"Grace in the Machine" (Special Edition) - To What Extent Does Muscle Memory Affect Angels?
As a quick note, this is not very well structured by my standards. I mostly wrote this since I haven’t seen anyone else address it 8/4/13 edit: I just found andythanfiction’s meta on aspects of this which is here . My thoughts ramble a bit. After the SDCC 2013 spoilers that Cas will experience sex in some way it had been weighting somewhat on my mind, so I thought I’d throw this out there. If anything this piece illustrates just how much we don’t know and how there are many interpretations of Cas’ sexuality that are valid. Here goes.
Muscle memory (and the organ transplant re-memory phenomenon) has long been something that has intrigued me. In this meta I would like to discuss how it may affect angels in vessels. Does it have an influence on things like sexuality? An angel’s personality? Pop culture knowledge? Where does the line between angel and vessel lie? And how can you tell?
Basic knowledge of how I view angel construct is helpful, but I don’t think necessary to read this. The short version is that I believe angel construct includes a soul that is exposed through grace decay over time and that only thorough its exposure do angels experience true free will and emotions.
"When we demons possess a human, we invade all of them, their – uh – their muscles, their bones, their brains. I can’t help but wonder if it isn’t the same for angels." - The Demon Viggo to Samandriel 8.10
I can’t help but wonder either. As Samandriel is tortured by demons the text indicates that angelic possession definitely encompasses the brain, but the rest is unclear. Since demonic possession is a mockery of angelic possession by ignoring the request for permission to share the skin, it would stand to reason that “Yes" this is the case.
"Just relax, Castiel. Let your vessel do what you know deep down is the right thing." - Naomi to Castiel 8.17
We know of two clear times that Castiel has been “reprogrammed". One is in season four, the other is in season eight. There is a key difference between the two, one was done with a vessel, one without. Castiel’s reprogramming solely through his angelic body in season four does not last long. He is able to “throw it" and chose to rebel two episodes later (which arguably translates to maybe 2-3 weeks in canon). There is no clear indication as to the exact nature of Cas’ reprogramming in season four. This is not the case in season eight. The angel Naomi “conditions" Cas to kill Dean in an extended effort over several months to destroy his “weakness" (his inability to put Heaven’s wishes in front of Dean Winchester’s well being) - not only through Cas’ angelic construct, but his vessel construct as well.
We are drawn to this phenomenon of muscle memory in the episode prior with the character Prometheus. He fights like a trained warrior despite having no knowledge of fighting due to memory loss. There is even a text reference to Jason Bourne from the movie The Bourne Identity where another amnesiac showcases skilled “reactionary" fighting skills despite memory loss. These fighting skills are the result of years of muscle memory that prevails even in the absence of brain memory. For Cas in season eight, this “muscle memory" training amounts to conditioning him within his vessel for months to kill Dean upwards of over a thousand times. This programming is ultimately unsuccessful (in the sense that Cas doesn’t actually strike the final blow), but not in the sense that Cas fails to start the dance, proving that while muscle memory is strong (and yes, affects angels), will is ultimately stronger.
Now let’s take a look at previous examples of muscle memory.
"It’s my vessel— Jimmy. His, uh, appetite for red meat has been touched by Famine’s effect" - Castiel to Dean 5.14
This is an example of when a vessel’s desires can override an angel’s ability to use it. Under the effect of Famine Castiel is unable to attack Famine and instead is profoundly effected by his vessel’s desire for the taste of food. It is unclear whether this is a direct result of the vessel’s desires or the soul’s (the machine or the power source), but since Cas says, “It’s my vessel" I’m more inclined to believe it’s just that. When Jimmy Novak’s “accustomed to eating lots of red meat" meatsuit went months without food, in the face of Famine, it’s the vessel’s desire, not the soul of Jimmy Novak which performed the override on Castiel’s will. Compared to season 8, Castiel is not able in this instance to “throw it off". Jimmy Novak had been arguably eating meat for decades, which I imagine is a little harder to override in a loss of agency than a couple of months of conditioning to kill someone. Now, granted, eating the meat wasn’t Cas himself putting Dean’s life directly in danger per se, as opposed to Cas himself beating the hell out of Dean, but it certainly was adding to the possibility of it when Cas’ inaction resulted in demons attacking the Winchesters.
The next instance we have of muscle memory overriding an angel’s use of it is more subjective and debatable.
It occurs when Cas watches porn and gets a boner (and I only use this as an example because of what happens later in this episode that layers onto this). It’s worth noting here that Jimmy Novak is most likely heterosexual (being that he is religious and has a family, though even this isn’t a guarantee, only a very likely guess). This means his meatsuit is “conditioned" to experience arousal from heterosexual stimuli like the porn that Cas is watching, which is most likely of the heterosexual variety based on pronouns. From here we get into a grayer area. Does a human’s sexuality lie in their soul’s desires or their meatsuit’s? I’m more inclined to say it’s the soul’s desires that “conditions" the skin, but it could be argued the other way easily enough I suppose. No matter how we slice it, muscle memory is in play (the character Willow in Buffy had a similar instance of this in the episode “Tabula Rasa").
Now, angels are inherently sexless. We know this because Dean has called them “junkless" on multiple occasions without any correction by them. Whether they perceive gender amongst themselves in this case is irrelevant. We are just talking about sex organs in this instance. So how does angelic possession account for this? If there is any part of the human body that conceivably runs on “muscle memory auto-pilot" for angels the sex organs would be it since there is no angelic body construct equivalent to supply in that area for the possession process.
This is also the first time sexuality is associated with Cas in the text. We all know that he started to have sex at the request of Dean but didn’t get anywhere in “Free to be you and me". Within said episode there is no indication of any actually physical arousal on Cas’ part, only social awkwardness and a lack of knowledge concerning what is “appropriate conversation" during sexual encounters, a point that also carries into this episode.
In "Caged Heat" Cas, in heterosexually oriented skin, sees heterosexual porn and his body responds. With only this as evidence, it can be argued either way whether or not this is all Cas’ responses or his skin’s “auto-pilot" responses. But later, when he and the Wincesters are trapped with Meg, the text pushes us a bit further one way than the other. When Meg kisses Castiel (and likely gropes him) he at first only looks at her expressionless, then he turns her, pushes her against the wall and kisses her quite passionately, but it’s his reaction afterwards that gives the most insight. Cas looks at Dean rather confused, shaking his head like he isn’t quite sure what happened. "I learned that from the pizza man," Cas tells them, despite getting Jimmy’s sexual memory download which would most certainly include kissing. This says that Cas’ response here is most likely a direct result of the visual stimuli and subsequent physical turn on he experienced earlier.
DEAN: “Well, she’s smart, I’ll give her that. I was gonna kill her, too. [to Cas] ’Course, I’d have given you an hour with her first."
CASTIEL: "Why would I want that?"
This could indicate that Castiel either A.) Doesn’t understand what Dean is suggesting (which doesn’t include a pop culture reference) or B.) That he himself doesn’t express a desire to have sex with her. Castiel’s comment in 8.17 that the pizza man was a good memory still doesn’t indicate which this is, only that sexual desire is a good memory for Cas. It does nothing to suggest the mechanics in which the experience came about.
Switching gears from sexuality, let’s look at some other examples of muscle memory, specifically the episode "The Bourne-Again Identity".
Again, the title immediately calls to a man with memory loss with muscle memory at play.
Dean requests Cas tell him how he meets his wife Daphne. “Oh, it’s a…strange story. You may not like it," Cas tells him. This is a strange thing to say to someone you have no memory of. Who doesn’t like strange stories? Somehow, Cas knows that Dean may not like this story. "A few months ago, she was hiking by the river, and I wandered into her path, drenched and confused, and… unclothed. I had no memory. She said… God wanted her to find me." Now, let’s be honest, this story isn’t THAT strange, but there are two major points to it. Cas is found naked by a woman and apparently God wanted him to be found. Now, it could be either one of these that Cas thinks Dean would not like, knowing Dean’s “God is a douchebag" stance, and considering Dean’s reaction to meeting Daphne earlier. Dealer’s choice. One is through muscle memory, the other is a deduction based on Dean’s earlier reaction to his wife and subsequent question: "So, Daphne – is that, uh, your wife?" when he already knew the answer.
The entire scene where Cas smites the demons outside the mental hospital is a shining example of muscle memory, since Cas has no idea how to “smite" until he’s actually doing it. This highly physical (energy wise) act is what ultimately jars Castiel’s memory. It breaks through whatever barrier there was preventing his memories of being an angel from being remembered.
Another example of muscle memory that isn’t specifically related to angels comes early in season eight with “Heartache" and is based on the real life phenomenon of "memories, personalities, and cravings being passed through organ transplants". Now, throughout season eight there are no less than four very distinctive cases of muscle memory/re-memory showcased. Two of these are major plot points with angels (one with Cas specifically), concerning how they operate. The case with Cas marks the second (arguably third) time Cas acts under his vessel’s “pre-programming/re-programming" and not his own agency. This, I think, is why it is so important for season nine to explore every aspect of Cas’ human desires (especially sexual ones since his only real text sexual experience could have been the result of his meatsuit’s muscle memory and not any real desire from Cas himself).
How muscle memory affects angels is just one of many reasons why I have been so reluctant to head canon Cas’ self-perceived sexuality for myself. That, and the fact that Castiel himself seems to scoff at the human sexuality labeling system as we understand it. The text for me offers way too many interpretations without enough evidence to support one more than another, which is why so many Destiel shippers are nervous about how the show will address it. Because of this, many are likely (some already) going to be disappointed.
Things we know about Cas and sexuality:
He can experience sexual desire based on heterosexual stimuli and counts it as a good memory
He finds sex boring with no definite experience under his own agency to back such a thing up (whether he had sex with Daphne is very much up for debate considering how they touched one another in 7.17)
The thought of having sex with a stranger at the insistance of Dean makes him nervous
The complexities of language while engaging in sex confuse him. Saying “I love you" (which the 6.10 porn implies, but could very well be a conclusion Cas makes) while striking someone rear confuses (annoys?) him, despite the fact that he has surely over the course of thousands of years witnessed such behavior many times while humans engaged in sex. This does not necessarily mean he associates sex with love, but rather illustrates his lack of understanding (and labeling) of the complexity of human sexual encounters. “It’s very complex".
"I thought you’d gotten over trying to label me," to Dean’s question of “Are you a hippie?" in 5.04 further showcases Cas’ desire for simplicity in complex human social/sexual structures. (Please note I’m reluctant to include endverse!Cas in any discussions of Cas’ sexuality since that “timeline/projection" takes into account things any number of vast experiences for Cas that do not come to pass which may have influenced him sexually).
He is infamously “utterly indifferent to sexual orientation". This could mean as a human labeling system (again), as a human concept, or concerning him, himself. It could mean all these things or a few. Take your pick.
That’s it really. Which isn’t a lot. He could be asexual homoromantic, heterosexual biromantic, a bisexual demisexual, the list could literally go on and on here. This is why I’ve always kept an open mind and hope others can too. There just isn’t enough evidence to call anything in anyway. The fact that his one experience with sexual desire is a good memory for him (I really don’t think Naomi was “controlling" him to say this either) and that he has a love of Dean are really the only things that we can say are certain.
Whatever the case, I think the show has pointed out muscle memory a lot this past season for some reason and that it is important that Cas learn through experience what his self-perceived sexuality is, among other things. I’m very excited that the show intends to show us much of this tactical journey since most of the things we associate with Cas can be written off as “vessel" things (his love of burgers, knowledge of pop culture phrases, etc). I’ve said multiple times now that I believe Cas is home alone in Jimmy Novak’s skin through my various angel construct metas and I hope the text makes this clear one way or another next season (because it is likely my entire head canon is wrong), regardless of how muscle memory of said skin may still have an effect on Castiel. There is so much to be excited about here for Cas fans. I’ll say it again. Thank you Jeremy Carver.
