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chasingtides Jan. 8th, 2009 09:40 pm)
chasingtides Jan. 8th, 2009 09:40 pm)So I re-watched Heaven and Hell tonight. (Oh, and my father thinks that Anna is a weak, poorly written, whiny milksop. My mother likes Castiel.)
Hey, Castiel, can you get more passive? Seriously. Even when Alistair is attacking you or Uriel is being a jackass, Castiel is immensely passive.
Actually, Castiel and Sam act pretty similarly in this episode. Until Dean is threatened, neither of them do anything. Uriel and Dean act similarly - they are both verbally violent and take physical action.
What does it mean, other than my amusement at watching Uriel call Dean a monkey and Dean call Uriel junkless? (I do like it when Dean calls Uriel junkless.) I'm not entirely sure.
Sam is, by the presence of his demon blood and his faith, in a gray area. He believes that there are better things in this world (see Houses of the Holy, 2.13). He wants the angels to be the angels of his faith (see It's The Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester, 4.07). The angels, however, don't seem to be terribly pleased with Sam, despite the fact that he actually believes in them. He didn't need to see them or their wings - he knew that they were real, needed them to be real, in a way that was never true for Dean. And yet, he is the so-called Boy King - the poisoned human with the demonic powers. He is torn between using his powers for good and following the apparent will of God. What about the people who will die, he asks himself in 4.07, what about the people he can save?
Castiel, too, is in a strange place. He is angel who loves his Father and his Father's creations (4.07). However, unlike Uriel, his violent and shoot-first-ask-later counterpart, has his doubts. He wants to save, to love, to let live. He is a soldier, but he, as best he can, cares. When he and Uriel encounter Anna in Heaven and Hell (4.10), he tells he that he is sorry. She tells him he is not. In 4.07, he appears to have doubts.
Neither Sam nor Castiel take action in the same way Dean and Uriel do in 4.10. In the first scene, in the encounter in the shack, Dean and Uriel go at it like angry cats, but both Sam and Castiel hang back. Castiel turns away from Uriel and looks down. When Uriel attacks Ruby, Sam - whom we know know was in some kind of sexual relationship with her - hangs back, while Dean goes after Uriel. Dean and Uriel fight physically. Sam turns to Castiel and begs him to stop. Castiel pulls his sleepy-time fingers and removes Sam from the situation in a most nonviolent way.
Again, at the end of the episode, when the angels, demons, and Winchesters meet in the barn, both Sam and Castiel hang back. They don't fight. They are passive. Dean and Uriel both attack and fight like the soldiers that they are.
I am not sure what this means. But I do think that the parallels (Uriel:Dean, Castiel:Sam) are interesting. I think Castiel's character is evolving. I don't think he's as simple as Anna made angels out to be - he is very clearly thinking differently from Uriel in this episode. I don't think he's falling, but he and Uriel are behaving very differently and possibly toward different ends.
Hey, Castiel, can you get more passive? Seriously. Even when Alistair is attacking you or Uriel is being a jackass, Castiel is immensely passive.
Actually, Castiel and Sam act pretty similarly in this episode. Until Dean is threatened, neither of them do anything. Uriel and Dean act similarly - they are both verbally violent and take physical action.
What does it mean, other than my amusement at watching Uriel call Dean a monkey and Dean call Uriel junkless? (I do like it when Dean calls Uriel junkless.) I'm not entirely sure.
Sam is, by the presence of his demon blood and his faith, in a gray area. He believes that there are better things in this world (see Houses of the Holy, 2.13). He wants the angels to be the angels of his faith (see It's The Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester, 4.07). The angels, however, don't seem to be terribly pleased with Sam, despite the fact that he actually believes in them. He didn't need to see them or their wings - he knew that they were real, needed them to be real, in a way that was never true for Dean. And yet, he is the so-called Boy King - the poisoned human with the demonic powers. He is torn between using his powers for good and following the apparent will of God. What about the people who will die, he asks himself in 4.07, what about the people he can save?
Castiel, too, is in a strange place. He is angel who loves his Father and his Father's creations (4.07). However, unlike Uriel, his violent and shoot-first-ask-later counterpart, has his doubts. He wants to save, to love, to let live. He is a soldier, but he, as best he can, cares. When he and Uriel encounter Anna in Heaven and Hell (4.10), he tells he that he is sorry. She tells him he is not. In 4.07, he appears to have doubts.
Neither Sam nor Castiel take action in the same way Dean and Uriel do in 4.10. In the first scene, in the encounter in the shack, Dean and Uriel go at it like angry cats, but both Sam and Castiel hang back. Castiel turns away from Uriel and looks down. When Uriel attacks Ruby, Sam - whom we know know was in some kind of sexual relationship with her - hangs back, while Dean goes after Uriel. Dean and Uriel fight physically. Sam turns to Castiel and begs him to stop. Castiel pulls his sleepy-time fingers and removes Sam from the situation in a most nonviolent way.
Again, at the end of the episode, when the angels, demons, and Winchesters meet in the barn, both Sam and Castiel hang back. They don't fight. They are passive. Dean and Uriel both attack and fight like the soldiers that they are.
I am not sure what this means. But I do think that the parallels (Uriel:Dean, Castiel:Sam) are interesting. I think Castiel's character is evolving. I don't think he's as simple as Anna made angels out to be - he is very clearly thinking differently from Uriel in this episode. I don't think he's falling, but he and Uriel are behaving very differently and possibly toward different ends.
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According to the captioning, it's definitely Junkless both times in Heaven and Hell - the dream, and after the fight.
On that whole wimpy Castiel thing? He was walking like a newborn in Lazarus. I don't think he's been in his meatsuit often enough to be able to fight - like climbing out of bed after being in a coma for a year.
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Dean and Uriel are both very aggressive, soldier-ly, and according to Sam, total dicks, haha. I hope this means in the future that they will show Uriel's capability as a strategist, too (a la Dean in Jus in Belo), because I really love seeing the writers take on that dimension of the "soldier" traits, instead of leaving it at "act now, follow orders, think later."
I also love the comparison of Sam to Castiel; it's like they both innately have faith, want to believe, but it isn't in their natures to go around blindly hoping, either. I have seen meta comparing Castiel to a Christ figure -- which I disagree with, if only because he is not human and therefore incapable of making that sacrifice BUT -- I wonder if it's because his character so closely parallels Sam, who I think is kind of straddling the line of Christ/Antichrist figure (will his powers save or doom us all, etc., which totally sounds like a bad comic book ending, followed by "find out in our next exciting volume!"). Though I guess the argument could be made that Dean, too, has had his Christ figure moments, particularly this season AND NOW I AM BABBLING, UGH.
I have other THINGS but now I feel I've taken up too much of your time with my rambling, so, uh, thank you for the post and the thinkythoughts it inspired!
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That's an interesting take on Castiel. I had never thought of it that way. I now have mental images of Uriel taking his meatsuit boxing and things to get ready to work it and fight while Castiel hovers around, refusing to possess his meatsuit any longer than absolutely necessary.
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(And I really hate this episode. I don't think I've disliked an episode so much since Route 666. And I can't figure out if it's because Anna was so poorly written or if the actress was a bad actress, but I spent most of the time going, "Well, kill her already. It's not like she's doing anything and if she's going to get you killed, cut her loose. This is a war!")
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Very nice. Me likey.
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Combine all that fail with the most awkward sex scene ever, some torture porn and the pelvic thrusting while her Grace returned, and I just kind of cringed the whole way through. Though I did like the almost-cute Sam/Ruby interaction, Dean's dream of Uriel, Uriel in general for being such a douche and Alistair's general creep factor! :D
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He and Dean definitely have common traits. I like how you pointed that at in their actions.
Interesting thoughts -- thank you.
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I'm not sure what it says about me, that I have acquired two angry SPN icons in the past two days. But I am now prepared to use them. Good times. Also many thanks and, of course, I will credit.
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Aww, don't use that icon, I always cry. ALWAYS. *wibble*
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Yes, yes. I agree with you 100%.
And I always thought Dean said Chuckles. Ha.
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