#Dean has issues

[monstermoviedean]

for dean. for dean. it feels like everyone is choosing someone else over him. that's not how it is but that is how he feels. mary and sam? bmol. crowley? lucifer. cas? jack and kelly. so who does he have left? what's his legacy? no one picks him, no one stays. so who's going to remember him?

[ananke-xiii]

Talking about mommy issues... I'm not a 100% fan of Jack as the destiel son BUT it's important to me that going there means acknowleding that "archetypically" speaking Dean is The Mother while Cas is The Father*. And this isn't just because, when Sam accuses Dean of acting like their father, he replies with a Freudian slip if I've ever heard one ("I'm not his mother"), it's also why Chuck's myth-retelling doesn't work (Abraham is totally Cas and he and Jack subverted that myth) 'cause first he doesn't understand Dean and second he's not an astute storyteller and doesn't realize his story was already subverting the myth he wanted to re-enact. Therefore he should've created a situation where Jack (The Son) was forced to kill Cas (The Father) if he wanted to provoke Dean, this was Jack's original sin according to Dean, come on Chuck, it's been 14 seasons, everybody already knew Dean was not gonna kill Jack. He's totally fine with caging and entrapping his putative sons but he draws a line at killing them (insert that meme from Community). (I mean, I know Chuck wants Dean to do his bidding but after 14 years he had to get a little more creative than that. Maybe he should've listened to his editor Metatron, just saying. "maybe less about detail and more about balance") ((hello Becky and Metatron parallel)).

It would have also meant that Jack's story would've gone back to its genesis + the long tail of dead parental figures (not only Kelly and Cas but Nick/Lucifer and Mary and whoever else I'm forgetting lol).

By the end of s14 there is a short-circuits of symbols so it all had to go tits up, hence the rising of the dead etc. etc.

*This doesn't mean they are the Good Mother and the Good Father as they're clearly not but these are the primordial energies that they both channel to Jack. Also, obvs patriarchy in SPN is very much alive and well as demonstrated by the fact that the Good Mother and the Good Father are only the Dead Mother and the Dead Father and unfortunately for Jack this is what he got when he was born. He's not even born and he already lives in an ideal world with ideal figures compared to whom he'll always fall short.

Also, Jack's got the power to wake up from the Empty his putative father because his Mother (Dean) is grieving his death and he wants to please him: Jack is a total mama's boy.

[lovealwayssay]

At its core, Supernatural is a show about daddy issues.

[serendipity0930]

hate interacting with the widespread fandom about 05x16 for obvious reasons but it is such a key episode to me like. sam sees a memory of dean and his mother. he could be jealous of their relationship, instead he acknowledges the familial pressure dean has experienced since he was a toddler. dean sees a memory of sam leaving for college (and also being disowned!! and by proximity, by dean too!!!). he tells sam that this was the worst night of his life, he does not acknowledge the struggle sam must have also been experiencing. it’s so crucial to me in the way that they consider their relationship to each other where sam is willing to accept/recognize dean’s struggles and try to help him, but dean isn’t, because he views that as proof that he “failed.”

[scoobydoodean]

"cas's only crime in season 6 was acting like a protagonist which is why he's punished for it bc dean controls the narrative of early seasons" is a take i've seen and im like. you mean chuck right. like. chuck is the guy who punished castiel constantly. chuck put the leviathans in purgatory. like i know dean is the pov character but like. he doesnt have that much narrative control

What if I said I think that take is insufferable hair brained nonsense that’s transparently motivated by a desire to ascribe a level of power and control to Dean that he simply has never and will never possess in order to villainize him for Cas’s mistakes because Cas simply making a choice that he knew was dangerous and could easily backfire on him and subsequently did is so distressing to deancrit casgirls that they can’t cope with it and have to do 5 rounds of olympic gymnastics inventing entire new worlds of Things That Did Not Happen to find a way to make it Dean’s fault that Cas got teen pregnant

[mrcowboydeanwinchester]

crazed by how mary and john were forced together by the angels and then this is never addressed in canon? fixed it. angered that mary is obviously a lesbian and this is never explored? fixed it. frustrated by the strange absence of deanna campbell in the winchesters? fixed it. wondering why mary winchester died in a full face of makeup? fixed it. upset they never emphasised how young she was when she was resurrected? fixed it. feel there is more to mary and dean's relationship which we never saw? fixed it. fixed it all! fixed everything. in fic form for you up now on ao3 it's called i'll sing a hymn to mary it's 34k and it's the marynatural multiverse fic we deserve

[castielsparkle]

if dean winchester were born just a couple decades later hed make those youtube movie maker lyric videos for led zeppelin and shjt

[mattzerella-sticks]

"Who are you?"

"We're you, but on Amazon."

[seasononesam]

defending sam from the boring allegations is a full time job and I've never called in sick

[magpiewithinternetaccess]

A little something from a short and sweet post-canon thing I’m writing.

In it Jack is a little kid again rather than a literal god and Dean is adjusting to domestic life with Cas. It’s terribly sappy but I needed the catharsis lol.

May or may not post it to ao3 someday,, for now hope u enjoy <3

It is indeed now in progress on ao3, link on my profile xx

[preseriesdean]

8.01 “We Need to Talk About Kevin”

[monsterfuckermilligan]

i’m sure this has been said before but when adam and michael are talking in the bunker about the possibility of michael’s dad being a grade a asshole, there’s something so so so important to me about how adam points out michael’s hypocrisy.

ADAM: Point is…. Parents keep secrets. Does it hurt to ask the question?

MICHAEL: Yes! It would mean I doubt him. The good son; the favorite doubts his father.

ADAM: You still care about that? After he left you in the cage?

this matters because michael was JUST criticizing sam and dean for leaving adam and how he is in unable to trust them. he doubts them because of their actions.

MICHAEL: You’re asking me to trust you. You who doomed me, you who let Lucifer walk free while your own brother sat in Hell.

in turn, adam is pointing out that clearly michael has a line for his family members and it’s been crossed by michael’s own, so why is his dad any different than sam or dean? what makes michael different than adam? why does his dad get to betray and abandon him and still get michael’s trust and loyalty? why is michael expendable?

he’s really tapping into michael’s beliefs that were just established to us as the audience at the diner. (ie: family sometimes hurts you and just because they’re blood relatives or ‘family’ doesn’t mean they have your best interests at heart. sometimes there are things more important than family, sometimes walking away from your family is freedom) and he’s holding michael to the same standard he’s set for the winchesters.

side note: another thing i enjoy about this interaction is that adam is being gentle, although it 100% appears as if they’ve had this conversation before since he literally rolls his eyes, and not to mention that michael is an archangel. he could easily be mean or not even care about his feelings or michael could not even take his opinion into account and do what he wants. but despite everything, adam asks for michael to listen to him, and he does. and in turn adam appeals to him with logic and reasoning, because he’s overall a very rational and strategic being that’s simply been groomed from the get go in his dad’s weird cult. adam appeals to his emotions in a way that’s familiar. they share this experience. adam knows michael is protective of him and that it’s easy for michael to hate sam and dean for the same things his dad has done. but michael’s own lack of self worth that was drilled into him by his dad for aeons is being challenged, and it’s uncomfortable for him, but adam doesn’t back down and he helps get through to him. it’s really a great scene. this post wasn’t meant to be so long but yeah i have lots of thoughts about this short interaction!

[youchangedmedestiel]

This ficlet is called "You are perfect the way you are" (also available on AO3). This came to me because I wasn't feeling so great. I wanted to hear those words, instead I wrote them. But if you need to hear them too, then this is my gift to you. And also, you are perfect the way you are! This is clearly not my most elaborate fic but if it can help at least one person to feel better, then it makes my day. I hope you'll enjoy reading it:

"I love you." Cas declares, his arms holding himself up above Dean, his hands resting on the mattress at each side of his face.

"What's that for?" Dean chuckles, because what else can he do when Cas is facing him, blue eyes piercing deep in his, honesty all over his face.

"You are smart." He says, kissing his forehead.

"Right." Dean answers, not believing a word of it.

"You are funny." Cas adds, kissing the tip of his nose.

"Cas." Dean says quietly, he wants to tell him to stop but he can't.

"You are kind." Cas keeps trailing his road, kissing Dean's cheek, noticing the light blush starting to grow there. Dean wants to hide it, so he turns his face towards Cas's arm. "Dean." Cas tries to make him look at him again, but without success. Instead he uses his other hand to grab Dean's chin and make him look up at him. They lock eyes and he adds, "you are beautiful." And he kisses his lips before Dean gets the chance to look away again. It's a chaste and soft kiss. Dean chases it when Cas moves his head away.

"Are you done?" Dean asks, acting annoyed but his blush betrays him.

"No." Cas answers, squinting his eyes. "Did you listen to what I said?"

"Yeah. I'm clearly out of your league." Dean jokes, but Cas isn't.

"Dean!" He says loudly, frowning. He softens quickly when Dean looks up, his eyes wide open, surprised by Cas's tone. "You are perfect the way you are and I love you." Cas insists on every syllables, never looking away from Dean's eyes. Even when you're joking and it's not the time, he thinks. Dean can't escape this, trapped by Cas's body against the mattress. The only thing he can do is watch how sincere Cas looks when he pronounces those words.

"I love you too, Cas." Dean whispers, lifting his upper body from the mattress to reach out for Cas's lips with his. That kiss is not as chaste as the previous one. He grabs the back of his neck and pulls him down with him.

[mybrainproblems]

can you expand on what you mean about 12x22 and berens? i’ve never really looked at the writer patterns before but i’m intrigued

so jensen did a solo panel at JIB 8 in 2017 and an earlier question prompted him to recount his experience having difficulty connecting with the mary & dean relationship in s12 and the character motivation behind it. (and i think he's correct in saying that fans picked up on him not gelling with it which actually works in some episodes but feels off in others.)

anyway! berens was on-set when they were filming 12x22 "who we are" and jensen told him "oh god i get it now!" with the "i hate you, i forgive you" speech (that dean's character arc was him needing to forgive mary) and berens had no idea what he was talking about.

hopefully this embedded correctly to start at the right time code, but if not, he starts talking about it at 19:45

which yes, there's the possibility that berens was just yanking jensen's chain* about not realizing the "i hate you, i forgive you" was the thesis of mary & dean's relationship arc in s12. but also i really am inclined to believe he didn't realize he'd tied up the whole arc bc berens has been such a chronic dean misunderstander over the years. like folks will talk about dean as the "angry man" in late seasons and... that's mostly berens, baby!**

and i know you didn't ask but this is why the confession falls so flat for me. it rings hollow bc this is the writer who has done more than anyone else in the last few seasons to make dean an un-likeable prick. i do like the confession as a radical act of self-love (that "having" doesn't matter and "being" is more important) but as cas confessing his love to dean? yeah, i just can't buy it given the other stuff berens wrote over the years and the narrative framing is just off. much like the finale, it's tragedy wearing an ill-fitting ballgown and looking in a fun house mirror.

so, in summary (x)

* this is a bit unkind, but jensen is such a consummate pro that i would not be surprised if the "maybe he was yanking my chain" was a way to save face for berens since jensen has disagreed with him on his episodes before.

** i did not jive with 14x20 "moriah" until i re-watched it without the baggage of 14x18 before it (14x19 isn't great but does set up the "logic" of dean's actions in 14x20; never 5get that cas wanted to put jack in the cage... how is that different from a ma'lak box?). i think berens was just not a good fit for spn and especially not the direction they were going in during dabb era. i'm not a big fan of him in carver era either but he fit the vibes and direction way better.

[shadystranger]

the switch from worry for sam to appealing.. oh he knows how to fuck him up so perfectly tailored for him

[kacievvbbbb]

While I love Jack and do think Alexander Calvert did a truly amazing job playing him and the fact he looks a little like Misha is adorabel.

but I do think that we were robbed from how astronomical the following seasons could have been if Jack was a girl.