Hugs and puppies all around!*

[bending_sickle]

So I'm an indecisive jittery mess. Here's the latest version of Time We Saw a Miracle's blurb:
In an armed camp, Chip and his companions find shelter from the infected and cope with life after the apocalypse. As Icarus struggles with the loss of his angelic grace, Chip discovers there is always something more to fear.

And it is tracking them down.

Your reactions?
a) Kill it with fire!
b) Shiny!
c) What is that last line doing there and how can we make it go away?

My reaction: B followed immediately by C then swinging wildly back to B. Why? My love for The Line will not die, and the blurb is now just three words longer than Time For Something Biblical's and in the same paragraph format. Symmetry is my crack.

Sickle's Bullet-Point Review of Supernatural 6x10, "Caged Heat":

• Castiel! In every incarnation possible! BAMF!Cas, Clueless!Cas, and OMGSEXY!Cas (where have you been all my life?!?) all in one episode. The squee, it was mighty.
• Crowely! Squared!
• Meg! My favorite version!
• Sam being all, "Do my bidding, bitch" "You owe me, bitch," to Castiel did what nothing else Souless Sam has done yet (and that's including the Smirk of Doom). It made me hate him. Seriously. The only way I can grok it is if Sam was trying to play on Castiel's emotions (and isn't that a laugh, right? Souless Sam and Angel Castiel pretending to be creatures of emotion) and somehow guilt trip him into helping. Because otherwise, if he really did feel that he was owed it (and hell, I'm willing to accept Souless Sam did feel that way - not caring doesn't mean he doesn't have a sense of self-preservation and all that entails, like what he's just now demanding), then that is just Wrong with a capital W anywhichway you look at it. Because Sam did what he had to do - did his duty in the war, if you'd like - and that is that. What, is everyone who was saved by the Winchester's indepted to them, giving the boys carte blanche to show up on their doorstep and demand? Is the entire world supposed to be on its knees thanking Sam for not letting it burn, with every soul owing Sam for it? Hell no. Fuck that shit. And fuck you, Souless Sam, if that's how you see it. (Wow, I seem to have strong emotions attached to that reaction, because all I'd been planning on writing was a complaint about Sam's sense of entitlement. Got a bit carried away there.)
• I would like the Winchesters to stop being dicks to Castiel. Sam won the prize this episode, although with all Dean's been doing this season - not least of which is actually calling Cas a dick, as in, equating him with the ilk of Zachariah and Michael and everyone Cas rebelled against - he had some pretty tough competition. Particularly with the last scene between the brothers and Castiel. Some people have said that that scene is as close to an apology as Dean is ever going to get to Castiel, but I didn't see it that way (and we know Dean is capable of more heavy-duty apologies than that veiled attempt). I wanted to slap Dean when he said, "No need for apologies." Excuse me? Excuse me?!? Did he just say that Castiel didn't have to apologize to them for having to go back to the mother-lovin' Heavenly Civil War? He's not going to play harps, boys. What you guys went through, that was Cas on leave. The only ones who need to apologize are the two of them for being so egocentric that they blame Castiel for not putting their problems before the whole of Heaven cracking down around the pearly gates and the returned threat of the apocalypse. That is some serious tunnel vision, boys. (This is yet another scene that makes me go "Yes I will discus this calmly and ALKDJFLKWE RAAAAAGE.)
• Right on the heels of this charming heartfelt "we're your friends" and "can we help" from the boys, Sam turns right around and tells Castiel to be the cleaner. The cleaner. Like, "Yeah, we really feel for you man, and we'd love to help with the whole civil war thing, but could you mop up our dirty work for us?" Raaage. Not to mention that Sam just asked Castiel to execute a whole mess of monsters (which is a whole lot different from the usual Winchester way of "You've been killing or hurting people! You're trying to kill me! Die, monster scum!") And you know what was included in that mess of monsters? Babies. Shape-shifter babies, sure, but babies nonetheless. Do the Winchesters not remember Two and a Half Men and how they - or at least Dean - were against the baby killing? Sure, we could cut everyone some slack by saying that none of them knew that Crowley had the babies there, but they didn't bother to check what kind of monsters were there in the first place. Remember ambiguously evil monsters like Lenore? Yeah, they'd be executed too. And I'm bothered by the fact that Cas would really have no option but to kill the babies, regardless of how he felt about it once he found them. He has, after all, done things of which he ashamed of, which make it hard for him to meat Dean's eye, and which make him repeat over and over again until he almost believes it that he cannot care, that the luxury of caring about innocent bystanders is no longer his.
• In less Monster Bullet Point directions, Samuel's angel-be-gone sigil was way, way different from the one Castiel taught the boys. Which means a) continuity is fluid this season, b) some of the markings in Castiel's sigil are superfluous (which means they're a waste of good blood), or c) this is a different sigil which does slightly different things and wasn't taught to Samuel by Sam or any angel. Crowley, baby, are you the one giving Samuel all this sweet information, like the vampire cure? I know Samuel's been sitting pretty on his "I know more than your daddy" high horse and I'd love it for him to be a lying bastard (well, more than he already is) and it all be due to Crowley.
• The beginning of the episode felt completely separate from the rest of the episode in the best of ways. It was perfect. It was awesome. I loved it to teeny tiny little bits. The whole feel of it was glorious, and the tension in the boys and the exchange just raised that scene - that one little scene - to one of my top bits ever in Supernatural. Also, Minion Demon Number One, I want to see so much more of you it's unhealthy. He was amazing and I'm running out of adjectives here. Oh, the "I don't speak little bitch" line, so much win.
• Castiel's use of the word "boy" was ngh and FTW. Like, he was finally that scary threatening angel who could thrown Dean back into Hell. He finally felt like he was 100% angel with all his powers. (This impression crashed and burned along with the pizza man, but, well, I like both sides of Castiel, so I'll manage.)
• Sam must be missing a hell of a lot of brain cells. He's going to "find a way to kill [Cas]"? Seriously? What about the whole holy oil and angel knives? That's one way. No need to do research, just put those knives on a catapult and have at him.
• Dean threatening Samuel made me very, very happy (and not just in my pants - although Dean is gorgeous when he's scary angry). Grandpa needs a serious beat down.
• I can't help feeling that the boys are incredibly naive with their whole "but we're blood!" whining arguments. Boys, that might count in the Winchester world, but if Adam's reaction of "me and mom against the world, and screw your daddy" didn't tell you anything, you should know just from the general world fuckupedness (e.g. Castiel's prostitute's dad) that family and blood mean squat a lot of the time. Furthermore? Samuel doesn't know you. In the Winchester world blood was all you had, and the rest of the world - civilians - weren't to be trusted. But Samuel isn't part of your codependent history. Why should he care that you have 25% of his genome?
• Way to go full circle raising Mary when honestly, it's all her fault. Or she started it, in a very playground-accusation way. I mean, she made the first deal. Now, I don't know how much of Azazel's plans for Sam had to do with the ultimate "oh hai Lucifer's vessel!" - sure the demon blood helped open the last seal, but that didn't have to be Sam - particularly since Dean wasn't sold to any demon and his part in the apocalypse as a vessel was still rock-solid.
• Speaking of Azazel's part in the apocalypse, if he was bent on releasing Lucifer and was raising generations - note the plural, Supernatural writing team! - of demon spawn, then one can assume he didn't know Sam was the vessel and instead just his favorite among a thousand or more other demon kids. So what was the demon kid army supposed to do? What was the winning demon kid supposed to do? In Azazel's plan, I mean. The sense, I do not see it!
• I hated Samuel for saying that he was helping the boys because "it's what Mary would want". Uh, no. Big fat hell no. What Mary would want is for her boys not to be hunters. Failing that, she'd want her father to not make deals with the damned King of Hell to get her out of Purgatory and get the deal-ball rolling again.
• I'm strangely okay with Crowley being dead. I mean, don't get me wrong, I loved him and enjoyed every second he was on screen. Problem is, he wasn't doing anything. He'd just show up, chew some scenery, string the boys along, clap evilly and leave. Anyway, if it was him or Meg, I choose Meg to stay. Girl is delicious fun.
• His Purgatory storyline, however, gods only know how that's going to pan out. Or how Samuel's going to react. Man's going to be pissed at Castiel.
• And holy shit, do gods go to Purgatory? If Heaven is human-only? Or do they have their own separate death-places?
• Speaking of Crowley and Purgatory, CASTIEL YOU IDIOT! You just sent Crowley to Purgatory! How much do you want to be that he's going to be King of Purgatory now and is blowing rasberries at your feathered ass?
• Also, with Crowley gone, Hell's free for a newcomer again. WHAT WERE YOU THINKING, CASTIEL? Sure, you might say an unbalanced Hell skirmishing away amongst itself is good, but that's only until someone wins and what if that someone is Pro-Lucifer (oh hai Meg!) and bent on setting Lucifer free (oh hai Michael! So nice of you to be out of commission for Apocalypse 2.0) and starting the apocalypse again? Then Castiel's fighting a two-front war, with the Civil War and the apocalypse at the same time, and horribly exhausted to boot. And then what if King of Purgatory Crowley joins in the foray with his army of monster souls? This is BAD, Castiel. Full on capslock bad. That was a bad, bad, rash, demon burning.
• Just how the hell did Sam get his blood on the ceiling? Spider Sam? And how did he not die or faint at least from the blood loss? I understand not caring but you better be damned sure that the little muscle in your chest cares that it doesn't have blood to pump.
• Sam's bloody smile was disturbing and awesome at the same time. And somewhat hot. (I don't even.)
• Another mysteriously appearing Devil's Trap was Dean's. What, Dean carries spray paint around? Seriously? And again with the invisible ladders!
• Crowley, you too get an WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? capslock thrown at you. Seriously, I don't care how well you think you did your bones. YOU KEPT THEM TOGETHER! IN THEIR ORIGINAL WRAPPING! Why didn't you feed a metatarsal to an albatross, sow another into your jacket pocket, encase another in nuclear waste holdings, or toss a tooth into Lucifer's cage? Something like that might have saved you. Unless, of course, it was all a ruse and you wanted Castiel to kill you so you could find Purgatory and totally own that sweet spot of real estate. Which makes more sense.
• What is it with the rape references this season? "Rape shower", "how is that not rapey", Meg's torture, Meg snogging Cas, the list just goes on!
• The kiss. I don't know what this says about Castiel or his story arc or characterization. I was too busy being drooling in dazed lust.
• Sam knifing the demon was very out of the blue. The demon never acted like he was more interested in killing the Winchesters than getting the job done - at least, the audience wasn't shown it, and while Soulless Sam is Super Hunter Sam, I'm not going to take his word for it. And while his "you took this from us, we're taking it back" line was nice, the whole thing was a bit silly. Why else would Sam want Ruby's Knife than to kill a demon? It's not like he was going to sharpen it for Meg, or check out the designs. Ugh.
• What would an angel sword do to a demon? Would it do nothing, like Ruby's Knife did to Castiel? Because if it's powerful enough to kill an angel... Unless it's species-specific power and not sharp-enough power.
• Quit doing that thing! That retcon thing! Where salt stops hell hounds! It doesn't! Argh! That's twice now that you've failed, after a whole mess of episodes going on how salt is worth shit to the dogs, and only some hoodoo powder will hold them off.
• I don't know how I feel about angel swords killing hell hounds. It's like any old knife or bomb nowadays can get them out of commission. Whatever happened to the whole "unstoppable forces from Hell" aspect?
• I liked Sam not wanting his soul back (oh hai Dollhouse concepts of the shell being a person in their own right!) and I get him not wanting to be in pain, and Castiel's misgivings too, but for fuck's sake, what about getting Sam's soul out for the sake of Sam's soul? In the words of River Tam, "They're hurting us. Get me out." Even if the damage can't be fixed, just get him out
• Still no mention of Adam. I swear, I was fuming over it. Appointment in Samarra did little to appease me.
• "Where have you been all season?" Best. Meta Line. Ever.

Links of the Day:
Supernatural:
dwsjournal - Dean's journal ♥
emerald_embers' Awesome, awesome dream
amonitrate's Meta Torture and Rape in Supernatural, Season 6, So Far
dotfic's Season 6
idontagree's Meta A Theory on Sam's Ability to Feel
crossroadsdemon's Meta Life Force and Souls in Season 1
missyjack's Meta The conundrum of Sam Winchetser and the Origami Unicorn
black_samvara's Supernatural Season 6 Interactive Plot Web - Updated
tartysuz's SPN Talk Ipdate and Bonus!Weekly World News - 6x-3-06
kimberlyfdr's Review Appointment in Samarra
romancito's Review Appointment in Samarra
adrenalineshots' Review Appointment in Samarra
blackcat333_99's Review Appointment in Samarra
verdande_mi's Review Appointment in Samarra
water_fowl182's Review Appintment in Samarra
sylvia_bond's Review Appointment in Samarra
yaya_wr8t3r's Review Caged Heat
teand's Review Caged Heat
emerald_embers's Fic Tag
tracy_loo_who's Recommendation of obstrinatrix's The Voice of the Turtledove
blue_fjords' Fic Kicking ass and Taking Names
leonidaslion's Fic Fumbling in the Dark Thirsty (I Know What You Did Last Summer), fantasy (Heaven and Hell), Grave (After School Special), Rough (Criss Angel is a Douchebag), Kneel (Family Remains)
sanann's Fic Hold Me While You're Killing Me
dark_austral's Fic Little Big Things
mysticofbabel's Fic The Only Cure is Nirvana
deltacephei's Fic Proxy (Castiel/Meg) - Ngh... Also, omgsuchprettywords: "In the end, his face goes from this prolonged shell-shocked expression to blankness in the blink of an eye."
wandersfound's Fic and RPFic We Will Walk All Night Through Solitary Streets (Dean/Castiel, Dean/Misha)
cheri_morte's RPFic But We'll Always Have Our Vending Machines (Jared/Jensen)
bree_black's RPFic Prime and Paint (Jensen/Misha)
teand's List of their old Christmas fic
greenelysium's Fanvid Three Moments Dean and Cas never Had (aka Chickflick Moment Compilation)
asherahseren's Fanvid DeaL
ee_p_dee's Fanvid Mother Mary
kellygirl2002's Fanvid He Loves You Not
hitlikehammers' Fanvid Conquering America
lsketch42's Fanvid Reoffender
hotforangels' Fanvid Here Comes the Night
jaded56's Fanmix Your Wings Have Fallen (Anna)
angelicfoodcake's Fanart Chibi!Dean - But Why Cake?
cafe_de_labeill's Fanart Chistmas Advent Tag
squishyball's GIFs Caged Heat - Crack
Hasitall's GIFs 1x05 - Dean Smiling, Hurt Dean, 1x06 - Dean Smiling, Hurt Dean, Impala
ilaria84's Screencaps Season 5 Gag Reel
kruel_angel's Icons and Wallpapers - Promo
deadflower5's Icons of cafe_de_labeill's Chirstmas Advent Fanart
ale_skyz' Icons
hellybongo's Icons - Appointment in Samarra
living_end96's Icons
cruz_zandus' Icons
ari0's Icons
e0wyn's Icons - Caged Heat, Icons - Appointment in Samarra
padabee's Icons - Appointment in Samarra
lere8's Icons - Caged Heat
morgentau's Icons
country_bee's embed Jensen Ackles interview for Dark Angel
dean_sam's flocked On Set Photos (Source) - Spoilerfree ; SPN Actors and Actresses on Twitter ; Ruby's Knife Replica Purchase By Fan ; Wee!Jensen Photoshoot
Supernaturalwiki's Map of Winchester Travels
Affairs Magazine's Matt Choen: The Jack of All Trades
YouTube's Jensen Ackles's Voicework in Tron: Evolution, Jensen Ackles' Voicework in Tron: Evolution, Clip 2, Jensen Ackles and Supernatural on MTV's "10 on Top"

Lost:
Jarbora's Hurley's Recap, Seasons 1-4

Doctor Who:
clouds_fic's Single Father Crossover Fic The Day I Met You, Part 4
_izu_'s Fanart Doodles
made_of_fail_pc's Episode Thirty-Seven: it Goes Ding When There's Stuff - ♥
BBC's Catherine Tate Surprised by Daleks and Loving the Stage

Human Target:
humantarget_tv's Discussion The Return of Baptiste
wptjeh's Discussion The Return of Baptiste ; Discussion Dead Head ; Podcast Episode 24 - Human Target 2.0-No ; embed Photoshoot for TV Guide
MarkValley.com's Episode Schedule, Quotes and Spoilers for Human Target

Sherlock:
angrybeige's Comic John Walks in on Sherlock Curling His Hair and Comics Tag
moony_mistress' Icons and Icons of angrybeige's Fanart

The Walking Dead:
jesuit24's Fanvid Get Ready to Die

Other Fandom:
chaosvizier's Review Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
qthewetsprocket's Clap your hands and say I DO believe in... - "People, we have the power to bring back Gene Hunt
zqfans' embed Before / After II - "Before / After funny clips with stories that focus on the Holidays
redscharlach's Merlin Icons
Yahoo's Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides Trailer
MarkWatches Serentiy Liveblog
YouTube's High on Firefly - ♥ ; It's the End of the 'Verse As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)

Multifandom:
crossover_kink
marylou_gr's Picspam Top 10 Movies in 2010
rex_dart's Superhero Reboots and flocked Follow Up
mediocrechick's Random Icons
stillamempty's Icons - Supernatural, Pirates of the Caribbean, New Moon
longerthanwedo's Icons - Angel, BtVS, Doctor Who, Dollhouse, Firefly, Fringe, Merlin, Supernatural, Torchwood
exp0se's Icons - Supernatural, BtVS
xafirah's Icons - Supernatural, Merlin, Battlestar Galactica, Glee
qaf_addict_06's Icons - Supernatural, Merlin
BuddyTV's 2010 Fan Favorites - VOTE!
Huffington Post's Nathan Fillion Talks Castle, Firefly and What's Next

Random:
marika_kailaya's pimpage Help: Twleve Tales of Healing, in aid of Medecins Sans Frontieres - *grabby hands* ; Conversation of WIN
theweaselking's A demonstration of the core message of Mad Men, in a few pictures - Using Richard Scarry's Best Word Book Ever from 1963 vs. 1991 ; embed Parrot sings "Let the Bodies Hit the Floor" - :D ; Comic The Very Hungry Rust Monster from Dark Places
yumemisama's On Graphology, On Christopher Marlowe
extemporanea's South African Films Join Vampire-Maddness: Eternity ; Short story: Impundulu - "Real African vampires will kick your butt, broody Western undead."
chaosvizier's Review Cirque du Soleil
Headtrip's Comic 2010
Edmontonsun's Sally Ann bans Harry Potter and Twilight Toys - "The Salvation Army says it refuses to distribute Harry Potter and Twilight toys collected for needy children because they're incompatible with the charity's Christian beliefs. [...] I was told to withhold a six-inch Harry Potter figure, but when I picked up a plastic M-16, I was told, 'That's for the 10-year-olds.'" Ffffff.
Philippe Ramette's Photography
Neil Gaiman's They Are Calling it Snowmageddon, Snow and Smodcasts, Nicholas really really Was, wasn't he? - "A few weeks ago I noticed on YouTube some wonderful little films people had made to accompany my poem THE DAY THE SAUCERS CAME."
AIDS Map's Doctors who carried out a stem cell transplant on an HIV-infected man with leukaemia in 2007 say they now believe the man to have been cured of HIV infection as a result of the treatment - \o/
Daily Galaxy's Saturn's Newly Discovered Immense Outer Ring
Yahoo's Ukraine to Open Chernoyl Area to Tourist in 2011 - D: ; Obama to sign law ending military gay ban - \o/
R-KV-R-Y's How to Become a Writer by Lorrie Moore - "First, try to be something, anything, else."
Humon Comics Website
Online Etymology Dictionary's gunsel
Zooborns' Meet Mirrhi, the Orphaned Wombat Baby

* "Caged Heat", Supernatural