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Both the boys flex their dark sides, and another supporting character bites the dust – this time literally.

The episode begins with Castiel walking amid a sea of abandoned cars, all with their alarms going off. He looks mournfully at a dead woman in between the cars and then disappears as the police arrive. One officer shines a light on the space around the woman, revealing a massive span of wings around the dead angel.

After the credits, Sam and Dean race to rendezvous with Ruby after attending Pamela’s funeral. Dean is tired of burying friends. Unfortunately, the two aren’t in for any rest – as Uriel and Castiel are waiting for them. Someone has murdered several angels, and the two want the Winchesters’ help in finding out who did it. They have Alistair in custody, but the hellish inquisitor is a master of torture. The angels are out of their league, so they look to Alistair’s best student (Dean) to continue the interrogation. Dean begs not to repeat the same acts he did in hell, but the angels vanish with him in tow regardless.

At a warehouse in the middle of nowhere, Dean still pleads with the angels not to make him do this. Uriel goes to seek revelation from Heaven while Dean talks to Castiel. It seems Castiel is taking flak as Dean’s handler and there are concerns he is getting too attached to the Winchesters. Now Uriel is calling the shots, but Castiel nevertheless insists Dean torture Alistair for the information vital to stopping the Apocalypse. Hesitantly, Dean agrees and gathers his tools for the job. Fortunately, Dean has sustained thirty years of torture under Alistair – plenty of time to cook up new methods of torture, ranging from syringes filled with holy water to knives coated in salt.

As Alistair screams in agony, Castiel receives a visit from Anna, who has somehow kept her old body by “pulling a few strings.” Anna urges Castiel to stop the torture, but Castiel insists it is God’s will. Anna is insistent none of this behavior is condoned by God, and tries to convince Castiel to rebel against his orders, but a bitter Castiel refuses and rejects Anna altogether. The fallen angel promptly disappears.

Sam, meanwhile, meets up with Ruby and finds where Alistair is being kept. But Sam doesn’t go to stop Dean from doing something he’ll regret – instead he’s going to kill Alistair, because he’s convinced Dean is too weak. This time, Sam isn’t afraid of amping up his own demonic mojo – by ingesting demon blood straight from Ruby’s veins.

Dean’s torture proves somewhat effective as Alistair talks, but he doesn’t say anything the Winchester wants to hear. Alistair remembers torturing John, who never broke, and compares him to Dean, who broke in thirty years. Alistair also reveals the first seal was broken by Dean, who unwittingly fulfilled a prophecy when he began torturing souls in hell. Unfortunately, Alistair breaks free a second later by using a leaky faucet to break a devil’s trap. He then badly beats Dean, until he is interrupted by Castiel. The angel stabs Alistair, barely missing his heart. Alistair’s force of will proves too much and the demon starts exorcising Castiel until Sam interrupts. Using the full extent of his powers, he restrains Alistair and torments him until Alistair admits Lilith is not responsible for the attacks. Sam then kills Alistair with the brute force of his psychic abilities.

Dean is left badly beaten in a hospital bed, and Castiel can do nothing to help him. Castiel talks to Uriel, who is angry when the search for the demon ends without any answers. A remorseful Castiel reluctantly asks Anna for advice, but the fallen angel refuses to slip back into the role of Castiel’s superior and give him orders – for once, Castiel must decide his actions for himself. He thoroughly investigates the broken devil’s trap and comes to one shocking conclusion.

Castiel talks to Uriel about what has happened. He reminds Uriel of their friendship spanning the course of history and then asks him one blunt question – who really is behind it all? A sword falling into his hand, Uriel simply replies, “The only thing that can kill an angel . . . is another angel.” Uriel has been “converting” his comrades to free Lucifer and take up arms against God and humanity – and then killing those who refused to join him. He asks Castiel to simply be afraid, but for the first time, Castiel is truly afraid. The two come to blows, but just before Uriel is to kill Castiel, he himself is killed by Anna.

As Dean recovers, Castiel tells him to be more careful – Uriel was the traitor all along. Castiel also confirms Dean did break the first seal, but also adds one more tidbit – that he alone can stop the apocalypse. But Dean is not only broken physically, and cries that he is not the man both of his fathers (God and John) wanted. As Dean cries in his hospital bed, Castiel looks on, his future more uncertain than ever.

This was another surefire hit for Supernatural, adding an element missing from the last several episodes – Castiel. When the last episode raised so many questions about the angels, this episode cemented where fan favorites like Castiel and Anna stood alongside the Winchesters, while still adding a sinister dimension to the struggle. In short, it looks like Sam and Dean will face both angels and demons before this fight is over.

The episode was the first one written by Ben Edlund in a while (his last was Wishful Thinking), and while Edlund’s trademark humor was in limited supply (Dean tells Uriel to get some donuts while he’s out seeking revelation), there was plenty of intensity to go around. One minor change I liked was Castiel being referred to as “Cas” by his comrades – both Dean and Anna – reinforcing a sort of foxhole normalcy not usually found with the otherworldly angel.

The one problem I had with the episode was Sam’s big “dark side” moment – feasting on demon blood straight from Ruby’s arm. The last episode seemed so convincing because Sam really was lying to himself about the road to good intentions, whereas he didn’t seem to give a second thought. Instead, he’s brought into the idea that he is strong and Dean is weak – essentially the same lines he spilled during the “Sex and Violence” episode. It just didn’t seem convincing.

Next episode looks lighter, with Sam and Dean waking up with no memory of hunting or one another for that matter. Sam is tech support and Dean is a white collar worker, but both soon find themselves hunting once again. The premise feels similar to “What Is And Should Never Be.” Hopefully it is lighter – Season Five’s heaviness is starting to weigh down upon its success.

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