#dean's an asshole

[roachingurcoach]

he was shocked here. before, he could see his soul coming from miles away, had the time to prepare himself for his presence, to compose himself. this was a surprise.

[shanastoryteller]

Shana, your tags on this post ...I need to know more! What exactly was the plan for Supernatural season 3 if it hasn't been for the writer's strike??? And how haven't I heard about this already?? I need the deets!

i'm so glad you asked :)

the original plan for season 3 was for sam to descend into using his demon powers to get dean out of the deal, and for dean to never go to hell. then the writers strike happened, the season got cut from 22 eps to 16, with only 4 after the strike, and that wasn't enough time to establish sam's spiral and powers, so changed the ending. it's on the wiki and there are some articles around about it

this was, in my opinion, the worst fucking decision they could make

it ruined the characters in a lot of ways and really unbalanced everything in a way the show never recovered from

the thing is that this arc is so well set up!

literally at the end of season 2 we get

"You're my big brother, there's nothing I wouldn't do for you. And I don't care, I'm going to get you out of this. I'm going to save your ass for a change."

sam has evaded azazel's every attempt to corrupt him. his shitty home life, all the demons he's exposed sam to, killing jessica, taking away his father, putting him in a literal life or death hunger games scenario. each time sam refuses to play ball

(sam's incorruptibility is what makes him qualified to be king of hell, but that's a different post)

he's the moral compass between him and dean. always has been. there is nothing in sam's messed up, twisted life that has pushed him pass mercy

but dean could do it. there's nothing sam wouldn't do for his big brother

john told dean that he had to either save sam or kill him. except he's never needed to save sam, because it's literally always sam making the measured, compassionate, merciful call. he's the one holding dean back, not the other way around

and sam straining towards darkness for the first time, for dean, would kill him. we'll come back to this

mystery spot, as an episode, is actually pointless if the plan was for dean to go to hell. because sam's sneak peek into what his life is like after dean doesn't do anything. i love this ep, but it's narratively pointless now

however

with the og plan, mystery spot is the turning point. it not only tells sam how miserable he'll be after dean is gone, but it also establishes what he's willing to do to get him back - pretty much anything. it's not theoretical pain, it's not theoretical grief. mystery spot is the thing that pushes sam towards being hard, away from the moral sweetness he's embodied for the past two and half seasons.

the next ep, jus in bello, shows this. sam is considering doing the terrible thing. he's now capable of considering the terrible thing in a way he wasn't before mystery spot. this is when his descent starts, when sam decides he's willing to trade his humanity for his brother's life

and then the writer's strike happened

right when it's getting good, right when sam's arc is ramping up, we lose it. and instead of picking it back up, pushing dean's deal to next season and giving it the weight it deserves, they say fuck it, and send dean to hell

but this fucks it all up. we have sam's "descent" with ruby and demon blood. except not really because he's not even hurting anyone. and dean's back, but not because of sam. sam didn't save him

this fucks it all up

because deans anger and fear and desire to save sam should have been tempered with the knowledge that he did that to save dean's life. that once more someone dean loves has made a terrible sacrifice for him, which he can't stand, which he hates. he has the self esteem of a gnat and the best people he knows keep destroying themselves for his benefit

i think the og build up was sam strengthening his powers to kill lilith, doing it, and then releasing lucifer at the end of s3. sam unwittingly starting the apocolypse to save his brother (does he regret it, dean wonders. it would be easier if he did)

and now everything is shit and dean's drowning but here and his brother has turned himself into something that's not unlike the kid dean loves so much it almost killed him, but not exactly the same. and now he understands john, because this is the sam that dean has to either save or kill, except he could never kill him. he loves him (and how can he kill sam for doing this when it's dean's fault, when dean made the deal that doomed his brother when all he wanted was to save him)

this is the flip that the show has been building towards. dean having to be the moral center for his brother for once. dean being the one saved. dean finally having to face his father's words and deciding once and for all if he's john's son or sam's brother

but instead dean goes to hell. and he's no one moral's center. because he broke in hell, he tortured people and he enjoyed it. they ruined dean with this. because instead of fighting and growing from his violence, they push him into it, and then they call him a righteous man. dean was the one harming people, he's the one that descended into darkness, not sam. sam and his demon blood had still only been trying to good, and in the end did do good, far more than anything dean did in hell, or has done since. his moral outrage, his anger, his disgust towards sam isn't only wildly out of character, it's hypocritical as hell. sam remains the moral, compassionate one, even through this. it never slides to dean. neither of them are really forced to grow or change, only to become twisted into each other in ways that hurt them both

this should have been the story of what sam would do to save his brother (anything) and what dean would do to save his brother (anything)

they should have saved each other

[queermania]

Do you think Jensen is uncomfortable being asked about Destiel?

yes but i don't think it's because the concept of destiel makes him uncomfortable at this point. i think it's because every single time he speaks about destiel, no matter what he says, a whole bunch of people are upset in a whole bunch of different directions. he says cas was dean's best friend and well that just means he's homophobic because obviously cas was more than that, but also how dare he forget about sam. he says dean was thinking that he should've said i love you too and well he obviously meant it platonically and how dare anyone think otherwise but also he stuttered when he said it so he was trying to hold back slurs. he says cas's confession testament isn't something that needs to be resolved which obviously means they will never ever address it despite the 6000 other things he's said about wanting to give it the weight it deserves when dean and cas reunite. jensen hates gay people and specifically he wants to spit in hellers faces but also how dare he say things that legitimize destiel he's a monster and this is why we love jared.

[itwasnightwhenyoudied]

qᵤ'ₑₛₜ₋cₑ qᵤₑ c'ₑₛₜ?

wow i’ve not drawn dean (or much of anything!) in foreverrrr but got inspired to draw this today when i saw THIS STUNNING PIECE by the crazy-talented @jensensitive — so this is for you, elle! <3

[stealingyourbones]

recently watched a handful of episodes of Supernatural and im kinda impressed with Dean's steadfast belief that all monsters are monsters and can't be redeemed.

With that in mind... there could be some VERY angsty Danny Phantom crossovers with that as the main premise

[thenameisgul]

what if post-canon Cas learns he can use Dean’s past mistakes to win every argument?

Dean: No! We’re not buying that white bread. It tastes bland and awful

Cas: y’know I first tasted this bread when I was homeless and April gave me sandwich in this bread 😞

(now that’s the only bread they ever buy)

Dean: Cas, we are not leaving for our honeymoon in your stupid truck. It’s old and rackety and not cool at all

Cas: remember when you were an asshole to me and I left the bunker heartbroken I slept in this truck’s bed for a week

(Dean and Cas drive away from their wedding in old and rackety truck with ‘Just Married’ sign at the back)

-Until Dean realizes he’s being played and fights back

Dean (randomly): Hey Cas, remember when you became god and threatened to kill us if we didn’t kneel before you? that was rough, buddy

Cas: (removing his coat and tie and getting on his knees) Dean you don’t have remind me of my transgressions to get me to give you a blowjob. You could just ask 🙄

I think that would just be hilarious 😆

[dirty-droid]

So I played through some more dbh last night and woke up thinking, God, there is a good reason Markus and Kara, and their respective companions never got as popular as Connor and Hank. Literally The Bridge is surrounded by the most *do everything for absolutely no reason* chapters, and there's no comparison.

First the Kara chapter wastes your time, she barely gets any small talk in with Luther, then the car breaks down, then you're just doing tiny tasks, doing a shitty sum up of her story so far when Alice asks you to make one up- they could have done something interesting with that story but they chose not to, literally anything specific anything that would function as a parallel to their journey would have actually had some value. Then you barely start a conversation with Luther, where are you maybe get a hint of his personality before we're back to just talking about the plot and Alice, but then it's over again and you meet the Jerries and you learn almost nothing about them.

It is a chapter where you do nothing interesting, and you learn almost nothing about the main characters, for a downtime chapter, I expect character development and get barely a sneeze of it. There is so much room and so much time for you to really push and question your main characters but it just doesn't get used.

Honestly I think the protagonists all could have probably really benefited from the audience getting to hear their internal monologues if they weren't actually going to talk to their companion characters, but even that would just be a substitute for decent writing.

Either way, after that, we come back to Connor and Hank, who do almost no tasks in this chapter, *but spend the entire time TALKING.* They talk to each other in a constant volley back and forth for the entire length of the chapter and it's probably one of the best chapters in the game, it's certainly one of the most important in their story. You spend the entire bridge scene learning more about Hank and Connor's inner worlds, and how they think, and how they feel, you spend the whole chapter learning so much about their perspectives, this chapter is all about asking the hard questions about both of their individual characters, and the tension is high, it's a straightforward chapter to play, and it really fucking feels like your choices matter here, there will be immediate consequences, not just walking through your environment trying to find the right answer, or being dragged through an interaction. It's just plain good.

And then Markus infiltrates the Stratford Tower, and you get the most boring and useless and frustrating chapter in the game that doesn't seem to serve any purpose beyond looking cool. If Kara's last chapter was only to gain sympathy and create some soft and fuzzy feelings, this chapter is only about looking cinematic. This is probably my least favorite chapter in the game, honestly I've just gotten lost on that yellow ass office floor building too many times, even though I'm very familiar with the game now I still managed to get lost again last night.

I will admit that eventually it does become an opportunity to decide between pacifism and violence but that seems to be the only real development for Markus, and it wouldn't have been hard to make that kind of opportunity in another setting. Because we get next to nothing watching him get past the front desk, or from walking around that floor, just some outfit changes and pretending to be a machine and a little more Android hate in the background, Markus is almost completely silent yet again, there is almost no talking with North once she appears. We actually get more about North's personality here than Markus', she just feels like she has more lines somehow, because sometimes she just talks without it being connected to the plot and Markus never does.

This bit is more speculative, but my fiance and I were going off last night about whyyyy did they have to break into the tower? We're never given any reason for what the steps are and why they are important, just usually pretty important in these mission impossible type scenes, they're usually explaining in a voice-over why they are taking the steps that they are taking. But we get no explanation for why he needs to go to the 47th floor or whatever, No explanation for why he needs to change into a maintenance Android uniform, why North was in the stairwell, how Josh and Simon got in, it's all just handwaved, and whyyyyyy they couldn't have just?? Made a recording and then hacked the station's broadcast remotely and basically just posted the speech? I don't know, it's just a particularly frustrating chapter to play, personally, but it isn't strong.

Either way, you've got two chapters with next to no character development, that just have a lot of empty space and time where the characters could have been talking or could have been doing something else, but didn't because the vibes were more important, sandwiching a simple scene with ten pounds of character development and it just feels weird. And once I noticed it, it just made the Kara and Markus chapters look incredibly weak and poorly written... And conversely, make the Connor and Hank chapter look much, much stronger in comparison.

It's like Detroit become human almost needs it's own type of Bechdel Test, just to show how much they fail Markus and Kara. "Do they talk about something that isn't the plot?"

"Do Kara and Luther talk about something that isn't Alice or getting to Canada?" "Does Markus talk about anything besides his speech for this chapter?" "Does Alice talk at all beyond basic communication with Kara?" "Does Markus or his buddies talk about anything that's not the revolution or just Markus himself?"

... They don't pass a lot.

It's just hard to take these characters above simply *likeable* when they just, don't, ever, talk. There's little to no development for Markus or Kara, and because they've just become deviants, there's hardly any character establishment in the first place, they barely even get the chance to just be flat, because if they don't really know who they are, we don't really know who they are.

Connor and Hank's friendship is more functionally the main plot, more so than the deviant investigation, and for Markus and the team, and Kara with Alice, that's simply just not the case, there is hardly any relationship, they're just in the same boat. This is why Connor got astronomically more popular, and why he and Hank have the staying power that they do.

Markus and Kara just don't ever talk, and Connor does. And I'm fucking mad about it. The amount of time that was just wasted in their stories, I could probably take a damn stopwatch to all the moments where there could have been a little something-something, and nothing was put there. It's not to say Connor doesn't get some quiet moments too but he always gets the chance to make up for it.

Even at the beginning of the Stratford Tower chapter, I noticed that they could have had Simon and North talking about something maybe unrelated when Markus walks up, but there's nothing, only silence until Markus comes in with a plan. And of course we know about every time Luther tries to bring up the fact that Alice is an android, only to be shut down and walked away from. It fucking kills me how much time Mark is has the focus of the camera but it's only so he could look cool for a minute, and share no thoughts of his own, none of his new feelings, everything is only implied and then followed by the action where he is only allowed to be the leader of the revolution and never just Markus. There's a tragedy in that, but they could have driven it home harder by *pointing that out.*

[nevereclipse]

so Bobby's father was an abusive shithead, a violent drunk, right? And Bobby decides not to have kids because he ruins everything he touches and there's no use passing on the cycle. And then he meets John Winchester. And occasionally, John gets Bobby to watch his 11 year old son Dean, and his 7 year old, Sammy. Sure, fine, whatever. That's cool. But then, Bobby finds out exactly what John is like when he's drunk (Dean didn't mean to tell him, it fell out from gritted teeth and held back tears, as he tried not to breath too deeply, lest he cause more pain in his ribs) and by God, does he go mad. Fuck "not passing on the cycle," these boys are his now and he's gonna damn well protect them.

[ardentpoop]

another moment where i have to pause and take a deep breath because i know i'm going to be hit with White Hot Fury when dean opens his stupid mouth

also the thought of baby sam pouring all his guilt out in a confessional booth. AGONY

[hakusins]

OKAY IM NOT MAD AT LEIGHTON ANYMORE BECAUSE I GOT WHITNEY SCENE

[sammy-the-boyking]

dean sending sam a fake text from amelia in s8 and showing absolutely no remorse about it (and in fact, sticking by it and saying he made "the right call") is fucking insane actually

[nym-wibbly]

Was Cas evil in s6?

I don't think so...? I don't think he's evil there - just horribly, destructively and self-destructively wrong, combined with stubborn and prideful and self-righteous. He has plenty of flaws, but he's not evil while he's still Cas. He retains the brainwashed-angel-soldier mindset of, "Some harm is perfectly acceptable for the greater good", while being emotional enough by now to have a slippery grasp on the difference between his own will/needs and the greater good. He hates deceiving Dean but justifies it as 'protecting him'. He knows perfectly well that talking to Dean right back at the start would've put him on a different path, but he can't join the dots on his own and decide that what he's done and plans to do is morally wrong. I'm not sure Cas is capable of that at this point in his evolution.

After he soaks up the souls of Purgatory, it's hard to tell what's the basic messed-up Castiel, what's power-corrupted Cas, and what's Leviathan-influenced. None of Supernatural's antagonists are simple, and most of them are tragic in the "This could all have been avoided, if only—" way.

[roguegrove]

astarion girlies are dean girlies. gale girlies are probably sam girlies.

[crucifysam]

john ‘enrolling’ sam into a private school to gather information from his peers about the mysterious deaths that’ve been happening there and sam somehow wiggles his way into a friend group

i looooveeeee thinking about sam pretending he comes from this really well-off family and just generally being a little shit to ‘fit-in’ and gather intel

[kater-tot66]

FIRST TIME SPN WATCH THROUGH HERE

DEAR GOD I DID NOT EXPECT FUCKIN ZACHABASTARD TO KISS MARY'S MEMORY ON THE NECK ANDTHENCALLHERAMILF

DAY RUINED I FUCKING HATE THIS MAN GET AWAY GROSS EWEWEWEW

[tsukiyo-7]

Have I ever told you that apparently I can draw?