Supernatural 'Holy Terror' Review: Season 9 Midseason finale delivers on all fronts

The midseason finale of Season 9 of Supernatural, entitled "Holy Terror," packed in plenty of action and delivered numerous twists in just one hour. Moreover, it set the stage for what should be an excellent second half of the season.

It was obvious that something was off about Ezekiel, but it was a much more interesting twist to reveal that the angel is not even Ezekiel at all, but Gadriel, the angel allegedly responsible for allowing evil into the world in the first place. As if that weren't enough, Metatron returned to convince Gadriel to be his second-in-command in a brand new heaven.

Gadriel's first task to prove his loyalty was to kill Kevin, and kill him he did. Full on white-light, eye-burning angel smiting. Supernatural has killed so many recurring characters that it's never surprising when one of them bites the dust, but the emotional gut punch is still there in spades. Kevin was a fan favorite character who provided plenty of spark and sarcasm and was a good verbal sparring partner for Dean. And he was right in this episode when he mentioned that he's been screwed every time he trusted Dean.

And that was really the crux of the episode. Dean made this decision to save Sam, and the aftermath has been. Kevin is dead, Sam is still possessed by an angelic a-hole, and there's an all-out war between multiple factions of angels breaking out all over Earth. The stakes have not been this high on Supernatural in quite some time (probably since the apocalypse in Season 5) and the second half of the season should be loaded with action.

Elsewhere in the episode, Castiel got back in the game by investigating the numerous angel deaths, which eventually got him captured by Malachi, an anarchist and one of the faction leaders. Eventually, Cas managed to cleverly free himself and stole grace from his fellow angel Theo, which means our favorite angel buddy is back to full power for the time being.

It might a little convenient that Castiel was able to restore himself so quickly and could just grab the grace of any ol' angel to do it, but the more important point is that he realized he could not sit on the sidelines and stock shelves at the Gas 'N Sip any longer with the angel war starting. He did not want to cross that line and steal the mojo, but he did. Also, Misha Collins is so good at playing this character and his various emotions, from humorous lines about beer to his attempts at prayer to the torture scenes, he sold it all wonderfully.

Sam, Dean, Castiel, Kevin, Gadriel/Ezekiel, Metatron and a host of other angels were all in play in this episode, which moved along briskly and had a high body count. The cliffhanger at the end set up what should be a fantastic second half of Season 9.

Notes from Dad's Journal:

-       "There is no more Sam. But I thought I played him convincingly." You did, Gadriel. And you're a dick.

-       On that subject, Jared Padalecki has done a fantastic job switching between Sam and Gadriel/Ezekiel this season and this episode was no different.

-       Castiel talking about how he's never bought the next round of beer before was great.

-       Kevin's death was tragic, sure, but didn't it feel a bit...off? Like he deserved a bigger sendoff? Either way, he'll be missed.

-       So we've got Malachi, Bartholomew and Metatron all vying for control. This is going to get really messy really quickly.

-       The midseason finale moved along at rapid speed, but part of that was likely because of so many standalone episodes in the first half of this season. Hopefully the show finds a better balance in the second half.