So... did it bother anyone else, the business with Ben's reference to "bitches"? Because I twitched, then I wrote it off as a callback to something earlier in the episode, because I'd missed the first 12 minutes or so.
And then, not so much. I'm mildly skeeved by it. It's one thing to have a joking relationship with your brother in which you call him names, and another entirely to tell an 8-year-old boy that misogynistic language is fine and dandy.
I'm also pretty sure that Lisa wasn't lying: it's too early in the series for them to introduce something as life-changing as a kid for Dean. If he's a hero, he can't just abandon the kid. But the show changes too much if he sticks around, too.
and another entirely to tell an 8-year-old boy that misogynistic language is fine and dandy
I think that was the point and was the least offensive part of the scene for me. I would have been completely outraged if that had been my son and his father popped into town and the first "life lesson" he gave the boy was how to solve your problems by fighting. I'm thinking "bitches" + fighting was a pretty heavy anvil of Dean doesn't know anything about kids.
I'm thinking "bitches" + fighting was a pretty heavy anvil of Dean doesn't know anything about kids.
Yeah, and we got the fighting clue from Lisa. But she didn't hear the bitches exchange, and... if it had been a word we hadn't heard on the show, I'd be more willing to cut the writers some slack. But it's a word Dean uses as an epithet to cut other men down. Because of the female associations. It makes both Dean and Ben skeevy.
I'm still not reading it as deliberately/intentionally used *because* of the female associations. I'm reading it as being used with no thought even given to the female associations.
ETA, and Suela, I know you're not the only one who it pinged like that, which makes me wish they'd used "babies" or "wimps" or something instead.
I'm reading it as being used with no thought even given to the female associations.
Likely, yes. Except the reason it's an epithet when used to describe men is because of the female associations.
Sigh.
My reading is the same as Plei's.
Ah. I see your point.
Likely, yes. Except the reason it's an epithet when used to describe men is because of the female associations.
Yeah, and I suspect the writers didn't even think about that. (see my edit)
Your point on "bitches" is well taken. It is not just the Supernatural writers who did not think enough about that.
Your point on "bitches" is well taken. It is not just the Supernatural writers who did not think enough about that.
And in this particular instance, the episode was written by Sera Gamble. So either she's tone-deaf to that particular inflection, or it's endemic to the show as a whole.
