Was there ever a felicity as wonderful as Dean Winchester (aka Jensen Ackles) in a three-piece, tailor-made, measured-to-fit suit? Or how about that grey fedora, setting just low enough to accentuate the cut of his jaw and the fine angles of his aquiline nose?

Dean’s got a Drinking Problem. Never mind that he never evidences any “issues” or “consequences” from all the liquor he drains away; maybe he’s got a hollow leg, I don’t know. But I’ve never seen a fresher- faced, more alert and with-it, even keeled drunk in my life.

Show has got a reset button that’s so BIG, it’s the size of Texas, and it can bring back anyone, even a demon who’s been melted by the snap of an angel’s fingers. Regardless of how Bobby died, and whether he decides to remain a ghost or not, this was a hugely impactful episode.

I kind of enjoyed this episode, even if just for the mere fact that it was a romp through a Samgirl’s fantasy, that of marrying Sam Winchester, going on a hunt with him, and then snuggling up after in a tidy, backwoods cabin.

To my mind, Show named this episode “Slash Fiction,” for reasons known only to them, perhaps as a shout out to fans, but there elements in this episode that are prevalent in fan fiction and in slash fiction.

It really does look like Show is back on track this season, as it is creating episodes that are more along the lines of what I like to watch, with the boys saving people and hunting things.

If I wanted this much Christian mythology shoved down my throat, I would have gone to the local bible thumping Christian cult church and sat in on their “How to Spot the Mark of the Beast” seminar, which included free kool-aid, free parking, and prizes for the kids!

As an audience, we have been teased (and tormented) with the tantalizing idea that behind the Wall of Sam (created by Death to keep Sam’s memories of his time in hell at bay) lay an undiscovered country of unheard of angst and emo and the deep, dark, fiery, and hellish torments that Sam suffered through. While there wasn’t a written contract, through the process of storytelling (with its endless hints at how DIRE his time there was), as well as the threats (threaded through dialog) of what would happen should The Wall come down, the audience was promised a reveal on the subject. We were promised that we would come to understand the nature of Sam’s suffering while in hell.

While Bobby is doing all this investigating, and Dean is torturing demons, Sam is standing around with his arms akimbo; he serves no purpose, has no lines, has no meaning, and exists in no context. Nobody wants to play with him, not the other characters and certainly not the writers. I guess maybe he’s in the kitchen making a six-layer Dagwood sandwich to keep the blues at bay.

I hope that Sam and Dean continue to have fish to fry, some Big Bads to battle against, and that, peace and God willing, they are able to do this without being cast as secondary characters in their own story. And I pray, dear Lord, hear my prayer, please let me never have to watch this episode again. Amen.

After the hoe-down hilarity of last week’s ep, this week’s ep was a whole lot of something that wasn’t anything like a hoe-down and nothing like anything I’d be watching twice, if I didn’t have to. I’m not saying it was terribly bad, but at every other turn in the plot, I kept asking, why are they doing that? or why is he saying that to him? Not to mention the fact that it was Dean, Dean, Dean, all day, all night, all Dean, 24/7, and there was, at the same time, a mighty DEARTH of Sam.

by Sylvia Bond – Samuel Colt and his magical Colt revolver make quite an appearance in an episode that had me laughing. A LOT. Maybe I was just ready to laugh or maybe the ep was truly well written. Either way, this one’s worth a watch.