Death made an eclipse. He is the BAMFiest BAMF that ever BAMFed.

Yes he is. Again, Favorite Character. Dean arranging the food so carefully for him made me giggle.

I think Death is Dean's Santa, in a perverse and twisted way.

Yes he is. Again, Favorite Character. Dean arranging the food so carefully for him made me giggle.

With you on all of that. There's nothing I didn't love about that scene, and I'm fairly certain I can say that about any scene they've done with Death. They really handle that character and his interactions beautifully.

ETA: Made. An. Eclipse.

"I'll make another one. Be there. On.time."

Oh, I adore show's Death beyond all reason.

Cas's return to sanity at the end and the sudden ripping away of that sanity via Leviathan was heartbreaking as all get-out. It just seemed so unfair, especially if Cas is truly as gone as Leviathan said. I'm also having some meta-ish thoughts about Cas's character arc as compared to Sam's, but those are going to need some time to percolate.

What people want from Show, and what Show is, are two completely different things so much of the time.

This is true, and I think it's part of what leads to the accusations of 'dickishness' and so on. If a favorite character does something less than noble, it's OOC or completely justifiable. If a less-favored character does something less than noble, they are selfish dicks with no redeeming qualities who kick puppies in their spare time.

But, anyway, it just struck me oddly that he said "keep Michael in Lucifer's cage" and not mention both of them.

This stuck out to me at the time. Shouldn't we be trying to keep Lucifer in Lucifer's cage as well? But, like you said, maybe that is just assumed. But I did notice the wording.

Am I supposed to be grinning like a loon at the end of this episode?

This is me. Really enjoying you all reliving the highlights.

I was reading someone's LJ, and they posted that the anime was even more hugging than the live action. I had to comment, because "more"? They barely do! I hug my sister as much, and we live in different countries.

I go with the assumption that we've seen about every hug between the boys. With that assumption, they hug less than my family and my family doesn't hug.

There was Impala rebuilding

This alone is porn worthy. I could watch an hour of Dean rebuilding the Impala. He rebuilds it so good.

What people want from Show, and what Show is, are two completely different things so much of the time.

Who's to blame here? I use the term blame lightly...But I see so many complaints that make no sense to me. It's like the viewers believe they own the story more than Eric or Sera did. So now wrong paths are being taken, wrong decisions are being made...but the storytellers. Uh, not precisely. They're just telling a story you don't like anymore. That's their right.

As is yours, I suppose, to keep watching and bitching about it, and making stupid hollow threats against the writing staff online.

Or maybe no.

I think the longer a show lasts, the more you tend to run into that mindset. We saw a lot of it by the end of season 7 of Buffy, too. I just like to watch the story unfold the way the writers see it, it's their story!

It's like the viewers believe they own the story more than Eric or Sera did.

I think the more fanon builds up in various parts of fandom, the more protective fans feel of 'their' story.

Cas's return to sanity at the end and the sudden ripping away of that sanity via Leviathan was heartbreaking as all get-out.

For a split second, I was sure he was going to be human. That everything had burned out of him, or his grace was, like revoked, because of the whole calling himself God thing. And I was so excited! Because I thought that would be so cool, watching Sam and Dean help him figure out how to navigate the world as a human.

And then, BOOM. Heart. Broken. (Not just because he was not human, but for the reasons you said.) Him *knowing* what was happening and being powerless to prevent it was a nasty kick in the teeth.