#they get to be macho and dudebros in canon

[wispscribbles]

I want to say your style is soft and whimsical? If that's the word. Its a nice variation to a lot of the others I've seen. Sorry if my words are not wording. I love your style is just so fluffy and sweet between Ghost and Soap.

daww thank you! That's so sweet!! Drawing big buff military men has been a challenge for me, it's very different from my usual stuff - but it's fun to love a piece of media so much that it forces you to leave your creative comfort zone. I used to only draw animals when I started out, so that's definitely shaped my style into what it is. But Ghost and Soap deserve a little softness, as a treat, so it’s ok that my style is sorta mismatched with the source material

[nat-20s]

It's funny how Wade Wilson gets like. This epic dudebro macho status by...some people bc I'm like. This is a man that is physically incapable of having one night stands if you sleep with him once he is already drafting up the marriage certificate. He has so many slutty little outfits and they are for HIM. He's literally a character invented to make fun of the epic dudebro macho characters that you think he is. He's like one (1) good day away from a full blown gender crisis. He's canonically pansexual. Like I simply don't think he's for the 'sorry if your feelings were offended..JK I don't give a fuck' crowd

[cyberpunk-20xx]

Thinking of how Kerry's portrayed as much more openminded and flamboyant in comparison to Johnny but...Actually he's got more than a little bias now I think about it. He has the potential of being this glamourous queer but uuuh yeah no not yet in canon.

Both he and Johnny look down on Lazrpop like typical macho rocker guys do on any electronic music that sounds too peppy/not gritty enough

Like

I believed it was bcus lazrpop was more of a sellout music at first but that makes no sense

Kerry is the living proof that you can absolutely do rock and be a sellout

And then there's Judy, who's a fan of Lazrpunk. We're even reminded of Johnny's disdain about it when he comments on it, completely ignoring the paradox- why would a Mox like something that is actually just corpo shit? I think this is yet another time where Johnny underestimates stuff that he just doesn't relate to.

Anyway, the artwork he reacts to in her room is an obvious reference to Daft Punk. Who are the furthest away from capitalist that a musical band can be these days, honestly. I don't think that reference is accidental.

So I'm kinda running with the idea that Kerry really just... Kept on hating on stuff like what the US Cracks did because he took it at face value, which is really typical of the rocker type that doesn't question the hypermasculinized growths in what rock is.

Kind of like dudebros who hated on PONPONPON when it first came out cus it was too girly for their taste.

And looking at everything we see happening to Kerry when we meet him, it's obvious he was so deep in shit he had blinders on. He keeps spiraling, his choices are questionable at best, even if the outcomes are good if we help him.

I love that about him. Makes me so fucking soft, in fact.

I love that we get to meet him so jaded when he seemed so much softer in Johnny's memories. Makes me believe that this is part of how Johnny impacted him, even in death, but even moreso, that this is a man corrupted but still standing. Just like Rogue, the reason why Kerry wasn't crushed by Night City is because he played by the rules, losing a part of himself, but gods at least he's still here.

Barely, but still.

And then we see him believe again as V and the Us Cracks help him to, which gives him new perspectives. Because Kerry always had power, even moreso once he becomes filthy rich, but he also lost the meaning in most of his life. A change of pace and style tends to help with that. Idk look

[orionsangel86]

What are your thoughts on Chuck? Do you think he’s a good villain?

Yes and No.

He had the potential to be an absolutely fantastic villain. I loved the meta madness of the whole thing. The concept of the writer of the story being the final villain, the fact that by making Chuck the bad guy they have managed to tie in moments from basically the entire series which seems intentional but was totally a happy accident (like the very episode the introduced Chuck being called “the monster at the end of this book”) Just *chefs kiss* perfection.

Supernatural has always had this way of being this amazing, awe inspiring, beautifully poetic story, by complete and total accident.

All the best things about Supernatural were NOT intentional.

I seriously mean that. Whenever the writers actually TRY to be clever they fucking fail miserably and the writing shows that. The finale is proof that by trying to be clever by “going full circle” and “taking it back to the start” they basically destroyed everything they had built like children having a tantrum and smashing their sand castles.

The unintentional things are masterpieces

Dean going to Hell and the introduction of angels

Castiel in general sticking around past 3 episodes (and becoming the greatest character in pop culture history and no I don’t take criticism on this stance).

Chuck being seen as God by the fandom long before the writers ever deciding that he was (and then rolling with it because it was a popular fan theory).

Destiel. Just. Destiel. (It IS the greatest love story ever told and no I don’t take criticism on this stance either)

Dean’s repression and multi layers of personality and character growth (a lot due to Jensen being a fucking spectacular actor and not as a result of the writers many of whome have constantly fought against Dean’s growth and tried to force him back into that dudebro womaniser macho toxic masculine role even though that hasn’t fit Dean since Season 1)

Sam’s traumatic recovery from Lucifer that crops up every now and again which is purely thanks to Jareds acting and nothing to do with scripts because the writers never bother to remember the trauma Sam has gone through at Lucifers hands.

Whereas the things that they keep bringing back over and over again constantly fail to impress:

The brothers rehashed arguments season after season

One brother dies, the other mourns, makes a deal, things go bad, another brother dies, on and on and on in a constant viscious circle of mysery that stopped being interesting in season 5 (and thats being generous)

Lucifer. Just. Lucifer in general passed season 5. Fucking hell he should have stayed gone after Hallucifer in Season 7

Anything written by Brad Buckner and Eugenie Ross Leming

The British Men of Letters - what the FUCK was that?

The general need to include pointless brother only MOTW episodes therefore wasting half a season EVERY season and making up more and more lame excuses which make no sense for why Castiel isn’t with them when everyone knows that Castiel’s presence makes the episodes better.

Anyway, when I say yes and no about Chuck, I mean that I LOVE the potential the Chuck/God being the villain brings. I loved the deeper concepts that WE as FANS came up with once that plot twist was revealed. I still fawn over meta written about the implications of Chuck as the writer being the villain and the characters having to literally break free of their own story in order to gain true character freedom away from the confines of a show constantly held back by conflicting writer choices, a homophobic asshole network, and too many people like Bob Singer lurking around set all the time like a bad penny.

But the actual Chuck as a villain in the actual canon plot of the show? Lame. Lame and too much missed potential.

Chuck’s whole point as a villain was that he was trapping the characters in a story not of their own free will. They were manipulated by him like puppets right? Even if you interpret it as him standing back and only occassionally nudging them in the direction of his story rather than full on puppeteering, the point is that as the villain of the story, he should have been defeated. The problem with Supernatural’s final season and in particular it’s final episode, is that he wasn’t.

If Supernatural had ended with the brothers truly defeating Chuck, and therefore truly breaking free from his story and getting the endings they deserved, with the people they loved, then looking back now, I would consider the whole narrative of season 15 and consider Chuck a fantastic villain, because had the brothers actually broken free, we would have seen just how high the stakes were. We would have understood how badly Chuck had destroyed the potential happiness the brothers COULD have had. It would have been phenomenal for the show to go out on a bang where the final defeat of Chuck meant we as an audience could have seen just what the brothers had missed out on for all the years they were nothing more but his characters. By given us an ending the brothers actually deserved, to see them free with their loved ones, their found family, happy and alive and just getting to LIVE, then the impact of Chuck’s villainy would have been so much more powerful.

But Chuck won, not because he was a good villain, or more powerful than any other villain and able to overpower the brothers, but because the brothers once supposedly free, did exactly what they would have done in Chuck’s narrative, therefore rendering any high stakes or power Chuck supposedly had totally pointless. The finale episode told us as the audience that “the brothers were always going to follow Chuck’s script, even WITH their own free will”. Which begs the question; did Chuck have any power at all? Or would those stupid codependent idiotic Winchesters have gone and done exactly what he wanted all along anyway? Not only did the finale render Chuck pointless, it rendered the entire narrative of the show to that point pointless. It rendered the whole message of Supernatural completely irrelevant.

So do I think Chuck was a good villain? Yes and No. Yes, because of what could have been, and No, because of what unfortunately was.

[bigskydreaming]

thatninja replied to your post:

I know I’m usually that guy who’s always...

Gambit is 100% riding on his charm and looks. Plus Rogue could punch a hole through just about anyone that could argue that, which is prolly some kinda factor.

someothermonstra replied to your post:

I know I’m usually that guy who’s always...

isn’t… isn’t that canon?

LOL it actually varies pretty wildly depending on who’s writing him. I mean, good luck finding consistent characterization with any popular comic book character that’s at least three decades old, but all kidding aside, I do love the guy and Gambit in particular is a frequent target of character assassination. There’s even a trope named after him, though I forget its specific name at the moment. 

But its basically the idea that certain male characters who end up more popular with women than male comic book writers expect, or understand - like as in they don’t understand what about them appeals to female readers so much, or misunderstand the basis of that appeal - there’s this weird trend where some of them basically take it out on the character and kinda...do their best to sabotage them? Idk, its like, it frustrates certain dudes who have rigid expectations of what women want in a ‘ladies man’ type character, that when faced with characters who get that reception not because of how these writers WOULD write them, but for reasons they just...can’t put a finger on.....they basically get butthurt about it and are like ‘well what’s so great about this guy anyway.’ 

I mean for sure, being jealous of a comic book character - let alone one you yourself are getting paid to write - is pretty pathetic, buuuuuuut lbr, that describes a lot of dudes in that industry and I mean....there’s a pretty obvious and proven track record of characters like Gambit and Nightwing and the other well known ‘lotharios’ of the Marvel and DC universe regularly getting tanked in various runs and written as vapid airheads or thuggish jerks (not to mention cheaters), in ways that really don’t make any kind of sense from even a basic storytelling perspective and really seem to only exist to make them look bad. 

One writer that always stood out in this regard for me with Dick Grayson was Chuck Dixon, who wrote his Nightwing solo comic for a long time in the 90s, as well as adjacent titles. And to be clear, it was always pretty obvious that Dixon WANTED Dick to be received by readers as a ladies’ man.....but for reasons and ways that Dixon wanted. Like Dixon was a pretty right wing, conservative d-bag at the best of times, (and also the one who made Dick a cop, which tells you all you need to know about what I think about him, lmao)....and so its not hard to guess what he THOUGHT an ultimate man’s man, macho but suave lady-killer James Bond kinda guy SHOULD look and act like, and how female readers were meant to like...swoon at his take on him.

Except....that’s not remotely Dick’s appeal, and why he’s so popular with female fans. If anything, that’s pretty much the exact OPPOSITE of the times he’s most popular with women, and like....you can kinda see throughout the course of Dixon’s Nightwing runs where that just baffles and frustrates the hell out of him....and with him then all of a sudden throwing curveballs into his OWN long-term character work and storylines, just to be kinda like ‘well what do you think of him NOW, huh?’ In particular, I’m thinking of this one infamous stand-alone issue, I think it was an annual or whatever, and it was a flashback issue that was written late in the 90s but meant to take place right before Dick was supposed to get married to Kory back in his Titans days. And it involved Dick going to see Barbara one last time before his wedding, and talking about their romantic history together and hand delivering to her the invitation to his wedding with another woman....and then she’s like wtf....and that somehow led to them sleeping together.....and then him waking up the next morning in bed with Babs and being like, well that was great, I’m off to go marry Kory now!

Seriously. That actually happened. That issue was thankfully considered non-canon by most readers and other writers and never referenced again (outside of occasional references to Dick being a cheater, but as I’ve talked about before, that BS existed long before that story and stems from the crap with Mirage).

But like....it made ZERO sense. In story, in context of the characters, in terms of how Dixon HIMSELF usually wrote both Dick AND Babs, which he’d done a LOT of....like he also wrote Birds of Prey for a long time? With Babs front and center in that? And forget about Dick even for a second, in what universe would SHE sleep with someone who was about to go marry another woman?

Like, it came absolutely out of NOWHERE, and made zero sense whatsoever, and tbh, Dixon didn’t even really try and justify it within the actual narrative, it was kinda a wham bam, well here you go, this happened, DEAL WITH IT. That story’s only purpose really was to make everybody in it look bad, b/c Dixon’s the kind of dudebro to throw a temper tantrum within his own work b/c his female readers don’t like Dick for the reasons HE thinks they should like Ultimate Ladykiller Fantasy Man Dick Grayson, but for reasons that don’t make sense to him and he CAN’T replicate because of that.

Its the same trope with Gambit. And it actually kinda originated with him, even though Dick is a vastly older character, because don’t forget, a good fifty years of Dick’s history was as a preteen and a teenager. He was only growing into that persona of the character with mass romantic/sexual appeal at the time that Gambit was created.....and right from the bat, Gambit’s creation and reception kinda threw writers for a loop.

B/c Gambit, as Claremont initially conceived him, was not SUPPOSED to be sexy. Like, he had really longterm, complicated and convoluted plans for Gambit originally, and how he was connected to Mr. Sinister and other characters, but like....in Claremont’s own words in past interviews, he’s basically said that like....Gambit was supposed to be more obnoxious than charming. Like, he kinda meant for him to be taken as this greasy, weaselly kinda sleazebag who was only ‘charming’ because of something to do with his mutant power, that much referenced but little canonized ‘charm’ ability he’s always been rumored to have in addition to his kinetic energy powers.

Except....between how artists throughout Gambit’s early years actually portrayed him, and the ways Claremont and other early writers wrote him and the things they had him saying all being taken entirely differently than they intended....Gambit was pretty much an instant hit, with female readers in particular....and just like Nightwing in later years to follow, this frustrated the SHIT out of certain writers, because they just DID NOT GET IT.

And so with Gambit, just like with Dick, half the time you have writers who are total fans and just want to show off those characters (and other characters that fit this particular niche archetype) to the best of their abilities, highlight just how competent and skilled and intelligent they are....with fans of course usually being very receptive to this and upholding these particular runs as iconic and fave portrayals, enjoying the characters here for the reasons they’re ‘naturally’ appealing to a lot of fans, etc. 

Which of course, in turn, just kinda frustrates and annoys that Certain Dudebro Writer Type all over again. And thus the next time one of THEM gets their hands on these characters, there’s all these little digs built into the stories and the characters making mistakes that ‘reveal’ them as the kinda insensitive assholes they are, the jerks who don’t deserve the kind of acclaim they get, just like....Those Popular Jocks That Don’t Know How To Treat Women Right, Not like A REAL Nice Guy Like Me Would, and are really just kinda dumb airheads anyway and why do people even like them, ugh.

Anyway. So yeah. That’s definitely a thing that’s stood out for a lot of fans and readers over the years and been noted and talked about pretty extensively, with again, there even being a trope named after Gambit because of it. This weird, self-defeating obsession some guys have with making sure that like ‘Well if women aren’t going to like these Male Power Fantasy Characters for the reasons WE think they should like them, then we’re gonna make sure they just don’t like them at all.’

[go-diane-winchester]

Bi Dean origins

What is Performing!Dean?

According to destiel meta writers, Performing!Dean is the result of John's terrible parenting, because he pushed toxic masculinity on Dean and tried to destroy the feminine bisexual side of Dean, by ''beating the gay out of him''.  It must have happened off screen because I don't remember that.  Can someone be kind enough to tell me which episode that was?  This macho, ubermanly [because bisexuals not manly apparently] hunter dudebro personality is just a front to cover up his real, latent, soft and feminine bisexual side, which he doesn't want to show to the world for reasons unknown. 

Examples of Performing!Dean

12x07  -  his over-the-top disgust at the vegetable water

Of course, it has nothing to do with the fact that Dean doesn't like vegetables.

10x06  -  real men don't drink from cups this small.

Of course, this must mean that Sam is bisexual too because he asked the fairy lady ''do you have bigger cups?''.  It has nothing do with the fact that the contents of the tiny cups wont satisfy their man sized appetites. 

The Scooby-Doo theme tune and how it signals Performing!Dean:  ''You're not fooling me, cause I can see, the way you shake and shiver.

So Hanna-Barbara knew about destiel and Performing!Dean before Jensen was even born?  Heck, even before Kripke was born?   

That façade of overexaggerated toxic masculinity was supposed to end in season 12.

12x22, the grenade launcher scene.  The bunker is lit with pink and blue lights [the colors of the bi flag], and the brothers are first attacking that wall [representing someone's internal wall in need of breaking down], with pickaxes together, barely making a dent in said wall, sitting down in defeat.  Then Dean gets the grenade launcher and blows the wall to dust.  It is metaphorically his internal wall of self doubt and self loathing etc that is keeping him from loving Cas. 

And all this time, I thought they were just busting through a wall to get to the other side.  And Sam must be bi as well because he was busting through the wall too. 

In short:  grenade launcher -> wall down -> bisexuality accepted -> rainbows.  [Yes, that is the meta writer's exact words.  Feel free to laugh.  But understand that Jensen gets harassed with this nonsense.]

In the Scooby Doo episode, the ghost turns up just when Dean lies to the Scooby gang to protect their innocence and literally just as he’s hitting on Daphne again.

Childhood issues + performing!dean => the monster who turns out to be a kid who mirrors Dean’s childhood issues exactly and is wearing a literal monster façade.  [Again, the meta writers words, not mine]

12x23 - the self inflicted death of Crowley is ENTIRELY metaphorical for the death of Performing!Dean and Dean’s choice to let it go.

This is so sad because two years have gone by and Dean is still in the closet.  That means, Crowley died for nothing. 

13x05 -  Dean burns all the masks, because the masks metaphorically symbolize Performing!Dean and that is why Dean wanted to burn them all.  I guess Dean's big coming out is around the corner people. 

He made the choice to ride Larry the bull....but the bull is mechanical and a fun ride.  I am straight.  Does it mean I cant ride the bull? 

He openly expressed his love for Dory.....that must I am a lesbian with a metaphorical wall.  I never knew.  Thanks for helping me out, meta writers.

Perfect world episode - Dean dreamt up his mum but not his dad because dad was dead.  Its because John didn't let Dean be bi, and Dean hated him. 

It had nothing to do with the fact that JDM was unavailable because he was filming The Accidental Husband, The Resident and a proposed Grey's anatomy spinoff ''The Correspondents''. 

Remember destiel shippers, without metaphors, subtexts and symbolism, Performing!Dean doesn't have a leg to perform on.  Leave your fantasy in fanfiction.  The show is not sending your secret metaphorical messages.  And certainly don't ask about it at a convention.  People will either laugh at you and irritated. 

Seriously though, John was not a role model dad, I concur.  But he was not a bigot.  If you say he was, you have to proof with canon, and not symbolism.  But then again, role model dads are not messed up because they didn't watch their wives burn on the ceiling and they are not freaking out because they think the boogie man is after their baby.  Dean is not a coward.  He stood up to John twice.  Does that sound like a physically abused boy who is petrified of his father to the point where the fear stays with him even after the man is dead?  Remember Max?  Max was tortured by his father.  How come only Sam cared about it, but Dean didn't have any triggering flashbacks?  He just treated it like any other case.  Dean didn't even blink when Sam told him he slept with a cadaver.  Dean has no reason to stay in the closet.  Meta writers are aware of that.  So they literally made up a reason:  Performing Dean.  

[mittensmorgul]

Do you have any least favorite fic tropes that you just won't read? Like I can deal with things being reasonably OOC if it's well written, honestly, but if I read the words "Lisa" and "bitch" in a sentence together, I exit out immediately. Life is too short to deal with low grade misogyny.

Hi hi! I know this has been sitting in my inbox for a while, but now I’m back from gishland and I’m not completely mentally fried, so I’m gonna try my best to start replying to everything folks have left in my inbox in the last week… with apologies to folks who left me messages before gish week that I still haven’t replied to… someday I will catch up with everything (i’m lying, this day will never come… but I will keep trying) :P

I’m gonna start out here by suggesting your question is actually asking several different things, and attempting to conflate them together. I wasn’t initially gonna reply to this, just make a “to the anon asking about fic tropes…” kind of message suggesting you ask me off anon or in the chat, because this is really potentially inflammatory, and I wasn’t (during gish) up to writing a potentially long explanation in reply, while still actually addressing the (several distinct) questions in your message there ^^

I feel the need to start by clarifying that “low grade misogyny” is NOT a trope.

Tropes are narrative shorthands, recognizable patterns or themes or plot devices that are widely used in storytelling, whether it be literature, tv, film, etc. Twist a trope too far so that it overpowers the story instead of just cluing the reader or viewer into the subtext or an upcoming plot twist or character development, and the trope itself takes center stage, and it becomes a cliche.

“Low grade misogyny” is just… a character flaw of the author.

In fic, tropes are things like, “there was only one bed!” because heck, we all know how that story goes, right? That’s what makes it a trope. We all (who are familiar with fic) see that phrase and essentially know exactly what’s gonna happen. Or, for example, in Supernatural canon, we all understand the Cold Open Unknown Character is essentially the episode’s red shirt (or else unwitting witness to the red shirt’s demise). For a while years ago there was a meme circulating around here to the effect of “like a character in the cold open of Supernatural.” We all know they’re gonna die (or be traumatized for life). Those are tropes.

Writing women as being “bitchy” isn’t. Even if it’s just to create plot tension between the main characters. It’s just… bad. Ugh.

So that said, yeah, I really don’t like reading fic that frames the female characters (especially previous love interests) as terrible human beings. (And one of my bigger regrets is using Lisa in Project Beyonce instead of Lydia… since she left Dean, and had never really been all that attached to him… I still don’t know why I picked Lisa for that… To be fair, it was one of the first things I wrote for this fandom, even though that’s not really an excuse. I should probably just go edit all the instances of Lisa into Lydia and I’d feel a lot better about it.).

I mean, a recurring comment I get on The Exception to Every Rule is something to the effect of, “omg I kept waiting for Bela/Becky/Lisa/any female character to turn evil,” and that’s part of the reason I wrote all of them exactly the way I did. I took the baggage of the Supernatural universe off them and wrote them how I thought they could be. :)

So, since we’re not talking about actual tropes here, but characterizations that negatively interpret women, minorities, LGBT+… yeah, I tend to nope out of those too.

I’m also pretty much past the whole “Dean’s gay panic” (which yes, this is a trope). I’ll still read older fic set in past canon or an AU set in the past or when he was much younger where he has this sort of self-awareness moment, but current canon? Or an au where he’s a nearly-40-year-old? Nah, sorry. Not interested. Dean’s a ball of emotional issues, but this isn’t really one of them anymore.

Internalized homophobia doesn’t fly anymore either for me. I mean, he’s no longer the s1 Macho Posing Hunter Dudebro he tried to project when complaining about the suit in 1.04, for example. He’s now quite comfortable with his own tastes, you know? So it feels massively out of character for him to suddenly reject “girly” things in fic. He admitted to loving chick flicks and TSwift. There’s no putting that genie back into the bottle for me.

But fic is there for anyone and everyone. Writers write the stories they feel compelled to write, not necessarily the stories I personally want to read, you know? I don’t have to enjoy every single take on the characters from every writer ever. That’s one major benefit to being in a fandom as prolific as this one. There’s plenty of stories I DO enjoy, and if I’m reading something that doesn’t work for me, I can back out and find one that will.

But I’m with you on being very, very tired of all female characters being used as canon fodder (spelling intentional there) just to progress a relationship or the fic’s plot. It’s not a trope, it’s a cliche. And a sad, tired, lazy one, at that.

[roccinan]

'dudebro fanbase liked him (as he is in canon) just fine' - lmao yes they like him for his asshole, alpha male personality (and tbh get him better than many martin stans who think there is a good person under the palermo persona). i think that part of the fanbase would be very happy with a spin off featuring the cormorants heavily, they like those "cool, manly" characters.

Yep, pick away the homophobes and the general dudebro fanbase thinks Palermo is a pretty cool guy. Specifically because of his "alpha male" asshole personality. (asdfasdf anon, this made me laugh out loud- true words)

So yes, these dudes would be just fine with seeing Palermo and the other cormorants be leads in the spin off. So now instead of just Berlin, they have a whole group of "cool, macho" men to worship!

[zutaralesbian]

Since I already did ATLA, here is pt 2 with Black Sails <3

Top 5 Episodes?

2x07 (Suuuuuuch a good episode for the ladies. Eleanor being a badass and rescuing Abigail. Maxanne bonding. Miranda having a role. Also “I’m Miranda Hamilton” and “I’m James Mcgraw” <3

2x05 (For the iconic Reveal)

2x01 (A fun episode! The official beginning of Maxanne, the introduction of Flinthamilton and the London flashbacks, and funny Flint and Silver shenanigans.)

4x08 (Max in Philadelphia and refusing to marry a man, even to achieve her ultimate goals. Maxanne reconciliation) 

3x01 (Had some good established Maxanne before things started to fall apart for them)

Bottom 5 Episodes?

1x01

1x04

1x05

1x06

I didn’t like season 1. Other than Maxanor and Silver being funny, it was kind of boring. And filled with rape. If I didn’t know that better things were to come, I probably would have stopped watching. 

Top 5 Characters?

Max

Eleanor Guthrie

James Flint

Anne Bonny

Miranda Barlow

Bottom 5 Characters? 

Out of the characters that got a good amount of screen time: 

Woodes Rogers

Charles Vane

Richard Guthrie

Captain Hornigold 

Edward Teach (Just because he was boring) 

Top 5 Romantic Ships?

Max/Anne

Max/Eleanor

Flint/Thomas

Silver/Madi

Featherstone/Idelle 

Bottom 5 Romantic Ships?

Eleanor/Rogers

Eleanor/Vane

I think those are the only canon ships I hate.

Top 5 Platonic Ships?

Flint/Miranda 

Flint/Eleanor

Max/Idelle (Although I also lowkey ship it romantically)

Anne/Jack

Max/Jack

Bottom 5 Platonic Ships?

Eleanor and her father. That’s the only one I can think of. 

Season Ranking?

S2 > S3 > S4 > S1

Character You Relate To The Most?

Hmmmm.....I don’t really think I relate heavily to any of them. I guess the closest would be Anne, with her being a late-blooming lesbian. But that’s the only thing we have in common lol. 

Character That Inspires You?

James Flint, my gay father who loves murdering homophobes 

Character You Can’t Understand?

Can’t think of one

Best Written Character?

James Flint. He had the most work put into him overall, I think. 

Worst Written Character?

Vane. The writers seemed to want to make him likable in S3. But they should have thought about that before they had him purposefully enable Max’s rape in S1. There was no redeeming him after that imo. 

Most Cliched Character?

Vane. He’s the character most of the straight dudebros probably wanted as the main lol. Glad he choked. (Literally)

Most Unusual Character?

I’m going to have to say Flint again. The fact that the writers made their main macho lead on a violent show canonically gay will never fail to get me hyped up. 

Most Inspired Storyline?

Max’s rise from being at the bottom to being on top in Nassau. She did that!!!

Favorite Hero?

......There’s only a small handful of characters that can really be considered heroes imo. I’m going with Madi. 

Favorite Villain?

Eh. I hated pretty much all of the traditional villains so none. 

Best Person?

Madi, The Maroon Queen, or Mr. Scott 

Most Influential Character?

James Flint. For pretty much the same reasons I think he’s the most “unusual” 

Most Manipulative Character?

Oh wooooow almost all of them are manipulative lol. But I think some of the top contenders are Silver, Flint, and Max 

Best Performance in an Episode?

Toby Stephens’ delivery of the “intolerable sacrifice” speech in S1 always gives me goosebumps. Also Louise Barnes during Miranda’s breakdown in 2x09.

Most Visually Stunning Episode?

I can’t really name a specific episode but the show had a lot of really good shots of ships on the ocean. 

Most Impressive Special Effects?

I dunno 

Character with the Best Aesthetics?

Max my fashion queen 

Favorite Song?

The opening theme kills me every time 

Best Writer?

Idk. I don’t really pay attention to specific writers for Black Sails. 

Favorite Theme?

See favorite song 

5 Words You Associate _____ With?

Thanks again! @kateaustensgf

[tim-lucy]

Sorry but what about the line "It was much easier back on Daxam when I objectified women" Dude... That's written right into the narrative. And Kara and Mon el don't have "disagreements" Mon el just flat out does not listen to anything she ever says. This isn't subjective, it's written right into the narrative. Kara thinks he is an arrogant, macho, egotistical dudebro who never listens to her. Those are literally all canon things she's said I just don't understand why You like them so much

Okay you know what you can hate then if you want to you're right okay I really don't care. I just had the shittiest week of my life and the shittiest day of my life and I really don't feel like slamming on something that I like. I'm sorry if this sounds rude I just keep getting messages about this and I honestly am reaching a breaking point I can't deal with it right now and all these messages are stressing me out. I come on here to talk about things I love not about things I hate and I know I probably sound horrible right now but I just went through a lot and I just wanted a distraction.

[laurengoesforaspin]

Sorry to bother you but omg your tag on that post about fs though about fitz 'barely being a character anymore' I 100% agree? I can't even pinpoint what it is but he's just /there/. I don't get why the rest of the fandom haven't really noticed and spoken up about it as they have for other characters in previous seasons, but at the same time i do. I thought it was me just being weird but i'm so glad to see someone else noticing it!

Hi anon! You are not bothering me in the least!

Yeah, I thought so as well. Glad it’s not just me either; it’s hard to talk about considering the attitude the fandom has. I always usually stay silent on this type of thing because, well, I stopped visiting the main fandom tags when Ward was revealed to be Hydra. It became such a negative place to be in. I haven’t been talkative on this site in a long time, but before 1x17, the aos fandom was truly wonderful. I was also more involved - made graphics of FS. Sent derps to Brenna. It was fun times.

Fitz in S1 to me was very important. For one, the character saved my life at a time in 2013 when I was suicidal. He wasn’t the regular dudebro on TV; he wasn’t the macho-man, athletic type; he didn’t have Ward’s skills. And yet... he was portrayed as the hero. I am very defensive of this character because I can relate a lot to aspects of his personality. Since S2 at least I feel like the writers have not given a significant arc for his character; I was sincerely hoping it would be different this season thanks to his involvement in AIDA. I’m not speaking too soon on that, as it could tip the scale in 4B, but they’re seriously wasting his character outside of Jemma. It has so much potential, and Iain is just wonderful, I adore him. Ever since the whole S3 debacle and FS becoming canon, people have delegated him to just “the straight white male boyfriend” (and he isn’t straight to me, but, I digress - it’s what fandoms do). He’s in the background, and even Jemma has a significant arc this season (probably because she should have gotten this treatment last season instead of a stupid love triangle). It’s not fair to the character for the writers or the fandom to treat him like this, because he was never portrayed to be in the first season or so. He deserves to be his own character again (though, on a positive note, he has been so funny this season thank you iain) and not just a plot device to save the day, or a counterpart for Simmons and Radcliffe.

Anyways, I don’t want to ramble - I have a lot of stored up opinions. You can come off anon and talk to me some more if you want to. :) I’d like that. I always regret not getting more involved.

[orionsangel86]

dude half the characters on the cw are lgbt..if destiel doesn't become canon it's not orders from above, it comes from everyone involved in the show, and especially dabb and jensen.

The network gave the go to make God bi, which risked to pi*s off several viewers. Them not making DeanCas canon makes zero sense. They probably won't make Eileen and Sam stay together. Why? Berens and a lot of the other cast and crew ppl follow acc like Super*iki. Berens even created a char just for her. He knows she loves under*ge in*est. They won't make DeanCas move out of subtext to make their friends like Super*iki happy. Don't believe me? Look at Jason F who told us all ships are the same.

.....

I have had both of these asks in the past few days and I’m not sure whether to laugh or cry about them. 

Anon no.1 - You seriously blaming Dabb and JENSEN for not making Destiel textual? ppffft bitch please. Jensen has basically admitted Dean’s feelings for Cas live on stage. This perpetual concept that floats around fandom like a bad smell in which Jensen is some anti Destiel homophobe has really got to be VANQUISHED. No matter how much we try to febreeze that bullshit out it still lingers URGH. I’m not sure whether to blame the bronlys or bitter destiellers for it tbh. Right now the lines between both are pretty blurred...

I have spoken about this extensively before. The CW is FINE with LGBTQ+ characters on it’s newer shows, where they are established as queer early on, so the audience is well prepared and willing to accept it from the start. What the execs at the CW might NOT be happy to approve, is taking their 15 year old ancient TV show with a 50/50 split republican/democrat audience, in which half the audience are straight white male republicans with a boner for guns, macho men and action scenes and watch the show purely on a surface level basis, and make the LEAD character who is known to that particular subset of the audience as being THE MOST macho dudebro, a queer character in love with the OTHER lead character who is also an angel.

Do you really not see the difference here? Making God bi? Yeah okay it was controversial, but God at the time was still a minor character in the show and it was a one off line in passing that those dudebro audience members can easily brush off. Making your lead character bi and having an entire story arc where he falls in gay love with his angelic best friend? yeah that’s gonna go down pretty differently. Besides, making Destiel textually canon isn’t gonna be something they can easily remove for the more homophobic overseas Russian and Chinese audiences. Also ask yourself this, since Chuck returned as a recurring character have they mentioned his bisexuality once? At all? Other than the line about him having a creepy obsession with Dean (which is hardly good rep for bisexuals anyway)?!? Seriously can you at least CONSIDER what I am trying to say here and use some critical thinking skills to actually understand this situation.

Anon 2 - See above re God being bi. Your ramblings have zero correlation. You are best summed up by this picture:

In case its not entirely clear, you are the guy on the left. I am the dude on the right. 

FANS DO NOT INFLUENCE THE WRITERS. SUPERWIKI DOES NOT INFLUENCE THE WRITERS.

Also Jason F is a troll who likes to joke around with the fandom. His word also means NOTHING in terms of the writers. The ONLY thing that matters is what we see on the screen, which right now is a pretty intense and heavy emotional plot between Dean and Cas that seems to be building to something pretty epic.

We can also take Jensen’s comments at the latest con into account because he let slip that Dean is into Cas, like literally slipped and confirmed it whilst making a dumb joke because the dude gets awkward when shipping is brought up even though in this case it was about Sastiel not Destiel and Jensen just went and confirmed Destiel, so thanks for that Jensen!

Seriously people just stop already. Your incessant need to come into my ask box and shut down my positivity with your ridiculous nonsensical reasoning is driving me mad. You wanna be mad at Dabb, Bobo and Jensen and scream queerbait from the top of your lungs? BE MY GUEST. I really couldn’t care less what you think. But if you really are going out of your way to put the blame on queer writers, and showrunners who are allies, and JENSEN who is a fucking actor and has no decision making abilities in the grand scheme of things, instead of blaming the corrupt greedy homophobic executives that sit at the top of the powerhouse networks, then you my friends are part of the problem. 

[orionsangel86]

12x11 Episode Review - What a Ride That Was!

Having just completed my second watch of this episode I have to say I am slightly stunned. I guess the best way to put it is ‘not what I expected’. But then what did I really expect? I was expecting pain, heartbreak, drama, interspersed with some humour and a big “no homo” scene to counteract last episode. I was expecting some dudebro Dean to appease certain types of viewer, along with a nice helping of deep subtext into Dean analysis for us to eat up that would go straight over that type of viewers head. I was certainly not expecting… Larry.

I haven’t looked at tumblr yet, except to glance at my askbox. I assume that you are all suitably going mad over Larry. Over the implications of Larry. Over the sheer insanity of the episodes biggest innuendo fuelled moments and probably laughing about it. I expect a hundred gifsets. I want to reblog those gifsets. I am also sure that Larry has already been meta’d to death… But what’s the harm in a little more meta to add to the massive pile gonna do? Because I wanna meta the FUCK out of Larry.

But there is a lot more to this episode than just Larry. We did get heartbreak. We did get drama and we did get some really nice character moments. Rowena particularly was amazing this episode (who am I kidding though she is always amazing) and I loved learning more about her thoughts. Overall I think it was entertaining, though not one of the best episodes, but that could be because the writing was a bit sloppy and sometimes the story didn’t make sense. I’ll get to why in a bit. Let’s just say that Meredith Glynn isn’t my favourite of the new writers by any means. I didn’t even review The One You’ve Been Waiting For because I didn’t feel particularly inspired by it at all.

But having said that she gave us Larry, and for that I will forever be thankful… even if she didn’t intend for us to take it the way I have (and I am guessing most of you reading this have too).

Anyway, main points to take away under the cut:

Regarding Dean

Obviously the main point of the episode was to delve a little further into Dean’s head and explore a very unconventional and unexpected fear. The fear of losing ones memory is actually horrifying. It is even more horrifying because this is something that the majority of us will have had at least some experience being first hand witnesses to. I am of course talking about dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. My grandmother had it, and in the later days when she didn’t even know who we were it was completely heart breaking. The fact that this is something that many of us fear as we get older is something that certainly wouldn’t be lost on the creators of this show, and with many many references in the later seasons to Dean’s getting older (including one in this episode) it is quite a fitting topic to explore. What if he doesn’t go out with a ‘bang’ the Hunter way? What if they do both end up in the Lebanon retirement home where Mildred currently hangs out enjoying sunsets? What if Alzheimer’s becomes an actual legitimate fear for them? This is most definitely the episode that Jensen talked about at a recent con that explores a very big fear. Because this fear is huge and very prevalent in society. It also makes me think of the film The Notebook and how that story deals with a loved one having to watch the person they care about most in the world forget all about them. (FYI I have never been able to sit all the way through that film without crying even though I usually despise sappy love stories).

Dean’s whole existence in this show revolves around his love for his family. The found family that he keeps close by that is. Sam and Cas and now Mary are his world, losing that would utterly destroy Dean. It is why that scene in front of the mirror is so so heartbreaking to watch. Next to Larry, it is the most memorable moment. Though I do think that the deeper themes and meanings to this particular MOTW story were a bit lost in all of the lighter humour. Hence why I said I wasn’t a huge fan of the writing. It could have gone deeper, it didn’t quite reach the impact that Yellow Fever had even though it tried very hard to pay homage to it.

Starting at the beginning then, Dean wakes up after being wammied by some mysterious witchy guy with a bunny rabbit by his side. I don’t get the point of the rabbit at all. I’ll be honest. It was completely non relevant to the plot. I thought at first that maybe the witch had turned himself into a rabbit but it was literally there for us to all “aww” over. For that reason though, have a pic:

Awwwwwwwwwwwww so CUTE!

It was interesting that this scene came so shortly after the “then” sequence which included a young and much less gruff voiced Dean saying ““Why does a rabbit always get screwed in the deal? Poor little guy”. Have we had many other rabbit references in this show? I don’t think so… except maybe Bugs Bunny in Hunteri Heroici which immediately brings Cas to mind “So we are dealing with some insect-rabbit hybrid?” Though this episode does also feature a character happily watching cartoons so maybe the connection there is totally valid. Rabbits are also a symbol of fertility, spring, new birth and most obviously sex. In an episode absolutely chocablock with innuendo. That is also an interesting point. Though I have no idea how to connect it to anything else so I am just throwing all this stuff out there for you guys to pick at. By all means tell me if you have any ideas!

Dean losing his means of communication means reaching out to people in other ways… A lady with a pram comes by and rejects him as a bum. Gives him money instead of even trying to listen. A guy comes along with a dog (our famous white dog whose name I can’t remember) and gives Dean his attention… before doing some stretches, jogging on the spot and wiggling his hips. (I found this guys movement kinda um… suggestive when considered in the context of the rest of this fucking episode). Without going into too much detail here, I just thought I’d point out that Dean is rejected by the woman and child (traditional family) but accepted by the guy with the dog. Because of course he fucking is.

The waffle house brings us our first promo scene, but knowing the context now makes it so much clearer. I was guilty of making assumptions. Just like Sam does. Thinking that Dean went out, got drunk, had a one night stand… he did no such thing. The promo mislead us and I think it did so deliberately. It is getting clearer and clearer all the time that that version of Dean that Rowena so kindly spells out later in the episode “manners of a Neanderthal and the dining habits of a toddler” the “season 1” version of Dean, if you like, just isn’t the guy we see on our screen anymore. We aren’t getting these moments anymore. Have we even seen the Asian porn yet this season? Personally I hope it never makes another appearance.

Sam’s comment “Dean, you’ve had a good run, but maybe lets pump the breaks a little bit I mean you’re not 20 anymore…” is pretty much what I was thinking the whole promo. The waitress is far too young for him, that kind of behaviour fooling around in bars just isn’t really any kind of behaviour for a man his age, and in an episode with a heavy underlying theme that could easily be compared to the worst potential problems that come with growing older I don’t think it was accidental.

“I would be dead okay, I wouldn’t be Dory.”

“Dory?”

“Not gonna apologise for loving that fish. Not to you, not to anyone”.

I love that we have yet another thing to add to the list of things that Dean Winchester loves that don’t fit in with his macho image. This is wonderful. Dean likes Disney films. This is canon. If he can admit to loving that fish, this means that at times he will go out and watch Disney films and get excited about them and actually have strong feelings about them. Now I am totally headcanoning that he forces Cas to watch them with him and I BET that Cas’s favourites are The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast. Why I hear you ask? Because they would resonate with him. If you don’t get it, rewatch those movies from a destiel perspective.

“smooth like a Ken doll” This is the second time the show has compared Dean to a Ken doll. Probably just a tease at Jensen Ackles very perfect features, but I keep thinking about Ken from Toy Story 3 and after the Finding Nemo/Dory reference a moment ago I think it is valid. Ken in Toy Story 3 had a very... um... loud personality.

The cowboy bar… How do I even BEGIN to meta the cowboy bar? All I can say was this seems like the kind of place that Gabriel would send Dean in fanfiction to work on his gay panic before ultimately hooking up with Castiel.

The third place they come to (and I’ll talk about Sam’s lack of Dean knowledge a bit later) and the first thing we see is a shot of:

Well that’s a rather large phallic object hanging over the Winchesters heads! Yeah this is totally Dean’s kind of place. He does have a cowboy fetish after all. This sign also caught my eye:

Because Chuck is certainly off having some “R&R” right now with his sis… It also seems to be the kind of place that Chuck would have hung out in his stint living on earth… ya know, playing his music, since there is clearly a stage set up with band equipment, picking up girls… and guys. Like we are ever gonna forget that GOD in the Supernatural universe is bisexual.

Lets talk about Larry

Consider this a sub point to my “regarding Dean” point because it all technically falls under the same category.

“he’d ordered burgers to go, it was gonna be a minute, we were slammed, then you knocked back four shots of tequila? Put some “sick jams” on the juke and then you hit the bull.”

“oh yeah, you had the hots for larry as soon as you walked in”.

Now, there is innuendo, and then there is this line. Why give the mechanical bull a guys name? Specifically so you can make this into one big innuendo. This entire scene is about Dean riding dick. I’m sorry, deny it all you like but that’s the joke. That’s the bottom line (pun unintentional until reread then found hilarious). On checking my ask box yesterday once I first watched the episode this is what I got:

Thanks guys by the way for sending these. I am with you. Consider this review your asks answered if that’s okay (I’m being lazy because I still have a load of asks to answer and I have no idea when I’ll get to em). So Dean rode Larry. Haha. It gets brought up again later in the episode by Sam when he is trying to tease Dean about it. What I am interested in is Dean’s reaction. When Sam first asks “You rode Larry?” Dean hesitates, but he isn’t embarrassed. Yeah he’s still hexed at this point and regressing but he doesn’t get defensive about it. Just asks if he was good. This is then revisited later on once Dean is cured “I can’t believe you rode Larry” and Dean’s only defence is “I was awesome on that Bull… like a God.” Which is also a call back to Chuck again, in the bar that had a Chuck sign and really did seem to be Chuck’s kind of place… Is Dean like God? Well yes. For one thing they are both bisexual.

Perhaps mechanical bullriding isn’t seen as homoerotic in the kind of places where you would actually get mechanical bullriding. It could even be considered as a very macho thing to be able to “tame the bull”. But the way the episode frames it… the way they shove the innuendo at us over and over again. It is intentionally played out to be a gay joke. What I can’t decide is whether or not this is the creators joking along with us or whether they are doing it to take the piss. There is a level of regression here back to the pre carver era spn where the gay jokes were rife and not ever really taken seriously. Dean’s subtextual bisexuality used to be a joke in the show. It hasn’t been framed as a joke since pre season 8 and yet I can’t help but wonder if this new writer hasn’t yet got with the programme. Because Dean’s bisexuality is not a joke. Especially when this episode is framed by two very Cas heavy episodes, the first of which was loaded with destiel subtext that was deep, meaningful and very very serious. Looking at the promo for next episode, I have a feeling that we are only going to get more of that. So why sandwich a Dean episode full of gay jokes in between two Cas episodes full of serious destiel heavy storyline? If their intention was to make it into a joke again, they have failed. Because when taken with 12x10, the humour is stripped away and what is left is the viewer wondering whether Dean really does have a hankering for dick? Specifically Castiel’s. I know that my language here is very blunt. I also know that the chances are this review could find its way to some antis who would like to take the piss out of this… but seriously? Go ahead. Try. With the show playing up to the things we like, and with very little “no homo” moments to counteract it, I don’t see how you can view this any other way than the way we do.

Dean left Sam, went to this specific bar, had some Dutch courage and rode the bull. He also flirted with a waitress but that never went very far. His main concern was how good he was with Larry…How good his riding skills were… and spoiler alert… he was awesome.

(yes nonny - Dean could totally ride dick like a porn star. This is now true. Since we have seen him in action with our own eyes. Its not like most of those ‘Larry riding’ shots at the end even had the bull in them. It was all Dean from the waist up just having the time of his life and going up and down... up and down... like this wasn’t subtle. This totally wasn’t subtle.)

I also need to point out that all this happened before Dean got hexed. This was all Dean Winchester. This wasn’t performing Dean. The Dean who puts on a mask which half the time seems to be specifically for Sam. Nope. This was Dean as himself, the same Dean that owns booty shorts, likes ballet and has a thing for Dr Sexy.

The moment that the waitress says “you were…amazing” can be taken as the “no homo” to the Larry narrative of course. The way she says those words can easily be taken to be a comment on Dean’s sexual prowess. But its only there to cover up the underlining sexual nod to Dean’s “amazing” ability to ride the bull. The bull being called ‘Larry’ and therefore along with all the other phallic references this is, as I said previously, all one big “Dean rides dick” joke. And I can’t actually fucking believe the show did that.

Actually that’s a lie. I fucking well can. They have been flirting with this idea of Cas being a top and Dean being a bottom for AGES but THIS takes the biscuit.

So Dean rides dick. Thanks for confirming bottom!Dean show. Great job.

I wonder if even this went over poor ‘innocent’ Jensen Ackles head… Is he Charlton Heston? REALLY? Or is he 100% on board with this because how can you possibly act this out. INCLUDING THAT RIDICULOUS MONTAGE AT THE END and NOT see it? You do realise how fandom is gonna take this Jensen? You do realise this will probably DOUBLE the number of destiel fics where Dean is happily riding Cas’s dick all night long?!? (as a disclaimer here that is not what destiel fic is all about but there is still a lot of smut out there so I feel like the show is only encouraging this) (on the other hand I expect to find 20 12x11 coda’s on my dash where Dean goes home, finds Cas, tells him about Larry and how he wants to “show Cas his skills” *nudge nudge wink wink* and Cas will be like “oh. yes please!” and yeah... that happens. That totally happens.)

The other takeaway from this scene so loaded with meta potential is the waitress’s explanation of what happened. Because it seems weird and makes no sense. The question I’m sure a lot of people will be asking is Did Dean sleep with the waitress? But when you consider her explanation of what happened, how could he possibly have?

Ooh I actually got an ask about this too:

She said they were slammed, Dean had to wait for his burgers, hence he had time for 4 shots of tequila and a ride with Larry. So how did they get talking and “blew off some steam”? Because she didn’t even see him leave, it was her bartender that saw him run out of there like his pants caught fire (liar liar)

Is that the hint? Liar liar pants on fire? Was she lying about fooling around with Dean? If so why did she slap him earlier? She must have been insulted that he didn’t remember her and didn’t meet up with her later but it still doesn’t make any sense. How did she have time to fool around with Dean somewhere if they were slammed? If the place was slammed they surely wouldn’t have been able to find a quiet space to actually do the fooling around either? This whole thing smells like a lie and when you consider Dean’s later line “first action in I don’t know how long and its like it never even happened” seems to me that the writer wanted us to consider that maybe all is not a it seems. The only action Dean got in that cowboy bar was from Larry.

Consider another ask answered! Dean did not have sex with the waitress! They possibly squeezed in a kiss when she was on break but there is no way they had time to properly fool around.

Another thing I liked about this scene was the way the waitress then apologises for possibly taking advantage of Dean when he was “roofied”. After the mess and drama of the Amara stuff last season this is refreshing. Dean gets an apology for being sexually harassed, which from a meta perspective could also be the writer apologising for the Amara situation. I dunno if that’s really the case but I like the idea of it so I’m sticking with it.

Back to Regarding Dean

Once the Winchesters start tracing Dean’s steps into the forest Dean loses more memory. We have another call back to season 4 and Yellow Fever with the flashlight moment and Sam has to remind Dean what they do since he has now forgotten all about witches and monsters. The difference between his reaction to being a monster hunter here and in yellow fever is huge though. In yellow fever he thought they were both insane, horrified at the thought of actively going after these dangerous supernatural beings. In Regarding Dean he is excited about the idea, finds it awesome and calls them both “heroes”. It’s nice to know that without his memories of the horrible things they’ve done Dean is able to accept that he does something good and is able to be happy about that.

Another call back to season 4 with the mention of the Siren “Siren’s aren’t all hot chicks?” Nope. Sorry Dean some of them are hot guys who are totally your type. To bring up the Siren (an episode absolutely full of homoerotic subtext) in this episode (an episode absolutely full of homoerotic subtext) seems like another subtle nod to Dean’s bisexuality. Like a ‘hello! Remember this? Dean’s siren was a dude come on guys catch up!’ At moments like this I feel like the show is specifically trying to tell the audience what we (as fandom) already know. Dean is bisexual, like last episode they were trying to tell us that Cas is in love with Dean. This is all extremely promising.

THEN right after we are reminded of the Siren, but right before Dean totally randomly brings up Cas we get this:

I mean of course I was gonna bring up the handprint! Although I admit I have been lacking in my watchfulness lately for any hand or hand print symbolism in the show. But this is definitely meant to pique the audiences interest. Because why is it there at all? Why bother with the hand print if they are gonna find the sigil shortly after? It doesn’t seem to add much to the plot except to be there to ping a memory in Dean’s mind. Of Castiel.

“And our best friends an angel! Whaaaaatt!”

This is another season 4 callback after all. Season 4 being the season of Cas’s handprint. When their ‘profound bond’ was formed. There is no way this handprint isn’t supposed to invoke the memory of that most famous of handprints. Dean remembers Cas fondly. Even when he doesn’t remember him he still thinks he is awesome. This makes me so happy. As Cas fans we are so used to Cas just being forgotten about in MOTW episodes, but like I have been saying for ages now, Andrew Dabb is the biggest Cas fan and he won’t let our angel be forgotten about at all now that he is showrunner.

Moving on and Rowena shows up a her awesome self and Dean is nice to her. His base nature is actually to be nice to people regardless of who they are. Its something we don’t see very often from our very grumpy and deeply traumatised monster hunter. “your hair it’s all so bouncy” he says. Noticing the smallest things. Its cute. Its so very un-dean-like and yet at the same time it is exactly the kind of thing Dean would do. We know he likes to take care of his own appearance, his room, and often teases Sam about his hair and Cas about his trenchcoat. These are more in-sights into how Dean’s mind works.

Dean is sat down to watch an episode of Scooby Do whilst Rowena and Sam talk about the curse, firstly thinking he gets to watch porn. Nope. Instead we get this:

Which… in an episode full of sexual innuendo is *ahem* something I’m not going to comment on. Yes my mind did go there. No I am not specifying where “there” is. Look at the picture and figure it out for yourself. Flowers and dogs also have specific symbolism in this show. Maybe this wasn’t intentional but with everything else? I think it is. I am partly laughing and partly crying at how obvious this is to me at least. But like I said I ain’t going there. LOL.

Then, once Sam has explained to Dean once again what is happening we get this beautiful scene:

Honestly Jensen killed it. The fear in his eyes, the horror and confusion. “My name is Dean Winchester. Sam Winchester is my brother, Mary Winchester is my mother, and Casti- Cas is my best friend” This was beautiful and painful to watch. My heart breaks for him. Amongst all the humour and silliness of Larry and Rowena and Sam’s squabbles, this moment showed the truth. That the situation is dark and terrible and frightening. I wish they had given us more moments like this than all the humour to be honest. Because this was real. This was Dean vulnerable and terrified. Once again a scene where he faces his reflection and struggles with what he sees, though this time for a totally different reason. Dean has never had a good time with mirrors in this show. Ever since Bloody Mary they just tend to be bad luck for him. This moment is no different.

As Dean continues to forget more and more Rowena leaves him to go and save Sam (how awesome is it that Rowena is technically saving them now?!?) and leaves Dean in the Impala surrounded by notes. This is where Dean really has forgotten everything and yet his hunter instincts still kick in.

We get another moment where Sam denies the use of the grenade launcher. Three times and it’s a pattern. I would bet money on Dean getting to use that thing by the end of the season.

Dean finds his way to the witches mansion and is able to save Rowena and Sam by firing the gun and killing the witch. Proof that hunting really is in his blood, part of his soul. He will always be a hunter. No witches spell can take that away. In a way it is quite sad because it kind of implies that however this show ends, it won’t be with Dean giving up hunting. Even with the talks of retirement in previous episodes, I can’t see Dean doing it. Its who he will always be.

Once the witches are dead and the spell reversed, Dean admits that he wouldn’t be better off forgetting all their crap, because he would have forgotten everything else too. No matter how happy he might have been.

“Was it nice to drop our baggage? Yeah maybe, hell probably, but it wasn’t just the crap that got lost it was everything, what we do, all of it. So, that’s what being happy looks like, I think I’ll pass.”

Of course Dean wouldn’t choose to forget everything. Like the previous scene proved, Its in Dean’s blood to be a hunter, and he wouldn’t ever wanna forget his family. The people he loves. Forgetting the people who love you is not happiness in any way shape or form.

I feel like maybe this episode was lacking an emotional final scene. This was short and sweet but it didn’t seem to have the satisfaction that I thought it would, regarding Dean’s memory loss and fear and dependence on his loved ones. But it was still a great analysis of Dean’s character nevertheless.

Sam Winchester isn’t looking hard enough

This episode was predominantly about Dean, but there was a lot of stuff about Sam in here too. Specifically how he doesn’t really seem to notice much about his brother. I don’t mean this as a dig, but it’s honestly quite surprising. When we compare episodes where Sam has been changed somehow, it has taken Dean no time at all to realise something is wrong. Sam however, seems to shrug it off as Dean being a dumbass, or Dean being drunk, or Dean doing something to make Sam roll his eyes again. It seems like Sam has got an idea of who Dean is in his mind and it is so deeply ingrained that he is kinda blinded by it. He has his expectations of his brother, and he has got it so so wrong. Sam judges Dean. He doesn’t mean to, but the problem is that Dean has been building on his ‘character’ on his ‘performing Dean’ persona just for Sam for his entire life. Sam sees the performance, he doesn’t see what’s underneath. Its episodes like this that make me question all our fics with “shipper!sam” because I sometimes doubt if that’s the case. Does Sam actually see it for what it is? Or is he so blinded by his version of Dean that he cannot see the truth? Clearly Cas and Dean’s tension makes him uncomfortable, as last episode all but proved. But does Sam really understand what is going on here?

If he can be surprised that Dean loves Dory, what else surprises him? How much of Dean does he not know about?

What I found really striking in this episode is how Sam doesn’t find it easier to track Dean’s movements of the night before, because if it was the other way around Dean would have figured Sam out straight away. This was shown to us back in season 4 (again with the season 4 references in this episode!) when Dean was able to locate Sam based on how well he “knows that kid”. If Sam had truly known his brother well, he would have known that the cowboy joint was the first place he’d go. Sam knows that Dean has a ‘cowboy fetish’ and therefore it make the most sense? Dean wanted to ride the bull, but Sam was so surprised that Dean rode Larry that he “couldn’t believe it.”  

Even the end scene, Sam admits that he was kinda jealous. For him, forgetting everything they have done is a weight off their shoulders. Something he would like to experience. I think this is also a hint towards Sam not entirely accepting that hunting is his life. Whereas Dean is generally happy with what he does, because it is in his blood Sam doesn’t feel that way. I know we have seen previous episodes where Sam has seemed to accept it. But he only accepts it if he can do it with Dean. The co-dependency is extremely strong with Sam at the moment. Sam also always seems to be looking for something more. I don’t just mean relationship wise, though he did admit this in 11x04, but something more than just hunting.

We have always known that Dean was more like Mary. Mary’s family are the hunters. Dean is one of them. Sam though? Sam was all John. And John might have taken to hunting once his revenge had consumed him, but hunting was not in John’s blood. Nope, John’s blood is all Men of Letters. This is the path that Sam seems destined for.

What also seems to encourage this theory is that it is usually Sam who is paired up with Rowena in any of her episodes. It is common in this show for most side characters to develop a better relationship with Dean than to Sam. Dean is charismatic like that, but Sam has ‘bonded’ with Rowena if you wanna call it that, far more than Dean has, and it is always Sam who calls Rowena in to help. Is Sam attracted to magic? This is something that we have been speculating for a while. The Men of Letters use magic this we know, even their grandfather Henry was able to “harness the power of his soul” to cast spells. It was Sam who spoke to Lily last episode about how she developed her power. It is Sam who finds all of that stuff very interesting, and it is Sam who holds on to the Grimoire at the end of the episode. Will we get witch!sam in the future? I think it is still a possibility, but if nothing else he will become a true men of letters eventually… that I am sure of.

I said I was slightly disappointed with the end of this episode as it seemed to brush over the deeper, more meaningful conversation that could have been had. Another moment of missed potential I think was this one:

“Brother. Witch”

Isn’t it all a bit too easy? What if the witch had turned around and said “no! I’m your brother! He’s a witch!” and it could have got confusing for Dean. I think this moment could have really been great for Sam to have to convince Dean somehow why he was indeed his brother… revealing something about himself and their relationship? It would have been nice to see that moment of doubt from Dean followed by pleading from Sam to believe him rather than the witch. It’s an old TV cliché though so maybe that’s why they didn’t do it.

The next great Sam moment was this one: “Who’s this hippy?”

Sam looked broken here. For a moment he was really worried that his brother had forgotten him… that is the moment I was talking about earlier about the horrors of Alzheimer’s. Thinking that your loved one doesn’t know who you are is horribly painful. Jared did really well to capture that moment, even though it turned out to be Dean joking around. I’m with Sam here, that wasn’t funny Dean. That was mean.

Rowena’s future

Rowena was totally awesome in this episode. We first see her playing poker with some shady characters and cheats her way into winning. I’m so interested in what Rowena is up to off screen. First the rich businessman who Crowley blew up, now this. She is clearly completely done with other witches, but she isn’t quite ‘out completely, and still comes to Sam and Dean’s aide even though she could easily tunr them down. Like Crowley, could Rowena be starting to care for the Winchesters?

“Am I saved to your contacts now? Tell me, have I got my own ringtone?” Lol. So Rowena is flirting with Sam. Which is fun but also reminds me of 10x19 and Sam’s hallucination of Rowena that got all flirtatious with him. That was Sam’s mind remember so is there actually something in this? Oh god do we need a ship name for this now? We had Drowley now we have Samena/Sawena? Eek I dunno about this! Though I might just go with it purely for the look on Crowley’s face.

Anyway I just love Rowena and Sam’s banter okay?

Then she turns up at their door and as much as Sam brushes it off as Rowena having her eyes on the Loughlin’s book, partly I think Rowena actually enjoys their company.

“altruism isn’t exactly your style”

Isn’t it though? Because she seems like she is also putting on a performance of villainess when really it’s not who she is at all. Like Dean, it’s all a performance.

“You’re a killer, Dean Winchester”

“But, though you may be a stubborn pain in the ass, with the manners of a Neanderthal and the dining habits of a toddler, everything you’ve done, you’ve done for the greater good.”

“Oh and that’s supposed to make it okay?”

“I wouldn’t know. You help those other than yourself, but me? I’ve done horrible things. I told myself it was fine. It was the price of power and powers what matters right? Then I meet god and his sister, the two most powerful beings in the universe, wasted on squabbling with each other. I thought if they can’t be happy or at least satisfied how can there be any hope for me?”

This is such a fascinating insight into Rowena’s mind, how she thinks. For ages it was all about getting power but since God and Amara she has given that up. It’s not about power. She still wants money so she can support herself, but like her son what she is missing is love. This is why I think she helped the Winchesters. She likes them, even if she acts like she doesn’t. They are technically the only people she really knows and I can see this being part of her storyline that she tries to build on a relationship with Sam and Dean. As an ally at first, but then at some point a friend.

After all, when she hears Sam is in trouble, she goes to rescue him. She doesn’t flee and decide it’s not her problem. If she didn’t care, she wouldn’t have put herself at risk for Sam. She doesn’t even get the book in the end. So what did she possibly risk her life for? If not to save Sam. This is a huge turning point for Rowena. She made a decision to save Sam’s life. So much for being a villain.

When Rowena does face Catrina, her story is horrible and sad, we are starting to learn more and more why Rowena is the way she is. Though nothing has come too close to her speech to Crowley in 11x10. Rowena hated being weak, being at the mercy of others. Her experience with the Loughlin’s shows just how awful it was for her. The way she was treated does not excuse the horrible things she has done, but it seems as though since meeting God and Amara she is trying to make up for some of that. She is not unkind or uncaring at all. She has always cared maybe too much. Otherwise she would have easily left both Winchesters to die.

This goes back to her speech to Crowley. “If I didn’t hate you, I’d love you. And love, love is weakness.” This I think is the theme of Rowena’s arc. For her to learn that love is not a weakness, that to have people who love and support you only makes you stronger. It coincides with Cas’s arc as well, where he is constantly being told that his weakness is his love for “humanity”. Castiel already said himself that “my friendship with Sam and Dean makes me stronger”. Rowena just needs to learn this too.

Overall

This episode wasn’t one of the strongest but it had some very good moments. I didn’t like the villains. I found them rather boring, but then they weren’t the focal point of the episode. The writing was sloppy in places and some of the plot didn’t quite make sense, but ultimately it worked. Just, what the hell was the end montage? I get that it was supposed to be another call back to Yellow Fever but seriously? The song was kinda fun. About innocence lost by the sounds of it.. but seriously? I was suffering from a bit of second hand embarrassment I’ll be honest. I think they just really needed an excuse to put Dean riding Larry into the episode for real. 

This makes me think that we totally missed out on a booty shorts dance from Dean at the end of 11x04.

Main takeaways from the episode?

Meredith Glynn binge watched season 4 and used it for all her references.

Sam really needs to pay more attention to what Dean isn’t telling him.

Sam may be tempted by witchcraft.

Rowena cares. A lot.

Dean likes to ride dick. (but then we already knew that.)

:P