User:Ophois/anna

Anna Milton
Supernatural character
First appearance	"I Know What You Did Last Summer"
Last appearance	"The Song Remains the Same"
Portrayed by	Julie McNiven
Abilities	Human possession Invulnerability Teleportation Telekinesis Dream manipulation Time manipulation
In-universe information
Species	Angel
Gender	Female

Anna Milton is a fictional character portrayed by Julie McNiven on The CW Television Network's drama and horror television series Supernatural. Introduced in the fourth season as a mental patient sought by both demons and angels for her ability to hear Heaven's communications, she is eventually revealed as an angel herself who took human form out of a desire for human emotions. She assists series protagonists Sam and Dean Winchester after returning to her angelic form, but attempts to erase them from existence in the fifth season to avert the apocalypse. McNiven was unaware during her audition that she would be revealed as an angel, but felt that Anna learning the truth gave the character strength. In her opinion, Anna did what she believed was best for humanity, even if her decisions were hasty. Although McNiven received general praise for her debut and chemistry with actor Jensen Ackles, who portrays Dean, critics thought that the character lacked direction in her later appearances and questioned her ultimate betrayal.

Plot

Misdiagnosed with schizophrenia, Anna Milton is involuntarily committed to a psychiatric hospital. Demons attempt to capture her in "I Know What You Did Last Summer" when they realize that the voices in her head are actually communications between angels, but she escapes from the hospital after unwittingly defending herself with telekinesis. Series protagonists Sam Winchester and Dean Winchester—hunters of supernatural creatures—are later informed about Anna by their demonic ally Ruby. The Winchesters help protect her from both the powerful demon Alastair and the angels Castiel and Uriel. As revealed in "Heaven and Hell", Heaven has ordered Anna's death because demons could take advantage of her ability. Hypnosis helps her to remember that she used to be an angel in command of Castiel and Uriel. Desiring to feel human emotions, she had removed her "grace" and was reborn as a human to the Miltons. Anna also reveals to Dean in private that she knows what he did while in Hell and that he should forgive himself. After sharing a kiss, they make love in his Impala. Dean is visited in a dream by Uriel, who reveals that he has Anna's grace. Dean feigns surrender and provides Uriel with their location, as does Ruby with Alastair. The angels and demons attack each other, allowing Anna to steal back her grace from a distracted Uriel. She then vanishes in a flash of light as she is restored to her angelic form.

Now requiring a human vessel to return to Earth, a sentimental Anna "[calls] in some old favors" to have her human body restored. She eventually returns in "On the Head of a Pin", and tries to dissuade Castiel from forcing Dean to torture Alastair for information about recent killings of angels. Though he rebukes her for still being a fugitive of Heaven, Castiel later asks for advice when he begins to have doubts about his cause. Anna tells him that he has to learn to think for himself. When Uriel is ultimately revealed as a Lucifer loyalist responsible for the angel deaths, he attacks Castiel upon rejection of his offer to join him. To save Castiel, Anna fatally stabs Uriel in the neck with an angel blade. In "The Rapture", angels strip Castiel from his human vessel and force him back to Heaven after he tries to tell Dean something important that he learned. Anna briefly appears to urge the Winchesters to find Castiel's now-missing vessel to find out what he knows. A seemingly brainwashed Castiel later betrays Anna to the angels in "When the Levee Breaks". They imprison her in Heaven's dungeons and torture her for her disobedience.

She eventually reappears in the fifth season episode "The Song Remains the Same", now intent on killing Sam so that the recently-freed Lucifer will not be able to use him as his true vessel. Scattering Sam's cells across the universe will prevent the angels from resurrecting him. Although a mentally-restored Castiel accuses her of having been re-converted to serving Heaven, Anna insists that she broke out of her prison and is acting alone. Realizing that she cannot kill Sam in the present due to Castiel's protection, Anna goes back in time to erase Sam and Dean from existence. Anna fails in her first attempt to kill their parents, and tricks the past Uriel into helping her after Sam and Dean arrive from the future. Although Anna succeeds in killing Sam, the archangel Michael restores him to life after incinerating her.

Characterization

"A lot of people were upset because she was being really selfish, but that's part of the story—she was being selfish! She wanted chocolate cake! She wanted to have sex! She wanted to feel love! You can see it as being selfish or you can see it as her just wanting to be human."

— Julie McNiven on Anna's desire to be human

Initially described to the press as "a haunted girl who, for mysterious reasons, is able to hear the secret conversations of angels in her head", Anna is eventually revealed as an angel who willingly fell from Heaven out of a "longing for the imperfection of humans". In Executive Producer Robert Singer's opinion, angels lack the human emotions that people "take for granted"—such as love, joy, and being hurt—because they "have to be perfect". Actress Julie McNiven, on the other hand, felt that angels have the potential for emotions—both she and actor Misha Collins agreed that "there's something more there [between Anna and Castiel] than just being co-workers"—but are forced to suppress them by the militant atmosphere of Heaven. By becoming human, Anna overcame these constraints and fulfilled her desire to "feel things with free will".

McNiven only "felt weak" in the role of Anna when she was a "confused mental patient" whose "whole life just completely fell to pieces", with the character becoming "very strong" upon discovering the truth. Regarding the character "totally [turning] a 180", the actress elaborated that "it's not like she forgets that her parents are dead, it's just that she realizes that there's something more, that there's really no time to sit around and be vulnerable about her parents and her life". Deciding to return to her angelic form is a "big struggle" for the character, but McNiven believed that the restored Anna eventually "found a middle ground" because being on the run allowed her to make her own choices and thus feel human.

The actress admitted that Anna makes "hasty decisions", but felt that the character is "always trying to do what she thinks is right" for the good of humanity. Although series writer Sera Gamble described Heaven's prison as a "terrible, terrible Bible camp" in which angels are "brainwashed back to the side of [Heaven]", McNiven instead saw Anna's actions in the fifth season as being "motivated by what she believes to be the only solution to [the] Apocalypse". The character is "very strong about [her convictions]" and thus "doesn't want to hear anything otherwise".

Development

Julie McNiven was initially unaware of the character's angelic nature.

Production envisioned Anna as "this one beautiful, frightened girl", and series creator Eric Kripke felt that McNiven "blew [them] away with how likeable, vulnerable, and intelligent she made [her]". The actress auditioned for the role of a mental patient, unaware of the character's angelic nature, and only learned the truth when later asked to read scenes from "Heaven and Hell". Considering herself to still be in the early stages of her career, McNiven felt like she "could really bite into [the] role", and was especially pleased that her two-part debut provided the character with "an arc with a beginning, middle and an end".

To aid McNiven in her portrayal of a mental patient, production gave her a helpful "Girl, Interrupted critique". Knowledge of Anna's angelic origins did not influence her performance in "I Know What You Did Last Summer" because she saw the character as someone who "truly is innocent". McNiven instead approached Anna by envisioning the traumatic experience that the character goes through, with the "power of knowing that she's not crazy" strengthening her.

The writers intended for Anna to appear in the fifth season episode "Good God, Y'All", but ultimately had to cut her storyline for time. The character instead makes her final appearance later in the season in "The Song Remains the Same". McNiven found the visual effects of Anna's incineration "just really cool". Describing Anna's "big CGI'ed Grace explosion" in the episode "Heaven and Hell" as her "first bookend", the actress felt like she was "being CGI'ed again in a slightly different way to end with a bookend there". Despite the character's death, McNiven expressed a desire to later return to the series.

According to McNiven, Anna's true angelic form is that of Anael, ruler of the second Heaven and of Thursdays in angelic lore. Kate Lloyd of The Official Supernatural Magazine noted that the character shares her surname with John Milton, author of the epic poem Paradise Lost.

Reception

Diana Steenbergen of IGN thought McNiven did an "excellent job" as Anna in "I Know What You Did Last Summer", finding the character "sympathetic immediately". She "sincerely [hoped]" that the actress would continue the role past "Heaven and Hell". Tina Charles of TV Guide "especially loved" Anna's introduction to the show, having recognized McNiven from her appearances on the series Mad Men. Steenbergen and Charles agreed with The San Diego Union-Tribune's Karla Peterson that McNiven shared a "low-key, sympathetic chemistry that worked beautifully" with actor Jensen Ackles, who plays Dean. Steenbergen and Peterson, however, felt that their love scenes did not reflect this chemistry, with the former finding that the "scene itself seems forced" and the latter describing it as "just strange".

Although Steenbgern enjoyed Anna's brief appearance in "The Rapture", she noted that the character "didn't add anything that furthered the storyline". Peterson and Charles likewise were confused by Anna's actions throughout the rest of the season. When Anna is captured by the angels in "When the Levee Breaks", Peterson commented that "if...she is out of the picture, you will hear no complaints from me". She ultimately described McNiven's casting as "weak".

When Anna returns in "The Song Remains the Same", however, Peterson loved the "serious angel smackdown" that featured the "seriously pumped-up Anna". Anna's death disappointed her because she felt that McNiven started "really, really growing on us". Charles, on the other hand, described Castiel's intent to kill Anna as "a plan I can get behind" because she was threatening the Winchesters. Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club found it "nice to have Anna back", but called her "bizarrely random" because "it's hard to read what her character actually wants anymore". The lack of "some sense of what made her change sides" made her "too much a generic foe". Handlen described her death as a "waste of a character who, if not at a [Castiel] level of cool, had some potential", and thought that the writers killed her to "[clean] up loose ends". Although Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune liked Anna in the fourth season, she criticized the character in "The Song Remains the Same" for "wasting time and randomly throwing [the Winchesters] around" rather than quickly killing them. In her opinion, Anna's final appearance merely served as a "plot device to put other things in motion".

Contrary to critical reception, McNiven believed that people did not initially like the character—notably because they "maybe didn't like the idea that an angel could fall" and saw her as "really selfish"—but over time saw her as a "strong female power character". Fans voted the actress "Best Female Guest Star" in The Official Supernatural Magazine's 2009 Supernatural Awards, which bolstered her belief.

References

Bibliography

1. Knight, Nicholas (June/July 2010). "Rogue Angel". Supernatural Magazine (17). Titan Magazines. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
2. Knight, Nicholas (2010). Supernatural: The Official Companion Season 4. Titan Books. ISBN 1-84856-738-3.
3. Nelson, Jayne (June/July 2009). "Fall from Grace". Supernatural Magazine (10). Titan Magazines. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

Footnotes