no one bound to be so holy, part 3
A character analysis of Anna, hooked into the visuals from her appearances over S4. This is the final part of three. In this section, Anna's one-angel campaign continues while Castiel broods noirishly under street lights.
Part 1 and Part 2 are already up.
The same thanks apply: hugs and cupcakes to my patient, excellent, and thoughtful initial readers; Screencaps are all thanks to the hard work of the kind people at Screencap Paradise.
Lyrics are from Richard Schindell's On a Sea of Fleur-de-Lis. Seriously, check out him performing this song. Beautiful.
For so long has this room been so hollow
We wait at the gate for an echo
In the flesh of your newly cleaned frescoes
Where Jesus holds John to his breast
The next time we see her after she has her grace back, she appears to try and convince Castiel that he's making a mistake in asking Dean to torture Alastair. She often appears over his shoulder, and they spend a lot of the scene not facing in the same direction, though not necessarily in opposition. Anna is acting as the voice of the doubts Castiel has already admitted to Dean, and acting as the voice of Castiel's conscience. He knows he's not doing the right thing, but he doesn't know what else to do. Anna, on the other hand, is resolute. As before, she knows what she wants.
When she reaches out to touch Castiel's hand, the time spent on it makes me recall the way the camera lingered on her placing her hand over the print on Dean’s shoulder. Again, I think she's trying to establish a connection in trying to encourage Castiel to think for himself. There's an irony in this, in that if she gets Cas to act of his own free will, she won't be alone anymore. . . . But she'll have done it by coercing him to follow her lead, potentially reestablishing a relationship that seems to be opposed to everything she aeems to want to accomplish with her one-angel revolution.
Castiel eventually recoils (in fear?) from the touch and the suggestion that he and Anna work together. The only angel who (as far as we know) won't drag her back to Heaven on sight, an angel who has some kind of (I assume close?) history with her, still can't quite bring himself to accept her.
Later, when he asks for her help, he at least doesn't recoil from her. But, he's missed his moment. Anna, who now knows better than to try and drag him down her path, withdraws, leaving him to find his own way.
Fortunately for Castiel, she hasn't abandoned him and is in fact watching out for him. An angel has . . . an angel? The way she shows up at the end of On the Head of a Pin reveals at least that she doesn't trust Uriel, but I think it also shows that she's looking out for the people she cares about. for example, back in Heaven and Hell, while she is being consumed as she re-gains her grace, she repeatedly calls for everyone to close their eyes (consider what happened to Pamela). And, though she doesn't directly intervene in The Rapture, she does appear to make sure Sam and Dean understand just how much danger the Novack family is in. Unfortunately, she's caring and trusting to a fault. Castiel certainly proves this in When the Levee Breaks.
I love how understated but effective this scene is. The fact that Castiel often appears under artificial light from overhead is interesting, too-the false light emblematic, perhaps, of the fact that his orders might not be coming from God. That his faith might be misplaced, and certainly that any fidelity she thought they had established isn't (yet?) true.
She appears, thinking he wants her help, and instead he rejects and betrays her. Joan of Arc was shut outside the gates of Compiegne during a skirmish, which led directly to her capture and trial. Though Anna never takes her eyes off Castiel (and unlike with Dean, there’s no forgiveness, here). . .
. . . he's not able to look at her until the very end, when she and her captors are just about gone from view.
Consider that Anna, one of God's warriors, ends up being betrayed by someone she trusts and taken away to be punished as a heretic even though I suspect we'll find out that, ironically, she's the most faithful of the angels. St. Joan was betrayed, captured and burned, then pardoned and canonized decades later when the French king (who essentially owed his throne to her) realized that he could not be seen to have been put into his position by a heretic.
All of which leads me, again, to believe that Anna's fate won't be a happy one. . . . Oh, Cas. What did you do?
Wrapped around
And rocking slowly
No one bound
To be so holy
In your gown of fleur-de-lis
Thoughts, comments? Please, jump in!
Part 1 and Part 2 are already up.
The same thanks apply: hugs and cupcakes to my patient, excellent, and thoughtful initial readers; Screencaps are all thanks to the hard work of the kind people at Screencap Paradise.
Lyrics are from Richard Schindell's On a Sea of Fleur-de-Lis. Seriously, check out him performing this song. Beautiful.
For so long has this room been so hollow
We wait at the gate for an echo
In the flesh of your newly cleaned frescoes
Where Jesus holds John to his breast
The next time we see her after she has her grace back, she appears to try and convince Castiel that he's making a mistake in asking Dean to torture Alastair. She often appears over his shoulder, and they spend a lot of the scene not facing in the same direction, though not necessarily in opposition. Anna is acting as the voice of the doubts Castiel has already admitted to Dean, and acting as the voice of Castiel's conscience. He knows he's not doing the right thing, but he doesn't know what else to do. Anna, on the other hand, is resolute. As before, she knows what she wants.
When she reaches out to touch Castiel's hand, the time spent on it makes me recall the way the camera lingered on her placing her hand over the print on Dean’s shoulder. Again, I think she's trying to establish a connection in trying to encourage Castiel to think for himself. There's an irony in this, in that if she gets Cas to act of his own free will, she won't be alone anymore. . . . But she'll have done it by coercing him to follow her lead, potentially reestablishing a relationship that seems to be opposed to everything she aeems to want to accomplish with her one-angel revolution.
Castiel eventually recoils (in fear?) from the touch and the suggestion that he and Anna work together. The only angel who (as far as we know) won't drag her back to Heaven on sight, an angel who has some kind of (I assume close?) history with her, still can't quite bring himself to accept her.
Later, when he asks for her help, he at least doesn't recoil from her. But, he's missed his moment. Anna, who now knows better than to try and drag him down her path, withdraws, leaving him to find his own way.
Fortunately for Castiel, she hasn't abandoned him and is in fact watching out for him. An angel has . . . an angel? The way she shows up at the end of On the Head of a Pin reveals at least that she doesn't trust Uriel, but I think it also shows that she's looking out for the people she cares about. for example, back in Heaven and Hell, while she is being consumed as she re-gains her grace, she repeatedly calls for everyone to close their eyes (consider what happened to Pamela). And, though she doesn't directly intervene in The Rapture, she does appear to make sure Sam and Dean understand just how much danger the Novack family is in. Unfortunately, she's caring and trusting to a fault. Castiel certainly proves this in When the Levee Breaks.
I love how understated but effective this scene is. The fact that Castiel often appears under artificial light from overhead is interesting, too-the false light emblematic, perhaps, of the fact that his orders might not be coming from God. That his faith might be misplaced, and certainly that any fidelity she thought they had established isn't (yet?) true.
She appears, thinking he wants her help, and instead he rejects and betrays her. Joan of Arc was shut outside the gates of Compiegne during a skirmish, which led directly to her capture and trial. Though Anna never takes her eyes off Castiel (and unlike with Dean, there’s no forgiveness, here). . .
. . . he's not able to look at her until the very end, when she and her captors are just about gone from view.
Consider that Anna, one of God's warriors, ends up being betrayed by someone she trusts and taken away to be punished as a heretic even though I suspect we'll find out that, ironically, she's the most faithful of the angels. St. Joan was betrayed, captured and burned, then pardoned and canonized decades later when the French king (who essentially owed his throne to her) realized that he could not be seen to have been put into his position by a heretic.
All of which leads me, again, to believe that Anna's fate won't be a happy one. . . . Oh, Cas. What did you do?
Wrapped around
And rocking slowly
No one bound
To be so holy
In your gown of fleur-de-lis
Thoughts, comments? Please, jump in!