(no subject)
So this is an "all SPN, all the time" post, which, wow, I didn't think I was ever going to do again. Clearly I need to reupload a few SPN icons.
First, podcasts!
Next, I was... let's be charitable and say less than thrilled... with the beginning of s6. Writing out Sam Sam for the bulk of what at that point looked like the final season was just kind of it for me, and I gave up after Live Free or Twihard. I'd asked people who mostly watch the same show I do to let me know if Sam and Dean ever started acting like themselves, and like people who love each other, again, and I was pretty skeptical when I started hearing reports of Sam&Dean love as the season progressed, but I finally broke down and caught up on all the episodes I missed, and wow, I am so happy I did.
The Samless episodes, once it was clear it wasn't Sam, were a whole lot less painful than I'd feared--as much as I missed Sam, Soulless!Sam was pretty awesome (and so goddamned funny--"It would be in the dark!"), and I loved getting to see Jared do so much comedy. But it's the episodes after Sam got his soul back that really turned me around, because... holy god, the Sam&Dean love is almost s1-2 level again. It's not as big and showy as it was then, no "He's the only one who gets to call me that" or cheek stroking or attempted kisses or Dean's eyes sliding to Sam when John says "Home." But it's no less strong for that, hell, maybe it's even stronger, because they've been to heaven and hell, they've fought each other and denied each other and left each other and after everything, they're still Sam&Dean, or rather, they're Sam&Dean again, and I'm just drinking it down like I've been dying of thirst in the desert.
So many little things: The way Dean's eyes kept cutting to Sam when he first woke up with his soul. Sam's broken apology when he realized what soulless!him had done to Dean (and how much do I love that, after finding out Dean had lied to him, his first instinct was still to apologize?). The way Dean reached from Sam when he saw all the Impalas and almost passed out. Sam's "We're not even brothers here" and how that was all Dean needed, that one line (and Sam's impatient "Don't be stupid," because he's not going anywhere, ever, unless Dean's with him, and Dean had damned well better have figured that out by now). Dean's panic and grief when he though the wall had broken and Sam was dead. Sam's panic and desperation when he thought, after everything, that turning the wrong way and running into an angel was going to get his brother killed. All the wordless looks and talking in unison and collective pronouns and just... being Sam&Dean. Being partners and brothers and friends, loving each other more than anything in heaven or earth. In canon. It's been so long I'd almost forgotten what that looked like!
There are still plenty of problems, of course: The mytharc is as mushy as it ever was, as is much of the writing about MotWs, and god knows there's still plenty of race and gender fail (dear god, showing Meg getting raped with a knife? And of course, "I was going to give you another hour with her"--I'll let nutkin take that one--plus there seems to be a contractual obligation to have at least two rape jokes an episode this season). But for the first time in a really long time, it feels like my SPN again. Like the Sam&Dean show again. And even with everything else (and even though I keep reminding myself that this may not last), having it right now is wonderful.
And and and! Having canonical inspiration again is doing amazing things to the fandom. So much fic and art, so many vids, so much Sam&Dean love all over my flist! Actual Sam/Dean stuff in the newsletter! And a whole lot of fans who are excited and madly in love with the boys and even more in love with them being madly in love with each other. It's like the first blush of new fandom all over again (with an unusual amount of baggage attached, but still), and it's make me ridiculously happy. I've missed Sam and Dean like crazy, but if anything I've missed the fandom built around them even more, and seeing that active and energized again is amazing. Yay for OTP renaissances!
At some point, despite how ridiculously late it already is, I'm going to babble at length about The French Mistake, because it's been a long, long time since I've loved an episode that much, but it would make this post way too long, so instead, I'm just going to repost that amazing J2 hug pic floating around:
Oh, BOYS. I have missed you so much!
First, podcasts!
- All major stories in my Down to the End verse, recorded by the incomparably lovely lonepanther
- An mp3 and an audiobook version of lonepanther's recording, complied and archived by the equally lovely cybel
Next, I was... let's be charitable and say less than thrilled... with the beginning of s6. Writing out Sam Sam for the bulk of what at that point looked like the final season was just kind of it for me, and I gave up after Live Free or Twihard. I'd asked people who mostly watch the same show I do to let me know if Sam and Dean ever started acting like themselves, and like people who love each other, again, and I was pretty skeptical when I started hearing reports of Sam&Dean love as the season progressed, but I finally broke down and caught up on all the episodes I missed, and wow, I am so happy I did.
The Samless episodes, once it was clear it wasn't Sam, were a whole lot less painful than I'd feared--as much as I missed Sam, Soulless!Sam was pretty awesome (and so goddamned funny--"It would be in the dark!"), and I loved getting to see Jared do so much comedy. But it's the episodes after Sam got his soul back that really turned me around, because... holy god, the Sam&Dean love is almost s1-2 level again. It's not as big and showy as it was then, no "He's the only one who gets to call me that" or cheek stroking or attempted kisses or Dean's eyes sliding to Sam when John says "Home." But it's no less strong for that, hell, maybe it's even stronger, because they've been to heaven and hell, they've fought each other and denied each other and left each other and after everything, they're still Sam&Dean, or rather, they're Sam&Dean again, and I'm just drinking it down like I've been dying of thirst in the desert.
So many little things: The way Dean's eyes kept cutting to Sam when he first woke up with his soul. Sam's broken apology when he realized what soulless!him had done to Dean (and how much do I love that, after finding out Dean had lied to him, his first instinct was still to apologize?). The way Dean reached from Sam when he saw all the Impalas and almost passed out. Sam's "We're not even brothers here" and how that was all Dean needed, that one line (and Sam's impatient "Don't be stupid," because he's not going anywhere, ever, unless Dean's with him, and Dean had damned well better have figured that out by now). Dean's panic and grief when he though the wall had broken and Sam was dead. Sam's panic and desperation when he thought, after everything, that turning the wrong way and running into an angel was going to get his brother killed. All the wordless looks and talking in unison and collective pronouns and just... being Sam&Dean. Being partners and brothers and friends, loving each other more than anything in heaven or earth. In canon. It's been so long I'd almost forgotten what that looked like!
There are still plenty of problems, of course: The mytharc is as mushy as it ever was, as is much of the writing about MotWs, and god knows there's still plenty of race and gender fail (dear god, showing Meg getting raped with a knife? And of course, "I was going to give you another hour with her"--I'll let nutkin take that one--plus there seems to be a contractual obligation to have at least two rape jokes an episode this season). But for the first time in a really long time, it feels like my SPN again. Like the Sam&Dean show again. And even with everything else (and even though I keep reminding myself that this may not last), having it right now is wonderful.
And and and! Having canonical inspiration again is doing amazing things to the fandom. So much fic and art, so many vids, so much Sam&Dean love all over my flist! Actual Sam/Dean stuff in the newsletter! And a whole lot of fans who are excited and madly in love with the boys and even more in love with them being madly in love with each other. It's like the first blush of new fandom all over again (with an unusual amount of baggage attached, but still), and it's make me ridiculously happy. I've missed Sam and Dean like crazy, but if anything I've missed the fandom built around them even more, and seeing that active and energized again is amazing. Yay for OTP renaissances!
At some point, despite how ridiculously late it already is, I'm going to babble at length about The French Mistake, because it's been a long, long time since I've loved an episode that much, but it would make this post way too long, so instead, I'm just going to repost that amazing J2 hug pic floating around:
Oh, BOYS. I have missed you so much!