One Swei Tres

Yeah, effing Metatron . I didn't expect at all that he'd be the new Big Bad for next season (or, one of them). Cas must feel even more guilty now. It's kinda too bad though that the last time we've really heard about how Cas is feeling, he said he felt so guilty that he was feeling suicidal (in 8x08 Hunteri Heroici), but there's been no talk since about how he's been doing.

The final shot was beautiful. I mean, the effects were beautiful - one of my favourite shots of the series, I think - but also so tragic! I wonder what will become of the angels now. If there's any way of reversing the spell, and if they'll lose their powers or if it's just Cas who's human now. And JEEZ Cas is human now! You could just see the sadness and loss in his face at the end there as he watched all his brothers and sisters falling. I could see Cas becoming human though; Misha being a regular was a big implication. I wonder how they'll deal with his humanity now - if it'll be a big storyline thing, or if it'll be pushed to the background.

I really hope that Naomi's not dead, but doubt it. She was one of my favourite additions to the series. I loved to hate her . I'm sad she probably won't be around to see season 9, especially as she kinda redeemed herself right before she died. Sad what she said about the angels forgetting that their mission was to protect humans. And too bad about Abaddon losing her vessel - I liked her too. Wonder if she'll become the Queen of Hell now, in place of Crowley.

And good idea about Crowley becoming an ally! I can see that. Mark Sheppard nailed his scenes. I felt so much for Crowley as he became more human. Funny how his accent started to change to a more American one as he humanized, since isn't his vessel a New York stock broker or something? Nice touch, Mark. But really, yeah I wonder if he'll go back to his demon self since he wasn't completely cured, or if he'll be a semi-demon semi-human, and if now that he remembers what it's like to be human, he'll become an ally.

I was initially shocked that Dean and Sam stopped closing the gates of Hell of all things, considering that the whole season has revolved around the trials and tablets and stuff, and it was at first glance at very similar situation to Swan Song. But where that involved saving millions/billions of lives, closing the gates of Hell was more of a clean-up kinda thing (i.e. not a necessity for the survival of humanity), and they really do have a lot more knowledge to fight demons with. I could understand Dean's reasoning.

Lastly, I liked the cupid scene in the bar . And the shock on Dean's face!

No wonder the next few months are called the Hellatus.

Definitely seeing Star Trek 2 (Wrath of Khan) added to the experience of watching this new Star Trek 2.

I do too! Crowley's very smart. And his speech was perfect. I loved the little addition of the "Saving people, hunting things, the family business" line. It was brutal how they re-introduced Sarah into the story, gave her a husband and a kid and then just killed her off.

I didn't expect Cas to be doing that either! I was 99% sure it would be Dean! I do too. Though it's kinda beautifully tragic that the first trial for cutting off the ties between Earth and Heaven would be to kill off an offspring of the two. I wonder, though, if Metatron was telling the truth about the trial. Could he be manipulated by Naomi already? I didn't think about the armless demon but you're right!

Gotta love Crowley

Only thing that bothered me about the episode was that Sam and Dean left Abaddon all alone. for amazing hunters they should've known better!

Dean was really harsh to Cas about not trusting him and leaving again but I think he was right for being so mad. I loved the scene when Cas was shopping for Dean's favourites as an apology

The line about Sam and Dean going to the Grand Canyon when they were little threw me off. Dean explicitly said in season 3 that he's never been to the Grand Canyon. Of course I'm probably making a bigger deal about of this than I should be but

More importantly, I wasn't sure about Naomi talking about Cas' past rebellions. She mentioned the "crack in his chassis" (or whatever the line was), how he's fundamentally different from the other angels, and that no matter how many times he's been reprogrammed, he's always tended to side with humanity. But I thought that it was the Winchesters (mainly Dean) who influenced him to rebel and side with humanity - wasn't that his entire story arc of seasons 4 and 5?

Also getting really tired of how Dean yet again was delegated to caretaking for Sam. That's been the majority of his "story" this season.

Other than that I enjoyed it! I liked Metatron and thought the story on the archangels and his leaving of Heaven was really interesting. I liked how he asked Dean whether he was sure he wanted to close the gates of Hell, if he had thought about the consequences, etc. It's an interesting question.

And a lot of other aspects of the episode. Crowley and his "directing" (it seemed so much like Crowley to do that, more like the Crowley from previous seasons than this season's Crowley has been), Kevin figuring out about fake!Dean and fake!Sam (Crowley: they were "too polite?" ), Cas using the Biggerson's restaurants to evade the angels (I loved the little reference to physics and superpositions as the way Cas was hiding yay physics!), and Dean and Sam really looking like they're brothers again.