[Fandom: It....was Thursday!]

[static_pixie]

THE FLUFF

So now we've got Lilith's "listen to your heart", Uriel's "tell your brother to get off his high horse" and Castiel's "you especially know what that means, Dean." So the angels left Dean down in hell so that he would understand what it meant to see the world destroyed? At any rate, he's gotten over Castiel's "I can throw you back in" SINCE THAT IS BLATANTLY NOT TRUE IF IT WAS GOD WHO ORDERED THEM TO BRING HIM UP IN THE FIRST PLACE. Just saying.

But that makes him untouchable in a way, doesn't it? He has God's protection for some reason, hell, he even has a mark. You know who else had God's protection AND was marked out? CAIN. And it wasn't for a good reason, either.

...I think I might kind of ship Ruby/Castiel right now. I have to admit, Castiel ramped up his game in this episode and actually showed some emotion, so now I'm in. Though dear God, if I have to listen to the squee. :P I think that was the problem. Like the point thus far has been that Castiel has shown no humanity, been really cardboard; Misha said in an interview that it was weird trying to play him for that reason. So I had trouble seeing where all this personality was people were SO, SO, SO excited about. Besides the hotness which I never saw; to me, he kind of looks like McDreamy and I never understood what that was all about, so.

How HOT was Sam when he just went striding into that room? CAN WE TALK ABOUT THIS? That was badass. The angels may be following Dean's orders but Sammy's not. And his eyes. Did they go from yellow to black? Does that say something about Azazel, that perhaps he's not so fallen?

"Me AND my brother." = sweetest moment in the episode! And it was so sad how EAGER Sam was to meet the angels and Castiel wouldn't even take his hand at first. GUESS WHO THAT REMINDED ME OF? I'LL GIVE YOU A HINT. HIS NAME STARTS WITH "D" AND ENDS WITH "RACO". It's been a while, though, since Sam's soul was crushed. He was kind of overdue. Remember when that used to happen like every episode?

DEAN WANTS TO BE A SEXY CHEERLEADER, IT IS CANON! I love how he so didn't get why Sam was looking at him like that, though I bet it also has something to do with Ruby since if she's been around since the plague, she's technically a 700-year-old hag, give or take.

I'm trying to remember when my, 'OH MY GOD HOW IS JENSEN SO PRETTY?' moment happened this episode, and I think it was actually either during the cheerleader part 'cause I think that's the only thing that could sidetrack me.

THE STUFF (sorta...)

"I don't envy the weight on your shoulders."

The funny thing about that quote, is that it applies to pretty much anyone. Not on Dean's scale, of course, but everyone has to make choices. I feel like it's what they've really been pounding in this season; it's not whether you choose right or wrong, it's whether you make a choice at all. Because most of the time, that's the best you can do and just hope the repercussions aren't too bad. I love that Uriel was actually overcompensating, that's no lie, for the fact that he has no free will and the 'mudmonkeys' do (I could say something about race here, but I'll be nice). Power is just power, it has its limitations, but choice remains at this constant high. Clearly, even passing judgment over kids, looking down on them, is a bad idea; they'll use their free will to egg your car. XD

And I think it's fascinating that they've chosen Dean for this since Dean is the last person to really choose. Of course he says they have to save the town, that's what's been ingrained in him since he was young; he might as well have gotten that order from his own father. But when it came time to really decide how to do that, the first reason Dean gave against Sam using his powers was 'the angels say it's wrong.' Use the knife, stick with what we know even if it means we don't succeed. This entire time they had you thinking that Dean was the moral one, Dean was the one who knew wrong from right, but when it comes right down to it, Sam's always been the one more invested in bending the "rules" to save people while Dean was more invested in hunting things. You saw it in Nightmare, you saw it in Simon Says, you saw it every single time Dean used the 'it's evil. We hunt evil' excuse. Dean has to be a hero because otherwise he's nothing; Sam can just kind of be Sam.

But now I guess the masks are off. Sam's been the one called selfish this entire time, but watching him bleed and go through excruciating pain to defeat Samhain had the exact opposite effect on Dean that I'd thought it would. And, ironically, just as Dean is being turned into that hero he's subconsciously always thought he was, he's starting to move past that kind of selfishness. Compare the beginning of the episode with the one kid Dean totally judged to the end where he's just a quiet observer of a who bunch of children, no connection, no investment in them beyond the fact that they exist. The victims in this episode were all random; Castiel and Uriel's victims would have been random. Generally there's kind of that 'victim of the week' that we're made to care about so we understand why it's worth it, but not here. I guess that's part of the 'magic' of Halloween, anonymity in a crowd. You're just one of a pack of children, no better and no worse despite the fact that everyone wants to think their costume is exceptional. I mean, it makes sense; for Dean, Sam's always been the exception to the rule, but if you're gonna work on their scale, I suppose there can be no exceptions (though Sam'll still be Dean's exception no matter what and I think that's actually a good thing). There can be no vacillating, you just use the tools that you've been given to get the job done.

It's also really odd that they're using Lilith as a villain here since she's kind of the bastion of choice; if you believe that story, she made the first one. Of course, I also think that everyone's kind of mistaken Lilith's motives. When she first saw Sam, she kissed him. Not that it really matters because everything happens the same way no matter what her motives, but she is Lucifer's wife in mythology, so this probably isn't even about ending the world, maybe that's just something Lilith's willing to sacrifice in order to get her SO back. The things we do for love, for our own exceptions to the rule.