I have been amused that several people have mentioned that they think Dean was manipulating Kevin in that scene. They then go on to say he probably is sincere. Since I see Dean as manipulative and I know that being sincere does not mean someone isn't using that sincerity to manipulate I have no problem saying that Dean is actively manipulating Kevin. He does care about Kevin and he needs Kevin as an extra pair of hands and as a prophet. The best manipulation is grounded in true feelings, IMHO. I wonder if the stress about Sam (and let's face it giving control of Sam over to someone else) is making Dean less able to mask his manipulation. He usually is smooth, but this time it seemed less real, more forced and was fairly obviously in response to Kevin wanting to leave. Just like last season when he told Cas that Cas was family when Cas was trying to beat him to death and then as soon as Cas was gone, Dean showed little interest in his well being. Now that Cas is less useful, Dean will invite him into the bunker, but he will also
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I see Dean as manipulative and I know that being sincere does not mean someone isn't using that sincerity to manipulate I have no problem saying that Dean is actively manipulating Kevin. He does care about Kevin and he needs Kevin as an extra pair of hands and as a prophet. The best manipulation is grounded in true feelings, IMHO.
YES. It's true, Dean will put Kevin over anyone but Sam or maybe Cas, depending on how useful Cas is. But it's in part because Kevin has major leverage, and that's a double-edged sword.
Just like last season when he told Cas that Cas was family when Cas was trying to beat him to death and then as soon as Cas was gone, Dean showed little interest in his well being. Now that Cas is less useful, Dean will invite him into the bunker, but he will also describe Cas as humanish, not human and not even think of finding out if Cas needs help, even when Sam specifically asks is Cas is okay.
I am so, so worried about Cas this season. Not because of the other angels. Because of Dean.
It's only been two episodes, and really only one and what, one eighth of this Sam-and-Ezekiel business, but I ADORE WHERE SAID BUSINESS IS GOING SO MUCH. For all the reasons you've cited above. Like, I don't think Ezekiel is going to pull a Ruby on them (though I'll add that I think my reading of Ruby's deceit is much more charitable towards her than fandom's or, say, uh, Dean's), and actually have nefarious imma-play-the-long-game plans, but I think already it's obvious that even his most well-meaning and ~innocent intrusions, Dean's not really feeling the benevolence. And I'm pretty sure that even if you have three people who theoretically, nominally, all want the same thing (healing and safety for everyone!), you also have three people who gradually discover that their wants aren't actually as aligned with one another as they may have originally thought or hoped
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To add, I thought it was interesting that an angel's unexpected arrival would cause Abaddon to pack up shop so quickly. Not that it wasn't the best, most intelligent course of action--if you confront an angel, of course you want advance warning, and you want it on your own terms, Knight of Hell of no. But what exactly is her plan, with regard to making... "all of the angels, with their clipped wings" bow to me? Because her clever co-optation of all of the violence and convenience of modern warfare (Kevlar, assault rifles, and sort of really, really obliquely, chemical warfare?) against hunters is ace, but then angels.
Yeah, I am really interested to see how she gets into it with angels. I think her claim there was more about swag than anything, and also about seizing the moment, since if Hell is ever going to get its hands on angelic power, it needs to move now before they have a chance to get home or regroup on Earth. But she can't do that on the defensive.
The season is interesting in that it has a pattern of people co-opting the power from someone "above" them on the kind of cosmic scale - Hell seizes the power of human weapons; Dean uses angel power for human ends - when we've almost always seen power-seekers look downward on the cosmic chain. ie, I don't know if it was a conscious choice to have Dean reference angels as being "nukes" toward the beginning and then make the reference to Silkwood a half an hour later - ie, both Dean and Abaddon have gone nuclear.
I agree; I'm trying to think about how previous, similar references might speak to that. (The fact that they are literally shacking up in a Cold War-era bunker aside.) The Meg/Dean partnership wrt finding Emmanuel/Castiel was, in Dean's words, mutually assured destruction. Which I GUESS you could map onto Abaddon and the Winchesters probably having a mutual enemy in Heaven/Metatron, as well as mutual desire to kill each other. Idk, that map isn't particularly interesting to me as it stands, though. Naomi referred to SOMETHING as a hydrogen bomb, though I can't actually remember whether she was talking about the angel tablet or Castiel-without-her. It was an interesting phrasing, though, considering either of those things is arguably much more catastrophic than the average H-bomb. But I guess if she were talking to the Winchesters it would've been an analogy for their benefit. XP
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YES. It's true, Dean will put Kevin over anyone but Sam or maybe Cas, depending on how useful Cas is. But it's in part because Kevin has major leverage, and that's a double-edged sword.
Just like last season when he told Cas that Cas was family when Cas was trying to beat him to death and then as soon as Cas was gone, Dean showed little interest in his well being. Now that Cas is less useful, Dean will invite him into the bunker, but he will also describe Cas as humanish, not human and not even think of finding out if Cas needs help, even when Sam specifically asks is Cas is okay.
I am so, so worried about Cas this season. Not because of the other angels. Because of Dean.
I wonder if the stress about Sam ( ... )
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The season is interesting in that it has a pattern of people co-opting the power from someone "above" them on the kind of cosmic scale - Hell seizes the power of human weapons; Dean uses angel power for human ends - when we've almost always seen power-seekers look downward on the cosmic chain. ie, I don't know if it was a conscious choice to have Dean reference angels as being "nukes" toward the beginning and then make the reference to Silkwood a half an hour later - ie, both Dean and Abaddon have gone nuclear.
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