“dean’s heart is broken and his leg is broken” literally echoes in my head every day. i hadn’t even considered that his broken leg was the physical manifestion of his internal pain before. there are so many great things touched upon and this parallel is just particularly intriguing to me. there’s just so much to unpack here.

i cannot get over the way dean and bobby react to ricardo’s death in the telenovela. it’s just way too similar to the way they react to cas’ death in the prior episode. they were the ones who watched cas die or at least when they thought he was dead in 7x01 and then when he actually did die in 7x02 they were the ones who reacted more strongly than sam did, especially bc they had the context of what had happened in 7x01 right before the leviathan completely took over.

there’s such an unspoken heaviness in the atmosphere as they both solemnly watch the scene play out, ricardo’s lover sobbing and grabbing onto him as he dies in her arms and she begs “you can’t leave me”. much like how dean pleads “don’t make me lose you” right before cas “dies” and dean gets on his knees in front of his unmoving body, grabbing onto him. and the way sam is completely clueless to this all, but dean and bobby are both reliving cas’ death. and i’m sure they both know that that is exactly what they are both thinking about, too.

the expression on dean’s face as he watches ricardo die on screen is very similar - but certainly less pained - to the expression on his face as he watches cas dying. what ricardo’s girlfriend/wife says to her dying beloved is probably very reminiscent of dean’s own internal monologue as he watches cas die. she says, “my love, no, my love, you can't leave me, you can't leave me. no, my love. my love, wake up. you are the only thing i have.”

when bobby first enters the room and sees dean watching tv, looking distressed, he asks what happens and dean responds that ricardo committed suicide. though in the actual telenovela, ricardo (who is actually named byron but i’ll say more about that soon) is killed by the police. there would really be no reason for them to change ricardo’s death to a suicide, except for it wouldn’t hit dean and bobby as hard if it wasn’t a self inflicted death like with cas.

and while less relevant, the name change is still very interesting bc you can hear her call him byron on the tv. although it is hard to hear the audio in general, especially if you’re not a spanish speaker, so maybe they thought no one would really notice. not to get too far away from the main point, i just think it’s very interesting the meaning behind the name ricardo is “powerful leader” considering godstiel. even if it really was just a random name they picked. i just feel like it works too well.

but anyway, back to the suicide aspect and dean’s reaction to it. obviously we know cas believes he deserves to die and kills himself by allowing the leviathan to take him over. and despite it all, dean stays with him until the very last minute, not wanting to leave cas, and not wanting cas to leave him. he tells bobby to leave and find sam, he’ll stay with cas. he still thinks they can fix it somehow. but it’s too late, cas is too far gone. and in true cas fashion, after fucking up and hurting his relationship with dean, his last act before he dies is to try and save dean. and in true dean fashion, dean has hope up until the very last minute that cas can be saved. even after he watches cas get swallowed up and clutches onto cas’ trenchcoat when it washes up on the riverbed, a part of dean still always believes that cas will come back to him.

and while dean is clearly the most torn up about it, cas meant the most to him. like so much to him. bobby is clearly affected, too. and bobby is also the one who sees that dean’s heart is truly broken as he watches him grasping onto cas’ dirty trenchcoat. the only thing he has left of cas. when dean mournfully chastises cas for being so stupid, bobby responds by saying that cas was friends with them and it doesn’t get any dumber than that.

LOL, I'm actually really glad about that. If I could have one piece of my meta spread through fandom, it would be that Cas' interest in bees is not cute.

And of course I'm thinking about this again. I just don't get how anyone could look at end-of-s7 Cas and think any of that was cute, much less think Dean would think it's cute.

Like remember the time Cas took on Sam's Hell trauma? And as a result of that and the guilt he felt for releasing Leviathans and killing thousands of angels, he mentally checked out? And happily would have let Hester beat him to death? Is that really the thing you want to keep calling back to as if it's a nice peaceful time?

And Dean buying Cas, like, honey from a farmers' market, or bee patterned socks is so... disconnected from reality, imo. How would the profound frustration and anger and guilt that Dean felt towards Cas in those episodes translate into anything affectionate? Like what part of that would Dean look back at fondly, when an angel yelled at Dean blaming him for corrupting Cas because there's something inherently wrong with him, or "Nobody cares that you're broken Cas, clean up your mess"?

What bothers me so much is that those episodes were so painful and angsty, like there were parts of them that hurt. The popularity of the bee motif makes me wonder if I'm living in a parallel reality.

I think it's true in every fandom that there's shallow and impressionistic reads of the characters, from which bad fanon results. This is just such an egregious example, I feel like it could only result from 8 years of magnification and exaggeration.

Happy Friendly Friday to you as well! Ooh that's a tough question, but a good one!

For a), I'm gonna go with Tombstone because he's just so adorable here, all happy and excited because he's got Cas back and he gets to geek out about cowboys!!

I also especially like this happy!Dean moment because it demonstrates that he likes to touch things to investigate them/simply because he likes them, that he tends to ramble about his subjects of interest when given opportunity, and that he wants to share his joys with his loved ones. It's also one of those moments where he's so much like an excited little kid that it's both endearing and heart-breaking because it makes one think of the childhood he didn't get to have. especially since he obviously did have many interests but no one to share them with and talk to about, given how socially isolated he was. so it's extra nice when it's later revealed that Cas watched Tombstone with him and that finally, in their own little bubble that consist of just the two of them, Dean has found someone he can share those previously lonely parts of himself with :')

For b), I had to think a lot about what to pick. 15x09 and 15x18 came to mind immediately, and also 14x19, but 12x22 is also immensely personally important to me.

the "I had to be not just a brother, I had to be a father and I had to be a mother. and it wasn't fair. and I couldn't do it." and "I hate you and I love you". and the "Mom, I need you to see me. I need you to really look at me, and see me?" Tears, every time. I'm tearing up just typing this T_T

I know, technically it maybe doesn't quite fit the sad!criteria because there's also relief and the beginning of healing in this moment. so to focus on the sad part, I think when he's crying here it's about finally being able to express all the grief and pain he went through having way too much responsibility heaved on him constantly for all his life. he's basically been going through caretaker burnout for years now, but no one in his life knows how to talk to him about it because they don't understand what it really was/is like for him. plus then there's his struggle with his own identity because he's been defining it through his family for so long ("My name is Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester is my brother, Mary Winchester is my mom, and Castiel is my best friend") and he's been deeply scared his mom would reject him for who he's become - no wonder he's crying while asking her to finally see him for all that he is.

final note on why this scene is a fave - it demonstrates once again how deeply emotionally intelligent and how self-aware Dean is, contrary to popular fanon.

thank you for this lovely ask. unfortunately the minute i read it every single piece of supernatural knowledge i have slid out of my brain and onto the floor and i cannot think of a single one-off character in the entire show's run, let alone one i like.

Hoo boy memories.

The wine grump thing is a cheeky name given to those of us in fandom who are not old enough to be Fandom Olds but not young enough to be Baby Fans.

It all started with a uquiz I made that got MASSIVELY more attention than I ever anticipated, wherein I had people answer questions to determine what fandom age group they fell into (based more on Vibes than actual age). The largest group of quiz results by far were Fandom Wine Aunts, which someone requested be changed to Aunts and Uncles, which then evolved into Grumps because it's gender neutral and also a very accurate descriptor of the general mood among us fandom not-quite-olds.

Up until like a day ago, I'd have answered Victor Henrikson, but today it's gone back to Donna Hanscum.

I've loved Donna from the moment we meet her and with every new episode she appeared in, I was happier and happier to see her. It's not just thar she's a ray of sun shine, it's that she's a shrewd ray of sun shine.

She successfully smiled and joked her way into grumpy Jody's good graces, got Claire all excited to see her and genuinely never fails to make Dean smile everytime they see each other.

Then you have her way of getting people to open up to her, she is genuine yes, but she also has picked her words carefully to not spook the other person.

She figured out that vampires exist basically on her own and took it in stride, saving Sam and Dean's lives with Jody, all while having the time of her life (the grin she has when she saves Dean... absolute perfection, was in love instantly if I hadn't already been). Like it's been hinted enough times that this woman has pure enjoyment for a specific kind of violence (see also the flame thrower she gives Clare or the absolutely nonchalant way she hands Patience a weapon) all while remaining the kindest, sweetest person.