Supernatural 6.19: If war is hell, what does it turn angels into?
Tonight’s episode marked the culmination of something that’s been building with Castiel for all of season six: he’s been leading his angel brethren in a civil war against Raphael, and as any commander does, he’s been making sacrifices to pull ahead in battle. We never see the war, but we see the effect it has on him. He’s frustrated and exhausted and increasingly desperate, and we see that with the decisions he makes from using the brothers as bait in The French Mistake to having Balthazar save the Titanic in order to create thousands of more souls to tonights reveal of his distinctly unholy alliance with Crowley, the supposedly dead King of Hell.
(I’m not at all surprised that Crowley is still alive; in the weeks since that episode, I’ve come to suspect there was more at work there, because his death was far too efficient, too quick, and it didn’t ring true. The question I have is when did Castiel and Crowley ally, and who approached whom?)
Back when I watched Heroes, one of my favorite characters was the character initially known as Horn Rimmed Glasses, who was eventually revealed to not only be an agent but Claire’s adoptive father, and HRG’s most important characteristic was his moral grayness. He did bad things, he was ruthless as hell, but that wasn’t all he was, and his intentions were certainly never really evil. He was morally gray, and I think that’s what Castiel has become in this war. He ended season five resurrected and purified by God, completely certain of his path, but by the time season six began, that had already begun to tarnish and darken as he battled for the future of the human and angelic races. He’d already become ruthless - the way he reached in to touch the soul of the boy using the Rod of Moses was just the first indication; that’s just something Cas wouldn’t have been able to do so easily before, even when faced with the apocalypse.
This ruthlessness has just grown as the season’s gone on, and it’s become more obvious since Sam’s soul was restored. Maybe it’s because with the soulless version of Sam exhibiting his own brand of ruthlessness, Castiel’s was easily overlooked, but I think that’s not the case. Instead, I think Cas is starting to crack. His deals and compromises are catching up with him, and he’s taken his moral grayness all the way to charcoal at this point. It’s overwhelming, and he can’t hide anymore. He’s going to have to face up to the consequences. Bobby and Sam are doubting him, and while Dean won’t allow himself to, the fact that he has to make himself believe that Castiel made a mistake is just as ominous.
It makes me wonder how the season will end for Castiel. Eventually he’s going to compromise so much that his grace might be beyond repair from anyone other than God himself, and he’s going to fall again. It’s just a matter of when, and given the history of cliffhanger season enders in Supernatural, I wouldn’t be surprised if season six ends with Cas’s status left hanging.
Mirrored from zonkered.net.