Reached s11 on the spn rewatch… for me, s11 was peak destiel fever dream. This was when I came closest to actually genuinely believing they were gonna do it on the show, because they seemed to be setting it up so purposefully as the logical narrative conclusion.
I see a lot of people in the spn fandom referring to s11 as actually being quite light on destiel/Castiel content, and I sort of get why, but this is the season when dean’s romantic feelings for cas left the subtext and took centre stage in the narrative! Just reflect on this series of events from only a handful of episodes:
In 11x11, Sam and Dean are working a case where the monster is going after people with ‘vulnerable hearts’, shown to be both literal heart defects and metaphorical romance-related problems
In the middle of working this case, Dean has an interaction with ‘Cas’ (unbeknownst to him, it’s Lucifer wearing Cas as a vessel). ‘Cas’ is half-dressed and having an intimate conversation with Dean wherein he asks him if he feels ‘attraction’ to Amara, at which point Dean looks him furtively up and down; ‘Cas’ then places his hand on the opposite shoulder from the one he usually grabs, which appears to clue Dean in that something is off about him
Dean becomes the next target of the monster (the one who goes after those with heart-related illness or romantic heartache… spoiler alert, Dean does not have any heart-related illness…)
The character Mildred takes Dean aside to tell him (and the audience) that she can tell he’s ‘pining’ for someone, and his reaction indicates that he knows what’s she’s talking about; it’s clearly signalled to the audience that Mildred is talking about romantic love and longing
At this point, an audience that is geared towards heterosexual romance might reasonably assume that this is setting up a genuine romantic connection between Dean and Amara, but I would argue that even in isolation, the MORE logical reading of this episode is that Mildred has picked up on Dean’s conflicted romantic feelings for Cas, and his worry over him seeming ‘off’. But even if you were leaning towards the Amara thing…
Two episodes later, in 11x13, a monster that manifests as a person’s ’darkest desire’ shows itself to Dean as Amara; this creature then tells Dean that it can sense his love/desire and that it is ‘cloaked in shame’
At the end of the episode, Dean discusses his feelings about Amara with Sam in what appears to be a completely honest and genuine conversation; he states clearly that he is not in love with her, and that he ONLY feels drawn to her when he’s physically near her, but that otherwise he hates her and wants her dead
So within three episodes, the show has textually established that Dean is romantically in love with someone, PINING for them… and then completely shut down the possibility that the person he’s longing for could be Amara, because they’ve stated categorically that Dean feels nothing but disgust towards her when he’s not in her presence.
So who???? Could Dean???????? Be in love with??????????
Cue the rest of the season telling us loudly that Dean is DISTRAUGHT over Cas being possessed by Lucifer, desperate to get him back, and that his longing for Cas is so strong that it overpowers Amara’s hold on him even when she’s right in front of him. Oh, plus the fact that Cas’s own love for Dean provides a direct connection for Amara to reach Dean (because the ‘connection’ she claimed her and Dean already had was apparently not strong enough). She literally follows Cas’s heart. Where have we heard that phrase before…? Oh yes! Back in 11x11, when Mildred told Dean to follow HIS heart. Hmmm. HMMMMMMM.
