Gadreel will just always be one of my favourite side characters hands down. Because ultimately, much like Dean – which is why he is so fitting to Dean and probably also why he answered Dean’s prayer the way he did – he is all abou one thing: love. Gadreel has a lot to make up for. He let the serpent befall the Garden and he spent an eternity in Heaven’s jail. And if we trust his story – and I do think he is sincere – he didn’t know what he was doing, but he wanted to “set humanity free”. Because he loved humanity and he wanted for Adam and Eve in this case make it possible to love too.
I have written a lot about Gadreel in relation to Dean’s arc and the expulsion of Eden in relation to Dean’s fall from humanity, but essentially it’s moments like this one that drive the point home. Gadreel is vulnerable to love. It is one of the emotions he apparently feels strongly about and values deeply, which is why he emphasizes that he said yes because of Dean’s ability to love. It makes me sad every damn time that Gadreel, who always wanted to do right and tried to make up for his mistakes by helping a human, he somehow repeated all of his mistakes and helped along another time with humanity’s fall…
In a conservative family, this is the last person you want to be, but someone had to do it, so he stepped up to the plate. At best, he’s the one who gets the “We still love you, we just don’t approve of your lifestyle” talk from older relatives, the homophobic jokes from younger relatives, and has probably been banned from family gatherings at least once. Is bullied in one way or another by literally his entire family, yet paradoxically probably the only decent person there.
2. The family disappointment:
If there’s anyone who gives the gay cousin a run for his money, this guy’s it. He was probably at some point his parents favorite golden child, probably their first born. The bar was as high as their expectations of him, and he missed both by a solid mile. Is now the black sheep who shows up drunk to Christmas dinner.
3. The overachiever:
When the family disappointment fell from grace, someone had to rise to the occasion, and boy, did he ever: Ivy-league college? Check. Sports scholarship? Check. High-paying job before he even graduates? Check, check, check. He’s the pride and joy of older relatives and the standard by which younger relatives are compared. But beware: all that pressure can easily go to your head, and sooner or later, he might fall just like the family disappointment did.
4. The “funny one:”
This guy’s the Chandler Bing of his own family: he tells jokes to diffuse tense situations, to convey messages, and to cope, probably to the point where it gets a little annoying to everyone around him. At the end of the day, though, he just wants a little bit of peace and quiet and a happy family, though he rarely gets either.
5. The cool uncle:
He’s the one that let you stay up late and eat junkfood when you stayed at his house, probably your favorite adult relative. Generally gave zero fucks, and is probably looked down on by everyone else, for his promiscuity, drunkenness, or both.
6. The creepy uncle:
Yes, he’s probably a cool enough guy, but you definitely wouldn’t get in a van with him. The guy just gives off some weird vibes, has at least at some point been up to no good, and isn’t above using younger relatives as pawns in his schemes.
7. The vodka aunt:
Nothing is above her: she’s weird, she’s inappropriate, she WILL get drunk and start sexually harassing your boyfriend. Her skills include holding grudges, ruining self-esteems, and making Thanksgiving dinners super awkward, but everyone’s too scared of her to tell her off.
8. The overwhelmed single dad:
He’s supposed to be all-powerful and wise, but something tells you he has no idea what he’s doing. He’s known for playing favorites, over-extreme punishments, and avoiding his problems, but you can see that he’s doing his best – after all, since he invented parenting, he’s literally making it up as he goes along.
I love this. Can I add a few?
9. The rebel:
Every family’s got one. She’s the daughter who took off young to live on her own because she “didn’t need suffocating parents.” She did every rebellious thing that made her parents cringe, from tattoos and piercings to the bad-boy boyfriend (or maybe girlfriend). There’s a good chance she’s pregnant in her teens but you know what, she makes it work. Busts her ass and makes a life for herself even if she did have to learn every life lesson the hard way.
10. The soccer mom aunt:
This lady is the boss and lets everyone know it. Her kids are perfect, her house is perfect, her hair and clothes and job are prefect. She organizes every family gathering and God forbid if you show up late or bring store bought potato salad instead of homemade like you were told. But look a little deeper and this one is a little off the rails. She’s manipulative and her kids are so over worked and stressed out from her head-games they all suffer with anxiety and she’s probably secretly addicted to seven different kinds of mother’s little helpers.
11: The Family Secret:
Everyone knows that there is a cousin in jail somewhere but not one really talks about him. Only a few people know why he’s actually incarcerated and most of you haven’t even met him he’s been away so long.
12: The peacekeeper:
She’s the one who steps in when the drunk uncle or soccer mom aunt or rebel start going at it. She keeps a cool head and talks everyone down from the ledge when Thanksgiving dinner is about to become World War III. She’s sweet and always has goodies so the kids follow her around like the Pied Piper. BFF with the gay cousin.
I’ve written about this before. Briefly. Now, partially in response to this post, I’m writing about it again.
Let’s begin with a disclaimer. I certainly am not a professional or a student of the art of television storytelling. That said, I seem to have developed a sixth sense about S9 so far, calling twists miles ahead to the point where I was disappointed to be right, and as such, I’m willing to bite the bullet and actually write this out in a proper form.
There’s something very fishy about Metatron’s choice for his second-in-command.
It looks pretty plain and obvious at first: much like Castiel, Gadreel is an angel who is desperately looking for a path to redemption, a way out of the crushing weight of guilt; something that could pay back for the sins he’s committed. In his own words, Gadreel wishes to be a hero. Much like Castiel, he has a solid mind for tactics and can manipulate his way into and out of things with relative ease, having little trouble finding the weak spots in others to make them see things his way. And exactly like Castiel, he is a very naive, gullible thing – an oldfashioned angel, surprisingly childish for someone who was locked up and tortured for thousands of years (did I say he’s pretty similar to Castiel yet? Because, hey, Castiel was tortured too. Naomi, while being a whole other kind of a torturer than Thaddeus, was still a torturer.)
So, obviously Metatron would go for him. Except that… Metatron really, really, really would not. Out of all angels, Gadreel is the one he hates the absolute most. Huh? Why? Well, simply put, he’s pretty much said it himself.
I’m bringing this back to note that after 9×18, Metatron has already rendered it next to impossible for Gadreel to ever achieve redemption in the eyes of the other angels. At this stage Gadreel has aligned himself with the very reason the angels fell, the dictator seeking to establish his own heaven where only those qualified by him shall enter, and cemented this in blood of tens of his brothers and sisters. Because capital punishment remains the one universal law in storytelling justice, the only way he can ever pay this debt off at all now requires his own death as a payment.
Well played, Metatron. Well played.
It has also become clear, likely to Gadreel himself as well, that Metatron never had any intentions to raise him in any status in this new Heaven. His only duty is to do the dirty work and then he’ll be discarded like the trash Metatron views him as.
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