More random thoughts (S4)
Yellow Fever . . . Dean starts in heavy on the liquid courage, and once he remembers Hell, he doesn't let up.
Also, when this ep first aired, I almost flailed off the couch at the yellow eye flash at the end.
Who knew hellhounds were actually Yorkshire terriers?
I've had a nebulous little scene in my head for this ep for a long time. Alas, nothing is on paper.
It's the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester . . . Love Dean's comment regarding leprechauns. Here's hoping they follow up on that this season. :-) And I've kind of grown to like Uriel. Sort of. At least in comparison to Zach. I don't like Uriel's attitude ("You're close to blasphemy" indeed), but his job? I at least understand it.
But mostly? Castiel is so freakin' awesome in this ep. I really, really hope they bring him back to this level of awesomeness. I also kind of wish they'd followed up a little more on this being a test for Dean. I mean, I know it kind of plays into Dean being Michael's vessel, but why would they need to test Dean if Dean is just a vessel and has no control over what he does once Michael inhabits him? Fantastic little thread there that doesn't really get played with.
Wishful Thinking . . . Ben Edlund is just. not. right. Still love Audrey to pieces. And Dean continues with the drinking, and now he's not even trying very hard to hide it. Oh, Dean. Also, the Pacific NW mountains actually made sense in this ep. *bg*
And of course at the end, we get the reveal that Dean does now remember Hell, and that in much the same way Sam can't get rid of his demon blood and has to live with that curse and says that Dean can't help him, so Dean now has the memories of Hell screaming in his brain, and he can't get rid of them, and Sam can't help him. Oh, boys.
Also, I'm kinda proud of Dean learning and making the effort to be honest with Sam. Both boys have long been in the practice of keeping secrets (Sam more so than Dean, going clear back to S1), but Dean always comes around and tells Sam. (I also get the feeling that Dean is much less willing to keep secrets; he'd rather be upfront with Sam. Unless it's the whole game face "I'm not scared" for Sam's sake.) Sam takes (much) longer to come around and it comes back to bite him, with Dean finding out about Sam's secrets in the worst ways possible.
Oh, boys.