#redemption 2x02

[leveragecentral]

Leverage: Redemption (2021-present) The One Man’s Trash Job (S02E02)

[thewanderingace]

Leverage: Redemption 1x01 | Leverage: Redemption 2x02

Bonus:

[eg515]

so nice to see Harry fitting in with the fam so nicely

[toughpaperround]

Leverage: Redemption 2x02 'The One Man's Trash Job' (scene 2)

Across the auction showroom, the mark speaks to his henchman whilst Parker and Eliot lip-read his orders.

---

Bonus: 'The Chechen' aka Harry Wilson

[more Leverage screenshot scenes 1/next]

[musclesandhammering]

I know this is such an unpopular opinion but like…….. X-5 needs to be a part of the team. He’s such an asshole and a little shit and all he rly wanted was freedom, and I know if he wasn’t hiding information from them, he and Loki would get along so well.

[gleesongtournament]

Glee Song Tournament Redemption Round

[thieves-never-say-die]

Let Parker drive the boat!!!

[apoloadonisandnarcissus]

"The Last Temptation": One Megathread to Rule Them All - Clues and Speculation, PART 1

By now everyone in the “Rings of Power” fandom is aware of “The Last Temptation” - Galadriel and Sauron scene in the finale (2x08) - so I’ll save myself the trouble of further explaining it, because we have more interesting things to talk about.

What happens in this scene? What is the season building towards? And what are clues, foreshadowing or red herrings the episodes have given us so far?

It's pretty much confirmed that Sauron will pitch the “be my queen” question to Galadriel, again. I usually don’t pay much attention to the actors’ interviews because they’ll say anything to avoid spoiling the story and spill the beans, but sometimes it’s important for context.

From Episode 7 preview, we know that Galadriel will arrive at Eregion and share a heartfelt moment with Celebrimbor (I'll come back to this scene later on). However, the showrunners have teased that 2x07 is an Elrond-centered episode, and I don’t think Sauron and Galadriel will reunite before the finale (2x08) because that’s one of the climaxes of the season. Anyway, my guess is that Sauron has already left Eregion once Galadriel arrives.

1) Will Galadriel resist or succumb to Sauron’s temptation? 

You cannot face him alone.

To me, this scene with Gil-galad is the most important one, when foreshadowing is concerned. Mainly because our High King of the Noldor got it right last season, so we better pay attention to what he says.  

We foresaw that if Galadriel’s search should have continued, she might have inadvertently kept alive the very evil she sought to defeat. For the same wind that seeks to blow out a fire may also cause its spread.

Gil-galad tells Elrond the true reason why he sent Galadriel back to Valinor (1x01) 

Oh, boy, and how right he was! 

But Gil-galad isn’t the only character who warns Galadriel she can’t face Sauron alone because she might not be able to resist him: 

Similar to Gi-galad, Elrond shares the same concern.

And why would he think that?

In 2x06, it’s Adar who warns Galadriel she might succumb to Sauron as well, because she’s acting quite smug at being able to resist him once before (1x08). 

I resisted.

For a while, perhaps.

His eye bores a hole and the rest of him slithers in.

So far, this season, we have three different characters warning Galadriel that she might succumb to Sauron if she faces him alone at the finale. Unsure if Celebrimbor will tell her the same thing in 2x07, but three characters saying the same thing is far from a red herring, at this point.

2) And so, the main question now is: will Galadriel face Sauron alone, out of her own volition? Or does Sauron chase after her to isolate her from the rest?  

We already know that Galadriel is consumed by the idea of finding Sauron, and to destroy him; but now, she’s motivated not only by her brother’s death at the hands of his werewolves, but due to her belief that everything she experienced with Halbrand (and the connection they had: friendship, romantic, ambiguous) was a lie and part of Sauron’s schemes of deception. 

However, in this scene in particular (2x02), Galadriel is feeling especially vulnerable, and eventually agrees with both Elrond and Gil-Galad, that she can’t face Sauron alone because she’s unaware of what might happen if she lets him in, again (meaning, she might actually succumb to him). 

However, from 2x02 until 2x06, Galadriel grows bolder and more confident, mostly aided by Nenya and the visions and the guidance the ring of power provides her with. Although, I would argue it was never her intention to face Sauron alongside Elrond and the others, and this scene was a moment of weakness (or the red herring itself).

I swear to you, High King. I will not stop until he is destroyed and I have put this right.  

Morfydd Clark herself has said that Galadriel knows she messed up really bad, and is on a desperate mission for redemption. However, last season she was also desperate in finding Sauron and destroy him, and that worked wonders, didn’t it? 

Based on this, I would say Galadriel will seek out Sauron all by herself in the finale. We already saw Galadriel and Adar paralleling each other in their pursuit for Sauron, and how consumed and obsessed both of them are by it. While Adar is sacrificing his “children” to destroy Sauron, Galadriel thrown Elrond under the bus (by telling Adar he’s the one who carries Nenya) just to get a chance of finding Sauron and face him herself. 

Galadriel’s pride is her main flaw of character, and usually what gets her into trouble (in both RoP and the books, with her only letting go of her pride on the Third Age when Frodo offers her the One Ring and she declines). And in this case, her pride will be her downfall. She believes she'll always resist Sauron, because what he offered her last time (power) wasn’t enough to tempt her.   

My guess is that Galadriel will lure Sauron out either by using Morgoth’s iron crown or Nenya, but my money is on the first option (as we saw on the trailers).

3) Elrond’s Choice

Before we get into the rabbit hole that is Sauron’s plan concerning Galadriel, we have to talk about Elrond’s promise in 2x04:

This scene might be a red herring or foreshadowing, but I’m inclined to believe the later. And it can either happen in either 2x07 or in 2x08 (during the “Last Temptation” scene).  

Since 2x07 is an Elrond-centered episode I would argue it would make more sense for this choice to happen in this episode. In the preview, we saw Elrond and Adar having a conversation in the same tent he dined with Galadriel and proposed an alliance to her (that didn’t work out, did it?). Adar knows Elrond carries Nenya, but he has other interests in dealing with the Elves, too. 

He expressed to Galadriel his desire in knowing what comes after Sauron is defeated and the fate of the Orcs, seeking out a truce between Elves and Orcs, which would allow him and his “children” to live in peace in Mordor. I believe he will propose this to Elrond, too. In exchange, Adar might want to use Galadriel to lure Sauron out.

And so, in 2x07 Elrond might have to choose between saving Galadriel or stopping Sauron.

But now you are wondering: if Elrond allows Galadriel to remain Adar’s prisoner and she’s at Eregion in the same episode, this theory doesn’t make any sense? How did she escaped? Well, that’s a question for another time, but another character might set her free (one who would make the show more complex and give Galadriel some character’s growth and development).

4) Galadriel’s Sacrifice  

She sacrificed herself to save us all.

No, you are mistaken, Camnir. She did not do it to save us. She did it to save the ring.

These quotes are from 2x04, when Galadriel faces the Orcs by herself and eventually gets captured by Adar. However, it’s the second time in this episode there is a mention of Galadriel either sacrificing herself, or something.

This can be foreshadowing for several things: 

Celebrimbor’s death (since she says this after Elrond talks about how his father once prophesized Celebrimbor’s life would one day be on his hands); 

Galadriel goes to fight Sauron alone (it can be an extra layer of foreshadowing to this happening); 

Galadriel sacrificing herself to save Middle-earth (meaning she goes/joins Sauron at the end). 

5) Sauron’s plan concerning Galadriel 

Sauron is in Eregion in the middle of his “Rings of Power” masterplan. However, and through his interactions with Mirdania, Galadriel’s Doppelgänger, it’s clear she’s still very much on his mind, and is a part of his plans of domination.

The plan is simple: Sauron wants Galadriel as his queen, still. 

But why? Galadriel is not yet the powerful "elf-witch" she'll become in the future.He can see her potential, sure, but would that be enough to explain his obsession? There is a lot of meta already about the parallels between Morgoth/Silmarils and Sauron/Galadriel, so I won’t get into that here.

How strange. When the light... caught your hair... for amoment, you seemed her perfect likeness. 

Whose likeness? 

Why, Lady Galadriel, of course. 

There is a lot of discourse going on in the “Rings of Power” fandom concerning Sauron’s true feelings for Galadriel: obsession, love or something else because he, being an immortal spirit, is uncapable of “human-like” feelings.  

The answer is easy: both obsession and love are correct. The ones arguing Sauron is not capable of love are wrong. According to the lore, Maiar can fall in love, and one Maia did fall in love with an Elf (and these characters happen to be Elrond’s ancestors). Mairon is capable of love. But he’s a fallen Maia, corrupted by Morgoth, and, so, his love is also corrupted into possessiveness, obsession, jealousy, unsatisfiable lust, emotional turmoil, pain and suffering.  

I would even argue that Sauron fell in love with Galadriel while he was on his somewhat “repentant era”, and it started out as something purer, but it’s twisting into something darker as he goes deeper and deeper into evil, until it turns into hatred, later on.

In 2x06, and in order to manipulate Celebrimbor into finishing the Nine rings of power and prevent him from finding out Eregion is under attack, Sauron conjures a vision of “Everything is well on Eregion”. However, after Celebrimbor leaves, he’s left alone in his own vision (delusions) and his thoughts dwell on Galadriel.  

How do we know this? We have several characters randomly mentioning “it’s a horse! A horse! It’s a horse!”. When I first watch this scene I was a bit taken back. But nothing is random, folks:

And then we have Sauron the Poet:  

All of these clues are meant to show us, the audience, that Galadriel is still on Sauron’s mind. And that he harbors some quite strong feelings for her. And this will come into play in “The Last Temptation” scene, like the director of the finale, Charlotte Brändströmm teased on “X-Ray Vision” podcast: 

I think Sauron even really loves Galadriel and you see that at the very end. 

[brigdh]

I was thinking more about how Stede doesn't really have an arc this season (see my previous criticism here), and I've decided that what I would have loved to see was Stede actively attempting to court Ed.

Now, we did get a little of this in the first few episodes: Stede's letters in 2x01 are great, I love his attempting to track Ed down via a crime-map in 2x02, and of course the "I'll never leave you. I'll never leave again" speech at the end of 2x03 is fantastic. But once Stede and Ed are both in the same location and conscious, there's really nothing. Stede just hangs around, waiting for Ed to figure himself out, or take the lead, or something, I don't know, but Stede's certainly doesn't take any action to progress their relationship himself. He's such a static character in the second half of S2.

But! Imagine instead the arc where Stede is actively trying to romance Ed! I don't need him to be good at it; it's probably a better character arc if he isn't, in fact. Maybe he comes on way too strong at first and this is why Ed asks him to slow down, until Ed can figure out what he's doing about his own guilt/violence/identity/daddy issues (maybe Ed can actually figure out something about his guilt/violence/identity/daddy issues). Maybe Stede's entire conception of romance comes from poetry and novels and it hits a hard skid when he tries it out in reality. Maybe there are cultural clashes between how pirates approach one another and how the landed upper class does it. The exact way Stede fails doesn't really matter, because the point is that Stede is trying something, and fucking it up, and trying again, and growing as he does so, learning more about what the relationship between him and Ed needs and who they are as people.

This also could have been a really interesting arc for Stede internally. Throw in a couple of flashbacks to Stede courting Mary, to make a parallel between how he acted then and how he's acting now with Ed. If it's beyond the budget to fly Claudia O'Doherty to New Zealand or she's busy or something, give Stede a random other lady or two he approached as a young man – ones who obviously refused to accept his hand. Excellent! Now there's even more weight to him getting it right this time with Ed, when he's never managed to get someone to like him before! Or give young Stede an intense friendship with another young man that went wrong, and back then he didn't understand, but now he can look back and be like, 'oh I guess that wasn't as platonic as I thought'. (Personally, this would be my favorite option, but I know Jenkins & co said they didn't want to write a coming-out story, so maybe they'd have been less interested in this one. Fine, but I want it! 🥳 ) I think you could do this without taking up a lot of screentime – I doubt all the scenes we got of Ed's childhood add up to five minutes in total, but we got plenty of information from those three glimpses.

It would also make sense for Stede to discuss the issue with the crew, which gives the show a chance to flesh out their role a little more, another thing the season could have used. If he asks Lucius, what Lucius responds and how he reacts could help to develop the Lucius/Pete relationship. Similarly, if Stede turned to Olu or Jim, we could have heard more about Jim/Archie or Olu/Zheng or any combination of the four. Or any of the crew! What kind of relationship advice does Frenchie give? Roach? This also could have intersected with Ed's redemption arc nicely: which are the crew are willing to put aside their anger at Ed to help Stede (and them doing so would give more credence to Izzy's speech about them being family and loving Ed at the end)? Who isn't willing, and tries to deliberately sabotage their relationship for revenge, and how do Stede and/or Ed react to that?

Overall, I think such an arc could have fit the show's themes of masculinity and toxicity really well. There's so much about dating and pick-up lines and romance that reflects on gender – there are expectations of who should be aggressive vs receptive, flowery vs crude, prudish vs too fast, gifts as a sign of love vs gifts as obligation... it's endless. Obviously the season wouldn't have time to explore all these angles, but I list them as a sign of how many directions they could have taken this topic in. Ultimately it all comes down to: Who does Stede want to be as a partner? And who does Ed want him to be? And that would be so strong as a direction to go in, even if we didn't get final answers to the questions! At least they would be asking them.

But instead we got a vision of a mermaid and never explored who Stede is in reality. :(

[jellybeanium124]

maybe it's time for me to make a post about izzy's redemption arc as a jar guy who's been a fan of the bastard since season 1.

prior to season 2 airing, I was redemption arc neutral. I thought that a redemption arc could be good, but a "get even worse" arc could also be good. my ideal izzy ending was him leaving ed to go be a pirate on his own after realizing that they couldn't fit together in any healthy way. I wrote a fic about this.

anyways, they completely fucked the redemption arc up. I don't have too much of a problem with 2x01-2x04, despite the major issue of izzy suddenly understanding his feelings for ed and being able to physically say out loud to ed "I have... love, for you." I mean, it's a fantastic line and con delivers it perfectly, I just wish it hadn't happened in the first 15 minutes of the season. like imagine placing this line somewhere else? what if it was in 2x02 instead, aka The Edizzy Episode Ever aka The Episode That Made Me Interested In The Edizzy Dynamic. like ok ok ok ok. ed gives izzy the gun. he goes and stands like jesus in the light on the cross. izzy shakily holds up the gun, but then he laughs. he laughs and then cuts himself off and then he chokes down a swallow and says "I have... love, for you, Edward." imagine being ed in that moment. isn't that super fucked up? isn't it glorious? imagine hearing that when all you want to do is die?? like WAUGHHHH right?

anyways, moving on.

I do like 2x05. I think it's a just a really fun chill episode and my exact flavor of TV that I like. I call it "11 short films about the Revenge" because it's structured in a series of loose snippets and scenes. I do enjoy the izzy & stede stuff in this episode (izzy slaps stede's ass lmao how could I not enjoy it?) but it's really the episode where issues with how izzy is redeemed start to come to light.

why is he so good at not being an asshole? izzy, for the most part, doesn't fall back into old habits. he'll make the occasional uncomfortable comment, or walks up to wee john looking like he's gonna say something homophobic, but he doesn't. sure, he can't move as fast or as well as he used to, but he used to have no issues pushing the crew, and he never trips up. he's just so goddamn open too! I get that accepting the leg is like, a metaphor for accepting the crew, but it'd be cool if izzy had trouble actually doing that. in s1 izzy is so socially awkward, and he clearly is not a people person. Why didn't he struggle with being accepted, an entirely new feeling? Why didn't he try to remain a loner, just a little bit? HOW ON EARTH DID HE GET TO THE POINT WHERE HE COULD DO DRAG IN PUBLIC??

my favorite flavor of steddyhands in fic, and I promise this is related and I wouldn't say that if it wasn't relevant, is the kind where stede and ed conspire to flirt with izzy and izzy is a complete dumbass who doesn't know what's going on. izzy in these fics is trying to be better, but he doesn't know how. he constantly struggles to voice his feelings, he struggles to change his old toxic thought patterns, he struggles with openness and vulnerability. how come izzy didn't struggle with that in the show? he spent 50-something years being closed off to the world, and now he can open himself up with no issues?

that's how you "redeem" izzy and keep him fundamentally izzy. he's trying to be less of an asshole, but he's not really great at it. he wants to learn how to open himself up, but he's never done it before. he's still a loner at heart. he's still socially awkward. he still has toxic assumptions to work through. my izzy, my ruthless bastard rat man, was replaced in the show with a clone and then that clone was killed.

I understand that doing this right would require more time. I wish they got that time. and I wish they did something different with the time they had.

[phantomoftheorpheum]

PLL: OS (Summer School) 2x03 thoughts

*Spoilers for 2x01-2x03 of Summer School

Okay y'all, so many thoughts. I'm still feeling pretty solid about my predictions from 2x01 & 2x02, but let me go through those and how 2x03 has shifted or solidified my POV.

Christian will be an early suspect because he made the "Bloody Rose" mask, but ultimately is likely innocent. - So I am at least partially correct with this one. He definitely did make a Bloody Rose mask. Whether or not he made the Bloody Rose mask remains to be seen. If he is entirely innocent (as in, he was either commissioned to make the mask, or someone asked to buy it from him after he posted it on social media or something), it seems weird he did not mention this to Tabby when they spoke about it. I also initially thought it was weird that Tabby (and Imogen) were not more freaked out by finding the Bloody Rose & A mask at Christian's, but I need to keep in mind that until the end of this episode, they didn't really believe any of the Bloody Rose stuff was legit. However, I am still sticking with my gut about all this and going with my original theory, which is that Christian will now come under serious suspicion from the girls, since they know Bloody Rose is a real threat at this point.

I'm definitely still sticking with my feeling that Henry/Faran is not a relationship that is long for this world, and Faran is going to be spending quite a bit of screen time with Greg. I still like my theory that Greg & Faran might team up to figure out what's going on with Kelly.

Speaking of, I am still very much on board with my instinct that the Our Mother of Holy Grace church is very much involved with the Bloody Rose scheme. First of all, while I have never been to a Redemption House, and I am not deeply familiar with them, Mouse's "test" felt like it could easily be a scene from one, a "trial by fire" so to speak. Also the imagery of her escaping a burning building feels very "burn in Hell" associated. Another interesting thing about this is that if the church is involved, that means that there could easily be multiple people dressing up as Rose, meaning no one really has an alibi. This is further confused by Imogen's dreams/visions, and Mouse's grandmother's mental state. What is real? What isn't?

No particular "secluded cabin in the woods" evidence either way, so I'm sticking to this one as well.

Okay, now for the new 2x03 thoughts/theories. While this episode had a lot of scenes that didn't directly move the plot forward, they definitely want us feeling suspicious of lots of people right now. We spend a lot of time with the new love interests, so we'll see where that goes.

Jen's financial situation interests me. Noa insists that Jen is "good people" and then we almost immediately have a scene where Jen steals money from work and isn't even very apologetic about it when Noa catches her. It could be easy to wave this off with a "but they met in juvie, so this doesn't seem OOC," but this clearly does take Noa by surprise. So that makes me wonder if Jen's need for cash is going to make a more main plot relevant return. Is Jen desperately in need of money and someone is paying her to get back in good with Noa and feed them info? Am I reaching?

I still really don't know how I feel about Johnny. He had quite a bit of screen time this episode, and he is very charming, but why does he matter? We don't have very many extraneous characters in the show, and while he could just be a love interest (like the role Ash played last season), it certainly wouldn't be a shock if he's got secrets. For some reason, I also wouldn't be super surprised if he got murdered? I don't know why I get that vibe. I think it might be because I still feel that Bloody Rose is punishing "sinners" and Johnny being so upfront about wanting to casually date multiple girls would almost certainly fit that pattern of judgement and warrant "punishment." But also... can't Imogen catch a break?

This is a small thing, but at Mouse's party, Greg clocks Noa & Jen's relationship. While he does so in an obnoxious way, it makes me want to go back and watch his scenes from 2x01 and 2x02 again, just to see if he's made any other obnoxious comments that might actually be insightful. Greg being so annoying could be a really interesting way to deliver serious/important information, without the audience taking it seriously. I'm definitely going to be paying attention to what he says in the future.

Notably absent from the skate party - all the adults, Shawn, Henry, and Ash. While I'm not convinced anyone has a solid alibi (as this whole plot seems too elaborate for one person to pull off), these are characters that we have no visual alibi for while Mouse is being chased by Rose. Though Ash does show up at Mouse's to pick her up shortly after, so he is at least partially covered. He is also perfectly primed to manipulate Mouse's grandmother, though. So maybe those things cancel each other out.

I struggle to believe that Ash is going to turn out to be evil enough to do something like this to Mouse (I mean, obviously I could be wrong. "It's always the boyfriend," is a huge trope for a reason), I don't want to completely rule him out just because I like him, and he's also been kind of "too perfect" in a lot of respects, which puts me a little on guard with him. But I like him and I don't have a solid reason to suspect him at the moment, so I'm going to keep trusting him for now.

My suspicions of Henry & Shawn have both gone up a little bit, particularly Shawn. They seem like the SOs that are "on the outs," so to speak. Either has potential motive (extreme reactions, but potential motive) to seek revenge on their girlfriends- Henry could have already known Faran was lying to him about being cleared to dance (though like holy hell what an overreaction if that has to do with anything), and Shawn could have already known about Noa & Jen's relationship in juvie. Shawn has been "too perfect" in a lot of ways as well, and I also don't really understand how the show will manage to validate Noa & Jen's relationship if Shawn is just 100% an innocent victim in all this. It makes me feel like he may pull a Billy Loomis and we'll discover that he's been plotting revenge on Noa for a long time. If he really has done nothing wrong, then I feel really bad for him.

Kelly seems evidently conflicted in this episode. This definitely tracks with my suspicions of her mother & church, but I do wonder if they're making it too obvious. Kelly was my first thought when Mouse's grandmother told her one of her friends gave her the info on where to take her, and she could feel quite bad about it. She is clearly seeking validation in a lot of ways, and she did seem genuinely touched that Imogen (and the other girls) want to include her in things, so it wouldn't be surprising if she's conflicted. But maybe she's just that good of an actor. I also haven't forgotten that Kelly was very diabolical in the episode that Karen died.

No sign of Wes this episode. Idk that that matters, just making note of it. He could definitely be on the chopping block if Rose is taking out "sinners."

We have now confirmed that all the new love interests are aware of the events of season 1 (to different degrees, but aware). Christian and Johnny were both pretty upfront about their awareness, but I'm not so sure about Jen (who claimed not to know much about it in an earlier episode). I have also noted that both Jen and Christian were possibly seeking out Noa and Tabby (Jen being in summer school, Christian getting a job at the movie theater), while Johnny doesn't appear to have intentionally placed himself in Imogen's path, as she came and applied to the creamery, not the other way around.

I'm pretty sure I have more thoughts about this episode, but there's so much bouncing around in my brain (I just love puzzles), so I'm gonna sleep on it and see where that takes me.

Oh, not a theory, but I just wanted to say again that I really love that this group of girls really feel like friends. They're really supportive of each other and involved in each other's lives and I love that. Anyway!

[eg515]

Harry serving both rich uncle you only see twice a year and low-budget foreign mobster in the same episode

[toughpaperround]

Leverage: Redemption 2x02 'The One Man's Trash Job'

The crew's mark is at the auction showroom. Parker needs to lip-read to find out what he plans to do.

[more Leverage screenshot scenes 1 / next]

[gleesongtournament]

Glee Song Tournament Redemption Round

[thesearchforbluejello]

Not for nothing but Janet and Sam raising Cassie was basically a completely wasted opportunity. I realize we got Rite of Passage, which frankly I hated then and still hate now because it leans way too much on the "bitchy teenager" trope instead of building any actual character for Cassie, and we know Cassie is why Sam left the SGC before s9, and obviously the show never really did slice of life stuff except with Pete which automatically revoked their right to ever do any slice of life stuff again but I still feel like it could have been a much more interesting thing to explore.

None of SG-1 has anything to lose, really: Daniel has no family besides Nick, who's estranged and then gone; Jack has no one; Teal'c has his family and Bra'tac but he's already committed to potentially never seeing them again. Sam has Jacob, but he's off doing his own thing. How would the show have changed if Sam's relationship with Cassie was cast as something to lose?

We know that SG-1 is quite involved with raising Cassie: Jack GIVES HER A DOG for crying out loud. And of course Cassie's middle school teacher knows Jack by name (cf. Learning Curve), and Sam in particular is very involved, obviously, visiting when she can (cf. In The Line of Duty, although I don't know when exactly this was supposed to air; the shot of Sam in the gate room from 1x02 and beyond is from that episode, which aired as 2x02, which presumably is why they were able to get Katie Stuart for that episode but not again in s5, but I digress. My point is that we can't assume when that was actually supposed to be because it's out of order so presumably it could have meant Sam was involved short term EXCEPT) and planning fun weekend activities (cf. Urgo). Sam buys Cassie's cake in Rite of Passage and we know they regularly play chess, and we know that Sam specifically left the SGC for Cassie between the original finale and S9 (which was actually an excuse for AT's maternity leave, but).

Every time I rewatch, though, I find myself so profoundly frustrated with the fact that Cassie is never there when it's important. Like, sure, maybe they couldn't get either of the actresses. But there's this fun thing in television called dialogue, and they should have taken notes from Leverage: Redemption on talking about an absent character (look I know one predates the other by more than twenty years, but you get it).

One of the things that this show was so good at was the plots with kids, but most of the kids end up going home or going elsewhere (Merrin and Charlie, respectively, for instance but also I am once again asking what the hell happened to Loran?) and Cassie stays. They let Cassie back on base during In the Line of Duty, so where is she in Entity, or even Death Knell, Grace, or Line in the Sand? Where is she in Meridian? Did she ever meet Jonas? Or Cam or Vala? What was her opinion of Pete? Where did she go after Heroes? (She may have been old enough to be in college, maybe, but still.)

I realize there are always unanswered questions (like what happened to Satterfield? Did Haley end up working on an SG team? Did Grogan get reassigned?) but I just have so many specifically about Cassie, and by extension her relationship with Sam, and by another extension Sam and Janet's friendship.

Anyway, this is more of a ramble than a coherent set of thoughts but basically: I realize that slice of life stuff wasn't this show's schtick, and I think that suits it perfectly well, but I have so many unanswered questions about Cassie's post-Singuarity life that I do actually think should have been addressed more frequently in one-off dialogue.

[dirtydancingdean]

✨ fic recs ✨

ok so back in like 2014 i watched supernatural for a solid 3 years until they killed kevin and charlie and i got bored of the bmol storyline. now im here again let’s not talk about it. BUT during this time i accumulated a Lot of fic and in the past two months i’ve gone through all 213 of my bookmarks and gone through like every rec list made after s12 in order to read fic set during every specific season while i rewatch the show. because im insane <3 im on s8 rn and wanted to share my list of favourites from each season so far as well as my favourite aus ! they’re all generally nsfw so minors be careful, and also check the warnings ! and i will update this when i finish s15 <3

aus

asunder by rageprufrock (23.8k, e, background samruby)

obviously the most perfect thing to ever exist. 

and this, your living kiss by opal_bullets (56k, m, background saileen)

poet dean fic need i say more. part dean studies if dean studies was elaborated on lovingly in detail for 56k words, part gorgeous and beautiful poetry, part incredibly clever commentary on meta and fan allusions, and part stunning exploration of the relationships in the show turned on their heads.  

one white little lie by komodobits (11k, gen)

this is SOOO cute. cas is so embarrassing i was covering my face the entire time i was reading it. if u want to be cheered up. read this. 

broadway musical by griftings (12k, m)

this is genuinely sooo funny. big “castiel did you fuck the michael sword” energy and jimmy novak as that “am not against gays” tweet, plus jo <3

c-s-t-l by komodobits (90k, m)

i haven't read this in a while but from what i remember it was incredible and also had cassie <3 

rest is under the cut because it got long fhjfkfklf

pre-series/season 1-3*

a turn of the earth by microcomets (time travel, 95k, standford era, m)

i think everyone’s read this at this point but if u haven't. what are u doing. go read it. it’s absolutely everything i reread it in the week before the finale without remembering half of the stuff it talked about and i was a WRECK. if u think about standford era dean every day read this. cas punches john winchester in the FACE. 

geography by aeli_kindara (3k, teen and up, warnings for discussion of rape/non-con and prostitution)

not dean/cas but a really wonderful and needed conversation with sam and dean during 2x02.

season 4

so says the sword by komodobits (85k, e)

yeah. i dont need to say anything.  

consequences of falling by fayjay (37k, e, background samruby, warnings for rape/non-con)

THISSSS FIC. pls it’s perfect literally everything i wanted when i was watching s4 and obsessed with love as an act of worship + ruby and cas parallels. ruby and cas get drunk together! ruby says this: “dean and castiel sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes love, then comes the fall from grace, then comes battling the hosts of hell and wishing that you’d managed to get your skinny ass laid before the freaking apocalypse”! what more could u want!

named by rc_machlan (94k, m)

literally the best fic in the world i am not going to say Anything if you love dean and angels and the mythology of s4-s5 that was promptly dropped, you absolutely have to read this.

four people ruby seduced & one she actually fell for (or: ruby's epic love affair with humanity in general and sam in specific) by tuesday (3.7k, e, samruby, ruby/jo)

this is more background deancas than anything else and does contain brief, not romantic in any way dean/ruby and dean/cas, but like. if u love ruby (which i do) u have to read this.

season 5

final fantasy by orange_crushed (1.9k, m)

endverse.....this made me want to die

the (mostly accidental) courtship of dean winchester by tuesday (11k, m)

a classic for a reason. really cute and soft and the handprint and cas beating dean up in 5x18 are angelic marriage rites. what more could you ask for.

the girlfriend experience by rageprufrock (15k, explicit)

of Course i mean of COURSE. thee s5 deancas fic.

strike me down and i’ll come back more powerful than you can possibly imagine by trinityofone (10k, gen)

post 5x22 dean and cas rescue sam from hell with the help of some special guests. PERFECT. the only valid good omens crossover.

season 6**

something stupid by zatnikatel (20k, e)

this broke my heart and put it back together. one of my favourite cas characterizations, takes place over s5-s6 and it’s just stunning. 

a crash course in someone else’s history by annie d (11k, teen and up)

s4 cas ends up in the body of cas in 6x20. fucking life-ruining.

season 7

make known by domesticadventures (16k, teen and up)

this is a really heartbreaking look at dean’s headspace near the end of s6 and throughout s7, and it’s really wonderful with a hopeful ending.

redemption road by a whole bunch of people (652k, virtual season, explicit)

oh boy. ok. know ur herstory ! this was written from 2011 to 2012 and it is thee s7 fic, a virtual season written by 17 fans all together. it’s very very long and it suffers sometimes from having being written a decade ago, but im making my way through it right now and it still fucking holds up. i really do recommend reading at least some of it, you can stop around halfway through and you should be fine.

season 8***

rinse, repeat by ias (3k, teen and up)

exploration of cas when naomi forces him to kill copies of dean and then his perspective in goodbye stranger.

my keeper by whelvenwings (5k, gen)

another goodbye stranger fic, this time with bonus artist cas!

though the course may change by imogenbynight (51k, e)

au after 8x23. i love this fic so much. dean accidentally ends up making himself have to go undercover with cas and pretend to be fake engaged. also, charlie and kevin. do i need to say more.

apres by imogenbynight (24k, e)

au after 8x23 where dean goes to find cas after the angels fall in paris 🥺

*i have found exactly one bela fic that i loved, and zero henriksen fics that i loved, so IF u have recs for those. i would appreciate that.

**mostly the s6 fics i read were uh...vampire dean fics...

***have found one (1) good dean/aaron fic but im still searching for the perfect purgatory crew fics