While I'm in a posting mood...

[ratherastory]

I need an explanation for the Season 4 premiere, because I am missing something.

When Dean and Bobby go to find Sam in that motel in Pontiac, Ruby is there. She's introduced as "Cathy" or "Chrissy," or whatever, but it's definitely Ruby.

She then completely fails to recognize Dean, back from hell, along with Bobby (whom she's met at least once, in "Sin City"). Or at least pretends to.

Sam then apparently lies through his teeth to Dean about the girl. This after the massive, massive shock of getting his brother back from Hell. He later lies through his teeth some more when he says Ruby's dead.

So. Is that a continuity error? Did Ruby somehow manage to convey to Sam that she didn't want him to reveal her identity to Dean?

It's driving me nuts.

Comments

[saschi212.livejournal.com]

When she says, "So...are you two...together?" I think that's the signal. If you watch Sam's reaction right there, I thought at first he had just forgotten she was in the room. But on re-watching once I knew she was Ruby, I think it's him processing, "Oh, hey, yeah, we probably shouldn't tell him this is Ruby."

[cu4eaa.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... that's a really good question!
Maybe Sam hides Ruby's identity to Dean because he doesn't want Dean to worry even more about him? Guess Sam knows Dean well enough to know that he doesn't approve of Sam being with her / trusting her?
Hm, anyway, it's weird... :/

[tifaching.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure that Sam knew damn well that he shouldn't be letting Dean in on Ruby's identity, no matter what she might have conveyed to him. And Ruby knew damned well who Dean was she's just a demon that's good at covering. Yes, he lied through his teeth to his just back from the torments of hell brother. The brother whose dying wish was that Sam keep fighting and NOT keep using his freaky, demon given powers. And letting Dean know that Ruby was alive would have opened up a whole can of worms that Sam just wanted to keep, um in an unopened can. It was the start of the season long impulse for me to smack Sam in the back of the head.

[debbiel66.livejournal.com]

That scene actually really bothers me. It probably bothers me more than any of Season 4 Sam's actions/decisions because the fact that he can cover up so quickly after Dean is back, just strikes me as wrong.

But because I adore Sam so much, I attribute it to improbable and clunky writing more than anything else. I can forgive a lot because of that post-Hell hug.

[primrose-1.livejournal.com]

I thought the scene was rather clever actually. If you watch carefully, Ruby is in charge of the entire incident. First, she opens the door, looks both at Dean and at Bobby before saying, "Where's the pizza?" She recognized them alright, and thought fast. Then, after Sam and Dean embrace, she says something like, "So, you guys are together." Sam looks at her with some confusion before saying, "Uh...no..." He makes up a name for her, then she corrects him. It makes her look like just a one night stand. All Sam has to do is kind of blunder along after her statements and comments. Of COURSE he doesn't want to tell Dean that he's with Ruby.

He directly lies to Dean's face later in the car. They played Sam very subtly all through the first half of season 4. We're not supposed to realize how messed up Sam really is. Notice the entire first half of the season has almost nothing for Sam to do- it's all about Dean coming back from hell and angels and the apocalypse. That changes fast the second half of the season.

I don't know if it was the best way for them to do it, but we were ALL surprised to find out Sam was addicted to demon blood when it was finally revealed. Mission accomplished.

[claudiapriscus.livejournal.com]

I felt the same way, the whole thing was just...odd. But then I read a really awesome fic from Ruby's POV (I think) and suddenly it seemed brilliant.

Sam didn't have to do much lying, and the bit he did seemed very off. So I interpreted it as, Ruby was covering for him, and he was so distracted by everything his brain kind of exploded and he just kind of went along with it while his brain was rebooting.

Because really, he was lying very poorly. He only got away with it because of all the other drama.

[werty30.livejournal.com]

It was the first moment when I started feeling disconnected from the show, not recognizing the characters anymore. "No, Sam or Dean wouldn`t do that!" First of many, heh.

Oh well, the true tragedy would be if they went from gorgeous to fugly Lindsay Lohan style. Going from caring about each other a lot to not as much - I can grudgingly accept that./shallow

As for your question, they wanted to conceal Ruby`s shenanigans from us so Dean had to remain ignorant because the show is from his point of view. I see it as a "storytelling trumps characterization" writing choice.