Please understand that I come at this 'verse from a really different angle and I never want to impost my intentions or interpretations on the reader. So, this comment isn't a judgement in any way, merely an explanation of why I find the love for that fic intriguing.
The love for the aphrodisiac one is interesting to me, because people talk about it as being less "brutal" but the definition in use for "brutal" seems based purely on physical pain, which is understandable but doesn't always work for me, personally. There's so much that's psychologically fucked up with "Bury The Hunter", until I just tend to think of it as a different kind of brutal. I mean ... Dean's drowning in the drug, but is aware that sex is being forced on him. So, he's begging for things he doesn't want and he kind of hates himself for letting this thing get control of him, for letting himself be made into a wanton whore. The drug makes him participate in his own victimization and like it on one level while hating it on another. And he's scared to death that this'll be the way Sam wants him to stay, losing himself in the drug all the time, sexual to the point of mindless servitude. The drug is used to violate his mind, which is pretty much all he has here. Hence, him curling up into a numb ball of angst at the end of the piece.
As for the naming, Dean does call evil!Sam "Sammy" during "Failure Deserving of Blame" but even there he is speaking to the bit of his broken brother that he can see peeking out. Sam's reaction is very much about pushing that level of intimacy away by tormenting Dean (and himself, really) with cutting words.
And aren't there so many flashes when Sam almost seems sad or reluctant before he does something bad? The occasional moment when something familiar and distinctly not evil blinks into his eyes? I'd say that's an implication that the old Sam's not wholly gone and as much as evil!Sam almost hates who he used to be, he still wants Dean to see him as Sam (as opposed to some random demonic tormentor or something). He just wants Dean to understand their difference in roles, so as long as Dean's not using "Sam" as a way to undermine their Master/slave relationship, then he doesn't usually have a problem with it.
Too, although Sam's been trained/reprogrammed/what-have-you, he's been in one relationship or another with Dean for their whole lives. That kind of bond also leaves a mark, one that he responds to unconsciously at times. Sometimes, that makes him angry (like the kiss in "Training Day"), but sometimes he doesn't even notice or he lets it pull him in (like in "Failure Deserving of Blame" when Dean finally, calmly, asks about how much pain Sam endured).
Tenderness: When they go to bed, the hardness of Sam almost always melts to something softer and he just holds Dean, like something precious. And I think especially at the end of "Just For You" ... yes, I understand that his actions in JFY are extreme, but ... at the end, he's probably the most tender he's yet been shown to be in this series. Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself, though. I'm not suggesting that Sam's a good guy right now, but if he was a totally flat bad guy, why would he ever bother to be nice at all?
Part of evil!Sam's argument in Dreamwalking as to why Dean should submit, should let go of the old Sam and the way things used to be, is that he is the only version of Sam who really wants Dean in a forever, will-never-leave-you sense. Why bother persuasion at all when he has force and drugs on his side? Why say he'll "go easy" on Dean for a few days at the end of JFY? He doesn't have to. I think he wants Dean to want this, want him, and he knows that force and drugs alone won't do that. So, sometimes he can't help but be a little softer (because parts of the old-Sam still affect him) and sometimes he lets himself be a little softer (because he wants Dean to see that he's more than just a horror).
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2007-07-12 02:56 pm (UTC)The love for the aphrodisiac one is interesting to me, because people talk about it as being less "brutal" but the definition in use for "brutal" seems based purely on physical pain, which is understandable but doesn't always work for me, personally. There's so much that's psychologically fucked up with "Bury The Hunter", until I just tend to think of it as a different kind of brutal. I mean ... Dean's drowning in the drug, but is aware that sex is being forced on him. So, he's begging for things he doesn't want and he kind of hates himself for letting this thing get control of him, for letting himself be made into a wanton whore. The drug makes him participate in his own victimization and like it on one level while hating it on another. And he's scared to death that this'll be the way Sam wants him to stay, losing himself in the drug all the time, sexual to the point of mindless servitude. The drug is used to violate his mind, which is pretty much all he has here. Hence, him curling up into a numb ball of angst at the end of the piece.
As for the naming, Dean does call evil!Sam "Sammy" during "Failure Deserving of Blame" but even there he is speaking to the bit of his broken brother that he can see peeking out. Sam's reaction is very much about pushing that level of intimacy away by tormenting Dean (and himself, really) with cutting words.
And aren't there so many flashes when Sam almost seems sad or reluctant before he does something bad? The occasional moment when something familiar and distinctly not evil blinks into his eyes? I'd say that's an implication that the old Sam's not wholly gone and as much as evil!Sam almost hates who he used to be, he still wants Dean to see him as Sam (as opposed to some random demonic tormentor or something). He just wants Dean to understand their difference in roles, so as long as Dean's not using "Sam" as a way to undermine their Master/slave relationship, then he doesn't usually have a problem with it.
Too, although Sam's been trained/reprogrammed/what-have-you, he's been in one relationship or another with Dean for their whole lives. That kind of bond also leaves a mark, one that he responds to unconsciously at times. Sometimes, that makes him angry (like the kiss in "Training Day"), but sometimes he doesn't even notice or he lets it pull him in (like in "Failure Deserving of Blame" when Dean finally, calmly, asks about how much pain Sam endured).
Tenderness: When they go to bed, the hardness of Sam almost always melts to something softer and he just holds Dean, like something precious. And I think especially at the end of "Just For You" ... yes, I understand that his actions in JFY are extreme, but ... at the end, he's probably the most tender he's yet been shown to be in this series. Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself, though. I'm not suggesting that Sam's a good guy right now, but if he was a totally flat bad guy, why would he ever bother to be nice at all?
Part of evil!Sam's argument in Dreamwalking as to why Dean should submit, should let go of the old Sam and the way things used to be, is that he is the only version of Sam who really wants Dean in a forever, will-never-leave-you sense. Why bother persuasion at all when he has force and drugs on his side? Why say he'll "go easy" on Dean for a few days at the end of JFY? He doesn't have to. I think he wants Dean to want this, want him, and he knows that force and drugs alone won't do that. So, sometimes he can't help but be a little softer (because parts of the old-Sam still affect him) and sometimes he lets himself be a little softer (because he wants Dean to see that he's more than just a horror).