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[oselle]

I love Supernatural, not in the wild fangirl way that I know some of you do (I think I used up my lifetime allotment of fangirliness on LoTR and Elijah Wood) but I love it, if for no other reason than this: Dean Winchester gets his ass kicked in every single episode.

Not since Mulder in the The X-Files have I seen a human being sustain such constant abuse with such resilience. And Dean gets it much worse and much more often than Mulder, and he never even has a real doctor like Scully to put him back together.

Any mere mortal would by now have been a brain-damaged physical wreck. On a weekly basis this poor man gets slammed against walls, hung up from hooks, shot, sucker-punched, strangled and once, memorably, excoriated. He sustains head injuries that should have had him drooling into his applesauce for the rest of his life. He takes punches that should have knocked every tooth out of his gums. And he walks away from all of it -- ALL of it, every time! -- with nothing more than some gorgeous little scrape on his cheek or strategically split lip that only serves to highlight his best features. RIGHT NOW -- I am sitting here watching Dean who has already taken TWO beatings in tonight's episode and he has...a gorgeous little scrape high up on his cheekbone. I will say, with regret, that the writers did screw this up once. In one of this year's episodes, Dean got shot in the shoulder. Shoulder gunshot wounds exist for one reason, and that is so that the wounded party can take off his shirt. Duh. I mean, that's a no-brainer isn't it? And yet, when he was getting patched up, he had his shirt on. A lamentable mistake.

Even better is that no matter how many beatings Dean gets in an episode, the first one almost always occurs between 9:30 and 9:40 pm, EST. Tonight, while Dean was getting billy-clubbed in the prison cafeteria, I said to myself, "Bet it's 9:30." And yep...it was! You can set your watch by it! If it's 9:30 on a Thursday, Dean Winchester is getting a photogenic pounding.

Not that I'm complaining because I love this sort of thing. I understand that a lot of the writers on the show are women, and they are my kind of broads. They understand. They get it. I don't think anyone will ever be able to explain the psychology of this, but there is just something so awesome about watching a hottie like Dean Winchester get banged up. Next time they have the opportunity though, they just need to remember: gunshot wound = shirt off. Got it, ladies?

Comments

[fictualities.livejournal.com]

Shoulder gunshot wounds exist for one reason, and that is so that the wounded party can take off his shirt. Duh. I mean, that's a no-brainer isn't it? And yet, when he was getting patched up, he had his shirt on. A lamentable mistake.

So true! How could the SPN writers possibly forget something so important? It's like leaving the peanut butter off of a peanut butter sandwich.

Excellent observation about the timing of the beatings. And I have no idea whether the writers are men or women, but they sure understand the hurt/comfort dynamic. Hurt halfway through the story, followed by plot resolution, followed by about five minutes of comfort. It's that last emotion-drenched five minutes of SPN eps that make me think these are chick-friendly narratives: the writers usually leave time at the end for one brother to say "I love you man" through the Gritted Teeth of Manly Pain, and for the other brother to say "jeez, don't turn all girly on me" through the Gritted Teeth of Poorly Disguised Male Bonding.

Sigh. In its way, the show's perfect. *squeezles it*

[oselle.livejournal.com]

the writers usually leave time at the end for one brother to say "I love you man" through the Gritted Teeth of Manly Pain, and for the other brother to say "jeez, don't turn all girly on me" through the Gritted Teeth of Poorly Disguised Male Bonding.

I so laughed out loud at this. It's funny cuz it's true!!

When I see the "written by" credits, it's usually a woman's name. I think I've heard that one of the writers actually got her start in fanfic. I understand that another (or maybe the same one) also writes professional erotica on the side, under a different name. Could there possibly be a better team to write angst-ridden stories about two hot brothers?

[liptonrm.livejournal.com]

You have officially cracked my shit up. \m/

It's nice to have a show where the writers are just as deranged as we are. Though they sadly haven't learned the requisite shirt removal lessons quite yet. It's a damn shame, too. Dean didn't lose his shirt through the entirety of the last season. I have very high hopes for season 3, however.

mmmm, I love the shiner he gets in prison. Bruises really do make a pretty boy even prettier.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

Did you notice the shiner mutated from scene to scene? Sometimes it was a sexy "look at me" scratch. Sometimes more of a blushing abrasion. Then back to the scrape. But who needs continuity when you've got cheekbones like that?!?

I don't think that Dean should gratuitously take off his shirt. But when you have the perfect, God-given opportunity for the shirt to come off, I mean every reason in the world for that shirt to come off and it stays on...what can I say? And the scene had such a great setup, what with Dean's knees buckling on the pier and everything. Nuts.

[ghyste.livejournal.com]

Dean obviously kept his shirt on because he didn't trust Jo that close when he was half naked and wounded.

I find the fact that he gets tied up so often immensely gratifying.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

Dean obviously kept his shirt on because he didn't trust Jo that close when he was half naked and wounded.

This actually did occur to me, but I still think Dean should have overcome his prudence and taken it like a man for our sake. Won't somebody please think of the fangirls?

It's scenes like this that also make me regret that Dean doesn't smoke -- that he really can't smoke on network television. Because if Dean Winchester were a real person, he so totally would have had a Camel clamped in his teeth during this scene. And it would have been hot. Unhealthy and politically incorrect, but hot.

I find the fact that he gets tied up so often immensely gratifying.

Nothing will ever top the episode where he was tied up and hanging from a hook. Nothing. I had so much love for the writers that night. I thought, "My God, they've given us Dean Winchester, tied up and hanging from a hook. Alas -- they have reached their apex!"

[ghyste.livejournal.com]

Dean smoking would be a thing of beauty but the pleasure would, alas, be diluted by Sam's bitchface and inevitable lectures on the evils of passive smoking.

I rather liked the "tied up in the orchard" scene. It would have been better shirtless, however.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

BITCHFACE!!!!!

To think, I've been calling it "pissyface" when all this time I could have been calling it "bitchface." Oh, the time wasted!

I can't believe I missed Dean tied up in the orchard. I have been remiss! Was that this season? They frigging repeat the ones I've already seen three times and I meanwhile have yet to see Dean TIED UP IN THE ORCHARD. I feel like I've seen that Linda Blair one at least four times and Dean wasn't tied up AT ALL in that one. :(

[ghyste.livejournal.com]

Dean was tied up in the orchard near the end of the S1 episode "Scarecrow". I would have found you a screencap, but they're all of the girl who was tied up with him - can't imagine why!

While you're on season 1, also check out "Skin" for 'Dean tied up in the sewers' and the Pilot and "Benders" for 'Dean in Handcuffs'. Not that I've been making a list or anything...

[oselle.livejournal.com]

Shit, you know, I have thus far resisted buying Season One on DVD, because I remember thinking it wasn't very good. But your very thorough list of Dean's Season One bondage highlights sent me off to Borders and now it's in my house. Thanks, lady.

[ghyste.livejournal.com]

It took me until I bought the DVDs to get into season 1, but it was worth the wait. Enjoy!

[oselle.livejournal.com]

I didn't realize it till now, but I've only seen about a half-dozen of the Season One episodes. Think of all the beatings and bondage I've missed!!

[ghyste.livejournal.com]

I'd call you a perve, but I doubt I could recognise the moral high ground let alone assume it - particularly since this show is the one that finally tempted me into the murky waters of RPS...

[oselle.livejournal.com]

If we weren't supposed to perve on Dean getting abused, then the writers wouldn't be manufacturing so much abuse. I'm simply responding to market conditions.

this show is the one that finally tempted me into the murky waters of RPS...

HAHAHAHAHA!

Perve.

[ghyste.livejournal.com]

As they say: where am I going, and what am I doing in this handbasket?

:D

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

And people wonder why this show is popular. Honestly.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

The real question is why it isn't even more popular. It was teetering on the brink of cancellation at the end of this season and I'm really hoping it finds a bigger audience with Season Three.

[alchemie.livejournal.com]

Word!

[oselle.livejournal.com]

Awwwww yeah!

[westmoon.livejournal.com]

I am laughing so hard over this and the comments I can barely type.

Sing it, sisters!

[oselle.livejournal.com]

They're playing our song!

[baylorsr.livejournal.com]

You can never go wrong with torturing your main character. Especially when he looks like Dean Winchester.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

And Dean is just so game for it. Whereas Mulder always took his inevitable thrashing with Eeyorish resignation ("Getting my ass kicked again. Oh well."), Dean dives right into every beat-down with giddy enthusiasm ("That all you got?"). Which sometimes results in his geting cracked over the skull by some hillbilly's frying pan.

Oh, Dean Winchester...don't ever change.

[baylorsr.livejournal.com]

You need to check out the end of Smallville Season Four, where in the course of two or three episodes Dean is: shot, thrown off a cliff, beaten up by Superman's dad, and finally killed by a falling meteor. This is all after earlier in the season when he and Lex Luther went to Hong Kong, were captured by Chinese soldiers and tortured with electric shock. Dean was appropriately shirtless and tied with his hands above his head. Also, right before he dies, he ties Lex to a chair and burns him with a hot poker. Guess he felt like some reverse role-playing.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

Why does Superman's dad beat up Dean!?!? Is he a bad guy on the show?

[baylorsr.livejournal.com]

He starts out as a good guy but then his evil mother, Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman (we know she's evil because she has an English accent, even though Dean is American), breaks him and his girlfriend up with her creepily incestuous interference and generall mindfucks him until he turns evil (the burning Lex with a poker takes place during this phase). After he's thrown off the cliff, he just loses his mind completely and ends up holding the Kents hostage, thus leading to the beating. He's also been living out in the woods for a few days, making his way back to civilization after being thrown off the cliff, and he is deliciously filthy and deranged throughout the whole ordeal.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

As soon as I read "he's also been living out in the woods..." I immediately thought, "My God, he must have been deliciously filthy!" You took the words right out of my head. And deranged, too! And creepy incestuous mindfucks! To think all this has been going on while I've been...reading or some crap.

Umm...have you ever noticed these sorts of threads always wind up being just the two of us, obsessively feeding each other's crazy?

[baylorsr.livejournal.com]

It feels like old times, doesn't it?

[oselle.livejournal.com]

Awwww...yeah it does!

[oxer12.livejournal.com]

You really should get Season One of SPN. "Scarecrow" was a great episode!

I also love the Television Without Pity recaps of this show, because the writer calls Daddy Winchester "Daddy Shut Up," and that makes me laugh. :-D

Dean is soooo pretty! How about the ep. this past season that ended with him looking broodily into the sun, with his pouty lips all highlighted by the sunset rays? Squeee!

[oselle.livejournal.com]

They have a knack of getting long, broody closeups of Dean. No complaints here.