While Castiel is having an existential crisis over his crush and inability to communicate with people, Dean and Jo have a more relaxing morning. Dean wakes up first, lying in a hotel bed with Jo by his side. He grabs your phone from the bedside table, and he's pleasantly surprised to see a text from his father. He doesn't hesitate to open it up.

Dad: I'm hearing great things about Jo's new movie

Dean can't help but wonder if that's supposed to be a call out. He didn't invite his father to the world premier, but in his defense, the US premier is only a few days away, and he did ask his father to come to that one. He just didn't want to put Sam and John in the same room together if he didn't have to. He loves them both, but they're not exactly on the best of terms, and he didn't want them to start fighting on Jo's big day.

Of course, that means his dad hasn't gotten to watch the movie, and he's probably a little peeved at that. It's been widely anticipated since it was announced, so he's sure John would have loved the first look.

Dean: Jo will be thrilled to hear that. I think you'll like it, too.

John: You should probably show her this

Dean stares at his phone uncomprehendingly until a screenshot of metacritic appears. He isn't surprised to see that the metacritic score it green; most decent movies get that. The user score is green, too, which shouldn't be a surprise — this movie isn't like the Cats movie, which people had a vendetta against since day one, so most people who voted ejther managed to get to the premier or is already a fan of the stars.

The general public can skew the user score if there's someone in the movie they hate, like the Justin Bieber YouTube docu-series that flopped in every regard. At the same time, though, stars that people love can skew the user score, too, like Taylor Swift's documentary with a user score chilling in the high 9s out of ten. Critics sometimes play into their own personal bias, too, but with two fairly unproblematic stars like Jo and Castiel, the critics were probably really rating it on plot and performance, and neither aspect deserves the lower than 60 required for a yellow score.

But then he looks at the actual scores, and he can safely say he wasn't expecting that part of it.

The metacritic score is a solid 96%, which is easily the highest he's ever seen any of Jo's movies score. It only comes from four critics' reviews, and there are certainly more to come that will probably drop it a bit, but it's off to a great start. The user review is up to 9.8, though right after the movie comes out, that's not surprising. She has a lot of fans that probably spammed it with positive reviews as soon as it came out, despite not having seen it. Still, 9.8 is a pretty impressive feat.

Dean: Is this what it's up to now?

John: As of two minutes ago

Dean: Jo's gonna be thrilled

As if on cue, Jo rolls over in bed with a quiet, "Hmm." Dean looks down just in time to see her eyes flutter open.

"'Morning, sleepyhead," Dean says as if he didn't just want up himself.

"Hi," Jo mumbles, then she closes her eyes again.

"While you're awake, can I tell you the good news?"

"Mm."

"Metacritic's at 96."

Jo's eyes snap open at that. "Seriously?"

"See for yourself," Dean says, holding his phone out to her.

Jo rubs her eyes, then squints at the phone. It takes her a moment to make it out, but he sees the exact moment it registers with her, and she immediately sits up, throwing her arms around him.

"They like it!" she says, beaming. "They really like it!"

"Of course they like it," he says. "I told you, it was fantastic. They'd have to be an idiot to hate it."

"I wanna see the reviews!" She lets him go and folds her legs on the bed, taking Dean's phone from his hands. She tries to scroll, but it just exits the screenshot. "Wait, your dad sent you that?"

Dean shrugs. "He's just having a proud father moment with the daughter he never had."

Jo shakes her head. "Of course he is." She exits Messages and opens Ecosia instead. She forced him to download it a while ago, when she found out that they use all the profits to plant trees, and it just kind of stuck. She searches her movie's metacritic page, opening it up anxiously.

And the score drops.

"Wait, what happened?" she asks. "89? It was just at 96!"

"Looks like there's a fifth review," Dean says with a frown. Fuck whoever made the new review. 89% isn't bad, but after 96%, it doesn't seem as impressive. Fortunately, every review is in the green, so it seems that no one hated it. "Well, come on, let's see what they say."

Jo reads the highest review, with a full 99%, aloud. "The Wall Street Journal says, 'This is just the movie everyone was waiting for. Jo Harvelle takes a step away from her traditional high school prom queen role for a more mature tale of adult life.'"

"Aw, isn't that sweet," Dean says, patting her on the head. "You're such a realistic adult. I'm so proud."

"It's not my fault they never cast young adults as young adults," she says with a frown.

"I'm just messing with you," he says. "They love you. Look, you're the first part of the review. You took the script they gave you and you killed it. I bet you'll get seven million more adult roles now."

Jo smiles at him. "Oh, I hope so. I'm getting really sick of pretending to be 16."

"You've only been doing it for seven years," Dean says teasingly.

"Okay, next up," Jo says, turning her attention back to the phone."

"What, you're not gonna read the whole review?" Dean asks.

"Maybe later," she says. "I just wanna see the excerpts first." She scrolls down a little. "Entertainment said, 'A lovely romance that has you screaming at the screen more often than not.'"

"Funny, I didn't hear any screaming last night," Dean says. "Liars."

"What, so I don't deserve the 96?" Jo asks.

"No, not at all," Dean says. "You deserved 100%. They just lied to you."

Jo shakes her head, amused. "Okay, the New York Times gave it a 95. 'The chemistry between Harvelle and Novak is unmatched.'" She nods thoughtfully. "I like that. I'm not even gonna look at that review. I just want it to end on that.

"Chicago Times gave it a 93. "'A bright, upbeat story about a lovestruck boy and a busy girl just trying to make it in the big city.'"

Dean shrugs. "Well, they're certainly not wrong."

"I don't think it's really upbeat," Jo protests. "It's sad and depressing and you're supposed to feel bad for them."

"But it ends really peppy and upbeat," Dean reminds her. "You know, once you're done screaming at the screen."

Jo laughs. "Yeah, the two reviews don't really go well together." She scrolls to the final review, and her face falls. "Time gave it a 61?"

"Clearly, we were watching very different movies," Dean says. "That's a fucking, what, D-minus? That was not a D-minus movie by any means."

Jo doesn't read the description, instead opening the full article immediately. She begins reading from the top. "'This is perhaps the greatest disappointment in cinema since the Percy Jackson film.

"'Amy (Jo Harvelle) struggles to find her place in a world that she already fits in with. She has a good job, a whole group of best friends, and all the boys are ready to ask for her hand.

"'Enter Matt (Castiel Novak), the popular guy who has a grand total of zero personality. Perhaps a few script modifications could have fixed him up, but Novak gave it his all anyway, which only made it worse.

"'Amy and Matt's relationship is full of forced sexual tension, leaving no doubt that they'll find their way together through all the drama.

"'Overall, this was just embarrassing to watch. There was no suspense, barely any plot, and comes off like a 17-year-old writing fan fiction. Even the best of actors couldn't save it, and that's far from that we got here. It's the equivalent of bubble gum — fun for a little while, but overall, there's no real substance, and you wouldn't give it a second thought once it's over.'"

Jo drops the phone on the bed, but her gaze doesn't leave her hands. She doesn't speak, but she doesn't have to. Her expression says more than words ever could.

"Fuck that," Dean says. "That's just Judy Berman's opinion. Who the fuck cares what Judy Berman thinks?"

"But she hated it," Jo says quietly. "She literally hated it. I mean, I didn't think it was the best movie of all time, but I thought it was at least..."

"It was fantastic," Dean assures her. "I swear. I'd tell you if you sucked, and you didn't. Everyone else that watched it agrees. You can't stop dumbasses like that from hating good material, but you can go out with your head held high and remember the four people who gave you scores in the 90s."

"I guess," she says quietly.

"Besides, it's still in the green," Dean reminds her. "Even dumb-as-fuck Judy Berman from Time said it deserved a green review." He says the name in an overly-proper British accent, and though he sounds like an idiot, he gets a smile from her, so it's worth it. "Numbers don't lie, Jo. The people love you. Even the ones that say they don't love you do."

Jo rests her head in Dean's shoulder. "What am I going to do when you're not around to cheer me up every time something bad happens?"

"Castiel better be able to cheer you up, or I'll fight him and win you back," Dean says. "No sad Jos allowed."

She laughs quietly. "Oh, Dean. My knight in rusted armor."