SPN 4x16
I don't think I've done an ep reaction post since...hm, maybe 4x10? That's mostly because my feelings about this season are complicated, and I have mixed emotions about many things. But I think 4x16 is the best ep of the season so far, and I'm blown away, so. Here we go.
Back in my ep post about 4x09, I said this: Awww, Sammy. I had a feeling you had offered to trade places with Dean. It was really all that was left to offer, and the stunning thing is that they didn't want him. But why? Why did they think Dean being there was the more attractive option? Why is that 'just how' they wanted it? Did they think they'd break Dean down and use him to encourage Sam to the darkside, somehow? Is there some other kind of big picture thing going on here? And now we know why: Dean's actions in hell were the first seal. It seems, in fact, that rather than this dropping into hell's lap, it was almost engineered to be thus: the demons have been using the Winchester self-sacrifice trait as a tool to bring about their own agenda since basically the moment John came on the scene, and they fell right into it, and handed the demons the means to bring about the apocalypse because they love each other so much, they are entirely selfish in their love. (Dying/selling your soul/going darkside for someone because you can't live without them/feel guilty is selfish, not selfless.) That is a stunning natural progression of that theme. But the thing is - what I love about this - is that it means there has been a big picture, all along, and things just haven't been randomly full of bad. There has been a demon-driven agenda we really still don't know the full extent and depth of, and that's...just utterly cool.
There was so much to love in the first segment of tonight's ep, I almost don't know where to start. Sam driving, at this point, is an anvil, because the metaphorical weight of Sam being in control/in charge is very heavy. And the fact that he would say to Ruby that something happened to Dean during those years in hell, that Dean isn't strong enough - that he would say it to RUBY - is KILLING ME. I'm going to get back to Sam later.
Castiel in that first segment also is amazing - the show of compassion, the struggle to obey orders, the admission that he is growing too close to Dean (or so his superiors think), and that he would do anything for Dean to not have to go in that room and torture Alastair...dude, if I didn't already pretty much see the Dean/Castiel, I would be sold, now. Totally sold. You know. WOW. Also, Anna showing up to do her convincing mojo on Castiel was kind of awesome, because Castiel wants to believe that she's right, that God would not sanction what they are doing. But he's obedient to his father. Just like Dean.
Which makes the whole thing about how it was supposed to be John, and how John survived 100 years on the rack without breaking, both awesome in the true definition of the word - awe, seriously, JOHN WINCHESTER HOW ARE YOU SO AWESOME - and heartbreaking, now that Dean thinks even deeper down in his wounded soul that he can never live up to what his dad would have expected or wanted. OMG.
I LOVE ALASTAIR with his snarky jokes (I've got something caught in my throat. I think it's my throat. - HAHAHA), and his complete inability to care if he is in pain, and his incessant psychological torture of Dean. God, even though Dean's no longer in hell and Alastair no longer has control of him, he still has control and he is still torturing him. DUDE.
OK, now. About Sam. First of all, Ruby calling him Sammy made my SKIN CRAWL. But not as hard as watching Sam destroy Alastair utterly, and enjoy the fuck out of doing it. You know that was for Dean. Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Sammy. O.o And Castiel's face as he watched Sam do it - first astonishment, and then confusion, and then, at the end? He looked at Sam like a potential threat. Like he might have to go to battle with him, right there. Sam demanding a miracle out of Castiel - "Healing, NOW" - was just scary. Because of the depth of Sam's desperation, and because Castiel so obviously wanted to comply. Also, Sam in this was AMAZING. Full of power and strength and determination and KICK-ASS SCARY SAMNESS. Sam is so sure he is using his power for good. And now I think Castiel thinks so, too, and he doesn't know what to make of it. "Find someone else," Dean says. And Castiel...Castiel might be thinking, now, that Sam is that someone else. Or at least has a part to play in this. He is not stupid, after all.
And of course, there is this entire revelation that some of the angels want to raise Lucifer - which totally makes sense. After all, in the lore, when Lucifer was cast out of heaven, 1/3 of his minions fell with him. But that doesn't mean there weren't one or two left behind who still loved him. And Uriel was obviously one of those. OMG I LOVE THE WAY THEY HAVE INCORPORATED THIS. I am TOTALLY A-SQUEE.
I know without reading a single episode reaction post that there will be a contingent of people unhappy about Sam not being in that last scene, but come on - it had to be Castiel. Dean is not going to admit to Sam that he is less than. He isn't going to say that he is not strong enough. Not to Sam. That has been established in canon several times over; Dean can only bare his soul to people who are NOT SAM. (Gordon, Anna, that other crusty old hunter, Bobby, etc.) Sam has an important part to play in things; I have faith that season five is going to be the SamnDean show again. We shall see. And the weight of what has been thrown on Dean is too much. He can't take it. Except for how he has to. And Castiel knows it. And Castiel is totally going to fall for Dean. MARK MY WORDS. Except, at least once before that happens? I would like to see him win a goddamned fight. JUST ONE OKAY.
On the weird side, tho - angels have garrisons? Okay. I guess. Also, please explain to me how drinking the blood of a human host is remotely equivalent to 'demon blood', because I don't get that, and haven't gotten it since the whole demon blood thing was revealed. *waits for explanation* And finally, obvs. the thing about only angels killing angels isn't true, because Castiel said to Dean previously that many of his brothers had died in the effort to stop Lilith from breaking the seals. Hm. But those things are not interfering with my love for the ep. Even tho they do actually bother me.
Um, sorry that this is disjointed. SORRY. I AM FULL OF HAPPY FLAIL. :D I reserve the right to edit this post for clarity. Heh. *g*