Quick Reaction: 9x22 Stairway to Heaven
May. 13th, 2014 11:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hells_half_acreHello my friends!
So, this week it's back to the old routine - only, once again, I didn't have any alcohol, because I'm just getting over a bad cold and I didn't think my body would appreciate getting tipsy right now. It has enough trouble just maintaining itself when sober. That being said, just because I haven't been drinking doesn't mean I'm going to remember the episode perfectly - so, quotes and order of events aren't going to be correct. I've only seen the episode once about an hour or so ago.
Now... to the episode....
We begin...um... in an ice-cream place!! Yay! Where we find a prissy mother questing a girl who's their on her own about where her parents are. She doesn't have parents, apparently, she's an angel. Seriously though, did the vessel not have parents? Maybe angels took over the whole family. In any case, it's a moot point, because in walks another angel and BLOWS EVERYONE UP! Geeeeeeeeezzzzzzzzzzzz..... and apparently he did it "for Castiel" - okay, buddy.
Then we cut to Sam, who is sleeping ADORABLY on his stomach.. fully clothed, because the Winchesters always sleep fully clothed when times are tough. And Dean wakes him up, and promptly gets a gun pointed at him, because, of course, even in the bunker - THE SAFEST PLACE ON EARTH BASICALLY - Sam is sleeping with his hand on a gun. Listen, I just don't think it's a good idea to wake up people who OBVIOUSLY suffer form PTSD with loud noises...
Sam agrees with me, telling Dean in his adorable sleepy voice that he could have shot him. Sam's adorable, is what I'm saying.
Anyway, the whole point to the exercise is to let us know that 1)Dean is weirdly not sleeping - yeah, that's not a bad sign. 2)Cas called and needs them for something in Missouri... and then we get Sam having to convince Dean that there's no reason to bring the first blade along with them. Dean agrees and leaves it on the table, to show Sam that he can and convince Sam that Sam's fears are unfounded. BUT THEY AREN'T! Man, as soon as Dean left the room, I was sitting there thinking "Sam, hide the first blade! HIDE IT!" But nope, Sam doesn't hide it and Dean obviously double backs and picks it up. Sigh.
Off to Missouri, where Sam and Dean are addressed as "Agent Spears and Aguilera" because the cops are expecting them.... and I laugh forever, because Cas tells them that he noticed their aliases were usually popular musicians...and yeah... awesome.
Anyway, I like the way this scene plays out, because you see how absolutely horrified Cas is by the crime, and that he puts it even below Metatron... and I like the fact that they don't show us what body Cas is looking at, because I kinda assumed it was the girl, but nope! We find out later that she was ATOMIZED. (BTW: Being "atomized" is actually how I'd like to die. I really don't want to leave a corpse behind... my brother in law says I have control issues, but man, I just don't want people looking at me all dead. I really need to write a will, because it's very important to me that NO ONE LOOKS AT MY CORPSE. Oh god. Okay, let's get away from my weird issues and return to the show... sorry...
So, um, what happens next? I don't remember, let's cut to Handsome and Jerkface.
Metatron is trying on a Castiel-like trench coat.... yeah, that's not creepy. And Gadreel knocks on the door. I love the "One second!" followed by Gadreel walking in and being like "what? I waited one second!" Hahaha... seriously, how can you not love Gadreel, he has all the charm of S4 Cas! (Yes, yes, I know he killed Kevin, but... you'll just have to forgive me for being totally over that.)
Gadreel's all pissed off about Metatron having him followed and Metatron is like "but you were meeting with the enemy!" and Gadreel is all like "yeah, but I wasn't JOINING HIM! I promise!" And man, I really want Gadreel to join Castiel... seriously, HE HAS ALL THE CHARM OF S4 CASTIEL. And may I remind you, that S4 is when all you folks fell in love with Castiel... so, you're just going to let me have this one, is what I'm saying. You all forgave Castiel for letting Sam out of the panic room and starting the apocalypse, you can TOTALLY forgive Gadreel for killing someone... or at least I can.
What was I talking about? Oh hey... Gadreel has a very large jaw to clench, and I have to wonder why it's not more obvious to Metatron that he's totally losing his second in command here... but I'm getting ahead of myself... Metatron and Gadreel have an appointment to meet... umm... an angel whose name starts with T. Let's call him Tybalt, because I can't remember his actual name.
Tybalt is apparently the leader of the last biggest faction of angels. So, he's prime courting material. If Metatron can get Tybalt to join Metatron's team, then Metatron will have the bigger army. Now... there are a couple of issues with this: 1)If Metatron wanted to stop the faction fighting, why is he fighting in a faction? 2)If Metatron actually wants to be the underdog-hero in this story that he's writing, shouldn't he WANT the smaller army?
Okay, back Sam and Dean and Cas...
So, Dean finds Castiel having minions super creepy... moreover though, as soon as they see the video that the suicide bomber shouted "for Castiel!" before blowing himself up, he totally doesn't trust that Castiel isn't behind it. Dean tends to hold people to their past mistakes a lot... and he DOES have a point that the last time Castiel had any sort of power, he did bad things with it. Now, what Dean is failing to mention and what makes his accusations completely unfair is that the last time Castiel was high on power, he was actually full of leviathan... now he's just himself. Thoughhhhhhhhhhh... yeah, there's also S6 where Cas TOTALLY DID lie to Dean and Sam the whole season and do bad things in order to defeat Raphael, so, yeah, okay... there's reason enough to distrust him, I SUPPOSE. Since this is a similar situation... Dean knows that Cas will go to great lengths to protect Heaven and other angels, and that human collateral might stop being a priority at some point - just like monster-collateral was in S6.
Anyhoo.. they start fighting in the middle of the command centre, which is not good for Castiel's image as Commander... also, it's always embarrassing when couple fight in public.... Sam realizes this and quickly gets them to move the fight into Castiel's office.
Castiel is OFFENDED AND APPALLED. Dean doesn't care. Castiel wants to go off and track down the angel that didn't show up for roll-call in the morning... and since Dean doesn't trust Cas, he commands Sam to go with Cas... and this is where I said, "but Sam doesn't trust Dean!"...Sam though, plays the part of the good subordinate and follows Dean's orders. Him and Cas take the caddy to wherever the heck Josiah (I think that was his name?) went...
SASSY SCENES! You all know how much I love me some Sam+Cas scenes. Of course, all they talk about is the thing that unites them - and that's Dean. Dean's more intense since he got the Mark... I love Cas' line about how Dean's "always been angry" but now it's amplified.
Meanwhile, back at Cas HQ, Dean is interrogating people and YEAH, someone REALLY should have stayed with him... last week we saw Sam very skillfully both manipulate a suspect AND prevent Dean from resorting to violence, but without Sam there, Dean just goes into attack mode. Now, mind you, the angel KIND OF ASKED FOR IT... I know I'm like, victim-blaming, but seriously, don't tell a guy that what he does doesn't help people when the belief that he helps people is the only thing that makes his miserable life bearable! Or, putting that completely aside: If you know someone is a murderer DO NOT ANTAGONIZE THE MURDERER! It's not rocket science. But, we'll get to the low IQ of the angels later...
The point is, Dean gets two more names out of stupid angel girl... Tessa and Constantine.
Tessa. The Reaper.
So, here is the part where I start getting a LITTLE annoyed. Because, guys, I'm not going to lie, I liked reapers as forces of nature. I liked them as being under Death's command, not Heaven's. I liked them as being outside of the angel/demon dichotomy. I liked them as immortal beings that you had to be dead or close to death to see.
What the show has done now, and I guess started doing in S8, is turn Reapers into a subset of angels... like cupids. There are several problems with this - firstly, it doesn't explain the previous "have to be dead/dying in order to see them", it doesn't explain why they're under Death's command and not God's (in SPN universe, Death and God are equals, one creates and one "destroys", and I LOVED that... and I don't want that to change), also, in S4, we learned that if Reapers weren't able to do their jobs, then NO ONE WOULD DIE. People are still dying, and we're not getting fallen Reapers running into people's houses when grandma has a heartattack and telling her to go into the light or whatever... so, yeah, SLIGHTLY ANNOYED is a bit of understatement... it's a retcon and it's a BAD retcon because the rules don't match up.
So, because of that bit of negativity, I'll now have a point of positivity to balance - Dean mentions Fiddler on the Roof, which totally supports my headcanon that at some point in his formative years, Dean spent time in New York in a Jewish neighbourhood. So that's cool.
Anyway, Dean tracks down Tessa and stops her from exploding herself, takes her back to the compound and interrogates her. She seems to fully believe that Castiel ordered her to do it. So, there's that.
Let's go back to Handsome and Jerkface who are now with Tybalt at a bowling alley.
This scene was amusing. I liked Tybalt being like "Who cares about Heaven! I LIKE Earth"... Metatron actually did find an angel (faction?) that LIKES free will! Yay! More than that, Tybalt loves bowling... and I loved when he's like "breath in that smell" and Gadreel is like "old shoes and alcoholism?!" Hehehe... hilarious. Guys, I really love Gadreel, I don't think you understand. I think he is my Cas... remember when everyone went crazy for Cas and then Misha? And I was like "Um, okay! I guess! Sure! Whatever! I fully support fandom enthusiasm even though I don't really think I'm experiencing it to the same level you are!" Well, I think those of you who don't like Gadreel are just going to have to give me this one... you're just going to have to be like "Okay, whatever you like, sweetheart" and then pet me on the head like a "mentally deficient puppy."
So, Tybalt challenges them to a game, and Metatron figure he can work with that... and we return to Sam and Cas? Sure, let's return to Sam and Cas.
Sam and Cas end up at yet another abandoned factory of some sort. They can't get in. Sam tries (and um, they're VERY OBVIOUSLY not going for stealth here, btw) and the door doesn't budge, and Cas tries... and they try until darkness falls and then suddenly Cas has a blacklight in his hand! Haha... kind of weird angel ability. Anyway, the blacklight reveals the message "why is 6 afraid of 7" and Cas supposes it's because prime numbers are intimidating, and I do love Cas... I do... don't get me wrong there. I love him to pieces. But Sam is like "because 7 8 9!" and the door opens, and Cas is like "just like Lord of the Rings!" and informs Sam that he's very pop-culture savvy now. Adorable.
Anyway, it's explore the creepy building time! There are SAWS IN THE WALLS! What the hell! And they actually WALK through them. Guys... listen, I don't care if it looks like they've stopped moving, you still CRAWL UNDER THOSE F*CKERS! Because better safe then COMPLETE DEAD YOU IDIOTS.
Uh, I think we cut away to something else, but I'm just going to keep talking about Sam and Cas...
They end up finding what Cas believes is the door to Heaven - but dude, it is never that easy. Sam tries to tell him so, but he ends up going in. Only to find a cheesy prom-type empty party set-up with a teasing note... and what looks to be the corpse of Josiah, who obviously fell for a trap intended for Cas. Josiah has been lit on fire and burned with holy oil. Ugh, so horrible and completely gross. What's even more gross is that it seems to have burnt his eyelids off, because, yeah... ANYWAY, the even more horrifying part is that he's not even dead yet. He tells Castiel about... you know, I totally forget... something about betraying Castiel for Metatron, I guess. But the main point Josiah makes is to say that when he looked into Castiel's eyes, he didn't see an angel.
And that was a really cool point - because it makes me wonder if the stolen grace is actually a noticable thing, but maybe only for those with a keen eye. Castiel must still, on some level, look like a human.. and it's not something he can disguise from angels who know what to look for, I guess. Anyway, I found it interesting.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Dean's found out that Tessa is suicidal because she can HEAR the souls that are trapped in the veil. Maybe people still die without reapers for some reason, but they just can't be taken into heaven or hell? Ugh, it just annoys me that the mechanics of the universe don't make sense anymore! Sorry.
Dean, for some weird reason.. intimidation? Brings out the first blade, and Tessa impales herself on it. Yeah...
Hannah, Cas' second in command (and I do like the fact that in BOTH holy wars, Cas has had a female second in command), is SUPER PISSED OFF, even though she wanted to smack Tessa before, killing her was not on the agenda. She has angels disarm and tie Dean up - and I guess there was no collateral damage there, so Dean was at least of enough sound mind that he didn't use the first blade on them.
Meanwhile, back at the bowling alley, Constantine shows up to suicide bomb Metatron... though, I think that was just for show, and he actually intended to suicide bomb Tybalt the whole time, as we find out later. I think the "Metatron!" call out was in order to give Metatron enough warning to get out of the line of fire. (An aside: I love the fact that Tybalt's bowling team was called The Saints.)
So, Sam and Cas arrive back at HQ to find Dean tied up and Cas' underlings pissed off. Before Cas can deal with Dean though, or hear his side of things, Metatron calls on skype.... and in front of Castiel's entire army, basically says that Cas is behind the bombers, that Tybalts death meant that everyone in Tybalt's camp is now in Metatron's army, that Castiel's grace is actually stolen (which we know from Castiel's reaction to stealing it is a huge no-no in angel society), that Castiel only cares about himself and the Winchesters, and that everyone in Castiel's army who wants to join up with Metatron can do so with complete amnesty... they just have to recognize Metatron as the new God... because it's obvious to Metatron that angels aren't capable of free will and NEED a leader... and wow, yeah, the fact that God!Levi!Cas said the same thing back in 7x01 should basically be a huge red flag to the angels...
After the call, Castiel tries to defend himself saying that Metatron is lying, unfortunately, Hannah questions him on the two things that WEREN'T lies... 1)the fact that Cas' grace is stolen and 2)the fact that Cas cares more about the Winchesters than Heaven.
Hannah says that if Cas punished Dean (with the death penalty) for killing Tessa, then she'll believe that he's a good leader, but if he doesn't then she'll believe Metatron... and that's a PRETTY STUPID THING TO DO. Because if Cas DID kill Dean, that wouldn't prove that he was a good leader, it would prove that he's NOT, because killing people ISN'T A GOOD THING, even if they're criminals.. and even if you believe in the death penalty, killing someone without a fair trial is REALLY not good. Moreover, I'd seriously suspect the morals of anyone capable of killing their best friend, I don't care what that best friend has done.
So.. yeah, Cas chooses Dean over his army, and his army leaves.
Cut to heaven, where Metatron is gloating. Gadreel is jaw-clenching because Metatron used angels that Gadreel recruited... Gadreel is basically REALLY tired of killing people by now, especially people he didn't want to kill.... and he's really sick and tired of Metatron not telling him the goddamn plan! Basically, he's had it.
So, we drive back to the bunker with the boys in silence... once they get inside, Sam is annoyed at Dean for lying about leaving the blade behind. Dean informs Sam that until Metatron is dead, they aren't team, they're a dictatorship... and yeah, Dean is basically putting the dick in dictator. It's even more concerning because Dean doesn't even NEED the first blade to kill Metatron, they could use a regular angel sword for that, of which they seem to have plenty! They're always pulling those things out of thin air. So, yeah, Dean has gone psychopathic on us.
Sam doesn't know what the hell to do about it though, so he just stays quiet and goes to put his stuff away... because seriously... I don't think there's ever been a point on this show where DEAN has been going darkside. Sam has absolutely no idea how to deal with this situation.
Dean has a chat with Cas, confirming that the stolen grace is burning out - and possibly burning Cas out? That phrasing concerns me. Metatron always repeats "It's burning out and it's burning you out with it" or words to that effect. I always figured that once Cas burned away the stolen grace, he'd just go back to being human... but what if it's somehow worse than that? I don't know... it's concerning.
Cas just smiles though and says that he hopes it lasts long enough to take down Metatron. He asks Dean if Dean really thought that Cas would order those suicide bombers, and Dean tells him that he just saw Cas choose to save one guy instead of keeping his army, so of course not... I kind of have to wonder there though, and I'm not even a shipper, but part of me thinks Cas' expression was a bit of "it wasn't just ANY guy, Dean...."
Dean reassures Cas that they can still defeat Metatron, just the three of them, because they've done it before.
And then Gadreel shows up! And yes! I was wondering if anything would come of the fact that Gadreel knows exactly where the bunker is and can obviously get through the wards.. and something DOES come of it.
Gadreel comes in peace - he wants to turn on Metatron. He says all the right things... while Dean glares at him in what can only be described as "kill mode"... but then Dean goes in for a handshake, and I think "yay! no wait! This is too easy- NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Because Dean then WHIPS out the first blade and slashes Gadreel across the chest! Sam and Cas immediately spring into action and pull Dean back, but OH MAN.......NOoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo................my Gadreel.
But he'd not dead - please don't be dead or dying... just injured... please just be injured.
And we break for next week...
But, the promo for next week....the promo for next week definitely makes it look like my love for Gadreel might end up breaking my little heart... because, yeah... it.... doesn't... look... good.
Alright, so, let me know what you thought in comments and whatnot! You know, the usual!
So, this week it's back to the old routine - only, once again, I didn't have any alcohol, because I'm just getting over a bad cold and I didn't think my body would appreciate getting tipsy right now. It has enough trouble just maintaining itself when sober. That being said, just because I haven't been drinking doesn't mean I'm going to remember the episode perfectly - so, quotes and order of events aren't going to be correct. I've only seen the episode once about an hour or so ago.
Now... to the episode....
We begin...um... in an ice-cream place!! Yay! Where we find a prissy mother questing a girl who's their on her own about where her parents are. She doesn't have parents, apparently, she's an angel. Seriously though, did the vessel not have parents? Maybe angels took over the whole family. In any case, it's a moot point, because in walks another angel and BLOWS EVERYONE UP! Geeeeeeeeezzzzzzzzzzzz..... and apparently he did it "for Castiel" - okay, buddy.
Then we cut to Sam, who is sleeping ADORABLY on his stomach.. fully clothed, because the Winchesters always sleep fully clothed when times are tough. And Dean wakes him up, and promptly gets a gun pointed at him, because, of course, even in the bunker - THE SAFEST PLACE ON EARTH BASICALLY - Sam is sleeping with his hand on a gun. Listen, I just don't think it's a good idea to wake up people who OBVIOUSLY suffer form PTSD with loud noises...
Sam agrees with me, telling Dean in his adorable sleepy voice that he could have shot him. Sam's adorable, is what I'm saying.
Anyway, the whole point to the exercise is to let us know that 1)Dean is weirdly not sleeping - yeah, that's not a bad sign. 2)Cas called and needs them for something in Missouri... and then we get Sam having to convince Dean that there's no reason to bring the first blade along with them. Dean agrees and leaves it on the table, to show Sam that he can and convince Sam that Sam's fears are unfounded. BUT THEY AREN'T! Man, as soon as Dean left the room, I was sitting there thinking "Sam, hide the first blade! HIDE IT!" But nope, Sam doesn't hide it and Dean obviously double backs and picks it up. Sigh.
Off to Missouri, where Sam and Dean are addressed as "Agent Spears and Aguilera" because the cops are expecting them.... and I laugh forever, because Cas tells them that he noticed their aliases were usually popular musicians...and yeah... awesome.
Anyway, I like the way this scene plays out, because you see how absolutely horrified Cas is by the crime, and that he puts it even below Metatron... and I like the fact that they don't show us what body Cas is looking at, because I kinda assumed it was the girl, but nope! We find out later that she was ATOMIZED. (BTW: Being "atomized" is actually how I'd like to die. I really don't want to leave a corpse behind... my brother in law says I have control issues, but man, I just don't want people looking at me all dead. I really need to write a will, because it's very important to me that NO ONE LOOKS AT MY CORPSE. Oh god. Okay, let's get away from my weird issues and return to the show... sorry...
So, um, what happens next? I don't remember, let's cut to Handsome and Jerkface.
Metatron is trying on a Castiel-like trench coat.... yeah, that's not creepy. And Gadreel knocks on the door. I love the "One second!" followed by Gadreel walking in and being like "what? I waited one second!" Hahaha... seriously, how can you not love Gadreel, he has all the charm of S4 Cas! (Yes, yes, I know he killed Kevin, but... you'll just have to forgive me for being totally over that.)
Gadreel's all pissed off about Metatron having him followed and Metatron is like "but you were meeting with the enemy!" and Gadreel is all like "yeah, but I wasn't JOINING HIM! I promise!" And man, I really want Gadreel to join Castiel... seriously, HE HAS ALL THE CHARM OF S4 CASTIEL. And may I remind you, that S4 is when all you folks fell in love with Castiel... so, you're just going to let me have this one, is what I'm saying. You all forgave Castiel for letting Sam out of the panic room and starting the apocalypse, you can TOTALLY forgive Gadreel for killing someone... or at least I can.
What was I talking about? Oh hey... Gadreel has a very large jaw to clench, and I have to wonder why it's not more obvious to Metatron that he's totally losing his second in command here... but I'm getting ahead of myself... Metatron and Gadreel have an appointment to meet... umm... an angel whose name starts with T. Let's call him Tybalt, because I can't remember his actual name.
Tybalt is apparently the leader of the last biggest faction of angels. So, he's prime courting material. If Metatron can get Tybalt to join Metatron's team, then Metatron will have the bigger army. Now... there are a couple of issues with this: 1)If Metatron wanted to stop the faction fighting, why is he fighting in a faction? 2)If Metatron actually wants to be the underdog-hero in this story that he's writing, shouldn't he WANT the smaller army?
Okay, back Sam and Dean and Cas...
So, Dean finds Castiel having minions super creepy... moreover though, as soon as they see the video that the suicide bomber shouted "for Castiel!" before blowing himself up, he totally doesn't trust that Castiel isn't behind it. Dean tends to hold people to their past mistakes a lot... and he DOES have a point that the last time Castiel had any sort of power, he did bad things with it. Now, what Dean is failing to mention and what makes his accusations completely unfair is that the last time Castiel was high on power, he was actually full of leviathan... now he's just himself. Thoughhhhhhhhhhh... yeah, there's also S6 where Cas TOTALLY DID lie to Dean and Sam the whole season and do bad things in order to defeat Raphael, so, yeah, okay... there's reason enough to distrust him, I SUPPOSE. Since this is a similar situation... Dean knows that Cas will go to great lengths to protect Heaven and other angels, and that human collateral might stop being a priority at some point - just like monster-collateral was in S6.
Anyhoo.. they start fighting in the middle of the command centre, which is not good for Castiel's image as Commander... also, it's always embarrassing when couple fight in public.... Sam realizes this and quickly gets them to move the fight into Castiel's office.
Castiel is OFFENDED AND APPALLED. Dean doesn't care. Castiel wants to go off and track down the angel that didn't show up for roll-call in the morning... and since Dean doesn't trust Cas, he commands Sam to go with Cas... and this is where I said, "but Sam doesn't trust Dean!"...Sam though, plays the part of the good subordinate and follows Dean's orders. Him and Cas take the caddy to wherever the heck Josiah (I think that was his name?) went...
SASSY SCENES! You all know how much I love me some Sam+Cas scenes. Of course, all they talk about is the thing that unites them - and that's Dean. Dean's more intense since he got the Mark... I love Cas' line about how Dean's "always been angry" but now it's amplified.
Meanwhile, back at Cas HQ, Dean is interrogating people and YEAH, someone REALLY should have stayed with him... last week we saw Sam very skillfully both manipulate a suspect AND prevent Dean from resorting to violence, but without Sam there, Dean just goes into attack mode. Now, mind you, the angel KIND OF ASKED FOR IT... I know I'm like, victim-blaming, but seriously, don't tell a guy that what he does doesn't help people when the belief that he helps people is the only thing that makes his miserable life bearable! Or, putting that completely aside: If you know someone is a murderer DO NOT ANTAGONIZE THE MURDERER! It's not rocket science. But, we'll get to the low IQ of the angels later...
The point is, Dean gets two more names out of stupid angel girl... Tessa and Constantine.
Tessa. The Reaper.
So, here is the part where I start getting a LITTLE annoyed. Because, guys, I'm not going to lie, I liked reapers as forces of nature. I liked them as being under Death's command, not Heaven's. I liked them as being outside of the angel/demon dichotomy. I liked them as immortal beings that you had to be dead or close to death to see.
What the show has done now, and I guess started doing in S8, is turn Reapers into a subset of angels... like cupids. There are several problems with this - firstly, it doesn't explain the previous "have to be dead/dying in order to see them", it doesn't explain why they're under Death's command and not God's (in SPN universe, Death and God are equals, one creates and one "destroys", and I LOVED that... and I don't want that to change), also, in S4, we learned that if Reapers weren't able to do their jobs, then NO ONE WOULD DIE. People are still dying, and we're not getting fallen Reapers running into people's houses when grandma has a heartattack and telling her to go into the light or whatever... so, yeah, SLIGHTLY ANNOYED is a bit of understatement... it's a retcon and it's a BAD retcon because the rules don't match up.
So, because of that bit of negativity, I'll now have a point of positivity to balance - Dean mentions Fiddler on the Roof, which totally supports my headcanon that at some point in his formative years, Dean spent time in New York in a Jewish neighbourhood. So that's cool.
Anyway, Dean tracks down Tessa and stops her from exploding herself, takes her back to the compound and interrogates her. She seems to fully believe that Castiel ordered her to do it. So, there's that.
Let's go back to Handsome and Jerkface who are now with Tybalt at a bowling alley.
This scene was amusing. I liked Tybalt being like "Who cares about Heaven! I LIKE Earth"... Metatron actually did find an angel (faction?) that LIKES free will! Yay! More than that, Tybalt loves bowling... and I loved when he's like "breath in that smell" and Gadreel is like "old shoes and alcoholism?!" Hehehe... hilarious. Guys, I really love Gadreel, I don't think you understand. I think he is my Cas... remember when everyone went crazy for Cas and then Misha? And I was like "Um, okay! I guess! Sure! Whatever! I fully support fandom enthusiasm even though I don't really think I'm experiencing it to the same level you are!" Well, I think those of you who don't like Gadreel are just going to have to give me this one... you're just going to have to be like "Okay, whatever you like, sweetheart" and then pet me on the head like a "mentally deficient puppy."
So, Tybalt challenges them to a game, and Metatron figure he can work with that... and we return to Sam and Cas? Sure, let's return to Sam and Cas.
Sam and Cas end up at yet another abandoned factory of some sort. They can't get in. Sam tries (and um, they're VERY OBVIOUSLY not going for stealth here, btw) and the door doesn't budge, and Cas tries... and they try until darkness falls and then suddenly Cas has a blacklight in his hand! Haha... kind of weird angel ability. Anyway, the blacklight reveals the message "why is 6 afraid of 7" and Cas supposes it's because prime numbers are intimidating, and I do love Cas... I do... don't get me wrong there. I love him to pieces. But Sam is like "because 7 8 9!" and the door opens, and Cas is like "just like Lord of the Rings!" and informs Sam that he's very pop-culture savvy now. Adorable.
Anyway, it's explore the creepy building time! There are SAWS IN THE WALLS! What the hell! And they actually WALK through them. Guys... listen, I don't care if it looks like they've stopped moving, you still CRAWL UNDER THOSE F*CKERS! Because better safe then COMPLETE DEAD YOU IDIOTS.
Uh, I think we cut away to something else, but I'm just going to keep talking about Sam and Cas...
They end up finding what Cas believes is the door to Heaven - but dude, it is never that easy. Sam tries to tell him so, but he ends up going in. Only to find a cheesy prom-type empty party set-up with a teasing note... and what looks to be the corpse of Josiah, who obviously fell for a trap intended for Cas. Josiah has been lit on fire and burned with holy oil. Ugh, so horrible and completely gross. What's even more gross is that it seems to have burnt his eyelids off, because, yeah... ANYWAY, the even more horrifying part is that he's not even dead yet. He tells Castiel about... you know, I totally forget... something about betraying Castiel for Metatron, I guess. But the main point Josiah makes is to say that when he looked into Castiel's eyes, he didn't see an angel.
And that was a really cool point - because it makes me wonder if the stolen grace is actually a noticable thing, but maybe only for those with a keen eye. Castiel must still, on some level, look like a human.. and it's not something he can disguise from angels who know what to look for, I guess. Anyway, I found it interesting.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Dean's found out that Tessa is suicidal because she can HEAR the souls that are trapped in the veil. Maybe people still die without reapers for some reason, but they just can't be taken into heaven or hell? Ugh, it just annoys me that the mechanics of the universe don't make sense anymore! Sorry.
Dean, for some weird reason.. intimidation? Brings out the first blade, and Tessa impales herself on it. Yeah...
Hannah, Cas' second in command (and I do like the fact that in BOTH holy wars, Cas has had a female second in command), is SUPER PISSED OFF, even though she wanted to smack Tessa before, killing her was not on the agenda. She has angels disarm and tie Dean up - and I guess there was no collateral damage there, so Dean was at least of enough sound mind that he didn't use the first blade on them.
Meanwhile, back at the bowling alley, Constantine shows up to suicide bomb Metatron... though, I think that was just for show, and he actually intended to suicide bomb Tybalt the whole time, as we find out later. I think the "Metatron!" call out was in order to give Metatron enough warning to get out of the line of fire. (An aside: I love the fact that Tybalt's bowling team was called The Saints.)
So, Sam and Cas arrive back at HQ to find Dean tied up and Cas' underlings pissed off. Before Cas can deal with Dean though, or hear his side of things, Metatron calls on skype.... and in front of Castiel's entire army, basically says that Cas is behind the bombers, that Tybalts death meant that everyone in Tybalt's camp is now in Metatron's army, that Castiel's grace is actually stolen (which we know from Castiel's reaction to stealing it is a huge no-no in angel society), that Castiel only cares about himself and the Winchesters, and that everyone in Castiel's army who wants to join up with Metatron can do so with complete amnesty... they just have to recognize Metatron as the new God... because it's obvious to Metatron that angels aren't capable of free will and NEED a leader... and wow, yeah, the fact that God!Levi!Cas said the same thing back in 7x01 should basically be a huge red flag to the angels...
After the call, Castiel tries to defend himself saying that Metatron is lying, unfortunately, Hannah questions him on the two things that WEREN'T lies... 1)the fact that Cas' grace is stolen and 2)the fact that Cas cares more about the Winchesters than Heaven.
Hannah says that if Cas punished Dean (with the death penalty) for killing Tessa, then she'll believe that he's a good leader, but if he doesn't then she'll believe Metatron... and that's a PRETTY STUPID THING TO DO. Because if Cas DID kill Dean, that wouldn't prove that he was a good leader, it would prove that he's NOT, because killing people ISN'T A GOOD THING, even if they're criminals.. and even if you believe in the death penalty, killing someone without a fair trial is REALLY not good. Moreover, I'd seriously suspect the morals of anyone capable of killing their best friend, I don't care what that best friend has done.
So.. yeah, Cas chooses Dean over his army, and his army leaves.
Cut to heaven, where Metatron is gloating. Gadreel is jaw-clenching because Metatron used angels that Gadreel recruited... Gadreel is basically REALLY tired of killing people by now, especially people he didn't want to kill.... and he's really sick and tired of Metatron not telling him the goddamn plan! Basically, he's had it.
So, we drive back to the bunker with the boys in silence... once they get inside, Sam is annoyed at Dean for lying about leaving the blade behind. Dean informs Sam that until Metatron is dead, they aren't team, they're a dictatorship... and yeah, Dean is basically putting the dick in dictator. It's even more concerning because Dean doesn't even NEED the first blade to kill Metatron, they could use a regular angel sword for that, of which they seem to have plenty! They're always pulling those things out of thin air. So, yeah, Dean has gone psychopathic on us.
Sam doesn't know what the hell to do about it though, so he just stays quiet and goes to put his stuff away... because seriously... I don't think there's ever been a point on this show where DEAN has been going darkside. Sam has absolutely no idea how to deal with this situation.
Dean has a chat with Cas, confirming that the stolen grace is burning out - and possibly burning Cas out? That phrasing concerns me. Metatron always repeats "It's burning out and it's burning you out with it" or words to that effect. I always figured that once Cas burned away the stolen grace, he'd just go back to being human... but what if it's somehow worse than that? I don't know... it's concerning.
Cas just smiles though and says that he hopes it lasts long enough to take down Metatron. He asks Dean if Dean really thought that Cas would order those suicide bombers, and Dean tells him that he just saw Cas choose to save one guy instead of keeping his army, so of course not... I kind of have to wonder there though, and I'm not even a shipper, but part of me thinks Cas' expression was a bit of "it wasn't just ANY guy, Dean...."
Dean reassures Cas that they can still defeat Metatron, just the three of them, because they've done it before.
And then Gadreel shows up! And yes! I was wondering if anything would come of the fact that Gadreel knows exactly where the bunker is and can obviously get through the wards.. and something DOES come of it.
Gadreel comes in peace - he wants to turn on Metatron. He says all the right things... while Dean glares at him in what can only be described as "kill mode"... but then Dean goes in for a handshake, and I think "yay! no wait! This is too easy- NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Because Dean then WHIPS out the first blade and slashes Gadreel across the chest! Sam and Cas immediately spring into action and pull Dean back, but OH MAN.......NOoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo................my Gadreel.
But he'd not dead - please don't be dead or dying... just injured... please just be injured.
And we break for next week...
But, the promo for next week....
Alright, so, let me know what you thought in comments and whatnot! You know, the usual!
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no subject
Date: 2014-05-14 02:10 pm (UTC)Other than that bit of confusion, I enjoyed the episode. I think Dean all jacked up on the Mark of Cain is kinda hot. He's out of control and dangerous. I fear for those who get in his way!
Sammy should have frisked him before they left the bunker. I had a feeling that Dean probably had the blade on him because this Dean isn't taking orders from anyone.
It's also nice to see Sam and Cas share some scenes together. I loved the shout out to "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade". I even yelled "duck" at the TV.
I have mixed emotions about Gadreel. I hate that he killed Kevin but I have sympathy that he's been duped by Metatron. After all, Cas fell for Metatron's tricks last season which got them into this mess. I also like the actor who plays Gadreel becauase he was on "Battlestar Galactica" and I loved his character on that show.
I've managed to stay spoiler free so I really wonder how they're going to leave us hanging this year. I keep thinking that Sam saying that he wouldn't have saved Dean during their fight mid-season will come into play. I think that Sam is going to end up saving Dean somehow and he'll have to make a difficult choice to do so. That's just my theory.
no subject
Date: 2014-05-14 07:21 pm (UTC)I've managed to stay spoiler free so I really wonder how they're going to leave us hanging this year. I keep thinking that Sam saying that he wouldn't have saved Dean during their fight mid-season will come into play. I think that Sam is going to end up saving Dean somehow and he'll have to make a difficult choice to do so. That's just my theory.
Mine as well. I'm also spoiler free, except for what we saw in the promo for next week. So, yeah... that's what I also think might happen. I guess we'll see!
And yes, I agree with you about everything else.
no subject
Date: 2014-05-14 10:35 pm (UTC)I've come to accept that this team is more than willing to throw continuity out the window, but can't they muster the interest to throw in a couple of lines of dialog to explain the changes?
no subject
Date: 2014-05-14 11:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-05-15 02:13 am (UTC)