Better Together (SPN Speculation)
This took longer than I anticipated. Iām still not sure if Iāve covered everything I wanted to cover and I had to add some stuff since 12.21, but Iām posting it so it gets posted before the finale. It is a massive info dump, and Iām sorry for all the technical stuff, I promise it gets explained in there. I couldnāt figure out how to truncate it without outlining it like a novel. I wish I had time for that, but I barely have time to outline my specs atm. I lso donāt want to say that everything I say here is absolutely definitive, itās just based on what Iāve observed and the patterns Iāve noticed. There are a lot of other factors that feed into this one that are also worth exploring but I donāt really know how to include them without over complicating everything, so this is the main set that Iām personally focusing on.
I dunno if anyone remembers this, but back when I metad about 12.12, I said I wished I could have done it in video form because the information better lent itself to a visual medium. Yeah, this is another one of those times. Someday I may modify this into a script and do that, but the season finale is basically today, so here goes.
Some of you may have seen a post go around where @k-vichan, @drsilverfish and @angelswatchingoverā discuss what Alicia is and the questions surrounding her current state. (I canāt get it to route to one of their blogs, but check them out)
@k-vichanā mentioned something that this series has reminded me of since S5, and had themes which have prevailed through the show for a long time.(S7 on, especially.) I went back to watch it after I saw the post, to confirm with myself what I remembered. It had been a long time since I saw the movie, and I wanted to be sure before I wrote about it.
Of all the other works that exist, no other that I know of more closely seems to resemble the themes and message of Supernatural more than the 1995 film Ghost in the Shell.
I have no idea if this is on purpose or if they just both came across the same progression on their own (inspired by the Hegel dialectic) but they both share some common philosophies that have shaped my view of SPN since Iāve watched it, and especially this season. Even without having seen the movie in a long time, these thought processes and progressions seemed to prevail. If there is some real influence between them, what would it mean?
The below place contains spoilers for the ending of Ghost in the Shell, Theyāre further down though. Iāll mark them. Sadly, theyāre kind of important for my speculation, but you can skip them if you want.
But first, letās talk about (a vastly simplified version of) Hegel (in relation to narrative mostly), theming and message.
For those of you who donāt know who Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel is, for my purposes, he was a German Philosopher and a man who looked like several instances of Jacob Marley. He had several ideas about how history and social constructs work. His ideas have been adapted over the years to suit fictional storytelling and they do an extremely good job of it. The great wiki creature sums up the work of Hegel thusly:
Hegel's principal achievement is his development of a distinctive articulation of idealism sometimes termed "absolute idealism",[16]in which the dualisms of, for instance, mind and nature and subject and object are overcome. His philosophy of spirit conceptually integrates psychology, the state, history, art, religion, and philosophy. His account of the masterāslave dialectic has been highly influential, especially in 20th-century France.[17] Of special importance is his concept of spirit (Geist: sometimes also translated as "mind") as the historical manifestation of the logical concept and the "sublation" (Aufhebung: integration without elimination or reduction) of seemingly contradictory or opposing factors; examples include the apparent opposition between nature and freedom and between immanence and transcendence. Hegel has been seen in the 20th century as the originator of the thesis, antithesis, synthesis triad;[18] however, as an explicit phrase, this originated with Johann Gottlieb Fichte.[19]
Already seeing some parallels? Good. (itās ok if you donāt. Wikipedia likes to word everything like a scientific abstract.)
I know it says the triad name was attributed to a different dude, and thatās true, but in terms of our usage, weāre gonna keep dragging Hegel around with us on this journey because heās associated with the philosophy behind it. So come, Hegel, youāre not getting out of this so easily.
The definitions for each of these instances are thus:
The thesis is an intellectual proposition.The antithesis is a critical perspective on the thesis.The synthesis solves the conflict between the thesis and antithesis by reconciling their common truths, and forming a new proposition
Sound a bit like SPNās s1-5, s6-11 and ... now? Yeah, there might be a reason for that. Not sure if itās on purpose, but considering how everywhere the dialectic is in writing, I wouldnāt be surprised if it was come across and adopted at some point. At least to an extent. (also just freaking read that description of them there, thatās so pointed, it pangs at my fingers when typing).
One the people who brought the Hegel dialectic into mainstream use in media was Blake Snyder, most notably in his book Save the Cat. The Book has been fairly influential since its publishing and itās been used as a basis for many films and tv shows. I donāt know if the book influenced SPN, but it may have (the book was released in 2005). Whether the book was a direct influence or not, there are certainly similarities. The show may be taking influence from Hegel directly, it may have evolved on its own as part of the human approach to storytelling or, it may have came from another work influenced by Hegelā¦ like Ghost in the Shell.
The longer something exists the more it has to explain itself. This isnāt true of all media, but itās generally true of anything that wants to have a consistent, ongoing, story.
This is why shorts are allowed to be weird as hell and they get away with it, and itās why SPN has been deconstructing itself for the last several years. Itās also probably why everything is people.. Other than because budget. If this whole thought process is true, this season will mark the beginning of act 3, the beginning of the synthesis part of the arc, and if my speculation is correct, the beginning of sublation or aufhebung as Hegel used it.
For our purposes, and as it's generally used in media, sublation here means āassimilate.ā To merge two opposing factors into a single entity, the two factors may not be even in scope. From what I can gather, the message of the entire series is āhumanity must learn to accept the aspects of itself that it runs from, that it others and demonizes as part of itself.ā That may sound long, but messages in works are often sentences like that.
Reconciling the old to embrace the newā has been what myself and some others have been calling the theme of this season. This fits into the message Iāve derived from the show by giving the characters the incentive to try new ideas and to learn from what theyāve experienced instead of relying entirely on past rhetoric. Not everything about the past is bad, but weeding out whatās preventing positive progress and merging it to new ideas which better accept the real world is a step in progressing towards a culmination of the message. In order to do that, you have to dance the destiel a little. Cas is literally the ideals of the Winchester brothers, of āhumanityā as represented by them. Thatās his character role. Heās also a supernatural being, linking him to the idea that āthe ideas that progress are within what we have deemed otherā. This aspect of his character is enforced throughout the series and is come into direct text on multiple occasions. Dean is in love with a supernatural being that represents new ideals of progress and acceptance. To me this is what destiel ultimately is, or will be. Humanity (Dean) accepting that which it was taught to other (the Supernatural (queer) love of Cas, ie new ideals) as part of itself in order to progress as a person (species) to a better future. If one aspect of humanity (Dean) accepts it (culminates his love somehow), then the other (Sam), will be forced to accept it in turn because Dean loving Cas would give Sam a visual representation of reality being different than his upbringing and experiences had previously presented. Even in that paragraph, you can see elements of the Hegel loop poking through. You can also see some reflection on the show itself and its audienceā¦
So, what does all this mean for the rest of the series? Obviously add sadness and pain where necessary. This is SPN after all, but as long as nothing directly opposes this narrative, this seems to be the direction theyāre going here. Eileenās death was really idiotic and broke a lot of narrative rules, but it doesnāt directly refute anything. Itās a single instance and it may not even be true (it probably is, but man, either Bucklemming eated more purple berries than usual, they really shared the wealth, their entire purpose on the writing team is to sew misdirection, or somethingās up hereā¦ possibly involving that last one.)
Below are a what seems to be where this is going in some form or another using the Hegel Loop as a means for the message:
1) Dean and Sam must face and reconcile with their pasts on all sides. Their past with themselves, their past with each other, their past with the important people in their life, their concept of family and how it has affected their lives and so on. Since everything must support the themes of a work if it wants to follow the rules, this idea has to prevail with every force in the current canon. Thus: Supernatural(Angels) vs Humanity(SamnDean), BMoL vs Hunters (Also mirror each other). Similar to their āforce conceptsā, Sam doesnāt really understand Dean, just like the BMoLs donāt really understand hunters. They think they do, theyāre very efficient and rely on heavy research and technology, but their intel sucks. Similar also to Dean, the hunters arenāt generally so keen on lending themselves to the BMoLs. They believe they have reason not to, and so too does Dean believe he has reason to keep Sam from knowing his true self.
2) The two ideals of the show must also be addressed and reconciled/embraced. I said before and earlier that Cas = the ideals on the show. And yeah, he does from what Iāve gathered. From s4 on, he has always mirrored the way the Winchester's and thus āhumanityā operate on a thematic level as time as gone on.(Especially Dean, the āheart of humanityā) This is because heās the showās āLove interestā. Thatās what the Love Interest does but boy, does he take it to new and interesting levels! Like Dean and Sam, he still has self worth issues, he still has issues with his understanding of family and where he belongs, what he can be trusted with, what heās for. If you look closely, you can see him mirroring a lot of decisions on the sides of both brothers. As of now, they both are starting to embrace a new way of looking at things, and in turn, Cas is experiencing situations that challenge his beliefs and combine both perspectives into a single progression to ābetter waysā.
Mary on the other hand, holds the old ideals of the show. She is basically s4 Cas and because she wasnāt around to experience all the changes, she carries the old show with her. She is what Cas could have been without the influence of the Winchesters. Still headstrong and rebellious, but falling back on old ideas and operations. Dean and Sam have truly changed Cas, and Mary is a testament to that. Like Cas as well, when she was sent back to Earth from heaven, she rebelled, and weāre seeing her s4 and 5. Most likely she wonāt last any longer because the show wonāt need her to prove a point anymore, but what she represents is pretty clear to me. Maryās mirror of Cas is twisted. It has a flipped perspective with the Winchesterās being the original family and the BMoLs (Angels) being where she originally puts her faith because they share her ideals. Technically the Winchesterās held Casā too. His feelings of heart and freedom were found with them, but because of Maryās situation and old ideals, she runs to the BMoLs instead.
Add Mick and some nigh omnipresent Cas references and you have a season about Cas, a season about ideals where Dean, Cas and Sam try to confront themselves, each other and the concept of family and duty that they were all fed stringently throughout their lives and times being with each other.
Those above concepts there are the thesis and the antithesis incarnate. They are the current state of affairs bumping against the old ways. This is their sticking point, they are coming to a head and they must. The pics and promos from the finale seem to enforce the idea that they will deal with the confrontation of a sort of reality, just as they have been slowly recognizing the need to confront their own hidden, unspoken realities.
3) At some point Cas, Dean and Sam will have to āembraceā each other in however they plan on doing that. They will not leave all of their past selves but they will all move forward to something better and new.
4) Dean will probably tell Cas he loves him or some other gesture by the end of the season. Gotta visualize/solidify those themes, māboy! Your medium says so. In turn, Sam will be forced to learn to understand a side of Dean he wanted to believe didnāt exist and that he may have been actively hiding from because it would mean some things in his past would take on a new color with some possibly saddening meanings for him.
*coughs* I will always be a little devilishly amused at the character roles in this season and how they relate to the show and fandom directlyā¦
5) Most likely Rowena and Crowley will reconcile at some point as well, but itās hard to tell. They may resolve their issues by the end of the season in some form or another. Crowley mirrors a lot of characters and Rowena is sort of dark Mary, so their resolution will likely follow a similar trajectory + Crowley and Gavin feels or something. Maryās probably gonna ascend like Gavin did. 12.21 and some general themes with Crowley overall have lead me to suspect that heās holding the cards to this new reality. He does kind of mirror a lot of people with Rowena filling in the gaps, so him being the one to reveal something would make sense.
6) The BMoLs and the hunters will probably merge in some way. Thereās likely a reason we felt there should be more names on that table. We will soon see Dean and Sam act as generals of the huntersā¦ if that ends how I think it will, we will end with more names on that table and a defended legacy/Bunker. They will take the good of the BMoLs and incorporate it into the hunting world. Kind of a new Bobby network but with more stuff.
So then what does the finale entail?
Thatās where Ghost in the Shell and Alicia may give us a clue.
If you have not already seen this movie, I highly recommend it. Its influence is seen in all sorts of places. A recent example is Westworld. It is a bit gory, so if thatās really not your cup of tea, fair enough. The following contains spoilers for the movie and it will affect how I address what happened with Alicia and how I think it may reflect on the ending of the season. You are free to skip it, but it may be a bit confusing after. If you want to skip this section, press CTRL or Command + F and search āspoilers overā in the box.
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Ghost in the Shell involves Major Motoko Kusanagi, a cyborg who has feelings of limitation by her perspective. She believes that there is more to the world and she wants to experience and understand it.
Kusanagi: āThere are countless ingredients that make up the human body and mind, like all the components that make up me as an individual with my own personality. Sure I have a face and voice to distinguish myself from others, but my thoughts and memories are unique only to me, and I carry a sense of my own destiny. Each of those things are just a small part of it. I collect information to use in my own way. All of that blends to create a mixture that forms me and gives rise to my conscience. I feel confined, only free to expand myself within boundaries.ā
She is part of a Black Ops unit that investigates a hacker called The Puppetmaster who has been controlling people through their āghostsā to do its bidding. āGhostsā are basically brains or minds. In this world, cybernetics and biological aspects are fairly integrated but are not considered their own beings. Theyāre more augmentations for the humans rather than individuals.. In most cases. The people who are controlled by the Puppet Master are given false memories. They have no idea who they are or what their goals really are.
Over the course of the film, The Major and her companions investigate several ghost hacked people and the concept of identity. Eventually they learn that The Puppetmaster is actually a program created by an intelligence branch called Section 6.
The Major learns that The Puppetmaster has gained its own intelligence and has sought her out to merge with her and complete its perspective. It lacks the things a biological being has and has the vast knowledge of the internet. At the end of the movie, the two achieve sublation and combine into a single being, neither The Major, nor the Puppetmaster.
Before the merge, Kusanagi is hesitant. She fears losing herself to the merge and wants to remain an individual.
Kusanagi: You talk about redefining my identity. I want a guarantee that I can still be myself.
Puppet Master: There isn't one. Why would you wish to? All things change in a dynamic environment. Your effort to remain what you are is what limits you.
This and their inevitable merge may sound like just a narrative decision, but really it seems like a decision based on philosophy of the work and its themes. The issue of stagnation. Ghost in the Shell argues that humanity would inbreed stagnation if it stayed the same (sound familiar?) and only change can save it, even if it stops being human as we know it. An interesting thing to me about the above is that it sorta addresses something directly stated in text in SPN:
Gah, thereās no transcript for 12.19 yet. Paraphrase time!
āSomething something heāll lose what makes him specialā
If there is an influence in Ghost in the Shell, no he wonāt. I know there are some people that want Cas to stay an angel, and I get that. Itās a fundamental part of him to many people, but depending on how they culminate Casā āsublationā with the Winchesters, he may become human as part of that metaphor. Just as the show may change form, but still be itself. According to GitS, he canāt fear change to preserve āwhat makes him specialā When Kelly is talking about the Nephilim, thereās a decent chance sheās really talking about Casā¦ and his birth.. As a human. Sheās afraid something that is integral to him will be lost, but from what Alicia showed us, he will still be the same Cas.. just sans powersā¦ and maybe + some emotions.
So what does this mean for SPN? Alicia gave us a possible clue. She became a āghost in the shellā when her heart was placed into the twig doll, but she retained her caring nature and her memories. As far as anyone would need to know, Alicia is Alicia. Itās possible she could be controlled, but since the ring is what controls her, I doubt Max would ever utilize it. We will probably never see them again, because they have given us what they were meant to narratively and them staying longer would mean they would have to explain themselves beyond that point. If we see them again, expect some weirdness.
Even when Alicia was placed into the doll, she still looked out for Maxās well being. Even when Cas was influenced by the Nephilim, he was still concerned with Deanās well being. In a way, Cas has been a āghost in the shellā for quite some time, with the question about vessels. With Aliciaās gesture, Iād say itās pretty safe to say Casā body is his and Aliciaās is hers even if they can be controlled. Even if they can lose their free will, itās not lost entirely. Even when she her body, she kept being herself in an entirely different bodyā¦ made from fundamentally ālesserā materials, she retained her heart and what made her, her. Adding heart and humanity to a vessel, still retains the heart of that person. Even if Cas is no longer an angel, he will retain that heart he has. Even if the show takes a new form, if it retains its heart, it will remain the show.
Cas is currently further possessed by the nephilim, but heās still in there. And the nature of the apparent themes means it has to release him eventually.
On that note, if 12.21 gave me anything(other than deep confusion regarding what the hell is happening and several conspiracy theories), itās further evidence of a possible GitS influence with Mary being brainwashed to do the bidding of the BMoLs to do their bidding and slowly remove her memories in favor of memories that suit them. In GitS terms, sheās been Ghost Hacked.
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Spoilers over. Below are what I think all of this means for the ending of season regarding Cas and Dean since they seem to be the focus of assimilation. It depends on what the show thinks about the nature of Hegel, but each of the following scenarios is possible based on what Iāve been able to figure out:
Cas and Dean will occupy the same body: As a possibility to save Deanās muffins from burning in the finale like Gadreel did for Sam in s9? Sure. As a permanence? Doubt it.
Cas becomes human but gets a new vessel. This is mostly just unlikely because people would hate it. Again, possible if temporary but TPTB, I do not recommend stretching this over a long period. Alicia looking exactly like herself makes this pretty unlikely.
Cas and the Nephilim wonāt stay merged.. Thatās redundant. He canāt āmerge with humanityā while merged with a half luci humanoidā¦ no. The kid is symbolic of Cas, Sam and possibly Eve. Because of Casā current nature and the nature of the supernatural and humanity and their sort of āforbiddenā merging. Cas and the Nephilim are one atm, because their stories are. Which gives further credence to some sort of change. The kid is basicallyĀ āpast present and futureā incarnate. It contains all of those elements at the moment, but future is its focus, same with Cas and the themes surrounding him from what Iāve gathered. Its relation to Sam is pretty obvious, since heās been related toĀ āa potentialā evil demon child for much of the series. It not being evil makes sense for his character arc.
I have no idea what will happen to the kid. Thereās evidence for a lot of things. Some I like better than others. Theyāre mostly personal preferences at this point.
Cas remains as he is and voices that he is himself. If GitS or Hegel in general are an influence and the showrunners like this philosophy, this probably wonāt be what happens. I know there are a lot of people who want Cas to stay an angel for various reasons, and they can believe that if they want, but it just doesn'tā seem to be the way the story is going. I could be totally wrong and may have missed something, but the nature of stories is change. Cas canāt go back to being full angel, not permanently anyway. Also, if the showās message is as Iāve deduced, heāll have to be human in order to fully be accepted as part of humanity. If he powers up, expect him to power all the way down. Cas is a character and characters serve the story and vise versa, they are locked in an inseparable state with their themes. Cas is the themes in this story, he canāt be a weird penguin forever. Thatās not climactic enough for the medium he exists in. If it were a book, it would be more likely, but itās unlikely in a filmed work. The show canāt be a weird penguin forever either, especially if the GitS influences are correct(the non-reductable part is a factor, but if the message is thus, everything is humans). Again, I could be wrong, and I donāt want to discourage other interpretations, this just seems to cover the most bases from what Iāve observed.
Iām still operating under the idea that 12.12 is a microcosm of the season and possibly the series up to this point, so weāll see how that plays out. I expect Crowley to save the day somehow, some dramatic declarations, Cas injury and probably Mary injury, some fiddling with anachronistic presentation/perspective on reality and a prince of hell. For this particular exercise, I was more interested in what happens, rather than how we get to the happening.
Whatever way Cas ends up physically, I think itās safe to say the show thinks Cas and Dean better together, even if the culmination isnāt permanent at first.
