Why Castiel's sudden jump from neutral player to ally and friend of team Winchester?
This is the reasons why Castiel, his characterization and relationship with the brothers have been frustrating me this season. No screaming or ranting promise, just some puzzlement and me rambling a bit while trying to put the correct words on my problem with this:)
Lets just look at his actions on the show first.
Season 4
4.01
He pulls Dean out of hell.
He burns out Pamela’s eyes, takes a vessel and appears before Dean.
4.03 and 4.04
Castiel leads Dean to find out about Sam’s exorcisms and pretends to want Dean to stop his brother from using his powers, pushing the rift between the brothers wider to make Dean trust him.
4.07
Castiel and Uriel are prepared to kill the entire population of a town to test Dean.
4.10
Castiel and Uriel are prepared to kill Anna.
4.15
Castiel tricks Sam and Dean into investigating a reaper’s disappearance and Pamela Barnes is killed.
4.16
He kidnaps Dean with Uriel and forces Dean into torturing again in the name of god.
Castiel and Uriel’s plan sends Dean to the hospital after he is nearly beaten to death by Alistair.
4.20
His character possesses a human vessel without letting the host (Jimmy) know what he really is going into and takes him from his family for a year.
He then disappears from earth and reappears taking Jimmy's only daughter as a vessel giving Jimmy little to no choice but to become the angel’s vessel again if he wants his daughter to go free.
4.21
He lets Sam out of Bobby’s panic room to ensure Sam will kill Lilith and start the apocalypse.
He betrays Anna to his superiors.
He continues to mislead Dean about his and Sam’s true roles in the apocalypse and that Lilith is in fact the last seal.
4.22
He kidnaps Dean with Zachariah so Dean can't go after Sam and stop him.
Then him or another angel, it's not proven who did it, changes Dean’s voicemail to Sam from one of reconciliation to one of hate which is the final straw that makes Sam go through with his plan of killing Lilith.
Castiel then is convinced by Dean to try and help the brothers but it is way too late.
These are the biggest of Castiel's actions during season 4 and I don't find most of them very sympathetic and that would be fine if not because of how the show suddenly wants to portray the character in season 5.
The most commonly used argument to make Castiel appear more sympathetic is that he was following orders and there for is not to the blame for most of the things he did.
Well if he was only following orders, he still has free will, which is demonstrated a couple of times during the season, so he could have chosen not to believe in these orders and disobeyed but he chose to continue to follow them out, even if he may have been conflicted about it, so he is as accountable for his actions as any other person on the show.
Very short summary of his actions during season 4:
Eye-burning. At least a form of statutory rape in the whole Jimmy vessel issue in 4.20, when Jimmy offers himself instead of his daughter. Lying to both Sam and Dean and helping actively to bring about the apocalypse. Kidnapping Dean on more than one occasion. Playing the brothers out against each other and pretending to want Dean to save Sam to gain his trust. Betraying Anna. Letting Sam out of the panic room.
Of cause he isn't all bad. He did save Dean from hell, but not from the goodness of his heart, not because he wanted to but because he was told to. He tells Dean about the archangel watching over Chuck who in turn saves Sam from Lilith in 4.18, but we never get to know if it was just another play to get Dean to trust him or if he actually wanted to help. He turns up and helps the brothers fight off the demons in the end of 4.20 but he comes straight from angel disciplinary camp, so he is just following orders to protect Dean at this point.
The only true good action he does of his own free will is to let Dean out of the green room in 4.22 but it's too late for it to make a difference.
After season 4 ended I didn't find Castiel particularly trustworthy, reliable or that sympathetic. His actions speak for themselves here. But I’ll stress that I didn’t find the character annoying at this point either, he was a good supporting character IMO and him being ambiguous was a big part of why I liked him.
Onward to season 5
5.01
Castiel is apparently dead and Dean calls him "My friend Cas". Castiel appears back from wherever dead angels go and saves the brothers from Zachariah.
5.02
He zaps in and takes Deans amulet that apparently can help him find god, which he thinks brought him back in 5.01. He then blames Dean and Sam for starting the apocalypse conveniently forgetting the overall list of his own actions during season 4 and disappears again.
5.03
He traps Raphael with buddy Dean's help, suddenly has a sex drive and starts cursing?!?
I'll stop here.
This is just a summary of Castiel’s deeds put plainly and I'll now come to why the character has me so puzzled and annoyed this season.
The character of Castiel based on season 4 is ambiguous at best. But the characterization of him in this season’s first 1-4 episodes has been all over the place. Suddenly he acts like a little boy, embarrassed about being a virgin and has a sex drive and is a source of cheap laughs? Some of his mojo got taken away when he went rogue and he has apparently regressed from a pretty powerful angel into an awkward teenager with abandonment issues? Sorry but I'm having a very hard time finding this believable. It’s fun to laugh at but it’s so off base from his character of season 4.
And here comes my whole point of this ramble. Where or when throughout the whole of season 4 did Castiel prove himself to be trustworthy for the brothers or even come close to deserve the title of friend from even Dean?
Now Misha's Minions and Castiel lovers, please take a moment to read the rest before you start to cry out. I'm not saying that Castiel doesn't have any good in him or maybe he truly does care for Dean in some way, but if you look at his actions during season 4 without rose-tinted glasses, good or bad, there is none of them, except for him freeing Dean in 4.22, that escapes the dubiousness of his overlaying goal which were to following orders and bring about the apocalypse. None of them can’t not be seen as part of his manipulation game as part of the angelic host.
He paid with his life for his one truly independent act but does that one action suddenly negate and erase all the other ones? No it doesn't and it shouldn’t, he is still accountable for everything he did before he chose a side.
Knowing this is when the really big inconsistency starts in season 5 for me. Right from the beginning of the very first episode Castiel suddenly goes from an ambiguous at best sometimes helper in season 4 to friend and trusted ally in season 5? There have been no days or months for Castiel to prove his worth to the brothers between the ending of season 4 and the beginning of season 5 like fx Ruby did with Sam in the four months Dean was in hell. No this is based straight of Castiel’s actions in season 4. And now the show wants me to believe that suddenly both Dean and Sam trust the angel? Eh okay?
First I’ll take Sam. Why would Sam have any reason to trust Castiel this season? They have hardly talked and not once have Castiel tried to reach out and talk to Sam about ex his faith, because we know for certain that Sam prays or at least did until season 4 or help him to fx come to terms with his demon blood. There truly is NO relationship between Sam and Castiel. Plus Castiel and the angels were the reason Dean got nearly beaten to death in OtHoaP and Sam demonstrated a lot of anger with Castiel here.
So the show wants us to buy that Sam trusts Castiel due to him helping Dean in 4.22? There is no other positive aspect Sam has experienced from Castiel, except maybe pulling Dean out of hell but that was not an act of kindness. So should that be enough to make two suspicious and weary hunters suddenly let Castiel firmly into their friend zone? To trust him despite all their experiences tell them that angels are dicks and always have an agenda? I would say no. It is not very plausible in my eyes and seems very out of character for especially Sam.
Sam calls Castiel with the familiar “Cas” nickname in 5.02 and doesn’t seem to mind the angel first telling him and his brother off about the apocalypse despite that he knows Castiel and the angels have been lying to both of them about Lilith(Dean must have told him at least that part) and then lets same angel take off with his gift amulet to Dean. Sure Cas whatever you need?? Castiel has not proven himself worthy of such trust and familiarity from Sam yet. Maybe during season 5 he will but the whole premise of his character at this point doesn't match up with the role he suddenly has right from the beginning of this season. Other than the writers saying so and that just doesn’t work for me.
Now for Dean. Dean have interacted more with Castiel than Sam and therefore could have more reasons to trust him. But even if Dean would trust Castiel based on the angels actions during season 4, it wouldn't be to the extent he shows right from the beginning of the season.
Suddenly Castiel is a friend and a trusted ally that is allowed to make Dean part with a necklace, that he never takes off, he lets Castiel get away with blaming him for not stopping the apocalypse when we all know that Dean is more than aware of the angels dubiousness in that aspect and he feels compelled to take the angel to a whorehouse to get that pesky angelic virginity taken care of?? Really Dean, really?*confused*
Here again I must ask, how and where has Castiel proven himself worthy of such trust or familiarity from Dean? This is a creature he has been manipulated by constantly, who hasn’t done much else but getting him beat up and never seems to be able to stick around long enough to give a straight answer, but still suddenly he is described by Dean as “my friend Cas”? When did that happen? We don’t get any slow, logical or even visible progression, they where barely on speaking terms by the end of season 4 and suddenly the friendship is just there and you better believe it!*still confused*
Can Castiel’s one right action during 4.22 be used as a free-from-all-blame card followed by convenient character whitewashing to suddenly move him firmly onto the side of team Winchester and make both Dean and Sam trust him? It just doesn't add up.
So all this talk is to explain my biggest beef with the show and how the Castiel’s character is being portrayed in season 5.
There is absolutely no grounds at all for the brothers to trust Castiel yet, he has done nothing but follow orders and manipulate both of them so far and I find it pretty unreasonable that the show wants to paint him as a friend and ally of both of them right from the beginning of the season and not let this progress natural throughout the episodes. Making Dean slap the friend sign on him in that brief sentence in 5.01, doesn’t make it so.
This is too much “relationship” conjured out of the thin air and I can't see past this disconnect, so it just isn't believable for me. There is no validation at all for this sudden shift in Castiel's relationship with Sam and Dean.
So this is the reason why I have gone from actually liking and enjoying the character to being irritated with the whole thing.
And apparently I just had to write a messy book about it?*facepalms* Oh well I just needed to get these thoughts out of my system. Impressed if anyone managed to read this far:) Feel free to disagree or not, we all have our own opinion on this:)
Lets just look at his actions on the show first.
Season 4
4.01
He pulls Dean out of hell.
He burns out Pamela’s eyes, takes a vessel and appears before Dean.
4.03 and 4.04
Castiel leads Dean to find out about Sam’s exorcisms and pretends to want Dean to stop his brother from using his powers, pushing the rift between the brothers wider to make Dean trust him.
4.07
Castiel and Uriel are prepared to kill the entire population of a town to test Dean.
4.10
Castiel and Uriel are prepared to kill Anna.
4.15
Castiel tricks Sam and Dean into investigating a reaper’s disappearance and Pamela Barnes is killed.
4.16
He kidnaps Dean with Uriel and forces Dean into torturing again in the name of god.
Castiel and Uriel’s plan sends Dean to the hospital after he is nearly beaten to death by Alistair.
4.20
His character possesses a human vessel without letting the host (Jimmy) know what he really is going into and takes him from his family for a year.
He then disappears from earth and reappears taking Jimmy's only daughter as a vessel giving Jimmy little to no choice but to become the angel’s vessel again if he wants his daughter to go free.
4.21
He lets Sam out of Bobby’s panic room to ensure Sam will kill Lilith and start the apocalypse.
He betrays Anna to his superiors.
He continues to mislead Dean about his and Sam’s true roles in the apocalypse and that Lilith is in fact the last seal.
4.22
He kidnaps Dean with Zachariah so Dean can't go after Sam and stop him.
Then him or another angel, it's not proven who did it, changes Dean’s voicemail to Sam from one of reconciliation to one of hate which is the final straw that makes Sam go through with his plan of killing Lilith.
Castiel then is convinced by Dean to try and help the brothers but it is way too late.
These are the biggest of Castiel's actions during season 4 and I don't find most of them very sympathetic and that would be fine if not because of how the show suddenly wants to portray the character in season 5.
The most commonly used argument to make Castiel appear more sympathetic is that he was following orders and there for is not to the blame for most of the things he did.
Well if he was only following orders, he still has free will, which is demonstrated a couple of times during the season, so he could have chosen not to believe in these orders and disobeyed but he chose to continue to follow them out, even if he may have been conflicted about it, so he is as accountable for his actions as any other person on the show.
Very short summary of his actions during season 4:
Eye-burning. At least a form of statutory rape in the whole Jimmy vessel issue in 4.20, when Jimmy offers himself instead of his daughter. Lying to both Sam and Dean and helping actively to bring about the apocalypse. Kidnapping Dean on more than one occasion. Playing the brothers out against each other and pretending to want Dean to save Sam to gain his trust. Betraying Anna. Letting Sam out of the panic room.
Of cause he isn't all bad. He did save Dean from hell, but not from the goodness of his heart, not because he wanted to but because he was told to. He tells Dean about the archangel watching over Chuck who in turn saves Sam from Lilith in 4.18, but we never get to know if it was just another play to get Dean to trust him or if he actually wanted to help. He turns up and helps the brothers fight off the demons in the end of 4.20 but he comes straight from angel disciplinary camp, so he is just following orders to protect Dean at this point.
The only true good action he does of his own free will is to let Dean out of the green room in 4.22 but it's too late for it to make a difference.
After season 4 ended I didn't find Castiel particularly trustworthy, reliable or that sympathetic. His actions speak for themselves here. But I’ll stress that I didn’t find the character annoying at this point either, he was a good supporting character IMO and him being ambiguous was a big part of why I liked him.
Onward to season 5
5.01
Castiel is apparently dead and Dean calls him "My friend Cas". Castiel appears back from wherever dead angels go and saves the brothers from Zachariah.
5.02
He zaps in and takes Deans amulet that apparently can help him find god, which he thinks brought him back in 5.01. He then blames Dean and Sam for starting the apocalypse conveniently forgetting the overall list of his own actions during season 4 and disappears again.
5.03
He traps Raphael with buddy Dean's help, suddenly has a sex drive and starts cursing?!?
I'll stop here.
This is just a summary of Castiel’s deeds put plainly and I'll now come to why the character has me so puzzled and annoyed this season.
The character of Castiel based on season 4 is ambiguous at best. But the characterization of him in this season’s first 1-4 episodes has been all over the place. Suddenly he acts like a little boy, embarrassed about being a virgin and has a sex drive and is a source of cheap laughs? Some of his mojo got taken away when he went rogue and he has apparently regressed from a pretty powerful angel into an awkward teenager with abandonment issues? Sorry but I'm having a very hard time finding this believable. It’s fun to laugh at but it’s so off base from his character of season 4.
And here comes my whole point of this ramble. Where or when throughout the whole of season 4 did Castiel prove himself to be trustworthy for the brothers or even come close to deserve the title of friend from even Dean?
Now Misha's Minions and Castiel lovers, please take a moment to read the rest before you start to cry out. I'm not saying that Castiel doesn't have any good in him or maybe he truly does care for Dean in some way, but if you look at his actions during season 4 without rose-tinted glasses, good or bad, there is none of them, except for him freeing Dean in 4.22, that escapes the dubiousness of his overlaying goal which were to following orders and bring about the apocalypse. None of them can’t not be seen as part of his manipulation game as part of the angelic host.
He paid with his life for his one truly independent act but does that one action suddenly negate and erase all the other ones? No it doesn't and it shouldn’t, he is still accountable for everything he did before he chose a side.
Knowing this is when the really big inconsistency starts in season 5 for me. Right from the beginning of the very first episode Castiel suddenly goes from an ambiguous at best sometimes helper in season 4 to friend and trusted ally in season 5? There have been no days or months for Castiel to prove his worth to the brothers between the ending of season 4 and the beginning of season 5 like fx Ruby did with Sam in the four months Dean was in hell. No this is based straight of Castiel’s actions in season 4. And now the show wants me to believe that suddenly both Dean and Sam trust the angel? Eh okay?
First I’ll take Sam. Why would Sam have any reason to trust Castiel this season? They have hardly talked and not once have Castiel tried to reach out and talk to Sam about ex his faith, because we know for certain that Sam prays or at least did until season 4 or help him to fx come to terms with his demon blood. There truly is NO relationship between Sam and Castiel. Plus Castiel and the angels were the reason Dean got nearly beaten to death in OtHoaP and Sam demonstrated a lot of anger with Castiel here.
So the show wants us to buy that Sam trusts Castiel due to him helping Dean in 4.22? There is no other positive aspect Sam has experienced from Castiel, except maybe pulling Dean out of hell but that was not an act of kindness. So should that be enough to make two suspicious and weary hunters suddenly let Castiel firmly into their friend zone? To trust him despite all their experiences tell them that angels are dicks and always have an agenda? I would say no. It is not very plausible in my eyes and seems very out of character for especially Sam.
Sam calls Castiel with the familiar “Cas” nickname in 5.02 and doesn’t seem to mind the angel first telling him and his brother off about the apocalypse despite that he knows Castiel and the angels have been lying to both of them about Lilith(Dean must have told him at least that part) and then lets same angel take off with his gift amulet to Dean. Sure Cas whatever you need?? Castiel has not proven himself worthy of such trust and familiarity from Sam yet. Maybe during season 5 he will but the whole premise of his character at this point doesn't match up with the role he suddenly has right from the beginning of this season. Other than the writers saying so and that just doesn’t work for me.
Now for Dean. Dean have interacted more with Castiel than Sam and therefore could have more reasons to trust him. But even if Dean would trust Castiel based on the angels actions during season 4, it wouldn't be to the extent he shows right from the beginning of the season.
Suddenly Castiel is a friend and a trusted ally that is allowed to make Dean part with a necklace, that he never takes off, he lets Castiel get away with blaming him for not stopping the apocalypse when we all know that Dean is more than aware of the angels dubiousness in that aspect and he feels compelled to take the angel to a whorehouse to get that pesky angelic virginity taken care of?? Really Dean, really?*confused*
Here again I must ask, how and where has Castiel proven himself worthy of such trust or familiarity from Dean? This is a creature he has been manipulated by constantly, who hasn’t done much else but getting him beat up and never seems to be able to stick around long enough to give a straight answer, but still suddenly he is described by Dean as “my friend Cas”? When did that happen? We don’t get any slow, logical or even visible progression, they where barely on speaking terms by the end of season 4 and suddenly the friendship is just there and you better believe it!*still confused*
Can Castiel’s one right action during 4.22 be used as a free-from-all-blame card followed by convenient character whitewashing to suddenly move him firmly onto the side of team Winchester and make both Dean and Sam trust him? It just doesn't add up.
So all this talk is to explain my biggest beef with the show and how the Castiel’s character is being portrayed in season 5.
There is absolutely no grounds at all for the brothers to trust Castiel yet, he has done nothing but follow orders and manipulate both of them so far and I find it pretty unreasonable that the show wants to paint him as a friend and ally of both of them right from the beginning of the season and not let this progress natural throughout the episodes. Making Dean slap the friend sign on him in that brief sentence in 5.01, doesn’t make it so.
This is too much “relationship” conjured out of the thin air and I can't see past this disconnect, so it just isn't believable for me. There is no validation at all for this sudden shift in Castiel's relationship with Sam and Dean.
So this is the reason why I have gone from actually liking and enjoying the character to being irritated with the whole thing.
And apparently I just had to write a messy book about it?*facepalms* Oh well I just needed to get these thoughts out of my system. Impressed if anyone managed to read this far:) Feel free to disagree or not, we all have our own opinion on this:)