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SPN: Dark Side of the Moon
For once I am writing out my thoughts before reading everyone else's. Spoilery, of course.
When Dean threw the amulet away, I just gasped. Wow. Way to symbolically reject both God AND Sam. Yeah, the foreshadowing that he is going to say yes to Michael was heavy in this one.
For the record, my theory is that just as "The End" was Zachariah creating a pocket universe, not a true future, so this whole adventure was orchestrated by Michael to get Dean to accept him. I realize this theory may be entirely wishful thinking, but it just seemed like every encounter Dean had in heaven was specifically targeted to HIM, to break him down.
1. The most specific example is Sam's memories. We don't actually know how memories in heaven work--they're all just extrapolating--but I have to believe that at least some of Sam's happiest memories are, in fact, with Dean. So the fact that the only memories from Sam's perspective show Sam's happiness coming from leaving his family--two times coinciding with Dean's most painful memories--seemed unusually targeted. I mean, I acknowledge that Sam probably did feel happy to experience his freedom, and that does underscore the difference of being the protective older brother and the younger one yearning for independence--but the fact that Dean didn't get to see any of Sam's happy memories with him seems rather suspicious. Especially when combined with his memories of Mary.
2. You would think Dean's memories of Mary would be happy ones, but these memories too are strangely isolating. First of all, Sam is excluded (and how sad was it to watch Sam try to get his mother to acknowledge him in that peanut butter scene!), and furthermore, in the memories Dean is reminded once again of John being an irresponsible dad, just at a point when someone is going to try to convince him that God is like that. VERY SUSPICIOUS, if you ask me.
3. This odd isolating of Dean continues in the torture scene with Mary. I mean, how bizarre is it that with Sam, the one who actually caused her death (indirectly, of course) in the room, it is Dean on whom she unleashes her anger? That doesn't make sense unless this whole experience is a dream/vision/ real event being carefully orchestrated to isolate Dean from everyone he depends on, past and present.
4. Even the conversation with Joshua centers mainly on Dean. Joshua directs nearly all his comments to Dean, and is oh-so-sympathetic toward him about God's betrayal--you're losing faith, I know he was your last hope, blah blah blah--in a manner precisely calculated to demonstrate that there is no hope whatsover, so Dean might as well give up and let Michael wear him.
5. I think the event that convinced me most that Dean's experience of heaven was deliberately designed to get him to give in was the conversation with Pamela. I mean, Pamela HATES angels, with good cause--yet she's the one trying to persuade him to let Michael wear him? REALLY?
So that's my theory: Michael is very very smart and orchestrated a particular heavenly experience specifically targeted to fracture Team Free Will right down its major fault lines. Michael tried appealing to Dean's sense of duty and respect for paternal authority in the last encounter, only it became clear that Dean had abandoned belief in either of those, so Michael tried the opposite approach: portraying God as a deadbeat Dad (which affects both Dean's last hope and Castiel's previous unswavering committment), and demonstrating to Dean that Sam has been happiest when leaving Dean (thus undercutting his commitment to Sam).
So Castiel and Dean have both basically given up hope. Can Sam's hope be enough for them?
I hope so, because the more I see of the angels, the more convinced I am they are total dicks, and I really don't want them to win.
A couple more points about this episode and SPN mythology:
The idea that "everyone has their own heaven" is certainly a common one these days, but I saw the fact that everyone is alone in their own heaven--unless they are soul mates or have the tech savvy of Ash (and how nice to see him!)--as simply underscoring the theme of isolation in this episode. And I really liked Dean's comment about how such a heaven, if still run by asshole angels, is really just another version of the Matrix.
Except for the fact that I thought he was either (a) part of Michael's scheme or (b) being impersonated by Michael, I liked Joshua. I liked the idea of the garden in the center of everything, though if Joshua is the gardener, I half expected him to be God in disguise, though that messes with the rest of my theory so I'm letting it alone for now. Though it wouldn't surprise me at all to find out that God was deliberately hiding to see exactly what his children get up to when he's away.
And I think I'm going to end up being pissed if SPN's God really *is* a deadbeat dad. If the divine message was true, I'm hoping it's just God's way of telling Team Free Will that they can find the solution on their own and shouldn't rely on God, and not God just abandoning everyone. Because that would seriously annoy me. It's one thing to make a Deus Otiosus, but one who knows what's going on and just abandons his kids? That would make me seriously angry at the SPN writers.
When Dean threw the amulet away, I just gasped. Wow. Way to symbolically reject both God AND Sam. Yeah, the foreshadowing that he is going to say yes to Michael was heavy in this one.
For the record, my theory is that just as "The End" was Zachariah creating a pocket universe, not a true future, so this whole adventure was orchestrated by Michael to get Dean to accept him. I realize this theory may be entirely wishful thinking, but it just seemed like every encounter Dean had in heaven was specifically targeted to HIM, to break him down.
1. The most specific example is Sam's memories. We don't actually know how memories in heaven work--they're all just extrapolating--but I have to believe that at least some of Sam's happiest memories are, in fact, with Dean. So the fact that the only memories from Sam's perspective show Sam's happiness coming from leaving his family--two times coinciding with Dean's most painful memories--seemed unusually targeted. I mean, I acknowledge that Sam probably did feel happy to experience his freedom, and that does underscore the difference of being the protective older brother and the younger one yearning for independence--but the fact that Dean didn't get to see any of Sam's happy memories with him seems rather suspicious. Especially when combined with his memories of Mary.
2. You would think Dean's memories of Mary would be happy ones, but these memories too are strangely isolating. First of all, Sam is excluded (and how sad was it to watch Sam try to get his mother to acknowledge him in that peanut butter scene!), and furthermore, in the memories Dean is reminded once again of John being an irresponsible dad, just at a point when someone is going to try to convince him that God is like that. VERY SUSPICIOUS, if you ask me.
3. This odd isolating of Dean continues in the torture scene with Mary. I mean, how bizarre is it that with Sam, the one who actually caused her death (indirectly, of course) in the room, it is Dean on whom she unleashes her anger? That doesn't make sense unless this whole experience is a dream/vision/ real event being carefully orchestrated to isolate Dean from everyone he depends on, past and present.
4. Even the conversation with Joshua centers mainly on Dean. Joshua directs nearly all his comments to Dean, and is oh-so-sympathetic toward him about God's betrayal--you're losing faith, I know he was your last hope, blah blah blah--in a manner precisely calculated to demonstrate that there is no hope whatsover, so Dean might as well give up and let Michael wear him.
5. I think the event that convinced me most that Dean's experience of heaven was deliberately designed to get him to give in was the conversation with Pamela. I mean, Pamela HATES angels, with good cause--yet she's the one trying to persuade him to let Michael wear him? REALLY?
So that's my theory: Michael is very very smart and orchestrated a particular heavenly experience specifically targeted to fracture Team Free Will right down its major fault lines. Michael tried appealing to Dean's sense of duty and respect for paternal authority in the last encounter, only it became clear that Dean had abandoned belief in either of those, so Michael tried the opposite approach: portraying God as a deadbeat Dad (which affects both Dean's last hope and Castiel's previous unswavering committment), and demonstrating to Dean that Sam has been happiest when leaving Dean (thus undercutting his commitment to Sam).
So Castiel and Dean have both basically given up hope. Can Sam's hope be enough for them?
I hope so, because the more I see of the angels, the more convinced I am they are total dicks, and I really don't want them to win.
A couple more points about this episode and SPN mythology:
The idea that "everyone has their own heaven" is certainly a common one these days, but I saw the fact that everyone is alone in their own heaven--unless they are soul mates or have the tech savvy of Ash (and how nice to see him!)--as simply underscoring the theme of isolation in this episode. And I really liked Dean's comment about how such a heaven, if still run by asshole angels, is really just another version of the Matrix.
Except for the fact that I thought he was either (a) part of Michael's scheme or (b) being impersonated by Michael, I liked Joshua. I liked the idea of the garden in the center of everything, though if Joshua is the gardener, I half expected him to be God in disguise, though that messes with the rest of my theory so I'm letting it alone for now. Though it wouldn't surprise me at all to find out that God was deliberately hiding to see exactly what his children get up to when he's away.
And I think I'm going to end up being pissed if SPN's God really *is* a deadbeat dad. If the divine message was true, I'm hoping it's just God's way of telling Team Free Will that they can find the solution on their own and shouldn't rely on God, and not God just abandoning everyone. Because that would seriously annoy me. It's one thing to make a Deus Otiosus, but one who knows what's going on and just abandons his kids? That would make me seriously angry at the SPN writers.
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As for the Matrix/Memorex thing, I wonder if the writers are putting forth that too many people put too much emphasis is put on the afterlife instead of what's going on down on Earth.
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Sigh. This show. Aigh.
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I find it impossible to believe that Sam has no happy memories with Dean.
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I have to believe that at least some of Sam's happiest memories are, in fact, with Dean.
Not just that, Sam's memories are totally people-free. I find it hard to believe that Sam, of all people, loves being a loner. Yeah, he might have been happy to get away from John, and he was too young when Mary died to have any significant memories of her, but like you said, he still has Dean and Jessica, at the very least. Sam is more of a people-person than Dean is, so it doesn't make sense that his happiest memories are of him alone. It's just easier to believe all this if it is, in fact, all a part of Michael's plan.
Even if what the boys experienced WAS heaven, I found Dean's rejection of Sam (via the amulet-trashing) kind of... well, childish. So Sam's happiest memories don't involve Dean. We've known from the start that Sam was pulled into the business, and that he really was happy before that, living his normal life. Hunting changed his mind-set, but there's no denying that on some level at least, he was happy not being involved in it. I found it kind of immature for Dean to expect Sam to have nice, cozy memories of them together, and be disappointed when that didn't happen. Plus, Sam is with him RIGHT NOW. Does that not matter at all? And he's the one goading them on to fight the good fight. He's the one convinced they'll find a way. He hasn't run away in a long time. And for Dean to just ignore that entire aspect of things... IDK. It just bugs.
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On the other hand--Sam has changed fundamentally in ways that Dean hasn't, precisely because he was able to get away from his family and go through all those developmental stages. We joke about Dean's emotional maturity, but it really is true: because he was put in a parental role basically at age 4, he never really got to be an adolescent and separate himself from his family until his dad died. If anything, he's going through a kind of delayed adolescence now, first breaking from the ideal of his dad (ironically just when Sam has gotten around to forgiving his dad), and now re-evaluating his relationship with Sam. This is all hugely complicated by his abandonment issues and his continued belief that Sam might leave him again, just as he left him for Ruby, and the whole heaven scenario just poked all his vulnerable places with a very sharp stick, so I can certainly understand his reaction.
It still bothers me, but I find it understandable. ANd hey, I'm ok with letting Sam be the mature one for a bit, because he's been the bad guy for over a season, and I'm ready for that to be over.
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Except for the fact that I thought he was either (a) part of Michael's scheme or (b) being impersonated by Michael, I liked Joshua.
I liked Joshua, too, but within the context of SPN's storytelling universe (details of which I've somehow absorbed via fannish osmosis, since I read people's posts about the show), I can't help but think his name is significant. And if his name is significant, then it bears remembering that he's not just a prophet of God, but a warrior for God as well. So him being in cahoots with Michael in all of this is definitely a strong possibility. Since the angels are so clearly warriors/war-like in nature.
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And Dean throwing the amulet in the trash was the most self-destructive thing he's done since he beat up the Impala. I was begging Sam to pick it up again, and then we just cut to credits. !!!!!
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And yeah, it was a kind of depressing sort of heaven, if everyone is really as isolated as Ash said. (Though given what an antisocial crazy genius he was in real life, even if this heaven wasn't a fictional creation by Michael I think we have to take his perspective with a grain of salt).
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Yeah, that is exactly what I am hoping for!
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On the mesage with Joshua and God, I was thinking about that too. I guess from God's standpoint that it is too easy to clean up this mess that was made. They should find a solution on their own, and let live or whatever. Don't focus on finding him (god) and focus on getting resolutions.
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I agree with your comments about God, though.
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I agree with you norwich36, when I think about I think in a way he was rejecting/shutting down his brother also. I know one thing they better fix it!
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Hell broke Dean and now Heaven is taking its turn at breaking him. I agree with you on that. And I can see that Michael is the one running it. Mr. "Destiny is Everything" is very manipulative and proactive for an angel who told Dean that everything had been predetermined. Michael doesn't seem inclined to leave anything to chance that he claims has already shown which side of the coin ended up.
I am beginning to think that Michael doesn't believe in Destiny. And if God doesn't care enough to interfere, then why is God on Earth when the Apocalypse is going down? I think that God and Joshua and Michael have as many mouths as Zachariah claims to have. And they are all speaking out of them.
Heaven broke Anna, and Heaven broke Castiel. Dean's chances don't look very good. The only bright spot is that both Anna and Castiel didn't stay broken.
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That's a very good point.
I'm not sure we can take what Joshua says about God at face value, though--I'm waiting to hear confirmation of that.
It is of course necessary to bring Dean to his lowest point so the finale is more dramatic, right?
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Darn Right! Love the Drama!
Though I must say, at this point, I have no idea how this is going to end ("bloody" is the usual SPN way). Last season, at this time, I was sure that Ruby was running a con on Sam. This season, although I am sure that the angels can be as manipulative as the demons, I'm not sure where we are going to end up.