Maybe I can retcon Dean's behavior as a response to his own unhappiness and guilt. This was one thing that rang, if not false, then at least confusing: was Dean lying to Cas in a misguided sense of trying to protect him? Because I'm conflicted about that. on the one hand: love the mentoring vibe they have, but otoh, just because he's human doesn't mean Cas is fragile or useless. hm...

I know I'm totally reading into things, but I loved how Misha portrayed Cas' responses to being human in this ep, and how sincere he was about his responsibilities. I feel like Misha is probably not someone to ever take stuff for granted.