"I want us to be a family again."

The recap for this episode centres on the conflict existing between the brothers Winchester around the subject of their long-lost father, and highlights Sam taking off on his own in Scarecrow and his seemingly chance encounter with Meg, later revealed to the audience as a Very Bad Person indeed.

Chicago, Illinois. A young woman named Meredith walks home alone late at night, listening to music on her iPod. Bumping into a random passing stranger, she frowns in irritation and carries on her way, moving into quieter streets and alleys that my mother would call a dangerous neighbourhood and caution me against wandering around alone at night. Meredith's iPod starts to short out, and regular viewers, of course, instantly recognise this as a Bad Sign indeed. Lacking this wisdom, Meredith is just annoyed. She is slightly more alarmed when a strange wind blows up, seeming to call her name. Not knowing what to make of this, she hurries on her way, picking up speed when she spies an enormous shadow of someone following her. Seriously freaked out, she makes it to her apartment building, fumbles with the keys, and eventually manages to get the door open.

Safely locked inside her own apartment with the alarm set and chain barring the door, Meredith relaxes and wanders around hanging up her coat, getting a drink and playing answerphone messages, all without bothering to turn the light on, which – if I'd just had a fright like that, I'd want the lights on, thanks all the same. I think I'd want the lights on anyway, so I could see what I was doing. But that's just me. Meredith thinks she's safe, locked into her apartment. While engrossed in listening to her many answerphone messages, she fails to notice a shadowy form crossing her wall. In shadow, we see the claws of this creature plunging into Meredith's shadow, and blood splatters across the wall.

Titles.

One week later, the Impala pulls up just across from Meredith's apartment. Sam and Dean disembark, and…they are in costume! Overalls, to be precise, complete with embroidered nametags, which is the most adorable detail of the lot, especially when coupled with their ordinary belts rather than proper work ones, and the costumes were Sam's idea and I adore him for it.

DEAN: "You know, I've gotta say Dad and me did just fine without these stupid costumes. I feel like a high school drama dork."

When Sam, looking relaxed and amused, fails to respond to this jibe in any way, Dean smiles to himself and takes off down nostalgia lane, that high school drama dork comment having reminded him of happier days, and stirred up long-forgotten teasing opportunities.

DEAN: "What was that play that you did? What was it? Our Town. Yeah, you were good; it was cute."
SAM: "Look, you wanna pull this off or not?"
DEAN: "I'm just sayin', these outfits cost hard-earned money, okay?"
SAM: "Whose?"
DEAN: "Ours. You think credit card fraud is easy?"

Heh. Thanks for the reminder of how these boys make their living. The height difference between Sam and Dean is especially marked in this scene. Sam absolutely towers over his brother as they stroll on over to Meredith's apartment. The banter is light-hearted, and they're enjoying one another's company, and it's all good.

A rather sniffy landlady lets the boys into Meredith's apartment; they are operating under the pretext of being from the alarm company and needing to check the system to find out what went wrong. As they enter, Dean notes – so that the camera can too – that the chain on the door has been cut.

LANDLADY: "You guys said you were with the alarm company?"
DEAN: "That's right."
LANDLADY: "Well, no offence, but your alarm's about as useful as boobs on a man."

The floor and carpet are covered with blood, and it's all very gory. The boys question the landlady about her discovery of Meredith's body – evidently, when Meredith failed to turn up in work, the landlady was contacted, came up to see if everything was all right, and noticed the smell. The alarm was still on, doors and windows intact – they had to cut the chain to get in. No signs of struggle within.

LANDLADY: "Everything was in perfect condition – except Meredith."
SAM: "And what condition was Meredith in?"
LANDLADY: "Meredith was all over. In pieces. The guy who killed her must have been some kind of a whackjob. But I tell you, if I didn't know any better, I'd have said a wild animal did it."

Left alone to 'examine the alarm system', the boys snap into action, whipping out concealed gadgetry and scanning for EMF or any other sign of supernatural evil. The EMF meter goes off almost immediately.

DEAN: "So, a killer walks in and out of the apartment – no weapons, no prints, nothin'."
SAM: "I'm tellin' ya, the minute I found that article, I knew this was our kind of gig."

So, it was Sam who found them this particular gig, for those keeping score. And for this episode at least there is no discussion around whether or not this is their kind of gig; both are on board right from the start. Dean, it seems, has already made contact with a 'charming, perky officer of the law' named Amy in a quest for further information…

SAM: "Yeah? What'd you find out?"
DEAN [dreamy]: "Well, she's a Sagittarius. She loves tequila, I mean – whoo. Oh, and she's got this little tattoo –"
SAM: "Dean!"

Heh. Dean takes this opportunity to wind Sam up just a little more before revealing that, other than her vital stats, Amy also slipped him a nugget of case-related information being withheld from the press for the time being: Meredith's heart was missing, presumably taken by whatever killed her. I love that Dean can be so easily distracted while also remaining so very much on the ball, effortlessly combining work and play.

While the boys discuss likely suspects for this particular gig – creature, spirit, whatever – Dean notices something about the pattern of blood splatters on the carpet and pulls out some masking tape to connect them all, giving shape to the pattern. I can't help noticing that to create this pattern, he's had to connect unlikely splotches while ignoring other, larger ones, but am prepared to overlook this minor point. It is some kind of symbol, but neither of the boys recognises it.

Cut to: a bar someplace in town. Dean flirts outrageously and happily with the barmaid. Sam arrives and finds an empty table at which to pull the article about Meredith's death out of John's journal and read it through once more, as if he hasn't already absorbed every scrap of useful information said article has to offer. Noticing his arrival, Dean downs his shot and joins him shortly thereafter.

SAM: "Did you get anything? Besides her number?"
DEAN: "Dude, I'm a professional. I'm offended that you would think that."

Sam just looks at him, knowingly. Dean gives in and laughs, holding up a napkin with the bartender's phone number on it. "Awrightie."

SAM: "You mind doin' a little bit of thinking with your upstairs brain, Dean?"
DEAN: "Huh? Look, there's nothing to find out. I mean, Meredith worked here, she waited tables; everyone here was her friend. Everybody said she was normal. She didn't do or say anything weird before she died."

Again, so easily distracted while remaining very much on the ball and on the case. Sam, meanwhile, hasn't been able to uncover anything about the symbol, either in the journal or in 'the usual books', whatever those might be. We never see them referring to much besides John's journal, so where are these 'usual books'? Stored in the trunk someplace we aren't shown? Or do they rely on each and every library they encounter to have a well-stocked occult section?

There was, apparently, another victim prior to Meredith, killed in the exact same circumstances, but Sam hasn't been able to find any connection between the two, who were 'practically from different worlds', their lives were so far removed from one another.

DEAN: "So, to recap, the only successful intel we've scored so far is the bartender's phone number."

Sam doesn't reply. He's noticed something. While Dean cranes his neck to see what on earth his brother is staring at, Sam jumps up and strides across the bar toward a young woman with short blonde hair who has her back to him. He touches her shoulder, and she turns to reveal…Meg: she of the evilness of which Sam remains blissfully clueless at this stage.

Meg is absolutely delighted to see Sam; he is rather more bemused at running into her so unexpectedly, it being a rather large country in which to randomly bump into the same people over and over. There's a bit of reciprocal wittering about what each of them is doing here in Chicago when they were last seen heading for California and Burkitsville, Indiana respectively, and during which Meg states for the record that she comes from Andover, Massachusetts originally. Dean, by this stage, has wandered over –John's journal in hand – to find out who on earth Sam is talking to, and is completely ignored by both. He quietly clears his throat in an attempt at gaining their attention, but continues to be comprehensively ignored. Sam expresses amazement at running into Meg, having never expected to see her again, and she smilingly expresses pleasure that he was wrong about that, and Dean can't take any more so clears his throat rather more loudly this time, whereupon Meg whirls around to glare at him.

MEG: "Dude, cover your mouth."

Sam, at this point, realises that he was being rude, and apologetically introduces Dean to Meg, but not Meg to Dean. For reasons of his own, remembering last time he met Meg, he seems embarrassed at seeing her again while in his brother's company. Given the snit he was in at the time and the impression he gave Meg of his brother, this is hardly surprising. Meg certainly hasn't forgotten that last conversation, either.

MEG: "This is Dean?"
SAM: "Yeah."
DEAN: "So, you've heard of me?"
MEG: "Oh, yeah. I've heard of you. Nice – the way you treat your brother like luggage."

Dean is taken aback at being so attacked by this random acquaintance of Sam's and complete stranger to him, while Sam makes no attempt to defend him.

MEG: "Why don't you let him do what he wants to do? Stop dragging him over God's green earth."
SAM: "Meg, it's all right."

While Dean looks a little hurt, Sam is smiling embarrassedly while still making no effort to set Meg straight about the impression he gave her about his brother last time they met, since any attempt to do so would involve digging an enormous hole for himself. The awkward silence continues for a few moments before Dean breaks it with a low whistle. "Okay, awkward. I'm gonna get a drink now." He shoots Sam a puzzled look before making his exit; Sam still looks embarrassed.

MEG: "Sam, I'm sorry. It's just, the way you told me he treats you…if it were me, I'd kill him."

Overreaction much? Sheesh. But Sam still doesn't defend his brother, or make any attempt to explain, simply saying, "It's all right. He means well."

Whatever that's supposed to mean. I guess his relationship with Dean is way too complicated to get into with a random acquaintance like this, especially one who – as will shortly be revealed – he really doesn't trust all that much, for all her seeming innocence and perkiness. Or maybe because of her seeming innocence and perkiness. But 'he means well' just comes across as making excuses for what he still perceives as bad behaviour, rather than an attempt to actually stick up for his brother in the face of such open hostility and explain the misunderstanding.

Anyway, the two of them agree to meet up while they are in town, and Sam gets Meg's number – evidently having not bothered to do so during their last encounter – which gives him the excuse to also ask for her full name. Meg Masters.

The boys exit the bar, Dean very much on the defensive, annoyed that Sam has been talking about him behind his back, and insecure about the implied content of what Sam actually told Meg about him.

DEAN: "Who the hell was she?"
SAM: "I don't really know. I only met her once. Meeting up with her again? I don't know, man, it's weird."

Sam's so utterly absorbed in the mystery that is Meg that he hasn't noticed that his brother is actually a bit upset about this.

DEAN: "And what was she saying? I treat you like luggage? What, were you bitchin' about me to some chick?"
SAM: "Look, I'm sorry, Dean. It was when we had that huge fight when I was in that bus stop in Indiana. But that's not important, just listen –"
DEAN: "Well, is there any truth to what she's saying? I mean, am I keeping you against your will, Sam?"

That's what hurts, right there. And although Sam is still more interested in Meg, from Dean's point of view the impression Sam gave of him to her is very important since it's what his brother thinks of him. Keeping Sam against his will? Dean gave Sam his blessing to go, and Sam returned of his own free will. That's why it hurts to think that Sam might think otherwise and appears to be telling people otherwise.

Annoyed that Dean won't let that go, Sam simply brushes it off. "No, of course not. Now, would you listen?"

Sam has failed to notice that Dean is genuinely hurt by the implications of Meg's words, not understanding that what to him seems a minor point of no consequence – water under the bridge and no more than that – matters a great deal to Dean, who guards his inner self so very carefully and who beneath his bravado is deeply insecure. To Sam, Dean finding out that he sounded off to a stranger in the heat of his temper is merely an embarrassment with no deeper meaning.

SAM: "I think there's somethin' strange going on here, Dean."
DEAN: "Yeah, tell me about it. She wasn't even that into me."
SAM: "No, man, I mean like our kind of strange. Like, maybe even a lead."

Dean asks why he'd think that, and Sam reels off the weird – random meeting at the side of the road, going separate ways, and now meeting again equally randomly in the same bar where a waitress worked that got slaughtered by something supernatural. Sam's spider senses are tingling.

DEAN: "I don't know, random coincidence. It happens."
SAM: "Yeah, it happens, but not to us."

Oh, I like when they acknowledge that. It's never random, not in their line of work. Dean is still disgruntled about the whole Sam-Meg thing, and takes refuge in crude humour to hide that fact, which both cheers him up and throws Sam off the scent of a reaction he hasn't noticed anyway.

SAM: "I'm just sayin' that there's something about this girl that I can't quite put my finger on."
DEAN: "Well, I bet you'd like to. I mean, maybe she's not a suspect, maybe you've got a thing for her, huh?" [Sam rolls his eyes and laughs.] "Maybe you're thinkin' a little too much with your upstairs brain, huh?"

Sam sends Dean off to do some research into whether or not there really is a Meg Masters from Andover, Massachusetts, and also to see if he has more luck looking into that symbol than research king Sam himself did. And – see? Sam can make with the distribution of chores, too. Sam, meanwhile, is going to follow Meg.

Dean laughs, calls Sam a pervert, and scurries off before he can come up with an appropriate retort.

At the motel of the week, which later turns out to be an actual hotel rather than motel, open books strewn all around him, Dean sits at the laptop, which is displaying a screen bearing names and addresses for a variety of Masters' in Andover, Massachusetts, including Meg. He picks up his phone to inform Sam of this fact.

DEAN: "Let me guess. You're lurkin' outside that poor girl's apartment, aren't you?
SAM: "No." [Silence, as Dean waits for a more likely reply. Sam rolls his eyes and admits the truth.] "Yes."
DEAN: "You've got a funny way of showin' your affection."

Dean relays the news that Meg Masters of Andover, Massachusetts is a real person and teases a little more, whereupon Sam swiftly changes the subject, asking about the symbol. Dean has got that one figured out, too. Dean takes the Research Crown this week, then.

DEAN: "Yeah, that I did have some luck with. It's, uh, turns out it's Zoroastrian. Very, very old school, like two thousand years before Christ. It's a sigil for a Daeva."
SAM: "What's a Daeva?"
DEAN: "It translates to 'demon of darkness'. Zoroastrian demons, and they're savage, animalistic, you know, nasty attitudes – kind of like, uh, demonic pit bulls."
SAM: "How'd you figure that out?"
DEAN: "Give me some credit, man. You don't have a corner on paper chasin' around here."

That's a fair point. Although bookworm Sam usually pulls research duty, we've seen Dean doing his fair share many times. Sam, though, chooses to overlook that fact in favour of keeping himself and his brother in their separate pigeonholes – intellectual, and non-intellectual. And, since he did call in outside support on this one, what with their own material proving less than useful, Dean concedes the point.

SAM: "Oh, yeah? Name the last book you read."
DEAN: "No, I called Dad's friend, Caleb. He told me, all right?"

The key point Dean has unearthed about the Daevas is that they have to be summoned, which means that someone is controlling them.

DEAN: "And, from what I gather, it's pretty risky business, too. These suckers tend to bite the hand that feeds them. And, uh, the arms, and torsos."
SAM: "So, what do they look like?"
DEAN: "Well, nobody knows, but nobody's seen 'em for a couple of millennia. I mean, summoning a demon that ancient? Someone really knows their stuff. I think we've got a major player in town."

After a little more teasing of Sam from Dean about Meg, the conversation ends, and Sam returns his attention to Meg's apartment. A light comes on, and Meg proceeds to get changed right in front of the window, in full view of the entire street. Sam, although uncomfortable, can't take his eyes off her – until a passer-by expresses disapproval of such behaviour, whereupon he attempts to fluster an excuse, way too late. It's a fair cop.

Meg exits her apartment sometime thereafter, striding breezily past the Impala without giving it a second glance. Hiding within, Sam straightens up once she is past, exits without locking the doors (or even closing the window), because they never do, and covertly follows.

Meg enters some kind of abandoned warehouse, first glancing around to make sure no one is watching. Sam then pokes his head around a nearby corner and does likewise. Inside, it is very dark .Of course. It's Supernatural. There's no sign of Meg, the door in the stairwell is securely locked, and the only other way up is via the liftshaft. Apparently having either not bothered to bring his lockpicking kit with him or simply decided trying to pick the lock would be too likely to attract Meg's attention to his stalker routine, Sam opts for climbing the liftshaft instead. And makes fairly heavy weather of it. Not that, of course, I'd manage any better myself.

Finally reaching the uppermost level, Sam clings to the bars of the liftshaft while peering through at the spacious yet cluttered room beyond. He's…appallingly conspicuous and yet Meg walks past him without so much as batting an eyelid. The first time I saw this I couldn't believe there was any way she could possibly fail to spot him, or at the very least hear him straining for breath with the effort of holding himself there. Once the payoff was revealed, I was immensely relieved.

Just across the room, Meg has got a dark altar all set up, complete with two human hears displayed on a couple of ornate candlesticks, and that special chalice of blood she likes to use in place of a telephone to contact her autocratic and unseen 'father'. Which she now proceeds to do. All Sam hears, of course, is Meg talking into the bowl. The voice she responds to remains unheard.

MEG: "I don't think you should come…. Because the brothers, they're in town, I didn't know that – Yes, sir…. Yes, I'll be here, waiting for you."

She blows out the candles and leaves, again walking right past Sam and again not batting an eyelid. Once she is safely gone, Sam manages with some difficulty to extract himself from the liftshaft to take a closer look at her black altar. Grossed out by the human hearts taken from Meredith and the other victim, he is disturbed to see the sigil of the Daevas painted in blood.

Cut to: the hotel. Sam bursts in, looking for Dean, who appears from another room on hearing the door open.

SAM and DEAN: "Dude, I gotta talk to you."

Hee.

Cut to: same place, shortly thereafter. Dean summarises the new intel Sam has just given him.

DEAN: "So, hot little Meg is summoning the Daeva?"
SAM: "Looks like she was using that black altar to control the thing."
DEAN: "So, Sammy's got a thing for the bad girl." [He chuckles, and Sam rolls his eyes. Such an easy mark] "And what's the deal with that bowl again?"
SAM: "She was talking into it. The way witches used to scry into crystal balls or animal entrails. She was communicating with someone."

The fact that Meg is taking orders from someone higher up, who is coming to that warehouse, reminds Dean of his own discoveries made while Sam was off stalking Meg, and he delves through the scattered paperwork he's managed to amass in search of the relevant piece.

DEAN: "What I was gonna tell you earlier. I pulled a favor with my, uh, friend, Amy, over at the police department. The complete records of the two victims. We missed something the first time."

It turns out that both Meredith and the first victim were born in Lawrence, Kansas. Given their personal family history, this strikes both boys as decidedly alarming.

SAM: "I mean, it is where the Demon killed Mom. That's where everything started. So, you think Meg's tied up with the demon?"
DEAN: "I think it's a definite possibility."

And although that's kind of an enormous leap to make based on what little information they have thus far, it turns out in the long run to be absolutely true. But they still have more questions than answers. Dean is all for going after Meg and interrogating her in hopes of gaining a few answers, but Sam counters with the suggestion that they stake out the warehouse and try to find out who she is meeting.

DEAN: "I'll tell you one thing. I don't think we should do this alone."

Cut to: Dean leaving a message on John's answerphone. "We think we've got a serious lead on the thing that killed Mom. So, uh, this warehouse, it's 1435 West Erie. Dad, if you get this, get to Chicago as soon as you can."

This is the first time we've seen either of them attempt to make contact with John since he failed to phone back in Faith.

Sam, meanwhile, has absolutely ransacked the trunk, and re-enters the room hauling a bag stuffed with everything he could think of: holy water, weapons, exorcism rituals – the full works. "I'm not sure what to expect, so I guess we should just expect everything, huh."

Dean nods, and they begin to prepare for whatever is to come, nervous. They've been hunting for this demon for over 22 years – Sam's entire life and most of Dean's – and this is the first time they've had so much as a sniff of it. And they're alone. John, whose quest it was to begin with, that he raised them to pursue with him, isn't here. They're on their own.

DEAN: "Big night."
SAM: "Yeah. You nervous?"
DEAN: "No. Why, are you?"
SAM: "No. No way."

Heh. Boys!

SAM: "God, could you imagine if we actually found that damn thing? That demon?"
DEAN: "Let's not get ahead of ourselves, all right?"

Those two lines pretty much summarise each of them. Sam looks to the future, while Dean lives in the now. Here, Dean is very subdued, while Sam starts to grow excited. The potential nearness of the Demon is the cause of this in both cases.

SAM: "I know. I'm just sayin', what if we did? What if this whole thing was over tonight? Man, I'd sleep for a month. Go back to school, be a person again."

Ouch. Way to make your brother feel like a non-person with one thoughtless remark, Sam.

And thus, right here at this crucial moment, the brothers are forced into the abrupt realisation of just how much they are still at cross-purposes. Sam is still rejecting this life, Demon-hunt aside, and for Dean, for whom this is his life, that he's chosen to pursue for reasons of his own, it's got to sting. Twice this episode Sam has managed to hurt his brother without even noticing, and the misunderstanding here dates back to the resolution of Scarecrow. Dean reacts, eyeing Sam warily.

DEAN: "You wanna go back to school?"
SAM: "Yeah, once we're done huntin' the thing."
DEAN: "Huh."
SAM: "Why, is there somethin' wrong with that?"
DEAN: "No. No, it's, uh, great. Good for you."

Nothing wrong with it at all in the grand scheme of things, just that they are singing from completely different hymn sheets and only just realised it. Dean had assumed, when Sam returned in Scarecrow and made his little speech about togetherness, that he'd meant he was back permanently. He's crestfallen to realise that Sam still sees this as a temporary arrangement, lasting only until the Demon is found and destroyed, whereupon Sam will take off back to his 'normal life' that's merely been put on hold for the duration. That could well be tonight, if Meg really is meeting the Demon – it's no longer an elusive pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, as it has been for the last 22 years. It's right here and right now, immediate and pressing. And the last time Sam went off to be normal, he severed all contact with his family, for years.

John also severed all contact when he took off on his own, leaving Dean alone to fret. Dean has absolutely no experience of family members remaining in close contact when they aren't physically together. His experience revolves around the phrase 'out of sight, out of mind'. When they leave him, they sever all contact, and it hurts.

On Sam's part, it doesn't seem to occur to him that Dean would take his words that way. Sam is assuming that the fact they would keep in contact this time is so obvious that it doesn't need to be said aloud, and he's also assuming that when the Demon is found and destroyed, that will be it: game over, for all of them. As much as Dean assumes that this life is his forever, but doesn't want to be alone in that, Sam assumes that there has to be more to life than this for all of them, not just for him. So, rather than allowing Dean to brush the subject off, as he attempts to do, Sam continues to press, curious now.

SAM: "I mean, what are you gonna do when it's all over?"
DEAN: "It's never gonna be over. There's gonna be others. There's always gonna be somethin' to hunt."

If Dean failed to understand Sam's meaning and intention back in Scarecrow, Sam has also failed to understand Dean's commitment to the hunt not just as a way of filling time until the Demon is found, and not just because it's what he's always done or what John raised him to do, but because it is something he truly believes in. Dean really is committed to what he does, as a permanent career choice, because his motivation revolves around saving lives rather than revenge. And there's always something else to hunt, someone else in need of saving. For Dean, the Demon is a catalyst, the reason they began to hunt, rather than an ultimate goal after which they can rest.

Not understanding this, Sam continues to push his brother. "But there's got to be somethin' that you want for yourself –"

"Yeah, I don't want you to leave the second this thing's over, Sam," Dean snaps, but Sam still fails to grasp his true meaning.

SAM: "Dude, what's your problem?"

Dean has turned his back on Sam now, leaning against a dresser, and takes a moment to compose himself. He's not good at this kind of thing, deeply uncomfortable with any show of emotion, especially in front of Sam. But Sam just told him that he's going to take off again when it's all over, and that could be tonight if they're right about Meg. He's out of time, and suddenly very vulnerable as he turns back to face Sam.

DEAN: "Why do you think I drag you everywhere? Huh? I mean, why do you think I came and got you at Stanford in the first place?"
SAM: "'Cause Dad was in trouble. 'Cause you wanted to find the thing that killed Mom."

Oh, Sam, and I thought you'd gained a little more understanding than that by now. Have you not heard a word your brother has said all season?

DEAN: "Yes, that, but it's more than that, man. You and me and Dad – I mean, I want us…I want us to be together again. I want us to be a family again."
SAM: "Dean, we are a family. I'd do anything for you. But things will never be the way they were before."
DEAN [sad]: "Could be."
SAM: "I don't want them to be. I'm not gonna live this life forever. Dean, when this is all over, you're gonna have to let me go my own way."

Dean is very much stuck in the past, looking back with nostalgia at a time when he had what was left of his family all around him, even if – as previous episodes have implied – that togetherness was marred by the disharmony between John and Sam.

Sam wants to be allowed to live his own life, and he is fully entitled to that. But it's got to be jarring for both brothers to realise just how mutually exclusive their respective ambitions are. And neither of them has any doubt that Sam will be the one who gets his own way in the end, that much is written across both their faces. Sam looks sympathetic but resolute, while Dean is resigned to losing out yet again, to being left alone again. The words of the shapeshifter back in Skin resonate through this scene: Me? I know I'm a freak. And sooner or later, everybody's gonna leave me. That insecurity and abandonment complex is fundamental to who Dean is and why he reacts and behaves the way he does, but Sam, coming from a different place entirely, can't understand that.

The bottom line is that they are a family, as Sam says, and always will be. But it's hard to feel like a family when there's no communication. Dean dreads being left isolated and alone as much as Sam craves his independence.

Cut to: the warehouse. Meg is already in position at her black altar, intoning in Latin, as the boys noisily clamber up that liftshaft to spy on her. Scrambling out as quietly as they can manage, the boys neatly take turns covering one another while they get into position, concealed at the back of the room, weapons trained on Meg…

"Guys. Hiding's a little bit childish, don't you think?" Meg turns to face them, smirking.

The boys are stunned. "Well, that didn't work out like I planned," Dean snarks in shock.

Since the jig is up, the boys come out of their hiding place, shotguns trained on Meg as she minces over to snark at them a bit.

SAM: "So, who is it, Meg? Who's coming? Who are you waiting for?"
MEG: "You."

The shadow demon begins to form on the wall. In shadow, we see it knock Sam to the ground and throw Dean into a pile of crates. Because Dean always gets thrown into things. A close-up shows Sam groaning on the ground with massive claw-marks across one cheek before the screen goes black.

Cut to: same place, a little while later. Sam wakes up, sitting on the floor tied to a post, and starts when he sees Meg sitting opposite, grinning wickedly at him. Dean is nearby, similarly tied to a post, with blood tricking down the side of his face from a cut near his eye.

DEAN: "Hey, Sam? Don't take this the wrong way, but your girlfriend…is a bitch."

The whole thing was a trap from the start, Sam realises, from his first chance meeting with Meg to following her here – everything. Including the origin of the two Daeva victims, their Lawrence birthplace singled out by Meg simply because she knew it would attract the Winchesters' attention.

SAM: "You killed those two people for nothin'."
MEG: "Baby, I've killed a lot more for a lot less."

Worse still, they shortly realise, the trap Meg has gone to such lengths to set up here wasn't for them – the trap is for John. John, who has been missing all season, for months and months. John, who never called back when Dean tried to contact him in Home, who never called back when Sam called to tell him Dean was dying in Faith. John, who has only twice this season made any contact at all with his sons, both occasions simply to give them details of a potential hunt he wanted them to follow up on rather than to actually be in contact with them.

DEAN: "Oh, sweetheart, you're dumber than you look. 'Cause even if Dad was in town, which he is not, he wouldn't walk into something like this. He's too good."
MEG: "He is pretty good. I'll give you that." [She walks over to him and sits down, straddling his legs.] "But you see, he has one weakness."
DEAN: "What's that?"
MEG: "You. He lets his guard down around his boys, lets his emotions cloud his judgment. I happen to know he is in town. And he'll come and try to save you. And then the Daevas will kill everybody, nice and slow and messy."

This is around about the time where I start to get confused. What is it about John that makes Meg – and The Demon she works for – want to go to such elaborate lengths to trap him like this? Did they choose Chicago because John was already there or in the vicinity? Was it sheer chance that John and the boys were close enough to the same area for this trap to work out? If Meg knows more or less where John is, why go to all the bother of luring the boys into the trap in the first place, why not go straight to John?

It doesn't make a huge amount of sense, but the salient point is that Meg – and therefore The Demon – perceives the boys to be John's weakness. And they are probably right about that, since on the rare occasions on which John offers any excuse for his silence all season, he says it is to protect them. However, his overall motivations are a lot more complicated than simply that.

Dean's all bravado and defiance, confidently stating his deeply held belief that his Dad can defeat anything, that there's no way he'll fall into Meg's trap, no way the Daevas will be any kind of a match for him. Sam, on the other hand, concentrates on angry questioning – why is she doing what she's doing, and for who?

MEG: "I'm doing this for the same reasons you do what you do: loyalty. Love. Like the love you had for Mommy – and Jess."
SAM: "Go to hell."
MEG: "Baby, I'm already there."

Meg is so much more enjoyable to watch when she's openly evil than when she's playing at being normal and perky. She's all over the captive boys, hands everywhere, especially with Sam.

MEG: "Come on, Sammy. You and I can still have a little dirty fun."
SAM: "You wanna have fun? Go ahead then. I'm a little tied up right now."

Meg continues to make the most of the opportunity to grope Sam a little, while Dean grimaces and turns his face away, and concentrates on what he's doing….

A tiny chinking sound gives him away. Meg stands, saunters over to him, confiscates the knife he'd been using to try to cut through his bonds and throws it away. She beams triumphantly at Dean, who can only smile a strained and furious smile back, and then swings back to Sam. "Now, were you just trying to distract me while your brother cuts free?"

"No," Sam whispers. "No. That's because I have a knife of my own."

It takes Meg a moment to figure that one out, and that moment is the time Sam needs to finally break free of his bonds and throw himself forward to headbutt her as hard as he can. Meg goes crashing to the floor, while Sam groans in pain. Probably should've just hauled off and smacked her one – less self-inflicted pain involved in that. While Sam is still clutching his head, Dean calls for him to get the altar. Severing Meg's control over the Daevas is the first priority. Recovering, Sam clambers to his feet, strides across the room, and overturns the black altar in one swift movement. That's the second black altar he's overturned like that.

So now…Sam is on his feet, Meg is on the floor, Dean is still tied up, and the Daevas are still in the room – invisible but for their shadows – but are now not under anyone's control. Supposedly, anyway. Luckily for the boys, they turn on the girl who'd been controlling them, seizing Meg and tossing her out the window. She falls several storeys to the ground below.

And…bearing in mind the eventual outcome of this episode, I'm still not sure how much of this is planned and how much is Meg making it up as she goes along.

Whatever. Sam now cuts Dean loose and helps him to his feet, which is cute, because Dean doesn't often accept support like that, and they both scurry across the room to peer out the window at what happened to Meg. She lies unmoving on the ground far below, looking pretty much dead.

SAM: "So, I guess the Daevas didn't like being bossed around."
DEAN: "Yeah, I guess not. Hey, Sam?"
SAM: "Hm?"
DEAN: "Next time you wanna get laid, find a girl that's not so buckets-o'-crazy, huh."

Dean always has to have the last word, and always has to find some quip that'll save having to talk about whatever just happened or any issues that have been raised. Diversion strategy in action, almost every time.

Bad guy defeated, should be the end of the episode…right? But there are still eight minutes left to run, which is the first clue for viewers seeing this episode for the first time that all is not quite as it seems.

Back at the hotel of the week, Sam is still hauling that huge bag of weapons around for no better reason than 'better safe than sorry' – or, in other words, because this whole thing's got him spooked and he can't explain why even to himself – as Dean unlocks the door to their room. They enter, to find a dark figure standing over by the window.

Dean yells an accusatory 'hey', Sam flips on the light, the dark figure turns around…and it is the long-lost John Winchester himself, after all this time. Meg was right: he was and is in town.

Dean stares at his dad like he can't quite believe it's really him, and Sam looks just a tad nervous, a myriad of conflicting emotions flickering across his face. John smiles a weary but fond smile on seeing his sons. "Hey, boys."

The spell is broken. John and Dean stride across the room, meeting each other halfway for an enormous, manly bear hug, unashamed and unembarrassed, and there can be no doubting that John is as glad to see Dean as Dean is to see him, for all his self-imposed absence and silence all season. We've been told numerous times how close Dean is to his dad, but this is the first actual evidence we've seen of it.

Sam, though, hangs back. His relationship with his father is a lot more complicated; it's been a long time since they saw one another, parting on less than friendly terms, and a lot has happened since that day. John, for his part, seems equally uncertain how to approach him, and they greet one another with tentative 'hey's.

DEAN: "Dad, it was a trap. I didn't know, I'm sorry."
JOHN: "It's all right. I thought it might've been."

That…kills me, and knowledge of later episodes makes that worse. The boys just almost got killed by the Daevas because a bunch of demons they know nothing about wanted to set a trap for John, who is deliberately keeping them in the dark about whatever he knows about said demons. Dean's first thought is to apologise, automatically assuming responsibility for them falling into that trap. But then John admits that he knew it might have been a trap, since he knows a hell of a lot more about these things than they do…but he made no attempt to warn them in any way. He allowed them to blindly walk right into it, and he knew what they might be facing. John's the one who should be apologising here, not Dean, since his determination to avoid full disclosure just almost got his sons killed.

DEAN: "Were you there?"
JOHN: "Yeah, I got there just in time to see the girl take the swan dive. She was the bad guy, right?"
DEAN and SAM: "Yes, sir."

So…presumably he was intending to maybe come running to the rescue if they didn't manage to get themselves out of it? That's a hell of a risk to take. They could have already been dead by then. And he could have prevented all it, if only he was willing to share a little of what he knows and forewarn them. No one should have to go into battle blind if it can possibly be helped, and John deliberately allowing his sons to do so doesn't exactly come under the heading of 'protecting them'. Maybe it's easier to think of them in strategic terms from a distance.

John then goes on to say that the Demon, minions thereof, have tried to stop him before.

JOHN: "It knows I'm close. It knows I'm gonna kill it. Not just exorcise it or send it back to hell, actually kill it."
DEAN: "How?"
JOHN: "I'm workin' on that."

That's another way of saying that he has no actual idea how to kill it, he just wants to. So that's fighting talk without much to actually back it up with, really. Sam can no longer contain himself, almost giddy with the thought of actually succeeding in gaining revenge on the Demon, and, ignoring Dean's warning glare, he tries to persuade John to let him help with the Demonic pursuit, desperate to be a part of it. John instantly turns this offer down, insisting that: "This demon is a scary son of a bitch. I don't want you caught in the crossfire. I don't want you hurt."

That line would hold a lot more weight if the boys hadn't both just been very much caught in the crossfire and hurt because the Demon, minions thereof, was laying traps for John that they had no way of knowing about. It has just been proved, right there that evening, that they can be used against John even if they are nowhere near him, and that the less they know the more vulnerable they are to such machinations.

SAM: "Dad, you don't have to worry about us."
JOHN: "Of course I do. I'm your father." [Beat] "Listen, Sammy, last time we were together, we had one hell of a fight."
SAM: "Yes, sir."
JOHN: "It's good to see you again. It's been a long time."
SAM: "Too long."

It's Sam's turn for the manly bear-hug with his father, and it's worth noting that they managed to make up without either of them actually apologising for all that water under the bridge. They can't go there, because both still feel the same way they did back then about those issues, but right here and right now that's unimportant. Watching them embrace, Dean looks relieved and content, like a huge weight has been lifted. This is what he's wanted all season, since Sam left for college, in fact: the three of them together under one roof, and at peace with one another. It lasts for about twenty seconds.

And then an invisible creature attacks John. A Daeva. He goes flying. In shadow, we see Sam also tossed aside. Dean has time to bellow a horrified "NO!" before he too is attacked.

Outside the hotel, Meg stares up at their window, not dead after all despite her supposed death plunge, fingering a medallion with the Daevas' sigil on it. Girl's got some impressive power behind her.

Back inside the hotel room, John yells in pain as the Daevas slash and slice at him. On the floor on the other side of the room, Dean is similarly being laid into with vim and vigour, but Sam seems to be avoiding the worst of the attack. Maybe there just aren't enough Daevas to go around. Shouting at the others to shut their eyes, Sam dives for the bag of weapons and pulls out…I dunno, some kind of light flare?

"These things are shadow demons, so let's light 'em up," he yells, activating the flare. The room is instantly flooded with bright white light, and the shadow demons disappear. No shadows for them to hide in, although since they are supposed to be invisible with the shadows the only part visible, rather than being composed of shadow, I'm not sure how much sense that makes. It's best not to tie your brain in knots trying to figure out the plot holes, though.

Sam grabs the bag of weapons and starts to fumble his way toward the door, while Dean hauls himself to his feet and stumbles across the room to help John – who Sam was actually nearer to – supporting his father's weight as they all cough and choke their way out of the room.

This, of course, simply takes them into locations that aren't flooded with light, that have plenty of shadows for the Daevas to hide in and leap out of at them, but for some reason the demons don't follow. Maybe they were also choking from the smoke coming off the flare, or something.

Outside, Meg has disappeared once more as the three Winchesters burst out of the hotel. Call of nature? Maybe that's why the Daevas aren't pursuing – they need Meg to tell them to do so, and she isn't there any more….

Again, just go with the flow, rather than worrying about the plot holes.

Dean is practically bent double with trying to both support John and clutch at his own wounds. While the less injured Sam is tossing the bag into the Impala and urgently pointing out that they don't have much time, that the Daevas will be back, Dean looks stricken and tells him to wait.

DEAN: "Wait, wait. Sam, wait. Dad, you can't come with us."
SAM: "What? What are you talkin' about?"
JOHN: "You boys, you're beat to hell."
DEAN: "We'll be all right."
SAM: "Dean, we should stick together. We'll go after those demons –"
DEAN: "Sam, listen to me! We almost got Dad killed in there. Don't you understand? They're not gonna stop, they're gonna try again. They're gonna use us to get to him. I mean, Meg was right. Dad's vulnerable when he's with us. He's…he's stronger without us around."

That means a hell of a lot because we know just how much Dean wants to have all three of them together, as a family. He said it himself this very episode, and it's the only thing we've ever heard him ask for himself. Trouble is, he's not actually thinking all that clearly here, since he's in pain and stricken with guilt about summoning John here, into this trap, in the first place. It hurts him to say the words, and he can't look either one of them in the eyes.

His reasoning isn't entirely sound, though, for reasons I've alluded to previously. The boys can be used against John whether they are physically with him or not, and full disclosure, rather than separation, is the best way John could protect them from that.

It has to be said: this really isn't the best time or place for them to be trying to deal with this issue, what with the Daevas still hanging around that have already tracked them from the warehouse back to the hotel. But whatever, John now agrees with Dean. After all, John has wanted his sons kept at arm's length all season, and only protested against splitting up now because he can see they are both hurt. I don't think he had any intention of them sticking together long-term, even if Dean hadn't said it first.

SAM: "Dad, no. After everything, after all the time we spent lookin' for you…please. I gotta be a part of this fight."
JOHN: "Sammy, this fight is just starting. And we are all gonna have a part to play. For now, you've got to trust me, son. Okay, you've gotta let me go."

You've got to let me go. Those are pretty much the same words Sam used with Dean earlier. Like Sam, John is determined to do things his way, regardless of the effect on anyone else, blind and deaf to all outside influence, whether for good or ill. And as for Sam…he still isn't saying that he wants them together for the sake of being together – it's still about wanting his part in the revenge, rather than about family.

With one final caution to 'be careful, boys', and one last look back at them, John gets into his truck to drive away. The boys stand there bleeding, watching him go. Dean's posture is one of defeat, shoulders hunched and head bowed, while Sam's stance is all defiance, and…there's something terribly poignant about the fact that Sam can look right over Dean's head.

Still grimacing in pain, Dean gets into the Impala, and Sam does likewise as John's truck drives away. The boys take off in the opposite direction, and still the Daevas haven't reappeared.

Meg now surfaces from a nearby subway, and looks vaguely surprised to see the Impala speeding away. She glowers at the taillights as they disappear in the distance. I'm guessing this one chalks up as a big failure for Meg, but for the boys it was merely their first skirmish in a war that's only just beginning…


November 2006

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