#The fact that the own spn’s writers wrote that Dean was being Sam parent

[nexilu]

Supernatural 4x13 script:

« There is a PARENTAL tone to his voice »

The fact that Dean can be a 18 y/o boy who spend most of his time hooking up with girls in the closet while being Sam’s parent at the same time.

[mishasminions]

The Last Time I’ll Write a Long Post About Supernatural (15x18-15x20)

15 YEARS OF WATCHING THIS SHOW. 11 YEARS OF RUNNING A BLOG ABOUT IT. IT’S BEEN QUITE A RIDE.

[15x20 Speculation + evidence at the bottom]

First off, I just wanna come clean and say, after all these years, I still think they should’ve ended at Season 5.

If you’re going to come at me with “Then why’d you stick around to watch it if you didn’t like it?”, your question is immature, and the answer is simple: I just want to know what happens next (I also love the main characters and their actors too). You can watch a show and still think it’s shit.

Call me a clown, but despite all the disappointment and trust issues that this show has given me, I would still look forward to the day where it might just turn itself around and bring back the quality it once had, or realize the potential of each story it was trying to tell, or at the very least, do justice by my favorite ship.

Never happened.

They’ve had a few good episodes here and there. I can’t imagine the SPN Universe without The Man Who Would Be King, The French Mistake, and Scoobynatural. Seasons 6-10 were enjoyable at times. I blocked out most of 7 & 11-15. 

If you’ve been following this blog since its heydays in 2010-2014, you’d know I’d try my best to defend Destiel and this show’s decisions regarding it no matter what.

Because you know what, as a CONCEPT, this show is good. If you take a look at all the worlds its storylines have birthed in fanfiction/fanworks, you’d see how much Supernatural has wasted its own story arcs. The writing got shittier as each season progressed, and they’ve obviously given up in production as well because the quality in the execution has noticeably gone down too, but if you take a step back and take a look at the bigger picture, you’ll see that this show still tries to make sense of itself.

[If you’re still following this post, please bear with me, I know this is long, but I just want you to understand how jaded and pessimistic I am with regards to this show, so maybe you can buy into whatever hopeful thing I’m about to say later on.]

SO LET’S TALK ABOUT DESTIEL

Never in my wildest dreams did I think that they would give us Castiel’s “I love you” speech. To the point where, if I weren’t so desperate for it, I would argue that it was completely out of character for him to word vomit the way he did (but I’m not gonna diss on that right now because I’ll take what I can get).

I’ve valued every meaningful and obscure exchange that Dean and Cas have had in the earlier seasons, and I was willing to accept their relationship as just that--undefined, without any clear boundaries as to what they really are. And I think that was beautiful on its own.

But now, they’ve chosen to define it.

After they’ve driven every possible wedge between Dean and Castiel in seasons 11-15, to try to explain away their feelings as something they offer to a collective.

Dean can’t mourn and pray for JUST Cas, he has to mourn and pray for EVERYBODY--even Crowley, even some chick he just met, because god forbid he cries about just the guy who has given up everything for him--that would be “too homo”.

They’ve even set Cas on a path to abrupt fatherhood just so he can care about something other than Dean. Make it seem as if Dean wasn’t his purpose through and through.

And after all these years of this stupid show trying to deny it, they choose to acknowledge it at the worst possible circumstance, at a time where they’ve been so far apart, that it seems so foreign for them to suddenly come together.

But here we are. And they’ve chosen to tell us.

Chosen to tell us that everything that Castiel has done leading up to his death, he has done it because he was IN LOVE WITH DEAN WINCHESTER.

Chosen to tell us that the ONE THING THAT WOULD MAKE CAS HAPPY IS DEAN WINCHESTER.

Chosen to tell us that BEING WITH DEAN WINCHESTER is something that CAS WANTS BUT KNOWS HE CAN’T HAVE.

And they’ve also chosen to tell us nothing about how Dean feels.

Sure, finding out your angel made a deal, the stipulations of said deal, his newfound happiness philosophy, his long-winded monologue of why he loves you and why you’re worthy of his love, and to top it all off he tells you that being in love with you is enough to make him happy while he subtly hints that he’s always wanted to be WITH you romantically, was a lot to process in the 5 minutes after you’ve just had an existential crisis.

It’s whatever, right? Let’s culminate 11 years worth of tension and feelings in 5 minutes. Let’s waste the entire episode with cringey expository dialogue, and irrelevant sequences. The whole season was a waste anyway.

You know what Supernatural? FUCK YOU FOR THAT. They deserved better. WE deserve better.

And I would love nothing more than to hurl every possible insult your way,

But for the last time, I’m going to HOPE that you’re finally going to try to make it better for the fans that stuck by you all these years.

No more baiting new viewers, no more placating casual viewers, no more excuses. 15 years. Bring it home for the people who have actually been around.

SO HERE’S HOW I THINK 15x20 IS GONNA GO

There’s two ways this series is gonna end. Horribly or Spectacularly.

First let’s all take into consideration what Andrew Dabb says about it:

So, let’s start with

ENDING HORRIBLY

In this scenario, Misha is telling the truth about his last day of filming being 15x18. His “camping trip” during the last few days of filming 15x20, was actually a camping trip. He doesn’t go to Vancouver to shoot.

Jensen wasn’t “being careful” during the zoom interviews that it was just him and Jared quarantining for the shoot, it really was just him and Jared (althought most of these were done pre 15x19) Supernatural isn’t smart enough to do misleading PR, and they’re once again oblivious to the potential of their own story.

Misha hasn’t posted a “Goodbye Castiel” tweet because he’s probably saving it for last episode or he forgot because it was overshadowed by the Destiel trend that night.

So what we get is:

Sam and Dean are on the road again, up against the monster of the week. Only their world no longer has actual Supernatural beings anymore, so the monsters they’re fighting are humans.

Humans end up killing the Winchesters (despite having gone up against literally every powerful being imaginable INCLUDING God himself). Dean and Sam end up in heaven and relive their greatest hits.

Meanwhile, Castiel rots in The Empty because he died after realizing that he was happy and gay. Jack doesn’t bother rescuing him—his surrogate dad, the guy who made this specific deal to spare him—even though it was so easy for him get Cas in and out of The Empty when he had a fraction of the power that he has now.

Dean never speaks of Castiel’s confession because despite all the hints of a profound bond in the earlier seasons, and the fact that Dean has never cared for anyone (who isn’t his actual brother) as immensely as he does Cas, Supernatural just can’t have its main macho character be “suddenly bisexual” because that would hurt the male ego or some shit.

His heaven would probably be living happily ever after with his family. “Family” meaning Mary and John Winchester--two of the shittiest parents ever (but they’re not going to include them in this episode like they were supposed to because of Covid) and Sam.

Sam also gets a dog. As usual.

I wouldn’t put it past Supernatural to do this. After everything they’ve pulled, this would be right up their alley. I actually expect this ending.

Anyway, onto the next possible ending

ENDING SPECTACULARLY

In this scenario, Supernatural tries to stick the landing, and Jensen’s whole “It didn’t sit well with me at first, but then I took a step back after talking to Kripke, and realized that I had to view it from an audience perspective, I am now really excited about it” (DC Con 2019) anecdote about his thoughts on the final episodes, were actually about Dean potentially ending up with Cas. (Which would totally make sense because Jensen at first didn’t see Dean as anything but hetero, but as of late, he has been throwing in Destiel jokes of his own, so he seems to have warmed up to the idea)

Backed with Misha’s tidbit (DLConline 2020) that he and Jensen had conversations about Destiel, and that they wouldn’t have gone through with it if Jensen wasn’t onboard with it, but Jensen didn’t push back at all. (Why would they need to check with Jensen if it was just Cas going all in?)

Robert Berens (writer of 15x18) also wrote the script at the beginning of Season 15, but made Misha privy to the concept a year prior (Season 14), so they went into this season knowing about Destiel going canon.

This one’s a reach, but this scenario also supposes that Misha was lying about his whereabouts during the filming of the final episode, and him saying that 15x18 was his last episode is part of the diversion to avoid taking away from the weight of Castiel’s death.

And that Supernatural is actually self-aware of its own material (similar to how they have wrapped things up in the past—lots of expository dialogue, poor execution, but fulfills the story arc)

Since Season 15 is basically a Meta Season (Chuck/God as a writer, pretentiously calling out how he created the worlds, its characters, and basically invalidating the past 14 seasons), and 15x19 is supposedly the finale for Season 15, written by two of the worst Supernatural writers, Brad Buckner and Eugenie Ross-Leming (Bob Singer’s wife), then we can assume that 15x19 is where the shitty writers kill themselves--as Chuck, of course.

So we get a badly written episode that produces a bad ending, or as Becky put it, “All action, and no Cas”

So we get the bad writers season ending at 15x19.

And 15x20 is where Sam and Dean write their own stories, and where the cast had a hand in pitching ideas for it.

Dabb has mentioned that 15x20 (Act Two) is a SERIES finale, where they try to resolve the characters’ journeys.

Because as everyone has acknowledged, Supernatural isn’t about the story, it’s about the characters.

So here’s what we can get out of it:

With no more Supernatural beings left to fight, Sam and Dean are in a stalemate. They’ve resigned themselves to fighting to the bitter end, but the “end” has passed, and they’re still standing.

So they try to figure out who they are now, and what they want out of the life they still have.

Sam still wants a normal apple pie life. Before Dean dragged him out of college to go hunting with him, he had a whole life planned out for him. Become a lawyer, settle down with a nice girl, and get a dog. He gave all that up because they had work to do, but now the work is finished, he can finally go back to wanting that for himself again.

Dean finally realizes his self-worth after Cas saves him again. His prayer to Cas in purgatory may have helped him come to terms with his anger, but the whole “you’ve done everything you did for love” speech finally put him in his place, and he learns not to hate himself anymore.

But of course, he cannot fully reconcile with himself if he doesn’t get Cas back, and tell him how he feels.

Because Dean actually wants something for himself this time. Something he knows he can finally have if he can just salvage it.

So maybe this time around, with the help of Jack (off-screen), Dean saves Cas. Grips him tight and raises him from perdition.

They bypass The Empty deal by turning Cas human, and he lives the rest of his days with Dean.

Dean and Cas know they deserve to be saved, and they know that they deserve to be happy.

(Wishful thinking, maybe they kiss a little)

Anyway...

I’m just saying, there’s NO WAY that they’d have Cas go through that whole rushed speech, if they weren’t going to do anything about it later on.

But again, after 10 years of disappointment, I wouldn’t put it past Supernatural to pat themselves on the back and say, “Okay, we sort of gave them what they wanted. We’re good now”

If that’s the case, Supernatural, I’m sorry I wasted my time on you.

Here’s to hoping 🤡

[castiel-left-his-mark-on-me]

Hi, Ary, very inactive ex-mutual(i think???) here. Good to see you thriving! ♥ It's been a while since I've dipped my head into cockles stuff. Could I perchance maybe ask uuuuum tf is going on??? lol I see Mish apparently confirmed he used to stay over at Jensen's in Van, and heard newbs were apparently freaking out about it and getting a bit messy, which I get that, business as usual. But I'm also seeing shit about spin-offs? And Jared getting in a twitter fight with Jensen, causing/resulting in stans to going feral and sending hate?? I know you're not as big a fan of Jar, but that's part of why I figured I'd ask you, you usually have a really level head about this kinda stuff. If you don't wanna answer publically, or at all, that's totally chill!

Hey, Rhi! We're still mutuals! Of course we're still mutuals! When I saw the notification of your ask, I was like "Hey! I haven't seen you in a while!" and my husband was like "???" and I said "Tumblr" and he said "Oh."

It was a wild time haha.

In any case, welcome back to the dumpster fire! We are obviously still a mess. So to catch you up, I guess I will start by summarizing both before and after the finale (not sure where you left off so this might be redundant for you) ... basically, it became obvious as the end of the show neared that Jensen was not on board with the plan for the finale; although Jared never stopped singing its praises.

We got confirmation of this during a zoom interview where Jensen said that he actually went into the writers room as well as called Kripke to basically voice how he didn't agree with the direction the final season was going, but he was shot down on all fronts. In another interview, he was asked "What would you tell your younger self going into this career?" And Jensen responded with: "I would tell myself to just keep your head down and do the work" meaning, "Don't try to change things because you can't." I also think that this whole situation is what he wrote "Let Me Be" about for his first Radio Company album, but that is just my own speculation. All of his reluctance, even though he always followed it up with "But I eventually saw the value in the script" or "I came around in the end" (which never sounded sincere, and I don't think he was really trying to sound sincere) made us all very nervous about what was to come for 15x20; and of course, when the last two episodes aired, we saw just how badly they fucked it up.

After the awful finale, the entire fandom became aware of the CW's heavy handed role in the thing, basically squeezing all the life out of SPN to shape it into a ramp from which Walker could launch itself. They not only erased all the love and joy and representation that Cas's love confession gave us, they also tore apart the things that made sense about the bond between Sam and Dean, making it really just about Sam-- and therefore Jared, which of course, Jared seemed to be fine with ... even though no one else was. Misha barely said anything during the finale, and a few of the other actors talked about the show ending in various posts, but Jared tweeted up a storm ... and Jensen? Jensen just sat in sexy-silent resentment of the whole thing. He didn't tweet, he didn't post, he didn't say a word once he no longer had to, and I think that's because he was already going full-steam-ahead on his plans for redemption.

Which brings us to Chaos Machine-- Jensen and Danneel's new production company that is being run by a queer creative director and has a mantra of inclusivity and representation woven throughout it's fabric; and apparently, the first story that Jensen wanted to tell through this new platform is the origin story of Sam and Dean's parents; so last week (?) he announced the upcoming production of "The Winchesters" -- the untold love story of John and Mary. Obviously, John is not the most likable character from the show, so the idea was met with a lot of resentment when it was first announced, but Jensen has gone on to say that he is excited to take on the task of telling the "true" story behind these characters-- the one that makes sense with the pre-established canon and doesn't reject it. So, given that, the idea is being mulled over with a bit more optimism from the fandom.

Who isn't being optimistic though?

Jared Padalecki.

When Jensen made this announcement on Twitter, many of his friends and coworkers congratulated him, but not Jared. Jared responded with a passive aggressive: "I'm happy for you, man, but I wish I didn't hear about it through Twitter." This of course, sent all the die-hard Jared fans into a tizzy and they immediately began asking him if he was serious (hoping it was just a joke-- we all hoped it was because there would be fallout no matter what one's opinion on Jared is). Instead of leaving it there though or just deleting that tweet, Jared went on to tweet some more, saying that he was being serious that he didn't know about the plans for the prequel, and that he was "gutted" that Sam apparenlty wouldn't be included (mind you, this a prequel to SPN... meaning BEFORE Sam and Dean were even born, so how could Sam be included? But Dean is apparently narrating this story so maybe Jared thought Sam should be helping to narrate it? I don't know). But Jared being Jared couldn't just leave that there, he then went on to tweet at Robbie Thompson who was announced as a writer for "The Winchesters" so then Jared went off on him too, calling him "Brutus" and a "coward" acting like Robbie betrayed him (speculation is-- Robbie refused to write for Walker, so Jared is pissed that he essentially chose Jensen over him). He did fairly quickly, remove that tweet attacking Robbie, but of course the damage was done at that point. And it truly only took his first tweet calling out Jensen for some people to be like "Jared-- that sucks if you didn't know but why are you saying any of this publicly?"

As you might know, Jared has had issues in the past with posting hurtful things on social media, and has even used it as a tool for attack before-- calling out customer service agents and public workers that he felt have wronged him, which is bad enough ... but for him to then do the same thing to his best friend of well over a decade? Many people who had once liked him or at least gave him the benefit of the doubt (I used to ...) stopped after this latest twitter tantrum.

However, some people have suspected for some time that J2 had a falling out either shortly before the finale or just after. Their public/social media interactions have seemed awkward, stilted or even non-existent in moments that they normally wouldn't be. In the past year, when Walker premiered, Jensen didn't say much about his friend's new venture other than a "Congrats. buddy" here and there. Later, we learned that Jensen refused to work on the show ... Jared said he make him do it, drag Jensen to the set "kicking and screaming" which made many fans quirk up an eyebrow because, why would Jensen put up a fight unless the two weren't as close as they used to be? And then Jensen moved his family to Colorado (either permanently or for an extended period at least) which is notable considering how he moved to Texas seemingly to be closer to Jared, even buying a house that was near his. All this was just speculation though; but it wasn't until Jared's tweet complaining about not knowing about the prequel that the theories behind them falling out, became less theory and more fact.

The day after his twitter tantrum, Jared tweeted again-- not retracting his statements or apologizing, but instead saying that he and Jensen "talked" and were "all good". Jensen then tweeted too, parroting this statement to some degree, which only made the whole thing even more sour in the mouths of the fans. The fact that Jared didn't apologize for his outburst and throwing his friend under the bus, and also the fact that Jensen-- Mr. Sexy Silence, Mr. Never Tweets, Mr. Tech-Ignorant-and-Proud, actually had to POST SOMETHING saying that he and Jared made up, it just screamed OPTICS. It was obviously the work of agents and PR firms and lots of people going "Look, if you two keep beefing, that will mean the death of both of your projects. Even more people will stop watching Walker, and this SPN prequel will never get picked up due to the scandal." So, the two "made nice" publicly to quell the chaos, but in my opinion, it's all too little too late. Jared started a storm that he can't contain now with a little tweet, and it seems like he knows that too because before he talked about him and Jensen making up, he asked that people "not send threats". He could have just as easily said that he shouldn't have made this a public issue and that he's sorry, but instead, he continued to play the victim and stoke the flames by alerting us all to the damage he's done.

Now, like I said before-- I used to give him the benefit of the doubt. I don't think he's an awful human or that he deserves to be attacked or anything, but he is an adult man with very poor judgment and an obvious selfish-streak a mile wide. He should know better, and he should have more respect for his so-called "friends" and "brothers" than to make them targets to public ridicule. I have a hard time believing that Jensen still sees Jared the way he used to, and I wouldn't blame him a bit for wanting to pull away-- especially when he's moving on to so many new and exciting things. Jared certainly deserves happiness just as much as anyone else, but he went on twitter and basically asked for a scandal, and he got one.

The question is now-- was there a motive behind it? Was just looking for a reason to bring his and Jensen's falling out to light-- while making himself looking like the victim in the process? Or did he genuinely not know about the prequel and just decided to go about "not knowing" in the most toxic and hurtful way he could manage?

In any case, that is the drama ... that is the J2 insanity in a rather lengthy nutshell ... that is the tea ... and I hope it all makes sense.

But the good news out of all of this is, Cockles is thriving-- they are happy and in love and Jensen calls Misha "Babe" and Misha misses waking up to see Jensen in the morning, and they are just as cute and wonderful as can be.

So, I will end that there. I am so glad to see you back, and I hope I answered all your questions in a way that made sense ... I tried anyway!

💖💖💖

[killianmesmalls]

On your comments about Jack: ye-es, in the sense that Jack is a character who definitely deserved better than he was treated by the characters. The way Dean especially treats him reflects very badly on Dean, no question. But, speaking as a viewer, I think the perspective needs to shift a little bit.

To me, Jack is Dawn from Buffy, or Scrappy Doo. He’s an (in my opinion) irritating kid who is introduced out of nowhere to be both super vulnerable and super OP, and the jeopardy is centered around him in a way that has nothing to do with his actual character or relationships. He’s mostly around to be cute and to solve or create problems — he never has any firm character arcs or goals of his own, nor any deeper purpose in the meta narrative. In this way, he’s a miss for SPN, which focuses heavily on conflicts as metaphors for real life.

Mary fits so much better in that framework, and introducing her as a developed, flawed person works really well with the narrative. It is easy for us to care about Mary, both as the dead perfect mother on the pedestal and as the flawed, human woman who could not live up to her sons’ expectations. That connection is built into the core of SPN, and was developed over years, even before she was a character. When she was added, she was given depth and nuance organically, and treated as a flawed, complex character rather than as a plot device or a contrivance. She was given a voice and independence, and became a powerful metaphor for developing new understandings of our parents in adulthood, as well as an interesting and well-rounded character. You care that she’s dead, not just because Sam and Dean are sad, but for the loss of her development and the potential she offered. So, in that sense, I think a lot of people were frustrated that she died essentially fridged for a second time, and especially in service of the arc of a weaker character.

And like, you’re right, no one can figure out if Jack is a toddler or a teenager. He’s both and he’s neither, because he’s never anything consistently and his character arc is always “whatever the plot needs it to be.” Every episode is different. Is he Dean’s sunny opportunity to be a parent and make up for his dad’s shitty parenting? Yes! Is he also Dean’s worst failure and a reminder that he has done many horrible things, including to “innocent” children? Yes! Is he Cas’s child? Yes! Is he Dean’s child? Yes! But also, no! Is he Sam’s child? Yes! Is he a lonely teenager who does terrible things? Yes! Is he a totally innocent little lamb who doesn’t get why what he is doing is wrong? Yes! Is he the most powerful being in the universe? Yes! Does he need everyone to take care of him? Yes! Is he just along for the ride? Yes! Is he responsible for his actions? Kinda??? Sometimes??? What is he???

Mary as a character is narratively cohesive and fleshed-out. Jack is a mishmash of confusing whatever’s that all add up to a frustrating plot device with no consistent traits to latch on to. Everything that fans like about him (cute outfits, gender play, well-developed parental bonds with the characters) is fanon. So, yes, the narrative prioritizes Mary. Many fans prioritize Mary, at least enough that Dean’s most heinous acts barely register. To the narrative (not to Cas, which is a totally different situation), Jack is only barely more of a character than Emma Winchester, who Sam killed without uproar seasons earlier. He’s been around longer, but he’s equally not really real.

I debated on responding to this because, to tell the truth, I think we fundamentally disagree on a number of subjects and, as they say, true insanity is arguing with anyone on the internet. However, you spent a lot of time on the above and I feel it's only fair to say my thoughts, even if I don't believe it will sway you any more than what you said changed my opinions.

I'm assuming this was in response to this post regarding how Jack's accidental killing of Mary was treated so severely by the brothers, particularly Dean, because it was Mary and, had it been a random character like the security guard in 13x06, it would have been treated far differently. However, then the argument becomes less about the reaction of the Winchester brothers to this incident and more the value of Jack or Mary to the audience.

I believe we need to first admit that both characters are inherently archetypes—Mary as the Madonna character initially then, later, as a metaphor for how imperfect and truly human our parents are compared to the idol we have as children, and Jack as the overpowered child who is a Jesus allegory by the end. Both have a function within the story to serve the Winchester brothers, through whose lens and with whose biases we are meant to view the show's events. We also need to admit that the writers didn't think more than a season ahead for either character, especially since it wasn't initially supposed to be Mary that came back at the end of season 11 but John, and they only wrote enough for Jack in season 13 to gauge whether or not the audience would want him to continue on or if he needed to be killed off by the end of the season. Now, I know we curate our own experiences online which leads to us being in our own fandom echo chambers, however it is important to note that the character was immediately successful enough with the general audience that, after his first episode or two, he was basically guaranteed a longer future on the show.

I have to admit, I’m not entirely sure why the perspective of how his character is processed by some audience members versus others has any bearing on the argument that he deserved to be treated better overall by the other characters especially when taking their own previous actions in mind. I’m not going to tell you that your opinion is wrong regarding your feelings for Jack. It’s your opinion and you’re entitled to it, it harms no one to have it and express it. My feelings on Jack are clearly very different from your own, but this is really just two different people who processed a fictional person in different ways. I personally believe he has a purpose in the Winchesters’ story, including Castiel’s, as he reflects certain aspects of all of them, gives them a way to explore their own histories through a different perspective, and changes the overall dynamic of Team Free Will from “soldiers in arms” to a family (Misha’s words). In the beginning he allows Sam to work through his past as the “freak” and powerful, dangerous boy wonder destined to bring hell on earth. With Dean, his presence lets Dean work through his issues with John and asks whether he will let history repeat itself or if he’ll work to break the cycle. Regarding Cas, in my opinion he helps the angel reach his “final form” of a father, member of a family, lover and protector of humanity, rebellious son, and the true show of free will. 

From strictly the story, he has several arcs that work within themes explored in Supernatural, such as the argument of nature versus nurture, the question of what we’re willing to give up in order to protect something or someone else and how ends justify the means, and the struggle between feeling helpless and powerless versus the corruptive nature of having too much power and the dangerous lack of a moral compass. His goals are mentioned and on display throughout his stint on the show, ones that are truly relatable to some viewers: the strong desire to belong—the need for family and what you’ll do to find and keep it. 

With Mary, we first need to establish whether the two versions of her were a writing flaw due to the constant change in who was dictating her story and her relationship to the boys, which goes against the idea that her characterization was cohesive and fleshed-out but, rather, put together when needed for convenience, or if they both exist because, as stated above, we are seeing the show primarily through the biased lens of the Winchester brothers and come to face facts about the true Mary as they do. Like I said in my previous post, I don’t dislike Mary and I don’t blame her for her death (either one). However, I do have a hard time seeing her as a more nuanced, fleshed-out character than Jack. True, a lot of her problems are more adult in nature considering she has to struggle with losing her sons’ formative years and meeting them as whole adults she knows almost nothing about, all because of a choice she made before they were born. 

However, her personal struggles being more “mature” in nature (as they center primarily on parental battles) doesn’t necessarily mean her story has layers and Jack’s does not. They are entirely different but sometimes interconnected in a way that adds to both of their arcs, like Mary taking Jack on as an adoptive son which gives her the moments of parenting she lost with Sam and Dean, and Jack having Mary as a parental figure who understands and supports him gives him that sense of belonging he had just been struggling with to the point of running away while he is also given the chance to show “even monsters can do good”. 

I’d also argue that Jack being many ages at once isn’t poor writing so much as a metaphor for how, even if you’re forced to grow up fast, that doesn’t mean you’re a fully equipped adult. I don’t want to speak for anyone else, but I believe Jack simultaneously taking a lot of responsibility and constantly trying to prove to others he’s useful while having childish moments is relatable to some who were forced to play an adult role at a young age. He proves a number of times that he doesn’t need everyone to take care of him, but he also has limited life experience and, as such, will make some mistakes while he’s also being a valuable member of the group. Jack constantly exists on a fine line in multiple respects. Some may see that as a writing flaw but it is who the character was conceived to be: the balance between nature or nurture, between good and evil, between savior and devil. 

Now, I was also frustrated Mary was “fridged” for a second time. It really provided no other purpose than to give the brothers more man pain to further the plot along. However, this can exist while also acknowledging that the way it happened and the subsequent fallout for Jack was also unnecessary and a sign of blatant hypocrisy from Dean, primarily, and Sam. 

And, yes, Jack can be different things at once because, I mean, can’t we all? If Mary can be both the perfect mother and the flawed, independent, distant parent, can’t Jack be the sweet kid who helps his father-figures process their own feelings on fatherhood while also being a lost young-adult forcing them to face their failures? Both characters contain multitudes because, I mean, we all do. 

I can provide articles or posts on Jack’s characterization and popularity along with Mary’s if needed, but for now I think this is a long enough ramble on my thoughts and feelings. I’m happy to discuss more, my messenger is always open for (polite) discussion. Until then, I’m going to leave it at we maybe agree to disagree. 

[elizabethrobertajones]

Did Bobo really create the Wayward Sisters? If so, why weren't Jack and especially Cas included in that episode? That's my biggest issue with that pilot honestly, I mean, the fact that the show abandoned Claire and Cas' bond after season 10 and gave that storyline to Salmondean. Her bond with Cas is more interesting because of their connection to the Novaks. I also think that Claire and Jack would've made a more engaging dynamic and spin off together, I think they're strong characters & actors

Hi there!

Bobo isn’t the “creator” of Wayward so much as it can even have one, as it was a very organic idea, which even involved a healthy amount of fandom input. The original campaign in season 10 was for Wayward Daughters, and the idea picked up so much steam the altered title for, I guess, a mix of copyright and thematic relevance was the Sisters one. I’d say 10x08 was the real genesis of it as something that could be really solid. Once Kim and Briana were put together the chemistry and star power they could have had together was really meteoric as far as our small SPN world was concerned. Phil Sgriccia directed 9x13 and wrote 10x08 and was more of the parent of Wayward than any specific writer in that sense. Jody and Claire were pretty much common property of the show by that point. Claire was really introduced again in relation to plotlines and questions about Cas and less to do with them really going out of their way to re-launch her. I think they’d have been much cornier about it from the start and while YA protagonist diary writing her way through the end of Wayward Sisters was cute, it’s the sort of cutesy that really has to be earned. If she STARTED that way, like maybe me and 3 friends would be stanning her and everyone else would be revolted :P

(I am a YA fantasy novel author, but I do think everyone should make room in their hearts for this level of cheese)

In any case, Bobo just threw his hat into an already crowded ring with Alex, but obviously loving the characters and having his own personal wayward child to contribute did help elevate him to the prospective showrunner seat, but also all the other writers who’d written these characters except Dabb had left at that point. If Bobo was going to shepherd them through to their new show, he’d be the legacy writer, even though he was a new baby writer in the season Donna was introduced... Attrition aside, he did genuinely write them very well, loved their stories and was great with writing Jody when he could get her, so he would also have been a good choice even if all the others were left still... 

But anyway. Season 10′s subplot for Cas was about Claire and learning some stuff about himself along the way, but she was used very much for his personal development and for Dean as well, being a mini Dean herself in a season where he had lost a lot of his sense of self. It’s a total accident of scheduling but Angel Heart (10x20) being the last episode before 10x22 is a nice touch in that regard. And while Cas tried really hard with Claire and awoke his inner Dad side so that he’d be more prepared for fatherhood next time, it was pretty insurmountable between them to have anything more than a bittersweet relationship where the best he could do was make up with her and see her somewhere safe. The fact of him looking like her actual dead father is horrendous the more you think about it and while she managed to see him for who he was instead of a horrible monster, that’s more than enough trauma to inflict on an already traumatised girl for the sake of helping Cas’s manpain and tidying up the sticky question of Jimmy and Cas’s right to the vessel. 

Angel Heart very specifically ends with TFW mailing Claire to Jody because they know she’s already good with Alex in a genuine way and can handle these sort of issues and has done it before. And also because she can be a guardian who will not constantly remind Claire that her father is dead but something is walking around wearing a perfect reconstruction of his face. Carver era did a few things here and there with bodily autonomy and the problem of angel and demon vessels, but it was also really hit and miss. They’d get random waves of feeling guilty about it but then by necessity go back to stabbing angels in their still-living vessels an episode later. Claire was a way to address at the very least that whatever Cas was being put through was only a punishment on Cas and not on Jimmy as well, which is probably why we got such sappy Heaven scenes. We NEEDED to be shown he was in Heaven and largely okay with what was going on so that the show could justify using Cas at all as a character without breaking the code of ethics they tried to make their own characters adhere to. Aside from that it also gave Cas a side plot for when he wasn’t needed in the main plot, and any emotional connection to anything that wasn’t Sam and Dean.

Anyway 10x20 caused this huge fandom high which was followed by one of the lowest lows of the fandom immediately after, and both centred on female characters (in fact, now we know, 2 lesbians even! Though I’d wonder if, The Gay Agenda aside, Bobo spite-wrote that specifically because of the roots of Wayward) and I think that galvanised the whole movement of fans and hopefully some self-reflection in the show. They DID start making an effort in season 11, which shows some of the early signs of better inclusion but also backtracking or edging nervously away from the more intense Carver era stuff. Not just because Dean didn’t have the Mark any more but in general it was like someone had opened a window and let in some fresh air... Even before Carver bailed somewhere around the midseason to go do a different show and Dabb started to step up. 

All this to say that the Wayward stuff was always about the female characters and making up for the past sins of the show. It’s even a riff on the “wayward son” line which obviously centres around male protagonists and their journey. Claire stumbled into being a part of it in the lucky way of being in the right place and time, but the journey had already started even in the season 10 momentum with earlier work and it was that which suddenly made the prospect that Jody had two young women living with her now seem like a starter for the next generation of the show as it was a mirrored format to season 1 in a way, if you took Alex and Claire as the new Sam and Dean. It was exciting but people flipped out after Angel Heart because stuff had been bubbling since season 9 and earlier in season 10, so this was just pouring more candy into an already visibly full bowl of potential tasty gems. It made a possibility seem real that hadn’t before because we already had Kim bitterly complaining that the CW refused to hear the case for a Jody spin off because she was too old. The next best thing was a Jody spin off where she was the Gandalf to some CW age appropriate characters.

(the CW is and always has been garbage)

Anyway in season 13 Jack was introduced as a Claire 2.0 but as a male character with staying power for that reason, but he was filling the space she left for Cas. He couldn’t be a father to her and neither really wanted that set up anyway. But thematically it had created the possibility of Dadstiel and the space he had in his heart for that. Since the show was in its waning years they would be looking for endgame and handing Cas an easy win with a son he could unconditionally love who would love him back unconditionally absolutely filled that gap. It was a non SamnDean thing that Cas could have for himself outside of whatever happened with them. Not sure the memo came back that he was supposed to have mORE than that but oh well it’s not real if you don’t watch it :))) But yeah Jack was always going to be linked to Cas’s endgame, he wasn’t a free-floating character such as Jody who could go where she wanted and do as she pleased. He was main story relevant from start to finish and tied inexorably to another main character’s fate. Because the show wouldn’t do that with its female characters they could be bundled into spin offs but in practical terms Jack was both never what the Wayward as envisioned by fans or writers was about, nor would he have been free to go. 

Since it would have been about centering the stories of people overlooked by the main story, Claire a case in point that she had her life ruined in season 4 and it was a footnote until season ten, and then metaphorically more the concept of having queer and non-white characters in the mix of main characters, it would have represented a future of the story where the main show was unable to tread. Probably because of the CW. Also inherent biases in the writers. Bad cocktail. Jack is both too white and too male to fit the brief to ever leave SPN, and not only that but he is so as a precise mirror to the main white male characters, being passably any one of their sons if you squint, and meant to be instantly instinctively read as such... he was one of the safest bets of representing the show as the network wanted to imagine its target demographic.

So I really don’t think that Jack has any place being in a spin off of the show unless you want more of the same. They tried to give us something different and the CW didn’t like it because it wasn’t more of the same. Ironically a Jack spin off, with or without Claire, would have more chance of being greenlit and more chance of success. But the spin off they put their heart behind was Wayward Sisters as it was. And I think it was absolutely correct that never mind leaving Jack out of it after his work was done in the lead up episode to help set the table, but honestly they could have cut all the middle scenes of Sam and Dean wandering in the woods and gained precious seconds with the girls and still had a functioning story with those guys. It was like some cowardly missive was sent that the show couldn’t actually go more than 10 minutes without showing a flesh and blood Winchester or the whole thing would spontaneously sizzle out of syndication and the money tree would wither on the spot. And in the mean time, we could have been having Banter with the girls. Or Claire and Kaia holding hands some more. The good stuff :P 

[naruhearts]

Do you think that Dean and Cas will finally have a heart to heart conversation this season that has a beginning, middle, and end without being interrupted? Where they finally get to talk about everything and mend the rift between them? I really hope so

2/2 I’m the heart to heart anon! Like I would love if there was a moment where someone sat them down to air their grievances the way Sam and Dean did for Chuck and Lucifer in s11, bc it actually worked and was incredibly promising

HI nonnie!!

I’m on the run and have a busy Canadian thanksgiving dinner to get to (and I’ll most likely add to this once I have time), but WHAT A GREAT QUESTION, because frankly, this is what we’ve been anticipating for…a while. 

We’ve seen 15x01. The rift between Dean and Cas = NECESSARY spousal discord. Dabb & Co know what they’re doing here, and pretty much most meta writers in the Destiel community gleefully watched the EVER-heightening intensity of D/C’s romance-coded arguments unfold in their conjoined emotional arc for the better part of 11 years!! Dabb era, dudes. Family struggles. DEEP EMOTIONAL BONDS, frayed, to be repaired in the endgame. 

English 101: writing an external conflict between two characters can inherently convey INTERNAL CONFLICT — character vs the self, thus introducing significant elements of character development and self-reflection that two characters, intentionally written as romantic star-crossed counterparts to each other, will think about, then either NOT act on or WILL act on. 

In short, the metanarrative focus on Dean and Cas fighting means they’re gonna need to RESOLVE it, and exactly, anon – since it’s the final story countdown, this also means there should be a subversion of every other instance in which they’ve almost hashed things out but were: A. always interrupted, B. gave outside forces priority, not their interpersonal relationship, or C. just plain ol’ avoiding addressing it. 

HOW MANY TIMES CAN THEY SURVIVE THAT? How many times can we survive the drawing-out of WILL THEY WON’T THEY/USING THEIR WORDS?

Lemme tell ya, I do believe we’re going to see the D/C narrative focus grow more potent the closer we get to 15x20, if not earlier. Again, PR isn’t showrunning, but Jensen and Misha are fully aware and informed of their roles as Dean and Cas; they know their tension is a key emotional plot point driving the physical plot, always has been. I mean, it’s already amplified, right in the first episode of the final season!!

After finding out that God is the Big Bad, Dean and Cas must re-evaluate everything they thought they knew about themselves and each other. Again, did they inadvertently play into God’s Angst Plot for them? Did they think they were saving the world on their own terms of free will when in fact, God wanted them to do exactly that – to ignore their self-consciousness and each other’s emotional needs in the process?? *rips hair out* 

Keeping up the awfully sad vibe of arguing ex-husbands a la 14x17/18/19/20, Sam continues to represent all of us. Currently, we don’t see any resolution in sight; once S14 came to a close, they were still clashing. The negative spaces are NOISY! Once again, D/C = divorcees at odds, with what looks like irreconcilable differences. Sigh.

It’s the classic trope of setting aside personal conflict to get the important crap done, yet not realizing that personal conflict is inevitably going to implode.

To get on the same page, Dean and Cas’ preconceived notions of FREE WILL must be challenged, and true free will –> LOVE. God couldn’t control the existence of love...the most powerful force in the world. The ultimate manifestation of free will. TFW threw a wrench into His plans when Dean, out of LOVE, refused to shoot his son, Isaac-mirror Jack – when Cas, out of LOVE, also raised Jack as his own humanized child alongside psychologically nurturing him with Dean – when Sam, out of LOVE, chose to be his teacher in the ways of survival and human difficulty. 

TFW singularly chose to destroy God’s script when they started loving the Nephilim, the TFW mirror, God’s OG Big Bad for his cut-and-paste SPN series of The Winchester Brothers and the Angel Castiel: Same Mistakes Never Learned.

*Back to the point, sorry I went on a whole TFW-lovey-dovey tangent there lol – YEAH, I hope and expect that Dean and Cas will engage in a genuine heart to heart without interruptions, where they no longer let God perch on their shoulders. It’s time for them to set their cards on the table. It’s time for them to USE THEIR WORDS.

Romantic or not (lbr a non-romantic resolution –> greatest cop-out for a 15-year iconic institution, because why even implement consistent, constant tropes of a damn non-platonic nature without any proper follow-through, even in subtext?!), the fact remains that Dean and Cas are longggg overdue for a discussion – a deconstruction of their tension, clearing the air of ALL the stuff they’ve hidden from each other, and with bated breath, I wait. 

(The visual D/C narrative also holds: they stand as a unit together, Sam positioned apart from them. Like, we been knew.) *trots around in clown mask*

Seriously. I’m Destiel-positive so far. 15x01 simply strengthened my (cautious) optimism. If you want to read more about the D/C rift, with Jack at the core of it all (oh man, how fitting that Belphegor, who’s taking up Jack’s image by possessing his body – and remember, Jack was the catalyst for both heavily marital-code unity and conflict in Dean and Cas’ relationship – will seemingly take over Jack’s role as metanarrative exposition/mirror for now), I wrote these late S14/beginning of the last hiatus (below), plus x x

I discuss the Dean/Cas argument here, here and here – it’s both a break-up and argument entrenched in parental mistakes, self-guilt, and their ultimate bond with/trust in each other (particularly in relation to Jack, their subtextual son), where the lying and the dishonesty (a redux of S5/6 and S12) are combined spiral narratives of their relationship that they eventually have to break together. COMMUNICATE BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE

I’ll emphasize this again too – still highly relevant lol (14x18):

Cas is telling himself: if I was completely honest with my husband, without holding back, we could’ve been able to avoid this. I wasn’t honest because I knew how much Jack meant to us. I was 😨. I did it for myself…I did it for Dean. 

Dean is telling himself: I dunno, why am I taking my husband’s dishonesty so hard? Because I 😍 him a lot, and I 😍 my son. I trusted Cas to be honest with me. We could’ve worked together. But, 💩, I guess I wasn’t as open with him as I was supposed to be…about what I wanted, and what I felt.

Me: *slaps notebook closed* *coughs* Uh, it’s a — really long — work in progress. KEEP TALKING. 

[nerdylittleshit]

Thoughts about Spn 15x04

BEWARE! SPOILERS AHEAD!

That was… pretty dark. And unexpected. Unexpectedly dark. I mean I liked the episode for the most part, but it also felt like somebody kicked me. Several times. The actual monster-of-the-week part is… there. It gets interesting in the way that it responds to the characters and the other plot of the episode, Chuck and Becky. Of course Supernatural has long since given up to be pretend there is a fourth wall, so we are meant to see the interactions between Chuck and Becky as those of the Supernatural writers vs the audience. And I really can’t think of any other show that is as self-aware as Supernatural is and who puts that in the actual text of the show. Apart from the paranoid feeling that the creators of Supernatural read all of our Tumblrs, Twitters, etc, it feels much more like a dialogue between creator and audience. But unlike Chuck I would say that the actual creators of Supernatural do listen and care about what the fans have to say. Just like last week’s episode break up between Dean and Cas made me hopeful about their ending, this week’s darker elements made me hopeful about the show’s end. It’s always darkest before the dawn. Where we are now is not where we will end.

But, as always, let’s take a closer look.

“You don’t have children, do you?”

So, let’s start with talking about the atomic monsters of the episode, family Whitman. The Superwiki suggested that the title of the episode might refer to the nuclear family the episode centers around. They are monsters in their own way, not just because Billy was turned into a vampire, but because of the things his parents to do for him. Sam is self-aware enough to admit that they would have done the same for Jack (and for each other) and we have the situation from 14x20 mirrored here in this episode. A child kneeling in front of Dean, waiting to be executed because they turned into a monster. The outcome of course is different; Dean couldn’t kill his own son, couldn’t kill Jack. And I admit I was surprised to see this ending here. I was sure Sam and Dean would have found a different way to deal with Billy, despite him being okay to die, not wanting to kill anybody else. It felt a lot like the black and white morality we saw in the early seasons, where a monster was just that, a monster, with no way to change or redeem themselves. We might come back to this scene later this season: a loved one that asks to be killed, that became a monster, someone who thinks this is the only way to deal with this situation. The outcome though might be different.

Which actually brings us to Sam’s vision at the beginning. I admit at first I thought we saw one of Chuck’s drafts coming to live, reusing an old plotline (Sam’s demon blood addiction). I don’t think this is a vision (because why would Benny be suddenly alive again?) but rather a presentation of Sam’s worst fears. He feels responsible for Rowena’s death and is reminded of everyone else that died because of him (like Jessica). He still feels unclean, still feels he can become evil. Benny wasn’t originally there, Jensen added the character because he liked him so much. But thematically it makes sense: Sam had always been jealous about Benny, so in a dream were his worst nightmares come true of course not only did he turn bad (and killed people he loved like Jody and Bobby) but Dean would abandoned him for Benny. (This is to me another proof that this is not a vision of the future, otherwise the producers would have told Jensen Benny can’t come back for this scene)

And speaking about the future. Sam feels pretty hopeless at the moment. When they started to investigate the case he felt isolated from the normal world, from the seemingly normal family, that is unaware of the horrors Sam and Dean have to deal with every day (while ironically the family was living in their very own horror movie). Sam has given up his dream of living a normal life; “we don’t get normal”. Again, this might mean we get the exact opposite at the show’s end. Supernatural has always played with the idea of the Apple Pie Life, and we saw both Sam and Dean trying to have one and failing at it. In the last seasons however we saw a more balanced approach: they can have a home (the bunker), they can have a family (Cas, Jack, Mary etc), and can still be hunters. Now however their family is either dead or moved on.

And speaking of Cas. Dean, unlike Sam, is more optimistic, falsely believing Chuck is gone and can no longer control them. He says they are free to move on, echoing Cas’s words of moving on, though in a different context. I think that Dean mostly puts on a brave face for Sam; they can’t both be feeling hopeless at the same time, right? But losing Mary, Jack and Cas will leave its trace on Dean as well. He might misinterpret the Cas situation, thinking that now that Cas is free from Chuck’s influence the first thing he does is to leave them. However, as Cas told Dean, he has always been free when it came to his feelings towards the Winchesters. He chose them as his family, that was not Chuck. Right now though he also thinks it is better for everyone to be separated. Dean has to realize that is entirely up to him now to get Cas back.

“It’s awful! Horrible. It’s hopeless.”

Just when we thought we couldn’t hate Chuck anymore he gives us 3000 reasons more (see, I can make Endgame references as well). Through Chuck we meet a character that I honestly didn’t think we would see again (I guess the final season is the opportunity to bring back every character): Becky. Becky had always been the stand-in for the fans, and not a very flattering one. The show has since then done some damage control. Charlie was a very positive image of someone who is a fan (and I would love for ‘our’ Charlie to meet this improved Becky) and so were the girls doing the Supernatural musical. It is ok to be a fan, to be passionate about something. And Becky represent now a different kind of fan: a grown up married woman with children, who dedicates her little free time to her hobby. There is nothing pathetic about her, the show doesn’t make fun of her or portrays her as a psycho. Becky has grown and is at peace with herself. Just like Amara is by the way. And Chuck is used to control the women in his life, be it his sister or his ex-girlfriend, he needs them to boost up his ego. He no longer has power over Amara, but poor Becky is helpless (and I really really hope she gets her revenge).

Becky in this episode functions at the voice of fans. It is interesting that she is neither dependent on Chuck or worships him and his work, but instead she took the thing that she loves and made it her own. She writes (and we acknowledge that fanfiction is writing as well), she creates. It doesn’t matter to her that Chuck stopped writing the Supernatural books or that he dismisses her own work. She isn’t even afraid to tell him off, to criticize his work. Her commentary on his first draft is pretty much a commentary on the episode itself: the stakes are too low, there is no classic rock, nobody even mentions Cas etc. And that is yet another thing: Becky seems to have changed from a Wincest shipper to a Team Free Wil fan. The message here is pretty clear: this is no longer a show just about two brothers and it hasn’t been for a long time. And more so, what the fans are invested in are the characters, not so much the story. We care about Sam, Dean, Cas, Jack, Mary etc. and because we care, the story gets interesting, not the other way around.

Concerning Chuck’s new dark end, there was also something interesting Chuck said: that he knows the ending but doesn’t know how to get there yet. At Chuck being Chuck means he will bend the story in whatever way he can to get, no matter if it makes sense or not. Which is pretty much what the showrunners on Game of Thrones did, a show which ending Chuck thought was great (spoiler: it wasn’t). Chuck also think that the fact that the dark ending is making Becky feel something is a good sign, which yeah… not so much. Of course a story is supposed to make you feel something, and as a Supernatural fans we are familiar with some angst. However a story ending should not make you feel angry or disappointed. In the best way it should always feel that what you see is the natural conclusion of the story you have read/seen, no matter the genre. Supernatural has long since stopped being a tragedy, a dark and hopeless ending seems no longer fitting. But again, as this is where we are now this won’t be where we will end. Chuck is the villain, therefore his ending should not be what we actually get to see.

Also, it is interesting that Becky mentioned that Chuck channelled Sam and Dean’s story. He pretty much wrote down what he saw, unlike Becky who created her own stories. And now Chuck admits that he no longer has this connection: he can no longer see what Sam and Dean are doing (thanks to his weakened status), so at the very moment they are free.

Looking forward to next week. Until then my lovelies <3

[destiel-love-forever]

15.4 Thoughts

Well... at least this episode didn’t destroy me, which is something... I guess. Gosh... this season WILL be the death of me. At least they didn’t make us watch the break-up again. I was worried that was going to be in the ‘Then’ opening of the show... 

Anywho, here we go, episode 4 thoughts!

Here are the things I liked (& my feelings didn’t mind): 

HOT DAMN bearded Dean being all sexy and rugged and badass in that red lighting

BENNY!!! (let’s ignore the context of Benny for now... we’re keeping my feelings happy here)

The whole veggie bacon ordeal

the way Dean mouths the quote along with Sam

the way they argue about Dean being the ‘meat man’

Sammy realizing the bacon is real - & Dean being all proud ‘damn right it is’ because he’s the meat man

I’m sorry but that tiny coffee cup in Sam’s huge hand is just adorable

Getting back to the good ol’ days:

Finding a case, “sounds exactly like our thing, so let’s go check it out”

Sam’s face is so DONE with the parents saying the lacrosse game getting canceled will be the end of the world - “The end of the world IS the end of the world”

Dean’s obsession with this mascot lol

Also, that ‘someone has a fetish’ comment about the cheerleaders

The fact that Dean’s eating in almost every scene (do you think Jensen was just super hungry? Since he was the director?)

BECKY!!

Chuck acting like a crazy, desperate, pathetic ex

Becky’s etsy site for unofficial spn merch

Becky putting Chuck in his place about writing/his writing

THE FACT THAT BECKY WRITES #DOMESTIC FANFIC

Let’s be honest - Becky TOTALLY ships Destiel 100%

I need to read all of Becky’s domestic destiel fics (or all of them in general)

All of Becky’s decorations - the spn christmas poster, the Funko figures, the plushies of Sam, Dean, & Cas on the shelf (I totally have that Dean plushie - thank you @foreveranonymousuniverse for that), the mini Harvelle’s Roadhouse 

Is it just me, or is Becky’s wallpaper in her living room exactly like the wallpaper in a lot of the boys’ motels in the show?

“You want me to fluff you”

Becky defending fan-fic “writing is writing”

Her rant about Chuck’s bad story - “Nobody even mentions Cas!”

I wrote poor Billy down because he seemed to have these crazy, overbearing parents, and he clearly doesn’t want to be this great Lacrosse player they want him to be, and I was getting total Dean vibes from my fic Lucky Charm.... but poor Billy for so many other reasons now that I’ve seen the whole episode... just... poor Billy

Dean calling that girl out on her fake speech (& then the super awkwardness of the boys when they have to slink away because she has braces) - more on the speech below

Here are things I liked (but hit me right in the feels...):

BENNY

I’m so thankful this wasn’t a Dean dream, because if Dean was dreaming this, the moment with Benny would have wrecked me completely

Still, though, that “I’ll see you on the other side brother” came close to killing me. 

The whole dream with Dark Sammy 

Sioux Falls mention! Bobby! Jody!

Dean telling Sammy this isn’t him, it’s the demon blood

SAMMY KILLED DEAN. KILLED HIM. HE KILLED DEAN. 

It’s almost worse that the dream is Sam’s instead of Dean’s, because Dean fearing for his own safety is one thing, but Sam fearing for other people’s safety is heartbreaking. 

Sam in this episode... (no wonder Jared’s mental health isn’t the best right now, jeez...)

His speech about the white picket fence ‘bubble’ that the town gets to live in

His comment about how they have to carry the weight of everything

Dean pulling out his flask as he listens to Sammy say things that Dean has always said - because it’s usually Sam’s job to talk him out of this dark place, and now Dean doesn’t know what to do

Later, Sam admitting he feels empty, and he misses Jess </3

Dean trying to talk Sammy out of it, saying they’re free with this relieved kind of smile, saying they need to keep doing the hard job for the people that cared about them, for Jack and mom and Rowena and everyone else.

& Sammy saying “I don’t feel free” & “Sometimes it’s like I can’t breathe” & when Dean asks what happens if that feeling doesn’t go away, and they silently exchange that look... 

BECKY DON’T TELL CHUCK TO WRITE WTF ARE YOU DOING

At least Chuck admitted to not being able to see them anymore... that’s a plus... 

Chuck’s comment “I’ll give you danger” - gosh Becky, why did you push this man?!?!?!

That girl’s speech: did anyone else see Destiel parallels? It’s literally a speech about how she misses her best friend. How life won’t be the same. Etc. Sure, it’s clearly fake, but that seems to piss Dean off more when he calls her out on that - & Dean can tell it’s fake because he feels those things for real. He has his own special ‘ghost orchard’/’snowflake’ that he’s missing. 

SPEAKING OF DESTIEL PARALLELS

Dean talking to Sammy about ‘moving on’ & he has to pause before saying that, and he looks pained like he’s remembering Cas saying it to him

& Sam putting Dean in his place, shutting that idea down, saying he can’t move on. It’s impossible. 

The scene with Dean, Sam, and the parents. When Dean comments on their ‘awesome parenting’ & the dad says “you don’t have children, do you?”

The look on Dean’s face is heartbreaking... 

& later, when they both admit that they’d do the same for Jack... it hurts. It hurts a lot. 

OF COURSE they have to turn the classic ‘let’s just get back to what we’re good at and try to move on’ episode into something SOUL CRUSHING. 

Poor Billy (I know, a broken record, but omg)

And the fact that Billy just gives himself over, and he sits on his knees crying, and Dean has to execute the poor kid like that, and Sam can barely watch

Chuck is seriously fucked up (I mean, we knew this, but still... my god - pun intended - this dude is fucking crazy)

The ominous ‘ending’ he wrote

How he doesn’t know how he’ll get there, but he’ll get there somehow

Becky saying it’s dark. Saying he can’t do it to the fans. “What you did to Dean... What you did to Sam...” “It’s awful, horrible, hopeless”

"Oh Becky, I can do anything. I’m a writer”

Chuck envisioning “Supernatural: The End” with the gravestone on the cover that just reads ‘Winchester’ (btw, if it’s jut one gravestone, do you think only one of them died? Or are they buried together? Or were they given a hunter’s funeral, and the gravestone is just there to commemorate them???)

Chuck making Becky’s family disappear! Making her panic and cry! Then doing it to her! al;do’rihigjsgk’dma I HATE HIM

Chuck at the very end, writing so hard that Dean & Sam’s figurines are bobbing. “Oh yeah, this is gonna be good”

Yeah... not looking like it’ll be good Chuck. NOT LOOKING LIKE IT WILL BE GOOD AT ALL!

I guess now I’ll go write the CODA... I’m thinking I might take the Becky road and give the boys some good ol’ domestic fluff. Don’t they deserve that? They deserve that. 

** Thanks for coming to my ted talk. If you enjoyed it, or enjoy any of my stuff in general, please consider becoming a patron [HERE] or buying me a quick coffee [HERE]! Every dollar helps <3

[almaasi]

reaction post typed while watching SPN 14x05 “Nightmare Logic”

oh, what a perfectly soft and emotional Destiel-parallelly piece of Meredith Glynn artwork. so precious, so loved~

03:47pm

things i know about this: meredith glynn wrote it

LET’S WATCH

-

03:50

noooo maggie don’t do things like this alooooone

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i like the music as she enters... kinda weird and sparkly and awkward

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03:53

sammy...... you know what you need

someone to do the night shift

if only...... you had.............. someone else........................

*looks pointedly at dean*

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03:55

where does sam get the financial resources for shit like body cams

we never see them running credit card scams any more so........ ???????

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03:57

i love these cable things by the roads

so aesthetic

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03:58

even more spooky pretty music as dean and sam enter the tomb

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03:59

dean and sam lie so effortlessly and so in sync

i always enjoy seeing them do this, ever since dean told a firefighter he needed to go back into his apartment because he has a yorkie who pees when he’s nervous

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04:01

aw man i thought the “colleagues” would be cas and jack

bobby and mary’s cool too

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04:02

bobby’s wearing a cap like michael’s

and mary’s wearing a coat like cas’

..does this mean this story’s gonna be about dean’s war between those two things, like the two worlds he knows

bobby’s parenting vs. mary’s parenting

michael’s need for him as a vessel vs. cas’ love for him as a bestest buddy bro friend

not sure how bobby = micheal / mary = cas but i’m sure there’ll be some kind of explanation later

OR maybe they’re just costumes and they mean nothing

but......is that ever true? trenchcoats are automatically a cas thing now. and that cap is so iconic as michael now???

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04:09

i relate to this lady in the suit who has had Too Much Of Everything

i enjoy seeing people know their limits and expressing them to others rather than continuing past breaking point

sam’s doing great but also....... no

take a page from this lady’s book, sammy

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04:11

mary’s walking with sam

and i just wanna take a minute to appreciate how EASY meredith glynn’s episodes are to watch

her scripts flow so gently and everything makes logical sense

and her characters are coherent

there’s just this nice touch of emotional human realism cloaking all the supernatural weirdness and i so, so appreciate that

like.. for me personally, there’s not a single writer on the current team whose writing comes close to glynn’s

i want her to write more episodes with cas though, i know she’d write him just right

i honestly feel like i’m being hugged by someone as i watch this

so soft around my heart

is good

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04:16

sam: “you [and bobby have] gotten pretty close lately”

mary: “i thought so too”

OH WAIT I GET IT

I GET THE COAT AND THE HAT NOW

IT’S A DESTIEL THING

OH MY FUCKING GOD HOW DID I MISS THAT

IT’S SO BLINDINGLY OBVIOUS HOLY FUCKING FUCKDISAFKDSHGF

even the casual viewers will probably have noticed this one. i know it took me a second but as soon as this discussion happened it clicked

 this is probably the most obvious parallel they’ve ever done i think

i didn’t see it before because i didn’t EXPECT it, you know?? ugh this is so validating

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04:22

now every word mary says, i’m just envisioning how it applies to cas’ perspective too

“he’s been hunting all the time, he won’t take a break even for a second. there’s something on his mind”

yeah, that mICHEAL HAT, quite literally sitting over his head like a dark halo

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04:26

the music in this episode is just so pleasing to my ears

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04:31

things i appreciate:

normal people being all “wtf you hunt monsters” and just being present while dean and sam talk about their shit

sam’s reference to “hunteri heroici” (my all-time fave episode besides “scoobynatural” jdgd that was five years ago what the hell)

-

04:35

me: takes screenshot of this very pretty, very anxious lady because i want my hair to do what her hair does

-

04:36

oop we just found the dean mirror and now we get to hear someone talk about the things he feels and offer advice that ultimately helps himself

god i love this

AND THE FACT I CAN UNDERSTAND THIS PARALLEL AND WHY IT’S HAPPENING

AGAIN SOLIDIFIES THE DEAN/CAS THING WITH BOBBY/MARY

because what mary said about bobby = what cas thinks about dean = what’s true about dean = this lady being overworked = dean not taking time off from hunting

(although it does seem to specifically apply to sam as well ?)

and sam mentioned earlier about how the dad he knew and the dad mary knew were different people, plus the earlier mentions this season about john’s problematic parenting (i forget when)

yeah that really makes a point of saying john abused his kids, for sure

-

lady: “he was gone all the time, working for us, he said”

yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep

-

lady: “i worshipped him when i was a kid. didn’t know any better”

oh deanie

please take notes

please know it’s okay to be angry at john and not continue to love him in a way that excuses his behaviours, even 14 years after he died

-

wait wait wait

dean tells her to let it go, it’s the past, there’s nothing you can do about it now so it’s just baggage

WAIT

THAT MEANS

THAT MEANS HE LET THAT SHIT GO ALREADY???????

WHOA

OKAY COOL. COOL COOL COOL I’M PROUD OF YOU

now go be gay with cas

-

“i try. every single day.”

hell yeah dean winchester giving good mental health advice to people and also millions of depressed people with various traumas watching this

ngl this legit just helped me a tiny bit with my issues with my own dad

urhgutguugb meredith glynn you are the good we need in this world

..............suddenly getting real emotional because goddamn i wanna meet her someday ;~; i wanna meet 1. misha and 2. meredith glynn, maaaaybe 3. jensen idk

mEREDITH GLYNN IS MY KINDRED SPIRIT

and DEAN WINCHESTER HELPS ME BE A MORE SELF-ACCEPTING PERSON

yay

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04:49

no but like.......... everyone seemed to enjoy last week’s episode, i only saw people posting good reviews. and i felt bad not not enjoying it, even though all the things people pointed out should’ve been right up my alley, something about the overall thing just fell flat for me

but this one

this one speaks to my heart

-

04:53

maggie: “i didn’t mean to get caught--”

sam: “no no no, stop that. you did nothing wrong. okay?”

sam being a better dad to maggie than john ever was to anyone

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04:57

OH NO BOBBY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OH NO!!!!!!!!!!!

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05:01

dean: “you’re giving him transfusions?”

nurse: “keeps up his iron”

suddenly i don’t trust the nurse

trying to take over the property maybe? a la scooby-doo, it’s always about real estate

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05:02

dean: “sasha, could you go....... make me a ....sandwich ?”

DEAN NO

(i type, in pain, as i laugh)

-

/rewatches that interaction because it was actually really sweet the way dean mouthed “go” to sasha and she understood

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05:05

i’ve wanted a djinn story for SO LONG

(even wrote one myself - Prince of the Ether Realms)

trust glynn to be the one to re-weave the exact threads of this 14-year saga that also interest me specifically

also kudos for the fact she’s so obviously knowledgeable about the ENTIRE HISTORY of the show, as opposed to certain other writers who seem to contradict previous facts and re-reference things that were used differently before to make an important point, thereby nullifying the first point when used a second time

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05:11

hunter with the shaved head 10/10 style

headcanoning them as non-binary and into girls because of reasons

also there was a slight continuity error, this hunter hugs maggie twice in the two consecutive shots

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05:15

bobby: “it ends the same” [with bobby dead, i guess?]

mary: “no. you are not allowed to give up on me”

seeing this as dean and cas again

yeah i saw someone mention how at the end of last episode, dean suggesting they drive off a cliff and sam being like NOPE kind of reflected the wrongness of the they-all-die-at-the-end for the finale of SPN

and i think this brings it back to that again

i agree that the best ending is the one where they live to fight another day, not go out guns a-blazing

and this is cas telling dean he’s not allowed to give up and die because he wants to live side-by-side for as long as they can

i just really really want cas to say that to dean in a soft emotional scene like this. we don’t really get those unless they’re parallels??? and i wANT MORE DEAN AND CAS TALKING ABOUT THEIR FEELINGS DAMMIT

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05:20

DEAN AND CAS PARALLELS um i mean BOBBY AND MARY GOING OFF TO HANG OUT ALONE IN A CABIN OF LOVE AND HEALING

GDI LET DEAN AND CAS DO THAT TOO

but also awwww i actually kinda like the mary/bobby thing? because at the core, they ARE dean and sam’s parents, really

family don’t end with blood etc

bobby was the dad john never was

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05:23

sam: USE THE BUDDY SYSTEM

this is so satisfying

next up: hula hoops of salt and iron knuckle-dusters

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05:25

i love love love that dean can have a healthy mental approach to this shit, finally

i’m so fucking proud of him you don’t even know

i just......... i really wanna see him not only return to baseline mental goodness, but then overcome that and become greater at his zen thing, and then AT LAST be ready to accept cas’ love for what it is: romantic and everlasting and epic, and not have to interpret it into something else or ignore it to protect himself

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05:28

that light over dean’s shoulder is the angel on his shoulder

but is it michael or cas?

i’m going with cas, given that michael is a dark-hat-halo

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05:30pm

it’s over

that was amaziiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing ;u;

bless meredith glynn for existing and bringing us such beautiful stories

BUT WHAT HAPPENED WITH THE GARDENER

WHY WAS HE THERE besides to ~add some colour~??? and i guess a red herring for viewers, so we have someone to suspect?

(idk. i never suspected him, because he was black and meredith glynn is better than that - unless she was trying to trick racist viewers?? (i know there's a lot of them, i saw the super-toxic comment section on instagram when jared, jensen and misha posted a “vote beto” thing the other day. and there was a poll mentioned at comic con once, half the american spn fanbase are republicans??? guess they really love guns and fascism))

i don’t really have anything to add here, i said it all as i went along

that dean/cas parallel....... oh boy

just please please please pleASE can we have Actual Destiel and not just parallels and hints. like. they barely talk???????? HOW IS THIS A SHOW WHERE TWO OF THE MAIN LEADS ARE CONSTANTLY FRAMED TO BE IN LOVE, WE’RE TOLD THEY’RE BEST FRIENDS, BUT WE ALMOST NEVER EVEN SEE THEM TOGETHER ANY MORE

HOW IS THIS HAPPENING

anyway the costuming was just so very UNSUBTLE and obvious and i think a lot of people would’ve caught that parallel even if they weren’t looking for it

music was good, directing was good, sasha’s hair was good, nobody we know actually died, that was good too

10/10

ten thumbs up

yeee

[margarittet]

Why the SPN mixtape scene from 12x19 is screenwriting gold, and should be taught to the next generations of screenwriters everywhere - analysis

20 seconds. Two lines of dialogue, three gestures, a couple more camera angles. Episode 19, season 12 of a genre TV show “Supernatural”. A single strike of screenwriting and cinematic genius. The mixtape scene.

Robert Berens and Meredith Glynn, I bow before you.

This scene should be used as an example for future screenwriters how you can put maximum of meaning into minimal time and dialogue. Should be analyzed and taught at universities everywhere, how to achieve the most using the least. How to write for TV, where you only have less than an hour to built something spectacular.

WOW.

Let’s just peel off all the layers of these 20 seconds of footage and these 13 words. 13 WORDS.

(Cas knocks, Dean doesn’t say anything. Cas opens the door, apologizes for disturbing Dean in his room, and then takes a cassette tape out of his left inside coat pocket, and puts it on the desk, while tapping the label on it that says “Deans (sic!) top 13 Zepp traxx”.)

Cas: Um, I just wanted to return this.

Dean: It’s a gift. You keep those.

13 tracks. 13 words. The future. So number thirteen is important for the future. I mean, are you trying to tell us something here, writers?

(Dean takes the tape, oustreches his arm, and gives it back to Cas. We see Cas’ hand grabbing the tape, and taking it back.)

That tiny scene is ENORMOUS from the perspective of the narrative and the characterization. Let’s see what we can get out of it. (Prepare yourself: it’s gonna be long. Damn, how much meta can you write based on 20 seconds of television and two lines of dialogue?) (Hint: A lot.)

Thoughts in no particular order.

LotR reference

Let’s start with text, because text is kinda my thing. This is this:

I half expected Dean to roll his eyes at himself for acting like an elvish maiden - maybe he did internally. Anyway, we all remember how Aragorn and Arwen’s story ended, right? (In the movies at least.) 

It’s great how Cas and Dean re never strictly cast as a female mirror or male mirror in any of the romantic pararells that the show does. Their gender roles and characteristics are extremely fluid, and it’s wonderful.

2) The label

Deans (sic!) top 13 Zepp traxx”

First thing: “Deans” - not “Top 13 Zepp traxx”, not “The best of Led Zepp”. DEAN’S top 13 Led Zepp tracks. This shit is personal. Your favourite music says a lot about you, it’s like showing somebody your favourite book, or your favourite fictional character. ONE favourite track says something about what you like, feel, think. 13 songs of your favourite band, especially if that band is Led Zeppelin? You may as well get naked, because you can’t uncover yourself much more than that. This stuff makes you open and vulnerable. They will know what you like, what you enjoy, what you feel, what kind of stories your favourite music tells. It’s a mirror of you. Led Zepp is not a band with three beats and five words in the lyrics. It’s long, it’s literary, and it’s epic. It tells a lot about the person, especially a person who loves music and stories as much as Dean does. By showing Cas that he loves these 13 songs of Led Zeppelin, he told Cas he loves cock rock, sexual innuendos, shameless romanticism, fantasy references, biblical imagery, American blues, stories about life, death, love, sex, angels, Satan, mythology, science-fiction and Lord of the Rings. If this band is not a metaphor for the many sides of the real Dean Winchester, I don’t know what is. Dean showed Cas his non-performing side.

This is not even good gift giving, Dean, darling - a nice gift would be giving Cas music HE would enjoy, not you. Give him Beyonce (“Halo” would be nice, lol), give him rap, give him some Britney Spears. No, you gave him Led Zepp, with a NOTE that these are your favourite songs.

You wanted to show yourself to him. This is fucking intimate.

The cassette is a symbol for Dean, for Dean's heart, like the necklace was a symbol of Arwen's heart. That is why no matter what Cas did in 12x19, Dean is still on his side. Why he fixed his truck, gave him the Impala keys without thinking, tried to talk to him instead of fighting him, why he was so hurt Cas left before. That's why he didn't even consider taking the cassette back. Because he has made his decision, he gave himself to Cas, and he will not hear of Cas giving it back (you can't give it back, really). Just look how quickly Cas grabs the tape back. He even uses it later to highlight "we", waving it between him and Dean. This moment is showing us Dean has given his true self to Cas, and he is not changing his mind. This happened already, and no one witnessed it but the two of them. Cas only tried to give it back, because he thought that after what he was about to do, Dean would want it back. Nope.

Nothing to see here. Moving on.

“Top 13”

Yeah, these are his favourite songs, but not all of them, just the best ones. Why thirteen? This is actually a weird number of songs for a cassette tape, especially for a band like Led Zeppelin. It’s too few for 90 min, and too many for 60 min (usual lengths of tapes). So I see three reasons:

Dean just chose songs that send exactly the message he wanted to send, so he didn’t need more songs.

It’s a reference to season 13 - which, I believe, will be romance heavy and amazing.

It’s a reference to “13 Reasons Why”, a show about a girl’s suicide and cassette tapes since this is the same episode where Kelly kills herself, dies, and is revived by the Nephilim, (and therefore it’s canon that the Nephilim can bring people from the dead. Cas, anyone?)

All of the above.

“Zepp”

Besides the fact that liking Led Zeppelin says tons about the real Dean Winchester, it has also different meanings:

Led Zeppelin is a shorthand for seduction, but also for a cosmic romantic connection.

We know two situations where Led Zepp is mentioned in terms of seducing somebody. Jo mentions that hunters want to get into her pants with “some pizza, a sixpack and side one of Zeppelin IV”. This means pretty much the same as “they think they can impress me with cool music while they only know four songs played frequently on the radio, fucking posers.” See, I know Dean is better than to put Stairway to Heaven or Rock n’ Roll on his mixtape, since these are the most popular, i.e. impersonal of Zeppelin songs (although he may be partial to “Battle of Evermore”, since he is a huge nerd). Aaaaaanyway, the other time we see Led Zepp as a seduction technique is when Nick the Siren talks to Dean about some more obscure Led Zepp records - he outdid Dean with his knowledge of Led Zepp trivia - and Dean is bought. This is exactly the opposite of knowing only side A of Zeppelin IV. This is a real deal, and Dean is so mesmerized.

And then we have the literal “match made in Heaven” of John and Mary - and we know she used Led Zeppelin to test John as a potential lover. He knew all the lyrics (again, real, deep knowledge of the subject vs the superficial one), and she knew he was worth going for. I don’t think Dean is testing Cas, but I think that since John and Mary connected over Zeppelin LYRICS, the lyrics are as important for Dean as the music is. That’s why he used them to show Cas what he feels. And it also reminds him of his parents.

Plus, honestly, if reciting/playing Led Zepp lyrics to somebody doesn’t feel dirty and/or disgustingly romantic, you’re doing it wrong. “Squeeze me baby, ‘till the juice runs down my leg”? Really? 

Led Zepp is connected to John

Remember how, when we see Dean for the first time connecting with a kid in season 1, he teaches him that “Zeppelin rules”? That’s because Zeppelin is in Deans mind “father’s music”. It’s something you show your kid, something you can bond over. 

It’s a well known thing that we choose partners similar to our parents, so it’s not a shocker that Dean connects John’s music with his love interests. It’s nothing weird. If he was going for a girl, he’d look for somebody who is like more like Mary (and since she also loved Led Zepp - well, remember Jo?)

Led Zepp is connected to Mary. 

Since Dean and Mary are so similar, it’s not surprising that his first thought how to connect with his love interest is through Led Zeppelin (just how her was, when she met John).

“Traxx”

Ha! This one is great. They spelled it this way probably mostly to get our attention. “Tracks” was a legendary gayclub in Washington DC, and even now there is a gay club under this name in Denver, plus there are gay clubs all around the US and Canada that are called “Trax” or “Traxx”. Subtle and awesome. It’s a nice shout out to Dean saying he was in Purgatory in Miami.  

(Edit: Plus, as many people pointed out to me since I wrote this piece, XX is also a common shorthand for kisses. I knew that, but I wasn’t sure it was something Dean would do. But now I agree. I guess I didn’t give Dean enough credit for being sappy. :)

The whole “Deans top 13 Zepp Traxx” label is Dean “no-homo”ing the tape - “Dude, look how cool I am, ain’t got no time for good grammar and proper spelling, dude. Bro.” You know, in case Sam sees the tape, and there are questions. *eyeroll*

3) Music as a non-textual device

It was said once that even though Led Zeppelin is Dean Winchester’s favourite band, we will not ever hear it on the show, because the royalties are just too. Damn. Expensive. The show can’t afford it in their budget to put Led Zeppelin on the soundtrack, even though the band’s music is crucial to understanding Dean Winchester’s complexity. So instead of scraping more money, they pulled “High Fidelity”, and put music IN THE NARRATIVE. This, my loves, is pragmatism 101. Why to spend a fortune to put ONE Led Zepp song in the episode, when you could just send your viewers to their Spotify account and listen to ALL the songs there, thus creating their own soundtrack for this episode and the relationship between the characters. I wish I would be this smart. This actually achieved several goals at once.

All Led Zeppelin music is now a textual part of the universe and Dean’s character, not just two songs that he mentioned in season 4. We know the tape has 13 songs, but we don’t know which ones, which means all the songs can be there, until we are told differently - “Schroedinger’s Mixtape”. Some viewers can even no-homo the tape by picking the songs that are neither sexual nor romantic, but it will be HARD.

4) Michelangelo’s “The creation of Adam”

In the way this moment is shot, we are reminded where they stand in the beginning of this episode - Cas is the celestial being (who just has been to Heaven), and Dean once again represents humanity - the humanity that Cas is canonically in love with.

(On another note: Michelangelo is one of the most famous gay icons in history.)

5) This short moment showed us as well that there is so much stuff happening off screen that we never get too see. Who knows what else we don’t know? What else happened between these two characters that we never heard about? This made me think we should always be careful with the new showrunners, since they love puzzles, games, and pieces of information peppered over the whole season that are not always what they are. There is ALWAYS MORE. They love playing with meta reading, and it’s glorious. 

Also, instead of showing us the moment where Dean gives Cas the tape (what would be a regular thing to do), they showed us the BACK END of the situation. We have to construct what happened from the end, backwards. We know Cas got the tape, both characters know what happened between them when he received it from Dean, but we HAVE NO IDEA. We don’t get to see it because we were not privy to that moment. It was JUST BETWEEN THEM. It was an intimate moment that no one else got to witness, even the audience. And it makes it so much more important. It adds a new level of privacy and intimacy to their relationship, and it’s amazing, especially since the last few seasons seemed like they never are alone anymore. 

6) Why a cassette tape? Especially since we don’t even know if Cas has a way to listen to it? 

Because it’s a frikkin’ romantic trope!

In the world of storytelling mixtapes scream romance, and not much else (well, parental love, but that is so not the case here). It’s a thing that made me sit up and stare at the screen the moment it arrived, because I couldn’t believe they went there. I thought it was another queerbaiting moment, like the infamous boner prom-shot, but once they started sharing with each other how they felt, ALONE, ON SCREEN, IN WORDS, I knew it wasn’t. It was a way to show more casual viewers a symbol they would understand, while still staying in character. Dean would not write a love letter, or a poem, or even speak openly about his feelings, but he so would take time and effort to create a tape, especially since mixtapes were the language of showing your feelings that was in use when he was young and had his first crushes. And if Cas was more human, he’d understand it immediately. I hope he did anyway, he has got his pop culture references from Metatron, maybe some John-Hughes-references there.

The tape is new, the label is clean, words visible, plastic unscratched. If it was a tape Dean had before, it’s be dirty from lying in his car forever. Plus, noone makes mixtapes for themselves, especially when they already have albums - it’s too much effort for too little gain. It’s not John’s, because it cleary says “Dean’s”. Ergo - it’s freshly made. For Cas.

In conclusion: with the shortest piece of dialogue possible, and exactly three movements of the actors, they shot the narrative onwards and upwards on so many levels: 

Dean’s performing facade falling down,

Dean showing (and giving) his true self to Cas,

Hints of off-screen moments between them that we know nothing about (added a new level of intimacy), 

Cas being linked to the textual and intertextual codes for eternal love and sexual seduction, 

Some hints for the future,

Dean is humanity (and Cas loves humanity),

Bisexual!Dean,

Binding the show to its earlier seasons.

20 seconds. 13 words. I am blown away.

I probably could find more layers, but I think four pages of meta for 20 seconds of TV is enough for now. Thanks for reading! It was fun!

[tinkdw]

Hey, I just wanted to tell you - I think it's unfair that you always present only one side of the argument. I used to believe Destiel would be canon, but I left the fandom after Charlie died and now I just see those posts on tumblr and it hurts and like - that ting Jared said, that Sam loves Cas in a different way - dude, they were saying that in season 6, how the bond between Dean and Cas is different because of Hell or whatever - it doesn't mean canon Destiel. Please be more objective. /1

Like, I realize that you do it because you're a happy person, and I'm not trying to tell you what you should have on your blog, but - it hurts. I'm not that clever and I never see subtext and things and I always believe what meta people say and then it never happens that way and it hurts. So, I don't know. Sorry about this, I hope you have a good day.

I am really sorry that you feel that you are not clever, I am sure that isn't the case and I understand your point, but if you take a look at what you said, please remember that if you always believe what meta people say and it never happens that way then perhaps don't follow meta blogs? Just...based on your experience, don’t believe it. Just don't bother reading it! Or at least take it with a pinch of salt. Don’t take it for gospel because we don't KNOW, we just SPECULATE and this is what we enjoy doing. We have NO INSIDER KNOWLEDGE.

If it upsets you then don't follow us? Also I know this isn't always the case, with SPN anyway, I know some people speculate and get things wrong (I am sure I will, we are only human after all!) but with the big things we all all talk about? They are nearly all coming to fruition right now or have already, those that haven't are now being addressed, actually coming into the text. 

You say it’s unfair that I only present one side of the argument? That Destiel is written into the script and is likely to be endgame? 

You want me to present the other side of the argument? That it is all fabricated and that I am delusional?

I just cannot do that. I just do not believe that is true. So I refuse to spend time writing about it. Will I always caveat that what I do write is my OPINION? YES! Will I always try to be objective and not read a reading into something that I don't believe personally is meant to be there? Or the only reading? YES! I did that with the Siren thing! I DO believe Dean is bisexual but I did not personally read his siren as a man as PROVING this (ah, until Lizzie’s reading was brilliant but still, my posts about it were and still are OBJECTIVE because IMO it’s not the ONLY reading here).

Same as Dean/Cas. There are MANY scenes, narratives etc where there is a platonic reading TOTALLY possible. Each individual moment is not necessarily ALWAYS romantic and I never said they are.

My reading though is that it is highly unlikely that ALL OF THESE are ACCIDENTALLY easily readable as romantic, that these are all platonic and only come across as romantic by ACCIDENT, that the writers are FLUKILY consistently over 9 years choosing ROMANTIC tropes between these two, that the actors have such amazing chemistry and the directors and editors ACCIDENTALLY make their story follow all the romantic guidelines in film... because they have no idea what they are doing?! Because the romantic reading is often the most obvious but the platonic reading is actually what they were going for? Because some moments don't scream ROMANTIC by total accident? NO. WAY. 

The post that I reblogged about Jared’s interview? I literally just copied and pasted Jess’ interview that she transcribed from audio so these are his exact words. I did not make this up. I did not ‘twist’ this. Of course we all know that Dean and Cas have ‘a more profound bond’, what is interesting is the context, given everything else that has happened over 9 years leading to this point and will be happening in season 13. That post isn't my opinion, it is JARED’S. Is his opinion 100% VALID? No. It, again, is his OPINION. But based on what he knows, which is more than us, about season 13 I think it is very interesting to hear it!

OF COURSE I write a TON of posts where it is all speculative, my opinion, taking canon and fact and then analysing it, creating my own opinion. That’s what meta writing people DO - we take what is given to us and apply our understanding to it, our analytical POV and thereby we make an OPINION on it.

WE DO NOT HAVE INSIDER KNOWLEDGE. WE NEVER SAY THAT IT IS 100% GOING TO HAPPEN. 

What we do say is that we enjoy reading into the story, we enjoy understanding what the writers (and directors, editors etc) are trying to tell us, we believe that there are many things that are important to the story but that are not said out loud or obviously, but that are really important to understanding the story and for us, for our enjoyment of the story.

My blog is all about LOVE and POSITIVITY. I do not post anything negative or upsetting or hateful towards other people.

I'm sorry I tried to be kind in my response but as I write this I have become more riled up because it just frustrates me that I am being accused of only seeing one side of the story when this is absolutely not the case. The whole point of meta reading / writing (and speculation if you do it, not all meta writers do, but I enjoy it so I do) is reading all sides of the story, being objective and thereby coming to a logical conclusion. 

Like, my reading of the siren, my reading that Cas for example throughout his story is not doing it all for Dean, his choices are also (and mainly) massively a part of his own arc of self worth, trying to redeem himself, trying to figure out where he belongs. It’s not ALL about Destiel. 

Destiel is just a part of Dean and Cas’ own individual stories.

I just write about that a lot (but not solely) because I enjoy love stories and it’s something that is absolutely in the subtext and hasn't quite been addressed in the text yet, so it’s more interesting to talk about right now than say Dean as Sam’s parent or Dean’s relationship with his mother, which I wrote about loads at the beginning of the season because I believed it was going to be heavily relevant to the season and it WAS. 

I am not going to censor myself and not give my opinion because my opinion is that all this is purposefully done.

We didn't have a whole episode called META-fiction and a finale called the most META-finale ever and whole episodes and narratives that are giant neon signs that we should be reading into the subtext for no reason.

The whole show is one giant MotW style metaphor for Dean and Sam’s emotions. I enjoy writing about it. I enjoy discussing how clever the writing is and how much I admire all their work. So I will.

[nerdylittleshit]

Thoughts about Spn 13x04

SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!

WELCOME BACK CAS YOU WILD… WILDFLOWER! Whatever! I’m wearing my bee socks to celebrate. Also, other stuff happened, that I enjoyed a lot. Let’s begin!

The focus on this week’s episode was of course on the loss and grief our boys (including Jack) experience ever since the season starts. Something 13x01 dealt with as well, and that has been the emotional groundwork of 13x02 and 13x03. I feel like that at least in the first half of the season these themes will continue to be important. It is possible that Jack found some closure this episode after he was able to say goodbye to his mother, who was his biggest loss, and that we will see the same kind of closure with Dean and Sam, once they are reunited with the person they miss the most (Dean with Cas, Sam with Mary). The second part of the season might mirror then this first part, where the brothers reflect their feelings and experiences of this time, and we see the emotional aftermath of the reunions.

Either way, this episode was in no way subtle with those themes. Others have mentioned this, especially @neven-ebrez, that ever since Dabb became showrunner, the themes that had been part of the subtext transformed into text. Topics meta writers had been writing about for years become part of the show’s actual text. The most obvious example was the conversation Dean had with Mary in 12x22 (how Dean was forced to become a parent when his mother died). This week it is Sam and his feelings regarding Mary, and the way both brothers dealt with their grief. After 13x03 this had been the main discussion, at least on my dash, and this week we have it spelled out by the brothers. I have seen different opinions about whether people like this new way of storytelling or not. Personally I don’t have a preference – I enjoyed Carver’s approach as much as I enjoy Dabb’s way now.

My personal highlight was the focus on both Jack and Sam as characters. Jack of course is still a very new character we don’t know much about. Sam though… people who know my blog know that my main focus here is usually on Dean. He is the character that I feel I understand the most, whereas Sam feels in some ways… underdeveloped as a character. (That is in no way Sam hate. In my opinion though the show has focused more on Dean, but I’m always glad when they, like in this episode, tell us more about Sam). I hope that some writers, like Glynn this week, will focus more on Sam in the future, so we get more inside into his character.

The Big Sleep

I have to admit that the parts with Cas in the Empty were my least favourite parts of the episode. Other that I can totally relate to the Empty, because man I know that feeling when you just want to sleep, I think I expected more from it? Kinda? Something that put me a bit off, to be honest, was Misha’s acting of the Empty, which reminded me of Lucifer!Cas, and was a bit too much.

It was interesting in terms of mythology. The Empty was the big threat lying over season 11, but then we never went there and season 12 kinda forget about it. It makes sense that Billy wanted to bring Sam and Dean here, the place where not even God had any power, and nothing could have brought them back (except you know some lil’ Nugget). We finally know now where dead angels and demons go (and I suspect monsters who died in purgatory). Cas asked if every angel who ever died was there too, and in this moment he probably thought of how many of these deaths he was responsible for. Given that we know that characters like Miriam and Billy will return I wonder if the conversation between Cas and the Empty woke them up as well, or if the Empty accidently released more than one dead being (maybe some demons will return as well?).

Another aspect is what the Empty promises Cas, if he goes back to sleep: peace, no regrets, no pain. A world without pain you could say. Paradise. Which makes me wonder if that is what Jack saw in the future? Jack who of course couldn’t know that the place he saw was the Empty? And in return he gave Cas a false promise of hope.

Cas of course has his own catharsis in the Empty. He is confronted with his biggest failures and his “little feelings”, who he hates, who he loves, and what he fears. And it is no coincidence the Empty tells him that after Cas said Sam and Dean need him. Because his biggest fear? That it is not true, that they don’t need him after all. Which makes his statement at the end so much more important: that he is already saved. In the same season where Sam and Dean discussed if Jack is worth saying (who remains a huge Netflix loving Cas mirror), the question no longer applies to Cas. Cas no longer needs to be saved, Cas fights back, and Cas returns triumphantly in the end.  

The Good Guys

I found it quite interesting that Jack referred to Sam and Dean as “the good guys”, based on the facts that they kill monsters, because it sounds like some phrase he just learned without really understanding what “good” means. It is an idea to him, a very abstract one, the same as “bad”. He knows that lying is bad, but learns that in order to be the good guys Sam and Dean have to lie. He knows he is supposed to feel bad about the people he accidently hurt, but admits that he doesn’t feel anything. To me this displays that he is still very much a child, who has no deeper understanding of ethics and morality. But he is also half (arch) angel, a being who is made not to experience emotions. Sam and Dean might be great teachers for many things, but they view Jack from a very human perspective and Jack simply isn’t human. That is why Mia could relate to him in a way Sam couldn’t. That is why he needs Cas. Cas, the angel, who learned to experience his “little feelings”.

(Little digression on Jack watching “Clone Wars”. First of all he is probably the only person who watched that show without knowing that Anakin will turn dark side, and still he instantly disliked Anakin. He did like Ashoka though. Given that Ashoka is Anakin’s student it makes sense Jack sees himself more in her, and that his dislike for Anakin might refer to his dislike for Sam’s training methods. Ironically though Jack himself is an Anakin mirror. Also, I never watched “Clone Wars”, so don’t listen to what I say here.)

I also liked that Jack let Sam know he heard his argument with Dean from 13x03 right from the start, expressing his feeling that Sam only uses him for his powers. Stuff like this, secrets that would lead to conflict, have been a part of the show for a long time, but ever since season 12 those secrets don’t last long anymore. Mary told their sons about her working with the BMoL pretty fast, and so did Sam with Dean when he started working with them. We talked about truth and how it can set you free (regarding Dean telling the sheriff the truth in 13x01), and Jack and Sam being honest with each other here prevents their relationship to become toxic. Sam admits that he made a mistake, that he should have been honest in the first place, and he explains why it is so important for him that Jack can control his powers (without trying to pressure Jack). And Jack of course can relate. He would do anything, if it could bring him his mother back.

One of the examples of how subtext becomes text is how openly Sam and Dean talked about grieving this episode, something that has been the main focus of discussion after 13x03. They both accuse the other that they don’t grieve right – which is bullshit because there is no right or wrong way to grieve. Sam thinks that what Dean is doing is not healthy, that he is not processing his grief, and that he wants to move on when he is clearly not ready for it. Except that it is Sam who hasn’t start to process his grief yet, because as Dean said, he has not yet accepted his mother’s death. Mia might be right that Dean is angry, and that he is letting it out on everyone around him – but anger is a part of the grieving process.

At the end they both make a step in each other’s direction. Sam faces for the first time that Dean could be right, that Mary could be dead, and what it would mean for him. Because he openly admits why the thought of losing his mother again is so terrifying for him – because he never really got to know her and now he fears he might never get the chance to. They both started on a blank space in season 12, but Mary’s guilt over the deal she made and the consequences it had for Sam built up a barrier between them (tagging @elizabethrobertajones because she wrote some excellent meta about the Mary-Sam-relationship in season 12). It is a pattern we have not only seen with Mary – throughout the show it is almost always Dean who bonds with other people, who is building friendships etc. They are Sam’s friends as well, but first they are Dean’s friends. And we see something similar with Jack – Sam is the one reaching out to him, supporting him, and yet he longs for Dean’s approval.

Speaking of parents, Dean again reminds Sam that he in no way thinks he has to be a parent to Jack, something he was forced to be for Sam. And even though Dean’s attitude towards Jack is questionable him stepping deliberately away from the parent role is a good thing. He started to step away from it in 12x22, when he admitted he was forced into it to Mary and how it was not fair, and later let Sam go to fight the BMoL. And for all that Dean doesn’t want to be Jack’s mum he becomes more and more like his father, acting like a drill sergeant. And even though Sam thinks it worked on Dean, we know it don’t. Dean became a good man despite of it, not because. Jack though resembles very much the “good son” who tries to impress his father, in this case Dean, making him more similar to other “good sons” like Dean himself, Michael and to some extent Cas (opposed to the rebellious sons Sam and Lucifer).

Some other things

-          I liked the twist on the monster of the week, a monster who tried to help people, to do something good to redeem herself, repeating Kelly’s message from last week: it doesn’t matter what you are, but what you do. Your choices are who define you.

-          I think this the third time Dean has been associated with shifters. In 1x06 the shifter became Dean, revealing his true feelings about Sam and their life together. In 10x06 Olivia, the shapeshifting maid, was a huge mirror for MoC!Dean. And this time we have yet another shifter who shifts into Dean, to metaphorically (and literary) rip his face off, to reveal yet again the truth.

Going to be now. Feel free to leave your dream Destiel reunion scenarios in my inbox. Til next week!