Supernatural finale

[norwich36]

More reaction than analysis:

1. My apologies to anyone whom I argued with over the parallels between Sam's blood addiction and Castiel's soul addiction, since this episode proved you were right and I was wrong. Clearly both are addictions, and addictions connected to power--the type of power that drives you insane. OH CAS. I just hope you survive the Winchesters bringing you down. (I'd kind of love a Chuck v. Cas showdown, though. And I'm looking forward to a summer of Cas stories where he has Sam and Dean on their knees. Ahem. Pardon me, my id is showing.)

2. I was deeply relieved that Lisa, Ben, and Cas all made it out of these two episodes alive; I honestly thought at least Lisa was toast, and probably Ben as well, and I didn't have high hopes for Cas. Of course, the writers just found a different way to break my heart.

I have to be honest, though. I'm sad for Lisa and Ben because I liked them as characters, and they didn't deserve to have their memories stolen. Because honestly? It's not simply knowing Dean that makes them a target. Has he forgotten that Ben almost got killed by the supernatural before they even met? I know the Winchesters like to see themselves as especially cursed, but really having no knowledge of the supernatural is just about as dangerous.

So sorry, Dean. Your epic manpain has me going BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH, because there are a lot of ways you could have PREPARED THEM for your world, since you know for a fact they can't escape it, but all you have done over and over again is rob them of the ability to deal instead. I don't care if you thought it was for your own good and it involved shredding your own heart, you were WRONG.

3. Sam was pretty awesome through all of this, though. I loved how he refused to let Dean go alone; I loved that he called Dean on stealing Ben and Lisa's memories; and all the encounters he had with himself in the second hour helped me remember all of Sam's best qualities: he is smart and strategic and compassionate and a hell of a lot stronger than everyone else thought.

4. Up until the minute that he declared himself God, I was completely on Castiel's side in this episode--especially when he was pleading with Dean to trust him, and proving himself trustworthy over and over, by saving Dean from demons, and confronting Crowley, and healing Lisa. I wonder if the power would really have gone to his head so much if Dean had taken a leap of faith?

It broke my heart that he killed Balthazar, though. I was never really fond of that character, but it said bad things about Castiel's choices. And much as I loved seeing him get his own back with Raphael (how many times has Raphael disintegrated him in just that way, before?), I am worried about what that means for his future behavior. Yikes. They've certainly set up next season very, very well.

Comments

[chase-acow.livejournal.com]

I came into these eps on Castiel's side too, which I thought was the obvious choice until my two roommates disabused me of that notion. They were solidly in the Dean camp. I don't know if I can call myself a Dean fan anymore, so many of the choices he makes are so skeevy.

I'd also wonder if Cas would have made different decision about the souls if he'd had Dean on board from the beginning? Less of an "I'm doing this for your own good whether you want it or not." and more of an "I'd suffer for you, so I'll listen when you tell me to stop being a dick."

Overall, I wasn't that thrilled with this season. BUT, I hope it will be like when I watched Buffy live. I hated Season Five at the time, but on rewatches, it really fits in and is one of my favorites now.

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

Oh, I didn't hate this season at all, honestly. And I'm kind of pissed at Dean these days, but that comes and goes. What struck me most about last night's episode, honestly, is how much he's turning into his dad--especially in those scenes when he was ordering Ben around when trying to save Lisa's life. And I totally understood *why* he made the decisions he did, I just disagreed with them.

I do agree with you that it can be an entirely different experience to watch a whole season in sequence. A lot of shows work much better that way.

[chase-acow.livejournal.com]

There were several great episodes in this season. I just wasn't in a very happy place for most of it, and it's easy to take that out on fiction characters. : ) I will always love season one best from SPN, which is strange because mostly I like the later seasons of most of my favorite series.

I hadn't really thought about Dean turning into John more and more, but that's totally right I think. At least it makes it a little more understandable for him doing what he's doing. I don't particularly like it, but that's just me.

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

I think lots of people like season 1 best, actually. Brothers hunting monsters, before everything got all complicated. I can see that, though I have to say I really love the angelic storylines myself.

[latxcvi.livejournal.com]

I wonder if the power would really have gone to his head so much if Dean had taken a leap of faith?

Hmm. I don't think that Dean's faith, or lack thereof, would have made any difference in how quickly the power went to Castiel's head, especially when one considers that the final moments of the episode demonstrated exactly why Dean (and to a slightly lesser extent, Bobby and Sam) was right to keep digging in his heels around the idea that Castiel was doing something dangerous and wrong. Dean's faith in Castiel wouldn't have stopped him, IMO; it would have just made him feel more comfortable with his choices. In fact, I'd argue that part of the reason Castiel kept bringing it up, kept pushing for Dean to trust him on the issue, was precisely because he wanted validation of the justness & rightness of his course. In other words, if Dean had faith in him, then his plans for purgatory's souls was an appropriate one (it's akin to the way some people on SV *cough*Lex&Tess*cough* strain(ed) so hard for Clark's approval/love -- if Clark approved of/loved them, then they couldn't be all that bad, right?). Castiel wasn't going to be deterred and I do think he's smart enough to have understood that Balthazar's misgivings were completely reasonable. He wanted Dean's faith so he could tell himself his plan was acceptable despite those misgivings, IMO.

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

I didn't know you watched SPN!

I think you're correct about Castiel wanting Dean's approval because he knows deep down what he's doing is wrong (I mean, basically he just ATE millions of souls, right? So very very creepy, even without the whole "power corrupting" thing). I think what I actually meant, though, was that now that he feels Dean betrayed him--or refused to have faith in him, or whatever--Dean no longer has any pull with him to talk him down. What did Castiel say? "I never had any family?" When clearly that's not what he thought before he consumed all those souls. Of course, it's quite possible that nothing can talk a person down when they've suddenly become, basically, omnipotent.

[starry-dawn.livejournal.com]

I didn't get the point of Dean whitewashing Ben and Lisa's memories. I mean, I know why he did it, but what good would it have served? Like you said, them not knowing about the supernatural puts them in greater danger from it, and also, just because he's erased himself from their memories does not mean the bad guys can't still use them as bait whenever they want to. (I have to say, though, that even though I'm not a big fan of Lisa and Ben or their storyline, it did break my heart (before the mindwipe stuff) that Dean was going to have to live with putting the two of them in danger forever more with no way out of it. Such a tricky, messy and unforgiving situation to get into.)

Re: Castiel, I do think it was a combination of Dean not trusting him and him losing all his supporters that drove him over the edge. I mean, clearly he had problems with what he was doing, but I think it was the fact that everyone just turned their backs on him without letting him explain or trying to rationalize with him that really did the trick. I'm not saying Dean should have had faith in him (or even that what happened ultimately was his fault in any way) but maybe just sitting down and talking about it with him would've helped more than the cold-shouldering.

I'm really curious about what happens to Sam now, because we never really got a proper resolution to that. I'm also wondering why they never tried drawing any parallels between Sam and Dean's individual experiences of hell, or why the brothers themselves never talked about it. I mean, Dean still remembers everything he went through, right? (I'm genuinely asking, because I can't remember if there was a plot point that set him back right again.) You'd think he'd have some words of advice for his little bro about how best to block it out, no?

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

Weird--I thought I was replying to your comment. Well, here's take 2:

I agree with your description of the whole Lisa-Ben situation as tricky, messy and unforgiven. The best solution to this I've seen is rivkat's suggestion that maybe Castiel replaced the memory of Dean with "generic hunter who saved Ben" so at least they know to take precautions against the supernatural. And hopefully Crowley is going to be so busy running from Cas he won't have time to put them in danger there.

The Dean-Castiel trust stuff is also pretty complicated, I think. But their failure to communicate at crucial times is SO Winchesterian. I read a really good review that talked about how many of Castiel's decisions in the past year mirror stuff Dean has done in the past, but unfortunately off the top of my head I can't remember who wrote it--maybe dotfic?

I think basically Sam has reintegrated, and no longer needs to fear soul collapse. I also think that the way the story was set up, they couldn't actually compare experiences in hell, since talking about it at all might break Sam's wall. And since Dean seemed to block hell mainly by copious alcohol abuse, I'm not sure that's the best advice. :-)