So I finally watched The Evolution of Destiel (thank you @MikesChaoticGay), and I feel like I need to make something clear. I have read Dean and Cas' relationship as romantic since watching The Man Who Would Be King (Season 6) 4 years ago. I was not in fan spaces at the time, +

and therefore was not subjected to the ridicule and gaslighting that fans who also read that relationship as such were subjected to by (some members of) the cast and crew. This was probably the best thing that could have happened to me for a few reasons: 1) I never doubted +

myself or my reading. I trusted myself and my reading, and stood firm in my interpretation. 2) I never felt the need to double down. Dean and Cas were a romantic relationship built into the framework of my interpretation. I didn't need to prove it or defend it. It just was. +

Fast forward 4 years. As the show neared its end, I wanted to start a project to continue actively engaging with it in a meaningful way. In October of 2020, I approached @BoxlessThought about starting a podcast together to analyse and interpret each episode of S/PN +

through its story ("as sacred") and critically. This was when @CarryingWayward was born. At that point, I was thankful for (what I thought was) the very obvious queer coding of Dean and Cas' relationship in Season 15. As stated in the video, it was given ample screen time +

and seemed to be treated with the care and respect it deserved. However, since it had been made clear to me that production wasn't going to make the relationship explicit, I held little hope that it would in the final season. At best, I was imagining a charged look +

as it all came to an end. It's worth noting that I still was not in fan spaces then. So my understanding of production's reluctance to make the relationship explicit was based solely on the source material: Dean and Cas' relationship always teetering, but never leaping. +

It's also worth mentioning that I didn't watch the show live. I would always watch it the next day when it would make its way to my AppleTV app.

Then came November 5th. I was anxiously doom-scrolling through Twitter to get any updates about the American election. +

I glanced over at trending topics to see Destiel trending above the topic I was following. My reaction to 15x18 Despair is a story for another day. Let's just say that I have never had that kind of emotional reaction to a TV show before. Until then, I had planned on +

working some of my understandings about Dean and Cas' relationship into the podcast. I knew enough about the fandom to know that it was somehow a controversial topic and didn't want to alienate potential listeners. After Despair, it became evident to me that we would +

absolutely have to pay particular attention to the evolution of the relationship, but also the queer coding of Dean. Not because of my personal investment into their relationship, but because it had been crystallized into the narrative as more than subtext. +

If you've ever listened to an episode of @CarryingWayward, you know that we spend significant time on Dean's queer coding. We do this for two reasons: 1) once we started looking at the story through that lens, more and more evidence appeared to us, either by engaging +

directly with the source material, or through our conversations and analysis. 2) I had become aware of the treatment of fans also invested in the relationship, and was distraught that (some members of) the cast and crew could treat fans with a valid reading so cruelly. +

In other words, it was important to me to validate these fans in their reading, and to provide them with more starting points for discussions around the topic. You might have noticed that I haven't once used the terms "ship" or "canon" in this thread. +

I'm concerned that too often, viewers who use fan language get their readings and interpretations dismissed. I believe this is rooted in misogyny. I don't "just ship Destiel", nor am I "just mad my ship didn't go canon." Form my extensive engagement with the source material, +

I believe that Dean Winchester is a queer character, that Dean and Castiel's relationship is romantic, that this romantic relationship eventually became a foundation of the series, and the ending of the series broke the narrative promises made in previous episodes. +

With @CarryingWayward about to release our episode on Faith next Friday, I want to be very clear: the analysis that @BoxlessThought, @rachichi_ and I conduct brings us to the conclusion that Faith (unintentionally) is a foundational element to Dean and Cas' relationship. +

As was stated in the video, it's "what Supernatural seems to do best: stumble into greatness by accident." End of thread.