Awesome Big Brother: Dean in Wendigo

It’s easy to see the ways in which Sam is suffering in Wendigo. What’s less obvious is that Dean, too, is struggling to hold it together as the episode begins. Just think about where Dean is, emotionally, at this point. It’s a week after Dean witnessed the return of the unknown supernatural force that killed his mother. His father has gone missing, with only a simple set of co-ordinates left behind for Dean. In the intervening week, Dean must have tried repeatedly to contact John, without success. He has Sam back in his life, but this is a broken Sam, a Sam who needs Dean to stay strong and take care of him. Dean has no one to lean on, and this is the time when he most needs someone.

That Dean is struggling shows in the first conversation he has with Sam. He offers to let Sam drive. Though with hindsight we know how much that gesture means to Dean, in context Sam’s reaction makes it seem as if Dean is still thinking of Sam as a teenager: that is the kind of offer that would lift the spirits of the average teenage boy. It makes sense that Dean would think of Sam that way: the brothers have, don’t forget, been estranged for four years. It underlines that Dean is feeling a bit out of his depth. He wants to take care of Sam, he wants to help him through his grief over Jessica, but he doesn’t know how. Part of him must be wondering if he even knows Sam any more: a man can change a lot in four years, especially the four years that mark the transition from teenager to adult.

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Crossposted from my blog at Devil's Trap. You can comment here or on the blog.