As to the "cure a demon" thing. Demons are human souls tortured and broken until they become demons, with the show canon. So one interpretation is getting hold of demon, and healing it until it just a ghost again, rather than a demon. Alternatively I guess they find a demon with some sort of supernatural illness and cure it, but I'm betting on the former rather than the latter.

If so: picturing Sam administrating really intensive therapy. Might make for a good comedy ep, but I don't think they are going to go there.

Makes me wish that the demon they cured was Meg, but alas. The "curing a demon" seems too huge to leave to a new demon, but the only familiar face we have left is Crowley.

Oh, that burns. The idea of sealing Hell for good is giving Crowley the gift of redemption, potential access to Heavan.

A thought struck me that the reason that these tablets were written was so that they could be read, and therefore it was God's will that Heaven and Hell be closed.

Is it clear if the closing is one way only? Will souls continue to be able to pass into either afterwards? Or would that force all remaining souls to exist as ghosts on the earthly plane? That's kind of horrific.

I'm curious about Met's question about what closing Hell means; I can't remember the phrasing, but to me, it intimated both "Think of what you would give up" (i.e., Sam -- what DOES it take to cure a demon? To close Hell? Sam's going downhill -- methinks God likes/needs sacrifices, so something so huge would have a price beyond "flu symptoms" and that's backed by Cas saying that this is changing Sam and he can't repair it.)

Also...so, say the gates of Hell close. Will demons gallivanting on Earth when they close be here, permanently? No exorcisms; no Hell to go back to. You might cast them out, but they'll just hop hosts. Where do giant evil people-soul's go after death? Heaven ain't an option. Will Purgatory be closed also? What about cosmic balance -- if the gates of Hell close, will Heaven close, too?

I got a very "Is there light if there is no dark" vibe from Metatron, too.

I was wondering how demonic the demonic thing was that would need to be cured .... could the "demon" being cured be Sam being purified by the trials? Or does it have to be a "straight up, black hat, tied to the train tracks, soon my electro-ray will destroy Metropolis, bad" kind of demon?

There was so much emphasis on that scene, and the child who knew he wasn't clean, and now saying he's being purified. I really like the idea, too, because it could lead to some interesting consequences.

It's Sam's birthday! We should have celebrated with Salad Shakers!

I wonder how old he is now, given the missing years and deaths, etc. How could you ever figure it out?

But they weren't "decimated" until more current timelines, right?

You forget which side of decimated I'm on--Lucifer falling is all I need. Gabriel bolting is gravy. But he seemed to think they were all currently in the game and working against each other, which hasn't been the case for yonks, and depends on whether you think Lucifer was considered an active player after he fell. It's either up to his fall or up to Gabe's disappearance.

I'm thinking that Lucifer fell/was cast out but had a certain amount of freedom (at least enough to start the ball rolling on the demon assembly line with Lilith, if not numerous other ancient demons), and then at some later point got locked down completely in the Cage. Metatron might have gone into hiding during that inbetween period.

I came out of this episode with is a strong desire to feed Kevin soup. Lots and lots of soup.