All. The. Pain. Can I be done now? Okay! No? Seriously? I have to explain my sobbing? Really? FINE.This…this episode hurt. It was gorgeously well done and Jensen Ackles deserves ALL (no, really, all of them) the props for directing it.
I’m actually going to talk about Castiel and Crowley first, though, partly because that hurts less. Crowley mourns the loss of his bro and it’s affecting his rule in Hell. Not even contracts and paperwork can make him happy right now. One of his minions even commits suicide as a display of defiance and I’m a little concerned about Crowley’s ability to hold onto his crown at this point.
As a continuation of that, Crowley actually intervenes in a fight and saves Cas’ and Hannah’s (WHY, CROWLEY WHY?? JUST LET HER DIE ALREADY) lives…and feeds (?) Cas the grace of the angel who came after them.
Hannah = Amelia 2.0. That is all.
Okay. I have to talk about Sam and Dean now. Yeah. Right. About that…umm…I’m going to have to get another glass of wine first, okay?
Okay, let’s do this! Oh, dear God did we ever get our dark Dean in this episode. We saw him verbally attack Sam in ways we never would have seen coming and I really had a hard time getting through those parts. All I could really do was applaud Sam’s stoicism. I think he kind of knew what Dean was thinking, due to his own stint without a soul, and his empathy gave him strength to get through it.
Then Dean gets loose. My friend Christine compared Dean’s pursuit of Sam to The Shining and I think that about sums it up: horror with serious psychological leanings. Dean coming after Sam with malicious intent is BASICALLY the worst thing the writers could have possibly done to us and they know it.
Cas saved the day! I can’t possibly tell you how happy that made me! The ritual worked and Dean is (at least for now) himself. The fandom has noted Dean’s hilarious reaction to being splashed in the face with holy water and this time…yeah, this time was lovely. There was almost a look of relief on his face when it didn’t burn him and it was kind of sad and totally perfect!
Apparently some fans are feeling like this was kind of an anticlimatic solution to the plotline, but I disagree. First of all, the intensity was there; it was just emotional, and given that this was a spirit based issue, that makes sense. Second of all, I don’t think this is anywhere near over and I don’t think Dean’s black eyes are gone for good…because that damned mark is still on his arm.
And then there was a redhead. And there were bodies on the ceiling and we are all screaming right now! Seriously, bodies on the ceiling? WHEN IS THAT EVER GOOD IN Supernatural? See you next time folks…
writingnanny 
Can I just say very quickly how proud I am of our Sammy this season? He has really stepped up and will obviously stop at nothing to save his brother, and I am SO happy to finally see this side of Sam again. Now I’m just crossing my fingers we get some of the much needed “brotherly feels” that have been so sparse since season 5!
And onto other things… I’m slightly nervous where Crowley is concerned, just because he is obviously up to something. He wouldn’t have healed Cas just out of the goodness of his heart (something the King of Hell just doesn’t DO), so we know he has plans…and Crowley’s plans are never good–as we found out the hard way in the season 9 finale. He *is* slightly off his game as of late, due to his recent human blood addiction and subsequent “humanity aftershocks”, but I don’t think that he should be underestimated–though, like you, I am concerned about another demon taking up Abaddon’s fight for the crown down there in hell! (Perhaps that’s where our newest red-headed psycho comes into play?) But my biggest concern with Crowley is that it’s not exactly good news that he is currently in possession of the First Blade, given that our newly “un-demonized” Dean STILL has that damn MoC. Cas is right and we have solved one problem just to suit up for another. We already know that the Mark forces Dean to have to kill AND we also know that a mere human body cannot sustain the Mark’s power indefinitely. I definitely see trouble in our future, and in the words Creedence Clearwater Revival: There’s a bad moon on the rise!
Seriously, huge props to Sammy! And yeeeah…our list of problems really has not gotten any shorter at all.
…OMG AND I COMPLETELY FORGOT ABOUT COLE! Damn…
Oh it SO hasn’t. Oh yeah. COLE. Oh boy….