Bergamot

Just as I said. Don't depict something like this as nothing more than a funny joke. Acknowledge it, either in the text or the subtext. Not that hard to do.

He made me laugh, too -- Jensen is as good at the funny stuff as he is at everything else; but then thinking about it afterwards it was spoiled for me by the context. And it's a shame, because under other circumstances, I could have enjoyed Dean being funny and cute while under the spell: his exuberant little twirl as he comes back into the bunker, his innocent amazement that he actually had the exact book Jamie needed, his pleasure at the idea of walking back to Jamie since it was so "gooorgeous out!", the way he is so cheerful and nonchalant about knocking Sam out with one punch and promises to come back later to help him ice his face. But I can't really enjoy it the way I would like because the show's writers think it is funny when someone is roofied by a love spell. I didn't like it in that stupid "Time for a Wedding" episode, and I didn't like it here. They could have made it some other kind of spell -- like, it didn't bother me when Dean was stoned after eating that Turduken sandwich -- but they had to make it a love spell, because I guess it's so hilarious when someone is forced by magic to kiss someone. Is there no one who works on the show who can explain this to these writers? Maybe they would be able to understand if they imagined it with the genders switched -- would they think it was charming and funny if it was a woman being forced by a spell to kiss a man who was going to use and then kill her? Or if they are going to show this kind of thing, it can't be nothing but a funny joke; I need some acknowledgment of what is really going on.

Maybe I misheard this, since I was not paying much attention to the Lucifer scenes, but did I hear Lucifer say that the torture that was being inflicted on Mary was more awful than even anything he himself had ever seen? I guess that means Mary is the new champion of being tortured, eclipsing even Sam! I don't know why this strikes me as funny, but it does. "No one in the history of torture's been tortured with torture like the torture you'll be tortured with!" Sometimes this show makes me laugh even though it is something I don't think they intended to be funny. :-)

I don't think that Dean is optimistic at all -- he admitted at the end that he has no idea what to do. I think he is well aware of the hopelessness of the situation, but feels that he has to keep on trying anyway, for Sam and for Mary. There was a bleakness in his eyes there that looked familiar, and actually caught my attention more than most of the other things going on in the story. I am intrigued by the idea of Dean acting out of desperation, especially now that Michael is back on the show. Probably nothing will come of it, but such are the crumbs on which I live. I actually missed this when watching the episode, but it's true. I guess it is lucky that the spell on the page Sam gave Rowena didn't also require the sacrifice of an innocent soul for its completion, because I don't think Rowena would have let that get in her way.

Sam's "being in a dark place" feels like a storyline that just got assigned to him. Like the writers had a post-it with the words "dark place" written on it and randomly stuck it next to the character's name. Not as interesting as having a storyline that develops and is organic to a character, but then, unfortunately that's the level of writing we tend to get now with the show. I guess what will happen now is that Sam will get a "win" -- something to do with Jack or his mother -- and the writers will then pull off the post-it note and we will move on from it. Fair enough -- that's basically what the show did with Dean. It does seem odd and lacking in creativity to repeat with Sam something they just did on the show. As far as Doug is concerned, I think that they should give the poor guy a little time to decide if he wants to be a hunter or not. After all, he just now found out that monsters exist, and then he immediately became a vampire -- that's a lot to process! Also, I don't understand why the fact that he says he doesn't want to be a hunter IN ITSELF has to end his and Donna's relationship. He loves her, and he made clear that he admires and respects her, even after learning she had been keeping secret from him the whole truth about monsters thing. Unless she leaves the police force, he is still going to be working with her, so it isn't as if he will be able to stay completely away from her and thus be completely safe. Why can't they be a couple with her still being a part-time hunter? Or isn't Donna allowed to be a hunter if her significant other isn't one? It came across to me as kind of sexist. If the roles had been reversed, I can’t imagine a woman saying to a man, “Well, I don’t want to be a hunter the same way that you are, so I guess we can’t be together.” But even though there were some aspects of it that I didn't like, on the whole I enjoyed the episode, and I thought Donna was well-written and acted as a character.

My favorite line from the episode was Alex saying that if Jody needs her help with anything, such as "the dishes, monsters -- I'm there for her." I just liked the way she so straight-forwardly lumped monster-hunting together with doing household chores, to clarify her motivation for helping: to be there for Jody. For me it contrasts her as a character with Claire, who said that she doesn't care if she gets killed, because she is doing "something great". Because for Claire, everything is always about Claire, and how she feels about herself. And yes, in my opinion that includes her desire to get revenge for Kaia at the end. When Claire is so bratty to Alex about how SHE has a job too -- she's a HUNTER, it made me wonder what she is living on. Probably an allowance from Jody. Unless they want to go the full Mary Sue route, and have her be the best pool and poker player EVER, so that she can easily live on her winnings. I would not put it past these writers to do that. Remember when Buffy had to get a job at the fast-food place for money, and of course her ex-boyfriend comes looking for her and finds her in her humiliating uniform at the Doublemeat Palace -- because that's the way life always is. (She stares at him in dismay and blurts out, "I have a cow on my hat!" --ha!) I can actually see something equivalent happening to Dean and Sam on Supernatural, where they end up looking ridiculous for some reason, and that is one of the various reasons why I love the show. But I absolutely cannot see them doing something like this with Claire -- not cool or angsty enough for their targeted audience -- and that is one of the various reasons I see no potential in the character. Unfortunately I do not believe that the spin-off will really be about Alex or Patience or anyone else, and I think those that claim that it will be an ensemble show (you know, not like that OLD show, of course), telling the story of a whole family of women, are wrong. This episode showed that they are setting it up to be the Claire Show. Patience will have a vision to start off the episode, and then Alex will do some research, and Jody will worriedly tell Claire to be careful, and then Claire will be off on another adventure. Which is fine if you are into Claire, but it's not for me.

The episode was not as bad as it could have been, but ugh! too much Claire! Everything and everyone was all about Claire, especially Claire herself. I mean, poor Kaia was dead at the end, but all everyone was focused on was that poor Claire was "broken" and how Claire was going to "need a lot of time" to get over it. Seriously? In the first place, Kaia is the one everyone should be feeling sorry for, and second, come on, they had like a two-minute conversation! (And don't get me started on how after those two minutes, Kaia was so overwhelmed by the awesomeness and importance of Claire that she volunteered to take her to the Bad Place, and then sacrificed herself to save her.) And I was frankly repulsed by Claire telling Jody that she now understood Jody's feelings about losing another child -- as if Claire's regrets, or hurt feelings or whatever, over the death of someone she knew for less than a day could be equated to Jody's grief over the death of her son. Sure, Claire, it is exactly the same thing! I feel as if the show was just assuming that we all love Claire already, and didn't see any need to work on making her a character we could care about. For me, the way that apparently she had never really thought about the fact that she could die while hunting (Patience's vision) or the fact that her stubbornness and recklessness might endanger others (Kaia) didn't make her come across as youthfully fearless or even adorably headstrong, but as shallow, self-serving, and really lacking in imagination. Instead of having everyone feel so bad for her at the end, I wanted someone to say, "Yeah, well, we told you so!" That's mean, I know, but that's what the show gets for assuming the Claire-love and not working harder, as I said, to make me care about her as a character.

After mentioning how much I had loved Alex before, I just ran across this interview where Katherine Ramdeen talks about her character: Supernatural: Katherine Ramdeen on what to expect from Wayward Sisters It made me happy to see her concept of Alex, and how well it matches up with what I liked about the character: Now this is a character whose story I would be interested in seeing. I don't know, though -- I have a feeling that Alex is going to be more of a minor character. I mean, she is not a girl with a superpower, and she is not CLAIRE! NOVAK! , so I don't know if the show will be as interested in her.

I don't mind giving the spin-off a chance, but having now watched the promos and the sneak peeks, I think they are making a mistake to focus the whole thing on Claire. I'm sure that Kathryn Newton is a very nice person, but I find her limited as an actress, and maybe more importantly, I find Claire to be the most cliched and least interesting of this group of characters. I could be wrong, but I don't think the actress has what it takes to overcome the liability of the way the character is being written. In fact, I think the whole thing would have worked better if the character of Claire was just removed entirely. Because otherwise, I like Jody and Donna well enough (I have to admit that Donna made me smile when she chirped, "Because I'm from Minnesota!"), and I can give Kaia and Patience a chance. And I have loved Alex, and the actress that plays her, from the beginning. I loved her first episode, and her struggle to escape from her horror-filled existence as a child and her twisted vampire "mother". And I loved when we saw her later on and she was filled with guilt because of her past, and wanted to be not a hunter but a nurse. I think that with her guilt and atonement for things that were not her fault, and her desire to help people and her willingness to sacrifice herself, she came across to me as the most Dean-like of these characters. I can't explain it very well, but I just connected with her -- Alex is my girl. I hope that they don't neglect her as a character in favor of the other, flashier characters like Claire. As for the publicity for the spin-off, I wish there was just a little less of the "our show will be totally awesome and do things the right way, not like what that old show did!" Supernatural has turned out in the end to be quite a phenomenon as a show, with its longevity, its social media following, and its devoted and loyal fandom. And remember, it gradually built all this on its own -- it wasn't handed a ready-made fanbase at the start and given a big splashy PR push the way the spin-off is. And the fact is, from my perspective I have to say that very few of the people currently riding the Supernatural gravy train had anything to do with what made it the success it turned out to be. The truth is that without Supernatural, there never would have been a Wayward Sisters or a "Spn family" to promote it, and like it or not, no one would have even heard of a lot of the people involved in making it. So I am not saying that they need to genuflect in front of Supernatural, or anything like that. All I am saying is that instead of repeatedly just making a big point of how the spin-off is going to give us something that they claim was so sadly deficient and lacking in the original show, they could also acknowledge their debt to that show. Maybe express a little respect and gratitude for Supernatural and what it created, in addition to being excited for something new. I don't think that is too much to ask.

They come across as so weaselly and insincere to me, it really leaves a bad taste in my mouth. First, because they actually are criticizing Supernatural (no female point-of-view! no strong women characters!) but are trying to pretend that they aren't. Because they want the faithful viewers of the old show for the new show, but don't want to bite the hand that feeds them. I think that's why their comments sound so convoluted and poorly expressed, because they are trying to have it both ways. Proven to me by the way one of them quickly tried to backtrack when he was called on it. Second, because to me, they make it sound as if they are stepping forward as champions to bring us something that is "new", something that is "needed", to bring us this "non-male perspective". I have no problem with them jumping on the women power bandwagon, that's great, but they just come across as if they are patting themselves on the back for it. They are selling a new product, not stepping forward to lead a revolution. Also, they make a big point about how their characters are "real humans", not like Supergirl or Buffy, supposedly "a good thing that we should see more of on TV." For myself, I loved Buffy, and to me she was definitely a "real human", powers or not. These two can only wish that their characters will end up being as real and three-dimensional a character as she was; it's not just about being mortal or being non-anointed. And anyway, as already noted, one of their characters is a powerful psychic, one is the most amazing dreamwalker EVER who is able to open up doors to alternate universes, one of them was an angel vessel, and one of them was raised by vampires. Hardly an ordinary group of twenty-somethings.

Myrelle, this is how I saw that scene as well, as tying back to Dean's experiences in Hell, and looking forward to some kind of resolution -- or as you say, redemption -- from what he has been through. If the show has no plans for any kind of payoff from all of this, if it is all just dropped, then it really was pointless and unfair. Especially since I knew as soon as the scene started, with Jack telling them Mary was alive, that this is what people would be talking about. Not so much about Kaia or Patience, no matter how hard the show is trying to push the new characters. It's not just because they are new, either; I was fascinated with Dean and Sam, wondering what their story was, from the first scene they were in. Sorry, but I could not care less about Patience's relationship with her father. (And could their big tragic good-bye scene have fallen any flatter? Her father came across to me like, "Well, bye, Patience, have a good trip -- and oh, by the way, don't ever come back.")

I was thinking that it is kind of a meta comment by the show. The Winchesters are prehistoric, they are dinosaurs. The process of evolution has led to the creation of shiny new characters for the show, and it's okay if Dean and Sam are shunted aside, because who could possibly want to watch a story that is about them? Well, I would, but what do I know? :-/

I admit I didn't notice the duplication of the cry for help when I was watching, but it is certainly plausible that Dean would be reminded of his time in Hell. I'm glad that they showed flashbacks to Dean in Hell last week, because I think that made the connection more immediate and convincing. When he learned about Mary, and went into kind of a trance, with Sam and Jack's voices fading away for him, I thought to myself, "Dean is about to really lose it". And he did. Very intense scene. LOL, ahrtee! Best comment of the evening!

I have not watched the episode yet, but seeing this makes me SO. HAPPY. I can hardly believe it! And not just that it was mentioned, that it was used in the story somehow? Icing on the cake! (When was the last time this came up in an episode? I remember at the beginning of season 7, in "Hello, Cruel World", Dean mentioned to Sam that he has been to Hell, and "knows a thing or two about torture." Has it really been that long since it's even been mentioned?) Hey, maybe next the show will remember that Dean is the Sword of Michael, and his one true vessel! Or is that just crazy talk? :-)

You are not the only one, I like him too! Not in the "I think he's cute, I hope they redeem him" sense, but in the sense that I think he is an interesting character. I like that he is such a twisted sociopath, completely irredeemable, but that also in his own eyes he is convinced that he is "one of the good guys". He is the human version of what the show should have gone for with Lucifer (and in fact this is what we saw with Lucifer, way back in episodes like "Abandon All Hope", but the writers have ruined that character.) Anyway, if the show had to bring back one of the BMOL, I would rather have it be Ketch. (Sorry, but I found Mick to be kind of annoying, and his redemption arc came across to me as stilted and forced.) I also thought it was interesting that Mary had an affair with Ketch, and quite revealing of the fact that there is something deeply wrong with her, considering how obvious it was what kind of person Ketch was. I mean, if she just wanted to hook up with someone, she could have chosen another hunter, or even Mick I guess. I'm not sure what the writers were going for there, but it seems clear that there was a middle path Mary could have chosen, between aiding and sleeping with an abnormal sociopath on the one hand, and staying home to bake cookies for Dean (or whatever that idiotic false dichotomy they tried to push was) on the other. This wasn't just about Mary wanting to kill monsters to make the world better for her sons; in spite of what the show might want to tell us, what they showed us in Mary as Ketch's partner was a character who was pretty twisted herself. I don't like the way they brought back the character of Ketch -- the "anti-death spell in my leg" idea was lame when they used it with Rowena, and repeating it did not make it less stupid. Maybe the writers could have made his death more ambiguous, so that everyone believed he was dead, but there was no way to be certain. I would not wanted to miss out on that last fight between Dean and Ketch, though; after this last episode I went back to rewatch it, and it was pretty awesome, so bloody and fierce! (And when Ketch points a gun at Dean and is about to shoot, the look on Dean's face, so resigned yet still resolute -- oh, my heart!)

I agree with almost every criticism leveled at this episode, but there were one or two things that I liked, at least enough to want to watch those moments again. Ketch apparently had gone to great lengths to support his story of being "Alexander": removing his tattoo, creating an elaborate and impressive paper trail, and so on. But looking back on it now, it is interesting to me to see how he was unable to resist defending his real self when he was criticized. When Sam said that Arthur was amoral and loyal to no one, Ketch objected, insisting that he was not amoral, that he was "loyal to a fault" and "an incredibly good company man". He talked about how "burdened" Arthur was, how being him was "not an easy job". I liked the way that we got to see how Ketch -- who, let's face it, is a complete sociopath -- views himself, and how his oversized ego (which I believe is also characteristic of a sociopath) caused him to almost give himself away. I thought it was kind of clever. I also thought it was interesting how Sam dug deep into the research in order to figure out the truth about Ketch, whereas Dean relied on his instincts. Very characteristic of both of them. I was struck by the intensity of Dean's reaction to Ketch asking how Mary was, but I didn't realize what it meant. I thought that Dean was just upset by Ketch having the gall to talk about his mother, so I didn't realize, as Dean did, the significance of Ketch asking that question. I didn't notice, as Dean did, the look in Ketch's eyes, that moment of naked emotion coming from Arthur's obsession with Mary. One thing that I loved, and probably my favorite part of the episode, is that Dean is finally completely convinced of Ketch's identity after seeing him fight. "I've seen your moves," he tells him. "We've gone toe to toe." The idea that Dean can identify a person with such certainty on the basis of having fought with them, the idea that he is so tuned in, so honed in on someone because of that -- well, it is kind of exciting to me. It's just so ..... visceral. I also have to say that I liked the way Sam immediately moved away from Ketch to stand next to Dean, as soon as Dean announced he was sure about him. I like that in this case he wisely didn't argue or wait for an explanation, but just trusted Dean's instincts.

For that matter, why didn't Cas just grab his phone back from Lucifer and finish talking to Dean? I mean, considering that ordinary humans on the street could just brush past Lucifer, what was he going to do to Cas? And if Cas knew that Lucifer was weak but was unsure how weak he was, why didn't he push a little to find out? Cas was so passive. If he felt he needed to hear what he had to say, he could have tried to trap him somehow, maybe with holy oil or even physically, called the Winchesters to let them know that Lucifer was back, and THEN chatted with him, instead of joining him at a booth at a nearby bar so they could talk things over. (I'm also wondering why Cas didn't ask about Mary; maybe he didn't know that Mary went with Lucifer into the rift, although it is hard to believe that Dean and Sam would not have mentioned it.) Did I hear Cas tell Lucifer he was sorry about stabbing him? Seriously? I guess the show wants us to view them as a cute couple. And I guess we are supposed to find Lucifer's pride in his son charming? I cannot even express how over Lucifer I am on this show; I have been over him for years, but here he is, still being forced down our throats. I am afraid that AU Michael is going to be another disappointment. I thought the show might do something interesting with him, but he is just one more thug who enjoys torturing and wants to take over the world. Why couldn't they give him some interesting motivations or at least a personality?

Yes! So many different bad guys -- Asmodeus, Michael, Lucifer, the angels, Ketch. So much scheming and maneuvering and torturing. So much going on -- and so little that I cared about. You could take out the supernatural elements and make this a story about organized crime families and their bosses, all fighting each other for power and control, and you wouldn't have to change much. But that is not what I watch the show for.

I really don't know if the writers of the show intended to make a statement about abortion or anything else with the way they wrote Kelly. I kind of doubt that any of the thoughts discussed here even occurred to them. But that was my point, that they stepped in a sensitive, serious subject and handled it in a thoughtless, ham-fisted way (and then exacerbated the problem with all their explicit anvils of Kelly as the "perfect mother".) And it's not the first time something like this has happened with the writers on the show. Personally I would be very happy if Kelly's character faded from memory on the show. It certainly hasn't happened so far this season, but we'll see.

I didn't like Kelly as a character pretty much from the beginning, but I am especially disliking what the show is doing with her this season. I would gladly have forgotten about her and moved on, considering that she is now dead, but the show insists on bringing her up over and over and over again, dropping anvils on my head as to how perfect and saintly and wonderful she was. The latest was Cas going all gooey-eyed in this last episode while talking with Jack about how amazingly brave she was. I could be wrong, but I am guessing he was talking about her being willing to die so that Jack could be born and do whatever it is he is going to do. There is an underlying assumption here that I hate seeing the show put forth in such an unquestioned and absolute way: that there is nothing more courageous and noble that a woman can do than to sacrifice herself to serve as an incubator for a supernatural baby. It reminds me of that episode where Kelly is stopped from killing herself in order to prevent Jack's birth, by Jack exerting his powers on her from her womb. I mean, I didn't want Kelly have to do what she tried to do, but it was her body and her life, wasn't it? Afterwards, Kelly assumes that Jack not allowing her to die must be proof of his goodness, and is in denial as to the obvious possibility that Jack's motivation might have been to save himself. So basically the narrative was that Kelly, who was raped by Lucifer, was not going to be allowed to decide whether she would have this baby, even though it would cost her life. And then when (after being manipulated by Jack's powers,) Kelly ultimately decides that no one must be allowed to interfere with Jack or his birth, and the birth kills her, she is canonized by the show and becomes Saint Kelly, the perfect woman. Ugh, I really hate this. As I said, I would rather not think or talk about Kelly at all, but the show's writers keep insisting on bringing her up. I wish they would just stop.

On the whole, the writing for Jack as a character hasn't worked for me. But I have to say that when he was so proud of being able to move the pencil, and so gleeful that he knew what zombies are, for maybe the first time I found him charming and likable, without the overdone sad little puppy thing he had going on up to now. I feel like the show fell back into that rut at the end though. Previously, Jack told his "therapist" that he didn't really feel bad when he accidentally hurt someone, even though he pretended to -- that actually most of the time he felt nothing. I thought they might be giving the character some interesting layers, that maybe he was something more unusual and complicated than just your average cute TV teenager with superpowers and an identity crisis. But it's almost as if this episode's writer did not see that episode, because there is no way Jack was feigning his emotions about what happened in this one. I wouldn't be surprised if that character revelation was never referred to again; to me it feels like a missed opportunity. Because it did not feel like we were seeing character growth; it's more like the show is so afraid of doing anything that might make Jack appear anything other than a cute and lovable woobie, that it was erased. By way of contrast, in one of Castiel's earliest episodes, he threatened to throw Dean back into Hell if Dean did not show him more respect. It took a long time for them to become friends, and I think the development of that friendship and of Castiel's character in his first season was portrayed in a very convincing way. Maybe this is why the father/son insta-bonding connection between Jack and Cas didn't really do anything for me. We never had to see them come to know each other or struggle to understand the other, and gradually form a relationship -- they were just automatically connected to each other from when Jack was still in the womb. As viewers we were never given the opportunity to become invested. I suspect that any anxiety Cas feels over finding Jack may feel flat for me for the same reason. It is also related to why I find Jack's relationship with Dean to be in some ways the most interesting one. On Jack's side you have seen him emulating Dean and trying to please him, while on Dean's side you have seen him gradually move from anger and dislike to treating him as a hunter "intern" to a grudging respect. The show didn't devote many episodes to this, but I think the way things progressed was believable and in character for Dean. I liked how intently Dean watched the reunion between Jack and Cas in this episode; I think seeing this was important for Dean. It reminded me of Dean seeing Benny save Cas in Purgatory. For Dean it does matter what you do and not just what you are, but it particularly matters what you do in relation to those he loves. Anyway, although I have not kept up with spoilers, it appears that the show is moving on to the next phase in the education of Jack, so we shall see what they come up with for him.

I agree, Aeryn, and I had the same thought when I saw the episode: if this was what Sam was trying for, why did he seem annoyed by the result? It felt as if he was, well, to say judgmental would be too strong, but it did feel to me as if he was looking down on Dean for what he viewed as his pathetic coping strategy. It was a missed opportunity too; if they felt like the episode needed a lighter moment, I think it would have been good to have Sam say something to himself, ruefully but affectionately, about how okay, this is what I was aiming for, but maybe I should be careful what I wished for. Because if that is what the show intended, I'm afraid that for me they missed the mark. As for the discussion as to whether Dean is suicidal, I like that it is kind of a complex question. I don't think that he is actively seeking his own death, but that he would welcome it if it happened. The fact is though that we have seen Dean suicidal before -- the first instance that springs to my mind is the end of Croatoan -- but I think what we see in his conversation with Billie is a Dean we have never seen before, and that is pretty amazing after all these years and all that we have seen Dean go through. Whenever we have previously seen Dean facing off against a supernatural opponent of vastly superior power, as he does here with Billie, he is always incredibly brave and defiant, determined to go out fighting and with one more smartass remark. Think of Azazel and Uriel and Alastair and Abbadon. But at the same time you can always see how vulnerable he is underneath, how their threats penetrate and affect him, even as he tries to pretend they don't. Because if there is one word that can be used to describe Dean, it is vulnerable -- everything gets to him, he feels everything. What we see in the scene with Billie is a different Dean, and I think that Jensen does a brilliant job here and it is why I keep wanting to re-watch it. Dean is no longer vulnerable. Nothing Billie says can get to him or bother him. Look at his body language, the way he stands there so still, not on guard or ready to fight, just waiting. He responds to her either with a brief, dry comment, or merely by saying "hmm" -- and sometimes just with silence and a slight smile. He is not protecting himself or trying to shield his vulnerability. He is just completely burned out. He is totally over it all, and as a result we see something never seen before: an invulnerable Dean! I mean, even Demon Dean had his needs -- to be entertained, to use and hurt people -- and buttons that could be pushed. The Dean we see in this scene with Billie has been pushed too far and no longer cares. A Dean who no longer cares, who is impervious, seems unthinkable. Like an anti-Dean. No wonder that the Universe, as represented by Billie, is baffled by him: "You've changed." Of course, with the return of Cas, it seems that Dean will start to care again. Order restored to the Universe! Tragically, of course, this also means that Dean is back to being vulnerable, and is once again wide open to being hurt.

Yes, that was great! I loved the way Dean, in pursuit of the "ghost dude", brushed right past his reaper. (Reaper: "Hello, my name is Jessica, and I'm here to lead you to your next life--" Dean: "Yeah, hi. Dean. Little busy right now.") Her exasperated, "oh, great, it's Dean Winchester" reaction made me laugh. Ha! No one can annoy and baffle a reaper the way that Dean can! I have to agree with those who have said that they like Billie better now as Death than they did as a reaper. (Probably an unpopular opinion, but I preferred previous reapers who had a matter-of-fact "doing my job" tone, to Billie's constant "Ooo, I am so cool and badass because I am a reaper" attitude.) However, and this goes back to my feeling that the show's writing as a whole has deteriorated, Billie as Death is not nearly as impressive, in my opinion, as the previous Death. Wish they hadn't killed him off! Part of the difference is that Death was originally introduced as this eternal, awe-inspiring, all-knowing Being, older and more powerful than God Himself. (Well, yeah, that comparison did sound more impressive before God Himself showed up as a guest star.) You trembled in Death's presence, even if he did politely offer you a slice of pizza. Now Death is revealed to be not an eternal Being, but a job that just gets passed on to the next reaper unlucky enough to get killed. What a letdown. It was pretty shocking to have Dean decide to stop his own heart in order to communicate with the ghosts. In a way, though, I wasn't surprised that he was carrying around that little box; I can see Dean thinking about it, concluding that having the ability to "cross over" and communicate directly with the dead might sometimes be a useful strategy, and just adding it to his bag of tools for doing his job. It is shocking because of how reckless and drastic a strategy it is, how little regard it shows Dean has for his own well-being, but it doesn't surprise me how nonchalant he was about it. I really liked what the episode showed about Dean's state of mind. It makes sense to me that Dean would be in the shape he is in. The original trauma of his life, the one from which everything stemmed, was the death of his mother, and as far as he knows, he has just experienced a recreation of that trauma. Something that I find satisfying is the way there is just such a strong "through line" in the character of Dean, from the little boy who lost his mother, to the man who believes that it is his job to save people. When I see in this episode his grief and bitterness that he could not save Shawn, I flash back to Dean in "Sam Interrupted", who is asked by his imaginary psychiatrist "How many people do you have to save?" and immediately answers, "All of them." I think that the strength of this through line really comes across because of the way that Dean is embodied by Jensen Ackles. Dean's reaction to seeing the ghost of Shawn, realizing in that moment that the boy he tried to save is dead, and the look in his eyes when Shawn says that he misses his mom -- that really destroyed me! We have come to know Dean so well over the years, and so I feel like I can understand what is inside him and why he is who he is.

My favorite line of this episode was when Sam burst in to warn them that the therapist was actually a shapeshifter, and Dean said, "Oh, I thought she was just annoying." LOL! Because let's face it, that therapist did a terrible job. First of all, I loved the way she blithely brushed aside the question as to whether her grieving patients were ... well, maybe a little disturbed, let's say, when they suddenly encounter their dead loved one. They didn't care, she asserted, because they got to say good-bye. Sure, because of course someone who is struggling enough with grief to seek out therapy, is not going to be at all traumatized by having a shapeshifter appear before them in the form of the dead person, even if they have no experience with the supernatural. As long as they get "closure", it's all good, right? Second, I couldn't help noticing that her little therapy session with Jack was pretty self-serving. After all, she admits that she is using her patients to help assuage her guilt for her own past actions. In addition, she knows very little about Jack and even less about Kelly, but somehow she is able to assure him that his mother believed that monsters can be good! Of course his mother did, since as she then tells Jack, this is something that it is important to herself to believe. So telling Jack that this is true and getting his smile and hug in return is exactly what she needs; she doesn't know enough to know if it is what Jack needs. Third, I disliked how judgmental she was of Dean. Sure, Jack was doing his sad little woobie thing, and Sam was so hurt and overcome by his emotions that he had to walk out of the room, and they both got the therapist's sympathy and smiles. But then there was Dean: rude, angry, striking out at people, even (gasp - the horror!) taking a drink from his flask! And so naturally she was rude and belligerent to him in turn - I mean, how dare he come in and bleed out his trauma all over her nice white room! Because make no mistake about it, Dean's grieving and trauma were no less deep than anyone's in that room, and all those things that she reacted to with her annoyed little disapproving expressions were signs of it. Something that would be obvious to anyone, not just a therapist. I can't think of anything more traumatizing than to lose your mother at age 4 in a horrible way that totally destroys your chances for a normal life, only to, unbelievably, get her back, then feel rejected by her, and then have her presumably horribly killed again. It would not have been easy or maybe even possible to help Dean, but she definitely didn't want to be bothered. I remember the episodes in earlier seasons when Dean and Sam were dealing with their grief over the death of their father, and how I felt both of their reactions were presented sympathetically and in such an authentic way on the show. It is a storyline which remains one of the high points of the whole series for me. But if the current writers can't do a better job of handling such subjects than this poorly written episode, I wish they would stop trying, and just stick to something more simplistic.

I agree with this opinion - I find Jack to be boring too, and a disappointment as a character. He is all-powerful offspring of Lucifer, yet as a character he conveys no sense of real danger, no layers, no ambiguity, no sharp edges at all. He is just a soft, sad little muffin. I was struck by the way he misrepresented to Sam what Dean said about ending him if he went bad, and was momentarily hopeful that we would see Jack carefully observing Sam's reaction, at least raising the possibility that he was playing the brothers off against each other. It would have made him so much more interesting as a character. But I don't think this is where the show is going. I also agree that the nature versus nurture debate is already over, as far as Jack is concerned. If he goes evil, it appears to me that it will only be because he is somehow nutured that way. He is just an innocent little woobie who likes eating candy, and who can't possibly be asked to sleep on a couch instead of a soft bed. Who cries because he wants his Mommy, and curls up in a corner to pout if he feels that someone is being mean to him. His primary superpower appears to be his capacity for self-absorption and self-pity. I am already so tired of him. I guess I am just disappointed in the way that Supernatural has turned into a show about misunderstood teenagers with superpowers, who must develop their powers in order to heroically save the world. Aren't there already enough shows like this on TV? I think that the contrast between the introductions of Alex and Patience shows how the show has changed. Alex was kidnapped as a child by vampires, and used by them for years, horribly, as bait and as a feeding bag. The story of her life was not a superhero fantasy, but a twisted horror story. But because of her inner strength and goodness, she was able to survive and break free. And Jody, who had suffered through her own horror story, was there to help. When Jody told Alex, "Whatever you want from me, I'll give it... I'm here" - it made me cry. Two broken people bonding together, helping each other to survive the supernatural evil that ruined their lives and tried to use them in horrible ways, people who then try to help others who face the same fate. This was the story that the show was telling about its characters, with Dean and Sam, but also with characters like Bobby and Cas. Jody's parting words to Patience, in contrast to her words to Alex, did not move me. Patience, you are a special magical person, and you need to allow yourself to be the special magical heroic person that you are and not let anyone tell you what to do. And of course it is what most teenagers would like to hear, so I understand why it is such a popular theme. Dean's warning to her - based on a lifetime of bitter experience - about the consequences of choosing the life of a hunter made him sound like a character who has somehow stepped in from a totally different show. Which to me it is starting to feel that he has. It makes me miss the original recipe Supernatural.