‘Supernatural’ fans like myself got a rare glimpse into the motives of our favorite angel, Castiel.  Having formed an alliance with Crowley, we now know how that came to be and the repercussions that will be suffered because of it.  Did you miss it?  Here are the details; though try to catch it yourself on The CW once they upload the episode – you’ll want to see it for yourself.

The episode starts with Castiel praying to God, confessing past events.  If there was ever a great example of how the road to hell is actually paved with good intentions, it would be Castiel and his actions.  Having returned to heaven after the apocalypse, he arrives and discovers that Raphael has usurped power.  Acknowledging that his pride was in full force, Cass declares war on him when Raphael says he wants to continue the Apocalypse. 

But the problem is Castiel lacks the power and the resources to survive Raphael’s onslaught. We find out he pulls Sam from the cage of hell and brings him topside, not understanding the damage a soulless Sam could cause (and lied to the others that he didn’t know how Sam got out).  Then cloaked in invisibility he visits Dean and finds him raking leaves at Lisa’s house.  He wants to approach him and ask for help with defeating Raph, but Cass knows Dean has sacrificed so much.  That’s where Crowley comes in.

Crowley makes an offer to Castiel.  He promises to help him find Purgatory where he can find all the souls he needs to defeat Raphael, if Crowely can get half of them.  In a gesture of “good will” (yeah, right), Crowley gives Cass 50,000 souls to bring with him up to heaven to help in the war.

Castiel seems to believe that he’s doing this to save the boys and Bobby.  But the problem is that he’s lying to them about his motives, the fact that he never actually killed Crowley and also that he’s working with him.  The man they hate the most – and he’s allied with him.  This is not a good position for our angel to be in.

Sam and Bobby suspect it but Dean refuses to believe Cass would betray them like that.  That is, until Castiel slips and mentions something Bobby said when the angel was invisible.  How would he know that?  “He’s a spy,” yells Dean.  They encircle him in angel fire and demand to know the truth. 

This is Cass’ time to tell the boys what’s going on.  He could tell them about the Apocalypse restarting, Raph’s illegitimate claim to the throne, etc.  But instead he stammers and says how it’s complicated and they wouldn’t understand.  He also tells them that he’s aligned with Crowley for their own good.  They don’t believe it and I can’t say I blame them since he hasn’t given them the exact reason as to why he’s working with a demon.

Crowley’s itching to kill the Winchesters so when some demons arrive Cass tells the boys to run.  He faces Crowley (one of a few times this episode) and demands that Dean, Sam and Bobby not be harmed.

Later Cass visits Dean and awakes him to try to explain, but again it’s a failed attempt at communication.  Dean doesn’t exactly want to hear what he has to say anyway, so I suppose it’s just as well.  Dean warns Cass that he’ll be hunted if he doesn’t cease and desist.  Cass reminds him that he’s “just a human.”  Dean retorts that they’ve “taken pretty big fish before.”  Castiel apologizes and says he’s continuing with his mission.

At the end of the episode we see him continuing his prayer to God, asking for a sign that he’s on the right path.  No sign emerges and there sits a very tormented looking angel.

This was the last episode before the season finale.  Don’t miss it – it airs Friday, May 20th and will be 2 hours long.