In season 10 in the deep depths of Carver era rock bottom despair, toxic codependency and all the negative themes that needed overcoming, Sam had no one when Dean was a demon, he was desperate and it was painful to watch.
He pushed Cas away (arguably, whatever the reason he and Cas separated) and he had no one. He made bad decisions. He was alone and desperate. Eventually of course, because they had to save Dean plot wise, he and Cas did work together, literally at the 11th hour, saving Sam in the process.
Throughout this time without Dean though, Sam was framed as so alone and it was terribly sad to watch.
Now though?
Now Sam has a family and back up. He has the AU hunters taking on the “normal” workload and he also has them plus specifically Mary, Bobby and Jack all helping him to find Dean.
He has people around him now, looking up to him, people caring about him and people caring about Dean. When Sam goes to meet Kip he has back up of Mary, Bobby, Maggie and Jack and they win, rather than his being trapped by Cole for example in 10×02 when he’s alone and vulnerable.
Sam is no longer completely alone when Dean is away for whatever reason, whether it be negative as it was then and now or importantly potentially positive in the future with Dean’s theme playing over Mary and Bobby’s leaving for a little R&R telling is that this is what Dean strives for.
Sam having others around him for love and support as well as Dean, not being solely reliant on him for this and not being a sad, lonely mess when he’s away but being looked up to, helped and cared about in his own right… I’m so here for that.
it was not only sad to watch in s10, it was scary. and not like the sexy scary of bamf!sam. SCARY scary.
this season is exactly what i had been hoping for. for sam to have others around him that not only help him with hunting and talking about how he’s doing and making sure he takes care of himself, but to keep him grounded. having a team of others to lead and a kid to look after… it gives him something to keep him alive and safe and not going out there, frantically putting his life in danger to save dean.
i want this to continue. PLEASE let it continue, writers.
2014!CASTIEL I think it had something to do with the other angels leaving. But when they bailed, my mojo just kind of— psshhew!—drained away. And now, you know, I’m practically human. I mean, Dean, I’m all but useless. Last year, broke my foot, laid up for two months.
I’m maybe stating the obvious, but I was rewatching The End, and I thought I’d share those lines again, because I saw a lot of posts about Cas’ lack of powers in the season 14 premiere, but what was said by Endverse!Cas in this scene probably explains why he’s weaker and weaker when it comes to his powers in the present context, knowing that there’s very few angels left.
Cas’ grace was already pretty damaged before, if I’m not wrong, so it kinda makes sense that he’s more affected than any other angel. And on top of that, he’s emotionally not at his best, it probably makes it worse.
You mean another callback to the exact same episode where this happened in Detroit too?
Where we now know there’s hardly any Angels left, indeed basically none on Earth (except Cas and Jo) as per Naomi’s ordering them back to Heaven, while again here and now Sam now says there’ll be no King of Hell as a direct reverse-mirror to his fulfilling his Lucifer destiny and all the demons running scared from him?!
Idk man, it’s not like Dabb loves callbacks, mirrors and knows his canon inside out or anything 😉
Must be weird for you… looking at me and seeing him.
Yeah…
It’s like he was holding his breath the entire time.
exactly. that’s why i wanted to make sure i slowed down the first two and last two. you can see him take a deep breath in and then in the second to last one see him visibly exhale.
this happens when he’s around lucifer, even just nick.
WHY ARE THEY TORMENTING SAM AGAIN LIKE WHY WHATS THE GRAND PURPOSE
When your values are clear to you, making decisions becomes easier.—Roy E. Disney
OK, some quick thoughts about the «Cas is stuck in a chair while everyone else is fighting» problem.
First of all, I would like to point out that it took a whole bar full of demons and FOUR pairs of enochian handcuffs to keep him in that chair. Not bad.
Do you realize what a COMPLETE TORTURE it must be for him? He is there, unable to move, while literally his whole family sans Dean is seconds from being killed – and he can just sit and watch? With the terrible knowledge they are there because of him in the first place.
This is a direct parallel to all the TFW 2.0. members in this episode:
1) Jack who lost his powers (and feels completely useless now);
2) Dean who is stuck not being able to move, and just observing what Michael is doing, and how people are dying around him;
3) Sam who has the terrible feeling that Dean is stuck with Michael because he tried to save him, Dean who paid a huge price, and may be dead already or very soon.
Also, once again we are shown that working together is better than working alone (like a hammer to the face actually, it’s almost like an after school special that shows you what happens if you don’t discuss your your plan to work with demons/archangels with your family).
In this episode, everyone feels powerless in some way. They can’t find Michael. They can’t fight demons. They can’t help with hacking, they can’t catch a break. It’s a growing sense of frustration that is overwhelming. And it’s not just Cas being stuck in that chair. It’s everyone.
I also like the parallel we have here with 4.01.
Back then we also had a scene with a bar staffed with demons, and these demons were massacred by Cas. Burnt out eyes and all. Now, Cas is supposedly at his full power just like then, yet he is not able to take down a bar full of demons. Why? Well, rewind to 12×09, when Dean was held by the government and Cas was hunting alone.
Cas has a weakness now. And he is not at his full capability when Dean is gone.
Dean is his weakness, humanity is his weakness, love is his weakness – but hey, we already knew that.
It’s time for SPN to show us love is not a weakness. It’s already showing us your family is your strength, so that’s a good start.
Must be weird for you… looking at me and seeing him.
Yeah…
THIS MADE ME UNREASONABLY ANGRY AND HURT AND I JUST NEEDED TO HUG HIM OH MY GOD I THINK I WAS LITERALLY LIKE “MY POOR BABY” OUT LOUD NEXT TO SHEA.
Look IDGAF if someone likes or doesn’t like Mark but this is just one of the most unnecessary patchwork plot covers for BuckLeming and Mark P’s gratuitous engagement to keep writing on him because they “like” him. It is COMPLETELY unnecessary to be pushing Sam through this on top of everything, it’s a completely lazy loophole excuse that will make a lazy resolution later and I’m just
MY SAMMY
WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO HIM
Dabb may have written the episode but we *quite literally know* it’s Leming with the Mark P fetish so I’m still putting the burden of this being involved on them.
i screamed “NO WHY WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT” in my empty apartment so loud, i’m surprised no one called the cops to check on me
and you are SPOT ON. i’m trying to to think positively and add this to my pile of “sam has a strong compassionate soul” evidence, but it HURT. why put sam through the wringer like this when he’s already down from his brother being held hostage and missing by a different archangel??? WHATS THE POINT????
bucklemming need to let their hard-on for mark p die because it’s at the expense of one of their main characters NEEDLESSLY.
Must be weird for you… looking at me and seeing him.
Yeah…
spn s1: we need to use an exorcism with latin to extract demons
spn s14: just dom!voice them in english and they’ll get gone just fine
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