14x20 | Moriah

There’d have been a lot more weight to this scene if Dean hadn’t been perfectly willing to resurrect Mary with dark necromancy magic from the Book of the Damned just two episodes ago.

Except this is actually more likely to trigger Dean’s “it’s a TRAP!” instinct because it’s being offered to him. Entities (humans or otherwise) never give Dean anything that isn’t a trap. You can see him examine it, find a few likely traps (maybe more than a few) and say “No”. If it’s something Dean does or can accomplish of his own actions, he often jumps in, but when people offer to do something for him, he gets suspicious. That seems to run right through the series - Dean doesn’t trust anything other than himself and Sam (barring parts of Season 4). He doesn’t even fully trust Castiel. He sure as hell doesn’t trust Chuck/God. 

I’m beginning to get the impression that 99% of the people interacting with this post don’t understand my point, so I’ll try to make it again and hopefully a little more clearly: I am not criticising Dean’s decision. I am not calling it unbelievable. I’m only saying that celebrating it as some sort of moral triumph the way the episode did rings false to me since Sam and Dean were ready to bring back Mary at any cost in Absence - even if it meant resurrecting some sort of killer zombie who feeds on human flesh.

Expecting your audience to go along with the “let’s resurrect everyone no matter what” mentality all season only to then remind them in the season finale that maybe that’s a tad problematic is ridiculous - doubly so if it’s only done for dramatic effect.

So it doesn’t matter if it’s Chuck who makes the offer or Santa Claus, if it’s a trap or not - it’s a serious moral problem that the show has ignored all season.

I wish everyone’s reaction to death on the show wouldn’t be an immediate “Let’s bring him/her back” these days. It’s become ridiculous now, not to mention incredibly irresponsible. And kinda boring.

(And they’ve written themselves into a corner with this, because now Sam, Dean & Co. basically need to at least try to bring back everyone who ever dies or it would look like they don’t care. Perfect example of inflation of importance… soon they’ll be like, “Oh no, I stepped on a bug and it died, we need to bring it back!”)

Not that I want Mary back, but it’s telling that this is the death that couldn’t be reversed, unlike plenty of others this season. Funny how accepting death only ever seems to apply to the female recurring characters.

I actually like it that Dean’s Mary-related flashback was just her sleeping in the car while he drives, instead of something deeper, more personal or meaningful. It faithfully represents the kind of relationship they had ever since Mary came back – Dean cared for her, and loved her (“‘Cause I can’t help it. You’re my mom.”), but there simply was no deeper connection.

Showing a flashback of something like Mary telling Dean she’s proud of him for something he’s done or accomplished, acknowledging him in any way, showing him respect or love or regret over the life he’s had… that’s not who Mary was, at least not with him. And trying to pretend otherwise and somehow “pretty up” their relationship with one final flashback would be ineffectual, unconvincing, and frankly also offending. The audience isn’t so stupid as to be fooled by something like that when all we’ve been shown for the past three seasons is a Mary who is distant, spends time with and gives love and attention to anyone but Dean, with Dean being the one trying to reach out to her, establish a connection, and finally apparently settling with the lukewarm, lacklustre thing they had going on.

Dean’s fondest memory of this new Mary is driving the car and having her lean on his shoulder while she sleeps. I’m sure it wasn’t intentional, but damn, what a perfect representation of the underwhelming nature of their relationship!

Well, it felt slightly less fake than the other flashbacks. But in part that was also due to it being set somewhere during Dean and Mary’s drive in 14x17 last week, I think. Poor Sam’s fake grief beard was so obviously fake...

(Nevertheless, your analysis is spot on, my friend.)

Saying things he knows will make her feel better, even when they’re not true (though considering how little time Mary actually spent around Dean, she has no way of knowing he’s actually a good cook and isn’t nearly as closed off and hard as she is) or when it’s self-praise he would never give himself under normal circumstances.

It’s also the only kind of “we saved the world” speech from the Winchesters I’m willing to accept…

Practically every single conversation Mary and Dean have had this season features Mary forcing Dean in a position where he has to tell her that her treatment of them is a-okay. And while it makes sense that Mary feels the need to hear something that soothes her guilty conscience, it’s remarkable how the latter is apparently never strong enough for her to actually ask Sam or Dean about the things they’ve been through before she came back. Or the things they’ve been through since, for that matter.

LOL they tried so hard to make me care about Mary dying, and I’m over here just…

Look, the fact that they had to retcon all these happy memories with Mary, rather than using actual clips, just shows how shallow her relationship with her sons was.

TRUTH.

What’s the protocol when it’s Dean having a Sam related emergency :/

It’s interesting (and frustrating, and unfair… but hey, this is SPN) that when trying to say something nice to Dean, both John and Mary only come up with vague, general “I wish you had a home/family/we spent more family time together” things, but with Sam, it’s “I want you to go to school” and “you were born to be a leader” and “you’re a good man and I’m proud of you”.

Basically, we’re lucky they haven’t sunk as low (yet) as to start telling Dean “I wish one day you’ll find a good husband” and “don’t you worry your pretty head with that, that’s a man’s work”…

The thing is that this makes perfect sense for John, the guy who parentified Dean and turned him into Sam’s substitute mother and John’s substitute wife. (And, incidentally, created a much more traditionally feminine and nurturing version than the dead original.) It’s awful and showcases his inability to see Dean as an actual person, but it makes sense.

With Mary it doesn’t. Sure, there’s her guilt over the deal she made - even though we were assured last season that it’s the best thing she could possibly have done. Mary ruined Sam’s life before it even began, so in order to assuage her guilt, she needs to fit present-day Sam within a success narrative. 

But this doesn’t explain why she pushes the home/family angle with Dean. One can hardly say that this is something she picked up from how Sam or Cas treat Dean, since she hasn’t been around enough to make any such observation.

So it’s just weird and vaguely infuriating.

I just realized we should be really, really worried about Sam right now. Ever since Michael broke out of Dean’s head and massacred the people at the bunker, Sam hasn’t asked Dean about how he feels, he hasn’t pressured Dean into talking about his trauma, let alone deal with it the way Sam sees fit. Not once. Hell, it doesn’t even seem like Sam is aware Dean might actually be going through a hard time after all that’s happened to him at all.

No nagging, no meddling… just nothing. And that’s not like Sam at all.

Which means that Jack didn’t succeed at killing Michael and Sam has been possessed since the end of 14x14. Or, that Nick succeeded in breaking Lucifer out of the Empty, but then Lucifer snubbed him in favour of some extra leg room.

Either way, we should be really worried.

Maybe Dean will catch on eventually because “Sam” suddenly begins talking about *his* feelings?

It was a big relief to me when Sam made the entire Nick thing all about him - that proves he’s himself after all.

I’m not so sure about Mary, though - her sudden willingness to play hovering worried mom as well as her unexpected discovery of ethical principles seemed like a strong indicator that she is Michael’s latest vessel. Or soulless. Or both. Who even knows anymore what the difference is.

14.13 Lebanon