#up possessiveness or hes actually killing people. so s8 dean was so boring

[sammygender]

THANK YOU OLI I don't get the season 8 hype. No Cas, Sam and Dean have the same conflict they've been having the entire show with no new angles like why????

YEAH LITERALLY. inital conflict is literally dean being angry at sam for trying to move on and heal which is just so intensely unlikeable and for some reason i was shocked by it and it made me genuinely dislike him. to me dean is at his most awful in s8..... like he's not. he's definitely not. gadreel possession in s9 and like most of s9/10 with the mark is much worse than anything he does in s8 and killing amy in s7 was sooo awful too. but dean is just so intensely a dick in s8 and i was so angry with him and not even in a fun way. like in s9/10 he is AWFUL but i enjoyed the drama. i didnt even enjoy the interpersonal drama in s8. which is when you know something is wrong

then again. im probably too harsh on it and am basing it off memories of sitting through the first half because i LOVE the trials and sacrifice and the great escapist so so much. and i love kevin <3 he's s8 right. but. to me s8 will always be the worst season. maybe i just hate what it brings to the shows canon. sam leaving dean for a girl and a dog (which is NOT EVEN WHAT HAPPENED... and if it WAS it wouldve been justified.... id support sam even if i thought he abandoned dean unprovoked idc.....) is constantly brought back like the worst of his sins even as late as like. s11. SHUT UP. first half of s8 is just upsetting for sam reasons and not in a fun way

[neven-ebrez]

15x01, a look at the future through the past

Back home! I watched the episode last night and rewatched it just now. I’m sorry to say that I was baseline bored on most levels but the second time through things felt better (yay!) even if the bland factor was still there for me personally (I’m bored with most ghost stuff from SPN these days). Imo the characters basically served the plot of 15x01 instead of the other way around which is very Game of Thrones-y and 1000% not what I’m here for but I won’t talk about the details of that because I’m sure no one wants to hear that and I’m also sure things won’t stay that way long so I’ll talk about some other things instead. There are some things I can tell are a thing but I don’t know exactly what the shows means in depicting them, and others where I’m more confident in my interpretation so here we go.

I’m like 99% sure the demon in Jack is actually Chuck and that he’s basically trying to maintain his torture (I mean... the guy admitted to being a torturer ffs) of the Winchesters with the best viewing seat possible as it were (he even tells Dean point blank he’s a “fan”). For some reason only Dean and Cas got the focus for this (torture) tho and not Sam. With Dean it was the demon reminding him of how dark and brutal Dean can be himself (via his time with Alastair). Dean blows that off pretty quick and isn’t too visibly effected, commenting that it was a long time ago. With Cas the torture came in the demon’s possession of Jack himself, Cas saying bluntly that he can’t even look at Jack and that demonic possession is basically defilement. Cas is clearly more effected and Dean’s harsh “Jack is DEAD!” tonally recalled S13 in many ways. Also oddly the demon admits Dean is gorgeous but not the same is said of Cas, with the demon insulting him instead. Two interactions. Two wildly different responses. It’s the demon putting Dean and Cas at odds without any interaction needed from them themselves, though the latter comes in spades and is the only focused on “true” conflict of the episode, set against soft Sam/Dean exchanges.

The blend of Cas’ angelic nature along with his human nature was also heavily, heavily highlighted in the episode. It was probably the most highlighted thing in fact. Cas smiting and healing. Cas shooting a gun and throwing rocks. Cas tells Dean he wouldn’t starve to death in the crypt (which, on a side note, has huge Buffy vibes for me, along with Belphogor (sp?) calling the Hell rip or whatever the “Hellmouth”). Cas can see the demon’s demonic face easily despite episodes like 14x01 (also written by Dabb) where he can’t see a room full of them (I think I argued back then that Cas was willingfully trying to ignore and was annoyed with his angelic nature). Cas’ angelic side gets another highlight when Sam accidentally shoots Cas and he doesn’t get truly injured. This particular scene seemingly serves no other purpose other than to highlight Cas’ difference (as non-human) in general. Emotionally tho, Cas’ human side is on full display. He’s worried about the town’s people. He’s annoyed with both Sam and Dean for different reasons at different points. Cas bodily removes the demon from sharing the same space as him because the demon upsets him. Cas can not even LOOK at “Jack” but Dean (and Sam) can. As I said, it’s similar structurally to how S13 handled Dean dealing with Cas’ death in comparison to Sam moving on from it. It functions to show that for Cas his relationship with Jack is different from Sam and Dean’s, however otherwise similar in the fact that TFW all see Jack as their child, their family. It’s exactly like how Cas is different to Dean as compared to Sam.

Back onto demon “B” whatever tho. Interestingly, we never see the demon smoke into Jack. Then he just “”happens”” to know every spell needed to help the Winchesters but for Dean and Cas two things are required for sacrifice/gathering. In each, one component is dead-like and protecting (salt, goofer dust) and the other channels life/creation (a heart and angel blood). Each time there’s a duality in play. Curiously Sam is not involved in any of this with the demon for whatever reason, making the demon (within the season’s structure as presented so far) a primary component of Dean and Cas’ differences. They are tests of free will for them specifically in a way. What will each person “freely” give/obtain for the demon? To me, it just all screams this thing/demon is really just God fucking with them in every way he can but while maintaining some ally aligned position physically. It’s Chuck’s literal MO.

Also. The show is back to Dean blanketly treating Cas like shit. Which we know happens in waves constantly but as a Cas fan it’s still annoying to watch for the umpteenth fucking time. And they haven’t even pinpointed the *exact* reason here for all the snapping (yeah, pacing, I know). The audience has to do some connecting the dots here I feel. They have to have a certain understanding of how Dean needs Cas. I *think* the takeaway is that Dean uses Cas as an emotional punching bag when he’s actually mad at himself and that instead of getting so angry with himself these days that Dean’s decided yelling at Cas is a better/healthier way for him to deal with himself. Which is absolutely unfair and devastating to Cas, but it’s what Cas (unfortunately) has become to Dean. It’s like when he told Cas he was dead to him at the end of S14 because of Jack killing Mary. Dean’s really mad at he, himself, for ignoring the warning that was always there. Not really Cas. But Dean has yet to apologize and/or rectify this. This is the (ongoing) problem for Dean and Cas. Point blank.

At this point if I was Cas I’d just leave and not come back. He doesn’t deserve the way Dean constantly treats him. Dean doesn’t “need” Cas like this but he’s become comfortable using him like this. This is so jarring from the understanding Dean shows Cas in late S12. And from the grief arc he has in S13, followed by the relief he shows when Cas returns. Dean never learns how to properly “claim” Cas, however. Looks like this time instead of killing Cas the show (like in S8) is gonna have Cas choose to stay away (after 15x03?) I guess, prompting Dean to do some reflecting or whatever following this (What is Cas to me? Why do I actually need him? How should I treat him?). But honestly I’m not thinking of the reflecting right now. Or the “after” or whatever. I’m just thinking about how shitty Cas is being treated RIGHT NOW and it 1000% makes me wanna just drop the show and not watch anymore until it’s over. I’m just not interested in torturing myself for months watching this slowly drag out but apparently I’m so masochistic and love Cas so fucking much that I will. GODDAMMIT

Onto ���pipes” I guess. This is where I point out that I don’t know what the show is going for here but I’ll throw around some ideas. Pipes had a lot to do with the episode. Sam thinks he hears water flowing in a pipe in the crypt and they think they can escape through the sewers. Wrong. Later, Sam tells the sheriff that a pipeline burst near the town. Lies. And lastly there’s a plumbing truck outside the home where the clown ghost slaughtered the birthday party (uh... where’s the bodies btw?). So everywhere we have the imagery of pipes bursting and needing to be fixed. Which, water has nothing to do with Hell, not really. I guess the Hell “rip” is kinda acting like a burst pipe?? Water is usually associated with angels/Cas/change tho. My best guess is that it’s repurposed Michael imagery since good ol’ Bel-whatever let us know Michael’s cage door is busted open and he’s just sitting there for now apparently. I’m not confident in my interpretation here at all though. All I can tell is that busted pipes as imagery (something likely associated with lying/wrong) for something is a thing.

In general I’m going to say 15x01 didn’t even feel like a Dabb episode to me. I honestly wouldn’t have guessed he wrote it. Since I didn’t care about the random people under attack (women running and scared and not tougher is always a hard sell for me personally) I found myself frequently saying “why aren’t they doing _______?” a lot during the episode. Ghosts needing to run? Why? I mean, I get the show wanted to show how the magical border worked but this could have been done in many other more effective ways utilizing tension more. It almost felt like the show didn’t know what to do with its S1 self and so visually everything ended up looking so very incredibly cheesy and not just in the way the colors are no longer desaturated. It literally looks like the show can’t go back into what it was. We saw this visually with a sign that cropped up in several shots as Sam and Cas tried to get the girl and her mom to safety. It was a cul de sac sign.

Here’s a video on why cul de sacs as a design became popular. In short, following the rise in popularity of the automobile neighborhoods are designed for safe car use, above all else. They don’t want outsiders passing through and they want things to be slower. When cars got popular streets were redesigned away from the traditional city “grid” (where accidents happened at intersections most commonly) with features that instead had safety in mind. I choose to interpret this as a visual comment on the show’s design. The Sam n Dean show is like a city grid, dangerous, while the Sam, Dean, Cas, Rowena, and Jack show offers more “safety”. That’s why we get it framed like this imo, between Sam and Cas. Things looked one way before Cas, and another after. Things have changed from the grid and they aren’t going back, for a variety of reasons.

Since the episode title recalls the movie Back to the Future I thought we’d have more of a visual/dialogue tie in tbh. I’ll try to talk about what we thematically did tho. BTTF is a movie about a boy overcoming his impulsiveness to be an alpha male who isn’t scared. This wasn’t a goal of the boy himself necessarily but it was an effect had upon him just the same by the story and his experiences. The movie bookends on this character development. In between the movie is about the disconnect of generations, how kids don’t see their parents in the way they see themselves and vice versa. It’s also about trying to set right familial relationships into proper categories. Marty’s mom, Lorene, accidentally falls in love with her own son instead of Marty’s father, George. Marty’s existence is then threatened and he must spend the movie trying to understand his parents and help them fall properly in love, thus saving and changing himself and them. We only get shades of these themes in the episode, like when the demon (in Jack’s body) calls Dean gorgeous and it makes him uncomfortable. Divorce (unhappy marriage) is also touched upon with the sleepover/makeover girls. In BTTF Lorene and George do not have a great marriage as George lacks confidence but Marty’s interactions with George in the past help change this in the future and their family is much better for it.

We are told in PR that Dean’s “conditioning” and him changing from that is a big part of what SPN is and has always been about. This is similar to how Marty must learn to properly deal with bullies (as he sees his father as weak and overcompensates to distinguish himself from him) and not letting them have power over you. Chuck is like Biff in this structural comparison. Biff is someone we watch become depowered over the course of the movie and I feel this is similar to what the show will likely do regarding Chuck. I could go further in depth here but these are the general thematic points this episode alone addresses. Only with Marty’s character development does he stand to have a happy life with his girlfriend, Jennifer. Back to the Future ends with another call to adventure and its script is widely regarded as “perfect” by many. Quite the structural comparison for SPN to be making. We’ll see. We’re currently stuck in the past for now. Onward, to the future...

[thewinchestersgrimm]

SPN Questions Game~

Stole this from @secretsandgreeneyes​ cause it’s Sunday and I’m BORED.

1. When did you start watching Supernatural?

So the funny thing is, is that I watched Bloody Mary (in 2005 I was 12) when it was playing on TV but at the time I thought it was too scary (cause I was a big baby, even though there is nothing wrong with being that; it just wasn’t me) so I never went back to it. It wasn’t until the start of s8 (October 2012) that I actually watched live. I distinctly remember going out during a snow storm to go buy the s7 DVD so i’m guessing November 2011 is when I decided to finally start. 

2. Who is your favorite in TFW?

Sam and Dean cause they are 2 halves of a whole idiot and i love them so much

3. Who is your least favorite in TFW?

CAS LIKE DAMN. I used to really enjoy his character when he was funny and not getting the shit beat out of him and captured and being useless. I honestly blame the writers so much for my now displeasure with Castiel. 

4. Tag your top 5 Supernatural blogs.

@boykingsqueen​ i’m just tagging lauren cause i LOVE HER

5. Who is your favorite character (not including TFW)?

oh fuckkkkkkkkk....... it’s honestly a tie between Donna, Jody, Bobby (not AU!Bobby) and Charlie (again not AU!Charlie).

6. Who is your favorite woman in Supernatural?

FUCK. Okay okay okay imma pick Charlie just cause I am her and she is me 

7. John or Mary?

Is neither an option? Honestly though..... John. While he was aloof and never really there for the boys, he was there more for them than Mary is now. Again I blame the writers

8. What were your first opinions of Sam, Dean, Cas, and Jack?

Sam: what is THAT HAIR? OH MY GOD HE’S FROM HOUSE OF WAX

Dean: Wait is he short, or is the other guy just tall?

Cas: I don’t like your species... when are you gonna go and fuck dean? (cause from tumblr i legit thought cas and dean were a couple. #sogladtheyrenot)

Jack: please don’t make him evil, please don’t make him evil, please don’t make him evil I love him so much already

9. What’s your favorite season?

holy crap these questions are hard. I have to go with s2 just cause a majority of my favourite episodes come from there.

10. What’s your least favorite season?

It’s definitely a tie between 4 and 9. I HATED all the mistrust between the brothers but I loved Powers!Sam. S9 I don’t even remember most of it so that’s saying something right there LOL

11. Opinions on Destiel?

Used to be into it mildly, not anymore. The destihellers ruined that for me and I also have eyes??? Like Dean and Cas don’t have a thing???? if you ship it, it’s no problem. ship away just don’t get pissed off at me cause i don’t agree

12. Do you believe Supernatural queerbaits?

I don’t even know what that is so no? *goes and looks it up* the answer is still no. They make it pretty clear in the show who is gay and who is not and if people can’t see that, that’s on them, but don’t force your opinions on me. Aint nothin wrong for shippin your ships! Again, just don’t get pissed at me cause I don’t agree with them.

13. Seasons 1-7 or 8-14?

okay..... i have to go early spn just cause that’s what the majority of the fanfiction I read is from. HOWEVER, I adored the end of s8 and s11 so...

14. Favorite villain (plot wise)?

I honestly really loved Amara and YED

15. Do you think they should end the Lucifer plot line?

YES HOLY FUCK YES GET WHAT’S HIS NAME OUT OF HERE AND LET SAM BE THE ONE TO KILL THE SON OF A BITCH

16. Who do you think has gone through more trauma (Sam, Dean, or Cas)?

It’s a close tie between Sam and Dean, but I gotta go with Sam. He spent more time in hell, had been possessed by Meg and then Gadreel, Hallucifer nearly offed him, yeah... Sam.

17. What’s your favorite Supernatural episode?

this is just a cruel question. I can narrow it down to 4.....Yellow Fever (s4), Sacrifice (s8) Baby and Red Meat (s11)

18. Do you like case episodes?

I do! It’s what I think makes SPN, SPN, however when they’re stupid ones I catch my self saying WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH ANYTHING. 

19. Who do you relate most to in TFW?

Again, Sam and Dean. I relate to Dean cause I am an older sibling and I am very protective of my younger brother. I also get angry very easy which Dean does too but thats just cause he bottles everything up (aka me). I relate to Sam on an interest level. I love school, I love to read, I love the little things in life. 

20. Why do you like Supernatural?

Sam and Dean’s relationship. I project my self onto them and honestly I feel like they are very much apart of me. When this show ends I’m gonna be a wreck.

21. If you could bring back one character and kill off another who would they be?

100% kill Lucifer/Nick and never let him come back. I would bring back Crowley (cause he was hilarious), John (cause the dynamic would be interesting to see. I GUESS WE’LL GET TO SEE THIS FOR THE 300TH) and my Bobby. 

I only tagged Lauren, but if anyone is bored like me, please feel free to do this as well! have a great night everyone! Imma go watch the Eclipse! 

[fallintosanity]

@shaonharryandpannisim in response to this post!

(WARNING FOR EVERYONE ELSE: EXTREME DEAN AND SHOW NEGATIVITY AHEAD. This is something I’ve been frustrated about for a while, so it’s very ranty, because it would be so fucking easy for the writers to fix it but they don’t because Status Quo Is God. If you don’t want to read a very bitter critique of both Dean’s character and the show’s writing, here’s a subreddit full of cute things you can look at instead.)

Sure, Dean likes to hear that he did good things. Everyone does. But the only person who’s ever praised Cas is Sam, and no one’s genuinely praised Sam on the show that I can think of.

Sam and Dean broke exactly the same number of seals on Lucifer’s Cage. Sam is the only one ever blamed for it, except one manipulative line by Dean in S5. Otherwise, Dean is either the one doing the blaming or standing silent while others do.

Dean gets the credit for saving the world, even though it was Sam who did it. Dean helped, sure, but Sam was the one who overcame Lucifer and dragged two archangels into the Cage. No one on the show has given him credit for this - when the subject comes up, Dean gets the praise. Charlie thanks Dean for saving the world, and says to Sam, “Sorry your girlfriends die a lot.” Even Chuck, who should know better than anyone what exactly happened in Stull Cemetery, gives Dean the credit and praises him for being the one to save the world all the time.

As for who’s done more bad stuff, what counts as “bad” depends entirely on what’s beneficial for Dean:

It’s bad to sell yourself to a demon to save someone you love (John saving Dean via a deal with Azazel), except when Dean does it (selling his soul to bring Sam back).

It’s bad to befriend a demon who’s gone out of her way to help you at great personal sacrifice (Sam and Ruby in S4), except when Dean does it with a demon who openly admits to hating the Winchesters and only being in it to save his own skin (Dean and Crowley in S5).

It’s bad to befriend a monster and let her live when she kills only criminal lowlifes to save her son (Sam and Amy), except when Dean befriends a monster and brings him back from the dead when the monster freely admits to killing humans for fun and food (Dean and Benny).

It’s bad to leave your brother (believed) dead and in Heaven and try to continue living after even when that’s what you and your brother agreed on (Sam and Amelia), except when Dean leaves his brother alive and being tortured for eternity by two archangels in Hell because that’s what they agreed on (Dean and Lisa).

It’s bad to possess a human and use their body against their will (every demon on the show and a lot of angels) except when Dean tricks Sam into being possessed because he can’t stand the thought of living without him (Gadreel).

It’s bad when an external force is causing you to be not yourself and to harm others and it’s wrong for those endangered others to take action to restore you safely (Dean and the Mark of Cain) except when it’s Dean who wants to do the restoring even if it’ll kill you (Soulless Sam).

It’s bad to put your brother at risk in order to take out a much bigger threat even if you know you can cure him (Soulless Sam letting Dean be turned into a vampire) except when it’s Dean getting ready to murder his brother in cold blood in a way that almost certainly can’t be undone (”Close your eyes, Sammy”).

It’s bad when something awful happens to your brother because of you even if you had no say in the matter and you run away and make reckless decisions that endanger yourself (Sam after Dean is killed by hellhounds) except when it’s Dean who knowingly violated Sam and feels guilty and runs away and makes a reckless decision that endangers the entire world (Dean taking the Mark of Cain)

These are the biggest examples of situations where Dean and the narrative frame Dean’s actions as objectively “good” and “right” and Sam’s identical actions as “bad” and “wrong”. Dean’s praises are sung, he’s the hero, he’s the one who gets the long lingering camera shots of his single man-tears even when it’s Sam doing the heroics, Sam being ignored or blamed by the supporting cast, Sam being physically and mentally assaulted by Dean.

I should note, I don’t mean this as picking on Dean-as-a-person. I used to really like Dean; I found his character fascinating. He saw the world in black and white when everything around him was shades of grey, and his early (S1-3) character arcs as he learned to deal with this were sympathetic and fun to watch.

But, starting in S4 when he became the show’s viewpoint character, the writing sort of forgot that he wasn’t the only protagonist and that Sam wasn’t a semi-villanous Sixth Ranger, MacGuffin Girl, or sexy lamp. And when the show did that, it oriented itself not on a relatively objective moral axis, but around the moral axis of Dean Winchester specifically - aka whatever’s most convenient to make Dean look the most like the Righteous Man at any given point. And starting in S8 (looking at you, Carver), this became the defining feature of both the show and Dean’s personality.

Frankly, it’s lazy writing, and I strongly disagree that it in any way has a message that we can still be good even after making a few disasterous decisions. If anyone shows that, it’s Sam, who remains the kindest, gentlest, most honestly good person on the show despite his bad decisions and despite the entire SPN universe shitting on him constantly. If the show actually dealt with this disparity - if it allowed Sam to acknowledge how unfairly he’s treated and react to it - it would be the source of fantastic drama and angst and tension both in the Winchesters’ relationship with each other and their relationships with other hunters. But the show doesn’t, because that’s hard and chick-flick and maybe if we ignore Sam hard enough he’ll vanish and this can go back to being the Dean Winchester show. (did I mention I’m bitter? >.< )

Dean, on the other hand, feels like an example of how the belief that we can still be good after a bad decision can go spectacularly wrong. Dean believes he’s the Righteous Man still, that he maybe slipped up once or twice and did something slightly less than perfect but he’s still Righteous and Good and the Arbiter of What is Just. But this has led him to spiral further and further down a path of self-centered cruelty in the way he treats others, until - as his actions demonstrate over the seasons - he’s more monstrous than half the literal monsters the Winchesters face.

What I would absolutely love to see, but will probably never get, is someone standing up to Dean, throwing every one of his hypocritical actions back in his face, and utterly tearing him down denial by denial, until he has to face what he’s done to Sam and Cas; accept that not only is he not perfect, but he’s deeply flawed and damaging to the people he cares about; and begin to make a change. He, and the writers, have gotten too committed to the idea that Dean Winchester can do no wrong (and that Sam Winchester can do no right). There aren’t any moral questions any more, there isn’t any introspection, there isn’t any wrestling with inner demons - there’s only what Dean says is right and what Dean says is wrong, and it’s so. boring.

*deep breath*

Okay, so that got even more ranty than I was expecting, but hopefully I haven’t scared you off completely. Like I said above, this frustrates me so much in large part because Dean as a character has so much potential. (Sam does, too, and it’s ignored just as much as Dean’s, but that’s a rant for another time.) But the writers just keep ignoring all that glorious potential for drama and moral questioning and meaty plotlines in favor of doubling, tripling, and quadrupling down on the Righteous Man bullshit. The fact that they could do so much more but won’t offends me on a professional, writer-to-writer level as much as it angers me to see characters I love get treated so poorly.

[missjackil]

Winchester Bro-hugs By Season (In-depth study, or I am really bored)

Season 1 - No hugs, but a lot of nice but unnecessary touching. 

Season 2- Still a lot of nice but unnecessary touching, and we are finally introduced to the magic of the Winchester bro-hug in the season finale “All Hell Breaks Loose Pts 1 and 2. Dean gives a heart shattering hug to Sam as he dies in his arms. Sobbing into his lifeless little brother’s shoulder. The first hit of this addictive drug. Then the painfully happy, grateful “Oh Thank God” hug when Sam is alive again. Now we know the Winchesters can hug when they’re happy and sad...the hugs are interchangeable! Now we’re hooked!

Season 3 - Quite a bronantic season, but we get a good dose of touching and bro-cuddles in Mystery Spot when Sam watches Dean die over and over, and it ends in Sam’s adorable, heart felt, ear squshing, “please dont ever leave me again” hug to Dean at the end. However, the worst (best) hug is when Sam hugs Dean and sobs( baby angel tears) on to Dean’s dead body in No Rest For The Wicked. OH the heart break and a whole summer to deal with it!

Season 4 - Starts the season off with Dean returning from Hell, and Sam having been going dark and badass (for good reason) and then sliding seamlessly into “little brother mode” as soon as he realizes Dean is really back. We get a near repeat of the ear squshing “Dont ever leave me again” neck hug, and we have had our fix from that long hiatus wait. Though S4 proved to be a tough season for the boys, there was less affectionate touching, more fist throwing, and no more hugging :(

Season 5 -  More brother drama, less affectionate touching, and unless you throw in the flashback sequence in Swan Song, when Sam remembers the hug he got at the end of Season 2. There are no hugs at all. I loved this season, but I was really disappointed in the lack of affection, especially with what the boys were up against this season, and the show’s speculation that it would likely be the finale season.  Season 6: Right away we have a bro hug when Dean sees Sam is alive in episode 1, but we also see Sam isn’t “feeling” it, and it’s our first sign something is “wrong” with him. We (or maybe just I) felt cheated, like given some bad dope in hopes to cover up the fact its been 2 WHOLE YEARS between bro-hugs! No dice bro! I want the real thing! Fortunately when Sam gets his soul back, he greets Dean with such a sweet, tight hug, its like a getting a shot of the good stuff again, The stuff that got me hooked! However, there after, the boys lacked in affectionate touching.  Season 7- A hugless season again, which shouldn’t have been the case since Sam went insane twice, this should have been hugs out the wazoo! Though there was some wonderful affectionate touches in 7x2 Hello Cruel World, but still, no hugs :(  Season 8 - Just when I thought maybe the boys has outgrown hugs, or maybe the producers thought the viewers did (HOW DARE THEY!) we are given a record 4 yes FOUR bro-hugs in one season! The beautiful reuniting scene when Sam and Dean are just smiles and white teeth and dimples, squeeze each other with all the strength in them! And we probably all love this hug even more because we see how long it actually lasted on the gag reel for the season :D this hug makes me happy! But then the boys fight a lot and its bad, but its good at the same time because they are fighting simply because each felt like they were no longer first in the other’s life. However, the fact they both gave up those who were preoccupying them for each other, proved they are still #1. Taxi Driver, gave us hug #2 when Sam came back from Hell after rescuing Bobby. Dean worried he may have lost him again and squeezed Sam till it hurt. And then in the VERY NEXT EPISODE Dean hugs Sam for no other reason than to let him know he loves him (my heart grows 10 sizes and busts out of my chest!) but the final hug of S8 was heartbreaking. I cant get into it without going full meta on the scene itself but the hug in the church at the end of Sacrifice? Oh Lord... Sam in full little brother mode,crying, shaking, sick, dirty, sweaty and bleeding just melting into Dean’s arms, and Dean squeezing him like nothing mattered in the whole wide world except his brother. I. Just.Can.Not. Season 9- Starts out with Sam close to death. There is a lot of nice touching and affection in 9.1 but no hugs. probably because there’s an Angel possessing Sam now and that would be awkward. But now we’re jonesing because the previous season gave us more than any season has before!! Wheres the bro- love!!! I must give honorable mention to the hug Sam gave Cas in “First Born” it was heart warming indeed and gave us new insight to Cas and Sam’s relationship :) but we dont get a bro-hug till the the season finale when Dean dies in Sam’s arms again. Still heart wrenching, and nearly mirroring the end scene of Season 4. Poor Sammy and his angel tears!!  Season 10 - Really really low on bromance. Most was verbal, but even then it lacked compared to every other season, but we did get a bro hug when Dean killed Cain and Sam hugs him in physical, and emotional support. Holding him up so he didnt hit the floor, and supporting him with “you did it dean, you did it!” (note this is when Jared was accidentally stabbed in the leg as well) but the fact that Dean was nearly about to kill Sam at the end overshadows that hug so much that I almost always forget that it’s there, or the nice hair stroking in The Wurther Project.  Season 11- Was so heavily bromantic in so many respects, that I enjoyed just about everything in that season! The brothers are friends again, and trusting each other. They still bickered some, but thats what they do, even in real life. But the “Baby” episode refreshed my addiction to the Winchester love story so much! It was the first time in ages in which they looked like they really enjoy each others company, and even with all hell breaking loose, they both looked so happy! And can I say falling asleep beside each other in the Impala did things to me! We get a semi hug at the end of that episode when Dean finds Sam again, but the season was so much about how much they still love each other than I nearly forgot how much I need the hugs! The dinner at Jody’s was awesome on so many levels! Sam slumping into the library like a 9 yr old in Just My Imagination was adorable, the whole theme of Safe House and the magical bro-cuddle at the end ALMOST did me in till Red Meat. Red Meat every precious last minute of it!!  Dont Call Me Shurley gave us some wonderful unnecessary bro touching, and a little hair tugging and leg stroking... but ummmm thats for another time ;) the rest of the end episodes were...weird..and OOC to say the least, but then we finally get a beautiful bro hug in the cemetery. The boys cant even look at each other here... look everywhere but each other. Cant believe we are doing this AGAIN! But that hug still meant everything it should have.  Season 12-  WHERE ARE THE FREAKIN BRO HUGS!!!!!! We are HOOKED now and Im literally getting hives from the lack there of! The boys have gotten nice hugs from other people, but they really need to hug each other! They don’t often share the same trauma at the same time, but they did in prison, and how could they not have hugged when Dean found Sam all beaten, tied up and bloody, and Sam finding out Dean is alive? There is probably good opportunity for hugs and affection in Regarding Dean, and I hope I can report on some!  So there it is, a hug break down. If I missed any, let me know and I will make adjustments. Thank you for entertaining my thoughts :D