SPN meta: The Lack of Unconditional Love
OK, I'm posting this here because a few days ago I got tired of writing again and again my thoughts about Cas, and Dean-and-Cas, and even Dean/Cas, on various people's LJs. So, now, if the need arises, I can just link back here and be done with it. Thanks to my beta-reader for polishing my English, too - you know who you are!
The Lack of Unconditional Love, or Trying to Fill in the Blanks for Castiel’s change between the end of 6x20 and the beginning of 6x22.
The most tragic scene of 6x21 for Castiel, the one that affected directly his chosen path in 6x22 (and, accidentally, the one that sunk the Dean/Cas ship for me, for I didn’t find Dean’s words at the very end of 6x22 sincere) was the scene in the warehouse that showed Dean’s inability to love Castiel unconditionally.
Let’s take it from the beginning:
In 6x20, I think Castiel’s “It’s not broken!” to Dean’s “We can fix this!” indicated Castiel’s intention to break his deal and not let the King of Hell access the immense power of the Purgatory souls. His intent is confirmed in 6x22, when he tells Crowley: “You think I’m handling all that power to the King of Hell? I’m neither stupid, nor wiched.” Yet, his self-confidence that he could become their vessel without negative repercussions was synonymous to hubris.
In his last scene with Dean, it was Castiel who first distanced himself. Dean behaved like a loving yet authoritarian parent ("Don't do this!"), so the natural reaction by Castiel, being in many ways a child learning how to handle free will, was to retort: "Or what?" Typical adult/teenager confrontation. When I want my kid to obey me, and he wants to do the exact opposite, I don't tell him "Don't do this!", because I KNOW he'll just dig his heels in the ground, even though he loves me immensely and it hurts him to displease me. What I do is “logic him”, because this is the only thing that works. I explain my POV and offer alternatives to what he wants (and *I* don't want him) to do, until I either convince him or we reach a compromise. (a few times he convinces me! *g*)
How sad it was in that scene to witness on Castiel’s face first hope, when Dean said “I get it” (but of course he didn’t), and then surprise, that reflected the viewers’ surprise, when Dean told him he was like a “brother” to him. Cas didn’t know that, same as we didn’t! Castiel didn’t think of himself as a family member, but as the Winchesters’ “guardian” and “friend”. Dean told him he and Sam were his friends for the first time in 6x10, but in 6x17 Rachel thought they weren’t because they only called him when they needed something from him.
So, after his encounters with Dean, Castiel sat in the snowy garden having second thoughts, doubts, asking for a sign from an absent Father who unfortunately remained absent. The last scene where he said that otherwise he’s going to do “what I must” gave me chills - and the feeling that he knew his plan was far from soundproof, that he might have to sacrifice himself. (And he did.) The episode ended with Castiel bowing his head in resignation to his doomed future. However, AFTER the episode ended, the fact he might have to fight Dean, whom he had outgrown of as a substitute of his serving his Father, but whom he still loved as the closest kin, couldn’t stop gnawing at Castiel. He didn’t want to be parted from Dean, so he decided to appeal to him again. It’s tragic that in all their scenes in both 6x20 and 6x21, it’s Cas who keeps trying to make Dean understand, but Dean doesn’t “get it” and doesn’t even try to make Cas understand.
The miscommunication gap between Dean and Castiel was already huge in 6x20 (- Where were you? - Where were YOU? - We can fix this! - It’s not broken! - I ask you to stop! - Trust ME!), but unfortunately in 6x21 it reached new heights. In the warehouse, Cas told Dean he’d look for Lisa and Ben, and then asked Dean to stand behind him, meaning to trust him, to keep treating him as a family member, but Dean misunderstood that Cas was telling him he’d look for Lisa and Ben if Dean stood down. Cas’ hurt, when Dean said as much, reminded me of his hurt when Sam asked him if he had brought him back soulless on purpose: “How could you think that?!” And then Dean turned his back on Cas! Rejecting his brother was the exact same thing Dean did with Sam at the end of 4x21, and we all know what Sam went ahead to do in 4x22. (While in S5, when Dean stood behind Sam because he had learned to love him unconditionally by then, Dean’s presence in the chosen field was critical in changing the outcome.) Dean could oppose Cas’ plan, without cutting him off the family - and perhaps, if he had realized at that moment how similar Castiel's plea was to Sam's, he wouldn’t have done it, perhaps he’d have tried a different method than rejection. “Perhaps” being the key-word. Because, although I exclaimed about the inane script watching that scene, if we accept that Dean is written as he is, and not OOC, then there’s only one answer: Dean can’t love Cas unconditionally like he does Sam.
Of course, this isn’t Dean’s fault, and no blame falls on him. It isn’t hypocrisy, it isn’t double standards, it’s just the way he is: he has tunnel vision when it comes to Sam, he loves Sam unconditionally because he forgives him EVERYTHING (and that’s what unconditional love is: keep loving the other person despite all the things you can’t accept and don’t agree with; it doesn’t make you pathetic, or a “doormat”, it’s just a different POV in love, and if it didn’t exist, no prison inmates would ever get visits from family), but he can love ONLY Sam this way. To me, the fact he could only love Sam this way was very sad - it broke my heart to see it, as well as seeing the devastation written plainly on Castiel’s face, which Dean didn’t witness because he had literally turned his back on him.
Now, if one believes Dean’s final talk in 6x22 was sincere and heartfelt, then we can accept that Dean was simply too angry and hurt in 6x21, that the miscommunication during that scene made him lash out, but when he actually saw Cas “full of nuke”, i.e. in danger of dying, he realized that he DOES love Cas - loves Cas DESPITE the fact he broke Sam’s wall as a last desperate means to keep them away. Whoever believes this, then for them the Dean/Cas ship hasn’t sunk - quite the contrary, it’s become epic from Dean’s side too (it was already epic from Castiel’s side). But to me, Dean’s final talk didn’t ring sincere - to me, it sounded as a terrified Dean was just trying to convince Cas to defuse in order that he didn’t kill them all accidentally.
Back to that scene in 6x21. When Dean cut Cas out of the family, the outcome of Cas’ deal was sealed, because the show has made clear in S4-5 that when family is together, they can overcome all odds, but cutting themselves off from each other is what destroys them. This was the message of 5x04 ("We keep each other human"), which is why the finale echoes "The End" so much, even down to Castiel's repeating the "I'm not an angel anymore" line. Dean was Castiel’s last anchor to humanity, the kite-line connecting him, so Castiel’s actions in 6x22 were a direct result of his kite-line being cut, and him drifting alone on the wind.
Take notice here: people who don’t “get” unconditional love may say that it was Castiel who cut himself out of the family, so in 6x21 he was facing the consequences of his actions. But of course this isn’t what happened in canon: what happened was that Castiel lied to them for the whole season precisely because he knew he’d lose them when they found out, and indeed when they learned about it in 6x20, and he refused to give up on his plan because he had no alternatives, they (Dean) cut him out of the family in 6x21.
(Also, in a role reversal after 6x20, it was Sam giving Castiel the benefit of the doubt in 6x21, apparently because after he was convinced around the ring of holy fire that Castiel didn’t bring him back soulless on purpose, he was grateful he managed to bring him back, period.)
This is the difference between a family who turn their back on their drug-dependent family member, after he informs them his criminal friend will help him break into White House to take the weapons that can kill Hitler, and a family who don’t turn their back, but say instead: “I feel I have to stop you both from carrying out this plan, because although your intentions are good for wanting to get rid of Hitler, it’s wrong to give your criminal friend access to those weapons, and it’s wrong to break into White House. But I still love you, and if you manage to succeed with your plan, despite my trying to stop you, I'll still be there to save your hide if something goes wrong. Come, now, sit down with me to think if there’s ANOTHER way to stop Hitler - because you know I want you to kill the motherfucker as much as you do!”
That's what family does, when they love unconditionally: they support the family member EVEN when they disagree, EVEN when they actively try to oppose their plan. But Dean didn't, because according to the script, he couldn't: "Cas, I can't..." Dean may be able to love different people/beings in different ways, but all those kinds of love come second to the unconditional love he has for Sam.
But if the warehouse scene in 6x21 is the pivotal point for Castiel and Dean being separated with tragic consequences, then the hospital scene feels out of place. Because Castiel is still himself at the hospital, still trying to fix things (while a few hours later he un-fixes Sam’s wall!), still granting Dean’s wish to have Lisa’s and Ben’s memories erased (while a few hours later hurts Dean by hurting Sam!). This can be explained easily as bad writing (or, to be magnanimous, as bad editing between the scripts of the two final episodes to keep the continuity), or a lot harder this way:
when Castiel went to the hospital, he may have hoped deep down that after saving Lisa’s life, Dean would see his honesty, and there was a chance he’d change his mind and take him back. But Dean didn’t, and as they parted ways in a sad but civilized manner, Castiel was already leaving when Dean called him back to ask for a favor. The missing scene on our screens was Castiel’s reaction when Dean asked him to do a complete mind-wipe, instead of only the day’s events. That action put the lives of Lisa and Ben in a new kind of danger, and may have made Cas realize that if Dean could so completely and irrevocably cut them off his life, and not care about any supernatural danger they might encounter in the future - those two innocent people he loved, who kept him going after Sam jumped in the Cage, and who indirectly caused Cas to make the wrong choice because he was unwilling to ask Dean to sacrifice his new life with them; if Dean could do that, without their consent, then of course his cutting not-innocent Cas out of the family was also irreversible for Dean, and he wouldn’t care about Castiel in the future either. So, Castiel’s last sliver of hope that Dean might reverse his rejection of him, died after he performed the mind-wipe on Lisa and Ben.
Therefore, Castiel walks out of the hospital and into Crowley’s den totally isolated and fully intending to implement his plan, without any reason to remain himself and come back alive. Keep living for whom? He was an angel of the Lord for billions of years, then he transferred his faith to Dean in 2009, and now he has nobody anymore. The void inside him is so great that when he devours the souls, they fill it perfectly, and he finds peace in his godhood. Aristotle said “To live alone one must be a beast or a god”, and Castiel in his bereft world went on to become a god. A better god, not absent like his Father. A god who’ll give clear orders to his worshippers and won’t let them hang themselves with the rope of Free Will. Castiel KNEW he wouldn’t be an angel anymore when he became a vessel for the souls, he knew he’d be transformed into something different, and the viewer was supposed to know because Raphael said so: “if anyone is going to be the new god, it’s me”. That’s why Crowley had said back in 6x20 “we want to improve ourselves”: they planned to be transformed into something bigger and stronger, and that’s why Castiel had told him earlier “I’m still an angel”: he said “still” because he knew soon he might not be an angel anymore.
Take another notice here: although Dean cutting out of his life Castiel, Lisa and Ben in 6x21 directly contributed to Castiel’s choice in 6x22, the blame for Castiel's choice doesn’t fall on Dean - it falls on Castiel. The blame that falls on Dean is his changing the odds for Castiel’s final choice, but then again Dean couldn’t help it, if he couldn’t love Castiel unconditionally like he does Sam. Still, no matter how hurt Castiel was, no matter how bitter, no matter how isolated, and even mentally unstable (Crowley in 6x20: “you’re losing it!”, “yeah, you’re the very picture of mental health…”, Dean in 6x22: “you can’t even see how totally off the rails you are!”), there always existed a tiny possibility he could rise above the circumstances and make a NEW choice. In fact, I fully expected him to beat the insurmountable odds in the finale, because he's proven time and again that that's who he is, that he's made of the stuff of a hero. It was with great disappointment that I watched the writers CHOOSING (seeing as how popular that word has become in the fandom for the characters, as if the characters’ actions aren’t the result of the writers’ whims) to prove me wrong. And having Castiel’s personality be so much affected by Dean’s limitations in his love for him was OOC for Castiel anyway, because he always gave up everything for Dean, knowing the degree in which Dean loved him, and without needing his love to be returned. Castiel always loved Dean selflessly, and Dean’s happiness was enough for Castiel’s containment, as proven by the car scenes in 5x03 and 5x22, when he left Dean, as soon as Dean assured him he was happy or was going to be OK. The writers TOLD us Castiel’s fall was all about power and hubris, but they SHOWED us it was all about miscommunication and the lack of unconditional love.
Another baffling moment in 6x22 was when Castiel killed Balthazar, but considering how the Winchesters got rid of traitor Grandpa Samuel, it’s easy to see that Castiel once again copied them. Balthazar's betrayal was inexcusable to his leader: Castiel had just gone and broken Sam's wall to prevent Dean from finding him to stop the ceremony, yet Balthazar had just told Dean where to find him to stop the ceremony! Everything Castiel had worked towards for two years was about to come undone because of the traitor. Balthazar acted out of self-preservation, but Castiel didn’t understand self-preservation because he’s the exact opposite: self-sacrificing - standing against an Archangel in 4x22 to give Dean time to stop Sam, molotoving another Archangel in 5x22 to give Dean time to talk to Samifer, and even in the aborted timeline of 5x04, when future!Dean asked Cas if he would participate in a suicide mission, Cas didn’t think for a moment to refuse, even at the cost of his own life. Which is why, for so many viewers, Castiel’s change of personality in the 5 last minutes of the finale didn’t work: it goes against the very fabric of Castiel’s being. They tried to fit a square peg into a round hole. Castiel has proven time and again that he’s made of the stuff of a hero, but in those last 5 minutes was turned into a monster. What was missing from the episode to keep true to Castiel’s personality was a scene just before Castiel became a vessel for the souls, showing clearly he knew he had to sacrifice himself and his grace to beat Raphael, but also involving hubris in his certainty the new him would still be the one ruling the souls and not be ruled by them.
- So, what’s for S7?
I don’t believe for a moment that Castiel will die in the premier, because after the ratings declined in the first half of S6, the show runners surely wouldn’t want to lose the viewers Misha brings to the show. (although if they think all Minions watch for Misha, let them take notice: some of us watch for Castiel, and if Misha doesn’t play Castiel but a twisted version of his, we won’t be able to watch it because it’ll be too painful, just like some fans couldn’t watch soulless Sam despite being Jared’s fans)
- What about the profound bond between Dean and Cas? (Which we didn’t even see on screen, till the end of S6?)
I don’t think we’ll see this in S7. I do believe, though, that the show writers will throw the occasional bone to Dean/Cas fans, because they’ll want to have their pie and eat it, too, as usual. So, they’ll string the fans along, just like they did in S6, when they hired Misha as a regular but without the INTENTION to use him as a regular!
- What about Team Free Will?
Goodbye, TFW. And since that was the only reason I was looking forward to another SPN season (watching Sam and Dean hunting all alone was fun in S1-3, but when they were doing it in S6 I found it pretty boring), goodbye S7 for me. There are so many other great shows I could invest my time and money in.
If WB uses CW to earn money from international sales rather than domestic sales (compare the 2.4 million viewers in the US to the 1.4 million in Brazil, let alone the millions in the rest of the world), they should have considered the fact Castiel has a large following abroad before they allowed this kind of abomination to take place in the finale. But of course they didn’t know what the show runners intended to do, and the show runners shot their own foot there.
The Lack of Unconditional Love, or Trying to Fill in the Blanks for Castiel’s change between the end of 6x20 and the beginning of 6x22.
The most tragic scene of 6x21 for Castiel, the one that affected directly his chosen path in 6x22 (and, accidentally, the one that sunk the Dean/Cas ship for me, for I didn’t find Dean’s words at the very end of 6x22 sincere) was the scene in the warehouse that showed Dean’s inability to love Castiel unconditionally.
Let’s take it from the beginning:
In 6x20, I think Castiel’s “It’s not broken!” to Dean’s “We can fix this!” indicated Castiel’s intention to break his deal and not let the King of Hell access the immense power of the Purgatory souls. His intent is confirmed in 6x22, when he tells Crowley: “You think I’m handling all that power to the King of Hell? I’m neither stupid, nor wiched.” Yet, his self-confidence that he could become their vessel without negative repercussions was synonymous to hubris.
In his last scene with Dean, it was Castiel who first distanced himself. Dean behaved like a loving yet authoritarian parent ("Don't do this!"), so the natural reaction by Castiel, being in many ways a child learning how to handle free will, was to retort: "Or what?" Typical adult/teenager confrontation. When I want my kid to obey me, and he wants to do the exact opposite, I don't tell him "Don't do this!", because I KNOW he'll just dig his heels in the ground, even though he loves me immensely and it hurts him to displease me. What I do is “logic him”, because this is the only thing that works. I explain my POV and offer alternatives to what he wants (and *I* don't want him) to do, until I either convince him or we reach a compromise. (a few times he convinces me! *g*)
How sad it was in that scene to witness on Castiel’s face first hope, when Dean said “I get it” (but of course he didn’t), and then surprise, that reflected the viewers’ surprise, when Dean told him he was like a “brother” to him. Cas didn’t know that, same as we didn’t! Castiel didn’t think of himself as a family member, but as the Winchesters’ “guardian” and “friend”. Dean told him he and Sam were his friends for the first time in 6x10, but in 6x17 Rachel thought they weren’t because they only called him when they needed something from him.
So, after his encounters with Dean, Castiel sat in the snowy garden having second thoughts, doubts, asking for a sign from an absent Father who unfortunately remained absent. The last scene where he said that otherwise he’s going to do “what I must” gave me chills - and the feeling that he knew his plan was far from soundproof, that he might have to sacrifice himself. (And he did.) The episode ended with Castiel bowing his head in resignation to his doomed future. However, AFTER the episode ended, the fact he might have to fight Dean, whom he had outgrown of as a substitute of his serving his Father, but whom he still loved as the closest kin, couldn’t stop gnawing at Castiel. He didn’t want to be parted from Dean, so he decided to appeal to him again. It’s tragic that in all their scenes in both 6x20 and 6x21, it’s Cas who keeps trying to make Dean understand, but Dean doesn’t “get it” and doesn’t even try to make Cas understand.
The miscommunication gap between Dean and Castiel was already huge in 6x20 (- Where were you? - Where were YOU? - We can fix this! - It’s not broken! - I ask you to stop! - Trust ME!), but unfortunately in 6x21 it reached new heights. In the warehouse, Cas told Dean he’d look for Lisa and Ben, and then asked Dean to stand behind him, meaning to trust him, to keep treating him as a family member, but Dean misunderstood that Cas was telling him he’d look for Lisa and Ben if Dean stood down. Cas’ hurt, when Dean said as much, reminded me of his hurt when Sam asked him if he had brought him back soulless on purpose: “How could you think that?!” And then Dean turned his back on Cas! Rejecting his brother was the exact same thing Dean did with Sam at the end of 4x21, and we all know what Sam went ahead to do in 4x22. (While in S5, when Dean stood behind Sam because he had learned to love him unconditionally by then, Dean’s presence in the chosen field was critical in changing the outcome.) Dean could oppose Cas’ plan, without cutting him off the family - and perhaps, if he had realized at that moment how similar Castiel's plea was to Sam's, he wouldn’t have done it, perhaps he’d have tried a different method than rejection. “Perhaps” being the key-word. Because, although I exclaimed about the inane script watching that scene, if we accept that Dean is written as he is, and not OOC, then there’s only one answer: Dean can’t love Cas unconditionally like he does Sam.
Of course, this isn’t Dean’s fault, and no blame falls on him. It isn’t hypocrisy, it isn’t double standards, it’s just the way he is: he has tunnel vision when it comes to Sam, he loves Sam unconditionally because he forgives him EVERYTHING (and that’s what unconditional love is: keep loving the other person despite all the things you can’t accept and don’t agree with; it doesn’t make you pathetic, or a “doormat”, it’s just a different POV in love, and if it didn’t exist, no prison inmates would ever get visits from family), but he can love ONLY Sam this way. To me, the fact he could only love Sam this way was very sad - it broke my heart to see it, as well as seeing the devastation written plainly on Castiel’s face, which Dean didn’t witness because he had literally turned his back on him.
Now, if one believes Dean’s final talk in 6x22 was sincere and heartfelt, then we can accept that Dean was simply too angry and hurt in 6x21, that the miscommunication during that scene made him lash out, but when he actually saw Cas “full of nuke”, i.e. in danger of dying, he realized that he DOES love Cas - loves Cas DESPITE the fact he broke Sam’s wall as a last desperate means to keep them away. Whoever believes this, then for them the Dean/Cas ship hasn’t sunk - quite the contrary, it’s become epic from Dean’s side too (it was already epic from Castiel’s side). But to me, Dean’s final talk didn’t ring sincere - to me, it sounded as a terrified Dean was just trying to convince Cas to defuse in order that he didn’t kill them all accidentally.
Back to that scene in 6x21. When Dean cut Cas out of the family, the outcome of Cas’ deal was sealed, because the show has made clear in S4-5 that when family is together, they can overcome all odds, but cutting themselves off from each other is what destroys them. This was the message of 5x04 ("We keep each other human"), which is why the finale echoes "The End" so much, even down to Castiel's repeating the "I'm not an angel anymore" line. Dean was Castiel’s last anchor to humanity, the kite-line connecting him, so Castiel’s actions in 6x22 were a direct result of his kite-line being cut, and him drifting alone on the wind.
Take notice here: people who don’t “get” unconditional love may say that it was Castiel who cut himself out of the family, so in 6x21 he was facing the consequences of his actions. But of course this isn’t what happened in canon: what happened was that Castiel lied to them for the whole season precisely because he knew he’d lose them when they found out, and indeed when they learned about it in 6x20, and he refused to give up on his plan because he had no alternatives, they (Dean) cut him out of the family in 6x21.
(Also, in a role reversal after 6x20, it was Sam giving Castiel the benefit of the doubt in 6x21, apparently because after he was convinced around the ring of holy fire that Castiel didn’t bring him back soulless on purpose, he was grateful he managed to bring him back, period.)
This is the difference between a family who turn their back on their drug-dependent family member, after he informs them his criminal friend will help him break into White House to take the weapons that can kill Hitler, and a family who don’t turn their back, but say instead: “I feel I have to stop you both from carrying out this plan, because although your intentions are good for wanting to get rid of Hitler, it’s wrong to give your criminal friend access to those weapons, and it’s wrong to break into White House. But I still love you, and if you manage to succeed with your plan, despite my trying to stop you, I'll still be there to save your hide if something goes wrong. Come, now, sit down with me to think if there’s ANOTHER way to stop Hitler - because you know I want you to kill the motherfucker as much as you do!”
That's what family does, when they love unconditionally: they support the family member EVEN when they disagree, EVEN when they actively try to oppose their plan. But Dean didn't, because according to the script, he couldn't: "Cas, I can't..." Dean may be able to love different people/beings in different ways, but all those kinds of love come second to the unconditional love he has for Sam.
But if the warehouse scene in 6x21 is the pivotal point for Castiel and Dean being separated with tragic consequences, then the hospital scene feels out of place. Because Castiel is still himself at the hospital, still trying to fix things (while a few hours later he un-fixes Sam’s wall!), still granting Dean’s wish to have Lisa’s and Ben’s memories erased (while a few hours later hurts Dean by hurting Sam!). This can be explained easily as bad writing (or, to be magnanimous, as bad editing between the scripts of the two final episodes to keep the continuity), or a lot harder this way:
when Castiel went to the hospital, he may have hoped deep down that after saving Lisa’s life, Dean would see his honesty, and there was a chance he’d change his mind and take him back. But Dean didn’t, and as they parted ways in a sad but civilized manner, Castiel was already leaving when Dean called him back to ask for a favor. The missing scene on our screens was Castiel’s reaction when Dean asked him to do a complete mind-wipe, instead of only the day’s events. That action put the lives of Lisa and Ben in a new kind of danger, and may have made Cas realize that if Dean could so completely and irrevocably cut them off his life, and not care about any supernatural danger they might encounter in the future - those two innocent people he loved, who kept him going after Sam jumped in the Cage, and who indirectly caused Cas to make the wrong choice because he was unwilling to ask Dean to sacrifice his new life with them; if Dean could do that, without their consent, then of course his cutting not-innocent Cas out of the family was also irreversible for Dean, and he wouldn’t care about Castiel in the future either. So, Castiel’s last sliver of hope that Dean might reverse his rejection of him, died after he performed the mind-wipe on Lisa and Ben.
Therefore, Castiel walks out of the hospital and into Crowley’s den totally isolated and fully intending to implement his plan, without any reason to remain himself and come back alive. Keep living for whom? He was an angel of the Lord for billions of years, then he transferred his faith to Dean in 2009, and now he has nobody anymore. The void inside him is so great that when he devours the souls, they fill it perfectly, and he finds peace in his godhood. Aristotle said “To live alone one must be a beast or a god”, and Castiel in his bereft world went on to become a god. A better god, not absent like his Father. A god who’ll give clear orders to his worshippers and won’t let them hang themselves with the rope of Free Will. Castiel KNEW he wouldn’t be an angel anymore when he became a vessel for the souls, he knew he’d be transformed into something different, and the viewer was supposed to know because Raphael said so: “if anyone is going to be the new god, it’s me”. That’s why Crowley had said back in 6x20 “we want to improve ourselves”: they planned to be transformed into something bigger and stronger, and that’s why Castiel had told him earlier “I’m still an angel”: he said “still” because he knew soon he might not be an angel anymore.
Take another notice here: although Dean cutting out of his life Castiel, Lisa and Ben in 6x21 directly contributed to Castiel’s choice in 6x22, the blame for Castiel's choice doesn’t fall on Dean - it falls on Castiel. The blame that falls on Dean is his changing the odds for Castiel’s final choice, but then again Dean couldn’t help it, if he couldn’t love Castiel unconditionally like he does Sam. Still, no matter how hurt Castiel was, no matter how bitter, no matter how isolated, and even mentally unstable (Crowley in 6x20: “you’re losing it!”, “yeah, you’re the very picture of mental health…”, Dean in 6x22: “you can’t even see how totally off the rails you are!”), there always existed a tiny possibility he could rise above the circumstances and make a NEW choice. In fact, I fully expected him to beat the insurmountable odds in the finale, because he's proven time and again that that's who he is, that he's made of the stuff of a hero. It was with great disappointment that I watched the writers CHOOSING (seeing as how popular that word has become in the fandom for the characters, as if the characters’ actions aren’t the result of the writers’ whims) to prove me wrong. And having Castiel’s personality be so much affected by Dean’s limitations in his love for him was OOC for Castiel anyway, because he always gave up everything for Dean, knowing the degree in which Dean loved him, and without needing his love to be returned. Castiel always loved Dean selflessly, and Dean’s happiness was enough for Castiel’s containment, as proven by the car scenes in 5x03 and 5x22, when he left Dean, as soon as Dean assured him he was happy or was going to be OK. The writers TOLD us Castiel’s fall was all about power and hubris, but they SHOWED us it was all about miscommunication and the lack of unconditional love.
Another baffling moment in 6x22 was when Castiel killed Balthazar, but considering how the Winchesters got rid of traitor Grandpa Samuel, it’s easy to see that Castiel once again copied them. Balthazar's betrayal was inexcusable to his leader: Castiel had just gone and broken Sam's wall to prevent Dean from finding him to stop the ceremony, yet Balthazar had just told Dean where to find him to stop the ceremony! Everything Castiel had worked towards for two years was about to come undone because of the traitor. Balthazar acted out of self-preservation, but Castiel didn’t understand self-preservation because he’s the exact opposite: self-sacrificing - standing against an Archangel in 4x22 to give Dean time to stop Sam, molotoving another Archangel in 5x22 to give Dean time to talk to Samifer, and even in the aborted timeline of 5x04, when future!Dean asked Cas if he would participate in a suicide mission, Cas didn’t think for a moment to refuse, even at the cost of his own life. Which is why, for so many viewers, Castiel’s change of personality in the 5 last minutes of the finale didn’t work: it goes against the very fabric of Castiel’s being. They tried to fit a square peg into a round hole. Castiel has proven time and again that he’s made of the stuff of a hero, but in those last 5 minutes was turned into a monster. What was missing from the episode to keep true to Castiel’s personality was a scene just before Castiel became a vessel for the souls, showing clearly he knew he had to sacrifice himself and his grace to beat Raphael, but also involving hubris in his certainty the new him would still be the one ruling the souls and not be ruled by them.
- So, what’s for S7?
I don’t believe for a moment that Castiel will die in the premier, because after the ratings declined in the first half of S6, the show runners surely wouldn’t want to lose the viewers Misha brings to the show. (although if they think all Minions watch for Misha, let them take notice: some of us watch for Castiel, and if Misha doesn’t play Castiel but a twisted version of his, we won’t be able to watch it because it’ll be too painful, just like some fans couldn’t watch soulless Sam despite being Jared’s fans)
- What about the profound bond between Dean and Cas? (Which we didn’t even see on screen, till the end of S6?)
I don’t think we’ll see this in S7. I do believe, though, that the show writers will throw the occasional bone to Dean/Cas fans, because they’ll want to have their pie and eat it, too, as usual. So, they’ll string the fans along, just like they did in S6, when they hired Misha as a regular but without the INTENTION to use him as a regular!
- What about Team Free Will?
Goodbye, TFW. And since that was the only reason I was looking forward to another SPN season (watching Sam and Dean hunting all alone was fun in S1-3, but when they were doing it in S6 I found it pretty boring), goodbye S7 for me. There are so many other great shows I could invest my time and money in.
If WB uses CW to earn money from international sales rather than domestic sales (compare the 2.4 million viewers in the US to the 1.4 million in Brazil, let alone the millions in the rest of the world), they should have considered the fact Castiel has a large following abroad before they allowed this kind of abomination to take place in the finale. But of course they didn’t know what the show runners intended to do, and the show runners shot their own foot there.