Forbidden Elephants: The Most Forbidden, Issue #4, Part Two
Unresolved is Unresolved, Unless It’s Resolved!
Told you it would be back. So I’m gonna go get my academic geek on again for a second and mention Sedgwick, for the second time. Knife, Ruby, Sam, Dean….Dean penetrates Ruby’s body with her phallic knife of Doom while Sam restrains her. So Ruby dies, quite literally, between Sam and Dean. Remember what I said about Sedgwick’s homoerotic triangle? Well, my friends at least for Dean, this is the moment Wincest happens. He gets to stab the girl who took his place. And then he spends most of season five punishing Sam for his betrayal, as does the show….
Please note that Sam suffered three genital-related pranks during the fifth season: Crabs, the Nutcracker, and Genital Herpes. Show punishes you, Sam. Show judges you. Next time you’ll think about where you put that thing, won’t you?
Episodes Interlude: “Sex and Violence,†“It’s a Terrible Life,†and “Monster at the End of This Bookâ€
These episodes are noteworthy, in particular, because of the Wincestiness. You have the siren in Sex and Violence and his seduction of Dean, via the guise of a brother/lover. You have Sam getting it on with someone besides Ruby – oh sexual jealousy, it’s a magnificent thing. In “It’s a Terrible Life,†you have the canon’s AU fanfic version of a Sam/Dean non-brother world, and first interaction between two? Of course, gay innuendo. Zachariah’s sharp on the UST (unresolved sexual tension), ain’t he? Makes his observation to Adam in season five about the brothers’ erotic co-dependency make even more sense, doesn’t it?
By the way, given that Zachariah’s powers also extend to his manipulation of Dean’s future in “The End,†which has some massive Cas/Dean implications, I’m calling Zachariah, right now, the Oracle of Supernatural Homoeroticism. He makes a gay Dean supermodel cover boy, has Cas as a multisexual guru who tags along with Dean, and says what we all want to say about the Winchester love story – it’s f*&ked up, man.
In season 4 we also have the first meta mention of Wincest, or for primetime television audience, ‘slash.’ Oh, Kripke, you just couldn’t let the sleeping dog lie, could you? Oh, no, bring that Wincest full blown into the story and laugh at it….well, my dear, you should be looking at your metaphors closely before you go pointin’ at the crazies. Two guys fighting over the affection of another guy, with a knife? So were you foreshadowing the season finale or are you just accidentally genius?
Yeah, so season 4 is decorated in the colors of forbidden taboos, perhaps shades of pink? For the elephant, you see.
Batter Up! Pinch Hitter No. 2: The Angels, Anna and Castiel
Song suggestion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3svW8PM_jc
First off, I know I’ve used this picture before in earlier parts of this series, but dammit, if Sam has the chest of orgasmic glory then Dean has the back of pre-/intermedial/post-coital triumph. Don’t look directly at it though. It may blind you with its brilliance. Side eye it. Trust me.
So if season 4 was the season of Sam/Ruby “oh no they din’t†sexing, then seasons 5 and 6 were the seasons of “Joy to the Homoerotic Undertones of Dean/Cas!†with a side order of “Dean sexing Anna, or the angel who made the writers think ‘oh crap if we had planned ahead we could’ve made Cas a girl but now we have two degrees of homo-heteroerotism – suck it, grrr.’â€
Now, I’ve stated in earlier sections of this essay and this series that, in fact, Dean is a rather normal sexual specimen. He’s quite vanilla, especially when compared to Sam. There’s no “UpAgainsttheWall!Dean†or “DoggyStyle!Dean.†There’s just plain Missionary!Dean and the world is poorer for it, I might add. But you see, the thing about Dean? His confusion is very much an identity issue that is tied to other characters – coughSamcough. But on the sex front? He’s, eh, American. He indulges in classic US-brand male fantasies, like dreaming about two women getting it on with him, flirting with loose women, and feeling attracted to the occasional bad girl, such as the demon in season three’s “Sin City,†and the occasional good girl like Jamie in “Monster Movie.†I bet he likes the homegrown type of sex, not too fancy, just quick and easy. But that’s no fun for this part, right? Let’s get away from straight arrow, sex in the trailer with hot horror film star Dean, shall we?
Let’s talk about Dean’s denials…..
So, when Dean returns from the hellpit, freshly polished from the torture and all, he’s a bit out of it, right? (And can we just say now that Alistair used ALL kinds of torture on Dean? I mean, the references to the torture of Lucifer/Sam kind of confirm it for me, but maybe that’s just me.)
Okay, so the first thing he does is try to find Sam and when unsuccessful, he goes to Bobby, who takes him to Sam. Because Sam saved him, right? This makes sense, but he finds Sam half naked with a chick (who we later learn is Dean-replacement, Ruby) and after the epic reunion hug of love, both brothers quickly realize that Sam did not save Dean (component numero uno for Dean’s weird affection for Cas, by the way). At the end of the episode, we meet Cas, aka “The Great Remover from Perdition.†If you look at the picture, you’ll see Cas even leaves his mark. And yes, there are better pictures of the handprint itself, but they did not have the Ackles face. All things in the world are better with the Ackles face – 9 out of 10 doctors agree. Look it up.
Note: This episode begins with Dean finding out that Sam did not save him (so poignant given the last scene of the season three cliffhanger was Dean screaming out for Sam) and ends with Dean meeting his savior. And the replacing begins….Come on in, Cas, sit down and let me tell you how this brother/lover thing is going to work out….
So we can all agree that Cas is infantile at first. Not in a bad way, of course. He’s just socially awkward since he’s an angel. He’s like a baby, a baby boy. Oh dear, pattern set, repeat button ready…who wants to push this one? In a way, Cas becomes this surrogate brother for Dean, which Dean searches for throughout season 4, seeing as his own brother is off schlepping around with Ruby, and sleeping with her too. And given the already heightened homoerotic undertones of the show, it’s really not surprising that you get a cult of Cas/Dean shippers right away. For those weirded out by any implied incest, there is a safety valve for the homoeroticism, even if it’s still a little creepy, you know because sleeping with an angel ain’t really gonna win you more points over incest, but who knows? I’m not judging.
So Cas, throughout season 4, becomes increasingly a part of Dean’s life, so much so that at the end of the season he’s as firmly entrenched in the inner circle as Sam and basically betrays heaven for Dean. That’s awesome. I tell you, Dean Winchester can bring world peace, if he just lets everyone know who he is. He’s like a tractor beam of peace; for proof, refer to all pictures of Dean. How can you not fall in love and want babies? I think Cas wants babies….
Now, the first season of Cas is not overly sexualized; it has the same flavor of emotionalization that the first three seasons had for Sam and Dean, culminating with “On the Head of a Pin†and “Lucifer Rising†where Cas’s emotional investment mirrors Dean’s dependence, because if you track ol’ Dean throughout season 4, you can detect his affection mounting (hehe) for Cas, as he looks to the angel for more and more help. Now, the show does this awesome turn, and reveals something about Sam and Dean through Dean and Cas – the work it takes to love Dean. I mean, if you look at both Cas and Sam, they are exhausted by Dean. Not a criticism, but it does make you think about how unreachable Dean can be, a lesson poor Lisa learns in Season 6. (and no, don’t go looking for Lisa in this part of the series – boys only, thank you very much – we are in the tree house.)
Well, okay, one girl. But is Anna really a girl? I think the angel thing throws that into question, as I’m assuming being angelic doesn’t have gender specifications. So, anyway, I won’t let us forget the Anna sex in “Heaven and Hell,†which is nicely placed right after the Sam/Ruby sex reveal in “I Know What You Did Last Summer.†In comparison to the Sam/Ruby sex, Dean/Anna sex is so sweet and careful and soulful. And while I might get the heebie jeebies linking to Sam/Ruby Youtube sex, I have no such compunctions about linking to Dean/Anna sex. First, we are not allowed to have Dean sex scenes that often (bad show, bad). Second, it provides a nice glimpse at vanillaDean and starts the discussion of the Cas/Dean shipping. So here you go:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sKrRfh5MEE
(Also, if you search for Eric Brady love scenes on YouTube, you can get more Ackles sex – I love you, Jensen Ackles’s fans, no matter how nutty you are. I love you, if just for the sheer amount of research you save me.)
“Heaven and Hell†Dean sex allows us to see that Dean (1) can be a real vengeful guy in the “if you can have sex with a demon bitch, I can have sex with the looney angel†kind of way and (2) can be fooled by his own affections, i.e., you have to wonder if Cas was a girl, in which episode the sex would’ve happened between them. I’m betting no earlier. I wish I could get on board with the Cas/Dean singular love of perfection, but I’m thinking Cas (and Anna) are poor vessels of denial. One could argue that Anna was a poor substitute for Cas, actually. Yeah, that’s gonna be my argument. I’m going with it.
The emotional connection between the two (Cas/Dean), while tested by Cas’s betrayal in “When the Levee Breaks,†grows as the brotherhood between Sam and Dean deteriorates – to get mathematical again, it seems we have two lines intersecting at the same axis point, don’t we?
As Dean recreates his brotherhood with Sam via Cas through Season 5, from partnering up with Cas to teaching him the wicked ways of the world to relying on him for salvation and support, and let us not forget that Sam and Dean did not have a physical altercation in Season 5, but Cas and Dean did…Remember Dean’s metaphor? Of course, Cas/Dean (or Destiel, as the kids call them) allows the show full range to indulge in the homoeroticism without fear of the nasty nomenclature of incest. And it does, again and again, to the point of monotony. The shift happens from “Free to Be You and Me†all the way through season 6 and early season 7. Personal space issues, unrequited glances, sexual jokes that border on the obnoxious. Yeah, show likes the Cas/Dean for the innuendo.
The Cas/Dean relationship plays on that subtextual eroticism until finally the relationship crumbles during season 6, leaving Dean once again broken over the betrayal of a brother/lover. The unraveling relationship is made more poignant by sad “I’ll do anything for you, Dean†Castiel who appears in “The Man who would be King.†Show knew it was about to screw over the Destiel shippers, so they got the obligatory “we see what you see†nod before show takes away the joy. Don’t feel bad Destiels – Wincesters got screwed too and they have to still live together. The show preserves the strange brother/lover affection beautifully in a way that it did not with Wincest. Sad Dean calling dead Cas a child; Sad Dean holding wet trenchcoat. <a little tear falls>
And Sam, where is he in all this? Well, I think it’s very telling that Sam is quicker to forgive Cas his failures than Dean, but not surprising. Some laughed at the “Sam avoids Cas†hug in “Like a Virgin,†but you see, I think Sam has an intuition about how Cas has become the go-to substitute for Dean. I’m telling you, people, Sam’s smart. He may be as crazy as Ozzy Osbourne’s train, but he intellectualizes with the best of them. Cas messes up. Sam messes up. Damn, Dean, how can a guy please you?
Now this is where I’m gonna say two things. First, there could be a whole essay devoted to the evolution of the Dean/Cas relationship, which I’m tempted to do. Hell, I’ll probably do it because their love does have its own flavor, but for the purposes of this part, I had to underscore the replacement aspect. And I’m sorry Destielers, it is there. Cas is a poor man’s Sam, in a certain light. Second, I have to give mad props to Misha Collins for intuiting the sexual politicking on the show and doing his best to act toward and against it. He’s a smart man and he can wink at the homoerotic without moving one eye muscle. He sees the layers of unrequited and turns it out like a masterpiece, especially as season 6 ends.
In the end, though, Cas/Dean begins as a mirror to the Sam/Ruby affair of Season 4, and it’s hard to see the sexuality beyond that frame. Like all love on Supernatural, sex is drenched in the perfume of deferral, denial, and addiction.
Season 5 Episodes Interlude: “The Real Ghostbusters†and “Dark Side of the Moonâ€
These season five episodes are particularly noteworthy for their nods to Wincest. In “The Real Ghostbusters†Becky the “Wincest fansite owner/writer†returns to remind us that, yes, show is meta crazy and slash is still working its way through the veins popping out on Eric Kripke’s head. He gets to do his little nod to it again when Demian/Barnes (fan LARPING Sam/Dean) are revealed as homosexual lovers. Nice try, Kripke, but that doesn’t play well in the season of the dying Wincest, which season 5 is to my mind. It gets nice and toasty burned and I have theory as to why, but won’t go into it here.
The second Wincesty episode I’d like to note is “Dark Side of the Moon,†which many point to since Ash implied the brothers shared a heaven. I actually don’t think that’s the case. Given what we know about Sam’s penchant for wanting normal, his heaven is the epitome of his normal, which means the erasure of Dean. And Dean’s heaven? An innocent Sam bathed in the lights of fireworks, almost like an angel. I’m gonna let you sip on that cup of metaphor for a bit….Sam as angelic to Dean, but demonic to himself.
So many years of therapy, y’all. Soooo many. Their mutual dysfunctions could fund a clinic, I swear – the Winchester Tree House for the Erotically Insane.
(And no, I won’t mention Zachariah and his co-dependent erotic observation here since I already did in the Dean section – Zachariah is the most perfect fanfic writer ever and my oracle, that’s all.)
What about Season 6, Linda? What about Lisa, Linda? I think you’re crazy, Linda….
I hear your arguments, people. I do. I have left a few things out (a whole helluva lot actually), but this essay is 25 pages long now! I know we have to cover season 6, but with Soulless Sam sex, Domesticated Dean sex, and Screwed Up Castiel’s unrequited lub, it’s pretty hard to not see the innuendo. I’d be shooting at fish in a barrel.
So where are we now? Well if season 7 is an indication, we’re about to get a reboot of the brotherly love, but I think without the Wincest. I’m pretty convinced it’s dead. It resolved itself in a small church in Maryland, buried deep in the chest of a small dark haired demon-woman.
But I could be wrong. Perhaps Wincest is alive and well. Perhaps this essay is crazy as hand-touching Season 7 Sam. I’m not sure….you tell me.
And a song to take us out:
Oh Linda, you are one sick puppy…in a good way. Even though I refuse to go there in my mind, whether it be Wincest, Destiel, or whatever other cest, I love taking the journey with you, cause I can laugh at it. But two guys just does not do it for me, never has, never will.
By the way, I got stuck at that picture of Jensen’s back, oh mama! Had me drooling, I think my computer actually blew a fuse. And for those who don’t remember, Dean was an under with Cassie. More Dean sex scenes I say! We’ve seen plenty of Sam, and I’m very grateful, but come on, we demand equal opportunity gratuity on both brothers!
See what you made me do? I’m usually so sedate, I’m a librarian for Chuck’s sake! And it’s only 12:30 p.m.! I need to break for lunch and read a very innocent book to calm myself down. Walk away, Sylvie, walk away.
Oh, yeah, and thanks for the pictures…again.
Thank you Sylvie. I love the picture of Jensen. The man is gorgeous. Thanks for sitting with me on the journey! 🙂
I’m loving these essays. I hope you do go into the dying of the Wincest and your reasons as to why. I would be fascinated to read your thoughts. (If you hit on them in earlier essays, I’ll get to them, I just started with the last two.)
Thanks Percysowner! I don’t really get into it in this series, but I’m working on another essay, so it may peak up in there.
Thanks for reading!
Nice essay. I think there is oh so much truth to it in terms of the show—if you want it to read that way and oh so many do.
I don’t think, as of last night, that Wincest is dead. I think it’s being reborn in a weird way–hint the two fighting MARRIED FOREVER witches are Sam and Dean in some weird way—and they need to talk to each other about their issues as those two did. But that won’t happen until either later in the season or next (if we’re so lucky).
I think you nailed that Dean doesn’t know who or what he is well—which is another thing this season is tackling if you ask me. It’ll all end up with the Wincest in the end, I’m sure.
Loved how you covered all the replacements and Ruby is Dean is Ruby is oh never mind. It’s true. I can’t wait to see what you say about season 7 on this issue.
I have been quietly reading articles on this site for the last 2 years but feel now I have to make this comment.
The articles here have been wonderful, warm, moving, witty and well written. But now all we get are 6, 7 or even sometimes 8 reviews of each episode, surely this makes them slightly redundant! We now also get, infrequently, articles like this series which cannot make their mind up whether they are serious or funny, and just come off as repugnant, or `the angsty ones` like `The suffering of Dean` or, heaven help us `The Marbles` which appear as if written by hormonal teenage girls.
I think it is a pity, when I look back at some of the wonderful work in the archives, to see what things have been reduced to here, I cannot imagine that I am alone in feeling this?
Personally I like the multiple episode reviews. Each one makes me reexamine the episode. I often see things I missed or the reviews make me look at things from a new angle.
I also enjoy reading the different reviews, and yes they do tend to get a little repetitive, but every one manages to give a little something different. I enjoy all the essays also. “Forbidden Elephant” being my favourite. I check out a whole bunch of different sites for the other reviews! I guess you could call me obsessed.
You’re not alone actually. You’ve got the editor of the site agreeing with you on this, in part anyway.
I actually love this Forbidden Elephant series and I’m proud to feature it on this site. If Bookdal’s writing style isn’t something you care for, that’s okay. But if we’ve been known for anything, it’s going out of bounds with some articles. It’s always been my policy to let the writers take their creativity and run with it.
Now, having said that, I do admit that we’ve been lacking in our usual style of late. We’ve had a shift in writers, so that has a lot to do with it. But yeah, a lot of the fun and clever writing that’s been the foundation for this site has been missing these days (this article excluded. The one on the great hair too! 🙂 ). I keep twisting my brain trying to figure out how to get that back.
I do take the blame for that one, but just like Supernatural’s writing team these days, I’ve been caught in a mode of just taking what I’ve been given. I keep challenging SPN’s writers to do better, I should do the same here. I actually do enjoy our reviews, but yes, sometimes they get repetitive. In cases of eps like “The Girl Next Door” though, every review had a drastically different view. I do recognize that each week can’t be a home run like that.
I love getting feedback like this and if you want to elaborate more, give more specific examples, let me know which articles you’ve enjoyed the most in the past, I’d appreciate it. Just send a message through the “Contact Us” section. Anything you share will be taken very seriously.
Thanks for the feedback.
[quote]or `the angsty ones` like `The suffering of Dean` or, heaven help us `The Marbles` which appear as if written by hormonal teenage girls.[/quote]
Or maybe by a woman mature enough to not be afraid or ashamed showing her emotions and feelings like something below her or this site.
This show is not only acting and writings and mytharcs and technical stuff: this show is 70% “emotional and angsty” stuff. Ok, there is monsters and creatures lore; philosophical questions about the right to kill or who is to save, or the significance of the soul to define a human person, or free will and destiny… but it is basically the story of two souls (three, if you add – sigh – Castiel) and of their relationship, with all the complex and complicated feelings you usually have to face in dealings with human relationships, be they love, family, brotherhood, friendship, war companionship. It is 70% psychological and emotional consequences of said philosophical and mythological questions on two very damaged human beings.
So yes, I can totally see the point of articles like the ones mentioned. Not all the articles on a magazine (and you can see this site a bit like a “daily issue” about our show and all things related) have to be “serious and scholarly” essays: you can have funny and ironic stuff, like the articles about Sam’s hair, or articles like this one, that discuss interesting (if somehow twisted) views on some themes of the show behind a humorous façade, or “emotional, angsty” stuff that expresses in poetic ways what the characters go through [i]emotionally[/i], or just what us viewers [i]feel [/i]watching them struggling.
And I don’t understand why my feelings as viewer have to be looked down on as unimportant or “teenage-like”. After all, emotions and feelings ARE what stories (written or filmed) have to produce on the reader/viewer.
No offense girl but I think you need to lay off the fanfic ’till you can again tell the difference between fiction and reality. And by reality I mean the show reality ’cause honestly? you’re seeing fire were there’s not even a wisp of smoke.
dudlinsheila is right this site used to be so good but lately is coming from bad to worse if it’s not a dozen of reviews from the week episode it’s complete nonsense articles that look like written by angsty teenagers. I give up, there’s nothing here for me anymore.
The King is naked!
Hi Hi Linda….
I have a confession. After reading your article and re-watching the shows, i am beginning to be able to pinpoint the things you mentioned here. It’s like i know that there’s something there, this something that makes me love this show since the beginning of S1 but i can never pinpoint it exactly what. Like seeing something at the corner of my eye. it’s there but out of focus.
Yes, Metaphor and Parallel color this show wickedly. Damn!
Oh! one more thing that you forget to mention Linda. You said Dean stabbing Ruby is symbolizing the death of Wincest How about Sam stabbing Castiel from behind? the death of Destiel?
If we see Dean stab Ruby full frontal for imitating him with bravado and cockiness. What’s that saying about Sam sneaking quietly behind Cas and stab him? (with the phallic sword of Angel, mind you. So it’s parallel with how Dean stab Ruby with her own knife. Still… same concept) Because you said Cas is a poor imitation of a ‘baby brother’ Sam?
But,but, the sword does not work. (frown) Cas still alive at that time. M confuse. What you say Linda?
So, S1 to S3 are the golden Age of Wincest. S4 to S6 are the new age of Destiel. The Death of Ruby should end wincest but cannot kill Destiel because Cas is still alive. Then, S7 is what?
You know this discussion if fun. One of the way to get away from angst. Come on guys it’s just for fun. And it’s all Kripke’s fault anyway. I hope you write it during S4 but that would be weird.
Thank you Alice for allowing bookdal to post it. It’s all in the spirit of fun. We’re allowed to have fun once in a while, right?
I enjoyed this series of articles, they gave me lots to think about and the analysis was very interesting.
I’m glad that I’m not the only person who finds it hard to watch the Sam & Ruby scenes in S4 because of the real life relationship that exists there. I’ve always found it unsettling/squicky to watch sex scenes between actors who I know are a couple in real life :sigh: I’m a delicate flower who is easily embarassed lol.