hi, it's me, nice to meet you ..

Misha referred to Emily's children as his "stepkids." Is it common for you Americans to use this term if the couple isn't married yet?

... and look at the antis' comments; Misha was only talking about Dean and Cas' profound bond connection. They saw the title and felt so offended on Jensen's behalf, writing essays about wanting it to be clarified as "platonic bond." 🙄

smh ...

So to address the first part of your message: I personally think it’s possible Misha and Emily are already married and are keeping it quiet (they kept their engagement quiet for months). So who knows? I also think it’s possible they’ll stay engaged for a long time without getting married. 🤷🏻‍♀️

But, yes, it is very common for people who are not married but are in a committed relationship (especially if they’re living together) to refer to each other’s children as their own or their step kids. Emily often just says “our kids” when talking about them and has done so for a while.

Emo Boi running there to trash Jensen makes me want to punch them in the face. Sorry, not sorry. They are pathetic and obnoxious and so desperate for love and attention it really is just sad (and disgusting).

But, yes, asshole Susan rushing to the comments to attack Misha for not adding DEAN IS STRAIGHT when saying Cas and Dean has a profound bond AS STATED IN THE SHOW is really ridiculous. She sounds like a hysterical homophobe.

Within 3 months of my father getting engaged, his partner was already referring to me as her stepdaughter. Personally I hated it for many reasons but yep. It happens

Ive also seen people in long term relationships with their kids refer to them as their kids

When Ruby said she had a spell to knock the demons out of the townspeople, she said she had to cut Nancy’s heart out. While Dean immediately said “No!”, Sam stood quiet. He was fine with it. Mind you, pre-dying Sam would have fought to find another way.

She was uncredited in the episode. I googled, but there's no mention anywhere except here.

In-universe, it certainly looked that way. However, in real life, Eric Kripke had to be pragmatic. While the oft-repeated story about his five-season mythic arc is true, that target sat on the more optimistic end of the spectrum. Initially, he had to dial down his expectations and adjust as the show went along. He originally targeted a three-year arc, which was the industry norm back then; Jeremy Carver was later quoted as having the same target.

Wikipedia and The Futon Critic

Meanwhile, Sera Gamble operated on a two-year plan based on her contract. Andrew Dabb was the lucky one who didn't have to worry about cancellation. By Season 9, CW President Mark Pedowitz stated that Supernatural was virtually guaranteed a renewal as long as viewership stayed steady—and it did, consistently remaining in the network's top three.

From my understanding of the TV industry, when a new season premieres, a show typically has 12 or 13 episodes pitched to the studio, fully plotted, and ready to be filmed as production kicks off. If the network gives a "full-season order," the back half of the episodes goes through the same approval process later on. For Season 3, the 2007–2008 writers' strike disrupted that back-half order. They only had up to episode 12 locked in, which was originally supposed to be "Mystery Spot" before the episode order was switched (more on this below). "Ghostfacers," meanwhile, was written after the strike ended.

When the strike hit, Kripke pivoted. In my opinion, the tentpoles of the story stayed the same, but the pacing of the myth arc was stretched and padded. The core concept of Sam going dark to save Dean was always there, except the original plan was to save Dean before he went to Hell. Because Dean wasn't dragged downstairs in the original draft, the concept of breaking the 66 seals didn't exist yet. The strike robbed them of the narrative momentum needed to show Sam successfully saving his brother, so Kripke abandoned that route and let Dean go to Hell.

Collider

This pivot directly birthed Season 4's angel mythology and the Michael vs. Lucifer conflict. While Sam being Lucifer's vessel was always part of the master plan, the original endgame was simply brother vs. brother, with Dean forced to hunt down and kill a corrupted Sam.

Regarding the episode switch: "Jus in Bello" was originally meant to be episode 11, followed by "Mystery Spot." When the strike made the future uncertain, Kripke flipped the order so the show could end the strike-shortened season run on a high note. Personally, I love this change. The continuity works beautifully: seeing Dean die countless times in "Mystery Spot" leaves Sam hardened and callous. This directly feeds into his darker mindset in "Jus in Bello," where he focuses entirely on the big picture and is willing to sacrifice Nancy Fitzgerald to save the group.

tldr; So, to answer your question and hypothesis: yes, Ruby always intended to help Sam, but her goal was to lure him to the dark side so he could become Lucifer's vessel based on the first 12 episodes. The complex plotline of breaking the seals was simply added to the narrative later—briefly teased when Dean went to hell in the season finale. Ultimately, this works retroactively as both angels and demons wait with bated breath and with excitement for Dean to break the first seal in hell.

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P/S: On your rewatch, pay attention to episode 3.05 Bedtime Stories and 3.09 Malleus Maleficarum. Tammy, the demon witch, said the demon gunning for Sam was a "he." Eric retconned and changed the new leader to Lilith in 3.12 Jus in Bello, quoted in the above Collider article: "We just knew that there was a higher demon. And then, we decided to make her a woman because the first demon was a man. So, these things evolved."

In 3.09, Tammy said, "There's a new leader rising in the west, and he wants you dead."

What I find both interesting and sad, is that his dream consists of Mary being alive, Sam & Jessica engaged, and Dean is living with Carmen. Apparently Dean works at a garage (I don’t get the impression he owns it or manages it). While he has a happy life picked out for Sam, his own life seems…. stilted.

He sees himself as a mechanic, not an owner. He sees himself with a girl he thinks is too good for him. In the dream he asks her how did her end up with such a cool chick and she responds “I have very low standards”. Those are her words, but it’s his subconscious. And he sees himself (subconsciously) as the family fuck up with a strained relationship with Sam. it also shines a light on the fact that without hunting, he and Sam have nothing in common. Which brings me back to something I believe and have mentioned before, that Dean and Sam don’t actually like each other. They love each other as brothers, because they’re family, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they like each other or would be friends if it wasn’t for being a hunting family.

Eric's commentary is always very good; you learned a lot. Off the top of my head for this one:

the idea was from a Buffy episode.

his idea about Dean as a loser was far worse than this one.

he got a lot of pushback from other writers. Their point was why Dean would want to stay then. The remaining ones left were the ones on which he put his foot down. He said that if everything is fine, it will be a boring episode of television.

he even got pushback from J2 about the lack of a bond between the brothers.

I think there was one part where I cringed: how he understood why people saw winc*st subtext—just ugh.

the djinn actor was great; he allowed the tattoos (henna? I think) on his body for the whole duration of filming, but it caused him a bit of trouble in his day-to-day life.

studio wanted sex scenes between Dean and Carmen; Eric said no.

The fact that misha sent this to a magazine to publish,crazy

...but such a hot photo...

I don’t know that he was the one that sent the photos in, but who knows.

This is the article.

Below that photo (image #11), this is the caption.

Is that about cockles???????? Or am I completely wrong? 😶

Well damn.

The item is definitely about Cockles. I have no idea if true or not but, hey to me it sounds absolutely plausible.

I was entertained by the first comment on the entry:

Damn, they got big mad real quick

Dean and John are the only two characters who are ever ever ever confirmed as experiencing time dilation in hell. Adam spent ten years per a sentence from Michael, multiple characters confirm that Sam only spent a year in the pit, and if time dilation happened to other characters Crowley would be much older than he actually says he is and whenever the Winchesters pop into hell for something it would be used as a plot point (ex: when the Winchesters were apparently running "out of time" on the second trial. That wouldn't be an issue if hell had time dilation).

Anyway, Dean is the only character who verbally confirms that there was time dilation. Alastair does say that John also experienced it, but (for numerous reasons that would be a whole different post) I think he was lying. It would also make much more sense that Dean specifically had to experience time dilation during his time in hell because Heaven/Hell were on a tight timeline and needed Dean to break and they needed him to break quickly.

It's Dean grieving so much, in a way he never grieved for familial figures like Bobby or John—there is enough pain inside him that it shattered his belief that what he and Sam did was right, as hunters protecting the common folk. When, in times of multiple Armageddon-level crises and then some, that belief is what held him together. Because hey, we may have lost people (so, so, so many people) but at least it was for the greater good.

None of that, absolutely none of that, because this loss made him feel that the job wasn't worth it anymore. This was where he drew the line.

It's Dean, literally gaining back that light in his life when Castiel called.

And, at the end of the episode, there are slow, dramatic close-ups between Dean and Castiel. Because Sam's grief wasn't the same as Dean's, so Sam's relief at finally having Cas again is different from Dean's.

This moment belongs to them. To Dean, who's finally finding his faith again.

12x10

///

ARE YOU FREAKING SERIOUS RIGHT NOW

All the shit we shippers have gotten for “reading too much into stuff” and we have PROOF that we’re not just making crap up

This is very very important to Destiel shippers

Guys, I’m serious, I really really think Destiel is going to become canon in the season finale. This bit of information Jared’s let slip aside, this season has included so many hints at Destiel: 

1: The title card (I’ve mentioned this several times already but I’ll say it again) shows blue-white light (angel grace) pushing away black smoke (demon smoke), then moving inward and growing brighter. Watch a gif of the title card and you’ll see the grace sweep out, then recede into the center - as it gets to the middle again, there’s one last spurt of demon smoke. This represents Castiel’s involvement in making Dean a human again, obvs, but when it moves into the center again and pushes out one last puff of black smoke, I think that’s meant to represent healing Dean more completely from the inside. It clears away the taint of demonness first, then moves into Dean and cleanses him completely. That last puff of smoke, to me, is the Mark of Cain; Castiel will play a major part in removing it, I’m sure. My theory goes on about the power of love and how important it is for Dean to love himself and accept love from others, but that’s a long theory that I’ve posted in the past - would take way too long to get into all of it right now!

2: The Executioner’s Song had several Destiel moments. Cain threatens 10% of humanity - Cas doesn’t bat an eye; Cain threatens Dean - Cas loses his mind. Then there’s Cain calling Cas Dean’s “pet angel” and saying his death will hurt something awful. Then Dean gives Cas the First Blade instead of Crowley. Then there’s the pat on the shoulder Dean gives him as he walks away, and the warm smile on Cas’ face as he does it.

3: Paint It Black’s heartbreaking confession was dripping with clues. “There are things, people…feelings that I want to experience differently than I have before. Maybe even for the first time.” There are 2 people Dean cares about, and I really can’t imagine he wants to experience Sam any differently… this one really speaks for itself.

There’s more (lunch date, for one), but you get the idea. This admission of Jared’s is our first proof, solid proof, that Castiel represents a strong romantic connection to Dean. Plus, at the con, Jared said the finale is going to be “traumatic” which caused Jensen to laugh through a drink of water. MY THEORY: the finale shows a Destiel kiss, and Jared describes it as traumatic because he likes to tease the boys and the sight of these two idiots kissing ‘scars him’ so to speak.

I think Angel Heart will feature Castiel’s on-screen admission of romantic feelings for Dean, and My Brother’s Keeper will show them kiss, hold hands, something concrete that shows they’re together.

IT’S HAPPENING GUYS WE’RE ALMOST TO CANON DESTIEL

(I can’t contain my excitement about this)

I've just participated in Steve carlson"s patreon"s zoom.

All the crap we recently saw in the Fandom regarding "watching over me" allegedly (by a certain part of the Fandom) being a song regarding Jensen's friend who died, and all the people policing others, making them to feel BAD only because they interpreted the song finding in it some destiel correlations, is total BULLSHIT.

Steve said clearly and multiple times that the songs are up to interpretation and that both him and Jensen don't put a specific meaning into them.

He said also that obviously the context Jensen lived in (=supernatural) while they wrote volume 1 and 2 contributed to the inspiration (and he specifically mentioned the "ANGELS" word). So even if this sounds like a contradiction, it's not, because inspiration and intrinsic meaning are two different things, so music & lyrics are, again, up to interpretation.

Recording of the zoom was forbidden but here's my two cents.

The “I hope you can hear me” part alone is loaded with so much meaning. He doesn’t know if he’ll ever see Cas again and doesn’t want the last things they said to each other to have been a fight. He wants to make things right.

But he also wants Cas to know how he feels. All of this can be considered selfishly motivated, yes; he’s clearly heartbroken about it.

Dean just never was a man of words; but when communicating with his eyes isn’t an option, you get this.

He started with “of course I forgive you”, but went on to say that he’s sorry that sometimes he gets so angry and can’t stop it.

The speech was both an apology and a forgiveness on his part.

Cas definitely could have been angrier about the Jack aspect, and I agree that should have been addressed too.

But the scene that played out was about mutual forgiveness.

Dean tried to say more when they reunited, and Cas told him he didn’t have to. They hugged so tightly and that was that. They’d forgiven each other and were moving forward together.

Should Cas have demanded more/better overall from Dean? Abso-freakin-lutely.

But Cas accepting Dean’s apology at this point, getting out of purgatory, and working through the rest together is valid.

-

A big fight is never about one thing, but making up starts with an apology like this.

Not addressing the Jack stuff directly in this fight doesn’t mean Cas has just let that go like it’s nothing. It’s something they would work through together, given the time and opportunity to do so.