Well, that was a nice opener and really set things up nicely for the season, I think. We've got a lot going on.
For a long time, I've wanted to see the Men of Letters revived as a hybrid of MOL and Hunters, and it looks like I finally got my wish-- I never expected it to be staffed by refugees from an alternate universe, but what the hell. Alt-Bobby seems to be a regular now, which is kind of cool-- better than no Bobby at all-- and I'm glad Mom Winchester is back. I wonder if the alt-universe supernumeraries will be regulars as well. Jack seems to have become the third Winchester brother, which is also fine. I like him well enough. And it's good that he's been depowered, because he was just too powerful before-- I won't mind if his grace recovers a bit, but hopefully he won't return to his prior levels. On the other hand, like everybody else, I am confused about Cass. Am I forgetting something from last year? Does he have no powers at all now?
I got a kick out of the latest wannabe King of Hell who didn't even last an episode. And I loved Sam's fed-up speech that there will be no more Kings of Hell, causing a roomful of demons to flee. He is the Fonz of the supernatural world.
The big surprise was that Lucy's vessel, Nick, is still around. I can't wait to see how he fits into things. Is he going to become a resource for the new MOL, a Hunter, a casualty, re-integrated into his former life, set up with a new identity in the MOL Protection Program, or is his presence the ominous foreshadowing of Lucifer's return?
And, of course, in the background, we have Dapper Dean hosting the creepy presence of Michael who wants to "make a better world." I suppose "making Earth great again" would have been too on the nose. It will be interesting to see exactly what a better world looks like to him and how his seemingly random questioning of humans and monsters relates.
Clearly, angels are a major arc for the season, given the title card. I wonder if some will be recreated or new angels created to help keep Heaven working.
Well, I did see The Big Empty, or whatever it's called, in "The Road So Far," which may be foreshadowing.
Theory of mine... is it possible to give a human an angel's grace to make them an angel? Or maybe a soul in Heaven, give it a grace or turn one into an angel? I have a mental image of our universe Bobby getting his wings. He would be a Surly Seraphim.
Good question. It would have to be a different kind of Angel, I think. Demons are made from dead people, but, if I remember rightly, all the Angels we've ever seen are from an entirely different creation event, prior to the one involving humans.