#and maybe ill think differently at the end of s12

[spoofymcgee]

people are like 'oh thirteen is so emotionally closed off and never talks about her past'

like the doctor ever has?

like eleven mentioned rose or martha or donna or the master even once?

clara already knew everything about the doctor but if he ever mentions regeneration or gallifrey or his previous companions or explains missy to bill then i don't remember it

martha and rose knew about each other and donna knew about both of them because they were intertwined in all of ten's seasons and kept reappearing and his era is like. comparatively short? like he has seven years. that's it. but still, he doesn't talk about jack, he doesn't talk about the time war or gallifrey or the master unless and until he absolutely has to

the doctor knows what they were like with and without their memories, charging straight into a new situation right after losing their last companion. they did that with martha and the whole point of the season is that it doesn't work. they can't do it. they can't move from one person to the next that quickly.

(amy and rory to clara doesn't count because clara was there before, donna to amy and rory doesn't count because there was time there in the specials before they regenerated)

they also know what they're like without that. they know there's a difference between how they were with bill, with all the memories of clara surgically removed and distanced, between how they are with enough time to grieve and then move on.

but she doesn't have time. thirteen lands and immediately makes new friends and starts traveling with them and they're fresh off losing bill, maybe two days before, and they don't have the time, and they don't want to replace her because that's not fair to her or to ryan yaz and graham, but the memories and the grief and the fault are there and not going anywhere.

so they jump between people and guns and talk fast and desperate and pleading instead of grand and sweeping and arrogant and they try to convince ryan and yaz and graham to stay instead of asking them along. and she doesn't focus on the past and she lives in the moment because they aren't ready to move on but they don't have a choice.

and yeah, they make it a plot point, and yeah she's forced to confront her past anyway and that's the point and maybe she should share that with her companions and rely on them instead of hiding it.

but it's hard to ask for help, and it's hard to let people know you're hurting and be honest with them. and the last times she got her companions involved with the master it ended horribly. so, you know, i think it makes sense.

[nonbinarykai]

Ok since two people asked

Why Lloyd is my least favorite ninja and how I rewrite him

Notes:// you know the rodeo by now, long post so it’s going to be under a read more, and I’m not gonna tag this with Lloyd because of the criticisms I have against his character, if you don’t want to hear Lloyd be critiqued then don’t reas the post

Why I don’t like Lloyd

Maybe it’s because I’m a Kai kinnie or maybe it’s because I have a bias agaisnt the younger sibling but Lloyd has never really been a favorite of mine

He was enjoyable in s1 but after that he kinda lost all personality for me and I stopped enjoying him

I think this is mostly for two reasons:

1. His screen time

2. His “character arcs”

I’ll go ahead and knock out his screentime here because it pretty much speaks for himself

Lloyd takes up so much screentime in the show that it’s actually jarring, he’s the character with the most seasons, having s1-2, s4, s8-11, and finally s14 ((the island special)). Which I think makes lloyds writing flaws all the more noticable

A big reason, albeit a bit of a petty one, for why I don’t like him is because he constant hyjacks other characters plots and makes them about him, this happened with Kai in both s4 and s11

Even if he’s not the main focus of a season, he always has a side plot focusing on him like in s3 and s12

The writers need to include Lloyd in other seasons is making it harder for the other main characters to actually have enough screentime to grow and develop on there own

And as a side effect of this, Lloyd gets to become the most important character in every season he is, taking roles from other characters who needed them

My best example is Cole being leader, he was set up and established as leader in the pilots and s1, and he did pretty good in it! Cole being a leader is a interesting concept that I would have loved to see been developed

But after Lloyd grew up they threw that plot point into the trash so they could have the mystical green ninja be leader even though throughout s1-7 he hardly actually talks to the main cast and him being leader doesn’t add any interesting dynamic like cole and kais rivalry despite Kai being a sort of right hand man to Coles leadership.

And in s1-s7 especially everything literally revolves around Lloyd to the point where his existence is more important than everyone else’s, and everyone’s motivations are to protect him.

Again I understand he is important, he’s the green ninja, but you have to let your other characters grow and develop, Lloyd is not the only main character in your show

Like for fuck sakes I don’t need 3 arcs about Lloyd and his dad, can I finally have another Kai season

Lloyds character arcs honestly kinda suck

Im going to be honest with you

Lloyds kinda an ass

The reason I like jay more then Lloyd even though jay has been way more mean spirited then Lloyd throughout the entire series is because you can atleast make the argument that jay doesn’t know when his jokes can hurt. And the show doesn’t portray jay as in the right, he gets what he deserves for some of the meanier things he says.

The same can’t be said about Lloyd

Lloyd says things to the other ninja that is honestly so mean spirited it’s jarring to hear it from him

Best example being when Lloyd told Kai to get over his shit when Kai was grieving in s4

But what makes it so frustrating is that the show always portrays Lloyd like he’s in the right which is why a lot of his character arcs feel flat or uninteresting

The only time this doesn’t apply is in s2 and in s3, in s2 the show paints Lloyd as being unfair to Misako when he RIGHTFULLY gets mad at her for abandoning him, I’ll get back to this later

The second time in s3 is when he’s traveling with Garmadon and having to be taught to balance his powers, which is actually one part of s3 I really liked, it was nice to see these two bond and have Garmadon teach Lloyd something that wu would other wise not teach him. And it’s a real shame the season cut it short AGAIN

The biggest example of the show making Lloyd seem in the right no matter what is in s4, Lloyds whole arc there was to learn how to view things from a different perspective and appreciate the things others have done for him. And this is would work if the show decided to do the same.

Again back to that scene with Lloyd and Kai in s4, the show treats Lloyd as if he’s in the right and it’s never addressed after this. Even though this is supposed to be the beginning of lloyds arc where he’s supposed to learn to view things from a different perspective

This scene would have worked if

1. The show didn’t paint him in the right for this, either by having Lloyd apologize or having the show acknowledged how it might have hurt Kai

2. If the plot Lloyd has remained a side plot instead of taking up the entire focus

Seriously, s4 could have been the ONE season where you can have a Lloyd side plot thats not forced and yet they fucked it up and made it the entire focus of the season thanks a lot.

To quote what I said in my Nya anayalsis awhile back

“I’m not upset that he has a flaw, just that it’s not recognized as one”

Lloyd would work way better as a character if the show just let him have consequences for his actions

Ever since he grew up and got the green ninja role he’s been treated like he can’t do no wrong which is clearly not true

But since we’re already on this topic

Hurting Lloyd doesn’t make him a good character

I feel like Tommy ((and sometimes the fandom)) really misunderstand what the use of suffering for in a story

There atleast 3 reasons writers make there characters suffer

1. To undergo a arc and realize where they have been wrong or to give a character a lot more depth to expand upon

2. If the story is a fallen hero one and the character suffers because of his Huberius

3. If the story is a tragedy

Ninjago is neither a fallen hero story or a tragedy and his pain doesn’t develop him as a character

A lot of writers don’t understand that suffering isn’t what makes a character good, it’s what pushes them to become good, you can’t just throw a character at the wall and expect them to instantly be a well written fleshed out character

A lot of the suffering Lloyd has to endure is mostly for no reason and it’s really mean spirited because it adds nothing to the plot, it’s just there to hurt him

Let’s bring up s11 as an example, Lloyd didn’t HAVE to fight the ice emperor from a writing standpoint, if anything it should have been kais battle because his lose of power and Zane going evil would have been a perfect reflection of s4 and tie it up after it ended kais character a bit open ended

But no let’s have Lloyd do it instead because haha isn’t trauma COOL and HIP

Now to be clear, I’m not saying that all of your stories have to end on a happy ending or anything like that, if your a writer then your allowed to do whatever you want with your personal writing

What I am saying is that ninjago is an actual SHOW made by PROFESSIONAL writers and they can’t understand the concept of a story structure

And the lack of actually addressing his trauma is really bringing down Lloyd as a character

Because it comes to a point where you understand why Lloyd is sometimes mean or distrustful of other people and it’s frustrating because you know that it’s flaws of him that are never going to be fixed because there writers want there trauma baby

How I would rewrite him

I’ve seen a lot of people suggest Lloyd become a villain in a future season and you know what, I sort of agree

But not in the way you think

I feel like it would be way more compelling if Lloyd was a villain but is still a ninja, instead of Lloyd switching sides, the show is switching perspectives

More or less I want Lloyd to be a reflection of the “true” villain, which is how wu ((and subsequently Lloyd)) put small Victories as more important then the ninjas life, passion, and desire, and how there black and white thinking of good and evil ends up to a lot of problems because there’s a lot of grey area there choosing to ignore

I want Lloyd to start of being loyal to wu’s philosophy and the protagonist, for random example let’s say Kai, sudden turn on these ideas in order to look outside the box to find if there truly is a better way to protect people without harming himself

I want Lloyd to be upset over what he thinks is a turn to the dark side when in reality, it would make his motivations make sense and not make his turn to “villainy” be out of character.

And over the course of the season he starts to realize how wus and subsequently his leadership has hurt the others and himself, and have him reflect on if all the pain they suffer through just to clean up wus mistakes is really worth it like wu says, or if there’s a better way like kai says

As for Lloyds actual character himself, I’d like for his flaws to be more noticeable

Have Lloyd be a gifted kid who gets praise when he doesn’t deserve it but still kinda acts like a brat because he’s still mentally like 10

Have him be a control freak who follows the rules way to strictly and is all serious when they have to do missions

Have his idealization of wu be realized and critiqued because honestly wu sucks ass

Would this make his character less like able? Maybe, but then he’d actually have depth and something to improve on

He can still have his s3 and s4 arcs, it’s just now they’re more important because he’s actually learning to be better

AND BEFORE ANYONE SAYS IM PURPOSEFULLY MAKING LLOYD WORSE SO THAT KAI LOOKS BETTER

ILL HAVE YOU KNOW AWHILE BACK I MADE A POST SAYING THE EXACT SAME THING ABOUT KAI AND HIS FLAWS SO THERE (/hj /lh)

[mw-draws]

Hey just got a question cause I've been really concerned for a while but why do you think s12 ratings been so low? I'm very scared BBC might just say "fuck it, this isn't working" and pull the plug on Jodie which would make me hella sad. Think it's because of the time of year? Early January + waiting for long time? Do you think she can pull up with the cyber men episodes and other ambitious ideas they still got in store? I don't want 13 to go if she's gon be replaced again by a man :c

honestly, I have no idea and it's scaring me as well. 3 episodes in and it's scraping by 5 million (1 week consolidated figures), this is what it was like at the end of series 10 (which in itself is an absolute crime). I mean, nowadays, overnight ratings don't matter too much, but seeing that the show is gaining just about a million more viewers in a week is concerning to me as well. I hate seeing that already, series 12 is gonna be the lowest rated series of all who basically and it doesn't deserve that at all. I don't think it's just the fact that the Doctor is a woman, (here we go), I'm placing it on chibnall.

I understand what chibnall is trying to do, honestly. have the fun, non deadly adventures in her first series, get to know the characters and then we get into the nitty gritty, but I dunno why, but his writing just hasn't been strong. he's good with broadchurch and torchwood, but his episodes in series 11 have been the weakest eps. I think, to a lot of people, it just ain't Who anymore and that saddens me. Chibnall should have done better with series 11. I really liked series 11, but it should have been stronger. by half way through the series, it had lost half its viewers, so loads of people tuning in have missed the best episodes of series 11. I think a tonal mix of high stakes and low stakes would have helped series 11 and series 12.

I also think it's down to advertisement. series 11's advertisement? Great. amazing! had series 11 ads popping up on YouTube, billboards, SDCC, NYCC, Build, loads of interviews, lots of hype. but series 12? I have only seen one (1) series 12 advert live on TV and that was for Orphan 55. yeah, I don't watch TV a lot, but I've never seen an ad for the whole of series 12 on TV. with series 11, I saw loads of ads on TV. I remember seeing an advert for The Ghost Monument on TV and I remember seeing loads of adverts for series 11 as a whole. they also had a teaser in the middle of a football game (I think it was in the middle of the world Cup), so it obviously got loads of attention.

also, another thing, the 'next time' trailers for series 12. they're shit. plain and simple. they are shit. literally 15 seconds at the very end of an episode and then we wait like, a day to get a longer one that's like 20 seconds. the next time trailers used to be really long, like at least 45 seconds to a minute long. I think they used to play just before the end credits started so that you don't miss what's gonna happen next, now, they're at the very, very end of the episode, by then, people will have switched over to other channels, or just switched off their TV. I just wish they would prioritise advertising, that's how you get people's attention, y'know? yeah, we had the Judoon in Victoria Station, but that's honestly been the biggest thing. it's just, there's something missing

honestly, series 12 is so good and doesn't deserve these ratings. series 10 didn't deserve the ratings that it got and apart from series 4, the best series are getting paid absolute dust and its just not fair.

will they go back to a man? I don't know, I personally don't give a fuck if the doctor is a man or a woman, at the end of the day, they're still the Doctor. it's just the horrendous bigotry from some of the fans, which is weird, as they are fans of,,, Doctor Who.

also, I think it's also the Sunday slots. I'm not a fan of the Sunday slots. I'm always tired afterwards and I've got school the next day, so the euphoria of knowing Doctor Who is on only lasts for a short while. Saturdays work a lot better imo, it's prime time for Doctor Who and why Chibnall moved it to Sundays, ill never know. I have no idea why he done it and why he thought it was a good idea. People would have less time on a Monday to catch up, rather say than a Sunday. I think that's the biggest thing, Sunday is really not great. for 54 years, Doctor Who had been on Saturday's and this sudden change to Sunday just makes no sense at all.

what I'll say here, anon, is that I don't think you should worry too much. yes, it's worrying, I don't like how the viewing figures have dropped from last series. maybe the year long wait did have something to do with this, but they should have advertised it better. overnights don't matter like they used to. back in like, 2008, we weren't able to record shows and it would only be on iPlayer for a short amount of time. People nowadays watch TV differently. People would watch it on catch up, they'd watch it later with friends, or they'd even wait until the whole thing is out to watch it. 28 day consolidated viewing figures are the ones that matter most, I'm not sure what it's been for Spyfall yet, I think we'll find that out tomorrow, but don't lose hope. my dad keeps saying that the BBC care too much about Doctor Who, just to axe it like that, they definitely won't just cancel it straight out.

[missjackil]

My 14x16 Opinion

Don’t Go In The Woods

I must admit I have mixed emotions about this one. I didn’t hate it at all, but there were things about it I didn’t like. This one won't make my top 20 but I won't mind rewatching it. So, if you want to read me pick it apart, you know where to click😜 

I have seen a big improvement in the season since the mid-season finale, and though this is my least favorite one of the half, it's not my least favorite of the season. I'm a little disappointed in the low amount of bro love, but it was still there, so I'm not angry. I will get to that in a minute though. Im going to start this off in the “THEN” because I think there was an important piece of information in it, that we didn't see in the actual show. They show a portion of last week’s episode, where Sam is talking about hating being at the Bunker, he sees the bodies of the AU Hunters and he says “ This is on me, I brought them here” but he didn’t say that in the episode. Like the line was cut/deleted, and they forgot. 

This isn’t the first time that’s happened. Another time I remember is in the “THEN” portion of First Born in s9. They show Sam and Dean on the “break up bridge” and Sam says “And Kevin? Someone else getting hurt because of me, I can't live with that” and that wasn't in the actual scene we saw, it was just Sam saying “And Kevin?” and going right to Dean “No Kevin’s blood is on my hands” Now I know they have tight time restraints, but they should be more aware of scenes that were cut. I know that we all know these were things going through Sam’s mind at the time, but its better to have it in canon than to just assume. 

So the episode starts with two kids making out in the woods. Now, Ill just tell you right now, I have a big squick about underage kids making out and in sexual situations, and though it was mild enough not to make me turn the show off, it was enough to make me cringe and say “eww just stop” Then thankfully they're interrupted by the boy’s cop father and the token stupid girl in the horror flick goes off in the dark alone to die, I mean to pee. The bathroom was nasty enough for me to have decided Id hold it till I got home, but no, guess she really had to go, and I could have done without having to watch her sit on the toilet... just sayin...

Back at the bunker, we have an interesting and pretty sweet brother scene. We Wincesters and Bronlys got to take back “Mornin Sunshine” from the Hellers when Dean said it to Cas in S12 and they insisted “In French,it means Good morning my lover!” and “In Swahili,it means “Good morning love of my life and soulmate!!” It doesn't matter that Dean said it to Lucifer last season, they missed that part hehe but they couldn't miss this 😎

Moving on....

It was funny when Dean asked if Sam was watching porn and Sam saying “You know the internet isn't just naked people right?” And Dean says “Not my internet” Oh I do enjoy brotherly bickering, but Sam found a case, and I found it interesting the way Dean said,“I thought you needed time?” it was a little sarcastic, but not in a bad way. I dont think Dean is comfortable with what Sam told him last week. I think Dean believes Sam is just not happy there period, and is going to want to leave him soon. He isnt pushing Sam out though, I think how he didn't want to call Cas to come help or to bring Jack, was his way of saying he wanted time with just the two of them. 

Now they go have a talk with Jack, we see Sam visibly disapproving of lying to him as to why he can’t come. Though I agree with Sam that Jack should know the truth, I also agree with Dean that the truth hurts sometimes so we lie. In this kind of situation, its a double-edged sword, 

Now Jack’s portion of the episode was good but it was uncomfortable. I felt like Jack was stiff, not his normal self. He’s really stopped talking like a robot since halfway through S13 and he seemed a little more clueless than normal. I understand that we’re supposed to “see” that he’s losing his soul, but that would just make him cold, not robotic. Soulless people are still that person, but with no emotions or filters and such. I did laugh though when he said:“What’s a ghost?” LOL that was cute. Its like Sam and Dean told him not to talk about hunting or monsters with people, so he just pretends he doesn't know what the word even means. 

Now I'm not a fan of bringing in the Kids Klubs on the show but I think it was ok to bring these kids back for this part of the story. Familiar faces that we see trying to befriend Jack, him going out of his way to impress them, and getting someone hurt. But for the Hellers who decided the last time we saw them, that Max and her girlfriend are Dean/Cas and Elliot is Sam, I have to point out who was riding in the back seat?? So If they are a parallel of Sam/Dean/Cas Elliot is Cas kiddos! Sam NEVER takes a back seat to Cas! 

So now they come again to being really close to squicking me out. The girls hanging all over each other, and the leg rubs and the giggling and the slow almost kiss looked and “felt” to me like a porno and since it was established in Lebanon that Max is underage, it creeped me out. Dial it back show, adults are watching😒

Moving on to the case, I have to say I really thought this monster was creepy. how he blended into the shadows and I couldn't quite tell if it was a figure lurking in the trees, or actually just a tree. The whistling was also well done, it was just human enough to think “No, that's not the wind”. Sure, he was like a Wendigo reboot, but everyone has been saying they want cool monsters of old like Wendigo right? 

What I noticed during this time, was Sam reacting to the word “freak”. It was subtle the first time, enough that I'm not sure that he actually had a reaction, or if I'm just “seeing” it because I looked to find one? But the second time seemed genuine. Sam showed that he was moved emotionally, maybe not from the word but from the lying definitely. Sam has been on the edge of an emotional cliff all season, and he’s gonna blow, and it's not gonna be pretty fellas. 

Now we have Jack showing off to his new friends and of course, accidentally hurting one of them, and when he healed her, they didn't forgive him. This is obviously not something Jack is familiar with, anytime he’s healed someone in the past, they were grateful, but not now, not with normal people. This is going to be an issue. I do need to say that it was a little stupid and OTT to have the girl who is scared of this sword trick, to literally run INTO the path of the blade. 

Now on the ride home with the boys, they have a little bit of an argument, that basically says Sam is tired of, and probably resentful of all the lies in their lives. Wondering how things would have been different had they ever told Dad they weren't okay. Maybe even wondering how life would have been for him had he known what was going on with himself growing up. Anyway.... we’ve not heard the end of this yet.

So to sum it up, it wasnt a bad episode, nor a great one. so its probably the calm before the shit storm of the season finale and the next episode should kick it off. 

On a scale of Bloodlines to Lebanon Ill give this one a 6.5. More broments and less kids making out and Id rank it 7.5 

[mittensmorgul]

7.03: Hey, look, a monster broke my leg...

(and Dabb wrote it, and Jensen directed it)

They’re sitting around the cabin eating Sandy’s Chicken, like the Winchesters did around the war room table in 12.03. Sam forgot the pie back in s7, Mary bought an ENTIRE pie in 12.03, but I have already yapped about this endlessly... :P

While Sam’s out shopping for groceries and getting himself caught by the leviathans for using a Lemmy Kilmister credit card, he finds a hunt that seems startlingly familiar. And all the while lies to Dean about it. He feels it’s something he needs to handle himself, because it involves a LONG-BURIED LIE. Or... at least a long-HIDDEN fact about his past-- that he’d once intervened in a hunt for a kitsune because he’d made friends with the monster’s daughter. As far as we know, this flashback is one of the first times that Sam ever had to question the “goodness” of a monster.

The problem was that he went behind Dean’s back at a time when Dean was worried to death about Sam, because Sam was one of the few things he had left to even worry about, and he was not closely in touch with Reality here. Dean had every reason to doubt Sam’s assertions that Amy wasn’t going to hurt anyone else. 

DEAN : Where's the pie? SAM : I got cake. It's close enough, right?

and:

BOBBY (on phone) Well, maybe he needed a little "me-time." DEAN (on phone) Yeah, but his me-time ain't just him. I mean, for all we know he's road trippin' with Lucifer somewhere. Left me here like Jimmy friggin' Stewart. BOBBY (on phone) I assume you called. DEAN (on phone) Straight to voicemail. He turned his GPS off, too. And he took my car!

But in the end, Amy had a very reasonable excuse for her murders, to save the life of her son. He was recovering from his illness now, and swore she wouldn’t have to kill anyone else. She’d taken the risk of being discovered by a hunter by veering from her lifetime of only preying on the dead for her needs. She was a monster who was trying to just live her life in peace, and raise her son to do the same.

In the past, she’d killed her own mother to save Sam’s life, and he owed her the benefit of the doubt just for that. But while he was willing to let her go again, all of his actions up to that point in this episode (and over the previous few episodes of lying about what was up with his noodle) made Dean unable to trust his judgment. Not to mention the fact that Dean was in a “spinning out” sort of situation regarding everything ELSE going on recently, and he had a lot of freaking buried anger and grief that was too close to the surface to just shove it down again and let it go.

So Dean killed Amy, and then lied to Sam about it. It’s just one big lie-pileup.

The difference in s12 is that while there do seem to be lies and buried truths and Dean’s feeling some anger and worry and loss and grief, even to the point Dean feels like he’s “spinning out” again, I think he’s in a far difference starting place than he was way back in 7.03. 

Sam and Dean are working ALMOST on the same page as one another. Sam still knows things about Mary and the BMoL (and the Colt) that Dean doesn’t know yet. But none of those things are going to make Dean believe that Sam is as compromised as he was back in s7.

I guess he’ll be angry about them, but learning the truth isn’t going to make him believe that Sam has somehow disconnected from reality. My guess? There will be an argument, but with several much bigger fish to fry, they’ll get through their personal stuff quickly, because at the foundation of it all, they ARE on the same side here.

YOUNG AMY : My mom... I don't think she's a good person. Sometimes I don't think I'm a good person, either. YOUNG SAM : You are. YOUNG AMY : Don't be so sure. YOUNG SAM : I've been around enough bad to know good when I see it. YOUNG AMY : It's just she has this... whole plan for me, but... I don't want to be like her, you know? YOUNG SAM : I don't want to be like my dad, either.

Killing her mother for Sam was Amy’s moment of “redemption.” The moment she decided to be “good.” She rejected her mother’s “plan” for her to live her life as a killer on the run just to sustain herself.

YOUNG SAM : It's my dad and brother in the Impala. You're a monster. YOUNG AMY : You're a hunter. So... You're supposed to kill me? And I'm supposed to kill you? YOUNG SAM : I guess. YOUNG AMY : Sam, I've never killed anyone. And I don't want to hurt you. Do you want to hurt me? YOUNG SAM : No. YOUNG AMY : Then run. If my mom finds you, she'll kill you. Just run. Please, Sam.

Young Sam and Amy really sound like the seed of this idea that not all monsters are evil and therefore deserve to die. Even as a kid, Sam was holding out hope that there might be another way, a better way, where he didn’t just have to kill every monster, and maybe not every monster wanted to kill him.

It took a return of Dean’s ability to trust him (and eventually to trust Cas again, even if that trust wavers over the course of the next few seasons due to horrifying extenuating circumstances), and his renewed appreciation for the balance of the cosmic order for him to get to the point he’s at now, like after 12.16 where he set out his philosophy of hunting for Mick-- the Winchester Code, if you will.

That nothing is black and white, and everything is shades of grey. It’s about understanding what they’re hunting on a case by case basis, and making their decisions accordingly.

(heck so many of those life and death decisions are based on nothing more than Dean’s gut instincts about people-- including his unwillingness to trust the BMoL, and his knowledge that Cas is somehow being controlled by the nephilim now)

Dean HAS found a better way, and Sam has too. They’re working TOGETHER now. And that will make all the difference

[floralmotif]

S6 parallels in s12 again (some thoughts on 12.10)

I had a slightly unnerving thought while I was re-watching 12.10 that I haven’t seen anyone talk about. Maybe I’m just seeing things. Maybe my memory is being terrible again. Remember how s12 is a parallel to s6?  Well... I think I found at least part of the “wall break” parallel. The weird part is, I don’t think it ends here. There be super spoilers of 12.10 ahead, so I’ll stick the rest of this long post in the Below Place.

Jeez, this episode is dense *rubs eyes* So from the Midpoint, we learn that Lily’s daughter was human and that Ishim used the garrison to enact his twisted jealousy revenge as opposed to carrying out a nephilum kill as Cas was lead to believe it was. From Lily’s flashback we also learn the following about Lily’s relationship with Ishim: Lily found a way to summon an angel Lily put the angel (Ishim) on a pedestal and saw him as perfect But he was really a “monster” Ishim shared angel magic and secrets with Lily for her own purposes At some point Ishim betrayed Lily’s trust and she asked Akibel to protect her Ishim assigns love as his feeling towards Lily She assigns obsession Ishim believes Lily betrayed him with Akibel and kills him Ishim doesn’t kill Lily for her “betrayal” but instead kills her daughter to break her heart as he believes she broke his. Sound familiar? Dean found a way to summon an angel Dean put that angel (Cas) on a pedestal Dean learns Cas is not perfect. He’s a powerful supernatural being with flaws and ambitions. He’s also been called “monster” in the show. Specifically by Claire. Cas teaches Dean and Sam the ways of angels and warding for their purposes Cas betrays Dean and Sam’s loyalty by going behind their back with Crowley Cas may have felt he was feeling love or maybe not. It’s hard to tell back then but it may have been more akin to obsession with Dean. That’s kind of what’s implied here, anyway. Cas believes Dean betrayed him by not helping him with Raphael Their confrontation even kind of looks like and sounds like some of the confrontations Dean and Cas had in s6. Cas doesn’t kill Dean and Sam for their betrayal, but he does break Sam’s(closest thing we’ve got to Dean’s kid) wall to break Dean and slow their progress. So in this, I have a few thoughts: Who is Akibel represented as and will his mirror play some part later? Was he just an illustration of a “so called betrayal” that was easy to produce on screen and didn’t require much buildup? Probably. Why this specific mirror? I think they’re trying to highlight the difference between past Cas and current Cas. “When did you become so gooey?” Ishim throws around a lot of words that imply Cas used to be more like him throughout the episode. It also further highlights that Cas has always been a bit different. He didn’t kill Sam, he did something terrible to him, but he didn’t kill him. This whole bit also highlights the relationship between Cas and Dean and Cas and Sam being different, especially back then. He specifically targeted Sam to get to Dean and not the other way around. Lily losing her soul also draws attention to that arc in season 6. Whether it was intended as a setup, a mirror for Sam or just as a reminder to the arc, I’m not completely sure.  A lot of this episode is about Cas’ decisions and how he makes them as well as how Dean reacts to them as opposed to how he used to. At the end of the episode they both sort of learn a lesson. A lesson they’ve kind of learned before but is drawn attention to here. At the beginning of the episode and also in S6, Cas believes that some sacrifices must be made for the greater good. At the end of the episode, he says that some of his decisions need questioning and highlights this at the BM scene by saying that before, he would’t have hesitated to kill Kelly, but now instead decides to drink and try and find a better way. I’m guessing his decision to kill Billy is gonna be a pretty hefty weight but I don’t think it will lead to Cas’ death. A lot of this show is about literally flipping the script, so no walking into a pool of death this time, I hope. Dean learns to use his words more, something that was harder for him to do before considering the circumstances. Main characters who change for the better tend to live in shows because the opposite speaks ill of the audience unless it’s the last episode(depending on setup). “You know all that effort you put into becoming a better person? Whelp, it killed you” Yeah, that doesn’t usually fly in TV shows unless it was setup all along(Which it hasn’t been in SPN since S7). Movies can get away with it, but it requires a specific setup and usually involves a character that was perceived as a villain. It’s called “redemption equals death” and I hate it. It’s generally used when a character’s purpose in the story was to be an antagonist, so when they’re redeemed, the story has no where for them to go, so they die. Cas is not framed this way. Cas is framed as one of the heroes even if he doesn’t always act like one. It’s the nature of heroes to be hypocritical anyway. Dean and Sam don’t exactly have a stellar track record but we follow them around and cheer them on anyway. Because they are literally our humanity surrogates. This is also why if they end the show in death for TFW, I may hate them a little. As I’ve said before: “SPN, you are allowed to be sad, you are not allowed to be pointless.” A couple of other things: Cas’ 1901 vessel said that “nephilim grow into their powers” and was followed up with “worlds die” Uh... on what other worlds are their nephilim? New headcanon: All other habitable worlds in the universe are basically just tests for Earth or were created afterward as wherever Chuck goes to. This would at least kind of explain why the universe gives so much of a shit about what people on a tiny spec do. Ishim says to Cas that he’s gonna cut out his humanity the same way he cut out his by killing Dean. Which sounds awesome if you’re a destiel shipper like me, but then I realized that Ishim didn’t kill Lily. He killed her daughter and Akibel. How was he cutting out his humanity? Did he have a connection to May? Wouldn’t that make Sam his humanity if we wanna be all mirrory? I must be missing something.  With this in an episode like this, it makes me wonder how they’ll bring back the rest of the “Breaks Sam’s wall” bit. What will happen in Sam’s head? What will be Sam’s head? In s6, his headspace is a deciduous forest as it usually is. Kind of like Purgatory really. What will Sam have to accept? What will be our metaphor for hell this time? What will be broken?

[benwhlshaws]

ok so this is just a rambly overview over what has happened (sam wise) over the seasons so its maybe a little bit easier when keep blabbing @ u abt him 😂

i will try not to go on tangents ehhh 😬😬

sorry for the salty tone in advance

s1: ok sam is at college & lives with jess, dean comes to him after they havent seen each other in 2/3/4 years and says they gotta find john bc he didnt come home from a hunting trip, sam reluctantly says yes to one case but only if theyll be back in time for his law school interview (☹️ oh child), they do the case, sam comes home to jess burning on the ceiling like his mum, and him & dean hit the road to Find Dad and Kill The Demon.

during all this sam starts to get visions of bad things happening in the future and everyones Concerned, they eventually find dad but fail to kill the demon and dean gets fatally injured.

s2: john makes a deal with azazel (the demon that killed mary and jess) to save dean and Dies (& gets sent to hell), sam and dean are Sad (this is tangent worthy but i Won’t right now)

note worthy middle season things are that sam gets possessed by a demon that makes him do horrible stuff in one ep and in another the first girl he has sex with after jess turns out to be a werewolf and he has to shoot her (Fun!), oh and before john died he told dean he might have to kill sam if he starts going rogue (bc john knows abt sam’s mysterious gifts), dean eventually tells sam abt it and sam is Horrified obvs, season ends with azazel kidnapping sam and other kids with Gifts and sam finds out he was fed demon blood as a baby, sam gets killed and dies in deans arms, dean makes a crossroads deal to bring him back and gets one year of life left

oh and they open hells gates and john gets out and is just Normal Dead (yay) but also lots of dark stuff (not yay)

s3: sam is Upset and tries to find a way to get dean out of the deal, katie cassidy’s Ruby appears and says she can help, mid season stuff notable mention for an ep in which the trickster makes sam watch dean die every day for abt 100 days and then lets sam live 6 months without him just for Fun (dean doesnt remember any of this but sam does), anyway they fail at saving dean and sam has to watch him get ripped apart by hellhounds

s4: i mean u watched this but still 😂, dean crawls out of his grave, cas gets introduced, sam has been hanging out with ruby and starts drinking her demon blood bc it gives him the power to exorcise and kill demons without harming their vessel, also the demon lilith (she sent dean to hell so sam has a revenge boner for her too lbr) wants to start the apocalypse by breaking 66 seals and sam has the power to kill her (hot powerful babe that he is 🔥😏), the angels manipulate the living hell out of Everyone and LOTS OF FIGHTING HAPPENS. also dean finds out he broke the first seal when he started torturing in hell (everyone loves forgetting that but Ok) anyway

when dean finds out sam is addicted to demon blood, him and bobby lock him in the panic room without food or water or comforting words but :-))) (i’m not mad at all). then CASTIEL (another guilty party maybe?? HMMM??) lets sam out so he can find ruby and go kill lilith, which he does and ends up breaking the final seal and frees lucifer (which no one knew would happen except for the angels and ruby & dean was abt to do the same thing literally minutes before he found out the truth LOL)

this season is so crazy tangent worthy but i’ll save it for the Actual Post

s5: sams guilt and self hatred is HIIIIIGH and dean does nothing to help that and the rest of the world loves reminding him hes Evil incarnate as well :-) but ok,

dean finds out hes michael’s vessel and sam finds out hes lucifer’s, lots of archangel and other mid season stuff happens, season ends with sam saying yes to lucifer so he can jump into the pit to hell and trap him in there with him, therefore saving the world and all of humanity bc he is a hero thanks for listening to my Ted Talk

s6: dean has been living with lisa and her son ben for a year, it turns out sam is alive but Different, oh damn! he’s soulless! (and sassy sexy Fun 😎) and his (pure gentle) soul is still in hell with lucifer (💔😭)

dean and cas get his soul back but its so damaged (😔) that putting it back into sam would kill him so they ask death to build a wall between the two (no idea how this all rlly works its been a while since i watched this), soul is back in sam, forgot how the season ends but not that important anyway

s7: sam’s soul hell wall thing breaks and he’s dying and ill and sick and sad and everythings awful and he has hallucinations of lucifer telling him insidious horrible stuff and making him doubt reality and dean and everything and its very upsetting to me thanks,

umm forgot how the season REALLY ends but basically sam sees dean die (dean is actually in purgatory BUT SAM DOESNT KNOW THAT)

s8: my memories are hazy at best but i remember the Basic stuff,

its one year later and dean is out of purgatory and somehow him and sam find each other, sam has been living off the grid and found a gf and a dog after grieving dean, dean finds this to be the most heinous of crimes and Hates sam for it (bc u didnt look for me sam!!! and u had a cushy life while i was fighting for mine in purgatory!!! HOW DARE YOU BE HAPPY WITHOUT ME) and the guilt tripping is outta control this season woooohoooo,

anyway idr why but one of them has to take on The Trials (bc it does smth important for them i dont remember why lmao) and sam wants to do them,

stuff happens and they make sam sick and weak and Sad but they also purify his blood so hes desperate for them bc he’s felt awful and unclean all his life and its Upsetting. season ends with the final trial aka The Ultimate Sacrifice which means death and sam’s like yes! death! here for it 100%! and dean’s like no! why? and sam’s like lol i’m horrible and useless and a liability and all i do is let u down and i wanna die! :-)

dean convinces him not to (in a crap way imho BUT)

s9: sams fatally ill and just. wants. to dieeee and gadreel (an arch?angel) tells dean that he could possibly heal sam if he lets him possess sam and Dean Says ‘sam would rather die than ever let anything possess him again’ aaaand then says yes to gadreel :-)

and sam’s alright but has no clue how it happened and keeps losing time and is fucked up over it and dean lies to him and says everythings A Okay

oh and gadreel kills kevin with sam’s body and sam has nightmares abt it

this somehow resolves itself (not in a satisfying way for me of course but when do things ever) but i dont rlly have the deets for the rest of the season

s10-s12: honestly i basically dont know much, somehow dean has the so called mark of cain on his arm which makes him Awful and Horrible and he says things to sam that are Unbelievable and make me Furious

also at some point dean turns into a literal demon, not for super long though i think

sam is a strong kind and beautiful bean during all of this

mary is there somewhere too somehow and lucifer stuff and the list goes on but you know SHRUG

s13: lucifer’s baby is born! a nephilim! idk how it works age wise but hes in the body of a cute young man called jack and hes a cinnamon roll and sam treats him so fatherly and gently and with so much compassion and it makes me Feel and they have an adorable gorgeous relationship! also dean is a giant Dickwad to jack :-) fun!

oh omg lucifer gets killed in the finale and i fucking hope its final and forever bc I AM OVER IT!!!!

thats the VERY basic stuff and i apologise that its so long... im sorry ur indulging me how do u cope

also i love u and the only person cuter than sam is You 🤗💘💖💕💓

[missjackil]

Sam and Mary

There’s already so much meta floating around about the relationship between Sam and his mother, but my opinion seems to deviate from the norm, which is typical of me, but hey, thats okay :) I was happy to see in 13x4 Sam finally emoting what he’s been feeling. I know he believes their mom is alive, but I know he can’t be sure, so he must have feeings about that too right? What surprised me however, is that he feels like Dean had a relationship with her, and he didn’t.  There’s no doubt that Dean has had more time with her and there was a familiar bond with them right away, and that’s something Sam wont ever have. He was just a baby when Mom died, so he never had the crust cut off his PB&J, never got pushed on a swing, never had a skinned knee kissed... by his mother anyway, and even the time he saw her ghost in Home and had time with her and John in The Song Remains the Same, her memory was scrubbed and she has no recollection, so it may as well be erased from his memory too. So does Sam have a relationship with his mother?  Yes, he does. And I may venture to say that even though I wont say it’s great, or healthy, between either brother, I do feel that it’s better and healthier than it is with Dean. 

Unlike many fans, I was very intrigued by the mama drama of S12. I love to hash through relatable, personal problems. I have a relationship with my 2 daughters, one I didn’t get to know till she was 27, and a 25 yr old Ive raised alone since birth, the relationships are completely different, but both are valid, so I really got into this storyline on the show and hope to see more of it.  As we know, in this episode, Sam went off on Dean and told him what hes feeling, and why its so hard for him to deal with it, but he said “At least you had a relationship with her!” So it makes me wonder why he thinks he didn;t, or if he just wishes it was the same as Dean’s. However, I saw that even though he knows she started everything by making a deal with Azazel, when Sam kissed her tomb stone in 11x23 he showed he already forgave her for it. She didnt know Azazel would come for him, or what trauma would stem from it, and he’s been in situations like that a few times in his life, when he thought he was doing the right thing, but it ended up he didnt, and shit hit the fan. Though that doesn’t mean he isnt harboring some resentment. That would be expected, but he’s never shown it.  What I saw between Sam and Mary was that he was very soft and kind to her, and she had no trouble being affectionate to him. That hug at the end of 12x2 was nothing short of beautiful. Sam being tearfilled and compassionate, understanding how misplaced she felt, but giving a rare emotional POV and telling her having her there, filled in the biggest blank. She was grateful for that, and didnt hesitate to hug his neck. Sam’s face spoke 1,000 words as he realized it was the first hug he ever had from her... that he could remember anyway. Now a lot of you have said Mary was affraid of him, or didnt give him the time of day, but thats not true. One doesnt throw their arms around someone theyre scared of, and she was never that estranged from Sam that she wouldnt give him the time of day. She did seem to walk on eggshells around him sometimes, but I think that was from guilt and the fear that deep down, he cant forgive her. But she loved him, this was obvious to me, because she didnt act like a person who hurt a stranger, she acted like a mother guilty of hurting her son. This was probably why she was more affectionate to him, than to Dean. She was the first person to ever tell Sam they love him,  It was established early in S12 that Mary was worried about how Sam would recieve her. I have a head canon that after Mary asked Dean “How can I even face him?”  That Dean said something like this : “Mom, Sam is the kindest, most compassionate person you’ll ever meet. His heart is so big, he’s even nice to monsters. Even after he learned what went down, he never spoke an ill word about you. Don’t worry about Sam.” Im sure something was said anyway, because she seemed more at ease around him than Id expect.  Now, going through the season, the relationships all changed. I feel like by the time we got to Stuck In The Middle With You, the novelty had worn off. The boys were acting more like themselves around Mary. Dean was goofing off at the diner, and Sam was complaining about the internet connection, and Mary played the mom card “screens down, eyes up... shut up!” But this was also an episode that showed “something” happening between mom and Sam. Im not sure exactly what it was, maybe frustration, or maybe they’re just to the point of being real. They kind of snapped at each other, Mary asked Sam “Since when is life about getting what you want?” and later Sam sniped “Mom, what the hell have you gotten us into?” But I also want to note that she went to Sam, immediately, to tell him the demon had yellow eyes. She didn’t keep it to herself, or go to Dean. She went to Sam first. Why was this I wonder? I may never get the answer to that, but what it tells me is that she wasn’t afraid to apporach Sam with tough subjects. There were also a lot of little things I noticed between Sam and Mary, that would tell me they had something relatively solid even after the betrayal. No saying ideal, or healthy, or even close, but solid. She was closer to Dean, they have more in common and she knows his temper and mannerisms, Sam was all new to her, but she loved and trusted him. In Who We Are, one of my all time favorite scenes, when Mary asks Dean “And Sam? Im scared. What if he cant forgive me?” and Sam walks in “Mom, you dont have to be scared of me” makes me cry still after watching it 30 times. However, I dont think she’s scared OF Sam, she knows hes not gonna beat her or anything like that, but she’s affraid that he cant forgive everything, and maybe he’ll push her away, or not love her, but Sam tells her she doesnt have to worry about that. He may at some point reach a boiling point, and I do really think he should open up about the past and what hes been through. He could lash out, but it wouldnt be ooc for him to just speak softly either.  And so this brings me back to the original question. Why does Sam think he didn’t/doesn’t have a relationship with Mary? Is it because its not like Dean’s? Is it because she’s never been a Mother to him growing up? That they’re more like peers than Mother/Son? Or is Sam feeling insecure with her the way he sometimes does with Dean? Where it seems like he needs to be reminded that Dean loves him for him, and not out of family obligation. It’s true, even after everything the brothers have been through, everything Dean has done for Sam, sometimes Sam doesnt fully believe Dean loves him, and would be better off without him. On a good day I know Sam knows Dean loves him more than anything, and Im sure on a good day he knows his mother loves him, but Sam hasnt had many good days as of late, so I wouldnt be surprised if this is where his head is at.  Whatever Sam is feeling, it’s valid, he feels it, and if hes wrong or misinterpreting something, I hope he has a chance to express it and work through it. This season has been great so far with showing us things about the brothers we may have suspected, but didnt know for sure. I hope it continues! 

[missjackil]

My 13.01 Opinion

Lost and Found I can’t tell you how happy I am that the boys are back, hiatus is over. and I can do this again!! Let’s get started shall we? From the jump, my emotions were high. We enter a brand new season to the tune of Nothing Else Matters by Metalica. Every season before now has used an upbeat song to open with, but this song is deep and emotional. The lyrics are SO fitting to Sam and Dean and where they are now. I will include the lyrics at the end of this, but I was particularly moved by the line

 “Trust I seek and I find in you. Every day for us, something new. Open mind for a different view, and nothing else matters” You can tell right away this season is going to be a hard one for our boys. Not that it hasn’t been before, but this one is going to emphasize that Sam and Dean can make it through anything, if they have each other. Nothing else matters but them in their world, and this show.  We start off immediately after where we left off at the end of S12. Sam being the first to meet Jack, and Dean looking at Cas’s body. Jack’s first word is to Sam and it’s “Father” of course Sam tells him he isnt his father, but this is going to be important in regards to Sam and Jack’s relationship. Sam is the first person he saw, the first to show him kindness, and the first to defend his life. Jack wont forget later when shit inevitably hits the fan.  Dean leaves Cas’s body to find Sam and he too meets Jack, but both he and Jack are startled at the sight of each other, Dean’s instinct is to shoot, and Jack’s is to scream and do this AWESOME thing that suspends Sam and Dean in mid air, and the effect where they move their heads in slow motion to look at each other was AWESOME!! I was really impressed with this and said WOOOAAAHHH!! out loud! 

Sam and Dean are knocked unconscious and Jack takes off.  Just before waking however, Dean has a dream or vision about their mother burning. Standing in front of them, like they were in 12.23 and catching fire, and then burning on the ceiling like in 1.1. This wasnt elaborated on, so it will probably come up later. We move on to Sam and Dean driving, looking for Jack. Dean is wrecked, talking about who they’ve lost (Cas, Mom and Crowley) and Sam, I cant say he was really in denial, or optimistic, but rightfully in disbelief, given their history, Sam was more like “Are they really gone?” Jack is walking down the road, completely naked, He arrives at a burger shack and talks into the drive through speaker, still looking for his father. This is really where the show establishes his innocence. I like Jack, a lot! They found us a very good actor to play a very interesting character, and I couldnt be happier with him!  Moving forward, we have 2 angels that appear over Cas’s body and they have a short exchange that shockingly mirrored the opinions of the fandom over the summer. The one Angel says “Castiel deserved better” and the other Angel responded “No, he actually didnt”. I was like “Wow, have they read Tumblr?” This has been argued all summer between members of the Fandom. Now i dont really want to go scene by scene with this, so Ill skip over all the angel fighting and people being flung around and go right to Dean praying  He’s lost, he’s crushed, and hes hopeless. He’s pissed and tells God that he and Sam need help, they’re not good, and they want everyone back that theyve lost, Cas, Mom and Crowley (which I thought very odd he didnt mention Rowena, but maybe there was a point). Dean is an emotional person to start with, but Jensen portrayed him more broken than we’ve seen yet. I personally don’t think it stems solely on these most recent losses, but the huge pile of pain hes suffered in the last 12 years has beat him down and he’s tired.  Sam is also spun out. We know he’s going to be the more optimistic one, but Jared successfully portrayed in his face  that he is just as crushed as Dean, but he’s allowing himself the distraction of Jack. We know Sam, the king of sublimation, cover it up with something else, and dont deal. The funeral pyre scene was heart wrenching. Sam’s lines made me ugly snot cry “We say thank you, we say Im sorry, we hope they’re somewhere better, and we say goodbye” (paraphrased)  Ive seen some some folks a little annoyed with this scene, that it was too much since we know Cas will be back, but we werent supposed to know Cas would be back, that ball kinda got dropped by Jared early on when he made an honest mistake when talking about the Scooby episode. And also, this wasnt just about their most recent losses.it was about everything, where they are now, who they have become, and what theyve been through. As they watched the black smoke of the pyre rise up, I know they were grieving everyone.  I was deeply moved by this episode, and I thought it was fantastic! The best season opener yet by far! Jack is awesome, I cant wait to get to know him better. He is going to bring us some great TV.  On a scale from Bloodlines to Who We Are (Yes, Who We Are tops my list now) I am going to give Lost and Found a 9. My only complaint really is the lack of broments. There was plenty of banter, and it wasnt like the brothers were sidelined, its just we havent gotten to the support part yet. Im sure it’s coming, the “we can get through this” and even the arguing about Jack. I think the boys were just acting in the immediate situation and didnt have time to digest whats happened. Im sure its coming though.  Predictions: We know Cas will be back in ep 6. Misha confirmed on twitter that Cas will come back in full power, with all his memories, so he wont be human Cas or Amnesia Cas, he will be more like season 4 Cas. That being said, I dont think Cas is going to be as warm to the Winchesters as he has been. I believe that in full Angel mode, he going to want to kill Jack, like the other Angels wanted to. Maybe not right away, we may get a few episodes where it seems Team Free Will is alive and kicking with a welcomed new member, but down the road, Cas is going to turn on Jack and the boys when his Angelic instincts kick in. I dont know if we will know right away and it just be the boys that are in the dark, and Cas playing them to regain their trust before he tries to take Jack by saying he promised Kelly, or if it will be a kind of “great reveal” like we had other times when Cas was deceiving them, But I certainly dont think the brothers’s relationship with Cas is going to be rainbows and butterflies for long. I also think there is a strong possibility that Cas will want to kill Sam too, being an “abomination” himself. So my thougth is, dont let yourself think that this is going to be one big happy hunter family, because its not going to be. I also think when Lucifer comes back, and he will, he will get to Jack and influence him badly. Jack will turn on the boys also, but not permenantly, it will come back to him that Sam and Dean did take care of him and showed him love, Sam particularly.  I feel like this season is going to press the issue that when everything and everyone else crumbles and falls at their feet, that Sam and Dean have each other. And nothing else matters.

So close no matter how far Couldn't be much more from the heart Forever trusting who we are And nothing else matters Never opened myself this way Life is ours, we live it our way All these words I don't just say And nothing else matters Trust I seek and I find in you Every day for us something new Open mind for a different view And nothing else matters Never cared for what they do Never cared for what they know But I know