In the post about cockles, what was the thing that Jensen got fed up about with Sera? Thanks!
Hey Nonnie,
I’m thinking you mean this post from the vault with a compilation of Cockles moments through around 2014? I was so happy to see these again because I had legitimately forgotten about some of them in light of more recent events.Â
The gif from SDCC 2011 where Jensen is frustrated with Sera is from when the moderated asked her how much they could expect to see Castiel this season. Everyone at the table knows full well at that point that Cas dies, supposedly for good, in the first episode of the season. And they. are. pissed. It’s not just Jensen, though he’s a little more obvious about it. This ask actually sent me back to watching the full panel:
This is the link and you can watch another version that’s lower in quality and focusing on the faces of 2 people at a time (mostly J2) in case you want facial reactions. The discussion of Cas starts with the second question–after they ask Jensen about directing his episode–and is about 3 minutes in. It’s painful. You can watch Misha try to figure out how to answer a question about playing a role that he no longer has and that (at this point) had no future on the show. He does an admirable job and even manages to seem somewhat upbeat. Not so J2.Â
The way everyone is sitting at this table isolates Sera and the body language from Jared and Jensen is openly hostile. Jensen especially pushes himself as far away as possible, defensively crosses his arms, leans away, doesn’t make any eye contact. Jared is also pissed and is functionally shielding Misha with his body while he does the first Cas question. Both of them are very protective and Jensen is more than a little hostile. They also both keep egging the audience on in their love for Cas/Misha, as when Jensen shouts “YEAH!” in affirmation of audience shrieks about the character. They want to show Sera what a piss poor decision it was to take Misha away from the fans…and from them. Whatever else you see happening these are some amazing friends. Â
The other end of the table is also deadly silent and still–nary a crack from Mark and Edlund’s body language has him screaming that he wishes he had no part in this…he practically puts his head in his hands. (Edlund did an incredible job of writing Cas and I can only imagine how much it hurt to see him being killed off after all that.)Â
To answer your initial question, his response is to Sera saying fundamentally nothing about whether the audience can expect to see Cas this season. Here’s the whole thing:
Moderator: Sera, it’s a loaded question but I have to ask: how much might we see Castiel in this season? What is his role in the season going on
Sera: You guys don’t really want to know how much you see Castiel or how much you see Misha. Well, Eric, I’m glad you asked. You know, we’ve been getting this question more or less every minute of every day since people started to hear about the change in Castiel. And the reality of this is that we want to tell you everything we can tell you about Misha because we love Misha as much as you do. And we want to tell you everything we can tell you about Castiel because we adore the character, as you do. But, I mean, you saw the cliffhanger; it was very cliffhanger-y. So, we want you to tune in and be anticipatory and we can’t say past what you know–which is that he’s going to be in the first couple of episodes. So, watch those and then bug us about it again and we’ll tell you a little more.
Jensen: Wow, that was really informative. Thank you.
Sera: I’m not answering the question but I’m explaining why I’m not answering the question. Does that help a little?
What’s remarkable about this clip is that Jensen is usually extraordinarily controlled in an interview situations (and, especially early on, also at cons) because he’s a professional who knows how to do PR and knows how vital it is. SDCC is the biggest publicity event they do in terms of numbers and profile. This is fucking it. And he’s shifting around in his chair, rocking it back, chugging water, rubbing his throat, grimacing, shaking his head, flashing the Dimples of Discontent, and actually rolling his eyes at the very end when she responds to what he said. Just. WOW.
Say it’s Cockles or not but that’s a very angry Jensen. And, again, he’s not the only one. Everyone at that table is pissed as fuck at Sera and you can tell because they will not help her out, pick up any slack, make any jokes. And Mark! Let’s talk about Mark. He responds to the question about his role in S7 by saying “Oh! I’m in Season 7! Yes!…Sera, what am I going to be doing?” and she says he’s being disingenuous and that he does know. And then (oh God, I cringe) he says in faux-sincerity, “It’s been an awful lot of fun to see what’s happened thus far and I’m really looking forward to seeing what happens this year.” Yeah, sounds nice. Until you realize that he means, subtextually, “I’m really looking forward to watching you crash and burn without Misha.” You can tell he doesn’t mean it in a happy way because no one cheers or claps.Â
The mood is somber. The whole panel is somber. The audience mood is dampened considerably from the start and the people on that panel aren’t having any fun with it. Jensen barely speaks at all and there’s almost none of the J2M2 clowning that usually goes into these things. And, remember, this is their biggest publicity event of the year. If it sets the tone then it’s little surprise that S7 almost got the show canceled.
I know that’s not your original ask, Nonnie, but I hope it’s ok that I took some time to delve into this. It’s far enough back that I wasn’t watching the show as it aired and that I haven’t reached into the archive for it. But actually in its weird, depressing way this whole panel is a love letter to Misha from everyone there who isn’t Sera. I tend also to focus on Jensen because he’s uncharacteristically, almost unprofessionally, upset but this time the group anger and protectiveness is what struck me. They are all united in hating this bad decision. And since we know it works out–Misha is back, Cas is back, the series continues now TWICE as long as when this panel happened–we can now marvel at it as a piece of fandom (and Cockles) history.
