I'm still confused (SPN related)

[switch842]

So, as we prepare for season 6 (finally!!), there's still something leftover from season 4/5 that I'm super confused about.

At the end of Lucifer Rising, Ruby tells Sam that he didn't need the demon blood to do what he did. He had the power within him the whole time. OK, great. Awesome. So, then why in season 5 is Sam still all loopy for the blood? And why in My Bloody Valentine and (even more so) Swan Song, does it take Sammy gulping down more blood to be able to do his demon mind jobby thing?

Does Sam still "need" that feather to get over his mental block even though he knows he doesn't? And if he knows that the blood is just a placebo, why does it still work?

I just don't get it. Can someone explain it to me?

Comments

[whisper99.livejournal.com]

I've always assumed that the demon blood is just addictive, sort of like crack and Sam is addicted to it. I don't think he needs it to use any of his mojo, but I do think he still has that mental block firmly in place (mojo=bad) so in order for him to 'let go' to use it, he needs the demon blood as a crutch.

IMO it all still boils down to the idea that Sam doesn't want to be a monster and doesn't want his brother to see that he's a monster. So he can't use his powers on his own because using his powers is final, irrevocable proof that Sam is a monster. Sam already knows that using the demon blood makes him a monster, but that's something from outside that he's allowing inside himself. It's a choice he's making to do this. Using his powers on his own tho? That's proof to himself that he's monster through and through.

And also it seems that Lucifer needed his vessel to drink gallons of demon blood, so I've always assumed that's part of why Ruby was feeding it to him, to get him addicted to it thereby making him more ready for Lucifer.

[switch842.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I guess that makes a certain amount of sense. That Sam does need something external to say, "It's not me doing this. It's the blood. I'm not really a monster." Interesting...

[gategrrl.livejournal.com]

That's how I was taking it.

[switch842.livejournal.com]

OK then. Glad we got this straightened out. Maybe... LOL

Maybe I'll ask Jared at the con what his take is...

[hsapiens.livejournal.com]

This was essentially my take on it since the real answer in mind is that the writers' never settled on canon for Sam's freaky powers and I tend to find that annoying. He used his powers sans demon blood early on when under duress so I've decided to handwave it in essentially this way so that I can still be happy. De-nial FTW! Also, maybe the demon!blood focused him? And addicted him so that Sam was Ruby's bitch for S4. Poor Sam. *pets him*

[switch842.livejournal.com]

And addicted him so that Sam was Ruby's bitch for S4/

That was my take on that part of it, too, at least.

It does seem like the one (fairly major) plot point that always got mixed up. Oh, writers....

[hsapiens.livejournal.com]

I definitely took the scene at the end between Ruby and Sam to be her gloating over Sam. He could have ganked demons at any point if he'd wanted to/worked on it but she's provided the demon!blood and altered his sense of reality. Drug addicts are not known for their feats of logic or their insightful thinking. I think there was a pretty huge leap between moving a piece of furniture under duress and burning demons out of their victims with not enough reason outside of the demon blood but...HANDWAVE!

You know what? Now that I"m verbally rambling all over your LJ, I'm thinking about the way Jake Talley's talents blossomed once he'd said yes to the YED. Maybe there *is* some consistency there? He suddenly became powerful, getting all sorts of abilities Sam never had. So maybe if Sam had ever truly given in, stopped trying to use his powers for good, he'd have seen a similar leap? Just thinking out loud.

I think what didn't make sense was Sam having to drink gallons of demon blood to be a vessel. Don't think Nick did and Sam was supposed to be Lucifer's true vessel so that he wouldn't burn through his meat suit like with Nick. Wish they hadn't felt the need to go there. *shrug*

[switch842.livejournal.com]

The Ava/Jake thing is something else that has me kind of "Bwuh?" over the blood thing. Neither of them drank any blood, they just stopped fighting it and BAM! Whole new world.

And Nick didn't need it. There was no indication that Dean would need angel blood to be Michael's vessel (though there was that split second after Cas slammed him against the wall and that would have been GUH).

So, again, he had seen that the blood wasn't necessary, he was TOLD the blood wasn't necessary, so how does the blood still "work" when he knows it doesn't make any difference? I think this is one thing we'll never know...