9091:

You know, I’m regretting reblogging this already.  I’m usually pretty good at keeping my opinions to myself and being diplomatic.  I didn’t do so well today.  But I’m going to say this, as neatly and as not-butthurt as I can manage, and then I’m done.

I’m taking issue with Dean “giving up” on Sam and on how Cas is somehow brave and misunderstood and not to blame for anything that happened at all.  The rest is behind the read more for the sake of everyone’s dash, as it’s run long enough already.

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This is a really long ass response to 9091’s above response, because I just couldn’t let it rest. I don’t really expect anyone to read it.

 (Never mind that when the Winchesters worked for Crowley, it was blackmail and when Cas went to work with Crowley it was a business partnership.  I truly fail to see how these were the same situations at all.)

Are you maybe forgetting season 5, where they weren’t under blackmail, and worked with Crowley? To stop the apocalypse? Sound familiar? I completely fail to see where anyone can’t recognize how they are the exact same situation.

What he did was make a bunch of judgment calls that made the problem bigger and bigger:

So basically a bullet point list of all the ways Castiel screwed up while leaving out explanation, context, and in general, not being exactly fair. This is why, despite the fact that I should have been in bed hours ago, I decided to stay up. Because there were a few I just had to respond to.

• Let Dean (powerless, grieving, PTSD, waiting-to-die Dean) be retired (The Man Who Would Be King) instead of leaning on him for help, something that Dean resented.

You don’t “let” the Winchester boys do anything. In other words, this is weird wording for someone so pro-Dean. That Castiel “let Dean be retired.” Should he have gone to Dean for help? Sure. But then I wonder how many people would be saying they hate Castiel because he wouldn’t just let Dean be.

• Let Sam roam free while soulless (and all that entailed) (The Man Who Would Be King, and the first half of S6 in general).

What would have made the situation better, that would have been acceptable? You would really prefer Sam being held captive? Perhaps put back in Hell? I’m asking because I certainly don’t have the perfect solutions for what Castiel should have done.

• Put the war in Heaven first above his friends (the whole season).

This is just. Unfathomable to me. He only started the war in Heaven to save his friends. He sacrificed souls he could have used to keep them safe. If the war was first, he would have risked the Fates getting them. He wouldn’t have come to them when they called, risking them jeopardizing everything. He came every time, no matter what was going on. Yes, he “complained” as you put it, but I’m confused on what the problem with that is. He was busy, tired, run down, and came anyway. So is the problem that he didn’t jump when they say jump and do it with a smile?

• Offer them up as useful decoys/distractions for Balthazar (The French Mistake) while they looked for the weapons.

Technically Balthazar came up with the idea and Cas went along with it. Yes, he said he would have done the same, but that doesn’t mean we can rewrite history and say he did. I’m not saying that makes a difference in what moral impact you see, but I am pointing out here that your language (“offer them up”) is betraying some bias you seem to think you don’t have.

• Didn’t listen or pay any heed to the Winchesters when they found out and tried to appeal to him as his friends.
• Didn’t listen to Dean (you remember how Dean was the one who didn’t believe Sam and Bobby at first when they said Cas was up to no good, right?) when Dean tried AGAIN.

I’m sorry, when did they “appeal to him as friends”? No really. WHEN. When he was trapped in holy fire and they were yelling at him? When Dean refused to listen and practically ordered him to stop? Friends usually listen don’t they? Try to understand? Tell me, would you respond kindly to being kept from being able to explain yourself while being told what to do? I wouldn’t.

• Then made a decision to take all the souls and not just his half.  Hey, maybe Crowley was about to do the same to him, we’ll never know.

Lol, what the fuck? You really think Crowley having even HALF would have been preferable? Really?! This is a mistake he made, that he didn’t let this horrible, I disown you for working with him, demon have half the souls?

My thoughts? Cas screwed up. He’s not perfect. Neither is Sam or Dean, and Dean especially was a dick to Cas often. Want me to pull lines and make bullet points? There was a definite communication breakdown on both sides. Cas deserves a chance to be redeemed, but just as Dean admitted he owed Sam an apology when Sam was apologizing for the demon blood, he also owes one to Cas.

Yeah I looked at your opinion post on Cas and there were some things in there that were interesting points that, though I didn’t like them, I am still considering. But once I saw your argument that it became a moot point whether Dean owes Cas an apology because Cas knocked down Sam’s wall, I knew I wasn’t dealing with the person I thought I was. This is life- one wrong doesn’t remove another.  Simple as that.