Chuck ret-conning the past seasons of the show

[Shurley]

Spoilers for the 2nd episode of S15!!!

Dean and Castiel's heated discussion about choice versus force (similarly seen in Angel S4) made me think about the past and what I found was actually positive, which ret-conning rarely is.

It has never been explained why/how Sam wound up back from the cage without his soul. We know that Castiel grabbed him from Hell and raised him back to earth, but he also vehemently denied bringing him back soulless on purpose and admits to not knowing how it came to be. Now, in retrospect, one can say that Chuck made sure the soul stayed in the cage so that the story went the way he wanted it to.

What other examples similar to this can you think of, and what do you think of my example?

 

[Death]

It's also the Angels not getting Dean out of Hell until he had broken the first seal.

 

[SwanSong]

What does ret con mean?

Was Chuck involved that much until he picked them out as faves? They still had free will yes? Including Angels?

 

[Shurley]

What does ret con mean?

Ret con is when an event or something happens that can't according to canon. Like Life Serial in BtVS, Buffy saying that her mom put her in a mental institution is ret-conning, because when Joyce found out about Buffy's secret in Becoming she showed no knowledge of having ever heard of the Slayer or Vampires before.

On SPN, a minor example is an episode of S9 where Sam remembers a story of a trip he, Dean and John took to the Grand Canyon, but that's a ret-con because in an earlier season Dean mentions that they've never been to the Grand Canyon. Stuff like that.

It's why a Show Bible is so important the longer a series goes on