I loved Plucky Pennywhistle! The humor was fantastic. That clown fight scene—I felt so bad for Sam, but OMG, so funny. The glitter! And I kind of had a thing for the stoner, Native American PP employee Sam interrogated. He was HOT. :-) When I’m in the mood to re-watch and I want a humor episode, it’s one of my go-tos!
I completely disagree that Dean’s using PP as a babysitter is OOC. Just the opposite—he was a kid himself, after all! Where would he have learned better habits? Because John would probably do that, too, and it would be far from the worst parenting he’d done. Yes, Dean is a caretaker by nature, but not a particularly great one; he didn’t have the tools to be. I thought the idea of him leaving Sam at PP was totally realistic, as was his not knowing, even into adulthood, that Sam hated it. Really, THIS is what people think makes Dean insensitive? He’s done so many worse things! Also… I dunno, I love this about his character. It feels totally real to me.
I find fandom interesting in this way. People have such opposite views, and I think some of it depends on your life experience. Anyone who was forced to take care of a younger relation while still a kid themselves will understand and sympathize with Dean’s plight. Dean doesn’t get enough sympathy, IMO, for having been forced into that caretaker role and feeling that was his only value. If anything, it rides the line of being unrealistic that he did as good a job as he did—but that, too, is very Dean. I can relate to his situation all too well—my sister had a baby at 17, when I was 8. She was, needless to say, not very interested in parenting, and then she wasn’t around. I shared a room with her and the baby, and ended up taking care of him more often than she did, and far more often than MY parents did after she was gone and they adopted my nephew. The situation recurred when I was 16 and she left another of her children with us. I loved my niece and nephew, but 8 and 16 year-olds don’t make good parents, and the situation naturally creates resentment. I look back on some of the “parenting” decisions I made and cringe. And Dean didn’t have the resources I had, and didn’t even have any idea what a normal childhood was like, so how could he be held to any kind of parenting standard? He did pretty damn well, all things considered, but as brightly-lit pointed out, he’s kind of a dick as an adult. So what would be OOC, exactly? I also agree with her that the most dickish thing was giving him the damn clown doll, when Sam got him something nice that he actually wanted. But again, that’s so Dean!
Anyway, I loved the episode. As for being a sensitive person, who can say? Sensitivity can take many forms. I consider myself VERY sensitive, and I didn’t have a problem with Dean’s characterization in this episode. Glad to give you my thoughts, and get yours, on any and all episodes! I’ll be interested to see what you think of Bitten if you re-watch it. I think it’s a great stand-alone, outside the S8 context. Funny that it’s the only one you’ve watched only once (8.15 totally doesn’t count- UGH). I would have thought you’d like it, since it focuses on minor characters and I know you generally dig those. But I’ve never seen a found/video footage film like Paranormal Activity, except Chronicle, which I think might have sort of inspired Bitten and which was a very well-made movie. I didn’t end up exactly *liking* Chronicle, but I did think it was a great film, if that makes sense.
This is not going to be very helpful in keeping you off LJ until Thursday. Good luck with that. ;-)
Plucky Pennywhistle IS magical!
I completely disagree that Dean’s using PP as a babysitter is OOC. Just the opposite—he was a kid himself, after all! Where would he have learned better habits? Because John would probably do that, too, and it would be far from the worst parenting he’d done. Yes, Dean is a caretaker by nature, but not a particularly great one; he didn’t have the tools to be. I thought the idea of him leaving Sam at PP was totally realistic, as was his not knowing, even into adulthood, that Sam hated it. Really, THIS is what people think makes Dean insensitive? He’s done so many worse things! Also… I dunno, I love this about his character. It feels totally real to me.
I find fandom interesting in this way. People have such opposite views, and I think some of it depends on your life experience. Anyone who was forced to take care of a younger relation while still a kid themselves will understand and sympathize with Dean’s plight. Dean doesn’t get enough sympathy, IMO, for having been forced into that caretaker role and feeling that was his only value. If anything, it rides the line of being unrealistic that he did as good a job as he did—but that, too, is very Dean. I can relate to his situation all too well—my sister had a baby at 17, when I was 8. She was, needless to say, not very interested in parenting, and then she wasn’t around. I shared a room with her and the baby, and ended up taking care of him more often than she did, and far more often than MY parents did after she was gone and they adopted my nephew. The situation recurred when I was 16 and she left another of her children with us. I loved my niece and nephew, but 8 and 16 year-olds don’t make good parents, and the situation naturally creates resentment. I look back on some of the “parenting” decisions I made and cringe. And Dean didn’t have the resources I had, and didn’t even have any idea what a normal childhood was like, so how could he be held to any kind of parenting standard? He did pretty damn well, all things considered, but as brightly-lit pointed out, he’s kind of a dick as an adult. So what would be OOC, exactly? I also agree with her that the most dickish thing was giving him the damn clown doll, when Sam got him something nice that he actually wanted. But again, that’s so Dean!
Anyway, I loved the episode. As for being a sensitive person, who can say? Sensitivity can take many forms. I consider myself VERY sensitive, and I didn’t have a problem with Dean’s characterization in this episode.
Glad to give you my thoughts, and get yours, on any and all episodes! I’ll be interested to see what you think of Bitten if you re-watch it. I think it’s a great stand-alone, outside the S8 context. Funny that it’s the only one you’ve watched only once (8.15 totally doesn’t count- UGH). I would have thought you’d like it, since it focuses on minor characters and I know you generally dig those. But I’ve never seen a found/video footage film like Paranormal Activity, except Chronicle, which I think might have sort of inspired Bitten and which was a very well-made movie. I didn’t end up exactly *liking* Chronicle, but I did think it was a great film, if that makes sense.
This is not going to be very helpful in keeping you off LJ until Thursday. Good luck with that. ;-)