im a really big fan of supernatural's 'dean was raped' allegory with the darkness but im specifically fascinated by the route they take with how it affects his and sam's relationship. his conversation with sam/the advice sam gives him at the end of 11.13 is essentially the, "dean. you were raped and that is not your fault. i've been down this road before and ive had to learn that i am the victim and it was not my fault," victim to victim talk. sam begging him realise the power imbalance, dean's inherent lack of choice in the matter, sam's explicit removal of blame and judgement, his reminder to dean that guilt will get him nowhere because there is nothing to be guilty about. dean's acknowledgment that she's groomed him into complicity and sam's willing shouldering of the responsibility dean does not have the ability to hold onto when it it comes to amara. for a guy who goes out of his way to memorise the scents and appearances of every date drug, the fact that his most apparent sexual assault allegory comes in the form of the mark of cain — as a metaphor of addiction and relapse, the eternality of it — followed by the facilitator(?) (origin) of the mark — amara — as the accumulation of it. addiction as grooming and amara as the assault. and this is also within the same season that lucifer is freed from the cage: sam's abuser, the original enabler (lucifer -> azazel) of the demon blood in his system, something that would later fuel an addiction (also caused by someone with more power than him (ruby))
what a fucking shot. i love the implications of sam, even this far into his life and his career as a hunter, still considering the possibility of a life away from hunting while knowing that it'll always be apart of him (and make him happy in some capacity). the baggage he's carrying nourishment (motivation) for his current life. the amount of trauma he holds that influences both ideas of staying with hunting and getting out of it. the implication of dean and jody together in the back; two people a little bit too comfortable because they don't know what the hell else they'd be doing vs the characters in the foreground that keep them tied to the life that they do have. the episode title 'don't you forget about me' possibly referencing the breakfast club, in which people who are so different find solidarity in that difference and acknowledge the uncaring world with the love they hold for their own lives. insane ghost show
jared padalecki's performance while talking to lucifer in the cage in 11.09 is SO FUCKING GOOD. sam sounds terrified but his voice is soft and measured and his dynamic with lucifer and their conversation is so familiar and kind of intimate. god it makes my skin crawl
I’ve always wanted to go to a house party like you see in movies but I never found out about any. Was too busy in the monastery where I was trained to kill
sam as a character is like: here’s a person who has been victimized since actual infancy! let’s stick them in a meat grinder for 300+ episodes and then have the people closest to them pop in intermittently to assure them that it’s their fault they’re in the meat grinder bc they’re defective. technically they have the ability to wrench themself free and salvage what’s left of their body - the door is open - however it’s the reminders that keep them there. being slowly and painfully chewed up is their penance bc again, they are defective, and that is a sin punishable by death <3