Mind Hacking
Well, what our feathered friend was uttering essentially was, 'You, celestial being, have been created to be an angel of the Lord.' You've got into his operating system – his factory settings.
Contents
History
The minds of angels can be infiltrated by performing a lobotomy on their brain. It appears that their memories can be accessed, manipulated, and stolen with this procedure. Angels like Naomi can control and hack into the angel's mind with a drill while, demons like Crowley and Viggo were able to achieve this through the use of a headgear torture device to plant spikes into the angel's head and force them to relay information in Enochian. Despite being able to infiltrate the minds of celestial beings, these instruments appear to be incapable of killing angels.
Episodes
8.10 Torn and Frayed
After using telekinesis to remove the metal spike in his forehead, Samandriel attempts to get a message to Naomi, but Viggo returns and plants the spike back into his head. Despite this, Naomi is able to hear Alfie's message and send Castiel to Hastings, Nebraska to save him from Crowley. She persuades him to take whatever he needs to help save him.
Later, Viggo plants a headgear torture device on his head and begins jamming spikes into his head, but he starts to relay a message in Enochian, prompting him to summon Crowley to translate for him. After listening to more of Alfie's message, Crowley deduces that Viggo tapped into his 'factory settings.' Hoping to find more information on the demon tablet, Crowley and Viggo continue to tap into Alfie's head.
When Alfie started to relay a message in Enochian, it caused a bush to catch fire and implode, maiming a nearby pedestrian. Dean and Cass were able to use this to find Viggo's hideout, only to find it riddled with demons and angel warding. They go to Kevin at Garth's Houseboat to make some demon bombs to help prepare. Cass is able to acquire the ingredients and even find Sam to help with the mission.
Sam and Dean need to kill the demons guarding the warehouse and destroy four Enochian warding sigils to allow Cass to enter the building. Unfortunately, Crowley is able to begin getting Alfie to relay a message in regards to the tablets. By the time Cass is able to enter, he starts remembering something about Naomi. He sees Naomi drilling into the edge of his eye. By the time Sam and Dean were able to enter, Alfie already disclosed the existence of the angel tablet to Viggo and Crowley, who disappears. Sam and Dean were able to kill Viggo and the rest of the demons while Cass removes the spikes and the headgear from Alfie's head.
After teleporting outside, Alfie told him how Crowley was able to get into his coding, revealing secrets he never knew about Heaven and Naomi. He warns Cass that she's controlling them, but Naomi forces him to kill Alfie. She persuades him to tell the Winchesters that Samandriel had been compromised and attacked, forcing Cass to kill him in self-defense. Naomi demands him to bring Alfie's remains to Heaven to see how much Crowley got out of his mind.
8.17 Goodbye Stranger
Naomi trains Castiel to kill Dean by having him kill multiple duplicates of Dean until he is ready and sends him after Crowley's demons to recover the angel tablet before he can. All the while, she has Cass manipulate the Winchesters and Meg to ensure she gets her hands on it, even hiding the identity of their prize. After locating one of Lucifer's Crypts in Lincoln Springs, Missouri, Dean and Cass enter to locate the tablet while Sam and Meg stay outside and ward the place against Crowley's demons. Cass tries to take the tablet from Dean, but Dean demands to know how he got out of Purgatory before he gives it to him, prompting Naomi to make Cass attack Dean against his wishes. After a while, Dean is able to get through to Cass, reminding him of his real family. Cass then picks up the angel tablet, which starts to glow and resets his brain, destroying Naomi's control over his mind. After healing Dean, Cass reveals that Naomi was the one who sent several angels to get him out of Purgatory and has been controlling him ever since. He then tells Dean that he has to protect the tablet from Naomi and everyone else.
8.21 The Great Escapist
After Castiel is captured by Naomi and her angel minions at a Biggersons in Santa Fe, New Mexico, she reminds him about how they slew every firstborn infant in Egypt whose door wasn't splashed with lamb's blood. When he questions how many times she tore into his head and washed it clean, she replies "too damn many." She tries to get him to reveal where the angel tablet is hidden, but Crowley appears and uses his gun to wound Ion and kill one of Naomi's angels. He also tries to kill Naomi, but she teleports away before the bullet can reach her. He then shoots Cass in the gut and Ion, revealed to be a hired gun for Crowley, takes Cass to his office to get the tablet.
Crowley reveals that he's been getting regular updates from Ion who told him about how Naomi broke into his mind and tried controlling it. He believes that Cass touching the tablet broke her spell over him and has the tablet hidden in his person. He reaches into his wound and rips the tablet out of his chest. He then heads to the houseboat where Kevin was translating Crowley's half of the tablet and set up a trap for two of his demons.
While Crowley was away, Ion explains to Cass that Naomi had been in all their heads and that nothing matters. Cass, who tells him that they aren't machines to program and reprogram and that it all matters, removes the angel-killing bullet from his chest. Ion tells him that she never reset him completely since he always knew too much, but Cass knocks him down and jams the bullet into his eye, killing him. Cass later finds Sam and Dean who take him to the Bunker.
8.23 Sacrifice
Metatron and Castiel arrive in Houston, Texas to retrieve the bow of a cupid to supposedly complete the second trial to seal the Gates of Heaven. Before the cupid arrives, Naomi and her angels arrive to kidnap Metatron and drag him to Heaven.
Naomi explains that the archangels wanted her to 'debrief' him after God left, but he escaped before she had the chance. She questions why the Scribe suddenly came out of the shadows knowing that she would jump at the chance to extract all of God's secrets out of his head. Metatron teases her about not being a big reader as she starts to excavate Metatron's brain and learn all his secrets. After a while, she discovers Metatron's plans for the Gates of Heaven and asks him why he's doing it. He reveals that it's his revenge for being ran out of his home and the archangels refusing to accept they way things have been after God left.
Later, she tries to warn Cass and Dean, who already retrieved the bow of a cupid. At first, Cass is reluctant to listen to anything she says, but Dean wants to hear what she has to say. Naomi reveals that Metatron's plan is to not only seal the Gates of Heaven, but to expel all angels from Heaven just as God cast out Lucifer. She acknowledges that the angels' real mission was to protect humanity and they forgot that at some point. Naomi reveals to Dean that Sam is going to die if he seals the Gates of Hell. Before departing, she begs Cass to prevent this from happening, even allowing him to come back to Heaven when it's over.
After returning to Heaven, Metatron escapes from his restraints and impales the back of Naomi's head with her own drill. When Cass arrives momentarily after, Metatron captures him and steals his grace which is the last ingredient of the spell.
