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ballsandbabes · 12 days ago

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Tides - Pt.II

authors note: Okay, this is a little random but I saw an episode of free! and remebered why I like this anime so much. So here is a little fun story// y/n = your name// not proof read// GIF not mine // Have fun <3

pairing: Natsuya Kirishima x fem!reader

series: pt.I // pt.II

summary: Its a classical enemies-to-lovers-storyline set in the free! universe. The reader is transferred to a japanese university, where she meets her friend haruka and his friends like rin, makoto, etc. But what happends when shes intoduced to "new friends" of her old friend. Being introduced to a new friend or should I say rival???

genre: rivals to lovers, Location wise set in University, lots of teasing in this chapter

word count: ca. 2.000 words

Please read pt.I first to understand the story entirely.

Summer had arrived and it was officially semester break. Which, in your unfortunate case, meant more swimming and therefore more time with Natsuya Kirishima. Also known as: your own personal hell and your never-ending fountain for emotional confusion in super tight speedos.

Summer had arrived gracefully and in full glory—blue skies, open-air pools, and everyone practically glowing with sun-warmed ambition, sweat and vacation plans. You should have been thriving.

Except… lately?

You couldn’t look Natsuya in the eye. Which was his fault, obviously.

Because he’d been smiling more. And not the annoying I’m-about-to-roast-you smile. The other one. The soft one. The I-kind-of-like-talking-to-you one.

The worst part? - You might have liked it back. And that was deeply unacceptable. He WAS and still is a dumb idiot full of shit! So naturally, you did what any emotionally constipated adult would do: You started avoiding him like he was a chlorine-resistant plague.

Avoidance Plan: Activated: Your strategy was flawless. First order of the day. Always arriving precisely 12 minutes late to every practice so he’d already be in the water. Second, pick lanes strategically far away from his. Oh and very important, pretend your goggles were foggy anytime he tried to wave at you.

Once, you hid behind a vending machine when you saw him coming. Unfortunately, you were as subtle as a foghorn in a bathtub.

“Why are you crouching behind the snack machine?,”Makoto’s voice made you nearly scream. You popped up guiltily,“Uh. Vending machine maintenance?”

He blinked,“Hmm, I see. But why are you holding a soda then??”

“…Field research?,” you replied sternly. Makoto narrowed his eyes.

___ _ _ _

At practice, you showed up as usual: late, breathless, with some completely unhinged excuse every day.

“Sorry I’m late,” you gasped, tossing your green bag down, “There was a bird on my balcony and I couldn’t find my shoe.”

“Again?” Rei said flatly. Rin tilted his head, teasing you,“Is this the same bird from yesterday?”

“I think it’s working for Natsuya,” Nagisa stated.

Natsuya, already mid-lap, surfaced and raised an eyebrow at you from across the pool. You immediately looked away and fake-coughed into your towel.

___ _ _ _

Two days later, Haruka cornered you,“You’re swimming weird.”

You blinked,“Excuse me?”

“You’re swimming like you’re… distracted,” he said stoically. You coughed,“I’m literally doing 50-meter sprints with perfect split times.”

“You used to try to race Natsuya every practice,” he said, voice flat, “Now you don’t even look at him.”

“…I’m conserving energy?,” you said, not really convincing tho.

“You’re avoiding him,” he replied, “Poorly at that.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” you tried to hide the real reason. Haruka gave you a long look,“You’ve accidentally put your swim cap on inside out three days in a row.”

“…Fashion choice?,” you tried to talk your way out of it. He walked away muttering something in Haruka-ese that probably translated to emotionally disastrous behavior: detected.

That evening, the group had a post-practice picnic near the outdoor pool. Your idea. Since your schedules were all so full with exams, you hardly had time to do anything together. You thought it was time for that again. You were hiding under a parasol, clinging to your water bottle like it was a life preserver. Across the blanket, Natsuya laughed at something Rin said, tan skin glowing under the sunset, hair still damp, and towel lazily slung around his neck.

You hated him. Also maybe, just maybe you wanted to kiss him. But mostly hated him.Probably.

“Hey,” His voice broke through your spiral. You nearly choked on your melon slice. He plopped down beside you,“You good?”

“I’m—fine,” your voice colder than you wanted it to.

“You’ve been avoiding me,” he slowly said.

“What? No,” You gave him your best gaslight-gatekeep-girlboss smile,“Don’t be dramatic.”

“I waved at you four times during warm-ups,” he recalled.

“I’m very nearsighted,” you tried to explain your weird behaviour. “You were ten feet away,” he said, raining an eyebrow.

“I’m also easily startled,” the last attempt of making this reasonable. He stared,“Y/n....Did I do something?”

You shook your head too fast,“Nope. All good. Love and light.”

Makoto, Rin, and Nagisa were blatantly watching from across the blanket like they were judging a drama competition.

“She’s sweating,” Rin whispered. “It’s 28 degrees, everyone does,” Rei replied. “She’s not even in the sun,” Makoto muttered.

“I love romance,” Nagisa sighed dreamily. You stood up too quickly, nearly tripping over your towel. You looked like a complete idiot by now,“Gotta go. I left… my swim fins… in the science building. So. Gonna run.”

You didn’t look back as you booked it across the grass like a cartoon character in denial. Later that night, your phone buzzed with a single text.

Natsuya:

“At some point, you’re gonna have to stop running, y’know. I’m not gonna bite. Unless you ask.”

You turned your phone face-down and screamed into your pillow.

Summer was supposed to be relaxing. You were not supposed to catch feelings for someone you despised - your rival. And now, you were trapped in an emotional pool, 10 feet deep. As the emotional tides rushed over you.

And no lifeguards on duty.

___ _ _ _

Summer Friday nights were usually reserved for sore muscles, Netflix, and collapsing into your mattress like the world’s sweatiest plank, after a hard training session.

But tonight? The boys had somehow roped you into going out. Like… in public. With cute outfits, music and neon lights.

Rin’s idea, naturally. "Team bonding,” he’d said. “I’m not dancing,” Haruka had replied immediately. “You never are,” Makoto sighed. Nagisa had packed glitter. Rei brought allergy wipes and blister tape. You had shown up at the bar in a simple black tank top and the leather mini skirt with a detail buckle, makeup light but confidence high — because tonight, you had a plan.

Operation: “Flirt With Literally Anyone Who Isn’t Natsuya Kirishima.” You were tired of the butterflies, which you still couldnt allocate. Was it because of him being a worthy opponent or because you physically end emotionally really liked him. The way he made your heart race when he teased you. The way he watched you like he knew something you didn’t. It somewhat clearly spoke the second language. And thats what made you scared.

So tonight, you were going to push all of that into a box, slap a shipping label on it, and launch it directly into the sun.

Half an hour in, your glass was sweating, the music was loud, and a tall, cute guy with kind eyes and cute little dimples had just bought you a drink. You leaned in to thank him, the little smalltalk had turned into something more

Natsuya saw everything.

Across the club, he'd just tossed back a drink and was mid-conversation with Makoto, whom he had met on the dancefloor, when his smile froze. Eyes locking on you. Leaning in. Laughing. Smiling at some other guy.

he came to the club, more like a bar with some of his comillitons to celebrate the passed exams. He totally wasnt prepareed to see you here, let alone with some other random guy.

Makoto followed his gaze and let out a soft, knowing hum, “You good?”

Natsuya blinked, “Peachy.”

“Because you look like you're about to set fire to the neon signs,” commented Makoto the death glare to the bar.

“I’m just watching. Is that illegal now?,” Natsuya said, sharper than intended. Makoto raised a brow, “If looks could kill, that poor guy would be reduced to ash.”

You could feel someone watching you. When you took a glipse, you saw he was the one watching you. Even through the crowd, even through the haze of heat and pop music, Natsuya’s attention was like gravity — sharp, focused, unrelenting. You tilted your head at the guy next to you, still smiling, still nodding politely. He was nice. Sweet. Not pushy. And absolutely not Natsuya.

Which was the whole point. “So, you swim too?” the guy asked, voice low.

“Mmhm,” you replied, eyes drifting involuntarily to the crowd on the dance floor again. Where Natsuya was now making a show of laughing at something Rin said. Leaning in close to a girl you didn’t recognize. His hand casually brushing her arm.

Your stomach twisted. You looked away. This was fine. This was part of the plan. You wanted him out of your head and he could do whatever the f*ck he wanted....go get on the nerves of some other chick.

Right?

Five minutes later, you made the mistake of heading toward the back hallway to find the bathroom. Which is where Natsuya intercepted you like a heat-seeking missile.

“You’re really putting on a show tonight,” he said, voice deceptively light.

You blinked up at him,“Excuse me...what?”

“The guy. The giggling. The dramatic hair flip. And the outfit.” He mimicked you with a mocking pout. You stepped closer, “Wait a minute....Are you…jealous, Kirishima?”

He scoffed,“Why would I be jealous? You can flirt with whoever you want. I just didn’t know you had a type.”

You tilted your head,“What type is that? Enlighten me then.”

“Tall, boring, and clearly blind?,” he said sarcastically.

“Oh my god,” you laughed, sharp,“You are jealous.”

He stepped closer, crowding you slightly, voice dropping,“And if I was?”

Your breath caught. The hallway was quiet. Dim. Only the beat of the club pulsing in the background like a heartbeat. You swallowed,“Then that’s your problem.”

He stared at you, mouth twitching like he couldn’t decide whether to grin or do something reckless.

“You’re infuriating,” he muttered.

“You’re obsessed,” you shot back, trying to sound in control. “Don’t you have a fake girlfriend to go flirt with?”

“She was boring,” he said,“And I only have energy to obsess over one person at a time. Im not crazy.”

That shut you up. For one heartbeat too long. The tension between you stretched tight — like an elastic band on the verge of snapping. His hand brushed your hip. Barely. You didn’t move.

“Don’t do that again,” he said, voice low and too honest now, “Don’t look at someone like that when you’ve never looked at me that way.”

You swallowed,“You’d have to earn it. Maybe by not being an asshole.”

He leaned in, mouth near your ear, “I’m not afraid of working hard.”

You pushed past him, heart in your throat. When you returned to the group, the cute guy had gone. Nagisa raised his eyebrows at your expression. “Sooo… where’d you go?”

“Bathroom,” you said, sitting down too hard.

“You were gone for twelve minutes,” Rei said.

“Long line.”

Makoto smirked into his drink,“Right.”

Rin just shook his head,“Teenage drama.”

Haruka, sipping from his soda, glanced up,“They’re not teenagers.”

Nagisa beamed, “But they’re definitely dramatic.”

You refused to meet Natsuya’s eyes for the rest of the night. He didn’t stop watching you once.

___ _ _ _

You needed a break. After the whirlwind of emotional whiplash — flirty rivalries, hallway tension, jealousy-induced stand-offs — your brain felt like an over-boiled egg. So today, you made one solid, non-chaotic decision: Retail therapy.

Specifically, swimwear retail therapy. With the regional competition fast approaching, you figured a new suit would be both symbolic and useful. A new you. A new chapter. One where you didn't combust every time Natsuya Kirishima opened his smug mouth. Unfortunately, fate (or whatever deity was bored that day) had other plans.

You were already in the boutique, flipping through racks of sporty one-pieces and two-pieces that dared to call themselves “functional,” when you heard the bell above the door jingle.

“Yo, you guys sell mirrored lenses? Mine cracked again.”

Your stomach dropped. Of course. Of course it was Natsuya.

You froze mid-hanger flip, ducking slightly behind a rack of discount swimsuits. He was chatting with the clerk at the front, hair still damp from morning laps, goggles hanging around his neck, gym bag slung over one shoulder like an ad for “athletic menace of the year.”

You slowly exhaled, turned… And walked straight into a saleswoman who smiled too brightly.

“Looking for a suit?,” she asked.

You nodded,“I’ll start a fitting room. Take a few in there.”

You gave her a grateful smile, grabbed a handful of options, and speed-walked to the back — completely forgetting that you were in a boutique the size of a locker room and Natsuya had eyes like a hawk.

Three minutes later, you had your first suit on — sleek, black, high-cut — and were assessing it in the mirror when you heard knuckles rapping on the dressing room door.

You startled,“Yes?!”

“Friendly neighborhood shopping assistant here,” Natsuya’s unmistakable voice chimed,“The clerk said you were trying on suits. Thought I’d supervise. You know, making your sure you are equipped to keep up with me at the competition.”

You groaned,“Ugh not you again....Go away, Kirishima.”

“Too late. I saw you sneak back here,” he replied.

“You were supposed to be at the front,” you said flippant.

“Well, now I’m not. Let’s roll with it,” he said, while judging your selection. You cracked open the door a single inch, just enough to glare through,“You’re stalking me.”

“I’m saving you. I have an excellent eye for swimwear,” he grinned.

You tried to shut the door — he stopped it with one palm.

“Come on,” he grinned, “Let me see.”

“Natsuya,” you started to be embarrassing. You were standing in the kelia changing cubicle, half naked as it were. What was he thinking??? What was that all about?

“Are you embarrassed?,” Natsuya began to realise your situation.

“No. I’m annoyed,” you tried to explain your situation.

“So let me help, and you’ll be annoyed for less time," he made his point.

You gave him a hard look… then cracked the door open just enough to step out in the black suit. His jaw tightened. You smirked,“Well..What do you think?”

He coughed once, then smoothed it into a low whistle, “I mean… functional. Very… performance-forward.”

You narrowed your eyes. This was so not helpful.

“…Also I’m never going to emotionally recover from this, but please continue.”

You rolled your eyes, retreating to the changing room.

The next suit was worse. Red. Backless. Legs cut to the heavens. You stepped out with hesitation — and immediately regretted it. Natsuya blinked once. Then stared. Then smirked slowly.

“That one,” he said, voice low. “That’s the one.”

“I look like a Baywatch reject,” you say, while critically examining yourself in the mirror.

“You look like I should not be standing here without supervision,” he said cheeckily.

“Natsuya—,” you rebuke him immediately.

“You know what? I’ll buy it for you. Let it be a gift,” he said suddenly. You stared, “Absolutely not.”

“Consider it an apology for emotionally undressing you with my eyes,” he was in his element, flirting with you so shamelessly, that you almost turned the shade of red, matching with the swimsuit.

You stared harder. What did he just say???

“…I mean in a respectful way, obviously,” he said with a devilish grin.

When you stepped back in, you couldn’t stop the grin curling on your lips. You tried on two more suits just to mess with him — a neon yellow disaster, and a dangerously strappy number that even made you blush. He gave full commentary for each one, leaning against the wall, arms crossed, eyes very focused. By the end, your face hurt from smiling.

You finally settled on a cobalt-blue athletic suit with subtle mesh at the back — sharp and cool, like a silent threat in fabric form and a high leg cut. As you paid, Natsuya waited by the door, spinning his new goggles between his fingers like he hadn’t just spent twenty minutes flirting like his life depended on it.

As you stepped outside into the sunlight, he matched your stride.

“You owe me,” he said.

“For what?,” you asked slightly confused.

“Being the best shopping partner of your life,” he simply said.

“You were the worst, Natsuya. I hope you know that,” you claimed.

“And yet, you didn’t kick me out,” he grinned, another devilish smile about to appear. You glanced at him, “That’s because you were clearly enjoying yourself too much. Felt cruel to end the show.”

He grinned, “So you noticed I was looking.”

“You weren’t exactly subtle,” you finally laughed. He paused, “Next time, just call me. We can try lingerie shopping. I give excellent input on lace.”

You shoved him in the arm, laughing — warm and flustered and maybe, just maybe, a little lovesick.

And Natsuya? He looked like he was one bad decision away from pulling you into the nearest alley and making this tension a lot less theoretical.

___ _ _ _ Competition Day_ _ _ ___

It was the day. You woke up very early because your nervousness was sky high. On your way to the swimming pools, a thousand things went through your head. Your nerves were thrumming like guitar strings, heart pounding with every step through the buzzing arena.

The university swim meet was more packed than expected. The air stank of chlorine, sunscreen, and barely suppressed adrenaline. Heat waves shimmered off the water, whistles pierced the air, and every team was huddled in a blur of matching warm-ups and narrowed eyes.

You unzipped your duffel bag in the locker area, looking for your suit. And stopped dead. Lying neatly on top of your folded towel wasn’t your chosen cobalt-blue swimsuit you had bought. It was the red one. The red one. The strappy, backless, dangerous suit you had explicitly rejected at the boutique. And tucked next to it?

A tiny folded note on branded goggles paper, written in that annoyingly cocky scrawl:

“If you’re going to win, you might as well look like it. You’re welcome. -N.K.”

Your jaw dropped.

“Unbelievable,” you muttered, glancing around as if he might pop out from a locker, grinning.

You had half a mind to ignore it— But then you saw your reflection in the mirror: fierce eyes, steady breathing. If he wanted a show? You’d give him the whole damn stage. You stepped out poolside in the red suit like a living dare. The room didn’t exactly fall silent, but a few heads turned. Your team clapped you on the back. Nagisa audibly gasped. Rei muttered something about skin-to-spandex ratios being “structurally alarming.”

But Natsuya?

He was stretching near the edge of the lane when he saw you—and he froze. His towel slipped from his shoulder. His jaw slackened for a second, then curled into a slow, unmistakable smirk.

“You actually wore it,” he called as you passed. You rolled your eyes,“Only because throwing it at your head felt like a waste.”

“Admit it. You like it.”

You smirked over your shoulder,"I like the idea of beating you while wearing it.”

That got his full attention. “You’re feeling cocky,” he said, walking up beside you as the officials called heat numbers. You stretched, glancing at him sideways,“You scared, Kirishima?”

“Please,” he scoffed,“But I’m willing to raise the stakes.”

You raised an eyebrow. “What kind of stakes?”

“A bet,” he said rather serious.

“I’m listening.”

“If you win, I owe you something. If I win, you owe me.”

You narrowed your eyes. “That’s very...vague.”

“Exactly. You in?,” he asked his voice hinting at no good. You hesitated for one second—then shrugged,“Deal.”

He grinned like the cat that already knew the mouse was in the trap.

___ _ _ _

The race was brutal. You kicked harder than ever, sliced through water like fire through paper. Natsuya was in the next lane over, a blur of golden brown hair and shark-like speed.

Every stroke, every breath, every flip-turn felt like survival.

You touched the wall half a second before him.

The stadium erupted. Your lungs burned and you felt like dying. You gasped, blinking water from your lashes, and looked sideways—he was right there, floating beside you, panting, lips curled into a grin that said of course you did.

“You won,” he said, voice low, eyes shining with adrenaline and something else.

“I did,”you happily and breathlessly cheered.

“You know what that means?,” he murmured, closing the small distance between your lanes, as you took off your swimming cap. You raised a brow, still catching your breath,“That you owe me a mystery prize?”

He dipped lower in the water, treaded closer, so close now you could see droplets clinging to his lashes.

“It means,” he whispered, “that I owe you this.”

And then, with one hand, he slipped underwater—grabbing your waist, tugging you just a little closer, enough for your legs to bump.

Your breath hitched,“Your bet was a kiss?”

He grinned up at you, boyish and smug, cheeks flushed from exertion,“Congrats. You earned it.”

Your heart was hammering in your ribs, not from the race anymore.

“Here?” you whispered.

“There’s water everywhere,” he shrugged, “What better place to drown a rivalry?”

You stared at him, breath shallow.

“Say no,” he whispered, suddenly serious. “And I’ll let go.”

You didn’t say no. You surged forward, catching his mouth with yours in a split-second decision that felt like gravity and fireworks. His hand at your waist tightened, the water rocking around you like static, cool against skin burning from adrenaline. It wasn’t messy or rushed—it was electric. The pool exploded in cheers around you as the other swimmers hit the wall. You barely noticed.

___ _ _ _

Later, while wrapped in a towel, you nudged him,“You bought the suit.”

“Well...I regret nothing,” he smirked.

“You were turned on,” you teased him.

“I am still turned on,” he got back at you. You shoved him again, but your grin betrayed you.

“I guess I won the bet,” you teased. He leaned closer,“Baby, I think we both did.”

___ _ _ _

The celebration had been wild. The others and your coach swooped both you and Natsuya up immediately. Not really time for anything. You had been sent to the podium to receive your media. Afterwards, your friends received you and offered their congratulations. Someone brought confetti. Someone else brought a karaoke mic that shouldn’t have had that much bass. Even Rei joined in on a cover of “We Are the Champions,” while Nagisa insisted on group photos every two minutes.

But eventually, the noise faded, the glitter settled, and everyone began peeling off toward their dorms or apartments—still buzzing with post-victory joy, but also sleepy. Still, it was a long day.

You and Natsuya walked back in comfortable silence, dorm rooms lying in the same direction. The quiet between you, different now. Lighter. Charged in all the right ways. He kept glancing over at you like he still couldn’t believe it. Like he was trying to memorize the way your cheeks pinked when you caught him looking.

Outside your dorm building, you hesitated for only a moment before blurting: “Wanna come up?”

Natsuya raised an eyebrow, the lazy smirk returning,“To your dorm?”

“Just to hang out,” you said, maybe too quickly,“Everyone else is still loud, and I—”

“I’d love to,” he cut in, eyes softer now,“Really.”

Your dorm room was small but cozy, the kind of place that always smelled faintly of laundry detergent, mint gum and a hint of chlorine from the swimwear drying in on the chair. You flicked on the warm lamp by your desk and dropped your bag by the bed.

“I’ll be right back,” you said, stepping into your bathroom to splash your face. The red swimsuit still clung under your hoodie and sweatpants—there hadn’t been time to change after the celebration. They practically had dragged you out of the water. You peeled the hoodie off to hang it and sighed, tugging at the high strap of the suit. Your skin was warm, your thoughts warmer. You were ready to change into comfy clothes.

When you stepped back out, Natsuya had kicked off his shoes and tossed his bag near yours. His jacket was shrugged over your chair, his hair still wet from the shower he must’ve taken at the pool. But with wich time you asked yourself...

He turned when he heard you—and stopped.

You froze.

“…You’re still wearing the red suit,” he said.

You nodded slowly, suddenly hyper-aware of how fitted it still was against your body, “I didn’t get a chance to change.”

His eyes traveled over you once—slow, reverent, hungry.

“You’re gonna kill me,” he murmured, stepping closer.

Your breath caught,“I....What?”

“I thought I was dangerous in the pool,” he whispered, reaching to hook one finger under the thin strap at your shoulder,“But you? Like this? You’re lethal.”

You let out a shaky laugh, trying to keep your cool as he gently traced his fingers down your arm, eyes never leaving yours.

“Natsuya—”

But then he kissed you.

Hot. Confident. Like he’d been waiting all night to do it again. His hands found your waist and pulled you against him with no hesitation. Yours tangled in his wet hair, tugging just enough to make him groan low in his throat.

The kiss deepened, messy now with teeth and breathless gasps between laughs. You stumbled backward, your back hitting the door with a soft thud.

“You sure about this?,” he asked into your mouth, voice hoarse.

You nodded, not trusting your voice, “Are you?”

“I’ve been sure since the first time you beat me in the pool,” he grinned.

“You were angry about that,” you breathlessly corrected.

“Turns out I’m into powerful women. Who knew?,” he grinned playfully. You kissed him again just to shut him up, and it worked—until he picked you up like it was nothing and carried you across the room, dropping you onto your bed with a bounce.

His hands were reverent, warm, teasing as he explored your sides, your hips, the curve of your thigh over that suit.

And all the tension—the racing, the rivalry, the banter—melted into touches that said finally and kisses that said don’t stop. And he didnt.

Neither do you. You pulled him towards you by the ties of his hoodie and made it clear that the hoodie had to go, which it did within a few seconds. His well-toned body now revelaed. Your hands glided over the hard trained muscles...it was deadly to see him like this. Each of your gentle touches seemed to bring him closer to the edge. Your hands had made it to the waistband of his sports shorts while he was trying to get rid of the red swimming suit. You had got up to take off your bathing suit, Natsuya leaned back to watch the action. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Your delicate skin shimmered in the moonlight, your athletic figure illuminated and highlighted.

That was when all hell broke loose, his self-discipline was over. His strong hands gripped you strongly but lovingly, so much so that his veins were almost tearing. He pulled you to him and his lips found yours again. It was steamy. Hot. Raw. You loved it. Feeling his skin on yours made you go into feral mode too.

the rest of the clothes soon landed on the floor and soft moans could be heard. When he finally connected with you, you thought you would pass out. It felt so good. given that you were both athletes, it wasn't just going to be a training session. Especially because all the emotions you two had been hiding could finally come out.

___ _ _ _

The night stretched around you like velvet. And by the time you were tangled together under your covers, breath slowing, hearts still beating fast for all the best reasons—

He whispered against your skin,“You know I was always going to fall for you, right?”

You turned toward him, grinning, your voice low, “I know. I just beat you to it.”

#natsuya #natsuya kirishima #free! iwatobi swim club #free iwatobi swim team #haruka nanase #nanase haruka #kirishima natsuya #free! eternal summer #free!#free! anime #free! the final stroke #rin matsuoka #makoto tachibana #makoharu #rinharu

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alltimefail-sims · 1 year ago

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Hi friends, happy Friday!

The Sims team recently collaborated with Ebonix and dropped the "Urban Homage" CAS kit on April 18th, so you guys already know I had to snatch it up and give my thoughts. I'm a week late, but I'll give you the TLDR up front: I like every item that came in this kit. Yes, I'm just as shocked as you are!

Sidenote: Don't worry, even though they aren't pictured above we will be looking at the male assets as well - they're in their own separate section under the cut!

With all that being said, let's jump into it! ↓

First, let me show you those masculine frame outfits I promised:

Okay, now I'm just going to get my minimal qualms out of the way:

I wish the female frame bodysuit labeled as a top could have also been in the full-body category. I love that it can be layered with other skirts and such, but it's soooo cute by itself and we don't have anything like it, especially for everyday or workout purposes.

Next, the joggers should have been enabled for both frames and same goes for the overalls. You can untick the "female" or "male" clothing preference in CAS and they both look fine on the opposite frame, but obviously there is some minor distortion in the chest area on fem frames when they wear the overalls.

I also wish the basketball shorts came in some simpler, sleeker swatches alongside the bolder prints and colors.

That's literally it: miniscule complaints really, and trust me when I say these complaints are nitpicky for a reason - I struggled to find critiques for this particular kit.

As for literally everything else not mentioned above: I love these clothes, and I think there are a few items that I will use over and over again.

All the bottoms are superb

The loose jersey is an item that we desperately needed in game

The dashiki swatches are stunning

The fit of every item across the board is immaculate on a wide range of body types.

The few simple items snuck into this kit - the cropped denim jacket, the tie crop shirt, the open button down, etc. are so versatile and beautifully executed.

The trendy butterfly top, the skinny pants with cutouts in the side, and the platform ankle boots (specifically the flame swatches!!) have all been tackled by cc-makers; these versions that come in this kit are right on par with the cc counterparts out there, a HUGE win for console players who cannot use cc.

Basically, these clothes look like clothes I could actually see real people wearing...unlike some items that have come in packs in the past that feel far too niche or look like leftover items that didn't fit in a different EP or GP. (I'm looking at you CAS items from Crystal Creations... I know those assets were 80% Realm of Magic rejects lmao. Not that I'm mad, I like a lot of the items, but they really aren't super versatile.)

Perhaps the most surprising treasures in this pack, however, actually lie within the accessory categories. Wild realization for me because when it comes to accessories in the sims I'm usually indifferent at best and confused if the devs have ever seen a real human out in the wild at worst (because let's be honest...that shit is usually so oversized and weird looking it's basically unusable). But I have to give these accessories their moment in the sun because WOW. I can't believe I'm uttering the words "I love" next to "kit accessories..." but Hell hath frozen over I guess. Here are some screenshots:

Every accessory (with the exception of the GORGEOUS headwrap) is enabled for masculine frame; this includes the rings (left & right), necklaces, earrings, facial piercing, and even the nails. The facial piercing shocked me the most as I've never used the piercings we've been given in other packs - they're always thick, bulky, and chunky in the worst way. But, much to my amazement, this nose piercing is sooooooo good and even come in a number of decent swatches outside of gold, silver, black! In fact, I liked it so much that I'm ditching the cc nose ring on my OC Ta'Nia and swapping it for the nose piercing that came with this kit. Even on a sim with a downturned nose tip and wider set nostrils (like the male sim I used in the screenshots) I felt like the piercing still looked great!

I only have one complaint about the accessories, and it's that I wish we were given more than one set of nails, or at least more color swatches for the nails. Black, red, and blue bases with chrome tips are just too limited to me, especially with all the vibrant colors we see in this pack! I would have liked a set of nails with intricate airbrushing/hand-drawn designs or ones that utilized gems and charms along with some variation in length and a shape outside of the trendy coffin or oval nails at medium length. I know this is picky, but cc nails are killing the game right now whereas the sims team continually plays it safe and, imo, it's boring; console players deserve to have glamorous works of art on their sim's fingers as well!

OKAY... time for my wrap-up thoughts!

Look at me saying this wouldn't be a long review... yet here we are, a whole ass Ted Talk later lol. Overall, I personally encountered zero major issues in this kit. (Please note that when I say "major" I am talking about hoodies that make eyes 3x their original size or jewelry that corrupts the body of a sim lol.) I will say that I saw some people saying they noticed some discoloration on the facial piercings that came with this pack (textures/colors bleeding from some other CAS items onto the piercings) but I didn't personally have that issue. If there are any other issues outside of the discolored piercings, I didn't encounter them and I haven't seen others talking about them.

TLDR: For me, this and the grunge kit are the standard of what a good CAS kit should look like. I think I'll be using several of these items often, and the content is easily worth $5.00 (unlike the party kit that dropped alongside this one... but that's a topic for another day). If you're going to give EA $5.00 for a kit, I confidently recommend this one.

Remember to use the creator code "EBONIX" at checkout so Ebonix can receive 5% of the proceeds when you purchase this kit!

I hope you all enjoyed my ramble. What are your favorite items from the kit? What do you think could have been better? Let me know in the replies or send me an ask; I always love hearing your guys' thoughts.

Talk to you all later! Hugs x

#ts4 #simblr #the sims 4 #ts4 urban homage #urban homage kit #sims 4 #kit overview #ts4 kits #the sims community #ts4 lookbook #atfs

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itsclydebitches · 2 years ago

Note

I rndmly remembered that the WoR episode on Aura basically stated that whatever was going on with Ozpin was the result of his own aura training... like damn, the original RWBY trilogy set things to go to significantly better places than we ended.

I don't remember that one, but it's been literal years since I watched those and I'm pretty sure I saw most episodes only once. But yeah, there was a lot in the WoR series that was either dropped or retconned. Which remains wild to me because if I was going to make a side series specifically about the world building that hasn't made it into the show, I'd want to be very certain about what I was putting out there. That's not a one-off comment by a background character in a random episode six seasons back. That's now the audience's go-to source for unanswered questions. I mean, we know now not to take the franchise additions at their word, but at the time you'd think that whatever made the cut could have had more thought put into it—or more commitment—considering that's the only reason for its existence.

Anyway yeah, I wish the show as a whole put more emphasis on aura/semblances than it does magic, especially nowadays. If aura can be continually trained and semblances continually evolve with the fighter, it would make perfect sense that the guy who's thousands of years old could have some buckwild abilities at his disposal. Really, as someone who loves Oz it's very frustrating to see how his skills have been treated throughout the show's run. We never return to the Cinder fight and it's never explained how she bested him (power scaling in this show is nonexistent). The gears on his cane are teased for years with nothing coming of it except a ridiculous mega-blast five seasons later. He can give people the ability to turn into birds because... that's definitely connected to his other powers and has been relevant throughout the show's run... He presumably doesn't have a semblance, but we don't know if Oscar gets one (or if Ozpin's body had a semblance that Ozma could make use of post-merge). He supposedly has magic but never uses it until it's randomly revealed that, oh yeah, he's been storing energy up for years and years. Here's a giant boom that conveniently hurts Salem, kills the grimm, kills Hazel, but doesn't touch any of the heroes still inside the whale, neatly avoiding the entire ethical dilemma here without explaining how that's possible.

Ozpin has been treated so badly by the narrative in regards to his secrets, his abusive past, and the merge that it's easy to forget that he's supposed to be a thousands-year-old magic wielder who was a staggeringly proficient fighter before he went through several lifetimes worth of experience and training. This guy should be a BEAST on the battlefield, even while controlling a child's body. He's a little like the Cas of RWBY to me. Whoops, made this character too overpowered, huh? He's not even the primary protagonist, so we can't afford for him to constantly be showing her up even though that would make internal sense and allow her to grow in different ways. Yet instead of coming up with interesting and logical reasons for why he can't make use of that astounding power at any given moment, we'll just ignore it. Until the heroes need a deus ex machina, of course. Then we'll slip in an ambiguous line about how that power is almost gone. Maybe it's still relevant, maybe not. Maybe it'll get the characters out of an impossible bind, maybe we'll never mention it again. Gotta keep the options open!

#rwde #rwby #mymetas

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senashenta · 7 months ago

Text

Storm Season: Chapter One

Title: Storm Season (Chapter One)

Pairing: Destiel

Rating: E

Warnings: Language, Violence, Smut

Summary: “Dean Winchester is Saved.” The angels all say, clear as a bell—and Dean crawls out of his own grave. Shortly after, he meets the person who pulled him out of Hell, and it turns out to be CASTIEL. Seven years after Cas vanished off the face of the Earth, Dean is suddenly confronted with his former lover again, only this time he’s not just a regular college kid—he’s an ANGEL, and Dean just doesn’t know how to compute that AT ALL.

But even after all these years, Dean can’t deny that he still has feelings for Cas, even as he and Sam embark on an out-of-place-palraijuq Hunt in Louisiana. Not even a giant crocodile monster can keep his attention when Cas comes around—and just like before, the angel is very, very distracting, bringing up Dean’s love for him once more. But things aren’t as simple as when they were younger and Cas was human, and it will take a lot of work before Dean can trust Cas again.

Notes: For those of you just joining us, I highly recommend that you read the rest of the series before you read this fic or a lot of things won’t make any sense. Just click on the “Horror High et al” series link and everything is listed chronologically. <3 (Unless… unless you don’t like smut. In which case back out now. :|)

Back from my NaNo hiatus! And I won, I got to 50,000 words on the FIFTEENTH of November! This is my first time actually beating the NaNo so I am very pleased with myself, in case you can’t tell. My book isn’t finished yet, though, it’s probably going to be 80,000 to 90,000 words in the end, so just keep writing, just keep writing! And in the meantime…

So! The not-quite conclusion of the Horror High et al series. This one has multiple chapters, the same as Horror High, and takes place over a course of time during Season Four of the SPN TV show but is an AU side-story unrelated to the actual S4 storyline, with the exception of the very beginning.

I say it’s the “not-quite” conclusion to this whole series because, I’m levelling with you here, there are going to be like THIRTY post-Storm Season one-shots. I already have them mostly planned out, some of them written and others started lmao. I know basically no one is reading this series, but I’ve decided that I’m having fun and that’s what matters! (Literally I’ve written 500+ pages of this AU basically just for me.) :D

Also, if by some miracle you actually HAVE come this far with me in this AU you KNOW there’s going to be smut. Just wait for it, it’s coming.

And if anyone has read this far and not figured it out, this whole AU series takes place in one of Chuck’s Alternate Universes; it’s the same people but a sliiiiiiightly different story. Also available on AO3.

STORM SEASON ET AL TUMBLR MASTER POST HERE.

STORM SEASON Chapter One By Senashenta

Dean Winchester is Saved.

Dean had been alive and back on Earth for all of two hours, maybe, he had just clawed his way out of his own grave, and something was already chasing him. Something he couldn’t see, but with a voice so loud it screwed with every piece of electronics in the vicinity and shattered glass. Just. All the glass. He had no idea what he was up against, but it kept chasing him down, kept finding him no matter where he went.

And then there was the brand on his shoulder, the one shaped like a freaking handprint.

Sam could be anywhere, and he hadn’t exactly come back from the dead with his cell phone in his hand (also, he had tried a payphone and gotten nowhere with that either) so Dean found Sam by finding Bobby, at the old wrecking yard in Sioux Falls. The older man had been suspicious at first, and with good reason, but going over the checklist—holy water, silver—had finally convinced him and the hug he got from Bobby after that had been more than just a blessing. Dean hugged back hard, like his life depended on it, just to make sure it felt real.

It was the same when they tracked down Sam, in Pontiac, Illinois, the same knee-jerk response from his brother (though Bobby was there trying to tell Sam it was really him), before Sam finally settled down, put the knife away, believed him and hugged him tightly. Then the three of them sat down together and started talking. When Sam asked about Hell, Dean didn’t tell him about it, about what he’d gone through, what he’d done, he just said he didn’t remember it.

He had his first beer in his new lifetime, and it tasted better than any he’d had before.

But then came the question of the handprint and what had left it, seared into his flesh, of who or what had dragged his ass out of Hell in the first place (Sam swore uphill and down that it wasn’t him, wasn’t some demon deal) and what was stalking him seeming everywhere, seeming intent on catching him in a moment of weakness.

Truthfully, all of his moments right now felt like weakness, he had never felt so weak in his life, and the fact that something was on his tail at the same time certainly didn’t push any of Dean’s happy buttons.

They needed to figure out what it was. So, Bobby made a call that took them four hours down the interstate to Pamela Barnes. Pamela was a powerful psychic and agreed to help them as a favor to Bobby—and possibly also because she liked Dean’s rear quite a lot. The woman was handsy. Dean found it wholly amusing, partly because he was Dean and partly because he had just escaped Hell, so an attractive woman grabbing his ass wasn’t exactly a bad thing.

Sam was under the impression she would eat him alive, and Dean wasn’t entirely turned off by that idea.

In any case, Pamela worked her mojo through seances, as it turned out, and Dean hadn’t been to a good séance in a long while, but he followed Pamela’s commands, right down to pulling up his sleeve so she could lay a hand on something the creature had touched—the handprint brand on his shoulder would do nicely.

She called on the creature several times, and each time was warned away, she said, told her not to look any closer. She said she didn’t scare that easily, so she looked anyway—and in an instant her eyes were burned completely out of her skull. There was nothing any of them could do to stop it.

Bobby rushed Pamela to a hospital, made sure she was going to be okay (blind, but alive), while Sam and Dean went to a local diner for food, where they were cornered by a band of demons who knew about as much about what was stalking him as they did. They walked out by the skin of their teeth but alive. Sam hadn’t liked leaving the demons alive like that, either.

Back at the hotel, Dean fell asleep in front of the television and woke up however-long later with Sam missing and the place falling apart, a high-pitched screeching in the air, the television and radio going haywire and all the glass shattering into tiny shards, raining around him. He was down on the ground, covering his bleeding ears when Bobby broke down the door and yanked him out of the room.

It was good that Sam wasn’t there, afterward, because he would have just tried to stop him, and Dean was hell-bent on summoning the thing.

He and Bobby drove until they were halfway to South Dakota before finding their way to an abandoned barn off the beaten path. They brought every weapon they could think of, including the demon knife, and Bobby spent hours spray-painting every inch of the barn with protection symbols and sigils from religions from all corners of the globe. When they were as prepared as they possibly could be, Bobby performed a summoning ritual to hopefully bring the creature to them.

They waited a long time. Long enough that Dean began to question if Bobby had done the ritual right.

But then the wind picked up, howling at the loose tiling of the roof, nearly ripping the panels right off, and the overhead lights all brightened beyond their capacity before bursting into showers of sparks everywhere. The barn doors blew open and a form walked into the building, obscured by all the flashing sparks.

They unloaded on it, two shotguns, but it kept coming, and through the blinding light Dean managed to get a shot off with the knife before he was knocked to the ground and Bobby came forward wielding another weapon—and the creature blocked his blow, then touched his forehead lightly, causing Bobby to collapse to the floor.

Only then did the thing look up at the lights—and suddenly they were working properly again, and Dean could see—

There was a long silence during which Dean stared, wide-eyed, disbelieving, and then asked, almost weakly, voice cracking the slightest bit; “…Cas?!”

-- --

Cas looked the same and not the same at once.

His clothes were different, for one thing, a dark suit with a white button-up shirt and a tie that was on him backwards and made Dean think of the first moment they had met, back in high school. Gone were the jeans and indie band t-shirts. And then of course there was the trench coat, which Dean had come to so strongly associate with Cas in the past. It was strange seeing it again after so much time had passed.

But Cas himself looked—harder, almost. There was a firmness in his eyes that hadn’t been there before, a strength. Dean easily recognized it as the look of a soldier. His dad had used to have that same look in his eyes. And now Cas regarded Dean almost coldly for a long moment before his gaze softened around the edges, a hint of the person he had been before he’d vanished from the face of the Earth.

And Dean had looked for him. God knew he had looked; he had searched every square inch of the country for over a year and a half—five hundred and sixty four days—when he’d come back home to find his future husband missing. He had assumed the worst: that Cas was dead and gone, or that something even worse had happened to him. That he had been stolen away because of Dean’s job—because he was a Hunter. He had blamed himself for seven years and now—

“Hello, Dean.” Cas’s voice came out a little rougher than it had been in the past, but distinctly recognizable.

It was like someone slapped Dean in the face. He stayed where he was, sprawled on the ground, staring wide-eyed at Cas while Cas’s expression shifted into faint amusement. After a moment, he stepped over to help Dean to his feet. Dean was so flabbergasted that he allowed it without question.

“You were dead.” He said finally, voice still coming out weak and shocked. “I—I looked for you everywhere, you had to be dead.”

A little smile tugged at Cas’s lips, and he shook his head. “Clearly, I’m not. I was just… Called home.”

Dean looked down at Cas’s chest, where he had been shot, where he had been stabbed, right in the heart, the aim had been true, where his clothes showed the evidence of their attacks but there was no blood, no gore, no torn flesh—then glanced over toward where Bobby was still laid out, unconscious, before returning his attention to Cas once more. “What…” He began, then trailed off and swallowed thickly before trying again; “you’re not human anymore.”

“I… was never human, Dean. Not entirely.”

And that brought up a whole ream of questions, but Dean just asked the biggest one, the one that came to mind first: “what are you?”

Cas gave him another little smile, this one obviously fond. “My name is Castiel,” he told Dean, though Dean already knew that part. He went on to continue with; “and I am an angel of the Lord.”

Dean stared at him for a long, long time and then: “nope!” He shook his head and threw his hands into the air, “this is insane, I’m having some fever dream, or my ass is still in Hell and I’m hallucinating better, crazier, things. Either way, I’m out!”

That said, he turned away from Cas, picked up the demon knife and tucked it in his inside jacket pocket, and headed over to Bobby, who was beginning to stir, crouching down next to him to make sure he hadn’t hit his head when he fell or anything stupid like that—though why he would hallucinate that he simply had no clue. Cas hesitated before following him over, standing next to him, a little, concerned look on his face.

“Dean…”

“No.” Dean grunted harshly as he began hauling Bobby up off the ground, “you’re not Cas. Cas is long dead and gone. I searched for him everywhere for more than a year and a half. If you were him, you would have let me know you were alright, not just—just—” He broke off as he finished getting Bobby upright and began hauling him in the direction of the car. The older man wasn’t exactly walking but Dean didn’t care. He needed to get out of there. At the door of the warehouse, he paused just long enough to spit out, “go screw yourself!” and then kept right on walking.

Cas looked after him for a long moment before simply vanishing in a ruffle of feathers.

-- --

“I don’t understand your fascination with that man. You’ve wasted an enormous amount of time watching over him these past few millennia, Castiel.” Uriel had been Cas’s partner ever since he had returned to Heaven and his duties there, though technically Cas held the higher rank, and he had never been one to mince words.

“I haven’t wasted anything, Uriel. You know about my human life; you know how much I loved him. How much I still do. I watch over him because I care, and I care deeply. Nothing is going to change that.” Cas replied, voice firm.

Uriel had never understood his preoccupation with his human life, and the people who had populated it. Cas doubted he ever would. Now Uriel just shrugged, his wings rippling against his back and told Cas: “it’s unnatural.”

“It’s not, though. Angels should know love. We were taught from the beginning to love them. You’ve just… forgotten that, over time.” Cas watched Dean down below, driving with Bobby—now awake—in the passenger seat, and a small smile tugged at his lips. “Humans are blessed with the capacity to love with their whole beings, and I was lucky enough to experience that first-hand. I can’t let it go, now. I won’t.”

“But you know what his destiny is, Castiel.” Uriel pointed out; his voice flat.

“I know what his destiny could be.” Cas corrected, his smile fading into a frown. He adjusted his own wings, now, tightening them up against his back, a little uncomfortable with where the conversation had strayed; “there are many ways things could play out and you know that, Uriel.”

Uriel just hummed and waved a hand. “If you say so.”

Cas glanced at him sharply, still frowning. “I say so.”

-- --

Not that Dean meant to drive like a bat out of hell, but he really was driving like a bat out of hell, trying to get away from that barn and Cas as fast and as far as possible. Not that he believed it really was Cas—it couldn’t be—he did believe this was all some huge cosmic joke, though. A joke at his expense. It was almost laughable. Almost.

“Ease off, son.” Bobby advised when his speed got a little too high for the older man’s comfort, “we get in a wreck at his speed, and we’re done for.”

It was the first Bobby had spoken since they’d gotten in the car. Once they were out of range of Cas, or whatever that thing had been, he had started to come around quickly and didn’t even seem to have a hangover for his troubles. Dean supposed those were good things, but they also just brought up even more questions. Like how Cas had knocked Bobby out with just a touch, for one.

Dean eased off on the gas a little and the Chevelle’s speed eased off in kind, until they were only driving a little over the speed limit, rather than attempting to fly to Sioux Falls. And that was where they were going, back to Bobby’s place, even though Sam was still in Pontiac. Sam had the Impala with him, he could get to Sioux Falls on his own. For now, Dean just needed to get somewhere safe. Somewhere that felt like home, and the Singer Auto Yard would do nicely.

Bobby pulled off his hat and rubbed at his head before putting it back on again. “Was I seein’ things before I went lights out, or did that look a hell of a lot like…” He trailed off and glanced at Dean, unsure if he should say the name or not.

“Cas?” Dean finally grunted, eyes still glaring at the road ahead. “Yeah. It did. Said it was him, too.”

Bobby blew out a harsh breath. “Shit, son.”

“It wasn’t him, Bobby.” Dean grit out. “And I don’t wanna talk about it.”

Dean had put all the shit with Cas in the past a long time ago, and he didn’t want to dredge it up now. It was the most painful time in his life, and he didn’t care to relive it for any reason, but especially for some imposter, dressed up like his former lover just to get a rise out of him. It wasn’t going to work.

…except it already was working. Dean was running like a spooked rabbit at just the facsimile of Cas’s face, driving so recklessly that there was even a voice in the back of his own head that was telling him to back off. He had fled and left Sam behind in Pontiac with no explanation, and in all honesty now all he could think of was getting to Bobby’s—getting to Bobby’s safe room and locking himself up inside for the next two decades, maybe more.

He entertained the thought that he was actually still in Hell, and this was just a new kind of torment they had come up with for him, bringing up the most painful part of his life, the part he had buried for the last few years—and buried deeply. His chest hurt, his heart hurt, like it was being crushed in a vice, and his mind wouldn’t stop bringing up images of Cas, in a dark suit under his trench coat, smiling at him like they had never been apart. It was torture of the cruel and unusual kind. Exactly the sort of thing they dolled out in Hell.

“Dean, pull over and let me drive.” Bobby said after a moment of silence between them.

He was speeding again, way over the posted limit. At least they were on back roads. Dean let up on the gas and shook his head, his grip on the steering wheel tightening. “I’m fine, Bobby.”

“You’re not fine and I said pull over.” Bobby insisted, voice sharp and authoritative.

There was another long silence, and then Dean slowed right down and pulled the car over to the side of the road, stopping half-in the grass on the shoulder. He had to force his hands to release the steering wheel, and then unbuckled his seatbelt and shoved the door open, climbing out of the Chevelle and immediately beginning to pace. He felt sick to his stomach.

When Bobby made it around to the driver’s side of the car, Dean continued to pace for another minute or two before cursing under his breath and stomping over to a nearby tree, punching the trunk hard, leaving his knuckles, already beat up from digging out of his own coffin, even more ragged and bloody than before. Finally, he braced his other hand against the tree and leaned, head hanging down, breathing hard as he shook out his freshly injured fist.

Bobby watched all of this with concern in his eyes and gave him a moment before clearing his throat and calling out, “if you’re done being one with nature, get in the car so we can get back to my place.”—and he followed that up by just climbing in the driver’s seat, closing the door, and starting the car.

It took another good five minutes for Dean to get his breathing under control, to get his thoughts to stop swirling, a veritable tornado in his mind, and tamp them down, force them back into place. It probably wasn’t healthy, but it was what it was. Bobby miraculously didn’t drive away until he had returned to the car, slid into the passenger seat, closed the door behind himself and done up his seatbelt.

Bobby drove in a much more reasonable manner than Dean had been, and Dean just slouched in his seat and glared at the trees they were passing, the two of them both quiet until Dean’s cell phone went off and broke the awkward silence. He dug it out of his pocket and the caller ID said “Wedge Antilles” so it couldn’t be anyone other than Sam.

“Where the hell are you guys?” Sam demanded the moment he answered the phone, “I came back to the hotel and the room was absolutely trashed and all your stuff was gone!”

Dean grimaced but informed him; “the thing came after me in the room. That’s why it was trashed. Bobby pulled me out and the two of us went somewhere safe… ish… and tried to summon it, we were gonna work it over. You know the drill. And don’t give me any crap about that, you know it had to be done!”

Sam made a frustrated noise, “without me?”

“You’d’ve just tried to stop us.” Dean half-snapped.

An annoyed sigh from Sam, but finally he asked, “well, did it work?”

And Dean simply told him flatly, “no, it didn’t work. There must’ve been something wrong with the ritual. Nothing showed.”—making Bobby shoot him a look. “Look, Sam, Bobby and I are most of the way to Sioux Falls, now. Just blow town and meet us at his place, alright?”

And then he just hung up.

There was a brief moment of quiet while he shoved his phone back into his pocket and then Bobby demanded, “you want to tell me why you just lied to Sam about nothing showing up like that?”

“I don’t want him to know, Bobby. Not yet. He’d just have a whole shit ton of questions I don’t have the answers for and theories I don’t wanna hear.” Dean returned to slumping in his seat, arms crossed over his chest, “and I don’t wanna talk about it at all. So, for now, as far as both of us are concerned, if he asks, we tried the summoning ritual, and nothing showed up.”

Pensive silence. Bobby didn’t agree, but he didn’t disagree, either. They could talk about this more when they arrived at his place and Dean got a couple of beers into him, hopefully started to relax a little. Because right now he was wound so tight Bobby thought he might snap like a guitar string at any second.

When they arrived at the Singer Auto Yard and Bobby pulled the Chevelle up in front of the house, Dean was out of the vehicle and up the steps of the porch in ten seconds flat, waiting impatiently for Bobby to follow him and unlock the door so he could go inside where there was comfort and safety and, most importantly, alcohol. When he had been there earlier, the place had been a veritable liquor cabinet, surely Bobby could spare a bottle or two.

Once Bobby got the front door unlocked, Dean was immediately inside and flicking the lights on, leaving Bobby to follow him. He then made a sharp turn for the kitchen, quickly searching through the empty bottles that littered the counter for a full one before he finally came up with a nearly full bottle of whiskey. That would do nicely. Dean snatched the bottle, then a glass from the dishrack, and poured himself a healthy glassful—then proceeded to down it all in one go. Bobby winced just watching him.

“So that’s how it’s gonna be, is it?” He asked wryly.

Dean was already pouring his second full glass and raising it up to drink. “Yes, Bobby, that’s how it’s gonna be.”

The next little while was spent with Bobby sitting at the kitchen table watching Dean pace restlessly, the bottle of whiskey in one hand and the glass in the other—until he finally decided to forego the glass entirely, slammed it into the sink, and just started drinking straight from the bottle. It was obvious Dean was spiralling but Bobby had seen this before, years ago, when Dean had been searching for Cas, and he knew better than to try to get between the younger man and the liquor. It was better to just let him drink until he passed out and then haul him off to bed to sleep it off.

In the end it took the entire bottle of whiskey and half a bottle of cheap vodka (he was going to wake up with one hell of a hangover later) before Dean went down, his pacing slowing to a stop so he could stumble his way over to drop into Bobby’s armchair. Bobby swooped in at that point to take the vodka from his grasp before he dropped it, and though Dean muttered a token protest, he was too far gone to really do anything about it. A couple minutes later he was passed out cold and Bobby was tossing a blanket over him with a shake of his head and a sigh.

Whatever this thing was, whether it was Cas or not, it had Dean spinning out big time.

-- --

The next day, Dean woke to the sun streaming through the dusty kitchen windows and the front screen door slamming closed so loudly he thought his head might split in two from the shockwaves alone. He squinted against the filtered sunlight as he opened his eyes and glared at Bobby, who was just coming in from outside, wiping his hands on a dirty rag that he then proceeded to shove into his pocket.

“Mornin’ sunshine.” Bobby greeted him, heading into the kitchen as Dean just grunted at him in response. “How’s the head?”

Dean grumbled under his breath and brought a hand up to rub at one temple, closing his eyes again with a muffled groan. Bobby began rattling around in the kitchen and the sound made his brain hurt. “Time is it?”

“Ten thirty.” Came Bobby’s response, and a moment later there was the sizzle of bacon in a frying pan.

The instant the smell hit his nose Dean felt like he might throw up. He fought it down and pushed himself into a proper sitting position in the armchair, rather than the drunken slump he had been in before. “Aspirin?”

“On the table.”

Goddamnit that meant he had to actually get up. Dean braced himself and shoved to his feet, the blanket Bobby had tossed over him the night before falling to the ground, and made his way over to the kitchen table, where the blessed bottle of pills waited for him. He opened it swiftly and tipped four of them into his palm, swallowed them dry, and then capped the bottle again and returned it to the table.

“Thanks.” There really was genuine gratitude behind his mumbled appreciation. Over at the stove, Bobby cracked a couple of eggs into the frying pan and the smell got even worse. Dean refused to be a sissy and flee a smell, even though right now the bacon and eggs made him want to puke. Instead, he just took a seat at the table, leaning one elbow on it and resting his head in his hand with a groan.

“Head hurt?” Bobby asked, too loud on purpose. Dean refused to dignify that with an answer because it was pretty damn obvious that was the case. A moment later a plate was slammed down on the table in front of him—three pieces of bacon and a couple runny eggs and Dean’s stomach heaved. And he had thought he was past being able to be this hungover. “Eat.” Bobby demanded, “greasy food is the best thing for a hangover.”

“I’m not hungover.” Dean protested, even though, yes, he very obviously was. He pushed the plate to arms’ length so it wouldn’t assault his senses quite as violently, but Bobby just shoved it right back—and then dropped a fork on the table by his hand. Dean picked it up with dread, because obviously the older man wasn’t going to back down on this one. At least not easily. And right now, Dean didn’t have it in him to really fight over it. He poked at the food, unenthused.

Bobby pulled up a chair at the end of the table. It screeched as it dragged against the floor, making Dean wince. “Did we learn our lesson?” He asked almost condescendingly.

“Yeah,” Dean agreed, then; “never mix your liquors.”

“Damnit, Dean, that’s not what I mean, and you know it.” Bobby glared at him, eyes narrowed, “nothing is worth nearly drinkin’ yourself to death over. Not even Cas.”

Cas.

Dean had been about to attempt an actual bite of food, but abruptly dropped his fork and shoved the plate away again. He had almost forgotten for a moment, in the head-splitting pain and stomach-rolling nausea. Now his stomach twisted up again, but this time not because of the undercooked bacon and eggs. He swallowed thickly and dropped his head into his hands again.

“What’d you have to bring that up for, Bobby?”

“Well excuse me for not beatin’ ‘round the bush, here. But you have to deal with this shit the proper way or you’ll—Dean, where are you going?”

Dean had gotten up from the table and circled around to the counter where Bobby had left the half-full bottle of vodka the night before. He grabbed it before Bobby could do anything to stop him and opened it swiftly, tipping it up and taking a healthy swig. The alcohol hit his stomach and made it clench up, but he didn’t heave so he took another drink. “Hair of the dog.” He bit out when Bobby cursed at him. When the older man got up and made to try to take the bottle from him, though, Dean levelled a dangerous look on him and just muttered, “don’t.”

Bobby threw his hands into the air, “well what do you expect me to do?” He demanded, “I’ve seen you go down this road before, ya idjit, back when Cas was first missing, and it nearly killed you! Broke my damn heart to see you sink so low, and here you are doing it again! I can’t stand by and just watch you drink yourself into oblivion, not like before!”

Dean took another pull from the bottle, then spun on his heel (the motion made him slightly dizzy, but he was determined not to let it show) and headed out of the kitchen. “Then don’t watch. I’ll be in the panic room. Let me know when Sam gets here.”

“Dean—” Bobby started—but Dean was already off, down the steps to the basement, where he disappeared into the safe room and planted himself on the little cot in there, bottle of vodka firmly in hand. Not that he felt safer there, particularly, the panic room was built for ghosts and demons, not for… whatever it was that was wearing Cas’s face. But it did feel somehow more secure than anywhere else he could be, right now.

For his part, Bobby just looked after Dean for a long moment before finally cursing to himself and picking up the plate of food, tossing the bacon and eggs in the trash and the dishes in the sink. Then he began cleaning up his liquor cabinet of a house before Sam got there and saw all the empties. Even Dean had showed concern over that when he had first arrived, right after digging out of his own grave, though now he seemed to appreciate the alcohol supply well enough.

Once the main floor of his house looked less like a bad night at the bar and all the empty liquor bottles were safely in the trash, Bobby went to stand at the top of the stairs for a brief minute before changing his mind and heading back outside to work on one of his cars while he waited for Sam to arrive. As much as he was worried about Dean, Dean wasn’t a kid anymore, and Bobby couldn’t be telling him what to do all the time. Even if what he was currently doing was anything but healthy.

Meanwhile, Dean, seated on the lumpy cot down in the panic room, just nursed his sorrows and the half-bottle of vodka, taking it a lot slower this time now that his head was already pounding, and his stomach protested every drink.

Every second of every minute of his relationship with Cas was whirling through his head, from the moment they had met in the cafeteria at Caspar High in Jacksonville, to the first time they had had sex, to saying goodbye that first time, saying they loved each other that first time, to meeting up in Amarillo, in Raleigh, in New York, in Lawrence, in countless places over the years… to spending a week together in Cas’s apartment in Tallahassee. To deciding to get married. Not a wedding, or anything, just something for them and a couple of witnesses. Sam and Charlie. Probably not even any rings, just… a husband, and somewhere to come home to in-between Hunts, and the kind of love that Hunters like himself didn’t often get to experience.

And then coming home from a Hunt and finding his future-husband missing, the cat desperate for any human contact, for water, and thinking, immediately, that Cas had finally figured it out—that he was no good. That loving him was no good. That he had run, while he had the chance, before it was too late.

But no. Cas had left Marshmallow behind. Had left Itsy behind. Had left all of his clothes and his books behind, with the exception of his trench coat, and if he’d been running, he would have packed, right? Something. Anything.

So of course, being a Hunter, the next thought had been that it was his fault, that something had taken Cas, to get to him, because of the job, a monster or a demon—possibly the demon, the one he and his Dad and Sam had been Hunting for years—and that thought had ripped him to shreds inside. The idea of what Cas might be going through, might be being put through, even while Dean stood there unable to do anything.

But there were no demon signs, no sulfur, no soot, there were no signs of anything, and so Dean had begun his frantic search for Cas, to try to find the love of his life before it was too late. He had called Sam over in California, and Sam had dropped everything, deferred Stanford for a year, to help him search. They had followed leads all over the country.

Eventually, Sam had to go back to his life, though, and headed back to California. And Dean had raged at him, yelled and shouted and cursed, said some of the most terrible things imaginable, because his brother was giving up on him—giving up on Cas, and it was a betrayal of the most terrible kind.

Even his dad had helped out, a little bit, throwing leads his way when he came across them and even following up on one or two himself. He could see how much his son was suffering. But in the end, nothing panned out.

Dean searched for Cas for over a year and a half, through anger and tears and so much alcohol you could fill a swimming pool with it, until one day he woke up and he was just… done. There was a numbness in his chest. And he finally took down the Wall of leads that he had been carting around with him for years, tossed them all in the trash, called up his dad and started Hunting again.

Now it had been seven years since Cas had disappeared and Dean had pushed that part of himself so far down, he thought he had buried it for good. Until the barn, and until the summoning. Until whatever-it-was showing up wearing Cas’s face. It brought it all back, all the rage and the heartache and the loss, and everything that he had never wanted to feel again.

Hence the booze. It helped to numb everything again, helped to make the pain bearable. (Except the pain in his head, that was his own doing, and he knew it.) Because whether it was or wasn’t Cas didn’t matter—but his entire being’s reaction to it did.

Now all he wanted to do was drink until he couldn’t think anymore, until he couldn’t feel anymore, until he could just pass out and pretend none of this was happening.

But even as he was thinking that he could hear the door open and close upstairs, followed by footsteps and voices—Bobby and Sam. Which meant his self-isolation pity party was over for now. Dean took one more long pull from the bottle in his hand and climbed to his feet, then headed up the stairs to the main floor.

The clock on the microwave told him it was eleven forty-seven a.m. and Dean ignored the look he got from Sam when he passed by him with a bottle of vodka before noon. His brother exchanged a look with Bobby before asking, “it’s uh… little early, don’t you think?”

“No.” Dean told him flatly, even as he headed through the kitchen to find the lid for the bottle and capped it again, setting it on the counter. Then he dropped into a chair at the kitchen table and resisted the urge to reach for more aspirin. The ones he’d taken earlier weren’t doing fuck all… but then again, that might have something to do with his continued drinking, too.

Bobby went to the cupboards and got out a large glass, filling it with water at the sink before setting it in front of Dean and ordering, “drink.”

Dean muttered to himself but picked up the glass and downed three-quarters of it in one go before setting it down again, unwilling to admit that the cool water actually felt good after all the burning liquor. “Happy now?”

“Thrilled.” Bobby said, sarcasm dripping from the single word, and took the glass, refilled it, and set it in front of Dean again. When Dean started to protest, he gave the younger man a look that could wither a plant and Dean just grumbled but allowed it, picking up the glass to sip at it almost awkwardly while Sam watched the entire exchange with obvious bafflement.

“Does anyone want to fill me in one what the hell is going on here?” Sam finally asked, after a couple long moments of watching Dean grudgingly sip at his water.

“Nothing’s going on.” Dean stated firmly, and glared at Bobby when he looked ready to say something; “just had a rough night, that’s all. I’m a little hungover. It’s no big deal.”

“No big deal—Dean, I didn’t think you could even get drunk anymore!” Sam told him, exasperated.

“And entire bottle of whiskey and half one of vodka in a stupid short amount of time did the trick.” Bobby announced and ignored when Dean glared at him again.

Sam just levelled a flat look on his brother. “Dude, do you have a death wish?”

“Oh, screw off, the both of you.” Dean shoved the rest of the glass of water away from himself, but focused his eyes on it so he wouldn’t have to look at Sam’s stupid concerned puppy face. “I’m a big boy, I’m allowed to get drunk once in a while.”

“Yeah, but there’s getting drunk and then there’s tryin’ to drink yourself to death.” Bobby pointed out, “we just got you back, Dean, and neither of us wants to lose you again, especially so soon. You’ve got a lotta Huntin’ left in you yet, boy, but not if you keep this up!”

Meanwhile, Sam was just looking absolutely confused because Dean had been acting like himself the day before, even just back from Hell, and what could possibly have happened in the short time they were apart to make him absolutely lose his shit like this? Maybe the whole Hell thing was catching up to him after all, even though he swore he didn’t remember it; it was the only thing Sam could think of.

That or the summoning ritual with Bobby hadn’t exactly gone the way Dean had spun it on the phone.

Sam reached to almost hesitantly push the half-full glass of water back toward Dean, much to Dean’s annoyance, and asked, “Dean, tell me what’s going on.”

When the glass bumped against one of his hands, Dean snatched it and pitched it across the room. It collided with the wall and shattered into a million pieces, making both Sam and Bobby wince. Then he stood so quickly he knocked his chair over—made to grab the bottle of vodka again, but Bobby stood between him and it—and finally stomped off to the basement again.

He just needed to be alone.

Once he was gone, Sam turned an incredulous look on Bobby and demanded, “what the hell, Bobby?”

The older man was already going to the kitchen closet for a broom and dustpan, boots crunching in broken glass along the way. He dug the broom out and began sweeping up the mess Dean had left behind, swiftly gathering all the shards into a little pile and picking them up with the dustpan, then dumping them in the kitchen trash.

That done, he left the broom leaning against the counter and the now-empty dustpan sitting on the table and righted the chair Dean had knocked over before taking a seat in it himself. He took his ballcap off and rubbed a hand over his head before pulling the cap back on and huffing out a breath.

“He’s been like this ever since the summoning ritual.” Bobby told Sam, and shook his head, “Sam, I can’t say much, but… something big went down. And I mean big with a capital ‘B’. It’s got Dean totally out of his head with rage and grief and he’s dealin’ the only way he knows how.” Bobby flashed a sad half-smile. “You know how he is. He’s always been one to drink his nightmares away.”

That much was true, Sam could admit. Dean had never been good at dealing with personal issues, especially the nasty ones. But that brought up the question… “Bobby, what happened when you tried that ritual? He said it didn’t work.”

“He’s a liar and an idjit, but… I can’t say any more than that.” Bobby sighed. “Sorry Sam, but I promised I wouldn’t, not until he has it figured out, and I’m a man of my word.”

Sam just frowned and glanced toward the basement, “what, exactly, is he figuring out in your panic room, Bobby?”

“He seems to feel safer there.” Bobby shrugged, then reached for the laptop that was sitting at the end of the table and pulled it over. “Listen, Sam, it’s probably best if Dean keeps busy so he doesn’t drink himself half to death. Let him get his frustrations out with something productive. Killin’ stuff is good for that. So, I’ve got a job for you, if you think you can handle him in his current state.”

Sam sighed deeply but nodded. “Yeah, okay, run it by me.”

#supernatural #supernatural fanfiction #spn #destiel #destiel fanfiction #sena writes #storm season by senashenta

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my-castles-crumbling · 9 months ago

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Hi Cas it's July 29th anon

So on the last day of school, almost a week ago, which was the only day I went that week after my friends kept on theorising that L liked me (I skipped for unrelated reasons) and I tried to catch her looking at me but it didn't really feel like she did until after school was over when I was waiting for my car with A and she walked past us, and according to A she looked at me. I thought it was probably because we were in her way, but apparently she was on the other side of the pavement, so yeah.

I texted her on the 6th asking her for the notes from our shared class on one of the days I skipped bc someone else who was supposed to send it keeps kinda ghosting me and I still haven't received any reply. Here's the thing, we have a group with our class teacher from seventh grade and she sent us something recently and L liked it? But still hasn't replied to my message?? Like bro, even if you're busy af which could be true because we're on vacation rn because of a major religious festival in our city and a lot of people including me are travelling, but it takes less than a minute to reply with even some excuse or explanation? And honestly, the first day, I thought she might be faking nonchalance, but it's been four days?? The worst part is that most of the time, she doesn't bring her own textbooks to class and I've gotten so used to sharing mine whenever we need it that our teacher tells us to take them out and she barely looks at me and I reflexively just put it in the middle. The same happened with our midterm qps. I mean, I'm the only one she can ask, considering the fact that there's a pillar on her other side, but I thought we were at least cordial? I've asked her for notes once before but we didn't have class that day because of a school event which she told me happened. Idk she was literally "stealing glances", as described by A, a few days ago and then she proceeds to ghost me for four days. I'm confused because I'm pissed at her obviously bc of the lack of basic decency on her part and A thinks I should just brush her off next time she asks me to share anything, but I just can't bring myself to do that?? I can't with her mixed signals and rn I'm honestly convinced that she hates me bc like yes, she's a bitch, but I've seen her be cordial and even nice to other people so I just feel like an exception and that could only be bc she hates me or has some problem with me.

Hi!

I think you should try asking her. Honestly, it sounds like a lot of the time, communication is happening around people, and not with them. I think if you want the real story, you need to ask. It's okay to be nervous about asking, but nobody but L is going to know exactly why L isn't talking to you, you know?

Sending love!

#ask #asks #ask cas #july 29th anon

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tacittherapist · 1 year ago

Text

TT: Tell me if this is everything. You've betrayed and been betrayed; you're beaten, but not broken; you've learned everything except that which you need to know; and you're still grasping about for purpose. Is that all of it?

CA: wwhat the fuck are you talkin about CA: i havvent said a single wword to you yet CA: you literally just told me to sit dowwn here and started sayin that nonsense like you knoww me

TT: Oh, but I do, Eridan Ampora. I know you very well.

CA: alright usin my full name aint sellin the mystic seer shit as wwell as you think it is so can wwe drop the esoteric pretense an actually talk

TT: Fine. What's on your mind? Or, pan, I suppose.

CA: look it aint impressivve that you knoww alternian lingo

TT: Do you think I'm trying to impress you?

CA: yeah wwhat other reason could you havve for layin it on thick like this

TT: Have you considered the idea that I'm trying to set a more relatable tone by using terms familiar to you?

CA: wwhy wwould you do that

TT: Generally, therapists need to find a common thread with their patients. Otherwise, there's no connection and the therapy falls flat. How can one offer advice or empathy to a stranger without some modicum of shared experience?

CA: no wwonder youre all such blowwhards CA: psychiatractors in alternia wwould just scoop your pan right out of your skull an wwash out all the impurities

TT: I'm sorry, did you say 'psychia-tractors'?

CA: yeah from the wword psyche that means mind an tractor that means one wwho movves

TT: Understood. Continue.

CA: so you just bought the wwhole pan scoopin thing huh? no questions about howw they could possibly sevver the grey matter an somehoww wwash it all wwithout killin the person?

TT: I'm not here to question your long-dead culture. I'm here to help you examine your motives and behavior.

CA: ok wwell anywway CA: i dont evven knoww wwhy im botherin wwith this CA: seems like an huge wwaste a time

TT: You're dead, Eridan. You have all the time left in the universe.

CA: i knoww that you blitherin ninny i wwas talkin about howw you havve no real qualifications nor expertise

TT: As far as you know. But despite your presumptions, you remain stuck here, at least until the bubbles change. So why not try to make this dream a productive one?

CA: you dont mean productivve like t-

TT: I don't mean productive like that, thanks for asking.

CA: okay just makin sure CA: thanks for not chewwin me out for askin i guess CA: a lot of people seem to havve this misconception about me that wway

TT: I can't possibly imagine why.

CA: sigh wwell i guess if wwere really doin this CA: i didnt havve a lot a friends as a wwiggler...

TT: Let's pause. Could you speak to me in the second person, please?

CA: wwhat

TT: Second person perspective. Refer to yourself as 'you', as you narrate your story.

CA: thats so fuckin wweird but wwhatevver CA: you didnt havve many friends as a wwiggler...

#tacitTherapy: Eridan

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bustyasianbeautiespod · 2 years ago

Text

Episode 75 Transcript: Every Good Episode of Supernatural is Secretly a Menace to Society

[intro guitar music]

G: Hello! My name is Grey.

C: And my name is Crystal.

G: And this is Busty Asian Beauties, a Supernatural commentary podcast where I, someone who has seen this show several times...

C: And I, someone who only knows the show through social media, discuss every single episode of Supernatural from start to finish. Also, we are both Asian.

G: So, for today's episode, we will be discussing Season 4, Episode 15: "Death Takes a Holiday," written by Jeremy Carver, directed by Steve Boyum. We are back, baby! We're back.

C: Yeah, we're- we have returned. It's true. For three months, we weren't both Asian, and now, look at us! [G laughs] Both Asian again. It is nice to be back. I haven't looked at a man who was under 40 years old for so long. [G laughs]

G: No, you know what? When this episode started playing, I was like, giggling, twirling my hair.

C: I was like, "Holy shit, Sam's hot! Has he always been this hot?" [laughs]

G: No like, 'cause like, in one of the flashbacks, Sam has like, a very rosy cheeks, and I was like, "Good Lord! Sam Winchester, what happened to you?" [C: Yeah. Yeah.] He's so handsome. To all who don't know, we left BABPod for like, three months to do a Good Omens podcast [laughs], which was very fun, and with that show, I really did need to read the subtitles 'cause I couldn't understand their accents. And going back to the Supernatural is like, "Look! I can understand their accents. I don't even need to turn on the subtitles or anything." And so for a while, I just turned off the subtitles, and [laughing] I literally could not understand them. [C laughing] Like, I was lying to myself so severely. So I had to turn it back on again. Fun stuff! [C: Yeah.] I probably can understand their accent if Dean didn't speak like that [C: No, exactly!], but Dean does speak like that. So I cannot for the love of God understand anything.

C: This episode was fine. Like, I think I understand that it's probably on the- is it on the like, better half of Supernatural episodes?

G: I think it is. I think it is, yeah.

C: But like, I didn't feel particularly anything about it except for when Castiel was on screen! Then, it was the best thing that has ever happened to anyone.

G: You know what? 'Cause you watched this episode before me, and you were like, "Oh my god, Cas! Cas is here!" but like, I couldn't figure out, like, when in the episode. Also because I just completely misremembered this episode. I thought it was the Death episode.

C: I thought it was "Appointment in Samarra," yeah.

G: Well, no, I actually thought it was like, "Two Minutes to Midnight" or whatever that episode is where Death shows up. And I mean, probably you're thinking, "That's not true, because the fucking, you know, Famine still hasn't showed up and all that," so like, obviously, Death wouldn't have shown up yet, but for some reason I just associated this with the nice like, Death music cue, so when the episode started, I was like, "Oh, I don't think Death is gonna show up in this episode. Wait, where the fuck is Cas gonna show up?" So like, when Dean goes, "What the hell?" [C: Yeah!] And Cas goes, "Guess again," I was screaming, I was cheering, I was like, "He's here." It is so wonderful to see Cas again. Like, it is wonderful to see Sam again. It's a bit wonderful to see Dean again; honestly, I was very enthused by him this episode.

C: Really?

G: Yeah, unfortunately. For the audience-

C: He loved making three sexual assault jokes in a row, though. He definitely enjoyed doing that.

G: He definitely did. I did- like, when he did the Demi Moore joke, I was like, "He's back! He's here, on my screen, right now." But like, for real, though, I legitimately had so many moments throughout the three months where I would just sit down and like, think about Supernatural and be like, “I hauve Covid.” [C laughs] Like, it's crazy how much distance makes the heart grow fonder. I was like, thinking about these men and jeans and everything.

C: I wasn't, but it's nice to see them again.

G: November 5 happened while we were away, and so that was on my mind and my timeline. But also, like, I don't know, for some reason, like, I was thinking about Season 1 specifically, and how fond I was in Season 1 and everything.

C: Yeah? 'Cause it's probably bad.

G: No like, but every time I think of Season 1, I'm like, "What a wonderful time that was. It was such an amazing time watching Season 1 of Supernatural." And then, I think back to actually watching Season 1 of Supernatural, and it was literally not a good time.

C: What was the post about high school that you reference sometimes?

G: "I was so happy in high school. I mean, in the moment I wasn't. But in retrospect, I was." [C laughing] Like, that's how I feel about Season 1 of Supernatural.

C: Yeah, yeah, I mean, you can only be fond of it because you don't have to do it again, I think.

G: Yeah, that's true.

C: Are you gonna ask what I thought was gonna happen this episode?

G: Oh, yeah! So what do you think was going to happen this episode, Crystal, before you knew it or seen it or everything?

C: Yeah. So I knew that there was an episode in Supernatural where Dean has to take over for Death and like, wear Death's ring or whatever for a day. And judging from the title of this episode, I thought that this was that episode. That turned out to not be the case. I also know that there is an episode where, like, Death eats pizza with them [G: Chicago-style.], and I thought that this would be the episode, and it wasn't. [laughs] Nothing that happened in this episode is something that I was aware of beforehand. Besides the "What the hell?" "Guess again."

G: You know what? Me too. That is also the exact same thoughts about this episode that I possessed prior to watching it. I thought it was literally every other episode that involves a reaper. [laughs] And then it wasn't. And also, Cas is there.

C: We haven't seen him since 4.10. No wonder we quit.

G: We start off- Okay. "Then" sequence.

C: Wait, are we doing the "Then" sequence? Yeah. 'Cause it's been a while!

G: What are your thoughts on the "Then" sequence? Been a while for us. It's really been a while.

C: And for the listeners! My only thought about the event sequence is that it's incredibly funny that, in the voiceover, when Sam says, "I'm a better hunter-"

G: [laughing] Yeah!

C: "- stronger, smarter," on "smarter," he's fucking Cara. [both laughing] Like, okay!

G: So true. I support her. And he literally is thinking with his dick, probably.

C: Yeah, "If you were smart, you would have sex with someone during the 'man has sex with someone and starts murdering people' case." [G laughs] You're so right.

G: I can't believe that was last episode. I mean, I can, given the stuff that they say about it in this scene, but I also cannot. So we have the teaser portion. You know what? 'Cause we've been away from Supernatural, and we've been away from this kind of TV for a while, you know, like, this kind of show. I miss this kind of format on a TV show. It's so like- it means nothing. [laughs] But it means everything to me. [C: To you.] Yeah, we start the episode with two guys, like, leaving a bar, and they're talking about fantasy football, just, you know, fun banter. For them. For me, it means absolutely nothing. [C laughs] And then a guy like, shows up in front of them, asking for change. They say no, guy pulls out a gun. There's like, an employee at the back of the bar like, throwing trash [laughs] into the trash bin. He sees all this happening [laughs], and he decides that what needs to be done is that he's going to slam that trash bin cover so loud and so raw and startle the guy with the gun. [C: Yup.] I just- I cannot figure out the logic behind this action.

C: I think it was- it looked like the employee was just like, also startled. Like, it was like, not intentional.

G: He wasn't!

C: He's quite frozen.

G: Ah, okay. I understand. It's less "startled," I guess, and more like, his attention has turned to this and his hand, like, slips or something.

C: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I guess that's what I meant.

G: Well, whatever. This startles the guy with the gun, and he pulls the trigger, shoots the guy, and, you know, there's like, a very long and arduous CPR scene [laughs] where one of the guys tries to CPR the other guy.

C: It's not even that arduous. Yeah, yeah. It's very lowkey.

G: But I- I don't think you should do that! [laughs] First of all, like, he got shot in the heart, [C laughing] and we like, we know this for a fact 'cause like, it says in this script that he got shot in the heart.

C: Yeah, let's shove more of that blood out, baby! Let's go!

G: [laughing] And this guy's solution to this very glaring problem is to put continuous pressure on his heart. Like, to pump his heart? What's wrong with you?

C: I mean, maybe- I guess I don't know that you're not supposed to do that. Like, are we spreading misinformation about emergency medical care? Okay, I'm gonna look up "CPR after being shot in the heart." [laughs]

G: CPR is for like, when there's no air going around, so like, the blood- the heart has stopped pumping. But I feel like if the heart is the issue, like, if your heart is like, damaged-

C: Yeah, it seems like you're not really supposed to use it for a gunshot victim unless they've stopped breathing, but even then, I think perhaps not if they've been shot in the heart.

G: [laughs] In the heart, yeah.

C: But I mean, maybe like, the friend didn't notice where he'd been shot? Like, it is just a panic response. It's not bleeding, so like, how would they know?

G: Yeah. First of all, it's not bleeding. Second of all, like, there is a bit of an inconsistency, because when the guy does show the bullet wound or whatever that was, it was in a different place. Like, it's like, a little bit like, in the stomachy area. So okay, fine. [C: Yeah.] This guy's like, "I'm alive!" I mean, the guy wakes up and is like, "Stop trying to kiss me, bro." [laughing] And then, yeah, he's like, "I'm alive. Amazing. Can you believe it? It's a miracle." He doesn't say, "It's a miracle." He says it later. But you know. Wow! Miracle. And then, you know, 'cause I know that, like, this is the splash screen for the season, but also, I forgot. So when it happened, I was like, "Good Lord! [laughs] Okay!" We're going at it this season.

C: The screaming?

G: Yeah, the scream, the flappy wings. It's the angel season!

C: So we're at a diner, and Sam's on the phone with Bobby. apparently, Bobby's found them a case in Wyoming, where no one has died in this small town in the past week and a half, but like, in a weird way. People with like, terminal cancer are totally fine. Some other guy got shot, you know, point-blank in the heart, and he was fine. And the whole time Dean is just like, affecting like, he's not as invested in this or whatever as he normally would be.

G: First of all, I want to point out that later on in this episode, Cas reveals that Sam is not talking to Bobby, he's talking to Cas.

C: Well, I thought it was later- Ohh. At the very beginning? Okay. For some reason, I thought that Sam just called as Bobby for the [G: Later, yeah.] update about Revelations, about the seal, but you're right. I think when he said, like, "I recruited you guys," I think he means that [laughing] currently, right now, he's faking Bobby's voice on the phone.

G: That's such a funny thought to me!

C: It's hilarious.

G: Because It's not just like, voice. Like, there's a cadence to it. There's like, a way Bobby speaks.

C: Yeah, was he practicing in front of the mirror?

G: Like, how does it work? Is it like, he just gains, like, all of Bobby's speech patterns and all Bobby's intrinsic pop culture knowledge that he references when he speaks. How does that work?

C: Yeah, 'cause, okay, I have seen a clip where Anna like, uses John's boss's voice [G: Yes, yes, yes.] in "The Song Remains the Same." [G: The Season 5- yeah.] So I guess angels are just able to have other voices. I don't know. I think he just practices a bit. Or, I don't know. Maybe Cobby is real. Who knows?

G: Maybe Cobby is real.

C: It's cute that he called Sam. I mean, I know that Bobby is always the one who just calls Sam 'cause Sam's his work friend and Dean's his child [G: Yeah.], but yeah, maybe Sastiel's real also.

Sam says that, you know, people are calling it a miracle, but it's probably something nasty, like people making deals. Again, Dean's just not engaging with Sam, like, "Okay-"

G: [laughing] What is so funny- I didn't realize that Dean was not engaging, like- Like, I thought he wasn't engaging because he was focused on eating. So when Sam goes like, "Come on," and like, does he say, like, "Take that out" or something?

C: Like, "Get that to go," yeah.

G: Yeah yeah yeah. And so like, when he says that, Dean like, stops eating, like, he slows down his chewing and everything, and [laughing] then the sad piano music starts playing [C laughing], and I legitimately just thought that he was upset that Sam was asking him to take the food out.

C: Soo true!

G: It goes on for so long. The piano music goes on for so long, and Sam's just standing there for so long, and Dean is just not talking for so long, and so I spent so long also just thinking [laughs], "He's so upset about this fucking takeout situation. He doesn't want to put this thing on a styrofoam container."

C: Exactly. Exactly. It deserves the ceramic plate it's been on. Yeah. So that's the end of the great love story between Dean and this burger, whatever it was.

G: Yeah. Court her. Pound her. [both laughing]

C: Yeah. So true!

G: Amazing joke, yeah. It's court her, pound her.

C: Yeah, if we're doing #mentioned for BABPod nowadays, should we just read what that full post is and then reblog it?

G: [laughing] That's the entire post! The entire post is "call me a burger the way i court her. pound her."

C: So true!

So yeah, Sam's like, about to head out, but Dean is still sitting there and eating, and then he goes, "You sure you want me going with you?" and Sam's like, "Huh?" And he's like, "I don't want to be holding you back or nothing." And Sam says that he's told him a hundred times that "That was the siren talking, not me." 'Cause we leave off 4.14 with Sam being like, "So we're good?" and Dean being like, "Yeah, we're good," but apparently, in the last week, like, every single chance he gets, Dean's like, "Well, I guess that's just 'cause you're smarter and stronger than me, huh?" [G laughs] And Sam's had to be like, "No, I didn't mean it!" Hilarious.

G: No but like- I know we mentioned it last episode, I think, Dean's gripes towards Sam that episode could like, reasonably be thought of as like, the siren talking, but, like, Sam's gripes are so real, you know? Like, those are actual things he thought about.

C: Wait, I thought it was the other way around.

G: Is that- do we say that? I have forgotten.

C: No, Dean's gripes are, "I can't trust you anymore," like, "You've been keeping secrets and like, you don't feel like my brother properly anymore," right? Like, that's real. Sam's stuff was just like, "I'm a better hunter than you," [G: "I'm better than you!"] which we've seen no evidence of.

G: The thing is like, Dean thinking that Sam is lying to him is like, "That's true." Like, Sam is lying to him. But, like, Sam thinking that, like, Dean is incompetent or isn't as good of a hunter as him is like, that's not a quantifiable truth. For Sam, it's like, "Oh, Dean thinks I'm lying to him. Yeah! And I'll lie about it some more. I'll lie about not lying to him." And then for Dean, it's like, [fake-teary] "Sam thinks I'm a terrible hunter!" and like, no amount of anything can disprove or prove that. So like, "I'll just sit here and think about 'maybe I'm a terrible hunter.'"

C: Yeah, okay. I guess. Sure.

G: But also, keep that shit to yourself. [laughs]

C: Yeah, I don't- for him to still be stuck on that, like, does that mean that he suspects that it's true and it's like, digging into some kind of insecurity? Because I don't feel like we've seen any evidence of that.

G: That that's true?

C: That that's true, and that that's something that Dean is afraid of.

G: Huh. Did we ever see Dean be scared that he's not good enough?

C: For hunting? I don't think so. I don't think so.

G: For hunting specifically, yeah. I mean, there's a whole like, "You can't save everyone thing." [C: I guess.] But I feel like that's a different thing. That's a different thing.

C: They both couldn't save everyone, so, yeah. I don't know. I guess if they maybe pushed on like, how the uncle in "Family Remains" was with Dean and then got like, killed, or whatever a bit more, maybe I could see something coming out of that. But, you know, the family's totally fine that the uncle's dead at the end, so it doesn't feel like that's a thing. I guess what Sam's getting at there is like, "You're like, not willing to like, for example, let me train with Ruby" or things like that, like, "You want to stick to like, the safe hunting methods, and that's like, what's preventing you from being able to like, kill certain demons and stuff like that." Does Dean think that that might be true?

G: Yeah, I mean, it's not specifically a case thing. It's more like a overarching plot situation. I do agree with that. And I don't think Dean agrees with it in that he thinks it's a bad thing. It's more like, Dean knows that Sam thinks this, and it's like [C: Concerning?], "Well, that's horrible that you think that." Like, it's not an internal struggle for Dean, it's more like, [fake-teary] "And Sam's like, doing things again that I don't want him to do!" I mean, this episode really cements it that, like, everyone really thinks that Sam is like, fucking horrible for this.

C: Fucking evil, yeah.

G: 'Cause like, I feel like there's like, some deniability in the past episodes. Because, like, the people saying that what Sam is doing is bad are like, the angels, and like, the angels aren't particularly portrayed as benevolent creatures, and like, Dean's being an asshole. And yeah, Ruby, is being terrible too, and Ruby's trying to convince him to do it. But, like, it's more ambiguous. Like, all sides, are kind of horrible to Sam. But like, having-

C: - Pamela waste her dying words on that? Yeah.

G: Dying words, and also, like, Pamela has always been seen as someone who has more insight on, like, stuff. Like, understands the occult better than most people. Like, they go to her to consult her, so like, she must be someone who knows her shit, and the fact that someone who like, knows her shit isn't involved with the angels, actually doesn't like, the angels, you know, still thinks that what Sam is doing is bad is like, that's the thing that cements it that like, "Oh, Supernatural as a show is like, trying to tell us that, like, we're supposed to think that this is a bad thing."

C: I feel like Supernatural already told us that because we're supposed to, like, consider Dean, like, a moral high ground a lot of the time.

G: Yeah, but I don't, so.

C: Yeah. But like, yeah, I guess this is like, "For, you know, the last remaining fans who aren't certain, here's our stance." So, right. So Dean gets all upset about this. Last episode, Dean was literally about to kill Sam with an axe while like, saying a line about, "Oh, tell me again how I hold you back," and Sam's not mad about that. Like, Dean, get over it! Sam's like, "Can we get past this?" And Dean thinks for a second and then goes, "Yeah, we're past it." And, I mean, I guess they are, 'cause it never comes up again.

G: Yeah. I mean, Supernatural always does this where like, they tried to connect it to the last episode, [C laughs] and then just don't follow through.

C: They just drop it, yeah.

G: Honestly, I support it. I feel like it will be tedious to keep bringing it up, too. Like, we can just take it as like, something simmering instead of something said, you know?

C: Yeah.

G: We go to the house of the guy who like, got shot earlier, and [laughs] apparently, Sam and Dean has introduced themselves as bloggers, which is truly wonderful. [C: Yeah.] And Jim, the guy who got shot, is asking like, "Okay, so like, you guys, what's the name of your- you guys's blog?" And Sam is like, "Yeah, we're flooredbythelord.com."

C: [laughing] Iconic.

G: I mean, Dean obviously finds this so amusing that they're flooredbythelord.com. Sam starts interviewing the guy about the miracle that he experienced, and the guy's like, "Oh, bullet in my heart and everything, but it's still going." He says that, you know, "I wasn't a saint, wasn't father of the year, but when I got shot and nothing bad happened, I just knew the Lord was giving me a second chance." And this entire time, we're on Dean's face. The guy goes, "I had this feeling that angels were watching over me." Lot of things for Dean because that's the thing that Mary tells him, and also, angels literally are watching over him now, but not in a good way. So that's fun.

C: This is true. Yeah. I mean, he's trying to believe it's in a good way. But yeah.

G: Does Dean think of like, this as like, a benevolent second chance? Was there like, ever a time where Dean thought that?

C: Didn't he- in "Monster Movie" or something, didn't he say some shit to Jamie about how like, something bad happened and then he was given a second chance, and like, he's gonna use it to like, save people or like, he knows it means he's doing good or some shit?

G: Wasn't he like, "I'm gonna use it to fuck you raw" or something? [C laughing] Like, it wasn't like, a flirting method? I mean, he's probably being sincere, and we are supposed to think he's being sincere, despite the flirting and everything. [C: Yeah.] But I mean, it's just such an odd thing. Because, again, we've mentioned over and over again, Season 4, so full of it, like, Dean being like, "And I was put here on Earth again to save people" and then just an absolute fucking menace-

C: [laughing] Just goes around harassing women, yeah.

G: Yeah. [laughs] Is an absolute menace to everyone he's supposed to be saving, so. Yeah, I don't know.

C: Jim says a stupidass the line where he's like, "I wouldn't expect you guys to understand." And the only point is for the viewers to be like, "Oh, Jim, but little do you know, they are having angels watch over them, you silly little man!" [G laughs] but like, they literally introduce themselves as Christian bloggers. [G: No, exactly!] Like, obviously, you'd expect them to understand. It's just for the viewer to be like, "Oh-ho-ho-ho, Jim!" And well, you're annoying, Jeremy Carver. I'm annoyed by you.

G: They're literally the guys behind flooredbythelord.com! You would expect them to understand!

C: Exactly. If anyone would understand, it would be the flooredbythelord.com bloggers. [G laughs]

G: Sam is, you know, continuing the interview. "Did you go through a crossroad? Did you see someone with black eyes or red?" I mean, the black eyes question is always so fascinating to me because, like, just say- How would you word that to convey what you're trying to say, which is like, the entire eyes are black?

C: Just say their entire eyes are black.

G: What if they have beautiful, striking black eyes?

C: What if? Yeah, I don't know. I guess USAmericans just call it brown eyes, even if it's closer to black. Usually, I'd say that Dean's the one who like, is asking the more aggressive, off-putting questions.

G: Yeah, but they're trying to do a whole like, "Dean is taken by this guy's like, 'angels are watching over me'" thing.

C: Yeah yeah yeah. Their doing a thing about Dean believing in miracles is equally a thing about Sam not believing in miracles this episode, and that's fun enough, I think.

G: I think Sam's painted as the more grounded-in-reality person in this episode. I mean, I think back to "Houses of the Holy."

C: Of course.

G: In that episode, like, Dean, was the one who was like, grounded in reality, and Sam off in the "I'm trying to save people!" but I guess the difference there is in that one, people were dying, and this one is "people aren't dying." And like, yeah, maybe they're equally like, miracles. I don't know. Because I feel like this is the opposite of that episode.

C: Yeah, angels were supposedly inciting people to kill in "Houses of the Holy," and now it's people are like, not dying. Yeah.

G: And also like, the whole, you know, Sam is like, "We shouldn't stop the angel because the angel is doing something good by killing these people, just like, in, you know, early Christian martyrdom [laughs] situation."

C: Just like in Death Note.

G: Just like in St. Katherine. But- [laughs] those are such a funny things to say. "Just like in Death Note" and then "Just like in St. Katherine of Alexandria." So true, though! And here, Dean is like, "But shouldn't we stop people from dying? Like, isn't that our goal?" And yeah. I think it's interesting that for Sam, it's like, more focused on like, "Is it supernatural or not? And is that supernatural thing a good thing or not?" And for Dean it's like, "But like, are people dying?"

C: Which I think is not their usual MO, right? G: Yeah. I also don't think so. Yeah, which is why I like, went way back to Season 2 [laughs] to like, compare an episode to it. 'Cause, like, I don't think this is usually their go-to. Like, Dean is a lot more like, moralist, you know, in terms of supernatural blah-blah-blah.

C: Yeah. I mean, I guess for Sam, like, "Houses of the Holy," like, it didn't happen in a vacuum. Like, it probably did 'cause them to become a lot more jaded about this shit.

G: Yeah, like, it was the breaking point. Or the new status quo.

C: Yeah, he wanted to believe in miracles, and he wanted to believe that, like, an angel had chosen him specifically to carry out God's will, and then it turned out it was just like, a ghost of a priest that was like, manipulating people and thinking that he was saving their souls but probably like, condemning them to Hell forever for doing murders. At that, he was like, "Okay, well, I guess that like, angels like, aren't real or whatever the fuck? Who knows?" And then, like, two years later, it's like, "Oh, no, they're real. They just like, specifically, hate your ass." Yeah, I get like, after that, being like, "Okay, I don't really believe in miracles, and anything good must come with a catch."

So we cut to the motel, where they're both checking up on deaths in the town. The cancer survivor, he's totally fine. He was clinically dead, and now he's not. No sign of a deal.

G: Also, I want to bring up, laptop in this scene. And I did try to see the label. [laughs] I did try to see the logo. And there were no, like, you know Sam's girl emo stickers-

C: Yeah, Sam's emo girl- yeah.

G: - to cover the logo, but I still can't see it. Is that like, a Season 1 thing? Sam's girl emo stickers thing?

C: I think so. I feel like there was like, a skull or something at some point. Dean says that the last person who died in this town is this like, kid named Cole Griffith who died 10 days ago.

G: Fascinating that 10 days, and he was able to master the art of ghostery.

C: Yeah, he was bored, I guess.

G: Quick learner, that kid.

C: I'm sure he was a pleasure to have in class. Dean is willing to just sort of give the job up. Like, he's like, "Well, maybe it's like, a real miracle. There's no deals, and there's no skeevy faith healers." Sam's like, "Oh, well, maybe this is 'cause like, the local reaper isn't here right now." Sam suggests that they should try to contact Cole to ask if he's seen anything, and they go to the graveyard.

G: You haven't even mentioned!

C: What?

G: First of all, Dean says "The local reaper's on strike?" which is such a fascinating idea of like, supernatural creatures going on strike. Fun stuff!

C: I mean, who would they appeal to, though? Like, Death? Like the horseman?

G: I mean, who is doing their schedules? Like, what's the bureaucracy behind this?

C: No, yeah, exactly. It's like, this is a small town. Like, you're telling me they have to assign one reaper to this entire town that is like, tiny? Like, don't they have something better to do? What are they doing in their free time?

G: Yeah, I mean, they assign one reaper here, and then that reaper dies, and Tessa comes in. So like, someone is like, telling these reapers, "Okay, you're the one doing this thing."

C: Tessa might have just heard about this and come in.

G: Yeah, but they still need to communicate to each other that "Okay, Tessa's gonna be there, so you don't have to go."

C: Yeah. Yeah. The big ol' reaper discord, or whatever.

G: [laughs] Yeah. They have Discord drama on that thing.

C: Oh, absolutely. Yeah. They're blocking each other left and right.

G: Number 2, Sam goes like, "Let's talk to somebody who might," meaning the angels, and Dean says, "Last I checked Huggy Bear ain't available." He's talking about Cas in that thing!

C: Oh, right. Well, Sam doesn't mean the angels, but yeah.

G: And, I mean, the Huggy Bear is like, cute. And like, I was confused because I thought Huggy Bear was like, a nickname said somewhere else, but apparently, it's said here, and I doubt that they repeat this nickname, but whatevs.

C: They could repeat it. Uh, it's also said in 5.10.

G: 5.10. In what context?

C: Well, I don't know. I can check. [typing] Dean just calls Cas that on the phone [G: Ah!] while he's following Crowley to watch him gay kiss a guy, and then the fucking "Got him." zoom, I think probably.

G: [laughs] Wonderful, wonderful!

C: It's great, yeah.

G: Well, this is a thing that he calls Cas, then. Like, this is in his head as like, "a nickname that I call Cas."

C: Yeah. I mean, sorry, I'm just not really feeling it with Destiel. [laughs] But like, you go ahead.

G: I mean, this is- it's still not- I feel like in this seasons, it's still not the kind of Destiel that would appeal to you. I feel like there would be a time where it's a kind of Destiel that would appeal to you, but not now.

C: Yeah. I mean, we're not gonna rehash the "They're not even best friends!" argument here, so. [laughs]

G: No, but like, they are, though. [both laughing] See, we are already rehashing it.

C: I mean, I haven't seen it all, so maybe I'll change my mind. Is my diplomatic response to that.

G: Yeah. I will wear you down. We have five to six to seven or eight years left.

C: Yeah. Have I come back so different? Am I like, Came Back Wrong for the listeners right now? Was I really into Destiel when we last left off? I'm sorry.

G: You weren't. You were into Cas, and even when a Destiel thing was happening, you were very intent and clear that "I like this because of the Cas stuff, not necessarily because of the Destiel stuff."

C: Okay, good, good. [laughs] Alright.

G: I mean, even our episode where- I think it's titled "We are watching Destiel happen live," I was the one who was talking about Destiel, and you were like, "And Dean is also there."

C: "And then Cas like, looks down and blinks, and then looks to the side," [laughs] yeah.

G: From what we know of the Cas and Dean relationship to this point, what has happened between them? Let's do like, a recap. So they meet, the kitchen threat, and then we have the- the big one is the "Great Pumpkin" scene with the bench.

C: Yeah. Yeah. Cas reveals that he's been having doubts, and that he was praying that Dean would choose to save the town.

G: And then we have "Heaven and Hell."

C: Yeah, they go after Anna, which Dean is against.

G: How does that thing end?

C: Sam and Dean and Ruby came up with a plan to like, get the angels and the demons to come together, and then cancel each other out by like, fighting each other to the death or whatever the fuck so that Anna can get her grace back and then run off. One of the demons- Alastair-

G: Dean saves Cas!

C: Yeah, Dean, saves Cas from Alastair, even though I guess that wasn't part of the plan. Anna gets away. Uriel is angered but Cas holds him back with a brief touch to the shoulder or whatever and says that their business is concluded and then heads off.

G: Yeah. And then Dean cries about being in Hell while Sam looks on with no emotion whatsoever. [C laughing] Fascinating episode! Okay. Recap done. My question now is, do you think like, Dean thinks in any way fondly of Cas at this point?

C: I mean, I think he thinks of Cas as a volatile ally.

G: Yeah. There's like a line in this episode where he like, says "most angels." Most of them.

C: He's talking about Anna.

G: Oh, yeah!

C: He's met three angels. It's Anna, Uriel, and Cas. Uriel and Cas suck. That's 2 out of 3. That's most.

G: Damn. That's crazy.

C: Yeah, he doesn't like Cas.

G: Yeah, I completely forgot about Anna even if she showed her face in the beginning of this "Then" sequence. So, yeah, he doesn't like Cas. And I mean, later, like, I suppose he like, berates Cas for not showing up and everything, so.

C: Yeah, I mean, he views Cas as someone who should be helping him and isn't.

G: Yeah, I think he is aware at this point that Cas is someone that isn't as hardset on Heaven principles. I think of the "I don't know what's right or wrong here," right? Like, I feel like that's a pretty big confession that like, "I'm not particularly sure what we're doing."

C: Yeah. Yeah. But like, I don't know. I feel like, you know, him going after Anna has sort of eroded any like, trust Dean would have. It's like, "Okay, like, secretively, you feel this way, but like, it's not gonna cause you to act against or like, act for the human good or whatever, except in very small ways."

G: That's true. I mean, in a way, maybe that even makes it worse, like, "You seem to know better, and yet you do this anyway," you know. I mean, that's kind of- we'll get to it at the end of Season 4, but like, that's kind of the point of their last fight in Season 4, right? You know, Dean trying to convince Cas and everything, and Cas is like, "But I can't, because of the plan," and Dean's like, [dramatically] "We're done! Don't talk to me, we're done!" [laughs] It's so dramatic. I'm so excited for the last episode of the season, like, for fucking real. I've been thinking about it. I've been talking about it with Crystal and Crystal's been like, "Okay." [both laughing] I mean, it is okay.

C: I'll care when we get there. Maybe.

G: We go to the cemetery, and they are digging up- actually, are they digging up, or are they doing a ouija board situation? What's going on?

C: They're trying to summon the kid in some way, I think.

G: Ahh, yeah. Did they even need to do this in the gravestone? Oh yeah! 'Cause they did this in, again, "Houses of the Holy," and they did do it like, in the gravestone or something, but like, the grave is inside the church like, mausoleum, so it's not a grave.

C: They had a similar confrontation.

G: Yeah, and they had a Spongebob cloth that they turned around. [laughs]

C: Yeah, and they said something racist about it.

G: Did they?

C: One of them says, like, "It doesn't get more ghetto than this or something."

G: Ohh, yeah.

C: And then we forgot about it when we were doing the racism points at the end so we gave it 0 racism points, even though it should have gotten a racism point for that.

G: Well. [both laugh] Terrible show, honestly.

C: Yeah. [laughing]

G: The thing about Supernatural is you will talk about your favorite episode ever, and then you remember that they mentioned Busty Asian Beauties in an extended bit in it, and it's like, "Oh my god." Like, for example, in 8.17, "Goodbye Stranger," there's an extended at the beginning of that thing-

C: Oh, where the Men of Letters had Voluptuous Asian Pretties or whatever the fuck.

G: Asian Lovelies, yeah. "Scoobynatural," Dean was a fucking creep in that one, and it's like, every single one, you have to be like, "This is a wonderful episode that I like, love so much."

C: "Yeah, except for the gunk."

G: "- Also, there's this absolutely horrific bit." The only episode that escapes this fully is, of course, "Dog Dean Afternoon." [both laughing] I'm still on that thing. I'm still on that episode.

C: Wait til we get there. Are you sure? You've watched it like, more recently than some other later episodes, so can you guarantee 0 points in all categories?

G: No, absolutely not. [C laughs] I absolutely cannot guarantee anything. I think there's a little bit of homophobia in it, even.

C: Hell yeah!

G: But you know what? Again, every fun episode is Supernatural is actually secretly a fucking menace to society.

C: Yeah.

G: They're there, trying to summon this guy, whatever. Dean suddenly, like, closes the journal, starts complaining, and he's like, "What a stupid fucking job we're doing." He complains that, as we said earlier, that like, when you're killing a ghost or a monster, anything, like it's a reasonable thing to do because, like, those creatures are killing people. But, I mean, they also kill creatures that were not killing people.

C: They do.

G: So, what's up with that, Dean? What's up with that, Dean? [C laughs] But he says, "If we fix this, people are gonna start dropping dead." Actually, I haven't thought about this. 'Cause Pamela was like, alive until the reaper shit gets, I don't know, whatever.

C: Yeah. Jim's young daughter is gonna find him bleeding out from a gunshot wounds on the floor of her kitchen.

G: That's crazy! And that cancer guy's just gonna drop dead.

C: Yeah.

G: Oh, no.

C: Yeah. That's gonna be weird for the town.

G: I mean, it's gonna be weird for the town, number one, but like, it must be miserable to be the wife of that guy and like, "And, and now my husband's like, completely fine. We're gonna live together until we're 80 years old." And then, like, the next day, he's dead, and she's like, "He was already supposed to be dead, and you gave me this couple of days of hope, and now it's over, and it's more miserable, maybe."

C: Yeah, yeah, they're gonna have a lot of weird feelings about religion, I think, given that they all seem to think that God gave them a second chance. But it was like, "God gave them a trial run and they failed" is probably how some people are gonna think of it.

G: Sam goes, "I don't want them to die either. But, you know, natural order. There's a natural order." And Dean is like, in disbelief, and it's like, "You don't see the irony in that? Like, you and me, we're very unnatural order-"

C: Yeah, perhaps even supernatural.

G: "- 'cause all we do is ditch death." And Sam's like, "Yeah, but we're so special!" [both laugh] "The normal rules don't apply to us, Dean."

C: Yeah. I mean, it turns out they're right. Like, they are God's specialest little princesses.

G: I mean, they are very special. Yeah. Dean is unconvinced. He's saying, "We're no different than anybody." And Sam's like- Sam looks at him in a bit of disbelief, and there's like, a little pause in the conversation, and then he goes, "I'm infected with demon blood!" and then, like, scoffs a little bit, and then he goes, "You've been to Hell!" Sam is so funny sometimes. Sam is like, he's an absolute fucking killjoy. He's so unfunny. [C laughs] But also, he's funny sometimes, and that's what's important.

C: Yeah.

G: Do you think people think I'm like, being mean when I say that Sam's a killjoy? He is, though.

C: No. I hear people say a lot worse things about Sam.

G: No, but like, I need everyone to know that I say these things fondly. Like, I love that Sam is a bit unfunny. A lot unfunny, even. I love that he don't give a shit about being funny. That's important to me. I mean, I complained a lot in Season 1 that, like, Dean is like, the funny, goofy brother, and Sam is the serious, brooding brother, but like, as the seasons progress, Dean remains the goofy brother, and Sam has lessened on the brooding section. So now he's just unfunny. [laughs] And I support that. Like, I genuinely love that. I mean, I was annoyed with the brooding stuff, 'cause I just don't like that as a character trait, but, like, now, he's not brooding. He's just annoyed at everything, and that's important to me. We need more guys who are annoyed at everything.

C: What is actually wrong with disrupting the natural order?

G: Absolutely nothing.

C: Yeah, they have to invent the seals thing so that, like, it actually makes sense that they're trying to like, stop this from happening or whatever

G: I mean, you can claim that modern medicine is disrupting the natural order. Dialysis is disrupting the natural order. A pacemaker is disrupting the natural order. Organ transplant.

C: You could also argue that the natural order includes, like, monsters killing humans.

G: Yeah. I mean, they're naturally there.

C: Yeah, they really are. But they were gonna keep doing it even without the like, seals reveal, right? Like, they were still summoning the kid. I mean, I guess Sam's a Bible reader, so he would also think that to everything, there is a season. I mean, Dean has, in the past, been very pro "natural order," I think, so I guess that would be his reasoning, too.

G: I mean, the real issue here is that they don't even know about the reaper situation. I don't know. I feel like the Sam- the Samhain (sah-wen) one- I'm gonna start pronouncing that correctly and not the Supernatural way. [C laughs] That episode, it's- like, they knew, right, that it was a seal, but they still wanted to save the town. I don't know. I feel like that kind of dilemma is good because it's like, they're trying to do both. Here, it's like, Dean is right. Like, okay, people are not dying. So what? What dilemma are they trying to present here? Like, what's Jeremy Carver trying to say?

C: I mean, it's not exactly the same thing, but like, with Cole, it's like, "You should go away because, like, people will never get over it until you're dead." Like, is the idea with the other people-

G: Yeah. Until you're gone.

C: Yeah, until you're gone.

G: Yeah, but those people are not dead. They're alive.

C: But I guess it's like, a reaper is always gonna come in, so like, it's the false hope thing. Like, Tessa came in, and she was going to kill all of them as well, so it's not like letting things keep going would mean that they all get to live forever, no consequences.

G: I mean, that's also the same again, about organ transplants. [laughs] That's the same about a pacemaker. You're still gonna die, but like, you still do it.

C: Yeah. I mean, I feel that's different from like, miraculously not dying and then like, spontaneously dropping dead. Actually, it is pretty similar.

G: I mean, in this episode, I can assume, like, Sam has this kind of perspective, like, "What makes life worth living is the fact that it's going to end!"

C: Really.

G: I mean, yeah. I mean, I don't think so. But like, I think that's the idea that is being peddled to us right now. I don't think Sam believes it. I don't think Dean believes it. But it's an idea being presented to us by the show, I feel. I may be completely off point.

C: But maybe "There's a natural order to things" is more like, descriptive. Like, "There's gonna be a new reaper to come in to fill the void. There's gonna be like, blah blah blah blah blah. Like, that's just how it is. So if we do anything to try to stop it, it'll just cause complications."

G: They're not trying to stop it. Like, them trying to continue it is the doing.

C: No, yeah, sorry, I mean trying to stop it as in like, letting it be, like, would just 'cause more disruptions and more issues down the line.

G: Yeah. I mean, I still don't understand why they are saying what they're saying and specifically, like, why the person who is saying it is saying it.

C: I don't know. 'Cause Dean's thing this episode is also like, he's like, grateful that Heaven gave him a second chance, but like, he also wishes that he just died in 2.01 with Tessa, but like, I don't- I guess it's fine to have conflicting ideas held in your mind. A lot of people do that. [G: Of course.] So I guess that's that's Dean's thing. The interaction of those ideas.

G: I also find it fascinating that, like, Sam, who has vehemently tried to be normal, like, all of Supernatural, basically, is just out here, going like, "Yeah, I'm infected with demon blood. I'm pretty fucking fucked up in that way. Very unnatural of me."

C: I mean, I don't- Sam has tried to be- I feel like he's stopped trying to be normal for a while already.

G: Yeah. But this is like, a very, you know, vocal, very verbal confirmation that he don't-

C: I remember 3.15 or whatever, he was like, "Dean, you should just go around stealing organs from people to become immortal forever." Like- [laughs]

G: Slay. Hell yeah!

C: He seems- he has been fine with going against the natural order and not being normal for a while. And like, I do wonder- if I go back, I wonder if like, that's a change that starts after Azazel shows him what happened in his crib the night Mary died- [G: Huh. Yeah.] - or, if like, it's different. 'Cause, like, Sam, does seem to believe strongly that the fact that he's infected with demon blood means he really can never be normal 'cause it's like, something biological, and he like, believes in that shit or whatever, right? So like, I wonder if starting from the end of Season 2, that's when he gave up on being normal.

G: Yeah. Go, Sam.

C: Go, Sam!

G: Or maybe don't. I'm not actually sure [laughs] what my stances are this episode. But- and Sam is like [laughs], "I know you think of yourself as the Joe the plumber, Dean, but you're not. And I'm not. So the sooner you accept that, the better off you're gonna be." Big words.

C: I guess, in the past, all their stuff about how- like, they've always considered the other one the exception in terms of, you know, like, what happened with Sam and Dean in 3.15, and like, in "Croatoan" when Dean was like, "Oh, yeah, I totally shot this teenager's parents as soon as they got infected, but, like, Sam got infected? Don't you dare touch him," etc etc, so like, I guess this is just extending it to like, "And also we should think that about ourselves."

G: Yeah, I suppose.

C: But also, with the other person it's like- it's a selfishness thing. It is like a "You're my brother, and therefore, the rules about killing monsters indiscriminately don't apply to you." But like, I guess-

G: Yeah, it's not specifically, like, "Dean fundamentally as a person." It's just "Dean, my brother." And you know, same goes with Sam.

C: Yeah. Yeah. But I guess Sam is trying to move this into the realm as like, "We fundamentally as people are special, and you need to deal with that."

G: "Matter in the grand scheme of things." Yeah.

C: What makes that thought useful for Sam's emotional well-being or whatever? I guess it's just to justify, like, the demon blood shit, mostly.

G: Yeah. "'Cause I'm the only one who can do it, so I need to," stuff like that.

C: Yeah. And also, like, "I might be against someone else doing this, but I'm special, and because of like, my biology and being infected with demon blood already, I'm like, someone who can do this and be okay and have good intentions and blah blah."

G: And their conversation gets interrupted by a man who comes in and just starts, you know, berating them on what the hell they're doing. And there's this bit where, you know, the guy's like, "What the hell is this?" and Dean's like, "It's not what it looks like," and the man goes, "Oh, really? 'Cause it looks like devil worship to me!" And Dean's like, "What?! Noo! It's not devil worship, it's- uh-" and then he looks at Sam and like, looks back at the guy, and he's like, "I don't have a good answer," and it's pretty funny. It's pretty funny.

C: I mean, I'd just say, like, "We're friends of the deceased, and we're just holding a wake for him. Oh, is that a pentagram? No, it's not. That's just a religious thing. You don't get it."

G: The older they get, the less it will work, but, like, you know, in Season 1, when they were like, "We're in a frat, and this is our initiation!"

C: Yeah, "This is a dare."

G: But yeah, they say that they're going now, but the guy goes, "You're not going anywhere," and then a menacing, you know, voice, and his eyes like, roll back in his head to reveal the white, which is a very wonderful effect. Did he do that before?

C: I don't remember. I think they do it too much this episode, though.

G: Who has the white eyes? With Li-

C: Lilith.

G: It's Lilith, right? Yeah, it's just Lilith.

C: Yeah, I don't know what that means about his position in Hell.

G: Yeah. Good effect, though. Bit overused, as you said, but it's pretty nice.

C: Yeah, like, later, it's like, "I know that that's Alastair. You don't need to do that for me again."

G: I mean, what's fascinating is like, you know, every Alastair prior is like, a normal guy who's like, an accountant, but like, a little bit more menacing. And then we get the Alastair later and the Alastair next episode.

C: Oh, yeah. He's great.

G: And he is pussy cunt slay. Like, that man is acting. He's acting. And it's amazing. It's amazing to watch. Like, even in this episode, it's like, "Good lord! That guy's putting on a voice! [C: Sure is.] And it's an amazing voice, even." Alastair is here, and Dean recognizes him. Does Sam know yet that Alastair is the guy? I kind of missed that situation.

C: Who trained Dean to torture in Hell? I don't think so? Okay, well, Dean reveals the Hell torture at the end of 4.10. Sam overheard Alastair telling Dean that he had promise in Hell and then Dean says that he tortured people, but I mean, it's not confirmed that Alastair was the one who was doing the torturing or Dean's torturing mentor at all. It's just like, he was aware of Dean, I guess.

G: Yeah, I guess we also learn it next episode, not here, necessarily.

C: Yeah, I think it's heavily implied, though. I think Sam could have come to that conclusion.

G: I don't know if I would, though, if I didn't know that prior [C: That's true.], but I believe you. And, you know, Dean's like, "I thought you died," and Alastair's like, "Nope. Not me." I mean, at this point, the only thing that can kill a demon is the Colt and the knife, right?

C: Yeah.

G: Do they get more? It's still just the Colt and the knife in the future.

C: I'm pretty sure, yeah.

G: That's crazy. 'Cause like, there are many angel blades. Every angel has an angel blade. You can theoretically acquire many angel blades.

C: Yeah, do they try making another knife or making another Colt?

G: They may new bullets for the Colt, I believe. Supernatural really is a show about [both] what if we get a better gun. [both laugh] "Let's get a God-killing gun this time." And they literally did! They fucking got that God-killing gun. But like, they only have that one demon blade, and it's just Sam's, and they make a point of making it just Sam's. Like, it's very rarely used by Dean in future seasons. Fun stuff! You know, everything you love will come back to you tenfold or whatever [laughs], and, you know, Sam loved that fucking demon pussy.

C: What is that from?

G: My head. It came from my head.

C: Okay. [G laughs]

G: No, yeah. Sam is getting that demon blade tenfold.

C: Yeah, yeah. Getting it raw and hard. And that's what Alastair asks. "Have you been getting that demon blade raw and hard?" Except misogynistically.

G: Alastair flicks Dean, and Dean hits his head on a gravestone, and then, like, I don't know, falls unconscious. Alastair turns to Sam and like, tries to flick him, too, it doesn't work, and he goes, "Oh, you're stronger, Sam. You've been soloflexing with your little slut?" Ugh.

C: Yeah. And, you know, there's that classic Supernatural misogyny. For a few minutes, I'd forgotten.

G: With the demons, I understand them being misogynistic in that like, they existed on Earth and they were people before, so they were already exposed to misogyny.

C: No, exactly. It's when Uriel does it that I'm like, "What the fuck is up?"

G: When the angels do it, it's like, "The fuck is-" yeah. [both laugh] "You haven't been here enough to figure that out." Sam succeeds and, like, pins Alastair to a tree.

C: Yeah, far away.

G: By head. [laughs] Not "by head," by- well, maybe by head, who knows? But like, by psychic powers, you know, extracts the demon out of him and everything. Fun stuff!

C: Yeah. I wish that there had been more notice drawn to this episode the fact that both of the times that Sam exorcises a demon during this episode, he doesn't check on the vessels afterwards, and we're to presume that they're dead. I mean, Alastair's vessel is probably dead from Sam, like, slamming him across the graveyard.

G: No, because sincerely what I thought happened was like, the vessel got stabbed to a branch 'cause there's like, a sound effect.

C: No, yeah, I think that did happen. If one of the points of this episode is like, "Sam, you think you have good intentions with this demon blood shit, but, like, you don't," then I think that- I feel like the strongest argument for Sam continuing training with Ruby is that he is able to get the demons out without killing the vessels the way that the knife or the Colt does. If they like, put a little more focus on the fact that, like, this is no longer 4.04 where afterwards, he rushes over and checks if they're okay and then gets them to the hospital, like, it would like help drive home the point that, like, he's just doing this because he likes the rush of it or the power or whatever, if that's what they're going for, but like, I think that just 'cause the writers don't care about vessels, they don't think about using that path to like, help convince us, and I feel like that would have like, made Pamela's last words make a lot more sense to me.

G: Yeah.

C: Oh, well. Sam killed that guy.

C: So we cut to the motel, and, you know, this is the most important scene in the entire episode besides the one with Cas in it, where, you know, Dean's recovering, Sam asks if he wants some aspirin, and Dean says, "No thanks, House." Soo true.

G: Yas!

C: Soo true. Dean asks Sam what happened, and Sam, you know, lies to his face and says that Alastair tried to fling him, it didn't work, Alastair ran off, and he's like, "Oh, I have no idea why Alastair wasn't able to throw me. Huh?" And, you know, Dean's like, "Okay, like, if you're gonna keep your little secrets, I can't really stop you, but like, I'm not stupid." And Sam just continues to lie because he is so incredibly funny. Sam says that Bobby called- well, Bobby in quotes, because it was Cas again. [both laugh] God, that's so funny. I love that, like, Cas like, sent them on this case and then he's like, hanging around, watching, right? And it's like, "These idiots still haven't figured out that it's the fucking seal. I'm gonna have to call them again." [G laughing] So there's apparently a verse from an obscure version of Revelation that's "And he bloodied death under the newborn sky, sweet to taste, but bitter when once devoured." It should've been like "twice devoured" or something, right?

G: Yeah.

C: The reveal that you need to kill two reapers, like, came out of fucking nowhere, and it was just to like, give them some more time or whatever to like, figure out the chandelier-throwing thing or whatever. You know what I mean? There should have been something so that it wasn't so annoying that that came out of nowhere.

G: Yeah, and it's just to have like, Tessa around, honestly. I mean, it could have been like, Tessa immediately who was captured, but like, it wouldn't give Dean and Tessa talking time, which is, I guess, a big point in this episode.

C: I guess. I wish that they never talked ever and that Dean died in 2.01, just like he does, but you know. Yeah, if you kill a reaper under the solstice moon, which is tomorrow night, then a seal breaks.

G: "Tomorrow night, by the way." [C laughs] This is one of the- you know that video.

C: The caspig420 line deliveries video, yes. Gay as hell way to deliver that. Sam says that he wishes the angels were here 'cause they need their help, but Dean's like, "Nah, not gonna happen." Dean suggests that they become ghosts so they can communicate with the reaper.

G: It is so funny. I mean, Dean asks here, like, "How do you even kill a reaper?" And later, we find out that it's a scythe. Is that how you pronounce that?

C: Yeah, from like, death itself, yeah.

G: Yeah. And Supernatural really is about a hyper-specific weapon for a hyper-specific supernatural creature, and it will always be so funny to me.

C: It will.

G: What if they literally had reaper-killing bullets? Like, that would be fucking hilarious.

C: Yeah. We cut to later, and they're taking Pamela inside the motel room, and they have the most annoying conversation in the world! Like, they got her, and they drove her here. Like, you're telling me during all of those hours, they stayed completely silent, and then as soon as they get back to the motel, it's like, "I'm gonna deliver exposition in the most obvious way ever with like, bad acting, bad directing, bad writing, bad everything"?

G: Hell yeah!

C: Like, just have them have this conversation on the car. Like, I'd be way more okay with it. But it's like, you guys have been hanging out for hours, and then as soon as this door closes, it's like, "I can't even begin to tell you how crazy you are! You wanna do this, and then also do this? No way, you guys! And you also want to do these other details regarding your plan that will help the viewer know what's up?"

G: Are you sure they drove her here?

C: I mean, she couldn't have driven herself.

G: Maybe she got an Uber in 2009.

C: [laughs] Do they have those?

G: I mean, it's just I cannot imagine this conversation if that's the case.

C: [laughing] It's because the writing is bad. It's due to how the writing's bad.

G: Sam says, like, "Well, you're a sight for sore eyes," and that's something you probably say, for, like, someone who just shows up.

C: But like, how did she get here, then?

G: She teleported. She got teleported by Cas.

C: So true. But I feel like she would have- I feel like they were with each other for a while before this and that they just didn't think about it. Or maybe they weren't thinking about it, and they were like, "Oh, yeah, she totally drove herself here" without thinking about it, so who knows? Maybe that was the writing error made. Either way, the acting is still unbearable, even if this is the first conversation they've had.

G: I mean, it's fine. I didn't find it unbearable.

C: I find it unbearable. It's bad. They have a whole torturedass conversation. Sam calls her a "sight for sore eyes," and Pamela's like, "Well, that's offensive. What do you say to deaf people?"

G: We do know what Sam says to deaf people.

C: Yeah. It's "Fuck you."

G: [laughs] He signs "fuck you" to them immediately. First meeting. Go, Sam.

C: Yeah. And this is the continuation of the joke format in, like, "Everybody Loves a Clown" or whatever where it's like, you make a comment that seems maybe related to someone's disability, and then they're like "[disgruntled sounds]" about it, and it's, I don't know. It's just written by writers who I dislike. Dean wanted them to astral project or whatever. And yeah, Pamela says that "Oh my god, you're crazy! I don't wanna do this." Like, you came here.

G: "You guys are the crazy brothers." [laughs]

C: Yeah, no, but like- I guess what's also tortured about this is just that she spent time to get here, whether the writers think she could have gotten here by herself or if, like, they drove her. Like, you're telling me that she has only brought up the objections now? Like, were Sam and Dean just like, "You have to get over here, and we're not gonna tell you for what until like, we're walking up the stairs to our motel room," and she was like, "That's fine with me!" They would have had this conversation, if not during the drive, on the phone when they like, asked her to come over. Whatever. Who give a shit? She's like, "You guys don't know what you're doing, and I'm sick of being hauled back into your angel-demon Soc-Greaser crap." You came here! Whatever. [G laughs] Outsiders by S.E. Hinton reference alert. Yeah, we have another moment where, you know, Dean's like, "Oh, I also wish that I was relaxing and watching Judge Judy," and she's like, "Great. More blind jokes?" and he's like, "You know what I mean." Whatever. Whatever, Jeremy Carver. He says, "We need your help," and apparently this works.

G: So they set things up, and Pamela is sitting on this chair in front of the beds, makes Sam and Dean like, lie down. This is so funny to me [laughs] because- so Sam and Dean are lying on the beds, and Dean is lying straight, like, vertically, and then Sam, who maybe perhaps is like, too long for the bed, [C laughs] lies diagonally. [C: Slay.] It's so wonderful! That guy is so tall it's unreal. And Pamela, like, does a little chant, and it's showtime! Dean sits up, and the room has changed color, and Dean goes like, "Well, nothing like shooting blanks. What's plan B?" [laughs] Why does he speak like this? But okay, go Dean. Pamela doesn't respond to this at all, and Dean looks at Sam, who is still unconscious in the bed, but then he turns over, and Sam's there! And he looks over his shoulder to the bed, and he's there, and he goes, "Oh, I'm so feeling up Demi Moore."

C: Ding.

G: And like, I physically recoiled. I recoiled.

C: Yeah. Remember in "Wishful Thinking" when like, this teenager wished that he was invisible so that he could like, spy on women in the showers?

G: Yeah.

C: And like, they treat that guy with like, so much derision, as like, they should. And like, they literally run over him in their car and everything just to like, show how that guy's like, gross and bad and you shouldn't like him. And then, like, Dean does the exact same thing. He later suggests that they go to Victoria's Secret and like, peep into those changing rooms top. And it's like, okay, so like, what- What are your policies? [both laugh] Like, what- Is it fine that- Why is it fine for Dean to do it? Like, is it just because- I don't know. It's like, either, like, they think that because Dean is like, hot, like, there's just inherent consent in any interaction that's sexual that he has with a woman because, like, everyone would like, want that already. Or like, it's like, "Next to Dean, women aren't people, but like, next to this guy who's like, less attractive and not a main character, women can be people because they're on like, similar levels"? Like, what is the reasoning here?

G: Yeah, I mean, I think maybe a part of it is like, "Oh, Dean's just saying things. He's not actually-" but, like, we've seen Dean- We know that he's actually, you know. [C laughs] And also the fact that, like, if somebody makes these jokes in real life, and it's like, "Oh, yeah, they are just jokes," but like, the fact that these are the first things to come to your head, like, I'd feel like, "Okay, let's not meet each other ever again," you know?

C: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

G: And multiple times, too. Multiple times.

C: Mm-hm. Mm-hm.

G: We learn here, too, that Pamela needs to like, whisper an incantation in their ear to bring them back, and she, like, leans down and whispers, "You have got a great ass" to Sam.

C: Yeah. Sam's delighted by this. I think- yeah. Some of Pamela's shit is quite bad, like, I think she does like, sexually assault them at times. I feel like this one was was okay. I didn't feel automatically disgusted by it, at least.

So you know, they're outside, being ghosts or whatever the fuck. Someone runs through Sam, and then Dean has fun by like, sticking his arm into Sam's chest and all that shit. So apparently it's hours later now, and they haven't found anything, and this is when Dean suggests that they go to Victoria's Secret and get their peep on! Yayyy. But luckily, they're interrupted by a dead twelve-year-old in the window. [G laughs] It's Cole.

G: Is the kid literally twelve?

C: Yeah, the gravestone has the years.

G: That's a massive twelve-year-old? But also, poor guy. Poor kid.

C: I have no clue what ages kids are, which we've established already. I thought he was ten, so.

G: Adam- the Them were eleven. [laughing] You thought this kid was ten?

C: Yeah, I mean kids in Supernatural look older than they are already, like, that kid with the like, giant teddy bear or whatever, I feel like she was supposed to be younger than she looked.

G: What did you think she looked like?

C: I don't remember. I just feel like she was played like she was 6.

G: She's definitely like, 7 or something.

C: Like, played as 7, or the actress?

G: Played as and looks like.

C: Huh. I think all kids are 10 unless they are like, 6. [G laughs] I guess they can also be 13. Those are the three ages a kid can be. They noticed the kid, and they're like, "Oh, shit. That's Cole Griffith."

G: We go to the inside of this kid's room, and his mom is like, moving around like, calling him like, "Hi, Cole, it's mom. Your dad thinks I'm crazy. I swear you're here. Are you still with me?" A soccer ball or something, like, bounces around and like, throws itself across the room, and the mom's like, "Oh my god. You're still here." And as she leaves, Sam and Dean enter as ghosts, so they don't have to do the whole, "Hi! We're Sam and Dean, bloggers from flooredbythelord.com," but yeah. They see Cole, and he's there. They do the whole reveal that like, "We're also spirits. Let's talk!" They go downstairs, and in this entire scene, the mom is just in the foreground, like, drinking or whatever.

C: Yeah. They don't do a really good job with her character this episode.

G: Oh, they really don't.

C: 'Cause Cole's whole motivation is supposed to be that he wants to stay here so he can be with his family and like, first of all, they keep saying his "family." We don't see anybody else. Supposedly, there's a dad, because, like, the mom mentions a dad, but like, we don't see him. It is just like, this woman who is just like- I don't know. They just styled her to look like the most depressed person ever, and also, like- I don't know first. She's got that, like, famine look about her as in like, I don't know. It's like she was transported from a historical documentary about the Irish Potato Famine or whatever. She's just really there to look incredibly sad. I feel like if they had a scene where they interviewed her before they became ghosts where like, she actually talked about some memories with Cole or something like that that, would have helped, but like, she just has, like, the most generic, horror mourning mom dialogue ever. And then she's just like, drinking and looking at photos of him. I don't know. It just doesn't create a very strong basis for the Cole thread of this episode.

G: I mean, the fact that this- when the whole like, "Oh, but the people are gonna die again!" I fully did not comprehend, for most of this, that the people who were "saved," quote-unquote, are going to die, it's like, that is also an aspect that you could have leaned on. That like, this is not only just going to kill people in the future, it's like, going to kill people who are already saved. And, you know, it's that-

C: I mean, I think that is implied. Like, Dean says, "These are good people, and they're gonna die," [G: No, of course it's implied-] and I think he's thinking about how that dad is trying to-

G: - change, yeah.

C: But you're right. If we had like a-

G: There's no emotion to these people.

C: - little montage at the end, of like, that guy's daughter finding him on the floor, and, like, the cancer survivor, whatever whatever, it would have helped with whatever they were going for.

G: And like, I feel like the passing through the veil, we already did that in that one episode that I actually quite liked.

C: "Roadkill"?

G: Yeah. And this scene- you know what? This scene fucking terrified me. 'Cause apparently, this kid died because of cold air-induced asthma. [laughs] Yeah.

C: Oh, yeah, I understand why that would scare you.

G: Terrifying. I mean, not for me. It runs in the family. Asthma runs in the family, so like, good lord! People can just die from that?

C: It's like- is it ever cold where you are, though?

G: I mean, one time it was 23 degrees, and I was complaining to my British friend that-

C: 23 degrees Celsius, for the audience.

G: - like, "Oh my god, it's so cold!" She was like, "What's the temperature?" and I was like, "It's 23 degrees, but like, it's windy." And she was like, "You're unfucking real."

C: That's 73 degrees Fahrenheit, for the audience-

G: "- It's literally 9 degrees where I am now." [laughs]

C: - just to get an understanding of this.

G: But it really was chilly! [both laugh]

C: Your experiences are valid. To you.

G: Yeah, this kid dies 'cause of an asthma attack, and then he just goes, "Yeah, it happened so fast. And then I was just there, looking down at my body." Scary. Terrifying.

C: Yeah. I think this actor is decent at playing a kid who we are supposed to like.

G: Yeah, this actor's decent at playing a kid who's 14 years old, I think. [C laughs] And he says that "There was this creepy old guy in a black suit, and he wanted me to go with him," and I was like, "Holy shit! Is this Death?" It's literally not, though.

C: Yeah, it's some other reaper who looks sorta like Death.

G: Some other rando. Yeah. What's funny is they don't even, like, have him be awake for his scenes. Like, when he gets hauled up to be killed, he's just unconscious. But when Tessa gets hauled up to be killed, like, she's conscious, which is so funny to me. He says, "I didn't want to go," but, you know, "I didn't. He didn't take me." Sam asked, "How did you get rid of him?" And he said, "I didn't. The black smoke did." And this entire thing was treated like such a fucking reveal or whatever, but I feel like we already knew. Did we already know? I feel like we already did know.

C: Yeah, they were talking about, like, "Maybe demons can kill reapers," blah blah balh.

G: But you know, Cole was like, "They took him. They left me alone." He says, "I don't know where the smoke went, but I know where it is." And then suddenly, lights start flickering, blah blah blah. Cole starts hiding after saying like, "They're back." And then suddenly, beside him, somebody appears, and it's Tessa. Tessa still recognizes Dean. She like, says that he's "the one that got away."

C: Later, yeah.

G: Which is pretty fun. [C makes annoyed sound] I mean, they have like, a lot of- like, a, lot of their conversation later is like, you can isolate it to be romantic, but literally, it's about Tessa wanting Dean to be dead, [C laughs] and Dean wanting Dean to be dead, which is pretty funny! [laughs]

C: Yeah. And it's also about me wanting Dean to be dead, [G laughs] but they cut that out of the episode because it was taking too long.

G: Yeah, three for three, baby!

C: Yeah. She's in like, a regular person outfit. [laughs] I don't know how to explain it. It's just like, a shirt and pants and jacket or whatever, right? But, you know, later they just have to get that white nightgown on her. [laughs] You know, she's surprised that Dean doesn't remember her, and Dean's like, "If I had a nickel for every time I heard a girl say that," [annoyed sounds]. And then, like, [groans]. And then Tessa kisses him, and that's like, to transfer the memories, and I hate it so much.

G: Literally, why?

C: I hope we all die. There's no reason. It's just like, "She is played by an actress who is attractive. Let's do this." Like, okay, well, I think everything's bad forever. Memories are back. Tessa says that Tessa is "one of her names," which is fun. I want to know more about her! But they don't really treat her like a character. She has no internal consistency at all this episode. Dean tells Sam that this is the reaper that came after him in 2.01, and then Tessa's like, "Okay, well, now, I'm gonna leave to kill this kid." So why did she give Dean's memories back?

G: I mean, she knows what's going on with their life, so like, she knows that all he's gonna do is like, prevent her from doing her job, which at this point, is her main priority, so like, I don't know. I mean, she is probably still caught up in the whole TOTGA, as we say.

C: The what?

G: TOTGA. [laughs]

C: What does that mean?

G: The one that got away.

C: Ohh.

G: That's something- people say that, right.

C: I've not heard it, but maybe some people do. Okay, yeah, so it's like, she's sort of been obsessing over Dean for like, a few years now, so like, she would prefer that obsession to be like, at least somewhat mutual because it's annoying when that guy doesn't even remember you. She and Cas should battle it out at some point. He also raised Dean from the- well, he raised Dean from the dead. He like, did a thing that's sort of related to her thing.

G: I think I think it is fascinating that, like, Dean just has this like, string of supernatural entities that he has like, some weird relationship with.

C: Yeah.

G: Yeah, I mean, Sam does, too, I suppose. They both have their types. Wait, what is Sam's? He has the werewolf.

C: Yeah, Madison. Ruby.

G: Demon, with ruby. Who else? Rowena. Withc. But that's just to me, personally. Eileen was a ghost, but that doesn't really count.

C: Yeah, that wasn't really part of that.

G: But you know what? [laughs] If we try hard enough, it could be.

C: Sure.

G: Who else was Sam involved with? Doesn't he- ah, no, Amy is like, a different thing. That's not his kid.

C: Yeah, but, I mean-

G: Am I mixing things up?

C: Sam and Amy were into each other when they were kids.

G: Yeah, so I guess that's something. And with Dean, good lord.

C: Cas. Crowley.

G: Crowley [pronounced Cr-ow-ley]. That's so weird now! That's so weird to say now. Crowley.

C: I mean, it's important to say so we don't get him mixed up with my specialest little girl.

G: Benny.

C: Benny, yeah. I mean, these are all subtextual. Like, Sam's are like, actual.

G: That's true. Amara isn't. Amara isn't, but-

C: Yeah, Amara's- Yeah, there's something textual.

G: I mean, Cas isn't subtextual. Don't say that!

C: It's one-sided subtextual.

G: Booo! Yeah, it is. [both laugh] That is interesting. I suppose Sam has all the textual ones, and Dean has all the subtextual ones, and even the Amara stuff is like, presented as he doesn't like it.

C: Want it, yeah.

Dean says that Tessa can't kill the kid because demons are here and Cole knows where they are, so he can like, help stop them from killing more reapers. Sam tells Tessa that she should skip town. The whole time, right, like, Tessa's just like- she's very strongly like, [annoying voice] "No, I'm not going. You guys are stupid. Blah blah blah blah blah!" And she is talking like that. And like, "I don't give a shit about anything. I'm just trying to like, fix death in this town. Your whole angel-demon danceoff, I could care less." Blah blah blah, "No." And then, like, Dean, just goes like, "Okay, can you just wait until we fix this, pwease?" And she just switches her tune really fast, which I found annoying. Like, I wish there was more of a progression.

G: Honestly, because, like, the way it's presented is like, Dean getting away made her endeared to him.

C: Yeah, so it's like, he was like, "Pwease," and then she was like, "Yeah, okay, babe."

G: I don't even think that would be the case. Like, if you had a really bad day at work, [both laugh] and you try very hard to get this guy- You know what? Maybe they were like, "I had a bad day at work. What a weird time we were in together."

C: Maybe. I mean, I guess that's how they want to play it, so what-the-fuck-ever. And then she's like, "Just so we're clear, when I start reaping again, I'm starting with the kid," and she seems pretty excited about killing Cole. But then, when I say no internal consistency, it's mostly about this. Like, later, she's like, so compassionate, or like, nice or whatever to Cole, etc etc. And like, I guess we could think that that's like, an act, 'cause like, I think it's an act in this very next scene. But at the end, I think we're supposed to read it as like, genuine or whatever. Like, there's nothing to indicate that it's an act. And it's like, well, that doesn't jive with what she was saying earlier. So like, yeah, I mean, she's just a tool this episode. She's not a character.

G: But it also does paint the whole trying to convince Dean thing fascinating, because, like-

C: True, she does have a history of like, putting on acts in order to get people to agree to die. Yeah, I guess maybe we were just supposed to know based on that that she was putting on an act. But, like, it's still like, supposed to be like, this beautiful moment or whatever whatever whatever, so I don't know.

Sam's like, "Okay, I'm gonna find the kid and get this info," and Dean's like, "What are you gonna say to him?" And Sam says, "Whatever I have to."

G: This scene is like- is it necessary? Like, I think about it, and I'm like, "Why is Samm doing this?"

C: I don't- I feel that there are other ways to get the kid to like, tell you where the smoke was. Yeah, no, Sam jumps to this solution really fast, and I think it's just to like, you know, help with the whole, "Sam, you might have good intentions, you think, but you're actually like, bad, and the lengths to which you're willing to go to like, do whatever hunting thing, get Lilith, whatever, is too much!" But it did feel pretty jarring and not in like a "It's intentional and like, in a good way" way. It's like, "It's intentional in a bad way" way.

Sam goes upstairs to Cole's room. Cole is in the closet. Slay. He's like, trying to do this sympathetic thing where he's like, "Oh, this must all be really overwhelming and scary." Cole's like, "It's really difficult to see my mom like, come in here and tell me how sad she is, and like, I'll move stuff so that she knows that I'm here, but that just makes her more sad." And Cole says that he's not gonna tell Sam where the smoke is, and then Sam pauses for a second, and then he's like, "Hey, what if I told you that if you helped me, you wouldn't have to leave here, ever." Like, "Oh, no reaper would bother you. You're safe from Tessa. You can just stay here with your family for as long as you wanted. I can do that for you." And Cole makes him promise, and he does, and it's just like- yeah, it just feels like a forced setting up something.

G: I suppose it was odd to me 'cause like, I never even really thought of Cole as like, someone who desperately wanted to stay.

C: Yeah. Yeah, I feel like that was not set up at all.

G: Obviously, when the reaper was reaping him, he didn't want to go. But, like, now he has seen his mother, and like, now he has seen how- I mean, he mentions, right, like, "I tried to move around stuff, but she just gets lonelier and lonelier."

C: Yeah, like, I don't see why he would want to stick around. Besides, I guess, just that he's scared of death, which is like, the point of the episode or whatever, but like, he doesn't even say that. It's odd. And also it's like, there's no real follow-through. Like, Sam's the one who does this, and like, Sam doesn't seem to have any like, rough feelings about it later. Like, Dean's the one who's like, "Cas, it's so bad that people are gonna die now," and like, Dean's the one who's with Tessa when she finally takes Cole, so it's like, if you're like, putting like, the like, moral grayness of this on Sam, then like, it should end with Sam. But Sam just like, fucks off after the funeral home.

G: I don't think Sam even knows that this happened, if I'm being fucking for real. [both laugh]

G: Tessa and Dean are in the kitchen, still talking. It starts this thing where, like, Tessa is like, saying, like, "Oh, life's so funny! You and me together again." And Dean asks, "Are you making a move on me?" And she goes, "You're the one that got away. You'd be surprised how little that happens to me." Fun. And then Dean asks, "Can I tell you something? Between you and me?" which did remind me of the whole, you know-

C: 4.07.

G: "if you promise not to tell another soul." And Tessa's response is "Who am I gonna tell?" Which is also interesting.

C: Yeah. What about the reaper Discord?

G: Yeah. 'Cause like, what are reapers? Reapers are a separate thing from demons and angels?

C: Later, they're retconned to be angels, but like, currently, they're not.

G: Yeah, exactly, right? I think about like, what is the social dynamic of angelhood? Like, if you say that Cas, and Cas goes, "Who am I gonna tell?" Cas in the future, probably, like, that's true. Cas now is like, well, he has many people to tell, actually. Like, he could tell Uriel or something. His cohorts in heaven. But like, with Tessa, who, I mean, at this point, not written to be an angel, so does Tessa not have anyone? You know. Like, are reapers more isolated, individual, solo-flying creatures than angels and- well, than angels? We don't really see the social aspect of demons that much. Well, I thought it was interesting. But Dean says that "After our little experience, for a whole year after that, I just had this hole in my gut," which, you know, you cannot just- What's that line Sam says? "I know that you have a hole in you-"

C: And you can't just like, shove stuff-

G: Keep filling it up, yeah. Wonderful sentence. But he goes, "I was missing something. I didn't know what, but you know what it is? It was you." And I was like, "Oh my god, that's such a romantic thing to say!" And then he goes, "The pain of everything I experienced. I just wish I was dead for good." [laughs] And I was like, "Good lord." Yeah, and he goes, "Yeah, I guess things are different now, though." And Tessa asks about like, "Oh, is it the angel on your shoulder?" And yeah, this is our reveal that Tessa knows, although we don't really do anything about it. Yeah. Dean says, "Yeah. Don't get me wrong, most of the angels I've met are dicks with wings." I suppose that is "most" meaning Uriel and Cas. He says he's done horrible things, but someone upstairs still decided he deserves a second chance. It makes him feel- "I don't know." And then Sam comes down, disturbs this conversation, and Tessa does this whole thing where she introduces herself to Cole. I find this so odd. 'Cause Sam goes like, "Okay, Cole. Just tell them what you told me," and it's like, [both] "You could've just told just told them." You're expo- It's so odd. Why are you doing this, Sam? He says, "I saw the black smoke at my funeral, at the funeral home. It was everywhere." And then suddenly, lights start flickering, and the front door swings open, and then black smoke everywhere. It like, covers everything, and then when it disappears, Tessa is gone. Dean is like, "Oh my god! Like, how the hell are we supposed to fight that?" And Sam's like, "Oh, maybe we should learn some ghost moves." And Dean goes, "By tonight? Yeah, sure, I'll meet you back at Mister Miyagi's." And the kid goes, "Who's Mister Miyagi?" This is a- what?

C: Karate Kid?

G: - Karate Kid reference, maybe?

C: Okay, what we have next is this sort of fun, like, training montage of Sam and Dean learning how to ghostfight.

G: It is pretty fun!

C: Yeah. I was amused. Like, I'm glad they didn't like, push too hard the "And everything they're doing is to try to kill Cole eventually" angle, because I feel like it would have been a bit overdone. I feel like it just works as a thing that's sort of in the back of your mind while you watch them have fun and goof around.

G: Yeah. Also, yeah, Sam does mention here like, Cole's twelve. You're right. I don't know. I wish they just hired an actor who looks a bit younger.

C: I mean, this is a twelve-year-old to me. Why not?

G: I mean, this kid, I think, acts well. I think-

C: We can probably look up this kid's age. But okay, when we're doing the IMDb thing, so we don't spoil ourselves, we can figure out how old this kid was in 2009. First step of the training montage, Dean's concentrating really, really hard to try to get a windmill to turn, and he does like, an okay job, but it's a lot of effort. And, you know, Cole's cocky, Cole's having a great time, and he is able to move a bunch of shit outside. And then inside, Cole is punching Sam. [laughs] It's great. Apparently, if you feel angry, then like, that causes you to be able to make contact, or whatever the fuck, though we don't really get into what makes Cole angry, and I feel like that could be an interesting way to go with his character. But eh, whatever. We've got limited time. So he tells Dean to hit him, and you know, Dean's like, "I'll stick to someone my own side," and then Cole like, just punches Dean in the face. It's great. Then Cole tells Sam to hit him, and, you know, Sam says that he's not gonna Fight Club a twelve-year-old, and then Cole gets Sam in the face! And Sam's like, sort of laughing, and he's like, "Alright, alright! Cut it out." And then at Cole's next punch at Sam, Sam is like, fully ready to throw hands with a twelve-year-old, but Cole disappears and then reappears across the room to escape that. It's fun. [G: Yeah.] I liked the way Sam was laughing on "Alright, cut it out." Like, yeah. They could have had a good, fun time as ghosts together.

G: You know what would fix- [laughs] You know what would fix Sam and Dean?

C: Like, if they had younger sibling.

G: Is if they had another younger brother. [laughs]

C: I mean, they do have one, and it doesn't fix anything. [G laughs]

G: No, Adam is a middle brother.

C: Really?

G: I think. Is that true? I think that's a lie and I'm lying to you.

C: Adam is the youngest. Wasn't he studying biology, like, as an undergrad?

G: He was 19. He was like, 19. Yeah. Damn. Well, they should have played-fight with Adam, and maybe it would have fixed everything.

G: Yeah, I'm assuming they real-fight with the ghoul that looks like Adam. But yeah. You know, Dean wants Cole to teach him that particular trick, and supposedly, he does.

G: Yeah. And then, you know, we are walking towards the funeral home, and we see the outside, and it's completely covered in this, like, glowing diagrams of sigils on the wall. You know, Sam and Dean figure that this is something that only, like, people in the veil can see 'cause, you know, they wouldn't be able to see this IRL. And as they go along, they go inside, and there is this like, room that's just massive and unoccupied by anything else, and there is a sigil on the floor, and inside this giant sigil is Tessa and this other guy, who is, I suppose, the older reaper. And there's a guy standing guard. So like, there's a fight scene where this guy gets beat up. Like, they don't see Sam and Dean, right? Like, this guy doesn't see Sam and Dean.

C: Yeah, yeah, no, they're both invisible-punching him, and it's pretty funny.

G: Yeah. More people come in, and they get trapped. Like, this is a trick. They got tricked into attacking this guy and then getting- and then, like, a bunch of people come in with like, this iron chains, and then they get trapped inside an iron chain circle, or- not circle. Whatever. Just a place. And then a man comes in. Familiar face to me and to you, and to anyone who has seen an ounce of "On a Head of a Pin." It's Alastair in his like, final form.

C: Yeah. His voice is great. I can't imitate it, but it's wonderful.

G: Yeah, it's wonderful. It's a combination of like, voice quality of the actor and like, the accent he's putting on. I mean, I'm not sure if it's like, an accent he's putting on or if he just speaks like this. If he does, wonderful thing to to speak like in real life. But, you know, if he isn't-

C: Good job.

G: - wonderful accent to put on for this character. It's like this drawl. It's very drawly. But it's not like- 'cause there's the Southern drawl. I feel like I know what that sounds like. This is not that. It's something else. More bassy. Very good. Very good. I feel like Alastair's voice, this vessel, specifically, is one of those things that, like, you'll recognize it. Like, you hear it once and like, you recognize it. Do you understand what I mean? It's like, you could forget Supernatural for all of its worth, but like, you hear that voice, and you're like, "Oh, that's like, a demon from Supernatural or something."

C: So true.

G: It's so recognizable. I mean, we're gonna talk about it next episode 'cause it is the next episode, but in "On the Head of a Pin," I mean, that episode is constantly referred to as like, one of the best of Season 4 and one of the best of Supernatural because it's so atmospheric, and like, that's a big part of what makes it so good. The atmosphere. And I do think that a lot of the atmosphere is brought by the Alastair actor. Like, he slays this role so hard.

C: Good. So Alastair gets a gun full of rock salt or whatever the fuck, and then he shoots Dean, and he says something about how "Rock salt's not so much fun anymore, is it?" which I wish that there was an episode where it was like, they were the monsters or whatever or like, got more empathy for the people that they hunt, and like, there was a chance for that here, but it's not really a thing. This is just the one line. Unforch. Sam is unable to use his powers because he's not in his body or whatever. Alastair says that Hell keeps sending him back up here, even though he's not that into it, to get him to break seals. For this one he has to kill death twice. He has to kill two reapers. Which, again. Out of nowhere.

G: Literally, like, there's no foreshadowing for this.

C: Truly out of nowhere. He rock salts Sam and tells Dean that it's good to see him again. Dean says, "You can shoot us all you want, but you can't kill us." and Alastair is like, "Oh, are you sure about that?" So like, we're supposed to assume that what's happening in the motel room next-

G: - is gonna kill like, their bodies, yeah.

C: Yeah. But like, is that what the demon's goal seems to be? It's a pretty disjointed fight scene, so I can't really tell, but-

G: I mean, it can either be like, kill Sam and Dean's bodies, or kill Pamela-

C: So then they can't be brought back ever.

G: - so she can't get them back to their bodies.

C: Yeah, that'd be pretty cool if they were stuck as ghosts forever. In the motel, we just cut briefly to, you know, Pamela sitting there, and then there's sounds, so then she locks the door, but there's a window open, and there's wind outside.

G: Alastair, like, holds a scythe. Is it not Sith? Is that a different thing?

C: I think it's scythe.

G: I think Sith is like, from fucking Star Wars. Dean makes a comment of like, "Oh, really? You're gonna feel a reaper with that? Little on the nose, huh?" Alastair says, "An old friend lent it to me. You know, he doesn't really ride a pale horse, but he does have three amigos." Fun! Fun stuff.

C: Yeah. "They're just jonesing for the Apocalypse." [G: So like-] Yeah, he's friends with Death. Imagine being a regular person who dies and was kind of shitty, so you become a demon in Hell, and now you're like, friends with literal Death.

G: Also, I don't remember much of what Death is like in Season 5. I remember some of Famine, but like, in just like, a weird, roundabout way of like, "I know that Famine like, wanted to do the Apocalypse," and I think pestilence also wanted to do the Apocalypse. What's the other fucking-

C: War.

G: War? I don't even remember if we had a War in this thing.

C: I also don't.

G: I mean, we definitely did, 'cause the whole point was collecting the four rings. Death, I feel like, was a lot more-

C: Neutral?

G: - neutral on the whole Apocalypse thing. But from what we hear here, like, I mean, he did offer this scythe, and that is to lead directly to the breaking of the seal, which would lead directly to the Apocalypse, so I suppose.

C: Yeah, I prefer a neutral Death as a character, but if we're doing this, okay.

G: Yeah, I do also prefer a neutral Death. Because, you know, War and Famine and Pestilence are like, bad things, you know. But like, Death is universal.

Alastair pulls up the old guy reaper. He doesn't wake up because he's irrelevant to this fucking episode, and he starts chanting. I don't know. He like- how does he kill? Like, he just slashes with the scythe?

C: Yeah, he just slashes his neck.

G: Sam and Dean notice that there's a chandelier over this sigil. As the reaper grabs Tessa, who wakes up, Sam and Dean are able to chandelier that thing down. It like, breaks the seal of the sigil. Tessa is able to get out. Also, like, in the motel room, we are seeing stuff happening, where like, Pamela. like, closes the window, goes to the bathroom, you know, nobody's there. But then, you know, she leaves the bathroom. There's a demon in the hotel room. There's this little moment where she's like, pretending to not notice, and then she runs up to Sam and starts reciting the chant that like, supposed to bring him back. But Pamela gets dragged up in everything.

C: Okay, we cut outside the funeral home, and Sam is gone. So Dean tells Tessa to get out of here, he'll find Sam. In the motel room, what has happened is that Pamela was able to wake Sam up, finally. However, in the course of her fight with the demon, she gets stabbed in the stomach. RIP.

G: RIP.

C: Sam exorcises the daemon with his powers and shit, and then, again, the vessel seems to die from Sam like, flinging it against the wall. RIP. Pamela is laughing, but like, clearly not in like, a good way, and she's saying that she can't die in this town. There's no blood from her injury. Sam is worried about her, and he's saying, like, "You need a doctor." I like how that line was delivered. I don't know. He was very niceys about it. Pamela's like, "No, let's just- just make me a drink." What is the reasoning here? What's like, going on with Pamela internally?

G: That like, she wants to save Dean versus go to- Yeah, I don't know.

C: What do you mean save Dean? She could just wake him up, like, right now. [G: Yeah.] They just wanted her die. I don't know. It's just like, "It's like, useless or whatever, so I'll die anyway"? Like, "No hospital can help."

G: Yeah. 'Cause like, the moment she gets out of this place and another reaper finds her, she'll get reaped. But also, like, you can still treat the wound, I think.

C: Yeah, I also think that you can. The issue is just that you'll just start bleeding again, but if you bandage up the area, once you start bleeding again, it'll be less bad or something, right?

G: No, it probably will be. I mean, we saw how it bled out when it started bleeding out.

C: That's true.

G: But like, you don't know that from just getting stabbed. Or maybe you do. I've never been stabbed, so I don't know.

C: Yeah, like, she's just super certain that it's like, bad enough that she would die, no matter what?

G: Yeah, perhaps.

C: I don't know that you'd know that, but like, maybe she does know that.

Dean is outside walking, and then Alastair appears and says, like, "You can't run. Not from me. I'm inside that angsty little noggin of yours." And then Alastair gets struck by lightning and just is gone. And Dean, [laughs] very confused, looks around, [both] goes, "What the hell?" And then from behind him, a voice says, "Guess again."! And he turns around, and it's Cas!!! Well.

G: Cas thinks he's so funny. He thinks he's so funny.

C: And he is! And he is!

G: He's wonderful.

C: Ah! He's so babygirl. And he's not even- he's not even looking at Dean when he says it. Like, Dean turns around, and then, like, there's like, a beat before Cas looks up to meet his gaze, which I think is great.

G: Yeah.

C: He's just like me for real, he's wonderful! He's wonderful!

G: I mean, we make jokes that like, Cas is saying this because he thinks he's so fun and cool and fresh or whatever, but like, it really does feel like such a practiced stint. Because, like, later, we see Cas in this scene, and he's just- we have this like, shot that's like, far away, so it's full body, and Cas is just standing there like, bad posture, hands on his side, and I did have the thought "He's not used to his body yet." Like, he hasn't grown into this body yet. First, because, like, it's not his yet, it's still like, a vessel. Like, Jimmy's still in there. Oh, god! We're gonna have the Jimmy episode this season!

C: We sure are.

G: I completely fucking forgor. It's that- and like, you know, 'cause like, later on in the show, like, Cas's body is his body, and like, I think we see that on screen that that's him. Like, he exists in this physical form. And like, you know, that's a thing that the angels insult him for in "Lily Sunder" and everything. But here, it is very much like, Cas isn't used to his body yet. So during moments where he has, like, a very specific, timed move, all I can think of is like, "He's doing that on purpose." Like, he's thinking about that. This, like, physical form doesn't come naturally to him. He has to think about it and adjust to it and everything. [both] Cas!

C: Ah! We cut to a little bit later, Cas says, like, "What just happened? You and Sam just saved a seal. We captured Alastair. Dean. this was a victory." He does seem really like, sincere and like, a little bit proud about all of that. Yeah, but also, he's trying to convince Dean of it, because, I guess, during the time cut, Dean yelled at him, or whatever. And, you know, his head is tilted in the beautiful way that it is.

G: Yeah. I have a bookmark that is- [laughs] It's basically a a photo card. Like, I printed a picture of Cas, and then I laminated it. Like, I la- I couldn't even go to the store, and like, have it laminated. [C laughs] I bought a laminating, like, sheet, and I laminated it myself, 'cause I was so embarrassed. [C laughing] But yeah. Apparently, you can just iron that shit together, and then it gets laminated.

C: Nice! Good to know.

G: Fun stuff. And it's this scene. It's Cas like, tilting his head that way.

C: Aw! God bless.

Dean says, "Well, no, thanks to you." And Cas, you know, with his his head tilted, goes, "What makes you say that?" Ah! He's soo cute. He's so cute. Dean seems genuinely upset about this. I think it's the way the street lights work; it's making his eyes look wet, so like, it looks like he's like, on the verge of tears, even though he isn't. And he goes, "You were here the whole time?" Huh! That is interesting because it's like, we've seen- Like, first off, Cas did help. He just zapped that guy for you. Be grateful. Secondly, like, I don't know why Dean would expect help given that like, they haven't had help in the past, either, right? Like, 4.02, he had this argument with Cas as well. He was like, "There were people down here dying," and Cas was like, "I was busy, bitch." Like-

G: I mean, even then, Dean was upset. So this is just not-

C: This is the same thing.

G: He hasn't learned to not be upset about it yet.

C: Yeah. I don't know. I guess, like, he has been hinging a lot of his like, willingness to live on like, "The angels have like, a personal investment in me. Like, they wanna help me specifically."

G: Yeah. [makes emotional sounds]

C: So I guess Cas being here the whole time but not helping him would not help with, like, what he's trying to use as his will to live.

G: No, but it's crazy, because, like, you know, in 4.02, it's like, "Angels are supposed to be good, and there's people dying out here!" And then here, the argument is, "But I was suffering. Like, I was shot with that rock salt."

C: Yeah, "You like me, right?"

G: Yeah. And then, you know, I mean, it's not even "You like me, specifically."

C: It's just "I'm special."

G: It's that "The angels have an investment in me 'cause I'm special." And then, you know, just off the top of my head, like, in Season 12, when Cas, like, goes to Heaven to track Kelly or something, and Dean gets mad at him, like, the upset is now, like, "But you! Like, you, Cas, you're supposed to be with us and helping us," and like, I don't know. The progression of that does make me emo a little bit.

C: Okay. [laughs] Sorry. So true. Um.

G: Well, it is true.

C: Yeah. The other ingredient in this is that like, Dean was being cornered by like, Alastair-

G: Yeah, specifically.

C: - and another part, Dean was like, "I've done really horrible things in Hell, but also, like-" I think he just meant "in Hell" when he was talking to Tessa. But like, I would argue also as a person on Earth. And it was like, "And despite all of that, like, someone upstairs wanted to save me," etc etc. So I guess like, Alastair coming in and trying to force Dean to confront that past, and then, like, Cas showing up and zapping Alastair, and Cas being one of the few beings alive who does know about the Hell torture and doesn't judge Dean for it, like, I guess that that is another ingredient to this soup that is fun. He's angy. And Cas, says, like, "Enough of it." and looks away. I don't- is this like, meant to be like, shame? Or-

G: I don't think so.

C: Yeah, it doesn't feel like it. But he does look away. It could be more of a like, "Okay, here goes a conversation I don't really want to engage in." sort of looking away too.

G: Yeah, pretty much.

C: Yeah. Well, first, Dean says, "Well, thanks for your help with the rock salt." It was- like, the rock salt? Like, was getting shot like, that bad? It's the iron chain that was like, the main issue that was like, keeping you from like, saving everyone.

G: No, I mean, this is what's fascinating to me. Because he's complaining about like, what hurt, not what like, actually lessened their chances of winning.

C: Yeah, yeah. So it is like a- It's a personal thing, yeah.

G: Yeah. Like you said, if he really was upset, it's like, "Well, what about the iron chain that kept us there? Like, we almost- he almost got Tessa."

C: Yeah, we almost didn't make it. The seal could've been broken. But it's not about that.

G: And it's about like, "Well, I was in pain!"

C: "You let me get a boo-boo!" [both laugh] Yeah. Cas, who's still like, squimting a bit as he talks-

G: [giggling] I'm literally giggling. Well, it's important to me! I love you. I love you, Cas.

C: Yeah. Yeah. He says, "That script on the funeral home, we couldn't penetrate it." And it's nice that he says that because, like, I feel like maybe, like, a little earlier in the season, Cas just would have been like, "Don't care. Go away." But like, this is- like, he is just stating a fact, but it is a fact that implies like, "If we could have, we would have helped." That's nice. And I think that that does like, cause Dean to soften like, a little bit.

G: Of course, yeah.

C: Like, it is meaningful to Dean that this is the case.

G: Oh, god! I'm thinking about- 'cause here, the line is, "The script on the funeral home, we couldn't penetrate it." The next line is "That's why we recruited you." Like, "The reason why we recruited you in the first place is because we couldn't get in there." And it's like, "The only reason why I put you in that danger is because it's essential, like, we had no choice." And then next episode, we get Cas saying, "If it means anything, [overlapping] I would give everything not to have you do this."

C: That is true. [G makes pained sound] Well.

G: God! And then at the end of this season- oh, we'll get into it at the end of the season.

C: Yeah. It'll happen.

G: Good lord!

C: Cas asks, yeah, "Why do you think I recruited you and Sam in the first place?" Dean is like, "Huh? What do you mean?" And, you know, Cas drops the reveal that he was just imitating Bobby's voice on the phone to Sam. Hil-ar-ious. So so so funny. Dean's like, "If you wanted our help, then why didn't you just ask?" And, you know, Cas gets this really annoyed look, and he goes, "Because whatever I ask, you seem to do the exact opposite." Is that true? When did that happen?

G: I mean in Samhain, Cas tells him to leave.

C: Yeah, but he said he secretly wanted-

G: But that's an order. That's an order. I mean, what else did he ask?

C: I mean, I'm sure there's something, we just forgor.

G: "Give me Anna"?

C: They didn't give Anna over, yeah. That's what he says. And then Dean is like, "So, okay, so people in this town are just gonna start dying again?" And, you know, Cas, no hesitation, no blinking, just goes, "Yes." God bless. I love him so much. One day, you're going to heal babies in the park, Cas. Dean is like, "What? Can't you make a few exceptions? Like, these are good people." And Cas says, "To everything, there is a season," which is Ecclesiastes 3:1, baby! What is the stance of the Bible in Supernatural verse? Like, it happened, right?

G: I suppose so. They did Sodom and Gomorrah that thing.

C: Yeah, and Cas said, like, "Read the Bible. Angels are warriors" or whatever, yeah.

G: What's the- 'cause, you know, if it happens in history, like, fine, you know it. But like, are the angels also imbued with like, what people know from the Bible? 'Cause those are different things.

C: Oh, wait, what do you mean?

G: Cas can quote, like, a specific event from the Bible, if, for example, he was there.

C: Which means he's read- Yeah, but this line means he's read the Bible.

G: But here, it's a quote from- yeah. Like, directly from the Bible, so like, mm. I don't know!

C: Well, maybe he was just there listening when King David said that shit.

G: Slay.

C: Yeah, he probably does read the Bible sometimes.

G: Hell yeah.

C: Though I don't know why he would have by now. Maybe, like, the angels have a book club about it where they like, laugh at the inaccuracies.

G: Uriel would be heading it. Funniest angel in the garrison and everything.

C: Exactly. And then Dean says - crazy line. He says, "You made an exception for me." There's a pause, and Cas has not been looking at Dean, but like, during this pause, he turns his head all the way around and looks at him and says, "You're different." Crazy line! [G exclaims] And I know it is about the Michael vessel shit, but sure are lines that were said. And then, like, it's the fact that, at this, like, Cas disappears, and then Tessa reappears directly in his spot, and, like, Tessa, is someone who has, like, pretty strong subtextual romantic and sexual, like, whatever with Dean, and like, it is the fact that, like, Cas says this shit, disappears, and then there's like, an acceptable-ish object of desire, who appears, like, right there in his spot. Like, interesting- interesting choices!

G: 'Cause, also, like, the shot before the "You're different" part is like- Like I said, the far away shot with Cas bad posture, etc. And then, like, Tessa appears, and then, like, Dean notices Tessa, and then we cut back to that shot, and it's like, the exact same shot, like, with the camera. And Tessa is standing in the exact position Cas is in. Like, I cannot reiterate how much this isn't a "Tessa is also there in the general area," like, she's in the exact same spot Cas was standing in. And like, it does make me feeeeel crazy. [laughs] Oh, Cas!

C: Yeah. Cas.

G: You know, one thing I do miss about Season 4 specifically- I feel like in Season 5, this becomes really less of the case, but in Season 4 specifically, Cas just shows up for so little in episodes, you know, because it's not like- it's not like, in the contract that Cas needs to be in this many episodes for this amount, like, you know, it is in future seasons when [disgusted voice] Misha Collins [both fake-vomit] becomes, like, you know, a regular in the cast. So here, it's like, "We just throw Cas in when we need him," and he's gonna be here for, what? Five minutes? Even less? But like, that's his whole thing. And I mean, it does make sense because, like, here, you know, Cas is more of a- has that role in the story of like, someone who just shows up for little bits, and then, like, gives these kinds of information for little sections of time. But, you know, in the future, of course, Cas is a more prominent role in the show. But like, it does feel obvious, you know, like, there are times in the future where like, why can't we just have like, one scene of Cas being like, "Oh, yeah, I don't want to go to that hunt. [C laughs] Good luck, though." You know? [laughs] I mean, the "You're different" line is- this is crazy! I literally hauve Destiel forever. [laughing]

C: Happy for you.

G: But like, I think about the fact that the "You're different" is obviously like, "You're different because you're the Michael's vessel, so in that way, you're different for us." But also, like, Dean is different for like, Cas, specifically. Cas has a personal, profound bond with Dean, just given the fact that- I mean, I'm not even counting the raising from perdition thing. I'm just thinking like, this is like, someone who saved his life, like, saved Cas's life when he absolutely didn't have to and probably had good reason not to in 4.10. This is someone that Cas has bared his soul to in 4.07.

C: Have we had "See, he has this weakness. He likes you." from Uriel already?

G: Oh, yeah! Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah. In 4.10 as well. Yeah, Dean is different because all of those things to all of Heaven, but also, Dean is different to Cas because Cas is fond of him. Oh, Cas.

C: Yeah. Oh, Cas. Sorry that you're gonna spend a decade running after a man who wears jeans.

G: From Kansas, even.

C: From Kansas, even.

G: Where is Ka- I mean, I know Kansas is like, right smack in the middle of the mainland United States because that's where the bunker is. Sometimes I think about Cas this season, and I think about, "Is there like foreshadowing for what occurs in the finale?"

C: Oh, yeah.

G: Here, I don't even think- not yet. I feel like that shit happens mostly in the "Cas was gonna go to Dean in the Jimmy episode and then was hauled back to Heaven and got, I don't know, conversion therapied up there." I always thought of Season 4 as a very loaded emotionally season for the both of them, like, in their relationship, but really, like, in this parts of the show- I'm sorry. I mean, I don't know why I'm saying "I'm sorry," but like, it really is less, like, emotional and more the physicality of it.

C: What do you mean? Just their body language?

G: Body language, also, like, specifically how their scenes are filmed. Their scenes are filmed in such a specific way, 'cause like, what they're trying to convey is like, Cas is this like, ethereal creature, and this is like a, "Whoah," like a- you know. It's supposed to be charged in that way. But because it always happens in the dark, in the quiet, in like, those places where, you know, the kitchen scene was like, darkly lit, very quiet. And this scene, darkly lit, very quiet. It just feels so like, intimate. The result of it feels so intimate. Later, we have that scene with like, the crane shot-

C: Oh, god.

G: - where they're like, in this abandoned- not abandoned lot. Like, in the car lot. I think it's in Bobby's backyard or something. That's also dark-lit and everything. Again, it's something that is, I think, very Season 4-specific. They kind of let that whole thing go in future seasons. But I don't know, I feel like Dean and Cas, their story really started out with the sexual tension of it all.

C: So true.

G: 'Cause like, I mean, the kitchen scene is still one of their most, like, Destiel scenes, you know?

C: It's very horny.

G: We have so many seasons' worth of this show. Years' worth of this show. And that one is the one that's like, "Oh. Okay. So they do want to fuck each other. Okay, noted!" And, I don't know. The fact that it comes so early in the story and precedes all of the emotional stuff is so interesting to me.

C: Yeah.

G: I mean, we know from, like, you know, forums and everything that the moment the episode dropped, like, people were like, "Oh." Like, you know, "Lazarus Rising" dropped, people were like, "Oh. Is something on there?" But is the pivoting to a more emotional connection, a result of trying to like, un-homo it?

C: Huh!

G: Do you understand what I mean?

C: Yeah, like, if they're friends, that's like, chiller than the way they are standing less than a foot away from each other, staring at each others' mouths all the time.

G: [laughs] Yeah. Yeah yeah yeah yeah. 'Cause like, that dynamic really does change in later seasons, I feel. It becomes more like, again, like I said, it becomes more emotional. Familiar, I suppose, is the proper term. Instead of Cas being this like, foreign entity to Dean that always keeps him on his toes and everything.

C: Yeah.

G: Yeah. I don't know. I have a lot of Destiel thoughts with this scene.

C: Congrats. Yeah.

G: Thank you.

C: I mean, Cas is pretty hot there. So, so true.

G: Cas is such a wonderful, wonderful character! I hauve Castiel, forever.

C: Yeah.

C: So we're in Cole's house again, and, you know, his mom's crying over a photo book of them, and Cole is watching, and Tessa shows up wearing a fucking white nightgown 'cause why not? Dean is also there. And Cole somehow seems to sense-

G: Why, even? Why the change of outfit? Why the everything? Why?

C: I don't know. I don't know. Like, that's her like, work uniform? Before, she was just in her casual clothes at home? I don't know. It's for the visual whatever whatever, and I think it's dumb. I mean, it happened in 2.01 as well. Like, she was like, pretending to be another like, hospital patient, and then, like, once she's revealed as a reaper, like, she like, gets this black dress or whatever, right?

G: Yeah yeah yeah.

C: Yeah, it's just a fucking thing. And Cole is just somehow able to automatically tell that this means that she's gonna come and like, send him to the afterlife. He looks at Dean, and he says, "Tell your brother thanks for nothing, "and that's just like, the only payoff we get to like, that whole moral dilemma setup. Not particularly satisfying, I would say. And then Tessa goes for the angle where it's like, "Look, your mom is so unhappy, and as long as she can feel you, she'll be in pain because she can't let go because you won't let go of her," but I mean, she says it all in like, a very nice, compassionate, whatever voice. And then- ugh! So, you know, Cole is like, "Why won't anybody tell me what's on the other side?" Did he- he didn't even ask anybody during this episode, did he?

G: He literally did not.

C: Yeah. [laughs] Whatever. Maybe he just means like, adults in his life from when he was growing up. Dean says that reapers will never answer your questions, "But trust me, staying here is a whole lot worse than anything over there." Dean has been to Hell.

G: That's literally not true. That's not true. That's a lie, you're lying to him.

C: Maybe he assumes Cole would like, go to Heaven, but like, they don't know people get sorted. Like, maybe you're sending this twelve-year-old to go get tortured on the racks. Yeah, Cole asks why it's worse, and Dean says, "Because one day, your family will be gone, and there'll be nothing left here for you." Harsh! And also, again, doesn't work very well when the only family we've seen is like, his mom who has no personality. Like, I think that if they'd given Cole, like, a sibling, like, this, would have fixed the episode, or at least this strand of the episode.

G: [laughs] Just make him Dean Winchester?

C: No, I wasn't thinking that. I just think like- for him to not want to leave his family- like, I don't know. The thing with the mom and not wanting to leave her, it feels like that dumb, patronizing thing where, like, you know, like, your dad leaves and then he tells like, his eight-year-old son, like, "You're the man of the house now. Take care of your mom for me now," you know? That's like, your mom. But like, if he had like, a sibling of a similar age to him, that'd be like, "That's like, an equal, and like, a friend that I want to stay with," and like, I don't know, that would make more sense to me and like, also just flesh out the not wanting to leave your family thing in general. There's this whole conversation that, like, they make it seem like it's like, the moral of the episode, but like, there was literally nothing about this earlier, so like, it's not? [laughs] Where like, Dean's like, "It's okay to be scared. We're all scared. That's the big secret. We're all scared." That's not a big secret. Everyone knows that it's scary to die? What's the- how is this like, the thing of the episode?

G: I mean, Supernatural usually does have this issue where, like, they have an episode, and then they throw, like, so many things at it. Like, it's not cohesive because they're like, "And here's the moral of the story," and you're like-

C: "No?"

G: - "I think ten minutes ago, you said a different moral." [both laugh] So I don't know what's up with that.

C: I had no idea that people were scared of death. So glad I learned this from the CW’s Supernatural in the year 2023. [G laughs] Cole asks if Dean's coming with him, and Dean's like, "No, but I'm sure I'll be there sooner than you think," and he went and lived for like, eleven more years, unfortunately. There's like, this thing where, like, Cole dies by like, hugging Tessa, and then he like, melts into her.

G: Yeah. It's so odd!

C: It's strange. Yeah.

G: No, because the thing is like, they have a reaper, and she's a woman [C laughs], and it's like, "How I'm going to reap you is to like, be the embodiment of womanhood."

C: To be motherly, yeah.

G: Like, with Dean, it's like, "I'm gonna kiss you." I mean, like, not to reap Dean, but, like, you know, she is seen as a romantic or sexual figure for him. And for this kid, it's like, "I'm a mother figure for you. I'm gonna hug you while you go into the void or whatever." And I don't know. I mean, do the male reapers-? [laughing]

C: Yeah. Yeah. Would you have kissed Dean?

G: There's that one guy in "Faith." Like, there's that one guy in "Faith." That guy should have kissed Dean or something. [C laughs]

C: But yeah, no, it's- yeah. And I guess, like, you could say, like, "Reapers decide like, what kind of role they want to take, and then they choose their form to suit it," but like, that's just making excuses. Supernatural, just like, casts people or thinks of characters and then will just like, do shit based off of what they think that someone who looks like that is supposed to do. It's annoying! I'm annoyed. Also, I don't know. We've already talked about this in “Roadkill,” but the way that they differentiate like, a good, peaceful death, like, looking like going into the light or something different than like, when they like, burn a ghost's body and they're like, screaming and all that shit. I don't like that. I think all deaths should look the same. Maybe it's like, there's one look that's like, "when you die and go to Heaven," and one look when you die and go to Hell?

G: I mean, the thing is because they don't treat those ghosts as people. They just don't.

C: Yeah, they are the monster of the week.

G: Yeah, they think of them as "They're a monster." God. They really did tie up a chain around that guy's neck in "Yellow Fever" and did to him what horrible thing that killed him. Like, that's crazy.

C: Yeah. Yeah. Pretty bad.

G: I feel like if Supernatural interfaced with that ghost as "This is a person, this is a human soul," they would have not done that at all. So yeah, they just don't think of it that way in those episodes.

C: Yeah. And it's especially annoying because, like, the next thing that Tessa says, like, it would help like, her case if like, Cole's death looked horrific. The next thing that she like, really gets into is like, "Dean, you should look out for yourself, because, like, the thing that I see the most with death is that people lie to themselves about how like, people are in a better place now," etc etc. So like, so Cole's death should have looked bad. It should have looked like the death of every other ghost to like, hammer home the fact that, like, any lies you tell yourself about death aren't true. But like, no, like, he literally does like, hug her and go into the light. Like, that does not help your argument, Tessa. Or, that doesn't help your argument, Jeremy Carver, I suppose. Ugh! What an annoying man! Yeah, so that happens. That's how Cole dies dies. Tessa says, like, "I've been around death from the get-go. You know what I see most? Lies. You all lie to yourselves, Dean, because deep down, you're all scared." Where's any of this coming from" Whatever. She says that Dean, the thing he told her earlier where he thinks that the angels have something good in store for him, that is a lie, and he should know deep down that something bad is about to happen, because there's no such thing as miracles. And I mean, this is true. Michael vessel plotline is gonna whack him in the face. Dean asks, "What are you saying?" But she disappears.

G: Yeah, we go back to the motel room, and Pamela is now finally summoning Dean into his body. After this, like, she goes to sit on Sam's bed. Sam is saying, like, "Yeah, like, don't worry. We're just gonna talk to Tessa and she's gonna hold off the reaping until you get better." And Pamela is like, "Nope. I think she's already back on it," and then we we see a shot of her hand over her wound, and like, blood is like, pouring out of this thing.

C: Yeah, I mean, Sam's natural order thing does stop being part of his, like, logic once it's someone close to him, which yeah, makes sense.

G: Yeah, that's how it goes.

C: That is how it goes.

C: And Dean finally awakes. And he's like, "What the fuck is happening?" And yeah. Pamela's dying. And Sam goes like, "You don't deserve this," and she goes, "Yeah, I don't. I told you I didn't want to do anything with this." [sad sound]

C: Sorry, Pamela.

G: And that, yeah, "Do me a favor. Tell that bastard Bobby Singer to go to Hell forever, introducing me to you two in the first place."

C: Unfortunately, we see him in Heaven, cracking open a cold one, so, doesn't happen.

G: I mean, we also see Pamela in Heaven, I think.

C: That's true.

G: Is that true?

C: Yeah, yeah, she's in "Dark Side of the Moon."

G: The bar? Yeah.

C: The bar is in Dean's mind. That's different. Or is she in a bar in "Dark Side of the Moon" also?

G: Holy shit! She was also in that fucking bar. That's crazy! In Dean's head, even. Well, I think she's also in "The Dark Side of the Moon." Dean says, "If it's any consolation, you're going to a better place," which is untrue. Fundamentally untrue.

C: Yeah, right after that conversation with Tessa, too? Come on!

G: It's such an odd thing- Dean, what are you doing?

C: It's just like, Jeremy Carver really wanted to be like, "And that was the lesson of the episode, you guys!" Okay, but you already taught that lesson to Dean, like, on my screen, so like, you don't have to have him do this?

G: And it's just I feel like it's such a horrible thing to do to someone dying.

C: - thing to say, yeah.

G: To like, spend their last few seconds on Earth giving them platitudes that you both know are not true?

C: Yeah. Like, he's approaching this like it's an awkward dinner and not like, her literal death.

G: Yeah. Pamela goes, "You're lying. But what the hell. Everybody's gotta go sometime." And she motions for Sam to come in close to her, and then she starts whispering, "I know what you did to that demon, Sam. I can feel what's inside you. If you think you have good intentions, think again." And this is the one that like, 'cause it's not talking about the actions or the anything. It's the intentions. Interesting wording, don't you think?

C: Yeah, yeah. I think it is about the like, Sam says that he's doing this to save people and like, to save the world, and that is true, but like, I think that at this point, the show thinks that he's mostly just doing it because of like, the addiction to the demon blood, so it's like, yeah, I mean, I think that's just the point of that line. Which, yeah, neat.

G: Yeah. She dies. Literally spends her dying breath telling Sam-

C: - to stop doing drugs, yeah.

G: - "You're evil." Dean asks, like, "What did she say to you?" And Sam doesn't respond, and that's the end of our episode.

C: Yeah. What'd you think about it?

G: I quite liked it. I think it's a nice way to be reintroduced to Supernatural after three months. Cold turkey. Cold turkey. I did not watch a single episode.

C: Mm. It was fine. I think it had a lot of concepts that were interesting and ways that it could have gone, and it just sort of touches on all them and doesn't really bring any to a particularly satisfying conclusion. Which, I mean, we all talked about during the episode already, so- Like, I can understand intellectually that it's one of the better Supernatural episodes, but like, it didn't really do anything for me, and that is perhaps concerning for the future 250 or whatever episodes we still have.

G: I mean, it is, but like, this isn't really credited as one of the best.

C: Yeah, just on the better half.

G: Hell yeah!

C: Best Line/Worst Line?

G: I think I like Cas's "You're different," which is so corny! Like it's so corny that I like that one. But I do like it. I do like it.

G: What's your best line?

C: I liked when Cas quoted Ecclesiastes. It was fun. It gives him the correct vibe for Season 4 Cas.

G: Yeah. My worst line is of course, the Demi Moore line.

C: Yeah, and I suppose mine shall be the Victoria's Secret line so that we can cover our bases regarding Dean being an absolute creep, though, I mean also, the "If it's any consolation, you're going to a better place," pretty bad. Pretty worst.

G: Okay. What's our next segment?

C: Spread those sheets.

G: Spreadsheets?

C: Yeah.

G: Spread those sheets, baby.

C: Alright. So I would say that there's misogyny. I don't recall any racism or homophobia. How much misogyny is there? I need to recalibrate. Like, is this like- it feels quite bad, but is it like, not that bad and we just haven't been like, touching Supernatural for a while, or like, what's the sitch?

G: I think this one, I would rate it as-

C: 1 or 2, I guess, 'cause it's not intrinsic to the episode.

G: I think I'll rate it as a two.

C: Sounds good.

G: I'm including here also Tessa's characterization.

C: Yes, good point.

G: But, like, Tessa's characterization began in Season 2, Episode 1, so this is like, they're continuing with her stuff. But also, she didn't have to kiss Dean, and she didn't have to hug that kid.

C: She really did not have to. IMDb guess.

G: Oh, god.

C: Man. What the fuck are things rated as again? Okay, let's see. In the past, in Season 4, "Sex and Violence" got an 8.4. "After School Special" got an 8.6. "Criss Angel is a Douchebag" got a 7.9.

G: That's crazy. 7.9?

C: Yeah, people didn't like those gayass magicians.

G: And we rated it 8.4 and 8.5.

C: Yeah, I mean, we really liked it. Okay, I think people like this one.

G: I think for this one, I'd say it's an 8.2.

C: Okay. I was gonna go for like, more of an 8.5 'cause I think it's better- I think it would be more liked than "Sex and Violence" but not more liked than "After School Special."

G: Ooh! It's an 8.6.

C: Okay, okay. I was pretty close.

G: Pretty high.

C: That is a pretty high rating, yeah.

C: Oh, we can finally check how old that kid was. He was the voice of Nemo??

G: That's wonderful!

C: Okay, he's 29 now. Okay, he was like, 15 when this was- 14 or 15 when this was filmed. So, yeah, not 12.

G: This is so fascinating. Like, this review is called "Stop Lying to Yourself," and I have no idea what they're talking about, based on the review. [C laughing]

C: This person said that Pamela's death was the saddest thing on the show.

G: I mean, so far? 'Cause, I mean, it does feel like a very real death 'cause like, we're at her deathbed as she bleeds it out, and it's not like, immediate. It's not like, you know, like, she gets stabbed in and then dies, it's she gets stabbed, and then there's a time between, and she sits there and dies.

C: Yeah. That's fair. Yeah, that makes sense.

G: I mean, this one points out that Huggy Bear isn't like a "he's a cute bear" thing, and it's a reference to something.

C: What is it a reference to?

G: "The character of Huggy Bear was a 'street-wise, jive-talking' underground contact of Starsky and Hutch from the American 1970's TV show. It means more like informant. Even tho I can not deny that Dean antiquated language choice to Cas indeed interesting." [both laugh] So true!

C: Someone said, "Everyones favorite hot psychic Traci Dinwiddle is back as Pamela, and there is a very special Sexy-Woman-of-the-Week (not that Traci isn't) surprise in store." [both laughing] That is one way you could think about female characters on Supernatural. I suppose. I mean, they do do sexy womans of the week. Boy.

G: This one is saying that like, this season's recurrent plot of broken seals is getting boring.

C: Hmm. I mean, the rest of the show is the recurring plot of "There's a monster, and we have to kill it." [both laughing] Like, yeah.

G: Yeah! I mean, but there's 15 seasons of it, and we're gonna watch all of it, so really.

C: It's every single episode of Supernatural from start to finish. This is true! Okay.

G: Yeah, okay, well, that's it for this episode of Busty Asian Beauties. Next time, we'll be talking about Season 4, Episode 16: "On the Head of a Pin." C: Whoo!

G: Leave us a rating or review wherever you get your podcasts.

C: Okay. Follow us on social media. We are on Tumblr at bustyasianbeautiespod.tumblr.com, official tag is #BABPod, B-A-B-POD. Thanks to everyone who's donated to our Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com/bustyasianbeautiespod, and check out our merch at babpod.redbubble.com. We have merch. That's crazy. Why did we do that?

G: That's crazy! [laughs] Yeah. You can email us any feedback, comments, or inquiries at [email protected]. See you guys next time! [both] Bye!

[guitar music]

[beep]

G: Wow! We're like, thinking of this shit. What's wrong with us?

C: It's because we actually tried for RubbishPod, so. [laughs]

G: Yeah, so now we're inclined to try. Wow.

C: Yeah. Yeah.

G: Who'd have thunk?

[beep]

G: Isn't there an Eve in Supernatural? Mother of monsters?

C: There's not an Eve, it's- yes, there is an Eve, actually. She's the mother of all monsters or something, right? Isn't she?

G: Yes, yes, Season 6.

C: And then there's Adam and his his fucking seraph wife, [both] Seraphina. [both laugh]

G: Supernatural will do anything.

[beep]

G: When was this episode?

C: This episode aired in March 2009, which means that we had Seasons 1 through 4-

G: House was new.

C: - and now we're in the middle of 5. What?

G: Wait, House was not new back then? When did House start airing? I thought it was like, 2008.

C: No. No, House started in 2004

G: That's crazy. It's older than Supernatural?

C: Yeah.

G: Oh, yeah! 'Cause the Amber season was-

C: Was that Season 3?

G: No, it was Season 4, which is Season 3 of Supernatural, and the Amber season is the, you know, the shorter one, because of the strike.

C: Oh, because of the strike. Yeah yeah yeah. And it ends with "Wilson's Heart." Yeah. And okay, since it is March 2009 when this episode airs, it also means that “Lucky 13” has happened, which you know, wonderful episode.

G: Bisexuality win.

C: Bisexuality win.

G: Is that the one? What is that episode.

C: Yeah, it's the one where this girl at a club hooks up with her just so that-

G: Oh, yeah.

C: - she, like, can have a medical attack in her bed so that Thirteen will treat her. [G laughs] And then at the end, it's like, "We're not even in love."

G: And Thirteen was like, "We can die. Together." And then apparently, she's not dying, so they're not even in love anymore.

C: Yeah, it's like all the charm goes away and it's like, joever. Yeah. Yeah. Wonderful episode.

G: Wonderful!

C: Will never be the lesbians with the liver transplant or whatever, but you know what? It's close.

G: That shit was crazy. That shit was crazy.

C: It was great. But yeah, okay. What do you think Dean's House M.D. opinions are, and do you think Sam has seen any, and if so, what are his opinions?

G: First of all, who is who is Dean's favorite fellow? We need to figure this out.

C: Oh, I didn't even think about that. I think for Sam, I think he wants it to be Cameron, but he's actually a Foreman girl.

G: You know what? I believe it. I mean, you know, the whole Foreman thing with the like, paper, I feel like Sam would be like, into that.

C: Which paper?

G: Like, Sam would understand where Foreman is coming from. Like, Foreman like, stole Cameron's paper and everything?

C: Her file?

G: No no no, Cameron's like, article.

C: Oh. Slay.

G: And that's the thing that they were fighting about when he got fucking parasited in the head and almost died.

C: Wait wait wait, is that the one where he-

G: And then he stabs her!

C: - infects her on purpose to force her take care of him?

G: He stabs her on purpose to infect her! Amazing!

C: It's great. I think Foreman's wonderful.

G: Amazing! No, because the thing is like, people, when they talk about House, talk about like, "House is so crazy, but like, Wilson's even more insane," and it's like, everybody in this fucking show is ball-to-the-wall.

C: Yeah. Chase killed somebody.

G: He killed a guy! Straightest thing he's ever done. Yeah. It's wonderful.

C: Okay. Who do you think Dean's favorite fellow is? I have absolutely no opinions on this. My Dean House M.D. opinions start and end with "He probably thinks it's funny when House sexually harasses people."

G: He genuinely fucking does. He like, sees that as inspirational content. [both laugh]

C: No, exactly. He's taking notes every time, like, House is just the worst to Cuddy. He just goes, "Right on, House!" and like, slaps the TV on the shoulder, and then takes another note.

G: Dean is like, a terrible guy! [both laughing]

C: Yeah, he is! He's quite bad this episode!

G: Sometimes I forget, and then I remember! It's like, you know, wow!

C: Wow! I feel like people are gonna be upset because there's the whole like, "It's performative because of his sexuality!" blah blah. I don't think it is. I think he's just- yeah.

G: I do not buy it.

C: Yeah. Do you have an opinion on Dean's favorite fellow?

G: You know what?

C: What. Kushner? Kutner?

G: Okay, he he either really likes Chase, or he really hates Chase.

C: Okay, is his name Kutner or Kushner? I totally forgot, because Obama killed him.

G: It's Kutner. It's Kutner.

C: Kutner? Yeah, okay.

G: Is it Kutner or Kutner? I don't know. I think I just said the exact same words in the exact same pronunciation. [both laugh] And it literally is either of those two. Yeah. Obama killed that guy.

G: I think Cutner actually has, like, a very- I feel like the people that like, are closest to House intellectually, like, in terms of thought process and everything is portrayed as like, Chase and Kutner, so I feel like there's something to that for Dean.

C: Chase? Wait, Chase? Are you sure? Okay. I thought Foreman had the arc.

G: I mean, Chase is frequently- I mean, Foreman had the arc of like, "I'm like you, but I don't want to be like you" or whatever. And with Chase it's like, "I'm not exactly like House-"

C: "But I want to be."

G: "- but if I was like him, I wouldn't be opposed to it," you know. And, I mean, Chase did inherit the post. Right? The show ends, and he's Head of Diagnostics?

C: I don't rember.

G: Yeah, he is.

C: He didn't deserve that.

G: Yeah, he's Head of Diagnostics. I think he did.

C: I guess 'cause all the other fellows left.

G: 'Cause he figured out that one girl had fucking, I don't know, sun infection or whatever.

C: [laughs] I don't rember. Probably.

G: [laughs] They will literally have just randomass diseases in House M.D., and I support it.

C: Yeah.

G: Chase is frequently seen as the one with the Eureka moments and everything.

C: Chase does have daddy issues, which I guess Dean could latch onto.

G: No, yeah, exactly. And like, that's why I'm saying that like, Kutner and Chase trying to be like- not trying to be like House, but like, being like House in a way, and like, reacting differently to those situations, like, I feel like that would appeal to Dean as like, someone with daddy issues. 'Cause I do feel like a lot of what Chase's thing going on is like, projecting the daddy issues from his dad to House, and I feel like, you know, that would appeal to Dean.

C: Yeah.

G: What if his favorite fellow is Taub? [C laughs]

C: No one's favorite fellow is Taub. Not a single person.

G: [laughing] Has anyone ever said those words before? "My favorite fellow is Taub."

C: Yeah.

G: Yeah, guy who cheats on his wife. Could be appealing! Who knows? C: That's true.

G: I mean, Wilson also cheats on several wives.

C: Yeah, Wilson cheats on a lot of wives. [G laughing]

G: That's like, Wilson's favorite pastime.

C: Yeah, yeah.

G: Cheat on his wives, fuck his patients.

C: Yeah. Just one of them! [both laugh]

G: Just one. Just one patient.

C: Yeah, yeah. Her fucking clothes are in his closet and all that shit.

G: No his clothes are in her closet.

C: Are his clothes in her closet? That's crazy. Fucking stays the night.

G: Yeah. Until House figures it out. [laughing] I love House M.D.!

C: It's a really bad show and no one should watch it.

G: What a horrible show that is so good!

C: I don't know. What does Sam get out of House M.D.?

G: You know what? What's the name of that guy that's like, Kutner's bestie when they were in training? Or when they were like, doing the elimination rounds?

C: I have no clue.

G: And he was like, Mormon or something? And he had a kid, and he got kicked out 'cause he like, instead of getting the panties from Cuddy, [laughs] he like, struck a deal with Cuddy so Cuddy would give it to him. What's his name?

C: Okay. I don't know.

G: Cole.

C: Okay.

G: Wow. He's a 28-year-old divorcee, and that is so important to me. [C laughing] Like, his House Wiki page literally just says, "Name: Jeffrey Cole. Age: 28. Marital status: Divorced"! And that's important to me.

C: Could have been me, like, six years early if Danica and I just stuck it out for a little longer.

G: Exactly. Could be me if they legalized divorce in the Philippines.

C: Could be! Wait, what were you gonna say about Cole.

G: No, because, like, Cole has this like, arc, where, like, he's a bit goody two-shoes, and 'cause like, part of it is like, he's Mormon and like, House is always trying to trip him up faith-wise and everything. Like, he gets eliminated because House was making them do something, and he does it, but in a roundabout way, where, instead of what House wanted, which is for them to, you know, like, play with the system, he instead, like, worked with the system, so.

C: "Play with the system" is such an interesting way to say "break into boss's house-" like, "boss's boss's house and then steal her panties," [G laughing] but yeah.

G: But that's the way House worded it! It's the way he words it. It's crazy.

C: It is the way he worded it. Yeah. Well, what a show that is. Anyway, so after that line-

G: I mean, House M.D. has unmatched levels of misogyny-

C: And racism and everything-

G: - but at least there, women are people.

C: No, exactly.

G: Yeah, everything. But like, their characters are people, and I like that. I appreciate that.

C: Yeah. Yeah.

G: You cannot say the same about Supernatural.

C: Yeah, until later, hopefully, I think some women are people.

G: That's true. Rowena is in this show.

C: True.

G: Also, just to inform everyone, during the break, I saw a post on my timeline that's like, "Who do you ship Amara with?" and then, like, Billie was one of the choices, and I like, got Covid from that post. [both laugh] Like, I saw that, and I was like, "I think I hauve Covid!" [C laughs] That's crazy. That's crazy.

C: Pretty good.

G: And there's no content for it. Like, the AO3 tag is a episode tag. "Supernatural Form and Void," not even for Supernatural. That's crazy, right?

C: Yeah.

[beep]

C: What's up, gamers?

G: What's up? Who, gamers?

C: Who's turn? Is it my turn?

G: [British accent] It's your turn.

C: [British accent] Alright.

G: [laughing] That's such a fucking- why is it when I do accents, it's like, completely normal behavior, but like, when you do it, I'm like, "That's the funniest thing anyone has ever said in the podcast." [C laughs]

C: I don't know. I think you just do it more often.

G: Yeah. Do one right now. Do one right now.

C: No!

G: Do a Southern accent. Let's hear it.

C: No! So Alastair gets a- [G laughs] I'm not.

[beep]

C: What’s up, gamers?

G: How do I- how the hell do I meet people if I don't want to go on the apps?

C: Oh. I don't know. Extracurriculars.

G: Oh, yeah.

C: Bars? [G groans]

G: Horrible. I don't want to do that.

C: Yeah. Oh, well.

G: Well.

C: Pamela's dying. [G laughs]

G: Pamela’s not meeting people. [C laughs]

#transcript

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