#later seasons SPN is seriously so influenced by superhero comics / the MCU

[antigonewinchester]

15x18

Jack’s explosion leading directly into the title card is a nice touch: it’s a fun forth wall break, intertwining Jack’s explosion in the fiction story into the real-world title card, and fitting in terms of how Jack goes onto become God and the fictional creator/shaper of SPN’s world.

Jack becoming God also fits with the standard superhero trope of the “reluctant hero.” In contrast to Billie, in contrast to Chuck, Jack doesn’t desire the power of godhood for himself, but takes it on to save the world. It shows up multiple times in the MCU and almost entirely uncritically in each case. (Of course “God” as a role isn’t something to get rid of; it’s about taking the “Bad Guy” in Chuck out of the role and putting the “Good Guy” in Jack in that role instead! Problem solved.)  I’m entirely disconnected from Marvel now so I hadn’t realized how much the end of this season drew on the MCU. Chuck even does a Thanos snap to kill the whole world at the end of the ep lmao.

In contrast to the last ep, Dean jumps to protect Jack when Billie tries to kidnap him, and so ends up the first one to maim Death (even if Cas technically takes her down in the end). Then again, it’s also Dean who chooses ‘wrong’ in going after Billie to kill her (wanting revenge / leaving family & friends) and unintentionally gets Cas killed, just as Billie is in the wrong to go after Dean in revenge and gets her desserts when Cas drags her to the Empty with him.

SAM Hey, I got a job for you. JACK Me? SAM Yeah. I need you to drive. JACK But I only drove once. SAM I've got work to do. You know, I gotta dig through the archives and work on finding spells. I can't do that with one eye on the road, so. SAM gestures for JACK to move over. JACK slides into the driver's seat. JACK Okay. Okay. I'll... Drive. JACK starts the engine, and they pull away from the gas-n-sip.

Sweet little scene between Sam & Jack. Of course Jack wants to feel like he’s doing something, so Sam gives him the rein in driving the car. Also some very obvious symbolism for Jack “taking the wheel.”

CASTIEL I know. I know how you see yourself, Dean. You see yourself the same way our enemies see you. You're destructive, and you're angry, and you're broken. You're "daddy's blunt instrument." And you think that hate and anger, that's... That's what drives you, that's who you are. It's not. And everyone who knows you see it. Everything you have ever done, the good and the bad, you have done for love. You raised your little brother for love. You fought for this whole world for love. That is who you are. You're the most caring man on Earth. You are the most selfless, loving human being I will ever know. You know, ever since we met, ever since I pulled you out of Hell... Knowing you has changed me. Because you cared, I cared. I cared about you. I cared about Sam, I cared about Jack... I cared about the whole world because of you. You changed me, Dean. ... I love you.

It’s confession time! And it’s... fine? It concludes an arc for Cas that was a long time coming--the writers were clearly aware of Bibro/Wincest vs. Destiel within fandom, and wrote the story to draw in both sides of the fandom, even if the bro bond is overall more emphasized--and Berens being gay himself gives the scene a certain legitimacy it wouldn’t have had otherwise. It’s fully within the show’s framework that “love” is the highest virtue, that caring about people means you’ll do good, which is a very bog standard idea (and one I disagree with, but that’s a tangent). Also repeating S15′s idea of sacrificing for what or who you love, and those sacrifices being worth the cost.

I don’t see Dean as being written, nor Jackles playing him, as reciprocating Cas’s feelings, altho I can understand why someone would want to read it that way. (There’s a funny meta abt how the show ends up being kind of like a YA love triangle between Sam > Dean < Cas, particularly in Dabb’s seasons.) Also recently watched a vid arguing the confession is queerbaiting, by putting it up alongside the latest season of Doctor Who (which in its penultimate ep had the Doctor and her companion Yasmin confess their feelings for each other, and then ignore that confession almost entirely in the finale and they go their separate ways) to talk about how sometimes, queerbaiting = queer representation = queerbaiting. I don’t agree with everything in how he frames Destiel before 15x18, but do think his discussion of 15x18 is fairly good.

Concerning that 3x10 reference... imo Berens doesn’t at all understand the nuances of that ep, esp the Dean - Dream!Dean scenes, so the call back rings unfortunately hollow. Because the way Berens frames “daddy’s blunt little instrument” neatly skips over Dean’s internalized anger at John for treating him like a soldier, even a tool, instead of a child, and how that particular dynamic warped his identity and sense of self.