![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Supernatural finale
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.
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.
no subject
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?
no subject
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
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
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. :-)