Same song, seventh verse; 4.21 compared to select previous episodes of Supernatural

[isaacsapphire]

I’m unspoiled for the finale beyond the trailer, so this is all very unfounded speculation, but bear with me as I pop into the time machine.

Supernatural also has a strong tendency to repeat itself over and over again. Sam calls Dean bossy, Dean insists it’s his way or the highway. Sam says that Dean doesn’t know him. But the very fact that Dean is *there* clearly shows that he does know Sam.

Let’s compare this with a few other fights the boys have had, shall we?

The Pilot – not knowing who the opponent is, testing, ending with the revealing of identity and the passing of that test as the resolution of that altercation.

Testing? Yes, definitely. Sam’s lost confidence in Dean’s abilities, while Dean has lost confidence in Sam’s intentions. Uncertain identity? The boys don’t know anymore who they are or who the other is and that’s what this fight was about.

Skin – Not!Dean and Sam have it out, complete with wanton destruction of innocent furniture. Not!Dean kicks Sam’s ass (and mentions that he always has) and is strangling him when Real!Dean shoots him.

Hm, strangling. Interesting mirroring there.

Asylum – Sam literally lost control of himself, but Dean knew Sam and knew the situation, anticipated it (by unloading the gun upstairs) and gave him an unloaded gun, then provoked him, forcing him to act and so regaining control of the situation.

There’s no way that Dean wasn’t intending to provoke Sam by calling him a monster (which has been Sammy’s hot-button since he was small) and there’s no way that Dean didn’t know exactly what repeating John’s most hurtful words would do to Sam and cause him to do, so I can only conclude that he fully intended what he did and intended to get the outcome that he did.

Born Under a Bad Sign – Not!Sam punches out Dean, then leaves him lying on the hotel floor. However, Dean knows Sam, knows that this isn’t Sam and so combats Not!Sam in proper ways, although he is initially defeated. Note the dock theme here too.

Again with the mirroring, in this case Sam leaving Dean injured on the hotel floor. But again, Dean knows Sam very very well.

Tall Tales – Immediately after BUABS, the boys are bickering, annoying each other, but ultimately still a team. A team that fakes out the opponent by pretending to be fractured.

Maybe, just maybe, that fight was for the edification of the watchers and not real. Hell, if Dean’s own head isn’t a secure place, most likely nowhere is. They’re being watched and they know it. I’m surprised that no one’s suggested this theory yet.

Sex and Violence – When the boys were set on each other by the siren (verbally, the fight was over the exact same issues as always), Dean kicked Sam’s ass and was about to kill him with a fire ax when Bobby showed up.

Every single time they’ve come to blows Dean’s ended up on top by skill or trickery (Not!Sam excepted). So why’d he loose this fight?

One last episode for comparison, not a fight: Nightmare. At the end, Sam expresses fear that he’ll become evil like Max, who turned on his family and killed them, and Dean says that he’s certain Sam won’t. Sam asks why and Dean answers that Sam has Dean. Dean places his own aid and companionship between Sam and whatever evil tendencies he may have right there.

And Dean just took that away. Dean had explicitly placed himself as the barrier between Sam and evil!Sam and he just destroyed that. Incidentally, this interpretation also fits very well with the episode title.

And incidentally the only place I can think of hearing before of an angel letting someone out of their bonds like that is in the Biblical book of Acts, where an angel releases Peter from prison, where his two guards are sleeping ( Acts 12:5-11).

So, um, yeah. That’s that. Tell me what you think; good, bad, indifferent?

Comments

[ariadnes-string.livejournal.com]

Interesting set of comparisons! I like the thought this fight makes a pair of bookends with the friendly fight in the Pilot.

I think that we're supposed to understand that Dean loses the fist fight in 4.21 because Sam is now dee-monically enhanced. But I think the comparison you do to earlier fights is interesting because it puts them in the context of communication between the brothers.

When the physical conflict isn't being supernaturally induced, it has always been Dean punching Sam when he can't (won't) find the words to express his anger and frustration (in addition to the ones you mention, I'm thinking of the mild punch he throws at the end of BUaBS).

It's not the best form of communication, obviously, but for Dean, I feel like he thinks a punch might be cleaner than the words he would be otherwise forced into saying.

Here, it's Sam, much more a-typically, who resorts to physical violence rather than trying to continue the conversation (yet another sign that it's not!Sam, I guess, in a literal way).

And then Dean falls back on old words, words that aren't his own, and that were disastrous the first time the first time they were spoken.

Which is just to say: I know communication has never been the strong suit of the Bros. Winchester, but here, where words fail, and bodies fail, it seems pretty bleak!

[isaacsapphire.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't describe the fight in the Pilot as friendly. Sam doesn't know who it is, thinks it's some sort of attacker or bugler (note that Sam does not call 911 or even wake Jess but instead goes to deal with the invader himself.) As for Dean, well, there's no such thing as friendly fire.

The thing that struck me rewatching the fight in 4.21 is that they both are actually trying to *talk* and both force themselves to calm down and be rational. I think the only other time we've seen that was in MATEOTB.

Part of it is that Dean is a MAN and the show actually portrays some of the disadvantages of that status along with the advantages, like being shit at emotional communication.

I'm suspecting that Dean lost because he's uncertain, on some level he didn't want to win or didn't want to do what it would take to win. Dean's waffled on Sam's powers, he's waffled on Ruby (using her was DEAN'S idea, something everyone seems to have forgotten), and he doesn't trust the angels.

I did consider the punch at the end of BUABS, which is notable in being completely undeserved, not to say that I don't understand why he did it, but it was still completely unwarranted. Fans seem to tend to canonize Dean and forget that he's had more than his share of less than stellar moments. (the flashback sequence in the Christmas Special particularly sticks in my craw. Seriously, I've always been told that stealing people's Christmas presents is right up there with kicking kittens.)

[echo-grace-07.livejournal.com]

. . . um, WHEN has Dean ever wanted to use Ruby? The only possible time I can think of is the angel/Demon Showdown in H&H. He's kinda the head of the anti-Ruby brigade.

[isaacsapphire.livejournal.com]

Haven't forgotten about your question but I may not be able to do the digging necessary until a week from now or so.