Review | 7x21 | Reading Is Fundamental
May. 10th, 2012 02:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
galatheaBen Edlund has not turned in many scripts for Supernatural that I find as lacklustre as the one he wrote for Reading Is Fundamental, and it is really a pity that his usual forte with the plot fails him at this particular point in the season. The exposition heavy episode mainly drives the mytharc forward, albeit in a very clumsy and contrived manner, and gives us an update on Castiel and Meg. Unfortunately, the episode is awkwardly paced, lacks true suspense and is overcrowded with guest characters, some of which deliver very weak performances. The overall Castiel centricity does not help the episode either, especially since his characterisation reflects somewhat badly on his character and, to add insult to injury, there is not even any substantial Sam-and-Dean time to tide me over the more annoying parts of the story. Overall, I daresay that Reading Is Fundamental ranks amongst my least favourite episodes of the season.
It has become somewhat of a tradition that the third-last episode of the season has a Castiel centric perspective, so it is not entirely surprising that Reading Is Fundamental is more or less a Castiel vehicle with a couple of mytharc relevant scenes thrown in for good measure. Of course, I have no interest in Castiel, so my emotional investment in the episode is limited on that account alone, but that is not even my main problem with it. We are on the home stretch of the season now, and these episodes leading up to the finale are supposed to build up suspense and excitement for the final showdown. Alas, Reading Is Fundamental fails to deliver in that regard – well, for me, at least – and I think that is mainly owed to the following reasons: Firstly, the writers once again call upon angels, demons, prophets, divine devices and whatever else for the resolution of the leviathan storyline, and I am truly tired of all those story elements. The whole set-up simply feels like a lukewarm rehash of S4-6 ideas, and I was kind of hoping that the writers would come up with something a little more creative this year. Secondly, at the moment, I still miss the sense of tension that comes with the knowledge that Sam and Dean have high personal stakes in the upcoming fight. Sure, there is always the chance that the brothers get hurt – they did manage to personally attract Dick Roman’s wrath, after all – but this fight is not specifically about them; it is about doing the right thing. That is a valid purpose, of course, but the more Sam and Dean have to lose, the more invested I am. If Reading Is Fundamental is a reflection of the extent of involvement the brothers will have in the finale, then rather than driving the story, Sam and Dean will simply react to the events unfolding around them, and I do not find that particularly thrilling. All told, this episode makes it rather difficult for me to muster up a lot of enthusiasm for the rest of the season, but I will not rule out the possibility that the next two episodes will pull me right in and thus retroactively allow me to appreciate Reading Is Fundamental more.
Castiel: "I’m sorry, Dean."
Dean: "No, you’re playing sorry."
One of the more enjoyable aspects of the episode for me is the consistent characterisation for Dean, especially in his dealings with Castiel. At first, Dean handles Castiel with calm patience, but it does not take long for anger and frustration to come rushing to the surface. It is obvious that he is no closer to making his peace with Castiel than he was a few weeks ago, and that further substantiates my impression that the few moments in The Born-Again Identity where Dean chose a softer approach to the angel had little to do with forgiveness and everything with coercing Castiel into complying with his plans. At present, Dean also tries everything to get Castiel to cooperate with them, but when the angel does not play ball, he quickly loses his temper again. As I said in other reviews before, I find Dean’s attitude towards Castiel completely understandable and in character. Remember, after Sam’s betrayal, Dean had been unable to forgive him for a long time as well. However, Sam had been fighting at his side every day, thus not only giving Sam the opportunity to slowly earn his way back into his brother’s good graces by demonstrating, in action, that he had learned from his mistakes, but also giving Dean the opportunity to confront his brother with his feelings of betrayal and hurt. So far, he has been denied this kind of closure with Castiel, because first the angel had been dead, then he was amnesic, and now he has retreated into the recess of his mind. Throughout the episode Dean angrily tries to get Castiel to acknowledge what he has done, and I think that shows how urgently he needs to confront the angel with his anger and disappointment. Castiel’s evasiveness once again denies him that chance though, which only manages to compound his frustration, unsurprisingly so.
Still, I think Dean’s observation that Castiel is playing sorry at the moment, is actually spot-on. Now, there is no doubt that Castiel feels guilty and genuinely regrets his misdeeds – we have seen evidence of that in The Born-Again Identity and we see it again here, when Castiel indirectly refers to his guilt in his conversation with his fellow angels – but as long as he does not translate said guilt and regret into action, an apology is nothing but a row of empty words. Fixing Sam was certainly an important first step, given that Sam’s condition was his fault in the first place, but his strive for redemption cannot end there. Redemption is not earned through one grand gesture, it is earned through the continuous effort to make better choices; it is about confronting one’s guilt and using it as an impetus to change. But from Castiel’s avoidance of any kind of conflict, to his refusal to participate in the fight against the leviathans, the angel’s entire demeanour conveys that he is not able to face the consequences of his actions yet and, unsurprisingly, that does not sit well with Dean. Dean knows soul-crushing guilt; he knows self-loathing and pain; he knows the all-encompassing desire to just find some peace and be done with it all, and yet he gets up every morning and fights the good fight anyway, simply because there no one else to do it. So, Castiel’s refusal to step up to the plate and fix the mess he has created is simply incomprehensible for someone like Dean. More importantly though, Castiel promised him in Meet the New Boss that he will redeem himself to Dean, and here he is, failing to live up to that promise. That is not the way to win Dean’s respect back. On the contrary, all it does is reinforce the lesson that he cannot count on Castiel to do the right thing.
Dean: "You’ve been chosen. And it sucks. Believe me. There’s no use asking why me, ‘cause the angels, they don’t care. I think maybe they just don’t have the equipment to care. It seems that when they try, it just breaks them apart."
I think Dean’s conversation with Kevin about the nature of angels is interesting, and even though he refers to angels in general, I believe he is mainly talking about his disillusion with Castiel. I mean, there is little doubt that Dean reflects on his personal experience with Castiel when he states that it breaks angels apart when they try to care. Now, when Dean first met Castiel, he was just as aloof as his fellow angels, but the more involved he became with Sam and Dean’s plight, the more it 'broke' him – in the sense that he could neither continue to function properly as an angel nor could he function properly as a human. I think S5 in particular demonstrated Castiel’s inability to cope with the pitfalls of human emotions. Throughout that entire season he struggled with doubt, despondency, anger and frustration, and The End effectively illustrated the self-destructive path Castiel would have taken, had he been forced to live a 'human' life. So, I think Dean’s realisation that angels are simply not designed to deal with those kinds of emotions is not so far off the mark. I do believe, however, that Dean is at least able to acknowledge that Castiel’s attempt to extend beyond his angelic make-up was a deviation from the norm. A deviation motivated by his contact with the Winchesters, and since this is Dean we are talking about, it is a given that he feels partly responsible, even though it had been Castiel’s choice to follow Dean's example. With Dean’s final assessment of the angels’ inherent inability to care in mind, I do not see how his relationship with Castiel could ever truly recover from the damage it suffered. Dean’s acknowledgement of Castiel’s fundamental otherness should effectively prevent a re-emergence of trust and closeness between them, because I don’t think it is any more likely for Dean to connect with a Castiel he deems incapable of genuine emotions, than it was for him to connect with the uncaring soulless version of his own brother. So, unless there is a significant progress in Castiel's growth as a person, I daresay his relationship with Dean is getting nowhere fast.
Castiel: "The weight of all my mistakes. All those lives and souls lost. I couldn’t take it either. I was lost, until I took on your pain. It’s strange to think that that helped, but –"
Sam: "I know you never did anything but try to help. I realise that, Cas. And I’m grateful."
I really love Sam and Castiel’s conversation at Rufus’ cabin, although I will admit that I like that conversation more for what it says about Sam, and less for what it says about Castiel. Now, just like in Meet The New Boss, Sam reaches out to Castiel with understanding and unconditional forgiveness and, given the loss and pain the brothers suffered through the angel’s actions, that is a remarkably magnanimous attitude. Sam even makes a point of thanking Castiel for at least trying to help, even if he went about it the completely wrong way. Of course, Sam’s forgiveness comes from a place of self-reflection. If anyone can understand making the wrong choices for the right reasons and struggling with the consequences, it is Sam. Remember, back in Sympathy For The Devil, when the weight of his choices and actions came crashing down on Sam, and he was crippled by guilt and despair, it was Bobby who reached out to Sam and offered him his unconditional forgiveness and love, and I think that moment of kindness gave him the much needed hope that not everything was lost. Now Sam passes the same kindness that was bestowed upon him to Castiel, and I love that. ♥ Moreover, I think Sam is aware that, even though his fall was painful and caused a lot of damage, it allowed him to grow into a better person by confronting him with his own shortcomings, and I have no doubt that he genuinely believes that Castiel, too, can come back from his downfall a better man, or well, angel in this case. I really have to say that I love the dichotomy in the brothers’ approach to Castiel and how it matches their different personal histories and temperaments, and even though I find it easier to relate to Dean’s position in this matter, I admire Sam’s magnanimity wholeheartedly.
Sam and Castiel also shortly touch upon the angel’s sacrifice for Sam’s sake, but their conversation does little to clarify the specifics of what Castiel did. Now, I really do not want to rehash my arguments from The Born-Again Identity and Party On, Garth, but the vagueness with which Sam’s recovery is addressed here really brings all my frustration with the way the writers resolved Sam’s post-hell arc back to the forefront. Apparently, Castiel took Sam’s pain, but what does that even mean? How can Castiel take Sam’s pain, without removing the root cause of that pain, i.e. Sam’s damaged soul? In turn, how can Castiel feel a pain that has no actual cause within him? Castiel also claims that the Lucifer he saw after the transfer was just a projection of Sam's that soon faded, which would actually make sense, if it was not for the fact that said 'projection' greeted Castiel with a hello, brother, which kind of refutes the whole idea of Lucifer as a projection. This would also have been the perfect opportunity to give us at least some insight into Sam’s perspective. Does he still remember hell? If yes, how does that affect him? Does he feel his damaged soul? Alas, the writers do not even make an effort to outline their main characters’ psychological state, and I find that frustrating. However, there is one point at least that actually starts to make sense in light of their conversation, namely why Sam’s pain seems to derail the angel’s sanity so much faster than Sam’s. We know that Sam fought tooth and nail for his sanity; he developed coping mechanisms and routines that helped him stay anchored in reality. For Sam, succumbing to his mental issues was not an option, not least because he could not leave Dean alone in the world. After all, that was why he accepted his hell-trauma in the first place. Castiel, on the other hand, has no reason to hold onto his painful reality. He experiences insanity as a refuge from his guilt and hence has given himself over to it, so it is not surprising that he is less functional than Sam had been.
I admit that, so far, I am fairly underwhelmed by the way the writers handle Castiel’s redemption arc. In fact, his storyline not only fails to reconcile me with his actions, but also further exacerbates my problems with the character. First he is allowed to live in marital bliss due to a convenient bout of amnesia, while Sam and Dean are once again forced to deal with the mess he left behind. Then Castiel learns of his past and is hit with the full burden of his guilt – which, admittedly, he handles with an adequate amount of contrition and self-hatred – a burden, he has to shoulder for a whopping thirty minutes, give or take, before he sacrifices his sanity for Sam’s. A noble act, no doubt, but I resent the notion that living with Sam’s pain for a couple of weeks can even begin to compare with almost two centuries in the cage as an act of redemption, and I do not feel that Castiel has already earned another blissful reprieve from his guilt. Even worse though, his current condition offers Castiel an excuse to withdraw from the battle. He obviously has no intention to fight for his sanity, deal with his guilt and earn his redemption the hard way, and at this point I find that as unacceptable as Dean. I assume that crazy!Castiel is supposed to come across as a sympathetic mix of funny and tragic, but all he does is remind me of the fact that, once again, he does not face the consequences of his actions. I am not saying that, from a psychological point of view, Castiel’s escape into madness does not make sense – remember, his first impulse when he learned about his past in The Born-Again Identity has been to run away as well – I just really do not like what it says about him. And the fact that his final claim of always being willing to bleed for the Winchesters reveals a ridiculously self-important attitude does not help matters. I guess I should be happy that the writers are at least consistent with his character, but if he continues to be a part of the show, it is really time for him to grow up already.
What else is noteworthy:
(1) There was little doubt that the red clay Sam and Dean stole from Dick Roman in last week’s episode would hold the key to defeating the leviathans, but I was hoping that it would be something a little more creative than a simple instruction manual of the cookbook variety – take three spoons of blood, mix it, add a special bone and, voila, you have an anti-leviathan weapon. See, what I liked about the discovery of borax as a leviathan repellent was that it was something completely ordinary; something that simply was not around when the leviathans came into existence and hence took them by surprise. Of course, the borax was never a solution, but it was resourceful, man-made and just plain fun. I just wished the writers would have thought more in those terms when they outlined the finale, instead of aiming for 'epic' again. I also have to ask myself, why Dick would even dig the tablet up. It had been safely hidden away for the last couple of millennia, so there was no reason to assume that someone would find it in the next couple of months, and by looking for it, he just risked bringing it to the attention of his enemies. Dick basically hand-delivered Sam and Dean the key to his own destruction, and that is the kind of 'villain logic' that serves the plot rather than the characterisation. Furthermore, the full transcript of Kevin’s translation reads: 'Waste not thy time nor your breath upon the leviathan herd. Point thy blade at the heart of their master, for from him springs all their messages.' So, apparently, killing Dick Roman will end the leviathan infestation altogether. Now, isn’t that convenient! I am sorry I sound so negative, but I cannot help and feel that, just like with Sam’s post-cage trauma, the writers have written themselves into a corner with the leviathan storyline, and now they look for an easy way out.
(2) The guest stars/characters in Reading Is Fundamental are somewhat of a mixed bag for me. I like Kevin well enough – in my mind he is a bit like Sam, around the time he went to Stanford, with his OCD-ness and academic ambitions that do not mix with the world of the supernatural – and I think the young actor gives a solid enough performance. Kevin’s guardian angels though come off as rather dull and flat, and the actors’ performances do nothing to improve the characters. While I think it is interesting to see how differently the individual angels react to Castiel’s massacre amongst them, the characters really fail to engage me, and since they don't even serve an actual purpose for the plot, their screentime would have been better spent on something else. Then there is Meg. I actually enjoyed her speech about finding a cause and sticking with it. It not only fits her personality, but also resonates well with Sam and Dean’s own approach to hunting. However, I find Rachel Miner’s monotonous voice and bland expressions extraordinarily annoying and that prevents me from enjoying the character as a whole.
(3) I usually do not concern myself with plotholes, because they rarely impact my enjoyment of an episode, but some of the plotholes in Reading Is Fundamental are really difficult to ignore. For example, a large portion of the episode plays on the locked psych ward of a hospital, and when Sam and Dean first arrive, they are intercepted by a male nurse who politely sends them away. So far, everything seems in order. So how does Kevin get in and out of Castiel’s room to steal the tablet without anyone noticing? The windows are barred, so he could not break in from the outside, and Sam and Meg stand right out in the corridor, so they would have seen him, had he come through there. Then Sam runs out into the hospital yard, chases Kevin and drags him back to Castiel’s room, and no one seems to object to that kind of suspicious behaviour from the nightly visitors. Also, Sam, Dean, Kevin, Meg and the angels make quite a ruckus during their stay in the hospital, but neither the nursing staff nor the other patients seem to notice a thing. I find that really irritating, especially since we have seen in The Born-Again Identity that this is actually a pretty busy ward. And while I am complaining, why on earth would Sam not know who Metatron is? I find that almost as unlikely as Dean not knowing who Mina and Harker are (Monster Movie). Hey, Ben Edlund, I see a pattern here! But okay, let’s accept for a moment that Sam has never heard about the angel Metatron, why would he assume that a fictional character from a movie wrote the word of God? Did his IQ suddenly drop 100 points? I know that scene is supposed to be funny, but to me it comes off as incredibly forced – and the repetition does not make it any funnier.
In conclusion: I find Reading Is Fundamental somewhat uninspired and messy, but I assume that fans who feel sympathetic to Castiel’s plight will get a lot more enjoyment from this episode than I do. As it is, Dean encouragingly patting Sam on the arm at the end is the highlight of this episode for me, and I think that illustrates just how little I connected to it as a whole. There are a couple of good scenes – the Sorry game between Dean and Castiel, the conversations between Castiel & Sam and Kevin & Dean – but overall that is not enough to distract me from the rest of the episode. As I said before, so far I feel that the resolutions to the overarching storylines are half-heartedly thrown together rather than logically deduced from the events that preceded it, and I find that regrettable, especially given the fantastic build-up of the season. I hope that at least the last two episodes leave me a bit more enthused than this one.
* * *
Did you know? When the crew was filming the scene where Sam chases Kevin through the hospital yard, Jared got the call from the hospital that Genevieve had gone into labour. He ran off to the hospital right after the scene was finished. (S7 companion)
It has become somewhat of a tradition that the third-last episode of the season has a Castiel centric perspective, so it is not entirely surprising that Reading Is Fundamental is more or less a Castiel vehicle with a couple of mytharc relevant scenes thrown in for good measure. Of course, I have no interest in Castiel, so my emotional investment in the episode is limited on that account alone, but that is not even my main problem with it. We are on the home stretch of the season now, and these episodes leading up to the finale are supposed to build up suspense and excitement for the final showdown. Alas, Reading Is Fundamental fails to deliver in that regard – well, for me, at least – and I think that is mainly owed to the following reasons: Firstly, the writers once again call upon angels, demons, prophets, divine devices and whatever else for the resolution of the leviathan storyline, and I am truly tired of all those story elements. The whole set-up simply feels like a lukewarm rehash of S4-6 ideas, and I was kind of hoping that the writers would come up with something a little more creative this year. Secondly, at the moment, I still miss the sense of tension that comes with the knowledge that Sam and Dean have high personal stakes in the upcoming fight. Sure, there is always the chance that the brothers get hurt – they did manage to personally attract Dick Roman’s wrath, after all – but this fight is not specifically about them; it is about doing the right thing. That is a valid purpose, of course, but the more Sam and Dean have to lose, the more invested I am. If Reading Is Fundamental is a reflection of the extent of involvement the brothers will have in the finale, then rather than driving the story, Sam and Dean will simply react to the events unfolding around them, and I do not find that particularly thrilling. All told, this episode makes it rather difficult for me to muster up a lot of enthusiasm for the rest of the season, but I will not rule out the possibility that the next two episodes will pull me right in and thus retroactively allow me to appreciate Reading Is Fundamental more.
Castiel: "I’m sorry, Dean."
Dean: "No, you’re playing sorry."
One of the more enjoyable aspects of the episode for me is the consistent characterisation for Dean, especially in his dealings with Castiel. At first, Dean handles Castiel with calm patience, but it does not take long for anger and frustration to come rushing to the surface. It is obvious that he is no closer to making his peace with Castiel than he was a few weeks ago, and that further substantiates my impression that the few moments in The Born-Again Identity where Dean chose a softer approach to the angel had little to do with forgiveness and everything with coercing Castiel into complying with his plans. At present, Dean also tries everything to get Castiel to cooperate with them, but when the angel does not play ball, he quickly loses his temper again. As I said in other reviews before, I find Dean’s attitude towards Castiel completely understandable and in character. Remember, after Sam’s betrayal, Dean had been unable to forgive him for a long time as well. However, Sam had been fighting at his side every day, thus not only giving Sam the opportunity to slowly earn his way back into his brother’s good graces by demonstrating, in action, that he had learned from his mistakes, but also giving Dean the opportunity to confront his brother with his feelings of betrayal and hurt. So far, he has been denied this kind of closure with Castiel, because first the angel had been dead, then he was amnesic, and now he has retreated into the recess of his mind. Throughout the episode Dean angrily tries to get Castiel to acknowledge what he has done, and I think that shows how urgently he needs to confront the angel with his anger and disappointment. Castiel’s evasiveness once again denies him that chance though, which only manages to compound his frustration, unsurprisingly so.
Still, I think Dean’s observation that Castiel is playing sorry at the moment, is actually spot-on. Now, there is no doubt that Castiel feels guilty and genuinely regrets his misdeeds – we have seen evidence of that in The Born-Again Identity and we see it again here, when Castiel indirectly refers to his guilt in his conversation with his fellow angels – but as long as he does not translate said guilt and regret into action, an apology is nothing but a row of empty words. Fixing Sam was certainly an important first step, given that Sam’s condition was his fault in the first place, but his strive for redemption cannot end there. Redemption is not earned through one grand gesture, it is earned through the continuous effort to make better choices; it is about confronting one’s guilt and using it as an impetus to change. But from Castiel’s avoidance of any kind of conflict, to his refusal to participate in the fight against the leviathans, the angel’s entire demeanour conveys that he is not able to face the consequences of his actions yet and, unsurprisingly, that does not sit well with Dean. Dean knows soul-crushing guilt; he knows self-loathing and pain; he knows the all-encompassing desire to just find some peace and be done with it all, and yet he gets up every morning and fights the good fight anyway, simply because there no one else to do it. So, Castiel’s refusal to step up to the plate and fix the mess he has created is simply incomprehensible for someone like Dean. More importantly though, Castiel promised him in Meet the New Boss that he will redeem himself to Dean, and here he is, failing to live up to that promise. That is not the way to win Dean’s respect back. On the contrary, all it does is reinforce the lesson that he cannot count on Castiel to do the right thing.
Dean: "You’ve been chosen. And it sucks. Believe me. There’s no use asking why me, ‘cause the angels, they don’t care. I think maybe they just don’t have the equipment to care. It seems that when they try, it just breaks them apart."
I think Dean’s conversation with Kevin about the nature of angels is interesting, and even though he refers to angels in general, I believe he is mainly talking about his disillusion with Castiel. I mean, there is little doubt that Dean reflects on his personal experience with Castiel when he states that it breaks angels apart when they try to care. Now, when Dean first met Castiel, he was just as aloof as his fellow angels, but the more involved he became with Sam and Dean’s plight, the more it 'broke' him – in the sense that he could neither continue to function properly as an angel nor could he function properly as a human. I think S5 in particular demonstrated Castiel’s inability to cope with the pitfalls of human emotions. Throughout that entire season he struggled with doubt, despondency, anger and frustration, and The End effectively illustrated the self-destructive path Castiel would have taken, had he been forced to live a 'human' life. So, I think Dean’s realisation that angels are simply not designed to deal with those kinds of emotions is not so far off the mark. I do believe, however, that Dean is at least able to acknowledge that Castiel’s attempt to extend beyond his angelic make-up was a deviation from the norm. A deviation motivated by his contact with the Winchesters, and since this is Dean we are talking about, it is a given that he feels partly responsible, even though it had been Castiel’s choice to follow Dean's example. With Dean’s final assessment of the angels’ inherent inability to care in mind, I do not see how his relationship with Castiel could ever truly recover from the damage it suffered. Dean’s acknowledgement of Castiel’s fundamental otherness should effectively prevent a re-emergence of trust and closeness between them, because I don’t think it is any more likely for Dean to connect with a Castiel he deems incapable of genuine emotions, than it was for him to connect with the uncaring soulless version of his own brother. So, unless there is a significant progress in Castiel's growth as a person, I daresay his relationship with Dean is getting nowhere fast.
Castiel: "The weight of all my mistakes. All those lives and souls lost. I couldn’t take it either. I was lost, until I took on your pain. It’s strange to think that that helped, but –"
Sam: "I know you never did anything but try to help. I realise that, Cas. And I’m grateful."
I really love Sam and Castiel’s conversation at Rufus’ cabin, although I will admit that I like that conversation more for what it says about Sam, and less for what it says about Castiel. Now, just like in Meet The New Boss, Sam reaches out to Castiel with understanding and unconditional forgiveness and, given the loss and pain the brothers suffered through the angel’s actions, that is a remarkably magnanimous attitude. Sam even makes a point of thanking Castiel for at least trying to help, even if he went about it the completely wrong way. Of course, Sam’s forgiveness comes from a place of self-reflection. If anyone can understand making the wrong choices for the right reasons and struggling with the consequences, it is Sam. Remember, back in Sympathy For The Devil, when the weight of his choices and actions came crashing down on Sam, and he was crippled by guilt and despair, it was Bobby who reached out to Sam and offered him his unconditional forgiveness and love, and I think that moment of kindness gave him the much needed hope that not everything was lost. Now Sam passes the same kindness that was bestowed upon him to Castiel, and I love that. ♥ Moreover, I think Sam is aware that, even though his fall was painful and caused a lot of damage, it allowed him to grow into a better person by confronting him with his own shortcomings, and I have no doubt that he genuinely believes that Castiel, too, can come back from his downfall a better man, or well, angel in this case. I really have to say that I love the dichotomy in the brothers’ approach to Castiel and how it matches their different personal histories and temperaments, and even though I find it easier to relate to Dean’s position in this matter, I admire Sam’s magnanimity wholeheartedly.
Sam and Castiel also shortly touch upon the angel’s sacrifice for Sam’s sake, but their conversation does little to clarify the specifics of what Castiel did. Now, I really do not want to rehash my arguments from The Born-Again Identity and Party On, Garth, but the vagueness with which Sam’s recovery is addressed here really brings all my frustration with the way the writers resolved Sam’s post-hell arc back to the forefront. Apparently, Castiel took Sam’s pain, but what does that even mean? How can Castiel take Sam’s pain, without removing the root cause of that pain, i.e. Sam’s damaged soul? In turn, how can Castiel feel a pain that has no actual cause within him? Castiel also claims that the Lucifer he saw after the transfer was just a projection of Sam's that soon faded, which would actually make sense, if it was not for the fact that said 'projection' greeted Castiel with a hello, brother, which kind of refutes the whole idea of Lucifer as a projection. This would also have been the perfect opportunity to give us at least some insight into Sam’s perspective. Does he still remember hell? If yes, how does that affect him? Does he feel his damaged soul? Alas, the writers do not even make an effort to outline their main characters’ psychological state, and I find that frustrating. However, there is one point at least that actually starts to make sense in light of their conversation, namely why Sam’s pain seems to derail the angel’s sanity so much faster than Sam’s. We know that Sam fought tooth and nail for his sanity; he developed coping mechanisms and routines that helped him stay anchored in reality. For Sam, succumbing to his mental issues was not an option, not least because he could not leave Dean alone in the world. After all, that was why he accepted his hell-trauma in the first place. Castiel, on the other hand, has no reason to hold onto his painful reality. He experiences insanity as a refuge from his guilt and hence has given himself over to it, so it is not surprising that he is less functional than Sam had been.
I admit that, so far, I am fairly underwhelmed by the way the writers handle Castiel’s redemption arc. In fact, his storyline not only fails to reconcile me with his actions, but also further exacerbates my problems with the character. First he is allowed to live in marital bliss due to a convenient bout of amnesia, while Sam and Dean are once again forced to deal with the mess he left behind. Then Castiel learns of his past and is hit with the full burden of his guilt – which, admittedly, he handles with an adequate amount of contrition and self-hatred – a burden, he has to shoulder for a whopping thirty minutes, give or take, before he sacrifices his sanity for Sam’s. A noble act, no doubt, but I resent the notion that living with Sam’s pain for a couple of weeks can even begin to compare with almost two centuries in the cage as an act of redemption, and I do not feel that Castiel has already earned another blissful reprieve from his guilt. Even worse though, his current condition offers Castiel an excuse to withdraw from the battle. He obviously has no intention to fight for his sanity, deal with his guilt and earn his redemption the hard way, and at this point I find that as unacceptable as Dean. I assume that crazy!Castiel is supposed to come across as a sympathetic mix of funny and tragic, but all he does is remind me of the fact that, once again, he does not face the consequences of his actions. I am not saying that, from a psychological point of view, Castiel’s escape into madness does not make sense – remember, his first impulse when he learned about his past in The Born-Again Identity has been to run away as well – I just really do not like what it says about him. And the fact that his final claim of always being willing to bleed for the Winchesters reveals a ridiculously self-important attitude does not help matters. I guess I should be happy that the writers are at least consistent with his character, but if he continues to be a part of the show, it is really time for him to grow up already.
What else is noteworthy:
(1) There was little doubt that the red clay Sam and Dean stole from Dick Roman in last week’s episode would hold the key to defeating the leviathans, but I was hoping that it would be something a little more creative than a simple instruction manual of the cookbook variety – take three spoons of blood, mix it, add a special bone and, voila, you have an anti-leviathan weapon. See, what I liked about the discovery of borax as a leviathan repellent was that it was something completely ordinary; something that simply was not around when the leviathans came into existence and hence took them by surprise. Of course, the borax was never a solution, but it was resourceful, man-made and just plain fun. I just wished the writers would have thought more in those terms when they outlined the finale, instead of aiming for 'epic' again. I also have to ask myself, why Dick would even dig the tablet up. It had been safely hidden away for the last couple of millennia, so there was no reason to assume that someone would find it in the next couple of months, and by looking for it, he just risked bringing it to the attention of his enemies. Dick basically hand-delivered Sam and Dean the key to his own destruction, and that is the kind of 'villain logic' that serves the plot rather than the characterisation. Furthermore, the full transcript of Kevin’s translation reads: 'Waste not thy time nor your breath upon the leviathan herd. Point thy blade at the heart of their master, for from him springs all their messages.' So, apparently, killing Dick Roman will end the leviathan infestation altogether. Now, isn’t that convenient! I am sorry I sound so negative, but I cannot help and feel that, just like with Sam’s post-cage trauma, the writers have written themselves into a corner with the leviathan storyline, and now they look for an easy way out.
(2) The guest stars/characters in Reading Is Fundamental are somewhat of a mixed bag for me. I like Kevin well enough – in my mind he is a bit like Sam, around the time he went to Stanford, with his OCD-ness and academic ambitions that do not mix with the world of the supernatural – and I think the young actor gives a solid enough performance. Kevin’s guardian angels though come off as rather dull and flat, and the actors’ performances do nothing to improve the characters. While I think it is interesting to see how differently the individual angels react to Castiel’s massacre amongst them, the characters really fail to engage me, and since they don't even serve an actual purpose for the plot, their screentime would have been better spent on something else. Then there is Meg. I actually enjoyed her speech about finding a cause and sticking with it. It not only fits her personality, but also resonates well with Sam and Dean’s own approach to hunting. However, I find Rachel Miner’s monotonous voice and bland expressions extraordinarily annoying and that prevents me from enjoying the character as a whole.
(3) I usually do not concern myself with plotholes, because they rarely impact my enjoyment of an episode, but some of the plotholes in Reading Is Fundamental are really difficult to ignore. For example, a large portion of the episode plays on the locked psych ward of a hospital, and when Sam and Dean first arrive, they are intercepted by a male nurse who politely sends them away. So far, everything seems in order. So how does Kevin get in and out of Castiel’s room to steal the tablet without anyone noticing? The windows are barred, so he could not break in from the outside, and Sam and Meg stand right out in the corridor, so they would have seen him, had he come through there. Then Sam runs out into the hospital yard, chases Kevin and drags him back to Castiel’s room, and no one seems to object to that kind of suspicious behaviour from the nightly visitors. Also, Sam, Dean, Kevin, Meg and the angels make quite a ruckus during their stay in the hospital, but neither the nursing staff nor the other patients seem to notice a thing. I find that really irritating, especially since we have seen in The Born-Again Identity that this is actually a pretty busy ward. And while I am complaining, why on earth would Sam not know who Metatron is? I find that almost as unlikely as Dean not knowing who Mina and Harker are (Monster Movie). Hey, Ben Edlund, I see a pattern here! But okay, let’s accept for a moment that Sam has never heard about the angel Metatron, why would he assume that a fictional character from a movie wrote the word of God? Did his IQ suddenly drop 100 points? I know that scene is supposed to be funny, but to me it comes off as incredibly forced – and the repetition does not make it any funnier.
In conclusion: I find Reading Is Fundamental somewhat uninspired and messy, but I assume that fans who feel sympathetic to Castiel’s plight will get a lot more enjoyment from this episode than I do. As it is, Dean encouragingly patting Sam on the arm at the end is the highlight of this episode for me, and I think that illustrates just how little I connected to it as a whole. There are a couple of good scenes – the Sorry game between Dean and Castiel, the conversations between Castiel & Sam and Kevin & Dean – but overall that is not enough to distract me from the rest of the episode. As I said before, so far I feel that the resolutions to the overarching storylines are half-heartedly thrown together rather than logically deduced from the events that preceded it, and I find that regrettable, especially given the fantastic build-up of the season. I hope that at least the last two episodes leave me a bit more enthused than this one.
Did you know? When the crew was filming the scene where Sam chases Kevin through the hospital yard, Jared got the call from the hospital that Genevieve had gone into labour. He ran off to the hospital right after the scene was finished. (S7 companion)
