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Here be spoilers.
Sam Winchester needs to die. That's what Anna said - killing Sam keeps Lucifer out of power. Lucifer needs to be stopped. Michael needs to slay the serpent. That's what Zachariah said - the angels need their general so they can go to war. It's brutally important that Sam-Lucifer be overpowered by Dean-Michael.
For all that Michael (and Anna and Zachariah and Gabriel...) have been seriously gungho about Michael needing to slay the serpent, Lucifer himself has been remarkably quiet on that point.
Given last night's epic monologuing from Michael-wearing-John, Michael has seriously got it in for Lucifer. (And I personally believe that Michael planted John's "you have to kill Sam" deep in John's psyche back in the 70's, just like he planted the idea of angels watching Dean in Mary's mind. BTW, given the creepy sex/rape metaphors of possession, it bothers me a lot that Michael is "watching" baby Dean. Pedophiles in heaven DNW.)
Lucifer, on the other hand, hasn't said a word. Oh, he might rule the world. But he's also the only angel, other than Castiel, who has talked about loving God. Michael and Zachariah and Uriel and Anna are soldiers. They serve God and they call him Father and they just know what God thinks is right.
But Lucifer and Castiel? Seem truly baffled by God. They love him, with their whole hearts and souls. Castiel and Lucifer love God with a deeply human fervor. They love God, I think, in the way that Sam and Dean love John - with a devotion and need that borders on bothersome to the observer, but in a way that shows they don't understand him.
I don't think that the Michael-Dean Lucifer-Sam parallel works, not after we met Michael in a decrepit house in the 1970's. Michael isn't... he's not trying to be the perfect soldier and falling short in the way that Castiel is. He's not the son who loves from afar, but has been cast far from the father, the way Lucifer is.
Michael isn't trying to be the perfect soldier. Michael knows he's the perfect soldier. God doesn't need to tell Michael what to do because Michael knows what God would want him to do. Michael, like Zachariah and tortured up Anna, doesn't care for gray areas. He's white, Lucifer and Sam are black, and that's just how it is. Now get out of his way or he will fuck you up.
Dean - like Sam and Castiel and Lucifer and human Anna and Bobby and Ellen and Jo even John and Mary - lives in the gray areas. Dean lives for the gray areas. He's smart, but not educated (but he can reference the Odyssey). He's a thief and a killer, but he lives to save the lives of others.
He also - like Sam and Castiel and Lucifer - is defined by love, not by purpose, for the needs of the show. In Devil's Trap, Sam's love for Dean kept him from killing his father and Azazel. Dean is basically the ruined mess of a human being that he is because of his love for his family. Castiel fell from grace because of his love - and, if we are to believe Lucifer, Lucifer fell for the same reason.
Love, as Supernatural seems hell bent on showing us, isn't about following orders or doing exactly as one is told. It's also not about sending someone away when they screw up. Love - the kind of love that deeply screws people up for all of eternity, the kind of love that means that Dean can't kill Sam even when he goes black eyed high on demon blood and tries to kill people with his brain, the kind of love that means Sam doesn't want to let go of Dean even when Dean is dead and buried - is practically an entity unto itself.
It's the driving force to save each other. It's the force that compels Castiel to go searching for his father. It's why Lucifer came back - even though he was cast out of heaven, he still loves God in his own deeply fucked up way. (Note on Lucifer: Consider how messed up Dean, Castiel, and Anna were after their various imprisonments. I think it's a fair bet that Lucifer's world view is thoroughly screwed with after spending who-knows-how-long in his prison.)
It's only logical that Love is what will save them all. And, as per usual, it's Dean's love for Sam (and Sam's love for Dean) that seals the deal. Dean loves Sam too damn much to just say yes to Michael so that Michael can have his vengeance scheme.
Michael said that the angelic lines are as old as Cain and Abel. Brother killing brother for the love of God is also (ironically) enough as old as Cain and Abel. Michael clearly hasn't brushed up on his Genesis lately, because God's ultimatum regarding fratricide was pretty clear:
Genesis 4:10-15: "And he said to him: What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth to me from the earth.
Now, therefore, cursed shalt thou be upon the earth, which hath opened her mouth and received the blood of thy brother at thy hand. When thou shalt till it, it shall not yield to thee its fruit: a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be upon the earth. And Cain said to the Lord: My iniquity is greater than that I may deserve pardon. Behold thou dost cast me out this day from the face of the earth, and I shall be hidden from thy face, and I shall be a vagabond and a fugitive on the earth: every one, therefore, that findeth me, shall kill me. And the Lord said to him: No, it shall not be so: but whosoever shall kill Cain, shall be punished sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, that whosoever found him should not kill him."
God, of Old and New Testaments, doesn't like fratricide. Cursed shalt thou be upon the earth and the voice of thy brother's blood crieth to me aren't very nice things. Cain's sin is too great for a pardon because he killed his brother so that he could have the love of God. And Abel, who offered the best of his flock to God, Abel who would be Sam and Lucifer, his blood was swallowed by the earth.
I apologize for the immense rambliness of this meta. It actually started off as a discussion of Victorian flower symbolism, so I did actually cut it down.
Sam Winchester needs to die. That's what Anna said - killing Sam keeps Lucifer out of power. Lucifer needs to be stopped. Michael needs to slay the serpent. That's what Zachariah said - the angels need their general so they can go to war. It's brutally important that Sam-Lucifer be overpowered by Dean-Michael.
For all that Michael (and Anna and Zachariah and Gabriel...) have been seriously gungho about Michael needing to slay the serpent, Lucifer himself has been remarkably quiet on that point.
Given last night's epic monologuing from Michael-wearing-John, Michael has seriously got it in for Lucifer. (And I personally believe that Michael planted John's "you have to kill Sam" deep in John's psyche back in the 70's, just like he planted the idea of angels watching Dean in Mary's mind. BTW, given the creepy sex/rape metaphors of possession, it bothers me a lot that Michael is "watching" baby Dean. Pedophiles in heaven DNW.)
Lucifer, on the other hand, hasn't said a word. Oh, he might rule the world. But he's also the only angel, other than Castiel, who has talked about loving God. Michael and Zachariah and Uriel and Anna are soldiers. They serve God and they call him Father and they just know what God thinks is right.
But Lucifer and Castiel? Seem truly baffled by God. They love him, with their whole hearts and souls. Castiel and Lucifer love God with a deeply human fervor. They love God, I think, in the way that Sam and Dean love John - with a devotion and need that borders on bothersome to the observer, but in a way that shows they don't understand him.
I don't think that the Michael-Dean Lucifer-Sam parallel works, not after we met Michael in a decrepit house in the 1970's. Michael isn't... he's not trying to be the perfect soldier and falling short in the way that Castiel is. He's not the son who loves from afar, but has been cast far from the father, the way Lucifer is.
Michael isn't trying to be the perfect soldier. Michael knows he's the perfect soldier. God doesn't need to tell Michael what to do because Michael knows what God would want him to do. Michael, like Zachariah and tortured up Anna, doesn't care for gray areas. He's white, Lucifer and Sam are black, and that's just how it is. Now get out of his way or he will fuck you up.
Dean - like Sam and Castiel and Lucifer and human Anna and Bobby and Ellen and Jo even John and Mary - lives in the gray areas. Dean lives for the gray areas. He's smart, but not educated (but he can reference the Odyssey). He's a thief and a killer, but he lives to save the lives of others.
He also - like Sam and Castiel and Lucifer - is defined by love, not by purpose, for the needs of the show. In Devil's Trap, Sam's love for Dean kept him from killing his father and Azazel. Dean is basically the ruined mess of a human being that he is because of his love for his family. Castiel fell from grace because of his love - and, if we are to believe Lucifer, Lucifer fell for the same reason.
Love, as Supernatural seems hell bent on showing us, isn't about following orders or doing exactly as one is told. It's also not about sending someone away when they screw up. Love - the kind of love that deeply screws people up for all of eternity, the kind of love that means that Dean can't kill Sam even when he goes black eyed high on demon blood and tries to kill people with his brain, the kind of love that means Sam doesn't want to let go of Dean even when Dean is dead and buried - is practically an entity unto itself.
It's the driving force to save each other. It's the force that compels Castiel to go searching for his father. It's why Lucifer came back - even though he was cast out of heaven, he still loves God in his own deeply fucked up way. (Note on Lucifer: Consider how messed up Dean, Castiel, and Anna were after their various imprisonments. I think it's a fair bet that Lucifer's world view is thoroughly screwed with after spending who-knows-how-long in his prison.)
It's only logical that Love is what will save them all. And, as per usual, it's Dean's love for Sam (and Sam's love for Dean) that seals the deal. Dean loves Sam too damn much to just say yes to Michael so that Michael can have his vengeance scheme.
Michael said that the angelic lines are as old as Cain and Abel. Brother killing brother for the love of God is also (ironically) enough as old as Cain and Abel. Michael clearly hasn't brushed up on his Genesis lately, because God's ultimatum regarding fratricide was pretty clear:
Genesis 4:10-15: "And he said to him: What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth to me from the earth.
Now, therefore, cursed shalt thou be upon the earth, which hath opened her mouth and received the blood of thy brother at thy hand. When thou shalt till it, it shall not yield to thee its fruit: a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be upon the earth. And Cain said to the Lord: My iniquity is greater than that I may deserve pardon. Behold thou dost cast me out this day from the face of the earth, and I shall be hidden from thy face, and I shall be a vagabond and a fugitive on the earth: every one, therefore, that findeth me, shall kill me. And the Lord said to him: No, it shall not be so: but whosoever shall kill Cain, shall be punished sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, that whosoever found him should not kill him."
God, of Old and New Testaments, doesn't like fratricide. Cursed shalt thou be upon the earth and the voice of thy brother's blood crieth to me aren't very nice things. Cain's sin is too great for a pardon because he killed his brother so that he could have the love of God. And Abel, who offered the best of his flock to God, Abel who would be Sam and Lucifer, his blood was swallowed by the earth.
I apologize for the immense rambliness of this meta. It actually started off as a discussion of Victorian flower symbolism, so I did actually cut it down.
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This is why I loved this episode, for me it is the first one in a long time that I've loved enough to ask questions, and read meta.