I personally, thoroughly enjoyed tonight's episode. But what happened during the teaser for next week's episode, is what really grinds my gears.
"You're dead to me."
Those words were spoken, from Dean to Cas.
"You're dead to me."
Those words came from the man who has intensively mourned over this angel, several times, who in angels he has lost and regained his faith over, the angel they, no, he needs.
This angel, who when trying to remember himself he repeatedly reffered to as his, "best friend."
This angel who, "gave up an entire army for one guy," that one guy, being him, of course.
The angel who has literally went to hell and back for him.
The angel he wouldn't dare attempt to leave purgatory without.
The angel his subconscious would rather have him believe he failed, than accept that he didn't want to leave with him.
The angel he forces to binge watch old cowboy movies with him in their spare time, knowing damn well he has more than enough culture downloaded onto his system.
The writers would like to have us believe that this angel is now dead to him, presumably because of a mistake that Jack made.
But it doesn't matter why, because that doesn't make it right. I don't think I've ever heard Dean say something more out of character than this, and I refuse to believe that he would ever say, think, feel, or believe that.
So let's hope that this was simply out of context, or that Dean gets over it and admits that he didn't really mean it. Because he didn't. Because Cas is his angel. I just hope the writers can see that.
I don’t think this is gonna happen just bc the cw has exactly No sense of continuity, but I really am terrified that the s14 is gonna wrap up with no one dead, everyone safe at home, about 2 minutes early and the last shot is gonna be cas dropping dead on the ground bc his deal came due
SPN 14X15: Peace of Mind- Heaven and Charming Acres (but mostly Cas and Sunny)
Tagging those interested: @evvvissticante @verobatto-angelxhunter @metafest
Spoilers below:
Utopia and Nostalgia
When Heaven was first introduced, it was portrayed very early on as morally ambiguous. Angels are supposed to be good, after all, and it comes as a shock when they're revealed to be warriors of Heaven that even Demons fear.
Charming Acres is a throwback to 1950's ideals, where every man's got a gal, people have morals, and everybody knows each other. However, it's quickly revealed that all is not well.
Obedience
When an Angel expresses doubt, they are reprogrammed by the Host of Heaven, their memories altered or erased. Castiel is infamously the Angel who was made with a crack in his chassis, and corrupted the moment he laid hands on Dean in Hell.
In Charming Acres, everyone is assigned a new name, and a new life. A perfect world constructed by a psychic who sees himself as God. Anyone who enters, and wishes to leave, is promptly killed. Oddly enough, the only person free of the Mayor's control is his daughter, who is also psychic, but clearly doesn't play by the rules, doing things that would be considered scandalous if they were revealed to the rest of the town.
"Scandalous" Actions
Castiel has emotions. Has expressed them for quite some time. Coming from a soldier of Heaven, who once said emotions lead to doubt, and doubt leads to falling, it's amazing to see how far he's come. He's now, several times in S14 alone, said "I love you" to the likes of Jack, Sam and Dean. His showing Human emotion and behavior is only matched by his waning Grace, and if Heaven were not in peril, the Angels wouldn't speak to him, if not hunt him down.
Sunny wasn't what you would call an "innocent" girl. Sending your boyfriend smutty love letters praising his girth is proof of that. But, this isn't the only way she acted out; she went behind her father's back to save her boyfriend, to warn him of the danger he was in. She chose to use her ability to think for herself for good.
Loyalty and Free Will
Even though he rebelled against Heaven, and chose Humanity, Castiel still feels a certain amount of loyalty to his siblings, despite their detesting his choice in company. Over time, he leans more towards found family than the Angelic equivalent of blood, but it's still hard to let go of what's been ingrained in him for years.
Sunny had told her boyfriend she couldn't leave Charming Acres with him, because she'd made a promise to her dead mother to stay with her father. It's not until the end of the episode that she realizes she's not bound by a dead woman's word.
Breaking Away
Naomi demanded Castiel kill Dean back in S8. She even spent a great amount of time brainwashing him, making Castiel act out Dean's murder a thousand times. But, Cas' love and faith in Dean allowed him to break free of Naomi's hold.
Sunny's father told her she was just like him, and that it's her fault her boyfriend died. If she'd only listened and did as her father told, then no one would’ve gotten hurt. It's not until Sunny puts her foot down, all without ending her father's life, is the town safe.
Bonus bit that doesn't fit anywhere else!
Sunny's boyfriend was killed by the high-pitched sound produced by the psychic as he was chasing him down. A sound that not-so-subtly mimics an Angel's true voice.
Yeah, I know that last bit doesn’t fit anywhere else, but to me, it’s the most crucial part of the episode. It sets up the comparisons with Heaven from the very start, and gently guides us, the viewers, where we need to go. Another thing to make note of is that, very recently, Cas himself has been negatively affected by the sound of an Angel’s true voice.
As Rowena said in 14X14, everything means something.
Thank you for reading! Let me know what you thought!
Disclaimer: The following is nothing more than my speculation/optimistic hope/projection-of-what-I-want for the rest of the season.
So with the combination of the trailer for 14x14 and the release of new episode titles, there’s been a lot of fear that Jack will go darkside. I’ve seen lots of posts freaking out about it. I’m freaking out too. This is something I DO. NOT. WANT.
But honestly? I think he will.
Just...not how we think.
Let’s examine evidence:
Even before the season started, I thought they would be killing Jack. At first I figured he would be a victim of Michael’s brutality, but then his magical consumption kicked in and I and everyone realized he would die of that.
Sure enough, midseason we got a cliffhanger episode of Jack collapsing, and the following trailer showed him going on a bucket-list trip. The next episode just cemented that he was a goner.
BUT...he came back! This is IMPORTANT! Trailers never give us the full story.
The trailer for the episode where Jack actually died didn’t show Jack at all. The trailer for the 300th gave no mention of John whatsoever.
For this trailer for the next ep, Ouruboros, they’re showing us things that will keep us worried. The way everyone spent weeks worrying about Jack after he coughed blood. The way they ended 14x06 with Jack unconscious and bloody. This time we see Jack exclaiming “I’m the son of Lucifer!” and doing something nefarious to Rowena.
So is he going to go evil? Yeah, probably.
But is that the extent of the story? No.
I was expecting this last year—for Jack to go off the rails, to become too drunk with his power, to become unreasonable. To an extent, we got that with him in the apocalypse world planning to kill Michael. This year, we have the added bonus of Jack’s power coming at the cost of his soul.
I...kind of like it. It’s a meaty setup. There’s potential for some good storytelling here, if it’s played right. I don’t mind Jack going down a dark path. As long as he doesn’t stay there.
And I don’t think he will.
Why not? A few reasons.
First of all, Cas’s deal with the Empty. He promised to go along with the Empty whenever he was happy. Since Supernatural is incapable of keeping a plotline dormant and waiting for more than a season, that’s likely coming to bite him sooner than later. Even if they defeat Michael (which I’m assuming will be what kicks off his deal) Cas wouldn’t be truly happy if his surrogate son is either evil, dead, or rotting in a box.
Which brings me to my next big point: the ep titles. IMDb has released several new ep titles, and at least one is cause for concern. Pay attention to ep 307, which is the penultimate episode of the season. (14x19)
Jack in the Box.
We’ve established Chekhov’s Box with Dean building it for himself. Even if he’s decided not to use it, that huge plot point which took up two whole episodes, is not going to disappear. It’s likely someone will end up in it. I’m rooting for Nick, but that title is teasing someone else.
Do I think Jack is going in the Ma’lak Box? Not permanently. Something that big wouldn’t be spoiled in an episode title. (Of course, the title could also be referring to the scary toy that pops up out of nowhere, terrifying children and adults alike. An evil Jack could easily fit this description.)
Now, I wouldn’t put it past the writers to play with timelines, but I wanna point out that Lily Sunder lived for a century doing soul magic, and a tiny sliver of her soul still remained when she died. (Her personality, despite a diminished soul, was arguably unaffected.) Unless Jack is doing heavyweight crap like pulling his father back from nothingness every week, he shouldn’t be losing his soul yet. Also, becoming soulless would put a full stop to his abilities, so...
So am I worried? Of course. I like Jack as the pure good bean who looks up to Sam and loves his little found family. It would be a depressing slap in the face to see all of that thrown away.
But I’m not freaking out completely. Don’t trust the trailers; they’re lying liars who lie. Even if Jack does go down a dark path, there is no reason for him to stay there.
So, I keep seeing people online talking about their theories as to why Jack's become ill, and I want to try to explain what I think is going on, since some people seem to be forgetting key pieces here.
Jack is a nephilim, not an angel
When Cas had his grace stolen, he became human, but he didn't become sick(until he stole someone else's grace, but that's a post for later). This is because Cas is occupying a vessel, that's not his true physical form. Jimmys' body is not dependant on Cas' grace, it is still(even after all that's happened) technically a human body.
Jack's body is his true form. His DNA is half angelic and half human, every cell in his body needs his grace to function properly, because it's not fully human.
When Lucifer stole Jack's grace, he essentially took away his regenerative abilities. His body is trying to heal and replace cells as they die(like a normal human body does everyday), but because he's now without his grace, so are his new cells, and that might mean they're not compatible with his old ones, so his body's rejecting them, like a failing transplant, and so his body is deteriorating.
As to how his grace can be supposedly restored, I'm going study a bit more and then I'll post my thoughts on that as well, but I just wanted share my thoughts on this part of his situation because I've seen some people being really dismissive and saying things like he's got 'angel cancer or something'(which is really insensitive)
Anyway, that's what I got for now. Feel free to message me if you have any ideas about this you'd like to share.
petition to make it so that Sam accidentally becoming King of Hell makes his powers start coming back (with the addition of some shiny new ones)!!!!
I love you, Anon. I’d sign this petition. I can’t bring myself to expect anything to come of Sam’s declaration in the first episode (especially considering that episode two, as per SPN’s usual soul-crushing standards, is written by Bucklemming). Still, I love this idea and it would be such an amazing opportunity for TPTB to bring back powers!Sam.
If Mary is killed by Jack next episode because she’s sad about John or whatever (despite all indications early in the season that she was moving forward with her life), I’ve got a full-blown rant in me about how she then needs to be the reverse Lily Sunder, and instead of dying to be with her kids she has to be able to make the choice to live for her kids (a possible solution given Chuck’s return (Rob was at the s14 wrap party) and Sam’s cryptic hashtag #neversaydie on Instagram). I know this is the Winchesters and Cas’s story, and all other characters are expendable when they’re no longer needed, but Mary deserves to have a story too, one where she moves past her grief and looks forward into the future, as, again, she had shown signs of already doing in 14x01 and 14x05. Otherwise,what was the point of brining her back for more than one season, Dabb, other than to prove you could? In this essay I will-
