#S8 Sam during the Trials of God

[19catsncounting]

Therapy isn't enough I need the CW to go back and re-film Season 11 to prove that Lucifer could have been saved if Michael didn't abandon him like Dean refused to abandon Sam.

[antigonewinchester]

Here is part 1 of tracing how the Trials and the Gadreel situation through s8, s9 and s10, as a way for me to work through how these situations get framed by the characters and the show during these seasons. thanks to @stanfordsweater​ for the inspiration here!! I probably got a bit pedantic at points but think it’s important to establish a solid foundation for what Sam and Dean were thinking and doing around the Trials and Gadreel before these events start to get reframed by the story. this post covers season 8 and 9x01, so discussions of death and suicidal ideation as occurs in these eps. under the cut because it got long; I do love putting events in context, and I do love my block quotes, heh.

the Trials arc begins in 8x14, “Trial and Error,” when Kevin tells Sam and Dean he’s translated part of the demon tablet to reveal that the Gates of Hell can be closed if three trials are undertaken and completed. Sam and Dean go back and forth over the episode as to who should take on the Trials, with Dean being very insistent it should be him:

DEAN This is different.

SAM How?

DEAN Because of the three trials crap – God's little obstacle course. We've been down roads like this before, man – with Yellow-Eyes, Lucifer, Dick friggin' Roman. We both know where this ends – one of us dies... Or worse.

SAM So, what – you just up and decided it's gonna be you?

DEAN I'm a grunt, Sam. You're not. You've always been the brains of this operation.

SAM Dean— DEAN And you told me yourself that you see a way out. You see a light at the end of this ugly-ass tunnel. I don't. But I tell you what I do know – it's that I'm gonna die with a gun in my hand. 'Cause that's what I have waiting for me – that's all I have waiting for me. I want you to get out. I want you to have a life – become a man of Letters, whatever. You, with a wife and kids and – and – and grandkids, living till you're fat and bald and chugging Viagra – that is my perfect ending, and it's the only one that I'm gonna get. So I'm gonna do these trials. I'm gonna do them alone – end of story. You're staying here. I'm going out there. If landshark comes knocking, you call me. If you try to follow me, I'm gonna put a bullet in your damn leg.

assuming the Trials will dangerous and that the person who undertakes them won’t make it out alive, combined with feeling like he’ll never escape hunting, in contrast to Sam seeing “a light at the end of this ugly-ass tunnel” and even having left hunting when he was with Amelia, Dean believes he should take on the Trials over Sam. if he dies, no big deal; that’s how it always was going to be, anyway. Sam, on the other hand, deserves to live after the Gates are closed and a life free from demons and even hunting, if he wants.

of course, it ends up being Sam who kills the hellhound and bathes in its blood, fulfilling the requirements for the first trial, instead of Dean. when Dean pushes for finding another hellhound to take out, Sam pushes back, arguing he should take on the Trials instead, asking for Dean to believe in him:

SAM I'm closing the gates. It's a suicide mission for you.

DEAN Sam...

SAM I want to slam hell shut, too, okay? But I want to survive it. I want to live, and so should you. You have friends up here, family. I mean, hell, you even got your own room now. You were right, okay? I see light at the end of this tunnel. And I'm sorry you don't – I am. But it's there. And if you come with me, I can take you to it.

DEAN Sam, be smart.

SAM I AM smart, and so are you. You're not a grunt, Dean. You're a genius – when it comes to lore, to – you're the best damn hunter I have ever seen – better than me, better than dad. I believe in you, Dean. So, please – please believe in me, too.

here, Sam explicitly lays out his motivations in taking on the Trials so both he and Dean can live through them, in contrast to Dean’s self-destructive attitude. Sam wants to close the Gates so demons can’t possess and torment people anymore, and also very much wants to survive the experience to live in the better world he’d be helping to create. at this point in the show, neither Sam nor Dean know that the final trial does require the person completing it to kill themselves, although Dean’s “Sam, be smart,” along with his earlier comments about how these types of situations usually go, suggests he at least suspects there will be some sort of great sacrifice involved.

speaking of “Sacrifice,” in 8x23 we see Dean helping Cas with his angel trials while Sam works on the third trial to close the Gates. Metatron told them that the final trial involved curing a demon while neglecting to mention that the person undertaking the trial will die, so when Dean learns that Sam will have to die to finish the Trials, he rushes back to tell him. clearly a big part of this is Dean not wanting to lose Sam and not wanting Sam to kill himself, but another part is Sam originally taking on the Trials without knowing it would involve his death and with his explicit desire not to die while doing them. as far as Dean knows, when he tells Sam that finishing the Trials will kill him, Sam will want to stop. but that’s not how Sam responds:

DEAN Sammy, stop! [DEAN with his hands up walks slowly toward SAM.] Easy there. Okay. Just take it easy. We got a slight change of plan.

SAM What? What's going on? Where's Cas?!

DEAN Metatron lied. You finish this trial, you're dead, Sam.

SAM So?

why is Sam now OK with dying to complete the Trials when he wasn’t before? part of his reasoning is wanting to help the world: closing the Gates will prevent demons from coming to Earth to hurt and kill people. an even bigger part of his reasoning, however, is his relationship with Dean.

SAM Look at him. Look at him! Look how close we are! Other people will die if I don't finish this! 
 DEAN Think about it. Think about what we know, huh? Pulling souls from hell, curing demons, hell, ganking a Hellhound! We have enough knowledge on our side to turn the tide here. But I can't do it without you. 


SAM You can barely do it with me. I mean, you think I screw up everything I try. You think I need a chaperone, remember? 


DEAN Come on, man. That's not what I meant.

SAM No, it's exactly what you meant. You want to know what I confessed in there? What my greatest sin was? It was how many times I let you down. I can't do that again.

DEAN Sam -- 


SAM [beginning to cry] What happens when you've decided I can't be trusted again? I mean, who are you gonna turn to next time instead of me? Another angel, another -- another vampire? Do you have any idea what it feels like to watch your brother just – 


DEAN Hold on, hold on! You seriously think that? Because none of it -- none of it -- is true. Listen, man, I know we've had our disagreements, okay? Hell, I know I've said some junk that set you back on your heels. But, Sammy...come on. I killed Benny to save you. I'm willing to let this bastard and all the sons of bitches that killed mom walk because of you. Don't you dare think that there is anything, past or present, that I would put in front of you! It has never been like that, ever! I need you to see that. I'm begging you.

SAM How do I stop? [SAM squeezes his hand as blood drips out onto the floor the orange glow is a little brighter but then starts to fade.]

DEAN Just let it go.

Sam is struggling with shame, guilt and insecurity in his relationship with Dean and how he’s treated Dean in the past. there’s the recent ‘Sam didn’t look for Dean while he was in Purgatory’ guilt, but there’s also the shadow of s4, s5, and s6 hanging over the entire conversation. Sam lamenting that his worst sin was “how many times [he] let Dean down” in particular calls back to the beginning of s5, where Dean told Sam that he had “let [him] down in ways that [Dean couldn’t] even…” after what happened between them in s4. Sam feels like he has to complete the Trials, even if it kills him, or else he’d just be “[letting Dean] down” again. of course, what Dean actually wants is for Sam to be alive & well and by his side, even if it means not shutting the Gates. (there's definitely more I could say here about how Sam and Dean are characterized in this scene, but I want to put a pin in that for now and return to it later on.)

what’s also important to note is that although Dean does plead with Sam to not finish the Trials and kill himself, he doesn’t force Sam into stopping. after Dean reassures Sam that he still loves and cares for him, and that Sam is more important to Dean than closing the Gates, Sam decides to not cure Crowley and to not finish the Trials, even if he asks for help from Dean in how to stop.

Sam’s choice to stop the Trials is also made clear in how he talks about the situation at the beginning of 9x01, “I Think I’m Gonna Like it Here”. at first, Sam doesn’t even want to admit he’s dying - “SAM’S DEAN HALLUCINATION: You're dying, Sam. 
SAM: Shut up.” - fitting with his choice to stop the Trials so he wouldn’t die. once Sam accepts that he’s mortally injured, he explicitly says as such: “The whole reason I stopped doing the Trials was not die.”  

Sam then struggles with whether to keep fighting his death or to accept it and die, as personified in his interactions with his “Dean self,” representing his desire to live, and his “Bobby self,” representing his desire to die. after several conversations, Sam decides he should accept his own death and joins actual Death in an imaginary cabin. however, the actual Dean then shows up in Sam’s mind and pleads with him not to give up. I’ve seen differing interpretations as to if this was actually Dean or Gadreel wearing Dean as a disguise and relaying his words, but to me it makes the most sense for both Dean and Gadreel to be in Sam’s mind here, with Gadreel using Dean to get the necessary “yes” from Sam. only Dean would say “I, uh, would have brought cronuts, but time is short, so…” to literal Death.

SAM 
 What's going on?


DEAN I found a plan.


SAM 
 It's too late. I'm going.

DEAN 
No, no. No, no. Listen to me.


SAM 
 Why are you even here? I'm not fighting this anymore!

DEAN You have to fight this! I can fix this, okay? But not if you shut me out. [to DEATH] It's not his time.


DEATH That's for Sam to decide.


DEAN 
Sam, listen to me. I made you a promise in that church. You and me, come whatever. Well, hell, if this ain't whatever... But you got to let me in, man. You got to let me help. There ain't no me if there ain't no you.


SAM 
 [
SAM looks at DEATH, then back to DEAN.] What do I do?


DEAN Is that a yes?

SAM 
 [
SAM looks at DEATH again and back to DEAN.] Yes.


DEAN Come on. [
DEAN puts a hand on SAM’s shoulder and morphs into EZEKIEL. SAM looks alarmed. White light floods the room.]

at first Sam resists Dean, thinking he’s the part of Sam that wants to live that Sam has let go of, but eventually says “yes” to Dean’s appeal not to give up and to go with the plan Dean has to save his life. I do realize Sam’s “yes” is quite complicated here. would Sam have said “yes” if he’d known the full extent of Dean’s plan, that he’d be possessed by an angel in order to heal him? no, he most likely wouldn’t have. but I can’t totally discount Sam’s “yes” as it relates to Sam’s desire to live, and as an echo of the same choice to live he made in the church. Death even says it was “for Sam to decide” whether he went with Death or with Dean – to choose death or life – and Sam then decided to trust Dean and his plan. tragically, it ended up being that to save Sam’s life, Dean helped get Sam to agree to something he likely would have never chosen for himself, and that breach of trust is one of the major reasons Sam is so upset when he learns the truth.

[thegeminisage]

birthday meta for the birthday boy <3

[this version of the meta is behind a cut. if you’d prefer the no-cut version, it’s here.]

a fun little fanon from Ye Olde Days of spn (when seasons 1-5 were airing) was that sam always had the absolute worst birthdays. a big part of this is because sam’s birthday is in may. supernatural tends to align itself with “real time,” meaning that they like to use either the date the episode was filmed or the date it aired as the in-universe date, even when two canon dates conflict each other. (they’re so intent on doing this that they pretended the gap years between s5 & s6 and s7 & s8 right out of existence - season openers also usually tend to pick up right after season finales in-universe but still somehow be set several months later.) that means sam’s birthday tends to line up with the airdates on either season finales or episodes right before the finales, which means that every time sam gets a year old, shit hits the fan. 

here’s a list of things that did happen or could have happened on some of sam's birthdays:

0-22: we don’t have much in the way as far as concrete dates go for preseries stuff, but it’s perfectly possible sam walked out all that bullshit the day he turned 18, even if i prefer to think he left at age 19 as that aligns rather tragically with some adam-related canon.

23: we don’t have any dates for the end of s1/opening of s2 either, but it’s likely that sam’s birthday took place between 1.20 (dead man’s blood) and 2.01 (in my time of dying). he could have been doing anything from hunting vampires to saving one of YED’s special children to almost shooting his possessed father to getting hit by a semi to using a ouija board to talk to his not-quite-dead brother.

24: here’s where the real fun starts >:) sam died in cold oak in 2.21 (all breaks loose pt 1) and in the episode he says he’s 23. but according to the lore (extra-canonical material), dean made the deal to bring him back on his 24th birthday...

25: ...which means that on his 25th birthday, he was forced to watch dean get dragged to hell...

25b: ...except that sam had TWO 25th birthdays, because mystery spot took place in february, and sam lived in an alternate timeline where dean stayed dead for 6 months, putting him well past may 2nd. which meant that the first time he turned 25, he was actually getting tortured by gabriel. while his brother was getting tortured (or torturing someone else) in hell.

26: 4.20 (the rapture) took place in very late april/very early may (the wiki says may 3, but that’s just a guess), and 4.21 (when the levee breaks) picks up immediately where it left off. so it’s not only plausible but EXTREMELY LIKELY that sam was locked up in the panic room suffering withdrawals when he turned 26, dude

26b: ...except that in 11.17 (safe house), bobby and rufus’s half of the episode presumably takes place at the same time during season 4, and he mentions sam and dean are in reno?? so you know they could have been doing that instead.

27: we have no hard and fast dates for the end of season 5, but it’s my personal headcanon that sam’s birthday took place during 5.22 (swan song), and he beat the devil and leapt into hell on the day he turned 27 - because at this point, why not. however, his birthday could also have taken place during either 5.20 (the devil you know) or 5.21 (two minutes to midnight), meaning he was reconfronting his old college pal who turned out to be a demon brady, or helping bobby and a human cas destroy the factory with the croatoan virus.

28: there’s a gap year between s5 and s6, so sam’s 28th birthday took place while he was soulless, hunting with the campbell family...

28b: ...except spn likes to say “a year passed” without adding one to the calendar, so sam ALSO had a 28th birthday during the airing of s6. there’s some conflicting information about s6′s timeline, so this could have happened anywhere from 6.18 (frontierland) to 6.21 (let it bleed). sam could have been doing anything from time traveling to fighting eve to grappling with cas going dark side to rescuing lisa and ben.

29: sam’s 29th birthday almost definitely took place during 7.20 (the girl with the dungeons and dragons tattoo), during which he met charlie. in case you’ve forgotten, that was actually a great day for him - in a moment of true little brother antics and justifiable homophobia, he got to laugh at dean gay flirting with the security guard.

30: there was another gap year between s7 and s8, which means that sam spent the big three-oh with amelia richardson while dean and cas were in purgatory. he got to have a picnic!

30b: ...but since spn ignores gap years, sam ALSO had a 30th birthday during s8 (a big season for him). there isn’t an exact date for the episodes leading up to the finale, which takes place in late may, after sam’s birthday, so his birthday could have taken place in either 8.21 (the great escapist), where he nearly died of his trial-induced fever and confessed to dean that he always felt unclean, or during 8.22 (clip show), where he met sarah blake again after nearly a decade, only to have her die right in front of him.

31: the s9 timeline is pretty vague, but the best guess for this one is 9.18 (meta fiction), in which sam finally gets to confront gadreel, the angel who possessed him and killed kevin with his hands

32: the s10 timeline is also short on dates, so sam’s birthday could have taken place anywhere between 10.16 (paint it black) and 10.21 (dark dynasty). a few possible things sam could have been doing: dealing with a hunt involving soulless people, helping cas and bobby break metatron out of heaven’s prison, catching up with charlie and giving rowena the book of the damned, battling the cursed werther house (don’t click that unless you’ve seen the episode, the twist is TOO good), reuniting claire with her mom, or building charlie’s pyre.

33: the last quarter or so of s11 happens really quickly sequentially, every episode picking up soon after the last one left off, which means that sam’s birthday either took place at the very end of the season or the beginning of s12. it’s most likely he turned 33 either the day dean saved the sun and sam himself got shot and kidnapped by toni bevell, or a few days later when he was being held captive and tortured in her basement.

34: unfortunately, sam’s 34th birthday almost definitely took place during 12.21 (there’s something about mary). i was really hoping it’d be 12.22 so he could be kicking the bmol’s asses, learning lucifer was back, and hugging mary, but no...instead he was mostly likely learning that ketch had had eileen killed. 

35: because of some weird canon, the timeline for season 13 is actually batshit insane and makes no sense whatsoever, which means sam’s birthday is really early this season - either during 13.17 (the thing) where he rescues his brother from a frisky tentacle monster or 13.18 (bring ‘em back alive) where he hangs out with gabriel and cas in the bunker. since that’s garbage, you’d be forgiven for ignoring canon and pretending sam’s birthday fell on one of the following episodes - 13.19 (funeralia) is very touching, as he and rowena clash and then make up with each other; 13.21 (beat the devil) has sam capturing lucifer, then dying and getting revived and captured by him; 13.22 has sam getting a little revenge by leaving lucifer for dead; 13.23, of course, has lucifer finally dying for good.

36: there’s no dates whatsoever on the back half of s14, so theoretically sam’s birthday could take place in any episode after 14.13 (lebanon). the likeliest and COOLEST candidate is for sam to turn 36 during 14.20, in which he shoots god himself point blank. other admittedly inferior  scenarios include his stint as justin the 50s househusband, mary’s death, or putting jack in the ma’lak box.

37: we saw this birthday happen onscreen during 15.14 (last holiday) at a party thrown by mrs. butters. unfortunately, not too long after that, she wound up torturing him by pulling out his fingernails.

38: that’s this year! because the timeline of s15 is also so weird and vague, partially fucked up by covid changing the shooting/airing times, and because sam’s birthday is SO early in s15, it’s possible that he has another one this season, right at the end, or maybe post-canon, which means............................................

...................................................that he’s spending it with dean and jack and the newly revived eileen and cas, in the bunker or somewhere else he feels safe and loved :)

happy birthday, sam winchester <3 after all the unhappy ones...u deserve it

[spn masterpost]

[stark-tony]

most recent bookmarks (6/18/21)

mcu

you game? cake time? by iron_spider (3k, T, pepperony) Peter stares at him.“I’d like your help,” Tony says, gesturing towards the ton of cakes. “Your refined palette.”Peter snorts. He can’t lie, excitement is rising in his throat and in his stomach, and he barely ate at lunch today because he was trying to finish up the book report before sixth period. “Does Miss Potts know you picked me?”“You can call her Pepper.”Peter cocks his head. “Does Pepper know you picked me to help you?”

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hp

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more than getting by by sarewolf (34.4k, M, wolfstar, wolfstar raises harry) “What do you want me to do?” Remus says, tiredly. All he wants is to curl up on his bed. Smoke a pack of cigarettes. Get drunk. He can’t stop looking at Harry.“Remus...” Dumbledore is gentle. Remus hates when he has that tone. Hates that he knows it will hurt. “There is no one else left.”A bitter laugh escapes him. “So you’ll curse the poor thing with a werewolf for a guardian?”

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atla

(let me be) there for you by lesmiserablol (8.5k, T, zukka, post-war, bodyguard sokka, friends to lovers, idiots to lovers) Sokka pulls out a clean piece of parchment and starts to write:Reasons Why Sokka Would Be A Great Bodyguard for Lord ZukoHe smiles in satisfaction at the title. Seeing it in writing only makes him feel more confident in this brilliant, two-minute-old idea of his. Zuko is one of his closest friends, and Sokka is a great fighter, he would be the perfect bodyguard! He has the entirety of his trip in the Fire Nation to prove it to Zuko. This is going to be a piece of cake.(or, Sokka mistakes his crush for just a strong desire to be a guard for Zuko, and Suki is amused)

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spn

Checked Out by whelvenwings (27.1k, G, destiel, dreamhunter, library au, librarian castiel, writer dean, openly bi dean, misunderstandings)  Castiel Novak can think of many writers who would not be welcome under the roof of Heaven’s Gate library, where he is the librarian: Ayn Rand ranks highly (no explanation needed), as does Charles Dickens (he hasn’t forgiven Charles for the month he lost to The Pickwick Papers). And, of course, Dean Winchester. Dean Winchester, local author and obvious a-hole, who is entirely too handsome to be true and who is clearly totally lacking in profundity, intelligence, sincerity, and self-awareness. Unfortunately, though, Dean’s been invited to do a book signing at Heaven’s Gate - and Castiel’s about to be confronted by some unexpected feelings when he finally meets Dean for the first time.

Aim and Ignite by wincechesters (10.3k, M, destiel, cas in the bunker)  After the angels fall and Cas loses his grace, and with Sam still recovering from the toll taken on his body by the trials, Dean starts a prank war as a way to lighten the mood in the bunker and alleviate his boredom. It might just have some unexpected consequences. --- A post-S8 canon AU.

bnha

Izuku plays video games with the League of Villains (among other things) by ADyingFlower (54.2k, T, gen, quirkless midoriya, villain deku) Izuku plays video games with the League of Villains, denies being a villain, has his beloved animal crossing file threatened, kicks ass with a shotgun, is proposed to, learns to deal with his depression, and accidentally kidnaps the son of the number two hero. In that order.Or: Five times Izuku played online with his friends, and one time he played with them in personThen Himiko screams.“CAPTAIN!” “Y-yeah?” Tomura asks almost hesitantly. “LOOK!!” All four of them spin around, right as a cannonball comes soaring inches from Izuku’s head from the Galleon less than a three feet away from them. They scream. “OH FUCK NO NO NO NO! NO!” Dabi yells, running to load the cannons. “DUDE WE HAVE SO MUCH SHIT! NO! HOLY FUCKING SHIT!”“Hey guys, guys! Hey, chill!” Izuku shrieks frantically, right as one of the players boards their ship and starts shooting. “CHILL THE FUCK OUT!”

our trust shot full of holes by nolov (louscr) (25.9k, T, gen) When he's twelve, Izuku meets his best friend. Neither of them are especially good at having friends, but they make do.The other shoe drops less than a week into his first year at U.A.

Are You Valued? by cyber_phobia (9.2k, T, dad for one)  "What are you drawing, Izuku?" Hisashi asks with adoration dripping in his voice. "It's Uncle!" Izuku shouts, smacking his dad's arm for daring to ask once more. All the air leaves Hisashi's lungs in one fell swoop.

To Spark A Smile by awefull (1.1k, G, gen, dadzawa) A six-year-old. Aizawa was the guardian of a six-year-old. Aizawa, a pro-hero, who had poor eating habits, and no sleep schedule, was in charge of raising a little girl.He, reasonably, had some concerns.

Long Night in the Valley by Marsalias (53.7k, T, gen, suspected traitor, dad might, dad for one) On paper, the Hero Commission's plan to investigate Midoriya Izuku under the guise of a training course for combating mental quirks is solid, almost foolproof, even. If Midoriya turns out to be innocent, they can pass everything off as part of the training exercise, assuming he even remembered any of it. Otherwise, they could beg forgiveness after the traitor was securely imprisoned in Tartarus.The paper plan failed to take into account the feral ghosts living in Midoriya Izuku's head, or his equally feral living friends.Time to bring on the chaos.

i gave the voices in my head a megaphone by hannahbal (17.3k, todoroki/midoriya/shinsou) ...and they started singing Megan Thee Stallion.(Hitoshi, like any good friend, brainwashes Izuku’s anxiety away for a day so he can know some peace. The problem? Izuku has no fear of god or consequences.Izuku also has no goddamn filter.)

Nothing Could Be More Worthwhile by Krisington (3.5k, G, gen, dad might) Toshinori Yagi wouldn’t say he had let his guard down in retirement, not exactly. It was more accurate to say that he had let his guard down in his true form. He didn’t notice others, and others didn’t notice him. It had become a small pleasure, he realized, one he was reluctant to let go.He should have known better.The man managed to reach All Might’s forehead a split second before All Might grabbed the man’s arm. But a second was just enough.A villain showed All Might a vision of Izuku. Bloodied. Broken. Fading. Was that some future that would come to pass? Toshinori needed to do everything in his power to make sure it wasn't.

everything i wanted by raindrops_0 (9k, T, gen, 5 + 1) Izuku turns to face Hitoshi and flashes a bright smile, eyes folding into crescent moons.Bright like the afternoon sun swallowing Hitoshi whole, bright like All Might’s fucking perfect grin, bright like he’s already a hero.Bright like everything Hitoshi has ever wanted and then more.(Hitoshi can’t help it, but he hates. Of course Izuku can smile as if the whole world is in his hands. He’s never had to fight for every little thing and be hated for it.)Or 5 times Hitoshi misjudged the golden boy of UA, and 1 time he finally understood.

hp/bnha 

Bend Before You Break by orkestrations (16.2k, T, gen) When Izuku set out for his morning run, the last thing he was expecting was to be plucked from his own world by magic and thrown into another universe entirely.Removed from his own conflict and with no way back, he sets himself to figuring out this world and its own incipient war while searching for a way to possibly reverse the spell that brought him here.It's just his luck that the year he arrives is the same year the government decides it's a great idea to bring back the potentially-deadly tournament.

[mittensmorgul]

Paging Mr. Werewolf

We were robbed of the Wayward spinoff, but s15 of Supernatural seems to be connecting the underpinning themes back into the main narrative. Rewatching 13.10 right now, and even from the opening scene, I can’t help but see Chuck’s hands all over the Wayward story and characters, and on s15 in some of the exact same ways. Like Chuck borrowed from an abandoned show, or in-narrative terms, an abandoned universe. The Bad Place. And I can’t help thinking of that world now as one of his abandoned drafts. The connection to that world was Kaia, and Chuck couldn’t quite figure out how to send Darth!Kaia back to her own world, or reunite her with her “dead” half.

But Claire and Kaia both are being mirrored in Eileen in s15, sometimes quite literally and directly. It breaks my heart that Eileen’s salvation has yet another casualty tied to it, in Kaia’s death and stranding in an “underworld” from which it seems there’s no hope of saving her now.

15.05, however, directly connects Wayward to Chuck’s “process” through the otherwise seemingly irrelevant-to-the-larger-narrative cold open to 13.10.

Claire shows up to rescue a kidnapped child from a pair of werewolf brothers (or at least they certainly seem like brothers) in a dilapidated and isolated cabin. The two werewolves bicker like brothers (one “playing with his food” by frightening the girl, the other chastising him for it while seemingly attending to more practical matters).

In 15.05, we know they’re werewolf brothers Chuck used as specifically as “foreshadowing” to show Sam and Dean a parable about themselves, and how Chuck intends their “story” to end. One werewolf brother kills the other. Those werewolves also lived in an isolated cabin together, but it was warm and homey, and they’d isolated themselves intentionally. They didn’t want to eat humans-- or at least one of them didn’t. The other had been humoring his brother, but then confessed that he had no intention to stop feeding on human hearts. And his brother killed him for it, and then killed himself. Because it became clear after both brothers were dead that THEY weren’t the point of this hunt, it was the supposedly innocent victim the brothers had kidnapped that was the actual danger to them.

In 13.10, Claire nearly missed the third werewolf while she was distracted untying their innocent victim, but she had just enough warning by the girl’s reaction that there was another danger in that cabin, and she easily pulls out her hidden gun and kills the third werewolf.

In 15.05, Sam and Dean never saw the true danger coming, Chuck’s “mole” in the story, that thier innocent victim was neither, and was actually Lilith acting directly and without artifice as Chuck’s Plot Device. Her goal was to destroy the one weapon they had against Chuck, and torturing them like a cat playing with a couple of mice was just gravy.

Nobody ever said Chuck was a subtle author.

In this way, though, Eileen is being paralleled to Claire. Claire wanted to hunt alone, to prove herself, to do what she could to save people and hunt things. That’s very much what Eileen had always done before becoming wrapped up in the BMoL nonsense that brought about her original death. Her communication came too late for Sam and Dean to have helped her (they only received her letter asking for sanctuary after she was killed). She’s also paralleled to Claire through Patience and her vision of the future.

Patience gave up everything-- her education, her relationship with her father, her entire life as she knew it-- to go to Jody and warn her about the vision she had of Claire’s death. Patience... is paralleled to Sam in 15.06-15.08, and his “agreement” with Eileen.

CLAIRE: If this is about me hunting alone, I know I should’ve called more, but I’m fine. I’m good! I’m safe. JODY: No, you’re not! Patience had a vision, that’s why she’s here. PATIENCE: I… I saw you die. [We see a flashback of PATIENCE’S vision. It is set in THE BAD PLACE, we see forest, a gigantic claw, a spear piercing a body and an unconscious CLAIRE in JODY’S arms.] JODY: Claire, she’s the real deal. CLAIRE: So every vision you have, it always comes true? PATIENCE: I don’t know. I’m still figuring all this out. CLAIRE: So you might be wrong. JODY: Claire this is serious, I’m trying to protect you! CLAIRE: Jody, that’s always your excuse. Every time we’d go out on a hunt together you’d take care of the monster while I’d just wait in the car. JODY: That happened one time! CLAIRE: It happened every time, Jody! You, you’ve never even seen what I can do. JODY: Claire, if I put the brakes on you it’s because you can’t go dive bombing into every fight… CLAIRE: Yes I can! That’s how you save people. Sitting back and making the perfect plan, losing time, that’s how people end up dead. JODY: And if you end up dead? [Both of them are now standing. JODY is visibly upset.] CLAIRE: I won’t. JODY: Claire, you can’t just run away from this. CLAIRE: Watch me.

Sorry for the length of this snippet, but it’s all there. Well, all except for this bit:

PATIENCE: Those monsters? They’re coming, lots of them. KAIA: They’re after me. CLAIRE: Then we should stay and fight. PATIENCE: There’s too many, they’ll kill us. CLAIRE: Maybe, maybe not. PATIENCE: Look, I gave up a lot to come here. To do what was right, to save you. You want to brush that off? You want to think I’m a fake, fine. But I’m telling you right now we’re all in danger. KAIA: Claire…

Because this is EXACTLY how I have seen Sam’s “visions” in s15. And exactly how I’ve seen his resurrection of Eileen, too. Just as Patience saw her own visions, and accounted for her own actions toward Claire. She gave up a lot to try and save Claire, and Claire... was just... dismissing that sacrifice. By the end of the episode, though, they had “reached an agreement.” Exactly like the agreement Sam and Eileen seem to have reached. Sam wasn’t being “overprotective” of Eileen, he was being reasonably protective based on everything he’d sacrificed to bring her back, and what saving her has become a symbol of to him as a result.

Eileen’s salvation isn’t his descent to the underworld, it was-- like saving Claire was for Patience-- The Illusion of Success. Claire was never the one in danger. It was Kaia all along, but Patience had an “incomplete vision,” that led her to believe that it was Claire in danger. Like Sam’s visions in s15, that seem incomplete, that only show confusing repetition of the theme of him and Dean killing each other over and over in different alternate scenarios of reality. Like Patience did in 13.10, Sam still lacks the complete picture to understand the context of what he’s seeing.

I’m looking forward to Sam’s talk with Chuck in 15.09, where he will finally understand the full context of what they’re actually up against in “Chuck’s story.”

Going back for a moment to The Illusion of Success, I’ve been thinking a lot about the meta @flyingfish1 wrote a while back (I believe the last update was during s12, actually) about The Heroine’s Journey. Because I believe with the re-incorporation of a lot of the Wayward themes into s15 that this is a structure that Supernatural has folded back into the narratives of TFW with a vengeance. For a quick refresher on this type of narrative, here’s a handy recap:

https://mythcreants.com/blog/using-the-heroines-journey/

And for more posts about Supernatural on the subject, starting with that original post I referenced above:

https://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/tagged/heroine%27s+journey/chrono

Tell me this isn’t the journey all of TFW in s15, and honestly Chuck’s journey as well? And considering Chuck DIRECTLY painted crosshairs on Jody and Donna in 15.08 (apologies for the formatting, but the official transcript still isn’t posted so I’m working from my personal unfinished version, but this is the relevant bit of dialogue):

DONATELLO/CHUCK: Oh, Donatello's not here any longer. Hey, guys. It's Chuck. Prophets speak the word of God, sometimes indirectly. Sometimes they're my bluetooth. So, here's the thing. Usually, I really love our little... process. I toss something at you guys, and you slam it right back. It's fun, like tennis. With monsters. But this... Let this one go.

Or what?

CHUCK: Or I go all-powerful. Maybe not on you. Not right away. But, let's see, there's... Jody, Donna, Eileen. Pretty much everybody on your speed dial. So drop it. 'Kay?

Please also reference the post I made yesterday about 13.09 for additional reading on the subject of blood and death and monsters, and Chuck’s planned ending:

https://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/post/189786572395/blood-and-death-and-monsters

The descent to the underworld of The Bad Place, and the descent to the underworld of Purgatory are beginning to look horrifyingly similar, yes?

Hell, and the Cage specifically with Michael’s return from the underworld, is Sam’s trial.

Purgatory and everything it represents from s8 is Dean’s trial.

Which leaves Cas... to confront his own trial, versus the Empty.

We’re going deeper and deeper through the layers here. TFW stood together in Hell, and failed. Dean and Cas will have to stand together in Purgatory (and I suspect they will fail on some level), and then Cas... I’m not going to speculate further outside of gesticulating wildly at what the logical progression of his personal arc must bring him to face.

The main thing I think it’s important to remember is that Chuck has deluded himself into thinking his story is a Hero’s Journey-- fighting the monster and returning victorious, but typically combined with a tragic loss. He’s entirely unaware of the fact that we’re not telling that story-- and HAVEN’T been telling that story-- since Amara was freed from her wrongful imprisonment. The Divine Feminine has returned to the universe to restore the balance, and this is now Her story to tell. If only Chuck will stop meddling in it and trying to make it all about him.

The goal of a Heroine’s Journey is, after all, the reintegration of the masculine and feminine, resulting in Union. The Heroine (male or female) must then fulfill the story by helping others find this balance themselves. And from the linked post about “Using the Heroine’s Journey,” the final step gives me hope that this is where Supernatural will find its ending:

“If it fits your story, this is also the time to discard your duality altogether. The heroine could reveal that it is false, arbitrary, or destructive.”

This seems to be where the narrative is pointing right now, at any rate. I wish I had enough time to address this more fully-- including Billie’s place in the story, as well as Mary’s, Rowena’s, and Amara’s. There’s just so much.

[lets-steal-an-archive]

TVLine Fall TV Spoilers, retrospective edition (s8-s15)

Fall TV Spoiler Spectacular: Exclusive Scoop and Photos on 47 Returning Favorites! [September 06, 2012]

PREVIOUSLY ON… | After taking out Leviathan boss Dick Roman, Dean and Cas disappeared to a monster-filled purgatory while Sam was left on his own back on Earth. Ghost Bobby finally moved on to the other side.

COMING UP NEXT | Dean and Sam will reunite in the season premiere, but lots will have changed while they were separated. For one, after a “not very cute meet” with Amelia (recurring guest star Liane Balaban), Sam struck up a romance with the damaged woman during the Winchesters’ hiatus from each other, previews new showrunner Jeremy Carver. Dean’s side of the story will be told in flashbacks, which will answer the mystery of why Castiel vanished and how the elder brother got out of purgatory. Hint: He’s now indebted to the vamp Benny, “who is a super cool, super complex character who is a force to be reckoned with unto himself,” says Carver. “That is something that applies above ground and below ground.”

TVLINE BONUS SPOILER | Prepare for a major new recurring character in Naomi, who’s all business – complete with a serious pulled back hairdo – and very private. But underneath that no-nonsense suit exterior, she’s not quite so together.

Fall TV Spoiler Spectacular: Exclusive Scoop and Photos on 45 Returning Favorites! [September 03, 2013]

PREVIOUSLY ON… | Metatron expelled all the angels from Heaven and turned Castiel into a human. Sam continued his efforts to close the gates of Hell by curing Crowley, but Dean discovered that completing the trials would kill him, and begged his brother not to go through with it. Unfortunately, Sammy didn’t know how to stop what he started and collapsed in agony.

COMING UP NEXT | No surprise here: Sam survives. But why he does is a secret that the elder Winchester will hold on to — and one which may cause a rift between the brothers. “You’re going to find Dean, in the beginning of this season, in a slightly different position, one where it’s his decision driving great importance and weight on their relationship,” previews executive producer Jeremy Carver. “It’s a heavy weight to bear, and it has a great effect on their relationship.” There’s also angel mayhem on Earth for the brothers to contend with, including “a lot of players for the throne of who’s going to rise to the fore here,” including Battlestar Galactica alum Tahmoh Penikett’s injured warrior angel. Cas, meanwhile, is adjusting to life as a human by “eating, defecating and fornicating,” deadpans his portrayer Misha Collins. On the more quirky side, Felicia Day’s Charlie returns in Episode 4, which goes back in time to reveal “the first Men of Letters ever to occupy the bunker,” teases Carver. So what were they up to? You know, the usual — like “learning the truth behind the events that lead to The Wizard of Oz books. It’s a lot of fun and heartfelt.”

TVLINE BONUS SPOILER | Penikett’s Ezekiel isn’t the only heavenly creature we’ll be meeting. “We’re really delving into the individual characters here, and we found really interesting, really neat angels,” says Carver. “Wherever we can dive into Biblical references, we do and then we turn that the way that we need. Some of the angels that we see…have deep roots in angel mythology.”

Fall TV Spoilers 2014: Exclusive Scoops On 42 Season Premieres [September 02, 2014]

As a newly turned supernatural creature, Dean will have to decide “how dark and what kind of demon he’s going to be,” executive producer Jeremy Carver previews. So what’s the verdict? Per star Jensen Ackles, “[He’s] an ultra version of a womanizing party animal.” Considering how wild and fun his new life is – he even becomes too much for Crowley to handle! – it’s no wonder then that Dean doesn’t want to be found. But Sam, unaware of what’s happened to his brother, will try his darnedest, leading the younger Winchester “to do some questionable things that will make him, and certainly the audience, wonder which one of these guys is the true monster,” Carver notes. Meanwhile, Castiel is back on Earth and struggling with the moral dilemma of how to get his angelic grace back without being a burden.

BONUS SPOILER | Cas will be the harsh “voice of reason” when it comes to Dean’s situation, says Ackles. “Even though it might be hard to hear, it might be hard to say, he tells Sam, ‘Listen, you know what you have to do if things don’t go right.’”

Fall TV Spoilers 2015: Exclusive Scoop On 44 Season Premieres [September 08, 2015]

The Winchesters will need all the help they can get battling The Darkness, which brings us to Season 11’s theme: “You can’t outrun your past.” Dean and Sam “have to make some unexpected and unholy alliances involving folks from their past, which will have personal ramifications,” exec producer Jeremy Carver reveals. Will any of said people be fan faves who died? “We’re talking about a fight that is going to incorporate the likes of Heaven and Hell and those on Earth. So there’s certainly opportunity to see folks that have departed,” the EP replies. Perhaps one of them can provide some answers, because “there’s a lot of mystery to not only what or who The Darkness is” – maybe it’s a she? – “but what The Darkness wants,” Carver says. And while Castiel will be working alongside the brothers, he first needs to “find a way out of this spell that Rowena has cast.”

BONUS SPOILER!: Praise be! “We’re going to see more of a vintage Crowley in terms of scheming, less caring about Dean and Sam,” Carver shares.)

Fall TV Spoilers 2016: Exclusive Scoop On 42 Season Premieres [September 07, 2016]

“Dean, Mary and Cas are on the ‘Save Sam train,’ and that really drives them for the first three episodes,” executive producer Andrew Dabb previews. Once reunited, the Winchesters find themselves “pulled in two different directions” thanks to the dual threat of the British Men of Letters and Lucifer, who has taken on the vessel of a down-on-his-luck rock star (Rick Springfield). Everyone wants a piece of the fallen angel, including Crowley, who is looking to reclaim Hell and get payback for being humiliated. Lady Toni’s brethren, however, may turn out to be occasional allies in addition to stirring up trouble. “Sometimes, Sam and Dean will be working with them. Sometimes, they’ll be working against them,” Dabb hints. Meanwhile, the miraculous return of Mama Winchester has the brothers feeling “happy and conflicted” as she adjusts to a world that includes modern technology and angels. Speaking of heavenly creatures: Season 12 will spin “more personal” Cas stories and dig into his past a bit.

BONUS SPOILER!: “We’re putting the focus more on the world of hunters, so some of our past fan favorite hunters will, hopefully, swing through the show,” Dabb teases.

Fall TV Spoilers 2017: Scoop on 35+ Returning Favorites [September 07, 2017]

Cutting to the chase, “death is not the end for Castiel,” executive producer Andrew Dabb reports. “That being said, when we pick up our season he’s more dead than people usually get on our show. Castiel has a big role to play for us, but that may not be as soon as some people are hoping.” Meanwhile, the Winchester brothers, Dean especially, are reeling from the double whammy of losing their friend and their mom Mary. “There’s no one they can call,” Dabb notes, “so our guys are a bit on their own, a little spun out, both emotionally and in terms of the plot.” On top of that, they’re “acting as parents” to Lucifer’s “walking atomic bomb” offspring. “There are parts of him and things he does that they really love,” Dabb shares, “and there are parts of him and things he does that worry them a bit.” In the alt apocalypse world, Mary’s attempt to run away from Lucifer doesn’t go as well as she had hoped, while the fallen archangel finds that he “may not be the most powerful” creature over there.

BONUS SPOILER!: “Even if it’s not played by an actor that we recognize, there are certain characters that are going to come back in different bodies,” Dabb hints.

Fall TV Spoilers 2018: Scoop on 40 Returning Favorites [September 05, 2018]

Michael still wants to purify the world, but now that he’s loose on our earth — in Dean’s body, no less! — “his method is going to change,” executive producer Andrew Dabb previews. Back at the bunker, little bro Sam and heavenly pal Castiel are “extremely driven to find Dean,” with the latter even seeking help from “certain people, possibly with black eyes, who he would not normally contact.” Despite their efforts, “Sam, ultimately, and even Cas, to a degree, are a little pessimistic,” the EP says. “They’re not sure if it’s going to work out.” The Winchesters’ mom, Mary, however, “is optimistic, but sometimes that optimism can be very annoying.” Meanwhile, powerless Jack is back to hunter basics, “learning how to throw a punch [and] decapitate a vampire,” with the help of Bobby. Up in Heaven, Naomi and the few remaining angels are “trying to hold everything together.” As for the dark side, “we’re going to get a really good preview of what’s going on in Hell, actually, in the first episode,” Dabb teases.

BONUS SPOILER!: In Episode 4, “Sam and Dean and our whole crew get involved in our homage to ’80s slasher movies,” Dabb shares. “We’ve got some really cool gory stuff planned for that.”

Fall TV Preview 2019: Spoilers on 37 Returning Favorites [September 4 2019]

After finding out that God has been manipulating them, Dean and Sam are facing an “existential crisis” in the 15th and final season. “They’re realizing, ‘Well, we’re the Winchesters, but were we really doing this Chuck’s way?'” co-showrunner Andrew Dabb previews. “Part of reclaiming that agency is a big part of the season for them.” Plus, the brothers are “going to start to lose people who, in past seasons, we would’ve never lost — and lose them in a very real way. Our guys are going to realize there’s a certain finality, and some of the things they’ve relied on to get through the day — people, talents, things like that — they are no longer going to be able to roll out. And that’s going to throw them for a loop.” The show’s swan song will also welcome back some departed faces, including the Winchesters’ half-brother Adam (Jake Abel), God’s sister Amara (Emily Swallow) and deceased hunter Eileen (Shoshannah Stern).

BONUS SPOILER!: Jack is still in The Empty when Season 15 starts, and “he’s not coming back in the near future,” Dabb reveals. As for the deal Cas made to save Lucifer’s offspring, “when The Empty becomes more active, a lot of things are going to come to a head.”

[drsilverfish]

Jack Kline Novak Winchester: Son, TFW Mirror, Trinity and Key; Quaternity, Ouroboros, Caduceus, and Harbinger of The End

“I am a hunter, I am the son of Lucifer, I am a Winchester!” (14x14 Ourboros).

“One becomes two, two becomes three, and out of the third comes the one as the fourth.” (the alchemist Maria Prophetissima 1-3 C AD). This refers to the four stages of alchemy, the refining of base metals into gold on the material plane, but the refining of the soul to God on the spiritual plane -  nigredo (black), albedo (white), citrinalis (yellow), and rubedo (red).  

In Jung’s interpretation of this alchemical piece of wisdom, this means the refining of the psyche:

1) = Conscious Self

2) = Unconscious Self (the Shadow or Mirror)

3) = Inner Mediator

4) Integrated Self

(One of the books Dean uses to build the Ma’lak box in 14x11 Damaged Goods)

This meta is concerned with Jack’s rich symbolic role in the SPN narrative. 

Jack enters the story to help Team Free Will face their Shadow-Selves and thus evolve psychologically.

This concludes my S14 meta series on the Jungian (and alchemical) themes of the season.

You can read all the previous meta in that series here:

1) The Shadow 14x08

http://drsilverfish.tumblr.com/post/180906003584/the-shadow-14x08

2) 14x09 The Spear (Jungian Decoder Ring Edition)

http://drsilverfish.tumblr.com/post/181122764984/14x09-the-spear-jungian-decoder-ring-edition

3) Jung and Dean’s Journey Towards Self-Integration in 14x11 Damaged Goods

http://drsilverfish.tumblr.com/post/182299438269/jung-and-deans-journey-towards-self-integration

4) Ouroboros in Prophet and Loss (14x12)

http://drsilverfish.tumblr.com/post/182486474324/ouroboros-in-prophet-and-loss-14x12

5) A Pearl of Great Price - 14x13 Lebanon

http://drsilverfish.tumblr.com/post/182660472289/a-pearl-of-great-price-14x13-lebanon

6) The Serpent and the Egg: Snake and Eye Symbology in 14x14 Ouroboros

http://drsilverfish.tumblr.com/post/183327000184/the-serpent-and-the-egg-snake-and-eye-symbology

7) Another Alchemical Easter Egg in 14x14

http://drsilverfish.tumblr.com/post/183388134889/another-alchemical-easter-egg-in-14x14

8) The Scapegoat: Speculative Musings on S14′s End (Moriah) (Linked to the Season’s Jungian Themes - Scapegoating and the Unacknowledged Shadow)

http://drsilverfish.tumblr.com/post/184045009309/the-scapegoat-speculative-musings-on-s14s-end

9) Dean’s Jungian Shadow Arc in S14: Confronting the Internal Father (2x22 to 14x20 Moriah)

https://drsilverfish.tumblr.com/post/184507150574/deans-jungian-shadow-arc-in-s14-confronting-the

Jack is dualistic; Good and Evil, Human Soul and Angelic Grace. He is a trinity: Human, Angel and “Demon” (fallen Angel); Dean-mirror, Cas-mirror, Sam-mirror. He is also a quaternity, thanks to the additional feminine element: his mother, Kelly Kline and his adoptive mother/ grandmother Mary Winchester (the latter resurrected by the feminine God-principle Amara).

Jung considers the quaternity to be highly significant (he refers to “squaring the circle”) including, as above, in relation to his interpretation of Maria Prophetissima’s alchemical summary as being analogous to the stages of psychic growth and integration. He often considers the, Son, Father, Holy Ghost and Mother Mary of Christianity to be external symbols for the four stages or elements of the human psyche.

“The quaternity, is an archetype of almost universal occurrence [. . .]” For instance, if you want to describe the horizon as a whole, you name the four quarters of heaven…There are always four elements, four prime qualities, four colours, four castes, four ways of spiritual development, etc. So, too, there are four aspects of psychological orientation [. . .] The ideal of completeness is the circle sphere, but its natural minimal division is a quaternity” 

(Jung: Psychology and Religion: West and East).

Conceived by stealth-rape in a Bucklemming episode (12x08 LOTUS) Jack was possibly off to an inauspicious start as the Devil’s Baby.

But Jack the Nephilim, son of Lucifer and Kelly Kline, had the good sense to adopt Castiel as his protector in the womb, and from then on out he has ascended through the spiral narrative like the phoenix he is.  

Born in 12x23 All Along the Watchtower, Jack was always part of Dabb’s Ouroboros narrative. A "demon” with yellow eyes in a nursery, a child, and a mother who dies; Jack was a mirror, reflecting SPN’s origin story, of Azazel feeding baby-Sam demon blood, and burning Mary Winchester on the ceiling. And Jack was Sammy and Azazel both. 

Castiel died at Jack’s birth too, murdered by Lucifer in front of Dean’s horrified eyes, thus placing Cas in the role of Mary Winchester and Dean in the role of John Winchester.   

Adopted by a reluctant grieving Dean and a hopeful Sam, Jack discovered he loved nougat and stole a lot of fandom hearts. 

Importantly, through their adoption of Jack and his reflection of many of their previous experiences, TFW are forced to recognise themselves (including painful repressed elements of themselves) in him, thus he enables them to better meet their Shadow-selves and evolve. In this sense he is the mediator between the Ego and the Id, the conscious self and the unconscious self, the Self and the Shadow for TFW. That is why Jack is linked to the symbol of the Ouroboros, the snake swallowing its own tail, because in alchemy that signifies transformation:

This self-recognition (of themselves in Jack) is initially much easier for Sam and Cas than it is for Dean....

Sam the boy corrupted by demon blood, of course sees himself in the innocent yet unstable son of Lucifer. Cas, fallen angel in love with humanity, likewise naturally sees himself in a half-angel/ half-human child who is struggling with his place in the world. 

Juxtaposing innocence and enormous power (potential for good and potential for evil) Jack was a child who grew up too fast, literally (appearing twenty whilst only two). In this respect, he was a mirror for Dean, who had to grow up too fast when his Mom died, assuming the role of substitute-parent to Sammy. 

Dean has a hard time recognising and having compassion for the innocent child part of himself that he gave up to become Daddy’s “good little soldier” and caretaker to Sammy. Which is why his journey into loving Jack (as a reflection of himself) goes hardest (see my meta on Dean’s Jungian shadow arc, linked above, for more on this). 

Jack is also (like Dawn in Buffy) a metaphysical, mystical key. He opens doors; doors between dimensions/ worlds and alternate universes as well as doors in the psyche between the Self and the Shadow. He is the key to Chuck’s multiverse and to the larger God-machine.

Jack (responding to Dean’s intense grief) resurrected Castiel in The Empty, the space where dead angels and demons go. Only Chuck had resurrected Castiel previously. So, we see Jack step into the role of God, but in a place (The Empty) where (if we believe the Cosmic Entity that resides there) God has no dominion. Jack already presages God Level Mark II.   

With Mary Winchester in the apocalypse world (she who was resurrected by the feminine God-principle, Amara) Jack stood on the side of humans against angels, and in this, he was a mirror for Castiel (who rebelled against Heaven to stand with the Winchesters). 

When his birth father, Lucifer, stole his grace in 13x23 Let the Good Times Roll, Jack became de-powered (human-ish) again, mirroring Castiel (and his Human!Cas arc after the angel fall in 8x23 Sacrifice).  

With his soul/ grace unbalanced, Jack began coughing up blood; a mirror for Sam’s journey during the demon trials of S8.

Knowing he was dying, Jack went fishing with Dean in 14x07 Unhuman Nature 

Ahhh all the lovely fish and fishing metaphors SPN has employed over the years. Fish have sometimes stood for humans, sometimes stood for angels, but always for angel/ human convergence. Jung in Aion (reading medieval alchemical texts) writes about the fish as an alchemical symbol for the philosopher’s stone (the mystical substance that allows transformation - of matter and spirit and, for Jung, of the psyche):  “...alchemical fish symbolism leads direct to the lapis, the salvator, servator, and deus terrenus; that is, psychologically, to the self.” (Jung, Aion: Researches into the Phenomenology of the Self, 1979: p157)   

So, Dean and his adopted Nephilim son fish together, which recalls, in particular, Dean’s fishing dream in 4x20 The Rapture, which Cas entered and there passed Dean a love note of assistance. If fish are angels, then Dean and Jack have already “caught” one, by means of love: Castiel.

Dean is placed here again in the role of his own father, John Winchester. 

JACK: “You once told me you and your father did the exact same thing. It was your happiest memory of him.”

And Jack, as the product of angel/ human congress, has always stood (in subtext) as a metaphor for the love between Dean and Cas.

But, metaphysically unbalanced, Jack sickens further. An injection of Gabriel’s archangel grace doesn’t help. TFW take him to the hospital together, to no avail. Sam, his third adoptive father, keeps vigil at his bedside as he dies.

Jack finds himself in Heaven. Here he is a mirror for Sam and Dean, who have both died multiple times on the show. He reunites with his mother Kelly Kline, but The Shadow (a manifestation of The Empty particularly linked to Castiel, symbolising, as it does, Cas’ Jungian Shadow-self) has invaded Heaven and wants to drag Jack to The Empty with it. Jack’s duality is here highlighted, as his human soul belongs in Heaven, but his dead angelic self belongs in The Empty, (according to the SPN cosmic sorting hat!)

Castiel comes searching for Jack in Heaven, and makes a deal with The Shadow in 14x08 Byzantium - Jack’s life for his own (the moment Cas allows himself to be happy). Cas and Jack mirror Dean and Sam here, and all the supernatural deals they’ve made, or tried to make, to bring one another back from death over the years. Cas in particular mirrors Dean, because Sam has always, in one sense, been not only Dean’s brother, but his son. 

As ever, there will be a price to pay for this deal. Not only Castiel’s promise to surrender himself to the Shadow, but also the second “death” of Mary Winchester (caused by a resurrected Jack). 

But, Cas loves his Nephilim son so much (<my heart>):

Held in an unstable balance thanks to Lily Sunder’s dark soul-consuming magic, things start to get dicey for Jack post-resurrection. He tries to impress Max, Stacy and Eliot (the Lebanon kids) and ends up stabbing Stacy (Castiel’s mirror) with an angel blade (14x16 Don’t Go in the Woods) leaving Max (Dean’s mirror) grieving over her body, thus, in that moment, mirroring his father Lucifer (12x23 All Along the Watchtower), However, he brings Stacy back from death (mirroring his own resurrection of Cas) but every time he uses his powers, he burns off some of his soul:

Wow he is cycling, Ouroboros style, through so many previous TFW arcs.

And so we arrive at 14x14 Ouroboros itself, THE crucial episode in terms of all this symbology, in which Jack kills the Queer Gorgon Noah Ophis (himself an Ouroboros symbol = Noah from Genesis and Ophis from Revelation) to save the Winchesters and adopts his snake, Felix (also an Ouroboros symbol). 

Then, he burns off considerably more of his soul (perhaps all of it  - it’s unclear) to kill AU!Michael, and swallows his grace, Ouroboros style:

Jack is now another symbolic duality and trinity - he contains elements of both Michael and Lucifer, the two opposing forces in Apocalypse Mark I, now united in one being. The third element is provided by his humanity (now, seemingly, in jeopardy). 

An evolved and fully re-powered-up Jack has sprung forth, just as Pegasus the winged horse and his brother Chrysaor of the golden sword did from the neck of their Gorgon mother Medusa when Perseus slew her:  

In this form, Jack is linked (via a book on Donatello’s shelves behind him in 14x15 Peace of Mind - thanks to @postmodernmulticoloredcloak for this spot!) to the Caduceus symbol on the spine of the Book of Life here:

The Caduceus is the staff of Hermes, consisting of two serpents entwined about a staff crowned with wings. Hermes is the messenger of the Gods in Greek mythology. He can move freely between the worlds of God and men (linking to Jack’s function as a metaphysical key, on both a micro-cosmic psychological scale, and a macrocosmic God-machine scale). Hermes was also a psychopomp, a conductor of souls to the afterlife. The psychopomp is linked by Jung to the psychological mediator function - that which mediates between the Self and the Shadow, as Jack does for TFW via his mirroring function. 

Jack’s visit to Donatello also serves to remind us that even someone without a human soul can live a good life if they pick the right role models (Donatello picks Mr. Rogers, Jack picks the Winchesters). 

In 14x15 Peace of Mind, Jack demonstrates both his potential for good and evil in this new diminished soul-state, via a (misplaced) compassion (good) which leads him to kill Felix the snake (evil) believing the beastie is grieving for Noah the Queer Gorgon and will be reunited with him in death:

This death of the snake is also symbolic of Jack’s role as mirror and mystical key - old patterns within both Team Free Will and Chuck’s Multiverse must die, in order for newer and healthier ones to be born. Jack is the catalyst, the messenger, the Ouroboros, the Caduceus. 

In Jack’s new, vulnerable, state (with either some, or all, of his soul gone) he  banishes Lucifer back to the Empty in 14x17 Game Night after Nick (bleugh) tries to resurrect him, and he then burns Nick to a crispy cinder for good measure. Afterwards, Jack is tormented by Hallucifer (a vision of his father Lucifer in his mind). This is very possibly the actual Lucifer, communicating with Jack via the blood-link spell Nick performed, hoping to lead him astray. It certainly sounds like the actual Lucifer. It also, of course, mirrors Sam’s Hallucifer arc.

Distressed by Mary’s reaction to his incineration of Nick and taunted by Hallucifer, Jack loses control and (or so we are led to believe) kills Mary (in fact I think he’s blasted her unwittingly through a portal to an AU/ mirror universe, but that’s another story).

Now the crisis in Jack’s relationship with his adoptive fathers is set up. 

Dean, is the member of TFW who (as I explained above) has found it hardest to have compassion for the mirror-self whom Jack reflects back to him (young Dean with the weight of the world on his shoulders) and he determines Jack must be locked in the Ma’lak box and/ or killed. Sam and Cas, who have been better able to recognise themselves in Jack and so have compassion for him, dissent (but Sam’s hangover child-role to Dean’s father-role in their toxic co-dependency means he doesn’t initially stand up to Dean).  

Here is Jack, locked in the Ma’lak box (Jack in the Box 14x19) being tormented again by Hallucifer:

And, of course, that couldn’t contain him, so, deeply upset at being lied to by two of his three adoptive fathers, Jack busts out all glowy-eyed:

Chuck shows up to set Mount Moriah and Abraham and Isaac redux in motion , and Dean, possessed by his Shadow-self (the Ghost of John Winchester) gets ready to repeat history. 

A yellow-eyed “demon”has killed Mary Winchester (again) and Dean-as-John picks up Chuck’s weapon of RevengeTM (the Hammurabi - see my meta on Dean and his Shadow arc linked above for more on this).

But Jack, in his role as mirror and mediator between the Self and the Shadow. freely offers himself as a sacrifice, a scapegoat. 

And seeing this, at last, Dean has compassion, both for Jack and for his own mirror-child self, “murdered” by John Winchester’s revenge quest to get Yellow-Eyes/ Azazel. And so, he stays his hand.

Chuck, the bastard, kills Jack anyway and lights the fuse under Apocalypse III. 

But, because Jack is a metaphysical key and the symbol of transfomation (Ouroboros) he can move between all the realms of the God-machine. And so, Death has no true dominion, and we see Jack awaken (14x20 Moriah) in The Empty: 

There, he is greeted by a figure, presumbly the Cosmic Entity who presides over the place, as well as by Billie the New Death.

According to the Empty’s Cosmic Entity in 13x04 The Big Empty, “Before God and Amara, creation, destruction, Heaven, Hell, your precious little earth, what was there?... Nothing. Nothing but Empty... Angels and demons... you all come here when you die...  I’m the only one that has any pull here. Not Heaven, not Hell, not G-O-D himself.“

As with the Amara storyline (she is mapped to Sophia, the cosmic feminine God-principle) it seems Dabb is drawing on Gnosticism in his conception of The Empty. Jung was also fascinated by Gnosticism. 

The Gnostics made a distinction between the supreme unknowable Being, and the creator of the material universe, God, known as the Demiurge (who was often seen as amoral, even wicked). 

We don’t yet know whether Chuck has already merged with Amara, and is the double entity Chuck/ Amara or, whether her feminine God-principle will be instrumental in persuading him to finally end his story, and let Team Free Will and humanity become the authors of their own stories. The latter would make sense in Jung’s quaternity structure, and would be linked to my theory that Mary Winchester is not dead and will return to her sons before the end. 

Chuck, as the Demiurge, may perhaps be the mere avatar or emanation of the true supreme Godhood, if we take a Gnostic perspective. Whilst Chuck-the-Demiurge must be defeated, because he doesn’t want to relinquish control of the narrative, in his Supreme Godhood form, and/or merged Amara form, he may himself relinquish control and let Team Free Will go.   

Whether Jack is initially manipulated by The Empty, Death and/ or an awakened Lucifer and/or indeed AU!Michael, or joins forces with them (in their good faith) remains to be seen. Lucifer may (ugh, but definitely possible) get a redemption arc, as he has, despite his many evil deeds, undoubtedly been wronged by Chuck (forced to bear the Mark of Cain and thus become corrupted by it). 

Ultimately, I have no doubt that Jack, thanks to his loving connection to Team Free Will, will ultimately (as Cas has always believed) be “good for the world”:

(Jack and his three adoptive Dads in Unhuman Nature 14x07) 

 Jack, as the alchemical symbol of transformation (Ouroboros) as Mercury the mediator (Caduceus) between universes, between realms in the God-Machine, and between the conscious and the unconscious, and as the union of opposites (Michael and Lucifer, Good and Evil, Self and the Shadow), and as the trinity symbolising that unity (Sam, Dean and Cas merged as TFW) and as the quaternity (the ultimate integration [I hope] with the feminine principle symbolised by Mary and Amara) will, I believe, help usher in “Paradise” after the Apocalypse III; a “new Heaven and a new Earth, because the old Heaven and the old Earth had passed away” (Revelation) in which true free will reigns and Team Free Will have completed their psychic journeys. 

“Thus we have the “hostile brothers,” Christ and the devil, who were regarded as brothers in the Jewish-Christian tradition; the tetrameria into four parts or elements; the paired opposites and their ultimate unity; the parallel of the lapis and Mercurius with Christ and, because of the snake or dragon symbolism, also with the devil; and finally, the figure of Mercurius duplex and of the lapis, which unites the opposites indivisibly in itself.”

(Jung, Aion: Researches into the Phenomenology of the Self, 1979: p214)

https://www.jungiananalysts.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/C.-G.-Jung-Collected-Works-Volume-9ii_-AION_-Researches-into-the-Phenomenology-of-the-Self.pdf

[mittensmorgul]

9.09, Holy Terror.

Remember, folks. Writers lie.

But Metatron slips back into the story like the proverbial serpent. I mean, that's literally the metaphor that applies, considering he's the one who finally unmasks Gadreel for us-the-audience, despite Dean still being in the dark. But there's far more manipulation going on in this episode...

As Gadreel tightens the screws on Dean, Metatron applies the exact right pressure to Gadreel. It's figworms within figworms, one after the other rotting the apple from the inside out, and everything is about to collapse.

Remember in the 9.06-9.07 post, I described the process through which Dean's lies and half-truths gradually came to light until they were completely out in the open? Well, that's beginning in earnest with his current round of increasingly unsustainable lies, and we begin to really see the toll it's all taking on Dean.

(also need to note one of the angels killed in the opening scene, his vessel was named "Red Dawg," in a season where Dean has both been referred to by the nickname "D-Dog," and also became an actual dog for an episode already... the MoC/demon Dean foreshadowing was pervasive in this season)

We've already seen Sam begin to crack under the weight of it all at the end of 9.08, but now both Dean and Cas will feel that burden, too...

Dean pushes Gadreel for an honest answer about Sam's recovery, pressuring him for a better answer, while Gadreel expresses his concern over working a case that potentially involves angels, but also leaving the entire burden of perpetuating the deception on Dean himself. And he's not doing well with that burden, and Sam's losing faith in himself and trust in Dean's increasingly shady answers...

SAM (getting agitated) No, it's more than Vesta! I mean, this kind of thing's been happening to me. Like, like, there are chunks of time just … missing. Like there are times when I'm... not here. DEAN Well, like I've said— SAM Yes, the trials. I know. I heard you. I heard you when you said it the last week and the week before that and the week before that. DEAN Yeah, because ... damn straight the trials. They whacked you, man. You're not up to warp speed yet, okay? But you will be.  (Smiles at SAM.)  Would I lie?

and

Blue light flashes in SAM’s eyes; EZEKIEL-IN-SAM is back. DEAN (knowing he's about to get more grief from EZEKIEL-IN-SAM) Oh, boy. EZEKIEL-in-SAM Well? What are you going to do about this? DEAN About Cas? EZEKIEL-in-SAM He is a beacon, Dean, pulling every angel for miles down on our heads. DEAN All right, you know what, Zeke? Level with me. What is it that you're so afraid of? EZEKIEL-IN-SAM I told you. When I chose to answer your prayers and heal Sam, I chose sides. That means I'm not in good standing with certain angels. DEAN Okay, well, you know what? Cas isn't in good standing with any angel, all right? But here he is, ass on the line, fighting the fight. So tell me, what makes you so special?

But Dean breaks down again and begins to strategically confess to Cas, still leaving out crucial pieces of information, but giving him enough that Cas does eventually begin to understand the gravity of Dean's situation:

CASTIEL (clears throat) I, um, I noticed you look... kind of uncomfortable whenever Sam mentions my leaving. Doesn't he know that you told me to leave? DEAN Here's the deal. When Sam was doing the trials to seal up Hell, it messed him up. Okay? The third one nearly killed him. If I'd let him finish, it would have. He's still messed up, bad. CASTIEL You said the angel, Ezekiel, helped heal him. DEAN (looks down, avoiding the question) Look, I got to do anything I can to get him back. Now, if that means that we keep our distance from you for a little while, then... Then I don't have a choice. I don't feel good about it, but I don't have a choice. It's great to have your help, Cas. Okay, but we just can't work together. CAS looks sad.

Bolding mine. I DON'T HAVE A CHOICE. I DON'T FEEL GOOD ABOUT IT, BUT I DON'T HAVE A CHOICE.

Cas, being Not A Moron™ now understands that everything that's happened since the angels fell, since Dean went to extraordinary measures to save Sam with "Ezekiel's" help, has put Dean in this impossible position. He might not know the true extent of it, but at the end of the episode when he calls Dean to warn him that "Ezekiel" is not who he's pretending to be, he knows that Dean absolutely NEEDS this information... which he could only have known if he understood that Dean had made some sort of as-yet-still-secret-by-necessity-of-Sam-continuing-to-be-not-dead pact with Fake Ezekiel...

And then, a truly horrible twist of circumstance as Cas searches for answers and is captured by a group of angels and tortured. Everyone is just doing what they have to do...:

CASTIEL Angels butchering angels. Is this what we've become? MALACHI Just following your example, Castiel. How many did you kill in Heaven? How many in the Fall? (off CASTIEL's look)  Oh, you didn't know? A host of angels died when they fell – Azrael, Sophia, Ezekiel (At this last name, CASTIEL turns very thoughtful) ...  "Died" doesn't even describe it. Devastation. Wings shredded, unspeakable agony at your hands. So, I think you would want to provide any information you have, considering... (pause; no response from CASTIEL) All right. I leave you in the hands of an artist. (to THEO) I don't care what's left. THEO Don't ask for mercy. There is none. THEO walks and shuts the door, then returns to CASTIEL, and picks up a drill. THEO I'll give you one last chance for this to end. CASTIEL Give me a quick death. CASTIEL closes his eyes and holds up his face in anticipation of the blow(s). THEO I need you to speak to Metatron. Everyone knows you have influence. CASTIEL now opens his eyes and looks in astonishment at THEO. THEO (continuing) He'll listen to you. Ask him to raise me to Heaven. You can do this, Castiel. I'll be a soldier for Metatron, do anything he wants. CASTIEL You – you serve Malachi. THEO I thought he was the answer, but he's crazy. CASTIEL You're... noticing this now? You were more than willing to do his dirty work. THEO I did what I had to.

So of course Cas does what he has to do, now that he knows what Metatron is up to, that Dean is in danger from the False Ezekiel:

CASTIEL (on the phone) Dean, I don't have a lot of time, so listen. The leader of the opposition is an angel named Malachi. DEAN How do you know that? CASTIEL He had me. I, uh, I was tortured. But I got away. DEAN How? CASTIEL I... I did what I had to. I became what they've become. A barbarian. DEAN What are you – Cas, where are you? CASTIEL It's better I stay away. They're gonna want me even more now. But I'm gonna be all right. I... I got my Grace back. Well, not mine per se, but it'll do. DEAN Wait, you're – you're back? You got your mojo? CASTIEL I'm not sure. But I am an angel. DEAN And you're okay with that? CASTIEL If we're going to war, I need to be ready.

Unfortunately Cas's warning comes too late to save Sam, or Kevin, and Gadreel takes over fully, having been deceived and manipulated into doing Metatron's dirty work, just as Cas had been in 8.22-8.23.

Which is why Cas immediately forgives Dean in the opening scenes of...

9.10, Road Trip.

(meanwhile, the angels all continue to be Terrible™ in the background, proving they were always Terrible™ and are only using Cas as a scapegoat, blaming their troubles on him when honestly they were all always Terrible Manipulative Bastards™ all on their own!)

(also, Andrew "what are cars even anyway" Dabb writing an episode called "Road Trip" makes me cackle)

Watching Dean suffering alone at the bunker (Gadreel even stole the Impala ffs), giving Kevin a hunter's funeral alone... this was hard. And then Cas showed up 100% understanding, and 100% ready to help however he could, back in a new trench now that he had his mojo back. So in that way, Dean had already resigned himself to having An Angel back, and not the same Cas he'd tossed out in his worst moment. It's his fault Cas was forced to go to that measure. Ouch.

I'd also like to point out the similarity between Metatron luring Cas in during s8-- starting by appealing to Cas's desire for atonement, his need for all the angels to stop the infighting and begin working together again, to restore order, and then luring him in to increasingly horrific acts he promised would achieve those ends. When Cas had balked, Metatron had manipulated circumstances to push Cas into doing them anyway. Same with Gadreel.

Metatron used the lure of being able to clear his name, back in 9.09:

METATRON: Relax. I'm not here to out you. But I am curious, why Ezekiel? NOT-EZEKIEL-IN-SAM They say he is a good, and ... honorable angel. METATRON Ahhhh. Everything they say you are not. I see your point... Gadreel. NOT-EZEKIEL-IN-SAM (henceforth to be known as GADREEL-IN-SAM) The stories about me – they are not true! METATRON And yet you spent countless thousands of years locked in Heaven's darkest dungeon. And now you're hiding in this human, posing as Ezekiel. (shakes his head) Tragic. It broke His heart to lock you away, you know? You were God's most trusted. That's why He chose you to protect the garden. Your one task was to keep evil from entering... from befouling His cherished creation, mankind, and you failed Him! GADREEL-IN-SAM Not my doing. METATRON Well, for whatever reason, the serpent entered. The Earth is cursed with evil. Someone had to be blamed.

Gadreel had been duped from the start. And he didn't let evil onto the Earth. Adam and Eve weren't tainted with evil when they ate the apple, they were tained with the KNOWLEDGE of good and evil. If knowledge could be considered a "curse" in the first place. And Gadreel just happened to be the one left standing there after the deed had been done, even if he was no more complicit in what resulted that Cas had been in Metatron's spell that made the angels fall. But unlike Cas, Gadreel believes Metatron truly wants to help him clear his name, or at the very least help him build his reputation anew by doing "good" now... and yiiiiiikes....

Gadreel was horrifically okay with killing Kevin on Metatron's orders, because Kevin was helping Dean perform a spell to eject him from Sam, and it was partly (at least he could rationalize it that way) self-defense. And he was all too happy to murder his former jailer who was now envesseled in a Justin Bieber wannabe. I believe we all cheered about that guy getting his comeuppance. But then Metatron orders him to kill the only angel Gadreel had considered a friend, who he'd been imprisoned with, and who'd decided to embrace the human life he'd found himself in, adopting his (previously abusive jerkwad) vessel's family as his own. Abner had been HAPPY with his life, and yet to save his own reputation, and without questioning Metatron's order, Gadreel killed him.

Crowley also played a role in this, using his NSA-infiltrated demon to track the stolen Impala. Crowley praised her for also playing ball with Abaddon (and later Abaddon would kill her for admitting she was also helping Crowley... two very different ruling styles...), and then they'd have to move from Plan A (torturing Gadreel with the Angel Brainwashing Halo Thingie) to Plan B (crowley possessing Sam to convince him to evict Gadreel from the inside).

Gadreel gone back to his previous vessel, Sam feels justifiably violated by his possessions.

Sam: What do you want me to say? I’m pissed? Okay I am, I’m pissed. You lied to me - again. Dean: I didn't have a choice. Sam: I was ready to die Dean. Dean: I know. But I wouldn't let you, because that’s not in me. Sam: So what, you decide to trick me into being possessed by some...psycho angel? Dean: He saved your life. Sam: So what. I was willing to die. And now...Kevin. Dean: No, that is not on you. Kevin’s blood is on my hands. And that ain’t ever getting clean. I’ll burn for that. I will. But I’ll find Gadreel and I will end that son of a bitch. But I’ll do it alone. Sam: What’s that supposed to mean? Dean: Come on man, can’t you see, I’m poison. People get close to me they get killed, or worse. I tell myself I help more people than I hurt and I tell myself that I’m doing it all for the right reasons and I believe that. But I can’t -- I won’t drag anyone anybody into the muck with me - not anymore. Sam: Go. I’m not going to stop you. But don’t go thinking that’s the problem because it’s not. Dean: What’s that supposed to mean? Sam: Just go.

And we're back to not talking to each other. And there's our final "I didn't have a choice." But there's also the fact that Dean DIDN'T trick Sam into letting an angel possess him. The angel did that all on his own. Asking for Dean's permission was entirely besides the point. It was Sam who had to say yes, and it was Gadreel who assumed Dean's likeness inside Sam's mind, using what he'd learned about Sam during his unattended "examination" while Dean had been talking to Cas and blowing away the other angels attacking the hospital to learn what he'd need to manipulate Sam into saying yes. And it's not like Dean intended to lie, that was Gadreel's condition he'd at first told Dean was to prevent Sam from ejecting him and basically dying on the spot before they could explain the plan to Sam. And then over time, as Dean tried to tell Sam the truth before it got to that point, Gadreel actively prevented him from doing so. It was only then that Dean realized just how screwed he was. ALLLLLL the guilt of everything bad that's resulted from Gadreel possessing Sam to this point, Dean blames all of it on himself-- Cas, Kevin, Sam... all of it. Sam's just... still reeling from his own experience that he's unable to see this yet. Unfortunately, he won't see it for a good long while to come, after it's far too late to save Dean from what the mark will do to him.

And another cycle of manipulation, betrayal, and sacrifice begins. Chuck must've been pretty damn proud of this one... all he had to do was sit back and watch Metatron execute the very Him-like plan for him. 

[mittensmorgul]

Below a cut, my flaily-notes about 8.14, 8.15, 8.16, and 8.17 from this morning... posted entirely to get them out of my drafts folder, but I don’t expect (or encourage) anyone to actually, you know... read them... it’s just notes for future meta reference during s13. basically it’s cut and paste of my chat with lizbob. nothing to see here folks, really. It basically reads like all the meta I wrote last time through the loop, but pulling out key points I want to remember going forward.

You’re really better off going and reading my posts about these episodes from the hellatus rewatch...

The morning tnt loop trip is wild... 8.14... what a shift from "it's what I do" and Dean's determination to take on the Hell Trials, because he needs Sam to be safe. Sam just... takes Dean's reasoning wrong. This is like Codependency 101. And now after 13.01, it's just his job... D:

elizabethrobertajones D: So how much is Dabb murdering you right now?

mittensmorgul almost all the way! *twitches*

elizabethrobertajones He really hates the codependency :P But it's good because it sets up the whole trials arc to be about it

mittensmorgul yeah, and he made it look real ugly here.

elizabethrobertajones so it all grows from there! mmmm

mittensmorgul I mean, even the nerdy little sister who thought her whole family could be happy if they just had money... who sold her soul pointlessly because they were ALL still miserable afterward (except the one nerdy dude who asked for love and didn't give a crap about the money), and the girl who sold her soul to heal her mother of Parkinson's... she at least was content with her decision

elizabethrobertajones yeah she got her mom "back" oh my god I hate this show :P how long were they planning to do this?

mittensmorgul I think Dabb was keeping a file in case he ever got the showrunner gig

elizabethrobertajones probably :D Or he knows the show's themes inside out and exactly what to do with them to move the story along

mittensmorgul I still hate the fact Sam and Dean had just got to this point where all the big bads were essentially out of their lives and then they find the bunker and all that... they could've retired at that point but noooOOOooOOo They could've taken Kevin in, protected him, etc. I always thought that was why he transcribed the entire Leviathan tablet in a matter of hours, but it took him agonizing (i think I had a small stroke) months of suffering to translate the demon tablet.. He was MEANT to translate the leviathan tablet (it's the one that woke him as a prophet)

elizabethrobertajones yeah

mittensmorgul He wasn't meant to translate the Demon tablet

elizabethrobertajones it was what he was called to work for All the tablets were left for us but I think as in case of emergency things

mittensmorgul just one more sign that boarding up hell wasn't their decision to make

elizabethrobertajones Maybe the Angel tablet would have been an easy read during season 5 if anyone had found it and 12 year old Kevin had had to read it for them :P

mittensmorgul or the current "prophet Chuck" but slamming Heaven shut wasn't the goal of s5

elizabethrobertajones no, but angels were causing all the problems :P it's not how the story was SUPPOSED to go but say if Sam n Dean died or said yes or something the tablet as a back up emergency switch for humanity :P

mittensmorgul yeah

elizabethrobertajones but the story was all around Sam and Dean and they did what they had to to resolve it]

mittensmorgul yep siblings

elizabethrobertajones and only hit a "pull lever in case of emergency" moment in season 7

mittensmorgul yeah. I want to write about this all but... I feel we already have... :P I wrote about the hubris of s8, thinking they could just alter the structure of the universe that way... the codependency of it all, Sam's choice to take on the trials because he felt inferior...

[...] (insert THREE HOURS LATER dot gif)

Meanwhile I haven't done anything and I've STILL got the 8.14 chat notes sitting  in another tab and I'm already up to 8.16 and have no idea how to turn that into a useful post :P

And it's terrible because of Prometheus wanting to run away from his son because he's a god and wants to keep his son safe, but it's too late because his son's already inherited his curse...

elizabethrobertajones Oh my god is the prometheus episode going to be relevant AGAIN

mittensmorgul yeah. I hate all of this

elizabethrobertajones it gets a YEARLY turn around :P mittensmorgul Plus, Dean's all proud of being a Legacy of the MoL...

[... long enough to get to the beginning of 8.17 which is just as awful as ever :P]

OH NO CAS IS KILLING ALL THE DEANS SEND HELP

elizabethrobertajones I always forget about that scene MISTAKE mittensmorgul and how have we never seen the Spear of Destiny again?

elizabethrobertajones It says a LOT about the current landscape of Destiel that this is a severely under-mentioned scene and we rarely bring it up as an example any more about how much Cas cares, compared to how I used to see it used when I joined fandom :P I think it's not really forgetting so much as it's just not as impressive any more... mittensmorgul But it's so painfully important about Cas's complete loss of agency there

elizabethrobertajones :< mittensmorgul everyone still talks about the crypt scene and cas breaking free of that control, but somehow the exposition of just how powerful that control was, and how horrifying the scenario of Naomi's "fixing him" really was seems to have been pushed aside

elizabethrobertajones yeah

[...]

gah, just like in s6 cas isn't answering their prayers, but this time it's due to naomi forcing him not to... he must've been torn to pieces with all the lies she forced him to tell, and all the horror she forced him to enact... but then all of Cas’s lies start to unravel, and Dean’s suspicion of Cas just shoots through the roof...

[...]

Sam: So... what happened? I mean, Cas touched the tablet, and it reset him to his factory settings or something? Dean: I don't know. And I don't care. All I know is that he is off the reservation with a-a heavenly WMD. Listen, man, I can't take any more lies -- from anyone. Sam: Yeah. Um... I know. I'm sorry. I should have told you. I-I... just wanted to believe I was okay. I don't know. Dean: Well, you heard what Cas said -- that that first trial hurt you in ways that even he can't heal. Sammy, I need you to be honest with me from here on out, man.

[mittensmorgul]

Hi! So, does this mean that Sam has completed the first of the Trials for closing the gates of hell? Or does he have to intend to close them?

Hi there! I’ll start out with a few comments, and then I’ll try to answer this as best I can. First, I am in Downtown Migraineland right now. I apologize in advance for any weird incoherency in this reply…

(note from the future, i.e. nearly 4 hours after I started trying to piece this reply together: My migraine is gone, but this reply went into A LOT OF DETAIL about the parallels not only in this episode, but in all of s12. This ended up being really weird meta on what I think Dabb’s Grand Plan for the entire season is hinging on. IT IS LONG. Just a warning.)

I think a lot of s12 has been paralleling A LOT of the past, turning it inside out, applying it through a different lens or allowing characters to see these things from a different side, and resolving things in a better way.

That said, I think they’ve been referring back to the Demon Tablet Trials and the Angel Fall Spell (because the angel fall spell was a spell, not Trials. Metatron confirmed that). But all the elements of those things are being addressed in different ways, and paralleled to ~similar~ things happening in s12… I’m struggling to try and put this together in a linear narrative that even comes close to connecting all the dots. There’s SO MUCH going on in this episode, I’m not sure that’s really possible, but HECK I WILL TRY.

(second note from the future: this is about 3k long, so it’s going under a cut. THERE IS SO MUCH)

(i am typing this from the floor where I’m curled up around pictures of Andrew Dabb and Davy Perez while weeping gently)

(A/N: cut removed during the tumblr nippocalypse of 2018)

Let’s start our parallel journey with 8.14, Trial and Error. The episode that began with Dean reveling in his new room in the bunker, the fact he’s “nesting” (and one episode after he gloried in the shower room’s water pressure), where he glared daggers at Sam for tossing a gum wrapper on his floor while talking about how wonderful it was to live in a place with no weird stains or odd smells.

That ENTIRE script was flipped in the beginning of 12.15… Dean’s just covered in blood, sits right down on the furniture, drops Lucille (I’m calling it Lucille, but it’s got other relevant parallels I’ll get to in a sec…) on the library table while SAM is the one reacting to the “offense” that Dean’s presenting here– right down to the weird stains and gross smells.

*Necessary Digression #1

(aside to note that bit of siren he picked out of his hair sorta reminded me of Chuck pulling Castiel’s tooth out of his hair in 5.01… But those “back to back to back” hunts that Sam and Dean just got back from– a ghoul, a wraith, and a siren– ALSO HAVE HISTORY that really needs to be mentioned here…)

(see what I mean about this being impossible to address in a linear fashion?)

ghoul: 4.19. (written by Dabb fyi) Family/not family. that whole episode dealt with finding out about a deep family secret (the existence of Adam) that was all wrapped in a deceptive betrayal. Adam was already dead, being impersonated by a ghoul. Sam and Dean had been divided over whether to indoctrinated Adam into the hunting life for his own protection (Sam), or to keep him out of it entirely for his own protection (Dean). But in the end it was already too late. It had been a trap set for John, but Sam and Dean ended up tidying up the ghoul case that had led John to meet Adam’s mother in the first place. John had tried Dean’s approach (keeping Adam in the dark about the monsters for his own sake), and it hadn’t saved him. Frankly, if John HAD told Adam about the monsters, he might’ve been able to save himself.

6.10: Samuel attempts to feed Sam and Dean to a couple of ghouls (aah, the sweet bite of family betrayal)

6.16: Not exactly ghouls, but Bobby mentioned a “ghoul-wraith smorgasbord” as one of the unusual monster activity things that eventually led them to Eve. Also, that whole episode was about the monster inside (literally! Khan worm! possessed by monsters!) and family betrayal.

wraith: 5.11 (also written by Dabb): Sam and Dean get themselves committed to a mental hospital by telling the unvarnished truth about their lives (>.>) in order to help an old hunter friend of John’s. The wraith “poisons” both Sam and Dean, and even though they were perfectly “sane” when they entered the hospital, the wraith’s poison made them crazy.Made them fight against invisible monsters of their own mind’s creation. But Sam and Dean soon realized how they were being affected, fought through the illusions, and save themselves.

6.19: The “Jefferson Starships” that Eve was making (hybrid monsters combined of all sorts of different monster bits) had been part wraith. Dean let Eve DELIBERATELY bite/infect him with this monster mix because he’d already drunk the phoenix ash that would in turn poison HER. She just happened to be wearing Mary Winchester’s face while she did. Family (in a horrifically mutated fashion… basically a lie), monster possession. Dean finally turning the tables and turning HIMSELF into the weapon that killed Eve.

siren: 4.14. aah, the infamous siren episode. Love… and love. Deception, family betrayal, and a monster that feeds on lust. Dean believed (wrongly) that Sam had been infected, but really DEAN had been the one “seduced” by the siren– and his siren had not been a “hot chick.” It took Bobby interfering to slay the thing.

7.08: when Dean visits Sam and Becky at their apartment after their wedding, Dean accuses Sam of not acting like himself, and Becky gets defensive asking if Dean thinks she’s a witch, or a siren.

12.11: Sam tells Dean who’s lost his memories about some of the things they hunt, and Dean’s fascinated by the fact that sirens aren’t all “hot chicks” 

AND I AM REALLY DYING TO KNOW IF THAT BIT OF SIREN IN DEAN’S HAIR WAS A HOT CHICK OR A DARK HAIRED, BLUE EYE’D DUDE.

*/digression #1- back to the point… for now

So here’s a list of the other relevant bits of 8.14 that were addressed in 12.15:

Hellhound glasses: I think we can all agree that we have been waiting years to see these things again.

multiple people attacked by hellhounds. in 8.14 they’d all sold their souls though. in 12.15 NEITHER Gwen nor her dead boyfriend did. That hellhound was deliberately released as a distraction by Crowley’s idiot minions so they could figure out what he was up to (and they found Lucifer chained up in Crowley’s secret room there)

so these people were attacked for NO REASON. They were innocent. They didn’t deserve to be attacked and killed just because they happened to be existing there >.> (sort of like the random monsters the BMoL intend to exterminate don’t deserve to die just for existing… but I digress, and will digress back to this point again in a bit…)

the goal in 8.14 was for Dean to kill the hellhound to start the trials, but SAM was the one who managed it in the end. The goal in 12.15 was for Dean and Crowley to hunt the hellhound while Sam protected Gwen (driving her off to safety in Baby)… but in the end it fell to Sam to kill the beast

the hellhound in 8.14 HAD BEEN CROWLEY’S. It answered to him. Now the hellhound in 12.15 ONLY ANSWERED TO LUCIFER. Basically, the Alpha hellhound. And instead of fighting against Crowley, Dean’s fighting alongside him while they both discuss how much they’ve changed. They’ve both moved a little more toward center– to that grey area where they’re both a little good and both a little bad like Meg and Cas in 8.17, but also Dean and Crowley have “rubbed off all over each other >.>

BUT HERE IS A KEY DIFFERENCE! Yes, Sam killed the hellhound and saved the “girl of the week,” BUT instead of it being the catalyst for him to behind hiding stuff from dean (the damage of the hell trials), it becomes the catalyst for him BEING HONEST with Dean… INVERSION!

Also, thinking back to 12.14 where Sam killed the Alpha Vampire, he’s now also killed the “Alpha Hellhound.”

*Necessary Digression #2:

back to 6.19 for a quick moment. Eve, mother of all the monsters. But apparently God created Hellhounds but considered them a failed experiment that he tried to wipe out, only to have Lucifer keep one for himself and twist it into the entire lineage of hellhounds we know. I’m trying to puzzle through the lot of this, now that Mary is clearly being paralleled to Ramsey the Hellhound, which lizbob and I are discussing in the chattybubbles:

The theme of the season is clearly motherhoodhow does she relate to Mary though :PI mean the whole pregnant thing makes it sound omre like Kelly

mittensmorgulyeah… but Mary “birthed” the entire plot of the series in more than one waythough none of it was actually her fault (like it wasn’t actually ramsey’s fault that she was let out of her cage)she was just doing what hellhounds dowhen they’re masterless

elizabethrobertajonestrueAnd this is the whole attack dog thingmary, Dean AND Cas all get it

mittensmorgulI am having shades of Eve (since she died wearing Mary’s face)

[…] where we talked about God having created the Hellhounds…

then again, he kept trying to create “monsters” to keep the world in balance. Every Apex species needs something to keep it in checkI think “Eve” was his balance there, creating the monsters to balance humanity

elizabethrobertajonesYeahand 12x14 discussed that as wellhow they’d been in balance

And Dean had unknowingly been on Sam’s BMoL leash the entire episode. All those “back to back to back” hunts that Dean came back from covered in blood, wielding “his father’s weapon.”

*Necessary Digression #3– and yes I’m aware we’re still mid-digression #2… bear with me here:

Dean apparently clobbered those three monsters mentioned above with a barbed-wire wrapped baseball bat that he said “Dad loved this thing” or whatever. Yes, haha, a reference to Negan. But that blunt, bloody instrument was also a major parallel to early s8– when Dean came back from Purgatory (that he referred to as “pure”) COVERED in the blood of all sorts of monsters, while Sam remained “clean.” That baseball bat made a nice stand-in for Dean’s purgatory weapon, no?

Dean telling Sam about his time in Purgatory, describing it as 360 degree combat, cutting a bloody swath through every monster in the place…

And Sam hit a dog.

THIS IS EXACTLY WHERE WE ARE IN 12.14!!!

Sam is taking Dean out on all these bloody hunts and hiding stuff about the source here. Meanwhile Sam’s hanging out with a veterinarian (student… close enough), but instead of hitting the dog, THE DOG HIT HIM. Literally, jumped all over Baby.

So going right back to the beginning of s8, i.e. the part of the story where Sam and Dean began to think that they could change the entire world to make it “safer,” to stop the supernatural from even existing on Earth (by slamming the gates of hell, altering the entire balance of nature).

BUT THIS TIME IT’S HAPPENING IN A DIFFERENT WAY.

The BMoL are trying the same sort of cosmic adjustment, committing monster genocide in the name of “the greater good” that got Sam and Dean wrapped up in four years of “cosmic consequences” that they’re only NOW beginning to recover from.

Sam nearly dying, the angel fall, Cas losing his grace, shoving Gadreel down Sam’s gullet, Metatron destroying heaven, Dean taking on the Mark… right down the line to releasing the Darkness and then reconciling Amara and Chuck to balance and save the universe.

I mean, Dabb is just killing me with what he’s doing here. I’ve now been working on this reply for the last 3 hours…

mittensmorgulI am STILL working on my first ask message, where I’m tryin gto sort through ALL the pies he[’s got his fingers in…

elizabethrobertajonessort of belatedly realisinghe’s genuinely got a finger in ever freakin’ pie in the show

elizabethrobertajonesDabb JUST tying up his OWN loose endsis actually tidying up the ENTIRE show

mittensmorgulthis is a turducken wrapped in a piecaken wrapped in a croissookie

elizabethrobertajonesDabb era is season 4 - presenthahahahahais that your new Dabb era tag

mittensmorgulshould beto think i had reduced it to just a linzer torteit’s everything

elizabethrobertajonesyeah

mittensmorgulJust as I typed that, Rowena on screen said “It’s MEGA.”

*/digression #3

*back to digression #2

*actually, let’s end digression #2 here as well…

Imma try to stay on point from here on out. Let’s see how well I do…

This isn’t about restarting the trials. This isn’t about recreating the angel fall spell. This is all about going back to revisit these things that ended up being Cosmic Consequences™ level MISTAKES. Giving everyone a chance to face these things again, in a different way, and make better choices. They’re in the process of finding another way.

The last little bit of my chat with lizbob might give you an idea of where I think this season is headed, and it all boils down to love… and love. (edited a bit because REALLY LONG and rambly, and there was a lot of “yeah” and “huh” sorts of comments through here…):

elizabethrobertajones: Joshua seems nice and all but God related to him as a gardner just as he related to Metatron as a writer

mittensmorgul: after he locked up the darkness, he was trying to create that balance on his own, but he really lacked the finesse to do it properly

elizabethrobertajones: Hm. and the writing is controlling the narrative on a BIG scale

elizabethrobertajones: gardening, if you were controlling the world, would be clipping it into shape. like just tidying it up taking out some weeds. like say… eliminating all monsters

mittensmorgul: but if we’re about balance and finding better ways, and Chuck’s still talking to Joshua… now that he’s reunited with Amara maybe things CAN be better now?hopefully?

mittensmorgul: BUT CHUCK SAID THAT DEAN WAS THE ONE CARRYING THE STORY NOW

elizabethrobertajones: don’t know if Joshua is still talking to God :Pyeah

mittensmorgul: he put the earth in DEAN’S hands

elizabethrobertajones: Dean gets to decide what happens and he doesn’t approve >.>

mittensmorgul: Dean’s the gardener now. I think he likes the weeds

elizabethrobertajones: And he tends to the garden in the traditional ways which WORK and keep a good sort of peacehe relates to the weedsknows some dandelions can be pretty

mittensmorgul: he thinks he’s one of the weeds

elizabethrobertajones: no need to rip them ALL upyeah >.>poor Dean

mittensmorgul: heck, most of the “weeds” are food for the beesbalance

elizabethrobertajones: CAS SAW IT ALLback in 7x21the whole planit was perfect

mittensmorgul: yepAnd Chuck CONVENIENTLY left Cas out of his description to Dean about the world being left in his hands (and Sam’s)BUT CAS HADN’T FIGURED OUT HIS PLACE YETHe’s still struggling to figure it outBUT WE ALL KNOW HIS PLACE IS WITH THE WINCHESTERS

elizabethrobertajones: yeah

mittensmorgul: He’s the third piece of the triptych here

elizabethrobertajones: he loves themdone dealwell he needs a sense of HOMEand he’s already done the whole I love you thinglike

mittensmorgul: Dean’s the firewall, sam and cas are the two sides

elizabethrobertajones: what else needs to happen

mittensmorgul: love… and love

elizabethrobertajones: (marriage propsal)

mittensmorgul: yep

elizabethrobertajones: like the next big step :Phe’s already platonically embedded in the familywhat’s the next motivation to live with them and call them home if the question is STILL OPENAFTEr that

mittensmorgul: he’s still trying to figure out what family and FAMILY mean to himhence his trip back to heaven

So onward to Sam’s battle with the TRUTH, and how it relates to veterinarians and dogs he’s hit (or who have hit him).

Well, this time around, the dog hit HIM. The veterinarian knows part of the story. She knows the monsters are out there, but she very specifically does not know certain things… like… she thinks Crowley seemed “nice.” Pffft

BUT SHE ALSO STEPPED UP AND SAVED SAM in more ways than one. First her speech about honesty, and how it was her deception (that she loved her boyfriend) that had gotten him killed. If she’d only told him the truth, they wouldn’t have been out there camping together where the monster found them. Instead of just breaking his heart, she now feels like she has his blood on her hands, which is a far worse sort of guilt.

When she finally confessed the truth to Sam, she was able to take back her agency. She saved Sam, whacking the hellhound with the green cooler.

*gives props to the props* the green cooler saves the day! :P

Sam lost his glasses in this fight, too. He was fighting blind, against an invisible enemy he could only really see by following its tracks in the dust. 

And the episode ends in a tidy inversion of how it began. (pffft, tidy…)

SAM is now covered in blood, and Dean is clean.

Now Sam has his chance to “come clean” with Dean.

Sure, Dean doesn’t know everything yet, but the image is coming more into focus. Sam and Dean are getting closer to being on the same page here.

(also, Mick is in Sam’s phone as Frodo, while Mary had the MoL in hers as “hobbits.” I’m sensing a theme here)

Sam had been lying to Dean about where all their hunts were coming from, essentially leaving Dean in the “hellhound on a leash” role. But now that Sam has told him the truth, Dean can cut that leash. He’s not just the attack dog anymore.

There may still be truths that need to come out, but at least Sam and Dean are nearly back to a level playing field here:

Dean: What do you want me say? Do I like it? No. Do I trust them? Hell no. But you’re right. We work with people we don’t trust all the time. Hell, I just Liam Neeson’d it up with Crowley. So, if you wanna give this a shot, then fine. But the minute, and I mean the second, something feels off, we bail.

Kinda makes me wonder what Dean might feel was “off” enough to follow through…

Finding out Ketch killed Magda? Finding out the truth about the Colt? Learning about the Monster Genocide Agenda? Or maybe just seeing behind the curtain that Sam saw through about just how incompetent the MoL’s intel really is…

Dean’s already seen their “attack dog” in action (Ketch), and he was not impressed. Now that Dean’s been let off his leash and been given part of the truth like a PERSON with AGENCY, and is able to make his own choices based on the fact that their info is coming from the MoL, I wonder if he’ll start piecing all of those sketchy details together for himself.

I have a feeling he’s gonna have a BAD feeling right quick…