was trying to trap John.
In a bit of really cool accidental foreshadowing, Meg focus on Dean, rather than in Sam, until Sam tells her to go to hell, which is when Meg goes to Sam, and now SHE teases him about how he is attracted to her. The brothers are taking some advantage of her changing her focus from Sam to Dean and backwards, so Sam manages to free himself, and destroy the altar, which makes the Devaes throw Meg out of the window.
(I have to say, I felt really uncomfortable watching the scene of Meg seducing Sam. Because Sam was obviously not into it, and it sets a precedent of Meg using her meatsuit sexuality to get what she wants)
Finally, the brothers return to the hotel to find John waiting for them. John hugs Dean, while Sam is watching, and I have to say, great acting from Jared as he really looks conflicted about seeing John.
John explains that he is close to the demon, but he doesn’t accept Sam’s help since the demon is “a scary Sonovabitch”.
John doesn’t apologize for the fight he had with Sam, but they end up hugging, so we can count that as a non-apology accepted by both parties and move on.
Unfortunately, that’s when the Devaes attack, as Meg was not dead after her fall from a third floor and she still had one of the sigils.
Sam has a great inspiration as he uses a flare to save himself, John and Dean, so they pick everything up blindly and leave the room. It is not clear if they actually destroyed the demons or just managed to blind them but they do manage to get out.
And here we get the punchline for Dean’s earlier breakdown. Dean knows that Meg was telling the truth, and John is weaker when he is protecting his sons, so he tells John to go. Sam, however, doesn’t see it that way not because he wants to be with his father (we know that saying goodbye must be killing Dean), but because he wants to be part of the fight. However, as John repeats the same words Sam had told Dean before “you gotta let me go”, he finally accepts that they can’t follow the demon together, yet.
Bloodied and beaten, the brothers watch their father drive away, and then they do the same not noticing Meg watching in the shadows.
Violence
No violence between the Winchesters at all, which is weird since we know that Sam and John always fight… except this first time, it seems.
Emotional Violence
Ok, when we open up, we see two things: Despite Dean being the older brother, the most experienced hunter, and, in the view of some “the one in charge”, he is definitively not on board with the costumes out of monetary reasons. In fact, he goes right on and calls them stupid.
DEAN: You know, I’ve gotta say Dad and me did just fine without these stupid costumes. I feel like a high school drama dork. (He smiles.) What was that play that you did? What was it – Our Town. Yeah, you were good, it was cute.
However, the next sentence is why I don’t count this as Dean being insulting to Sam. First, while he is calling the costumes themselves stupid, he still went on with Sam’s plan. He is letting Sam lead. And second, he immediately goes and gives Sam a fatherly compliment, reminding a time when Sam was happy. (sure, later we find out Sam was a tree… but it was still a nice moment)
And yet… Sam reacts to this with little patience, and a patented eye roll. But then, we get this:
SAM: Look, you wanna pull this off or not?
DEAN: I’m just sayin’, these outfits cost hard-earned money, okay?
SAM: Whose?
DEAN: Ours. You think credit card fraud is easy?
DEAN: I’m just sayin’, these outfits cost hard-earned money, okay?
SAM: Whose?
DEAN: Ours. You think credit card fraud is easy?
Once again, we get that Sam doesn’t approve Dean’s way of living, but he keeps using that money, that effort. And yes, it is Dean’s money, again, because apparently… Sam is never doing anything for the household. Carhold. Whatever.
Why I am putting this in emotional violence? Simple: Because Sam is still putting down Dean’s efforts both to have a normal, nice conversation (Dean is not mocking Sam when he talks about “highschool dorks”, as he immediately goes to call Sam “Cute” in his play) and then we go back to the fact that Sam simply doesn’t care where the money comes from as long as he gets to spend it. So that’s two marks on the tally and we haven’t even gone through the first arc. Not only that, he also disrespects Dean’s experience as a hunter as the possibility of doing research the “old” way (which we have never seen) is never mentioned. It’s Sam’s way or the highway.
Speaking of that, I said I was going to go over Meg’s dialogue later on. Keep in mind that as far as DEAN knows? All Meg knows about him is what Sam said to her. In fact, as far as WE know, Meg only knows about their relationship due to what Sam said to her.
MEG: Oh, yeah. I’ve heard of you. Nice—the way you treat your brother like luggage. (He looks confused.)
DEAN: Sorry?
MEG: Why don’t you let him do what he wants to do? Stop dragging him over Chuck’s green earth.
SAM: Meg, it’s all right. (The three of them look around quietly. DEAN whistles lowly.)
DEAN: Okay, awkward. I’m gonna get a drink now. (He gives SAM a puzzled look, then walks over to the bar.)
MEG: Sam, I’m sorry. It’s just—the way you told me he treats you….if it were me, I’d kill him.
SAM: It’s all right. He means well. (MEG nods.)
DEAN: Sorry?
MEG: Why don’t you let him do what he wants to do? Stop dragging him over Chuck’s green earth.
SAM: Meg, it’s all right. (The three of them look around quietly. DEAN whistles lowly.)
DEAN: Okay, awkward. I’m gonna get a drink now. (He gives SAM a puzzled look, then walks over to the bar.)
MEG: Sam, I’m sorry. It’s just—the way you told me he treats you….if it were me, I’d kill him.
SAM: It’s all right. He means well. (MEG nods.)
More importantly, Sam never defends Dean of her accusations. We are told in script that yes, Sam thinks Dean treats him like luggage, doesn’t let him do what Sam wants to do and drags him over Chuck’s green earth.
Which is the earliest moment where we see that Sam seems to live in his own world since we’ve seen Dean tell him he can stop hunting, he can have a happy life… at least 3 times in half a season. Even now, after this argument… Dean is still trying to convince Sam to not let his quest for revenge be everything in his life.
Then we have the conversation while Sam is spying on Meg.
DEAN: Let me guess. You’re lurkin’ outside that poor girl’s apartment, aren’t you?
SAM: No. (DEAN waits for another response. SAM rolls his eyes.) Yes.
DEAN: You’ve got a funny way of showin’ your affection.
SAM: Did you find anything on her or what?
DEAN: Sorry, man, she checks out. There is a Meg Masters in the Andover phonebook. I even pulled up her high school photo. Now, look, why don’t you go knock on her door and, uh, invite her to a poetry reading, or whatever it is you do, huh?
SAM: (ignoring his comment) What about the symbol? Any luck?
DEAN: Yeah, that I did have some luck with. (He looks down at his research.) It’s, uh—turns out it’s Zoroastrian. Very, very old school, like two thousand years before Christ. It’s a sigil for a Daeva.
SAM: What’s a Daeva?
DEAN: It translates to “demon of darkness”. Zoroastrian demons, and they’re savage, animalistic, you know, nasty attitudes—kind of like, uh, demonic pit bulls.
SAM: How’d you figure that out?
DEAN: Give me some credit, man. You don’t have a corner on paper chasin’ around here.
SAM: Oh, yeah? Name the last book you read.
DEAN: (defeated) No, I called Dad’s friend, Caleb. He told me, all right?
SAM: Yeah. (He glances up at MEG’s dark bedroom window.)
SAM: No. (DEAN waits for another response. SAM rolls his eyes.) Yes.
DEAN: You’ve got a funny way of showin’ your affection.
SAM: Did you find anything on her or what?
DEAN: Sorry, man, she checks out. There is a Meg Masters in the Andover phonebook. I even pulled up her high school photo. Now, look, why don’t you go knock on her door and, uh, invite her to a poetry reading, or whatever it is you do, huh?
SAM: (ignoring his comment) What about the symbol? Any luck?
DEAN: Yeah, that I did have some luck with. (He looks down at his research.) It’s, uh—turns out it’s Zoroastrian. Very, very old school, like two thousand years before Christ. It’s a sigil for a Daeva.
SAM: What’s a Daeva?
DEAN: It translates to “demon of darkness”. Zoroastrian demons, and they’re savage, animalistic, you know, nasty attitudes—kind of like, uh, demonic pit bulls.
SAM: How’d you figure that out?
DEAN: Give me some credit, man. You don’t have a corner on paper chasin’ around here.
SAM: Oh, yeah? Name the last book you read.
DEAN: (defeated) No, I called Dad’s friend, Caleb. He told me, all right?
SAM: Yeah. (He glances up at MEG’s dark bedroom window.)
Dean is acting pretty much like an older brother. Doing exactly the opposite of what Sam told Meg he does. Sure, he is a bit insistent, but so far, he’s not doing anything Sam himself didn’t do when he found out about Cassie (or what he will do when he found out about Lisa). Not only that, he found out a LOT of information about the sigil, which will come in handy. But how does Sam react? Immediately insulting Dean’s intelligence, which is now a habit. Every time Dean does something out of Sam’s expectations, Sam insults Dean’s intelligence. And Dean lets it go. And while in a first view I didn’t saw anything strange in this scene, now, 11 seasons later, we know that Dean is very smart, and not only that… he reads. And he reads for pleasure too. Just that he doesn’t share that with Sam and it seems it’s because whenever he shares with Sam something like this… Sam scoffs. Or laughs. (in fact, the transcript misses the fact that Sam laughs when Dean admits that he called Caleb).
And there’s the thing I mentioned before about the notes. It could have been that Dean saw the sigil in John’s journal –even if they didn’t use the prop- or that he did some research of his own. But with the writers wanting to reassure us that Sam is the “smart one” and Dean the “dumb one”… then we have to have this scene that is starting to pile up with the others.
The conversation ends with Dean, once again, joking with Sam about his obsession with Meg.
DEAN: Well, nobody knows, but nobody’s seen ‘em for a couple of millennia. I mean, summoning a demon that ancient? Someone really knows their stuff. I think we’ve got a major player in town. Now, why don’t you go give that girl a private strip-o-gram?
SAM: Bite me.
DEAN: No, bite her. Don’t leave teeth marks, though—(SAM hangs up.) Sam? Are you—?
SAM: Bite me.
DEAN: No, bite her. Don’t leave teeth marks, though—(SAM hangs up.) Sam? Are you—?
Which yes, counts as Dean making fun of something Sam does, so we get a tally on Dean’s side.
Secrets, Lies (and their consequences)
I am not counting the fact that Sam never told Dean about Meg as a big secret, as at the time Sam couldn’t know that Meg would end up being a thorn on their side for 8 years. It has narrative consequences, yes, but it was not a secret kept in purpose so it doesn’t count.
I mean, if Meg had been a random girl who never appeared again, Sam wouldn’t have to tell Dean about her at all so… no secret.
Speeches and Apologies
There’s a weird pseudo apology from Sam in this episode, which goes again with the idea that “Sam apologizes… but”. In fact, it is a really eerie parallel with what he would say in season 5 about freeing Lucifer.
Right after their first meeting with Meg, Dean follows Sam out of the bar and wants to know why she said the things she said.
DEAN: And what was she saying? I treat you like luggage? What, were you bitchin’ about me to some chick?
SAM: Look, I’m sorry, Dean. It was when we had that huge fight when I was in that bus stop in Indiana. But that’s not important, just listen—
DEAN: Well, is there any truth to what she’s saying? I mean, am I keeping you against your will, Sam?
SAM: No, of course not. Now, would you listen?
SAM: Look, I’m sorry, Dean. It was when we had that huge fight when I was in that bus stop in Indiana. But that’s not important, just listen—
DEAN: Well, is there any truth to what she’s saying? I mean, am I keeping you against your will, Sam?
SAM: No, of course not. Now, would you listen?
Now, Sam says the words “I’m sorry”, however, he immediately gives it a justification “It was when we had that huge fight” (aka. If YOU hadn’t angered me and going off to save innocent people, I wouldn’t have bitched about you. And when one puts it that way… it doesn’t look good on Sam) and in the exact next sentence he dismisses it as “not important”.
So he goes, badmouths the brother that so far has done everything Sam has asked for during hunts except abandoning innocents… and Dean’s hurt feelings are not important.
Dean doesn’t let it go, and now he is worried that he is, in fact, forcing Sam to do something Sam doesn’t want to do. Sam, being Sam, immediately dismisses it and insists that HE has to be heard. The problem between them (That Sam is telling strangers about their problems, not two episodes after Sam got mad at Dean for revealing his hunting life to his girlfriend) is left alone because Sam doesn’t think it is important. Sure, the narrative justifies him (We need to find out Meg is a demon) but it is another example where Sam starts apologizing but then shifts the blame to Dean.
By the way, this is the reason why I am not tallying it as an apology: I have no idea what the “I’m Sorry” is for. Is it for talking to Meg about Dean? Or is it about the things that Meg said that Sam said? Or is it because he’s going to dismiss Dean in a few sentences. An unclear disclaimer is no one’s friend, so this one doesn’t count as a real apology. At least with Asylum we knew that Sam was talking about “letting my anger possess me and pulling the trigger on you”.
Final Tally
Shadow is what I consider the first planned ending of Supernatural. The “ok, if our ratings aren’t that good, at least we can end with a bang”. And it used to be one of my favorites of season 1, and now… I have mixed feelings about it.
First, it is obvious that it’s one of the ones Kirkpe had in mind when he started writing Supernatural as we have a very flanderized Dean (seriously, I don’t think there’s any other episode where Dean is as sex-obsessed as he is in Shadow), and an incredibly loving and doting John, while Sam is the one who gets most of the answers in true hero fashion. In fact, I do wonder what would have the episode looked like without Kim Manners behind the camera, as things like Dean’s speech about wanting a family again could be read completely different (As in, really codependent and selfish) with a different light and acting choices.
Second, well, here I can see where the disconnection between Sam fans and Dean fans come from. It comes down to that scene. In paper, without Jensen’s acting, Dean sound like a really selfish brother who only wants things to remain the same, fudge growing up and change. Sam, in turn, sounds like the voice of reason, who is pointing out that growth and change are good and who only wants a normal life for himself. Which, on paper, is good. And right here? Yeah, Team Sam has a point and Dean does drag Sam around for selfish reasons.
HOWEVER, when we add 15 previous episodes of character growth and Jensen and Jared’s acting? The reading changes. Dean is no longer a selfish brother, but a broken man who has been abandoned over and over again by everyone in his life, who has been treated not like a family member but as a tool for revenge, both by John and by Sam. Whom, upon hearing that yes, the revenge is going to be fulfilled… is just told that he’s no longer needed. His fears about being a tool are confirmed since Sam easily tells him that he’s going to abandon him. John is not around, hasn’t been around in a while, and of course, Dean feels like crap because he’s got confirmation that he has no place for himself in their family. Which means that yes, Team Dean ALSO has a point and Dean is being abandoned by his family the second he’s no longer useful.
Then there’s John. I really wonder what happened between this and Dead Man’s Blood to make John seem so different and cold to both brothers as time passed. Because here? We actually see a man who loves BOTH their sons, and where do the “I don’t apologize with words, but with actions” thing that Dean has going on.
And finally, I debated long and hard on how to tally this one, if an arc episode dedicated to both brothers (As it seems in the surface) or an arc episode dedicated to Sam. At the end, I choose to tally it as dedicated to Sam as the brunt of the episode is about Sam’s relationship to Meg, and how Meg was interested in Sam. Sure, right now we don’t know why Meg is interested in Sam… but she was, so there it goes. Also, I am counting Sam’s interest in Meg’s vessel and Meg’s sexual advances towards Sam as a dropped Sam’s plot as I am pretty sure it went nowhere after this episode, to the point that I forgot that once upon a time, Meg was a possible romantic interest for Sam.
In any case, this was a hard episode to measure, so for once I am looking forward to the Ghosthunters just because I can hope it will be a “light” episode, tally-wise.
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: 1 / 5
Times Sam has made fun of something Dean does or has: 5 / 26
Times we focus on Dean’s needs: 0 / 0
Times we focus on Sam’s needs: 0 / 4
Arc episodes dedicated to Sam: 1 / 6
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) : 0 / 1
Dean’s Dropped Plotlines: 0 / 1
Sam’s Dropped Plotlines: 1 / 2