Supernatural's "Party on, Garth" and SQUEE Surprise!!!

THEN

Wow, I feel stupid. I never connected DJ Quall's awesome Garth with the "how are you still alive" hunter from "Weekend at Bobby's." Man, I love seeing Bobby, even in flashback.

NOW

This campfire thing reminds me a little of "Wendigo" even though they didn't do campfire ghost stories. (Coincidentally, That Haley Girl from "Wendigo" was on tonight's episode of Fringe!)

Anyone who saw the previews knows what's coming. Wasted Trevor sees/hears something in the woods. He runs off, and when his brother goes after him, he finds a gruesome scene. Nice touch with the down from his vest floating around.

Oh, yeah, Garth appears to Bell Biv Devoe's "Poison," which somehow fits him very well. He approaches two of the women from the campfire, who dis him until he throws his badge and gets amusingly sudden respect. I love when dorks rule! They tell Garth about the real Jenny Greentree. He salts and burns her: "You've been Garthed." Bell Biv Devoe come back, while Garth hits himself in the face with his jacket when he tosses it over his shoulder, and the small grave fire gets bigger and bigger. Love it!

Trevor's brother is getting drunk in the woods now. You don't have to have seen the preview to know something bad is going to happen. Do you think he has salt rounds in his shotgun? Oh, wait, I think that's a rifle. He's "hunting" his brother's killer, but he gets hunted.

Garth "hearts you more"--Number One (my oldest daughter) thinks he was talking to Becky. What do you think? Garth hears about Trevor's brother and is angry. "I Garthed her!"

Finally, we get to Sam and Dean. Dean's getting an update from the bitch Meg. Apparently, Cas is still catatonic or something close. Dean asks Sam how his custard is. Sam says it's getting better, but he feels guilty for passing on the crazy. Dean's phone interrupts him, and it's Garth. How did I know Dean wouldn't remember him right away?

Fed Dean and Fed Sam show up at the morgue, and Corporal Brown--James Brown, ha!--is there to pay respects to his cousin, but clearly doesn't know the victims were brothers. An exasperated Sam takes over, checking the files and doing quick research. Dean asks if he's allergic to a suit, but Garth just looks good in a uniform. Doesn't everyone?

Dean gets EMF when Garth hadn't, but the details point to monster chow rather than ghost. A witness says it was invisible, so Dean goes with invisible ghost werewolf. Sam finds Thighslapper Ale (beverage for douchebags), and the owner is the father to the dead brothers. Dean assures Sam that Garth grows on ya. (He does, Sam! Give him a chance!)

The manager of the brewery is the sister. The place is run by two guys, with a third partner recently dead. I'm going to quickly encapsulate the storyline here so I can get to the good stuff. Sam, Dean, and Garth trace clues and family intricacies to learn that:

Three partners in the business, two want to sell to a giant distributor, one doesn't, he committed suicide a couple of months ago. But he gave them a gift "that would show them I forgive them," a saki bottle from Japan containing an alcohol spirit that was programmed to go after the kids of the ousting partners. I don't know why it kills the wife/mother instead of the little girl who accidentally drank from her mother's screwdriver, but probably they had the girl witness the trauma instead of dying herself because they know my husband's rule about quitting shows that do harm to kids.

I love that Sam and Dean consult, what, a sushi chef? He reads the curse on the box (and Dean very nicely pays him for his time) and later helps Dean bless a samurai sword with spring water poured from a plastic bottle. Dirty, but it works! Garth, who's not as hapless as he seems, figures out that Ray's son is the company janitor. He also saves Sam and Dean by tazing Ray when he discovers Sam and Dean drunk in the office, watching security footage of the spirit being set free.

Garth goes to the company (drunk on mini bar bottles) and sees the spirit stalking the unrecognized son. Sam, who's been getting drunk while watching out for the older sister, has to take a cab to the company. Dean meets them there with the sword, but he's the only one sober enough to fight the thing, but too sober to see it. (Sam to Dean when they got drunk in the office: "Can you even get drunk anymore? It's kind of like drinking a vitamin." Another good line: Drunk Sam saying the spirit followed the kid to the place with all the thingies. Dean thought that was smart. I love drunk Dean!)

Garth gets drunk on one bottle of beer. "Party on Garth." He doesn't usually drink beer because it messes with his depth perception, especially when he skinny dips. LOL He gets the young daughter's story out of her with a sock puppet, Mr. Fizzles. He also figures out that Bobby's old flask set off the EMF meter.

And that's the stuff that's REALLY good. Garth thinks Bobby might be haunting them. Sam admits that after the beer disappeared, he used a talking board to try to contact Bobby. It didn't work, or he'd have told Dean. But during the battle, the spirit throws Garth through a wall (again) and Sam against a wall (knocking him out) and knocks the sword from Dean's hand. Dean's a bit desperate, with Sam knocked out, the kid useless, and the sword five feet away...until it slides across the floor, right into his hand.

Dean's convinced now. He thinks he's alone and begs Bobby to do something. God, Jenson does tortured well. Sam, however, still needs a haircut. I mean, Sam hears Dean, but nothing happens. Later, after they say goodbye to Garth (I love the hugs...and the music!), we have this huge buildup of anticipation as Sam confronts Dean about the Bobby thing. Dean tries to blow it off, calling it his imagination, but Sam pushes. Dean catalogs the sword, the beer, the page, the book. But Sam thinks regular people see people they've lost all the time, too. They're actually close to normal.

I'm dying here!

Dean says "who knows more about being a ghost than Bobby?" Of course Bobby would let them know. They leave the motel room...come on come on come on...the camera pans over...

BOBBBYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!

Dean goes back inside, and kills us by glancing around, landing his eyes on something, and saying "there you are." Bobby thinks he sees him, but Dean just came back for the flask.

"I'm right here, ya idjit!" A gray-looking, heartbroken Bobby ends with "Balls!"

GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

But OMG, that preview! I can't believe we have to wait three more friggin' weeks!

I love being unspoiled. I don't know if there were hints in any of the interviews I avoided, but I had no clue he'd actually show up and prove right those of us who called "he chose to stay" from the last fadeout on "Death's Door."

As a classic episode, I liked this one. I like Garth (which means we'll get three episodes with him next season and then he'll die) and the new spirit and the down-and-dirty blessing ritual and even the way figuring out what was happening was kind of like an episode of Castle or something, with all the family intrigues and unseen connections.

But as a Bobby reveal, it was even better. I made some strangled screaming noises when it happened. I think my family was ready to perform CPR on me (or make me Cas's roommate).

After this next hiatus, we should get the last five episodes all in a row. Which is nice, but it makes me sad that it's almost over when it feels like it just started.

What did you think?

Tanya's Holy Crap Recap (Death's Door)

You should be aware that this post contains mega spoilers for the Dec. 2 episode "Death's Door," as well as wildly uninformed speculation on where Bobby's character goes from here.

I've mentioned before that I don't read spoilers. I like talking about ideas with other fans and I like taking note of what future guest stars may be on the show (Jason Dohring!) but beyond that, I don't look. So I went into this episode with no idea whether or not Jim Beaver is shuffling off the show ala Misha Collins. The show certainly hasn't hesitated to kill off characters in the past, so I've been a little concerned ever since the last episode when the aptly named Dick, aka Head Leviathan, shot Bobby in the head.

We pick up where we left off, with Sam and Dean freaking out and Bobby bleeding. As they rush him to the hospital, we cut to a different take from a scene last week, when they find a victim up a tree. But Bobby quickly realizes that this isn't exactly reality and that he in fact is the victim. From there, he begins bouncing around to different scenes in his life, including a meaningful conversation with his wife (although we're not sure yet why it's meaningful) and a job he once worked with Rufus (nice to see him again!) There are also some memories of Sam and Dean, then Bobby seeing his mother in his kitchen and instantly closing the door. (Major foreshadowing and I called the eventual plot development right there.)

Meanwhile, in what Bobby calls the waking world, doctors tell Dean and Sam to prepare themselves for Bobby's likely death. At one point later in the episode, a hapless hospital admin approaches Dean to ask how Bobby felt about being an organ donor. Who else got chills in that scene?

It turns out that the reason Bobby's mind went to that particular job with Rufus was because his former partner had a near-death experience. Rufus shared with Bobby that the way he escaped death was finding the right door--the one that makes you walk right through the memory you least want to face. Bobby explains that he's been shot and that Rufus isn't even real and his former partner becomes his spirit guide or what have you. They return to the scene where his wife Karen was, who is now violently upset. Turns out that she and Bobby had argued bitterly that night because he didn't want to have kids. (More accurately, because he didn't want to be a father.) Their argument was only three days before her posession and his eventually having to kill her and one of his worst regrets. Rufus is hopeful that this was the memory Bobby had to confront, but of course there's way too much left in the episode for it to be that easy! And, as Bobby has a Reaper on his tail (or, as Bobby put it, in his custard) we know it's going to be quite difficult. At this point, I was betting Bobby would in fact die.

In one of my favorite scenes, we see Bobby playing baseball with a young Dean even though they'd been expressly ordered by John Winchester (worst dad ever) to practice shooting. We also get a funny memory of adult Sam and Dean asking Bobby to solve the debate of who's a bigger bad-ass: Chuck Norris or Jet-Li. (Feel free to weigh in with your vote in the comments.)

Bobby tells Rufus that while you can't stop a Reaper permanently, he and the boys have run across them enough to pick up a few tricks. He manages to trap the Reaper, but the Reaper points out how parts of Bobby's mental world are disappearing because his brain is dying. Because of that, the trap will eventually fade and the Reaper will get him. Is Bobby merely postponing the inevitable because he has knowledge of the Leviathans he needs to give the boys?

The theme of the episode was clearly fatherhood (with the secondary theme of Bobby Singer Rocks) and we get a glimpse of Bobby on the phone arguing with John and admitting, "I know I'm not their father." But come on, we all know differently. Bobby Singer was the best parent those poor kids ever had. And in the final confrontation with his own abusive, aloholic father, Bobby concludes that as well. Bobby's late dad sneers that he's glad Bobby never had kids because he would have sucked and Bobby rejoins that, as a matter of fact, he adopted two and they grew up GREAT. They're HEROES. (Big Damn, if you'll pardon the Firefly reference.)

The awful childhood memory played out the way I figured it would, with young Bobby shooting his father in order to save his mother (at which point she immediately told him God would punish him. Yikes, the parents on this show.) And as the Reaper lunges for Bobby, he finally escapes death through the right door and...

His eyes opened in the hospital. Dean and Sam were ecstatic and for a second I actually thought the status had been returned to quo (they've dodged death plenty of times before). He tries unsuccessfully to tell them something and when they get him a pen, he scrawls the important numbers (what they are and why they're important, I don't know) on Sam's hand. Then he smiles at them and it hit me in the gut that he was totally gonna die. He opened his mouth and I braced myself for an admission of "I love you" that would make me sob. My husband said, "He's gonna say 'I'm ready.'" But, no. In classic Bobby fashion, all he said was, "Idjits." And then he flatlined. And I sobbed.

I thought that was the end of the show and was surprised to see us back again in Bobby's "house," the darkness ever growing outside it. Sam and Dean are in the living room arguing about proper movie snacks (and I laughed out loud at Dean's insistence that licorice is "chewy bites of heaven"). The Reaper tells Bobby it's now or never, is he gonna cross over peacefully or become a stuck spirit? He also says, "They'll be all right without you," the boys fade, and credits roll.

So, without citing interviews or spoilers that give us the answer (assuming they exist), what do you guys think? Is Bobby gone??? Will he return a horrible shade in the new year, caught between two worlds and warped by his own good intentions? (If so, did dude learn NOTHING from Cass?) What were those numbers? It all makes my head hurt. Although that could be from the crying.

What I do know is that, even if Bobby's "gone," this show is great at unexpectedly bringing back the dead for guest spots and episodes showcasing Jim Beaver's talents are always excellent. That said, holy crap, they killed Bobby!

HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE MONSTERS

The episode starts with something running through Wharton State Forest in New Jersey. A couple of glampers are “roughing it” in a tent with their cherry wood, four poster bed and widescreen TV. (Do people really do this kind of glamorous camping? I’m appalled! I thought we were living it up when we bought blow-up mattresses to sleep on in our tent and our entertainment involves playing Skip-bo by lantern light while we eat Smores cooked over the fire.) Before you know it, a snoozing Mr. Glamper is hung upside down in a tree, wrapped tight like a burrito in his sleeping bag, while a mystery monster munches on him.

The Winchesters and Bobby find themselves another hell hole to hide in. The lack of amenities and being forced to stay so far off the grid they don’t even have the luxury of hot food or showers is really getting to Dean. After stopping the world’s end, twice, he wonders if they shouldn’t just let it finally bite the dust.

“Stop wrestling with the big picture, son, you’re going to hurt your head. “ – Bobby to Dean

The Jersey Devil is making headlines in the area due to a rash of strange deaths. It is Jersey, after all. Anything inexplicable has often been attributed to the urban creature which is described as human-like with bat wings and sometimes a tail or horse head.

“I took a look at the cadaver, what’s left of it, not a happy camper.” – Bobby

The boys interview Ranger Rick at Biggersons, a local restaurant. The warden seems stoned and completely unconcerned that his assistant might be missing. After being no help whatsoever, Rick leaves and Bobby joins the boys for dinner. A testy waiter named Brandon delivers food to “Big Bird, Ken Doll and Creepy Uncle” before mouthing off to his boss and storming out. An unperturbed Dean gleefully inhales a Pepperjack Turdunken Slammer.

“You don’t shoot Bambi, jackass. You shoot Bambi’s mother.” – Bobby

The trio of hunters head out into the woods where the brothers are impressed with Bobby’s survivalist skills. They find what remains of Rick’s assistant and call the ranger in. The dude’s unfazed that his partner’s dead. Just as Rick’s radioing in the crime, Bobby hears a noise. Quicker than you could scream “watch out!” an unseen force yanks Rick off his feet and hauls him up into the trees. All three guys train their rifles upward, but the night lamps don’t show a thing. Bobby instructs them to go dark. He closes his eyes, carefully listens, then takes a blind shot and—blam!—knocks it out of the tree. It appears to be a man with glaucoma fogged eyes and a cannibal’s appetite, not a Jersey Devil. (I'm intrigued, but kinda bummed.) The boys haul the corpse back to their cabin where he suddenly springs up in a rage. They riddle him with bullets and he finally dies. A crude, not to mention grody, autopsy by Bobby and Sam reveals a lot of gelatinous goo, a mongo adrenal gland (which explains his brute strength), bit and pieces of Rick, a pine cone and a—hork!—cat’s head. (Poor kitty.) While the two surgeons look green around the gills, Dean seems strangely uninterested and even more ravenous than usual. Not good, methinks.

“I think you pissed off my sandwhich.” – Dean

They go back to Biggersons because Dean is craving another Slammer. As he moans in ecstasy over his sandwich, Bobby and Sam start to look around the diner and notice the other patrons are equally enamored with their turducken. Much to Dean’s horror, they take away his meal. At home it erupts into purple snot. Yack! It’s the same goo that was in the dead body.

“If I wasn’t so chilled out right now, I’d puke.” – Dean

The guys stalk a Biggersons’ meat delivery truck. Dean’s passed out in a tryptophan coma in the back seat so Sam asks Bobby if he’s concerned about him. Bobby says the boys spend so much time worrying about each other that neither one of them is living.

Meanwhile, Biggersons bitchy Brandon (say that ten times fast) attacks a girl, but someone stops him before he’s able to chow down. Turns out it’s Edgar the Leviathan. What better way to create widespread chaos then through food?

“The world’s a suicide case, we save it, it just steals more pills.” – Bobby

Sleep and coffee have cleared Dean’s head. (But he’s so cute and goofy when he’s stoned) While Sam scouts the area, Bobby takes Dean to task for his shitty attitude. He says Dean’s talking like a hunter who’s about to die. Dean says he’s talking like someone who’s had it and can’t figure out why he once thought any of this mattered. Point blank, Bobby says he needs to find a reason to get his head back in the game because if Dean dies first Bobby will kill him. (Awww.)

THE RISE OF DICK (best TV news subtitle ev-er)

Dick shows up at the warehouse and everyone’s atwitter waiting for his arrival. The boys do some research and find he’s one of the Top 35 businessmen in America. A corporate shark billionaire Leviathan. Awesome.

He asks our trusty doc Leviathan about the failed subjects in their experiment. You know, the one’s with hyper-adrenalized cannibalism. Dick is pissed that these failed test subjects have made the news. His number 1, golden rule, is that “there are no monsters.” To punish doctor demented, and to set an example for his other employees, Dick “bibs” him, which means he’s got to open that razor-sharp maw and consume himself, leaving all the black goo on a bib. Niiice!

More spying gets Bobby nabbed. He figures his chance of being rescued is slim since Sam and Dean don’t have back-up and don’t know how to kill these big bads. Fortunately for Mr. Singer, a cleaning truck pulls up to the warehouse. The Winchesters hijack their cleaning supplies and bust through the front door spraying Leviathans as they go. The toothy monsters burn up, which at least slows them down. Dick goes to see what the commotion is. Bobby reads the files on his desk and blanches at something he see there, then he nabs a second gun Dick left behind. He shoots Dick’s assistant and heads into the fray. Between soap and shots the brothers manage to escape with Bobby slowly pulling up the rear. Why’s he hesitating? Bobby never hesitates.

Finally he runs out the door and heads for the side van door. Dick chases after him and shoots. Shit, shit, shit. Is Bobby hit? The boys are talking to him as they speed off, but he’s not answering. Sam starts to pass him back his ball cap, but notices a bullet hole in it. NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The preview for Death's Door, the winter finale next week, shows Bobby in the hospital and things do NOT look good.

Okay, this has been my worst fear. If Sera kills Bobby I may have to hunt her down. I love that old coot and he better make it through this. It’s bad enough we lost Cass, but I understand it with us going back to the type of Season 1 stories we’ve been doing. But DO NOT kill Bobby. He has to continue being their surrogate father and he has to get together with Sheriff Jodi. Period. Other than my general freakedoutness over the ending of this episode I enjoyed it. Bobby had some of the best lines and stoned Dean was a hoot. What did you think and do you think Bobby will pull through or is this just one more thing the writers are going to take away from the boys to make them ill at ease and defenseless against the Leviathans?

"Slash Fiction" Recap

Hmm, methinks the Sam and Dean who are robbing a bank and killing all the patrons and employees are not the real Sam and Dean.

Next we have Bobby trying to make the captured leviathan talk and he's having no luck. When Dean asks the leviathan how he found them, the guy says it was easy and starts talking about using algorithms tracking their known aliases.

Bobby: "Great. Just what we need, a Mensa monster."

The monster says he's the least of their worries, and Sam and Dean see the news that they supposedly robbed a bank and killed everyone.

Dean: "Those sons of bitches Xeroxed us. We find these ass monkeys and we kill them ourselves."

Bobby sends the boys to see a friend of his, Frank, but when they arrive the guy pulls a gun on them and asks who sent them. "NSA, the Feeb, March of Dimes?"

Frank seems freaked out and trigger-happy when the respond with Bobby's name. Okay, this guy is funny. He gives the boy new aliases, Tom and John Smith, and tells them no more rock shout-outs with their names. He tells them to ditch the Impala.

Dean is obviously not happy about having to leave the Impala behind, saying something about putting baby in a corner.

Sam: "You know that's a line from--"
Dean: "Swayze movie. Swayze always gets a pass."

LOL! Dean starts singing to the radio playing Air Supply's "I'm All Out of Love."

Sam is looking at a map of where the dopplegangers have hit, and he realizes they're places where he and Dean have done cases before. Jericho -- Lady in White. Black Water Ridge -- Wendigo. Lady Manatonka -- the kid in the lake. They're in order, from the day Sam left Stanford. Hello, Season 1!

Sam and Dean roll into the next town the dopplegangers are to hit and see them, but the cops roll up and arrest the real Sam and Dean. Oops.

Meanwhile, back at Bobby's cabin, the leviathan has turned into Bobby but then something starts dripping from the ceiling and burning holes in the guy. It's the first thing that has had any effect. Bobby runs upstairs where the lady sheriff (Jodi) is cleaning the floor and...he kisses her!!! Then he asks what was in the bucket.

The dopplegangers switch forms into two cops to get into the police station to see Sam and Dean.

Hey, look, the sheriff is Col. Tigh from Battlestar Galactica.

Sheriff sees the baddies eating one of his deputies and decides to trust Dean. He helps him take out bad Sam. Then we see bad Dean talking with real Sam, and he spills the beans that real Dean killed Amy a couple of episodes back.

Uh oh, one of the FBI agents is a leviathan (I had that suspicion) and comes back to kill the sheriff and his daughter, the medical examiner.

Crowley shows up in the car of the head leviathan trying to make deal, but the head leviathan doesn't think too highly of demons and tells Crowley so in no uncertain terms. I'm thinking this will tick off Crowley enough that he will go back to helping Sam and Dean, but who knows. Maybe I just want to see Crowley on the side of good because he cracks me up sometimes.

Sam confronts Dean about killing Amy then walks away, telling Dean he can't be around him now. And then Sam walks off. Sigh. Brothers separated again. I wonder how long this will last.

The New Boss

Welcome back to a new season of Supernatural and weekly recaps here at Supernatural Sisters!

We got off to a good start with tonight's episode ("The New Boss") with some Dean-appropriate music -- "Slow Ride" by Foghat. And we picked up right where last season left off, with Castiel proclaiming himself the new God and telling Dean, Sam and Bobby to bow down before him. Bobby goes down to his knees, and Dean starts to before Cas says to not bother because they're doing it out of fear, not out of love.

Poof, Cas is gone and we see him walking outside, talking to someone, telling them that he thought free will was the answer but now realizes now that it's a firm hand. When the camera pans back, we see a field of dead angels. Disturbing image, that.

I could almost hear MJ keening in agony when they showed the horrible state of the Impala. Once again, Dean was having to bring her back from the dead. While he and Bobby are talking about looking for Cas, Bobby delivered what I think was the best line of the episode: "What am I looking for? Miracles? Mass visions? Trenchcoat on a tortilla?" LOL!!!

Poor Sam, his noggin isn't what she used to be. He keeps hearing things and having hallucinations, part of his memories from Hell making it past the wall. Of course, he tells Dean he's fine. Dude, these guys need to stop keeping secrets.

Cas shows up at a church where a preachers is preaching against homosexuality. Cas says he's indifferent to sexual orientation and what he can't abide by is hypocrites. And then he kills the minister where he stands, one of only many killings of religious leaders. One of the members of the first preacher's congregation is giving a TV interview when she says that God didn't have a beard and wasn't old. "He was young...and sexy." Snort.

Okay, how many of you thought it was hilarious that Crowley was hiding out in an old RV in Tennessee? Cas shows up, tells Crowley (who gave some really funny expressions of surprise) that he's sending him back to be the king of Hell but that Cas will be the gatekeeper deciding where souls go from now on.

Next time we see Crowley, he's been called by Sam, Dean and Bobby. They want info that will help them bind Death in hopes he can kill the off-the-deep-end Cas before he royally screws up the world. Of course, they don't have one of the main ingredients for the spell to bind Death, so they have to go steal it (a spear-like thing of crystallized sand that was hit by lightning). When the security guard tries to stop them, Dean taps him on the shoulder and asks, "Do you have any Grey Poupon?" before punching the guy out. Giggle. I'm guessing some viewers of Supernatural are too young to remember that Grey Poupon commercial.

When Death shows up, Cas isn't far behind. Death tells Cas that there were things older than the souls that resided in Purgatory, Leviathans, beasts that God created before man. They were so powerful that God locked them away, but Cas swallowed them up and now they're fighting to get out. Thus, the gross way Castiel's skin seems to be melting off and that whole Alien-esque thing in his stomach. Death takes a seat and eats the pickle chips and milkshake Dean brought him. (Just for the record, I love Julian Richings' portrayal of Death.)

Cas goes poof again and heads for a senator's campaign headquarters, set on punishing her because she's doing immoral things in his name. But he collapses and later wakes up with a bunch of dead, really bloody people around him. Methinks the Leviathans inside him are winning.

Sam, still believing the old Cas is in there somewhere, calls him, and Cas comes. He says he needs help and agrees to go back to the lap where the door to Purgatory will be opened by Death. The spell works, the souls return to Purgatory, and after a momentary scare that Cas was dead, he wakes up and seems to be the old Cas. Yay!

Cas: "I'm embarrassed. I really overreached."
Dean: "You think?"

I wasn't looking forward to a whole season of Cas playing God. But, wait, that was too easy. Yep, the souls went back to Purgatory, but the Leviathans are still there, and they make their presence known, saying they've killed Cas. I will steadfastly believe Cas is still alive in there until it's proven otherwise.

What did you think of the season premiere? Do you think the old Cas is still in there somewhere? Will we not see him until the end of the season?

The Man Who Would Be King

Then

We see clips from Sam going into the cage, Castiel telling Dean that Sam's soul is missing, the revelation about Cas creating more souls for the war in Heaven through negating the sinking of the Titanic, Eve telling the boys she wants Crowley, and Crowley referring to having to clean up Cas's messes.

Now

Cas is sitting outside saying he's been around a long time and seen many things -- when the first fish crawled out of the ooze, the Tower of Babel ("all 37 feet of it, which I guess was impressive at the time. But come on, dry dung can only be stacked so high."), Cain and Abel, David and Goliath, Sodom and Gomorrah. And he also remembers the most remarkable things, remarkable because they never came to pass, prevented by "two boys, an old drunk and one fallen angel." Of that latter grand story, "We ripped up the ending, and the rules, and destiny, leaving nothing but freedom and choice, which is all well and good except what if I made the wrong choice? How am I supposed to know? But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me tell you my story. Let me tell you everything."

Next we see Dean driving down the road, and Castiel pops into the passenger seat to "check in." Both tell the other they haven't seen anything of "Satan Jr.", aka Crowley. It's painfully obvious that Cas is lying, and it's bothering Dean. But Dean's lying too. Poof, and Cas disappears. He shows up at some gruesome lab where Crowley is doing an autopsy on Eve with a side of torture to another monstery schmuck. Cas refers to Crowley saying Eve could open the door to Purgatory, and Crowley says that he believes she could have if she was still alive.

Crowley: "Your best change to get over the rainbow and the Winchesters killed her."

Crowley tells Cas that he's distracted and that makes Crowley nervous. Cas responds by saying he's holding up his end of their deal, but Crowley isn't happy Cas is still hanging with the Winchester boys.

"The stench of that Impala is all over your overcoat, angel."

Next we're back with Cas, telling his story. "We'd stopped Armageddon, but at a terrible cost." He reveals he's the one who brought Sam back from Hell and says he should have recognized the fact that he hadn't brought all of Sam back as a warning.

Crowley asks Cas to kill Sam and Dean or he'll do it. Cas tells him no and not to worry about them. Crowley begins listing all the people who didn't worry about the boys and died because of it -- Lucifer, Michael, Lilith, Alastair, Azazel.

Castiel: "Just find Purgatory. If you don't, we will both die again and again until the end of time. The Winchesters won't get to you."

When Dean reaches Bobby's, Sam and Bobby are questioning a monster named Red who's been hunting things for Crowley. They want to know where Crowley is, and Red isn't being cooperative. Dean tells Bobby and Sam about Cas popping in and how he fed him a line about being on some "crap monster hunt." They all hate the idea of Cas being in with Crowley, but they're being careful in case he is. Unknown to them, Castiel is in the room listening to their conversation about the fact that maybe he's gone dark side. Red finally reveals that he's never met Crowley, that he deals with The Dispatcher, a demon named Ellwsorth. Cas says that if there's a demon counterpart to Bobby Singer, Ellsworth would be it.

Knowing that Ellsworth and his demons would lead the Winchesters to Crowley, who'd tear their hearts out, Cas takes out Ellsworth and two other demons.

Cas: "I did it to protect the boys, or myself. I don't know anymore."

The boys and Bobby arrive at Ellsworth's place to find it empty. Cas laments the lies, the hiding and the sweeping away of evidence. "My motives used to be so pure." After supposedly saving Sam, Cas returned to Heaven. He says that there isn't one Heaven, that each soul creates its own paradise. He tells the angels they are free to choose what they want to do now. But he says those first weeks back were difficult. "Explaining freedom to angels is a lot like teaching poetry to fish." When he went to see Raphael, he asks whose Heaven he's in and Raphael says it's Ken Lay's and he's borrowing it. Raphael says that Castiel and all the angels will have to kneel to him, that he's going to free Lucifer and Michael and get the apocalypse back on the road.

Sam, Dean and Bobby try to call Cas for help, but he doesn't go to them because they have questions he doesn't want to answer. Then some demons show up and say, "Crowley says, 'Hi'." Cas shows up and smites the demons because the Winchesters and Bobby "are my friends. For a brief moment, I was me again." As they're talking, he slips up and reveals he's lying when he refers to going to the dark side, something the other three had mentioned when they didn't know he was there.

Castiel says that Raphael is stronger than him and he'd never stand a chance in a straight fight, so he went to Dean for help. Only when he thought about all Dean had sacrificed, he couldn't do it. That's when Crowley showed up wanting to make a deal.

"I'm an angel, you ass. I don't have a soul to sell."

Crowley shows Cas how he's redone hell. Everyone there is having to stand in an endless line, and when they get to the front they just come back to the end again. Crowley proposes an alliance in which each of them will get half the souls in Purgatory for his own use -- Cas for a civil war in Heaven, and Crowley to shore up his position as the king of Hell. He offers to float Cas a loan of 50,000 souls from the pit. Prideful, Cas accepts the deal and declares war on Raphael so he can avoid the apocalypse.

Back to the present, Bobby and the boys call Cas and when he arrives they trap him in the ring of fire and force him to tell the truth. Honestly, at this point I feel sorry for Cas because he seems like an angel who was in between a rock and a hard place. He might have made the wrong choices, but he had good intentions. But we all know what road is paved with good intentions. Dean tells him that he should have come to them for help.

Crowley shows up, and Cas tells Sam, Dean and Bobby to run, which they do. Crowley asks Cas what he's willing to do. Cas goes to Dean to try to explain, and Dean tells Cas that he's like a brother to him and asks him to stop this quest for Purgatory with Crowley. And if he doesn't, Dean says he'll do whatever he has to in order to stop him. Cas says he's sorry and disappears. Then we're back to Cas praying to God for a sign that he's on the right path. "Because if you don't, I'm going to do whatever I must." When no sign his offered, he drops his head.

Bobby's World

Due to my son's birthday party (and the ensuing cleanup) I didn't get to watch "Weekend at Bobby's" until this morning. In order to get you the recap (so, obviously, SPOILERS) sooner, I tried to watch the episode last night and fell asleep shortly after someone was fed through a wood chipper...which, as you might guess, does not lead to sweet dreams.

But enough about me! Let's focus on Bobby...which is exactly what Supernatural did. Now, since Jensen and Jared are a major part of why I tune in every week, it would have been possible for me to be less than invested in this episode, but that wasn't the case (which is a tribute to both the writers and the actors of the show). And I know Trish was probably excited to see this episode because when we saw Mark A. Sheppard at DragonCon, she cut right to the chase asking him if Crowley (the king of the crossroads demons) still had Bobby's soul and if we'd be seeing Mark again in season 6? (He assured us that the answer was yes on both counts.)

In fact, we see Mark right at the beginning of the show, flashing back a year (right after Sam sacrificed himself to save the world) when Bobby tries to get Crowley to uphold his end of the bargain and give back the soul that Bobby didn't so much sell as "pawn" (gaining in the deal use of his paralyzed legs). But it turns out that Crowley isn't giving it back (shocking, isn't it? A demon who can't be trusted!) Crowley, with the help of a hell hound, ends the encounter with the upper hand but we know that Bobby isn't going to stop trying.

Then we get into Bobby's present day life. Although it does include Sam and Dean (who, in keeping with seasons past, call him for help), we see that Bobby actually helps lots of Hunters. You remember that phone bank we saw in a previous episode, all marked so that Bobby knows what to answer as the FBI, CDC, CIA, etc? When we saw it before, it was comical. Now, it was sort of deliberately sad--this man who once was forced to kill his wife, helping all these people and yet still largely alone. Not only was the continuity in this show great (bringing back the female sheriff and referencing Dean's fear of flying), so was the emotional resonance. Jim Beaver did an incredible job--throughout the whole episode, I just wanted to give the poor man a hug. (And of course, giving the boys less screen time probably made it much easier for Jensen Ackles to direct an episode that, ultimately, I thought did a great job of tying up loose ends from last season while still contuining to set up problems for this one.)

We normally see the boys' interactions with Bobby through their end--with Bobby often being the voice on the other end of the phone, dispensing wisdom and occasionally humorous insults. This time, we stay with Bobby and see what his life is like after he hangs up the phone. In this case, that life includes torturing a crossroads demon to get information on Crowley. When he has what he wants (Crowley's original human name), Bobby kills her, by pouring the mysterious contents of a bag into a fire. But prior to that, she offers up the information that Crowley isn't just the king of the crossroads, he's the king of hell. So is he the new big bad now that Lucifer's in the box? While I don't want a rehash of last year's angels v. demons, I would be totally okay with more guest appearances by Sheppard!

Meanwhile, we see another aspect of Bobby's life--the chipper blonde neighbor of six months who's still trying to get to know the single man who lives next door. She brings him a ginger peach cobbler. And now that I've finished typing that sentence, I realize that use of the word chipper may have been a Freudian segue. When Bobby attributes the screaming from his basement to a horror movie, blonde baker invites him over to watch "Drag Me to Hell" (Loved his response that, actually, he was trying to avoid that.) With her horror movie gambit having failed, she asks him to come over some time and look at her wood chipper, which has stopped working. It's obvious she was a crush on Bobby, not that he has time for such things because his phone his ringing again.

In addition to Sam and Dean periodically calling for help with a monster whose plot line is so peripheral that I've forgotten its name already (much less how to spell it), Bobby gets an in person request for assistance from fellow Hunter Rufus Turner, who has been in one or two episodes previous to this. Just like Sam and Dean hunting something previously not seen outside Greece, turns out Rufus has just "killed" something that's never before been seen outside Japan, prompting the funny observation, "Is it just me, or are monsters getting weird?" Bobby helps Rufus bury the body, only to have law enforcement come looking for it later (including the female sheriff played by Kim Rhodes we saw in "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid." Now that she's hip to paranormal goings-on around her, she's a lot less eager to arrest Bobby. She even tries to help, although she makes it clear that because of her job, there are limits to what she can do.)

The law goes poking around in his yard to look for the body, which--luckily--is gone. Or, not so luckily, if you're Bobby's neighbor who lives alone. When he bursts into her house with a gun late at night to save her, he asks if she's seen anything strange. "Besides you?" But she quickly sees that she's in danger and Bobby gets into combat with the Japanese demon, who ends up going through the wood-chipper. Which, ew, ew, ew, but the scene was actually pretty well done and inappropriately funny...and also a bit sad. "I thought you said it wasn't working," Bobby says of the wood chipper, clearly at a loss for how to explain everything. Pan to neighbor in her white nightgown, absolutely covered in blood. "I only said that to get you over here." Bobby, belatedly realizing that she likes him, offers to come back over some time, which she rejects, looking now appalled by him. "Story of my life," he says. Awwwwww.

When Dean calls later to confess his worries about Sam (giving this episode a clear through line to the rest of the season even though the boys are mostly off screen), Bobby tells him he can't talk right now. Dean makes the mistake of calling Bobby "selfish," as he is the only person Dean can talk to. Bobby then demands that Dean go get Sam and then gives them an earful over the phone about how selfish they are and how no one seems to be batting an eyelash that Bobby's headed for hell at the end of his contract. While the boys did have that coming, I thought Sam made a good point when he said, "If you need help, all you have to do is ask." (Earlier in the show, Bobby the cantankerous loner actually rejected Rufus' help, so there's a fair point that it's a two way street. If you want people to be there for you, you have to be willing to occasionally reach out.) Rufus comes through with a way for Bobby to summon the ghost of Crowley's son (who, as it turns out, loathed his father and gives Bobby information about where Crowley's bones were buried.)

The episode comes full circle. We once again find Bobby and Crowley in a stand-off over Bobby's soul, only this time Bobby has an ace up his sleeve (which reminds me--LOL at the playing of the Gambler earlier. It was such a change from Sam and Dean's usual AC/DC or other classic rock that it helped set a definite tone for a different type of episode.) Anyway, the boys are now in Scotland ("We've gone international."), poising in the graveyard over Crowley's bones. Turns out, that mysterious bag earlier in the ep? Held the demoness's bones, and you kill a crossroad demon by burning their mortal remains. I loved Bobby's scathing comment to Crowley that demons think they're all that, but really they're just "ghosts with ego." Crowley is clearly pissed, but also clearly has no choice. Bobby gets his soul back and gets to keep use of his legs (yay!!!) Afterward, there's a phone call between Bobby and the boys that I loved not just because of the gruff affection between the three of them but because the teasing between the boys (Sam's smirking that Dean "white-knuckled his way through four puke bags" on the plane) seemed like the most natural, brotherly interaction they've had so far this season.

Of course, this is Supernatural, so instead of just ending it when Bobby got off the phone with a sheepish, "Let's roll credits on this chick flick," they had to go just a minute further. We see Bobby try to sit down with his ginger peach cobbler (again) only to be interrupted by the phones (again!) and realize that when you're trying to save the world on a daily basis, your work is never done. And that no matter how many hunters are in his life--and who genuinely care about him--at the end of the day, Bobby Singer is still alone. Awwww!

And then previews, which I don't even want to think about. What are they doing to my Dean???? Apparently, he becomes some kind of monster with a hunger for human flesh, so I am torn. Normally, if Jensen is on the screen, I am unable to look away. However, this is seeming like something best watched in tiny spaces between my fingers. Guess we'll know more in a week!

SPNews

[For some infuriating reason Blogger isn't allow me to paste text so I've been trying to post this little bit of news for way too long! Now retyping....]


News was really scarce this week ~


The CW is all atwitter about sweeps weeks so they're inviting viewers to "watch and tweet" with their favorite stars. Misha will be tweeting from 9:00-10:00 PM on Friday, May 7.


Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello has posted a freakin' hilarious, exclusive clip of this week's Two Minutes to Midnight. Warning: It does answer the "will he or won't he?" question regarding Bobby's soul.


Finally, I leave you with this adorable pic of Jensen and Danneel at the premier of The Back-Up Plan. (She plays J.Lo's nemesis.) Rumor has it May is their big month!

Recap for "Point of No Return"

The 100th episode began with Zachariah (aka the angel we love to hate) in a bar, drinking away his sorrows just like the businessman next to him who got a pink slip. He bemoans not sealing the deal. Next thing we know, things start shaking. And we all know nothing good happens when things start shaking. Stuart, the fired businessman, says, "Earthquake?" Zachariah responds, "Nah. My boss." Zachariah is offered some new deal and he calmly finishes his drink and leaves the bar -- and its deal occupants -- behind.

Next we see a heartbreaking, man at the end of his rope scene with Dean. He's filling a box with his leather jacket, his car keys, his gun, and addressing it to Bobby. But before he can go any further with his plan, Sam turns up with Cas and Cas zaps them back to Bobby's. One of the most heart-wrenching things Dean has ever said was when he looked at Bobby, after Bobby had called him "son", and said, "You're not my father, and you ain't in my shoes." The look on Bobby's face -- before he got mad -- showed such hurt because he does feel like the boys' father. They're the only family he has left. But Bobby gets his point across about not giving up when he pulls out a gun and a bullet and admits that he thinks about killing himself every day but that he doesn't because he promised Dean he wouldn't.

Cas gets a pain in his head and disappears from the room only to reappear in a forest. He sees a spot in the ground moving, but before he can examine it too closely, he has to fight off two angels. When he does get back to the strange spot, a hand emerges -- one belonging to the now-back-alive younger Winchester brother, Adam. Turns out Adam was in Heaven, making out with a girl at prom, when Zachariah came and told him he was Michael's vessel and he would help defeat the devil.

Sam pleads with Adam to give them time to come up with another plan, and he asks what they've got so far. Loved the following exchage:

Dean: "We're working on the power of love."
Adam: "How's that going?"
Dean: "Not good."

I think the casting of Adam is fantastic. He looks like he could be Sam and Dean's brother, and he even has some of the same snark and resentment toward John. And how Jake Abel portrayed the real Adam is so much more believable than the fake Adam we saw previously.

Sam has locked Dean in Bobby's panic room (hello, payback!) to keep him from going to do something "Michael stupid". When he goes to talk to Dean, big bro says that he won't have Adam taking a bullet for him and that he's tired of fighting who he's meant to be. Sam says he believes that Dean will do the right thing, but Dean admits that he doesn't have the same faith in Sam. Damn, how many more of these heart-wrenching moments can we stand?

Sam and Dean try to tell him that the angels are liars, but Adam has a dream in which he talks to Zachariah and tips the angels off to where he is and is taken by the angels. He ends up in that same beautiful room full of beer, stacks of cheeseburgers and paintings on the walls that Dean once did. And Zachariah tells him he was just bait to get Dean because everyone knows Sam and Dean will come for Adam. They're like that with family. Dean manages to banish Cas with that angel-banishing symbol and takes off. But after Cas finds him and beats the living daylights out of him before bringing him back to Bobby's, Dean has learned the following lesson:

"Word to the wise. Don't piss off the nerd angels." :)

Of course, as Zachariah predicted, Sam and Dean ride to Adam's rescue. They're surprised to find out the beautiful room is an abandoned muffler factory in Van Nuys, California, but I thought that was so hilariously perfect. But this time, it's not just Sam and Dean taking on the superior forces. They have Nerd Angel on their side! And Cas proceeds to kick some butt, killing one angel and banishing the other four as well as himself.

They find Adam, Zachariah reveals himself, nasty exchange ensues, Zach makes Adam and Sam hemorrhage from the mouth, and Dean says "yes." But he has conditions -- he has a list of people he wants to keep safe, and Michael has to kill Zachariah. Zach laughs at this, but not for long because Dean pulls out one of those angel blades and kills Zach. Then he rushes for the door with Sam, with Adam following, as Michael arrives. Adam gets stuck in the room, and we assume that he is either dead or is now Michael's vessel. Guess only time will tell.

We end with Dean and Sam driving down the road, and Dean begins to come out of the defeated funk he's been in the past few episodes.

Dean: "Screw destiny. I saw we take the fight to them. Do it out way."
Sam: "Sounds good."

Is it me or was there only the one song on the jukebox in the first bar scene? A little surprising that they didn't work in "Point of No Return" by Kansas.

SPNews

At last weekend’s Salute to Supernatural, Kurt Fuller talked about playing Zacariah. He thought he was finally going to portray a good guy! By his third episode he soon realized he would be the angel we love to hate. Check out his interview on Zap2It and learn how Jared surprised him and broke the tension during a tough scene.

Jim Beaver talks to TV.com about how he honored his feelings for his wife “by reconstructing them on-screen” in the emotionally challenging, but very rewarding Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid. He also addresses the scary idea of Bobby’s demise! The idea seems all the more concerning when you consider these recent tweets from Jim.

Pouring rain for my last Supernatural scene today--seems fitting
11:32 AM Mar 25th via mobile web

Finished my last scene, marched into makeup

& got my hair all chopped off--1st time in 5 years! Yay!

2:43 PM Mar 25th via mobile web

Clarissa on TVOverMind gave a favorable review of the newest SPN novel, Heart of the Dragon. She’s also giving away 3 copies. Enter for your chance to win!

Here’s an intense preview of next week’s episode, Dark Side of the Moon.

Abandon All Hope

ABANDON ALL HOPE opens at a metropolis cross roads where rich Mr. Pendleton eagerly awaits a beautiful demon to kiss so he can seal the deal to get his bank bailed out. Unfortunately, for the extremely homophobic geezer, Crowley has decided to land this big fish himself. The pucker takes place and Pendleton is left disgusted, but debt free. Lurking in the background is Castiel. The celestial spy, code named “Huggy Bear,” has tracked down the demon with the colt. Cas follows him to an impenetrable house and calls in reinforcements.

Later that night a beautiful and distraught woman—it’s Jo Harvelle!—rings the house for help after her car breaks down. The guards let her in and just as they’re ready to pounce, Dean and Sam swoop in.

“The Hardy Boys finally found me.” Crowley

It seems Crowley has been waiting for the Winchesters, but instead of putting up a fight he does the damndest thing…he kills his own guards and hands over the Colt. Er, surely it’s not that easy?

“Take this to Lucifer and empty it into his face.” Crowley

Then again. Seems Crowley believes it’s just a matter of time before Lucifer turns on his own. First the humans, then his minions. If Lucifer is dead, Crowley will survive. The boys reluctantly believe he’s on the up and up and taking their strange luck a step further Sam asks, “You wouldn’t happen to know where the devil is perchance, wouldja.” Crowley tells them he’s got an appointment in Carthage, Missouri.

“I think I’m starting to feel something.” Cas

Ellen is trying her hardest to get Cas drunk, while Jo watches in amazement and Sam and Dean argue about splitting up. Dean doesn’t want Sam to go to Carthage because he fears they’d be handing over the vessel. Sam insists they have to stay together. Dean finally agrees but calls it a stupid freakin’ idea. Then he goes and hits on Jo with a last night on Earth speech. Just as it looks like she’ll capitulate she laughingly denies him, saying she’d rather die with her dignity. (Stupid woman!) Out of nowhere Bobby demands they all take a picture together, but their reckless silliness morphs to an “oh, shit” moment when Cas says, “This is our last night on earth.”

The boys, Ellen, Jo and Cas arrive in Carthage to find an empty town and no cell phone signal. The brothers decide to check out the PD and leave the other three to look around. Cas quickly discovers the town isn’t empty, but completely over run with reapers. He goes off to investigate and finds himself imprisoned in a fire circle by Lucifer.

“You’re not taking Sam Winchester. I won’t let you.” Cas

Satan’s skin is growing thin, his vessel isn’t strong enough to contain him. Cas tells him he’ll never allow him to get to Sam. Lucifer doesn’t understand why Cas won’t side with him, but the angel said he’d die before letting that happen.

Meanwhile Meg has shown up and unleashed a pack of hellhounds on the Scooby gang. Dean pulls a horror movie heroine move and trips. Before he can be devoured Jo fights off the mutt but is disemboweled. The Winchesters and the Harvelles hole up in a store and everyone comes to the realization that Jo is not going to survive her injuries. Contacting Bobby by CB Dean learns that Lucifer is intending to unleash the Angel of Death. The reapers are waiting for their big boss to show up at midnight.

“Can we be realistic about this, please? My guts are being held in by an ace bandage.” Jo

The boys need to get out and use the colt to kill Lucifer. Jo suggests building a bomb, which she’ll trigger, while her mom and the boys escape through the roof. She’s not going to make it anyhow, and if they don’t do something the hellhounds will never stop hunting them. The boys and Ellen are horrified by her suggestion, but come to the sad reality that it’s their only option. They cobble together explosives from propane tanks, lanterns, nails, salt, wire and a doorbell and then fold Jo’s hand around the trigger.

“I’ll see you on the otherside. Probably sooner rather than later.” Dean
“Make it later.” Jo

Dean gives Jo a tender kiss goodbye and then Ellen announces that she’s staying with her daughter. Someone has to open the door and she will not leave her little girl alone. She tells Dean to kick it in the ass. The boys leave and Ellen unchains the door and goes to sit next to her child. She tells Jo, “I will always love you, baby” and then realizes Jo has passed away. Ellen starts to cry and then the doors open. She can hear the scrabbling of invisible dogs coming her way. One arm tight around her daughter she poses her finger over the trigger and waits until she feels a hellhound’s breath on her face.

“You can go straight back to hell you ugly bitch.” Ellen

Kaboom! The Harvelle’s and hellhounds are no more.

The Winchesters find Lucifer shoveling dirt onto something while an audience of townsmen (who are actually demons) watch. The boys forego any last words and tricking Lucifer manage to shoot him in the head. Yesss! Nooooo, he gets back up again. Seems there’s only five things in creation the colt won’t kill and he’s one of them. He knocks Dean out and asks Sam if he’d just give himself up now. Sam says never, but Lucifer says he’s pretty sure he’ll surrender in the next six months in Detroit. Then he reveals that he’s covering a mass grave, women and children first, and he offers their lives, blood and souls, along with some demons to complete his tribute.

While he calls the Angel of Death forth, Cas manages to get the best of Meg and break out of his circle. But it’s too little, too late.

“Oh, hello, death.” Lucifer

That right there would’ve been a helluva cliffhanger for this hiatus, but the show inexplicably ends with the Winchesters back at Bobby’s place where he morosely takes the last keepsake of the Harvelle’s, the pic they all took, and throws it in the fire.

The End.

I have mixed feelings on this episode. Hated the ending. Why burn that picture? And Lucifer’s line gave a stronger, punchier finale. I also didn’t like that the boys, when faced with what they genuinely thought might be their last moments, had no final words for each other. I loved the emotional farewell for the Harvelle girls. It was tender and kick ass at the same time. They were the best part of this episode for me and I think this is just the beginning of the self sacrifice we’re going to see. Loved how Pellegrino played Lucifer as smarmy and petulant, but unyieldingly confident. And I look forward to seeing what happens next. Too bad we have to wait so long. So what did you think? Was it a mixed bag for you too?

The Curious Case of Dean Winchester (Recap)

Spoiler! Spoiler! Spoiler!

Pro: This ep features Bobby, who I always love.

Con: Less Jensen Ackles than usual! (Although, I have to give guest-star Chad Everett props, he was a fantastic senior citizen Dean.)

We open on a man coming home, rushing by his wife to lock himself in the bathroom. Where he proceeds to age horribly and die.

Flash to morgue where doctor is having trouble buying the bros. as CDC agents because they arrived in such an unpredented timely manner. She shows them the 25 year old who died of old age. (Yeah, weird). This is followed by an older woman who reported her kindly old husband missing...and the bros track him to an Asian brothel. Since he's now young, generically hot, and sporting a six-pack, they identify him by a tattoo and birthmark.

After threatening to tell his wife that he's paying for threesomes instead of having shuffled off his mortal coil (which he would like her to presume), the man admits to having played a hand of paranormal poker and betting years of his life. While the first dude we saw in the show clearly lost, this one won.

A phone call to Bobby confirms that there is lore about a traveling card player making deals. The phone call also prompts Bobby to decide that all his best years are behind him, so what does he have to lose? A lot of years apparently, because the next time we see him, he's leaving a two man poker game with not much time left. (I was having trouble with the CW all night. There were a lot of scratchy sounds in the audio, so I'm not sure whether Bobby bet 25 yrs, 35 or 45). Dean meets up with Patrick, an Irish accented 900 yr old "he-witch" and demands to play for Bobby's years. And, as anyone who saw the previews knows, he promptly loses.

Sam comes back to their hotel room to find Bobby and Dean bickering and pronounces them "Grumpy Old Men." (The interactions between them did crack me up.) When they break into Patrick's place to steal poker chips, they're caught by Patrick and his powerful girlfriend (who may have been helping him scam people in a bar earlier). She and Patrick let Dean and Sam go after Dean insists that Sam cannot play for Dean's years (dudes, break the cycle of co-dependent martyrdom already). But first the he-witch gives Sam a slow round of applause that he calls a "parting gift." Dean deduces when leaving that Sam was just given the Clap.

Bobby and Dean bicker some more but they both agree Sam isn't a badass enough poker player to bring down someone of Patrick's caliber. Suddenly they receive help from an unexpected quarter--Patrick's girlfriend who while, perhaps not quite his 900 years, says she looks really good for her age. She gives them a powerful reversal spell to undo everything he's done (although it will only help people actually alive.) Dean and Bobby (whom Dean is now calling Ironsides) start working on the spell part. Sam, seemingly going rogue and ignoring Dean and Bobby's advice (what is this, season four?), shows up to play poker with Patrick. In an odd little moment, we see Patrick deliberately fold to an older guy who wants to live to see his grand daughter's Bat Mitzvah. Not sure what the takeaway from this was supposed to be, but I did find Patrick to be a refreshing change from black eyed hell demons.

About halfway through the game, when Sam exits with Patrick's toothpick, we learn that he's there on behalf of Dean & Bobby because they need Patrick's DNA to make the reversal spell work. Unfortunately, Patrick has played Sam in more ways than one, because the toothpick he let him take had no DNA and Patrick is not happy that people are trying to cheat. In fact, he seems poised to kill Sam when his loonnnnnnng-time girlfriend (did she have a name? anyone else catch it?) interrupts that she gave the Winchesters the spell in the first place and that he "knows why."

So not everything gets reversed, but Sam actually wins his poker game--4 fours to 3 Aces--thereby winning Dean back his life. And Jensen Ackles is adorable as he comes out of the building doing a jig.

We go back to Patrick and girl whose name I didn't catch and he's protesting that he doesn't want to play her but she insists--apparently she had a daughter once who aged and died and the girl misses her family and has grown tired saying that there way of life just isn't natural. (Well, duh. See the name of the show.) Parts of this storyline (such as her randomly appearing with the spell) seemed almost anticlimatic to me (although kudos that it wasn't the deux ex spell-china that saved them) but this little bit at the end with the two distraught and apparently not purely evil lovers was decently acted.

Finally, a scene where Dean and Bobby "feel their feelings" and Dean insists that just because Bobby can't walk doesn't make him any less of a solider and that furthermore, he's family and Dean needs him.

All in all, not a bad 'sode. Certainly it won't be making the list of my top ten favorites (especially when I am so anxiously awaiting next week's, which looks very promising) but I liked it. It was more sibling bickering and funny exchanges than brooding brotherly angst and guilt over who broke the first and last seals etc. Also, do love Bobby!

What did you guys think? Favorite lines? Did you think that this week's "bad guy" wasn't quite scary or evil enough to give us the usual drama or was it a nice new take? (Hey, I just realized, I made it through a whole ep and didn't have to peek through my fingers once! Of course, with Jensen conspiciously absent, my motivation to look at the TV wasn't as strong either...)

Good God, Y'all

It was a Monday
A day like any other day
I left a small town
For the Apple of decay

It was my destiny
It's what we needed to do
They were telling me
I'm telling you

We started out the episode with these words from Foreigner's "Long, Long Way From Home." Seems fitting since the boys are a long way from "home" in just about every sense imaginable. I am glad we're starting out the season with the classic rock so many have come to identify with the show.

After the recap, we see Sam watching Bobby, who is still in the hospital, sitting in a wheelchair staring out the window. Dean arrives and injects one bit of the sparse humor of the episode. "It's been like three days now. We gotta cheer him up. Maybe I'll give him a back rub." But Sam doesn't take part in the humor and tells Dean that maybe they have to accept that Bobby isn't going to bounce back so easily this time.

Dean shows Sam the contents of the large envelope in his hand -- an X-ray that shows the strange symbols carved into Dean's ribs, the gift from Castiel that hides them from all angels, including Lucifer. As proof that even Cas can't just know where they are anymore, he has to call them on Sam's cell phone. When Cas shows up, Bobby demands that he heal him, but Cas doesn't have that power anymore.

Cas tells the boys that their plan to kill Lucifer is foolish, that they can't do it. But he knows someone who can -- God. "I'm gonna find God. He isn't in Heaven. He has to be somewhere." Dean injects the funniest line of the episode here. "Try New Mexico. I hear he's on a tortilla." The look on his face as he says it tells me that Jensen loved this line. Almost as funny was Castiel's serious response: "No, he's not on any flatbread." LOL!

After Dean's usual "God doesn't care about us" speech, Cas gets in his face and says that he's killed two angels that week, his brothers, for Dean, but Dean and Sam failed in stopping the apocalypse. "I lost everything for nothing," Cas says. He says that he needs an amulet to help him find God. It is supposed to burn hot in God's presence. Amulet, you say? Yes, DEAN'S AMULET! "Like God EMF?" Sam asks. Cas says yes. So, off Cas goes with Dean's amulet to find God, and Dean's response is, "Great, now I feel naked." This is pretty much where the humor ends in this episode except for one line toward the end.

We launch into what feels like a hunt of the week, but of course it has bigger ramifications and surprises this season. Rufus, the older hunter we've met before, calls Bobby and says he's in River Pass, Colorado, and the place is covered in demons. Boys and Impala head for Colorado, where they drive up to a destroyed bridge which is, of course, on the only road in and out of town. Funny how there are so many small towns with only one road connecting them to the rest of the world. Right as Dean says, "And the hits just keep coming," the song "Spirit in the Sky" by Norman Greenbaum starts playing. As they walk into town to find a bunch of abandoned and wrecked cars lining the main street, including a cherry red Mustang Dean appreciates, the song goes from being background to playing on the radio of a still running car. And who should show up then but Ellen. First she gets the boys off the street, then she hugs Dean, then she smacks him and tells him he should have called. Am I forgetting something, or didn't the boys think Ellen was either dead or had no idea where she was after the roadhouse fire? She takes them to a basement of a church where the survivors have retreated.

When Sam and Dean say they'll go get more guns and supplies, Dean tries to get Sam to stay behind. It's obvious Dean doesn't trust Sam out there with demons, and Sam knows it. While Dean goes for the guns, Sam goes to get rock salt. Two demons come in, he kills them, then has to fight his desire for the demon blood. Of course, Dean walks in and sees that written all over Sam's face. Later, Sam is upset that he had to kill teenagers and wishes he could save people like he used to. Dean calls him on that because that ability was only because of the demon blood, and Sam denies that he wants it anymore. As was speculated after last week's recap, Sam isn't as free from the lure of the demon blood as it first appeared. Sam and Dean argue again about who will accompany Ellen outside when she goes to look for Jo, but Sam ends up going with her. She knows something is up between the brothers and asks about it. Sam chalks it up to the stresses of the job.

And here's where the weirdness begins. They encounter Jo (who has black eyes), but Jo says, "Give me my mom back, you black-eyed bitch." Huh? I had to rewind and listen to this three times, and I was still confused. It gets even weirder when Rufus captures Sam and tries using holy water and rock salt against him. Rufus and Jo are puzzled about why it isn't working. They think Sam has black eyes, and he thinks they do. Something is not right in River Pass.

Back at the ranch...uh, basement of the church, Dean and Ellen try to figure out what's going on by trying to figure out what omens Rufus was in town to investigate. They find out from the minister that the river had run polluted all of a sudden the previous Wednesday. One of the other survivors says that on the same night, he saw a bright shooting star. Dean grabs a Bible and starts looking up something. When he reads, it's from Revelations: "And there fell a great star from Heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell upon the river, and the name of the star was Wormwood. And many men died." Dean asks the minister what these specific omens are a prelude to. The answer? The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. When Dean asks which of the horsemen rides the red horse (the cherry red Mustang), the minister responds, "War." Thus, the tie-in to the name of the episode, "Good God, Y'all," a lyric from Edwin Starr's anti-war song, "War."

Dean says he things War is in town and messing with all of their minds, that there are no demons. War is just making them all think they see demons so they'll all kill each other. Turns out War is inhabiting one of the survivors, a guy named Roger is really buried in a ditch somewhere. Next up on his hit list -- Ellen and Dean. He twists a ring on his finger and the other survivors think Ellen and Dean are demons. And they start shooting. Ellen and Dean make a run for it. They find Rufus and Jo and eventually get them to see past the hallucination. Sam, who had been tied up and taunted by War about his desire for demon blood, has figured things out too. He and Dean find War and cut off the finger with the ring. Everyone stops hallucinating, but War and his red Mustang just disappear.

In one of our roadside chat scenes, we see Dean and Sam sitting at a picnic area with a mountain of pines in the background. Idyllic setting in the midst of dark times. Dean is looking at the ring and injects one tiny bit of humor. "So, pit stop at Mt. Doom?" But then Sam gets serious. He says he knows that Dean doesn't trust him, that he doesn't trust himself. And then Sammy broke my heart.

"There's something in me that scares the hell out of me, Dean. I'm in no shape to be hunting. I need to step back 'cause I'm dangerous. Maybe it's best if we just go our separate ways." And then Dean breaks my heart by saying he agrees. He says he spends more time worrying about Sam than doing the job right. Sam turns to leave, making me wonder about Kripke and company's assertion that the brothers will be growing closer this season and wondering how long they'll be apart. In a final gut-wrenching moment, Dean shows that he still loves Sam by offering to let him take the Impala. But Sam declines and rides away with a guy with a camper.

Where are my tissues? :(

Rural Gas Stations, Convenience Store Food, and Crappy Motel Rooms

ETA: This is just too funny, I had to add it. Tanya posted Monday about the Trickster, and now guess what? Last night Richard Speight Jr. announced on his Facebook (if that doesn't take you right to the update, find his page, then click "updates" on the left side) that the Trickster will be back! I, for one, am very excited!

Now, on to our regularly scheduled post:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I've been rewatching the early seasons again, and three things strike me every time I do this:

1. They never get gas at a commercial gas station--it's always back roads and rusty pumps.

2. I get queasy when they buy or eat convenience store food.

3. I have never in my life seen such motel/hotel rooms.

The latter has become a hallmark of the show, with even behind-the-scenes vids done on the topic.



I'd considered cataloging many of the rooms and listing favorites, with commentary, but a) I'm not that funny, and b) I'm too lazy. I figured someone else had done so, and guess what! :)

Suzanne at SciFi Chicks did one in June, and just yesterday I found Alice Jester at Winchester Family Business did this just last week. Honest, I claimed this topic weeks ago! I stumbled across her posts last night while reading her excellent Comic-Con reports. You should check those out, too.

It's funny how similar their lists are! They break down the details of the rooms, and are much more knowledgeable and observant than I am. You can find Alice's posts here, here, and here.


Provenance

Now, I always stay in chain hotels, and they all look pretty much the same. Ugly polyester comforters, bland art on bland walls, blocky laminate furniture. When I go to conferences, I get to stay in nicer hotels that still look exactly the same, just with nicer bedclothes and better carpeting. So I figure I just haven't had the right experience to be able to buy in to the imaginations of the set crew.

In the Supernatural world, we have two main kinds of overnight facilities:

The motels (outside access to the rooms) are almost always themed (hunting cabin, disco, beer homage) and always have those weird room dividers with starbursts or fish or silhouettes of women like on truck mudflaps--or beer bottles.

The hotels (inside access) are generally efficiency style, huge rooms that are almost like studio apartments, in old buildings with high ceilings and kitchenettes.

There is an occasional "typical" room that feels a little more on the generic side, but usually we have psychedelic wallpaper at the very least.


Hunted


The Usual Suspects
Obviously, the set builders and dressers have a blast creating these rooms, finding props for them, etc. But in the context of the show, how do Sam and Dean find such places? Do you think they look for the cheapest location near the hunt and it always winds up like this?

When the boys aren't staying in a hotel they paid for, they stay in one they snuck into:


Fresh Blood
Or they squat in an abandoned house. This didn't happen much until the season 3 premiere, "The Magnificent Seven," when they hooked up with Isaac and Tamara. I'm not sure Isaac and Tamara were squatting, because they had that house pretty well stocked with supplies, but in "Red Sky at Morning" Sam and Dean holed up in an abandoned house. Sam did, too, at least once in his flashbacks in season 4. (The finale of season 2, "All Hell Breaks Loose Part II," takes place in an old house, but I assume that's in the abandoned town, so it doesn't really count.)

So, what's your favorite Supernatural motel?

~~~~~~~~
Thanks to oxoniensis for the screencaps.

The Road So Far (in 1,000 words or less)

I'm posting this for Tanya, whose computer just didn't want to play nice with her.


Okay, so this post owes its inspiration to stuff like this (warning, MAJOR spoilers for the movie Serenity, and major funny if you've already seen it). But still, here we are floating in the still dead waters of summer hiatus, so I thought we could all use the recap (and, possibly, the laugh).

Sam and Dean Winchester (this far) in 1,000 words or less:

Interior, somewhat creepy nursery, enter Mommy Winchester.

Mom: WTF?

Baby Sam: Waaahhhh!

Late arrival Daddy Winchester: DEAN! Take care of your brother.

Flash to present day.

Sam: I hear a noise.

Dean: I came for a beer, LOVE the Smurfs, BTW. Come help me solve our father's disappearance.

Sam: Dude.

Conversation, Exposition, Woman in White with Creepy Kids, cut back to Jessica on the ceiling, and Grown Up Sam having a full-circle WTF moment?

Sam: Consider me back in the game til we find Dad and this yellow-eyed bastard.

Many episodes later, find Daddy Winchester. And fabled Colt. YAY!
All three Winchester men run off road. BOO!
Cut to hospital with Dean and Reaper and Daddy Winchester making deal with Yellow-Eyed Demon.

Daddy W's final words (more or less): DEAN! Take care of your brother.
Even if that means "take care of" in the mafia sense.

Dean (internal monologue): WTF?

Moving right along in season 2.

Dean: Do not mock me, airplanes crash.

Sam: And apparently clowns KILL. Hey, should we check out that roadhouse?

Dean: Uh, Sam? Could use a little help here with the pint-sized blonde.

Pint-sized blonde (aka Jo Harvelle): Take me with you! I want to hunt!

Dean: Even as I wander, I'm keeping you in sight. You're a candle in the-

Sam: WTF?

Dean: Never mind. Have you met my new buddy Gordon?

Sam: Nice to m-

Gordon (with much menace and foreshadowing): Evil things must DIE!

Dean (considerably later): Sam, are you drunk? (followed by, even later than that) He full on Obi-waned me!

Sam: Something is wrong with that boy. He is like-like me. Curse you, yellow-eyed demon and your nefarious yet still vague evil plans!

Yellow Eyed Demon: Call me Azazel. And as for my 'plan,' it's simple. You and my other "special" children are in a contest. Good luck with that.

Jake: Aw HELL no. I like ya Sam, but not enough to die for you. Take this!

Sam: Gurghk.

Dean: Yo, crossroads demon! Get me out of this. I'll trade anything to get my bro back.

Crossroads demon: Anything? You're on, foolish Winchester.

Sam: So let me get this straight, you traded your life-your SOUL-to save me?

Dean: Yep. No need to thank me.

Sam: Thank you? Are you deluded you arrogant SOB? We have to end this deal.

Dean: No can do. I try anything funny, you die.

Mysterious blonde chick with mysterious knife: Hey! I can help! Name's Ruby by the way.

Other mysterious chick with quasi-British accent: And I'm Bela. I shall be here to demonstrate what happens to naughty boys and girls when they ransom their souls to Lilith. I am also here to entertain Tanya.

Dean and Sam: Who the hell is Tanya? Strike that. The better question is Who the hell is Lilith?

Dean (in quiet aside to Ruby): Dude, can you really get me out of this?

Ruby: Um, no. Not really. Plus, you'll become a demon after.

Dean: Well, THAT sucks. I need pie.

Sam: You're in denial, bro.

Dean: I deny that accusation.

Sam: So what you-- hold up. What's that you say? We just got a phone call about Bobby being in a coma?

Bobby: Thanks boys for saving me from the mystical coma. Except, you let Bela steal the Colt, ya ijits!!!

Dean: Bela must die!

Sam: 'K

Dean: So if we're so hot on the heels of Bela (mmmm, Bela...) what are we doing in this random mystery sp-- Gurghk.

Sam: DEAN!

Dean: Don't you just love Asia? Let's go get break-- Gurghk.

Sam: DEAN!

Dean: What do you mean I died yesterday? That's cr-- Gurghk.

Sam: DEAN!

Also Sam: Whoa, I'm onto you Trickster.

Trickster (smugly): And it only took 80% of the episode for you to figure it out...

Audience: So what happens for rest of episode?

Dean: Gurghk.

Sam: My name is Sam Winchester! You killed my brother! Prepare to die!

Trickster: Dude. This co-dependence? Not healthy.

Bela: Dean, Sam? Aaaaa! Hell-hounds.

Ruby (wearily): I told you this was going to get bad.

Dean: Gurghk.

Collective audience: WTF?

Dean: Dude! I'm back-from hell! How the hell did that happen? (if you'll pardon the pun)

Winged man: Allow me to introduce myself. I am Castiel. An angel. Your butt belongs to us, now.

Uriel: That is so, monkey.

Dean and Sam: We don't like you.

Uriel: We don't care.

Random Chick: Lilith is up to her old dirty tricks! Only now, she isn't just gunning for Sam and terrorizing grandfathers. She's breaking all sixty-six seals in an attempt to free Lucifer. Also, I am not random! I am an angel!

Dean: So, come here often?

Ruby: Sam, quick, while everyone else is distracted by subplot, drink some more demon blood.

Dean: Dude! WTF?

Sam: You are not the boss of me.

Entire viewing audience: Argh! We hate when our boys are on the outs.

Dean: Then don't look, it's about to get worse. Sam, if you walk out of here right now-

Sam: Who do you think you are, DAD?

Dean: Castiel? A little help here?

Cass: I really shouldn't, but okay. Who can resist Jensen Ackles?

Mmm, Jensen Ackles. Sorry.

Sam: I've stopped Lilith!

Ruby: And freed our dark lord-bwahahahahahahaha.

Sam: ...Oops.

Dean: FWIW, I still love you. Now haul ass away from the impending evil and maybe we'll figure out how to save our asses by next September's premiere.

Supernatural: Rising Son

In my previous review of Supernatural: Origin, the graphic novel that tells John’s story of becoming a hunter after Mary’s death, I talked about liking the story, but not the art. This follow up, Rising Son, is just the opposite.

As for the tale…Chapter 1 begins Christmas Eve of 1990. John’s lost his job and been evicted from their hotel. If that’s not bad enough, the letter he mailed to Mary’s cousin, Eddie, comes back “return to sender.” Ever since his wife died, Mary’s friends, family and co-workers have been disappearing. But Eddie’s always stayed on John’s grid until now. Concerned, John and the boys hit the road and take a detour down Old Route 25 where John arrives in sex city. The small town is populated by stunning women who are all too happy to give him their undivided attention. Eddie’s there and warns John to get out, but he’s nearly seduced by a succubus. When he fights back the Succubi turn into his dead wife and poor John ends up slaughtering a bar full of Mary’s. Eddie is murdered before John can rescue him. The Winchesters takes off, while a mysterious woman follows John’s trail looking for Sammy.

Chapter 2 hits on stuff we learned from John Winchester’s Journal. John decides maybe it’s best to settle down for awhile, give the boys some normalcy. Sam makes friends right away and gets a lot of attention from his pretty teacher, Ms. Lyle. Dean, on the other hand, is lonely and miserable. When Ms. Lyle turns her attention to John they start to look like a real family. Then Ms. Lyle ends up taking Sammy to a science fair, but a suspicious Dean warns his dad there’s something wrong with her. He’s right. John’s been sleeping with a demon and she’s actually brought Sammy to the crossroads to take him into another dimension. John battles her and a transformer made from railroad parts. This rail-robot seems very out of place in a SPN story, but it’s kicking John’s bootay.

Chapter 3 has Dean exorcising the demons and the boys running to Bobby’s. Bobby tells John to visit Silas, a blind seer, who may be able to tell him why Sammy is special. John’s visit rouses Silas from a coma he’s been in since the date of Mary’s death. He confirms that Sam is special, but doesn’t say why, only that John and Dean need to be prepared. Taking his advice to heart, John takes Dean on a deer hunt to sharpen his skills, but the twelve year old is scared and unsure. In the end, Sammy sneaks away from Bobby’s and makes the kill. When John asks how Sammy got there he said some guy in a black car dropped him off. Shaken, John leaves Sammy with Silas so he can, hopefully, learn more about what makes him different. While they have their private confab, he and Dean go out for burgers and John explains to his eldest son how much he needs him and trusts him. On their way back to Sammy, they see the mysterious black car. That doesn’t bode well. Sure enough, Silas is dead. The words KILL HIM are painted in blood on his kitchen wall.

Chapter 4 reveals that the driver of the black car is an albino hunter named Anderson, who not only believes Sam killed Silas, but that he’s evil and “destined to raise an army of darkness against the world.” In the end, Dean ends up shooting Anderson and Sam tells his dad “you need to kill me.” The chapter ends with John taking Sam up on a hill to watch the sun come up, for just a minute we’re led to believe he’s considering shooting his son, but, of course, he doesn’t.

In Chapter 5, John brutally hunts down Anderson’s cohorts and then holes up in Daleville, Mississippi with the boys. He plans to stand and fight anyone else who comes for Sam. It doesn’t take long before they’re surrounded, but this time it’s not hunters. It’s demons. The Winchesters manage to escape with a poorly executed plan and they learn Ms. Lyle is really called Lilith. John then dumps a very pissed off Dean and still clueless Sam at his friend’s house. The boys are stuck with Pam, while dear old dad goes off to find Lilith. If only John had realized his friend, is actually a demon. (sigh)

In Chapter 6 we find more sexuality and stupidity. Pam lets Ms. Lyle into the house. Looking like porn star, she’s there to reclaim Sam. Dean tells his little brother to run while he fights off Lilith, who kisses Dean after he calls her a bitch.(Ew, ew, ew!) Fortunately, John shows up in the nick of time. Dean sets fire to Lilith and Dad chops off her head. Black smoke whirls away and the Winchesters are safe.

The story ends with a grown up Dean showing up at Stanford to find his little brother.

Okay, while I thoroughly enjoyed Diego Olmos’s artwork, I found myself annoyed with the story. Sure, it was cool to see how Dean came to be the hunter he is, and I loved the introduction to Bobby (whose cartoonization had the strongest resemblance to the actor), but the majority of the time I had this thought in my head: John Winchester is too stupid to live. Perhaps his brain was fogged by all the sexual undertones in the story, but I wanted to smack him for all his stupid mistakes. Granted, he’s a newbie, but I didn’t think it was in character for him to repeatedly be an idjit. That said, the best part of this graphic novel came in the last four pages where Kripke himself made his comic debut by co-writing The Beast with Two Backs, a hilarious GhostFacers bonus story that pokes fun at Sam and Dean.