The One True Hero
Dec. 13th, 2018 04:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
neomerisTwo shows, two heroes. They are very similar, and yet one is better than the other.
Beware, beware, spoilers for Supernatural and 12 Monkeys galore!
They love food (particularly burgers), they are both heroic, they are both strong men without a mother (who died heroically for her son) and a father (who died protecting his flesh and blood in front of our hero).
Why yes, it’s Dean Winchester in the right corner, all strong jawed and tearing up, and it’s James Cole in the left corner, unshaven and tired.
Watching 12 Monkeys, one thing for a Supernatural fan is very clear, Dean and Cole are extremely similar.
They have the same sense of humor, they are irreverent to authority, they are headstrong, especially when sure they are right, they are brave and selfless and self-sacrificing. For heaven’s sake, they even both have a brother who has a different loyalty (on occasion) and who will betray them!
And yet, the more I watched, the clearer the difference became.
James Cole and his family put the wellbeing of the world over the existence of one person, the Winchesters will always choose one another and to Hell (quite often literally) with the rest of the world.
To be fair, it has mostly to do with the fact that Supernatural is never going to end, and considering James stopped the plague, if he’s real he’ll probably watch brand new episodes of Supernatural in 2043, but the explanation of Dean’s flaw can’t be “oh, the writers wanted it that way!”, if we go from a Supernatural (by which I mean from within the world’s perspective) point of view.
Which means that in-world-Dean&Sam are as selfish about each other as they are selfless about their own self (mostly). And this is a message that Supernatural supports every single time after season 5! It wants us to root for the boys saying “Eh, we’ll figure how to save each other out! Shame about the normies dying, but too bad, so sad, the show must go on”. Isn’t it wrong? How many people died because Dean stopped Sam from dying for the sake of closing Hell? Amara? Deanmon? The many times they spared an ultimately obvious betraying murderous creature? Oh boys…
12 Monkeys, on the other hand keeps showing the same story but painting the guys acting with their hearts as the bad guys. Ramse is obviously in the wrong, the Messengers whose goal is to ensure a particular timeline, Athan, Aaron, even when it’s our two main heroes protecting their son (well, Cassie in general), they are all condemned by the other heroes. The only time someone succeeds in ripping a person from the clutches of death it’s either temporary or the one time done with absolutely no selfish reason (I won’t spoil this one, I loved that reveal too much, c’mon it was gloriously unpredictable and delectably expected once you knew it happened!). Yes, it benefited our heroes immensely, and was fated, in a way, but they didn’t know that! No one knew that (Hey, if you read it, I did warn you about spoilers).
Ultimately, Sam or Dean always stop the other from death James Cole goes and does what’s needed with no guarantee that there might in fact be one last, loving paradox.
Feel free to @ me, but IMO it’s pretty obvious, Winchester bros < James Cole
Beware, beware, spoilers for Supernatural and 12 Monkeys galore!
They love food (particularly burgers), they are both heroic, they are both strong men without a mother (who died heroically for her son) and a father (who died protecting his flesh and blood in front of our hero).
Why yes, it’s Dean Winchester in the right corner, all strong jawed and tearing up, and it’s James Cole in the left corner, unshaven and tired.
Watching 12 Monkeys, one thing for a Supernatural fan is very clear, Dean and Cole are extremely similar.
They have the same sense of humor, they are irreverent to authority, they are headstrong, especially when sure they are right, they are brave and selfless and self-sacrificing. For heaven’s sake, they even both have a brother who has a different loyalty (on occasion) and who will betray them!
And yet, the more I watched, the clearer the difference became.
James Cole and his family put the wellbeing of the world over the existence of one person, the Winchesters will always choose one another and to Hell (quite often literally) with the rest of the world.
To be fair, it has mostly to do with the fact that Supernatural is never going to end, and considering James stopped the plague, if he’s real he’ll probably watch brand new episodes of Supernatural in 2043, but the explanation of Dean’s flaw can’t be “oh, the writers wanted it that way!”, if we go from a Supernatural (by which I mean from within the world’s perspective) point of view.
Which means that in-world-Dean&Sam are as selfish about each other as they are selfless about their own self (mostly). And this is a message that Supernatural supports every single time after season 5! It wants us to root for the boys saying “Eh, we’ll figure how to save each other out! Shame about the normies dying, but too bad, so sad, the show must go on”. Isn’t it wrong? How many people died because Dean stopped Sam from dying for the sake of closing Hell? Amara? Deanmon? The many times they spared an ultimately obvious betraying murderous creature? Oh boys…
12 Monkeys, on the other hand keeps showing the same story but painting the guys acting with their hearts as the bad guys. Ramse is obviously in the wrong, the Messengers whose goal is to ensure a particular timeline, Athan, Aaron, even when it’s our two main heroes protecting their son (well, Cassie in general), they are all condemned by the other heroes. The only time someone succeeds in ripping a person from the clutches of death it’s either temporary or the one time done with absolutely no selfish reason (I won’t spoil this one, I loved that reveal too much, c’mon it was gloriously unpredictable and delectably expected once you knew it happened!). Yes, it benefited our heroes immensely, and was fated, in a way, but they didn’t know that! No one knew that (Hey, if you read it, I did warn you about spoilers).
Ultimately, Sam or Dean always stop the other from death James Cole goes and does what’s needed with no guarantee that there might in fact be one last, loving paradox.
Feel free to @ me, but IMO it’s pretty obvious, Winchester bros < James Cole
