This Whole Destiny Thing

So it's my turn to do a recap/review, and I figured I'd write something about whatever episode was scheduled for last night. Ha! I already reviewed it. So forget that.

Therefore, I'm going to blather a bit about this whole destiny thing, which is increasingly shown to be the underlying point of season 5.

We've been told since season 2 or 3 that it had to be Sam, it just always had to be Sam. Then, once the angels got involved, it wasn't just Sam, it was Sam and Dean. They're apparently descended from Cain and Abel...hmmm, that must mean, since the bloodline is suited for hosting angels, that Cain and Abel were designed to be vessels. Maybe not, maybe it's just a robust line. :) Anyway, the angels keep saying stuff like they knew that Sam and Dean would host Michael and Lucifer for millennia. Um...I don't think so.

For one thing, if that was true, why didn't Lucifer just tell Azazel to find Sam? He had him test babies, lots of babies. Azazel said he'd been working on his plan for generations (that might be a timeline glitch, if I'm remembering the date in the convent right). If it was always Sam, why bother marking and empowering all those kids, and orchestrating the "big fight"? Why be surprised that it was Jake, but accepting of it?

Then, once Azazel was dead, Ruby had to go through that whole manipulation thing to make sure Sam killed Lilith and broke the final seal, which, by the way, wouldn't have happened if Dean hadn't broken the first seal, which he wasn't supposed to do, it was supposed to be John, but he wouldn't break.

Now, they didn't ever say that Dean being the seal-breaker is connected to being a vessel for Michael, so maybe it's not significant that it was Dean instead of John. And it could be said that only the angels (including Lucifer) had any idea of the goals behind the manipulation, so that Alistair really didn't know what his job was intended to for.

But that brings me to the increasing revelations about the angels. We've seen them manipulate, and how good they are at it. At first, we even thought it was a good thing, when Zachariah convinced Dean to keep hunting. But the angels are working so damned hard to convince Dean, almost as hard as they've been working to orchestrate events (like using cherubs to force Mary and John to fall in love).

We've had three episodes show us, via time travel, that upcoming events are inevitable. But there are discrepancies. In "The End," Zachariah wanted to show Dean why he had to say yes. But in the future he took him to, the angels lost. If there's inevitability, how can that be changed? Then, in "The Song Remains the Same," Anna goes back to try to kill Mary so Sam is never born. The summary of that episode says the angels send her back, but they WANT Sam to be Lucifer's vessel. If Lucifer doesn't take Sam and fight Michael-in-Dean, the angels can't have their paradise.

So if Anna was let out for a purpose, why wasn't she indoctrinated into the destiny propaganda? If it's all planned and unchangeable, why do the angels have to work so hard to make Dean say yes? So it seems pretty clear that "Free Will is a Myth" is just a ploy by the angels. Kudos to them, though, for pushing it with such sincerity.

There are a couple of ways I can see this playing out:

1. Team Free Will Prevails
Big final battle, Sam and Dean never say yes, and together with all the parties they've introduced this season (like the AntiChrist and Gabriel), they defeat Lucifer AND the angels in their own way.

2. Team Destiny is Right
But only to a point. Sam and Dean say yes, and get vesselized, but with their own agenda and to their own ends, and they defeat Lucifer and Michael from within.

3. All the Teams Break Up and Reform in New and Exciting Ways
AKA, the Big Twisty Plot concept, where the writers in the room are far smarter together than any of us are individually, and they come up with some big awesome alternate scenario.

This post is brought to you by my frustration and annoyance every time someone says "Because it had to be you, Sam. It always had to be you."

So where do YOU stand on the whole destiny thing?

~~~~
All photos copyright The CW