Supernatural: Making a Deal with the Devil

Despite portraying the king of Hell, Crowley continues to be one of the most enjoyable villains on television. And the writers of Supernatural seem to know that we want more of his odd dynamic with the Winchesters and Castiel.

Running out of options, Dean turns to Crowley for help in casting the angel Gadreel out of Sam. Convoluted? Not as much as the rest of the plot. With Abaddon and Crowley vying for control of Hell, and several factions of Angels fighting for control of Earth, this season of Supernatural definitely has more villains than any before it. In the midst of all the chaos, Dean is forced to turn again and again to Crowley for support.

In fairness to Crowley, he's not literally the devil. He just happened to step in and sieze control when the Winchester's threw the actual devil into the bottomless pit. He's not even really fully evil anymore. Sam's (albiet failed) attempt to cure Crowley and turn him human partially worked. Even though he's still mainly mercenary, Crowley seems to have developed a modicum of decency. But rather than weakening him, it seems to have made him even more resourceful, at least so far.

At the risk of jumping to conclusions, it's almost refreshing to see this change of pace. Yes, good usually wins on television, but evil is almost always more clever. Here, for once, adding some good seems to have improved Crowley in more ways than one. Would he still terrorize the Earth with his demon army if he could just regain control of it? Maybe. But as we saw a little in the earlier half of the season, part of Crowley seems to wish that Sam had finished the cure.

Regardless of his motives, Crowley has few "friends" to go to besides the Winchesters right now, which works out great for us. The more that Crowley and Castiel interact with Sam and Dean, the better the dialogue inevitably becomes. Meanwhile, Sam and Dean continue to prove that as long as they stay together, neither of them can stay dead or defeated for long.