Some notes upon rewatch

[trinityofone]

I liked it better as an episode the second time around. The pacing seemed less wonky to me, possibly because I was less jittery and I wasn't spending the first 30 minutes going, "HOW THE FUCK DID THEY GET OFF THE PLANE?" to myself. (It's funny: I actually have no problem with flying, but maybe Dean's anxiety has worn off on me, because I was not convinced by what we saw on screen that that plane would be able to land in one piece. So when it cut straight to them in the car, I was like, "They got mojo'd AGAIN?")

A few random things I noticed:

1. BECKY PUNCTUATES POORLY. WTF, girl. You're the webmistress of morethanbrothers.net! And this is what we see on your screen?

["Then I don't want] to be right." replied Sam, in a husky voice.

Dude. GET A BETA. Once you've got your periods and commas straightened out, we can talk about forming that fangirl army.

2. Lucifer loved God too much. Um. SOMEONE had a bad breakup, obviously. Clearly, all the problems this season can best be solved by some good nookie.

3. "What I do have is a GED and a give-em-hell attitude." Oh, Dean, I love you so much! I meant to highlight this line the first time (along with "That looks like Cate Blanchett") but my brain had already gone away. There's no real point here beyond "I love Dean," but gosh, I love Dean. Sam's all yours, Becks. *clings*

On a more serious note, the thing I'm still most bothered by is the Dean-as-THE-vessel thing. This continues to make NO SENSE to me.

a) It still seems to me that the qualities of vesselness are more physical than spiritual. "It's in your blood," right? And I don't think you can even really make the case that a vessel's soul sustains the angel riding them in some way, because Anna was doing just fine in her empty, custom-made body.

b) So even if what made Dean special, what made him chosen, was that he was the righteous man who broke the first seal in Hell, thus necessitating his resurrection, why couldn't Michael just take him right away once he popped up? Why did he have to be made "ready"? His Deanness, all the things that make him him, don't seem to be relevant to the angels' purposes. Just his meat.

c) Which makes Zachariah's actions in "It's a Terrible Life" completely illogical. Why waste the time psyching Dean up, trying to get him strong and full of fight, when a weak Dean would be much more likely to consent to giving himself over to Michael? Don't you think the Dean at the end of "On the Head of a Pin" would be way, way more likely to sign himself over for something like that? He was so broken there, in the perfect vulnerable state, full of guilt and self-loathing. If Zachariah had come to him then and said, "There is one way you can make up for what you've done"...well, that's one, perhaps one of the only scenarios in which I can imagine him consenting.

d) Where does the oath fit into all this? Was "giv[ing himself] fully over to the service of God and his angels" not good enough? If not, then what was the point of that? Or did Cas just bumble it somehow? (Maybe on purpose?) I need to see this addressed.

I need to see all of this addressed, because at the moment I am not buying this twist at all.

Comments

[musicdiamond.livejournal.com]

a) I think that the ability to be a vessel contain a physical component (blood) but it's more of a 'necessary but not sufficient' condition (ie, there's a baseline blood protein or something you need in order to be a vessel, but not everyone with that protein can be a successful vessel). I don't think the show has done a very good job of articulating it, but my guess is that there does need to be something else in addition to the physical blood component, and whether that's spiritual or "chosen-ness" or whatever, I don't know yet.

I also think that there's probably a scale of super special vesselness, like, there are D-level vessels which can only survive being taken by the weakest angels (say, Castiel pre-resurrection), C-level vessels that can be taken by stronger angels, B-level vessels that can be taken by angels pretty high up on the hierarchy (Zachariah), and then A-level vessels that are extremely rare (Lucifer specifically stated that Nick was one of the very strong and few vessels capable of holding Lucifer). Nick and Dean might be A-level vessels--super rare human types who can survive being possessed by angelic beings as powerful as Lucifer and Michael. Or, alternatively, they might be custom built only to be able to be possessed by Lucifer or Michael--no lesser angel can successfully control them.

I am fond of the idea that maybe Dean is actually Michael, as in, Michael pulled an Anna, ripped his grace out, and was reborn as Dean Winchester with no memory of his old days. It would dovetail nicely with the character of Dean Winchester in some ways--being a soldier, obedience to family and father, self-sacrifice, and then that rebellious streak on top of it all. I think it would be fun if Zach was just bluffing and hoping that if he could convince Dean to say yes, this would somehow summon Michael for his part to play (since Michael has inexplicably gone missing and the angels haven't been able to locate him). It would make sense because usually the angel trying to inhabit the body usually is the one doing the convincing of the host (ie, Lucifer appearing to Nick in his dream, Castiel talking to Jimmy). If Mike was still in the building, why wouldn't he be the one bargaining with Dean for his body? Why wouldn't he beam down himself in a dream and say, "Yo, let me hop in for a spin"? Of course, there's still time in the season for Michael to appear in a dream or otherwise communicate with Dean, so, y'know.

d) Maybe like with Lilith a deal with an angel takes more than a kiss? ;-) That could be awkward. "Dean, I can't have sex with you, because if we copulate, the deal you made with me in the salvage yard will go into effect." Oh noes!

That comment just made me laugh. That's all. Someone needs to write a crackfic about it.