In the eighteenth episode of the ninth season of Supernatural, my brain hurts. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Supernatural.Â
Oh lord, I’m still trying to understand this.
Let me start off by saying that if any character was going to try to literally re-write the world, it was going to be Metatron. It had to be him! We knew that he was obsessed with stories back when he was finally introduced, so it makes a lot of sense to me that his method of winning the war for control of heaven would be through stories as well. As far as understanding that plan? Well, my head hurts. I think I have grasped this, and I’m now going to attempt to explain it, thereby embarrassing myself in the process.
SO. At the heart of Metatron’s plan is the need to destroy any angel or any angel faction that might post a threat to him if Heaven is ever opened up again. (Except it seems that Metatron can ferry in angels whenever he wants. That’s where he’s doing his writing, yes? In Heaven?) For the most part, he’s just sat around and let the angels duke it out. In that sense, Bartholomew served Metatron’s end, no? But as the field of angels is narrowed, he becomes more focused. There are too many loose ends. There are too many possible variables.
So he sets a plan in motion. Initially, that’s through the Horn of Gabriel, which attracts angels to Gadreel, who offers them the chance to join Metatron or be killed. But even that is a sign of how manipulative Metatron is. If we accept his premise that all that matters is the story that is told, then it’s easy to accept that he views every single person here as a character to be controlled. There’s a moment at the end of this episode where Gadreel consults Metatron about his role in all of this, and Metatron goofily replies that Gadreel was a surprise. He says:
What writer doesn’t love a good twist? My job is to set up interesting characters and see where they lead me. The byproduct of having well-drawn characters is they may surprise you. But I know something they don’t know – the ending. How I get there doesn’t matter as long as everybody plays their part.
That applies to Gadreel, who was momentarily sacrificed to Sam and Dean in order to serve Metatron’s end. That’s also the case for Castiel, for the Winchesters, and for anyone else who interacted with these characters. Is that a good plan? I can’t say yet, but I already see a huge flaw in it: Metatron is relying on these people to play their roles. In Castiel’s case, it looks like he might be taking up Metatron on his offer. His own grace in exchange for playing along? It’s tempting, and I suspect that Metatron knew that deep down, Castiel wanted to be a leader again. Why else would he try to compel him to take part in this again?
But how is that the case for Gadreel? Gadreel is an obedient second-in-command, but Metatron’s actions reveal just how disposable Gadreel is. On top of that, Gadreel was entirely ready to die at Dean’s hands here. THAT IS A HUGE DEAL, ISN’T IT? If Gadreel is perfectly loyal to Metatron, but the reverse isn’t true, how can Metatron continue to expect that kind of dedication?
I don’t know, this is such a complicated and dense episode. Did Metatron know that Dean’s Mark of Cain would further tempt him to kill again? Did he anticipate Gadreel’s torture? Did he know that Dean would pull away at the last minute and spare Gadreel’s life? Or is that part of his joy over the surprises that his “characters” give him? And look, I haven’t even addressed all of the Gabriel shit, which adds yet another layer to “Meta Fiction.” I really think this episode was designed to be a head scratcher because it’s so self-referential and complicated. But the more I think about Gabriel’s inclusion here, the more convinced I am that Metatron is IMMENSELY FUCKED UP. Look, it’s easy to see that when you witness how little he fears literally everything. Does anything frighten him? Clearly not, given how powerful he is. (HOW CAN HE DISSOLVE AN OIL OF FIRE? HOW CAN HE MAKE WARDING SIGILS DISAPPEAR WITH THE WAVE OF A HAND?) But he’s also cunning about the ways in which he manipulates everyone to do what he wants. I think you can see that in his treatment of Gadreel, but I think his invocation of Gabriel is particularly fucking cruel. Obviously, he wanted Castiel to seriously reconsider the offer to lead Hannah and her angels. Who else would Castiel trust on sight? Who else would he be shocked by, so much so that he would contemplate joining a war against Metatron? Gabriel is so perfect in this role because Gabriel has, in the past, perpetually avoided any conflict. If shit is so bad that Gabriel is begging for someone to become a leader, then it must be real bad, no?
That’s the circumstance that Metatron tries to exploit, and lord, he got so close. And yet, even though one detail unraveled the whole illusion (NOOOO, COME BACK GABRIEL. YOU ARE MISSED), Castiel still uses the Horn of Gabriel to call the angels to him. How far is Cas going to take this? I could ask the same thing of Dean, because I have no idea how far the Mark of Cain will take him. And haunting this whole disaster is Metatron, who happily plugs away at his typewriter, eager to see how he’ll achieve his end. It’s not hard to guess that he wants to remain God with an army of devoted followers and angels. But how far will he go to achieve these ends?
This is all so messed up.
The video for “Meta Fiction” can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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