SPN 9.01
So I feel like almost everything that can be said about this episode has been, but I still have a few questions :)
Season Nine: the season of the Ronin.
[I think spoilers are going to like it here]Cas tells Dean that Ezekiel is "a good soldier," and I have no doubt that he is. But the question is, *whose* soldier? Whom does he serve? What happens to soldiers when the kingdom is lost? Do they hire themselves out as bodyguards, or roam the countryside as bandits, preying on the weak, or do they vanish into civilian life, and become umbrella-makers? Do they seek vengeance on those who killed the king, or do they seek out a new king, or do they seek to become the king themselves?
We see a number of variants on this in "I Think I'm gonna Like it here." Mostly the angels we meet are concerned with vengeance, or with finding better and more permanent vessels (or any at all: 'angel radio' tells us that the atmosphere of earth is full of wavelengths of celestial intent, seeking bodies. I wonder if that's going to play havoc with GPS systems). Both Hael and Ezekiel have found vessels, but they are inadequate stopgaps. Hael's is already starting to burn through, as we saw with poor Nick back in S5. And Ezekiel's - well, personally I think he's done pretty well for himself by landing in one which looks like Karl Agathon:
But evidently even Tahmoh Pennikett's shoulders are not broad enough to carry the damage Ezekiel sustained in the Fall. (On a side note, it occurred to me on a second watching that the damage could be an innocent explanation for why the other angel in the parkade didn't recognise him, which otherwise seems very suspicious to me.) And so, in order to heal, Zeke needs access to a better, stronger vessel: Sam Winchester, born and bred to contain an archangel, strengthened with demon blood, purified by the Trials. Now dying.
One of the big questions, it seems to me, is Ezekiel's agenda here. He seems so nice! And his choice are not implausible: some angels are still Castiel loyalists. Finding the best leader you can and hiring yourself out as a bodyguard is a time-honoured tradition for ronin. He may very well be exactly what he says he is. On the other hand, he plays both Sam and Dean pretty smoothly and expertly here. He lets Dean hear the conversation in Sam's head at precisely the right moment to let him realise that Sam is not only dying, but is possibly suicidal (more on this down the page.) He plays a fine balancing act in the scene in Sam's head, letting Dean say enough to prove it's really him, and yet phrasing it in this finely-calculated way to be both totally literal and totally emotionally true - you've got to let me in, you've got to say yes, there's no me without you. Well-played indeed. And then, at the end of the episode, convincing Dean to keep lying to Sam, drawing him further into the conspiracy. Tricky.
So I don't know what his deal is yet, but I'm very much leaning to the belief that Ezekiel has an agenda he hasn't shared. He now has his hands on the vessels of the only two still-living archangels, after all. Does he want to bring them back from exile? Does he have ambitions of leadership himself? I don't know, but I'm looking forward to finding out.
This brings us to the really big issue of the episode: How do you feel about non-con envesselling?
Thanks, Lana.
And yet. There's a lot going on here, and I'm still trying to unpack it all. There is no doubt in my mind that Dean crossed a very big line here. I don't want to use the word 'rape' for a purely fictional situation with no real-world counterpart, but let's face it, it is pretty rapey. Giving over use of someone's body to another entity for any reason is really not OK. I think the initial possession falls more into the category of 'dub-con' than non-con, because Sam did agree to Dean's plan, without knowing what it was. Dean thinks Sam would rather die than allow himself to be possessed, but - we don't actually know that. If Dean had told him, would he still have agreed? I don't know. Sam hates the idea of giving up control, of losing his autonomy. And he has so much history with possession, and with being out of control of his own body. It's a huge issue for him. Not that it wouldn't be for anyone, but for Sam in particular this is hugely invasive, intensely personal stuff. And yet - he did decide to fight. He did decide to live, once Dean said he had a plan. He agreed to do whatever Dean thought was necessary. Would that have included letting in a random angel? I don't know. Maybe.
But of course, we'll never know, because Dean (and Ezekiel) didn't give him a choice. Dean was desperate not to lose Sam, and he thought Sam was suicidal, based on the line he heard - "promise that no-one else will get hurt because of me." And of course the things Sam said in the church, right before they made their vows promises to each other. And I don't know that Dean is wrong, exactly. I think Sam's had suicidal ideation at a number of points, including possibly parts of S8. And yet he also made a very strong pitch to Dean in S8, about making a choice to live. I think Sam tends to have a very instrumental view of himself, and he does tend to believe that if he can trade his body/soul/life for something of use, of benefit to humanity, he's very much fine with that. But that doesn't mean he *wants* to die, or that he thinks his existence is worthless.
I think a lot of what both the Bobby-figure and the Dean-figure (and how much do I love that Sam's will to live is represented as Dean, and that most of the time when we see the inside of Sam's head the Impala is there?) were saying can be seen as Sam giving himself a pep-talk, a bit of affirmation after the despair of last season. And between that and Death telling him, "Well done," I think it sort of worked. I genuinely don't see Sam as suicidal here. I do see him as having made peace with dying, which is different. I think the promise he was asking from Death had to do with accepting death, and wanting it to be on his own terms. But presented with an option to live, he took it.
That doesn't get Dean off the hook: if Sam were sober and of sound mind when he made his peace with Death, Dean's decision to over-ride that choice is even skeevier. But Dean believed that Sam was suicidal, and that was a big part of his motivation. But another part is Dean believing that he can't live without Sam, and that is fucked-up, yo. I really think "There ain't no me if there ain't no you" is a remarkably subtle and clever bit of writing, because not only does it do dual-duty depending on if it was Dean or Zeke saying it, it also exemplifies the level of Winchester co-dependency we're dealing with. Like, on one hand it's heartwarming and full of brotherly love, and on the other hand, there's some scary dark stuff there.
And I also think that, while the initial possession could be seen as dub-con, the follow-up where Dean agrees to let Ezekiel wipe Sam's memory as needed to ensure continued possession really takes it into non-con territory. (And makes Dean complicit with Ezekiel - not a coincidence, I think. He really has played Dean like a violin, here.)
A lot of how I feel about all this will depend on where they take it from here, and I have hopes and fears on that front. It did really seem to me that Dean was aware of the line's he's crossed, and I find that really interesting. It's not totally out of line with other things Dean's done in the past - mind-wiping Lisa and Ben, for instance. But there hasn't been any real fallout from that, and watching the consequences of this unfold could be very interesting. Depending on the writing, of course, and I have to say I'm leery about that, due to the newbiness of the writing staff this year. And the lack of subtlety many of the current writers have shown dealing with sensitive issues.
And holy crap, this is a lot of teal deer, and there's still a lot I haven't talked about!
I think I'm just gonna bullet-point the rest, or I won't get anything posted before the next episode airs.
- It's interesting that both 8.01 and 9.01 start the season off with one brother doing something both understandable and unforgivable, and which is an extension or variant of things they have a history of doing. Dean non-con envesseling Sam is, strangely, working for me on a narrative level much better than Sam not looking for Dean. Not entirely sure why, though I think a big part of it is that it's happening onscreen. The flashback structure of last season was a really unfortunate choice, I think. Plus - Sam's been called out, a lot, for leaving (both deserved and undeserved). Dean has rarely been called out for his tendency to blur the boundaries between himself and other people, so in some ways this feels like newer territory, even though in some ways it's also ground we've covered before.
- I did like the Cas stuff pretty well, though I was disappointed to see Hael die so quickly, I found her interesting. I hope they don't go too far with Cas as comic relief, but I liked the mixture of humour and pain with which he's handling his newly-human condition.
- Last season, I felt like they had taken the least interesting of all the possibilities opened up by the previous season's finale, and I still kind of feel that way. This season, maybe my expectations were a lot lower, but I feel like they are taking things in a direction I find interesting, even if the possibilities of failure are high.
- I feel like this is returning the show to it's old emphasis on the supernatural as a way of exploring family dysfunction, and I like that.
- I think a lot of other people are finding it interesting too, because there is a lot of fic and meta coming out of this episode. A lot of the fic is exploring the very dark, creepy place canon seems to have gone to.
Here's a few recs for episode codas:
- Diamond and a tether, by indiachick over at counteragent's meme, as a fill for my prompt, about Dean driving with a passenger he once again isn't sure is entirely Sam. It's creepy and lovely and sad, and you should go read it.
- This disturbingly beautiful episode coda by balder12
- counteragent's own fill at the meme, with gorgeous imagery of the wreckage in Sam's mind.
Season Nine: the season of the Ronin.
[I think spoilers are going to like it here]Cas tells Dean that Ezekiel is "a good soldier," and I have no doubt that he is. But the question is, *whose* soldier? Whom does he serve? What happens to soldiers when the kingdom is lost? Do they hire themselves out as bodyguards, or roam the countryside as bandits, preying on the weak, or do they vanish into civilian life, and become umbrella-makers? Do they seek vengeance on those who killed the king, or do they seek out a new king, or do they seek to become the king themselves?
We see a number of variants on this in "I Think I'm gonna Like it here." Mostly the angels we meet are concerned with vengeance, or with finding better and more permanent vessels (or any at all: 'angel radio' tells us that the atmosphere of earth is full of wavelengths of celestial intent, seeking bodies. I wonder if that's going to play havoc with GPS systems). Both Hael and Ezekiel have found vessels, but they are inadequate stopgaps. Hael's is already starting to burn through, as we saw with poor Nick back in S5. And Ezekiel's - well, personally I think he's done pretty well for himself by landing in one which looks like Karl Agathon:
But evidently even Tahmoh Pennikett's shoulders are not broad enough to carry the damage Ezekiel sustained in the Fall. (On a side note, it occurred to me on a second watching that the damage could be an innocent explanation for why the other angel in the parkade didn't recognise him, which otherwise seems very suspicious to me.) And so, in order to heal, Zeke needs access to a better, stronger vessel: Sam Winchester, born and bred to contain an archangel, strengthened with demon blood, purified by the Trials. Now dying.
One of the big questions, it seems to me, is Ezekiel's agenda here. He seems so nice! And his choice are not implausible: some angels are still Castiel loyalists. Finding the best leader you can and hiring yourself out as a bodyguard is a time-honoured tradition for ronin. He may very well be exactly what he says he is. On the other hand, he plays both Sam and Dean pretty smoothly and expertly here. He lets Dean hear the conversation in Sam's head at precisely the right moment to let him realise that Sam is not only dying, but is possibly suicidal (more on this down the page.) He plays a fine balancing act in the scene in Sam's head, letting Dean say enough to prove it's really him, and yet phrasing it in this finely-calculated way to be both totally literal and totally emotionally true - you've got to let me in, you've got to say yes, there's no me without you. Well-played indeed. And then, at the end of the episode, convincing Dean to keep lying to Sam, drawing him further into the conspiracy. Tricky.
So I don't know what his deal is yet, but I'm very much leaning to the belief that Ezekiel has an agenda he hasn't shared. He now has his hands on the vessels of the only two still-living archangels, after all. Does he want to bring them back from exile? Does he have ambitions of leadership himself? I don't know, but I'm looking forward to finding out.
This brings us to the really big issue of the episode: How do you feel about non-con envesselling?
Click to viewThanks, Lana.
And yet. There's a lot going on here, and I'm still trying to unpack it all. There is no doubt in my mind that Dean crossed a very big line here. I don't want to use the word 'rape' for a purely fictional situation with no real-world counterpart, but let's face it, it is pretty rapey. Giving over use of someone's body to another entity for any reason is really not OK. I think the initial possession falls more into the category of 'dub-con' than non-con, because Sam did agree to Dean's plan, without knowing what it was. Dean thinks Sam would rather die than allow himself to be possessed, but - we don't actually know that. If Dean had told him, would he still have agreed? I don't know. Sam hates the idea of giving up control, of losing his autonomy. And he has so much history with possession, and with being out of control of his own body. It's a huge issue for him. Not that it wouldn't be for anyone, but for Sam in particular this is hugely invasive, intensely personal stuff. And yet - he did decide to fight. He did decide to live, once Dean said he had a plan. He agreed to do whatever Dean thought was necessary. Would that have included letting in a random angel? I don't know. Maybe.
But of course, we'll never know, because Dean (and Ezekiel) didn't give him a choice. Dean was desperate not to lose Sam, and he thought Sam was suicidal, based on the line he heard - "promise that no-one else will get hurt because of me." And of course the things Sam said in the church, right before they made their vows promises to each other. And I don't know that Dean is wrong, exactly. I think Sam's had suicidal ideation at a number of points, including possibly parts of S8. And yet he also made a very strong pitch to Dean in S8, about making a choice to live. I think Sam tends to have a very instrumental view of himself, and he does tend to believe that if he can trade his body/soul/life for something of use, of benefit to humanity, he's very much fine with that. But that doesn't mean he *wants* to die, or that he thinks his existence is worthless.
I think a lot of what both the Bobby-figure and the Dean-figure (and how much do I love that Sam's will to live is represented as Dean, and that most of the time when we see the inside of Sam's head the Impala is there?) were saying can be seen as Sam giving himself a pep-talk, a bit of affirmation after the despair of last season. And between that and Death telling him, "Well done," I think it sort of worked. I genuinely don't see Sam as suicidal here. I do see him as having made peace with dying, which is different. I think the promise he was asking from Death had to do with accepting death, and wanting it to be on his own terms. But presented with an option to live, he took it.
That doesn't get Dean off the hook: if Sam were sober and of sound mind when he made his peace with Death, Dean's decision to over-ride that choice is even skeevier. But Dean believed that Sam was suicidal, and that was a big part of his motivation. But another part is Dean believing that he can't live without Sam, and that is fucked-up, yo. I really think "There ain't no me if there ain't no you" is a remarkably subtle and clever bit of writing, because not only does it do dual-duty depending on if it was Dean or Zeke saying it, it also exemplifies the level of Winchester co-dependency we're dealing with. Like, on one hand it's heartwarming and full of brotherly love, and on the other hand, there's some scary dark stuff there.
And I also think that, while the initial possession could be seen as dub-con, the follow-up where Dean agrees to let Ezekiel wipe Sam's memory as needed to ensure continued possession really takes it into non-con territory. (And makes Dean complicit with Ezekiel - not a coincidence, I think. He really has played Dean like a violin, here.)
A lot of how I feel about all this will depend on where they take it from here, and I have hopes and fears on that front. It did really seem to me that Dean was aware of the line's he's crossed, and I find that really interesting. It's not totally out of line with other things Dean's done in the past - mind-wiping Lisa and Ben, for instance. But there hasn't been any real fallout from that, and watching the consequences of this unfold could be very interesting. Depending on the writing, of course, and I have to say I'm leery about that, due to the newbiness of the writing staff this year. And the lack of subtlety many of the current writers have shown dealing with sensitive issues.
And holy crap, this is a lot of teal deer, and there's still a lot I haven't talked about!
I think I'm just gonna bullet-point the rest, or I won't get anything posted before the next episode airs.
- It's interesting that both 8.01 and 9.01 start the season off with one brother doing something both understandable and unforgivable, and which is an extension or variant of things they have a history of doing. Dean non-con envesseling Sam is, strangely, working for me on a narrative level much better than Sam not looking for Dean. Not entirely sure why, though I think a big part of it is that it's happening onscreen. The flashback structure of last season was a really unfortunate choice, I think. Plus - Sam's been called out, a lot, for leaving (both deserved and undeserved). Dean has rarely been called out for his tendency to blur the boundaries between himself and other people, so in some ways this feels like newer territory, even though in some ways it's also ground we've covered before.
- I did like the Cas stuff pretty well, though I was disappointed to see Hael die so quickly, I found her interesting. I hope they don't go too far with Cas as comic relief, but I liked the mixture of humour and pain with which he's handling his newly-human condition.
- Last season, I felt like they had taken the least interesting of all the possibilities opened up by the previous season's finale, and I still kind of feel that way. This season, maybe my expectations were a lot lower, but I feel like they are taking things in a direction I find interesting, even if the possibilities of failure are high.
- I feel like this is returning the show to it's old emphasis on the supernatural as a way of exploring family dysfunction, and I like that.
- I think a lot of other people are finding it interesting too, because there is a lot of fic and meta coming out of this episode. A lot of the fic is exploring the very dark, creepy place canon seems to have gone to.
Here's a few recs for episode codas:
- Diamond and a tether, by indiachick over at counteragent's meme, as a fill for my prompt, about Dean driving with a passenger he once again isn't sure is entirely Sam. It's creepy and lovely and sad, and you should go read it.
- This disturbingly beautiful episode coda by balder12
- counteragent's own fill at the meme, with gorgeous imagery of the wreckage in Sam's mind.