Team Free Will vs. The Agents of Fate: Romantic Liberty in Supernatural

 'Tis to be a slave in soul
And to hold no strong controul
Over your own wills, but be
All that others make of ye.

 - The Mask of Anarchy; Percy Bysshe Shelley

Eternal Spirit of the chainless Mind!
Brightest in dungeons, Liberty! thou art,
For there thy habitation is the heart—
The heart which love of thee alone can bind;
And when thy sons to fetters are consign'd—
To fetters and damp vault's dayless gloom,
Their country conquers with their martyrdom.

- Prisoner of Chillon; Lord Byron

The spirit of Romanticism is the spirit of liberty and rebellion.The Romantic Movement was influenced by the French and American Revolutions (mostly the French) and began as a response to the ideas and ideals of the Enlightenment - rationality over imagination and feeling, neoclassicism over medievalism, order above all else. Romantic poets such as Byron, Shelley, Blake, and Wordsworth wrote works that inverted these ideals; works that placed the common man in a position above that of the aristocracy, the pastoral above industry, and emotion over reason. They sought to not only bring about political change but also social change.

They rebelled.

This anti-establishment theme runs through almost all Romantic texts, whether they are intentional or not. This same theme runs through Supernatural.

 After three seasons of vampires, werewolves, ghosts, and urban legends, the writers and producers of Supernatural began to incorporate elements of Christian mythology into the show's narrative. From then on it kind of stopped being just about two brothers hunting monsters and more about two brothers dealing with cosmic showdowns and metaphysical-existential crises while hunting monsters.

In season four Dean and Sam are given orders from Heaven to save some holy locks from breaking and unleashing Lucifer onto the world and they grudgingly follow them because it's sort of Dean's fault and, well, they don't want the world to end.

Except that's exactly what the angels want. It was all just one giant ploy to get the boys to do their bidding and jump start the Apocalypse.

The boys fail to stop Lucifer from rising and in the beginning of season five learn that it's their destiny to be the earthly vessels for him and the archangel Michael. It will be their bodies standing on the field of Armageddon, bringing about the End of Days as one kills the other. Needless to say, Sam and Dean aren't on board with that game plan and decide to jump ship with Bobby (Jim Beaver) and their angel-buddy Castiel (Misha Collins).

The thing is, what they're doing here isn't just an attempt to choose their own destinies and save the world. They're rebelling.

Go Team Free Will!

Basically, it goes like this: God/Host of Heaven = The Ultimate Establishment.
Even Michael acknowledges this idea when he tells Dean, "You can't fight City Hall" (5x13).

This idea is not only presented in what the angels say and do but also how they're presented. With the exception of a handful, the angels are shown wearing business suits, appearing to the audience as looking more like corporate goons rather than warriors of God. And what is a better modern symbol of the establishment than corporation?

Don't those outfits just scream "The Man"?

Meanwhile, the spaces the angels construct also present us with a sense of their being members of the establishment; although it's done so in a way that even Byron or Blake would recognize.

Dean looking out of place in the Green Room

This space created by angels at moments looks like it could be a part of the Palace of Versailles (a symbol of the French establishment) and at others like it could be some cut off corner of the Greek and Roman gallery at the MET. This room is opulence and luxury. It is representative of aristocracy. The angels don't care about people; they care about their own agendas.

Sound familiar?

 Nevertheless, we must remember that the French Revolution ultimately failed as the French ventured into imperialism with Napoleon. Team Free Will's revolution fails too. Sort of.
Sure, they stop the Apocalypse, throw Lucifer (and Michael) back into the cage, and save the world; but they do it a tremendous cost. They lose friends and a newly found half-brother and Sam falls into the pit with Lucifer only to come back broken and souless. By converting Castiel into a believer in liberty they introduce free will into the Host of Heaven and inspire him to revolutionize it from within, turning him into a Satanic/Promethean figure (that's another post right there).

At the end of the Apocalypse story-arc, we find Dean alone and angry. Angry enough to go after God because his rebellion hasn't ended the way he hoped it would.  

Dean: He brought you back, but what about Sam? What about me, huh? Where's my grand prize? All I got is my brother in a hole! 
Castiel: You got what you asked for, Dean. No paradise. No Hell. Just more of the same. I mean it, Dean. What would you rather have - peace or freedom? (5x22)

 There is a sense that these characters can only have one or the other and never both at once, at least not while they're alive and certainly not until their job is done. Any hardcore fan can tell you that we don't expect this show to have a happy ending wrapped up in a bow with the boys living long carefree lives. I think we've known this since Kansas' "Carry On My Wayward Son" was heard in season one (it's been used in almost every season finale since). Like Shelley's Laon and Cynthia they initiate a revolution and, like Laon and Cynthia, they probably won't live to experience the new world they'll shape.

That wasn't too ominous, was it?