Sofia’s Review: Supernatural 7.21 – “Reading Is Fundamental”
Bear with me please. There is a lot going on as we near the end of the season and in the interest of organizing my thoughts I decided to do something a little different this week. Instead of the standard review I think I need to do a bit of a mind-dump. I want to go through the episode and lay out what we know and what we still don’t know. I tried to separate it by topic a bit in the interest of keeping it organized. Please join me by adding your additional thoughts and topics in the comments section. I’d also love to hear your guesses about what is to come in the season finale and what might be carried over in to season 8. (Woo hoo! Season 8!)
Leviathan
When we left off last week Sam and Dean had stolen the tablet that a lot of us had guessed would hold the secret to killing the leviathan. Turns out we were right. According to the tablet, the leviathan can be killed with the bone of a righteous mortal washed in the three bloods of the fallen. Sounds easy enough, right? Just kidding.
We know that they needed to start with the blood of a fallen angel, which Castiel gladly handed over but any ideas about the three bloods of the fallen? Anyone know who the righteous mortal might be? And from the looks of Kevin’s translation there was a lot more information on that tablet. I wonder if we’ll be privy to any more of that information later?
Dick sent his second in command to get find Kevin and the tablet. I’m assuming poor Kevin is in for a fair bit of torture as the leviathans attempt to get information out of him like who else knows about the tablet and where Sam and Dean are. We learned for the first time that leviathans are more powerful than angels. That was a surprise to me.
I still have a bunch of questions I’d like answered about the leviathan though. Who created them in the first place? Was it God? If so, why? It seems odd to create such a powerful creature just to lock them away like a ticking time bomb. And if the angels are meant to be God’s army, what are the leviathans supposed to be if they’re more powerful than God’s army? Just taking a shot in the dark here but what if the leviathans are meant to wipe out all the humans to make way for a new race? It seems a little apocalyptic but the first attempt at an apocalypse was thwarted by a certain group of people so maybe this is more of a plan b? What do you guys think?
Castiel
There are a lot of questions concerning Castiel but let’s start with what we know. Castiel was awaken by the freeing of God’s word. He’s an angel, so that makes sense. He remembers who he is and what he is. He also remembers freeing the Leviathan in the first place but somehow he remains totally free of the burden of guilt. Not to say he’s not apologetic because he is (as evidenced by the game Sorry). But for whatever reason he is choosing to focus on the beauty of the world instead of all the bad going on around him.
Castiel and Sam had an enlightening heart-to-heart about Cas’ mental state. He told Sam that he saw Lucifer at first but described it as more of an aftertaste of Sam’s affliction. So, was he more powerful than the hallucinations? It would seem that they drove him crazy except for the fact that he no longer has them. So he was able to free himself from the visions somehow? He also told Sam that he was weighed down by his mistakes and he was lost until he took on Sam’s pain. So Sam’s pain set Castiel free? How can that be?
Hester, one of the members of Castiel’s old garrison, shed some interesting light on Castiel’s situation. She tells Cas that he’s fallen in every possible way, which doesn’t come as much of a surprise. But then she said something that seemed to catch Dean off guard. She told him that when Castiel first laid a hand on him in hell he was lost. In Hester’s mind, Castiel’s relationship with Dean is what led him astray. And when I stop and think about it, she’s right. Dean is a big part of the reason Castiel came over to the side of team free will. So why was Dean so shocked by this revelation? I’m hoping Dean doesn’t find a way to twist her words to read that he’s somehow responsible for the leviathans. But knowing Dean, he might.
Meg
Meg has been quite the helpful demon these past few weeks. She offered to stay behind and watch over Castiel so Sam and Dean could continue hunting the leviathan. And Castiel seems to have really grown attached to her. Not that we can trust his current mental state. I think we all know better than to trust a demon at this point in the game. But Meg is certainly painting herself in a good light these days. She had a chance to give Castiel up to Crowley and she didn’t. Of course, she explains that it was all for selfish reasons. As she describes it, her only goal in life is to bring Crowley down. So keeping the thing Crowley wants most from him makes for a nice bargaining chip should she need one. Which is why I think she saved Castiel from Hester. And it certainly didn’t hurt her image at all.
Meg seems convinced that Crowley is somehow tied up in this leviathan story. The last we heard from Crowley he told the Winchesters he’d stay out of their way while they figure out how to destroy the Leviathan. This whole season I’ve been waiting for him to reappear and he hasn’t. We know he isn’t partnering with Dick because we saw Dick shoot him down early on in the season. But Meg wouldn’t have brought him up for no reason. I’m guessing Crowley’s reappearance will help lay the groundwork for season 8. (YAY!) What do you guys think? How is Crowley tied up in this story?
So those are the main topics I wanted to explore. Again, please add any additions below! Overall, I really enjoyed this episode. Last week I expressed concern about how all these separate stories would intertwine as the season comes to a close and as usual, they all appear to be coming together nicely. Who knew adding angels and a prophet would tie it all together so neatly. The only other main plot point that wasn’t addressed is Bobby who was M.I.A. this week. It looks like he’ll definitely be in the finale though. I’m thinking more and more that Bobby’s story will be carried over in to season 8. I’m actually hoping that he is because one episode isn’t enough to work out that storyline properly. I would hate for them to rush through it after an episode as beautiful as Death’s Door.
I had a few other stray observations and quotes I wanted to mention as well.
*Castiel: “Pull my finger.” The laugh that followed the explosion was so funny.
*Castiel: “I love you guys”
* Sam: “You saying a transformer wrote that?”
Dean: “No, that’s Megatron.”
*Sam knows better than to leave the tablet unprotected while he chases after Meg. Rookie move.
*This episode had Ben Edlund’s name written all over it. Dean and Castiel playing Sorry together was hilarious and yet that scene also managed to accomplish a lot in the way of conveying Dean’s worry and confusion and Castiel’s state of mind. Perfectly executed.
Castiel: “I’m surrounded by large unhappy dogs.”
Castiel: “A keeper of the word will awaken. Like this hot potato right here.”
Kevin: “This looks like a sex torture dungeon. Is this a sex torture dungeon?”
Dean: “They don’t have the equipment to care and when they try it just breaks them apart.”
Castiel: “You know me. Always happy to bleed for the Winchesters”
Death mentioned, in Meet the New Boss, that the Leviathan were created by God before angels, or man, or anything else. But they were uncontrollable and threatened to self-destruct/destroy the world, so God banished them to purgatory and then created angels, and man. So they are older than angels which allows for the suspension of belief that they can kill angels with just a touch. I think Death said *he* is the only thing that is older than God…so I kind of hope he makes an appearance but I don’t know.
I’ve watched the episode three times now, and it’s grown on me. My initial frustration with Castiel has devolved into general sadness and confusion over his mental state. I’m not sure what to make of his behavior, and I think I’m more heart-broken over Dean’s realization that as much as Cas professes to be “sorry” for the things he’s done, that he really isn’t sorry, he’s “just acting”. It’s a pretty desperate scenario.
I still feel the righteous mortal will be Dean. Based on his past part(s) he’s played in the angel/demon “wars”. It wouldn’t make much sense for it to be anyone else, since this whole story should revolve around the Winchesters. They need to be an intimate part of the solution, not just the catalyst to bring about the solution, if you know what I mean.
I have a feeling the next two episodes are going to be jam-packed with stuff, as they are want to be each season, so I hope they can successfully tell the story and not short-change on any one part. There’s still a lot of emotional journeying to be done by the main players (Sam, Dean, Bobby, Cas) and I want them each to get some kind of forward motion before the end of the season.
Nice review! 🙂
another great review Sofia!
im with you with all this , but i think God make Leviathans as some kind of experimental , you know? like he wanted to know how to make beings and he started with this monster – clever things and then because they were too dangerous , he locked away and he create angels , which they r clever like levis , but not stronger and the humankind which are not so clever like angels or levis . (as what they mean!) so im guessing why he created them and now they r out , they somehow wanna get revenge of all of God’s creations . thats my opinion on Levis.
on Cas , i should say i have no clue yet , i mean him seeing things is kinda …i dono know , but he is al free , nothing to do on earth and no place in heaven , what he will actually do!? how they gonna fit him in next season?! i just want him to have a good story line or otherwise he better not be on season 8! i know its sad , but they screwed castiel’s character in every way they wanted and they shouldn’t do it anymore!
this ep was amazing , i liked your choices of dialogs. they are all great!
The Leviathans-surprised me also that they are more powerful than angels. Although if they were created first and before angels by God and were so bad that God was afraid they would eat the “petri dish”(as Death put it),he put them in Purgatory to preserve the rest of his creations, then I could see how they would be more powerful than angels. If Death is not afraid of the Leviathans, and God created them, then I assume Death and God are more powerful than they are. I wonder how The Mother of all those monsters in Purgatory got along with the Leviathans. I think God stuck the Leviathans away because he wasn’t sure he was done with them.
Per the preview of next weeks episode, the three bloods will belong to Castiel, Crowley and the Alpha Vampire-that is a tough audience for the guys.
I do not know who the “bone of a righteous man” will come from but I’ve read in other reviews that it might be Dean-maybe a rib that he could live without.
Cass-he is not in denial so much as he doesn’t want to do harm to anyone anymore, I think. I also believe it will be a passing mood and as he goes about his life, he will come back to Sam and Dean and help them-at least by the finale of this season. He does seem to accept Meg with kindness and humor-almost like she was a real girl. I wonder if Cas’ treatment of her is allowing her to be more emotional than most of the other demons. But we have seen Ruby at work in earlier seasons, so we know that demons lie really well. And Meg was never that emotional in earlier episodes. Wouldn’t it be funny if a really supernatural connection grew between Cas and Meg-not romance as such, but honest care for and of each other.
Bobby-he was acknowledged in this episode by moving the cup and the EMF meter going red. But he probably is saving up his energy for times when he really needed-like in the finale.
I loved the brotherly feeling between Sam and Dean-really talking and listening to each other, respectful and supportive. Dean asked Sam to pick up the broken tablet and actually said “please”. Very nice.
I liked the Kevin Tran character-very funny but very nice. Hope he doesn’t get eaten. There is supposed to an archangel to protect the prophets-so where is it?
I guess that would be a way to get Michael up from the cage???
Liked this episode-really moved the Leviathan story along. Looks like next week Sam and Dean try to get blood from Crowley and the Alpha Vampire. Good luck on that-but if anyone can do it, they can, especially with help from Bobby. Think Crowley or the Alpha vamp can see ghosts?
I am so glad there is a season 8 coming. I am very sad that this season is coming to a close.
Levi: Like MyBelle said, God created the Levi, they were evil, and he locked them away. No idea why he didn’t smit them, but he didn’t. The implication is, of course, that God created evil, as well as good, and humans have the ‘spark’, the ‘choice’ of which path to take. I think there is a political message in all of this, seeing as how the Levi are evil conservative Republicans ruling the corporate world in an election year. Like Dean, I don’t believe in random coincidences.
Cas: I don’t know what to make of this new incarnation of Cas, the crazy, passive hippie. I believe it has something to do with setting up Cas’s S8 story in that Dean’s conflict between missing his BFF and his lack of trusting him because of Cas’s breaking the granted friendship will mean that Cas will not have achieved redemption by the end of this season. Honestly, I didn’t understand much of the dialogue Edlund wrote for Cas, so I’m guessing that one of the cliffhangers will be the question of ‘what is Cas doing now?’
What concerns me more is this budding ‘thing’ between Cas and Meg. I’m trying to figure out how that came about, what with Cas being comatose, catatonic, or whatever the show meant by his state. I find it pretty far out to except this budding thing happened in a matter of hours. I also don’t much care for it.
Meg: The consecrating of Meg was heavy in this episode. She has gone from mortal enemy to reluctantly granted team membership. Sure, she’s doing it for her own means, but I do believe she is now a full-fledged ally to the Winchesters. I’m not much caring for that either. My wish is that she gets ganked and the brothers take on Crowley next season, but I know that is wishful thinking. Meg is female, so she’ll be around.
Crowley: Yeah, I believe he will try to get in good with Dick again, thinking the Winchesters are too weak to take him down. Crowley will somehow try to get leverage to work with, and that leverage may very well be delivering the Winchesters to Roman. Next season, then, the Winchesters will be after him, with Meg by their side, because it suits both their purposes.
I, too, hope the the Winchesters have an active role the finale. The righteous man could be Sam, who is now guilt free; Kevin, who has a 3-episode arc and could be killed for the bone, or GhostBobby could deliver the bone of some unseen person who was righteous (Jude, the saint of lost causes). I do believe the last person on Earth whose bone would be used is Dean. I fully expect a badass-free Dean season again. What I really want, though, is the Winchesters to be somehow heavily involved in the finale of this season, since they both have been just background noise all season.
Bobby: I believe Bobby will be the other part of the cliffhanger with the question being ‘will Bobby turn vengeful or will he overcome that fate as a ghost.’ He will have some minor role as a team member in the finale, but I don’t think he will move beyond ghosthood when the season ends.
As far as Sam and Dean, I think once Dick Roman is killed, their emotional journey will be to conclude, as SG said in a recent interview, that they do the best they can and all ‘issues’ they have had will go unaddressed beyond that.
[quote]Hester, one of the members of Castiel’s old garrison, shed some interesting light on Castiel’s situation. She tells Cas that he’s fallen in every possible way, which doesn’t come as much of a surprise. But then she said something that seemed to catch Dean off guard. She told him that when Castiel first laid a hand on him in hell he was lost. In Hester’s mind, Castiel’s relationship with Dean is what led him astray. And when I stop and think about it, she’s right. Dean is a big part of the reason Castiel came over to the side of team free will. So why was Dean so shocked by this revelation? I’m hoping Dean doesn’t find a way to twist her words to read that he’s somehow responsible for the leviathans. But knowing Dean, he might. [/quote]
So, I’m gonna comment on this. I think Hester is just looking for someone to blame about the fall of Castiel. She just doesn’t believe that a pure angel (as they think they all are in their arrogance) could be fallen so low if not because of the human. remember Anna? So, no I don’t think Dean’s touch has that capacity to taint anyone. He’s Michael vessel how can he be? But Dean does have a low self esteem brought up by his upbringing. Hester’s words only serve to lower Dean’s self confidence, again. As if the poor guy hasn’t has enough. Hearing the words coming out of an angel seems to confirm that believe in Dean’s head. But I for one think Hester is just too full of herself or too full of her Angelness.
THE LAST 2 EPISODES BETTER BE JAM PACKED, BECAUSE SOME OF US ARE LOST.
CASTIEL IS NOT HIMSELF, SO I THINK HE IS GOD IN DISGUISE.
KEVIN SHOULD HAVE AN ARCHANGEL PROTECTOR, SO HE & HIS MOTHER SHOULD BE OK.
THAT SORRY GAME WAS DEEP. I HAVE SEEN IT 5 TIMES AND STILL FIND SOMETHING MORE. EACH TIME.
Hi, great review. What I’m wondering is when the Word of God was actually created? If God made the Leviathan first, then at that time there were no Angels, or Demons or Mortals. So how would He have known how to kill them? And more importantly, lol, did He test that theory?
My guess is that God created the Leviathan before creating anything else and when He realized that they were getting out of hand he locked them away and left the information on how to kill them should they escape. Why He didn’t just kill them is beyond me. But I guess we wouldn’t have a plot if that had happened.
Hi, Sofia.
I am thinking more in line of Castiel’s pattern speech. That there is a pattern in everything. When God locked away Leviathan he knew that they will be released one day by one of his wayward angel. He knew that at the time there will be a fallen angel, fallen father of beast and fallen leader of humanity.
I really think Edlund wrote a beautiful poem here. Talking about chicken and egg, which one comes first? It’s already scribed before. Remember, there’s a pattern in everything no matter what Sam and Dean said about free will. Hahaha… Perhaps that’s the moral here? I dunno. 😀 but it’s interesting. And Castiel finally realized this.
That is a really good point, I hadn’t thought of that. After God created the Leviathan and He realized how dangerous they were, why not just get rid of them right away? Maybe He tried and didn’t succeed and just managed to cram them into Purgatory until He came up with a way to do it? Then He created the angels and he got himself a scribe in Metatron to write it all down. So, why not destroy them then? So many questions!
I too wondered if Dean would end up being the righteous man. He was similarly chosen to shed blood in Hell to start the apocalypse. And I agree with everyone that I would like Sam and Dean to have a significant role in the solution to the season.
EireneS, Interesting thoughts on the three bloods coming from Castiel, Crowley and the alpha-vamp. It makes total sense to me. Heaven, Hell and Purgatory.
Hi, Sofia. Me back again 🙂
I’ve watched and re-watched it again and right now have came to a conclusion.
Castiel was scared. From his body language when he met Hester for the first time he was scared out of his wits more over when they met again in Rufus’ cabin. Perhaps he believed his time has come to meet punishment. I think he is waiting for punishment. Remember when Castiel brought Anna to Heaven to be re-educated? It was awful and it was created to punish a wayward angel, angel who made mistakes. Castiel was afraid for his comeuppance but too scared to come up to heaven by himself.
I also begin to suspect that somehow Cas saw God during his coma? He is forced to see his purpose as an angel. I believe he was re-educated when he was in coma. He wanted to start at the beginning, like when he played the Sorry game.
He was also appeared to be afraid of Dean. he can sense Dean’s anger at him like he can sense Sam’s troubled soul, there were no forgiveness from Dean. That’s for sure and Cass knew that. He tried to deflect Dean’s anger to make light of the situation but of course it didn’t work. He wanted to say lot’s of things begging Dean to give him a chance to have a new start but too overwhelmed by Dean’s anger that flooded at him in waves.
Cass knew that things gonna get bloody no matter what he did. He saw the pattern, like he saw the pattern of bees. As an angel he was supposed to be able to see this but he was too arrogance back then when he was trying to be God. Things would fall in place just like God had scribed. Angel were merely a tool to carry on God’s order. Castiel lost that sight before but he was trying to get it back. To get his identity back as an angel but he was still burdened by guilt. He wanted to be punished but too afraid to face punishment.
That’s all I get, right now. 😀 Cheers Sofia! Great review! You make me think of this.
PS: I think Sam and Dean are not the ‘Righteous Mortal’ Sam is troubled and Dean is burdened. They both are not light. But if it has to be either of them I will go for Sam. Maybe Levi!Sam gave a hint when he was eating self-righteousnesses out of a plate of salad. But that’s self-righteousness, not the same.
Also perhaps the reason why Dick dug (hehe) the tablet in the first place was to bring out the prophet. If he had the tablet then the prophet would come to him and he would be able to eat him? or clone him maybe? and maybe then he could find out about God’s whereabout. Maybe Dick wanted to eat God too and became the ruler of Universe. Hahaha… 😀
Hate to differ re: “righteous”–but neither Dean nor Sam qualify. For anyone who has watched SPN regularly this ought to be a no-brainer.
My take: Sam, Dean and … wait for it … Adam … are the three fallen … bottom line? they’ve all been to Hell … i.e. FALLEN … and they’re brothers, which makes for a neat symmetry.
As to the righteous man, I find it challenging to think of any characters who are genuinely without moral flaw, although there is one that comes to mind who really qualifies–and that would be Chuck the Prophet.
This was one of my favorite episodes. Castiel’s madness has an innocent, instructive quality to it, in my mind. And the reintroduction of angels (along with mention of Crowley) suggest the plot threads are slowly being woven together.
p.s. vengeful spirit negative connotations aside, I must confess that it was fun watching Bobby lay the smackdown on Dick … although … if angels are weaker than leviathan, why would a ghost have the ability to rip a leviathan to shreds?
[quote]Hate to differ re: “righteous”–but neither Dean nor Sam qualify. For anyone who has watched SPN regularly this ought to be a no-brainer.
My take: Sam, Dean and … wait for it … Adam … are the three fallen … bottom line? they’ve all been to Hell … i.e. FALLEN … and they’re brothers, which makes for a neat symmetry.[/quote]
Would a lot of this not depend of who is doing the judging, and under what criteria? If you consider Dean, Sam and Adam to not be righteous because they have fallen then it must also be true that Michael the archangel is not righteous because he ended up in the same place as Sam and Adam.
I don’t think (or at least I hope) that being righteous is dependent on where your soul (or your body) ends up. Dean choose to die and go to hell for a morally righteous reason, as did Sam. If Bobby had ended up in hell after selling his soul to Crowley then his actions would also have been righteous because he gave his soul to help save the world, and that was (and I’m bordering on blasphemy here) very Jesus like of him.
It wasn’t my intent to conflate going to Hell with any criteria related to righteousness. If we want to split hairs, I think one could argue that going to Hell, in the SPN series, has never been related to standards of morality and righteousness. It has functioned more as a literary holding pen of sorts–taking characters off the table in order to enable development of other characters in their absence, and of constructing trials and tribulations for each character as the seasons have progressed. The “cage” as you point out hasn’t seemed relevant to a character’s moral status. I agree with your point in this respect.
But there are certainly many different standards by which righteousness might be judged. And I think they’re mainly well understood. I don’t think we need to reach too far to understand what the SPN writers mean by the term “righteous”.
One could think of a righteous person as someone who attempts to place their understanding of God’s will first and foremost in every area of their life. In this sense, none of the three brothers really qualify. That isn’t to say they haven’t led good lives, but only that each brother’s awareness of his relationship with a higher power has clearly not been a driving force in their lives. Certainly, this angle was flirted with for Dean, since he was first designated to be Michael’s(?) vessel and there was some meditation on what it meant for Dean to be designated God’s warrior vis a vis Lucifer (and his claiming Sam as his vessel). But the reality is that the show didn’t do very much at all with that theme.
One could argue that one’s adherence to a moral code is the standard by which righteousness might be judged. In this sense, none of the brothers measure up very well. Sam and Dean, at least, have both perpetrated rather heinous acts from time to time … and neither has been particularly clean in the “venal” category of sins either. This too has been an infrequently occurring theme throughout the series.
Finally, one could even argue on the basis of more esoteric standards. Do the brothers pursue modes of living which would enable them to gain control over their microcosms … to establish a tendency toward right thinking–or the control of self, thoughts and emotions through the pursuit of meditative/contemplative approaches to life? Certainly no one would argue that this has ever been the case. This understanding of righteousness, also, has been flirted with on occasion. In earlier seasons Dean often poked fun at his baby brother’s observances of (relative?) celibacy, teetotaling and healthy eating lifestyle. But Sam has his own flaws as well. And ever since the soul-less Sam was a significant character in the series, even the ensouled Sam has been less stringent in his lifestyle choices.
My initial comment wasn’t intended as a slight on either brother–but was rather an assessment of whether these men would measure up to conventional standards of what it means to be righteous (and if I’ve left anything out, please let me know … this comment isn’t intended to be a dissertation on ethical systems).
I don’t think either of the three would under any circumstances. Does that mean they’re bad people? Certainly not. In fact, Dean and Sam for most of the series have functioned as heroes in the mythical (albeit modern-mythical) sense. Their journey more often than not can be conceived as a quest of sorts, lurching from one season to the next.
But I don’t think any of the three brothers can be thought of as “righteous” in most conventional or traditional understandings of the term.
Well, but you can’t blur the SPN-verse with our real world. And if Dean was before judged to be “the righteous man” who would break the first seal, I just don’t see why he can’t be so now. And in the SPN-verse, Dean (and John before him, if we have to believe Alastair’s claim) WAS “the righteous man”, even if he can’t be judged to be one according to OUR world meanings of the word “righteous”.
I think the easiest way to get the bond of a righteous person is go to a church and grave rob. Can’t be Dean. What’ he gonna do chop his arm off? If just couldn’t work in a practical sense.