Linkspam and More SPN 5×22 Meta

[rusty_halo]

* Here is an amazing short story: The Women Men Don’t See by James Tiptree, Jr. (who was really Alice Sheldon). It was linked in the recent rape culture discussions, so I read it yesterday and have been thinking about it since–it’s very powerful.

* I had been hoping and praying that George R. R. Martin wouldn’t open his mouth in the recent fanfiction debate, but I’m not that lucky. He’s disappointingly, ignorantly wrong, though at least he’s not as offensive as some of the other anti-fanfic authors have been. There have been some fantastic refutations of his nonsense at metafandom recently, if you’re interested.

I’ve been through this debate so many times before that I’m not really interested in getting into it again, but I’m glad that a lot of people are, because all these inspiring, articulate odes to fanfic really do convince people. They convinced me, way back when.

On a very shallow level, I hate to see people dissing Martin’s writing because of this. Well, specifically I hate to see people dissing Jaime Lannister, because Jaime is awesome and it’s totally not his fault that his writer is such a dumbass about this issue. :P

* Here is a gorgeous Claudia Black picspam which cheered me up immensely. (I need an Aeryn Sun icon, btw, but I don’t want one of her snuggling with John or pointing a gun, so I’m still looking.)

* I woke up this morning realizing that I'm actually quite happy with the SPN finale; I guess it just took a little while to sink in. It was bittersweet, and surprising but also satisfying. It was a reversal of what you'd expect for the characters, almost like they switched endings--Sam got Dean's martyrdom and Dean got Sam's normal life.

I've been rewatching the series (I'm in the middle of season one) and one of the things that's struck me is how much Dean is not just Sam's brother but also his parental figure, because Mary was dead and John was so messed-up/frequently absent. Dean's been responsible for another person from the age of four--being a caretaker is core to his identity. (It's also core that he feels responsible first for Sam, but also for everything else--from keeping his family together to saving everyone in the world who needs saving. It both gives him meaning/purpose and is also an impossible burden to bear, which is why we see him alternately clinging to this identity and resenting it [and usually being in denial about resenting it].)

When I was watching season one it kept hitting me that the Sam/Dean relationship was unhealthy, because Dean's identity is intimately tied to his need to take care of Sam, but Sam's core struggle is to forge his own identity outside of what Dean wants for him. The show has done a fascinating job of developing that theme and exploring every facet of it. It's gone very dark--Dean sacrificing himself to save Sam, even though Sam wouldn't have wanted him to; Sam trying so hard to forge his own identity that he makes terrible mistakes and starts the apocalypse.

This season ending was all about the characters having grown up enough to finally deal with the issue in a healthy way. Sam makes a choice driven by a real desire to do the right thing, not by his messy vengeance/rage/control issues. And Dean, despite being opposed with every fiber of his being to anything that involves sacrificing Sam, is mature enough to recognize that it's Sam's decision to make, not his. You know how I keep raving about how SPN is the perfect balm to my BtVS issues? The scene where Dean says that he's not letting Sam do anything, because Sam is a grown man and it's not up to Dean to give him permission? OMG I LOVE IT SO MUCH. (Can you imagine Angel saying this to Buffy or Connor? Or Buffy saying it to Dawn? It would never happen.)

But also, I get why Dean is drawn to ... crap, I keep forgetting their names, because they're such barely-there characters. Um, Lisa and Ben. It's because of Ben--that whole episode where they were introduced, it wasn't about Dean bonding with Lisa, it was about Dean bonding with Ben. And it's clearly haunted Dean, the fear that he is being an absent father--that's why he's thinking about them, not because he's so OMG IN LOVE with Lisa (who, yes, I am annoyed that she's such a non-character). Sam is all grown up and doesn't need or want Dean to take care of him anymore, but being a caretaker is the core defining trait of Dean, so of course he is drawn to this awesome kid who needs a dad.

Now of course, how Dean will fit into that domestic lifestyle is a total open question, and I thought the show did a fantastic job of leaving it ambiguous, though personally I can't see it working out particularly well. I worry about the effect on the kid, though, having a father figure and presumably losing him when the show comes back. (I desperately do not want them to fridge the family or to portray Dean as a deadbeat dad, so I hope they surprise me with something more creative than those options.) As I said in witling's journal, the only really happy ending I could see for this show would be Sam and Dean riding off into the sunset in the Impala, but the Dean-tries-a-normal-life thing is an interesting starting point for the next season.

Originally published at rusty-halo.com. You can comment here or there.