#chuck force fit and twisted the family structure to fit the same old story he always tells except this time both protectors die

[shallowseeker]

Trapped in new roles; SPN finale 15x20

There are a couple of ways you can take the finale, ranging from face-value to throwaway to the psy-pop-Sybil darkest of the dark. In this take, we're going to examine it as a trapped narrative, that here's the Home Bakery: the actual Cas, Dean, Sam & Jack.

The rest is set-dressing. It’s filled to brim with specter of the false-god-writers, agents Kripke and Singer, "miming" what they think the plot and finale should be. They are satirical and glib, missing their hearts and forever married to the Original Ending Idea and unwilling to grow. Uncanny valley- types.

Here, they’ve taken a family that is more than blood, (with Bobby Singer-style) dynamics, and they’ve force-fitted it to a nuclear family symbolism in order to kill it. The vibrant village community has shrunken to become pre-packaged American dream.

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This is the Crowther family (sounds like crowder), of which only the father and youngest son are named aloud (Lyle and Brady). This family is being killed to appeal to your heartstrings.

1. Castiel falls; the first line of defense

Castiel is this black-and-tan-sentry of the door. This character has slightly Jack-and-Dean-esque style in terms of style (shoes and dark shirt + jacket) but he visually dies as Castiel did in 12x23. The writers break the shield (heavenly!protector) and move into the symbolic hearth of the home. They overwork him and drain him of all vitality and happiness before he goes.

2. Dean falls next; the second line of defense

This is the character they symbolically kill, but leave (bodily) intact. The one whose tongue they cut out. (As in Proverbs 10:31, "The mouth of the righteous flows with wisdom, But the perverted tongue will be cut out." Ergo, Dean is no longer righteous. He is corrupted. Broken.) The reaction shot calls to mind the mated reaction shot to the 12x23 scene above. Sam and Dean BOTH have a reaction to Castiel being felled, but visually this character is more similar to Dean.

This could, of course, call to mind Kelly or Mary or even Sam, but her duster is long and gray, like a MoL robe. Below: "Lyle?" / "Cas? Where's Jack?" (Bonus: green eyes)

(Goodbye, Dean.)

3. Sam in despair, bunkering down with another family member, still not safe

This one is easy to see. There's long hair, and Sam is wearing the same gray hoodie in the exact same episode, perhaps the most clear visual cue of all. The child also wears an orange jacket, which is the deep amber of endurance and one of Sam’s key colors.

4. Jack is last family member, clothed in the garb of Heaven (deep blood + blue sky)

The last family member's got the yellow balloon and blond hair, symbolic rising sun/son (Jack). He wears slightly Chuck & human!Cas manner of dress, signaling the humanity trapped inside the divinity. Ergo, the lineage of Chuck->Cas->Jack. (The blue is Heaven, the deep red represents royalty. (Bright red is blood and sacrifice.) Ergo, “royalty of Heaven.”

(First two images, Mikael.)

So, in the end, Sam and Jack were visually "saved," within the narrative.

But were they actually? They are both tied to destinies that feel empty and going-through-the-motions, like they're stranded on the island inside the childhood bedroom.

Symbolically, the trapped narrative almost seems to pick up where 15x18 Despair left off...

...except it continues the poofing of the loved ones, rippling outwards from Cas, before then moving to Dean, to Sam, and finally to Jack, watching as his remaining family member is dragged out from under the bed and ripped away from him.

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It seems to suggest that, even if Cas and Dean hadn't, as Billie said, "been in the wrong place," that there was really no hope to start with. As Dean lamented, "we never should've left Sam n' Jack," like Amelia Novak lamented, "I never should've left her (Claire)." (The failed protectors’ refrain in SPN is, “I never should’ve left them!”)

But no matter where Dean and Cas were, they were never going to save Sam and Jack.

The writers were always going to win.

The ghostly specter of this episode is unsettling and unreal, oddly picturesque and "Charming Acres" -styled, like this shot reminiscent of the Monet-style painting.

It's a false world.

("What did you do to Dean? What did you do to Sam?")

Maybe I killed them? Or...maybe you just don't recognize them. Maybe I gave them new roles when they refused to play the right ones. Who knows, Becky? All I can tell you for sure is that I won.

Charitably, maybe the fight ain't over. I offer this to Becky's "No one even mentions Cas!" It's from Ouroboros:

Castiel: It's an odd and glaring omission. Sam: No. It's our shot....yeah. I-It's risky. But I-I think it's probably our best play.

Come on, Sammy. Break out of it.

#cw spn finale #cw dean death #spn carry on #spn 12x23 #chuck won theory #tfw + play your roles or perish in new ones #this has been niggling my brain for eons #i do hope you like it #i really love the parallels and it gives me something to like about the finale #chuck force fit and twisted the family structure to fit the same old story he always tells except this time both protectors die #chuck took their unique family and stripped it molded it till it fit an acceptable origin story for the new sacrifices #this was very fun to poke at despite it being the finale :-) #i don't even care if it's been done already i just wanted to have my thoughts recorded somewhere yanno?