#spn time is on my side

[spn20rewatch]

Season 3, Episode 15: Time is on my Side (December 19th)

A doctor who has achieved immortality is harvesting organs from victims. -Super-wiki

Originally aired on: May 8th, 2008

Written by Sera Gamble, directed by Charles Beeson.

Fun fact: Doc Benton is an urban legend from the New England area. You can read about the legend here.

Enjoy the re-watch and tag any posts with #spn20rewatch!

[littlebluejaydraws]

I know things. I know a lot of things, about a lot of people.

Image description in alt text.

[s0fter-sin]

one of my favourite aspects of supernatural that you very rarely see in paranormal shows is that sam and dean are already versed in the world they live in. there’s no sudden discovery of ghosts and demons and now they have to learn about them along with the audience; they are born into it and already know all about it. it allows the audience to follow their personal story instead of also trying to figure out this new world and its rules

the first season is full of knowledge we never see them learn; “w*ndigoes are in the minnesota woods or- or northern michigan. i’ve never even heard of one this far west.” […] “great. well then this [his gun] is useless.” (1x02), “you don’t break a curse. you get the hell out of its way.” (1x08), d: “it’s a god. a pagan god, anyway.” […] “the annual cycle of its killings? and the fact that the victims are always a man and a woman. like some kind of fertility right.” […] s: “the last meal. given to sacrificial victims. d: “yeah, i’m thinking a ritual sacrifice to appease some pagan god.” (1x11)

almost every episode in the first season is a monster they’ve faced before that they then explain to the audience in a way that should feel patronising; like it’s the same speech given over and over again but instead, the audience almost feels included in the knowledge. it’s stated with such an innate confidence and comfort in said knowledge that it feels like we already knew it too; “spirits and demons don't have to unlock doors. if they want inside, they just go through the walls.” […] “the claws, the speed that it moves; could be a skinwalker, maybe a black dog.” (1x02), “it's biblical numerology. you know noah's ark, it rained for forty days. the number means death.” (1x04), “no no no, not the reaper, a reaper. there's reaper lore in pretty much every culture on earth, it goes by 100 different names.” […] “you said it yourself that the clock stopped, right? reapers stop time. and you can only see 'em when they're coming at you which is why i could see it and you couldn't.” (1x12)

they already know and, at least in the first season, already have what they need to kill whatever they’re hunting; already know to salt and burn bones for spirits, fire for a w*ndigo, exorcisms for demons, a silver bullet to the heart for shapeshifters. there’s only three times in the entire first season that they run into something new to them; 1x14 when sam gets his first vision that leads him to another psychic, 1x16 when dean calls caleb for help on the sigil he put together and he tells him about daevas, and 1x20 when they find out vampires are real- and they only don’t know that bc john thought they were hunted to extinction and not worth mentioning

(there’s also technically two half instances if you count one of them knowing something the other doesn’t - sam figuring out the tulpa in 1x17 and dean already knowing about the shtriga in 1x18 - but those still rely on sam and dean having prior knowledge)

even when they’re uncertain about facing something, it’s not bc they don’t know what it is; it’s precisely bc they know what it is and acknowledge that it’ll be a difficult hunt (“i don't know, man. this isn't our normal gig. i mean, demons, they don't want anything, just death and destruction for its own sake. this is big. and i wish dad was here.” 1x04)

so much of the tension in paranormal shows typically comes from the main character(s) not knowing what is happening to them/the people around them and having to find out how to resolve it. supernatural is unique in that it operates more like a police procedural. the tension comes from solving the clues and identifying patterns to figure out who (what) the killer is and intercepting before they can take another victim

it’s such a different tone to go for when compared to other shows that came both before, during, and after its run. it sets sam and dean on even footing with each other since they both have the same knowledge going in, and it puts them in a place of authority usually reserved for an outside character

the shows i compare spn to most is charmed, buffy and teen wolf; every main character in those shows are brought into the paranormal world knowing nothing, putting them on the same level as the audience, and they have their mc interact with others already knowledgeable about that world in order to overcome their problem/monster of the week. the audience organically learns about this new world as the characters learn about it. it’s a sound writing strategy that prevents “as we already know”-style exposition but something that complicates it is if your world building isn’t unique or intriguing enough, this slow introduction can become boring

we’ve seen shows like these before; sitting through the same tropes of characters learning to use their powers, struggling with no longer feeling normal/relating to the regular world around them, and not knowing how much they can trust the people already involved in this new world gets repetitive. all three shows eventually reach the same level of comfort with their new world that spn starts with but if the characters aren’t enough to draw you in, you can end up dropping it before they reach that point (and often, before the overarching plot can really kick in and evolve the show beyond the villain of the week format)

it’s the superhero origin movie in tv format; dragged out and overplayed. dropping the audience into an established world of course comes with its own problems but you also have the benefit of pre-existing established character dynamics that let the audience slot in like they’ve always been there instead of just getting to know all the characters while the characters also get to know each other

sam and dean already knowing about the supernatural lets the audience immediately get to the core of the story; the conflict between sam and dean, the search for their father, and the mystery of what killed their mother

[shirtlesssammy]

Dean Winchester every day -- 59/326

Supernatural 3x15//Time is on My Side

[deansrainbow]

INSANE SCENES — 2.01 /// 5.16

-

-

[rosewheresheshouldntbe]

> Rose: Confess to Kanaya!

Rose: I love you.

Kanaya: Y Yo Ati, Rose.

> Rose: Get swallowed by something that looks like Venom.

> Rose: Get sent to super hell!

> Kanaya: Have something very gay and homophobic happen to you.

Kanaya: ...

What an absolute diversity loss. You find yourself thinking "love loses!"

[peanutbutterandbananasandwichs]

God not to engage in the most stupid discourse of all time (you did it Dean girls you invented something dumber than spagettioes discourse!). But. "Sam abandoned two dogs". I'm sorry do we really think Sam had ANY choice in the matter as to whether he brought Bones back with him when John found him after he ran away in Flagstaff??? Like seriously?! Do you think this CHILD made a conscious decision to "abandon" his doggy companion or do you think MAYBE just maybe John Winchester told him to leave the dog behind and Sam was probably pretty distraught over it actually??!

[hexedwinchester]

Supernatural S03E15 Time is on My Side

Familiar faces: the gym guy in the beginning is the same actor who plays Magnus later (the one who wants to hold MoC Dean as his antique possession). The lab doc actor also played Daniel Elkins in season 1

Sam reciting exorcism is so sexy. No, seriously, If I were a demon, I'd want him to sing it to me like a lullaby

*le Dean enjoying a nice burger

*Le Sam talking descriptively about maggots and he goes onto talk about bile, intestines and fecal matter. Gosh I love this Sam🤣🤣🤣

i love Rufus 🤣

If I may speak in Dr. Benton's defense, Sam does have such pretty eyes! I see what he saw there

And it looks like Sera Gamble loves to strap Jared Padalecki to tables (Can't say I blame her)

Sam, sweetie, you really wanna Frankenstein your brother?

Bye, bye Bela. You had it coming. You won't be missed

I love how gory this episode is. The creepy doctor, the innards, the surgical procedures and equipments! I miss this gore!

Damn, how are there no gifs for this episode???

[shadystranger]

Im crazy about the way they framed this like sam was poisoning his mind

[arcanespillo]

“Time is on My Side”

Supernatural S3E15

[youre-only-gay-once]

Supernatural ⋄ 3×15 ⋄ Time Is On My Side

[lillysilverus]

I haven't watched season 3 of SPN in so long. I forgot so many things. Time is on My Side has to be peak really. The boys are absolutely gorgeous in it. So many beautiful shots of Jared that it's a banquet. Peak co-dependence, Sam willing for them to go all Sid and Nancy. Peak grossness. Bonus tied up Sam with eye close ups. And the pièce de résistance, Sam asking Dean how he's going to stop him when Dean tells him he's not letting him go off by himself. Hints of Soulless right there. We rarely saw this Sam later on after all the pile on of blame of season's 4 and 5 and the trauma of everything after that, except for Soulless. And isn't that just a bitch. Sam has to lose his beaten down soul to stand up for himself. Sigh. Season 2 tends to win polls as fandom's favorite season, but honestly, Season 3 is the gift that keeps on giving.

[sammygender]

im new here- is dean abusive?

imo yeah. smarter people than me have written dissections of the way he treats sam & others (he’s also Awful to his psuedo-son jack, but i haven’t gotten to that season yet), i’ve probably reblogged a bunch of them.

he certainly doesn’t mean to be & i don’t say it to condemn him as a person or as a character & i’m still very attached to him & he loves sam very much (not that that makes a difference in whether u abuse someone or not) - but the way he treats sam a lot/some of the time is emotionally abusive and sam is clearly badly impacted. s4 and s8 come to mind as his worst moments also ofc moc era - after that there’s less interpersonal conflict (up to where i am at least) but that’s because sam mostly stops disagreeing with dean not because dean actually gets much better <3 spn is cycles of abuse show after all. family is hell. dean’s learnt pretty much everything about how to behave from his abusive father and as a result. well. cycle continues

[s0fter-sin]

what up it's been 12 years and i'm still pissed there was no consequence to dean being in constant survival mode and fighting 24/7 in purgatory

what do you mean he didn't become a god at hand to hand combat? what do you mean he could still be jumped by random ass demons?

he was - at best - in a constant in-between state meaning he didn't get hungry or tired but that also means he didn’t sleep for a year and was constantly being hunted by hundreds of thousands of monsters that want to eat him specifically, while actively searching for cas

OR he was in a completely normal state meaning he was constantly fighting starvation and exhaustion while all of that was still happening!! it's not like there's much to scavenge in monster heaven!! he would’ve been on the verge of dying for a year!!!

then he comes back and he's just exactly the same? the same level of fighting skill he's always had? if not slightly worse for some reason?? what do you mean he couldn't kill anything he came across with his eyes closed when it's what he's been doing EVERY DAY FOR A YEAR???

it's always been one of the flaws of a show running for so long that after like s6 they never seemed to be getting better? they still got the shit kicked out of them by demons and ghosts and what have you and instead of finding obscure rituals they just got A Better Gun™️

both sam and dean are the peak of what hunters can be; they've been trained to hunt and kill things bigger and stronger than them since they were children, so what do you mean they still get the shit kicked out of them so often? was it just to show how strong monsters are? that even with their level of experience and skill, they're still outmatched?

(or do you just need a way to keep up the tension cough cough what who said that)

but you can't have dean who's been trained to be an elite soldier Since He Was Four Years Old go into a 360 combat scenario for an entire year - a good chunk of which he was completely by himself - then say he didn't improve his combat skills At All

and not even just combat, his senses would've been off the charts!! there was nothing but ambient forest noise and growling, his hearing would've gotten so sharp, it was darker so his night vision would ve been insane and he should've been able to feel a monster coming a mile away after constantly being on guard

post purgatory dean had the opportunity to be a completely different beast to anything we'd ever seen before, to be a completely different kind of traumatised from all of his other trauma

hell broke him but purgatory should've broken and rebuilt him into something Terrifying

[ananke-xiii]

Scattered thoughts about angels in s9:

Angels losing Paradise by literally falling on the blue planet and instead of making Paradise on Earth, as they used to dream about for millennia, they bitch and moan because they have to go back like they're Jack Shephard from Lost is everything to me. Not nice being thrown out of your own private Eden, uh?

So here's a nice analogy: heaven is the garden of Eden and angels are Adam and Eve (beautiful). Metatron is both Lucifer, who uses and manipulates Castiel to "enter" the garden, and God who decides that the best course of action is to evict all the angels (and, well, in-universe also to suddenly leave which, in hindsight knowing who God really is, was likely just a myth angels fabricated to make sense of their shock).

In a season with these premises a character like Gadreel basically begs to enter stage right. He is juxtaposed with Castiel who did what Gadreel did and unknowingly let the Metatron-devil enter paradise. As a matter of fact in s11 Cas will very literally let Lucifer in (himself) just like Gadreel had let Lucifer enter the garden. They're both haunted by reputation and redemption, they will both ultimately choose humanity's side (well, Castiel not so much tbh. At the end of s10 he does say that he will stand by Dean's side while he burns and murders the world. So his committiment to ONE human is abundantly clear).

I love the fact that Castiel, who was bent on killing him the moment he knew it was him and not Ezekiel, decides to heal Gadreel. Castiel healing other angels is possibly what makes him really stand out. I might be wrong but, to my knowledge, angels only kill their brothers and sisters. The Rit Zein angel in "Heaven Can't Wait" brings home the point that angels' solution to pain is death, not healing. However, healing is one of Cas' core traits, he wants to "heal" heaven, he thinks he can fix it. All things considered Cas helping his son "fix" heaven can be very beautiful and poetic.

[shallowrambles]

So I've been thinking. It's funny how enjoying meta is somewhat embedded with trust.

Like, if you're "friends" and have followed a person for a long time, you have more a sense of their values, and it's easier to read their difficult meta because you trust more that they're being charitable/nuanced.

If you don't know them, it's harder to trust that they're not funneling difficult topics into rationalization of liking/supporting gross shit.