#leo webb

the El Sol sign in the cold open. the flirty waitress who dean doesn’t have to commit to flirting back with. the “texas impalas” sign in the bar. the fact that the bar is called “Swayze’s”. LEE??? there’s obviously speculation behind that one, and as appealing as that does sound, it just doesn’t quite fit right -it’s too convenient. dean hasn’t seen him in fifteen years, why should he suddenly crop back up with a country-themed karaoke bar? when dean’s working a case alone? when he’s ‘coincidentally’ out of reach of the bunker, specifically because the first thing he’s asked to do upon entry of lee’s bar is put his phone in a basket. cas calls over and over about sam’s worsening condition, and dean can’t be reached - he’s too busy witnessing his own ideal future displayed out in front of him, eerily similar to the one michael traps him in in season 14. 

Here we have a man from dean’s past, a real man’s man who’s successfully left the life of hunting (”Aw, come on, who’s gonna kill the bad guys?” “Somebody else”) and now honestly and unapolagetically owns a country karaoke bar. this is exactly how dean wants to see himself. but it’s also this fucked up ‘lesson’ about how you can never really leave, because it’s supposed to be this huge miracle that lee successfully left hunting, something that’s too good to be true, and of course, it is. dean spends asking half the episode asking lee if he regrets leaving the life, and lee enthusiastically tells him how wonderful it is, only to end up being the villain of the week and then dying at dean’s own hand. the whole thing just reeks of a divine-intervention setup - sort of like 5x04 or the bar in michael!dean’s head, and the hard truth is that lee had probably been long dead by the time this all happened.

Hear me out - Dean Winchester is 17. He's been with girls, but he's also been with boys. However he knows which one he can talk about and which one he can never mention to his father. Has heard how he and other hunters they've come across spoke about people like him. How little they care for them.

Which means a lot of hunts are passed over because the victims are queer. Which makes Dean angry. All these innocent people, a lot of them poor kids, getting killed and no one is willing to say 'enough is enough'. He would, but knows his dad will never let him.

John Winchester doesn't seem like he would listen to Dean if he said, outright, let me go on this hunt. Too suspicious. Might make him ask questions he won't like the answer to. However, he is someone who will go along with a plan if he was the one who came up with it. So Dean incepts the idea that he should go on this hunt by himself, passively. Until finally John gets the idea that this would be a perfect first solo hunt for Dean and lets him go.

Especially because it's so innocuous. Dean found the perfect first case, the ghosts of two dead nuns who were also lovers. Victims in their own way, never getting the chance to love freely, chained to the Earth, their suffering continuing.

It goes easy, maybe the nuns recognize how alike they are to him. Only they can move on and forget all their pain after he burns their corpses. Meanwhile Dean has to go back and smile when his dad makes jokes about those nuns who loved each other. Sacrilege to their union. His mouth tastes like dust as he joins in, covering his tracks.

After this, Dean tries again and again, and gets to go on more hunts by himself. Until all of his solo hunts are queer in origin. Dean one of the only hunters, if not the only one, who willingly takes these cases.

He feels free. There's a boy who helps him on a case, who doesn't bat an eye when Dean tells him who the victim was. Or when their hands meet on the stick shift of Dean's car. It's almost perfect.

Almost.

Dad hasn't called in a long while. He should be happy, but he's the only family he has left. Except for a certain lawboy out west, who might not take kindly to seeing him again. But he has to.

LEO Webb