#supernatural meta

[follows-the-bees]

Let's talk about the two Dean and Cas hugs in S11 & 12.

These are the two hugs were Cas puts both of his arms higher than Dean, essentially engulfing him.

Dean usually is the one who does this or the split arm hug with all people he hugs. This is because he uses hugs to comfort others. But in the case of these two hugs, it is Cas who needs the comfort and who wants to comfort Dean. Dean knows this and let's his guard down, his vulnerability, and let's Cas take control of the hug. Their knowledge of each other's emotional needs, their ability to be vulnerable with each other, their need to comfort each other is unmatched.

In S11 hug, they hug thinking it will be the last time seeing each other. Cas clings on with a pained look on his face. Dean smiles at first, sending comfort to Cas and to himself. The smile drops a bit as Dean realizes this could be the last time he touches Cas.

After the hug, Dean even drops his eyesight and looks Cas up and down like he's trying to memorize what Cas looks like. He then offers more comfort to Cas by putting a hand on his shoulder and asks Cas to take care of Sam. The amount of trust in that.

S12 after saving Cas, Dean approaches him arms out, waiting for Cas to hug him. This is a reunion hug, Dean smiles even with Mary being there seeing how vulnerable Dean is at the moment. Not caring cause it's Cas.

Sidenote: you will never convince me this isn't Mary realizing her son is gay! It's okay Mary, you're already lesbian-coded, my love.

These two hugs hit differently for me than the others. And I think they are unique because both Cas and Dean allow themselves to be truly vulnerable in them with people around to see them, and Dean gives up control, let's himself really feel his emotions.

Originally posted here.

[beinghymen]

Thinking about Deancas' "the very touch of you corrupts" thing, and like.

By the time Dean shortened Castiel's name to Cas, he was already sowing the seeds for Cas's fall. Cas was no longer the "shield of god." He took away the 'iel', took away the obedience to God that had been ingrained in Cas since the Beginning. Dean stripped away Heaven's possession with just Cas's name.

No longer the shield of God, Cas made himself a protector. Dean's protector, every chance he got; even from the very God that his old name was sworn to obey. Dean's protector, right up until the very end.

[reallyunluckyrunaway]

[thefableddestiel]

Here’s a parallel I noticed that highlights the difference between Cas relationship with Dean and Cas relationship with Sam pretty well. Episodes 10x22 vs 14x15

When MOC Dean is beating up Cas, Cas doesn’t hit back even once. The most he does is try to bear hug him from behind to calm him down. But not a single punch.

When Sam is Justin Smith, Cas says he won’t hurt him, but he actually does pick him up and slam him into the ground. It’s not a big deal, obviously he knows Sam can take it, but it’s something he wouldn’t even do with Dean.

Before the actual fighting, Cas tells dean, “I’m your friend… I’ll be the one that watches you murder the world.” And then when MOC Dean is on top of Cas holding the angel blade to him, Cas holds onto the wrist Dean has on his tie and the only thing he says is, “please”. He doesn’t even try to grab the hand holding the knife. And then Dean stops.

On the other hand, when Sam is on top of Cas trying to stab him, Cas uses an entirely different approach. He’s forcibly holding back Sam’s arm that’s holding the angel blade. He tells him he understands that he wants to be happy, but that if he does this he fails the people they lost. He says “if you do this you fail Jack. Sam, you fail Dean.” And that makes Sam stop.

The difference that’s so stark is that Cas has to appeal to Sam through talking about Dean. But Cas can appeal to Dean through his own relationship to him. He doesn’t need to bring up what it will do to Sam or anyone else, because their own relationship is powerful enough and he knows it.

[cupidswurld]

last night i watched the first episode in supernatural and within 10 minutes i put it on pause because in NO way, through the 15 seasons, should anyone be happy with how dean's story ends with him dying whilst hunting

because in the 10 minutes that ive learnt about him is that he's spent his entire life fighting, and he dies FIGHTING

no satisfying narrative ends like that, especially not for one thats run for 15 years

[haley-harrison]

is this anything?

[strawlessandbraless]

Cas wakes up in a world where all versions of Dean exist at once. He makes sure to validate them all accordingly and hangs this up on the fridge

[thefabledpheasant]

So, we all know that Cas branded Dean’s soul with the handprint. And then in his last scene left a bloody handprint on Dean’s jacket.

But, have we ever considered that this last handprint was Cas letting dean go? Like, literally removing the handprint brand he left on his soul? That it’s Castiel saying, “I love you so much that I’m dying for you and freeing you from the claim I made on you. I know you are not mine even if I will always be yours and that’s ok. Please live a good life now that my burden is gone from you.”

And if that’s the case, do you think Dean could feel it? The mark being gone? Do you think that left an emptiness nothing else could fill and that’s one of the reasons he was so fine with dying? Because for the first time since he met him, there was truly nothing of Cas left on Earth or with Dean?

[ananke-xiii]

dude, sam winchester has been addicted to demon blood, possessed by lucifer, in the cage in hell, soulless, mentally abused by satan, possessed by a psycho angel, tortured by the MoL and yet

If asked what's the worst he had to go through

I'm 100% positive his answer would be:

"Living in a secret bunker with my closeted brother and his not-so-secret-husband angel and having to be the peacemaker in all their stupid quarrels"

I tell you, this man is DONE, i can't understand why the writers didn't give him a scene where he just screams at them. I would.

[pinbitch]

spn mentioning sam wanting to do normal teenage things instead of going bow hunting is so interesting cause we never once see the winchesters or any other hunter actually make use of that skill in fifteen whole years. really makes it seem more like a thinly disguised punishment. really makes it seem like it was more important for sam to be training than what he was training in. really makes it seem like john was trying to keep sam safe from monsters and humans safe from sam

[reallyunluckyrunaway]

Castiel Character Progression: A Summary:

[arwenadreamer]

You all remember, how Sam and Dean went back in time and told Mary to never get pregnant? How they told her that they would absolutely be okay with never being born? They almost seemed giddy at the thought, because wouldn't that save them a lot of pain?

But Mary says, it's too late, she is already pregnant with Dean.

And Sam and Dean drop the idea immediately. BOTH drop it immediately. Mary was only pregnant with Dean. Sam still could still ask her that she at least doesn't get pregnant again. But he doesn't. If Dean is going to be in this world, so will be Sam. No hesitation. And Dean doesn't mention (or think of?) that possibility either. Because how could he possibly live this life without his baby brother?

[follows-the-bees]

Changing Channels analysis (cause this episode is so good!)

Let's first talk about Dean and how he relates to TV — and how that also relates to his sexuality!

Near the beginning we see Dean, mouth open, straight on staring at a dramatic medical show. From a character analysis, we see a couple things. Television has shaped so much of Dean's life and how he relates to it and uses it to relate to other people.

Dean uses these tv references to relate to others. But sometimes he tries to hide his viewing habits. During this scene, Dean tries to play off watching the show as a fluke, but even before the facade is lifted later on, he mentions: "I think it's based on a book," this tells us that Dean knows more about this show than he's letting on.

Later on, when Dr. Sexy makes his appearance, Dean is starstruck: blushing, first afraid to look him in the eye. He doesn't seem as fixated on the female doctor, the one notably in the elevator in the first scene. In fact, that character is obsessed with Sam.

It is Dr. Sexy Dean is obsessed with, the one where Dean can't put up the facade, who looks down blushing and sees that his shoes are not his usual sexy cowboy boots. For many people, this is one of the loudest Dean being bi episodes.

Moving on to a slightly related note: Cas

This episode is only a few after Free To Be You and Me and The End. If we take into account Dean and Cas' friendship by the time CC aired, Dean and Cas have become better friends. They worked a case together spending a lot of time together. Then Dean saw Cas in another world follow him to the end — a su*cide mission. And he realizes not only what Cas would do for him but his feelings about Cas may be deeper than he originally thought.

Throughout this entire episode he worries about Cas. He brings up Cas many times, worried about where he is. (At least 3 times it's brought up) And near the end, when they figure out who the trickster really is, one of the first things Dean does is threaten Gabriel to bring Cas back.

Dean was worried about losing Cas. He had to experience it in The End and I don't think he was ready to lose him again.

During the Japanese game show, the host also calls Cas "pretty boy angel" leading to a series of facial expressions on Dean's face. These expressions can be read as Dean realizing that Cas is pretty. Another example of both Dean's bisexuality and his feelings about Cas. Cas is also part of the reason Dean figures out who the trickster really is.

When Cas comes back for the second time and the trickster shows up, the trickster shows his cards. Cas says "if it is the trickster," then Gabe recognizing Castiel, and being so adamant about the apocalypse, Dean figures it out. I love this moment because sometimes SPN capitalizes on making Dean dumb for laughs, but this is a moment of Dean's brilliance. Also notable is that Gabriel is aware of who Castiel is. Castiel was not a worker bee angel, he led a garrison, he was tasked with getting the righteous man out of Hell. Gabriel and Cas are one of the few angels to fall and choose humanity over angels.

Cinematography

I wouldn't be me if I didn't mention the amazing cinematography that SPN can have. Angel fire shots are always so pretty and can cast a sinister light on the subject. This episode goes from a light-hearted sitcom to once of the biggest reveals of the season.

The light wallpaper and bright lights turn into a dark and dreary wet pipe factory matching the tones of the reveal. Sam and Dean were not aware of their roles in the apocalypse fully until this episode. They knew that Dean started the seals and Sam releasing Lucifer, but not about being vessels. Out of a sense of guilt and duty, the boys are trying to stop the apocalypse in their own way. But now they have this heavy weight on them, not only are they vessels but their fate is for one of them to kill the other. Even with this knowledge, Dean says no, they won't kill each other. Their siblingship is strong here even after the short break up of a few episodes here.

While CC starts off as a fun romp, when we look deeper, it is full of great character analysis of the TFW. I love it.

Original post here

[passengerseatsam]

He'd be furious that I wasted a bullet. He wouldn't be proud of me. He'd tear me a new one.

When Dad isn't really Dad. 11x04 Baby || 1x22 Devil's Trap

[heliotrope155]

Is it just me... or is Sam in terms of personality and whatnot, just not that big on making friends? Dean's got Charlie, Crowley (eventually), Cas (though scholars differ on the exact status of their relationship ;)), Benny, Lee (?), the cast and crew of that movie set they wound up on, et cetera. Not saying that all of Dean's friends are great or that useful, just that it's an interesting distinction between their characters that Sam's running on empty.

Also, Soulless Sam joins up with the Campbells, but Sam with a soul seems less inclined to. Sam has numerous opportunities to make friends and doesn't. It does seem like he made more when he was younger (Amy, the kid at school), but during college, I do wonder if he was that good of a friend or if most of his friends were demons (and seriously Sam how did you miss that)?

[farenmaddox]

SPN wild theory time

I will just go ahead and start with my thesis statement: I don't think that Jack killed Mary.

With that out of the way, let's get into my warnings for this post: 1. There will be spoilers for Seasons 11-15 of Supernatural 2. I wasn't in this fandom 5-6 years ago when these episodes were coming out; maybe you guys already talked this all out and your entire response is going to be "we already went through this, dude." 3. This post is actually like 3-4 posts in a trenchcoat. I may have gone slightly overboard.

All that said, buckle up, here we go.

Chuck's "omniscience" is questionable. He has been surprised by Dean's decision-making and been upset about it, and has admitted that Castiel is someone whose actions often contradict Chuck's narrative. So, by his own admission, he doesn't/can't know everything.

However, he always thinks ahead and always has multiple ideas on how to solve a situation, and he always has a contingency plan.

First, let's look at how he handled the Amara situation. I would characterize Chuck's behavior in Season 11 as writing a self-insert fic. Chuck is a writer, after all. He knew that Dean taking the Mark of Cain would either lead to Dean's destruction or to Amara being released, so he would have been ready for Amara to appear well before she actually did. But it's only in episode 11x20 that he chooses to do anything about it, ostensibly because Metatron talks him into it. We already see signs that he's kind of "done" with the prime world and the Winchesters here, but then Metratron convinces him to give it another go, and that's when it becomes self-insert fic.

He displays the ability to absorb Amara into himself in episode 15x17, so I think this was always the contingency plan if all else failed. But he wanted to be in the story. He wanted to be on the team and be a hero, so he joins up to do the big assault on Amara plan that is carried out in 11x22. I truly do not think he foresaw that Amara would win that fight. And with how badly wounded he is, the contingency plan is no longer viable. So he has to go with the Dean-as-a-bomb plan. He was already thinking about letting it all go to shit, so this is fine. But then Dean wants to save the day with his faith in familial love, which Chuck definitely didn't see coming. I think Chuck lets it happen despite the fact that he doesn't actually give two shits about Amara just because Dean is his favorite and has managed to surprise him so maybe the world should go on a little longer.

All of this is just establishing a baseline of Chuck-ness. Now we're going to talk about Jack.

See, I don't think Chuck ever planned on Jack actually being carried to term and surviving. The wild card, as always, is Cas. Who, when he had a chance to kill a nephilim (a thing he has done before! a thing he has assisted in doing in the past! it's a sure bet for Chuck!)...doesn't do that. But that's okay (Chuck thinks)! The Winchesters will probably kill the kid! And if they don't, and Lucifer wins, then Chuck can swoop in and be like "my beautiful son and my beautiful grandson, oh my me, this is delightful, we should be a family" and then kill them both.

Dean hating Jack was absolutely Chuck's first choice of potential plots for how to take care of the Jack problem when it turns out that there is going to be a Jack. He likes that story. It surely fills him with glee that Sam doesn't hate Jack and Dean does. But then... fuck, it's Castiel, again! Chuck had no involvement in Cas being resurrected, for once. No way to predict that one. And Cas being back means that Dean doesn't hate Jack and isn't going to kill him, especially since Jack helps them get Mary back, which sucks for Chuck, who is now very committed to this storyline of Dean killing Jack. Don't forget, Chuck can kill Jack whenever he wants. But he wants Dean to do it. He's bored and done with Dean and is ready for Dean to be dead.

So, how do we get Dean to kill Jack? Well, obviously Cas's death doesn't goad him to do it because the fucker just can't stay dead, so it has to be Sam or Mary. And it can't be Sam, because Sam has to watch Dean kill Jack and himself. That's the story. So it has to be Mary, right?

Chuck just has to wait for the right moment.

Jack has a strong sense of fear about hurting people by the time of Mary's death. 13x06 and 14x16 are some critical episodes where we see how he feels and reacts to hurting innocent people. And he seems to have pretty good control over his powers as well. He had just recently had a conversation with Donatello (in 14x15) about how easy it is to continue doing the right thing without a soul. His decision to kill Felix the snake was very much on purpose and very controlled, and honestly can everyone shut up about the snake. Jack fucking loved that snake. It was sick and nobody else knew how to help Felix either. He euthanized a sick pet.

So it is hard to believe that Jack just randomly lost control of his powers and killed someone whom he had no reason to kill. That's not really consistent with Jack's behavior. Even when he's in a complete rage in 14x20 after what Sam and Dean did to him, he doesn't kill them. At his most angry and while experiencing a huge surge in power, he somehow doesn't kill Sam and Dean. But we're expected to believe that in 14x17, he just "accidentally" flies off the handle and kills Mary.

The thing that is genuinely so crucial is that we do not see Mary's death in 14x17. It does not happen on screen. Deaths in this show always happen on screen, and it's not on screen. All we see is her face near Jack's, and the next episode all we see is the blast site. I think that the reason we don't get to see it is because it didn't actually happen the way we're told it did.

The fact that Mary can't be resurrected? That's weird, and new. That literally never happens. Everyone can be resurrected. People who were turned into paste by archangels can be resurrected. People who have been cremated can be resurrected. But Mary can't be? That's got Chuck's smell all over it.

Jack thinks he killed Mary, but he fucking didn't. Chuck did it. Chuck smote the shit out of that woman and Jack doesn't have any other explanation for what happened. I don't even think he is actually hallucinating Lucifer. Soulless guy who "doesn't feel guilt" and doesn't want Lucifer in his subconscious but somehow can't get rid of him? It's Chuck. It's Chuck dressed up as Lucifer to keep Jack on the edge and convince him it was his fault so he can lead everybody to the grand finale.

And then stupid Dean ruins the story and doesn't kill Jack. Which Chuck should have seen coming, because this is what happened with Amara! But he didn't, because sometimes Chuck actually doesn't know things! It's okay though (Chuck thinks), because Chuck always has a contingency plan. He has always been able to kill Jack whenever he wanted, and if Dean's not going to do it, Chuck might as well. So he does.

I'm telling you. Chuck killed Mary. Jack didn't do it.