#i am extremely nervous about this though. imo the outsiders does not seem like a story that would fit well as a musical

[its-ahnist-wurk]

This review of The Outsiders musical from the NY Times is so funny to me, like did the actors/writers/whoever make Johnny and Ponyboy so gay this reviewer thought they should get hatecrimed??

[dangermousie]

Something Happened in Bali eps 1-2 rewatch thoughts

It's really interesting, rewatching this. God, I'd almost forgotten how much I love Jo In Sung. LOVE. I mean, I love him and his nervous energy so much that I don't even notice So Ji Sub, who normally I really like. (ide note - A Dirty Carnival was the best Korean movie I have ever seen, and what made me truly and utterly lose it for him - but it was so brutally hopeless, it made me depressed for days. Go watch!) Anyway, back to the drama. 1. I'd almost forgotten how unpleasant the two guys and Other Girl are in this, at the start. None of them are monsters (though by the end the Secondary Girl comes close, IMO, even if I end up feeling a repelled kind of pity for her) but they are all in their selfish shells - it's little things, like not helping Soo Jung with her heavy bag or treating her as an extra in their lives. Even their kindness is this thoughtless kind. It's funny because I am not sure if they change in niceness quotient that much (though both the men become much more desperately vulnerable, especially Jae Min) but I guess I get to know them so well and their reasons for being the way they are, I sort of end up not caring - I end up adoring Jae Min as a character, especially, so much. Even if he is the biggest trainwreck I have ever seen as a kdrama lead in my 15+ years of watching kdramas. 2. Soo Jung. I adore her. You could see how annoyed she is she is dealing with the tour group from hell (the other 3) but the way she pushes and carries on is WONDERFUL. So is her drunken camaraderie with Jae Min. She is in another universe from the poised, iced, controlled Young Joo. But it's interesting, she seems so (relatively) well-adjusted compared to the rest of them but as the drama unfolds, you see that this hard-earned cheerfulness is a facade and she is very broken too - between her and Jae Min, I am not sure, which one is more screwed-up. For him, it's his family, but for her, it's her poverty that has made her so. Ha Ji Won SLAYS in this role (so do the rest of the cast, of course.) She’s rough, she’s desperate, she’s grasping, she’s vulnerable, she’s irresistible - in other hands you would never get how two screwed-up, closed-off men would fall so desperately for someone so greedy, so grasping, so flawed - but here you are drawn to her vividness, to her joy, to her intensity, to her unique combo of sunshine and extreme damage. 3. You know, there are hints about her screwed-upness even this early on - the scene where Jae Min offers her $$$ for a one-night stand and she calls him a jerk (and you see by his reaction he doesn't even understand that what he said was insulting - he is puzzled. In his world, everything can be bought and sold, and there is no such thing as affection.) and then asks whether he is going to pay before or after. In her world, there is no room for the grand gesture, for throwing money in his face. She leaves only because he kicks her out (giving her money but not doing anything) telling her to buy her new shoes (hers are broken) and saying "it's not fun any more" (the first of many instances she really throws him off any usual ways he deals with things). And then she trips on her broken heels walking out, sprawling in the lobby, inelegantly grabbing and picking up money. 4. One of the biggest delights of this rewatch for me is contrasting in my head the way Jae Min is going to be with her later - utterly desperate and "brought down" and willing to beg and beg and beg, and the way he is now - emotionally detached, with all the 'power' on his side - I mean, contrast his propositioning her for that one-night stand and the scene where they finally make love, a dozen eps from now. Though she is totally rattling him even now - I love the scene where he first truly notices her - seeing her in the parking lot trying to fix her shoes, eating, and drinking. She is just so REAL and alive and immediate. No wonder he's caught (and then quickly looks away). 5. Jae Min's father needs to die in a fire after being slowly cut with a myriad of razors - the scene in his office in ep 2 where he is practicing golf in his office and Jae Min flinches any time the golf club is in his vicinity, and almost stutters, just - RAGE. Increased 1000x by what I know he does later. But I confess to being amused in the scene where he is throwing things at Jae Min during the board meeting and a flunkie keeps moving things up to him to throw - folders, bottle of water, so he won't run out of things - a definition of a brown-noser.

6. I love how oddly real this drama feels in its filming - people are not glamorized within an inch of their lives and there is no glossiness, no studied detachment, no appeal to coolness or w/e. It is what it is and it knows it. God, I love this drama!

7. (The below is spoilery for the whole thing) Bali has the distinction of having the most dysfunctional couple I have ever shipped. Years of therapy were needed for those two. Yes, my OTP was Jae Min/Soo Jung, despite the fact that the otp's end was murder/suicide. I don't care, I still shipped them - the ending of the drama is one of my favorite drama moments, in actuality - Jae Min becoming more and more unhinged because of his nightmarish family and then finally he believes Soo Jung just played him in order to scam money and ruin his family with her lover. He tracks them down to Bali and finds them in bed. Ironically, Soo Jung has just finished telling her lover that she wants to leave him and go back to Korea to look for Jae Min because it's him she wants. Jae Min, of course, does not hear her (and he is so catatonic at that point, I doubt it would have registered if he did hear). So he shoots her and her lover dead as they lie there. But while her lover is dead asap, Soo Jung has time to look at Jae Min and tell him 'saranghae' which is about the most awesome thing ever - she has never ever told him she loved him before, not through all his efforts to win her heart, not even when they made love. And now she is telling him as she is dying, because it's important to her for him to know before she dies - there are no games or conditions. And of course, Jae Min snapped out of it as soon as he shot and he is falling apart as is and then he hears her tell him she loves him and his face - oh my God. And he goes outside and kills himself and I sit there bawling and hoping his horrific family all have collective heart attacks and die.

Yes. I ship THAT. I don't care what it makes me. The drama makes no bones that Jae Min is beyond messed up - I am kinda amazed he is walking and talking, to be honest. His father wins the incontrovertible award for the worst kdrama father ever and if you know kdramas you know what a feat that is. The scene where Jae Min is on his knees in front of his father, weeping and begging to be allowed to have Soo Jung and his father beats him half into unconsciousness and then tells him it's Soo Jung's fault and he will go after her next and make her disappear and Jae Min is left pleading that he did not mean it and it's not Soo Jung's fault and he misunderstood? FLAMES. FLAMES WHEN I JUST THINK ABOUT IT. So his love for Soo Jung is no help - I don't think any woman could have 'fixed' him, and certainly the hugely messed-up despite her sunny demeanor Soo Jung, with her own major issues and fragility, was about the last person to do so. However, even if they could have worked out their happiness, with the help of some really high-priced therapy, his family made it impossible - in fact they turned the screws on even worse, not caring that their actions were plainly driving him into nonfunctionality land. But then - how else could it end with all the destruction and damage and desperation on both sides and his having no experience with any expression of love that was not entangled with violence. And in context of fiction, the OTP that has the potential for helping each other but dooms each other instead is my jam SO MUCH!

[aerislei]

MHA Season 2 Wrap Up

First, for my wrap up specifically about the stain arc go here. If you have any interest in my thoughts specific to that arc, there you go. Lol. It will get mentions, but I’m not intending to reiterate anything that I covered more in-depth there because it seems silly. 

Second, I’m sorry but this thing is huge. In the future I may break up character discussion and possible theories into a separate post. Is that a thing you guys would prefer? Or do you like the whole wrap in one?

Now. Holy... wow. A lot happened in season 2, and the arcs felt like distinct arcs. By that I mean... like um. In season one everything felt like a natural progression, from one to the next - meet all might, train with all might, get into school, school classes. I know it’s technically broken into “arcs” but it didn’t feel like it, really.

In season 2 each arc is extremely distinct, though of course they are tied together so they don’t feel disjointed. We start with the sports festival, which ends hinting at the stain arc, then we flow into the stain arc, and then, almost anticlimactically, we come back to school and do our final exams because this is a school, remember? And all the chaos that has happened over the semester doesn’t change that.

So, generally, I’ve got to say the extra episodes did this season a load of good. The extra screen time did wonders for allowing a little more exploration with all the characters. Some are still way less fleshed out than others, but almost none of them are just floating question marks. ... At least not out of the 1-A members.

This is super pleasing because it was one of my biggest frustrations out of season 1 - because we spent so much time gearing up for UA that we didn’t really get to explore much of the class that was suddenly tossed in front of us. And because class time was limited, obviously, by screen time, we got a somewhat limited view of who was who and who did what. Personalities were very vague at best and while I had impressions for several characters I didn’t... feel much for any of them, outside of a select few I already knew something about either because they were important (Midoriya, Bakugo) or because I had pieces of the puzzle handed to me in the form of spoilers (Kirishima, Todoroki, Momo/Jiru).

Things went better this season in terms of giving us information about everyone, at least in a limited form, and thus in endearing more of the cast to me.

Sports Festival Arc

Okay, so. First arc of the season. It gave me all the information about Todoroki I could have asked for - even though I guessed at least 80% of it with the pieces of the puzzle I’d already been handed and my parallels to prince Zuko. Despite that it was a wild ride. I enjoyed the arc in a way I don’t enjoy most tournament arcs.

Biggest negative, in a sense for me was that the fight I was most looking forward to - and, imo was the most hyped up - was in round two of the event (Todoroki vs Deku) and... to me at least everything after it fell flat. None of the fights after Todoroki and Deku made any real impression on me. Even the final battle between Shoto and Bakugo was comparatively uninteresting. I know that was important, I do. I know why Shoto “stepped back” so to speak, I get that he had something to figure out for himself before he could really keep charging forward there.

... But the fight was dull and it had very little weight for me. I’m quite sure that that’s an unpopular opinion, but here we are.

The tournament set up a lot of important things and it opened a lot of doors, so to speak. Which does redeem the anticlimactic final battle, if only because it wasn’t “just” a tournament, important things happened there too.

Stain Arc

One of the biggest events of our protagonist’s careers so far, quietly skated over by the media and the glory given to someone else. Other than Stain’s ideology blowing open the doors for the Villains to explode into action, we get a lot of growth for Izuku, Shoto, and Iida. We also got some significant growth for Uraraka as far as combat goes.

We get our first look at the real villain that Midoriya is eventually going to have to face, and some important exposition about how One for All came to be. We also got to see a ton of other pro heroes in action which was a lot of fun.

Final Exams

You know after Stain, this arc was a nice lowering of the adrenaline. I know I called it anticlimactic up there - because it was, in a sense - but it was also rather important for it to be. First, it reminds us that our main characters are still in school and they’re still learning. And second it highlights the fact that life doesn’t stop no matter how disastrous the world seems to become.

Still, it was in no way boring and the exam itself was a nice reminder that our characters have a long way to go before they’re ready.

The BakuDeku fight was my third favorite thing this season. (Stain fight in first, Tododeku fight in second). I was so pumped to see those two have to work together for something and they DID IT. Not well, especially not at first, but they were able to put aside their differences and in the end did succeed against All Might.

And then, of course, the end of the season gave us what to expect next time (hey we’ve got training in the woods for a week coming up) and also gave us the current stance of the Villains - All for One being pleased at Tomura’s finally gaining a firm resolve to destroy All Might. It was a good place to end the season all in all.

Again, not going to do every character by any means, just going to touch on a few. More than I did last time though because I have things to say.

Yaoyorozu Momo

So I was surprised to see her lose so much confidence in herself after the Sports Arc - but then again she got in on recommendation not by her own actual talent. She didn’t earn a score, she didn’t have to fight nearly as hard. Momo is... that character who’s used to her family name getting her everything and coming to UA she’s realizing that not only is it not that simple in the real world, she doesn’t want it to be, because she wants to do it herself.

But she’s not used to failing. She doesn’t seem to be used to other people showing her up, so to speak, and apparently losing to Tokoyami really shook her up.

I’m glad the exam with Todoroki did her some good in getting her feet back under her and I hope we get to keep seeing more of her because she actually seems to be a fun character.

Todoroki Shoto

Todoroki is our other character that is the character who’s used to getting by on his family’s name alone. ... Except dialed over into the Family Issues troupe and so he doesn’t like getting anywhere with that name. Seemingly unlike Momo he works much harder because of his father’s name - because he wants to be separate from it. He wants to do it himself.

But he undeniably has gotten to where he is because of his father. And also undeniably his father’s training affects absolutely everything he does - including how he interacts with his classmates (see: flatly laying out his plan to Momo without asking her anything even though she clearly wanted to say something.) Yeah.

I’m hoping the exam with Momo remains as a lesson that communication is kind of a two way street, and a partnership requires compromise on both sides. The whole thing could have been avoided if they’d actually spent pre-their exam discussing how they wanted to handle it instead of coming into the arena and then sharing the plan.

(These two are interesting to put side by side because they basically come from the same place - roots that can get them wherever they want to go in life, but they’re learning how to stand on their own too.)

Midoriya Izuku

His growth this season was glorious. Once Gran Torino got him thinking about One for All the right way, he made leaps and bounds of progress - maybe a little too quickly - but we can’t have everything. There was also some personality growth that is starting to show through. He’s not the same as he was in season 1, even only by the end of his first semester. He still gets nervous but it’s less often, he still cries easily - too easily - but it’s not as often.

He’s gaining confidence in the fact that this is his path to walk now, like he’s always wanted.

Shigaraki Tomura 

So as far as villains go he’s not really my favorite. He lost a lot of his creepiness from the first season as we see him more and more. ... Probably because he mostly acts like a petulant six year old in an adult’s body.

I accidentally spoiled myself looking for something else, so I am aware of his actual identity. But it doesn’t change the way I honestly feel about him. (I do look forward to seeing how/when it’s revealed in the show, because I’m curious if All Might knows.)

The more he talks, the less scary he seems. He throws his power around, and that’s about it. ... His quirk has the potential to be devastating so there’s that.

I’m hoping now that he’s gained his... resolve or whatever we want to call it that he centralizes into a more interesting threat and less like a kid playing a video game and whining when things don’t go his way.

Dabi

So. He’s just a question mark. Mostly. Adult, early-to-mid twenties if I had to guess an age. Turquoise eyes. I happen to know that his quirk is fire based (I told y’all I’m terrible at staying out of trouble lmao). And he is specifically endeared to Stain’s ideals.

There’s also a pretty prevalent fanon idea that he is the eldest Todoroki child. And I uh, I’m not going to lie, but it’s a pretty intriguing idea, and I can easily see how someone raised by endeavor - especially someone who was deemed ‘unworthy’ the way Shoto’s siblings all were - might come to support the ideals of someone who believes heroes should be heroes selflessly.

I look forward to seeing how things go forward with Dabi and the villains in general. ... I also feel like Dabi and Tomura are not done clashing quite yet.

So for final thoughts...

This season opened up a number of doors and set into motion a lot of things all around our characters. Some of those things they are aware of, others... well, there is time enough for them to find out about later.

Our heroes made it through their first semester at school, but it’s pretty clear that their story has only just begun.

I was right, the extended season does this show a lot of favors, and I’m glad to see that season three is similarly long.

See you all next time!

[tinkdw]

I need you

So I’ve been talking about Cas and Dean/Cas a lot, obviously. Then @amwritingmeta cemented yesterday through a post about Cas in 12x23 (addressed below) some concepts that were floating around my head throughout season 11/12 in relation to Cas’ view of self and how Dean speaks to him so thank you dear! - here it is. 

For me Cas’ mental state and how broken he is is of utmost importance to my reading of the events of season 12, so here it is.

( Before I start, I must state that I AM A DEAN GIRL, I LOVE DEAN, this is NOT an anti Dean post, because I know some might jump on this like how dare you, I LOVE DEAN but I am not blind to his actions and his own issues and how they affect others and how these need to be resolved and are being resolved. This is my perception of what is going on on screen in front of my eyes for 2 years and how it impacts others. It’s a part of the story and it is totally relevant and hugely important to both Dean and Cas’ own arcs, so this may seem negative NOW but it is NOT in the long run. )

Right, that over, here it is.

Dean’s repression and his miscommunication with Cas in seasons 11 & 12, on top of Cas’ already fragile mental state results in misunderstanding and actually cementing Cas’ sense of lack of self worth and value as his own person.

Which obviously is completely the opposite of what Dean wants to do.

Dean’s own issues are making Cas’ worse, or at least, not helping resolve them. Together they can grow. Their arcs are heavily interlinked and not just romantically.

By repressing his feelings and not being honest about what he feels and wants Dean, through his words throughout these two seasons in particular is actually reinforcing Cas’ sense of usefulness only as a tool and even then not a very good one. Even though he tries at individual times to be honest and open, particularly in season 12, the general gist is not this (that is what is under the cut as it’s long).

Eg. 12x10: Dean tries to be honest, he is clear that he cares about Cas. 

But due to all the rest outside of this (see below) and Cas’ own personal issues Cas still thinks his own life is not important

This attempt by Dean to be kind and honest and gentle is just like the beer:

“Well, this will do very little for me, but I-I appreciate the gesture.”

Cas can see the attempt, he is grateful for it, but it doesn't CHANGE anything, it still does LITTLE FOR HIM, it’s not enough and his own issues stop it from being seen for what it is.

So Dean (just like in 12x07 and so many other times) can't cope with this discussion, with Cas saying he’s prepared to sacrifice himself, so he represses his feelings and moves on, back to the case, as per his usual form

Which for Cas therefore just means that he understands that Dean doesn't care as much as he does, as much as WE know he does, because Cas is so literal and has such low self worth and depression, this all comes together to mean he just doesn't see below this facade and this repression to the caring below, he still keeps thinking of himself as expendable and less important than the Winchesters and particularly of course, Dean.

Cas is so literal, yes he’s learning, but he is still extremely literal and doesn't really get subtext, in season 8 for example he went and bought things that Dean has talked about out loud or shown to Cas visually that he likes: pie, the porn mags, toilet roll. When Mary says she was nervous and had to pee, he says “urination, I understand” because he does understand urination, but does he understand what she’s saying about being nervous? That there’s an issue for her? He doesn't offer her any kind of words of support like “it’ll be fine, Mary”, which you know he would if she flat out said “I’m nervous”, because we saw that attempt at support with Kelly on numerous occasions.

- Dean represses and doesn't use his words and hopes people understand what he means. - Cas needs things to be said pretty literally for him to understand them. It’s a standard misunderstanding romance trope.

Moving forwards Dean needs to learn to use his words and face his own feelings and Cas needs to escape his depression and find self worth. Lucky (ikr?! :p) this is exactly what has been set up, particularly through showing this negative side to come out shining at the other end :)

All this background in season 11 and 12 under the cut:

Season 11:

WE see that Cas is clearly and expressly depressed. He has a FULL ON panic attack, he is depressed, watching day time TV, Metatron TELLS US he is broken

Dean notices but doesn't see how bad it is, he tries to pull him out of it by using the case, using his usefulness 

He then continues this theme all the way through until Cas gives himself over to Lucifer

We also have a clear exposition in both Cas’ meeting with Amara and Ambriel that he, due to his personal reasons aside from Dean, feels useless and only useful as a tool, which allows Lucifer to possess him to help.

This is NOT RESOLVED.

Dean doesn't see what WE see, he knows Cas is not fine but not up to what point, he also doesn't really know how to cope with it so copes how he would with himself, focusing on getting by day by day, repressing and trying to be of use, because that is just about what works for him, getting from one apocalypse to another, but it doesn't work, it’s not addressing the issue, it’s masking the symptoms by just keeping going, which we know for ALL of them just keeps making it worse until it finally all blows up...

Then we have season 12 where this continues. Dean doesn't tell Mary (on screen) who Cas really is, what he means to them and how much he’s helped etc etc etc (I’m reminded of him talking to Claire about Cas saving the world and Jimmy being a hero in s10 and how Cas ofc doesn't see this, it’s just MORE of the them not telling each other how they feel), so Dean tells Mary just that he’s an Angel, not that he's like a brother to them even (which, is another point, because Cas doesn't want to be an Angel, he wants to be a part of their family, but here is Dean introducing him as precisely not what he wants to be) 

then Cas is used to find Sam, beating up the informants and doing the leg work, when we know that Cas hates doing this, he doesn’t like conflict, hurting people, fighting, but he does it because it’s necessary.

6x06:

(SO many season 6/12 parallels I have a tag for it and it’s just... yeah, so relevant).

Then in 12x03 we see Cas still feeling the guilt and need to find Lucifer, it’s brilliant that the boys want to go with him, but Cas rejects this and they don't push. It’s just MORE miscommunication. If Cas had said I feel awful and depressed and I need to fix this, I want your support but I don't feel like I deserve it, I feel like I should do this alone and not burden you... If Dean and Sam said no, we want to come with you, we are FAMILY, we will support you and do this together, because IMO this is what they are all thinking but no, they don't, so Dean is upset that Cas has left (and is pissy with him about it, because hell, why not add ANOTHER layer of angst to all this right guys? and this is just how Dean deals - when things are shit and his emotions are too much and he can't cope he gets ANGRY) so Cas continues to feel depressed and worthless until the point they meet up again in 12x07

Cas still wants to sacrifice himself and Dean does say “engaged in what? Killing you?” but he doesn't STOP him. MORE of this half attempt but not fully talking it out.

Dean then over the episodes since Cas is missing, he’s trying to convince Cas to call him / come home by appealing to his sense of DUTY, by saying they need him for his hands, not that they love and miss him, he’s using this as an excuse and not to face his own feelings but this just reinforces Cas’ perception that he’s not wanted, just needed. Hence his comment about not meaning to add to their distress, because Dean never said he was distressed in his messages, of course there was an underlying tone of this but it wasn't EXPLICIT until he said so when Cas returned.

xx

The mixtape scene in the bunker, as beautiful as the gift, again, is a reverse shit sandwich. FIRST he tells Cas they lost Kelly because he was missing

Then they have the beautiful mixtape exchange but he ends again telling Cas that they’re better together with Sam and for the job, “let’s get it done” and LEAVES.

x

Then since 12x19 to 12x23 Dean and Sam try to control Cas, Cas does accept their request to go to the bunker to talk it out and he does wait to hear Sam out at the end but when Sam then flat out tells him “no, that ain’t happening” that is when he decides he has no choice and boops them to sleep. 

When they turn up in 12x23 Dean immediately starts giving him orders, as @amwritingmeta pointed out:

Then Dean is dismissive of his “making friends” in the rift world and his faith in his “unborn baby god”.

I mean.... from Cas’ POV I can totally see the issue, because CAS is not seeing everything WE are seeing from Dean about Cas.

Cas has not seen Dean’s worry, his constant thinking about Cas and not as a tool, for who he is, all Cas sees are moments of familial care but A HELL OF A LOT of Dean giving him orders and, from his POV, him and others all needing him only for his ‘hands’.

x  Given that Cas already has deeply rooted emotional issues and depression focusing on his usefulness for YEARS, his perception of his being needed on Earth by Dean and Sam is IMO warped (because I’m not saying they mean for this to come across like this OF COURSE! but this is how I think Cas sees it, even though he does see the care too, he’s blinded by his depression and his own personal lack of self worth) so it’s no surprise that he asks this of Kelvin or then states:

x  His perception is that he is not even good at even just being useful because even then, he’s unleashed worse eg. Lucifer, this is massively important in considering his mental state during these two seasons and particularly at the end of season 12.

This is a HUGE issue for Cas so I can totally see his perception is warped (I am not saying that Dean is doing this on purpose at ALL(and Sam up to a point, but let’s be real a lot of this is with Dean and due to Dean being his primary contact with the two and the person he is in love with), this is all from Cas’ POV in his emotionally vulnerable condition).

(I’m going to just inject here the fact that this theme of Cas feeling needed only as a tool and bossed around by Dean is also entirely paralleled with season 6 as part of the season 12 / season 6 callback theme that goes over the whole of season 12:

Which is why it’s even more awful when Cas tries to call into play the family card in 6x21 and Dean rejects it, AGAIN, not that it’s entirely Dean’s FAULT of course, but from Cas’ POV this is heartbreaking because HE believes he is doing the right thing, that Dean only called him all season for his help as a tool and that he always comes when Dean calls, even during a Heavenly civil war, even when he first tried to put Rachel there first, because he didn't think Dean wanted HIM, he thought he wanted just A TOOL, THAT ANY ANGEL WOULD DO, and it all fell apart due to Dean’s attitude and Rachel’s defensive stance of Cas, but not because Dean said “no I want Cas because I care about Cas”, which we don't expect at this point really in season 6, their relationship isnt quite at this point yet, but still, it’s an important factor when looking at season 12 in the way it mirrors season 6 and Cas’ lack of self worth and self love for YEARS).

Now, of course interspersed with this we do have Dean telling Cas in 11x23 that he is their brother, we have Sam telling him they’re fighting for him, Dean telling Cas that they’re family and won't leave him behind and that he's worried, not mad, he tells Cas that he’s upset that they were ignored, but again these are all FAMILIAL words and mostly all WE’s not I’s. DEAN IS TRYING. He is not the bad guy here. REPRESSION, DEPRESSION, a LACK OF SELF WORTH and MISCOMMUNICATION are.

It’s not enough, Dean is of course showing Cas familial love, which is great, but not the whole truth and plus he still also frames this a lot of the time within a general excuse of needing Cas for his help rather than WANTING him to stay for HIM.

WE have seen Dean’s worry for 2 seasons, WE have seen him not sleeping, worrying so badly that Sam has to console him, WE have seen him framed as the worried husband.

CAS HAS NOT.

The words: I need you.  The meaning: I love you and care for you. The understanding: I need you as a tool.

Moving forwards I’m sure this is going to be addressed and I can't wait :)