#spn 13.18

[angelcasendgame]

13.18 Bring ‘em Back Alive || Dean x Ketch  || "Good lad."

[foxthefanboi]

13x18 - Bring ‘em Back Alive

[mittensmorgul]

So I’m still out ahead of the TNT loop, but I think 13.08 aired today for everyone still chained to the broadcast schedule. But I want everyone to pay attention to it, and then continue thinking about it while watching 13.15.

Remember back in s13, when people were like... why do we need TWO episodes about heists like this in one season? Well, I’m gonna venture to say that these were two thematically similar episodes that escalated the concept in a very specific way. And post 14.20, they are rather instructive of the largest narrative arc-- the overarching spiral of the entire story.

I’d first venture to say that these episodes are two similar yet distinctly different genres: the Heist and the Noir. 13.08 is Oceans 11, and 14.15 is The Maltese Falcon. And we wrote loads of meta on this back during s13.

But post 14.20, both of these episodes look like the Big Picture Narrative Spiral in microcosm, at two different levels. And therein lies their fundamental similarity.

1. Sam and Dean are baited into the scenario with something they want and need:

-in 13.08 it’s the spell to locate a nephilim -in 13.15 it’s the blood of a most holy man

2. The thing they want is dangled in front of them by someone who recruits them to do a different job for them in exchange for the thing they want/need:

-in 13.08 it’s to steal a chest from a vault protected by a lock that only Dean can open because he was resurrected after serving time in Hell after making a demon deal in exchange for Sam’s life (as Shrike had done in exchange for his son) -in 13.15 it’s a larger series of machinations all going back to a stolen holy relic

3. The motives of the person sending them on this quest are hidden from them at first:

-in 13.08 they’re of course suspicious of the entire deal because Crowley-cosplaying demon wants something from them, and of course they’re wary -in 13.15, they initially have no reason to doubt Greenstreet’s offer for a trade for a specific relic that he sends them off on a wild goose chase for

4. Their quest for The MacGuffin in each of these episodes leads them to uncover layer upon layer of machinations and deceptions, and in the end the motives of the people they’re theoretically working for are finally uncovered to be personal greed:

-in 13.08, the motive was Barthamus retrieving his bones, which Shrike held hostage in exchange for the cancellation of the demon deal he’d made-- because Barthamus had failed to live up to the spirit of the bargain (i.e. Shrikes son he sold his soul for died anyway, even before the expiration of his 10 year contract, cheating him out of what he paid for, effectively) -in 13.15, it’s a bit more complicated, because Sam and Dean are drawn through this intricate web of setups needed to gather ALL of these people so their original “in” on the case could maliciously essentially have all of them murdered to secure sole claim to this holy relic-- just to be able to be the one who owns it.

5. During the course of the episode, Sam and Dean discover something about one of the people they’re working alongside has been motivated to be there against their will, or not by their own free choice:

-in 13.08 it’s Alice “Snatch”, who feels compelled to continue working for Barthamus so he won’t cash in on her demon deal that she now wishes she could take back... what’s become of her life because of that bad choice turns out not to have been worth it in the present -in 13.15 it’s Father Camilleri, who had been the entrusted keeper of the relic that Greenstreet greedily wanted for himself, which was stolen from its place of veneration by his congregation, his people who had put their faith in their sacred duty to preserve it for their entire community.

6. In the end, it comes down to a heroic act by said person, made of their own free will:

-in 13.08, it’s Alice choosing to free herself from barthamus by burning his bones -in 13.15 it’s Father Camilleri literally taking a bullet for them

7. One turns out to be a huge loss, while the other a surprising gain:

-in 13.08, Alice freeing herself from the demon inadvertently burns up the other half of the spell he’d promised to Sam and Dean, rendering their entire mission effectively pointless-- except Alice does free herself and another demon is removed from the playing field... but Sam and Dean are still left without hope on their specific mission to find Jack -in 13.15, All the Bad Guys plotting and scheming to buy/steal the relic end up either dead or likely to be imprisoned, and the relic is returned to its rightful place with Father Camilleri. It looks like Sam and Dean are at another dead end for their personal quest, but because they chose to give up their quest in order to do the right thing by Camilleri and his congregation, they learn that the man himself has been accorded the title “A Most Holy Man” by the pope himself, and readily gives them the blood they’d been seeking the entire time. Twist and Win.

One is a deal with hell, the other a deal with heaven. One ends up a loss, the other appears to be a win. But what does this win actually mean at the end of the day? What does this piece in the puzzle that will help them unlock the doorway to another world provide them?

(I was about to watch 13.16 when I stopped to type this, and it’s a beautiful little detour through Cas’s mission to secure the Fruit of the Tree of Life and his “marriage” to the queen of the djinn, and there’s our “false reality” connection as plain as they can make it, while they’re trapped in a literal cartoon for most of the episode... but I’m gonna skip the rest of these “tricks,” even including Gabriel having tricked everyone and Asmodeus having tricked them all, because that entire circle of plot burns itself down in a matter of episodes, too... although I realize I could also include 13.20 in this comparison of 13.08 and 13.15, because it also fits all of these themes aptly, from a third narrative genre-- the Revenge Quest of Kill Bill, based on spaghetti westerns and martial arts films, wherein they agree to help Gabriel get his revenge in exchange for his help opening the rift-- this is the same story over and over again, told through three different narrative lenses, each with a slightly different outcome bringing them all ever closer to what they think, what they hope is finally the outcome they wanted all along... and yet... just as they secure their ultimate win, another wrench is thrown into their plans, which brings me to...)

13.23: Everyone is saved, life begins to seem like it’s returning to normal. TFW 2.0 is happily hunting together, and even talking about being able to take time off and finally get that beach vacation. I think this is the magical phrase that summons Cosmic Wrenches. Those wrenches come flying through the rift to screw them over in the form of Lucifer and Michael. And the Narrative Loop loops again.

But after 14.20, this is exactly what Chuck has been doing to them since the start. All of it. It’s all clearly encapsulated in these episodes. Even when they believe they’re acting of their own free will, their choices and actions have very little bearing on the effectiveness of their own plans. There could never be a true win for them as long as the Cosmic Wrenches continued flying, and we learned in 14.20 that Chuck never intended to stop throwing them.

Because he’s entertained watching them scramble to catch wrenches.

So here, have the takeaway from 13.15 to sum up this futility:

Dean: What? Come on. I know that look. What's on your mind? Sam: I don't know. Nothing. I mean -- I mean, you know... You ever feel like we're -- we're doing nothing but playing defense? You know, bouncing from one apocalypse to the next? Dean: Well, it's not exactly our call. Sam: I know that, and I'm not saying we don't do good. But -- but no matter how many people we save, there will always be more people that need saving. No matter how many monsters we kill-- Dean: There's always gonna be another one around the corner. Sam: Exactly. Dean: Mm-hmm. Sam: You think we could ever change things? I mean, really change things? You know, stop all the monsters, all the bad? Dean: That would be nice. Sam: Yeah. So what are you thinkin'? Think that'll work? Dean: I have faith.

Turns out they don’t need to stop “all the monsters.” They just need to stop the one wielding all the wrenches aimed directly at them.

[supernaturalismydrug]

“If I am an angel, paint me with black wings.” - Anne Rice

SUPERNATURAL + ANGEL WINGS

[jennsens]

"You do know where we are, don't you?" | SPN 13.18

[teamfreewill2pointo]

I was making gifs when I noticed something interesting. Lamps/lights appear on one side of Sam’s head/shoulders more often that Dean’s, even within the same scene.

More images below the cut.

In 13.18, Dean started out with more lamps around him.

But those lights disappeared when he got really angry.

Dean is now without lamps while Sam still has one.

There’s way too many to gif all of Sam’s shoulder lights, but it happens fairly frequently. What’s also interesting is when they are not seen.

Like this scene, where Sam’s afraid of Lucifer (and without lights) while Dean and Castiel have them:

Or where where Sam has two lights (but the fan is associated with hell).

Or here where Lucifer offers Sam light while Sam makes his own, making the light on Sam’s shoulder even more pronounced:

I’ve noticed that Castiel often has lights over his head, obviously symbolizing his halo, but these shoulder lights are interesting to me. It’s not in every episode. I didn’t see any shoulder lights in Funeralia. In Only the Best Intentions, all 3 of TFW have shoulder lamps when they discussing what to do with Donatello. Castiel loses his when he decides to torture, while Sam keeps his while he argues against it.

Sometimes lighting is just lighting, but it happens a lot for it to all be coincidental, especially in the same scene where Sam has the light and Dean doesn't.

[nerdygeekyscience]

Supernatural 13.18

Lucifer: Present and looking good

Dean and Ketch: Bonding? I smell fanfics in the air

Sam: #Worried and pining

Cas: Angry, confused, and worried

Gabriel: *Internal screaming*

Me: CHARLIE IS BACK HOLY FUCKING SHIT

[eeveestoneson]

Gabriel standing up to the demon that has tortured him and destroying him. Hmmmm. SAM? Maybe it is your turn