I checked “awkward exposition” because the reason for the goddamn torture porn (which I hate, though I do have a caveat to that) was wafer-thin, and even Sam’s reasons for not talking kind of were, and the whole approach of the British MoL to the situation doesn’t make any sense, and I feel like that’s because the writers haven’t actually decided what’s going to happen yet. But other than that, I adored the episode.

My caveat to hating the torture is that I do love seeing Sam tied up and vulnerable and BAREFOOT (swoon)! I wonder if we’ve ever really seen Sam’s feet before? DELICIOUS. Anytime anything unusual is actually uncovered on Sam, I’m happy, though the nature of the torture kind of killed that particular pleasure. Yuck.

I actually kind of liked how they did the psychological torture, and I always love to see Sam react to that, and as others have said, it’s wonderful to see him rise above it and be a clever BAMF anyway. It KILLED me that he didn’t make it out. KILLED ME. And made me dread that that probably means the evil torturer guy is going to show up, and I’ve had more than enough Sam torture. I don’t mind if he suffers in captivity in other ways, but UGH NO MORE TORUTRE PORN, and we did that really-good-at-torture thing with Alistair already (and I also hated that. So. Enough). I hate the idea of Mr. Ketch.

I think it’s interesting that Toni appears to be beginning to feel bad, particularly, maybe, about Jessica? I want them to take it in that direction, although it’s hard to be OK with anything about her at this point. She kind of doesn’t make sense. Weirdly, I thought Minion seemed almost to be a better person—at least she seems to prefer a good clean fight, and I liked how badass she was, although I’m not sure that made sense either—just that one human with nothing but maybe-magical brass knuckles could best a super-badass human AND an angel. I mean, I LOVE that she was so tough, but Dean is a very experienced, very burly brawler, and Cas is a warrior angel! I can’t complain too much, though, because I loved how it went down (though as you said, it was pretty predictable that Mary was gonna wake up and take her out. But I loved “Thanks, Mom!” too).

Also, yes! I really DID love the demons! They were hilarious, and I enjoyed their performances. I liked Crowley’s interaction with them, too, and it’s actually been a while since I was interested in what they were gonna do with Crowley, but I am now.

Overall, I really, really liked it despite some flaws I perceived, and am interested in where they’re taking it. HURRAY SEASON 12!