Advanced Thanatology

• How long has Dean has his death-and-resurrection kit? Perhaps since season 6?
• Did the resuscitation injection fail to work? Or was Billie blocking it because she wanted to temporarily keep Dean dead?
• What "important" work does Billie think the Winchesters have to do? Does it have to do with Jack? Asmodeus? The Empty? Lucifer? The alternate universe? Something else?
• Does Dean truly no longer believe in what he's doing? Or does he just need "a win" so he doesn't feel like a failure?
• Is Castiel truly back? Or is it the guardian from the Empty pretending to be Castiel? Or perhaps both of them in the same vessel? If it is Castiel, what are the implications of his leaving the Empty? What will happen when he meets Jack?

• Sam likes fantasy comic book characters like Beastmaster and Red Sonja.
• Sam apparently prefers to be Agent Page when he and Dean use the fed aliases Page and Plant.
• Sam apparently does not like strip clubs or lap dances.
• If Death dies, the next reaper to die becomes Death.
• Billie has Death's scythe and the Horseman's ring. Is she a Horseman now, with the additional powers that go with that status?
• When Dean was dead, he initially wanted to go back, so maybe he doesn't have a true death wish as Billie suggests. He does feel like a failure, though. He also says he no longer believes in what he and Sam are doing.

• Thanatology is the scientific study of death and the psychological and social aspects of dealing with it. "Advanced Thanatology" was perhaps a nod to a university-level course dealing with death and the mechanisms for dealing with it, possibly implying that the Winchesters are surrounded by so much death (and personally involved with Death personified) that they have advanced knowledge of the subject.
• Alison Down, the actress who played Penny Rader in this episode, also played Alice Cassity in "Trial and Error" (season 8)
• Misha Collins is credited as a regular cast member in this episode.
• The scene between Dean and Sean in this episode (when Sean is unable to speak due to trauma and can only draw pictures) may be reminiscent of a similar scene from "Dead in the Water" (season 1). In the earlier episode, a traumatized young boy (Lucas) is unable to speak, but draws pictures that help the Winchesters solve the case involving his family. In both episodes, Dean tries to convince the traumatized child that he has been in their position and understands what they are going through. In an excerpt from John Winchester's journal, John noted that Dean didn't speak for a time after Mary died. So perhaps Dean truly does understand what it's like to deal with that level of childhood trauma.
• The name of the strip club Dean went to was The Clam Diver
• Billie and the original Death gave the Winchesters the same message -- they need to keep living because they have important work to do.
• The box Dean kept the syringes in was labeled "Dr Robert For Emergencies". Dr. Robert was the former doctor who stopped Dean's heart in "Appointment in Samarra" (season 6) so Dean could meet with Death and try to get Sam's soul back. It's likely that Dean got the proper drug dosages from Dr. Robert. It's also possible that Dean has been carrying those syringes around since season 6, waiting for the right time to use them.

• This episode takes place in Grand Junction, Colorado. The show is correct that Grand Junction is in Mesa County, Colorado. The drive from Lebanon, Kansas to Grand Junction would have taken the Winchesters approximately 10 hours.
• Plague masks were used by doctors who cared for bubonic plague victims during outbreaks in the 1600s and 1700s. At the time, it was believed that "bad air" helped spread the plague, so the masks were part of a protective suit. The long beak-like portion of the mask was filled with drug concoctions and aromatic herbs like myrrh, mint, and camphor. Such masks would not still have been used in the 1960s, when Dr. Meadows would have been practicing medicine.
• The Denver Chronicle is apparently a fictional newspaper.
• Red Sonja and the Beastmaster were both initially created as Marvel comic book characters before films were created based on those characters. Red Sonja was introduced in 1973 as a character in the Conan the Barbarian comic book series; and the Beastmaster was introduced in 1985 as part of the X-Men comics.
• Dean and Sam have frequently used fed aliases Page and Plant, referring to guitarist Jimmy Page and lead singer Robert Plant from Led Zeppelin.
• When Dean initially sees Dr. Meadows' ghost, he says "What's up, doc?". This line was made famous by Bugs Bunny, a Warner Brothers Looney Toons cartoon character created in 1940.
• Dean talks about working his way through "all the Caspers" in the haunted building. Casper the Friendly ghost was a cartoon character created in the 1940s.
• When Dean is talking to Billie about the alternate universe, he says it's not "Candyland". Candyland is a children's board game in which players navigate through candy-themed landmarks like Gum Drop Mountain and Candy Cane Forest to reach the goal -- Candy Castle -- and be declared the winner.

• "It's Never Too Late" -- by Steppenwolf (plays as the Winchesters are driving away at the end of the episode)

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EPISODE # 6: Tombstone