Dean's rage and hubris increases whereas Sam's character gets smaller and more traumatised, and as viewers we go with the louder character (actually loud and emotionally expressive). But quiet, inward, more subtle Sam - he is never quite forgiven for his "mistakes" which weren't ever actually mistakes. Classic example being the end of the episode where Cas sends Dean back in time onto the submarine to grab something (as you do); meanwhile, poor Sam realises he is trapped in the bunker with his nemesis and abuser-for-centuries Lucifer. We're given, what, 3 seconds of Jared's terrified face as his reaction to that. And the last 10 minutes of the final act is Dean, pensively sitting outside. ??? Sam lives a life of penance and he never stands up for himself because he still thinks of himself as the reason for all this crap. He thinks he deserves the abuse he receives. In season 8 when he runs away reeling, for the first time removing himself from the demons and angels possibly thinking that might be the best thing, he was punished for that too.

I feel like during the Kripke era, the flip was quite clever. I think we were *supposed* to start to mistrust Sam, and his impending, emerging "monster", and this happened amazingly well through the focus on Dean's reactions. We were shown Sam's story and his battles with his destiny clear as day, but the narrative sympathy for him just isn't there. Sam was labelled wrong by everyone. But the end result was - Sam was right. He saved people. He killed Lilith. He sacrificed himself to save the world. But this monstrous idea of him stuck, for every side character, and even with fans. In any fan discussion you get "Sam's the worst brother." It led to Dean being forgiven for things - "Yeah it was selfish, but I'm ok with it." Whereas all of Sam's choices were labelled "selfish" and he was punished for them for eternity.

Olivia and Leonard should get their money and wtv from paramount and zeffirelli bc that nude scene should have never happened they were both minors

Dumbledore didn't see Harry as a pawn. From the moment Snape told him that Voldemort had chosen Harry and later on Voldemort's accidental downfall he understood that Harry was now a centerpiece no matter what. He hid him in the Dursleys (thereby continuing the power of his mother's sacrifice) to protect him from the Death Eaters that were still free (cue the Longbottoms) and the unhealthy effects his fame could have. As Harry came to Hogwarts Dumbledore fell into the trap of love, chosing not to reveal the whole prophecy thing to Harry cause he didn't want to burden him with false notions of destiny. This however ended causing really much damage in Book 5 where Dumbledore had to finally fess up to Harry. As for Harry being a Horcrux (it would seem it was in Book 2) he did a great show of affection by deciding to not destroy Harry right away despite there being no way to get the soul-piece out of Harry. his decision was rewarded in Book 4 were Voldemort in his ignorance became a continuation of Lily's sacrifice ensuring a safe way of destroying the soul piece without also killing Harry. When Dumbledore in a human mistake ensured his own death he did his best (Rowling forgot to have him tell Harry how to exactly destroy Horcruxes to had tension to Book 7, or something like that) to prepare and educate Harry on what was ahead of him, since he wouldn't be around much longer. I could go on and on on how the whole "Dumbledore made harry suffer and manipulated him endlessly" is a load of horse-shit but I think this is enough.

Season 5 was my favorite and I loved Glory. Under appreciated

Paige is my favorite because I have always had a crush on Rose McGawen

Supernatural was Sam's story. Thanks for this ❤

I have to say that Dawn's fundamental character is solid, including her sudden introduction which I consider one of the more creative ones in television. I have always taken issue with some of her dialog that was poorly written. This is no reflection on the actress herself. She deserves extra credit just for pulling this role off. Kudos Michelle!

Why does she like putting herself in dangerous situations, like why do u go out at night 😅😅

oh my god op this is AMAZING… exactly what a very tiny subset of the fandom have been talking about on tumblr for years. comment section feels like therapy

Fine, I see your points

bro as someone who has been in the trenches fighting on behalf of sam winchester on every site from twitter to tumblr to facebook for YEARS, it is so so heartening to see a whole comment section of people who agree with the message of this video and care about sam as his own character, and not just dean winchester's brother. thank you for this video! and to all you folks in the comments, you are my people 💜

So thankful that there are more people with normal iq watching spn who see the huge bias from the show writers... sam was such a great character but his trauma was almost not explored while we saw dean whining about some stupidity ( from daddy/mommy issues to his anger issues, abuse and jealousy) in each seasson or even castiel setting his hurt after freeing luci and watching tv while being posessed ( canon insane as castiel as well posessed a body- not him but the body was posessed) on tge same level as hurt sam gad to feel after being tortured for over a year in tge hell cage...

I have conflicting feelings about this video essay. And not in a negative light because it’s actually made really well and has some really good points. I am a Dean Girl through and through. And while I agree that Sam lost some agency, I would say it became a problem in more later seasons as opposed to early seasons. Sam loses his body autonomy at birth, with Azazel essentially bioengineering Sam to be Lucifers perfect vessel. When it becomes a problem, is when the writers use it to spotlight Dean more. I see seasons 1-5 as a duo show, whereas 6-15 as more Dean centric with the Sam erasure ever apparent. Dean is flawed and struggles with control. And Sam struggles with being controlled. I think Season 1-5 show this really perfectly. I have been able to see both sides of the argument with the demon blood storyline and how it correlates to addiction. This probably makes little sense and I want to stress that I think this video is brilliant and nuanced, just have some disagreements with it

Thank you for making this video. Being active in the spn fandom, the hatred towards sam is still rampant. I understand why Dean is the fan fave. But I think the Sam hatred is so stupid. The show and the writers didn't give justice to I think one of the best and most interesting characters in fiction overall. This man endured a century in hell and still managed to be a kind human being despite all the trauma. Thank you for giving voice to the complaints us Sam fans have been screaming for years to the ignorant deaf ears of dean fans and destiel fans

THIS WAS PERFECT! thank you so much for this essay it was so needed like no one really talks about this on KZbin T-T thank you so so much for actully talking about sam's trauma and how the spn narrative favors dean so so much! subscribing thank you so so much for bringing dean's abuse of sam <33

So...Joss is a grade A jerk apparently. It's a damn shame - the guy created 4 tv shows that I loved when I was younger (especially Angel!)

You kinda do not get the character of cordelia, she became an actress for quick fame and money or at least she thought. Angel buying her clothes and her accepting them as an apology is in line with her character. She is still shaped by her upbringing, even the decision to help everyone is overtly confident despite being altruistic and it is selfish cus she finally found her calling and doesnt want to let it go now. Its also a good foil to willow’s decision to destroy the world in 6x22 when she feels the world’s pain and is a clear reflection of their respective character and upbringing during their formative years. Joss doesnt know how to write healthy love stories even the fred/wes thing is weird as an adult cus he is more in love with the idea of her than her. I never understood the character assasination thing cus even as a kid i knew that wasn’t cordelia. The only thing i hated was that she was gone after that and i genuinely dislike season 5, it has great episodes in an overall passable season, i thought s4 was stronger and culminated to something that was built upon without us even knowing from the start of the show. Buffy will always be superior despite how angel feels closer to a certain extent because btvs felt like organic story being told not a production.

I've never really understood the hate dawn gets, I think she's a really cool character

I think the two greatest scenes Connor has is with Cordy in the church and with Angel in the season 4 finale. He’s completely numb and has been hollowed out by his traumatic upbringing by Holtz and the seeming indifference of his father and Angel Investigations. Brilliantly done!

I have a massive crush on Cordelia, I love her so much

I don’t understand the confusion. I thought it was well written. Dawn is a brat. She’s basically a mini me very human version of Buffy (before she came a slayer but still physically “human” little sister). I loved how they introduced her and the character development with all the characters of this show. It was absolutely brilliant. I can only pray I could write anything half this good.

How they WHAT Sam Winchester?

too many folks are used to 30 year olds playing teenagers. Dawn's behavior makes a lot of sense given her wild circumstances.

You forgot to mention that in season 7,after all the suffering and trauma she has to go through, she turns on Buffy and betrays her,kicking her out of their house. Pretty hard to stomach for fans after all that Buffy's done for her.

Gillian is something of a warning. So is Sally. They are opposites, but the extreme. Gillian was far too reckless, and it meant she got into trouble. Sally was far too cautious, so she was never going to properly live her life. They needed to learn from each other, to become more complete individuals.

I loved dawn she was my age and im also was a bratty kid she had amazing hair,so pretty 😍 i actually liked her.

Listening to everything you've said, I sort of agree. Except. I think it was literally the point. The whole story is literally about lack of agency. For Sam, for Dean, for Castiel, for basically every major character the defining trait is in some way a lack of agency. Possibly even Chuck. I get what you're saying, but I'm say that might have been the point.

A big difference between katherine and elena is when they were orphaned elena had friends and her brother and aunt to help her through her grief,but katherine everyone she ever loved was murdered not to mention her newborn daughter was ripped from her arms never to see her again. Katherine faced all that greif alone.

Cole should have been prue love interest.

You seemingly missed the point of the writers in the first 5 seasons taking all agency away from sam, as lucifer states multiple times from the very start they all knew thats where things would end up, and in the episode where they first team up with crowley it even shows to what extent, his friend introduced sam to jess the very woman that would start his road, and just as his friend Brady was a demon put directly in sams path to manipulate him, lucifer shows just how much his life was manipulated by azazel, and in them taking all the agency away from sam makes him taking it all back and willingly jumping in the hole the more significant, that was the one thing sam did that was his free choice his free will taking the ultimate agency back from those that took all agency away from him his entire life

I didn't hate Dawn but I hate the way the writers wrote her mostly as bratty which we all agree isn't true. I wish she wasn't overlooked so much or forgotten about because it felt that way sometimes while watching the show, that the writers forgot about her then remember oh we have to put the bratty kid,somewhere....it's annoying really because I liked the way she wasn't oversexualised like Buffy, for example. She felt like a normal teenager and it was refreshing to see that.

Beautiful analysis!

I only disagree with the Cangel love story being a bad idea. I think it's one of the best and healthiest pairs in the industry. The rest of the review is on point and I agree 100% with it

Crazy that this film wasn’t well-received at the time because it’s such a nostalgic autumn childhood film for me and my friends. By the time we were in college and building our movie collections, this was perpetually a popular movie. That said, I don’t like how the film reduces Gillian to the Madonna trope, especially after reading the book and seeing how much more well-rounded she is there. One of my favorite detail about her is how she’s not physically perfect (living in Arizona for years ages her skin dramatically and gives her crows feet) yet she’s still undeniably a magnetic beautiful woman. I love that her “flaws” also make her beautiful.

Omg so glad you made this!

Great review!!

Honestly, when Dawn got introduced, it wasn'tthat bad. IT was interesting, but I think they should of given Dawn powers..if she is an ancient energy, she should of been a witch...like imagine if Dawn was powerful enough to stop Willow when Willow showed her wrath...Dawn would actually have a spot in the show other than a whiny teenager. I think Dark Willow told her everything the viewers were thinking. Anyways, the show ended up missed a lot of writing opportunities. It almost felt like they were SICK of this show.

Couple years back I watched the original Charmed even tho I'm far from the target audience; I love shows from that era. Even ignoring the feminism side of the show I have to say first 4 seasons are WAY better than the later half. I personally don't really have a dog in the race, but I do wish shows would still try to make actual entertainment instead of ticking every box for the feminism movement. Respect for the original showrunner, making enjoyable show and still ticking most of the boxes is no easy feat.

Dawn was for me a „Jumping the Shark“ moment. I stopped watching the show mid season and never came back.

I think I read somewhere that, when they were casting actor for the adult child of one of the sisters, the first rule was that he can't outshine any of the sisters in any way. I mean I get that they wanted to focus on girl power, but after that it was impossible to ignore how the writers actively tried to ruin every male character. And lets be honest, the later half of the series is complete mess, not just Cole.

Dawn was a great character. That first scene she was in my mind was blown.

I didn’t like her at all back in the day. But looking back, how bad would it suck to realize you are a freaking portal/key and not even a real person. I am pretty sure I would act out and be difficult too.

Its trully a shame, we could've seen a lot more of Sam :(

Great Video Practical Magic is my favorite movie I love the film even it's unique storytelling but I agree I hate that Madonna Whore trope more than anything you do have a point I don't think necessarily that the family shames Jillian for her promiscuity and open heart Sally even says that "since when is being a slut a crime in this family?" sexuality and fertility are sacred in Wicca the film probably does though a little bit it could have been intentional or just unconscious bias don't be so Hayes code Warner Bros it's also that message about the dangers of who you trust and what you wish for like frozen or Into the Woods with all that said I really hate that this Trope is still around it's super sexist like there's only two kinds of women in the world and that being beautiful and confident is a bad thing it's really hypocritical and it's really not helping women get equality and I really hope that in the upcoming sequel Jillian will continue to be outgoing and sexually confident and the film will reward her for it rather than Punish her for it and I really hope Evan Rachel Wood comes back she was so good and Practical Magic and now she's super popular and very beautiful

Definitely the best part of the movie is the cast chemistry! You believe they are a family. Love the aunts, they are amazing actresses and great together. I also enjoy the "small town" interactions. It may not be the best film ever, but I love it and enjoy every rewatch

I think you've covered why I prefer Cordelia on Buffy rather than on Angel. They changed her too much on Angel and I think she just works better as a supporting side character than a main character. I also don't like the Angel/Cordy romance.

I wouldn't hate Dawn if she died honestly. The fact she got to live made the writing very weird. And Joyce dying was also really bad writing. These seasons had potential but it got weird really quick because of all the hasty decisions.

I agree with you. I'll admit I didn't see it in this perspective before but now I see you're right. They did do Sam dirty. It was all about Dean. How much he loved his brother, how much he'll do anything for his brother, how he was always there for his brother, how he was basically the hero.

Thank you so much for making this video!!one of my favorite movie ❤