What’s up with Putin and Destiel? – Glad you asked.

Tread lightly – contains spoilers for Supernatural s1-15

On the morning of Friday the 6th of November 2020, I was woken up by two all-caps lock texts and a frantic videocall by a dear friend.

(Archeologists will find this screenshot one day and put it in a museum.)

I slowly pieced things back à la memento, and now I am

- angry

- opinionated

Long story short: in the latest episode of Supernatural (2005-2020, CW fantasy tv show) the fan-favourite relationship between fictional characters Dean Winchester, demon hunter, and Castiel, renegade Angel of the Lord, has become canon (to some degree) with Castiel declaring his love for Dean and then immediately dying and being sent to what the fans have now dubbed "Mega Hell"

So what does this mean for the storms of fans who have been pining over the couple since Castiel’s first apparition on the show, in 2008?

A lot of chaos, first of all. Much of the original fanbase of the show had died out or at least toned down its online presence compared to the times of the Mishapocalypse. Now, they are back in full force, churning out memes and think pieces on Tumblr like it’s 2013 all over again.

So let’s go over some FAQs.

Does this mean Supernatural wasn’t Queerbaiting after all?

Absolutely not. Supernatural is STILL queerbaiting.

Queerbaiting is the act of hinting at a gay relationship through subtext, never committing to having meaningful queer representation on-screen. This is done to lure in the queer audience starved for representation, without alienating the conservative, homophobic audience.

Supernatural has been doing this for years, even openly making fun of the fans who have been supporting Destiel. For them to backpedal two episodes from the end, when they have nothing left to lose, does not mean that they haven’t baited and mocked their queer audience so far for a grand total of 319 episodes. Writers have had 319 episodes to make this happen and deliberately chose to have it at the very last moment. The show has marched on ambiguity for twelve years now, and a two-minutes scene two episodes from the end is not going to redeem Supernatural from the damage it has done to thousands of queer fans.

Ok, but isn’t representation always good?

Notice how in defining queerbaiting, I said “meaningful” representation. In its narrative, Spn falls into a second massively homophobic trope: Bury your gays. A frankly all-too-common trope in media, where queer characters are killed off dramatically, often as a metadiegetic punishment for existing while queer. Supernatural itself isn’t new to this, bringing back fan-favourite Charlie (a lesbian) for season ten and brutally killing her off almost immediately – which caused the uproar of many fans.

The killing of Castiel is especially homophobic because of the circumstances of his death. In the scene, he explains that a curse has been placed upon him as a result of a deal he made. So, he will die after experiencing a moment of True Happiness. For Castiel, True Happiness is in revealing his feelings to Dean. And while this might sound dramatic and romantic, it only sounds trite and frankly, homophobic, to the queer people in the audience, who recognise in this narrative the pattern of being told we’re condemned to hell (or something worse, like the Void) if we ever choose to embrace our true nature and feelings - if we dare to be both gay as in happy and gay as in queer.

As Rowan Ellis puts quite succinctly in her video reaction, these characters are not real people. There is a specific authorial intention in this scene – there is the decision, made in a Writers’ Room, to wait until the last moment. And to set up this curse so that Castiel will literally be sent somewhere worse than hell because he came out. These aren’t casual tragedies in a real person’s life – these are acts a writer structured, lines an actor delivered. Everything here is intentional.

Ok, it might not be good representation, but at least it’s representation, right?

Uh… sort of. I do agree that, with Castiel’s speech, the gay is undeniable to anyone who’s not actively trying to deny it. But then again, there is the problem of plausible deniability. Because queerbaiting is often done not to enrage homophobic viewers, we have to consider the homophobe’s perspective on the episode to fully assess its effective work as representation.

Quite explicitly in the text, Castiel sets a vital distinction between everything else he loves (the world, Sam, Jack) and Dean. It’s a different kind of love. Romantic love. However, a point could be made for the fact that Castiel simply means he loves Dean more intensely, more deeply than anything else on Earth. That Dean is what changed his worldview completely and the person he’s made all of his decisions in years for. NO HOMO.

So yes, it is representation of queerness, in that Castiel has made it explicitly clear that he loves Dean in a romantic way. But also, that explicit declaration is still cleverly worded enough that a person who actively wants to deny the gay still could.

But why is it trending with Putin?

Who knows. Most likely, some game of Chinese whispers gone wrong.

Putin is not quitting any time soon. The rumour of Putin resigning was initiated by English speaking, unreliable tabloids - but it did share like wildfire because some Destiel fans found it and believed it, and then shared the same joke one too many times until it made into popular news.

To anyone who wasn’t around fandom spaces in 2012, just know: this is how being on Tumblr felt for at years at end.

Welcome to (mega) hell.

If you want to see the confession and judge for yourself, here we go. Don't tell me I didn't warn you.