#possible parallels

Why do I feel like we’re gonna get a parallel of this, with Fran after John dies. Even more so if they do have Frohn have a baby together.

On a side note I loved Jack and Maya together, kinda wish she didn't screw him over for the promotion, he totally deserved better than what he got from both Andy and Maya.

13x04 “The Big Empty” Cas vs. Himself (?)

Alright so, the one thing I had to think about with the Empty scenes was that to me it felt like Cas meeting his shadow self inside his mind (in a way to me it felt even similar to Dean meeting with Amara for the first time, who I always analyzed to be somewhat of a metaphor for Dean’s darker self) and not just meeting it, but (re-)connecting with it. In this regard what the scenes between Cas and Empty!Entity! or Shadow!Self!Cas reminded me of a great deal in how Cas was forced to re-live some of his worst memories in  6x22 “The Man Who Knew Too Much” in which Sam needs to confront all his worst memories in order to put himself back together again after being re-souled (and conveniently like Cas’ other version in this week’s episode in Sam’s case his own “mind” also tries to keep him from “going back” initially). So to me in a way these scenes could work as a set up to truly reveal Castiel having come back not as an angel, but human, but differently than before when his grace was stolen with a soul (I have always headcanoned that Castiel had “grown” a soul throughout the years so this would work nicely with that crazy assumption).

5x10 "Abandon All Hope” Oh Crowley, uhm... Fergus or... Damiel?

Please feel free to ignore all of my following rambles, but I just feel like dropping a few crazy thoughts and fueling the never dying “Crowley is something else than a demon”-topic. ;) I happened to re-watch this episode today and apart from how very much this episode made me once more realize how dearly I miss Ben Edlund on the writing team (or episodes of this kind of depth in general in S12). Fair warning ahead, the following was sparked by simply me misunderstanding what that bank guy says to Crowley here. Funnily enough this is the first time I misheard it even though I have re-watched this episode plenty of times before. Point is, I didn’t hear “Damn you”, but “Damiel”. And THAT made my mind wander, because you see, Damiel is one of the two angels (the other being Cassiel) from Wim Wenders’ “Wings of Desire”, which served as the inspiration for the Hollywood adaption of it known as “City of Angels” with Meg Ryan and Nicolas Cage. And “Wings of Desire” and Damiel’s arc can basically be compared or understood to have been the inspiration for Castiel on “Supernatural”.

Now, it’s been a long standing topic of discussion among fandom - and fueled by Mark Sheppard himself - whether or not Crowley actually may not be a demon, but something else entirely, meaning, possibly a fallen angel, such as Damiel. I have no idea if Edlund was inserting nods to Wim Wenders’ movie in this episode, but I am willing to believe he may have done it, because there is a lot going on in this episode that breaches topics of the movie (the conversations between Meg and Lucifer and Castiel for example). Furthermore some of the visuals used in this episode also reminds of scenes and visuals from the Hollywood adaption of “Wings of Desire”. One of them being the scene of all the reapers gathering dressed in black. It seems very reminiscent of the scenes in the movies showing the angels in libraries or near the oceanside.

The reason why I also see a possible parallel to the movie here is due to how this episode has Crowley and Castiel featured in the same episode for the first time and to me it just felt curious how just name wise there could be seen a connection. As I said before the angel named Cassiel in “Wings of Desire” isn’t the one who decides to fall, but Damiel - the one serving as a mirror for Castiel’s arc or rather the arc I still think will be Castiel’s at the very end: Him freely choosing to become human, not because his grace was stolen, etc. and the show has been paving towards such a scenario for a long time.

Now, you may wonder how Crowley could be Cassiel/Damiel as well and yes, it is just crazy idea spinning on my part, but especially towards the latter seasons Crowley as well has grown way more human, in fact had gotten addicted to human blood and has not been the same ever since (just like Castiel). He is definitely more human, shows more emotion and deep down craves to be “loved”. So he to me does also fit the bill of “an angel fallen for ~humanity in some proximity”... So... Crowley and Castiel have served as polar opposites, unlikely allies, unwanted frenemies on Supernatural for a long time. So who knows... maybe Castiel - though sharing Cassiel’s name - is “having” Damiel’s arc and Crowley or Damiel is having Cassiel’s... Arguably - and even though Crowley has done a lot of horrible stuff of course, he has proven to be vulnerable and more often than not tring to protect the Winchesters (like the angels in “Wings of Desire” do) rather than working against them....

So I continued my “desperate to find something in this season that may miraculously turn my feelings on it around”-rewatch of S12 and last episode for that was 12x04 “American Nightmare”. At the time when the episode aired the story seemed like a textbook story focused on Sam and his past as a kid with psychic abilities, but if we truly assume that further down the line at some point this season the BritMoL may label Dean as a “rogue” that needs to be taken care of/defused/reformed or whatever else, it sure sends out some very troubling possibilities (I have to admit though given the BTS pics of the episodes it doesn’t seem as if Dean is separated from the rest, that may not have to mean anything, because the BritMoL could try and assert their control over Dean in other ways, but if they truly go down the road of torture/mind control/brainwashing as talked about the past couple of days, I think will rather be part of the season finale’s cliffhanger and not so much topic of the current season).

The key aspect of this episode was that Magda was “dead” to the world and in a way also to her family due them resenting her abilities that they thought unbearable and in need of reformation. They were - and especially the mother - of the mind that that could be brought on through self torture and praying. In her mind they kept Magda locked up and made society believe she died in order to protect the rest of the world from her. The whole family knew about that secret. All of them played along. Neither father nor brother intervened when Magda was made to beat herself up (literally), but considered her “to be their burden” and their “cross to bear” . Seriously, this episode was so freaking horrifying on so many levels back then, but if one draws possible parallels to what may lie ahead for Dean, it’s honestly truly something that would make any character to participate in such actions absolutely irredeemable - which is why I don’t think the show would go there, BUT for the sake of throwing ideas around have a couple of thoughts on it anyway.

Magda’s mother in conversation with Sam is talking about how God “showed them a better way” completely incapable of seeing her own actions as what they are: gruesome, disgusting and absolutely inexcusable. Magda’s mother in this regard almost can be considered to have brainwashed herself into believing her own twisted story. And this is where I kind of see possible parallels to Mary and possibly even Sam, most of all however to the BritMoL with their elitist view on on the hunting community and thinking they know best and their methods are the right ones. Because Mary too has been talking about the BritMoL and how they “show them a better way” . It seems even though she must deep down know that the BritMoL are shady as hell, she is desperate to believe the lie and motto they sell, to the point none of them even needs to manipulate her, but Mary does the brainwashing herself, because she wants the BritMoL to be right so very much. Similarly Sam is open to tag along with that, because he actually is afraid of losing Mary and therefore swallows the shit they sell and then even goes as far as manipulating Dean to work for the BritMoL without his knowledge. His “give me some time”” to Mick is all kinds of unnerving when you think of it as a strategy - basically emotional blackmail - to use Dean’s wish of his family to be together against him and in that regard completely ignore Dean’s doubts and dislikes of working with the BritMoL.

I hadn’t realized that the next episode is going to be the 250th of the show. Given that, my hopes for this episode are actually even bigger now. :) I have talked about this a little bit already last year when the promo for the episode got released, but for unknown reasons I only now found out that the original title to the first Rambo movie - or rather the book the movie is based on - is titled “First Blood”.

And while I had assumed and speculated about what the predicament the Winchesters find themselves in may trigger (see here), reading up on the plot of the movie “First Blood” (yes, sue me, I don’t think I watched a single Sylvester Stallone movie in my life) and the summary of the episode, it would surprise me if SPN didn’t draw more parallels between the movie and Sam and Dean’s imprisonment.

As the official description for 12x09 “First Blood” tells us…

“After being arrested for the attempted assassination of the President of The United States, Sam and Dean must find a way out of an underground, government-run, detention facility in the middle of nowhere. Determined to find her sons, Mary and Castiel seek assistance from an unlikely source.”

…the brothers are captured underground for trying to kill the President of the Unites States. The promo suggests that this imprisonment is - understandably - taking it’s toll on the two. Especially looking at Dean’s expression when counting the days and his eyes twitch reminds of another episode written by Andrew Dabb, one that directly connects to the situation the Winchesters find themselves in. The difference is however that 10x22 “The Prisoner” focused heavily on Dean’s imprisonment due to the influence of the MoC, now in 12x09 “First Blood” this “mental” imprisonment got a physical quality as he is literally a prisoner in a what seems to be some kind of Guantanamo-esque jail, which according to the government “officially doesn’t exist”. And the aspect of “supposed nonexistence” is something important to keep in mind in relation to Hell, which officially in an enlightened world for most people doesn’t exist either… But of course that doesn’t make the horrors Dean and Sam experienced any less real for them as they know better.

Now, the first Rambo movie follows the story of John Rambo, a Vietnam war veteran who ends up in jail after he is asked to leave the city called “Hope” (Quite the speaking name, isn’t it? Reminds me of “Hope Springs” last season when God returned), but returns anyway. He gets locked up for ignoring the police’s wishes of not entering the city. While imprisoned he is experiencing traumatic memories from his time as prisoner of war. He manages to escape and a brutal cat and mouse chase follows raising a lot of questions on society. Long story short in the end, Rambo is captured again and suffers a mental breakdown in which he talks about his inability to re-integrate into society after his experiences in Vietnam.

To me the parallels and inspiration to the episode are undeniable. And it makes me hope that maybe this imprisonment may explore the Winchesters’ hell memories and traumas more again. After all, the fact alone that they are kept underground, caged, seems like a huge and obvious nod towards the cage and how Lucifer - even if de-powered by what the Winchesters did to him in 11x08 “Lotus” (yes, I don’t think he was sent back to the cage at all and I think Dabb said as much in an interview as well) - managed to send the Winchesters exactly where they were supposed to both end up had the show ended with 5x22 “Swan Song”: the cage, after saying yes to their respective archangels.