#spn 14.05 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mittensmorgul · 4 years

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It’s incredible to me how much of s14 is... s15 lite, like everything with Michael and his dreams of a monster apocalypse was just the more easily defeated version of Chuck and his dreams of a monster apocalypse.

I’m only up to 14.05 on the tnt loop (or how far I’ve jumped out ahead of the tnt loop...), but I honestly can’t get over how perfect s14 is, or just how much it’s paved the way for s15 and the final showdown against Chuck. We’re truly engaged in the final battle for free will.

But in s14, TFW was still figuring out the details, figuring out how to go from being controlled by Michael to taking control of Michael. Yes, Dean had to experience this for himself, going from “drowning” under Michael’s possession to taking control and containing Michael. It took the help of Sam and Cas to do it, though. He couldn’t have done it on his own. Oh, and while they were all dealing with Michael inside Dean’s mind, it also took Jack on the spot to kill the monsters invading the bunker, or TFW wouldn’t have survived the ordeal anyway. They would’ve been slaughtered while their bodies sat at the library table, not even putting up a fight against the physical threat in the room while they were wrapped up in an internal threat in Dean’s psyche.

Dean’s first struggle once Sam and Cas turned up at Rocky’s Bar? Accepting reality, separating out the illusion and discovering what was truly real. Kinda makes Cas’s assertion of “we are” in 15.02 incredibly poignant now. Because in s15, there is no illusion, no nightmare to snap out of with a clearly delineated border between real and unreal. Exactly as he’s been doing forever, Chuck has leveled up the stakes, taken everything at the core of the narrative and metaphorically brought it from subtext to text.

S15 is playing with the same themes, only there’s no more leveling up after this within Chuck’s story, because he’s dropped the pretense, and the only trick left is to understand what Chuck’s story is, and what THEIR OWN stories are.

Who would they be, and what would they choose for themselves if the cosmic interference really did come to an end. What would the world be like if they truly were free?

And Jack... is at the center of all of it. Chuck needed Jack gone from his story, because Jack is the “cosmic can opener.” On every level-- from character arcs and all of TFW (including Rowena here, because unlike Eileen, she actually has a mirror narrative with Jack, and fandom’s eagerness to just... shove Rowena aside and replace her with Eileen is a particular point of frustration for me here, in case anyone didn’t notice... Like Adam, Eileen’s return has too much “this is a plot device” around it and not enough of “this is true emotional connection with no overarching manipulation” for me to actually trust it yet... there’s no THERE there, and the show isn’t even seemingly attempting to create it... sorry... >.>) and what they’ve learned about themselves from guiding Jack through his entire journey of existence from nephilim to human to soullessness, to the metanarrative level of “controlling the story” the way Chuck can by changing reality itself, to opening portals between worlds.

And right now, as I’m watching 14.07 (and since I know how 14.08 will go as well), with Jack’s first confrontation with the Empty, and Cas’s bargain with the Empty, and everything TFW (yes, AGAIN including Rowena, because this episode will establish her connection to Jack directly) will do to defy death and Death to bring Jack back. They’ll all need to understand the cosmic mechanisms of life and death itself in order to gain the knowledge and understanding to see through Chuck’s final story and free themselves from it.

Heck, I didn’t intend to add this bit, but apparently I am a sucker for punishment, but I need to say this, because apparently it’s too easily forgotten. But SAM is never set up as Rowena’s “son replacement” figure. JACK is. This is her role in JACK’S story. Rowena is set up, throughout 14.07 and later in 14.14 and 14.18, as Sam’s PARTNER in all the ways that Dean and Cas are partnered in parenting Jack. I’ve been hitting myself over the head all season long trying to understand why people failed to see this parallel setup. Why people thought they’d tanked the entire destiel narrative. And I’m wondering if that’s because the people who stopped seeing it... aren’t parents... or perhaps aren’t middle-aged parents of adult children. Because this... is what being in a romantic partnership with a co-parent is like.

You sacrifice a LOT of yourselves and your partnership for your kids. Especially when your kid is... suffering the way Jack has. But if you survive it, if your relationship survives it, coming through the other side of it can bring you so much closer together. And because this is Supernatural, and we’re now in the final season of Supernatural, this sometimes means LITERALLY surviving Death and coming back, having rediscovered what’s truly important.

The direct line Dean has to Michael in 14.07, the connection activated when Rowena says “archangel” and when Sam says “shaman,” is like the Chuck-Lite version of Sam’s s15 connection to Chuck. Cas’s resulting trip to visit Sergei the shaman was entirely arranged by Michael... manipulation and all. Just like Sam’s nearly dying in 15.07 where Sergei again entered the picture and nearly killed Sam... it’s all just another manipulation (that Cas fortunately learned from the last time enough to have leverage this time around).

Rowena on parenthood in 14.07:

Sam: Somebody is sick, all right, but… Listen, I-I don't know how well you got to know our -- our -- our friend Jack with everything that was going on when you were here, but we've sort of been taking care of him, and, uh, he's, um… Lucifer's son. Rowena: Goodbye. Sam: No, no, no. Stop, stop. He's a great kid. His mother was a fantastic human being, a-a-and he wanted nothing to do with Lucifer, w-who is dead, as you know. Rowena: I hope he's rotting. Sam: Yes, but Lucifer stole Jack's grace, so he's powerless now, and -- and something's going on with him, and he might die. Rowena: Oh, splendid! The sooner the better! From what I know of the father, the world will be better off without the son. Jack: You might be right. We're all still figuring that out. I'm Jack. And I know people have a lot of strong feelings about my father, but I'm --I'm trying hard not to be like him. Sam and Dean, they -- they say such nice things about you. Rowena: They do? Jack: You saved all of us -- from Apocalypse World. Rowena: Well, that's true. Jack: So, before you go, I -- I just wanted to say...thank you.

And, boom. She and Sam are co-parenting now. She never again questions or doubts in Jack. That’s all it took to win her over.

and from the same episode, Cas on parenthood (because parallels are nice):

Castiel: If this "Sergei" has anything even remotely useful to offer, I'll call. Sam: Yo, Cas, wait. Are you sure you wanna handle this alone? Cas: I, uh… I feel the need to do something. And I think Dean's right. We can't afford to overlook any possibility. He seems to be taking this particularly hard. Sam: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, he -- he, uh, was pretty rough on Jack at the beginning, and...I don't think he's forgotten. And I know he hasn't forgiven himself. You know, he's lost people, we've all lost people, but, um… Cas: This feels different. Losing, um...a son...feels different.

and in turn, it’s always been Jack teaching them what’s truly important, reevaluating what his own definition of “paradise” could be:

Dean: Well, bait and beer. You are a cheap date. This certainly isn't Tahiti. Jack: You once told me you and your father did the exact same thing. It was your happiest memory of him. Dean: I didn't say that. Jack: It was how you said it. I could tell. I guess my point is that… if I don't make it... The stuff I'd miss -- it wouldn't be things like Tahiti. Or the Taj Mahal. I'd miss more time with you. I'm getting that life isn't all these big, amazing moments. It's time together that matters. Like this. Dean: Well, who'd have thought hanging out with me would make you sentimental? Jack: I've had a good life, Dean.

THIS is what’s truly important. THIS is what TFW (yes, including Rowena) has always fought for. THIS is what they deserve at the end of the story.

This is what they’re fighting for in s15.

#spn 15.08 #spn 14.05 #spn 14.06 #spn 14.07 #spn 14.08 #spn 14.10 #spn 14.03 #spiders georg of the tnt loop #spn 14.04 #why not just throw in all of s14... >.>#s15 meta rewatch #chuck's process #the entire roadmap to s15 is already in the story...#samwitch #destiel #the scheherazade of supernatural #winchester family dynamics #and I'll say it again... if the show is attempting to set up happy saileen endgame they really need to put in some work to make it #not feel like an afterthought... all the cutesy tropes int the universe don't put her into this role in the narrative structure...#and so far everything between her and sam is so incredibly strained... they're NOT communicating #their agreement was basically 'leave me alone to do my thing and i'll tell you if i need you'#not 'we agree to communicate openly about everything'#and the fact sam seems bitter about it isn't helping either #how tf is that romantic at all?

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