We've seen Cas been "simply" human after having had his grace removed, and there was no pain involved. I think this time, the pain, the exhaustion, the dying, was related to how it was acquired.

For that matter, Metatron talked as if the removal of Cas' grace somehow imbued him with a human soul-the former expected to see the latter again in Heaven after life as a human and hear his stories.

I wonder if the first time he lost his mojo he was downgraded to a soul in a similar fashion?

Perhaps it was a result of the spell Metatron cast when he removed Cas' grace, and not simply the removal of his grace. So... kill a Nephilim + acquire a cupid's arrow + take a warrior angel's grace = jettisons angels from Heaven and makes the warrior angel a human soul.

Wow, last night's show pretty much just threw Anvils of Parallelism at our heads for an hour. Jaysus.

I think Dean's undemoning was way too easy and way too fast. I didn't want the entire season to be Demon Dean, but, really. It's too little pay off to too much set-up and too much afterplay.

ETA: I cannot believe I spelled "threw" as "through." Posting before caffeine is more dangerous than Ambien posting.

I agree -- Demon Dean was a wasted opportunity. Three episodes isn't anywhere near half the season -- they could have drawn it out a few more episodes, made Dean harder to find, something.

That said, I loved seeing regular Dean, too, so.

The parallels were right there, but I don't know if we're supposed to think Dean and/or Sam registered them. I'm assuming Kate was Sam and Tasha was Dean, but I could be wrong.

I've been singing "Werewolves of London" all day, too.

(I love "Werewolves of London.")

And I think we're supposed to think Dean and Sam registered the parallels, all right. How could they NOT? I mean, they're having the brofeels talk in the car, and the parallels were super anvilicious. Even the FauxSto(ic)Bros got it.

Did people know that there are Supernatural calendars?

Calendar 1; Calendar 2 (numbered in the order I spotted them).

Ahhoo, hooo! And his hair was perfect.

What earworm?

You know? I really liked it. Lack of tension, not enough script to fill up the timeslot, yadda. I *liked* that they weren't sniping and carving chunks off each other. I *liked* the slower pace, that felt like they were actually getting some words out--more, that they were hearing each other. Also, that first scene on the shore with the green cooler of continuity geekiness--wasn't that pretty?

Kate got a monologue, a long one, and they didn't rush it. It was a longer monologue than anybody's had in, like, ever. And the camera lingered on her face, a couple of reaction shots of Dean, maybe one of Sam, I don't remember. But the whole episode felt like the aftermath of some cataclysmic event, when everything goes quiet and slow.

I hope the writers are allowing the guys to take time and feel their way back to a working and a brotherly relationship. They've both been at fever pitch for a long time, run into the ground. Maybe this can be a healing hiatus for them. Wouldn't that be nice?

I know I'm tired of all the strife, anger, accusations and recriminations. I'm worn raw by it--so how much worse would they be--if, you know, they were real. I liked this ep a lot, even with the Anvils of Parallelism. It's been a long time since I actually *liked* an episode.

Oh, I liked it, too! "We time" melted my heart, and Dean's ribbing about Sam's elbow. That's why it was hard for me to be too bummed about losing the potential of Demon Dean -- it was so nice to see them being brothers again.