I heart this season so fucking much.

I don't mind graphic torture in general, but I'm pissed that they had an angel (1) captured by lackey demons when in Season 4 they were supposed to be more powerful than Hell's royalty, and (2) giving up future prophets that he's supposed to protect to the opposition after a little pain. I'd have much preferred it if Samandriel had been serene and completely unmoved by the torture and Crowley had found some other way of getting the info.

I'm also loving this season. It keeps surprising me.

I agree about the gore, though. Tonight was a little OTT.

Oh, my fucking god.

I absolutely adored that. I might need a few more watches to be cogent but as much as I'd liked episodes so far (and been on board with season gr8 in general), this was the first one that made me clutch myself as I watched, and get scared again, and horrified and yanked in multiple directions by my heartstrings.

I don't think it was specifically that I needed Team Free Will back to feel like we were on a roll, but there was some sort of emotion I needed to see from Dean (and acceptance from Sam) and Castiel was the catalyst (well, not strictly--he hardly came out unchanged--AMANDA MOTHERFUCKING TAPPING) and I have a happy pants show dance I need to fully choreograph right now.

I have bullet points dancing around in my brain:

• Alcohol: We see Dean coming in with two different six packs (one bottles, one cans). He pops a can off the set for Sam without asking
• Boys: They say hey. They are the boys that say hey. I don't know when the last time I said hello to my sister was, but I really liked that they said hey after what must have been a short separation.
• Fessing up: Dean holding back on one vision of Castiel and coming clean on the second--I figure that's way healthy for Dean--you're doubting yourself at first, and you're trying not to show hints of vulnerability, but in the end, you do talk about it. Good on you!
• Sam's "Okay, say that's true" tone of voice. I love the way he pragmatically accepts things. Like, he doesn't need to believe it in order to work out a plan. I hadn't really formally recognised that tone/behaviour before, and now that I do, hat tip to writers for the character note.
• Mrs. Tran: Yeah, sure--Delta was the reason her son's finger got cut off. She made rookie mistakes. But you know what? She was fierce, determined, not backing down, thinking at as many angles as she could, and trying to do everything to save her son. But she's been exposed to this life for ten minutes. Yeah, she's totally going to fuck up, and the price is going to be high--she seems like a brave woman who's not been up against situations that are life and death and she has choices to make, but now I think she gets the personal and the large scael
• Crowley: He was just as evil as I need him to be. In my head, this isn't queueing Crowley any more. I don't mind the gore, because I want him to not be charming rakish British crossroads demon. He might not call himself the devil, but King of Hell has a ring to it.
• Kevin: Oh, hells yeah. Bastard cut off your finger and killed the last person you had in the world. Who's going to be mad at you for just giving up? You're a pretty exceptional regular guy, but come on.
• Dean and Sam: They talked. As noted, Dean fessed up to feelings, and Sam tried to be helpful, They're not at each other's throats, and Sam was looking for a job that might not necessarily have been tablet-related. Maybe the misdirected (IMO) yelling match last week and the example of Garth really did help.
• CASS (also Dean/Cas, Dean+Cas, Dean v. Cas, Dean and Cas): Friends and comrades. That was just perfect. Dean does not even remotely get what any of that means, but apparently Cass has been paying attention to people, and he'll explain stuff to Dean as they go along. He had some shit to work through, and he tried--not getting yet that Dean couldn't take away anything other than inadequacy from the situation. Yeah, it was messed up, but not that long ago, angel time, he was apologising via Milton Bradley ®.
• Naomi: I am *so* glad Castiel is not knowingly implicated. I couldn't have dealt right now. And I want him to fight back out of loyalty that other angels can't comprehend. Enh--so we're back upstairs again, and the Winchesters are special. We're gonna need something to get us to season 10.

That's five minutes after first viewing. No doubt I'll be reminded of much more.

I'm not sure what photo shoot this is from, but it looks legit to me: [link]

This? As much as I like the idea of him breaking with the triple-layer clothing trend that doesn't look like his torso would have been at the age of his face. Like, that's a Supernatural face with a Dark Angel at best (typed beast) body, no?

I don't think it was specifically that I needed Team Free Will back to feel like we were on a roll, but there was some sort of emotion I needed to see from Dean (and acceptance from Sam) and Castiel was the catalyst (well, not strictly--he hardly came out unchanged--AMANDA MOTHERFUCKING TAPPING) and I have a happy pants show dance I need to fully choreograph right now.

What ita said. Especially AMANDA MOTHERFUCKING TAPPING.

This? As much as I like the idea of him breaking with the triple-layer clothing trend that doesn't look like his torso would have been at the age of his face. Like, that's a Supernatural face with a Dark Angel at best (typed beast) body, no?

Yeah, it wasn't obvious in the cropped version I found, but that waistline in the more complete picture definitely doesn't look right. Ah well, too bad.

But Cas is not really playing on Team Free Will right now. There were a lot of moments I liked in this ep but to figure out what the hell is going on I would need to rewatch and I don't know that I'm loving this enough to NEED to rewatch just for comprehension. Rewatch should be about subtlety and just giddy enjoyment for me.

(Mrs Tran rocked even though she made mistakes. She was proactive and self-directed.)

CASS

I want this show to stop doing that. I won't care if they never pander to fandom ever again if they just stop confusing me. Fandom decreed it shall be Cas. So sayeth we all. Or we should sayth that at least.

I forgot to mention how much I inexplicably liked the "Well I was going to say, 'You look like you've seen a ghost' but you'd probably be stoked." line. I must have clicked back to watch it three times the first time through. Hey, I recognize those brothers in that moment. I like them.