#because i'm just shy of having a panic attack over my fear that fandom is going to eat itself when their speculation doesn't come true

[thevioletcaptain]

i just needed to rant a bit about fandom expectations. 

under a cut because i don’t want to be out here popping anyone’s excitement bubble.

i’ve mostly been staying quiet on this front aside from a few vague tweets. 

but... man. this widespread conviction that cas is definitely coming back, that dean will get a chance to directly respond to his confession, that there’ll be a kiss, etc. 

guys, it’s making me so goddamn sad.

i mean. i get it. it would make sense for him to come back. it would be fair, to let cas finally know that yes, he is loved and wanted and important. initially, it’s what i expected as well.

y’all know that all i’ve ever wanted out of an ending for this show is for all of our boys to be together, and for cas to be told how important he is. so i’m going to be absolutely gutted if we don’t get at least the implication that they’ll reunite with cas somehow.

but all the things people have been citing as “proof” that misha filmed for the final episode are... thin at best. everything that’s come out since 15.18 indicates that it was his last appearance on screen.

and sure, maybe the show is doing an elaborate cover up to keep us in the dark like they did with that bogus abominable snowman movie back when they were keeping jim beaver’s involvement in party on garth a secret.

i’ll be fucking thrilled if that’s the case. though if i’m being honest... if that’s what is going on here, i’ll also be more than a little pissed that they put us through the unnecessary stress when this shit of a year already has us all clinging desperately to our last shreds of sanity.

but i digress.

the point is, fandom seems to have collectively decided to ignore everything we’ve been told by misha and everyone else who has referred to despair as his final appearance. 

fandom also seems to have collectively decided that their hopeful speculation that cas is going to return is not so much speculation, but in fact, a foregone conclusion.

and honestly... that's the main problem. speculation is not foolproof. and pinning all of your hopes and expectations and anticipation on speculation is a one way ticket to bitter disappointment and anger, even when it’s just a random episode in the middle of a series.

doing it now? at the end? oooof. idk. i’m just worried i guess. 

worried that people are only setting themselves up to be really hurt.

worried that a big portion of fandom is going to sour on the show and bail when the final credits roll and we haven’t seen cas come back.

anyway. i just needed to vent all of that, i guess.

given the amount of work that dabb & co have clearly put into this past few seasons in order to push dean and castiel’s part of the story as far as they possibly could, it would really suck to see people bail at the end.

based on everything else he’s done, i do think i’ll personally be satisfied with whatever dabb has written, though i’m deeply unhappy about the probability of cas not being present.

ultimately, i trust dabb to do right by these characters, even if the finale ends up taking a direction that i wouldn’t have chosen.

i’ll be here forever, regardless of what happens tomorrow. 

i just hope that the majority of fandom will be, too.