Season Two

2x12 Nightshifter

• this is a direct sequel to 2x07 The Usual Suspects. victor henricksen has officially been assigned to Dean’s case and is now personally hunting him down across a span of five episodes
• ronald is killed by the police while trying to save the people at the bank from the shapeshifter. it’s a reminder that hunters are enemies of the state and society itself because they operate extrajudiciously and not within the system. ronald’s vigilante justice is punished

• ronald has more or less figured out the MO and characteristics of the shapeshifter Sam and Dean are hunting. Sam is adamant on shutting ronald down, while Dean suggests “throwing him a bone.” this suggests that Sam believes ignorance is safety, while Dean is more open to telling people the truth about the supernatural
  • Sam’s reasoning is that ronald isn’t a hunter, so going up against a shapeshifter will get him killed: “better in the dark and alive.” this ends up having the opposite effect, and ronald goes up against the shifter anyway but without preparation to combat it so he gets killed, suggesting that Dean had the correct idea in this situation
• henricksen insults John, and Dean gets defensive of him, calling him a hero. Dean’s feelings about John are complex and contradictory

2x13 Houses of the Holy

• Sam believes in the possibility of angels; Dean does not. compare 1x12 Faith: Dean only believes what he can see with his own eyes, while Sam has faith and is willing to believe in what he can’t see
  • Sam has limits: he clearly doesn’t believe in unicorns based on their conversation, so this faith seems to extend only so far as beings that can offer salvation—Sam believes in the faith healer roy le grange, and now he believes in angels. his faith is aligned with christianity
  • Dean is rather aggressive about teasing Sam for his willingness to believe in the angels. he’s very sure about his conviction and there’s very little that can sway him. this is likely because nothing saved Mary from her fate and nothing has saved him or his family from theirs—if god does exist, he’s a bastard, and it’s easier therefore to disbelieve in god
    • Dean admitting the possibility that god might exist at the end may then throw him into something of a crisis about god’s motives—if god does have a will, that means god allowed Mary to die and him and Sam to suffer for it, which would make him antipathetic toward angels and the christian god: see seasons 4-5. this could be the foundation that allowed him to so resolutely oppose his fate
    • Dean disbelieving in god reflects his disbelief in fate and destiny, whereas Sam believing reflects his belief in fate and destiny. this matches their current mindsets: Sam is slowly losing his damn mind about his fate, convinced he will succumb to it, and Dean is feverishly fighting against it, refusing to believe in the possibility that fate might be inevitable
• it’s Sam’s willingness to believe in angels that allows them to find actual evidence of the real monster (father gregory) and eventually solve the case
  • Dean is willing to admit to what he can see and amend his previous statements and beliefs to fit new evidence
• Sam reveals he prays every day and has for a long time
• after Sam sees the angel, Dean offers him a drink from his flask and Sam declines. later, when it’s revealed that it wasn’t an angel but a ghost, Sam accepts Dean’s second offer for his drink. this indicates that in his religious ecstasy Sam is trying to “be good” according to christian values, which includes abstinence from alcohol. alternatively, Sam could just think that Dean is being disrespectful for offering the drink, interpreting the event as something negative where Sam views it positively
  • it’s also an indirect kiss. swapping spit. incest. Sam declines the drink when they are in conflict because they can’t kiss, but when Sam concedes to Dean’s perspective and believes they’re on the Same page he is willing to commit to him via their spit. the incestuous interaction becomes a metaphor for their codependency and the state of their relationship—specifically who is putting distance between them and who is trying to close the gap. compare how in 4x14 Sex and Violence, nick uses a flask to get Dean to ingest his saliva, which is a direct proxy for a kiss. the sharing of flasks is therefore inherently homoerotic and this is an act of incest
• Dean “it’s one of the perks of the job, Sam. we don’t have to operate on faith”
  • very similar to what gordon says in 2x03 Bloodlust “know why i love this life? [...] it’s all black and white. there’s no maybe”
  • could indicate that his conflict with Sam in this episode his driving him away from him and therefore down the path to his fate. once again proves the idea that every time Sam and Dean aren’t choosing each other, they are inherently choosing their fates. every conflict that drives them apart forces them into a position where they are getting closer to fulfilling their destinies
  • Dean also uses this to comfort and assuage Sam: “don’t you want to know for sure?” he’s easing Sam’s conflicted mind by giving him something real to hold onto. in doing so he’s persuading Sam to adopt his own worldview and beliefs, similarly to the end of this episode—also compare how Sam adopts Dean’s belief in “saving people” across season 1: Sam sees Dean as inherently good and correct, so he takes it for granted that the paths Dean chooses will always be the correct ones and therefore models himself after him in order to find his own correct path
    • this is sometimes dangerous, then, if this line is meant to parallel gordon, because this would therefore drag them both further down the paths to their fates

• gloria stabbed a man in the heart to enact god’s will and to find redemption. Sam listens intently because he innately wants to believe in god and the possibility for his own redemption, so he’s inclined to believe that what she saw really was an angel disseminating god’s will. the fact that the angel was not an angel but instead a “vengeful” spirit (of sorts) means that harm can be dressed up to appear as something good and holy, and that the righteous can be led down a path of evil by following people they believe they can trust (compare 1x19 Provenance). Sam has fallen victim to this line of thinking, indicating that the path he’s going down currently is one he believes is righteous but is actually evil. compare 2x02 Everybody Loves a Clown: Sam is disconnecting the idyllic John in his head from the real John in order to justify his desire to keep hunting, which is what Azazel wants Sam to keep doing. Sam believes he’s following John (god), but he’s actually following Azazel (lucifer). he is being manipulated through his own will to believe and inability to see reality for what it is
  • John = god
• the angel (father gregory) speaks to Sam and tells him to smite a man. when Sam asks what he did wrong, he’s told he hasn’t done anything... yet. Sam is enthusiastic about the possibility of stopping the crime before it happens, to which Dean responds “you’re supposed to be bad too, Sam. maybe—maybe i should just stop you right now.”
  • again Sam is devoted to the concept of destiny and its inevitability. knowing someone will do something bad (compare thought crime) is enough for him to condemn him. this relates back to his feelings about himself: he doesn’t believe there’s hope for him to be saved and there’s nothing he can do to avert the inevitable. he calls his meeting with the angel “god’s will” implying he does believe in god’s plan
  • Dean rejects this potentiality, the thought crime. he directly compares Sam to the supposed criminal, and his desperation to save Sam from his destiny sways his opinions in favor of the criminal
  • when Dean hears Sam say “maybe this is god’s will,” Dean hears Sam as talking about his own destiny
• when Sam is given the sign and points out the guy, Dean physically prevents Sam from following after him, choosing instead to handle it himself. he is convinced that Sam will kill the guy based on the pattern up to now and Sam’s mental state (religious fervor). again this guy represents Sam, and they both act in a way that reflects how they feel about Sam’s fate. Sam is prepared to kill the guy which reflects his eager willingness for Dean to kill him (2x11 Playthings). Dean, on the other hand, is unwilling to kill the guy, wanting instead to stop him in a nonviolent way
  • when Sam firsts pleads with Dean to let him “stop” the guy, he says “he’s gonna hurt someone, and you know it.” he either is trying to get Dean to be on the Same page as him, or he already believes that they are. Sam desperately wants to be of the Same mind as Dean, and it’s stressful and painful for him to have a conflict with him now—as a result of their codependency
  • this is the first time in the show where Sam seems willing and even eager to actually kill a human, though it’s not completely confirmed that he would have been willing to follow through. he could have simply tried to stop him in a nonviolent way similar to Dean, like he suggested (and like Dean doubted)
  • the guy does end up trying to commit premeditated murder, which further implies that Sam’s fate is unavoidable
• father gregory “some people need redemption, don’t they Sam?”
  • ambiguously, this could imply that in order to choose his victims, father gregory was looking into the hearts of people and seeing whether they wanted redemption, OR he actually was given suggestions from on high about who was a sinner and needed redemption. Sam fulfills both possibilities
• the guy Sam was supposed to kill ends up dying anyway via a rebar to his chest. this further suggests the inevitability of fate: Sam will become evil, Dean will have to kill him, and if they choose otherwise the world will make it happen anyway (consider the following episode 2x14 Born under a Bad Sign where Meg literally possesses Sam to force him to commit a murder)
  • this also seems to imply that this guy’s death was god’s will, and that he was meant to die no matter how Sam or Dean acted
  • father gregory says that god “spoke to him” and he “received the word of god,” so his orders had to have come from somewhere
• Dean “well, don’t worry about that. i’m watching out for you, all right?”
  • compare to 1x14 Nightmare, where Dean says “as long as i’m around, nothing bad is gonna happen to you”
  • also compare to 2x11 Playthings: Sam “i need you to watch out for me” Dean “yeah. i always do” Sam “no! no, no, no. you have to watch out for me, all right? and if i ever... turn into something that i’m not... you have to kill me”
  • both comparisons are in relation to Sam’s fate and his insecurities that he could become evil. Dean reassures Sam by promising to protect him
• Dean concedes that god’s will might be real, based on how he saw the supposedly-evil guy die. he does this primarily as a gesture of good will toward Sam, who has spiraled into self-doubt and loathing—Dean is trying to throw him a bone and tell him that he might not be wrong after all and therefore he’s giving Sam his blessing to believe in what he needs to in order to get through the day
  • but at the Same time, he’s also conceding that fate might also be real, which fundamentally shakes Dean’s solid conviction that Sam won’t turn evil. this episode introduces doubt into Dean’s worldview regarding Sam, while it only seems to strengthen Sam’s conviction that he’s bad and will succumb to his fate (because he wasn’t able to be redeemed, because father gregory confirmed that he does need redemption, and because Dean conceded at the end that fate might be a real thing). admitting this only serves to push doubt about Sam’s nature to the forefront of their minds—consider how the following episode is 2x14 Born under a Bad Sign, where Sam supposedly goes off the deep end as Meg tries to see how far Sam can go before Dean will try and kill him

• father gregory “the rules of man and the rules of god are very different”
  • the Winchesters operate on different rules from other humans in society; rather they operate outside of it and ignore the ethical world around them. if John is god, there is a parallel to be drawn here where Sam and Dean exist within the divine boundaries of the world rather than the ethical—compare this to them being the harbingers of the apocalypse and the key players in its execution as lucifer and michael’s vessels
  • this could also therefore be another episode that hints at hunters being monstrous, because the “rules of heaven” (aka the rules of hunters) operate extrajudiciously and are driven by revenge (father reynolds “no, this is vengeance. it’s wrong”)
  • this is also another episode where the message of the story indicates that revenge is wrong, indicating that Sam’s pursuit of revenge (his fate) is not yet over and he’s still going down the wrong path. see 1x05 Bloody Mary, 1x07 Hook Man, 1x14 Nightmare, 1x15 The Benders, 1x21 Salvation, and especially 2x02 Everybody Loves a Clown

• the past few episodes (2x11 Playthings, 2x12 Nightshifter, and before this 2x07 The Usual Suspects) haven’t shown which of them found the case: this implies that it’s no longer important to show who is pushing for a case, and therefore suggests that they’re on the Same page about hunting currently
• Dean is on lockdown after being blamed for the bank heist in 2x12 Nightshifter
• Sam guesses frank’s password, and Dean seems minorly impressed by it. Sam is good with computers and technologically inclined especially in the areas of illegality and dubious ethics, and Dean is proud of this skill he has and finds it useful. once again they have defined roles and defined skillsets
• both Sam and Dean try to use the pastor to prove their ideological stances, asking loaded questions to get the answers they want out of him: Sam wins this round
• a painting of michael hangs in the church. the pastor describes him as “the archangel michael, with the flaming sword—the fighter of demons, a holy force against evil.”
  • Dean is the michael sword
• father gregory stuck around as a ghost apparently because father reynolds prayed for deliverance. gregory seems to have attached himself to reynolds to act on reynolds’s prayers. this seems similar to 3x05 Bedtime Stories, where the little girl callie can’t move on because her father won’t let her go
• whenever Sam feels insecure about himself and his place in the world, specifically in regards to his destiny, he adopts Dean’s worldview: here, he agrees that believing in angels is clouding his judgment and he should only believe in what he can see. compare this to 1x14 Nightmare and 1x15 The Benders, which shows Sam becoming an active participant in seeking out hunting and trying to save people, to go along with Dean’s value of “saving people”
  • likewise, when Sam and Dean fight, Dean tends to make peace with him by giving into Sam’s perspective and admitting he was wrong: here, he admits that some divine intervention could have been at play. compare this to 2x04 Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things, when their fight leads to Dean admitting he’s “being an ass,” and even earlier 1x11 Scarecrow, where their falling out leads to Dean calling Sam to tell him he was right about going his own way, and much later in 4x22 Lucifer Rising, where Dean calls Sam after their huge fight to apologize and try to make peace

2x14 Born under a Bad Sign

• Dean “i swear it’s like looking for my dad all over again”
  • Dean compares Sam’s sudden disappearance to his search for John in season 1. from Dean’s perspective this is a comparison between Sam and Dean. from an informed narrative standpoint, “Sam” is actually Meg, so Meg’s disappearance is being compared to John’s disappearance. this allows for the implication that John is again the personification of Sam’s fates, where Meg also personifies Sam’s fate. this additionally positions John as the embodiment of Dean’s fate as well through his role in the comparison as the person seeking them out
• Meg says that Dean is more like John than Sam is, which contradicts the comparison Dean drew between Sam and John at the start of the episode. this should reveal Meg’s biased and incomplete understanding of the Winchesters, and it could also indicate further how she sees John and Dean as being separate entities from Sam, as Sam isn’t “really” John’s kid since he belongs to Azazel

• Meg is a good actress, and Dean is unable to discern the difference between Sam and Meg. this could be due to his distress and utter relief at having found Sam after a week
  • Meg plays Sam as rather calm and subdued. she doesn’t have very big or dramatic reactions to anything, and she is seemingly entirely obedient to Dean. this obedience is possibly a trait she perceives in Sam because of his return to him in 1x11 Scarecrow and 1x16 Shadow: she thinks Sam is being controlled by Dean, so this is how she portrays him
  • from the start, she’s trying to push Dean to doubt Sam, always steering Dean’s thoughts back to the blood on his shirt
    • Dean “you’re okay, that’s what matters. everything else, we can deal with” Meg “oh really? ‘cause what if i hurt someone? or worse?” Dean “Sam.”
    • Dean isn’t interested in pursuing the mystery—he’s just relieved that Sam is safe. Meg therefore has to keep picking and trying to maintain control over the conversation so that Dean is forced to look into it. Meg near-instantly brings up Dean’s fate, questioning whether this is what John was warning them about, to which Dean responds that Sam is jumping to conclusions. this gives a sense that Meg is desperate for Dean to follow her directives, while Dean is resistant to such a fast pace
    • she cherrypicks information to disseminate to Dean in order to keep him on the path to finding out what “Sam” did. she probably recognizes that Dean doesn’t want to know what happened, so she has to corral him into finding out
• Meg says the last thing “Sam” remembers is “just me and you, just, in that motel room in west texas, going out to grab some burgers, and... [...] that’s it. next thing i knew i was sitting here. bloody. felt like i’d been asleep for a month”
  • this implies that this is the moment when Meg possessed Sam (over a week ago). it’s not known whether she stuck around pretended to be Sam before disappearing or whether she disappeared immediately after possessing him
  • Dean says Sam checked into the motel two days ago, and yesterday is when the murder of wandell occurred. it’s not known what happened in the time leading up to the murder
  • when Meg says this, she is rather matter-of-fact about it and even rolls her eyes. she’s not particularly good at acting scared or concerned, but she’s still very committed to the role
• Sam knows how to disarm a security system (1x19 Provenance), and here Meg also disarms wandell’s security system. she very likely did this to mimic Sam’s skillset to make it seem like it was Sam who was acting on his own
  • how did she know that Sam could do this, and how did she herself learn? if she wasn’t actively stalking Sam throughout season 1 to the point that she would have a full list of his skills, then this could be early evidence of how demons can read the minds of the humans they’re possessing and adopt their skills through the fusion of their souls
• Meg “for the last few weeks i’ve been having these feelings. [...] rage, hate... and i can’t stop it”
  • it’s unknown whether this is true or not. Meg might be able to read Sam’s mind and so is telling the truth, but she also could be making this up to push her agenda and make Dean kill Sam
  • a few weeks ago (at least three) would have put these thoughts potentially cropping up around mid-january (based on the superwiki timeline) and therefore sometime around when 2x11 Playthings was happening, and probably after 2x10 Hunted, once Sam discovered what John’s last wishes were. the idea that these feelings started showing up immediately or soon after Sam learned that John was prepared to kill him seems to indicate that they stem more from a self-fulfilling prophecy than an external force changing him against his will
  • Dean “you never told me that” Meg “i didn’t want to scare you”
    • this gives credence to the idea that Meg is indeed just making these “feelings” up to persuade Dean
• Meg “Dean, you promised him. you promised me”
  • once again this implies that Meg can read Sam’s mind now that she’s possessed him
• when Dean says there has to be a way to figure everything out, Meg says “yeah, there is,” and puts the gun in Dean’s hand. she is again directing Dean in the direction she wants him to go rather forcefully, manipulating him with his own words
• Dean “you can fight this” Meg “no, i can’t. not forever”
  • this seems like a prophecy on Meg’s part. she is revealing Sam’s fate through Sam’s mouth, the path he’s meant to go down
• when Meg is acting as Sam in front of jo, she portrays him as much more cocky and sure of himself, somewhat teasing and sharp. his answers are quick and sound almost condescending
• when Meg talks about John with jo, she makes Sam sound resentful of him and far more reckless than he’s proven to be. this seems more like an interpretation of John from season 1, when Meg first met Sam, rather than his current understanding of John in season 2. she could be filtering her explanation through her own understanding of John, similarly to how she filters her portrayal of Sam through her understanding of him, rather than trying to give a fair and unbiased performance. this could indicate either a limitation of a demon’s ability to read the mind of whoever they possess, or Meg’s arrogance and inability to empathize with others outside of her perception of them
• when Meg figures out that jo has a crush on Dean, she gets very snippy and aggressive about discouraging her. she sounds jealous and possessive of Dean, which is rather uncharacteristic of her as a demon—this could be that Meg has just figured out how to break down jo’s walls and get under her skin to leave her vulnerable, so Meg is simply going in on the offensive
  • this could also stem from her grudge against Dean: she perceives both Sam and jo as being unjustly loyal to Dean for no good reason, and this irritates her since she is trying to get revenge on him currently
    • but this ends up implying that she views Sam’s loyalty to Dean as being rooted in something romantic or sexual, which mirrors Dean’s reaction to Meg in 1x16 Shadow. Meg reveals too in that episode that she views loyalty as something that is both familial and sexual, and she projects this onto Sam then, too. Meg’s reaction here could be an extension of that projection, and her portrayal of Sam as a violently jealous boyfriend in front of jo could be her actual perception of who Sam is, or is supposed to be
  • Meg turns this interaction into “Sam” flirting with jo and trying to seduce her instead, but this doesn’t last long and jo’s rejection of Sam causes Meg to escalate the situation to violence, which is portrayed very sexually
• Meg “it didn’t have to be this way. or maybe it did”
  • Meg is talking literally about jo rejecting “Sam’s” advances. but Meg is a character bound by her faith in destiny, so “maybe it did” can signify her belief that Sam was always going to end up in this position, that destiny is playing out, that she herself is part of the cogwheel that churns out fate
• Meg describes bill’s death at John’s hands as murder, but the actual scenario feels more like a mercy killing. this can indicate that Meg sees killing in a very black and white way, reminiscent of how Sam has come to view killing (see 2x05 Simon Said)
• when Dean bursts into the bar, Meg switches her acting style completely, returning to the version of Sam she portrayed for Dean. she’s still trying to get Dean to kill Sam
  • once the jig is up, her mannerisms resort to something closer to the version of Sam she showed to jo. this implies that Meg understands that Sam and jo aren’t very close because she didn’t need to put up as intense a front to convince her that she was Sam
• Meg “one look at Sam’s dewy, sensitive eyes, and they’ll let me right in the door”
  • this implies that Meg understands the power of Sam’s puppy dog look, and therefore she was utilizing it against Dean throughout the episode to manipulate him
• when Meg leaves Sam’s body, Sam is immediately much more animated and reactive compared to Meg’s subdued reactions throughout the episode

• every time Dean cracks a joke and starts guessing at the truth (that Sam was/is possessed), Meg gives him more information to keep misleading him: when Dean says “come on, man, this couldn’t have been you. had to have been someone else, somebody who, uh, smokes menthols,” Meg immediately produces the receipt for the gas station. Dean is being led around by the nose—he is perceptive and is picking up on all of the anomalies and inaccuracies to Sam’s character, but Meg isn’t letting him pursue that line of thinking
  • Dean “what’s going on with you Sam, hm? ‘cause smoking, throwing bottles at people, i mean, that sounds more like me than you” Meg “Dean, wait, right here. turn down that road”
    • every single time Dean starts piecing things together, Meg distracts him
    • this implies that Dean has both smoked and thrown bottles at people in the past, or that it’s something he regularly or semi-regularly does (enough for there to be a pattern)
• jo “so how did you know he was possessed?” Dean “i didn’t, i just knew it couldn’t have been him”
  • once again Dean is shown to be very perceptive, especially without Meg actively manipulating him to prevent him from figuring out the truth

• when Dean is no longer able to deny that Sam has killed wandell, he looks at Sam for his reaction to the truth. Meg acts guilty and concerned, and Dean immediately decides to start covering up the evidence of the murder. this implies that Dean is reading the intent behind “Sam’s” actions rather than looking at them in a black-or-white vaccuum: because Sam feels guilty about what he did, Dean doesn’t believe that Sam could be a monster, and thus he can’t kill him
  • this further implies that if Meg hadn’t reacted to the video footage with feigned guilt or shame, Dean might have taken a different route. however, if Meg had reacted any other way, Dean would have instantly clocked Meg as not being Sam and the outcome would have been the Same anyway. Meg had limited options, and Dean’s faith in Sam’s goodness is nearly unflappable at this point because he actually does know who Sam is despite the doubts that Azazel and his minions keep trying to plant inside of them both
• Dean “we gotta cover our tracks, okay?”
  • he automatically assumes part of Sam’s burden by including himself in the crime despite being entirely innocent. he himself has no tracks to cover, but he takes part of the blame nonetheless. he is a unit with Sam (codependency) and is desperate to maintain that status with him, and he also feels responsible for Sam so anything Sam does reflects back on Dean inherently, according to Dean’s psyche
• Meg seems genuinely surprised by the lengths Dean will go to protect Sam when he smashes wandell’s computer to prevent anyone from seeing the security footage. she seems to have expected Dean to have a change of heart once he saw the undeniable proof of “Sam’s” murder. once Dean commands her to wipe down Sam’s prints, the camera lingers on her expression, which reads as confusion more than anything else
• Meg continues to try and push a very black-and-white view of Sam’s actions onto Dean, which Dean continues to resist. she is intentionally interpreting the events in extremes to try and sway Dean’s opinion. of course she’s right—she knows best of all—but Dean is still unconvinced because he firmly believes that Sam doesn’t have it in him to hurt anyone
• Dean asserts that he’s going to save Sam no matter what: this reflects a shift in his mindset from earlier episodes where he was full-on denying Sam’s potential to be bad (for example 2x05 Simon Said). he seems to have accepted a more nuanced outlook on the world, possibly directly because of this experience because he was forced into a position where he had to actually act on his values instead of simply hypothesizing about them
  • he uses humor immediately after this confession to deflect from his vulnerability. Sam seems unbothered by the possession and joins in by laughing

• Sam is possessed and his self repressed until the last moments of the episode: evidence is how Meg claims to not remember any part of the last week including killing wandell, but at the end of the episode Sam says he was “awake” for some of it and clearly remembers seeing himself kill wandell
• jo tries to follow Dean and be part of the fight, bu Dean refuses: “this is my fight. i’m not getting your blood on my hands”
  • jo accepts this and backs down: this is probably because she’s comparing Dean and John—John let bill be bait, and Dean won’t let that happen. she sees that they’re fundamentally different, and this comforts her. therefore the parallel between John and Dean is broken, supporting then the parallel between John and Sam instead
• Dean “i’ll call you later, okay?” jo “no you won’t”
  • this feels reminiscent to the similar exchange in 1x19 Provenance: sarah asks Sam to keep in touch and Sam promises, even though he never follows up on that promise. both of these exchanges support the idea that Sam and Dean are lost in their own little world and no one outside of them matters, least of all their love interests and especially when the alternative is their brother
• Meg claims that she doesn’t “give a rat’s ass” about the master plan, aka Sam and Dean’s destinies. she most likely means that this excursion is unrelated to Azazel’s plan, since she continues loyally following Azazel and lucifer after this episode
• Meg confirms that John is in hell

2x15 Tall Tales

• Dean doesn’t make an effort to help Sam with research, but Sam also doesn’t ask Dean to participate. this shows their delineated roles in hunting
  • Dean is probably not participating in the research because he’s angry with Sam. he punishes Sam by leaving him to do “his” job on his own instead of helping share the burden
• Sam portrays Dean as wanton and uninterested in the hunt, while he himself is diligent and earnest. Dean portrays Sam as uptight and snippy, while he himself is suave and sly about his interrogations. the reality is obviously somewhere in the middle, and it speaks to their differing investigation styles—Sam is very by-the-book in his interviewing and research, while Dean uses his charisma and charm to coax out information from girls. the difference between them can make Dean seem uncaring and crude from the perspective of someone who does their investigations more traditionally, and can make Sam seem pretentious and stringent from the perspective of someone who does their investigations in a more personalized and experimental way
  • Sam’s portrayal of events seems more in line with reality, though clearly overblown and biased against Dean. this suggests Dean is overcompensating for the way people perceive him, perhaps even defensive of his low-brow and low-class existence. it also suggests Sam is less interested in glamorizing himself or unfairly representing Dean, or perhaps that even his worst interpretations of Dean are closer to true-to-life instead of caricatured
• Sam and Dean fight to throw off the trickster. they’re very good at pretend-fighting and supposedly don’t hold grudges even when they say nasty things about each other
• Sam struggles to apologize to Dean. Dean gives him the out and doesn’t force him to say it out loud, instead letting it go inferred. this suggests Sam is prideful and feels entitled to his feelings even when he was in the wrong, and Dean accommodates that pride so that Sam doesn’t have to humble himself
  • however, Sam is the one who initiated the apology. this suggests that Sam does want to be humble and emotionally open with Dean, even though his pride and emotional immaturity gets in the way of that—he’s still learning to be codependent with Dean. Dean understanding what Sam wanted and reciprocating without forcing Sam to do the hard stuff is a display of devotion, mutually acknowledging the closing gap in their relationship

• when bobby says Sam didn’t steal Dean’s computer, Sam protests; when bobby says Sam didn’t touch the impala, Sam makes a noise like “yeah, obviously.” both times, Dean is silent. this speaks to Sam as the rather assertive little brother who is unafraid of speaking out, compared to Dean who is in many ways more emotionally mature (read: subdued) than Sam is; he has a better handle on his emotions and reactions and knows when to act on them compared to Sam, who feels entitled to voicing and acting on his emotions in the ways he sees fit
  • this is corroborated by the undercurrent of anger Sam suffers from and from his impulsive nature. Dean recognizes his impulses for what they are, but Sam feels entitled to whatever actions he takes because of his impulses and emotions

2x16 Roadkill

• Sam “some spirits only see what they want”
  • he’s talking about molly here, who doesn’t realize she’s dead
  • this could also refer to Sam, who is still going down the path of his destiny while lying to himself that he’s chosen family instead (see: 2x02 Everybody Loves a Clown, where Sam insists John would have wanted him to keep hunting)
• Sam “spirits like greeley are, uh... like wounded animals. lost. in so much pain that they lash out. [...] there’s some part of them that... that’s keeping them here. like their remains or, um... unfinished business. [...] it could be revenge. could be love. or hate. whatever it is, they just hold on too tight. can’t let go. so they’re trapped. caught in the Same loops. replaying the Same tragedies over and over” molly “you sound almost sorry for them” Sam “well, they weren’t evil people, you know? a lot of them were good. just... something happened to them. something they couldn’t control”
  • Sam is talking about both greeley and molly here, preparing her for the inevitable truth
  • but because she and Sam are paralleled, he’s also talking about himself and his curse. something “happened” to him, that being Azazel feeding him his blood, and Sam is bound by his fate; it’s keeping him in the throes of hunting, and he can’t leave it behind because Azazel keeps pulling him back. he’s trapped in the cycle—first it was revenge, and now it’s a mix of love and hate
  • hunting therefore is connected to monstrosity yet again because it’s the loop Sam is trapped in. compare 2x02 Everybody Loves a Clown: Sam first returns to hunting in season 1 in his pursuit of revenge, but in 2x02 Sam shifts his reasoning to “it’s what [John] would have wanted,” which is false. Sam is creating reasons for him to keep hunting because he’s caught in the cycle and can’t get out and he won’t admit it to himself. he is first driven by hate and then driven by love (with an ignored undercurrent of hate), but the result is always the Same: Sam will keep hunting and he will keep falling deeper into monstrosity
• Sam sympathizes with the monsters, but Dean does not. because they’re both hunters, they’re both paralleled with monsters (especially in episodes like this), so it reveals their attitudes toward themselves: Sam is self-pitying and forgiving of himself, understanding of his nature and what he can’t control. Dean is self-loathing and unforgiving and doesn’t make excuses for himself or go easy on himself for his mistakes

• Sam wants to tell molly the truth, and Dean advises against it. Sam, however, doesn’t seem eager to tell her the truth, and seems to be falling back on it as a last resort
  • he might suggest telling her the truth because he relates to her and sees himself in her
  • Dean is the one who ends up telling her about ghosts, while Sam protests. this is indicative of the shift in their relationship, where Dean is trying to be more honest with Sam in season 2
  • Sam later comes up with the white lie that greeley finds “someone” to punish every year for his death, even though that “someone” is always molly. Sam perpetuates the lies, while Dean sprinkles in the truth
• Dean blasts greeley away several times specifically to save molly. this can compare to his efforts to save Sam by protecting him from the evil trying to get him
  • Dean runs the impala through greeley’s ghost, dispersing him
  • Dean shoots greeley with rock salt when he grabs her
  • Sam directs Dean to save molly from greeley’s cabin while he salts and burns his bones
• the only thing molly is scared of is losing david (her husband), and her unfinished business is that she wants to see him again. this implies that the only thing Sam is afraid of is losing Dean, and foreshadows the lengths he’ll go to see him again (see: 1x12 Faith, 2x01 In My Time of Dying, 3x11 Mystery Spot, 4x09 I Know What You Did Last Summer)

• Dean refers to the impala as “baby” for the second time
• Sam “hope’s kinda the whole point”
  • compares to Sam and his religious faith (see 1x07 Hook Man, 2x13 Houses of the Holy). Dean is interested in knowing what comes after death because he only believes in what he can see, but Sam has faith which doesn’t need proof
    • Dean’s disinterest in molly’s questioning about the hereafter can also be connected to his atheism. he doesn’t believe in what he can’t see with his own eyes, so he “disbelieves” in anything after death until proven otherwise. therefore, the question to him is irrelevant

2x17 Heart

• Sam and Dean initially believe that kurt, the “stalker ex-boyfriend,” is the werewolf responsible for the killings. they are wrong, however, and madison’s sweet neighbor and madison herself are actually the werewolves. compare this to 1x19 Provenance: once again Sam and Dean are influenced to the wrong conclusion because someone “looks” evil, and they overlook the actual monsters committing crimes. both times, Sam is paralleled with the true monster (melanie in provenance, madison in heart), indicating that Sam is still going down the path that will fulfill his monstrous destiny and this is being overlooked
  • Dean is therefore paralleled with kurt, since he is the one taking the blame and responsibility for Sam’s monstrosity (1x19 Provenance, 2x07 The Usual Suspects, 2x12 Nightshifter, 2x14 Born under a Bad Sign)
    • once again Sam and Dean are paralleled to a romantic relationship
• Sam “you’re clearly smart. i mean, your house is full of great books, you know? and you’re independent... [...] what were you doing with kurt?” madison “i don’t know. i mean, it’s not like he introduced himself like ‘hi, i’m possessive and controlling and i like to punch people. wanna be my girlfriend?’” Sam “yeah, well, i guess we all make mistakes” madison “yeah, well, mine’s wanted by the police. you wanna know why i stayed with him? really? i was too insecure to leave. [...] some stuff happened. my life changed, i changed. for the better, i think. [...] it hit me. i could keep feeling sorry for myself, or i could take control of my life. i chose the latter. first thing i did was tell kurt he had to go”
  • this directly parallels Sam and Dean’s relationship. while Dean is not currently outright controlling, season 2 puts him in a position where he is destined to control Sam, and he spends much of the season in conflict as to how to adhere to that duty so he can live up to John’s expectations and inadvertently the fate laid out for him. he is possessive, especially now that they’re in a codependent relationship, and he feels entitled to all of Sam, just like Sam feels entitled to all of Dean.
  • Dean is also wanted by the police (1x01 Pilot, 1x06 Skin, 1x15 The Benders, 2x07 The Usual Suspects, 2x12 Nightshifter)
  • madison says she was too insecure to leave kurt. this is similar to how Sam is insecure and scared of his fate, and as a result of that insecurity is clinging onto Dean as his keeper
    • whenever Sam feels insecure in his beliefs and understanding of the world, he adopts Dean’s worldview as his own (1x14 Nightmare (saving people), 2x11 Playthings, 2x13 Houses of the Holy)
  • madison’s metamorphosis implies that Sam can become more independent from Dean and take control back in his own life. if he takes control then he can avert his fate, becoming a monster and dying by Dean’s hands. this doesn’t happen, though, and Sam’s fate plays out. madison’s mugging then seems to be paralleled to and foreshadowing Sam’s death in 2x21 All Hell Breaks Loose, Part One. once again, Sam ignores the message of the episode and pursues his fate despite the warning signs
    • Sam dies in Dean’s arms in 2x21, and he dies because he was running to Dean and didn’t see Jake talley behind him. Dean is “at fault” for Sam’s death, fulfilling Dean’s destiny
      • like in season 1, Dean has no agency over the narrative. it is Sam’s choices Dean must react to, and he is unable to avoid his own destiny because Sam is controlling the story
    • taking control over her life meant that madison “embraced” being a monster (werewolf). Sam can find agency and control if he abandons Dean and pursues his own monstrosity via his destiny

• Sam “there was something in her eyes” Dean “yeah, she’s killing people!” Sam “but if she has no control over it—” Dean “exactly. she can’t control it. even if she’s telling the truth, it’s not gonna change anything” [...] Sam “maybe i understand her”
  • Sam isn’t convinced they should kill madison because she has no control over her transformations. he sees himself in her: he feels that he has no control over his monstrosity because he’s compelled by fate rather than choice, and his transformation is happening to him rather than him deciding to hurt others. when he begs Dean not to kill her (or at least consider another option), he’s talking about himself—he doesn’t want Dean to kill him. compare this to 2x11 Playthings, where Sam begged Sam to kill him. the turning point here seems to be 2x14 Born under a Bad Sign, which is in the exact middle of these two episodes and in which Dean insists that he’s going to “save” Sam no matter what happens
• Sam wants to be the one to kill madison if she has to be killed. he does not want Dean to kill her because he doesn’t want Dean to kill him—this implies that he would rather kill himself than make Dean go back on his word. Sam wants to believe in Dean and in his promise to him
  • Sam is being consumed by Dean and coming to rely solely on him as his keeper and protector. with 2x13 Houses of the Holy, Sam has lost his faith in salvation and redemption, and with 2x14 Born under a Bad Sign, Dean has promised to save him himself. Sam’s faith in god has been replaced by faith in Dean as his god. his entire sense of self is coming to be dependent on Dean exclusively as all his other attachments chip away
  • Sam sends Dean to try and save madison, replicating his role in saving Sam himself
• Dean “she’s a sweet girl, but some part of her is—” Sam “evil?” Dean “yeah” Sam “that’s what they say about me, Dean. so me you won’t kill, but her you’re just gonna blow away?”
  • Sam is imprinting onto madison and seeing her as himself. anything Dean says about madison is therefore interpreted through that lens and applied to Sam, so Dean wanting to kill her is a betrayal of his promise to save Sam
• madison begs Sam to kill her, similarly to how Sam begged Dean to kill him in 2x11 Playthings: “this is the way you can save me”
  • death is a form of salvation: compare this to 1x21 Salvation, 2x21 All Hell Breaks Loose, Part One, and 5x22 Swan Song—Sam must die to be truly saved
  • Dean is willing to kill madison in Sam’s place. this represents him fulfilling his own destiny in killing Sam. once Dean says he’ll kill madison so Sam doesn’t have to, Sam changes his mind and decides to kill her himself—Sam again doesn’t want Dean to be the executioner because he doesn’t want Dean to break his promise

• Dean says they haven’t seen a werewolf since they were kids. he also thinks werewolves are “badass”
• glenn is wearing a shirt that reads “mission church” with a giant cross on it. the second time he’s on screen, he’s wearing a shirt that says “church of america annual marathon” which again has a cross on it. christianity is therefore depicted as something sinister
• Dean wants to stay with madison to watch over her, citing that he’s older as a reason why he “always gets to hang out with the girls.” Sam takes offense to this and demands a game of rock paper scissors to determine their roles. Sam doesn’t yet seem to have feelings for madison, but is rather pissed off that Dean is staking claim over the cool job and leaving Sam with the shit work
• Sam is very awkward around madison: this supports the conclusion that Dean is better at talking to hot girls and Sam is better at sympathizing with others and coaxing out information, but struggles with women
• Dean is playful about Sam’s interactions with madison. he encourages their relationship and wants them to connect. his encouragement is gentle and friendly. this is starkly different from 1x16 Shadow, where his “encouragement” is aggressive and unrelenting
• Sam and Dean agree that glenn probably turned madison into a werewolf out of a sexual desire for her. compare this to 1x20 Dead Man’s Blood, where the vampires turning humans is a sexual act, and family is intrinsically linked to sex. compare also Azazel’s incestuous relationship with Meg (1x22 Devil’s Trap), and the potential that Azazel personally turned her into a demon
• when madison asks what they can do to cure her, Sam tries to assure her that they will find something, but Dean butts in to tell her the truth: that there is no cure. compare this to 2x16 Roadkill—Sam wants to use white lies to reassure the monsters they’re trying to help, but Dean is willing to tell the truth
  • this is likely because Sam doesn’t want people lying to him, and these monsters represent him. Dean is trying to be honest with Sam by being truthful with the monsters

2x18 Hollywood Babylon

• Dean is excited to be in hollywood; he is easily starstruck
  • when confronted by actress tara benchley, he gets tongue-tied and awkward, kind of subdued and blushing. he’s no longer confident and suave due to his admiration for her
• Dean isn’t just widely familiar with popular movies, but also the stories behind them (such as the behind-the-scenes rumors for poltergeist). this suggests he avidly researches these movies

• Dean “i just figured that, you know, after everything that happened with madison, you could use a little R&R, that’s all” Sam “maybe i wanna work, Dean. maybe it keeps my mind off of things”
  • compare 2x09 Croatoan, 2x10 Hunted: Dean is trying to convince Sam to take a break from hunting until things go back to normal and they’re both secure with themselves and each other again
    • as always, Dean defers to Sam’s decisions and is pulled along by him. he has no autonomy, and he is focused on placating Sam and doing what Sam wants
  • Sam throws himself into hunting to avoid his grief, similarly to when jessica died (1x01 Pilot). hunting is leading Sam down the path to his destiny, so while he thinks he should keep hunting, he’s actually making his own situation worse. compare this to 2x02 Everybody Loves a Clown, where Sam displaces his desire to work onto John’s memory and a feeling of obligation to him
    • Sam rejects Dean’s suggestion to rest: Sam is rejecting Dean. every choice Sam makes that is not turning toward Dean is inherently turning toward his destiny
• Dean likes feeling like “part of the team,” mirroring his desire to be part of a family (1x16 Shadow). Sam by contrast is entirely uninterested in blending in, and he’s weirded out by Dean’s enthusiasm. this suggests Sam is much more disconnected from this concept of family or belonging—his devotion to Dean is therefore less about Dean being family and more to do with Dean being Dean: he’s in a category all himself (codependency)

2x19 Folsom Prison Blues

• Dean “just because these people are in jail doesn’t mean they deserve to die”
  • Dean holds a comparatively progressive stance on criminality. he also feels rather more comfortable among the inmates than Sam does, further implying his progressive politics. this could be influenced by his own perception of self and experiences, since he regularly commits crimes and has a general disdain for public authority—he sees himself in these criminals and so he’s comfortable around them
  • Sam on the other hand is uncomfortable being around criminals and is somewhat unwilling to help kill the ghost haunting the prison. this implies that he does not consider himself on the Same level as the inmates and could be influenced by his inner conflict and his struggle against his fate. he does not view himself as an inherently evil being, but rather someone who is compelled against his will to do harm. therefore, he is different from the criminals around him
  • Sam “Dean, does it bother you at all how well you seem to fit in here?” Dean “no, not really”
  • this returns to a central difference between Sam and Dean: Sam sees himself as someone with evil inside of him, while Dean views himself as the evil itself

• Dean “we know [deacon] was in the corps with dad. we know he saved dad’s life. we know we owe him” Sam “but don’t you think he’s asking a little much?” Dean “it doesn’t matter. we may not be saints, but we’re loyal and we pay our debts. now, that means something to me and it ought to you”
  • Dean is a character bound and defined by loyalty to others. he values his debts and works to repay them. Sam seems comparatively uninterested in repaying his debts (especially if they’re not directly related to him—this life debt was John’s, not his own). his sense of loyalty is therefore vastly different from Dean’s, and could suggest that his priMary loyalty is to Dean and no other loyalty truly matters to him (as evidenced by his willingness to go along with Dean’s plan so he can stay with Dean even though he was against it)
  • at the end of the episode, Sam tells deacon “we owe you.” he’s again adopting Dean’s worldview after a period of insecurity and reckoning with himself

• Sam is unwilling to eat the prison food, while Dean eats it enthusiastically. Dean is content eating all kinds of questionable things, and Sam is far pickier in general. this could suggest Dean’s experience with food insecurity, which Sam was likely shielded from

2x20 What Is and What Should Never Be

• Sam wants Dean to pick him up so they can look at the ruins together, but Dean turns him down. Sam wants to be an active participant in the hunt instead of being sidelined and stuck researching (compare 1x04 Phantom Traveler, 1x15 The Benders)
  • Dean rejecting Sam here can represent him choosing the individual over the collective, thus making his journey over the course of the episode from choosing the individual (compare the times he has expressed that he doesn’t want to hunt in season 2: 2x01 In My Time of Dying, 2x03 Bloodlust, 2x06 No Exit, 2x09 Croatoan, 2x10 Hunted) to choosing the collective (Sam). this episode is therefore the Dean equivalent of 1x11 Scarecrow—Dean has to choose Sam not as an innocent to protect but a partner to work alongside. within the collective they’re equals
• Dean “i know what you [John]’d say. [...] ‘so go hunt the djinn. he put you here, it can put you back. your happiness for all those people’s lives, no contest. right?’”
  • this reveals what Dean believes are John’s values (regardless of whether he’s correct): saving people and hunting things is more important than individual happiness. here, John represents the collective (1x11 Scarecrow): the good of the many outweighs the good of the one
  • Dean “why do we have to sacrifice everything, dad?” compare to 1x11 again—Dean was the literal sacrifice for the vanir to compare to his metaphorical sacrifice in hunting
• Dean has to make a choice between the individual (staying in the dream world) and the collective (killing the djinn and returning to reality). he chooses the collective after taking a moment to grieve his individuality, as if burying it in the graveyard with his father
• dream!Sam represents individuality as he tries to get Dean to stay with him in the dream world
  • dream!Sam “why is our job to save everyone? haven’t we done enough?” compare to 1x11 Scarecrow
• Dean kills the djinn: this can represent him rejecting individuality in favor of the collective. he had the life he wanted and he turned it away because he is devoted to helping the many instead of just himself
• Sam “people are alive because of you. it’s worth it, Dean. it is. it’s not fair, and... you know, it hurts like hell, but... it’s worth it”
  • compare 2x06 No Exit, where Sam repeats this sentiment

• Dean calls dream!Sam, and dream!Sam finds Dean’s antics funny and charming. this contradicts his later declaration that they are estranged and not close, or rather that dream!Sam is harboring some unspoken feelings toward Dean—that perhaps he wants to be closer than they are
  • even after dream!Sam shuts down Dean’s advances, he hesitates, turns back to Dean, and says “get some rest.” this supports the idea that dream!Sam does want to be closer to Dean and cares more about him than he lets on
  • dream!Sam follows Dean into the car when he thinks Dean is doing something dangerous. Dean is confused because he thinks dream!Sam doesn’t like him (fear of abandonment), but dream!Sam explains that Dean is “still my brother.” despite being estranged, Sam is still apparently willing to put his life in danger for his brother—important that dream!Sam has no idea what he’s walking into, and based on Dean’s goodbye to him dream!Sam probably thinks Dean is walking into something that he doesn’t expect to live through, and therefore coming along means that dream!Sam probably won’t live through it either
• the turning point (halfway) in the episode is when dream!Sam declares that they’re not emotionally close, and that they don’t talk to each other. Dean is hopeful about staying in this fantasy world up until the point that Sam rejects him: Dean’s fear of abandonment is centered solely around Sam right now, and his codependent relationship with his brother needs to be reciprocal to make him feel secure
  • he wants to try and fix things with Sam so that he can stay in the dream world and also have his codependent relationship with Sam
• dream!Sam “what’s so damn important you gotta seal from your own mother?” Dean “you want the truth?” dream!Sam “yeah, yeah i do” Dean “i owe somebody money”
  • Dean can’t bring himself to tell Sam about monsters. compare this to 1x18 Something Wicked, where both Sam and he wish that Sam had been able to be innocent. by lying, Dean is honoring this and fulfilling Sam’s wish
• dream!Sam getting in the car to hunt the djinn with him is an act of devotion—Dean lets dream!Sam come with him because dream!Sam has devoted himself to his brother (“you’re still my brother”). his opinion about keeping Sam safe and innocent flips entirely the moment Sam says this
• Sam “i thought it was supposed to—to be this perfect fantasy” Dean “it wasn’t. it was just a wish. i wished for mom to live. that mom never died, we never went hunting and you and me just never uh... you know” Sam “yeah. well, i’m glad we do”
  • Sam is voicing his devotion to Dean
  • Sam “and i’m glad you dug yourself out, Dean.” Sam might be (correctly) taking Dean returning to reality as an act of devotion to him, as well, which is why he’s so open about voicing his own

• Sam and Dean have switched the license plate on the impala to help them stay off the cops’ radar. it’s now a south dakota plate
• Sam is anxious and over-alert about being fugitives after 2x19 Folsom Prison Bluesfolsom prison blues. Dean is much more relaxed—probably both because he aligns himself with criminals in the first place and doesn’t think of himself as a good person, and because he’s had over a year to be comfortable with the fact that he’s wanted (compare 1x06 Skin: Dean seems much less comfortable about being wanted than he does now)
  • compare 2x08 Crossroad Blues: Sam was jealous that he wasn’t considered an accomplice in Dean’s criminal record. now, however, he’s on high alert and overly worried about being caught
• Dean asks Mary what she told him when she was putting him to bed as a kid (“angels are watching over you”) to determine whether she’s real or fake—compare to 2x13 Houses of the Holy
• Dean’s wish seems to not only be that Mary never died, but that Sam is not infected with demon blood, since he shows no symptoms of demonic interference or psychic powers. no demon deal, no dead Mary
• Dean calls the impala “baby” for the third time
• Dean seems to have inherited dream!John’s garage when he died—see 1x09 Home, John co-owned it with his friend but sold “his half” to buy guns after Mary died
• dream!Mary “you’d think you’d never mowed a lawn in your life”
  • Dean’s reaction suggests that no, he has never mowed a lawn in his life. he’s never had a stable living situation to allow for that. also he sucks at it, indicating that he doesn’t have experience with it
• Dean forgot (or didn’t know) it was dream!Mary’s birthday. his look of guilt suggests that he wouldn’t have known it was her birthday if he was aware of the date, and therefore suggests that he hasn’t kept track of her birthday across the years and doesn’t celebrate it since she was dead most of his life
• dream!John’s gravestone reads: John e. Winchester 1954-2006 loving husband & father remembered forever
  • dream!John died of a stroke
  • dream!John died sometime between late season 1 (1x06 Skin - 1x22 Devil’s Trap) and early season 2 (2x01 In My Time of Dying - 2x10 Hunted)
    • this is likely meant to indicate that John died at the Same time in both worlds: during 2x01 In My Time of Dying. it could suggest that John’s death was his fate rather than a choice he made to escape the narrative—he was going to die in august 2006 no matter what
  • the engraving “loving father” appears also on a random grave in 2x04 Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things: Dean scorns the dead father in that episode because he is resentful that John couldn’t be the loving father he wanted
• carmen porter was a fantasy created in Dean’s mind out of an el sol beer ad—this might imply that he might not really be seeking a real girl to settle down (compare cassie or lisa), that he might not truly desire to have a long-standing relationship with a woman

2x21 All Hell Breaks Loose, Part One

• Jake “so we’re soldiers in a demon war to bring on the apocalypse?”
  • this is the first time the apocalypse has been mentioned. this seems to be the first true start of the diversion away from the special kid/demon war plotline to the apocalypse plotline
• Azazel attributes Sam’s skills and talents and training to John, implying that everything John did specifically to keep Sam safe and away from his fate was instead taking him down the path to his fate instead
• Azazel “[Mary] walked in on us. wrong place, wrong time”
  • strangely sexual undertones in how Azazel talks to Sam: “walking in on” two people is usually referring to witnessing a sexual act between them. this is congruous with 1x22 Devil’s Trap where Azazel interacts sexually with the Winchesters and injects incest into their family structure through his blurring of the lines between familial and sexual. here too Azazel is interpreting events through a sexual lens—Azazel is implied to believe he is also Sam’s father, so this is describing the priMary act of incest between them which set Sam up for his lifelong experience with familial incest
• it’s revealed that Mary knew who Azazel was before she died, which suggests that it was planned from the start that Mary made the deal with Azazel and possibly that she was a hunter before marrying John
• Sam dies because he’s paying too much attention to Dean and not enough to his surroundings. this can parallel to how Dean is supposed to be responsible for Sam’s death as his fate
  • Dean “that’s my job, right? watch out for my pain-in-the-ass little brother?”
    • Dean’s fate (killing Sam) and Dean’s family (protecting Sam, saving Sam) are warring. Dean wanted to protect Sam, but he couldn’t fight fate and Sam died anyway

• andy is the first person Sam finds in cold oak, followed immediately by Ava. Ava is locked inside a building
• Ava claims that she woke up “half an hour ago,” and that she “saw [Sam] two days ago.” Ava only lived about 3 hours away from where she first met Sam (peoria IL and lafayette IN respectively), so she would have been able to make it back to peoria within the day that she left him. the timeline doesn’t add up, especially considering that Sam and Dean went to peoria after gordon was arrested to check on Ava. therefore this can be an early indication of Ava’s deception and manipulation, which Sam notably doesn’t pick up on at all
  • compare Sam’s belief in Ava to Dean’s belief in “Sam” (Meg) in 2x14 Born under a Bad Sign: both are faced with weird incongruencies and narratives that don’t add up, but the circumstances surrounding them don’t allow either to contemplate these signals deeply
• all of the special children are 23 at this current moment, which would imply that Sam is the oldest of the remaining special kids since his birthday is in a few days (episode starts april 29)
  • andy (and anson)’s birthday is june 30
• there are 5 remaining special children. known dead children by now include max, scott, and anson, bringing the potential total to 8
  • Ava has been fighting special children for 5 months. she says they come in “batches of 3 or 4 at a time.” assuming the battle royales occur with a frequency between either one per week or one per month, this could put the total number of special children within the lower range of 23 (3 special children per month for 5 months, plus the 8 known kids), and the upper range of 88 (4 special children per week for 5 months, plus the 8 known kids)
• Sam is emulating Dean as he tries to be a leader and a rock for the other special children. Jake encourages him: “it doesn’t matter if we believe it. only matters that they do”
  • this seems to echo Dean’s MO: Dean talks big and tough in order to soothe Sam’s fears, even if he himself doesn’t believe what he’s saying (see 1x14 Nightmare, 2x05 Simon Said). if Jake is an allegory for John, then this would suggest Dean learned this behavior from John
• not confirmed, but it seems that jeffrey Dean morgan is playing 1983!Azazel again (Same as 1x01 Pilot), which continues the metatextual incest presented in the pilot
• Sam refuses to kill Jake
  • compare 1x14 Nightmare, 1x15 The Benders: Sam is averse to killing humans
  • compare 1x22 Devil’s Trap: Sam refuses to kill John. this can therefore be a parallel if Jake is meant to be an allegory for John

2x22 All Hell Breaks Loose, Part Two

• Dean kills Azazel (and the person he’s wearing). Dean was unmotivated to pursue revenge and kill Azazel, yet Dean is the one who killed him in the end. there is a change here: John’s wife was killed by Azazel, Sam’s girlfriend was killed by Azazel, and now Dean’s brother was killed by (because of) Azazel. now that Dean has experienced loss, he understands the pursuit of revenge and is finally motivated to kill Azazel. John and Sam both had 1-2 seasons to come to terms with letting go of their revenge in exchange for family, but Dean’s brush with revenge is still festering since Sam only died a few days ago
  • Sam is paralleled with Mary and jessica as the victim killed as collateral for Azazel’s plans, and therefore this suggests that Sam is Dean’s wife/girlfriend, or his sexual and romantic life partner. the feelings Dean has for Sam through this parallel are therefore suggested to be incestuous

• bobby “something big is going down—end-of-the-world big” Dean “well then let it end!”
  • Dean is apathetic about saving the world without Sam in it. this speaks to how his beliefs and values have been shaped around Sam his whole life. he values saving people, but only so far as it maintains a safe world for Sam to live in
  • Dean announces he’s done with hunting. compare to 2x09 Croatoan and 2x10 Hunted, where Dean wanted to stop hunting (temporarily), but Sam roped him back in. Sam was Dean’s reason for hunting, and without him he’s not willing to put in the effort anymore
• Dean recounts when Sam was around 5 years old and wouldn’t stop asking questions about their life. “i remember i begged you, ‘quit asking, Sammy. man, you don’t wanna know.’ i just wanted you to be a kid... just for a little while longer”
• the crossroads demon (different from the one in 2x08 Crossroad Blues) toys when Dean when making the deal to bring Sam back to life. it seems that originally, she wanted to do a 1:1 swap, Sam’s life for Dean’s, but eventually relents and gives him a year. this could be related to Dean becoming the righteous man who breaks the first seal
• Dean lies to Sam about bringing him back to life, letting Sam instead think that he simply recovered from the injury. this suggests also that Dean believes the knowledge of the demon deal would threaten his relationship with Sam—compare 2x04 Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things, 2x08 Crossroad Blues. he doesn’t want to put the pressure on Sam; he is protecting Sam from the knowledge and therefore the guilt of his existence
• Dean wants Sam to rest instead of hunting down Jake. compare this to earlier in the episode, when Dean wants to quit hunting, and again to 2x09 Croatoan/2x10 Hunted. once again, Sam is the impetus to continue hunting while Dean is trying to escape the life
• Dean “i’m not even supposed to be here, you know? at least this way, something good can come out of it. it’s like my life can mean something”
  • Dean is not only trading his life for Sam but also trying to atone for his sin of being alive after John sacrificed himself for him
  • compare to 1x12 Faith, where Dean’s life could have been traded for layla’s if Sam had let him die to heal her tumor. this parallel also foreshadows the lengths Sam will go to in season 3 to try and get Dean out of his deal

• when Sam is revived, he declares that he’s going to “tear that son of a bitch [Jake] apart,” which is the first time Sam has been openly hostile to a human
• Dean asks about Sam’s dream and if Azazel told him anything other than the purpose of his battle royale. Sam is quick to lie to Dean and say no, keeping the fact that there’s demon blood inside of him a secret. this means Sam does not want Dean to know about the demon blood: he doesn’t feel like it’s safe for Dean to know this about him. this suggests that Sam believes the demon blood is something that can threaten their relationship, or rather Sam’s place in Dean’s life. he wants to maintain their current relationship, so he keeps the truth from Dean to avoid any stress on their dynamic
• Jake is the one who puts irrefutable doubt in Sam’s mind that he is supposed to be dead. he looks at Dean while doubting the events because Dean is the one who insisted that he didn’t die
• Sam kills Jake—this is his first human kill. compare to 1x22 Devil’s Trap, where Dean has his first human kill
  • Sam is particularly bloodthirsty about this murder. he shoots excessively and seems to relish in the taking of Jake’s life. Azazel later uses this as evidence that Sam “came back wrong,” but this could also be fueled by two other factors: first, a pursuit of revenge which Sam is already well fond of and inclined toward since 1x01 Pilot; and second, Jake has placed doubt in Sam’s mind toward Dean’s actions and intentions, and killing Jake can therefore be symbolic of Sam fighting to retain absolute trust and faith in his brother
• Dean “don’t get mad at me. don’t you do that. i had to. i had to look out for you. that’s my job” Sam “and what do you think my job is?” Dean “what?” Sam “you’ve saved my life over and over. i mean, you sacrifice everything for me. don’t you think i’d do the Same for you? you’re my big brother. there’s nothing i wouldn’t do for you. and i don’t care what it takes, i’m gonna get you out of this”
  • Dean views protecting Sam, saving Sam as his sole “job” or role in life, and that his life is meaningless outside of it
  • Dean’s “what?” suggests that he’s never given any thought to what Sam’s “job” in life might be
  • Sam is cognizant of the extent of Dean’s sacrifices for Sam’s sake. see 1x18 Something Wicked: before this point, Sam might not have fully recognized the lengths Dean had gone to keep Sam safe, but this is probably the moment where he becomes aware of it
  • Sam asserts that he will get Dean out of his deal, even though doing so is supposed to result in his own death per the terms of the contract (even though he doesn’t know this at the moment). this foreshadows the lengths Sam will go to save Dean in season 3, and it’s also reminiscent of 1x12 Faith and 2x01 In My Time of Dying, where Sam also goes to extremes to save Dean’s life

• Azazel manipulates Jake to do his bidding by appealing to his family. once again, Azazel is shown to dig his fingers into the family structure and corrupt it
• Azazel “a boy [Dean] shouldn’t play with daddy’s guns”
  • the Colt belonged to both John and Azazel at some point up to now. the “daddy” in question can therefore refer to either John or Azazel, or both

• bobby suggests burying Sam. this differs from hunter customs of burning the body on a pyre—bobby might be using the word “bury” as a catch-all for a hunter-style funeral, or he could actually be suggesting they break custom by burying him, which could suggest a desire to see him be revived somehow, or to come back as a ghost
• Dean “i guess that’s what i do. i let down the people i love”
  • compare 1x18 Something Wicked: Dean failed to follow orders and almost got Sam killed, which led to Dean’s repression of self and deep sense of self-loathing
  • his self-loathing is intrinsically tied to his inability to keep Sam safe
• John himself doesn’t kill Azazel, but he participates in his murder and finds peace, which seems to let him move on from his current existence as a ghost (after climbing out of hell). compare this to molly in 2x16 Roadkill. neither Sam nor Dean know where he will end up
• Sam “you did it” Dean “i didn’t do it alone”
  • Dean seems unwilling to take credit for killing Azazel. the way he says the line seems to suggest he’s uncomfortable with taking credit, or perhaps that because he wasn’t seeking revenge that the revenge should not belong to him
  • Dean “that was for our mom, you son of a bitch”
    • this line is rather hollow and disconnected from Dean’s narrative arc. this could be another piece of evidence that Dean does not believe the revenge should belong to him, because if it did belong to him it would make more sense for him to attribute his killing Azazel as being for Sam instead, because Sam has been Dean’s priMary motivator since the beginning of the show, and was in the end the reason why Dean was intrinsically motivated to seek revenge against Azazel
• Dean “we got work to do”
  • this is a direct parallel to the end of 1x01 Pilot, which signals that the arc that spanned seasons 1 and 2 is closed and a new arc will now begin
  • this supports the idea that season 1 and 2 are mirrors of each other, and suggests that seasons 3 and 4 will also be mirrors