6.20 meta/review
It's been ages since I've posted any episode reviews/meta and since I happen to have the day off, and I happen to adore this episode, I had a go at it. Not sure there's a specific point, but I had some thinky thoughts about Dean and Castiel's ever evolving relationship that might inspire some other thinky thoughts!
SPN 6.20:
THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING
I thought Castiel's opening narration was beautifully written and the silent movie clips were a really awesome addition. Yes, it did come across as very similar to Swan Song, but I also loved that opening too. If every episode started like that, I think I would be totally cool with it. Though, the narration, in the end, is much more an echo back to that most heartbreaking scene way back in season 2, during What is and What Should Never Be. Dean is at his father's grave, faced with a dilemma, questioning his own motives and looking for answers, guidance. Both scenes are directed in a very similar style, with cutaway shots of the character's monolog and a couple of disjointed moments that give the scene a dream-like quality, which makes sense in both cases, since one is a dream, and the other is a fabricated "heaven" (it looks like the autistic man's heaven, but set in winter. Am I right?). I'm left wondering if it's a coincidence that Dean told Cas they were hunting a Djinn, or if that's Ben Edlund's nod to the writer of WIAWSNB. Hmmm.....
Cas really has fallen into the kind of position Dean used to be stuck in in seasons past, as a reluctant leader, trying the best he can to keep the shit from hitting the fan, wishing his Dad was around to help, and fucking up a whole bunch. He has freedom that he did not have before, and struggles to make choices he's never been faced with, that his father may have made for him in the past. And Dean? Dean's something more than that now, I think. Dean has figured a lot out and is firm in his beliefs. He's played the role of father now too, with Ben. Maybe he's finally moved beyond living up to Papa Winchester.
In their last scene together in Bobby's living room, Dean's words to Cas come across as almost fatherly, despite likening Castiel to a brother. When Cas uses the old "I'm only doing what you taught me" card--a real classic among mouthy rebelious kids--Dean is very much annoyed. He calls Cas a child and pretty much sounds like a dad pissed off at his teenaged son for dropping out of school to go on tour with his band. But Dean is by no means Castiel's father. And they both know it. Still, this scene really exemplifies how much Dean has matured as a person, and how much the dynamics of thier relationship have changed from that other time, long ago when Cas first visited Dean in the middle of the night at Bobby's place and basically scared the living crap out of him.
Cas has only just started flying solo, only started to understand what it's been like for Dean all these years since John died, trying to find his own way, his own sense of purpose. Cas was the one that was certain of his path, and Dean utterly lost. Cas invested a lot in helping Dean find his way, in creating a path for him. Now, perhaps it's time for Dean to return the favor.
I keep thinking about 5.18, Point of No Return, when Dean slips though Cas' fingers to turn himself in to Zachariah and say yes to becoming Micheal's vessel. He has so much on his shoulders and it gets to the point where he feels there's just zero options left, so he tries to go behind the backs of the people who care about him and throw himself to the lions. And there's that scene in the rainy alleyway where Castiel finds Dean and is so incredibly furious with him for what he was about to do. Cas says: "I rebelled for this? So you could surrender to them? I gave everything for you? And this is what you give to me?"
It's easy to understand why Cas was furious at that point. He put everything on the line. But Dean's desperation was so palpable as well, that desire to just do something, to take some kind of action, even if it goes against your deepest convictions, because it looks like the only chance you've got. The throttling isn't what brings Dean to his senses, but the point is made: Castiel has basically invested his entire being on Dean Winchester. And I think Dean gets that. It's why it's so hard for him to believe Cas would lie to them: "And the worst part was... Dean, trying so hard to be loyal. With every instinct telling him otherwise."
It's fucking heartbreaking, is what. Oh, Dean.
On the one hand, Castiel is compelled to ask more and more of Dean. On the other, he wants to protect Dean and his brother, lie to them even, to keep them safe. He nearly asked for Dean's help when pitted against Raphael, but hesitated.
"Everything he sacrificed, and I was about to ask him for more."
So we go from the scene in the alley, Castiel furious at Dean for not appreciating the sacrifices he's made for them, to this backyard in suburbia, Dean raking leaves, and Cas simply unable to bring himself to ask Dean for anything else. The way they perceive each other has evolved so much.
There's uncertainty as to Castiel's motives for working with Crowley, even Cas himself admits to not really being sure of them. Hubris? Practicality? Stupidity? Or a simple desire to preserve what Sam and Dean accomplished without them having to get hurt again? All of the above? This episode did a wonderful job of adding one more layer of existential angst to this whole season. Crowley may be a manipulative bastard, but he does have a point. What kind of angel works with a demon to harvest souls to wage war against another angel?
Maybe one that's becoming a little too human for his own good.