#also can we discuss how Sam/Ruby is 100% and intentional parallel to Dean/Cas

[pansexualeldtritchhchaos]

Ladies and Gentleman we've got our first "Cas", I repeat we got our first Cas on episode 4 of the season. After like 3 interactions, one shoulder pat and a couple of intense head tilts Dean is like "aight time to domesticate this motherfucker I guess"

[semirahrose]

[1/7] Okay but isn’t NOT bringing back Sam’s powers at this point shooting the overarching message of the entire season (Free will/Choice/Nurture over Nature) in the foot and the damn kneecaps too?! (And before anyone loses their minds no, I am not suggesting that Sam start drinking demon blood again. There is plenty in canon that shows he wouldn’t need to.) Kaia, Patience, Jack, all have strong parallels to Sam’s story and Jack’s in particular pretty much mirrors Sam’s in the earlier seasons

[2/7] and we see how differently it’s playing out BECAUSE of Sam and his insistence that Good & Evil are choices. Now that is awesome and all but if it doesn’t shine a light on Sam’s story and his powers it then begs the question of why does “It doesn’t matter what you are, it only matters what you do” not apply to Sam? Why is he the only one shamed and shunned? What makes his powers (and only his) E V I L independent of choice or intention? Jack’s powers originate from Evil Supreme himself, the

[3/7] Devil who chooses evil at every turn, but Jack can choose for himself what to do with those powers because FREE WILL the writers tell me. Well, Sam’s powers were either natural born then bound to Azazel via demon blood or the blood itself gave him his powers, either way it doesn’t matter where they came from, only how he uses them. “And he used them for evil!” some might say except … no? He used them to try and save the people he saw in his visions, he used them to save Dean from Max, he

[4/7] used them to save humans possessed by demons, he used them to save Claire’s mom, he used them to save Cas from Alistair, he used them to incapacitate Famine, he used them to kill Lilith thinking that it would prevent the apocalypse –“but it did the opposite!”- some are screaming. Yeah, it did. Just like Jack would have released the Shdeen thinking that he was doing good if the boys hadn’t gotten there in time to stop him. But if they hadn’t, that still wouldn’t make him or his abilities

[5/7] evil. Same goes for accidently killing that guard at the bank. Oh the beauty of parallels! Even if some want to still insist that Sam only used his powers for evil back then, who says he can’t use them now for good? I could go on but you get my point. Whatever logic the narrative uses to vindicate or condemn one, it must also apply to the other. By paralleling Jack’s story, the arc of the season, so closely to Sam’s, the writers wrote themselves into a corner and the only way out with the

[6/7] season’s message and internal logic intact is to bring back Sam’s powers and have him and the people around him embrace it for what it is. But by ignoring them in a season filled with new characters that have so much in common with Sam, one of the two leads and protagonists of the whole damn show, and by doubling down and glorifying how he was treated because of those powers in the past with lines like “My family helped me through that.” when they did no such thing and “You saved me!”

[7/7] *eye-roll so severe Mad-Eye Moody would be proud* not only are they sending mixed/opposing signals, they’re reinforcing the idea that Sam’s abilities alone are this filthy thing that he shouldn’t even consider using ever again which, of course, again, begs the question; WHY?! Aaaannnnnndd we are right back where we started. Oh My God I am so sorry for the monstrous length of this thing! I have no idea how this happened! *runs away and hides under the bed*

You are absolutely among friends here, wonderful Anon. 100% agreed! (Also, no need to apologize! *coaxes you out from under the bed with hot tea and cookies because it’s honestly very cold under the bed and you should be warm and cozy*) 

I think the worst that can be said about Sam’s actions under the effects of demon blood are that, with Ruby’s guidance, he did some reprehensible things for what he believed to be the greater good. 

And I do absolutely agree about s13. I feel like things would tie together better and just… feel more cohesive, I guess, if Sam’s powers either returned, or were actually discussed/readdressed. Tragically, I’ve been highly unimpressed with this show’s treatment of free will in general in later seasons, so I don’t expect that the writers will do things properly at this late date.