Oh, the "monster" in 4x21 was by no means a compliment. However, I don't think it was the dire statement of judgment that people seem to be viewing it as... Dean said that if Sam was doing it all of his own free will, then it would mean it wasn't what Sam was doing, it would be what Sam was and THAT would make him a monster. From the expression on his face and the fact that he was crying as he said it, at worst, I can see it as an epiphany, but far more likely that he was still rejecting that classification. It can't be Sam doing those things, because Sam isn't a monster. So Sam needs to stop telling Dean that he is doing them, yadda yadda yadda, or such is my impression of Dean's thoughts right then. And then Sam had to go and prove Dean's greatest fear right with the strangulation bit, which is bound to have significant repercussions for Thursday and next season.
Eh, I think people give Bobby too much credit, to be honest. He's not their father, he doesn't know Sam like Dean does, and absolutely Dean needed to focus on getting Sam back, but I see nothing there to indicate that that wasn't Dean's main goal. It was just that he had an opportunity to completely remove Ruby from the picture (which I think few people would disagree would be good for Sam) and so dove for it. Unfortunately, he failed and that set up for the confrontation itself.
The only thing I can view as an active attempt to push Sam away was the "monster" comment, but even that I can't see as an insult or an attempt to wound Sam so much as an attempt to get through to him. I do agree that they both tried to communicate at the start though, I'm not saying by any means that Sam was looking from the start for a fight and was bound and determined to get one. For that, look at that last car ride in 4x20 - that's Sammy picking a fight. In 4x21, he was very much hopeful that they could "fix" things - so long as Dean went along with his plan.
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Date: 2009-05-13 03:04 pm (UTC)Eh, I think people give Bobby too much credit, to be honest. He's not their father, he doesn't know Sam like Dean does, and absolutely Dean needed to focus on getting Sam back, but I see nothing there to indicate that that wasn't Dean's main goal. It was just that he had an opportunity to completely remove Ruby from the picture (which I think few people would disagree would be good for Sam) and so dove for it. Unfortunately, he failed and that set up for the confrontation itself.
The only thing I can view as an active attempt to push Sam away was the "monster" comment, but even that I can't see as an insult or an attempt to wound Sam so much as an attempt to get through to him. I do agree that they both tried to communicate at the start though, I'm not saying by any means that Sam was looking from the start for a fight and was bound and determined to get one. For that, look at that last car ride in 4x20 - that's Sammy picking a fight. In 4x21, he was very much hopeful that they could "fix" things - so long as Dean went along with his plan.