Season 6 Ending Reaction
I know from skimming various comms and journals that quite a few people disliked the two episodes that aired on Friday, but I have to say that I kinda liked them. Yes, I agree that things could have gone a lot better, but I, for one, am quite excited about where they're going with this story arc.
I think part of this may have to do with the fact that I knew this type of thing (i.e. the badguy!Cas) was a very distinct possibility even while remaining absolutely spoiler free. Why? Because you just can't have a character that's as powerful and badass as Castiel as one of the good guys. You simply can't as it would make things far too easy. Just imagine. The boys find a case in Ohio, they go, Cas finds what's going on and Cas eliminated the threat in less than a minute. That wouldn't make for a very exciting show now would it? Even if you've got a few harder episodes in there. That's the reason why Cas was with Heaven in season 4, started to fall in season 5 and why there was a civil war in Heaven this season: all so that he wasn't so powerful and with Dean and Sam at the same time. Therefore things could only have gone one of five different ways:
1) Cas died
2) Cas won the war and all of the angels retreated to Heaven permanently
3) Cas fell as a result of what he'd done
4) Cas chose to become human to remain with Dean and Sam
5) Cas became the bad guy
There just wasn't anything else and personally I really didn't want to see numbers 1 & 2 come to pass.
In addition to this, what the writers went with just really, really, really works. I mean think about it. By making Cas the bad guy for season 7 (or one of them, there may well be more) you get:
1) some really excellent tension as Cas knows the boys and Bobby really well and therefore knows what hurts them and makes Dean tick. Not to mention that there is already the whole betrayal angle (from both sides)
2) a continued role for Cas
3) a solution to Cas' power problem as mentioned above
4) a new bad guy for season 7 that doesn't seem like a post-Apocalypse slump (I mean how do you top the Apocalypse? A God-like bad guy definitely fits the bill)
5) an excellent new redemption story potential
As regards number 5 above, yes it is still possible. I've heard some people say that what happened in 6.21-22 marks the end of good!Cas and I say no, not at all. After all, just think of what we've had already so far. Though we didn't see it, we know that Dean tortured souls in Hell for 10 years and he got redeemed. Then, of course, we have the whole Sam, demon blood and Ruby fiasco of season 4 where he got a God-complex and did some really bad things. And then we have the soulless!Sam version from the beginning of this season where he did even more really bad things. Combine all of that and you can see how there is still a lot of room for the writers to have Cas come through this at the other end.
I mean, yes, he made some really stupid and misguided decisions, but how is that different from Sam deciding to start drinking demon blood? Both were warned that they were heading down a dangerous path and chose to ignore those warnings as both were so convinced that they were right and everyone else was wrong. Both did it and, as a result, both got addicted to the power they gained when they went through with it. Because that's what's happened to Cas now, he's addicted to the souls as surely as Sam was to the demon blood.
Does my outlook have to do with the fact that I'm an angst!addict myself? Hell yes. I mean just think about it. The potential for angst here is enormous, practically unlimited and I, for one, am really looking forward to how they will handle things in the fall. But I still plan to remain as spoiler free as possible until then.
But everyone sees things differently. I mean, while looking around, I came across a comment from someone to the effect of 'At least this should put a stop to all that Dean/Cas slash.' I'm sorry, but do you really think so? If anything, this will see an increase in Dean/Cas fics, first because of the sheer amount of fix-it fics that will undoubtedly appear and secondly because, if nothing else, these events give us an entirely new area of their relationship to explore. And, yes, admittedly it'll probably be an explosion of darker Dean/Cas fics, but still an explosion of them I'm sure. Their relationship was already so multifaceted and now it's just become even more so.
And on another note, surely I'm not the only one really happy to have Crowley live to regret his machinations. I'm trying to decide if he's now going to attempt to approach the boys in order to make a deal with them to bring Cas down. Not to mention that Cas seems to have plans for him...
Oh, the possibilities! Yes, I'm well pleased with the season ending and already have new fic ideas!
Edit: If you're going to comment, please remember that I don't want to know ANY spoilers for season 7. And I do mean ANYTHING. So don't mention anything about the season 7 synopsis, casting, episode details, RUMORS or anything else. Feel free to speculate but only with ideas generated by the season 6 ending or your imagination. If you're including any other information I don't want to know it. Thanks.
I think part of this may have to do with the fact that I knew this type of thing (i.e. the badguy!Cas) was a very distinct possibility even while remaining absolutely spoiler free. Why? Because you just can't have a character that's as powerful and badass as Castiel as one of the good guys. You simply can't as it would make things far too easy. Just imagine. The boys find a case in Ohio, they go, Cas finds what's going on and Cas eliminated the threat in less than a minute. That wouldn't make for a very exciting show now would it? Even if you've got a few harder episodes in there. That's the reason why Cas was with Heaven in season 4, started to fall in season 5 and why there was a civil war in Heaven this season: all so that he wasn't so powerful and with Dean and Sam at the same time. Therefore things could only have gone one of five different ways:
1) Cas died
2) Cas won the war and all of the angels retreated to Heaven permanently
3) Cas fell as a result of what he'd done
4) Cas chose to become human to remain with Dean and Sam
5) Cas became the bad guy
There just wasn't anything else and personally I really didn't want to see numbers 1 & 2 come to pass.
In addition to this, what the writers went with just really, really, really works. I mean think about it. By making Cas the bad guy for season 7 (or one of them, there may well be more) you get:
1) some really excellent tension as Cas knows the boys and Bobby really well and therefore knows what hurts them and makes Dean tick. Not to mention that there is already the whole betrayal angle (from both sides)
2) a continued role for Cas
3) a solution to Cas' power problem as mentioned above
4) a new bad guy for season 7 that doesn't seem like a post-Apocalypse slump (I mean how do you top the Apocalypse? A God-like bad guy definitely fits the bill)
5) an excellent new redemption story potential
As regards number 5 above, yes it is still possible. I've heard some people say that what happened in 6.21-22 marks the end of good!Cas and I say no, not at all. After all, just think of what we've had already so far. Though we didn't see it, we know that Dean tortured souls in Hell for 10 years and he got redeemed. Then, of course, we have the whole Sam, demon blood and Ruby fiasco of season 4 where he got a God-complex and did some really bad things. And then we have the soulless!Sam version from the beginning of this season where he did even more really bad things. Combine all of that and you can see how there is still a lot of room for the writers to have Cas come through this at the other end.
I mean, yes, he made some really stupid and misguided decisions, but how is that different from Sam deciding to start drinking demon blood? Both were warned that they were heading down a dangerous path and chose to ignore those warnings as both were so convinced that they were right and everyone else was wrong. Both did it and, as a result, both got addicted to the power they gained when they went through with it. Because that's what's happened to Cas now, he's addicted to the souls as surely as Sam was to the demon blood.
Does my outlook have to do with the fact that I'm an angst!addict myself? Hell yes. I mean just think about it. The potential for angst here is enormous, practically unlimited and I, for one, am really looking forward to how they will handle things in the fall. But I still plan to remain as spoiler free as possible until then.
But everyone sees things differently. I mean, while looking around, I came across a comment from someone to the effect of 'At least this should put a stop to all that Dean/Cas slash.' I'm sorry, but do you really think so? If anything, this will see an increase in Dean/Cas fics, first because of the sheer amount of fix-it fics that will undoubtedly appear and secondly because, if nothing else, these events give us an entirely new area of their relationship to explore. And, yes, admittedly it'll probably be an explosion of darker Dean/Cas fics, but still an explosion of them I'm sure. Their relationship was already so multifaceted and now it's just become even more so.
And on another note, surely I'm not the only one really happy to have Crowley live to regret his machinations. I'm trying to decide if he's now going to attempt to approach the boys in order to make a deal with them to bring Cas down. Not to mention that Cas seems to have plans for him...
Oh, the possibilities! Yes, I'm well pleased with the season ending and already have new fic ideas!
Edit: If you're going to comment, please remember that I don't want to know ANY spoilers for season 7. And I do mean ANYTHING. So don't mention anything about the season 7 synopsis, casting, episode details, RUMORS or anything else. Feel free to speculate but only with ideas generated by the season 6 ending or your imagination. If you're including any other information I don't want to know it. Thanks.