SPN 7.17 - The Born-Again Identity
Wow. I don't even know what to say.
That was an emotional roller coaster of an episode, that's for sure.
So, I was very nervous about Cas's return, to say the least. And the fact that they combined that with Sam's mental breakdown, which has been coming for a long time...well, I felt it worked, for the most part, despite some slightly sketchy plot details.
FWIW, I'm glad we didn't have to see more of Sam's hallucinations all season long, if for no other reason than it was hard seeing him like that.
I was pretty happy with Cas's return, for the most part. I was initially quite confused about why Dean wasn't telling him who he was. Although he was at least partially motivated by wanting to make sure Cas was able to help Sam, I think he had some sense of sparing Cas, as well.
It was interesting seeing Dean and "Emmanuel" talking about Cas. Dean admits that he hasn't been able to shake what happened, and I love Cas's reply - he tells Dean he's not a machine, he's human. YES - this is exactly what someone needed to say to Dean, all along, but no one did (and yes, I'm looking at you, Frank and Elliot Ness). So that was great.
Cas remembering who he was was epic - the montage while smiting the demons. (I've really missed fighting with angels and demons. It's just so epic.)
And of course, once he remembered - that talk with Dean. Amazing. I love that Dean said to Cas, "If you remember, you know you did the best you could at the time." Because it's true, of course. What Cas did was undoubtedly wrong, and he made some pretty huge mistakes, but he did think he was doing the best he could with an awful situation. Good intentions on the road to Hell, and all that.
But the fact that Dean realized that, and said it to Cas, is huge. So much of what went wrong between them at the end of S6 was based on the lack of faith in each other and inability to trust each other. So for Dean to admit that he knows Cas did the best he could, well, that's huge.
And then when Cas says "We didn't part as friends, Dean," Dean says, "So what?" And that's huge. Dean hasn't just forgiven Cas or anything, but he seems to think that it's not the end of the world. That there is still something salvageable there.
So, that was amazing, and that was all BEFORE Dean pulls Cas's trench coat out of the trunk. Now - this means that Dean has literally been carrying the coat around, transferring it to the trunks of all the cars they've been driving for months. And when he hands it to Cas, the looks on their faces - Cas can't believe Dean kept it, or what it means - ahhhhhh, amazing! I loved it.
(Yes, I ship them. I try to be rational and logical about it, but what attracts me to them more than anything is that undeniable bond that they have - which is truer now than ever, IMO, and I was flailing all over these scenes.)
So, then. Cas tries to heal Sam, but can't. Now - this whole "transfer" thing didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. I mean, I don't necessarily need it to - I can just sort of chalk it up to some supernatural thing that doesn't make much sense - but it was weird, for sure. Cas, in true martyr-Winchester-form, decides to take Sam's ailment onto himself.
What I wasn't crazy about was the ending. Last night I was downright livid, that the boys could just leave Cas there like that - with Meg, nonetheless. But, I'm confident this isn't the end. Cas has more episodes, for one thing. And I guess Dean really thought he was doing the best thing for Cas, that they couldn't take him with them. I'm not sure exactly where they were going with such urgency, but whatever. And, I mean, let's not forget that Dean's still clinically depressed, as far as I'm concerned, so yeah, he's not making the best decisions.
I'm also not really sure what purpose it served to have Cas gone for so long, then to bring him back like this. IMO, this amnesiac SL could have played out interestingly all season - Cas not remembering, the boys having to deal with that. And the remembering montage could have been even more powerful had they done that.
And I'm still not sure what the purpose of losing Cas, then Bobby, then every other damn thing was, because they now have Cas back - sort of - and I'm just not sure what that was for. Well, it gave Dean time to sort of forgive him, if nothing else, so there's that, I guess.
Oh, and there was a weird Bobby thing with the journal, leading them to Cas. That was interesting. I still wonder if/how Bobby's going to come back...not really sure though.
Okay, totally forgot about Cas being married. Just shows what an afterthought that was in the episode. Yeah, not sure what the point of that was. Sort of random and the wife was totally a throwaway character, but…yeah.
That's pretty much it for now...on the whole I was happy with the episode, and very happy that Cas is back, but yeah, I want to know more, like, now. I try to avoid spoilers though, so until next week!
That was an emotional roller coaster of an episode, that's for sure.
So, I was very nervous about Cas's return, to say the least. And the fact that they combined that with Sam's mental breakdown, which has been coming for a long time...well, I felt it worked, for the most part, despite some slightly sketchy plot details.
FWIW, I'm glad we didn't have to see more of Sam's hallucinations all season long, if for no other reason than it was hard seeing him like that.
I was pretty happy with Cas's return, for the most part. I was initially quite confused about why Dean wasn't telling him who he was. Although he was at least partially motivated by wanting to make sure Cas was able to help Sam, I think he had some sense of sparing Cas, as well.
It was interesting seeing Dean and "Emmanuel" talking about Cas. Dean admits that he hasn't been able to shake what happened, and I love Cas's reply - he tells Dean he's not a machine, he's human. YES - this is exactly what someone needed to say to Dean, all along, but no one did (and yes, I'm looking at you, Frank and Elliot Ness). So that was great.
Cas remembering who he was was epic - the montage while smiting the demons. (I've really missed fighting with angels and demons. It's just so epic.)
And of course, once he remembered - that talk with Dean. Amazing. I love that Dean said to Cas, "If you remember, you know you did the best you could at the time." Because it's true, of course. What Cas did was undoubtedly wrong, and he made some pretty huge mistakes, but he did think he was doing the best he could with an awful situation. Good intentions on the road to Hell, and all that.
But the fact that Dean realized that, and said it to Cas, is huge. So much of what went wrong between them at the end of S6 was based on the lack of faith in each other and inability to trust each other. So for Dean to admit that he knows Cas did the best he could, well, that's huge.
And then when Cas says "We didn't part as friends, Dean," Dean says, "So what?" And that's huge. Dean hasn't just forgiven Cas or anything, but he seems to think that it's not the end of the world. That there is still something salvageable there.
So, that was amazing, and that was all BEFORE Dean pulls Cas's trench coat out of the trunk. Now - this means that Dean has literally been carrying the coat around, transferring it to the trunks of all the cars they've been driving for months. And when he hands it to Cas, the looks on their faces - Cas can't believe Dean kept it, or what it means - ahhhhhh, amazing! I loved it.
(Yes, I ship them. I try to be rational and logical about it, but what attracts me to them more than anything is that undeniable bond that they have - which is truer now than ever, IMO, and I was flailing all over these scenes.)
So, then. Cas tries to heal Sam, but can't. Now - this whole "transfer" thing didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. I mean, I don't necessarily need it to - I can just sort of chalk it up to some supernatural thing that doesn't make much sense - but it was weird, for sure. Cas, in true martyr-Winchester-form, decides to take Sam's ailment onto himself.
What I wasn't crazy about was the ending. Last night I was downright livid, that the boys could just leave Cas there like that - with Meg, nonetheless. But, I'm confident this isn't the end. Cas has more episodes, for one thing. And I guess Dean really thought he was doing the best thing for Cas, that they couldn't take him with them. I'm not sure exactly where they were going with such urgency, but whatever. And, I mean, let's not forget that Dean's still clinically depressed, as far as I'm concerned, so yeah, he's not making the best decisions.
I'm also not really sure what purpose it served to have Cas gone for so long, then to bring him back like this. IMO, this amnesiac SL could have played out interestingly all season - Cas not remembering, the boys having to deal with that. And the remembering montage could have been even more powerful had they done that.
And I'm still not sure what the purpose of losing Cas, then Bobby, then every other damn thing was, because they now have Cas back - sort of - and I'm just not sure what that was for. Well, it gave Dean time to sort of forgive him, if nothing else, so there's that, I guess.
Oh, and there was a weird Bobby thing with the journal, leading them to Cas. That was interesting. I still wonder if/how Bobby's going to come back...not really sure though.
Okay, totally forgot about Cas being married. Just shows what an afterthought that was in the episode. Yeah, not sure what the point of that was. Sort of random and the wife was totally a throwaway character, but…yeah.
That's pretty much it for now...on the whole I was happy with the episode, and very happy that Cas is back, but yeah, I want to know more, like, now. I try to avoid spoilers though, so until next week!