What an episode, amirite??

This changes the tone of the whole season, and that is awesome.

And while I have a few nitpicks with some of the things that have occurred this season (Castiel totally would have seen that room of demons, show!!), the heart of the show stays intact, and this episode is proof.

I will say this one more time – cause it’s totally true – Jensen Ackles is an amazing actor. I’m thrilled they gave him a chance to bring us Michael. It’s really good.

At the end of the last episode, we were left with Micheal shockingly retaking Dean’s vessel – Team Free Will 2.0 all with their shock faces – and the episode picks up right where we left off.

Well, almost.

Welcome to Rocky’s Bar! (HEE) Meet your proprietor, Dean Winchester, and his loyal employee, Pamela Barnes!

Wait, Pamela is dead. And was blind!

It’s clear this is some kind fever dream, but Dean is super happy, and he’s not going to sell to the persistent corporate type to wants to buy the joint.

A couple of vampires attack, and Dean and Pamela handily take them out.

Awww, they’re so cute together. It’s gonna be sad when Dean, once again, has to give up his happiness for the hard reality of this world.

Back at the Hitomi Plaza penthouse, Michael has dressed his vessel in more pleasing threads, combed his hair, and is threatening the boys, as is usual. But Sam, Cass, and Jack have a few slick moves up their sleeves! Sam douses Michael with a holy fire molotov cocktail bomb, and while he flails, Cass steps in with some souped-up angel cuffs – courtesy of Bobby – effectively grounding Michael for the time being.

When monsters begin pounding at the door, our boys realize there is no way out, and Sam begins calling for the reaper Jessica, reminding us that Death has a reaper at the boys side at all times, keeping tabs on their safety.

After several calls, another reaper shows. Violet. She tells Sam that they need shifts, the boys get in so much trouble these days. (Nitpick! Castiel says he can’t see Violet, but back in season 5, he was the only one who could see reapers!! Gah!) Violet tells Sam that she is not allowed to intervene, and as the indignation in Sam rises, the four boys are suddenly transported to the map room of the bunker.

Just like that! (We can all guess who did that, right?)

Jack, Sam, and Cass, mull their options as Michael is chained to a bunker pillar, and tosses out snarky jokes about how they are all so cute, with their plans and all. The “I can hear you.” joke, followed by the “Really?” as they move a few feet away is particularly chuckle worthy. Michel screws with everyone’s head as much as possible.

After a nice little montage at Rocky’s Bar, to remind us that Dean is just living in a loop in his head – even a little deja-vu doesn’t clue him in – we cut back to Sammy and his genius idea…

Remember a while back, when Mary was all brainwashed by the Brits to kill her sons, and Dean jumped in her head to snap her out of it? Well, of course Sam kept that little machine around, because You Never Know! A little jerry-rigging, and Sam and Cass are off into the vast mind of Dean Winchester.

Cass tries to find where Dean might be hiding out in all that trauma, but Sam is all, Oh hey, how about trying happy memories? There are certainly less of those, and it would make it less likely that Dean would put up a fight if he was living a content life in his mind.

And BINGO, Sam recognizes a Happy that is in no way real, and Cass lands them right in the middle of Rocky’s Bar.

Thank Chuck for Sam, because guys, there is a LOT of trauma in there. Buckets of trauma. The fact that Dean Winchester is upright and functions is a miracle, if you really think about it. Goodness.

Dean is happy to see Sam and Cass. So is Pamela. They ask about the ghoul hunt. Sam and Cass are incredulous at the audacity of what they see, and proceed to do their best to convince Dean that Pamela is not only blind, but dead, and after some mind shenanigans, and several attempts to distract, Sam speaks the magic word, Poughkeepsie!, and Dean finally snaps out of it.

Excellent call-back, show! Excellent wall of sadness crashing down, Jensen.

And that is when Michael his damn self shows up in Dean’s head, and after some empty threats, our boys figure out that he is stalling, and that he doesn’t have any powers in Rocky’s Bar, and Sam, Dean and Cass take to trying to crack some Michael skull.

MEANWHILE

The carload of hunters that Maggie was driving to Kansas City have turned around, now that the monsters are heading towards the bunker, and after a mini fake-out, make it to the bunker just ahead of the invading horde. Except that Maggie forgets to lock the bunker door, which is only one problem, because one of their own has been turned, and as he attacks, a stream of monsters file through the door. Jack is standing between our rigged up, mostly unconscious heroes and the monster incursion, and seems to have froze with indecision.

There is lots of monster fighting in the bunker, and lots of Michael fighting in Dean’s noggin. Back and forth, back and forth, everything as brutal as it has been for the last couple of seasons.

Jack finally realizes that he does have powers that he can use by tapping the power of his soul. He shoots his pulsing ray of death, and atomizes every single monster in the room, using up some of his soul in the process.

Back in the bar, Michael is an excellent fighter, and kinda smokes them all, when Dean gets an idea, and with an assist from Sam, they trap Michael in the beer fridge, locking him in a cage that is firmly planted in Dean’s mind.

CLEVER!

Although who knows how long Dean will be able to exist with the constant cacophony in his head, as Michael yells and pounds, and Dean stares into a mirror, willing himself to keep the cage secure.

“Hey, Dean.” the camera pans and we see Billie in the mirror, looking awesome.

You know I loves me some Death. I love original recipe Death, and I love former reaper, Billie, Death. She has come to tell Dean that something has changed. All those versions of his demise back in the Library of Death, well, they have all been rewritten with the same exact ending: Michael escapes Dean’s mind cage, and burns everything to the ground. All except for one, that is! She hands Dean the lone alternate version, and there are one million emotions that flicker across Dean’s face as what he reads – probably nothing but horrors – sinks in.

“What am I supposed to do with this?”

Good question, Dean Winchester! One that we will probably get at least some sort of answer to in the next episode.

Ooooh, that was one good episode!!

I’m not gonna do quotes, because most of the really funny stuff was situational, and it rarely translates well. I am, however, gonna mention that Rocky’s bar was full of sweet, sweet Easter eggs, the most obvious being that Jensen’s beer company, Family Business, was well represented. The beers on tap were actual FB beers, and there was a Family Business neon sign on the wall across from the bar. Of course, it took me much longer than it should have to see the biggest Easter egg of them all, the name of the bar. I didn’t put it together until I saw the stuffed squirrel behind the bar. Sometimes it takes me a minute.

Also, is Garth still stashed in the back of the Impala, back in Kansas City? Someone should do something about that.

Next!! Mary is back, and Nick seems even more Lucifer-like! :O