7.05
I'm going to say this upfront to get it out in the open: I felt that this episode had some seriously skeevy misogynistic and homophobic/heteronormative undertones which made me rather uncomfortable. And yes, I know that this is Supernatural and I should be used to it after seven seasons, but I still reserve the right to be pissed off about it. Especially when I know that this show can do sensitive, poignant and thought-provoking (see last week's episode) which makes it doubly frustrating when it decides to fall back on the same tired old stereotypes.
/rant.
That aside, the episode was... okay. Spike and Cordy James and Charisma were fun, but part of me can't shake the feeling that they were mostly just stunt-casting to detract from the fact that it was a fairly mediocre episode. I'm not generally a fan of witches on this show -- partially because of the way they're represented and what that says about women -- but having said that, the episode did have some fun moments. The deaths were not as gory as I was hoping for, but still quite pleasing (my favourite being the one with the hearts in the cupcakes).
On a more serious note, Dean is clearly still carrying a lot and not coping with it particularly well; best framed by his nightmare seqeunce at the beginning and the conversation with Sam at the end, but also his non-stop drinking and avoidance throughout. It seems to me like he's juggling grief (and guilt?) over Cas, worry about Sam's mental state and guilt over what he did to Amy, as well as the burden that's been weighing down on him constantly over the last seven years. I continue to hope that this will be addressed fully over the next few episodes; the Amy thing in particular needs to come out soon so that it can be dealt with and moved on from, because as I said last week, I really don't want another season of ~Winchester Trust Issues~.
It's good to see that Sam appears to be doing better than he was in the first couple of eps, but I'm still not... entirely convinced that he isn't putting on a front and pretending to hold it together more than he actually is. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
I'm still on the fence about the Leviathans as Big Bad -- I'm hoping they start to crank up the mythology over the next few episodes. ALSO: I've seen the theory floating around on Tumblr that Bobby is the boss Leviathan, and can I just -- I can't even express how much I hope that isn't the case. Bad enough that they killed Cas, but if they go there, I will lose all faith in this show as being ultimately hopeful (which, despite my cynicism, is what I still want to believe, however naive that belief may be). I thought they said this season was going to be less bleak that S6, but we're only five episodes in and already it's at least twice as depressing. And if you'd asked me a year ago, I wouldn't have thought that was possible, because S6 was pretty dark.
Having said all that, the more I think about that theory the less sense it makes, because the Leviathans want the Ws out of the picture, and if Bobby was one of them he would've had ample opportunity to take them out. So idk.