As far as the resolution of the episode goes, I'm always a bit disappointed when Dean has to outright rescue Sam. I like it better when they work together or Sam rescues Dean. Or even if the other hunter had had a hand in it.

I really don't like The Benders. People are creeeeeeeepy.

So many series have a people hunting people episode. I like that Supernatural made theirs nice and creepy and in tone with the series, rather than the egotistical bravado you usually get. And I like the cop of the week.

Otherwise...nothing that special.

Oh, and the little girl is cute.

Just remembered, I really liked Sam's fight scene in Sam, Interrupted when he took out the orderlies. JP looked great.

ita, agreed. On the fight scene, that is.

Repressing is pretty much Dean's only coping mechanism. So while it's not going to be especially useful advice to Sam, I'm not sure what else he could/would tell him.

And Sam was deciding not to argue it, not agreeing. We're not seeing the last of that conversation.

I wonder if there was a way that they could have researched before going in. It seemed off that they would just have to rely on the word of this guy, you know?

I don't think Sam has the tools to argue with the naked desperation on Dean's face when he asked him to sit on his feelings. I don't know who would. I agree it's not done with.

"Pudding!" is going to be popping randomly into my head today, as well as the shot of his ankles.

Nice touch with the sound effects in that scene.

I can imagine there are a lot of pudding icons on LJ today.

This episode also too a big yellow hilight marker to a creepy subtext that is important to the show. One that is often referred to in passing in the show.

At some level there is anti-story contradicting the main story. In the anti-story, Sam and Dean are serial killers, destroying innocent people they mistake for monsters. (They also desecrate graves for no reason.) In this sub-text either the hunter subculture really exists as a homicidal delusional cult, or much of their interaction with other hunters is imagined.

This subtext is not the "real" story. It would be a strained reading to see the supernatural in this show as anything but real (within the story universe). Not just a radical reading of the text, but to explain away Bobby and Ellen and Jo and so on would requiring a reading that tied itself in knots.

But where this subtext is important is as contrast to the main story, a reading that is ultimately rejected, but keeps presenting itself for consideration. Like Jalepeno jelly. The jalapeno adds bite but really it is still a sweet jelly not a salsa.

It comes up all the time. The FBI had them listed directly as this type of serial killer. Bella at one point said they were the next thing to serial killers. Lots of other references to this through the seasons. Again, not that the either authorial intent or the way we read is that they ARE serial killers. But the show constantly wants us to seriously consider that for a moment before rejecting it. Raising and rejecting it gives a darker tone than not considering it at all.

I do wonder if someone has written fan fic on that premise. No supernatural elements. Sam & Dean are serial killers in our world with delusions.