The Price of Freedom

Last night's episode of Supernatural, "The Man Who Would Be King", set out to accomplish two things:

1. Recap the entire season from Castiel's perspective

2. Explain the development of his character into a new, possibly terminal, arc

Rather than recap this episode in as much detail as I have previously, I'll highlight the main themes and expand on them. 

SPOILERS!

God:
After finishing this episode I was left with the impression that our quiet, unassuming angel has been screaming inside for help during the entirety of season six, and has received none.  Cas narrates his experience of suddenly being resurrected at the end of the fifth season.  He marvels at the fact that the Winchesters, with his and Bobby's help, were able to re-write the ending of the world's oldest story.  He recounts what he learned from his interactions with Sam and Dean - he learned to fight, to stand up for himself, and to make his own decisions.  Sure, this got him exploded by Sam/Lucifer, but he came back.  Cas came back without knowing why, without knowing exactly who brought him back, and without an understanding of what he's supposed to do now.  All he has is faith that God recognized his sacrifices and approved of what he'd done.  After healing Dean of his injuries and bringing Bobby back to life, Cas fought his way back into Hell to raise Sam alone, because he thought it was right.  When he deposited Sam in front of Lisa's house, he admits he should have known something was wrong when Sam walked away from the sight of his brother.

Upon his return to Heaven, Castiel is greeted by some of his fellow angels, who are astonished to see him alive.  They ask him what God wants them to do, and he tries to explain his concept of freedom to them.  He tells them that they are all free to choose their own paths, but the angels are unable to understand.  Angels were made to follow orders, not to make decisions.  Cas meets with Rafael at great personal risk, heady with the experience of having survived the unsurvivable.  Rafael is unmoved by recent events, and instructs Cas to publicly submit to him and renounce his rebellion so that the rest of the angels remember their place.  His first order of business is to release Michael and Lucifer from the Cage, and to fight the Final Battle as they all intended.  Cas refuses to submit and defies Rafael right there, and the archangel kicks him into next week.  It's abundantly clear that Cas cannot defeat him alone.

It's a cruel God that would put someone like Cas in such a situation, and not give him the means to do anything about it.

Freedom:
Faced with the decision to either submit to Rafael or die by his older brother's hand, Cas considers turning to the only person he can think of for help.  He watches Dean rake the leaves in Lisa's yard, invisible, and cannot bring himself to ask more from someone who's already sacrificed so much.  Then Crowley appears with a proposition.  Crowley doesn't want to lose his new position as King of Hell, and if Rafael succeeds in opening the Cage, that's exactly what will happen.  So Crowley invites Cas to draw Heaven into a Civil War to keep Rafael occupied while Crowley searches for Purgatory.  Once Purgatory is found, the two of them will split the souls in order to accomplish their respective goals.  Crowley tells Cas to capitalize on his apparent status as God's chosen and lead all the angels that would follow him into war.

At first Cas would have none of it - and then Crowley offered him a loan of fifty thousand hellbound souls, giving him enough power to strike a blow against Rafael and deliver an ultimatum to Heaven.  So we learn that Cas faked Crowley's death in "Caged Heat", and has given the Winchesters the runaround in their attempts to find the demon now.  He listens in on their conversations and hates himself for it.  He saves them from Crowley's demon hit squad, and threatens to back out of his deal with Crowley if the Winchesters come to harm.

All this time, Cas is plagued with doubt, constantly questioning himself and pouring out his uncertainty to a cold, unfeeling and unresponsive void.

Family:
Lying is against Cas' nature, and eventually he slips up and gives himself away.  And though it was Dean who was asking Sam and Bobby to give the angel the benefit of the doubt, it's Dean who lures him into a trap of holy fire.  They demand to know the truth, and as soon as Cas admits that he's been working with Crowley, they don't want to hear any more.  Cas tries to explain himself, trying to start from the beginning by telling Sam that he was the one who raised him from Hell.  Sam angrily cuts him off, demanding to know whether Cas brought him back soul-less on purpose.  Cas is truly hurt that Sam would even think that, and realizes that these mortals could never understand.  Their conversation is interrupted by demons closing in on them, and Cas orders them to run.  Crowley frees Cas from the holy fire and gleefully remarks on how friends can turn on each other.  He even ventures that he and Cas are the new Devil and the new God, working together.  Cas vehemently shoots this idea down, and tells him to leave.

Cas tries to reconcile with Dean, slipping past Bobby's ineffective angel wards with ease.  Dean tells Cas that he should stop working with Crowley, and Cas attempts to explain, yet again, that if he doesn't defeat Rafael then the Apocalypse will come around again.  Dean expands on the idea of how little family he has, and that he thinks of Cas like a brother.  He asks him, as a brother, not to do this.  Cas doesn't change his mind, believing that this is the only course of action for him.  Dean states that he will do what he must to stop him.

Cas finishes his narration, which all along was a prayer - one last prayer - to God, asking him if what he's doing is right.  He begs for a sign to tell him, either way...and gets nothing.

Thoughts and Questions:

So all of the forgiveness crap that Dean spouted to Sam and Bobby at Rufus' funeral apparently doesn't apply to Cas.  Sam started the Apocalypse - Cas is trying to keep it from happening again.  And if Rafael does succed in bringing the Final Battle about, guess who's back on the menu as a vessel.  That's right.  Sam.

Sam would still be rotting in Hell if it weren't for Cas - and gratitude was not forthcoming.

I call bullshit on Dean's "family first" claim.  When Dean says "family first", he means "Sam first".  Sam comes first before Bobby, Cas, Lisa and Ben - and Adam.  Dean spared exactly one thought for his half-brother this season, even though Adam suffered (and is still suffering) the same fate as Sam.  Dean acts as though he's personally betrayed whenever someone he claims as family does something he doesn't like.

Cas rebelled in the fourth season to keep Sam from starting the Apocalypse.  It wasn't enough.  He died.

Cas banished Michael with holy fire to give Dean the chance to speak to Sam/Lucifer.  It wasn't enough.  He died.

Cas is dealing with Crowley to keep Rafael from re-starting the Apocalypse.  The deal will go from bad to worse.  It won't be enough.  He's going to die.

In Two Weeks:

We're treated to a double-feature on May 20th.  Will Cas succeed and redeem himself?