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Supernatural - Simon Says

Simon Tri-tri-tri-oh, let's call him- Tristram Says
If they'd wanted a six inch tall Stonehenge, they would have asked for one. Oh, they did. Inadequate documentation you say. Never mind.

Ah mind control.

As much as I love a good zombie story, or killer clowns (I went to UC Santa Cruz, I know from Killer Clowns, from outer space no less), mind control has always been a particular creep of mine.

There's a story told about Jonathan Swift that he was out riding with a friend. They spotted a tree that was decaying in its branches. Jonathan pointed to the tree and said, "That's how I'm going to die, from the top down." Apocryphal probably, but still a powerful thought. The fear not of dying, but of losing yourself. Your thoughts. Your memory. Your will. Even your ability to choose.

A fear I've always found particularly compelling, being as I live in my head.

I mean, "These are not the droids you are looking for," is as part of of the backdrop of my life as much as "Faster than a speeding bullet," or "These boots are made for walking." You hear it, you quote it, you laugh. It's funny when the hero does it. When the old mentor bends the will of the weak. Not so much when its about more than droid.

I'm inclined to see the twins not so much as Janus sided opposites (a good and evil twin), as slides in a progession. The possiblities of power.

Andy reads philosophy, he lives in his head and drifts. Runs up debt. It's just debt collectors. No one human being hurt. The less visible results, being corporate, are unseen. Ask for a coffee. A Joy ride. A backstage pass. No big. It's just fun. Just winning the lottery for a life you don't have to earn.

And I'm intrigued by the ambiguity of that girl in the window. I mean, I know there are some fans that take it as a given that Andy mojos his dates, but I'm not so sure. Not that he may not have been, it's just...the scene with Anson(who is sometimes Webber) at the dam (a place where things are held back from their natural course by the will of humans and concrete) was treated as so horrifying that the contrast of the smiling girl leaning out a window (yet another liminal space in between) that I'm not sure what is going on.

And I think that ambiguity is intentional.

Both for the big mislead of the early episode - Andy Doctor killer, and for the episode in general.

The reference to O.J. is so odd and yet, here was a public figure. Attractive. So affable in mein that he appeared in comedy movies, and yet...water behind the dam can be quite deep. And I'll note that this is a reference to a well known crime for which there is/was no real resolution. Justice and life being what they are.

We aren't meant to know, because Andy is affable and both Dean and Sam are correct.

Power can corrupt and Andy is getting better with his power.

But it is not inevitable that all roads lead to desolate places. Andy may just be a pot smoking slacker who is attractive to other pot smoking slackers, and apparantly, a diner owner. Or he might be...the first step. Small and incremental, along whatever chain the demon is clicking down.

There is not only the fairly obvious pairing of brothers, but to a degree Andy is living the life, well not that they want, but...okay. The Winchesters live by Credit Card fraud and hustling pool. Andy doesn't have to work it, he just tells the Debt Collector's to leave. The boys talk their way into secure facilities to get information. Andy says, "These are not the droids you're looking for." Sam had to steal a car to get to Dean in Scarecrow. Andy says, "Give me your car."

All things that from the Winchesters have a patina of fighting the good fight, which of course leads to all those philosophy books Andy reads and thinking about relativism and morality. Sam wondering what internal lines have Andy choosing to do this, but not that.

I'm also intrigued by the number of other forms of influence we see in the story.

The demon speaking to Webber in dreams. Not summon, not command, just the thin tissue of sleep.

Jo putting a song in Dean's head, which he find himself singing because its in there and it won't go away.

Sam threatening Andy, because might and right go hand in hand with justice and guns. Lots of guns.

Debt collectors at a distance. Well, one should pay one's debts. Respect the law and lines.

Lines of trust. Who do the brothers trust, with what knowledge and how.

Control of knowledge. Who knows what about the demon, about these children. Daddy Winchester whispering Then. Now Dean wanting to withhold knowledge from the glaring strangers at the door. Declare do overs, protect his brother, and dam the tide.

Ellen demanding the truth, not because she has a super secret power, but because this is a fight they are all in together. The storm coming, the rain falling down.

Sam wanting to open the gates and let knowledge like water flow to the collective sea.

And yet, and yet, the whisper at death's door. Like the inevitable water tower in a Midwestern town...some things are held back, for greater water pressure later on.

 
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