"You'll live the rest of your life, and I'll just be a bad memory."

Hey, there's no recap. Not on my copy, anyway. Should I be bummed about that, or pleased that I get to rely on my own knowledge of the characters that I've amassed over the past 38 episodes to judge the emotional impact of the events in this episode? No reminder necessary.

San Francisco, California. A bunch of girls sit around a bar someplace giggling excessively at one another, despite the fact that none of them appears to actually be speaking in order to inspire such hilarity. Maybe they each think the others are wearing really funny outfits or something. A random bloke, who will shortly turn out to not be so random after all, finishes his drink and comes over to speak to one of the girls, a brunette called Maddy who looks an awful lot like Lilah Morgan from Angel. Or possibly like Paige from Charmed. Maybe a mix of the two. Turns out, the bloke is her boss, Nate, and he tries pretty badly to convince her that she's needed back at the office to finish off some really urgent piece of work that simply must be done midnight…

Yeah, that line totally doesn't fly. With Maddy's friends all sitting around smiling knowingly and looking amused, Nate tries again, winsomely suggesting that maybe he's drunk too much to drive and she should give him a lift… Maddy has already called him a cab. Nate accepts defeat and takes off, leaving the girls to laugh at his departing back. Until Maddy sees another guy sitting broodily on the other side of the bar, watching her, whereupon deafening silence descends, although only to Maddy's ears, as the smile drops from her face like a stone. But then when she looks again, the shady-looking guy has vanished. One of her pals, being a good friend, notices that something is wrong and asks if she is okay, but takes Maddy's word for it when she says she is but she has to go and then dashes out of there as if the place is on fire or something. And none of them go after her to see what's wrong, so maybe they aren't such good friends after all.

Outside, Maddy makes her way across the very dark and deserted parking lot, all alone, which is where viewers start rolling their eyes at the idiocy of leaving the safety of a crowd, especially if she's already afraid of the shady guy's stalkerish ways. But, despite being spooked by dogs knocking over a trashcan nearby, Maddy makes it to her car perfectly safely and drives away, whereupon shady stalker guy appears from behind another car to watch her go.

This entire intro scene is kind of a tease, actually, because nothing of any real importance whatsoever happens until the next morning, when Maddy arrives in work to find poor old Nate ripped to bits in his office. Her discovery of the body and its accompanying pools of gore is presented to us with nifty sound effects, much like her noticing of shady stalker guy at the bar earlier, which manage to imply a state of heightened senses brought on by her intense fear and trepidation. Or maybe brought on by something else entirely…

Titles.

Medical Examiner's office. The medical examiner herself pulls Nate's corpse, now with the truly humungous gashes covering his torso neatly sewn up, out of his mortuary box (what are those things properly called?) to show 'detective' Sam. It's a really nice detail that Sam is alone for this part of the investigation, with Dean being such a wanted fugitive and all.

"That's a pretty nasty bite," Sam massively understates.

The ME vagues that she hasn't determined yet what bit the man, but it doesn't take much puppy-eyed pleading from Sam for her to cave and agree to go way, way off the record. Wow, that was easy – not much of a warm-up for Sam's sympathy-and-sincerity mojo to prepare him for the rest of the episode. His hair looks really nice, I feel obliged to randomly note at this point.

Anyway, the ME sighs that if she didn't know better, she'd say the unfortunate Nate was attacked by a wolf. She has no idea how right she is. Sam kinda fidgets a little, but keeps his poker face intact as the ME continues that on the record she's going with pit bull. Because believability is more important than accuracy. "I like my job," she adds. Okay, so job security is more important than accuracy. Whatever. She's given Sam what he wanted to hear, but he just has one further question: was the guy's heart missing?

Yes, it was, the ME confirms, all astonishment at the question since she hasn't even finished her report yet, never mind made any findings public. Sam's poker face is slipping a little – he's fidgeting and his smile getting pinched rather than reassuring – as he assures her it was just a lucky guess. Maybe he's just not as comfortable working solo undercover as he'd like to be. Anyway, since he's meant to be a detective and therefore has an excuse for asking odd questions, the ME isn't too concerned, except perhaps to wonder if the cops know something she doesn't.

Hotel of the week. "This lawyer-guy the first heart-free corpse in town?" Dean queries, hard at work cleaning his gun collection. That meticulous attention to weapons maintenance has been a wonderfully consistent character trait for Dean throughout the show. Plus, it gives him something to do with his hands during expository conversations like this. Action dialogue always feels more natural than static dialogue.

First man, Sam clarifies for the record, poking around in the fridge to get himself a beer before pulling a chair over by the bed to sit next to Dean while they talk. I love any scene where these two are just randomly hanging around getting on with their version of 'domestic' while chewing over a case. But several women have gone missing over the past year, Sam explains, their bodies all washing up in the Bay later, too deteriorated to draw firm conclusions. But they were also all missing the heart.

This thing about the missing hearts is never really explained. I'm going to guess that's what the werewolf likes to eat.

As Sam continues to explain about the police attempts at preventing public panic by keeping quiet about the deaths of these hookers from Hunter's Point, suspected serial killer, and lunar cycle – each month the killings taking place in the week leading up to the full moon, which gives them plenty of nights to play with – Dean is grinning happily to himself as he continues to work at the weapons maintenance, completely enthused by this job.

We aren't often told who instigated a given job these days. But it's great to see Dean so happy about a new case, after his intense weariness with the job earlier in the season.

Dean's all, "awesome," and Sam is all amused and snippy with it, in classic little brother style. "Dean, could you be a bigger geek about this?" Hee.

"Sorry, man, but what about a human by day, freak animal killing machine by moonlight don't you understand? I mean werewolves are badass. We haven't seen one since we were kids," says Dean. The remainder of this case leaves viewers wondering about how that previous werewolf gig went down, and how much the younger Dean and Sam knew about the fine details of it. It does seem from the context of this episode that the hunt Dean told Gordon about back in Bloodlust, from when he was 16, probably wasn't a werewolf, despite the silver-tipped arrow detail. There's plenty of other supernatural creatures out there vulnerable to silver to choose from.

"Okay, Sparky," Sam teases. "And after we kill it, maybe we can go to Disneyland."

Hee. I can totally picture Dean at Disneyland, too. In the right mood, he'd have an absolute blast.

The best part about it, Dean continues to enthuse, completely ignoring Sam's sarcasm, is that they already know how to kill a werewolf – silver bullet to the heart. So, their next move is to talk to the girl who found the body, and that's where we head next.

Maddy's place. It looks like an ordinary house from the outside, but internally is more of an apartment block. I know houses converted into apartments is pretty standard over here, but have never seen it on any US show before, and shows are where I get all my information about the States!

Maddy is surprised to have to go over her statement again, and Sam smoothly tells her they are just verifying a few details. How many times have we heard that line before? It always seems to work, though. Confidence is key. Maddy introduces her neighbour Glenn to detectives 'Landis' and 'Dante' – Glenn, apparently, has popped in to check up on her. He's wearing a 'Mission Church' t-shirt and came across as very nerdy, quickly making a polite exit to leave the detectives to their questioning of this important witness.

Maddy – or Madison, as we learn her full name to be – invites the boys to take a seat, and I am overcome with jealousy for her massive and beautiful apartment. Then the questioning begins, with the brothers completely following their usual styles and procedures – Sam sympathetic and personable, with Dean rather more brusque and to the point – and we don't really learn anything that the intro hadn't already told us about Nate's fondness for women and cheap pick-up lines. "You know the type," says Maddy with a roll of the eyes.

Sam shoots a sideways glance at his brother, smiling happily as he checks out the hot witness, and rolls his eyes in turn. "Yeah. I do, actually." Heh.

Heh again as Dean recognises that little dig for what it is, even if Maddy hasn't noticed, and loses the smile as he asks if Nate had any enemies. Maddy is a little confused, what with Nate having been killed in an animal attack and all, and Dean oh-so smoothly brushes that minor detail aside and gets her focused right back on answering the question. And answering the question takes us into the story of Maddy's crazy stalker ex-boyfriend Kurt, shady guy from the intro, who apparently became obsessed with the idea that something was happening between Madison and her boss and caused enormous problems for her at work before she gave him the flick. Sounds like a charming guy. And the fact that he was at the bar stalking Madison the night Nate died puts him squarely on the suspect list, so the next stop is Kurt's apartment, as agreed by the boys during a brief conversation on their way out to the car, both looking very tall and fine.

Madison's place. Again. Left alone, she potters randomly around, and then hears a dog barking outside. Instead of rolling her eyes and cursing people who keep noisy animals, she wanders over to the window to have a look – and is startled to see stalker Kurt hanging around outside watching her apartment. She jumps backward, out of sight, but then curiosity get the better of her and she has another peek – only to find Kurt has vanished again. Guy's stealthy, I'll give him that. Madison is unnerved by his stalker ways.

Night. Massive apartment block of the regular variety. Dean picks the lock to allow the brothers entrance to Kurt's apartment. Wonder how they decide who gets to pick which lock when. Inside, they start poking around, leaving fingerprints everywhere, as usual. Sam pauses to peer at a couple of photos of Kurt, one of him holding up a fish he'd caught, and one of him holding a couple of babies. These pictures are completely insignificant, so pay no attention to them.

As the brothers continue to explore the apartment, we get a werewolf's eye view of them from a corner of the room and hear a low growling sound that could be the werewolf, but could just as easily be thunder – the sound isn't that specific. Neither of them seems to hear anything. They can't find anything incriminating, either. Not lying loose around the apartment for anyone to find, and not in the fridge either. "Try the freezer," Sam drawls. "Maybe there's some human hearts hiding behind the Haagen Dazs or something."

Before Dean can follow this suggestion, a noise from outside draws their attention and he moves over to the window to check it out, sliding the window open and going out onto the little balcony beyond, where he immediately sees scratch mark gouged into the concrete wall, as if something with enormous claws had used those claws to slide down onto the ground many feet below. So…did that just happen because the werewolf snuck out of the apartment without them seeing and also without attacking them? Or are the scratch marks supposed to be older and incriminating evidence against Kurt? It's unclear. But if the werewolf was right there with them and chose to leave rather than attacking, that doesn't exactly jibe with the whole 'werewolves are vicious killers with no self awareness or control who must be put down for public safety' argument that becomes so important later. Also, there's a police helicopter flying around overhead during this balcony scene, and it's pretty loud. That must have been a real nuisance for filming. I keep expecting Dean to duck back inside before the searchlight can pick him out!

Outside, a passing police officer hears a noise in an alley, and goes to check it out. He very soon regrets this decision, but not for long. There's another shot from the werewolf-cam as the hiding beastie is cornered by the guy and leaps out at him. And although the werewolf didn't attack until cornered, this killing does tie in well with the 'werewolves are vicious killers with no self awareness or control who must be put down for public safety' argument that becomes so important later.

Back up in Kurt's apartment, having resumed their nosing around, Dean and Sam hear a disturbance and gunshot outside, and rush off to see what it is. Down in the alley, the quickly find the severely mauled body of the cop, and viewers start yelling at them not to touch anything.

While Dean's attention is fixed on the body, scanning the area around it, Sam's immediate instinct is to turn and glance at the entrance to the alley, to make sure no one is watching. Nice touch. Sam also instantly thinks to call 911, while Dean automatically bends to examine the corpse more closely, which is a nice subtle nod to their differing priorities in these kinds of situations and how well they balance one another. Of course, Dean didn't get to see the other victim, because of having to steer clear of government facilities. He remarks that Kurt is looking more and more like the number one suspect, and Sam gets anxious for Madison's safety.

Madison's apartment. She lives in apartment 3, it seems; definitely an apartment block, despite it looking so much like an ordinary, residential house from outside. When Sam knocks, Maddy's neighbour Glenn appears in the doorway opposite to nosily ask what's going on. Dean brushes him off with a terse but not unkind "police business, Glenn" as Madison opens the door and wonders why they are back. Glancing at nosy Glenn, Sam suggests that maybe they should talk privately.

In the privacy of her apartment with the door safely shut tight, Madison pours coffees while Sam asks if Kurt has been around at all. She tells them the story of the stalker routine Kurt pulled the previous night, and I start to wonder why they would wait for morning if they thought she was in danger. Or did they leave it till morning to go check out Kurt's apartment, in which case why would the werewolf have been around during the day? If it was late night, close to morning, why was Kurt not there – other than to incriminate him, of course?

Maybe I should stop trying to make sense of the timeline of this episode. Anyway, the brothers assure Madison that there's no reason to believe she's in any danger, but that they don't want to take any chances and that one of them should stay with her overnight to be sure. She leaves the room to get the address of the bodyshop Kurt runs, and the boys promptly start bickering over who gets to babysit the hot chick overnight.

SAM: "All right. I'll stay."
DEAN: "Forget that – you go after the crazy ex, I'm gonna hang here with the hot chick."
SAM: "Dude, why do you always get to hang out with the girls?"
DEAN: "'Cause I'm older."

Mwah. That logic can be applied to any and every situation. And Sam's red-blooded maleness is finally reasserting itself after months of grieving for Jessica. So, he insists that they settle this the old-fashioned way: Rock, Paper, Scissors. And it is adorable, and so funny. Especially how seriously Dean takes it. Both of them, actually. Boys. Sam wins with rock to scissors, and triumphantly crows that Dean always goes with scissors. So Dean demands two out of three – and promptly goes with scissors again despite having just been called on it. Heeeee. And then Sam's all "bundle up out there, all right." Mwah.

So Sam gets to hang around and babysit Madison all night. How it got to be afternoon/evening again so soon is beyond me – where did the entire day go? The timeline of this episode does weird things to my head. Maddy putters around perfectly casually, because it's her house, and it's fun to mess with the yummy 'police officer' she's got babysitting her, while Sam sits at the table and is awkward. And that's all the more funny because he made such a big deal out of wanting to stay with the hot chick, and now they're alone together he just looks like a twelve-year old with no clue what to say to her, and is adorable. Especially when Madison comes over and empties out a laundry basket full of underwear on the table in front of him and starts folding each item, very slowly and deliberately, and she couldn't be more obvious, and Sam's blushing and doesn't know where to put his eyes and scoots over to the couch quick smart.

Dean phones. "Let me guess: you're sitting on her couch like a stiff trying to think of something to say." Mwah, they know each other so very well. Dean, meanwhile, has learned that Kurt hasn't been at work all week. "But because I'm good, and I mean really, really good, I got a line on where he might be." He manages to embarrass Sam a little more just by asking what Madison is wearing, whereupon Sam quickly hangs up. "Oh, Sammy," Dean laughs happily to himself, highly pleased with this successful Sam-baiting, as he drives off to continue his Kurt-hunt. Hee.

Sam squirms some more when Madison comes and plops herself down on the couch next to him to watch TV, but then smirks just a little when he sees what it is she's watching. Madison's all, "my house, my TV, I never get to watch my show, so suck it up." And by the time the show's ended, Sam's glued to it. Hee.

The transition scenes in this episode are really lovely. The external shot of Madison's house gives the address as 1144 Minna Street.

With Madison's show ending, and Sam totally sucked in by it, they finally have something to talk about, and laugh about, and then the ice is broken. See – TV is good for something after all. Sam then asks for permission to ask a personal question, and Madison's all, "you've seen my entire underwear collection, go ahead."

So, Sam begins, and he's still a little awkward, but he's found his nerve now. He says that she's clearly smart, since her house is full of great books, and how very, very Sam it is that her book collection and intellect would be the first thing he thinks of to compliment her, followed by her independence. So his question is: what was she doing with Kurt? Because of Kurt being so possessive and controlling and violent, and all.

Turns out, that's a bit of a complicated question and has a lot to do with self-esteem or lack thereof, and all that. The relevant point is that having got herself stuck in this apparently abusive relationship, Madison got mugged and regards it as the best thing that ever happened to her, as it gave her the kick up the backside she needed. "I can keep feeling sorry for myself or I can take control of my life." Getting rid of Kurt was part of that process. "Doesn't everybody think that being a victim of random violence is the best thing that ever happened to them?"

"You're unusual," Sam tells her, still so very not smooth, and enormously cute with it. "Unusual, like…impressive."

Madison is flattered, and they're having a nice little bonding moment, and then Sam's phone rings. Timing is everything. It's Dean, accompanied by loud music.

"I found him," says Dean, eyes fixed on something off-screen and above him.
"Good, don't take your eyes off him," says Sam.

The camera pulls back to a longer shot to show that what Dean's gazing at is the pole dancer gyrating right in front of him. Kurt is across the bar enjoying a quiet drink, similarly transfixed. Heh. Dean's not so bummed about the crazy ex assignment now, after all. "Oh, yeah. My eyes are glued," he assures Sam, pulling out a note for the stripper to take. "Look, Sammy, I gotta let you go. I don't want to miss anything…"

Transition shot of the full moon, high in the sky.

Madison's apartment. Sam stands at the window gazing out at the full moon, looking pensive. There's nothing unusual about that these days. Morose is like his normal state of mind. Madison wanders into shot to awkwardly let him know that she's turning in for the night. Sam equally uncomfortably assures her that he'll be right there and to just call out if she needs anything. Madison disappears off to bed, and as soon as she's gone Sam starts breathing again, with 'idiot! Why didn't you make a move?' written all over his face. Heh. Shy and awkward Sam getting flustered around a pretty girl he's alone with is really cute.

Transition again. Sam is now brooding on the couch watching late night TV with his back to the door of Madison's bedroom, although he keeps turning to glance at said door. So near and yet so far.

Establishing shot of the full moon high overhead. It's very pretty. Dean is lounging attractively against a dumpster in the alley alongside Kurt's apartment block, bored rigid and bummed about the crazy ex assignment all over again. Seeing a light come on in the apartment, he pulls out his gun and checks the clip, presumably more for something to do rather than out of any actual need to check it, since he's probably done this a hundred times already. Then the sound of breaking glass above alerts him that something is wrong, and he looks up to see that Kurt's window is broken and the light has gone off once more.

Dean dashes up to Kurt's apartment and bursts in, gun at the ready. But he isn't expecting to see what he finds: Kurt is dead on the floor, ripped to bits – and the werewolf standing over him, all claws and nails, is Madison!

He's shocked enough to drop his guard, in fact, which isn't like Dean. And that gives Madison the second she needs to fling him into a wall and send the gun flying out of his hang. With the werewolf about to pounce on him, Dean pulls out his little silver knife – it looks like the one Ronald confiscated and deposited in Nighshifter so he must have either retrieved it somehow or have another just like it – and take a slice out of her arm. The burn of the silver is enough to make the werewolf retreat, diving back out of the window, whereupon Dean is free to pass out, which he promptly does. Must've hit that wall pretty hard.

Establishing shot of the sun rising over the Golden Gate Bridge. It's very pretty.

At Madison's apartment, Sam has just got himself a glass of water to see the new morning in when his phone rings.

Back at Kurt's place, Dean is standing over Kurt's corpse as we skip forward a couple of sentences to Sam asking if he's okay. "Yeah, now that I'm conscious," he grumbles before giving Sam the crucial bit of information. "Sam, it's Madison…. Awesome job keeping an eye on her."

Yeah, from where Dean's standing it probably does look a lot like Sam falling down on the job, and it isn't ever made clear how Werewolf Madison managed to get out of the apartment and then back in again without Sam noticing anything. Presumably werewolves are just that stealthy when they want to be. Sam is incredulous, hurrying into Madison's bedroom to find the woman in question sleeping like a baby. He insists that he was there the whole time and that Madison has been asleep the whole time, but Dean counter-insists that an hour ago Madison was at Kurt's place killing Kurt and attacking him. He remembers nicking her with the silver knife just below the elbow on her right arm, and tells Sam to check for the cut, which would be conclusive proof.

Madison wakes up, and doesn't seem at all concerned to find Sam standing in the door to her bedroom. She's rather more disconcerted to find herself naked, although not nearly as freaked as she should be, considering. And, sure enough, she has a cut just below the elbow of her right arm, and Sam is convinced.

With a confused Madison trailing after him, wondering what he's doing and where he's going, Sam quickly locks and chains the front door. "I'm not going anywhere," he quietly tells her. "And neither are you."

Cut to: Madison tied to a chair, with Sam standing guard over her with a gun. She's gone from innocent victim to prey, but she has no idea what's going on, although she doesn't seem as terrified as she probably should be. From where she's sitting, she allowed a strange man to stay overnight in her apartment on the pretext of being a cop protecting her from a stalker, and said strange man then turned around and took her prisoner at gunpoint. "You're psychotic. The whole 'I'm a cop trip', God, I am so stupid."

"Well, I guess neither of us are who we said we were," says Sam, all cold and angry, refusing to listen as she pleads with him that monsters don't exist. "Save the act," he snaps, not willing to believe that she doesn't know what she is, and he is so very much John's son at this stage in the scene. Madison continues to plead with him that werewolves are not real, and Sam shouts at her about the cut on her arm, asking where it came from, then. Madison doesn't know, and, yeah, the cut on her arm really doesn't sell the story at all, not to her. It was compelling evidence for Sam, coming from his angle and knowing what he knows, but really isn't going to work on Madison, in her ignorance of anything approaching the truth. From her point of view, he could have very easily drugged her last night, stripped her, cut her arm…yeah. Not knowing or believing the truth about herself, she has good reason to be freaked out. But he did let her get dressed before he tied her up, at least.

Two weeks in a row the damsel in distress has turned out to be the monster-of-the-week without knowing it.

"Please don't do something that you're gonna regret," Madison implores. "I'm not what you think I am. I'm not."

Sam's resolve is wavering, as all that trying to be angry and hard-hearted really isn't working, and he can't help but be affected by her fear and sincerity – she truly doesn't know what she is or why he's doing this, and that strikes a resounding chord with him.

There's a knock on the door. On first time of viewing I briefly wondered if it would be the neighbour, Glenn, just to really complicate things, but it is in fact Dean. "How you doing?" he sardonically greets Madison. "My head feels great, thanks."

She's no longer an innocent victim; she's crossed the line to become the thing they hunt, and Dean always gives those very short shrift. Before the very confused and scared Madison can say anything, Sam hauls Dean off into another room for a private conversation.

Madison is left alone, and it occurs to me that all she has to do is scream, loud as she can, and that oh-so concerned neighbour of hers would totally call the police for her, even if he is a bit weedy to come busting the door down to the rescue. Sam should have gagged her. And she should be screaming. But I'll give her – and the writers – the benefit of the doubt and say that the guns have scared her into silence.

Sam explains to Dean that Madison claims to have no idea what he's talking about, and Dean's initial reaction is much like Sam's was: that she must be lying. It would make everyone's life so much simpler if that was true. But Sam suggests an alternative: that she really doesn't know she's changing. "Maybe when the creature takes over she just blacks out."

"Like a really hot Incredible Hulk?" says Dean, sceptically. "Dude, she ganked her boss and ex-boyfriend, that doesn't sound rash and unconscious."

Sam isn't giving up the point, suggesting that maybe some animal part of her brain saw both those guys as threats, the cop, too. "What are you, the Dog Whisperer now?" Dean sighs.

SAM: "Look, man, I don't know. There was something in her eyes."
DEAN: "Yeah, she's killing people."
SAM: "But if she has no control over it –"
DEAN: "Exactly, she can't control it. Even if she's telling the truth, it's not going to change anything."
SAM: "I'm not putting a bullet through some girl's chest who has no idea what's happening."
DEAN: "Sam, she's a monster, and you're feeling sorry for her?"
SAM: "Maybe I understand her."

This conversation just…totally lays out exactly which side of the fence each brother stands on, and it's a lot more subtle than, say, Bloodlust, because it isn't spelling out the fine detail quite so obviously. Dean hasn't bonded with Madison as a person and is viewing the job from the outside, as a whole package: the creature responsible for the two eviscerated corpses he's now seen in this town, and others that he hasn't, has been identified. The next step is to eliminate that creature before anyone else dies. He saw Madison's changed state with his own eyes, felt her power when she attacked him, and came within a whisker of being her latest victim, saved only by his silver blade.

Sam, on the other hand, has got to know who Madison-the-girl is, after spending an evening watching TV and talking with her. But his compassion here goes a lot deeper than that. When he first found out what she was he was completely steeled up to do what needed to be done, just as Dean now is. It was Madison's heartfelt pleading of her innocence that's really got under his skin. If, when confronted with their knowledge of what she is, she had come clean, been completely self-aware of her werewolf self, violent even, it would have been completely different. Faced with an obvious monster, putting it down is easy. But instead what Sam's seeing is an innocent girl with something evil inside her that she isn't even aware of, something that was put in her without her knowledge or consent, something that takes control of her body and uses it to do terrible things without her ever knowing it.

And of course that strikes an enormous chord with Sam. It's only three episodes since he was possessed by a demon, which used his body to kill a man, attack Jo, and shoot and torture his own brother. Last season he came under the ghostly influence of Professor Ellicott, and shot Dean then, too. He has psychic abilities he doesn't understand and can't control, and a powerful demon taking a personal interest in him as a result of those abilities, for reasons he still doesn't comprehend. He believes it is his destiny to become evil, whether he wants it or not, and no matter how hard he tries to fight it. He's been trying so hard to fight it, to cling to what little hope he can find that things can still work out right for him.

Up until this moment, Sam has been regarding Madison as just another hot girl they've encountered as part of the job. And yeah, he's attracted to her and is over Jess enough to want to get lucky, even if he was too self-conscious to actually make a move. He liked her, but that was as far as it went. She'd never have been anything more than a fling, at best, thanks for the memories and move on. He's not in any position to invite an outsider into his life on a more long-term basis. But this is where that changes, because now when he looks at Madison he sees a mirror image of himself and his own situation. It's all about hope. If he can save her from this, maybe he can believe that there truly is hope for himself.

So, Sam says that maybe he understands her, and Dean is completely silenced, with all of the above flashing through his eyes in the two seconds before Sam starts speaking again, saying that he thinks there might be another way of getting the job done without having to waste her. Sam moves to dig John's journal out of his bag, and Dean turns to watch him, with this really knowing look in his eyes, completely getting what this is all about, and worrying for Sam because of it. And also knowing what Sam is going to suggest, because he's read John's journal, too. Apparently John had a theory that lycanthropy might have a cure: if you kill the werewolf that bit you, severing the bloodline.

So…to save one werewolf you have to kill another, going by that theory. But if you are regarding one werewolf as an innocent victim who deserves to be saved, surely you should regard them all as innocent victims who deserve to be saved, but if this theory is to work you in fact have to sacrifice one in hopes of saving another…and this one could be argued in circles till the cows come home. What's important is Sam's fervour to save Madison, because maybe not all werewolves can be saved, but he needs to believe that he can save this one.

"Might," Dean points out, deeply sceptical. Would he have been so willing to question a theory of John's a year ago? A hell of a lot has changed since then. Sam argues that it's worth a shot, that stubborn, mulish look creeping over his face, the one that says he isn't going to give in on this. Dean reminds him that they don't even know where to start looking. "The puppy that bit her could have been anyone, anywhere. Could have been years ago."

And then Sam remembers his conversation with Madison last night. "No. I don't think so." He heads back into the other room where Madison is still quietly sitting tied to that chair, looking more angry and sulky than afraid, and asks her when she was mugged. It was about a month ago, as it turns out. She never saw the guy, and yes – she was bitten during the attack. Dean's eyes go wide, realising what this means, and Sam very deliberately puts his gun down before stepping closer to have a look at the bite mark on the back of her neck.

"Oh, that's just a love bite," Dean snarks, remembering how torn up the werewolf's recent victims have been. "Believe me, that could have been a lot worse." Then he takes his turn questioning, having made the unspoken decision to go along with Sam on this at least for now, asking where she was attacked. Not far from Hunter's Point, apparently.

"Same place where those other murders happened," Sam notes, once he and Dean have retreated for another private conference. In case viewers had forgotten that detail of exposition from the start of the episode. So, it seems Hunter's Point is the hunting ground of another werewolf. Dean points out that this doesn't mean it will be out and about tonight, and he's got a point there, since although the police are looking for a serial killer operating in that area, there has been no suggestion that girls are going missing every single night for the week leading up to full moon each month. However, Sam simply says that it's the right stage of the lunar cycle. "Look, I know it's a long shot," he begins.

Dean interrupts to remind him of another pressing fact: it's getting late, and Maddy will be turning soon. The huh? Wasn't it early morning just a moment ago? The timeline on this episode is really, really messing with my head now.

"We can't just let her take off to an all-you-can-eat buffet," Dean points out. Sam shrugs and wearily says he will stay with her. "And if she busts loose?" Dean presses, needing to be sure on this point before he's willing to leave Sam alone with the werewolf he's so keen to save.

Sam fidgets uncomfortably, and mutters, "I'll do it," under his breath. Dean pushes for a bit more conviction, so he says it louder. "I'll shoot her, all right? But, Dean, I need you to go out there. At least go look for the thing. Dean, please. We can save this girl."

Dean can't say no to Sam, especially when he's all big-eyed and fervent like that. Not to mention the fact that a second werewolf on the prowl is definitely not a good thing, a loose end that needs to be well and truly tied up before the case can be declared in any way closed. So he agrees and heads out, leaving Sam alone to guard Maddy.

Also, two werewolves, two hunters, division of manpower – good thing they trust one another to be capable of getting the job done alone.

Alone with a clearly conflicted Sam once more, Maddy starts pleading to be let go again, and now she is distressed and crying, rather than just pissed off. She's still tied to the chair with nothing but rope. Wouldn't it be a good idea to make her just a little bit more secure than that ready for when she turns?

Deeply troubled by this whole situation, Sam pulls a chair over to sit in front of her. "Look, I know you're scared," he tells her, all anxious and sincere. "I also know that there's no way in hell you're gonna believe me. But I'm doing this because I'm trying to help you. I'm not gonna lie, all right, the odds aren't exactly in our favour, but if this goes the way I pray it does, I'll untie you and I'll walk out that door, and I'll never come back. You'll live the rest of your life, and I'll just be a bad memory."

Hunter's Point. A hooker wanders the streets looking for trade, and also looking rather cold. She should try wearing a coat, only that would probably lose her a few allure points. Mind, I think the goosebumps and huddling probably loses her a few allure points anyway, but what do I know? Not a hooker. Anyway, while wandering randomly around, she hears an unnerving howl somewhere nearby.

Madison's apartment. Sam gazes out the window at the full moon, or almost full moon, or whatever, high in the sky. Behind him, Madison appears to have fallen asleep sitting in her chair, although how she can sleep in that position and in such a terrifying predicament is beyond me. Maybe she's just that tired. She's clearly slumped, indicating sleep. Sam has his back to her, and so doesn't see when her fingernails start to elongate and become werewolf claws. He hears the growl, though, and turns just in time to see her snap the rope binding her as if it was string. I knew they should have tried to find some chains or something. As he goes for his gun, she swipes at him, scratching a couple of nasty gouges into his cheek. He regroups and takes aim.

Hunter's Point. The hooker is now running – toward the werewolf, if the werewolf-eye camera is to be believed, although the howling we hear seems to be coming from further away and another direction entirely. Maybe there's a whole pack. Or maybe the production team weren't quite as on the ball with the detail as they could have been. Whatever. The hooker is terrified, realises she's going the wrong way, and hastily reverses direction to keep fleeing. The werewolf gives chase.

Madison's apartment. Werewolf-Madison growls and snarls. Sam takes careful aim, but doesn't shoot, instead backing away, and backing away…luring her into another room – hopefully one without a window – and quickly pulling a chest across the door to pen her in. The trapped werewolf starts hammering and banging on the door, and Sam presses his weight against the chest to keep her in. Rather like Dean with Possessed!Sam in Born Under a Bad Sign, he clearly won't shoot her unless he really has to – he wants to give Dean time to find the parent werewolf. Which is also a person with a monster inside, exactly the same as Madison, but this faint hope Sam has for Madison rests on that other person having to die. I'm not sure he's even stopped to think about that part of it. He's invested too much into saving this one girl.

Hunter's Point. The werewolf brings the hooker down and she screams, terrified, as it begins to drag her along the road by the ankles, nails scratching at the tarmac in a way she's really going to regret when this is all over. Not that she expects to live long enough to worry about that, as she turns to see werewolf fangs bearing down on her.

"Hey!" Dean to the rescue. I love it when he shouts out to the monster like that and it works – the creature looking up just in time to witness its own demise! We've seen it a number of times now. Bang, bang, bang, and the werewolf goes down, and we see who it is: Madison's kindly but nerdly neighbour, Glenn. Hands up anyone who didn't see that coming. Minor and seemingly unnecessary characters are rarely random on this show.

Post-execution Dean has that very grim expression on his face, the blank mask that just radiates his resolve to do what has to be done, no matter how unpleasant. With Werewolf-Glenn down but not quite dead, the hyperventilating hooker scrambles back to her feet, takes one look at Dean and his gun and his grimness, and starts running again.

"Hey, don't mention it!" Dean yells after her, understandably a little ticked off by this lack of gratitude for the life saving, and then moves to check on his fallen prey, who is choking and gurgling his death throes. Right before Dean's eyes, Glenn's werewolf teeth and claws retract and he becomes human once more – a scared, confused, dying human asking for help from the man he probably doesn't realise just shot him.

Nights like this, Dean must really hate his job. He waits with Glenn for the few moments it takes him to die, deeply disturbed about being confronted with the human face of his werewolf victim in this way, no matter how necessary the killing was if other innocent victims were to be saved.

More and more often, the line between 'human' and 'monster' is being blurred this season, making for interesting moral dilemmas and character growth.

Madison's apartment, morning. Madison wakes up on the floor. She's still clothed this time. So why did she wake up naked last time? It isn't as if the change is so enormous that the clothes rip off or anything, and from what we saw of the last occasion she had no reason to strip. She looks up to see a sombre Sam opening the door to let her out, with drops of blood on his t-shirt and claw-marks clearly visible on his face. "It should be over now," he quietly tells her. "You'll never see me again."

And then she looks around to see the damage her wolf-self caused during the night – walls and door covered with vicious scratch marks, bearing witness to the frenzy of the imprisoned beast. Appalled by this physical evidence of the awful truth, she looks up again to see that Sam has vanished, true to his word.

Impala, evening. "It's sort of sad, actually," says Dean, apparently sharing something of Sam's melancholy mood now. "Glenn had no clue what was going on." Then his ever-practical mind raises other questions, such as why Glenn turned Madison rather than just killing her. Sam, more morose than ever, remembers that Glenn seemed to have a 'thing' for her, so Dean posits that maybe his primal instinct did too. "Maybe he was looking for a little, uh, hot breeding action."

This is kind of a cute conversation – it feels very real and natural, that they'd sit there chewing over the fine detail of a case that seems to be closed, de-briefing one another and just generally mulling things over.

DEAN: "So."
SAM: "So?"
DEAN: "Speaking of Madison…?"
SAM: "Oh, whatever."
DEAN: "Don't 'whatever' me, man. You liked her. Maybe, uh –"
SAM: "Dean, she thought I was a stark raving lunatic."
DEAN: "You saved her life."
SAM: "Yeah, but she doesn't know that."

And that's cute as well, because when Maddy was just a random hot chick, she was fair game for competition, but now that things have moved on and Sam has bonded with her a little – even if not in a good way – Dean's all about stepping aside and encouraging Sam to go for it and allow himself to live a little. Even if neither of them expect to see her again. I think Dean just likes seeing Sam showing signs of genuinely moving on from Jessica.

Maddy herself appears at the car window at that moment. "You know for a stakeout, your car's a bit conspicuous."

ROFL I'm so happy someone finally pointed that out!

Maddy wonders what the brothers are still doing there, hanging around outside her house. "Honestly?" says Dean, very briefly casting around for an excuse before coming down on the truth. "We're pretty sure you're not gonna turn tonight, but we gotta be a hundred percent, so, you know – we're…lurking." Heh.

Maddy is starting to look a bit freaked out again, not so much in the 'I still really don't believe you' way, more 'this is all too much to deal with right now'. Sam tries to be comforting, and Maddy suggests that if they are all going to be waiting it out, they might as well do it together. And that's the point where she crosses over into being a really cool character, rather than pure plot device, because she's been through an awful ordeal that she could be forgiven for going into complete denial over, but instead she's taking it on the chin, accepting the unpalatable truth, and acknowledging and respecting the unorthodox aid she was given.

Madison's apartment. Madison and the boys enter, all a little awkward. Maddy gets straight into it. "You were telling the truth, weren't you? About everything. What you did, it was to help me." Well, yeah. But like I said, she could be forgiven for denying it all, so many points to her for accepting a truly unwelcome reality here. "I did all those horrible things…when I turned."

And that, right there, that's the part Sam's been empathising with so strongly, the biggest part of the reason he cares so much about what happens to her. "You didn't know," he murmurs, at his most sympathetic. Dean just stands back and watches the two of them, noticing in particular the way neither seems able to break eye contact… Yeah, definitely the third wheel of this little gathering.

Maddy asks when they will know for sure – moonrise? But Sam says no: she turned in the middle of the night last night, so they will have to hang in until sun-up to be sure. I really like that the show never goes with the standard lore that is usually lazily accepted by Hollywood, but goes back to the original urban legends and adds its own twist.

Dean looks from Sam to Maddy a little longer, and decides it's high time the tense and sombre atmosphere was broken up a little. "Well, looks like we've got a few hours to kill. Poker anyone?"

Establishing shot of sunset over the Golden Gate Bridge. It is very pretty, yet again. Followed by establishing shot of the full moon rising high into the night sky.

Madison's apartment. It's Dean's turn to gaze out of the window at the full moon. He takes his gun out of his jacket and lays it down on the table alongside him. Sitting over on the couch together, Sam and Maddy both turn to look, and he's all, "oh no, you guys talk." Still the third wheel. Sam and Maddy look at one another again, all nervous and hopeful. It's worth noting that Maddy is not at all restrained for this little vigil, despite that theory of John's being such an enormous long shot. Is that deference to her comfort, Sam not wanting to show any sign of lack of confidence, or genuine belief that severing the bloodline will have worked? Dean laying his gun aside once the full moon rose so high and she still hadn't changed seems like a gesture of confidence that the worst of the waiting is now over and that they can relax a little. He kept it close at hand until that point – it's still not far away – in case the worst happened.

Establishing shot of sunrise over San Francisco. Again with the pretty. Sunrise over the city fades into a shot of Dean, Sam and Maddy all standing together at the window, watching the sun come up as their all-night vigil comes to an end, and it is gorgeous.

"Does this mean it worked?" Maddy asks, bright-eyed with expectation, and Sam, equally emotional, confirms that it did. Almost collapsing with relief, Maddy throws her arms around him, expressing profuse thanks. Dean rolls his eyes, but refrains from pointing out that, technically, he was the one who saved her, by killing another werewolf who was actually in the exact same situation as her – just as guilty, just as innocent. Does she even know that it was Glenn? Sam a little awkwardly puts his arms around Maddy to hug her back, almost like he's not sure whether he should or not – the whole hostage-taking thing wasn't exactly conducive for smooth relationship development, and he was in this rather more for the saving than for her, or for getting anything back from her, exactly, so now he's not sure what to think.

Dean watches, all knowing and pleased to think of Sam finally moving on and getting a bit of action, and then noisily clears his throat to remind them both that he's still there. They break apart, and Maddy belatedly remembers to thank Dean too, which allows him to cheerfully brush it all off. Dean then stands there basking in the awkwardness while they both attempt to stare him into submission, before taking pity on them and being very pointed about taking off back to the hotel – "watch some pay-per-view, or something" – to leave them alone. And a little pump of the fist high in the air on his way out, just to get the point across, because life isn't worth living if an older sibling can't make the most of any and every opportunity to embarrass their younger sibling.

Alone at last. Maddy is amused by how smooth Dean just wasn't, and all Sam can say is that his brother means well. "You mean he thinks you're going to get laid," Maddy translates, chuckling.

Sam is kind of flustered by her openness and flirtatiousness, because he can't forget that he tied her up at gunpoint, and really doesn't believe she could possibly get over that so soon and still want him. Not to mention the fact that he's well and truly out of practice at this, having been on precisely one date since Jessica's death a year and a half ago. "I know I scare the crap out of you. I mean, I tied you to a chair…"

"That's right up there with me scratching your face," Maddy points out, dealing enormously well with all this madness. There's a bit more awkwardness as Sam offers another get-out clause, waffling that there's no way they can go back to before all this happened, and Maddy looks almost amused at his hesitance to read the signals she's broadcasting at top volume. Then they meet one another's eyes…

And then there's kissing, and stripping, and tumbling into bed together, and it's the Naked Sam Soft Porn Session. Sit back and enjoy all those rippling muscles. There's a lot of 'em.

….

….

Focus is a bit tight to allow the scene to be really intimate, though – that much close-up on intertwined flesh and it could be anyone. With Dean's sex scene last season there were more long shots, so that viewers really knew who it was!

This scene was totally designed to a) put Sam's mourning period for Jessica to rest, once and for all, and b) complement the Naked Dean Soft Porn Session we were treated to way back in Route 666. The big difference is that back then Dean got to snuggle the morning after. Sam doesn't, as we are about to see.

Establishing shot of the still full moon rising high into the sky. So…Sam and Maddy spent the entire day and half the following night having hot monkey sex? Okay. It's been a long time coming for Sam. And there's a huge amount of nervous tension to burn off. I'll buy that.

Sam wakes up alone in Maddy's bed. He's no sooner registered the absence of his lady friend and sat up to look around for her than he hears growling nearby. He's horrified to see Werewolf Madison sitting there snarling at him, but to his credit reacts immediately, leaping out of bed all naked and very carefully filmed, but isn't quick enough to stop her diving out of the window and away.

Why didn't she attack him? Well…I suppose it has been established that so far she's only killed men her werewolf mind perceived to be a threat. And while human Maddy might have seen Sam that way during the whole hostage stage of their relationship, the full day and half a night of hot monkey sex has probably pretty much established him as 'mate' and 'safe' rather than 'threat'. That theory doesn't really jibe with the whole thing about werewolves being so appallingly dangerous, though, and having to be put down for public safety. Werewolf Glenn killed randomly enough, and the fact that he limited his hunting to the red light district can be read either as his subconscious limiting him to victims he believed had it coming somehow, or a more clinical selection of victims less likely to be missed. So far neither has been proven to be completely out of control and killing indiscriminately during their changed state, rather that their werewolf minds are extremely discriminating in their victim selection. But then again, the same could be said of certain vengeful spirits. The danger and need for elimination lies in the fact that they are killing at all.

Hotel of the week. Only our second glimpse of it. Beside himself with panic and horror, Sam hammers on the door, desperate for big brother to come and help him deal with this devastating crisis. "She turned," is all he has to say, frantically explaining that he couldn't grab her in time.

There are lots of things Dean could say there, but what he comes out with is 100% reassuring big brother. "We'll find her, Sammy." When confronted with a distressed Sam, Dean always tries to say whatever's most likely to put his mind at rest, if only a little.

Dean and Sam wander down an external flight of stairs, presumably still at the hotel, talking. I'm now enormously confused by the timeline of this episode, so am going to ignore the fact that it is now day and not give any thought at all to how the intervening time has been filled, because my brain might implode with the attempt at rationalisation. Just glide past the fine detail and focus on the story. Sam explains that he has already called Bobby. "He doesn't know anything, except he knew severing the bloodline wouldn't work. That's everyone, they all say it's impossible to reverse it."

Everyone? Tell me about this 'everyone', please – we don't hear enough about contacts other than Bobby or Ellen this season, and I'm far more comfortable with Bobby than Ellen because he was established from the start as an old contact of John's, someone the brothers know from experience that they can trust. They encountered Ellen as a completely unknown quantity, someone John had chosen to sever contact with many years earlier, and trusted her way too much too fast.

Also, if 'everyone' knows it is impossible to reverse lycanthropy, why did John continue to nurture that theory about severing the bloodline? Because he needed to test every theory about everything himself before he was prepared to accept that it was or wasn't real, rather than going on the collective word of others? Or because 'everyone' simply stated it as fact without offering substantive proof?

Still. All this frantic phoning around for werewolf information is presumably what has taken up the entire night. I'm going to guess that Sam stayed at the hotel and did all this phoning and presumably some research as well – wonder if those contacts minded being called in the middle of the night – while Dean went out and searched unsuccessfully for Madison. That theory would explain the need for Sam to de-brief on his research now, on Dean's return. And see – my brain didn't implode from the rationalisation after all.

Dean wonders why Maddy didn't turn the night they waited up with her, and although Sam seems frustrated by that line of questioning as irrelevant, it's a very good point. Dean reasons that maybe the difference was that Maddy stayed awake the night they all waited for sunrise together, that maybe she has to be asleep to turn. She was asleep both times we saw her change, it is true, but Sam just snaps that it doesn't matter, insisting that they have to find a way to help her. Some legend they haven't considered yet –

"If there was, don't you think someone we know would have known it?" Dean gently points out. Severing the bloodline was a long shot at best, and has now been proven to be false. There is no other hope, no alternative.

"We have to look harder until we find something," Sam insists, all fervour and desperation, not unlike his frantic efforts to save Dean in Faith. It took an unholy miracle bought with the life of an innocent man that time.

Dean continues to try to persuade his brother to face up to the grim and unpleasant facts of the matter, although maybe not as tactfully as he could, words not being his strong point. They no longer have a choice. "I hate to say it, she's a sweet girl, but part of her is –"

"Evil?" Sam presses, looking mortally offended at the suggestion.
"Yeah," Dean concludes.
"Yeah, that's what they say about me, Dean," Sam points out. "So me you won't kill, but her you're just gonna blow away?"

Ooh. Way to hit the nail of this issue right on the head. With that whole 'sweet girl but part-evil' line Dean was very much trying to distance both himself and Sam from Madison, emotionally. Trying to make her still just a one-night-stand, trying to make what has to be done less devastating. Forming emotional bonds with the people they meet never seems to end well.

But Sam's point here is very, very to the point. Dean lives the grey areas more and more these days, but still draws a very definite line between human and evil in every instance that doesn't involve Sam. But where Sam and his so-called destiny are concerned, the line is a lot more blurred, and Sam is right to fear that if the worst came to the worst, he might be the one exception to Dean's otherwise impeccably consistent rule that anything evil must be eliminated before it can take any innocent lives. Can he really trust his brother to follow through on that fateful promise he wrested out of him, especially given the extreme reluctance Dean has already displayed in the face of enormous provocation?

But there is a big difference that Sam isn't perhaps seeing all that clearly, here in the heat of the moment. Maddy has already turned, and every avenue for saving her from what she has become has already been explored. Sam has yet to reach that end, hasn't turned, not in any way, shape or form. Demonic possession really doesn't count. And until they know more about what is expected to happen to him and what his abilities mean, no firm conclusions can be drawn about how many or few avenues for possible salvation might exist. Until it happens, both Dean and Sam can continue to cling to the hope that Sam can still be saved, although Dean perhaps more than Sam, who now more than ever is mostly seeing only the negatives.

Saved by the bell. Sam's phone rings. It's Madison, clothed in a man's shirt she's managed to get hold of from somewhere – it looks like one of Sam's, but surely her wolf self had no reason to take that with her when she rushed away – and distraught, not knowing where she is. Sam tells her to look for street signs and promises to come get her immediately.

Madison's apartment. A gun loaded with silver bullets lies ominously on the table. Maddy looks completely drained, hopeless. "I don't remember. Anything," she murmurs, brokenly. "I probably killed someone last night. Didn't I?"

Sam's face twists, and he can't answer. Dean answers for him, gently but honestly telling her there's no way to know yet. Maddy asks if there is something else they can try to make it go away.

"We'll find something," Sam stubbornly insists. "I mean, there's gotta be some answer."

Dean's head snaps around to look at his brother, so desperate and distraught, and looks so sad, because he can see what this is doing to Sam, but he won't allow him to give Maddy false hope – or to give himself false hope. "That's not entirely true. Madison, you deserve to know. We've scoured every source. There's just no cure."

Maddy looks to Sam for confirmation of this grim diagnosis. "Is he right?"

Sam twitches and can't look her in the eye, and can't sit there any more, so he jumps up and starts pacing nervously around, because he doesn't want to accept that it's true, will do just about anything to not admit that it is true. His non-answer tells Maddy everything she needs to know, and it hits like a sucker punch, but she seems resigned, taking it much better than Sam. Emotional overload, I guess – she's had a rollercoaster ride of it the last few days.

"We could lock you up at night," Dean softly continues. "But you'd bust out, and some night you will…someone else dies." Maddy's eyes brim with tears, and Dean's eyes flick from her to Sam as he gruffly adds, "I'm sorry. I am." And he really is, but not so much for her as for Sam, who retains the greater portion of his attention even now. Dean is still pretty detached from Madison as an individual; her connection to Sam is what makes this so very hard, watching Sam go through this, knowing the emotional bond he's formed with her even in such a short time, and unable to fix it for him or make it any easier.

Tears rolling down her face, Maddy lets out a long breath. "So. I guess that's all there is to it, then." Her voice is dull, fatalistic. The actress is really selling this scene, which is good because she didn't always so much convince me she was frightened earlier.

Sam's eyes go wide with horror at such resignation to her fate. "Stop it. Don't talk like that." Sam needs so very much to believe that Madison can be saved; he's invested all his hopes for himself in her, his situational mirror image.

"Sam, I don't want to hurt anyone else," she tearfully insists. "I don't want to hurt you."

Possessed!Sam said the exact same thing to Dean while trying to persuade him to blow his head off for the greater good in Born Under A Bad Sign, and it was emotive dialogue then, too. Maddy picks up the gun and steps up close to Sam, who twitches uncomfortably, knowing what's coming, still in denial. "Put that down," he tells her, voice hoarse and strained.

"I can't do it myself," Maddy tearfully says. She probably could, if she really tried, but they did say it needed a heart shot, and I'm no expert but I'd guess that's a harder suicide to achieve, so… "I need you to help me."

And this really is that 'please kill me' scene from Born Under a Bad Sign reworked for a slightly different cast, with Madison placing Sam in the exact position Possessed!Sam put Dean in back then. Like Dean in that scene, Sam desperately tries to talk her out of it, but Maddy's situation is different to Sam's, and different again to what the demon possessing Sam wanted Dean to believe, and she has made up her mind.

MADDY: "I'm a monster."
SAM: "You don't have to be. We can find a way, all right? I can. I'm gonna save you."

Yeah, Sam really is standing in Dean's shoes for this scene, although he probably doesn't realise it, as intensely caught up in the moment as he is. When it comes to other people, Sam always believes his mad research skills can accomplish the impossible, just not for himself.

MADDY: "You tried. I know you tried. But this is all there is left. Help me, Sam. I want you to do it. I want it to be you."
SAM: "I can't."
MADDY: "I don't wanna die. I don't. But I can't live like this. This is the way you can save me. Please, I'm asking you to save me."

This episode has got really depressing now. Just watch Sam's heart break. He's tearing up and shaking his head in mute denial, and Dean's watching, and even if Sam hasn't made the connection to what Sam himself has asked Dean to do if the worst should happen, Dean sure does. He gets up, moves to stand behind Maddy, and gently takes the gun from her hand, but it's Sam he's watching as he does so, Sam's shoulders he wants to remove the burden from.

Sam can't stand it any more and dashes out of the room, and Dean quickly follows, because Dean really isn't all that bothered about Madison herself – he cares about her for what she represents to Sam, rather than as a person in her own right. Madison is left alone to tearfully ponder her fate, and perhaps wonder if either one of them will actually go through with what she's asked of Sam.

In the bathroom, Sam struggles to regain control of himself. Dean comes into the room looking about as filled with dread as Dean can get, and stands behind him, and just says his name and that he's sorry, gesturing with the gun to indicate what about. And that sets open the floodgates, and as Sam manages to say that Dean is right, Maddy is right, the tears are pouring in earnest, and the viewing audience is completely broken, because Sam's crying about so much more than just Madison, although she's the main focus just at the moment.

"Sammy, I got this one, I'll do it," Dean all but whispers, and he's taking this every bit as badly as Sam, albeit for very different, although interrelated reasons. Dean has killed before so that Sam wouldn't have to; that he'd offer to take this burden onto himself to spare Sam is very much to be expected. He'd do just about anything to make life a bit easier for his little brother.

"She asked me to," Sam sniffles, and Dean immediately counters that he doesn't have to. Doesn't want Sam to have to go through that – for Dean, this is so not about what Madison wants. "Yes, I do," Sam counter-counters. And he kind of does, because as horrific as this is, he needs to see it through to the end now. If Maddy means anything at all to him, and she clearly does, he has to do this for her. "Please." He holds his hand out for the gun, and Sam is killing the viewers with his tears, and Dean is killing them with that look on his face, just devastated that he can't protect Sam from having to go through this. Devastated at the thought that he might have to do this very thing to Sam himself one day. Knowing how much Sam had invested in Madison emotionally, needing to save her to convince himself that he can be saved.

"Just wait here," Sam tearfully murmurs, taking the gun and steeling his nerve. He goes to the door, and looks back at his brother for moral support, tears absolutely pouring, and then takes a breath and goes through into the other room. Instead of following him, the camera pans back to Dean, left alone to wait, and imagine what this will do to Sam, and dread that he will have to do this to Sam one day. One solitary tear escapes to trickle down his cheek and he flinches as, off-screen, the gunshot can be heard.

I really, really hope that one of them has the presence of mind to wipe the place for prints before they leave.

And wow. Right up to the point where it got really depressing, this felt almost like a season one-style, random monster of the week story, and it was fabulous to see just how on-top-form the boys are once more, from their own regular point of view for a change, after experimenting with different storytelling formats the last couple of episodes. Overall, this is a really powerful episode that both stands completely alone and also draws heavily on the history and development of the characters as established over the past season and a half.


March 2007

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