7.17
For the most part, I really enjoyed this ep, but there was some logic!fail and major pacing issues. Also, I have a lot of ~feelings so I doubt this will be terribly coherent, but we persevere.
First off, it was wonderful to have Cas (and Misha) back on the show after so long. It was quite a surreal moment for me, because I have been watching and (largely) enjoying this season, though I haven't been all that invested in it, so it was like I'd almost forgotten how much I missed Cas and love him as a character until his face was back on my screen again.
As far as his actual reintroduction is concerned -- for the most part, I thought it was pretty well done. I normally loathe amnesia plots b/c I feel they strip a character of agency, so I'm incredibly relieved he got his memories back fairly quickly. That said, I enjoyed the Emmanuel persona well enough while it lasted; I liked that he retained some of Castiel's peronality traits while still being so vastly removed from Cas in possession of his memories that they were essentially different characters. The marriage was kind of random and arbitrary -- it wasn't as horribly offensive as I feared it would be (I had visions of some poor woman being butchered or turning out evil in order to fuel the ~angst) -- but, really, what was the point? There was no attempt whatsoever to give Daphne any depth or characterisation; I'm not even sure she can be called a character. It was a very predictable move by Show, though, because they do have this habit of equating happiness with domesticity, a marriage, two kids and a picket fence. We've seen it before with Sam/Jess and Dean/Lisa, only I don't really buy it when applied to Cas because I have issues with him being forced into these very human, heteronormative structures, memories or no.
On a more positive note, I do love the parallels this creates between Cas and Dean: that they both tried and failed to live 'normal' civilian lives, but were ultimately dragged back into the fight because they're soldiers and killers and that's all they're good for ("I'm not a hammer" / "daddy's blunt little instrument"). Of course Castiel's memories would come back as he was killing demons: he's not a healer; he's a warrior of god, he's a soldier, he's bloody and corrupt (and that whole scene was also beautifully shot so). Also his "I deserved to die" and "why did I even walk out of the river?" were quite eerily similar to things Dean has said about himself in the past.
Unsurprisingly, I do have a lot of Dean/Cas feels from this ep: I've seen several people proclaiming that the ship has been sunk and Dean is an uncaring ass who doesn't give a shit about Cas and I just... don't get it. I think a lot of the problem is that Dean is once again written into this very reactionary role: Things Happen to Sam and Cas, and Dean reacts to these Things Happening to Sam and Cas, so we don't get nearly enough exploration of Dean's POV; everything has to be extraploated from the subtext. Which is a problem because a lot of people in fandom don't bother to look beneath the surface.
For me personally, though, the ceremonial handing over of the trenchcoat demonstrated that the ship is very much alive and well. Dean could've put it in safe storage, but instead he's been carrying it around with him ever since 7.02, through multiple changes of car. I love how wordless the whole exchange is as well, and how Cas puts the coat back on straight away, even though it's battered and filthy and stained in the blood of people he killed. Even though it was Jimmy's originally, the coat is a huge part of Castiel's identity -- not just for us as an audience, but also, I think, for Castiel himself. It's his battle armour, and putting it back on felt symbolic of Cas shrugging off the remnants of Emmanuel and returning to his old life.
I had a hunch before the episode aired that Castiel might absorb Sam's hell trauma, so I wasn't particularly surprised when it happened, but that didn't stop it from being awful ;_; Having said that, it would have been to easy had Cas simply healed Sam, and it is kind of fitting as penance. Only Castiel won't die of insomnia, he won't die at all unless somebody shivs him with an angel sword, so he has literally condemned himself to an etenity in Hell. Tbh, I didn't totally understand why he seemed so terrified of Hallucifer -- given that he was never particularly scared of real Lucifer -- but I do hope we get to see how the hallucinations needle and wear him down because I am a sadist.
The ending with Sam and Dean leaving Cas behind at the psych hospital was... odd. I do get where they're coming from, because Cas is a mess, there's no way they could take him on the road with Leviathans and demons gunning for them, but it was written in a kind of rushed manner that made it seem really cold and uncaring. It would have been made infinitely better had they included a minute-long scene of the Ws reacting to the situation and discussing what to do. I also have to seriously question their logic if they think a psych ward is enough to contain Castiel: psychosis or no, he's still an angel, and there ain't a locked ward in the world that can hold him if he really wants to escape.
Other points:
- MEG <3333333333 Flawless and fierce and most importantly, still alive! I loved her snark in this episode -- every word out of her mouth was pure gold -- I loved her banter with Dean and those few moments of almost-maybe-genuine fondness for Cas ("that's my boy!"). And that ending: NURSE MASTERS omg what. I hope this means we're going to see more of her before the end of the season (question: was it implied she took up the position to keep an eye on Cas at Dean's request? That's what I got from it, but it was kind of unclear.)
- I do have issues with the way Show portrays mental health issues, but I thought Sam's meltdown was nicely angsty; I loved how resigned to it he was. Hallucifer was enterntaining comic relief, but I kind of wish he wasn't quite so cartoonish. Real!Lucifer was funny, yeah, but he didn't act like a bratty kid 24/7. Then again, his "hello, brother" when Cas took on the visions was pretty chilling.
- The B-plot with Sam and Marin was decent, but I felt like it maybe belonged in a different episode? It didn't have much bearing on the rest of the action here, so a lot of it felt kind of disjointed to me.
- As far as Sam and Dean are concerned, I continue to enjoy the way that their relationship is protrayed this season, and I loved the callbacks to Faith, which still remains one of my favourite episodes.
- The ghost!Bobby thing -- idk if this is supposed to be going anywhere, but tbh, it's something I could do without. I don't understand in what universe Bobby would decide to linger and become a ghost, and I feel like they're setting up for an angst overload with it.
- "You're not a machine, Dean" -- the best advice anybody has given Dean all season, imo. I love how Cas just gets Dean, how he instantly sees right through the bullshit, even when he has no idea who Dean is.
- Pissed that they cut the "Part of me always believed you'd come back" that was in the promo.
- Is anybody going to tell "Emmanuel"'s wife that he's now locked away in a mental institution with the devil in his head? I know their marriage was a sham, but as far as she's concerned her husband just drove away with some random dude and never came back.
- Was the psychiatrist the same one from 5.11? They looked very similar to me.
As I said at the beginning of this now far-too-long post, there were a lot pacing issues with this ep: I felt like they were trying to cram at least two episodes' worth of material in along with a shitload of random filler which meant that it felt very rushed and careless in places. I also think I probably need to rewatch in order to catch everything that went down, but for the most part? Yeah, I'm calling this one a win.
Now to reblog All The Things on Tumblr.