9.18 Meta Fiction The conceit of Meta Fiction, as its title makes evident, is just that: metafiction. Supernatural is already one of the most metafictional TV shows ever made – it’s written not only itself, but its own fandom, into the show itself, and featured episodes with fans reading fan fiction about its own characters. But it’s done more than that: a few seasons ago, it extended that conceit to its epic, seasonal story arcs. Back when the Winchesters were stopping the Apocalypse, they were “ripping up the rules and changing the ending” of a script written by God that insisted that they had their roles to play in an Apocalyptic battle. At the time, though, Supernatural was a little too busy celebrating free will to truly ask why God wrote a script for them to follow and whether he truly intended them to play their roles. Meta Fiction, though, takes that whole God-as-writer conceit and makes so much more of it. In fact, it adds so many layers to the whole concept that this literature grad-student-in-training practically drooled over all the layers of this episode(in between tearing my hair out like a grad student with a dissertation deadline, because there are so many levels of meta it gives me a headache). Up to this point, Supernatural’s had villains with pretty much every villain motivation known to writers: hunger for power, duty, faith, misguided attempts to do the right thing… When Metatron was introduced, he fit pretty squarely into that list: all he wanted was power, and how boring was that? Now, a season later, he actually has a good motivation: he’s a villain because he’s trying to write a good story, and he’s not afraid to manipulate reality to make it happen. That very fact makes him terrifying, because it makes him one step removed from the very concept of morality, which becomes no more than a plot device. And the brilliant thing about Supernatural is that it has the scope to tell that kind of story. Metatron quite literally has the power to alter reality until he creates a fiction in which he’s the hero and our protagonists are the villains. That’s what the Winchesters are up against: a storyline, and, in a way, fate – except that this time they don’t quite know that they’re being forced to follow a script, which makes it all the harder to fight.And, since it’s almost the end of the season, it’s likely we’ll get to see how it gets there quite soon. Everything is coming together for that journey – or, rather, being positioned by Metatron. But yes, okay, I watch for the plot. No, really, I do. And there’s so many brilliant ways, plot-wise, that the episode focuses on Dean’s journey into darkness. In an utter feat of alchemy, Jensen Ackles has transformed himself into an utterly bone-weary, helpless, despairing Dean Winchester, with death in his dead eyes. Particularly striking is the one scene in which Dean wipes a completely clean mirror off with his hand, as if he’s hoping that the darkness he sees in his face can simply be erased like that – but only seeing the same deathly expression again. It lasts no more than a minute, but that’s what’s called packing a punch. The most revealing scene of all, though, is the torture scene. On Supernatural, torture scenes are a sort of shorthand for character development, because the Winchesters are allergic to “chick flick moments.” This time it’s Gadriel – captured by the Winchesters while running errands for Metatron – who serves that function in a scene that’s nevertheless excellently done. The highlight is the way this scene evokes Dean’s experiences in Hell. Dean’s always had a very special relationship to torture: since Hell, where torturing others threatened his own humanity, his talent for causing pain has been one of his most bitter secrets. Deep down, he has a capacity to hurt and to take pleasure in pain, and it’s a darkness he’s forever fighting in himself. And this scene – well, it serves as a reminder that the Mark of Cain isn’t so much turning Dean evil as letting out a darkness that Hell awoke in him and that he’s never been able to put away since. The fourth season brushed aside the inevitable trauma Hell had to have caused, but this time Dean’s potential for evil is turning into a damn good storyline, and all I can say is finally. But that’s not all there is to this scene. In fact, there’s so many different ways it could be interpreted that there isn’t even room to cover them in a short review. That’s the hallmark of good writing, though: to answer Metatron’s question, it’s when the text and the subtext, the reader and the viewer, come together to create myriad possibilities and myriad interpretations. Meanwhile, Castiel is finally back. It’s kind of unclear what exactly he’s been doing the past few episodes (leading angels? Which he doesn’t want to do? But has still been doing, apparently? While travelling around and searching for something?) so it’s nice to see the show actually acknowledge his existence. That story begins with Casa Erotica and the supposed return of Gabriel (whose return everyone in the fandom except me seems to be ridiculously enthusiastic about). I personally am going to go with the idea that Gabriel’s still dead, because his sendoff in the fifth season was one of the most poignant character deaths in the world – and he deserves that sendoff rather than a retcon. Plus, Gabriel being dead means that he can aptly function as a foil to Castiel without all those pesky questions about what he was doing following Metatron’s orders. Whether he’s really here or an illusion, though, it’s almost touching to see him having a brotherly heart to heart with Castiel in a car (so much resembling those of Sam and Dean) and speaking what happens to be the truth: Heaven needs a leader and Castiel’s the best option. Cas has always been that special angel with a crack in his chassis and a predilection for free will rather than blind faith. He knows what to do with free will much better than the other angels, and whatever role Metatron wants Cas to play, it’s a truth that remains that Castiel has the potential to be a better leader than Metatron could imagine. Of course Castiel recognizes the illusion for what it is – and, predictably, he ends up captured by Metatron. It’s here that Metatron performs his most atrocious action of the entire episode: he takes away Castiel’s pop-culture cluelessness (R.I.P. all the humor and wonderful moments that that created). Even more predictably, Castiel refuses to take part in Metatron’s little game (did Metatron not do his homework? He’s read the Carver Edlund books. Did he really think Castiel was going to just play his role?). Read Anastasia’s review of the previous episode, Mother’s Little Helper, here. Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.
