Thread by @CharCubed

Alright. Okay. HELLO! GOOD EVENING!

#TheWinchesters ep 2 has compelled me to repeat myself for the MILLIONTH time regarding how Supernatural is a franchise about parents & children + cycles of trauma/violence, both in the small scale & the large scale.

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#TheWinchesters

I don't know why I'm writing this! I am saying the same shit I have been saying on here for at least the past year & put in my meta! But I just heard Dean Winchester say to us that you have to break free & be WHO YOU ARE (12x22, anybody?) & I'm gonna eat my foot

#TheWinchesters

Okay. Let me roll it back.
Hi :) I'm normal
[takes a deep breath]
I write this for myself more than for all of you, who know it already.

The trap of following in your parent's footsteps–& following in the Father's footsteps–is the backbone of this franchise.

#TheWinchesters

That is what it means to be trapped in a cycle of violence in Supernatural–a vicious circle, if you will. If you don't escape, you die. If you try to escape & get caught, you die anyway.

We see it play out on the micro & the macro levels respectively:

#TheWinchesters
We're witnessing the tragedy of what following in your father's footsteps & putting your father on a pedestal will do. We know where this leads, especially for Mary. Simultaneously, we know Mary doesn't really WANT that path–& yet the choice WILL be made for her.

#TheWinchesters
The "micro" level is the avenue of choice the characters have. Mary, who wants to find & follow her father... but also wants out of this life or to perhaps redefine it her way with her friends' help. John, who wants to find & follow his father... but on his terms.

#TheWinchesters
If they don't get to make those choices, they die. If they DO make those choices & get caught, they die anyway.

The "macro" is that the cycle is enforced through manipulations. We already know part of what happens to them: they'll be pawns in Chuck's game.

#TheWinchesters
Chuck is the abusive Father who punishes disobedient children. He'll kill you if you try to escape. His universe is built on this.

We're all parents & children, nesting together like Russian dolls.

You have to break free & be who you are, as DEAN SAYS.

This is the story of how they became #TheWinchesters.
It's about the criss-cross of needing to defy or redefine the path laid before you by your parents... & of needing to defy or redefine the path laid before you by God the Father through so-called destiny.

#TheWinchesters

They are explicitly intertwined. We knew this already from the main show... but now this show is HAMMERING THAT HOME over & over again. True freedom–or free will–is about not being forced to be who your parents or who God/Chuck wants you to be.

#TheWinchesters

& we are being reminded of these truths through a story that's being told by Dean Winchester... who is a son & a parent & a primary focus of the God who enforces the toxic intergenerational cycle that formed both his family & the structure of the SPN universe.

#TheWinchesters

While highlighting the tragedy of his parents' history in ways that mirror HIS history, Dean is saying he knows about no longer following in a father's footsteps. About believing in yourself & being who you are.
& by virtue of saying this, it's what he's doing.

#TheWinchesters

(Noticeably, it is also the opposite of what he did in the SPN finale.)

But here's the kicker that will always make me go feral:

That's the very loud "micro" level. How many more hints to the "macro" level may we see as this tragedy marches forward, I wonder?

#TheWinchesters

Is this thread coherent? UNSURE. Is it repetitive of what I talk about all the time & possibly within the thread itself? PROBABLY. Am I saying this show is "chuck won" propaganda? I AM GENUINELY NOT.

I am just having a nice time :)

#TheWinchesters

Also! Lest we forget:
Oh my GOD I love Carlos & Lata so much!!!!!!! & they are actively demonstrating how the avenue to breaking out of the toxic intergenerational cycle is in large part through friends & found family! 😭
Take that away & you stay trapped.

#TheWinchesters

TRULY 40 INCREDIBLE MINUTES OF A VERY THEMATICALLY LOUD TELEVISION PROGRAM I HAVE WITNESSED ON THIS HERE EVENING. BOY OH BOY.