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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.