I think I can speak on behalf of the bisexual community here and say that we DO NOT want Dean Winchester to caniacally be bisexual . Let the straights have Dean , we don’t want him .
This is a GREAT gifset. And it drives home the point perfectly. The point Dean made by mentioning Thelma and Luise and saying “We just put it in Drive and go”. And that Sam perfectly understood what Dean meant. Your gifset brings this out very clear. Tank you!
You gave me an excuse to go off, sorry-
I’ve seen other gifsets and screenshots of this scene, of course, and as soon as Dean started talking about “matching outfits” I knew, I knew, that this would cause shipping drama. There have been various, very different takes on this, and most of them were concerned with a) what ship this could possibly be about and, of course, b) what Sam’s reactions meant. Frankly, I’m not concerned with a), because what we can extrapolate from b) makes pretty clear that this isn’t what the scene was concerned with.
Davy Perez wrote this episode, and I would argue, based on this other episodes, that he’s a writer often concerned with the subtleness of grief and mental health. It’s a bit of a subjective interpretation, of course, but it’s similarly clear in last season’s Breakdown, where he was dealing with Sam’s, in that season almost entirely not addressed previously, depression and grieving process. (And, of course, setting the scene for Various & Sundry Villains very well.)
Of course, Mint Condition was very clearly about Dean’s mental health. A lot of the structure was very similar to Advanced Thanatology just a season ago – Dean is seen in his room, struggling with is mental health, Sam suggests a ghost hunt, only the two of them go; but then it appears that Dean is dealing better than he did the previous season, because, y’know, Dean literally killed himself in 13.05, but, oh! Oh! There’s still hints all over 14.04 that Dean really isn’t as okay as it seems at first glance, and it comes to head at the end of the episode, when he subtly, inadvertently expresses that he’s Not Actually Okay. That’s not only obvious by the way Dean looks when he says it (although I’m autistic and Very Bad With Expressions, so I won’t fight anyone on the interpretation of facial expressions)
but even if we just consider what he says: he suggests another pair, but it’s not about Halloween anymore – “we just put it in drive and go” is clearly removed from dressing up for Halloween, even if we don’t consider the implications of that statement within the context of the movie.
The following shot of Sam, of course, reinforces that it’s not about matching costumes anymore, but that it is about the ending of the movie and what Dean is implying with it. All the other shots of Sam are annoyed, but fond – the last one is sombre, and followed by a shot of the Impala driving on into the night.
And, someway, somehow, just like Advanced Thanatology, people have made this obvious theme of Dean being depressed and suicidal about shipping instead.
I’d love it if, one episode, instead of finding out that a now-ghost had been cremated, the body was instead just in this really ridiculous place? Like… maybe they were buried in the country of their birth? Or at the top of their favourite mountain? Maybe they got buried in an avalance and never found? Or maybe they were buried at sea.
… What I’m saying is, we have so many options out there to make life more dificult for the Winchesters. Let’s take them.
“Was he cremated?”
“Uh, actually, no. He had a ton of money and nothing to buy for it, so he ordered his body to be shot into space after he dies.”
So y’all know how jack is always mirroring tfw. I like how he mirrored sam in this ep. He wanted his powers back so badly like cas has his powers. He wanted to fight so badly like how dean fights. In the end he used his intellect like sam. So cool.
If you have eyes, you will be able to see that power dynamics between Sam and Dean are not equal. Yes, they are brothers. But considering last seasons, when the show actually affirms that Dean has more rights to Sam’s body and life than Sam himself (S9, whole Gadreel thing), when it’s very clear that Sam wants so hard to overcome the power dynamic, but when Dean is still domineering Sam like in the 14.03, to be honest, it’s not weird to feel uncomfortable with the scene where Dean’s verbally bashing Sam because he didn’t like Sam’s physical appearance. If they were normal brothers, maybe the scene would have been cute. But their power dynamic is not like that.
Sam showers. He brushes his teeth. He carries on. The bunker’s full of people now, and ignoring his personal hygiene would be rude. They’re all damaged, after all. He’s no more damaged than any of them. He doesn’t have any special right to wallow in his own despair. He owes it to them to keep going, to set an example. To eat and sleep (or lie sleepless in bed but at least he sets a good example, at least it looks like self-care) and shower and change his clothes and keep going. Keep living.
I love this scene in What is and What Should Never Be. Sam making sure Dean is all right once he’s free of the djinn, letting him know that he’s glad they’re together, that he’s glad they are close, unlike in the djinn dreamworld. And more importantly, the part that follows, when Sam tells Dean how strong he is and goes on to reassure him that what they do is worth it when Dean is still so upset about everything they’ve lost.
Dean isn’t entirely reassured, but I love that Sam tries. It’s a beautiful scene.
artherra 