Learning that little bit more...

[ash48]

I've been thinking more about what Sam said to Cas about his possession and I think it adds another, rather terrifying, layer to his experience.



Sam felt a presence - felt that he wasn't alone. Knowing what Sam had been through with Lucifer it must have been absolutely terrifying to feel like someone else what sharing your "housing". Added to that, Sam wasn't able to talk to Dean about it. Whenever it was brought up Dean diverted his attention. Dean had his reasons of course, but Sam didn't know that. He must have felt like he was going a little crazy - losing time, feeling like he's not alone in his own body. The fact that he's been "crazy" before meant that he's had experience with ignoring it. Which he obviously did.

I wonder why it's taken them until episode 21 to give us that bit of information. I realise that that scene existed mostly for us to start to see that Gadreel could be persuaded to double cross Metatron (and if it was purely for that then I will want to join the indignation some have felt in that scene), but I would truly like to believe they were giving us more insight into what Sam experienced, which might hopefully play out later in the season (shut up! I can hope!).


ETA: Flisties are right! It was retcon so...BOO - ignore that stuff above. :(( *sobs quietly*
ETA ETA: After bouncing back and forth between thoughts offered in the comments I'm back to trusting my first instinct. Mostly, it's canon now so we can take from it what we want (or need). :)

There's also another factor in play I think.



We're seeing the battle between what's considered "good" with what is "right". Dean said he felt calm with the Blade in his hand. A good feeling no doubt. Gadreel possessed Sam with good intentions - heal Sam and begin his journey to be understood. Dean agreed to the possession with good intentions - save Sam. Sam has known what it's like to become powerful, with the good intention of revenging Dean. Cas definitely knows what it's like to want power for the "good" of Heaven. Even way back to Mary agreeing to barter one of her children for John's life - it was a good intention.

We might be left to question if something is considered "good" does it make it right? Even if Gadreel turns out to be misunderstood, an angel seeking redemption with good intention does that make what he did to Sam, Dean and Kevin right? Does Dean allowing Sam to be possessed without consent make it right because it was done with good intent? Does Dean holding the Blade to seek calm make it right? My answer is no to all those things, but maybe it's not as easy as that. Can I dare hope that maybe there's a lesson here in the Winchester world after all? That Carver might indeed have a (cunning) plan in mind when he opened this massive can of worms in 9.01?

I've said to a few that I will reserve my overall judgement of this season after the final frame of S9. I don't expect we'll have all the answers but I am hoping we'll at least see why Carver opened this season with such a divisive, shocking and thought provoking scenario.

Comments

[gateslacker.livejournal.com]

It was there, it's open to interpretation, it's canon and it's information we haven't had before.

Yes! And I love that we can all look at it differently and discuss it. I mean, if the show was always completely cut and dried, what on earth would we have to talk about?

And I have to add that the reviews (and thoughts etcs) can indeed dampen or spoil the enjoyment of the show (I am no doubt guilty of that in my reviews at times). But I've also learned to trust my initial instincts and reactions on an episode and try not to let the negativity swamp me too much

It can be hard. And I have always thought your reviews were fair and insightful, even when you weren't keen on something. And a discussion about what works, what didn't work, and what this or that means is always fun, even when fans don't quite see it the same way. What really brings me down, aside from character bashing, is the constant attack on the writers/showrunner. I've never particularly enjoyed seeing that, even back when it was directed at Gamble (which is when I started my online foray into fandom). What it seems to be is a whole lot of nitpicking. Honestly, I could find *something* wrong with every season in the entire run of this series if I really wanted to. The same goes for any show I have loved, really. I enjoy a good analysis but I don't want to be so hypercritical that my love and enjoyment is lost. So, I can accept the "duds," as I perceive them, season to season. If I go into it with the sole purpose of finding something wrong, you can rest assured that I will find what I am looking for.

When I was mainlining this series via Netflix, I never paid any attention to who wrote what. And, yeah, going back now I can see that this particular writing team has penned their fair share of duds. They aren't the only ones. Even Edlund wrote "Reading is Fundamental" which was a boring mess in my book and one that I always skip on a rewatch. Same goes for Gamble's "Fresh Blood." And these aren't their only "duds". But Edlund also penned "Bad Day at Black Rock" which still makes me laugh, even on the umpteenth rewatch and Gamble is responsible for "When the Levee Breaks," an episode that gutted me like no other! Sure, "King of the Damned" wasn't up to the standards of the ones I list as "the greats" but it was loads better than the ones I list as "the tedious."

because it seems much of my flist aren't really enjoying the show this season)

Well, you can certainly count me as one who is enjoying the season, painful though it may be. I feel it has been pretty solid despite me feeling that there has been way too many episodes on this back half that didn't address the "juicy parts" nearly enough. But I can't really trust my judgement on this because once I ended my marathon watching of the show on Netflix and started watching in real time, it has always seemed to move too slowly for me, LOL. For what its worth, I have been known to jump forward to the ending when reading a book on more than one occasion. I even skipped SPN episodes in my Netflix watch based solely on the episode description in my rush to find out what happens next. (My friend dragonfly_sg1, who introduced me to the series, made me promise to stop doing that.) So, obviously, I can't be wholly trusted where pacing issues are concerned. ;-)

And this got really long. Sorry!