ash48 | 7.01 Reaction/Review

Before I start I just need to..

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! \o/

That was friggin' AWESOME! What a way to kick off the new season. The pace, the action, the angst, the humour, the horror, the acting, the the... EVERYTHING!

Dear Show,

I love you. Let me count the ways:

1. Dean's hair!! \o/ Thank YOU! Thank you!! That slightly longer, swept over look makes him look even more beautiful (if that's possible). But more than that it softens him. He's still all badass, but it makes look less stressed or something. Anyway. I couldn't stop staring. He is indeed a "male model" type. :D

2. OPENING TITLES!! LOVE LOVED THEM! So creepy and weirdly beautiful. I thought the inky black substance was in reference to demons (and it might be), but it looks like it might also be in reference to the Big Bad. And WOW.... what an exciting new Big Bad! \o/

3. Slow Ride recap opening music! \o/ (reminded me of my Guitar Hero attempts). I loved the editing of the opening sequence.

4. Hurt!Sam in the opening few minutes! His hand falling on the sharp piece of glass. OW! I love that he had is hand bandaged the entire episode. I thought it might have become relevant later in the episode because it seemed like quite a strange bit of detail I'm wondering if it will come to bear in the next episode.

4. Dean working on the Impala! That WILL NEVER GET OLD! And I loved that he asked Sam to help him. JOY! (awesome opening shot with him upside down).

5. Godstiel, Castiel, Cas and Leviastiel. Oh my! Misha had a FIELD DAY will all those different personalities. What JOY! I was musing recently how on earth his vessel would be holding all those souls in there so I was thrilled to see that addressed. OH CAS! "I think I overreached" was probably my most favourite line.

I think Show did a great job of addressing the issue of God!Cas. We saw a bit, but it's not who Castiel is going to be for the season (which I thought it might be). He learned that lesson (and damn quickly!). Hee... now he's EVEN WORSE!! Acck!! So unexpected and exciting. (Hmmm... I wonder if Castiel really is dead?! Death did say he felt a reaping tingle. Would that have been Cas??) I really enjoyed Misha's performances - I think my favourite might well have been the very end.

5. Oh Dean.., What an interesting direction they're giving Dean. It reminded me of when Sam died. That loss of hope. Wanting to bow out. Drink himself into oblivion. (hee.. watch animated porn..). It was as though he had given up - particularly on Cas. I think this is a great way to acknowledge everything that Dean has been through. I'm glad it hasn't been swept under the carpet. Dean is strong. He's a fighter. But he's also a person. And all those losses last season (and all the ones before that) are really taking their toll. I think Castiel's betrayal weighed heavily and thus he didn't even want to try and reach him. I got the feeling that Dean is just sick of being hurt. So it's easier just not to care (or pretend not to care). He's trying to protect himself.

His reaction to Sam was also very interesting. He definitely cares (that will never go away) but I think he just truly wanted to believe he was ok. And if he wasn't? Then I'm thinking he just didn't know how to face that.

The drinking really an issue for him and I'd love to see them explore this more this season.

6. Sam. Oh dear god Sam. So much to admire of him in this ep. His strength to continue on, but also his acknowledgement that telling Dean he wasn't ok would only add another burden to Dean's already heavy load. And it's true what Sam said. There's nothing Dean could actually do about it, so why worry him. I was so happy that they talked about it and cleared the air. Dean still thinking that Sam was keeping secrets... Sam 'fessing up that he didn't want to trouble Dean. *hugs* our beautiful boys. Communicating at least.

STRANGLED!SAM OMG! Kill me now! The chain around his neck...That was freakin' heart stopping. But how's his calling for Cas? What was that about? You'd think Dean would be his first shout out. I think this was telling in that he still believed Cas could help him. That Cas WOULD help him.

I loved that Sam hadn't given up on Cas (he's learned this from Dean...*nods*) and reached out to him. (I'm thinking there's some meta here on the difference between Dean and Castiels's relationship and Sam and Cas. I think looking back on Sam's belief in angels long before Dean's would be interesting to write about and how maybe that's why Sam didn't give up on Cas here?).

7. Meat hooks! ARGHHHHH!!!! (and \o/)

8. DEATH!!! Was A-MAZING. The casting of Julian Richlings is pure genius. He is SO perfect and I loved every second of watching him. His line delivery is fabulous. I also love they way he is written. (I even warmed to Crowley a bit in this ep).

9. Outsider POV. I loved the added touch of that couple watching what was going on when they summoned Death. It opened that whole scene up and really bought home how different a hunter's life is to everyone else's. It also gave us their perspective on the whole. I also loved that we didn't have to SEE Dean take those two out. He's just so badass that we know he easily would have. :DDD

10. But the thing that made me SQUEE the most?!!?! Them playing out a challenge prompt I left at

sharp_teeth a while back. I nearly died...

He's safe, he's with his brother, he has his soul back, there are no big bad's to fight etc. He's happy. He's free. It seems too good be to be true.And it is. In hell Sam keeps dreaming he's out only to be repeatedly torn from his dreams to face the reality that he's still in the cage.

august_monsoon filled the prompt with this wonderful picture HAVE A LOOK AT WHAT IS AROUND HIS NECK!

Ok. So it's not exactly the same but the idea that Sam could be thinking that he's actually still in the cage FILLS ME WITH GLEE! I can't wait to see what they do with it and how Sam works it out. (something to do with his bandaged hand maybe..). And seeing Lucifer again was WONDERFUL! (I missed his name in the credits AND I wasn't spoiled for his appearance so it was a fabulous surprise).

And did he say Lu say something about "spooning"??? I couldn't make out that line and I listened to it a couple of times...

10. EVERYTHING ELSE!! Just seeing the boys again was so nice, but to have a fast moving, jammed packed episode full of promise for future episodes was so FULFILLING!

Thank you Show. WELCOME BACK!! \o/

Death Tally:

Here's my (sexass) table to assist in this tally.

Wow... there were A LOT of deaths in the episode. However, as per the previous tallies we didn't count mass deaths so I won't include those. (Over 200 were mentioned and this will definitely skew the results)

I'm thinking of counting the death of the preacher and the woman in church (1F, 1M). Cas was said to be dead but...??? Don't think I can count that yet. Also.. Misha is still playing a role. (See why this was so hard...)