Anna

[Spirit Detective]

I just thought her actions in this episode were very unexplained & a total 180 from what we always saw of her in the past.

Seriously, what was she hoping to accomplish? If she knew she would be killed, why even bother to try to stop the Apocalypse? She knew the archangels could time travel whenever they want & resurrect Mary & John in a flash.

She must have flipped. But I didn't really buy that Glenn Close excuse. There has to be a reason for it. The archangels didn't put her up to it since Michael killed her before she succeeded. Was she desperate because she was hoping to succeed so that even if her present self was killed, her past self would live on since the threat of the Apocalypse would be over? But even if that was true, she wasn't thinking about how hopeless it was for her, since the archangels could always go back to the precise moment John & Mary were killed (had she succeeded) & bring them back while killing Anna.

It was a very stupid move on Anna's part. Her best bet for survival & stopping the Apocalypse was joining Cas & the Winchesters.

I don't think Anna knew about the Winchester bloodline, so she wasn't expecting Michael. Given her reaction to Michael, I'm sure she wasn't expecting archangels.

I think Anna snapped. She was already losing it when she found out Sam was drinking demon blood. She knew that the Colt was futile and the search for God was going nowhere. Anna was desperate. Remember, if Sam and Dean don't exist: No fight with Michael to torch half the planet, no Croatoan virus, no Horsemen.

[xrayvision]

I don't think Anna knew about the Winchester bloodline, so she wasn't expecting Michael. Given her reaction to Michael, I'm sure she wasn't expecting archangels.

I think Anna snapped. She was already losing it when she found out Sam was drinking demon blood. She knew that the Colt was futile and the search for God was going nowhere. Anna was desperate. Remember, if Sam and Dean don't exist: No fight with Michael to torch half the planet, no Croatoan virus, no Horsemen.

Even if she didn't know about the bloodline, don't you think she would have heard the buzz about Dean being the Michael sword? It seems like every angel knows that.

I think if anything made her snap it's what was done to her in "prison". But I didn't agree with her statement about no Croatoan virus. We already saw the Croatoan virus as of Croatoan. I don't even thinks she knew what she's talking about. I don't think she knows what causes the Croatoan virus to become an epidemic. Perhaps it becomes an epidemic as a result of one of the Horsemen---maybe there will be one named Pestilence. One who wouldn't be freed had the Apocalypse not started. But that means that the Duane Tanner demon was able to communicate with a sealed Horseman, which may not be possible. Or maybe it's a big bad demon who we have yet to see.

But the part of your comments I bolded--about no battle to torch the Earth--that could be proof that she did know Dean was the Michael sword. Or it could be that Anna didn't know who the intended vessels were & knew that no breaking of the seals meant no battle regardless of who the vessels were.

One thing she should have known though is how gung-ho the angels were to see to it that the showdown took place. That's the very thing she was fighting against last season. And that should have indicated the futility of stopping the Apocalypse---something the angels wanted so bad that she was imprisoned & tortured for it. So from this very fact alone, her best bet would have been to join Dean, Sam & Cas. I wish she did & became an informant of theirs while running away from the other angels.

[TheOriginalKal-el]

Forgive me for being off topic here a bit, but I don't recall when Cas turned Anna in. So, I didn't get all the hostility there. Her 180 degree turn didn't seem natural. Given that she slept with Dean, maybe it's just me but I would have thought her turning against them (or him) might have been a little harder on her?

[Call_Me_Ishmael]

4.21 "When the Levee Breaks" is when Anna made her way, forcefully, back to Heaven, but escaped. And it had to be escaped, because she wants to kill Sam, which of course the angels do not want.

And I would have also liked more development between Dean and Anna instead of her returning to just kill, but, then again, if there isn't a sixth season, Kripke would most likely not want any loose ends, so Anna got snagged.