illusivexemissary:

//I’m gonna actually go out on a limb here and say there was one other nuance to the end of “Bring ‘Em Back Alive” (13×18) that I highly appreciated.

The way that Gabriel showed restraint toward Sam and, especially, toward Castiel, when he left. He did not once, not once, raise his voice, or lose his cool, even though it’s incontrovertible that he is still traumatized (physical wounds are only one level of healing, after all). Instead, he hastily removed himself from the situation, while calmly but firmly asserting his personal needs and boundaries.

This is kind of a continuation of my observation of Gabriel’s iconic line “I don’t want to hurt you and you know  that I can” and his continuous trait of avoidance as an act of mercy.

Now, why do I say “especially Castiel”?

Well first of all, I won’t lie. I’m biased. Castiel and Gabriel’s bond as brothers has always been one of my favorite things about SPN. It is a very behind-the-scenes, subtle relationship, but it’s there, perhaps in part because Misha Collins and Richard Speight are such close friends on and off set. They’re also undeniably the most popular of the angels in the long-term SPN cast (with Lucifer as a possible contender).  Cas and Gabe as brothers has so much potential to be explored and developed as an angelic analogue to Sam and Dean, less blatant than the Lucifer and Michael analogue, with the roles in some ways identical and in some ways reversed.

For instance, it was Castiel’s choice to follow Sam and Dean out of the warehouse in “Changing Channels” that hammered home Dean’s words to Gabriel, and convinced Gabriel to become more “hands-on” in the Apocalypse conflict, despite the direct and personal cost to Gabriel’s safety, in “Hammer of the Gods.”   Just look at their faces as Cas stares at Gabe with such disgust, then walks away:

((Also kind of a non-sequitur, but notice how Cas and Gabe have the same exact obvious nose injury, in Changing Channels and The Thing:

Probably a coincidence, but a poetic one)) 

And furthermore, though it was probably not really Gabe, but an illusion conjured by Metatron, who came to convince Castiel to become an angelic leader, Metatron was clever enough to use Castiel’s personal, emotionally significant weaknesses against him and choose a meaningful former mentor of his youth to persuade with maximum efficacy. Castiel openly stated, “I am glad you will be our next leader” to Meta!Gabe, thinking he was real!Gabe.  Castiel admired Gabe when they were both in Heaven, it’s clear.  A relationship between them would be such a funny, plausible  odd-couple dynamic of older and younger sibling.   Even to the extent that Misha realized this, and adlibbed into the script of their parting scene, a hug:

But even beyond  my bias, and the past contextual evidence of their bond, let’s examine the episode.

Gabe had every right to lose his temper with Castiel (but he didn’t).  

1) Because Castiel was the one who suggested force-feeding him Grace to expedite his “recovery,” for one (which I think is tantamount to shitty and ooc writing, meant to make Gabriel’s recovery Winchester (Sam) centric, but that’s another meta for another day).  
2) He even infantilized Gabriel with the “choo-choo” train joke, which may have been meant by the writers as a tension-breaking jibe at Castiel’s usual awkward use of human lingo, but which fell flat and was insulting (and since Gabriel’s “intellect” was “intact” at that point, he heard that deprecating remark).
3) Castiel barely acknowledged that he knew Gabriel, beyond a basic decency and kindness, and only attempted to comfort him when he realized it was “this bad,” after Sam coaxed him to “help me out,” and again sparingly in trying (reluctantly, which seems unlike Castiel, who is ordinarily so ride-or-die about helping others) to heal Gabriel, as well as a perfunctory touch to the shoulder when Gabriel’s abuser Asmodeus is on the phone. Tl;dr Castiel is strangely standoffish with a brother he’s known for eons.  
4) Most significantly, Castiel was the one who, when Gabriel said he was “bouncing,” to go process and further recover, invoked the whole paradigm of “duty to family” (”you don’t get to turn your back on your father’s creation”), potentially triggering Gabriel with motifs of lack of consent/choice over his own body and Grace.

But what did Gabriel do with all this?

Composed himself with his back turned to Castiel.

Turned around slowly, with a carefully composed temper and tone of voice, but one of self-respecting disapproval, too.

And stated, “Castiel,” –none of the usual playful chatter or nicknames, implying great gravity, from one angel to another, things that Sam and other humans might not fully understand, but surely his brother Castiel, an ancient and powerful Seraph, could–”my father turned his back on his creation. Guess it just runs in the family.”   His only remarks are about himself and what he may or may not lack; he does not insult anyone else. He just leaves.  

Without saying anything more spiteful or demeaning, or resorting to violence which he just proved, with Asmodeus, he could easily carry out.  

People are writing reams about how this shows his avoidant nature; how it shows he’s fleeing before Dean, who is known to use force for a Greater Good™, arrives; and all that is valid and true. But I feel like not enough is said about Gabe’s mercy and his restraint here, his politely firm frankness, toward everyone, but also specifically the sibling who stepped into his personal space and, frantic for a fix, worried about the Winchesters, attempted to shame him for establishing needs and boundaries.  He could have been way, way more withering and cruel, and he would have had the right, given what he’s just been through.