To Ship or not to Ship.....The Dean/Cas Question Part 2.
Part two of my musings on the Dean/Cas dynamic, this time covering Eps 4.07, 4.10 and 4.15.
part 1 here
A couple of Casless episodes here (Casless is now a term I find depressive...) but he is mentioned so....first Castiel gets his nickname, so sweet, cause well Deans too lazy to say Castiel, or perhaps its seems less fearsome, you know my bestest bud Cas rather then that fearsome bad ass mother fucker who likes getting in my face Castiel...as the issues with Sam become more apparent the relationship Dean is building with Cas takes on more importance.
Next while this probably isn’t a shout out to Cas I’m gonna mention it anyways. Dean clutches the bible in Yellow fever. The god doesn’t exist Dean holding onto a bible...I always wonder if Cas is the cause of his sudden desire to reach out here???
Ok next Cas episode, with a very big bonding moment but at the same time some so what if some ants (ahhh... humans) get trodden on moments as well.
Ok so Cas is waiting in their motel room for them, and gentlemanly Dean stops Sam from capping him cause you know angels don’t like being shot, its tickles. This is the first time Sam meets an angel and he’s all fanboyish, not that Cas falls for it and is his usual abrupt self. It’s also the first time we meet another angel and start to get an insight into how different Cas may be from them.
We learn that angels are the smite first and then ask... well no pretty much just smite your ass and that’s it. The reactions of Cas and Uriel to Dean and Sam’s objections provide an insight into Cas’s character. He has a conscience, he may be the good soldier who follows orders, but he stills feels. Uriel doesn’t think twice about smiting the town, he seems to be looking forward to it. But Cas regrets that it is necessary, that they have no choice. When Dean pushes him though he goes against Uriel’s objections he gives Dean a chance to save the town.
I love in this scene that while Sam is busy objecting to their plan Cas won’t take his eyes off Dean, yet again making Dean squirm under his scrutiny. When he says “if Lucifer rises Hell rises with him, is that something you’re willing to risk”. The way both Dean and Cas are looking at each other here, Cas knows that Dean is fully aware of the horrors of hell. The intense in your face, push me and I’ll push you back scenes always get me excited.
Cas says here “I’m sorry but we have our orders” but it is the first time we begin to see the doubt creep through. You can see in his expression and body language that he would prefer another way other then smiting the town. “The plan is just”, “Because it comes from heaven that makes it Just” at this stage Cas is still clinging to the infallibility of heaven, of his orders, but Dean calls him on it. Though Cas comes straight back with “Tell me Dean when your father gave you an order didn’t you obey?”. Though this argument is perhaps not the best one to give to Dean. Dean may have followed his father’s every order once, but he’s sees now that his father wasn’t always right, that there comes a time when you have to choose for yourself. Which is of course the same journey Cas is now on though he may not understand that just yet. The doubt is edging in as we see later on in the episode.
Dean’s cocky I’ll do it my way attitude, may be an annoyance, but it also is perhaps the first step that allows Cas to see there may be another way. Dean conviction to save everyone is a huge part of his personality and I think it is something that intrigues Cas, that he begins to admire, even though I’m sure it frustrates the fuck out of him at times. “There is a reason we were sent to save him he has potential” points to the fact that Cas sees something in Dean, that he was worthy of being saved even if Dean doesn’t see it.
Ok now the park bench scene, which is one of my favourite SPN scenes. Ok when I’m not being distracted by the fucking hot angel and his incredibly sexy messy angel hair there are some serious emotion and bonding in this scene.
We really get a full blown look at the more vulnerable side of Castiel. He actively expresses his doubts and confusion to Dean. He tells Dean he was praying for him to save the town because he admires humanity. He also empathizes with Dean about the weight that is being placed on his shoulders. Oh and he actually laughs , or rather smirks sexily, at a Deanism.....
There was no reason for Cas to come and talk to Dean here but he does anyway, to let Dean know he agreed with his decision despite the fact the seal was still broken and to confide something of himself to Dean. He has seen so much of what lies within Dean that perhaps in some way he felt it only fair to let Dean see something of his own inner turmoil. There is also no one else that Cas could talk to about his doubts, but Dean is someone that could understand. They both love their fathers and have followed their orders, but they both see now that perhaps they weren’t always right. (I say father here because at this stage Cas still sees his father and the word of heaven as the same thing, before that changes).
Dean is so sure of his desire to save people that to Cas it must seem refreshing given his own doubts about what is right and wrong. Cas says he doesn’t envy the weight on Deans shoulders the decisions he will have to make, in some ways this alludes to his own uneasiness with following the orders he is being given, of not knowing what is right and what is wrong anymore. He is unsure of himself, and he knows that Dean does not see himself as worthy, yet Dean makes choices and follows them. Something that Cas will have to do down the track whether he knows that yet or not.
For me the park bench scene is so very Dean and Cas. They find something in each other here, a comfort, someone to confide in and share doubts. It not something either of them really have with anyone else. It’s so nice to see Dean share something with someone else, the connection was unasked for and unforced. It was also in an unexpected place given Dean scepticism of God and the angels. There is a tragicness about both of these characters, the fact that they find some level of comfort in confiding in each other is very sweet. Even if it isn’t always very smooth sailing their bond is one of shared experience and unexpressed doubts, in both themselves and those around them.
After this scene their bond in some way takes a step back in the episode Heaven and Hell. Cas is still determinedly following his orders and again they are at odds with what Dean believes to be right. Though this time Cas doesn’t back down and continues to follow his orders.
Cas gets himself into some slight trouble with Alistair till Dean steps in with an iron bar to help out. Even if Cas may piss him off at times he still not willing to let a demon get his hands on him (insert subtext here....). Once the fights done and Uriel wants to stomp on the annoying mud monkey Cas stops him, cause well he’s more than a little fond of this particular mud money, he has that weakness for him after all.
On a side note I always find Anna a little annoying here, accusing Cas of not truly feeling anything. She fell in order to enjoy choccy cake and sex, and while these may both be worthwhile items she still ran away from facing the faults in heaven, while Cas eventual chooses to fight them, he chooses to go down swinging rather than run and hide.
The final scene of this ep where Dean finally opens up about what happened in Hell is one of the most heartbreaking scenes I think I have ever watched. Seeing his raw pain and torment here is an important factor in his reactions and headspace from pretty much this point on. He is struggling to live with what he did and his feelings of worthlessness.
In Death takes a holiday Cas shows his more sneaky side in getting Dean to help stop the seal from being broken. Perhaps Dean is rubbing off on him and he is thinking outside the box. “Whatever I ask you seem to do the exact opposite” sneaky Cas is so adorable. His tactics here are in stark contrast to the arrogant brute force applied by the other angels, who could perhaps learn something from their sneaky adaptable little brother. “What the Hell?” “Guess again” is that a hint of a sense of humour? And of course Cas made an exception for Dean cause he’s different (again insert subtext here....).
The fact that Cas struggles with orders he has throughout season 4 and sometimes falls back to towing the company line to me shows how big a deal it is when he finally goes against them later. He is starting to doubt everything he has believed in and struggles with those doubts, unsure about what to do. Dean keeps pushing his buttons and Cas doubts continue to deepen though he hasn’t reached a point where he is ready to act on them yet. Neither is quite sure how far they trust the other or how far they are willing to go for the other just yet but they are getting there.
As always I love comments...