Okay, so I made a decision. Crowley and Cas haven't been working together the whole time (unless they have, and that's how Sam and Samuel got back to earth, but I don't want to dwell on it). Instead, Cas has been on the soul train since he started working with Balthazar's weapons mid-season, since Balty has been all up in souls since The Third Man.
That's what I'm going with for now.
Castiel could have gotten the idea from Balthazar in "The Third Man" and then gone back to forge an alliance with Crowley before Sam made his reappearance at the end of "Swan Song" - he has a lot more latitude for chronological vs. subjective event mismatch than anyone else.
I didn't get the impression Cas spent enough time with Balty in The Third Man to get what he was doing, but certainly by the time The French Mistake rolled around they'd had time to negotiate and exchange ideas.
Sadly, Cas being in cahoots with Crowley for the whole time would explain him not mentioning Christian was a demon. But I don't want the rift to go that far back.
And when Cas went back into the hospital full of abnormals, he totally didn't kill them all, did he?
And when Cas went back into the hospital full of abnormals, he totally didn't kill them all, did he?
I forgot all about that. Wow, I really want to rewatch everything now. At least every Cas episode.
Or if he did, he killed them for Crowley's ends...
I like how absolutely everything is coming back to what Death said...it being about the souls. This might have been confusing going through it, but the threads are being pulled together.
I want the soul thing and the mirror thing (from the credits) to tie together, too, just for neatness's sake. Although I think we're already pretty much there on the second, with a lot of things not quite what they seem on first glance.
And when Cas went back into the hospital full of abnormals, he totally didn't kill them all, did he?
Probably just teleported the whole kit & kaboodle to some other handy containment location.
It may be that the wards that hid the place and neutralized some of the demons' powers inside weren't Crowley's doing at all.
Might also explain why an angel ran from a hellhound.
Oh, and, HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAM.
Indeed! Happy Birthday, Sam!