Get on your meta hats everyone, its time to tackle some deep questions before moving on to Thursday’s episode, “Metamorphosis.” With all this mythology and back story unfolding over the first three episodes, it’s time for a sanity check. Except I think I’m anything but sane after this exercise.
In the heated discussion about angels in “Are You There God, It’s Me, Dean Winchester,” Sam said that “for once this isn’t a bunch of demon crap.” You ain’t kidding, Sammy. The introduction of angels and a head-scratching mythology is fueling countless hours of speculation and research over where in the world Mr. Kripke is leading us. I’m sure it’s someplace good but in the meantime, speculation is fun.
Angels
We already had a good idea that angels weren’t the warm, fluffy, Touched By An Angel variety. In “Houses of The Holy” while in the cathedral, Sam notices the image of Michael the Archangel.
Sam: So they're not really the Hallmark card version that everybody thinks? They're fierce, right? Vigilant?
Father Reynolds: Well, I like to think of them as more loving than wrathful; but yes, a lot of Scripture paints angels as God's warriors. "An angel of the Lord appeared to them, the glory of the Lord shone down upon them, and they were terrified."
Sound like our favorite new angel Castiel? By the way, if you Google Castiel, you don’t find much. Castiel is mentioned in “A Dictionary of Angels” but all that is known about him is he’s the Angel of Thursday. Clever!
According to Castiel, angels haven’t roamed the earth in 2,000 years, so his lack of people skills is understandable. Castiel finds Dean as much of a puzzle as Dean does him. He figures out after a couple of disastrous attempts that he must take another form to communicate with Dean. The person he chose as a “vessel” appears to have been at wits' end due to his overall haggard appearance and likely after an act of desperate prayer was chosen for this task. “He is a righteous man. He prayed for this.” Dean finds the possession appalling where Castiel has no issue with it at all. That goes to show how far apart these two are in their perception of good and evil.
Article comments
1 - cassi
Hi, Alice!
Are you a mind reader because after these 3 episodes, I really needed something like this! thanks! After reading your article I feel so much better now!
SPN season 4 has been a hell of a ride. Of course, it has been an enjoyable experience and Kripke even managed to make me a fan of his angel idea due to Misha Collin's great performance. If you had asked me during the summer break what was the worst thing I could imagine for the show, I would have said without any hesitation "angels". I'm still not the happiest camper about the whole end of the world, Anti-christ and angel thing but so far it's better than I imagined. Like you I was ignoring the hints in Faith or House of the Holy, simply because I didn't want or at least hoped that the show wouldn't go into this direction.
The whole "no demon deal for Dean's soul" still makes no sense to me because if Lilith really feared Sam why would they have given Dean a chance to save his brother. I don't get it. That's why "In the beginning" was not the big revelation episode for me. I want to know what's going on with Sam, Lilith and Ruby, so far Sam has shown no sign why Lilith would or should be scared of him. NRFTW was scary for Lilith but not really dangerous. And Ruby could be good but I still have my doubts about her. So when Kripke answers these qestions (I think I wil have to wait until the season finale), this will be the true revelations for me.
2 - Beth
Thank you for making your own brain hurt to put this together for the rest of us. :) You have analyzed most succinctly what I've been struggling with since last season. Sam being the Anti-Christ hadn't occurred to me, but it seems like a reasonable possibility. And I'd much rather Dean be the one to save Sam, rather than *stop* him. One implies redemption, and the other...well, I'd rather not go there.
3 - Tigershire
What did you have in your morning coffee??? What a lot to think about. But it's not like I mind any more than you or the rest of the fans do. GRIN.
I did see a post somewhere, where a fan suggested that perhaps Supernatural should go 6 seasons because, at 22 episodes per season, that would be 66......
Since there seems to be a trend with that number....
Thank goodness it's Thursday.