#source: cw

[side-siobhan]

[supernatural-scenarios-hurray]

13X06 in Review

Okay,

Cas is back. Jack’s gone. Cowboys. All good. Let’s talk about that, because I have a few issues.

1) Dean didn’t really question Cas all that much.

This isn’t a bad thing, but it’s definitely weird. We see an obvious shift with Dean once Cas is back. Sam’s “I don’t even know what to say” followed by Dean’s “I do” and hug was sort of unexpected. He even started welcoming Jack--more than ep. 4--when Cas came back. It was, in my opinion, a bit obvious that he shifted his feelings toward Jack to which it almost felt like Dean saw Jack as Castiel from late season 4. Or maybe it was just a coincidence and he’d warmed up to the kid before then, I don’t know. But this leads me to my next point.

2) Cas is...different? Or is he?

It’s been driving me crazy!

The hugs? Guys, the hugs. They were...lacking. Maybe it’s just me but...

Dean was gone for less than a day and this hug was better than the hugs in this episode!

I’m not saying there’s no love in it, it just didn’t...flow. Like it was more of a “Good to see you again” hug rather than a “you were dead and I spent 5 episodes not being okay with it” or even a “you were dead and the guy taking care of me hated me and I hurt people and you were supposed to be there and you weren’t.”

Also, he’s just sort of...chill? Like the episode was everything we wanted, especially from Cas, but it all felt too soon to me. I think he needed more than the first 10 minutes of the episode to adjust. Or maybe him only needing the first few minutes means something.

It honestly just felt like everything was too easy for Cas and they weren’t explaining why.

3) Diversifying the episode’s runtime

This was my biggest issue with the episode.

Again, I liked everything in the episode but it was given in a way that didn’t really make sense to me.

They spent the first 4 minutes of the episode with backstory and the case set-up, and by the 10-minute mark, Cas’s return was basically settled. And then the whole 2nd half of the episode was dedicated to finishing up the case and bringing Jack home.

Don’t get me wrong I loved what they did with Jack. It really gave you the feeling of “Everything’s fine--Oh no it’s not!” It also gives you that great frustration of getting Cas back and then losing Jack.

But just because Cas coming back and Jack leaving are both important, doesn’t mean they need the same amount of screentime.

The things they said to Jack in the car and the things they said to him back at the bunker felt like the same dialogue, it didn’t need to be rehashed.

Cas’s scenes, however, needed more time to settle. That was the whole point of him coming back! He needed to adjust, he needed to see Dean’s spirits rise, he needed to have conversations with Jack--more than one and more than just about what Jack did wrong. He needed to talk to Sam, he needed to be contemplated, he needed space, he needed time. They didn’t have enough time, and that’s what wrecked the scene for me.

I also think what would’ve helped is NO CASE. Jack finding his first case is a big and important moment, but the case itself was so unnecessary. It would have been cuter, better, if they went there, had no case, said f*ck it, and just had a good time playing cowboy. Did Jack really need a real case to accidentally hurt someone?

And I was so upset when Dean didn’t go with them back to the bunker! Because of the case, he had to stay behind and it prolonged the Jack scenes even more because they had to wait for Dean. I just...I think it got in the way too much.

4) Dean/Cas  and Jack/Cas scenes were epic

Guys....I died.

“I’m your huckleberry.”

What. The. Hell.

They did such a good job with that! In this episode you really did get to see the old dynamic between Cas and Dean, and even hints at some B-T-S stuff.

Dean made Cas watch Tombstone.

Dean made Cas wear a cowboy hat.

Cas remembered lines from Tombstone and the voice.

Cas knows how much Dean likes cowboys.

Cas knows Dean’s a violent sleeper.

IT WAS SO GOOD.

Jack and Cas scenes were amazing too! Jack was honesty like a boy who just got back from his field trip and wants to tell his parents everything.

And they had such great heart to heart scenes! Not to mention the “I don’t sleep much” “Well I don’t sleep at all” sequence. OH MAN.

Point is, this episode had great stuff...it just didn’t really flow the way it should have.

[fandom-collages-blog]

Bad at Love by Halsey

[side-siobhan]

[side-siobhan]

[side-siobhan]

[side-siobhan]

[supernatural-scenarios-hurray]

Time for Cas to...do something

Hey, Cas is back!

CAS. IS. BACK.

I’ve seen a lot of the “The writers are screwing Cas’s character” around, so...wonder how that’s gonna play out this time around!

In fact, new season means new ways for Cas to somehow mess up. We’ve already seen in the preview for the next episode that Cas is talking to the angels and refusing them...but that’s a good starting point, isn’t it? For something more to spark there? I mean, annually, Cas does something he thinks is for the greater good and...isn’t in the long run.

However, this season may be different.

I already posted something about this before, that Cas this season might be taking a new direction. Instead of thinking about the “greater good,” or even just coming back with a win for the guys...

...maybe he’ll think about getting his own win this season. Maybe that’s Jack?

Although I know I can’t revolve everything around Jack, (sometimes I do) he is a central part of this season. He’s also a molding of Castiel himself, and NOT evil. Jack IS a win!

However, you are correct, there’s more to this season than Jack...or I think there will be.

Jack’s development in this season represents more than just pulling himself out of a dark place, but pulling the F A M I L Y out of a dark place. I think that includes Cas, (I mean The Empty could definitely be a great way the writers incorporated symbolism...because it’s...a dark place).

Cas has been in this vicious cycle of messing up and then messing up again, but he didn't mean it! So this season it would be really nice if he, like, didn’t fall into that again. DRAG yourself outta that darkness Cas!

In fact, Dean might factor into a lot of this.

He said in the latest episode that Cas was a win, and it’s about time Cas started to understand that too. So this season, I’d like to see Dean teach Cas how to be family!

We already saw a bit of it in 13X06 with all the:

“This is a stupid hat.”

“It’s not stupid, it’s great. You look great.”

and...

“Wow, he’s...”

“Yeah, trust me, I know.”

and...

“Wait was it that movie with the whiskey or the guns?”

“Literally both, you know this. I only made you watch it like 3,000 times.”

...scenes.

My point is, MORE OF THIS.

I HATE it when Cas goes off by himself, and it’s going to be a lot harder to do that this season.

I actually think that whole scene with the angels hinted at in the promo for episode 7 will end like this:

Cas feathers his ass back to the bunker and waiting there for him are Dean and Sam sitting by a lamp, dramatically flipping it on...because they just would.

Dean: Where you been, Cas?

Cas: I was...out. I was looking for Jack.

Sam: You sure that was all you were doing?

Cas: We don’t have time for this, Jack is still out there--

Dean: --Make time.

Dean stands up all “authoritative dad like,” and walks towards Cas.

Dean: You wander off, and bad things start happening. You wandered off before and the world became a living, breathing purgatory, you wandered off again and Lucifer started riding shotgun, and the last time you wandered off, Kelly got gone, Crowley killed himself, mom’s stuck in an alternate reality, and you died Cas! We’re not going through that again, I’m not going through that again! So either you sit your feathery ass here and move when I tell you to move, or I chain you up downstairs and we go lookin’ for Jack ourselves, understood?

...

Believe it or not, that was meant to be endearing.

My point is, they’re gonna be all over Cas this season and that’s going incorporate some “What it means to be family” Winchester lessons, or at least I hope so.

I don’t know.

I’m just guessing.