@mysteryspotfishtaco - Tumblr Blog

✨1x01 || Pilot✨

i am so sorry but i just need to remind you all that he just spent hours waiting outside because he was afraid that sammy was going to tell him to get lost or get dead and he didn't know what he'd do if that happened

#wtf op 😭#baby boy #dean winchester

armandgender

dean is like :3 🥪

armandgender

#look at his little face #dean winchester

angeltiddies

i dont trust people who start watching supernatural and develop a morality complex over dean's character. like what the fuck do you mean you didn't immediately love him? what do you mean 'he does and says bad things'?? he has never done anything wrong in his life what is your problem?????

#ONLY correct take #dean winchester

limbel

happy birthday to my favorite silly boy <3

#adorable #dean winchester

ilarual

reblog if you'll still be here celebrating when Dean is 56, dude

#always <3 #dean winchester

acklesparadise

Happy birthday to Jensen Ackles’ best imaginary friend. Happy birthday Dean Winchester!

#happy birthday <3 #dean winchester

bloodydeanwinchester

apparently jensen has already weighed in on the does dean eat pussy discourse

#this man is a menace #jensen ackles #dean winchester

daalcuntynatural

#<3 #dean winchester

casscowboyhat

i’m crying he catfished crowley. crowley absolutely thought he was headed for a booty call and he believed this even after being shot.

#lmao totally took advantage of that summer of love #sam winchester #crowley

bloodydeanwinchester

dimples 🥹

sheepstiel

bloodydeanwinchester

god they’re so frowny and adorable

angelsdean

DIMPLES BOY I LOVE YOU<3

#cutest #dean winchester

buffyblue

#adorable #this would go so well in a dead wife montage lmao #jensen ackles

scoobydoodean

Not a lot to say about 7.10 "Death's Door" which presents a pretty clear (and I think very touching) narrative. But one thing I want to talk about is Sam and Dean's responses to Bobby being at death's door and Dean filling the assumed role as the oldest, handling most practical matters surrounding their adoptive father's hospitalization and death (and being afforded far less breathing room partly as a consequence). We already know from 3.10 that Dean is Bobby's emergency contact. In that same episode, Dean refers to Bobby as his father for the first time. Dean makes the same claim in 4.01, and of course—in 7.10, Bobby makes it very clear that he sees Sam and Dean as his sons.

The first way we see Dean taking on the practical role as the oldest son is by facing the initial news about Bobby's condition from the doctor alone. Whether it's good or bad, he knows he has to be the one to hear it. Dean stands tall but rigid—bracing himself. In contrast, Sam noticeably hangs in the background. He isn't ready to shoulder any of the information about Bobby's condition yet without his older brother as a buffer.

Sam is looking very little brother shaped when the doctor leaves and Dean turns around to see how Sam is reacting to the news that Bobby is stable.

Notice how Sam stands—as far back against the wall as possible. Dean had been standing right in front of the door to Bobby's room when the doctor emerged. In contrast, Sam's position protected him from having a direct line of sight into Bobby's room when the curtains opened, because he can't look.

Note: I'm not judging Sam for this. It's a reasonable reaction to the fear of losing a loved one. I also think it's in keeping with Sam's previous avoidance of situations that would force him to confront Bobby possibly not making it or in a tenuous emotional state (some examples where I've talked about this here and here and here... or more generally—#sam and bobby).

Sam's feeling more ready to face news about Bobby's condition at Dean's side the next time we see the brothers. They're being told it's possible that Bobby will live, but that he has high swelling, and they can't operate until it goes down. They're also told that most people with this injury die, and "Right now, it all comes down to [Bobby]".

Immediately after the doctor finishes telling them this, with no time to process it, a man comes in asking for Bobby's next of kin, clearly needing to settle some practical matter (Dean initially assumes related to insurance) once again, Dean handles this alone. We see him framed at the very end of the hallway in a separate area, Sam once again noticeably absent.

Dean isn't even being asked about insurance (which he's already not happy about) but about donating Bobby's organs. This guy's timing is absolutely awful. He also assumes Bobby will die, when Dean is focused on just having been told that Bobby could still make it, which makes Dean very upset.

THEN Dean exists the hospital to cool off, and yet again fills the role of the oldest son by inheriting the role of avenger. He sees and confronts Dick Roman alone in the parking lot, swearing to avenge Bobby (which Dean does at the end of the season—as he did John and Mary in 2.22). Dean's actually so confident and scary that—for all his gloating bravado and soulless smiles—Dick appears genuinely threatened for a moment (of course—we already knew from Dick's master plan to get rid of them in 7.06 that he takes The Winchesters seriously as a threat).

While Dean's been gone handling "insurance" (Dean says that's what it was about when Sam asks) and measuring dicks with Dick (which he does mention to Sam), Sam's worked himself up to looking into Bobby's room from a distance.

It's here that Dean asks for an update, and Sam is in the position of being the one to have received news about Bobby that Dean doesn't know yet. Bobby's swelling is going down and he's breathing on his own, which are both good signs. But the doctors aren't sure about surgery yet because it could be risky, and there's dead brain tissue. Bobby's currently stable, but Sam has begun to face the fact that Bobby might not make it. Note that he’s also had time to process alone after hearing the latest news. Dean hasn’t.

Sam then asks to talk to Dean and starts walking out of sight of Bobby again, and here's where he pulls his signature Sam maneuver: Trying to process what he's trying to face through Dean, by trying to make it a problem that Dean hasn't accepted the possibility that Bobby might not make it... when there's not... actually any real reason to push Dean to "accept" that possibility right now. If Bobby had been in intensive care for weeks, that would be one thing... but it hasn't even been 24 hours since he was shot. Whether Bobby has a high probability of making it or not, Dean really hoping he will... isn't actually a problem Dean needs to "deal" with right now for his emotional health or any other reason.

SAM: Can I talk to you? DEAN: What? Talk about what? SAM: You know what. DEAN: No, we're not gonna have that conversation. SAM: Well, we need to. DEAN: He's not gonna die. SAM: He might. DEAN: Sam. SAM: Dean, listen – we need to brace ourselves. DEAN: Why? SAM: Because it's real. DEAN: What do you want to do? You want to hug and – and say we made it through it when Dad died? We've been through enough.

Sam's choice of words here—"because it's real"—isn't an accident. When Dean walks out, Sam sits and immediately presses his thumb into his palm—the action he uses to dispel hallucinations of Lucifer—who is no doubt mocking him and taunting him with hope of Bobby making it being a pipe dream. We know from 6.22 that one of hallucifer's taunts is that Sam never even left The Cage and all of this has been an elaborate hoax to give Sam hope then completely crush his spirit. As a result, Sam feels he needs to go ahead and accept the worst case scenario so that "Lucifer" can't crush him with despair he wasn't ready to feel.

The thing is... this is a problem very specific to Sam. It may be a reality Sam needs to accept on a particularly quick timeline, but it isn't a "we" situation—it's a "me" situation, and what's "good" for Sam isn't necessarily "good" for Dean. There's nothing here that Dean needs to "accept" at this stage. It's not fair to claim he's in denial. Dean's "crime" here is wanting to hope in something he’s been told is possible, and he doesn't appreciate Sam trying to make that a problem and trying to take his hope away prematurely. But Sam finds he needs to "accept", and instead of facing that within himself, tries to make it a problem Dean is having that Sam needs to force him to work through.

scoobydoodean

Continuing in 7.11, Sam assumes it should be Dean's job as Bobby's oldest child to not just call people, but also decide if "they" should call people (when he really seems to just mean, "Dean, you should call all of Bobby's friends and tell them he's dead. Not me though".)

The first week, the brothers spend grieving in Bobby's cabin alone. The second and third week, they've been trying to figure out what the numbers that Bobby wrote on Sam's palm mean. Dean is obsessed with figuring out the numbers, seeing it as his duty to find out what Bobby thought was so important about them. He later says to Frank frantically, "Bobby died for those numbers!" But having come up with nothing after 1-2 weeks, there's no momentum left, and Sam's mind starts wandering back to the grieving process (as they both note at the end of 7.11—they just want to work—but the numbers aren't a suitable distraction for Sam anymore).

SAM: Dean, you know, um... I wonder if – if we... I mean, should we be telling people? I mean, people he knew. DEAN: How long ago did I give Frank these numbers? It's been a few weeks, right? What, is he nuts, or is he just being rude? SAM: Probably both. Dean, I-I asked you a question.

Sam says "we" should be telling people... but he doesn't really mean "we". The way he pushes Dean to decide makes it clear that it's not really "we should call people" it's "you should call people". Dean is still hyper-focused on the numbers, ignores Sam, and starts worrying about Frank.

DEAN: Unless, of course, something happened to him. He can't get to the phone because a Leviathan ate his face. SAM: Yeah, also a possibility. DEAN: We should go check on him. SAM: Dean, do you want to call Bobby's people or not?

Sam pushes harder, trying to make Dean answer, and finally, Dean stops ignoring him, and pushes back, but still continues with the "we" and "our" that they both already know just means "Dean":

DEAN: W-why is – why is that our job? SAM: Because who else is gonna do it?

Oof. "Because who else is going to do it?" Might be the theme of Dean's entire life. There's always an expectation for Dean to do jobs he doesn't feel equipped to do, simply because no one else is there to do it, from caring for Sam most of the time growing up in place of an actual adult, to consoling his own father, to hunting and saving the world every time it starts to self-destruct which he last said only two episodes ago is exhausting him to the point of an emotional breakdown. Only calling people suddenly seems to be very important to Sam, and Sam could absolutely do that on his own (or at least start the process on his own) but he's determined to get Dean to do it instead (otherwise he wouldn't keep asking so insistently) and Dean knows that. So Dean reveals that Sam's "we" isn't really a "we" but a "you" by suggesting Sam do it alone:

DEAN: I'm not calling anybody. If you want to, you go right ahead. SAM: I don't want to call anybody. You kidding me?

Sam's response—dropping the subject the moment it's suggested that he take the lead on calling people instead of Dean? Again—he never meant we.

#excellent post #spn meta