so, i passed the part where dean and sam argue about cas’s choice and i have to say that this is the exact reason why the brother’s ignoring major problems doesn’t necessarily mean we should
(warning: long post, slightly wanky)
because autonomy is a constant theme in the story and it’s the basis for which all of it has happened from the demon blood in sam’s veins all the way to cas letting lucifer possess him.
the show runs on the idea that choice matters (i.e. sam and dean choosing each other over everything, not just to save the world). it’s become sort of a twisted element in the story because you have the idea that choices matter but then they narrow it down to ‘only some choices matter’ which is that dean’s choice, typically seen as the righteous better choice, matters most as we’re constantly shown that he’s considered the hero, the righteous man, that his decisions are seen as inherently better because he wants to keep sam alive (at the cost of sam’s own decisions)
dean and sam have conflicting ideas about what it means to respect someone’s choice and i honestly believe the show is doing it’s damnedest to show dean’s logic in a positive light. his ideology is most accurately summed up by this line: “cas wants to be saved, he just doesn’t know it yet”.
idk about anyone else, but that kind of skeeved me out. it smacks of the idea that ‘no is a yes in disguise!’ or ‘they want it, they just don’t know it yet!’ and it shows us a dean who believes he knows better because he thinks he knows people better than they know themselves which isn’t true.
this is where he and sam differ by miles. sam, having not been able to make the choices he wanted to make, understands that a choice is not something that should be taken. his lack of self agency allows him to think about another person’s choice in a clearer way. this doesn’t mean sam doesn’t care! this means that sam cares about cas’s choice, that he understands decisions are not made in a vacuum, that they’re not always born from ignorance of the self.
this episode demonstrates in a small way how sam acknowledges his limitations of insight and respects others enough to let them go when they need or want to go (this does not include the MOC!Dean arc mainly because the context surrounding it is different than other circumstances i.e. sam drinking demon blood).
the narrative, however, shows this view in a such a way as to demonize his frame of mind because it winds up punishing sam and rewarding dean (i.e. the gadreel situation - sam is constantly talked down to about it, is told that it would happen again if Dean had the chance, is chastised by Cas while Cas praises Dean for his decision)
and i think the real kicker is, the people who watch the show go a long with it in a semi-passive way because all of the rhetoric surrounding this particular situation is framed as: “but Sam was going to die! Dean did him a favor” and “Dean loves Sam so much he wouldn’t let him die!” and “Sam is ungrateful! he’s so selfish, Dean saved his ass!” and my favorite, “I get why Sam is upset but Dean had to do it”
in reality, the narrative could have brought Sam back some other way (lord knows there’s enough plot holes to pull something like that off) and could have stopped itself from turning personal choice into a subjective concept, one that other people have a right to infringe upon especially in cases where someone believes they’re more right than the other person (which, c’mon, that’s gross, you can’t make decisions for someone else no matter how you feel about their decision. you shouldn’t punish them for making a choice you wouldn’t have).
so, this ep kind of really lays it out there about what choice means, really means, to sam and dean. in one corner you have a person who thinks they can and should make decisions for others whenever necessary and in the other, you have a person who believes in respecting choice and being there for whatever happens next.
that being said, i don’t think sam wants cas to die but he’s already stated that saving the world comes first this time, that choice is something to be respected and not tampered with (like it’s been for him so many times).
but i have a sneaky suspicion that what we’re going to see is dean pushing through to get cas back which the narrative will then praise him for and showcase, most likely nonverbally, that sam was so totally wrong for letting cas do his thing! that he was totally insensitive and uncaring unlike his brother who just!!!! loves everyone so much!!!!! that he doesn’t really think about why someone is making the choice and tries to override them anyway!!!!! cas really didn’t want to be possessed anyway, dean made the right call as per the norm!!!!!
(tbh, acknowledging why cas even said yes to begin with in a way that includes the brothers, even briefly, would be great. because… knowing that might prevent something like this from happening again…)
i think they kind of went out of their way to make sam come across as calloused in regards to cas’s vessel (although thinking about it, sam might have some issues regarding angelically possessed beings, castiel possessing his for years without jimmy’s soul inhabiting it might be the reason sam referred to cas’s vessel as an ‘it’)
more than anything though, i wish they would finally settle this whole thing about choice and respect because so far all this back and forth and punishing sam is so friggin tiring
