What Is And What Should Never Be

[hells_half_acre]

I just watched What Is And What Should Never Be (2x20) again for timelining reasons.

I only popped it in because I realized I didn't have John and Mary's birthdates on my timeline, and I realized that I could easily get Mary's birthdate by combining the grave stone in Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things (2x04) with the date in WIAWSNB. Also, WIAWSNB has a gravestone for John. So, now my timeline is all nicely edited and correct.

Then I was surprised...

I've seen this episode at least three times, five if you include watching it with commentary...and I still managed to see something I had never noticed before: Jared is phenomenal.

It's easy to focus on Jensen's performance in this one. It's a Dean-POV episode, it centres all around Dean's psychology, Dean gives an emotional speech and cries, etc...and I'm not taking away from that. Jensen does a great job, but throughout the episode Jensen is playing DEAN. The same Dean he always is - the Dean who has sacrificed his whole life, has lost his father, misses his mother, loves Sammy.

Meanwhile, Jared is playing a version of Sam that has never hunted, grew up with a family and a home, is studying to be a lawyer, is engaged to the love of his life, wears dorky clothes, and doesn't get along with or have much respect for his older brother. This isn't our regular brooding, messed up Sammy. This isn't Sammy at all...and yet, Jared magically plays him in a way where he's still Sam somehow, where the Sam we do know is still a visible possibility under this stranger.

I've said it a couple of places, (and you are free to disagree with me), but a lot of the time I actually think Sam is the more difficult part to play between the two brothers. You have to be so subtle with Sam. (Alright, I just get kind of tired of everyone going on about Jensen like he's the God of Acting and completely overlooking how great Jared is). I think this episode is a good example of Jared actually having less screen time, but a more difficult acting challenge. In the commentary, Kripke talks about how both boys came up to him independently and told him how difficult it was to play the brothers as though they didn't have the strong bond that they usually do. Still, at least Jensen was playing a Dean that KNEW about the bond. Jared was playing a Sam who thought his brother was an no-good alcoholic.

Anyway, such a good episode.

Also, I noticed that both Wish!verse-Mary and Wish!verse-Sam tell Dean to "get some rest" at one point.  It's a nice repetition that I missed before, but adds a nice little to the "something is not right" vibe.

Comments

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

So many possibilities! I could totally see a mirror between John and his Dad and Sam and John though. And of course, we'll have to assume that by 1983 both John's parents had died.

[mizzykitty.livejournal.com]

I dunno, why are they dead? they're only like 60 or so in 1983. That's not that old! Maybe they had a falling out of some sort, and John being hella prideful (and presumably his dad being the same) they never spoke to each other again? Hrmmm.

I just looked it up and avg life expectancy in 1983 was 74.5. Huh!

Edit: no, that was if you were BORN in 1983. Sorry. If you're born in the 20's, it's about 60. So actually you're right, they could totally be dead.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Well, by 1983 my grandfather was dead - my uncle insists his old age was sped up by injuries incurred in WWII.

But really, I'm just assuming that since John is all "family is everything!" he wouldn't have stayed estranged from his parents and they would have been present in Dean and Sam's life in some capacity as children.

[mizzykitty.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but he's also very much a stubborn bastard. Like maybe he felt his dad shoulda been the one to extend the olive branch. I dunno. I think it's interesting that the first time they saw each other after the stanford thing, Sam was all wary like he thought John was still gonna be mad. And it was John who just wanted to put it behind them. Considering how he acts with all his other friends who he's pissed off, I wonder if in this case, it was something like, he didn't want to be like his dad. BUT I am completely spinning yarns here so whatevs. I'm sure they were dead before Sam and Dean were born LOL!

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Haha, yeah, it's all speculation. But you do have a point...John WAS a stubborn bastard, and he did have a habit of pissing people off and then never talking to them again.