InsaneJournal

Current mood:	jubilant
Current music:	Amy Winehouse - Rehab
Entry tags:	supernatural, tv talk

SPN 4.22
A while ago I was reading Death of A Pirate King by Josh Lanyon. You may remember hearing me talk about it; it's the last (so far) book in the Adrien English Mystery series. And the thing about that book that was so incredible to me was that Lanyon had made one of the protagonists so fucked up that I literally could not conceive of how he was going to work it out between the two guys or make me, the reader, forgive the guy. And yet I still desperately wanted him to.

Sounds familiar, right? Well, like Lanyon, Kripke pulled off that same miracle last night and, really, in exactly the same way. By not trying to redeem the character so much as putting him in a place where I'm willing to SEE him redeemed, and by putting the protagonists in a place where their relationship is, if not mended, POSSIBLE of being mended. And that's a damn hard trick to pull off, so kudos to you, Kripke. Well played, man. Well, fucking played.

I find it infinitely interesting at how completely stupid the angels have been all the way along in manipulating Dean. I don't think it's OOC, per se, but I do think it's UNINTELLIGENT. Choosing Dean as their avatar and expecting him to go against Sam undercuts what everyone--including the Hellions--knows about the Winchesters, and Dean in particular. That Sam (family) is written through him like rings on a tree. And that he's NOT John. He just can't hold grudges like that. Not against family. If he could do that, he'd never have stayed with John as long as he did. And then to leave Dean in a place where he had NOTHING to do but think and stew and have recriminations...oy, with the poodles already. What did you THINK would happen? A fundamental misunderstanding of humans, and Winchesters in particular, led to that colossal "fuck-up". OTOH, like what happened with YED, Lillith and Sam, one could say that was God's plan all the time. One could.

You know, I have really, deeply enjoyed watching Castiel with Dean and the relationship between them and watching Castiel develop into something both more and less angelic than he was before. I like Castiel. But I didn't really ship them (and I suppose I still don't, exactly) and I didn't necessarily see what it seemed like everyone else was seeing in their relationship. All that being said, the realization that Castiel's self-justification for toeing the line, realizing that he had looked into Dean and seen all that fucked up interior landscape and felt like THAT made the only solution Armageddon, because, BY GOD, Dean Winchester should have some peace in the world...man. That was pretty hard core. Because that's love. Castiel would help destroy the world so Dean could be at peace, with God. That's the best gift that Castiel could think to give him. Awesome.

I liked Ruby well enough as a character, though I've never been really fond of either of the actresses who portrayed her. I'm not sorry to see her go and, given how deep she sunk her wiles into Sam, it was very deeply satisfying to watch the boys kill her and do it together. OTOH, looking at it through another lens, that is the Wincestiest thing I have seen in this entire series.

Literally and figuratively, Ruby has been "the woman between them" all season long, and Dean just proved that he was willing to do anything--even if it was too late, even if it was the ARMAGEDDON--to kill the woman who stood (again, LITERALLY) between him and his brother. The penetrative symbolism of the knife is really just the icing on the cake. And it was such a textbook conduit pose.

I can't believe how glad I am that Bobby is still alive (afawk). I'm usually pretty good at remaining unspoiled for the finales, at least, but I'd heard that rumor and, though I'd been steeling for it, I didn't want it. I like Jim Beaver and I like Bobby and I feel like Sam and Dean need someone to call them on their bullshit and to give them the reality check when they get too deep into the boy-boy melodrama. The fact that Bobby can say (and I think it's true, personally) that Dean is a BETTER man than John (and in the end, I think both Sam and Dean are better men than John...and I LOVE John, don't get me wrong) really choked me up because Dean does try so hard to live up to both John's ghost and what he BELIEVES John would want of him...and, speaking from experience, what our parents want of us and what we THINK they want from us are often two very different poles. And I don't feel like Dean (or Sam) ever got the chance to really know John as adult men (even though Dean was 26 by the time John disappeared; we all know Dean's had both a a truncated and extended childhood in many ways).

In any case, I think it's difficult, if not impossible, for Dean to see the ways he's "softer" than John as anything but a liability. But his inability to hold revenge over family, his inability to hold a grudge against family, his need for reconciliation over continued hostilities...it's a virtue. And its one, in this case, that could (will) save the whole world.

My big sticking point for the finale... Well, aside from OMG I WANT SAM AND DEAN BACK TOGETHER! ...was that I really, really did not want Sam's demon powers to be a good thing. I wanted Ruby to be duping him. I wanted Sam to be making bad choices and not have the show try to justify it at the end with "the ends justify the means". I VERY MUCH wanted that. I have always liked the canon that demonic powers, at least, are Not Good and I didn't want that, of all things, to change. It would have changed too much of the dynamic for me and would have really messed up my ability to enjoy the show if Sam were somehow justified at the end.

I adore Sam Winchester, but his greatest sins are pride and wrath and they both led him to this point. Making that an okay thing would have made Sam--and the show--unredeemable to me. So I was very glad to have been borne out in all my suspicions and speculations about what was happening and why. I'm also kind of joyful/excited/what have you that Kripke's religious maunderings seem to be fairly in line with my own, with the presentation of free will above any destined or preordained trappings. I don't want to get into a big religious screed, but I really love the idea that their choices--including the choices to still love each other and forgive each other--are what led them to this point and what will lead them through it. I spent a lot of mid-season feeling like I wasn't sure that Sam and Dean really DID love each other any more and it was an awful feeling. I am invested in them loving each other as much as I am invested in loving the show for itself and the removal of that factor was really, really bitter. I like how the show showed, in the last few episodes and in the finale, that family can do heinous shit, they can mess you up and hurt you and all that jazz...but you still find it in your heart to love them, despite all. And that love is still central to who they are. So it's all all right with me.

In other news, has anyone made a Sam vid for Amy Winehouse's Rehab?