On one hand, the establishing shot of the boat with Kevin screaming says that Crowley is really there, and his demon subordinate succeeded somehow in locating Kevin and overcoming the wards. But then Kevin was screaming at the beginning of the ep as all his limbs were torn from him, and that turned out to be an illusion. So, I dunno. Set dressing oversight or clue?

This one has less wherewithal to go on the lam or stand up to her.

But she had Cas kill 100 Deans before he provided any useful resistance. He was her bitch for 2/3 of the season. If she has Kevin, not only does he have different wiring (since she re-installed Castiel's OS) he can't actually sustain much pressure.

Now, if Naomi learnt anything from Cas, I think that would be cool. But I think Kevin's only advantage is that he can read the tablets.

Naomi also presumably has Mary and John at her disposal should she need hostages to motivate the Winchesters, as well as Ellen, Jo, and Ash. I don't think acquiring Bobby would significantly strengthen her hand in that regard.

Oh, der! I was operating on the assumption that we were talking about Naomi pretending to be Crowley and taking Kevin. As opposed to the simple conclusion that she knows where Bobby is. But, yes, she has access equivalent souls, unless Show wants to play with the missing Heavenly Winchesters.

I don't think Crowley actually has Keviin or killed Mama Tran. .

I do think Dean and Benny have a love that is pure awesome. Lord, they killed me.

Autocorrect changed Crowley to "Crimey." Crimey?

So, so far I've heard (am unspoilt):

• It all went like it looked
• Kevin hallucinated the whole thing
• Angels can't haunt your dreams! That was Naomi.
• Naomi is Metatron
• Metatron goosed Castiel's grace and he's the other part of him snapping out of it
• Crowley is a fallen angel

I think those are all the ones I have heard.

Anything else?

I'm leaning towards the third bullet point, with added Naomi now has Kevin.

Also when the gates of hell are closed (or fail to be closed) I wonder if Dean & Sam will rescue Benny.

And in terms of the plot not holding up,yeah what everybody says.

You mean that Sam and Dean will go to Purgatory to get Benny? I guess he could change his mind about life, but if Dean can't fix what was wrong for him (and he shouldn't! It's not his place!) why not respect his choice? Fine, Dean isn't Mr. Respect Yr Choices, but still.

IO9 seems to be comfortable using my recaps. It's not something they're telling me, though.

The whole storyline really drives home how bleak this universe is. There's no rest for Benny, ever, I guess. Dean killed him topside, but his soul went to purgatory, where he gets to hunt and be hunted forever.

Unless he dies in purgatory. I'm still not sure what happens then.

I really did hate that Crowley was able to reroute Bobby's soul. More and more, I just hate Crowley, and not the love-to-hate-him way, either. They've turned him into a very convenient, all-purpose demon ex machina.

I think they announced they were going to dance around what happened to being "killed" in Purgatory when Cas mentioned, which is annoying. Saying that you'd get re-Purgatorycated or something would be fine, if they also included enough downside that it wasn't just like putting another quarter into the pinball machine--or that there are severe severe ramifications if you've been assumed bodily there, like Sam or Dean or Cas.

COME ON PEOPLE. WE'RE OCD, AND WE LIKE CONSISTENCY.

I feel on Tumblr I reblog stuff to disagree with the emo-ness of episode reactions. Dean did not ask Benny to come home--he asked Benny to die. He thought he'd come home, but that's entirely different, IMO, in terms of getting your feels all over the episode.

Luckily, I suppose, Tumblr is not designed for back and forths, and it's easiest to ignore people, so I don't feel I'm getting all up in people's faces, but still. Did their Dean say different words? Did they not hear Benny screaming how awful a time he was having topside? Is weird.