im bored and i want to talk about spn

Sorry there's another one of these threads but i really want to talk s11 because it's getting really good. there's just so much going on. pls comment
warning: [Spoilers]
supernatural’s ability to self-critique and fess up to terrible eps is a source of constant amusement for me. Robbie dragged the episode, Bugs and it was so funny. There so much shade to Eric Kripke in this ep (11x20)
dean attempting to breathe in the darkness, to join sam in his almost death, was not the following:

• romantic
• a beautiful brother moment

dean has already attempted to commit suicide twice now this season, which quite frankly, to me, seems wildly out of character. i believe, in the past, dean has remarked to someone that he may have had many lows in his life, but he’s never been that low. he always keeps on going.
“but hey!! dean loves sam so much!! he would rather die than be without him!! how beautiful!! i’m so emotional!!!”
dean does loves sam, i will never contest that fact, but this entire season has been attempting to illustrate how their co-dependency is bad. dean would rather sacrifice the entire world than let his brother die, which is a fucking problem. he was just going to forsake cas, saving him, and the world, simply because he didn’t want to live without sam?
i’m tired of that storyline. i think the fans are, too. and i think the writers are trying to address the issues within this toxic relationship the winchesters have built around themselves for the last 10 seasons.
but last night, i saw regression from dean, not progression. it’s sad and fucked up and it made me angry. how dare dean purposefully try to die, forsaking everyone else he cares about, everyone else on the planet, because he wouldn’t leave sam.
sam wouldn’t want that.
he would want dean to move on. to go on. to save the people around them.
but no, no, they have to do this shit again and again.
screw cas, right? if sam is dying, just fuck cas. he doesn’t matter, only sam. i’msick of that mentality. by all means, do your best to try and save your brother, that is important, but sam is not the only person in dean’s life.
stop romanticizing suicide. stop romanticizing what happened last night as a “beautiful brother moment”.
dean attempting, once again, to kill himself should not be labeled anything short of:

• disturbing
• sad
• wrong
• gross

I love the whole god storyline so much!! We found out so much last episode (11x20) Bless Robbie Thompson
“Lucifer was not the villain”
I just realized what Lucifer really is. He’s like God. As soon as Lucifer got out of the cage the first thing he did was appreciate nature, the same thing God now prizes most. Maybe not then, but God admits halfway through the episode that humanity is horrible, Lucifer’s same speech in 11x18. I think God thinks Lucifer isn’t the villain because he’s just like him and he doesn’t want to see himself that way.
God laments not being able to control and change Amara, so he creates new companions in his image and is then upset when they exhibit the same free will. In this way, he and Amara really aren’t any different. It really is just a matter of light or darkness.
I get the feeling that both Lucifer and God’s issue is that they areenvious of humanity, for all their screwedup-ness. Lucifer was jealous that God loved humanity more than the angels, and God is so envious of humanity that he puts on the affectations of a human so thoroughly that he can no longer untangle himself from them- and all the while they both trash-talk humanity like they don’t wish they could be like them.
And God even self depreciates and acknowledges this on some level imo, because he insists also, “Lucifer is not my favorite”. He also he called Lucifer evil incarnate according to the Angels. So:

“He’s not my favorite.”

“He’s evil incarnate.”

“He’s not a villain.”

All in all I think God has issues with himself. To put it mildly.
Characteristics of God,
- has a worlds greatest dad mug
- didn't deny that cas isn't his favourite, even called him a winchester
- defends the devil
- plays the guitar
- has a super cute cat blog
- is bisexual
- salty about humanity
- has a snapchat
- you need glasses to see him and you only see him when he wants you too
- can see him in plain sight
-can sing

And lo, did God, considering the plight of humankind, descend to Earth to raise them from the clutches of Chaos.

He’d like to say that there were a lot of things that led to His Decision, but in the end, there was only one.

It was the thing that caused Him to coddle and create and lock His sister away for her destruction; the thing that left Him crippled at the mere thought of His Children choking on Chaos until it consumes them all, the Winchesters included; the thing that tears him apart with the knowledge that His son—His favourite son—sits trapped inside himself with his power-hungry elder brother while being ripped apart by His sister… the thing that had him listening to an ex-batshit-crazy-angel-turned-human.

Love.

Love for humanity despite their penchant for destruction, love for the experiment that became so much more; love forthe embodiment of His Word, Metatron—wise, brave Metatron—and Castiel. Castiel, His shield, of whom there was nothing particularly special, but who became everything. Who defied the Narrative and wrote his own story in the face of adversity—of impossibility. Castiel failed in his attempts to do good, each failure more miserable than the last, but he never stopped trying. More than that, he did exactly what God commanded his angels to do:

Love.

Castiel fell in love with humanity. He fell in love with PB&Js and cartoons and cute cat videos. He fell in love with a hot mug of coffee and the feeling of a good night’s rest. But mostly, he fell in love with a man. An impossible man, who somehow fell in love with him, too.

The thing the prophets never understood was that none of His actions were ever motivated by a need for worship or obedience, nor were they to satisfy some egotistical or insecure need for attention.

Chuck loves His creations. This is unbridled Life, and it’s a better writer than He’ll ever be… even though He may need to step in and edit every so often to keep the narrative from digging itself into a hole. And hey: an angel falling for a human in every sense of the word? It’s a pretty good story.

Chuck (god) kind of wants to see how it ends.

Okay major grieving from yours truly,
Why isn’t Castiel treated better?
Why don’t Sam and Dean call him? Why don’t they ask him how he’s doing? Why don’t they invite him over for movie night or poker night? Why don’t they let him live in the bunker? Why don’t they tell him thank you? Why does Cas have to be pushed aside in favor of the Winchesters all of the time? Why don’t Sam and Dean help him?

He’s done so much for them.

He’s died for them. He’s blown himself up for them. He’s give up everything for them. Everything. Everyfuckingthing.

But they won’t help him.

It took two seasons to finally get Castiel’s Grace back, but Sam and Dean never helped him. There was never real concern with Castiel’s dying vessel. It’s like that didn’t even matter and was simply an afterthought.
When Charlie smiled at Cas and Cas smiled back, it was just so heartbreaking. When does he ever get a smile from someone so happy to see him? When does he ever get a hug just because that person really wanted to give him one? The answer is never. Cas just… all he gets is pain and it isn’t fair.
For someone that is meant to be a part of the Winchester family, and supposed matter to them, and supposedly Dean needs him… he’s treated awfully like a stranger and I’m just so worried that he’s turned into a plot device and for someone who really loves Castiel, who looks up to him, and he’s their favorite character… it just really hurts to see him treated so badly. And to have your favorite character made into seemingly a fucking convenient plot device, after so much development in the past, it feels like crap. It feels like Castiel fans don’t matter to the writers or to the fandom at all. As if simply by loving Castiel we are inferior and that isn’t fair.
It’s not fair to us.
It’s not fair to Misha.
He puts so much work into Cas and to have him being more or less phased away is just the rotted cherry on top of a pile of crap.
Why can’t Castiel be treated with the respect and love he deserves?
honestly can you IMAGINE Cas, in his current state, being told the things that God told Metatron in that episode? I see people being really angry about it being Metatron instead of Cas but he ALREADY feels worthless and like he doesn’t matter. God is bitter and angry, he didn’t MEAN it when he said Metatron was the closest to the door, and yet he still said it. Metatron had the mental capacity to see that he was just being a dick and closing himself off. Cas is ALREADY depressed. He doesn’t need GOD telling him he’s not special, that humanity is terrible and not worth saving (when all Cas DOES is for humanity). It had to be someone else to reason with God and make him see what the right thing to do is. And I think Metatron was just the right person and I’m so glad the episode did what it did. Not to mention Cas WILL get a scene with God. He’ll get to hash things out, and now he’ll be able to do it with a God who is less bitter and more understanding. Chuck is in the next three episodes and Cas will most likely be back next week. I have 0 doubts that they’ll have a talk.
after 11x20
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The bisaan and Amara
(11x19)
Everyone is rightfully squeeing over hunter husbands, but take a moment to consider that the chitters/bisaan were a parallel to Amara, and that the show couldn’t portray her “bond” to Dean in a creepier way.
The bisaan are not-human things that get inside people and have them breed. It’s the ultimate forced (heterosexual) “union”.
The recap had Amara appear on the screen while Dean’s voice was emphatically saying ‘bad monsters’. And that’s what Amara is, a monster from outside the United States (metaphor for “outside the Winchester’s world”–>outside of God’s creation…) that is trying to force Dean into a bond/union that he doesn’t want.

And oh boy don't even get me started on Metaron's character development. He has changed so much from hating humans to defending them. no one understands how much i loveee character developments


Dean and Sam trying to stop Amara

Some people: Metatron tortured Castiel and stole his grace all because he thought he could be a better God. He doesn't deserve a redemption ark!
Me: Cas popped purgatory so he could soak up all the souls, murdered hundreds of angels in heaven, and threatened to smite Sam, Dean, and Bobby if they got in his way all because he thought he could be a better God which resulted in the leviathan getting loose and he got a redemption arch but alright.
Some people: But Cas trusted Metatron.
Me: Sam, Dean, and Bobby trusted Cas?


AND the samulet is back!! Sam had it the entire time technically since dean threw it away in s5.
EDIT: it has been comfirmed that sam didn't have the samulet??? i do not know
i didn’t know it was possible, but supernatural has laid a solid foundation for rebuilding the relationship between dean and cas. there has been so much shit building between them and they never talk about it. for a while i thought they never would. and how can these characters realistically just move past all the fights, the yelling, the dismissals from the person they supposedly care so much about? yes they can share a manly nod and keep it moving, but if this thing is really GOING ANYWHERE? that’s not enough to build on. there has to be acknowledgment and healing. so they took cas away. and they KEPT him away. dean has agonized over it for half a season incredibly effectively. literally his central plot in the second half has been “cas is gone and i will not rest or be happy until he’s back.” more than amara, more than the pending apocalypse, dean’s personal journey the second half has been about his fight for cas. he’s atoning for the way he’s treated his friend so that when he gets him back, things will be different.

If you have questions for me, or want to talk about anything, please feel free!!
There is so much I dissect from TV shows especially Supernatural, I love film/acting/directing and everything that goes into it.

 

Hey look at me, I have more to talk about and deleted a post so I can talk about it. i'm a lameo and i love film ! pls read these bc i would love feedback so much!
Metatron reading Chuck's two most recently finished chapters, 10 and 11; how their titles relate to the seasons; and how Chuck was in the middle of writing chapter 12 (we're almost done w/11, and 12 is next obv)
the divine intervention one loosely related just to the end of the episode, but I didn’t make the connection with how they do line up with the seasons…

So season 10 would be “why I never answer prayers, and you should be glad I don’t” and I guess we could look at it like that was a season which was spent like 99% looking for answers to the Mark of Cain problem as the main plot

of course literally no one seemed to know - even Cain who the thing ended up named after - what would happen if you actually managed to get rid of it. Maybe the only 3 playing pieces in the game who could have told them were Lucifer, Death (who did, once he was dragged into it, but it wasn’t his place in a way? At least not to interfere until directly asked) and of course God, who seems to be very much implicated and AWARE of it in the whole thing in the way he talks about Lucifer in that bit when he and Metatron talk about if he was a favourite or not… Like, he knows Amara is his responsibility (hence I’m agreeing with everyone who says he let he get free thinking it was time to end it all along)

No matter what Chuck says about Sam being to blame for Amara running around now, if he’d come and given them the information they needed about the consequences that only he really knew about (as someone who was in a position to know exactly what they were doing and pop in any time to warn them) he could have changed the way thing happened even without divine intervention, just if we take the research into the Mark as an unasked prayer with a sort of pending offer for him to answer it… Basically, a time when just talking to them and answering questions/prayers could have helped

But he did make it about Sam, like “the world would still be spinning with demon!Dean” or whatever he said meaning that the answer he would have given would have been not to do the thing, that the answer that all of Creation would be inevitably undone by removing the Mark would not have been the answer Sam wanted to hear.

Then season 11 is “divine intervention and why I avoid it at all costs” and of course the whole season has been structured around waiting for God to come back and help - from very early on even before Amara was confirmed as his sister we had Sam’s visions mistakenly believed to be from God so acting as a false lead but to a true end? And now God’s shown up, and in that last moment of the episode, actually intervened in major plot happenings (I’m seeing him as Chuck in season 4-5 where he gave them info from his visions more as a helping hand especially when they asked first, sort of guiding them and letting them use him as a resource but not just showing up and properly deus ex machina-ing everything)

I’m agreeing with the speculation I’ve seen so far that he won’t actually be able to just deus ex machina the ending of the season in the tidy way he fixed everything here - it has to end on a more ironic note than that because that sort of storytelling just doesn’t fly any more, and he AND the writers know that… But of course his presence at the moment IS divine intervention, and so the “why” for him avoiding it presumably will come with actual repercussions/issues… the biggest one the meta way the writers work around the problem of God being introduced now being a deus ex machina for the next 3 episodes - how do you stop him fixing everything

which is why I suspect even if I’m not convinced he’ll turn out totally evil, he’s going to be extremely unhelpful or else there’ll be a big price. I’m thinking of season 7, which resolved using a god weapon and chucked Dean and Cas into Purgatory, or season 8 which also tried to use god level magic to achieve a goal, and nearly took Sam out with it. His power seems to come with serious side effects, so divine intervention even historically on the show has been a serious double edged sword… And yet we’re set up for the end of this season in a way where it’s the most obvious answer and all the writers can do is subvert it…

I think the idea of Metatron reading and crying over chapter 12 is interesting and knowing the ending for the whole show (if it does end in twelve - the comments from the recent convention sound like this show may end up going indefinitely :p) although I think from context of what the story is about and the way he signed off with that song, God’s presumably just written his way to the end of season 11 and Metatron just knows the next few episodes… Hm. It’s metaphorically interesting anyway, but may end up meaningless if season 12 isn’t the end. (s12 is not the end of spn) Although I suppose that chapter could hold the answer to how season 12 STARTS depending on how this season is cliffhangered.

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Tomorrow (S11 x ep 21, hopefully castiel gets saved/ejected from lucifer or so help me)
I hope Castiel gets to meet Chuck because I can barely comprehend the emotional wreck I will be.

Castiel, the one angel who took his Father’s order to love humans so seriously. Remember the angel who sat on a park bench and looked around at this father’s human creations and called every one of them a work of art? He’s the angel who refused to kill firstborns in Egypt and cures random babies in parks. He’s in such awe of his father’s creations, and not just humans, but he apologizes to pigs before slaughtering them for a ham sandwich and is enamored with bees. He kept faith in God long after every other angel had lost it, searching the universe for Him with Dean’s amulet, eventually to have his faith shaken by his failure. He gave his life for his father’s mission multiple times and was brought back without being told why. He met Chuck face to face and died at His side defending the humans as God commanded. He became human and tried praying, questioning if his Father was still there and still listening. And he tried to restore his Father’s home to unite his family of angels.

What a complicated relationship Cas has had with God! He loves his Father so much and at the same time has very justified reasons to be angry and upset with Him. I really want a conversation between them where Cas gets to express all of his emotions - from the anger, fear, hurt, awe and love. I want to see the tables turned and God has to ask an angel for forgiveness rather than the other way around.
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Last week (s11 x ep 20, god!!)
“IT’S NOT OVER FOR YOU, DEAN.”
You know, there is so much more to be said about this moment when the infected Deputy Harris delivers Amara’s message to Dean, because there are so many ways to look at it, but the one thing that stood out to me in this regard with the focus on utter destruction and complete annihilation within the episode, is how there is such twisted irony in these words.

Because last season Dean was told that he’d witness how everything would fall away, how in the end he’d end up alone with all his loved ones long gone but him still alive curtesy of the mark, how he inevitably then would probably also witness the slow but sure destruction of earth.

And now here we are, one season later, Dean’s no longer immortal, no longer carries the mark, but is bound to the original mark and the prospect of utter destruction is staring down on him just the same. Cause even if all falls away and ceases to exist, Amara would save Dean. He can’t win.

And that’s where it gets interesting. God/Chuck said he thought he could teach his sister and make her see something more in creation, but that it was impossible. That it’s a useless effort. I think he may have been wrong. Cause I don’t think in any of the universes she destroyed that he had built, she had held on to one thing, one being in it that she would save and make an exception for. But now she does. And I sadly think in part that may be her demise, though I don’t think God plans to survive this end confrontation given what he said this episode…

Chuck’s impression of his sister wrong.

He said she was unable to see what he saw in creation, but only ever destroyed everything he built - due to her being “nothingness” by default. He thinks his sister is still the same after all those years, but I think all the interactions between Dean and Amara - no matter how unsettling they may have been in terms of Dean’s agency being overstepped and his free will being in peril - showed clearly there is something very definitely different now to her annihilating his creations eons back.

Because now she cares. Admittedly about just one person aside from herself, but that arguably seems more than ever happened before. And it’s not just anyone, it’s a human being of her brother’s creation she feels compelled to protect, who she feels inexplicably drawn to, who she will save even if everything else will “go away”: Dean Winchester.

So yes, imo Chuck got it wrong about his sister. (even tho I don't like her) And it’s this very connection, Dean being centerpiece, the middleman between Darkness/Amara and God/Chuck that will have Dean caught in the crossfire in some fashion, because by all means he not only is the connecting bit between two deities, but he also proves to be the exception to the rule.
Interactions between Amara/Dean

 

Hi, again this is super important ( @Aiden said I can double post if it's on topic and this is on topic so yeah. I had to many characters to post them together)
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I know that this is extremely topical and relevant to the current plot on the show, but I’m going to talk about it anyway.
The burger date.

The scene in Andrew Dabb’s The Things We Left Behind, directed by one of the few people involved with the show that have come out and said that Destiel is not a thing that the show is doing(Sure, Jan). The scene between Dean and Castiel has been analyzed to death, and there were several comprehensive posts also comparing the scene between Dean and Castiel to the scene between Castiel and Claire in both composition and content.

But one thing that I don’t remember reading, that I feel is missing, was a comparison between the scene of Dean and Castiel at the diner and the scene between Sam and Dean in the bunker earlier in the episode. And I think this is crucially important.

I first started thinking about this in response to questions by Sam-girls as to why the scene of Sam preparing the grilled cheese sandwich for his brother Dean was cut out of the episode. There was a response by someone involved with the show (I want to say Jim Michaels?) that it was cut for time which didn’t satisfy the fans demanding answers, because there were so many other things that could have been cut for time in the episode. And I agree with these people, although do not share their upset over the scene being cut.

Because cutting the scene of Sam preparing the sandwich and having Sam deliver the sandwich to Dean brings the two scenes into sharper contrast, and we need to contrast the two scenes.

We cannot understand one without the other. We need both scenes to get the full impact of the other. Andrew Dabb, as I’ve discussed many, many times in the past, loves narrative symmetry and his scenes are always in conversation with and complementing one another. And these two scenes are especially dependent on each other, the first interpreting the second and vice versa.


So, what we learn from the first scene is that Dean hasn’t been eating for a long time. Sam doesn’t prepare food for Dean. Sam doesn’t concern himself with Dean’s eating usually. Dean is the big brother that takes care of his little brother Sam and makes sure that Sam is fed.

Andrew Dabb has written more about Sam and Dean’s childhood than just about any writer on the show, has established the canon of their childhood in which Dean took care of Sam, was parentified. It was in Andrew Dabb’s Clip Show that we saw Dean still take care of Sam as an adult, making sure that he got something to eat even when they had nothing to eat in the bunker. And this scene is in sharp contrast with what we have learned about the boys in the past. This is the first time we see Sam take care of Dean’s physical needs. That is how concerned Sam is for Dean. This is to emphasize how long it has beensince Dean last ate, last concerned himself with food, how small of an appetite he has under the thrall of the Mark of Cain.

Dean is not hungry. He doesn’t seek out food. But he eats the sandwich that Sam has made for him – in order to avoid having a conversation with his brother.

The line that laid the foundation for Sam and Dean’s scene, which lingered over it, was spoken by Sandy the social worker just prior to the first shot of Dean in the episode [about Claire]: “She doesn’t need a friend, she needs a father”. We are meant to ask of Dean what he currently needs – is it a father? Is it a friend? Is it a brother? Or something besides?

Sam, Dean’s brother, attempts to mother Dean, and that is the wrong answer. Dean doesn’t need Sam to be his mother. It’s a bust. Dean doesn’t respond but withdraws.

In the scene, Sam and Dean sit at the same table but there is a distance between them. Dean uses the Three Stooges film he’s watching to build and maintain a wall between them. While they are sitting down together at the same table, watching the same film, laughing together, they’re not actually connecting. There’s a disconnect between them. Dean is avoiding the exploration of his own inner feelings, his own dark thoughts, by escaping into watching a comedy, disguising his true thoughts and feelings into levity, which is what he does. We’ve known since the first season that when he’s really hurting, when he’s truly in pain, he will make a joke out of it. It’s how he deals.

There’s a disconnect between Sam and Dean while Dean eats the sandwich Sam prepared for him. Their conversation tends toward the trivial. Dean is not hungry. They are both dishonest – Sam telling Dean that he’s glad he’s feeling better when what he is is concerned for his brother, and Dean letting Sam think he’s doing better when he’s genuinely not. When, and we learn this in the other scene, what Dean is thinking about inside while he laughs on the outside, is that Sam will never be able to stop him when the moment will inevitably come that Dean Winchester will need someone to stop him. That is the subtext in the scene.


“Better than ever,” Dean tells to Sam. It is every inch a bold faced lie. Dean is not honest with Sam. Dean is not even honest with the sandwich while he greets it with “Hello, beautiful!” And Sam is not honest with Dean, his gaze lingering on the Mark of Cain, clearly worried but keeping it all inside.

Sam returns to being Dean’s brother by teasing him, asking him whether he needs some alone time with the sandwich, as he makes some obscene sounds of pleasure acquainting himself with it. This is also in contrast with the other scene.

They sit together. They laugh. They share a picturesque broment. And everything about it rings hollow. Everything about it is a lie.


In the other scene, Sam doesn’t ask Dean whether he needs alone time with Castiel. Sam can tell that he does, and agrees basically to work the case on his own to let Dean have the time alone with his friend that he clearly wants and needs.

Everything in the diner scene is an inversion of the scene between Sam and Dean.

Where Dean had avoided Sam’s company in the bunker they shared together, Dean seems to have dropped everything the minute Castiel called to get to him Where Dean pretended for Sam, he has no artifice with Castiel. He tells his honest thoughts, he shares his feelings. They don’t laugh at something outside of themselves, but share humor between them. They connect.
Dean seems to have dropped everything the minute Castiel called to get to him

Dean is hungry. He’s really hungry. He’s not pretending to be hungry to avoid a conversation. He’s hungry to a point that he does something he knows will look very strange to the normal, every-day on-lookers in the restaurant. He lies neither to Castiel nor to Castiel’s sandwich.
It is Castiel that attempts to avoid having a real conversation with Dean initially, making small-talk on the ketchup.It’s Dean that insist they have a real conversation about what’s bothering him. It’s Dean that insists on a real, genuine, honest connection between them.
It is Castiel that attempts to avoid having a real conversation with Dean initially, making small-talk on the ketchup
Dean looks at Castiel and tells him, “Hell, yes” in tones that have more want in them than his dishonest “Hello, beautiful” had had previously.
Dean is interested in how Castiel is doing, not feigning interest. He wants to know how Castiel is doing where he had no interest in how Sam was doing, where he avoided his rather obviously hurting little brother earlier.

I want to emphasize this: the fact that Sam actually made a sandwich for his big brother Dean whose nutrition he has never felt responsible for in his life means that Dean had not been eating, had not been hungry, for long enough of a time for Sam to have paid attention to it, for Sam to have become worried about it. This same Dean eats two sets of burgers and fries, the epitome of a hungry, hungry hippo.


The contrast is of utmost importance.

They have a normal conversation, and then they have a deep, emotional conversation, and the question lingering over all of this is whether what Dean needs is a friend and a confidant over a brother at this moment – or whether it is something else besides that he needs. Unlike Claire he does need a friend absolutely, of this much we can be certain.

Castiel sits on the same side of the table that Sam had occupied at the bunker, but where Dean had been turned toward his lap-top his entire body is open and facing his friend, leaning toward him like a dove huddling for affection.


Where Sam did not ask Dean how he was doing but spoke what they both knew was a lie about Dean looking better, Castiel asks directly. And initially, Dean does lie. It’s a reflexive lie, it’s his instinct. But where Castiel doesn’t press him but merely gives him space, he does fess up to the truth of what he’s feeling.

Where it was dark in the bunker, it’s very bright in the diner. Where Dean was wrapped in dark tones, he’s now shed his dark cloak. Where he avoided Sam’s gaze, he looks Castiel directly in the eyes, his gaze firm except for when the bashfully look away. We cannot understand the full impact of one scene without the other.

And don’t mistake this contrasting of the scenes for a competition on Dean’s affection. This is not a Dean-off. The scenes are contrasted to highlight the theme of “Love… and love” in the narrative, of what we were told over and over during the tenth season. Dean loves both Sam and Castiel. Both Sam and Castiel love Dean. These things are truths that we hold self-evident. But they are not one and the same, love… and love.

Sometimes a girl needs both a father and a friend. And sometimes a guy needs both a brother and… that very loud negative space.


That his entire body is crying out for.

I guess this is the whole MoC arc (… or tbh… Carver era) - Dean is Not Fine, but when he’s with Cas… he’s Dean. Even when he’s as less Dean as he can be (10x22?) Cas still has that effect on him (his whole Deanness in the finale is born from the end of 10x22). Love 1 isn’t enough for Dean to be Dean-Dean, to be Fine. He needs Love 2 too. Clearly it’s not easy because it’s not a story about Love and Love, it’s a story about Love Heartbreak and Love, but we’re getting there. I also like the way they’ve tried to communicate the point that love isn’t a zero sum game with Dabb’s “Love… and love” and Carver’s “Love, heartbreak, and love”. Filial love can make romantic love stronger just as romantic love can strengthen a filial bond. Because it introduces the concept of choice to both kinds of love, and a love that is chosen is a stronger bond. Also it looks like Dean change his shirt because he was going met up with Cas. So…



don't yell at me pls. im v annoying

 

i want to watch supernatural :)

 

You totally should! Season 11 is almost over.
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Of love and... love - they aren’t the same thing
One of the things that seems to be a recurring theme in recent episodes is SPN showing the contrast between how Sam handles Castiel’s situation and how Dean does. And through this, we also see Sam getting an education in the heartbreak of Dean at his most raw, and by extension, the audience is getting this same education.

It really starts in The Vessel after the Winchesters learn that Cas has said “yes” to Lucifer. Sam tries to tell Dean that Cas might not want to come back since he did say yes. He is practical and understanding of his friend’s choice.

Contrast that with Dean who is in denial and having no part of rationality. He’s like nope no way no how would Cas voluntarily say no to expelling Lucifer. He always comes when I call and dammit, I’m calling! Sam is also witness to every one of Dean’s heartbreaking expressions as he learns about Casifer. These two aren’t mourning together for the loss of their friend. It’s much more one sided, with Sam consoling Dean, every time, because we are meant to see that Dean is the one hurting the most over Cas and Dean who has the deepest bond and is thinking with his heart.



Plus, this episode starts Sam’s (and the audiences) education into how strong this bond between Dean and Cas is. First, Cas manages to break the control of the most powerful archangel ever to fight for Dean. Then, Lucifer shows Sam exactly what he can do to manipulate Dean by changing his voice and doing the heartfelt “Dean” and fucking heart eyes.


The next episode is Beyond the Mat where Sam’s glimpse into his brother’s heart continues. Once again we are not seeing both brothers equally worried about Cas. We are seeing one brother reassuring the other, who is practically despondent. Not to mention Sam, once again tells Dean that maybe Cas doesn’t want to be saved, which is something Dean can’t even comprehend and adamantly insists that he does want to be saved, even if he doesn’t know it. Again, a stark contrast to how the brothers are dealing.



And don’t even get me started on Sam watching Dean fangirl like crazy over Gunner and the parallels between Sam meeting his “first crush” and Dean meeting…. well, we’ll just let the audience fill in this blank. As cute as Dean is in this gif, keep an eye on Sam’s reaction to his brother. This whole episode was filled with these revealing glances.


The next episodes, Safe House and Red Meat are both much more brother-centric so we didn’t get as many insights into Dean’s emotional state, but both episodes start off with Dean again being pretty despondent and Sam having to drag him out of the bunker to a hunt to keep his mind off Cas. In Red Meat he doesn’t even want to take time go to on the hunt, but send someone else so they can concentrate on Cas but Sam is the one who pushes them to keep hunting. And once again there is a stark contrast between Sam, whose role is to console Dean and give him hope and Dean, who is an emotional wreck over Cas. Just look at the differences in their body language below.



And where do I even start with Hell’s Angel? The entire thing was a study in the difference between Sam and Dean handling the Cas situation and Sam watching Dean’s torment. First is the huge contrast in the emotional stake each brother has. Sam is the calm and reasonable one who suggests they use Lucifer in Cas’ vessel to kill Amara, even though it could harm Cas. Compare that to Dean who get’s emotional, refuses to risk Cas, and even gets angry at Sam for calling Cas’ vessel “it.” And Sam responds by saying they should make the smart choice rather than the heart choice. And that’s it right there, folks - the disparity between Sam being smart and Dean being all heart where Cas is concerned. Dean’s reactions are nothing but heart this whole episode.


Again, watching Sam’s face though this episode is amazing. His reactions to Dean are what are important. This episode, I think reveals to much to him about his brother’s heart and state. As Dean emotionally calls out to Cas with tears in his eyes, Sam watches all of this and by the end of the episode, he isn’t even going to argue reason with Dean because I think he’s starting to get that there is something much deeper for Dean than for him where Cas is concerned.


Which brings us to The Chitters. SPN followed pattern and began the episode by once again showing us that Sam is handling the Cas situation with cool reason while Dean is a mess. Dean isn’t sleeping. He is spending all of his time worrying about Cas and this is the look on his face when Sam tries to give him a positive pep talk about saving the angel. I swear I can feel his heart breaking from here.


And during this episode, Sam is once again getting more and more insight into his brother (as is the audience). Sam watches Dean’s reaction as he hears that the hunters are a couple and I’m pretty sure it’s telling to Sam that Dean’s first reaction is to ask what its like to settle down with a hunter. If Dean thought that Jessy and Cesar were like he and Sam, he wouldn’t have asked this question. But the fact that he did feel the need to ask says that this is something he doesn’t feel he has experienced and wants to understand.

This is a very different reaction that Sam has gotten from Dean any other time settling down has been mentioned. Dean usually blows it off, telling Sam that he doesn’t think that’s something that he can ever have in his life like he did inBaby. But suddenly when he sees a couple of male hunters making a relationship work his first inclination is to ask how they do it. It’s a complete 180 from his usual reaction and it has to have stood out to Sam.

Plus, I find the conversation at the end of the episode yet another example of Sam seeing something new in Dean. They make the decision together to ask Jessy and Cesar to help them hunt but as soon as Dean hears that they are going to stop hunting he tells them he doesn’t need help, even though Jessy offered. This again got a reaction from Sam. Sam knows something is different with Dean. He was moved by these hunter’s story and, although Dean won’t admit it out loud, his actions are very telling. This is what he wants for himself as well.


Ever since Cas said yes to Lucifer, we have been getting the same pattern episode after episode. That patters directly contrasts Sam’s concern for the mission and calm reason where Cas is concerned against Dean’s heartfelt pain, impassioned pleas to Cas, and his devastation over the situation. It is very clear that these two men have different feelings towards Cas. Yes, they both love him, but there is love and there is… love.

And as we are watching this contrast, we are also watching Dean reveal more of his bond with Cas to Sam. Sam sees Lucifer using that bond to manipulate Dean. He sees Dean’s less than straight crush on Gunner. And he sees Dean fighting for Cas again and again, following his heart rather than his head.

This all feels very deliberate and very strategic steps leading to a particular conclusion. I certainly hope that conclusion is Dean and Cas revealing to one another how much they love one another. It sure looks that way to me. I am remaining very cautious about my optimism, but zheesh! All this has to lead somewhere! Once or twice is just to get your attention, but to repeat the same pattern for 6 straight episodes… that’s freaking neon billboards with flashing rainbow lights screaming pay attention!
I’ve always said that Carver is working toward an audience reaction of FINALLY OMG! for a Dean/Cas reveal, as opposed to WTF WHERE DID THAT COME FROM?????
And this is exactly what he’s been doing when he’s had Sam reassure Dean every episode since they found out about Lucifer possessing Cas that they’ll get Cas back. He knows the folks in the orchestra seats figured it out three seasons ago, and now he’s pitching it for the people in the back row. *G*
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You were gonna choose Amara over me—-Sam (Don’t call me Shurley)

You know what’s sad about this? Dean has always, always chosen Sam over everything. Dean sold his soul for Sam, Dean thanked and accepted Ruby, a demon, just bc she saved Sam’s life, Dean said no to Michael and rejected him bc he believed in Sam, Dean worked for Crowley to help Sam, Dean died and faced Death to get Sam’s soul back.

Dean sacrificed Benny for Sam even-though Sam was a real jerk to both of them. Dean promised Sam in Sacrifice that he won’t put anyone or anything before Sam, he promised that he won’t value anyone as much as he values Sam, he promised that he would trust Sam regardless of the circumstances.Remember how demon-blood addict Sam chose Ruby and strangled Dean in S4? Compare that with S10 finale when Death ordered Dean to kill Sam, when Dean was barely human, and see how even then, Dean chose Sam.

Dean has always, always put Sam before everything. Sam knows this, Sam knows that Dean was conditioned into this mindset from childhood. Sam knows about how much Dean has sacrificed for him, how Dean left his normal (Sonny, Lisa) for Sam, how he sacrificed his friends for Sam. Sam knows that Amara’s bond with Dean is not something Dean can control, or not something Dean wished for. In fact Sam knows that he released the darkness not Dean, he knows that he brought this on Dean.

Sam knew all of this and he still accused Dean of choosing Amara over him. Yes, Sam was infected, but like in episode Asylum, the infection was only amplifying/mirroring Sam’s thoughts. After all Dean’s done for him, Sam still believes that Dean will choose Amara over him. Dean has given up everything for Sam, Dean has literally sold his soul for Sam, has killed his friends for Sam, has changed himself for Sam, has killed himself for Sam. What more could Dean give? What more does Sam expect from Dean? What more Dean can possibly do to convince Sam? Sam has used Dean’s fears and insecurities against Dean in the past, has manipulated Dean into becoming all about Sam and Dean has proven again and again that he will always sacrifice his everything for Sam. But nothing is ever enough for Sam, as I pointed out nothing Dean could offer is ever deemed enough. I find this extremely disconcerting.
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here’s a thing I find interesting: this framing began as an SFX cheat. TPTB needed to depict Cas’s supernaturally abrupt method of departing a scene; either they didn’t have the budget to actually show Cas winging away, or they preferred a more subtle and suggestive approach. (Having now had an on-camera angel teleport in ‘The Vessel’, I know the subtler suggestive approach is my preference.) What they decided on was the following sequence of shots:

1) Medium shot of both Dean and Cas in the frame.

2) Closeup on Dean/camera follows Dean as he walks or turns away from Cas, cutting Cas out of the frame.

3) Wide shot of Dean alone, emphasizing the empty space where Cas used to be.

There are some slight variations in there–for example, sometimes they cut directly from a shot with Cas in it to the wide shot without Cas–but generally, this was TPTB’s decision on how to exeunt Cas. It was a budget-conscious, technically straightforward, functional way to place Cas physically in the scene/narrative.

HOWEVER. This framing has now come to be used in scenes that Castiel is not, and never was, a part of physically at all. In the last two gifs here (another example would be Dean praying to Cas in his room at the bunker at the end of ‘Remember the Titans’), the wide shot of Dean alone doesn’t depict Cas’sdeparture, but rather his absence. The empty space isn’t emphatic because it’s where Cas used to be, but because it’s where Cas should be. It emphasizes that Dean wants him to be there.

So, this visual technique that used to be all about locating Castiel physically has become a visual technique for locating Dean emotionally. And I think that’s nifty. :)

 

Too many words in this. I need reading glasses... or an excuse.

 

Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. I've got no where else to go and I spend time here so I guess that I'd post it here! Dissecting parts of film is so much fun.

 

Np.
I have this amazing ability... SKIMMING!

 

Last nights episode, 11x21. I don't know, it was all over the place and so was I. I liked it.
Amara is literally like the female version of Kilgrave. However they try to portray this situation the fact remains that Dean doesn't have any free will when it comes to her and that makes him a victim and Amara his abuser. I'm okay with the whole god's sister unleashing nothingness in the world thing but her interactions with Dean and this whole arch is just so uncomfortable to watch. I just feel like Amara could have been this amazing female villain but instead its just…*sigh* a love interest honestly? I’m not sure how else to put it. Yeah being god’s sister and all that is fine but like the whole “connection” with Dean is just so cringy to me.
Loathe as I am to defend Buckleming , like, enough I went to get a cup of tea and have a hot bath to fortify myself before typing this next sentence… I really, personally, didn’t feel it was as bad as all that? There was so many things wrong with the episode
They used Dean’s concern about Cas as his primary motivation to get stuff done through the episode, including stuff which made me feel like they were honestly trying to address past mistakes - their own and others’, because I felt a really strong parallel to 10x23 with Dean seeing the beaten up Cas in the mirror there - except without any other random bloke with him to lessen the fact that Dean was JUST concerned about Cas, as there’s no way he’d have an emotive response to seeing Lucifer hurt or have any personal guilt about that, and Amara even pointed out how Cas was being hurt, making the hurt factor about Cas and not Lucifer. It was such a strikingly similar visual but left to speak for itself, that tbh in my notes I did kind of just blame it on the director, but they did have to write it in there in the first place, never mind how it was presented. So they actually had me on good faith with them and the Destiel stuff from pretty early on.
At the conversation you’re presumably referring to, Dean sounds resentful and hesitant to say “get Chuck to use [Lucifer] to fight her” and I think there are missing details to this moment if you just glance over the top of it, which I genuinely don’t think Buckleming forgot, as they were happily referencing their past episodes and others’ without coddling flashbacks or even too much anvil dialogue to remind us of a thing that happened, so it felt like they were strongly working on the assumption anyone who got this far in the show remembers past canon quite well… (It was weirdly un-like them in that respect) But the details I’m thinking about were only from 11x18 - literally their last episode and in terms of Amara and Casifer stuff, practically a 2-parter with this episode
Even if these details weren’t mentioned in the episode, the recap at the start felt the need to show us what state Cas was in inside Lucifer (something that, as we didn’t see Cas at all this episode, was entirely flavour), and Dean yelling that they’d only use Lucifer *after* they took him out of Cas and put him somewhere else. This was put in the recap and ALSO wasn’t of any surface relevance to the episode. However, I think they did not forget writing that themselves only 2 episodes ago, and so in that moment when Dean announces the plan I felt like it was a compromise he was having to make to ensure that Cas got rescued…
Based on 11x18 I felt like Dean was writing the terms and conditions in his head, ready to spring on them once they’ve accomplished Step 1 and recovered Casifer, the next step for Dean is splitting them back in to Cas and Lucifer? He knows what an argument that derailed into last time, and so - and there was so much unwillingness in his voice as he did it - he proposes a straightforward plan to use Casifer, while all his actual ACTIONS rather than his WORDS are built around his concern for Cas, even risking himself to meet Amara to give the others the chance to get Lucifer as he’s willing to play such high stakes to get the job done. All his motivation we were shown on a personal level was about rescuing Cas such as the way Amara showed him that glimpse of Casifer, or how he was trying to bring up his concern to Sam about it afterwards, even being honest right away that she had got in contact with him.
It seemed too personal, to me, to *just* be about how they were discussing that God and Lucifer had to work together and that was why they needed to save Lucifer - Dean’s investment we were shown was never anything to do with that despite what was discussed as what we were shown was still his concern about Cas? I thought considering the amount of plot running around going on around him, they managed to keep Dean fairly focussed on this subplot and that was what it was built on?
I’m not saying I super duper trust them right now and I know we tend to be more critical of them for good reason, but I find myself in the really weird place where I actually didn’t think they were totally terrible and while it really felt like one of their episodes, at least for my eyes on the first watch, they managed to not fuck it up? I had way more criticism about 11x18 than I do for this one…
I actually kind of love that Dean didn’t mention Cas to God. here Two episodes ago, Dean established that Amara has issues with God and Lucifer and that Cas “wouldn’t even register.” It’s not a stretch at all for Dean to think the same thing about God. Dean doesn’t know that Cas is actually God’s favorite. Dean doesn’t know (he might suspect) that God rebuilt Cas “more times than he can count.” Dean legitimately thinks that God doesn’t give a shit about Cas.
So when Dean points out to God that Amara has “… Lucifer,” (that pause was important) Dean thinks he’s being sneaky. He thinks he’s manipulating God.
Dean was trying to manipulate God into saving Cas.
The people that make the “previously” on are very good at establishing the tone of an episode because they know where it’s going, even beyond the episode so it’s worth noting. Cas got mentioned directly and alluded to indirectly a lot.
The episode was about God’s family. His fraught relationships with Lucifer and Amara. Lucifer has always been paralleled with Sam. They both loved and looked up to their fathers and were used by their fathers in a greater mission then were kind of cast aside because their dads loved another more, or at least wanted them to bow down to that other creation. That being Dean/Humanity. And the truly chosen angel loves those things…and the Angel that hates them is wearing his face.
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There were quite a few good parts in this episode, especially the acting in this one scene. I liked most of the episode but the writing for some reason angered me.




11x21 “All in the Family”
“People prayed to you. People built churches for you and fight wars in your name and you did nothing.”
I LOVED that Jensen decided to go the emotional way here and not the way it was scripted as gruff and angry. It has way more impact this way. Spoken silently, calmly. Furthermore the way Dean sits there makes me rather emotional. Back against the wall, on the stairs… he just looks so small, so young in a way and just so disillusioned and defeated. And I’m glad God had to hear this. Though I have to admit Dean wording it this way makes me flash back to 11x09 “Oh Brother Where Art Thou” and how Amara talked about her brother. I don’t think that’s accidental… And it surely makes Dean feel all the more sympathetic towards Amara feeling betrayed and let down by God, which is exactly how Amara feels. In any case though Chuck bringing up John here when Dean tells him that it looks like “he left them” imo fits rather well into how we saw Chuck/God behave last episode too: projecting. Taking no responsibility or at least being open minded enough to admit that he made mistakes…. Anyway, Jensen killed it here. Acting wise, body language wise and voice wise.
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11x21 “All in the Family”
“Occasionally I do answer a prayer.”
I really liked this scene. There was so much tension in that moment. So many unspoken words, so many barely contained emotions involved. How long must it have been since these two saw one another? Millenia. And just as many years of bad water under the bridge…. And I love their expressions here. Both Rob and Misha nailed it imo. You can see how much changes in their whole posture and facial expression once God has healed Lucifer. Whereas before their interaction had something very vulnerable, something like “I’m sorry”, especially with the way Lucifer almost hides from God’s gaze behind that wall and Chuck’s expressions seem soft. Once Lucifer is put back together none of that is still there, but something more challenging and sinister. Not going to lie, I can’t wait to see more of this.

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i am going to trash the show right now.
the writing on this show is so inconsistent honestly it's like each team of writers for an episode has never corresponded with the rest of the writers or even bothered to watch the previous episodes. sometimes i just picture them turning in a script the day before shooting and theres no review of plot of consistency and they just!!!!! “go for it guys good luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”. i think the only qualification for the scripts is cas being in pain. it’s just kinda weird bc like instead of developing cas’ character and giving him a story and discrediting the whole ‘castiel is expendable’ thing the writers just seem to be trying to prove that point over and over again??? no wonder cas doesnt want to be saved. everyone preaches about him being loved but they leave him in a vessel for so long and dont move an inch to try and free him besides asking him to expel…. what would be his motivation????? so he could come out and be a plot device again????? lmao no thanks
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can we talk abt how bucklemmin’:

1. wrote kevin’s racist death
were not satisfied by that and so
2. brought the ghost version of kevin back to have the flimsiest came-o in the history of television only to pump up a basic yt dude’s street cred and then be replaced by basic yt dude number 2 minutes later
lets be real, kevin was in the veil for 2 years and finally deserved to be at peace in heaven and look at him he's so cute.
3. gave kevin’s murderer a “Martyr Death”


This episode was terribly paced, it was incredibly slow/dragged on. But I am trying to stay positive. Getting hyped up for something that you think (or hope) will happen in an episode and then being disappointed when it doesn’t happen, thus then being negative about the entire episode or show just brings down the mood.
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Sam is so brave! Just look at his face. He looks terrified, but he is still going to go and face the man who tortured him for hundreds years and rescue him. There are just no words to describe how amazing Sam is. Sam rescued Lucifer from being captive w/ Amara. It was strategically planned.




Alsoooo,




Sam's fanboying over God.
I seriously could critique the writing in this episode all day but I am not going to because I love the show. The episode wasn't bad, it was just I don't know. In my opinion having Chuck (God) there is a direct jab at Eric Kripke.

• OKAY. There were moments I enjoyed, obviously. Yes, Sam fanboying Chuck was sweet. Sam looked lovely. He apparently knows Enochian. He was quietly heroic, and that was great. He got a prayer answered. A+
• I didn’t expect much from this episode since I know who wrote it, and I wasn’t disappointed. Sam was pretty much sidelined. Sure, Sam acted as support in saving Lucifer (and I’ll get back to that, don’t you worry) but Dean had a one-on-one with God and got his past struggles acknowledged. Dean faced Amara.
• Meanwhile, Sam had to play nice with his torturer and possibly rapist. If, for whatever reason, Alastair were necessary for this plotline and Dean had to save him, I imagine there’d be a bigger outcry. People would be screaming in the streets.
• This is disgusting.
• And the worst part of it? Sam was just a pretty face for most of the ep. He grinned and bore it. No verbal acknowledgement of the pain he experienced in his childhood (though, admittedly, 11.08 and 11.19 both gave us amazing insights); no tear-streaked rants (I mean it’s not like he has emotional issues to hash out with Chuck; certainly not), just business as usual. No discussion of how he had to watch Metatron kill Dean or how he prayed to God and received no answer for his. ENTIRE. LIFE.
• Nope.
• He got blamed by Chuck for letting Lucifer out when, in s5, he threw himself into the Cage to save the world–when in 11.10, he was willing to let Lucifer beat him to death rather than setting him loose on the world again.
• So that’s how we’re playing this.
• No mentions of Sam’s faith, really. No one-on-one with God, no affirmation of his role as a peacekeeper. Just going on a merry journey to save his tormentor.
• Instead we got Chuck watching porn and eating bacon and singing in the shower. Dean’s pain was treated seriously.
• Sam asked about it and was concerned for Dean.
• He understood the pull and Dean’s connection to the Darkness and didn’t put Dean down because of it, because
• –NEWSFLASH–
• Dean didn’t ask for this
• it’s not his fault
• (but I mean Sam totally asked to be fed demon blood as a six-month-old infant amirite?)
• But Sam’s experiences? Getting tortured by the very man he had to literally touch and pull out of harm’s way?
• Nah.
• Surely that doesn’t need any screentime.
• He’ll be fine.

/SARCASM
I feel really apologetic, so...

Spoiler

Supernatural cast, crew, and writers will always have my full support in what they do. Sure some things I don’t agree with. Sure some things I wish were handled differently but they will always have my support. They work so hard every week to bring us new episodes. They write episodes they aren’t sure if we’re going to like but they take the chance and tell us the story anyways. The boys miss out on time with family for conventions to meet the fans. And now they will be going onto their 12th season in October. Supernatural isn’t some huge famous franchise. But hell they’ve managed to kick ass and get to 12 seasons so far. That’s pretty amazing. What is also amazing is that the cast and crew aren’t sick of it yet and are willing to go further to give us another season, and another year of conventions. I respect them so much. They could easily say no and wrapped up season 11 as the end. But they are still willing to film another season and I am going to be there every week supporting the show that has done so much for me.

 

I'm crying at this gif because it's so relatable!
Anyways I'm starting to catch up! Hopefully by the time summer starts I'll be able to understand most of what your saying, but I did read everything. [still confused ;-;-;]

 

I get real salty about things so bear with me, (yes a double post)
To the people who are saying Cas stans are only upset about Cas’ mistreatment on the show because Dean wasn’t the one to save Cas from Lucifer: Get out.
My anger does not solely revolve around a ship. Cas is an individual character by his own right.
To the people who are saying Cas stans shouldn’t be upset because there’s still one more episode where Cas’ story arc could be concluded: Get out.
This isn’t the first time that Cas’ story arc has been dropped or given to another character by the show.
To the people who are saying Cas stans should be happy because we’re getting a dean/cas talk and hug in the finale: Get out.
Years of built up trauma and depression can’t be solved with one meaningful talk and a hug.
To the people trying their best to invalidate the feelings a lot of Cas stans are experiencing right now: Just get out.
Cas and Depression
Cas makes me want to weep though.. because I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more accurate portrayal of depression ever.

I’ve been diagnosed with depression.I’m only just getting better and this episode..it just deeply affected me.

In episode 14, Lucifer threatened to kill Sam and Cas broke out immediately. He seemed fully aware of what was going on as well.
I personally think that the state Cas is in right now is very similar to the state he was after taking on Sam’s trauma in s7… which was, guess what? Lucifer’s torture. So I’m assuming that Lucifer did do something to Cas that drove him to a similar place than back then-just focusing on something trivial related to entertainment (back then games like sorry and twister, now television), staying out of fighting (“guys you’re going to break something” reminded me of the “I don’t fight anymore” attitude, now watching television instead of bees).
And Dean will same him because back then he told him “nobody cares that you’re broken” and yet Cas still snapped out of it when it came to helping Dean with Dick Roman. Now Dean is going to show him that he does care that he’s broken. And back then Cas had the weight of the guilt for everything he’d done to heaven and the Winchesters on his shoulders, now he’s in a further stage so to speak-he has elaborated the guilt and now he’s landed in feelings of self-worthlessness.
I see this storyline as the resolution to the arc that started in season 7 - in fact, we could say the arc that started in s6 since Cas’ story in s7 was born of his story in s6… - and I’m really happy about it. Because Cas has been depressed ever since then, and now things are coming to a head.

The really chilling part here is, I doubt Lucifer has to really exert much effort at this point to keep Cas under his thumb. He is already so demoralized and depressed and so lacking in self worth, just the reminder of what he’s done is enough to keep him spiraling down. This is one depressed angel.
Yes, he probably just had to hammer the nail a little more in.
It’s just…Cas wasn’t even saved. By himself or by anyone else.

Cas agreed to become Lucifer’s vessel because he felt unloved, useless, he was depressed. It’s been hurting him for months, and he’s grown apathetic about his own existence.

And they don’t even save him, nobody saves him, Cas doesn’t get to save himself. Cas doesn’t get that narrative.

Instead, Cas being freed from Lucifer was just be default, the by-product of Amara killing Lucifer. It wasn’t even about HIM.

Cas doesn’t get his catharsis with his father. Cas doesn’t get to be saved, Cas doesn’t even get to save himself. Cas has no resolution to any internal or external conflict.

What the hell was the point of this arc aside from keeping Cas out of the picture for more than half a season?

Misha has been saying it for years. A lot of writers he liked have moved on and he’s been dealt with shitty arseholes who have the writing ability of an angsty 13 year old. Rife with crappy plot holes, and character building that leads to nowhere. This whole damn season was focusing on character building and they threw it all away in one hour time slot. It takes real talent to fuck up writing this bad. Misha has been dealt the shit stick and its revolting, really.
Sorry all I am so salty.
enough of that
one of my favorite things:

how in “fan fiction,” dean says about the amulet, “i don’t need a symbol to remind me how i feel about my brother,” and it’s heavily implied that the amulet is very important to sam, as an affirmation that sam is loved

so dean takes the prop samulet and hangs it up in the impala, and sam finds it so meaningful and affirming

and then in 11x20, when sam’s infected and he confesses this deep-seated fear, that dean’s love for him will be overcome by amara - and dean is so vehement about how sam’s always going to come first, he’s never going to leave him

and i really love to think that god put the amulet in sam’s pocket after dean reaffirmed his steadfast devotion to sam, not just because he wanted the winchesters to know he was there, but because the amulet is such an important symbol for sam - a really deeply meaningful way for sam to know, almost subconsciously at this point, that dean’s by his side, on his side

on the other hand, on dean’s end - thinking about how many years he spent wearing that amulet, right over his heart; how much it survived. how even if dean thinks he doesn’t need the amulet as a symbol of his love for sam, it still does symbolize something very meaningful for him, for them as a unit. it’s visual code for ‘we’re okay.’ the amulet is really a symbol of the brothers’ relationship being stable and strong, of the equilibrium and faith in each other that they had before forces begin to come between them and before dean throws the amulet away
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On a happier note, I am so glad Cas is back in town!! I hope they make sure he's okay before they throw him back in action.



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ok i guess that is enough