like we talk a lot about the camera making sweet gazey objectifying love to Dean Winchester (as we should), but this is the first time we see what's become of John since the cliffhanger at the end of the previous episode and they made the deliberate choice to have the camera fuck him nasty. single most blatant shot of sexualized vulnerability in an episode that's wall-to-wall violation horror.
and it IS the midpoint pivot of the entire episode, the transition between John as the looming figure of an absent, demanding patriarch vs. John as demonic tormentor and implement used to flog his family. in general he is not presented as a particularly vulnerable character except at moments of great crisis, and this is one of them: brought low in order to pass from one position of power to an even more terrifying one.
and it's not just the camera, it's in-universe: he's been laid out like this for his sons to find. i mean, those minion demons could've left him locked in a closet or tied to a chair or even cuffed to the headboard, but no. spread-eagle on grimy sheets using what look to be under-bed bondage restraints. a deliberate taunt, a seedy wink at a psychic rape that's already taken place. because at this point he's already possessed; he's bait; the episode title may refer on the surface to a literal plot device, but figuratively speaking, this is the real "devil's trap."
tangentwithtanner
yousharknotpass
snowghoul
origamiaround
areudirty
janainaart
prguitarman
