Sam/Jess Analysis

Jessica Moore and Sam Winchester were a canonical pairing nearly as long as John and Mary Winchester.  From episode one, it was evident that Jess and Sam were crazy about each other.  However, when you take into consideration their not-so-meet-cute story, we are faced with the inescapable fact that their romance was no accident.

Their love story is beautiful; they met in college (supposedly), fell in love, moved in together…and then it all turned sour when Jess was killed and burned on the ceiling of their home, just as Sam and Dean’s mother had been years before.  While Mary’s death, exactly six months after Sam’s birth, prompted John into hunting, Jess’ death drove Sam to continue hunting with his brother, both in order to find and kill the thing that killed their loved ones.

In 2.2, All Hell Breaks Loose: Part 1, Azazel (the Yellow-Eyed demon) appears to Sam in a dream.  He admits to having killed Jessica in order to get Sam to continue hunting with his brother, but he does not elaborate why.  Later, we come to discover that this isn’t entirely true.

In 5.20, The Devil You Know, Crowley takes Dean—but refuses to take Sam—on the hunt for a high-level demon who supposedly works for the Horsemen.  Having captured the demon, Crowley insists that they not return to Sam, and reveals that Sam and this demon have a sort of history, however, Dean refuses and returns to Sam anyway.  It turns out, this demon, Brady, is an old college friend of Sam’s.  Brady taunts Sam about their past.  It’s revealed that Brady was the one who introduced Sam to Jess in the first place.  Brady then tells Sam why: Azazel was concerned that Sam was losing his potential as one of the demon-blooded children, so he put Brady in charge of fixing it.  Brady did this by introducing Sam to Jess and subsequently murdering her in cold blood simply in order to drive Sam to hunt again.

Sam and Jess were introduced on purpose, it’s true, but their love was not forced by Heaven like Mary and John Winchester’s was.  In fact, their love was about as real as it gets.  Betweeen Sam’s refusal to forget Jess—she appears all the way in 12.01 Keep Calm and Carry On—and Jess’s love for Sam, as evidenced by her mannerisms in 1.01, Pilot.  Sam dreamt about Jess for months after her death.  While we aren’t entirely sure how long they were together, Sam certainly never forgot her.  In 5.03 Free to Be You and Me, Jessica appears to Sam, trying to convince him that he is too broken, that he will never be able to fix himself, and that people will continue to die around him.  I think it is proof of his true love for her that he completely rejects what she says—despite sometimes wondering himself if he is a monster.  He loves her so much that he knows that she would never tell him these things, that she would never feed on his insecurities and attempt to confirm them.

Overall, I think Sam and Jess were and essential ship to the nature of the plot and to the show itself.  Their relationship and her death are what spurred Sam into a second go around at hunting, and thus creating the show.

As always, if you have any questions or comments, let me know below.

Ever your Assbutt,

Castielle