#I think one episode literally starts like ‘my name is donatello and’ and then I had to pause cause I started to choke | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

you-cant-spell-subtext-without · 3 years

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I know we are all discussing the latest episode of Season 16, but I need to wrap up 11 for my own sanity (because there is a LOT to discuss in my Season 12 rewatch already), so without further ado - more rambling for you.

I’m not going to include 11x20: Don’t Call Me Shurley because I think I’d like to do an entire Chuck - arc - series. Rob Benedict is a gift; that dad mug kills; and I love that the fan theories about Chuck spinning around this fandom for years turned out to be correct after all (WEIRD HOW THAT HAPPENS WITH CHARACTERS EH). Moving on.

As you will recall, two recaps and many many many crackhead other posts from my corner of super hell ago, I ended the 11x18 recap with this image of Amara realizing...”something” after Dean said Cas’s name (just before she took Casifer with her), Dean/Amara unbreakable connection be damned. Speaking of unbreakable connection this post is partially the AMARA DISSERTATION. Buckle up.

FF to 11x21: All in the Family; the boys are shooting the shit with Chuck and in the meantime, Amara is torturing Casifer. Important to note that just recently the actual Cas was enlightened that Dean wants him to cast Lucifer out, so I presume he is a little more active at this point, and that strengthens the following hypothesis. Look how Amara is looking at Casifer here:

And here, right before she touches him on the chest.

It’s the same look she gave Dean. She’s trying to decipher something; trying to figure something out.

She appears to Dean in the VERY next scene, to show him how she is torturing Casifer. But the real point is, of course, to show him how its affecting the physical form of Cas, reminding him its not just Lucifer who is suffering. It works.

DEAN

Amara is – she's in my head. [Sam looks at him sharply] Hey, I didn't ask for it, okay? She just showed up. But she's showing me visions of – of Lucifer. By Lucifer, I mean Cas, and he looks like crap – like she's really doing a number on him.

***Note, yet again, despite the *connection* Amara/Dean supposedly share, all he can think about and talk about is Cas.

And Amara knows it. That’s the realization she has in 11x18. Dean loves Cas. Then, in 11x21 she realizes Cas loves Dean. So, she uses it to her own ends. Smart girl.

Enter Donatello (I love him), prophet of (not) the Lord. He, Metatron, and Sam set out to rescue Casifer while Dean distracts Amara. If we start with the presumption she now has the prior additional insight, the following snippets of dialogue hit a little different.

AMARA

This place, this world hasn't been especially easy for you. Why not at least consider my offer?

*********

DEAN

You're right. I am drawn to you. And it bothers the hell out of me, 'cause I can't control it.

AMARA

Then why fight it? What you're feeling is that I am the end of your struggle.

***AHEM, this was not the FACE CUPPING I requested.

What keeps Dean from having it all? What is his struggle? It’s not the monsters or the hunting. Dean’s repeatedly shown he loves this life; he doesn't want anything else (and the one time he did try it in Season 6, it was half-ass at best, and he left the minute Sam returned to go back to hunting). Dean’s KEY struggle in the show is internal. He represses his feelings, pushes his pain aside, resulting in a cycle of self-loathing and anger. That cycle keeps him from having it all - accepting he can be loved, allowing himself to give his heart to someone else. And at this point, Amara not only knows that someone else is Cas, she knows that Cas feels the same way. Girl, welcome to super hell. Take a damn seat by Sam.

11x22: We Happy Few

I’ll skim through this one so this post doesn’t completely make your eyes bleed due to the sheer length.

The splicing with the scenes of everyone assembling different factions to form the new “line-up” needed to trap Amara is excellent. I’ve already done a short post on the brilliance of Dean heading to get Crowley and the ex-boyfriend mood of it all (Dean, of all people, telling Crowley to sober up gives me an ENTIRE head canon of the Crowley/demon!Dean unseen dynamic in Season 10). And of COURSE Dean knows exactly what to say to convince Crowley to get on board. I also enjoy our future Sam-witch as the emissary to Rowena (”three’s a coven” would be a great tattoo, TBH).

BONUS:

I love her.

Big fight scene with Amara ensues, but this isn’t the finale so she cannot be beaten. However, right before she mortally wounds Chuck, she does this:

[Yelling, LUCIFER charges her from behind again, but AMARA flings him hard against a support pillar across the room.]

AMARA

Goodbye, nephew.

[She banishes LUCIFER. CASTIEL slumps unconscious to the floor.]

DEAN: Cas!

(He rushes AMARA, but she flings him away without effort.)

***She banishes Lucifer. She could have just killed him. Ended him entirely, and Cas along with him. But she BANISHES LUCIFER. Because of what she learned in the prior episode. Because of the pain she saw in both of those idiots.

She does this for Dean.

Anyway, thank you Casifer FOR YOUR SERVICE. I miss you already.

11x23: Alpha and Omega

There is nothing more precious than Dean sending his brother to check on GOD while he goes to check on his boyfriend:

DEAN: [Grunting]

Check on him.

SAM: [kneels next to Chuck]

Hey. Chuck?

[Dean kneels down next to Cas and puts a hand on his shoulder. Cas stirs and looks up at Dean]

CAS:

Dean.

DEAN:

Cas? Hey, is that you?

***All the heart eyes for the reunion!!

*********ALSO SHOULDERRRRRRRR

Chuck is dying, Rowena bonds with him. Crowley is gold in this finale. I MISS YOU MARK. This line is NOT in the transcript/script I used, and it potentially being ad libbed makes it even better.

Dean decides to deal with the end of the world by drinking ONE beer, then deciding there is “not enough” beer and grabbing Cas for a beer (and....*feelings*) run.

DEAN:

You know what? This isn't gonna be enough. I better make a run.

[Sighs]

No reason to die sober, huh?

[to Sam]

You want to?

SAM: [frustrated]

No!

*********************

DEAN:

Be right back.

SAM:

I'll stay here, find our Plan B.

DEAN:

Okay. Cas, come on.

Nothing makes me more pleased than the assumption that of COURSE Cas is coming with him. I mean, he just got him back. Also, Sam is frustrated because he is back in super hell, obvi ;)

***Now we have the little “you’re our brother” bit in the Impala beer run dialogue, but to me it’s because Dean doesn’t know how else to express what he’s feeling. Repression, people.

The look of literal PAIN on Cas’s face at the “brother” line makes me cackle. Misha Collins DESERVES AN EMMY; he is doing the Lord’s work with his Acting Choices here.

This little part before is what really gets me though, especially with all of the WORDS OF AFFIRMATION:

[Dean and Cas are driving in the Impala]

DEAN:

How you doing? You good?

I mean, you know, the whole Lucifer thing.

CAS:

I was just... so stupid.

DEAN:

No, no, no. It wasn't stupid.

You were right. You were right to let Lucifer ride shotgun.

Me and Sam wouldn't have done that.

CAS:

Well, it didn't work.

DEAN:

No, but it was our best shot, and you stepped up.

CAS:

I was just trying to help.

DEAN:

Well, and you do help, Cas.

***ITS JUST SO LOVELY. Dean asking Cas how he is doing (what Cas always asks Dean); telling Cas he wasn’t stupid (throwback to Cas telling Dean he was stupid “for the right reasons”); acknowledging that Cas does HELP. That he is important and appreciated. THIS IS SUCH GROWTH. I LOVE IT SO MUCH. Speak his love language, King.

Anyway, then Dean turns into a human bomb because martyr!dean gonna martyr and be “daddy’s (Chuck filling that role here) blunt little weapon” and we get -

THE DESTIEL GOODBYE. Tell me they didn’t actually go canon for the FIRST time here. I will fight you.

LOOK at Cas watching him in the background.

These fucking desolate eyes. I’m crying.

THEY JUST GOT EACH OTHER BACK -

(I recognize this .gif is meh quality but I love that he turns and walks to him and Cas just GRABS him in this crushing hug)

DEAN [accepts the hug good-naturedly but then looks sad]

Okay, okay.

***”good naturedly??? ok Jensen “Acting Choices” Ackles. That is not “good nature” that is BLISS.

AND THEN THIS -

SOBS IN ENOCHIAN.

***I literally had to remind myself that the reunion hug is coming; it’s just an episode away. I’ll make y’all feel better too; here it is - A PERFECT PARALLEL. Curse this show.

MORE OF THIS “GOOD NATURED” HUGGING PLEASE.

Anyways, back to depressing subtext.

DEAN:

Okay, look. I want a big funeral.

All right? I'm talking epic.

Okay? Open bar, choir, Sabbath cover band, and Gary Busey reading the eulogy.

*****This scene lives in my mind rent-free as PROOF 15x20 doesn’t exist.

I can’t skip over further growth in Dean’s goodbye to Sammy.

***He’s being serious. Seasons 1-3 Dean would never have admitted this. I was a blubbering mess at this point.

So, Dean heads to Amara, and the rest of the gang heads to the bar.

CROWLEY:

Your round, Moose.

***I would love an entire bottle episode of Crowley, Sam, Rowena, and Chuck at that bar TBH.

And then, Dean saves the day. BUT NOT by dying and sacrificing himself, letting himself be used as a weapon of mass destruction. No, he fixes the DAMN WORLD by connecting to Amara emotionally, and bringing her and Chuck back together, because he understands that not to be alone is what she really needs; that her own struggle is the same as his - letting in love instead of raging against it and fighting her own need for companionship. Because that’s where ELDEST SIBLING AMARA AND Dean Winchester CONNECT. Amara isn’t in love with Dean. She identifies with Dean. She sees her own feelings in him, her own pain, and that’s why she exorcises Lucifer and saves Cas - FOR Dean. Amara’s just a Dean girl, everyone. And we know Dean girls protect Cas at all costs.

Yup. Amara Dean Girl Darkness Heller.

That’s it. That’s the dissertation.

See you in Season 12, where I will attempt to figure out the reason behind the British Men of Letters, killing Hitler, the brain melt that is Celebrating the Life of Asa Fox, the comedy of errors that is Cas playing Dean hot and cold, and the Mary Winchester of it all.

#destiel #spn analysis #spn meta #supernatural #spn family #spn fandom #spn season 11 #amara #spn recap #dean winchester

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heyheydidjaknow · 3 years

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FUCK YOU TIME! I’m aware I’m an hour and a half late, but I finished the chapter, so HA. I know nobody cares, but I’m happy with myself. Previous chapter is at the bottom of the page, of course.

Chapter 4

"Why, pray tell, don't you trust me?"

"Because you're being paranoid." Mikey gets into position at the top of the ramp as you scroll through your phone absentmindedly, watching your friends back home sincerely mourning your death. "I am an ex-peer-ee-onsed skateboarder and ninja. This is gonna be epic."

"As someone who saw that episode," you reassure him, sighing at your mother's inactivity online confirming your suspicions for the umpteenth time, "you are absolutely going to get in trouble." The lair is a mess, the ramp more so, and the entire situation is so obviously the inciting incident that you're half convinced that the universe itself is pranking you. You slid the phone into your pocket, not really in the mood to start crying again. "In fact, this is directly related to the theme of the episode. In other words, don't do it."

"Relax, dude." He sets himself up. "I am totally gonna make this jump and it is going to be sweet."

"Theme?" Donatello pipes up from his place on the ground in front of the ramp. "The first major constituent of a clause?"

You blink. "No, the new Subway footlong. What the fuck are you talking about?"

"That's the definition of theme."

"Who uses that definition? Grammar teachers?"

"The dictionary."

You are dumbfounded. "Why would I— do you know how people usually use that word?"

"People usually use that word at all?"

You look over at Raphael and Leonardo, who are on the floor next to him, and who seem completely disinterested. "Do you guys—"

"No. Who uses the word 'theme'?" Raphael rolls his eyes. "Mikey, do you plan on jumping today?"

"Wait, so none of you have ever used that word in a literary sense?"

"There's a literary sense?"

You sigh. "In hindsight, I guess that makes sense, since— Mikey, you're gonna get grounded for it."

"Will not."

"Will too. Donnie, when you inevitably get grounded for this, after your grounding is over, come to my apartment. I'm teaching you literary analysis because that is ridiculous." You get to your feet. "Oh," you say, "before I go, when he grounds you, don't go out. If you get into trouble while you're out, get me, and if he asks why you're tired, say it was a movie marathon, and if he asks which movies, Lord of The Rings. See ya." You run out as you hear the shouts of their father telling them to stop.

You walk back up to the surface via the empty subway tunnel. You had quickly realized that it was infinitely less gross than going through the sewers, and your apartment already smelled enough like raw sewage from the amount of time you had started spending down there. You have considered buying new clothes with your quickly appreciating bank account, but you could not bring yourself to look, even with your new freedom. Maybe it was a lack of motivation? You do not exactly know. More likely is your complete lack of inspiration and faith in your own choices, but what do I know?

You start down the street to your building. You would not go so far as to say it felt like home, but you had become more accustomed to it. You had learned the bellboy’s name, nodded to neighbors. It is not a stunning amount of progress, but it is progress. You spend most of your days now, if not re-watching whatever episode is relevant next, for the first time, cyberstalking people you knew from back home. How courteous of that organization to give you an up-to-date feed of life moving on without you; at least you get to see your cousins.

You do not remember the actual walk. You remember getting to your apartment, walking right by your refrigerator, and collapsing onto the bed.

You feel like shit.

You roll onto your back, going right back to stalking. You are not sure why you bother making yourself feel worse. You tried messaging them to absolutely no avail. You cannot comment on posts, either. You know this. You still grasp onto this shred from your past. It just makes you sad. Why are you doing this to yourself?

You feel a lump rise in your throat. You close the window.

You curl around your pillow, hugging it tightly. You the sound of your fingers against the screen was the only thing to permeate the room. You are following a tangent, looking for a book you were interested in a century ago. Something about a pervert? You forget.

You miss home.

—

You do not even need to look up from your phone; the panting is enough. "I'm going to take a wild guess."

"I know you said to come get you," Donnie gushed, "but it was 2 in the morning and I totally forgot and I was freaking out about this new invention and—"

You set the e-book down, walking over and grasping his hands gently. "Take a deep breath, alright? You're gonna be fine, so long as you chill out and think."

"Baxter Stockman is serious business."

"I know, honey, but you gotta calm down, alright?" You slowly pull him down to sit on the bed.

"He snapped my staff with his freakin hand!"

"You are going to go through at least 2 more of those bad boys. Breathe with me." You inhale deeply. "In."

He mimics you.

"Out."

He follows suit.

"Okay. Are you good?"

His breathing slows. He swallows, nods. "Okay, I'm calm."

"Awesome. Now, I'm gonna give you a mini version of our lesson, alright? Is that okay?" The irony of you trying to calm down the trained ninja is not lost on you.

"Yeah, alright." He nodded.

"Alright. Let's start off with the basics." You sit yourself up properly. "Now, this is a kid's show, right?"

"If you say so, yeah."

"The thing about kids shows is that there's usually a moral to each of the episodes."

"Okay."

You put up one finger. "At the beginning of the episode, you guys got grounded, right?"

He nodded.

"You guys snuck out, and you got into a fight with Stockman. That fight is the reason he's after you, right?" You try to speak relatively clearly and, more importantly, calmly.

"Yeah." He seems to respond relatively positively to this.

"And then,” you continue, putting up a second finger, “Mikey losing the t-pod and not telling anyone is what lead to Stockman getting powerful, right?”

He nodded.

“In both instances, the problem was a lack of transparency, right? Not asking for help for fear of getting in trouble?”

He nodded again.

“So,” you nod with him, “the way to fix this is?”

“To ask for help regardless of whether or not it will get us in trouble with Splinter?”

“Exactly.” You smile encouragingly. “Why?”

“Because that’s the message of the episode?”

“You really are quick to catch on.” You get to your feet. “I’m not surprised you’re the brains of the group.”

“Really?” His eyes lit up.

“Most definitely. Now,” you get to your feet, “as much as I love when we talk, and as much as I owe you a lesson on how to identify these sorts of things on your own, I’m sure your brothers could use that advice right about now.”

“Right!” He gets up. “Thank you, again.”

“My pleasure, my guy. Oh, hit me up when you’re off of your grounding so I can figure out a lesson plan.”

“You got it.” He climbed out of the window. “See you then, Y/N.”

“Kick their asses.” You wave as he disappears into the night.

Your smile slowly slides off your face as you close the window. You pick your phone up to check the time.

You toss it onto the bed. ‘I’m making cupcakes.’ You have not eaten in what feels like a while. You are already out of bed. Might as well.

“She called me honey.”

Raphael rolls his eyes. “I’m telling you, there’s no way that a girl like her is going to be into you. You’re delusional.”

“Honey is a pet name!” Donatello’s voice rises slightly. “And—and she invited me to her place after we aren’t grounded!”

“Let him believe.” Leonardo pipes up from in front of the television. “I think it’s nice that he and she are as close of friends as they are so quick.”

“For the record, I’m rooting for ya, bro.” Mikey takes another bite out of his pizza. “Sure, you’re a little creepy, but so is she, so it works out.”

He scoffs. “Aren’t you three forgetting something? Like, I don’t know, that we’re turtles? Is the fact that she’s an entirely different species not a factor?”

“Part turtle.” He speaks incredibly fast. “Our DNA is mutated with—”

“Oh, I’m sure you’re holding onto that technicality real tight, aren’t you?” He stabs the dummy in the gut. “A technicality that I’m sure she cares about.”

“I did the research.” He gets to his feet, running over and grabbing a diagram from his lab. “We’re physically compatible.”

“Donnie. Brother. No.” He stops. “Please tell me you didn’t seriously look into whether or not you could fuck her. I know you like this girl, but come on.”

“I didn’t go out of my way to research how our reproductive system works for this.” He tosses it back into his lab, sliding the door closed. “I did that research a while back. I just had to investigate reproduction on the female end to make sure everything worked.” He stands up straight. “Theoretically, we are fully capable of reproducing with humans.”

“Theoretically?” Leo looks back at him.

He feels his face go red. “Well, there isn’t any clinical research done on the subject. We’re the only ones of our kind, after all, and I don’t have any female samples to use.”

“For fuck’s sake, Donnie, do not ask her for ‘samples’.” He gags. “That’s just fucking gross.”

“I wasn’t going to!”

“You were. I’d bet money on it.”

“Ten bucks says he still will.” Mikey drops the rest of it down his throat.

“Hey!”

“Dude, you’re freakier than I am. I love you but come on.” He lays back on the couch.

“Y’all are just gross.” He stabbed the dummy in the neck, sand pouring out of the hole. “We need a more durable dummy.”

“You could just not break the ones I make.” He sits down on the couch. “That’s an option.”

“It’s a literal punching bag. It’s a show of love.”

The episode ends. Leo walked over to the two on the couch, sitting on the other side of his lanky brother as Michelangelo scrounges for crumbs. “Look, it might be jumping the gun a bit to start researching if you guys can have kids. You guys aren’t even in a relationship.”

“I know.” He rubs his face with his hands. “I dunno, man. What am I doing?”

“Exactly.” He pats him on the back. “I’m not saying it could never happen, but this is a little much.”

He sighs. “Yeah, that’s true.”

“We wouldn’t lie to you.” He gets to his feet. “I’m gonna go meditate for a while. You wanna join me?”

“I’m good.” Donnie hopped over the back of the couch. “I’m gonna go work on this thing I’ve been working on.”

“Alright, man.” He walks off to the dojo.

He steps into his lab, sliding the door closed behind him. He sits at his workstation, a half-finished robot sat on the table. He slides his tongue in the space between his teeth absentmindedly as he goes back to connecting wires.

‘She used the past tense. Had, she said.’ He bounces his knee absentmindedly, reaching for the soldering iron. ‘But she called me honey. She called me hot stuff. Is that an insult?” He tests the joints. ‘I don’t remember.’

He sets his project down for a second. He opens his laptop, smiling gently at his screen saver. It is a photo you had emailed him of the two of you to show you how it worked.

‘I should make a camera. Or find one. A digital one.’ He sighs, closing it. ‘She is absolutely gorgeous.’

He goes back to work, still feeling your fingers around his.

Table Of Contents

Chapter 3

Chapter 5

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kittypancake · 4 years

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About Rise of the TMNT - Long Post (sorry, but I need to geek out)

I always kinda liked the tmnt series, though I was always teased and bullied about it. So I never really...watch a lot of it, unless I could find a way to do it secretly. Now that I’m older, I realized something. I can watch whatever I want, whenever I want! I have a lot to catch up on, but my internalized fear from all the bullying has kinda been hard to get passed. I haven’t watched the shows I wanted to, holding it off for “tomorrow”, yet never following through.

Then a couple months ago I saw some fan art for a series called Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

I had no clue about the show! I didn’t know they made another Tmnt after the 2012 version! I was shocked, but also hopeful. Maybe I could watch it, start off fresh with a series that isn’t full of hurtful memories.

Let me tell you, it was not easy. I didn’t know where to watch it! I don’t have cable, nor do I know anyone who has cable. So no Nickelodeon or NickToons. I heard it was in Netflix, so I asked my sister if I could use her account to check. Not there. I was feeling really frustrated at that point. I wanted to watch this show so badly, and the more fan art I saw (because let’s be real, I didn’t see any sort of advertising for this), the more excited I was.

I loved the designs! They all looked different, more than ever! Each being a different kind of turtle, and Raphael was the leader? How would that change the dynamic? I wanted to know!

After searching for so long, I finally found Philo. It’s...not that good honestly. It’s like $20! But I was desperate and willing to pay to watch just this one show.

And I’m glad I did! It’s amazing! I fell in love. Usually, I only really liked Leonardo. To me, he always seemed awesome. Raphael...he always scared me. I have a deep seated fear for anyone who is aggressive, yells, and shows anger. And Raphael was ANGER. He terrified me. Donatello was alright, I liked how smart he is but he felt...one note and super creepy to me in the 2012 version. Michelangelo was pretty neat, he was the goofball. But he was always played off as the dumb one, the one who accidentally succeeded and couldn’t be serious. That’s not bad, he and Donnie were alright to me.

In Rise, though, it was so much more. Leo is a teen! He’s snarky, punny, smart, and just loves his brothers so much. They are his strength, and it shows. He’s insecure, he’s more than “fearless leader, splinter jr”. He’s neon Leon! You can tell he loves his brothers, more than any other interation before this. Leonardo of the before times has always been a bit too detached, cold in a way. He was isolated, but now he can just be more relaxed. Spend more time with his bros, find things he loves to do. And he’s still a nerd! I love that. Plus he’s not oldest!!! He’s like...maybe second youngest, and I just aaaaaaaaaaaa.

Raph? He’s a sweetheart!~ A gentle giant who could and will hug all his brothers at once. He tries his best as leader, but still has the “I will punch first” mentality, but he doesn’t scare me. He’s there for his brothers, maybe too much so he tries to step back a bit to help them be more independent. He’s literally their mother hen now, and he’s good at it. For once, I can honestly say I love Raphael.

Donnie is a riot, I love what they did with him. He’s the funny one! He’s smart, yes, but he’s confident (in his knowledge) now. He’s fun, he’s adorable (do I need to remind everyone of the basketball flashback of him? That’s cute and relatable), and he loves to dance! You can tell, not even by his bootyyyshaker9000 name, but by how he moves throughout the series. He builds so much for his family as well, giving them gifts that he thinks would be helpful, but they also blow up in his face too and that’s kinda humbling to know he’s not a perfect genius all the time. He tries to hold in emotions, but we see them come out and it’s just nice to see. He’s a sassy guy, and I love him.

Mikey, oh my gosh, he’s perfect. He’s still a ray of sunshine, but he’s more! He has more to him now, he has sides to him to help him be helpful both emotionally and with strength. Dr Feelings is there to be the shoulder everyone could go to, Dr Delicate Touch will crush you and not even blink while doing so. He can still be a prankster, but now it feels like he’s more. And I love his interactions with his brothers. I feel like him and Leo get in a bunch of shenanigans, him and Donnie go on a lot of adventures, and Raph and him can bond though he wants to not be treated like a baby. Did I mention he’s awesome? He’s awesome, throwing around trucks and stuff like nothing!

Don’t even get me started on the rest of the characters or I will ramble on for an eternity because of how much I love them. Even the bad guys! I’ve never liked the bad guys before but Draxum? Warren Stone? The SHREDDER? I love them so much, for character design and story. For how it’s not always as it seems, for the redemptions. Splinters development was fun to experience too. Having a positive message where a parent can do wrong and actually apologize to their kids for it? We need more of that! I’m slipping into a rant. Short of it, April, Sunita, Foot Recruit, Casey, Foot clan, Big Mama, I love them all.

I’m very upset that we didn’t get to see the story as the Rottmnt crew wanted, missing what was it? 13 episodes? And one of them was a turtle tots! Another with Draxum and Raph bonding!! More time with Karai! That’s messed up.

I want to experience more. I want to get lost in their world more, l want to be happy.

Because that’s what this show is for me. It makes me happy, in a time where my depression just keeps attacking me constantly. Where there’s fear outside, where I’m not motivated to do anything, even drawing which is something I love. I got lost in the mystic world of Rise. In the characters, the awesome animation, the wonderfully beautiful scenery and story. The silliness actually made me laugh out loud multiple times, and it felt amazing. Still feels amazing every time I can rewatch. It helped me cry, and not feel alone. Because sometimes you really need to get those tears out.

I want so badly for this show to continue. To rewind and give us those missing episodes, to continue afterwards.

This isn’t even all I want to say, but it’s hard to put into words how I feel for this show. And I shouldn’t make this any longer. Thank you to the people in this fandom, for the Rottmnt crew, and for anyone else listening. I strongly recommend you give this show a watch and support it in anyway you can.

@nickelodeon @tmnt

#saverottmnt #support rottmnt #rottmnt on netflix #rottmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rise of the tmnt #long post #me kinda ranting #sorry #thank you for letting me talk #for being free to like what i like #tmnt #hopefully i can watch the older series someday

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verobatto · 4 years

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Saileen: the new toy for Chuck

And about how TFW are winning some powerful allies...

Saileen meta. Castiel meta. TFW meta. Chuck meta. 15x08 meta. Our Father Who aren't in Heaven.

Hi my friends! This is my second meta from this epic episode. If you want to read my first meta, the Destiel one, is right here.

Okay, let's start this...

Cas...? Better out!

Okay, did you noticed at the beginning of the episode? We know now Chuck is afraid to something, and that's "his crack", this mention of a crack just recalled me that Cas has a crack in his chasis, si we just need to make the connections to who Chuck fears of...

Okay... This was very visual...

Thanks @agusvedder for all this gifs!! You're amazing!

Okay... Watch this... Whatch how Chuck threw that blue little umbrella that was on top of his drink away from him, with disgust. Like. This no. He doesn't want that blue umbrella there, bothering him while he wants drinking his YELLOW AND RED drink.

You know me... Blue/Cas... Yellow/Sam and Red/toxic Dean.

So evidently, Chuck doesn't want Castiel to be around his plans, because as I said in this meta, he changes the script.

See what Cas had just did... He recruited Michael against him!

And Chuck is out of control, he killing everyone, he's mad and bored.

Then there was that moment when he literally heard the whole intent to read the demon tablet to defeat him.

So, Donnatello is a kind of... Connection between the Divine, the dimensions, and humanity. So, why don't to use him as if he were a hidden mic or something? Then why not to talk through that mic? You know how Donnie is an entire celestial communication technology, right? @emblue-sparks marked this too.

And so clever and thanks Metatron, the one who knew how God worked, he knew God's weakness, and God's madness maybe too... He wrote a few editor's notes, just in case God will go to the bad side...

And the good news are... @weirddorkylittlediana you were right. My friend said to me that episode 14x15 Peace of mind, could be a forshadow of how they could defeat Chuck, by lock-in him out in his own mind.

And now we had the premise from Donatello reading the demon tablet and Michael, God can be locked.

Son.. I think we have the spell... The archangel... We just need a god as powerful as God to do this... Oh! Hello Amara!

I'm just seeing Chuck will be defeated soon I'm next half and then we will have the whole Empty plot in which I expect Dean will rescue Cas. I hope so.

I'm just so curious about God's fears... Is it Cas? Is it Free Will? Is it Amara? Or being locked down for eternity?

If they locked God in his own mind, in his own fake happiness, like Peace of Mind showed us, then..m we could call that an Emotional Prison. Right? I love how every Meta I wrote is confluencing now in this season... *Cries in enochian*.

Your Father, not mine

And this is why I say, Chuck is afraid of Cas.

When Castiel decided to pray to Michael. By the way, it could be taken as a foreshadow for Dean's prayers too, the scene was careful shot so we can see Cas through a circle, as if we were spying him...

Is not us, but Chuck, who's spying what Cas is saying. And also... It was a lot of this kind of shot made by the camera in season 12, 13 and 14. But if you recall in season 12, we had this scene...

So I truly believe Chuck was spotted here too... Spying at these two.

But let's come back to Cas and his prayers...

(thank you Agus for all these gifs!)

Castiel is repeating TWICE: YOUR FATHER, YOUR FATHER. This was very huge, because... Castiel is not recognizing Chuck as his father anymore. He's not. Because he's evil. And he lied. And he's a monster.

But Michael, he knows Michael doesn't know all of this, and because Michael was always the Righteous Son, the favorite, he know he won't do nothing against his father. Because he's the obedient one. So Cas knows he has to dig slowly to get Michael as an ally.

Castiel tries to connect with h, to empathize, talking about Michael's being locked on that cage, talking about heaven, saying he's not his enemy, but Chuck.

Finally, Michael goes to him, and it was very interesting to watch Adam and Michael dynamic. They were friends, partners. Even Adam sounded like Michael's conscience. Trying to make him see the Winchesters's intentions. This reminded me to 12x19: when Castiel talked about Benjamin and his vessel, and how bonded they were, they were more than friends. So, this look similar, is like two persons living in harmony inside of one vessel.

So Adam, acting like Michael's conscience, is trying to show him fathers can make mistakes...

Castiel, the rebellious son, will try to convince him, but now, Adam, is trying to show him he can be a rebellious son too. Just like Dean did with CAS in 4x22.

How the thing ends, and I don't think Chuck likes this or wrote this or expected this... But Castiel prayed to Michael, he brought him to the Winchesters. He talked with him and he showed him the truth. So... Is Chuck afraid of Cas? I truly believe he is more afraid of FREE WILL. And the Winchesters have now this powerful ally from Heaven

Michael, who said that FREE WILL IS AN ILLUSION, is trying to use some now.

Saileen is the new interest of Chuck

I really love seeing Sam worried about Eileen, running after her to help her, and Saileen saying he is overprotective. Gah!!! Amazing! Really...

They are a power couple of strong hunter's, and watching them going that path it makes me happy. Settled down with a hunter. This is how it should be.

I really screamed when I saw Rowena like the Queen of Hell. He wanted the throne and she took it. Because like we were talking with @legendary-destiel , if you want something, you take it, right? Cut frame to CAS. 🤣🤣

But well. The Winchesters had an ally in Hell, a very powerful and Beautiful ally. So, everytime they were asking for something or explaining something bro her, Rowena looked immediately at Sam. She needed his confirmation, because she trusts him, blindly.

And it was hilarious how she asked Sam to fill her glass with whiskey, and they caressed their hands... Okay this one , the healing hand, and the hand by hand side during the spell... Is talking about foreshadow too for our Destiel holding hands... Oh... Where was I? Oh! Right!

So, Chuck named Jody, Donna, and Eileen when he was asking them to drop it, threatening TFW, and then he focused on Eileen. Because they didn't drop it.

He dragged Eileen and consequently, as he knew, Sam with her to his hands. He needs them. He needs them to his purpose, he knows now Eileen is Sam new weakness.

And we are seeing how the toxic codependency between the brothers is dying slowly, just like @espejonight28738 said in her meta. Go to read it here.

To Conclude

This episode showed us how TFW is winning allies in Hell and Heaven to defeat God, they tried the same in season 11 finale episode, using angels, demons and witches.

Castiel is the one who track Michael down and convince him to fight by their side showing him the truth.

Michael, who had said Free Will is an illusion, is experiencing now what free will means.

The dynamic between Adam (vessel) and Michael (Archangel) was very enlightening to understand how two friends can share a vessel. (Calling here @emblue-sparks who wrote a series of metas about this spec).

Saileen is the example of what settled down with a hunter means, is a reflection of what Destiel should ended.

Chuck has a crack in his chasis and is fear, maybe, I suspect, to free will, things that he can't write. Example: Castiel.

I hope you like this meta! See you in my Narrative Meta!

Tagging @metafest @gneisscastiel @emblue-sparks @magnificent-winged-beast @agusvedder @weirddorkylittlediana @michyribeiro @whyjm @legendary-destiel @a-bit-of-influence @thatwitchydestielfan @misha-moose-dean-burger-lover @lykanyouko @evvvissticante @savannadarkbaby @trickster-archangel @dea-stiel @mybonsai1976 @anarchiana @angelwithashotgunandtrenchcoat @trashblackrainbow @destielshipper221b @mishtho @dancingtuesdaymorning @feathered-castiel @bre95611 @zoerayne2426 @justmeand-myinsight @that-one-fandom-chick @proccastinate @studio-hatter @pepevons @liwopanyaasss @poorreputation @mrsaquaman187 @staycejo1

Buenos Aires December 13rd 2019 1:49 AM

#supernatural meta #15x08 meta #15x08 spoiler #our father who aren't in heaven #tfw meta #castiel meta #chuck meta #saileen meta #destiel #destiel meta

127 notes · View notes

kathrynethegreat · 5 years

Photo

@random-emerald-thoughts as promised, here are the details on season 3 of The Rape of Europa Hannibal AU television series.

If anyone is seeing this for the first time and needs to know what the heck this is, links are here:

OVERVIEW

SEASON 1 SUMMARY | SEASON 1 DETAILS

SEASON 2 SUMMARY | SEASON 2 DETAILS

SEASON 3 SUMMARY | SEASON 3 DETAILS

SEASON 4 SUMMARY | SEASON 4 DETAILS

Below the cut is the following information:

Additional Information about each episode and the real crimes that inspired some of the stories

Artwork featured in each episode

A couple pieces of Fan Art that didn’t make the cut for the Season Summaries.

Flashbacks featured in each episode

General Season Arcs / Information / Themes

General Clannibal info (Will they, won’t they? Spoilers - they totally do.)

Season 3 General Notes / Arcs / Themes:

The third season follows the first half of the novel Hannibal fairly closely as far as Dr.Fell and Rinaldo Pazzi are concerned.

Clarice’s Art Team and Jack Crawford’s team with Behavioral Science team up to work together. Jack Crawford, who occasionally showed up in episodes here and there in the first couple of seasons takes on a more prominent role in this season.

While we’ve seen a few flashbacks to the events of The Silence of the Lambs, the first two season’s flashbacks were much more heavily based on Hannibal Rising, so we will start to see a lot more SOTL this season.

The season draws heavy influence from the murders of Il Monstro. The viewer, for many episodes, will not quite be sure if Hannibal Lecter is Il Monstro or not. He will claim not to be, but scenes are set up to show that he could possibly be the killer.

The season also takes much from the Pazzi Conspiracy of 1478, just as the novel does.

After Johnny and Clarice hooked up in the second season episode Whoso List to Hunt, they are tentatively seeing one another. Clarice is uncomfortable with this, and Johnny likely feels they are on stronger footing than Clarice does. She does not put a label on it but has accepted that he is in love with her. They do not talk about it in front of other people, but everyone sort of ‘knows.’

SEASON 3, EPISODE 1: Tableaux de la Mort

DATE: August 1992 FLASHBACKS:

Jack Crawford - A man shouts at Phyllis and calls her "Bella." while they are in Florence

Clarice - Clarice remembers her first meeting with Jack Crawford, who tells her about Buffalo Bill

Jack Crawford - Jack goes home to his dying wife

Pazzi - Pazzi works on the Il Monstro case. He holds a photo of a victim in hand.

Pazzi - Pazzi walks home, sees a poster of Primavera outside the Uffizi. He goes inside and stands in front of it and makes a connection about Il Monstro.

ARTWORK FEATURED:

The Last Supper by Leonardo Da Vinci, done as the last Tableaux Vivant at Pageant of the Masters in Laguna Beach, California.

Primavera by Sandro Botticelli - Uffizi Gallery

NOTES:

This episode - and really the entire season is heavily inspired by the real Il Monstro case in Florence.

The season opens with Clarice Starling attending the Pageant of the Masters in Laguna Beach, California. She has begun to seek out art and culture on her own outside of work.

The Pageant of the Masters is a yearly Tableaux Vivant Festival, and it is an absolutely magical evening, and if anyone reading this has not attended, I HIGHLY recommend. It does not disappoint.

The Title Tableaux de la Mort is a play on the Tableaux vivant. The word “Tableau Vivant” literally means “Living Picture” while Il Monstro’s tableaux depict a picture - but using dead bodies.

We witness the staging of the traditional last painting performed as a Tableau - Da Vinci’s Last Supper. We hear the voiceover telling us about the painting - this year the narrator (for the festival) gives a beautiful discussion on transubstantiation, about the drinking of blood and eating of the flesh.

It should be noted that after catching (who he believed was) Il Monstro the first time, Pazzi went on to train at Quantico, just like in the novel. He began his training just as Clarice had caught Buffalo Bill and graduated. He had looked over the case file and remembers admiring her work. For this reason, he “Knows of” Clarice Starling.

Pazzi knows Crawford and Johnny personally from his time training at Quantico. Having caught Il Monstro, he spent much time with Crawford at Behavioral Science discussing the case. Johnny and Pazzi also got along well.

The Italian Police are understaffed and overworked. In 1992 and 1993, they were extremely busy dealing with the Corleonesi Mafia Clan. Pazzi has recently been disgraced when Il Monstro began killing again, signifying that he got the wrong man. His failure weighs heavily on him, and he knows he’s basically being put out to pasture. He is still employed, but not considered for any large cases. Because of all of this, the Italians reach out the Americans - specifically to Jack Crawford at Behavioral Science and ask if they can borrow a small team.

Jack Crawford agrees to give a few people from his team, but also suggest Clarice and her team for the case as well. Since the case is art-related, he feels that Clarice may lend a different view to things than a normal agent hunting a serial killer. Secondarily, Jack Crawford feels that the killer may actually be Hannibal Lecter. Lecter is known for his whimsy. Because Clarice is familiar with the Lecter case, he feels this is another excellent reason to bring her team in to work along Behavioral Science and the Italian Police.

Clarice is excited to be working with Behavioral Science, even if it is overseas and not officially as a member of Behavioral Science. She hopes that if she proves herself on this case that she will be able to get the promotion that she craves.

Lecter is spoken of in this episode but is not seen. Last we left him he had escaped in Sardinia after making sure Clarice and Margot were safe.

SEASON 3, EPISODE 2: La Vita Nuova

DATE: September 1992 FLASHBACKS:

Pazzi - Pazzi trains at Quantico.

Pazzi - Pazzi meets Crawford and Johnny.

Pazzi - Pazzi attends a party on the Chesapeake with his wife

Clarice - Clarice remembers her first meeting with Lecter. When she leaves, Miggs throws semen in her face, which upsets Lecter.

Clarice - Hannibal tells Clarice to look in the car of Benjamin Raspail for a Valentine

Clarice - Clarice finds Klaus's head

ARTWORK FEATURED:

Palazzo Vecchio - Salon of Lilies, Florence

Bronze Statue of Judith and Holofernes by Donatello, Salon of Lillies

Dante’s first sonnet from La Vita Nuova by Dante Alighieri

NOTES:

The title is the name of a piece of work by Dante about courtly love. It is believed to have been about Beatrice Portinari, Dante’s lifetime love.

The Curator of the Capponi Library is missing, and Rinaldo Pazzi has been placed onto the case. It is not terribly important, and no one is particularly worked up over the curator’s disappearance. He goes to the Salon of Lilies where he speaks to the Directors of the Uffizi and the Belle-Arti Commission. Both boards are busy speaking to Dr.Fell and do not have much time to speak to Pazzi.

Pazzi, having gone over Lecter’s forms before meeting (we are shown Pazzi looking over Dr.Fell’s paperwork) doesn’t immediately see Dr.Fell. Suddenly his voice appears - he is faced away from the viewer. He stands next to a bronze of Judith and Holofernes, and for a moment it seems as if the statue is speaking.

Dr.Fell gives a lovely debate as to why he feels he should be allowed to keep the position of Curator of the Capponi Library. He reads from Dante’s La Vita Nuova, and everyone is impressed. They agree that he should lecture to the Studiolo in several months' time, at which point they will determine if he gets the keep the position permanently.

Dr.Fell reads the following Sonnet, which will (hopefully) properly foreshadow what will happen with our two lovers throughout the season.

To every loving, gentle-hearted friend,

to whom the present rhyme is soon to go

so that I may their written answer know,

greetings in Love’s own name, their lord, I send.

The third hour of the time was near at end

when every star in heaven is aglow

‘twas then Love came before me, dreadful so

that my remembrance is with horror rent.

Joyous appeared he in his hand to keep

my very heart, and, lying on his breast,

my lady, veil-enwrapped and full asleep.

But he awakened her, and of my heart

aflame, he humbly made her, fearful, taste:

I saw him, finally, in tears depart.

After the debate, Pazzi speaks privately with Dr.Fell. He asks about a scar on his hand. He then begins to speak about the previous Curator. “You know, I am sure, that the previous Curator has mysteriously disappeared.” “I am aware.” Hannibal Lecter says, and we flash to a quick shot of Lecter slitting the old Curator’s throat. “And the man has left no notes that you have found?” Another flash quickly shows us the Curator’s body dropped to the bottom of the Arno river, his feet in a block of cement. “No, I’m afraid he left no note that anyone has been able to find,” Lecter says. Pazzi asks if he can come by to the curator’s belongings and Dr.Fell agrees. Then he asks Pazzi if he is a Pazzi of the infamous Pazzi’s as his visage looks like a painting at the Pazzi family chapel. Pazzi asks if he may come by to pick up the Curator’s belongings, and also says that several other team members from America might also have to ask him a few questions - he apologizes for any duplication of effort. Dr.Fell says he understands and questions why the American police would be in Florence. Pazzi admits it is actually the F.B.I. - Behavioral Science and a couple of other people from another division of the F.B.I. - Clarice Starling, an agent who caught the serial killer Buffalo Bill is in Florence helping the Italian Police.

We are shown many flashbacks of Pazzi’s time in America at Quantico throughout this episode.

Clarice also remembers her first meeting with Hannibal Lecter and the beginnings of the Buffalo Bill Case. She thinks about the Buffalo Bill case in conjunction with the Il Monstro case, as well as her information on the Lecter case.

At home, Dr.Lecter finds a photo of Clarice Starling in the paper. The article discusses the Getty kidnapping.

Il Monstro strikes again - this time killing two people, and placing them in a tableau representing Judith and Holofernes. The last time we’ve seen Judith and Holofernes was in the Salon of Lillies where we were unsure if it was the Statue or Dr.Fell speaking...this will link Lecter and Il Monstro in our minds. Is Jack Crawford right? Is Hannibal Lecter Il Monstro?

SEASON 3, EPISODE 3: The Monuments Men

DATE: October 1992 FLASHBACKS:

Clarice - Clarice performs an autopsy on Kimberly Egan

Clarice - Clarice visits the Smithsonian about a moth

Hannibal - Hannibal tells Clarice about the significance of the moth in exchange for personal information. They talk about transformation. She says the worst memory of childhood was the death of her father.

Hannibal - Hannibal agrees to help Clarice Starling Catch Buffalo Bill in exchange for privileges

ARTWORK FEATURED:

The Ecstacy of St.Theresa by Bernini

Bramante Staircase by Giuseppe Momo

Portrait of a Young Man by Raphael

The Leaning Tower of Pisa by unknown, likely Diotisalvi)

Excerpts from Dante’s La Vita Nuova and The Divine Comedy by Dante

NOTES:

One of the inspirations for this episode is the 2009 story of a woman who found an original Jasper Johns painting in Portabello road. In our case, however, the painting found is Raphael’s Portrait of the Young Man, which has been missing since WWII and is still widely believed to exist.

Another big influence for this episode is honestly the novel Angels and Demons, which I read long before the novel Da Vinci’s code came out. I was in art an art history class at the time, and so my friend and I read the novel together, solving each art history crime along with the character and it was a really great time. I figured one episode with puzzles about artwork and a sort of “race” to find something might be fun.

As Ardelia is dealing with the painting and its three claimants, the various clues Clarice is following around Italy sort of tell her more and more about the war. We learn about the Monuments Men and their quest to protect artwork from being destroyed.

Hannibal Lecter - who Clarice has not yet seen and does not yet know is residing in Florence - sends Clarice on a hunt around Italy with various poems and clues keyed to pieces of art. Often his poetry is keyed to Dante.

You must depart from Florence This is willed already, sought for, soon to be accomplished by the one who plans and plots where - every day - Christ is sold and bought You shall leave everything you love most dearly this is the arrow that the bow of exile shoots first. You are to know the bitter taste of others bread, how salt it is, and know how hard a path it is for one who goes descending and ascending others staircase - Paradiso, Dante

There is a clue about a double helix, which winds up being the Bernini staircase. There is another clue about somewhere she can walk down but go up, which of course means the leaning tower of Pisa. The tower would have been closed to the public at this time (it was re-opened in 2001), but as an Agent would have been able to go up.

Many of the clues have to do with Dante and Paradise, as well as about transformation.

As Clarice journeys around Florence, she remembers her first time meeting Hannibal Lecter and starting to work on the Buffalo Bill Case. She remembers him agreeing to help her.

Finally, she meets Lecter at Santa Maria della Vittoria, where they stand before Bernini’s sculpture The Ecstacy of St.Theresa. He tells her he knows why she is here, and that he knows Jack believes he is the one who is guilty of the crimes. He promises to help her catch Il Monstro in order to prove his own innocence and stay away from the police. She asks him why she should agree to anything - the last agreement they made - that he would not kill Pierre Trebelaux, ended in him breaking that agreement. He asks her about Johnny. The theme of the statue before them is not lost on either of them, and Clarice is uneasy. Finally, he tells her she doesn’t have much of a choice - he gave her information to find a killer once before, and he can do so again. She finally agrees.

Eventually, Ardelia negotiates a truce and all three claimants are allowed joint ownership on the condition that they allow the painting to reside in a museum. The last shot of the episode shows it hanging in the Uffizi.

October 31 – Pope John Paul II issues an apology and lifts the edict of the Inquisition against Galileo Galilei. Hannibal Lecter would likely mention this in one of his clues.

SEASON 3, EPISODE 4: The Lost Wax Process

DATE: October 1992

ARTWORK FEATURED:

The Card Players by Paul Cezanne

Juggling Man, by Adriaen de Vries

NOTES:

This episode is heavily influenced by several cases in which people have faked thefts, or intentionally destroyed their art in order to collect insurance payments.

A wealthy businessman who everyone believes is successful is secretly going bankrupt. He has a wonderful private art collection, and he hires someone to steal it from him. When investigating the claims, the insurance company becomes suspicious and turns the case over to the F.B.I. Ardelia, with her legal background, is sent in to pose undercover as an insurance claims adjuster to uncover the truth.

Il Monstro kills again, but this time he doesn’t kill in Florence, but instead in Rome.

The title references the method of metal casting in which molten metal is poured into a mold that has been created with a wax model and the wax model is melted and drained away.

The victim of Il Monstro makes a mold of the victim and made duplicates – the body is never found.

This episode features Ardelia almost exclusively. While Clarice appears at the end when the victim of Il Monstro is discovered, Ardelia carries this episode.

SEASON 3, EPISODE 5: The Pazzi Conspiracy

DATE: November 1992 FLASHBACKS:

Clarice - Hannibal tells Clarice the Hospitals to research and what to look for - what Billy's trees will look like, what the profile she is looking for is.

Pazzi - Pazzi remembers his time at Quantico and looks over the photos of Hannibal Lecter’s cell. He remembers seeing Lecter’s sketch of the Duomo from the Belvedere.

ARTWORK FEATURED:

Clarice Orsini - Domenico Ghirlandaio

Francesco de’ Pazzi as St.John the Baptist, Basilica di Santa Croce by Luca della Robbia

Hanged Pazzi Sketch - Leonardo Da Vinci

NOTES:

This episode is heavily influenced by the Pazzi Conspiracy of 1475, which took place on Easter Sunday.

After a meeting with Dr.Fell, Pazzi walks up to the battlements of the Belvedere and looks out at the view. He watches Dr.Fell walk away down on the street. He looks at the view again and realizes he’s seen a sketch of this very view. He flashes back to his time at Quantico when he was allowed to look over the Lecter files. He remembers seeing this sketch in Hannibal Lecter’s cell. He realizes Dr.Fell is Hannibal Lecter. What’s more - he believes Dr.Lecter is Il Monstro.

Pazzi notices the reward poster for Hannibal Lecter and calls the phone number. The poster does not specify who is offering the reward, but it is clear that is not the F.B.I. If Pazzi chooses to take down Lecter, he will be doing so as a bounty hunter, not as a police officer.

Pazzi is told that in order to get the money he must prove that Lecter is indeed where he is stated to be. The evidence must be in the form of a fingerprint. Pazzi realizes he must somehow figure out how to get Dr.Fell’s fingerprints in order to get the money.

Clarice speaks to Pazzi about the Il Monstro case, but Pazzi has become difficult. Since Pazzi believes that Hannibal Lecter is also Il Monstro, he no longer wants Clarice to catch Il Monstro. If he, Pazzi, can catch Il Monstro, he would have not truly failed. He becomes disinterested and uncooperative with Clarice and her questions.

Clarice and Hannibal talk about Pazzi and Lecter realizes (but does not say anything) that perhaps Pazzi is on to him. He wonders if Pazzi will rat him out. Lecter then tells Clarice a bit more of Florentine history. They talk about the Duomo, and Clarice says it’s her first memory of him - telling her about it. He tells her more - about the building of the dome in a time before they understood how to complete it. As they walk inside he tells her about the Pazzi conspiracy that took place in 1478 on Easter Sunday. She asks if Pazzi is any relation, and he says that yes, he is. There is a likeness of him in his family’s chapel - he will show her some time. He goes on about the conspiracy, about how at the elevation of the host on Easter Sunday that Francesco de’ Pazzi tried to kill Lorenzo de Medici. Instead, Pazzi wound up stabbing himself in the leg and was ultimately hanged for his crimes. He shows her a painting of Lorenzo and she asks who the woman beside him is - he tells her it is Lorenzo’s wife, Clarice. (True, look it up)

Clarice and Lecter talk about art and Il Monstro. He notes he is clearly an artist with some skill. Clarice decides to ask art schools in Italy for lists of problem students or students who had been expelled. It’s a big list, and the Art Crime Team and Behavioral Science team members will each be given a handful of people to investigate over the next few episodes, keeping them busy.

SEASON 3, EPISODE 6: Effets de soir

DATE: December 1992 FLASHBACKS:

Clarice - Lecter sketches Clarice's face on a clock and asks him about a transfer. She tells him about going to Montana. Chilton listens in.

Hannibal - Hannibal and Senator Martin negotiate. Hannibal gives Senator Martin the name Billy Ruben to mislead her.

ARTWORK FEATURED:

L'honestà negli amori by Alessandro Scarlatti

NOTES:

Dr.Fell attends the symphony. As do Clarice and Johnny and Laura and Rinaldo Pazzi. They all chat together. Johnny still is not a fan of Dr.Fell and Pazzi is wary of having Dr.Fell in front of his wife. He is further concerned when Dr.Fell flirts shamelessly with Laura. What’s more, Laura flirts right back and is charmed. Pazzi watches on, horrified. Clarice, jealous, cannot say anything.

Dr.Fell gives Laura the Scarlatti libretto with his notes on the original. She is intrigued and delighted. Again, Clarice is miffed and sulks for the rest of the performance, which annoys Johnny.

Pazzi has hired a man by the name of Gnocco to get Dr.Fell’s fingerprints. He purchases a silver bracelet, highly polished. He tells Gnocco that he wants him to pick Dr.Fell’s pocket, but to botch the job in the hopes that Dr.Fell will get his fingerprints on the bracelet.

After several days of watching Dr.Fell, Gnocco finally goes in. Dr.Fell grabs him and stabs him. Pazzi, knowing he will be responsible for Gnocco’s death, pulls him into an alcove and lets him bleed out. He then leaves him there to be found by the police.

Pazzi looks over the bracelet, but it is covered in blood and he does not think that he can get any workable fingerprints off of it. He goes home angry and upset.

Laura tries her best to make her upset husband happy, but it is clear that she is unhappy in her marriage. She asks him if he will please return Dr.Fell’s libretto to him. Pazzi mumbles for her to put it on his desk and he will take it back in a few days. As he gets up to go to bed, he passes his desk and sees the libretto. He looks into his bedroom where his wife is asleep. At first he is jealous, thinking of Dr.Fell charming his wife...but then he realizes Dr.Fell’s fingerprints might be on the document.

Pazzi sends away the Libretto to be analyzed in the hope that the prints are a match.

Il Monstro strikes again - this time killing a current member of the Accademia Belle Arti, one of the boards that, as curator, Dr.Fellmust work alongside. Clarice wonders if Hannibal Lecter, in an attempt to better his chances of keeping his job as curator, may actually be Il Monstro. And if he is, is he misleading her with other information?

SEASON 3, EPISODE 7: First Principles

DATE: December 1992

FLASHBACKS:

Clarice – Clarice discussed first principles with Hannibal Lecter

ARTWORK FEATURED:

Venus of Urbino by Titian

The Sacrifice of Isaac by Caravaggio

Cache of Lesser works, numerous small sketches, and small bronzes

NOTES:

This episode is inspired by several instances in which museums tend to not report thefts of paintings because it will cause problems with insurance, as well as alert the media to various flaws in their security, which could cause further theft.

Clarice’s team receives a tip from an anonymous Museum worker about a cache of paintings in a warehouse. They obtain a warrant and uncover a small group of paintings that have been stolen from museums around Italy. But Strangely, none of the paintings have been reported missing.

Clarice’s first thought is that since none of the pieces have been reported missing, they may perhaps have been forged. She calls the museums and is told that each painting is still in the collection, but a few museums admit that their pieces are under restoration. Clarice is concerned perhaps the pieces were stolen during restoration, or perhaps that the pieces in the warehouse are forgeries.

They go to the warehouse together and it is confirmed that all of the paintings are authentic.

Clarice then begins the tasks of going to each museum again. Most of the curators are shocked to find their paintings missing from storage/conservation area, but one curator is a bit cagey. Clarice thinks perhaps he may hold a bit more information.

Eventually, it is uncovered that due to financial problems and looking at these expensive paintings day after day, the curator worked with docents in other museums to forge an agreement for people to look the other way, enabling the curator to amass a small collection of art that he could sell to the Mafia in order to pay his bills.

Clarice, still going through lists of problem students and expulsions from various schools, wonders if they may be holding back information, as they have led her nowhere.

SEASON 3, EPISODE 8: Finishing the Arch

DATE: January 1993

FLASHBACKS:

Clarice - Dr.Lecter tells Clarice to look for rejections from several hospitals for her candidates for Buffalo Bill.

ARTWORK FEATURED:

The Baldin Collection with works by Dürer, van Gogh, Manet, Rembrandt, Rubens, Titian

NOTES:

This episode is inspired by the real-life Baldin Collection, a collection of 364 masterpieces taken from Germany to the Soviet Union by Soviet Army officer Victor Baldin during the end of WWII. The paintings came from a cache of pieces stored in Brandeburg castle to protect them from air raids. The pieces Baldin took were hidden for a year, but in 1991 the collection was moved to the Hermitage and the existence of the collection was declassified and revealed to the world in 1992. It remains there to this day…but at the time, there was a great deal of discussion (there certainly still is a discussion) about what should be done. The works were stolen…but they were also saved from destruction. And, do Baldin’s credit, he did appeal to soviet leaders to return them to Germany, proving that he really did take them only for their protection. Boris Yeltsin agreed to return the works, but subsequent Russian governments overturned the confirmation.

Our story takes place in the midst of that Government discussion. Should paintings be returned to Germany or stay in Russia? If returned to Germany, should they be put into a museum, or should the individuals who owned the paintings get them? How should it be handled politically, monetarily, etc?

Clarice and Ardelia look over the collection and assess the situation – what pieces belong to people, and what pieces would be harder to find their owner (owners being dead). They go to the Russian Government, where there is much back and forth.

Eventually, Clarice and Ardelia go to speak with Victor Baldin and he tells them about taking the paintings and his motivations. They get to talking about paintings and the war and Hitler. Baldin remarks about Hitler loving art and wanting to be an artist. He wonders if perhaps Hitler had not been rejected from art school if instead of becoming Chancellor and bringing war, he might instead have been sitting in a field painting.

This gets Clarice thinking. She begins to think about her past cases, murderers and rejection from society, etc, She realizes suddenly that Il Monstro is clearly an artist…he has the skill, but no major issues have been noted with most students. No major behavioral issues she can link to all the murders. Clarice realizes suddenly he wasn’t a student – that he was rejected from an art school and that he is picking off, one by one those that rejected his application. She heads back to Europe before Il Monstro kills again.

January 15, 1993, Toto Riina, a fugitive of the Mafia is finally arrested after 23 years. Over the upcoming year, the Mafia will begin to retaliate with a series of terrorist attacks. This would be on the news as well as be something that the Italian police are busy with. It is also important to note in this episode, as it ties in with the Uffizi bombing later in the season.

SEASON 3, EPISODE 9: The Museum of Atrocities

DATE: February 1993 FLASHBACKS:

Crawford - Crawford is harassed by a doctor about him trying to get information on a patient

ARTWORK FEATURED:

Various Medieval torture instruments

NOTES:

Clarice heads back to Italy, aware that Il Monstro is killing people associated with his rejection from school. She needs a list of rejected students from various art schools, but that list will be even bigger than the current lists of problem students and expulsions. She looks again at the deaths. One person was on the Belle Arti Commission, but the others were not. She looks deeper into their profiles and finds that they WERE on the board at one point in their life.

Now Clarice knows that members of the Belle Arti Committee are targets. But not all of them. Just the ones on the board during the time of the rejection of the student in question. She needs to find the time period when all of Il Monstro’s victims served on the board together, and then get a list of students they rejected during that time.

The Belle Arti is hesitant to give Clarice such a list. They could cooperate with giving a list of problem students and expulsions because they had been students and had signed paperwork that allowed the school to give their information in the event of an emergency, legal case, etc. People who had never been students in the first place had not signed anything, and thus revealing their info was more problematic.

January 20 – Bill Clinton is sworn in as the 42nd President of the United States.

Hannibal Lecter sees Mason's miniature Guillotine on display and flashes back to Mason showing him is "toys” - specifically Mason’s portable guillotine. It is this memory that causes Hannibal Lecter to realize who has sold him out and who, aside from the F.B.I. is hunting him.

Hannibal Lecter is very aware of Pazzi following him around Florence. He sees him at the torture exhibit and is aware of him as he continues to do his shopping.

Once another member of the Belle Arti Committee becomes a victim of Il Monstro, the school begins to reconsider and gives Clarice the list she needs.

SEASON 3, EPISODE 10: Carnevale di Venezia

DATE: February 23, 1993 FLASHBACKS:

Clarice – Lecter saying that they are a week into Lent.

Hannibal - Hannibal makes his own handcuff key

Hannibal - Hannibal escapes custody wearing Pembry’s Face

ARTWORK FEATURED:

Al Thani Jewels – Jewel Covered Dagger

Al Thani Jewels – Gold Brooch

Al Thani Jewels – Pair of earrings

NOTES:

This episode is heavily inspired by the 2018 theft of Jewels from the Dodge’s Palace in Venice. The jewels were from the “Treasures of the Mughals and Maharajas” showcasing almost 300 gems and jewels from the private collection of Hamad bin Abdullah Al Thani of the royal family of Qatar.

The thieves nabbed several pieces of jewelry and then blended in with the rest of the crowd in St.Mark’s square.

This episode keeps the basic concept but places the event earlier in the month during Carnivale.

The theft is quickly discovered and Clarice and Johnny happen to be in the area and immediately try to find the culprit. Of course, the problem is nearly everyone is wearing a mask.

SEASON 3, EPISODE 11: The Second Moment of Creation

DATE: March 1993

FLASHBACKS:

Crawford – Crawford gives Clarice a fake offer to give to Lecter

Clarice – Lecter confronts Clarice on her fake offer

ARTWORK FEATURED:

The Birth of Venus by Botticelli

NOTES:

The title refers to the role that art plays in the world. That the world was created, but the second moment of creation is when made created art. It is a very human thing. We have art at our cores.

The episode is inspired by the fact that sometimes when a museum has to move a very important piece, they will use a decoy mover or multiple movers so that nobody knows which one is the real painting.

It is also inspired by a painting by Francisco de Goya from 1778 called Children with a Cart that was stolen while en route from Ohio to the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. Its value was $1.1 million.

A priceless painting is being moved from the Uffizi going to be displayed in America. But it’s front-page news,

Clarice goes to one of the forgers she has put into jail. Crawford has told her that she can offer him privileges if he works with them. This is a lie, but Clarice does not know it. She tells the forger that she will help him get out faster and he will have more access to phone calls, better food, etc if he will paint for her three duplicates of the painting being transferred. He agrees.

Three forgeries are created and the real piece, plus the forgery are crated and sent in different directions around Florence.

Johnny and Pazzi have drinks together and talk about their time at Quantico. Pazzi gets drunk enough that he lets slip some information about his plans to capture Dr.Fell who he believes to be Dr.Lecter. He does not remember telling Johnny this the next day. Johnny at first believes this to just be silly drunken ideas…but when he begins to think about it over the next few days he realizes that it is the truth. Once he understands this, he realizes that Clarice – who had interviewed Lecter – would know Lecter if she saw him, and thus must be fully aware of the fact that the man she has been in contact with on and off for the last few years is really Doctor Lecter. Worse still…Last season Johnny realized that Clarice was in love with Dr.Fell, and realizes that this means she is in love with Lecter. He suspects her love is what keeps her from turning him in. He thinks about turning Lecter in immediately, but he realizes since Clarice is aware of Lecter, that ultimately she would get in a lot of trouble as well if Lecter were caught. He ponders what to do, unsure just what to think.

Once the painting is safely in America, Crawford lets the forger know that he was duped by Clarice. Furious, he has his men on the outside plot revenge on her.

March 8 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. The Moon appears to be 14% bigger and 30% brighter than the year's other full moons. The next time these two events coincided will be 2008

March 16- British fashion designer Alexander McQueen shows his first collection, partly inspired by The Silence of the Lambs film. Obviously, the film does not exist in this universe - HOWEVER - Clarice is shown looking at a Vogue spread featuring a couple of the pieces from the collection.

SEASON 3, EPISODE 12: Art and Artifice

DATE: April 1993

ARTWORK FEATURED:

Light and Colour by J. M. W. Turner

Shade and Darkness by J. M. W. Turner

Nebelschwaden by Caspar David Friedrich

NOTES:

This episode is heavily influenced by the Frankfurt Art Theft of 1994, when three paintings were stolen from a German Gallery. 2 of the paintings were on loan from the Tate museum. The Tate museum devised a plan – Operation Cobalt – to buy back the paintings from the Mafia with the insurance money they had received from the theft. They would up actually making a profit!

Several pieces of art go missing from a gallery in Italy. It is believed to be at the hands of the Mafia. Clarice manages to find out who they think stole the paintings and poses as Elizabeth Chase in an effort to “buy” them for an interested client. She has the insurance money for the Mafia to see – so they know she is for real. It is, of course, a ruse and several members of the Mafia are taken to jail. They threaten revenge on Clarice.

Ardelia wonders if the FBI can use members of the Belle Arti to lure Il Monstro into attacking and essentially ambush him.

Jonny, having discovered that Dr.Fell is Hannibal Lecter wonders if he should confront Clarice about that fact, but he is not entirely sure how to do so.

April 19 – Waco siege: A 51-day standoff at the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas ends with a fire that kills 76 people, including David Koresh. This would be big news in the background of the episode, especially for the F.B.I teams. Several of Crawford’s men are required to head back home.

SEASON 3, EPISODE 13: Violent Delights

DATE: May 1993

ARTWORK FEATURED:

Adoration of the Shepherds by Gerard van Honthorst

Birth of Christ by Gherardo Delle Notti

Dispute with the Doctors by Manfredi

Death of Adonis by Sebastiano del Piombo

Piramo and Tisbe by Gregorio Pagani

Disbelief of St.Thomas, school of Caravaggio

NOTES:

27 May – Via dei Georgofili Massacre: A car bomb planted outside the Uffizi Gallery in Florence by the Mafia kills five people and irretrievably destroying several pieces of art and badly damaging many others. This episode is heavily influenced by this event.

While it first appears that the bombing is in retaliation for the passing of a new measure in prison that greatly limited freedoms of prisoners based on their crime. It applied heavily to imprisoned Mafia members and freed Mafia members retaliated.

This episode explores the fact that while the law is stated reason for the bombing, the choice of the Uffizi has to do with the police participating in the fake sale of art in order to lure in the Mafia and imprison some of its members.

Clarice has made her name in the city for being disruptive in the art world. The Mafia has noticed her and Il Monstro has noticed her as well. We see a scene of a Mafia boss and Il Monstro meeting. We do not see Il Monstro – just the back of his shoulder. The Mafia boss asks if he would be amenable to taking care of Clarice – for which he will be adequately compensated. Il Monstro agrees.

Dr.Fell lectures to the Studiolo on Dante’s Infero. He discusses Pazzi and Judas Iscariot, who both died by hanging. The Studiolo considers the lecture to be a resounding success,

Pazzi meets Dr.Fell as he leaves the lecture. Once only the two of them remain, Lecter shows Pazzi a slide he forgot – a slide of his ancestor hanging. He chloroforms Pazzi. Pazzi wakes, tied up, his mouth taped. Lecter asks him if it was Mason Verger he sold Lecter to and Pazzi confirms that it was. Pazzi tries to negotiate – he will have Laura bring money. Lecter says he doesn’t need the money and begins to make a hangman’s noose from an extension cord. He puts the noose around Pazzi’s neck, slits open Pazzi’s bowels and throws Pazzi off the balcony before quickly escaping.

SEASON 3, EPISODE 14: Accademia di Belle Arti

DATE: June 1993

ARTWORK FEATURED:

San Bernardino alle Ossa, Ossuary of Bones

Visconti Coat of Arms in Milan

NOTES:

A list with Il Monstro's victim's surfaces and it confirms to Clarice that indeed he is killing men from the board of the Art School that he was rejected from - the Belle Arti.

Clarice’s own name has been added to the list at the bottom, Il Monstro knowing that she is out and about looking for him. The FBI insists she keeps a low profile for a little while. She books a B&B in the country, but just before she leaves, a note from the Doctor arrives, and she chooses to go to that address instead. He has a villa outside of town he has rented for a little while and assures Clarice its owners met no foul end. For a week they talk, drink, eat, laugh, and mostly try to solve the Il Monstro Case, going over the evidence. The various board members have come and gone over the years, and so the board member kills look random - until the comparison of their years on the boards is compared. From there, they determine the years in which all of the dead board members were active. Once they narrow down the years, then they are able to look through a list of rejections given by that board. It’s not a small list, and they must cull through it as well. As Clarice works alongside Lecter on this, she is also calling her team back in town and “offering suggestions” in the hopes that they come to the same conclusions she is. Clarice and Lecter, as well as Clarice’s team ultimately come up with two names - but one of those people is dead - so it narrows it down to one. The problem now is finding where that person is...

Over the week with Lecter, there is a lot of discussion about Clarice’s father. When searching for the killer, Hannibal asks her "Isn't this what you wanted? To be back to the chase?” She says she is no longer sure. They talk more about her father and the lambs, and Hannibal Lecter shows her the Ossuary of Bones in San Bernardino alle Ossa. He tells her that her father is just like these bones - this is what time has reduced him to. Her father cannot judge her, that she doesn't have to fight crime because she thinks it will make him proud - he already is proud. She doesn't have to fight crime to bring him back - he will never come back. She must make peace with that. He tells her father is not a saint, to which she replies "Neither am I." which shocks Hannibal, as he has idealized her for quite some time.

She says he once accused her of forgetting who he is, what he is, what he is capable of. She looks at him and says she hasn't forgotten, she doesn't care. They kiss and are about to go to bed together when the phone rings, and it is The Art Crime Team and the Behavioral Science team saying they have a location on Il Monstro - they are going in. Clarice says she is on her way and leaves Hannibal Lecter to his thoughts.

SEASON 3, EPISODE 15: A Pound of Flesh

DATE: June 1993 FLASHBACKS:

Crawford - Crawford and his team surround the home of the suspected Buffalo Bill, breaking down the door.

Crawford - The home Crawford and his team enter winds up being incorrect, and Crawford realizes that Clarice may be in grave danger.

Clarice - Clarice investigates James Gumb, knocking on his door. She soon finds he is Buffalo Bill, and he escapes into his basement, where she quickly follows.

Clarice - Clarice and Jame Gumb stumble about his basement, and she ultimately shoots and kills him.

Clarice - Clarice is on the front page of many newspapers for having killed Buffalo Bill. She receives a letter from Hannibal Lecter.

ARTWORK FEATURED:

Perseus and Andromeda by Titian, The Wallace Collection in London

Various sculptures and pieces of glass in Il Monstro’s studio

NOTES:

The title of the episode is a famous phrase from The Merchant of Venice.

Clarice has been notified that her team is closing in on Il Monstro and she drives from the country to meet her team. Unfortunately, when Clarice’s team and Crawford’s team reach Il Monstro’s location, they quickly find that the name they have is wrong. After a moment of realization, Jack Crawford understands that Clarice is in great danger.

Driving in the country, Clarice is abducted by Il Monstro.

Scenes of Clarice’s team being led to the wrong location, only to have Clarice abducted are interspersed with flashbacks of the Buffalo Bill Case when Jack Crawford accidentally send Clarice to Buffalo Bill while they chase a lead that winds up not being the right location.

Il Monstro takes Clarice to Venice. He has a small art studio - far away and secluded - along with glass blowing supplies. He reveals that his name is Franceso Grandin, but that he has been living under an alias.

He considers what he will do with her. He threatens her with molten glass at the end of a pole. How to kill her - and how to pose her? What piece of art does she inspire? He ultimately decides he will drown her in the narrow canal just outside of his studio. Will she be Andromeda? Maybe Ophelia? He decides instead she will be The Drowned Martyr.

As he is speaking, Hannibal Lecter manages to find his way to Clarice. He was not far behind her when she was abducted, and followed Francesco the whole way. He tells Clarice this, but we do not SEE it happen, as this scene should be suspenseful - we should not know Hannibal is going to rescue her.

Francesco and Hannibal fight, and Francesco manages to burn Hannibal’s arm with molten glass badly enough that he pauses for a few seconds - long enough for Il Monstro to pin him down. Tied up, Clarice and Hannibal cannot do much, but Hannibal slowly begins to work on getting out of his bonds.

Francesco leaves Hannibal and goes back to Clarice. He drags her outside and she screams, more concerned for Hannibal than herself. She struggles the entire time but is gagged and thus cannot make much noise. Her ankles and wrists are bound and she is thrown into the Canal. She struggles with her bonds.

Back in the studio, Francesco speaks to Hannibal, and much like he did with Clarice considers how he should kill and display Hannibal. “You don’t know who I am, do you?” Hannibal asks him. When he Francesco moves close to Hannibal’s face, suddenly Hanniba’s hands come out from behind him - he had managed to come loose from his bonds. With a clay cutter from a table littered with sculptures, Hannibal Lecter slits Il Monstro’s neck as he advises Francesco that a monster should learn to recognize another monster.

Clarice continues to struggle with her bonds, having gotten her ankles free, but it is too late and she finally loses consciousness. Suddenly Lecter appears in the water beside her. He grabs her around the waist and brings her up to the surface. He performs mouth to mouth, and Clarice vomits up some water but does not regain consciousness.

Knowing that police will soon arrive - both to deal with the commotion of his just having killed a man, as well as the F.B.I. coming in search of Clarice, Lecter carries Clarice to a small abandoned studio not far from the one they just left.

He strips them of their wet clothes and holds her close to warm her. It’s May, and the water int he canal isn’t cold enough to make her hypothermic, but she is still cold, shaken and weak from having nearly drowned. He kisses her hands to warm them and realizes suddenly she’s regained consciousness. She is relieved to find that he is alive, and he kisses her forehead and tells her she’ll be alright. After kissing her forehead, he looks at her, overwhelmed and kisses her lips and she kisses him back. He pulls away after a moment, and she says “Don’t stop.” With three years of sexual frustration having pent up and the relief at finding one another alive, they make love.

Clarice wakes to the sound of sirens and helicopters. She sits up and looks around and finds that Hannibal Lecter is gone. She goes outside to find Johnny, Crawford, several other team members, and the Italian Police outside calling for her.

Clarice runs to Johnny and he expresses relief that she is alright. He tells her that after going to the wrong place, they knew she was in danger. With some quick thinking, they ultimately found Il Monstro’s studio and his body - his neck slit, but when they couldn’t find her, they feared the worst. She is given credit for the kill.

Clarice is once again in the news - now mostly in Italy rather than America. Crawford assures her that he is going to do his best to get her on his team at Behavioral Science.

We see a flashback of Clarice just after the Buffalo Bill killing receiving a letter from Hannibal Lecter. We then see her going through her mail in the present day. We can tell she is expecting a letter from Lecter. We see her disappointment when there isn’t one.

CREDIT: “It’s Art that Kills Us” poster uses an edited and cropped photograph by Tommy Liddel.

#hannibal #hannibal lecter #clarice starling #silence of the lambs #clannibal #the rape of eurora #fan fic #fanfictio

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incarnateirony · 4 years

Note

Queer meta writer DrSilverFish asks, "So is Dean’s bisexuality still subtext, after this episode?" and answers "Yes, given that out there in the fly-by-night froth of mainstream entertainment journalism, it remains (as far as I can see, in my admittedly brief trawl) unremarked upon in 15x07 episode reviews." Guess she's an idiot or a hater, huh? Couldn't be she's just being realistic about what is happening. And that 15x07 didn't make Dean bi in canon. Tough luck. Maybe next time!

You mean the blog I indirectly without naming to be tactful and not directly drag my fellow LGBT community members mentioned previously liking (and, frankly, probably formerly the blog I engaged most?) and boycotting for regressive language so as to not elevate that kind of voice? Like… you know, the reason I voluntarily even said I was going to stop posting meta that brought related traffic? That one? Might as well clear that one up now if we’re playing this game. Already on it. Already, apparently, far more alert to you about it lmao what are you like a day or two late.

Queer people can in fact use regressive language and be misguided. That’s what years of gaslighting does to people. But nice tokenism of slinging someone out there by employing their sexuality, there’s plenty more saying the opposite, that isn’t how that works. Stay woke though sweetie.

Stand for something. For. Fuck. Sake.

And standing doesn’t involve using LGBT people with your preferred opinion as a token to sling at others and throw them under the bus while you hide on anon when you can’t actually broach or address the actual related queer history discussions or any of the other angles about why it’s problematic. I may be avoiding supplying traffic to the blog right now while truly believing them misguided, but you have already jumped past several pales with this one, Nonnie.

The exploitative self-demonstrating faux activism just JUMPED out. If you wanna slapfight over throwing tokens around, the 50~ new followers I just got in the topic would probably like to have a word, or… probably not, because people like you are why they’re hiding their commentary in reblog tags. Me, a niche blog, who can sometimes go days or weeks without a follow.

h o w do you not realize how self-contrarian you are

(and frankly if anybody’s been sitting on the fence wrestling their bullshit use this anon’s methods as an insight on some of the driving minds behind anywhere from anti-ism to what some people think is activism)

and I swear to god if the thought even flitted across your mind to go crawl those tags just to shake them down too, you’re either too far gone to even know what activism or representation look like or an anti playing cute manipulator.

So you know, if that stealthed through your brain, that’s a you thing.

Shit like the call I chose to make wasn’t easy. I hope to some day go back to corresponding with them when they aren’t cycling regressive dialogue unintentionally. I just refuse to give destructive dialogue, no matter how accidental, platform. Nobody wakes up and goes, “You know what I want to do? I want to stop visiting my favorite blog for an indefinite amount of time and stop posting my favorite topic that is like the one avenue I have to speak about something fundamentally important to my real life as well, that’s what I’m going to do, I’m going to STOP EVERYTHING I enjoy.”

You do it because it’s the right fucking thing to do.

Try it some time.

Cuz this? This is an exhibit in what not to do. What even is this, some attempt to start some cancel culture bullshit between LGBT sections of fandom? Intentionally causing excess infighting where you think you sense weak spots? Do you even have a motivation beyond clutching bitterness and bad definitions? Like all the above problems with your actual action minded, if you’re not an anti stirring shit, what do you even gain by trying to pit highly connected bloggers actively against each other?

Yeah okay, total activist right here, gold star. Certainly has a great idea of how to interact in progressive discussion. What’s next, calling people snowflakes? Cuz right now your redefinition line designed to oppress queer people which, I am SORRY, no, *are* the majority *you* are going around and pissing in the blogs of while literally bullshitting and inflating your presence by claiming them to oNlY bE a fEW. As much as people think this word is overused, this is TEXT. BOOK. GASLIGHTING. And if you’re reliant on that as your entire method, you don’t even have a point or a place at this conversation table.

You know what I see only a few of you, actually. I’d estimate enough to roughly fill a group chat even. Maybe 2! In that way half of the people in chat 1 are also in chat 2. (listens to the sound of distant knee jerks inside of digital boxes). Niche nerd blogs about stats and near dead religions don’t just blow up overnight and get a bajillion new followers because the people you’re stalking and bagging down are the mInoRiTy. That isn’t how that works. That isn’t how any of this works.

I’m curious, in your time of probably bitter pissy blogging on your own corner, how many follows have you gained? Or lost? …How many notes do you have compared to the progressive facing end of this conversation? Because I am yet to find even a mildly popular post from your angle, or at least not one that stood on its own as much as – for example – what was in fact otherwise a pretty beautiful silverfish meta I almost reblogged myself, went so far as to open the reblog draft launcher thing and then, realizing the language, closed out. So yeah, posts like that get traction by this fandom’s content addiction, even I almost fucked up. And yes, circulating it is fucking up.

So I guess we’re back to: outside of anons and like a dozen failed posts on tumblr that get less traction than a Lucifer/Ketch/Donatello fic, where are you, this giant assed majority of whoever that you’re voiceboxing from anon, which coincidentally is a basic bitch method of inflating the appearance of your own numbers, especially to people who don’t have statcounter installed?

Normalized queer text or even real people erasure isn’t somehow okay. It’s just normalized. In fact, that’s worse. Just like normalized tokenism of LGBT people, a long term issue frequently breaching on my blog – that very mindset that sent you here with this wild-assedly bass-ackwards angle – is not somehow okay, it’s just normalized.

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eisforeidolon · 5 years

Text

Episode: Peace of Mind

Hey, remember how Castiel can reach into people's chests and grope their souls? No? Not even a mention of why it can’t possibly work on nephilim? Oh, okay, let's just let the ridiculously overpowered and possibly soulless Winchester-wannabe wander around in limbo about having a soul despite a canonical way to check. Why the fuck not?

Also, expecting me to give a fuck about Sam mourning some nobodies from AU world who didn't even have names except the joke that was Maggie just shows what absolute emotional dunces the current writers are. You never showed us any relationship there beyond, at best, being Sam's interchangeable flunkies! Jared can act his little heart out trying to sell this (and he did), but I have more emotional investment in the loss of that lamp Dean broke that one time.

But anyway, Sam’s trauma over a bunch of cardboard is the excuse for him wanting to be anywhere but the bunker this week, and some bullshit nonsense conversation between Cas and Dean is why Sam goes off with Cas instead of Dean. Because the show needs more of Castiel's tryhard motivational speeches, apparently. I kind of feel like maybe this episode started out with Sam and Dean on the case and then got changed partway through? There are a few of the jokes that are pretty clearly Castiel jokes – like when everything comes to a standstill in the diner over him loudly saying something appalling and stiltedly talking about the content of the love letters. However, a few of them, like the pop culture reference, seem far more like things Dean would say and just make it feel kind of blatant how badly Cas has been transposed in for reasons.

Reasons possibly being the writers suspected some of us might fast-forward through a Castiel & Jack B plot? Except Castiel spending more time with Jack and being shown as more attached to him would better serve the story they're actually going to tell later this season. That would apparently overflow the quota Dabb apparently set for continuous minutes Dean and Sam can interact, though, so. I wonder if, since his major change after Carver (besides everything getting worse) is less brother-fighting he thinks the Winchesters should spend no time together if there can't be potential world-ending dramaz? Yes, stories do need conflict but that's not what that means.

Look, Dean's actually my favorite, but I feel like nothing of value would be lost if we cut basically everything from this episode with him and Jack. No knock against Jensen or Alex, but the dumb stilted conversation about snakes and bacon? The ridiculous use of Yellow Fever in the previouslies when he was literally under a fear-inducing supernatural affliction to justify making Dean afraid of snakes now because ha fucking ha? The angel food/devil food thing - somebody actually wrote that and thought it wasn't so deeply embarrassing they should change their name and move to Alaska to never write fiction again!

Even the whole thing with Donatello (which I have a sneaking suspicion is the only reason they bothered to bring him back) is kind of dumb. Remember how Donatello is the exception and not the rule when it comes to soullessness? How all those other people went bugfuck when their souls were taken by Abaddon or Amara (this show really really believes in recycling). Even putting that aside, Donatello is soulless, which at best, means completely not giving a fuck - so he’s the guy you go to for advice? Not even to mention how absolutely tryhard the whole What Would (the) Winchesters Do WWWD thing was. Ew. The final cap on it being that I am really fucking tired of every latest potential threat being OMG TEH MOST POWAHFUL IN TEH UNIVERSE!!! Suddenly Jack's a potential antagonist again so we're back to it being him instead of Michael instead of Lucifer instead of Amara instead of Rowena instead of …[loud snoring].

I did actually appreciate that for once it was Sam in the weird goofy costume episode playing up the 50's camp. Those kinds of obvious gags pretty much always go to Dean, and I do like it when they at least switch things around so it's not just variation 100 on the same old theme. Also Castiel commenting in his typical matter-of-fact about Sam's beautiful hair did make me laugh a little.

Seems pretty typical Cas mistakes the daughter as the one doing the brain exploding because he misses what a human cue it was she was trying to get him out of the town to save him instead of trying to keep him there if she was crazy enough to be running not!Pleasantville. As a case, I think this part of the episode works okay. Not the best ever, not the worst ever, and Jared clearly had fun with the playacting of Sam being brainwashed into 50s husband dude.

Not entirely thrilled by some random guy developing the power to control a whole town with his brain out of nowhere midway through his life (as well as literally throw people and angels). Most of the other characters we've seen with that kind of power got it from somewhere. Though I'll grant that we didn't exactly get the dude's entire pedigree and it seems like his daughter inherited some serious power, too, so maybe he just didn't know there's psychic monster in his family tree.

Really the thing that doesn't work for me in this episode with the Sam & Cas plot is less any of the individual bits and more how clearly it is what the writers were trying – and for me, ultimately failing – to do. In the early seasons with better writers, they did a lot of episodes like this where what happens in the MotW plotline illuminates what's going on with the characters in the larger story and they were really trying to do that with Sam here. But the literal amnesia and Cas' big speeches and some dude brainwashing a whole town to avoid his personal sad and another instance of a character having a variant of AKF shoved awkwardly into their mouth hole? The kind of character work they were trying to do is not well served by just dropping anvils on the audiences' heads.

The part with Dean and Sam at the end was actually fairly enjoyable – of course Castiel tattled and of course Dean takes the opportunity for teasing. If we've seen this same realization about how you can't outrun things in your head a million times already, well, with the Winchester's lives I honestly can't blame them for still hoping that somehow it will work this time.

Then the episode ends with Castiel witnessing the snake incident and keeping it to himself because he's somehow hardwired to make the wrong decision in literally every possible circumstance these days. Yay.

#spn 14x15 #spn season 14 #writer incompetence #negativity for ts #long post

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bts5sosempire · 5 years

Text

BTS Reaction: s/o is not afraid of anything

A/n: me since I am an ambivert, but a true introvert at heart.

Kim Seokjin:

You and Jin were walking around the amusement park and it was themed Hell Fest. It was getting dark and fake fogs were covering the pathway as many others were either going home or staying longer. Jin clutches onto your hand tightly.

He hates this in his very humble and honest opinion, this is just like their zombie run episode and he was scared senseless while filming the episode.

“(Name) walk faster,” he ushers you to quicken your pace. The garbage can let out a bang as Jin lets go of your hand and scream in fright while you laugh at his terror.

The next thing he saw coming out of the fog and he sees the shape outline of a supposed zombie-- because of the walking style, and he literally went behind you for protection. You wave a ‘hi’ to the zombie with a big smile before tugging Jin along who was very close to you.

“How are you not scared?”

“Jin there's a difference between fake and real-” your sentence was cut off short as a hand went to grab Jin's arm and he let out a shriek next to your ear.

Seems like you're going to have to console him on the way home and at home too.

Min Yoongi:

You and Yoongi were walking home late in the dark as the streetlights were the only sources that provide you both a path to home.

“Yoongi you had been working hard lately, I'll come by tomorrow to give you food okay?” The man nodded at you as he held your hand tighter.

While walking you both stop your steps, that was rummaging sounds from the garbage can. Yoongi pulls you behind him as his eyes peers through the dark where there was no light showing who or what it is there. The sound got louder until a cat jumps out of the dark and Yoongi got scared as he went behind you this time, with a loud scream.

You only laugh at him as the cat came near you and purr at your leg. You bend down to pet the Siamese cat and Yoongi was catching his breath behind you. You were trying to slow your breathing and laughs.

“Ahhhhh! I thought it was someone but it was just a cat!” He wheezes behind you and you look back at him. Yoongi crumpled onto the asphalt ground as his soul left his body. Another cat jump out and attack the Siamese cat and Yoongi scream again.

Once again you were trying to stifle your laughter but failed as you were dying from your silent laughter as no sound came out from your mouth this time.

Poor Yoongi.

Jung Hoseok:

“(Name)!”

A loud scream was heard from the kitchen. You rush in and found Hoseok on the dining table with one slipper about ready to throw.

“What is it?” You asked him with dishelved appearances as you were rudely woke up from your nap.

“There is a spider over there!” He shouts at you in panic while pointing to a corner and there was a pair of slipper thrown there. You went over there and kick his sandal aside and step on the spider. Hoseok got off the table so fast and he cheers a "woohoo!" loudly, as he hugs the life out of you. “You're my hero!”

You push Hoseok off of you and mumble out, “I'm still tired, I'm going back to sleep...” Walking away from him, Hoseok trail after you like a puppy with an imaginary tail swishing behind him.

“Let me cuddle with you!” He practically screams and glomps you on the couch as soon as you sit. Hoseok throws one of his legs over yours, and bring you tightly to his chest.

Kim Namjoon:

Namjoon watches you play a violent and horror game that was recommended by the fans, while doing a live stream with him. You were so focused that even jump scares don't scare you. He was sitting beside you as you were mashing the letters of the keyboard with your fingers and pressing down so hard that he felt bad for the poor thing.

“Ah! Why isn't this monster dying?!” You shouted at the screen frustratedly while pushing the monster off of your character. Taking a deep gruntle sigh, you manage to take off the monster and kill it. Or you think so.

The screen went all dark of a sudden like it was shut off, and a game cutscene was shown.

Your character was breathing hard and Namjoon leans closer to you and the screen. “What happened?"

The monster pop out and toss your character to the other with a screech and Namjoon jumps back a bit and he was surprised, and you were still the same but with a pissed off face.

“Ah! I didn't waste six health potions on my character for this stupid loser here to come back at me again!” You scream.

Park Jimin:

Jimin and you were inside a dark room and was forced to stay in there and watch a 15-minute clip of pop-ups. Jimin ends up clinging onto you as he would scream and whine into your arm. He clings onto you tightly.

“Tell me when its over! I don't want to look at it!" Just as he says that he peeks and scream. There was a big scary face on the big screen and it digitalizes out. The face was laughing as its voice went from a baby to a deeper voice until a scream blare through the speakers.

You can hear Taehyung and Jungkook laughs loudly through the door on the other side.

“Jimin,” you try to make him look at you and he refuses too. With a slight sigh, you hug him and cover him from the screen as more creepy stuff appears on the screen. “Those are not real, and just hug me tightly if that'll make you feel better.” That made Jimin look up at you with tears in his eyes.

“You guys still got 10 more minutes left!” Taehyung shouted.

Kim Taehyung:

Taehyung had planned a scary event for you as he had you blindfolded and put your hands in the box. He also invited the boys over too.

“I know this texture anywhere. Is this my bearded lizard, Rice?” You nonchalantly ask Taehyung who made an unbelievable cutesy voice at your correctness.

“Can you pretend not to know?”

He puts another thing in there and your hands wander around it. There was wetness around it, as it moves away. “Really? Is this one of my turtle? This is Donatello, isn't it? I also know this shell is kind of dent.”

“Taehyung it looks like its going to take more than that to scare her.” Yoongi comment at the flabbergasted boy.

“Can you let out a fake scream for the sake of my reputation?”

“No can do,” you smile at him and take out your hands from the box and took off the blindfold. “But I got something,” there was a devious smile as you whipped out as you bring out a toy that shoots out cool whip.

“I ain't a part of this,” Yoongi walks away from the group as they all start to scamper away from you.

“You all owned me a whopping!”

Jeon Jungkook:

Jungkook had been trying to scare you all weeks as he was failing to do so. So he prints out the grudge face and bought an inflatable body while he also bought a wig too. He was determined to get you scared.

He puts them inside the snack closet since you often go there just to eat whenever you can.

Jungkook sits next to you on the couch and grins widely with his teeth shining and you gave him a weird look. He never smiles that wide in his life.

“(Name) can you go get me a pack of chips?” He asks you and you only shrugged and stood up to get snacks since you're going to get yourself some too.

Jungkook look to see if you're gone, and he quickly jumps out of the couch and whips out his phone and gets ready to record. He giggles.

He saw you open the door and the inflatable of the grudge fell out and you only suck in a breath as you pick it up and turn towards him. Giving him a death stare you ask him, “Really? You do know that you're going to have to try harder than that.” Throwing the grudge monster at him, you see his face that still smiles.

“But did you get scared?”

“No.”

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mittensmorgul · 5 years

Note

1) Is Dabb a Black Mirror fan? Cause 14x20 reminded me of "USS Callister" (4x01). It's about a gifted software developer (a "god" of programming) who takes DNA samples from his co-workers in order to insert himself and them as characters in a videogame he's created. In the videogame world he mistreats his co-workers (e.g forces one of the girls to kiss him repeatedly) and they desperately want to free themselves from his control. (+)

(2) In the end the characters find a way to communicate with their real-world counterparts, who finally manage to lock the programmer’s character in a loop of emptiness within the simulation, which he can’t escape since the co-workers left the programmer alone and motionless IRL, implying that he’ll eventually starve and die. If Dabb was inspired by this, I assume that TFW will follow the same narrative aka killing God for “free will” to triumph.

*****

Hi hello there! Yes, I know this has been sitting in my inbox since April. I’m trying to get better and replying to the insane backlog and picking random messages to reply to (my inbox crept over 900 messages recently and my guilt will not let that stand :’D).

Confession: I have not seen Black Mirror, so I’m just going by what you said about this episode of it. I only have a kind of vague idea what that show is about from a few posts I’ve seen cross my dash, so I can’t really speak to the comparison directly. But I can speak to the implications of what you’re suggesting in terms of the SPN universe situation.

And in a sense, yeah this is kinda along the lines of how I suspect this will be eventually resolved. For the sake of argument, though… Chuck is effectively immortal in the narrative. You can’t trap him in his own game and wait for him to starve to death. Because he won’t.

But also, we’re not talking about a mental construct within reality holding TFW captive like the game situation you described in Black Mirror. TFW doesn’t have “real world” counterparts to the characters we know. They ARE effectively in the real world (to them… *we the audience* know this is fiction, so on that level J2M are their real-world counterparts, in a sense? But I don’t think the show will end with us breaking the in-story universe that badly. I think Dabb really does want us to end the series believing that TFW will continue on, their universe finally saved from Chuck’s eternal manipulation in their lives).

The situation in Supernatural is a bit different, though. For all he would like to, I don’t think it’s ever been implied that Chuck actively can control the individual members of TFW directly, you know? He can’t “force” them do do things directly, like puppets. What he CAN engineer are circumstances that back them into narrative corners and force them to react. But their reactions are their own. It’s a subtle difference, but a very important one.

Like Ruby told Sam way back in 4.22, in a smaller-scale version of Chuck’s manipulation of the overarching narrative:

Ruby: No. It wasn’t the blood. It was you… and your choices. I just gave you the options, and you chose the right path every time. You didn’t need the feather to fly, you had it in you the whole time, Dumbo! I know it’s hard to see it now… but this is a miracle. So long coming. Everything Azazel did, and Lilith did. Just to get you here. And you were the only one who could do it.

Sure, Dean killed her for it, but Chuck is just… on a cosmological scale, “Chuck” is literally just a manifestation of Creation itself. He’s not a guy, you know? This is where I start to sound like a lunatic, sorry. :P

For all his apparent power, for all the fact he is effectively “God,” he’s just as much a construct as creation itself. He’s the manifestation of Creation attempting to interact with itself, and he’s actively made himself into this personification, created this personality for himself. But it’s not what he is. He’s a sock puppet, and the sock needs unraveling.

Without unraveling all of creation in the process, because they are– at the most basic level– one and the same.

It always brings me back to the s11 finale, where the apparent solution to save the universe was attempting to “kill” the Darkness. But… you can’t actually do that, you know? Not without killing the Light as well. That’s just not how anything works. We always joked that Dean couldn’t kill Death, but then he did… except nothing changed… people kept dying and Billie ascended to become Death. It’s not a “person” but a mantle of power and an embodiment of the universal constant that whatever lives must eventually die. Whatever comes into creation must eventually leave it again. Whatever begins must eventually come to an end. That’s the whole “Alpha and Omega” of the entirety of creation.

And in 11.23, Dean achieved that balance by reuniting Chuck with Amara, or the concept of creation with destruction, light with dark. And he did it with words.

The “Chuck construct” needs to let go of his creation and allow it to truly be free. It’s not that he needs to die, though he might choose to disconnect himself from his creation or dissolve the Chuck Construct in order to allow the universe to truly have free will. It might not tell the story Chuck most wants to see (egotistically his own origin story narrative, played out in every level of the story of Supernatural through his favorite characters and chosen avatars), but human consciousness wants a chance to tell its own stories now.

And Chuck, in story as the avatar for the original creator of Supernatural– i.e. Kripke– being finally disconnected from the universe by the in story avatar of the final showrunner, Dabb– i.e. Billie as Death– I find that’s kind of poetic, yes? Knowing Billie has been plotting something in the background for a very, very long time speaks VOLUMES about how Dabb has seen his own role in bringing the series to an end since he took over as showrunner. Remember, Billie was his character first introduced in 11.02, in what’s functionally the second half of a two-part episode begun by Carver in 11.01. When I say it’s spirals all the way down, I really mean that on every imaginable level. This metas outward into the actual structure of the showrunning and writing here in the real world, too. Dabb… is on another level, tbh. :P

(eta2: not even mentioning that by mid s11 Dabb had effectively taken the reins, and penned the season finale literally called Alpha and Omega in which all of this came to pass in the narrative for the first time around...)

On the side of this with the broken fourth wall, it means being able to hand the narrative over to the fandom, for us to play in that universe in our own imaginations, with a closed canon we can return to again and again to tell our own stories. Fanfic ahoy! With the full blessing of the creators. :’)

And on every level, this is the philosophy Dabb has been putting forth since he took over as showrunner, and I can’t imagine he’d veer from that path now.

ETA: Because I got sidetracked with the Big Cosmology Stuff and forgot the other point I was gonna add here >.>

We did get a smaller-scale scenario where this sort of situation you’re describing played out EXACTLY as you described during s14– in 14.15, with Chip Harrington who’d been directly messing with everyone via the sort of mind control you’re describing in Black mirror keeping people trapped in his “game scenario” of the town of Charming Acres. Sunny had been bound to him by a promise to her dead mother to make sure her father would never be alone. She indulged his game, watching him manipulate and murder people in the name of keeping himself happy, but in the end she freed herself and everyone else from his tyrannical, self-described “god” level control of the town by using that same psychic power she’d inherited from him to trap him in his own version of happiness inside his own mind, where he could be happy without hurting anyone else.

He’s effectively trapped inside his own mind now, unaware of outward reality. In that state, what will actually happen to him? Will he be put on life support machines like Donatello was after Cas stripped his mind away? Will he slowly wither away and die? Will his own psychic power trapped in that reality– which we have been given leave by the show’s own cosmology is the equivalent of his “heaven,” or his spiritual happy place and theoretically his own afterlife (barring the distinct possibility that he’s destined for hell because of his actions and choices during life?). We just don’t know, but his removal from the town didn’t have the sort of negative impact over anyone else that removing the creator from all of creation would…

Chip didn’t (like Chuck) create the town of Charming Acres. He just controlled the people who lived there. Chuck, on the other hand, doesn’t control anyone… he just creates the universe and manipulates it to push people into confronting the choices he wants them to have to grapple with. Again, it’s a subtle distinction, but in the end, I think it’s a very important one.

Okay, now I’m done. :’D

#spn s15 speculation #spn cosmology #dabb vs cars #Anonymous #spn 14.15

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caranfindel · 5 years

Text

Recap/review 14.15: “Peace of Mind”

THEN: Snakes. Michael. Donatello’s soul, or lack thereof. Samwitch. Jack’s soul spell. All the other hunters are dead. I am a Winchester!

NOW: A young man runs down a street (past a movie theater showing Scooby Doo, hee!) and into what seems to be a malt shop. He embraces the young woman working there and says he doesn’t want to leave without her, but she says she made a promise, and sends him on his way. He doesn’t get very far. He runs past the sign welcoming you to Charming Acres (“Where everybody’s happy!”) and into a convenience store, where his head explodes. Title card!

Bunker. Jack is cuddling with Felix, the snake he rescued from last week’s MotW. Cas comes to check on him, and he says he’s good, but Cas disagrees. Jack tells him the snake doesn’t feel well, and Cas thinks maybe he misses his monstery owner, and he’s been through a lot of change lately. Just like Jack! Cas asks Jack if he has his powers back, because enough time has passed that they’ve had funerals for all the hunters and yet no one has asked him that yet. He thinks so, and demonstrates by levitating a pencil.

(I guess if they’d asked him earlier, and he’d shown them the pencil trick, they might have said “cool, how about you bring all these dead hunters back to life?” Would that have been a good thing or a bad thing? Discuss.)

He says he feels different, and Cas asks about his soul. The pencil drops to the floor. Ha, that’s not symbolic at all. Jack doesn’t know how much of his soul he burned off when he killed Michael, and he tries not to think about it. Huh. I wish there was someone, anyone here in the bunker, maybe even someone in the room here with Jack, who knew how to see if he had any soul left. But apparently there isn’t. Okay then. {sigh}

In the kitchen, Dean’s eating a huge sandwich. Cas says he thought he was going to sleep “until the cows dragged you home,” and there’s a cute moment where Dean starts to explain and realizes it’s pointless. He says Rowena called and is “not great, but coping.” Cas tells him Jack claims he’s good and asks about Sam. “He says he’s good,” Dean replies. “I think they’re both full of crap.”

Sam arrives at the bunker during this conversation and stops to unload at the map table and reveals that Dean is right, he’s not good at all. He has flashbacks of the other hunters slumped dead at the table, and Maggie running toward him calling his name as she dies, and he’s just so beautifully upset (hi, I’m Caranfindel and I have a problem) and on the verge of tears, and can I just say how much I appreciate that Show is not ignoring how traumatic this would be for him? And not just because his trauma is so damn pretty.

Sam comes into the kitchen, brandishing his tablet, and tells Dean he found a case. Like, just now on his way home, apparently. Dean says they just did three hunts back-to-back and he needs a night off, and so does Sam. So, where was Sam coming from? Did he go on a hunt without Dean? Did they come home together, and Sam sat in the Impala looking at his tablet while Dean came in and made a sandwich?

Sam takes this in and completely ignores it and says “well, I’m leaving in ten.” Dammit, y'all. Traumatized, driven Sam. I love it. I also love that his attitude is “this is what I need, so this is what I’m doing.” Cas volunteers to go with him and tells Dean he should stay with Jack, because he looks up to him. “And his soul… you’ve seen this before.”

Oh. Well. Yes, Dean has seen this before. Sam has LIVED this before. I wonder who would be the best person to talk to Jack about being possibly soulless? (And I also still wonder if there’s ANYBODY in this bunker who is in a better position to detect Jack’s soul. ANYBODY AT ALL.)

No, no, see, I was not great with Sam when he was, uh…

But Jack’s soul isn’t completely gone. At least, I don’t think so. We just don’t know how much is left?

Well, how am I supposed to figure that out?

I don’t know! Just talk to him. Get him to open up.

Jesus. Okay. I do appreciate that Dean recognizes he didn’t necessarily handle the Soulless!Sam situation well. But I’m having a hard time getting past the fact that CAS KNOWS HOW TO CHECK FOR THE PRESENCE OF A SOUL. {sigh}

With the guys separated, I’m going to stick with Cas and Sam instead of going back and forth. Cas and Sam drive up to the convenience store where the guy’s head exploded. Cas is driving. I don’t know why. I don’t know why Sam doesn’t have a car of his own. I don’t know why Cas replaced the Pimpmobile, or why they’re not using any of those cars in the bunker’s garage. I don’t know a lot of things. (I know Sam’s in an overcoat and I like it.)

They think they’re looking for a witch or demon. Sam yawns but says he’s fine, because that’s what they do, and Cas lectures him on needing to rest. “Can’t,” Sam says. “Just because I’m tired doesn’t mean the monsters are gonna stop. Doesn’t mean anything. Plus, we don’t have as many hunters as we used to.” Oh Saaaaammmmmy.

They introduce themselves to the clerk as Agents Scholz and Delp, which I immediately recognize as members of Boston, but it’s not until halfway through the episode that I realize the title is a Boston song. Oh, you clever, clever show. They tell the clerk they’re investigating “the incident,” and he says “incident? that’s what we’re calling it?” and I have an out-of-body experience because I used almost that exact dialog in a fic (waves to Steve Yockey, who surely reads my LJ). The clerk tells them what happened and that the victim, Conrad, probably came from Charming Acres, a place he calls “weird.”

Turns out Charming Acres is weird in a very retro way - it’s like a town straight out of the 50s. Well-dressed people wearing hats roam its perfectly clean streets. “It’s like we’re stepping into a Saturday Evening Post,” Cas says. He gets a funny look from Sam, and I don’t know why, because surely Sam remembers that Metatron crammed all of that cultural knowledge into Cas’s head. “I look at them after you fall asleep at night,” Cas explains, and if I were a Sastiel shipper I’d point out that he says after you fall asleep instead of after you go to bed, suggesting that he doesn’t just know when Sam goes to bed, he knows when he falls asleep. But I’m not, so I won’t.

There’s no cell service in Charming Acres, which is probably part of the reason why it’s so charming; none of these people walking around have their noses in a phone. Sam gets out of the car and bumps into a couple - Justin Smith and his “foxy wife” Cindy. They don’t know anything about a death, but they suggest the nice G-men ask around at Harrington’s, the malt shop we saw earlier. Justin asks what Sam is holding, and is mystified at the answer. “Cell phone. A cell phone?” he muses, as they walk away.

“What was that?” Sam wonders. Cas answers “Maybe they’re Mormon?” Hee!!!

Harrington’s, where your first milkshake is free. Uh oh. Guys, never trust that. Sure, the first one is free, but that’s how they hook you, and the next one will COST you. Sunny, the chick from the opening, is working behind the counter. Sam’s doctor from “The Born-Again Identity” comes out from the kitchen and tells her to make sure they have more root beer, and she says she already sent the order. She then puts a couple of shakes on the counter for Sam and Cas. It’s like she knew they were coming. Sam tells her they didn’t order, but she says the first one’s free. Don’t drink that shake, Sam! But he does, and is surprised at how good it is. Cas just takes a whiff and calls it “delicious.” Mmmm, smells like molecules.

(Sidebar: I’m not the only one who’s watched “The Born Again Identity” enough times to immediately recognize that guy and remember his name, am I?)

Dr. Kadinsky comes back out and starts to make a request, but Sunny already knew what the customer wanted. It’s almost like she’s psychic or something. He introduces himself to the guys as Chip Harrington and calls them “the G-men I keep hearing about,” even though they literally got out of the car three minutes ago. “It’s a small town,” he says. He’s also the mayor, and says they’re old-fashioned, but people here take care of each other. The guys ask about Conrad, who Chip thinks died of an aneurysm. “Oh, no,” Cas says. “His head exploded. Like a ripe melon on the sun.” The entire place goes silent, and y'all, I miss me some s4 BAMF Cas, but sometimes bumbling, socially awkward Cas is a delight. Flustered Sam is also a delight, as always.

Chip tells the guys where Conrad lived, so their next stop is Dowling’s charming Victorian boarding house, planning to check for sulfur and hex bags. Mrs. Dowling knows who they are and is expecting them. “Small town,” she explains. She shows them Conrad’s room and tells them he was a nice young man. She only rents to men. Women living alone isn’t proper. “Morals. Gotta have morals.” She turns to Cas. “You know.“ I… I don’t know what this means. Even on rewatch, I don’t. At first I thought maybe she detected Cas was an angel. But now I just have to admit, I don’t get it.

Sam asks for coffee as a way to get her out of the room so Cas can search it. He finds nothing of note except a few letters under the mattress. He tells Sam they’re "surprisingly passionate.” Passionate how, Sam asks, as he sips coffee from a teeny cup. “She spends quite a bit of time talking about shape and heft of his-” Sam interrupts just in time and says they should check that out tomorrow. Tomorrow, because he wants to spend the night here, and he probably needs some rest, and Mrs. Dowling is making pot roast. Cas is increasingly befuddled, and Sam is really getting into Charming Acres. And HE IS SO CUTE.

Meanwhile, over at the Smith’s, Foxy Cindy is putting dinner on the table, while Justin is still muttering about a cell phone. “I bought a cell phone. In Houston. For my daughter.” He suddenly remembers his daughter and asks Cindy who she is, and what he’s doing here. She doesn’t have a clue what’s going on. He runs outside and, just like Conrad earlier, gets weird bulges on his face and then suffers a head explosion.

Morning in the boarding house. Cas knocks on Sam’s door, but his room is empty. He goes downstairs and finds Mrs. Dowling vacuuming. She’s wearing earbuds, so Charming Acres might not have cell phones, but it looks like they have mp3 players. She seems annoyed that Cas is there, but offers him some breakfast. He tells her he doesn’t eat and says he’s looking for his partner. “The very nice, the very tall fella? He said he’s going for a walk. And a milkshake.” Dammit, Sam, I warned you. IT’S THE MILKSHAKES.

But when Cas gets to Harrington’s, they’re just opening, and Sam isn’t there. The music playing is the same thing Mrs. Dowling was listening to, and I don’t know if that means anything. He’s also got a huge bird crap on his car, and I don’t know if that means anything, either. Maybe it’s just supposed to be indicative of his day. He tells Sunny he’s looking for his partner, and she says “the tall man” left when he heard what happened to Mr. Smith.

Smith house. Cas drives up and is greeted by a cheery, not-in-mourning, Foxy Cathy. She offers him a martini, which he declines. “I’m looking for my partner. The tall man.” She doesn’t know what he’s talking about. “Hair? He has beautiful hair.” (OH MY GOD.)

“This is complicated,” Cas says, and the poor guy is just more and more puzzled. I don’t usually appreciate a Cas-heavy episode, but I’ve gotta say, he’s killing it. He sits down and Foxy Cindy screams NO! He jumps up and she sweetly explains “that’s my husband’s chair.” Okay, so she is a little distraught over his death, but just handling it weirdly? Um, no.

I’m so sorry, but last night, his head… um… your husband, he died last night.

I think you’re confused. Have you already had your martini today?

Cas continues to try to convince her Justin is dead, and then a familiar voice from upstairs says “Honey, is something wrong” and then…

Agent?

Justin. Justin Smith.

IT’S SAM. SAM DRANK THE KOOLAID MILKSHAKE AND NOW HE’S ONE OF THEM. His hair is pulled back in a ponytail and he’s wearing glasses and a cardigan with a tie (the same cardigan from “American Nightmare?” maybe) and I AM DEAD.

Cas thinks Sam is doing this on purpose, and when Cindy goes to make a martini, he asks him “who does she think you are?” But Sam absolutely believes he’s Justin Smith. He requests three olives in his martini because “I’m feeling adventurous” and Cindy does a little mewl and he says “rawr!” and REALLY I CANNOT HANDLE IT. Neither can Cas.

Sam, I don’t know what’s happened, I don’t know if this is a spell, or a curse, or what’s happened, but you will SNAP THE HELL OUT OF IT.

Sir. You watch your mouth. If we cannot remain civil, then you can skedaddle.

Sam-

That’s not my name. Cindy, grab his hat.

I don’t wear a hat.

(Honey, I don’t think he wore a hat!)

Fine. Sir, using language like that. H E double hockey sticks. You should have your mouth washed out with soap.

OH MY GOD. Sam ushers him out the front door and lectures him with the Single Upraised Finger of Reasonableness and lord, I hope Jared had as much fun doing this as I’m having watching it. And I didn’t like the brothers being separated AGAIN, but now I understand. There’s no way Dean wouldn’t have sucked down a milkshake. But since Cas doesn’t eat, he’s safe. (Sidebar: Don’t you think Sam would have shaved? Discuss.)

It’s nighttime when Cas shows up back at Harrington’s. He accuses Sunny of being a witch who brainwashed Sam and the entire town. She denies it, but he shows her the letters he found, where she begged him to leave. She tries to run, but he grabs her and does the glowy eyes and says “tell me, or I’ll rip it from your mind” and hmmm, that’s a nice flash of angry, protective-of-Sam Cas. Terrified, she confesses that “it’s not me, it’s him, he’s out of control.” And “him” is Chip, who is standing behind them with a few friends. Including Sam. Duh duh duh!!!

So you did this.

What, did you think it was the milkshakes?

Dammit, I did. I completely and totally fell for that. It turns out Chip is just psychic or something. The mill shut down and his wife died and his town was going downhill and he started hearing voice and he screamed “just make things better!” and then, wow, things became better. He wished there were more people at his shop, and there were. “I made everybody happy.” And he murdered the rest. (Sidebar: Is this a political statement about people who wish we could go back to “the good old days?” Discuss.) He says his tricks never worked on Sunny, because she’s too much like him, which explains why she knew the root beer needed to be ordered and the G-men were coming in - she’s psychic too. He asks why his powers don’t work on Cas, and Cas says “because I’m not human,” and he has no problem accepting that.

Sunny runs outside and Chip follows. Sam and the other two guys stay to attack Cas. He tells Sam he won’t hurt him, and gives him the Single Raised Finger of Reasonableness again and says “golly, I told you my name is Justin!” Oh, golly Sam, you’re killing it. Cas takes the other two guys down pretty easy, but Sam knocks him to the floor, and he may have forgotten his own name but he knows where Cas keeps his angel blade. Cas, of course, is trying not to hurt him, and it’s hard to defend yourself against someone who’s trying to kill you when you don’t want to hurt them, so all he can do is try to talk Sam out of stabbing him.

Fight this.

Why? I’m happy in Charming Acres. We’re all happy.

Sam, I know you want to be happy. And I know what it’s like to lose your army. I know what it’s like to fail as a leader, Sam. But you can’t lose yourself. You have to keep fighting. You can’t lose yourself because if you do, you fail us, you fail all of those that we’ve lost. You fail Jack. Sam, you fail Dean!

And that does it. Sam jams the angel blade into the floor next to Cas’s head (just like MoC Dean did) and takes of the glasses. Looks like he found himself.

Meanwhile, outside, Chip is telling Sunny that she’s just as responsible for Conrad’s death as he is, and she can’t stop him, because in this town, he’s God. Sam shows up to smack him upside the head. “No, you’re not, believe me. We’ve met God.” “God has a beard,” Cas adds. I’M DEAD AGAIN.

Chip uses his powers on Sam and he gets the bulges that mean his head is going to explode and no, not his head! That’s one of my favorite parts! Sunny finds her own power and stops him. “You want to be happy? Then be happy.” She whammies Chip and he gets a blank look on his face and I’m pretty sure I’ve referenced the Ren and Stimpy Happy Helmet at some point, but I’m thinking about it again. Cas puts a hand on his head and says “She made him happy. Your father is trapped inside his own mind. He’s in a world that - it’s a beautiful world, but it’s a place where he can never hurt anyone again.”

Which makes me think (1) it’s too bad this isn’t a solution for all those “good old days” people, and (b) WHY CAN’T CAS READ JACK???? WHY?????

Now let’s see what’s happening in the bunker. Jack is trying to feed Felix a variety of different foods, but he won’t eat. Maybe it’s because he’s on newspaper, which seems like it would be uncomfortable for a snake. Dean is adorably uncomfortable.

Have you tried bacon?

Do snakes like bacon?

I don’t… I like bacon.

He also opens a box that appears to be leftover Chinese food but actually contains white mice. Hee! He invites Jack on a drive. Not a hunt, “more like a field trip.” We see them driving through the night, with the snake riding in the back seat. Dean suggest Jack have a snack, but he says he’s not hungry, so Dean says he should try feeding the snake. He gives him two packaged snack cakes - one devil’s food, and one angel food. Oh, Dean, you are the least subtle person on earth and I adore you.

I don’t think you have a firm grasp on what snakes eat.

Yeah, no. I always thought they were kinda cool, though.

Most people think they’re dangerous.

Well, it’s not the snake that’s dangerous. It’s the… bite

Is that a saying?

It is now.

Oh, god. Dean wincing when he says snakes are cool, watching Jack decide which cake to open, I’m dead. Jack finally chooses the angel food cake, and Dean sighs with relief.

They pull up to a familiar-looking house - it’s Donatello’s house! Jack doesn’t understand why their field trip was to come here. “With this whole soul thing,” Dean says, “we’re worried about you. And when it comes to souls, or not having them, Donny here’s an expert.” Well, I guess that’s true. I mean, there’s another person who knows a lot about not having a soul, someone who lives a lot closer than Donatello does, but sure. Go ahead. Go see your expert. Donatello leads Jack inside, while Dean says he’ll stay outside and keep an eye on the snake. Which means slamming the roof of the car for some reason to see what it does, and then moving as far away from the open window as he can. (Sidebar: who else expected Felix to escape and be roaming around inside the Impala?)

How to casually stay as far away as possible from the snake in the back of your car.

Inside, Donatello pours a couple of MASSIVE cups of coffee (seriously these are soup bowls, aren’t they?) He swirls cream into his coffee and it looks like the milky way, which inspires him to say being soulless feels like a galaxy. “A very large, black hole… inside, empty. I feel nothing.” But he tells Jack “Losing your soul doesn’t make you bad, it doesn’t make you anything. It’s an absence. Of pity, and empathy. Or humanity.”

Jack says he doesn’t feel <i>nothing,</i> but he also doesn’t feel the same. “Maybe I just don’t know what nothing feels like. Mostly I just don’t want Sam and Dean and Cas to worry.” (Yes, I do love that he listed Sam first. Shut up.) But he also feels like he needs some time to deal with this on his own, and being on his own is never an option; there’s always someone watching over his shoulder.

When I need to blend, I ask myself “what would Mr. Rogers do?”

Who’s Mr. Rogers?

The best man I know.

Sam and Dean are the best men I know.

So, ergo, whenever you don’t want them to worry, just think WWWD. What would the Winchesters do?

I can do that.

OH JACK. YOU SWEET BABY. You probably don’t want to do what the Winchesters would do, though. It never works out well.

Meeting adjourned. Jack goes to sit in the car, and Dean asks Donatello if he has a soul. “I suppose the first question we must ask ourselves is, what is a soul?” This gets the eyeroll it deserves. Donatello says he thinks Jack is okay, and Dean asks if he’s like him. “Oh, no. I’m a prophet of the Lord, but he’s… Jack’s probably the most powerful being in the universe. I mean, really, who knows what’s going on inside his head?”

Um, I don’t know, Donatello, but I do remember that when you first met him, you could tell he wasn’t evil. You could detect evil. Did you lose that ability, just like Cas lost his ability to check for a missing soul? {sigh}

In the car, Jack grins and waves like a sweet little nougat cinnamon roll. But the music, ah, the music is pretty ominous. Aftermath! Dean says it looks like the snake enjoyed the trip and Jack says "It's hard to say; he's very guarded." I don't know if we're supposed to think he's being literal, or if he's making a joke. Either way, I applaud it. Dean asks Jack if he's okay and he says "it was... illuminating." He then heads into his room with Felix just as Sam and Cas come in.

Dean asks about their trip, and Sam's annoyed that Cas told him about the cardigan and Foxy Cindy. Like, Sam, you KNOW Cas doesn't keep secrets. "He said you were really happy," says Dean, and oh, now I get it. Cas was worried about him. {sniff} Cas goes off to see Jack, and Dean and Sam have this conversation.

Really happy, huh?

I mean, I guess I WAS happy, but it wasn't real, you know?

Well, not a lot of happy going on around here.

... I hate this place right now. I hate it. Everywhere I look I see them. I see Maggie. I guess that's why I, uh, was so desperate to get out of here. Why I kept running us ragged. But I gotta stop that. I can't keep running, I... this is my home. This is our home. Dean, I think I just need some time.

Okay.

OH GOD SAM'S FACE. When he breaks down and admits he hates it here, and when Dean pats him on the shoulder, and when he looks up, teary-eyed, and takes a deep breath, I CAN'T. I know this is the moment of angst we always expect at the end of a funny episode but this one is TOO MUCH. And how is it that we've had so much good emotional Sam this season? WHAT HAVE WE DONE TO DESERVE THIS??? I appreciate that they're making the death of the hunters Sam's trauma. It should upset Mary and Jack too, since they lived with them longer. But Sam feels responsible for them. He's the reason they're in our world. He told them they'd be safer here, and now they're dead.

Back in his room, Jack picks up his snake. "Cas says you miss your friend. You need help. Sam and Dean would help you, so I'll help you. I'll help you see your friend again. In Heaven." As Cas watches from the doorway, Jack does the glowy eyes and the SNAKE TURNS TO DUST AND NO, NO JACK, THIS IS NOT WHAT SAM AND DEAN WOULD DO, NOT AT ALL.

Well, that was a rollercoaster. The funny parts were wonderful, the sad parts were heartbreaking, the ominous parts were horrifying. Can we talk about Sam being so desperate to get out of the bunker, and so vulnerable to anything that feels like happiness, and Justin!Sam's frantic insistence that he is happy and wants to stay happy? About Dean's cake test? About Cas actually carrying much of a storyline and being not only watchable, but enjoyable? About what the ACTUAL FUCK is going on with Jack?

And yes, the stupid parts were stupid, and the unexplained parts were inexplicable. I've chosen to handwave them. What did you guys think?

Please help me stay unspoiled; thanks!

#spn #tv recaps #recap #spoilers #14.15 #peace of mind

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