#spn s13 spec

[amwritingmeta]

13x16: Sometimes It’s About the Journey...

…not the destination. So says Dean Winchester. In an episode that sees him more or less move into the peak of his arc in a spectacular way. I cannot believe how gorgeous it is. Or I can. I really fucking can believe it. And I’m not saying he’s reached the peak, climbed across it and is looking out on the view that is his future and balance and happiness, but hot damn if he’s not almost there.

((Enter: Michael. Dun-dun-DUN))

I wanted to outline how I’ve followed Dean’s journey of self-actualisation since that pivotal moment in 12x22 and the firing of the grenade launcher = self-liberation, to this episode and all the remarkable lack of walls he’s showing.

Throughout this season, Dean’s come face to face with the lesson he’s needed to learn the most: time to drop the mask.

Time to face himself and admit that this toxic masculinity spiel isn’t who he is and it isn’t who he wants to be. If he hadn’t been wearing a mask, he would’ve told the man he loves how he feels a long time ago. 

The mask isn’t armour to keep him safe, it’s armour to hide behind. 

And it’s bullshit armour that is linked to personality traits he’s never actually believed in or stood behind, he’s only made them part of himself out of a sense of duty that has been warped and twisted out of shape. 

In 13x01 Dean is called out on this by Miriam, who says he’s Becky. Becky who takes things and breaks things, and doesn’t care about anyone but herself. 

And –>

Following this, throughout S13, Dean has faced a whole string of Bad Guys who look like one thing but is really something else:

Asmodeus; wraith whose reflection give them away; shifter wearing Dean’s face; ghost wearing a mask; ghoul wearing the face of a gunslinger hero; two-faced killer pretending to be the good brother; a crossroads demon who comes in peace but does what crossroads demons do; Jack who is innocent of what Dean is suspecting him of; a vampire and a human being in a literal pig mask.

If we see each of these Bad Guys as representatives of Dean’s toxic masculinity - which is the reason he’s wearing his own mask - and each of them pushing him one step further on his journey to opening up to this fact, and letting the mask go, then there’s an immediate pattern here. 

Because Dean may end up killing the wraith in 13x03, but only after we get the visual of the wraith stabbing him repeatedly in the stomach, killing him first. For Dean, this kill is made in absolute fury and self-defence. He’s nowhere near ready to recognise the mask for what it is, he’s much too deep into his grief for that to be possible. He rejects the lesson of recognising this toxic masculinity for what it truly is, and does away with the threat to his perceived identity, because the anger is all he has to hold onto.

By 13x04 this attitude has changed, thanks to Sam intervening. Sam manipulates the entire episode, getting Dean into that therapy session (only for Sam himself to reveal how much he is truly in need of speaking his mind to his brother), but it also pushes Dean’s self-reflection. The thought of catharsis has hooks and they sink in deep, no matter how Dean may reject the idea of it. By the end of the episode he’s admitted the truth to Sam: right now, Dean can’t believe in a damn thing. 

Then we move forward with the Bad Guys, right? Doctor with a drill in 13x05 almost drills a hole in Dean’s head because Dean can’t believe in a damn thing. I don’t think Dean’s suicidal here, I think he simply cannot see the point, so if he dies, he dies. He’s ambivalent. He’s not going to go looking for death, but he’s not going to fight to live either. Ironic, then, that it’s Death herself who tells him to live.

He faces his old idol in 13x06 without hesitation, though Dean, still, is not the one to kill him: native american sheriff with the white hat does that. (and I’d say the White Hat represents the balanced Dean we’re all wishing and hoping for) (and he’s almost in a position to don it) (betcha by golly) 

And in 13x07 he’s finally the one to inflict some pain on the toxic masculinity representative when he shoots Ketch in the shoulder. (I screamed) (Ketch is such a manifestation of a dark mirror for Dean so I kind of love that they brought him back)

By 13x08 we have a Dean interacting with a Charlie-replica. Charlie, who is a highlighter for Dean’s true nature more than any other character has ever been. And we have Dean telling this other highlighter for his true self that she should stay weird, essentially showing how he’s sincerely beginning to open up to this side to himself. (because of Cas coming back) (of course)

In 13x09 we have a huge setback when he realises that he was wrong about Mary being dead, and that old reliable self-doubt and self-hatred comes pouring back in, in copious amounts. It’s strong enough to make him pull a gun and shout in Kaia’s face for her to GET IN THE CAR. Yeah. (I screamed again) (oh the humanity!)

When 13x11 rolls around we get a whole set of our favourite beasties and Sam’s heart (SAM’S heart) is on the line. So it’s poetic that this is the man (and as Ketch, whom he wounded, this is a human man) in a mask that Dean finally kills himself, with a shot through the heart. And the fact is that Dean wearing the toxic masculinity mask does threaten Sam, because it is what informs the codependency, it’s what keeps it so firmly in place. But oh man does it begin to slip now.

In 13x12 we have our first Bad Girl… why does that actually sound dirty rather than menacing? We have our first Dark Female of the season, when we get the twins and Rowena in one episode. They tick the box for yet one more supernatural creature to add to the list: witches. And, of course, we get the epic scene of our leading Dark Female - who is a very strong Dean mirror btw - finding her release and self-liberation. Mind blown. 

In 13x13 Dean is shocked to learn that Cas has been held captive and he had no fucking clue. He sticks close to Cas as they face down Lucifer, who doesn’t faze Dean for a moment, take out Ketch, who will never be trusted again, and find some semblance of a team spirit amidst all of it.

By 13x14 Dean isn’t really displaying any toxic masculine behaviour, right? I mean, he isn’t. If he was happily in love in 13x12, then you almost expect him to burst into song in this episode because he’s so relaxed, working with Cas, spending quality time with Cas (referencing rock and rolling………) and staring down two uber-masculine specimens and getting the giggles over their loincloths. Like… the very image of the male strong rough warrior is actually turned into a joke by how Dean now views masculinity. Honestly. Kill me. It’s gorgeous.

In 13x15 the coping mechanisms are sent on their way for good. I mean, I’m so sure of it. I shouldn’t say I am, but I feel very very convinced that this is the case. Dean has moved far beyond needing them, or even wanting to engage with them. He enjoys food and beer and flirtation and sex, of course, but because he enjoys these things for what they are, not because he needs to take the edge off or find an emotional bandaid. He also looks the toxic masculinity representative dead in the eye and questions his motives for behaving like an asshole. The Boss has his reasons, and Dean can recognise them, but The Boss is a strong Dean mirror when it comes to taking things and breaking things and not caring who gets hurt, because The Boss believes he’s right. Dean is fed up with this attitude from everyone. 

And now then. 

Now we reach 13x16.

more below the cut

12x22 allowed Dean to experience his moment of self-liberation, a necessary step toward self-actualisation (which I wrote about here in how these steps are informing Cas’ arc) (and these steps are also absolutely informing Sam’s arc as well), the brief definitions of which are:

Self-liberation: Recognising irrational thinking patterns caused by unrealistic demands placed on the self and defusing these harmful irrational beliefs in order to lead a happy, healthy life. Self-actualisation: Living creatively and fully using your potentials, driven by a desire for self-fulfilment, feeling finally yourself, safe, free from anxiety, accepted and loved.

So, if Dean experienced self-liberation when firing that grenade launcher in 12x22, then he’s been moving through these above outlined necessary steps of recognising and letting go of the toxic masculinity armour in S13, because to reach the place where you’re ready for self-actualisation, you have to recognise and let go of all that baggage you’ve been carrying around with you.

By 13x11 he’s done believing in the toxic masculinity. It lingers moving forward, because it’s ingrained, but he’s not allowing it to govern him anymore.

By 13x15 we have it underlined to us that Dean taking charge and acting like he always has, doling out orders, is not a good thing. Dean shouldn’t be sole decision maker. That time is over. The reason for the toxic masculinity armour to be worn doesn’t exist: it’s time he stripped the armour off and began to trust.

So, in 13x16 - does he display trust?

Well, yes, he does. One significant moment is when he succumbs to the rules of the world they’re in and allows Fred to play his part, setting a trap that Dean knows won’t work, just for the hell of it, while Dean has his plan B (Operation Bookworm) (FFS) ready to go. This isn’t him displaying control freak behaviour, this is him showing he can be a team player and fucking chill. 

But there’s also a thread throughout the entire episode where he is just… himself. Right? Where he displays honest faith in himself, in his point of view, in his likes being his and he’ll be damned if anyone else’s opinions on these views will make him question them. Jesus, when he quoted Frozen and referenced Elsa without blinking at it, not retracting it or in any way trying to distract Sam from it, I was about ready to hand in the towel.

Especially when he made this face at Sam’s frown –>

(the heart sings with the joy of witnessing this expression)

And we get so much more, like later on in the episode, when he happily shows off the “sleeping robe” and he puts that Ascot on. The final scene and Dean’s reaction to the non-subtle judgment made me think of this one in 4x06:

This bristling at the questioning of his manhood leading to this display of insecure defensiveness (because he’s just been put through the emotional ringer coming face to face with his deep fear of judgment, due to his even deeper fear of rejection, because Good Things Don’t Last, and all of is tied in with a lacking sense of true identity) we get these dimples of discontent:

So, then, what a difference in attitude we get in 13x16. What a remarkable wonderful growth. I mean –>

TRUE IDENTITY ^^^^^ 

But that’s not all that we got from this episode in terms of Dean’s furthered progression, because not only has he faced down a toxic masculinity that has kept him from being himself, out of a sense of duty, believing the only way he could be strong enough to act the shield was to become only the weapon, but in 13x16 he’s also confronted with his inner child.

I was hoping for this so badly. 

(I screamed when the ghost turned into a child) (no I actually didn’t) (I went OH MY GOD!!) (yeah that I did) 

I was hoping for it because it’s the final few steps towards Dean being able to fully let go of the past and look to the future. (it makes me want to weep) (for real it makes me seriously emotional) And look how absolutely magically it’s handled in this episode –>

This moment underlines what Dean’s inner longing is: he just wants his dad. His dad. Not the soldier dude who was a mean drunk and raised him to survive and to protect Sammy at all costs, not that dude, but his dad. The guy who loved Mary more than anything, and who tried his best in impossible circumstances to keep his head above the waterline, the trekkie, the dad who walked into CBGB’s and had grown men go apologetic and self-conscious.

Dean lost the love of his life. He’s in a position now to understand what that does to you. How it breaks down everything you thought you were and turns you inside out. Just as he got to see Mary as an individual, as a person, in S12, Dean is now in a place where he can distance himself from his dad as well, where he can see John as a person who made choices and who made mistakes but who, ultimately, made them out of love, not only for Mary - but for his boys, too. He did what he believed he had to in order to keep them alive. He did what he thought was right. And the deep suffering and his sense of failure crippled him into becoming someone different to the man Mary fell in love with.

And this is the foremost baggage Dean needs to let go of, at least to my mind, because he needs to forgive his father, just as he forgave his mother.

Now this might be as subtly done as his progression has been through the season, we might not get this verbalised at all, and personally I’m just curious to see how and if they’ll give it to us, whether I’m right in this reading or not.

Either way, I think they’re setting up for Michael to be an absolutely smashing piece of exposition!

We also get a pretty significant callback from Dean coming face to face with this inner child of his because remember this moment? –>

This is an underlining, in dialogue, of Dean’s self-view, and it’s one that Dean must put to rest. Because we all know he’s not poison, he doesn’t hurt everyone he loves, he doesn’t cause death and destruction, he is worth saving and he deserves all the love the world has to offer. 

He’s getting there. This tie-back moment in 13x16 underlines it.

Because Becky is dead. Long live Elsa.

In fact, this entire episode underlines this as we watch him freely engage with something he enjoys and he doesn’t for one moment stop simply because Sam is frowning and judging him. He tells Sam off and goes to enjoy himself. This while Sam is absolutely putting his foot down continually, questioning Dean’s decisions and behaviour and calling him out on it. Yeah. 

13x15 set all of this up gorgeously and they are totally building on the moving out of toxic codependency and it makes my insides want to do the jig!! 

The fact that there are traces of old Dean here is more a highlighter to me than anything else.

He doesn’t go for the blonde waitress –>

Barely even looks at her.

Daphne is a trophy he’s set on winning, because, of course, his rivalry is entirely with Fred, which is set up immediately. And that Daphne is a trophy is given to us in dialogue when he says:

Dean: Should’ve known Velma was good to go. It’s always the quiet ones.

But I actually don’t think Dean is engaging in toxic masculine behaviour, not as it’s been displayed this season. He’s a douche. He’s a teenage jock with a big ego who thinks he’s god’s gift. 

I mean, come on, Dean. You’re fucking better than this. Don’t grab women by the arm like that, for example. She will run the fuck away from you to the guy she wants to be with. Learn your lessons, Dean!

Because how he chooses to relate to Daphne, and how she continuously keeps markedly blowing him off, tells us that he needs to grow the hell up already. And, to me, that’s the whole point. I could dig into the symbology and representation that I can see in the setup of the character interaction, but my dudes, I’ll throw it into a separate post.

The point is, this episode tells us that Dean doesn’t want casual, he doesn’t want a trophy.

He wants someone to sit next to him, share a beer and watch movies with him.

That’s what he wants, and the fact that he’s overcompensating for this fact by chasing a pretty woman is entirely in line with how him lusting after a man has pretty much always been handled on the show. 

He wants Cas. And how we close the Scooby portion with Dean stating he should’ve known “it’s always the quiet ones” is a rather formidable plant. 

Well, fingers crossed, of course. I know nothing. I predict nothing. But if they can take the time to draw Dean helping Cas up and Cas reaching out and taking Dean’s hand once he’s done so, and if they can take the time to draw them in synchronisation, then, you know… Cave of Deanitude it is? Joint shares? *mh mh good*

And whoa boy did I love this episode! 

[daughter-of-the-rain-and-snow]

The never ending negative space: Michael edition

So I was wondering that everytime we saw some dean-related-spoilers, we all assume our Michael is behind example: Dean's possession, but I was thinking and thinking until my head hurt, and.. Michael was Dean's destiny, right? That changes thanks to Team Free Will™ but.. what if Michael cannot break free until his intended vessel breaks free? Until Dean "let it go" moment arrives? Until he is no longer part of the Narnia population?

Just a random thought...

[queerwolfsstuff]

What If...

Guys. What if this scene:

What if this scene goes down something like this:

Dean is walking down the hallway and hears noise from Cas’s room. He walks in to find Jack sitting on the floor, a big grin on his face with a Walkman Dean had also given Cas to listen to the mixtape.

Jack sees Dean and says, “I like this.”

Dean rips the headphones off of his head and takes the Walkman. “Get out. Don’t ever come into this room again.”

Jack leaves with a dejected and, far too similar to Cas, expression.

Cut to Dean, later that night, surrounded by beer bottles and listening to the mixtape.

[fallenandthefaithless]

Okay, it just occurred to me that in s11 we had the sun start to die but was eventually saved by Chuck and Amara reuniting

And now in the s12 finale we had Cas die, aka the character linked to the sun and now there are alk these theories of Cas vs Cas in the Empty...

It's starting to look more likely that Cas may be reconciling himself with all the parts of him, just like Chuck and Amara

[naruhearts]

I wish I knew how to quit Destiel. (Kidding. Do you recognize this particular saying though?) 

Let me blurb out my rambling thoughts. 

I expect Dean to grieve throughout the first half of S13 or so post-Cas Death. He’ll feel numb, empty grief that crosses into pitiful heartbroken mourning, (hopefully) complete with tears. 

The show then spells it out for the GA: “What you’re seeing right here? This is Romantic grieving”. Dean turns away from the bustling world for a bit. He no longer deals via one night stands – presenting a nod to the 12x22/12x23 death of his unhealthy coping behaviour/mechanisms post-12x18. 

*BBM/Destiel Musings* In Brokeback Mountain, grief-stricken Ennis lives alone in his trailer after Jack dies. His other children live with his ex-wife, and we see his eldest daughter Alma Jr. – seemingly the child he is closest to – visit him. She breaks the news to her father about her upcoming marriage

We can assume that Alma Jr. is the one person Ennis maintains constant direct contact with during his mourning period. S13 Sam should mirror Alma this way (and also grieve for Cas albeit differently = Familial vs. Romantic grief; the show shall again contrast Sam and Dean using actions, words etc…typical fare that we witnessed at important points in S12: Cas’s 12x13–12x18 absence, Cas’s 12x19 return, & Cas’s 12x23 death). 

His daughter leaves, and Ennis opens his closet to reveal Jack’s blue shirt, which was originally bloodstained when Ennis found it in Jack’s home belongings. The below screenshot cannot show us whether or not Ennis washed his shirt but I’d like to think he didn’t because an unwashed Jack shirt would make the S7 Destiel (Unwashed) Trenchcoat Saga mirror more painful.

Jack’s blue shirt and Ennis’ shirt hang together, and a postcard of Brokeback Mountain is tacked above. 

Ennis buttons Jack’s shirt - 

- stares at the makeshift Love shrine he made, and cries while whispering: “Jack, I swear…”

The movie closes with this sad close-up shot -

Given SPN’s rich track record of pop cultural references/mirrors (especially romantic ones *S12 so far*), I won’t be surprised at all if S13 Grieving!Dean parallels Grieving!Ennis. 

Dean might either: a) burn Cas’s body or b) bury Cas’s body. However,  keeping his trenchcoat would create a major obvious callback to S7 Grieving!Dean Minus the coping mechanisms (even better if Dean makes a small shrine just like Ennis did).

Imagine getting a similar scene where Dean pores over Cas’s trenchcoat, striped blue tie wrapped around the hanger to complete the ensemble *sobs*

@thetwistedwillow @sactownbrowns3

[vampchockami]

Wouldn’t it be so cool if we got an entire season driven by Cas?

Like, say Dean gets stuck in this alternate dimension at the end of the season in a typical self-sacrificing way and they all have to figure out how to get him back (which is better than usual because this time it will not be about raising him from the dead) and Cas carefully hands the Nephilim to Sam, entrusts the baby to his and Mary’s (and Kelly’s, if she’s still alive) care and says, as a fully powered-up angel who is badass and knows his shit about the universe his father made, that he’s got this one.

And we have a season of Mary and Sam bonding in a weird, totally Supernatural-esque, grandmother and son and adopted baby family comedy complete with monsters and hunting of evil creatures; alongside a viewable mashup purgatory-reversal/hell-search for Dean, by Cas.

[found--family]

so i just realised something about how Cas buried the photo of himself wearing the cowboy hat from 13x06 - the case where Dean had been so excited because Cas was alive and they got to dress up and play cowboys together - he took a snapshot/representation of Dean's dream-come-true and put it in a box (re:coffin) and laid it in the ground (re:put to rest) himself - in the very same episode where Amara highlights the importance of Reality over Fantasy to Dean - none of this bodes well for Dean and Cas' future: it's the death of Dean's fantasy (re:Cas will leave him again) and the burial happens at a crossroads symbolising The Empty taking Cas away because of the deal he chose and thus their journey will diverge and Dean will be forced into a new lonely reality 😧 

[andimeantittosting]

New crack theory for season 13: Lucifer realizes that he is now in a world where there are two of him, and frees his AU self from the cage, only to realize he can't stand himself.

[sedgwickpdf]

BABE WAKE UP NEW SPEC DROPPED: Old Flame

what’s up guys i wrote another spec script. no mcelroys in this one (unfortunately). BUT i hope you like it. takes place right after 13x16 (yes that’s scoobynatural) and is, again, as canon-compliant as possible.

“Old Flame” (season 13, episode 16.5): While researching the death of a man who spontaneously combusted after speaking to his ex-girlfriend, Dean is hit with a curse that forces him to tell the truth compulsively. Things get weird for Sam and Castiel. Mostly Castiel.

here it is! fair warning that this one gets uhhhhh sad. content warning for things typical to spn: canon-type violence, Overcompensatory Misogyny of Dean, nonconsensual memory-erasing, etc.

[trisscar368]

Well since the tentacle monsters are a DIRECT FUCKING PARALLEL (Seriously SPN got no chill) Cas and Dean, it's a good thing they ended up together in the end, right? RIGHT?

If you listen closely you can hear the general squeaking noise of me still freaking out about Lovecraftian monsters done properly.

At this point, Cas and Dean separated by universe/dimensional walls is going beyond trope into “HEY LOOK, WE’RE CONSTANTLY POKING AT THE FACT THAT THERE’S SOMETHING KEEPING THESE CHARACTERS APART, HA HA HA.”

I am also flailing in the general direction of 13x05 and 13x04 and going “oh look, we have one distraught lover piercing through layers of reality to reach another.  We also have Jack (who I can easily parallel to the Seal of Solomon.  Seriously, of the Cosmos?  Cosmic power?  Opens shiny color coordinated portals to other worlds? Really?) piercing a different veil because Dean said the magic words, in order to reunite our lovebirds.”

Where Destiel is concerned, it’s a very good ending because they’re together.  But Yokoth screamed when she went back through the portal.  The gods weren’t just paralleled to destiel, and that’s where I’m actually starting to look at the finale.

Yokoth and Glythur may be undying (as all proper eldritch gods are), but their universe had been consumed.  They ate all of it, them and probably their children, their army.  And what’s the point of living in a world that’s falling apart, especially when there’s a new world full of light?

I’m doing a lot of internal flailing right now in the direction of Michael and Lucifer and regrettably Jack and the entire AU which is dying because the angels stripped it bare.

Seriously.  “And they will cleanse this world of hate and they will bring a new paradise.”

That’s all the language that was used around Jack for the end of s12 and the start of this season.

Our lovers have been reunited by one Seal, and since Dean is now on the other side of this portal, I have every confidence they’ll be reunited again.  But I’m watching the purple rock, and I’m watching Jack, because it’s sounding like the hungry hungry archangels are getting the door slammed on them.

[amwritingmeta]

Hi 😊 #1 I LOVE BADASS DONNA SO MUCH were Doug and her a thing thing? Is all this leading to Donna getting relocated and moving in with Jody? 2. Why am I geting destiel feels in another episode with no Cas?

SAME! And hi! :)

Badass Donna can badass any day of the week where I’m concerned!

#1 Yes, they were definitively a thing-thing. They said I love you and everything, right? They were together, for sure. 

#1.1 ;) I actually have no idea if it’s leading to her moving in with Jody, but it’s possible Donna relocates to Sioux Falls because of the breakup? I should think they’d want Jody and Donna as a close-knit team for Wayward, but I have no actual clue, you know? It does feel like the perfect reason for real change in Donna’s life. I think she’d go cry on Jody’s shoulder, but Jody is also in the life so she is, literally, the only shoulder to cry on, right? These women have a beautiful friendship and understanding of who the other is. I look forward to the possibility of seeing more of them and learning more about how they interact and relate to one another!! (come on CW!!)

#2 Hehehe, why oh why indeed, right? :P Okay, so I’m going to tell you why: because they’re building towards the reveal, which I believe will come in 13x15 or even 13x16, that these two men are in love with each other. We can’t have a slow and steady build towards endgame without the GA being in the know and starting to actually root for these two to finally fess up and admit how they feel for one another. 

(technically Cas already has BUT HE GLANCED AWAY and in-fear-of-rejection Dean Winchester would never jump to the conclusion based on that that Cas meant the I Love You for himmmmm) (oh still frustrated) (but also happy because glorious glorious build up towards this reveal!!)

So the Destiel feels in this episode? Just as with Kaia and Claire being a proper Destiel mirror, so are Donna and Doug exposition for Dean’s hopes and fears.

He tells Doug: “Doug, you’re a good man, and you’ll be there for Donna. So, you know, just trust her.” To that lead to Doug almost being turned into a vampire and the love not being strong enough and Doug choosing to leave because it’s all just too much. You know, manifesting Dean’s deepest fear: that when Dean confesses how he really feels, that change, that shift, that whole new world will be too much for Cas, and Cas will leave.

Destiel. Feels.

And it’s beautiful when thinking of where we’re most likely heading in 13x12, because with Dean under a love spell, this is the ultimate setup for Dean when he’s dropped the toxic masculinity (as already foreshadowed in 12x11) to show the GA what he’s like when he is in love. We’ve never seen that side to him. I honestly cannot wait to note the possible differences between how he’ll behave now vs how he behaved around Lisa, for example. I mean, he loved her, but he was able to give her up and move on, so there should be a difference here.

Cas is his everything. They will hopefully be setting up for how he’ll behave when he’s actually safe in trusting and believing that he has everything and won’t lose it. Aw man, I am on my knees for soft and happy Dean. And Destiel callbacks. I mean, never expect anything, but just… that girl on the ground by the car and Dean checking if she’s ok gives me 11x03 flashbacks already.

I’m overly excited about the coming five episodes. I am now so excited that I’m like sweating shaking giggling going mental, really, is what I’m doing. Aw man, rainbows, guys. Rainbows and unicorns!

And it’s such a testament to how strongly they’re hitting on the love story of it all when we are getting Destiel feels without any actual interaction between the two of them. Like damn, writers - you so good!

Thanks for asking!! :)

xx

[mittensmorgul]

crack hc though: Dean finally ate the 3 day burger that resulted in a very fiery poop that Jensen had recorded the grunts for :p

The three day old burger is just... gross. And reminds me of the pilot episode when Sam and Dean found John’s motel room with the abandoned burger. Dean picked it up, sniffed it, and was horrified. Bleh.

(and I’m gonna ignore the fact that the whole crew spent 13.22 doing some sort of weird juice cleanse they were calling #ColonBlast or something like that because >.>)

But also Dean being “off his food,” like he was back in s9 leading up to him becoming a demon.

Granted, he’s not in the same situation he was back then, but in s9 he’d abandoned a SLICE OF PIE in his room, and rejected a burger that Crowley pushed him into ordering. And those were HUGE signs foreshadowing Dean dying and becoming a demon, that he stopped feeding himself, even his favorite foods held no appeal.

I don’t see this same sort of “off his food” foreshadowing in s13, but that doesn’t mean this isn’t the beginning of it. Or else it’s just a reminder of what this has meant in the past. I mean, he was even eating HUGE cartoon sandwiches, just because he could. He’s been making himself comfort food like PB&J, and ordering normal Dean quantities of food on a regular basis (even when he doesn’t get to eat it, or it’s already been poisoned... like in 13.17).

So the burger in his bedroom has these weird callbacks associated with it that I think are definitely worth keeping in mind going forward.

[naruhearts]

Other people in 2018: Dean doesn’t care about Cas lol

Dean in 2018: Can you imagine? You, me, Cas—toes in the sand, couple of little umbrella drinks, matching Hawaiian shirts, obviously...

Me:

[jensenknowsdeanbetterthanyou]

Okay, I have a theory about the spoilery pics of Jensen dressed in a 1920s suit. 

What if Dean needs to say yes to Michael, but today’s Michael is in the cage and while it’s possible to travel there he is no longer powerful enough, years of being stuck there with Lucifer drove him insane. So, Dean has to go find Michael in the past, when he was still all powerful, and for some reason he walked the earth in the 1920s...so Cas sends Dean back in time to locate him. Dean dresses up in 1920s clothing to fit in, finds Michael and after explaining what is happening (or maybe Michael already knew because he’s an all powerful Archangel who knows everything in the future as well as the past) Michael agrees to help after Dean says yes. It happens, and Michael!Dean travels to present day still wearing his 1920s clothing.

[superspecpod-blog]

EPISODE 23: Super Purple Power Up

listen on soundcloud || listen on itunes

Join us as we discuss episode 13.12, “Various & Sundry Villains!”

Second song used is “Rumble” from bensound.com WARNING: This podcast contains spoilers and adult language.

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Possessed!Dean, s13 finale?

This awesome Q+A about what might happen with Dean at the end of s13 is amazing. Go read it, get your speculative juices flowing. 

I wanted to share a few thoughts on what might happen with Dean and the events at the end of Season 13. Here we go!

First off, I intitially thought Cage!Michael would be the best character to bring back to ‘posess’ dean (if that actually happens) and would be best suited to the kind of uncharacteristically ‘Dean’ clothes we’ve spied Jensen wearing on-set.

Our Michael is pissed and wanting revenge / redemption of his own, surely: 

He might take on AU!Michael to redeem himself (or simply lend his Archangel grace to the boys’ spell?) or maybe he’s just so far gone (as Chuck may have mentioned back at the end of season 11) that if he were to get free of the cage and hear about the portals etc, he would be willing to team up with his alter-self and break down the barriers of reality, just for shits and giggles.

Super-twisted double-Archangel badassery—? I’m here for that.

I’ve also seen a few posts around the place pointing out why Alastair would be a good ‘possesser’ for Dean since a big theme this season is ‘facing your abusers’ (Sam + Lucifer, Rowena + Lucifer, Cas + Naomi..) But where would he fit in to the storyline and how? Since he’s a (dead)Demon he would be coming back from The Empty.

Though that does bring me nicely to the main attraction..

The linked Q+A at the start of this post points out a brilliant little thing that may or may not have been specifically touched on in the show: Heaven is failing, yes. But Hell is also without a caretaker, remember. So who’s to say the cage isn’t broken or unguarded? Who’s to say Cage!Michael hasn’t already escaped/been busted out/kidnapped to be used somehow?

I thought Cage!Michael would be the best option to possess Dean (if possession really is where the story will lead). Especially considering evil AU!Michael trying to fuck up the universe - I think it makes for an awesome parallel. 

BUT— The Entity, guys! OF COURSE!

For such an epic character / realm to be introduced and not revisited would be wasteful - because there is so. much. potential, but also why bother dangling it in front of us in the first place if they won’t go back to it? (again, as is stated in that linked Q+A). 

The Empty + Dean + Jack were all catalysts for Cas’ character growth commencing early in the season (climbing out of his depression slump and into the light of self-worth, bit by bit). If Jack and Dean are still around and still playing important roles in Cas’ story, can The Entity really just be cast aside never to be seen again? It feels like a loose thread. Especially since Cas is the only being to EVER awake in The Empty - no doubt that faceless dude wants answers (which he totally made a point of saying to Dead!Cas).

And then there’s Billie, aka, Ms. Death. 

She knows something we’re jonesing to know. Dean is important, Death needs Dean — but WHY? What for? What does she know / what are her plans? She’s not happy about the walls between universes breaking down, we know that much. And with God M.I.A. it kinda falls on her to be caretaker of reality, doesn’t it? She’s the last line of defence — or forewarning. 

She has spoken of The Empty in the past, revealed she can throw a Human soul in there if she so wishes (and that was back when she was just a lowly Reaper), and yet The Entity told us that ‘Angels and Demons’ come to rest in his domain - no mention at all of Humans. So was it just an idle threat? Or is it actually possible for Human souls to enter that realm, and it took God himself and the creation of Heaven and Hell and the divying up of souls therein to cancel out the need for Human souls to go there?

((—I’ll come back to this in a minute..))

And let’s not forget there’s more than just parallel worlds converging at stake: Heaven is about to crumble and let loose billions of souls to spill out over the Earth, but add to that the comments about Rowena futzing with fate causing a Butterfly Effect - who’s to say her actions haven’t set into motion dangerous consequences that will come to a head in the finale, whatever they may be..?

As for the expected themes of Season 13′s finale:

There has been a long line of beginning-and-end mirrors for previous seasons that would work well with season 13, too - i.e. start with someone dying (physically or otherwise), then bring them back near the end, or vice versa. We had Cas resurrected at the start and met The Entity, so maybe the end will see someone else ‘die’ (in some manner) - i.e. Dean - and welcome back The Entity as a kind of ‘living embodiment of death’, able to walk in the mortal realm by inhabiting Dean.

TheEntity!Dean — I’m here for that. ((—and that theory continues below..))

What would be The Entity’s intention, though..? I don’t know. Maybe it has no choice in the matter and just has to ‘make the best of it’? As for Heaven and all those souls and a lack of angels, I do have a theory:

Ms. Death will open a gateway into The Empty (a bigger hole than she may be accustomed to?) and deposit all the souls from Heaven into that dark abyss for an eternal slumber. Heaven will cease to exist, and perhaps those last remaining Angels will lend their power to Billie in order to open that portal. So: no more Heaven, no more Angels (bar a few, like Lucifer, Jack, Cage!Michael, and perhaps Gabriel and Cas). 

Dean somehow helps Billie accomplish this, perhaps by distracting The Empty? Sam and the others help too, but basically we end up with Dean’s soul trapped in The Empty (along with billions of sleeping, distant Human souls from Heaven). While The Entity is either forced out or sneaks out of his realm, stealing Dean’s body on the way and wearing it around Mortalville (I like this idea, because remember Misha’s creepy-awesome Entity voice?! There was a distinct Transatlantic 1940s accent mixed in there, and that would suit Dean’s strange vintage-esque wardrobe perfectly).

But there’s still more to deal with: Lucifer, at least one (bad) Michael, and the portals between universes. Sam, Rowena, Jack, Mary, Cas and our Apoc!world buddies would play into this battle of closure: who will die? Who will kill who? Who will end up where? How will they close the rifts for good? What will become of Jack and Cas and their Angelic grace? Will Apoc!World be made a paradise by certain folks choosing to sacrifice themselves or choose to stay there..?

So. Many. Questions.

I like my Ms.Death-Dean-Entity-Heaven theory for the ending of the season though — Dean ending up where Cas had been in the beginning. 

As for Destiel and the hopes of it coming into the forefront, how about this:

The Entity is forced out / accidentally falls out / escapes The Empty after wrestling with Dean on some interdimensional level. Dean is trapped in The Empty (dead or not dead, awake or not awake, and maybe the others realise it or maybe they don’t) and The Empty walks free. But during their tousel, The Entity’s consciousness (or whatever it is) melds and mixes with Dean’s: Dean sees what The Entity sees — or rather, what it saw, its memory of digging into Cas’ memories, thus, Dean sees Cas’ memories — all of his thoughts and feelings. Suddenly, Dean knows truly what Cas thought and felt - secrets about Angelhood and Humanity and Dean himself, all his yearnings and fears and unspoken truths. 

Maybe that’s the last scene of Dean this season, or maybe not. But reserved for Season 14 is how Dean deals with discovering all those truths about Cas (among other things, since being trapped in The Empty with no ride out is kinda big deal) — unless he represses them because it’s TOO MUCH (kinda like Rose with the Tardis inside her or Donna being a Timelord). But I swear to Chuck if they really do something like this and then make Dean flat-out deny it like it couldn’t possibly be true and The Entity was just trying to torture or trick him, I WILL explode. 

One more thing ..

That beautiful stuff about Dean’s soul and Cas’ grace (which exists mostly in meta and fanfiction, not sure they’ve mentioned it on the show?) would be an amazing addition to the finale this season. 

I haven’t mused on how this would weave into the plot and work with battle plans and other characters and all that jazz, but I think it’s something way worth exploring and the timing is kinda perfect, right now. 

Ok, maybe one little theory..

The nine Angels use their grace and all of their selves to help funnel the billions of souls through the portal into The Empty, which Dean is helping Ms. Death keep open, somehow. Gabe is manning Heaven with Cas and keeping the portal open on their end as the souls exit. Once they are all gone and the other angels along with them, Heaven will close — or rather, cease to be, and as it collapses in on itself and disappears into nothingness, Gabe goes with it. With his last remaining bit of strength he pushes Cas free of the collapse. Cas survives, now graceless, and the souls are safely in The Empty. 

But Dean is gone. He tousled with The Empty, got sucked in during the madness..

Dean awakes in The Empty — not of his own accord, but because something inside him wakes him up — its Cas’ grace. And that will be his way home, somewhow. 

Wow.. Okay.. never really done a mega spec-post before, but this was fun.

Please add your thoughts and anything I’ve missed. Also please feel free to yell about your own awesome theories below.

^o^