Supernatural 'Inside Man' Review: Bobby Singer Returns, Rowena Makes Her Move

The newest episode of Season 10 of the CW's Supernatural aired Wednesday night, and "Inside Man" brought back fan-favorite character Bobby Singer (Jim Beaver) while finally making some real progress in the overall plot of the season.

After a few weeks of filler, "Inside Man" switched to the more serialized aspects of the show and returned focus to Dean and the Mark of Cain. Sam snuck away from the Men of Letters bunker and found Castiel, and together the two worked to contact Metatron, who claimed to know how to remove the mark.

Of course, the other angels in Heaven had no interest in freeing the guy who almost brought down the entire operation and told Cas his visitation rights had been revoked. So in a second effort, Sam and Cas contacted their inside man, Bobby, and instructed him to break out of his individual heaven and free the scribe.

It's always great to see Bobby and Jim Beaver on Supernatural, if only because it harkens back to the halcyon days of the series and makes the episode feel more important. Bobby himself even joked with Sam about the sometimes-absurd nature of what the Winchesters deal with nowadays and reminisced about the times when they would just kill vampires and ghosts.

Bobby, despite being on the sidelines for a while, sprung the gate to Heaven open, and he and Cas worked together to free Metatron. In an amazingly smart move for these characters, Castiel immediately slit his throat and stole his grace to remove all of Metatron's leverage. Unfortunately, the scribe had been lying about how to remove the mark, so it was yet another dead end for the boys.

Meanwhile, Dean used his downtime to hit a local bar and hustle some punks at pool. But it wasn't quiet for long, as Rowena finally made her move on Dean in order to stoke the fire in Crowley. Dean, presumably because of the mark, shrugged off her attack and took her down quickly. Crowley, after learning what his mother had tried to do, banished her.

More interesting here was the development in Crowley. His conversations with Dean and Rowena reaffirmed that he's still the King of Hell, but he is different somehow. He's not screwing with the Winchesters anymore, but he's still Crowley. Like Dean said, something has changed him. Maybe it was the human blood he received during the trials. Maybe it was his summer of fun with Demon Dean. But something is different.

"Inside Man" set up the rest of the season well. Sam may be working in secret to help Dean, but they both at least are on the same track as far as wanting the mark gone. Castiel now has Metatron's grace, which is sure to come back to bite him somehow. Crowley is changing, and Rowena is still on the loose and angry. We'll see what happens when the show returns in two weeks.

Notes from Dad's Journal

- Dean is now having nightmares about killing Sam. This ends poorly.

- "The Bobbys are surly. Repeat, the Bobbys are surly." Ridiculous, but hilarious.

- Also, it tickled me that Heaven alphabetizes its little individual heavens for the residents.

- I want more of Dean Winchester playing pool and acting drunk.

What did you think of "Inside Man"? Let us know in the comments section.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDfHEVDd5r4