"It was all a test!" was a little too similar to the end of "In the Beginning,"

Seems in line with God's fucked-upness re: Job (it was a bet! With Satan! Sorry we ruined your entire live and killed everyone you loved. P.S. I won the bet, thanks dude) and Jacob? being asked to sacrifice Isaac? (or whatever their names were) ("just checking, kill this lamb instead!")(I'm sure I'm remembering it wrong).

I didn't think Sam was going to be able to defeat the demon and so was yelling at Dean to grab the knife and gank him while he was distracted with Sam.

So creepy that Uriel wanted to follow their fake orders and nuke the town.

Huh. I liked it. I liked that Castiel didn't telegraph his doubt. Or his hopes. I like that Uriel is a bit of a jerk. I like that Castiel and Uriel may not see eye to eye. Yummy story goodness! The MOTW story was just meh to me.

And Dean trying to talk Sam into not losing faith. For a dick, he always has been a pretty great brother. Not only that, but when will Dean stop protecting Sam from knowing things?!? Dean remembers hell. Tell Sam about it already.

Uriel's a dick. I've seen demons on SPN I liked better. Hell, Ruby comes to mind.

Oh, how I long for the conversation between Sam and Dean about Dean's time in hell, which he CLEARLY remembers. Lying liar who lies. But understandably so.

THIS. When he saw the mask in the art room, and heard the pained moaning? ::shudders::

Huh. I liked it. I liked that Castiel didn't telegraph his doubt. Or his hopes. I like that Uriel is a bit of a jerk.

Oh, I liked it very much! Don't misunderstand me! But I think Show can only pull that last-minute "we were only fooling!" so many times, you know? Any show, really.

Oh, I agree it makes for good drama. I love characters I can dislike and resent. Makes up for all those real-life *people* I have to be nice to, to be able to heartily hate some fictional character.

I didn't think Dean was protecting Sam from knowledge, I thought Castiel warned him against sharing the information. I could be remembering it wrong.

When he saw the mask in the art room, and heard the pained moaning? ::shudders::

I know, Amy. And Sam's "Remind you of anything?", and Dean's misinterpreting it at first...

I thought Castiel warned him against sharing the information.

Like he was telling Dean not to tell anyone he had doubts? I could definitely have missed that and that would shed a little bit different light on things.

All I know after this episode is that I am still worried for the boys. I didn't know where they were going when Dean was watching Sam during the fight. I kind of thought he was letting him use his powers and in that way trusting him instead of running in and helping Sam. I think it solidified his determination to stand by his brother.

Castiel said not to "tell another soul," which I thought was apt phrasing.

Yes! That was a great setup, and with Uriel's telling Sam to "ask him what he remembers" (and Sam's reaction), I really hoped we'd get that tonight.

After the way Jared talked about filming that scene, I--I kind of am reluctant to see it. If it made *Jared* cry on set, I may have to FF it.