The Many Faces of Cass

Ever since the first season of the show, some of the fans have been leery about characters (especially female characters) being added that might take away any of the Sam and Dean focus. Sometimes the mere mention of a casting call for a recurring character creates a hue and cry, a veritable hubbub of preliminary protest. And, really, don't we all watch the show for Sam and Dean? (The one universal caveat, IMO, is that we all love to see Bobby in as many eps as possible. Who doesn't love Bobby?)

Anyway, while I agree that it would be great if Sam and Dean's relationship returned to one of fun-to-watch brotherly camaraderie--and look forward to that day--I have been totally enjoying the addition of Misha Collins' Castiel more than I ever thought possible.

We first met Castiel at the end of last season's "Lazarus Rising" opener; he was impassive and intimidating and those of us who'd avoided spoilers were more than a little shocked to learn he was an angel. He was an interesting character but because angels are not supposed to feel (although I think we've seen plenty of evidence to the contrary) his scenes were not as engrossing as other characters'; plus, after we met the destetable Uriel, Cass was a lot less intimidating in comparison. I think Misha's breakout episode was when we saw the human who first agreed to let Cass inhabit him-he definitely got to use all the emotion he'd been saving up in his more impassive scenes! Then by the end of last season we'd seen him rebel from his good solider role, be punished for that, yet ultimately decide to rebel again, breaking Dean out of his angel-created prison--moments too late to help Sam but just in time for a doozy of a cliff-hanger.

In this season's premiere, we learn early on that Cass has been "smote" (I will never eat chunky soup again. Not that I really ever did before, but anyway...) Now I had already heard that Misha had been picked up for more episodes, so I wasn't all that concerned that he was going to stay dead. (Who does on this show?) But I wasn't prepared for how much I would thoroghly enjoy his presence this season.

Gone is the once-impassive mysterious angel with vague objectives. Cass came back with a single-minded, almost boyish optimism in finding God (which led to a very nice Dean and Cass conversation in the Impala). We got to see Cass as an inept undercover sidekick (LOVED IT!) and as an even more inept seducer of women. Then they turned the tables on us and showed us a futuristic, fallen class who eases his celestial pain by getting high, seducing LOTS of women yet trying to find ways to stay in the fight for the side of good.



I'm glad that Sam and Dean have agreed to start hunting together again and am hopeful that this is the beginning of a reconciliation and less of the awful tension between them. But I also hope that we see Cass regularly and that he continues to surprise us then and again with portrayals we weren't expeciting.

So, what do you guys think? Love Castiel, find his presence on the show distracting? What's your favorite flavor Cass so far? (It's a figure of speech, people. Keep it clean.)