superbadgirl | SPN: The Man Who Would Be King

In general, and this has nothing to do with Castiel, I'm not fond of the particular kind of storytelling. The kind of noir, voiceover retelling of events just doesn't do it for me, I guess. Even on shows I love, and there's one that does it often. It's not a huge bugaboo or anything. I like to be shown a story, not told it, and while we were shown some stuff, it felt like we were told more. They did a similar thing with Sam a few years back - we all knew something was up, and the explanation we got was a condensed telling, which made it difficult to connect.

I doubt that'll be the case for most people on this one, but I remain eh about the choice to tell us this part of the year's arc using flashbacks of stuff we already knew (because, y'know, we were shown it) and various scenes from Castiel's point of view. Meaning, it would have been nice to see it as it was happening, but I suppose they couldn't figure out how to do it without killing the mystery? Could have tried. ;)

I liked bits, didn't like others.

Liked how completely understandable it was for Castiel to make so many bad choices.

Didn't like how he hadn't learned enough to know when to ask for help.

Liked Bobby. Loved Bobby.

Didn't like how long it took Dean to get what Bobby and Sam were seeing and saying. I know he's loyal to Castiel, but I don't get the total blinders he was apparently wearing. But then, I don't see Dean/Castiel either, so maybe I'm the one who's messed up? *shrugs*

Liked Rachel making a posthumous (sorta) reappearance, even if it was to fawn all over Castiel for his second coming after Lucifer blasted him to bits.

Hated that during the course of this whole episode, she was the only female with a speaking part and it lasted about half a minute. Women, who needs 'em? (Also, it bugs me how quickly people call Castiel Cas. IIRC, no one called him that until Dean did a few years ago, and suddenly footsoldier angels are? Erm.)

Loved Crowley being Supernatural's best manipulator, ever. He even beat Ruby, who did a fair job of it.

Hated how easily Castiel fell for it all, though not surprised. Castiel always was naive, and with his newfound freedom, it was bound to be a disaster.

Liked Dean laying it on the line for Castiel at the end. Will he be able to live up to it if he has to? Dean from a few years ago, no. Dean now, I think yes.

Didn't like how sidelined Sam is becoming in all of this. But then, I'm not ever going to be a proponent of the Dean and Castiel show. Hopefully now that the truth is out there, things will be a bit more balanced. Because he's starting to remind me of Teal'c from SG-1, that looming presence mostly in the background. ;)

Liked Sam not being super thankful for Castiel pulling him out of Hell all broken and sans soul. Because, yeah, soulless!Sam did a LOT of bad things our Sam is probably having a tough time dealing with. Even if he can't remember what he did, he knows some of it, and knows it was capital b bad.

Didn't like that Castiel apparently wasn't using Sam's soul as a power reserve, or Dean's for that matter. It would have been kind of interesting had Castiel gone that far. Though neither of those options is off the table, I suppose.

Didn't like the reiteration of the villain (Raphael) is a PoC (I know, we knew this last year already. Hated it then, hate it now). Seriously, Supernatural fails on race issues as much as it does on gender. Anyone not white ends up dead or a Small, Medium or Big Bad. There was Tamara from S3, who survived but her husband didn't, and we've never seen her again. I ramble.

Didn't like Castiel looking for a sign at the end. I reiterate: has he learned nothing? Though, honestly, I thought he'd given up on God in this universe a long time ago.

For that matter, I didn't like that who Castiel was telling the story to was God. Uhm. Hello. God probably doesn't need a recap.

Well, that's about all I have to say about this week's ep. Slightly disjointed, so sorry about that.

And no new episode next week - after that, the finale on May 20th! However, chances are good I'm going to miss it or be late. I'll be otherwise detained by a trip to the far off land of Arizona for various and sundry celebrations. I'm ... bummed about the timing! LOL, don't tell my family.