I found season 5 disappointing. I was promised an apocalypse, and what did I get? Low-key angst in rural settings. Season 11 has so far done a better job of suggesting that some sort of global disaster is going on.

I think season 6 and 7 get a really bad rap due to "Kripke's 5 year plan" (which never actually existed), an opportunity for righteous misogyny, and discovering the show during season 3-5 rather than starting from the beginning. For me 6+7 were a welcome return to the darker vibe of seasons 1-2, and a departure…

I agree. As much as I love Cas and Crowley, they work best as counterpoint to the Winchesters. When we are expected to follow their stories separately, they are less interesting (especially if Crowley is brooding rather than raising hell).

Yeah, Padelecki gets mocked a bit for his acting, but when he plays possessed/soulless/whatever, it's always delicious. Then they gave Ackles a go, and he was just Dean, but even more brooding and surly than usual. I just wish the writers had given him a note: "Have FUN with it."

Tawrens is correct that the 5 year plan is just fanon. Listen to the audio commentary for the episode in which Cas first appears, and you'll hear Kripke say that, if Misha hadn't been so great, they might have just dropped the angel angle, just as they had dropped other less-than-successful story elements before.
The…