Warning: This post is ~*~*~personal~*~*~ so you’re going to read about my life.
I had a really hard time writing this post because this episode is one of my absolute favorites. I love when Supernatural delves into religion (that’s why I love the later seasons). I was an avid participant in church for my entire life; I don’t go as much as I’d like to because I’m in college now, but it’s one of my favorite subjects to discuss in literature, film, or stage. Religion is kind of my thing. And not in a crazy way; I’m an Episcopalian, which has been described as “Catholic Lite” and “All the religion, none of the guilt”. My church was really chill and focused more on the “God is love” parts of the Bible rather than the “fire and brimstone and stone the women and kill the gays” parts.
So needless to say, this episode really hit home for me in pure subject matter. It was especially poignant this time around because I have a lot of medical issues right now. Nothing as bad as what the people in this episode were going through, but enough that it still makes me ask God why this happened to me. It’s really inspiring to see a character like Layla, who is so clearly a foil for Dean, who has faith even through so much hardship. Her line, “If you’re going to have faith, you can’t just have it when the miracles happen. You have to have it when they don’t.” This line is so perfect. One of more well-written episodes of Supernatural, in my opinion.
Dean’s reaction to religion is cliched, but it’s very honest and I appreciate that. The fact that a man who fights demons and believes that hell exists can’t believe that there is also heaven and angels is heartbreaking. It’s like Sam says... they see so much bad, so why can’t Dean believe there’s also good?
A couple things the preacher says are incredibly prophetic. One, when Dean is being saved, he says that he is not a believer. The preacher responds, “You will be.” I don’t know if this is necessarily true yet; Dean still hasn’t seen concrete proof in God, but he believes in angels and he’s been to heaven, so that’s a step. The second time was when Dean asked why he had been saved over anybody else. The preacher tells him, “You’re a man with an important job to do, and it isn’t finished.” This is obviously also about Dean hunting monsters and saving lives, but it’s also about the Apocalypse. Dean has to save the world from hell on Earth. His job may never be over.
Another interesting bit was when the boys discovered that Sue-Ann was the one manipulating the reaper. Sam immediately wants to condemn her, but Dean defends her for a moment. He understands that people will go to unbelievable lengths to save the people they love. Dean makes a crossroad deal to save Sam’s life in exchange for his own, so he understands this idea more than Sam does right now. I do think Sam matures a lot in seasons to come (once he goes through his demon phase, that is) and he understands this later.
As a last little note, I love Dean’s line, “God save us from half the people who think they’re doing God’s work.” This is so socially relevant right now, what with people like the Westboro Baptist Church who travel around preaching hate and glorifying death and basically doing the exact opposite of what it says in the Bible. It’s not even limited to Christianity: so many people in our country think that all Muslims are terrorists, which is heinous. Extremists who claim to be doing the work of their God make all religion look negative and violent and prejudiced, when in fact, religion is purely spiritual and personal.
As you can see, I am very passionate about this particular subject. Religion has always been something that makes me think, so I love when TV shows address this.
If you read this whole thing, I adore you and you are my new best friend.
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