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TV Spoilers & Speculation Corner: 1/11/11

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  • January 11, 2011
This entry is part 2 of 26 in the series Spoilers 2011: Part 1

Spoilers 2011: Part 1

This week, we have spoilers from V and Supernatural:

V (Tuesday nights, 9pm, ABC)
By Silvia Moreno-Garcia

The description for next episode is: “Serpent’s Tooth: For the first time in 15 years, Diana and Anna face off; Erica makes a discovery when she has Tyler’s blood analyzed,” and this website has previews for the show.

There is a picture of the aliens, without their human skin, floating around the Net.

An interview with Elizabeth Mitchell. Not much new, except it seems likely her character will have a love story developing with Father Jack or Hobbs. Or both.

An interview with the actor playing Chad reveals much ado about nothing (since we already know he has become a member of the Resistance), except for a mention of his father. Any bets it’s Marc Singer?

Signing off with my usual mantra: Death to Tyler!

Supernatural (Friday nights, 9pm, CW)
By Paula R. Stiles

Late update: Jim Beaver has been tweeting about some big, upcoming news: “Big, great news brewing at Supernatural. I’m not supposed to say anything but I can’t help mys–” Everyone is naturally speculating that he means the show has gotten a renewal for season seven. Since it’s about the time for early renewals on the CW and Beaver’s already stated that the return of Jeffrey Dean Morgan is unlikely, that’s a good guess. Naturally, he then clammed up and claimed he was afeared that Sera Gamble would get mad at him. ‘Cause he’s a tease.

There was a wee burst of spoilers this week and the first week of a year wouldn’t be complete without a wank war. I felt a bit sorry for this guy (and said so, even though I didn’t agree with him). Maybe what he said was harshly-worded, but it was a critique of Jared Padalecki’s work and not Padalecki. Also, regardless of how people took it, responding like whackjobs did not help the cause of many fans. And death threats? After what happened this past weekend in Arizona? Really? Can we at least try for some kind of moderation in thought and conduct? Because, bottom line, Supernatural is a TV show and if contrary politics is not an appropriate reason to threaten people, having a contrary opinion about a fictional TV show is definitely not an appropriate reason. Chill the hell out.

Movin’ on to happier things, there are photos up for 6.12, showing Dean and Bobby getting snockered together while doing research (I see the show has not forgotten that both Dean and Bobby are functional alcoholics), Sam and Dean discussing a broken sword like the one we see Dean shoving in (or pulling out) in the promo, Sam and Dean interviewing someone while posing as FBI agents, young girls locked in a cage (not lovin’ this recurring “Hot Chicks in Cages” motif the show seems to have going this season), and Sam and Dean discovering a dragon’s hoard of gold (Remember that photo from last week? Like that and some more).

There’s also a synopsis for 6.12 that is equal parts confusing, intriguing, repetitive and non-sequitur-y:

“DEATH RETURNS FOR A MEETING WITH DEAN – Dean (Jensen Ackles) and Bobby (Jim Beaver) anxiously wait for Sam (Jared Padalecki) to wake up to see if Death (guest star Julian Richings) was able to restore his soul without causing Sam to lose his mind. Meanwhile, Dean and Bobby investigate a disappearance of virgins and discover dragons are behind the kidnappings. Bobby sends Dean to a doctor who owns the only weapon in the world that can slay a dragon, but Dean must prove himself worthy enough to take it. Phil Sgriccia directed the episode written by Adam Glass (##612).”

Note that Death is mentioned in the summary but not in the actual synopsis. Will he be an important part of the episode, or will he just appear as the episode starts up where 6.11 left off, and then snap shut his bag and depart with a cheery wave? I’m hoping for the former, because that would be one more check in the balance of Death’s “hiring” Dean actually coming to mean something at some point. Besides, free of Lucifer’s annoying leash, Death is lots of fun.

Also, it looks as though we’ll finally get to see Sam doing some sleeping. Am I the only one who is relieved by this turn of events? One of the creepiest things about Sam has been his tendency to go sneaking off to do nefarious things while Dean slept. Plus, after a year of not sleeping (which never made any sense to me, anyway), the boy could use some. I think we can all agree that he’s not likely to wake up insane, so that’s a non-twist.

As for the sword…ah, the sword. It would be so much fun to see Dean doing an Arthur and getting a little Excalibur action. Dean…sharp objects…where was I? Oh, right. Anyhoo, I just hope the writers don’t find a way to screw this up. I’m lookin’ at you, Mr. “Let’s tell some fairy and short-people jokes at Dean’s expense” Edlund.

In casting news, it looks as though we’ll be getting lots more of both Jim Beaver and Sebastian Roché. Beaver tweeted last week that he was reading the script for 6.16 (and loving it) and that he’d be in some four more episodes in a row. I’m assuming there’s an “at least” in there, since there are seven more episodes after 6.15, not four. Meanwhile, Roché is scheduled to be in “several” episodes in the second half of the season.

It’s difficult to tell from Beaver’s info what will be going on with Bobby, as Bobby is essentially an unofficial regular at this point. His excitement over the 6.16 script could mean that it’s Bobbycentric…or maybe not (Edit: He tweeted a few hours ago that he’s in “every scene this ep”. So, 6.16 sounds pretty Bobbycentric).

Roché is somewhat more of a surprise, as Balthazar was starting to shape up to be the Anna of season six. Looks like he’ll have a bigger role than Evil Exposition Angel, after all. Again, it’s really subject to speculation what he’ll be up to, but it will surely have something to do with Castiel and the War in Heaven. And his meeting with Sambot in 6.11 dropped heavy-anvil hints that Balthazar is gunning for Dean, but too afraid to take Dean head-on. Is this because Balthazar is afraid of Castiel (or losing Castiel’s friendship, which seems pretty lost, anyway), or because he’s afraid of Dean himself? I’m leaning toward the latter (too much personal animosity there for it just to be a jealousy issue), with Balthazar having been busy doing his research on the elder Winchester and formulating plans to hurt Dean badly. Remember that 6.12 is also supposedly the episode where we find out why the MOTWs are so out of whack (something to do with the earth being off its axis. Oy, the screwy astronomical concepts on this show). Gee, I wonder if that will tie into all the many things Dean did for a year to bring Sam back (mentioned once in 6.01)? The many sorcerous, necromantic things?

In the cracky, alternate-universe episode, we will see characters named after three of the executive producers (Kripke, Gamble and Singer), according to EW, but they will be played by actors. I’m guessing that’s because there will be a fair bit of interaction with these characters, so having the producers play themselves isn’t an option. Author and director cameos aren’t unknown (Castle seems fond of the former), but they only work well in brief doses. If actual major plot points turn on them, it’s best to cast actors to play those roles. Misha Collins will also be in the episode but not Jim Beaver (no explanation why for this odd omission).

Ask Kristin has yet another non-spoiler, though this one’s not quite as calorie-free as usual:

“Drewski: On Supernatural, will Sam ever become a nice guy? And what is Castiel dealing with up in heaven?
AK: Yes, Sam will. And I’m told to be patient re: Castiel, that is something we will find out!”

Admittedly, that’s not exactly news when it comes to Castiel (We’ll find out what he’s been hinting about Heaven’s war? Ya don’t say…), but I hope the spoiler about Sam becoming “a nice guy” again pans out. I noticed that before 6.11, the spoilers all acted coy about whether Sam would ever change back and now, suddenly, we’re being assured that oh, yes, he’ll be a nice guy again. I’m not sure if this was intended to mask the twist-that-wasn’t about Sambot going bye-bye at the end of 6.11, or whether the writers clued in that fans are a little tired of Sambot. Guess we’ll see.

They’ve cast the role of Andy (one of the psykids from season two) in the Supernatural anime series. Funny, I’d thought this season of it was already filmed. I guess not?

Finally, ratings for the 6.09 repeat were pretty good at 1.24 million, up against the Cotton Bowl on Fox. Nikita‘s ratings in comparison were not much better (in a better time slot), especially compared to the Supernatural repeat that aired last year at the same time.

We’ll be back next week with more spoilers. Stay tuned and check out our reviews of V and Supernatural.

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11 Comments

  1. Jessica says:
    January 11, 2011 at 9:45 am

    Paula, I didn’t read that article about Jared Padalecki, but it saddens me to hear the report on some of the comments. Agree or not, and like I said, I didn’t read it so I don’t know, there is no reason for hatred and death threats. Flippant or not, things like that have to be taken very seriously these days. Sometimes I think people get too caught up and too worked up. But, I digress.

    I’m relieved at the prospect of seeing Sam sleep as well, I can’t say that he seems to get enough even when he was souled. And I really do wonder why there were never any (obvious) physical repercussions for all the sleep he hasn’t done in the past over a year now.

    Also, I think you’re right. There’s probably going to be repercussions for Dean with the deal that Sam made with Balthazar.

  2. Charlie says:
    January 11, 2011 at 3:41 pm

    Paula, this is my first visit here and I’m loving your article. It’s witty and funny (and yes…Dean and ehem …sharp objects…)

  3. Paula R. Stiles says:
    January 11, 2011 at 4:34 pm

    Thanks, Charlie! Glad you’re enjoying the spoilers column.

    Hi Jessica. Happy New Year!

    I didn’t agree with a lot of the guy’s statements (Personally, I like Ackles’ work from before SPN, I think Padalecki is a decent actor let down by writing that doesn’t play to his strengths, and the author of the article has a lot more faith in the writing than I do). But I also thought he made an effort to explain his point of view and put forward his arguments. And even if he had been an unprofessional jerk, that didn’t justify some of the idiotic rants he got in response. I agree that people get waaaaaayyy too invested.

    Sleeping seems to be a major motif in the show. In seasons one and two, Sam had insomnia and bad, prophetic dreams. In season four, Dean at first slept constantly and had horrific dreams about Hell, which graduated to chronic insomnia and functional alcoholism in seasons five and six. Now, we have Sambot never sleeping and what’s the first thing Sam does when his soul comes back? Sleeps.

    Considering that the deal-breaker of the season-five plot (Death) was introduced in the last episode before the Christmas break, and Sam and Lucifer met face to face for the first time, I’m wondering if we are supposed to see more meaning in Death and Dean’s conversation at the end of 6.11. I mean, if Death is accusing Dean of such gross cosmic disruption, wouldn’t he also expect Dean to correct it? Wouldn’t that imply that Dean is possibly the cause behind what’s been going on this season and he simply doesn’t realize it?

  4. Charlie says:
    January 11, 2011 at 4:46 pm

    OK. Me again. I’ve just read a few of your recaps. I think I love you…mmm, I mean I’ll be coming back.

  5. shamangrrl says:
    January 11, 2011 at 7:49 pm

    Gee, I wonder if that will tie into all the many things Dean did for a year to bring Sam back (mentioned once in 6.01)? The many sorcerous, necromantic things?

    Well, I gotta disagree with you on this one, Paula. I really hope the writers don’t make Dean the cause of everything. I’m as over Dean being Show scapegoat as I am over Soulless!Blameless!Destiny’sBitch!Sam. I’m ready for a little character growth, for both characters, although I don’t think it’s going to happen. And everything I’ve heard regarding episode spoilers has yet to thrill me. The meta episode spoilers are actually making me nauseous.

    I’m interested in Castiel and the war, and I’m trying to be hopeful regarding Balthazar. It would be great if the writers could create another great character, and we seem to be at a loss for a big bad. I’m not really seeing Balty as BigBad material – he’s a little too Eurotrash for me, but who knows. Maybe it’s all a clever ruse, and he was working with Crowley. Only time will tell.

    • Paula R. Stiles says:
      January 11, 2011 at 8:03 pm

      I honestly don’t get why people think that making Dean the prime mover of the plot is a bad thing. Dean is a character who balances constantly between dark and light and obviously has a huge effect on the SPNverse. But making him All About Sam has been the main thing retarding his growth. If it turns out that he becomes aware of his power to create chaos and moves to correct it, that would make him the Hero of the new storyline.

      In Sam’s uberplot, Sam actually lost power by being absolved all the time and being declared “innocent” by the writers. Why? Because being innocent eventually meant being a pawn and not in control of his own life, let alone the universe around him, and the end result was his becoming Lucifer’s vessel. If the writers have Dean continue to take responsibility for actions and events around him, he will go in the opposite direction. The curious thing about Dean taking responsibility for these things is that by doing so, he gains control over them, he owns them. And that makes for a good Dean story.

  6. madcap says:
    January 13, 2011 at 8:30 pm

    “If the writers have Dean continue to take responsibility for actions and events around him, he will go in the opposite direction. The curious thing about Dean taking responsibility for these things is that by doing so, he gains control over them, he owns them. And that makes for a good Dean story.”

    On a different show, I would agree with you but not on Kripke and Gamble’s Supernatural.

    Dean took blame and responsibility for all sorts of things for five years and at the end he still had no control over anything except driving the Impala to the graveyard and then watching Sam belly flop into a giant plothole. Meanwhile all of Dean’s suffering was dismissed and has been downgraded even more substantially this season. Hurt with no comfort has become utterly painful to watch for me.

    So I’m with those who prefer to not have more blood put on Dean’s hands in order whitewash Sam because there is no guarantee that he will be given a true redemption. As it is robo Sam story guarantees that we’ve got another shoddy redemption arc in the works for Sam.

    • Paula R. Stiles says:
      January 13, 2011 at 9:21 pm

      Unfortunately, the argument that Sambot’s storyline is the new uberplot requires near-total amnesia about the first six (and half of the seventh) episodes of the season. Those were Deancentric and they were also about the real uberplot, which involves the alphas and Purgatory. Just because Sambot’s soul storyline is linked to the alpha/Purgatory uberplot does not *make* it the uberplot. And yes, that is different from the previous five seasons. In the previous five seasons, Dean had his own storylines and they did have connections to the uberplot, but from the beginning, Sam was the Hero of the demon plot. It’s just that as Dean became such a prominent character, some fans began to hope (and believe) that Dean had an equal role.

      This season is different. Sam hasn’t even been in this season so far. No Sam. That was Sambot and he is now “dead”. The Sam that’s come back may have a tangential connection to the uberplot (just as Dean did to the demon uberplot in previous seasons), but he can’t be directly linked. How can he? It hasn’t been his story for eleven episodes. So what if he gets a redemption storyline? He needs redemption. And as long as he’s in the story, he’s going to need something to do.

      I get it. “Swan Song” sucked. I didn’t like it, either. But that was one episode and this isn’t season five. It’s season six. And we are only halfway through it. I refuse to white-knuckle through the rest of it just because the writers *might* make the same bait-and-switch mistake again (Have we forgotten that the first four season finales were all Dean-heavy and did not suck?). Especially when this season has been pretty Dean-heavy, to the point where it’s almost “Sam who?” sometimes. This is not a bad show. It’s not even close to bad. Seriously, if Caprica and Stargate: Universe had managed to maintain the ratings and half the level of quality of this show, they’d still be on.

      As for Dark Dean, I got into this show because I love me some Dark Dean. He is in control of himself and his surroundings the most when he is treading the line. I think the biggest mistake the writers made with him was to act as if he were the “normal” brother, the “nice” one. Give me a break! Dean’s an unstable alcoholic who hits people who tell him home truths and kills anyone he deems a monster. He’s the show’s resident MOTW. So, when the show tried to act as though Sam were the dark one, the angry one, it didn’t work for me. Because Sam is about as scary as an angry Smurf. And the show already has its resident much-loved psycho.

      Realistically, I think this show is always going to go with protagonists who start out as “good guys”, go dark and then redeem themselves. I don’t know that the writers can (or want to) do anything differently with their obsession with the campbellian journey at this point. So, if Dean is going dark, and getting blood on his hands (again), that’s an excellent sign that he is the new Hero of the new uberplot, and that is not a bad thing for Dean fans at all.

  7. madcap says:
    January 13, 2011 at 11:50 pm

    I appreciate your optimism Paula but I won’t believe there is going to be a real and tangible pay-off for Dean until I actually see it. I respect that you choose not to watch the show that way but I feel that I’ve been burned enough by this show that I see no reason to have faith now, especially after these last 5 or 6 episodes and given the spoilers that I’ve seen for the next few.

    Perhaps you can explain to me how those first 6 or 7 episodes directly tied Dean to the uberplot, because I’m not seeing it. Yes he’s there and yes Death has asked him to keep investigating and if that leads to Dean having a unique role, great. But right now, I don’t see him being relevant to it at all except that he was drawn in because of Sam’s connection to the Campbells and Crowley. He’s still largely a bystander from what I can tell.

    Swan Song did suck but I disagree that it can be so easily dismissed as just one episode. It was the culmination of the previous five years of plot and character development that led absolutely nowhere for Dean in my opinion.

    What was the message that Kripe wanted us to get for his character? That Dean finally learned to love Sam enough to go to the graveyard and sacrifice himself? That Sam’s powers were cool and good? All of that retconned his previous development of learning that he did matter and that Sam wasn’t the be all and end all of Dean’s life, that he did have a line in the sand when it came to his family. Yet, except for the first couple of episodes this season and the occasional chat with Lisa, all we’ve seen for Dean this season is an extension of the “lessons” he learned at the end of season 5 and not any of the hard-won development prior to that, which got tossed into Lucifer’s plothole.

    Maybe that will change now that Sam has regained his soul, but I sincerely doubt it since Dean has Sam’s drywall to worry about and Sam’s guilt and Sam’s hair and whatever else he is going to be emoing over.

    I also disagree that just because Sam’s soul wasn’t housed in his body that this season has not been primarily about Sam. Dean may have been the POV character but his entire focus was on Sam in whatever form and by extension so was Cas’ when he was on screen and even Bobby’s at Dean’s insistence. None of this is really any different from the previous five seasons which were also ultimately all about Sam and his destiny with Dean along for the ride and to provide the audience POV.

    I think Sam’s soul is being set up to be the key to unlocking the alpha/purgatory mystery. The show loves nothing better than to tell us just how super-special and shiny Sam is.

    And don’t even get me started on what a soul actually is in this universe. I still don’t know. When Dean was hanging with Tessa, was that his soul or was that his spirit? Are they the same thing and if so, why does Dean’s soul look like Jensen Ackles while Sam’s is a shiny blob? Dean was dead on the table, so why has Sam been wondering around without his soul for a year banging prostitutes and not sleeping? If the writers cannot or will not answer these fundamental questions half-way through the season, then IMO, that is bad story-telling.

    ****”…but from the beginning, Sam was the Hero of the demon plot. It’s just that as Dean became such a prominent character, some fans began to hope (and believe) that Dean had an equal role.”****

    But were we wrong to believe that when the show pretended this was the case, at least in season 4 and the first three-quarters of season 5? The bait and switch didn’t happen until the last three episodes of season 5 when new elements were introduced and almost the entire previous two seasons of Dean’s story were just left hanging.

    I recall even you had some great theories about Dean’s role in the story, none of which IIRC, pegged him as the secondary, passive character that he ended up being in the end.

    ****”As for Dark Dean, I got into this show because I love me some Dark Dean. He is in control of himself and his surroundings the most when he is treading the line. I think the biggest mistake the writers made with him was to act as if he were the “normal” brother, the “nice” one. Give me a break! Dean’s an unstable alcoholic who hits people who tell him home truths and kills anyone he deems a monster. He’s the show’s resident MOTW. So, when the show tried to act as though Sam were the dark one, the angry one, it didn’t work for me. Because Sam is about as scary as an angry Smurf. And the show already has its resident much-loved psycho.”****

    I don’t have a problem with Dark Dean in theory and ITA that Sam didn’t work as a dark character, mostly because I don’t think JP was ever able to master being a genuine badass. But for Dean, again it comes back to the writing and I’m sorry but I do think these writers have lost their way since about the middle of season 5.

    Since then, whenever they made Dean go darkish, they have never given him a mini-redemption that has been satisfying to me and usually these arcs are set up to make Dean wrong and Sam right about whatever those issues are.

    They turned him into a torturer in Hell and how did that ultimately pay out — he stood around watching his brother, his angel and his almost-Dad slit the throats of demon hosts so they could collect blood to fuel Sam. He helped his brother trap and murder the demon who had killed Jessica (another huge and confounding retcon that made no sense to me, BTW.) This, from the guy who had fought against the idea of revenge for its own sake, who worried about how far he would go for his family. Well he went pretty damned far and he never came back. This season he was working for a demon in order to get Sam’s soul back. So much for the moral compass or being the guy in charge. Nope, when push came to shove, once again it was Sam calling the shots and Dean following along. Sure he was right about Grandpa but is the show going to have him kill his own Grandfather? Maybe, but personally I would rather not see that unless Samuel is in danger of restarting the apocalypse or something equally dire. If he actually does kill Gramps for revenge, that would be pretty dark. But then so much for his being the one Winchester who isn’t driven by vengeance and wouldn’t that be a form of patricide which pollutes the body and makes it uninhabitable for a soul? Would that send him back to Hell? How does Dark Dean in that scenario, remain heroic?

    Dark Dean, as presented in The End, wasn’t in control. He was played by Lucifer, he lost his humanity and he got his neck stepped on for his troubles. Present Dean’s lesson: go running back to Sam and then start apologizing and taking responsibility for whatever blame Sam threw at him. Maybe that was a redemption of sorts for Dean, but I found it patently unfair to the character. He had legitimate reasons to distrust Sam and was never given a satisfying reason to rebuild that trust. Sam taking him to rescue Adam was a step but even then, Dean apologized for being such a meanie for locking him in the panic room to stop him from giving in to his addiction to Ruby and for being too bossy. Again a totally unfair parallel drawn between the brothers to, I believe, “prove” who was the better man.

    Even the spiral into PTSD and depression, that led to him almost saying yes to Michael, was undercut because in the end, his ability to say no to Michael meant nothing. So what if he killed Zachariah? They still had Adam waiting in the wings so Dean’s big “no” was inconsequential because it didn’t change anything in terms of the outcome of the angel arc except to allow him to be able to drive the Impala to the graveyard where he could get beaten to a pulp. Thank God Sam had some residual affection for that toy soldier ‘cuz otherwise we’d be stuck with JP’s Samifer and that would have been even more annoying that soulless Sam.

    Sorry didn’t mean to go on such an extended rant, but I just am not seeing how this season is any different from the previous 5 years of the story of Sam and his brother who gets him out of jams once in a while but when push comes to shove, isn’t the guy that matters all that much one way or another. As of right now, Dean is only in the story because the story is about his brother and his shiny, hideously tortured soul.

    If I’m wrong about this, great. I’ll happily admit it and swallow my cap. But these writers have certain patterns that I have learned to recognize and from what I can see, they are not deviating from them much at all.

  8. Paula R. Stiles says:
    January 14, 2011 at 1:11 am

    Simply put, I don’t see any reason to watch a show where I’m dreading what comes next. I watch a fair number of shows casually, but it’s been a good decade since I watched more than a couple of shows as seriously as I do Supernatural (I’ve always tended toward genre in the sense of SF, fantasy, horror and mystery. I like reading romance from time to time, but I’m not a huge fan of watching it most of the time. I like comedies, but lately, only movies or comedy within otherwise-dramatic shows). So, if I’m not getting what I want, I’m going to start to lose interest.

    Plus, as a life-long Trekkie, I’m well aware of how negative fan attitudes can kill your interest in a show, when otherwise, you might have gone on watching it happily enough. I get a kick out of reading TwoP, and it’s good to get a chance to vent, but I do think that sometimes (as on any board), people can get into a mindset that we in Templar History Land call “circular reasoning”. This occurs when people talk about a speculation or opinion on an ambiguous or controversial subject for so long that they start to treat it as a fact and start building entire arguments based on this “fact”. Like the “fact” that Dean has been screwed over as a character or the “fact” that season six sucks. Both are opinions. Strongly-held ones, to be sure, and with many arguments on both sides, but still just opinions.

    Now, this does not mean that I dislike you or anybody else coming over here and getting depressed over Dean, or disagreeing with me, or whatever (I’m a big girl. Contrary opinions don’t scare me). As long as you’re polite about it and keep it clean, you can have any opinion you want and you can express it as many times as you want. Deangirls, Samgirls, Bobbygirls, MishaMinions, Impala-porn fans, you’re all welcome. And I’ll be happy to chat with you as my schedule and inclination allow.

    But I’m not going to participate in the show hate going on because I really can’t. I could just about tolerate writing a thousand words per week reviews after I’d gone off a show, but there’s no way in hell I could write six or seven thousand words per week about a show if I didn’t really love it. Especially not with all the other stuff I have to do in a week.

    Case in point–Caprica. Nothing helps me appreciate Supernatural like reviewing a show that has potential, but squanders it the way Caprica did. While I did start to like some of the characters in the end, I really disliked some others and those others, unfortunately, were front and center in the plot. Sam on his worst day is not nearly as annoying a Mary Sue as Zoe Graystone on her best. Yet, she was the central character on the show and all others had to stand in awe of her greatness. As though the writers had not watched Smallville and learned from the disaster that was Lana Lang.

    Now, to your main thing about why I think Dean is the Hero of this new uberplot (Gotta keep it short as possible, because I have two SPN reviews to get back to): the writers have said outright that they are fans of Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey as a template for storytelling (I don’t agree that’s the only way to tell a story, but I do like Campbell). In that template, the Hero goes through several stages of story. Now, while it is true that the Hero must go through Hell/the Underworld at some point (like Sam getting out of Hell), keep in mind that Dean has already done that and that this is not how the Journey begins. The Journey begins when the Hero is called out onto the journey (often dragged or booted out). So, we see Sam called out by Dean in the Pilot. In campbellian terms, the person doing the calling is *never* the Hero. You can make that person the Hero in other types of stories, but not using a campbellian structure.

    Incidentally, this also means that in a campbellian story, the first recurring character that you meet at any length is usually (though not always) the Hero. And the first person we met at any length in season six was Dean. Plus, the story (as it has been in the past) was from his POV.

    So, season five was stated (many times) to be the end of a complete story. Season six is a new story and was referred to as a “sequel” at one point. Often in sequels, especially if the Hero’s campbellian journey ended in the previous story, there is a new Hero with a new journey. Sam’s journey ended last season. So, in order to find out the new Hero, we need to look at who got dragged out onto the road this time, not the one who was dragged out in the Pilot (because that’s no longer relevant). It wasn’t Sam. It was Dean.

    In season one, Sam asked all the questions. Dean felt they should do whatever their father wanted without question and that they should just kill the MOTWs and ask questions about them later. In season six, their roles were reversed–Dean asked all the questions; Sambot didn’t give a crap. More to the point, Sambot was stupid, dumber than Dean has ever been. Nobody that dumb can be the Hero unless he’s stumbling onto a *lot* of things and Sambot wasn’t stumbling onto anything without Dean’s help.

    I really don’t get why people think that Sam is superspecial this season. Yes, yes, he was superspecial in the previous seasons. But this is a new story. In this new story, Grandpa Shady only used Sambot to get Dean back into hunting. It turned out that Crowley was pulling Grandpa Shady’s strings to make that happen. Neither one gave a damn about Sam, either soul or body. Balthazar is happy to help Sambot simply to screw Dean–that is to say, big words about hunting down angels or not, Sambot is not seen as any kind of threat by any of the angels this season. They’re all pretty much laughing at him. Laughing at Dean? Not so much.

    Castiel made it abundantly clear that he doesn’t give a crap about Sam in any form, but he’ll come down from Heaven just to pour Dean a drink. Bobby admitted that Dean is his favourite. Lisa doesn’t even want Sam around because she thinks he’s a drag on that otherwise-awesome man of hers. Death wants Dean to work for him, and is willing to use Sam’s soul as bait, but can’t even be bothered to specify which brother Dean wants (He lets Dean choose between Sam and Adam) and when he “hires” Dean as the detective, scarcely mentions Sam. Sam’s not going to be Death’s detective. Sam *could* have been included in that conversation, but Death only “hired” Dean.

    Sam could conceivably disappear from the season and not be missed. In fact, Sam *did* disappear from the season and was not missed until episode seven. And then, only Dean cared. Nobody in the story cares if the “real” Sam is in the hole or not and they’re not much fussed about what his soulless body does, either. But they all care a *lot* about Dean, what Dean’s doing, where Dean is. Will Sam and his soul have a role in the storyline? I sure hope so. He needs to have some purpose. But Dean got to shoot the Colt off a lot and he didn’t end up being the Hero of the previous five seasons.

    The Hero is the most active character who is also the focus of the other characters. In season six, that’s Dean not Sam.

  9. madcap says:
    January 14, 2011 at 11:02 pm

    I would love it if you are right about Dean being the Campbellian hero in this arc or even just the hero in the noir detective sense. But in order to have faith that this is where Sera Gamble is going, I would have to believe that the writers view Dean and Sam as equal protagonists and I really just don’t anymore.

    Between the the way the episodes have played out since the reveal about Sam’s soul and how it has been tortured more than anyone ever in the history of universe. Not to mention a number of other dropped plot points this season alone, which I am too tired to get into right now, and the promo posters pushing Sam front and center, it feels like they are making an even more concerted effort to define who their hero is and to me it feels like Sam with Dean once again being slightly secondary.

    ****”The Hero is the most active character who is also the focus of the other characters.” ****

    The argument could be made that Dean has always been the more active character in the sense that he is responsible for his own actions while Sam has always been the cosmic, blameless victim and that Dean has always had stronger connections to other characters. But in the end, Sam was the primary hero and sole saviour in Kripke’s story. So again that isn’t a guarantee that Dean will get the chance to shine this time around under Gamble.

    I’ve seen it been said that Supernatural is Sam’s story as seen through Dean’s eyes and I think this is pretty much it. But Sam himself, or his demon storyline, was never as compelling to me as the stand-alone episodes or Dean’s secondary angel arc which ended with Point of No Return, and not in a satisfactory way in my opinion.

    I came into this season severely disillusioned with the show and its writers. At first it seemed like things were moving in a different direction but by episode 6, it was back to Sam, Sam, Sam and what is wrong with him this time, how he falls and then redeems himself yet again, this year. That may work for some people, but it just bores and annoys me now and feels painfully repetitious. As you said, there is no point watching a show if you dread what is coming instead of looking forward to it.

    I will dvr a couple more episodes to see if they actually do move beyond the fixation with Sam and his shiny, tortured soul but I am already pretty much out the door at this point.