This post is beautiful, I have nothing else to say. Something related to what you say about Dean's paternal role toward Cas: it's clear to me that, when Dean accepts that when angels care it break them apart, Dean has given up on Castiel on his help, on pushing him. He's accepted that Cas couldn't help himself and that his choices and decisions were the natural result of angels trying to act differently than their nature. Pushing him to think for himself, to chose what was right instead of remaining a mindless soldier that the higher-ups in angel-land were manipulating, he effectively made Cas care, showed Cas a different way. And see? that's what it came up to: a big mess.
It's all SO sad and heartbreaking but I like how it puts the ball in Cas's court. If he comes back to help, it'll be Cas's choice because I don't think Dean will ask him for anything more.
Great catch with Dean being like a dad when he threatened to stop the car. It struck me like that at first but I didn't know if there was a deeper meaning to it.
Man. YES. Leviathans aside, Cas returning, ready and willing to help once again in fighting the good fight would be a huge victory alone. Especially for Dean, and what it would mean to him, not only on a personal level, but a philosophical one also. Because it is heartbreaking that Dean now believes he's somehow broken Castiel. That there's something so impossible about what Dean sees as essentially HUMAN and NECESSARY that it makes Angels fall apart. And tragic that the only creature powerful enough to help him, to SAVE him is also doomed to being destroyed by him.
I like it. It explains a lot about where Castiel is now:
This is pretty much Castiel's headspace right now. Traumatized by the repercussions his actions have had on Sam, Dean and the world, he chooses inaction. Observation.
...as well as where Dean is/has been in regard to him. I've always had a lot of trouble wrapping my head around the "Castiel is Dean's friend" thing (much less "Castiel is family"), but if you look at like this:
What Dean needs is for Cas to once again be equal or greater than him. Not lesser than. He needs that strength and force of a terrifying Angel at his side that Cas once so willingly gave him....that is more the way Dean has always related to Cas--more as a father figure/protector than as an equal. Castiel has pointed this out, and even the other angels have mentioned the fact that Dean calls on Cas when he needs something from him. It certainly dovetails in well with the season's theme of the Winchesters having everything and everyone they depend upon taken away. Because of course that's always made
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I've always had a lot of trouble wrapping my head around the "Castiel is Dean's friend" thing
I know what you mean. Their relationship isn't that simple. Though I tend to see Cas as having been a kind of dangerous, yet devoted Pitbull. Protector, but definitely not a father-figure. Slowly learning from his new owner who saved him from the pound or dog fighting club or something... While Cas has been his protector, he's also been dependent on Dean for many things too, as Dean attempted to "re-train" him. And at this point, the training has failed, or maybe backfired. It's as if the one way in which Cas once made Dean feel safer has simply disappeared.
I'm interested in how that's going to end this season, as well as how Bobby's dilemma will be resolved, and not least--how Dean is going to wind up. I'm thinking some sort of Cliffhanger of Angst, in which Dean breaks and we have to wait until next season to see him fixed?Me too. If this season's cliffhanger revolves around Dean, (Remember the good ol' days of 2.22 and
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This is very insightful. I think you have pinpointed where the relationship between Dean and Cas has gone, with Dean now responsible for someone essentially childlike. And you are absolutely right that he does not need that!
Has Dean ever got what he needs? Isn't that or of the basic themes of the series? Dean never gets what he needs from his father, from his brother, from sharing his life with his lover and his (not) son, or from his angel--even when his angel is trying to give him what he needs, it doesn't ever truly work out.
The only one who ever seemed to focus on what Dean needed was Bobby and now Bobby is dead and a ghost and that's all going to hell in a hand-basket.
Also, where Cas's through-line is concerned there's a huge piece missing in any meta I've read and certainly in the series. Cas screwed up a lot, but his greatest mistake, fault, sin--whatever you want to call it was challenging God. That was Cas's greatest failure. What he did was repeat Lucifer's original sin.
I think a lot of the time, the things we need most are the hardest things to ask for, and the hardest to come by. In that sense, I think it's a theme that's simple and very human, and I like that, even though it can be painful to watch someone go through that struggle.
As for Bobby, I don't know if I'd agree that he was even someone all that focused on Dean's needs. I think he understood how Dean ticks in ways Sam didn't, but I don't feel like he went out of his way much more than Sam to make sure he was okay. They both did, on occasion, but they also both allow Dean to brush their concerns off to a great extent, neither of them trying very much to push past Dean's defences. I mean Bobby even encouraged him to build them up further.
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Something related to what you say about Dean's paternal role toward Cas: it's clear to me that, when Dean accepts that when angels care it break them apart, Dean has given up on Castiel on his help, on pushing him. He's accepted that Cas couldn't help himself and that his choices and decisions were the natural result of angels trying to act differently than their nature. Pushing him to think for himself, to chose what was right instead of remaining a mindless soldier that the higher-ups in angel-land were manipulating, he effectively made Cas care, showed Cas a different way. And see? that's what it came up to: a big mess.
It's all SO sad and heartbreaking but I like how it puts the ball in Cas's court. If he comes back to help, it'll be Cas's choice because I don't think Dean will ask him for anything more.
Great catch with Dean being like a dad when he threatened to stop the car. It struck me like that at first but I didn't know if there was a deeper meaning to it.
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This is pretty much Castiel's headspace right now. Traumatized by the repercussions his actions have had on Sam, Dean and the world, he chooses inaction. Observation.
...as well as where Dean is/has been in regard to him. I've always had a lot of trouble wrapping my head around the "Castiel is Dean's friend" thing (much less "Castiel is family"), but if you look at like this:
What Dean needs is for Cas to once again be equal or greater than him. Not lesser than. He needs that strength and force of a terrifying Angel at his side that Cas once so willingly gave him....that is more the way Dean has always related to Cas--more as a father figure/protector than as an equal. Castiel has pointed this out, and even the other angels have mentioned the fact that Dean calls on Cas when he needs something from him. It certainly dovetails in well with the season's theme of the Winchesters having everything and everyone they depend upon taken away. Because of course that's always made ( ... )
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I've always had a lot of trouble wrapping my head around the "Castiel is Dean's friend" thing
I know what you mean. Their relationship isn't that simple. Though I tend to see Cas as having been a kind of dangerous, yet devoted Pitbull. Protector, but definitely not a father-figure. Slowly learning from his new owner who saved him from the pound or dog fighting club or something... While Cas has been his protector, he's also been dependent on Dean for many things too, as Dean attempted to "re-train" him. And at this point, the training has failed, or maybe backfired. It's as if the one way in which Cas once made Dean feel safer has simply disappeared.
I'm interested in how that's going to end this season, as well as how Bobby's dilemma will be resolved, and not least--how Dean is going to wind up. I'm thinking some sort of Cliffhanger of Angst, in which Dean breaks and we have to wait until next season to see him fixed?Me too. If this season's cliffhanger revolves around Dean, (Remember the good ol' days of 2.22 and ( ... )
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The only one who ever seemed to focus on what Dean needed was Bobby and now Bobby is dead and a ghost and that's all going to hell in a hand-basket.
Also, where Cas's through-line is concerned there's a huge piece missing in any meta I've read and certainly in the series. Cas screwed up a lot, but his greatest mistake, fault, sin--whatever you want to call it was challenging God. That was Cas's greatest failure. What he did was repeat Lucifer's original sin.
P.S. I loved Searching for Bobby Fisher.
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As for Bobby, I don't know if I'd agree that he was even someone all that focused on Dean's needs. I think he understood how Dean ticks in ways Sam didn't, but I don't feel like he went out of his way much more than Sam to make sure he was okay. They both did, on occasion, but they also both allow Dean to brush their concerns off to a great extent, neither of them trying very much to push past Dean's defences. I mean Bobby even encouraged him to build them up further.
(Searching for Bobby Fisher IS great, isn't it?)
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