Why are you ascribing meta to the characters, though? Why attribute less than mortal intent to Crowley or Samuel? Sure, you don't feel they're going to die (not that I think this is special--we wondered how Magnum would escape the bad guys, not if--it's pretty typical of headliners in all shows--Buffy, Angel, whatever--I don't get why SPN suddenly seems to be a victim), but Dean fights like his life depended on it, or he wouldn't fight at all. He wasn't fighting those ghouls or whatever to save the world, or even his brother. He was fighting to stay alive. It was right there in the story onscreen.

I mean, do you really think Crowley didn't mean his orders to kill them? Samuel didn't believe Crowley's intent?

it's been shown that Dean and Sam are going to live through, so far, anything. I used to fear for them

Did you really ever think one of them was going to die and stay dead while the show continued? Do you think Damon or Stefan or Elena will kick the bucket any time soon on TVD, or Olivia on Fringe, or whoever on whatever? What changed for you, and how? It's always been about the emotional price for their actions, not the mortal one. Like Joss and Buffy after The Gift. He knew we knew she was coming back. That was never a question. It was about how, and at what cost.

If you feel the cost is trite or the risk trivial, again, that's your lack of connection to the story. But to say Crowley doesn't intend the boys to really die when he orders their death--that's projecting all sorts of meta into places I don't think is applicable.

There's emotional response to the show, which you say you're lacking, but then there's also canon. And those two things are independent of each other. I'm just saying Crowley ordered them executed, and Samuel delivered them up for it, and the intent was no less capital than when Roy or Walt pulled the trigger. I don't get why it would be.

Sampa doesn't know Sam and Dean headline a weekly show, and I saying he's buying into their myth is giving him excuses he hasn't earned. He didn't think it would stick this time?

One thing that disturbs me is that while Samuel shouldn't be thinking of the boys as having script immunity, he (and Crowley, and Meg) have been getting pretty blasé about the fact that they have a literal angel at their beck and call. Something that can be briefly warded against but not actually killed by any mortal or infernal agency, can do pretty much anything it wants within limits only relative to other celestial beings, and has shown a willingness to rebel against Heaven's orders on Dean's (and maybe Sam's) behalf. Was Samuel planning to keep one of those angel-repellent sigils fresh and nearby for the rest of his life if he succeeded in getting his grandsons killed?

I liked it better in Season 4 when Ruby was clearly terrified of Castiel and taking great pains to avoid even being in the same location, nevermind glibly taunting him in face-to-face confrontations.

I buy Samuel being that unhinged (because, seriously, the bit where you decide to kill your grandsons means you've taken leave of a lot), and Crowley thinking he's king of Hell and he's worked with him before (although clearly a wrong assumption). Meg? No, she should be acting more like Ruby. She was more afraid of Crowley than of Castiel. Tongue-kissing aside, honey, no.

Crowley being subject to the Peter Principle makes me chuckle. But is Meg in charge now? Oy.

Meg might be a little more wary of Castiel now, kiss or no kiss, that she saw how he dispatched Crowley, though.

Did Cas get his angel sword back? I can't remember if we saw that, or what she did with it after slicing up the hell hounds.

I don't think we saw it again - but I can't imagine he just let it go.

Also, maybe some of the angelphobia has left the demon population - now that everything is in chaos. Where is the respect? And didn't Castiel lose some of his mojo? Perhaps not everyone knows that he's back.

And didn't Castiel lose some of his mojo? Perhaps not everyone knows that he's back.

It's been over a year (Dean said they'd been working for Crowley for months--I wonder if that means they skipped ahead a bunch), and he got an upgrade and promotion. Word should be out. Crowley would know, at least.

He knew about the civil war with Raphael (rogue angels telling tales as they flee the war and go to ground?), so I would assume he knows about Cas' increased pay grade as well.

Crowley knew that Castiel's side isn't doing well in the battle, so he had an informant somewhere.

Maybe this is the first time they've seen Castiel since they started working for Crowley--supposably months--and Crowley figured he's not really that concerned with Winchester shit anymore. Especially if you know how badly stuff's going.

I hope the boys can help him out somehow even if it's just legwork on Earth. Cas can look everywhere real fast, but Sam and Dean can work out where stuff is.

Space promo

Space sneak peek.

They're both 30s--the first one cuts together many scenes and is basically the promo we saw with one additional exchange, and the second one is a longer scene of one of the bits in the promo.