daughter-of-pens

[daughter-of-pens]

Im officially nerdy enough to have drawn my lesbian, cardassian defector fan character.

Also another lesbian couple bc i said so….

[daughter-of-pens]

Fancanon #2 - The Free World (Movie)

Streaming on Netflix, "The Free World," starring Boyd Holbrook and Elisabeth Moss, is a quiet story about a gentle romance between an ex-convict and a battered woman. Holbrook the ex-con is 60-odd days free, having been cleared by the Innocence Project for the presumably gruesome murder of some little girls. He has a job at the dog shelter under the employ of a wise, sympathetic, no b.s. taking, older woman played by the lovely Octavia Spencer. Moss the battered woman shows up one day in the passenger seat of her asshole cop husband's truck, distraught over her beaten dog, Charlie. Spencer's back and forth with the asshole implies that he beat Charlie to near death. Once Holbrook steps up next to Spencer to quietly assist, the asshole gives both Spencer and Holbrook a whole bunch of antagonistic lip for no reason, especially the latter, for the monstrous reputation he earned in prison.  During this scene, Holbrook glances up and gets a glimpse of Moss openly weeping behind the windshield. She doesn't notice him and Holbrook puts his attention on the dog and the asshole. After the latter leaves, Spencer and Holbrook treat the dog's injuries, but they're too severe for the pup to last more than a night, despite Holbrook's adamant hope that it'll pull through. Next follows a handful of scenes of Holbrook by himself, establishing his minimalist stunted life before it's disrupted. He prays to Allah, he tosses and turns on a big bare mattress, then goes to sleep in a closet. Next comes Moss and Holbrook's first scene together. Here the tale begins.

I'll be honest. I know Hurt/Comfort is not everybody's jam and there's likely a growing number of people who like to slap the "P" word on it. (Hint: Problematic.) However comma...as someone who grew up pretty unprotected for too many complicated life reasons, I freakin' liiiiivveee for this stuff. Wherever there is a description that mentions a rough person putting it all on the line for softie in peril, I will click for more. Don't @ me. (hee, I've always wanted to say that.)

So the movie. How was it actually? Because you know premise can only get me through the door. Execution gets me to stay. And the quality of the execution determines whether I walk out abruptly or stay but have a bad time or leave at the appropriate time with a big grin on my face. Let's say that's the spectrum of judgement we're working with. Where does "The Free World" fall?  I stayed and felt like I had a pretty good time for most of it, but then after I left...the more I thought about it, the more I realized it actually wasn't that great of an experience but I wanted to feel like it was a good experience by thinking of the little things I enjoyed. Simply put: It was good, but could've been better.   What was the problem? The story was about something very specific. It was about this connection between two lonely stigmatized people in this small judgmental town. That was great, but the plot which carried out this story...mm, not so much. Directly put: I think the events that transpire to put these people in each other's lives and how they react to them clashes with the actual focus of the story more than it helps bring it out strongly.  Spoiler Wall - Spoiler Wall - Spoiler Wall - Spoiler Wall

First Contact - The movie opens with Holbrook working at a dog shelter, comforting the little loves and comparing their time in cages to his own. Moss' character shows up the next day with her abusive husband. She's sitting in the car, crying her gigantic eyes out, while the husband talks crap in front of bloody beaten body of a dog on the ground.

Second Contact - Moss shows up at Holbrook's job in the middle of the night, bloody, beaten, hysterically crying and hanging on to the dog cage looking for Charlie (the dog.) Holbrook frantically attempts to shoo her away, thinking she's a druggie. Once he realizes she's in distress, he offers to help, take her wherever she needs to go - she just can't stay there. Moss gets so worked up that she passes out. Holbrook rushes over to her, taps her face, and gets blood all on his hands. He mutters "I didn't touch you. I didn't touch you." He's about to call the cops, but paranoid that people will think he harmed her, he instead carries her unconscious body back to his place. She sleeps on the bed. He sleeps in the empty living room in a chair by a shadeless lamp. 

Pivotal Contact - Moss wakes up in a strange bed in a strange room. Grabs a butter knife or a razor or something that Holbrook had set out all nice and neat against his bedroom wall. She tip toes out of the room. He hears her, gets up, and immediately starts trying to explain. She's scared and angry, saying things like "Get out of the way, let me leave, I'm not afraid of you." To which Holbrook responds, "I'm gonna let you leave, you don't need to be afraid of me, you need to understand I didn't hurt you. I didn't do anything to you, you asked for help, so I tried to help, okay now you can go." She's still not convinced, thinks that he's one of her husband's friends who apparently stalks her sometimes. He wrestles the weapon out of her hand, puts it down, hands up, and begs her to understand that he didn't harm her. He tells her again that she asked for help, so he tried to help her, that's all, and she's free to go. At last, she understands the situation and sinks down against the wall. 

At this point, I'm saying to the TV "okay, get on now. Gone get where you got to get." But she doesn't.

The cops knock on the door. Apparently, the upstairs neighbor called them due to a domestic disturbance coming from his apartment. He lies and says he was just working out and he's in the place alone. The cops come in and look around for themselves. The male cop, (who played Marshall Marshall on the show "In Plain Sight" - shout out to him), is a total racist D-bag. He antagonizes Holbrook about his time in prison while the female cop, who he refers to as "my lovely Latina partner," searches the rooms. Apparently, Holbrook earned the nickname "Cyclopes" in prison because he took his cellmate's eye out one night. Apparently, this is only one of a long list of violent acts he committed in the slammer. His beast level is clearly one of legend, since people bring that up more than whatever crime he wrongly went to prison for. Male Cop says he was so monstrous that even the black gangs didn't mess with him. (Male Cop referred to the black gangs as something much harsher that I don't care to repeat, but it's why he's pegged 'racist' as well as a D-bag.)

Lovely Latina Partner returns giving the all-clear, but Male Cop isn't convinced. Why? Because Moss can't stop freakin' whimpering and whining from the dog crate she's hiding in kitchen-side. Holbrook tells them it's just an old sick dog he's taking care of. Male Cop demands Holbrook open the crate so he can see for himself, becoming more and more aggressive with every denial. Eventually his partner gets him to back off and the cops leave. 

Holbrook opens the cage door. Moss says "I was cooking dinner," which is the beginning of whatever event led her to the state she’s in. Holbrook stands against the counter, tells her it's alright. She comes out of the crate. 

To cut to the chase here: Moss killed her abusive cop husband, presumably during a beating he was laying on her while she was cooking dinner. Rather than judge or reject her, Holbrook understands. Saying something along the lines of "people like him don't stop."

Holbrook decides to help Moss by hiding her in his apartment. The detective on the case suspects Holbrook because he's the recently released killer of the town and lets him know as much in a diner, but he never has his place searched again.

This moment is representative of the larger problem I think the movie has, which is an imbalance of agency that makes a lot of the moves the characters make come anywhere between out of the blue to unbelievable.

During a little dinner scene at Holbrook's place, Moss acknowledges that if she's caught there, Holbrook will go back to jail.

"I don't want that," she says. "So I should go." 

"You can stay." 

Not gonna say why? ...No? ...Okay then. 

So she stays. Meanwhile, the news is covering the murder of Abusive Cop Husband, deeming his missing wife a suspect. When the detective who suspects Holbrook accosts him again at work, he mentions how Abusive Cop Husband was a hotheaded a-hole who nobody liked and everybody knew he was beating his wife, but turned the other way - basically hinting that he thinks Moss killed him and Holbrook is helping her because he's sympathetic to her understandably bad situation. 

Key word: Understandably. So at this point, I'm like "okay, self defense is a thing. You're covered in bruises and even the detective said your husband was a garbage person who nobody liked (except his a-hole friends presumably) and everybody knew was a violent jerk. Soooo, why are you not turning yourself in?"

Never once is it acknowledged between Holbrook and Moss that she might actually be okay if she turned herself in. Because the theme of these characters is "stigma," it's being assumed that she would still be judged harshly for committing murder even under this extremely understandable circumstance and she would suffer in prison just like Holbrook did for a crime he didn't even commit. Because of what prison made Holbrook, it's decided that this fragile flower of a person doesn't deserve to set foot in that environment, not even for the hot second it would take for any lawyer worth their salt to get her a slap on the wrist. 

We're supposed to believe that the system is against them, so they must depend on each other. Holbrook's distrust in the system I buy because it is (thinly) established that he is stigmatized as an alleged child killer and a prison menace. Members of authority are just waiting for him to hurt somebody. Hell, their attitudes suggest they'll snatch him up if something bad so much as happens within five feet of him, involved or not. So with all of that in mind, him wanting to protect her from the system because of his own distrust of it makes sense. But Moss...Miss Moss' apprehension I don't so much buy because while her husband did apparently have a-hole friends (some or all of which could've been other cops) supporting his abuse, those friends don't make the laws. Those friends can't make a lawyer or a judge punish her to their liking (or if they could, it was never established), so what did she really have to fear? Just going to jail? Why did she not even want to try to get real help now that her husband was no longer there to scare her silent?

Perhaps Moss feared that her husband's friends would kill her before she even laid eyes on a lawyer. Or perhaps the husband's family had money and influence that they would use to sabotage her chances of fair judgement and no one would care because she was dirt poor with no family. If so, none of these things or anything like it were established at all, so there's nothing that really solidifies let alone justifies her motivation. As much as I thought she was a sweetheart and I lived for her being under Holbrook's protection, I could see no logical reason behind her decision to hide from the law after calming down and having her wits about herself.

She's not a prostitute or a drug addict. She's not a Chinese mail-order bride, she's not black or a "lovely latina," or an illegal immigrant sex trafficked from Russia or Poland with barely a grasp on English... I mean, not to get too deep or to make it seem like those who fall under what I'm about to say never suffer anything, but in this particular instance, considering the fact that she's a little White American woman with the biggest misty blue eyes and the sweetest disposition being battered by an ugly hotheaded weasel of a husband in a tiny town in the south...I genuinely don't understand why she never once even considered that the system might have her back on this one. Had she screamed in his apartment the day she first woke up, Holbrook would've been tackled, arrested, and put back in jail for the husband's murder in seconds flat even though evidence would clearly show he was nowhere near the scene of the crime. And if Holbrook was actually black or brown and she did that...Lord help him. 

But anyways. She doesn't even consider turning herself in, just hangs out at this apartment, bonding with Holbrook when he comes home from work over the course of maybe 2 or 3 days. One of those nights, she's talking with Holbrook, who's laying in the closet, and after some gentle back and forth (I don't remember what they talked about), she climbs in the closet with him and lays on his chest. He holds her in turn. No hanky panky. Just tame protective comfort. 

Yes, I aww'd. 

The next day, Holbrook sees more cops at his job, supposedly looking for him, so he turns back around. Meanwhile, Moss...sigh. Moss is staring out the window and randomly has a hallucination of her dead dog Charlie barking outside. She gets up and runs out of the house with all the girlish fervor of a literal child only to realize it was all in her head and oh no I'm a wanted woman out in the open in broad daylight. So she runs back to the apartment, but danggit, the door locked behind her. What does she do? Sit on the ground by the door, tell the nosy neighbor passing by that she's fine, and just...waits there.

Holbrook returns. Shocked to see her outside, he rushes up to her, places his big hands on her little face and in a breathy panic, asks "why are you outside, why are you outside?" while she explains in a tearful voice "I'm sorry, I got locked out, I'm sorry. Charlie..." 

Yes, I eek'd when he held her face and spoke all worried-like because he's so big and she's so little and he looks so rough yet he's being so gentle!

...Sue me.

Holbrook gets her inside where she continues to fret, revealing that the neighbor saw her and she's afraid the lady's gonna call the cops. "They'll take you back to jail. I don't want that. I don't want that," she whines. Holbrook holds her face again, places his forehead against hers--

YES I squee'd at this part because forehead touches are the keys to my soul! Can that be okay, Woke Wilma?!

--and says "I don't want to go back. I ain't talkin' about prison. I don't want to go back." There's a moment of pause with her looking into his eyes and understanding his meaning, then she leans into the forehead touch. Their decision is made. They're in this together and they run. 

Holbrook hot wires a car outside near the apartment building and drives off for presumably hours to some house in the backwoods where apparently a friend from prison had been staying this whole time. After a moment of being held up at gunpoint as trespassers, the friend recognizes Holbrook and they bring it in for a hug. The friend makes dinner for them and swaps stories with Holbrook about buddies from the pen. He starts to launch into a particular story about Holbrook as "Cyclopes," which Holbrook tries to stop, but he keeps talking. The story ends up being about how the terrifying big bad Holbrook laughed for the first time and that's when the brothers of Islam started passing him the word and getting him to chill out. 

So his little protests, which I thought were leading up to him losing his patience for the first time in front of Moss, amounted to nothing. Moving on. 

The next morning, the friend hides them in the back of his truck on some blankets under a tarp, planning to take them somewhere where they'll be smuggled to South America. In the truck bed, they're all boo'd up (tongue pop) and Moss starts telling this story about being a little spicy when she was a kid, getting into all kinds of trouble with this little fast friend she had named Chicken, who would talk smack to everybody from kids to cops. 

"Mixin' it up, huh?" Holbrook drawls with a smirk. 

Me: ugh, stop your sexy right now.

"Mmhm, I could fight, too." 

"I bet you could."

Me: ssttaahhpp being so charming and sexy you Jax Teller/Jack Mercer-lookin' Boyd Crowder-soundin' bastard.

So he starts talking about himself when he was a kid and the little trouble he would get up to back in the day when Moss kisses him. He's a little taken by surprise, but quickly returns the kiss and they have a cute little make out moment, nothing heavy - just a nice long couple kisses.

Yes, I grinned and aww'd and there might have been a lil' squee in there even though I thought the timing of the actual kiss was a teeny bit iffy.

They get to the spot - some kind of warehouse - where they're handed off to two good ol' boy methhead-looking traffickers. The friend leaves. Holbrook and Moss are taken deep into the warehouse to a cold double-bed room with a gallon of water sat on the nightstand. Moss drinks the water first, then passes it to Holbrook. Cut to black. 

Holbrook wakes up on the ground, groggy and handcuffed. Moss is missing. Holbrook goes half-beast mode trying to break his cuffs. Just then, two traffickers enter with a wheelbarrow. Holbrook attacks them. Knocks one down, strangles the other with his ankles and shouts "where is she?!"

"The hatch! She's in the hatch!"

He gives up the keys to the cuffs at Holbrook's order. Holbrook proceeds to suffocate him until he either dies or passes out. Either way, he's not moving. The other trafficker starts to get up, but Holbrook- now uncuffed - knocks him back out. He goes out into the warehouse in search of Moss. Finds the hatch in the ground and goes down a ladder into a dark hole. The camera does not follow him. We hear screaming from both Moss and a guy, and then a minute later, Moss comes out of the hatch with Holbrook close behind covered in even more blood. 

Now, at this random action/thriller point, I start wondering if maybe this story is based on some kind of Greek mythology-like fable 'cause you know those stories tend to operate this way - running through all the major events to illustrate some larger point rather than really settling into their characters or setting. Holbrook's nickname is Cyclopes, so I was thinking "Odyssey?" But y'know, I don't think it is. I don't think any of that is a thing, this is just the way the creator wanted to do it. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't know. Moving on. 

They steal another car outside the warehouse and go speeding down the road. Moss is trying to get Holbrook to calm down and Holbrook is all like "I'm sorry, that was me, I'm sorry, that was me." Basically letting us know Cyclopes came out down in that hole and was ripping dudes the F up. Too bad we didn't get to see it. 

I mean honestly, if we're gonna take an action/thriller left, hit the left hard. Lean into it, give me all of it. Subtlety had already left the building so leaving the camera above the hatch for that Shakespearean Play effect was more disappointing than goose-bumps inducing. But, moving on. 

A cop car whoop-whoops behind them. Holbrook freaks out, realizing he was driving too fast. "Why was I going so fast? Why...why?" Moss tries to get him to calm down, tells him to just keep driving.

"Don't stop. We're going, we're going."

So Holbrook steps on the gas, despite the cop's instructions over the horn. A tire on their car blows and the car skids to a stop in the middle of the road. Holbrook makes a plan that involves Moss running out first. She protests, crying, saying she doesn't want to leave him.

"They'll shoot you."

He grins, holds her face, pressing their foreheads together. "Naw, naw...they know better than that."

Me: baabbyy! how can you be so cute and lie like that? Don't be cute and lie!

Moss becomes convinced to go along with the plan. On the count of three, she bolts from the car. Holbrook gets out and staggers towards the cops saying "she's my hostage. I'm lettin' her go. I killed him," while the cops are shouting at him to get down on the ground. He gets down on his knees and while looking up to the sky whispers "I surrender."

Oh right, because Moss had asked him way earlier what Islam means and he said "surrender." So that brings that to some kind of circle.

Holbrook reaches for his prayer beads and gets shot a couple times in the chest. Falls on his back. Moss stops running for the trees and runs back to him. Falls on him, crying, holding his face, just hysterical as the cops pull her off and drag her away. The camera lingers on Holbrook as if he's dying. 

Cut to blue sky and Moss' voice delivering a sweet poetic narration of how much she misses Holbrook, but she's hopeful so long as she can see the sky. Then we see Holbrook looking like he's back in prison clothes and standing around in a jail with his arm in a cast and sling, but actually only one of those things is true. He's visiting Moss in jail, separated by the glass and phone thing. His new shirt just so happens to look like jailbird attire, but he is free. Moss mentions a lawyer working on a good deal for him. Holbrook stares at her a pause, then says "you don't deserve to be in here" or something to that effect. Moss smiles and says "I took a life. Wasn't mine to take." 

Their final moment comes with a bit of illusion. She puts her hand on the glass and he presses his head to his side of the glass. 

"Can you feel my hand?"

The visual becomes her actually rubbing his head, the nurturing comforting way one might pet the head of a dog you could say. They also kiss and I’m not sure if that means in reality they pressed their lips and tongues against the glass or Holbrook just daydreamed that part while also imagining her rubbing his head. Regardless, it happens. They give each other one more longing hopeful look. 

Then...credits.

Okay. I know by the way I recapped and reviewed the story, it might seem like I didn't like it, but I actually really did. I adore this movie's core. It's just, as I mentioned above, I don't think the plot really served that core well.

Rewrite Time

The Little Fix

Moss' Motivation: When Moss tells Holbrook that she doesn't want him to get back into trouble with the law for her staying there, that scene could've been where she starts to weigh her options. Just weighs them. Just acknowledges that if she turns herself in now, tries to get a good lawyer, maybe this and maybe that could turn in her favor. And then Holbrook could tell more of his story as far as how he - when he was a 15 year old - got blamed for murders he didn't commit and no authority in that town cared. They didn't care about his circumstances; they didn't care that he was just a stupid scared kid from the poor part of town where those little girls maybe didn't even live. They already had their story, their big bad wolf...they just needed to make him fit the part. And they did. 

They threw a little boy in a cage with real monsters and buried the key. It took strangers from up north, loads of money, and ten-odd years of his life to dig it back up. Now the innocent person he was back then is long dead. He doesn't want to see Moss go through having who she is stripped and rotted away behind concrete and steel, so he warns her not to just throw her life in the hands of people she assumes she can trust on the notion that she's supposed to be able to trust them. "You're supposed to trust your blood, friends too...but where were they the first time? Second, third?" He'd say, looking at the bruises on her face and arms. She'd try to make some excuses, blame herself for why no one came to her aid when she was being abused, to which he'd retort, "Nobody around here stood between you and that monster when he was alive and well and eating you up every night. So why the hell would they stand up for you now? They'd sooner paint you in the wrong any way they can than face the guilt of their own sins." 

Sidebar: couldn't you just imagine this as the groundwork into Holbrook having his own goal to uncover who the real killer was? It could be revealed to be some pillar of the community kind of guy who everybody kinda new was a weirdo but they turned a blind eye to his kiddy diddler ways because he had so much influence/power. Then when he killed his latest victims and hardly even tried to cover it up, they put the blame on young Holbrook - who happened to find the bodies maybe - to protect the powerful weirdo and in doing so protect their own self-interests? Like Rectify, but with a little more urgency and violence. I mean, the movie ended up having a weird random action/thriller-esque sequence anyway, so instead of dipping in and out of that tone, it may as well have been in the foundation of the story. But I digress. (for now)

Already being scared to face the consequences of her actions, Moss soaks up Holbrook's speech about not turning herself in just yet. She could decide to stay just one more day. And on that day, while thinking of how to approach her surrender in a way that might guarantee her some unbiased favor, she sees a cop car ride down the street. The detective that's been getting on Holbrook's case since the murder shows up with a couple of deputies to search his place again. Rather than running outside because she randomly has a delusion of her dead dog, Moss can run out of the house through the front door and circle around the back of the building, while the cops are upstairs talking with the landlord, requesting a key to Holbrook's place. The landlord lets them in and they snoop around, finding nothing. Meanwhile, Moss is outside behind the apartment under a window or in a corner, holding her hand over her mouth. She narrowly avoids getting seen, the cops leave. She waits for the sounds of them driving away, then tries to get back in through the window. Locked. Tries to get back in through the front door. Super locked. Then the rest of the movie can proceed as is. 

The Big Fix 

We're gonna need to perform some surgery on the timeline here. This movie went from passive to very active and action-filled, but too suddenly and in the wrong direction, which is why it was only half-committed to what little it did do. It wants to be a quiet, emotional journey about two stigmatized outcasts finding comfort and understanding in each other in this hostile little town that's full of high and mighty hypocrites who don't let people live down their mistakes or past wrongs. So the story should engage this setting more. It should build to something active and action-filled through the consequences of how the main characters react to increasingly intense challenges those hypocrites throw at them. 

First things first, we make the killing of Abusive Cop Husband a part of Moss' backstory. Let's say it's been just shy of a year since that happened. She didn't get a day in jail for it, but nobody in town lets her forget that she's a murderer. She tries to go about her day to day life as normal as possible, putting up with rude stares and whispers and the occasional intimidating accost from her dead husband's friends, but no one touches her. (yet) 

Holbrook, who we can still set up the story with the same way, gets told by his boss Spencer that he needs to go out more.

1. So his neighbors stop thinking he's planning his next serial murder.

2. To make more of an effort to re-acclimate to normal life. 

So he eats out a diner for the first time; keeps to himself and chows quickly. People stare and whisper, which makes him anxious (hence the fast eating) but nobody goes near him.

First Contact: As he's walking back home with a doggy bag, he sees Moss for the first time. She's squatting at the edge of a patch of grass going into a field, whistling and clicking her teeth. "Here boy, come on. Here boy." Sensing a dog rescue afoot, Holbrook goes over to assist. He gives her a fright and they both back away a bit from each other. He introduces himself and asks if she's trying to coax out a lost dog. That's precisely what she's up to. She's even already named him "Charlie" after her father, even though the closest they've gotten is her watching him raid her trashcan. Holbrook helps her coax the dog out. He comes to Holbrook, who then gets him in her car. He gives her some quick dog care tips to get through the night and advises her to take him to get checked out by a proper vet for the bigger stuff. They say goodnight and he goes on his way first. She watches him walk away, becoming intrigued as she realizes she's never seen him around before.

Where is the vet's office? The same place as the dog shelter because it's a small town so of course the one veterinarian also runs the pound.

Second Contact: Moss arrives the next day to get Charlie checked out by Spencer the vet. She and Holbrook have a pleasant bashful chat in the meantime. To thank him for helping her, she offers to do something - like treat him to lunch and give him a hair cut. The latter which she acknowledges sounds odd, but it's what she used to do - be a hairdresser that is and she started by cutting men's hair, her daddy's specifically, so she swears she's steady with the razor. Holbrook looks a little self conscious, smiling all shy-like, and rubbing his face. 

"I look that bad, huh?"

"Oh no, no it's...well, it's not great."

They chuckle.

Spencer is behind her giving Holbrook the nudge nod like say yes, fool.

So Holbrook accepts Moss invitation for lunch and a haircut at her place. 

Pivotal Contact: Walking around town to Moss' place, Holbrook is getting some stares and whispers. He becomes a little overwhelmed by the broad daylight, almost turns back, but ultimately keeps ahead. He arrives at her place and they have fast food chicken sandwiches because as Moss puts it "I'm a terrible cook." Holbrook doesn't mind a bit. During the hair washing, cut, and shave, they just talk. The nerves dissipate, they share a few quiet laughs over some anecdotes of lighter times in their lives growing up in the areas they grew up in - wonder how it is they never met, only to conclude they probably did but never realized it. "For such a tiny town, it sure is easy to end up in whole other worlds from people not even a foot away from you every day," Moss can say. 

At some point during their talk, they both hint at their personal controversies even though they don't want to delve into them, which makes them realize the other person doesn't know about said controversies. Odd since they're so used to everybody knowing that about them, but their ignorance is probably the reason they're able to be at ease around each other. So, they both agree to save their secrets for another day. Right as he's helping her clean up, playing with Charlie a bit, and basically getting ready to leave, a brick gets thrown through Moss' window. Moss is upset and angry, but tries to keep her cool in front of Holbrook. She hides the brick behind her back and rattles off 100 excuses for why it's no big deal that just happened. Holbrook apologizes, thinking it's about him. Moss assures him it wasn't. 

During their time apart, their minds wander to each other. Separately, they get a talking to from people about being seen in each other's company. Holbrook by his boss Spencer, who encourages him to continue making a friend, but to be careful since he's not the only one with bullies always barking at his back. Holbrook asks for Moss' story. Spencer doesn't give too much because it's not her story to tell, so she just tells him that Moss is a good girl who got put in a bad situation and nobody lets her live it down. "Just like somebody else I know." 

Moss on the other hand is confronted intimidatingly by the wife of her dead husband's best friend, who calls her all kinds of bitches and evil whores for trying to run around with the town psycho. She stands up for herself with a tough face and tone, but when the woman leaves, it shows that she's hurt. She cries, but she's determined to stay tough. 

The premise I'm building to here is one in which Holbrook and Moss would become friends and confidants first. They would learn patience and understanding of each other by dealing with the aggressive repercussions of daring to step out into the world and try to have lives, especially when they make those efforts together. Those repercussions would be the obstacles they face that challenge their bond, but they ultimately overcome. The worse Moss' aggressors act (hurting Charlie and leaving his injured body on the porch for instance), the more Holbrook will be pushed into becoming his more monstrous self but this time not to protect/prove himself to other monsters, but to protect the link to his humanity from those other monsters.

In Holbrook's own case, Moss could be looking into who the real murderer of those little girls was and it could turn out to be one of her dead husband's friends a.k.a. one of the guys who is bullying her and perhaps one or two of the other friends helped cover it up; even gave false witness statements to incriminate Holbrook. And it's the fact that she's looking into that, trying to uncover these truths for her "psycho boyfriend Cyclopes" a.k.a. their scapegoat, that's making her bullies become more actively aggressive towards her and Holbrook in the first place. There could be a point here where Holbrook finds out what she's doing and wants her to stop, but she doesn't want to, so they get into an argument over why it matters. 

To Holbrook it doesn't matter that people still think he's a killer because he knows he's not. So long as he's no longer locked up like one, he doesn't care what people think. To Moss it matters not only because those dead little girls deserve real justice but also because she knows how other people see Holbrook will always greatly affect his life - just like it affects hers. But unlike her, he doesn't deserve to be treated like a killer for the rest of his life because he isn't one. So, she's going to prove it whether he likes it or not. Having someone put everything on the line to protect him motivates Holbrook to do the same for her, which unfortunately gradually means summoning Cyclopes to keep her safe.

The most "action-movie" this otherwise indie romantic drama could delve into is Holbrook beating the shit out of their group of tormentors (killing none) and getting arrested. But he won't be sent back to prison because Moss' testimony, other sympathetic witnesses of their torment (Spencer and perhaps that one cop's "lovely latina” partner) coupled with the evidence she dug up on the real killer and conspirators will clear Holbrook of any serious charges, especially when that evidence reveals the real monsters (those responsible for what happened to those little girls and a teenager's wrongful imprisonment) to be the same ones Holbrook beat the shit out of, making self-defense all the more reasonable of a ruling.

The real monsters go to prison, Holbrook and Moss become a couple and they live together with a healed up Charlie in an actually furnished house where they have Spencer over for dinner often.

The End.

Post-Credit Notes:

So, everything has come full circle. The setting is utilized more, the microcosm of "society" that is this small town posses a much clearer and stronger threat to the characters' personal comfort and progress, and the connection between these two characters as individuals stigmatized by this little society due to their dark pasts was not only the beating heart of this tale, but drove the plot - the series of events - in a way that didn't overshadow or clash with the main theme of the story, but accentuated it. And I believe that main theme to be an examination of what it means to be enslaved by the world's perception of you; how to cope with and free oneself from this enslavement.  

Now, of course I know that movies have constraints that books don't, namely money and time. So I understand that in a lot of cases, stories are altered to fit movie making means. If that's the case here, that's fine. I still enjoyed "The Free World" for what it was. But just purely looking at the story without any of those other outside factors, I think it could have been a much stronger version of itself in just a couple more drafts.

Shortly put: If it was a book, I'd buy it. 

~R.J. 

Author's Note: Alright, I've done enough talking. Now I want to hear from you guys. Discuss things. Did you see this movie? Did you like it? What do you think of my rewrite? How would you tackle a rewrite? Get those wheels turning. Backseat-writing other people's finished works is one of the best ways to sharpen your own pen. ;)

..........

[daughter-of-pens]

Federated / Decentralized writing app with cross-posting & language support for Esperanto.

[daughter-of-pens]

Fancanon #1.14 - SPN - Post Credits

Throughout the show, there were other story lines and characters who came and went that I thought didn't work well. The biggest disappointment for me was S7's The Leviathans.

They were the most hyped, most disappointing villains to date (Amara the Darkness a close second.) I think it's a story-telling travesty that Bobby died this season. Not even so much because we love Bobby and wouldn't want to see him go, that's a given. I hate that it was a most anti-climactic random death in a most ridiculous random sequence after the most embarrassingly stupid reveal of the villains big stupid evil master plan.

The Big Stupid Evil Master Plan? Turn humans into fat dumb slobs by lacing their burgers and shakes with purple goop. Why? To make them easier to eat.

You know what else makes them easy to eat? The fact that you're an immortal beast from the depths of a hellish realm with the powers to regenerate, clone, and oh yeah, split your whole head open to reveal hundreds of hell beast snappers!!

These super ancient creatures do not need purple goop the likes of something from Evil Clowns from Outer Space to subdue the human race while they randomly pick them off. This is the big take over that fancypants Dick Roman the Master Leviathan cooked up (pun intended)? I know that Supernatural is part humor, I know the show likes to have fun, and I love all that about it, but that was a serious undercutting of all tension built up since the tail end of the previous season.

Do you remember how intense this arc was in S6?

It wasn't even an undercutting because that's too sharp. The point of S7 was a deflation.

I found I couldn't take the Leviathans seriously after that, which is a shame because I actually loved Dick Roman. He was ambitious, smart, calculating, witty. I really thought "holy crap, this guy is their fiercest foe, yet. They're not gonna be getting thrown into walls of some dingy little cabin in backwoods America with this guy. He's bigger than that."

Sure his plan was technically bigger than just taunting citizens of some small town only to be ganked in the woods, but it wasn't at the maturity level that I expected a plan from a villain like him to be. He, as well as the Leviathans as a whole, became cartoon villains.

Castiel was a more menacing antagonist in S6 during the dark streak which led to the Leviathans. His villainy was unrelenting and jam packed with emotional stakes.

Remember THIS scene?!?!

The Leviathans were billed as monsters even God didn't know how to handle and the tail end of season 6 was stopping Castiel from releasing them. No, no, anything but them!

I was prepared for them to take the tension and high stakes that Castiel built up and double them.

So what's the big bad Leviathan Leader Dick Roman have in store for the world? He creates a fast food chain and puts sedatives in the food.

The writers didn't need purgatory hell beasts to do that. Sam and Dean could have been tackling the CEO of a made-up McDonalds if that's all they wanted their villain to be up to for a season. To tie it to the supernatural, it could have been a CEO who sold his soul to a crossroads demon, but then found a way around giving up his soul, using his wealth to buy supernatural protection/power, while he also gains it tenfold in the normal world.

Now, if my expectations were too big for a show like this with the budget it has and the network it's on and if I'm just being a sour puss who wants things to be serious and dark when it's okay for things to be fun and silly sometimes, fine I'll accept all that. But how I felt is how I felt.  For the Leviathans evil plotting to become a hamfisted comical metaphor about obesity felt like a huge let down.

So what could they have done?

Here's where I'm stumped. I know I didn't like it and I know it could have been way cooler, carried way more weight, and gave us way higher stakes.

But I can't think of how I would've made it work. My batteries are drained.

So here's where I turn to you, my fellow ranting 'shoulda coulda woulda' story-makers.

SPN Fancanon Challenge:

After that amazing S6 finale with the Leviathans bursting out of purgatory, how do the Leviathan reign in S7 before their ultimate defeat?

<<...fancanon number1 closing...<<

If you haven't already, please drop your thoughts on the rest of this glorious fancanon for our beloved Supernatural. If you don't like any of my ideas, share your own. How you feel about the show as is, what the show could be doing better, what your perfect spin-off would entail.

I welcome it all.

Like, reblog, comment, and stay tuned for more. :)

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[daughter-of-pens]

Fancanon #1.13 - SPN - Conclusion

The creators didn't need Bloodlines to be about random monster crime families because they already had the only bloodline they needed right in front of them.

The Winchesters. 

Supernatural began as a story about two brothers; 3rd generation hunters after their father and maternal grandfather.

Look at their S1 baby faces, aaawww.

After the Kripke era (S1-S5), there was ample room and opportunity to expand on that foundation, to further the Winchester line, as it were. Not the traditional way since that wouldn't have worked without a major upsetting time jump.

They could have furthered the Winchester line by having the boys take in the wayward souls they most connected with and build a strong family unit.

Make them into the next generation of Winchester hunters through the blood they spill in the field together since it can't be the blood in their veins. All the while, also laying the groundwork for an end/new beginning for the brothers that doesn't revolve the whole world around them but rather, finally, gives them small worlds of their own.

As we saw in my pretend spin-off, it's not like the boys would never hunt again because we'd never buy that. And to sacrifice their lives yet again for yet another big end of the world doom to yet again prove how committed they are to hunting and saving the world would just be trite; unimaginative and frankly dull.

My way, they can have an ending that allows their story to evolve to the internal stage needed to make a complete arc.

As I said before, they've been super committed, they've quit, they've struggled, then recommitted for better and worse. So in their grand finale, they enter the brave new arena of committing to something else. They let themselves be more than hunters and let themselves have more than just the next 'mission' to live for.

Sam and Dean should finally realize there is more to life than ganking monsters and chasing the next world-ending doom. They should be allowed to finally reach a point where they stop living for monsters, start living for people, and be allowed to keep those people.

And the proof that this change would not be the end of them as the characters we know and love or the end of all they've built over their 12 Seasons is the pudding that is the spin-off; where the fruits of all their labor and suffering and commitment is the good work to which they gave so much of their life, continuing to be done by the waywards they've fostered in the second half of the show, who are able to go about it with an even stronger support system than they had thanks to them.

My fellow Waywards, with all of this in mind, imagine what we could have had right about now...

Just saying. 

Moving on!

...............

[daughter-of-pens]

Fancanon #1.12 - SPN - The Spin-Off S3

Season 3 opens up to the gang basically operating like Joss Whedon's Angel.

They rent an actual building in a strip mall in Lebanon, Kansas (where the bunker is located) for their office. Kevin and Mary run the place, Mary having decided to hang up her hunting hat for a while. Krissy, Charlie, and Castiel hunt together. Castiel is mainly there to provide angelic magic muscle, have the girls' back from afar, while they deal with the clients.

A chunk of their cases are duds, but they're always fun. Half are real situations reported by people who don't necessarily believe in the supernatural, but the real police won't investigate because they think the people reporting them are crazy. And the rest, surprisingly, are reported by people in the know of the supernatural world, both humans and peaceful monsters reporting on other monsters in what turns out to be everything from deadly crimes to domestic disputes. 

Their business has become part police force, part bounty hunter operation in civil supernatural society. (Think: Grimm.) A few other hunters here and there have come in and taken on cases for pay, too. Kevin had to lay some ground rules first, so these hunters didn’t go rogue with his name on the line. Namely, any hunter who takes a case through his agency is not allowed to kill the innocent just to gank the monster. (A common occurrence in the show which the writing pretends has no consequences, emotional or otherwise.) Protecting the client(s) is first priority and not harming any other innocent people who get caught in a monster’s path is second. So, for instance, if a possession occurs, they must “separate, then annihilate,” which is Kevin’s sort of catchy way of saying get the entity out of the innocent first, then you can take a go at killing it. Underground medics have taken to joining hunters on cases to aid in keeping people alive, so it’s not too difficult of an adjustment. 

Sam and Dean make an appearance, get a case and get paid for it, which Dean is super psyched about it. While chilling in the bunker that night, Sam and Dean get the scoop on everything that happened and how everyone's been getting on since they left. Dean is pissed he wasn't told about Mary almost dying fighting Lucifer or about Apocalypse World and the Alt. versions of people they know or about Alt. Michael running around on their side of the dimensional tracks.

The first thing Dean says to Krissy and Charlie when they walk in. "Thanks for leaving us out."

Krissy smirks. "You’re welcome.”

Charlie: “We had it handled. No biggie.”

"Still," Dean grumbles.

They all hug.

Sam and Krissy catch up on the balcony. He can sense something's on her mind. She's worrying about Jack. At the same time, down below, Charlie is reenacting Krissy and Jack's goodbye scene to Dean's mortification. He shouts up that Krissy is not allowed to date the prince of hell, "Uh, yeah, that's forbidden, just so you know." They just laugh him off. Mary tells him to leave her alone and tell her all about her pregnant daughter-in-law.

Sam thinks this Jack kid sounds alright. Tells Krissy he trusts her judgement. Though he does warn her. "If he turns to the Dark Side, I won't hesitate to gank him."

"You’d have to get in line," Krissy smoothly declares. They toast to that.

The storyline for the season will involve their cases of the week as hunters-for-hire, whatever Michael is doing in Heaven that’ll affect mankind, and whatever Jack is going through in apocalypse world. (I'm thinking he creates a rip to leave after things have mostly settled and there's just lots of cleaning and rebuilding to do, but gets jumped into a whole new realm -- the one from the Wayward Daughters episode -- and has to survive there/find a way back home.)

And of course, in a couple more special episodes featuring Sam and Dean, there will have to be an Adam/Sam and Dean reunion. Only it won't be the real Adam, it will be Alt. Michael taunting Sam and Dean about how the real Adam feels about them (resentful and abandoned) as well as how he feels in general (broken beyond repair) since he can sense those things. They may never get the chance to make it up to Adam because Michael is not letting his vessel go and because of how torn up Adam is mentally and physically, that might actually be for the best.

“Ooh, damn, I knew we were forgetting something...”

Amendment: Also, given that Adam was previously possessed by the other Michael (Michael One) and they had to purge him just to free Adam’s vessel for Alt. Michael - another cool plot would be if Rowena secretly freed Michael One after she, Crowley, and Jack purged him from Adam and kept him supplied with supernaturally charged up vessels, helping him in his effort to become a strong contender for the Holy Throne against his dimensional twin, Alt. Michael. Their fighting would naturally lead to lots of casualties among mankind, some supernatural flare ups, and scrimmages among the other monsters, which is what gets the Winchester Gang (Mary, Cas, and the kids) involved. And obviously, Rowena would be doing all of that in exchange for something big herself. This scheme would, of course, put Rowena at emotional odds with her apprentices, Alicia and Max, who she does have some sentimental attachment to. It would also put her in trouble with the Winchester Gang when they find out. Her reasons, her objectives and justifications, and how Max and Alicia deal with it (to squeal or not to squeal and to who, when’s a good time to squeal if any, to join their adoptive mother in pursuit of her goal or thwart her on their own, etc) would all make for a nice little side story for our favorite side characters.

Oh! And Mary and Castiel will become a couple. 

After their budding romance is challenged by the redeemed British Man of Letters, Arthur Ketch, Mary still chooses Castiel and Ketch respectfully steps off.

The End.

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[daughter-of-pens]

Fancanon #1.11 - SPN - The Spin-Off S2

Season Two of the Spin-Off is basically S13 of Supernatural with Krissy, Charlie, and Kevin in place of Sam and Dean. Castiel is still "dead" a.k.a. in the Nowhere Realm until he eventually returns after being awakened by Jack. Mary's still got the same storyline being in apocalypse world with Lucifer.

In the first episode, the gang (Kevin, Krissy, Charlie) wakes up and discovers Jack the Baby Man gone. They regroup at a diner and debate calling Sam and Dean. After some arguing, they ultimately agree not to call them until they fix this and can all have a great big laugh about it at the next BBQ at Sam and Eileen's place. They find Jack the same way Sam and Dean did and bring him home.

With Mary gone, now Charlie is the grown up in charge, the Giles of the Scooby Gang if you will, leading them through the plot and taking Jack under her wing while still taking care of/hunting with Krissy. Meanwhile, Kevin is off to find the Banes twins and Rowena so they can make a plan to get Mary back.

Krissy is mad tense and stand-offish with Jack, wondering why they don't just kill him. That Jesse Anti-Christ had a chance to be good, too, but his tether to Lucifer still won him over in the end. "Evil is inevitable for people like him." Charlie disagrees, especially since she saw the good in Jesse, too.

Krissy clearly takes the Dean position, but eventually comes around just like Dean did. In fact, more than Dean because Krissy and Jack will also start to feel each other romantically.

Aren’t they so cute together?!

Now when they finally get to the Apocalypse World part of the plot, they can still bring back all the Alt. versions of those people, but Alt. Charlie and Alt. Bobby will not be staying. Alt. Charlie doesn't need to stay because we still have original Charlie and Alt. Bobby doesn't need to stay because I think it's a lame way to "undo" the loss of Bobby.

At the end of the penultimate episode, before being captured, Alt. Michael kills Lucifer.

Then, once captured and locked in the bunker in the season finale, Alt. Michael convinces Jack to make a deal. He will leave Apocalypse World alone and never return in exchange for a vessel.

Adam Milligan! Yeah, remember him?

Michael wants Adam Milligan brought out of Hell, so he can possess him because his strongest vessel in this world is someone with Winchester blood, which he learned from Lucifer right before he killed him. Lucifer told him in a teasing way when he noticed Alt. Michael's vessel was dying and weakening him during their fight. Then right after the fight he was weakened enough to be captured, proving that Lucifer was telling the truth. Taking the vessels of Sam or Dean would be too troublesome what with the legions of people who would constantly be on his back to get either of them back. So he wants the vessel of the brother no one cares about.

Editor Note - Okay, I recently learned that Adam is in Hell because he is currently possessed by this world’s Michael, which is how Michael One has still been sealed in the cage all this time. The show has referenced a handful of times that Michael One is still in the cage. However, they did not mention that Michael = Adam. I wouldn’t have forgotten that tidbit had the boys mentioned Adam as his vessel once or twice while referencing Michael still being locked up just to show that they are aware and have some kind of feeling about the fact that their father’s son (their half brother) is suffering down there, BUT....I also should’ve looked it up like I looked up everything else. I was so sure that Michael and Adam were separated down there and just ran with it. That’s my oopsie. So just know that I’m aware that this whole fancanon plot with Alt. Michael didn’t originally account for Adam already being possessed by Michael One. I’m not changing it because I still think it’s a cool idea, but I will make amendments below. 

Throughout the season, while Alt. Michael was chasing Lucifer and learning more about this world (sizing up its worthiness to be spared from obliteration), he had been approached by angels several times. The more they told him about the bad shape Heaven is in, the more he started to lose his fire for human eradication and think perhaps his purpose is actually to save his people. To create more angels and take his father's place as Ruler of Heaven.

Tangent: I always thought it was lame that Alt. Michael's plan was to literally immediately bring worldwide darkness the second he touched the ground. Clearly, it's because the writers didn't have any long term plans for him, which is fine, but the world ending dooms bore the hell out of me now. They've popped up so many times and been stopped "just in time" so many times, it's hacky and simplistic. Holds no weight to me anymore. The second that's the villain's plan, I just check out. But anyways.

Alt. Michael warns Jack that once his current vessel dies, his spirit will be freed from the contraption holding him in the bunker and there's no telling who he will possess next until he finds a way to force a topside Winchester (Sam or Dean) to become his vessel long enough to get the one he wants and get himself home (to Heaven.)

Jack knows he isn't strong enough to kill Alt. Michael, but he promised Apocalypse People he would get them their world back. And even though he’s never met Sam or Dean, he knows the bunker family loves them and so wants to protect them for their sake. Since Alt. Michael is no longer threatening to start another apocalyptic war and just go about his angel business, Jack makes the deal.

Amendment: Jack learns from Crowley that Adam is currently possessed by the first Michael (Michael One, we’ll call him.) So raising Adam isn’t going to be as easy as when he almost rose those creatures out of the ground. He has to purge Michael One from Adam’s vessel (essentially free Adam’s soul) before bringing his body topside for Alt. Michael otherwise he’d just be reviving Michael One, which will just double the problem they already have. That’ll take an episode or three of secretly working with Crowley and Rowena to come up with a spell of some sort that’ll make Jack strong enough to go against Michael One, since even in a weakened state the latter is still a “full-blood” archangel to the former’s half-breed. And of course Michael One’s fighting this, trying to bargain for his own freedom instead the whole time, even using the broken state poor Adam will be in as a reason not to purge him. Anndd of course, they don’t tell him it’s okay because he’s just going to be possessed again anyway. The spell is a success! Jack purges Michael, probably draining himself to near death in the process, but it works and Adam’s soul is free. Adam’s soul is also a shredded broken mess like Sam’s was and his body isn’t that much better.

After Jack takes some elixirs and a day to rest, he’s healed enough to continue on with the plan. He goes to a remote cabin in the woods and raises Adam (sans Michael One possession) from Hell. Carries him to the back room and lays him on the bed. 

He's all messed up, our Adam; shriveled and weak, begging for water, mumbling and whimpering other unintelligible things (kinda like the state Gabriel was in, only more malnourished and sickly than rabidly traumatized.) Jack apologizes to him as he feeds him water, then puts him to sleep with a comforting touch to the head. Then, he returns to the bunker and takes Alt. Michael out in enchanted shackles.  

He takes him to the cabin, leads him into the room where dirty shriveled Adam lies. They shake hands. Jack removes the shackles and leaves. Behind him, angel light bursts through the walls and windows.

Meanwhile, back at the bunker, Max and Alicia create another rip, getting the Apocalypse people back home, Rowena ushering them through like cattle. Charlie says goodbye to Alt. Charlie and expresses that she always wanted a sister. Alt. Charlie hugs her and gives a flirty 'see you later, boy' look to Kevin, who she was kinda digging. Kevin gets a pissy look from Alicia, which he returns with a sheepish grin.

Mary says goodbye to Alt. Bobby. Alt. People all go through the rip safe and sound. Jack is left standing by the rip. He thinks he should go with them. Help protect them from any angels who don't accept the memo that Michael has given up. Max hands him a tool that he crafted that will create another rip to get back. "It's only good for one go, so use it wisely," he tells him.

Jack knows that they all feel a little betrayed by him making that deal with Michael behind their backs, especially Krissy, who's the most mad. Everyone else wasn't happy about it but seeing the result, they're not angry. (He didn't tell them the part about bringing Sam and Dean's half-brother back from hell for Michael to possess, just that he released him, letting him return to Heaven, where he agreed to stay.)

Jack promises to make it up to Krissy, to all of them. That's his motivation to see them again, so he'll make sure not to die over there. Krissy breaks from the group and kisses Jack. Her last words to him are "I'm still mad." He kisses her, then leaves through the rip. Krissy turns to everyone's cheeky faces. "Shut up."

They have dinner and drinks at a diner since Mary's too tired to cook. There, Charlie and Kevin pitch their idea of starting a private detective agency dealing with the spooky.

Charlie: "We can call it X-Filers--ooh or, Angel Investigations--" pointing at Castiel.

Kevin: "X-Filers sounds like a sex thing and Angel is lame, we'll come up with the name later."

Angel was never and will never be lame. Just, by the way.

Kevin explains his reason for thinking up this idea. He doesn't want them stealing for funds anymore. No more card fraud and hacking swiss bank accounts, and using fake IDs and FBI badges. Well, except Mary and Castiel, who Charlie had to make whole new government documents for.

Kevin's not good at conning people. He doesn't like slumming it and he knows the thieving will catch up to them and one day, they won't be able to gank or hack or charm their way out of trouble. He was in Advanced Placement before he got tagged as the next prophet, so he figures its about time he went back to putting his real world skills to use.

They need money, real money of their own. Once business gets good, they'll even be able to afford staying at Inns with more than two stars. He's almost ready to reunite with his mom and he thinks it'd be nice to be living up to his potential when he does. Hunting doesn't have to be this rogue, off-road under the table thing.

Mary worries about charging scared people who need help, to which Kevin assures they'll be affordable.

Castiel says there is the possibility of wasting their time chasing hoaxes and superstitions but there being no real monsters, to which Kevin says "but the upside is, those people will be paying to waste our time. And no real monsters mean no real danger."

The kids are on board. Mary and Castiel tentatively agree. Charlie hands them their folders with their new names, new I.Ds, and birth certificates. Their file says they both just recently got released from a mental hospital, which they had been in basically their whole lives. Charlie defends, "how else was I gonna explain why you've been absent from the world for decades?”

Krissy: "Cas does give off a minimally well-adjusted vibe."

They all have a good laugh at that, except Cas, who never gets it.

The credits fade in and that is the end of S2.

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[daughter-of-pens]

Fancanon #1.10 - SPN - The Spin-Off S1

For the first season (13 episodes), the first handful of episodes show

how Charlie and Kevin discovered the AntiChrist was kicking about

when they realize what he's after and learn that they can't destroy it 

so with Jesse right on their heels, Charlie has the Banes and Rowena (who became their new mentor) hide it in her body.

Charlie goes on the run alone. She gets caught and captured and Jesse makes a call to Kevin saying he wants the witches who locked the object he needs inside the girl to come and get it out and or he'll start taking her apart limb by limb until it falls out. He can't kill her or the thing might either be destroyed or release its power in her, making her the archangel or killing her, either way the object is spent, wasted. That's when Kevin calls Castiel, who convinces him to call home.

Mary, Castiel, Krissy, and Kevin meet up and they make a plan to track down Jesse while also figuring out how to stop whatever he's trying to do.

While Charlie is held captive by Jesse, she agitates him into revealing his backstory, his past with Sam and Dean, and his struggle with fighting his evil urges since then. He was alone, scared all the time, and surrounded by adults who used and abused him from the time he ran away into his early teens. One day, he had enough of being afraid; got angry instead and used his powers to protect himself. He began to look down on humans and want to embrace his demon side more; to become better than them and be strong enough to never be hurt again. To be feared by all those who might try.

By the mid-season, Charlie is rescued and still has the object, but the gang couldn't catch Jesse. So, at his wits end, Castiel bites the the bullet and makes a deal with Lucifer, who wants freedom in exchange for handling their Archangel Wannabe problem.

When Lucifer confronts Jesse, he flips on the gang (obviously) and tries to team up with the Anti-Christ, giving him a spiel about technically being his Father of sorts and wanting to empower him. Jesse falls for it, believing Lucifer will help him become an Archangel. But by the penultimate episode, he realizes Lucifer is just another grown up using him to win his fight against the angels in an effort to conquer Heaven. 

"What's wrong with that?" Lucifer snorts. "I mean, you become the new me. I become the new Him. It's a win-win. Right?" 

Except, Crowley, who took a liking to Jesse (because he reminds him of his own son who had a crappy life and died young), already let the kid know that Lucifer has no intention of turning him into an Archangel after he takes God's Throne because he's threatened by the kid's ambition. He knows what kind of problem he was to God and doesn't want Jesse to become his problem once he becomes God.

Meanwhile, Max and Alicia make a magical weapon that will put Jesse down, but not kill him (on Charlie's insistence because she relates to him as a forgotten kid who went down the wrong road and used his talents to get back at the world that hurt him.) In their boss fight, Charlie delivers the final blow with this weapon, which makes Jesse dormant and Crowley stashes his body somewhere obscure to keep him safe.

Meanwhile, Lucifer does not go back into the cage. When they try to capture/kill him, he leaves his temporary vessel and hops into another. A congressman. He knocks up the congressman's mistress with what he calls his “rightful heir."

Now I know around here, they did that thing where Sam and Dean get detained in mountain bunkers as terrorists or whatever, but I honestly hated that whole thing, so I'm just cutting it. Point blank. It's out. Never happened.

Lucifer gets his old vessel back around the same time Mary and the gang find out what he's done. They go back and forth about how to deal with it. Castiel is vehemently against killing this pregnant lady, so they try to convince her to abort it, but she won't. Instead, she runs away from them.

A little while later, she reaches out to Castiel alone and he goes to her. The gang is right on their heels. He shields her from them, then the nephilim fetus senses this and so communicates with Castiel through the mother, converting Castiel into his protector.

In the S1 finale, the gang tracks Cas and the pregnant lady down to a safehouse. There's a rip in the backyard, which appeared when the baby was born.

Mary and Cas fight Lucifer outside. Cas is killed and Mary ends up going through the rip with Lucifer.

Meanwhile, Krissy, Charlie, and Kevin are fighting off Lucifer's demon goons in the house. When they're all dead, they go upstairs and find the mother dead, then discover that the baby is actually a naked 20 year old man, right before he blasts them all unconscious.  

Credits.

You guys see where I'm going with this, right?

............

[daughter-of-pens]

Fancanon #1.9 - SPN - The Spin-Off

I believe the most successful way to do a Supernatural Spin-off is to have the end of Supernatural segue into the new show because let's face it, SPN fans don't want to watch a world in the SPN-verse without Sam/Dean about characters that are barely in the boys' lives when there is still the option to watch the world with Sam and Dean as the stars. So Sam and Dean have to end, pass the torch to their mentees and the next closest adult mentor, who we've watched grow and become attached to on a regular basis just like we did the boys.

How I would do it? The backdoor pilot to the spin-off is also the two-hour series finale of Supernatural.

Interesting, right?

First off, the boys' endings.

Dean and Cassie get married!

Sam and Eileen are having a baby!

Both brothers decide it's time to move out of the bunker. Their mother, Mary, will live in the bunker and take care of Krissy, who opted not to move in with Sam and Eileen (because of course she was scared that she was gonna be forgotten about now that Sam had his own family and of course Sam and Eileen assured her the total opposite and invited to her live with them and be a big sister to their baby.) She instead wanted to help Mary keep the bunker's lights burning for any other waywards out there. Sam and Dean let Mary and Krissy know their phones are always on, doors always open. They assure the boys, they've got this.

That rainy night, Mary is making Krissy a home cooked meal, vowing "no more takeout."

They get a frantic call from Kevin. "We've got problems, major problems!"

Castiel takes the phone from him. "Hello Mary, this is Castiel."

"I know, Cas. What's going on? Is someone hurt?"

"Someone took Charlie."

Mary and Krissy demand to know who while grabbing guns and getting ready to go.

Cas explains. "He's a cambion, the spawn of a demon and a human--”

“Only a million times worse!" Kevin loudly interjects in the background.

Krissy: "Worse how?"

"He's...” Cas sighs. “He's the Anti-Christ himself."

Krissy: "That's a real thing? Of course it's a real thing."

They're in the car, Mary's driving and says. "What does he want with Charlie?"

Cas: "He needs something she has inside her, something she stupidly had Rowena and the Banes girl put there against my orders with some kind of black magic."

Krissy: "What thing?"

Cas: "It's difficult to explain how it came to be, it's a rather long story."

Mary: "Skip to the part that explains why he needs it."

Cas: "To become an archangel."

Krissy: "Who the hell does this guy think he is?"

Cas: "I've met him before, years ago. So have Sam and Dean. Little deviant turned me into a toy."

Krissy and Mary: "A what?!"

Kevin snatches the phone. "His name is Jesse Turner, okay. An-an-and he is hellbent on becoming the next Lucifer. You guys gotta get here. Like now!"

After sharing a scared look with Krissy, Mary picks up the speed.

Credits.

You can’t tell me this wouldn’t be you!

That's right, ladies and germs. Jesse freakin' Turner IS BACK!

I do not accept that half-assed headcanon some die-hards spout that he's probably dead or he's probably somewhere living peacefully without his powers. No. His story was never concluded. It was paused and has yet to resume. Supernatural has clearly moved on from him, so why not give him a proper comeback in the spin-off?

The promo and build up to the first season of the Spin Off would be everything! Oh my god, could you imagine the first convention after this airs and Gattlin Griffith (the actor who played Jesse and also has the most badass High Fantasy name ever) joins the panel?!?! 

The room would go flipping nuts! People would lose 30% of their hearing! It would be so wild and so so satisfying!

.............

[daughter-of-pens]

Fancanon #1.8 - SPN - Making Real Friends

Fraternal twins, Alicia and Max Banes

Them I'm more so saving for the spin-off, but we gotta lay a little more roots in the original first.

During the case of their missing mother with Sam and Dean, they do lose their mom, but Alicia does NOT die, leaving her brother to make a weird ghost zombie magic clone of her and live this sad lie. 

Tangent: Because seriously, that was just freakin' dumb and unnecessary and cheap and for me to be so excited to see them again and then for the writers to do that just...euck.

The third time we see the twins, they partner up with Charlie and Kevin in a Charlie/Kevin-centric episode (a la a Donna/Jodie type episode) where the boys and Krissy are just support over the phone at most. Whatever the case is leads them to cross paths with the twins, so they decide to work together to get it done. Max and Charlie bond as queer fam, making bets on who can pull the most heteroflexibles in the club, while Kevin and Alicia bicker about how to handle the case.

These two don't get along at first (Kevin is all science, Alicia is all magic), but of course underneath all that develops a little crush, which they both awkwardly deny when they're with their counterparts. By the end, they begrudgingly agree they do work well together.

During this whole episode, we would be getting an even deeper look into the Banes' lives, their unorthodox upbringing, and why they're witches dedicated to hunting, especially when it comes to bad witches (answer: because of how sacred and protective they are of magic, they don't like seeing it abused or used to hurt when it's for healing and protecting. Because their mother was that kind of witch, their father -- that hunter who passed and had the funeral -- didn't gank her. In fact, it's why he loved her. The twins want to keep that alive.)

Then all four of them can bond over having lost their parents. Aww. Who doesn't like bonding orphans?

Now, just to touch on the Wayward Sisters a bit, I mentioned earlier that Claire's connection to Castiel was worth looking into a little. Though I can't remember verbatim, I am pretty sure the writers covered it pretty well as far as Castiel feeling obligated to help her and all that because of Jimmy Novak. But just for giggles, here's one way I'd have him express that. Either as an addition to what's already been done or in replacement of some other sequence of events if it's too redundant.

Claire's storyline is still the same, except once she lives with Jodie, Castiel visits the town a lot on his own - without Sam and Dean’s knowledge. He watches over Claire from afar. One day, on an episode where he gets shown in like the B or C-story slot, Jodie confronts Cas, telling him she's noticed him hovering around town. "Nothing gets past a cop." She asks him what he wants out of whatever it is he's doing. He isn't sure what he's doing or what he wants out of it. He trusts Jodie to take care of her, of course, he just feels this tug to protect her himself. He tells Jodie that because he wears her father's face, every time he sees his reflection he's reminded that he killed a man and that man was her father and ever since he took him away, that girl's life has been hell. He saved the world, but he ruined hers and it eats at him.

Jodie encourages him to get closure with Claire on Claire's time. She'll talk to her and see where the girl's head is at about him, but she's honest with him and says "stalking her won't win you any brownie points."

At the end of the episode, right before he's about to leave, he sees her hunting alone and saves her from getting killed.

He encourages her to stop and tell Jodie, but she's adamant she won't and wishes he would butt out. She prepares for him to tell on her. He tells her he'll keep her secret, but lets her know he won't "butt out" (said in his awkward confused voice), and then adds "I'll have your back, always." Then he angel blinks away.

From then on, it's just more building on that in the episodes where Jodie and the girls interact with the Winchesters and Cas. This would take place before the episode where Sam and Dean find out she's hunting, then later, Cas would tell them he knew. And at the end of that Sam and Dean episode, she can swear not to hunt like a dumbass to Castiel, not Dean. 

Tangent: Because seriously, why must Dean have the magic connection/meaningful goodbye with every wayward person they meet, even when it would make more sense if someone with a deeper history with the person was in that position? And no, I do not hate Dean Winchester, the writer in me can just tell when there's a Darling in the room and so the less and less subtle worship or "specialness" around it gets obnoxious real quick when you know it's a Darling that can't be killed. 

Anyway, Cas/Claire. Admittedly, it's not much. I can take or leave my rendition myself, honestly, but since it came to mind I thought I'd share it anyway.

Being honest, I noticed Alex kinda being fazed out after a while of revisiting Jodie and the girls. This segment of the show kinda became the Claire show, so I'm not even gonna try to wrap Alex up anything new and just write her off as "in college" by this point.

I do imagine Krissy and Claire not getting along. Claire gives me "edgy got something to prove" vibes, while Krissy gives me "smooth been here doing that" vibes. I think that makes sense given their upbringings. Claire was a foster kid from a good family, suddenly thrust into two monster-filled worlds, the foster care system and the supernatural. But Krissy was raised in the monster-filled world by a loving Dad, trained and groomed to handle it well, so she makes it look easy. I could see the two becoming rivals. Always trying to one up each other in the hunting arena, a competition which Claire starts and Krissy takes the bait. But of course when it comes down to it, if either one of them is in grave danger, they save each other. And then never let the other person live it down. 

"Always keeping score," Krissy says, shaking her head with a smile. 

"Bet your ass," Claire retorts, smirking.

Yeah, I like that. That's cute. It would actually warm me up to Claire a little more. Is it obvious I'm not that into Claire? I don't hate her, I'm just...I dunno. So-so into her, I guess. Anyways.

Moving on!

..............

[daughter-of-pens]

Fancanon #1.7 - SPN - Sam’s Love Life

Good freakin' jaysus, let Sam have a real meaningful relationship!

Whatever that lame Lifetime movie romance was with that girl he so easily ditched Dean in purgatory for....

Yeah, this NEVER happened.

I would take that all the way out and instead have Sam working for some evil witch who he found to track down Dean. (Her name can be Amelia.) Amelia the Witch tells him she can't bring him out of purgatory until Sam does a certain number of errands for her. That way when Dean comes back and calls Sam, Sam will spend one or two episodes thinking that the witch he works for kept her word and brought Dean back without telling him, like as a surprise reward. And she'll take credit, but Dean will have a suspicion that she had nothing to do with it and is just lying to Sam; using his return to keep Sam loyal/keep using him to complete her own agenda. This very thing gets exposed, they gank her and then on with the rest of S7.

And maybe Dean could finally come off like an ungrateful asshole this time.

When Sam is upset about his friendship with vampire Benny, Dean throws in his face that at least Benny was there for him. 

Sam could be like "I tried!" 

To that Dean says, "Yeah, and as usual you screwed up! You fell for some witch's lies and wasted a year playing goon while I was fighting for my life." 

Sam is angry/hurt by those words and reveals to him that after the witch showed him where Dean was, he stole her book of spells and tried to open a portal himself. That's how he got the big ugly burn scar across his back and torso that Dean caught a glimpse of one day (oh yeah, you bet your ass there's a scar because my baby loves his brother and would totally almost die trying to get him back.) He ends that reveal with "I didn't give up on you, Dean. But clearly, you gave up on me.”

Dean remains quiet, stubbornly mean mugging.

Sam scoffs. “Look, you want to have your friend's back, I won't stop you. And unlike you, I also won't go behind your back and gank him just for being a monster. If you say he's good...fine. I believe you. Won't go near him again. So go, do what you gotta do." 

Oooohh! How juicy would that have been!!! C'mon! Ugh!

Okay. I'm back. Anyways, Eileen Eileen.

A few months after they met Eileen the first time in S11, Sam sometimes leaves the bunker for hours alone - as in without Krissy or Dean - and is a vague about where he's going/what he's doing when asked.

It turns out he's been taking sign language classes at a night school and chatting/video calling with Eileen when no one's home. One day, he announces he's going to do a small case by himself for a few days or so. He leaves without much fuss, but both Krissy and Dean agree he's been acting super weird lately and decide to secretly follow him.

What commences is a hilarious episode of Krissy and Dean spying on Sam with Dean telling Krissy horror stories about how the other times Sam’s acted weird led to him being possessed or hopped up on demon blood or banging a demon. They think Sam's in trouble or up to something dangerous, especially when he checks into a pretty swanky hotel, one that's "totally not his style," according to Dean.

After he doesn't come out for a whole day, they sneak into the hotel and bust in the room to find Sam freshly out of the shower in a towel. They search around while he's shocked and yelling "everything's fine, get out!"

Dean is lecturing and scolding him about his weird behavior and the suspected reasons for it when the barrel of a gun presses against the back of his head.

Sam says and signs "Whoa, it's okay. It's just Dean. And Krissy." Dean and Krissy see Eileen in a bathrobe, freshly out of the shower (her smexy black hair all tousled and flowing.) She’s shocked, puts the gun away, wearing a sheepish shocked grin, then trots over to Sam. Blurts out "Uh, make yourselves comfortable." Krissy picks up a discarded bra. "Or not," Eileen adds as Sam snatches the bra and throws it on the bed.

Later, at a diner, Sam and Eileen explain how they've been connecting for a few months now, so when a case came up, Eileen invited him to join her. They ganked a monster, saved a couples lives, then...well.

Dean can hardly contain his cheeky look as he and Krissy congratulate them. Krissy takes the reins and says, "Welp, since you're not hopped up on demon blood or banging a demon, we better get going."

Sam: "Dude, you told her about that?"

Dean: "Uh, well, no--she guessed-okay...Bye." They leave.

Sam and Eileen have a laugh about it. That night, while walking down the street hand in hand, they talk about how they want to go about this dating thing and other lovey dovey stuff, which leads to a long beautifully framed kiss.

When Sam returns home, while studying up on something in the library, Dean slides him a beer, still wearing that cheeky grin on his face and making little grumble chuckling noises. Sam sighs and says "just ask already." 

So Dean says, "How was she? Feisty? I bet she’s feisty. No, you know what, that's your lady now, I don't need to know. Respect."

Sam scoffs, then stares at him. "You're picturing it, aren't you?" 

Dean breaks into his classic naughty boy grin and says, "Don't worry, you're not in it." Sam punches him in the arm. Krissy joins them at the table with their takeout. She cracks a joke about Eileen being way out of Dean's league. That gets Dean bragging about the caliber of unbelievable chicks he's pulled over the years. 

Sam: "Is this really appropriate?"

"She brought it up!" Dean defends. "So anyway, this one girl, blonde bombshell, I'm talking big ones."

Krissy cuts in. "Ten bucks they were fake." This banter continues into the end credits of the episode.

Ugh, I love it so much! 

Oh yeah and Eileen does NOT die! (Sam already lost a girlfriend.) Remember Jessica? We do. Stop regurgitating! 

When the British Man of Letters pop up as antagonists, Eileen can get chased and even get wounded by that hell hound they sic'd on her, but NOT eaten alive because Krissy would've been sent to stay with her earlier for safety since everyone else was stretched thin. So Krissy would be by her side in that forest and save her from the hound, almost getting killed herself. She's terrified and emotionally overwhelmed while they're holed up somewhere in an abandoned cabin, waiting for someone to call or come get them. Eileen, who's gravely wounded, would comfort and inspire her like a strong mother would, while talking her through tending to her injury. Then Charlie and Kevin show up and take them to Jodie's, where they reunite with Sam and Dean and stay behind during the big battle. Sam hugs Krissy and kisses her on the forehead, then kisses Eileen on the lips and holds her before he goes.

EEEEKK! OH IT'S SO GOOD! I WANT IT TO BE REAL!

 IT COULD'VE BEEN REAL YOU BASTARD WRITERS! GAAAH!  

Whoo, okay. Okay. I'm good. I know the SPN writers are doing their best and they've made something truly iconic and nothing can or will ever take away from that. I love them and appreciate their hard work always.

Moving on!

.............

[daughter-of-pens]

Fancanon #1.6 - SPN - Dean’s Love Life

So again, Donna and Jodie and the girls, I like them, but I've always thought the show could do more. Do better. While I do think Claire's connection to Castiel is worth exploring more, right now I want to talk about the other super interesting minor characters who popped up once or twice before they were killed or ruined for cheap stakes by the end of an episode. I want to give them the stories they deserved. Starting with...

Cassie Robinson

Good jaysus, would they let Dean want something for himself besides hunting. The whole hunting is my blood thing is sooo played out. Now given all the Lisa & Ben drama, as well as, the foes they were up against between S7-S10, he obviously wouldn't have been taking any trips down memory lane for all the obvious reasons, but by S11, he's out of purgatory, free of the mark, back from the dead, no longer a demon and he's been promised by Billie the Grim Reaper that the next time he dies, that's it. He's really dead.

So that gets him thinking, it's time to take some time for himself in this life and have something that's just for him; take some time away from constantly giving everything of himself to the world. It's just something that's on his mind, not something he thinks he can do anything about at this point.

One night, Sam and Dean team up with some other hunters on a big case in a small town in Ohio. Dean gets shot by one of the monsters and it's really bad. He's bleeding out in the backseat of a van, Sam's holding him and yelling for the other hunters  to take them to the hospital. "NOW!"

"We can't! It's a gunshot, they'll report it. Don't worry, we're taking him to the Doc."

"The Doc? Who the hell is that?"

"Dr. Rob. She's underground, but she's trained. Got a team of certified fixers. They're on call whenever us hunters get in a bind. They'll fix you right up, Deano."

"You oughtta learn how to duck, Deanie boy."

"Duck? How about aim? He musta swung at that thing fifty times just to get tagged in the gut with his own hand canon. Boy, never thought I'd see the day Dean Winchester couldn't take one scrawny little vamp."

"Hey, he's gettin' up there in age, cut him some slack."

"Sonovabitch," Dean groans, half-conscious. Sam chuckles through his worry and clutches Dean tighter as more blood oozes from his abdomen.

Another hunter: "There he is. Keep that fight, son. We're almost there."

Dean is carried inside of a house through the back door and upstairs to a room made up like a hospital Operating Room (or Dexter Morgan's kill room.) Medics take over from there. He loses consciousness as a team begins to operate on him. Last thing he sees before he passes out confuses him. "Cass...?"

He wakes in the morning, Sam right by his side and a couple other hunters. They go get the Doc, while Sam fills him in on what happened. Dean tries to act like it's no big deal now and get out of bed. The doctor comes in.

"Still impatient as ever, I see."

"Cassie? How in the hell...?"

Turns out, Cassie dropped journalism after her father's death. She became certified as an EMT, feeling the need to save lives to make up for the lives taken in her father's past and because of it. Her mother also became ill and she lived at home, taking care of her until she passed. One night, she gets a call in the middle of the night from a neighbor whose girlfriend was violently ill. Hunters came around the same time she did, prepared to kill the girlfriend. Cassie dosed the girl with drugs and told the hunters she would keep her under until they found the vamp who turned her and killed it. After saving the day, she patched up the hunters and they asked how she knew about the supernatural. She told them she dated a hunter once, but didn't believe him when he told her. A few years later, he saved her and her mother from a racist ghost truck. After that, she did her own research on the supernatural, just to stay aware.

Once she started in medicine, she expanded her medical studies to include supernaturally induced injury and illness. Even met an ex-hunter turned coroner who took her under his wing and taught her a lot of what the books couldn't. Since then, for the past handful of years, she's been “the Doc,” one of many spreading throughout the States. The other medics who worked on him are med students and paramedics who got thrust into this world the same way she did, bloody and out of the blue. Turns out there's been this budding network of underground doctors that hunters can turn to when they're ill or injured or need standard vaccinations since the hunting life borders on the illegal and doesn't come with benefits like health insurance. A surgeon-in-the-making named Brett is the one who saved his life the other night. Dean can thank him himself later. Cassie tells him she has to go.

While Dean's recovering, he doesn't see Cassie again. He asks after her and the two medics checking on him tell him that she lives in an RV.

Girl Medic: "Doesn't like the stay put."

Boy Medic: "Or sleep or eat."

Girl Medic: "Shh." She elbows him.

Sam and Dean find out that she's still in town for another day. Dean's better enough to be on his feet, so despite the medics protests, he checks himself out of Hunter Hospital. He limps a bit and groans when he leans on one side too long, but otherwise, he's back to normal. After some bickering, Sam drives them to Cassie's RV. Dean goes in alone to say goodbye.

He finds her sleeping with an IV in her arm. Shaking and sweating, seemingly having a nightmare. She starts muttering fearfully in her sleep, so Dean wakes her up. She startles and sits up. Dean hands her the water bottle off the nightstand and asks what all this is about.

"Nothing." She throws him an uneasy smile and he gives her the 'not buying it' look.

She gets up and tries to straighten up around the RV and clean herself up, insisting she just needs some extra help staying asleep. Driving and working long hours has her circadian rhythms all turned around. Dean tells her that he heard from the other medics that she doesn't sleep or eat much. "Something wrong?"

"No, fine. Just a symptom of life on the road. But look who I'm telling."

She feels his forehead and starts running down the list of things he needs to do to keep his wound from getting infected and what to do if the stitches break, etc. He stops her and says he got the rundown from the other two. "And Sam, like the nerd he is, wrote everything down. So, I'm covered."

Cassie's eyes turn sad, though she still smiles. "He was really worried about you. It was sweet, watching him fret like a little boy over his big brother. You're lucky to have him."

"I know. But don't tell him I said that. It'll just go to his head."

"Your secret's safe with me."

They smile at each other, eyes lingering a second too long.

"Well, we're about to hit the road again. Just thought I shouldn't leave without saying goodbye. We're pretty good at those, from what I remember."

Cassie grins and hugs him. Tells him it was good seeing him and hopefully next time they meet under less intense circumstances.

They won't.

A month later, the boys get a call from the two medics. They met up with them at a diner and they tell Sam and Dean that Cassie is in trouble. After her mother died, she went off the grid for like six months. When she resurfaced, they could tell she was different and it took her a while, but eventually she told them what changed.

She was captured by a djinn. A lonely sweet man, so Cassie had described him. He didn't want to kill her, so Cassie made a deal with him. To allow herself to be fed on in exchange for living a fantasy where her parents were still alive and she was happy, successful, and in love. But the djinn might’ve started to have feelings for her because he began changing her fantasy to include himself. Because of that disruption, she woke up. Looked at herself in the mirror and realized she was killing herself. She wanted to stop, but the djinn didn't. She hurt him and escaped, but he's never stopped looking for her.

He caught up to her a few times. She fought him off, but could never bring herself to kill him. She never really explained why. "Stockholm Syndrome," both medics say in unison.

Now they think the djinn has caught up to her again because there was a crash sound on the end of a voicemail she left one of them. And she hasn't picked up her phone since.

So, Sam and Dean head off to where Cassie last told the medics she was. They find her RV. Signs of a struggle and some blood present. They use their powers of investigation to figure out what the djinn looks like and where it's hiding. An abandoned factory. They hear Cassie and the djinn arguing in a locker room.

"You have to do it."

"No!"

"Cassie, I can't live like this--!"

"Hey!" The boys burst in with their guns.

A fight breaks out, the boys get thrown into the walls as usual, but scramble up and go toe to toe with the djinn. When it comes down to Dean about to shoot him, he stops fighting and begs Dean to hurry up and do it. “I just want to be with her again. Doesn’t matter how it happens now.” Cassie stands in front of him, shielding him from Dean’s gun. She tells the boys to put their guns down. Then she hugs the djinn, much to Sam and Dean's confusion.

Turns out, this djinn has never hurt anyone. He offered his powers to humans looking to escape, confront their fears, or get some kind of closure. He never fed to the point of killing them or held anyone against their will. Once the people got what they needed out of it, they paid him and they were free to go. One human stayed. Became his friend and then eventually, something more. They got married. He fed from her sometimes until she got sick. Cancer. After she died, he stopped working and became a shut-in, sitting around his house slowly starving to death. That's when Cassie found out about him and tracked him down. (He never captured her. Her specific words had been “I met a djinn,” but the medics thought her Stockholm Syndrome was making her romanticize the trauma of being kidnapped.)

Cassie tells their story while the djinn, Stan, sits outside under Sam's watch. They became friends, related to each other's loneliness. He didn’t actually fall for her in a romantic sense; watching her fantasy just made him want to experience something wonderful again. But his own desires interfered with her dreams, changed them and it made her realize she shouldn't be living that way. He tried to convince her to stay to the point of seeming threatening. Cassie panicked, hurt him, and ran away. He came after her, apologized for ruining her fantasy and scaring her. Then he asked her to take his life. She refused. He attacked her in an attempt to scare her into killing him, but she only injured him enough to get away. And that’s the dance they’ve been doing for a year or so now.

Dean says he could have just killed a few people and got some hunters on his trail.

Cassie: "He's not a killer, Dean. Never has been. Some people can't change their core, not even at their most desperate."

Dean can relate to that. "You might be right there. Hell, I became a demon and the most I did was sit around in dive bars and sing karaoke. Bar fight here or there, but nobody died. Sleeping with the IV. I take it he's got something to do with that?"

After she stopped being fed on, her dreams became night terrors. Lingering effects from the poison in her system. It's taking time, but she's gradually flushing it out. Until it's completely out, she doesn't sleep well and some days, opts not to sleep at all.

He asks her why she Inception'd herself in the first place. After her mom died, she became aware of how utterly alone she was. She used to push people away and then stopped letting people in altogether, but it was okay because she at least had one person to come home to. Her blood. Her mother. Then she was gone. Cassie thought she could get past it with this newfound mission, becoming Dr. Rob of the hunting world. But saving lives was only half the job. She also saw a lot of loss, a lot of lives interrupted, a lot of unresolved regrets, all which served as a reminder of her own. That's all she could think about by the end of the night when it was time to go home to nothing and no one. She became obsessed with rewriting the past and wondering how her life could have been. So, she found an outlet that would let her do so in a way that felt damn near real.

They helped and ruined each other, she and Stan. Only Cassie found her way back to something, back to people who cared about her even when she called herself keeping them at a distance. She realized she wasn't as alone as she had felt, but Stan still had nothing. She feels bad for leaving him, but she couldn't help him the way he wanted to be helped. She vowed to save lives, not take them, that's why she never turned to hunting herself. Dean tells her there may be a way that she can help Stan without breaking her personal oath.

They give Cassie a vial of lamb's blood, then she goes to talk to Stan alone. "Stan, I can't have your blood on my hands. And you don't deserve having your head lopped off to be the end of your story. I want you to promise me something. Promise me you'll take a vacation on that mountain in Sweden you were always talking about. Promise me you'll go back to helping people. Give life one more chance. Just one. If after that, you still can't see the point in living, then..." She presents him with the vial. "Find me. I won’t run away again. I’ll hold your hand while you go to her. I promise.”

"Do you think she would be angry with me? For giving up?"

"I think seeing you try your best not to would make her so happy, that she'd welcome you back with open arms, whether that’s a few months or a few decades from now.”

They hug. Stan thanks the Winchesters for not killing him. He leaves.

That night, the three of them are at a bar. Castiel shows up, wanting to talk to the boys about the Darkness. Dean introduces Cassie.

"Cas meet...Cass."

"I don't understand."

"Hi, I'm Cassie. Cassie Robinson."

They shake hands. Sam talks to Castiel in private, while Dean and Cassie continue to swap stories about the lighter shenanigans in hunting life. Cassie declares that for as rough and tough as hunters are, they all turn into big babies at the sight of a syringe.

"Now that I can't deny. Those needles are the work of the devil."

"Hey, guys." Sam returns to the table and announces that he told Castiel about Cassie's lingering djinn poison problem. Castiel thinks he can help. "If you don't mind," Sam adds.

She doesn't at all.

Castiel holds her hand for a long time, staring at it and grazing her knuckles with his thumb. "Your skin is very soft."

"Oh, uh, thank you."

Dean’s narrowed gaze glances between the two. He clears his throat. "So Cas, what'dya think? Can you do anything?"

"I already did. Three minutes ago. You have perfect cuticles."

"Um, thank you."

"Okay, that oughtta do it, Cas." Dean removes their hands. "Beat it."

"You’re telling me to leave, aren’t you?”

Sam pulls Castiel away, decides to go back to the motel so they can discuss his Amara (the Darkness) update. Dean shakes his head. Cassie laughs, grinning ear to ear.

"So, that's your angel best friend, huh? I can see why you like him. He's adorable. Like a puppy with wings."

"He has his moments."

Cassie thanks him again for helping her and Stan.

"No problem. Hey, you know, uh...that advice you gave your buddy Stan, I could use some of that myself these days."

"Me too."

"How about we take it...together?”

"You mean, go to the mountains in Sweden?"

"No, no I mean just...take a break, once in a blue moon. Just be in the normal world, enjoy all the crap we bust our asses protecting every day."

She breaks into a grin. "Deal." They shake on it.

She gets ready to leave, but instead of saying goodbye, she kisses him on the cheek and says "I'll see you around, Dean."

And they do. See each other around that is. That blue moon comes more than once a year.

Throughout S11 and S12, at the end of whatever are the most emotionally taxing episodes, Dean goes to see Cassie, staying with her for a few days as they take a breather from the life and breathe a little sumthin'-sumthin' else.

When he and Sam become at odds about Mary's decision to leave them and do her own thing, of course they don't actually talk about it and instead bicker and fight with each other about everything else. Dean and Sam get into an argument where Sam accuses him of constantly undermining him and it gets so bad that Dean leaves. Where does he go? To Cassie!

When Krissy finds out he's with Cassie, she goes and finds Dean at her place. Place, as in not the RV, but an actual apartment. Turns out Cassie got an apartment at some point and Dean has a toothbrush and a drawer.

Oh yeah, I'm not in the messing about business. If I say I'm giving Dean a proper girlfriend. He's getting a proper girlfriend.

Dean promises an upset Krissy that he doesn't plan on being gone forever, he's just giving Sammy some space. "Been hovering over him his whole life, he ain't wrong about that."

After Krissy leaves, he talks about the situation with Cassie. Cassie takes Sam's side and is understanding of Mary, which makes Dean angry. They argue before he leaves in a huff and goes back to follow a lead on the Darkness with Charlie and Kevin. Once Dean finally comes around to understanding Sam and Mary, he calls Cassie and apologizes for the way things ended last they spoke. She knew he was sorry as soon as he walked out the door, already forgave him. She's just been stitching up hunters and watching Storage Wars, patiently waiting for him to be done pouting and own up to it.

Dean smirks, amused, feeling all loved and understood. He asks for an update on Storage Wars and has some feisty things to say about one of the characters, who Cassie happens to love. They banter back and forth about it, being utterly adorable and shiptastic.

Moving on! 

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[daughter-of-pens]

Fancanon #1.5 - SPN - Family of Three

Krissy wakes up once all the mid-season drama is settled. She recovers and helps repair the broken bond between Sam and Dean by telling Sam (against Dean's advisement) that she also knew about the possession and didn't tell him because she, too, didn't want to risk what Sam might do. She was afraid he would want to go back to the trials and die finishing what he started. She didn't want lose another person that way (referencing her dad.)

Sam hugs her while she's crying, promises he isn't going anywhere, not willingly anyway and hopefully not anytime soon. Later, Sam and Dean make up, with Sam apologizing first. He forgot how zealous he was during trials, how he made everyone think he would rather die than fail in some grand attempt to redeem himself for his torrid past with demons and starting the apocalypse back in the Kripke era and that’s why they didn’t trust telling him the truth. Sam realizes he took things too far and assures Dean he won't ever put the mission before family again and that's why he's gonna focus on finding a way to get the Mark of Cain off him. 

And if that method involves having him possessed by any kind of entity, "I'll be sure to let you know as soon as possible, which is the polite thing to do. Just, by the way." Dean and Sam hug it out bro-style with a few bro-style tears.

So through S10, S11, S12, we are seeing a 3 character unit with Krissy Chambers and the Winchester boys every episode, with semi-regular appearances from Kevin and Charlie (half the season, and at least phone call check ins when we don't physically see them.)

Krissy was with Sam trying to summon Crowley after Dean's death. And she's right by his side when they're looking for Demon Dean and when they're trying to keep him under control when he comes back home.

When the boys break off during cases, sometimes the pairings can go: Kevin/Sam or Charlie/Dean with Krissy as backup on the computers and books in the motels. Krissy/Sam, while Dean goes solo, Krissy/Dean while Sam goes solo, or the classic of Sam and Dean going off to follow separate leads with Krissy still in the Scooby role with the computer and books, holding down the fort at the motel room. Sam or Dean can have someone to interact with when they get back to the motel while the other is out, then those two go save the other together. The combinations are endless!

And of course, there's the frequent pop ins from Castiel playing assist, totally still doable with this new dynamic.

One episode, Castiel can be on Krissy Watch when she gets grounded by the guys for going the extra mile during a case, almost screwing it up and getting herself killed. But naturally, over the course of the episode, she finds a way to get around being grounded as her and Castiel end up having to go the extra mile to save Sam and Dean.

When Charlie and Kevin are in the area, they come home and crash, rather than sleeping in motels. They can even have an episode where both of them want a vacation from hunting, but while Dean and Sam are out on a job, Krissy wants to look into something and enlists their help.

And here we would have a whole episode with just the others, who we know well and are deeply invested in by now, so it doesn't feel like a 'special episode' a.k.a. unrelated detour in the story, but just like any other episode with only Sam and Dean.

This could be the taste of what the show would be like once Sam and Dean hang up their hats. This could be the beginning of grooming new characters to take over and become their own proper spin off. It would feel like a natural evolution, rather than a random or unworthy promotion of backdrop characters we barely know or feel connected to. And they wouldn't need to be molded with the Winchesters old arcs because they'd already have their own.

So in conclusion, the new series regulars who make up the Winchester Family of Misfits are: Kevin Tran, Charlie Bradbury, and Krissy Chambers.

Sounds awesome, right?

I knew you'd think so.

And I'm just gettin' started.

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[daughter-of-pens]

Fancanon #1.4 - SPN - The Daughter Figure

Krissy comes to live with the boys after Victor died in S8.E18. The other two kids in her hunting crew had relatives come and claim them, apparently having been looking for them since the parents' deaths. Krissy had no other relatives to claim her and rather than guilt her friends into staying in the hunting life with her, she told them to "go be normal, at least for a little while." Krissy was prepared to be a solo backpacking hunter until Dean opened the door to Baby and said "what're you waiting for? Get in." She asked where they were going. He said "home."

She was their back up at the bunker while Sam, Dean, and Charlie were dealing with Crowley and rescuing Kevin. She and Charlie split up to play counselor to the brothers when they started fighting over the trials.

Tangent: Canonically, Dean is the one with the bigger connection to both of them, which is another thing that grinds my gears about this show. Dean is obviously the main character, who gets the special bond to everyone they meet. So annoying. Sam was the one who answered her call, who helped her first, but Dean is the one who becomes her 'big bro?' Oy vey. Why do the writers hate Sam? (Yes I am a Samgirl, but it doesn't take a bias to peep that the writing is slanted more plentiful and favorably towards Dean. But I digress.)

During mediation, Charlie takes Dean and Krissy takes Sam. Krissy sees a lot of her dad in Sam. "Around 12, I lost count of how many times I had stapled, burned, and stitched my dad back together just so he could go out there and break himself down again fighting more monsters." She never had the guts to ask him, so she asks Sam, "Is it really worth it?"

Sam pauses. "Look, the things I've done...Yes. It's worth it."

This conversation is the beginning of a parental bond between Sam and Krissy.

In Season 9, Charlie and Kevin are on the road together, so Krissy is the only one home with Sam and Dean. She finds out the Gadreel secret after seeing from the balcony of the bunker, Sam's voice change while Dean was talking to him at the table, then watching Dean argue with him before his voice went back to normal and Dean pretended they weren't just arguing.

She promises Dean she won't tell Sam about the angel possessing him and thanks Dean for making the choice for him because even though she knows he would be pissed, she didn't want to lose him either. And she is the one who spies on Samdreel when he meets with Metatron in that big parking lot. She can't get close enough to know what they're talking about (let’s say rooftops and binoculars are her thing), but she can tell Dean doesn't know about it.

There's no way to confront Gadreel without alerting Sam, so she tries to talk to Dean about not trusting Gadreel. At this point, Dean still trusts him, so he tells Krissy not to worry. Then Krissy describes the old man he was meeting with and Dean's face changes. He confronts Gadreel and Gadreel has the perfect excuse, something about a long con in catching Metatron and getting him to reopen the gates of heaven for all the angels. Dean buys it, Krissy doesn't. Krissy continues to watch him.

When Gadreel goes to kill Kevin, Krissy stops it!

They fight and Samdreel injures her almost fatally before running away. Dean finds the mess and does the tending to injured Kevin and Krissy.

Gadreel takes Sam's vessel to the bar where his other vessel is, possesses that other one and he and Metatron leave Sam unconscious behind the bar. Sam wakes up, looks horrified by the blood on his hands, and calls Dean. Charlie (having returned home to make up with Kevin that same night post-attack) drives over to pick him up and half explains what happened on the way to the hospital, where Dean explains the rest outside.

The gang, except Krissy, deal with the Metatron business for the rest of the season.

In between dealing with old Metty, Sam visits unconscious Krissy in the hospital, ripped apart by guilt for hurting her.

Dean's assurances that "it wasn't really you and she knows that" just make him angrier at Dean because the truth is, it was him and it was Dean's fault that it was him. Rather than being upset that Dean saved his life because he didn't want to be alone (as it is written in canon), Sam can be thankful to be alive because they have a family to live for and even say to him something like "you’re right. I was tempted to leave it all behind. I was just so tired of all of it. But had I been conscious...I would have said yes.” He can feel that way AND STILL be angry that Dean let him go on being controlled by an angel. 

He argues that if he had known about his possession, he could've tried to fight for control or bind Gadreel or send him into another body way sooner, like before he got recruited by Metatron and tried to hurt Kevin and successfully hurt Krissy the most.

So Dean's in hot water with Sam not for loving him too much to let him go or "selfishly" not wanting to be the only one left alive in his whole family (which is more depressing than malicious), but because he put the family in danger and patronized Sam by leaving him in the dark about what was going on with him; lying to his face when Sam told him he had been feeling off, losing time, and forgetting things. Dean let him think he was losing his mind because he didn't trust Sam to take care of himself.

And this is a much better display of Dean being too controlling in a negative way rather than just him saving Sam's life because that honestly made Sam come off as ungrateful/pseudo suicidal and/or like he looked down on his brother for wanting him around and being afraid of loneliness, which cast more sympathy over Dean even though he wronged Sam.

Tangent: That's another thing I don't like about the writing. Even when Dean "messes up" Sam ends up looking bad or worse than him most of the time. Dean’s always got a good reason and Sam 9.5 times out of 10 just comes off like a nag. But anyways.

Moving on!

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[daughter-of-pens]

Fancanon #1.3 - SPN - Revamp Time

Now, out of all side and minor characters listed, who's the most interesting and who has the most potential to enrich the boys' lives and their story as series-regulars?

First, we set the scenario.

Sam and Dean live in a giant bunker where gaggles of men used to live. It apparently has the space to host upwards of 50-100 people since they had no issues housing all those Alt. People from Apocalypse World in S13. So there's no reason we can't get a permanent to semi-permanent live-in group dynamic with Sam and Dean as the Heads of the house. I'm not talking about them being Head Masters of Backwoods Academy, where suddenly the bunker is a Hunter Hogwarts. I'm talking something bigger than what we have now, but still intimate. A larger family than just two brothers and an angel who visits, led by Sam and Dean as the two eldest brothers/uncles.

So out of all the recurring side and minor characters with value, who's in this bunker-residing family? I know most of these characters are either dead or haven't recurred since certain storylines were dropped like a bag of bricks into the ocean of obscurity *cough* Cassie *cough* so this will require some finessing of earlier events in the story, but it will be worth it.  

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Charlie has her own room in the bunker. She's been living with the boys off and on since her episode in S8 where Dean saved her from the djinn-induced video game dream. Instead of leaving, she's not in the mood to immediately go back out into the world alone and get up to her usual shenanigans. So, Sam and Dean tell her she has a home with them and she stays and hunts with them for the rest of the season. She's by their side during the whole Operation: Get Kevin From Crowley and Mission: Close the Gates of Hell, being their base support and third leg during the cases in between, playing mediator between the brothers during the trials drama, and becoming a best friend to Kevin.

Kevin, who's been living in the bunker since the end of S8's roller coaster with Crowley and the tablets, does NOT get killed by SamGadreel (Samdreel) in S9. Instead, he finally takes Charlie up on her offer of becoming a badass hunting duo of their own and they roadtrip around America doing cases together.

I know his mom was a big part of his story during this section of the story, but in my version of S9, she's a background situation. Kevin and Charlie's first trip is checking on his mom from a distance. She's living in a new house in a new town and spent months putting missing persons ads of Kevin in the papers and on the internet because no one had gotten back to her since he was taken last season. He's not ready to face her after all he's put her through, but he does call her to alleviate her worry. He tells her they're safe now and he's okay. He tells her not to worry and not to look for him because he doesn't want her a part of this monster-filled world. He wants her to keep being the one normal thing in his life. After some crying and some arguing, she promises to be just that and accepts that he'll come home when he's ready.

Anywhoos, back to the duo. Occasionally, Charlie and Kevin will partner up with Sam and Dean and NOT die by the end of the episode. One episode, Kevin returns to the bunker alone because they had a fight. Sam and Dean do hilarious damage control in the midst of this moody third wheel tagging along with them for a case. Basically, what they did for the GhostFacers, only with characters we're much closer to and invested in. And it's during this break from each other's company that he's still present in the bunker when Samdreel pulls a sneak attack and tries to kill him, but it doesn't take because....You'll see.

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[daughter-of-pens]

Fancanon #1.2 - SPN - More Characters

Cassie Robinson - Dean's first (true) love. Ooh, just you wait. This one is a love story that should've been told ages ago.  But that's okay. I'm on it!

Kevin Tran -  University-bound Prophet turned tablet decoder and ward of Sam and Dean. 

Charlie Bradbury - the lady-lovin' hacker baby sister the boys always needed. 

Krissy Chambers - daughter of a hunter who died out in the field and later formed her own hunting crew of orphans. (I know, some of you are probably like "huh?" but I did say 'side' and 'minor' characters. Go back and watch her episodes. The girl has something special and what I do with her will send you into a fangirl coma.)

The Banes Twins - the gorgeous witch hunters with a most interesting backstory. Not hunters who hunt witches but witches who hunt monsters, including bad witches.

Tangent: How freakin' ridiculous was their second appearance? It's like the writers sensed their sizzling potential and was like 'we either kill 'em or screw 'em up so bad there's no point in seeing them again.' Ugh.

Eileen Leahy - gorgeous Deaf huntress with a crush on Sam. (Oooh, the things I have planned for this one. I ship this so hard you aren't even ready.) 

And lastly, the Wayward Sisters - Jodie, Donna, Claire, Alex, and the psychic new girl, Patience.

To be honest, I don't really have much in mind for them. They get more screen time than the others already and they're all still intact. Over the seasons, I've just found them to be...an okay bunch of characters. Nothing stands out too much about them as a unit for me to spiral off into a well of fresh ideas. I guess I don't see much potential beyond what's already being done with them in the show or I'm just not interested enough in them to try. Don't get me wrong, I like them. Especially or mainly Jodie because she's put in the most time.

With her individually, I saw the potential for more way before she started taking in orphans. I always thought she could have been closer to the family through a romance with Bobby and then become the new Bobby of their hunting circles with Garth as her assistant. But whateva, they didn't do that and they ruined Garth.  What they did do with Jodie is fine...except how they added the two new girls so quickly and then did that "twist" with the drug addict one with the cool power and then killed off an OG from the Kripke Era just to kick it all off--Just, don't even get me started.

Moving on!

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[daughter-of-pens]

Fancanon #1.1 - SPN - What’s Missing?

Side and Minor Characters that come and go in a blink every blue moon are the secret ingredient to rejuvenating the Winchester story. They are opportunities to evolve the family aspect of the story, shake up the partnership dynamics by turning the duo into a team. And most importantly, delve into new interesting backstories and emotional motivations because the boys' are played out.

We know why they do what they do. We've seen them commit no matter what, we've seen them quit for this reason or that, we've seen them struggle to recommit then commit even harder, all the while taking turns being mad at each other while one of them is in some kind of peril (external or internal or both) because of something the other one did at the end of the previous season. The cycle is so thin it's vapor by this point.

I still love Sam and Dean and the fact that the world of supernatural is centered around their lives, but it all needs a serious revamp. That means introducing new people to interact with them on a regular basis or at least semi-regular. Definitely not once or twice a season like they've been doing.

Speaking of the supernatural world being centered around Sam and Dean's lives, that leads me to my theory on why the SPN spin-offs keep failing. The characters they hand the spin offs to are too distant from Sam and Dean, thus too distant from the world and the fanbase to properly develop enough of their own story to generate the will in the core fanbase to care about them for longer than a special episode. They're not with Sam and Dean (and the audience) every other episode, building rapports, fleshing out their personalities, and gaining fanbases of their own. While the Wayward Daughters did have some campaigners on the principle of honoring women on the show since SPN likes to kill them so much, I don't think there was enough, if any, true passion to see more of those characters based on their own merit as compelling characters. Supernatural is a show who's engine runs on pure heartfelt fandom. It's hard to get invested in their lives, let alone choose whether to be an AlexGirl or ClaireBoy (a.k.a. having what kpop fans know as a 'bias'), when we only see these characters at most 2 to 3 times out of 24 episodes and only know the basics about them.

Then, to make matters worse when these character do get the chance to take the spotlight, the writing molds them into cheap versions of Sam and Dean and set them up on the boys' used up story lines and internal arcs.

Claire: "I promised to protect her."

Me: Oh-freaking-brother, okay Deanetta.

Claire, the street wise, tough, edgy protector who bleeds hunting, Alex the emotionally troubled 'good kid' from dark beginnings who goes to school and has relationships, always longing to be normal, and the no-bs taking old hunter/pseudo parent who watches their back and lost a family years ago to evil supernatural forces. Yeah. Haven't seen that before. Good jaysus.

So how do we fix this? Let's start with a list of the supporting and minor characters with story value.

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