Generally I’m not a huge “previously on” fan, but I’m going to make an exception because this is Supernatural, it’s not a “demon of the week” episode and if you have no idea what the history is you’re going to be completely lost. Still, we’re gonna keep this short and sweet.  Previously, Castiel was on an “I am God” power trip and tore down the wall in Sam’s head, letting all hell spill loose (well really just allowing Lucifer to babble at Sam).  Sam was able to repress the Devil voice, until Dean’s life was on the line.  As Winchesters are known to do when the other brother is in trouble, Sam ignored his own well being and stopped fighting Lucifer’s hold on him in order to help save Dean, giving the Devil the opportunity to come out and play anytime he wants.  And what he wants is to drive Sam crazy…

So we open on a man we discover is Sam, weaving into fences and people, in a dangerous part of town.  Sammy looks so awful that even sketchy drug guy is concerned.  Poor Sam, it’s not the habit he can’t kick, it’s just Lucifer and his constant mocking.

Sketchy drug guy promises to give Sam something that will knock him out and though I’m sure he got the “Just Say No” speech in school, Sam’s desperate enough to try it.   Unfortunately, instead of beauty sleep all Sam gets is another hallucination and serenade from Lucifer.  Sam’s on Day 5 of his sleep diet and is approaching death if he doesn’t catch some z’s soon.  So maybe it’s a good thing he runs away from Lucifer, straight into a car.  They certainly have stronger drugs at the hospital he can take.  Just stay away from the Propofol, Sammy.

Dean’s not really seeing any good in Sam being in the hospital.  He storms into the doctor’s office, demanding answers, while a nurse shrieks that he can’t go in without an appointment.  If doctors really don’t want to talk patient care with upset family members, they should consider hiring bouncers instead of 5’3 nurses.  The doctor explains that physically, Sam’s dealing with a broken rib and lacerations.  Lacerations? Not on his face though right? Dean’s less concerned about Sam’s face than I am until the doctor gets to the part where Sam’s been placed in the mental ward on a psychiatric hold.  Dean insists his brother is no Norman Bates, but admits that Sam’s having trouble sleeping.  The doctor tells Dean that despite being pumped full of sedatives, Sam’s still awake so yeah, that’s an issue.

“Just saying back when you had no soul, you never had to sleep,” Lucifer is reminding Sam about the good old days when the Doctor finally lifts the no visitors ban and Dean’s allowed in.  A little jealous of Dean’s arrival, the Devil uses the opportunity to remind Sam (and the audience) of Dean’s increased drinking this season and feelings of helplessness.  Dean promises that they’re going to beat this thing, but Sam’s beyond hoping for a cure.  He wants Dean to let go.  Ha!  Lack of sleep does cause brain damage.  Dean gets pissy, thinking that Sam’s rejecting his help (and he didn’t even hear Lucifer call him helpless!), and tells his brother to get mad and fight.  Sam’s too tired to fight, but it’s still a sweet brotherly moment.   Even Lucifer is touched (well more like he’s pointing and laughing at them, but whatever, he has no soul).

Dean stalks off to call every contact of Bobby’s he can find with no results, leaving him reaching for that beer the Devil knew he’d need.  With a little help from Ghost Bobby (or a large gust of wind as the show’s still being ambiguous on this), Bobby’s planner somehow ends up on the floor revealing the number of a guy who knows a guy who can help.

Back at the hospital, Lucifer’s still messing with Sam’s head and Sam scares his neighbor, Marin, a teenage girl with a large bandage on her neck, by tossing his sandwich away (in his head it’s covered with maggots).  She’s either into Sam or crazy because despite his weirdo behavior, she comes back with a candy bar.

Mackey, aka the guy who knows a guy who can help, tells Dean about a healer named Emanuel who healed his burned out eye.  That’s enough for Dean and he’s off to meet with Emanuel.  Sadly, he’s not the only one there to see him.  Dean reminds Emanuel’s  demon stalker that Crowley wants them to play nice until their common enemy is gone, but the demon thinks Crowley would be more interested in having a healer than waiting around for the Winchesters to kill Russell (patience, Crowley, this is episode 17.  We’ve got 5 more to go.).  Dean kills the demon with his demon killing knife, leaving him face to face with the REAL Emanuel.  Better known to you and me as Castiel, Angel of the Lord, who ripped down Sam’s wall, Dean’s former bestie.

Turns out, Cas has a case of amnesia and doesn’t remember being Cas.  Dean’s at a loss for what to do.  So am I, Dean.  So am I.

You know who’s not at a loss for what to do? Lucifer.  He’s playing oldies music and throwing firecrackers to jolt Sam away from sleep.  Lucifer is shocked Sam’s keeping it together so well, but for the Devil, I find his tricks lame.  He’s like an annoying little brother.  A new nurse comes by and Sam questions him about Marin.  I know company’s hard to come by and generally people baring chocolate are the type of people you want around but she seems a little young for you, Sam.  The nurse apparently doesn’t practice HIPPA and outs Marin as a suicide risk.  Very professional there buddy.

Dean’s feeling E-Cas out on the way to cure Sam (not like THAT you guys, he’s asking questions about his new life).  He finds out that Daphne, E-Cas’ wife, found him wandering around naked and confused.   Instead of calling 911 and getting E-Cas some help, Daphne took him home and called it God’s plan.  Before you judge, try being a single lady looking for a nice guy who is smoking hot.  Dean finds out that E-Cas got the name Emanuel from bouncybabynames.com and manages not to make a smart ass remark.  Maybe it is God’s plan.  E-Cas tells Dean that he has a nice life and knows he’s a good person because he doesn’t feel like a bad guy, which would be a hint to anybody else that he’s probably a reformed baddie.

Marin’s back with another candy bar and Sam’s offering to share (but he doesn’t give her any chocolate which is just mean).  Marin confirms she’s at the hospital because she’s depressed and over life.  When Sam doesn’t give her the “It Gets Better” speech, she’s pleasantly surprised and admits she’s heard that Sam’s stay is because the voices don’t let him sleep (has anyone heard of HIPPA in this place?!?).  Wondering if Sam hears the Devil or Charles Manson, Marin admits she hears a voice too prompting Sam to ask if that’s why she set the fire.  Marin freaks out and Sam explains that for once it wasn’t a medical professional who spilled the info, he took a guess based on her burns.   She’s still pissed because 1) she didn’t set the fire, HE (the voice, not Sam) did and 2) Sam’s crazier than her, having Charles Manson for a voice in his head while she’s plagued by her lonely dead brother.

Dean and E-Cas continue their heart to heart.   Curious as to what problem he’ll be healing, E-Cas discovers that Sam’s pain was caused by a former friend of Dean’s.   Recognizing Dean as a dangerous man, E-Cas asks if Dean killed his friend and Dean admits that he doesn’t know if Cas is dead or not.  Regardless, Dean can’t get over Cas’ betrayal.  Still unable to remember that he’s the pain causing, former friend, E-Cas gives Dean permission to be angry.

Dean’s still uncomfortable and decides to stop at a convenience store to take a breath and make a phone call.   He’s jumped by demons and with Sam in the hospital and Cas still E-Cas lacking a rescue when in comes Meg.  Yup, Demon Meg.  She’s back and she wants to be friends.  Neither Dean nor I believe her.

But Meg lays it out; she was tracking Emanuel, which led her to E-Cas and Dean.    Meg knows Crowley would love to get his hands on our angel with amnesia and since she hates Crowley, she doesn’t want that to happen.  Dean doesn’t like it, but acknowledges that they’re basically stuck with each other.  E-Cas takes Meg’s presence pretty well considering he sees her demon face and she’s eyeing him like he’s ice cream and it’s a hot summer day.

Back at the hospital, Sam’s explaining to Marin that her brother is a ghost and that they have to lay him to rest.  Marin’s suspicious (Sam is her neighbor via the mental ward), but decides to go with it.  As they are in the worst mental facility ever, Marin’s able to steal a lighter so Sam can begin the salt and burn on her haunted bracelet.  Lucifer chooses now to get serious about driving Sam crazy, but they manage to get the ritual done and exercise the ghost.  Sam tells Marin to get out of there just before he’s restrained.  Since the drugs aren’t working, the doctor thinks it’s time to talk surgical solutions. Even Sam, who was willing to try drugs from sketchy drug guy in an alley, doesn’t think this is a good idea.

Dean, Meg and E-Cas continue on the longest car ride ever, made more uncomfortable by Demon Meg and E-Cas’ Castiel-like questioning.  They finally get to the hospital only to find it guarded by demons.  Being that E-Cas is the only one who can smite that many demons, Meg calls Dean out on not telling E-Cas that he’s really Cas, Angel of the Lord.  Dean doesn’t care.  He can’t risk Cas finding out the truth and going off the deep end.  E-Cas has overheard (by purposely sneaking up on them and eavesdropping) and he wants Dean to tell him how they know each other, insisting he can handle it.   Dean isn’t buying it, reminding E-Cas that he’s just met himself while Dean’s known him for years.  Bored with this, Meg blurts out that he’s an angel.  At first E-Cas hysterically thinks Meg’s flirting with him, but finally they convince him.  E-Cas thinks being an angel would be cool and doesn’t understand why Dean’s so worried, so Dean gives him Angel 101 where there’s manipulation and destruction all the time.    E-Cas doesn’t remember Dean, how to smite demons or ride a bike (giving us the best look of frustration from Dean yet), but decides to give it a try.   Dean’s pessimistic, but Meg believes in her “little tree topper.”  I know she’s evil, you guys, but c’mon.  That’s a cute pet name.  Cas does manage to smite all the demons and get his memory back.

E-Cas is now 100% Cas and he’s got a huge case of guilt and anger.  And despite learning that Sam is in the hospital right behind him, and acknowledging that Sam’s in that hospital because of him, Castiel throws a temper tantrum and storms off.

While this is going on, poor Sam is strapped to a hospital gurney.  Once in the white room, the nurse explains he’s there for shock therapy and Sam’s with it enough to start asking for Dean, but it’s too late.  A mouth guard is shoved into his mouth and the nurse guy goes all black eyed demon and hooks him up to the machine, explaining they usually keep it low but they’re going to experiment.

Dean’s giving Cas a pep talk and even Cas is telling him to get off it because his behavior deserved death.  Dean points out that he was allowed to get out of the river, so there must be a reason.  Like maybe fixing some of the damage he caused?  They go back to the car and we discover than Dean has been carting around Cas’ trench coat.  Aw…that’s sweet.  Can we go save Sam before all his eggs are completely scrambled though guys?

Demon guy is impressed with Sam’s pain threshold, but thankfully his gloating is cut short by the appearance of a re-trenched Cas.  He smites evil nurse demon, gives Sam a quick apology and goes in for the heal.  It doesn’t work.

Sam wakes up back in his room to Lucifer reading the Three Little Pigs (I would have thought Humpty Dumpty more appropriate) while Dean and Cas discuss Sam’s wall.  The pieces have been so smashed by Lucifer that it can’t be put back together again (see, totally Humpty Dumpty moment).  Cas decides he could probably shift the wall.  Before explaining to Dean what exactly that means, Cas goes to Sam and works his new shifting angel mojo.  I’m wondering if maybe Sam will be in Castiel’s body for a bit, but Sam wakes up Sam and Cas is now the stuck with visions Lucifer.

Completely healed, Sam worries that leaving Cas behind is a bad idea, but Dean points out it’s the best way to protect him right now since every evil out there is on their ass.  Sam’s still worried about Meg, and Dean is forced to acknowledge that while Meg’s not their friend, they have to trust she’s in it for ultimate destruction and not just terrorizing Castiel. Out of options, the boys hit the road while instead Meg finishes up her interview to be a new nurse on the psychiatric floor.

After losing Castiel earlier in the season and the resulting fandom wars that broke out because of it, I was a little leery when I learned Misha Collins was coming back as a guest star but not as Cas, but this was a great redemption arc.  The amnesia allowed Dean to give voice to all his inner pain and in the end Cas sacrificed himself for Sam giving Dean (and the rest of us harboring some anger) the final push to forgive and move on.    With Sam healed, the boys can get down the serious business of the Leviathans and Castiel fans can rest assured that we’ll see Cas again.