Love this SPN story arc

[citrusjava]

Finally, after a few seasons without it, there's (hopefully) a story arc that's about fighting a force way too strong, to avoid an unthinkable disaster to the brotherly bond. YES. YES.

Just a day before the episode aired I started writing a meta about that being one of the things I miss most from early seasons - a force way too strong, barely scraping by at a high price for next season, and it all being about the brothers' relationship, less about an individual disaster.

Dean and Sam's (near) deaths in the past two seasons were less a story arc. They were bad, but there wasn't a story arc written about trying to stop them or such - not a story arc about the brothers' love and desperation. There were interesting things, yes, but not this one.

The horrifying prediction for Dean's future is so starkly specific and must be terrifying for Dean, it must seem like a destiny for all it's arbitrary. I hope it's revealed to Sam with the seriousness it would have in early seasons. I hope they take this arc slowly, subtly, deeply.

The first steps of the prediction - will have to come to be, for this ti be as terrifying and horrifying for us, for Dean, for Sam and perhaps Cas - I doubt the show would write off Cas, but it seems like Crowley won't last the season, at least not in his current state. Probably that's why we are getting so much of Rowena - likely to be queen of hell next, perhaps with more feel, and perhaps her grandson might play a role there too....
~

As for the episode - loved it. Good writing, great acting, really great, and all those brother moments - YES.

Comments

[frozen_delight]

I doubt the show would write off Cas, but it seems like Crowley won't last the season, at least not in his current state. Probably that's why we are getting so much of Rowena - likely to be queen of hell next, perhaps with more feel, and perhaps her grandson might play a role there too....
No, no, no, why are you saying that???
Crowley must never die.

That being said, I loved the episode just as much as you did. Absolutely terrific.

[dreamsofspike.livejournal.com]

I love Crowley, and I really hope they don't kill him off. That said, I've expected that they will from the moment I found out Mark Sheppard was signed as a regular for the season. :P *sigh* I'm pretty sure this will be his last season. And I'm thinking that Dean WILL "kill" Cas but for some as yet unknown reasons, it will only kill Cas's grace/angelness and will actually render Cas human - which would be satisfyingly poetic and kinda full circle considering that Cas's initial "fall" was because of Dean, too. :P

But I agree, those first two kills HAVE to happen at least in some form in order to build up the tension and realness of the threat for the third, most terrible one that can NEVER actually happen. :-S (Don't hurt Sammy, Dean. :-S )

[balder12.livejournal.com]

Good call on Crowley dying. That does seem likely, given Cain's prediction. I hope it doesn't, though, because I'm fond of the character, even if his story arc this season has been exhaustingly boring. I love the idea of Crowley and his manipulative mother playing mind games with each other, but Rowena is so purely cartoonish that I can't take their interactions seriously, and Crowley looks like a fool for not killing her. Besides, if they were going to get rid of him, I'd far rather they'd replaced him with Abaddon. An alternate character arc occurs to me, though: Crowley doesn't die, but comes to feel hurt and betrayed by the Winchesters, and goes into 'scorned lover' mode, reverting to a more genuinely dangerous and interesting sort of villainy, represented in part by him killing his mother.

I agree that Cas won't actually die. I honestly don't think he'll turn human either--they already did that at the beginning of s9, and it was pretty obvious that the writers didn't know what to do with that plot line, and were eager to dump it. At the beginning of the season it was set up that Metatron has access to Castiel's grace, and that he'd consider making some sort of deal to give it back. I think whatever happens with Cas will have to turn on that somehow. Maybe Dean hurts Castiel to the degree that only his own grace can restore him, and someone (Sam? Hannah?) makes a skeevy deal with Metatron to save Cas's life.

[balder12.livejournal.com]

Good call on Crowley dying. That does seem likely, given Cain's prediction. I hope it doesn't, though, because I'm fond of the character, even if his story arc this season has been exhaustingly boring. I love the idea of Crowley and his manipulative mother playing mind games with each other, but Rowena is so purely cartoonish that I can't take their interactions seriously, and Crowley looks like a fool for not killing her. Besides, if they were going to get rid of him, I'd far rather they'd replaced him with Abaddon. An alternate character arc occurs to me, though: Crowley doesn't die, but comes to feel hurt and betrayed by the Winchesters, and goes into 'scorned lover' mode, reverting to a more genuinely dangerous and interesting sort of villainy, represented in part by him killing his mother.

I agree that Cas won't actually die. I honestly don't think he'll turn human either--they already did that at the beginning of s9, and it was pretty obvious that the writers didn't know what to do with that plot line, and were eager to dump it. At the beginning of the season it was set up that Metatron has access to Castiel's grace, and that he'd consider making some sort of deal to give it back. I think whatever happens with Cas will have to turn on that somehow. Maybe Dean hurts Castiel to the degree that only his own grace can restore him, and someone (Sam? Hannah?) makes a skeevy deal with Metatron to save Cas's life.