I knew Mrs. Tran was still alive!

I am so bored with the angel battles. Blah, blah, blah...lets get back to the family business.

Was everybody spoiled? Is that why there was no cry of "Kevin!"?

I did *love* his grumble of, "I spend weeks trying to make you guys hear me, and where do I finally break through? In the middle of a Dean Winchester pity party."

I am *so* glad that Sam walked away. I was terribly afraid that when Kevin told them to "get over it. At least you guys are alive and can still work stuff out," that the brothers would just be like, "Bygones," and things would go back to their version of "normal." Sam has unresolved issues dating back to losing Dean in S3, demon blood addiction in S4, hell PTSD, remorse for Soulless' less-than-upright hunting, not saving Dean--again. And Dean has to, at some point, acknowledge that Sam--to quote Meg Mark I--isn't "luggage," and he doesn't get to put him where he wants him and expect him to "stay." They got stuff to deal with. And I hope like hell the writers are actually going to write scripts that let them get it out, and deal with it. On both sides.

I wasn't spoiled about Kevin, but was very happy/excited to see him and to see mama-Tran. And then there was angel blah-blah-blah. Which hadn't been a problem for me in the past. I just hit my tipping point.

I didn't get to watch till this morning, and I wasn't fully caffeinated at the time.

I completely agree about the end, though -- you could see when Sam was answering Kevin that it was lip service. It hurts that Dean has to learn the hard way, but he clearly does.

It was great to get some resolution on Mrs. Tran, but I am sort of tired of the lack of permanence of almost anything on this show. Kevin's dead! I get bringing back his spirit in this case, to save his mom, but at the same time...whatever.

Also, so tired of the angel stuff. I said to S. this morning after it was over, I had no idea what was going on with the angels and I really didn't care anymore. It would have been so much more compelling (for me anyway) to keep Cas human and have him adjust completely, for good, with all the bumps and bruises associated with human life.

Sits in Amy's corner.

I'm surprisingly okay with the angel storyline, for meta reasons, as well as story reasons. By giving Castiel his own storyline, more or less independent of the Winchesters, this pares down the screen time for the Js and gives them some time off. It puts Misha front and center for those storylines, and he can carry them, no doubt. Also, it's such a relief for me to see him as something other than inept, fumbling, and comic relief. There's an actual arc for him I can analyze and follow and invest in. It seems Cas' stint as a human has given him some toughness, and new resolve for his long-held wish to repair the damage to heaven and call his angel-siblings home. I had just gotten so tired of Cas having lost his terrible majesty as an angel of the lord and trying to bumble through scripts that were nothing more than fanservice, to me this is an improvement. Also, keep Metatron off my screen and I'll do much less complaining about angel storylines. (Sorry, Curtis)

I think that finally the angel storyline has become bearable. Before it was played with neither Dean nor Sam, or even Cas to make it immediately relevant, and now Cas has been directly involved. Now it's more relevant and interesting just for a known character being present.

In shallow news, I realized that Cas's trenchcoat has been shortened, and this seems terribly wrong. It's like they gave him a red tie just to be able to claim they rejuvenated the costume without actually changing anything.

So bored with the angels.

But I love the Trans and was thrilled to see them! Kevin being a ghost only because heaven is closed makes that totally okay to me.

Sits with Beverly and Juliebird.

I thought this episode was pretty good, particularly because Cas is back to being a warrior angel again, with a noble mission based on lessons learned from very bad choices. Much like Sam has done.

The Mark of Cain storyline has me intrigued as well. I'm curious to see how this plays out, particularly given the boys' estrangement.

Yes, we've had some stinker eps, but I'm not ready to bail yet. Not even close. Although I can understand why some might consider it.