#obsessed with the fact that jack looks like cas because he chose him as his dad lucifer is and has always been irrelevant tohim <3< /div> Explore tagged Tumblr posts

[winchestergifs]

STACKEDNATURAL ⇉ 180/327

13.12 Various & Sundry Villains Written by Steve Yockey Directed by Amanda Tapping Original Air Date: February 1, 2018

[deanwasalwaysbi]

This post from @crookedcryptid suggesting Dean and Castiel were canonically together from Dean's prayer confession on put a big stupid grin on my face, and then I went off and analyzed every episode that came afterward. So here you go?

Castiel’s in about every other episode from that point. And they are actually separated in the majority of the majority of the episodes, but the way they interact is just loving.

Episode by episode analysis under the cut. 

At The Trap, Dean confesses to Castiel in his prayer how he really feels (but not like that at least not in Chuck's censured version that we see) while Eileen and Sam split up bc of Chuck. It's late revealed that Chuck sent Sam Eileen and Sent Cas & Dean to Purgatory so they'd lose hope. (Cas must have defied Chuck's plan yet again by stopping Dean from voicing his feelings bc that's the only explanation I have to make this make any sense. (x) )

After Dean's confession, the next episode immediately separates Cas & Dean but Dean pines after the domestic life like Garth has with his family, an alternative lifestyle Dean once saw as unacceptably evil. (x)

But then next episode Castiel goes and finds Jack and brings him home. Brings him home to Dean who does this. (See gif above that lives rent free in my mind /\)

He holds Jack’s face just like he did Ben’s.  He looks into Jack’s eyes, one then the other, as if to verify that it’s really him. Then he looks from Jack to Castiel.

This dad moment. This neck hold and look to Castiel that simultaneously says, “you brought my son home to me” but also screams in Jensen’s headcanon that Dean used to look at Jack and see Lucifer but now he looks at him and sees Cas. 

(Tho that shouldn’t be hard since they clearly cast their combined biological child.)

I’m obsessed with it. It haunt my dreams and inhabits my waking brain.

The fact that this is not before ‘The Trap’ but after is so important. They didn’t set it right between them artificially, by Cas bringing Jack home. Instead, they set it right between them and then they got their son back.  Otherwise, it is the last piece of the puzzle to patch their relationship.  Dean was envious of Garth’s family, and suddenly Dean has his back.

In Galaxy Brain Chuck’s screen shows a view of Dean and Cas sitting super closely huddled together at the kitchen table. (x) Is actually from an earlier episode. There’s also the dadliest dadstiel moment ever, with Castiel letting his god killing, resurrected, super powered, three-year-old win at connect four, which was not in the script, but added by Misha and Sp8. (x)  When Sam and Cas disagree on Jack, Cas backs up Jack and Dean supports Cas over Sam.  The husbands share a whiskey while reveling in how they brought Jack up right,  “I knew it, Dean. When I was with Jack’s mother, she… You know, Kelly just had faith that Jack would be good for the world, and I felt it, too. I knew it. And then, when everything went wrong, and God took him from us… I was lost in a way I’ve never been before. Because I knew the story wasn’t over. I knew Jack wasn’t done. And I was right.” (Even if Dean’s a little too excited about using Jack as a weapon.) (Maybe this line explains what's been up with the Hellers these past 6 months yall.)

This is huge, because Dean was destroyed at the end of last season, imo, bc his idea of Jack was destroyed and he felt the need to cut himself off from all thoughts that he could have that family.  (x)

Cas also wordlessly goes into Dean’s backpack in a moment of routine casual intimacy.

Destiny’s Child & Dean calling Cas an idiot for risking his life yet again- not knowing that Cas felt secure in the knowledge that he wouldn't die bc of his deal. Dean was legit scared to lose him again. (oh no my heart). With that extra knowledge Cas had it's exactly the kind of thing Dean would do. Dean's done this exact thing before both when he was, and was not, suicidal. (S13, S6) They get Jack’s soul back, but first the classic “oh no my child has ingested something”.

Last Holiday- No Cas. 😒

Gimme Shelter - Our boys are separated yet again - Castiel talks to Paster Sexy (recast doctor sexy) who says it’s okay to be gay. We get a lot of charming Cas with Jack moments. Something happens in this episode, it happens off-screen and it's something we've basically have never seen in this series. Jack tells Castiel that he expects to die to defeat Chuck and rather than fall into the pattern we've seen every single season, Castiel immediately tells Dean what is going on, immediately tells Dean everything he needs to know to protect Jack.

Drag me Away From You (ugh oh no and they will) - No Cas

Unity - end of the warm wuvy dov. 

Dean lets Jack think he isn’t family.  Sam discovers that if they let Jack kill Chuck that Billie will kill Eileen, anyone from another dimension or resurrected and Dean. Looks. At. Cas. (x) The fear in his eyes. 

By this point Dean is unhinged. He’s back to the beginning of the season when he was afraid that all of this was Chuck’s control rather than a real relationship between them. This should have been an ‘absolution’ moment for Jack, the one Castiel says here that Jack doesn’t need from anyone but himself. The closest we get to confirmation that Cas has learned that lesson himself. (x) Dean was so destroyed after his idea of Jack died that it split up his marriage …  I mean….  Dean already chose Jack’s life once, even after Mary.  Dean is choosing him over using him as a weapon to kill Chuck is huge considering how spun out Dean was by this point.  I’m convinced that without Cas being there Dean would not have stopped, and might have let Jack sacrifice himself, might have shot Sam giving Chuck his ending.

I’m also convinced that Chuck designed The Trap to have Cas die 8 episodes ago. (x) That Dean was never supposed to have this post trap period with him.  So that he would be hopeless just like he was in episode 19.  That was in the version Chuck wrote back in episode 4. Without Cas, Chuck would have gotten his ending. (x) Woof there is a sentence that hurts in 15x20

18 - skipping this winchester main pain for the mo-

So this all got me thinking about Dean’s face after Cas says he loves him, the little choked up headshake, like maybe that’s just verbal confirmation of something he, on some level, already knew. (x)

I haven’t hit 15 in my rewatch yet and I’m sure I will find new a different things to piss me tf off when I do. 

Morning erybody?

[laora-inn]

Supernatural - 15x17. On Chuck, Cas, and love. Chuck’s true weakness

As all my SPN metas, it’s Destiel positive and happy end positive, don’t like - don’t read.

15x17 gave us a lot about Chuck and Amara relationship. Now I should tell, that inside the story they are not mirrors for some other SPN characters. SPN characters are supposed to be mirrors for them.

Or that’s how it was planned by Chuck.

From the start Chuck wasn’t whole. That’s where his disappointment in angels and humans comes from. That’s why, though he needs fans, the same time he despises them and can’t see the truth, which is obvious for them (i. e. for Becky).  Chuck doesn’t kill his fans. He just sends them away, ‘cause they are "annoying” and have their own demands. He prefers to ignore that. Just like channel execs preferred to ignore us when it came to Cas and DeanCas. 

Chuck sends his angelic fans away the same he did with Becky in 15x04, with the same words actually. “I didn’t kill him (Becky’s husband). He’s just far away”. Chuck ruins their lives with ignoring them - but also he ruins lives of those who he is interested in. Lucifer was his most beloved son - and Chuck gave him the Mark of Cain, which corrupted him... though Chuck’s main purpose there was to seal Amara, of course. 

That’s how his disappointment began. He sealed the part of himself and became BROKEN. Broke himself, actually.  In 15x17 Chuck says he was obsessed by fractals, repetitions of one form on different levels, and that’s true: in Sam and Dean’s story he just tries to repeat his and Amara’s one - maybe, to understand something. To fix himself. Not to be haunted of his own failures. That’s his self-therapy - but it didn’t work even a little for ages... until he saw something true. Until the story of Team Free Will began and his puppets suddenly weren’t puppets anymore. 

Why? I think we all Destihellers had known, but in 15x17 we got a serious confirmation.  These Sam and Dean are so special because of this Cas, because of his total and absolute disobedience. According to Chuck, that’s the only real difference between their story and the others’ ones. 

The reason of that is obvious - love. Cas’s perfect angelic devotion, but not to God. Here I wrote about Adam and Seraphina and the sacred oath reason - in connection to Cas.  Chuck doesn’t understand Cas’s (and love - the synonyms here) importance for his story. For him Cas “is something that always goes wrong” (Dean’s words from 15x03, fascinating *sarcasm*). Here in the end there are some thoughts about Cas’s being the greatest trickster of the show.

There are lots of Sams, Deans, Cases. But there is one Amara. In 15x17 she said her return because of the Winchesters was a part of Chuck’s plan - except her feelings for Dean, as Chuck confirmed. I suppose we can believe him - he chose these Sam and Dean to return Amara, to deal with her. Thanks to them he finally found the will to face her - not to make it looks like one sibling’s death/sealing is the logical reason for another one to live long and happy life (like for Dean in 5x22, after Sam’s sacrifice). Chuck used the story to heal his trauma - but he ignored Lucifer’s trauma, his desperate want to be loved, and the Winchesters’ story continued. Now I think that it was a part of Chuck’s plan - he liked these boytoys so much. And with considering them boytoys, his trauma wasn’t healed.  ‘Cause it wasn’t Amara who caused it. It was always Chuck himself.  In 15x04 he said that he hates himself. I have no doubts about it, but all he’s doing was making it even worse. Hurting others means deepening your wounds. To find the way you should stop. Just stop. And enjoy the moment, maybe - like Amara in 15x17 advised. 

But Chuck didn’t listen to her. Enjoyment means love, and he can’t love. Only manipulate. 

Unlike Chuck, Amara found her harmony. I assume that’s because she found love in herself, not outside. The love outside can’t be appreciated if your heart is closed, like Chuck’s. Well, Amara’s heart is open, and that makes her vulnerable I guess.  In the beginning of 15x17 Amara was reading “Norwegian wood”. I’ve also read this book and think that the main message here is: the real is always better than some dreams about. Just like Amara said to Dean about Mary in 15x15... though Dean seemed not to understand her.  Betraying Amara for Dean means betraying himself and letting Chuck, the vengeful father, who is ready to sacrifice his children in a heartbeat, win. Betraying her means Dean becomes Chuck’s mirror. He gives up his family not for his own freedom, but for Chuck’s.  ALL THIS STORY WAS CREATED BECAUSE CHUCK WANTED TO HAVE HIS FREE WILL. And he can’t. 

I assume somewhere in 15x04 he thought Amara’s consumption was the only way to become whole, to find free will, to feel joy, not disappointment. To be happy. 

In 6x20 we saw Cas’s praying to Chuck while sitting on a bench, with some flowers near. We know that was the moment when Chuck could stop Cas, prevent all this Leviathan story... unless he WANTED it. In 15x04 he said that he loved monsters, Leviathans especially. And by that time he certainly wanted Cas dead (as well as the channel execs, I suppose). 

In 15x17 we see Amara praying to Chuck while sitting on a bench, with a flower in her hands. She wants a balance with him. He wants her dead - not literally though. 

Did Chuck know that in 15x17 Amara would trap him? I think yes. He wanted that specifically.

Did he know that Sam would be alive by the end of 15x17? I think no. He was disappointed again, he WASN’T HAPPY even after Amara’s disappearance.  

Why wasn’t he? The Empty gave us a clue while making a deal with Cas: to be happy you must let yourself be happy. And that’s impossible without love, understanding, and TRANSFORMATION.

Yet Chuck didn’t understand that AGAIN. He said “kill each other, don’t kill each other - I don’t care” to boys only because he succeeded in killing Amara as a personality finally. So he didn’t need Sam and Dean as “mirrors” of his own toxic relationship with his sibling anymore.

But we - now we understand. Chuck revealed the secret himself when told about this Cas’s uniqueness.

To be whole doesn’t mean to manipulate and to devour, in fact these are the opposites. Maybe Sam, Dean and Cas ARE broken, but not as much as Chuck himself. Maybe they are broken only because of him and his trauma, his awful relationship with Amara. Maybe, unlike him, they found the real way to healing.  

Maybe their “cracks” are not like his. Maybe these “cracks” are the free will itself, the things that can change the convo, and they are also something Chuck doesn’t know about -  ‘cause he doesn’t understand them. 

He doesn’t truly understand love. 

The way Cas supports Sam while looking the way to save Jack. The things he says during Sam and Dean’s fight - small things, not important at first sight. They weren’t scripted by Chuck I think: Dean, don’t. Sam, why not? All these looks - from Sam to Cas before confronting Dean. From Cas to Sam and Dean. From Dean to Cas - Dean was looking at Cas several times while listening to Sam, for support or confirmation.

Cas couldn’t fight Dean there, he was so unsure. He didn’t even agree to buy Sam some time if Dean comes back earlier than Sam. But he supported Sam in his fight, said to him not to surrender, said, that Sam’s internal compass was functioning perfectly. That’s moral support only, but it could change things.

Dean also saw support in Cas, but Cas had doubts, he ASKED Sam, why not, and Dean just HAD TO listen. 

As a result they confirmed themselves as Team Free Will. All the three of them - they could escape the next Chuck’s trap.    Still I assume the crucial party in that belongs to Cas. He is something that always isn’t in the plan, something unpredictable.  Notice - when Sam, Jack and Dean deal with Amara, there is no Cas with them. But in the end of 15x17 it’s Cas who asks Chuck about Amara, and that wasn’t the part of his plan. I suppose this question was the reason of Chuck’s getting angry so much that he revealed the secret about this Cas as a kind of offence. Like it’s bad - to be unpredictable. To be a trickster.  To be real.

Chuck’s words about this Cas’s uniqueness influence Cas for sure. After them he looked at Dean TWICE (what for?!), and I think that’s possible that his latter question “What do you mean?” refers to these Chuck’s words especially. Cas was just lost in his thoughts when he heard them. Only when Chuck told about Jack’s death, Cas was brought back to reality. Coincidence? Hell no. 

Now Cas understood something thanks to Chuck, and that will play in 15x18 for sure. 

Also, in 15x17 we didn’t see any Cas+Empty interaction. Only Sam+Empty - but THIS IS CAS’S HELP TO SAM THAT MADE IT POSSIBLE.

So maybe Chuck knew about Sam coming to Death library. But did he know about Sam’s getting God Death book? We’ll wait and see. To conclude: Chuck can’t control love ‘cause he doesn’t understand it, doesn’t feel it. And that's the true weakness that will end him.  Chuck’s true weakness is revealed: he isn’t in love. With anything. 

[wayward-writers]

Hey hey ✨ Hope you’re all doing good!

Okay, I don’t know how you’ll handle Jack, but as someone who’s obsessed with baby/toddler Jack, let me throw this idea at you. When they first take him home to the bunker, Jack is an actual baby. And I believe that this will change Dean’s perspective on the whole thing a lot. For one very specific reason.

At first, he’s still suspicious, and doesn’t trust the idea of what Jack can become (and let’s not forget, he’s grieving, and blaming Jack for everything that happened) and he just doesn’t want that baby. But they can’t give him away because they don’t know what he’ll be capable of and Sam can’t take care of a baby alone, and Dean’s better with kids anyway, so he has to help out. And so I do believe that with Jack being a baby, it’s much easier for Dean to build a connection to him. Because at one point, probably in the middle of the night when Dean tries everything to get the baby to go back to sleep and nothing works, he starts talking about Cas. He doesn’t even do it for Jack, he does it for himself. Because it’s not like Jack can understand him. But Dean gets a chance to talk through his feelings on Cas’ death, and Jack finally stops crying. And then, when Dean looks at Jack, he sees Cas. Now he doesn’t know if it’s because he just talked about Cas, or if it’s because Jack chose Cas to be his dad before he was born or because Jack is technically Cas’ nephew or if he’s just imagining it, but he sees Cas. And he remembers that if Cas were still alive, he’d have loved that baby. And he realises that this is Cas’ child. Not Lucifer’s, Cas’. And so from that point on, he clings to taking care of the baby for Cas and that’s what creates a father son connection and keeps Dean going.

(I don’t think Dean recognising Cas in Jack that early on would happen if Jack was a teenager, just because Dean wouldn’t pay as much close attention to him, because he doesn’t need or want to)

(also, Jack being a baby wouldn’t allow that thing Sam did where he kind of pressured Jack to use his powers, I never liked that)

(Also Jack is the most adorable baby, that’s just a fact)

Hi! Thanks for taking the time to write your submission out, I enjoyed reading it!

I find this headcanon really interesting because there are a lot of ways where Jack actually being a “baby” at least at first, could work pretty well. I’m a big fan of especially, later on, Dean becoming closer to Jack and eventually having that “son” and “father” relationship with him, trying to be the stable parent for Jack that he himself didn’t have growing up. I also feel like Dean was always really good with kids and while he didn’t trust Jack at first, eventually he would take on that father figure role. 

I could definitely see him being suspicious at first, grieving, not wanting Jack around but also unable for him not to be there, because he’d technically just be a baby who can’t help themselves. 

The headcanon about Dean one night, being with Jack trying to get him to sleep and just talking to him, I really like this because it’s Dean being able to be open and honest when nobody else is around and coming to terms that what happened isn’t Jacks fault as he’s just a baby.

There’s a quote that I latched onto that I think really plays into your last few sentences. “The first time Dean saw Jack, he could only see Lucifer but now he only sees Cas.” It shows how they did start to have a bond and he started to see Jack as a reflection of Cas and the good that a person can be. 

I agree that it’s probably easier for Dean to see Cas in Jack if he’s younger, I also think that at any age, especially as he spent more time with Jack and saw his personality and the way he treated people, he’d start to see more Cas in him. Just because of the way he interacted with people, Sam and Dean. 

[a-mandala-rose]

You Spin Me Right Round...

I’ve never written a meta post about an episode before, so with only three episodes left, I figured this is the perfect time to start. It typically takes me a few days to process and gather my thoughts, because much like Dean this season, I’m rather slow on the uptake. By the time I have something to say, it usually feels like the moment has passed. But what the hell. We’re three episodes from the end and I have FEELINGS.

To start, I’m going to back up a moment and talk about 15X16 (see “slow on the uptake,” above). Lots of fans, myself included, found themselves frustrated with watching what at first glance seems to be your run of the mill MOTW episode. A *good* MOTW, for sure, but still, with only four episodes left to go, it felt like we should be past this by now. In fact, “aren’t we past this?” seemed to be the theme of the entire episode and that alone should have clued us in that despite appearances, this episode was anything but just another MOTW. If that was too subtle, Billie’s pointed “you’re working a case? Now?” should have been a dead give away that we needed to look deeper. And many tried, but the most a lot of us could come up with was the brothers’ big emotional argument at the end and even that was a giant moment of “been there, done that.” Why at what should be a pivotal point in the series are we rehashing the same arguments we’ve been watching for the past 15 years?

Jumping ahead to 15X17 for a moment, we see Dean absolutely breaking down. He’s losing it. Imploding. Leaving aside all of the problematic comments about and to Jack (we’ll come back to that), Dean lays out the crux of the problem when he and Jack are talking in the Impala: he doesn’t know what’s real. Like he’s been saying all season, he’s lost the perspective to be able to tell what about his life has been his choice and what has been Chuck’s machinations. He’s stuck in Chuck’s hamster wheel. Going ‘round and ‘round. Repeating the same scenes, lines, hunts, and arguments on a loop. Wait…why does that ring a bell?

Back to 15X16 and NOW it makes sense. Why are we stuck in yet another MOTW episode? Why is Dean lying to Sam again? Why is he once again sacrificing someone he loves, leading them “into the meat grinder?” Why is he backsliding on all that great emotional growth we saw last season? Why is he repeating the same destructive patterns that thanks to Kaitlyn, we know he’s been stuck in since childhood? IT’S THE HAMSTER WHEEL. Round and round we go…but whose hamster wheel is it?

Back to 15X17, LOTS going on in this episode and I’m not going to touch on all of it. But some highlights [and these are in no particular order because 1) I’m scatterbrained as hell and 2) the fuck does it matter anyways, because as we’ve established, we’re just going around in a big ass circle here]:

We see some absolutely masterful manipulation by Chuck. Manipulating Dean in order to manipulate Amara because he knows thanks to their “bond,” she’ll never turn on Dean…unless he betrays her first…which brings us to two of the biggest points in this episode. First off, we learn that Chuck didn’t write the Dean/Amara bond, which, as many more brilliant meta minds have pointed out before me, mirrors Dean and Cas’ profound bond, which we learn at the end of the episode was also NOT written by Chuck (and in fact pisses him off quite a bit, to put it mildly.) This reminds us that though he claims to be omniscient, Chuck is definitely NOT omnipotent and while he may be able to control space and time, one thing he can’t control is human emotional bonds and relationships. And this friends, this is important. In fact, it’s everything.

Right before Chuck confesses that Castiel is, as Cas fans have long insisted, the very embodiment of free will (more on that later), Sam references Eileen, which, yes, is very sweet, but also...also, is a call back to their relationship, specifically, to Eileen’s fears that her feelings for Sam weren’t genuine. She wonders what about her and Sam’s relationship was real and what was Chuck, which we knew at the time was a mirror to Dean’s “What about all this is real?” The answer, of course? “We are.” And now we have confirmation: emotional bonds/relationships are REAL. They might be manipulated by Chuck, but they aren’t created by him and clearly, he can’t understand them. That’s illustrated several times in this episode. His reaction to Dean’s “icky” bond with Amara. His inability to "feel the love" of the angels she took him to see. His cold manipulation of his sister. The throwback to the way he threw Adam and Eve, his first human children, out of the Garden and then used their sons to further his own plans. His consternation with Castiel for not doing as he was told after he raised Dean from perdition.

Chuck doesn’t understand and didn’t create emotions. Which seems obvious wen you think about the fact that his first sentient children didn’t have them. Emotions are a specifically HUMAN creation and that is what makes humans so frustrating and incomprehensible to Chuck. It’s why he hates them. Not only are a few of them very disobedient pets, as a whole they've created something he cannot. What a blow to the ego that must be.

The second thing referenced by Amara and Chuck’s conversations about Dean is his betrayal of her. Chuck’s telling Amara that Dean is sending her to the “meat grinder” is not a coincidence. That language is a deliberate mirror to Dean accusing his alternate future self of sending Cas to the meat grinder in The End (That’s only one of several parallels Unity makes with The End. For a much more thorough accounting, check out castielslostwings’ Twitter thread.), which, as I referenced above, also parallels Dean’s willingness to send Jack on a suicide mission. What do these things all have in common? Each time, Dean is ignoring his own instincts, his own “moral compass,” in favor of a plan. In The End, he regrets his choice to say no to Michael…to veer from Michael’s, aka God’s, aka Chuck’s plan and is trying to recreate it by killing Lucifer/Sam. Now he’s following Billie’s plan, even though it clearly feels wrong to him. We can see that in the way he tries to distance himself from Jack. The way he tries to convince himself that Jack isn’t family. That he’s different from Sam and from Cas, even though he’s told Jack before that he IS family. Even though when he was angriest with Jack and distraught with grief over Mary, he still told Belphegor that Jack was “our kid.” We can see it too in the way he reacts equally defensively when Sam brings up how they’re about to betray Amara in 15X15 and again in 15X17 when we can see Dean flinch when she tells him they’ll always help one another. This feels wrong to him, but he’s doing it anyways because he thinks he has no choice.

Looking back over seasons’ past, the two ever-present themes in Supernatural have been free will (obviously) and found family. They’ve always been intertwined. We’ve watched time and time again as Sam, Dean, and Cas choose one another. But now we have those two themes coalescing more than ever before. Every time any of them chooses “the plan” over their family, shit goes sideways. And now we know it’s because, as Chuck has made pretty damn clear in his manipulation of Billie’s plan, he’s omniscient and he controls all time and space.  All plans are HIS plan.

But what doesn’t he control? Emotions. And the bonds they create between people. It’s in choosing one another that Team Free Will has always thwarted Chuck’s plan. Dean refusing to go down the path laid out for him in The End. Cas refusing to "hurt Dean Winchester." Sam refusing to reap MoC Dean. Dean refusing to shoot Jack in that cemetery. The boys refusing to hurt one another, again and again and again. The boys choosing one another again and again and again. And I think that's what Chuck really wants to break. Why he's so obsessed with getting his ending. This is what Becky was getting at in her critique of his story. Chuck doesn't understand his characters, because he doesn’t understand feelings. He hates this creation of humanity that has become more important to them and more defining of them than anything else, including him. So, he wants to conquer it. He wants to manipulate the situation to make his characters choose something of his divining over their emotional bonds to one another. Those bonds he didn't create and that he, in all of his omniscience and power, cannot sever.

15X17 confirms that free will is real. Cas chose to disobey. That wasn’t written by Chuck. And speaking of Cas, let’s look at our biggest two parallels of the season: Dean and Cas. (Sorry Sam. Sit this one out.) Cas, who Chuck has just identified as the epitome of free will. Cas who, once a mindless soldier, abandoned heaven’s plan. Who found his new purpose when he chose to become a father. Who follows his instincts over the plan because “something went wrong” and “the plan changed.” Versus Dean. Dean who has spent this entire season feeling trapped. Who keeps choosing “the plan” over his family and finds his cage getting smaller by the minute.

Back to 15X16. I asked before whose hamster wheel is Dean on? Dean says it’s Chuck’s, but that assumed that free will was a lie. Now we know it’s not. Free will is real and Chuck never even had to take it away from Dean. Dean gave it up as soon as he started following someone else’s plan instead of his own. Dean’s hamster wheel is of his own making.

There are so many more things I could say about 15X17. For starters, those chapter titles…are they referencing Chuck’s story? Or are they chapters in his death book, the one we saw in this episode and Chuck himself referenced? After all, Billie’s read that book, so she must have known “her” plan would fail. But she went down that path anyways…And speaking of Billie, I haven’t even touched on her or the Empty. The Empty says Billie wants “everything back where it belongs” with angels in heaven and demons in hell. Wait. That sounds familiar. Oh yes! My new favorite demon, Zack, said that in our other most recent “just a MOTW” episode. It seems Rowena wants something similar. Isn’t that interesting? And speaking of Rowena, if there’s one thing this show loves, it’s duality. Parallels. They’re everywhere…except, it seems, when it comes to the queen of Hell. Who will mirror Rowena? How interesting that we visited that empty throne room in Heaven last week…

BUT…the main thing here is this: Unity. This episode was about unity and now we have a unified Chuck and Amara. We’re going to need a unified TFW in order to defeat them. Because that is the key to defeating Chuck. Choosing one another…choosing our found family, the ones we’ve created those bonds with…again and again and again.

[moku-youbi]

I’m just.

I don’t get the SPN finale? 

And I say this a fan who started after the first season came out on DVD, became obsessed, then watched the rest as it aired from then on. I was a Sam girl, until I realised I was actually a Dean girl, but I love them both so much. I was a Wincest shipper before Cas showed up, and I still lowkey ship it even if Destiel is my OTP, so it’s not even like I’m overly upset by the idea of them together in the end.

But, setting aside the idea that heaven is the boys’ idea of a happy ending, after everything, it was like they made a conscious decision to make most of their fans unhappy (explicitly saying as much that only 30% of the fans). Because you could still have that final ending of the two of them meeting up for a happily ever after in heaven after they BOTH had a long life. You could have Sam marry Eileen (I will never, ever stop being salty about this because WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK??? Like I knew Destiel wasn’t going to happen for real, but what possible fucking reason can they have for shoving some random woman in her place??) and have a family, and Dean could have a car repair shop, or a bar in the same town, come around and teach his nieces and nephews how to change their oil and an appreciation for classic rock to drive Sam nuts, and maybe he still goes on an occasional hunt and MAYBE he still dies far younger than Sam because of it, but he could go out in a fight that is worthy of him, instead of dying in the most stupid, pointless way.

But the idea that Dean’s heaven would be heaven to him in the first place is laughable. Dean would have so much stress and guilt over leaving behind an earth that still had monsters, ones that could potentially hurt Sammy and his family, even. And that he and Sam would be happy in eternity of just boring, fluffy heaven?

I can think of roughly a half dozen different endings that would have been true to the series and much more satisfying, and would have made all the fans at least somewhat happy, even if not completely. And they would be in keeping with the characterisation and spirit of the show. So yeah, the writers CHOSE to have an awful ending, and it’s mind-boggling, like they WANTED the worst possible option.

So look, I’m gonna hang on to the fact that Jack brought Cas back, which means he’s in heaven, so he and the boys take field trips down to visit Rowena (when he and Dean aren’t busy with ~other endeavours...), go on the occasional hunt, maybe go universe hopping, idk. Just...endless heaven is such a lazy, and frankly depressing, ending.

[depressed-changeling]

Alright, while I reblogged shit about the SPN Finale and knew a little of what I was in for, I didn't fucking anticipate exactly how fucking bad it was now that I've seen it.

Yeah, fuck that finale and fuck the writers and the directors for fucking the show up so fucking bad. If not them, then the fucking CW for them pulling their bullshit yet a-fucking again. I don't even blame the actors cause at the end of the day, the actors can't change that much of how the show is going to be. Sometimes a actor or a group of actors stomp their foot on the ground and say "No fuck this and fuck you" and I love that, but it's a very rare thing to happen and if so, often doesn't change much about the show and the direction it's going, just the specific characters. Because ultimately the writers and directors control what happens, or the studio itself kills what creative freedom they have.

I grew up on this show. I started watching it when I was 10 because my dad watching the Evil Santa episode of season 3 and thought, "My kids are gonna fucking love this." And then we all became obsessed with the show, but me especially. Whenever a season would come out on dvd (too poor to afford cable so I missed out on a lot of what was typical of other childhoods), we would buy it as soon as we could afford it and I would obsessively watch it, the commentaries, and all of the special features. Not only that, but I would take notes of every monster and legend and go through mythology books I saved up and bought, and compare and see how accurate it was to actual lore(surprisingly seasons 1-5 is far more accurate to the legends than season 6 onward(I really hate the Changeling episode in particular for how inaccurate it is)), and essentially it became my special interest. Unfortunately, cause Gresham is fucking terrible, everyone decided to spread rumors about me and make my life hell. I've heard every single cussword and insult, but the most common was: demon, whore, witch, and r*tard(I'm Autistic).

Then more tragedies occured in my life. I don't want to be too specific as its personal, and the list of shit that happened in 2010 is way too fucking long (huh it was like my personal mini 2020...) but I'll summarize it: parents split, people died, and the worst kind of real life monster was accepted back into the family. And since then I've just been this numb, empty thing that would randomly explode then go back to feeling nothing. That fucking show honestly made me so happy to watch and kept me barely steady until I was 15, made my first and most important friends, and finally got a support system that would slowly but surely inspired me to heal.

Overall, a lot of my opinions on Supernatural was formed isolated as I never really jumped into the SPN fandom until like 5 or 4 years ago when it all really died down, and didn't really interact with any other fan. But I did read about destial, and I 100% agree that Dean would have ended up with Cas if Cas was instead casted with an actress instead of Misha Collins, and that the way the show continuely handles the Dean Winchester and Castiel friendship and dynamic is 100% queer baiting. (Personally, I think of the relationship as Cas being in love with Dean as a bi-ace, and I always headcanoned Dean as an bi-aromantic/demiaromantic and that if he ever did actually fall in love, it was gonna be Cas(the way Dean acts with his love interests that are women have always struck me as more of a performance. Like Dean certainly cared about Lisa and Anna (I refuse to count Amara), but not loved. It seemed more like he felt a very strong platonic liking to them, and though of it as love and did what he thought was the right response))). Hell, even my dad agrees that if Cas was played by an actress, he would be Dean's love interest.

SPOILER ALERT

I fucking hate how the finale essentially just shat allover the show, and especially fucked over the character Cas at the end by baiting him and Dean being endgame, and then not having him in the finale two episodes and never mentioning his confession. Not to mention the shitty fucking way they seemed to have dropped the ball in the consume department, the fucking laughable inappropriate death for Dean, abandonment of Jack(he could have been there at the fucking funeral at least), the way they don't kill Chuck to make sure there is no fucking way he starts to fuck shit up again, and how they just glossed over the fact that Dean could have visited his parents but chose to drive instead.

Especially when **SPOILER ALERT** Bobby and Dean are drinking beer, and Bobby is explaining how Jack fixed heaven before leaving. Dean praises it, and then Bobby responds with: "And Cas did too."

So Jack did grab Cas and got him out of the Empty? And decided not to go visit Dean? Dean didn't even try looking for him? Cas is in heaven right now? Or is it because of the fact that heaven runs of different time that the drive seemed to last forty years Earth time? Also I thought people look as they did when they died? You mean you can pick out how you want to look for eternity? And no one chose whay they looked like when they were in their 20s? What about the dog? So many questions.

Honestly the urge to completely rewrite the show, especially in a lore accurate way snd fix the shit that I hate is super strong right now.

[nerdylittleshit]

Thoughts about Spn 14x07

BEWARE! SPOILERS AHEAD!

Ugh, what an episode. Alternative title: Tears in my porridge (I was watching it during breakfast). There was a lot going on, in both storylines, though my brief interest in Nick that I had in 14x02 vanished again. There were again lots of parallels, and lots to speculate about regarding future storylines. The character moments were again the strength of the episode, whereas the actual plot unfortunately follows well known pattern.

But, as always, let’s take a closer look.

“And even if it wasn't you it was still you.”

So Nick. This is basically a continuation of where 14x02 ended, making his storyline this season so far entirely BuckLemming’s toy, who seem also the only ones enjoying still writing about him. Nick is still obsessed with the murder of his family and by now he has developed an actual need to kill. The murder of the padre in the teaser didn’t happen in affect, not the way the victim was arranged. The encounter with the young woman was only there to remind us of Nick’s new taste for blood. Unlike his other victims she was in no way related to his family and that was the only thing that saved her in the end. Frank Kellog was always going to die, even though Nick understood that he wasn’t to blame. But we learn who had killed Nick’s family, destroying the theory Nick had done it himself, and that he was already a monster before Lucifer made him one. And with this everything that he is doing now is painted as an after-effect of Lucifer’s possession. But also as Lucifer being the one who set him free, and the believe that they are bonded. So even if Nick didn’t kill his own family, it suggests that he had the potential to become a killer all along, and that that might be the reason Lucifer chose him. Which is a big parallel to 7x15 and Jeffrey and his demon. (Which back then was a dark mirror to Dean & Cas, who of course have their very own bond)

There were some heavy parallels to John as well. Nick admits that he was drunk the night his family was murdered; John had passed out (assumingly drunk) on the sofa the night Mary died. Both got obsessed with the murder of their loved ones and getting revenge, believing that once their families get justice their personal demons will disappear. Echoes of John had been all over the season so far, and we see them as well in the Dean & Jack storyline of this episode. Which makes me quite sure we will see John return in one way or another (maybe episode 300). Not that I’m looking forward to it, because as by now you should all know my feelings about John.

We also learn about Abraxas, who apparently had killed Nick’s family. Which would lead to the question: Why? To get Nick to the point where he would say “yes” to Lucifer? Was he acting on Lucifer’s orders?

And again the nature between angel and vessel is questioned. Nick still kills Kellog, because even it wasn’t him it was still him. He still remembers what Lucifer did with his body and feels bonded to him. And Dean still blames himself for everything Michael did.

I am not very pleased to see Lucifer potentially resurrected. I am more than done with his storyline, and the only way it would make sense is if they tie it together with Jack’s storyline, with Lucifer’s grace being what he needs to get cured. But really, I don’t want to. I am so, so, so, sooooooooooooooo tired of Lucifer.

“What did you say your relationship is to the patient?”

And now to a lot of heartbreak. And sadness. Welcome to Supernatural.

I found their trip to the hospital so interesting because we hardly ever see them there. Ever since Cas became part of the family he usually heals them, but Cas can’t help this time and it shows their desperation when they think human doctors can. And then it is a visit to reality from their own little universe, because both Sam and Dean are legally dead and Cas and Jack aren’t even human. A place like a hospital seems so strange because they don’t belong in it. And then it is mostly Sam who answers the questions, Dean being to shocked. Sam who gives Jack his family name (and for a moment I thought Dean would say “Winchester”), who remembers his date of birth (which was also the day they lost Mary and Cas). Sam remains cool in a way Dean can’t, which reminds me also of the time Bobby was in a hospital (and then he died).

They soon realize that nobody there can help Jack and they return to their world and Dean admits that he had been worried about Jack ever since he became human, but that he also thought Jack might get hurt/killed during a hunt. He didn’t consider that Jack could get ill, because that is not how hunters usually die. Which reminded me a bit of Buffy and how her mother died, because in a world full of mothers it had seem utterly mundane, and left her so helpless, because it wasn’t just another monster she could kill.

I love that Rowena immediately came when she thought Dean was in danger, which tells a lot about her relationship with him and the Winchesters in general. And yeah, Rowena did know before about Jack, but she never met him and nobody can blame her for suspecting he is just like his father. And it takes one minute of Jack talking to her and she melts. The Nougat-effect.

I also found it interesting what Rowena told us about Jack – that, as a Nephilim, he is an unnatural thing. He wasn’t meant to be and yet he is still here. And what makes him special is in the end necessary for his survival. Kelly was instinctively right about her son – without his grace he is no longer himself. Which could be read as a metaphor for other “special” children – that if you take away from them what makes them special or to some maybe unnatural they are no longer themselves – or in Jack’s case they even start to die. There are some who read Jack as autistic, and he has always been labelled as other, from both humans and angels.

Cas on the other hand is willing to give up his grace in a heartbeat if it could save Jack. Cas no longer cares about his grace or his angelhood. He is ready to give it up to save his newfound family.

So, let’s talk a bit about Dean and Jack. Dean, on some level, understands what Jack is going through. He remembers that many moons ago he had only one year left to live and that he wanted to make the most out of it, so he doesn’t argue with Jack there. He understands that Jack needs this. But of course he also looks at Jack from a father’s perspective, because that is closest to describe their relationship. And Dean knows about losing a child – he had raised Sam after all, who nearly died while doing the trials to close hell. So Dean gets it, from every angle, but it is still different, perhaps in the way Jack responds to Dean. Because Sam never saw Dean as his father and only realized as an adult how much Dean had done for him. But Jack adores Dean, he wants his approval, he wants to be like Dean. And so Dean does what he wanted his father to do with him: he lets Jack drive, gives him the responsibility for his most treasured possession, and with that he marks him as a man, as an equal. But Jack shows that he does understand Dean as well – Dean might never said that the memory of his father fishing with him was his happiest memory of him, but Jack understood it anyway. That life is about the time you spend together, something John so rarely did with his sons, but that Dean gets. As I said the echo of John is all over the season, but it is interesting to see how the villain of the episode (Nick) resembles John so much, whereas John’s own son tries to become a better father than him.

I don’t know what to make of Sergei and if we ever see him again (trying to collect his favour?), but the cure felt too easy (he coincidentally had some archangel grace) to work (also, there were still 4 minutes left of the episode). So does Jack need different archangel grace? That of Lucifer? Or his own grace? The fact that his life is at risk is a huge potential for one or all Winchester to make a dumb decision to save him.

And then of course there is Dean zoning out twice, and I think both times were when they talked about Jack and a cure for him. Was Michael able to listen through him? How is he connected to Jack?

Only time can tell. Until then <3

[mittensmorgul]

The Empty says he'll come for Cas when he's happy and I've been thinking that meant he had a heart to heart with Dean but isn't it more likely that his acceptance of his previous decisions will be what summons the Empty? He feels so much guilt for Heaven and the fall, etc. But he saw the AU and what would have happened if he'd not made his own choices. And we saw how terrified of heaven he is now, that he knows they're all shades of evil. So, maybe self forgiveness is the trigger and not Dean?

eep I have not had enough coffee for this yet… :P

Let’s start with the assumption that Cas is a multidimensional character with issues on a lot of fronts. Dean is not his sole reason for being, and not his sole emotional issue, you know?

That said, he knows the current situation in Heaven. Not only that, he knows that while he’s played a part in Heaven’s earlier problems, he’s been working harder than all the other angels put together trying to fix what’s wrong there– both as a result of his (and other angels’) actions in the past (because remember the whole apocalypse thing was NOT his idea and he has PROOF from GOD that he’s the one who kept trying to do the right thing… by the sheer fact that he was the one repeatedly resurrected, you know?) as well as now.

He’s consistently done everything in his own power to help Heaven, and aside from that one time he’d been partially taken over by the Leviathan and killed swaths of angels in “punishment” as Godstiel and that other time he was lied to and tricked into helping Metatron complete the angel fall spell (because he fully believed it would lock all the angels IN Heaven, not dump them out), Heaven’s problems really aren’t his fault, you know? There’s only so many times one angel can plead to all the others to let the past go, to accept that the world has changed, and that they either need to change with it or die…

Since then he has gone so far out of his way to try to make amends that it’s beyond ridiculous. I mean, I was just watching 11.02 a few hours ago, and even the angel who is probably Cas’s last “friend” in Heaven– Hannah– has played a part in Cas’s torture and manipulation. Cas had asked for help, and was the one angel who had a decent idea of the gravity of the situation with the Darkness, and yet even Hannah was ready to punish him in order to get Sam and Dean’s location out of him. NOT to talk with them and discover what had happened, but to punish and kill them for what they’d done.

There is no reasoning with angels. Cas had accepted that. The next time he asked for Heaven’s help (in 11.22), it was as a direct messenger of God, and he still had to beg, even when he had the authority of God behind him. So what did he really expect from Heaven? When Heaven approached HIM in 12.15, it was under the assumption that he would “repent” for what he’d done and return to them, and abandon his nonsense on Earth and with the Winchesters. But he firmly declared that no, he was doing all of this for the Winchesters. It was Heaven’s insistence they handle Dagon and Kelly their way that led to even more angel deaths.

Then they continued the same sort of campaign in s13– first attempting to kill Jack and then not letting anything stand in their way to capturing Jack to use his powers to “fix” Heaven. Dumah tried to ask for Cas’s help in “convincing” Jack to essentially be their magical little slave, but the truth was that the angels selfishly wanted to use Jack like some sort of battery, and not like a person. Which is honestly horrific.

I think that meeting his alternate version in the AU was more about understanding the differences between what he COULD have been versus what he IS. I don’t think it’s a matter of him realizing that Heaven is “evil” or corrupt or just flat-out wrong. Those were things he already knew. It was more about him being able to take his destiny into his own hands quite literally. Killing his AU self who’d been brainwashed and damaged beyond all recognition, precisely because he was never forced to consider free will, isn’t just about Dean having been the one to keep that door open for him, you know? Yes, the entire process never would’ve begun without Dean, but on every other level that mattered, the choices and actions came down to what Castiel chose for himself. Killing his AU self was entirely about him. They were even alone in that scene, you know? That was about Cas himself facing this. Not about proving Heaven was evil, or would torture him into compliance, or even about the fact that Dean had essentially saved him from that fate. It was about HIM, and what breaking free of Heaven’s control had finally allowed him to become. Which seems like a subtle difference, because yes Dean has been the catalyst (repeatedly, over the last ten years, opening the door in the first place and then continuing to support him to the point where he’s irrevocably become A Winchester himself in every way that matters, through trials and hard times as well as through successes), but the important thing to remember is that Cas could’ve chosen a different path at any point (like he did in s6), and yet over and over he continued to choose free will, even when he wasn’t sure it was the right thing, and even when he didn’t get it quite right. Reducing all of that to be “because Dean” is kinda reductive.

Obviously this summary here is seriously glossing over a lot. This is in no way everything that’s happened here, but just a quick lil refresher leading up to what I’m about to say… which is:

Cas has been making his peace with Heaven, and with himself, for a really long time. He’s even (shockingly) been given a sort of absolution from Naomi of all people, back in 13.19 when she walked him to the door and let him go. Then in 14.08 she acknowledged that Cas’s motives may not have been putting Heaven first in taking the actions he did to save them from the Empty Entity, which in itself is a sort of forgiveness or acceptance of who Cas is, and she also specifically THANKED him.

Naomi, at least (and probably Dumah) are now beginning to understand Cas and the fact he hasn’t been “working against Heaven” all this time, but searching for a better way, balancing the needs and wants of Heaven with the needs and wants of humanity on Earth. Because it’s never been “us or them,” as SO many angels have been convinced of over the years. This is not a black and white issue, on any level.

So when it comes to what could make Cas perfectly happy, what would trigger his deal with the empty, I think it must first and foremost be about Cas himself.

Even having Heaven’s forgiveness and acceptance wasn’t enough to trigger the deal. Even saving Jack wasn’t enough. Even reunited with the Winchesters as a family wasn’t enough. Because while I feel that yes, Dean will of course play a major part in Cas achieving that happiness, because Dean has ALWAYS been the major trigger for ALL of Cas’s growth over the years, it wouldn’t be as simplistic as some romantic declaration, you know? Because Cas as a character is so much more than that.

But since you asked me what I thought of this, I’m gonna tell you.

I’m not entirely sure it will ever come to this. I’m not sure they won’t find some other resolution to Cas’s deal before it comes to them laying out Cas’s happiness trigger on the table that blatantly, you know?

Not to mention, this is the sort of speculation I personally hate, because it’s based on the assumption that we’re looking at this from the right direction. And we literally have no way to know if we’re somehow obsessing over the entirely wrong thing, or interpreting it correctly.

Right now, this entire question and response is grounded on unstable foundations. It’s nothing more than a theoretical exercise, because we have no way to know what will actually be important by the end of the season. I can suggest that thematically and from a character perspective this will come down to Cas’s choices and his own opinion of himself, and that Dean will likely play a role as a catalyst in making his choice. But outside of that… I’m not even sure if the rest of this will ever actually be relevant in the first place. Because we’ve made the ASSUMPTION that we’re correct in believing this must come down to some sort of confrontation between Cas and the Empty, or that we will definitively have a singular moment of Absolute Happiness with unqualified certitude that it was One Singular Thing that sparked Cas’s doom. And that’s just… not how this works. At least not from the speculation side of things.

I mean, this is an interesting question from a purely theoretical standpoint, because it was interesting enough to me to spend the last two hours typing this nonsense up. But outside of this reply having been an interesting thought exercise for me, I don’t think there’s really any conclusion to be made. I think the question is unanswerable, because we don’t even know yet if canon will bear it out as a valid question in the first place, you know?

I really hope that makes sense. It’s just frustrating to me that there’s even this hemming and hawing over speculation like this, as if it has to be Destiel or Not-Destiel, and those are the only two valid assumptions going forward. Because that assumption negates all of this ^^, that yes of course it is all about Cas and his choices and being able to forgive himself and hopefully understand himself enough to make those choices about who and what he wants to be, but you literally cannot divorce Dean’s presence in Cas’s life and his influence in every one of Cas’s choices over the last almost 11 years from what Cas inevitably will choose for himself. 

I’m not saying that Cas will choose xyz thing because of Dean’s influence (hur hur), or because Dean pushed him into choosing it. Cas’s story arc is still primarily about HIM, just like Dean’s is primarily about Dean, and Sam’s is primarily about Sam. That’s how main characters function in a narrative, you know? But they also don’t function in a vacuum. What makes up the narrative is how each of the characters relate to the others, and how all of their choices are influenced by and consequently affect the others.

So at the very root, I think the question is looking to establish some false duality that it must be one or the other thing, that one of these things will be The Truth™ and will therefore negate or invalidate the other. And that’s just… not how this works. I think that really does a disservice to Castiel as a character, reducing him to a plot device when this has literally been his character arc since s4, made essential to the ongoing narrative structure since at least s8

[orionsangel86]

13x01 - Episode Review Part 1

In which Dean just about held it together... and I did not. 

This review will be in several parts. I have separated it into several sections that I wish to talk about because hot damn. What an episode! This Part 1 focuses on Dean’s grief and Destiel and saying goodbye to Castiel. 

Firstly, an introduction

As I sit here, surrounded by three friends who I met on tumblr, BECAUSE of this show, I am amazed at how far I have come. I did not think that when I joined this fandom I would ever get to this moment, but my gosh what an amazing feeling this is. To all of you out there – reach out to people, you really won’t regret what you find. 

I adored this episode. I screamed, I even shed a single man tear whilst holding on to @amwritingmeta quite tightly… sorry Annelie if I hurt you at all. @tinkdw, @margarittet and @amwritingmeta you guys are wonderful and I am so glad that I have been able to flail and scream along to this awesome episode with you. Thank you for sharing this crazy obsession with me.

Part 1 - Love, Grief and Saying Goodbye

THEY USED METALLICA’S NOTHING ELSE MATTERS AS THE OPENING SONG! We were two seconds in and @margarittet had to pause because we all collectively SCREAMED that they chose to use this as the open song AS WELL! @tinkdw said that she wanted to try and guess what the opening song was this season but I don’t think ANY OF US considered that they would reuse “Nothing Else Matters” because its just so on the nose isn’t it? Nothing else matters? Nothing else matters than what exactly?

Well once again the “Then” sequence ends on Dean kneeling over Cas’s body.

The answer is Castiel. Nothing else matters than CASTIEL. This is repeated CONSTANTLY throughout the episode. You are not allowed to forget about him for a SINGLE SECOND and this opening song drums that home. Seriously if there are any Cas fans out there still bitter about Cas I dunno what show you are watching because it certainly ISN’T the show I watched yesterday.

It hurts to think about. What even was this episode? From the opening song “Nothing Else Matters” to the “Goodbye Cas” at the funeral pyre, this episode was chocablock full of moments that prove unequivocally that for Dean, Cas truly is his guiding light, his hope. Even if you don’t see their relationship as romantic you cannot possibly deny after 13x01 that Dean and Cas have an extraordinary connection and a deep and profound love that has now transferred to an even deeper excruciating grief in Dean.

Choosing to use this song as the season opener though? The season opener always reflects the tones of the season, the main themes. To have THIS song as the season opening? Wow. Just wow. This is a song that comes up first if you google “Metallica Love Song” by the way. In case you were wondering if it was indeed a love song. Because it is. James Hetfield confirmed it was written for a girlfriend. Interestingly though it has been debated over the years as the lyrics themselves are not conventionally romantic lyrics. Nevertheless, this is now fact: Supernatural used a Love Song called “Nothing Else Matters” to set the tone and theme of season 13, lingering over shots of Dean looking down at Castiel’s dead body. This isn’t even arguable. This is where we are.

(and what a wonderful place to be my friends)

Dean’s grief was beautifully portrayed by the superb acting skills of Jensen Ackles. In my season 13 wishlist I said this:

“It probably goes without saying but MAN PAIN OVER CAS – I mean, I reckon we are gonna get a good helping of this. Maybe not immediate tears but its gonna be pretty damn angsty – if the promo’s are anything to go by. I basically want it to be UNDENIABLE in canon that CAS is the reason that Dean is so broken up and that BOTH brothers are seriously struggling with his death. It has to be OBVIOUS how important Cas was to them and how his death has affected them”

I think we can tick this one off. :)

Continues under the cut.

The grief was so intense, it left me with a constant ache in my heart that still hasn’t shifted as I write this. From the first moment, Dean’s face in this episode brought me both intense pain and also intense joy. Bless Jensen for being such an amazing actor.

LOOK AT THIS FACE

There was a lot of speculation over the summer that Dean would just snap, pull out his gun, and go to shoot Jack once it sunk in that Cas was actually dead, and that is EXACTLY what he does. But that isn’t what broke me, what broke me is just how OFTEN the audience is reminded that ultimately, even though others died as well, for Dean, it is ALL ABOUT CAS. (Nothing Else Matters after all).

In the now famous sneak peek car scene Dean can’t even say the words when it comes to Cas SPECIFICALLY. He can admit that Crowley is dead, that Kelly is Dead and that mom is gone, but Cas? Nope. He chokes on his words:

(x)

Sam IS able to say the words. He can ask “Is Cas really dead?” Dean just growls “you know he is” and drives on. It is HEARTBREAKING.

The next moment we get that textualises the huge difference between Cas’s death and the other deaths for Dean is the moment during the fight with Miriam the angel when this wonderful exchange takes place:

(x)

Now we don’t actually know what was going through Dean’s head at this moment, but Miriam calls him out on it anyway - whether or not she was able to read his mind or she just went for the obvious assumption we don’t know. But Miriam doesn’t mention Mary, she doesn’t mention Crowley. She only mentions Castiel. This is in contrast to Sam’s discussion with Jack about reopening the portal, which is easily interpreted as Sam thinking of ways to use Jack to get Mary back, because we can understand that OF COURSE that would be Sam’s primary motivation right now. Sam still has hope. Dean doesn’t - except for the split second in this scene when he does. He falls for Miriam’s words, and it makes her “Oh sweety” so much worse.

The angels are usually exposition for Cas’s feelings for Dean, but in this scene, in a somewhat similar way to the scene in 8x19 with Naomi, they are exposition of Dean’s feelings for Cas, in a theme that is constantly running throughout this episode.

Finally once all the action is over and the boys head back to the cottage with Jack we get ten minutes of the emotional, poignant and touching moments that this show has ever given us. Enough that once I started sobbing, I couldn’t stop. 

I love Sam’s careful questioning to Dean:

“Are you sure about this Dean? I mean its Cas. Ya know? Maybe we can bring him back? Like you said?”

“No we Cant”

“Chuck did, um God did, remember that? So maybe if, I dunno, if we prayed to him or…”

“You don’t think I’ve tried that?”

Before I even get into the beauty of Dean’s prayer, THIS right here is ONCE AGAIN proving HOW differently the brothers view Cas. Sam is asking these questions, rather than telling Dean. Because he know that Dean is the authority on all things Cas. He knows that whatever Dean decides, he is going to go along with it. We have had this same theme running throughout seasons 11 and 12. Sam always accepts Dean’s decision when it comes to Cas. Always.

And yet we still don’t textually have a reason for this. Dean continues to refer to Cas like his and Sam’s third brother. So why are the two not treated equally? Yet again we have been shown the difference between the brotherly love between Sam and Cas and the ??? love between Dean and Cas. One is not the same as the other.

DEAN’S PRAYER

This is where I started to tear up. Honestly…

FULL PRAYER: “Ok Chuck. Or God or whatever. I, I need your help. You see you left us. You left us. You went off… You said, you said the earth would be fine because it had me and it had Sam but it’s not.  And we’re not. We’ve lost everything. And now you’re gonna bring him back. You’re gonna bring back Cas, you’re gonna bring back mum your gonna bring em all back. All of em. Even Crowley. Because after everything that you’ve done you owe us you son of a bitch so you get your ass down here and you make this right. Right here. And Right now.”

“Please. Please help us.”

Now, see this is where I squeal because he said “We’ve lost Everything. And now you’re gonna bring him back.” Because this CLEARLY reads as Dean saying that Cas is EVERYTHING (which fits in nicely with the theme of “Nothing Else Matters” to Dean) and I know there has been some debate over whether it was actually “him” or whether it was “em” that he said, but since the official CW subtitles caption it as “him” I’m gonna assume they are correct. And anyway, it says a lot when the official PR team use this specific interpretation – almost like they wanted to make sure we knew exactly what Dean was saying. Hmmmm… I wonder why.

The fact that we then get the pause where he turns away from the camera, waiting for a sign, anything, and it feels almost like we are interfering. Dean is hiding from the camera in his moment of anguish, and we are made to feel hopeless in light of his pain.

To then see Dean smash up the sign on the door (which I will talk about more in my Signs, Symbols, Ships and Handprints part of the review), and just finally show the extent of his emotional anguish and grief is again so fantastic for anyone still doubting Dean’s absolute love and adoration for Castiel:

(x)

This is a man who only prays in the most DIRE situations. Look at the desperation on his face. REVEL IN IT!

Moving on and honestly I didn’t think the episode could get more emotional than that prayer BUT I WAS WRONG. (Oh how much I underestimated Dabb when writing my wishlist!)

The way that Dean stands in that room, the high angle shot and the cinematography/lighting which makes it gloomy and almost sepia toned like all the colour has been drained out of Dean’s world. The way he looks both too small and too big for the room. Its sombre. Its silent. The atmosphere is drenched in sorrow. Its beautifully done.

(x)

The way he removes the shroud and takes one last look. His own private way of saying goodbye. Its Dean’s micro expressions both here and throughout the episode that I ADORE because you can tell so easily that he IS fighting back tears almost constantly. It’s the jaw clenching, the swallowing down his pain, I was half expecting a Darcy hand clench to appear.

(x)

His pain is so raw, so real, and so fucking heartbreaking. This is pain and grief for someone you deeply love on a whole other level. This is the pain of a lost spouse. Words can not describe how beautifully Jensen delivered these scenes. I don’t think I will ever be over just how intense this was to watch. I don’t think I will ever be able to watch it without crying.

We talked at our premier party about the significance of Dean wrapping Cas’s body. About how this is the first time such a thing has ever been shown (usually the show just cuts straight to the pyre). It’s a mark of serious respect to Castiel, as a beloved character on the show, and also, a nod to traditional ceremony’s in Jewish and Islamic cultures of the closest family members to the deceased preparing the body for burial. The fact that Dean does this on his own, without Sam, is also to highlight the difference in their relationships.

I stress again that Sam DOES see Cas as his brother. Because regardless of ridiculous arguments that try to state otherwise, Sam is not an asshole and made it clear last season that he too loved Cas deeply. So why is Dean doing all the work? Because Dean is not Cas’s brother. He is his freaking husband. He’s acting like a widow throughout this entire episode.  He is playing the dutiful spouse. In deep mourning, fighting back tears whilst he says goodbye to the love of his life.

(I’m crying again FYI)

But then even all THAT isn’t enough for Andrew Dabb. Oh no. He had to hit us with even FURTHER angst with the pyre scene and Sam’s heart breaking speech of goodbye:

“Thank you. You say thank you. And you say you’re sorry. You hope they’re somewhere without sadness and pain. You hope they’re somewhere better. You say goodbye.”

(x)

And in that moment Sam Winchester stomped all over my already beaten heart

Because this really was a send of to Cas. Yes Sam was talking about all of them, and we lost A LOT of great characters in season 12, and this was the writers way of paying respect to all those characters, but ultimately, like how he was at the forefront of Dean’s mind the entire episode, he was so very present throughout all of this, and the respect and love shown to Cas in this episode by the characters, the writers, the show creators... I’m in utter awe. It’s so much more than I could ever have asked for.

(x)

“Goodbye Cas”

And Dean just put in the final blow.

Once again though Cas is at the forefront of Dean’s mind. He comes first. That makes three times in this episode that Dean has listed out their fallen family. Every time though, Cas is separated from the others. Cas’s loss is on a different level to Mary and Crowley and Kelly.

Kelly was a victim, but her loss wouldn’t gravely hurt Dean

Crowley was an ally/nemesis who was sometimes something more. His loss gave Dean conflicted feelings.

Mary was their mother and that one would have hurt deeply. But Mary’s death was already an old wound, a new person in their lives who they didn’t really know. They were only starting to know her. Their grief over her will be strong indeed, but its not the same.

Cas was the loss that buried deep. Cas’s loss has broken Dean. Dabb has made it absolutely undeniably clear that Cas’s death is the focus of this episode, even when not directly mentioned (more on that later). And that Dean’s love for Cas is the very central theme of this entire season. Nothing Else Matters after all. Not for Dean. Not any more.

Thanks for reading! In part 2 I will explore the introduction of Jack and the narrative mirrors surrounding him in the premier. Watch this space.

[elizabethrobertajones]

@teamfreewillbettertogether replied to your post “Thinking about my bunker kitchen obsession and reading some old posts…...”

I don't think Amelia would be in Sam's heaven. He doesn't look back at that time fondly. I think it would be 10.04 "we time" as well as the time he discovered the Men of Letters library. I swear Jared once said recently that Sam's heaven would be the Men of Letters library, although I can't find it now.

Yeah, I think it depends on how you interpret it, but going off of 5x16 and the pattern of things that made the grade for Sam's heaven, it was exactly the sort of thing where I'd pile in a bunch of unseen stuff with Jess, and because the terrible Thanksgiving made it, I think what Sam felt about Amelia (and at least in season 8 he seriously thought that he loved her and used that word about her) and in that moment I'm talking about he chose to stay with her, and it was all peaceful and they're playing with Riot etc, to me it feels like the happiest of all the stuff we've seen ON SCREEN of things that might fit the pattern of Sam's heaven memories so definitely my favourite non-canonical one. The fact it got brought up again in 11x10 makes me even more certain it's important to Sam in some intrinsic way. And it was a choice for him to get out of hunting and a chance for him to make a house and dream of having a future where he was Sam The Guy Who Fixes Stuff To Pay For College or something. The guy with the dog. Something very super boring and safe but the sort of thing all his other heaven memories suggested were the life he was running away towards, right down to that there has to be a dog :P

I don't really think it matters in an endgame sort of way whether what makes Sam's heaven memories (right now, as we are in canon, if Sam was murdered tomorrow, would he open his eyes to see Riot running towards him?) - like, obviously he's had a lot of happy moments in canon but very few of them fit the pattern of what we saw seems to be the core of what Sam wants as a baseline emotional satisfaction thing, and his heavens betrayed that in a sort of patchy, badly put together by a kid's lack of understanding of himself kind of way. Being with Amelia is actually the least tainted or bad thing in that collection and no matter how you take the rest of the argument about why and how he ended up with her and not looking for Dean, he had normality and the potential for MORE normality.

Dean's heavens are way less complicated - he wants his immediate, non-complicated family around him and that's Sam and Mary and I think later Cas and Charlie and I guess if 13x06 makes the grade, Jack along for the ride in a very happy moment.

Sam doesn't actually have Dean in any of his heaven memories in 5x16 and is actively running away from The Life, which Dean represents, and forms a core part of their initial conflict, and I think they're honestly so messed up about it... The moment you mention in 10x04 actually felt hollow and uncomfortable to me, that they were trying too hard to be happy, and they both jumped to work a case and escape the awkwardness of the sort of vacation you get a "sorry i became a demon and tried to kill you with a hammer" badly iced cake for...

In 9x10 Gadreel does make Sam a super happy place in his head which is the Bunker library and I think Sam in particular has a huge emotional connection to it which makes it an important, happy place for him, but he was resisting calling it home up to and including 11x04, and it might not be until 12x18 when they carved their names in the table, that despite all of Sam's vandalism and disrespect of the furniture since they moved in (he was the one who installed a mini fridge in the library and a TV in his room since season 8 already established through Amelia that Sam was good at that sort of thing with electronics and wiring), I don't know if Sam has a defining moment when he considers the Bunker "home" PROPERLY and can overcome his emotional issues between seeing it as where they work, and defining "home" as the white picket fence, wife and a dog sort of life.

If he's moved on from that I think he may have started to warm up to the library as heaven, but it would be very recent. 12x18 might be *the* moment, but it would be the first I would venture to add for Sam because his heaven was so much about home and belonging. His perception of it can evolve but at the start of season 11 it was clear it had barely started to blossom and he made one step forwards with wondering about settling down with someone in the life vs what Jess and Amelia were - safely normal - and a huge step back by showing he still considered Baby home above all else, while Dean has thought of the Bunker as home for a long time, possibly within a few episodes of getting settled in there, as he's extremely desperate for a settled home, and defines it by family, so having a legitimately inherited place to squat that he shares with his brother immediately ticks all the criteria, and the weirdness of it being a retro Batcave is a secondary concern to homeness :P

I think they're still evolving on the subject, but as far as I can tell from 5x16, Sam's heavens are not strictly about happiness OR the people in them, but fulfil a totally different emotional need that Amelia did as well, but not very much at all in canon aside from that ever has.

(... Honestly my moment of realisation on this was that 3x08 was a Scrooge story with Sam in the starring role and his preconceptions about normality being the only way to do things in socially accepted ways, but it only managed to warm him up as far as giving Dean the Christmas he wanted - with his family, making a home where he had it - but obviously since Sam still defaulted to the Awful Thanksgiving on death in 5x16, it didn't finish his Christmas Carol transformation on it :P)

[akzfineart]

Today I’m sharing 8 books you need on your summer reading list! For some of these, I went with the obvious summer/water/beach theme. I also chose some books that are either really fantastic or I’ve heard amazing things about them. With these on your summer TBR, there’s no way you’ll be let down. I’ve reviewed a couple of these in the past, just click on the titles to view them.

Summer of Sloane by Erin L. Schneider

Disney-Hyperion | May 3, 2016

Buy: Amazon | Book Depository | Chapters/Indigo.ca | B&N | Kobo

Warm Hawaiian sun. Lazy beach days. Flirty texts with her boyfriend back in Seattle.

These are the things seventeen-year-old Sloane McIntyre pictured when she imagined the summer she’d be spending at her mom’s home in Hawaii with her twin brother, Penn. Instead, after learning an unthinkable secret about her boyfriend, Tyler, and best friend, Mick, all she has is a fractured hand and a completely shattered heart.

Once she arrives in Honolulu, though, Sloane hopes that Hawaii might just be the escape she needs. With beach bonfires, old friends, exotic food, and the wonders of a waterproof cast, there’s no reason Sloane shouldn’t enjoy her summer. And when she meets Finn McAllister, the handsome son of a hotel magnate who doesn’t always play by the rules, she knows he’s the perfect distraction from everything that’s so wrong back home.

But it turns out a measly ocean isn’t nearly enough to stop all the emails, texts, and voicemails from her ex-boyfriend and ex-best friend, desperate to explain away their betrayal. And as her casual connection with Finn grows deeper, Sloane’s carefree summer might not be as easy to find as she’d hoped. Weighing years of history with Mick and Tyler against their deception, and the delicate possibility of new love, Sloane must decide when to forgive, and when to live for herself.

When I was planning this post, Summer of Sloane was the first book that came to mind. Hawaii. Summer love. Angst. Betrayal. This is probably the perfect beach read. I think this is also OwnVoices for a Hawaiian MC.

Saints and Misfits by S.K. Ali

Salaam Reads/Simon & Schuster | June 13, 2017

Buy: Amazon | Book Depository | Chapters/Indigo.ca | B&N | Kobo

Saints and Misfits is an unforgettable debut novel that feels like a modern day My So-Called Life…starring a Muslim teen.

How much can you tell about a person just by looking at them?

Janna Yusuf knows a lot of people can’t figure out what to make of her…an Arab Indian-American hijabi teenager who is a Flannery O’Connor obsessed book nerd, aspiring photographer, and sometime graphic novelist is not exactly easy to put into a box.

And Janna suddenly finds herself caring what people think. Or at least what a certain boy named Jeremy thinks. Not that she would ever date him—Muslim girls don’t date. Or they shouldn’t date. Or won’t? Janna is still working all this out.

While her heart might be leading her in one direction, her mind is spinning in others. She is trying to decide what kind of person she wants to be, and what it means to be a saint, a misfit, or a monster. Except she knows a monster…one who happens to be parading around as a saint…Will she be the one to call him out on it? What will people in her tightknit Muslim community think of her then?

Saints and Misfits is one of my most anticipated reads of 2017. While there’s no beach/water theme, reading this can only enrich your summer (hopefully haha). This is OwnVoices for a Muslim MC. TW: Sexual assault.

The Seafarer’s Kiss by Julia Ember

Duet Books | May 4, 2017

Buy: Amazon | Book Depository | Chapters/Indigo.ca | B&N | Kobo

Having long-wondered what lives beyond the ice shelf, nineteen-year-old mermaid Ersel learns of the life she wants when she rescues and befriends Ragna, a shield-maiden stranded on the mermen’s glacier. But when Ersel’s childhood friend and suitor catches them together, he gives Ersel a choice: say goodbye to Ragna or face justice at the hands of the glacier’s brutal king.

Determined to forge a different fate, Ersel seeks help from Loki. But such deals are never as one expects, and the outcome sees her exiled from the only home and protection she’s known. To save herself from perishing in the barren, underwater wasteland and be reunited with the human she’s come to love, Ersel must try to outsmart the God of Lies.

The Seafarer’s Kiss is another highly anticipated read! This has mermaids, vikings AND it’s a bisexual, Norse myth retelling of The Little Mermaid.

TW: Misogyny in a dystopian society, discussions of infertility/worth (#ownvoices: the author has a hormonal condition/fertility disorder, but the discussion in the book may be heavy for some), non-binary character is a villain (taken from the author’s website).

Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard

Harper Teen | July 24, 2012

Buy: Amazon | Book Depository | Chapters/Indigo.ca | B&N | Kobo

There’s something strange and deadly loose in Philadelphia. . . .

Eleanor Fitt has a lot to worry about.

Her brother has gone missing, her family has fallen on hard times, and her mother is determined to marry her off to any rich young man who walks by. But this is nothing compared to what she’s just read in the newspaper:

The Dead are rising in Philadelphia.

And then, in a frightening attack, a zombie delivers a letter to Eleanor . . . from her brother.

Whoever is controlling the Dead army has taken her brother as well. If Eleanor is going to find him, she’ll have to venture into the lab of the notorious Spirit-Hunters, who protect the city from supernatural forces. But as Eleanor spends more time with the Spirit-Hunters, including the maddeningly stubborn yet handsome Daniel, the situation becomes dire. And now, not only is her reputation on the line, but her very life may hang in the balance.

The first reason for including Something Strange and Deadly on this list is because it’s one of my favourite series of all time! The second reason, the entire series was just re-released with these shiny, new covers, so it was kind of the perfect time to re-share them. The cover on the left is the original one, the cover on the right the new. With zombies and necromancy, this steampunk novel will be unlike anything you’ve ever read!

Girl Out of Water by Laura Silverman

Sourcebooks Fire | May 2, 2017

Buy: Amazon | Book Depository | Chapters/Indigo.ca | B&N | Kobo

Anise Sawyer plans to spend every minute of summer with her friends: surfing, chowing down on fish tacos drizzled with wasabi balsamic vinegar, and throwing bonfires that blaze until dawn. But when a serious car wreck leaves her aunt, a single mother of three, with two broken legs, it forces Anise to say goodbye for the first time to Santa Cruz, the waves, her friends, and even a kindling romance, and fly with her dad to Nebraska for the entire summer. Living in Nebraska isn’t easy. Anise spends her days caring for her three younger cousins in the childhood home of her runaway mom, a wild figure who’s been flickering in and out of her life since birth, appearing for weeks at a time and then disappearing again for months, or even years, without a word.

Complicating matters is Lincoln, a one-armed, charismatic skater who pushes Anise to trade her surfboard for a skateboard. As Anise draws closer to Lincoln and takes on the full burden and joy of her cousins, she loses touch with her friends back home – leading her to one terrifying question: will she turn out just like her mom and spend her life leaving behind the ones she loves.

I would definitely consider Girl Out of Water a summer read. You have the summer romance but there’s also angst, family relationships and friendship. It’s at the top of my TBR pile.

The Abyss Surrounds Us by Emily Skrutskie

Flux | February 8, 2016

Buy: Amazon | Book Depository | Chapters/Indigo.ca | B&N | Kobo

Cas has fought pirates her entire life. But can she survive living among them?

For Cassandra Leung, bossing around sea monsters is just the family business. She’s been a Reckoner trainer-in-training ever since she could walk, raising the genetically-engineered beasts to defend ships as they cross the pirate-infested NeoPacific. But when the pirate queen Santa Elena swoops in on Cas’s first solo mission and snatches her from the bloodstained decks, Cas’s dream of being a full-time trainer seems dead in the water.

There’s no time to mourn. Waiting for her on the pirate ship is an unhatched Reckoner pup. Santa Elena wants to take back the seas with a monster of her own, and she needs a proper trainer to do it. She orders Cas to raise the pup, make sure he imprints on her ship, and, when the time comes, teach him to fight for the pirates. If Cas fails, her blood will be the next to paint the sea.

Sea monsters. Pirates. A post-apocalyptic world. Being set on the ocean doesn’t really make this a “beach read” but it has pirates in it, which makes everything better. The Abyss Surrounds Us was one of my favourite reads of 2016 and is perfect for fans of Pacific Rim.

See You in the Cosmos by Jack Cheng

Dial Books | February 28, 2017

Buy: Amazon | Book Depository | Chapters/Indigo.ca | B&N | Kobo

A space-obsessed boy and his dog, Carl Sagan, take a journey toward family, love, hope, and awe in this funny and moving novel for fans of Counting by 7s and Walk Two Moons.

11-year-old Alex Petroski loves space and rockets, his mom, his brother, and his dog Carl Sagan—named for his hero, the real-life astronomer. All he wants is to launch his golden iPod into space the way Carl Sagan (the man, not the dog) launched his Golden Record on the Voyager spacecraft in 1977. From Colorado to New Mexico, Las Vegas to L.A., Alex records a journey on his iPod to show other lifeforms what life on earth, his earth, is like. But his destination keeps changing. And the funny, lost, remarkable people he meets along the way can only partially prepare him for the secrets he’ll uncover—from the truth about his long-dead dad to the fact that, for a kid with a troubled mom and a mostly not-around brother, he has way more family than he ever knew.

I recently finished this middle-grade novel and it was unlike anything I’ve ever read. I know I said that about SS&D, but so is See You in the Cosmos. The protagonist, Alex is a really smart but naive kid who wants to send his iPod into space so that aliens can see, or rather hear what life on earth is like. A really interesting aspect of this novel, the author has turned the recordings into transcripts, so it’s like the reader is the one who received them. Dialogue would either be Alex repeating or summarizing what someone said, or someone(s) talking as Alex is recording (like a script). If Alex didn’t record something, we didn’t hear about it. This book will make you happy, sad, laugh, and cry. And cry some more.

The Blazing Star by Imani Josey

Wise Ink | December 6, 2016

Buy: Amazon | Book Depository | Chapters/Indigo.ca | B&N | Kobo

Sixteen-year-old Portia White is used to being overlooked—after all, her twin sister Alex is a literal genius.

But when Portia holds an Egyptian scarab beetle during history class, she takes center stage in a way she never expected: she faints. Upon waking, she is stronger, faster, and braver than before. And when she accidentally touches the scarab again?

She wakes up in ancient Egypt—her sister and an unwitting freshman in tow.

Great.

Mysterious and beautiful, Egypt is more than they could have ever imagined from their days in the classroom. History comes alive as the three teens realize that getting back to the present will be the most difficult thing they’ve ever done. Stalked by vicious monsters called Scorpions, every step in the right direction means a step closer to danger.

As Portia and the girls discover that they’re linked to the past by more than just chance, they have to decide what it truly means to be yourself, to love your sister, and to find your way home.

I’ve been meaning to read this for the longest time because it sounds incredible! Time-travel, ancient Egypt and a beautiful cover, what’s not to love?!

8 Books to Add to Your Summer Reading List Today I'm sharing 8 books you need on your summer reading list! For some of these, I went with the obvious summer/water/beach theme.