I've warmed up go Gen's Ruby as time has gone on. She comes across as a Ruby who's either been changed by experience, or one who is playing up that angle to get into Sam's pants good graces. She and the writers have me curious about what Ruby is up to and what her storyline will be, so I have to say that they've been doing their job admirably.

We don't like Jo Harvelle because she A) is a woman and B) likes Dean.

I'm afraid there's more than a little truth to that. Remember the hue and cry when we heard there would be two female semi-regulars in S3?

I think the way Katie played Ruby was more effective, but also annoying as fuck. Probably intentionally so, but it was a real obstacle in the way of warming to her character.

Lauren was a good actress but her character was only well-written in a couple of episodes, with the remainder involving her being shoehorned in to plots where she didn't belong. (The dunce caps they fitted the leads with whenever she appeared didn't exactly endear Bela to me either.)

Yeah, the only woman I remember not being crazy about as it played on screen was Bella and that was just because she was a little boring.

Loved Ellen with the fire of a thousand suns. Touted her greatness with icons on LJ. Equally in love with Original Mary, Jessica, and Young Mary. Liked Jo, Ruby, Pamela, Sarah, Madison, Carmen, Lisa, Layla...yeah pretty much every other woman on the show. Even the girl from the 4400 that others weren't crazy about --still liked her. Oh Tessa and Meg!! Loved them and would welcome any and all back by natural or supernatural means.

I'm actually less inclined to like people with boy parts on this show. Dean, Sam, John, Bobby, Castiel, YED...pretty much the extent of it. I'm probably forgetting someone. Great guest stars and acting, but no one that I care if I see again.

eta: Re: Lauren and Katie--I think in addition to fearing two additional cast members taking screen time from the boys, Katie and Lauren had an uphill battle with the fan base because Alona and Sam Ferris weren't being asked back. Also, Fan base is pretty clear the boys have to be on every minute. Fans even snarl at Jensen for getting more air time than Jared.

(The dunce caps they fitted the leads with whenever she appeared didn't exactly endear Bela to me either.)

I agree on that one, but that just frustrated me with the writers, rather than with Bela. (Which is totally a YMMV thing, obviously!)

I'm still fond of the theory that Ruby is either Meg, or someone in the same kind of role and position as Meg, working Azazel's gameplan for him - it's just too damn similar, Azazel feeding Sammy the blood in the crib and Ruby showing up to worm her way into his trust and get him drinking the blood. I think she's Azazel's wetnurse. So - yeah, being all doe-eyed and pouty and unthreatening is a good call for getting Sammy naked to trust her.

Cassie I liked as an idea, but I was sorry the performance wasn't stronger. If she'd been a stronger actress, that could have been AWESOME. As it was, it was nice.

Okay, my reason for disliking Jo was not the little sister vibe that I saw between her and Dean but the way it felt like the producers were completely ignoring that and pushing a Jo/Dean thing that just didn't feel right.

I thought that both Ruby and Bela could separately be very interesting but I felt like they kept putting Bela into stories where she didn't really work and that they didn't really figure out her story until the very end.

Katie's Ruby annoyed me until I saw Gen's - Gen makes Katie seem like a Master. Thespian. comparitively. Oh, how I wish we could have Meg back.

And then they make Ellen disappear, they kill off Pamela and we never get to see either the St. Louis cop, the Baltimore cop or the woman from Provenance ever again. It's like they don't know when they've got a good thing when it's a female character. Maybe we'll get to see teen Mary again. . . that would rock.

If I could have only one woman back on the show on a semi-regular basis (like Bobby), it would be Missouri, hands down.

I felt like they kept putting Bela into stories where she didn't really work and that they didn't really figure out her story until the very end.

I think they started off with a vague idea and then had to scramble to tie it all up once they decided not to keep her. I actually liked the idea of Bela, though.

I also loved the idea of Dean's doomed relationship with Cassie, and the actress didn't bug me as much as she did others, but I felt like that was a pretty meaty piece of backstory for Dean that got short shrift.

I agree. I didn't think the actress was bad, and I did love that they'd cast an actress of colour, but I wish they'd cast someone who could bring the kind of A game Ackles brings. Because it could have been heartbreaking.

The last scene still does it for me, with the look on his face as Sam drives them away, with "Can't Find My Way Home" playing. GUH. That song.

Oh yeah - Ackles knocks it out the ballpark, bless him. But in the scenes with the two of them, a stronger actor could have raised the level considerably. Mostly on SPN I'm not distracted by people's crappy delivery (whereas on SGA I almost always found myself flinching at Tori's choices, and repeating the line out loud in a more believable fashion). She's adequate, but she's not awesome, and that's a real shame, given what a substantial bit of backstory it is. If she's the one girl special enough to have got under Dean's skin to such an extent, then it would have been nice to really see why - rather than having to assume that any sweet and pretty girl would have done, and that it was more about the place HE was in emotionally/what he was looking for/Dean attempting to find a bit of normality for himself.

Exactly. She was so ... perky. And sort of perfect(ish). I think I saw Dean with someone a little realer looking, and with a little more edge. More like Sarah after she cottoned on, to be honest.

98% of the time, Jensen's subtle expressions do most of his acting for him. And his voice, too, actually, the different tones, rough or smooth or sarcastic or raw.