my impression from the episode was that divine help on the sly may have had something to do with it

I had not considered that. When they got the hands off message from Joshua I got the impression that no matter what Big Daddy was rooting for, his only moves on the game board were resurrections, and those were done for that fight (resurrecting Cas after the the fight was decided was putting a piece back on the board for the next game, and then walking away from the board). The story weakens for me if there was divine intervention in what felt for me to be the zenith of the Winchester relationship--when the forces felt they had to match the Winchesters to the Campbell, they failed to bargain on the profoundest of bonds that they would develop between each other, and it was, as Chuck said, choosing family (Dean coming back, Sam inside remembering) that made the difference in the clutch.

Just saw on SpoilerTV, Supernatural is renewed for Season 9. Color me happy!

Seriously? Yay!

And Arrow! And TVD.

::happy dance::

Okay--I asked Colin if Misha was going to be appearing in season 9, and that's not the answer I'm giving here--the bonus part to the answer was, apparently he'll be directing.

Not sure if he means this season or next, but apparently there will be Misha-directing in our future...how cool!

And...going for the triple...I was bitching to Colin about him not knowing when his next appearance in whatever was going to air, so when I saw that my TiVo had recorded something (ancient) with him in it, I hit play instead of delete like I normally do.

He's worked with Ty Olsson! 11 years ago, he did an Outer Limits with Benny. Ty was an orderly to Colin's doctor.

It's not like I can watch the whole thing--it's mega cheesy, but I did just have to get to a scene with them together.

Aw! I really like Ty -- he seems like a good guy (based ... solely on his Twitter account, I guess) and he is totally my type.

apparently there will be Misha-directing in our future...

I'm still trying to believe we get another season. More boys! So happy.

I'd like to think Misha will direct an Edlund episode, because then the stars would probably align in new ways and we'd all have a giant fangasm.

Misha posted on FB that SPN officially has another season. Has anyone seen it official official anywhere else?

I'm trying to work out how to say this not particularly plot-informative thing without breaking the rules but bringing it to the attention of the people who might care.

So...I will cast a wide net. if you like animals, maybe you haven't set seen the offscreen shot of Jensen and Jared in a stable, with horses here: [link]

I just saw this gifset, which kind of encapsulates why I think feeling the story out as you go along (rather than trying to place all the big pieces ahead of time) can work out very elegantly: [link] There's no way that they knew what the fifth season finale would hinge on when they wrote the third episode, but they ended up with a really charming serendipitous small throughline.