Watching AHBL II this morning, I was struck by how note-perfect Jensen is in the scene where he talks to dead!Sam. (Well, every scene, but that one in particular.)

Every once in a while Jared still takes a bite out of the scenery (like playing Lucifer in The End) but Jensen there is absolutely nothing but grieving brother and desperate man. He just completely goes away and lets the character shine so naturally.

Aaaand there's my gush quotient for the day.

It was heaven's plan to have him kickstart the apocalypse by breaking in hell, yes? So a demon shouldn't have had any reason to particularly want him there sooner.

As said, Hell was working toward that end too thanks to Lucifer's marching orders to Azazel. And by the time of Dean's deal, they'd had almost a subjective century to work on John and were getting nowhere.

almost a subjective century to work on John and were getting nowhere.

Oh John. BAMF.

Now that I think about it, one thing I don't get is how easily demons like Crowley (at least prior to the power boost taking over gave him) and his minions are traveling back and forth between Hell and earth. Didn't Meg and Ruby both state that it was really difficult for demons to get out on their own, hence the reason for the big devil's gate at the end of Season 2?

Did we know that Crowley was going back to Hell inbetween appearances?

But Crowley was a cross roads demon. I think that they are supposed to be able to travel more easily. They were like Lucifer's salesmen.

Right, because cross roads demons would have to be able to cross over every time they were summoned.

I had assumed that Crowley was living in the house we saw him in (he wasn't on the run from Luci yet, was he?) and that crossroads demons were apparating in from somewhere else on earth.

Crowley mentioned that he now has "the mojo." Whether that's because he's "king of hell" or there's another angle I suppose we'll find out. Or not.

I had assumed that Crowley was living in the house

I thought they'd burned down his house and ate his tailor. IIRC.

Chorus to Amy's verse: We've been marathoning Dark Angel (H had never seen it and has recently become an anime fan. Seemed like a logical step). Alec has a lot of boyish tics and mannerisms, but every now and then, especially in a two-scene, or in the scene with Joshua and Max, he hits that perfect emotional chord with merely a facial expression, or posture.

Gathering and honing his craft, if he stays in front of the camera, he'll have a damn bouquet of Oscars and Emmys by the time he hits 50.

And to give him his due, I give JP props for his torqued-down emotionless Sam this season. Gotta be hard not to go for the bitchface or the puppy eyes on cue, to be recognizably Sam, but so utterly empty at the same time.