4x22, slightly delayed reaction
I think maybe the way for me to tackle this is to talk about the characters, and peripherally about the plot and the mytharc.
* First, Azazel. Ah, it was nice to see the YED again, wasn't it? But I'm a little confused about the continuity here. Since I thought the 'special children' thing was generational, has this thing about finding the one person who could kill Lilith, break the last seal and free Lucifer been going on for centuries? Because it appears that Azazel just got his instructions about how to free Lucifer in 1972, which would put that piece of continuity right out the window. So finding the special child wasn't really about leading the demon army, except...maybe it was? Perhaps the reward Ruby spoke of to Sam was that Lucifer will rise and put Sam (or whoever) in charge of the armies of hell. His right hand man, etc. This confused me somewhat. I'm handwaving now.
* Bobby. Thank GOD Bobby lived. Or, I assume he lived, anyway; the angels snatched Dean right out from under his nose mid-conversation, so let's hope there was no collateral damage. Heh. God, I love Bobby for giving Dean that lecture, because Dean really needed to get his head out of his ass. And I love that Bobby finally pointed out to Dean that he IS a better man than John, because Bobby sure doesn't want to see Dean go down that bitter, self-destructive road John was on, pushing people away. Don't forget, Bobby and John had a falling out, which happened before we actually met Bobby. John seems to have had one of those falling-outs with almost every hunter he ever knew, and that says quite a bit about John's MO. Anyway, it was WONDERFUL to hear him tell Dean NOT TO BECOME JOHN. So, so good. YAY BOBBY. Anytime Dean starts going on about how he's not sure Sam's his brother, he needs his ass kicked. Ahahaha, that whole "Boo-hoo" thing made me cheer.
* Lucifer. Well, all I can say about this one is - I'm a little concerned that Sam and Dean's proximity to his gate means that one of them is going to get vesselized. So you know. I wish they'd get a move on. *g* Assuming he doesn't randomly snag himself a Winchester, I wonder who will be cast as Lucifer? It'd be cool if it was a woman.
* Ruby. So glad she turned out to be a bad, bad girl. Ahhhh, SO HAPPY DEAN FINALLY KILLED HER YAY. Sorry if that offends anyone. I love Ruby, and I love hating Ruby. *g* And I don't think she was faking what she feels for Sam, necessarily; she was very tender with him right before Dean killed her. But she had her job to do, and she did it well. I will miss her lots. But Dean twisting that knife in her while Sam held her in place? SO SATISFYING. I did love her little smirk over Sam's shoulder when he was being crushed by Dean's fake voicemail; that was when I went OH NO OH YOU BITCH YOU REALLY ARE EVIL. That was a great moment, I thought. That was a great, subtle reveal.
* SamnDean. Loved Sam's apology at the end, and loved Dean's apology in voicemail, that Sam never got to hear. Loved the way Dean clutched at Sam's shirt, and Sam clutched him back. LOVED THAT. I also loved that moment where Dean was banging away at the door and Sam could hear him, but just distantly...but he couldn't hear anything else. Ruby is screaming in his face, and what he hears, what he wants to hear, is Dean. YES. That is what I want to see.
But there is a downside, too. In my last ep post, I said that I was concerned that Sam doesn't love Dean over all the same way Dean loves him. I think what I meant to say is not that Sam loves Dean less, but that the level of devotion they feel to each other, and how they express it, is different. In this episode, you have Dean yet again literally breaking down walls and doors to get to Sam, having gotten over his little snit about being beat down and choked and whatnot. And you have Sam...avoiding listening to Dean's message and proceeding with what he thinks is right. Ironically, avoiding that message was the right choice, given that it was altered to egg Sam on, but. I don't know. Of course Ruby and the demons (and maybe even the angels!) used the one thing they knew could push Sam on to the end in this, which was hearing his fears reinforced - that Dean hates him, thinks he's a monster. That Sam has nothing to go back to, there. So he can only go forward. Ouch. Oh, that scene, and Sam's face as he listened to the fake message, that killed me.
I think other folks see this more clearly than I do. I think Sam has been acting incredibly foolish this year, and you can blame that on the demon blood if you like, but I remain firmly in the camp of Sam making his own choices. He knows right from wrong. For example, the whole thing with the girl in the car, and Sam's sudden squeamishness - which I attribute to him still having a sharply active conscience, and having a clear idea of the lines he's crossing, deliberately. He rationalizes that it's for the greater good, but the fact that he hesitated for so long tells the entire story of Sam's poor choices - he made the wrong decision. He's been making wrong decisions for a while now, with good intentions.
Sam of course let Lilith goad him into killing her. See above, re incredibly foolish and/or hopped up on demon blood. But I think he was plenty clear-headed, and again, he made his own choice. He got his revenge, but found out that he was being played all along. Which, ouch. Sam was prepared to die to do what he thought was right, and it must have been killing him that he thought he had lost Dean forever, and was going to go out fighting Lilith and never be able to put that right. Awwww.
Also, that part where Sam basically knocked out the entire demon row without a single sound? AWESOME. Dude. I love bad-ass Sam!
Dean, after his ass-kicking (you don't think Sam was ever your brother, Dean? REALLY? Do us all a favor and GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR ASS, kthx), went back on the right path, more or less. I love the fact that he did swear his allegiance to the angels, but when he found out they were not playing fair or right, all bets were off. Dean's sense of right and wrong always has been pretty black and white, and in some cases that has not served him well, but -- all the adjustments made to his world view in this regard the past few years paid off here, where he knew exactly what he needed to do, and where to go, and that was to Sam. And Castiel knew it, too.
I wonder if Sam's powers are shot, now? If he is detoxed by virtue of having used up all his reserves on Lilith? It will be interesting to see, next year. (Also, I wonder if drinking angel blood would have the same effect? Because for a second, with Dean and Castiel, I wondered if they were going to go there.)
* Castiel. I love him so much. And I loved that scene where Dean persuaded him, essentially, to turn his back on Heaven and his superiors, and potentially to fall. The part where he cut his arm and started smearing the symbols on the wall was AWESOME. However. I'm not sure why he needed to be made the hero of this story, and that's what happened in this episode. He (predictably) chose Dean -- and what he knows is right -- over continuing allegiance to Heaven, and he sacrificed himself so Dean could get to Sam, in order to try to stop the apocalypse from coming. His was the only real heroic action. Which is...really odd, because the show already has two heroes. One who was doing the wrong thing, and one who was blocked from doing anything until Castiel saved the day in that respect. I was thrilled that he did what he did, and that he turned out to be ally after all, but. It's interesting, when you look at how that evolved, and realize that he is the hero of this particular episode.
* And finally, Lilith. She turned out to be a non-threat in this, which was disappointing. I sort of wanted there to be an epic battle there, not Sam pinning her to an altar and squeezing the life out of her. It was anticlimactic, and I was disappointed. But I suppose if they blow their epic battle mojo on this finale, they won't have anything left for the inevitable showdown with Lucifer next season.
So in conclusion: bring on the apocalypse, as long as Dean and Sam are a) together and b) are going to go talk some of this bullshit between them out before they pick up Castiel and get to hunting some demons AND angels next year! If the show cheats us out of seeing the two of them patch this up, I'm going to be unhappy. I will try to have faith, tho.
And now I can go read the 234592345 ep reactions I have open in tabs. \o/!