SPN 6:07: Family Matters

[oselle]

I have to get up early tomorrow, so I'm going to keep this short.

1. I have to assume that in SPNology, the "soul" is not the unique and brilliant spirit that is the essence of our existence as sentient beings, our connection to the infinite mystery of the universe, and indeed, that which was created in the very image of God, but is more like...that little frontal lobe of the brain that would have gotten sliced out during the old-tyme lobotomies. Because their concept of a soulless person seems to me like someone who's had a partial lobotomy or is just kind of numbed out on Thorazine or some other sort of CNS depressant.

2. I highly doubt that Dante ever wrote anything about vampires going to Purgatory.

3. Okay, so let me get this straight. Crowley pulled Gramps out of heaven because he knew that Gramps was the greatest-ever authority on all creepy-crawlies and so, was the one human being in all of history who could help him find Purgatory, which Crowley apparently wants to...colonize. Or build condominiums in. Or something. So Purgatory is like...the new Brooklyn. Crowley yanked Sam's soul out of Lucifer's spiderhole so that he could use said soul as leverage to keep Gramps in line. Gramps is going along with all this not just for Sam's soul but for some as-yet undisclosed motive, which I'd suspect has something to do with springing some loved one from Purgatory (my money's on Mary Winchester). Yeah??

4. When Castiel told Dean that his problems always come first? I don't think he was being sarcastic. He just loves him so very, very much.

Comments

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Even w/in this episode. I mean, it's funny enough that the last time a Winchester was pulled out of hell it was for the fate of the world, and he had to be pulled out by angels who weren't even introduced into the world before that point.

This time it's a random demon who somehow managed to become successful down in hell while everybody else was fighting, yet is one of the least scary demons we've ever seen and so far doesn't even seem to be interested in evil.

But earlier in the ep Castiel naturally suggests that Sam's soul must be still in the cage, which sounds pretty bad. But then it turns out that nope, the land developer guy has it in a jar in his fridge or something. So it's difficult to get to, but not team of angel level difficult. More just tricky. Like more like Harry Potter needing to track down that missing locket in the Ministry of Magic level difficult.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

Speaking of which, what's with this "team of angels" crap? It took "a team of angels" to pull Dean out of hell? Since when? That's never been part of the story! In "Lazarus Rising," Castiel said, "I raised you up from perdition," not "Me and five other guys raised you up from perdition." That bit of retcon really annoyed the crap out of me. It's always been Castiel...JUST Castiel, damnit! Castiel n' Dean 4-EVER!

Not to mention, of course, that if it took a WHOLE TEAM OF ANGELS to rescue plain old Dean from plain old ordinary hell, then it's even sillier that a pissant little hoodlum like Crowley could just stroll into THE WORST PART OF HELL and pluck Sam's soul right out of Lucifer himself. I mean, really? REALLY?

GIANT FACEPALMS.

[salty-catfish.livejournal.com]

When Cas said "several angels" I was like ":O! You just destroyed an established fanfic trope!".

[oselle.livejournal.com]

And retconned their own story. There was never any previous hint that Castiel had any help on that job.

[salty-catfish.livejournal.com]

I'm telling you, this is the Season of Implausible Retcons.

[coronasunrise.livejournal.com]

I don't think it was reconning. Castiel said that the angels laid seige to hell when they found out who Dean was, but failed to get to Dean before he broke.

Castiel was the one who pulled Dean out but he wasn't the only one there.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

It's not just that Crowley would have had to pull Sam's soul out of Lucifer's CAGE...he would have had to pull LUCIFER out of SAM. Now how in the hell did he accomplish THAT?

[oselle.livejournal.com]

That just ruins my whole concept of Dean and Cas's "profound bond."

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

In my head it sort of makes it more because here's Castiel, just Angel #8 or whatever, one of a team, never thinking he'll even have that much contact with the righteous man. Then he winds up being the one who has to actually find him--maybe that was his job all along. So there was no reason that Castiel should have felt the way he does about him, but he wound up being as surprised by the bond as Dean was.

Like I remember when he says he thought Dean was one of the special humans who could hear his true voice, like in his head he'd already started imagining this person as being totally different than he was, and when he found out he was normal he was surprised to find himself even more fascinated.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

That's lovely!

*sniff!*

[oxer12.livejournal.com]

For serious! I heartily endorse this viewpoint! :)

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Didn't he once say something about how "we" laid seige to hell? I think I pictured in my head that there were other angels on back up but that obviously Castiel was the only one who found Dean and brought him out.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

I don't remember Castiel saying that they had to lay siege to hell to get Dean out. I'd always gotten the impression that whole mission was kind of done on the QT. But that may be my own fanon talking.

[zatnikatel.livejournal.com]

Butting in here! I'm pretty sure he mentions laying siege to Hell during the bedside vigil on OtHoaP… ;-) But Cas will always be the little angel that could [and did] redeem Dean…

[andromakhe001.livejournal.com]

I don't think Castiel's team of angels changed anything he said "We laid siege to Hell" in On the Head of a Pin. Castiel couldn't lay siege to Hell all by himself. So to me that is all he was saying, he didn't do it alone, even if he was the one who actually managed to GET Dean and raise him.

[zatnikatel.livejournal.com]

LOL, now I'm getting a mental picture of a whole bunch of angels arguing over who gets to grab Dean, and him being resurrected with about twenty handprints all over his body.

[mangokulfi.livejournal.com]

This entire conversation is making me giggle. Could be the wine I had with dinner. But still, it's funny because it's all true about how mundane the hunt for Sam's soul is compared to the epicness that was Dean getting rescued from Hell. Even Sam falling into a hole seemed so pedestrian compared to the epic CGI shot of Dean dangling from hooks and chains.

It sort of reminds of how when Dean considered saying yes to Michael, everyone was shitting bricks and and freaked and OMG their worlds were ending and it would destroy their faith in Santa and the Easter Bunny. But when Sam decided to say yes and was facing certain death, Bobby and Cas are all "Good luck kid. Try not to get into too much trouble."

Poor Sam. No wonder he's so screwed up. Everyone really does love Dean best.

[i]Speaking of which, what's with this "team of angels" crap? It took "a team of angels" to pull Dean out of hell? Since when? That's never been part of the story! In "Lazarus Rising," Castiel said, "I raised you up from perdition," not "Me and five other guys raised you up from perdition." That bit of retcon really annoyed the crap out of me. It's always been Castiel...JUST Castiel, damnit! Castiel n' Dean 4-EVER![/i]Cas did say "We laid siege to Hell as soon as we found out Lilith's plan for you." But I guess Castiel was actually the one who reached him first and gripped him tight and raised him from perdition. Or he wanted to impress the hot guy so he took the credit for himself. Can't really blame him for that.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

It's Dean + Cas 4Ever as far as I'm concerned and maybe there were other angels creating a distraction at the gates of Hell or something but it was CASTIEL AND CASTIEL ALONE who went down into the pit for Dean and I refuse to consider otherwise LALALALALALALA.

Also, he loves Dean so very, very much.

But when Sam decided to say yes and was facing certain death, Bobby and Cas are all "Good luck kid. Try not to get into too much trouble."

Of course, no one was as concerned about Sam because they all had this completely inexplicable faith that Sam would be able to control Lucifer, at least long enough to throw them both into the hole. I still remember Bobby's "If anyone can do it, it's Sam" line which was SO STUPID considering a low-level demon like Ruby had led Sam around like a puppy for a whole year. If that had been Dean, no one would ever have let him forget that he had been "some demon's bitch" and he would have spent the rest of the series trying to atone for it.

[mangokulfi.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah the bizarre faith in Sam was nonsensical. But my point was that whether Sam could control Lucifer or not, he was done for because he would either end up in the hole or as a prom dress. It was a final goodbye to Sam and they just seemed so nonchalant about it, relatively speaking. It still makes me giggle.