I watched the episode a second time and I have some thoughts. Firstly, SHUT UP ABOUT THE FREAKING MIX TAPE!! So so so so so much more happened to Castiel than learning Dean gave (not made) gave him a cassette tape. Castiel has his powers back! He took off with Kelly and is now going to protect Lucifer’s son! Don't you think this is incredibly more important than a f$^*#$; cassette tape?!?! Okay, now that that's out of my system, onto my thoughts. I've seen a lot of talk about Castiel being OOC this episode. I have to disagree and not because Castiel protecting the bros is his thing. Ever since Castiel’s plan to free Lucifer and be his vessel to stop the darkness, he’s been trying not to mess things up. He's been trying to fix his mistakes and win. Like Dean said “he’s so desperate for a win he can't see straight.” The Winchester have continuously tried to bench Castiel and have him follow their orders to get things done. Once, just once, he wants to be able to make the right choices. When he tells Kelvin, “This has nothing to do with my reputation! I'm doing this for the Winchesters. I stole the colt to keep them out of this mission, to keep them safe from dagon. And i…...i will kill this girl so that Sam and Dean don't have to.” The way he looks when he says this, it's almost as if he’s, I don't know, in denial? Like the more he says it the more it will be what he truly wants. Like he wants to believe the words he’s saying more than he actually does. “He’s so desperate for a win he can't see straight”. He says to the bros “I wanted to keep you...out of this. I...i was trying to keep you safe…..this is my responsibility because it's my plan.” The more I look back at Castiel this season and last, I think he is lying. I don't think he’s trying to keep them safe, I think he's trying to keep them away so that he can win this on his own, without them. To prove he can do it. To prove he is capable. Not only to them, but to himself. He couldn't stop demon Dean, he couldn’t fight the curse, he couldn’t stop the darkness, he couldn't protect Sam, and he couldn't defeat Lucifer, he couldn't find the brothers and he couldn't stop a vampire. Now there's these cosmic consequences and just watching him the last few episode’s, he’s looked more and more defeated as time goes on. “he's so desperate for a win he can't see straight”. And all season he's been showing us that he wants this win without the help of the brothers. I do not think that he is being controlled by the nephilim. That baby showed him something that gave him peace and I'm beyond desperate to know what it is. He knocked out the bros to stop them from stopping him. That's not OOC, he's done it before. All of Castiel's desperation came to a head this episode and now, hopefully, we might be heading toward a very much needed Castiel redemption. He finally has his powers back and, I think, might even have healed a bit. But I swear to god if they kill him in the end I will raise hell!!!
