Oh, I totally get where you're coming from on the gritty/creepy combo. I'd go even further back and say that I miss the feel of the first 2-3, maybe 3.5 (half-way through S4) feeling. S1 and S2 were gritty and creepy with an edge of hope. Problems seemed insurmountable, but they really weren't, or there was a glimmer of hope. Then we got to S3, and things turned very, very dark and hopeless. Honestly, that hiatus between S3 and S4, I was in such a state. Then Castiel made that awesome appearance \o/ and there was such promise! And it was at "Heaven and Hell" that I almost jumped ship. After that and on into S5, I started a lot of handwaving and shoulder shrugging and "whatever"-ing.

I'll be interested to see how Carver plans to re-energize things, since apparently the first half of the season was just marking time (I really hope I'm wrong about that), which is sort of disappointing.

But . . . whatever. ;) I still enjoy having Jensen and Jared on my TV screen each week, and last week's ep was pretty darn awesome. Tomorrow night is an Edlund ep, right?