[Meta] The Good, The Evil, and The AntiChrist: A Meta Grab Bag (04.01-centric)

[clex_monkie89]

Okay, so. This is some of the meta I (and others) came up with while watching the premiere. Have a little less than 3k of misc meta.

The Good, The Evil, and The AntiChrist: A Meta Grab Bag (04.01-centric)

- Sam wearing Dean's amulet. I have so much fucking love for this. First is the part where as far back as Skin we've known that this is basically Dean's most prized possession (his girl doesn't count as a possession because she's his girl). And then in A Very Supernatural Christmas we find out that Sammy gave it to him, that it came from Bobby and that is was meant for John way back. Not only does it likely have at least some kind of small power, but it's the very real symbol of just how much Sam loves Dean. Fuck matching rings in fic, fuck matching tattoos—in fic or canon—that amulet right there is all Dean needs to remember just how much he means to Sam.

And the fact that Sam kept it? Makes me so happy. Sam didn't toss it and couldn't make himself bury it with Dean, and that was clearly not because he thought Dean wasn't coming back or anything, but likely because he needed Dean close to him. And since Dean's leather doesn't fit and the car just doesn't feel right it'd have to be the amulet.

I mean. Sam kept that amulet. Not in his pocket, not in his bag, but around his neck. Under his shirt and close to his heart because that was one of his big brother's most meaningful things and it's nearly all he has left of him anymore.

- Sam's powers. Holy shit, dude. Okay, so are these powers from The Special Children or, like, newly inherited ones or something? Remember, Ava started out with visions and then managed to summon demons. Andy went from whammying people to forcing images in their brains, Voodoo Jake went from superstrength to snaking Andy's persuasion, Ansem going from speaking The Word (ala Jesse Custer) to apparently just being able to think things at people and make them do it. Hell, Sam even managed to move a dresser once, snaking a little bit of Max's power.

I think this is a mutation of his original power, somehow. Ava has similar visions, was arguably evil, and could summon demons to her without them killing her. Sam had the visions, is actively not evil, and can force demons out of their hosts. It's clearly still a fairly new power, though. Not because the waitress last night was dead afterward, because she could've been "dead" before they even met, but because the way Sam said, "Damn," after checking her pulse clearly states that Sam's done this before and lost the person being possessed then, too.

This seems to me that it means each kid didn't get one power and one power only, but that each of them developed one from their large pool. Basically, that they all have the ability to use the powers any one of them may have, but that, like with walking, speaking and so many other things, that it has to be learned over time.

I mean, really. Being able to exorcise a demon with your mind? How is that bad to anyone but demons? And the hosts that Sam hasn't quite got the hang of saving yet, of course.

- No demon would make a deal with Sam. The question is whether they wouldn't make the deal because they know the Winchesters and know that it would likely end in their death or whether they wouldn't make it because, say, Lilith wouldn't allow it. Maybe it just plain old was impossible. Maybe you can't trade a soul for one already damned, and I know that the CRD suggested a trade for John back in Crossroad Blues, but John's deal wasn't a contract, it was, "Fine, I'll stop fighting and go quietly, just fix my boy first and let me say goodbye to them."

Or, maybe, the couldn't because Dean was already tagged by the other guys? It's just a curious thought.

- I think I speak for a small portion of the fandom when I say that I am seriously hoping Kripke isn't going to try and pit Sam against Dean. I'm actually a little scared for it, because I love my show, but if Dean were to actually take up arms against Sam... That's when it would stop being my show. I mean, that's not Dean. Season two anyone?

Remember back in Hunted when we found out that John told Dean to save Sam or kill him? Remember all those fics about how Dean would kill himself right behind Sam if he ever managed it? Remember Croatoan when Dean locked himself in a room with what he thought was an infected Sam, content to die right there with his baby brother? Remember his fucking horror at Gordon when he said he killed his sister after she became a vampire? Remember the entirety of Born Under a Bad Sign? How about the AHBLs?

Dean Winchester not only would never kill Sam, but the entire reason he died and went to Hell in the first place was because he couldn't bear the thought of a world without Sam in it. If Kripke were to pit Dean against Sam as good versus evil, not only would he break characterization, but all of season two and the basis of season three would retroactively become completely and utterly worthless.

That one started out as to why I wouldn't like it, but ended up being why I don't think it'll happen.

Also, it seems to obvious that that's what's going to happen and Kripke likes to fake us out with anvils. Jo and all the anvils about her being John's daughter, then flipping that, all those hints that Sam might be half YED, then flipping that too. All that stuff about saving Dean and then sending him to Hell. It looks so obvious that Kripke's gonna pit Dean against Sam, so clearly that's not what's going to happen.

- I'm don't like the boys lying to each other so much now, either. I mean, last season they were telling each other things, closer than ever. And now they aren't. That makes me really sad. I guess I get why, though. Dean rightly knows that Sam would have a shitfit if he knew that Dean had planned on summoning what he thought was a mega-evil murdering demon. And Sam. Sam's afraid. Dean's not comfortable with Sam's "freaky powers," and never has been. Not to mention his accusation at Sam about possibly tapping into his inner evil to drag Dean out.

Sam's trying to learn his powers, trying to get them working how he wants so that he can do his job better, but Dean's got a knee-jerk fear of them because of where they come from and the way every other kid who had them has ended up. Andy was the only one who didn't go some level of batshit, and he ended up dead. It doesn't actually bode all that well for Sam, and Dean's overprotective at his weakest times.

And Ruby? Kind of self-explanatory.

But, still. I'm hoping this isn't going to be a trend, because I really, really liked Sam and Dean being honest with each other; in part because they're basically the only people in the world they can be honest with and in part because I like them when they're that close with each other.

- Bobby was drinking because Dean was dead and Sammy wasn't talking to him and those boys are as close to his sons as they can be without sharing blood or legal paperwork.

And, also, I love how Sam made two references to John&mdasha Vietnam vet who watched his wife burn to death in front of him and his littlest boy—possibly getting drunk growing up and half of fandom starts going on and on about what a drunk he is an how he's a horrible father and a bad person and molests his boys and kicks puppies, but Bobby's got enough empty bottles around that Dean comments on them and no one says a bad word.

This is not to say that I don't love Bobby, because I do, but I just find that double-standard interesting. If you subscribe to the thought that John was a bad father then wouldn't you have to realize that Bobby—who once pulled a shotgun on John—let these small little boys he knew stay with that bad father?

But I love Bobby, and I love that these two boys, who he has known since there were tiny and small and still had so much innocence in them (even Dean), break him so hard that he starts drinking. Sam and Dean are, no doubt, like children to him, and Dean died and then Sam vanished, changed his number, stopped calling, broke all contact. And that hurt him so bad—hurt this veteran hunter who has seen death all around him and had to kill his own wife and lost countless friends, resorted to drinking.

- Dean's raspy voice when he came back? That was fucking hot. And awesome, because that body hasn't made a noise in four months. The vocal cords are rusty. Strained and dry, unused and the fact that Dean's voice was scratchy, deeper, cracking like way back in season one when Jensen was still trying to find the right timbre.

- Dean's grave. And that sad, sad cross, just pieced together, rough and haphazard, like Sam just wanted to get it over with, just needed something there to warn other—because there is no way he would ever forget exactly where in that former forest Dean was.

And Sam not letting Bobby burn Dean, not being able to let him go even though that's what they did with John and that's how warriors Winchesters warriors Winchesters go. It breaks my fucking heart. I cracked and watched the first five minutes from the ComicCon panel back when it went up, and I'd been pouting and bitching for a while, wondering why the hell Sam had buried Dean and why Sam of all people wouldn't fucking burn Dean.

And it's just. It's so obvious, Bobby wanted to. Bobby wanted to salt and burn Dean, wanted to put him on the pyre, but Sam wouldn't have it. Would rather risk Dean's angry, vengeful, hate-filled spirit come back and have to deal with that than admit that Dean was gone and Sam wasn't going to get him back.

- "When I saw the clip of this earlier I was kinda hoping that it wasn't Dean coming back, that it was him stuck in limbo or his own Hell again or something."

I said that in the opening of my recap/play-by-play of Lazarus Rising, talking about those first few minutes from ComicCon.

I thought it was a really anticlimatic way to bring Dean back. I thought it was lame, and boring, and a cheap cop-out, and I was really, really, really hoping that it would turn out to be a Sisyfus kind of thing, Dean waking up to nothing an no one, trying desperately to find people, finally finding Sam and then waking up in his coffin all over again.

Keep in mind that this was back when I saw the clip and not the whole episode. I still kinda totally wish that that wasn't Dean coming back, but I must admit, it was cooler than I thought it would be.

- kroki_refur's recap mentioned this, "HI, DEAN! OMG, HIIII! Wow, you look like you’re having a couple of issues there. It’s OK, though, if Buffy can fight her way out of her own grave, I’m sure you can too! Especially since, apparently, Sam buried you in a pretty flimsy pine box and then has come back every now and then to aerate the soil and make sure it doesn’t get too compacted or whatever. Very thoughtful of him!"

And it occurred to me that that is something I can totally see.

Digging and redigging Dean's grave, cleaning out the bugs, all that horrifically sad and so mind-numbingly fucked up shit. He probably wouldn't actually do anything to the body,wouldn't be able to make himself touch it or even look at it too closely, but he'd salt along the casket, wet the dirt with holy water when he reshovels it (just in case, because there are things and people out there who don't like Winchesters, and lots of old things that say you can control people with their names, with parts of them like hair and nails and so on).

I bet he wanted to bury him shallower at first, but Bobby wouldn't let him because bears and wild dogs and other animals could come and get him because they smell fresh (rotting) meat.

- Sara poked me.

Quoted, with permission, from a locked post by unperfectwolf:
"So a lot of people seem to think Sam is a demon or evil and there will be a Dean-Sam show do of good vs evil but I don't think so.

Sam was so strategically not around when the angel spoke. I think that HE can hear the angel, and he is really good and the demons don't know, just thought since YED was on him he was evil or some such.

Also, Mary = angel maybe? we shall see."

Now, see, I really like this idea right here, and not just because we came up with it together.

The first part, with Sammy strategically not being there, was all Steve (unperfectwolf). And then I started keymashing and making noises about Mary and at that point the hive mind kicked in and it all kind of mushed together.

Ever since All Hell Breaks Loose we as a fandom have been wondering exactly how Mary knew YED, and since The Kids Are Alright we've been wondering about Mary in general. My person idea, and a few other people's idea too, I'm sure, was that Mary was a Special Child too, from her generation. I know others have thought maybe she made some kind of deal with YED or was a Malleus Maleficarum-style witch and so on. But what if that's not it at all?

I've seen a few fics here and there that toy with the idea of Mary having been an angel (Meanwhile, Back At The Ranch by trollprincess is the first one that comes to my mind) but not many people actually seem to be contemplating it as a serious option for Mary, which makes sense since we've never seen hide nor hair of one before (that we know of). But what if she is? What if that's how she knew YED, if that's why everyone she's ever even met is gone?

Think about that, then Sam would be half angel, with some demon blood and powers thrown in there. I think that would be enough to scar Lilith. Also, that would make Dean half angel too, which would also help explain why Aziraphale (yes, I know that's not his name but I've decided that's who he is so I'm going to keep calling him that) would have assumed/thought that Dean would be able to bear hearing his voice.

The question then would be what way Mary was an angel. Did she chose to be human, maybe see John and fall in love? Or was Mary's body a willing vessel for an angel? And if that's the case, for how long was she willing? Was it just the conception? Was it for the marriage? Longer? Was she already... inhabited when John met her?

- Re: Everyone and their cousin being mad at Dean for hitting slapping the demon!waitress.

That just annoys me. It encourages bad characterization. Like fic with Dean being trapped by she!demons and not hitting them because John told them never to hit a woman or some shit like that. Dean being all overly caring about random chicks (when he both cares too much and not at all about everyone already).

Sam and Dean having more, "WYMEN POWER, DEAN" "SKANKY SKANKS WITH EXTRA SKANK BITS," fights where Dean is horrible and disrespectful to women and treats them like crap and sex objects.

Now, I'm not saying that I love Dean hitting girls all the time. I'm just saying to take it up with the writer. Dean hitting a lot of female demons and hardly any male ones is because the writers (and network) really like eye candy and figure the boys who watch want something more hetero to look at in between plot. It's not because Dean hates women and just wants and excuse to hurt them. He stomps the shit out of the guys trying to kill him just as hard as he does the girls.

I don't actually have anything to say on the misogyny or lack thereof, because I'm smart enough to know when I don't know shit, I'm just saying that calling Dean mean or prejudiced for hitting a demon in a meatsuit with tits isn't right. Call it on the writers, dudes.

Also? Now I want a fic where the demons keep possessing women because they think they'll sneak by the boys easier or not be hit as fast or something.

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PLEASE people, no spoilers for future episodes in the comments, don't make me start cutting bitches.

I apologize in advance, if you leave a comment on this and it takes me an inordinate amount of time to respond. Well. I'm nototrious for how bad I am at commenting, especially in meta posts.