Here’s the thing about this episode, it was a whole lot of nothing, but gave us some really great character moments. The whole thing felt like treading water as far as moving the story along. Mildly disappointing, seeing as we have only a few episodes left, Andrew!!!!

Let’s visit Dean and Cass first, shall we?

Dean, as usual, is adamant about going to rescue Sam once he finds out he is kidnapped by Chuck, but Castiel insists that they go to purgatory first, because it won’t matter if they save Sam if God blows up the whole world. Not to mention the rift is only open for twelve hours, so they need to get going.

For once, Dean listens, and he and Cass pass through the rift to purgatory, and begin their hike, looking for leviathan blossom, even though they have no idea what it looks like. So when the duo trick a Levi that’s been trailing them, and Dean threatens the Levi with borax filled shotgun shells to the chest, the Levi tells them that a leviathan blossom is the flower that grows in the rotting remains of dead Leviathan.

It seems gross, but I think that’s awesome! The circle of life, and all that.

Dean asks the Levi if he knows Benny, and he says he does, but poor Benny is dead. His story of escaping purgatory, only to find his way back was legendary, but it also meant his kind never trusted him again. They ripped him to shreds, and Dean has a small sad.

Anyway, the Levi says he can help them find a blossom, but walks Dean and Cass right into a giant angel trap instead! Seems as though Eve is still mad about the killing of her alpha monsters back in season 6, and she wants a word with Castiel, who famously killed (almost) all the alphas in the prison. Dean tries to fight, but a second Levi knocks him out, and when he wakes, Castiel is long gone.

Dean tramps through the woods, looking for his friend, and getting increasingly frantic as he checks the time he has left to get back home. Not much time, folks!

And it takes a desperate situation like this for Dean to finally break down, and apologize to the sweetest little angel. Dean isn’t sure he will ever see his friend again, and so he tilts his head and prays. It is one of Jensen Ackles’ finest performances, and after all these years of single man tears, that’s saying something. The monologue goes like this:

Cass? Cass, I hope you can hear me that wherever you are, it’s not too late. I should’ve stopped you. You’re my best friend, but I just let you go. ‘Cause it was easier than admitting I was wrong. I don’t know why I get so angry. I just know I know that it’s, it’s just always been there. And when things go bad, it just, it comes out. And I can’t I can’t stop it. No matter how – how bad I want to, I just can’t stop it. And – and I forgive you. Of course I forgive you. I’m sorry it took me so long. I’m sorry it took me till now to say it. Cass, I’m I’m so sorry. Man, I hope you can hear me. I hope you can hear me. Okay.

It is brutal, and awesome, and then Dean finds Cass waiting for him by the rift, and they are sweet, and friends again, and Cass has a slightly smooshed leviathan blossom.

WORTH IT

I am not in any way a Destiel shipper, and I get unreasonably angry at some of them, but I can totally see why people ship Dean and Castiel. Just stop pretending like its canon, and we can all get along, okay?

MEANWHILE

Chuck has got Sam and Eileen tied to chairs in a cheesy casino in Nebraska. (To be fair, most casinos are cheesy) He wants to get that pesky shared wound healed up so he can go back to toying with our beautiful boys lives.

He tortures Sam by making Eileen stick him with a scalpel, everyone knowing that a simple earth scalpel can’t remove a wound like this. Eileen cries for hurting Sam, and Sam tells her he knows its Chuck making her do it.

Chuck is showing how petty and vengeful he really is, and Rob Benedict is really selling this side of God.

Chuck insists that getting rid of him will only make the world worse, and he hands Sam a handy little time traveling watch, and shows Sammy the future if the Winchesters get their way. The story gets progressively more and more grim as we shuffle just a couple of years into the future. Death and misery seem to be the only options as we find out that Claire is dead, Castiel is dead, Eileen is dead, and in a final twist to it all, Jody and Bobby hunt Sam and Dean, who have become the monsters that they hunt. VAMPCHESTERS! (Thanks the internet, for that awesome joke)  The beautiful boys vamp out as Bobby and Jody crash through the door. Jody stabs Sam with dead man’s blood! Dean attacks and kills Jody! Bobby beheads Sam!

And this is how Chuck figures out how to finally rid them of this wound. He pushes the narrative to the point where Sam loses all hope, and boom, the wound heals, and Chuck is back at full strength!

Dean and Castiel have brewed their spell, and Cass has volunteered to carry the reconstituted Mark of Cain, but when they show up at the casino ready to lock up Chuck, Sam is the one who stops them.

Dean is almost apoplectic as he yells for Sam to break the orb and release the mark. But Sam won’t, and Chuck reveals that all those glimpses Sammy’s been having, of how the Sam and Dean show ends? They weren’t drafts of his story, they were actual outcomes from other Sam and Dean worlds. *shock face* Chuck has been at this for a while, and even though Dean insists that this Sam and Dean won’t fall for his shenanigans, Chuck is pretty certain they will, just like all the rest of them.

Back at the bunker, Eileen decides that she can’t deal with any of this, and packs a bag. Sam tells her he understands, and then leans in and gives her a loving kiss. But its bittersweet, because even though it’s something that Eileen clearly wants, she still leaves. I don’t blame her! Poor Sammy!

Sam finds Dean and Cass, apologizes for his decision, but insists that the horrible future Chuck showed him was the truth. Dean is not so sure, and even if it is, he resolves to find another way to beat God.

AND THENNNNNNNNNNNN

We see Jack and Death, still up in the Empty, and Death is all, IT’S TIME.

So, there’s that. 🙂

Well guys, I have no idea where they are going from here. I do like how they are making it extra hard to lock down Chuck. But the boys are in the exact same spot they were at the beginning, except that Dean and Cass have made up. Fine, Andrew. it’s fine.

NEXT! Dean is having a very bad, no good day. Only funny.