#spn1.15

[incesthemes]

i'm impatient so i wanted to share my handwritten notes for 1.15 the benders because i can't wait to type it all up... it's a little messy so here are my key takeaways from the episode, formatted for easier reading:

this is another episode which subtly explores the idea that hunters are monsters. similar to 1.02 wendigo, the monster of the week is defined by its skill in hunting, which suggests that hunters are the same cruel killers that their prey are. other episodes up to now that touch on this are 1.06 skin, 1.07 hook man (less directly), and 1.14 nightmare (less directly).

dean is resistant to this hunt, while sam is enthusiastic about pursuing it. i wrote extensively about the importance of sam pursuing this case here, but regarding dean: dean not wanting to follow up on a potential hunt reveals something about his character, and here it seems to be his worries about sam's developing powers.

sam performing acts of service (hunting) in order to ensure his goodness seems rooted in his family values which are based on service to others. importantly, compare 1.22 where azazel also upholds these values while posing as john. azazel worms his way into the family dynamic and corrupts it by enforcing toxic relationship dynamics, both through acts like this and through acts of incest.

the benders are implied to be incestuous at various points in the episode. they're also paralleled with the winchesters as a whole, through them being hunters and through their undersocialized, insulated dynamics. daddy bender further draws a direct parallel by comparing himself and his family to dean during his interrogation and invites the audience to see them as similar. this consequentially invites us to see the winchesters as incestuous, but in a different way from the incest parallels in episodes up to now: this is a grotesque, warped thing, nothing romantic about it. it's peeling back the layers to reveal the ugly truth of their isolated family.

sam attempts to include himself in this hunt by telling dean to be careful. saying this is important to him because he wants to be part of this dynamic and help, even when locked in a cage. being part of his family is important to him.

sam doesn't kill any of the benders. compare 1.14, where he says it's wrong to kill humans. consistency that reveals a difference between sam and dean: sam doesn't want to see humans as the monsters they hunt, while dean assigns monstrosity based on actions and behaviors.

the episode concludes that seeking revenge will not result in healing, continuing the theme from 1.14—still, sam remains motivated to find and kill azazel, while dean seems to agree with kathleen (who is paralleled to him) and has in a lot of ways abandoned this revenge quest (hinted at in 1.16 and confirmed in 1.22). like in 1.11 and 1.12, sam is making the decisions that will result in tragedy, while dean lacks the narrative agency and willpower to challenge sam's choices and avert their ruin, because his devotion to the family is his ultimate flaw that sam denied him of developing out of in 1.11 (and we see now the effects of this, further expanded upon in 1.18, 1.20, and 1.22). the "moral" of the episode runs directly contradictory to sam's choices, and the warning signs are ignored as sam continues his hunt for azazel.

actual notes under the cut because there's a lot of them!

[incesthemes]

1.14 nightmare is such an important turning point for sam. before this episode, he's unmotivated to save people, or at least he's not motivated where it conflicts with his personal goals of revenge. he's outright resisted working some cases (wendigo, scarecrow) and is willing to abandon people he knows will die because they're getting in the way of his search for john. when he is motivated to help people, it's because it relates to his own goals (home, for example) or because it personally affects him.

but in nightmare, max is a foil to sam. their upbringings were similar, their origins are the same, and they share psychic powers. the difference, according to dean, is that max is a killer, a monster, someone who is unempathetic because he's hurting people with his powers. sam sees himself in max, and importantly, he sees what he can turn into. he lets go of a lot of his anger, begins working to forgive john, and finds comfort in the fact that dean is looking out for him.

and the very next episode opens on sam pushing for a case dean is reluctant to pursue. the times sam has found and pushed a case up to this point are:

1.06 skin: he wants to help his friend (personal involvement with the victims)

1.08 bugs: sam finds the case, but the dialogue seems to suggest that dean was having sam research potential cases while dean was bringing home the bacon. uncertain origin here

1.09 home: he has a vision of jenny (personal involvement related to his vision and finding john)

1.12 faith: sam is looking for a way to save dean

1.14 nightmare: again, he has a vision of max's victims dying (personal involvement)

so based on this, it's rather rare for sam to seek out hunts unless he's involved in it some way, either through his visions or some other personal motivator. he wants to save the people he cares about, but he's resistant to saving people he doesn't know.

that makes sam pushing for the case in the benders important, because it's the first real time sam seems to be motivated to hunt for just for the sake of hunting. since it comes right after nightmare, it seems to imply that sam has decided to try helping people in order to prevent himself from becoming like max. if the circumstances were different, he could have turned out just like max: sam said so himself. and now he's extremely aware of that fact, and he's committing himself to avoiding that at all costs. the thing inside him, the visions, the rapid development of psychic powers, scares him—but dean is looking out for him. so he tries to reject the terrifying unknown of his powers by embracing dean, following his example. because dean is good, so by emulating dean sam can be good too.