Current mood:	contemplative
Entry tags:	spn

And a few more thoughts on SPN’s 4.21

Cooperation is the thorough conviction that
nobody can get there unless everybody gets there.
-- Virginia Burden, The Process of Intuition


Something struck me on rewatch – let’s call it The Change Game. Comparing and contrasting with prior Dean and Sam. Not with each other – but with themselves. What values did they hold to before? What’s changed on that front?

Start with Dean.

I would die for him in a second. But I won’t let him do this to himself. I can’t. I guess I found my line.

Look back at Devil’s Trap for a reference point to see what’s changed for Dean.

For you or Dad, the things I’m willin’ to do or kill, it just….it scares me sometimes.

Dean found his limit, what he’s willing to do for and accept with his family. Line drawn. That’s change, and it’s change for the better. Not having limits was not healthy or good – not for Dean or his family.

Now Sam.

You don’t know me. You never did. And you never will.
You walk out that door, don’t you ever come back.

Again staying with Devil’s Trap as our reference point:

I’m surprised at you, Sammy. Why didn’t you kill it? I thought we saw eye to eye on this—killin’ this demon comes first. Before me, before everything.
No, sir. Not before everything.

Once upon a time, Sam put his family’s well-being first. Not giving up revenge/justice against Yellow Eyes, just not putting pursuit of that goal as #1. And now? Sam puts his pursuit of revenge of Lilith as #1. He walked out that door, turned his back on his family. I didn’t see Dean’s words of “you walk out that door don’t you ever come back” as the mirror of what John said back in the big Stanford blowout. Apples and oranges, really. Dean was asking Sam to be the Sam from Devil’s Trap. He didn’t ask Sam to completely give up on going after Lilith – earlier in their fight he told Sam that he was willing to go with him after her, just not with Ruby. Not with Sam doing it in a way that destroys himself in the process.

It would seem that Sam has regressed on this front, continuing the theme of Sam-as-John. His agenda comes before everything. John had also dressed his campaign of going after YED as being about protecting his sons, not just getting revenge. Sam claims that it’s not just about revenge with Lilith, it’s about saving the world.

Sometimes change is a good thing. We’re supposed to grow and learn and become more than we were before.

But sometimes we learn the wrong lessons, and change for the worse not for the better.

There are several areas of change that may need to be addressed for both Sam and Dean. Definitions of "monster", value of priorities, what constitutes a good partnership, etc.

The level of cooperation, that once shared view of “we’re stronger as a family” has changed. But if no one gets there unless everyone gets there… it looks like change is going to have to happen again, for one or both of the Boys.