#spn 4.16

[bvrialatsea]

underrated scene

[maraschinosqueeze]

Jeb Dexter: This is a demonstration. About demons and angels. Love and lust.

Elsewhere in season 4:

[lovealwayssay]

I hate 4.16 On the Head of a Pin. Uriel and Cas forcing Dean to torture Alastair, something Dean feels so guilty about, is disgusting. I hate watching the torture, its just too much for me. But at the same time, its such an interesting episode. We learn so much about Cas and how his relationship with Dean is making him question his faith, we learn about the dynamics between the angels, we learn more about Sam and Ruby’s relationship, we learn about John and Dean’s times in Hell, and we learn that Dean broke the first seal and that he is a righteous man. “I guess I’m not the man either of our dad’s wanted me to be.” Its such a good episode but I feel physically ill watching it.

[idontwikeit]

Son of the morning, banished from grace, you are forgiven. Profane thing, ashes on the earth, you are redeemed. Outcast, fallen angel, you are loved. You are forgiven. You are redeemed. You are loved. -The Exorcist (2016-2017)

[spngeorg]

Episode 76, 4.16 On the Head of a Pin

This... is a big one. This is the episode where I first sat up and realized why Cas stuck around, why he became such an important and beloved character (s7 was airing at the time of my first watch, if you needed context for that). His entire character arc for the rest of the series pretty much takes off right here. But the seeds of his entire relationship with Dean are also planted here. This was the first episode of Supernatural that I watched, got to the end of, and then immediately went back and watched it again. It’s that important.

Also, the episode where we first see an Angel Blade, aka the “Sword of Lucifer” that was supposed to be a one-off, or at least a Unique Special Weapon, that Kripke was like... nah that’s too good, and just handed them out like tic tacs at the beginning of s5, completely retconning all of s4. Wild stuff.

That said, I’ll just jump right to giving y’all links, because there’s a lot...

The Superwiki page for this episode

My tag for this episode (all 12 pages of it lol... it’s A Lot of meta)

Especially these posts that I usually link individually, but heck, so many I grouped them by topic:

Retcons, Angel Blades, and the Writing Room: 1, 2, 3

Castiel and his Character Arc: 1, 2, 3, 

Watch notes from June 2019

the CW promo video

The extended scene of Dean and Cas talking before torturing Alastair, 100% must watch 5 minutes of footage

Listen now on AnchorFM, or wherever you enjoy podcasts!

[mittensmorgul]

why couldn't cas heal dean after he was in the hospital because of Alistair? sam told him to get in there and heal him and cas said " i cant"

Hi there! (I'm finally scraping the top layer off my inbox again! sorry for the delay in replying) :'D

If we're looking for a Writing Room explanation, I think that's actually easiest to justify in this case (don't worry, I'll get to the in-story explanations afterward. I'm just working my way up to it).

"Angel Rules" were still a work in progress. Ever notice that "angel blades" weren't really a thing that every angel had until s5? In s4, Uriel using what was referred to in scripts as the "Sword of Lucifer" as if it was a unique weapon that only Uriel had been granted to use. No other angel ever possesses one or uses one (or even seems to be aware of their existence) outside of 4.16 until 5.01. Suddenly, every angel seems to possess one and use them regularly, as if they'd always had them. Which... is weird when you think back to that whole plotline of s4, right? The "oh dear, who can possibly be killing angels?! who has a weapon that can actually kill angels?!" Well, if you skip ahead to s5, apparently ALL ANGELS?! Weird, right?

So in creating the entire angel mythology, what powers do they actually have? What limitations and weaknesses affect their ability to interfere with the story? Because if we suddenly have a bunch of superpowered beings who can fix problems with the wave of a hand, we don't actually have any conflict in the story and then what's the point of even telling the story? Have problem: angel pops in and solves it, then pops out again. Boring.

But ESPECIALLY with the way Cas's arc had been evolving, regarding his doubt in Heaven's Orders, especially in the wake of having learned that there were angels actively working against Heaven and in support of Lucifer. Up to this point, Cas had been able to largely conceal his doubts, but Heaven had already effectively "demoted" him by the start of 4.16, putting Uriel in charge because Heaven apparently had concerns that Cas was "becoming too close to the humans in his charge," aka Dean.

It's also heavily implied throughout the series that angel powers are directly tied to Heaven. Angel "falls" from Heaven and their powers decline accordingly. It's also implied (think: 5.02 where Cas can't heal Bobby because he's been "cut off" from Heaven after openly rebelling in 4.22) that Heaven can interfere with an angel's power level, as well.

So there's always been some unexplained power of "Heaven" (the collective of angels? some decision maker there like Naomi? some factor of the "angel programming" circuitry we explore more in s8? or even via Metatron's use of the angel tablet to boost his own power and use it to influence the rest of the angels to his will to greater and lesser degrees of success in s9?) they play with these concepts of "where does angelic power even come from" so much in canon but never truly settle on a definitive explanation other than "because Chuck wrote it that way, that's why."

This is why the most annoying dropped plot threat of s15 for me was Cas's "depowering" arc that was just completely ignored after a certain point. But that's a long series of complaints for another post... :'D

In the context of 4.16, when Cas was already under greater scrutiny from the powers that be in Heaven (in story, the mysterious bigger bosses at this point in the story that we will eventually learn include Zachariah and possibly Naomi at least post 4.20 after Cas's reprogramming, and going all the way to the top with Michael and likely Raphael plotting the Apocalypse already), it can either be interpreted as "Cas was unwilling to step out of line and defy Heaven's orders directly to heal Dean in this case," or "Cas was already being punished and had lost access to some of his powers as a result."

I personally think it's a combination platter, because that suits Cas's personal arc in s4. He's both struggling to understand the problems in Heaven, the motives and bigger plot his "Superiors" are enacting by deliberately pushing to begin the apocalypse, as well as his own role and place in the universe. He's beginning to understand human feelings, to sympathize with humanity and their ability to exercise free will. He's finding it's no longer enough to just blindly follow orders, and he's having a harder and harder time keeping those "doorways to doubt" slammed shut. It's not only because Heaven is directly messing with him and his powers, but because he's beginning to see a bigger picture that pushes him to question everything he's ever believed about the "righteousness" of Heaven and angels and God himself.

Ironic that in attempting to "control" Cas by putting these sorts of limits on his power was a major factor in Cas's fall toward humanity, yes? Poor Chuck so misunderstood his own creations and was so entirely unable to understand the power of human love and free will that his own attempt to force his "character" into obedience backfired that hard. Cas was supposed to obey, to fall in line, to come groveling back to Heaven and do what he was told. And the "depowering" that was supposed to have been a "punishment" ended up tipping him toward even more sympathy with and understanding of humanity instead.

Which, again, is why the final depowering arc in s15 having zero payoff in canon is just... *screams into the void*

[foxthefanboi]

Sam Winchester Appreciation Week ➤ Day 5: Favorite Badass Moments

[repressedean]

Dean has faced so much in his life. He has stared down murderers and monsters and demons. He has seen the worst humanity has to offer in a desperate grab for dinner money to keep Sammy fed. He has been held on the rack and tortured until he broke. He's strong, he knows this, and he knows everyone else does as well. Dean Winchester, the unbreakable, stands tall and proud and never bats an eyelash at a threat because he's spent the last twenty five odd years being trained into the perfect soldier by his father. Nothing should phase him anymore.

And yet, Alastair.

Dean told them he couldn't do this. He told them that this was too much and that it would destroy him and all he received in return was a harsh order and Castiel telling him he'd give anything to protect Dean from having to lay eyes on this demon once more. He shouldn't have even been in that room.

Then he got into it. He remembered the years in Hell, torturing other innocent people for their perceived crimes because it was just so much easier than everything Alastair did to him. Dean still dreams about it. He wakes up in a cold sweat with phantom hands tracing his skin and invisible blades gutting him like a fish over and over because he just couldn't die. There was some small part of him that liked it, even. He held so much power in the palm of his hand, and turning it on the demon who did this to him was admittedly cathartic.

That is, until Alastair got out of the devil's trap and, so close with nothing between them to provide safety, Dean froze. No matter his years of training and the instinct that should have kicked in or the fact that if he had screamed, Castiel would have come running. Part of him snapped and all he could do was let himself be beat to a pulp and choked until his feet dangled above the floor.

He thought he was going to die. He's not sure how he didn't.

All he can think about is that when it mattered most, he was helpless.

What kind of protector is he?