#spn hellatus rewatch

[mittensmorgul]

Real quick, I still love Tim and Doug (I know that’s not their canon names but thanks to @powerfulweak they’ll always be Tim and Doug to me).

These two basically summed up a good bit of S11 too. 

Demon: You know, our two operations will always butt heads. That's the set up. But this? We could be out of work. Angel: Yeah. We get knocked out, it takes over. Demon: Someone's gotta do something. Angel: Someone? Demon: Yeah. If management won't, it's up to the little guy. Angel: Yeah. I hear ya. Demon: Power to the people, my friend. Angel: Well, not actually people. Demon: You know what I mean.

Yeah, Heaven and Hell have always butted heads. It’s the setup. But Heaven and Hell are modeled around Light and Dark, Chuck and Amara. Always butting heads.

The setup had been faulty from the word go, and in order to fix it, they had to work together. Is it strange that on rewatch I’m seeing this theme over and over again?

[mittensmorgul]

I answered an ask the other day about Cas and Dean, and the relative amount of blame they shoulder for the terrible things they do to each other. Well, in rewatching 11.03, I’d like to express a few more thoughts on this subject.

Dean and Sam know what the spell Cas is under can do to people. A woman under the same spell was Sam and Dean’s introduction to Rowena in 10.07. That woman nearly took Sam out single handed. Sam had to lock her in a closet and barricade the door with his body in order to stop her. Until she burned herself out and dropped dead from the effects of the spell a few minutes later.

And now CAS is under this same spell. Cas has succumbed to its influence over him several times, and is still fighting it off DAYS after he was cursed. I’m sure he gave Sam and Dean the same warning he’d given the angels-- TWO ANGELS. Beings that were stronger, faster, and far more powerful than the Winchesters. Beings that CAS FOUGHT AND KILLED in a fit of spell-enhanced rage.

Sam and Dean did chain him to the floor, but they didn’t lock him away. They kept him close; both so they could keep an eye on him and make sure he was okay and so he could participate in their discussion.

Let me backtrack just a second... this is also after Cas’s primary concern in 11.01 was DEAN’S well being. And after Cas went to the bunker in hopes that Sam and Dean could help him after his angel family basically rejected him once and for all. Cas hadn’t gone to them for help first because if Cas had a choice, he wouldn’t have endangered Sam and Dean. That’s not the mindset or the actions of someone who bears a grudge for the treatment he’d received in 10.22. He doesn’t blame Dean for any of that, and is simply relieved that Dean’s been cured/saved. He doesn’t expect an apology from Dean, because CAS DOES NOT BLAME DEAN. That would be like Dean blaming Cas for killing all those copies of him, or for what Cas did to him in the crypt.

And as Cas just said in 11.03 after having an upsurge of the spell that caused him to black out...

Castiel: I blacked out for a lot of it. But I... I don't know. It overwhelmed me. I-I couldn't control it.

And that’s it. He can’t control it, any more than Dean could control what the Mark made him do. Dean and Cas both are a little overwhelmed by the fact that Dean didn’t finish what he’d started, and the only reason Cas stopped his attack on Dean in 11.03? Because Rowena lifted the curse.

Of course they don’t blame one another. They each blame themselves for not being able to stop. For not being able to control the uncontrollable.

[mittensmorgul]

Billie introduces herself by singing O, Death. And then she never straight out says she’s a reaper (she heavily implies it to Sam by answering his questions with questions).

She speaks in a similar cadence as Death did, and speaks in riddles just as Death always did.

She says she has a message to deliver, and she’s standing entirely in shadow while she tells Sam about the Empty. She never said THAT was the message she had to deliver.

She says, “The old Death thought it was funny, but now?” Straight up implying that SHE is the new Death. The new incarnation of Death.

THEN she steps right up into Sam’s face and THIS is the message she was actually delivering: “I know you’re dying. I can feel it. You’re unclean, in the biblical sense.”

Then, just like she eventually does in 11.17 with Dean, she gives him a little smile, turns, and WALKS AWAY.

She wasn’t making a threat, she was giving Sam a hint, giving him the key to saving himself.

Unlike Dean, Sam didn’t “get” Billie’s lesson yet. He had to pray on it, asking God for help. I wrote something early in s11 about how Sam and Dean think differently, and how Sam had been underestimating or misunderstanding Dean. And this was just another difference in their thought processes.

[mittensmorgul]

I know I know, I’ve said this before but...

CASTIEL: Mercy, brother, please! EFRAM: Brother? Ha! What are you? CASTIEL: W-what? I'm an angel of the Lord. EFRAM: That so? 'Cause, near as I can tell, when you have to choose between heaven and the Winchesters . . . JONAH: You choose them. EFRAM: Every time. So, see, you're not my brother. And if I had it my way, I'd take this blade, stick it in your heart . . . and call that a damn good day.

Compare that with 11.23:

Dean: How you doing? You good? I mean, you know, the whole Lucifer thing. Castiel: I was just... so stupid. Dean: No, no, no. It wasn't stupid. You were right. You were right to let Lucifer ride shotgun. Me and Sam wouldn't have done that. Castiel: Well, it didn't work. Dean: No, but it was our best shot, and you stepped up. Castiel: I was just trying to help. Dean: Well, and you do help, Cas. You know, I-- You know, sometimes, me and Sam have got so much going on that.. we forget about everyone else. Castiel: Well, you do live exciting lives. Dean: Yeah, that's one word for it. But you're always there, you know? You're the best friend we've ever had. You're our brother, Cas. I want you to know that. Castiel: Thank you.

It’s not like Cas hasn’t always tried his best for Heaven, for the other angels (well except that time he was suffering from Leviathan poisoning and sort of obliterated them willy-nilly, but we’re past that...). What Efram and Jonah tortured him for here, what they were willing to kill him for, what they’d disowned him for--

Dean knows all of it, knows why Cas said yes to Lucifer, even though it didn’t help in the end, but understood his reasons for putting the rest of the world at risk that way, and not only reassured him that he’d done the right thing, but that he’s still family, too. That he’s a brother, and that he’s wanted and accepted for who he is.

This still makes me all verklempt. 

[mittensmorgul]

Oh Cas. He prayed for help, but before he asked for help, he confessed his transgressions and said he’d accept whatever punishment they saw fit. He had to know they’d think torture and death might be a fitting punishment...

Ah, and I just got why Crowley’s demon powers didn’t move with him to his other meatsuit. Rowena had it under an immobilization spell, He smoked out, but I guess that kept his powers on lockdown.

And here we are, it only took about 15 minutes for Sam to go from “they’re not human” to “they’re not only human but they deserve to be saved.”

The s11 banner:

SAM: Dean, if we don't change -- right now -- all of our crap is just gonna keep repeating itself.

Because s11 was all about change. Finding another way. There’s always a cure.

Also: “ This isn't on you. It is on us. We have to change.” and 

SAM: You said it, Dean. We broke this. DEAN: Yeah, we broke this, okay? We did. SAM: I heard it in your voice when you agreed to take that child. I get it. You do what you do. But you've got to let me do what I do, too.

That’s s11 right there.

Too bad they didn’t change enough fight from the beginning and it took them 22 more episodes to work through enough of their issues to get the job done. Well, they kind of had to. And they still needed to screw up enough (and fix enough) to get God’s attention.

[mittensmorgul]

I am with Sam here. Dean said the Darkness “Saved him.”

Sam asked, FROM WHAT?! Sam was fine in the car. He didn’t need saving.

Dean said the Darkness thanked him for setting her free...

Sam was like, BUT I SET HER FREE?!

In retrospect, the Darkness seems to have spent most of s11 trying to come to an understanding about Creation based largely on significant misunderstandings like this. She’s so certain she’s got the whole story, or understands completely, when nothing is further from the truth.

just like Sam’s initial assessment of the zompires is “They’re not human.” But the end of the episode, Sam’s putting his life at risk to try and “cure them.” His initial assessment proved wrong really quickly. Amara’s took most of the season for her to overcome.

Amara also told Dean she felt “peaceful” with him, but by the end of the season she’s offering Dean the “bliss” of surrendering his soul to her. There was so much that ended up flipped 180 degrees by the end of the season.

[treefrogie84]

FYI, it’s been decided that I’m watching Bloodlines out of order, tonight. so I can catch up over my short shift on Sunday.

so... tonight (8/19)

9.17 Mother’s Little Helper (momentarily)

9.18 Meta Fiction (when I’m home, probably starting around 6pm my time)

9.20 Bloodlines (after Meta Fiction at home... when there’s rum and ginger beer or wine)

Saturday: writing and cooking all day.

Sunday:

9.19 Alex Annie Alexis Ann (starting at approx noon my time)

9.21 King of the Damned

9.22 Stairway to Heaven

9.23 Do You Believe in Miracles

then to game where I, thankfully, am not in charge of anything.

[treefrogie84]

in case anyone hasn’t picked it up, today is going to be a bit disjointed on the liveblogging.

i’m (still) down a person at work. It’s friday, so i’m busier than the rest of the week anyway. my brain is pretty disjointed today. episodes 19-23 are pretty disjointed even if my brain was 100%. i would much rather be at the bar, watching this and drinking because of certain customers. i’m looking at about 6 weeks of working 6 days a week which is going to fuck with my entire life.

so yeah. disjointed.