Let's talk about Mary

[Calena]

I rewatched the pilot yesterday. With my friend R.. In German. They translated "no chick flick moments" with "don't be emotional" which gets the gist of if, but isn't funny at all. People who don't watch SPN in English have no idea what they are missing. Jerk becomes idiot in German. I wonder what they have done with Bobby's "idjits" later on in the show? No, scratch that, I don't wonder, I never wanna have to suffer through it in German again!

Anyway, I have voiced my thoughts about Mary in various threads across this board, and while rewatching the pilot I had a new thought! So I thought it's time to open a Mary thread.

1) Mary's behaviour in the pilot:

When Mary realized it wasn't John in Sam's room, beause he was sleeping in front of the TV, she ran back up into Sam's room, without waking John.
This behaviour imo can be interpreted in 2 ways:
- not much more intelligent than the typical slasher flick bimbo, running towards the danger. Of course she wanted to save her son, but wouldn't her chance have been better if she had had John with her?
(really, with YED being her adversary, it wouldn't have made any difference, but she didn't know that)

- She reacted as a huntress (and a mother) thinking she could take whatever it was alone (seeing that she never told John about supernatural beings anyway)

Which leads me to my next point:

2) Mary being a huntress - and not telling John
Why didn't she tell him and what does that make her?

It's safe to say she didn't tell him because she craved a normal life, as much as Sam did, so he didn't tell Jessica.
But doesn't that make Mary irreponsible? Even when you say she has the right to live a normal life, you can't ask from her to keep hunting to save people instead of living a normal life, she knew what dangers where out there. For the sake of keeping her family safe, wouldn't it have made more sense to tell John? Was she afraid John would leave her, or was she afraid John would want to hunt? How would the rather wussy John - in comparison to how we get to know him in S1 - have reacted?

Or it wasn't planned from the beginning that Mary had been a hunter. Maybe the writers thought of that only later. That would explain why the scened happened in the pilot how it did, however it still wouldn't explain my questions story-wise.

3) Mary and Jess I noticed the striking similarity in type between Mary and Jess even when first watching it. Is it coincidence, meaningless or Sam's subconcience that he falls in a love with a girl who looks a lot like the mother he never knew?

I know, I am overthinking things. But with 4 months without new eps, what is a desperate SPN fan to do?
We should ask Sera to join us. It almost sounds like an accusation when EK tells her she's overthinking things, but I for one am very glad she does and she is on the writing team!

[smileyone]

Ok.... Very valid points... Will comment more tomorrow!

However as a mother to a TEN year old.... I can speak with experience here... alot of it is motherly instinct.... the first thing I would do in that same situation is also run to my child before running to my partner.... a mother always runs to the more vulnerable one... I did find it a bit odd she didn't at least scream for John though....

I have this theory about Jess.... she died way to similarly to Mary to it to be just a reminder to Sam of both deaths.... Maybe she too had her days numbered.... maybe she also sold her soul, having it redeemed when Sam was ready to go on the road he is on now... maybe before that time he wasn't old or mature enough to handle things.... he was way too young to fully appreciate his mother's death... maybe he had to also see it with a love built up for himself so he could progress on to next stage of his life....

I dunno.... more on this tomorrow.... tired now... must get to bed....

[ExtraCookie]

But I still don't feel up to a long, rambling post. I know, you're shocked. I do want to say that Smiley beat me to the bit about her running for Sammy. And now I'm saved the trouble of saying it first, then asking her opinion as a mom. That's what I've always thought. She reacted, more than anything, as simply a mom. I think a mother's instinct to protect her young is strong. There may also have been a small part of her mind in huntress mode; afraid that the "man" may be something else that could harm John, too, if he blundered in, not having the knowledge to deal with the thing. If he did that, it could've also thrown her game off and gotten, potentially, the whole family killed.

But I think she was basically in full-on mom mode. All she was thinking was getting to Sammy to get him out of danger. People do irrational things under circumstances like that. Like smaller animal moms taking on larger animals they can't really hope to win against in defense of their young.

Irresponsible or not, yeah, I bet Mary just wanted to put the horror of hunting and all the things she knew behind her. The show, since it focuses on hunting and scary creatures, makes us feel like, perhaps, that in Supernatural world, monsters are all over the place, attacking left and right. But I don't think that's what we're supposed to think. I think that Supernatural world is, other than the existence of monsters, etc., just like the real one. It's showing us that a lot of the deaths that are unexplained are caused by monsters . . . as well as some deaths that are thought to be explained. Mary may have clung to the fact that getting attacked by a monster wasn't at all likely, and turned her back on it all. After what she went through, it's not surprising and I don't blame her.

She may well have not completely kept it out of her life, though. It's easy to imagine her taking secret precautions here and there. Checking up on things, making sure they always had plenty of salt, etc.

Oh, I rambled a bit after all! Hm, I really must be feeling a little better today!

[smileyone]

OMG... I had a really good long post in answer to this one but the damn computer swallowed it up when I was posting it on here!!! And now I'm too tired and hungry after a long day at work to do out my reply again...
EC... Good points.. I will readdress them in due course...

[ExtraCookie]

Oh, I feel for ya, Smiley; I hate it when that happens! That's why I always copy my posts before posting them! That way, if 'Net Land eats them, all I have to do is plonk my curser back down in a new reply screen and click my post in the spot. I've had too many long posts eaten!

[smileyone]

It's so bloody annoying!!! I had a damn good reply to your last post as well.... very detailed etc.... I will have another go at it tomorrow... I'm too tired now.... had a long day... depressed as hell being back at work after long restful week off.... Ok, later... after I think some more on this interesting one....

[ExtraCookie]

I believe you! I'm looking forward to it. Yeahh, back to work after a vacation SUUUCKS!

[Calena]

Sorry you are not feeling well!

The show, since it focuses on hunting and scary creatures, makes us feel like, perhaps, that in Supernatural world, monsters are all over the place, attacking left and right. But I don't think that's what we're supposed to think.

That's a good point. The boys only run into supernatural monsters every week because they actively seek them out, like scouring the papers for strange incidents etc.

[ExtraCookie]

Aw, thanks!

Also, I'd like to amend my saying "a lot" of unexplained deaths are caused by the supernatural. Let me change that to "some" of them. Again, it just feels like a lot since they focus on them.

[ExtraCookie]

And, no, that's not the title for some A.U. slash fic! You see, children, once upon a time, the / had nothing to do with people being sexual/romantic with each other. And I kick it old school.

I'd never thought of the similarities in appearance between Jess and Mary. Now that I think of it, I think it's just coincidence. But, maybe not. And don't they say guys subconciously look for women who are like their mothers? Sammy probably has some memory of Mary, deep down in that brain. It is interesting how when we met her, she was wearing Smurf "pajamas" (if you want to call them that. I call them underwear) and when she died, she was wearing *gasp* a frilly white nighty! Hmm. And the death pose was almost exact, if not exact. Interesting.

Speaking of monsters every week, that's one thing about the show that annoys me a bit. There's no solid timeline. We never really know if one hunt is weeks from the last or days. It'd be amazing if they'd do something cool like reveal that they were keeping specific time all along and THAT'S why the guys appear to heal so very quickly; just more time had passed than we thought! Cool!

So, smiley, where is this long, well-thought out post of yours? Did you end up just not having the heart to try again? I've been there and done that.