Meta: As of 9.10, is Gadreel a good guy or bad guy?

[caranfindel]

I'm still unsure how I'm supposed to feel about Gadreel. Spoilery for 9.10.

I do believe he had good intentions when he possessed Sam. He used up his own energy to save Cas and Charlie, when he could have saved it to heal himself. And the fact that Sam is mostly healed at the end of 9.10 indicates that he's been doing some work while he was in there (although it could have simply been a plan to get that tasty meatsuit for himself).

So, let's look at Gadreel's good and bad side:

Good

• Healed Sam


• Saved Dean


• Resurrected Castiel


• Resurrected Charlie


• Put Sam in a dream instead of letting him experience possession and torture

Bad

• Let Lucifer into the Garden (truly bad or just tricked/misled/naive?)


• Coerced Dean into kicking Castiel out of the bunker


• Lied to Dean


• Killed Kevin


• Killed Abner


• Stole the Impala


• Refused to leave Sam

Gadreel also has many Sam-like qualities

• Followed the wrong person. And unlike Sam, he didn't have someone he should have trusted telling him not to.


• Did the wrong things for what he believed were the right reasons. Yes, it's horrible that he killed Kevin and Abner (Thaddeus, not so much). But he thought he was saving his people. If I can forgive Sam for killing Cindy the nurse, why can't I forgive Gadreel?


• Didn't question the one who encouraged him to distrust/abandon those he trusted most.

Just a few hours until 9.11, so things may be more black and white after that. But for now, I love that Gadreel is such a gray area for me. What do you think?

Comments

[cuddyclothes.livejournal.com]

Since Sam was meant to be a powerful vessel, Gadreel probably thought he could stay in Sam as long as he wanted. My own bit of puzzlement is that why Sam seemed to be getting worse rather than better while Gadreel was inside.

Gadreel strikes me as conflicted. He seems a bit dumber that a lot of other angels. They're adjusting all over the place to being in human vessels. I'm guessing Gadreel thought everything was under control until Metatron showed up. If Castiel (who is way more savvy) got played by Metatron, why not Gadreel? He's been locked up since the dawn of time, so he has not been able to observe human behavior. Or angel behavior, for that matter. He was truly conflicted about Kevin and Abner. He demands of Metatron how many more must he kill. And Metratron says, yeah, walk away, everyone thinks you're a dumbass.

I'll be interested in how Gadreel behaves now that he's in a hot new vessel.

ETA: With Buddy Boyle, we were given a pretty gross example of what happens when an angel chooses the wrong vessel!