These are words we never thought we’d be typing in a Year in Review, but, as par for the course, 2020 had other plans. November 5th, 2020, was one of the best days on the internet in recent memory. A night akin to February 26th, 2015, except our runaway llamas were Nevada and Georgia counting votes, and our Dress was a love confession from an angel named Castiel. Only this time, there was a sprinkle of Russian politics, too. #Superwholock, who? This is #Superputinelection.
In case you are somehow unfamiliar with The CW show Supernatural, it follows brothers Sam and Dean Winchester as they continue the family business—saving people, hunting things, no big deal. In 2008, as the show entered its fourth season, Dean (Jensen Ackles) was gripped tight and raised from perdition by none other than an angel in a trenchcoat and a loose tie, Castiel (Misha Collins). From the first stab, fans felt the immediate chemistry between Dean and Cas, and so Destiel was born.
Supernatural writers became aware of the ship over time. For a show that gets as meta as SPN does, they were bound to write Destiel in somehow. In their 200th episode, titled “Fan Fiction,” the Winchesters are faced with a high school play based on the in-world Supernatural book series. The students playing Dean and Cas are an IRL couple, and Dean Winchester is introduced to the concept of Destiel for the first time.
Approaching the endgame, the episode “Despair” aired on November 5th and saw Castiel give an impassioned speech to Dean about how much he cares about him—actually saying I love you—before being killed immediately after (shoutout to @lithiumionbatteries for predicting this in July!). This confession of love was not something anyone in any fandom was expecting. In the week following the episode’s air date (11/5 - 11/11), Tumblr saw huge spikes in #destiel original posts (up by 2,083%) and reblogs (up 11,042%) with an overall 5,065% increase in all engagements around the ship’s tag.
While Supernatural fans were dealing with the fallout of another bury your gays moment, many people on Tumblr were on their third day of waiting for results from the US Presidential Election. The conversation expanded, weaving in jokes about Nevada’s ballot-counting speed and Georgia turning blue, which many found out about via Destiel shitposts. Things continued to snowball into discussions around how people were learning anime news, like Dabi from BNHA’s real name, and provided the perfect backdrop for the rumors that snuck into the meme cycle: Putin stepping down, a new season of Ouran High School Host Club, or a new Sherlock season. And this was just twenty-four hours.
Let’s take a moment to go back to a time before the finale and the Spanish-language dub. Our team has curated all the best posts from this incredible day on the internet. Pour one out for Castiel as you scroll through.
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