#freeform meta

[shallowseeker]

6x03 freeform

CAS:???? why is he asking me this????

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CAS: Ohhhh THAT'S WHY sam was asking me that

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CAS: LOL DEAN no.

I am a mission-focused guy right now certain terrible things are required of me and i'm at war and my crippling feelings for human fam would just slow me down

6x03

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but omg i LOVE him being SOOO cagey; he's COMPLETELY shut down in so many critical ways, EVEN FOR HIM

he'd prefer ofc, not to let them in AT ALL

and with GOOD reason, just as DEAN knew he'd be tracked down and followed, so too is CAS followed by one of Raphael's soldiers into the motel room to attack them all

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Angels are disappointing EARLY this season

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when cas answered THEIR call, he INSTANTLY put them in danger. As Dean was afraid of dragging Lisa and Ben into his world, Cas is afraid of dragging Dean and Sam into his

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Dean: stop stop stop we need to TALK

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evasive

due to emotional shame

he's hollowed out with exhaustion and WORRY and he's doing his best to hide that :(((

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And another nice script-only moment showing JUST HOW FOCUSED Cas is on the Big Picture War Effort currently, while Dean remans on the little picture heart efforts. (Which, horrifically, will be something that almost gets everyone killed later in Mommy Dearest. So complicated!)

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And again we see that for angels, certain types of battle emotions actually seem normalized, like grieving a fallen soldier. This too echoes a sort of Mad Men allowance

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And Balthazar is another Beats-type era character. He mirrors the carefree postwar kids that were disillusioned but also could, at worst, spit on the sacrifices of the ppl who bought their freedom. Their soldier parents fought so hard, and they... checked out. Rejection conformity, materialism, and repression cannot descend into total nihilism.

Balthazar looks and acts like the characters in Keroac. We can stamp him as A Keroac (derogatory) within the world of SPN, with his background of wealth (a mansion!) and dominance/sexual displays and lack of care about the humans he's meeting along the way. To Bal, humans are playthings, they don't really have inner lives. This is also very Keroac-coded. Parallel to Keroac's view of women / use of foreign girl-children / being anti intellectual to the point of buying into the happy slave narratives.

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The thing with freedom is that some angels don't want it, and some angels (like Balthazar) USE it without care or regard to their own prejudices / exploitation / and power differential re: humans. (Later, Balthazar will denigrate Dean: "You hairless ape!")

Cas fought for freedom, and Balthazar is giddy about his newfound joyful nihilism and cynicism. Bal actually looks and acts a lot like Endverse Cas, no? The talk of blowing coke and banging women reminds me of "banging a few gongs." (Which, again, Endverse Cas also looks like a faux-intellectual Keroac groupie, exotifying religious-guru shit for the cheap aesthetic).

that's DEVASTATING

And the THING IS. Although Balthazar does a lot and I mean a LOT of pearl-clutching over Cas's lone wolf plans near the end of this season, here's the REALITY.

Cas is hearing EARLY and from multiple angels including Balthazar here: "Why keep fighting? Why care? Why try?"

Even when Balthazar joins and helps, that anxiety is still there.

Balthazar's nihilism is the very thing that push ppl like Cas into desperation and taking on too much, because he feels like he's the only sure thing he himself can rely on. Because even his fellow "honorable" soldiers are become THIS.

Espousing this kind of nihilism has consequences, because the ppl (like Cas) who care aren't sure they can rely on you!!! Balthazar brags about dominating humans, has taken a child's soul, and he accuses Cas of having a stick up his ass because Cas cares about fighting the good fight.

That it ADDS to Cas's stress is not a negligible thing, and how different it could have gone if angels like Balthazar had simply... cared early, instead of late. If not the little-hearts Dean picture of it all, then at LEAST the Cas big picture one!

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But you don't really care, you're not joining. You're doing enough, Bal, just to help a personal connection. And we see that Cas is NOT happy about his lack of responsibility. When Cas steps out of the fight in s7, it's because of despair at his MISTAKES. But Balthazar won't even TRY.

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the hottest thing cas ever did was defend them over the hairless ap comment <3 the winchesters may suck sometimes, and cas may be trying to keep them out of it, and he may go back on his principles and put them in danger by gambling w them too loose and fast

but one thing he knows: THEY CARE

re: Bal - Cas acts with a soldier's honor and releases him. Because Cas still hopes Balthazar will make the right choice and join him. It's a calculated move to curry favor with the one who holds the weapons. So. very politically savvy, actually.

[shallowseeker]

And again, the STUFF in this is so pretty. I know we got this motel in the earlier scene, but Astoria, with the heavenly stars, stretching skyward. CELSTIAL. Stars!

And Dean, from this vantage point (mirror)... looks fallen, upside down... And sure, NOW, he's soft and safe, but internally still lit by the red horrors of his time in Hell. :(

I love too how this shot, much like the shot of Dean speeding out of that gas station lot, just FEELS a lot like the "Castiel" pov.

It's a nice lighting too, filled with more mystery, more shadows, more play of light and dark. Inky and rich, as it fades to black.

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And we pan to the Sam pov next, flatter, more lit, grounded in the "now" of Earth.

Aside/// I still after all this time love how Dean's staying up, obsessing over the thing. It’s not just about Pamela, it's about the experience, the presence, the force, the curiosity. The WHY. ("WHY'D YOU DO IT?!")

And at this point, Dean has a NAME to work with. Castiel. He's looking for THAT. And if he did happen to run across an angelic theme, I'm sure he dismissed it immediately. (No such thing.)

He's looking for the "badass demon," the "bad mofo," "the nuke."

Another aide/// It looks so much like how Dean keeps his bunker room when he's researching. He's such a glorious SPRAWLER. Books about the mysterious Castiel literally going to bed with him.

Black mysterious frame behind him, too...

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And we switch to the depth, the inky blackness of the more "Castiel" viewpoint again.

He might as well be sitting next to him, in that open spot.

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And yes, we love the radio. The static. But we also love how it's half-past midnight, don't we? (We remember the doomed strike of midnight.) This if half-past. Dean's in overtime. He's living in the TIME BEYOND.

Castiel has carried him beyond the constraints of the spell. If midnight is the classic enchanted boundary, the half-past is... the liminal in-between... maybe a place of meetings, of thresholds... and past the threshold, maybe this is where rules dissolve.

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There's a Bible in bed with you, Dean.

A leopard-skinned dressing all around you, can you feel it?

It's a wild and terrible thing

and it will be a long time yet before it's swathed in the uniform of tan and flannel, your family.

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Your gun is powerless. It's not coming from the door, Dean.

The connection is coming from above:

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Is it remaking you... or destroying you? (Or both?)

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And again, it's JUST SO PRETTY. With the red light on the left, the bright light of the screen on the right, this looks like Dean and Cas in a meeting of Hell and Heaven, of family and duty.

[shallowseeker]

Jack arc where it's about Claire, but underneath all that, it's about Jimmy, you see, because Jack is harboring resentment about how Cas destroyed the Novaks, but he doesn't see himself as a dark parallel to that

14x02 outline @spnscripthunt-inactive

ANYWAY SO

Jack gets to learn

about taking a man from his family because you CHOSE him for your own selfish aims, promises promises promises to keep his family safe, to make a better world

(4x20)

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(12x19 & 12x20 script via @spnscripthunt-inactive)

Because

BECAUSE THEN YOU DON'T LIVE UP TO WHAT YOU PROMISED

because in the end

you took the man from his family

you wanted to borrow that feeling of security, maybe, that's all

you wanted to do good and you wanted to impress him maybe make him proud of you borrow his purpose his plan bc even that made you feel safe, good

("he said if I just followed your plan")

(12x19 + 14x02)

you thought it was good, that you were good, you TRIED to be good

but you didn't live up to that he was unsurprised by your failure and you disappointed him

(13x06)

and he is dead because of you

(10x09)

and he is dead because of YOU

(12x23)

(14x08)

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BONUS:

(4x20 & 12x19 script via @spnscripthunt-inactive)

higher purpose, better world, safe happy family

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but also this

I chose you as my father, and yes, I know I want and expect you to protect me

(3x08)

but you're not supposed to die doing it, just by BEING my father

(2x22 + 14x08)

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where are you

where are you

(15x19)

yes i wanted you there, to protect me, raise me, be my direction, safety, security

yes all that

but above all to be with me

i didn't want you to—

because don't you see?

i wanted to protect YOU too

(2x22 + 14x14)

[shallowseeker]

4x01 Random shots//

His eyes are so pretty.

Little flower shoving itself up outta the dirt. 🌷

Always thinking about that episode where he has so much anguish about the little dead circle of plants around the grave. "These things are so toxic they rot the ground around them!"

And I wonder... in the back of his mind, did he wonder... was this A Force that resurrected me... or did *I* poison the whole forest?

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Love the wavering heat. Literally walking out of Hell, out of the heat.

And so, Baby heads to a gas station...

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His sad little face, wandering into this CLOSED gas station, looking for fuel, grabbing water from a KEEP COOLER CLOSED, seeing a paper that blasts at him: ARSONIST sought

Like Jack, like Cas the seraph, Dean is in so many ways the one who *feels* like the fire itself. ("Did I start all this?")

Little matchstick boy...

...and the the sign of the holy firefighter who pulled him out. They burned each other.

(You deserve to be saved. He doesn't.)

You deserve to be saved. I don't.

Did I really start all this?

(The fire. Was it me all along?)

[shallowseeker]

YOU got me brainworms about John being in the plot for the entire time up to the apocalypse storyline so I'm asking you what are thinking John's reaction would be to discovering angels are real? I bet he would be soo conflicted with 1) mary liking them and 2) them failing her, but also the fact of John's black-and-white thinking where if demons=bad then angels should be good, but as supernatural they're also should be bad hmmmm

Angels good or bad: Oh, I think he's interesting, because he could go either way. I think he would be more likely by his default nature to peg angels as bad, than seeing them as good because the Bible says so. He does have an all-or-nothing mentality a la Gordon sometimes, but he seems paranoid of everyone.

John and the instincts/paranoia: He's also got a fucked up Cassandra ability of a sort, right? He's paranoid to a fault. In the pilot, he knows "Something is happening," and that, from a meta perspective, The Story is out to Get Them. Growing up, John has a special phone answering system that implies he's used to monsters both calling him and pretending to be his kids (probably in fake-trouble), and calling his kids to pretend to be him. He's got the best of instincts, he's got the worst of instincts. He's like the world's most unpredictable powder keg of mixed-bad emotional and logical thinking.

Mary: I mean, Mary was too at first. By her own admission, she told Cas she was "scared" of him for a long time. I think John would be wary to the point he'd keep a healthy artillery of weapons and sigils at the ready.

Counterpoint, John the Joiner: But he's also got the past of being a Military Joiner, so that's a weakness that could be very harvested by the angels if they're twisting the knife. Tap into not his Trust, but his Means to an End type of thinking.

Counterpoint, Hey this guy's like me: OR, if we spin it as bit of Sam flavor, maybe once John thinks, "Hey, this guy is like me," he might get slowly worn down by the illusions.

Counterpoint, Saving his loves one: He's an emotional guy AS WELL AS a suspicious guy. I think if you saved what he loved, he could be very swayed. (Which would ofc make him STABBING one in the back more unpredictable and delicious.)

Counterpoint, The Save protector becomes the special one who solves everything: John has a deeply buried weakness from his youth, even if he doesn't remember it, it's there: "You may have make a fool of me, but EYE AM NOT USELESS." He ALSO shoulders failing to protect Mary and the boys. He knows he's failed in multiple ways. That's why he's such a basket case. He is a failed protector. So being special is definitely something that slots into a pre-existing sore spot and his military bg if the angels go that route.

Clocking the angels' MO/motives: Overall, I think he'd be busy trying to clock the angels' motives. I don't have a canonical reason for that, but with respect to angels, I think he'd likely spend a LOT of time trying to figure them out. I think he'd correct read their Achilles heel insomuch that they're vulnerable to Big Causes and Missions, and he'd rightly peg their duplicitous nature with respect to serving that.

Recs

behold, here are two swords by @deweys-posts for john being entrapped and overconfident AND suspicious at the same time!

I have not read the Our Old Heroes yet but it's heavy on the John and does a bit of retelling, not of the Apocalypse per se, but Amara bringing him back instead of Mary.

If you want my John stuff, I think I file it under #full house bunker and #lebanon au and #careful what you wish for. Blackout on the eastern seaboard I wrote alive John in the bg, but it's not super explored except that I had the idea of him and Sam teaming up to be the messiest worst most self-righteous team ever and leaving Dean in the dark.

[shallowseeker]

If I said Dean relates to Civilian Life kinda like Cas relates to Human Life?

It's terrifying. Crippling. You don't belong there. Emotional. Vulnerable. They make you Weak. They make you Strong. You can't Focus. yet they give you Clarity. Terrible things the life requires of you, makes you INTO, into you bring it home and hurt them and—

6x01

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(Back at the station, Cas looks out the window.) BOBBY: They won't take long. CAS: You don't know that. They may find more wayward orphans along the way. BOBBY: Oh, don't get cute. CAS: Right. Pardon me for highlighting their crippling and dangerous empathetic response with "sarcasm". It was a bad idea – letting them go.

6x19

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DEAN: I don't know what to do here, Lis. I mean, if I knew for sure what the safest thing was, then I'd do it. Stay here and look after you guys or get as far away as I possibly can.

6x02

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SAM: Then – Then why didn't you call us? Cass, we could've helped you. CAS: I know. I wanted to keep you out of this. I-I was trying to keep you safe.

12x19

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DEAN: There's nothing coming for us. BEN: I could do what you do. You could teach me how to shoot--

6x02

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CASTIEL: These are not just monsters, Dean. They're Leviathan. I have a price on my head, and I've been trying to stay one step ahead of them, to – to keep them away from you. That's why I ran. Just leave me, please.

8x02

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DEAN: Those things were coming for me. And I should've known. [...] I should've known. I should've known that if I stayed with you that something would come, because something always does. But I was stupid and reckless and...You can't outrun your past.

6x01

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CASTIEL: A soldier of Raphael. He must have followed me when I answered your call.

6x03

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LISA. (Starting to catch on that something's wrong.) What's going on? DEAN (dying soon). It doesn't matter. But I need you to know...you AND Ben...just, uh... Thanks. Okay? For everything.

6x05

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CAS: I'm just saying... [He puts a hand on DEAN’s shoulder. DEAN stops and looks at him.] ...if it doesn't work... thank you for everything.

8x07

[shallowseeker]

4x01 random shots//

I like how our dish towel settles on the shoulder, like a little soothing sash.

[shallowseeker]

More random 4x01 shots//

After the "HOT 🔥!!!111" porn of the directors' choice, we get something way more interesting: a wall full of ropes, ropes, ropes....

They're tethers, safety... and also traps.

That duality is the perfect backdrop for the first contact between Dean and Cas, who are good men who continually walk the tightrope of duty and family and personal ones.

Red ropes, yellow ropes, fasteners, buckles, a STRAP-ON rescue brand. These are lifelines, but they can also be nooses.

And again... How much I like the pretty hand aesthetic... Again with the reaching. The battered hand hushing the noise, like the burning hand that stamped him. Is so pretty!

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Country music. Static. Country music. Static.

His very own little Morse code.

Wing. Very important part of towing this guy in particular.

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Oh, he's so scared!

"In case of emergency, break glass."

Welcome, restroom, heat, glass. So many "rescue-from-fire" things in one place. It's so pretty.

This is a nifty 60s-era Mercury Monterey car, in white. Dean zaps new life into this car the same way Cas zapped life into Dean. Dean, hoping to getaway, to get home, and Cas, hoping to avoid the Apocalypse.

Angel giving a spark of life with his healing hand, Dean giving a spark of life.

It's the vehicle between worlds.

Dean is "escaping Castiel" here, but with the fire-red motifs and busted-out glass, it still has the look of a fleeing angel, of Cas springing Dean from Hell.