aka – A Comparison of (Randomly Chosen) Violence Against Dean and Sam
aka THE MOST IMPORTANT BAR CHARTS I HAVE EVER CREATED
Once upon a time, I
just wanted to get a firm count of how many times Dean got slammed
into a wall (or the ground, or other things). @obsessionisaperfume
suggested I also track Sam getting choked or getting hit on the
head – which was a good suggestion, since those are things that Sam
is known for. I eventually decided to track everything for both
brothers, and that’s when things got… interesting.
The charts below are
the culmination of months of work (which was me watching the show and making
ticky marks in a notebook, which I then entered into a spreadsheet).
I am attempting to keep my commentary to a minimum, instead allowing all of you draw your own conclusions from the results. (However, there
are a few places where I can’t help making a comment because I’m chatty.)
There are several different ways I can present this data, so there is a slight chance that this may be part 1 of 2.
I hope you enjoy
them as much as I enjoy Dean getting slammed into walls.
We begin with the Wall Slam, which, as many of you know, is my favorite of all types of randomly chosen violence.
Wall Slam Criteria: A brother must be thrown or pushed into a wall by an outside force (such as a physical shove, telekinesis, etc). For this purpose, a ‘wall’ is defined as a wall or something relatively flat that is resting directly against a wall (such as a mirror or a bookshelf). A bookshelf that is in the middle of the room is not considered a wall, though – those are classified separately, as ‘other.’ Closed doors also count as walls, regardless of whether or not a brother is thrown through the door. (Glass is certainly a popular material for doors. Rich people, man.)
For most of the series, Dean was the reigning Wall Slam champion, clocking 11 straight seasons of winning the non-existent Wall Slam competition. In season 12, however, Dark Horse Dabb certainly made a statement in his first season as show runner: Sam, for the first time in series history, was thrown into more walls than Dean.
* The reason for the 0.5 slam for Dean is due to a half-wall/half-ground slam that occurred in episode 12×10.
When a wall is not available, the ground will suffice.
Ground Slam Criteria: A brother must be thrown or pushed into the ground by an outside force (such as a physical shove, telekinesis, etc). ‘Ground’ is defined as the ground or a floor.
Despite Sam taking the Wall Slam crown from Dean in season 12, Dean continued his winning record when it comes to the ground. Dean has been slammed into the ground more than Sam, winning 9 seasons to Sam’s 3.
Other Slam Criteria: A brother must be thrown or pushed into anything other than a wall or the ground by an outside force (such as a physical shove, telekinesis, etc). This is including (but not limited to) fences, people, tables, and piles of trash.
Season 1 is the outlier, being the only season where Sam was thrown into things other than the wall or the ground more times than Dean; Dean has an 11-season streak going since season 2. If there’s a thing, Dean will likely be thrown into it.
Choked Criteria – A brother must have something (usually hands, but may also be rope or cord) wrapped around their neck or they must have otherwise lost the ability to breathe. This includes when dick angels take away a brother’s lungs, or when a demon pretends they’re Darth Vader and force chokes a brother.
I am now convinced that the reason Sam has such a reputation for being choked is largely due to the 1st season, where he was choked several times and Dean wasn’t choked at all. Dean has actually been choked more times than Sam throughout the series, winning 7 seasons to Sam’s 5.
Hit on Head Criteria: A brother must have been hit on the head by an object other than a fist (because if I had tried to keep track of them getting punched in the head I would have run out of paper).
Hit on Head Criteria Exception: I counted a hit to the head by a fist when the fist hit resulted in unconsciousness.
This was especially interesting because there is an apparent pattern with the changes in show runners. Kripke was showrunner from seasons 1-5, where Sam was reigning champion of the head hit until they finally tied in season 5. Seasons 6-7 were run by Gamble, and Sam still reigned supreme. When Carver took over for seasons 8-11, and then Dabb in season 12, Dean was then consistently smacked on the head more than Sam.
Now let’s add all Wall Slams, Ground Slams, (Other) Slams, Chokings, and Head Hits together.
There is one firm conclusion I can draw from this: Sam was beaten up more in season 1, and then Dean became the favored punching bag for all show runners.
I’d like to also present the exact same data with a different visualization:
Backup bloh 