#spn 10.15

[jennsens]

[foxthefanboi]

Cole Trenton + Nicknames for the Winchesters

10x15 - The Things They Carried

[destielle]

10x15 The Things They Carried

[mittensmorgul]

10.15, The Things They Carried.

They apparently carried weird worm monsters. But... this was the point where they stopped focusing on themes of self-identity, and really started hammering home the possession nonsense that would lead to Teh Darknesse. Kinda...

Which makes this part of s10 make a heck of a lot more sense in context with Dean's possession by Michael in s14. While this stretch of Carver Era waffled between themes of Identity vs Possession, s14 was right there confronting both at once, no waffling. (except for the actual waffles :')

10.16, Paint It Black.

Dean in the confessional. His "fake" confession about "Gina," right down to the eye roll at himself for coming up with that one, and then his "real" confession, his "soul searching," about his fear of dying without doing everything he wanted to:

Dean: What if I said I, I didn't want to die... yet. That I wasn't ready. Father Delaney: Are you expecting to? Dean: Always. The life I live, the work I do I pretty much just figured that's all there was to me, you know? Tear around and jam the key in the ignition and haul ass until I ran out of gas. I guess I just thought sooner or later I'd go out the same way I lived, pedal to the metal and that would be it. Father Delaney: And now? Dean: Now. Recent events made me think I might be closer to that than I really thought. And I don't know; there's things, there's people, feelings that I-I want to experience differently than I did before, or maybe even the first time. Father Delaney: Go a little bit deeper perhaps, than with Gina? Dean: Yeah. Yeah, I'm just starting to think there's more to it than I thought. Father Delaney: Learning that there's more to the universe than your tiny world, can be a frightening discovery. Do you truly believe in God Agent? Because that can be a comfort. Dean: I believe there is a God. But I'm not sure he believes in us.

Kinda on the nose for s14, yes? The only difference is Dean has learned a hell of a lot more about the universe than he ever wanted to know. And God? Well...

[jennsens]

[jennsens]

[mittensmorgul]

fictional metaphysics babey!! so, do you think monsters have souls? or do only humans have souls? is the (hypothetical) lack of a soul what makes a monster a monster?

Well, we know that when monsters die, their souls go to Purgatory, so while they do have souls, they’re somehow not the same as human souls, or as demons (which are corrupted human souls, and go to the Empty when they die).

We know that some monsters are born as monsters (think: the shapeshifter baby in 6.02, and a good number of Garth’s werewolf family, etc.), and others start life as humans and become monsters (other werewolves who are bitten, vampires who ingest vampire blood, and even things like Eve’s creations during s6), and yet others are more like parasites (Khan worms from 6.16 and 10.15, for example) that turn their hosts monstrous, in which case the human soul remains intact (we know Bobby was fine after they removed the worm, for example, since we’ve seen his soul in the afterlife multiple times now).

So does this mean that some monsters’ souls are akin to demons in that they began as human souls? Let’s go with “it’s something along those lines.”

We also saw in 6.07 how intrigued the Alpha Vampire was with the notion of turning soulless!Sam into a vampire, so technically that could be a possibility, though we don’t know what would’ve happened if he’d actually succeeded...

Alpha Vampire: The boy with no soul. I've got big plans for you. It's amazing how that pesky, little soul gets in the way. But not for you. You will be the perfect... animal.

It could be that without a human soul to keep him going, that the transformation to what’s been referred to multiple times throughout the series as a “dead” creature, that a soulless person would not survive the transformation. But who even knows. That’s highly speculative territory, there.

But monsters do have something similar enough to a soul to wind up in Purgatory, and for Dean to have transported Benny’s soul back through the “human portal” to Earth. Because as Benny said in 8.01:

BENNY: It's a human portal, jackass. Only humans can pass through. I show you the door, you hump my soul to the other side.DEAN: So you're looking for a soul train.

and then added to in 8.05 when Cas questioned the metaphysics:

CASTIEL: I have to agree with the vampire, Dean. The risk of crossing Purgatory with a seraph - it's... less than strategic, and certainly when we have no reason to believe that I can pass through the door that you're headed for.BENNY: You see, you're an intact, living human being stuck in Purgatory's craw. This dimension wants to spit you out, which is exactly what's gonna power our escape pod. Now, I'm pretty sure I can squeeze through, too, because, after all, you take away the fangs and the fun, I was born human, too. But...CASTIEL: I don't think it would work for me.

“Take away the fangs and the fun, I was born human, too.”

[mittensmorgul]

Mug Meta

Now we all know that Dean hardly ever turns down free food or drinks, even when Sam declines on his behalf. I mean, the cake in 10.15 that Dean wanted but Sam was like NO THANK YOU WE DON’T WANT CAKE and then gave Dean a facial expression to enforce that:

Dean sneaked a bit of icing anyway, but yeesh... So in 14.04 I find it interesting that Sam didn’t trod on Dean’s acceptance of a mug of cider even if he didn’t really want it himself. But I also find Stuart’s mom’s choice of mugs here interesting, as well:

She placed them down like this between Sam and Dean, with the Flash mug-- i.e. the one that probably belonged to her son-- in front of Sam, and a mug covered in cats-- i.e. the one that was most likely to be HER mug, the older woman wearing a blouse covered in pretty pink and blue roses, the mother-- in front of Dean.

And as soon as her back is turned, Dean goes out of his way to claim the Kid’s Mug, leaving the Mom Mug for Sam.

And I mean there’s nothing inherently “grown up” about having a mug covered with cartoon kitties, or inherently childish about having a Flash mug. But the fact we’re being led to assume the comic book character mug does indeed belong to the “adult child” in the house, it’s inviting this comparison.

I mean, it could be as simple as Dean not wanting to use the cat mug because he’s canonically allergic to cats, but through the rest of this episode we saw him enjoying indulging in not having to be the parental figure for once, enjoying Halloween like a kid, getting into the costumes, and commenting on Sam’s lack of enjoyment in the holiday and inability to see it from a perspective of childhood fun, so I’m enjoying yet another reminder that Dean is actively choosing the superhero fun thing again.