(no subject)

[oselle]

I've been wondering in just what condition Dean will come back from Hell. Latest from Mr. Kripke is that Dean will have "little recollection" of his time in Hell and part of next season's "mystery" will be uncovering just what did happen to him down there.

Let me start by saying I KNEW IT! I FUCKING KNEW IT, KRIPKE!! Remembering Dean's deathbed amnesia in "In My Time of Dying," I just KNEW that they were going to go the same route.

On the one hand, this is good because it allows Dean to come back essentially unchanged as a character. I don't want him to come back as such a traumatized wreck that he isn't Dean anymore. Although I'll confess a great fondness for traumatized wrecks, especially when they look like THIS:



Sorry. I was just dying for any excuse to use this picture. Would you just LOOK at this gorgeous creature? It should be illegal to look like this. It's a public hazard. Jeez. Of course, this picture also makes me want to lick my hand and flatten down those WICKED COWLICKS on his head. He's soooo adawable. He is! Yes he is! Yeth he...

Ahem.


But on the other hand, I feel like going the whole "repressed memories" route makes for psychological drama that I'm not sure I'm interested in. If Dean truly does not remember what happened to him, what would be the point of unearthing the "mystery?" And how exactly is Sam supposed to do that? Take him to a shrink? Have him hypnotized? And why would he do that?

Now what I like, sick twist that I am, is the idea of Dean coming back remembering everything...but claiming that he doesn't. I know some people get pissed off when Dean keeps things from Sam (or vice versa), but to me, this is pure Dean. He doesn't talk. He's not into sharing and caring. He holds things in until they tear him apart.

I find this idea so much more interesting than just "Dean doesn't remember." This makes for a real mystery -- Dean knows what happened and we know that he knows, but Sam doesn't. I can see Sam just being so happy to have Dean back that he doesn't ask questions. He accepts Dean saying that he doesn't remember and is happy to leave it at that. But the whole time, we're all sitting there knowing that Dean is holding in something awful. Wondering what it is. When it's going to come out. And what will happen when it does.

I can see the new character, Rufus, being part of this. Dean's not going to talk to Sam or Bobby about this, much as he loves them both. Sometimes there are things so awful you can only tell them to a stranger...and Rufus is a particularly clued-in stranger. By his own admission, he "knows things." Dean's going to remember Rufus telling him that. If he spills to anyone, it's going to be Rufus.

Of course, whatever happened to him in Hell has to have some repercussions for mytharc. It can't just be torment; that Hell is a place of torment isn't much of a mystery. No, Dean's going to have to learn something down there. Something about Sam...or about their mother. Something terrible. Unspeakable. Now there's some rich story fodder.

But Dean just not remembering? That's not as interesting.