Is Love in the Cards?
I think it's safe to say that it's hard to love a Winchester boy. Not that it's actually difficult to fall for one of them, but that the likelihood of that relationship working out long term is next to zip. Not only would most sane girls not be willing to give up a normal life to ride around the country fighting really scary dudes, but I'm pretty sure some of the fans would do her in.
Supernatural is, above all, about the relationship of these two brothers. Other characters can be secondary at best and more commonly window dressing or "victim of the week." This is why there is fan outcry when things happen like the introduction of Ruby and Bela or the upcoming episode in which we will evidently be introduced to a third Winchester brother. Some fans don't want to shift the focus off Sam and Dean, and I suspect some don't want any girlfriend material in there so they can continue imagining themselves in that role. :)
Let's face it -- if you're a girl and you get introduced on Supernatural, my bet is that you're not long for this world or that we'll soon be seeing you in the Impala's rear view mirror. This trend is set early when Sam's serious girlfriend, Jessica, is killed (like his mother was) in the pilot, as soon as he heads back toward the supernatural-hunting life. The girl who we learn in "Route 666" was Dean's foray into a serious relationship, Cassie, is a casualty (though she's still alive) of the boys' hunting lifestyle too. One of the saddest, tear-inducing episodes for me has been "Heart", in which Sam finally lets go of Jessica enough to fall for someone else. Too bad Madison ends up being a werewolf and he has to kill her.
I'm sensing a trend here.
But here's the thing -- the boys have given so much, worked so hard, been to hell and back (Dean, literally) that I think they deserve to find love and somehow live a happily ever after. Somehow I don't suspect that's in the cards. I'm not sure they'll even survive in the end. And if they do, how do they leave all they've seen and done behind to marry and raise kids in small-town America or suburbia? Do you think that's even possible? Will there ever be no evil baddies to fight?
If the writers somehow make this possible, what kind of women do you think they'll have to create as potential love interests for Sam and Dean to make the fans happy? How soon before the series finale do you think these women can be introduced so that the fans don't revolt? Or do you think we've already met them. Have to say that Anna grew on me in the recent episode, "On the Head of a Pin." The only way I can see this is if somehow God or the angels can wipe their memories of all the bad stuff and allow them to start with a fresh slate. Could that be their reward for helping heaven defeat Lucifer and his minions?
I'm curious what you think. Is long-term love in the cards for the boys?
10 comments:
I don't think our boys will ever settle down in the traditional sense. I think they deserve happiness but I don't think they will ever get it in more than little windows - a night here, a week there. Just enough to make what they do worth doing. Saving people, hunting things.
I wish them a happily every after but I don't think they will get it.
I think you may be right, phouse. Poor guys.
Okay, I can't give a simple opinion on this. :)
I think it would be next to impossible to introduce a true partner for each brother. I WANT it, and I think in the context of their lives, it's possible. Love and happiness are always possible.
(Happily ever after is for fairy tales so I won't even address that element.)
But in the context of the show, I don't want to see it. I mean, I'm a romance novelist, and I ALWAYS want romance in my entertainment, and I even want to see Dean and Sam fall in love, but I don't want anyone on the show in a big enough capacity that would interfere with the brotherly dynamic.
So it's a conundrum.
I can see Dean falling for another hunter. They'd keep hunting and wouldn't have kids.
Sam, on the other hand, would fall for a very strong but normal woman, and they'd have a close to normal life, but he'd never be out of it entirely. He'd do research for Dean and his woman, and maybe occasionally back them up on jobs. He'd have kids, and it would be a lifelong struggle to keep things balanced for them, but he'd manage it. They'd go to college AND have specialized rock salt weapons that didn't look like weapons.
One reason I think this can be possible: Bobby said in season one that demon activity was rare. A couple dozen a year, but there was huge amounts of stuff going on, all centered around the boys. I think whatever they do to defeat or prevent Lucifer will drive the demons back to hell and seal it pretty well, so it goes back to being rare.
Until the next time.
Interesting ideas, Natalie. We'll see how close you are. :)
I'm not expecting it to go that way. :) I'm more than half resigned to Kripke following Jensen and Jared's Butch and Sundance preference.
But that's how I see it, in the world they've set up in my head. :)
See, I think Dean would be the one to settle down. He's always longed for a home, and he deserves to get what he wants. Maybe no kids, since he essentially raised Sam.
I'm with Trish. I think the only way the boys get a HEA is if their memories get wiped.
I heartily agree that Dean longs for and deserves a home. I just think the nomadic life is too ingrained in him and that settling down--in the traditional sense--won't be possible. A home base, yes, Sam's home, definitely, a place to belong and where family gathers, of course--but not a wife and family and mortgage and TPS reports that he writes up wearing a suit and sitting in a cubicle. :)
As for HEA, well, no such thing in life or, to me, in fiction. Happiness is as transient as anything else. Whoever the boys wound up with would nag and get bitchy once a month, and the boys would fart and fail to listen when their wives talked, and people would die and they'd have problems of various levels of difficulty. So they can't have HEA any more than anyone else can.
But moments of peace? Connection? Love? I still think it's possible, even without a memory wipe.
Though that would help. :)
LOL on the TPS reports, Natalie! I love Office Space. Though this week's episode looks to be channeling Office Space a little.
And let me just say for the record -- if the boys die in the end, I'm going to bawl buckets.
I had a feeling they would be hinting at that, Trish!
Dying at the end is not an option. I'm not even going to entertain the idea.
Kripke's got to know he has given the fans way too many ideas on creative ways to kill to do that to us.
Echoing the other commenters, I would like for love to be in the cards for Sam and Dean, but I'm afraid it won't be. Usually what I want to see happen and what probably will happen on this show are two different things.
When I enjoy a character, especially ones like Sam and Dean, I want them to be happy--and these two guys yearn for love more than any TV character I've seen in a while. But this is Supernatural, and they just don't do happy endings.
Er, and yeah--they can't die at the end. No way, you hear me, Kripke?
--Beth
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