It's not a pet peeve. That sounds worse than it is.

[apocalypsos]

I get where it's coming from. I just think that Sam needs to learn how to SAY WHAT HE MEANS.

Let me explain. It's the fandom's attitude regarding the phone call in "Faith" and John's non-reaction to it. Like, I said, I get where it's coming from, BUT --

This is what Sam says on the phone. (As boosted from the TWoP recap.)

"Hey, Dad, it's Sam. You probably won't get this, but, ah. It's Dean. He's sick and, uh, doctors say there's nothing they can do, um, but, ah, they don't know the things we do, right? Um, so don't worry, cuz I'm-a gonna do whatever it takes to get him better."

At no time does Sam really say Dean is dying. He says he's sick and that there's nothing the doctors can do. Which, okay, if you're a normal person, you think, "OMG HE'S DYING!", but when you're a Winchester and you follow that up with, "they don't know the things we do," it kind of implies that it's supernatural in nature. And then Sam's telling him not to worry (even if he sounds a little iffy about the prospect) and that he can handle it.

On one hand, it would have been nice for John to contact them to make sure Dean was okay. On the other hand, Sam doesn't make a hard enough case for John to understand the extent of Dean's injuries, implies that the cause isn't something your average doctor can handle (like, say, an exorcism or something) and then says he can deal with it.

Assuming that's the only phone call regarding the situation that John got, what's he supposed to think? Sam didn't call him every hour on the hour bitching at him to get to the hospital to see his oldest son before he passes away. Sam didn't leave him a thousand messages about the serious nature of Dean's injuries. Sam called him once, and somehow managed to avoid the word "dying" like he was dancing around a landmine. (Which he probably was more for himself than for John -- God knows if I were talking about my brother and dying in the same sentence, I wouldn't be able to hold it together.)

Comments

[tabaqui]

You know....in retrospect i think that that phone call *was* pretty damn ambiguous. Which makes it a teensy bit unfair later when Dean says 'you didn't come when i was dying!'.

It would have been fun to see Papa say 'Dying?!' and give Sam the Big Hairy Eyeball and Sam be all 'Oh, uh, yeah, well, I didn't want you to worry but...if you were a normal dad you would have picked up on the worry and despair in my voice!!'

And then Dean and Papa both smack Sam up-side the head. *ahem*

But, yeah. He was kinda dodgey and really, at that point, i think John had a lot of faith in what his boys could do and that they weren't *probably weren't* facing anything they couldn't handle.

*la*

[budclare.livejournal.com]

And who knows when John even got the message. Maybe for one reason or another he didn't get to check it for a couple days, and by then they'd left another message saying that Dean was fine.

But you're right. John really isn't the most perceptive person ever, so he probably just assumed that if it were really bad, Sam would be panicking. The fact that Sam might be in denial would likely never cross his mind.

[fadagaski.livejournal.com]

Good point. Though I like to think that, with Sam calling every person in the journal, word would have got back to John eventually. *is happy in dreamland*

[bastian1967.livejournal.com]

Sam and John have never had the best relationship, maybe Sam thought that his father would care less if Dean died or not. Although the phone call to his father was made after he had already heard about a possible cure from one of John's contacts.

[mylenn.livejournal.com]

See, the way I had figured it, was that ANY phone call to daddy would be seen as serious-like-whoa and should be acted upon. I mean, Sam hasn't even SEEN his Dad is a long time by this episode, right? (If I'm wrong, sorry, don't have my eps with me). So I thought that ANY call coming from SAM in particular would show Dad that it was serious. I don't know.

Although, now that I see the transcript, I'm all conflicted.

[beanside.livejournal.com]

Also, if John wanted to be nearby, ala Home, just in case, which seems more his MO, Sam didn't bother to give him a location. Or cordinates. Or anything, but a message that sounded like Sam was a little distressed, but had it well in hand.

But that's jus my thoughts. Also, I like the idea that John would think from the way he was talking that it was supernatural in nature.

[medie]

Didn't he also neglect to mention where they were? Kinda hard to rush to your son's bedside when you don't have a clue where the hell the bed is, specially when said son doesn't *STAY* in the bed.

[ceares.livejournal.com]

Sorry-here from SPN newsletter. Admittedly Sam wasn't very clear about the situation, but John certainly never called back to check on them. Even a voicemail from one of his phone booths would have been something.

I don't think impending death is the only circumstance which qualifies for concern for his children. I know he raised them to be tough, but still the fact that Sam called him should have told him that maybe he should be worried. It's not like they come whining to him about a hang nail or anything.

[jamjar.livejournal.com]

Except... Well, it's also made clear that Sam talked to just about everyone else, that he went to everyone they'd ever had contact with and asked for help, and I think it's at least strongly implied that others just heard through the grapevine and contacted them, people that Sam was surprised would. And we also know John was in contact with people in the community -well, with Missouri, at least- and probably others.

In conclusion, Sam's call was ambiguous though he probably didn't mean it to be (and given that he was deep in denial about the possibility of Dean dying anyway), but really, there's no way John shouldn't have known, if not at the time, then after.

[astri13.livejournal.com]

Hi, found this via the NL.

While I thought from the way Sam said it, it made clear that a)Dean was dying and b)Sam was in a denial-phase of "but I`m gonna fix it", I had more of a problem with the utter non-acknowledgment we got of it later.

No throwaway line in the next episodes, nothing when they met in Shadow and the utmost "Whatever"-shrug in Salvation. Where incidently John didn`t look at all like the dying thing was new to him. More like it was yesterday`s buisness. And not important one at that.

Now that, really bothered me.

[iseult-variante.livejournal.com]

Hrm. You're totally right - Oh SAM. (As you say, if I'd had to leave that message about my brother, the word dying would not have been involved. And I'm the older sib - I cannot imagine Dean leaving that message, OH GOD.)

The other commenters raise some interesting points... I think, though, that you could argue that John on some level understood what Sam was not saying. These Winchesters seem to communicate largely without really SAYING anything, which doesn't always work sure, but I think they get it most of the time. Anyway, the message Sam left allowed John to rationalize staying away ("Sam is taking care of it. Sam WILL take care of it."), which he believed to be the safest course of action for his boys. That's why, imo, he isn't surprised by the "When I was DYING." - he did know that, but hadn't really acknowledged it, which also fits with the way that conversation goes, I think - backing down because yes, Dean was DYING, and hey, let's talk about something else! I think John has serious issues with his children's mortality. Which, heh - John? Issues? NO WAY!