#spn 10.16

[lower-the-volume]

10.16 Paint It Black

[ardentpoop]

s10 cliffsnotes

[sensitivehandsomeactionman]

“Do you truly believe in God, Agent? Because that can be a comfort.” | SPN 10.16

[louisdotmp3]

paint it black Thots

first off, paint it black is a reference to the rolling stones song of the same name which is about death, grief, and sex.  the song is about grief suffered by someone who was stunned by the unexpected loss of their partner.  wiki says people claim that jagger got inspo from ulysses: "i have to turn my head until my darkness goes."  i am pointing direct at the theme of a worldview of desperation and desolation - jagger himself said about it that the character is, “so entrenched in his depression and rage that he has lost all hope.”  this is exactly where dean is headed in the last three episodes of the season, and depression & rage is, of course, central to what the mark of cain represents.

so the episode starts in a confession booth with a man being absolved of his sins.  keeping in mind cain's whole original sin thing that he believes runs in his bloodline and cannot be forgiven, this loops back in with the comment made later by the spirit that the priest made it his business to forgive when what these men did was unforgivable.  there’s something about how dean genuinely thinks that to be forgiven is to give up, to betray the people that he's hurt (he has to stand unchanging as a pillar of salt dedicated to memorializing the past, both in grief and regret).  he does think he's unforgivable.

the man who just gave confession takes something from the church, goes outside, and guts himself with it once his sins have been forgiven.  the symbol of suicide using an object from the church with the context of dean’s confession later, combined with the way that dean wanted to burn the spirit’s journal that contained all the thoughts that she felt she could tell no one and that no one wanted to here - it does hurt me.

we get more 10.22 foreshadowing with the husband and wife duo in this ep - the wife gets taken over by a malevolent spirit and she kills her husband.  she’s horrified afterward and can’t believe what she’s done - cue the mirror scene in 10.23.

and here’s where we get our dean and cas nun parallels.  see this post and this post for the cas nun.  the dean nun is, of course, the malevolent spirit.  every monster of the week can be read as a dean mirror this season.   significantly, there are two important scenes that are back to back that link the nun’s journal and dean’s confession.  first, the dean nun talking about her journal and saying that she wrote, "things i could say to no one.  things no one wanted to hear."  we cut directly to the confession scene.   it's just, "what if i said i didn't wanna die — yet" he adds on yet like it is a moral failing that maybe, just maybe, he doesn't want to die for the greater good, that just admitting that he doesn't want to die makes him a bad person - makes him unforgivable.

the spirit describes her sorrow turning to rage and because of that she murders her lover - here we get the second batch of 10.22 foreshadowing.  no biggie just continuing to use lovers as parallels i’m feeling normal.  i am normal.

anyway they decide that what’s keeping her here is her journal, and dean wants them to burn it.  she possesses the cas nun and tries to slash dean’s stomach open - “i had to kill the priest for what he did - he made it his business to forgive you - forgive you when what you do is so unforgivable.”  number one, once again dean is getting the shit beat out of him by his own parallel.  number two, dean opens up about how he wants to experience things differently or maybe even new things and his own parallel is trying to kill him for it, because he thinks it's unforgivable.  three, just an observation, that's the same wound mary died with, slashed stomach.

so finally we come to sam.  sam is the one who decides not to burn the journal - and dean thanks him for it later.  following that sam says, "you know...you were in that confessional a long time.  i'm just saying, if you ever need to talk about anything, with anybody, you got somebody right here next to you."  contrasted with the spirit’s claim (or fear) of writing, “things no one wants to hear.”  people do want to hear it, and you can be forgiven - you can even move forward.  and we end on sam driving instead of dean - a little bit of i can’t carry it for you, but i can carry you.

[foxthefanboi]

10x16 - Paint It Black

[actiongirlmary-archived]

happy anniversary to whatever the fuck this episode was i guess 

[mittensmorgul]

10.15, The Things They Carried.

They apparently carried weird worm monsters. But... this was the point where they stopped focusing on themes of self-identity, and really started hammering home the possession nonsense that would lead to Teh Darknesse. Kinda...

Which makes this part of s10 make a heck of a lot more sense in context with Dean's possession by Michael in s14. While this stretch of Carver Era waffled between themes of Identity vs Possession, s14 was right there confronting both at once, no waffling. (except for the actual waffles :')

10.16, Paint It Black.

Dean in the confessional. His "fake" confession about "Gina," right down to the eye roll at himself for coming up with that one, and then his "real" confession, his "soul searching," about his fear of dying without doing everything he wanted to:

Dean: What if I said I, I didn't want to die... yet. That I wasn't ready. Father Delaney: Are you expecting to? Dean: Always. The life I live, the work I do I pretty much just figured that's all there was to me, you know? Tear around and jam the key in the ignition and haul ass until I ran out of gas. I guess I just thought sooner or later I'd go out the same way I lived, pedal to the metal and that would be it. Father Delaney: And now? Dean: Now. Recent events made me think I might be closer to that than I really thought. And I don't know; there's things, there's people, feelings that I-I want to experience differently than I did before, or maybe even the first time. Father Delaney: Go a little bit deeper perhaps, than with Gina? Dean: Yeah. Yeah, I'm just starting to think there's more to it than I thought. Father Delaney: Learning that there's more to the universe than your tiny world, can be a frightening discovery. Do you truly believe in God Agent? Because that can be a comfort. Dean: I believe there is a God. But I'm not sure he believes in us.

Kinda on the nose for s14, yes? The only difference is Dean has learned a hell of a lot more about the universe than he ever wanted to know. And God? Well...

[thebratfarrar]

Paint It Black - John F. Showalter

[archivistsammy]

stackednatural, march 25 (1/2)

Maybe I'm just a bit more open-minded than most.

5.15 “dead men don’t wear plaid” // 9.17 “mother’s little helper” // 10.16 “paint it black”

[riverlarking]

the less we say about it the better make it up as we go along feet on the ground head in the sky it's okay, i know nothing's wrong

[lower-the-volume]

paint it black

[ardentpoop]

sneaky

[sensitivehandsomeactionman]

Dean | SPN 10.16

[louisdotmp3]

light & paint it black

[subcas]

3.10 // 10.16

[actiongirlmary-archived]

the moment cole appeared i was like wow great another white guy im gonna instantly love huh don't got enough of those already ig