Hey anti sitting in my inbox! Nice to meet you! I don’t want to publish your ask ‘cause I’m not up to indulging in your hate while we’re here dancing and cheering over Cas’ return.
lbr I can’t explain why Dean is grieving this extremely without mentioning Cas at all. Cas was written ALL OVER DEAN’S GRIEF the moment he was stabbed in 12x23. Every single abrupt decision, every single barbed retort, every single instance where Dean’s festering grief peeks through the cracks of his broken mind and takes itself out on Sam and especially Jack—Cas is the reason Dean’s off the rails.
This is Dean’s ROCK BOTTOM, NO NORMAL. I mean, why else do you see these significant narrative markers that continue to highlight Dean vs Sam?
The stark contrast is there. Sam’s ABLE to move past Cas’ death. Dean CAN’T.
This scene reveals—in one breathless explosive stroke—the mentally taxing burden Dean’s been carrying around on his shoulders: Cas’ death. He blames Jack, the mirror of Dean’s self-loathing, powerful (MoC, Demon!Dean), putrid, undeserving soul.
Dean ultimately blames himself; his love for Cas is what killed him in the end.
It’s impossible to put Sam in Dean’s place. It’s impossible to picture him reacting so violently, so bitterly, because he doesn’t fit into Dean’s grief narrative.
An angst-studded grief narrative that yells “Cas comes first! Cas this! Cas that! WHAT ABOUT CAS? Let’s kill the freak! Cas died ‘cause of him!”
Sam isn’t the one who wants to kill Jack. Dean is.
Sam isn’t the one who lost faith in everything. Dean is.
Sam isn’t spilling the mere existence of the supernatural—the true nature of their job—to normal civilians. Dean is.
Sam isn’t telling victims right-off-the-bat that their loved ones are dead. Dean is.
Sam isn’t in love with Cas. Dean is.
And that same fierce love—alongside listless grief—induced Jack to bring Cas back, both for Dean and for himself.
Yep. This. This final scene of 13x03 just validated all our meta for the last 3 episodes that they were grieving differently, that Sam was focused on Mary and Jack and Dean just couldn’t get past losing Cas, that it was different for him for *reasons* and Cas is his main focus throughout it ALL . . .
Not that it even needed meta-ing you know, cos it was so obvious to anyone with eyes, but we did it anyway cos it’s fun and well...