obsessionisaperfume:

ibelieveinthelittletreetopper:

BRING YOUR DAUGHTER TO WORK DAY. FUCK.

SNEAKY ROBBIE IS SNEAKY.

castiel-knight-of-hell:

castiel-knight-of-hell:

too bad tractor angel is missing out on that sweet tractor

measch said: What is this tractor angel I keep hearing about??? I’m so lost!!

In I Think I’m Gonna Like it Here 9.01 Dean sent out a prayer to all angels to try and get someone to heal Sam. We saw several angels drop what they were doing and immediately head to the hospital Dean was at. Gadreel took a bus but one plucky angel took a tractor

Even though he beat up Dean and wanted to kill Cas

the fandom fell in love and has been talking about tractor angel ever since. There are even people who ship him with the poncho guy from Fan Fiction 10.05 (x). Even Robbie Thompson seems to like the pair

Ride on tractor angel

prayersdean:

This is more fanfiction than the 200th ep

OK, because I was confused about the books and clues…

rainbofiction:

drsilverfish:

larinah:

Metatron and Cas go in the library.  As littlehollyleaf noted, the first book described as one of Metatron’s favorites is ‘Breakfast of Champions’ by Vonnegut:

Note:  This is interesting, because Dean made a reference to this back in ‘There’s No Place Like Home’, also written by Robbie.

They pull the first clue “What is the maddest thing a man can do” from that book:

Bonus:  Metatron is standing right in front of a book titled “Warlock”:

Then Metatron goes into the other aisle and writes a spell on a bunch of books including ‘Twelfth Night’ (as noted by bellatrixlovesredwine):

Read More

Thanks for these screencaps of the books in Metatron’s “scavenger hunt”! My thoughts are:

“Meta” comes from the Greek and means “a level beyond”. Metafiction is fiction which comments on the fact that it is fiction – i.e. which spends some of its time examining the nature of the fictional. Thus, metafiction is often concerned with asking, what is “reality” and what is “truth”, given that it highlights the fictional nature of “reality”!

It’s a nice conceit, on the part of the SPN writers (here, Robbie Thompson) that the archangel Metatron (whose name may be derived from the two Greek words for “a level beyond” and “throne” i.e. - the power behind the throne) should in particular enjoy metafiction. Given that he is the scribe of God, Metatron is depicted as very concerned with the power of narrative and who holds that power. SPN Metatron, of course, has delusions of God-hood (hence his exclamation “O M Me” instead of “O M G”). In other words, although he wrote down what God told him to, he has delusions that he is the Author. In fact, he is desperate to BE the author (i.e. God).

The books in Metatron’s “scavenger hunt” are all interested in the metafictional.

In the first, Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut, the character Dwayne Hoover takes the fictional writings of the author Kilgore Trout as the literal truth. Dwayne reads a novel of Kilgore’s which is written as if it were a message from God, telling the reader that they (in this case Dwayne) are the only person in the universe with free will. Dwayne therefore believes he is the only person in the universe with free will and starts doing whatever he wants (behaving badly). Later, the narrator of the novel (not necessarily Vonnegut himself, but another layer of fiction) approaches Kilgore and tells him that he now has free will. So you can see this is a Russian doll of a novel about the power of the author (God) and the nature of free will (Man) as well as being an impish metafictional romp through several levels of “reality”. This is also a road-trip novel, as Dwayne and Kilgore go on a road trip together

Metatron’s choice of novel thus, in fact, comments on Supernatural (a fiction Metatron is not aware he is a character within) – which is also a road trip narrative, populated by an absent God, whose characters frequently struggle with the natures of fate and free will. In other words, Metatron’s choice of metafictional novel, is in fact part of a metafictional conceit wherein Robbie Thompson and co examine the fictional nature of their own created universe, whilst at the same time pondering the nature of “reality”.

Still with me?  

The second book in Metatron’s scavenger hunt is Don Quixote by Cervantes. Again, this is a metafictional novel. Don Quixote has read so many chivalric novels that he believes he is living in one. He sets out with his neighbour Sancho Panza on a fantasy quest (which he believes is for real) styling himself a (deluded, or perhaps not) chivalric knight. Again, this is also a road trip novel. Additionally, the fact that Metatron has chosen to hide what remaIns of Castiel’s grace in this novel is also significant.

Metatron spends the car trip with Castiel giving us (the audience) a lesson in subtext. He points out the song “Ironic” by Alanis Morissette, playing on the radio. So what? we (and Cas) think. But later, as Castiel lies disabled on the floor of the library under Metatron’s spell, Metatron says: “Poor Castiel, you’ve swum so far, only to drown in shallow waters. Isn’t it ironic, don’t you think?” Metatron, in other words, uses the Alanis Morissette song (“Ironic”) from earlier, in order to comment on what is happening in the narrative he has written (because, obviously, he always planned to trick Cas and things are going according to plan – i.e. “as written”). This is the Supernatural writers’ (Robbie T and co’s) way of telling us, the audience, via their douchey pseudo-author-figure Metatron, that choices of song in Supernatural (if we hadn’t figured it out already!) comment on the narrative.

So, of course, do choices of book.  Metatron thinks Don Quixote is a book which comments appropriately on Castiel’s story, in the context of the spell in which he used Cas’ grace. A story of a hero and a sidekick who grow to deeply love one another whilst (either in madness or in serendipity) attempting to restore chivalry to the world. Castiel is in love with…. humanity. Metatron knows about (and is mocking) the “profound bond” between Cas and Dean. But, whilst Quixote and Panza’s quest can be read as absurd (Metatron’s view) it can also be read as tragically noble. And remember, Metatron’s perspective is distorted – he has delusions of Godhood.  

The question in the scavenger hunt – “What is the maddest thing a man can do?” leads to the novel Don Quixote because of this quote within the novel - “Oh, don’t die dear master,” answered Sancho in tears, “For the maddest thing a man can do in this life is to let himself die, just like that, without anybody killing him.” If we understand Cas as Sancho and Dean as Don Quixote, then Dean’s suicidal path, which we have seen foreshadowed already this season, is here foreshadowed again, with Cas in an instrumental role trying to talk him out of it. In other words - Don Quixote does comment on Castiel’s story but not in the way Metatron thinks it does…

Finally, the third book in Metatron’s scavenger hunt. is a work of post-modern literary criticism by the French theorist Jean Baudrillard, called Simulacra and Simulation. In short, Baudrillard argues that we now live in a totalising media culture which has become our reality and there is no “real reality” outside of it. In other words we live in a “fiction” which has become “reality”. This book, therefore, is concerned with the nature of metafiction.

So, the message of Metatron’s scavenger hunt?

This is the author, Robbie Thompson, showing us the way in which in-text references to books and songs are used by authors (on one level Metatron, and on another level Robbie Thompson himself) to comment on the main narrative. This is also Robbie Thompson playing with metafiction – using metafictional novels/ works of criticism about metafiction to (continue to) make Supernatural into a work of metafiction itself – i.e. a work which comments on its own fictionality, and in so doing, asks questions about the nature of being and free will.

“The bird represents God, and the coyote is man, endlessly chasing the divine but never able to catch him. It’s hilarious”

So here I was thinking about the other book in that episode - the Book of the Damned (hereafter called the Book of Plot Device), which was “full of unreadable text that’s also in code” (except that it was actually encoded in strange meaningless logograms)

And we all joked about how the Book of Plot Device was written in subtext, haha, but no really. Look. Charlie gets the gist of it, but even her best nerd game can’t say what it means for sure - but wait, Dean’s got this strange resonance with it. Almost as if there’s something different about him that gives him special insight into the nature of the subtext. And Rowena (a natural witch!) has her own special insight as well, different from Dean’s, rooted in a feminine mystery tradition instead of the, uh. Whatever the Mark of Cain is in this metaphor. 

Meanwhile, Cas is put in a position where he literally dies if he doesn’t figure out the puzzle, and what does Metatron say? “I told him to hide the clues in my favorite books.” Facepalm. “We’ll have to work together to find it.” That’s true for both Dean’s predicament and fandom literary discussion. “Isn’t it ironic?” Literally living and demonstrating subtext.

But Metatron says something else, before the game even starts. “You know I can her you, right? Every word. Loud and clear.” Yeah, Robbie, we hear you too.

deanswingsbothways:

“That song is a classic. I hear you, I do […] but it sure is catchy.”

“You know I can hear you, right? […] every word, crystal clear.”

Metatron has been the perpetual author stand-in since Metafiction, if not before. He’s always told us about the story, told us how the story was gonna go, and told us what to look for in the story.

So TPTB are letting us know that they love telling this story, and there’s a way they’ve always told this story, but they hear us and are taking us into account.

I myself have been guilty of snarking at the Supernatural twitter account. When they said, “How far will Sam go to save Dean?” I was like, “OH GEE I WONDER, probably far enough to get into enough trouble that fixing Sam will comprise the season eleven arc, and if they get renewed Dean will go to unimaginable lengths to save Sam so that we can get a season twelve arc!”

But they hear us, kids. This endless cycle of “How far can you go?” was subverted by the show even as Sam descends into partnership with Rowena. Because every single member of Team Free Will was asked, “What’s your endgame?”

Dean’s is retirement and creature comforts and oddly gender-neutral romance, Castiel’s is undefined but his usual plot points (saving heaven, tracking down rogue angels, everything that’s kept him busy since season five) were ridiculed and ruled out.

Sam was a little different in that he got asked what brought him here as opposed to where he was going, but he’ll get there too.

So let’s let Sam get past his last sacrificial plot arc, and concentrate on Dean and Castiel for a second.

They BEGGED THE QUESTION here. Begged it. Metatron goaded Cas about what the hell his purpose was, ruled out his usual purposes, and the only thing left was Castiel’s “Save Dean” arc. The only thing left, for Castiel, is Dean. He’s exhausted all his excuses.

They begged the question so hard that I genuinely stopped breathing because I thought they were going to say that outright, but they presented us a math problem and asked us to solve for x. I won’t truly be satisfied until the math becomes a simple English-based declarative statement, but until then I’ll be over here on tumblr solving for x.

And Dean? Dean is done. Dean is tired. Dean wants to relax on a beach with gender-unspecified partners and booze, and by god he’s earned that. Will he get it? Lord only knows, but at least we have confirmation that he wants to semi-retire and not die.

And what do we have? What has this episode given the viewers?

In short, it’s given us a promise.

“We love this story, this is how we tell this story, but we see what you’re saying and we’re getting there. Look at these characters talking about endgame. Look at the narrowing down from humanity to Dean. Look at Dean’s lack of a death wish. These are all key for the thing we’re trying to do for you, just be patient and let us get there in a way that’s authentic for these characters. We found a way to make ‘Charlie sitting at the table in the kitchen of the bunker playing Fortune Tellers with Team Free Will’ canon, LET US GET THERE.”

For the first time, I am not throwing out caveats. I am not saying, “If XYZ happens and ABC doesn’t happen, this could happen.” I’m not saying, “This is the story I’d tell.” I’m not saying, “This is how you tell a story, why aren’t they following through?” I’m not saying, “This is likely but heteronormativity is a hell of a drug.” I’m not saying, “This is my analysis of what’s probably going on.”

I’m just saying, flat out, that we’ve gotten the message from TPTB. Be patient, let them get there, let them tell this story the way the Winchesters deserve, but we’re going there.

Destiel is a go.

obsessionisaperfume:

flyingfish1:

Cas getting his Grace back destroyed a library. Talk about “tearing up the script.” Talk about “letting go of the story.”

ROBBIE FUCKING THOMPSON LADIES AND GENTLEMEN…

dubiousculturalartifact:

These past two episodes have really demonstrates how incredibly GOOD Supernatural can be working as an ensemble show.

Really letting all of the characters play off each other breathes life into them, reveals aspects of character, & keeps a good pace going without letting things get stale or repetitive, & it makes for some excellent viewing.

I would love to see more episodes like these.