I kind of had that feeling about episode 5.08, too. It was sort of light, fluffy fun, but I've been feeling really stalled out arc-wise. These are the end times, after all! We've come so far and turned the stakes up too high to be futzing around the way this season is doing so far, if you ask me. Plus, the plot holes were a bit sloppy (Dean set a holy fire trap in the Trickster's own world while he could see every move Dean made, and the Trickster somehow didn't notice? Really?) And on a personal note, I wish the Trickster had simply stayed a powerful god from another pantheon who was neither interested in nor subject to the concerns of Angels and Demons. It made the theology more complex, and it made me feel a little better about the otherwise unrepetant Pagan bashing SPN usually indugles in. The Gabriel twist is interesting and all, but still.