norwich36 | SPN: The Rapture

Well, I'm waiting for the implosion from Dean/Castiel writers

I mean, I realize in the course of true love there's no obstacle that can't be written around, but so many of them have been totally jossed to hell: Jimmy is a happily married (well, formerly happily married) man, with living family, and he doesn't get to die while Castiel is inhabiting the vessel for the next thousand years or so, so...there goes 99% of the fandom explanations for how Dean/Castiel sex isn't exploiting the vessel. As someone who has read a LOT of Dean/Castiel, I'm very curious to see where it's going to go from here.

And speaking of Castiel

What a fucking dick. I love the Castiel of fic, but the Castiel of canon? Taking a happily married man away from his family, exposing them all to terrible danger while having promised to keep them all safe? That's made of FAIL, Castiel, totally made of fail. And I get that apparently angels need to possess people with specific bloodlines, so what--there are no single people in the whole world he could possess?

I get that he took some sort of risk to help Dean and got yanked back to heaven and reprogrammed, but still--I think I'm pretty annoyed that he promised protection to Jimmy's family, since the angels can't even protect themselves, much less humans getting in the path of random demons. And since I don't think Jimmy would have really made the choice he did had he known what the consequences would be for his family, I repeat: MADE OF FAIL.

Jimmy, on the other hand, was entirely made of win. Ok, maybe it was unwise of him not to heed Sam's advice, but who could blame him for wanting to see his family after all this time? And he even managed to concoct a fairly decent story for his wife. But of course what I love him most for is rescuing his daughter from the fate he hated by resuming it himself. Oh, Jimmy. I also loved his refusal to pray before dinner and his angry prayer to Castiel right before walking into the trap.

Emilia was also pretty kickass. One can hardly blame her for kicking Jimmy out when she thought he was crazy--and I like that she was willing to give him a second chance but was very cautious about it. (Well, assuming that was her and not a demon the whole time--I guess it's hard to tell. And I guess it was the demon and not really Emilia who didn't want Jimmy to leave them, but still, the actress was pretty awesome). I'm glad that in the end, she didn't die and she at least got to keep her daughter, rather than losing both husband and daughter.

Sam Yeah, yeah, sucking demon blood is bad, demon blood addiction blah blah blah. I didn't like this plotline when season 6 Buffy did it. Though next week's episode may be fun just for bondage!Sam.

All that demon-blood drinking is apparently a downer, though, since the speech he gave to Jimmy about how he'd never be able to see his family again was even more depressing than the speech he gave Adam last week.

Dean You tricksy bastard! I did not see that coming, I have to say. When you said "I'm done, I'm just done," that felt real to me, so I was not at all expecting the trap.

And can I say, it makes me happy that you don't always dream of hell--sometimes you just dream about fishing! Though I'm a little perturbed that all the angels apparently like to spy on your brain, if Castiel (pre-reprogramming) is to be believed.

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I think the big shift in my perception was that it looked to be Castiel who made the approach, so (and I'll have to rewatch) the "he prayed for this" was a bit of a stretch.

(I kinda want to see a "Dude, 'use us for Thy will is just standard boilerplate when I say grace, I didn't mean to POSSESS me!'")

In my personal canon, the vessel was completely relentless in demanding to be of service, to the point where it had already ruined his family.

I totally need to finish getting ready to travel, but I'm wondering if I can squeeze in another watch -- ha!

it looked to be Castiel who made the approach, so (and I'll have to rewatch) the "he prayed for this" was a bit of a stretch.

Yes, that was my impression, too. And I wonder how long ago it was? His wife said he'd been gone almost a year, so it sounds like before Dean got out of hell. And this made me laugh out loud: Dude, 'use us for Thy will is just standard boilerplate when I say grace, I didn't mean to POSSESS me!' I feel like if angels are truly different than demons, they need more than just permission, they need full disclosure about the fact that there are no returns, here.

Aha! But are they truly different? I think that's a question worth asking.

Yeah, it's a good question as to whether they are truly different or not. Certainly Zachariah, for example, seems to combine some of the worst features of the Trickster and a demon in one complete package.

Yes to everything!

As a Cas/Dean fan, I'm a little sad, but I liked the way the family was portrayed, so my canon liking self and my shipper self are at war at the moment :)

I'm not sure I'm mad at Cas for making promises he can't live up to. I think the stakes are high, and there's a real sense of not getting human emotions in the end, I think. But the scene where Jimmy sacrifices his body for his daughter to have a normal life? Just great!

As a Cas/Dean fan, I'm a little sad, but I liked the way the family was portrayed, so my canon liking self and my shipper self are at war at the moment

Yeah, that's my feeling too. I'm sure the Dean/Castiel writers will come up with some solution--though I can't quite figure out what it's going to be, at the moment--but I really liked Jimmy and his family, so it's going to be hard.

I loved Jimmy's self-sacrifice--especially since Claire didn't even seem to get a choice about being possessed, which seems contrary to angelic ethics, to me. I mean, sure, for the emergency situation to save the life of her family, ok, but if Castiel was really going to let Jimmy "go to his rest" and keep possessing Claire, that is a whole different ethical situation there. And that's the sort of thing that has me irritated with him. Yes, the stakes are high, but I thought that which distinguished the good guys from the bad guys is means, not simply ends.

I actually liked this episode (although I was still kind of noticing Jared's acting). I liked getting to see Misha do more acting. I loved finding out more about Castiel. And I loved that bit about how he's learned his lesson - ouch!

Yes, we really got to see Misha's range more in this episode. He did a great job making Jimmy really different than Castiel.

My only problem with the "I've learned my lesson" scene is that it reads as a smackdown of Dean, which seemed a little unfair to me, considering it's not like Dean asked for special info; Castiel offered it. Dean isn't the one who got him all reprogrammed.

Yeah, and he got to play Jimmy before and Jimmy after - and they're pretty different people too.

What I loved about it is that I'm all for angels/heaven as harsh and badass. I suspect there's also possibly an argument to be made for Dean having to do it all himself - like, heaven violates the rules by doing direct action.

Oh, good point! Poor, naive Jimmy before. That scene where he sticks his hand in the boiling water? DAYUM.

If heaven violates the rules by direct action, though, should angels be on earth at all?

And on a completely different note: did they change the airing time of Harper's Island? I actually was going to watch it live last night and couldn't find it, but someone posted a review of it so I assume it aired? I guess I'll watch it at the website, but I was very puzzled last night.

Hmm. Good point. Maybe they can't directly do what Dean's supposed to do?

I have no idea. I was going to watch it this morning, but it wasn't on the website, and I didn't feel like trying to find it somewhere else and ended up watching The Daily Show instead (because I didn't feel up to Southland).

I was thinking I saw it posted, but looking more closely I see it was just a preview. Hmm. Maybe this is one of those "it aired in Canada but not in the U.S." things.

I just went to the official website to see if it had an airing schedule, and it says it's now on Saturdays at 9. Which I would say is the kiss of death, though I can't imagine they'll stop airing a limited series even if the ratings are low before the finale, do you? (That would really suck and actually make me want to boycott CBS).

Yikes. That is a kiss of death! It seems like it would be silly not to just air all the eps.

Castiel might not have intentionally ignored his promise to keep Jimmy's family safe - they were safe for the entire time that Jimmy was gone, and it was only after Cas was unceremoniously yanked back to Heaven, where he presumably couldn't do anything to help his charges back on Earth, that they came into any danger.

That's a good defense of Castiel--I certainly agree with you that he never intended to expose Jimmy's family to harm. I think my frustration is a little more bigger picture, though; I feel like at the very least Castiel should have hedged his promises, and more than that I think he might have clued Jimmy into the length of the commitment he was making, if it really could be a thousand years.

Of course, it is also possible that Castiel really believed he would only need to be inhabiting Jimmy for a short time, and it was something related to his most recent trip to heaven that makes it necessary to hold on to Jimmy for so long, in which case I will withdraw the criticism.

SPN: The Rapture

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