SPN - 504 - The End

[retro_eidas]

I typed most of this during the ep last night, but when it came to posting it, that's when LJ decided to be bitchy. grrrr It was longish already, but I've since added onto it and I went a little gif happy. That happens when I LOVE eps like crazy.

• The original title of this ep was "The Douchebag of Oz". If that still holds any relevance at all, I'm guessing Zachariah's "time travel" might not necessarily have been real or at least it was ambiguous. Perhaps "It's a Terrible Life" redux (which was real yet not, but which is usually how it goes in future time travel stories anyway. Nothing is set in stone). Was it all in Dean-Dorothy's head or did it all really happen? If anything Dean's good at, it's rewriting the future (Chuck's incredulity at Dean suddenly showing up in MATEOTB to drag him & his archangel away for some Lilith-smithing & Dean/Cas showing up at his hovel at the end of 4.22).
  
  
• I loved that scene right at the beginning, Dean trapped between the mindless Croatoan zombies (Hell) and the boozing American military blasting their tunes (Heaven). Monsters on both sides who don't give a damn about the civilians in between. Although I suppose we should be grateful the military wasn't shooting the zombies from helicopters, you betcha?
  
  
• LMAO Dean having a pretty pink satiny Dr. Frankenfurter moment in his past. Would that make Cas his Rocky?
  
  
  
• Oz!Dean: Vader Lucifer (betrayed and) murdered, your father Sam.... yeah, fearless leader, I call bullshit on that as much as I did when Obi Wan said it and then clarified his "certain point of view" in ROTJ. Just like Oz!Dean eventually did at the end of that ep (Oops! Sam's not dead, he just became Vader the Devil).
  
  
• Oz!Cas positively beams and laughs at something Dean says, Oz!Dean throws Oz!Cas some bitchface, "What? I like past you!" Oz!Dean not showing an ounce of that same jealousy annoyance with poor Reesa.
  
  
  
• Reesa. *sighs* She seemed like she had some spirit, but again, here I am watching SPN and once again find myself wondering what a character is doing there. Who just happens to be another *she*. Unfortunately, Reesa also sorrowfully lacked canon awareness. Oh honey, don't sleep with the village Lothario and then get upset because he sleeps around. I suppose she did get to shoot things. All off screen, of course. Eh. I want Ellen back. You can't go wrong with Ellen!
  
  
• "It was everywhere". Of course there wouldn't be one easy, convenient location for the Colt. *rollseyes* Looks like Dean/Sam/Cas are going to be on a scavenger hunt as well as the God quest.
  
  
• CHUCK SURVIVED THE APOCALYPSE!! This makes me exceedingly gleeful. I wonder if 09!Dean is going to tell 09!Chuck to pack up on the Charmin like a fiend, per Oz!Chuck's request? XD
  
  
• Although there could be more credence to Zach's miserable land of Oz being fake fake fakity fake considering there was no mention at all of Prophet Chuck's illustrious "Winchester Gospel". Granted, depending on which angel that bit of prescience originated from, it could be bogus, but I'm doubting it or I'd like to anyway. That was one of my favorite pieces of canon crack last season! Winchester Gospel *must* happen, dammit!
  
  
• We got as much of an indication in 5.01, but 5.04 just drummed it in again that this take on Lucifer ("I loved God too much") leans strongly towards the Persian interpretation. From The Power of Myth:

  CAMPBELL: There are a number of ways of thinking about Satan, but this is based on the question, Why was Satan thrown into hell? The standard story is that is that, when God created the angels, he told them to bow to none but himself. Then he created man, whom he regarded as a higher form than the angels, and he asked the angels to serve man. And Satan would not bow to man. [...]
  
  In the Persian story, he could not bow to man because of his love for God -- he could bow only to God. God had changed his signals, do you see? But Satan had so committed himself to the first set of signals that he could not violate those, and in his -- I don't know if Satan has a heart or not -- but in his mind, he could not bow to anyone but God, whom he loved. And then God says, "Get out of my sight."
  
  Now, the worst of the pains of hell, insofar as hell has been described, is the absence of the Beloved, which is God. So how does Satan sustain the situation in hell? By the memory of the echo of God's voice, when God said, "Go to hell." That is a great sign of love.
  
  MOYERS: Well, it certainly true in life that the greatest hell one can know is to be separated from the one you love. That's why I've liked the Persian myth. Satan is God's lover --
  
  CAMPBELL: -- and he is separated from God, and that's the real pain of Satan.

  Which is interesting to me considering the two forms Lucifer has taken so far to lull his vessels into acquiesance, are figures the vessels' loved, Nick's wife (and his baby's cries) for Nick and Jessica for Sam. In a contrast, who does Dean get to try to convince him in accepting Michael? Zachariah and his nasty manipulations (all of which rather noticeably devoid of love or much else pleasant). Quite the difference there. Depending on how closely Krip might be following the Persian version of Lucy, this Lucy would know the agony of being separated from the most beloved, as that tactic had the strongest impact on him and something he's intimately and agonizingly familiar, I could understand him using that same tactic to coerce his vessels. Of course, who does Sam love more than anyone? I doubt I have to finish that thought.
  
  Here we have the contrasting white and red theme (Samifer's suit and the rose) this season, mostly surrounding Sam. However, I just wanted to say how much I loved this image considering how contradictory it is. Roses are such holy symbols, most often representing the Virgin Mary. Mary, as in Sam & Dean's mother that essentially started the whole family curse ball rolling with the deal she made Azazel, a la Eve in the Garden of Eden (a pretty apparent parallel in that scene with Dean & Samifer in the Garden). Mary, who I wouldn't be shocked is where Sam & Dean probably inherited their very special vessel blood. Incidentally, roses are also symbols of love. Fitting considering emo Lucifer just wants Daddy to hug him (and exterminate all those barbaric hairless apes right off the pretty blue/green ball he wants for his own).
  
  
• Then again, I could also easily believe the Persian version of Lucifer is all largely an act and he's full of horseshit. I could believe he's gotten so good at the act, he even believes it himself. Paradise Lost is what's brought up again and again by TPTB as this season's inspiration, so obviously that Lucifer needs to be kept in mind as well. Was he ultimately sympathetic? Nope. Though he did seem every bit Persian!Lucifer at first.
  
  
• I had spec of the mightily angsty variety that Oz!Dean was going to kill Oz!Cas just to show how broken and wrong he was (and killed by Dean himself, since Dean has killed his doppelgangers in the past). I hadn't been wrong about Oz!Dean's willingness to kill Oz!Cas (so of course bastard had to die), but wrong about how he would die.
  
  
• "You're going to feed your friends through the meat grinder? Cas too?" Then the totally dead expression that Oz!Dean's eyes took after Dean said that? Oh yeah, that guy is broken alright. Sacrifice the guy he loves who stood by him for 5 painful years without Sam and in the Apocalypse, all to futilely try to settle his massive guilt in not being able to stop Samifer and his inability to save the world.
  
  
• "Don't ever change." That open affection between them which was to the point, like so many other folks, I was sure Dean was about to pull Cas into a hug? Yeah, I feel like Show is killing me every damn week. However, what's sad and unsettling is the possibility we'll see Cas' change, or decline, before our eyes, so Dean asking Cas not to change may prove futile. Change will probably be inevitable the longer Cas is on Earth / estranged from Heaven. Dean saw one depressing end result (barring Zach's authenticity or lack thereof), but I could imagine the initial stages of Oz!Cas losing his grace was probably agony. If it happens to present Cas too, and I do suspect it will, I know Misha will knock it out of the ballpark. Now here I am wishing for Cas' suffering just so I can see Misha with the awesome dramatic acting, Jensen with him at every step.
  

Now for some specs with varying levels of crack....

• If Lucifer raised Cas, than Jimmy is dead. If God or another angel raised Cas, than perhaps split Jimmy and Castiel but still gave Cas a Misha Collins-shaped meatsuit (as that would be most recognizable for Dean & Sam). Hilarity/angst ensues when Dean, Sam & Cas shockingly run into Jimmy (in hiding, maybe with God or the angel that resurrected them both, with his family).
  
  
• Of course, if Jimmy and Cas were split into separate but equal, identical bodies, that would leave the option open for Dean and Sam too. Human!Dean and Human!Sam split from Michael!Dean and Lucifer!Sam, with Dean & Sam left to look on in awe and horror as they-but-not-they are apocalyptically duking it out (and, I'd guess, kill each other) with the world in balance.
  
  
• I can't help but think we're going to get "Devil's Trap" Redux with Lucifer-Sam taking place of the Azazel-John possession. Sam momentarily gaining control back somehow, someway and tries to give Dean enough time to shoot him with the Colt. Which, like back in DT, strikes strongly and scarily as a Abraham-must-kill-his-son test of faith situation. Sacrifice your beloved family member for God, but don't worry, it's the sentiment that counts and an angel will stop you in the nick of time. If God or some uppity angel has really pulled this shit and make Dean & Sam go through it all again, I hope Dean, Sam & Cas kick whoever's ass till the actual, non-bitchy-angel-induced Judgment Day.
  
  
• Perhaps it's suicidal, but Cas might be able to reach out to some of those other heavenly "ground troops" that were also left in the dark by upper management and probably weren't too thrilled about it. Zach's Oz possibly was fake, but it wouldn't hurt to have a few more angel allies fighting the good fight before the whole lot of them try to skip town. I'm hoping he can convince Raphael at least, if for any reason Demore Barnes kicked so much ass and goes back to SPN's core concept of brotherly love winning out over all. It can even redeem the angels (well, the saner, less dbag ones anyway).
  
  
• I'm hoping the impression I got in 5.04, that Castiel's one true happy ending is going back to Heaven and his asshole brothers, really isn't the only option for Cas' story to end (aside from death). Really hoping that the only reason F!Cas was waxing poetic about Heaven being "better" (despite how we've heard it kind of sucks) was because Earth turned into a massive post-apocalyptic shithole. That if Dean, Sam & Cas can avert Zach's miserable land of Oz, that if Cas isn't abandoned and is given the choice to stay or return... that he genuinely chooses to stay. FOR LOVE! LIKE ARWEN! YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO CAS!
  
  
• Regarding what I was saying above about the Persian version of Lucifer that Kripke seems to be leaning towards. My Dean/Cas batshippy mind wants to go the direction - if Cas is essentially an anti-Lucifer (rebelled, but for the opposite reasons Lucifer did) - if Cas' ultimate end has something to do with honoring and loving God, by honoring and loving humanity (as has been there, more or less, from the beginning with him, humanity as "works of art" but also strongly represented in Dean for Cas. "I'm hunted, I rebelled and I did all of it, for you."). 4.22 did seem to be suggesting as much. However, I'm just wondering how far exactly that may go. I know Eros is a cornerstone of fandom and hell, I've read plenty of fanfic, but realistically (and a huge dose of wishful thinky) I'd see Dean/Cas going for a more Agape love, unconditional, transcendent and spiritual. Even if it likely never crosses the line drawn by the advertisers/network/FCC, I can't say I'd be complaining much, as long as we got a semblance of that love. I think Dean/Cas could be already on their way there.

Comments

[julorean.livejournal.com]

lol, demon zombies. Seems like Jensen can't escape the b-rated horror movies. XP

I've always thought the "future" was some elaborate vision, as was the past of "In the Beginning". Even Azazel could make a realistic vision, wouldn't be all that hard to make it seem more real and interactive. And extrapolating an interactive future isn't much harder. I have my own views on time travel and destiny, and this what suits me best. Even after all Sam did, Dean wouldn't leave him for good. They'd get back together soon enough.

A redo of Devil's Trap would be lame. :/ I thought they'd be more original, but hey, we still got that cliche Lucy-Sam and Mikey-Dean, so meh.

God is a capricious little bitch. Lucy should dump his indecisive ass. :P

[eido.livejournal.com]

I've always thought the "future" was some elaborate vision

Yeah, tbh I wouldn't be shocked at all if we found out much of 5.04 was fabricated to some extent, perhaps a large extent. Zachariah just loves his Barbie Hellhouse scenarios way too much.

God is a capricious little bitch. Lucy should dump his indecisive ass. :P

Also wouldn't be surprised we are probably headed for some giant purging of Heaven, but then it will probably end up that was God's plan all along. So maybe not so capricious, it seems all too calculated for it, but more like the cold, distant chessmaster in the sky.

[paraxdisepink.livejournal.com]

Hee at crossdressing!Dean. I doubt fandom will leave that one alone. Maybe he can try on Ellen's panties for Cas Just to make it dirty.

CHUCK SURVIVED THE APOCALYPSE!! This makes me exceedingly gleeful.

So say we all!

I could understand him using that same tactic to coerce his vessels. Of course, who does Sam love more than anyone? I doubt I have to finish that thought.


I guess that might be why Sam became Samifer in this timeline. Maybe he became too inhuman with his demonic ways after Dean wouldn't take him back, and well cut off from the one he loved most . . . The Persians were mighty fond of the manlove.

if Cas is essentially an anti-Lucifer (rebelled, but for the opposite reasons Lucifer did) - if Cas' ultimate end has something to do with honoring and loving God, by honoring and loving humanity

I would like, ideally, to see Cas choose to stay on Earth (with Dean) and strike a balance between humanity and angelic virtue (the one that's supposed to be there, anyway) I'd like to see him stay in the world and honoring God by doing good in the world, because Dean's heroics shows him that humanity is worth it. Of course, given the amount of angst and pain on this show, this is all a crack fantasy.

[eido.livejournal.com]

I doubt fandom will leave that one alone.

Of course it won't. LOL Obviously they don't want fandom to let it go either. There's fanbaiting, but then there's what Edlund did.

I guess that might be why Sam became Samifer in this timeline. Maybe he became too inhuman with his demonic ways after Dean wouldn't take him back, and well cut off from the one he loved most . . . The Persians were mighty fond of the manlove.

Or Lucifer threatened Dean or promised Dean wouldn't suffer and then it would all be over. Sam does often remind me of Raven from the Teen Titans a lot. Gets so full of despair at the dark destiny they just give up and let it happen. Like for all the good intentions (see: S4) only lead them closer to darkness regardless. Maybe Lucifer vowed Dean's death would be quick? Of course, that would seal the deaths of billions of other people, but again, if Sam really did believe there was no way he could avoid being Lucy's meatsuit? Which is Lucy's whole shtick right now. Unfortunately, I could see Sam being despairing enough - especially without Dean around - he stops fighting all together.

I would like, ideally, to see Cas choose to stay on Earth (with Dean) and strike a balance between humanity and angelic virtue (the one that's supposed to be there, anyway) I'd like to see him stay in the world and honoring God by doing good in the world

I keep thinking (or hoping) for a rebooted version of the Grigori (if Dean and Sam get some kind of angelic power upgrade or side effect of being meatsuits) but not depicted in a negative light. That they're there to actually help humanity usher in some new, enlightened golden age after whatever purging of Heaven and Hell. Azazel, traditionally, was one of the fallen Grigori. Though he isn't in SPN's version, they could go back to that with Sam - Azazel's prized progeny - by making him this 'earthly' angel persona akin to the original Az was (but again, without the negative connotations). But yeah, hoping for a happy ending in this show is probably not the smartest thing to do.

[sailorhathor.livejournal.com]

I love that tiny, satisfied little smile on Castiel's face after Dean tells him not to change. Like, "I did good, Dean is happy with me, yeeee." It's so great when Cas gets crafty. ^_^

[eido.livejournal.com]

No doubt clever & competent Cas is hot Cas. ;) Cas also isn't the only one giddy when Dean smiles at him like that, I totally soak up the Dean-friendly-with-Cas moments like crack. We really weren't getting that until this season really. Last season it was pretty clear Cas was fond of Dean, but Dean always barely seemed to tolerate him. This season has been confirming repeatedly and right out of the gate that Dean likes Cas a lot too. XD

[ibroketuesday.livejournal.com]

I'd see Dean/Cas going for a more Agape love, unconditional, transcendent and spiritual.

This. I've had this exact thought before. <3

The theory that Castiel might lose his grace in the present timeline is interesting. I doubt it'll happen, since Oz!Cas specified that he didn't begin to truly fall until heaven's armies left earth, and they'll probably be around for the remainder of S5. That said, if he does fall in this timeline? I think it'll go better for him, because Dean will be there. Dean saw what happened to future!Cas and hated it, and he'd help him through the change. Cas doesn't have to end up that broken and bitter if he falls. That said, I can see his happy ending being in heaven; that's his home, his family, and if he can bring about reform there, it would be very meaningful for him.

[eido.livejournal.com]

St. John of the Cross' "Dark Night of the Soul" (http://www.karmel.at/ics/john/dn.html)? That's pretty much the way I've seen Dean/Cas when I realized just how batshit I was over them.

I doubt it'll happen, since Oz!Cas specified that he didn't begin to truly fall until heaven's armies left earth

It's also possible it could start happening anyway, just in a different way it happened in the previous timeline. The idea of all roads leading to the same (or a similar) destination is somewhat depressing in this case, though it happens in some time travel storylines.

That said, if he does fall in this timeline? I think it'll go better for him, because Dean will be there.

The timeline is also, hopefully, off to a better start since Dean's got Sam with him. Already a divergence from Zach's (possibly fabricated) lesson.

That said, I can see his happy ending being in heaven; that's his home, his family, and if he can bring about reform there, it would be very meaningful for him.

I could definitely see that option too. God knows, Heaven will probably need it more than ever if there is some sort of purging. As Dean guided Cas in the way of a new perspective, Cas takes what he's learned back home. The angst potential of the goodbye would also be something to consider. I keep thinking of Frodo sailing off to the West, except Dean and Sam are likely heading that way themselves eventually. I'm sure Cas would see to that.

Of course, it probably would go a lot more interestingly if Cas had Dean and Sam's help for the gigantic Heaven Reformation. Raising a little hell in Heaven. XD

[maboheme.livejournal.com]

"You're going to feed your friends through the meat grinder? Cas too?" Then the totally dead expression that Oz!Dean's eyes took after Dean said that? Oh yeah, that guy is broken alright. Sacrifice the guy he loves who stood by him for 5 painful years without Sam and in the Apocalypse, all to futilely try to settle his massive guilt in not being able to stop Samifer and his inability to save the world.

This broken!Dean still continues to fascinate me.

Great post, btw! Love your speculations.

[eido.livejournal.com]

This broken!Dean still continues to fascinate me.

That's understandable, considering he was a better, more interesting John Connor than frickin' John Connor. (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0438488/) McG should have stuck closer to home.