season 7 was by no means a “good season” in terms of critical quality, but one of my favourite things about it was what it did do for Cas! if anything one of season 7’s major failing’s (among many, of course) was trying to pretend he didn’t exist for a season (as it simultaneously cut off the developmental potential for Sam and Dean with regards to their relationships with him, as well as his own development for his own sake was halted), but when they did finally bring him back at the end, compressing almost a season’s worth of development for him in the span of 3 episodes (7.17, 7.21, and 7.23) they are honestly some of the most powerful episodes in terms of Castiel’s story out of the whole series, I think.

obviously his story doesn’t have to be something that resonates for everyone, that’s fair, but I guess i’ll never understand resentment towards him enough for hate? he’s just so widely relatable on multiple levels as he struggles on a journey in emotional growth; he is a nonhuman character who is so indescribably human.

i don’t want to spoil you if you haven’t yet watched his journey, but i guess i can’t understand going from loving him to hating him especially, because his character is the same as it always has been? he’s still the Castiel who walked into that barn, he’s still the Castiel who rebelled in that beautiful room, he’s still the Castiel who made a deal with the devil to save the ones he loved, he’s still the one who met the devil again to repair his mistakes, he’s still “just Castiel”—more than the sum of his parts—he’s just on a more complete redemption arc now. I honestly cannot physically comprehend not loving him more, especially after 7.23, which did so much to fix a lot of things that need to begin repair. i began season 7 loving Cas, but in hindsight that seems almost too weak a word to use for how much i adore him now.

ahh i don’t know if i quite know what you mean by weird? he certainly acted different, and no doubt the Winchesters thought his mannerism weird, but his actions kind of made sense to me, if you know what i mean? i extrapolated on exactly why i think that here, a bit.

although to add to that other post, i’ve seen some comparisons on my dash of Cas’ open and earnest manner, which contrasts starkly with the Cas we “know” (although that’s a fallacy, this is still the Cas we know), with the future!Castiel from the season 5 episode The End. but the thing is, that not only misses the point of his characterisation in The End entirely—who was someone eaten by anger and resentment—but also misses the point of his characterisation here. he’s resolutely not angry. that’s the point, and that’s what gets Dean so riled up in that hospital scene. he wants Cas to be angry, to feel, to meet Dean on the same page, because Dean is angry.

you know if i were to compare Cas’ manner in 7.21 to any previous episodes, it might be a mix between his return to heaven in 6.20, that brief moment of happiness and success standing in his favourite garden, before all the shit with Raphael; and 5.17, when he gets plastered to forget and fill the void which once housed his faith. It’s a mix between the two, because here Cas is trying to combat his own pain and own guilt with a detachment from it, trying to fill the void, as it were, with a mixture of amazement and a desperate avoidance of conflict, because conflict, conflict with others, with himself, was what got him here, to this. 

so how he acts with Dean really makes sense to me as a coping mechanism? i hope that answered some of your question!!