Supernatural Think Tank - Anna's Thoughts on 12x19 The Future

The Colt is dead. Yet another character brought back just to be killed off. Oh show, why do you break our hearts like this... May she rest in peace.  Oh Dean, I'm sorry for your loss.  Maybe this will cheer you up.  Actually I must say that I thought the Colt had a pretty good arc.  She served her purpose well and she was yet another piece of canon not cannon that was given closure.  I think this is for the best as we seem to be getting back to basics here where the boys are back on their own without magical weapons to resolve their issues.  Show sort of clarified that the Colt wouldn't be able to kill Luci's child anyway.   It certainly didn't kill Luci.  She made a few mighty kills before her demise though and she will always be a part of Winchester history.  

I must say this was quite an interesting hour.  I quite enjoyed this episode, even though it was Sam and Dean lite.  I don't normally enjoy eps as much as I did this with so little Winchesters, but what we did see of the boys....excellent stuff.   I love smart Sam, and I can't help but think that his plan was probably the best way to go.  Fingers crossed that Cas is doing the right thing here, because the last time Cas was in the wind,  well let's just say it didn't end well. 

Sam

I love Sam's perseverance and his resolve not to give up.  The scene opens with Sam researching through the night, trying to figure out when Kelli's baby will be born.  I also love that he is still  trying to find an alternative means  to stop Lucifer's child without necessarily killing it. Sam still holds onto his credo to save lives and I must say that I found his solution to be a good one.  I thought the grace extraction idea was brilliant (Smart Sam is a sexy Sam) and it would also give value to Sam being possessed by Gad in the first place.  Sam kind of broke my heart a wee bit in this ep, he's literally losing sleep trying to find a way to find out when the Nephilim will arrive and how to stop it.  I feel as though he feels that it's up to him to find the solution to this problem  I get it, he's so often been the one to come up with Plan B, I feel now that he might feel it's expected of him.  Still, it's not unlike Sam to put pressure on himself as I was reminded by another poster recently.  He has always been presented as the one who never gives up.....giving weight to the credo to always keep fighting.   

Dean

I thought Dean had a right to be angry with Cas.  I know that Cas is free to do what he wants, when he wants, without Dean's permission, and for the most part I totally agree.  This was different though.  Things are hot and heavy now and Cas just took off, leaving Dean to worry.  Cas gave this whole speech about loving the Winchesters and seeing them as his family, yet he couldn't  find the time to simply text either of the boys to let them know he's fine and he'll be out of touch for a while.  I'm surprised Dean didn't haul off and sock him though I think that might actually be coming given Cas betraying the boys the way he did at the end of the episode.  You remember what he did to Sam for taking the car right?  I doubt he'll let Cas off that easy.  Of course, Dean will rightfully recognise Cas' actions as a betrayal.  Cas already duped him by handing him back the tape Dean made just so he can get to the Colt.   Not nice Cas...bad angel.  I fear that Cas going off on his own is exactly what he shouldn't do.  I just hope he realises this mistake and makes his way back to the boys sooner rather than later.   Whether Dean will so easily forgive this time...actually wait, he doesn't really easily forgive....Cas you most definitely screwed up betraying Dean and Sam once again.  Prepare to take your medicine. You will have earned it this time. I'm not even sure Sam will bother to be peacemaker this time.   Hell hath no fury like a Dean Winchester scorned. 

Lucifer

If Luci can psychically talk to Dagon, would he not also have a connection to the woman carrying his child?   Shouldn't, at the very most,  he be connected to his baby? Is it possible that Luci is, in fact,  connected to the child and he was the one to send the fake vision to Cas? Is it out of the realm of possibility, I mean he sent a couple to Sam.  I know, why would Lucifer want Cas to believe he can take care of his child?  I was thinking that perhaps Lucifer sees Cas as a failure and easy to manipulate and destroy once he is free of Crowley.  I mean Sam and Dean wouldn't kill Cas right.  So leaving his child with him could be his alternate plan because Dagon was proving to be a liability.   This of course is just one of a hundred possible theories that this episode has wrought on.  All I do know for sure, Lucifer is one scary bastard and I'm not sure if he ends up being worse or better than his child.  He needs to be caged....like now.

Nephilims

According to angel lore Nephilims are considered to be an abomination and therefore must be killed.  I had been wondering why.  Why are Nephilims considered  to be such a threat?  What is a Nephilim anyway but one who is both infused with a soul and angel grace?  Is it the source of power which the angels fear?  I mean we have learnt that the human soul is extremely powerful in and of itself.  We know that Angels are extremely powerful entities, created by God to protect human kind.  This was of course their mission.  Humans of course are flawed.  Humans can be corrupted and humans can kill.   Does fear of the existence of a Nephilim stem from the fear that the human part can corrupt and the mix of the human soul and an angel's grace would be used for destruction? Or is it more along the lines that the mix of such power, the soul and angel grace would in and of itself turn the human vessel, as it's power would inherently corrupt, making the human feel superior to all others thus creating some type of megalomaniac? This is really just a potato...French fry kind of question...I guess in the end it's the fear that creates the biggest threat.   Still though does it necessarily have to be either or?  Is there a third possibility where the Nephilim just lives in peace as a human?  The one that Cas killed had done nothing to hurt anyone.  She lived as a waitress, a simple job that by no means would have ever made her a rich woman, just blending in with the rest of humanity.  She sought and lived a normal existence, so is it out of the realm of possibility for Lucifer's child to choose the same kind of a life, if given the chance?    I asked myself,  if Chuck/God had seen this Nephilim as a threat to his beloved creation, would he not have simply ended her himself, unless one chooses to look at it as Chuck using Cas to do so.   Still though, was it what Chuck wanted or was it simply what Metatron needed and just that?

Cas

I do sympathise with Cas and his feeling of unworthiness that he's likely felt for some time now.  Cas did note in First Born that the only one who screwed up more than Sam was he himself.  Cas does have a bit of a laundry list of major mistakes that he wrought on which very much has great influence on the way he feels about himself currently.  He failed at his attempt to rescue Sam from Hell, but worse than that, he knew what he'd done and instead of going to Dean right away and fixing it, he went off to work with Crowley thus allowing Sam to suffer a century in the Cage.   In his attempt to fight Raphael, instead of going to Dean as he should have, and likely saving Sam sooner, he partners with Crowley, a partnership that wasn't at all ideal, given his resolve to betray Crowley, which of course lead to Cas eating up all the souls and creating a monster.  Cas unleashes Leviathans on the world and in an attempt to redeem himself for that, took it upon himself to try to fix Heaven.  He teams up with Metatron, instead of sticking with the boys and alas, he is betrayed again and the angels fall.  Cas has a long list of failures which he seems to need to redeem himself of, causing him to feel unworthy.  I do understand his desire, no his need,  to do something for the greater good.  Here's the thing though, Dabb had tweeted this little nugget for us before the episode began:

"The best prophet of the future is the past"

I was thinking what this could possibly mean.  To me, it seems like he's saying the best way to a better future is learning from past mistakes.  I was thinking that this could possibly relate to two different things.

We learned from watching Lily Sunder that Cas' mission to kill a Nephilim was a false one and all he ended up doing was assist in the murder of an innocent child.  This conditioned fear and prejudice of a Nephilim created an enraged Mother seeking revenge, thus only to end up killing more angels in the process.  Cas killing the Nephilim back in Season 8 was part of the spell that was necessary to cause the angels to fall.  It seems that on both occasions, the killing of a Nephilim didn't just end in one death, but ended in many, including both angels and humans. Is the message here not to fall into the trap of making this same mistake once again?   Could this be the mistake not to repeat?

or

Could this be in regards to Cas in a different way.  Most of Cas' failures of the past happened when he went off on his own.  Dean mentioned Team Free Will again, the only other time he used that term was back in The Song Remains The Same.   Only back then Dean was talking to Sam about Team Free Will.  This time though when Dean spoke of TFW it was directly to Cas and acknowledging that Cas is part of this Team.  Dean, Sam and Cas, the way it's been for quite a few years now, or at least the way Dean has seen it.  TFW has always been the answer to the world's greatest threats.   Perhaps show is trying to tell Cas that he needs to recognise this.   The way to fight Lucifer and possibly his spawn as well is to do it together.  I think Cas going off and doing his own thing, even if he believes it to be for the greater good, could, as in the past,  turn out to be the opposite case.  Perhaps this time around Cas will recognise that he is stronger when he is with Sam and Dean.

Oh the Questions This Ep Has Posed

Of course we can ask ourselves:

Do the sins of the father necessarily have to carry on to the child?

There is that life long debate regarding nature vs. nurture.   Just because ones parent turns out to be evil, does it necessarily mean their children will end up the same way?   Sometimes bad people have good children.  Sometimes good parents end up with very bad children.  In the world we live in today, aren't there many more factors that influence what kind of person one chooses to become.  Free will, again brought up by Dean.  Doesn't our free enable us to decide what kind of people we decide we want to be?  Sure circumstances play a big role, but so often even with circumstances that have a negative or sometimes desperate influence on how one behaves, not all behave in the same way.   The question here is, does Luci's child necessarily have to follow in his father's footsteps?  Is it possible that this child, despite who his father is,  would choose to do the opposite of what Lucifer wants? 

or

Is this what a lot of us fear this could be, that this child could very well be evil?  Many think this to be the case and with good reason.  After all, as a friend of mine had already mentioned in another post, to prove what Kelli was carrying was a threat, Cas had her put her hand on a bible, which much like his father's touch, caused it to go on fire.  Was this a bad sign for what was to come? We know that Lucifer is capable of sending visions to those he has or has had a connection to, does Luci have a connection to his unborn child?   What if the vision of the future Cas saw was a lie?  Was the vision even from the child or could it have been Luci induced?  If the vision was from the baby, is it possible that this child is deceiving Cas so that Cas would ensure it's survival?  Kelly believes the baby saved her life, but Dagon insisted it kept her alive simply because the child needs her.  Was Dagon the one lying?  I was wondering if this Nephilim is the cosmic consequence that Billie spoke of. Cas is the one who broke the deal and now it seems that Cas has been chosen by the Nephilim to be it's guardian... Is Cas protecting this child and giving it the opportunity to grow and become more powerful, a very possible threat to all humanity, the cosmic consequence that Billie spoke of?

or

Could this child be good?  Could the burning of the bible have been due to the incredible power this child has?  A power that is strong enough to flow through his mother's vessel, but not necessarily an evil touch as much as it was a powerful one, one that an infant cannot control?    Even though Lucifer is Show's own Darth Vader, could his child end up like Luke Skywalker?  Could cosmic consequences still be on the horizon and this child be the one to help the Winchesters and Cas stop whatever it is that these consequences might be?

Another question that was posed on another thread that had me wondering the same thing:  Was that the real Joshua?  Joshua talks to God right, or at least listens....so why would Joshua leave the Garden after all these millennia?  I don't know, makes me wonder if that was really him.

I really liked this episode because of the questions that it poses.  I honestly have no idea where show is going with all of this and I love that.  I love not knowing.  Show has been a bit predictable in the past.  Dean turning into a demon was pretty much where the story was heading, so that wasn't much of a shock.  The angels falling, not much of a surprise there.  Dean killing Death, now that was a surprise.   Now, I have no idea where they are going with this.  All I have are theories and I'm having so much fun playing this guessing game on what the hell I think is actually going on here.  A brilliant strategy by the writing staff to keep my attention and getting me to crave more.  That's superior television in my book.  I just want to mention the great job Amanda Tapping did of directing this episode.  The scene of Kelli killing herself in the tub, for such a dark scene, it was so beautifully shot.  Everyone did such an amazing job.  Desserts all around for everyone involved. 

Quotes

 " Yeah, that's mine".

-Dean to Cas about the Colt

“You, me and Sam, we’re just better together. So now that you’re back, let’s go, Team Free Will. Let’s get it done.”

-Dean to Cas   

“You get the chance to be Mary of Nazareth, Part 2: Evil Jesus Edition.”

-Dagon to Kelly   

"Find my boy or the torments I will visit upon you will be infinite. Promise.”

-Lucifer to Dagon   

As interesting as this ep was, I found the promo for next week to be all the more. Cannot wait for Thursday. 

Til then.

Thanks for reading.

- Anna

Read sweetondean's review of The Future