Supernatural 4x13: After School Special

[meg_tdj]

Does it go without saying that Colin Ford is adorable and perfect at playing young!Sam? It does? Okay, then I won't say it. ;)

I love that it was Sam's idea for them to be a janitor and a gym teacher, hahahaha! And Dean got way too much fun out of it. ;)

*ahem* Anyway.

I found it really interesting that Dean hated that school so much because of what happened with Amanda, yet he transferred it onto Sam as though Sam was the one who'd had a horrible time there, and that's why Dean hated it as well. Yet Sam actually loved it there. He faced down a bully and put him in his place, and the whole school loved him for it, but he obviously didn't brag about it to Dean. Didn't tell him about it at all, it seems.

Which I also find interesting - Sam has always had anger issues, and he's so not proud of it. He didn't NEED to beat down that bully. He could have kept on turning the other cheek, but instead he lashed out and used his training to beat up a human, and a kid at that. So yeah, I don't think that would have been something he was proud of.

It was a leetle bit coincidental that the two ghost possibilities were kids Sam knew from his short time at the school, but maybe that just goes to show that tragedy and supernatural activity tend to follow Sam around. Poor guy.

I LOVED the teacher, Mr. Wyatt. The actor was SO good. That final scene between him and Sam was absolutely perfect. He seemed so interested and flattered by what Sam was saying, yet totally confused by this random guy at the same time, LOL. I'm glad he didn't seem to be a demon. It's good to know that Sam had an actual HUMAN mentor at some point.

I always wonder if Sam jumped on the chance to go back to this school because he wanted to reclaim a bit of childhood innocence and hope in the face of his renewed blood drinking. Remembering the teacher who told him to follow his dreams, telling Dirk that he's not evil as though trying to convince himself... and, of course, the final "You happy, Sam?" comment, which seemed to hit a nerve. The timing of all this, coming right after he got back in with Ruby, seemed significant.

I love the scene between teen Sam and Dean on the bleachers. They were so on each other's side, even back then.

I'm confused about the date of the flashbacks... at first it said it was November 1997, but then we saw a "Class of '97" banner in the school, so it could go either way. I'm guessing Dean had failed a grade, though, for him to only be 3 years ahead of Sam.


Clippage -
*Dean as The Gym Teacher From Hell. Literally and figuratively, heh.


Randomness -
*Mention of the werewolf they'd seen when they were kids. It was obviously quite a memorable event. I wish we could read that paper. ;)
*It's a good thing Sam can take a major beating to his face and still stay pretty, isn't it? It's a rare talent.
*The bottle/crotch thing was too cute for words. So here, have a gif -


Quotes -

Dean: Today, you will have the honour of playing one of the greatest games ever invented. A game of skill, agility, cunning. A game with one simple rule - DODGE.

Sam: Having fun?
Dean: The whistle makes me their god.
Sam: Right. Nice shorts.

Sam: How's the non-violence assembly going?
Dean: Apparently shoving a kid's arm into a Cuisinart is not a healthy display of anger.

Dean: Oh, and FYI, three of the cheerleaders are legal. Guess which ones.
Sam: No.

Barry: That's your brother with Amanda Hackerman?
TeenSam: *nods*
Barry: He's cool!
TeenSam: Yeah, HE thinks so.

TeenDean: That kid's dead.
TeenSam: Dean...
TeenDean: I'm gonna rip his lungs out!!

TeenSam: I don't need your help.
TeenDean: That's right, you don't. You could've torn him apart, so why didn't you?
TeenSam: Because I don't wanna be the freak for once, Dean! I wanna be normal!

TeenDean: Dude, she wants me to meet her parents. I don't do parents.

Wyatt: You know this assignment was non-fiction, right?
TeenSam: Yes, Mr. Wyatt.
Wyatt: So you and your family killed a werewolf last summer, huh?

Wyatt: Now, aside from the werewolf, is that really how you'd describe your family?
TeenSam: Yeah.
Wyatt: Well, your brother's quite a character. And your father, he seems, uh... driven.

Wyatt: Do you want to go into the family business, Sam?
TeenSam: No one's ever asked me that before.
Wyatt: Well?
TeenSam: More than anything, no.

Dean: We came back here so you could talk to a teacher?
Sam: He's a good guy, Dean.
Dean: Well, whatever. Go have your Robin Williams "O Captain, my Captain" moment, just make it quick.

Dean: That ghost is dead. I'm gonna rip its lungs out!
Sam: *looks at him*
Dean: Well, you know what I mean.

Dean: Here, ghosty, ghosty, ghosty! Come out, come out, wherever you are!

Sam: I knew his son.
Dean: Did you know everybody at this school?

Dirk: Come on, Lose-chester! Let's see what you got!

TeenSam: You're not tough. You're just a jerk. Dirk the jerk.

Dean: We'd really like to pay our respects, Mr. McGregor. Um, you mind telling us where Dirk is buried?
Dirk Sr: Oh, he wasn't. I had him cremated.
Dean: All of him?
*weird looks*
Dirk Sr: I kept a lock of his hair.
Dean: Oh, that's... that's nice. Where do you keep that?

Coach: Aren't you the P.E. teacher?
Dean: Not really. I'm like 21 Jump Street. The bus driver sells pot. Yeah.

Sam: I'm not evil, Dirk. I'm not. And neither were you. Trust me, I've seen real evil. We were scared and miserable, and we took it out on each other. Us and everybody else. That's high school. But you suffer through that, and it gets better. I'm just sorry you didn't get a chance to see that. You or Barry.

Sam: *squished by unconscious jock* Little help!
Dean: Ew. He's giving you the full cowgirl!

Wyatt: Winchester... right! Right, yeah, you uh, you wrote that horror story. *shakes his hand*
Sam: Yeah! Yeah, I did. Yeah, it's kinda all been one long horror story.
Wyatt: What do you mean?
Sam: Nothing, sorry.

Wyatt: Well, you know, the only thing that really matters is that you're happy. You happy, Sam?

Comments

[catyuy.livejournal.com]

After all the reveals of Sam being watched by Demons his entire life I wonder if maybe Wyatt was possessed when he said those things and that's why his memory of it is foggy. (even creepier thought, it was ole Yellow eyes himself triggering Sammy's wish to leave the family business)

[meg-tdj.livejournal.com]

I don't know... it was the YED who had Jess killed so Sam would hit the road again. I don't think it was planned for Sam to follow his own path like that, they just made the most of it when it happened. The YED needed him trained and on the road, preferably bitter and angry, so Sam following his dreams seems like an odd detour. So I don't really think Wyatt was possessed. He just seemed like a nice guy who saw that one of his students had a lot of potential and was having a hard time at home.