In itself this is a delightful episode that mixes a fun monster of the week, some very intense bro melodrama and some top notch direction to craft an erotic thriller with just the right mixture of umm sex and violence. Oh and it has some of the best zingers as well. Oh and Booby getting a hero moment is always good.
But it stands apart because of how central this episode is to the Dean Winchester is a repressed bisexual and/or the writers queerbait with the character argument. The fandom is very split on this topic but I come down hard on Dean being a bisexual and I think it is asinine to not see that subtext in this episode. Now don't get me wrong Dean being interested in men is in other episodes to various degrees. He seemingly flirts with the sheriff in "Yellow Fever"; He gets like a romantic comedy fluster when he gets hit on by Aaron in "Everybody Hates Hitler." And of course Cas, Benny and Crowley all have intense friendships with Dean that run in parallel to a erotic relation San has with a woman.
That trick occurs in this episode as well. Sam has a fling with Dr, Roberts while Dean is being seduced by the siren. The text might be coded as wanting a younger brother but yeeash they nearly shout it as it . Like Parrack plays Monroe/Siren incredibly fey and the whole imagery around the monster is erotic. I mean the darn episode even clearly says it is about *sex.* I simply don't know how anyone misses the subtext. If this was the only homoerotic material with Dean I would chalk up to some clumsy writing. As it stands in context it seems like a natural extension of the writer's room deciding that an internal guilt and regret for Dean is bisexuality.
But it stands apart because of how central this episode is to the Dean Winchester is a repressed bisexual and/or the writers queerbait with the character argument. The fandom is very split on this topic but I come down hard on Dean being a bisexual and I think it is asinine to not see that subtext in this episode. Now don't get me wrong Dean being interested in men is in other episodes to various degrees. He seemingly flirts with the sheriff in "Yellow Fever"; He gets like a romantic comedy fluster when he gets hit on by Aaron in "Everybody Hates Hitler." And of course Cas, Benny and Crowley all have intense friendships with Dean that run in parallel to a erotic relation San has with a woman.
That trick occurs in this episode as well. Sam has a fling with Dr, Roberts while Dean is being seduced by the siren. The text might be coded as wanting a younger brother but yeeash they nearly shout it as it . Like Parrack plays Monroe/Siren incredibly fey and the whole imagery around the monster is erotic. I mean the darn episode even clearly says it is about *sex.* I simply don't know how anyone misses the subtext. If this was the only homoerotic material with Dean I would chalk up to some clumsy writing. As it stands in context it seems like a natural extension of the writer's room deciding that an internal guilt and regret for Dean is bisexuality.