[5x14]

what i love about supernatural tumblr 

     when i first started watching spn in november 2020, i innocuously dipped my toe into the spn tumblr pond by reblogging a gifset of dean in “wendigo,” with the tags “i jumped on the spn train oop” and “i may or may not have watched 10 episodes today.” thus marked my spiral. after that point, i slowly started following the spn accounts tumblr recommended to me until i was so immersed in spn tumblr it became a mainstay of my daily routine.

     what makes spn tumblr so captivating? for me, it’s two-fold. the main thing i love about it is how esoteric it is. i love the inside jokes (epitomized by this post) and lingo (“[redacted],” “[gunshots],” “[omitted],” “jacting joices,” et cetera, et cetera). try to explain any of these to an outsider, and they’ll stare at you blankly (believe me, i’ve tried). from a linguistic standpoint, i’m fascinated by how much spn tumblr has affected the way i speak. i’ll catch myself saying things like “[blank] is dust” or “omg just like cas supernatural” and remember that, no, people don’t know what i’m talking about. not only are these inside jokes peak comedy, but they also lead to a profound sense of community.

     another thing i think makes spn tumblr so special is how many talented fan creators there are. even though the show ended more than a year ago, my dash is a constant barrage of fanart, fic recs, and amvs, which i think is incredibly impressive (to that end, i talked a bit about my favorite amvs in this post). referring back to the sense of community, even the most popular spn bloggers reblog low-note posts, which i think is a testament to how much fan works are valued on spn tumblr. further, and this can partially be attributed to the inherent democratization of bloggers on tumblr itself, even the biggest spn bloggers are approachable; for instance, after i messaged one of the most well known spn amv-makers, she very kindly gave me links to download all the episodes in hd. when i reblogged that gifset of dean in “wendigo,” i could not have anticipated to what extent spn, and in turn spn tumblr, would become a part of my life, but i’m better for it.

[5x14]

my ranking of all the seasons of spn + my favorite episode from each season (pt. 2)

7. 9 (favorite episode: 9x06, “heaven can’t wait”)

the order of the next few seasons is also pretty muddy for me, but season nine earns its place slightly lower on my list because of its plot. this season has a lot of potential, especially with regards to human!cas. yet, i think it falls flat. the main fault with the human!cas plot line, imo, lies in the fact the writers made the characters act ooc, especially with dean kicking cas out of the bunker with no explanation. this serves to keep dean and cas apart; tinhatting as to why they did this is a moot point (we know why), but suffice to say it made the season less enjoyable. i do enjoy some of what they did with human!cas, though, and “heaven can’t wait” is an iconic episode. otherwise, the plot in this season was frustrating (the sam and gadreel situation) or forgettable (whatever metatron was doing in this season). season nine also gets points off for having arguably one of the most boring episodes in the entire series, “bloodlines.”  

6. 13 (favorite episode: 13x05, “advanced thanatology”)

i can’t say i remember much about this season other than the one-two punch of “advanced thanatology” and “tombstone.” i talked a bit about “advanced thanatology” in my post about the best use of music in spn, but i think it’s such a poignant study of grief (hence the title) in the way it parallels the mother losing her child with dean in the aftermath of cas’ death. regarding the latter, i think this episode is a really great character study of dean and the way he deals with grief, especially when he kills himself to solve a relatively minor case. further, like i talked about in that post, the scene with “it’s never too late” is one of my favorite scenes in the entire series. after “advanced thanatology,” we do almost a complete one-eighty with “tombstone” (this drastic mood change, of course, is explained by dean with “well, i said i needed a big win. we got cas back. that's a pretty damn big win”). i think “tombstone” is a fun, (mostly) light-hearted episode, much needed after “advanced thanatology.” otherwise, this season has a lot going on (the bad place, apocalypse world, asmodeus, etc.) that was not super memorable for me.   

5. 7 (favorite episode: 7x21, “reading is fundamental”)

season seven gets points off for its profound lack of cas, but it’s placed so high on my list because i really enjoy the plot. it’s the epitome of supernatural taking something that sounds ridiculous (to summarize it, the villain of the season, named dick, controls his fellow leviathans— monsters that were housed in cas when he was god—and utilizes a major restaurant chain to stupefy americans into complacency) and making something great out of it. i love “the born-again identity,” “reading is fundamental,” and “survival of the fittest,” which account for sixty percent of cas’ appearances in this season; though he’s not in many episodes, the ones he is in are all very good. 

4. 14 (favorite episode: 14x10, “nihilism”)

i don’t actually remember the specifics of season fourteen, but i do remember really enjoying it. while most of the plot was forgettable, it had a lot of memorable episodes for me, including “byzantium,” “nihilism,” “ouroboros,” and “peace of mind.” overall, i found it to be more emotionally impactful than most of the other later seasons, especially with dean dealing with michael and his plan with the ma’lak box, jack’s sickness and death, the origin of cas’ deal with the empty, and mary’s death. 

3. 8 (favorite episode: 8x17, “goodbye stranger”)

i love the plot of season eight and i think it’s a key season for understanding cas due to how much of the season is influenced by him (dean and cas get stuck in purgatory → dean gets out but cas stays to punish himself for what he did in season seven → after cas does get out of purgatory, he’s still haunted by how much destruction he caused and is now being controlled by naomi → he ends up working with metatron because he’s under the impression it will right some of the wrongs he’s caused). 

2. 4 (favorite episode: 4x01, “lazarus rising”)

i’ve already made a post about why i think seasons four and five are superior (and a post about why i love “lazarus rising” so much), so i won’t go into much depth here, but i’ll just say i find these two seasons to be the perfect confluence of cinematography and plot.

1. 5 (favorite episode: 5x04, “the end”)

season five has so many iconic episodes, including, but not limited to, FTBYAM, “the end,” “changing channels,”  “my bloody valentine,” “dark side of the moon,” and, of course, “swan song.” i find the plot of the season to be immensely compelling and satisfying, which is what puts it just above season four for me.

[5x14]

my ranking of all the seasons of spn + my favorite episode from each season (pt. 1)

in the span of two posts, i’m going to rank all of the seasons of supernatural, list my favorite episode from each season, then go into my reasoning for my ranking. in this post, i’ll be talking about the seasons towards the bottom of my list. 

15. 6 (favorite episode: 6x15, “the french mistake”) 

*french mistake bob singer voice* season six... season six somehow manages to have two of my favorite episodes (”the french mistake” and “the man who would be king”) yet be my least favorite season. how, you might ask? i think the problems with season six center around the fact that it’s the first post-kripke season. given that the show was supposed to end with season five, the season five finale, naturally, ties things up very nicely with a narrative bow. but then... the show keeps going. this is not to say, of course, i wish the show had stopped with season five. my point here is that for all of season six, i would argue, the show lacks voice and direction (did they ever *really* find it again? that’s an argument for a different day). i didn’t mind season six so much the first time i watched it, but i found re-watching it almost unbearable. first and foremost, i find it visually unappealing; it’s unattractively gritty in parts, oversaturated in others, and the color-grading is downright bad (look to whatever was going on in “caged heat” as an example. it looks like they’re inside a dirty fish tank). furthermore, i don’t enjoy it plot-wise, mainly with regards to the campbells (frustrating) and the alpha monsters (boring). i don’t *love* cas’ plot line in this season, but i do think it makes for a great character study and some delicious conflict (a highlight of the season: the superman/kryptonite moment when dean figures out cas has been betraying them). i would say my four or so least favorite seasons are pretty muddy and subject to change, but season six might just take the cake.  

14. 15 (favorite episode: 15x05, “proverbs 17:3″)

if i had to describe this season with a phrase, it would be “comically bad.” first: cinematography. the soap opera-esque orange-ness of the later spn seasons really comes to a head here, not to mention how uncompelling the visuals are (like, ghosts in broad daylight? really?). plot-wise, i think it goes without saying that my issues mainly lie with “despair” and “carry on”; i could say a lot on that topic, but to sum it up, this season felt like they took everything they’d built up to and managed to do the opposite of what would make narrative sense. plus, the season felt like a speedrun through how to kill off/keep offscreen any character that wasn’t sam. this is not to say season fifteen doesn’t have *any* redeeming qualities. i love 15x05′s homage to wes anderson, the dean/cas divorce arc, the line “you asked what about all of this is real. we are,” the prayer scene in 15x09, and the fact that amara reads murakami in a hot spring in iceland. but none of that can put out the fire that is the rest of the season.  

13. 11 (favorite episode: 11x04, “baby”)

like season six, i enjoyed season eleven the first time i watched it but not my second time around. mainly, i find the darkness plot line completely uncompelling. there’s really not that much else to say about it; it’s a perfectly mediocre season, imo. my only case for season eleven is casifer; i love any time there’s a variation of cas (i.e. jimmy, endverse!cas, empty!cas, etc.) because misha does such a good job of acting it. the scene in 11x14 with the line “...i will tell him the truth, sam. i’ll just say, ‘dean-’” is a prime example of this. the way he channels lucifer’s essence in his mannerisms, voice, etc. is really quite impressive and very fun to watch. 

 12. 3 (favorite episode: 3x10, “dream a little dream of me”)

if you’d asked me what my least favorite season was after the first time i watched spn, i would’ve said, without a doubt, season three. i thought it looked chintzy (some of it is oddly saturated and a lot of it just looks bad, with “the magnificent seven” and “sin city” specifically coming to mind ) and that it was just a weird, liminal season. however, upon rewatching it, i’d say it has a number of good episodes (like “dream a little dream of me” and the iconic “mystery spot”) and, mainly, i think it has a solid arc (dean coming to terms with the fact that he’s going to go to hell). overall, it’s definitely not my favorite, but it’s also not as close to the bottom of my list as i would have previously placed it.    

11. 2 (favorite episode: 2x20, “what is and what should never be”)

my love for kripke era spn mainly lies in seasons four and five; that being said, i do have a fondness for seasons one and two. i think they’re very solid introductory seasons. what i liked most about them when i first watched spn was how formulaic and repetitive the monster-of-the-week episodes were (there’s a case, they find the monster, they kill it. boom.), but there’s also an overarching plot line for the season to keep you hooked. for season two, i really enjoyed the whole azazel’s army plot line, and i love the final two episodes of the season. i think you can divide kripke era into three parts: seasons one and two, season three, then seasons four and five. each part, i feel, has its own arc that ties up nicely while also feeding into the overall narrative. thus, i find season two satisfying in that regard.

10. 1 (favorite episode: 1x12, “faith”)

i like season one for all the same reasons i like season two. while i find the plot of season two to be more gripping, season one earns its place higher on my list because of how iconic it is. i really love sam and dean in these seasons, and i think these two seasons epitomize their relationship and camaraderie. i think season one also, perhaps, best reflects kripke’s on the road vision of gritty americana and a seemingly tough and masculine dean. 

9. 10 (favorite episode: 10x22, “the prisoner”)

i find season ten to be another perfectly mediocre season. i don’t really enjoy the mark of cain plot line, though i do think it lends itself to a compelling character study of dean and his emotions (especially when he kills the people with whom claire was living, his response to charlie’s death, and when he beats cas up in 10x22). specifically regarding “the prisoner,” the fight scene is one of my favorite scenes in the whole show (lol); first, i love the dialogue, especially cas’ lines: “maybe you could fight the mark for years. maybe centuries, like cain did. but you cannot fight it forever. and when you finally turn, and you will turn... sam, and everyone you know, everyone you love... they could be long dead. everyone except me. i'm the one who will have to watch you murder the world”). i also think the editing is brilliant when it’s made to look like dean slams the blade into cas, when he really just slams it into a book. 

8. 12 (favorite episode: 12x12, “stuck in the middle [with you]”)

okay, i love a lot of things about season twelve. mainly, i think the exploration of dean’s relationship with mary is extremely emotionally evocative. my favorite lines in the season are “i hate you. and i love you. ‘cause i can’t- i can’t help it” from dean in 12x22 and the exchange “i am your mother, but i am not ‘just a mom.’ and you are not a child” (mary); “i never was” (dean). there are also a number of episodes i love in this season: “first blood,” “lily sunder has some regrets,” “regarding dean,” “stuck in the middle (with you),” “who we are,” and “all along the watchtower.” however, i am staunchly not a fan of the british men of letters plot line (especially in the beginning of the season when toni tortures sam), and while i do love jack, i feel like they could have gone about his conception in a... different way. a way that doesn’t involve lucifer inhabiting their oc president. i’m all for campiness, but that felt like a bit much. 

[5x14]

the best use of music in supernatural 

     music plays a crucial role in supernatural. from the moment dean says the iconic line “driver picks the music, shotgun shuts his cakehole” in the pilot, music is put on a pedestal, something both intrinsic to dean’s character and to the show itself. the most notable example of this is the importance of led zeppelin to the show; not only do many episode titles reference their songs, but they’re also dean’s favorite band, he talks about them with his siren in 4x14, and we find out the reason mary first gave her phone number to john was because “he knew the words to every zeppelin song” (not to mention dean’s “top 13 zepp traxx” mixtape he gives cas). while the show was never able to actually license a zeppelin song, it does have some iconic needle-drops. ranked below in descending order* are my favorite uses of music in spn:

5. “night moves” by bob seger, 11x04 this song marks an iconic moment from an iconic episode. this episode is shot entirely from the inside of baby, shrinking the brothers’ world to a singular car and in effect giving the episode a much more intimate feel. the scene with this song perfectly encapsulates that. to me, the scene is less about the song and more about what’s happening onscreen; it’s about the fact that sam and dean are in the car together, singing along. i think this scene epitomizes what it’s like having a sibling; the more mundane moments of having a sibling are sometimes lost onscreen with sam and dean in order to drive the plot, but this scene shows them simply being siblings, which i enjoy. 

4. “the sun ain’t gonna shine (anymore)” by frankie valli, 9x18 in this scene, this song begins playing as we see metatron put on a record. we then cut to sam and dean driving, then cas alone in his motel room. we continue to flash between the three as we observe metatron typing on his typewriter and cas making an important decision. we end on metatron writing “to be continued.” of the songs on this list, i feel like this one is the least talked about. what i appreciate about it is not only that it’s a good song, but also its significance to the plot. it’s a deceptively cheery-sounding song, but if you listen to the lyrics, it’s quite dismal (i.e. “loneliness is a cloak you wear” and, of course, the repetition of “the sun ain’t gonna shine anymore”). i think the song poignantly reflects the helplessness the characters are feeling at this point in the episode. 

3. “goodbye stranger” by supertramp, 8x17 this is another example of a great song used to close an episode. this titular song begins playing when dean turns on the radio (to which sam gives him a quizzical look), then we see naomi get the news that they can’t find cas, and the scene ends with cas alone on a bus with the angel tablet. to analyze this song’s plot-relevance, i interpret it as being about abandoning your connections to live for yourself. that’s exactly what cas is doing in this scene; he’s taking matters into his own hands to protect his best interests, even if it means leaving the winchesters behind.   

2. “knockin’ on heaven’s door” by bob dylan, 5x16 this song starts playing after dean wakes up in heaven as he’s reliving one of his happiest memories. i think this song was a great choice for this scene because it captures the whimsical contentment of the situation and the peace dean feels in this moment before things inevitably go sideways. it’s a very wholesome scene, accentuated by this choice of song. 

1. “it’s never too late” by steppenwolf, 13x05 this song is widely recognized as being the best needle-drop in the show, and for good reason. this is one of my favorite scenes in the entire series. i think it’s incredibly emotionally impactful and very well done artistically. in the beginning, this scene juxtaposes the centric crime scene of the episode with sam and dean driving. we see the mother grieving her son’s death, mirroring the grief dean has felt since cas’ death in 12x23 (highlighted by the fact dean was willing to kill himself for the case in this episode). we cut to billie in her library, then dean receives a phone call. the song crescendos as it’s revealed that cas was the caller and they’re all reunited. what i love about this song is how well the lyrics match up to what’s happening onscreen. in chronological order: “your eyes are moist // you scream and shout...from deep inside comes rushing forth // all the anguish you suppressed” → the child's dead body being revealed to his mother; “you say you’ve only got one life to live // and when you’re dead, you’re gone” → dean getting the phone call from cas, revealing that he’s no longer dead; “your family comes to your grave // and with tears in their eyes // they tell you, you did something wrong //  ‘you left us alone’” → sam and dean approaching cas, highlighting the loneliness dean in particular felt in cas’ absence; “tell me who’s to say after all is done // and you’re finally gone, you won’t be back again” → close-ups of dean and cas, further emphasizing the fact that cas has come back to life. 

*honorary mention to “you shook me all night long” in the recap for 4x01 and rob benedict’s rendition of “fare thee well” in 11x20

[5x14]

why “the french mistake” is the best episode to show someone who’s never watched supernatural before

     as i’ve mentioned, “the french mistake” (6x15) is easily one of my favorite supernatural episodes, which is not exactly a niche opinion. according to imdb, it has the fourth highest rating out of all spn episodes. what makes it so special? well, for starters, it is completely unlike any other episode of the series (or even television as a whole). to give a brief set-up of the plot, the episode starts out like any other: sam and dean are researching a case. however, balthazar soon appears and starts frantically preparing a spell, claiming raphael has a hit list on everyone who’s helped cas (including, of course, sam and dean). virgil, the weapons keeper of heaven, storms in, and at the last second, balthazar activates the spell he’d been preparing, sending sam and dean to… the set of the tv show supernatural.

     one reason i love this episode so much is because of how many self-referential jokes it makes. for instance, “kevin parks” tells “bob singer” that in order to re-shoot the scene with “jared” and “jensen” coming through the window, they’ll have to “blow off the scene where they sit on the impala and talk about their feelings,” to which in-universe singer replies, “ha. right. you answer the hate mail.” another reason i love “the french mistake” is because of how many quotable lines it has, like “his name’s misha. misha?”, “hola, mishamigos, j-squared got me good. really starting to feel like one of the guys,” and “imho, j and j had a late one last night. rotflmao,” to name a few. however, the main and most important reason i love this episode is because i feel it epitomizes what makes supernatural unique, what sets it apart from being just another sci-fi show. it is perhaps the most notable example of the show’s meta plotline and highlights how the show is willing to have fun with itself.

     this is why i think “the french mistake” is the perfect episode to use to introduce someone to supernatural who has never seen it before. if you were to, say, show them any random monster of the week episode, i contend that their attention would flag pretty quickly. the most crucial aspect of “the french mistake” in this case, i think, is that it’s not plot-heavy. aside from the beginning and final two or so minutes of the episode, you don’t *really* need to know what’s going on to understand the plot. it is the perfect stand-alone episode, whether you’ve seen other episodes of the show or not.

[5x14]

americanpsychonatural:

     spn is no stranger to drawing from other directors or aesthetics; two notable examples of this are “proverbs 17:3” (15x05) mimicking wes anderson and “stuck in the middle (with you)” (12x12) mimicking quentin tarantino (both of which, i’ll note, were directed by richard speight). perhaps my favorite example of this, however, is a bit more subtle. i present to you americanpsychonatural, the confluence of the 2000 film american psycho and episode 4x17 of supernatural, “it’s a terrible life”:

dean smith’s office building in 4x17

patrick bateman’s office building in american psycho

dean smith walking through the office in the morning

patrick bateman walking through the office in the morning (notice they’re both wearing dark jackets, blue-and-white striped shirts with a white collar, and red ties)

a close-up of dean smith 

a close-up of patrick bateman (notice the same blank look in their eyes)

dean smith at his desk 

patrick bateman at his desk (similar wide-angle shots)

similar smiles/grimaces 

similar poses (i’ll also note that the color-grading is very similar, with grey and blue undertones)

dean with an iron poker 

patrick bateman in the notorious axe scene 

(my favorite parallel) dean smith’s office door 

patrick bateman’s business card (very similar fonts)

dean smith in his kitchen

patrick bateman in his kitchen (both have very sterile, modern, white-washed kitchens)

     while this is fun to look at from an aesthetic standpoint, it’s also compelling to analyze on a deeper level. the surface-level comparisons are obvious: both dean smith and patrick bateman are metrosexual yuppies with sterile kitchens and nothing behind their eyes. but what does this comparison reveal about this alternate universe version of dean? a core idea of “it’s a terrible life” is that if dean hadn’t been raised hunting, his life would be fundamentally different. instead of alcohol he’d drink rice milk lattes and go on juice cleanses, instead of burgers he’d eat salads, instead of baby he’d drive a prius. the list goes on and on.

     it’d be easy to assume that if dean didn’t hunt he’d be happier. but americanpsychonatural tells us that’s not the case. like patrick bateman, dean smith is vain, self-centered, and dissatisfied with his life. he has no deep emotional connections and molds himself based on others’ perceptions of him. the parallel between these two characters metatextually pokes a hole in the world zachariah created for dean winchester, a hole that dean smith and sam wesson create in the text when they join together for a hunt and realize that’s what they’re meant to be doing. the comparison drawn between “it’s a terrible life” and american psycho creates a necessary neon arrow pointing to the dark side of dean smith.

[5x14]

how i make amvs:

     i’ll preface this post by saying i am completely and utterly self-taught when it comes to using the video-editing software i use (final cut pro). i started off by playing around on imovie when i was younger, then got fcpx as a christmas present a couple years ago. i occasionally google how to do things, but most of my knowledge comes from playing around with it. if you want advice from a professional, i can’t recommend katebushstandean’s vid help tag highly enough! like i mentioned in my “spn amvs that live rent-free in my head” post, i am a total nerd about amvs; i find making them to be such a satisfying experience and incredibly creatively fulfilling. so here’s a (non-exhaustive) look at my process for making them:

     step one: step one is choosing a song! i have a list in my notes app of songs i want to make amvs for, which i update every time i come across a song that i think would make for a good amv. when choosing a song, i take into consideration both the lyrics (i.e. can i fit the lyrics to supernatural in any way?) and the sonic elements of the song (i.e. would the beat make for an interesting edit, are the lyrics too repetitive, etc.). for the latter, i usually don’t use any slow songs, because imo, it doesn’t make for a very engaging amv. once i have a song, i usually listen to it on repeat to envision in my head the concept i’m going to go for and how i’m going to edit it.

     step two: in an ideal world (read: a world in which i had an ounce of patience), step two would be to paste the lyrics of the song i’m working with into a google doc and map out which shots i’m using from which episode. i’ve tried this in the past, but i always get impatient and skip to the hands-on process of making the amv itself. so, step two becomes opening up a new project in final cut pro. i have an event called “supernatural” that i make every amv project under so i have complete access to all the videos i’ve made in the past and all the footage i’ve used in the past (a quick note regarding the latter: i was very kindly given links to every spn episode in hd, so i have those downloaded onto a hard drive that i put into my computer every time i edit). here’s what my fcpx interface looks like:

     step three: once i have my project set up, i put the song i’m using into it. i start off by cutting out any part of the song i don’t want to use, like a chorus, and make sure it flows nicely. i’ll also mark points in the song (like a beat drop or certain lyrics) where i know i’ll want to do something specific (hence the purple flags in the picture above).  

     step four: then i start editing! this is, of course, the most involved step and can take quite a long time; i *have* made an amv in one day (a day that was spent entirely in a fugue state), but i’ve also spent a month making one (it depends on how inspired i’m feeling and how much time i have to sit down and work on it). i could get into the technical side of this step, but i’ll just give a brief overview. i usually edit from the start of the song to the end, unless i get bored and skip to a more interesting part of the song. the process of finding specific clips is very tedious; oftentimes i have a certain shot in my mind that i want to use, but i don’t know what episode it’s from (google and episode transcripts are your best friends in this instance). or sometimes i have an idea i want to execute (for example, in my “psycho killer” amv pictured above, i wanted to compile clips of dean loading his gun for the intro), but have no specific clips in mind (in that case, i had to google specific phrases like “dean loading his gun supernatural” and “‘dean cocks his gun’” and sift through episode transcripts to find what i was looking for). amv-making is a labor of love.

     step five: i repeat the previous step until i’m satisfied. (i will note that this involves listening to the same song over and over… and over.) when i’m finished, sometimes i’ll color grade the clips, but mostly i leave it as-is (both because i’m lazy and because i don’t know much about color grading). then i export it and voila! (shout-out to my mom for being the first person to whom i always show my amvs and shout-out to my laptop for putting up with my hobby.)

[5x14]

not to be a kripke-era sheep, but here’s why seasons four and five are the best 

     my top five favorite spn episodes are as follows: lazarus rising (4x01), the french mistake (6x15), the end (5x04), my bloody valentine (5x14), and the rapture (4x20). you’ll notice all but one of those episodes comes from either season four or five. the reason i believe in the supremacy of seasons four and five is two-fold: i find them to be both the most aesthetically pleasing and the most narratively satisfying seasons.

     first, regarding the cinematography. what i love about seasons four and five is that they retain the show’s centric griminess without being too visually dark (i’m looking at you, seasons one through three). they fall on the perfect spot on the line with the aforementioned seasons one through three at one end and the hyper-saturated later seasons at the other. yes, there are still bad cgi moments that make me cringe. but there’s no weird green color grading as in season six, no orange-ification as in season fifteen, and, most importantly, cas’ trenchcoat still looks cool. for me, though, what’s most notable is how many downright artistic shots there are in these seasons, such as:

this notorious shot from lazarus rising 

this shot from on the head of a pin (4x16)

this shot from lucifer rising (4x22)

and this shot from point of no return (5x18); helloooo, americana 

     shots like these make the show an art piece, rather than fodder for mindless consumption. the early seasons hadn’t found their cinematographic voice yet, and the later seasons were ugly because they could be, but seasons four and five hit the aesthetic nail on the head.

     as for why the plot is more narratively satisfying: i think it boils down to the fact that season five was originally supposed to be the last season of spn. not that i bemoan the fact that there are ten more seasons after that, but after the kripke-era narrative arc, the show's direction feels tenuous at best. perhaps this is due to the fact that there were so many different writers, or perhaps it’s due to the fact that it’s near-impossible to have a show for that long and for it to not feel repetitive. regardless, the narrative arc of seasons one through five is linear and makes sense. what distinguishes seasons four and five, in my opinion, is the introduction of cas and the theme of christian theology. for the first three seasons, we essentially only follow two characters as they kill monsters over and over… and over. but with the introduction of cas, we not only have a new character to care about, but we also have a new slew of recurring characters and a plotline that takes the show out of being just about two brothers fighting monsters.

     another thing i love about seasons four and five is that the show really starts having fun with itself. episodes in season three like mystery spot and bedtime stories were the gateway to episodes like monster movie (4x05), it’s a terrible life (4x17), fallen idols (5x05), changing channels (5x08), and not to mention the meta episodes: the monster at the end of the book (4x18) and the real ghostbusters (5x09). do i love all of these episodes? no. do i think paris hilton needed to be in an episode of spn? perhaps not. but episodes like these are what makes spn so unique, and, imho, seasons four and five represent the best parts about spn.

[5x14]

i can dig poor characterization: a review of “twist and shout”

     for the uninitiated, “twist and shout” is the unequivocal destiel fic. it has the most hits and kudos and bookmarks out of any spn fic on ao3 and is so popular, in fact, that even the actors know about it. to give a brief summary, this novel-length au fic spans a couple decades. to start off, the year is 1965, cas is a pre-med college student, and dean races motorcycles. then, as the official summary aptly states, “their story becomes fraught with the tragedy of circumstance.” dean gets drafted into the vietnam war, comes back with ptsd, leaves cas, then reenters cas’ life when he finds out cas is dying of aids. oh yeah, and dean sings elvis to cas on his deathbed.  

     the best thing i can liken “twist and shout” to— and hopefully the venn diagram of people who’ve read both works doesn’t include just me (though i sincerely doubt that’s the case)— is a little life by hanya yanagihara, both of which i’ve seen described as “torture/trauma porn.” not only that, but they’re set up very similarly in that they jump around in time and switch points of view. never have i felt as physically ill reading something as the respective instances i read these. if you’re at all familiar with a little life, you’ll know that a main criticism of it is that yanagihara spends the novel making you care about the characters then putting them through unnecessary tragedy. and that’s exactly what “twist and shout” does. the difference between the two, however, is that “twist and shout” follows characters about which the reader (ostensibly) already has a background of caring. another commonly noted critique i have of “twist and shout” is the characterization (or lack thereof). you could replace the names in this fic and it wouldn’t hearken back to spn in the slightest. as one reader said, “two guys from any fandom could have been dropped into the lead roles, [tweaked] for hair colour & height, and no one would have been any the wiser.”

     do i like “twist and shout”? yes. i feel like it has some sort of stockholm syndrome-esque hold over me. its literary merit is debatable, but its emotional impact is undeniable. i read it six months ago, and yet i think i’ve only just exited my obsession with it (when “can’t help falling in love” comes on, though, all bets are off). i have tried incessantly (to no avail) to get people in my life to read it, including my dear mother. if you’re someone with a penchant for masochism, want to feel unparalleled emotions, don’t mind ooc fics, want to never be able to hear “can’t help falling in love” or the eponymous “twist and shout” in the same way again, and you have some time on your hands, i can’t recommend this fic highly enough (i would reread it, but i fear it would alarm my roommate to hear me violently sobbing).

*spoilers to ensue

[5x14]

spn amvs that live rent-free in my head

if there’s one genre of fanwork i’m a complete and utter nerd about, it’s the amv (amv stands for “animated music video,” but the term has evolved to encompass all fan videos set to music, as far as i understand it). i could teach a literal class about amvs, but in lieu of that, here’s a list of my favorite spn amvs that live rent-free in my head (in no particular order):

-no one lives forever // i think about this video allll the time. i’m particularly obsessed with the intro (the timing with the music and the use of black screens is delicious). i think it’s a super rad concept overall and i’m in awe of the effort op put into sourcing all those clips (which, from personal experience, is extremely tedious and time-consuming).

- me! // this video is such a great commentary on the unparalleled experience that is spn! i love the inclusion of both clips of the actors/showrunners and clips from the show itself, and i think they were put together seamlessly (my favorite part is the audio of “fifteen years, gentlemen” put over the clip of dean reading supernatural). overall just a super fun and smart amv. (i also love op’s art is dead vid!)

-bless the telephone // classic! super super sweet and one of the vids that got me into editing in the first place :’)  

-grace kelly // speaking of vids that got me into editing in the first place… i’m obsessed with everything katebushstandean makes (somebody to love! cherry bomb! hungry eyes! what the hell! to name a few), but this video in particular was the catalyst for me dipping a toe in the amv pond. my fave part is where the song hits “i’ve gone identity mad” for the first time and it flashes through different versions of cas (wonderful, show-stopping, etc.).

-kyoto // this one, oh my gooood. i’m perpetually in awe of editors that are able to construct a narrative within their videos and have the patience to source clips that support what they’re trying to say. this vid is like a whole academic essay about the cycle of abuse in supernatural condensed into a well made, one-minute-and-fifty-six second video. small detail to geek out about, but op did such a good job with the audio and cutting out part of the song, and i love how they open it with the title/credits with john talking in the background layered over the kyoto instrumentals. another fave part is where dean says “see, that’s not who I am” and it cuts to him playing golf with claire. genuinely god-tier!

-kiss with a fist // delicious energy in this one. impeccable song choice and concept. extremely *****.

-i know the end // not sure if this *technically* constitutes an amv, but i think about it all the time and it deffo unlocked some emotions™️ within me. so simple yet sooooo.

(if you want to see more amvs i love but didn’t list, you can check out my “edits” tag on my main account >:))

[5x14]

lazarus rising: the best four minutes of supernatural

     in honor of it being september 18th, i thought i’d gush about my favorite episode of supernatural: lazarus rising (specifically the last four minutes of the episode). if there’s any episode of supernatural i wish i could watch for the first time again, it would be this one. i recall the exact date on which i watched it for the first time (the tuesday before thanksgiving last year) and exactly how i felt afterwards (like i was a two-liter bottle of soda and someone had dropped a pack of mentos into me).

     what is it about lazarus rising that elicited this response in me, you might be wondering. excellent question. what it comes down to for me, i think, is that it’s the perfect episode both cinematographically (okay, not *perfect*; the hell cgi at the end of the recap gives me second-hand embarrassment) and plot-wise. looking at the former, there’s a lot of apropos mediocre supernatural cinematography (i’m looking at you, shot of all the trees knocked down), but there are also so many shots that make me feel insane. in chronological order: the opening shot of dean in hell (like, yessss, give me clockwork orange meets suspiria); dean flicking his lighter open in the coffin; the shot of his make-shift gravestone and his hands reaching out of the ground; everything about the gas station scene (hello, americana!), specifically when he’s drinking water, and obviously when he finds the handprint on his shoulder (it’s so deliciously grainy, even though it wasn’t even shot on film at this point); the séance scene (specifically when the tv turns on); and, of course, the entirety of cas’ entrance scene.

     focusing specifically on the last four minutes of the episode, i think what’s important to note is that the whole episode leads up to this moment; we spend the whole episode in suspense of finding out who raised dean from hell. and then… it’s just a guy in a trenchcoat (comedic gold). the shot when the barn doors open and the “bad mofo” they’ve been after just shuffles in timidly? artistic genius. visually, i find this scene incredibly compelling. i love the color-grading (the blue and purple undertones), the lights bursting and the sparks raining down, all the spray paint on the inside of the barn, and the cuts from cas (in profile and head-on) to dean and bobby shooting at him. and the dialogue! pretty much every line cas delivers in this scene is iconic. “i’m the one who gripped you tight and raised you from perdition,” “this is your problem, dean. you have no faith,” and “what’s the matter? you don’t think you deserve to be saved” (don’t EVEN get me started on that one). special shoutout to the shot of dean stabbing cas and dean’s look of shock that the knife doesn’t kill cas and how cas just stands there and lets dean do it. i find it wildly compelling they had this much chemistry within literal minutes of cas being on the show. was it at the hands of the characters? the writers? or the actors, and the fact that misha exudes sexual energy? who’s to say. all i know is, i never get tired of watching this episode. imho, the last four minutes of lazarus rising are the best four minutes of supernatural. mic drop.

[5x14]

he’s just some guy: thoughts on parasocial relationships

    in the tumblr fandomverse, there is nonesuch buzzword like “parasocial relationship.” is it a good thing? is it a bad thing? how much is too much to know about a celebrity’s personal life? first, what are parasocial relationships? according to the commandingly named findapsychologist.org, parasocial relationships are “one-sided relationships, where one person extends emotional energy, interest and time, and the other party, the persona, is completely unaware of the other’s existence.”

    my first experience with harboring a parasocial relationship towards a celebrity occurred when i downloaded instagram for the first time and became deeply infatuated with timothée chalamet. the democratization of celebrities on instagram was intoxicating. i wanted to let timmy know how profound an impact he had on my life? boom, i could dm him. i wanted him to see a fanvid i made? boom, i could tag him and have my followers spam his username in the comments.

    specifically examining the supernatural fandom, it is, in some ways, designed to foster parasocial relationships with the actors. take conventions, for instance. conventions break the physical barriers between fan and celebrity. you want a picture with a cast member? a hug from them? you’ve got it (for the low, low price of $200*). you want to ask a cast member his safe word? just go to a q+a. further, i think a particular area of interest when looking at the phenomenon of parasocial relationships within the supernatural fandom is misha collins’ social media presence. compared to co-star jensen ackles (i don’t follow jared padalecki’s social media at all), misha posts a lot. sometimes daily. he also posts a singular post to multiple platforms: instagram (both on his story and on his grid), twitter, and facebook. more notably, perhaps, is the fact that he also uses the platform community to let his fans text him (if you look at his twitter bio, his cellphone number is explicitly stated). this is the ultimate form of democratization.

    what are the ramifications of this? well, you get people like me, who know what kind of car misha drives (a tesla) and what kinds of drugs he’s done (he’s dropped acid and he doesn’t like how weed makes him feel). people who almost applied to the university of chicago because that’s where he went. people who took a picture in front of the irs building in washington, d.c. because misha once filmed a video there. people who’ve been known to send their friends texts like this whenever he does something notable, as though they’re speaking about the actions of another friend (dmitri krushnic, of course, being misha’s legal name):

     where does the harm lie in this? it’s not as though the information was accrued through nefarious means, like paparazzi pictures; in this particular instance, the information was all shared consensually through one mean or another. and psychologically speaking, parasocial relationships are not inherently unhealthy; in fact, they are in many ways similar to more traditional social relationships. referring back to findapsychologist.org, “studies show parasocial relationships are voluntary, provide companionship, and are influenced by social attraction. furthermore, viewers experience a connection with the media user and express feelings of affection, gratitude, longing, encouragement, and loyalty towards them.” there’s no satisfying answer to this question, then. some advice from someone who last week watched all two hours and seven minutes of girl, interrupted for one minute and eight seconds of misha collins? embrace your obsessions while keeping in mind: he’s just some guy.

*this number is based on nothing but some cursory googling