I have to confess that I was rather disappointed by this episode in comparison to last week's, maybe because Crowley wasn't in it and I always tend to be more enthusiastic about episodes that feature him... but mostly because of everything you've also pointed out to do with Tessa. I've always liked her a lot and I was sad to see her first be demystified and then killed in such a pointless fashion.

Like you, I absolutely adore Gadreel and the promo for next week's making me feel really sad. However, I do not think that Dean managed to kill him at the end of this ep since he seemed to slice the blade across Gadreel's chest rather than straight into it. (Why was no one trying to stop him? It was so obvious he woild attack, I thought. And why has no one tried to take the blade away from him when they got back to the bunker?... Maybe it's like you say and Sam's simply clueless as to what to do to stop Dean from going darkside because so far roles have always been reversed.)

Ah, I wish the characters I like wouldn't always die so soon...