Supernatural: Inside Man (10x17)

My heart. Oh my. This was... just excellent. And funny. And sweet. And intense. My poor babies. Let's jump right in to a plot summary!

Sam hears Dean calling out in his sleep, and rushes to his brother, only to find him in the throws of a nightmare about the Mark of Cain. Sam decides to team up with Castiel to try and help Dean. He tells Dean he's going to go see a French film, leaving Dean on his own. Sam meets up with Cas, and they both agree that there's only one choice remaining to them - they need to go to Metatron for help. However, when they try, Cas is informed by a regretful Hannah that he's not allowed up in Heaven, and that they cannot risk releasing Metatron again.

So, it's plan B - they'll break Metatron out. Cas and Sam go to a psychic who connects them to Bobby up in Heaven. Bobby breaks out of his personal Heaven and breaks out a bunch of other people too. In the chaos, Bobby is able to open a portal to Earth. Cas gets into Heaven, and the two go to get Metatron out. Metatron and Cas escape from Heaven, but Bobby is last seen being cornered by other angels.

Cas removes Metatron's Grace, giving him incentive to tell them all he knows about the Mark. Metatron admits that he doesn't know how to remove the Mark - he was just saying that to buy some time. He does, however, know how to get Cas some of his Grace back. Cas drives off with Metatron to go get it, leaving Sam with a letter from Bobby. The letter expresses that Sam is a good man, and that Bobby is proud of him. Bobby also suggests that Sam be honest with Dean about what he's been trying to do.

Meanwhile, Dean spends his time alone at a bar, hustling pool. After he rips off a group of college kids, he finds Rowena. She came to track him down and kill him, but when she tries to curse him, it doesn't work. Dean is protected from death by the Mark of Cain. Rowena then goes to Crowley with several cuts and bruises all over her, saying that Dean Winchester hurt her.

Crowley goes to talk to Dean. Dean says that he didn't beat up Rowena, even if he might have wanted to. Crowley has final confirmation that Rowena is a liar. Dean points out to him that just because Rowena is related to him by blood, doesn't mean they're family. Crowley kicks Rowena out, and Rowena vows to destroy everything that's important to him.

Back in the bunker, Sam and Dean both lie to each other about what they've been up to.

Okay! This episode was one of my favorites on this show. Ever. I think if I were to have a complaint, it would be that there was definitely some missed potential. That's not necessarily anybody's fault, but I couldn't help but think of all the different things that could have been done with this scenario. For example, Sam and Dean know a lot of people who have died. Bobby is the only one who gets mentioned. There wasn't even a throw-away line about Kevin, Ellen, Jo, Ash, John and Mary, Rufus, or anybody else that they know who's died.

Particularly, I was irked that nobody mentioned Kevin. Last we saw, he and a lot of the other dead folks were existing in some sort of veil worthy of Sirius Black's death in the Department of Mysteries, waiting for Heaven to be fixed. Is Heaven fixed now? Are these sterile, lonely rooms really all that's waiting for people after death? I just felt like there could have been a better exploration of this, given that we're finally back up in Heaven after spending so many weeks not dealing with that issue.

Briefly, I also wanted to express my disappointment that they didn't even try to explain where Cas has been this whole time. What has he been up to? Why isn't he in the bunker? That's more a personal hangup, but usually this show tries to give at least some indication of why Cas can't be with Sam and Dean all the time. This time, there wasn't really any effort put into that.

But enough of that. There's a lot of stuff to praise about this episode.

First of all, Dean is having nightmares about killing Sam. Be still my beating heart, this is all I want in the world. Dean yelling out for Sam in his sleep, looking like he was about to burst into tears? I'm all about that. The brotherly angst is coming! I can feel it! On a more serious note, Dean's descent into darkness is being handled with such skill during this whole season. I loved the moment when he sees his eyes flash black in the mirror for a moment. Dean's so scared of becoming the monster that would be capable of killing Sam.

Then there's Sam and Cas' side of this whole thing. I love seeing how desperate they both are to help him. Everybody can see it - there isn't anything that Sam Winchester and Castiel, Angel of the Lord, wouldn't do for this one man. Cas had a great moment with Bobby when he told him that Dean had given up, and then Bobby called Cas and Sam "idjits" for not doing the same. Cas replies: "would you?" There wasn't a lot of overt Destiel material in this episode, because the two didn't even share the screen together. However, Cas clearly loves Dean, and the word "desperate" was even used to describe the way Cas feels about Dean's situation. Yes!

Rowena finally did something! I'm so happy that she finally posed a threat (sort of) to our boys. In the end, because of the Mark, Dean was pretty darn safe from Rowena's attempt to kill him. Still, the fact that she attempted it was proof that she's not to be messed with. I can't help remembering that Sam doesn't have the same protection. Rowena could do whatever she damn well pleased to him.

Also, we now have a new way to connect Rowena to the Winchesters. It looks like Metatron is a dead end on the whole Mark of Cain business, at least for now... but Rowena seems pretty confident that the Mark can be removed. This should be interesting!

Finally, we're dealing with the strange and complex relationship between Crowley and the Winchesters. When Rowena told Crowley to make a move, to hurt Dean and lock him up, I knew that Crowley wouldn't. Sure enough, he tracks Dean down and the two of them nurse a couple of drinks at a bar and talk about their feelings. They're not who they used to be, at all, that's for sure. I think they'll continue to be unlikely friends for quite some time. They won't kill Crowley until this show's about to end.

The Winchesters aren't being honest with each other, and we all know that's not a good idea. I love the fact that Bobby gave Sam some really good advice without trying to overstep his place and tell him what to do. He's right - they should be honest with each other. But I completely understand why they're hiding things from each other. Dean doesn't want to get Sam's hopes up, and Sam doesn't want to admit that he's not respecting Dean's wishes.

This episode had a great script. So many deliciously hilarious moments. I'll list some of my favorites. First, there was Cas offering to break the door down. Sam tells him to "chill," and Cas says "What? I'm helping!" Later, when the psychic answers the door, he declares that Cas can't be an angel, because he's an atheist. And when he asks Sam what will happen if he doesn't help them, Sam has the best threat ever: "You're the mind reader."

Then there's the angel guard alerting everybody about the escaped residents of Heaven. "They're surly - I repeat, the Bobbys are surly!" I cracked up at that part. Also, Bobby says that Metatron looks like a fraggle, and Metatron replies: "I'm going to take that as a compliment. That was an excellent program." Metatron also calls Cas "Asstiel."

Cas gets to tell Metatron that Sam will "blow [his] freakin' brains out," which sounds about ten thousand times more bad ass when Cas says it. You also have the very intriguing and frightening thing that Metatron tells Sam and Cas - the Mark of Cain is really powerful magic - "God level magic. Or Lucifer level, but you can't ask him exactly, can you?" Can they? I get more and more anxious that Lucifer might be coming back!

I have to mention one other thing that wasn't meant to be funny, but really was. The product placement for Microsoft Surface in this show has never been too terrible - it's only been in recent seasons that we've even seen the Winchesters use actual existing products instead of made up search engines on old broken down computers. But in this episode, we actually have a demon in Hell using a Surface tablet. That cracked me up. Are you sure that's the kind of advertising you want, Microsoft? Ah yes, our product is so awesome, it's endorsed by the inhabitants of Hell!

I'm just so enamored with this episode, and all that it gave us. I'll stop now, to avoid prattling on and on. I can't wait to see what's next!

9.5/10