#tinks speculation v canon

[tinkdw]

so i’m now realising that when cas said “we are” when dean said nothing is real... it literally meant those two, in whatever context it ends up being, deancas is the one part in the story that chuck didn’t write for sure, it’s organic and made from their own free will... wow hats off to spn for doing that!!!

Yup it’s actually just Cas cos it affects Sam and the rest of the world too, but it’s always been the DeanCas bond that did the work eg Dean making Cas fall in s4 etc.

Every episode we go forwards it seems to be emphasising that the words Dean used were actually the exact opposite to the truth and the break up was ridiculous and just more bad Chuck-like writing, like a bibro just getting Cas out of the way.

The reunion should be a catalyst / turning point in Sam and Dean getting their free will back and taking charge of their lives in direct opposition to them losing that as soon as Cas had left.

Again, everything rests on Cas. And the likelihood is that it rests on the DeanCas bond as yeah sure Cas and Sam love each other like brothers but it’s not the same, Sam doesn’t even know why Cas left, Cas didn’t even say goodbye to Sam after his break up with Dean.

The DeanCas bond is the key to recovering Cas and Cas is the key to recovering their free will and winning at the end, ergo the DeanCas relationship is actually what holds this entire story together.

The DeanCas relationship is logically the only thing that can save the world and fix everything.

The DeanCas relationship is the centre point, focal point and catalyst to their happy ending.

Bless Dabb era from up high.

[tinkdw]

Dean’s next steps

So Dean has been avoiding talking about how Cas is falling when he’s the one who caused him to fall in the first place.

Guaranteed that despite trying to blame Chuck he still puts the blame on his own shoulders. I’m sure this will come up over the next few eps over the grander scheme of things, his switching between believing the predetermined fate and blaming himself for things.

Because how can Dean blame Cas for Mary’s death while blaming Chuck for everything? He can’t, theres a clear issue here of Dean having to get his head around everything that’s happened and really figure out what he truly believes has happened his whole life. Before he can figure out what he truly wants and how to get it.

Cas represents his first big push for free will, he caused an Angel of the Lord to fall, and what? Now it turns out this wasn’t him? That Chuck planned that to happen anyway? So Dean not only was never in charge of his own life but the one good thing he thought he’d done, the apocalypse that he thought he’d saved the word from, whose core moment was his causing Cas to rebel from heaven, was a lie.

It’s not just everything it’s specifically Cas in terms of that big momentous Moment he where caused Cas to fall and thought he’d changed the fate of the world because he believed in Free Will - a lie.

So of course now Cas is trying to talk to him specifically about falling it’s relevant to his deep despair about all this. Cas is the exemplification of everything he’s angry about.

That’s why he’s so angry.

We can also speculate if we get shippy about whether he feels his feelings for Cas are real or not but that’s dependent on whether they’re overtly romantic with this in the end or not so I won’t go into that now because it may not be relevant but the rest definitely is.

Dean now has to take a step back and reassess everything, he has to figure out what he believes, whether it was all predetermined and fake, or whether some of it was real despite Chuck writing the rule book. Did he and Sam and Cas mess up Chuck’s plan as he thought he did in season 4/5 with Chuck saying this isn’t how it was supposed to go? And did Chuck reassess and rewrite? Or is Chuck just lieing now? Or was it all pretedermined?

And either way what is he doing to do NOW that it is no longer predetermined?

If he now is truly free what does he want?

Which is the big question of the last season, from Michael, who is back soon.

It all loops back around now to Dean figuring out what he wants, who he truly is, not who his father wanted him to be or who Chuck wrote him to be, who he is.

I imagine we will see that over the next few episodes.

Then he has to fight for what he’s figured out he wants. And I mean, we know what he wants, he wants Cas, he wants his found family, he wants what he pushed away because he was so angry that it might not be real and if it was real, that he caused Cas to fall and be the fuck up, that he fucked him up.

He has to figure out what he believes, what he wants and how to get it back.

The fight for it will be even better than just having it in the first place, it will showcase what he wants and how much he wants it.

TL;DR Dean has a lot of figuring out to do and I’m looking forward to it even though it means likely a full break down of his character, the rebuild will be glorious perfection right in time for endgame.

Such coincidence ;)

[tinkdw]

So now we have Cas back in our story but he’s left out of Chuck’s story so what’s the deal?

Are we going to see Sam and Dean playing out Chuck’s story, but trying to find a way out and failing, and Cas doing his own thing separately.

Then we just wait until Cas comes wading in to Sam and Dean’s story and just... fucks shit up.

I’m here for that to be honest.

[tinkdw]

So anyway Angel(a) (Cas) got raptured/killed (whisked to the Empty / killed) while her BFF (Dean) was drinking and planning to go off with some other dudes (girls).

[tinkdw]

hi tink, I just saw a post by someone saying they think the show is going to end in heartbreak, that they dont think all of our main three boys will survive. Am I naive for holding out hope that the ending is going to be made happy based on the fact that Chuck (the villain) wants to end everything in death and destruction. Do you have hope for a happy ending/what are your predictions?

lol no ur not naive, it makes zero narrative sense that anything along the lines of chuck’s ending happens or that the boys don’t get a semblance of what they want. I (and my logical meta writing friends) have been endgame positive for years but since chuck turned up we the big bad harping on about all his Sam n Dean only forget Cas it’s all monsters and dying shit we KNOW that’s literally the opposite of what’s gonna happen.

Logically now it’s basically what so many of us have wanted for years (and that’s also logical as we want it because the show pushed that agenda before).

Cas should be central to them getting their happy ending and they’ll be surrounded by found family and have their individual end games (Sam with Eileen and taking a step back, maybe running a hunter network or even going back to school if you wanna go extreme!) and Dean hunting with his bff Cas (who is human but having a family to come home to and feeling loved for who he is without needing to hide anything.

[tinkdw]

hey, Tink! it keeps bugging me, but do you have any idea what was up with Dean being all tender & saying "we'd have done the same for Jack" re: the vampire parent kidnappings, which um. is inaccurate. (I mean they locked Jack alone, begging in a box). do you have insight into Dean's mind here or was it more Chuck being a bizarre writer?

Yeah for me this was an indicator that the boys are now being controlled by chuck, or that he at least wrote that part and made it happen, because we know vampires can live off animal blood, and we know that they absolutely would never turn a schoolgirl into a human blood bag for jack, that’s just an utter lie, so unless it’s Davy very badly writing something to tell us that they are missing Jack and “found family” theme... tie this in with the feel of the ep changing, the funkos bobbing etc, the wincesters losing their abilities and turning into what seems to be very different people, coming up, well, it shows me that chuck is manipulating them far beyond anything he’s done before.

(Meanwhile he’s not bothering with Cas and Cas is clearly the catalyst in the Empty Space to come).

I know people have also said that they could just be very depressed and making Bad Choices TM, and well yes Sam did kill the nurse during his demon blood arc which was brought up in this episode, and Dean did kill the kid in the MoCain arc, so it could be badly put together editing that makes it feel like chuck’s in charge but he isn’t, idk.

I mean I cannot overlook this massive obvious visual metaphor of Chuck typing while the funkos bop like puppets on string:

x

It is kind of unclear overall, but so far I’m sticking to my first impression that Chuck is overriding them now, Sam and Dean alone, not Cas, and that is relevant, as that’s what makes sense to me and what Saz @bluestar86 thought too so it cemented it for me once I spoke to her after worrying I’d just misread it after seeing other people’s views that differed to mine. But as generally we seem to be right I’m gonna stick to that for now and just wait and see. Either way it IS unclear and I think that’s on purpose, so I won’t be upset if it does end up being the other way, it’s purposefully ambiguous right now, but as I say this ^ is what makes sense to me at this point and what fits with what we know happens next (the boys losing their abilities etc) and what I assume and speculate will happen in the longer run (Cas as the catalyst to the plot and the representation of Free Will).

And honestly part of me is just so excited about the Cas Free Will stuff, as a big Cas fan and knowing Cas is Dabb’s favourite character, I can’t wait!

[tinkdw]

I know I kind of crack posted this but ok here goes re Belphegor.

IF he’s not who he says he is, he can only really be a demon as Cas said himself it was a demon’s face, he recognises Angels so it cannot he an Angel and unless someone/something has a way around this then it’s a demon. Simple.

So therefore most likely IMO due to past storylines it’s Ruby or most likely to me, Bela.

Ruby makes sense re witchcraft and also re Jared joking that it’d be fun to have Gen back to cameo, but Bela.... Bela makes all the sense really IF it has to be someone else narratively.

She’s not a dead demon (are we even sure where they go? Supposedly the Empty so a dead demon in theory shouldn’t be a problem unless Chuck opened the Empty too but so far it’s just Hell so it should be a living demon we know ergo Bela) but she did go to hell and has likely been twisted for 10 years x hell time, the name is similar, Bela - Belphegor as a nugget, the flirting with Dean (remember how she did before). . . I’m sure there’s more but that’s just off the top of my head.

So look, likely it is Belphegor, but if it’s not then it kinda really should be a demon lest Dabb let himself down on canon for some stupid reason and realistically Bela makes the most sense for a return, given they’ve said they are doing returns, so let’s see.

[tinkdw]

I saw on cinemablend that cas/dean tensions are high even into episode 8; making me kinda hopeful for a mid season finale confession/cas being nabbed by the empty bc of that 🤔 thoughts?

Oh interesting I’ve not seen that but yeah if I was writing it I’d make 3 the break up, 6 the reunion and showcase them happy and what could be in 7 to make people want that, to then have it torn away by the empty in 8.

I feel like u kinda need the good thing to fight for ep before he’s torn away but they may skip it as that’s also like most of the show I guess... which means the tension could well be until ep 8. It wouldn’t surprise me tbh as if they’re not tense then they’ll be declaring their love for each other, there’s no real alternative as they’ve written themselves into a corner, so if it’s not going to be overtly canon as a love story and just a subtextual nod, the easiest thing is to keep the tension as long as possible then kept away from each other with the reunion being basically as close to the end as possible...

Idk let’s see!!

Mishas quote for ref:

It's a point that we will revisit throughout the season, but not so much in the sense of it being a point of conflict. Dean I think is having the biggest existential crisis about it. He's the most overwrought about the fact that his life has been meaningless to date, which is something that the rest of us, we've already come to grips with. I'm being facetious. [laughs] ... Right now we're shooting Episode 8 and I can tell you that the [relationship] between Cas and Dean continues to be strained this far into the season. It's a problem that hasn't been resolved.

[tinkdw]

(un)requited love

(Or the canon reason Cas will finally be happy, then be immediately taken to the Empty because this is Supernatural and we can’t have nice things)

The Empty 13x04:

“ I know who you love, there is nothing for you back there x 

The Empty 14x08: 

“When you finally give yourself permission to be happy and let the sun shine on your face that’s when I’ll come to drag you to nothing”.

Remember also Castiel 12x10:

How coincidental that Lily Sunder appears in this episode where all this comes together to remind us that not only does Cas love someone but he feels it is unreciprocated and wrong for him to love a human romantically in the first place so he holds back and doesn’t give himself permission to be happy.

*Tink stares into the camera*

1. “I know who you love, there is nothing for you back there” - unreciprocated love.

2. I should not romantically love a human - the sacred oath.

3. If Cas finally gets over these two things then he will be happy. But oh NO this is when he will get dragged away into nothingness! 

*insert shocked drama face* *this is totally not what we expect from this show* *angsty man pain after giving us a glimmer of hope? Never!* *especially given Meredith literally did this in this episode giving us smiling happy TFW then ripping it all away as a foreshadowing mirror*

Why does this all tie in together perfectly? 

*WE JUST DON’T KNOW*

Hint: Maybe, just maybe it’s that the thing that would make him happiest is that his feelings are reciprocated and that he allows himself to have this.

Which means the only logical outcome to this entire canonical plot point set up over a year ago and now coming to the forefront is that he will find out his feelings are reciprocated, that Dean does love him, as different, more than the current brother and “family” love, that it is romantic, that he will allow himself to have this love and not feel guilty for it, only to immediately get dragged away to nothingness to set up for Dean pain and the “getting him back” standard AF closing arc of romance stories.

*Flings self into the sun*

[tinkdw]

Ahhh what do you think is gonna come of the subtext of cas becoming comatose (going to the empty) via a kiss

I mean.... it’s what it says on the tin.

Cas: is kissed by *someone*

Cas: is finally happy

Empty:

There’s still obviously scope for them not doing this, cos hey they have to get the okay go ahead, but the foreshadowing subtext has been laid down. On top of everything else pointing this way.

Steve “everything means something” Yockey... he’s on a one man mission to kill fandom one episode at a time.

[tinkdw]

Last season The Empty taunting Cas: “I know who you love and there’s nothing for you there”

Now: Cas sacrifices himself to The Empty to save Jack. The Empty says it’ll delay taking him to Hell until he’s “finally happy” to make it worse.

I wonder what could finally make Cas happy for a big “moment” just before he gets yanked away given the same character was taunting him with loving someone and feeling nothing in return. When we saw Dean literally try to kill himself cos Cas was dead and end up being the one to resurrect him (gay love pierced the veil after all) but then hiding this from Cas until now because #reasons.

What could possibly tie this all together and make for a massive moment that seems beautifully happy with Cas’ love finally confirmed as being returned only for him to get yanked away, leaving Dean and us with angsty man pain.

*we just don’t know*

*such mystery*

*it’s not like this episode set up happy lovely things to then rip them away as a mini-mirror of what’s to come*

*there’s nothing romantic about “I know who you love” and Dean’s gay love being the one to resurrect Cas piercing the veil after a decade of romantic subtext and them being framed together at every turn this season*

*this definitely isn’t the only logical route even if it’s subtextual “familial love” for some stupid reason but Hell if Dabb era isn’t pushing that agenda too and making it clear that it ain’t familial at all*

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[tinkdw]

14x13 speculation : a meta tick box

Have I yelled publicly yet about how excited I am that ep 300 seems to basically be a huge meta exposition of season 14 TFW v the first time we met them and how far these characters have grown?

I am literally on fire with this. The promo looks so clearly to be showing this with the past-selves dopplegangers on top of the John PR stuff, just, wow.

This looks like ep 300 is basically a huge validation of all the meta over the last 14 years emphasising among other things but mostly that

- Dean has a performance facade, strongly linked to wanting to impress his father, but that’s not really him or who he wants to be and he’s changed massively since season 1 on the outside, but all it is is allowing his true self to come out little by little until he’s nearly unrecognisable. In fact if they meet and s14 Dean doesn’t say something like “wow was I really that much of a douche?” and Sam smirks at him then idk ;)

- Sam wants out of hunting, he never would have chosen to be a hunter, he also has a huge amount of guilt inside him over the events of s1-4 so he sticks with it as penance but it’s not what he really wants. If he is going to do it though he would rather do it in a leadership / Bobby style role than on the ground.

- Cas isn’t a hammer, he wants free will and was always miserable as an Angel, had to be reprogrammed so many times because that just isn’t him, he craves family, to belong and feel loved and wanted rather than needed but due to millennia of being said soldier he feels the best way to earn that is by being useful and needed so therefore he always puts himself in the role of protector etc, but ultimately he wants to be part of the family and not a soldier.

Anyway. There’s a lot of whatever PR stuff around the Winchester family reunion because hey it’s JDM and he sells, but really it’s the story I’m interested in. Prior to the last episode and promo I felt some catharsis and exposition was on the cards what with Dean facing the ghost of John and his issues coming up and seeing that we were going to see s4 Cas again (a version of himself or a doppelgänger too idk but the point remains the same as a contrast to ours) but man, knowing we have real actual Sam n Dean doppelgängers and an alternative Cas mirror of some sort has just emphasised this x100.

I was a bit meh about some parts of s14 so far but damn it I’m PSYCHED for this.

Hey if I’m wrong I’m wrong and I won’t be upset, it’s spec after all, but I really hope this happens as it’s what seems logical so far, it validates REALMS of meta and this excites me no end!

[tinkdw]

14x02: bait, loving myself and ptsd

My episode review / meta for 14x02 covering the main points:

Michael / Dean meta and speculation as to what this means next.

Cas’ arc exposition, learning to accept and love himself for who he is.

Nick as the Dean mirror to come, thanks to new Archangel-vessel link canon.

Michael / Dean

The episode opener reminds us that Michael is sadistic and plays a long game “I could have done this quick but I wanted to enjoy it”.

This really sets us up well for the fact that whatever the reason, Michael has made the choice to “leave” Dean (I say this loosely as we don’t know what the new canon is they’re playing with re: Archangel vessels link to the Archangel after they’ve left).

We’ve also had the word “bait” twice in two episodes, right before Dean is suddenly and with no explanation freed, right back into his family.

More side eyes.

It definitely feels like a long game choice, he’s going to enjoy whatever it is that he’s done to Dean, whether it’s literally just “the hunted becoming the hunter” and he’s now watching Dean keenly or is actually inside him hiding somehow or something else entirely, who knows, but it’s 100% going to rear it’s head later.

I’m also 100% sure Michael is the one who punched the mirror and I kinda love that symbolism that he’s SO ABSOLUTELY in control and Dean can’t just expel him before he magically disappears so... serious side eyes.

In general Michael is just continuing along the theme we already know, he’s a genocidal self aggrandising asshole who here is also reminiscent of the nazis with his experiments. They’re keen to hammer home the “bad guy” symbology.

Michael may be temporarily/semi “out” of Dean but he is in no way gone.

The rest under the cut

Monsters v Humans and the grey area

Jack to Lucifer: you’re not my father, youre a monster.  Nick about the murderer of his family: He’s not a man, he’s a monster.

More excellent reminders that monsters does not equal supernatural creature and the other way around. It’s about your choices not who you are.

Cas

This episode showcases Cas’ continued mental health improvements since his death/resurrection metaphor allowed him to address and move past his guilt/self worth issues that have plagued him since season 7. We have exposition that he feels happier, more content in himself and doesn't equate his powers to himself. Whilst of course this raises huge human!cas endgame feels it doesn’t necessarily tell us this is the only way, more that he is realising that he is valid and should love himself for who he is, not how useful he is as a tool. The Jack mirror here has worked wonders and this scene really hammers it home after last episode’s ramp up to it.

Cas also is the exposition here to “people are not magically born superheroes, heroes at all, powerful, good, leaders etc they have to work at it and choose it because they’re good people”. Good people sometimes fail and that’s okay. Patience, persistence and a good moral compass are what get you through.

*I’m clapping whilst tearing up and whooping all at the same time*

Meanwhile...

We then not only address Cas’ mental well being but also some of the past canon that *some people* still think is a point of interest but everyone else has had figured since at least season 10.

Jimmy is dead and gone, Cas wells up with emotion when talking about him and his biggest regret in millennia of existence is what happened to Jimmy and his family. He could not help his nature as an Angel of needing a vessel and he was also just following orders at this point lets remember, he wasn’t making his own choices.

But once he was making his own decisions and realised what he had caused by collateral damage he did what he could to help them. He actively looked for Claire, he tried so hard to save Claire and Amelia, albeit he was unable to succeed with Amelia, he continues to try to help Claire. 

Nick’s harsh words are not, as the Cas haters would like to believe telling us that this is fact. Of course it’s not, the show doesn’t villainise it’s lead protagonists for funsies, calling them the same as Lucifer, the biggest villain to ever villain on the show who made clear just 2 episodes previously that he didn’t give a shit about anyone else whilst this scene shows us Cas literally tearing up over what happened to Jimmy... the mere concept this is supposed to be taken at face value us... *insert laugh crying emoji*, lbr that’s just so completely illogical and so stupid I won’t even bother addressing it, I’ll just talk about what the point of it is. 

It’s a set up for us to reel back and think “ouch!, what? no!” and for Cas himself to address, which he does well here, without creating excuses but by showing real regret and caring over the matter whilst we know he is doing his best to fix the mistake through the episodes we’ve seen him dealing with Claire previously.

New Archangel - vessel link canon

Nick is a mirror and useful to the Michael!Dean plot, I am happy about that, but I’m only moderately interested in this plot device Archangel-vessel link thing because it’s setting up for later in the season boring rehashing of more Michael/Lucifer plot line and tbh I’m extremely over it and want to move on with my life and wish the show would move on already. 

I’ve seen interpretations on my dash that Nick was the monster who killed his family and whilst I get that, imo that’s not where they’re going with this. It’s more that this is a next step up from the first clicking fingers when emotionally compromised. Nick lost control due to his extreme emotions and the Lucifer link, whatever it is, meant he channeled Lucifer’s anger and ended up killing his neighbour. This makes far more sense in terms of how it will later be a useful mirror for Dean who will at times lose control and ‘go Michael’ more and more over the season I imagine. I just don’t really know what the point of this is if not tbh! 

We know from interview spoilers that Dean is “semi-possessed”, not truly free, will have repercussions etc and this Nick-Lucifer mirrored link where he channels Michael’s emotions is too obvious not to be relevant imo. It also links perfectly to all the Dean meta since forever about his John issues, with Michael being the epitome of a John mirror and Dean having moments of acting like him despite this not being who he truly is and finally throwing it off at the end of the season, this could be used utterly brilliantly metaphorically and close off the Dean’s daddy issues theme that’s been an underlying running theme since 13x01 especially. I look forward to that aspect.

[tinkdw]

Speculation for tonight based on Dabb memos to Bucklemming:

- Rowena starts off disliking Jack due to what he is and ends up loving Jack for who he is as a one episode clearly obvious condensation of the entirety of the point of Jack’s character on the show

- Cas: exposition of his humanity / belonging in the family arc and perhaps even an element of showing he’s thinking about addressing what he wants, through his interactions with Jack

- Dean: exposition of his daddy issues and his own past when he was nihilistic knowing he was dying in season 3 and then his self worth ie. deserving to live, through his interactions with Jack

- Sam: firm and clearly the leader through his interactions with Jack regarding curing him with Rowena and perhaps even further something addressing his own Lucifer trauma but let’s not be too ambitious, it’s still Bucklemming...

- Nick: who knows. Hopefully showing he didn’t kill his family and is struggling with his emotions, specifically anger but who knows, this could be the element Dabb doesn’t have memos for and let’s them run with so let’s wait and see.

Let’s see!

[tinkdw]

@dimples-of-discontent ooh I hope we’re right and it’s the AU hunters who tie Cas up and beat him over the “you can’t kill Dean!” conversation!

[tinkdw]

Latest 6 month check up, baby is all good with strong heat beat and head down!

My blood pressure was high but likely was caused by the conversation I’d just had with @margarittet and @bluestar86 literally killing me with feels about my hunch for the Cas spec of going back to Heaven by throwing in a ton of “well actually that potentially makes sense” stuff from earlier Dabb writing and spoilers. Linking back to Dabb’s own pitching of Hunter!Cas giving up being with Dean to save and lead the Angels in season 9 and then also before this his own again episode 8x22 with the closing up / restoring Heaven and saving a nephilim v killing one and all the “ET goes home” and love themes.

@margarittet has loads of thinky thoughts that ended me on the mirror opposite of Metatron’s heaven falling spell v now with the killing/saving of the nephilim and love themes I love it.

Meanwhile apparently before this mid season finale they’re giving us an ep showing us Dean and Cas together (hopefully without Sam again a la Tombstone) and therefore clearly what Cas wants. Whilst potentially we know that he can’t stay due to his sacrifice or something similar? It’s just so angsty. This is totally what I’d write ;)

I should have got my pressure checked before we discussed how all this is so relevant and yelling THEEEEEEEEMES and season “what do you want” 14 about Cas and just how much Dabb has shoved this opposition of Heaven v Earth, Angels v Winchesters, forced fake family v found real family, duty v love... literally shoved it in our faces himself before now making this a whole friggin arc in his showrunning.

Argh. I mean wild spec aside the thematics are still all there and wow.