INCOMPLETE RESURRECTION

Incomplete Resurrection

Perhaps the most compelling manifestation of cultural anxiety over immortality portrayed in Supernatural is the incomplete resurrection, in which, despite returning to earth mostly the same, Sam and Dean find that certain aspects of themselves (whether in soul, body, or mind) have been broken, mangled, or "left behind" in whatever afterlife space they had shortly occupied. This anxiety is key, as it addresses the distinct Western concern over identity and the boundedness of the self. Indeed, as boundaries between life and death continue to be obscured and elongated through modern science, the stability and authenticity of some kind of self is called into question more and more. Anxieties over organ transplants and organ production question the legitimacy of a bounded body and lead inevitably to questions of a bounded mind; indeed, even exhibits such as Body Worlds portray a liminality between life and death by placing what are essentially corpses into every day situations; one must wonder, despite the fascination with the exhibits, if a "complete" death would be more satisfying (Lizama 1-24).

In Supernatural this anxiety is manifested first in the small rituals often performed when one of the boys comes back from the dead (one such notable scene included above.) They are subjected to cuts with silver knives, to make sure they are not shape shifters, and are sprayed with holy water to make sure they are not demons. By season nine, the boys have learned to perform the tests on themselves in a perfunctory manner so that they can move on to reuniting with the living. Despite being "truly themselves" throughout the tests, there are notable moments throughout the series in which resurrection has fundamentally altered or damaged the boys. Looking to 4.01, Lazarus Rising, in which Dean is resurrected after spending time in Hell, one immediately notices that though apparently the same, Dean bears the mark of his resurrection in the form of a handprint seared into his shoulder. It is later revealed that this is Castiel's handprint, as he was the one to drag Dean out of Hell. However, Dean's damage lies deeper as well, revealed in 4.10, Heaven and Hell. After spending most of his renewed time telling Sam that he does not remember Hell, Dean finally opens up, explaining that while it seemed he had spent four months there on earth, in Hell it felt more like forty years. After a certain amount of time being tortured, Dean was given the opportunity to evade punishment by torturing other souls, and eventually, he accepted the offer. He explains to Sam that his guilt has essentially broken him, and the change in his personality throughout the rest of the show is palpable.

Another instance of incomplete resurrection occurs throughout season six. Sam, after being locked in a deep part of Hell with Lucifer and Michael in order to stop the apocalypse from occurring on earth, is resurrected by Castiel. Through his morally ambiguous actions taken when he resumes monster-hunting with his brother (and after a "soul-check" performed by Castiel in the video to the left,) it becomes clear that Sam's soul has not made it out of Hell with his body. He becomes a perfect fighting machine, but lacks the conscience proven essential to being a truly effective hunter, eventually allowing Dean to be bitten by a vampire just so he could find out where the vampire nest was located. The heart of the problem and the question of the bounded self is most apparent in 6.07, Family Matters when Dean asks, "well is it even still Sam?" to which Castiel replies, "well, you pose an interesting philosophical question..." He is present in body and partially in mind (though perhaps not the same mind) but he is incapable of feeling emotion and is driven by forces of efficiency rather than conscience. Eventually Dean persuades Death to release Sam's soul from Lucifer's cage, despite multiple warnings that it will be tattered beyond repair - though Death puts up a holding wall in Sam's mind, he eventually comes to remember his time spent in Hell and on earth without a soul, at which point he is driven mad and eventually incapacitated. Until his mental and spiritual anguish is relieved by Castiel's eventual transference of his memories, Sam is rendered a mere husk of himself, lying far outside the realm of repair.

A final example comes in 7.17, The Born-Again Identity in which Castiel is resurrected from a previous death and has no idea who he is. It is by chance alone that Sam and Dean find him living as a spiritual healer with a wife in the suburbs, and eventually help him remember his previous life and identity. These examples of incomplete resurrection serve to exacerbate existing anxieties about the blurring between life and death, and concerns over the stability and authenticity of the self. If life is prolonged or if bodies or minds are sustained one without the other, how is one to effectively maintain ideas of boundedness? By portraying these anxieties through the consequences of imperfect resurrection, Supernatural serves to pose multiple questions and to almost force a redefinition of what the "self" - living or dead - is.