#spn 2.08

[canonicallysoulmates]

I don't know about y'all but me? I love the film noir tone used when Louis gets his revenge on the coven. The music, his clothes, the tone, the back and forth with Santiago as he baits him

[lower-the-volume]

dean winchester. crossroad blues

[scoobydoodean]

Dean is clearly struggling with depression in 7.04. We already know this from 7.02 when he essentially reveals to Bobby that he's suicidal. But before Dean ever gets on the hook with Osiris, he just doesn't want to be working a case. They go see the grave of the girl the first victim killed, but Dean suggests going back to the hotel instead of immediately burning the body to see if it takes care of the issue. Sam doesn't protest, but looks surprised. When Sam says it's time to go burn the bones, Dean clearly doesn't want to go. He's melancholic—tired. Caught up in the tragedy of the dead child and the foolishness of the drunk driver who killed her. When they get back, Dean tells Sam to take the first shower and lays down on the bed. Sam is fully focused on the case, raring to go. He quickly finds another death has occurred and tells Dean to suit up. Again, Dean doesn't want to go. He just wants to sleep. He closes his eyes and whines under his breath. Sam notices this time and asks if Dean's okay. Dean pretends he is. Dean sits on the hood of the car while Sam goes in the coroner's office. He's withdrawing—hiding—trying to get space. Sam says the farm they need to search next is "A few hundred acres" and Dean is upset—says they'll be "searching all year". When they meet the victim who hasn't died yet, Dean complains that his story doesn't make sense even though that's a common experience for them while working supernatural cases. Witness statements they receive often don't make sense, and they typically deal with that by showing as much openness as possible to their witnesses. It's basic stuff for them. In other words, basically everything about the way Dean is behaving screams that he doesn't want to do the job (from the beginning, before they even know what it's about).

Dean's rarely so apathetic about cases. The last time he was this apathetic about a case was probably 5.17 "99 Problems", right before he left Bobby, Sam, and Cas a suicide note. He's supposed to be the guy who cares, but he doesn't care right now. This is also illustrated to us when Dean suggests the victims deserve to die anyway. This sends up red flags particularly when their last victim (who isn't dead yet and needs help) is an murderer who did his time. Dean was the one who defended prisoners not deserving to die in 2.19 when Sam suggested otherwise (and it'll happen again in 9.07), but they reverse roles here. Sam calls out the reversal, telling Dean, "You say it yourself. It's not on us to judge." It's possible the man being a murderer has some impact on Dean's compassion as well, but I don't think that's quite it. It reminds me a little of 2.08 "Crossroads Blues" and how Dean's depression and anger in that episode clouds his compassion. Sam also goes for the "We kill people too" defense, but Dean just says he deserves to die too (in keeping with what he told Jacob Pond last episode when the boy told Dean he'd kill him one day). Dean's supposed to be the one who Cares, but everything feels utterly meaningless to him right now. Everything they do, everything they are. None of it means anything.

[onespncap]

s02e08 -- "Crossroad Blues"

[ballsdeepinturbohell]

SPN 2.08 - Crossroad Blues

That demon was so hot😮‍💨😮‍💨

(Good episode, I have mixed feelings about John burning in hell)

[preseriesdean]

Talk to me about s2 supremacy. Spare no details.

thank you for asking and allowing me to gush 💕

maybe most importantly: it still has that early seasons 2000s vibe with flip phones and tape decks and newspaper articles and wide angle shots and americana and grainy film and desaturated colors and grittiness and loose layered working class clothing and shitty motels and grungy bars and this rough edge to everything

another main point is that it finds the perfect balance between monster of the week episodes and a season-encompassing story/myth arc by generally combining the two when necessary, unlike some of the later seasons

an overarching theme is the morality of hunting and whether or not truly every “monster” is really evil or deserves to die: “what if we killed things that didn't deserve killing?” (bloodlust, the usual suspects, croatoan, hunted, born under a bad sign, roadkill, heart) which plays into my next point

the pacing of the season works really well to set up everything about the season finale: sam's storyline with simon said, croatoan, hunted, born under a bad sign; and dean selling his soul, first through john’s deal with azazel, then with children shouldn't play with dead things (“what's dead should stay dead” / “when someone's gone they should stay gone. you don't mess with that kind of stuff”) and crossroad blues (“i think you did it for yourself. so you wouldn’t have to live without her”) and somewhat in croatoan where he's ready to die with sam

literally every single episode is a certified banger in my opinion. i can only think of 2 episodes that didn’t hit the mark too well for me personally but every other one i could rewatch endlessly, and those two still objectively have merit within the framework of the show/season

i won’t talk about each and every ep, but specifically the entirety of playthings, one of the most, if not THE quintessential, gothic episodes of the show. immaculate vibes.

the usual suspects, which shows how well sam and dean work together without even being in the same room and just how generally Weird they can be to outsiders, as well as continuing the theme of “demons i get / people are crazy” which was first set up in s1

as well as the entirety of what is and what should never be. no further explanation necessary i think.

also sam and dean look really nice

cinematography is on. point. the entire time. these shots alone from 2.09 and 2.04. museum worthy.

sam and dean’s relationship is just. sublime. “we were just starting to be brothers again” (2.01) – “he's the only one who gets to call me [sammy]” (2.03) – “you make a move on him, you'll be dead before you hit the ground” (2.09) – “if i ever turn into something that i'm not you have to kill me” (2.11) – “i can't, i'd rather die” (2.14) – “i thought it was supposed to, to be this perfect fantasy” / “it wasn't” / “we never went hunting and you and me just never, uh... you know” (2.20) – “i had to look out for you. that's my job” / “and what do you think my job is?” (2.22)

without taking the focus off the brothers as its core or feeling suffocating, s2 introduces more recurring supporting characters (bobby... kind of, as a rollover from the s1 finale; jo, ellen, ash, gabriel, victor henriksen, gordon walker) and expands on the monster lore, lending some depth to the spn universe before it begins to really ramp up with heaven and hell etc. from s3 onwards

the music was so good, too, although that’s true for other seasons as well. from ‘bad moon rising’ playing on the radio after the car crash in 2.01 and ending with ‘don’t look back’ in 2.22 and everything inbetween; dean singing along to ‘can’t fight this feeling’ in 2.05, ‘hellhound on my trail’ in 2.08, ‘renegade’ in 2.12, ‘back on the road again’ in 2.14, ‘house of the rising sun’ in 2.16, ‘silent lucidity’ in 2.17, ‘rooster’ in 2.19, ‘americana’ playing during sam’s death etc.

they just... did not hold back in all hell breaks loose part 1. earth shattering.

season 2 is funny (hollywood babylon, “maybe the spirits are trying to shut down the movie cause they think it sucks”) and heartbreaking (all hell breaks loose) and silly (tall tales) and deep (what is and what should never be) and philosophical (houses of the holy) and tragic (heart) and creepy (croatoan and pretty much all the rest) and intelligent (the usual suspects) and beautiful to me 💛

[castiellesbian]

Robert Berens:

9.06 Heaven Can't Wait

9.14 Captives

9.19 Alex Annie Alexis Ann

10.07 Girls, Girls, Girls

10.14 The Executioner's Song

10.19 The Werther Project

11.06 Our Little World

11.14 The Vessel

11.17 Red Meat (with Andrew Dabb)

11.22 We Happy Few

12.03 The Foundry

12.07 Rock Never Dies

12.14 The Raid

12.19 The Future (with Meredith Glynn)

12.22 Who We Are

13.03 Patience

13.09 The Bad Place

13.10 Wayward Sisters (with Andrew Dabb)

13.21 Beat the Devil

14.03 The Scar

14.09 The Spear

14.18 Absence

15.03 The Rupture

15.09 The Trap

15.12 Galaxy Brain

15.18 Despair

Sera Gamble:

1.03 Dead in the Water (with Raelle Tucker)

1.12 Faith (with Raelle Tucker)

1.14 Nightmare (with Raelle Tucker)

1.21 Salvation (with Raelle Tucker)

2.03 Bloodlust

2.08 Crossroad Blues

2.13 Houses of the Holy

2.17 Heart

2.21 All Hell Breaks Loose: Part One

3.02 The Kids Are Alright

3.07 Fresh Blood

3.10 Dream a Little Dream of Me

3.12 Jus in Bello

3.15 Time Is on My Side

4.02 Are You There, God? It's Me, Dean Winchester

4.09 I Know What You Did Last Summer

4.17 It's a Terrible Life

4.21 When the Levee Breaks

5.02 Good God, Y'All

5.07 The Curious Case of Dean Winchester

5.13 The Song Remains the Same (with Nancy Weiner)

5.21 Two Minutes to Midnight

6.01 Exile on Main St.

6.11 Appointment in Samarra

6.21 Let It Bleed

7.01 Meet the New Boss

7.10 Death's Door

7.17 The Born-Again Identity

7.23 Survival of the Fittest

[spnfanficpond]

SPN Rewatch: Fanfic Edition

Our goal is to rewatch the show with fanfic writing in mind. We want to look for all the places in canon where we could add a scene, show a scene from a certain character’s point of view, or change something to make things turn out differently. (We may also critique what the show writers did; that seems inevitable.)

Episodes we're discussing: 2.07 The Usual Suspects and 2.08 Crossroad Blues

What time will it be for you:

UTC - Saturday 16:00

Los Angeles - Saturday 9am

New York - Saturday noon

London - Saturday 5pm

New Delhi - Saturday 9:30pm

Melbourne - Sunday 2am

Who’s invited? All Pond members, including Turtles! You don’t have to be a writer to have an opinion on the episodes that could inspire a writer! Everyone has valuable opinions about the show and could spark conversation and inspiration.

Where will we meet? In the discord server. There is a special channel for us to chat in so we don’t disturb other chats happening at the same time.

How does it work? On our own, whenever we have time, we all watch two episodes of SPN. At the appointed time, we all get together and chat about them. Although we have several questions to consider and creative ideas for you to do if you want, there is no pressure to actually have answers to these questions or have created anything prior to the chat. Didn’t get to watch them? No biggie! We’ve all watched these episodes enough that we can probably talk about them without rewatching them!

More info under the cut!

What questions should we consider while we watch? We have a few questions you can keep in mind while you’re watching the episodes:

Are there any “fanfiction gaps” in this episode? Any places between scenes where a juicy story could happen? (For example, one scene ends at night, but the next scene begins during the day, and what did they do with all of that time?)

How would the episode be different if you changed one thing? What is changed is up to you. It could be as complex as a character making a different choice, or as simple or silly as someone wearing a funny hat throughout part or all of the episode.

What about this episode would you like to see happen differently? How would making that change affect future episodes?

List any parts of each episode that you think could be jumping-off points for a fic. Like, in the pilot, how did Sam meet their friend who was in the bar with them?

How would the episode be different if there were another character involved like a reader insert character?

Do any of the themes we've already discussed in The Archive (See the bottom of the doc under the heading "Thematic docs") show up in this episode? Does this episode bring up any new themes we should be watching out for in the future?

What else can we do before the chat? You can add any notes you have about the episodes we'll be discussing to The Archives! In addition, besides just discussing the fanfiction possibilities in every episode, we also want to encourage you to create things centered around the episodes we’re discussing and share them with the rest of us. Things like:

Write some meta about some part of the episode. What does this episode show us about one or more of the characters?

Write a fic based on the episode. Share a link to your fic in the discussion and we can talk about it!

Make a playlist that you feel reflects the mood of the episode.

Make some art or a photo collage or edits to go along with the episode.

We look forward to seeing everything you create! Be sure to tag us so we can reblog your work!

Have questions about this or anything else? Send us an ASK or send a private message to one of the admins below!

Admins:

Michelle - @mrswhozeewhatsis

Marie - @mariekoukie6661

MJ - @thoughtslikeaminefield

Mana - @manawhaat (Founder and Admin Emeritus)

[lieutenantofsatan]

I’m on my supernatural rewatch and I just finished Crossroad Blues (2.08) and there was this scene that stuck out to me. This guy made a deal to save his wife from cancer right? And the scene really focuses on Dean’s feelings about the whole thing and the dawning realization that John did that for him. But the thing is, Dean does the same thing in the S2 finale. Sam died and because Dean couldn’t live in a world without Sammy he sold his soul for him. He knew how Sam would feel and he did it anyway.

So the SPN finale kinda fulfilled his greatest wish: to never live in a world without Sam.

[i-make-fun-of-spn-characters]

Dean in 2.08: Making demon deals is selfish you’re making your loved one live without you knowing you died because of them that isn’t fair I know ‘cause it happened to me

Dean at the end of the season when he sells his soul no longer giving a single fuck:

[canonicallysoulmates]

You know what else i love? i love how Daniel guides Louis to unravel the big lie that Armand has been telling him for years and uncover the truth because he has seen Armand gaslight his way out of things and Louis falling for it so instead of being confrontational as he has been in the past he takes a different approach by guiding him through questions to the truth and then handing him the evidence making it so Armand can no longer lie his way out and forcing Louis to see the truth that he has been blind to this whole time

[lower-the-volume]

crossroad blues

[scoobydoodean]

All I want is to finish my last painting. Day or two, I'm done. I'm just trying to hold them off 'till then. Buy a little time. [...] Go help somebody that wants help.

Dean and George Darrow, 2.08 Crossroad Blues (+ 2.22, 2.04, 2.09)

[spngeorg]

Heck, I can’t believe I’ve done 30 of these now! I’m 1/11th of the way through the series! LOLOLOL! 

Poor Dean, has his second-worst fears confirmed, that John sold his soul to Hell for Dean to live. Don’t worry, he still has his worst fears waiting to be confirmed-- what that whole thing about having to possibly kill Sam if Dean fails to save him could possibly mean...

Things referenced in this episode:

The Superwiki page for this episode

My tag for this episode (heck it’s only one page... how do I not have more posts about this one?)

Casting Sides for Dean’s crossroads demon (please go read to see what was added to her lines, about how Dean was “supposed to be dead” and John was “supposed to be alive” just adding to his burden of guilt and slathering on a heaping helping of cosmic consequences gone wrong)

Casting Sides for George Darrow (please go read to appreciate the fact they took out the awkward scenes of George having to explain Hoodoo to Sam and Dean like they were children)

Casting Sides for Robert Johnson (which are basically just neato to read, and confirm that the scripted date for when he sold his soul was 1928, and got borked by whoever keyed “1930″ into the chyron by mistake, creating the baffling anomaly of an apparent 8 year demon deal, instead of the standard 10)

Would you like to join our discord server to chat more about these episodes? Or about anything and everything to do with Supernatural? Message me here on tumblr or over at my main blog (I’m @mittensmorgul), and I’ll give you a link.

Listen now on AnchorFM, or wherever you enjoy podcasts!

[peach-coke]

Sam being soft for his big brother ♥

[foxthefanboi]

2x08 - Crossroad Blues