Supernatural: Book of the Damned (10x18)

Oh nooooo. That was awesome! And terrible! I'm legitimately terrified for the finale. It's going to kick my ass with feelings. Let's dive right in!

Charlie is on the run from a group of men who seem determined to get the Book of the Damned from her. She gets shot, but luckily it's not a serious wound. She contacts Sam and Dean, who come to meet her at one of the safe houses Bobby had set up for hunters. Dean discovers the identity of the people who shot Charlie - the Styne family. They're an evil bunch that go back centuries. They've used the Book of the Damned for all sorts of heinous crimes. Dean has an encounter with the Stynes, and is barely able to get away. He tells Sam and Charlie that he can feel the Book calling out to the Mark. It's bad news, and they need to destroy it. As the Stynes show up to try and take the book, Dean implores Sam to burn it. Sam does so, and together Sam, Dean, and Charlie manage to defeat the Stynes.

However, we later see that Sam didn't really destroy the Book. He takes it to Rowena, because he's desperate for a way to remove the Mark from his brother. He figures that she'll know how to crack the book's indecipherable language.

Meanwhile, Cas and Metatron are on a little road trip to retrieve Cas' grace. Metatron stalls for a while, because he knows that once Cas has his grace back, he'll stop being useful. Eventually, however, Metatron takes Cas to a library where he says Cas' grace is hidden. Cas can feel his grace, but Metatron says he doesn't know exactly where it is. He had another angel hide it for him. In any case, it turns out Metatron has a backup plan. He takes the Demon Tablet, which he had been hiding in the library, and runs off with it. Cas, on the verge of dying due to a spell cast by Metatron, manages to figure out the clues left in the books and finds his grace inside a copy of Don Quixote. Cas is back to being fully angelic again, with his own grace restored!

Back at the bunker, Sam and Cas decide not to tell Dean about Metatron escaping with the demon tablet. Cas and Charlie finally get to meet, and the four of them hang out and eat dinner together. Dean is having a good time, but Sam feels burdened by his secret. He still has the Book, and he's worried about what's going to happen to Dean.

Yay! They brought Charlie into the A-plot! I'm so happy!

I think my one complaint was that the introduction of the Styne family felt sort of heavy handed. These guys are clearly bad news. Just before Sam kills Jacob, Jacob says that his family will never stop searching for the Book. Okay then. Obviously these guys are coming back, and not in a good way. The same sort of lack of subtlety happened there at the end, when we see Sam talking to someone, and then the big reveal is that it's Rowena. Well... duh. Who else could it be? I thought that was a little silly, like they were setting up the surprise just for the shock value.

Also, Metatron says that Hannah has cleaned Heaven up, and that things are working smoothly up there. That's... fine, but after seeing what Bobby's little personal Heaven was like, I'm a bit irked. That can't really be what the afterlife is like, can it? That's no light at the end of the tunnel for our poor weary characters! I hope that, even if Heaven is put on a back burner for a while, we get to see a happier place for the afterlife before the show ends.

But mostly - I. Loved. This. Episode.

First of all, Charlie is the best. I love that she's on equal footing with the Winchesters now. She's a hunter in her own right, tracking down the Book of the Damned, fighting off bad guys, getting shot and using dental floss to help with her stitches... she's amazing. And Sam and Dean, while they might perhaps feel a bit of a big-brother-like protective instinct for her, never belittle her or ask her to sit on the sidelines. She's very much a part of the team. I absolutely adore the fact that she's in on the A-plot now. Charlie is a major player in the Supernatural universe. I really, really want her to be a recurring character next season. Please?

Metatron is just the worst. I love it. The jokes about the song "Ironic" were hilarious. I've always been frustrated by the misrepresentation of what "ironic" means in that song, and Metatron pointed it out in the funniest way. Later, as Cas is lying on the floor of the library, dying, he says it: "isn't it ironic?" He's just so deliciously evil! I can't wait to see what kind of trouble he's going to get into now that he's run off with the demon tablet.

Cas is holding a major grudge against Metatron. And let me say - he's got good reason. It's because of Metatron that the angels fell. It's because of Metatron that Cas' grace was stolen from him - that he nearly died several times, that he was forced to kill another angel to keep alive. It's Metatron's fault that so many angels died in the chaos after the gates of Heaven were slammed shut. But what does Cas say when Metatron asks if he can be forgiven? No, because "you killed my friend." Once again, we're back to the Dean Winchester thing. Nothing else seems to matter. It's delectable.

Also, Castiel has his grace back! Yay! But his wings are all tattered and shabby! No! My heart just breaks for him. He's been through so much, and when it comes right down to it, Metatron made a really good point in this episode - what exactly is Cas' mission supposed to be, once he's finished tracking down rogue angels? Once he fixes Dean? I mean, what's the plan for the rest of his existence? (As a college senior staring into the void of an uncertain future, I totally relate to the angst Cas is feeling right now).

Sam just broke my heart in this episode. That scene when he tells Dean "I can't lose you..." and then Dean threw Sam's earlier words in his face? Sam immediately says "Come on, man, you know I didn't mean - " but Dean cuts him off. It's just so frustrating. The incident they're referring to was one in which I was completely on Sam's side. Sam said he'd let Dean die, but what he was really saying was: "I won't disrespect your bodily autonomy." Yeesh, Dean. For him to throw that in Sam's face was pretty harsh. Later, we hear Sam tell Charlie that he's accepted his life as a hunter and a Man of Letters. He likes his life now. But he doesn't want any part of this if Dean's not there by his side. My heart is breaking! I'm glad we got to hear all of this from Sam. His speech was a great way to unpack a lot of his character development over the past ten seasons. He's no longer waiting to finish the job. He knows that this is his life. But unlike the fatalistic outlook that Dean sometimes has about that, Sam could build a happy life for himself if only Dean could stay by his side.

To finish, I have to discuss the absolute perfection that was that final scene. Cas and Charlie finally meet! Sound the trumpets! I loved Charlie's reaction to meeting him. She just hugs him like they've known each other all their lives, and remarks lightly - "I thought you'd be shorter." Later, we see them playing together with one of those paper fortune teller things (I always called them cootie catchers, as a kid). They're just so adorable! And just the image of Cas, Charlie, Sam and Dean all sitting around enjoying food and beer together... it's just too precious for words. Unfortunately, Sam is mopey and anxious during this otherwise lighthearted scene, but I still appreciated seeing Dean laugh, a real out-loud laugh, surrounded by the three people left alive in this world that he loves the most.

I think I'll stop there. That last image of Dean, smiling and happy, makes me very, very nervous for whatever terrible thing they're going to do to him and to the rest of these precious darlings. It's gonna hurt, that's for sure!

9/10