An excellent reason to watch "Bugs" is the canon reference to John swinging by Stanford every once in a while to stealthily check up on Sam. Oh, SIR.

An excellent reason? Maybe the only reason. I watched this morning also and I just don't like the ep.

Dean in the steam shower is another reason! Also Sam exhibiting epic angst and then softening! (I actually like Bugs better than Hookman, if you can believe it.)

Ok, Amy. I'll give you various moments in Bugs, but over Hookman? Really?

There was a quote in Hookman that I wish I had written down at the time. It was when they were figuring out they needed to destroy the hook. Something like "that is his weapon and is what is keeping him from being put to rest". So, is Bobby's flask his weapon?

I'm not sure what Bobby's deal with the flask is. I wonder if the writers actually worked it out. He chose to say no to the Reaper, which explains why he's still around even after being salted and burned, but how he attached himself to the flask is a mystery. Actually, there's still the question of whether or not he did it purposely.

how he attached himself to the flask is a mystery

Sweat and backwash=bodily fluids = part of him left behind?

But what if there was no flask? Would he be stuck in the hospital?

I mean, I don't *really* care, because if I did, the holes in the plot logic and rules of this universe would have driven me nuts a long time ago. But I wish they'd make it clearer.

Yeah, I think the real answer is "what of Bobby's do the writers think Dean would be likely to keep with him"

Bing, bing, bing! Give the lady her prize!

Hookman was filmed third, after the pilot and Wendigo. There were some problems with it, and it was thought the family backstory in Dead in the Water worked better next in line, so Hookman was pushed back to sixth? seventh? in airing order. By the time we saw it, the relationship between the brothers had already started changing to something more than just actors saying lines, the actors had settled into their characters, and the writers had a better handle on the actors' portrayal of the characters, their speech patterns, body language, etc. Hookman has always seemed...unfinished and unsatisfying to me. But it does provide the first look at the trestle bridge used in Salvation, Afterschool Special, In the Beginning, and a bunch of other eps through the seasons.

I've loved Bugs as an ep because of the steam shower, because of the backstory (John checking up on Sam at Stanford), and Dean's quiet admonishment of his younger brother and for once, Sam's shutting up and listening. The ep had all sorts of problems, but the belly-slap in the garage door, the ass-slap at the open house, and facts like it was the *only* ep of the series when the Winchesters used umbrellas, in Vancouver! and the Kim Manners story, directing in the room with his actors and the bees in t-shirt and shorts--well, I got a lot of love for Bugs.