My main gripe about this episode is all the fucking coincidences. What *time* does Sam's watch show in Hell? Why is Bobby kept so near to...anywhere? Why is Hell so literal? Why is Heaven above us? Why does Benny find Sam? Why does Dean walk up to the portal just as Sam pops through?

And, yes, I scribbled Batcave many times in my review (don't know if it will go up), but didn't actually write it down, because the coincidences, and also the devaluing--so Crowley and Cas couldn't find out where Purgatory was much less how to get there, and it was just two doors down the hall and then right at the potted sinner? SERIOUSLY?

Castiel might just have found Dean while he was taking a constitutional. Getting in was a snap. Or will everyone put out when they name drop without even using their names?

eta: to clarify--I liked the plot moving forward. But this ep doesn't hold up to much scrutiny.

I'm not happy with the get-Bobby-out-of-hell stunt. If Sam's going to go in, yes please, resolve the Adam loose end. And I am filled with don't-care with the writers at how easily Sam faced hell. And oh, look, hell's just a jail out of Pirates of the Caribbean after all--what was everybody so apprehensive about? A little paint, a throw rug, it could be quite homey. Pfeh.

It was a very huggy episode: Sam & Bobby, Benny & Dean, Dean & Sam. Did I miss one? And my, that Benny has a pretty smile.

Dean looks like he could use a vacation. All of a sudden he's looking a lot older.

Why does it take Sam 7 HOURS to find that fucking 3 trees spot? And only run into 1 beastie?

And I would LOVE to write a scholarly essay on heroism. I was just laying in bed thinking about the heroic journey this AM (as one does.)

Goddamn evil hand. (Can't write much, can't feel right hand, v. annoying.)

This episode really was a sort of soap bubble -- really pretty! and then poof. It all falls apart.

I feel guilty, too -- as soon as I saw the writers' names, my heart sank, and I hate to be prejudiced from the jump, but ... I am when it comes to them.

I'm sick of the absurd shortcuts, too -- Crowley told a demon to find Kevin, so we have to assume she did, even though we're not shown how, and despite that fact that the kid is warded into that boat on double secret industrial strength probation.

Why does it take Sam 7 HOURS to find that fucking 3 trees spot?

Why shouldn't it? It took Dean a year to find Cas and then find the portal. Look at how much Sam accomplished in a very short time.

Crowley told a demon to find Kevin, so we have to assume she did, even though we're not shown how

He said he found Kevin through his mother--he tortured and killed her. But why they didn't/couldn't find Mrs. Tran before is unclear. Why she's not in the batcave is unclear, even if Kevin needs isolation (for a task of this size, why not give him the batcave and go back to their normal pattern?).

I just turned on the TV and baby Sam is talking to Linda Blair, and it's weird how many things came rushing back without the whole picture--his hand in a cast, Dean's outfit, Dana Shulps, but the most notable thing was the soothing voice Sam uses. I don't feel like we've heard that recently. When did he stop that?

He said he found Kevin through his mother--he tortured and killed her.

Oh, right. But still! We're not shown how Mrs. Tran was found, and I was assuming she was as well hidden as Kevin was, since Crowley knew about her.

Why she's not in the batcave is unclear, even if Kevin needs isolation (for a task of this size, why not give him the batcave and go back to their normal pattern?).

I'd have to go back and check, but I think Kevin was established on Garth's boat before Sam and Dean were given the keys to the batcave. Still, it doesn't make a lot of sense not to pack everyone up and put them there.

the soothing voice Sam uses. I don't feel like we've heard that recently. When did he stop that?

He used it with Dean, talking about Benny! Or *a* soothing voice, anyway.

I went back and rewatched that scene, and now I'm wondering--it doesn't seem like the same "We are very sorry for your loss, ma'am, but maybe you can help us clear something up?" voice--but is that the voice he normally uses to calm Dean? I'm thinking that's a Voice too.

Um ... More research is clearly required.

I swear he used the "soothing victims" voice this season, though. I have to look at the episode list.

Ah, research. Or obsession. Whichever way you want to look at it.

I guess it's odd to describe an episode that ends with Benny dead, Mrs Tran apparently dead, Kevin screaming in pain, Naomi being oily, and Cas missing as *tidy*, but...it kinda was. What they had to do should have been EPIC, but it was ridiculously pat by comparison.

We don't know Benny's dead for sure! Apparently I'm starting Meg and Benny Fan Clubs any time now.

Oily is a perfect word for Naomi.

And ... looking at the episode list, maybe Hunter Heroici? Possibly Southern Comfort, Bitten, or Heartache, for soothing voice? I'd have to rewatch, though.