gwaevalarin | Sera on Castiel

Sera Gamble had a little something to say about our angel and his role this season. I cut the spoilery parts, so it should be safe for everyone to read:

""Cas' role has changed in that he's not just a soldier anymore, he is responsible for a lot of people. One of the difficult lessons that Cas has been forced to learn is that with great responsibility comes compromise, a really difficult compromise. He's commanding essentially a guerrilla army and like all commanders and, in a certain way like all politicians, you might find yourself bending the truth at one time or another."
The show's writers deliberately decided to tarnish Castiel this season in order to test his character.
"That's something we were interested in exploring for Castiel who is such a sincere and honest, really deeply feeling character on the show," Gamble says. "Angels have been just d---s on the show, but Castiel has been the opposite, so we put him in this position where he'd be forced to have to do these things that he doesn't want to have to do necessarily."
Source

I find this very reassuring. This is pretty much exactly how I see Castiel's character and the situation he is in right now. He is not on a path to going dark side, like some people still seem to think, he is simply in an impossible situation where he has to weight his options, make very difficult compromises and go with what he believes will be for the best in the long run.
I'm very glad that, for once, I can completely agree with Sera, and I very much look forward to the rest of the season now. This and Castiel's current relationship with Balthazar make the second half of the season so much better than the first. I still wish we could have started this strong, but mainly I'm just glad that Show finally seems to get back on track.
I'm also a little less worried about Castiel's fate at the end of the season now, because "something we were interested in exploring for Castiel" does not sound like they are planning to get rid of him anytime soon. Too bad I can't say the same for Balthazar.
Fingers crossed that this really is an indication for where the last few episodes are heading.