#maybe chuck brings mary and john back to life at the end of s14

[sosaysdean]

s15 rewrite where john winchester is the final villain of the show and not chuck

[mittensmorgul]

current rewatch is mid s14, and this morning I watched Lebanon, 14.13. And I have some thoughts. Probably thoughts I’ve already had, but they hit different now...

Dean smashed that pearl, and I really do think that he got his stated wish-- Michael out of his head. After all, none of the last 14 years ever happened, post wish, and the door to the alternate universe was never opened, Michael never came through... none of it. It’s like their entire history was rewritten.

And we know Chuck was the writer all along. But we also know how Chuck used free will and choice to manipulate them their entire lives. It was always their choices, only none of their choices were GOOD, you know? He laid down the game, set them on the board, and controlled and limited their choices at every turn.

Just like the false choice Dean was presented with in every repeat of the loop in Rocky’s bar in 14.10-- every day when the realtor came in asking Dean to sell the bar, forcing him to choose to stay there, unwittingly trapped in that loop by Michael. “Living the dream.” What if he HAD chosen to sell? What if Michael’s little bubble of a world in his head broke down, and Dean stopped participating in the charade? Would the entire illusion have shattered? Would Michael have had to step in and reinforce the illusion in some way? Because as long as Dean kept “choosing” to refuse to sell the bar, he was choosing to stay in the illusion, in the false reality trapped in that loop in his own mind.

The pearl wish was effectively no different, just on a much larger scale.

He chose to make the wish, and the pearl delivered it. Michael was gone from his head, at least for a little while. The world fundamentally changed, and even Chuck’s story going back to the beginning of the series had to change with it. The narrative of the entire series was erased, including Chuck’s involvement in all of it. Which seems... impossible, to erase the will of God when he has literally been writing their story from the start.

Why would bringing John from the past have stopped the angels from manipulating events to bring about the apocalypse? It wasn’t JOHN they needed to break seals, it was DEAN. Why would the demons have simply left Sam at Stanford to complete his law degree? Why would they have allowed Dean to get out of sacrificing himself, just because John wasn’t there to sacrifice himself first?

We know the angels (and demons) had been playing a very long con to start the apocalypse, since long before Sam was born (remember Azazel at the convent in 1972, in 4.22? so do I). And all of that preparation-- everything that had happened before 2003-- still happened, before the pearl wish brought John to 2019. Cupids still worked their asses off to unite John and Mary so that Sam and Dean could be born, to fulfill eons of prophecy that they would be the true vessels to Michael and Lucifer to bring about the apocalypse as God willed it.

Do they mean to suggest that after all of that-- the entire history of the universe that had been leading to this, and everything in Chuck’s story-- that just moving John out of his timeline three years before the big showdown was scheduled to begin would leave all of Heaven and Hell shrugging like it hadn’t been their sole mission for years to set this up for the apocalypse?

That’s asinine, honestly.

I don’t think-- any more than Dean “choosing” not to sell Rocky’s bar was-- that the pearl wish was ever actually a “choice.” Because Chuck would’ve never tolerated any of it. He would not have allowed that choice to stand. He had too big of a story to tell.

Which is incredible to me now, because if that was the case, and even that pearl wish was a false choice-- one Sam and especially Dean could never allow to stand for their own reasons-- then the finale makes no possible sense unless viewed the exact same way. Everything that happened after Jack took Chuck’s power was still a function of Chuck’s hand in the narrative, just like the pearl, just like Rocky’s bar. Choosing to renew their commitment to playing the game, over and over again. And that’s just so depressing to me.

I still think this is the most important exchange in the entire episode:

Sam: Once we send Dad back... it's like none of this ever happened. He -- He just goes back to -- to... to being Dad. Dean: You saying you wish things would be different? Sam: Don't you? Can you imagine -- Dad in the past, knowing then what he knows now? I... I think it would be nice. Dean: Yeah. I used to think that, too. But, uh... I mean, look, we've been through some tough times. There's no denying that. And for the longest time, I blamed Dad. I mean, hell, I blamed Mom, too, you know? I was angry. But say we could send Dad back knowing everything. Why stop there? Why not send him even further back and let some other poor sons of bitches save the world? But here's the problem. Who does that make us? Would we be better off? Well, maybe. But I got to be honest -- I don't know who that Dean Winchester is. And I'm good with who I am. I'm good with who you are. 'Cause our lives -- they're ours. And maybe I'm just too damn old to want to change that.

Because yes, this is awesome! This is Dean finally accepting who he is, both because of the life he’s led AND despite it! He’s made his peace with himself, built a family of choice around him (in direct defiance of the “wife and kids” life John would’ve chosen for him and that he thought he wanted for years to please his father), and he’s happy with it, and with himself and the people he loves.

Only this is functionally no different than him refusing to sign the bill of sale on Rocky’s bar. This is Dean recommitting to his role in Chuck’s story. And at the same time he believes in this moment that this is him choosing his own life, really what he’s choosing is to return to the role in the story that Chuck had cast for him. And isn’t that horrifying? Does this not explain WHY he was so absolutely broken by everything that would come after, and especially by the revelation that he’d never really had a real choice in his life?

Chuck would go on to kill Mary, manipulate him into trying to kill Jack, leading to the breakdown of his relationship with Cas, and his own feelings of purposelessness that would drive the entire plot of s15. And then at the end, instead of being allowed to explore this new world of free will, for Cas to have been brought back one last time in defiance of the story Chuck had always intended for him, too, Dean succumbs completely to “destiny” and “fate” and had “no other choice” but to fulfill Chuck’s narrative at last. And I will never, ever be over that.

So my advice is to take 15.20 and crush it like Sam crushed the pearl. Because it’s just the culmination of Chuck’s false choices, and the antithesis of freedom from the narrative they should’ve had in the aftermath.

[thegeminisage]

I know we r literally talking rn but this is off topic and also I think it’s fun and sexy so I want it to be in a public forum. so obv I’ve thought a lot about like. who “gets” to kill john. and my final answer is like. dean, but he wouldn’t (unless John posed some immediate threat to his other loved ones that couldn’t be resolved by just like. knocking him out or something). and Sam, but he also wouldn’t, because dean wouldn’t want him to and Sam is the bigger man in literally every way (with the same exception as dean). but the previous anon inspired me and like. i DO enjoy the idea of Mary killing John. not bc I think that it would like. help anything. but because I stan a #flawed Queen and I think it’s the kind of thing she could do in the heat of the moment without thinking about the consequences and then the consequences would be TERRIBLE and DELICIOUS. she’s also a serial killer like the rest of the family so she COULD dispose of the body successfully. dad went on a mysterious hunting trip and hasn’t been home in a few days but at the end you find out he’s been dead for months and your mother killed him. the way it would tear deans sense of familial duty apart at the seems... the way Sam would Get It but also feel obligated to take deans side so he can stay with him and make sure he doesn’t do something stupid like try to bring dad back again... cas and Mary friendship where they keep secretly texting after she goes her own way and then he and dean have an AWFUL fight about it when he finds out..... cas takes the kid (because you KNOW dean would fall into old patterns and like. jack does NOT deserve that) and deans will to live in the divorce (divorce arc.... 2!) evil. delicious. very tragedynatural. literally like. there is no coming back from that. (like maybe in the real world you could but you have All That and then chuck is manipulating everything to be worse aka more entertaining....) i am hooting and hollering just thinking about it. cas as the deeply sad divorced father who moved into town suddenly and has a mysterious female visitor every once in a while.... Steve the neighbor SWEARS that she had blood on her the last time he saw her.

(PREVIOUS ASK) [spn masterpost]

i DONT think mary would kill john unless it was like, to save sam or dean’s life, or if it was like a 1.22 thing where she’s taking yellow eyes down with him, however the part i love most about this specifically is that cas takes mary’s side and he and dean get divorced over it...AGAIN...isn’t this technically like their 4th divorce? you’ve got the s6 divorce where dean found out cas was cheating on him, the s12 one where cas ran off with satan’s baby mama, and the s14 one that we don’t speak of in this house...yeah. wow. divorce arc FOUR. it’s so funny because everyone thinks bc mary and cas both look young they’re sleeping together and really it’s just his ex mother in law/his son’s 28yo grandmother

this is doubly funny to me bc like there’s a gag @marcusantonius i have where if john comes back he sees mary mothering cas’s kid and thinks cas is sleeping with her when it’s like. WRONG WINCHESTER BUD. i didn’t put that in broken road because it was off topic and it’s a serious fic but it lives in my head rent free. meanwhile cas, known asexual, is sitting out here like: sleep with her? angels don’t sleep. what do you mean sleep with her? what do you m 

[shardminds]

okay i know in the grand scheme of things it’s been about 5 minutes since i got into spn and about 4.5 seconds since i started following spn blogs on tumblr but i just want 2 share some stuff re: what i would have liked to happen in my ideal ending. spoilers below.

number 1, sam and eileen endgame. after losing her in 15x18 and trying so hard to hold it together, sam’s quite obviously devvo’d. man’s a mess but he can’t let himself fall apart. 15x19 happens and everyone chuck disintegrated faster than communion wafers comes back and the FIRST thing sam does? calls eileen. high tails it out of there. speed limits who? there’s a heartwarming moment. maybe an ‘i love you’ or maybe not but it’s touching and heart wrenching and everyone cries and it’s nice. there you go, sam winchester. not only did you help save the world, but you got a happy ending in the process. eileen moves into the mol bunker. don’t @ me. she’s also great with miracle. and, in the long run, kids.  

number 2, deancas. my whole thing is, if they didn’t want canon deancas ending, why have cas confess? like i get the empty deal and i understand ‘happiness isn’t in the having, it’s in just being. it’s in just saying it’ but... if u didn’t want people to swarm on the possibility of deancas... why include it at all? especially for it to never be mentioned again. for cas, a man/angel/being of celestial intent that had spent like... 12(?) years at this point in sam and dean’s lives. you’re gonna tell me they just... let him sacrifice himself and then dip? ok. seems we have been watching different shows. or the same show from different perspectives. so, hear me out. dean says it back. maybe not in as many words or he pulls a hans solo ‘i know’. okay so they beat the shit out of The Literal Abrahamic God later to supercharge jack faster than shotgunning three monster energy mango locos ever could and leave chuck belly up in the mud like the invertebrate he proved himself to be and jack is Thee God now and dean just straight up asks. give that to me. give me the “please, jack.” and dean, so close to breaking, holding himself together with nothing but pure strength of will and residual adrenaline. give me jack’s reluctance, give me his admission of not wanting to mutate into the same megalomaniac chuck proved himself to be,using the winchesters as chess pieces in his own game. give me his humanity. the parts he inherited from kelly. give me his humanity and his grief and his loss and—castiel was his father, for fucks sake! he lost a father and a mother and he’s about to lose the only family he ever had. yes, he’ll be omnipresent—a perk of the job—but he’ll never be there in the way they want. so let him do this. there’s like a whole genesis parallel, you know all ‘the lord said let there be light, and there was light’ only not as on the nose as that. jack’s one selfish act before he himself, combined with amara, ascends. he does his whole speech. i’ll be in every drop of falling rain etc etc and then he dips. only, he’s gone and when dean turns around. cas is there. boom. 

there’s no kiss. no explicit ‘hello look at this confirmed gay angel and his human hunter ??sexual friend making out’ because that too much too fast. dean has spent the past 15 seasons trying to unfuck himself from the damage john winchester left behind (the nun hunt on his 17th birthday? lebanon? i will meet john winchester in the pit.) and as close as he is to finally just allowing himself to be himself, he’s not quite there yet. but the relief on his face. the—i’m gonna say it—love in his expression. cas’s confession clearly affected him, just look at 15x18. maybe dean doesn’t know what that means yet. maybe he does. but there’s a hug. an embrace. one of those that says ‘i don’t know why or how i like you, fruity little angel man, but i do and i’m not letting go’. it lasts a beat too long. maybe there’s tears. i’ll leave that up to jackles jacting joices.

number 3, michael sacrifices himself to save adam. OKAY SO THE WHOLE MICHAEL STORYLINE IN 15x19? BULLSHIT. especially with the adamichael scene in 15x08? where it is canonically confirmed that, after spending a real life decade (which is OVER ONE THOUSAND YEARS in hell time. 4 months = 40 years so 10 years or 120 months = 1200 years) trapped in the cage together, they became friends and shared control of the vessel. michael considered adam his guide on earth. michael. MICHAEL. M I C H A E L. seeing how spn painted him as one of, if not, THE most powerful and fearsome angel? man’s whipped. and then he loses adam when chuck has his thanos snap moment. imagine sharing a vessel with someone for twelve. hundred. years. and then being completely alone in a world you don’t know. how maddening for there to be only silence in your head. the fact that they then rammed this bs of him being jealous of lucifer for being ‘daddy’s favourite’ was exactly that. bullshit. no no no, my friends. michael was playing his own game; crossing the winchesters for chuck but actually, crossing chuck for his own gain. he learns of the winchesters plan to utilise the fact that jack is the power hungry equivalent of a shamwow and uses that to his own gain. i haven’t figured out the particulars but when chuck beats the shit out of michael, he kills the angel but leaves the vessel (think like jack at the end of s14). michael the winchesters think michael died a snivelling god fearing soldier. and then, when jack does his whole thing, up wakes adam. the winchesters take him in and explain what went down when he, you know. and adam lets them know that no, michaels not like that etc etc he did it for me etc he did it to save me. michael’s fall was imperative to the destruction of god. and, for that, he will always be remembered. adam’s not a hunter, but he stays at the bunker anyway. he has nowhere else to go. 

number 4, episode 15x20. what do you mean dean and sam both die? not in this universe i carry inside my head they don’t! this episode is just a bunch of scenes from throughout the years. you might think it boring but i think it’s great and this is my post so u can’t tell me what 2 do. dean opens up a bar for hunters a la 14x10 and has pictures on all the walls of all the fallen hunters and friends that have helped them throughout the years. you want a picture on the wall for a friend you lost? sure! just bring a photo and tack it on up there. out of sight, kept to the wall of the office, they keep pictures of the non-humans that helped. it’s private. a reminder. sam and eileen stop by a couple times a week if they can. jody and donna make the rounds with the girls too if work allows. or they come on their own. the girls are old enough to take care of themselves now. claire pops in when she can, always bringing a present for cas (despite him reprimanding her for doing so) and dean is always happy to see her. she doesn’t text enough. 

sam sets up the bunker as a base for hunters again, trying to get a system up and running like before where hunters can check in and get help and use the weapons and resources they have for cases. 

they don’t deal with heaven anymore. they haven’t seen jack since he disappeared but they also haven’t had any angel troubles either. maybe it’s because there are so few. castiel helps a lot as he still has his grace—although he’s still unable to teleport and he seems to be aging, trapped in some kind of space between. not angel and not human and definitely not nephilim. he’s powerful and powerless at the same time. he doesn’t complain about this, knowing what it means. it’s a kindness. 

rowena is also on side, mostly, although she has her own gain in mind always. they have the stray demon that pops up every now and again but she– uh... prefers to make an example of them using her own methods. sam has learned not to question it. she teases him incessantly, as usual. 

also, stay at home dad sam. eileen jumps back into hunting. they’ve had conversations—arguments—about it before. he doesn’t want to turn into his father, driven mad chasing mary’s ghost if something were to happen. she refuses to even entertain the thought of that. yelling “you are a lot of things, sam winchester. your father is not one of them.” and at the end of the day, there’s a mutual trust there and he knows she won’t put herself in unnecessary risk, and he 100% roped dean in to jumping on as backup if and when she needs it. the kid(s) are raised love and cherished and surrounded by family. sam also learns how to sign one handed with a baby on his hip. it’s adorable.

anyway we never have to find out about heaven because no one dies thank you for coming to my ted talk.

[deans-haunted-baby]

Why I don’t think Michael will side with Chuck in the End

I know there’s theories floating around that Michael may have been deceiving the Winchesters in 15x08. Its true we have no idea what his agenda is or if he’s that interested in playing nice with TFW. They did trap him in Hell with their half brother for a long time so he’s not exactly warm & fuzzy about that. However this isn’t the psychotic, sinister version of Michael from the alternate universe nor is he the same steel cold obedient soldier back in 5x22. He’s changed massively. There’s more humanity in him now than he’d like to admit. In spite of what we’ve seen from Michael in the past, I don’t think he’s interested in harming Sam and Dean, at least not currently. And I just can’t see him running to Chuck, not after receiving all that alarming information. So I'm going to present the following reasons for why he probably won’t turn on the boys. Number 1 being the most important. Adam Milligan.

For however it happened the archangel bonded with a human. The formally resurrected 19 yr old illegitimate son of John Winchester. All those years spent in the cage these two managed to forge an understanding between one another; an unusual strong connection. They're friends and allies. Michael listens to and respects Adam’s opinions even if he doesn’t always agree. Allows him freedom to control his own body. And despite being the ruthless warrior that he still is, Michael’s been shown to be much more merciful, patient and compassionate compared to when the boys last faced him. Because of his relationship with Adam, Michael’s developed a newfound appreciation for humanity similar to his aunt Amara aka the Darkness. He truly cares about Adam and protects him. Like at the diner when he smote Lilith for posing a threat. Then instead of killing the witnesses in front of Adam, Michael chooses to spare their lives by erasing their memories. He even defended Adam to the Winchesters further demonstrating that he does consider his feelings. That’s beyond the person he was when he told Dean “Adam isn’t home right now” all those years ago.

So I have no doubt Michael will do what ever means necessary to keep Adam safe from Chuck, who is hell bent on destroying the world which Adam is part of. Even if that means siding with some old enemies to take him down so be it. As the old saying goes “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”. Of course that doesn’t mean Adam shares any love for Sam and Dean. Hell no. He made that pretty clear at the diner. He has every reason and right to hate them after ten years of failure to save him from Hell. Every reason to make them suffer. Adam deserves to be pissed at the Winchesters and the world for doing him dirty like that. But...for better or worse, Sam and Dean are still his brothers. Its for that reason and that reason alone that I don’t see Michael threatening to go after them later. He knows Adam wouldn’t want that unless (he really is a scheming crazy person deep inside) Michael’s friendship with him is just smoke & mirrors which I don’t believe for one second. 

And Adam’s been presented as being a very forgiving, kind soul despite all the pain he’s been through. Revenge wasn’t even on his mind the moment he got out of that cage. It was human food on top of wanting to go back to school or get a job. Meaning he cared more about getting back to some sense of normalcy. Then when Castiel and the Winchesters pulled him and Michael into their crisis, Adam was willing to hear their side and attempted to convince Michael to help them. Why go through that whole charade if Adam just wanted Sam and Dean hurt or dead? They had every opportunity to double-cross TFW while being held captive but instead Michael & Adam chose to put aside their grievances, at least for the moment, and give the Winchesters something useful. Now whether or not the spell actually works (I doubt it’ll be that simple) is the mystery. However this definitely not the last time we’ll see these two characters which brings me to point number 2. Jack Kline.

This is a big one. Why you ask? Well lets go over that scene in 15x08 where Castiel shares his memories with Michael and Adam. There was so much foreshadowing in this moment (from Michael/Adam’s return down the road, to Michael’s unavoidable confrontation with Chuck and finally his eventual encounter with the young Nephilim himself) based on how that scene was shot and edited. The primary objective was Michael watching Jack die at the snap of Chuck’s fingers and reacting to it along with all the other nasty business his dad’s been doing behind the scenes. Talking didn’t seem to be enough to get through to Michael and neither did antagonizing him. His stubbornness and arrogance wasn’t surprising being he is the Prince of Heaven and has a blind idealized devotion for his father as his loyal son. So in order to open Michael’s eyes and get him to see the truth, Castiel focuses his energy on the most ruthless, evil act Chuck has ever committed. Murdering his grandson and Michael’s nephew. 

Doing this Castiel shatters that righteous image Michael has had of his father forever because Chuck/God (father of all creation) is suppose to be the embodiment of light, love, hope, peace and benevolence. He created Michael to be his champion of humanity; the guardian protector of Heaven and Earth. Its Michael’s sworn destiny to defend good against evil. And Chuck crossed the line, several in fact. He represents everything Michael was born to oppose. Trying to mess with free will, attempting to destroy everything he created all out of spite because the Winchesters refused to play his games anymore. But above every horrible thing he’s ever done there’s no sin greater than taking the life of his own flesh and blood. A child born of a human (God’s greatest creation) and an archangel (Michael’s younger brother Lucifer whom, despite their conflict, he loved immensely). That is unforgivable. No matter how much he may still love him, Michael has absolutely no reason to trust his father; not after all those centuries of deception. And Chuck has shown he has no regard for human life let alone the lives of his own family which Jack’s death all represents. 

Now Michael chose to leave at the end of 15x08 after giving our heroes the spell to trap Chuck and showing them the door to Purgatory. But what’s interesting about that is his reference to the Darkness. It’s unclear if Michael even knows Amara has been released and neither Dean or Castiel ever mention it. I wonder if he can sense her energy. So the question is where is Michael going? Is he planning to seek her out or leaving to confront his father (which I doubt since Chuck is preoccupied with Sam and Eileen at the moment)? What we do know is Michael and Adam can’t avoid the inevitable. They’re as much apart of this fight as TFW whether they like it or not. It all depends on which side Michael ultimately chooses. Will he align himself with the Winchesters or is he going to be on his own side? It’ll be interesting to find out when the show returns in 2020!  And I’ve been thinking a lot about what Michael’s interaction with Jack will look like when they’re finally reunited because if its anything like what we saw with Gabriel (or better) that could be a good sign for Sam, Dean and Castiel. 

 Out of all his paternal family members Jack’s so far met his biological dad (that didn’t go over so well), his grandfather (that didn’t go well either) and one of his archangel uncles. He’s yet to encounter his great aunt Amara the Darkness or his most powerful famous warrior uncle. The original Michael. Those are interactions I’d very much like to see happen before the show ends. But for arguments sake lets say Michael does consider turning on the Winchesters. Not that he would or might but what if he still has doubts. Jack could be TFW’s best chance at gaining Michael’s trust, cooperation and alliance. He could tell his uncle that Castiel and the Winchesters had been raising him as their own; protecting him since he was born. Things I’m sure Michael might appreciate. Or Jack could confide his biggest regret (accidently killing Mary Winchester) as a means to bond with Michael and help him understand the Winchester brothers a little better. Reminding Michael and Adam of redemption and forgiveness. That any pain the Winchesters might’ve caused them has no comparison to what Jack took from Sam and Dean and yet they’re still a family.

It’ll be fascinating to see how they go about the dynamic between these characters considering what happened with AU Michael in S13 and S14. Jack may be a little hesitant of his uncle at first and Michael may be hostile (since he probably knows Nephilim are forbidden) yet curious or a combination of both. Or maybe their first encounter may be a bit softer than expected what with Adam in the middle of things. Michael could become very taken with Jack and protective of him. He was very distraught after seeing those horrifying images of his father killing his nephew. And I could see Adam being their ice breaker (oh the comedic possibilities of this!) he’s a very laidback, likable chill dude not to mention Sam and Dean’s half brother. Yah that little detail is probably going to be the most shocking for Jack since Adam’s never been a blip on the Winchesters’ radar.

Moving onto point number 3. Heaven. It’s dying which is why Jack was manipulated into creating new angels to power it up. After all the damage done by Metatron, Lucifer and the Entity it’s left in ruin and without proper leadership. We know as of right now Michael has no intention of going back there. He’s severely withdrawn since learning his brothers are all deceased and probably feels like a failure and a fool. But none the less he’s got unfinished business back home. By the time Supernatural ends someone’s got to be left in charge of things up there, my moneys on either Amara or Michael since he’s the heir to the throne of Heaven. It would be a fitting ending for either of them. Maybe Michael will somehow restore Heaven’s power (with Amara and Jack) and reopen it for the all the earthbound souls. Or maybe in the aftermath of the final showdown against Chuck, Michael will just hang around with Adam and whoever else is left standing on Earth. And finally we reach my last point number 4. Amara.

What do we know about Michael’s complicated history with his aunt? Not much either than the fact that he and his brothers were ordered by Chuck to seal her away centuries ago; with no intention of ever releasing her. Something tells me Amara wouldn’t harbor any kind of affection for Michael, not after what we saw with Lucifer. And we have no idea if she still shares that same connection with Dean as she did in S11 (though rumor has it they got an upcoming storyline together in the back-half of S15) or if she’s even interested in lending a hand in the Winchesters’ business of saving the world. However Amara has been shown, like Michael, to have developed a love for humanity. She’s having the time of her life vacationing all over and taking advantage of her freedom. I don’t think she’d be too thrilled knowing her brother plans to destroy all he’s accomplished and he’s not exactly her favorite person to be around. She’s completely done with Chuck’s crap. He’s alienated her to the point where she wants to be as far from him as humanly possibly. 

And if she does still view Dean in a favorable light after what he’d done for her, that could be what persuades Amara into helping TFW. Michael would have to be an absolute moron to attempt an attack (if he decided to make them his enemies) if Sam and Dean manage to get the Darkness on their side. Its canon that she’s far more powerful than the archangels which is why it took all of them combined to lock her away. That said I don’t think Michael’s character is being set up as a villain. We already had AU Michael, been there done that. Nor do I see him and Amara at odds specifically because of their deteriorating ties to Chuck. Could their reunion be pretty heated and violent? Possibly. Its hard to say where they’ll stand with each other when they cross paths, there’s some bad blood between them for sure so they’ve got some family issues to sort through. But as of right now, what’s happening is bigger than both of them and their angst. Ironically Michael and Amara got more in common with each other than they realize. 

Both of them were abandoned, lied to and used by Chuck on top of being imprisoned for many years. And they actually care about the world they're currently inhabiting which Chuck wants to end. That’s got to be worth more to them than some old discrepancies in the past. Enough for them to want to put aside their differences and work together to stop Chuck. Imagine how awesome this storyline would be, former enemy family members coming together because of a common threat they’re all facing. Michael and Amara along side TFW, that’s a pretty badass team. I WANT THIS. I want to see Michael get to be a good guy. Become an ally and the honorable hero he was meant to be. Saving humanity whom he now cares about with his human best friend. We deserve to see this version of Michael come into fruition before the show ends. 

Anyway those are my thoughts on the Michael/Adam situation. I hope it comes true or most of it anyway. I know Supernatural is building up for a big finish. It would be nice if they didn’t waste two characters we haven't seen for ten years. I want to believe that they have plans for Michael and Adam that don’t include killing them off for shock value and/or villainizing them at the last second. They deserve better than that. 15x08 was a perfect example of how to utilize and develop these characters into the plot. They have so much potential and story left to tell. Lets hope the writers know what they’re doing.

[collisionkisses]

Spn s14 finale thoughts

This is very rambly maybe but I have many thoughts on that supernatural finale so? Here goes.

Season "daddy issues" 14 huh. I really liked this finale because in a way it feels like they're going back to season 1 (see all the season 1 MOTW resurfacing at the end of the episode) and the OG idea of the show (see Chuck/God appearing and the final scene taking place in a cemetery à la the season 5 would-be series finale) but there's also so much growth?

I lovedd the whole "daddy issues" theme this season. We had Sam, Dean and Cas being fathers to Jack this season, as well as them saying goodbye to John for one, final time. We had Jack, who desperately didn't want to become like Lucifer, his real father, but instead wants to be good. I loved it, and this final episode feels like a closing chapter on that in the best way possible?

We have Chuck coming back, trying to get the guys to play their part in the "grand story" he has written, mostly for his own sake. With the whole callback to John this entire season, this situation with Chuck felt like a mirror (heh. The mirror universe. I loved that) to John dragging Sam and Dean along in his desperate quest for revenge.

This is emphasized even more by Chuck encouraging Dean to kill Jack: as he himself says, it's the father killing the son, it's Abraham and Isaac, it's Chuck abandoning his creations, as Sam says. It's John dragging Sam and Dean along. It's how the story is supposed to go; it's the entire story of Supernatural, with all its biblical and human mirrors. It's always about family, in the end.

But here, Dean breaks that cycle of bad parenting and fathers "killing" sons. He stands up to Chuck. As Sam says, they've always had a choice, and they make the choice to end this cycle.

It's also very telling that Dean chooses to ignore Chuck's manipulation of promising Dean he'll bring their mother back. "It's not what she would've wanted." And we know that's true: Mary never wanted her sons to grow up as hunters. By refusing Chuck's offer, Dean also stands up to his father and his youth, which was centered in a quest for vengeance over Mary's death: maybe not in a litteral sense, but I get the idea that John felt like killing the yellow-eyed-demon would bring Mary back in some way.

So, this is the end. We have team free will: Dean, who here consciously makes the decision to disobey God, to not become like his father. Sam, who ran away from the hunting life, already disobeyed John. Castiel, who is the rebel of heaven, who wanted to believe in his dad but was disillusioned. I can't wait for that last season.

[poorreputation]

SPN 14X11: Damaged Goods

Summary (via IMDB):  Dean spends some bonding time with Mary and Donna. Nick finally finds the answer he has been searching for. Sam is left to make an unimaginable choice.

Written by: Davy Perez

Directed by: Phil Sgriccia

Spoilers below, but I really loved this episode. (@evvvissticante @verobatto-angelxhunter @metafest)

Mary’s off-hand comment about why we don’t see Bobby, that he’s trying to cope after the stuff that happened with his own son, plays into the season’s theme of parent-child relationships. Yes, this was most likely a way to explain his presence off-screen, but they said this rather than, “he went to work a case solo, and I was sick at the time” or something like that. I suspect Bobby’s out of the picture, however temporarily, in preparation for episode 300, so it can focus on Mary and John. I feel like things between Mary and Bobby are serious, but we still need this moment of her clearly choosing a future with Bobby, and not the past with John. 

When Dean’s talking to Mary, trying to get her away from the cabin for a while, he uses the excuse of being hungry, and wanting ‘Winchester Surprise’. Not only is the viewer supposed to pick up on this as a blatant lie, but Dean forces himself to eat anyway, Like, he and Donna put away a lot of food in just the previous scene, stuff that was probably super unhealthy, with no nutritional value. Then, you see Dean force himself to eat something even worse, just to please his Mom. Maybe it’s a commentary on Dean doing stuff to please others, without actually doing anything that’s personally fulfilling? Or, I’m talking out of my ass faster than Winchester Surprise, we’ll see.

That moment, when Dean’s wanting to add something else before Mary leaves, I wonder if he was gonna say ‘Love you’? Like, try to add it casually, like he did with Sam’s hug earlier? There’s clearly something missing from the dialogue we’re meant to pick up on.

The song playing as Dean welds is “No time” by The Guess Who. Of course, the opening lyrics are “No time left for you.” 

“No time for the love you send, seasons change and so did I.” god DAMN Davy AIN’T PLAYIN’. And, right after this, we get sparks flying over the image of the shirtless cowboy. Good lord, this is gay.

As far as I’m concerned, Donna turning her back on Nick isn’t the dumbest thing I’ve seen an SPN character do to get the plot rolling. Like, have you met any member of TFW? Sometimes they mimic a bag of rocks.

Mary bought him an apple pie! Did we ever get to see them eat it? 

(I’m from the future, we don’t know if they eat the pie. How sad.)

So, a lot of the shots of Mary in this episode are very isolating. Shots from a wide angle, that make it feel like someone (Nick) is watching her, a lot of shots showing how separate her and Dean are. It’s great for building a sense of dread.

There’s a number of sneaky horror movie references in this episode: the murdered girl scout troop, probably at a camp site. Nick being THAT creepy mass slasher, the Enochian puzzle box straight out of Hellraiser, and according to IMDB, a Chucky doll. You know, Child’s Play, the movie about the soul of a murderer being trapped in a doll, and assuming control of it, ‘cause guess what? The container the killer’s in doesn’t do dick to stop him. Huh.

Time and again, we see Mary actively trying to free herself, be it getting her hands unbound, leading Nick into a booby trap, and in general buying time when and where she can. To me, this doesn’t make her a damsel in distress, she’s doing what she can to save herself.

“Didn’t really think this through, did you Nick.” well if that ain’t shades of Lucifer in S12.

“When people are past the point of saving, you need to walk away.” Dean is obviously talking about himself, and Nick, maybe even John, THIS LINE IS LAYERED.

So, why Mary? Why does Mary get kidnapped by creepy Nick? Well, Nick is chasing after the Demon that murdered his family, and is desperately seeking closure by any means necessary. He’s pretty much John, only with no regards for Human life.

In the same episode Dean brings up a memory of John not handling Mary’s death well, Mary is confronted with a John mirror.

“The more slow and bloody, the more chat.” Nick agreeing to these terms, after describing his own wife and child’s murders as “bloody, brutal, slow” shows Nick has become the very thing he hunts. I mean, we knew this the moment he hammered his neighbor, but whatever. 

Things we know for certain: Billie gave Dean fuck-all to work with at the end of ‘Nihilism’. Dean claims in 14X11 she gave him the recipe, when everything Mary looked through in the shed earlier came from books Dean got from the bunker. Not a single one of them resembled the book Billie gave him. Two options: the book was empty, or it’s something worse and more vague.

Dean, I love you, but you’re an idiot. Remember how I said TFW sometimes acted like a bag of rocks? This, the entire plan to chuck himself into the ocean, when not even the Mark of Cain was safe there. I know everyone else has been making fun of that specific point, and how our boys never seem to learn, but, damn. Dean, please, love yourself. Can you, maybe just a bit?

Pretty please?

Anyway, I loved this episode. The past two episodes have renewed my optimism for s14′s main plot, and i’m so happy about that. 

Let me know what you guys thought! Did you like it? Did you hate it? Tell me about it!

[spnreactionblogging]

our father, who aren't in heaven

SPOILERS BELOW BUT I'M REALLY LATE TO THE PARTY THIS TIME

[I actually watched this like a month ago but didn’t remember to post it, oops]

I got so backed up with real life shit that I'm delayed watching this but I stayed off tumblr and twitter almost entirely for the last few weeks to avoid spoilers but god DAMN it it's a fucking buckleming episode

why do they keep being put in charge of the return of characters who we're all very invested in? you ruin kevin tran, you are likely to ruin adam, god fucking damn it.

at least RSJ is directing

you can tell they always think their episode titles are really goddamn clever too and it pisses me off

is john winchester not in heaven anymore? I thought that was a big fucking todo, that he and mary are up there and they don't want to ruin it for them. or are you referring to chuck? or both? who cares.

poor adam.

chuck what fun is it if you just automatically win every time, huh? what's the point?

I do love rob benedict though. I don't like being frustrated with his character.

buckleming's gotta get in as many "terrified women in exploitative situations" as they can before the end huh

I like eileen a lot and I probably ought to get around to watching her actual original episodes at some point

"guest starring jake abel" has got me choked up

HEY TOO BAD THE ONLY PERSON WHO CAN READ THE TABLET IS FUCKING DEAD HUH, HOPE YOU KEPT ALL THOSE NOTES OF HIS THAT YOU OCCASIONALLY DRAG OUT AND DECLARE WORTHLESS

poor kevin, god fucking damn it all

SAM: so he has an achilles heel DEAN: well i'm saying he has a weak spot

YEAH BECAUSE DEAN IS STUPID RIGHT? THANKS BUCKLEMING

I hope misha's hip is okay

I do like donatello, I hope nothing awful happens to him :(

sorry though guys the only prophet i acknowledge is kevin tran

okay so obviously as we've known since day one they're gonna team up with the darkness to subdue chuck but things will probably work out in the end to maintain universal harmony or some shit so whatever

sam really does have queer flannel, i like that black and white and red all over shirt

I hate buckleming episodes for so many reasons but not least of all because everyone behaves like a petulant kindergartener

is sam just reading the bible? it's got that golf leaf edge

okay seriously though don't they already have kevin's notes? why is donatello translating this fresh? kevin did all this work and fucking died for it. at least honor his legacy. jesus fuck.

really though, 14.08 establishes this:

http://www.supernaturalwiki.com/14.08_Byzantium_(transcript)

[Dean awakes where he passed out on the kitchen table, and hears voices in the other room. He gets up and follows the voices to the library] SAM: Man, haven't seen this stuff in years. WOMAN: And what language is this technically in? CAS: We're not sure, but it's-- it's written in cuneiform. Kevin was very thorough. SAM: Yeah. We kept it all-- the translations, his notes on his translations, annotations. You name it. [...] SAM: That's not-- Dean, listen, last night, after about whiskey number five, it hit me. I mean, we've torn through all the lore looking for a way to cure Jack, right? But we've never looked through Kevin's angel tablet translations. DEAN: Yeah, 'cause they're worthless. I mean, Kevin translated them into-- to crazy scribble only a prophet can read. And last I checked, we can't exactly ask Donatello. LILY: Maybe I can read them.

did he not take demon tablet notes? he sure seemed to have a bunch of those in seasons 8 and 9! also why do demons not care about this anymore

"if my dad kept me locked in a cage for ten years" oh yeah? if one month on earth is ten years in hell, then adam's been in the cage with michael for 120 earth months = 1,200 years in hell. OVER A MILLENNIUM IN HELL.

buckleming so completely fail to hold my attention even during the episode that ostensibly the whole fandom's been waiting for for a decade, that writing the word "millennium" got me sidetracked into watching some backstreet boys music videos and an nsync one to boot. what do you even have to say for yourselves, buckleming.

okay I got way distracted about the 8tracks closure

so I can't help but notice that STILL they have nothing to say about adam, they just need michael. like.

wow.

cas is the one to bring it up! I fucking love you castiel

keith szarabajka does a good rob benedict

buckleming writing this: chuck should immediately threaten all the women in their lives

oh so NOW dean doesn't want cas going to hell. cute. after forcing him to do so alongside belphegor. fuck you, dean.

i love sam and eileen doing witchy shit and cas watching

oh rowena's back.

i guess we should've known if she died she'd just like. go to hell.

"so fix it!" says rowena, by way of buckleming, dismissing everything castiel has every right to be angry about, as if this should just be shrugged off. easy for her to say when she's the one who fucked things over for crowley. not cool with sam being out of the room for that either? sam is very much involved with these proceedings.

I'm here for adam's food appreciation

I don't remember what happened to adam's mom? was it with the ghouls?

family does suck, adam.

I don't want to hear dean's commentary about sam's relationships or whether eileen is hot or anything like that, ever. butt out.

I do like the actress playing lilith

I need bourbon too, donnie. fortunately i had some prepared before i clicked play on this episode

I loooove these shots of castiel with the chessboard and the railing/bannister/whatever

I get that cas is being "BAMF" again I GUESS or whatever but I'm irritated with him stooping to this level of like... what dean pressured sam into with jack in S14, with using this intense sincerity to trick people. not a fan. and SHOCKER, "jack in the box" was written by buckleming too so there you go. there's this episode of bob's burgers where linda's running a murder mystery dinner and is like "ha! I was the murderer all along even though I said I wasn't!" you didn't connect shit, you're just lying

I will give buckleming exactly one point, even though it's 99% jensen's delivery, but calling him "mike" so derisively is hilarious

why don't they just tell him his AU self had the same goal last season

they definitely don't let them actually apologize! gee! all this time and they don't actually apologize. fuck off.

you could've written ANYTHING. anything at all, buckleming.

adam knows all about not knowing the secrets your dad is keeping

I'm glad adam doesn't forgive them.

"they believe it's true so it's probably true" is bad reasoning here

I feel like sue is probably fucked? or else this is a trap.

michael's the golden child and doesn't realize he's being abused by god just like the rest. at least he doesn't in this version

who said he had an entire tree up his ass, balthazar? zachariah? dean? bobby?

I think cas was right to show him the truth, just the events as they occurred

ugh i'm so nervous and uncomfortable for cas that there's no one here to intermediate if dean goes after him

literally after I type this I unpause and cas asks "where's sam?"

yeah i knew it was a trap. and here chuck's going to hurt eileen because he can.

I'm glad dean apologized on behalf of both of them I guess? but also not cool with sam not being here to talk to adam himself.

I'm glad michael found out about AU michael

stoked about purgatory honestly. bring back benny. BRING BACK GORDON. bring back dick roman.

cas looks so tired. what a note to end on.

I am also tired.

[mittensmorgul]

Faith on the tnt loop (which, full disclosure, I slept through oopsie, so I pulled out the blu ray because this is NOT one I can skip).

Post 14.20, this episode is... extra-amazing, honestly. I’ve always felt that this episode was unwittingly (possibly, at the time it was written) a window into what this story could potentially do. When I first binged this series, this was the first episode I finished where I had to stop and completely reevaluate what I was actually witnessing. This was the episode that took me from casually consuming a fun lil monster show to 100% invested in this grand narrative. Even without any knowledge of what the ensuing 6 1/2 season (that existed at the time), I felt like I had my first glimpse of a much bigger picture in store for me. This was the first episode that, after a break to absorb what I’d just witnessed, I went back and immediately watched it again. Turns out I wasn’t reading too much into it... in fact, I wasn’t reading nearly enough into it...

The episode begins with Sam and Dean hunting a monster that we’ve only ever seen once more in the entirety of canon-- a rawhead, which earned a mention in 14.01 after an off-screen hunt for one went wrong enough to have left a tooth behind in one of the AU hunters. As if the monster in this case has been rendered doubly irrelevant, by virtue of the fact it practically dies offscreen in 1.12 while Dean's defeat of it and his own actions and choices in defeating it are the actual inciting incident of all the relevant action to follow. And in 14.01, all that remains of the rawahead was a tooth that's extracted from a wound and likely a wild hunter's tale.

Dean explains the use of the tasers they're using to take down the rawhead (specifically that the electricity is deadly to it and each weapon is one use only, "so make it count"). Dean takes his shot, and misses, but they find the children the rawhead had been holding captive. Dean tells Sam to take them outside to safety, and Sam hands over his taser to Dean, leaving Dean alone to face the monster (who we learn in 14.01 moves a lot faster than expected, and fast enough that we never even really see it in 1.12). Dean is literally backed into a corner, on the ground in a puddle of water, with the monster looming over him when he chooses to take his shot. It's not like he had much choice, right? So he shoots, and thanks to the water he's lying in, he electrocutes himself as well, damaging his own heart to the point where the doctor gives him a month to live.

He could've made a different choice, could've rolled out of the water, could've tried to fight off the rawhead (probably ineffectively) but perhaps enough that it would've given up and escaped to hunt children another day, but Dean took his shot, in a circumstance where he felt it was the right thing to end this monster and prevent it from hurting anyone ever again, even when it hurt him in the process. Not that he knew it would necessarily kill him to do it, but he was fully aware of the power of the weapon in his hand and what it was capable of, and accepted that it would hurt him right along with the monster he'd aimed it at since they were “connected” through the puddle of water.

Can anyone else say Hammurabi? Equalizer?

All of this has happened before.

But that's just the beginning. Because Dean survived, even if mortally wounded. This was the first time, though, that they were motivated to defy death, and that brings us to the true Monster of the Week-- Sue Ann LeGrange. Yes, I know it's technically "a reaper," but operating under Sue Ann's control and on her orders. She was the one who chose who lived and who died, based on who SHE thought was worthy, or unworthy in the case of her chosen victims. She was "playing god," deceiving her husband after saving HIS life with this dark magic (which required at least TWO sacrifices on her part-- one to make the altar and talisman to bind the reaper in the first place, and one person to die to save Roy, unbeknownst to him), and letting him think that he was miraculously granted the gift of healing by God.

And Sam decides to look for a similar sort of miraculous cure for Dean, even when Dean had accepted his own apparent fate:

DEAN: Look, Sammy, what can I say, man, it's a dangerous gig. I drew the short straw. That's it, end of story. SAM: Don't talk like that, alright? We still have options. DEAN: What options? Yeah, burial or cremation. And I know it's not easy. But I'm gonna die. And you can't stop it. SAM: Watch me.

Sam isn't about to go committing human sacrifice like Sue Ann, but after a tearful phone call plea to John for help, which goes unreplied to, Sam takes matters into his own hands, just as Dean checks himself out of the hospital having accepted his fate:

SAM: You know, this whole I-laugh-in-the-face-of-death thing? It's crap. I can see right through it. DEAN: Yeah, whatever, dude. Have you even slept? You look worse than me. SAM: (Helping DEAN to a chair) I've been scouring the Internet for the last three days. Calling every contact in Dad's journal. DEAN: For what? SAM: For a way to help you. One of Dad's friends, Joshua, he called me back. Told me about a guy in Nebraska. A specialist. DEAN: You're not gonna let me die in peace, are you? SAM: I'm not gonna let you die, period. We're going.

(aside to lol at John’s friend being named “Joshua,” namesake of the one angel God continued to talk to after supposedly abandoning Heaven and Earth, the angel who told Sam and dean in 5.16 that God refused to step in to help stop the apocalypse, and the angel killed in 12.19 by Dagon before fetus!Jack hijacked Cas to kill Dagon in turn... and even after his death it was Joshua’s amulet in 14.17 that enabled him to summon Chuck back into the story... funny that this hunter we never hear about again was the one to point Sam in the direction of this healer...)

And I'm sorry to just keep pasting in chunks of transcript, but this all goes to Sam and Dean's respective outlooks on pretty much everything, and the Grand Manipulation of Chuck in the entire narrative as we now understand it post 14.20:

DEAN: I mean, come on, Sam, a faith healer? SAM: Maybe it's time to have a little faith, Dean. DEAN: You know what I've got faith in? Reality. Knowing what's really going on. SAM: How can you be a skeptic? With the things we see everyday? DEAN: Exactly. We see them, we know there real. SAM: But if you know evil's out there, how can you not believe good's out there, too? DEAN: Because I've seen what evil does to good people.

Sam has faith, Dean's a skeptic. Throughout s14 we saw what it would take to break Dean to the point where he would accept the word of God without question. It literally took the entire season, more than half of it revolving around his possession and complete loss of free will and self, building him up when Michael left him again and giving him a false sense of security to begin to feel comfortable building emotional bridges to his entire family (including Jack), only to tear it all down and lose himself to Michael again on a whim, losing Mary again, losing Jack to soullessness because of his own failed choices (in his estimation, at least). This process of showing Dean how little power and control he has over his own existence was furthered by Billie presenting him with the supposed singular solution to save the world, which Dean interpreted to mean the most horrifying iteration of self-sacrifice the show has ever presented to us-- an eternity spent at the bottom of the ocean, locked with Michael in the Ma'lak box. Ironically, just as he was beginning to think of himself as something more than just a weapon, the parallel can't help but be drawn to the First Blade, which Cain had thrown to the bottom of the ocean in a similar fashion. Which should only serve to remind us that even that's not a permanent solution to any problem. And I think THAT was the lesson Billie truly wished Dean to understand. Jack is the one who ends up making the true sacrifice (his own human soul) to kill Michael once and for all, and Dean is left with the guilt of that.

But several other important incidents in s14 tie directly back to this, too. 14.08, playing with life and death, learning about what truly matters in someone's destiny after death, and what the Winchesters are willing to do to save a loved one. Ironically, in the process, Cas is backed into a corner, making a deal with the Empty Entity for his own happiness in exchange for Jack's soul.

Nothing ever comes for free. The Winchesters have been juggling these horrific choices and sacrifices their entire lives, and nothing is ever just as simple as an uncomplicated win.

Which is a key element of 1.12. Dean's skepticism, his feeling of "wrongness" after being healed by Roy, uncovers the larger truth. Sam desperately wants Dean to just let it go, accept it as a miracle, and move on:

SAM: Look, Dean, do we really have to look this one in the mouth? Why can't we just be thankful that the guy saved your life and move on? DEAN: Because I can't shake this feeling, that's why.

A miracle isn't enough for Dean, and the truth is darker and more horrifying than Sam can accept. As he uncovers more and more of the facts of just how Roy is supposedly healing people, he tearfully apologizes to Dean, and they work together to find a way to stop it from happening again. Someone is controlling a reaper, literally trading one life for another. Chuck must've LOVED this episode of his favorite show. It nails all his favorite themes:

DEAN: You never should've brought me here. SAM: Dean, I was just trying to save your life. DEAN: But, Sam, some guy is dead now because of me. SAM: I didn't know.

Ignorance of the truth didn't stop them from becoming entangled in this mess, though. Just like it hasn't stopped them from becoming entangled in every other cosmic mess they've stumbled across over the succeeding 14 seasons. Sam believed it was a miracle, and his faith had blinded him to the truth-- or at least made him want to believe, motivated by the results at Dean's miraculous healing. It's the same faith that led him in early s11 to want to believe his visions were coming from God, that maybe his visions that had plagued him in early seasons were being used for good now-- and with the intervention of Billie in 11.02 when those visions began, it's interesting how the solution that actually saved his life in that circumstance technically came from what she said to him about being "unclean in the biblical sense."

Reapers and their powers and limitations (clean hands!), and their knowledge of the Bigger Picture that Billie herself won't be able to see until she dies and is resurrected with the mantle of Death, have their beginnings in the mythology right here, enslaved to the will of a mortal woman who believed she could make choices about who deserved to live and who deserved to die based on her own corrupted sense of morality.

Even when the concept of Death is introduced in 5.10, he's presented as "lesser" than what he truly is by virtue of Lucifer having bound him to his will for the purposes of the apocalypse, and as merely one of the Four Horsemen equal to War, Famine, and Pestilence. In 5.21, we learn what he's "supposed to be." Practically an equal to God, with the power over all life and death. It's not really until 13.05 that we learn the truth about just how powerful Billie has become, and yet what her limitations still are. We begin to see one side of this massive cosmic chess match, all leading up to the biggest revelation of them all in 14.20.

Back to 1.12 again... (sorry it's impossible not to be continually distracted by the theme spiral here). Dean also is uncomfortable for the first time over the potential for The Lord to be eyeballing him specifically, which is a feeling he's gonna truly grow into throughout s4 "I don't like being singled out at birthday parties, let alone by God," right up through the showdown at the end of 14.20.

DEAN: Why? Why me? Out of all the sick people, why save me? ROY: Well, like I said before, the Lord guides me. I looked into your heart, and you just stood out from all the rest. DEAN: What did you see in my heart? ROY: A young man with an important purpose. A job to do. And it isn't finished.

Throughout the episode, they believe it's Roy controlling the reaper and making the choices about who lives and dies, but he was literally blind to the fact it was Sue Ann. He was as much a victim in all of this as the people he believed he was healing, that he believed he had been touched by God to impart new life to. But knowing the full truth, Dean has to stop someone from being healed that even HE believes deserves to be saved, to be spared the suffering of a life cut short by an inoperable brain tumor, after learning an innocent man would die in her place. No matter how much he might feel that Layla didn't deserve that fate, he also doesn't believe the man who'd been protesting Roy's healing ministry deserves to die just for that fact, either.

SUE ANN: I just don't understand. After everything we've done for you. After Roy healed you. I'm just very very disappointed Dean DEAN stares at her, saying nothing. SUE ANN: You can let him go. I'm not gonna press charges. The Lord will deal with him as he sees fit. SUE ANN leaves. The cops turn to DEAN. COP 1: We catch you round here again son, we'll put the fear of God in you, understand?

Once again, in text, Sue Ann is unwittingly labeled "God." It's not God's wrath Dean fears, but Sue Ann's, knowing his defiance has likely turned him from worthy of healing to unworthy of living. Now this has moved beyond idealistically wanting to stop someone from playing god with people's lives right back to the immediate need to stop them before someone else becomes the next victim. And all of their choices-- Dean not being able to walk away, not being able to look the other way, discovering the full horrific truth of how he himself had been brought back from the brink of death, led them to this juncture where it truly felt like they had no other choice but to stop the monster. It literally became a life and death matter for Dean.

I still find it fascinating that as a result of their actions and choices in this episode, the reaper who'd been enslaved to Sue Ann's will was freed when Sam crushed the talisman that kept him bound. I find that highly amusing in retrospect, that while Dean was literally touched by an incarnation of Death several times in this episode, Sam effectively committed services rendered to the Cosmic Order.

We've learned so much about all of this over the years, as well-- the need for balance, order in the universe, and so many of those lessons have come from Death directly. Dean learns some of this firsthand in 6.11, for example, when he takes on Death's job for a day (or at least the life-and-death side of his job, now that we know so much more about his knowledge and understanding of creation as a whole). We learn even more through Billie, and her constant reminders that what's dead should stay dead, and through Billie's reapers once she becomes Death. 13.19 reminds us, through a story about the consequences of killing reapers, just how tenuous the course of cosmic events can be, and what the universe does to self-correct when the balance tilts too far in one direction. It's a lesson Tessa began to teach way back in 4.15, in an episode where Dean once again saves the life of a reaper (not only unwittingly protecting the cosmic balance, but literally stopping the breaking of a seal and staving off the apocalypse for at least another day, and that entire episode, that entire case, only happened through the unwitting guidance of them to the case by Cas-- still operating under Heaven’s orders and pretending to be Bobby sending them to that town to investigate...).

It has always felt to me that the show has subtly revealed more about the truth of the cosmos through death and Death than anything else. And that's on full display now in 1.12. Sue Ann's lies of omission about Roy's "powers," her manipulation of circumstance and her ensnarement of a reaper to do her will, choosing who lives and dies and literally "playing God," is it really any wonder to find out that Chuck has attempted to do the same on the highest cosmic scale from the start? He is a writer, after all, writing the entire story of the universe even as the universe fights to tell its own story. It's only by looking to the center and seeing the truth of the entire picture that they can free themselves from that fate, break the spell that's held them captive to Chuck's narrative and this endless cycle of sacrifice.

Heck I still love this episode. So much that I’ve let the next three episodes play out in the background... This is the entire spiral of the story played out in miniature, wrapped into a single episode.