I understand a lot of the fans angst over S6 and S7

I do. I get that the serious Castiel fans are devastated by his “death” and upset that he’s only set for three upcoming episodes. I get too that fans are upset by Bobby’s death. Bobby and Castiel were/are great characters. (But please don’t blame Sera Gamble about the killing off of secondary characters. That started way back with Ash and Ellen and Jo under Kripke.)

I’ve been uncomfortable with the way Sam and Dean have been both supportive of each other but also kind of estranged emotionally this season. But something happened in Adventures in Babysitting that gives me some hope for the season. I think Dean’s discussion with Frank about checking out or continuing was perhaps pivotal for him. Frank told him that if he couldn’t smile and act like a professional, he should check out. Dean clearly stated that he couldn’t check out because of his brother. Then at the end, what do we see but Dean trying to smile. 

I really think that what we’ve seen early in the season is the writers literally stripping everything away from the boys, and the rest of the season will be them struggling to come back from that. They’ll have to fight their way back from the past five seasons of lying to each other and betrayal and all the other shit that’s come between them to truly trust  and rely on each other again. That’s what I’m hoping for — and most of all? For some real character development for Dean.

So while I hate to see Bobby and Castiel added to the list of great characters that we’ve lost (and hopefully they aren’t gone for good), I suspect that Sam and Dean can’t completely heal the rift that’s between them with other characters there to support them. They have to have only each other to truly deal with their issues. 

*shrug* Of course, I could be completely wrong, but that’s my speculation.