Castiel, Crowley, and Meg were all back this week, and boy was it good to see them. I giggled out loud, I nearly cried, and I remembered why people have been calling this season “season gr8.”
What’s a better post-hiatus kick-off than having Cas kill Dean? How about showing that Cas has killed Dean a hundred times over? Good old Naomi appears to have set up trial-run after trial-run so that Cas can learn to kill Dean without hesitation. Are your heartstrings tugged yet? Wait, there’s so much more to come!
Sam finally gets busted when Dean finds one of his bloody tissues in the trash. Sam may have been to hell and back, but Cas reveals that Sam is now hurting in a way that even his divine angel powers can’t heal. That’s just after one trial. Hang in there, Sammy.
Cas and the Winchesters are reunited during a demon attack on a Ph.D candidate whose research has produced some detailed maps of the city. She doesn’t make it, as one of the demons hops into her body and Naomi orders Cas to kill her before she reveals that they are looking for the angel tablet. Cas has become quite the demon hunter under Naomi’s command. He doesn’t bother to wait for the Winchesters and goes after the remaining demons who are operating under Crowley to find the tablet. By the time Sam and Dean catch up, the demons are dead, and they find that Meg has been held captive and tortured by Crowley for the past year.
You know, when I logged onto Tumblr today, I noticed some bickering about Megstiel vs. Destiel, and I ignored it, as I try to do with all fandom infighting. Besides, I never really even thought about Megstiel. But here’s the thing about Megstiel (I’m going to keep saying Megstiel because Dean actually says it in this episode) – they’re actually really sweet together. They reminisce fondly about the “pizza man” moment, and we see a slightly softer Meg, and a slightly more suggestive Cas. (Cas’s sass is on point overall. My personal favorite of his lines is to the Winchesters: “You know, I can hear you both. I am a celestial being.” You can almost hear the z-formation snap).
Once the tablet is located, it boils down to Dean and Cas going in to get it, while Sam and Meg stand watch. Sam and Meg get to chatting about Sam’s year with Amy, who Meg refers to as Sam’s “unicorn.” This is important, because once Crowley comes to bust them, Meg holds them off, telling Sam to get Dean and her unicorn – meaning Cas – out. I mean, you shouldn’t hate on anyone for the character and pairings they like to begin with, but come on guys, are they really so horrible?
It’s okay though, because meanwhile, anyone who has become emotionally invested in Dean and Cas’s relationship (in any form) is having their heart ripped out too. Once they have the tablet, Dean refuses to hand it over to Cas when he asks. Cas, who has been flashing into heaven to talk to Naomi throughout the whole episode, is now caught arguing with her on how to settle things. Naomi, of course, wants Cas to kill Dean, because the tablet is priority. Cas truly tries to reason with Dean at first, but then he can’t fight it. He beats Dean to a pulp, but all the practice rounds couldn’t prepare him to kill him. Especially when Dean tells him he’s family, and that they – particularly Dean – need him. Cas manages to break the hold Naomi has on him and heals Dean’s wounds, but still disappears with the tablet.
All that’s left for the Winchesters to do at this point is get out. And as one final blow, they don’t make it back to save Meg from being killed by Crowley.
With Cas in the wind with the angel tablet, it looks like we’ll be breaking away from the main storyline a bit next week. Tune in to see what happens when the brothers find a school for young hunters. Sounds a bit X-Men, don’t you think?
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