Timelining S5: A week and a half or 3 months?

[hells_half_acre]

Ok, so I'm doing things differently this year and I've decided to timeline the show as we go, rather than waiting on the DVDs. So, I've come to my first conundrum! How long was the Winchester Schism of 2009?

5x03 Free To Be You and Me -

Does it take place during he first-second week of June OR  does it cover all of June to August 24nd, 2009?!!?

There are two ways to interpret the timing of this episode.
1. The boys spend a week apart - Dean hunts a Vampire and Sam gets a job - before the events of the episode take place. 
2. The boys have spent nearly 3 months apart: The date spotted on Sam's laptop on the second day of his storyline - 08/23/09, 3:38pm - would mean that the boys have actually spent almost 3 months apart.

Let's look at the supporting evidence for both:

- Lindsey tells Sam that he blew into town "last week" - this would support the one week theory; though, one could also argue that Sam may not have given up the normadic lifestyle, and this might not be his first stop since leaving Dean.

- I find it doubtful that Cas would go almost three months without contacting Dean; however, the two storylines we are seeing may NOT actually be happening simultaneously. It is possible that we are seeing Dean in June and Sam in August.

-The next episode - The End - may also take place in August. Given that Sam calls Dean with the news from Lucifer at the beginning of that episode, it is likely that it follows shortly after this one, as I doubt Sam would keep the information from his brother for long. That being said, The End might not actually take place in August either...

(Random note: It's dark outside even though Sam's laptop says that it's only 3:38pm...I wonder what time-zone his laptop is set to...)

5x04 - The End

Does it take place Mid June OR end of August 2009?

More evidence:

-Dean is transported to August 2014 - either he was transported there because that is when the final show down with Lucifer takes place, or he was transported there because it happens to be EXACTLY 5 years in the future. However...

-Dean says that he is from the "tail-end" of 2009 - which would support the August, 2009 date more than the June date.

-Another interesting thing to note is that Dean said he drove "16 hours" to get to Kansas City at the beginning of the episode - we last saw him in Maine. Maine to Kansas City is considerably further than a 16 hour drive. Which could support the idea that the storylines we see in Free to Be You and Me are actually not occuring simultaneously...if we believe that Sam would have called Dean immediately after his visit from Lucifer, which I personally do.
 
So, what do you guys think? Fallen Idol tells us nothing (that I've found so far) besides that it takes place 3 weeks after The End.

I won't be adding this to my master-timeline until after the season is over, but if any of you have any question about the dates so far, you can always ask and I'll tell you what I've figured out.

Comments

[jillsjourney.livejournal.com]

i think that they probably forget to change the dates/times on the laptops.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Ok, so that's a vote for the June dates then.

It wouldn't be the first time that happened. John died on July 19th, because that was the day they were filming the episode...ironically (or purposefully) it fits in with timeline information we get later on about John's death. So, this might be another case where I may have to just wait and see if there are times in the next few episodes.

[claudiapriscus.livejournal.com]

They've been very vague, but I'm leaning towards the three month gap. It makes more sense in regards to the larger story. Though who knows, really. Maybe something in the next few episodes will help settle it.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Yeah...the three month gap makes more sense in terms of character development, which I think it the main appeal of using it.

[mymuseandi.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking more of the 3 months gap. It makes more sense to the whole story, and also explains the 'rusty' comment that Dean mentioned to Sam, since i don't think that Sam would get rusty so soon.

Also, i'm thinking that whatever happened to Sam in the story, meeting the other hunters, having those dreams with Jessica (who's actually Lucifer), they are all drawn out, and didn't happen within days of each other. IMHO. :)

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Yes, a lot of excellent points. I also like the idea that we didn't see the stories simultaneously either...because it just doesn't make sense for Dean to be in Kansas City when Sam calls him about Lucifer - because I REALLY think Sam would have called him RIGHT AWAY.

And yeah, Sam wouldn't get rusty in a week and a half...that's even too ridiculous for Dean to use as a joke.

I guess I'll just eagerly await the next mention of a date...

[partly.livejournal.com]

I vote for the three month break.

Thematically, a week isn't long enough for the boys to realize what life is like without the other. Nor does a week seem like enough time for Lucifer to find Sam or for Zachariah to turn to radicals to track down Dean. As for Cass not contacting Dean for three months... I think it's believable because Cass was off looking for God. Knowing that Cass's sense of the passage of time is a bit off, I can see it being three months before he contacts Dean.

A week could work, but three months *feels* better.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Good point about Cas's concept of time...I just assumed, given that Dean is the only ally he has in the world, that he would be in closer contact...Still, even with the 3 month gap, if we assume that the stories weren't happening simultaneously, then Cas could have visited Dean and done the whole archangel thing in July, and then disappeared for another month and arrived again at the end of August in time to save him from Zach...meanwhile, Sam's roaming the countryside getting regular jobs until Lucifer tracks him down near the end of August....

But I agree, the three months *feel* better...especially if we want to believe that the time apart gave them some perspective.