The Hunter Games Initial Thoughts
I’ll just preface this by saying I’m very very tired and so likely missed the bulk of what they’re is to to see in this ep, but here goes anyway.
1. Cas can feel longing, not just addressed prayers. THE DESTIEL IMPLICATIONS. Every time Dean has missed Cas, every time he even THOUGHT about praying, all of it, Cas could not only hear it but feel it. I am honestly still struggling to process this information.
2. Dean starts listing off Metatron’s crimes, and what is the first - the very first thing that he says? Stealing Cas’s grace. Once again he has that on his all time list of greatest Metatron crimes, just like he did in 9.23. It’s a pretty huge sticking point for him, and you better believe that Metatron has taken note.
3. Cas texting Dean, because he likes texting, and let’s be honest: who would Cas ever text. He got his liking for it through texting Dean, and he likes emoticons, and you just know that he’s sent Dean every single one, and Dean probably just sits there grinning at what a dork his angel of the lord really is. And dare I say it: longing, and so Cas keeps doing it because he can sense the reaction.
4. There was a nice bit of symbolism with Sam being unable to break the door down, but Cas using his grace to break through so they could both get to Dean. To me that’s just further reinforcing that in all likelihood is going to need to be a true TFW effort to finally get Dean, if not cured, then at least into a position where he can deal with it.
5. Which brings us to Metatron’s statement: the river ends at the source. Which begs the question: is the source of Dean’s version of the mark Cain, or Lucifer? And what is Metatron’s involvement in it all? How much, exactly, does he truly know? Suppose we’ll be finding out in a few weeks.
6. Sam taking about the powerful force. He wasn’t there when Dean found out how Cain found the strength to live beyond the influence of the mark. And Sam is right: part of that powerful force does have to be Dean. It didn’t matter how hard Sam & Cas fight, if Dean doesn’t find his own strength and fight internally it won’t make a difference. But that’s only part of it. We all know what the force that helped Cain was: it was love. Loving someone, and even more importantly, believing that he was worthy of that having that love returned, and accepting it. And Dean won’t be able to fight the mark himself until he can reach that stage. He’s already got someone who accepts him, who loves him unconditionally, and who only wants him to be rid of the thing controlling him, just the same way Colette loved Cain. It remains to be seen if Dean will be able to acknowledge that though. He has taken that first step though, when he told Cole the people who love him pulled him back. Now he just needs to believe it.
7. I love Rowena. I have no doubt that Crowley knows what she’s up to, but damn do I love seeing someone manipulating people the way Crowley does.
8. We now know where Crowley’s bones are. Assuming he’s telling the truth, and they really are his bones, he could be setting himself up for a world of hurt. I’m really hoping this isn’t going to be another dropped B-RL plot point.
9. I liked Claire. She couldn’t go through with killing Dean, because at heart she really is a good person. She’s had a fucked up life that isn’t going to be getting any better any time soon, but she is doing what she can with what she has.
10. Cas was just awesome, ok? Total bamf mode. His given for Dean and Claire, his friendship with Sam, it’s all just awesome.
I’m sure on rewatch there’ll be a lot more but I’ve already spent to long mentally replaying it all. It was an awesome episode, did lots for Destiel in particular, and was a lot better than I had expected.
