#15x20 explanation

[chuckwon]

Here's Why I Want A Chuck Won Plot For The Sequel

Not to go the off about this on a random Saturday night or anything, but I have not stopped internally vibrating since the SPNWIN finale because the potential for a Chuck Won sequel plot line feels so implied and therefore so close I can taste it. I know that there are several people who don't like it as an explanation for the ending of season 15, and/or several people who don't like the idea of it being used as a sequel plot in the future. So I would just like to talk about why I, personally, am passionate about wanting them to use this particular avenue to move forward.

I'll likely unavoidably repeat some of the things I've said before elsewhere but... fuck it, I'm in my feelings, I want to get this out. Rambling on or whatever.

For the sake of clarity, here's a reminder of the POV I'm writing from: A) that Chuck's victory is canonically what was deliberately written as the plot of season 15, B) that it's meant to be noticeable and pointed out as tragic, and C) that even if you argue about the semantics of the literal order of events in the plot that add up to that result, Chuck's victory in some fashion is still the byproduct of the story's final execution.

The thing that I feel can and does get lost in a lot of fandom discussions about this concept is... D) the fact that Chuck winning is an allegory for and commentary on censorship.

I will go back to that. Follow me here.

With SPNWIN as a whole and especially the season one finale, we have already gotten step one of something incredibly subversive: it culminated very loudly in making it clearly canonical that Dean is some semblance of trapped. He is not happy, he is not at peace, he is not done. These are things that many of us in fandom who have brains all already kind of knew and took for granted, because we understand this story and this character and so we understand that 15x20 was not a good ending. But when you step back, what SPNWIN just established is actually a Big Deal in comparison to the fake veneer of happiness that 15x20 was (supposedly) trying to sell to us–and that it did indeed effectively sell to a large number of casual viewers.

Now, here we have canon openly demonstrating that Dean's ending was not okay, in general or to him. Objectively that wasn’t necessarily the case previously with 15x20 alone, but now it is the case.

That is a how-the-turntables level of redefinition of 15x20 in canon. Those crazy bastards fucking did it. They gave Dean Winchester back his agency and had him tell us for 13 episodes that the finale was inarguably Bad, and then they showed his sad grieving self still pining for his happy ending and his angel. That's fucking wild!!! Oh my God!!!

Whew. Okay, anyway:

So SPNWIN has made it clear that The Finale Was Bad, that Dean still needs and wants his happy ending, and that he knows what that happy ending should look like–as demonstrated in this whole hall of mirrors show, through the healing/romance/hope/future we witness the cast of The Winchesters getting to have.

If they stick with that vibe moving forward (which they may not. Continuity could get tossed), to me it then wouldn't make sense if they tried to move forward with any kind of sequel plot or angle that tries to say "okay, now Dean really will Find Peace And Be Done In Heaven." Because they seem to have made it clear that Dean doesn't want that. He wants out! He is fucking around and finding out!

To me, the next logical question to tackle in the plot as part of getting Dean back in the game would be this:

Why did those bad things happen to Dean in the finale?

Look, they don't have to answer that question with a plot-driven reason, obviously. They can go with the (boring) angle of nihilism that's basically like "Yeah Dean died and it sucked, but shit happens and that’s part of free will. It was an unlucky situation :/ he should get another chance at life though!" Or they can absolutely do something totally wacky and out of left field to explain lmfao. (I mean, hell, the Akrida were out of left field and that was only lessened when they tied them back to Chuck.)

Orrrrr.

They could go with a plot that's SOMETHING along the lines of explaining how Dean’s death and the fracturing of their family feels like an injustice to him because it is, and that shit did not just Happen, and that it wasn’t just arbitrary bad luck but rather he didn’t get his happy ending because Something Else was going on pulling the strings at least a little bit.

In that sense, Chuck- / Jack-related fuckery feels like the next natural through-line to me. I'm aware I'm heavily biased, but I want them to go all in on that angle so badly, and the point of this post (yes, there is a point!) is that I want to tell you why I want that.

The strength in the potential of an explicit Chuck won storyline in a continuation–other than the fact that it would be damn good television–is that, if done correctly, it would explain why the ending of season 15 sucked in the first place. And it would explain it not only in-narrative but also out-of-narrative.

Chuck exists to act as allegory, and that's what has always made this concept so significant, subversive, and compelling. Chuck's function and purpose is to be an allegory for producers and/or network executives, and thus the function and purpose behind a Chuck won storyline is to reveal the controlling forces of those figures. And because Chuck is the personification of the Original Creator's intentions that the characters are trying to supersede and defy, the fact that at the end of season 15 they do not get to grow beyond those intentions–aka the fact that Chuck wins and they don't get their full freedom–is indicative of the fact that the characters were not "free" or allowed to defy the Original Creator's real-world intentions either.

The idea that Chuck won is not simply a fun view on why the finale sucks or a fun plot idea for the future. It's because Supernatural is a censored queer text and higher forces won largely because Destiel was not allowed to be explicitly reciprocal. A pillar of the argument is that there could be no happy ending without Destiel; reciprocal Destiel was not allowed, and so the characters had to lose.

That is still the state of canon right now. Chuck's victory is amongst the many threads season 15 left dangling to potentially pick up and play with moving forward, and they don't HAVE to pick that thread up and make it into a central plot for a continuation. But if they do... Man. If they do, it would open the ending of season 15 to further examination for anyone who cares enough to pay attention to it, and that would also open up commentary on the censorship that caused it in the first place.

Here's what I mean:

SPNWIN has left us in a place consistent with 15x19, seemingly further highlighting that something is wrong with Jack. That's huge. Whether that "something" is Chuck possessing him or–potentially more likely–that the God power Jack absorbed has corrupted him, the point is that Jack needs to be freed because Chuck's influence endures.

Making the Akrida into a Chuck fail safe has already leaned into that idea, in a way. Even if Chuck is "gone," his influence wasn't gone entirely. The characters were not fully and entirely free from Chuck's lasting effects on the universe that they inhabit.

But now with the destruction of the Akrida, those effects are supposedly gone. But what if they actually aren't gone completely? What if something is wrong with Jack? What could that mean for Dean's story specifically and the happy ending he still wants and needs?

Apply that to the allegory: if Chuck's power has possessed or corrupted Jack, then Chuck's enduring influence that the characters still have to wrestle with becomes about the enduring influence of industry censorship.

It's then about the insidiousness of the forces that make it difficult for writers to let their stories and characters grow out of what was originally meant for them, especially when those stories are not meant to be queer narratives and yet are molded to have queerness centralized. It's about saying... you (the writers + characters) thought you'd be able to get free but you couldn't; you thought you could write the happy ending but you still haven't gotten to. How have higher forces twisted and shaped things into something unrecognizable? How do you make it back from that and rid the story of that negative influence once and for all?

Hypothetically, examining what Chuck's enduring influence fucked up in the story would then have to examine what censorship fucked up in real life. If they have to break out and return to reality, what does that look like? What is revealed? Dean and Cas could not reunite because their love was real and threatened Chuck's enforced unreality. Dean died and Sam got an apple pie life because that was always part of the ending Chuck wanted to see. Jack was taken over and/or corrupted by God power as part of Chuck's plan because he was powerful enough to help unite them all as a family, which threatened the classic "brothers only" focus of Chuck's story. Chuck's power was still personified in Jack and influencing the outcomes and that's why all of this tragedy occurred. They have to reunite, break the cycle, heal their family, and save Jack while getting rid of that personified God power once and for all, releasing it back into their universe so that power is now in everyone/everything rather than concentrated in overseeing forces threatening their freedom.

And when Chuck is an allegory for the censoring forces in real life... for anyone who cares to engage their brain cells, this could then make it abundantly clear(er) that the end of season 15 was not simply ~bad writing~ or ~cowardice~. It would retroactively redeem, explain, and redefine Supernatural's original "ending" as a backed-into-a-corner narrative gamble embedded with the ability to shine light on the source of its problems, the hope that in the future the story could be continued, and the keys to give the characters justice especially in regards to the queer narrative.

You can look me in the eyes and tell me you don't think that would absolutely rock, but then I will have to simply agree to disagree with you.

Because I would very much like to fucking see it.

It is literally ALL RIGHT THERE. It's THERE, it's so close, and this story could reach its highest potential and make several lasting, impressive points in the cultural realm for anyone who gets their heads out of their ass and stops ridiculing it or stops layering their interest in it under 1000 levels of irony long enough to look at how special it is!!!

[shakes the table with my hands]

AAAAAAAA

Okay, sorry, I'm devolving. But in conclusion: I want this. And though the prequel seems to be hinting towards it (QUITE LOUDLY), there is of course absolutely zero guarantee that any mysterious future sequel would go in that direction for several reasons, let alone the fact that it's objectively a ballsy as hell approach to take.

I still want to write a very long meta about The Winchesters' overall themes and its Chuck won propaganda (lol), so uhhh I reserve the right to plagiarize myself in the future from this post for that purpose. But I had to get this specific thought out sooner rather than later because, to be honest, I am simply going bananas.

JENSEN ACKLES, GIVE ME ONE PHONE CALL WITH YOU LOCKED UNDER AN NDA. PLEASE. PERCEIVE THE VISION.

#chuck won meta #the winchesters #spnwin meta #chuck won theory #the winchesters meta #I'm insane but it's fine. it's 12:46am and we lose an hour because of the time change tonight. things are fine. #my meta #I shouldn't post this tonight but fuck it I'll self-reblog tomorrow

[catsconflictscopicsandchamomile]

spn 15x20 explanation masterpost pt 1

Dean's last words to Sam in 15x20 are a copy of his last words from 9x23. The direction, pacing & framing of the scenes also match.

Iron and nails are common weapons against demons in-canon, while rebar & similar are regularly used as stakes.

A nail that size shouldn't have been fatal, especially not within minutes. Despite this, Dean immediately knew that he was dying and specifically told Sam not to bring him back OR take him to a hospital.

Though extremely out-of-character for him, Dean's behavior as he dies is similar to how many creatures in spn react to iron and/or stakes.

In s10, Demon!Dean was canonically weak to iron.

TLDR: Dean had been a demon for some amount of time before 15x20, and like most demons, an iron stake through the back is fatal.

(While likely a trick of the light, Dean's eyes briefly flicker black during his death in 15x20, and his face appears more jagged & uncanny as well.)

...Also, Chuck Won. Obviously.

If anyone is interested in the Sam, Cas, Jack etc sides of this analysis, lmk.

@genderanged @unhumanatural @those-aspen-woods @measured-words @chuckwon @very-offkey-kazoo pspspspsps come get yall lore

#this guy got staked BY a vampire jfc #supernatural #spn #deanmon #demon!dean #spn meta #rusty nail #spn 15x20 #supernatural theories #chuck won theory #chuck won truthing #dean winchester #Youtube

[luminescent-chorus]

Bingo card for @thehighfiveproject 

old fic :  Hit the ground crawling by jonny_vrm (sam/dean) How Dean could have been after returning from Hell, how his relationship with Sam could have played out. They are both frustrating at times here but it contributes to the atmosphere of the fic in which nothing comes easy.

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fandom classic :  Squint into the sunset by @dyed-red (sam/dean) It’s such a good story : uncompromising, so full of emotion and just so beautifully done. It’s an unmissable work for a reason.

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underrated fave : Touch  me like a razor blade by @a-deed-without-a-name (sam/dean) This fic is not only well-written but has also a very original concept. Here is the summary : ‘For as long as he can remember, sins have caused Dean physical pain. Like, for example, murder. Or lust. Or incest’. I like the explanation about why he’s like that and the solution found to deal with his condition. I like the character study the premise allows. I like everything about this fic. 

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< 1000 hits/ < 100 kudos : I’ll rec not one but two of @folsomprisonblues’ fics because they are, without a doubt, the stories that impacted me the most in the last few months.

Semper fidelis (gen) : pre-series about John during the Vietnam war, about the traumatic events he experienced.

Desiderium (gen) : post-15x20, Sam trying to carry on after Dean. This fic hurts but is ultimately a wonderful reflection about love and grief.

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free square : Yesterday is a ghost I believe in by @venhedish (sam/dean) 

If you haven’t to done it yet, go discover what’s in the box Sam keeps under his bed, the memories he holds on to. It’s visually gorgeous and the story that unfolds sweet.

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< 1000 words : Cracked by Linden (sam/dean) An heartbreak in less than 300 words.

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> 1000 words : Odysseus, American by @coyotesuspect (sam/dean)

A beautiful fic set during the Stanford era. I feel like no summary can do it justice. The love, the wandering, the longing depicted must be experienced firsthand.

#thehighfiveproject #i didn’t have the time to read new fics recently and it shows 😬😬 #fic recs #wincest #gencest

[vaicomcas]

One More Bitter Cas Girl Vent Fic

I fulfilled my promise in my tags and wrote a ficlet to incorporate my own version of Castiel's "confession" for a redo of 15x18. (I did change it a bit to fit the story) Because I can't stand how that confession took everything good Castiel ever did and gave all the credit to Dean Winchester.

This is not a proper fic; it's badly written, it's pure self-indulgence, it's contrived and doesn't make too much sense, but it's my truth. You've been warned.

CW: subverting 15x18. hostile to Dean Winchester. Does not have a happy ending. Cas still sacrificed himself, but at least he was the hero who saved the world and Jack.

This can be considered a companion piece to my other bitter Cas girl vent fic The Miracle that is an alternate explanation of 15x20.

synopsis:

In shock and disillusion from Dean's betrayal Amara let herself be absorbed into Chuck, but in the last moment, she realized she wanted to be free and could use the darkness of the Empty to power herself. If was too late but she transmitted the message to the next celestiel being which happened to be Cas.

Cas used Dean's attack of Billie as opportunity to draw Billie out of her library to the bunker, where Chuck killed Billie. Then Cas summoned the Empty, knowing that Amara could use the Empty to bury Chuck forever. His happiness came from: he let go of his self-hate and asserted his own worth to Dean; he knew that his action would lead to a world without Chuck where Jack will be free.

The Truth

scene 1 is from 15x17 Unity. The other 2 are from 15x18 Despair. Lines from the show are in italics.

---------------------------------------------

Amara

“Sam and Dean, they are using Jack to destroy us.”

Amara knew then already.  But she still didn’t want to believe it.

“No, but…Dean can’t hurt me.”

Chuck looked at his sister with pity.

“No, but he could send you to the meat grinder with a wink and a smile.”

Amara was stunned. 

Dean lied to her.  Dean had looked her in the eye with such sincerity, and told her he could never hurt her.

She had cared about Dean.  She had cared about the world.  She was willing to put her own eternal life on the line to fight God.

Her love meant nothing, less than nothing.  It was turned into a weapon against both her brother and herself.  A disposable weapon at that.

Amara was surprised that it wasn’t anger she felt.  It was exhaustion. Everything in sight exhausted her.  The mildewed walls.  The dented shelves.  The dim lights. 

Every sensation in this world that she had cherished, now felt like an assault on her being.  An ugly, cold, hateful assault that came at her relentlessly.

She was the darkness.  Darkness at the beginning of time.  Darkness without end.  She longed for that all-encompassing darkness now. Away from this ugly deceitful world.

But there was no going back.  She had allowed herself to be entangled with her omnipotent twin.  She had been betrayed, and now she was trapped. 

Chuck said words about balance, about a fresh start.  But she didn’t bother listening. 

When Chuck smiled at her and held out his hand, Amara took it.  And let herself be absorbed into her brother.  What else was left for her?

Yet, in the millisecond before their hands touched, a spark of self-preservation broke through her disillusionment.  No, this was not what she wanted.

 Too late, she realized how she could find her strength.  How she could find her peace.  How she could become herself once again. 

Not how, but where.

She didn’t have time to act with her powerful brother right there.  But in the last microsecond of the last millisecond, she sent out a cloaked message to the nearest celestial being capable of receiving it.

“Take me to eternal darkness, and there will be peace for all of us.”

The nearest celestial being was right next door. 

Castiel didn’t have time to wonder what the message meant.  At that moment, he was preoccupied with Jack’s agony, as cracks of light spread on the Nephilim's face. Then the next moment, his father burst through the door, one eye glowing silver, one eye glowing black.

A sickening realization hit Castiel.  God was so powerful, he was capable of consuming his sister, his equal.  Billie’s plan was never going to work.  They could never have killed God using Jack, using anything that was part of this world, part of God’s creation. 

-----------------

2. Jack

“How are you feeling? You’ve been quiet.”

Cas looked at Jack while they leaned on the Impala, waiting for Sam and Dean.

“How long have you been waiting to ask me that?” 

Jack was expecting it.  He could tell Cas was worried in the few hours of relative peace since he was brought back from the Empty.  Not that Cas showed it.  But Jack could feel it the whole time.

Jack could always feel how Castiel was feeling, even when he was soulless.  Even now, when he had lost his powers.

At his question, Castiel lowered his head and chuckled at himself.  A wave of affection radiated out, as if he was proud of Jack for seeing through him. 

For some reason, it made tears well up in Jack’s eyes.

Jack wanted to confess.  He wanted Cas to know that his pride and affection were misplaced.

“I was ready to die, and I wanted to. For Sam, for Dean, for the world. I wanted to make things right. And now... I don't know why I'm even here.”

Jack’s words hit Castiel like a tsunami of pain.  

Castiel knew this feeling all too well.   He knew what it was like to feel worthless and hopeless.  He had made peace with it.  He thought he deserved it.

With an agonizing horror that pierced his very core, he recognized that Jack had been in the same hell.  It broke Castiel’s heart.  He could never make peace with that. He never will.

He steeled himself to conceal his sorrow.  He turned to Jack, reaching out with his grace, his mind, his voice.  He spoke urgently and forcefully.

“Jack, you never needed absolution from Sam or Dean, or from me.  We don’t care about you because you are useful or because you fit into some grand design.  We care about you because you are you.”

Jack felt Castiel’s wings wrapped around him in the etheric plane, the way Cas embraced him so many times before. He heard Castiel’s heartbeat, sure and strong.  He saw Castiel’s wavelengths, gently illuminating the world for him. 

With his father next to him, he realized, he didn’t want to die.

Jack let his tears fall.  “God, the Empty, Billie…everyone is so mad at us.  There is nothing I can do to protect us.  I am scared.”

Cas put a consoling hand on Jack’s shoulder, not knowing what more to say.  Jack shouldn’t be trying to protect them.  He was supposed to protect Jack. 

How could he do that?  How could he stop the most powerful forces in this universe?  How could they protect Jack from God when they were all part of God’s creation?

Suddenly Castiel’s eyes lit up. Not everything was God’s creation.

He remembered Amara’s message.  “Take me to eternal darkness, and there will be peace for all of us.”  He understood it.

It didn’t matter that he was an insignificant cog of his father’s machinations. It didn’t matter that his power had been failing him.  It didn’t matter that he no longer had any celestial allies left.  There was still something he could do.  And he had to do something, to keep Jack from every kind of harm.  It was his promise.  It would be his happiness.

----------------

3. Cas

The sigil glowed on the door of room 7B.  Death was pounding on the other side of the door.

“She’s gonna get through that door, she’s gonna kill you, then she’s gonna kill me.”  Dean despaired in utter defeat, seeing no way out.

“No.” Castiel said calmly.  “That is not going to happen.  I will not let that happen.”

“Com’on, Cas.”  Dean groaned.  “You need to accept reality.”

Castiel smiled.  “Billie is exactly where I want her.  She is weakened, dying, and you have drawn her away from the library which is a source of her power.”

“I drew her away?  What the hell are you talking about?”

“I knew you’d want to kill Billie.  I knew you didn’t stand a chance, and would have to retreat. And Billie would follow you to the bunker.”

Dean’s face turned stony.  Cas made screwed-up plans behind his back, yet again.  

“You planned this? You are using me as bait?  What’s wrong with you?”

“Dean, I didn’t tell you because I couldn’t risk Billie sensing your thoughts.  I would never endanger you.  Billie can’t kill you.  Chuck-my father- wouldn’t allow it.   I know him, Dean.  You and Sam were always the only ones he was obsessed with.  He still wants you to be his story.  He will always want that.  Billie plotted to kill him.  And now she is trying to kill you.  Chuck wouldn’t let it stand.”

The building shook violently.  The banging on the door stopped.  It sounded like a storm was raging outside the dungeon. 

Castiel heard Billie grunting.  He saw the sigil on the door flickering.  He could feel two cosmic entities clashing.  Their blows sent shock waves pounding on his true form.  He didn’t waver.

“Chuck is here.  He and Death are engaged in battle.”

“And that’s your plan?”  Dean’s shock turned into incredulity, then anger.  “It’s not enough we got one cosmic big bad gunning after us, you want two?”

“I want them to fight each other.”

“That’s a stupid plan!  Whoever wins, they are coming for us next!”

“They will.  And whoever that is, I will destroy them.”

Dean sighed.  “Cas.  You are really losing it.  Even back when you had the power of the purgatory souls inside you, you could never have taken on Death or God.  Now…”

Cas smiled again.  “Now I am just a broken angel with barely any power left.  I know, Dean.”

Cas casted his eyes down, as if preparing a confession.  To accomplish what he has set out to do, he needed to set himself free.

 He returned his gaze to Dean, light of the truth shining in his blue eyes. 

“Dean, I know how you see me. You think I am impulsive, misguided, the reason why things go wrong.  You think I try to be the good guy, but I failed more often than I succeeded.  You think I am only strong when I fight by your side, as your blunt weapon.  I am not. Everything I have ever done, the good and the bad, I did for love.  I raised you and Sam from perdition for love.  I led my angel armies for love. And I made a deal with the Empty for love.”

Dean stared at him, dumbfounded.  “What are you talking about?”.

“When Jack was dying, I made the deal to save him.  The price was my life.  When I experience a moment of true happiness, the Empty would be summoned, and it would take me forever.  The Empty that is eternal darkness.  The Empty that was not created by God, and could be used against him.”  

Outside, Cas could hear Billie gasping and wheezing.   Despite the claim of the original Death that in the end he would reap God, this Death had been weakened.  God was about to destroy Billie.  He didn’t have much time left.

He no longer paid attention to Dean.  His eyes glowed softly as he prayed to Jack.  He could feel Jack’s grace responding to him across the etheric plane. 

“Jack, remember what I said to you earlier.  You don’t need anybody’s absolution, you don’t need anybody’s approval.  With or without a soul, with or without power, you always just wanted to do good. Jack, you ARE good, and you are important. Don't let anybody tell you otherwise.”

There.  He felt it.  Jack believed him.  Although still faint, a wave of hope reverberated in Jack’s soul. That hope amplified in Castiel’s grace, endlessly, triumphantly.

Death has been destroyed.  God will be next.  Evil will rot in the Empty.  A new day is coming for heaven and earth. It will be Jack’s world, finally and truly.

Jack will be free. The whole world will be free.

The door exploded.  Chuck walked in, smiling smugly. But it was too late for him.

Happiness flooded Castiel's grace. His wings rose with joy and reverence, saluting the new world to come.

Pools of amorphous black goo seeped in through the ceiling and formed a swirling portal.

The black tendrils hissed and spread, enveloping Castiel and Chuck.

Inside Chuck, Amara sighed with relief. Darkness. Eternal darkness. Its incomparable power was coursing through her now.   She took control. "Let's go home, brother."

Cas smiled, head held high. He prayed one last time.

"I love you, Jack."

#castiel #jack kline #amara #chuck/god #15x18 redo #dean critical #anti dean winchester #not a fix it in normal sense #no happy ending #my fic #pretty bad

[hintsofhoney]

thoughts on the spn win finale™️

there are things I loved and things I hated and my overall feeling is just… confused on how I feel so I think I just need to get everything out and hope I’m not alone

first let me start off with if y’all listen to @endofthebookpod you know I’m the first to clown away when it comes to destiel in this show however I was not expecting to see cas in this finale and I’m glad we didn’t because I do want that reunion to be a big and not rushed thing etc etc

that being said, if I’m looking at spnwin as a stand-alone show, that finale was fan-fucking-tastic. the music, the way it tied dean into the story, the acting from the cast — everything was chefs kiss 5 stars, but

this isn’t a stand-alone show

and looking at the show as part of the spnu, I’m feeling kinda… empty. at least, until there’s a promise of more. I don’t like speculating about the unanswered questions, because why am I doing that if I’ve not been promised some sort of explanation in the future? trust me, if there’s a S2 or different continuation announced tomorrow I’ll be the first to hop in the clown car, but until then, I need to process the fact that if this is all we get (which I don’t think it will be, and I hope to god it isn’t, but if it is) then I’m just… not at all satisfied

and at the root of that — it’s not about no canon destiel — it’s about dean being actually dead. it’s about the fact that that god awful shit show of a finale wasnt invalidated, and yeah, I’m mad about it. because Dean deserves to be happy. he deserves to be happy more than anyone and he deserves to be happy and alive and while I of course think his happiness is with cas, I would much prefer if they were happy together on earth rather than after death, for no other reason than dean deserves to live. the message that his happiness can only be found after death is just… not it. if there’s one thing I want more than canon destiel it’s alive dean. which is why I probably feel kinda empty right now. 15x20 still happened and dean still went out that way and I hate hate hate that so so much

do I think jackles is stopping here? no. but i also don’t think the Winchesters is going to be the show that gives us everything we want. I’m holding out hope for a season 2, because I have fallen in love with this cast and these characters, but I don’t think we’ll be seeing dean again on the show if I’m being honest. do I think canon destiel is still the end goal here? yes. and you can pry my clown nose and tin hat out of my cold dead hands. but I think jackles knows that when it does happen, it needs to be big, it needs to be explored, it needs to be its own thing, and please for the love of god dean needs to be alive

so overall I guess I’m,,, really fucking upset that dean is actually dead but holding out hope for that to be fixed someway, somehow while also feeling very soft for this show as it’s own thing, the characters, the story line, the absolute rays of sunshine it has brought into my life over the past 7ish months. just lots of conflicting emotions I need a good nights sleep to process before I can get back to driving the clown car again.

here’s to never having peace and never being done!!

#spnwin #spnwin spoilers #the winchesters

[antigonewinchester]

@egipci

The most curious thing to me about this ep has been Jenny’s motivation—  Kate seeking revenge for her mate makes sense to me; Jenny, who was a  victim and turned against her will, who the Winchesters tried to save, being the one to indirectly cause Dean’s death seems like an empty callback to me — and a uncharacteristically pessimistic take on the monstrosity of these ‘infected’ victims.

A few ideas...

1) Imo the most likely, if boring, explanation is that the writers couldn’t or didn’t want to get Kate’s actress back (it does look like her acting career slowed down somewhat in the mid-2010s? according to IMDB, the last movie she did was in 2017 and then a short film in 2021. plus, the pandemic might’ve also messed with her availability) but still wanted to reference 1x20, so they went with Jenny and her actress instead (esp as she’d been on the show again in S5).

2) I also watched “The End of the Road,” the short documentary on the final ep/the end of the series out of curiosity, and:

[4:21 - 5:50] BUCKNER [I think?] The myth of what these brothers were, throughout 15 years, we didn’t shy away from fatalism, but we wanted to be able to have it be kind of uplifting as well. DABB If you’re going to do something that feel like a complete arc, you have to kind of go back to the beginning of it. [VOICEOVER of 1x20 / DEAN: Vampires nest in groups of 8 to 10. Smaller packs are sent out to hunt for food. VOICEOVER from 15x20 / SAM: Well, if this is the same nest and if the pattern holds, then they'll target Canton next. DEAN: They target families that are living outside of town, that are isolated... Jenny?... So, what, are you, like, the, uh... The big boss or something? JENNY: No. I just called dibs.] When it comes to Sam and Dean, and particularly this last episode, it’s all about getting back to in some ways these two guys on the road, in this car, they’ve been doing this job for 15 years now, they’ve fought everyone from demons to vampires to God himself, but at the end of the day they’re still working guys. Out there on the road, taking cases, and we tried to never lose sight of that. [6:11 - 6:31] ROSS-LEMMING I think we sort of knew, generally, what the ending would involved, we might not have known the mechanics, but we sort of knew that there would be a glorious, victorious, sacrificial ending, because I think sacrifice is a big theme in our series, and for every great thing you do a cost must be paid.

given the emphasis on going back to the beginning, returning to where Sam & Dean started, and the writers believing a bit in fatalism, all of that fits with the writers not being particularly perturbed by bringing Jenny back as a doomed victim. it fits with Dean’s death, too, in how Dean wasn’t able to escape a hunter’s demise & how Ross-Lemming frames it as a sacrifice for Sam and his carrying on.

the writing went back and forth on the monstrosity or not of certain victims, but I’m not sure it ever fully settled on a definite answer on whether victims turned against their will are / aren’t monsters. Ross-Lemming (who’s married to director/executive producer Singer) and Buckner in particular seem to have brought a fatalism/fatedness to the writing room / show. they’re the ones who described 9x16, when the Mark is finally activated in Dean, as demonstrating him as innately a warrior and killer, that it was in his DNA, which is pretty Fucked Up.

3) in the story proper, I could also buy Jenny as being a counterpoint to Dean and Sam: she was a killer who thirsted for revenge, in contrast to Dean and Sam giving up on revenge, to being “killers.” I could even see Jenny as a foil specifically for Dean, given how he’s framed as the “ultimate killer” in 15x19, and how much of his story in Dabb era has him (framed as wrongly) wanting and chasing after revenge. Jenny ends up his dark mirror, the bloodthirsty killer Dean could have turned into if not for Sam, Cas and his friends puling him back into the light. not that I like/agree w/ this framing, but there’s a line in a S14 commentary from one of the writers that basically describes Dean exactly that way: that Sam & Cas pull Dean back from his self-destructive tendencies. (I had a side-tangent here abt Dean & Jenny as dual victims of sexual assault in 1x20, and what one could read into that in 15x20, but frankly I don’t think that subtext was intended and it’s also incredibly messed up if you read into it at all.)

...so that’s a lot of words to say I agree w/ you that the Jenny callback is kind of hollow & bleak, ha.

#season 15 #replies #egipci #if you saw me post this before. no you didn't :) #watching jackles talking abt dean's death. ohhhh he was not happy :// #but too professional to say it #also ross-lemming mentions an idea where chuck instead changed & became more like humanity instead of being defeated #talking abt philosophical arguments. interesting alternative route they could've gone

[hettolandija]

Why (blue)horizontal lens flares? Why KAZ 2Y5 aka heaven's license plate?

If this takes place on Earth between 15x19 and 15x20 and there is no Sam and the license plate is wrong then the whole thing looks bad.

If this takes place in Heaven, in that time when Dean was waiting for Sam, then I ask - where is Castiel? If there is no Cas in heaven and no one mentions his absence then the whole thing looks bad.

Memories wiped by angels don't return themselves after death (as we know from already existing canon) so it makes sense for Dean to learn nothing about the past from just asking his parents. But the big question is why Dean knows that there is something more to his parent's past, that we don't know from 15 seasons of SPN, in the first place?

If there is no Cas in heaven and this place is not as peaceful as promised, then the only explanation, that makes sense, is that Chuck won and Heaven is just fancy prison.

  Too bad that most of the screen time will be wacky comedy about John and Mary in the 70' and not Dean solving interesting mystery about his parents.

#also the series begins in the begining of 1973 and in april the same year Mary makes deal with Azazel #in 1979 Dean is born and in 1983 Sam is born #WE SAW that John and Mary had normal boring life after making deal with Azazel #The Winchesters #Dean Winchester #supernatural #Chuck won

[shallowseeker]

The positive meaning of 15x20

Lately, I've given you the evil versions of the finale filled with death and terrible views of the fractured self. Now, I'm going to give a more positive/thoughtful explanation.

Why did Dean die? "It was always going to end like this," because Dean died long ago, and Supernatural is Sam-Jack working out why and accepting it. Perhaps the trauma is just something awful like a car accident, or it’s something more difficult that would wound Sam badly and cause him to blame himself … like if Dean took his own life. A young child might easily view suicide as a sacrifice, and if that child is ill, that would compound the fracture. Sam telling Dean he can go in 15x20 is Sam accepting it. Sam leaving the bunker is Sam/Jack leaving his fantasy world. That's why the wife isn't Eileen. That's why they cut out all the hunter friends in the final episode.

The perspective of a child - So many of Sam/Jack's fears revolve around Dean giving up, and so much of the journey is Sam finding out stuff about his brother he didn't previously know, like that Dean always wanted to be a firefighter. This is why Dean is the most important person in Sam's life. Because he’s his parent. This is also why Sam fails to really know him. ❤️ Who did Dean point a gun at: Sam AND Jack. Who did Dean kill death protecting: Sam AND Jack. I’m not sure but Cas faces metaphorical mental brokenness and depression (the empty) for Sam-Jack. Whenever something bad happens to someone, Sam-Jack thinks it’s because he’s caused it. He thinks God let Jesus die, so maybe he’s supposed to as well.

The person behind the actual mask: Real Sam/Jack isn't good-looking or heroic, or the kind of guy who could wield Thor's hammer like in Last Holiday. He's just some guy. He might even be a very young person/teen! There's something about Sam needing blood to be stronger, going through trials, faith healing, etc that speaks to Sam having a chronic illness. Sam's later obsessions with healthy eating and parallel to Steve Jobs speaks to this as well. Purity culture and clean eating is a HUGE way to control illness. When you're sick, you often feel unclean, like it's your fault. My theory is that Rowena also likely has an illness but is putting her belief system in magic.

On illness: When you're ill, there's something horrific in being consumed by the illness. Sometimes you look around and feel like everyone is pouring their energy into you, and you haven't had time to learn the first thing about them. Sometimes you feel horrible needing basic things like blood infusions because that's someone else's life force. Don't even get me started on how our culture has up till now viewed organ donations. There's something really lovely in Jack eating angel hearts to "make his body strong," you see. It's a narrative tension about illness. With unclean blood, could be anything from thassalemia to cancer to Mary’s “demon” of doing drugs that passed on HIV-AIDS at birth. (What’d your mom die of. Oh, she had her demons. Where’s your dad? Oh he’s chasing his own demons, I suppose. Where’s Dean? Son, everyone has their demons.) A kid hearing that sort of talk might take it literally. Might even conjure up another hero self to hunt those demons.

Who is Dean: The Dean we see on screen IS a complex manifestation of Sam's memories placed in a heroic, monster-hunting setting. So what do we know about the real Dean? We know he was Sam's caretaker, and if Sam was really, really sick, then Dean likely gave up a significant part of his life to help him. John was absent. We don't really know why. Perhaps, Mary, Dean, and Sam even have a familial illness and that sent John chasing after miracles and mystery cures. Maybe he too was angry with God, the world, and lost himself to alcoholism.

The specter of drinking and suicide: We know that something terrible happened to Dean that caused Sam to generate this big epic love story to deal with it and try to solve the puzzle of his brother. Much of his logic throughout the narrative is like a child learning their parent is a *person.* We also know that Dean is HUGELY tied up in religion at some point, so I'm thinking that whatever happened, Dean sought absolution through church, and that introduced a whole 'nother dimension to sort through. What is a huge horrid thing religion says about suicide? That they go to HELL. That’s gotta be awful to deal with. Sam seems uncommonly afraid of Hell in general. 💔 And well, other reasons Dean might “go to Hell”? I mean, his dad sent him to a boys’ home at 16. One of the caretakers has rosary beads…

On the quest for the cure: Ezekiel/Gadreel wasn't a person. He was a treatment that went bad. Like chemo or other toxic therapy. He maybe got Sam's "permission" to treat him when Sam had given up, and Sam was so angry about that. So much of the boundary crossing in SPN can be re-imagined as various treatments for chronic illness. Just think about what eventually happens to Jack. Cas goes off on a quest to get a mystery “experimental” medicine...that makes Jack worse. It's heartbreaking, really. Cas is always searching for, "another way" for them in the last couple seasons. In fact, Cas and Dean together are constantly searching for cures, and that's...that's really something. Cas and Dean chase their own demons of purgatory and hunger, of depression, caretaker burnout, and incredible incredible stress over losing Mary, Sam, Jack, or Claire. Then they wanna kill themselves or god. It’s not fair.

On locking yourself away: The final seasons are haunted by Dean putting himself in a box. Putting Cas in a box and being separated from Cas. In drowning in alcohol. Being angry with god. Having versus being. Being able to say things. Like this is something Sam-Jack began to realize about the world and how relationships are perceived.

Who is Cas? Cas himself is complicated. Is he a doctor? A church counselor? A therapist? One thing we know is he's a constant presence, and he's constantly being taken away by work and church. His looming association to marriage and other children makes me think this was a constant source of tension and he may have been living as a closeted married man. Cas has/had obligations to previous families before tying himself to Dean (and taking on Sam-Jack's illness). Sam-Jack had a lot of trouble accepting the re-emergence of Cas into their lives initially (See: the specter of what Benny actually represents; “Not my Dean!” said Bobby), but nonetheless, Sam-Jack eventually chose Cas as his secondary father. That Cas said, "Nothing is worth your life," triggered a huge heartwarming hug from Sam. Like a kid, he picked Cas before he realized exactly why Dean needed him. Two of the most parent-iest things I can think of are “There’s nothing I’d put ahead of you,” and “Nothing is worth your life.”

Sam seeing the future: The Chuck-terrible future he saw where Dean gave up? It's because Cas died. The box is both a coffin narrative and depression and being closeted. Claire (Mary?) died. Dean lost hope. So, Sam had to deal with that too. In a way, that's the truth and a huge part of what happened to Dean. So Sam rejects it. I think Cas definitely really died. He symbolically died over and over when he left them to return to his Christian hetero-normative life. And Dean's "you're dead to me!" and the whole divorce thing that Sam-Jack saw in the beginning of season 15...that's complex. At some point, Cas chooses them, but marries that devotion to his previous obligations. Cas’s hallucinated death is a huge metaphor for depression because what disappears when you let yourself be happy? Sadness.

Who was Eileen? Disability narrative aside, I feel like Eileen was a fellow patient that Sam loved and could relate to. Maybe even one that he knew very young. One that loved popcorn and alligators and played games with him.

On Jack in the box: Putting Jack in a box is about not facing Sam/Jack's trauma and that this big story is just a fantasy. Letting Dean die and letting Cas die represent waking up. But the death of Jack or Sam represent death of the entire world/destiny etc. This is why I saw Jack-Sam is the self, and Cas and Dean's deaths are paths to accepting what happened in your life. Jack is the WHOLE self that worked through it all. Sam is the specific slice that repaired his relationship with his brother. ❤️

Maybe I'm not worth all this... We love you because you're you.

That's the most beautiful meaning of SPN. :D

#tw: suicide #15x20

[naruhearts]

So as mere speculation about why spn suddenly made an about-face with destiel after the research happened that ties in with an author whose books I find especially awful and talk about a lot on my blog: TPTB realized how many people know Dean is bi and that destiel is hugely popular and panicked that this character they considered straight and this couple they considered brotherly, not romantic, was seen as oterhwise. The author of the books I’m referring to had two male characters and two female characters who readers (arguably a much, much, much smaller portion than spn’s destiel shipping and Dean is bi-confirming fanbase) really shipped as m/m and f/f couples.

The author, upon realizing she had accidentally written two relationships that could be read as really fucking queer decided to go all-in with making it abundantly clear that these four characters were actually straight as the 1.9-mile-long structure nearby the Stanford Linear Accelerator (which is evidently the straightest object on earth) by shoehorning every character into a bland m/f relationship (and they’re not bi or pan m/f relationships, no, they are heterosexual as fuck). By the end, the two male characters, who had grown up together as best friends, one of whom sacrificed everything to protect the other and the other of whom stood up to his dad to protect the other, had, if I recall correctly, one scene together, their reunion scene. I didn’t have high hopes for its construction, but it was worse than I expected. The two female characters, one of whom changed her entire outlook on life after meeting the other and the other of whom realized she was more than her abusers had made her out to be and that there was so much more to be had from life than mere survival, had, I think, not one scene together by the end of the series. Both female characters have bland love interests (one female character ends up in this weird there-but-not romance with one of the aforementioned male characters, while the other male character winds up with a woman who exploited him when he was disabled and then healed him by tying his life to hers in some fucked suicide pact magic shit).

The author didn’t want her characters to be perceived as queer, so she went above and beyond to drive home the point they absolutely, positively, manifestly, categorically, are straight and that there is no romance whatsoever to be found. To me, after reading that destiel research post and seeing how much the author of it talked about Dean being bi and destiel being real and both those things being hugely popular and loved and supported and hoped for, I think TPTB realized that Dean is being seen and written as bisexual and that destiel is being seen and written as canon (or at least headed that way) and, since they are either homophobic or bronlies themselves, or hell even scared of making the show as powerful and meaningful as it can possibly be for the queer community, they had to go above and beyond to make destiel absolutely not canon and Dean absolutely not bisexual, going so far as to all but literally gag him and queerbait and bury the gays. And it’s so goddamn disappointing, so much so that I am both not surprised at all and completely flabbergasted.

@spaceshipkat my friend, I don’t think I can add any more words to this spec. YES. Publishing it for all to see because yes, all of us who screamed that CW WERE HOMOPHOBIC COWARDS AND THEY GOT COLD FEET!!!!!!!!!!! were right, then.

Again, I feel so much worse than I felt since the finale, and that’s saying something.

White cishet capitalism was the victor.

I’m just weeping in anger, in heartbreak, in sheer crippling GRIEF, over everything Destiel themselves, Dean and Cas as individual characters, and this goddamn MAGNIFICENT Destiel fandom have built from the ground up for so many invaluable years and then LOST in the span of 45 minutes.

Reduced to rubble, shafting their legacy.

#oh my god #spaceshipkat #tw: homophobia #we deserve a goddamn explanation #supernatural #spn s15 #15x20 #destiel #destiel research #reference #sounds about fucking right #the greatest love story ever told #endgame destiel #ask #my stuff #narrative #canon destiel #ANSWERS NOW #deancas #destiel focus group #<- THIS IS A TAG NOW #spn drama #TPTB #WHITE CISHET HOMOPHOBIC EXECS AND ANYONE ELSE INVOLVED FUCK YOU #bisexual dean winchester #bisexual dean #lgbtq2sia+

[mattzerella-sticks]

Okay, so I have to say the absolute INSANITY of that series finale taking place 5 years after the 19th episode because:

- How the hell does Dean recognize Jenny, a woman he's seen only a handful of times who wasn't even that important, after NINETEEN years? I barely remember seeing people I like a month ago?

- The brothers have been living like T H A T for five years and the people who liked the finale thought it was okay? To be frozen in time for five years doing the same thing over and over?

- Dean only JUST wanted to leave the hunter life? If you're in it for 5 years at this point why bother?

- They lived 5 years despite not having Chuck giving them luck, and we're not supposed to feel cheated thinking Dean could have easily taken that vamp instead of WHAT HAPPENED?

- Sam is 50 when he has Dean, Jr. Or at least close to it. Meaning, again, Sam falls in love with someone MUCH YOUNGER than him if that child is biologically his - Jared Padalecki don't you see how that's worse?

In conclusion I reject all of that taking place 5 years after episode 19 because it truly causes me worse brain damage than thinking it happened a week later. Also, there's really no visible proof that it did take place 5 years later. I remember there being a calendar but that was like .2 seconds of a shot. There wasn't even a little subtitle explaining the time jump at the beginning of the episode.

This answer was probably just trying to save face after big criticism about how Dean and Sam don't get to enjoy their freedom after defeating Chuck and they can point and say "No they had 5 years!" But then not realizing how saying 5 years and then connecting it with that episode actually makes it all MORE depressing and an even worse episode than you thought it could get.

#supernatural #spn #spn15 #15x20 #15x19 #dean winchester #sam winchester #fuck that finale am i right #also the 5 years thing totally throws the 'not being written by god no lucky breaks' plot point out the window #like truly there is no other explanation for this finale then it being bad and the network punishing jensen #jared padalecki #this all happened because i wanted to see if Jenny died in s1 and wanted to laugh about continuity

[aturnoftheearth]

ohhhhhh now I’m thinking about dean in that 6 month time gap desperately trying to bring cas back. reading every book he can find and finally getting a lead. so he goes back to that field and he lays everything out to summon the empty, praying more fervently than he ever had before, praying that this works and that he can get cas back and cling to him in that beautiful field, can tell him everything he whispered when he laid his ashes down in that very dirt just two years ago. but the empty doesn’t open and cas doesn’t come back and dean is left in that field with the last fragments of hope shattered and prayers unanswered. and when he finally gets up to go to the bunker (not home- that doesn’t exist anymore), hopeless and without faith, he’s determined to move on. he doesn’t.

#the only explanation for the behavior of 15x20 #destiel #deancas #spn #supernatural

[catsconflictscopicsandchamomile]

ok so here's why throwing Fae Lore into spn makes a revival/continuation possible

Here's the setup:

-"Blurrywife" is a Faerie, specifically a malevolent/vampiric one, definitely a Succubus type. The mimes are her human thralls, hence why they don't act like normal vampires.

-Baby, yes the car, is ALSO a Faerie, specifically a kind of shapeshifter called a Pooka. John captured her in the early 80s, and, being John Winchester, never told his kids about this.

-Chuck Won. duh???

-Jack is, and was always destined to be, the next Jack O' The Lantern, and after Chuck threw his flaming corpse out Heaven, he's been ruling his own spoopy little candy-coated afterlife. pumpkin boi

Here's the timeline:

-Blurrywife & Mime Crew are kidnapping kids, likely for The Fae's 7-year tithe of souls to Hell (a thing that exists in the lore), when the Winchesters show up. Sam & Dean, as usual, have NO idea how to identify or fight Fae, and get their asses handed to them, with Dean falling to some weird Gaelic cold-iron magic fuckery (points to Blurrywife & crew for figuring out how to fight with iron despite being unable to touch it. 10/10 fuck these guys tho fr)

-Sam, alone and grieving, is an easy target and she picks him off before he even gets to the car, taking (something close to) Eileen's form and trapping him in a dreamscape, similar to how Djinn attack in spn.

-Sam, Dean AND Baby (there's def some Fae Drama going on there, yikes) have been stuck the Fae Realms for THREE YEARS as of Nov 2023.

-Dean and Baby escaped at some point, staying with Jack for a bit before running off to the 1970s like a dumbass and getting EVERYONE, including Jack and Bobby (why is Bobby even here??? HOW DID BOBBY'S GHOST GET STUCK IN THE FAE REALMS WHAT DID HE *DO*) recaptured.

-Sam has had it much worse, being drained to a white-haired husk of his former self and left for dead within a few days/months. DJ is half-faerie, raised in the fae realms, and could be 3 years old or 50, who knows. I don't like thinking abt how he happened.

-Here's the setup for the continuation:

Dean (fairly intact besides the cursed stab wound in his back) escapes with Sam (nearly dead, white-haired, displaying more or less the typical signs of someone who was taken & drained of life by The Fae) and stumbles into Charlie's safehouse. the Fae Arc can continue from this point, w Baby's true nature being revealed, Blurrywife as a major antagonist/BBEG, DJ going from possible threat -> clearly a well-meaning and very brave kid -> newest Winchester family member who Sam fully accepts as his son (plus s4-cas-esque moments as DJ tries to adapt to living on Earth. DJ ilysm but most cars aren't sentient and you can't bring your longbow to community college)

also Cas is still in The Empty, and Jack & Bobby are still captured, so that's some major plot points right there

Destiel is canon.

...anyway, this is all still pretty convoluted, but it allows for:

-15x20 to have been "not real" without being retconned

-DJ to exist without either setting the continuation ~30 yrs in the future (how would that work), or repeating spnwin's time-travel-kid-ex-machina (that's just not good writing I'm sry)

-spn finally doing something w The Fae (& related lore) besides one-off eps

-human!impala as main character

-explanations of weird shit in the finale (rebar, vamp-mimes, etc)

-collective fandom catharsis at Blurrywife's bitch ass

-the full horror potential of a faceless woman in a long dress standing ominously in the corner while time blurs forward around you and you age to death in five minutes

-some VERY fun metacommentary & crossover easter eggs if you use certain bits of Fae lore

-still works w my other big finale theory/revival idea/if-they-dont-do-this-i-will-be-so-pissed, which is the whole Deanmon 2.0 thing. but that's a post unto itself.

(also yes. making Blurrywife a djinn IS simpler and requires 0 new lore and makes perfect sense in canon. however, I hate how djinn are portrayed in spn. it feels vaguely racist and makes me uncomfy to write/read. so um that's why I didn't do that)

#good lord i havent posted like this in YEARS #the revival rumors unlocked something* in me #*the need to scream these postcanon hcs into the void for as long as possible until an actual canon continuation replaces it #supernatural #gone from “i need to find a way to fix this bc the show wont even start again” #to “its gonna start again and oh fuck I'm overattached to what I wrote”

[mushroom-circles]

The last episode was like the Good Place where they try to trick you into thinking hell was heaven. That’s why John Winchester was there and there was no Cas; Sam was there as an illusion because Dean knew it wouldn’t be heaven without him.

#spn #supernatural #at this point that’s my explanation and I’m sticking to it #maybe eventually the actual Sam gets Dean out of there and they go find Cas or smthg and 15x20 was just a fever dream #spn brain rot

[lottiethroughthelookingglass]

15x20 Coda

Can’t believe it’s the year of our Lord 2020 and I’m writing Supernatural fix it fics at 3am.... This truly is the bad place. Anyway here’s what happened immediately after the credits rolled on whatever that was...

“Sam and Dean stood, arms around each other looking out towards the vista. Heaven. Their heaven. United again, after everythi-“

“-Is he for real?”

“That’s what was saved on my computer. Supernatural – Final Draft.”

“This is bullshit.”

Becky shrugged, taking her laptop back from Sam as his face twitched uncomfortably. 

“Who did I even marry? Like, it wasn’t even Eileen?”

“I don’t know man but you named your kid after me. I’m holding you to that one.”

“I don’t even want kids. Our lives are crazy. Why would I do that to a kid?”

“Well I’m just glad Chuck didn’t get to go ahead with that one.” Becky said, sitting back down with her laptop, “I mean all of his drafts were honestly terrible but that one… I mean it didn’t even make sense considering your character arcs. Dean literally died like he thought he would at the beginning of the series and Sam, grows old with a random woman and doesn’t do anything with his life and not even mentioning Cas even though he was right there in heaven-“

Becky looked up to find Sam and Dean staring at her.

“I’m sorry, not that you guys are just characters or anything. But just, when I came back and I found that I was really worried you’d actually died in barn because you fell on a nail.”

“Yeah well I will be avoiding all barns from now on.”

Thunk. The three of them looked up to where Cas had knocked over a Funko Pop Sam.

“Sorry,” Cas readjusted Funko Sam so he could go back to back to fighting Funko Crowley.

There was an awkward moment of silence as the group processed the revelation of Chuck’s ending. Becky sipped her tea as Cas sat back down next to Dean. Dean looked over to him, their eyes met briefly and they shared a small smile.

“Did I never even ask about Cas?” Sam shook his head breaking the silence. “Like, you come back from fighting Billie and say he’s dead and I just… never question it?”

“Well, none of you seemed very upset about my death in that story.” He turned back to Dean, “You were far more concerned with the pie and the dog.”

“To be fair that was probably the only thing that felt right there – pie is more important.”

Cas rolled his eyes and picked up another biscuit from the tray Becky had brought them. Ever since becoming human again he’d picked up a real sweet tooth. Dean was silently waiting for when Sam would start having a go at him too about healthy diets.

Like hell I’m going because of a rusty nail in a barn, Dean thought, I’m getting killed by a heart attack and Cas’s gonna die of diabetes. Sammy’ll still get to outlive us both though.

“It’d be nice to think Jack is doing that with heaven though.” Sam said, “You know, rebuilding things, making it actually good.”

“I guess we’ll have to see when we get there. Which will not be soon, we fought for a bit of peace and I’m intending to actually enjoy mine.”

“We can just ask him next time he’s home.” Cas added.

Dean shook his head stifling a laugh with his hand, “Can you imagine if we’d made him God I mean- He’s three for crying out loud. He made me buy him a Marvellous Marvin the Talking Teddy three months ago.”

“You bought him that?”

“Wait so Jack didn’t become God?”

“God no, no he’s not God.” Dean plucked the biscuit Cas had just picked up out of his hand and started to eat it, “I mean he is up in heaven, but he’s just helping Michael get things running again with all the angels back from the Empty.”

“I’m confused, so you didn’t kill Chuck?”

“Noash fukind matr-“

“Chuck’s gone, but he’s not dead.” Sam interrupted the garbled explanation Dean was trying to make through a mouthful of cookie. “We found a way to umm- bind him I guess? In his own mind so he didn’t even know it was happening. Rowena and I did the spell and Dean set the trap.”

“I was still as useless as in Chuck’s version.” Cas clarified taking another biscuit to make up for his stolen one.

“Hey, if you hadn’t saved me from Billie we’d all have been toast. You were key.”

“Wait so Chuck’s not human and he’s not dead?”

“No- God I can’t believe he made himself human. I can’t believe we made him human and then said that was a punishment – sorry, no he’s kind of in a uhhh…”

“Alternate universe.” Sam added, “but one just for him. It’s more like an alternative plane of reality inside his own mind where he can write whatever stories he wants and think they’re real but they’re not. They can’t hurt anyone.”

“But he’s God so…. They might be real? He could be making them real.”

Sam twisted his mouth thinking, it was something he’d considered but didn’t want to dwell on.

“Well it’s not us.” Dean declared, “And honestly, if he makes another world with other Sams and Deans and Cas’s and Jacks then they’ll defeat him some other way. Like Inception, but with God!” He grinned at his reference even as the rest of the room ignored him.

Becky leant back in her armchair letting out a sigh of relief. “I’m glad you guys are ok. You too Cas, he was really adamant about killing you off.”

“Dean was very adamant about bringing me back.” Cas looked over to Dean, a soft smile and look of adoration of his face.

Dean blushed, trying to cover it up with a cough. “Yeah well, I had some stuff to say.”

Becky grinned, taking a sip of her tea as Sam suddenly started to find the wallpaper very interesting.

“So, what are you guys going to do know?” Becky asked after the moment had become sufficiently awkward. “I mean no Chuck, no apocalypse, no world to save. Are you going to keep hunting, or…?”

Sam, Dean and Cas looked at each other.

“I don’t know,” Sam said. 

“Honestly, I’m thinking Chuck had it right with the pie festival.”

Becky and Sam laughed at that.

Cas took another biscuit

***

Dean closed the boot of the Impala with a soft thud. Becky had given each of them one of her dioramas she sold on Etsy. It was always a bit weird being reminded that their life was a story that some people liked to collect stuff from for fun but he had to admit the miniature scale replica of Baby she’d given him was awesome.

Sam stood at the door giving Becky a hug and thanking her for the lunch. She hadn’t quite explained to the rest of the family who these three strange large men were that were randomly joining them for lunch beyond “They’re just some Supernatural fans I know from the internet.” Her husband had spent the entire time struggling to believe that lie even moreso after Cas had slightly traumatised one of the kids with an in-depth description of the dangers of invasive wasps to honey bee colonies.

Dean wandered over to where Cas stood beside Sam and Becky.

“Thanks again for checking on us Becky.” Dean said, accepting the hug she gave him.

“Of course, I always knew you’d beat him but it’s good to know for sure.”

“Sure is.” Dean took a step back, “Well I guess we’ll be seeing you?”

“Next Supernatural convention?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Even if there’s a ghost?”

“You do know we’re not the only hunters in America.” 

Becky bit her lip.

“What?”

“Nothing,” she paused, “it’s just, this is exactly how I would have written it.”

Sam raised his eyebrows in surprise, Dean brows knitted as Cas tilted his head.

“I don’t- not that you had to go through all that. Just that now you can actually take a break. Be normal, do your laundry-“

“-Sam and Dean have always done their laundry. That’s how they clean their clothes.” Cas piped up in confusion.

“-Be happy. Get to actually enjoy living in the world you saved. Have free will and be at peace.”

Dean chuckled, “I mean I’m personally good with never doing my laundry. But you’re right, it’s weird but good.”

“We’ll stay in touch Becky.” Sam said.

“I’ll hold you to that.”

They waved their goodbyes and walked back over to the Impala. Dean got in behind the wheel, Sam in shotgun and Cas in the back.

Turning the key the Impala revved to life. The radio began to sing, the opening chords to Kansas’s Carry on Wayward Song filling the car. 

Dean slammed the radio off.

“God, I think Chuck has forever ruined that song for me.”

Sam laughed, in the back Cas even let out a chuckle as he leant his head against the window ready for the long drive home.

It wasn’t their heaven. Not yet anyway. And that made it so much more.

#spn fic #spn spoilers #supernatural coda #destiel #destiel fic #deancas #spn #supernatural #spn 15x20 #as you can see i'm not impressed #also becky's gonna be real mad when she gets back from being thanos snapped and runs into sam ten years later at the mall #only to find out that dean died ages ago from a rusty barn nail #that will be her villain origin story #my fic

[you-cant-spell-subtext-without]

sigh okay so since y’all have gone and done Baby meta and Dead Guy Robe meta I would like to announce that I am logging on to the hellsite today to discuss the fucking  Men of Letters Bunker Table.

And the Kitchen Table.  Yes.  We’re doing Table meta today, with a specific side dissertation about The Initials.

I am so sorry, but also it’s all your fault.  Here we go, after the cut!

A preamble:  

Here’s the first thing the boys ever carved their initials into, claiming it as their own.  

A 1967 Chevrolet Impala that “would turn out to be the most important car – no, the most important object – in pretty much the whole universe.”

So we have it established in canon that Sam and Dean carve their initials in Important Objects.  In fact, the little details, little pieces that Sam and Dean add over time that meld with and become a part of the Impala are crucial to the end of 5x22:Swan Song - seeing the bits of Sam and Dean that makes baby their own gives Sam the strength to overpower Lucifer.  Go watch that shit here.

Ready to clown?  The Bunker library table is a Baby/Impala mirror.

Think about it.  Baby used to be “home” - Chuck makes that point in Swan Song too -

“maybe they never really had a roof and four walls...but they were never in fact, homeless.” 

“That’s a good line.”

Sure is, Chuck.

Sam also says it in Baby’s very own episode, 11x04:Baby.

But when they’re not riding around in Baby, the Bunker/Bat Cave is their other home, the one with the roof and four walls.

And where do they spend the most time while there? (well, Dean may spend more time in the kitchen but we’ll get to that later)

Sitting at the Library Table.

(bless my babe he cannot sit like a regular person, and I am THE same).

They work together there:

They also work with others there.  

So it’s their “hub” as well as where they welcome others, publicly/openly.  That’s important.

(Want more Impala/Library Table parallels?)

this blocking from 15x18 is exactly how they sit in baby when chatting in 11x04

you can see Sam’s arm showing the positioning below

and also when they fall asleep

Ok back to tables.  A decent amount of domestic scenes also occur at the Library Table.

However, any domestic scenes that include Cas are usually at the Kitchen Table 

(and remember, the kitchen is Cas’s favorite place per 11x03: Hells Angel; it’s where he is in his head when possessed by Lucifer):

See? Kitchen Table:

Could They Emphasize Any More that We are at the Kitchen Table?

(for additional serotonin)

Morning Sunshine/Coffee scene. Kitchen Table.

Kitchen Table:

Kitchen Table:

The Kitchen Table also appears to be most often frequented by Dean:

See how Dean is consistently sitting at it while Sam is standing or walking in when Dean is already there?

And it tends to be used for more secretive, emotional or private moments (the Cas and Jack cereal scene above, or Sam and Dean planning to put Jack in the Malaak box below, as an example:)

Another, more somber shot of this one to remind you that while it was domestic, it was emotional too.

Other characters have used it for secretive/private/emotional scenes as well.

Like this surprise reunion setup between Sully and Sam:

Mary reading John’s journal:

First conversation with Midam since the cage:

(she’s plotting to kill Jack here)

John seeing Mary for the first time in Lebanon:

No explanation necessary:

THIS MOMENT IS ALSO IN THE KITCHEN

BONUS: this outfit

DOUBLE BONUS:

after Dean presumably stays up all night drinking one-on-one with Mick in 12x17:British Invasion 

Ok, now lets move on to the initials.

They first appear on the table in 12x18:The Memory Remains.

DEAN

I wonder what's gonna happen to this place. After we're gone, you think some hunter'll move in, keep fightin' the fight?

(**a moment of feral screaming re 15x20)

SAM

Yeah, I hope so.

DEAN

Yeah. Me, too.

[Dean gets out his knife from his pocket.]

SAM 

What are you doin'?

DEAN

Leaving our mark. Here.

[Dean and Sam carve their initials into the library table like they'd done to Baby as kids]

Mary’s are added after her death (14x18:Absence).

And finally, in 15x19 we get Cas’s.  Let’s see it one more time.

Again - these initials are carved on the Library Table. The work table.  The table shown to the public, where guests tend to be seated.

I’ve been calling them initials but note - Dean used Cas’s full name.  No, it’s not because they didn’t want to anger the fans by spelling Cas wrong.

It’s because Dean always uses Cas’s full name when he introduces him to other people. (start at :48)

The Library Table is the domestic family table - for everyone except for Cas, whose domestic scenes tend to occur at the kitchen table (the table of private/secret moments, the table in Cas’s favorite place, the place where Cas’s favorite person seems to spend a lot of time).  Dean has been hiding his relationship with Cas from the world in. this. kitchen.

Carving Cas’s name on the Library Table is Dean making a choice.  It’s Dean choosing Cas as family publicly; it’s Dean bringing Cas home, permanently; it’s Dean introducing Castiel to the world as a part of him, as his own.  

This is Dean’s “I love you, too.”

CHUCK (VOICEOVER)

So, what's it all add up to? It's hard to say. But me, I'd say this was a test... for Sam and Dean. And I think they did all right. [Flashbacks play.] Up against good, evil, angels, devils, destiny, and God himself, they made their own choice. They chose family. And, well... isn't that kinda the whole point? 

BONUS SUPPORT FOR KITCHENS AS SECRET POST-COITAL HIDDEN RELATIONSHIP HANGS:

brb, eating glass.

#destiel #spn meta #spn analysis #spn recaps #supernatural #men of letters bunker #spn furniture #spn fandom #deancas #spn family #myspnmeta

[huggybearsunshine]

You Look Like Mine

Another finale fix it cause I can’t help myself. Takes place after 15x19. There is no 15x20.

There was a silence so heavy that it felt almost suffocating as the two men and the red-haired witch watched the immobile lump on the floor in horror. Then suddenly, a loud inhale shattered the quiet and a set of wild, blue eyes scanned over the room.

“Sam?” a gruff voice pushed through a set of chapped lips as those blue eyes blinked fiercely, “And Rowena?”

“Hey, Cas,” Sam sighed as tears threatened to fall from his eyes, “Welcome back.”

Rowena stayed oddly silent, offering a small smile as her only greeting.

“Where is…” Cas tried to sort his thoughts, but luckily he didn’t have to try too hard.

“He’s…” Sam’s eyes drifted off, toward something over Cas’ shoulder.

“Cas,” a sob rung out, the voice drawing Castiel’s attention instantly, head swiveling around until… there.

There he is.

Dean’s hand seemed to grasp at the familiar tan over coat on its own accord as the other hooked his neck, eyes searching deeply into the other man’s as if he didn’t trust it yet.

“You’re okay?” the hunter’s voice cracked.

“I think so, yes,” Cas looked down at himself as if to check before his brows knit together and his gaze returned, “How am I here?”

“Turns out I’m not so good at goodbyes…” Dean shrugged like that should be explanation enough, “Especially when it’s you.”

The elder Winchester cleared his throat, realizing how close they were and that his hands still clung to the newly rescued Angel like he might disappear.

“The how isn’t important- can you stand?” Dean asked and pulled him up carefully as the other nodded, “What’s important is that it worked-”

“But Dean…” Castiel’s hand gripped his as a serious expression clouded his joy, “Cosmic consequences..?”

“We’ve handled them before…”

The answer seems to take Cas a moment to process, but his grip loosens, “But Jack- what if he-”

“There’s a lot to catch you up on-” Sam spoke up as he stepped closer to the pair.

“Not here…” Dean added, resting a hand on Cas’ back, “Let’s get you somewhere that isn’t this damned dungeon… I’ve had enough of this room for one lifetime…”

Sam stepped to Cas’ other side to help and Rowena opened the door for the group as they made their way to the library.

“I don’t understand why I’m back…” Cas’ voice came out small and broken, “I fulfilled my purpose…”

“The fuck you did,” Dean came to an abrupt stop, almost causing Sam to trip from his side of the weakened Angel, “Cas, you can’t keep thinking your purpose is to die for someone else.”

“Dean-” Sam tried, but the eyes that turned to him were warning him to stop.

“You weren’t there,” the elder Winchester ground through his teeth.

“Yeah, so you’ve said,” Sam bit back but with less venom than his brother, “You haven’t said much else other than that for weeks…”

“Please don’t,” Cas broke the tension with his plea, “It’s been so quiet… I find I am… overwhelmed.”

“Of course, Cas,” Sam shook his head, anger dropping instantly as they made their way into the library and Cas was eased into a nearby chair.

“You’re drenched in… empty…” Dean commented absentmindedly, avoiding Cas’ gaze, “You need a change of clothes.”

He stood to go retrieve some for him but a hand clasped around his wrist, stopping him in his tracks. His eyes locked with Sam’s for a moment before falling to look down at the connection.

“Samual,” Rowena finally spoke up, “Why don’t you go get a change of clothes and I’ll find a towel…”

“Yeah, of course,” Sam agreed gently with a nod toward the other two men.

Once they were alone, Dean turned agonizingly slow and sank to his knee.

“Dean, I… find I am at a loss for words…” Cas finally spoke after a thoughtful silence, “I didn’t plan on what to say after-”

“After telling me you love me?” Dean tried for levity but failed as his gaze dropped from Cas’ eyes to his chest and he cleared his throat uncomfortably.

“Yes…” Cas’ voice tried to fail him, but he pushed through, “I’m sorry, Dean, I never meant-”

“I grabbed some of yours cause mine would be huge on him-” Sam strolled in holding a pile of clothes, Rowena close behind, shrugging as though she had tried to stall him.

“Great,” Dean said flatly as he grabbed the clothes from him and turned back to Cas, “Think you can walk?”

“Yes Dean, I feel fine-”

“Good,” the hunter replied before taking his hand and guiding him from the room once the Angel was on his feet, “Can’t expect him to change in the middle of the library…”

“Take this too,” Rowena offered the towel gently.

Dean nodded before sweeping past her and disappearing into the washroom down the hall.

Once inside, he froze with his back to Cas.

“Never meant what?” he finally asked, starting to move again.

He situated Cas against the sink and began cleaning his face and neck with the towel.

“To hurt you,” Cas finished his earlier statement, “To leave you…”

“But you meant what you said?” Dean had frozen again, eyes locked onto the porcelain sink before chancing a glance at Cas.

“Yes, Dean,” Cas responded sincerely.

A breath pushed slowly from Dean’s lungs and for a moment, it looked as though he might pass out, but then something steeled in his eyes.

“You love me,” he said it more as a statement than a question, but Cas answered nonetheless.

“Yes, Dean.”

“Shit…” the hunter breathed out, that same look crossing his face again like he might black out, “How long?”

“How long have I been…”

“Yeah,” Dean hurriedly clarified, “Yeah, that…”

“Oh…” this seemed to actually perplex the Angel, “I really couldn’t say for sure…”

“You never said anything…” Dean scrubbed the towel over Cas’ hair, seemingly moving on auto pilot at this point.

“I didn’t want to say anything when I did, but it was the only solution…” Cas commented, pulling the towel from Dean’s hand and dropping it into the sink behind him, “I never wanted to make you uncomfortable… or ruin our friendship.”

“Not happening,” Dean replied without hesitation.

This caused Cas’ head to tilt as he searched the hunter’s eyes, “You haven’t said what you are feeling…”

A slightly hysterical laugh escaped Dean’s mouth before he could stop it, “How much time you got?”

“For you?” Cas asked softly, knowing he didn’t have to finish the statement for his point to register.

“Cas,” it’s the softest he’s ever heard his name spoken and sends a chill down the Angel’s spine, “I… I feel…”

“You do?” there’s a spark of hope in Cas’ eyes as he stepped closer.

“It isn’t just you…” Dean gives him a pointed look before needing a change of atmosphere, “Now take your clothes off…”

Cas is the one who freezes this time, pulling a laugh from Dean as he notices.

“Not like that, Cas-anova,” he quipped, nudging his shoulder into the other man’s, “You actually need to change your clothes… I’ll step out of the room…”

“Dean,” Cas looked suddenly panicked.

“I’ll be right behind the door,” Dean spoke gently, understanding the trauma Cas is dealing with to some extent, “I won’t even close it.”

Cas nodded after a short hesitation, and Dean did just as he said.

The hunter leaned against the wall in the hallway once he was out of sight, breathing heavily. His hands shook at his side and he couldn’t help but be hyper aware of the sounds Cas’ clothes made as they hit the floor.

“Hey,” Sam approached, offering a welcome distraction, “How’s he doing?”

“He seems okay considering…”

“How bout you?” Sam added as he too noticed that Dean was shaking, “You okay?”

“I have no idea,” is all Dean can force out, rubbing a hand across his face.

The door opened the rest of the way and Cas stepped out, now wearing a pair of sweatpants and one of Dean’s old band t-shirts.

And that is when it chose to fully hit Dean.

“You look like mine…” he hears it, the breathy voice that speaks his thought out loud without permission.

Sam’s breath practically choked him as he looked between the two.

“I am yours.”

#dean winchester #sam winchester #castiel #destiel #deancas #dean x cas #castiel x dean #fanfiction #finale fix it #spn #supernatural #rowena mcleod #castiel loves dean winchester #dean loves him back