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snick_backupAre You There, God? It's Me, Dean Winchester
So, this episode was pretty much all about the apocalypse and Dean's unwilling crisis of faith. Also there's some ghosts and stuff, but mostly: Dean and Castiel and apocalyptic exposition and crises of Faith.
I like this about Castiel: he throws Dean off-kilter. He challenges Dean's perspective. "You think the armies of heaven should just follow you around." He gets in Dean's personal space. Dean can't intimidate him, fluster him, make him back down or back up or do anything very much at all. Castiel is a person that not a single one of Dean's usual survival skills work on. It's one of the reasons every one of Dean's conversations with him is so intense: not just because Dean has abstract philosophical issues but because Dean finds Castiel deeply unsettling.
Which, hey. Bummer for Dean, great for us.
* And we have answered the "Why now" question. Apocalypse and all.
* To the ever-popular "How can a loving, omnipotent God allow the existence of evil" question, we seem to be going for the "not omnipotent" solution.
* So of course we want to know just what the angels and all were up to 2,000 years ago.
* Soooo much more effective to see the angry spirits of people we actually know and like. Kind of ruined their memory, though
* And Dean still is glad to see Ronald. Aw, Dean. Aw, Ronald!
* Ghost!Meg made some good points about all the people the Winchesters have failed to save. Not that I blame them for not being able to save everyone, but sometimes the show does seem awfully callous towards its victims.
* Also good point about Ruby - "How many bodies do you think she's burned through?" Yes. And judging from what else we know (again, mostly from Meg), the girl Ruby's possessing is apparently still around and cognizant of everything that's happening. Including all the Sam/Ruby nookie. Ruby is surely fully aware of all this; Sam is presumably putting great effort into not thinking about it.
* Just like with Caleb and Pastor Jim, we meet more nifty Hunters just as they're dying. And a girl hunter! I want to know all about Olivia, you guys. Why haven't we ever wanted her help when she wasn't dying, hmm?
* Bobby's spirits-be-gone room is fabulous. "I had a free weekend." Heh.
* Look, Bobby, Dean: nobody 'rose' those witnesses. Because 'ROSE' IS NOT A TRANSITIVE VERB.
* So it's 66 seals now, is it, rather than 7? I guess that's inflation for ya. At least we're up-front about the fact that the passages we're quoting don't appear anywhere in the, ah, "widely-distributed version" of Revelation.
* I feel as though I'd be more concerned about this apocalypse if Buffy didn't have to fight at least one every. single. year. But it's Sam and Dean's first; you can't blame them for being a little spooked.
* Mostly I'm just amused Dean Winchester got himself an episode titled after a Judy Blume novel.
---
In the Beginning
I don't even know where to start my freakout with this backstory. Mary's family were hunters? Mary made the family's first demonic deal? John was just a sweet guy home from Vietnam who still believed in happily ever after?
Oh. My. Goodness.
I don't know yet how I feel about all these big reveals. It seems almost too tragic that John came quite so far to become the man he was before he died. And now I'm burning to know whether he ever found out about Mary and her family being hunters. Surely he did; Missouri must have told him, and if she didn't he had to have found out from other hunters, sooner or later.
But this was not his story; it was Mary's. Wonder of wonders, a female character got an episode to herself. Mary wants out of hunting and she wants John, and she's willing to trade some faraway unknown to get those things. She of all people should have known better. Yet she's so bubbly and sincere; it's hard not to like her. All this new information about her has not yet resolved into a clear picture.
ALL VERY INTERESTING.
* "What, are you allergic to straight answers?" NO KIDDING. And what was all that "You have to stop it" business? Was Castiel just yanking his chain (and ours)?
* I'm not even going to dignify with a rebuttal the SUPREME STUPIDITY of the idea that Dean went back in time and caused all his family's trauma just by hanging around. I'm clinging to Castiel's "can't change destiny" speech like a lifeline, here. The alternative is just too awful.
* "Mom is a babe. *pause* I'm going to hell. Again." Hee.
* So what I want to know is, how was it the Winchesters' firstborn son was named after his grandmother instead of his grandfather? (Apparently John's parents weren't worth naming anyone after.)
So clearly we're positioning Sam and Dean into opposition. Dean has an angel on his shoulder (or not on his shoulder; sources differ), while Sam's got a demon leading him around by the nose. (Yeah, I still don't trust Ruby.) I'm not sure how I feel about this.
After all my blustering about Dean having a Destiny, I find myself now a wee bit disappointed at what Castiel seems to be implying, that Dean was brought back from hell to deal with Sam. I'm not positive that's what he's saying, but it sounds like that's at least part of it. The apocalypse is a-comin' and Dean's primary purpose is still to babysit his little brother. And darn it, I want something for Dean that doesn't revolve around Sam, even if it is a destiny.
So, Castiel. The Internet has failed me, because already Castiel has a whole lot more savvy about humans and their behavior than fannish osmosis led me to believe. His speech patterns are less stilted than I expected and his vocabulary wider, and he gets irritated! I was expecting human-like emotion to be beneath him.
Apparently this is a two-parter, although that wasn't exactly an edge-of-my-seat cliffhanger there. I expect I'll know more about the Sam-and-Dean angle after tonight.
Original entry posted at Dreamwidth. Feel free to reply here or there. (
DW replies)
So, this episode was pretty much all about the apocalypse and Dean's unwilling crisis of faith. Also there's some ghosts and stuff, but mostly: Dean and Castiel and apocalyptic exposition and crises of Faith.
I like this about Castiel: he throws Dean off-kilter. He challenges Dean's perspective. "You think the armies of heaven should just follow you around." He gets in Dean's personal space. Dean can't intimidate him, fluster him, make him back down or back up or do anything very much at all. Castiel is a person that not a single one of Dean's usual survival skills work on. It's one of the reasons every one of Dean's conversations with him is so intense: not just because Dean has abstract philosophical issues but because Dean finds Castiel deeply unsettling.
Which, hey. Bummer for Dean, great for us.
* And we have answered the "Why now" question. Apocalypse and all.
* To the ever-popular "How can a loving, omnipotent God allow the existence of evil" question, we seem to be going for the "not omnipotent" solution.
* So of course we want to know just what the angels and all were up to 2,000 years ago.
* Soooo much more effective to see the angry spirits of people we actually know and like. Kind of ruined their memory, though
* And Dean still is glad to see Ronald. Aw, Dean. Aw, Ronald!
* Ghost!Meg made some good points about all the people the Winchesters have failed to save. Not that I blame them for not being able to save everyone, but sometimes the show does seem awfully callous towards its victims.
* Also good point about Ruby - "How many bodies do you think she's burned through?" Yes. And judging from what else we know (again, mostly from Meg), the girl Ruby's possessing is apparently still around and cognizant of everything that's happening. Including all the Sam/Ruby nookie. Ruby is surely fully aware of all this; Sam is presumably putting great effort into not thinking about it.
* Just like with Caleb and Pastor Jim, we meet more nifty Hunters just as they're dying. And a girl hunter! I want to know all about Olivia, you guys. Why haven't we ever wanted her help when she wasn't dying, hmm?
* Bobby's spirits-be-gone room is fabulous. "I had a free weekend." Heh.
* Look, Bobby, Dean: nobody 'rose' those witnesses. Because 'ROSE' IS NOT A TRANSITIVE VERB.
* So it's 66 seals now, is it, rather than 7? I guess that's inflation for ya. At least we're up-front about the fact that the passages we're quoting don't appear anywhere in the, ah, "widely-distributed version" of Revelation.
* I feel as though I'd be more concerned about this apocalypse if Buffy didn't have to fight at least one every. single. year. But it's Sam and Dean's first; you can't blame them for being a little spooked.
* Mostly I'm just amused Dean Winchester got himself an episode titled after a Judy Blume novel.
In the Beginning
I don't even know where to start my freakout with this backstory. Mary's family were hunters? Mary made the family's first demonic deal? John was just a sweet guy home from Vietnam who still believed in happily ever after?
Oh. My. Goodness.
I don't know yet how I feel about all these big reveals. It seems almost too tragic that John came quite so far to become the man he was before he died. And now I'm burning to know whether he ever found out about Mary and her family being hunters. Surely he did; Missouri must have told him, and if she didn't he had to have found out from other hunters, sooner or later.
But this was not his story; it was Mary's. Wonder of wonders, a female character got an episode to herself. Mary wants out of hunting and she wants John, and she's willing to trade some faraway unknown to get those things. She of all people should have known better. Yet she's so bubbly and sincere; it's hard not to like her. All this new information about her has not yet resolved into a clear picture.
ALL VERY INTERESTING.
* "What, are you allergic to straight answers?" NO KIDDING. And what was all that "You have to stop it" business? Was Castiel just yanking his chain (and ours)?
* I'm not even going to dignify with a rebuttal the SUPREME STUPIDITY of the idea that Dean went back in time and caused all his family's trauma just by hanging around. I'm clinging to Castiel's "can't change destiny" speech like a lifeline, here. The alternative is just too awful.
* "Mom is a babe. *pause* I'm going to hell. Again." Hee.
* So what I want to know is, how was it the Winchesters' firstborn son was named after his grandmother instead of his grandfather? (Apparently John's parents weren't worth naming anyone after.)
So clearly we're positioning Sam and Dean into opposition. Dean has an angel on his shoulder (or not on his shoulder; sources differ), while Sam's got a demon leading him around by the nose. (Yeah, I still don't trust Ruby.) I'm not sure how I feel about this.
After all my blustering about Dean having a Destiny, I find myself now a wee bit disappointed at what Castiel seems to be implying, that Dean was brought back from hell to deal with Sam. I'm not positive that's what he's saying, but it sounds like that's at least part of it. The apocalypse is a-comin' and Dean's primary purpose is still to babysit his little brother. And darn it, I want something for Dean that doesn't revolve around Sam, even if it is a destiny.
So, Castiel. The Internet has failed me, because already Castiel has a whole lot more savvy about humans and their behavior than fannish osmosis led me to believe. His speech patterns are less stilted than I expected and his vocabulary wider, and he gets irritated! I was expecting human-like emotion to be beneath him.
Apparently this is a two-parter, although that wasn't exactly an edge-of-my-seat cliffhanger there. I expect I'll know more about the Sam-and-Dean angle after tonight.
Original entry posted at Dreamwidth. Feel free to reply here or there. (
