#sam/mark

[thebrightsessions]

let me be your ride out of town // a Sam & Mark mix

the beauty is the light in the piazza; what’ll i do alison krauss; let’s face the music and dance ella fitzgerald; arms christina perri; much farther to go rosie thomas; you and me you + me; eavesdrop the civil wars; time ben folds; last request paolo nutini; you and i michael bublé; run away with me michael arden

[thelaurenshippen]

Hi there! I started relistening to the bright sessions (as one does) and had a random question come up. When did you know that Mark/Sam wasn't going to be endgame (romantically)? I know in s4 they both fall apart separately and together, but even in Safehouse pt 2 (my absolute beloved) they argue about their coping mechanisms. Did you know then that they weren't going to end up together? How did you come to that conclusion?

hey!! this is a great question - I definitely did start the show thinking they were endgame and that's mostly what I was thinking at the time of safehouse too, despite their issues. I think it was really in writing Season 4 actually, when I realized that I was no longer telling a story about two people in love working through their issues, but was instead telling a story about two people who were in love but realized they shouldn't be together in that way. I started to feel those tension points in Season 3 (I would say the safehouse episodes were a true attempt for them to learn to work through their issues), but it wasn't until planning S4 that I really made the decision.

there are a lot of things that led to this that I'll try to articulate, because the honest, simplest answer as to why the plans changed was "because it felt like they should". but if I were think back and pinpoint a few reasons for that...

there was never supposed to be a love triangle. Mark was always bisexual but he and Damien were never supposed to develop feelings for one another. but the first time we got Andrew and Charlie into a room and read through their first episode together it was like "oh, OH-kay" (which, sidebar: clearly I was writing something between them subtextually because it wasn't like Andrew and Charlie were strangers to each other - I'd watched them act ALL sorts of scenes together in acting class but the romantic chemistry popped OUT with Mark/Damien. pretty much from the second motel episode on, I was writing leaning into that dynamic). that threw a lot of spanners into the works because while I never had plans to put Mark and Damien together, I hadn't anticipated Mark grappling with feelings for someone else.

similarly, I'd underestimated just how flawed Sam was. Sam is not a bad person, but she sometimes doesn't really know how to be a person who cares about other people. when you add that to the dynamics of Damien and Joan kind of, like, hovering over Mark in various unproductive ways (for Damien, it's destructive and invasive; for Joan, she's just a too-involved older sister sometimes), Sam becomes another person who is kind of, like...controlling Mark, or trying to, because she loves him and doesn't know how to (I mean, I'm pretty sure I'm just regurgitating actual lines I wrote lol). this is not to say that her flaws make her unable to be in a relationship (Mark is also deeply flawed!) but just that their flaws clashed against each other in ways I hadn't planned.

finally: Joan and found family. in my mind, there was something grand and romantic about Sam meeting Dr. Bright so that she could be led to Mark - like they were somehow always fated to meet. in actuality, it's not that at all - instead, the bond that Sam and Joan have is just as important as the one she has with Mark, albeit different. I don't believe in soulmates personally, but I've always liked the idea that you have people out there. soulmates in a more general sense - people you click with, have a connection with. it can be romantic, familial, friendship, work or creative partnerships, whatever. I think the Bryant siblings and Sam have that. I think Sam and Mark are meant for each other but in a non-exclusive way and in a...maybe not non-romantic way, but a way that doesn't have romance at the forefront. they love each other deeply and they fit, but a romantic partnership might not be the best way forward for them. and Joan and Sam are the whole heart of the show to me in some senses. as I was writing the finale, I very intentionally ended with the two of them - both because the final appearance of every character is in order of when they first appeared, but in reverse and also because the show starts with both of them in dark, destructive places and while there's broken trust between them throughout, they ultimately help each other get better. I thought Sam's story was about finding love and it was, but that love looked differently than I had planned.

okay, god, this has gotten waaaaaay too long and rambly. I hope this answers your question? one of my favorite things/the thing I miss most about making a show like TBS is being able to shift things based on chemistry/what the actors bring/etc. so often now, I'm writing entire seasons of things and then handing them off to production, in which anything can happen! the flexibility of recording episode by episode in TBS is something I took full advantage of.

thanks for listening and relistening!!

[rainedravens]

"holy shit they finally confessed, what comes next--"

[beachsideufo]

regretevator doodles

[strawlessandbraless]

So funny to me that the same guy who immediately senses something is off with Dean after he gets the Mark of Cain

Literally never notices that he forgot Sam’s soul in hell, nor can he determine what’s wrong with Sam after spending considerable time with him

And I won’t even mention the selective hearing for prayers. They really had a profound ass bond huh?

[cuntiel]

[ricky-mortis]

Hatchetfield Character doodles from the past week :)

[saffronish]

Ya’ll remember the handprint on Dean’s shoulder after Cas saved him from hell (well ofc u remember but for the sake of this post remember again)? Does that handprint mean that Cas was possessing Jimmy Novak when he went to save dean or did he deliberately shape the print into a handprint??? I’m guessing he wasn’t possessing Jimmy when he went to save Dean because it feels much more strategic to go in as an angel and just smite the demons in his path without having to do anything other than… you know… be there. Also didn’t he go from possessing Jimmy Novak to the barn immediately? That seems to make more sense since the first two times he tried to talk to Dean he was using his true voice (big disaster) and then he switched into using a vessel for ease of conversation (or just not killing the righteous man all over again, in other words). This leaves only one explanation… Cas shaped the handprint on Dean’s shoulder to resemble the shape of a human hand ON PURPOSE because he knew that a human handprint is more meaningful then some indistinguishable angel-blob-like scarring and he’s just possessive like that okbye

[bluerosefox]

Soulmate Across the Multiverse

A DPxDC soulmate au idea

So DCverse is a soulmate world (pick any soulmate way btw, words, touch, drawings on the skin, can't see color(s) until they see or touch them, etc etc)

DPverse doesn't.

Meaning Danny wasn't born with a soulmark BUT he gets one after becoming a halfa because he is now connected to the Infinite Realms.

SO its during another one of Vlad's schemes, he's popping into different worlds and stealing things or something like that (basically like that one ep where Danny chases Vlad through the timeline after he stole Frostbite's map)

During the chase they pop out into the DCverse in one of the hero cities (pick any, not picky on which) and their fight is getting a bit out of hand (Vlad's fault, he's using the stuff he's been stealing, and Danny is doing his best to getting innocent people from getting hurt)

ANYWAYS during the fight, one of the cities hero's come to try to help/find out whats going on when Danny is hit by Vlad and gets tossed at them. The moment they either touch or Danny/Soulmate says something to the other, Danny feels the odd mark on him burn up and is MEGA confused on whats going on but decides to do what he does best.

Ignore it for now. He'd figure it out later he still needs to stop Vlad.

He apologizes to the other hero and gets back into his fight, missing the look of complete smitten awe/shock said hero had on their face.

[thelaurenshippen]

Seconding the mad ones rec because every time I listen to the song Run Away With Me I pretend it’s about Sam and Mark :)

wait, THAT'S where that song is from!!?!? I loooooove that song and I too pretend it's about Sam and Mark - it was the cornerstone of the very first playlist I made for them :)

(that's a spotify link but here's apple music if you, like me, are not a spotify user)

[rainedravens]

"oh my god guys the enemies just became lovers"

[debdarkpetal]

[geekgirles]

Am I the only one who laments Sam was often introduced having a wide array of talents and interests yet they never really became part of her character, only remaining a one episode thing or a quick gag?

Because everything about Sam's scenes implies she's incredibly layered.

The things laying around her room include countless vinyls, a keyboard, and a portable drum kit. All of which implies she has a deep interest, and maybe even talent, in music. Something Pirate Radio later confirmed when it turned out she's a knowledgeable and phenomenal DJ.

Then, there's the fact that she's a skilled gamer. Yeah, so are Danny and Tucker, but you kinda pick up on it on your own thanks to their characterisation of "wants to be a normal teenaged boy" and "techno geek", respectively. Between the show being from the 2000s and Sam's focus on the occult and environmentalism, you don't really see it coming that she's a gamer. Especially one so good she routinely kicks Danny and Tucker's asses.

I mentioned this before, but I especially hate how her talent for DIY clothing was just used as a quick gag. The eye for design you have got to have to turn a frilly pink dress into something a goth would wear is nothing sort of astounding. And knowing Sam and her usual disdain for money and mass produced content, you can't tell me she wouldn't be the type to alter all her clothes into something that fits her style.

Lucky in Love also introduced her love for goth poetry, something Beauty Mark implied she actually partakes in given her use of a haiku to warn Danny about Dora. And yet, it is rarely brought up. Though it is true this is the one interest the Phandom never forgets about and often adds to their fanfics and headcanons.

And finally, there's her love for plants. How cool is it that she takes care of her own greenhouse all by herself? That implies extensive knowledge on botany. But, again, unless it is to point out her vegetarianism or environmentalist ways, the only other time besides Urban Jungle where it was relevant was in Claw of the Wild, when she used some berries to treat Wulf's wounds.

To be fair, this issue isn't exclusive to Sam. Between teenage drama and ghost fighting, Danny's interests aren't explored or expanded upon all that much beyond "regular teenage boy stuff". Even so, they do get enough focus or leave a strong enough of an impression for them to become common knowledge among the Phandom. I mean, everybody treats Danny wanting to be an astronaut as an essential part of his character (and it kinda is), yet it was only brought up in three episodes in the whole show.

I guess, what I'm trying to say is that the show and Phans alike tend to sleep on the fact that Sam is surprisingly multitalented.

[turtletoads]

heyyyy *leans on old halo art i never posted*

[strawlessandbraless]

The way Dean’s life never really belonged to him. And this kept happening, time and time again. Being a parent to Sam while being daddy’s blunt instrument. His dad expecting him to kill Sam even though Dean’s the one who raised him. Having the hell deal hang over his head. Heaven and the angels plan for him and Armageddon. The mark of Cain demanding blood. Crowley letting him become a demon for his own purposes. Amara. Metatron. Michael. And finally god pulling the strings the whole time

I truly think he’d have given up long before if he didn’t have Cas in his life. And it’s why lines like ‘we’re making it up as we go’ and ‘you asked what about all this is real, we are’ were so powerful

Cas knew and acknowledged that Dean rarely got to live a life that was his, and he fought for that every second until he died from loving him

[cuntiel]

Bobby would have this in his kitchen