#there's is 10000% another ad lib take where they made out

[successionable]

THE TOMGREG SLAP FIGHT IS GONNA LIVE ON IN MY BRAIN FOREVER

[mittensmorgul]

(1/?) Hey if I remember correctly, you were the one upset about the characterization Jensen ad-libbed in American Nightmare (the less than graceful journey over the railing) because Dean's this super-badass who can scale walls and beat up highly trained guards so he should be able to climb over a simple rail. I am here to try and help you see at least why I thought the characterization was fine, so maybe you will hate that part less. Okay, example one, when I was taking Calc 3 last year....

(2/?) we had this giant exam with all these complicated theories and terminology and honestly, most of what I learned is completely gone from my mind. But I remember going through this problem that took up a good page and when I finally got it back, I had gotten a couple points off because I had the wrong final answer. It turned out I had did everything right except for the fact that when I was doing some basic multiplication (3*3) and instead of saying the answer was 9, I legit wrote down 6...

(3/?) Another time I was playing tennis. I had been the game for 3 years now and I was on the top of the varsity team, and we were playing a simple game with some beginners, and one the beginner hits me the slowest/softest ball every created, even someone who's never picked up a racket should be able to hit it, but I miscalculated something along the way and completely missed the ball and my partner legit could not stop laughing at me the whole goddamn time...(4/?) Similar accidents have happened to me, where I am super skilled/trained at something and something little or trivial trips me up every once in a while. So I'm thinking Dean was the same way. Mr. Badass didn't wanna squeeze between the railing and trees like Sam(it was a tight fit) so he was like "I fuck with the devil on the daily, I can climb a fucking rail," and he tried, miscalculated something so simple and failed because that's what a lot of people tend to do....

(5/5) Anyway, I hoped this helped you understand my POV, because I completely understand why you would think it's out of character but for me, at least, I thought it was very human. If you are not the person who had a problem with it and I sent this to the completely wrong person.... well that's embarrassing... I guess you can add that to the list of example on this list. Anyway.... have an amazing day :)

Hey there! I... think this may have been sent to the wrong person, because I’m in no way “upset” with Jensen’s ridiculous fence scramble. I mean, I did make that post the other night that was 100% intended to be humorous, about questions I’d like to ask Jensen, and this was the last item on the list. The whole point of that post was that there’s SO MANY FUN QUESTIONS we could be asking the actors at cons that would allow them to give answers that would give us new insight into their characters by asking about recent canon, rather than putting them on the spot with impossible theoretical situations that they have no good answers for.

So, since you went to all the bother to explain why YOU can understand his acting choices there, that sort of defeats the point of wanting to know what made JENSEN choose to scramble over the fence that way.

(I’m sorry, but I can tell you’re probably young from the sorts of school-related comparisons you gave here, and I’m not trying to be mean or dismissive here. It’s just that this completely misses the point of my original post there, if that’s what you were trying to reply to here.)

I only put that specific item on the list because Jensen and Jared have talked about that particular scene at past cons, before the scene aired (I believe). They seemed to find it an entertaining topic of conversation. Just like Jensen talking about accidentally setting himself on fire filming the burning bible scene in 12.08. But the fence scene in 12.04 may have started as Jensen just being a goofball on set, but that’s the shot they decided to use in the episode, and a Big Deal was made of it.

So why did Dean, who we have MULTIPLE scenes over the years of him leaping “like a gazelle on the moon,” to quote myself from that original post, suddenly lose all grace?

We’ve speculated over it plenty amongst ourselves, which is great. I have reams of meta on that scene. WE know that Dean was “off his game” early in that episode. It’s framed as beginning within DAYS of Mary leaving the bunker in 12.03. He’s also just learned some unsettling news about Cas and his hunt for Lucifer, that Cas is working with Crowley and Lucifer is wearing Vince Vincente-- aka a washed up 80′s glam rocker that Dean was appalled by...

Obviously he was struggling with a lot of internal personal crap in that episode, lampshaded by his interactions with Beth the social worker lady and his texts to Mary. WE KNOW HE WASN’T DOING WELL, AND IT WAS AFFECTING HIS JUDGMENT AND PERFORMANCE.

In that sense, Dean scrambling over the fence was, as you said, PERFECTLY IN CHARACTER!!! I have never denied this. I am not in the least upset with his reaction here. He was distracted, upset over personal matters that the case that they were working on only seemed to drag closer to the surface rather than let him try and push down and ignore. It was incredibly well done, initially painting the MotW as THE SOCIAL WORKER INTENT ON UNCOVERING THOSE SORTS OF DEEP FAMILY TROUBLES, but in the end the monster WAS THE TOXIC AND SELF-ISOLATED FAMILY ITSELF!

I mean, I CAN SEE EXACTLY WHY IT WAS AN EXCELLENT ACTING CHOICE!

I just want to know if JENSEN sees it that way. I want to hear HIS reasoning for it. I want to hear him talk about it from “Dean’s POV,” as it were.

I just think hearing HIS answer to questions like this, questions that HE CAN ANSWER, questions that HE MIGHT ENJOY ANSWERING, and questions that might be FUN FOR AUDIENCES TO HEAR JENSEN TALK ABOUT, might lead to more actual insight into the character of Dean Winchester without Jensen feeling personally attacked, put on the spot, backed into a corner, or otherwise be unable to answer for whatever reason.

Not to mention, I don’t think there’s any potential to spawn weeks’ worth of inter-fandom squabbling and hate over asking questions along these lines.

That was the point of my post. It was supposed to be funny, and hopefully to make people think a little more carefully about the questions they put to the actors at cons.

There are definitely better ways to get the sort of character insight and open discussion that we would LOVE to have from Jensen, by avoiding subjects that we KNOW we’re never going to get a good answer on. It’s all a matter of what we ask, and how we ask it. Frankly, hearing his answer to questions like this will give us FAR more insight into what Jensen REALLY thinks matters to Dean, you know? Because just like Dean, if you ask a super-direct, ultra-personal, borderline accusatory question, he’s gonna clam up. Ask about something slightly silly but ultimately very deeply personally telling, and we might get a half-joking monologue, but damn it would be 10000% more insightful into how Dean thinks and feels than asking that pointed GOTCHA question.

The key is subtlety. That was my point.

(oh, and the fact that nobody should ever ask another goddamned prank question, because who the fuck cares anymore?)