This episode was like one big MWAH to the fans of this show, especially to us DeanGirls. With a healthy helping of fantastic Castiel being adorable with a maybe dead/maybe not dead fan favorite that even got this seasoned SPN watcher to jump up and down with glee on the couch. Just a little glee.

BUT FIRST!

If that isn’t Grade A Fanservice, I don’t know what is. Thank you whomever made this happen!!!

Once we recover from WetDean, which BTW, it wasn’t just the shower, it was the gazing into the mirror WSW (while still wet), we see that Metatron is ‘writing’ this tale, and telling it to Castiel, who he has snared in a clever ruse.

You see, Metatron tells us that Castiel really doesn’t have a choice but to lead the angels, the position he put himself in after killing Bartholomew a few episodes back. Cas is understandably incredibly wary about resuming a leadership role, but Metatron is insistent that he really has no choice. And to try and prove it, he uses the fiction of Gabriel to lead him to his inevitable role, making the SPN fandom Squee with delight over the appearance of our favorite trickster, while also making us wonder (along with Cas) is he is actually dead, or only nearly dead. Nicely done, writers.

While Cas is out gallivanting with ‘Gabriel’,  Sam and Dean have nabbed Gadreel and we see the depth of the anger Dean has towards him. I am guessing while we all know Dean is viciously protective of the people he loves, the Mark of Cain is fueling this particular rampage. Dean is both scarily on the edge of pure rage and alarmingly (at least to me) SmokingHot. WHEW.

Fighting his new Mark of Rage Cain, Dean stops himself from beating Gadreel to death, which turns out to be excellent for us, as Metatron has made a deal with Sammy to exchange Cas for Gadreel. PHEW.

So we end this tale with Castiel doing exactly what Metatron said he would do, lead the angels. But to what end, and how does Metatron think this will lead to his victory? Maybe he thinks that Castiel is so inept at leading that he will help him stumble toward his ultimate goal? All I can say is that knowing we are headed for a 10th season, it could go either way.

Other bits:

Metatron handed over all the knowledge he has gained through reading to Castiel, which ends the long running gag of Cas not getting Dean’s pop culture references. I don’t know how I feel about that, although sometimes it is best to end a gag before it is beaten to death. Also, as one astute person out on the interwebs pointed out, what other knowledge was passed to Castiel? How many books on warfare and strategy had Metatron consumed over the ages? Maybe that little transfer will be Metatron’s downfall? ‘Cause he seems pretty invincible at the moment.

I have been eyeballing Metallicar for a couple of episodes now, and the etching on the side of Baby seems to have magically disappeared without one scene of Dean take care of the offending marks. I guess the shower scene makes up for the lack of GreaseMonkey Dean. 😉

This is the episode where Castiel finds out that Dean is carrying the Mark of Cain, and Cas is Not.Pleased.  NOT PLEASED AT ALL!!! So with worried looks exchanged between Sammy and Castiel, we begin the climb to the season finale. And that (possibly) stupid spin-off episode.