fannishliss

Angels and Pocket Realities

There's a lot of meta floating around regarding 6.15 and all very thought-inspiring, so I thought I'd throw in my $.02.

Some of the pocket realities we've seen before include the Djinn-verse in Wiasnb where the Djinn tried to fulfill his victim's wishes in order to feed off of the emotional brain juices; the 2014 verse where Dean was sent  by Zachariah to learn a lesson;  the Smith and Wesson pocket where Dean and Sam were placed in what appeared to be our own reality by Zachariah to learn another lesson -- in this pocket it was Sam and Dean's knowledge of themselves rather than the outside world that changed, but they were slipped into place in a way that relied on Zack's manipulation of reality; the Mystery Spot loop and the six months following, where Sam was sent by Gabriel to learn a lesson; and the Changing Channels verse where Gabriel put Sam and Dean to learn a lesson. In this ep, the boys were not sent to learn a lesson.  Instead they were sent by Balthazar to buy him time to get the weapons to Castiel.

I think it's very interesting that Angels have this ability to create pocket realities, and I think this ep should shed some light on the previous Angel created realities, as well as on Heaven (and maybe also hell).  When the 2014 verse first aired, it brought up a lot of concern whether that verse was inevitable.  It does seem very likely that the verse was averted, Lucifer is back in the cage and Castiel is fully powered etc.  The whole 2014 verse seemed very real to Dean -- but it was no more than a pocket created by Zack based on probabilities -- just as the mystery spot loop was based on their arrival in Broward County but most likely didn't occur in their reality -- as Sam woke up eventually on a good Wednesday and they drove away.  The Changing Channels verse occurred in a pocket -- its artificiality was more marked so that no one thought it was real.  But then, its reality is so similar to the reality of the Green Room in the old muffler factory building in Van Nuys.  

It reminds me of that old koan, "how many angels can dance on the head of a pin?"  Our show is seeming to develop the idea that not only can infinite Angels dance wherever they choose-- they can also wedge a reality into a warehouse or into someone's head.

To me, it brings up the problem of the cruelty and coldness of the Memorex heaven.  It makes it almost certain that Zack did manipulate the memories that Sam re-experienced in Dark Side of the Moon in order to alienate Dean.....  but we also learned that Heaven could be re-organized -- maybe by someone like Ash, who sees past the forms to the math behind it -- or by Angels like Castiel who have become more sympathetic to the desires and feeling of humans.

The pocket reality we got a glimpse of in 6.15 was most assuredly not our own, even though it portrayed a lot of folks whose names we recognize.  It was simply a place for Balthazar to shove Sam and Dean, where Balthazar thought they might evade Virgil for a while until he could gather up the weapons and get them to Castiel.  I alternated between hilarity and  twinges of poignancy. It should be noted that Balthazar sent the boys to the safest possible zone -- where even if Virgil could follow them, he would have no powers.

Sam and Dean caught a glimpse of a world where they are not brothers.  They are not even friends.  Jensen had never been to Jared's house, and he's got a real enmity going with Genevieve (I didn't think it was meant to be all her -- it takes two to tangle).  Jared has this horrible pretentious house, and Jensen has the crazy fish tank and giant screen with his own face playing on it.  Misha too is portrayed as self-aggrandizing, calling one of the crew guys Little Fellow, while the directorial team seem to be tired of the show and doubtful as to its value.  Kripke comes off worst, off working on his dreadful-sounding Octocobra shlock.  (His Desperado death was a highlight  for me since that's my favorite movie.)

If there was a lesson to learn, it might have been that what they do as Hunters matters -- but that feels pretty redundant by now.  It might also have been something about the hollowness of a world without magic, Angels or god (apologies to Lennon fans).  Or, it might just have been that Balthazar needed a diversion, and he trusted the Winchesters to be able to provide it, because getting the weapons to Castiel was important to the outcome of the war, which maybe Everything depends on. 


In Defense of Ben Edlund
My connection to Supernatural arose because of Ben Edlund.  In comic book circles, he took the world by storm with The Tick, which was a wonderful, humorous and satirical comic book that poked fun at the Superhero idiom.  The animated version of the comic book came on the air in 1994, by which time Ben was only 26.  He moved from the animated series to becoming a writer and producer working with Joss Whedon on Angel, where he was famous (or infamous) for the puppet episode, and Firefly, where he would pen such eps as Jaynestown.  He's always been a funpoker and has made a career of turning fanon on its ear.  No different than what he does now at Supernatural, except that he has also written such deadly serious eps as Head of a Pin, possibly the best episode of a tv show, for me personally, ever.  He was hired by Kripke not as some kind of unknown quantity, but for doing exactly what he does, which is to recognize fannish tropes and stir them up. A lot of Edlund's work has to do with using gender expectations, which, if it offends you, I am sorry for that, but I've been reading his work for decades and he ROCKS.  My humble opinion.  If not for Edlund, I never would have come to this show, period.
      The kind of satire we're seeing in 6.15 is not new, or even particularly original. Remember when Jay and Silent Bob go on line to check fansites, which sends them over the edge --  they famously bring on Ben Affleck and Matt Damon as themselves ("code blue, dead hooker in Affleck's trailer", tasteless but there it is), but they also make fun of Dawson and the pie-fucker from American Pie. etc. etc.  The WB has been poking holes in the fourth wall since Bugs Bunny sent up Fantasia when he appeared as Leopold (Stokowski) in 1948. ... not to mention the incredibly satirical and brilliant Pinky and the Brain, which ran from 1995-2001.  In case you are interested, the voice actor for Pinky, Rob Paulsen, also played Arthur, the Tick's sidekick; and Andrea Romano is the reigning queen of voice directors, who directed Jensen in Under the Red Hood,  also directed Pinky and the Brain, as well as Batman the Animated Series for the WB.
In defense of Genevieve and Sera. 
In case anyone has trouble, the Mascara of Doom does indicate that Gen's performance was MEANT to be over the top.  Also, Sera IS the showrunner... she's not being taken advantage of by Edlund.. there's a nice interview to that effect. 

Cheers!