#a random ficlet for episode 40

[zmediaoutlet]

They’re loud enough coming into the motel room that Sam would feel bad for the neighbors, if this weren’t a total dirtbag no-tell. $39 a night and worth every grimy penny. Dean’s still telling him about the plot of Metalstorm. At volume.

“Dude, and then Hurok—I told you about his backstory, right? With the Two-Eyed Queen?”

“Maybe,” Sam says, dropping to the nearer bed. “I think I lost the will to live somewhere around the killer shrapnel tornadoes.”

A raspberry. Dean stows the six-pack they bought on the way back from the bar in the mini-fridge and pulls out two bottles. “Telling you, no appreciation,” he says, but he’s not pissed. He’s grinning at Sam, weirdly cheery like he’s been all day.

“What’s with you,” Sam says, accepting his beer. Dean cracks it for him with the ring, plops down on the other bed. His boots stretched out around Sam’s legs. “You’re like—a kid cracked out on birthday candy.”

“Hey, this is a good day, man,” Dean says, expansive. He waves a hand, vaguely encompassing the dingy room and Hollywood and the whole world, possibly. “Got to go to a legit movie set, met two movie stars, and the case isn’t even really a case, which means no dead guy, which means no digging up a grave, which means: we got the night off, hombre.”

He says it with the h. “Pretty sure Gerard St. James doesn’t count as a movie star,” Sam says, but it’s hard not to smile back at Dean when he’s being—ebullient, practically.

Dean grins, knows he won. “You’re not ruining this for me,” he says, pointing at Sam. Then—it’s strange, how quick—his grin dips, turns. His lower lip bitten, lopsided. “I know you wanted a—a distraction, or whatever. We can find another job. Here or we could go south maybe. TJ?” His eyebrows pop. “Could get a show.”

“Spare me,” Sam says. Dean leans forward, looking all over Sam’s face, which heats. God, Dean. So annoying Sam could kill him, but also… “Thought you wanted to go to the Hard Rock Cafe, anyway.”

A second, two. Dean finishes examining his aura or something and then his grin gets dirtier, which is impressive because Sam thought he’d found a new depth before. “Hey, we can get hard as a rock right here,” he says, and Sam rolls his eyes, says, “That doesn’t actually—work,” and Dean surges forward not fast but inevitable as plate tectonics, pushes Sam down to his back on the bed, crawls up with his knees on either side of Sam’s hips, makes Sam hold his beer wide and to the side so it doesn’t spill, grins down into Sam’s face. Purely—glad.

“Does too,” Dean says, the dingy light riming him like a halo. Sam has no idea what he’s responding to but so what. Dean takes a swallow of his beer, throat bobbing, and then takes Sam’s out of his hand so they clink together, reaches down and sets them on the carpet. Leaves Sam free to grab his hips, his waist. Familiarity of what feels like his whole life taking over. This unseating at the back of the brain, like being drunk, except he only had two at the bar and it’s really just the wild spinning reality of—being Dean’s brother. What that means, when they’re together, and things are good.

But—“I don’t need a distraction,” Sam says, sliding his hand up Dean’s stomach. No hair, just the soft warm give of his skin. Options flickering in his gut, knowing how the night’s going to go, but he wants to be sure. That Dean knows, that it’s not—

But Dean knows. Sam can’t trust that Dean knows every swirling doubt in him, especially in these days of strange terror, but on this, with this, Dean might as well be in MENSA. “Good,” Dean says, warm. He gets his hand between them on Sam’s crotch, on where he’s swelling up the denim. Sam’s hips flinch, curving up. A crooked smile, and then his tongue touching the point of his tooth. All the blood in Sam’s brain drains abruptly to where it’s needed. Dean leans down, close, so Sam can smell his beer-breath and his skin. Salt. Sam’s mouth waters and Dean looks between his eyes. Making it easy. “Wouldn’t want you distracted.”

#happy wincest wednesday #my writing #ww lottery #a random ficlet for episode 40 #world's strongest z deserves a medal #wrote this with covid when i'm late on my next dose of drugs #it might make no sense! but it got written! #haven't missed a day! #now i need to crawl into a nyquil bottle #also sam in hollywood babylon is literally the hottest creature #so lucky dean

[theonceoverthinker]

OUAT 1X17 - Hat Trick

Is this episode a cut above the rest or is it just a one trick rabbit? Find out what I think below the cut.

Press Release While searching for a missing Mary Margaret, Emma is kidnapped by a man whose affinity for hats has him teetering on the edge of madness. Meanwhile, viewers will be transported outside of the fairytale land that was for the first time when the Evil Queen persuades a skillful man of magic to come work for her one last time and travel to Wonderland in order to help steal something from the Queen of Hearts. General Thoughts Past I love this flashback. I think the dynamic between Grace and Jefferson was really set up, and the conflict was tighter than the father-daughter bond. Additionally, Jefferson and Regina have quite the rapport, one that only becomes better as we see them interact in future episodes. Here, we get our first glimpse of Wonderland, or at least Wonderland 1.0. While yeah, it’s definitely so covered in CGI that a stage that was literally painted black served as a better and more believable set, it’s also distinct and has this mood that just screams Wonderland. I especially love the maze. In one shot, we see that part of it is slanted at an angle. That and the Queen of Hearts’ court. The madness of this land is perfectly on display here as everyone wears these creepy masks and the queen herself talks through one of her underlings through a device.

Present Oh, man! I love when OUaT handles horror, and it blends so well with the drama here! The events of the present are like watching a Saw movie where Jigsaw is confident enough to ditch the mask and he’s all the more horrifying for it. There’s a great bubbling tension in this episode that comes in two forms. First, will Emma and Mary Margaret escape and get back to the station in time? Second, will Jefferson push just the right buttons to make Emma believe? It might just be the cynic in me, but a lot of Jefferson’s lines post-reveal are just making me roll my eyes. I’m not sure if that’s just an aspect of the character or just a flaw, but even though I’m fully aware that Jefferson’s right about the curse, the way he tries (verbally) to convince Emma that the curse is real is just idiotic. With Henry, this works because he’s just a child. He doesn’t know how to talk around something like a magical curse. However, Jefferson is an adult, and a clever one at that! He knew just what steps it would take to get Emma in his clutches, but he can’t pick up on how crazy he must sound to her as he’s relating history to one’s imagination. I mean, Emma already thinks you’re crazy, Jeffie boy! You’re not helping. If he was just crazy, it would be one thing, but again, he’s able to be persuasive! It just makes the moment where Emma hits him and reveals that she believed fuck all of what he said both badass and cathartic.

So, I don’t know how much of a problem I consider this, but I feel the need to point out that the kidnapping story doesn’t do anything to further either Emma or Mary Margaret’s development regarding their present conflicts. It feels like the episode was paused when Emma was poisoned, played for a few seconds when Emma was freeing Mary Margaret before being paused again, and finally played after they were both freed. I wish that instead of speaking about random nonsense, Jefferson and his situation could’ve played a part in Mary Margaret’s decision to come back. As it stands, it feels like I’m watching two different episodes - two good episodes, mind you, but two episodes regardless. Both All of the props in the world here to Sebastian Stan. His acting is beyond versatile, going from charming and kind to desperate (On multiple levels of desperation, too, ranging from a subtle desperation when he tries to get Grace her toy to manic in the end of the flashback to a level that pumps like a heartbeat as Emma tries and fails to make a magic hat!) to sinister. Insights -Past!Jefferson’s robe has so much freakin’ CGI! Why does it have so much freakin’ CGI?! XD -Damn, hearing Jefferson talk about Grace’s mother hits so much harder with the comics in mind! -”You must have a huge family!” I wonder if a younger Emma ever pictured living in a big house with a big family. Maybe part of that carried over to her adult life and that’s why she kept looking for her parents. -I am getting so many Knight Rook feels from this flashback! Anyone want to write a ficlet about Killian and Jefferson sitting down over a cup of tea and talking about their girls? -Emma is just the freakin’ coolest person! She spends about one second panicking after being taken hostage before immediately coming up with an escape plan! I compared her to The Terminator in my review of the pilot, and I don’t think I was too far off. -That telescope is so fucking powerful! How close is this mansion to town? -Those neighbors are bizarrely so nonchalant about taking in Grace right on the spot, and I love it! -Jefferson is talking so much nonsense and Emma is just refusing to buy any of it. -Did the writers know that Cora would be Regina’s mother when they wrote this episode? Also, like mother, like daughter when it comes to those guards! -Last I checked, Henry Sr. wasn’t taken for leverage as much as he was taken as a form of punishment. Correct me if I’m wrong. -Okay, so Jefferson’s promise really touched a nerve with Regina, but I’m not fully sure I understand why. And speaking of nerves touched, Cora’s was certainly when Jefferson called Regina “The Queen.” -”Holding conflicting realities in your head.” If you remember, then what conflicting realities do you have? Jeffy, you have no alternate memories, and you’re about eight episodes early to touch upon it for everyone else! -”Crazy son of a bitch.” You’re damn right he is, Emma. -Present!Jefferson has a scar around his neck! What the hoo ha?! -Okay, so we all know that Jefferson comes back soon enough, so where the fuck did he go at the end of the episode? -”Absolutely.” How do these guys make such a cute Swan Believer moment with just a single word? Arcs Emma’s journey of belief - Okay, Emma’s journey of faith with Jefferson was total BS (At least until the end of the episode when she saw Grace and Jefferson in the book), and I loved the hell out of that fake out, but her journey really reaches a new high thanks to Mary Margaret. Here, we get to see a show of vulnerability from Emma that we haven’t seen since the pilot where she takes a huge step forward bringing down her walls as she not only gives Mary Margaret insight into her life, but also declares her family. Favorite Dynamic Jefferson and Grace. Every bit of Jefferson’s character owes itself to how well his relationship with Grace was portrayed. Thankfully, it was done superbly. We not only get the explicit scenes of them together, but we see how much Grace means to Jefferson just by how he talks about her and how much of Regina’s snark he’s willing to put up with. Their scenes together really sell their bond. Every bit of dialogue shows familiarity, kindness, and a desire to protect and be with the other. My favorite of the scenes is the tea party for all the reasons above! Writer We’ve got two writers today - one old and one new! Vladimir Kvetko and David Goodman are here. I don’t really have much to comment on, but I can’t help but feel like Goodman was responsible for the more heavy-handed bits of Jefferson’s dialogue in the present. Rating 9/10. This episode held up really well. It played our familiar characters in an unfamiliar setting and still let them retain the “lead” alongside their new focal character. Jefferson was a well-crafted character that had an equally compelling story. Additionally, though the moments of development were smaller than usual, what we got out of Emma and Mary Margaret’s story was incredibly effective. I’m keeping that point off for Jefferson’s speech in the present because it contributes to absolutely nothing and was apart from Sebastian’s acting was just uninteresting to watch.

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Thanks for reading and to the fine folks at @watchingfairytales for putting this together!

Damn, even though this broke the chain of 10’s and Golden Apples, we still have a pretty good line of wins here. Check back next time to see if things stay as...stable ;)

Season Tally (148/220) Writer Tally for Season 1: A&E (41/70) Liz Tigelaar (17/20)* David Goodman (33/50) Jane Espenson (36/60) Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg (29/40) Daniel Thomsen (8/10)* Vladimir Kvetko (9/10* (* = Their work for the season is complete) Operation Rewatch Archives

#ouat #once upon a time #watching fairytales #ouat 1x17 #ouat rewatch #jenna watches ouat