#14x06 Optimism

[daddario]

[monstermoviedean]

i really love how dean and jack's relationship develops in 14x06. it feels like dean treats jack like a person when more often we see others treating jack as a weapon or a pawn. sam and cas have both checked in with jack this season but it's mostly about his grace or how his boxing with bobby is going. or to scold him for going to visit the klines. dean doesn't talk about his powers. dean talks about human things, but not in a way that screams "you're human now and you must be okay with it." more like "here are some things you should know." and jack is smart enough to know what dean is doing, but he's not upset by it. i think he just likes being treated like a person.

[soullessjack]

pouring out a cold one for steve yockey for trying his best to make jack an actual person and nobody else in the writers room or the fandom picking up on it . I understand you girl

[teenagemutantninjafangirl]

THE RIVERDALE REFERENCE???? HELLO?????

[shallowseeker]

Jack has another dangerous special skill.

With just ONE comment, he can have Dean staring sadly into the rearview mirror of his car liek AM I OLD AM I WASHED UP AM IT OOGLY???!!! NO ONE MUST EVER KNOW HOW BADLY I AM BOTHERED BY THESE COMMENTS

😭

[shirtlesssammy]

Dean Winchester every day -- 292/326

Supernatural 14x06//Optimism

[idjits-areus]

Dean to Jack in the bunker kitchen: "Sam's just trying to keep you safe, kay? He's a smart guy."

Cuts to Sam playing with a fidget spinner smiling like an idiot in the Impala with apocalypse world Charlie.

[winchestress]

[dakrapatops]

i rest my case.

jack is so adorable

[arcanespillo]

"Optimism"

SPN S14E06

[monstermoviedean]

god it is really really REALLY loud that cas isn't in this episode huh

[soullessjack]

post this jack when they least expect it

[shallowseeker]

(Text Attributions// Supernatural scripts here via @spnscripthunt. Transcripts are located here via SPNWiki. Visit their Tumblr to donate.)

[image ID: a script from spn 14x06 that reads: “JACK No– you back off… old man. That one seems to take Dean by surprise. DEAN old man? JACK Yeah, that’s right. Harper GRINS nervously and quickly covers her mouth. Dean wants to say something… but he knows he’s got to go along with this… a beat, then– through clenched teeth–” /end ID]

calling dean an “old man” when they’re supposed to doing a bit and dean can’t defend himself is the funniest thing jack ever did [x]

[seasononesam]

Stackednatural- 107/327

Optimism (14x06) November 15th, 2018

[teenagemutantninjafangirl]

also why is sam shocked that charlie wants to leave hunting 💀💀💀 literally everyone she and he knew died except for like 3 people no wonder she wants to leave

[shallowseeker]

Was feeling silly over Sinatra and I wanted to break out one of my Dean and Jack metas by itself. It's from this monstrosity, but I love it so. I'm pulling it out to ponder over today.

//

Dean’s answer to the Harper-coded ideal of perfection:

So, last we left off, Harper was writing dreamily about how she’s gonna find Jack and everything’s gonna be PERFECT.

Which is why it’s so beautiful to me that Dean, who has struggled with some of the same abandonment trauma and overall clinging to his first familial loves out of desperation, is the one to narratively provide a rebuttal to that!

Harper sighs dreamily and picks up her coffee mug of domesticity:

And the scene cuts to Jack, as if he’s right there across from her. (He’s sitting in her empty spaces, hundreds of miles away.)

And Jack is so satisfied. The coffee didn’t taste good to him at the very beginning of the episode. He “couldn’t get it how he liked it.”

Now, it’s very satisfying.

///

Harper and Jack are both satisfied is different ways. Harper, because she left her past behind, and Jack because he’s proved himself as a capable hunter worthy of being brought into the family business. It’s all part of growing up.

They are still thinking about each other and what they learned in meeting each other. Jack is specifically asking Dean about love:

JACK: And that’s, love? DEAN: Eh, actually love can get crazier than that. And it might get crazier with Harper still out there. But, uh, you did good, kid.

In Jack’s family kitchen, we find Dean sitting in the narrative “Harper position,” fielding Jack’s questions about love and providing important guidance.

But Harper’s “mentor” space is sadly empty. She has no one to guide her. Only a stack of books. She gets her ideas about love…from books.

///

As for Jack, Jack leans a little too far into being Righteous here. He says to Dean: “I was right! I should be going on more hunts!”

This reminds us a little bit of Claire Novak, in 11x12 Don’t You Forget About Me:

"I was right!"

///

But Dean?

Dean gently redirects the conversation. Dean doesn’t talk about perfection. It’s not about being right. Or righteous, for that matter.

DEAN: Okay, alright. It’s not about being right. Kay? You’re gonna make mistakes, hell, I make them all the time. But it’s how you handle yourself once you’ve made those mistakes and you’ve learned from them.

Dean’s entire season 8 arc was about accepting the imperfect family: “love, and love.” This is echoed again, just a few episodes later, with AU Michael taunting Dean specifically about Cas’s mistakes:

AU MICHAEL: …he “gripped you tight and raised you from Perdition.” Or whatever. But since then, what has he done? Only made mistakes, one after the other.

AU Michael doesn’t grasp the complexity of love and all its imperfections. Real, lasting love allows for mistakes and growth.

Anyway.

Mistakes! (And accepting them! It's an amazing theme!)

And that lands for Jack. He considers the words, assessing, and like how he was with Harper, he gets a Very Good Emotional Read on Dean.

(Unlike Sam, a “brain” character, Jack’s very much a heart character. He’s GOOD at this aspect of humanity. He connects almost effortlessly, even when he’s awkward.)

And especially because he and Dean (and Mary) are built similarly in their emotional cores and neuroses, he figures out exactly what Dean needs to hear, echoing their earlier convo about Michael—

(HERE'S THE CONVO B/T JACK & DEAN, EARLIER IN THE EP:)

JACK: Dean, what happened with Michael, no one blames you. DEAN: Cool, well I blame me, so… /////// JACK: Dean, I need to do something. You don’t understand. I could have killed Michael. Here, when I was strong enough, I could have. But there was so much going on and then everything else happened because I was distracted and stupid and DEAN (angrily): Hey! You didn’t do anything wrong. JACK:  And neither did you! But that doesn’t make it any easier does it?

Jack takes this earlier conversation and echoes it—and reflecting a cheeky, wry sense of comfort…right back at Dean himself.

DEAN: ...it’s how you handle yourself once you’ve made those mistakes and you’ve learned from them. JACK (comically throwing Dean’s own advice back at him): —and how to not beat yourself up over [those mistakes].

Aw.

It hits its mark. ❤️

We get his, “Stop seeing right through me, Kid,” look:

DEAN: You know Jack, you’re pretty smart sometimes. 

Dean tries to hide his smile in his drink.

And Jack knows his words hit, that he’s cheered Dean up. He’s so pleased about it, too! He got ‘im.

They’re, very unfortunately for both of them, very much on the same wavelength with this sort of thing, with their neuroses and emotions, and they know it.

///

(Who's giving who advice here? hehehe. Maybe it's a little give and take. They comfort one another because their hearts are made of the same stuff.)