6x02 Two and a Half Men

           In “Two and a Half Men,” Season six episode two, Sam is on a hunt and calls Dean asking for help. Dean is still trying to be normal with Lisa and Ben, but he is also acting a little overprotective of them. Lisa convinces Dean to go help Sam, who has been acting slightly off since returning from Hell. The brothers soon discover they are dealing with Shapeshifters and a Shapeshifter baby. They learn the father of the baby is an Alpha Shapeshifter, and it wants the baby back.

            Throughout Supernatural Dean is portrayed as a Protector. As a Hunter, that is part of the job description – protecting the innocent. It is the idea that Dean was raised on. When he and Sam were younger, he had to protect his little brother. As he got older, he had to protect the innocent citizens and victims from various monsters. Most recently, he has to protect his own little family.

            Dean is often a protector of children. In season five, he refuses to even consider letting Sam allow Lucifer to use him as his vessel in order to throw Lucifer back into the Cage. Since the age of four years old, Dean has been protecting his little brother. However, he fails that at the end of season five, and Sam ends up in the Cage anyway. Now in season six, Sam is back and has been for a while, and Dean does not know how to react.

            In “Two and a Half Men” Dean is focusing on protecting the family he has left. Sam is still Hunting with other once-dead family members, so Dean focuses all his energy on keeping Lisa and Ben safe. He refuses to teach Ben how to shoot a gun, and does not want Ben to become a Hunter, no matter how cool the boy thinks it is now. Dean knows that there is no real way out of Hunting, and does not want Ben stuck in the Hunter Life the same way he and Sam were.

            The most obvious way Dean is portrayed as a protector of children is with the baby Shapeshifter. He starts off small – agreeing to help Sam with the hunt once he knows a child is involved and getting baby supplies – and slowly works his way up. He actually takes care of the baby. He changes its diaper and gets it to go to sleep, and ends up protecting it from other Shapeshifters. Later he almost becomes defensive of the baby. When Sam mentions that he had “never seen a baby monster before,” Dean says “But it’s not a monster yet. It’s just a baby. It’s not its fault its Daddy is a Shifter.” With the child involved, Dean’s perception of monsters appears to have changed. In the past the rule was if it is not human, kill it. Suddenly Dean seems to be viewing being a monster almost as a race or ethnicity.

            Dean’s protection of the baby Shapeshifter goes beyond keeping it away from other Shapeshifters; he also wants to keep it away from Samuel and the rest of the Hunters. While he does not have even the slightest idea of what to with the baby, he does not trust other hunters to take care of it. He thinks they will treat it like an experiment.

            Eventually an Alpha Shapeshifter takes the baby. He overhears Sam and Samuel talking, and confronts Sam about him possibly using the baby as bait. Sam acts innocent, but Dean can tell something is up. However, he leaves Sam be.

I can’t help but wonder if taking care of this baby was a way to make up for not taking care of Sam. He couldn’t protect Sam in season two when Sam died, while Dean was in Hell, when Sam was hanging out with Ruby, or when Sam was in the Cage. Maybe he felt taking care of the baby shapeshifter would help make up for all of that. After all, Sam is often compared to a monster himself. We’ll never know what Dean was thinking, but it’s just something to think about.