Yeah, the tag’s meant to be funny, but no, seriously, look at Dean fall in love in the third GIF. Because Dean has this tremendous fear of abandonment, right? Everyone he’s ever loved, or allowed himself to get close to, has left him in one way or another. Mom, who abandoned him by dying. Dad, who abandoned him for the Hunt. Sam, who abandoned him for Ruby. The friends, the teachers, the mentors, the girlfriends, maybe the boyfriends too. Everybody. And it eventually got to the point where Dean started taking charge and doing the abandoning first — with Cassie, with Lisa — so that he wouldn’t be the one left behind anymore.
And then in swoops this guy, this angel of the Lord, who saves him from Hell, who saves him from Heaven, who saves him from Fate, who saves him again and again and again, and Cas saves Dean again right here, right at the nick of time — this guy who, Dean now knows, for a fact, wouldn’t leave his side even if Sam said yes and the Apocalypse came to pass and everything that could ever go wrong actually did — this guy who is (at this point in the show) demonstrably the one and only person in Dean’s entire life who will never, ever leave him — and when Dean tries to express his appreciation for that, Cas’s only explanation is, “well, duh, of course I’d be here, of course I’d get you out, of course I’d never leave you behind, because we made each other a promise, because we had an appointment”.
(via scribble-fox)
First off, glad you’re liking The Great Season 7 Rewatch! It’s a labor of love, and it always makes me happy to hear that the meta series has made someone revisit my favorite season with a fresh eye.
I think you may have misinterpreted the meaning of what I said about wanting Dean to save Cas from Perdition.
Previously: The Born Again Identity (Part 1, 2, 3, 4 and Coda)
I’ve often said that Season 7 convinced me of that Dean and Cas were in love, and to this day it boggles my mind that so many fans blame Sera Gamble for “ruining” the characters’ relationship. Far from it! So I thought I’d step through my favorite season, episode by episode, and point out why I was so convinced.
Here it is, “Party On Garth!” Finally! I apologize for all the many, many delays… I had a major work deadline to complete, you know how it goes. Thanks for your patience, and sticking with me, despite the delays.
Fair warning though: This is the longest single installment yet. I thought about breaking it into multiple parts, but I couldn’t find a good place to break. So, like, just be forewarned - you might need a stretch break halfway through. :)
**WARNING: Minor spoilers for early Season 8**
The first time I watched “Party On, Garth!”, I hated it. Hated, hated, hated it. To be honest, I felt downright insulted by it: the good cheer, its standalone plot, the lack of Cas. Everything about it just rankled.
In hindsight, however, I’ve changed my tune considerably. I think most of my initial reaction stemmed from the fact that I still reeled from the emotional apocalypse that is “The Born Again Identity”, because on its own merits, “Party On Garth” is actually a pretty cool little story. Not only is it a nice palate cleanser from the trauma that just occurred (and will occur again shortly), it also greatly advances Dean’s personal story arc without ever feeling over-the-top. It’s a solid bridge episode, linking past and present and carrying us into the season’s final act, and one of the best of its kind we’ve seen in the series so far.
casicastiel said:
I don’t know if you’ve read this one, but sparrow-lately.livejour… is absolutely fantastic
Oh my god. Yes it is.
Benny watches as Dean pulls the knife out of the werewolf’s slumped, broken body; Dean sticks it back into its makeshift holster without bothering to clean it more than a quick flick to get most of the gunk off. He’d bet money that Dean used to meticulously keep it clean whenever he’d first landed his ass here.
“How long you been lookin’ for this fella?” he asks, because he’s been with Dean for maybe three weeks, and Dean sure as hell knows what he’s doing.
oH MY GOD
Ice Cream Destiel
Before they storm the Sucrocorp headquarters and gank Dick once and for all, Dean takes Cas on one last errand: to get ice cream.
“Shut up,” he offers by way of explanation.
Dean devours his ice cream so quickly that Cas wonders if perhaps he isn’t part Leviathan. Cas, however, can’t find the same enjoyment. He just stares at his cone, trying not to think of this as a last meal, or as making up for lost time, or as a goodbye.
He’s motionless for so long that the ice cream begins to melt, the sticky-sweet milk fats running over and between his fingers like blood. Cas chuckles. The raw sound draws Dean’s attention, but Cas doesn’t care, because he’s cold. Unbelievable. Him. Cold.
For thousands of years, Castiel did not experience the earth’s elements. Protected by God’s love and holy purpose, he was of the universe, but not among it; he walked through the world unfazed, untouched. But now, he feels all the time, constantly bombarded by a cacophony of sensations. Rain droplets tickling his skin. Wind ruffling his hair. Dust grating in his eyes and throat. Cold is a new one, though. He wonders when that nonsense started.
Probably, Cas realizes as he looks up and catches Dean’s gaze, right around the same time he started feeling warmth.
“Dude,” says Dean. “Eat up, before it all melts.”
But Cas can’t. He can’t move, he can’t tear his eyes away, because Dean has 47 freckles dotted along his nose and cheeks, and seven on his right ear, and a half-inch long scar hidden by his left eyebrow. Cas knows all this because he rebuilt Dean with his own two hands, this marvel of divine engineering, this creature who feels so much, who can not only withstand the earth’s elements, but enjoy them, even the cold. Truly, the last perfect handiwork of God.
“You forget how to eat or something,” Dean adds, oddly short of breath.
Swallowing around a tight throat, Cas forces himself to look down at the cone in his hands, away from Dean’s freckles and the majesty of his Father. “This is laden with Leviathan additive,” he says.
Dean lets out a strangled laugh. “What are you, on a diet?”
“Consuming this will dull my senses and weaken my reflexes.” Cas frowns down at the cone. “Especially in these quantities.”
Dean snorts, and Cas looks back up at him just in time to see Dean roll his eyes. Grabbing Cas’s wrist, he tugs the angel closer. Cas lets him. Never dropping his gaze, Dean takes a long, deliberate lick of the ice cream. “Some things,” he says, his voice suddenly low and rough, “are worth the risk.”
Cas can’t tell if the sudden heat on his cheeks is from the summer sun or something else, but whatever the reason, he offers up a silent prayer of thanks to an absent Father for giving him the chance to feel it now.
Putting this behind a break, because I know emotions are still running kinda high after the last episode, and I’m trying hard not to offend any particular readers here (so don’t read this if you were hurt or angered by 8x17):
I agree with this to a large extent, especially about the nature of the Meg/Cas relationship. However, I don’t think the show would have been able to both acknowledge and out Meg’s feelings for Cas and keep her around. Meg is essentially not an ally. She’s done horrible things and in the eyes of the Winchesters - from whose POV the show is told - she’s pretty much irredeemable. Nevertheless, they came up with a story that allowed her to show two things: that she’s capable of love, and capable of being unselfish. Those qualities at least suggest the possibility of redemption, and in my eyes, it was enough to redeem her. She didn’t die as one of the good guys, but as a character capable of love and sacrifice.
TBH, I don’t think TPTB had any storyline planned for her, or had any intention to keep her around. However, she had a place in the show, both plot- and character-wise, since season 1, and I am actually glad she got a proper send-off in an episode that was essentially dedicated to her, rather than becoming another loose thread (like Adam).
YES. It a romantic relationship that was never going to feasibly blossom , not with everything Meg had done, and given the sides Cas and Meg were on. (To say nothing of the fan outrage — and can you imagine what Dean would’ve done?) But you hit the nail on the head: “She didn’t die as one of the good guys, but as a character capable of love and sacrifice”. I mean, in the end, she’s still a demon, that didn’t change. But as she said in “Survival of the Fittest”, “we learn, we grow.” That she did.
Putting this behind a break, because I know emotions are still running kinda high after the last episode, and I’m trying hard not to offend any particular readers here (so don’t read this if you were hurt or angered by 8x17):
#his love for you #that’s what broke the connection you idiot
Thats what i yelled at the screen, also im crying
I yelled “YOU” til I was blue in the face
Dean knows. Of course Dean knows. I mean, look at him, he can’t even look at Cas straight on when he asks “what broke the connection”? He just stares at Cas’s chest and blinks a lot. He knows why, deep down, he just needs to hear Cas say it, before he’ll believe it.
And Cas can’t even look at him when he answers, “I don’t know”.
God, seriously, these two idiots. I mean, not that I expected anything different from them — if this were the season finale, maybe — but god, all that’s left now is for them to say it already.
(via zatnikatel)
i didn’t think the megstiel scenes last night were meant as a “no homo” thing, though I guess I can see how they might be read as that
but personally i found them really satisfying, as they wrapped up loose ends and all that, because it is canon that cas had a crush on meg, and it was definitely hinted (strongly) that it wasn’t one way
so from a purely storytelling standpoint, if you’re gonna get cas together with dean, you’re gonna need to resolve that one way or another
but plus, i’ve also always found their relationship quite sweet, really redeeming actually, they bring out a side to each other nobody else can, she makes him selfish and he makes her heroic; she gives him wants and desires and he gives her motivation to sacrifice; they just get each other so well —
and, like, it’s okay for people to have relationships and attractions aside from their One True Love. I get crushes on people who aren’t my husband all the time, and it doesn’t mean I love him or am in love with him any less. But the flipside is also true: just because I’m married doesn’t mean those crushes aren’t meaningful to me; I can still find fulfillment and enjoyment from those relationships; they’re still valid attachments that I form, and they are mine
like, that’s just how adults are — in many ways we are a sum of all the relationships we form — we are who we choose as our Group — and your relationship with one person will never be the same as that you have with everyone else; and that’s okay, gdi that’s okay.
so honestly, let cas have his relationship with meg, let that be all his — it doesn’t mean he love dean any less, and it doesn’t mean he’s in love with dean any less — only that his existence isn’t defined by dean, which, how can that NOT be a good thing?
and in some ways, i think meg makes the argument for destiel more powerful, because cas chooses to be with dean, over and over again, every day; he’s not being railroaded into it by the writers, he’s not doing it because he has no other options; he’s doing it because it’s an organic character choice, and let me say that again: dean is and always been cas’s choice.
Anonymous Asks:
flutiebear Said:
Who the heck even knows? You can’t tell a darn thing about a man — or an angel’s — bedroom behavior by how he acts outside the bedroom.
Besides, that there even has to be a top or bottom in a relationship represents a very narrow understanding of queer sexuality. Why can’t they just switch off? And who’s the top and the bottom in oral sex, anyway? Or handies? Or frottage? Or with lesbians? I mean, why does there always have to be a penetrator, and a penetrated? Why is that the only context in which we can understand queer sexuality?
Oh, I’m sorry, nonny. I know you were just asking a light-hearted question, and I don’t mean to jump down your throat about it. But I really, really hate this question. Really.
I’ll answer you big spoon, little spoon, though? (I mean, that’s not the same kind of swamp of sexual politics; everybody cuddles.) Dean’s definitely the little spoon. Like, just watch him with Lisa. Our guy likes being nuzzled. :)
Season 7 makes a lot of subtle social commentary. On gay rights and the effect religion has on it, S7 says how they feel about it right off the bat. One of the first things Cas does as God is kill the homophobic, hate-driven preacher. The man that Cas is in love with is so horribly repressed during S7, which alludes to the repression talk like this causes. I mean, if you were told your whole life that being gay is sick and wrong and you’re going to hell if you dare love whom you want to love, you would do anything not to appear gay. Does that sound like someone we know? Cas is far more perceptive than he’s given credit for, and I think he understands Dean more than he lets on. If Dean’s repression pisses us off, imagine how Cas must have felt.
And in a season where Dean has to come to terms with his repression and the effect it’s had on him, Cas gave him a clue how to deal with it. Kill it dead or its poison will choke you.
Great point. And look at who else Cas goes after:
- Pedophiles in leadership positions in the Catholic church.
- White supremacy organizations, including the KKK.
- New Age motivational speakers (including the Center for Vibrational Enlightenment, hee hee).
- Madison Square Garden (though the context makes it sounds like Dean’s just exaggerating to make a point)
- A publishing house. (It’s not clear what is published there, but judging from the theme of the rest of the attacks, it’s probably a religious small press that deals in hate-mongering)
- A politician looking to protect others from “the godless policies” of her opponents.
All those are groups looking to silence and repress others, or as Cas puts it, “to cause poverty and despair in my name”. The pedophile wants to silence his victim. The white supremacist wants to silence black people. New Age motivational speakers want to silence anyone who expresses or owns their negative emotions. The politician wants to silence who she deems “godless”. All of these groups, even the KKK, do so while professing to love their fellow man, and condemn those who don’t. But Cas ain’t havin’ none of their shit:
People say I’m wrathful, but I only punish liars and those who forsake me. I am a just God.
Dean’s life was shaped by a man, and later a culture, that demanded he silence and repress who he truly is inside. Cas, however, found that soul beautiful. He found it worth saving from the depths of Hell. And in saving Dean, so too was Cas saved from the perdition of his own doubt and purposelessness.
Therefore, when he becomes God, it’s no wonder that Cas keeps trying to save souls just like Dean’s. He’s essentially trying to save that soul over and over again, thus recreating the most pivotal moment of his existence, the moment of his greatest triumph, his greatest righteousness; the moment when everything changed.
Sam sends him a card.
“What the hell is this?” Dean demands, and from over the line comes Sam’s weary sigh.
“It’s a card, Dean,” Sam says, slow, and Dean can tell he’s thinking, my genius brother, ladies and gentlemen.
“And what the hell is it doing in my mailbox?” Dean asks impatiently. ”You know I didn’t mean it when I told you don’t forget to write.”
“Just open it,” Sam explains, unnecessarily.
“Is this for my birthday? What, you couldn’t get a hold of a skin mag?” Dean asks. ”What the hell do I need a card for?” He shakes the card out of its envelope, and a something smooth and shiny falls out; a photograph, of Sam’s cheesy grin and Amelia’s teasing smile and a prominent ring, all diamonds and antique gold.
I cried. So good.
Dean watching 2014!Destiel → requested by grace
Now that we’ve seen glimpses of 2014!Dean in our current Dean, I wonder if this is as dark a future as previously thought. Dean has always been an unreliable narrator, so his assumption that 2014!Dean was going to sacrifice his friends might have been wrong. Dean, currently, doesn’t seem to bother telling people his plans, especially if he doesn’t think they’re worthy of it. And I’m sure 2014!Dean thought past!Dean was really unworthy of it—and, more importantly, the person that knew the plan was the person that mattered: Cas. 2014!Dean trusts Cas above all others this episode: they go over the plans together, and they have entire arguments and conversations through body language alone. Even something as simple as this scene right here, handing the binoculars over is Dean literally sharing the plan with Cas.
Would Cas, hopeless and hapless as he was, even died? He was to provide a diversion so Dean could have the time for the one crucial shot to kill the Devil, but that doesn’t necessarily mean Dean’s sacrificing him. Cas is a soldier—he knows what’s at stake, and the plan is dangerous, and they may not make it out alive. Dean might not either, and it’s something they both accept and move on with, because they’ve always known the greater good is what they both will sacrifice everything for. Maybe Cas would have died, but he would have died knowing full well what Dean’s plan was. Or maybe not—because Cas is as brilliant a tactician as Dean is, and he could have kept his small team alive long enough for Dean to get the one-shot he needed, and even after that too.
And maybe in this future, the Colt would have worked, and Cas would have emerged from that building with his small team in tow. And he would have found Dean trying not to sob over the body of his little brother, and gone to Dean’s side to offer what comfort he could. Cas would have been ready to stand with Dean again, ready to soldier on alongside him in this brave new world. Maybe they would have even been able to fix each other along the way, and emerge stronger than ever before.
I really need to watch this episode again…
Oh, god, jkateel! Look at what you wrote. I am sobbing. Sobbing. And dude, I love that you touched on Dean as an unreliable narrator, because he is. Everything we see from Dean’s pov needs to be filtered through a new lens, because his self-loathing colours everything. You can’t trust anything Dean sees (and how much do I love that S8’s Purgatory hi-lighted that?) I swear, half the arguments in this fandom stem from people missing that. Unreliable narration, man. SPN uses it so, so effectively.
This is the beauty of SPN. I’ve said this before, but writers write a story that has several layers, leaving it up to the reader to take it all apart. But sometimes they have unreliable narrators too, and you can go back and look at the scene from another point of view (in this case, the camera or by taking off the self-loathing filters) and realize the story underneath. This is what makes a great story: one you can back to time and time again and see something new.
(Aka Edlund is a genius.)
As long as we’re playing the hindsight game here: We’ve seen mounting evidence over the years to suggest that Cas has some sort of innate or gifted resurrection power. He’s died, literally, right before our eyes several times. And each time, he’s put back together, healed of his wounds, reset to some starting default status. Cas dies and comes back every single time.
(He appears to be unique among angels in this regard, but we can’t know for sure, as we haven’t seen any other angel but Raphael die on screen in a manner that didn’t involve an angel blade.)
2009!Dean wouldn’t know about this quality of Cas’s yet. He’s only seen Cas die once, and at the time, it appeared to be highly unusual; he was even worried it might’ve been caused by Lucifer.
By the time he reaches 2014, however, Our Dean would know that Cas resurrects. So it’s entirely possible that 2014!Dean knows about the ability too. And if so, then it’s possible that 2014!Dean knows that, even if Cas dies in the assault, he won’t be gone — he will somehow be resurrected.
2014!Dean is still willing to feed his friends into a meat grinder, yes. But is he also assuring Cas dies too? Several years later, the answer isn’t as obvious as it at first appeared.
As an aside: as for the Colt working, I always thought “The End” foreshadowed that the Colt will not work against the Devil (something later confirmed in “Abandon All Hope”). When 2009!Dean runs into the Garden and sees Lucifer’s boot crushing 2014!Dean’s neck, there’s a shot of the Colt laying useless on the ground. Clearly it had been drawn. And while we can’t know for sure if 2014!Dean had gotten off the shot, with how competent 2014!Dean is in all other matters, it seems he’d be capable of shooting a gun at point-blank range too.
