A few thoughts on 13x21. Fair warning: I think it was amazing and a masterpiece and I can’t wait to watch it again.
The Fellowship of the Ring
So first of all if, as I did, you heard that paraphrased conversation about the tunnel and thought holy shit we’re doing the Fellowship then a lot falls into place. A group of people go into a cave, people die in there, there’s monsters in the deep ready to surge up and attack, and one of the Fellowship die (only they don’t die, they come back to life). When the rest of the group stumble back out into the light they’re stunned. It all feels so surreal what happened in the tunnel behind them.
So I went into this episode, from about 18 minutes in, knowing what to expect. That a member of TFW died was not a shock to me. The only question was who, and it made good sense for Sam’s arc he was going to bite it. Why? Well multiple reasons. It was Sam’s turn, for one, which is what we keep talking about. Cas, Dean, Sam. But also there is no potential growth in the others dying. Sam grows in this death, and so do Dean and Castiel. I’ll get to that.
In order to preserve the Shock! the pacing had to be fast. That was why we wasted 12 entire minutes on dick jokes and Gawena/Witchwings/Trickywitchy or whatever we’re calliing it. So it knocked you down, it came at you again and again so you had no time to recover and left you shellshocked by the end of the ep. In addition, this is at least a two if not three parter (trilogy) so you’re in it for the long haul. And this ep, as well as mirroring dialogue, it mirrored actual scenes, screenshots, set design, HOLY SHIT and guys there was a tentacle monster guarding the gate in the movie and I’m just. I loved it. /happy nerd sigh
Thank god that we got Dean seeing Sam was alive at the end because otherwise THEN it would be all about Dean’s trauma not knowing for the next week. We can focus a little on Sam. YES. Yes, thank you, we are seeing Sam being given his arc, being given acknowledgement of the torture he was put through by Lucifer. All that stuff that has been ignored and swept off the board and it has been raised up for us all over again. Lucifer put the final nail in his coffin this week, and I know that the conversation was framed as Lucifer moving toward redemption, but look how he gained it. By threat, by manipulation. Redemption requires an actual change of heart, and all Lucifer feels is shitty because his shitty choices haven’t got him what he wanted. That’s not redemption. The second he has power to turn the table in his favor he exercises it.
But Sam? Finally a story arc that is about Sam at its heart, about Sam’s growth and about Sam being able to FACE his tormentor, maybe not immediately but in time. It was made clear in this episode that Sam’s torment by Lucifer was the hardest to endure. Rowena faced one night. Gabriel didn’t really even die. Sam was tortured, Sam suffers. It PAINS him to make the decision he does, because he feels he has no choice, but I swear to you, guys, what Lucifer had done to him was so bad that he genuinely considered being eaten alive all over again rather than do it. They spent the better part of thirty seconds letting Sam weigh that decision where other parts of the episode were rushed to make up for it. He weighed down on it hard. It was not him just submitting to his abuser, because a part of Sam was willing to choose death rather than do anything for Lucifer, but that would still have left Lucifer alive. It’s also interesting from a meta perspective that Sam CHOSE life, even with the cost that came with it, given what he was saying to Dean last episode.
He wasn’t? I mean also there’s a certain part of me that balked at the response when I saw it, because Cas was so abrupt, but remember that we’re mirroring Fellowship? That’s how Aragorn (and Boromir) is with Frodo when Gandalf is dragged down into the dark deep by the Balrog. Boromir sweeps him up and carries him away. Aragorn pushes them to keep moving when Frodo is stunned. They can’t go back. Now fitting around the text admittedly is a shitty excuse, so I’m going to give you a better one.
Castiel loves Sam. He pursued him into the darkness because he loves him. Castiel, knowing that Sam was alive and he could heal him, wouldn’t have stopped or come back. But Cas knew that Sam was dead. That is what he conveyed to Dean when he returned, because Dean knows Castiel wouldn’t give up on Sam because Dean knows Cas would do anything for him. So when Cas says that they can’t follow, that there’s no saving him, it’s because he knows. He’s still an angel, after all, you can propose that his connection to Sam ceases, or he sees his soul expire or whatever else, but Dean looks him in the eye and his resistance crumbles and he’s ushered away.
Cas has been written differently lately, I admit, but I like the way his story is progressing. This is Castiel the warrior, post depression arc. This is Castiel who is firm with Dean, rather than following on his coattails, who trusts in his own action and who makes speeches about what is required, and even plants the seed to convince his ragabond elder brother that maybe he might be up for the commitment of restoring Heaven. Castiel is growing in confidence and independence and I fucking love it, because what he feared, the thing the Empty warned him about, was that his mistakes would get the people he loved killed. He has been tied up in the consequences of his free will for so, so long, and there’s so many words that could be written about this so I’m going to stop now.
But Castiel? Strong, dependable, a guiding hand on Dean’s shoulder when he might make poor choices on his own? Give me more.
Following on from the above, once upon a time Dean would have gone pelting into the dark after Sam irregardless of what Castiel said. This time, he leans on him. He accepts Cas’ words because of the trust between them. They move beyond it. But for plot purposes? Dean just watched Sam die, and he watched him die bloody. Dean, who said just last week that he wouldn’t let Sam die and then bam, there it is, his exact worst fear as a parent, in the very worst way possible. And just like losing Castiel, Dean is left to confront that grief. He weeps. He has seen so much death and it never stops, but there is not a time where watching Sam die in front of him hasn’t destroyed him. But Castiel follows him, they go and find Mary, but what has it cost?
For a few minutes, maybe an hour, that grief sits right on him. Dean turns around to head back for Sam’s body, having confirmed Mary is alive and not even accomplished his goal of returning her home.
But that image? That’s our catalyst for whatever Dean chooses to do in the finale and therefore whatever Sam’s response to it will be. He didn’t choose death when facing Lucifer, and nor did Dean choose it when Sam died.
In conclusion, it’s all going to hell in a handbasket, I can tell you, but that’s because everyone still has some growing to do. The story is wound in the emotional growth of all of our leads at this point. The emotional stories of our support characters are important too, for better or for worse. Lucifer isn’t going to be redeemed, but there is potential dangling in the air of all of this episode (even though I’m a bit spooked by Gabriel filling his bucket list).
Emotionally, though, even just based on my dash this evening, it’s going to be hard, painful work.
This is a hot take based on my expectations, spec, and how I personally experienced this episode, it’s not to tell you how to feel or dismiss other people’s points of view. Please feel free to send asks if you want me to expand on anything! P.S. Where is all that Aragorn/Arwen = Destiel spec from before? I think it’s time to bring it back! =DDD
