The Third Man

Between being super tired and overjoyed to see Cas again, it'll be hard to focus for this one.

I watched it twice. The first time, I thought it was maybe a bit better than last week's, but it was a lot to take in. The second time, I thought it was quite significantly better than last week's and I understood what I was seeing better. I'd give it a 7, 7.5.

So, yeah, CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAS! I was ridiculously happy to see our angel. This episode was angeltastic! We saw Cas in a rather different light and saw more sides to him. I loved everything about his entrance scene; perfection from start to finish. From Dean's hilarious prayer to Sammy's being "positive" he's an idiot for trying, Cas's arrival behind Sammy, Cas's sweet expression and sweet "hello," Sammy lookin' pissed, Dean shrugging as if to say, "what do ya know? I was right!" I felt awful for Sammy not having had Cas's prayers answered and that Cas didn't exactly offer a fantastic excuse. However, with the revelation (that's right, people, it's called a revelation, not a reveal. Revelation = noun, reveal = verb, m'kay?) that civil war has broken out in heaven, it's obvious the guy's been shoulder-deep in shit so I can cut him at least some slack. I hope Sammy can too, but the guy's feelings were obviously hurt. Hell, I guess there's a little of my familiar Sammy in there somewhere. The see-sawing scene of Sammy blatantly asking if Cas likes Dean better, then Cas admitting they do have a more profound bond (ohhhh, the Destiel fans LOVED that! I did, too, but for definitely different reasons than they did. It was sweet and I loved both the delivery and Dean's answering of expression of, "yeah, that IS true, I suppose." ), then Dean laying into him regardless and ordering him (I LOVE that they still keep the Dean's-Cas's-leader/mentor thing intact!) him to damned well answer his little brother's prayers from now on to Cas's saying that he actually showed up because of the case was priceless! It went from sad & exasperating to sweet to more sweet to funny! Oh, and Dean: "Well at least we know what's most important." Cas: "It does tend to help one focus" (may not be exact quotes. So sue me) ------> Cas's quotation mark fingers scene cracked me up! "My 'people skills' are 'rust'y'"

It was overwhelming to see Cas like that. This mixture of carrying the weight of heaven on his shoulders and being frustrated and surprised and disappointed in his brothers, threatened by them, having to do some things he hated, but doing them anyway because they were absolutely necessary, working with Sam and Dean so well (God, his flying around without warning was hilarious! I LOVE Team Free Will angel travel! Cas Airlines is fantastic! More, please!)--that was a lot to take in! But it was great and Misha did a superb job!

As to the Demore Barnes Raph package: What I said on twitter! DAMN IT! NO! NO, NO, NO! I will pout forever about this! If I live to be 105, I will STILL be pouting about it! You wait and see if I don't! I INSIST that the guy has an identical twin and Raph will simply take him, damn it! Did I say "damn it" enough? I think not, so DAMN IT! Psshhh. Good luck to the person who has to fill THOSE Raph shoes! At least Raph was bad-ass every moment he was on film. Um, I think Cas could've maybe TRIED to fight back a little. But then, I've never had my ass kicked like that; maybe it is a smidge hard to retaliate when you've gotten the breath knocked out of you and been hit in the head a few good times. Oh, well, at least he killed one of Raph's followers with ease (bless his little heart, he HATED to do that!) and kicked that other angel's feathery ass! Woo, Cas!

That kid wasn't the best actor. Neither was the liquified cop.

Balthazar was interesting, no? He obviously is Cas's good friend (why isn't everyone Cas's good friend? Anyone who isn't is just envious!) but he's going to be quite the gray area, isn't he? He was an excellent actor (Mom knew who he was as soon as she saw him and informed me right then that he was good. She was right!) and he seemed fun. He's gonna give our team trouble with a capital T, I think. Comic relief + frustration ahead (Ooh, it's like we'll get our own Damon, kinda, sorta, a little. Don't froth at the mouth, helps, I just mean he'll be SOMEWHAT Damonesque! Take it easy . . .count to 10 . . . no one measures up to Damon . . . no one . . . please don't hurt me!) The way Cas interacted with him makes the whole angels-dont-normally-have-emotions thing make less sense than ever. So, here it is: Angels have plenty of emotions in the heavenly realm, but things are different up there and there aren't usually occasions to be in touch with those emotions. So, yeah, they feel stuff there, but it's not normal to here or, at the least, here offers them more occasion to do so. The longer they stick around, the more human interaction/observation they have, the more awakened they are to emotions. When Cas said he was feeling for the first time, he just meant that, compared to the usual level of angelic emotion, what he was experiencing then was feeling them for the first time. Did that make any sense? If so, does this work for you? If not, lemme hear your explanation, gimme!

Sammy, Sammy. What the holy, ever-lovin' hell is wrong with you? I like that Sammy is strong and edgy. I DON'T like his attitude. I don't like that he seems to have lost all of his sensitivity and real caring. It's like he loves to kill things more than he does seeing to people's well-being. That's not Sammy! I don't like how he talks to Dean and is even more evasive--to me--than Dean was after he got back. I don't like his implication that he's stronger than Dean (and of course that's what he was implying, despite what he said). I don't like him using whores. YES, the show's made it pretty clear that Dean's no stranger to whores, but that's just it: That's Dean. This is Sammy. They NEVER gave us any indication that he partook before; there has to be a reason for them blatantly pointing out that he does now. I can tell from the previews that whatever is going down with him is most likely BAAAAD. I'm filled with dread about this. I can take whatever, as long as we get him back one day. And not a day too far away.

Dean. I love Dean so much! I realize it's been a while since I've gushed over the guy. I'm a bad fan. I feel so much sympathy for the guy lately; it's kind of like what I felt after he got back from hell. He got a family, kind of lost said family, his brother came back, but it's not REALLY his brother in some way, his angel showed up, but--although he adorably admitted to their bond--he showed up to take care of his home rather than his friend and he ignored his kid brother in his big time of need, he's trying to warm back up to Sammy, get to know and accept his newfound family members, digest all Cas has told him about heaven--he seems lost, stressed and bewildered and sweeter than ever and I feel for the guy. It's like they swapped places and those traits each had are magnified. Dean's more sensitive like Sammy, but it seems ratcheted up higher than it was for Sammy. Sammy's more crusty, shoot-first-ask-questions-later and do-what-ya-have-to like Dean, only that's ratcheted up higher than it was for Dean. My head is spinning and I just want to give Dean a huge, long hug. Oh, I loved his daddy moment with Ben on the phone and his Wendigo mask moment with Sammy. Cute! I'm trying to adapt to the new Winchesters. It's so weird.

So, we are on hiatus already?! WTF?! After 3 measley episodes?! Really?!

OK, girls, I'm shutting up now! Comment A.S.A.P. please, I SO want to know what you thought about this one!

I loved it!!!!
This ep was good storytelling, gave us Cas back, got Sam back into the Impala ("silver lining" ) and was hilariously funny. I laughed tears.

No, Sam isn't the Season 1 to Season 3 and a half Sammy we used to know. Definitely not. However, I want to remind you, if I may, that Sam didn't so much as bat an eyelid in "Jus in Bello" when virgin girl offered to sacrifice herself, while Dean was the one who sought (and found) another solution. So Sam not speaking out against torturing the kid is not THAT out of character, actually.
That said, I still think post-hell Sam is not pre-hell Sam. I don't think he's actually Lucifer, but something's very mysteriously wrong. I took Sam's "hell wasn't for me what it was for you" to mean that he didn't get tortured. Maybe he got thrown a party by the demons for having freed their daddy in the first place? Also Lucifer was (and probably still is) in the cage, but what does that mean? Does he still have influence or is it a dark hole cut off from everywhere? (whatever the case, the same rules have to apply to Michael, who's also down there. Maybe Michael's presence prevented Sam from getting tortured? Maybe Michael and Lucifer were so busy bashing each others' heads in no one had time to "take care" of Sam? Just wildly speculating here)
Sam and whores is a strange thing, but well. At least the girl enjoyed it, which probably doesn't happen that often in her profession. Which means Sam wasn't a selfish jerk or mean or whatever. I can live with that. More importantly, if Sera running the show means we don't have to wait 2 years in between topless scenes, I'm all for Sera running the show!!!!! *shallow alert off*

That Castiel introduction scene was super awesome.
Also I really like Balthazar. He's like Gabriel, only not an archangel and more grey (like morally, not only hair wise). If that makes sense. But I feel he'll be a reliable source of witty one-liner exchanges with Castiel and Dean.

I liked the actor who played Raph, but it's also ok for me that there'll be a new vessel.

Yes to everything you said about Dean.

Only VD is on hiatus next week, SPN isn't, according to this: http://epguides.com/Supernatural/ And that better be true, because VD started one week before SPN, so it's just fair they don't take a break this early. Though I really don't see the need for VD to take a break. Is it Thanksgiving, Presidential Speech or a stupid football game?