Supernatural Finally Made “Destiel” Canon (Sort Of)

Supernatural finally made fan-favorite ship Destiel canon. Kind of. 

“Destiel” is the pairing of main characters Dean Winchester and the angel Castiel. The show has hinted at a possibility of a romance between the two multiple times throughout its many seasons, leading to accusations of “queer baiting” by fans.  That is to say, dropping in little signs of romantic attraction between characters of the same gender, but never really fully committing to it or explicitly stating it. 

After many, many years of waiting, fans have finally gotten what they asked for. Sort of.  

On Thursday’s episode, Castiel declared his love for Dean, but a lot of Destiel shippers were less than satisfied with the way the show handled the moment.

The “Destiel” Scene:

“Ever since I pulled you out of hell, knowing you has changed me. Because you cared, I cared. I cared about you, I cared about Sam, I cared about Jack. But I cared about the whole world because of you. You changed me, Dean,” Castiel tells Dean.

 When Dean asks Castiel why does it sound like he’s saying goodbye, the angel tells him that is is, in fact, a goodbye. “Because it is. I love you. Goodbye, Dean.” 

Then Castiel gets pulled into a worse-than-hell dimension and dies, (likely permanently,despite the show’s history of reviving dead characters) leaving Dean crying on the floor. 

The Reaction:

Most fans found the scene problematic and disappointing.  For one, fans took issue with the fact that Dean doesn’t react throughout’s Castiel’s moving declaration, making it seem one-sided. This is also on brand with Dean’s performance of straight masculinity, as he is portrayed often as a very manly guy and a bit of a ladies man.  

Also concerning is that Dean doesn’t get very long to react, or to respond to Castiel’s statement because the angel very tragically and dramatically dies. Like, right after.  This means that the ship is not fully canon yet, since Dean never got to tell Cas he loves him too (that is, if he loves him too). We can speculate from the years of longing glances that Dean reciprocated Castiel’s affections,  but until that gets confirmed it’s only speculation.

Fans have pointed out that Castiel being immediately killed off after his declaration of love is an example of the “bury your gays trope”, wherein a show kills off an LGBT character soon after their queerness is revealed. 

A lot of fans went on twitter to joke and vent about the problematic way the show handled the ship. 

Many pointed outed the previously mentioned issues. Some made jokes about Dean’s lackluster reaction to Cas’ declaration.

Others pointed out the problematic way the show has handled LGBT and POC characters.

There were also jokes about the show killing off Cas immediately after the ship finally becomes canon.

And of course there were the tweets about how long it had taken the show’s writers to make the ship canon, and comparisons to the 2020 election.

Others pointed out how fitting it was, Destiel becoming ‘kind of’ canon during what has been an incredibly surprising and strange year.

Weirdly, there were even tweets connecting the Supernatural episode with a statement that Russian president Vladimir Putin would be stepping down.

https://twitter.com/suzanwho/status/1324676845237903360?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1324676845237903360%7Ctwgr%5Eshare_3&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.buzzfeednews.com%2Farticle%2Flaurenstrapagiel%2Fdestiel-supernatural

What did you think about last night’s Supernatural episode? Were you also disappointed by the Destiel scene?

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