In the second episode of the fourth season of Supernatural, hunters are targeted by the people they couldn’t save, and somehow, the ending makes this EVEN MORE INTENSE than it already was. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Supernatural.
Look, if you told me when I started Supernatural that the show would eventually have an entire episode about challenging the existence of God and dealing with the guilt and responsibility that comes with the body count in this line of work, I would have yelled at you and told you not to spoil me. Then I would have figured you would have been joking because that’s not what the show is about.
It is now.
It’s clear that there’s no turning back for this show. None! This isn’t the last episode we’ll get that address issues of faith and abandonment, especially since DEAN WINCHESTER, but it’s now confirmed that the events of the season three finale are deeply entwined in Castiel’s appearance in this season. But before I talk about Lilith’s plans and God’s plans (I CAN’T BELIEVE I’M TYPING THIS OH MY GOD), I wanted to talk about… God. I know that Dean has vocalized his atheism before, so I found it endlessly fascinating that the writers had him face it so head-on as they’ve done here. But it’s not just about atheism or the existence of God; in the past three days, Dean’s entire understanding of the world has been upended. It’s why his reaction to Castiel involves so much anger. I never thought that the believed Castiel was lying to him. I’m sure he believed everything Castiel told him.
The issue here is that it was so much easier for him to believe in something much closer to existentialism. There was no being looking out for anyone. Evil was random and uncaring. The universe was random and uncaring. But now that Castiel has confirmed the existence of angels and of a God, Dean has to examine everything that made his world livable. How can what he’s seen accommodate God? How can what he’s experience explain a God that’s the one in the Bible?
I admit that it was very easy to project onto this narrative. If you’re in a state to read it (and please take the trigger warnings seriously), I once wrote about how I came to be an atheist while reading The Amber Spyglass. A lot of my thoughts were similar to what Dean speaks about here. He cannot justify a world with a just God watching over all when there is no justice in the world. I still can’t. I have complex feelings and thoughts on the issue, and most of my atheism is rooted in the fact that I’ve always felt empty and alone in the universe, and I can’t believe in any sort of deity because there’s no faith within me. I do keep my atheism to myself for a number of reasons, particularly the fact that atheists can be SUPER AWFUL PEOPLE, and I know that my lack of belief only works for me.
I suppose I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately, as numerous friends and loved ones in my life aren’t disbelievers anymore. My brother converted to Islam, and one of my longtime friends is interested in Catholicism, too. I know it’s common for people as they get older to find comfort in religion, but I don’t think that’s necessarily the case. These people felt a calling, and I would be lying if I didn’t admit that I’m still coping with feelings of jealousy when it comes to shit like this. Why haven’t I ever felt like someone or something out in the universe wanted me?
So yeah, it’s not hard for me to feel incredibly empathetic towards Dean as he struggles with what Castiel has told him. Can you blame the man? His parents are dead; he’s seen countless people murdered simply because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time; he knows that the fight against evil is always just chipping away at a large stone, only getting a tiny bit at a time, and he knows that he will die (AGAIN!) without stopping it. But Dean has never believed he could stop all evil, and that’s why the idea of a God infuriates him so much. Here’s an omniscient, all-powerful being who could end all suffering and chooses not to. And I’m sure the timing of it all is equally as enraging. Why now? Why wait 2,000 years, why spend so much time silent and distant, until this very moment?
Of course, this also has to do with Dean’s growing sense of self-hatred, too. I’ve never seen it so visible, you know? I knew it was there, he’d confirmed it last season, but now he’s outright questioning why any god would ever want to save him. And there are a lot of reasons why he could feel this way. I imagine he’s gotten some of it from his father, and the hunter lifestyle has certainly contributed to that. But it’s fascinating to me that we’re essentially getting a “Chosen One” story for a character who believes that he can’t be the Chosen One. So he masks it all in his overbearing masculinity and this insistence that he can’t talk about feelings and the truth is that he’s OVERFLOWING WITH THEM.
More on Dean and Cas at the end, though. “Are You There, God? It’s Me, Dean Winchester” isn’t solely about Dean’s struggle with the existence of a now-confirmed God. It’s about guilt. I admit that as I watched Henriksen and Ronald Resnick and MEG MASTERS MY QUEEN appear on the screen, I became worried that the end of the narrative would let these characters off the hook. Perhaps this was all a trick, and someone was using the visage of these people in order to manipulate and torture hunters. But it seemed like such a specific tactic, you know? Why use the image of people who had once died because they couldn’t be saved? I was pleased, then, that the writers didn’t give these characters an easy resolution. If what Cas said was true – that Lilith used the Witnesses – that means that these were their actual souls. Meaning they meant what they said. It wasn’t a trick. And yeah, that’s incredibly disturbing, not just for the viewer but for these characters. In some cases, these people were collateral damage; they were victims of ignorance; they were bad luck; they were unavoidable. But as Dean, Sam, and Bobby faced down their failures, the show never says that these characters shouldn’t think about the ramifications of their actions. It doesn’t blame them for the deaths of these people because that would be equally unfair. How is it Bobby’s fault that he didn’t open a door to save those two girls? In that sense, these spirits were consumed by their vengeance to the point where their own rage was all that they clung to. Still, as uncomfortable as this was, I was pleased that the writers were willing to address something like this so honestly!
So, let’s talk about Cas’s appearance at the end of this episode. Lord, y’all, the writers of Supernatural are taking this new mythology and SPRINTING INTO THE DISTANCE. It wasn’t enough that Dean was pulled from Hell by an angel on mission from God. Now, Lilith is breaking the seals that hold Lucifer within his prison. LUCIFER. ACTUAL LUCIFER. WHO IS REAL. Which… shit, that makes a lot of sense! If angels are real, then it would stand to reason that the first fallen angel is real, too. When the previous season warned us of a war to come, I assumed it would be between humanity and demons, and now this biblical apocalypse is on it’s way. I kinda have a thing for apocalyptic narratives??? The urgency of the end of the whole world makes for some fascinating urgency, you know. But for Supernatural, the stakes have been raised in a way that makes for a whole lot of potential. For Dean, for Sam, for Bobby, and for what kind of stories that Supernatural can tell. It’s not just monsters and demons anymore, is it? Sweet lord, that is so exciting.
The video for “Are You There, God? It’s Me, Dean Winchester” can be downloaded here for $0.99.
Mark Links Stuff
– If you would like to support this website and keep Mark Does Stuff running, I’ve put up a detailed post explaining how you can!
– Please check out the MarkDoesStuff.com. All Mark Watches videos for past shows/season are now archived there!
– My Master Schedule is updated for the near and distant future for most projects, so please check it often. My next Double Features will be: Band of Brothers, Revolutionary Girl Utena, and then Farscape.
– I will be at quite a few conventions and will be hosting events throughout the US, Canada, and Europe in 2014, so check my Tour Dates / Appearances page often to see if I’m coming to your city!
– Inspired by last year’s impromptu event in London, I am taking Mark in the Park on the road! You can see all currently planned dates and pitch your own city here.
