Episode Thought...

[ht_murray]

Not a review for SPN 5.12, but a little bit of irony that someone else has probably already mentioned. But seeing as how I don't really pay attention to episode reactions, I claim to have come up with it on my own.



Sam said that Gary's life sucked. And I think he meant it, at that point. Yet, I'd bet money that when Sam was Gary's age, he was the man with the plan, who spent all his time obsessing over grades and SAT prep and getting into college. Sam, at Gary's age, probably would've given his left arm to have the support system Gary had.

Sam, at Sam's age, says Gary's life sucked. Either that's to convince Dean he doesn't want that anymore, it's because he's a little jealous of Gary and calling sour grapes, or he really has completely flipped perspective. I kinda believe, based on the way Dean was portrayed to have changed his world view in the episode, that the latter is what we're supposed to believe.

So, no, I don't think this episode was a waste of air time, and I don't think it had no point. I think that now, both boys have established that they can see the world from the other's perspective. Dean's now seeing it the way Sam used to, and Sam's now seeing it the way Dean always did. Sure, they're still on opposite ends of the spectrum, but now they have established common ground, empathy. They're just not standing on it yet.

Comments

[starry-ice.livejournal.com]

I totally agree. When they had the conversation at the very end, I was like, this is the same conversation from Bugs but in reverse. I look forward to them standing on that common ground.. eventually.

[ewanspotter.livejournal.com]

Thanks for pointing this out. It actually makes the episode a little better for me. (Not that I hated it or anything, it was just... there.)

[unplugged32.livejournal.com]

I love you for finding something positive in the ep when lots of people seem to be talking about jumping ship:(

{{squishes}}

[gatorgrrrl.livejournal.com]

Glad to see you didn't hate it. How refreshing! :o)

I guess I'm in the minority here since I really enjoyed the episode. (Okay, so there were nitpicky details that kinda bugged me, but the overall episode I thought was good.) The whole perspective switch, I think, has been happening for a while, especially since "Jump the Shark." That's the episode where we really started to see Dean and Sam really do a 180 with their world views.

I also agree that Sam's judging Gary's life through the eyes of a jaded hunter and not through the eyes of someone who would've killed to have had Gary's family when he was 17.

My two cents.

[x5vale.livejournal.com]

Very interesting point and I agree to some extent.

I just think Dean hasn't changed his mind on hunting. I think now he does it on new basis and reasons. He has learned to question the life he lives and the choices he makes.

I like you layouT!

[almightyspaz.livejournal.com]

You make a good point. It was something to learn (though I felt like I knew Sam had turned his back on normal potential when he started going horizontal with Ruby but thats just me). I hate body swap eps. Though there wasn't much swapping. I'm pretty sure in order to count as a body swap the actors have to play the other character for more then five minutes. But I could be wrong.

BTW, I love your LJ background.

[fufaraw]

Yeah, I agree with you on the flipped perspective. I'm less sure that they're aware thats what's happened.