#i like one (1) episode with soulless!sam

[scoobydoodean]

saw someone say that sam is the only one in tfw whose trauma is sexualised... and I just want to know what show they watched because that's the most blatantly untrue thing I've ever seen. truly glad to find some people on tumblr like you who seem to actually have watched the show so thank you for that

Not exactly sure how to interpret this the way it's phrased. If the idea is that Sam is the only one who faces trauma that has sexual undertones or overtones...

In 1.20, a rapist vampire forces her tongue down Dean's throat while another vampire watches appreciatively. This is also all happening while John and Sam are using Dean as bait.

In 3.01, Dean is attacked by Lust.

In 4.03 while Dean is tied up, Azazel sniffs at his neck while wearing his grandfather, Samuel.

In 4.05, Dean is undressed by the Dracula shifter while unconscious and then dressed in lederhosen.

We... all saw Alastair, right? Like. Just watch the guy in a single scene. How he talks to and looks at people. How he talks to and looks at Dean. ("They sliced and carved and tore at me in ways that..." - Dean in 4.10 talking about hell). (Also this)

In 4.14, Dean swaps spit with a siren and is put under it's control.

In season 5, saying "yes" to an angel is repeatedly compared to sex acts by Dean.

In 5.01, Meg forces a kiss on Dean.

In 6.05, Soulless Sam uses Dean as unwilling bait. Dean is attacked in an alley by a rapist vampire who calls him "pretty" and then later in the episode, the same vampire asks Dean if he wants "the private tour" while looking him up and down.

Multiple instances in 6.09

In 6.09, Meg sits on a tied up Dean's lap and puts a knife to his throat, and says "Satisfy me or I please myself". Afterwards, she tells Dean "don't pretend you don't enjoy it".

This moment also in 6.09.

This moment from 8.03.

Abaddon says a range of creepy, sexual things to Dean while overpowering him. [Ex 1]

Lots of heavy implications in season 10.

The Amara plot line.

Dean being tied to an altar as a sacrifice for a tentacle monster.

Whole season 14 Michael possession plot.

Didn't make it to film but "Wide-eyed hitchhiker routine" (14.14)

In 15.05, Lilith says that Chuck has a "Very weird, very pervvy obsession" with Dean. (Pair this with Dean being "full frontal" in the Supernatural books according to 5.18).

Then there's Cas, who is almost murdered by a woman he had sex with in 9.03, and who also gets possessed by Lucifer, and who was lobotomized 5 billion times for being in love with Dean.

My tag #dont objectify me! might be of interest.

[queermania]

hi i recently came across your blog and have been reading a lot of your posts about dean - your analysis is incredible. i was wondering... in your opinion, which arc is the worst when it comes to deancrits misunderstanding/critiquing dean unfairly?

so i'm 50/50 on whether this is genuine or bait. if it's not bait, i'm so sorry. you did nothing wrong. it's just that i get a lot of messages that are so very clearly not in good faith. if it is bait, well, joke's on you because i'm about to say a bunch of words and a bunch of people are gonna read them. so.

i think the most obvious answer to your question is the jack situation but i'm not sure it's the correct one. i think by the time we even get to jack (especially to the soulless!jack part of it all) a lot of people have already sort of lost the plot on why dean is ever behaving the way he is. there's this tendency to view his behavior as if he wants to control the people closest to him, not always because he's inherently malicious but often because he wants to keep them safe and keep them close to him to the detriment of himself and everyone around him (see look! it's not deancrit! we know he's not a bad guy. we're just being objective and he's just an abusive asshole who should burn in hell). and i get it. i see how they got there.

but it's frustrating because how they got there is by 1. taking every single thing the characters say at face value despite all evidence to the contrary 2. viewing every single thing dean does or says in a vacuum, removed from any and all context and 3. forgetting that supernatural is a fantasy show, not a family drama or sitcom.

take the demon blood story line for example. what we actually see is:

sam going on a mission for revenge regardless of the costs or consequences (which he's aware exist even if he doesn't know the exact details)

dean trusting his brother until he finds out his brother's been lying to him

sam being told that what he's doing is wrong on multiple occasions by multiple people

dean offering ruby his gratitude for saving sam's life and an apology for the way he's been treating her since he got back from hell

sam continuing to lie and act shady

dean telling sam that he doesn't care about the demon blood/sam's powers, he just cares about sam's behavior

sam draining an entire nurse and killing her

sam almost killing dean on purpose and telling him he's not strong enough, not like sam is

dean still being the one to offer an apology when all is said and done, twice

but all of that gets rewritten into a narrative that dean's just never trusted sam ever and sam was only doing something he thought was right because all he ever wanted to do was save people. how could he have possibly known something bad would happen? and now, even after the fact, even after sam's said he's sorry, dean still won't let it go and holds it against sam forever and ever.

this narrative persists throughout the fandom. why? because sam threw a few tantrums in which he rewrote what was happening and dean didn't protest and the fandom took it at face value. (1)

on top of that, deancrits treat each of dean's actions like they happened in a vacuum. one of the things deancrits fixate on the most regarding the demon blood plot is dean saying, "You walk out that door, don't you ever come back." in 4x21. they treat it as if dean was being controlling and manipulative; abusive, even. they treat it as if, out of nowhere, dean just decided to throw john's words in sam's face because sam simply wouldn't do what dean wanted him to do.

what actually happened, however, was that sam had been lying to dean for twenty-one episodes about what he was doing, despite the continued warnings not to do what he was doing, and now sam had beaten the shit out of dean, left him bruised and bloodied on the floor, to go do something that dean had been told repeatedly, from a source they all thought was the authority on the subject, that sam absolutely should not do. what actually happened was dean made a last-ditch desperate effort to stop his brother from doing something dangerous that would get himself and possibly a lot of other people killed. (2)

the deancrits also tend to magically forget they're watching a genre show, not a family drama, when it comes to analyzing dean. the source of conflict wasn't that dean just didn't like sam's new girlfriend because sam trusted her more than him. it was that sam's new girlfriend was a demon and dean had just gotten back from forty years in hell being tortured... by demons. it was that dean had angels of the lord, before he really knew that the angels couldn't be trusted, telling him he needed to stop sam. it was that the angel that rescued him from an eternity of torture and becoming a demon himself told him that he needed to stop sam. (3)

so the deancrits frame this conflict between sam and dean as if dean just didn't trust sam, for no reason other than sam was hanging out with somebody else, and dean was being irrational about it. after all, sam was only trying to stop lilith, right? dean was being irrational and controlling. and it sounds reasonable when you look at it from their perspective. but their perspective is not anywhere near the reality of what was actually happening.

and that happens over and over and over again. we see it with the idea that dean is the one who is codependent to a toxic degree, despite all evidence to the contrary*. we see it with the idea that dean thinks all monsters should die and sam wants to save/help them. we see it with the conflict in s6 being framed as dean just being angry that cas dared to do something without his permission. we see it with the fractured relationship between the brothers in s8, both regarding dean's return from purgatory and the trials. we see it with the gadreel arc and then the one with cas leading the angels. we see it with the mark of cain and the darkness. we see it with mary's return. and then we see it with jack, and most especially we see it with soulless!jack.

it's all so exhausting. by the time we get to jack, the deancrit has piled up the same way the narrative circumstances weighing on dean have, and so it feels like deancrits are fundamentally misunderstanding the situation more severely than they have anything else but i think in reality it's just the last straw.

so i guess what i'm trying to say is that the misunderstanding isn't necessarily about the individual arcs but about the way a genre story is told in general. they're not just unfairly critiquing an arc. they're mischaracterizing a whole ass dude and fifteen seasons of a show.

*dean dragged sam back into hunting. how do we know that? because sam said it. what did we actually see? dean bringing sam back to stanford for his interview. sam going back to hunting because of the fire that killed jess. dean wanting to take a break from hunting several times while sam kept pushing them to keep going. dean wanting to split up and stay away from each other for awhile after the demon blood thing. sam leaving amelia before he even knew dean was alive/back from purgatory. dean telling sam to go back to amelia. sam choosing, all on his own, not to go back to amelia. sam basically threatening suicide because dean had other friends. sam unleashing the darkness because he didn't want to be alone. etc. etc. etc.

**also i think there is a conversation to be had about dean's coping mechanisms and trauma responses being less palatable though not anymore harmful than both sam's and castiel's but that's a different conversation for a different day

[autisticandroids]

Hey ur my fave spn blogger by far (heavy is the head that has the crown etc etc) it occurred to me I've never heard u talk in Bobby? Any thoughts? Id love to hear em.

hey! so this is an interesting question. probably the reason i don't post much about bobby has to do with the fact that... well... i actually broadly enjoy bobby, and i enjoy him for exactly the same basic, surface level reasons as the show expects me to.

like, normally, if i'm watching supernatural, i am at least somewhat in conflict with the text. it expects me to like things i don't like (these are called "dogshit episodes" and they're a common hazard), and when i do like it it's often not really for the reasons that the show is expecting me to like it.

like... if you really want to see me shout and cheer, you should see what it looks like when i rewatch exile on main st., but neither a randomly selected mainstream audience nor miss gamble herself would necessarily agree with or even understand why i was doing so. like my enjoyment of that episode requires a lot of interpretive effort.

but fast forward three episodes to weekend at bobby's, and i could sit in a room with a general audience person, a reddit bro, a wincestie, and dabb/lofflin themselves and we would all basically have the same watch experience. i might be critical of the treatment of japanese culture, or annoyed by the way crowley's heel turn was handled, or something else, some specific element. but in terms of the broad strokes - bobby going around doing things, hunting a case, existing in relationships with a series of other characters - i like it for exactly the reason i'm meant to.

and that's kind of how bobby as a character is for me. there just isn't a lot of distance between what i'm supposed to enjoy and what i do enjoy. and it's that distance, and the interpretive labor required to close it, that generates thoughts, and thoughts are what generates posts. which means i don't really have a ton of posts about bobby.

i guess i will say... i used to be cautiously pro-killing-bobby-off in s7, definitely more than other characters who died in gamble era. because i was like "man, you gotta kill the father figure." that's the nature of these things. but upon rewatch, i actually think bobby's role as father figure is overstated. certainly it's overstated by the fandom, but even in the show to an extent. although i will concede a bit because i love when soulless sam tries to kill him. only good thing that happens in appointment in samarra. but overall bobby is as much just a friend as he is a father, you know? he engages with the boys on much more equal terms than a parent does.

but anyway. i don't like that they killed him because 1) they kept bringing him back, frequently stupidly. i liked safe house, but otherwise i am against basically all of bobby's appearances post-s7. i guess inside man was fine, but like. that's just the thing. it was fine. resoundingly okay. and safe house could easily have happened with bobby alive, just like. have him having the flashback. and 2) i think it has a bad effect on the show because like... after bobby died, the interpersonal conflict became even more dour. and it's already so fucking dour. there are no outside characters whatsoever to observe when things happen and so stuff spirals into madness even more and worse than it used to. no one is there to yell at dean the way bobby did in season four, you know? and then 3) i just enjoy bobby a lot i'm an enjoyer. i would have liked the show more if he stuck around in a meaningful way (and not just as a constantly recurring oh he's back from the dead for an episode plot).

[welcometololaland]

2023 CHARACTER WRAPPED

i saw @ajcrowleys do this and i wanted to do my own - hopefully you don't mind!

rules: share your top 9 characters from the year (or 10. lol. i cheated)

(spoiler: mine are in no particular order except for alex who is always no. 1)

1. Alex Claremont-Diaz, RWRB

(will always be my number 1 - you can pry him from my cold, soulless hands. there will never come a day when alex is not my spirit character)

2. TK Strand, 911 Lone Star

(someone in the alta comments described him as a horny, bitchy tamagotchi and i died. he is the greatest feral cat to sassy husband transformation ever. don't get me started on The Hand Gesture)

3. Veronica Mars, Veronica Mars

(annoy, tiny blonde one. annoy like the wind! The definition of a badass bitch)

4. Jake Seresin, Top Gun Maverick

(if we wanna talk bitchy tamagotchis, here's one. he also comes in arrogant idiot and cowboy!)

5. Eli "Weevil" Navarro, Veronica Mars

(this episode is my favourite episode EVER. little bit bad boy, little bit sweetheart, I can't get over the biker gang leader with the heart of gold)

6. Carlos Reyes, 911 Lone Star

(i gotta say, carlos lost me a little bit in season 4, but i'll never get over the soulmates scene and he's just all around a favourite AND SO DAMN PRETTY)

7. Marjan Marwani, 911 Lone Star

(marjan's episode in season 4 was - aside from 4 x 16 - my favourite episode. some of the best plot lines that season and natacha really killed it!)

8. Sam Obisanya, Ted Lasso

(i watched ted lasso for the first time this year and i am just OBSESSED with this man. he's so damn sweet and true to himself. GOLD)

9. Paul Strickland, 911 Lone Star

(this man is literally out here officiating weddings, solving mysteries, putting out fires and making a mean chilli. like he does THE MOST. hats off)

10. Keeley Jones (and Jamie Tartt and Roy Kent), Ted Lasso

(not afraid to say i love the throuple but ALSO i just feel like all three of these characters had such beautiful arcs in ted lasso, i can't possibly choose one so i have to choose them all)

i'll open tag this one and also tag @strandnreyes @guardian-angle22 @inexplicablymine @three-drink-amy @fitzherbertssmolder @heartstringsduet @birdclowns @beautifulhigh @reyesstrand @lutavero @stereopticons @statueinthestone @apothecarose @celeritas2997 @goodways @carlos-in-glasses @theghostofashton @thebumblecee @reasonandfaithinharmony @happiness-of-the-pursuit @suseagull04 @whattarush @kiwiana-writes @alltheprettyplaces @lyhrcyrianne @st-elle-ar @fckingyrs @fuckingyrs @thisbuildinghasfeelings @tiffanymaxwels @lemonlyman-dotcom

[bitchface24-7]

This song came on the radio the other day and I completely forgot it existed. Missed my exit on the highway cause I was brainrotting applying this to Sam and Dean.

It’s called Don’t Speak by No Doubt. Hear me out. (Idk if the sound thing below is gonna work so just listen to the song anywhere you can :) )

Verse 1:

You and me. We used to be together. Every day together, always. I really feel… That I'm losing my best friend. I can't believe this could be the end… It looks as though you're letting go. And if it's real… Well, I don't want to know.

This can be pre-series up to when Sam left for Stanford. Like, tell me that doesn’t sound like Dean’s inner monologue regarding his and Sam’s relationship and how it took a complete 180. Sam’s leaving, he’s leaving behind Dean and the life they’ve always known. Dean is losing his best friend. You can also add in all the possessions (Mark of Cain, Lucifer x Sam, Micheal x Dean, Demon Blood Addict Sam, Soulless Sam, etc.)

Verse 2:

… Our memories. They can be inviting, But some are altogether mighty frightening… As we die, both you and I. With my head in my hands I sit and cry.

This verse can be that whole heaven episode where literally ALL OF DEANS HAPPY MEMORIES included Sam, and Dean wasn’t present in any of Sam’s (I know Sam’s heaven was being manipulated but Dean doesn’t)

Don’t even get me started on the dying line. The two have died like 193,637 times. It fits.

Verse 3:

… It's all ending. We gotta stop pretending who we are. You and me, I can see us dyin'. Are we?

This can mean so many things. It can mean the apocalypse and them becoming the vessels for Lucifer and Micheal, it can mean literally at the finale where Dean dies and Sam’s heart dies with him. It can mean all the times they hurt each other (where they purposely aim for the jugular in insults) and their heart breaks a bit more each time. It can be their psychotic breaks when the other dies.

It just… it can mean so much!

The Chorus:

… Don't speak. I know just what you're sayin'. So please stop explainin'. Don't tell me 'cause it hurts… No, no, don't speak. I know what you're thinkin' and I don't need your reasons. Don't tell me 'cause it hurts… Don't tell me 'cause it hurts

No chick-flick moments!! These two know each other better than they know themselves. They don’t need to talk to understand one another. Besides, they’re shit at words anyway. Typically (and accidentally) hurting one another with their words in later seasons when they meant to help instead. They were better at verbal comfort in the earlier seasons. I take it as inconsistent writing.

Extra Lyrics for Ending Chorus

I know what you're sayin'. So please stop explainin'. Don't speak. Don't speak… Don't speak, no. I know what you're thinkin', and I don't need your reasons. I know you're good. I know you're good. I know you're real good, oh… La, la, la, la. La, la, la, la. Don't, don't, oh, oh. Hush, hush, darling. Hush, hush, darling. Hush, hush. Don't tell 'cause hurts… Hush, hush, darling. Hush, hush, darling. Hush, hush. Don't tell 'cause hurts

This one is just full of comfort isn’t it? Hush hush darling, don’t tell me cause it hurts? It sounds like honestly either one of the brothers telling each other, “I know you. I know what you’re trying to say before you say it. Don’t second guess that. We accidentally sharpen our words against one another when scared. I’m here. Don’t worry.”

Like… AHHHHHH!!! I know this songs genre doesn’t really fit in with Sam and Dean’s “aesthetic” but the message sure does.

[sacrificialsam]

this isn't too substantiated but sam and financial autonomy does bring up some interesting points. in season 1 sam criticizes dean's ways of getting money multiple times, and in episodes like bloody mary and asylum we get this perspective that dean is both the breadwinner and bank between the brothers, sam is dependent on him. if i remember correctly one of the novels also had a line about sam having 'no marketable skills' or something along the line, him having no reliable way of earning money when dean goes to hell and he is left behind. also, as much as i hate the episode, i totally believe that in scenarios like bad boys or their childhood in general sam had no money of his own and relied on dean to buy essentials, him having no or very little input. if dean messes up sam pays the price, but he has no chance to change the outcome. it gets better obviously, we see sam working in season 5 when he and dean separate, in tall tales they have a squabble over their individual finances, sam generally gets by ok when he and dean go their own ways for a bit. but he never has the financial independence he had at stanford, as soon as dean is there sam is forced to become financially dependent on him. related is that, while sam steals cars multiple times, he has no real autonomy when it comes to movement either, because he doesn't have the time and money and expertise to upkeep a car of his own (excluding soulless sam having one for a short time).

[fratricideknight]

Do you have a favourite sam hair era? Mine was in season 1 and 2 when it wasn't that long yet but still had the cute curls at the ends

don't even get me started! (sorry for how long this is. there's a tl;dr if you don't wanna read.)

just the fact that sam has longer hair is a gigantic plus with me. i love his hair so much, it looks so soft and gorgeous. i'm really enamored with that anime-esque style, so when a physical man (and a real one, bc jared) manages to pull it off, my heart is instantly stolen.

as for specific standouts: season 1, as you said. it's just so cute! and the bangs never reappear so i'm particularly fond of them. season 1a especially, when his hair curled up so much at the ends, with the gorgeous lighting which made him look so good - *chefs kiss*. i love it when they let his hair go curly, which is why i think his pilot hair is cute but i prefer the overall s1 hairstyle.

i adore the s3/s4 hair, too. i view it as an improvement on the s2 hair, but idk, maybe that will change when i rewatch. the side part is probably better suited to him than the bangs as he gets older, and the little curls stay (esp. in s3), so it's a win.

i love the longer hair. s7 was dragged down by the sideburns and was too straight imo, as far as i can remember, but season 6 had its moments! maybe that's just because soulless!sam was hot, though, lol. as for the king of long hair: i. love. the season 8 hair. both 8a and 8b had their moments. i haven't watched it in a while, though. all i remember is that he glowed. i would have loved it if they let his hair go full wavy, even for just half a season, but it had the flicks so it passes with flying colours.

s9 hair was cute, too, because it was allowed to curl! a little, anyway. let this man's hair curl! tbh, though, by this stage everything becomes kinda fuzzy. i need to rewatch these seasons to get a grasp on the hair (i wish). s12 was kind of a return to form (?) with more structure than the preceding seasons so that was cute; all i really remember is the time he dressed as a priest and it was hot but i feel bad admitting that. also he looked really cute in a sweater in the same episode. you look good in anything, but please wear something other than flannel, sam. s14 hair was kinda similar (i think) and he had a beard!!! for a few episodes. so that was fun. i like the beard tbh, just not too long. dean deserved to burn for 40 more years for telling sam to shave it.

tl;dr: i love the longer hairstyles, but s1 is probably my favourite atm bc i love the bangs and i love s1. my fav varies, though.

thank you for giving me an excuse to ramble about sam's hair 💕

[demon-animatronic]

Found this Supernatural ask meme by funnycas or whoever they may be now cause god knows how old this is.

Also I’m bored as fuck at work at 4:25 AM.

Favorite male character - Crowley my beloved

Favorite female character - Jody

Favorite actor - Mark Sheppard, Jared Padelecki and Jensen Ackles

Favorite actress - her name escapes me but its Jody’s actress.

Favorite episode - All the monster of the weeks from seasons 1-11. Plus season 8 finale and episode before the S8 finale.

Favorite quote - “No one in the history of torture will be tortured with the torture you’ll be tortured with.” Or however that line goes. Deleted wise: “Even when I lose, I win.”

Favorite season - 1-5 plus 8

OTP - Crobby and Crowleyxmyself

NOTP - Sam and Becky

BROTP - Dean and Benny + Dean and Crowley

Favorite demon - My main babe Crowley

Favorite angel - Cas and Gabe

Favorite monster - Does Garth count considering…

How did I discovered Supernatural? - Netflix suggested it to me ages ago when season 8 either was still airing or just finished.

Have I ever been to a con? - Yep in Pittsburgh!

Make me choose between two characters - Crowley or anyone? Who do you think?

Make me choose between two ships - No.

Top 5 characters - Crowley, Sam, Dean, Cas, Bobby

Top 5 ships - I don’t have that many ships for the show

Top 5 angels - Cas, Gabe, Balthazar, Gadreel, and the douchebag Metatron.

Top 5 demons - Crowley, Crowley, Crowley, Crowley, and Crowley. I genuinely don’t care about other demons except maybe Meg 2.0

EDIT: How the fuck did I forget my boy Cain?! Especially when I talk about Psych too lol

Top 5 monsters - Ghosts, Werewolves, demons, shapeshifters, and changelings were freaky

Favorite fanfic - ….no.

Most hated character - Casifer

Favorite villain - Crowley in season 8. Lucifer in the early seasons

Character I think I’m more alike - probably Sam and Charlie

Dream crossover - Supernatural and Psych even though it makes zero sense and different channels and all.

Character death that I’m not over yet - Crowley :(

Most layered character - Crowley

Character I have a crush on - Crowley

Actor/Actress I have a crush on - Mark Sheppard

Scariest moment - Dunno off the top of my head.

Favorite moment - Crowley being hugged and thanked for once in his sad demon life. And Dean telling him family doesn’t end with blood or however that scene went.

Funniest moment - Dunno

Saddest moment - I think we all know the saddest moment for me

Most beautiful scene - when Bobby got to go to heaven

Unanswered questions: Literally anything about Crowley before season 5

Couple I’d like to become canon - None tbh

Actor/Actress I’d like to see on the show - can’t answer it’s over now

Do I own anything related to the show? - a bunch of shit I have laying around.

Do I have any tattoos related to the show? - no

Most boring plotline? - the Leviathans and season 12 as a whole

My less favorite season - 12-15

Most well done character death - Jo & Ellen

Most well done character development - Dean’s

Character I wish I could bring back - Kevin Tran

One thing I really hope to happen - Nothing since it’s over

Favorite relationship - None

Top 3 crack ships - *Shrugs*

Characters I wish they’ve met - Crowley and Charlie. Actually Crowley and anyone he hadn’t met yet.

Demon!Dean or MoC!Dean? - MoC!Dean

Soulless!Sam or BoyKing!Sam? - BoyKing

Jimmy Novak or Emmanuel? - Jimmy

Godstiel or Casifer? - Godstiel. Fuck Casifer and what he did to my husband.

Crowley or Lucifer? - Crowley

Did I joined tumblr because of the show? - No

Did I watched the show because of tumblr? - No

What characters from other shows I’d like to see on Supernatural? - Psych. Be weird with Cain and Zachariah being Lassie and Woody

Do I still like the show? - Absolutely. Even though I was done with it for several years after the season 12 finale. My recent reoccurring dreams of Crowley brought me back to it.

Did Supernatural really ruined my social life? - Did I even have one to begin with?

Is my blog just about Supernatural? - My blog literally changes with my latest obsessions.

Do I have cast members I don’t really like? - Not really

Characters that deserved better - Crowley

Am I excited for the new season? - ….

Early seasons or the recent ones? - 1-5 plus 8-10

Top 10 Supernatural blogs on tumblr that I really love - I think they are all dead.

5 things I love most about (insert character’s name here) Crowley: Hot, Charming, his accent, his beard in later seasons, He’d kill for you if you’re his friend

Human!Cas or Angel!Cas? - Angel with his wings

Who I’d like to play human!impala? - god damn I wish this happened.

Did Supernatural changed my life in any way? - Not really.

[shallowseeker]

Dean's farewell tour + avoiding Cas, Part 1

SPN 14x11, 14x12, 14x14:

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

When Dean has decided to "check out" of the fight in 14x11 Damaged Goods and 14x12 Prophet and Loss, we get a wonderful tale of leaning on your brother and mother to find strength to face your battles. Dean goes on a little farewell tour and starts to open up to friends and family, mustering up physical affection and attempting the important emotional conversations surrounding regrets/love that he's always wanted to communicate with them (outlined below).

Cas n' Jack, sidestepped:

But when Dean decides to throw himself into the ocean, he leaves out Cas and Jack. Why? Because, as he admits in 14x12, he can't afford to get "shaky:"

Sam, for all his emotional analytics, fails to recognize the gravity of this giant omission. Omission is admission. Cas and Jack are the things that would get Dean not to jump into the ocean. That's why Dean is avoiding them. Dean doesn't want to get emotional and change his mind. Sam, bless him, has a great deal of cognitive empathy, but he misses giant neon signs like this pretty often during the course of Supernatural. (Geez, I love that about him.)

Here, Sam is stuck in a childish arrested development. That is, he assumes Mary and Dean are mostly focused on Sam himself and thus Sam holds the most sway on family decision-making.

Sam often seems to lack a high degree of natural emotional empathy. He has to work at it. (I think Dean and Cas seem to connect more with other characters: they often showcase true emotional empathy and are typically a little more insightful. Soulless Jack aside, this is a trait Jack shares with Dean and Cas.)

Sam will miss the point when Cas tentatively suggests that he himself speak with Dean. With time ticking away, Sam'd rather have Cas on research duty, and that's not impractical, per se…

Next to Sam, Cas is THE guy for coming up with creative solutions, so Sam wants him looking for Sergei and angel-speed-reading through the Lore. The only time Sam breaks with wanting Cas on strategy will be in terminal SPN, in episode 15x17: "Just get home."

///

At the end of 14x11, Dean will tell Sam that he's the last person he can be around, perhaps the even only person who can talk him out of this. This could be true. So why is Dean avoiding Cas then?

A) Cas holds more sway than Dean can admit to others, it's a sway he can barely even face.

B) Maybe Dean believes Cas can't talk him out if it, but Dean can't emotionally handle a big farewell without accidentally telling Cas...things. The last time Dean tried, there was a time pressure: Amara. Dean was able to safely deliver a neutral best friend-brothers-in-arms speech. This time, he fears it won't go that smoothly.

Now, he's either afraid he'll say too much to Cas...or too little. It's distinctiy different in character to the others. Dean even seems to get a little flustered in 14x12 when Cas calls him on the phone.

It’s a glaring tell.

///

Sam:

Previously, in 14x11, when Dean is processing his goodbye to Sam, he hugs him, something that immediately sets off Sam's spidey senses, as they're not a "huggy" family. Dean hugs Sam:

///

Sam sounds the alarm to Mary (and presumably to Cas):

///

Later in 14x12, Dean is able to drudge out his practices, heavy Big Goodbye speech to Sam, apologizing for their childhood and letting loose a lifetime of regrets. Indirectly, he's telling Sam he loves him. This is a pretty remarkable show of emotion, one that Dean will mirror with Mary during their cooking adventure.

Dean digs up his deepest emotions surrounding his history with Sam and opens up about them here:

///

Donna:

In 14x11, with Mary and Donna, Dean is partially motivated to make use of the cabin, but he emotionally cannot resist including Donna is his goodbye tour.

They chat about relationships and kids over burgers.

Dean resists big emotional speeches with Donna. Despite her ditzy act, she's too astute.

But he is warm and physically affectionate--this is Dean's actual default when handling emotion he can actually bear to handle:

///

Mary and Cas next...

[doberbutts]

Episode 6 of ROP has me still rolling my eyes at two specific annoying Tolkien fanboy camps.

Camp 1: I can’t believe Galadriel is so unlikeable she basically called for genocide.

Bro elves canonically hate orcs and want them completely eradicated and Tolkien himself struggled repeatedly with the concept of a race that is completely soulless and entirely evil that should only ever be destroyed. The fact that ROP made that argument- that orcs have souls and aren’t pure evil, just raised in cruelty and controlled by the forces of evil, and that they are just as deserving of life and the ability to choose their path as anyone else. We know that Tolkien struggled with the genocidal aspect of the Good Guys’ feelings towards orcs and yet he never quite managed to resolve it. And I think with the way he wrote orcs’ creation and history over the years, he probably would have to make some really major edits to his story and world to allow for Good Guy Orcs to be a thing.

(it’s ok these particular Tolkien fans also tend to forget that orcs have yellow-tinged or sallow skin and were made to be stereotypical caricatures of the Mongols, including their language and what they call themselves, and as a result are one of the major reasons Tolkien’s writings are called racist being that they were written by an old white Catholic veteran in the UK in the early 1900s aka directly during the time of the “Yellow Peril”)

Camp 2: lmao volcanos don’t work like that/the volcano is unrealistic

This one is particularly funny because geologists keep replying to these posts saying “volcanos very work like that” and “the most unrealistic part of this is that you think Galadriel couldn’t survive this:”

“But Sam and Frodo can survive this:”

“When Word of God says elves can survive things normal humans can’t and that it takes way more effort to kill an elf than anything else, and hobbits are basically just Humans But Small and so if anyone should be dying in a volcano blast...”

[standardquip]

Supernatural Anything

(seasons 1 - 8)

Video: Supernatural Audio: Snow Patrol – Somewhere a Clock is Ticking Premiere Date: 2013 Status: Downloadable, Streamable Genre(s): Drama, Serious, Action Cons/Awards: n/a Outside Links: n/a Categories: Music videos

Original 2013 description:

This was.. Quite an undertaking. Stumbled over the song, immediately thought I could make a music video using “Watchmen”. Then for whatever reason I told myself “Supernatural” would fit better. I only make one music video a year these days, and this one struck me in february 2013. I put this off many times, because I got stuck. I completed the bulk of it around April, then waited for season 8 to end. I finished it up in the last few weeks of august. This was an experiment with mattes. So many mattes… I like the outcome, but it’s very time consuming. 1 hour to complete about 10 seconds, that’s not counting the time it took to make all the mattes. And there are so many episodes of this show. I will probably not edit something from a show with so many episodes ever again. To be frank, without the episode summaries from wikipedia and the “character appearances” sections of the supernatural wiki, this thing would have never been completed. Ever. I ended up trimming down the song a bit. It still works well. Originally this was only doing seasons 1 – 5, but then I switched it around so now it has all the big plot points between Sam, Dean, and Castiel from seasons 1 – 8. The video does not follow the series timeline rigidly. I took artistic liberty in attempt to create a cohesive music video storyline, so it made sense just watching the video, and you don’t ask why something is suddenly this or that. I tried very hard to avoid random scenes that would take away the overall feel. So some things that you may have expected to see are not there. And one major thing is that demon and soulless sam are combined in this. I don’t consider it AU. Just storytelling with a strict time limit. Well, I’ve pretty much written a novel now, so… Have at the video.

[bi-lullaby]

I love talking about SPN with you! Tough challenge if you're up for it: rank all 15 seasons from your personal favorite to least favorite, no ties allowed :) Have fun!

Oh dear. What a predicament you’ve put me in!

1. 1 (solid choice, me thinks. The vibes are Unparalleled. Introduced me to the LOML, Dean. Their early dynamics? Figuring out who they are, who the other is, who their family is? ugh. My heart. Also super interesting MootW episodes, charismatic, the cinematography deserves it’s own spot in the list, we feel like the Winchesters: operating from a shadowed world that’s interwoven with ours but also separate)

2. 2 (still the same vibes of the first but also angrier? there’s findings and secrets and an overachieving trama of trauma and family and grief and deep wounds from the past and revenge and worry. love it)

3. 4 (It makes me angry, sad, happy, hopeful, devastated, all of that at once and then more. I feel it’s one of the most fundamental stories to the plot of everything that comes later and it sets what came before against a solid background of the whole angels/demons/apocalypse/vessels/fate narrative, sets up a lot of the lore, it’s just genuinely good and enjoyable. Great television.)

4. 5 (The world is ending and we have no hope to stop it and yet we will? ugh. Also the reconnection of the boys. Fighting so hard for a goal that seems impossible and finding their way back tot he other. I feel this is when Cas becomes more friend than ally, which is lovely. The longing, the grief, the guilt, the horror, the hopeless and yet that doesn’t take away their fight in the end. Also In the End and Dark Side of The Moon are just. Spectacular. This one gets me every time)

5. 3 (so much angst. so much uncertainty. The unknowns. I feel this one isn’t higher only bc I watched already knowing the outcome or most of it in a way, bc I knew Dean would be alive and well for years to come bc I started when spn was further along, but for fans who watched on time? must have been a punch to the stomach).

6. 8 (I hadn’t realized how much I loved season 8 until today lol, lots of annoyances and grievances but still I enjoy and analyze it to death. I love love love Purgatory, the dynamics of the Purgatory Trio, BENNY, Kevin as a bigger character, the animosity between Sam and Dean (srsly, I think all the fics I have written mention/deal with this issue bc I’m just fascinated by both their headspaces in this and how it impacts them going forward. The trials are interesting although I felt they were a bit mishandled, and of course the many fallouts from it.)

7. 9 (same initial comment as season 8 tbh. I feel like early seasons dean is hanging on by a thread to the very end of his rope (trauma, pain, grief, etc etc) but he is hanging in there, ya know? And he wants to fight and he knows his whys. then as the years go on and the losses pile on and the pains and the more and more he’s backed into impossible corners he loses the will to hang on and I think this season is the one where we see in look at that rope and go “and why the fuck am I holding on to this?” and it’s painful and heartbreaking but also makes you cheer him on and wish for him to fet through this. I like the Bunker being a more established home base for them. I enjoy Abbadon and Metraton as antagonists although I do feel they ended up… Underwhelming? Underexplored? And Dean’s is one of my ‘favorite’ deaths the boys had. It’s so impactful and poignant.

8. 12 (I almost put it lower but alas, so many Dean/Dean-Mary dynamics moments I could not. Not the biggest fan of the BMoL but I see where they were going. I think bringing Mary back was a move that could have gone horribly wrong and in a sense I feel like it maybe wasn’t the most thematically consistent? but it allowed for fun explorations of many characters. Also, Regarding Dean is off the charts good.)

9. 6 (ohh the drama. the fallout. the would’ves should’ves could’ves. I have a love-hate relationship with soulless!sam that tends more towards love but overall a great one. I miss Lisa, there, I said it. I loved them together. I wanted them to remain that way. I loved seeing Dean be turned into a vamp, also.)

10. 10 (not much to say. I adore MoC and all about it, but I do wish some things were better handled/had more impact/were more thought out/better shown etc. Overall, great idea, not my favorite execution).

11. 11 (again, love parts, don’t love others so much. I will say, in my “dean lets go of his rope” analogy, this one is where I think he’s slowly starting to climb out of the hole he’s fallen into and see “his whys” more clearly again).

12. 7 (idk why people seem to hate 7 so much? I can’t say it’s supper impacting but it has it’s positives. And Bobby’s death! It’s so impactful, it’s genuinely a mark of splitting eras in my mind.)

13. 14. (Michael!Dean my dearest of dears. You were not here for long enough. Makes me angry and a little bitter but also great moments).

14. 13 (if you put a gun to my head I can’t recall season 13 specifically? felt like a “bridge” season ig, and I just… Don’t enjoy Jack. I know many people do, and you do you, absolutely! But he just felt like a shoehorned in deus ex machina wrapped in Cas’s more cute mannerisms and I just never connected with him or really enjoyed him as part of the family or the themes that followed his appearance).

15. (will never accept, will never like, will never enjoy, the ending is responsible for 97% of the hate for the whole season but tbh the forced “ohh look we’re meeetaaaa! it’s the lasssst sssseassssonnn” in your face level of annoyance didn’t make it all that great either. No but srsly don’t even get me started on the ending. I could spend an hour just incoherently babbling and crying and still not get my dislike across correctly).

This was quite tough, really. Thanks for the brain teaser, dearie!

[catsconflictscopicsandchamomile]

Spn postcanon updates:

First of all, there’s a big update on the Blatantly Meta side of things that I’m not quite sure how to speak on appropriately. This take on spn postcanon being what it is, it both is a massive crossover, inevitably MUST include meta/irl stuff relating to the media involved, and, truly infuriatingly in this case, absolutely makes perfect coherent sense with said irl events and even provided perfectly-timed leadup.

That being said, in-universe and irl it happened so fast, and was devastating in a way that nobody could have predicted.

Lucifer returning to massacre Hell’s lower levels should have been a warning.

The Metatron approaching Frenchfuck over here so blatantly and offering salvation in exchange for information really should have been a warning.

What happened to Ezekiel (an old alias, but yknow what? sure) the week before really, really, REALLY should have been a warning. Even though he was confirmed to have made it back to Heaven almost immediately with commendations for physical-destruction-in-line-of-duty, the way it happened should have been a warning, I mean he was literally all over the fucking ceiling.

Anyway, those safe houses in London, and the entities that kept them, are destroyed. Scorched earth. So many others were attacked at the same time, most of them still not accounted for. So far nobody seems to have survived. “Our side” lost about 1/4 of its forces within the past weekend. London, Edinburgh, PNW, possibly any remaining foothold in the House of Nyx, and too many individual allies/teams to list. Gabriel was one though.

Given who was targeted, how they were connected, various bits of meta/shitposting, and of course the actual new antagonist(?) looming in a certain superhero show…

It’s time to admit that the worst is true. Azazel is back, and he’s still wearing John.

Between that and that French bastard (no actual name, some Fae are just like that) selling the remaining Seasonal Gods out to the Metatron in exchange for some slim chance at surviving the apocalypse, anyone surviving is between a rock and a hard place. Azazel’s on the fucking warpath razing entire established safehouses to the ground left and right, Metatron is turning his power over “The Word Of God” or whatever against anyone and everyone who could be a threat.

In good news: Sam is officially, confirmed, at least somewhat free. It seems like a “reverse soulless” situation: Sam’s soul is free, along with enough of him to be semi-corporeal. Really that SHOULD be something like a wraith, but apparently Sam’s kids magic-ed a way around that. However despite this, he’s still very weak if he can take physical form at all, while the rest of him is (albeitchanged in appearance at this point) VERY physical notably lacking a soul. …yeah the bodies are starting to stack up. He’s Lady Nemain’s new favorite weapon/toy/arm candy.

OH YEAH I SHOULD TALK ABOUT THE KIDS.

Thankfully these two kids aren’t actually new, just yet more inevitable results of early-seasons Winchester horniness… yeah so at least one of them is Ruby’s. She named him

*deep, deep sigh*

* C R I N G E *

(I cannot fucking BELIEVE that Walker Texas Ranger of all shows made THIS NAME *AND ITS REASON* canon in the final episode)

…Ruby named him Edward. After Edward from fUCKINg TWILIGHT RUBY WHY WERE YOU *LITERALLY ALWAYS SO WEIRD ABOUT EVERYTHING*

The other kid is named Stella or Star or something. Could be Ruby’s but she looks SO Fae and seems to have been raised in the Fae Realms. I think she might be the product of Sam Hooking Up With A Girl In The Fairy Episode Who Was Definitely A Fae But This Fact Was Never Addressed.

…or she might be Ruby’s after all, and just look kinda elf-y.

Or…. No that’s way too weird I don’t wanna think abt it.

Well WHOEVER HER PARENTS ARE, Stella is a DAMN good witch, and flew under Blurrywife and everyone else’s radar by focusing on plant- and color-based magic - ie, all physical components.Afaik nobody even realized she HAD powers til she pulled off a brilliantly designed spell and set her dad free.

Taking advantage of the whole Set The Egyptian Chaos God debacle (aka Blurrywife finally found an entity that she simply has no power over), Ruby snuck into whatever Fae Dreamscape Thing Sam’s soul was trapped in, and was able to help Edward, Stella (Edward and Stella. Kill me/j. Ruby why) and Sam’s newest girlcrush* A PRIMORDIAL TITANESS get Sam to wake up and dispel the whole dreamscape quietly over the next few days, freeing the various Fae and ghosts who had been trapped by Blurrywife as well. One Faerie woman stayed behind to face Blurrywife’s wrath. We don’t know what name she went by outside the dreamscape, but as Blurrywife wrote it her name was Cassie.

* Sam is likely just now remembering that Eileen exists now that he’s free. That being said, Titan Lady seems very aware of this, very chill, has never been aggressive with any advances towards Sam afaik, she’s literally just nice. Turns out some primordials are just NICE.

Speaking of which, Blurrywife is actually starting to take a lot of Ls. I think it’s finally catching up to her how far above her level she’s playing right now. Courting Set’s allegiance was a fiasco, and led to her getting embarrassingly dragged around by the Chaos god for a week or so before someone else finally put a stop to it. She’s lost Sam, who was really her single huge bargaining chip with all these powerful entities. Due to these humiliations, defeats and generally being a dishonorable backstabber, Victoria is no longer pleased to be sharing her divinity, much less a vessel, with The Blurry Bitch so now those two are fighting within themself. Careful Blurrywife… you’re slipping…

In other news, there’s some new powerful figures about:

A TERRIFYING woman/goddess of Akkadian or Proto-Semitic origin who seems to be connected to Cain, not a fighter, but definitely a prophetess who runs at least partially on Angel (meta)Physiology Rules (and I’ll just say it, she’s hot).

Serapis, who I assumed would be a total douche like most Roman gods but turns out to be fairly grounded, and surprisingly young. He doesn’t want to be involved in all this either.

A witch, like a 16th-19th century witch. She does all the usual things witches of the time did. She’s very racist. She’s Lucifer’s new consort and set to be an apocalypse prophet. She’s very happy with all this. She’s still deeply religious at heart. …she’s a 16th-19th century witch, what more is there to say.

Finally, expect updates on CW Gotham Knights- adjacent subjects within the next week. Or possibly just general Bat Man stuff. Or whoever that actor is who plays Turner Hayes in GK. I don’t have any other details there but something’s about to happen.

TLDR: Azazel, Metatron, London is in ashes, Sam’s soul is free, Sam’s children now number 3 with the addition of two SamRuby kids of expected/human age and DEEPLY stupid names, Blurrywife is losing ground, some interesting entities hanging about.

[teamfreewill2pointo]

Analysis of the Soul Fisting Scene Part 3

Please read parts 1 and 2 first.

Soulless Sam's submission to Dean's authority in the soul fisting scene and season is fascinating to me because it's so different to how Sam is. On one hand, you could argue that his submission is due to him feeling that something is wrong and trying to regain the sense of normalcy he had before.

Soulless does talk about how he knows something is wrong and it worries him. Perhaps he's just saying that for Dean's benefit. It's possible that he's only letting Dean have control because it reminds him of his past, but he was also following Samuel Campbell around and he didn't have a past relationship with him.

Regular Sam rebels. He rebels against John, against Dean, and he demands an egalitarian relationship from s1 through s15. A lot of the Sam and Dean conflicts arise from Dean trying to control Sam or making decisions on Sam's behalf.

Although Sam has more power and force (and isn't afraid to use it) when Soulless, he doesn't push back on Dean until he worries that Dean's attempt to resoul him will kill or damage him.

In the belt scene, he's not worried about Dean or Castiel actually harming or killing him here. Although he has no emotional attachment to them, he regards them as allies and feels safe enough to allow himself to be tied up and tortured by them. Castiel is acting shady and still Sam trusts him, probably because Dean does.

It's also fascinating to me how Dean directs Castiel's actions in invading Sam's body. Throughout season 6 and the series in general, there is the question of Sam's bodily autonomy.

Sam's body is frequently used as a tool by others in the series: Meg, Azazel, Lucifer, Castiel, Dean, Crowley, etc. In season 9 this issue explodes, but it's a heavy theme in season 6.

In the very next episode, Crowley wants Sam and Dean under his control, so he threatens Sam

Crowley says,

You need to stop thinking of this as some kind of deal. This is a hostage situation, you arrogant little thug. I own your brother! Do you understand me?

Bolding mine. Sam's body is regarded as Dean's property. The decision to resoul Sam is placed in Dean's hands. After Sam regains his soul, Dean tries to control Sam's access to his memories.

Likewise, when Castiel wants to control Sam and Dean and get them to stand down, he harms Sam.

Both Crowley and Castiel harm Sam's body in order to control and manipulate Dean. Both heaven and hell regard Sam's body as Dean's property. Even Death puts Sam's soul back in his body for Dean, not Sam.

Like Sam, Castiel also becomes an extension of Dean's body. This isn't the first or the last time that he engages in torture on the direction of Dean.

It's interesting because, as an angel, Castiel is commanded to carry out God's will, which he did before he met Dean. In a way, he replaced God with Dean, so he now carries out Dean's will... for the most part. Occasionally, he will rebel, which causes conflicts between them (see s14).

In s6, Castiel is hiding information and acting in secret, but everything he's doing is in service to Dean (and Sam). He's trying to keep them out of another apocalypse. Even when he's opposed to Dean, he's still in service to Dean.

Dean is threatened by Soulless and is acting out of fear. In s6, Dean becomes a lot more vulnerable than he's been since s1 and it's due to the threat by Soulless. For example, the scene where he's turned by the vampire has him as a victim of both the vampire and Soulless, who allows him to be turned.

If you like hurt!Dean, s6 is full of prime content. Yes, it is mostly other people victimizing him not directly Soulless, but they are doing so in order for the narrative to show how vulnerable Dean is with Soulless Sam. Although Dean is directing Castiel in the Soul Fisting, he's also standing behind him, keeping a safe distance from Soulless.

In the next episode, 6.08, Dean wakes up from sleep very vulnerable

Soulless has caught him off guard

What's interesting is that Soulless sleeps (or doesn't sleep) near the door, when normally Dean is closer to the door.

While Sam is Soulless, Dean is off kilter and wants Sam back and he's willing to play games with Death in order to get his brother back. He'd do anything for Sam, so why is he so rough with Sam's body? Yes, Soulless is in the body of his brother, but the same time, Soulless is a monster and Dean hunts monsters.

As mentioned before, once Dean knows what's wrong with Sam, he wants Soulless to be locked up. He doesn't want to risk Soulless hurting him or anyone else again.

Soulless refuses to be locked up (his submission to Dean only goes so far) and Dean is forced to keep Soulless with him, in part because Soulless' refusal to be locked up is one of the most Sam aspects about him.

As the person who requested this meta has not seen past the beginning of 8, I'm going to stop for now and then I'll write more if/when they watch 9 because a conversation about Soul Fisting is incomplete without knowing what happens in 9.

(Also there's no way they didn't know what they were doing when they filmed and named this)

[mlobsters]

supernatural s6e22 the man who knew too much (w. eric kripke)

despite typing the episode numbers daily i still somehow was surprised i was at the season finale when i started the episode up. bodes well. didn't realize kripke had written any episodes this season

carry on wayward son, a song i truly did not think i could have any emotional ties to and yet. AND YET *shakes fist at kripke*

(that is totally the same desktop they use in all computer stuff with the untitled 1 and 2 docs lol)

this bar lady with the raspy voice and the long dark hair and tank top, she's like a combo ruby-pamela

ah, he got me. didn't see that coming. i will say again that i had no idea cas had this character arc, and i knew he had something to do with sam's wall but did not realize in the slightest how it went down. and how will he climb out of the hole with dean after doing this to sam?

SOULLESS!SAM Same misty-eyed milksop you always were.

think it's therapeutic to shoot your soulless counterpart who you feel responsible for the bad things they did

also killing him and then the magic light zoomed into sam, this feels like a video game. gotta catch em all

BALTHAZAR How's Sleeping Beauty? You didn't steal any kisses, I trust?

okay.

of course the showdown is in kansas! i usually handwave travel times especially because they're constantly doing it, but this did get me wondering how long from sioux falls to lawrence-adjacent kansas the drive is

CASTIEL You think I'm handing all that power to the king of Hell? I'm neither stupid nor wicked.

CROWLEY Unbelievable. Have you forgotten that you're the bottom in this relationship?

*jt staring gif*

he sure ends up in this room on this bed and hallucinating an awful lot

TORTURED!SAM Why is this so important to you?

SAM You know me. You know why. I'm not leaving my brother alone out there.

--

DEAN Listen, I know there's a lot of bad water under the bridge, but we were family once.

me whispershouting "WERE YOU??" you keep saying this but when

CASTIEL I'm your new God. A better one. So you will bow down and profess your love unto me, your Lord. Or I shall destroy you.

i'll be honest, i started giggling at the extreme closeups getting everyone's reactions to new-god-cas. they just kept zooming in!

well. a finale that didn't make me cry. and also, still did not see this coming with cas. now i'm really curious how they get from point a to point b with his character