The Crypt Scene
In 8.17 Goodbye Stranger, Dean, Sam, and Castiel, with the help of Meg, discover the location of the crypt holding the angel tablet, Dean and Castiel go ahead to retrieve it. However Castiel has been brainwashed by Naomi and she orders him to retrieve the tablet for her even if it includes killing Dean. Cas attacks Dean, and Dean begs with him saying
- " I know you're in there. I know you can hear me. Cas... It's me. We're family. We need you. I need you."
At Emerald City Comic-Con in March, 2013, Misha said in a panel that there was a line in the episode he shot where "Jensen’s character, whatever his thing is, says, “I love you,” to Castiel….That line didn’t make the final cut, so, for all you know I’m lying."
Later in October that year, in a Meet and greet at Salute to Supernatural Toronto 2013, Jensen talked about the scene and how originally it was scripted that he would say "I love you" and that Jensen did not feel that was what Dean would say and so he changed it to "We're family. We need you. I need you". Episode writer Writer Robbie Thompson said he supported Jensen's call on this, as when asked about it he tweeted: "He did. and yeah, I think he made the right call". Reportedly at Salute to Supernatural Burbank 2013 in November 2013, Robbie attested that the intention of the line in that moment was "along the lines of we are family".
Some fans took Dean's declaration of love as support for canonical Destiel, and also its removal by Jensen as indicating his lack of support for a romantic relationship between the characters. Interestingly, a couple of years later, a fan recruited for marketing research was asked about this scene in an interview, including questions about Dean's sexuality and the potential for romance between Dean and Cas. (Efforts made to verify this, indicate it did actually occur.)
The scene in 10.22 The Prisoner where Demon Dean beats Castiel and he refuses to fight back is often referred to as the "reverse crypt scene".
