A Dean and Castiel Timeline, Part Three
A Dean and Castiel Timeline, Part Three
While I contested in part two of this series that Dean and Cas constituted family in S5, that bond is severely damaged throughout the course of S6. Dean just doesn’t know it until the end of the season. I would argue that by the time Dean actually uttered the words “family†and “like a brother†to Cas, that bond had already been broken. I’m going to divert from the method used in the previous installments a little — as before, I’ll be covering key interactions between Dean and Cas, but this time events will be split into 3 perspectives: Dean’s, Cas’s (the Cas we know and that Dean sees) and CraftyCas’s (the Cas with a hidden agenda). The exception will be the last two episodes of the season, when Cas is exposed and Cas and CraftyCas are one and the same and thus covered under the single perspective of Cas again.
The Third Man
Dean calls Cas despite Sam’s contention he won’t respond. But Cas shows up, informing them he responded due to the nature of the call itself, not because of the caller. Their only lead to an angel buying souls is young Aaron Birch. Dean protests when he realizes Cas’s technique for finding the angel’s name will torture the child, and looks to Sam for backup but finds none. Dean argues they need to find another way, and is troubled by Cas’s declaration he cannot care about such things. At the child’s first screams, Dean starts forward but Sam pulls him back. After tracking Balthazar, Dean traps him in holy fire and demands he return Aaron’s soul. When Balthazar looks to Cas for support, Cas backs Dean over his Heavenly ally and Balthazar returns the soul. When Dean would have left Balthazar trapped, Cas releases him over Dean’s protests and disappears abruptly.
Cas responds to Dean’s call referencing a potential plague, despite ignoring Sam’s calls for a year. Cas points out he has a stronger tie to Dean, but implies he would have ignored Dean’s call as well if an angelic weapon hadn’t been involved. When Sam scoffs at Cas’s request the brothers help him, Dean remains silent but stands beside Sam opposite the angel. Cas grows agitated, running a deficiency of patience and “people skills.” The brothers help Cas work through the case, discovering that a child has sold his soul to an angel to obtain a piece of the Staff of Moses.
CraftyCas, himself responsible for Sam’s resurrection, lies outright that he knows nothing on the subject and cites his ignorance as the reason he failed to respond to Sam’s calls. By this point in time, CraftyCas has been using Sam (via Grandpa, via Crowley) to hunt alphas in his effort to find Purgatory for close to a year. Whether Crowley got Sam onto Samuel’s team by exploiting the first in a series of loopholes in direct contradiction of CraftyCas’s stipulations or whether CraftyCas simply did not contest the use of Sam is unknown. Either way, at this point in time CraftyCas is not only aware of exactly how and why Sam was resurrected, he is also complicit in Sam’s alpha related activities.
You Can’t Handle the Truth
Dean’s traumatic bout of vampirism combined with the knowledge his brother allowed him to be turned has him on extreme edge. He has been calling Cas, with no response. When Cas finally appears regarding Dean’s half-hearted call (in which he calls him Castiel, by the way) regarding Gabriel’s Horn of Truth, Dean is offended that Cas disregarded his Lucifer fears for days only to respond for a magical horn. After assuring Dean Sam is definitely not Lucifer, Cas promises Dean he will investigate what is wrong with Sam, and departs.
Cas defends himself against Dean’s reproach that he did not arrive sooner with a weak “You asked me to be here and I came.” When Dean questions what is wrong with Cas, Cas blames his morality shifts on the pressures of war.
CraftyCas ignores Dean’s calls for help, reluctant to face Dean’s questions regarding Sam’s condition. Just my opinion, but I believe CraftyCas did not want to examine Sam’s condition too closely for two reasons. First, the change in Sam is working to CraftyCas’s benefit. Second, Dean is too distracted to focus on Cas, too tangled up with worry about Sam to realize that CraftyCas is up to something and to start asking questions.
Family Matters
Dean, after beating Sam to an unconscious mess, turns him over to Cas for diagnosis. Dean is discomfited as Cas inserts his arm into Sam’s torso, but does not intervene. Cas reveals Sam’s soul is missing. Cas transports the brothers to see Samuel, their only (known) lead in finding out how Sam was resurrected. When Cas says he has to leave, Dean tells Cas to continue searching Heaven for a way to help Sam, and Cas replies with sarcasm. But I think this is just Dean prioritizing family – Dean puts family first, Cas is family (to Dean), Dean assumes Cas will put family first.
Cas expresses surprise that Dean is responsible for Sam’s extensive injuries before confirming the absence of Sam’s soul. When Dean asks Cas to retrieve the soul, noting that Cas pulled Dean out of Hell, Cas lies that he cannot. He transports the brothers to Samuel’s and confirms Samuel’s soul is intact, and then departs abruptly citing angelic war issues.
CraftyCas lies not only that he isn’t capable of retrieving Sam’s soul from the cage, but that he furthermore doesn’t know who would have the necessary power. But we know CraftyCas’s protests that he doesn’t have the power are false – he has been to the cage once already, and succeeded in getting out the body. CraftyCas has the power to at least attempt to get the soul as well, he just opts not to try to correct the error of leaving the soul behind. And while I don’t believe Cas left Sam’s soul behind on purpose, I do wonder if once the damage was done he used Sam’s lack of soul to further his own agenda. Sam’s soulless state benefits CraftyCas — Sam is a more prolific hunter this way, after all, and his hunting prowess is progressing CraftyCas’s cause. CraftyCas pretends to assist the brothers in their search for the entity that raised Sam while undermining that very effort. And at the end of the episode, CraftyCas’s lies allow Crowley to claim credit for raising Sam from Lucifer’s cage, giving him leverage against both brothers and trapping them into indentured servitude.
All Dogs Go To Heaven
Cas doesn’t appear in this episode, but the implications of his deal with Crowley and its fallout on Sam and Dean are evident. Cas already sold Sam out to Crowley when he allowed Sam to be used to assist Grandpa, but this is where he sells Dean to Crowley too. Dean just doesn’t know it yet, but I’m sure he put those pieces together pretty quickly after gaining confirmation of Cas’s deal with Crowley. And even if Cas didn’t know Crowley planned to force Dean into service (Sam had already been unwittingly in his service for awhile, so we’ll leave him out of this discussion) he is still guilty on two counts. First, his lies are what made the situation possible in the first place. Second, he did nothing to stop it. He had the power to make Crowley leave them alone, and didn’t. He could have simply told Dean Crowley didn’t have the power to raise Sam – which Dean’s instinct told him in the previous episode anyway – and Crowley would have lost his leverage. But – just as Sam’s continued soullessness benefits Cas’s pursuit of purgatory, so does Dean being forced into the alpha hunt. So Cas stands in passive consent as Crowley holds Sam’s soul hostage to force Dean into submission.
Caged Heat
Dean is pleasantly surprised that Cas responds to Sam’s call. Cas “fails†to produce Crowley’s location with a spell, and they go to Samuel’s office to search for intel. They leave Samuel’s office empty-handed and return to their research. Dean and Sam, engrossed in their work, suddenly realize Cas has been watching porn on the other side of the room and Dean takes a moment to visibly gather his patience and explain Cas’s social gaffe to him. After gaining Crowley’s location from Samuel, Cas tells Dean he is hesitant about returning Sam’s soul. Dean contends that Sam needs his soul. Cas yields to Dean’s wishes, though not without one more vivid warning of the damage that reinserting the soul may cause to Sam. After escaping the hellhounds, Dean is startled when Cas is suddenly zapped away. He is angered when he realizes Samuel double crossed them, banishing Cas and selling them out to Crowley. At the end, presuming Crowley dead, Dean thanks Cas for saving them, acknowledging that if Cas hadn’t returned when he did they wouldn’t have gotten free.
Cas tells Dean that Sam’s soul is damaged. He expresses uncertainty in returning the soul, stating he wants Sam to survive. But the deeper meaning is that he wants SoullessSam – the stronger hunter, the amoral one – to survive. Whether Cas is consciously willing to leave Sam’s soul in Hell to advance SoullessSam’s survival or whether that’s a darker consequence that he’s not willing to acknowledge is unclear. Cas ultimately acquiesces and continues with the mission to retrieve Sam’s soul. As they prepare to depart with Meg and her minions, Cas asks with disgust why they are working with demon “abominationsâ€. Cas enters the prison first and opens the door for the others, with Sam and Dean rightly noting that that was way too easy. They escape from the hellhound guards, but it is not long before Cas is banished by Samuel. Cas reappears in time to save Sam and Dean (and Meg, oddly enough) by producing bones, ostensibly Crowley’s, and appears to use them as leverage against the demon. When Crowley admits he cannot retrieve Sam’s soul, Cas burns the bones, leaving the brothers to believe Crowley is dead. Outside the prison, Cas accepts Dean’s thanks for the rescue and admits his war is not going well. Dean asks if they can help, and Cas says no, but that he wishes circumstances were different. Dean assures Cas that they understand – they are friends. Cas tells Sam they will find another way to retrieve his soul – despite the fact that he will later lash out in anger at Dean for doing just that.
CraftyCas has murky motivations for helping with the mission — actually helping the brothers succeed in killing Crowley is not among them. The failed locator spell is undoubtedly a show – he likely knows exactly where Crowley is. CraftyCas continues working against the brothers to block their access to Crowley, but the question is – is he working directly with Crowley through the entire episode to a pre-planned end game of faking Crowley’s death, or is Crowley working to trap and kill the brothers while CraftyCas attempts to keep them from Crowley while at the same time hiding his deception, until they finally ad lib the fake death? There is definitely an agenda of some sort operating as CraftyCas – a full powered angel – suspiciously runs from hellhounds without even attempting to blast them with angel mojo. CraftyCas puts on a badass show of burning bones, but the catch is – full powered angel. Cas didn’t need the bones to destroy Crowley. Why would he take the time to find a specific set of hidden demon bones when his own power should be sufficient? He wouldn’t, not with the brothers in peril and the stakes so high. Once the brothers believe Crowley dead, CraftyCas departs with assurances he will destroy the prison full of monsters. But – did he? Or did he just take them to Crowley’s new location? Will the djinn that helped destroy Dean’s domestic life show up again? Or will the alpha vamp, who was also captured and presumably taken to this prison?
Like a Virgin
Dean asks Cas to estimate when Sam will wake up, and Cas harshly tells Dean it’s likely he won’t. Cas brutally describes Sam’s “skinned alive” soul to Dean and leaves. Later, when Sam apologizes to Dean for the events that transpired while he was missing his soul, Sam informs Dean it was Cas who told him. Dean nods his head and says quietly “Cas – he’s like a child.”
Cas confirms Sam’s soul is in place, and with poorly concealed anger reminds Dean that he warned him against returning the soul, bluntly describes the condition of Sam’s soul to Dean, and departs without speaking further.
CraftyCas spits that if Dean wanted to kill his brother, he should have just done so and leaves. But why the sudden vehemence of anger? True, Cas warned Dean against returning the soul, but he continued to assist Dean in that very mission anyway. He even assured Sam when that exact mission failed that they’d find another way to restore the soul. Ahh, but then again, CraftyCas knew that mission was doomed all along – he could afford to pretend to help with the mission to return Sam’s soul because he knew there was no chance of it succeeding. But then Dean managed to find a way without Cas’s help (or sabotage??) resulting in this display of anger.
The French Mistake
Dean and Sam land back in their own reality to discover their entire exploit in the alternate reality was merely distraction. Believing they were helping Cas in a vital way, they had risked themselves several times and had even chosen to forfeit their only known chance at returning home rather than risk failing the mission.
Cas – the real one, anyway – does not appear until after the brothers have been returned to their home reality. The brothers are displeased at being used in Balthazar’s plan, and not comforted to realize that Cas approved both the plan and the lie to the brothers. Cas tells the brothers that it is vital that he defeats Raphael, and Dean angrily retorts that he knows that part, but that Cas hasn’t told them anything else.
CraftyCas tips his hand a little in this episode, revealing that he is capable of ruthlessly using the brothers to his advantage if he deems the stakes high enough. What he has done here doesn’t qualify as ruthless, not yet – but the potential that he may develop the capacity to do so is revealed.
My Heart Will Go On
Dean and Sam are about to be blasted by Fate when Cas yanks them to safety. Dean questions why Fate has suddenly targeted them, and Cas contends that she has a personal grudge against the Winchesters, what with the averted apocalypse and all. Cas claims the only way to save the brothers is to kill her. Sam doubts that can even be done, but Cas says Balthazar has a weapon that can kill her. Dean scoffs at the mention of Balthazar, telling Cas he needs new friends. Cas retorts he’s trying to save the friends he already has – namely Dean and Sam.
Cas formulates a plan to draw Fate out by sending Dean and Sam to literally tempt Fate, and freezes time before Fate’s attempt to kill them can succeed. The brothers wake, their memory of the erased timeline intact. Cas wants them to remember so they can understand the potential cruelty of Fate. At Dean’s incredulous question over whether Balthazar really altered history over a chick flick, Cas badly lies that that is indeed what happened.
CraftyCas lies to the brothers, blaming the changed timeline on Balthazar’s recklessness. He later denies Fate’s allegations, but she knows the truth, and is indeed angry. Her final straw was CraftyCas ordering Balthazar to alter history to power his “war machine†with created souls. Fate threatens Sam and Dean’s lives, saying they will be spared only if CraftyCas sets history straight again. CraftyCas concedes to Fate’s terms, and forfeits the extra soul power to save Sam and Dean. Tangent: I wonder if part of Cas’s justification for altering the timeline in the first place was telling himself it was also for the brothers’ benefit. They did seem happier, more stable in the other timeline – maybe the apocalypse occurred there without the damage to their relationship that was done to it in the real timeline.
Frontierland
Dean calls for Cas to send them back to the Old West and retrieve the ashes of a phoenix to fight against Eve. Cas sends them back, warning they have a 24-hour time limit. Dean and Sam miss grabbing the ashes in time by a hair, and Dean asks to be sent back for a few more minutes, somehow oblivious to Cas’s noticeable agony as he recovers from retrieving them.
Cas interrupts his lieutenant Rachel and sends her away to handle Dean’s request personally (CraftyCas needs to keep tabs on what they know and what they are doing, after all). He sends the brothers back in time, but when time to retrieve them arrives he is too weakened from his battle to the death with Rachel, who realized what Cas is really up to – and what he is becoming. Cas has to tap into Bobby’s soul to power up enough to retrieve Dean and Sam. Channeling Bobby’s soul leaves Cas in obvious pain, and he claims he never wants to do that again, despite the fact he will willingly take in all the souls of purgatory for a power boost in the season finale.
Mommy Dearest
Dean tells Bobby and Sam that Cas is busy, and asks why he’s always expected to place the call as they wait for him to do just that. Dean has loaded 5 phoenix ash shotgun shells to use against the Mother, they just need angelic assistance finding her. Intel leads them to Grants Pass, Oregon, and the group splits up (Cas accompanying Dean) to investigate a lead before reconvening and following the trail to a bar full of dead Jefferson Starships. Following their arrest and subsequent scuffle with Starshipped cops, Sam and Dean find human boys, orphaned and scared. Overruling Cas’s protests, Dean and Sam take the boys to safety and return to find Cas has obtained Eve’s location from a surviving Starship via “rigorous interrogationâ€. Dean distributes the phoenix ash shells, one to each of his 3 companions. Dean’s plan is simple – he and Sam will draw Eve out, if they miss Cas and Bobby are not to. Once Eve is dead and Dean is healed of his undesirable Starshipism, Dean says they have to go, that Eve claimed the youngest kid from earlier is one of the monsters. They arrive to find the tween monsters dead, and the brothers conclude from the signs of demonic involvement that Eve must have been telling the truth – Crowley is alive. Sam and Bobby realize the implication immediately – that Cas is working with Crowley – while the thought doesn’t appear to cross Dean’s mind at all. Cas bails, with Dean calling after him to let them know what he finds out.
Cas assists in finding Eve and transports Dean, Sam, and Bobby to her location. When Cas discovers he’s powerless, Dean is dismayed that they’ve lost their angelic advantage. Dean notes Cas’s lack of non-powered fight experience, comparing a powerless Cas to a baby. Cas looks at Dean as though he intends to retort but instead turns to stare pointedly out the window, leading Sam to chide Dean for hurting Cas’s feelings. Cas ineffectively objects to Dean’s insistence on taking rescued boys to safety, saying they need to focus on finding Eve. When they do finally find Eve, they are all captured and disarmed quickly. Dean dares her to “bite meâ€, and judging from Cas’s reaction when she does – the concern in his voice when he calls out to Dean, the increase in his struggle to get free of his captors to try to help — I’d say Cas was not in on Dean’s plan to dose Eve with his own phoenix ash laced blood. Side note: Judging by Sam’s seemingly genuine distress and the struggle he put up to try to stop Eve from biting his brother, I’m guessing Sam wasn’t in on Dean’s likely impromptu plan either. Once the Mother is dead, a fully powered Cas kills the diner full of Starships. As Cas stands over Eve’s dead body, lost in thought, Sam reminds him Dean is bleeding profusely and needs healing, while Dean asks Cas to heal him of probable Jefferson Starshipism.
CraftyCas appears without being called, ostensibly to offer help. And he does want to help, to a point – he wants to help them find Eve, he just doesn’t want to help them actually kill her as capturing her alive will increase his chances of opening Purgatory. At the end, when Dean tells him Eve alleged Crowley was still alive, CraftyCas feigns confusion that Crowley could be alive when he himself burned his bones, even protesting that as an angel Crowley shouldn’t have been able to trick him, and bails on the group.
The Man Who Would Be King
Dean is driving alone when Cas appears, expressing disbelief that Crowley could have tricked him. Dean gives Cas an obvious out – that Crowley’s tricky. Cas asks directly of their status on the Crowley hunt and Sam’s whereabouts, and Dean lies on both counts. Dean, troubled, chooses his phrasing carefully before asking “Cas, you’ll call right? If you get into real trouble?†Cas nods an assent, and leaves. Dean reports his encounter with Cas to Sam and Bobby. Dean is clearly distressed by lying to Cas, defending that their friend just made a mistake. Bobby and Sam convince him to keep up the pretense just in case. Dean, Sam, and Bobby follow a lead to an empty demon lair, unaware Cas is already there observing them. Realizing they truly are at a dead end, Dean points out they would normally call Cas in this situation. Sam and Bobby remind Dean they agreed that involving Cas while uncertain of his loyalties was too risky, and Dean argues that just because he ceded to their wishes to exclude Cas does not mean he agrees with them. He argues that Cas is owed the benefit of the doubt. Sam relents and calls for Cas, with no immediate response. But Cas arrives soon after to save them from a demon attack, and Dean is relieved at the apparent significance of Cas saving them at this juncture. The group apologizes to Cas for doubting his loyalties and Cas accepts. Dean smiles, his conflict over lying to family – being torn between two factions of family – finally over. Until Cas gives himself away. The smile melts on Dean’s face, but he rallies enough to confirm that he heard correctly, that Cas’s slip proves Bobby and Sam’s misgivings right after all. Later, still at the demon lair, Dean calls for Cas at a cue from Sam. The trap is set, and Cas is caught in a ring of holy fire. When Cas cannot look Dean in the eye and respond to the question of whether he is working with Crowley, Dean knows the truth. Dean rejects Cas’s assertion that it’s too late to turn back, but Cas asserts he has no desire to change course. Demons are descending on their location, and Cas cannot protect them from inside the ring. Cas tells them to run, and they do. Dean is last to go, throwing a regretful look back at Cas before fleeing. Later, Dean wakes on Bobby’s couch to see Cas, who tells him they got the angel proofing wrong. Cas wants Dean to understand, but Dean says he gets it “blah, blah Raphael.” Cas professes he is doing what he is doing for Dean, because of Dean, but Dean responds with a disbelieving “You’ve got to be kidding me.” He’s heard this before after all, when Sam professed to be drinking demon blood and pursuing Lilith for Dean’s sake rather than acknowledging the power trip aspects of his addiction. Cas again states that he is fighting for free will, but Dean interrupts to tell Cas he is acting like a child, that having enough power to do whatever you wanted didn’t give you the right to do so – a sentiment Dean also expressed to Raphael as he allied with Cas to face off against the archangel in Free To Be You and Me. Dean declines to debate with Cas, he just asks Cas to stop, to trust him because they are family. Dean looks sadly surprised when Cas shuts down his effort to reach out to him, and says he will have to stop Cas. Cas says Dean cannot, as he is only a man while Cas is an angel. Dean reminds Cas that he’s taken out beings beyond his power before. Cas says he is sorry, and Dean replies he is sorry too – but Cas is already gone.
Cas saves the gang from demon attack, dispatching the demon attacking Dean first. Cas accepts their apology for doubting his loyalties, but unwittingly gives himself away in his relief that they once again trust him. When his friends trap him in holy fire, he demands to be let out, that he can explain if only let out. Caught, Cas claims he did everything for them, but Sam disputes the effectiveness of opening Purgatory as a protective measure. Cas confesses that he raised Sam from Hell, only to inadvertently raise a question in their minds as to whether he left the soul behind on purpose. When Cas turns the topic back to Raphael and says he had no choice, Dean refutes that claim. Dean asserts Cas should have come to them for help, should have been honest about what was going on. Cas admits he should have come to them for help, but declares it too late. Later at Bobby’s, Cas states he wants Dean to understand, but Dean shuts down his explanation. Dean already understands – he just doesn’t agree. Cas maintains that he knows what he is doing, and refuses Dean’s plea to stop his pursuit of purgatory on the basis of family and trust.
CraftyCas drops into the Impala to check the status of Dean’s Crowley hunt before visiting the demon himself, who unsuccessfully urges CraftyCas to kill the Winchesters. CraftyCas goes to Bobby’s and listens undetected as Dean defends Cas’s loyalty while Sam and Bobby point out it is only prudent to proceed cautiously if there’s even a small chance Cas is working with Crowley. CraftyCas acknowledges the worst part of his deception was watching Dean struggle to remain loyal to him against his own instincts. When Bobby comes across a solid lead, CraftyCas eliminates the demons before Bobby and the brothers can get to them. CraftyCas ignores Sam’s call from the demon hideout, fearing the questions he knows they would have, but makes the choice to step in and save them when they are attacked by “Crowley’s bestâ€. CraftyCas returns to Crowley, and tells vowing to destroy Crowley, and their arrangement, if he touches the Winchesters again.
ConflictedCas (special guest perspective, this episode only) recalls the tremendous events he has experienced in his extremely long existence, qualifying his part in averting the apocalypse alongside two boys and an old drunk as being the most remarkable event of them all. Cas recounts freeing Sam from Lucifer’s cage, and acknowledges that he should have known something was wrong when he watched Sam walk away from Dean. Cas next recounts going to see Dean to seek advice on battling Raphael, but found his friend living in peace at Lisa’s, and couldn’t ask Dean to sacrifice more. So Cas follows Crowley without Dean ever knowing he was there. Crowley’s plan will require expert help from hunters, and when Crowley suggests Dean and the resurrected Sam, Cas tells Crowley that Dean is off limits – he extends no such protection to Sam.
Let It Bleed
Dean ignores the book in front of him, brooding on his failure to get through to Cas the previous night. At Sam’s attempt to assure him at least he tried, Dean questions why Cas even showed up. Cue Bobby, who reveals Cas stole one of the Campbell journals. When Crowley kidnaps Ben and Lisa and instructs Dean to back off or they die, Dean contends they have to assume Cas is complicit in the kidnapping. After a plea for help to Balthazar seemingly fails, Dean tortures demon after demon for info without stopping, eating, or sleeping. When Dean inevitably winds up in a demonic chokehold, Cas shows up and kills the demon. Dean is too angry to be grateful, but Cas tells him he is welcome even so. Dean does not believe anything Cas says, not even his assertion he had nothing to do with the kidnapping. As Cas continues to plead his case, there is a moment where Dean seems to waver. But he shuts Cas out again when the unfortunate wording of Cas’s promise to save Lisa and Ben comes across as the same ultimatum issued by Crowley. When Cas appears in Lisa’s hospital room Dean, still reeling from Ben’s rejection, lashes out at him in anger and grief. Cas tries to apologize, but Dean is beyond caring. Cas heals Lisa, to Dean’s surprise and relief – and gratitude. Cas apologizes again, and Dean thanks him for healing Lisa, lamenting that the act does not change anything. Cas knows, and feels the same. Dean asks Cas for one last favor – to cleanse Lisa and Ben’s memories of any trace of Dean.
Cas, unseen, hears Sam’s plea for Cas to return Lisa and Ben to Dean and departs to confront Crowley. Cas futilely demands that Crowley not harm Ben and Lisa, and Crowley asserts that Lisa and Ben constitute a loophole in Cas’s protection mandate. And what I have to wonder is, why didn’t Cas “persuade” Crowley more strongly? He knows what Lisa and Ben being used as leverage against him is doing to Dean, and he allows it to continue – maybe because sidelining Dean is also to his advantage? Crowley’s actions have given Cas an edge over Dean while still allowing him to keep technically clean hands. Cas goes to talk to Dean, saying he had no idea Crowley would kidnap Lisa and Ben. He is dismayed when Dean does not believe him, arguing that Dean is family to him and that trust should run both ways. Dean says he can’t – and of course he can’t, trust was broken on Cas’s side when he lied for a year, when he put them into Crowley’s service by the lies – but Cas is deep into justification mode and cannot connect the same dots of his own culpability in the past year’s events the way Dean likely already has. Maybe a tenuous trust could have held if Cas had confessed of his own free will, but he didn’t – he got busted. Cas claims that he always comes when Dean calls – which is not true at all, especially in S6 — and that he is still Dean’s friend. I think the claim of friendship is still true in Cas’s mind, but that bond has already been damaged more than Cas recognizes yet. Cas vows that he will rescue Lisa and Ben, but he regrettably words what I believe he meant as comforting in such a way that it rings in Dean’s ears as an ultimatum, and the same one Crowley gave him. I don’t believe Cas intended his statement as an either/or – I believe he meant he would save Lisa and Ben period. But once Dean misinterpreted it, once the idea of bartering their safe return for Dean’s surrender entered his head, Cas let it stand . Balthazar found them and transported Dean as close as he could, after all, it stands to reason Cas could have done the same.
The Man Who Knew Too Much
Dean, Sam, and Bobby find a fatally wounded Ellie Visyak in an alley, and she ruefully admits she told Cas and Crowley how to open the door to Purgatory. As a penalty for Dean’s refusal to stand down, Cas breaks the Hell wall in Sam’s mind knowing that Sam’s resultant state will effectively sideline Dean. And it works, for awhile – until Bobby makes Dean realize he is playing directly into Cas’s plan. Dean rallies, knowing Sam would want him to stop Cas. It is Balthazar, surprisingly, that comes through with Cas and Crowley’s location. After recovering from an unplanned flip in the Impala, Dean and Bobby sneak into the ritual in progress. Dean has an angel blade already drawn, and though he finds Raphael working with Crowley, it is important to note that Dean expected to find Cas. Dean’s attempt to kill Raphael fails, and the humans are quickly immobilized. Crowley and Raphael’s ritual fails, and Cas reappears, having successfully worked the ritual and taken in all of purgatory’s souls himself. Dean is appalled when Cas kills Raphael with a fingersnap, his face bearing the same horror-struck expression he wore when Lucifer killed Cas. Dean placatingly thanks Cas for saving them, but his eyes track Cas carefully, watching him the same way he watched Lucifer-in-Sam as he asked Sam if he could hear him in there. Dean suggests they defuse Cas and put the souls back in Purgatory before the eclipse that allowed the door to be opened ends. Dean approaches Cas warily, imploring Cas to hear him out, reminding Cas that they were family once. Dean laments the family he has lost recently — Lisa, Ben, Sam — and pleads he does not want to lose Cas too. And personally, I think Dean meant it. There can be no doubt Dean is still angry at Cas for breaking Sam’s Hell wall, for Lisa and Ben’s kidnapping, for a year of lies. But – Dean has a habit of pushing the baggage aside to reach out to family when push comes to shove. He did it with Sam in Lucifer Rising, despite his anger that Sam choked him until his eyes rolled back before walking out. He acknowledged his anger, but assured Sam they were still family, that he was not willing to let his brother go despite the bad blood. I think this scene with Cas is an echo to that instinct with Sam. It is too early to judge until we see how S7 begins, but I believe Dean is genuinely trying to hold onto family here.
Cas appears in the alley after Ellie dies, and blames her death on Crowley – though we know from Ellie it was Cas, not Crowley, that inflicted the worst of her injuries. Cas interrupts Dean’s assertion that Cas is off the rails, saying he doesn’t care what Dean or the others think. Cas implores Dean to go home and let him stop Raphael his way, warning that he will not ask again. Dean rejects this ultimatum, and Cas deliberately breaks the wall protecting Sam from Hell – and from his lost year and a half. After Cas has taken in all the souls of Purgatory and destroyed Raphael, he looks to Dean for his stunned reaction, while gloating and exultant in his own triumph. Cas rejects Dean’s suggestion to put the souls back into Purgatory, saying he is not done. Dean says the souls are scrambling Cas’s brains, but Cas maintains he must punish all of Raphael’s followers severely. Cas counters Dean’s attempt to reach out to him on the basis of family with the assertion Dean is not his family, that he has no family. Cas claims he is no longer an angel but their new god and that they are to bow down and profess their devotion to him or he will destroy them.
Thanks so much for reading! Bring on Season 7!!!!!
Dean has a habit of seeing what is done to him never how he acts.In Lucifer Rising he might of felt like the wounded ”one”’Sam did this to me” but never sees he stood there and told Sam he was a monster knowing full well how Sam feels about the freak stuff. Dean provoked that fight more than Sam did and yet was painted the victim. I have no doubt that Dean will be painted the victim of his ”brother” Castiel and will get angry over what Cas did . The only thing I want to see Dean get furious over is what Castiel did to Sam then Castiel can just go away .
I agree Dean wasn’t blameless in the fight in When the Levee Breaks. He had plenty of fault too (which wasn’t covered in this article because this is written from Dean’s, not Sam’s, perspective). I do disagree that he didn’t see and admit that responsibility once he calmed down — he did as much when he called Sam and said he was sorry and that “I shouldn’t have said what I said.”
Did Sam ever heard the real message? It seems not to be the case. So despite the horrid message, Sam still stay with Dean, that not being the straw in their relationship.
An excellent summary of the season. For me, your timeline raises the question, who is Castiel? I think to answer that, we have to ask, who has he been?
He seems to have been an ordinary angel who served as a warrior and Anna’s subordinate. Yet this one time functionary, even grunt on the ground, somehow managed to achieve a crucial position in the plan for the big, “destined” prize fight, intended to determine the future of heaven and earth. Not only was he given the critical mission of pulling Dean’s soul out of hell and bringing his body back to life, Castiel was chosen to serve as tempter and spy for Zach, just as Ruby was chosen to serve as tempter and spy for Lilith.
Ruby’s job was to prepare Sam to serve as Lucifer’s vessel, while Castiel’s duty was to pave the way for Dean to say yes to Michael. To accomplish their ends, it was absolutely necessary that Ruby elicit Sam’s trust and Castiel elicit Dean’s. The methods the supernaturals used to do this were virtually identical. First, each saved the life of the human under his or her charge. Second, each supernatural pretended to have turned against her or his own kind and to have suffered severe discipline because of her or his loyalty to the human. Third, each worked to establish a close, personal bond with the human–Ruby as a lover; Castiel as a friend. Fourth, Ruby and Castiel feigned concern about the brother of her of his charge in a way that would urge Sam and Dean, respectively, towards agreeing to become vessels. By coaxing and empowering Sam to get revenge against Lilith for what she’d done to Dean, Ruby laid the groundwork for Sam to kill Lilith, raise Lucifer, and be ready to accept his demonic destiny by saying yes. Similarly, Castiel continually planted seeds of doubt and suspicion about Sam in Dean’s mind. He warned Dean that his brother was dangerous, that he was turning demonic, that he had to be stopped–all to pave the way to eventually convince Dean that, since Sam could not be saved, Dean would have to say yes to Michael and kill Sam.
Castiel was no doubt chosen by Zach for his mission for much the same reasons why Ruby 2 was selected for hers. Unlike most supernaturals, they were capable of adopting a mild, soft, even humble and uncertain demeanor that concealed their ambition and sense of superiority over humans. Also, they were adept at seeming human in their displays of sensitivity towards and concern for their charges. Notably, it was a sensitivity and concern they displayed towards no one else, but it was enough to convince Sam that Ruby was different from other demons and Dean that Castiel wasn’t like other angels. Ruby and Castiel were facile liars and clever manipulators, who knew how to use the “weaknesses” of their charges (including love, goodness, and self-sacrifice) to their own advantage. Above all, they recognized the value of subterfuge. For the most part, they met secretly with their charges, conferring with them in low voices, subtly encouraging them to keep secrets from one another and, thus, indirectly creating suspicion and animosity between them.
Before she died, Ruby revealed her true nature. Proud and ambitious, she proclaimed she was “awesome,” having done what no other demon could have done–despite the way they looked down on her. Castiel, too, is motivated by his Lucifer-like pride and ambition so great he’s proclaimed himself the new god, a better one.
Did Castiel change in S6? No. He was as he’s always been, a self-serving opportunist, driven by overweening ambition and pride, not to be trusted by anyone, whether human or angel. He was a spy who became a traitor to his angelic superiors when he realized Dean would not say “yes” and that Lucifer would soon be free with a waiting vessel and the power to destroy earth, while driving surviving angels from the planet. Dean taught Castiel that he could stand up to his superiors and look out for himself, which is exactly what the angel did. Though he resented the consequences of his freedom at first, Castiel came to realize absolute freedom entailed no barriers, moral or otherwise. The one time grunt on the ground no longer had to be a yes man for anybody. He would replace God himself.
Very nicely posed argument. I don’t necessarily agree that Cas was purposefully calculating from the beginning, as Ruby undoubtedly was, but I do see your point about their dual purposes. I just feel Ruby was more of a free agent manipulating Sam on her own whereas Cas was a tool being lied to and used by his superiors for the same purpose. But that’s just my opinion, your argument is certainly well thought out and valid. I’m going to have to think on this some more, it’s a very intriguing angle.
Wow- Lori, thanks for your insightful articles. You have really researched the Castiel episodes ( it’s not really a hardship rewatching SPN episodes, is it?)
My question is (forgive me if this was covered in the 1st two articles, it’s been a while since I read them): Do angels have souls? If not, then Castiel freed from blind obedience to heaven, has no moral compass to go by. He would be like Soulless Sam, working in his own self-interests and being a good friend only as required for his own goal of defeating Rafael and taking over heaven.
Talos, That is a way radical view; comparing Ruby and Castiel- I’m going to have to think about that a bit.
Thanks so much for the compliment! And no, it wasn’t too painful having to rewatch the episodes 😆
And no, I didn’t cover the question of angelic souls in the other parts. The only time I remember a specific reference is in Lucifer Rising when Dean is trying to get Cas to help him and Cas has refused — Dean calls him spineless and “soulless”. But whether Dean is a reliable source for that info is debatable.
I don’t think there’s been another direct reference though, but I always assumed they didn’t because I always thought it was the absence of souls that kept them from feeling emotions in the same way that humans do (despite Anna’s assertions angels don’t feel, that cannot be true — but they do not process those feelings as humans do, which I always thought was because they lacked souls). No evidence for that, just the way I’ve always looked at it.
I really like the comparison to Soulless Sam you make. Cas is unused to making his own decisions and even if he has instincts, it is not the same as human instincts leaving him very much a parallel for Soulless Sam.
Scratch my statement that Dean is the only one to make direct reference — Dark_Austral is right, Cas tells Crowley angels don’t have souls.
In The Man Who Would Be King, Cas tells Crowley, “I’m an angel. I don’t have a soul to sell, you ass.”
You’re right, Cas’s loan from Crowley and the # souls created when he unsank the Titanic are the same — 50,000. I wanted to cover that in the article, but it was long enough frankly, and since that didn’t directly impact Dean and Cas’s relationship I opted to leave it out. But I agree with you the amount can’t be a coincidence — I believe Cas was trying to get out of his debt with Crowley, though I’m not clear how that would have ended his reliance on Crowley to find purgatory. I think Sam and Dean being happier as a result of the new timeline was just a bonus, something he used to help convince himself what he was doing wasn’t wrong.
Nice catch on the fact that would constitute a callback to Cas paying off the debt to Balthazar too. Excellent eye!
I don’t agree that Castiel had the juice to retrieve Sam’s soul from the Cage. If so, he would have raised Sam with his soul from the start. The very fact that Sam was raised w/o soul is the proof that he wasn’t so powerful like his pride told him (as himself admitted in “The man who would be king”).
And I don’t think he knew exactly WHAT was wrong in Sam, at first. We see that he has to search Aron’s soul to find Balthazar’s mark, and he has to search Samuel to be sure he has his soul intact, which lead me to think that’s not a so obvious information to sight, even angelic sight. Ok, you can say that the searching of Samuel’s soul was made just for the brother’s benefit and that Castiel didn’t need that to know, but it is only a speculation, not supported by any evidence, even after we discovered Castiel’s hidden agenda. So IMO he didn’t know that Sam was soulless before
his “cavity searching” in “Family matters”.
Supposing that CAstiel knows of Sam’s missing soul just after that, I won’t marvel he is so reluctant to tell Dean the truth: obviously he realized then what was wrong in Sam and what he exactly DID when he raised Sam from the Cage, but at that point Sam’s soul had been in the Cage for more than a year (i.e. more than 120 hell-years!) and undoubtedly was damaged beyond any hope of repairing, and I think he didn’t lie in telling Dean that putting it again into Sam could destroy him. I think he was really worried for him (all along with the worry to hide his collaboration with Crowley)
So, Castiel not telling Dean the truth was surely protecting his secret plan, but IMO was also ashamed of himself (because he failed, and because hea refused at first to admit or even to see his failing) and incapable to face Dean admitting what he did.
Besides, I’m not too sure he [u]exactly [/u]knew what Crowley was doing with Sam, at first. In “The man who would be king” Crowley talked about Samuel, but not about Sam. Since IMO there was a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy between Crowley and Castiel about their respective courses of action in the general plan, maybe Castiel, too busy with the heavenly revolution, had closed his eyes on what Crowlley was doing and didn’t know (at first) that Sam had joined with Samuel and the Campbells.
Don’t know, maybe something in me just doesn’t want to believe in an utterly and constantly lying Castiel… 🙁
Bynchild, what seriously bugged me all season was that Cas discouraged Dean from rescuing Sam from hell. If Cas really didn’t have the power to retrieve the rest of Sam, then don’t discourage Dean from trying, and then get angry at Dean for succeeding.
Cas had a point about the damaged soul, but if he truly cared about Sam then let Dean try to get Sam out of hell and if Sam ends up a drooling vegetable (which is still better than being IN hell), then mercy kill him and release Sam to heaven where he belongs. No matter how you slice it, being OUT of hell is better than being IN hell. No matter what convoluted rationalization is created to defend Cas’ behavior, it could never defeat the fact that being OUT of hell is preferable to being IN hell, even if you end up catatonic, insane, or die. And then Cas goes and rips down the mind wall, after all what Cas had warned Dean on the fallout of the hell memories.
While I’m suspicious that part of Cas’ motivation in discouraging Dean was to keep them helping Crowley, I think he rationalized it with the knowledge that he didn’t have a soul either, and in his mind, he was doing just fine. It’s like Dean said to Sam, without his soul, Sam’s radar was way off. Cas’ radar was off too.
Cas being soulless doesn’t fly with this “rationalization”. I don’t have a child, but I know many people love their children very much and wouldn’t leave them in a hellish situation. If I am unable to save that child from a burning building, I’m certainly not going to tell that parent not to try saving their child just because I don’t have a child and can’t relate to their love for their child.
It’s one thing if Cas truly didn’t have the power to go back for Sam (though I think he did), but he shouldn’t have discouraged Dean from trying. Seeing how angry Cas was when Dean succeeded made no sense, other than Cas had his own agenda for not attempting a second rescue.
My read on this is that Cas didn’t think of “Sam” as still being in Hell, he thought of Sam as the person standing in front of him – not perfect, but still mostly there. Because Cas doesn’t have a soul himself, he didn’t appreciate how important the missing piece was.
And to be honest, I’m still struggling on how Sam’s consciousness could have existed in two different places at once too.
I also agree with what others have posted – that Castiel wasn’t powerful enough to remove Sam’s soul from the cage and that’s why he failed in his initial attempt. His pride, however, prevented him from recognizing it as a failure at first. When he started to have doubts, not just about Sam but about the dark path he was on, his instinct was to cover it up and go into a state of denial – “the big lie” as Crowley said.
What?! Cas said that Sam’s soul was in Hell being tortured by Michael and Lucifer. Cas had rescued Dean’s soul from hell and knows that it was the real Dean he rescued, not some rotting meatsuit in a grave.
Seriously, I’m starting to think some people are dumbing down Castiel in order to give him a pass for all the crappy things he’s done to Sam.
I think we need to learn more about what went on with Cas and Sam and what Cas was thinking. I have a lot more questions and hope the writers pick this up again next season.
I’m making my assumptions based on what we’ve seen about Cas’s character and the situation he was in at the time, but I have doubts that Cas might be more guilty in this than what I’m thinking. I wonder why Sam’s first reaction upon reaching them was to try to kill Cas. Was it something that he remembered?
[quote]I wonder why Sam’s first reaction upon reaching them was to try to kill Cas. Was it something that he remembered?[/quote]
What?! From Sam’s POV, Cas used him and Dean as bait without forewarning, Cas had possibly raised him soulless on purpose (Cas avoided answering his direct question), Cas partnered with Crowley the King of Hell, Cas is part of the reason why Eve left purgatory and new monsters are running amok, which Cas never expressed concern over the people the monsters have killed, Cas tortured Bobbie’s friend, Ellie, to death and is complicit in the death of a virgin, Cas said he wanted to stop Raphael but Sam will never consent again to be Lucifer’s vessel and neither will Dean, the abundance of monster souls could blow up half of the world, and to top it off Cas blow apart his mind wall and caste him back to his internal hell without concern for his life or sanity.
Sam did not try to kill Cas out of the blue, Sam had doubts about Cas since Mommy Dearest (and maybe before then) but was afraid to voice those doubts to Dean. Cas is a threat to the world and to Dean, he had to be put down. Cas may once have been an iffy friend, but now he’s no different than any other supernatural creatures that cross paths with earthly hunters.
I wasn’t making a judgment. Sam probably recognized Cas as threat at that point. I was just speculating that there might be more to this than we know at this time.
Cas had tried very hard to convince Dean to leave the real Sam (the soul) in the cage to suffer for all eternity in “Caged Heat”. What more he never offered any alternatives and had the galls to get mad at Dean for succeeding in rescuing Sam. Was it arrogance on his part that since he couldn’t (or didn’t want to) get Sam out of Hell, then how could a mere mortal succeed where he didn’t. To me that was the writing on the wall that Cas is shady, and as the season progressed I had a feeling that Cas was going turn out to be the real villain, the big bad, Crowley and Eve were just red herrings.
Talos, I love how you compared Castiel to Ruby, how their mild demeanor hides deep deception and their own sense of superiority. Castiel is Dean’s Ruby and Dean’s absurd excessive tolerance caused Sam to pay the price every single time.
So Castiel’s road to the darkside was no surprise, he’s been self-serving and entitled since season 4. He never admitted his part in starting the Apocalypse and immediately blame the brothers, not unlike how he tried to blame Ellie’s death on Crowley. When someone refused accountability and always blamed others, then how can they possibly spiritually evolve? The answer is they don’t, and hence why season 6 Cas is very similar to season 4 Cas.
I am far behind with reading articles on here so it took me until today to read the three parts on the Dean/Castiel timeline.
While I can mostly agree on the first two parts I have a different look on Season 6 Castiel.
In Season 5 Cas become human and felt himself as kind of family to the Winchesters. So when Sam jumped the cage to rescue the world I think Cas felt like Dean that he had to rescue his brother. But he must have found out rather quick that there is something wrong with Sam (remember the scene when Sam watches Dean at Lisa’s and Cas watching Sam).
Cas must have also known about Dean’s promise to Sam to start having a normal live and he must have thought too that Dean deserves that kind of live after all he went through so far. Therefore, Cas surely thought it wastime for him to stand on his own feet and make is own decissions.
The thing is that Cas never really had to make is own decision. Through most of his live he followed orders of superiors. Once he thought that those orders might not be the right thing to do he decided there must be another way to things. He wanted to make his own decision but didn’t know how so he asked Anna for help and she refused. From there on out he mainly followed Dean’s lead. But come season 6 he had noone left to follow and he finally had to make his own decisions. And just like a little kid he didn’t allways make the right decisions. He didn’t know how to handle the fight in heaven and then somehow unseen to us Crowley must have told him that the only way to do so would be to reach the powers of an archangel and he could only do so by taking in souls (we all know how convincing Crowley can be, after all he is the king of crossroads). So Cas very likely must have jumped on that solution since he couldn’t come up with something of his own (remember he never really had to have his own ideas). But somewhen during season 6 when Dean was back in the hunting live I believe he must have figured out that Dean would not agree with his actions and that being the reason why he never told Dean. Even though he always came to the Winchesters rescue and not only theirs but also the once the Winchesters accepted as family. I believe that was the reason why he came to rescue Lisa in the hospital.
Cas must also have realized that once he went down that pass with Crowley and started to collecting souls that there was no turning back. He didn’t want the Winchesters involved in that hellishly/heavenly fight since he knew they could only get hurt down that way.
Cas must have truly believed that getting rid of Raphael was the only way of keeping the Apocalypse from happening despite of what the Winchesters fought for and went through. He didn’t want them to go through it again therefore he had to get rid of Raphael. I don’t think he knew ahead of time that taking in all those souls would make him god like.
[quote]He didn’t want the Winchesters involved in that hellishly/heavenly fight since he knew they could only get hurt down that way.
.[/quote]
Cas did involve the brothers in the heavenly fight when he used them as bait and distraction without telling them, and had the brothers thrown into an AU world without knowledge or weapons to protect themselves from a celestial hitman on their heels.
From this action of using the brothers as bait/distraction, Cas was able to capture all heaven weapons, thus depriving Raph of any and forcing him into a retreat. That sends a clear message that Cas does not need to raid purgatory and if there was a time to break the partnership with Crowely that was the time. But no, Cas pursued his plan to gain power for himself.
Cas kept saying Raph wants to restart the Apocalypse, but how can Raph do that? Angels need demons’ help to open the Cage and Crowley was against the Apocalypse and more importantly neither Dean nor Sam would consent to be vessels. Cas should have shown these simple facts, having been there from beginning to end.
I’m left with the conclusion that Raph was simply an excuse for Cas to pursue power for himself. As others already mentioned, Cas has been self-serving and arrogant since his introduction in season 4, and that obviously has not changed.
Arrogant? Maybe (but I remember just ONE line oozing arrogance from him, the “I rescued you from Hell, I can throw you in it again”). Self-serving? NO. At first he was serving Heaven, trusting his superiors and the orders they gave to him. Even when he released Sam from panic room so he could kill Lilith, he was obeying Zachariah’s orders, even if it was clear, later in the Green Room with Dean, that he had a LOT of doubts about these orders and he was ashamed and humiliated. So I really don’t know how can this be lebeled as “self-serving”.
But how on earth can his path in S5 be seen as a search for power, it’s really beyond my understanding. Maybe I’ve been watching another show. Yes, he never made out for his responsibilities in Sam killing Lilith and starting the apocalypse, and he put all the blame on Sam (and Dean). BUT he rebelled to his superiors without ANY certainty that he will be safe and well, and surely not in the hope to overthrow his superiors and take their place. He faced an archangel without ANY hope to survive, just to let Dean get to Sam in time to stop him. And rebelling he didn’t get ANY power: on the contrary, he found himself with his powers diminished, without ANY backup if the Winchesters’ plan would go bad and without ANY certainty that they would prevail in the fight against the apocalypse. IMO, it was a HUGE leap of faith from him, faith in the strenght, intelligence, cleverness and heart of three “ordinary” human beings. How can this be seen as “arrogance”? How can this be seen as “self-serving”?
His search for God was “self-serving”? If he ever succeded in this search, then God, and not himself, would have reign in Heaven.
Don’t know, I am not really a “Castiel-girl”, but again, maybe I’ve watched a different show and a different character… 😮
Good post, Brynhild.
Yes Cas was just as arrogant and self serving in S5, the only difference was his power downgrade that forced him to deal with the Winchester brothers more on their level. First he became a traitor to his superiors once he realized Dean wouldn’t say “yes” and Lucifer would soon be free with a waiting vessel and the power to destroy earth that will cause surviving angels to flee from earth. Cas MAY may have repented, but he never paid the price for his part before his decision to change sides.
Then to top it off, Castiel hid his own culpability in starting the Apocalypse and blamed the brothers. All season 5 his message to them was “Boo hoo I killed my brothers. You are Failures! You are an Abomination! You owe ME!” Seriously, what did he do to stop the Apocalypse? Very little except try to kill a child who “may” become evil one day, be prone to fainting spells when its time to battle the baddies, and waste the brothers’ time searching for the Colt that Castiel should have known wouldn’t work anyway.
The writers could have easily redeemed Cas in season 5, but instead rewrapped the Trickster into Gabriel who saved the brothers from Lucifer’s capture, confronted Lucifer with a pro-humanity argument, and died a heroic death but not before leaving a message to the brothers on using the horsemen ring to trap Lucifer back in his cage. The writers could have easily given these roles to Castiel, but instead when he wasn’t a butt of jokes and a buffoon, he was self-serving as he drank away his self-pity after his search for God failed.
When Cas said in the S6 finale, “I have no family,” he was right. His history is one of betrayal–of his Father, his siblings, his friends, even the King of Hell. He’s a self-serving, ambitious traitor, unworthy of any family, whether angelic or human.
I love the deep irony after being threatened with Sam going evil for so long that it was actually Castiel who really succumbed to the evil lure. This reminded me in season 5 when people were so worried Sam would say “yes” to Lucifer, and in the end it was Dean who wanted to say “yes” to Michael and he had to be cuff in the panic room.
[quote]Yes Cas was just as arrogant and self serving in S5, the only difference was his power downgrade that forced him to deal with the Winchester brothers more on their level.[/QUOTE]
ANd in S4 he was “self-serving”?? 😮 Sorry, but I must’ve REALLY been watching another show.
All he did in S4 was to serve his superiors, who he deemed were making God’s will. [u]Exactly [/u]and [u]only [/u]because he deemed their orders were God’s will. I don’t see this as particularily “self-serving”. And if you see in this behaviour something more (like, say, a way to eescalate the heavenly hyerarchy), that’s [u]your [/u]take on the character, not based on any evidence or event showed in the episodes.
[quote]First he became a traitor to his superiors once he realized Dean wouldn’t say “yes” [/quote]
Ehm… when Castiel rebelled, Dean didn’t even know that he had to say “yes” to Michael, so how could Castiel know that he wouldn’t say it?
And what make you so SURE that Castiel knew from the start the angels’ plans about Dean being Michael’s vessel (or Sam Lucifer’s)? He was just a “grunt on the ground”, as Zachariah put it (very probably referring exactly to Castiel) and “they didn’t tell him much”, as himself said at he end of OTHOAP. All he knew was that Dean was destined to stop Lucifer and the Apocalypse, but he didn’t know how. And again, if you think that Castiel was lying to Dean also in this occasion, that’s [u]your [/u]assumption, and you [u]want [/u]to see Castiel this way. Why, is up to you to explain, possibly basing your assumptions on something more solid than your personal bias against the angels or the angel storyline of the show (or maybe your personal feelings towards Castiel’s character per se).
[quote]Then to top it off, Castiel hid his own culpability in starting the Apocalypse and blamed the brothers.[/quote]
And that’s the ONLY REAL (i.e. based on what we see in the show, and not on your assumptions on which were the “real” intentions and goals behind Castiel’s behaviour) culpability I can agree upon.
[quote]Seriously, what did he do to stop the Apocalypse? [/quote]
Oh, not so much, indeed. For example, just being blown up by an archangel. TWO TIMES. And, I have to repeat myself, both times [u]without any hope to survive[/u]. On the contrary, being totally sure to be reduced to a bloody mess. Just to get Dean a little time to deal with the matter at hand. Trusting he ([u]he[/u], Dean, not himself) will find a way even if himself couldn’t see one.
If Castiel had such a hidden agenda already, why on earth he confronted Raphael first, and then Michael and Lucifer? How could he know that he will be resurrected and so will be able to achieve his secret goals?
And if Castiel was such an arrogant pig-headed asshole, how came that he trusted more a simple human being than himself, an “angel of the Lord”?
[quote]and waste the brothers’ time searching for the Colt that Castiel should have known wouldn’t work anyway.[/quote]
That’s another assumption. You can’t be certain that he knew everything. Maybe you give Castiel a higher rank and a greater knowledge than he had.
[quote] he was self-serving as he drank away his self-pity after his search for God failed.[/quote]
Oh god, and in which way this would be “self-serving”? 😮 I find it just “human”, and [u]that [/u]was what castiel did during S5: becoming “human” (or more human, anyway) and sharing the same limits and helplessness of his newly made friends, coping with our weakness and learning something about freedom (and the mistakes that go with it).
[quote]I love the deep irony after being threatened with Sam going evil for so long that it was actually Castiel who really succumbed to the evil lure.
[/quote]
I find it interesting, too. And I’m not trying to justify Castiel’s actions or choices [u]in this season[/u]. But I don’t see any evidence of a scheming or “arrogant self-serving” Castiel before it. Period.
Sure I have biases, we all do, but I was using the “following the line of reasoning†based on actions of the characters, not on how other characters react to them; because let’s face it Dean and Sam were traumatized and not the best judge of characters at the time until recentlhy. For starters Cas went through re-education at angel camp, and when he returned he knew about Lilith being the final seal and he worked with Zach to ensure the Apocalypse happened.
Sorry, but “just following orders†was tossed as an excuse years ago. Castiel did more than follow orders, he kidnapped Dean and let Sam out. He was a knowing accomplice to starting the Apocalypse. How often do we hear terrorists absolve themselves by saying “It was God’s will, I’m only following God’s order to kill the infidels†The success of the Apocalypse hinges on consenting vessels. Do you really believe that Cas had no inkling about Michael’s vessels, especially when he himself occupies a reluctant vessel, Jimmy? While Cas is not the sharpest angel in the garrison, I can’t believe he is THAT stupid and unable to figure out the bloodline vessel business.
I disagree that Cas had no hope to survive when he rebelled, which was the point of rebelling in the first place – to get out of the losing side. He certainly didn’t expect to get blown up. As others here seemed determined to prove, Cas is not very smart. The second time, just as Cas released Dean at the last minute to stop Sam from releasing Lucifer, Cas arrived to aid Dean to stop Lucifer since he has a stake in all of this. Then he hilariously lied to Lucifer about moltoving Michael with holy fire. Before the Stull Cemetary scene, when Dean asked Cas what can they do, Cas said “nothingâ€. Cas believed all was lost in stopping Lucifer and if Dean doesn’t succeed in getting through to Sam, then Cas was going to go out the quickest, least painful possible way because the alternative is to get “killed over and over again†by Lucifer.
And Castiel didn’t “trusted more a simple human being than himselfâ€, he obviously felt that humanity, Sam and Dean included, were beneath him through season 5. He made a gamble to save himself and that was with the Winchester brothers. All though season 5 Cas never displayed any love for humanity (Gabriel being the only angel that came close), never sown saving innocent lives or showing compassion to the people he upsets. And when Dean broke and wanted to say “yes” to Michael, Cas reacted by beating Dean nearly to death, angry that he is about to lose again after all that he has gambled his survival on; another fine example of Cas’ lack of compassion for humanity and self-serving his own (vessel) skin.
Sorry, but ALL you are saying is just your assumption of what were the “real” thoughts and intentions [u]behind [/u]Castiel’s behaviour. Therefore is just what you [i]want [/i]to see. It’s not what we see, what is showed to us in the show. Then.. why am I still answering you? Bye.
Thanks once again Lori for this insightful look into Dean and Castiel’s relationship. I’ve read the posts, and I agree with some of them. I think season 4 Cas was very much the soldier following orders, getting the brothers to do what Heaven meant to happen, i.e.
The Apocalypse. But I think that hanging out with Dean, something rubbed off on him, and he started questioning the validity of his orders. After all, none of the angels ever said the orders came from God.
And I think season 5 Cas is the closest to human he became. After rebelling against Heaven and siding with the Winchesters, he becomes a pariah that needed to be disposed of. But when he is brought back at the end by whom we all suppose to be God, he reverts back to being a good soldier, albeit with free will. My opinion is that he sees himself as the one who needs to right some wrongs that were done, but then is confronted by Raphael, a much more powerful angel who wants to put The Apocalypse back on track.
Thus begins his downfall in season 6. The way I understand angels and demons, is that they don’t see shades of gray. They do what they do because it’s in their nature. Just like the tale of the frog and the scorpion, that’s just the way they are. As for Dean, will he forgive Castiel for everything that’s happened? I don’t know that he should. After all, Cas put Sam’s life in danger, and that is a death sentence where Dean is concerned. I’m afraid Cas is now beyond redemption. Whether it will be the Winchesters or God doing the punishing will be interesting to see in season 7.
You stated perfectly why Castiel never convinced me that he could be trusted as he is always blaming others. Classic sign of malignant narcissist whose machinations caused untold sufferings and yet he has the galls to blame others.
Sam sacrificed himself to hell to stop the Apocalypse that Castiel helped start in the first place. Dean rescued Sam from hell which as an unintended consequence cleaned up the mess that Castiel made with the soulless version. Each time Castiel refused to admit his part in the gigantic mess and keep telling himself that he was right all along, feeding into his own delusion.
It was very telling that he never included the above in his narration to God, essentially lying by omission. How convenient that he leaves out all the parts about him lying and deceiving the Winchester brothers who keeps cleaning up his messes.
This has certainly been a lively discussion. I enjoy reading so many different points of view.
However, I just can’t wrap my head around Castiel being a parallel to Ruby.
I have also readjusted some of my own thoughts on Castiel. It has been proven that according to the SPN world, angels do not have souls. My thought was that Castiel’s actions would in some way be parallel to soulless Sam.
This is purely my speculation, but I think that humans were created to have souls and thus the loss of one is a whole different ballgame than an angel who was not created to have a soul. It is not something that makes an angel incomplete.
Angels were created, according to SPN, to obey God. Disobedience, as Anna said in Heaven and Hell, is considered Heaven’s Murder 1.I would speculate that Anna’s disobedience came from thousands of years of observing humanity. Castiel’s came from having to “handle” Dean for his superiors in Season 4. His proximity to Dean and Sam caused him to see beyond Heaven’s black and white.
In Season 5, he loses many angelic powers, and is thrown almost exclusively with humans. I speculate, that being soulless and being used to being obedient would cause Castiel to swing his moral sails towards who was closest; in this case the WInchesters.
After his return from death in Swan Song, you can almost feel the power coming off of him. He is contact with heaven again and sees what he believe to be God’s will.
And that sets him on his unfortunate course of actions in Season 6. He has power, he feels he is righteous, he doesn’t believe in his angelic superiors, and he is away from the influence of Sam and Dean.
PS: Not having a human soul, I don’t think Castiel would feel guilt over letting Sam out of the panic room; he was a good soldier following orders. Guilt is a human prerogative, I assume.
Thanks again Lori, for this very thought-provoking series of articles. 🙂
I agree with LordAniline that Castiel was and has always been self-serving. Castiel told Dean he had doubts about his superiors’ orders, but that didn’t stop him from continuing to manipulate and lie to Dean. His doubts didn’t stop him from trying to execute Anna, his former friend and superior. His doubts didn’t stop him from using Dean to torture Alastair–despite Anna’s plea that his Father would not want this. Even after he learned his orders concerning Dean definitely weren’t passed down the chain of command from God, Castiel continued to obey his superiors.
How many uniformed thugs throughout history have cloaked their self-serving ambition and moral cowardice behind the assertion that they were just obeying orders? How many religious fanatics have satisfied their hunger for power by torturing and killing others because GOD wanted it? The Castiel of S4 was no different from innumerable humans who prefer the safety and rewards of obedience to tyranny over the risk of rebelling against it. Besides, Castiel believed in what he was doing: he believed in destiny, and he believed that half the human race would be better off dead, anyway (4.22).
Of course, he did rebel or seemed to, but, as LordAniline points out, only when he realized the game was up. Are we actually to believe that a little tongue lashing from Dean was enough to convince Castiel to overthrow billions upon billions of eons of obedience to his superiors? SN’s writers aren’t that stupid. Castiel knew his side was about to lose. In a matter of minutes, Sam would kill Lilith, Lucifer would rise and the devil would find his “monster” vessel waiting for him, just as the angels and demons had planned. But Michael would have no vessel to defeat Lucifer in the big prize fight. Dean had made that all too clear–and Castiel knew Dean well enough to realize nothing would make him change his mind. So Castiel took a desperate gamble, hoping Dean could stop Sam before Lucifer could be raised to climb into his Sam body, conquer the earth, and send the angels packing or worse. If the gamble worked, the angels would have pinned a medal on Castiel’s chest and the big hero might have been given Zach’s job. But the gamble failed, and Castiel found himself blown apart, restored, and cast out. So, never one to blame himself, he took his anger out on the Winchesters:”You failed!”
Off on the hunt for God. A waste of a perfectly good SN symbol. Naturally Castiel failed to find God with the amulet because finding God requires faith, and Castiel has no faith–or love for humanity, for that matter. Never have the writers allowed him to save the lives of strangers as the Winchesters do. Never have they depicted him consoling humans or showing kindness, generosity, or compassion for people, not even for his vessel or for Jimmy’s child, a little girl too young to give informed consent to having her body stolen and used for Castiel’s purposes. True, in S5, he participated in helping the Winchesters stop Lucifer from taking over the earth–knowing his own welfare would be in jeopardy should Lucifer triumph. (What did Lucifer tell Castiel? That he’d kill him again and again forever?) Also true, he came to the rescue of the boys in S5, but if he saved the life of a Winchester in one episode, he was just as likely to curse him as an abomination or beat him nearly to death in another. As always, everything depended on whatever was to Castiel’s advantage at the moment.
If we don’t examine the character too closely, it’s easy to be deceived by Castiel–by his hurt, sad, vulnerable expressions, his sheepish manner, his apparent innocence and sensitivity, his assumed facade of the poor, lost child longing for his Father. Sam, Dean, and Bobby were all fooled by this angel and, taking their lead, so were many viewers. In fact, I think it’s largely because the writers elected not use the main characters to guide the audience into seeing Castiel more clearly (as Dean did Ruby) that viewers were taken in by the angel.
As far as angels not having souls is concerned, they wouldn’t. The soul is the spiritual essence of a human being; angels are already pure spirit. But the idea that, because they’re spirits, angels don’t know the difference between right and wrong makes no sense to me. If that’s true, then Lucifer, Uriel, and Zach–all angelic spirits–are not to be condemned for their actions. They couldn’t help all the suffering they caused; they didn’t know it was wrong; so they should simply have been given a pass and sent to eternal bliss in heaven.
And angels having no feelings? If that’s the case, how do we account for the hate and fury we saw from Uriel and Zach? How is it that Castiel is capable of the kind of anger he displayed towards the Winchesters in 4.2, the rage he vented in nearly beating Dean to death, the self-pity he wallowed in during his monologue in the garden? Angels have feelings all right; it’s just that most don’t seem to have good ones. As Dean pointed out in ITGPSW, even God probably thinks they’re jerks.
[quote]
If we don’t examine the character too closely, it’s easy to be deceived by Castiel–by his hurt, sad, vulnerable expressions, his sheepish manner, his apparent innocence and sensitivity, his assumed facade of the poor, lost child longing for his Father. Sam, Dean, and Bobby were all fooled by this angel and, taking their lead, so were many viewers. In fact, I think it’s largely because the writers elected not use the main characters to guide the audience into seeing Castiel more clearly (as Dean did Ruby) that viewers were taken in by the angel.[/quote]
Talos, you are brilliant and especially the part about the audience habit of taking guidance from other characters regarding Castiel. Dean has just returned from hell, full of anger, suspicion (at the wrong person) and in deep depression. Sam was lost and confused by his own role in Dean’s life that conflict with his own nature. Neither were in position to judge Castiel actions and suspicious manners, which I assumed was so damn obvious to the audience.
But then I remembered that there were fans insisting that Ruby was “good” despite everything to the contrary. Gen played the “softer” Ruby brilliantly and got alot of fans fooled.
On your first points about Cas not initially following his doubts, his fall was gradual, and I’m glad the writers portrayed it that way. I wouldn’t have believed it if it happened too suddenly.
On your point about Cas joining with Dean in season 4 because he thought the angels would lose, I’d contend that even at that point, the angels still had a better chance at success than Dean. And if Cas really thought that Lucifer would win, he could have joined with Lucifer, as Lucifer had suggested in Abandon All Hope.
On the last point about souls, some moral issues are black and white and can be understood on an intellectual level. Both Sam and Cas knew how to respond in those instances. But where Soulless Sam and Cas seemed to mess up were in the gray areas. Without a soul to guide them, they had no moral compass and were making bad decisions. I won’t get into guilt and punishment because that raises huge philosophical questions that I don’t want to spend all night debating, but in both cases, Sam and angels needed someone to tell them what to do. Sam had Dean once Dean knew what was going on, and angels are supposed to have God.
(this post ^^ was in response to Talos)
Lori, I forgot to compliment you on an insightful article. I don’t think that deeply about the so-called friendship between Castiel and Dean because it’s so force fed, so I actually appreciate that you made me think abit on the timelines of their relationship. It’s very true that their “family†bond was already broken and severed way before Dean realized it. I’ve read plenty of ridiculous arguments by others (not here) that only if Dean talked Cas down from the ledge then the whole purgatory soul business would have been avoided, but since Dean didn’t then it’s all Dean’s fault for Castiel going darkside. But Castiel’s choices and actions immediately after Swan Song and the two following years broke any tenuous relationship the two had. If this is what Ben Englund meant by long distance marriage, then Dean in the role of the wronged wife was the last person to know. Sam and Bobby had their suspicions but Dean held on until he caught Castiel in a lie.
Thanks so much for the compliment. While I do think the friendship and progress to family status was laid out over time by the writers, I understand your feelings that it was force fed enough that that was what spurred the article in the first place. Originally, it was just for myself to get in my head how the relationship progressed because there were certainly plenty of “Where did that come from?” and “Since when?” moments that I wanted to examine it myself and concluded the writers did put the pieces of the puzzle in place, they just didn’t always connect them as clearly as they could/should have. And once I’d invested WAY too much time in it to be considered reasonable I decided to post it to make myself feel better about the time invested 🙂
And I tried to comment to your point above regarding the irony in Cas, not Sam, being the one to truly go darkside, but couldn’t get the quote function to work properly for some reason. At any rate, I agree with you that’s an interesting turn, and it makes me wonder too if the writers intend to deepen that particular irony. We were also teased for so long that Dean would have to kill his brother — maybe Cas fits into the loophole that they were once like brothers just enough to bring that about too. I seriously wonder if the writers are going to have Dean kill Cas in S7 for just the reason you said — the irony of it being Cas, not Sam, who goes completely darkside (not much difference between him and Lucifer now) and it may be Cas, not Sam, that Dean will have to kill.
Again, thanks for reading and the kind words!
LordAniline, I’d like to second your praise of Lori’s article and thank you for the excellent points you make about why neither Dean nor Sam were in a position to judge Castiel’s actions and suspicious manners. I tend to be too hard on the brothers, but you’re absolutely right. Castiel and Ruby attacked Sam and Dean when they were extremely vulnerable– maybe most of all because they were psychologically and emotionally apart. I think John, Sam, and Dean have all pointed out that the Winchesters are strongest when they’re together.
cd28, your point is well taken, but I don’t think the angels had a better chance at success than Dean. As Castiel knew, if anyone could get through to the demon blood addicted Sam and stop him from killing Lilith, it was his brother. Angels could have stopped Sam by killing him, but that would have let the cat out of the bag to Lilith, destroyed Lucifer’s vessel, and ended any chance for the carefully planned “destined” prize fight to take place. Apparently, Zach sent Castiel to Dean to give the human a final talking to before midnight. We don’t know what Zach planned to do if Dean remained uncooperative, but the angel certainly didn’t like being sent off to the cornfield. (Actually, there’s a lot of evidence from S5 to suggest that the writers intended to have Castiel still working undercover for Zach, but, if that was the plan, they changed their minds–maybe because Collins’ contract extended into S6.)
What you say about Castiel and Lucifer is interesting. It seems to me the writers have suggested repeatedly that Castiel has a very strong, personal animosity towards the Rebel Angel. Castiel always thought of himself as morally superior to Lucifer. Maybe, deep down, Castiel knows they’re much alike.
I don’t think there’s any basis for comparing Soulless Sam to Castiel. Soulless Sam is merely a physical entity, a biological machine. He remembered what the real Sam thought and felt, and he imitated him. But he had no soul or spiritual essence. Castiel IS a spirit, just as Tess, Death, and God are spirits. To say that a spirit has no moral compass is to say God has no moral compass. Are you arguing that beings with souls are morally superior to all spirits in the universe? If so, then monsters are superior to God.
Castiel doesn’t need a human soul to guide him. He needs some moral decency–the kind Balthazar showed before he was annihilated by his own brother for trying to help the Winchesters.
Talos,
I think Soulless Sam was much more than a machine. He was a sentient being with his own thoughts and to a certain extent feelings (those connected to physical sensations or animal instincts). He wasn’t that much different than animals or many of the supernatural beings on this show.
In this Supernatural universe, free will seems to trump all, and free will (or choice) is connected to souls, which is connected to power. Angels think they are superior, but free will defeated the Apocalypse, and we’re told God prefers humans. I don’t think this show has explored the concept of God enough for me to feel confident saying where he fits in in this comparison, but God is said to have created humans in his own image, and God seems to have free will, so I would think it would be safe to assume he’s near the top of the pyramid. Do monsters have a moral compass and free will? That’s an interesting question. Some seem to while others do not.
ce28, I agree Soulless Sam was more than a machine–a biological machine might be more accurate. And (though I believe animals have souls), I do think of him as being “animal like.” He was a predatory hunter who preferred the company of a pack, enjoyed the kill, mated when he had the urge, and put his own survival first.
But I see him as radically different from the supernatural beings on the show. Soulless Sam had no free will. He (or “It”) knew Bobby was no threat to him; in fact, Bobby was part of his pack. However, to protect his organism, Soulless Sam had to kill Bobby. He’d also killed other innocent people–not out of malice–but to achieve a successful hunt.
In contrast to the supernatural beings on the show, Soulless Sam could no more choose to do good or commit evil acts than my vacuum cleaner. All that counted for Soulless Sam was his own survival. He didn’t care about anyone–not even Dean. He told him so. He stayed with Dean because he needed him to help him hunt.
I don’t understand why you seem to believe that free will is only connected to souls. Every supernatural being we’ve seen on the show has had free will. Monsters have free will. Like Lenore, once he was bitten, Dean had a clear choice between feeding on human blood or not. Poor Lenore gave into pressure and, presumably, ended up in purgatory. Had she resisted temptation, she’d probably have gone to heaven.
Angels also have free will. If that weren’t true, we and the boys would have no right to condemn Azazel, Uriel, Crowley, Zach, Alastair, or any of the other “baddies.” Nor would we have any basis for admiring Gabriel or Balthazar for their good actions.
Furthermore, if angels didn’t have free will, Lucifer and his legions of followers, wouldn’t have been capable of plotting and rebelling against God. Nor would Anna or Gabriel or Balthazar have been capable of rebelling against their superiors by leaving heaven. Every angel on SN has free will–including those who CHOOSE to blindly obey those with authority over them. In fact, SN’s writers said they drew fairly heavily from Milton. In “Paradise Lost,” God says He gave man free will, then goes on to say, “Such I created all th’ Ethereal Powers/ And Spirits, both them who stood and them who fail’d./Freely they stood who stood, and fell who fell./ Not free, what proof could they have giv’n sincere/ Of true allegiance, constant Faith or Love….” (III. 100-104)
As for the notion that God prefers humans, I think that came from Lucifer, who tried to justify his actions and elicit sympathy by harping on his mistreatment by his Father over God’s supposed preference for the new baby. I’m cautious about believing anything SN’s self-pitying Prince of Liars says.
Let me clarify. Animals, soulless Sams, angels and humans all make lots of choices every day – such as what to eat, where to go – but creatures without souls do not have the same equipment to help them with higher-level morally ambiguous decisions. Humans were created to be able to handle free will and make moral decisions, and that’s why they’re considered special. They’re also held responsible for those decisions and either rewarded in Heaven or Hell as punished in Hell as a result.
Monsters are apparently seen as having less choice and as a result all go to Purgatory. Animals are also not held responsible (not sure where they go in the SPN universe). I love my cat and think she loves me, but if she killed a mouse, I don’t think she’d spend days agonizing with guilt.
Sam had free will but didn’t hear that little voice inside of himself telling him that his actions were wrong, which he used to rely on to govern his decisions. It took him a while to figure out that his decisions were flawed and that he might want to get a second opinion (Dean).
Angels weren’t built to be making moral decisions. They’re supposed to be following the will of Heaven. Why do I think this? Because it’s in the show.
(some of these quotes are from memory so may be off by a word or two)
Castiel: “Teaching angels about choice was like teaching poetry to fish.”
Cas (to Anna): I’m sorry.
Anna: No, you’re not. Not really. You don’t know the feeling.
Cas: Still, we have a history …
Cas wants to make good decisions, but is not hearing that inner voice that comes from the soul, which humans hear to help guide him. He used to follow Heaven, and then for a while followed Dean, but has now decided to try choice on his own. He wonders how he is supposed to know if he is making the right decision and begs God to send him a sign, but that sign never comes.
As for Gabe and Balthazar, I love them both, but neither is a poster boy of a strong moral code. Gabe plays executioner and regularly murders people in his role as the Trickster. He helps Sam and Dean, not because he thinks his angel brothers are morally wrong, but because he’s lived in the human world for a long time, has come to admires some human traits (which he acknowledges angels don’t have), and doesn’t want the world to end.
Balthazar helps Sam and Dean because he questions the logic in Cas’s actions and fears that Cas might end up blowing up the world.
cd28, when Castiel said, “Teaching angels about choice was like teaching poetry to fish,” he was addressing Anna, who certainly understood the nature of choice. No one forced her to rebel; she alone made the decision to leap from heaven, discard her angel juice, and plop into a human woman’s womb. Furthermore, Anna’s decision to rebel against her superiors obviously didn’t require a soul or the little inner voice you contend comes with it. She, no less than Lucifer and his followers was a spirit with free will who needed no human guide to make moral decisions.
When you say that neither Gabe nor Balthazar is a poster boy of a strong moral code, you’re absolutely correct. Your example proves the point that they had the freedom of choice to commit wrong acts (murder, theft, etc.) or right ones. But to argue that Gabe tried to commit a good act (killing Lucifer) because he’d lived among humans makes no more sense than arguing that he committed evil acts because he lived among humans. If angels weren’t capable of choosing evil on their own, Lucifer would never have rebelled. And if angels weren’t capable of choosing good on their own, Balthazar wouldn’t have risked his existence to help the Winchesters try to stop Castiel.
I don’t know what you mean by “higher level morally ambiguous decisions”–much less by the idea that humans can make such decisions while angels can’t. I find nothing morally ambiguous about torture, murder, fratricide, the theft of millions upon millions of souls to use as little nuclear weapons, the destruction a wall that’s the only thing protecting a young human from intense suffering, or the assertion that one is god and others are to kneel to him or die.
If you want to give Castiel a pass for his actions, you must also give one to Lucifer, Zach, Uriel, and Raphael. Would you argue that they’re blameless because, as angels, they were incapable of making “morally ambiguous” decisions like those involving murder and torture?
I think this is going to be my last post on this discussion because I’ve expressed my opinion and this is going nowhere, but to your points:
– The poetry quote was in Man Who Would Be King. It had nothing to do with Anna.
– When Anna chose to rebel, she wasn’t making a choice that involved weighing right and wrong, she was choosing a different life for herself.
– I find it interesting that you say Gabe’s decision to kill Lucifer was a good act, but you list murder and fratricide as acts with no moral ambiguity in the next paragraph.
– As for Cas’s actions, they were morally ambiguous because he believed he was in a war to stop the Apocalypse, preserve the ideal of free will, and to save the world. Killing during a time of war can be morally ambiguous.
– As for who to give a pass to, I don’t think anyone ever gets a pass on Supernatural, whether an argument can be made that they were justified or not, especially if they end up on the wrong side of the Winchesters.
Cd28, sorry. The way you posted the lines made me think this was part of a conversation with Anna. Anyway, as I see it, the point about Anna still applies.
–I don’t agree. To Castiel, Uriel, and no doubt to other angels, Anna did the wrong thing, which is why angels were ordered to execute her. I assume that she believed what she was doing was right.
–Murder and fratricide are not morally ambiguous. To kill in self-defense or in an attempt to save other lives (as the Winchesters do) isn’t the same as murder or fratricide.
–Castiel’s actions were not morally ambiguous. Soldiers are not permitted to kill non-combatants, even if it could mean winning the war. Police are not permitted to shoot innocent people, even to stop a terrorist who might blow up a plane or train full of passengers. The Winchesters also tried to stop the Apocalypse. They didn’t do so by torturing one person to death, annihilating another, or stealing millions of souls to use as weapons. To stop the Apocalypse, Sam sacrificed his life and eternal peace, while Dean sacrificed the person he loves most in the world.
–Castiel isn’t just on the wrong side of the Winchesters, he’s on the wrong side of right. The writers of this show are typically quite moral in their outlook, so I think that, sooner or later, Castiel will get exactly what he deserves.
Now that I’m home from vacation, I’m looking to get caught up on the articles I missed. I thought I’d start here.
I found Cas’s track in season 6 to follow what was laid before him in season 4 and 5. It was all there before us as the viewer all along. Cas is a follower, not a leader, and when he’s thrust into a leadership role the power ultimately corrupts him.
In season 4, Cas is fluctuating between following Dean, his charge, or his Heavenly brothers in their orders to bring upon the Apocalypse. I do not think Cas KNEW he was late in saving Dean on purpose. I think that his superiors made him think that he had been late. Later, in season 4, Cas is punished and indoctrinated back into the Heavenly Plan. He decides, at last moment, to provide Dean the chance—-even though it fails—to try and stop Sam.
All through season 5, he has decidedly taken Dean as his leader and gone through stopping the Apocalypse full force. He’s not in power, he is losing it and becoming more and more of a man than he has ever been before.
Season 6, as you presented him here, proves why Cas is best as follower and not leader. The power trip he took, starting with pulling Soulless Sam the Cage, had really one direction track: to become all powerful. Once he had had a taste of such power, it started to corrupt him. He didn’t bring in Dean, because I think he KNEW Dean would sniff it out and stop him.
I don’t think he brought Soulless Sam back on purpose sans soul. I do agree with your assertion that Soulless Sam was a boon to Cas. He realized just HOW useful this monster could be in helping him double cross Crowley. Soulless Sam didn’t need or care to know why he was hunting these alphas down. All he needed was something to hunt, and like a machine he pursued his task endlessly. Fixing Sam would have stopped that usefulness in its tracks.
I think Sam was also the bigger threat to Cas than even Dean. Sam has walked this path before. He could have, with a soul, noticed the tell tail crumbs leading to a disaster. He put it together rather quickly in “Mommy Dearest” with one slip of Cas’s tongue. Keeping Soulless Sam alive was insurance for Cas to keep his plans under wraps until nothing could be done to stop it.
Dean surely would have picked up on these same signs if he had had the chance, but I think he would have dismissed it for a good period, not wanting to acknowledge that history was repeating itself. The proof is in his reactions in “The Man Who Would Be King.” Sam, on the other hand, had he had his soul would have gotten in Cas’s face from the beginning. Considering the sacrifices he’s made in Swan Song and the damage he unwittingly did with Ruby to his relationship with Dean, he would have prevented Cas from doing the same thing, repeating the same mistake, and hurting Dean.
I love these discussions, and now that I’m home, I am happy to get right back in them. Loved this in-depth look!
Thanks so much for reading! I agree with your assessment of Cas as follower and why that is likely too ingrained a position for him to be a leader. I also like the insinuation in your assessment of Sam’s abilities to put together what Cas was really up to that there is the possibility Soulless Sam had figured out what Cas was up to and simply didn’t care. Like you, I think it would be more difficult for him to figure out without the soul but not impossible. But once the soul was returned, you’re right — Cas’s days of getting by with it were numbered if for no other reason than since the return of the soul Sam has been extra vigilant of Dean. And that vigilance over Dean would have sooner or later translated into concern over the increasingly bizarre behavior of his brother’s angel friend.
Again, thanks for commenting — there is more I want to say in response(and I apologize if what I did say was incoherent — it’s VERY hot here, brain melting) — but as you’re catching up from being on vacation, I’m packing up to leave on one 😆 and so am shorter on time than I would like. Glad you enjoyed the series, I had fun writing it!
It is possible that Soulless Sam had some of the information that something shady was happening with Cas, but you’re right. He wouldn’t care to confront him about it. If it didn’t directly affect his existence or survival, he didn’t pay it any mind.
I agree with you that after he gets his soul back, Sam is full force on making amends to Dean and vigilant to keeping Dean from emotional or physical harm. I think it’s another reason why Cas stayed in the background or shadows, sending other people like Balthazar for the boys to run into rather than directly responding. Souled Sam would notice what was going on and put it together and try to stop him. Keeping distance meant that Sam couldn’t do that until it was too late.
Have fun on your vacation!