Season Two

2x01 In My Time of Dying

• Dean wants Sam to find a supernatural quick-fix to prevent his death. this is a marked difference from 1x12 Faith, where he was actively opposed to Sam looking for a way to save him
  • what changed? Sam and Dean chose codependency in 1x22 Devil’s Trap. it’s possible that because Sam chose Dean through an act of absolute devotion, Dean now feels wanted and therefore has reason to live
  • it’s also possible that he wants to stay alive to make good on his promise to Sam in 1x14 Nightmare. he has to be there to look out for Sam so that Sam can feel safe and secure
  • Dean “my brother... he could die without me”
    • Dean feels like he is Sam’s protector. this more or less confirms that he feels like he needs to be there for Sam now to look out for him, compared to 1x12 Faith where he thought Sam would be all right without him (what changed? 1x14 Nightmare and the introduction of Sam’s destiny)
  • Dean “there’s no such thing as an honorable death”
    • Dean’s value is in being alive: when did this change? compare 1x12 Faith, 2x22 All Hell Breaks Loose, Part Two. he’s fine with dying both before and after this moment
    • so is it just lip service? what does Dean really believe? he was fine with dying in faith because he felt abandoned and he had no reason or purpose to live. he’s fine with dying in all hell breaks loose because he’s doing it to save Sam: he honors his codependency and his brother (or thinks he is, but really he’s following his fate)
    • this death is neither of those—it’s a pointless death; there is no benefit or honor in it. rather, it is itself abandonment of Sam, and by leaving him he would be reneging on their acts of devotion and newfound codependency. abandonment is his greatest fear
• tessa pretends to be an innocent to get through to Dean: Dean is moved by saving people. she says “it’s out of my control; it’s fate” trying to persuade him to think the Same way

• Sam “tell me if they’re okay! [...] are they even alive?!”
  • Sam is angry about the potential of Dean and John being dead. he’s concerned about his family to his own direct detriment, since he is disregarding his safety in order to check on them
• Sam can hear Dean as a ghost, but he’s not aware of it
• in 1x22 Devil’s Trap, Sam was singularly focused on his revenge, but now he cares more about Dean than his revenge. he chose Dean as his permanent home in devil’s trap (1x01 Pilot) over jessica and his revenge. it mirrors the woman in white, who is killed by her return to her family—and consider 2x21 All Hell Breaks Loose, Part One, where Sam dies because he’s focused on running back to Dean and therefore not paying attention to jake when he’s stabbed
  • as always, returning to the family is the wrong choice
• Sam “if there’s just one working part [on the impala], that’s enough. we’re not just gonna give up”
  • the impala is a symbol again, but this time the impala represents Dean—Sam’s home. Dean sees the impala as John, but Sam only sees Dean. the meaning of the car is shifting as we enter season 2, and by episode 3 both of them understand that the impala is a symbol of Dean (Sam’s home)
  • Sam can’t give up on the impala because he can’t give up on Dean
• the fight between Sam and John when Sam accuses John of lying to him parallels their fight in 1x20 Dead Man’s Blood: their fights are cyclical, especially because John refuses to change
  • Sam defending Dean mirrors dead man’s blood when he speaks on Dean’s behalf there, too
  • John “you begged me to be part of this hunt”
    • but now Sam has chosen Dean and abandoned his revenge—at least for now. once John dies, Sam falls back onto the path to his fate
• John “if you’d killed that thing when you had the chance, none of this would have happened”
  • compare 1x12 Faith, where Dean thinks he shouldn’t be alive and blames Sam for meddling in his affairs. once again it’s Sam’s actions, choosing family (choosing Dean), which caused a worse fate—family is ruin
• Dean “you haven’t called a soul for help”
  • because John is going to sacrifice his revenge to save Dean. he’s giving Dean what he wants by abandoning his quest for revenge, but he’s being secretive about it so neither Sam nor Dean know this
  • Dean strays further from The Family and therefore closer to Sam. he perceives John’s inaction as betrayal and abandonment, but he sees that Sam won’t abandon him and so he clings to him instead, strengthening their codependency
• Sam hears Dean more clearly: possibly because tensions are heightened and he’s worried about Dean. Dean draws out his powers, ironically since he also opposes Sam’s fate
  • Sam starts spitting off questions when communicating through the ouija board. when Dean says “one question at a time, dude,” Sam slows down and focuses on one question at a time. it’s possible he heard Dean speaking, albeit imperceptibly
  • it’s possible that if Sam fully embraced his power, he might be able to perceive Dean and see and hear his ghost
• Sam “we were just starting to be brothers again”
  • Sam has returned home by choosing Dean. his use of “again” can imply that they had a similar level of codependency before Sam left for stanford, and so this toxic dynamic is actually Sam’s innate ideal for his relationship with Dean
    • this would subvert 1x01 Pilot and portray instead jessica as the seducer, Sam cheating on Dean by leaving home
  • compare 1x16 Shadow Dean “i want us to be a family again”

• John lies about knowing “anything” about Azazel’s plans for Sam
  • Sam’s name was on the paper in 1x21 Salvation next to the dark figure (presumably Azazel) and the colt. John Winchester’s journal also mentions suspicions of Sam’s nature. and at the end of the episode, he tells Dean he has to save Sam or kill him
  • why does he lie? John didn’t want Dean to tell Sam about his last wishes either—perhaps he believes ignorance is safer for Sam. it’s then possible that he’s kept Sam distant and excluded his whole life for that Same reason
    • especially since hunting turns someone into a monster, by keeping Sam away from hunting, especially the physical aspects of it, he’s preventing Sam from turning into a monster. Azazel wants Sam to hunt to awaken his powers, and John does not want Sam to hunt because he wants Sam to have a normal, safe life—preventing Sam from hunting is saving him, and Sam only learned to hunt out of necessity to protect himself. this could be why Dean was allowed to know about monsters from an early age, but Sam was sheltered until he was nine years old and disallowed from really actively participating in many hunts, mostly relegated to research roles
      • this is possibly also why John never told Sam much about mary, since her death was connected to Azazel and therefore his destiny too
    • compare east of eden, page 448: “when the first innocence is gone, you can’t stop—unless you’re a hypocrite or a fool.”

• John tells Dean to look out for Sam: save him or kill him. this sets up the season’s conflict—this time it’s Dean who has to make a choice, not Sam
  • season 1: which home will Sam return to?
  • season 2: will Dean save or kill Sam?
  • both conflicts are given to them at the very end of the first episode. Sam’s is given to him by his lover, jessica, and his father, Azazel. that Dean is given his conflict by John implies that John is both Dean’s father and his lover

• John is prepared to do the Azazel summoning ritual even before Sam updates him about Dean’s condition. he knew Dean was dying and made preparations to deal with it himself by giving Azazel the colt—this is why he’s secretive about what he’s doing, because he’s worried Sam will dissuade him from his plan
  • this is also why he discourages Sam from doing anything, and why he says Sam should prepare for Dean’s death—Sam meddling might fuck up his plan to give up the colt and ruin his chance to save Dean
  • he checks on Dean before asking about the colt: he’s making sure this is necessary and that he’s not rushing headlong into an avoidable situation
  • Dean persuaded both Sam and John to abandon their revenge in 1x22 Devil’s Trap. family is more important than revenge; the collective is more important than the individual. the good of the many outweighs the good of the one
    • again this is the wrong choice. Azazel gets the gun, which invites more destruction. the correct choice was to let Dean die and let tessa do her work: family is ruin
• Sam “dad, are you all right?” John “yeah”
  • John is at peace with his decision to die to revive Dean. compare 2x22 All Hell Breaks Loose, Part Two: Dean gives Sam the Same smile that John gives them here
    • but compare 3x10 Dream a Little Dream of Me: Dean is not at peace with his decision to die, even though he tries to be
  • John dies at peace and therefore righteous. he has accepted his lot. he made the right choice by giving up on revenge, but also by making the selfish decision to die for his son (2x08 Crossroad Blues). he chooses neither family nor fate and as a result removes himself from the narrative through death. this makes him the righteous man elligible for breaking the first seal. because he’s at peace, though, he will not break the seal
    • by sacrificing himself, he chooses both correct options presented in season 1: revenge is meaningless (1x02 Wendigo, 1x05 Bloody Mary, 1x07 Hook Man, 1x14 Nightmare, 1x15 The Benders) and family is ruinous (1x11 Scarecrow, 1x12 Faith, 1x15 The Benders, 1x16 Shadow, 1x20 Dead Man’s Blood). he abandoned both revenge and family for the greater good
    • this would imply that Dean becomes a righteous man because of his sacrifice for Sam in 2x22 All Hell Breaks Loose, Part Two. he abandons the family (Sam) and makes the correct choice. he becomes the righteous man through his selfish decision
      • but he is unstable and not at peace the way John is, thanks to Sam’s influence, so he inevitably breaks under torture because he believes he doesn’t deserve to die. he succumbs to his fate because he can’t remove himself from the narrative

• bobby recognizes the spell components that John wants to summon Azazel, so he realizes that John lied to Sam and knows what John is going to do. this exchange implies that Sam and Dean are not knowledgeable about spellcraft
• Dean forgets everything that happened while he was nearly dead. most of this episode is erased from his memory
  • compare to 2x14 Born under a Bad Sign, where Sam is not present or awake for the majority of the episode

2x02 Everybody Loves a Clown

• Sam asks if John said anything to Dean—and Dean lies and says no because John asked him not to tell Sam
  • Dean is trying to honor John’s last wishes, possibly out of guilt. in doing so, he is recreating the lies that John himself told Sam in 2x01 In My Time of Dying when Sam asked John if he knew anything about his fate—Dean spends the first half of the season trying to give himself to his duty, suppress himself and his growing attachment to Sam in order to carry out the duty John gave him. it’s only in 2x09 Croatoan that he gives up on this conviction to harden himself and instead gives himself over to Sam entirely
  • John really doesn’t want Sam to know about his curse: why? it could be that ignorance protects Sam, or that it makes him easier to manipulate and control. he could feel guilty that Sam is burdened with the curse and is trying to fix it himself without getting Sam involved. the most likely reason is that John believes ignorance will keep Sam safe because he can’t pursue a destiny he knows nothing about (allegedly)
• Sam interprets Dean’s anger as grief: it’s both, but predominantly anger about the burden John pushed onto him and the guilt that John sacrificed himself for him. Dean uses humor to deflect and distract from his pain
• Dean “we’re all right” ellen “really? i know how close you and your dad were” Dean “really, lady, i’m fine”
  • Dean gets aggressive to shut down the conversation. he does not want to talk about John’s death or confront his own feelings because he’s conflicted and also possibly because they’re unacceptable to have about a recently deceased parent
  • he specifically gets angry after ellen suggests he and John were close. but Dean has been betrayed and abandoned by his father and hasn’t felt secure with him since before 1x16 Shadow (really not since 1x04 Phantom Traveler). this implies that he’s angry about this betrayal
  • Dean is also simultaneously struggling with John’s last wish: it’s another betrayal because it insinuates Dean will have to turn away from his family and kill Sam. the choice Dean has to make in season 2 mirrors that of Sam’s in season 1: revenge VS family, duty VS family
    • revenge = lucifer
    • duty = michael
• Dean does not hit on jo because of his conflict, anger, and grief regarding John
  • this is also just a week or so after he chose codependency with Sam, and Dean is conflicted because of that codependency. it hints at a desire for monogamy with Sam: he can’t fuck other girls while he’s insecure about his relationship with Sam
• Dean does not want to talk about John. he displaces his feelings onto Sam—he can’t cope with what John did for him and what John burdened him with, so he can’t cope with Sam regarding John positively
  • if Sam had continued to be hateful toward John after his death, this might have helped Dean feel secure and loved enough to be honest with him. but because he feels betrayed, he doesn’t trust that Sam will respond to the truth in a way that validates Dean’s feelings
    • it’s probable that Dean hasn’t perceived Sam’s change in how he views John over season 1, so he sees Sam’s declaration as a sudden and inexplicable development. he feels betrayed, especially after they were supposed to have achieved codependency
• Dean bashes the impala with a crowbar. the impala represents John, and Dean is lashing out at him. he puts a hole through the metal

• Sam offers to go on the clown hunt even though he’s afraid of clowns. he’s doing this to try and get Dean to open up about John and get him out of his funk so they can return to normal—he’s exhibiting self-sacrificing behavior for Dean’s sake
  • this could be a consequence of his codependency, since he is rather self-serving in season 1. Dean is special now so he’s willing to do something he’s uncomfortable with just to bring Dean closer to him again
  • it could also be an act of penance out of his guilt toward John’s death. he is upset he didn’t get to fully resolve his relationship issues with John before his death, and he didn’t get to say goodbye. he’s also displaced his own desire to hunt onto John, turning him into a symbol: he feels he needs to hunt to redeem himself in John’s eyes, thinking that’s what John would want from him, but this is an erroneous conclusion because the desire to hunt is intrinsic to him and John did not want him to hunt

• Sam “don’t you want revenge?”
  • Sam is naturally inclined to revenge: he is angry and wants retribution for his suffering. however, revenge is meaningless
  • Dean does not want revenge and never did. he was parroting John at the beginning of season 1 and by 1x16 Shadow he has come to fear the revenge instead
  • Sam had given up on his revenge quest by choosing Dean in 1x22 Devil’s Trap, but old habits die hard and fate is clinging to him. this line indicates that Sam’s fate has not yet been overcome and it’s still pulling at him, and it’s another warning sign that Sam may yet go down Azazel’s path
• cooper “this place is a refuge for outcasts, for folks who don’t fit in”
  • the camera lingers on Sam and Dean, implying they too are outcasts who don’t fit in
  • the circus resembles hunter society: hunters are also isolated from society at large, and they are treated as freaks, weird, abnormal, unwated. hunters leave behind their normative lives and stop trying to fit in in order to pursue monster hunting
    • cooper “he was in the business. ran a freakshow. ‘til they outlawed them, most places. apparently displaying the deformed isn’t dignified. so most of the performers went from honest work to rotting in hospitals and asylums.” compare this to martin in Sam, Interrupted, who has checked himself into an asylum after being traumatized hunting
  • cooper “but you two... you should go to school”
    • this is what John wanted for them (Sam) (1x20 Dead Man’s Blood). this line implies that they still have the opportunity to get out of the hunting life and return to society, especially now that John is dead. they can abandon their fates altogether and pursue normalcy. in a way, cooper is the voice of John in this scene
  • Sam “we don’t want to go to school. we don’t want normal. we want this”
    • Sam has chosen Dean and therefore hunting. he does not want to return to school
    • this is a double-edged sword: hunting leads him down the path to his fate, but hunting is also how he stays with Dean
    • Dean questions this later, believing that Sam has chosen him once and for all. he sounds hopeful when he asks the question. but Sam clarifies that this is what John would have wanted for him—his decision is not about Dean. he is inadvertently choosing his fate over Dean, using John as a symbol for his pursuit of revenge
      • Dean gets aggressive about this because he feels abandoned, and because John is being put on a pedestal again—compare this with his earlier anger at ellen
      • Dean wants direct, verbal confirmation that Sam chose him just like he did in 1x22 Devil’s Trap. he wants to know that they’re on the Same page about their newfound codependency. therefore, Sam’s guilt about John and his attempt to honor his dad’s memory is now seen as a betrayal of Dean
        • Dean has cut John out of his inner circle, so now choosing John is abandoning Dean. John is also the symbol of Dean’s fate which he’s struggling with, just as John was a symbol of Sam’s fate in season 1. pursuing dad is pursuing fate, and Dean is diametrically opposed to Sam’s fate. they can’t coexist
• Dean questions why Sam wants to keep hunting
  • Sam started seeing out hunts in 1x15 The Benders
  • Sam “it’s what dad would have wanted”—he has fully forgiven John, and now he’s trying to honor him to redeem himself for fighting all the time with him and having a broken relationship and not being there to save him. compare 1x08 Bugs, 1x16 Shadow, 1x20 Dead Man’s Blood

• Sam and Dean don’t know about ellen or the roadhouse—John kept both of them ignorant and isolated, their networks small. perhaps this was to keep them out of danger, similarly to why John didn’t tell Sam about his fate. compare John Winchester’s journal when hunters found out about Sam and tried to kill him
  • ellen does know about Sam and Dean, so John’s secrecy only goes one way in this case
• Sam and Dean’s world expands via the roadhouse

2x03 Bloodlust

• bartender “it’s hard to be lonely”
  • Sam and Dean look at each other. Sam smiles and says “that’s not what i meant”—Sam is not lonely with Dean by his side
  • Dean, however, does not smile. this could imply that he’s still insecure about his relationship with Sam, possibly because of John
• Gordon “lighten up Sammy” Sam “he’s the only one who gets to call me that”
  • Sam is still choosing Dean, still choosing codependency
    • Dean reacts to this declaration by calling him “Sammy” every time he mentions Sam for the rest of that conversation. he’s happy about Sam’s commitment and growth and attachment to him
    • also feels like he’s claiming Sam—a mark of ownership and possession over him (via their codependency)
  • if Gordon = Dean, this implies that Sam would not like Dean and would not choose him if Dean had become the perfect ideal of John’s raise. it’s Dean’s respect and trust for Sam and his willingness to include him as an equal that make Dean worthy of Sam’s codependent attachment. Dean choosing Sam above everything else (save Sam VS kill Sam) makes him worthy of Sam’s love
• Sam doesn’t celebrate killing the vampire: compare 1x14 Nightmare and beyond. Sam is trying to be good and avoid becoming like max. he also has no natural inclination to hunting, or rather he wasn’t the chance to embrace it that Dean was
  • however, this is the first time he’s actually been uncomfortable with killing monsters. this could be due to Dean’s role in the hunt: he was excessively violent and cruel—he was acting like Gordon, like the Ideal Dean
    • Dean leaning in Gordon’s direction is leaning away from Sam: a Dean who favors Gordon is a Dean who kills his brother. choosing Gordon means abandoning Sam
    • Dean’s conflict is represented as Gordon VS Sam, where Gordon personifies Dean’s sense of duty as a hunter
    • Sam leaves them while Dean chooses to stay with Gordon. it’s a test to see where Dean’s loyalties lie, and Dean fails
      • now that Dean has accepted John’s death (after “killing” him in 2x02 Everybody Loves a Clown), he’s trying to find a new guide and master. Gordon is a representation of his ideal, so he latches onto him as someone he can look to in order to harden himself and become the person he’s supposed to be—this is choosing the path of duty, which is the path of killing Sam (see 2x09 Croatoan, where Dean simulates his conflict through duane as a proxy for Sam)
• Dean says he embraced the hunting life at age 16. compare 1x18 Something Wicked, where Dean was 11-12: it took Dean 4-5 years to truly come to terms with hunting as his path in life
  • compare 1x15 The Benders, where Dean mentions he has felt responsible for Sam since he was 4—Dean chose Sam first, and hunting second
    • Gordon chose hunting first, his sister second (by killing her). this is the fundamental difference between them that has shaped them into the people they are currently
    • Dean prioritizing hunting is abandoning Sam
      • kill Sam VS save Sam: Dean will have to put Sam before hunting in order to resolve his conflict
      • compare 2x02 Everybody Loves a Clown: Sam prioritizing hunting is abandoning Dean
• Dean “feels like i have this...” Gordon “hole inside you? just gets bigger and bigger and darker and darker?”
  • Gordon = John = Sam
    • they all know the pain of loss—Dean has not, at least not until now
  • Gordon advocates revenge through hunting, which is what John and Sam did. Gordon is who Dean should have been
  • this exchange confirms that Dean was never intrinsically motivated to pursue revenge and had been simply parroting John and acting as his spokesperson at the start of season 1. Dean is the black sheep not only of his family but of hunters entire: he’s simply putting on a convincing performance
• Dean “if it’s supernatural, we kill it. that’s out job” Sam “no, that’s not our job. our job is hunting evil”
  • compare 1x14 Nightmare and 1x15 The Benders: Sam didn’t want to kill humans because they didn’t match Sam’s definition of monsters, while Dean bases his idea of monstrosity on actions. in this episode, they seemingly flip their stances
  • what changed?
    • John died, and Dean is stranded; Gordon’s influence as a result is strong. Dean also thinks Sam has abandoned him by favoring John, and John has definitely abandoned Dean. Dean therefore has no strong tether to his family, and Dean needs a leader: Sam “[Gordon’s] a substitute for dad”
      • Dean “they’re not human”: indicates that his understanding of monstrosity is shifting toward a black-and-white human VS monster similar to Sam’s in season 1
      • he could also be trying to convince himself that Sam can’t be evil because he’s human. it’s a desperate attempt to resolve his conflict: see 2x05 Simon Said
    • Sam is starting to think that humans can be evil because he thinks he’s bound by fate to become evil. his definition is now sliding more toward action-based monstrosity because of how he views himself. his view of hunting is linked to his view of himself
• Sam “dad’s dead, and he left a hole, and it hurts so bad you can’t take it”
  • he mirrors Gordon’s words, which sets Dean up with two paths to take: what will he do with that hole?
    • follow Gordon: duty, John, fate, kill Sam, become michael’s vessel
    • follow Sam: family, codependency, freedom, save Sam, avert the apocalypse
  • Sam “but you can’t just fill that hole with whoever you want to—that’s an insult to his memory”
    • Dean punches Sam—Sam saying that Dean is insulting John’s memory is his breaking point because John has betrayed Dean, insulted him, disrespected him by pushing the burden of Sam’s fate onto him
    • Sam does not understand how Dean feels (and neither does Gordon) and so he misinterprets Dean’s feelings. at the Same time, he’s not entirely wrong
• Gordon stole their keys: he correctly guessed that Dean would side with Sam—this can be foreshadowing for Dean’s ultimate decision: choosing Sam over his duty (2x09 Croatoan)
• lenore = Sam
  • eli and Gordon are the Same person in different settings
  • lenore reacts negatively to eli’s quest for revenge, while Dean reacted positively when he had a similar conversation with Gordon. this positions Dean and Sam as opposing forces so long as Dean is following Gordon’s lead. lenore therefore gives insight to Sam’s psyche since she parallels the opposition to Gordon’s ideology, which is Sam
  • lenore “i’m not giving up hope”
    • compare this to Sam, who doesn’t want to give up hope that Dean can save him. he wants Dean to choose him and become one entity. even if Dean chooses his duty over Sam, Sam believes Dean can still return to him
  • lenore “if we can change, they can change”
    • compare to 1x14 Nightmare: Sam is trying to change to be good, and he wants Dean to change with him
• Dean only starts acting when Sam is threatened: Dean intrinsically desires to protect Sam, choose Sam. the actual conflict Dean is facing is not duty VS Sam, but rather his poor attempt to pick duty over Sam—his rationality VS his essence. he’s fighting against his nature (protecting Sam) to try and choose his duty (hunting)
  • Gordon reveals that he killed his sister. this parallels Dean’s conflict and John’s last wish for him. this is how Dean makes his decision to oppose Gordon; his nature wins over his logic
  • Gordon and Sam arguing with each other reflects the internal war raging inside Dean
• Dean returns to basing his definition of monstrosity on action. because lenore refuses to drink Sam’s blood, Dean realizes she’s not a monster and makes his decision to side with Sam and protect the vampires. this foreshadows his eventual conclusion (2x09 Croatoan) to pick Sam over his duty.
  • this also implies that Sam can be saved, because lenore resisted her nature to avoid becoming a monster
  • compare Dean’s trepidation in 1x14 Nightmare and 1x15 The Benders
• Dean “i wish we never took this job. it jacked everything up”
  • being forced to acknowledge that some monsters aren’t evil has made Dean’s attempt to suppress his nature harder. his conflict is more difficult to choose between because now he has to acknowledge that Sam might can be saved from his evil, rather than the intrinsic 100% good OR 100% evil Dean wants to believe in. if Dean believes that Sam has the propensity for evil and can be saved, then it’s harder for him to suppress his nature to choose Sam and choose his duty to kill him
  • Dean “the way dad raised us...”
    • he’s directly blaming John for his conflict, and implicitly blaming John for his duty VS Sam conflict as well
    • Dean is a follower. he wants to do as he’s told and not make his own decisions. compare his lack of agency in season 1, where Sam decides his path for him
      • knowing monsters aren’t all evil means that Dean can’t blindly follow orders anymore; he has to think for himself—or let Sam think for him. but for his fate VS family conflict, Sam is the subject of the conflict, so Sam can’t choose for him
        • which is why he tried to use Gordon as a substitute
• Sam “you didn’t [kill her]” Dean “’cause you’re a pain in my ass” Sam “guess i might have to stick around to be a pain in the ass, then”
  • Dean followed Sam and let him lead him
  • Sam is offering to be Dean’s guide and compass
    • Dean thanks him very sincerely. he wants Sam to lead him and tell him what to do because he’s a soldier, not a leader
    • Sam is choosing Dean, a reaffirmation of their codependency. this is the first time (that Dean perceived) he’s verbally confirmed his devotion since 1x22 Devil’s Trap
• Dean not killing lenore is also choosing Sam: they mutually chose each other and reconfirmed their devotion and codependency. like in 1x22 Devil’s Trap, Dean chose Sam first and Sam responded in kind
  • this exchange sets up the partial resolution of 2x04 Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things, where Dean is willing to let Sam in about his guilt about John’s death

• Gordon resists working with them. he’s a lone wolf-type hunter, similar to John (also compare 1x06 Skin when Dean tells Sam that connections are liabilities: Dean was meant to be a lone wolf as well, but failed because of his attachment to Sam)
  • Gordon embodies John’s ideals which were supposed to be passed on to Dean. ergo, Gordon is who Dean should have been
    • but Dean’s codependency prevents this. he can’t sacrifice Sam, so he puts himself at risk despite knowing better. compare 1x11 Scarecrow: family is ruin
• Dean kills the vampire while Sam rescues Gordon: Dean and Gordon are paralleled by focusing on hunting
• ellen says that Gordon is a danger to everyone around him—this is revealing what Dean can become if he goes down the path of fate (see 2x09 Croatoan)
• Gordon encourages black and white hunting
  • Dean “not sure Sammy would agree”
    • Dean acknowledges Sam’s opinion and neglects to mention his own. this seems like a rather calculated and measured response that gets him out of stating his true feelings on the matter
    • his lack of stated opinion can imply that he himself is unsure with how he should handle this topic: should he go down Gordon’s path or Sam’s? he has two options presented to him and he’s struggling to pick between them. duty VS Sam
    • this episode is the middle point of the first mini-arc in season 2 and mirrors 2x02 Everybody Loves a Clown. 2x02 begins with Dean feeling secure in his relationship with Sam only to end up feeling like he’s been abandoned. 2x03 now begins with him feeling abandoned, but Sam reaffirms his devotion to Dean and offers to be his compass and master. 2x04 Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things then begins with Dean submitting to Sam’s will and following after him despite his own reservations, and ends with them resolving one of many issues through Dean’s continued submission to Sam
      • Dean’s hesitation to state his opinion reflects that he’s lacking a foundation which will be filled at the end of the episode by Sam
  • Gordon represents again who Dean should have been—blindly loyal to his duty—and who he can still become if he chooses Gordon as his guide instead of Sam
    • who Dean can become: the michael sword, a weapon—compare 3x10 Dream a Little Dream of Me, where dream Dean calls him “daddy’s blunt little instrument”—Dean has spent his whole life honing himself into a weapon, and it’s only by choosing Sam over his duty (his fate) that he can become a person again
    • much of Dean’s conflict from here on will be about reconciling his idea of good VS evil with the shades of gray in between, primarily with Sam
• Gordon “we were born to do this. it’s in our blood”
  • hunting is Dean’s fate, being a weapon is Dean’s fate, submitting to his duty is Dean’s fate, being michael’s vessel is Dean’s fate
  • compare Sam: his fate is also in his blood, much more literally
• Dean fights Gordon: Dean metaphorically fights John because Gordon represents the ideal of John’s raise, his duty, his fate. John is the symbol for all of it, and Gordon is the placeholder symbol in John’s absence. Dean is fighting the John that thinks Sam should die
• Dean “i might be like you, i might not”
  • represents his internal conflict. he hasn’t yet made a solid decision; he’s still unsure and confused (see 2x09 Croatoan)
  • Sam’s conflict (his nature) was about his home, who he belongs to. Dean’s conflict (his nature) is about what kind of person he is inside. compare Sam’s guilt VS Dean’s shame: the evil is inside of Sam, but Dean is the evil. Sam wants to be purged of his evil, but the evil is inextricable from Dean
    • his conflict is also about who Dean follows, who leads him. Dean wants to be submissive, while Sam wants to be an equal
• Dean looks back at the house where Gordon is tied up, as if reflecting on who he could have become without Sam in his life. his hands are clasped together as if in prayer—or as if begging (for Sam to guide him)

• Dean is elated that the impala is fixed. this is immediately after he destroyed it in 2x02 Everybody Loves a Clown: he got his anger out and could therefore move on
  • he “killed” John by destroying the car, which means John has been put to rest and Dean has accepted his death and can move on. it also signifies that he has truly inherited the impala and it’s become his
  • the impala = home
    • before, the impala signified John, which meant that John = home, but John is no longer Dean’s home. Sam and Dean are creating a new home together
    • this is why Sam associates the impala with Dean, not John (2x01 In My Time of Dying)
  • this episode is the first time Dean refers to the impala as [his] baby
• they’re investigating this case because they caught wind of cattle mutilations. they think it’s related to demons based on John’s research work, and therefore possibly related to Azazel
• Dean “open it” Sam “you open it” Dean “wuss”
  • compare 1x08 Bugs: Sam rises to Dean’s bait in bugs, but not here. this implies Sam is more comfortable going into dark and dirty holes than touching dead bodies and gore. Sam is fine with the shit work (blue collar) but not so much with “gross” things like gore (consider how morticians are typically seen as a respectable, richer position)
    • this can imply that despite Sam’s efforts to fit in with society, he’s more comfortable in his native working class environment
  • Dean doesn’t care either way: he’s versatile and willing to do whatever needs to be done, regardless of ick factor
  • Dean’s willingness to do and touch whatever enables Sam to be picky about what he engages with and grossed out
• Gordon has met John before: “hell of a guy.”
  • he knows that John is dead—he probably got the information from the roadhouse. this implies that word travels fast among hunters. compare 2x10 Hunted: Gordon learns about Sam’s powers from someone at the roadhouse despite neither ellen, jo, nor ash mentioning it to any other hunters
  • Gordon’s assessment of Sam and Dean: “great trackers, good in a tight spot”
    • additional from John in 1x20 Dead Man’s Blood: “you did a good job covering your tracks”
    • Sam proves his great tracking skills by finding the vampire nest even though he was blindfolded when the vampires kidnapped him
• Gordon “you know how hunters like to talk” Dean “no we don’t, actually”
  • John kept Sam and Dean isolated and hidden away from other hunters and their society
  • Dean reacts more strongly to learning about what John hid from them: Sam might be more used to the secrets and lies so considers this par for the course, whereas Dean isn’t accustomed to being kept in the dark. alternatively, his frustration might be exacerbated by his anger at John
• Dean still struggles to talk about John positively, but he is no longer shutting down the conversation completely like he was doing in 2x02 Everybody Loves a Clown. this is probably because he “killed” John last episode and put him to rest
  • he says he can’t talk about John’s death with Sam: he has to stay strong to protect Sam, and John additionally told him not to tell him (duty VS Sam). additionally, Sam is grieving, but Dean is angry. their feelings are incompatible
• Sam gets captured again: compare 1x15 The Benders
• Sam “give me the benefit of the doubt. you owe me that”
  • why? it could be compensation for how closed-off Dean has been. Dean has been acting unfairly (because Sam chose Dean in 1x22 Devil’s Trap and now Dean is suddenly shutting him out, abandoning him), so Dean needs to make it up to Sam for his cruel behavior. this implies that secrets and elusiveness are now considered unfair to Sam, and he wants complete and open honesty with Dean in their codependent relationship
    • compare to 1x05 Bloody Mary: “you’re my brother, and i’d die for you. but there are some things i need to keep to myself”
    • his opinion on secrecy has made a complete flip now that he wants to act as an enmeshed unit with Dean: secrecy is only permissible in distant relationships

2x04 Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things

• Dean doesn’t want to separate from Sam or be alone, so he agrees to go to mary’s grave with him. he’s socially awkward and inept, and he needs Sam as his compass and guide (2x03 Bloodlust). this also speaks to their codependency: if they take different paths (literally), it’s a sign of abandonment
  • Dean concedes to Sam’s judgment and does what he’s told despite not wanting to visit mary’s grave. he is submitting to Sam as his master
• Sam is resistant to this hunt because he assumes that Dean is making things up out of grief to avoid confronting his feelings
  • he tries to be sympathetically firm about his suspicions that there is no hunt here, but because Dean hasn’t told him the truth about his feelings, he misinterprets Dean’s anger as unprocessed grief and fails to get through to him
  • compare to 2x02 Everybody Loves a Clown: again, if Sam had been mad at John after his death, Dean might have felt more secure confiding in him
  • Dean feels betrayed because Sam doesn’t understand him and they’re not on the Same page even though they were supposed to have committed to each other at the end of season 1. Dean leaves Sam after their fight to be alone, even though at the beginning of the episode he was scared to be on his own: this feels like spiteful retaliation for Sam’s perceived abandonment
• Sam wants to help Dean, but Dean won’t let him
  • this is because Sam is the subject of Dean’s conflict: John didn’t want Sam to know about Dean’s duty, so Dean can’t tell him the truth. additionally, he doesn’t trust that Sam will validate his feelings because of how vocal Sam has been about honoring John
    • Dean’s sense of duty to John and Sam honoring John are both working to create a rift between them. they are choosing John over each other, which drives them apart
    • Dean’s conflict: duty VS family
• Sam “...and now i’m gonna lose you too?”
  • Dean is abandoning Sam so long as he adheres to his duty. Sam and John cannot coexist. they are ideological opposites. Dean has to reject John in order to return to Sam (see 2x09 Croatoan, when he does just that)
    • John is Dean’s jessica—incest
• angela “you’re the only one who ever really loved me. i’m with you now. isn’t that what you always wanted?”
  • bringing someone back to life is “proof” of (selfish, self-serving) love. both John and Sam have saved Dean’s life (1x12 Faith, 2x01 In My Time of Dying)—they are the only ones who truly love Dean
  • and now Dean is with Sam. isn’t that what Sam always wanted?

• Sam “[visiting mom’s grave] feels like the right thing to do”
  • compare 2x02 Everybody Loves a Clown, when Sam says “it’s what dad would have wanted”
  • Sam is very concerned with doing what he thinks is the “right” thing—specifically what he thinks his parents (John) would want. he’s trying to honor John’s memory and redeem himself
    • compare 2x11 Playthings: Sam begs Dean to kill him because “dad told you to do it, you have to”
  • he’s deferring to an idealized version of John to honor him, or to try and be “good” similar to his efforts in hunting after 1x14 Nightmare. compare this to Dean’s newfound rebellion against John
• Sam buries John’s dog tags at mary’s grave to honor their memory: “i think dad would have wanted you to have these”

• Dean stares, upset, at a random grave engraved with the words “loving father”
  • he’s angry and resentful toward John, and he’s jealous of people who can love their fathers (aka he’s jealous of Sam)
• Dean “what’s dead should stay dead”
  • thesis statement of season 2, and of Dean in general
  • Dean is paralleled with angela. he feels like he should have died instead of John.
  • neil is therefore paralleled with either Sam or John (could be both and neither simultaneously)
  • Dean thinks angela’s father brought her back because it parallels his experience, but instead it was the guy who loved her (duckie love). Dean blows up at her dad out of his own anger at John, displacing his feelings onto an unrelated third party
• Dean kills angela as if trying to kill himself, with the full force of his rage and grief hammering the stake into her chest
• Dean apologizes to Sam: he chooses Sam over John
  • Dean “he’s your dad, too, and it’s my fault he’s gone”
    • Dean blames himself for John’s death (compare to 1x19 Provenance, Sam blames himself for mary’s death—compare also to their fates: Dean is fated to kill Sam (John), and Sam is fated to kill Dean (mary))
    • he has a deep shame toward himself. he believes his conflict (kill Sam VS save Sam) is his fault because he “killed” John. he can’t be as good or duty-bound as John (see 2x10 Hunted: “but you’re telling me you’re not the man [your dad] is?”), so he can’t resolve this conflict on his own. compare this to 1x18 Something Wicked: he can’t trust himself to make his own decisions
    • also compare 1x12 Faith: Dean blames himself for being alive
• Dean “what could you possibly say to make it all right?”
  • he sounds snarky and sarcastic, knowing, but he also seems to be pleading with Sam to find something to make it better, easier to deal with

• mary has an uncle (Sam and Dean’s great-uncle) who they’ve never met. he doesn’t seem to be a hunter considering mary wasn’t given a traditional hunter send-off, so it’s possible that only one side of mary’s family was a line of hunters and the other is normal. the likely conclusion is that Samuel’s family (the campbels) is the line of hunters and Deanna married into it and became a hunter alongside him
• necromancy poisons the ground on which the spell was cast, and zombies carry that poison around with them, killing the plants around them
• Dean flips through a book in ancient greek—later, when they dig up angela’s grave, they find more greek. Dean calls them “symbols” implying he doesn’t recognize the ancient greek alphabet and therefore is unfamiliar with greek. Sam seems equally baffled
  • compare this to 1x04 Phantom Traveler, where Sam tells Dean that “christo” is latin for god. this is actually greek, and in the wrong declension, which implies that Sam isn’t quite familiar with latin or greek, either. Sam is probably just parroting what John taught him, then, without actually knowing it himself
  • eric kripke was adamant about Sam and Dean representing blue-collar workers (1x01 Pilot commentary); their lack of knowledge on “academic” languages supports this vision
• Dean isn’t good at comforting angela’s roommate. he struggles to empathize and sympathize with others because he’s unsocialized and disconnected, and he doesn’t care to connect either (a marked difference from Sam, who tries to fit in and understand the society around him—see 1x06 Skin, 1x19 Provenance). this adds support to why they have such different roles when investigating cases, because Dean isn’t as good at dealing with people as Sam is
• Dean “you’ve got your journal, i’ve got mine”
  • Sam is reading John’s journal, Dean is reading angela’s diary. through Dean’s parallel with angela, this also serves to parallel Sam and John
• angela kills neil: this reflects Dean’s fate to kill Sam. angela also tries to kill Sam, strengthening the connection

2x05 Simon Said

• Dean sings the song jo put on the jukebox once he’s in the car—it’s stuck in his head. he had made fun of it in the roadhouse, but now that she can’t hear him, he’s singing along. this indicates their developing romance—jo already sees him as desirable (2x02 Everybody Loves a Clown), and now Dean is growing fond of her too
  • Sam however is not amused by Dean’s singing. this implies that jo is his rival and that she threatens his place as Dean’s most important person
• Anson is jealous of tracy for dating and having sex with Andy. this implies incestuous feelings for his brother
  • Anson is killing people who “come between” him and Andy: their birth mother, the doctor who oversaw their adoptions, and now tracy. he wants to kill tracy specifically because she had sex with Andy
  • Anson “i see what you see in Andy” incest

• Dean doesn’t want to go to the roadhouse to get information after Sam’s vision. he’s worried that other hunters will see Sam as a threat, and he wants to protect Sam by hiding him away
  • Sam is more focused on getting information than preserving himself. he has very little sense of self-preservation (see the beginning of 2x01 In My Time of Dying)
  • compare to John Winchester’s journal: hunters targeted Sam in the past, and John and Dean had to kill them. this isn’t an irrational fear, it’s informed by past experience
  • Dean is assuming John’s role by doing the Same things he did, keeping Sam excluded to protect him. this could be another reason why Sam was left behind to research instead of taking active part in the hunts: it keeps hunters off his trail by keeping him secluded and therefore protected
  • Dean calls Sam a freak again: compare to 1x06 Skin. unlike the first time, Sam takes offense to Dean saying this because he’s now scared and insecure about his destiny and his powers. he’s relying on Dean’s reassurance to keep him grounded, and currently Dean isn’t providing that reassurance. he needs Dean to be 100% on his side in order to feel okay with himself
• ash tries to pry into Sam’s business to figure out why he has this “intuition” that something is happening. Dean shuts him down and shuts him up. he’s protecting Sam and defending him so that Sam doesn’t have to do it himself. Sam responds with a small, grateful smile—he looks almost worried about the exchange, and he’s almost shrinking in on himself. he’s scared of himself and of being found out. Dean defending him is reassuring
• Dean rubs Sam’s back to comfort him after the loss of their innocent. when Sam has another vision, Dean gets handsy again. lots of physical affection in this episode: this could be that Dean is making efforts to prove Sam isn’t a threat by closing the physical distance between them. Sam is also more upset about his powers than usual in this episode, so Dean could be using a proportionate amount of physical affection to provide comfort to him
• Andy forces Dean to tell the truth, and Dean reveals that he’s worried that Sam might turn evil. now Sam knows what Dean thinks, which is both good and bad: Sam knows that Dean has doubts now, which is a blow to him and confirms his own fears, but he also knows that Dean is hopeful that Sam is wrong about his fate and that he still doesn’t see Andy and Sam as the Same

• Sam is worried that he could become a killer like max and Andy. he’s putting together a pattern that reveals his fate, and since both of the other special children he’s found became killers (or so he thinks), it must be inevitable for him, too
  • Dean tries to reassure him by countering Sam’s arguments. this also serves to reassure himself; he’s forcing himself to look on the bright side because he doesn’t want this to be Sam’s fate—Dean doesn’t want to kill Sam, so he’s denying to himself that Sam has the potential to become a killer like the other special children
• Sam “i’m one of them!” Dean “no, you’re not!”
  • Dean is ignoring the signs because facing them means accepting John’s last wish. now that Dean has opened up about his guilt regarding John’s death (2x04 Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things), his main conflict has shifted to John’s last wish and the dissemination of Dean’s fate
    • compare this to 1x05 Bloody Mary, where Sam’s fate is first hinted at. they are each given their conflicts in episode 1, but it’s not until the fifth episode that details about that fate are shared with the audience
• Dean “you’re not a killer” Sam “no? last i checked, i kill all kinds of things”
  • Sam sees all killing the Same way, while Dean does not. Dean makes a distinction between things that deserve to be killed and things that do not, and Sam treats every killing equally. their mindsets serve their arguments: Sam can convince himself he’s a killer because every act of murder is equal, and Dean can convince himself that Sam isn’t a killer because the things he killed needed to die anyway
  • Dean is desperate to find a way to separate Sam from the other special children. he doesn’t want Sam to be like them, and Sam does want to be like them because it serves his argument
  • Dean needs to maintain a more black-and-white view of the world because it means he doesn’t have to think for himself. compare 1x18 Something Wicked: Dean does not trust his own judgment, so he has to defer to others to decide for him. this is easier when the world is black and white (see 2x03 Bloodlust)
  • Sam has to be fundamentally different from the special kids: “saving” Sam would be difficult if Sam turns out to be evil, so he would have to kill him instead. this also implies that he doesn’t know how to “save” Sam, so he has to convince himself Sam is fundamentally good and doesn’t need “saving” in the first place
• Andy not being evil would be a big win for Dean, so he clings onto the hope that he’s harmless and he ends up being right. Sam’s self-doubt is clouding his judgment: compare 2x04 Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things, where Dean lashes out at angela’s father because of his own guilt about John. now Sam is lashing out at Andy because of his own fear about himself
  • Sam “that’s good [you’re not a killer]. it means there’s hope for both of us”: Andy not being evil is a big win for Dean, too
• Dean loves Andy: Andy represents hope for Sam and the potential to turn away from his fate, and Dean is clinging to that hope
• Sam “looks like i was right. [...] Andy. he’s a killer after all”
  • he thinks about the special children in black and white terms: all killing is equal, even in self defense or defense of others, because it serves his argument. both Sam and Dean are prone to black-and-white thinking
  • Dean, however, breaks out of this pattern in order to reassure Sam: an early indication of his future growth
  • Sam “right circumstances, everyone’s capable of murder”

• Dean walks in on Sam in the gas station bathroom without hesitating. he apparently doesn’t find this weird
• jo wants to hunt with them, but Dean turns her down

2x06 No Exit

• Dean is annoyed jo is here working the case, so he tries to maintain control over her actions to keep her safe. he’s concerned on ellen’s behalf and sympathizes with her probably because of his experience with helping to raise Sam and keep him safe (again, Sam and jo are paralleled). he channels John in order to do this
• Dean “my dad started me on [hunting] so young, i wish i could do something else”
  • he does not intrinsically want to be a hunter—he simply embraced that this was the only life he could live. compare 2x03 Bloodlust. also compare 1x21 Salvation, where Dean says he wanted to be a firefighter as a kid
  • jo “you love hunting” Dean “yeah, but i’m a little twisted”
    • Dean has low self-esteem, a lot of shame, and a poor evaluation of self
  • Dean projects Sam onto jo as he tries to get her out of hunting—this implies he does not want Sam to hunt, probably especially because he himself doesn’t want to hunt. compare this to 2x02 Everybody Loves a Clown, where we see Sam displacing his desire to keep hunting onto John to justify his shift in mindset. Sam wants to hunt, Dean does not
• jo wants to hunt to connect to her dad—compare this to how similar John and Sam are, and how Sam claims to want to keep hunting to honor him
• Dean was 6-7 when John took him shooting for the first time; this was two years after the fire. he “bullseyed every one of them,” which implies that he’s a natural-born hunter—hunting is his fate and is the duty he’s been given. for both Sam and Dean, they are destined to keep hunting because it leads them further down the paths to their fates: to kill each other as opposing forces. Dean committed to his duty and Sam committed to his revenge
  • compare 4x17 It’s a Terrible Life: zachariah tries to convince Dean that he was born to be a hunter despite not wanting to be one. it’s always been Dean’s fate to hunt
• jo and Sam commune at the end of the episode about the merits of hunting: “it’s worth it, right?” again, jo is paralleled with Sam, and they’re both on the Same page about hunting. Dean is the outlier: compare 2x20 What Is and What Should Never Be, when Dean says “why do we have to sacrifice everything?”

• Sam has only encountered ectoplasm twice. these must both be pre-stanford hunts
• jo uses Dean as her fake boyfriend, not Sam. Dean is the love interest for her
• they briefly fight over sleeping arrangements when they “move in” to the apartment. this can compare to the beginning of sartre’s no exit, where estelle kicks up a fuss about the sofa she’s been given and switches with garcin
  • jo “i’ll flip you for the sofa.” Dean ends up taking the recliner
• jo was young when her dad died (1995, according to jo’s blog: jo was 10, Sam was 12, and Dean was 16). she’s two years younger than Sam and 21 years old in this episode. she was born around the time Dean learned to shoot
  • according to her blog, both bill and ellen were hunters, and at least ellen was from a hunter family, since she kept a hunter’s journal as a child
• Sam and Dean both know a lot about true crime, probably because it’s relevant knowledge to keep track of in their line of work. jo, on the other hand, is unfamiliar, possibly to indicate her inexperience
• jo fights to suppress her emotions when she sees the bloody scratch marks on the ceiling of her cell. this indicates that she sees emotions as a weakness, and she’s trying to prove to herself, to Dean, and to ellen that she’s strong and capable
• ellen and jo are imposing the image of John onto Sam and Dean: ellen “like father, like sons.” they can’t escape their father’s legacy—he will continue to haunt the narrative and influence them and their interactions with the world. they can’t be free of his presence because he shaped them and he created the world into which they enter after his death. he is the god of the narrative

2x07 The Usual Suspects

• they get arrested by the cops while working a case. worming their way into crime scenes exposes them to false accusations and also requires them to commit crimes themselves
• this is a direct follow-up from 1x06 Skin and 1x15 The Benders: Dean is framed for the shapeshifter’s murder and is therefore liable for heavy charges if he’s not careful. but it’s difficult to be careful in this line of work, because he can’t just go underground
• Sam “you can arrest me later, after you live through this”
  • compare 1x15 The Benders, Dean “if you wanna arrest me, that’s fine. i’ll cooperate, i swear. but first, please—let me find Sam”
• they’re unconcerned about being arrested, way more invested in solving the case
  • both of them have committed to saving people over their own well-being
  • they’re confident they’ll escape, so it’s a secondary priority

• diana “it’s not your fault Dean’s your brother; we can’t pick our family”
• diana “we just need you to fill in some missing pieces” Sam “why would i do that?”
  • Sam is aggressively devoted to Dean
  • he’s been snarky and standoffish the entire interrogation
• diana “Sam’s story matches Dean’s to the last detail”
  • Sam and Dean have worked out codes and intuitive alibis/covers to cover their asses if they get caught
  • they have a uniquely strong synergy
• they both reach the Same conclusions at the Same time, despite being separated and having to think through the case on their own
  • they’re fully in-sync
  • they have similar skillsets despite falling into certain roles: if the situation calls for it, they can pull their own weight

• diana “she was just like, reaching out to me”
  • compare 1x10 Asylum: Sam is primed to believe some spirits exist as omens
• claire was killed and a brick wall built around her to seal off her body
  • compare the cask of amontillado

2x08 Crossroad Blues

• John and Dean are paralleled with evan and his wife, and this episode additionally foreshadows Dean selling his soul for Sam which therefore also parallels Dean and Sam with evan and his wife

• evan has made peace with his decision and has accepted he’s going to hell despite being scared. he doesn’t want to die
  • Dean imprints John onto him and calls his deal selfish. when he chastises evan, he’s speaking to John as himself
• Dean gets confirmation that John made a deal with Azazel for Dean’s life
• the demon offers Dean what he’s always wanted—except this isn’t what he wants anymore, because John has become an outsider to the family. this doesn’t negate his guilt over John’s death, but he no longer covets the “long, happy life with John and Sammy” that the demon is offering
• Dean is concerned with John’s “legacy”
  • Sam asserts that he and Dean are his legacy

• Dean doesn’t want to save the people who made deals with a crossroad demon because he thinks they have it coming to them. it’s related to his anger at John, and he thinks it’s a cruelly selfish decision to sell your soul, especially for someone else (naturally, he’s talking about John)
• george doesn’t want to be saved or have his death averted. he’s guilty about what he did and wants to pay the price

• Sam is jealous that Dean is in the fbi database but he’s been overlooked even as an accessory
  • compare 1x19 Provenance: the one who looks dangerous is falsely accused, and the innocent one is the actual culprit
• Dean proposes summoning the crossroad demon to force it to get evan out of his deal, but Sam tries to stop him because it’s dangerous. Sam was originally the one who wanted to try and save the people who made deals, but now he’s willing to let evan die to protect Dean
  • compare 1x12 Faith, where Sam is willing to let layla die to keep Dean alive
• demons know about Dean—he’s infamous
• Dean is familiar with robert Johnson’s blues music

2x09 Croatoan

• Dean “i wouldn’t waste an innocent man”
  • because of his vision, Sam is unconvinced by this. this puts distance between him and Dean and Dean takes it as rejection because Sam is doubting him
  • compares to John’s last wish to save or kill Sam: Dean is struggling with his self-image and his duty. he is viewing himself as a killer as he contemplates what he’s supposed to do, so his assertion works to reassure himself and Sam that he doesn’t kill for bad or wrong reasons. Sam telling him that he’s going to kill someone is confirming his fears, and he’s trying to cling to anything that will make him feel better about himself. Sam’s doubts are a betrayal of the comfort and reassurance Dean was seeking from him
• Sam “you might kill an innocent man, and you don’t even care. you don’t act like yourself anymore”
  • compare 1x02 Wendigo, where Dean is more concerned about saving people than his own personal goals. season 1 depicts Dean as valuing saving people over hunting things over and over again.
  • what changed? John died, and Dean has lost his compass (and Sam is struggling to take up that mantle to replace him). he’s conflicted about his kill Sam VS save Sam duty, and this is warping his perception of himself as someone who may have to kill Sam
    • at the Same time, his willingness to kill humans who behave monstrously is congruous with his core beliefs as outlined in season 1. the difference here is more to do with him jumping to conclusions—and probably the fact that he knew he would kill duane beforehand due to Sam’s premonition, and therefore like in the car on their way to river grove he’s trying to validate himself and his actions by doubling down on them so he doesn’t have to reflect on himself and therefore think about his conflicts
• Dean “i’ve got no choice”
  • Dean is clinging to his duty, trying to let it subsume his identity so that he no longer has to consider nuance or think for himself. he has taken his desire to follow to an unhealthy extreme because he can’t cope with the duty John has imposed on him. by saying he has no choice, he is trying to reassure himself that he’s not responsible for his actions and is merely a tool through which his leader’s actions and decisions are carried out. he needs to think this way so that if Sam turns evil, Dean can do the Same thing to Sam, because otherwise he won’t be able to kill Sam and save people
  • this shows therefore that Dean does still value saving people above all else—he’s trying to work himself up to the point that he can put aside his personal feelings to kill the monster to save others. this is what he believes he needs to do to carry out his duty by killing Sam, and he’s aware that he can’t fulfill his duty unless he completely erases himself and his feelings from the equation and acts merely as a tool. he doesn’t trust himself to make the right choices (1x18 Something Wicked), so he has to erase himself and let someone else guide him
  • the ambiguity of duane as someone who could be infected but isn’t confirmed to be (and can’t be confirmed) reflects Dean’s struggles with whether Sam is evil or not
  • Dean is unable to shoot and kill duane, and as a result he’s angry with himself. he wasn’t able to erase himself, and he let his emotions sway him. this therefore reflects his inability to kill Sam if he needs to, which will put people in danger. once again he can’t trust himself, and he believes will always make the wrong decisions because he’s a bad person
    • importantly, the deciding factor here is Sam: Sam begged Dean not to kill duane, and Sam is Dean’s weakness. once again Dean is unable to carry out his duty to save others because he is too attached to Sam
• Sam “i’m infected; just give me the gun and i’ll do it myself” Dean “forget it” Sam “Dean, i’m not gonna become one of those things”
  • Sam wants to kill himself, but killing Sam is Dean’s duty. Dean can’t let him bear that burden because he’s the one that has to do it
  • “one of those things” reflects Dean’s fears of Sam becoming a monster
• Dean chooses to die alongside Sam because he can’t bear to live without Sam
  • Dean makes his decision: he can’t give himself over to duty, so he decides to sacrifice himself. he can’t kill Sam and he can’t save him, so they’ll go down together or he’ll die trying to save Sam. the rest of the season reflects this because he’s made up his mind to reject his duty once and for all
  • Dean makes peace with his decision to die for Sam, similar to John making peace with his in 2x01 In My Time of Dying, and similar to george and evan in 2x08 Crossroad Blues
  • Sam is angry about Dean’s decision to die with Sam, but he doesn’t make any move to stop it. he only tries to convince Dean to leave him; he doesn’t try to use force or separate himself from Dean. this implies that he is subconsciously grateful for his sacrifice, or rather that this sacrifice is meaningful to him—Dean is choosing their codependency after seven episodes of mixed signals and rejections, and it’s likely a relief for him to know definitively that Dean will choose him over everything else, including his own life
• Dean expresses that he’s tired of hunting and the stress that comes with it. he’s hinted at wanting something different for himself before (1x06 Skin, 1x22 Devil’s Trap, 2x06 No Exit), but this is an explicit confirmation that Dean does not actually enjoy hunting. the first half of season 2 is therefore a story of Dean going to extremes to try and give himself over to duty while his instincts, desires, and feelings are fighting that tooth and nail. hunting means sacrifices, and Dean doesn’t want to sacrifice anymore—especially now that the thing he has to sacrifice is Sam. this is his breaking point: he was willing to sacrifice everything else, but not Sam
• duane was possessed by a demon—which means Dean killing him would have been the correct choice even if unintentionally. this implies that killing Sam, too, is the correct choice, but like Sam in season 1, Dean will choose his family and invite ruin

• Dean kills mr. tanner, but Sam hesitates to shoot and kill the son. compare 1x14 Nightmare: Dean is fine killing humans, but Sam is not
• Sam’s vision depicts Dean shooting what seems to be an innocent man. this fuels the tension between them as their ideals clash: Sam thinks killing humans is wrong, and Dean does it because it’s his duty

• John was a corporal in company echo-2-1
• “one minute they were my husband and son, and the next, they had the devil in them”
  • the use of the word “devil” seems to foreshadow Sam as lucifer’s vessel
• Sam reaches out for Dean to help him after he gets attacked. when mark pulls Dean back, Sam looks hurt and confused. he associates Dean with someone who will help him when he’s hurt, even if it’s dangerous to him
• the infected townspeople disappeared soon after Sam got infected: did Sam contracting the virus trigger its disappearance?
• Sam (1x19 Provenance) and Dean (2x09 Croatoan) both have aborted confessions when questioned about their motives. in provenance, Dean asks if jessica is the reason Sam won’t pursue sarah, and Sam responds that it’s “part of” the reason, but not the main part. in croatoan, Sam asks if the reason Dean wants to give up and die with Sam is because of John selling his soul for Dean, and Dean responds that it’s “part of” the reason, but not the whole thing. both of them fail to tell each other what the main reasons are—Sam is afraid he’s cursed and that the people he gets close to will die, and Dean is unwilling to honor John’s last wish and kill Sam. in both cases, the ambiguous evil plaguing Sam is the subject of both of these secrets, along with Sam’s potential to hurt others
• when Sam pressures Dean to reveal his secret at the end of the episode, Dean says they should take a break from hunting. this compares to Dean’s reluctance to hunt when he becomes scared of Sam’s developing powers in 1x15 The Benders. he can keep Sam safe if he keeps him away from hunting: which again implies that hunting is a lifestyle that makes monsters out of men

2x10 Hunted

• Sam “take some responsibility for yourself, Dean!”
  • Dean’s core conflict of season 2 is being thrown in his face by the source of his conflict. the John VS Sam tension grows in Dean as his loyalty is jerked in two opposing directions: Sam takes his secrecy as a betrayal (compare his own secrecy in 1x05 Bloody Mary), while Dean has been struggling between them, trying to logically choose his loyalty to John over Sam while his heart keeps choosing Sam. it is therefore a betrayal, but because Dean wants to choose Sam over John (despite his rationalization that he should choose John), he has become frustrated and conflicted and uncertain. keeping the secret is showing loyalty to John, but the fact that the secret is tearing him up inside and hurting him is showing loyalty to Sam
  • in the end neither of them win because the only correct choice (within their codependent unit) is to show unwavering loyalty to each other and no one else
  • Dean agrees that he deserves for Sam to be pissed at him: he understands that their codependency requires the absolute loyalty to each other that Sam is demanding, and his betrayal is acknowledged
    • compare 2x04 Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things, where Dean once again acknowledges that he’s “being an ass,” therefore recognizing and acknowledging his betrayal to Sam
• Gordon “i’m not a killer, Dean. i’m a hunter”
  • Gordon tries to make a distinction between killing and hunting, reflecting his views that monsters aren’t capable of humanity. his position as the antagonist (and therefore the monster of the week) allows the lines to blur between hunter and killer, implying that they are one and the Same
• Gordon “one day, [Sam] will become a monster”
  • Dean furiously rejects this possibility, and Gordon is surprised that Dean is “getting all emotional.” he “heard [Dean] was more of a professional than this.” like in 2x03 Bloodlust Gordon is reflecting Dean’s sense of duty, comparing the two of them and drawing out their similarities. Gordon thought they were the Same species of hunter, and Dean would have been if he didn’t have Sam to sway his loyalty
  • Gordon compares Dean to John, saying that John would have had the “stones” to kill Sam if he needed to—“so, you’re telling me you’re not the man he is?” he’s preying on Dean’s loyalty by personifying Dean’s duty to the hunt. notably, he’s still sympathetic toward Sam while recognizing the reality of Sam’s yet-unfulfilled destiny—by doing so he becomes a complete allegory for the path Dean is supposed to be taking, the “correct” choice for him to make by killing Sam. just as revenge was the “correct” choice for Sam to take in season 1, duty is the “correct” choice for Dean in season 2—and just like Sam, Dean is swayed away from his own destiny by his feelings for Sam. their love for each other is the weakness that prevents them from following their chosen destinies, and simultaneously the strength that allows them to oppose fate

• Ava appears to be naturally inclined toward “evil”
  • she exhibits moral ambiguity and a disregard for lawlessness in her enthusiastic participation in stealing scott’s confidential psychiatric files, and when Sam agrees that he’s walking right into harm’s way, she cheerfully proposes that she could help, disregarding her own safety in favor of danger. therefore, despite seeming innocent, she has a latent darkness within her that’s ripe for corruption via Azazel’s influence. this supports the theory that all of Azazel’s special children are destined to turn into monsters
• Gordon was performing an exorcism in louisiana when the low-level demon let something slip about a “coming war,” which is how Gordon learned about Azazel and the special children. the fact that this was a low-level demon implies that Azazel’s war is common knowledge in hell. it could also be why the crossroads demon in 2x08 Crossroad Blues knew about Dean, because he is either playing a role in the war or he’s actively inhibiting Sam’s development to a noteworthy degree
  • he says the humans are going to fight on hell’s side, and also that psychics aren’t “pure” humans: Gordon either has a very rigid view of humanity, or ESP is either a result of demonic interference or a gift that only special, mutated humans have access to
  • Gordon is very specifically not a reckless or stupid hunter. he’s cold, calculating, and extremely intelligent—again, he is who Dean should have been if he gave himself over to duty
• Gordon forces Sam to make an impossible choice: kill Gordon and prove he’s a killer, or let Gordon go and be killed himself. the horrors of evangelism and stringent duty create a constant feedback loop which makes it impossible to consider anything outside one’s extant beliefs
  • Sam chooses a tenuous third option by getting him arrested (which doesn’t fully work and ends up being more the latter option Gordon gave him). it’s congruous with his core value of not harming humans (1x14 Nightmare, 1x15 The Benders)
• Dean is still pushing the idea of taking a break from hunting at the end of the episode. Sam responds that hunting is what Dean was “meant to do,” to which Dean responds “i don’t believe in all that destiny crap”
  • this shows a shift in Sam’s psyche: Sam does believe in destiny and that it can’t be avoided, which is what he’s been afraid of since 1x14 Nightmare. this fear has been exacerbated by the revelations from John’s last wish, and now he seems to be concerned that he can’t fight fate even if he tries. Dean, on the other hand, has made his choice against fate in 2x09 Croatoan, and is now doubling down on that decision: he’s chosen Sam over his duty, and is now flagrantly disrespecting his duty by abandoning it altogether in favor of being with Sam
  • Dean “i don’t believe in that destiny crap” Sam “you mean you don’t believe in my destiny” Dean “whatever”
    • seems to imply that Dean has an implicit or subconscious understanding that he is tugged along by fate
  • Sam “you can’t protect me from [my destiny].” Dean “i can try” Sam “thanks for that”
    • compare 2x03 Bloodlust: they both make an overt declaration of devotion, specifically contrary to their destiny—in bloodlust, Sam vows to be Dean’s guide and compass to replace John and the duty (destiny) imposed on him, and here Dean vows to thwart Sam’s destiny to follow Azazel’s path
• Sam rejects Dean’s offer to take a break from hunting. it’s a wild contrast compared to season 1, and by now Sam has completely abandoned the dream of a normal life. he’s inadvertently following his destiny by following what he mistakenly believes John wanted for them, which makes John the representative of both their fates
  • importantly, Sam misinterpreted John’s wishes for his kids and is imposing his own desires onto him retroactively in order to justify hunting. the one who wanted him to keep hunting is Azazel, who orchestrated jessica’s death specifically to get Sam back into hunting so that his powers would develop (The Devil You Know)
  • Azazel and John are both Sam and Dean’s fathers—and they are both the ultimate symbols for their destinies: Azazel as revenge and anger, and John as duty. and because they are the arbiters of their fates through their own orchestrations (Azazel feeding Sam his blood and killing jessica, and John raising his kids to be hunters and imposing upon Dean the conflict of killing or saving Sam), this likens them to godlike figures. Sam following “John” therefore symbolizes his religious faith in his god (while being unknowingly tempted by the devil), while Dean’s rejection of John symbolizes his atheism

• Sam steals a car and leaves Dean in their motel room. he’s physically abandoning Dean in retaliation for Dean’s betrayal

2x11 Playthings

• Sam sees that the lawyer has died and gets upset that he couldn’t save him. he’s tied his ability to save people to his sense of goodness, and every person he loses therefore proves his penchant for evil
  • Sam “the more people i save, the more i can change”
  • Dean “you didn’t know. you couldn’t have done anything” Sam “that’s an excuse, Dean”
    • Sam feels guilty and shameful for deaths he should have prevented, even where there was nothing he could have done. Dean acts as a voice of reason here because he has thoroughly rejected his destiny, while Sam feels helpless to his
  • Sam “you have to watch out for me, all right?” Dean “yeah yeah, i know” Sam “no Dean, you have to watch out for me”
    • Dean interprets the first “watch out” as looking after, protecting, saving Sam. the reiterated “watch out” clarifies that Sam is actually telling Dean to be wary of him, to treat him as something inherently dangerous so that Dean is prepared to kill him if Sam can’t change
  • Sam “dad told you to do it; you have to”
    • Sam is viewing John again as the symbol of their destinies, imposing John as Dean’s god and arbiter of fate
  • Sam “you’re the only one who can do it”
    • Sam is imposing Dean’s destiny on him because he doesn’t believe there’s a way to escape fate. the irony is that he did momentarily escape fate by choosing codependency with Dean, and Dean is trying to escape his fate by choosing codependency with Sam, but once again they’re being driven apart and Sam feels compelled to walk down the path Azazel laid out for him
  • Sam makes Dean promise to kill him if Sam turns evil, and Dean placates him by making that promise. he later holds that promise over Dean
• Sam saves tyler: an indication that he can be saved

• sherwin “would you be [happy], leaving behind the only home you ever knew?” Dean “i don’t know, i never really knew one”
  • homelessness as a theme to contrast the home with countless history
  • if Sam and Dean are meant to be paralleled with maggie and rose, then the house itself here could be symbolic of their emotional home: each other, and their codependent relationship
    • rose choosing to die to stay with maggie forever is representative of Sam and Dean choosing to stay with each other forever (more directly, Dean choosing to stay with Sam: compare 2x10 Hunted, where Sam says he’ll keep hunting so Dean will have to follow him)
• maggie “and then we can be together forever, and no one will bother us”
  • the ideal for Sam and Dean’s codependency: being together, separated from the world that’s trying to drive them apart. maggie wants to achieve an enmeshed relationship with an eternal playmate, which ends up being her sister rose
• maggie “i can’t leave here, and you can’t leave me”
  • Sam and Dean are doomed to follow each other wherever they go, because they can’t be without each other
• maggie’s core fear is being alone: she won’t let tyler leave because she won’t have anyone to play with. if Sam is maggie (since they’re both the “monsters”) then this reveals Sam’s twisted and fanatic desire to remain by Dean’s side
  • maggie “you kept me away for so long. i thought you didn’t love me anymore”
    • can reference Sam’s feelings of isolation and exclusion from the family, since rose literally kept maggie suppressed through hoodoo. Sam too struggles to accept that Dean wants him in his life and is quick to interpret Dean’s actions as betrayal, or proof that Dean doesn’t love him

• Dean takes umbrage to Sam getting drunk while they’re working a case: this implies that he values sobriety at least so far as work is concerned, and he’s careful not to get drunk while working