Oh, as usual, dear!

Love his song choice.

I still find it very weird that Mother of All was able to take by force the souls of anyone infected by her assorted children, given that demons only seemed able to claim people who deliberately made deals.

So Cas' regrettable things has been allying with Crowley, hunting down the supernaturals, doing the thing involving nuclear powered souls in order to defeat Raphael? It's fucked up and bigger-picture. I like.

It actually makes me feel better about how easily he supposedly found Crowley's bones.

demons only seemed able to claim people who deliberately made deals.

Well, if Eve is older than angels, she's definitely older than demons.

ION: CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, but even Lucifer apparently had to talk people into giving in to him. Is it possible Mother of All wasn't something created by God at all, but rather a somewhat similar sort of thing that horned in on His creation once it was established?

It actually makes me feel better about how easily he supposedly found Crowley's bones.

I never had a problem with that - as a celestial being that can go anywhere (or anywhen) and do almost anything that seemed well within his capabilities to me (as did zapping Crowley like a mosquito). But it is very interesting that the whole monster roundup/search for Purgatory was apparently his doing in the first place. So apparently his actions in "Caged Heat" were all to get Meg off Crowley's scent once she'd joined forces with the Winchesters and he lacked the option of kawhooshing her safely out of their sight...

So apparently his actions in "Caged Heat" were all to get Meg off Crowley's scent once she'd joined forces with the Winchesters and he lacked the option of kawhooshing her safely out of their sight...

Oooh... I'll have to rewatch that ep.

Now I'm wondering if that WTF kiss in Crowley's dungeon was a kiss-of-death type deal, and Cas was somehow booby trapping her to blow up later.

In this scenario Dean is totally the oblivious Mafia kingpin's wife, isn't he?

I have to say, I'm actually a little surprised at Sam and Bobby for being so easily able to think Cas capable of being deceitful about Crowley's demise. On the other hand, it nicely highlighted Dean's giving Cas the benefit of the doubt as his first reaction, especially after being a dick to Cas/smack-talking him all ep.

Other thoughts: Cas in handcuffs, unf. And, I'm sorry, but Mary!Eve on Dean's back, unf.

And, wow, seeing Samantha Smith play Eve really showcased how bland and awful Julia Maxwell is.

Promos have my heart breaking.

Also, more Cas/Bobby scenes are made of win. Hope we have more, and wish we'd had more this season.

eta: reading a watch'n'post discussion that is behaving itself for the most part (considering it's D/C and I'm waiting for the "omg you ruined D/C!! I'm not watching next weeks ep!" complaints), someone remarked on the possibility of Cas' alliance with Crowley being Balthazar's idea, which I thought was an interesting possibility. Not as a "let's relieve my favorite woobie of some of the blame for his actions, but more interesting in that it ties Bal's presence into the whole thing, especially where he was buying up souls for himself.

And, wow, seeing Samantha Smith play Eve really showcased how bland and awful Julia Maxwell is.

Amen to that. It was nice to see the character played for at least part of an episode by someone with the acting chops to make her menacing. (Note to producers: ALWAYS select for charisma and talent over demographic appeal when casting your major villains. If the network has given you a quota for CW style ingenues there's always the monster chow in the teasers who just have to be able to scream convincingly.)

Mother of All's death scene was kind of anticimactic for such a supposedly major player. Which bothered me until the final scene, which wouldn't have worked so well if she'd left a smoking crater where the diner used to be. But I wish she'd at least merited a lightshow in the sky like in "Sympathy for the Devil."

Wait: does this also cast Cas' stance toward ensouling Soulless!Sam in a different light? Either because the boys were hunting down Crowley, or because Sam's soul being in Hell meant it was safe from him [Cas]???

New thought on the nature of souls wrt the reveal about Cas' demonic alliance: they are like an angel's grace, an angel can lose the grace, be transformed into a new being, but still essentially the same being. Just how they interact with the cosmos is different. Except for Sam becoming an American Psycho in his soul's absence, that is. And how a soul being sold dictates where a human goes when they die. Eh, no, it's a mess of poo.