8x17 ”Goodbye Stranger” // 11x23 “Alpha and Omega”
Reprogamming

Posted as part of the Series “Of Blood, Bone and Darkness”:
A Carver Era Rewatch Hiatus Meta-Series

In S11 it was the first time that Castiel’s and Sam’s arcs were aligned and mirroring or relating to one another and not just Dean’s and Castiel’s arcs. Castiel saying “yes” to Lucifer in this regard could be considered something like a stepping stone to get to the season’s ending, where Toni Bevell waits for Sam (and Dean) in the bunker to bring them in. The entire set up of the european MoL in the season finale as this big organisation pulling the strings, but keeping to themselves and their studies reminds a lot of how Heaven used to steer clear of human life for the most part. The way that Toni from an unkown “elder” gets the order to bring the Winchesters in to “teach them a lesson”, which I suppose one could consider brainwashing into the right behaviour as the MOL want it, reminded me of Naomi trying to reprogramm Cas and when failing to have Castiel kill Dean telling him that “she fixed him”, which I think is probably what the MOL think they do too with bringing the Winchesters in: Fixing them, making them play along the rules. Following all these small parallels it seems clear that the MoL are set up as the antagonist so far. They seem to be the human equivalent for the Winchesters what Naomi was for Heaven. In any case I am curious where this aligment of stories for Sam and Cas will lead. I suppose it makes room for the possibility for them to get to know each other better.