I'll have to watch that later today.

My primary takeaway that I forgot about was how damned happy Dean was at the end of the episode. He didn't learn a thing. He goes on to torture Sam next season, obviously, but he was delighted at the excess hunting opportunities and the extended Sammage ahead of him.

Silly man.

JDM was great. Just great. Though I'm wondering if John knew about the deal at the time.

I still hold a grudge at Uma Thurman.

See, she broke her arm while fliming A Perfect Husband, with JDM, which delayed filming, which meant that instead of two-three days in Vancouver on set for AHBL2, they filmed him against a green screen and layered him in. There was some glitch with JP's coverage as well, so he did his shots in the John scene on his own, and they layered him in, too. Clusterfuck. I wanted all of them in each other's space for the reunion. Wanted a "Hi, boys," or something. All Uma's fault.

ETA: and irony upon irony, the Husband movie got recut and its release date delayed twice, and finally went straight to dvd.

I liked the silence of the scene, but did think that Sam got short-shrifted.

OH DEAN!

So AfterElton? TOTALLY ships Dean/Castiel [link]

ita, didn't you have thoughts on AHBL2 for us?

I do, but they're half-baked. I'm going to watch again this morning.

I did go back and read my thoughts the first time it aired, and apparently Dean's smile stuck with me then too. Ah, the things.

I did adore JA losing his neutral accent and sounding totally Texan under the stress of monologuing to Sam's body. So what if it was out of character? It was very endearing.

It kills me when his Texas slips out there. It does with both of them from time to time, but that scene was just so much more ... heartfelt? because of it. I don't know. It just sounded really, really genuine to me.

Let me start by saying: "Dean. Oh, Dean, oh Dean, oh--Dean."

This episode is one of the brotheringest things in Siblingville, Brotherdom. Obviously there's Dean's torture over and sacrifice for Sam, but I swear I've never heard more little brother in Sam's voice than in this ep.

Watching Dean try and keep him from leaving after the resurrection is quite adorable and fated to failure. But most little-brotherish is Sam's "You did it!" marvelling after Dean's killing the YED. And I really like that they saved the snappy patter for after the kill. That moment needed to be wordless.

I'm most dissatisfied with Jake's conversion. I don't think he and the YED sold that moment well enough for me. Jake was way evil by the time he got to the graveyard. I didn't see where all that happened. I think I needed...well, not more talking on the part of the YED, but perhaps different talking. Cutting to the "and then profit!" part earlier, somehow. Or making it more about giving into the dark side for the benefit of Jake's family.

Dean and Bobby was great--all the big times. The explosion at the start--I'm impressed by the apology. I'm not sure if I would have bothered. It seemed quite excusable at the time. The look on Bobby's face when Sam showed up at the door--keeping Dean's secret, but oh so judging. And then trying to drill home to Dean that he has some worth...which obviously didn't really take. If it ain't about killing demons or saving Sam, Dean still has no point. But cupping his face was touchingly done.

Ellen! "Sh...oot him." Go you.

I'm torn on whether Dean actually heard that Sam would sacrifice for him, but at least I think he heard that Sam loves him above all else. It's a start. I just don't think his world view (at the time, at least) involves Sam sacrificing.

Ellen having more steel in her than any of the guys in that scene was the only thing that made me overlook the cliche of the woman being held hostage.