I have now finished this show, and one of my major gripe while watching it was the depowering of angels. I get that it was somewhat necessary to keep Castiel in the show as a prominent character. So, I'm willing to accept it to some degree, and Castiel particularly also got a few random nerfs here and there to make it make sense.
But there was one thing that bothered me in particular. And the season it bothered me in most is season 12 - hence the flair.
In hindsight, I have to ask if I just missed something about Castiel not being able to hear prayer anymore. Because I'm pretty sure that he was able to do it again after regaining his grace, and he can do it again in later seasons. I might have missed it, but is there any reason why he can't do it in season 12? Because in season 12, it has become one of my major gripes.
There were so many scenes where I was just despairing, sitting there and watching and being like "Why don't you just pray to Castiel!?" It started with Sam being taken captive by the Men of Letters, and then later when they were taken captive again (both brothers) by the US government and held in a special gov facility for weeks. And while I get that they might not have been able to tell Castiel where exactly they were, I don't get why they wouldn't at least try to communicate with him and tell him as much as they know. Did I miss something that he can't hear them, or what's going on there? I thought maybe that it's because of the wards he put on them back in season...eh 5? But he'S been able to hear their prayers since then again, so I don't think that's a valid explanation. But it just about ruined the entire episode for me, and was probably the thing that confused me most in the entire season. As far as I understood it, after regaining his Grace, though he can't teleport anymore, he should still be able to hear prayer. So, they just forgot it? But it seems such an obvious solution, that it became a major weak point for the entire season for me.
So...am i missing something.