sigh okay so since y’all have gone and done Baby meta and Dead Guy Robe meta I would like to announce that I am logging on to the hellsite today to discuss the fucking Men of Letters Bunker Table.
And the Kitchen Table. Yes. We’re doing Table meta today, with a specific side dissertation about The Initials.
I am so sorry, but also it’s all your fault. Here we go, after the cut!
A preamble:
Here’s the first thing the boys ever carved their initials into, claiming it as their own.
A 1967 Chevrolet Impala that “would turn out to be the most important car – no, the most important object – in pretty much the whole universe.”
So we have it established in canon that Sam and Dean carve their initials in Important Objects. In fact, the little details, little pieces that Sam and Dean add over time that meld with and become a part of the Impala are crucial to the end of 5x22:Swan Song - seeing the bits of Sam and Dean that makes baby their own gives Sam the strength to overpower Lucifer. Go watch that shit here.
Ready to clown? The Bunker library table is a Baby/Impala mirror.
Think about it. Baby used to be “home” - Chuck makes that point in Swan Song too -
“maybe they never really had a roof and four walls...but they were never in fact, homeless.”
“That’s a good line.”
Sure is, Chuck.
Sam also says it in Baby’s very own episode, 11x04:Baby.
But when they’re not riding around in Baby, the Bunker/Bat Cave is their other home, the one with the roof and four walls.
And where do they spend the most time while there? (well, Dean may spend more time in the kitchen but we’ll get to that later)
Sitting at the Library Table.
(bless my babe he cannot sit like a regular person, and I am THE same).
They work together there:
They also work with others there.
So it’s their “hub” as well as where they welcome others, publicly/openly. That’s important.
(Want more Impala/Library Table parallels?)
this blocking from 15x18 is exactly how they sit in baby when chatting in 11x04
you can see Sam’s arm showing the positioning below
and also when they fall asleep
Ok back to tables. A decent amount of domestic scenes also occur at the Library Table.
However, any domestic scenes that include Cas are usually at the Kitchen Table
(and remember, the kitchen is Cas’s favorite place per 11x03: Hells Angel; it’s where he is in his head when possessed by Lucifer):
See? Kitchen Table:
Could They Emphasize Any More that We are at the Kitchen Table?
(for additional serotonin)
Morning Sunshine/Coffee scene. Kitchen Table.
Kitchen Table:
Kitchen Table:
The Kitchen Table also appears to be most often frequented by Dean:
See how Dean is consistently sitting at it while Sam is standing or walking in when Dean is already there?
And it tends to be used for more secretive, emotional or private moments (the Cas and Jack cereal scene above, or Sam and Dean planning to put Jack in the Malaak box below, as an example:)
Another, more somber shot of this one to remind you that while it was domestic, it was emotional too.
Other characters have used it for secretive/private/emotional scenes as well.
Like this surprise reunion setup between Sully and Sam:
Mary reading John’s journal:
First conversation with Midam since the cage:
(she’s plotting to kill Jack here)
John seeing Mary for the first time in Lebanon:
No explanation necessary:
THIS MOMENT IS ALSO IN THE KITCHEN
BONUS: this outfit
DOUBLE BONUS:
after Dean presumably stays up all night drinking one-on-one with Mick in 12x17:British Invasion
Ok, now lets move on to the initials.
They first appear on the table in 12x18:The Memory Remains.
DEAN
I wonder what's gonna happen to this place. After we're gone, you think some hunter'll move in, keep fightin' the fight?
(**a moment of feral screaming re 15x20)
SAM
Yeah, I hope so.
DEAN
Yeah. Me, too.
[Dean gets out his knife from his pocket.]
SAM
What are you doin'?
DEAN
Leaving our mark. Here.
[Dean and Sam carve their initials into the library table like they'd done to Baby as kids]
Mary’s are added after her death (14x18:Absence).
And finally, in 15x19 we get Cas’s. Let’s see it one more time.
Again - these initials are carved on the Library Table. The work table. The table shown to the public, where guests tend to be seated.
I’ve been calling them initials but note - Dean used Cas’s full name. No, it’s not because they didn’t want to anger the fans by spelling Cas wrong.
It’s because Dean always uses Cas’s full name when he introduces him to other people. (start at :48)
The Library Table is the domestic family table - for everyone except for Cas, whose domestic scenes tend to occur at the kitchen table (the table of private/secret moments, the table in Cas’s favorite place, the place where Cas’s favorite person seems to spend a lot of time). Dean has been hiding his relationship with Cas from the world in. this. kitchen.
Carving Cas’s name on the Library Table is Dean making a choice. It’s Dean choosing Cas as family publicly; it’s Dean bringing Cas home, permanently; it’s Dean introducing Castiel to the world as a part of him, as his own.
This is Dean’s “I love you, too.”
CHUCK (VOICEOVER)
So, what's it all add up to? It's hard to say. But me, I'd say this was a test... for Sam and Dean. And I think they did all right. [Flashbacks play.] Up against good, evil, angels, devils, destiny, and God himself, they made their own choice. They chose family. And, well... isn't that kinda the whole point?
BONUS SUPPORT FOR KITCHENS AS SECRET POST-COITAL HIDDEN RELATIONSHIP HANGS:
brb, eating glass.
