Some Random Castiel Feelings
Just some things I thought about last night after trolling tumblr because my brain is weird and likes to give me sad Cas feels in the middle of the night. This is INCREDIBLY LONG.
I saw those gif sets on tumblr of 6.20-6.22 when Dean was all "We were family once" and "I would have died for you, almost did a couple times" and "I was there, where were you". Just got me thinking. I want to rant about those statements and my issues with them and that aspect of Season 6.
Let's start at the beginning. First off, I was laughing so hard at that meme on tumblr with Cas saying "You love me like brother? The one you sold your soul for or the one still burning in hell" Because OUCH. That burn HURT. But love the Winchesters or not you have to admit Adam got a bum deal. I mean, some of that is just due to lazy writing. Obviously they planned for Dean say no to Michael so they had to come up with a surprise!vessel. I'm pretty sure they never intended to actually go anywhere with Adam's story beyond that. And originally Supernatural was gonna end in Season 5. So..yea. But it didn't, so now it just looks like no one cares about poor Adam. I'm sure that wasn't the original intent but they really should have tried harder to tie that story off. Have one of the angels or someone make some comment about Adam's soul being released from hell or SOMETHING. But come on, that's some lazy writing.
ANYWAY. My point is, like Adam, I can see Castiel kind of being the outcast brother.
"You're like a brother to me..closest thing I have to family"
Is that so?
When times got hard for Sam or Dean. Or Bobby( because if anyone else is a good example of 'family don't end in blood', it's obviously Bobby) they didn't give up. They tried EVERY possible alternative before going with the worst case scenario. Yet, they simply suspect Cas(their brother) of lying and they trap him in holy fire and subsequently plan to kill him..Hmmm ok then.
My point here is their words don't match the actions. If you love someone like family. And you would go as far as to DIE for them. That's serious. You're not going to turn your back on them the instant you suspect they're doing something you don't like. I've seen whole movies based on this. The hero/main character has a friend/lover that's doing shady stuff/not themselves and is in trouble. But they care about them so much they can't bring themselves to hurt/stop them. Of course this causes more trouble. But the point is, when you care that much about someone; it defines your actions. It's not believable to say things like that then the next minute plot to kill the person. Someone brought up the good point that BEFORE Cas lost it and broke Sam's wall/killed Balthazar etc.. - they were pretty much against him. They didn't even know what he was lying ABOUT. And they were ready to trap him in holy fire and totally turn their backs on them. And after that but before he became "Godstiel" - they planned to kill him. They did. They were going to do 'whatever it took to stop him'.
You can say "well they tried to defend him once or twice in this or that episode. ..yada yada" Again, another problem with this season and trying to have any solid arguments on anything is that everything was hugely inconsistent. All the plots had holes. All the story arcs had flaws. All the characters acted OOC at some point. They'd say this in one episode and act another way in another episode. I know that. But for the sake of the argument, I'm going to just go on the basis of what I think show was TRYING to get across (and failed to).
"I was there, where were you?"
Let's be real. They had JUST adverted the end of the world. Dean is still living with the fresh wound of Sam being in hell. Seasons 4 and 5 were probably the worse part of their sucky lives. That was probably the worst it's ever been for them. And you expect me to believe if Cas had come to Dean like he planned in 6.20 (the flashbacks) that Dean would have been like "Of course, Cas! We're pals, whatever you need!" No. And honestly, I wouldn't expect him to. More like "Dude, after everything that's happened do you think I wanna get involved in all that again?" And that would have a reasonable response. So, no. Even if he had wanted to be, he wouldn't have 'been there'.
Not to mention ANYTIME Cas asked for helped they scoffed. This is something that's always bothered me. For one thing, whenever Cas asked for anything (RARELY) it was for ALL their benefits. He didn't ask something just for the sole purpose of his own agendas. Anything he was trying to do was for the benefit of Winchesters, THEIR plans, or the fate of the world/heaven..etc. One scene that really stands out to me is 6.03 (The Third Man) when THEY call Cas down to help them with their case. Which happens to overlap Cas' 'case'.. so Cas says "actually I need your help on this" and they literally scoff and roll their eyes. Um. THE SAME THING HE'S ASKING THEIR HELP FOR IS THE EXACT SAME PROBLEM THEY JUST CALLED HIM DOWN TO SOLVE (FOR THEM). They were basically working the same case. Just different angles. And yet, they expect him to "get down here when we call, come right away"..etc. But when HE asks for anything, even if they have THE SAME GOAL..they don't even take him seriously.
They refuse to help him and it's no big deal. He's confused, torn and having a existential crisis and he refuses to help them (but always does anyway) and they freak out and threaten to kill him or never speak to him again. And again, I'm supposed to believe if he actually sat down in early Season 6 and said "guys, before I get in over my head, help?" that they would? Despite the fact that he tried to reach out a multiple occasions and got "blah blah Raphael".
Can I again mention the shortsightedness there? If I worked for years at something, died for it and had friends die for it and someone told me that was all about to be undone, you don't think I'd be interested in that? I've heard people say: "well he never really gave them many details about it, why should they have cared?" Um, all he needed to say was "the world's gonna end again" and they should have jumped. And he did say that much. If they were so inclined they could asked about it. But they never do. Never show any concern for his well being even though he's in a war. Never show any concern that he might be dead and that's why he doesn't show up 'on command'. Only that's it an inconvenience to their fairly inconsequential problems.
Oh, I hear the dissenters. "They were busy with Sam's soul!" Which had what to do with ANYTHING? It had no bearing on anything but themselves. Yea, yea, Dean cares about Sam..etc..he comes first..I know that. But considering that was a weak and completely pointless plot line that shouldn't have lasted more than a couple episodes, they could have at least started caring about Cas' (and the worlds!) issue after they got Sam's soul back. "But the Mother of All was causing havoc then!" Oh you mean that chick that was in a total of like 5 episodes and barely killed anyone and didn't actually have any grand world ending agendas in the first place?
And I hear the hardcore Winchester defenders. "But he was gonna open purgatory!" Oh, right, of course. I see how suddenly after 19 episodes they start to care about the fate of the world. Before it was just a crazy archangel and the end of the world and the universe as we know it. And the complete undoing of all their work and Sam would have basically went to hell and suffered for nothing. No big deal. No reason for alarm. "Cas might die if goes through with this plan!" Oh well. They didn't seem to mind that too much either. "Well, there's super vague possibly bad stuff in purgatory that may or not be worse than Raphael but more importantly Cas is a liar!" *DING DING DING* Better stop that big bad Cas from saving the world and 'betraying' us! But let's not have any back up plans. That way if Cas does release something bad from purgatory we'll have to deal with that AND Raphael and Cas won't be around to help. Yes. This is a good plan.
:| Ok. Sorry no, that will never make any sense to me.
"I would have died for him/you"
First off, I can't see Sam or Dean dying for Cas. Dying for each other, sure. They're codependent. They can't be without each other. How many times have they said "I'm not leaving my brother behind", tried to bring each other back to life, die in each others' place...etc? So, I have a understandably hard time believing they would risk their lives to help Cas if it meant abandoning/endangering each other. That's fine. That's the Winchesters. It's part of their dynamic, OK.
"Well they obviously just meant that metaphorically!" Ok, well I've asked this several times and gotten no answers: When Dean says in 6.22 "I almost did (die for you) a couple of times". What is he referring to? When did he do this? He helped Cas here and there but again, that was group effort, they were all involved and had stake in the outcome. But when he did almost DIE in helping Cas do anything? Was this a deleted scene? In between episodes and not shown? Are we just supposed to assume? I can't think of one time Dean literally 'almost died' for Cas' sake. Sorry. Refresh my memory?
"We were family"
Really? Basically he said "Hey, I've still basically turned my back on you and only consider you a friend in the past tense." Um..not very compelling of an argument. I see what he was trying to get at but he phrased it very poorly.
My number one problem with Cas' whole story arc was they tried too hard to make him look bad. It wasn't just about 'evolving his character' and 'developing' his emotional characterization in new ways' like they claimed. IMO, it was to make him look like a bad guy so we wouldn't miss him we they got rid of him (he was originally supposed to die at the end of Season 6 anyway). Many times it's clear they were just making things up as they went along. The Mother of All, the Alphas, the Heavenly weapons, all half baked story arcs. Then they tried at the last minute to make it look like Cas somehow cooked all this up and was 'such a bad guy' for trying to save the world and all that, you know. Most of his 'lies'; the titanic, killing Rachel/Balthazar..etc..were never even revealed to the Winchesters. They only suspected him of lying about Crowley, they had no idea why. And even when they did they flipped out in the most ridiculous way. The whole "we have to stop Cas from saving the world but we have no plan for purgatory, for even 'stopping Cas' or taking down Raphael whatsoever" was just embarrassing.
It just baffles me how anyone could still try to defend any of that otherwise.
"He forgot Sam's soul!" Gimme a break. That was just another weak plot hole they tried to fill. They never fully explained the point of the Grandpa and the cousins (that idea Crowley 'needed' them or whatever is so weak) or Sam's soullessness. Plus, he got the dude out of Hell. Let's be honest. If he got Sam of hell, soul intact - he still would have been screwed. Only Death had the power to put up the 'wall' in Sam's head. Which was bound to fall if only for dramatic pretenses and an excuse to give Sam more problems for another season. So people would have complained about that "He got Sam out of hell and he knew he was messed up! the jerk" He couldn't win that one either way.
"He worked with Crowley!" Do I really need to go there? Who hasn't? What's the big deal with this? Is anyone actually still using this as a legitimately relevant argument for anything?
"He lost his mind and did bad stuff in pursuit of his goal!" Again, this is Supernatural. Who hasn't? This is so weak as a basis for anything. If anything, it just strengthens the fact Cas is a Winchester. Supernatural would have ended in Season 3 if they didn't keep screwing things up. It's what they do! It's called plot device and characterization and parallelism. Expect the failed on that because they basically had Cas do very Winchester like things and yet condemn him for it.
Anyway, that was long. I've said pretty much all these things before but I just felt like rehashing old feelings for some reason.
I'm curious about 7.17 and his subsequent episodes because despite all the guilt Castiel should and probably will feel (once his memory is back), I doubt they will seriously address his feelings. If anything they will only address his guilt in terms of how it effects the Winchesters. I doubt they will consider the fact that everything; he's a victim too and he deserves a couple of apologies himself. It'll be all about how he did terrible things and he'll probably get yelled at and then die/almost die (cliff hanger) to save the Winchesters again so he can have redemption and 'closure'. Whatever. We'll see.
I saw those gif sets on tumblr of 6.20-6.22 when Dean was all "We were family once" and "I would have died for you, almost did a couple times" and "I was there, where were you". Just got me thinking. I want to rant about those statements and my issues with them and that aspect of Season 6.
Let's start at the beginning. First off, I was laughing so hard at that meme on tumblr with Cas saying "You love me like brother? The one you sold your soul for or the one still burning in hell" Because OUCH. That burn HURT. But love the Winchesters or not you have to admit Adam got a bum deal. I mean, some of that is just due to lazy writing. Obviously they planned for Dean say no to Michael so they had to come up with a surprise!vessel. I'm pretty sure they never intended to actually go anywhere with Adam's story beyond that. And originally Supernatural was gonna end in Season 5. So..yea. But it didn't, so now it just looks like no one cares about poor Adam. I'm sure that wasn't the original intent but they really should have tried harder to tie that story off. Have one of the angels or someone make some comment about Adam's soul being released from hell or SOMETHING. But come on, that's some lazy writing.
ANYWAY. My point is, like Adam, I can see Castiel kind of being the outcast brother.
"You're like a brother to me..closest thing I have to family"
Is that so?
When times got hard for Sam or Dean. Or Bobby( because if anyone else is a good example of 'family don't end in blood', it's obviously Bobby) they didn't give up. They tried EVERY possible alternative before going with the worst case scenario. Yet, they simply suspect Cas(their brother) of lying and they trap him in holy fire and subsequently plan to kill him..Hmmm ok then.
My point here is their words don't match the actions. If you love someone like family. And you would go as far as to DIE for them. That's serious. You're not going to turn your back on them the instant you suspect they're doing something you don't like. I've seen whole movies based on this. The hero/main character has a friend/lover that's doing shady stuff/not themselves and is in trouble. But they care about them so much they can't bring themselves to hurt/stop them. Of course this causes more trouble. But the point is, when you care that much about someone; it defines your actions. It's not believable to say things like that then the next minute plot to kill the person. Someone brought up the good point that BEFORE Cas lost it and broke Sam's wall/killed Balthazar etc.. - they were pretty much against him. They didn't even know what he was lying ABOUT. And they were ready to trap him in holy fire and totally turn their backs on them. And after that but before he became "Godstiel" - they planned to kill him. They did. They were going to do 'whatever it took to stop him'.
You can say "well they tried to defend him once or twice in this or that episode. ..yada yada" Again, another problem with this season and trying to have any solid arguments on anything is that everything was hugely inconsistent. All the plots had holes. All the story arcs had flaws. All the characters acted OOC at some point. They'd say this in one episode and act another way in another episode. I know that. But for the sake of the argument, I'm going to just go on the basis of what I think show was TRYING to get across (and failed to).
"I was there, where were you?"
Let's be real. They had JUST adverted the end of the world. Dean is still living with the fresh wound of Sam being in hell. Seasons 4 and 5 were probably the worse part of their sucky lives. That was probably the worst it's ever been for them. And you expect me to believe if Cas had come to Dean like he planned in 6.20 (the flashbacks) that Dean would have been like "Of course, Cas! We're pals, whatever you need!" No. And honestly, I wouldn't expect him to. More like "Dude, after everything that's happened do you think I wanna get involved in all that again?" And that would have a reasonable response. So, no. Even if he had wanted to be, he wouldn't have 'been there'.
Not to mention ANYTIME Cas asked for helped they scoffed. This is something that's always bothered me. For one thing, whenever Cas asked for anything (RARELY) it was for ALL their benefits. He didn't ask something just for the sole purpose of his own agendas. Anything he was trying to do was for the benefit of Winchesters, THEIR plans, or the fate of the world/heaven..etc. One scene that really stands out to me is 6.03 (The Third Man) when THEY call Cas down to help them with their case. Which happens to overlap Cas' 'case'.. so Cas says "actually I need your help on this" and they literally scoff and roll their eyes. Um. THE SAME THING HE'S ASKING THEIR HELP FOR IS THE EXACT SAME PROBLEM THEY JUST CALLED HIM DOWN TO SOLVE (FOR THEM). They were basically working the same case. Just different angles. And yet, they expect him to "get down here when we call, come right away"..etc. But when HE asks for anything, even if they have THE SAME GOAL..they don't even take him seriously.
They refuse to help him and it's no big deal. He's confused, torn and having a existential crisis and he refuses to help them (but always does anyway) and they freak out and threaten to kill him or never speak to him again. And again, I'm supposed to believe if he actually sat down in early Season 6 and said "guys, before I get in over my head, help?" that they would? Despite the fact that he tried to reach out a multiple occasions and got "blah blah Raphael".
Can I again mention the shortsightedness there? If I worked for years at something, died for it and had friends die for it and someone told me that was all about to be undone, you don't think I'd be interested in that? I've heard people say: "well he never really gave them many details about it, why should they have cared?" Um, all he needed to say was "the world's gonna end again" and they should have jumped. And he did say that much. If they were so inclined they could asked about it. But they never do. Never show any concern for his well being even though he's in a war. Never show any concern that he might be dead and that's why he doesn't show up 'on command'. Only that's it an inconvenience to their fairly inconsequential problems.
Oh, I hear the dissenters. "They were busy with Sam's soul!" Which had what to do with ANYTHING? It had no bearing on anything but themselves. Yea, yea, Dean cares about Sam..etc..he comes first..I know that. But considering that was a weak and completely pointless plot line that shouldn't have lasted more than a couple episodes, they could have at least started caring about Cas' (and the worlds!) issue after they got Sam's soul back. "But the Mother of All was causing havoc then!" Oh you mean that chick that was in a total of like 5 episodes and barely killed anyone and didn't actually have any grand world ending agendas in the first place?
And I hear the hardcore Winchester defenders. "But he was gonna open purgatory!" Oh, right, of course. I see how suddenly after 19 episodes they start to care about the fate of the world. Before it was just a crazy archangel and the end of the world and the universe as we know it. And the complete undoing of all their work and Sam would have basically went to hell and suffered for nothing. No big deal. No reason for alarm. "Cas might die if goes through with this plan!" Oh well. They didn't seem to mind that too much either. "Well, there's super vague possibly bad stuff in purgatory that may or not be worse than Raphael but more importantly Cas is a liar!" *DING DING DING* Better stop that big bad Cas from saving the world and 'betraying' us! But let's not have any back up plans. That way if Cas does release something bad from purgatory we'll have to deal with that AND Raphael and Cas won't be around to help. Yes. This is a good plan.
:| Ok. Sorry no, that will never make any sense to me.
"I would have died for him/you"
First off, I can't see Sam or Dean dying for Cas. Dying for each other, sure. They're codependent. They can't be without each other. How many times have they said "I'm not leaving my brother behind", tried to bring each other back to life, die in each others' place...etc? So, I have a understandably hard time believing they would risk their lives to help Cas if it meant abandoning/endangering each other. That's fine. That's the Winchesters. It's part of their dynamic, OK.
"Well they obviously just meant that metaphorically!" Ok, well I've asked this several times and gotten no answers: When Dean says in 6.22 "I almost did (die for you) a couple of times". What is he referring to? When did he do this? He helped Cas here and there but again, that was group effort, they were all involved and had stake in the outcome. But when he did almost DIE in helping Cas do anything? Was this a deleted scene? In between episodes and not shown? Are we just supposed to assume? I can't think of one time Dean literally 'almost died' for Cas' sake. Sorry. Refresh my memory?
"We were family"
Really? Basically he said "Hey, I've still basically turned my back on you and only consider you a friend in the past tense." Um..not very compelling of an argument. I see what he was trying to get at but he phrased it very poorly.
My number one problem with Cas' whole story arc was they tried too hard to make him look bad. It wasn't just about 'evolving his character' and 'developing' his emotional characterization in new ways' like they claimed. IMO, it was to make him look like a bad guy so we wouldn't miss him we they got rid of him (he was originally supposed to die at the end of Season 6 anyway). Many times it's clear they were just making things up as they went along. The Mother of All, the Alphas, the Heavenly weapons, all half baked story arcs. Then they tried at the last minute to make it look like Cas somehow cooked all this up and was 'such a bad guy' for trying to save the world and all that, you know. Most of his 'lies'; the titanic, killing Rachel/Balthazar..etc..were never even revealed to the Winchesters. They only suspected him of lying about Crowley, they had no idea why. And even when they did they flipped out in the most ridiculous way. The whole "we have to stop Cas from saving the world but we have no plan for purgatory, for even 'stopping Cas' or taking down Raphael whatsoever" was just embarrassing.
It just baffles me how anyone could still try to defend any of that otherwise.
"He forgot Sam's soul!" Gimme a break. That was just another weak plot hole they tried to fill. They never fully explained the point of the Grandpa and the cousins (that idea Crowley 'needed' them or whatever is so weak) or Sam's soullessness. Plus, he got the dude out of Hell. Let's be honest. If he got Sam of hell, soul intact - he still would have been screwed. Only Death had the power to put up the 'wall' in Sam's head. Which was bound to fall if only for dramatic pretenses and an excuse to give Sam more problems for another season. So people would have complained about that "He got Sam out of hell and he knew he was messed up! the jerk" He couldn't win that one either way.
"He worked with Crowley!" Do I really need to go there? Who hasn't? What's the big deal with this? Is anyone actually still using this as a legitimately relevant argument for anything?
"He lost his mind and did bad stuff in pursuit of his goal!" Again, this is Supernatural. Who hasn't? This is so weak as a basis for anything. If anything, it just strengthens the fact Cas is a Winchester. Supernatural would have ended in Season 3 if they didn't keep screwing things up. It's what they do! It's called plot device and characterization and parallelism. Expect the failed on that because they basically had Cas do very Winchester like things and yet condemn him for it.
Anyway, that was long. I've said pretty much all these things before but I just felt like rehashing old feelings for some reason.
I'm curious about 7.17 and his subsequent episodes because despite all the guilt Castiel should and probably will feel (once his memory is back), I doubt they will seriously address his feelings. If anything they will only address his guilt in terms of how it effects the Winchesters. I doubt they will consider the fact that everything; he's a victim too and he deserves a couple of apologies himself. It'll be all about how he did terrible things and he'll probably get yelled at and then die/almost die (cliff hanger) to save the Winchesters again so he can have redemption and 'closure'. Whatever. We'll see.