Big Spoilers.  B-I-G.  Don’t read till you’ve watched.

Supernatural Official Site 

The Time: Thursdays, 9:00 PM, The CW

The Show:

Sam
and Dean Winchester are two brothers who roam the back roads of America
in a 1967 Chevy Impala hunting evil.  At first they fought all
of the usual: vampires, ghosts, werewolves and the like, but in recent
yeas they’ve found themselves more and more dealing with the literal
forces of Hell as a demon war has been brewing for decades, with their
family caught in the middle.  Sam has been pre-ordained from
birth by a past foe, the yellow-eyed demon, Azazel, to be a pivotal
figure in the war…on the demon side.  Meanwhile, Dean has
recently been resurrected from Hell by angels because they have the Lord’s work
for him to do.

The Stars:

•  Jared Padalecki – Sam Winchester
•  Jensen Ackles – Dean Winchester
•  Misha Collins – Castiel
•  Genevieve Cortese – Ruby

The Episode: “On The Head Of A Pin”

Dean is recruited by the angels to torture Alastair for information on who is managing to murder the other angels in their garrison.  This means that Dean is going to reverse roles with his tormentor from Hell, who butchered him mercilessly for 30 years (Hell time).  But Alastair reveals something so devastating to Dean, that he doesn’t know if he can handle it.  Meanwhile, the source of Sam’s ever-growing powers is revealed, as is who’s been killing angels, which is something not even demons can do.

The Lowdown:

Manomanoman.  Major league stuff revealed this week in yet another fantastic episode.  Major. League.  Sam and Dean get back to their hotel to find Castiel and Uriel (Robert Wisdom) waiting for them.  They want Dean to go with them to torture Alastair for info.  Someone has been managing to kill angels, which is supposed to be impossible.  But seven of the halos have been taken out with some sort of dagger weapon that leaves a triangular mark.  Dean doesn’t want to do it, but the angels aren’t exactly “asking” him, in Uriel’s words.  Dean comes face to face with Alastair again, who’s trussed up like Elisha Cuthbert. 

Dean and Alastair have a back-and-forth about Dean’s time in Hell and the things that Alastair did to him, and the things he made Dean do to others.  Alastair also reveals that he did the same thing to John Winchester, offering him the same deal that he made with Dean to get Dean off the rack, but John never cracked in over a century of torture.  Dean gave up after 30 years.  For Dean, each revelation about his time in Hell keeps getting worse and worse.  First of all, he wasn’t there for four months, but 30 years.  Then he made a deal to get off the rack by torturing other souls.  Then he revealed to Sam that he liked it and it’s left a hole in his heart that he can’t ever fill.  Now we find out that not only did Alastair torture Papa John for a century, but that when Dean finally cracked and made the deal to get off the rack, he broke the first seal of the 66 to free Lucifer.  What’s worse, the angels released him from Hell because since he broke the first seal, he’s the only one who can stop the Apocalypse.  In other words, the end of the world begins and ends with Dean Winchester.  Heavy shit.

As this is going on, Sam calls on Ruby to help him find where the angels are keeping Dean and she performs a spell and succeeds in finding them.  But Sam also reveals what he’s had to do to gain his demon-exorcising powers.  He’s been drinking Ruby’s demon blood.  And it’s turning him into an addict of sorts.  But the more he drinks, the more powerful he becomes.  By the time he finds the angels, Dean and Alastair, he’s powerful enough to not only exorcise Alastair, but kill him, as in Colt-style, just with his mind.

Before that happens, however, Alastair manages to get free from the Hell’s Gate trap with a little help.  He beats Dean within an inch of his life and lays the smackdown on Castiel again.  Alastair is a ridiculously powerful demon.  Not only has he managed to stand up to repeated torture with holy water, salt and the demon-killing Bowie knife, but he still has enough juice left to just destroy Castiel and almost send him back to Heaven.  But it turns out that Alastair isn’t the only bad guy in this war.  And it hasn’t been demons that’s been killing angels.  It’s been Uriel, using some kind of dagger.  He’s turned against God and so have several others in his and Castiel’s garrison.  And those that didn’t got whacked.  Uriel’s plan is to free their brother, since their father has turned his back on them.   So now, for the first time in his existence, Castiel has doubts.  He calls on Anna (Julie McNiven), the fallen angel from “I Know What You Did Last Summer” and “Heaven and Hell,” for guidance.

Simply awesome stuff this episode.  The mythology this season is kicking all kinds of ass on every level.  Again it’s Jensen Ackles as Dean who’s given the really good stuff to do and he shines like he always does.  “Bring back some donuts while you’re out,” “You guys need to walk more or you’ll get flabby,” and also the realization of what he’s done.  Great stuff.  Also some great angel-on-demon and angel-on-angel UFC action.  Castiel really needs to take some self defense lessons, by the way.  Also enjoyed Christopher Heyerdahl’s Alastair.  I really liked his work as Todd on Stargate: Atlantis and here he was playing up the character like a demonic Brando.  Very bloody and very deep episode.  Top two or three of this season so far, and that’s saying a lot.  A whole lot.

9.5 out of 10