#14x10 nihilism

[emeraldsummers]

Thinking about Dean's happy mind place in 14x10 Nihilism.

Specifically talking about this conversation he has with his own subconscious:

Dean's flirting with women is purely habit at this point, something he likes to do for fun. His whole ladies man persona had been a schtict for years at this point and I love that it's being called out.

His subconscious knows he wants someone else, but he's pushing it down. Thinks he can't have it anyways. But that's okay, he's content with flirting and having a friend. And that's the word they use: contentment. It's not bliss, but it's enough.

I find it especially interesting that he sees Pamela in his mind. She's "neutral" in that she was not someone he considered family (i.e. Charlie) but she was also never a love interest, and she also isn't really someone Dean holds regrets about.

His contentment is a platonic female friend, a business of his own, and knowing that Sam and Cas will be home soon.

#spn meta #i mean not really just a random stream of thoughts lol i just love when dream sequences are done WELL #like PLEASE use those to give me character study #dean winchester #supernatural #spn #spn 14x10 #spn nihilism #destiel #destiel meta #14x10 nihilism #pamela barnes

[winchestress]

#supernatural #dean winchester #spn rewatch #14x10 #deanedit #nihilism #spnedit

[sucksesful-user]

can we talk about spn 14x10 for a second where Cas and Sam figure out that Dean has had so much trauma that he has fought through, and successfully fought through it against Michael, that Michael would put him in "something he's never had before- contentment"?? how fucking traumatizing is that?? that Dean has had so little happiness Michael uses it to keep him trapped in his own mind?? oh my god??

#supernatural #jensen ackles #dean winchester #misha collins #castiel #jared padalecki #sam winchester #team free will #i am not normal about this show #spn 14x10 #nihilism

[soullessjack]

we don’t appreciate jacks sense of humor like at all

#cal.txt #spn #spn 14x10 #supernatural #nihilism #jack kline #spn scripts #spn season 14 #i love him so so much but we already knew this #sorry I’m thinking about this episode because of his Christmas jacket … #he’s just so. #he is so so special okay

[arcanespillo]

in the end it’s always about you and your father huh

#nihilism #14x10 #dean winchester #castiel #misha collins #jensen ackles #spn #spn screencaps #screenshots #supernatural

[shallowstories]

Dean/Cas + Love is blind

Pamela in 14x10 Nihilism represents guilt

(Cas is in Dean's life at the expense of others)

But she also represents not being able to really see Cas

(And now that there's an angel hurling Dean into the depths of his own mine, he's FORCED to look at what that means)

(Cas did this to someone)

(Dean's been playing house all this time and--)

(--and he's staying willfully blind to what Cas is on account of being in love with him)

(He's not human he's not human he did this to someone too oh god oh no)

#spn nihilism #spn 14x10 #dean + blindness #character notes #character ideas #theme ideas #cas + domination of humans #dean & michael #dean/cas + mutual undeserving #spn + living at the expense of others #dean/cas + guilt #spn + guilt #freeform

[xofemeraldstars]

SUPERNATURAL 14x10 ❝ nihilism ❞

#spncreatorsdaily #spndaily #spnedit #supernaturaledit #cowboycoven #emeraldcas #chapeldean #deancaskiss #userda #da.tags #tusersana #altarofrowena #justcastiel #anztag #kedits #michael!dean #castiel #spn #spn 14x10 #filmtvcentral #EVEN GOD CAN DIE

[bvtchcas]

season 14

#tag list #14x01: stranger in a strange land #14x02: gods and monsters #14x03: the scar #14x04: mint condition #14x05: nightmare logic #14x06: optimism #14x07: unhuman nature #14x08: byzantium #14x09: the spear #14x10: nihilism #14x11: damaged goods #14x12: prophet and loss #14x13: lebanon #14x14: ouroboros #14x15: peace of mind #14x16: don't go in the woods #14x17: game night #14x18: absence #14x19: jack in the box #14x20: moriah

[drchucktingle]

i am still getting to know way of TUMBLR so thank you for kindness and patience. old chuck just barely understands the way buckaroos trot around here (do be honest i barely understand what THIS means but i THINK i know what is going on so here goes)

anyway last gif was apparently from this GIF SET so i am going to try and give credit here to buckaroo KYA

okay i think i am doing this right LOVE IS REAL

#tingleverse #buckaroo lifestyle #supernatural

[winchestress]

#offensive!! #supernatural #dean winchester #spn rewatch #14x10 #spnedit #nihilism

[seasononesam]

Stackednatural- 151/327

Nihilism (14x10) January 17th, 2009

#supernatural #spn #sam winchester #cas #castiel #spnedit #supernaturaledit #stackednatural23 #* #oh you too you're gonna hurt me too

[shallowseeker]

Pamela is not just a complex stand-in for Dean's desires in 14x10, she sometimes speaks for him. AS HIM.

When Sam & Cas get into the Michael illusions, Dean immediately handles the, uh. IPA beer.

Ahem.

He looks strangely shy here, busying his hands, having something to do, eyes downcast. He flicks his eyes up lightning-quick towards Cas, but only for a second.

///

He's acting a little...weird. Fidgety. Looking away-ey. Keeping busy-ey.

Enter Pamela, animated, coming right up to them.

At the beginning of the episode perhaps she represented the stand-in for Dean's not!partner, but now she's a stand-in for Dean's words and his emotions:

PAMELA: "Cas! Sam!"

TO SAM: I'm glad you're back safe. S'startin' to worry. (snap) Don't tell Dean.

TURNING, more flirtatiously towards Cas and with the SAME Dean-air of weird bashfulness:

PAMELA (becoming more breathless, more bashful and strange): He'll...(odd pause, steps closer)...(shakes her head weird) use it against me (giggling, touching Cas's left shoulder).

Dean is oddly unanimated in the BG, 'cause Pamela is moving in his stead.

What's she saying though? What's the coded message?

"Don't TELL (HIM). HE'LL USE IT AGAINST ME."

This is Dean, trying desperately to keep a wall of what he loves away from Michael. Dean's mind is steely, locked down, but he's fighting hard to keep his true feelings as locked down and he can make them.

(Perhaps he's even been successful hiding some of his feelings from Michael?)

NOTE: Pamela and Dean both have dishrags. Pamela: animated, Dean: unanimated. They're one-to-one here.

Next:

DEAN: Hey, what're you guys waitin' for?

Now that Pamela's "gone more neutral," Dean's the one who's animated. (And they'll trade back and forth for the rest of the scene.)

SAM: (frustrated) None of this is real. This bar, Pamela-- PAMELA: Scuse me? You've never met someone more real than me, Sam Winchester.

Dean going silent, pointing at her like it's her cue to talk.

CAS: You're just a complex manifestation of Dan's memories designed to distract him.

Pamela turns to DEAN, not reacting to Cas, but ...almost like she's...waiting on words. And Dean almost like he's...thinking of words to say for both of them.

The whole thing is easily interpreted as Dean simply considering Cas's words. But a more fun interpretation? Pamela talking FOR Dean.

His eyebrows do the jumpy thing they do when he thinks of something flirty and "wowza" to say, he opens his mouth and--

PAMELA (looking Cas up and down): You really know how to talk to a lady, dontcha? Cas seems a little taken aback.

///

Why Pamela? There's been so much made of Pamela.

Dean picks Pamela for his illusion because she's a psychic; that's comfortable to him

She's tied up with his first meeting of Cas and angels

Also: He's literally being possessed and suffering the effects of angelic possession. He's probably feeling guilty about Castiel's part in the whole system of possession and angel kills, making his brain reassess everything he know about Castiel.

//

Communicating with Pamela:

He doesn't have to tell her things.

She can read his mind and talk for him. She's a lampshade; she's even visualized near lampshades.

Her dialogue is contrived and odd because they're often Dean's words and emotions and worries, cloaked in the manner and style he remembers of Pamela.

Not only is Pamela safe/psychic/all-knowing, her manner of speaking is outlandish and "free," allowing Dean to direct that energy at...Cas.

///

And there are some other oddities in the scene I really like, too.

When they kill the vampires, Pamela is shooting the "drunk one" in the heart, where Dean had just been standing.

Then Dean beheads "raincoat vampire (name per script)," splattering both Sam's and Cas's necks with blood, as if they've been beheaded, too.

There's some hidden aggression here, I think, especially when paired with Michael's taunts, because although negative feelings don't paint a full picture, they're fleeting...and often a little bit true.

Sam is a burden, as children are, and they leave you. Cas is obligation and he does make mistakes, as spouses are and do.

Dean's understandably a little bitter about it all. He takes the bad with the good, sure. We all do. But AU Michael paints in black-and-white without nuance or 3D shape.

Pamela shooting the drunk vampire in the heart is a nod to that sometimes Dean's feelings go unverbalized as he sacrifices on behalf of others.

That's partially, I think, why his happy place isn't the kitchen or a library or whatever. It's not family or home-grown labor. (He loves laboring for his family, it’s a love language of his fire sure, but this isn't about that. It's about escape.)

This is a small business that he owns and runs; he's sitting at a desk with paperwork!

He's a caretaker finally getting their own thing, even if it's floundering.

///

Pamela turns flirty again, behind the counter with Dean. "You guys got real messy on that ghoul hunt, huh?" And Cas tries to set the records straight. It's not from a hunt. It's from the illustory loop.

Pamela and Dean get silly and ignore Cas and Sam.

SAM: Man, we were there together when she was blinded!

(angel noises)

#meta weirdness #cause i can't sleeeep #spn 14x10 #spn nihilism #nihilism #pamela

[pollsnatural]

#polls #spn #supernatural

[unhinged-jackles]

14x10: Nihilism

Insanely accurate Dean characterization in one singular throw away line that drives me fucking feral

Also if Dean doesn't want Pamela, it begs the question: What does he want that he can't have?

#spn #supernatural #dean winchester #jensen ackles #spn 14x10

[fuckspn]

the thing is there's nothing new for me to say about 14x10 nihilism but i still feel the need to reiterate: dean's canonical happy place is sitting around running a failing bar waiting for his loved ones to come home and flirting with pamela, the psychic from cas' first episode who is wearing a wing necklace and a shirt that says "to hell and back" on it, because he always wants what he can't have. do i have all that right. am i missing anything

#the fuckspn rewatch

[jackexmachina]

Sam & Castiel vs. Dean / Demon!Dean / Michael!Dean Hope is an amazing thing, isn’t it? You had no chance of winning this. None. But you had hope.

image description: scenes from “Point of No Return,” “Soul Survivor,” and “Nihilism”

5x18: Sam stands between Dean and the door to his motel, and tells him, “You know I have to stop you.” Dean sets down his drink and says, “Yeah, well, you can try. Just remember you’re not all hopped up on demon blood this time.” Sam responds, “Yeah, I know. But I brought help.” Dean looks confused for a second, before he spins around to see Castiel has appeared, and Castiel taps his forehead to knock him out.

10x03: Sam has the demon blade to demon!Dean’s throat and Dean says, “Do it. It’s all you.” Dean clenches his jaw and stares him down, as Sam looks conflicted. Sam sighs a little as he lowers the knife, then Dean’s eyes turn black as he smiles, advancing on Sam. But Castiel grabs him from behind to hold him back, saying, “It’s over. Dean, it’s over.” Castiel’s eyes flash blue as Dean struggles and yells.

14x10: Sam, Castiel, and Jack are all on the floor, as Michael!Dean monologues. Sam struggles, pulling out a lighter. Castiel stands up to distract Michael, as he says, “I’ve just destroyed the only weapon that could really hurt me. Thanks for bringing that, by the way.” Michael grabs Castiel, saying, “Don’t interrupt me.” He throws Castiel against a table, then Sam throws a holy-fire molotov cocktail at him. He yells as he burns, then Castiel quickly puts angel handcuffs on him. Castiel backs away as the handcuffs flash, and Sam puts his arm in front of Castiel protectively.

#do you think they practiced for that first scene? like did sam tell castiel when his cue was? bc he nailed it #sam winchester #castiel #dean winchester #demon!dean #michael!dean #sam and cas #sam and dean #dean and cas #sastiel #sastiel adjacent lol #team free will #tfw #5x18 #10x03 #14x10 #*mine