While this ship is certainly one of the most sensitive and explosive subjects in all of fandom – for some people, it’s sort of hard to enjoy it just for shipping’s sake amidst the cries of Schrodinger’s Queerbait – it cannot be denied that Destiel has had a bumper year. Now that the relationship between Castiel and the Winchesters has been firmly, irrevocably established as unconditional love, the moments dedicated to the “profound bond” between Dean and Cas have involved them using their words to express their feelings more than ever, and it’s like… a lot.
Here’s what Destiel looked like, over the course of the calendar year. In January’s mid-season premiere, Cas broke the brother’s deal with the reaper Billie, killing her to save them, saying that they meant too much to him to lose. This led to an incredible argument between Cas and Dean, which we saw play out in the Castiel-centric episode “Lily Sunder Has Some Regrets.” I don’t mean a painful, heartbreaking argument – no, we are talking petty-ass “I will turn this car around” bitching about how SOMEONE shouldn’t make stupid, life-risking decisions and how SOMEONE ELSE should be more thoughtful and appreciative about the devotion being offered. It truly had to be seen to be believed, but of course, as soon as Cas is threatened – or even mildly insulted – by other angels, Dean is right there defending him, hackles up.
This angel, in fact, compares Cas’s relationship with Dean to his own flawed romantic obsession with a human, and repeats the oft-spoken adage that Cas has been corrupted by Dean, expanding on that point to reveal that the reason human-angel relations are forbidden is due not to the danger angels pose to humanity, but that humans pose to angels, going so far as to try and cure Cas of his “human weakness” – Dean – the same way he cured himself of his own. Having faced an external threat that tried to separate them, Cas and Dean put aside their quarrel, acknowledging that it came from worry about what consequences might befall them, due to their care for one another.
A couple of weeks later, Dean starts an episode by calling Cas “devastatingly handsome” and Castiel ends the same episode by telling the Winchesters, on what he thinks is his deathbed, that he loves them for the first time – complete with a singular “I love you,” presumably at Dean, as he gets the reaction shot, followed by a collective “I love all of you,” to the group. Yeah, that happened.
You know what else happened? At some point after that, Dean gave Cas a mixtape. A mixtape. We never see the giving, but we know this because in a much later episode, after he’s been missing for quite a while and Dean has been thinking he’s dead in a ditch – he was literally checking morgue reports – Cas tries to return it, in a gesture implying that he understands the intimacy and doesn’t deserve it. Dean’s response? “It’s a gift. You keep those,” and what follows is another conversation about how worried he’s been and how what’s valued is not what Cas has achieved or failed at, but what his presence in the family means to Dean. So many words being used. So many feelings.
Of course, as Castiel tries to protect the unborn nephilim Jack, he ends up getting killed by Lucifer, and season 12 ended in May with Dean kneeling in shock and grief over his dead body. You’d think that one main character getting killed would mean less ship fodder, not more. WRONG. It was revealed very early on that Cas would be returning to the show, so as season 13 began and Dean entered a state of grief like we’ve never seen before, it wasn’t worrying to think about Cas being dead – instead, it was terrifically exciting, to see Dean openly work through his emotions so boldly, knowing what Dean didn’t know – that Castiel would be back.
Season 13 went out of its way to emphasise that Dean’s reaction to Cas’s death was very different to Sam’s, and the premiere included one of the most intimate ship scenes in the show’s history, as Dean – alone – prepared Castiel’s body for burning, wrapping him and taking time to look at his face, at one moment so overcome that he choked up and had to pause. Cas’s presence, or lack thereof, weighed heavy over the episodes preceding his return, his name exploding out of Dean’s mouth at his darkest moments, in prayers and fights, in taunts from others. Finally, when Dean has gone as low as he can possibly go – killing himself and meeting the new incarnation of Death – and comes through the other side, expressing his grief openly to Sam instead of repressing it, he begs for a win and gets one – he’s narratively rewarded by the universe for his growth as Cas returns, and at the moment Dean gets the call, his face literally passes from darkness into the light.
Following on from this reunion, Dean’s mental state does a complete 180 – in the next episode, “Tombstone,” he’s almost hysterically happy, jiggling with complete elation as Team Free Will 2.0 – himself, Sam, Cas and Jack – pursue a case in a cowboy themed town. This episode is just utterly indulgent, a complete love letter to Destiel shippers – Cas tells Jack, from experience, that Dean is an “angry sleeper, like a bear.” Dean makes Cas wear a cowboy hat. Cas confirms that Dean organises movie nights, and quotes Doc Holliday’s “I’m your huckleberry” line at him, and in response, Dean chokes up while saying how good it is to have Cas back.
More than anything, 2017 saw the growth of Castiel’s value to Dean become an actual plot point of the show, rather than an incidental factor of their friendship. Regardless of how you want to define it, they canonically love each other so damn much – and you can’t ask for more than that!
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