I am at a loss for why Dean needs to admit to Benny and Sam needs to admit to Amelia. I know I'm not codependent with my sister, but if Amelia was the reason Sam didn't try to save Dean, that's huge, and I don't believe Amelia's really the reason, unless there was hoodoo involved. How could she make him not look? That was all Sam's decision, which also means that Dean doesn't need to pose things as an Amelia or him proposition--Sam had spent months not looking for him already, no?

And whyever does Dean need to admit to having a friend? Explain why Benny doesn't get killed, sure--but for fuck's sake, LENORE. You have both agreed to spare a vampire before--whether or not Benny's actually Lenorish, Dean should be able to invoke her and get a pass. Again, I mean, this has nothing to do with Benny--it's all about Sam and Dean again.

I guess this is why I don't think of Benny as a Sam replacement, nor Amelia as a Dean replacement. They'd have to reject their brother and choose the other for me to feel that, either at the start of the year, or now.

Sam has said he wants to quit, but he has not said he wants to go back to Amelia. And Benny's one of a vanishing small number of monsters that got a pass--yes, in light of Amy that rankles, but Amy (why that name three time so far--Amy, is there something they're trying to tell you???) had just killed, and so far Benny doesn't have any fresh Earthly bodies on his resume. I repeat: Lenore.

I guess--they talked more this episode than before, but I still feel they're making excuses.

They've looked creepily tan all season so far, but pulled pale and taut over the cheekbones and other places the skin is thin, and iit's freaky. Is it makeup, or are they compensating for Jared's Brazil trip? Dunno.

JESUS, they were both gorgeous tonight. Sam's hair---I have never wanted to grab it more. And Dean--some of his pissed faces were panty melting hot.

(I do not really like Garth, and I'm willing to give Bobby to the Winchesters--he didn't visualise GARTH right before he died, or haunt GARTH. So there...also, how is Qualls' body big enough to fit internal organs? I mean, that food must have just popped out a hole in the back of his head)

I want to give props to the location scouts or set dressers or airplanes or something, because I actually spied spanish moss hanging from the trees in the background. Hooray for actually attempting to make the location of the week not look like the lush coastal rainforest of South Dakota (that is the sum total take-away for me of past readings of TWoP recaps).

The thing that bugs, evidenced so far this season as well as last season, and I don't know if it was a problem in season 6, but, it's like the show has a plot point, a beat, and until the show is ready to move onto the next beat, they keep rehashing that beat and the writers refuse to, or are unable to (because the season arc isn't ready for it) move past that particular beat. Last season it seemed to be Amy and Dean's killing of her. This season it's Sam and his not having looked for Dean.

And, really?

Okay, I can understand that the way things shook out IRL that the broadstrokes only were painted for the weekly writers to fill in. But, surely they could be coming at the same beat from different and new angles? I know that there are other shows that are able to handle building brick by brick on a foundation issue, rather than seeming to hold a stasis pattern until sweeps. It feels like this season and last we've been presented with "We MUST have the brothers in conflict! But since this works out to be nigh impossible, we'll just throw down any old thing that has been riddled with rock salt fired from a shotgun, but by golly we'll stick by it, because we NEED that tension that can't possibly be found any other way. Then, we'll hold that tension for 18 episodes and fill in with MotW plot around it, brilliant and easy!"

In a way, it seems that they've got an end game, but are so afraid of messing up on the way there, that, in order to not paint themselves into a corner by following stories and character development organically, they are simply painting over the same two square feet with a roller, and come some time halfway or three quarters of the way through, they'll break out the compressed air paint sprayer to catch up the distance when they realize they're running out of time.

And that was about ten metaphors too much, and so I shall shut up now.

I hate that they spell Cass with the extra s. It confuses me.

But I liked Sam's hair.

I'm just not even sure how I feel about this ep. I mean, communication good and all. But forcing it is ... well, forced.

Oh, but it was nice to see Dean torching bones again. His face looks prety by firelight.

The whole conflict between the Sam & Dean seems forced for all the reasons ita ! laid out. I don't see how they got from the Sam in the previous season to this Sam. This huge character transformation took place between seasons, and the flashbacks so far have not explained. I don't know why the writers want this level of conflict between the brothers, where they are this angry at each other.

This huge character transformation took place between seasons, and the flashbacks so far have not explained

We're 6 episodes in and still guessing about the whole "did Sam do any searching/if he didn't why didn't he/should he have done so in the first place?" elephant in the room. Logically it should have been a conversation they should have had early on; Dean was understandably pissed and upset about it and Sam either had a reasonable explanation ("I thought you were dead and in heaven, and why would I try to pull you out of heaven?", for example) or not, but they should have at least talked about it. Winchester repression only goes so far, and for my part my patience only extends so far.

Close to the end, I thought that things were finally getting towards a good explanation of what was going on, along with the beginning of some resolution to the tension. Dean's specter-fueled rant got a lot of crap out in the air. Then, in Sam's flashback, it looked like we finally got an explanation for the whole not-looking thing - Sam was so wrecked by Dean's apparent death that he just sort of shut down.

It could have been a good turning point, but the script seemed to go off he rails in the very last minutes.

Sneak peek

Love the commentary here. . . . enjoyed the episode. . .still not liking Amelia. Like the point about the Winchesters not owning Bobby.

So, maybe the whole Amelia incident as somesort of PTSD distraction from dealing with the real situation makes some sense.

Okay, this is hysterical: You can't prove Dean and Cas didn't have sex!

You need to take the "buffistas.org" out of the beginning of that link.