#spn lines

Sam and Dean argue because they are making a deal with Crowley and they have different priorities: Sam's is to put the Horn in Lucifer's hand and set him loose on Amara ASAP; Dean's is leaving Cas (currently possessed by Lucifer) out of the equation. This places the brothers on two different sides: Dean is "the heart choice" and Sam is "the smart choice". Dean wins because a. he's better at defending his thesis and b. in a season focused on the heart's desires there really is no place for smart choices. The heart wants what it wants, people.

A new vessel.

Dean is ready to put Lucifer into "a new vessel" (aka another human being and good luck finding one what with the whole issue of consent etc) because he doesn't want to send Lucifer into battle inside Cas (brrr, the phrasing is so crude, buckleming don't beat around the bush for sure). So, you know, I'm not judging him for that, love can get crazier than that etc, but the morality lenses are detecting some problems here. Very cunning of Dean to use the impersonal word "vessel" instead of his usual "angel condom" or, you know, "human being". He's worried that Cas will not make it. And this is actually problematic because it implies that Dean is fine with sacrificing another random person as long as it's not Cas.

Sam picks up on Dean's careful selection of word and does an interesting shift between it-he-it. It's a strong vessel, it's held Cas, he (Cas) has gone through a lot, it can hold Lucifer.

While Dean thinks of Cas as Cas, Cas is Lucifer's vessel, it's not "vessel + Cas" (sorry to put it this horribly but I can't come up with something better right now LOL) and he's techinically right because Jimmy Novak is permadead, I find very interesting that Sam still separates Cas' vessel from Cas himself. I think this might be where Sam's trauma for being Lucifer's true vessel and all that entailed shows. I don't know if it's a coping mechanism but this might tell us that Sam, too, considers himself both and "it" and a "he". Anyway, personally not judging, but the morality lenses are detecting problems here, too. Pragmatism is a virtue but, as all things taken to extremes, it can also be a vice. I remember that once Sam rightly told Dean that he was fine with the sacrifice as long as he wasn't the one doing the sacrifice (or something along these lines). Well, right back at you, Sam. Moreover, Sam is avoiding the problem here: they know Cas' vessel can hold Lucifer, it's been holding him in that precise moment. Dean wants to know what happens if Cas doesn't make it. They're two different things. Sam will lose this argument because he's avoiding the subject. He's not factoring in the very real possibility that Cas might die.

Dean's rebuke at Sam that it's not an "it" but "it's Cas" is a bit unfair. He was the first who mentioned a new vessel, thus implicitly saying that, while Cas might not be an "it", another "it" (vessel being a neutral noun) needs to contain Lucifer. And Sam did refer to Cas as "he" and "Cas" while referring to the vessel as "it". But Dean is smart and definitely knows how to win an argument.

Wants and good ideas.

Sam defends his thesis pulling the "he wanted this" card. But how do you know Sam? It's a weak defence and Sam of all people should know. Coming to the conclusion that saying YES to Lucifer is the best solution and then acting on that does NOT equal to actually wanting to do THAT. Then, there are two other points to be made. The first is that Dean is, again very very clever, and he immediately shows another fallacy in Sam's defence: wanting something doesn't mean it's a good idea. This would be a strong argument if Dean's alternative "good idea" wasn't to put Lucifer inside another human being vessel. The second is that Cas did say yes to Lucifer, but he's not the one making the deal with Crowley. Sam and Dean are, they are making the choice for Cas while he's incapacited. The end result may be the same (Cas probably considered when he said yest to Lucifer that he was not gonna make it), but the modality is quite different.

Heart choice, smart choice and Cas' choice.

Sam's final plea is the old "brain vs heart" conundrum. The heart choices are what screw you in the end and they're about to make the same mistake again. I don't know if "leaving things as they are" (aka leaving Lucifer inside Cas) can qualitfy as a smart choice but Sam seems to think so. Dean simply steamrolls Sam's argument with a plain but strong "Cas is family". Which, you know, fair. However, family is exactly the thing that screws them in the end that Sam was talking about. We've reached a stall.

Finally, Sam plays the part of Cas' lawyer and says that his choice must be respected but he totally loses the argument. Because, as I said, the point was NOT if the vessel could hold Lucifer or whether Cas should've said yes or no to him. The problem is USING Lucifer and set him loose on Amara. No, actually no, the problem is USING Cas as bait with the possibility of his consequent death. And Dean is not okay with that. So much so, he's willing to sacrifice another human being to save part of his family. Yes, Cas' choice should be respected but they are planning to use him as bait. Was that Cas' choice, too? How could they know? Dean is ultimately right because he's addressing a painful point: they are using a member of their family as a pawn and he might not make it. This is their choice, not Cas'.

So what about Cas' choice? Dean wins the argument but was he right? Yes, it seems so.

Castiel: Oh, Crowley. What are you doing here? Crowley: Is this the Winchesters' kitchen? Castiel: Sort of. I come here in my mind to pass the time. For some reason, it has excellent reception. Crowley: What's wrong with you? What has Lucifer done to you? Castiel: Well, he mostly just leaves me alone. I'm just waiting here, you know, for the battle with the Darkness. Crowley: He's really got his hooks in you. Snap out of it. Do you know what's happening out there? The Winchesters have trapped the abomination so that you can expel him so that they can put him back in the Cage... Castiel: Well, that doesn't sound like a very good idea. Crowley: In your current state, you're in no position to judge. Castiel: Wait. That was Dean I saw a minute ago, wasn't it? Crowley: Yes. Castiel: And he wants me to expel Lucifer? Crowley: Yes! Castiel [laughing]: Ha, ha, ha! Well... he may have a more objective view of the situation. Maybe I should.

At first Cas seems to share Sam's pov. He's just there waiting to be used in the final battle against Amara. However, he's clearly not okay. Lucifer has got his hooks on him, as Crowley points out. He also tells Cas about the Winchesters' plan to expel Lucifer from him. Cas, again, shares Sam's opinion: this is not a very good idea. But one little look at Dean and all of a sudden he's like "well, if Dean says so I guess he's right". He trusts Dean to the point that he thinks that he may have "a more objective view" implying that he doesn't have an objective view, so therefore Sam's advocating for his choices and wants was null. It's not a choice if the person making the choice doesn't have all the info necessary to make the choice in the first place.

I think this dialogue is well done because it shows us both the Winchesters' hypocrisy and moral ambiguity and the lenghts people would go to save the ones they love. Although my morality lenses have detected bullshit on both sides, Sam's argument is the weaker and not because he thinks Cas is an "it" (I think I've proved by now that's a bit unfair to call out Sam on that), but because he's making excuses and playing righteous while he's not being that.

(And, I think, he's not being that because he's a deeply traumatized character who's been projecting onto Cas his trauma the whole time. Back in s5 the priority was saving the world, he was the strong true vessel, he wanted to do it, his choice had to be respected. And that actually worked out. For the world, for sure. For him? Not so much. Advocating for Cas' choice meant advocating for his own choices, proving he was right. But he was not).

This episode starts with Dean deep in research-mode on one of the bunker’s desks and Sam instantly knows he’s worried about Cas. They’ve been like this for a whole week, trying to find a way to “bring the idiot back home”. Sam thinks it’s time they got out and hit the road for a case. Therefore, the reason why the brothers are in Gunnison, Colorado is because Sam thinks Dean needs to get out of the bunker and stop obsessing over Cas. From the plot pov, Cas’ absence is the trigger event of the episode. This is confirmed later on when Dean tells Sam that maybe Caesar and Jesse can “give them a hand with Amara, you know, with Cas”. This, per se, doesn’t necessarily mean that Cas is that something or rather someone who can fill in the empty space Dean has inside himself. But it implies that Dean feels that the “something” that’s missing is very strongly connected to Cas and Cas’ presence in his life.

Finally, “What’s it like, settling down with a hunter?” is a great line because it flips over a key scene in “Baby” by Robbie Thompson. I love when writers so explicitly communicate with their colleagues in their work! I mean, this is basically an indirect quote. Love it, love it, love it!

In “Baby” there’s this beautiful dialogue between Sam and Dean:

Dean: Piper? That's awesome. Heather. One-night wonders, man. Shoot, we're lucky we still get that at all.

Sam: Really? You don't . . . Ever want something more?

Dean: I'm sorry, have you met us? We're batting a whopping zero in domestic life, man. Goose eggs.

Sam: You don't ever think about something? Not marriage or whatever. But . . . Something? You know, with a hunter? Somebody who understands the life?

Dean: Have you not heard a single word Bob's been singing about? You're tired. I can tell. You're exhausted. Well, I'm still wired, so I'm gonna pull over, get some gas. You hop in the back, get some Z's 'cause, buddy, you earned 'em. Proud of ya! Piper. Mmm. Man, she smelled good, too.

At the beginning of the season Dean seems to be quite certain that there's no chance for them to have a “domestic life”. Sam doesn’t disagree but he highlights Dean’s limited perspective on the matter. Not marriage but… something more. Specifically, something more with a hunter or with somebody who understands the life. Dean replies too dismissively to his question, so I think he's actually thought about that but either he didn’t like the end result of that particular train of thought or he didn’t want to talk about it.

However, by the time Dean meets Caesar and Jesse something has clearly changed. If in "Baby" Dean goes from 0 to 100 (from "one-night wonders" to "domestic life", geez, Dean calm down man lol) and he's quite "touchy-touchy" about the subject, in "The Chitters" not only does he seem more open to the topic, but he even freely and voluntarily brings it up with a couple of people he’s basically just met. And yes, the big thing that has happened to him in between these episodes is not Amara. It’s Cas’ absence. So it’s safe to say that the show is implying in no uncertain terms that Cas’ absence and Dean’s sudden interest in “settling down with somebody who understand the life” are connected. Do with that what you will.

Nancy Won managed to intertwine scene, episode and season in one single line. I must admit it’s quite brilliant.