The teenage years, it’s hard on parents and kids alike. No matter if you’re Goldie, getting the disapproving glares from your mother due to your choice of snacks, the resident King of Hell trying his hand at parenting or the ageless entity taking residence in a human girl’s body…yep, growing up is damn hard to do.

For the last few weeks now, as Amara has consumed souls and continued to age, her personality has shown flashes of rebellion. Until now, Crowley has let it go but that changes after her latest outing where she feeds on Goldie. He reminds her that there are consequences and grounds her. Like many teens, she doesn’t believe his resolve until Crowley reminds her in no uncertain terms that he’s the adult in this relationship. It’s a rude awakening to Amara, one that continues throughout the episode as she and Crowley go back and forth like a true father and daughter. Compromises are made and, at one point, Crowley opens his heart to her—well, as much as the King of Hell has one. “I just want you to know I’m not a monster,” he tells her and pleads for the petulant teen to play by his rules “for just a little bit longer.”

Castiel and Metatron have a heart-to-heart of sorts

Speaking of a bit longer, the Winchesters are still in Fall River, searching for more of Amara’s victims when they get a call about Len, the soulless guy who took the blame for the Borden murders from last week. The boys take a visit to the station and catch a whiff of sulfur as well as Goldie snapping. The instantly know she’s another of the soulless and whoever killed Len will be out for her as well. They meet some sort of off-camera compromise with her and capture Crowley’s pet assassin. Though he’s all too ready to spill the beans on Crowley’s troubles with Amara, he’s staying mum on the location. After removing the demon from the playing board, Sam hacks the assassin’s phone and they’re able to work out a general area on Crowley’s possible location. One site stands out from the rest; the abandoned Needham Asylum.

While the brothers work the case in Fall River, it becomes apparent that Castiel’s TV junkie state of mind is a result from a multitude of trauma over the last several months. Still, it pays off when he catches a glimpse of Metatron on the news. Turns out the former angel is trying his hand at being a night crawler, pining his earnings to humanity’s suffering. The conversation between the two is filled with hurt and resentment, the former scribe of God pushing Cas’s buttons, realizing the angel is broken. “You are scarred, deep. Paralyzed by trauma, by fear.” The words send Cas over the edge and he puts a hardcore beating on Metatron, causing the man to crack. But it does the job and he opens up on the Darkness. “In order to create the world,” he says, “God had to give up the only thing He’d ever known. He had to betray and sacrifice His only kin. The Darkness. His sister.”

Dean and Amara, inextricably linked.

Sam and Dean reach the Asylum with the plan to take out Amara. The two split up and Dean finds her room almost instantly. For her part, Amara’s not surprised. “I knew you’d come,” she whispers and Dean, even with the knife in his hand, seems to be hesitant to act against her. And that’s when Crowley shows up, disarming the hunter, proclaiming that he’s trying to help Amara “realize her fullest potential.” Crowley admits to being unable to kill Dean in the past but now? “What can I say? Fatherhood changes a man.” Before he’s able to deal the killer blow, Amara steps in and subdues her pseudo father. “I’ve decided I don’t need your protection and I certainly don’t need your captivity,” she tells Crowley in no uncertain terms before also demanding Dean’s safe passage. She returns to face Dean, wondering aloud what is driving this connection between them but Dean can offer no words of wisdom as he is caught in the same spell. She tells him of her maturation and how “soon, I’ll be strong enough to do what I came to do—to settle a score.” Sam breaks down the door, snapping the spell between his brother and Amara but the latter disables both Winchesters before walking out.

Back at the Bunker, Dean, Cas, and Sam regroup, sharing their findings. Dean’s upset Cas let Metatron go while the angel questions Dean’s decision to let Amara go. The conviction behind his explanation draws questioning glances from both Cas and Sam but the latter moves on to research and, for the third time since praying for a sign, Sam has a vision. This time, it’s one of the Cage.

We end things with Amara, walking off into the sunset to Neil Diamond’s “Girl, You’ll be a Woman Soon” while Dean contemplates the new normal.

The Good

  • So the Darkness is God’s sister?! Who would’ve thunk it?! Supernatural lore at its finest, though it does pose more questions than answers. This particularly juicy revelation almost guarantees that God will return to the fray. Based on Amara’s comments on settling a score, He may be the only one able to talk her down from ending creation. Of course, that connection to Dean, one Amara attributes to her first vision of His creation, may also play a factor.
  • What is going on with Sam? He’s always been the voice of reason, less apt to kill first, even when demons are involved but nearly dying because he wants to subdue two of them?! Not a good idea, Sammy. More to the point though are these new visions. Are they telling him that he needs to find a way to release Michael and Lucifer from the Cage? It makes sense, considering they are the two most powerful of the Heavenly Host. Of course, there is that little question of “how” to get it done. Then again, maybe I’m reading too much into it…or not. J

The Bad

  • If his ‘Jenny Jones’ binge wasn’t enough, Metatron brought to light what we all sort of knew; Cas is broken in so many different ways. He’s been trying to work through it alone but seems to be falling deeper into malaise. Mets did hint that if Cas were to recover his original Grace it would fix him but will he be able to get ahold of the small traces of it Metatron mentioned were left last year? Odds are, Cas will just have to learn to live with the new normal.

The Supernatural

  • Metatron’s initial response when Cas questions him about the Darkness: “The Band?” Not an episode goes by where Supernatural doesn’t throw in a gem like this to break up the seriousness of the confluence of events.
  • It may seem like a throwaway now, what with the Darkness roaming the streets, but Castiel regaining the Demon Tablet will most likely pay dividends sometime in the future. They do have the ability to close the doors of Hell. The question becomes when will they actually take the time to use it…