S15.E19: Inherit the Earth

[BabySpinach]

"Inherit the Earth" - (8:00-9:00 p.m. ET) (TV-14, LV) (HDTV)

CARRY ON - Everything is on the line as the battle against God (guest star Rob Benedict) continues. A familiar face returns to join the fight. The episode was directed by John Showalter and written by Eugenie Ross-Leming & Brad Buckner (#1519). Original airdate 11/12/2020.

[Castiels Cat]

🙈

[gonzosgirrl]

Dabb should be embarrassed. 

That wasn't even worthy of an after school special.

2/3 of Chuck's dialogue was the word 'guys".

They resolved Chuck with exposition. 

I can't believe that was it. What, and I can't stress this enough, the actual fuck? 

 

 

[weightyghost]

I don't understand. I had to double check if this was the finale. I don't... understand.

And am very... whelmed. 

[BabySpinach]

Glad to see the return of the Winchesters actually willing to sacrifice themselves for the world. And for Sam to take some blame for the whole debacle, since he was the one who pushed back hardest against the original plan. And I have to say that the concept of a completely empty world with just the Winchesters and Jack left to be pretty haunting ie. utterly stripping them of all purpose. The shots of empty cities were striking, even with the show's bottom-barrel budget.

And of course Jack continues to be the obnoxious plot device who becomes whatever the plot needs him to be. And becomes the new God, which many of us predicted. Nothing shiny or cool for the main characters to do, of course! And Amara is officially confirmed to be gone, her unexplained bond with Dean having amounted to zilch just like I'd feared. 

Winchesters had pretty much fuck-all to do. With us predicting either/both of their deaths or transformations, seems like the reality is that they just continue sticking around same as always? Gotta say, extremely, extremely underwhelming. 

I wonder what the hell the series finale has in store, if anything. At least the Winchesters will be the focus of it. Maybe they'll get their final fates decided then.

[Jediknight]

So, Jack becomes God?  Lucifer's son becomes God thanks to the Winchesters (Cas is a Winchester).  The ultimate middle finger to Chuck and Lucifer.  Jack never wanted to follow in their footsteps, he only wanted to follow in Sam's, Dean's, Cas's and Mary's footsteps.

Disappointed we didn't get a Portals moment, but we got those characters in the montage.  And it looks like the show might have a happy ending.

[Katy M]

thiswassostupidthiswassostupidthiswassostupidthiswassostupidthiswassostupidthiswassostupidthiswassostupidthiswassostupidthiswassostupidthiswassostupidthiswassostupidthiswassostupidthiswassostupidthiswassostupidthiswassostupidthiswassostupidthiswassostupidthiswassostupidthiswassostupidthiswassostupidthiswassostupidthiswassostupidthiswassostupidthiswassostupidthiswassostupidthiswassostupidthiswassostupidthiswassostupidthiswassostupidthiswassostupidthiswassostupidthiswassostupidthiswassostupidthiswassostupidthiswassostupidthiswassostupidthiswassostupidthiswassostupidthiswassostupid

I liked the ending montage. The dog was cute. That is all that I have to say positive.

Could Chuck not read their minds?  Come on.  I remember back in season 1, Dean said some ghosts and demons could read minds.  

And when "Cas" called I was like, dude, you're seriously falling for that?

1 minute ago, BabySpinach said:

Glad to see the return of the Winchesters actually willing to sacrifice themselves for the world. And for Sam to take some blame for the whole debacle, since he was the one who pushed back hardest against the original plan. And I have to say that the concept of a completely empty world with just the Winchesters and Jack left to be pretty haunting ie. utterly stripping them of all purpose. The shots of empty cities were striking, even with the show's bottom-barrel budget.

OK, yep.  I will add that to the list of positives.  The horror of being left alone on earth (OK there were 3 of them) and the shots of desolation were good.  But, the rest of the episode ruined all that.  

[Frost]

I understand COVID must have undercut their budget by quite a bit, but that was really a lot of exposition.  Poor Amara, no agency at all.  Just passed over into Jack when he zapped Chuck.  I do like Chuck's ending, I have to admit.  Leaving him as a measly human, to age and have to deal with coping with a 'real life'...likely poverty and homelessness.  The rest of the episode was a kind of a mish mash.

[ParadoxLost]

So I got a bit of a cry on at the end when they showed a montage of the ways this show used to be not truly, deeply terrible.

But that was really genuinely a steaming pile of crap.  It felt like a finale for what the show became. Focused on the ancillary characters that I'm long over caring about while Sam and Dean stand around in the background doing basically nothing.  Exposition that they weren't doing nothing doesn't make in better.

And the music... when did Supernatural get the musical score of a cheesy action movie made by the Hallmark channel.

When Jack started talking about how he was in the rain drops or some such nonsense I had to mute him. He was muted for a very long time.

 

Edited November 13, 2020 by ParadoxLost

[gonzosgirrl]

2 minutes ago, Frost said:

I understand COVID must have undercut their budget by quite a bit, but that was really a lot of exposition.  Poor Amara, no agency at all.  Just passed over into Jack when he zapped Chuck.  I do like Chuck's ending, I have to admit.  Leaving him as a measly human, to age and have to deal with coping with a 'real life'...likely poverty and homelessness.  The rest of the episode was a kind of a mish mash.

They already did this  with Metatron.  

The whole resolution was ridiculous,  and made worse by the exposition trope. I am still sitting here shaking my head. It's so much worse than I anticipated.  It's... it's boring.

[Castiels Cat]

11 minutes ago, BabySpinach said:

Glad to see the return of the Winchesters actually willing to sacrifice themselves for the world. And for Sam to take some blame for the whole debacle, since he was the one who pushed back hardest against the original plan. And I have to say that the concept of a completely empty world with just the Winchesters and Jack left to be pretty haunting ie. utterly stripping them of all purpose. The shots of empty cities were striking, even with the show's bottom-barrel budget.

And of course Jack continues to be the obnoxious plot device who becomes whatever the plot needs him to be. And becomes the new God, which many of us predicted. Nothing shiny or cool for the main characters to do, of course! And Amara is officially confirmed to be gone, her unexplained bond with Dean having amounted to zilch just like I'd feared. 

Winchesters had pretty much fuck-all to do. With us predicting either/both of their deaths or transformations, seems like the reality is that they just continue sticking around same as always? Gotta say, extremely, extremely underwhelming. 

I wonder what the hell the series finale has in store, if anything. At least the Winchesters will be the focus of it. Maybe they'll get their final fates decided then.

Amara is in harmony with Jack inside him riding shotgun.

The Winchesters got to be smart and beaten to a pulp. I assumed that Dean would be beaten to a pulp by Chuck in a SS callback. However it was handled terribly via the quick expo after the fact.

Too much Jack. 

The Lucy bit sucked. The Michael bit sucked. Shouldn't Dean have known that Death books are unreadable... oh wait... he could read his open book. AND WHY COULDN'T THE ARCHANGEL MICHAEL READ ENOCHIAN THE LANGUAGE OF ANGELS BETTER THAN SAM?!!!

I felt nothing but boredom and disdain.

Edited November 13, 2020 by Castiels Cat

[Aeryn13]

Well, it wasn't 5.22 like I feared. And I did say I would take dumb and boring over that but Dabb is such a lying ass.

"In the end it comes down to the Winchesters"

No, it does not. It all comes down to your Nougat Stu being exalted to literal Godhood.

Makes it all the easier to just ignore the entire Dabb years. 

[BabySpinach]

I mean, I get what they were going for. The Winchesters (and Cas) inspired a better version of God through their goodness/courage/whatever, and Chuck gets the poetic end of turning mortal and forgettable. This may have sat better with me if:

a) Jack was in any way a compelling character or a convincing part of the family

b) the Winchesters (the main characters!) had anything remotely interesting to do or become

c) we didn't get to this point with a bunch of contrived magic mumbo-jumbo pulled straight out of the writers' asses

d) Amara wasn't absorbed by two consecutive men, never to be seen or heard from again.

I guess another positive to the episode is that Dean didn't end up groveling to Jack for forgiveness. I do wonder whether Cas will be brought back though, since there's no reason why Jack wouldn't do that.

And--again, I'm going to keep hammering at this until I get an answer--WHAT ABOUT DEAN'S DEATH BOOKS????

[weightyghost]

I was waiting for them to show the silo with Bobby, Charlie, etc... like... we gonna pretend the only people the boys know on earth don't matter or are we to assume they were zapped back to their own worlds? I guess I'll say that might be COVID related as well with them not wanting to bring back all the actors... 

[PAForrest]

What the holy hell was that?

So they really never veered from their original end with Princess Jackie Poo Sue as the ultimate Deus Ex Machina, and the Winchesters ... well they were allowed to be there to do and be nothing and witness Dabb's pet as the lone hero of this 15 year show. Wow, that was petty. That's about the nicest description I have for it.

Nothing about what will happened to the tortured angels and demons in the Empty, no fixing Heaven - it's still a shitty memorex place. No Garden, no nothing, no peace when the guys do finally die.

And the Winchesters go back to doing what exactly next week? I guess Cas really is just rotting in the Empty.

There was no soul or emotion in this episode. It was dull and utterly one-dimensional.

 

 

[ParadoxLost]

4 minutes ago, Castiels Cat said:

Amara is in harmony with Jack inside him riding shotgun.

I know that they said that but its not possible for anyone to be in harmony inside of Jack.

I quite literally could not listen to fifteen seconds of his farewell monologue without muting him.  To have no reprieve for eternity. It makes me shudder.

[Katy M]

3 minutes ago, Castiels Cat said:

ND WHY COULDN'T THE ARCHANGEL MICHAEL READ ENOCHIAN THE LANGUAGE OF ANGELS BETTER THAN SAM?!!!

That's what I was thinking.

 

4 minutes ago, Castiels Cat said:

Shouldn't Dean have known that Death books are unreadable... oh wait... he could read his open book.

I'm willing to give that one a pass because I can believe that a God death book (rolling my eyes) would have more security/secrecy to it.  But, yes, Michael should have just said, "Enochian  you say?  I'll read it."  If Chuck just wanted the book, why di dLucifer even bother with the reaper.  He could have just grabbed the book and left.  Are we supposed to believe he couldn't get into the bunker because of warding and keys?  Really?  Really?  That crap just now is starting to work.  That bunker has never once kept out an angel and I dont think it knows the difference between a regular angel and a fallen angel and the devil.  He was in there before when they thought he was Cas.  And, I remember at the end of Season 10, Lucifer tried to kill Sam (I think) and he couldn't becuase Chuck said he had protected him. Why not do the same for Lucifer when he's running an errand for you?  

[PAForrest]

2 minutes ago, ParadoxLost said:

I quite literally could not listen to fifteen seconds of his farewell monologue without muting him. 

I was so disgusted I honestly wasn't listening - too busy hate texting with friends, so I wasn't listening to his god complex monologue because I don't care. What does it matter, it has nothing to do with the Winchesters.

I'm so depressed for the Js.

[ParadoxLost]

The one thing that never changes is Sam hair.  I spent a decent amount of time trying to figure if that was a choice or covid hair.

[jmonique]

So, uh, what's left for next week?

Also, I had to laugh at all the shots of everyone very definitely 6 feet away from one another.

[Castiels Cat]

6 minutes ago, ParadoxLost said:

I know that they said that but its not possible for anyone to be in harmony inside of Jack.

I quite literally could not listen to fifteen seconds of his farewell monologue without muting him.  To have no reprieve for eternity. It makes me shudder.

It's better than Chuck. Why would she stay... why wouldn't she say... dude time for some me time... 

[falltime]

I legit recoiled when Lucifer showed up. He couldn't get off my screen fast enough. Jack being the new god is no surprise. I think I've thought that since 12X19.

Crossing all my fingers they bring Castiel back.

[2Old2BAFangirl]

This was boring. 
I’m sad that I’ve been bored more times than not this season.

Just telling us how Chuck was no more, seems like they could’ve done that using Zoom.  It was just terrible... and boring.

What on earth are they doing for the “finale”? 
 

I’m so sad that this is how my favorite show and my favorite character (DEAN) are going out.

[ParadoxLost]

27 minutes ago, Frost said:

I understand COVID must have undercut their budget by quite a bit, but that was really a lot of exposition.  Poor Amara, no agency at all.  Just passed over into Jack when he zapped Chuck.  I do like Chuck's ending, I have to admit.  Leaving him as a measly human, to age and have to deal with coping with a 'real life'...likely poverty and homelessness.  The rest of the episode was a kind of a mish mash.

I kind of hate that they'll be able to use covid as an excuse for this.  It wouldn't have been any better without covid.  Maybe they would have dropped the stock footage to show Earth being repopulated and shown familiar characters instead but it wouldn't have been any better.

[Katy M]

2 minutes ago, 2Old2BAFangirl said:

This was boring. 
I’m sad that I’ve been bored more times than not this season.

I'm not really sure how this happened, but I misread this as "I'm so glad,"  And I thought, well that's a weird thing to be glad about.  

Now, I'm also wondering why Chuck would have even needed Lucifer to get the book.  He could invisipopped in and taken it. Or regular popped in and taken it.  If Amara can erase the warding from outside the bunker, surely Chuck can transport a book out.

[Frost]

Were Sam and Dean serious at the beginning with their "We give up.  I'll shoot him.  He'll shoot me.  We'll shoot each other.  Whatever you want."  It just came across a little flat, until Dean insisted that Castiel be brought back as part of the bargain.  That sounded sincere.  I guess in retrospect I should have found that scene a lot more shocking that I did.

[Castiels Cat]

4 minutes ago, Katy M said:

I'm not really sure how this happened, but I misread this as "I'm so glad,"  And I thought, well that's a weird thing to be glad about.  

Now, I'm also wondering why Chuck would have even needed Lucifer to get the book.  He could invisipopped in and taken it. Or regular popped in and taken it.  If Amara can erase the warding from outside the bunker, surely Chuck can transport a book out.

It's canon that he never does it himself.

[Myrelle]

I have no idea what that was.

Nougatnatural is all I can come up with.

Pathetic. 

Fuck Badd and co. for what they did to this show. 

I shudder to think what the actual finale will be like.

Best line of the episode goes to Dean-"You've been Death for like an hour"

And P. U. to every guest actor. Every one.

They all sucked and I'm including Alex Calvert in there, too-especially in that last scene.

At least the brothers were written as the tacticians and Dean is still the most beautiful man I've ever seen.

That's all I've got.

How utterly underwhelming. 

[S Cook Productions]

30 minutes ago, weightyghost said:

I was waiting for them to show the silo with Bobby, Charlie, etc... like... we gonna pretend the only people the boys know on earth don't matter or are we to assume they were zapped back to their own worlds? I guess I'll say that might be COVID related as well with them not wanting to bring back all the actors... 

Spoiler

I think both Charlie and Bobby are back next week. I think Jim Beaver instagrammed he was in the final ep.

 

[Aeryn13]

2 minutes ago, Myrelle said:

I have no idea what that was.

Nougatnatural is all I can come up with.

Pathetic. 

Fuck Badd and co. for what they did to this show. 

I shudder to think what the actual finale will be like.

Best line of the episode goes to Dean-"You've been Death for like an hour"

And P. U. to every guest actor. Every one.

They all sucked and I'm including Alex Calvert in there, too-especially in that last scene.

At least the brothers were written as the tacticians and Dean is still the most beautiful man I've ever seen.

That's all I've got.

How utterly underwhelming. 

Pretty much, yeah. Legacy-wise for the Winchesters that came out a complete bust.

Before the ep, I was caught on a loop of utter dread for another 5.22 or hope they may pull of something decent as a surprise. Now seeing how meh it was, I do feel rather calm. At least this is better than being a version of Schroedinger's show.

[Frost]

There must be a big Sam twist next week.  I didn't see anything that would have gotten Jared hyped up about this episode.

[Pondlass1]

Dean and Sam did nothing. Well, Dean drove. Why couldn’t the writers have let us the audience in on the plan to at least build some suspense?  The Nep Duo are way too keen on story telling via exposition.

The social distancing scenes in the bunker were odd, I thought everyone had quarantined? 

Anyway everything tied up in a nice pink bow. Twitter will be ecstatic. What’s happening next week then? Is it an episode or a montage?

[Aeryn13]

2 minutes ago, Frost said:

There must be a big Sam twist next week.  I didn't see anything that would have gotten Jared hyped up about this episode.

He kinda appears to be, though, since he is live-tweeting throught it. Hasn't done that in years.

[Katy M]

1 minute ago, Pondlass1 said:

Dean and Sam did nothing. Well, Dean drove.

Dean made a doggie friend for 5 seconds.

[bmoore4026]

Oh, I liked this.  So many feels.  I like that Chuck is powerless and is doomed to die.  I like that Jack has become the new God and is a God of love.  I liked Sam and Dean not giving in as Chuck is kicking the crap out of them.  I loved "Get Together" and "Running on Empty" and the montage.

This did feel more like a series finale to me.  Which makes me wonder how it really is going to all end.

I will say this made me feel better than Game of Thrones penultimate episode.

[Wynne88]

Obviously I'm way in the minority here, but I liked it.  Everything folks have said above is true enough, but I guess I was watching it on a more superficial level.  Although the show started out being just about the Winchester brothers, it gradually became more of an ensemble show as Jensen and Jared pulled back on the hours they were willing to work and be away from their families.  Because of that, it didn't really bother me than so many characters had their fingers in the pie.  I would have had a hard time believing that human Sam and Dean could beat God themselves.

I also liked Jake Abel much better than back in Season 5; he's matured and his performance held a lot more weight.  I also thought Alex Calvert did a nice job tonight.  

I'm looking forward to next week.

[ahrtee]

How can Jack be the "god of love" when he's planning on being completely hands off and not even listening to prayers?  He's just going to assume that "everybody get together, gonna love one another right now" will happen now all on their own?  

Someone last week asked how they were going to tie up all those loose ends in just one episode.  Well, considering the pacing on this one, all it took was about 5 minutes of exposition and one (*very* badly choreographed) fight scene.  

So next week will be just everyone showing up randomly so Sam and Dean can say their goodbyes?  Or, to give Dabb's version of a "twist" ending, Sam will get back with Eileen and Dean will die of a heart attack (probably offscreen) so we can see a mournful funeral (with Bobby etal all saying "I told him those bacon cheeseburgers would kill  him") before everyone settles down to a nice, happy life.  

[Myrelle]

I was so bored.

I still can't believe how bored I was. 😶

[SueB]

I liked:

- Jack apparently told the boys something was up with him
- The Winchesters played Luci/Michael/Chuck.  
- Jack fulfilled his destiny and brought back everyone (I think)
- Sam & Dean were a lock solid team
- The ‘Chuck is Evil’ plot is over   

NGL: I didn’t ‘love it’ except for the dog and the montage

I’m cheesed off at Buck-Lemming for faux ending the series.  It feels like next week is superfluous.  I want a big emotional ending and I don’t feel it right now.  
 

Here’s hoping there’s more heart next week. 

[gonzosgirrl]

7 minutes ago, ahrtee said:

How can Jack be the "god of love" when he's planning on being completely hands off and not even listening to prayers?  He's just going to assume that "everybody get together, gonna love one another right now" will happen now all on their own?  

Someone last week asked how they were going to tie up all those loose ends in just one episode.  Well, considering the pacing on this one, all it took was about 5 minutes of exposition and one (*very* badly choreographed) fight scene.  

So next week will be just everyone showing up randomly so Sam and Dean can say their goodbyes?  Or, to give Dabb's version of a "twist" ending, Sam will get back with Eileen and Dean will die of a heart attack (probably offscreen) so we can see a mournful funeral (with Bobby etal all saying "I told him those bacon cheeseburgers would kill  him") before everyone settles down to a nice, happy life.  

Dabb is absolutely petty enough to give Dean an ignominious or worse, insignificant death to wrap things up. Then let him be 'celebrated ' by everyone regaling Sam with hilarious stories of how dumb, slovenly and ultimately unimportant he was. 

Edited November 13, 2020 by gonzosgirrl

[ahrtee]

I did notice that Lisa and Ben weren't in the montage.  I guess that means that it wasn't Dean erased from their memories, it was them erased from everyone else's.  

[The Companion]

1 hour ago, gonzosgirrl said:

They already did this  with Metatron.  

The whole resolution was ridiculous,  and made worse by the exposition trope. I am still sitting here shaking my head. It's so much worse than I anticipated.  It's... it's boring.

So boring. And so so choppy. Like someone took the outline and smushed it together.

 

1 hour ago, PAForrest said:

What the holy hell was that?

So they really never veered from their original end with Princess Jackie Poo Sue as the ultimate Deus Ex Machina, and the Winchesters ... well they were allowed to be there to do and be nothing and witness Dabb's pet as the lone hero of this 15 year show. Wow, that was petty. That's about the nicest description I have for it.

Nothing about what will happened to the tortured angels and demons in the Empty, no fixing Heaven - it's still a shitty memorex place. No Garden, no nothing, no peace when the guys do finally die.

And the Winchesters go back to doing what exactly next week? I guess Cas really is just rotting in the Empty.

There was no soul or emotion in this episode. It was dull and utterly one-dimensional.

 

 

Agreed. Hell, Cas barely got a few sad lines. I was sitting there thinking his sorta kid is now God and can't bother to bring him back? 

4 minutes ago, Myrelle said:

I was so bored.

I still can't believe how bored I was. 😶

That is the worst part. I am used to being mad or irritated by poor writing, but this was boring.

[Goldmoon]

Please tell me that next week is more than a bts special! I am planning on having a drink for the last ep. Was this the ending that JA hated?

[Castiels Cat]

10 minutes ago, SueB said:

I liked:

- Jack apparently told the boys something was up with him
- The Winchesters played Luci/Michael/Chuck.  
- Jack fulfilled his destiny and brought back everyone (I think)
- Sam & Dean were a lock solid team
- The ‘Chuck is Evil’ plot is over   

NGL: I didn’t ‘love it’ except for the dog and the montage

I’m cheesed off at Buck-Lemming for faux ending the series.  It feels like next week is superfluous.  I want a big emotional ending and I don’t feel it right now.  
 

Here’s hoping there’s more heart next week. 

If he was draining plants he would have been draining their lifeforce too... big pothole. 

I thought the dog would keel over because he was in the backseat with Jack.

Chuck would have been able to sense the power of 2 archangels.

I don't want to waste any more thought on it.

It was nice that the Winchesters outmaneuvered Chuck.

Jack... he is an empty vessel that they filled.  Ok.

Very badly written.

.swan song is looking good right about now.

Edited November 13, 2020 by Castiels Cat

[PAForrest]

1 minute ago, Goldmoon said:

Please tell me that next week is more than a bts special! I am planning on having a drink for the last ep. Was this the ending that JA hated?

Dabb said the theme of the ending - I'm guessing whereby the Winchesters are mostly entirely unnecessary to the world - stayed the same and that they only had to tweak the final two episodes (which I don't believe at all). But if Princess Jack going all Deus Ex Machina and the Winchesters standing around with their battered faces and thumbs up their collective asses was always the plan, no, I don't think Jensen would like that at all, for obvious reasons.

Showalter directed this episode, and he too remarked months ago that he thought it was disappointing - and he wasn't wrong. He blamed COVID for the episode being boring, assuming there was going to be some kind of battle they couldn't have. But overall I can easily see why Jensen would be unhappy. The brothers aren't the heroes at the end of their own damn story.

[Whodunnit]

This episode was definitely more of a doggy whimper than a bang.

I liked Miracle the dog.

If anyone feels up to writing a story about him, (I love the irony of Dean being the one to get attached to a dog) I would probably read it.

(I naively believed he would actually be a plot device, but he was just the writers being jerks.)

[shoetingstar]

I can't fully describe how much I disliked this!!! I actually don't enjoy an hour of the boys being tortured mentally, physically and emotionally, only for the Fetus to save the day.

Jack killed God. Dabb got all he wanted. What a dick. This is embarrassing.

WTF with these Hallmark Lifetime song montages? aye aye aye...

 

[Binns]

I didn’t HATE it, so that’s something. I knew Jack would be new God...kinda had to be. Hated seeing Lucifer- glad they took care of that quickly. I do like that the boys got to outsmart Chuck. I don’t really know what to expect for next week. I like this happy ending that they have going on right now with Sam and Dean happy and not being hamsters. 

[ahrtee]

9 minutes ago, PAForrest said:

Showalter directed this episode,

I wondered about that, since the gas station/mart was called "Showalter's".  Maybe that was the design department trying to make him feel better.  

10 minutes ago, PAForrest said:

He blamed COVID for the episode being boring, assuming there was going to be some kind of battle they couldn't have.

Well, unless they were planning to have an all-out battle with all the former guest stars taking part, I wouldn't blame Covid.  But even that wouldn't have saved the ep from endless monotony.  

 

[Binns]

42 minutes ago, Wynne88 said:

Obviously I'm way in the minority here, but I liked it.  Everything folks have said above is true enough, but I guess I was watching it on a more superficial level.  Although the show started out being just about the Winchester brothers, it gradually became more of an ensemble show as Jensen and Jared pulled back on the hours they were willing to work and be away from their families.  Because of that, it didn't really bother me than so many characters had their fingers in the pie.  I would have had a hard time believing that human Sam and Dean could beat God themselves.

I also liked Jake Abel much better than back in Season 5; he's matured and his performance held a lot more weight.  I also thought Alex Calvert did a nice job tonight.  

I'm looking forward to next week.

I agree with this- I’m more of a superficial watcher now and don’t mind the ensemble nature as long as the boys are characterized correctly. I don’t mind them expanding their world and don’t mind others getting big kills or whatever as long as they are still involved, and it felt tonight like this was their plan and they executed it well.