Sam stood up to Dean for Jack.
Sam defended Jack and called Dean out for that conversation at the end of 13x02.
Sam bringing up his powers, his destiny (boyking!sam), and how Dean protected/didn’t give up completely/didn’t put down Sam.
That scene happened tonight.
Those last five minutes watered my crops and tiled the soil. I’m living.
The harsh truth, though, is that Sam has NOT been the exception to Dean’s emotional and physical violence. He’s been the focus of it. And Dean, Sam, and canon have never dealt with that. And they need to.
Or rather, they’ve dealt with it by lying about it. Dean, and Sam, and canon.
That won’t change, of course. But that’s going to leave what they do with Sam and Dean’s relationship, and with the other relationships built in tandem or parallel to it, fundamentally dishonest.
Until Sam and Dean both have an utterly horrified realization that Sam being grateful to Dean for not murdering him is FUCKED THE FUCKING HELL UP, progress is not going to happen.
And until the show stops treating it as OK for Dean to be judge, jury, and executioner as long as he’s a merciful judge and jury and an executioner who stays his hand, the show’s vision is still going to be horrific to me. They’ve got Dean lodged in a position of power in such fundamental, invisible ways that I don’t think they know how to think outside that box.
