#spn 11.07

[eighth-heroine]

he said 🧍‍♂️👀

[mittensmorgul]

Okay, I have a lot of thoughts i’ve been rotating for a while now, and even if I don’t have a coherent overarching meta composed in my head yet, I feel I need to at least record some of these thoughts for future reference. Buckle up. It’s a lot.

I’ll start with a few overarching themes and points that cover the entire series, and then move into the specifics of the most recent episode, the PENULTIMATE episode lol, 1.12. gonna just bullet point these for ease of reference purposes:

-a ridiculous percentage of the series has dealt with monsters/entities with their own little pocket dimensions. yes, this was a thing the original series touched on occasionally-- djinn dream universes created entirely inside someone’s mind, gabriel’s eternal tuesday time loop, gabriel’s weirdo tv land, the soul eater nest in 11.16, and even chuck’s bar at the end of the universe from 11.20. Or like... the entire concept of alternate universes introduced in 6.15 The French Mistake that may or may not have been a construct by Balthazar... up to interpretation... and the final seasons wrangling of several specific alternate universes

so far in The Winchesters we have, by episode:

(under a cut because this got long lol)

*eta: since it’s been pointed out to me that not everyone’s managed to memorize all the spn prime episodes by number, here’s the Mittens Decoder Page on the superwiki by episode number: http://www.supernaturalwiki.com/Category:Episodes

1.01 the Loup Garou and the Monster Trap Box (which can only be recharged by things that are “not of this earth”, specifically they will learn it’s a transporter device that sends creatures trapped by it back to whatever world’s item has “charged” the box) they were searching for, hidden in a secret chamber for years.

1.02 La Tunda, who lures victims into her little pocket dimension trap via roots pulling them underground. she can only be killed by being stabbed with a piece of her own wood/body

1.03 the Bori Baba who lures victims into a pocket dimension trap via a burlap sack. he can only be destroyed (and his captives freed) by them willingly relinquishing/destroying the beloved thing he lured them with.

1.04 Mars Neto who lures victims into a pocket dimension trap and makes them relive trauma and fight him. Could only be defeated/rendered mortal when the amphora containing his power was shattered.

1.05 djinn... but these are slightly different than any of the djinn we know from original canon. they can form a link directly into someone else’s mind and control them out in the real world, not just in a pocket universe trap... it turns victims’ own minds into the trap

1.06 a vengeful spirit of a POSSESSED VAMPIRE of an entirely new variety, who broke free of a trap where he’d been locked for decades, because his friends felt helpless against his growing darkness/involvement with dark magic that was twisting who he was. Lata had to force him to confront that and confess, and the possessing spirit chooses to leave John in an act of doing the right thing.

1.07 straight-up Akrida-- the monsters apparently from an alternate universe trying to invade our world to devour it all (reminiscent of the tentacle monsters Sam and Dean found trapped in a different MoL capitulum clubhouse and accidentally released in 12.17, but bugs instead of tentacles...). They are our overarching Big Bad, who bridge the gap between pocket dimension and possession/mind control that surrounds so many of the themes of the series. but this episode explores them in more depth (right down to the underground lair where the queen was trapped). I feel the need to mention it somewhere, but the akrida used radio waves as a lure for all the bizarre monsters our core four have been dealing with all season, connecting the akrida directly to every other specific monster we’ve seen them confront. Episode literally called “Reflections” which leads me into:

1.08 Loki/Gabriel? Who I already mentioned above as a creator of pocket dimensions and messing with minds in original canon. And for some reason at the end of the episode, he’s trapped inside a mirror, a bit of lore we’ve never seen connected to Loki or Gabriel leaving me to wonder how trapped he actually is... A reflection, as it were.

1.09 vampires... but more the sort we already know from spn prime canon. except the whole mission around them involves a PROPHECY unwittingly stamped onto John’s hand. We’re reminded that prophecy can’t be avoided, BUT you can control some of the circumstances AROUND the prophecy. Context matters, and tiny glimpses of things aren’t representative of the whole truth. (4.18 anyone...)

1.10 A very Magnus-coded (who if you remember created his own little pocket universe to live in with his monster zoo and collection of supernatural relics) disgraced MoL who lies about his identity, his past, and his motives for returning to the clubhouse now. Literally wants to transfer his and his wife’s consciousnesses into John and Mary’s bodies to get back the life the Akrida had stolen from them and he felt they were owed... with no self-awareness that this actually made HIM the monster in this case. 

1.11 the Shadow Spirits generated by Maggie’s magical bracelet that both showed the wearer the truth about hidden motivations AND could also become a trap. Carlos and Lata are pulled into a shadowy trap (not just in their minds! they are no longer physically in the house! they were pulled bodily into some sort of pocket universe BY A SHADOW (you know, the proper term for the Empty Entity in spn prime canon?). Where their only hope for escape was Lata confessing her deep, dark hidden secret to Carlos. She was terrified that he would reject her if he knew the truth about her, that Carlos would be ashamed of her, but he reconfirmed that he loves her unconditionally, and nothing will ever change that.

She’d felt guilt and responsibility for the actions of others for so long, but Carlos helped her see the whole picture again, that it was not her fault, that she’d been helpless to circumstance and wasn’t at fault for her father’s bad actions-- even to the point where they led to the death of an innocent woman.

But the other function of this bracelet, used on Betty to show her the TRUTH of the akrida-possessed people finally gave US a look at how akrida possession works. It’s not just the little spikes in the neck doing the controlling through chemicals or whatever, they seem to function like some sort of weird antenna that connects them via mysterious green tentacles of light up into the sky. Where do they go? I thought the akrida queen was buried underground, not in the sky? Who or what is pulling those poisonous green strings?

aside to mention lata found the bracelet hidden in A CAN OF RAT POISON, along with a tasty treat that carlos devoured. the rat poison packaging was just a decoy to keep anyone else from accidentally finding Maggie’s bracelet (and her stash of tasty treats lol)

1.12 LIMBO’S HOUSE OF HAPPY. a fucking CARNIVAL TENT of a pocket universe, run by a literal clown who made a deal with a witch to create a perfect place where he would never feel sad again. (somebody PLEASE tell me this feels like 15.20... from the rando pie festival where Dean STILL doesn’t get to eat pie and has it smashed in his face instead, and then gets hung on a rusty nail after fighting off some vampire clowns/mimes and sent to a weirdo version of Heaven where he can apparently never worry about anything again? freaking dystopian, ffs... but also... very much a thematic summary of the entire metanarrative plot of the Winchesters as a whole...)

I’m gonna spend the rest of this post absolutely yelling about this last one. While watching, my brain just kept lighting up with references to past canon.

A CLOWN named LIMBO.

Of course, when we think about clowns in Supernatural, we always think of Sam’s lifelong fear of them. Apparently connected to the fact that Dean used to leave him at Plucky Pennywhistle’s as a kid, but also... almost every reference to clowns in canon prime are connected either to Azazel or to Lucifer himself.

My very first thought about LIMBO the CLOWN was 11.10 The Devil in the Details. Rowena being the one to magically assemble the “stage cage” where they’d summoned Lucifer to question him about Sam’s visions and dealing with the Darkness, and Rowena appearing in this episode (even if in an entirely different plot arc, she’s still ~there~) feels very relevant.

But we’d known that Sam’s visions in s11 were foreshadowing a return of Lucifer and possibly a trip to the cage. But... Clowns Specifically were used to foreshadow this. In 11.07 Plush, Sam was trapped IN AN ELEVATOR with a murderous clown, and the overhead shot as Sam frees the man in the clown suit from possession... looks like cage bars (screencaps from HotN):

Remember, this was TWO EPISODES before Crowley leads Sam and Rowena INTO LIMBO in 11.09. LIMBO. Where Sam’s worst nightmare becomes reality and he’s literally trapped IN A FAKE CAGE, IN LIMBO, WITH THE ULTIMATE CLOWN:

(screenshot from the superwiki page for 11.09)

LIMBO is where Cas says yes to possession by Lucifer, and right after this kills Rowena for her trouble, after she confesses that she’s the only one who knows the spell to force him back into the actual cage.

From 11.09:

Crowley: We are in the furthest reaches of Hell, Limbo, where I send unruly souls for timeout. Sam: This is where I meet with Lucifer? Crowley: What it lacks in ambience it makes up for in security. They come to an empty cage. Rowena paints sigils on the cage, while the thunderstorm continues to rage. Crowley: Makes your flesh crawl, doesn’t it Moose? I get it. I’m the King of this place. It’s still not my cup of tea. Sam: I don’t know, Crowley. I’d say it suits you. Dark. Empty. Crowley: Fascinating; the utter contempt, when I’m in the midst of saving the Winchester’s bacon, again. Sam: The point of this is to save everyone’s bacon, including yours. Let’s just hope she knows what she’s doing. This cell won't hold crap if the warding is not right. Rowena: Don’t you worry about me, Samuel. I’m a professional. Crowley: Are you certain you can do this without actually opening the Cage? Rowena: We are about to find out, aren’t we.

Rowena BELIEVED Lucifer would become her protector, bring her peace, security, power. But it was all a lie. And in this episode, she seeks out Ada under the pretense of talking to the specific demon Ada had trapped in a bonsai tree, looking for information about her son...

Let’s detour through some other clown references from spn, just for funsies. The cold open victim in this episode was the only one who could see the magical tent, and his friend saw and heard nothing of it (he didn’t have the magic ticket). It called back to the children in 2.02 Everybody Loves a Clown. They were the only ones who could see the Rakshasa clown, who used those children to gain entry to their homes to devour their parents.

There’s also the ghost of John Wayne Gacy in 14.13, an episode where Dean’s wish to reunite his family is fulfilled, even for a brief moment. (the ghost will return in 14.20 when Chuck cracks Hell open). But specifically this clown is tied directly to John and Mary reuniting before John chooses to go back to his own time to save everyone else and restore the timeline. John will only vaguely remember the events as some sort of pleasant dream. It comes with a side of Dean accepting his life, not WANTING to change it because everything he’s endured has combined to make him the person he’s become. GROWTH DOT GIF.

(and in 15.01 the clown ghost nearly gets sam, again...)

Which brings me back to the Akrida. Our mind-controlling, possessing archvillain of this entire narrative. Whose goal seems to revolve around being freed from a sort of cage to run riot across creation. They have apparently shifted reality, all because Dean knocked over some first mysterious domino and unleashing the chain of events he’s been recounting through the entire series.

Was that inciting incident going back in time to deliver the note to John? Was it giving John the key to the MoL clubhouse that sparked not only what appears to be a massive change in the timeline from what we’d known from spn prime, but possibly also GENERATED the akrida as a monster specifically that creates these sorts of pocket dimensions to devour?

Also, brief aside to mention DEANNA. Like, the entire early part of the season revolved around Mary concerned about Samuel being “missing.” And yet, we also learned that Deanna had disappeared to points unknown. She hadn’t been seen by anyone in MONTHS, was last assumed to be hunting with some group in Michigan (? I think? top of my head reference), and yet NOBODY has showed the same concern for her whereabouts as they collectively did for Samuel. It’s almost like they all have some sort of weird amnesia about her at this point. They just... aren’t concerned about her at all, and haven’t even mentioned her in weeks. Which makes me think she’s at the center of all of this. I would be 100% unsurprised if she’s the one possessed by the Akrida queen at this point. because otherwise, WHERE TF IS SHE. But also, WHY TF IS NOBODY ELSE SEEMINGLY CONCERNED ABOUT HER AT ALL?! It’s WEIRD.

I am generally losing my mind over all of this, and don’t know what Big Secret will be revealed in the finale, but hooBOY I am prepared to scream about it for weeks. This is all just stashed here for my own future reference purposes, and I’m sure I’ll come back and add more things as I think of them, but heck this will have to suffice for now :’D

[foxthefanboi]

11x07 - Plush

[jennsens]

“Plush” | SPN 11.07

[mittensmorgul]

Watching 11.07, and heck... about Dean finding Sam praying to God for help understanding his “visions” he fully believes are being sent to him By God, suggesting that he let Lucifer out of the cage for help dealing with Amara.

Dean: Thought we talked about this. Sam: Yeah, we did, Dean. But why is it so hard to believe that God could be sending me visions about the darkness? Dean: You kidding me? He didn't feel the need to show up for the Apocalypse. Why would he give a crap now? Sam: I don't know. Maybe because she's his sister? What do you wanna do? Sit back? Ignore him? Do nothing? Dean: No, that's -- that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying, don't count on God. Okay? Count on us.

There’s just... so much about s11.

Of course those visions are from Lucifer, luring Sam to free him, to manipulate Sam into saying Yes to him again and freeing him to wreak havoc on the world. But like... ultimately, yeah, it still all links back to Chuck doing all of this, right? If nothing else, this is just story elements he planted long, long ago finally coming into play. I mean... Amara is the ultimate Original Chekhov’s Gun, right? Only they didn’t tell us about her until the end of s10, even if we then discovered her through bits and pieces of the story that proved unreliable later on as we get closer and closer to the whole truth.

And that brings us to “Don’t count on God.” and Dean’s reminder that they should count on each other. Kind of spells out the ONLY way for Chuck to actually win over them, right? Because they literally would never stop fighting against him. They stood there in 15.19 that they would keep standing up every time he tried to knock them down, and we saw this effort powering up Jack and weakening Chuck. This SHOULD have made it so that Chuck’s power-- not the “Chuck Persona”-- was free from Chuck’s will. This SHOULD have been enough for Team Free Will to have won their free will. Except, at the end of the day, Jack was God, and they felt safe putting their trust in Jack...

Either Jack was able to live up to that trust and release them from Chuck’s Story, or he wasn’t. I keep thinking about the results of 15.09, when Chuck’s only goal was to “break Sam.” That’s what enabled him to regain control and heal the wound from the Equalizer gun from 14.20. He didn’t need Sam to do anything. He just needed him to stop.

And isn’t that an interesting way to phrase it.

In the end, all Chuck had to do to get them to stop fighting his plans for them was to convince them they didn’t have a reason to keep fighting him. Engineering his own apparent defeat was pretty much the only way they ever would.

If they ever do a new series of this show, I wouldn’t mind it if it was Sam and Dean fighting to save Jack from “being Chuck.” Maybe starting with teaming up with some reapers to save Cas and Billie from the Empty... and while they’re there... I’m sure there’s more than a few others who would be totally onboard with coming back to help.

At this point I’m just rambling, but yeah, there’s too much connected to this concept of not trusting in God, and only trusting in each other (including trusting in all of TFW including Cas and their entire extended family).

[mittensmorgul]

(still a bit short on time and only half watching today... why does it take so long to recover from what gish does to one’s home?)

11.07, Plush.

Sam: So um, on the off chance You're actually listening. I gotta be real honest, the visions aren't making a whole lot of real sense to me. Truth is, I don't know what's what. Please, what are You trying to say? [...] Dean: I thought we talked about this. Sam: Yeah, we did, Dean. But why's it so hard to believe God could be sending me visions about the Darkness? Dean: You kidding me? He didn't feel the need to show up for the Apocalypse, why would He give a crap now?

Ah, yes, the God Foreshadowing in s11... and yeah, Sam's visions were super confusing because they were coming from Lucifer, not God, back in early s11, but hooboy does this sound prophetic for s14, too?

Dean: I'm saying don't count on God, count on us.

In an episode filled with "masks" and "clowns" and Sam visually "trapped in a cage with a clown," all of this was indeed "you're being tricked by Lucifer" foreshadowing, but isn't that just what Chuck has been doing to them all along?

11.08, Just My Imagination.

Another hint to Sam's sometimes shaky connection with reality, and his willingness to believe SOMETIMES panning out, but other times literally becoming a trap for him. Like what happens to him in the very next episode...

11.09, O Brother Where Art Thou?

Thou art being deceived by your personal archnemeses... Dean by Amara, Sam by Lucifer...

Dean, however, was taken against his will. Sam CHOSE to go to Lucifer, and was betrayed by Rowena-- who was also lured in by Lucifer's lies and manipulations. But hey, their mutual beyrayal will eventually become a bonding moment for them, so there's that?

[mittensmorgul]

I’m finally up to s11 on the TNT loop (yay!), and there’s just so much in this season that’s relevant to s14, I’m screaming. Because here’s the truth of it, of what motivated Metatron’s story in s9 and s10, when he was literally taking over writing Chuck’s story:

Metatron: The truth would make the Bible thumpers' heads explode. I mean, they want their God to be a finger-snapping all-powerful creator. They want magic, Mary Poppins. But what he did... Creation. That took work, took sacrifice. In order to create the world, God had to give up the only thing He'd ever known. He had to betray and sacrifice His only kin. The Darkness -- His sister.

IN ORDER TO CREATE THE WORLD, GOD HAD TO GIVE UP THE ONLY THING HE’D EVER KNOWN. HE HAD TO BETRAY AND SACRIFICE HIS ONLY KIN.

And as long as Chuck has power over his creation, this is the story he’s doomed to reenact over and over again. Because this is Genesis. This is his creation. This is what started it all, and as powerful as he is, it’s literally the only story he knows.

And why did he need his creation to be born? 

CHUCK: I was stupid. Naive. I thought if I could show my sister that there was something more than just us, something better than us, then maybe she'd change. Maybe she'd stop... being... her. But... every time I'd build a new world... she'd destroy it.

[...]

METATRON: (Stands up and looks at CHUCK with wet eyes.) No, look. I know I'm a disappointment, but you're wrong about humanity. They are your greatest creation because they're better than you are.

So now that I’ve covered 11.06 and 11.20, let’s look real quick at 11.07, which was all about masks. Remember Sam’s visions that were coming from Lucifer, but Sam wanted to believe were coming from God?

Sam: Yeah, we did, Dean. But why is it so hard to believe that God could be sending me visions about the darkness? Dean: You kidding me? He didn't feel the need to show up for the Apocalypse. Why would he give a crap now? Sam: I don't know. Maybe because she's his sister? What do you wanna do? Sit back? Ignore him? Do nothing? Dean: No, that's -- that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying, don't count on God. Okay? Count on us.

...

Dean: You okay? Donna: No, not really. A 19-year-old kid is dead. Sam: That's not on you or Doug. He was just doing his job. Donna: I know, but... That kid was innocent. I mean, if the mask was cursed, then he was just a puppet, right? He was a victim, too.

A ghost, getting revenge, through a series of masks and costumes, after his sibling had been manipulated into betraying him wrongly, leading to his wrongful death.

Meanwhile a ton of innocent people’s lives were ruined or destroyed, because the ghost couldn’t let go.

Kinda... sounds Chuck-y, you know?

[mittensmorgul]

I know that this happened almost 3 seasons ago and I’m probably overreacting because it hits to close to home, but I was rewatching plush today and it still drives me nuts that we’re supposed to view Donna’s ex as a douche(which he is) for making fun of her weight but then the hero of the story refers to her as “fat-sucking Donna” and it’s played for laughs never and never portrayed as a bad thing

>.>

<,<

>.>

aah, snymelo…

This has always bugged me. I mean, I adore Donna, and it’s clear that Dean does, too, and that he not only remembers her and thinks fondly of her, but it’s sort of implied that she does talk to Dean once in a while:

(Dean’s phone starts ringing)Dean: Well, I’ll be damned.Sam: Huh?Dean (on phone): Donna, what’s shakin’?Sam (whispering): ‘Fat sucker’ Donna?Dean (on phone): What do you mean “Killer bunny”?

The context here is that Dean’s just caught Sam praying to God, and Dean’s generally grumpy about this because Sam is convinced his “visions” must be coming from God (spoiler alert: they’re coming from Lucifer), while Dean is basically “fuck that guy, he’s never done anything for us before, so why now?”

They’re also discussing the fact that the Scrolls Cas went all the way to Gaza for are basically useless at finding something to help them stop the Darkness, and Dean was kinda desperate for a distraction so as not to be dragged into the pointless translation of a bunch of ancient Aramaic… Donna delivered it.

I, too, am offended that Sam still remembers her as “fat sucker Donna,” but not because SHE was a fat sucker, but because the case they first met her on, the monster itself was literally a fat sucker… a pishtaco. That was back when they were trying to keep the truth about monsters away from Donna. But her monster-hunting introduction came a full season earlier in 10.08. The fact that Sam seems to have blotted that from his mind is a bit insulting to Sam, but throughout all their interactions, Dean had typically been the one to be more “friendly” with Donna.

Going back to 9.13, they instantly bonded over powdered donuts, and then even with Sam RIGHT THERE, Dean– even with the Mark, even when Sam’s typically the one to be more sympathetic with witnesses and victims, it’s Dean who bonds with Donna over how Doug #1 had treated her, much the way Jody bonds with Donna in 10.08 when she calls Doug #1 a fat-shaming douche to his face.

Granted, Donna doesn’t really get a chance to come into her own until s13, when we get to see more of her both in Wayward and in Breakdown. Jenny Klein did better with her in 10.08 than snymelo did in 9.13 and 11.07, but honestly she was fantastic in Breakdown (hooray Davy).

I have no idea if the “fat sucker Donna” line in 11.07 was some sort of writer’s room pushback by Snymelo against Jenny Klein having taken “their character” and pushed her with both hands into the hunting life, but 11.07 did more than just put that ugly phrase in Sam’s mouth. It also took the entire resolution of the story out of Donna’s hands and gave it to Dean (getting his butt kicked by the ghost while Sam burns the final possessed plushie head) instead, and just… ick.

Thank HECK Donna finally got some more respectful treatment by the narrative in s13. She deserved better than Doug #1, and she deserved better than being kept in the dark, better than being treated like a child and sidelined in her own case, reduced to babysitter while the “professional hunters” interviewed the witness, and babysitting Doug #2 while Sam and Dean handled the ghost. 

Sam could’ve said, “Hibbing Donna?” or “Donna from that vampire sheriff case?” or “Jody’s friend Donna?” or any of a number of other things, but nope… “fat sucker Donna.” Because that’s the first case Sam associated with her, I guess? Bleh… I’m just going with “Sam was addled from a combination of Lucifer sending him horrifying visions for the last stretch, worry over the Darkness, and potentially days of sleepless frustration trying to translate untranslatable ancient documents.”

(but really… snymelo)