DTaH and On the Head of a Pin

[feliciakw]

A couple more thoughts on DTaH:

1. I don't recall if this is the first time, but here we have Dean wanting to be "normal," average, and Sam pointing out that they can't change who they are. "I'm infected with demon blood. You've been to Hell." Is anyone really surprised that next season Dean's going to be the one trying to hold onto a home life and Sam is the one who's gonna push the hunting gig?

2. Hey! Alistair has Death's sickle. And apparently Death gave it to him. To kill his employees and help start the Apocalypse. Sooo . . . . Death changed his mind. Also, Crowley gave the sickle to Dean to kill Death. So what's the chain of custody on that thing?

Death loans it to Alistair.
Sam kills Alistair.
Crowley gives it to Dean.
Death takes it from Dean.

Any guesses on how it got from Alistair to Crowley? Did Crowley snag it from Alistair, or did Alistair return it to Death, and Crowley snagged it from Death? Am I over-thinking things again?



In retrospect, OtHoaP offers a bunch of stuff that needs some brain power to fit into the mytharc as it developed.

First, we have Uriel, who wants Lucifer out of his cage, but doesn't mind of Dean is dead. Apparently he didn't get the memo that Dean is Michael's vessel (and yet, he knows Dean can be replaced), and that Sam is Lucifer's, and that there's supposed to be a big showdown between the two. He appears to simply want Lucifer's angels to take over the world.

Then we later have Zach, who claims the Uriel incident was unintended, but we come to find out that yes, Zach also wants Lucifer out of his cage and the Apocalypse to begin. Now, the way Uriel went about things was probably contrary to Zach's plan, since it broke Dean and Zach had to do damage control. Still . . . it all seems pretty poorly handled from a tactical POV.

Alistair is working for or with Lilith? Obviously, they're on the same side. And at this point, I don't think she knows yet how she plays into the scheme of things. But if she wants to be top banana, why is she breaking seals? She had plans for Dean in Hell--for Dean to break and break the first seal. But to what end? What good does it do her to break the seals? Or is it that she wants Lucifer out until she finds out that she's the final seal, and then she reneges. Yeah, that's it. Until the very end, when she goads Sam into killing her. What?

Then we have Dean's role in the whole thing. When he says he can't stop the Apocalypse, it's too big, I just wanted to stroke his cheek and tell him all he has to do is show up. All he has to do is stop the fight and stand by Sam. He's been standing by Sam all his life, so that's not so hard, right? All he has to do is be strong and give Sam an anchor. Then I would wrap him in a fleecy blanket and feed him pie.

But as it is, Jensen and Misha are spot on in that final scene, and I gotta say, I love it. You know, in that angsty, how-on-earth-are-they-gonna-fix-this sort of way.

As an aside, I occasionally ponder Castiel's attitude toward Dean. I don't usually read Cas fic, so I don't know how many authors get it "right" (or my version of right), but here you have a mighty celestial being who's been given charge of this, in comparison, very fragile creature who is still God's crowning creation. "A little lower than the angels," the Bible calls us (Psalm 8), and yet so incredibly precious to God, and by extension, his angels. "For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone." (Psalm 91:11-12, NIV) I'm almost inclined to think that it's an emotion that we as humans might not be able to comprehend, at least not in its entirety. Something completely different from anything in the human experience. And I love to see that come into play with how Castiel relates to Dean (at this point in time. Things kinda fall apart for a while in S5).

Anyway . . .

We also have Sam, early in the episode, encouraging Dean to tap into his anger. (Oh, what a change happens in S5, huh?) Sam is being pulled inexorably to the dark side. He believes (not without reason) that Dean is weak, not the man he was before Hell. Sam reverts to drinking demon blood and is pretty darn proud of himself for killing Alistair. He's protective of Dean, but there's more a sense of pride in what he's done. Inasmuch as he says Dean doesn't trust him, neither does Sam display any trust in Dean in this regard.

Oh, boys.

I'm also wondering if the whole "Dean left part of himself in Hell" is one of those threads that shall be left dangling and shoved under the rug. (Just don't move the rug, or the frayed edges will show.) In a way, I kind of hope it is, in that I don't know that I want that layer of angst added on top of what we've already got coming next season.

All in all, this ep requires more brain power in light of what came later than I have the energy to expend. Let's just say there's good (if painful) stuff in this ep and keep truckin'.

Comments

[girlyghoul70.livejournal.com]

How did Death Sickle get from Alistair to Crowley? In a Death Sickle relay race with Aleister Crowley as the Center of course! You gotta know those three were BFF's in Hell!... Signed each other's Yearbooks and everything... ;-) Kidding, kidding!

It's hard to say if Uriel knew about Dean being Michael's vessel and/ or replaceable with Baby Ghoul Chow- because I don't think the writers were heading in that direction yet at this point in the game. I still think the whole Vessel was a late night Moutain Dew fueled Eureka moment that came to them in the Writers Room... which they then couldn't stretch for a full season. But if you want to go with it, it could be that Uriel did NOT know Dean was Michael's Vessel. He and Cas both seemed to be on need to know only levels of the Angelic Hierarchy and Uriel could have been as kept in the dark as Cas was- thus leading him to decide rebellion was the way and to back dark horse candidate Lucifer as the Victor in this Showdown.

Plus- yet another Red Herring! Who would suspect Uriel as the Angel Killer?

And Lilith- I figure she broke seals 'cause she was evil and that's what her job was. Her wanting to back out in Monster at the End of this Book could have been because she too could rebel (not all the demons were hip to Lucifer's burn the whole world plan) OR She was just messing with Sam cause she could. Get him agree to have both his and Dean's head on a pike... then only take Dean and force Sam to live as Luci's vessel. These are the evil ones- Can't trust 'em far as you can throw 'em.

"As an aside, I occasionally ponder Castiel's attitude toward Dean. I don't usually read Cas fic, so I don't know how many authors get it "right" (or my version of right)"

I don't know if the last Cas fic I wrote got it your version of right (you'd have to tell me yea or nay) But the one I'm working on now (the angel one, not the Dean!Whumpage one) Definitely your version of right. Cas's attitude towards his Father's newest creations is very Psalm 91:11-12 inspired in this fic. I needed some reason he was set apart from the attitude Zachariah and Uriel constantly displayed (on the Show at least) so I had this need to protect and look after Adam (not Milligan- THE Adam) like a good Big Brother and that Psalm had a lot of the heart of what I was trying to convey in Cas's feelings towards the new human. :-)

Now if Life would just stop being so Lifey so I can finish and post the durned things!!

[feliciakw.livejournal.com]

I don't think the writers were heading in that direction yet at this point in the game.

Oh, I agree that the writers didn't know where they were going with any of it. However, now that the story (meaning the original mytharc) is complete, and we can look at it as a whole, it would seem that Uriel did in fact know that Dean could be replaced. If he didn't, and it was an idle threat on his part, that doesn't change the fact that Dean was not, in fact, Michael's only potential vessel.

And even if Uriel didn't know about the vessel aspect of it, he seemed to be of the opinion that Dean could be replaced, because "the plan"--whatever Uriel believed that plan to be--was bigger than Dean.

I do agree that the whole parallel brother/vessel thing was a Mountain Dew trip. Kripke even said as much (minus the Mountain Dew)--that it just kind of struck them at some point as an interesting or cool parallel. Yeah, whatever.

I wonder if Kripke knows that some fans have been making Dean be Michael in some form or another for a long, long time. At least from the beginning of S4, possibly before.

Now, about Uriel and Lucifer. Uriel was definitely in Lucifer's corner in regards to burning down the world. He has a speech that is very interesting in light of Samifer's speech in "The End." Uriel says that Lucifer was defending the angels, standing up against this new creation, whatever, and it's all excuses.

Actually, I'd better stop analyzing this right now or I'm going to rekindle my extreme dislike for the whole Lucifer/Michael showdown. Grrr . . .

I'll have to check out your last Cas fic. Oddly enough, I just haven't been too into reading fic recently. I mean, I've read some stuff here and there, but nothin's really doin' it for me right now. I think I just want new episodes.

And my eyes are getting buggy. It think it's time for bed. *yawn*