So according to that article (which sucked btw, not because it was praising Castiel, but because it conveniently missed to mention all the bad things Castiel has done- and if you really want to be objective you must mention all things about a character/situation/whatever, good AND bad) and some comments I've read, some Cas fans seem to
a) believe that Dean owes an apology to Castiel
b)completely ignore the fact that Cas took down Sam's wall
And I remember seeing similar comments back on the Lounge, where most of the Cas fans were really upset with Sam trying to stab Cas, but didn't even mention the fact that Cas destroyed Sam's wall. They were even more upset for Balthazar getting killed than Sam getting hurt...
Of course everyone has the right to not care for a character or dislike him, but ignoring the facts just to prove right the character they love...
I find it wrong...
And excuses like "Sam's wall would collapse anyway" or "it was a good thing, because it was proved that Sam was strong enough to survive" or "he didn't try to kill him, like Sam did" or "Sam stabbed him, so they're even now" or "he promised to fix him" are just lame...
And exactly what is it that Dean should apologize to Castiel for???
-Offering to help several times and Castiel refusing to accept it?
-Being lied to about Crowley and being kept in the dark about Castiel's plans?
-Still offering to help Castiel even after he found out the truth?
-Trying to stop him from opening Purgatory?
How did exactly Dean betray Castiel?
I had to stop reading that article after the first paragraph because my dinner was about to make a reappearance but it amply showed the level of delusion I've seen in some ECGs (not all of them, but some). They want to cling to this illusion of Castiel being some kind of poor innocent dupe that was cruelly lead astray by Crowley, abandoned by Dean and assaulted by Sam without cause or provocation. None of this fits with what we were shown in the show and even in Castiel's own words. Still, the delusion continues and seems to have only deepened in Castiel's absence.
I think that part of this is rooted in the fact that its fans are unable to separate what Castiel actually is from the image that the shell it wears gives. Castiel was not some innocent, naive babe in the woods. This is a being that his lived for many, many thousands of years. It watched humans crawl from the primordial ooze. It watched hundreds if civilizations rise and fall. It was a warrior of Heaven. Perhaps it was ignorant of matters of sex or basic human interactions, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't have an understanding of how demons operate, that making an agreement with the King of Hell is probably a monumentally bad idea and that turning on its friends, allies and brethren is never a good idea. But some got taken in by the fact that Castiel is wearing a mild, soft-eyed and gentle-looking man and forget just what that shell is holding within.
The idea that Dean owes Castiel anything, least of all an apology is to me ludicrous. Castiel has taken an enormous amount from Dean and left a wounded, broken man in its wake. It helped to break the bond of trust that Dean had with Sam by encouraging Dean to view Sam's actions in the worst possible light. It forced Dean to relive the horrors of what he endured in Hell by kidnapping him and forcing him to torture Alistair. It kidnapped Dean again to prevent him from stopping Sam from going after Lilith alone. It lied to Dean repeatedly about Heaven's motives regarding Lilith and not telling Dean that they wanted Sam to break the last seal. It hid from Dean the fact that his brother was alive and then argued with Dean against trying to return Sam's soul to him. It hid the fact that something was not right with Sam for over a year which left his soul in the cage to be tortured and nearly brought Dean to the point where he was ready to murder his own brother. So where in this does Dean owe him an apology for?
And even in the end, Castiel claimed no ownership of its actions, and no real understanding of just what it did. It didn't go to Dean out of any sense that it did something wrong. It was only because Castiel was losing control over the souls it had swallowed and was going to burst like a balloon. It listed its worst offense as "overreaching". Not that killing the other angels or the mortals that offended it was wrong in any way. Not that hurting Sam in the worst way possible was wrong. It overreached. That proved more than anything else just how far Castiel has to go before forgiving it can even be a reasonable option. When you contrast its behavior to Sam taking full ownership of his actions, even when most rational individuals would agree that his culpability is limited, it's hard to justify why Castiel would deserve forgiveness at all.
As for Sam stabbing it in the back, Castiel had already proved itself to be a deadly threat. It had helped torture and murder Ellie. It had broken the wall in Sam's mind knowing full well that it would cost Sam his sanity and very possibly his life. It was going to break open Purgatory. Sam would have been a fool not to have taken the opportunity while Castiel was focused on Dean. At that moment, Castiel was far more a threat than Crowley or any other being in the universe. Sam was more than right to take the shot and owes Castiel nothing as a result.
You can love a character and still acknowledge where that character goes wrong. I've deeply loved many a villain in my career as a fan (Krycek from X-Files, Darth Vader, the Malfoys from Harry Potter) but I've never felt the need to whitewash their actions or try to show them as poor innocent beings misguided and abused by those around them. Castiel crossed the line long before it broke Sam's wall but for me, that was the final and most unforgivable act. That was the ultimate betrayal of any element of trust and friendship that it could claim with the Winchesters.
As far as forgiveness goes... Sam earned Dean's forgiveness and Dean did not make it easy on him. It took months of Sam not only taking full ownership of what he'd done (and not taking the excuse that he was manipulated by others) and trying time and time again to earn Dean's trust before Dean finally forgave him. After seeing months of Sam literally crawling on broken glass to regain what he had inadvertently broken, the thought that Castiel is due forgiveness just because Dean eventually forgave Sam leaves an awful taste in my mouth. Let Castiel spend a full season struggling to pay back Sam and Dean for the harm it did to them and the world before we start bandying around whether it is deserving of forgiveness.
I agree that some of the rationalizations for Castiel's actions in season 6 are just that. Rationalizations. You can look at Sam's actions in season 4 and understand that he did make a lot of very significant and tragic errors and also understand that he was facing huge levels of manipulation on all sides that pushed him into making those choices. It doesn't excuse Sam's behavior but it explains why he did the things that he did. But too many of the posts I've seen here, on TWOP and in the CW Lounge do not assign to Castiel any level of responsibility for what it did. If anything, the apologists try to absolve it from ownership of its actions. It was always someone else's fault. It was Crowley's, for offering the deal. It was Deans, for not being there even when Castiel was pushing him away with both hands. It was Sam's fault for... well, for being Sam.
I find it wrong...
