Episode 4.13 After School Special

Poor Sam thought he completely understood the situation when he was a freshman in high school, but fifteen years later from an adult perspective things look very, very different. And doesn’t this just define a big part of Sam? This burden of guilt he carries for so many things that aren’t really his fault, yet he still feels responsible for? Owwww.

Granted, this theme pretty much sums up the mytharc plot of s4, too, from both Sam and Dean’s perspectives-- not having the full story, believing they know the right thing from Sam’s putting his trust in Ruby in their mission to kill Lilith, and Dean not having the full story of what’s going on with Sam and assuming they’re on the same page...

And Dean in this episode, what we learn about him on the cusp of adulthood gives us a lot of insight into the mask of Performing Dean, his ability to fit himself into a situation as both a shield and a tool to get even a little of what he needs. It’s just sad all around. :(

But that’s why we watch this show. Bring on the suffering!

Supplemental materials for this week’s episode:

The Superwiki page for this episode

My tag for this episode

But especially these posts:

headcanons about the wonky timeline
More, slightly older headcanons about the wonky timeline
technically about s12 (and about four other episodes because meta), but very much about Performing Dean in this episode too
rewatch notes from June 2019
rewatch notes from April 2017

Story Arena and casting sides for Amanda, Dirk McGregor Senior, Mr. Wyatt, April, and young Dean

And yet another CW promo video

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