Scenes I Love . . .
"Shadow" (cont.)
The Winchesters hustle to escape before the flare goes out, and the daevas return, when Dean makes a surprising statement:
DEAN: Wait, wait, wait! Sam, wait. Dad, you can’t come with us.
SAM: What? What are you talkin’ about?
JOHN: You boys—you’re beat to hell.
DEAN: We’ll be all right.
SAM: Dean, we should stick together. We’ll go after those demons—
DEAN: Sam! Listen to me! We almost got Dad killed in there. Don’t you understand? They’re not gonna stop. They’re gonna try again. They’re gonna use us to get to him. I mean, Meg was right. Dad’s vulnerable when he’s with us. He—he’s stronger without us around.
SAM: Dad--no. (He puts a hand on his father’s shoulder. DEAN watches sadly.) After everything-- after all the time we spent lookin’ for you—please. I gotta be a part of this fight.
JOHN: Sammy, this fight is just starting. And we are all gonna have a part to play. For now, you’ve got to trust me, son. (SAM shakes his head no.) Okay, you’ve gotta let me go.
http://www.supernaturalwiki.com/1.16_Shadow_(transcript)
SAM: What? What are you talkin’ about?
JOHN: You boys—you’re beat to hell.
DEAN: We’ll be all right.
SAM: Dean, we should stick together. We’ll go after those demons—
DEAN: Sam! Listen to me! We almost got Dad killed in there. Don’t you understand? They’re not gonna stop. They’re gonna try again. They’re gonna use us to get to him. I mean, Meg was right. Dad’s vulnerable when he’s with us. He—he’s stronger without us around.
SAM: Dad--no. (He puts a hand on his father’s shoulder. DEAN watches sadly.) After everything-- after all the time we spent lookin’ for you—please. I gotta be a part of this fight.
JOHN: Sammy, this fight is just starting. And we are all gonna have a part to play. For now, you’ve got to trust me, son. (SAM shakes his head no.) Okay, you’ve gotta let me go.
http://www.supernaturalwiki.com/1.16_Shadow_(transcript)
It’s an ironic reversal of the scene the brothers shared earlier. This time it’s Dean who’s willing to make the sacrifice, while Sam is the one urging for the family to stay together. It’s a nice dramatic symmetry, but I’m not so convinced by the logic. Surely the demons’ plan for John depended on being able to exploit the Winchesters’ separation. He is vulnerable to emotional manipulation precisely when he doesn’t know exactly where his sons are or what’s happening to them. Had he been with them from the start of this episode, the brothers would never have walked into Meg’s trap in the first place and John wouldn’t have been tricked into letting his guard down. (Plus, notably, Dean does a complete 180 on the issue a mere 4 episodes later – conveniently in time for the season finale! 😉)
S01E20 “Dead Man’s Blood”
Be that as it may, the time has come for Sam to make the choice that was heralded by the confrontation with the shadow and, for now, he is persuaded to do his father’s bidding.
We notice that the shadow of the cage is now falling across the whole family, John included.
And the cage imagery persists right to the end of the episode, as Meg watches the brothers and their father leave town. It underscores the point that, although they are scattering in different directions, they are all of them still locked together in their shared destiny.
