#also it's interesting that the writers chose to name Jack Kline

[samclownchester]

Supernatural Rewatch 04x04

Metamorphosis

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Alright, we’re gonna look at this episode from two different perspectives:

1. Dean’s role as an older brother throughout the episode

Dean is in an extremely emotionally vulnerable place at the beginning of the episode, he just met his parents as young adults before they were destroyed but monsters, he watched his grandparents die, he saw his father dead and brought back to life by a demon who he knows is the one who will kill his mother. He was already filled with emotions, then Cas shows him that Sam has been lying to him and doing things that look unnatural with a demon Dean already doesn’t trust.

So, he’s emotionally vulnerable. And what does Dean do when he’s emotionally vulnerable? (say it with me class) that’s right, he responds with cruelty. He is so overwhelmed already, and he’s scared, Sam’s powers have always freaked him out, although he tried to hide it at first, and he’s worried, and he feels betrayed, so he lashes out. He says things rashly, he cuts Sam where he knows it’ll hurt.

DEAN Slippery slope, brother. Just wait and see. Because it's gonna get darker and darker, and God knows where it ends.… If I didn't you know... I would wanna hunt you.… tell me. If it's so terrific... then why'd you lie about it to me? Why did an angel tell me to stop you? … Cas said that if I don't stop you, he will. See what that means, Sam? That means that God doesn't want you doing this. So, are you just gonna stand there and tell me everything is all good?

And he succeeds, he hurts Sam because he feels hurt. Honestly, I think that this is less about what Sam is doing and more about the fact that he kept it a secret from Dean. I’ve talked before about how Dean rarely lies to the people who are important to him, and although both brothers have kept secrets from each other before, it was never about something this big, or this scary. John was the one who kept secrets, but Dean always knew that he and Sam would have each other’s backs. So, to find out that his brother had been lying cut him really deeply.

However, throughout the episode there are little moments where it feels like Dean is trying … to apologize, in a way? Trying to act like their just good brothers who didn’t have a hurtful argument just a few hours before: Some examples

Playful teasing like he normally does

TRAVIS You still a.. oh, what was it... a mathlete? SAM No. DEAN Yep, sure is.

When Travis is offended that Sam felt the need to do further research and not just trust Travis’s experience (it’s more teasing but he’s also trying to protect Sam from having to defend himself to Travis).

DEAN Sam loves research. He does.

Also, when Sam says he doesn’t want to talk Dean tries to playfully tease him again

SAM Look, if it's all the same... I'd really rather not talk about it. DEAN Wait a minute. What? You don't want to talk? You?

And I think there’s a few more instances like that, with subtle little signs of affection that show that Dean is trying to get things back to normal with Sam, although Sam reacts to all of these a little stiffly, because he’s not ready for things to be back to normal.

(Also, and this continues throughout the season, all of these instances are Dean remembering Sam as his nerdy little brother, poking fun at things that he sees as Sam’s defining attributes, but Sam isn’t the nerdy, emotional kid that Dean wants him to be. He’s tired, with harder edges and he doesn’t really want to be seen as the mathlete, research loving, emotional little brother. So, Dean’s attempts at brotherly bonding fall flat.)

But, he’s also a little passive aggressive:

SAM I should have told you. I'm sorry. DEAN You've been saying that a lot lately, Sam. But whatever. You don't want to tell me, you don't have to. It's fine.

…

TRAVIS John would have been damn proud of you. Sticking together like this. DEAN Yeah. Yeah, we're as thick as thieves. Nothing more important than family.

Then, because Dean’s not an idiot and he knows his brother and he can see the parallels to 01x14 as clearly as we can, he tries to bring it up. This is actually pretty big, because we know that Dean is not big on talking about feelings, so the fact that he is the one trying to open up a conversation about this stuff shows that he really does care about how Sam is feeling. I think he’s aware that he made a pretty deep cut at the beginning of the episode and he really is trying to fix it the best way he can (he just sucks at it). Which brings a heartbreaking monologue from Sam that we’ll discuss in a moment.

And then, to Dean’s credit, he tries it Sam’s way, much like he did in 01x14 and 02x03, despite his belief that they should shoot first and ask questions later, he stands down, tries to talk it out with Jack first. This, to me, was the biggest sign that Dean didn’t mean what he had said at the beginning of the episode. Because if he had lost trust in Sam, if he truly believed that Sam deserved to be hunted, he would not have even tried to have this conversation with Jack.

And I think he understands what it means to Sam that they failed, that Jack gave in to his impulses and that Travis died (largely because they didn’t take the preventative measure that Travis suggested). Dean knows that Sam is seeing this all as a metaphor and he sees how much it hurts him. 

2. Now, Sam’s emotional journey throughout the episode:

At the beginning, with Ruby, he seems to be happy and proud of himself. He didn’t get a headache this time! They saved the vessel! Everything is going well. Until Dean ruins everything with his controlling, paranoid, attitude.

SAM I'm pulling demons out of innocent people. DEAN Use the knife! SAM The knife kills the victim! What I do, most of them survive! Look, I've saved more people in the last five months than we save in a year. DEAN That what Ruby want you to think? Huh? Kind of like the way she tricked you into using your powers? Slippery slope, brother. Just wait and see. Because it's gonna get darker and darker, and God knows where it ends. SAM I'm not gonna let it go too far.

And this is one of the things I really hate because Dean proves to be right, in the end, even though he’s the one acting irrational and jumping to conclusions, while Sam has some really good points! But it’s whatever…

And then Dean says something that shakes Sam to his core.

DEAN If I didn't you know... I would wanna hunt you.

If it's so terrific … Why did an angel tell me to stop you? … Cas said that if I don't stop you, he will. See what that means, Sam? That means that God doesn't want you doing this. So, are you just gonna stand there and tell me everything is all good?

This feels especially cruel coming from Dean, who’s never even believed in God, who insults every angel he meets. He has no reverence for heaven or their plan, so he only brings it up knowing that Sam has faith in God. Knowing that it will mean something to him, and scare him into stopping.

So, now Dean has effectively called Sam both a monster and a sinner (without using the exact words but that’s what he said) and the two of them have to shove that aside, not deal with it, and go hunt a man who has monster genetics and works as a perfect metaphor for what Sam is going through.

(I see you Chuck, and I hate you)

Sam sees himself in Jack, yes, but he also has an intrinsic belief that people are basically good. That, given the choice, people will choose to be kind and decent, and not give in to their evil nature. I like to think that, even if he hadn’t been struggling with his own “monster” nature, he would have fought to give Jack a chance.

However, Dean pokes at the problem and Sam explodes

SAM Stop the car or I will! … You want to know why I've been lying to you, Dean? Because of crap like this. … The way you talk to me, the way you look at me like I'm a freak … You know, or even worse, like I'm an idiot! Like I don't know the difference between right and wrong! DEAN Do you know the difference, Sam? I mean, you've been kind of strolling a dark road lately. SAM You have no idea what I'm going through. None. DEAN Then enlighten me! SAM I've got demon blood in me, Dean! This disease pumping through my veins, and I can't ever rip it out or scrub it clean! I'm a whole new level of freak! And I'm just trying to take this - this curse... and make something good out of it. Because I have to.

(Every time that Sam yells I find it very therapeutic. Like YAASS QUEEN tell them how it is!)

We haven’t really heard the word freak for a while. It was a recurring theme throughout the first 2 seasons, but it was mostly dropped in season 3. Here it is again, twice, reminding us that Sam’s always been afraid of being a freak, of being different.

At the end of the episode, Dean finally, actually says the words “I’m sorry” (I haven’t checked but I bet you could count on 2 hands the number of times Dean says those words throughout the entire series). But Sam doesn’t want to have a heart to heart about it.

DEAN Sam, I wanna tell you I'm sorry. I've been kind of hard on you lately. SAM Don't worry about it, Dean. DEAN It's just that your, uh, your psychic thing, it scares the crap out of me. SAM Look, if it's all the same... I'd really rather not talk about it. … There's nothing more to say. I can't keep explaining myself to you. I can't make you understand … Because this thing, this blood, it's not in you the way it's in me. It's just something I got to deal with. DEAN Not alone.

And exactly when Dean says “not alone” the camera cuts to a shot of Sam looking out the window, staring at his own reflection, showing us that, despite what Dean is saying, Sam really is alone in this.

But ... the events of the day have been enough to convince him not to use his powers. After all, if Jack couldn’t fight off his monstrous nature, who’s to say that Sam can?

[orionsangel86]

13x01 - Episode Review - Part 2

"Nougat Winchester” and narrative mirrors in 13x01

It has taken me forever to finish this part of my review to the extent that we have already had another episode before I finished it! But rather than curse my inability to focus I’m gonna press on and complete this before I start my 13x02 review.

Ah Jack, Jack our little nougat Jack. The way the fandom has embraced you is very touching. The internet screams of “PROTECT HIM” certainly show that Alexander Calvert has done an exceptional job of “pulling a Misha” and making us fall in love with him by the end of his first scene. I was not expecting that one bit. 

I’ll be honest and say that over the hiatus I haven’t paid too much attention to him. I did read some of the meta and speculation that @tinkdw and others put out there, but it was never really something I focused my thoughts on. I figured he would be another character that would test the team free will dynamic and would be a good avenue for the writers to comment on the concepts of nature vs nurture. I remember reading some speculation once the episode titles first came out about “The Scorpion and the Frog” and anyone who knows that story knows very well that the title itself foreshadows Jack going darkside – to his own potential destruction. (The scorpion, in carrying out its own “nature” and stinging the frog that carried it – not only doomed the frog, but doomed itself as well.)

Jack has officially won me over though. He was a charming innocent and funny character, and I think his interactions with Clark brought a lot of light to an otherwise terribly angsty and painfully heart breaking episode. (#bringbackClark2k17)

But what really blew me away was how both Jack AND Clark were such OBVIOUS mirrors for Dean and Cas and to a lesser extent to Sam. It amused me to no end. Therefore this review will focus on those mirrors, and what they mean. 

Long post under the cut

Jack is a narrative mirror of Team Free Will

This is the important thing to remember. He is all of them, and will have aspects of all them characterised into his personality as we continue to get to know the character in the coming episodes. 

I am sure that there are already thousands of words of meta on this topic (since I’m over a week late to the game) but I’m gonna throw my hat in the ring anyway.

The most obvious mirror we get from Jack is for Castiel. I have said already that Castiel was all over every single scene of 13x01. That Dabb didn’t want the audience forgetting him for a second. (thank you Dabb you wonderful man). I have already seen the many gifsets floating around comparing all of Jack’s “Cas” moments to the original famous Cas moments in the show - and we know that this carries over into episode 2 as well. 

Firstly, we can see immediately in the way Jack is dressed that he is coded as a Cas mirror:

Look at the tan jacket, the pale blue shirt, visually he is already a mini Cas. Remember they could have dressed him in ANYTHING. They chose a tan Jacket and pale blues. They chose these colours because this show has a visual library and certain things always mean certain things. Put someone in a tan coat or jacket and they are a Cas mirror. This is how these things work. 

(the bulls horns hand symbol does however have Lucifer connotations which ties him to his biological father whether he likes it or not - but more on that when I go on about signs and symbols).

Probably the most “Cas” like moment in this episode was this one:

(x)

Poor baby is just as literal as his dad:

(x)

But there are many more. The constant confused expression for starts:

(I’m still waiting for the moment he actually does the head tilt as we all know it’s coming)

The scene with the candy was delightful - and gave him the fandom pet name of “Nougat Winchester” which I have stolen from Lizzy as my new tag for him because its so fitting.

(and we like you sweetheart)

(on that note - I did find it interesting that Jack isn’t able to answer the Sheriff when she asks him for a last name. Surely he knows his mother’s name was Kline? Why didn’t he give her that? We were all calling him “Jack Kline” over hiatus, but now it doesn’t seem like its the case - personally I think this is because he will indeed get “adopted” as a Winchester and will use the surname at some point in future - probably in front of Lucifer causing a hell of a lot of anger. God knows the show has pointed out enough times over the past season that Castiel is a Winchester - leading to mainstream media giving him the last name:

Why yes I did add my destiel adjacent quiz results to meta about Jack. I have no regrets. :P

Anyway, as I was saying Jack is a huge Cas mirror, and his adorably gluttonous love of candy was a call back to:

Perhaps we can once again talk about angels and addiction and how this may affect Jack? Because they really don’t have the self control that human’s do (even though Cas was affected by famine at this particular moment).

So why is Jack a mirror for Cas? Well this is probably the first clue:

I screamed the first time I watched this moment. I think we all expected it to remain subtextual. We all know that this season will explore the role of fatherhood and how it affects each character, but this was so much more than we were expecting. Jack is a Cas mirror because he has majorly imprinted on Cas from the womb. He is first and foremost a Cas mirror because Cas is on his mind from the moment of his birth, and this reveal confirms it. Every question of “Father?” that he says so ominously in the first part of the episode is directed at Castiel. It is Castiel he was looking for, not Lucifer. 

I did say that Castiel was in every second of this episode, forcing the audience to continuously remember him and his importance - and this moment made me jump for joy. 

The way the episode continuously plays with the audiences expectations is really interesting. They want us to assume the worst of Jack, but each time he surprises us by delighting us with some adorable Cas like thing. Jack says “I’m hungry” and we are supposed to feel uneasy about that because just 2 seasons ago we had another very hungry powerful child who fulfilled her hunger by eating human souls. We are supposed to worry about Clark in that moment, and to follow the Sheriff down the darkened halls and flickering lights terrified of what Jack has done - but he is sitting there cross legged on the floor with Clarke surrounded by candy wrappers and proclaiming how much he likes nougat. Its a lovely moment and it forces the audience to change their minds completely. 

When Jack reveals that he thinks Cas is his father, our reaction is much the same as Sam’s, but we fall for him just like Sam does, and it sets the season up nicely because for once the audience is NOT supposed to be on Dean’s side here. (I’ll talk about this more in my review of episode 2 where it is more relevant but basically, we are supposed to feel sorry for Dean because we know that he isn’t seeing things clearly. We are supposed to root for Jack and be on Sam’s side in all this, and to see Dean as a character shrouded in a deep grief and anger)

I love that they made it textual that Cas is the father. (major flashbacks to 11x06 right now though)

“Jenny, he is not ready to be a father!”

I’ll continue jumping for joy over this as the season goes forward, but for now I want to talk about how Jack is also a mirror for Dean. Because he is and it again, wasn’t subtle. 

(x)

A young boy on a quest to find his father, to have to accept the death of his mother right at the start, and who is forced to grow up far quicker than he should? Yeah that sounds about right. 

Whilst Dean and Jack seem at odds with each other from the start, they are both set up as mirrors in their joint grief for Castiel. That heart wrenching moment at the end of the episode where Dean is wrapping Castiel’s body for the pyre comes only moments after we get to see Jack’s own grief for his mother so touchingly portrayed as a grip to her covered foot. Both Dean and Jack are only shown touching the feet of those they lost, there is probably some deep symbolic meaning to that linked to Christ and washing the feet of his disciples or something but I’ll leave that meta to someone far more versed in bible lore than me. 

We know that in episode 2 the Dean parallels get much stronger, with Dean being the second Winchester (after Cas) that he imprints upon. I’ll talk about this in my episode 2 review, and instead leave this here. Jack is Dean for his grief, and his ties to humanity, and how he has been robbed of his childhood. I am interested to see how they go about keeping Jack innocent. He is in the body of a man, but his mind is still so childlike. I hope that he becomes a symbol for Dean’s own innocence in a theme started in 12x11. 

Finally, the one touched on the least in episode 1 but probably the most significant to Jack’s own arc going forward - Jack as a mirror for Sam.

What so far is probably the least obvious in terms of mirror’s is actually the most obvious in terms of story lines. There is a reason Sam so desperately wants to believe in Jack, believe that he is good and can do good things. Because Sam has been in this situation himself. 

Sam’s entire early series arc was about fighting the darkness inside himself, fighting against his own dark powers that came from a place of evil, and resisting Lucifer’s pull. Sam’s been there. So of course Sam is rooting for the kid. Sam and Jack have the biggest connection in terms of their connection to Lucifer. Sam immediately tries to see things through Jack’s point of view. Yes, he’s not as tied down with grief and anger as Dean is - Sam hasn’t just lost the love of his life (though the deancas parallels to SamJess are very strong throughout 12x23 and 13x01 as well).

Sam still has hope, because he see’s himself in Jack. He knows he managed to resist that dark power, and he has faith that Jack can to. I expect the Sam/Jack mirrors to come through far more strongly in episode 3 when we see them interacting together without Dean there to cause conflict, so it will be interesting if we get to delve more into Sam’s past and trauma this season, as it’s about time the show focused on his issues around Lucifer.

Clark as the exposition for Cas’s return... among other things

I could talk for hours about Jack and everything he stands for, but right now I just need to add this about Clark, because boy did he pull focus. In an episode so heavy with grief and full of reminders of Castiel as well as establishing Jack into the audiences mind, Clark comes out of no where and almost steals the show (almost). 

When we are introduced to Clark only 5 minutes into the episode, he is mucking around with the menu changing every item into something ‘butt’ related. I could meta on this but tbh its so very on the nose that I don’t think it’s needed. You all know exactly what Burgers and Butts are making us think of. Its juvenile but its hilarious (my personal favourite is the salty butt combo - a bit of salt is a good thing especially in destiel fandom!).

So skipping past those obvious jokes, what interests me most about Clark is this:

“He’s fired me like seven times... and I keep coming back.”

Look at this face! Dark hair, Blue eyes, extremely charming? Hello Cas mirror!

also:

4x22 - Killed by Raphael

5x22 - Killed by Lucifer

7x01 - Killed by returning the souls (Dean thought he was dead before he healed himself)

7x02 - Killed by Leviathan

8x02 - Left for dead in Purgatory

9x03 - Killed by April

12x23 - Killed by Lucifer

At this point in the show, Dean has watched Cas “die” seven times. I don’t think the above was an accident. 

The fact that Clark then says “Around here, I’m untouchable” is kind of hilarious. Since Clark later gets stabbed with an angel blade - AND SURVIVES.

However for the rest of the episode, Clark is so much more of a Dean mirror, to Jack’s Cas mirror. Clark shows Jack his humanity. He makes Jack happy enough for his powers to make the lights flicker (honestly if this doesn’t make the whole grace orgasm blowing out the lights head canon real I don’t know what does). He feeds him candy, jokes around with him, and is generally such a playful and charming character that we can’t quite help but associate him with Dean.

I love how Clark’s mum the Sheriff tells the police officer that “There’s no such thing as weird, everyone is normal in their own way” because isn’t that just a massive shout out to anyone who is slightly ‘different’? All of us who identify with this show about the ‘weird’ things because we are a little bit weird ourselves? Whose to say what is normal and whats not? 

What I love about this line is that it backs up my claim that the show is trying to prepare the audience in a way for things they may not expect... especially the part of the audience that watches for macho men, guns and death - the Republicans, the dudebros, the right wingers, the assholes who think that to fit in in this world you have to fit into some idealistic little box. Well, believe me this show has a few surprises in line for those people. I can’t wait for it to all come to a head.

Team Free Will 

Ultimately, what 13x01 has shown us is that Jack is a combination of ALL of team free will. He is his own person of course, but he shares elements and traits with all of them. I think it’s so fitting that so soon after Dean’s memorable speech to Cas in 12x19:

“You, Me, and Sam, We’re just better together. So now that you’re back, lets go Team Free Will”

In which Dean brought this term back for the first time in canon since it was used in 5x13, do we now have a character who is the embodiment of all three of them. For me, it seems that this was intentional and that Dean’s words really were the truth - that once Cas comes back, all three of them will be able to save Jack from himself, along with any other nastiness that comes their way. It is my absolute belief that the moral of season 13 will be that Dean, Sam and Cas need each other, and need to work together in order to defeat whatever evil comes their way. Jack is proof of that. How he mirrors all three of them, and is at this point in time, internally divided:

He has Cas’s innocence, naivety and endearing curious nature, as well as his angelic power.

He has Dean’s humanity, his desire to be good, and a need to reach out to people and bond with them.

He has Sam’s inner darkness, linked to his emotions and leading him to question his own monstrous nature. His struggle between his own inner good and evil. 

When these three sides of him conflict, it will cause problems. Just like how conflict between Dean, Sam and Cas is usually the primary cause of disaster in the supernatural universe. Jack’s fate, and his ability to control himself and his opposing sides, is intrinsically tied to Team Free Will themselves coming together and actually working as a team once again. 

And I bloody well can’t wait to watch this story play out.