Yes, I truly enjoy the character driven episodes. They are definitely the most enjoyable.

I hope you have a great week and I will see you soon. Next Thursday can't come soon enough.

As for deciding to decide between the boys, yeah. Sammy Sam Sam won my heart a long time ago too!!

The drinking part…I like to think that it was something the djinn put in there so that Dean wouldn't question why everyone was letting him act so strangely. If he messed up his role in the family, someone could ask, have you been drinking, and that would explain all. Dean drinks, but never to excess, unlike Sam who gets hammered to defend himself from feeling too much.

I just wish there were more character-driven eps like this ep. : D

Here's looking forward to next Thursday!!

Dean was hot!!!! And Ackles was ON THE MONEY.

Actually, this was the first ever episode of Supernatural I ever saw, because it was the one that had just aired the week I discovered Supernatural. Apart from being slightly baffled as to why Dean was speaking to his mother like that ("Just answer the question!"), I took the bait like a good little fishy. Went and got out the first season on DVD, watched the whole lot over four days and the rest, as they say, is history.

To this day, this is probably still my favourite SPN episode ever. As you said, everything from beginning to end was pitch perfect. I can't think of another episode that does likewise. Overall awesomeness, yes, but there is more often than not a moment or two I think the episode could've done without. Not this one. Its also strange to think that the first episode I saw was one where the boys didn't get along (I didn't understand the bitch/jerk reference!) and yet I was still drawn in.

Also, Dean was really hot in this episode.

I do like how you brought up the dijinn’s fatal mistake. Sam and Dean not being close goes against everything we fan girls know to be true. There is no way that situation could ever be a reality because if it were there would be no ‘Supernatural’. No way…No how.

I could go on and on about how much I loved this episode but I need to actually get some work done. Suffice it to say, this particular episode holds such a special place in my heart and I will never get tired of watching it.

As always, I am looking forward to your next review since it will be a new episode. Only eight more days!

Take care
Joan

I, too, really want to know why Dean loathes himself the way he does. It is so heartbreaking to watch him deal with his self-esteem issues because I want him to love himself. I know it makes his character that much more fascinating and complex, but at the same time, it just kills me. I want to walk up to him and shake him hard! And I want to hug him of course. *grins to myself*. I truly hope we find out more about Dean’s past because I really want to understand why he feels he is not worth something. I desperately want him to be content and I want him to feel joy. I have a vested interest in his happiness. He deserves to be happy and I don’t believe he has ever achieved complete happiness.

This episode was stellar but it was also bleak and sad and heartbreaking. I loved the way the characters interacted. Dean’s reaction when he saw that one photo which crashed to the floor. The way his mother touched his face. The way Jensen hugged Jessica and his mother. Dean’s defense mechanism when he asked his mom what she told him when he was young. Dean’s reaction when his opened the trunk of his car. His unabashed joy when he mowed the lawn and ate his BLT. His concern for the girl he kept seeing and his reaction, in the end, when he realized she was alive. Jensen’s disbelief when he realized all of the people they had saved had died. The scene at the cemetery. The awkward scene after the birthday dinner between Sam and Dean. The uncomfortable fight scene and the aftermath. The entire ‘Bitch’ ‘Jerk’ exchange. How everyone thought Dean had been drinking. The scene, at the warehouse, when his everyone begged him to stay. Dean’s ‘I’m sorry’ to Sam when he stabbed himself. The overwhelming sadness of the final scene. * Closes eyes, breathes deeply…and sighs *

Sam and Dean. Darn it! Oh how I love thee. You know, I am almost embarrassed to admit this, but I wasn’t a Sam Girl in the beginning. Now don’t get me wrong. Jared was good in the first season but I thought he was a little ‘whiny’ and a little ‘superficial’.
However, beginning with the first episode of season 2, Sam started to get to me and my adoration grew as the season wore on. By the time ‘WIAWSNB’ ended, I had fallen completely and madly in love with Sam. I was a card-carrying Sam Girl and I have been ever since. Honestly, it was so strange watching Jared become ‘Not Sam’ on my TV screen. Sylvia, I love your name for him. LOL. Anyway, it just didn’t feel right. After getting to know Sam, over two seasons, his portrayal of Sam in the alternate reality just felt so wrong on so many levels. It was like I was watching a complete stranger, on my screen. Every time I watch this particular episode, though, I realize Sam is inherently a good person and although I am still scared he may ‘go to the dark side’ I don’t believe he will because of who he is and because he has Dean in his life to keep him in check.

Sylvia, you know how I feel about Dean. I have been a Dean Girl since the beginning. That man had my heart from the moment I laid eyes on him. Seriously, I fell hard and I fell fast for Dean. I have had so many fantasies about him that it makes me blush. But, as I said earlier, I am also a Sam Girl now. Depending on the episode, my love ebbs and flows between the two of them. And, sometimes, I love them both equally. But, in the end, when it all comes down to it, the show just wouldn’t be what it is without the two of them as brothers. Separately, Jensen and Jared are great but together…they are a force to be reckoned with. They are magic together and their on-screen chemistry is certainly a sight to behold. Their bond feels authentic and real. This show has never felt like a ‘TV show’ to me which speaks volumes about the quality of the acting, the directing & the writing.

I think the most moving scene is the final scene, like you mention. Dean is full of regret and loss and is grieving terribly hard. There still has been, to date, no comfort for him. No rest. I wonder if he'll get any this season, poor baby.

I will have to come back later and post my comments but I wanted to say bravo! What a stellar review! You touched on everything that makes this episode so completely awesome.

I actually watched this episode twice in the last two weeks. It was two years between my first and second viewing and another week between my second and third viewing.

Now, I need to go recover so I can work.

I will be back at lunchtime.

Take care
Joan

The scenes which stayed with me were….

Dean seeing his mother again
Sam and Dean talking after dinner at the house
Dean mowing the lawn
Dean hugging Jessica
The photo shattering on the ground
The cemetery scene (Darn those man-tears!)
The final scene

I will see you either later today or tomorrow.

Take care
Joan