SPN month, angel week day (7)
Wrapping up angel week with the requisite: favorite angel.
I mean, obviously.
Anna had me from hello, with that first shot in the psych ward, so reminiscent of the institutionalized woman way back in Houses of the Holy (ICU, show), where she's calmly, thoughtfully, and correctly explaining a reality that she has no conscious reason to believe. She takes a world-shaking identity crisis in stride; she has the calm, self-assured presence of someone accustomed to command; she plays well with others while never losing her own priorities or beliefs.
Dean/Anna, as with all Dean/Generic Nielsen-Friendly Love Interest pairings, has less in the way of chemistry than the Sarah Lawrence English department building. But from an Anna-characterization perspective, I totally love how he was going on and on about his ~endless pain and ~need for healing and ~hunger for connection, and she was like,"...that's sweet. I'm bored, let's lose some pants already." A lady after my own heart.
In Head of a Pin, Anna makes what is almost certainly my favorite philosophical statement in the series thus far:
URIAH: There is no God!
ANNA: *stabs* Maybe, maybe not. But there's still me.
Because, stabbing. But it also gives us a perspective on morality which is completely unconcerned with the existence of a higher power or external code. Her moral code is certainly influenced by her centuries of angel-thinking, but she makes it and owns it herself, dammit. She's not above playing the God card when she thinks it'll win her an ally in Cas, but it's never her reason for acting.
She's a short, well-drawn picture of someone so full of certainty and agency and curiosity and not a little bit of arrogance. Not unlike big bro Lucifer, really, but where his drive is for external validation, Anna's motivation comes entirely from within.
The Song Remains the Same is one of those fabulously excruciating episodes where there's all kinds of chaos and conflict and moral quandaries, and I agree with everyone. (Also ladies kicking ass, which I usually get to take for granted.* WHAT IS WITH THIS SHOW WHY DO I EVEN CARE.)
Pictured: everything awesome.
I'm still not clear on what we're supposed to make of her exit from Heaven. I find Castiel's statement that "nobody escapes from Heaven" to be pretty persuasive, particularly because you know he tried. And she focuses on Sam, Lucifer's vessel, which suggests alliance with Heaven. Which wouldn't be inconsistent, because I do think she's still doing what she believes is right, regardless of orders. But then Fearless Leader himself came down to kill her ( what is with that guy??) and hit the reset button, which suggests he didn't want Anna's excursion to succeed or even to happen. I can't even think of a tactical reason to be causing a diversion for our kids, because, time travel.
The simplest explanation usually being the right one, I think she really did get out, probably with the help of a few other renegades (which makes her even more of a badass if she's fighting with the resistance) and went out doing her own thing. I can't imagine she'd have had it any other way.
*Probably I'm disposed to like her even better because she usually gets to resist Smurfette Syndrome. The majority of her big episodes are the two-parter in S4, where she and Ruby get to bond, and here, where she and Mary have legitimate and non-man-based conflict. SEE, WE CAN HAVE NICE THINGS SO WHY DON'T WE ALREADY.
I mean, obviously.
Anna had me from hello, with that first shot in the psych ward, so reminiscent of the institutionalized woman way back in Houses of the Holy (ICU, show), where she's calmly, thoughtfully, and correctly explaining a reality that she has no conscious reason to believe. She takes a world-shaking identity crisis in stride; she has the calm, self-assured presence of someone accustomed to command; she plays well with others while never losing her own priorities or beliefs.
Dean/Anna, as with all Dean/Generic Nielsen-Friendly Love Interest pairings, has less in the way of chemistry than the Sarah Lawrence English department building. But from an Anna-characterization perspective, I totally love how he was going on and on about his ~endless pain and ~need for healing and ~hunger for connection, and she was like,"...that's sweet. I'm bored, let's lose some pants already." A lady after my own heart.
In Head of a Pin, Anna makes what is almost certainly my favorite philosophical statement in the series thus far:
URIAH: There is no God!
ANNA: *stabs* Maybe, maybe not. But there's still me.
Because, stabbing. But it also gives us a perspective on morality which is completely unconcerned with the existence of a higher power or external code. Her moral code is certainly influenced by her centuries of angel-thinking, but she makes it and owns it herself, dammit. She's not above playing the God card when she thinks it'll win her an ally in Cas, but it's never her reason for acting.
She's a short, well-drawn picture of someone so full of certainty and agency and curiosity and not a little bit of arrogance. Not unlike big bro Lucifer, really, but where his drive is for external validation, Anna's motivation comes entirely from within.
The Song Remains the Same is one of those fabulously excruciating episodes where there's all kinds of chaos and conflict and moral quandaries, and I agree with everyone. (Also ladies kicking ass, which I usually get to take for granted.* WHAT IS WITH THIS SHOW WHY DO I EVEN CARE.)
Pictured: everything awesome.
I'm still not clear on what we're supposed to make of her exit from Heaven. I find Castiel's statement that "nobody escapes from Heaven" to be pretty persuasive, particularly because you know he tried. And she focuses on Sam, Lucifer's vessel, which suggests alliance with Heaven. Which wouldn't be inconsistent, because I do think she's still doing what she believes is right, regardless of orders. But then Fearless Leader himself came down to kill her ( what is with that guy??) and hit the reset button, which suggests he didn't want Anna's excursion to succeed or even to happen. I can't even think of a tactical reason to be causing a diversion for our kids, because, time travel.
The simplest explanation usually being the right one, I think she really did get out, probably with the help of a few other renegades (which makes her even more of a badass if she's fighting with the resistance) and went out doing her own thing. I can't imagine she'd have had it any other way.
*Probably I'm disposed to like her even better because she usually gets to resist Smurfette Syndrome. The majority of her big episodes are the two-parter in S4, where she and Ruby get to bond, and here, where she and Mary have legitimate and non-man-based conflict. SEE, WE CAN HAVE NICE THINGS SO WHY DON'T WE ALREADY.